Wickwire
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ht tp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-ronpaul_11edi.ART.State.Edition1.3833b23.html
06:31 AM CST on Friday, January 11, 2008
Ron Paul's maverick run for the Republican presidential nomination has been full of surprises, but none more shocking than revelations made this week in The New Republic, a Washington political magazine.
Writer James Kirchick unearthed piles of newsletters sent out by the Texas congressman in the 1980s and 1990s that were filled with racist, anti-Semitic, gay-hating rhetoric, a crackpot chrestomathy of extreme right-wing conspiracy raving.
To be fair, none of the offensive articles bore Dr. Paul's byline, and it's common for political figures to employ ghostwriters. The kindly Dr. Paul's campaign rhetoric has been utterly devoid of this garbage, and those who know him say he does not harbor those beliefs.
That may well be true, but it doesn't exonerate Dr. Paul. For one thing, it is impossible to believe that he had no knowledge that such disgusting material was being published under his name – and for so many years. For another, his campaign responded by saying the candidate doesn't believe these things and by calling the report old news. (Which is technically true, given that reports of these bigot-grams have been circulating for some time.)
It's a shockingly blasé response. At best, the eccentric Dr. Paul, whose views on the monetary system could charitably be described as coming from the fringe, seems indifferent to both the poison of bigotry, and of the moral necessity of disassociating oneself from those who advocate it.
It's tragic that a libertarian politician who has enlivened the GOP presidential race by raising important questions (and lots of grassroots money) has discredited himself and his message by these malignant associations.
But it's not as if his fans shouldn't have seen it coming.
As distinguished libertarian commentator and Paul skeptic Virginia Postrel observed, "When you give your political heart to a guy who spends so much time worrying about international bankers, you're not going to get a tolerant cosmopolitan."
06:31 AM CST on Friday, January 11, 2008
Ron Paul's maverick run for the Republican presidential nomination has been full of surprises, but none more shocking than revelations made this week in The New Republic, a Washington political magazine.
Writer James Kirchick unearthed piles of newsletters sent out by the Texas congressman in the 1980s and 1990s that were filled with racist, anti-Semitic, gay-hating rhetoric, a crackpot chrestomathy of extreme right-wing conspiracy raving.
To be fair, none of the offensive articles bore Dr. Paul's byline, and it's common for political figures to employ ghostwriters. The kindly Dr. Paul's campaign rhetoric has been utterly devoid of this garbage, and those who know him say he does not harbor those beliefs.
That may well be true, but it doesn't exonerate Dr. Paul. For one thing, it is impossible to believe that he had no knowledge that such disgusting material was being published under his name – and for so many years. For another, his campaign responded by saying the candidate doesn't believe these things and by calling the report old news. (Which is technically true, given that reports of these bigot-grams have been circulating for some time.)
It's a shockingly blasé response. At best, the eccentric Dr. Paul, whose views on the monetary system could charitably be described as coming from the fringe, seems indifferent to both the poison of bigotry, and of the moral necessity of disassociating oneself from those who advocate it.
It's tragic that a libertarian politician who has enlivened the GOP presidential race by raising important questions (and lots of grassroots money) has discredited himself and his message by these malignant associations.
But it's not as if his fans shouldn't have seen it coming.
As distinguished libertarian commentator and Paul skeptic Virginia Postrel observed, "When you give your political heart to a guy who spends so much time worrying about international bankers, you're not going to get a tolerant cosmopolitan."
