The GOP establishment licks balls

In essence, according to this op-ed from "The Nation"

A little background first:

Under Georgia law, candidates of all parties run together in primaries to fill open House seats. Then the top two finishers -- no matter what their partisan affiliation --face each other in a runoff. In the overwhelmingly Republican district of the late Congressman Charlie Norwood, primary voting last month produced a run-off featuring two conservative Republicans.

Which led to this:

Given a choice between two conservative candidates, Georgia voters were asked: Do you want a candidate of the GOP establishment who promises to work with Republican leaders in Congress, or do you want an outsider who promises to go to Washington without strings attached?

The answer to that last question has always been to run for office as "the outsider". That ended up being the case here.

What piqued my interest, was the platform that the candidate who won ran on. Let's just say the newly minted Congressman's position could be considered remarkably similar to a certain Presidential candidate whose first name begins with "R" and ends with "n", and whose last name is also a first name...

As evidence of his independence, Broun emphasized a Ron Paul-like [campaign]committed to "work to restore government according to the Constitution as our Founders intended." While the Georgia[n] appears to be a more cautious constitutionalist than the maverick Texas congressman who is making a longshot bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, Broun borrowed one of the most popular of Paul's principles, promising that if elected he would assess any new legislation by first asking: "Is it constitutional and a proper function of government?"

People are realizing that the Feds have expanded their reach into citizens lives way beyond the scope of being a mere nuisance. And since I'm playing Nostrodamus with the economy, I'm going to make the call here on the 2008 presidential race.

It will be Ron Paul in a landslide.

As recently as yesterday, I was saying that "Dr. No" would probably, at most, be able to shape the debate for the GOP nomination. But, I think I've underestimated the power of Ron Paul's message.