The 7% Solution: Paulnuts and Their Plan to Disrupt GOP Convention

The Democrat Convention in Denver may not be the only gathering of kooks, weirdos, crackpots and human debris.

There's also the chance of the societal outcasts known as Ron Paul supporters brewing up trouble for Minneapolis, though I surmise this is more sound and fury signifying nothing.

Virtually all the nation's political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there.

But in the meantime, quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul and his libertarian-minded GOP backers are collecting delegates at the local level and planning a revolt against Sen. John McCain at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September.

Paul's presidential candidacy has been correctly dismissed all along in terms of winning the nomination. He was even excluded as irrelevant by Fox News from a nationally-televised GOP debate in New Hampshire.

But what's been largely overlooked is Paul's candidacy as a reflection of a powerful lingering dissatisfaction with the Arizona senator among the party's most conservative conservatives. As anticipated a month ago in The Ticket, that situation could be exacerbated by today's expected announcement from former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia for the Libertarian Party's presidential nod, a slot held by Paul in 1988.

Sure, conservatives may be disappointed with McCain, but they're not going to be swayed by an amalgam of fruitcakes and disaffected weirdos that comprise the base of this nut Paul. Let them align with Bob Barr, or run their own independent candidacy. These folks are the fringe and the GOP needs to disregard them rather than entertain their childish shenanigans at the convention.