by Eric Dondero

Ron Paul has a Republican primary opponent for the 14th Congressional District seat in Texas. His name is Tim Graney (photo). He's a millionaire small-businessman from the Katy area (heavily populated Ft. Bend County portion of the District.)

Graney is conservative all-around. He's Pro-Defense on National Security matters, distancing himself from Paul's isolationist/non-interventionist stance.

In a recent interview just released by the conservative blog Jumping in Pools, Graney states:

TIM KNIGHT: Mr. Graney, Eric Dondero of the Libertarian Republican, who has long worked with Congressman Paul, has had enough of his Isolationist views, your thoughts?

TIM GRANEY: This is one of my major differences with Ron Paul and his isolationist/non-interventionist foreign policy ideas. Paul’s isolationist views are a danger to the safety and security of our great nation.

America is the greatest county this world has ever known and we have done more to bring freedom to others in our short existence than any other nation ever has. We tried isolationism before and that lead us into a world war where millions of people died.

Ron Paul has not only been a poor excuse for a Republican, he has been a disgrace and embarrassment to the Republican Party. This clearly showed during the last Presidential election cycle when he basically blamed America for the attacks of 9/11. In another Republican debate, it was even suggested by the moderator that Paul was on the wrong stage. Paul’s views on foreign policy are a danger to the safety and security of America. I do not have a problem with our military bases throughout the world and Paul would prefer to bring them all home, stick his head in the sand and hope the problem we face with radical Islam would just go away. Paul often votes against Israel or in support of Hamas – depending on which way you want to view his votes. He is more aligned with Democrat Dennis Kucinich than Republicans

While Graney's views are admirable, and right on target when it comes to his criticisms of Paul's foreign policy views, he falters greatly on the social agenda.

Continuing from the interview:

I am a conservative, Ron Paul is a libertarian. I do not support the legalization of drugs as Paul advocates. We do not need corner cannabis stores in America. Paul will often equate the war on drugs with the prohibition era. There is a huge difference between having a beer with dinner and taking a snort of cocaine for dessert. We do not need rampant and cheap hardcore drugs in our society.

Even the most hardened libertarian purists would not legalize cocaine right off the bat. That was a cheap and easy shot. Rather, the more mainstream libertarian approach is to support reform of marijuana laws, particularly for medicinal use. It's highly disengenuous and a bit insulting for Graney to jump to the tired old "libertarians will give crack cocaine to school children," argument. And no, there isn't a "huge difference," between a corner cannabis store in a neighborhood and a corner liquor store. In fact, studies have shown repeatedly that alcohol, leads to far more instances of driving under the influence than marijuana.

Moreover his hinting that libertarian are somehow not really Republicans is annoying to say the least.

Of course, I live in the 14th. One candidate is horrendous on foreign policy. The other, takes a really bad stance on an important civil liberties issue, and seemingly disses libertarians in the GOP. I may have to just skip this race on the ballot, or do what so many others often do: Write in Mickey Mouse.