Ron Paul race smear erased?
Internet information claiming that presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) is a racist – and made derogatory comments about African Americans – has been making the rounds within the blogosphere. But sources close to the editorial group that published the newsletter (or newsletters) that supposedly carried the comments claim that Ron Paul never had anything to do with them, and wasn’t even aware of them.These sources say that editorial operation in question was a fairly large one, and profitable for its time – focused in large part on measures that one could take to generate a lifestyle independent of government influence and intervention.
The publication, or publications, comprised a business venture to which Ron Paul lent his name. Headquarters were “60 miles away” from Ron Paul’s personal Texas offices. At the time that the publications were being disseminated, primarily in the 1980s, Ron Paul was involved in numerous activities including Libertarian politics. He eventually ran for U.S. president as a Libertarian.
“This was a big operation,” says one source. “And Ron Paul was a busy man. He was doctor, a politician and free-market commentator. A publication had to go out at a certain time and Ron Paul often was not around to oversee the lay out, printing or mailing. Many times he did not participate in the composition, either.”
This source and others add that publications utilized guest writers and editors on a regular basis. Often these guest writers and editors would write a “Ron Paul” column, under which the derogatory comments might have been issued.
Says one source, “Ron Paul didn’t know about those comments, or know they were written under his name until much later when they were brought to his attention. There were several issues that went out with comments that he would not ordinarily make. He was angry when he saw them.”
Ron Paul has said that he did not write the comments in question, but, nonetheless, has taken “moral” responsibility for them…
The article continues here...
January 8th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Has anyone googled…...James Kirchick?
January 8th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
How many times can you keep saying s*** smells like a rose when over and over it looks like s***. Heck, we have photos of the guy with neonazi leaders and he even has one of them (something like Keleso) working on his campaign. What more will it take.
I remember David Duke ran saying the same things as Paul and Duke even denounced racism.
We have comments supposedly by him, we have him hiring racists, we have him associating with racists, we have photos with him and racists.
I guess denial is just easier.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Jamie Kirchick (author of the New Republic story):
“I don’t think Ron Paul is a homophobe; I’m just cynical and enjoy getting supporters of political candidates riled up. If you were a Giuliani guy I’d have called him a fascist.”
http://gays-for-ron.blogspot.com/2008/01/jamie-kirchick-i-dont-think-ron-paul-is.html
January 8th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
This was all prooved to be false a long time ago, and the photo with the “neonazi” was taken at the values voters debate. This person whom Paul did not know, had his picture taken with Paul.
Its not too difficult to do something like that. When you dont keep up to date with the who’s who of white supremecy, it makes sense that Paul would not know the person in the photograph.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Anyone can pose for a picture with a politician. I once took a photo with Ray Nagin, it doesn’t mean I support him nor him me. These guilt by association attacks are so weak.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Only The Mentally Minuscule Take Words Out Of Context To Bend Them To Their Preconceived Paradigm.
If you refuse to look at the actions of a man for temperance of judgment then you truly castrate you mind and make it easy to arrive at wrong conclusion.
The weak minded are easily led by the bridle of emotion.
Racism is not consistent with the philosophy expressed by Ron Paul. He has rebutted these accusations from the same distortions in previous days.
Ron Paul is the only candidate that I would trust with my money and my family’s safety.
I Vote For Virtue; I Vote For Ron Paul
January 8th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I’ve read some of the linked pdfs over at reason and the one that seems to be drawing the biggest complaints doesn’t really seem racist to me. It’s not at all PC, but if you have an ounce of sense and read the article in its entirety, it’s not racist no matter the author.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
You can’t stop Ron Paul. The truth ALWAYS comes out
NEXT
January 8th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/press-releases/125/ron-paul-statement-on-the-new-republic-article-regarding-old-newsletters
January 8, 2008 5:28 am EST
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – In response to an article published by The New Republic, Ron Paul issued the following statement:
“The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.
“In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content of a person’s character, not the color of their skin. As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on April 20, 1999: ‘I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.’
“This story is old news and has been rehashed for over a decade. It’s once again being resurrected for obvious political reasons on the day of the New Hampshire primary.
“When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine full-time, a newsletter was published under my name that I did not edit. Several writers contributed to the product. For over a decade, I have publically taken moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name.”
January 8th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I had my picture taken with Ron Paul at the Texas Straw Poll. I do not recall being asked to fill out a questionnaire before we took the picture.
It stands to reason he may have had his picture taken with strangers!
January 8th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Via Prison Planet
“Lew Rockwell has provided a succinct background on The New Republic in wake of the smear attempts:
TNR has a long and checkered history of pro-fascism, pro-communism, and pro-new dealism. Founded to promote the rotten progressive movement of militarism, central banking, income taxation, centralization, and regulation of business, it naturally hates and fears the Ron Paul Revolution. The mag is also famous for having published a slew of entirely made-up articles by Stephen Glass, which it passed off as non-fiction. Through the 1950s it was an important magazine, of significant if baleful influence, but it long ago declined in circulation and significance, like all DC deadtree ops.”
January 8th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
So:
If Ron Paul is elected president, can we expect that he will have racist and homophobic ghostwriters putting out executive orders, legislative proposals, etc. under his name and then eventually say “I didn’t mean any of that stuff—but I take moral responsibility for it?”
If Bill Clinton tried to get away with this kind of con artist bullshit, not a single person here would buy it for a hot second.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
The newsletters in question were written by a former staffer named Eric Dondero.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Your logic would follow if any of this went down while he was in office.
I remember when the banner at the top of this site read “Austin Cassidy’s Third Party Watch”. When you view a post directly on this site, the author/poster’s name is hidden. A casual reader might have mistaken any of those articles as Austin’s own thoughts. A little effort would prove otherwise, but print doesn’t have the same transparency as the internet.
RP does need to lay it all out, explain what happenned and how it did to everyone that’s going to learn about Ron Paul for the first time from this article getting passed around. And a press release isn’t going to cut it. But tomorrow will be fine.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Obviously another Rudy Guliani disinformation op. His last op against Ron Paul was the “internet spamming” lie by one of his paid operatives. Once she got caught by attentive internet folks, all of her posts were removed from Guliani’s website forums.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Fred,
It’s possible that some people might mistake non-Austin-Cassidy writing on TPW for Austin-Cassidy writing on TPW. However, I am not aware of anyone writing on TPW and identifying themselves as Austin Cassidy when they aren’t. In Paul’s newsletter, Paul—or someone pretending to be him—makes frequent reference to Paul’s qualifications, etc., in the first person, e.g. “when I was in Congress,” “as a practicing OB-GYN,” etc.
At worst, Paul wrote the stuff himself. At BEST, Paul didn’t supervise what went out with his permission and under his own good name, over a period of YEARS … and therefore he has no grounds to deny that it should be associated with that good name later.
If Paul was a different kind of politician, he might be able to turn it around by saying “look … I’m a southern politician, and for many years I had the prejudices typical to a southern politician of the era I came to political maturity in. I’m not proud of that. But, like many other southern politicians—Strom Thurmond, Robert Byrd, Trent Lott, George Wallace—I’ve changed over time. I’ve abandoned the bad ideas I used to have. I was wrong back then. If you listen to what I’m saying now, you’ll understand that I’m not the Ron Paul portrayed in those newsletters.”
Unfortunately, Paul is heavily invested in the “consistency” card, and that has him playing the Bill Clinton/Janet Reno game of substituting saying “I take responsibility” for actually taking responsibility.
January 8th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
pauls new immigrantion add is pretty racist. the left will abandon paul as soon as it becomes an issue
January 8th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
The newsletters in question were written by a former staffer named Eric Dondero.
And Eric WAS Fired! The truth of all this will emerge and all you media-types will be sent on another “witch-hunt” by your bosses.
Nice try, better luck next time
RP 2008
January 8th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I dislike Dondero’s position on some issues and for his bombastic attitude, but there’s no reason to think Eric is the author of the quoted pieces. I don’t think Ron Paul is a racist no matter what’s been attributed him- his writings never have suggested a “blame whitey day” as suggested in the pdfs.
January 8th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
OK.
Even if, and I think that’s a VERY big if, Ron Paul did not write those articles, and did not know anything about them when they were printed…
... that still means he lent his name, his reputation, and his respectability to a group of people and did nothing, repeat NOTHING, to protect himself or to stop them from abusing his name, until years or even decades after the fact.
Is this really the sign of a good leader?
January 9th, 2008 at 12:26 am
The articles don’t sound like Ron Paul. They don’t sound like Dondero either, and I’m not even close to being a fan of Dondero.
Maybe Lew Rockwell. If so, he should step up and admit to it, and not leave Ron Paul in a position of covering for his friend. I don’t like the conclusion either, Lew Rockwell’s site has many good articles. But there has always been an undercurrent of racialism there, although Lew has always been careful not to make it too explicit.
January 9th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I agree with Rob Kelly’s take on LRC. And Lew Rockwell’s attack on TNR ( not that I disagree with his take on TNR) doesn’t really address the issue. Frankly, all the talk of “communism” and “pc” just sounds like what a typical racist says as an excuse. It sounds like David Duke defending his views.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:36 am
I dislike Dondero but he didn’t write them, they were before his time. Paul wrote some of it and Lew Rockwell wrote some of it. That was widely known at the time. However, all the articles were published by Paul and mailed out of his office. He is responsible for them and even if Rockwell wrote the most vitriolic pieces (which may be the case) he did so as a paid staff member of Paul and it all was published under Paul’s name. And this went on for years. Many of us libertarians knew about it and distanced ourselves from Paul because of it. It wasn’t hidden. And in 1988 when Paul sought the LP nomination his far right sentiments were discussed. He won mostly because his opposition, Russel Means, was even worse though in different ways.
January 9th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Although I disagree with Ron Paul on some issues, I think he’s doing a great service to libertarians by bringing up the important issues that conventional politicians, approved by the MSM, won’t talk about. I’m a bit alarmed that he let these racist and homophobe statements come out under his name, even though I know he’s not the person who made them or even agrees with them. But, he’s not going to be elected President, I think New Hampshire would convince even the most die-hard supporters of that, and with the amount of money and support his campaign has generated it would be beneficial for him to stay in the race as a third party candidate and continue to promote libertarian ideals. I hope he decides to do that.
January 9th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
None of this is new it has been addressed, to my satisfaction. It seems every month or so it is repackaged and sent out for another round. It doesn’t seem to ring true with runningmates Dr. Paul has mentioned (Walter E. Williams) or his very vocal respect for Ludwig von Mises (who was Jewish).
January 9th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I and many of my White Anglo neighbors respect and admire Dr. Paul and his stances on liberty and limited government. I met and spoke to him in Burbank. I took a picture with him as well. I, son of Mexican migrants.
TEFLON RON, baby!
TEFLON RON.
This stunt and the people who are draggin Dr. Pauls name thourgh the Mud better think twice. It will be longed rememberd.
January 9th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Remember the picture of Roslyn Carter (Jimmy’s wife) and John Wayne Gacy in his Pogo the Clown garb? No one accused Mrs. Carter of helping John cut up them boys and bury them in his crawl space. Hell, here in Arkansas we know for a fact that Bill Clinton (or someone very close to him) had people murdered and he still became president. He must have had some powerful king makers who are still around and don’t like Ron Paul at all. This is just another hit piece against Ron Paul from the kingmakers who absolutely have bigger plans in store for Ron if he gets more popular and doesn’t quit.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
.Kris,
re:
“... that still means he lent his name, his reputation, and his respectability to a group of people and did nothing, repeat NOTHING, to protect himself or to stop them from abusing his name, until years or even decades after the fact.
Is this really the sign of a good leader?”
Do you really think being part of a newsletter and being PRESIDENT hold the same responsibility? I’m not about to think badly for a man whose identity was unwittingly stolen in a stupid little newsletter some 25 years ago.
If you had, say, accidently left your credit card in the store, and it was stolen, how would you feel if I gave you grief over it some decades after the fact? You’d be asking me to give it a rest, right?
January 10th, 2008 at 12:53 am
When you’re filling your car with $3 gas and buying some $2.65 a dozen eggs, remember who is running on stopping deficit spending. The war for oil is what caused prices for anything that eats grain to skyrocket. When THOSE prices rise, the fresh fruit seller raises his prices again, now you have some nice $5 a pound grapes in the market. Laugh all you want, it’s YOUR money being spent. YOU’RE the one going to pay $250 a week for groceries. Still think Ron Paul sounds like a bad idea? He’s the ONLY candidate, Republican or Democrat that is running on reducing your cost of living. Maybe you have plenty money. Me, I’m not so rich.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
our biggest concern should be the future of our country. the only one running who is willing to address the real problems and end the staus quo is RON PAUL. all this other bologna is just another way for some to run from the real issues facing our nation. stop with the bs and get behind the man of integrity who wants the best for you and ALL other citizens of this country. RON PAUL is the best choice for AMERICA.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I could not care less if Ron Paul likes me or how I live. That isn’t the point. The point is the US Constitution. George Bush did not have to “care about” Black people to assuage the suffering after the levees were destroyed in NOLA…all his administration and state officials needed to do was follow the law that applies to repairing infrastructure, emergency response to national disasters, and also not hinder aid. If you follow the law…just laws that is, we can all get along. This country has mandated race, sexual preference, and gender discrimination. It is time for us all to be full citizens. That is the point.
So what is all this whining about “Ron Paul doesn’t like me—-wha wha wha
“? And I am a non-white, heterosexual woman. I don’t think Paul wrote those things, and if so—-SO WHAT! I didn’t know there was a racist, homophobic, sexist litmus test for politicians…especially since most of them probably are.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
It was Eric Dondero, I knew him at the time and he was always going on about writing in a national publication though he didn’t get credit for it.
You’ll notice the IP address of people defending Dondero is the same, he’s all over comments about Ron Paul.
Last time I talked to him he told me he was working for Giuliani now.
January 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Unfortunately for anyone who believes in personal liberty, there is a good deal of ideological crossover with Right Wing extremist groups. I remember one time researching Henry David Thoreau, and a search led me to a neo-nazi webpage littered with quotes from Walden. Odd considering the fact that Thoreau was an unimpeachable abolitionist.
If anyone can satifactorily explain to me how a man that supports an end to the War on Drugs can be labeled a racist, while those afraid to even discuss this effectively racist policy are hailed as progressive, I’ll be happy to immediately switch my support.
As it is, the most important issue is our misguided foriegn policy, and as a result I will vote for Barack Obama in a General Election against any Republican other than Ron Paul. Continue to call me a racist by association if you like.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
C’mon … these newsletters were published over a decade and a half, under Ron Paul’s name. Even if it was a “big operation” (lots of typing and xeroxing?) that hardly means it’s plausible that Ron Paul never read the results of this “big operation”.
January 10th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
WTF is the matter with most of you morons. There are all kinds of photos of John Wayne Gasey, the murderer with police officers governors and even a president and Rumsfeld and Bush buddies with Sadaam Hussein and Manuel Noriega. Having someone take a picture with you does not mean you know who they are. People trust people to do the right thing and apperantly who ever was doing the editing and publishing was taking advantage of Dr Pauls name. Ron Paul, despite these smear tactics is the most honorable and most straightforward candidate in this race without doubt and I hope he is vindicated from this slander and libel. It is fear of his success that this is being done, no doubt. The revolutuion is much biggerthan him and will and should continue.
January 10th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Brad is right. Only someone who knows absolutely nothing about Ron Paul could ever believe he is even the slightest bit racist. Why would he want to let so many blacks out of prison because of our stupid drug laws? Meanwhile most americans still dont know that tens of thousands of blacks were purged from the voting rolls in Florida 2000, thus handing the country over to Bush and accelerating our long slide down the drain. If I was a betting man I would not bet on the intelligence of the average american.
Go McCain go!
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!
Live free or Diebold!
I salute all you morons in NH who prove to the world how dumb you really are! See, like Ron Paul, I’m not a racist, I treat all stupid people equally: the way you friggin deserve to be treated!
January 10th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Jeff Bubb: To use your credit card metaphor, Paul handed his credit card over to other people- people who, to this day, he refuses to identify by name- and never demanded any accounting for the spending over twenty years… and TODAY, on Chris Matthews, he actually tried to DEFEND those people to a certain extent.
So, one of these things is true:
(A) Ron Paul is tolerant of bigots and conspiracy nuts and utterly uncaring of his personal reputation being linked to such persons, and wants to be trusted with the reputation of the entire United States; or
(B) Ron Paul
isa bigot and conspiracy nut, either one of which should disqualify him from being President, never mind both at once.The evidence of twenty years of newsletters, fundraiser letters, and other documents does not support any other position, such as “Ron Paul does not allow his name to be linked to race hatred or conspiracy theory, much less indulge in either himself.” SOMEBODY did just that, in his name and with his consent.
January 10th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Sorry- CNN, not Hardball on MSNBC. I paid attention, briefly, to Paul but not to the talking head interviewing him.
January 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I don’t believe that Ron Paul is a racist or homophobe. But if you are are running for the office of chief executive, you need to demonstrate that you are responsible for your organisation, and this looks very bad in that regard.
January 11th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
watch Dr Pauls responce on CNN
part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6rxts0-f9w
part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82CYNV0U_kg
even NeoCon talking head Blitzer gets it.
This was yellow journalism at its finest!
January 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I just don’t care about this newsletter issue. So what? Some bad things were said in some newsletter years ago. I am more worried about stopping the IRS, stopping the collape or the dollar and going back to a sensible foriegn policy that won’t bankrupt us. I am worried about the Patriot Act and Habeus Corpus.
January 13th, 2008 at 3:20 am
In all the hullaballoo over the newsletters I keep read accusation that in addition to being a racist and homophovic, that Dr. Paul is a creationist. In the first debate, Wolf Blitzer asked that everybody that did not believe in evolution raise thier hand and Dr. Paul did not do so. Does anyone know the basis or source of this frequent creationist accusation?
January 14th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
William: There’s a YouTube clip of a Ron Paul campaign event where he responds to the question of evolution by saying it’s a theory, and he doesn’t believe in it. I believe it was posted on this blog, in fact…