LIBERTARIAN IS JUST ANOTHER NAME FOR CRAZY:

The education of an 'outsider' (BEN SMITH, 5/21/10, Politico)

[R]and Paul’s candidacy for the Senate is a reminder there’s a difference between campaigning as an outsider – and really being one.

His victory Tuesday in a Republican primary in Kentucky transformed him from a national curiosity to the object of real scrutiny, and put his radical libertarian principles to a political test. Almost immediately, he blinked, backing off Wednesday from his opposition to portions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But the civil rights controversy was likely only the first challenge to a candidate who comes in a long – and often unhappy – line of outsiders who make it to power, often to become part of a system that finds ways to reject them.

The Senate has been particularly hostile to self-styled outsiders. In recent years, wealthy businessmen like Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois and Mark Dayton of Minnesota took office only to find themselves marginalized or labeled eccentric. Neither sought a second term. The House has always been home to its share of misfits, from Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, to the 1990s Idaho Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth, who grew famous for speculating about the threat from black federal helicopters.

He's got the full Chenoweth workin' too.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 21, 2010 5:21 AM