http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/…

With only 1,448 days left before the 2012 election, you-know-who is making plans to launch another long-shot campaign for the presidency.

So much can happen before Nov. 6, 2012: Hillary Clinton could be on the Supreme Court. Her husband could be getting $400,000 per speech.

There’ll be yet another James Bond actor. Shrek IX will be showing. And Harry Reid will be scowling. Still.

Also, you can bet Rep. Ron Paul will be running for the White House again, probably as a Republican. Not so much to actually win, mind you; RP runs to make a point about less government and foreign intervention.

And anyway by then, at age 77 Paul will be the second oldest guy to launch a losing presidential campaign, behind only Ralph.

Thanks to one of our favorite libertarian writers, David Weigel over at Reason.com, we get a Ron Paul update and a peek inside the opaque window that is the perpetual Paul campaign. Weigel tells us, via Paul’s grandson-in-law Jesse Benton, that the Texas congressman is pondering another run.

Benton says Paul needs to make up his mind soon, like by mid-summer next year, because “those voters in New Hampshire and Iowa expect to see their candidates early and often.”

Benton says Paul “would be very likely to run as a Republican,” in large part because the hated media conspiracy that allegedly ignores him so much gives him more exposure as a GOP candidate than as some kind of fringe nutjob.

With the primaries a dim memory and Paul once again back in the House for an 11th term (unopposed this November because Texas Democrats know a political tornado when they see one), people tend to forget that Paul raised nearly $35 million from his fervent fans.

That’s way more than Mike Huckabee and almost as much as Mitt Romney dished out from his own funds. In fact, Paul raised more money in the third quarter last year than any other Republican.

Of course, Paul’s total $35 million is only about two weeks’ or less take for the ‘08 Barack Obama money-printing machine.

But since when have the odds ever deterred Paul?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

Three full months after GOP-Libertarian candidate Ron Paul announced his presidential campaign would be “winding down”, he’s actually throwing in the towel for real. Yes, the man who spent over a year pledging to dismantle the United States military has finally ended his quest to be elected its Commander in Chief. Often times portrayed as “crazy”, “batshit crazy” and “absolutely freaking nuts”, Paul marched to the beat of his own drummer. A drummer that supported building a 700 mile fence along the Mexican border because immigrants are the cause of all our welfare problems.

Ron Paul never did get his chance to abolish the IRS, but his hilarious cranky old man antics certainly did abolish a little bit of the sadness in all our lives. Let’s take a look back at the magical year we shared together.

I understand that 23/6 is a satirical site. However, while some may disagree, The Huffington Post isn’t. Do a search for Ron Paul on huffingtonpost.com and you’ll find this supposedly satirical story along with legit news. At least Google News has the decency to include a “satire” tag on all sites which are. This is nothing more than a pot shot and an obvious one at that. For being the only anti-war candidate to make it this far you’d think they’d at least show some support. I suppose their desire for more powerful centeralized government overtakes their supposed wish not to kill innocent individuals who posed no threat to any of us and any idea of individual freedom.

They could have at least been factual in their smear. He does not support building a fence. He supports ending welfare, for everyone in the long run and illegal immigrants in the short term, to remove any basis for blame on them for the ailing welfare state and then allowing far easier means to cross the border. Anyone who paid any attention to his dialog noticed he treaded lightly on the subject in order to pander to both sides. Did it bother me he kept his position a bit ambiguous in order to pick up support? Yes. But that doesn’t change the fact his true position was pro-immigration.