Imagine the Republican outrage if a prominent Democrat became an apologist for Iran and its terrorist-backing, America-hating, theocracy, endorsing their drive for nuclear weapons and blaming the United States for strained relations. The GOP must display when one of their own presidential contenders, Ron Paul, takes these irresponsible positions in a televised debate in Iowa. Congressman Paul said Iran represented no danger to the US, he opposed economic sanctions against the Mullahs, and called it “natural that they might want a (nuclear) weapon.” Despite his strong showing in the Iowa straw poll, such statements demonstrate Ron Paul’s total inability to build a coalition to win the presidency. National security issues still matter to most Americans and his pro-Iranian fulminations, like his crackpot condemnation of the successful strike against bin Laden, place him far outside the GOP – and American – mainstream.