It is Zero all over again, with Ron Paul.

Stop projecting what you want onto the words of Ron Paul, and start listening critically to what he is saying. The man isn’t a libertarian, he is an old-fashioned states-rights Southerner.

Listen to him, and you will notice that all of the seemingly ‘personal liberty’ he talks about is based on removing the FEDERAL government from all oversight, and devolving power back to the states. He wants the states to make the decisions as to what rights people have and don’t have. While other Republicans dream of returning the country to the 1950s, his goal is the 1850s.

The only government he is interested in curbing is the Federal government.

So Romney is out ranting about cutting funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and said he didn’t want to borrow money from China to fund it.

Look, I covered this back in April. China holds about $1 trillion in US bonds. It has that much because of the trade imbalance with the US, not because it is loaning us money. It puts the dollars it earns in T-bills to earn interest until they need it. They need dollars to trade globally, they aren’t investing out of the ‘goodness of their heart’.

The Social Security Trust Fund holds more than two-and-a-half times more T-bills than China. It is the largest single investor in US bonds. If Republicans really believe that they must do things based on the ownership of the US debt, then the US workers who pay the withholding taxes that buy those T-bills should be number one on the list.

Given what the Angela and Nicky show are doing to the Euro, where in hell are people going to put their money if not in US Treasury bonds?

The Iowa Republican whatever is over and Romney, Santorum, and Paul each won 7 delegates, while Newt ‘Efting’ Gingrinch and Governor Goodhair got two each.

What about the big win for Romney by 8 votes? Irrelevant, as he didn’t get any more delegates that Ron Paul, and delegates are what count. The nominating conventions are like the Electoral College, the popular vote doesn’t matter – it’s the delegate count.

If Romney could only manage an 8 vote popular win with all of the money and organization at his disposal, he is not going to get the turn out for the general.

Ron Paul got the young and independent voters in Iowa. If he mounted an independent run for President, he would pull more votes from Zero than Romney.

It is to be seen if Santorum can turn his showing into a credible run. He lacks money and a national organization. The ‘usual suspects’ are holding their cash in reserve for Romney, so Santorum will have a tough row to hoe.

On the Democratic side, Zero’s operatives made damn sure there were no embarrassing uncommitted delegates selected. The Democrats vote by a show of hands, not paper ballots like the Republicans, and you must get at least 15% of the caucus with you to get your vote recorded. The ‘viability count’ was ruthlessly enforced to ensure that uncommitted didn’t make the cut, according to Iowa Democratic caucus attendees who were part of the uncommitted bloc.

Update: PZ Myers condenses hours of media coverage in one post.