In a statement evocative of William F. Buckley, Jr. when he excoriated Robert Welch and the John Birch Society as being “far removed from reality and common sense”, the Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative/libertarian youth group founded in 1960, has given Ron Paul (Crank – TX) the boot from its board of directors.

“Rep. Paul has strayed to the left of Obama and allied himself with the radical anti-war left by laying the blame on America for the unprovoked attacks of Sept. 11th. Additionally, Rep. Paul has not condemned the 9/11 “Truther” conspiracy theorists that support him, and he has repeatedly insisted, that the United States not bring justice to those who have murdered thousands of our civilians and soldiers at home and abroad. This is simply unacceptable. Clearly Rep. Paul cares more about a doomed presidential run than he does our country,” [YAF’s Senior National Director Jordan] Marks added.

I don’t follow groups like YAF so I am assuming the move has been a while in coming because otherwise one has to assume YAF simply hasn’t been paying attention to Ron Paul’s lunacy for the past decade. There was nothing in the mishmash of goldbuggery, conspiracy theories, and historical ignorance Paul spun in his CPAC speech to a crowd of adoring naïfs which marks it as uniquely, or even particularly, crazy by Ron Paul standards.

Regardless of what precipitated the decision by YAF it was both justified and long overdue. Ron Paul and his followers have existed as parasites on the conservative movement for much too long. The sooner they are cut loose in the way William F. Buckley, Jr., cut loose the John Birch Society the stronger our movement will be.