Now, there goes a guy who became a bona fide journalist and tossed it all away. But at least Williams is waking up to the extraordinary power of Ron Paul. If you live in Texas, you’re faced with it everyday in the yard signs — some antique and faded, some bright new signs. Every time there’s talk of a Democrat’s approval ratings going up, the Paulistas are out there.

Ron Paul is a good guy (really!). He’s the candidate even Democrats like for his forthrightness. Just not some of his antediluvian attitudes about (say) wimmins’ rahts.

Juan Williams writes in The Hill today:

It is no longer out of the realm of possibility that this outcast of the GOP establishment may win the party’s presidential nomination.

If you have not been paying attention, it is time to look around and realize that we are living in the political age of Rep. Ron Paul.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll released late last week shows Paul faring the best against President Obama of any potential Republican candidate. He trails the president by only 7 points, 52-45 percent, in a head-to-head matchup. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee trails by 8 points, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney down 11 points to Obama.

Williams recounted a talk with Paul at a recent Fox News do.

I asked him about his stated concern that Israel will launch a unilateral military strike against Iran. He replied that Israel had become too dependent on U.S. military and foreign aid and that it should be responsible for its own security and sovereignty. In the past he has blasted the “neoconservatives” and their influence on U.S. foreign policy.

He has been adamantly opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning and has called for an immediate pullout of all U.S. troops. He rails against the American “empire” and argues that U.S. spending on a global military presence should be cut.

Paul’s thinking is also having an impact on conservative views about domestic policy.

Even when he called for legalization of marijuana, cocaine and heroin at the debate it did not elicit hooting but cheers from South Carolina’s famously right-wing Republicans.

See what I mean? Paul’s leftist credentials are in better shape than Obama’s. And his admirers range from coast to coast. On the issues of war and mary jane alone, Obama could lose to him.

Cross posted from the blog Prairie Weather.