Skip ahead to 13:35 for the start of the foreign-policy passage — a few minutes in, he recycles the bogus Lancet statistic of a million Iraqi deaths from the war — or to 16:20 for a history lesson that culminates with Afghanistan and begins with the claim that our entry into World War I somehow led to hundreds of millions of deaths in the 20th century. This, of course, is why the left appreciates him even though his economic philosophy’s anathema: There’s no violence anywhere in the world that he can’t blame on American policy. As long as we have troops stationed abroad and favor some nations over others, we’re guilty of original sin; he’s that fanatic an isolationist. Except, that is, when his political future’s on the line, as it was after 9/11 when the country supported Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan overwhelmingly and Paul quietly went along. Didn’t he “know anything about history”?

Watching this, I thought of Limbaugh’s point about wanting The One to fail. Rush assumes, at least tacitly, that Obama’s loss will be mainstream Republicans’ gain. I’m not so sure. The more desperate things get economically, the more appeal Paul’s paleocon message will have and the more legitimized isolationism will become by extension. Be careful what you wish for.