Ron Paul: Nepotism is his middle name

I'd forgotten, frankly, that Ron Paul was still running for president. Most of his batshit-crazy supporters (which of course includes all of them) seem to have quieted down, which is terrific, since they are all pretty much unglued in one way or another -- or, in many cases, more than one.

Anyway, the campaign continues, and now I think I know why: it's a great way to enrich Paul's own family!

Stick with your own kind, says [Paul,] the maverick presidential candidate.

And that's more or less what he has been doing over the past few months, putting relatives in a slew of key positions and paying them a total of $169,063, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

Paul's granddaughter Valori Pyeatt helps organize fundraising receptions and has been paid $17,157. Another granddaughter, Laura Paul ($2,724), handles orders for Ron Paul merchandise. Grandson Matthew Pyeatt ($3,251) manages Paul's MySpace profile. Daughter Peggy Paul ($2,224) helps with campaign logistics. The candidate's sons Randall and Robert and his daughter Joy Paul LeBlanc have all been paid for campaign travel and for appearing as surrogates at political events.

Who keeps track of all these finances? Paul's brother and daughter, naturally, who have been paid a combined $62,740 to handle the campaign's accounting.

Campaign aides said they discussed the possibility that involving so many family members could create the impression that nepotism was driving hiring decisions, but ultimately they saw no problem with the practice.

"You always think about those kinds of things," said Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman and, it just so happens, the fiance of one of the candidate's granddaughters (he has been paid $54,573). "But his family is very important to him. There is something important about having a family element involved in a campaign. Having people around you that you can unconditionally trust."

Nice going, Paulistas. You keep pouring money into your racist whackjob hero's campaign, and he just passes it right on to his relatives. In fact, here's a handy chart (right) of the family money tree.

I mean, over $3,000 just to maintain a MySpace profile? Hey, I'm not on MySpace, but I'm on Facebook, so if ol' Ron wants to write me a $3,000 check, I'll happily keep track of him on Facebook.

I've been laughing at Ron Paul on this sucky blog for almost a year now. But now it appears the joke actually is on his supporters.