Ron Paul's supporters are a bunch of wackos. At least that's what the New York Times would like you think. The Times ran a lengthy piece on Paul today. While the piece does cement Paul's place as the Maverick of 2008, the author, Christopher Caldwell, also wants you to know that if you vote for him, you'll be in the company of wackos like this:

Victor Carey, a 45-year-old, muscular, mustachioed self-described “patriot” who wears a black baseball cap with a skull and crossbones on it, drove up from Sykesville, Md., to show his support for Paul. He laid out some of his concerns. “The people who own the Federal Reserve own the oil companies, they own the mass media, they own the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, they’re part of the Bilderbergers, and unfortunately their spiritual practices are very wicked and diabolical as well,” Carey said. “They go to a place out in California known as the Bohemian Grove, and there’s been footage obtained by infiltration of what their practices are. And they do mock human sacrifices to an owl-god called Moloch. This is true. Go research it yourself.”

Um, okay.

Ron Paul is raising a lot of money and getting a lot of press. That's exactly the moment when the press corps starts a seek and destroy mission. They do this whether a candidate is a Democrat or a Republican. The urge to tear someone down is only slightly weaker than the urge to edit someone else's copy.

The problem with Ron Paul is that he has nothing to hide. He's a man of substance, not a man of haircuts and lofty rhetoric. You can attack his ideas, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of people have started to think those ideas make a lot of common sense. And besides, writing about the Constitution and the Federal Reserve is like, hard and stuff. Where's the Monkey Business when you need her?

So if you want to bring Paul down, what do you do? You link him to people like Victor Carey. You insinuate that if you vote for Paul you're just another wacko "wasting" your vote. Thank God for the media. I'd hate to have to think for myself.