I didn't think I should let the day go by without a brief mention of my visit to the Ron Paul alternative universe on Christmas Eve.

On Monday, we flagged Paul's star turn on Meet the Press, in which he laid out his policy proposals on the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Now, if you've been online much lately you know that while Paul can't get above the middle-single digits in the polls, he's running with overwhelming majority support from a community of sufferers from an affliction which, from what I can tell, seems to consist of a Tourettes-like compulsion to invade various websites comments sections and spasmodically type "RON PAUL!!!" or "RON PAUL 2008!!!" or similar phrases, most always in all capital letters.

Having run this site for going on eight years, I'm no stranger to hate mail. So I was neither surprised nor bothered by the responses the post drew from Paul supporters -- many or most of which amounted to what I guess would be nerdy, 21st century libertarian versions of 'you'll be the first one up against the wall when the Revolution comes'.

But what did jump out at me in the emails was this strong sense from Paul supporters that the establishment and MSM figures like myself (yes, I've been promoted, it seems) are looking for ways to stop the Ron Paul tsunami that's building across the country.

Now, before going further, I would say that a lot of the things Paul says in the debates seems pretty sensible, though that's not necessarily that difficult when arguing against the GOP line on Islamofascism and the War on Terror. Or I'll actually say more than that. In his debate performances -- and I'm thinking particularly of one of Paul's answers referencing the Vietnam war and the supposedly perpetual nature of the war on 'Islamofascism' -- he often sounds a lot more frank and sensible than the Democratic candidates since his world view makes it possible for him to sweep the barn much more thoroughly of much of the claptrap about which our foreign policy has been organized for the last six or seven years.

And while Paul has a history of saying some pretty ugly things, for this I think he's at least proved a tonic in the GOP debates, as a breath of relative sanity on some key foreign policy issues. All that's a long way of saying that I don't have particularly strong feelings about the guy one way or another. And as long as he doesn't have much popular support I don't see much reason to have one. But when I say alternative universe, I don't just mean his supporters.

A while back I was peppered for a few days by emailers pointing me toward an article detailing Paul's alleged history of anti-Israel politics and slurs and goading me to 'disavow' him. I told these good souls that I found it hard to disavow him since I hadn't avowed him in the first place. And the response I got was that it was a matter of all the liberals and Democrats who were on the Ron Paul bandwagon.

But who are these people? The Democrats and liberals who are on the Ron Paul bandwagon?

And this is what I mean: the alternative Ron Paul universe, supporters and critics, all living in a some sort of bubble, alternative reality, in which Paul is a key driver in our national politics, notwithstanding the fact that he barely registers in the polls and does not seem to have moved the needle one notch the GOP nomination contest in terms of shifting the terms of the debate toward his views on foreign policy.