This Ain't No Tea Party

I saw a bunch of the Ron Paul-bots out in Santa Monica (where they threw a bunch of "tea" into the sea, and then retrieved it in an environmentally friendly 21st century manner). This coincided with their Tea Party fundraiser, which netted another $5.5 million today. One of them was in a three-cornered hat and colonial outfit. I have to say that, without having too much interaction with them, the sense I got was that it was a group of young assholes. I'm trying to use that as a technical term, actually; they seemed like the kind of people you talk to about politics but who don't actually know what they're talking about, and their signage ("Freedom! Peace! Platitude!") reflected that, too. They have a new T-shirt with the Ron Paul logo in the fashion of the POW-MIA logo. How is that in any way appropriate?

Let me say this, though; there's a very good reason that these young people have latched on to the Paul movement, beyond the fact that it appears to be more than anything a social group, in the same manner of the Dean movement. The truth is that nobody on any side of the political aisle is speaking with any kind of clarity about ending the Iraq war. Dennis Kucinich is to a certain extent, but his effort to ape the Paul money-bomb ended up with maybe a hundred grand or so (though Kucinich isn't releasing the final numbers, which is telling, because the Paul campaign does it with full and open disclosure). Ron Paul has a clear message that is a part of American history, one of isolationism. And he critiques American foreign policy in a way that is never done in public discussion. It's obviously big enough so that he's getting a Meet The Press shot next Sunday (although his ABC interview was exiled to the Web).

Though his policies domestically I find abhorrent, it's absolutely positive for Paul to be in the race. He's giving voice to a feeling of discontent in a way that I certainly hope the Democratic nominee can co-opt. Unless they decide to "act tough" and be a "national security Democrat".