Michael Leon blogs at http://malcontends.blogspot.com. Michael is a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. His writing has appeared nationally in The Progressive, In These Times, OpEdNews.com, and CounterPunch.
Wisconsin Historical Society Archives and Enterprising Writer Should Doom Ron Paul's Candidacy
Posted January 8th, 2008 by mal contends
Update:
The newest TNR revelations leave no doubt about the bigotry in Paul's repulsive journals. Too bad, I liked Paul's anti-war positions.
If you have not read James Kirchick's first piece on the story, give it a look.
#
Good-bye Ron Paul.
James Kirchick at The New Republic has a disturbing piece about the anti-war libertarian candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul
Kirchick has researched old Ron Paul political newsletters that contain blatantly racist tracts.
And the Wisconsin Historical Society, a repository for such political periodicals just may be responsible for putting an end to a candidacy that has been a thorn in the side of the pro-war GOP.
Writes Kirchick:
Finding the pre-1999 newsletters was no easy task, but I was able to track many of them down at the libraries of the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
The racist nature of several pieces in the newsletters is obvious:
The Freedom Report's online archives only go back to 1999, but I was curious to see older editions of Paul's newsletters, in part because of a controversy dating to 1996, when Charles "Lefty" Morris, a Democrat running against Paul for a House seat, released excerpts stating that "opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions," that "if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be," and that black representative Barbara Jordan is "the archetypical half-educated victimologist" whose "race and sex protect her from criticism." At the time, Paul's campaign said that Morris had quoted the newsletter out of context. Later, in 2001, Paul would claim that someone else had written the controversial passages. (Few of the newsletters contain actual bylines.) Caldwell, writing in the Times Magazine last year, said he found Paul's explanation believable, "since the style diverges widely from his own."
###
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Ron Paul and racism
1. Read the entire newsletters, not just the extracted bites. There's plenty of good stuff there, too.
2. Besides, Ron Paul did not write these, as conceded even by the extremely liberal NYT. To his great credit, he takes full moral responsibility for these newsletters and repudiates anything racist.
3. Surely you are not basing your entire opinion of Ron Paul racism question on one article?
4. Dr. Paul wrote 1,000s of articles himself. He has been in the public eye for over 30 years and never once has he uttered or personally written a racist remark.
5. Allow Ron Paul to defend himself in person: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLUmfZWIZsc
6. Research the web and get to know the writer of the New Republic article. He is a neocon, a full supporter of the war on Iraq and of policing the world. Ron Paul is the only candidate who has said we must end the war immediately, it was a mistake to go in, it is a mistake to stay. Of course, the newsletter writer would like to smear Dr. Paul's name.
7. If this is how you reach your conclusions, i.e., quickly with little other evidence (because there is none), your opinion must be taken with a grain of salt. Too bad, because I liked the tone of your blog.
The New Republic
often is exasperating because of its neocon inclinations. And Ron Paul’s anti-war and veterans’ rights work deserve the highest plaudits. Notwithstanding the above points,there is no denying that the newsletters published under Paul’s name and banner are replete with anti-Semitic and anti-black tracts, and thus ought be challenged and condemned. I don’t care what else James Kirchick has published. He did his homework and uncovered what is indefensible.
#
Post new comment