The Ron Paul folks – see? It’s Christmastime, so I’m not calling them “Ronulans” – are asking what my dealbreakers with him are. It’s foreign policy. Believe me, guys, by your standards, I’m one of those neocon warmongers.

As one of ‘em put it to me:

I assume the deal breaker you’re talking about relates to Paul’s foreign policy positions. Here’s a question to ponder:
Do you think it is possible for this country to simultaneously sustain a policy of limited government and liberty at home and a policy of intervention abroad?
War is the health of the state, and so long as we continue to provoke wars abroad we will be doomed to an increasingly powerful state at home. The two are invariably linked. After having read Bin Laden’s papers it is hard to see the United States as innocent with respect to the 9/11 attacks…

Sorry, pal. Once you make arguments like that, you lose me.