Posted on 01/11/2008 6:59:44 AM PST by jdm
Reason Magazine has long associated themselves with the Ron Paul campaign, if not officially endorsing him. Their Hit & Run blog has served as the heart of rational Paul apologetics, and in their skilled hands, that has proven essential to his campaign. Now, as the magazine has Paul on its cover, its new editor has the unpleasant task of looking a little more closely at the candidate, and Matt Welch finds it an unpleasant journey.
Has Paul really disassociated himself from, and "taken moral responsibility" for, these "Ron Paul" newsletters "for over a decade"? If he has, that history has not been recorded by the Nexis database, as best as I can reckon.The first indication I could find of Paul either expressing remorse about the statements or claiming that he did not author them came in an October 2001 Texas Monthly article -- less than eight years ago. ...
So what exactly did Paul and his campaign say about these and more egregious statements during his contentious 1996 campaign for Congress, when Democrat Lefty Morris made the newsletters a constant issue? Besides complaining that the quotes were taken "out of context" and proof of his opponent's "race-baiting," Paul and his campaign defended and took full ownership of the comments.
Indeed. Rather than claiming he had never read these newsletters, as Paul absurdly did on CNN last night, Paul claimed that he himself wrote the newsletters. Matt Welch find this in the contemporaneous Dallas Morning News report on the newsletters during Paul's 1996 Congressional campaign (May 22, 1996, emphasis mine):
Dr. Paul denied suggestions that he was a racist and said he was not evoking stereotypes when he wrote the columns. He said they should be read and quoted in their entirety to avoid misrepresentation. [...]
In the interview, he did not deny he made the statement about the swiftness of black men.
"If you try to catch someone that has stolen a purse from you, there is no chance to catch them," Dr. Paul said.
Matt has more examples of Paul's non-denials in 1996. Twelve years later, Paul wants people to believe that not only did he not write any of his newsletters, he never read them either. His role in the single most effective piece of outreach of his organization, he explained to Wolf Blitzer last night, was as a publisher -- one who didn't bother to read his own publication. These 1996 quotes put lie to his CNN interview answers.
Not only does this show dishonesty, but it indicates that Paul had a lot more involvement in the publication of the despicable statements found in his own newsletter than Paul or his less-rational apologists want to admit. The supremacists and conspiracy theorists surrounding his campaign apparently got attracted by more than just Paul's views on the Constitution; they read the newsletters and determined that Paul was one of them. His refusal to recant in 1996 and his explanation that he can't recall ever reading the newsletters today signal to them that he still wants their support.
People wonder why this matters, given Paul's fringe appeal. It matters because we can't allow this kind of hatred to get legitimized in mainstream politics again. This kind of rhetoric used to be mainstream, and not just in the South, either. Republicans cannot allow the party to get tainted by the stench of racism and conspiracy mongering. If enough of us don't step up and denounce it, strongly and repeatedly, we will not be able to avoid it.
Matt Welch and the people at Reason have reached that same conclusion in regards to libertarianism and their magazine. Good for them, even if it came a little late.
2 weeks EARLIER -On Sept 27th - 1991 Aristide endorsed ‘necklacing’
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={E4D5ADDB-07EB-45F4-968E-965ADD70E6E2}
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, February 20, 2004
ONCE AGAIN HAITIAN PRESIDENT JOHN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE
may be ousted by his citizens, who began a new rebellion against his tyrannical rule on February 5.
After Aristide was removed by a military coup in 1991, President Bill Clinton in 1994 sent 20,000 U.S. troops to Haiti to restore to power this former Roman Catholic Priest and advocate for Leftist Liberation Theology who once called Cuban Marxist dictator Fidel Castro his “greatest personal hero.”
(snip)
Aristide has also endorsed “necklacing” of the kind widely practiced in South Africa by Winnie Mandela. It consists of seizing a victim, forcing an automobile tire filled with gasoline down over their head and shoulders, and then setting the tire and gasoline on fire.
“What a beautiful tool!… It smells good. And wherever you go, you want to smell it,” Aristide said of the necklacing of his critics on September 27, 1991, as witnessed and reported by Associated Press.
“antiwar.com, figures.. Good catch.”
it has NTHING to do with my post 62 and 361. But he threw that in there so your mutual admiration society could just dismiss it all out of hand.
Fact remains -
Fred filed papers supporting Aristide 2 weeks AFTER Aristide the Marxist was quoted in AP as supporting necklacing.
Antiwar.com nutsos have nothing to do with that.
And?
Who’s to say that those PDF documents were not forged? I mean we have seen people with an agenda try and pass off forged documents to try and smear a candidate in the past.
I CC’d the others because I’m sure that they’ll probably do some additional digging.
I believe there is some confusion on which articles are being discussed.
Some articles he did admit to have been written by a ghostwriter, but put in the newsletter under his name.
They were, I believe, written while he was still a Congressman, before he left office.
The 1996 articles were put in while he was out of office.
Here are two links to the story.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2001-10-01/feature7-3.php http://reason.com/blog/show/124339.html
Yawn...
Correction:
I should have said, he admitted having a ghost writer write some of the articles with his name on them.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/2001-10-01/feature7-3.php
Bah!
Fred claims his work for Aristide was limited to one phone call.
He claims he was never compensated - so why was he doing any work on behalf on a guy who 2 weeks earlier endorsed necklacing, especially for FREE?
If you recall, at first he claimed he did no work for the pro-abortion group. His advisors categorically denied it. If you recall, Mark Corallo, a spokesman, said in the LA Times article, “Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group, period.”
Later he said his memory was fuzzy on the topic, and said, yes he did some work for them.
His pro life voting record is great, so I don’t beat him up for that one. But maybe his memory on the Aristide thing is funny too?
The following article quoting Fred makes it look like the PDF is real.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/18/ap_interview_thompson_defends_lobbying/?page=2
Another client, Aristide, was widely denounced for endorsing “necklacing,” the gruesome practice of execution where gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person’s head and set ablaze. In September 1991, Aristide said: “The burning tire, what a beautiful tool! ... It smells good. And wherever you go, you want to smell it.”
Lobbying records show that in 1991 Thompson called then White House Chief of Staff John Sununu on Aristide’s behalf.
Thompson said neither he nor Sununu recall that conversation. He noted that Aristide was popularly elected and “had the support of the United States of America, George Bush. He had the support of the Organization of American States and he was deposed by a dictatorship.”
Thompson said his work on behalf of Aristide was limited to a single phone call. “I never met with the client. I never met anybody on behalf of Haiti or received any compensation for it.”
“I didn’t “throw it in there” because the God Damned article is linked on the site.”
Nice rebuff.
Now respond to the actual information?
bleating for support again?
I already did.
362 and 369
especially 369 which quotes Fred saying he did work for Aristide - for free.
Why do work for a marxist who just supported necklacking for free???
One would think that the Paultards would hang their head in shame and slink away. Instead they defend the ugly subculture of the ultra far right. Bizarro.
So do you actually have a salient point? It looks like apples and oranges to me.
“One would think that the Paultards would hang their head in shame and slink away. Instead they defend the ugly subculture of the ultra far right. Bizarro.”
You could have read down the thread and learned something, but instead you didn’t and just responded to post #1.
Oh well. :)
“What he hell does this have to do with anything? I missed the lead in and really don’t feel like catching up, insanity bores me.
So do you actually have a salient point? It looks like apples and oranges to me.”
Facts can be boring. I’d hate to bore you any more than you already are.
2cav pinged you, and I pinged everyone he did in response.
Take it up with him.
I did read the whole thread. The Paultards are still here, defending, obscuring, parsing, equivocating and trolling. The stench is hard to ignore.
And from that I know you had no point. Were that I was surprised.
Ron Paul, proving that a political “movement” can be financed with money normally reserved for Bite Sized Skittles and pot, along with a few bucks chipped in from "Uncle George"...
“Um, it looks like you started with the Thompson / Aristides crap, so I am going to the source.”
No, Kirk did, and he made a good point.
To: atomicpossum
The newsletter was published literally dozens of times in a year and Paul was not the editor. He made a gigantic blunder but it is understandable that he did not read every single story. BTW, when do you think McCain will fully apologize for callling the Vietnamese gooks and Fred will apologize for supporting Aristide? Oh....I forgot Fred said he was againt the embargo (not for Aristide) though he signed a form to the contrary. Shocked, Shocked is right.
11 posted on 01/11/2008 7:15:23 AM PST by Captain Kirk
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