As I said on yesterday’s show, there are two Ron Pauls. There’s the man devoted to limited government in the way the Founders understood it, fealty to the U.S. Constitution, and most of all, liberty. I think we all admire that Ron Paul and wish that other members of Congress shared his desire to reduce the bloated federal government and return it to its legitimate and limited role in our lives. Sadly, there’s that other Ron Paul, the alleged 9/11 truther who doesn’t seem to understand how dangerous a nuclear Iran would be. Of course, I’ll be bold and predict that Con. Paul will not win the GOP nomination, but I’ll continue to pay along since he’s not going away any time soon. That happy day will come when some kind GOP elders take him by the elbow, lead him aside and tell him that his time on the stage is over, adding if the GOP loses the 2012 presidential election due to his antics, Sen. Rand Paul can kiss his career in Republican politics goodbye.

Good Ron Paul wouldn’t be able to do the things we like because of that pesky Congress. Being a Constitutionalist, he can’t take a page from Hugo Chavez wannabe, Barack Obama’s book and simply decide to impose his will by fiat. So, there goes all that reduction in the national debt, slashing of the federal budget, and elimination of annoying and unnecessary federal departments. Contrastingly, as president, Bad Ron Paul would be in a position to do a lot of damage by implementing his foreign policy agenda. That’s your classic lose-lose, which is apropos, since that’s what Con. Paul is in the process of doing. Like those clowns who keep jumping out of that clown car that Chris Matthews and Matthew Dowd like to evoke when discussing the GOP field, just when you think you’ve heard the last reason that Con. Paul is not qualified to be president, another jumps out. Surprise!

Saturday’s ABC/Yahoo New Hampshire Debate, “moderated” by democrat operative/ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos and an especially unctuous Diane Sawyer, featured a bizarre exchange, in which the objective seeker of truth, Mr. S, took the opportunity to ask Gov. Mitt Romney a question about one of the most serious issues facing our nation. No, not the still-limping economy, the threats by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, or even whether Tim Tebow is the most polarizing figure in sports. No, the burning question on the mind of every serious person in America, surprisingly, is whether states are Constitutionally able to ban contraception, and George seemed absolutely determined to hector Romney to the grave until he got an answer. His doggedness was understandable, since no state legislature is seeking to outlaw contraceptives, and given the trivial nature of those other issues previously mentioned, what better time for a law school hypothetical?

Remember the Stephanopoulos-Romney exchanged involved the Warren Court’s sudden discovery of a “right of privacy” in the U.S. Constitution in its 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision. After Gov. Romney said that he thought Roe v. Wade should be overturned, Ron Paul weighed in with his two cents:

 PAUL: I didn’t know whether I got time when it was favorable or not. But thank you. No, I think the Fourth Amendment is very clear. It is explicit in our privacy. You can’t go into anybody’s house and look at what they have or their papers or any private things without a search warrant.

This is why the Patriot Act is wrong, because you have a right of privacy by the Fourth Amendment. As far as selling contraceptives, the Interstate Commerce Clause protects this because the Interstate Commerce Clause was originally written not to impede trade between the states, but it was written to facilitate trade between the states. So if it’s not illegal to import birth control pills from one state to the next, it would be legal to sell birth control pills in that state.

 We can only conclude that Con. Paul doesn’t know that this case, and the controversial cases that preceded it, were not about the Fourth Amendment, or any other specific provision of the Constitution. That’s troubling since he is currently running to be the person who appoints federal judges, including Supreme Court Justices, who will decide whether Roe v. Wade is overturned. Apparently, he doesn’t know the difference between an explicit restatement of our God-given rights in the Bill of Rights and a new “right” discovered by activist liberal judges in one of those handy penumbras. And speaking of handy, how about that Commerce Clause?Most of us thought that advocates for expansion of the federal government had exhausted the ingenious ways that they could use this very elastic part of the Constitution to get their fingers in every pie. Now we learn that it also means that what’s legal in one state is legal in all states! Who knew?

“Deciding that question is above my pay grade” would have made more sense. It would have been dishonest and designed to mislead, just as it was when Barack Obama used it, but at least it would have reflected some understanding on the part of Con. Paul that he knew what everyone was talking about, or even what day of the week it is.

It’s been fun, Ron, watching this election cycle’s cult of the personality, the latest to enchant the young and the uninformed, but it’s time for the grownups to get serious. Please exit, stage left, and join your pal Con. Dennis Kucinich.

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