James Joyner | Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Posted on 10/17/2007 11:41:36 AM PDT by SJackson
|
|
James Joyner | Tuesday, October 16, 2007 |
|
|
|
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/10/ron_paul_supported_by_racist_western_men_/
Who supports Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency? White supremacists and men from the West Coast, apparently.
Thomas Edsall reports,
Through no fault of his own, Rep. Ron Paul’s anti-globalist, anti-government campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has become a magnet in neo-Nazi networks, pulling in activists and supporters from the fringe white nationalist community where anti-Semitism, anti-black and anti-immigrant views are commonplace.
In some cases, these internet-based activists acknowledge that even though the Paul campaign does not have a racist or anti-Semitic agenda, it can serve as a vehicle to find sympathizers and to recruit new loyalists drawn to the Republican congressman’s opposition to international trade agreements, federal police authority and to the income tax.
Such web-based organizations as Stormfront (motto: “White Pride, World Wide”), Vanguard News Network (”No Jews. Just Right.”) and the Nationalist Coalition (”working to create the relationships that will lay the foundation for the White community that is necessary to our survival”) have become sources of support for Paul’s bid for the Republican nomination, and in some cases have set up separate Ron Paul discussion groups.
As Edsall’s wording constantly emphasizes, this is essentially happenstance. It’s natural, to be sure, that white supremacists, which see the federal government as their chief nemesis, would support the most anti-federal government candidate. The only odd thing here is that anti-immigrant groups would support Paul, since stopping immigration, illegal or otherwise, could only be accomplished through the exercise of federal power.
Still, as Jeff Commaroto points out, this is the down side of a decentralized Web strategy. “That might seem like a great idea at first but when messages are not vetted by an official source, it is only a matter of time before some people rise up and exploit them.” Josh Levy agrees, seeing this as “an inevitable outgrowth of giving control of your message to your supporters.”
Meanwhile, Patrick Ruffini has done some analysis of Ron Paul’s donors — using information provided by Paul’s online effort — and finds that they are overwhelmingly (83 percent) male and come predominantly from the West and Northeast.
This really is a Western movement, with some of the Northeast thrown in. Basically, these are the places where you would expect libertarians to be strong. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a data set this good about the state-by-state strength of libertarianism. And the data gets more reliable every day .
The Paul movement is weakest in the Deep South and the Ohio River Valley. Ohio (and surprisingly New York) are Paul’s weakest big states.
The differences are also fairly dramatic. One is 4 times more likely to be a Ron Paul donor in Nevada than in Mississippi. And more than twice as likely in blue Washington state than in blue New York. Alaska and Hawaii, which are not on the map, would also be colored the darkest shade of red.
I’m not sure what to make of that but it’s interesting. Essentially, Paul’s support is strongest in states that tend not to vote Republican. Does that mean that a theoretical nominee Paul would win in a landslide (after all, one doesn’t expect the South to vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama if Paul is the alternative)? Or are the numbers just too small to matter?
------------------------------------
http://www.electiongeek.com/blog/2007/10/16/ron-paul-the-white-supremacist-recruiters/
October 16th, 2007
An interesting story from Thomas B. Edsall at the Huffington Post which claims neo-nazi groups are flocking to the Paul campaign as a recruitment tool.
Through no fault of his own, Rep. Ron Paul’s anti-globalist, anti-government campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has become a magnet in neo-Nazi networks, pulling in activists and supporters from the fringe white nationalist community where anti-Semitism, anti-black and anti-immigrant views are commonplace.
In some cases, these internet-based activists acknowledge that even though the Paul campaign does not have a racist or anti-Semitic agenda, it can serve as a vehicle to find sympathizers and to recruit new loyalists drawn to the Republican congressman’s opposition to international trade agreements, federal police authority and to the income tax.
Such web-based organizations as Stormfront (motto: “White Pride, World Wide”), Vanguard News Network (”No Jews. Just Right.”) and the Nationalist Coalition (”working to create the relationships that will lay the foundation for the White community that is necessary to our survival”) have become sources of support for Paul’s bid for the Republican nomination, and in some cases have set up separate Ron Paul discussion groups.
It makes sense with Paul’s anti-government, anti-IRS, anti-trade messages. Though the campaign doesn’t seem happy with the support.
The Paul campaign dismissed the pro-Paul activities among these groups. “We don’t know who these people are,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s communications director. Their support has “nothing to do with Ron Paul, and what he stands for….His message of freedom, peace and prosperity - that’s why people support him.”
The problem is, it seems like the campaign has been more than happy to welcome outsiders to spread its message online. That might seem like a great idea at first but when messages are not vetted by an official source, it is only a matter of time before some people rise up and exploit them.
I have been skeptical that there is any real support for Paul beside a small contingent of libertarians who are going around fixing online polls and sending in a couple of bucks to the campaign. Now I guess this is evidence that the campaign is growing.
Below is a white supremacist ad for Paul from the group Stormfront.
Yes, I know, they're all terrified of him.
Actually he gets a fair amount of support from what Republicans would call the left, the radical antiwar folk, progressives and such.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.