Jamie has smacked him down.

Kathleen Parker had a good line:

Giuliani played daddy tonight and spanked Ron Paul for blaming the U.S. for 9/11. Big points for calling on Paul to withdraw his absurd statement. Message: Don’t mess with Rudy.

Jonah Goldberg had a good G-file up on him:

Paul invokes Ronald Reagan’s withdrawal from Beirut as a wise response to blowback. But many students of the rise of Islamism see Reagan’s painful decision as a terrible error, in that it provided one of the first lessons that America has a glass jaw. One could just as easily argue that the blowback from the pullout was worse than the decision to send the Marines there in the first place. Moreover, the moral variable is left out entirely. If you send cops into a mob hangout, the cops will face blowback from criminals with guns. That hardly means the cops had it coming.

When Paul suggests that we were attacked on 9/11 because we bombed Iraq for ten years, he seems to be suggesting that a) we were wrong to be bombing Iraq in the 1990s, b) we were wrong to have put Saddam Hussein in a “box” after the first Gulf War, and c) the first Gulf War was wrong in the first place (Paul essentially says as much elsewhere, so this seems like a fair interpretation). Now, before you even consider the soundness of these positions, you should at least recognize how they disprove his understanding of the Middle East. Kuwaitis and Saudis, for example, did not support Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. Kurds and Shia were quite glad that we invaded, but then upset that we didn’t follow it through, though at least grateful that we ultimately prevented Saddam from re-launching his genocidal campaigns in the north and the south. And yet, all of these concerns matter nothing compared to the One True Voice of Osama bin Laden.

Perhaps the toughest punch, however, came from Eric Dondero.  Who’s that, you ask?  Here’s a summary of his background:

Fmr. Senior Aide
US Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX)
1997-2003
Ron Paul for Congress Campaign Coordinator, 1995/96
Travel Aide, Ron Paul, Libertarian for President, 1987/88

Now to Dondero’s message:

I am calling on Ron Paul to resign his seat, sooner rather than later. Otherwise Congressional District 14 voters from Victoria to Galveston will appear to be endorsing his treachorous, and near treasonous views on foreign policy.

I am sure I speak for many CD 14 voters, and certainly the vast majority of CD 14 Republicans, when I say, Ron Paul, it’s time for you to exit the stage.

I am calling on the three to four Republican individuals who have expressed an interest in this Congressional seat, and challenging Ron Paul in the primary, to now enter the race.

Many are aware that libertarian conservative Friendswood Councilman Peden has suggested he would run. Bobby Eberle of GOPUSA, and former Texas YR Chairman also has been mentioned. Even former Congressman Steve Stockman now lives in this CD.
I would back any of the three, particularly Bobby.

But if any of them hesitates to come out in the coming weeks, I will officially declare against my former boss. I will not have nearly the amount of money that Ron Paul will have for the primary challenge. But I do have the most kick-ass grass roots experience and resume of any Republican political activist in the country. I am the very person who got Ron Paul elected to Congress in 1996 as his Campaign Coordinator. I know what it takes. I know every inch of Texas CD 14 like the back of my hand.

Some other resume highlights:

Fluent in Spanish (our Distict is fully 40% Hispanic)
I speak 10 to 15 other languages
US Navy Veteran, (hon.)
20-year Federal Appointee, Selective Service Board, Houston Region
VFW & American Legion Member
Author of two books on World Travel
Traveled to 30 nations on 5 continents
Founder, Republican Liberty Caucus
Fmr. Libertarian Party National Committeeman
FSU Graduate (Political Science)
Homeowner and 12-year resident of Angleton, Texas in the heart of CD 14 (Brazoria County seat 40 miles south of Houston)
I am this morning, declaring my candidacy for Congress in the GOP primaries against Ron Paul. If he does not resign his seat, and if another Republican candidate does not declare against him, I will run a balls-to-the-wall campaign for Congress in Texas CD 14.

I am the guy that got Ron Paul elected to Congress in 1996. I can and will defeat him in 2008.

I’ve emphasized the sections that I liked.

Posted by Hubbard in There Is Only One God And Jonah Goldberg Is His Prophet, Audacity of Hype