Posted on 05/17/2007 8:57:52 AM PDT by Neville72
For all those getting really excited about anti-war, libertarian Republican Ron Paul, it's worth noting that he's pretty racist and also an anti-Semite.
http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/aol-metropolitan/96/05/23/paul.html
The Houston Chronicle story linked above contains quotes from a newsletter Mr. Paul put out in the 1980s and 1990s. It includes quotes referring to blacks as crime-prone and "fleet-footed."
Mr. Paul also wrote that "By far the most powerful lobby in Washington of the bad sort is the Israeli government" and that the goal of the Zionist movement is to stifle criticism.
Below are two more news clips making reference to the racist statements in Mr. Paul's newsletter. These problems have clearly been out there since the mid-1990s, but Mr. Paul has been below the radar until now. If he's really going to stay in the debates, perhaps the moderators can deal with this...
Candidate Had Newsletter With Controversial Stance On Blacks
196 words
24 May 1996
CongressDaily/A.M. English
Copyright (c) 1996 National Journal Inc.
A 1992 political newsletter by former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, included portrayals of African-Americans as inclined toward crime and lacking sense about political issues, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday. Paul, a former Libertarian Party presidential candidate who defeated Democratic-turned-Republican Rep. Greg Laughlin in the March primary, in November will face Democratic attorney Charles (Lefty) Morris, whose campaign is distributing Paul's writings.
Under the headline "Terrorist Update," Paul reported on gang crime in Los Angeles and wrote, "If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be." About blacks in Washington, D.C., Paul wrote, "I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal." Paul said Wednesday that his comments came in the context of "current events and statistical reports of the time," and that he opposes racism.
In later newsletters, Paul wrote that lobbying groups who seek special favors are evil, and that "by far the most powerful lobby in Washington of the bad sort is the Israeli government."
***
Texas
Newsletter by Paul attacked
Associated Press
329 words
24 May 1996
San Antonio Express-News English
(Copyright 1996)
A 1992 newsletter by Republican congressional candidate Ron Paul highlighted portrayals of blacks as criminally inclined and lacking sense about top political issues.
Reporting on gang crime in Los Angeles, Paul commented: "If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be."
Paul, a Surfside obstetrician who won the GOP nomination in the 14th District runoff by defeating incumbent Rep. Greg Laughlin, said Wednesday he opposed racism.
He said his written commentaries about blacks came in the context of "current events and statistical reports of the time."
Paul's Democratic opponent, Charles "Lefty" Morris, said many of Paul's views were "out there on the fringe" and that this fall voters would judge his commentaries.
Morris' campaign distributed selected writings by Paul this week.
Paul, a former congressman and one-time Libertarian presidential nominee, said allegations about his writings amounted to name-calling by the Democrats.
He said he'd produced the newsletter since 1985 and distributes it to an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 subscribers.
Writing in his independent political newsletter in 1992, Paul commented about black men in the nation's capital.
Citing statistics from a 1992 study produced by the National Center on Incarceration and Alternatives, a criminal justice think tank based in Virginia, Paul concluded in his column:
"Given the inefficiencies of what DC laughingly calls the criminal justice system, I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."
"These aren't my figures," Paul said this week. "That is the assumption you can gather from" the report.
He also wrote: "Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action."
Paul continued that politically sensible blacks are outnumbered "as decent people."
Agreed. As Rush pointed out, this guy has less than a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the nomination. He sounds like a Lyndon LaRouche-like nutjob who shouldn’t even be allowed into the debates.
If you gotta go back to the 1980s to cherry-pick quotes, I would say the guy is in pretty good shape.
He’s not my cup of tea, but not because of this nonsense.
If all you’ve got to criticize the guy with is some 15-year-old newsletter taken out of context, you don’t have much.
Criticizing "ethnic" lobbies does not make one a racist. Ethnic politics makes my stomach turn, although I accept it as a fact of life.
I say this, btw, as someone who strongly disagrees with RP on foreign policy, supports Israel's struggle against the Koranimals, and think Kennedy BETRAYED the brave brigadiers on the beaches of Cuba. My interests are shared with those respective ethnic lobbies because they are in AMERICA'S interest, not because I really find ethnic politics to be a benefit in and of itself.
Dr. Paul is not quite for me either, but digging up a old newsletter that he may not have wirtten seems a bit of a stretch.
He doesn’t like (Ipac?), he thinks the Israel lobby has to much power? Well, he is entitled to his opinion, but I don’t agree wtih him about it at all.
The smear machine has stepped into overdrive, the special interest groups who feel threatened by his proposals will now attempt to write him off before his ideas get any further exposure. I never expected him to win, but I hope he stays in the race so that his limited government positions get a hearing, he's one of the few Republicans who even bother talking about limited government anymore.
To me, this isn’t as powerful as his “anti-war” statement from the recent debate. Based on that, I have no use for him unless he ends up the Republican nominee.
Deliberately painting opposition to Israeli foreign policy as anti-Semitism is the cheapest kind of lie. Thanks for posting this...but you forgot the [BARF ALERT].
None of this stuff matters. Leave the man alone.
Ron Paul will disappear like the morning mist as soon as the voting begins.
He also wrote: “Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action.”
I suppose this grim statistic sharply differentiates blacks from caucasians, whose support for said political sensibility vaults all the way up to 6 or 7%.
Ron Paul is our Kucinich.
I couldn’t begin to understand why Ron Paul was among the “debater” panel, while Fred Thompson was not. Is it because Thompson has not in some formal, official, bureaucratic sense announced his candidacy?
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=377205
From an interview with Texas Monthly:
-------------------------
In one issue of the Ron Paul Survival Report, which he had published since 1985, he called former U.S. representative Barbara Jordan a "fraud" and a "half-educated victimologist." In another issue, he cited reports that 85 percent of all black men in Washington, D.C., are arrested at some point: "Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the 'criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal." And under the headline "Terrorist Update," he wrote: "If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be."
In spite of calls from Gary Bledsoe, the president of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP, and other civil rights leaders for an apology for such obvious racial typecasting, Paul stood his ground. He said only that his remarks about Barbara Jordan related to her stands on affirmative action and that his written comments about blacks were in the context of "current events and statistical reports of the time." He denied any racist intent. What made the statements in the publication even more puzzling was that, in four terms as a U. S. congressman and one presidential race, Paul had never uttered anything remotely like this.
When I ask him why, he pauses for a moment, then says, "I could never say this in the campaign, but those words weren't really written by me. It wasn't my language at all. Other people help me with my newsletter as I travel around. I think the one on Barbara Jordan was the saddest thing, because Barbara and I served together and actually she was a delightful lady." Paul says that item ended up there because "we wanted to do something on affirmative action, and it ended up in the newsletter and became personalized. I never personalize anything."
His reasons for keeping this a secret are harder to understand: "They were never my words, but I had some moral responsibility for them . . . I actually really wanted to try to explain that it doesn't come from me directly, but they campaign aides said that's too confusing. 'It appeared in your letter and your name was on that letter and therefore you have to live with it.'" It is a measure of his stubbornness, determination, and ultimately his contrarian nature that, until this surprising volte-face in our interview, he had never shared this secret. It seems, in retrospect, that it would have been far, far easier to have told the truth at the time.
THANK YOU! You and I, it would seem, are the only two people on FR who understand that ethnicity is not race.
“What an embarrassing hack you are.
You know, we have a much higher standard here for character assassination. This doesn’t even approach making the grade.”
Coming from the likes of you, I guess I’ll wear that as a badge of honor.
Ron Paul has struck many of us as a nutter. This revelation merely confirms he’s a racist nutter.
If he shows at the next debate he should be asked about his strange ideas
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