I’ve got friends who think the Texas representative is the bees knees. One posted a link approvingly to this post by what appears to be the pastor of the Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston.

While I find commendable some of Paul’s proposed fiscal policies, on foreign policy the man is at his worst.

First, the exception to the fiscal policies: Ron Paul is a big fan of earmarks.

On foreign policy, Jonah Goldberg probably summed it up best in an appearance before the American Enterprise Institute today. Ron Paul’s foreign policy consists of bending over and asking: “Thank you sir, may I have another.”

Paul blames the United States for the attacks on 9/11 and cites Osama bin Laden as his source. If only we hadn’t have pissed off bin Laden…and kicked the moors out of Spain in 1492. Yes, the demand that Muslims be returned control of Spain was another of bin Laden’s grievances, but Paul never mentions that one.

But I’m not sure Ron Paul actually believes that bin Laden is responsible at all. If you’re confident that bin Laden was behind it, you don’t answer that young lady’s question in the second video the way he did. The excuse that he’s only pandering to 9/11 truthers doesn’t speak well of his integrity.

Ron Paul claims that he’s a supporter of Israel, but it’s OK if Iran gets nuclear weapons–which he’s sure they don’t want. Right. He’s either dishonest or incredibly naïve.

And then there’s the newsletters. Read them and you get a pretty good feeling that Ron Paul is at the very least a nut and probably a racist. And times haven’t changed. Remember his debate performance where he worried that a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border would be used to keep Americans in? Someone didn’t get that “Murder by Death” was satire. (Tess Skeffington: There's nothing on him 'til '46, when he was picked up in El Paso, Texas, for trying to smuggle a truckload of rich white Americans across the border into Mexico to pick melons. Sam Diamond: I think we picked ourselves a queer bird, angel.)

And then there’s the people that support him. It takes some doing to get both Louis Farrakhan and KKK Grand Wizard David Duke on your side. (And with the latter, it appears to be a mutual admiration society.)

Ron Paul is a fatally flawed candidate. At his best, he’s got some good ideas and concerns. At his worst, he’s a conspiracy-mongering isolationist nutjob. If Paul were in charge of American foreign policy, I can guarantee you that the world would be a much more dangerous place.