Ron Paul Liked Bill Dannemeyer

In The New Republic's recent critique of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul's old wacky newsletters, there's one disturbing Orange County connection, according to author James Kirchick:

They frequently quoted Paul's "old colleague," Representative William Dannemeyer--who advocated quarantining people with AIDS--praising him for "speak[ing] out fearlessly despite the organized power of the gay lobby."

Dannemeyer did more than advocate quarantine, of course. He once compared Nelson Mandela to Willie Horton, read graphic homosexual acts on the floor of Congress, and infamously claimed that airborne spores caused AIDS, a disease he said was "God’s way of punishing gays." So why the hell would someone like Paul support such an idiot? And how do Paul supporters justify their support for a man who, at the very least published those Dannemeyer platitudes and at the very worst wrote them? Any thoughts, Allan Bartlett?