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<DIV class=timestamp>December 27, 2011</DIV>
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<H1><NYT_HEADLINE version="1.0" type=" ">Mr. Paul’s Discredited
Campaign</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>
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<P>Ron Paul long ago disqualified himself for the presidency by peddling
claptrap proposals like abolishing the Federal Reserve, returning to the gold
standard, cutting a third of the federal budget and all foreign aid and opposing
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. </P>
<P>Now, making things worse, he has failed to convincingly repudiate racist
remarks that were published under his name for years — or the enthusiastic
support he is getting from racist groups. </P>
<P>Mr. Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas who is doing particularly well
in Iowa’s precaucus polls, published several newsletters in the ’80s and ’90s
with names like the Ron Paul Survival Report and the Ron Paul Political Report.
The newsletters interspersed libertarian political and investment commentary
with racial bigotry, anti-Semitism and far-right paranoia. </P>
<P>Among other offensive statements, the newsletters said that <A
title="McClatchey report"
href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/22/v-print/133898/paul-walks-out-of-interview-over.html">95
percent of Washington’s black males were criminals</A>, and they described the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as “Hate Whitey Day.” One <A
title="PDF of a newsletter"
href="http://www.tnr.com/sites/default/files/January1993.pdf">1993 article</A>
appeared under a headline lamenting the country’s “disappearing white majority.”
Other articles suggested that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, was
responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, praised the Louisiana
racist David Duke and accused some gay men with AIDS of <A title="NYT report"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=all">deliberately
spreading the disease</A>, “perhaps out of a pathological hatred.” </P>
<P>A <A title="Reuters report"
href="http://mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE7BM03320111223">direct-mail
ad</A> for the newsletters from around 1993 warned of a “coming race war in our
big cities” and said there was a “federal-homosexual cover-up” to suppress the
impact of AIDS. </P>
<P>Mr. Paul, who, beginning in 2008, has disavowed the articles and their ideas,
now says that most of them were written by others and that he was unaware of
their content. Even if that were the case, it suggests a stupendous level of
negligence that should force a reconsideration by anyone considering entrusting
him with the White House. </P>
<P>When the newsletters first became an issue during his Congressional campaigns
in the 1990s, however, <A title="Slate report"
href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/12/26/fifteen_years_ago_ron_paul_wasn_t_claiming_somebody_else_wrote_his_newsletters.html">he
did not deny writing some of them</A> or knowing about them. </P>
<P>Mr. Paul has never given a full and detailed accounting of who wrote the
newsletters and what his role was in overseeing their publication. It’s
especially important that he do so immediately. Those writings have certainly
not been forgotten by white supremacist and militia groups that are promoting
his candidacy in Iowa and in New Hampshire. </P>
<P>The Times <A title="NYT report"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html">reported
on Sunday</A> that dozens of members of the white nationalist Web site
Stormfront are volunteering for the Paul campaign, along with far-right
militias, survivalists and anti-Zionist groups. Don Black, the Stormfront
director, said his members were drawn to Mr. Paul by the newsletters and his
positions against immigration and the Fed (run by Jews, Mr. Black said), even if
Mr. Paul were not himself a white nationalist. </P>
<P>Mr. Paul, saying he still hopes to “convert” these supporters to his views,
has refused to disavow them or to chase them out of his campaign. If he does not
do so, he will leave a lasting stain on his candidacy, on the libertarian
movement and, very possibly, on the Iowa caucuses. </P><NYT_CORRECTION_BOTTOM>
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<DIV><FONT size=2
face=Verdana>_____________________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com">wayne.a.fox@gmail.com</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>