Ron Paul Skeletons, Like Clockwork

Ron Paul's been trending up the polls -- leading in Iowa, last I saw -- and that can only mean one thing: the mainstream media has suddenly remembered those 20-year-old newsletters, filled with all manner of grotty culture-war tinfoil-hattery, that were sent out over his signature. Shock! Horror! Revulsion!

You might remember this hot, breaking news (from 1993) from the last time deep-digging investigators dragged it out in 2008. In '08, Dr. Paul strongly disavowed the sentiments therein (anti-gay, anti-Israel and paranoid; rather than me explaining, go read it yourself); admitted, yes, it was sent out over his signature; no, he hadn't actually read it until very recently; and yes, he certainly wished he had done so at the time. He told CNN the same thing just the other day -- and their reporter was unsatisfied. (What's it take? Rending of one's garments? Ritual bloodletting? Testimony under torture?)

I need to do a little more digging. I seem to recall the fellow alleged to have actually written the newsletter(s) departed under a clod, er, cloud not too long afterwards, but I haven't been able to find proof.

If you do wonder what the guy stands for and votes for, it's a matter of public record and quite different to the newsletters. Of course, that didn't keep CNN from bringing them back up in the manner of a dog's dinner.

The Ritual Grimacing that accompanies primaries is starting, more and more, to resemble one of those complex European village clocks, with mechanical figures posing and gesticulating through the hours; at the top of each new hour, a new front-runner twirls out, followed at half-past by reporters dressed as Death, flinging from bushel-baskets whatever dirt they can find or imagine, no matter how stale.