Now that Ron Paul is undeniably a front runner, he faces intense scrutiny from the mainstream media. Unlike the rest of the GOP field, Paul has an almost flawless record. With just a few exceptions over the past ~30 years, such as his previous support for the death penalty and the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy, Paul has never flip flopped on any of his policy positions. Since the media can’t criticize his consistent record or any extramartial affairs– he has been married to his high school sweetheart for over 50 years– they choose to hammer him about some newsletters written under his name about twenty years ago.
Several newsletters have been published under Ron Paul’s name since the 1970′s such as Dr. Ron Paul’s Freedom Report and Ron Paul’s Freedom Report–products of his admirable think-tank the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education– along with the The Ron Paul Investment Letter, The Ron Paul Survival Report and Ron Paul Political Report. The vast majority of these newsletters were “fairly conventional” in that they discussed free market economics with a focus on monetary policy. Unfortunately, there were brief periods mostly in the early 1990′s when mainly the Ron Paul Political Report published a handful of inappropriate articles.
My purpose is not to defend those specific newsletters which did, in fact, contain offensive and ugly material. I’ve seen the same few controversial passages brought up over and over again. Of course, Ron Paul didn’t write those letters. Public figures almost never write any of their own articles, newsletters or books. As a ghost writer myself, I’ve written dozens of letters and op-eds for well-known political figures. Many of them are published without the direct approval of the supposed author. Some of the “authors” do not even know my name.
The newsletters sound absolutely nothing like anything Ron Paul has ever said. It’s not his tone and it clearly does not reflect his long-held beliefs. I have frequently challenged people to find one racist thing that Ron Paul has ever said in a speech or interview. No one has ever sent me any proof despite the probably millions of Ron Paul videos on YouTube. For comparison purposes, here is an actual quote from Ron Paul on racism:
Rosa Parks is one of my heroes. Martin Luther King is a hero. Because they practiced the libertarian principle of civil disobedience, non-violence. Libertarians are incapable of being racist because racism is a collectivist idea, you see people in groups. A civil libertarian sees everyone as an important individual, it’s not the color of their skin that is important like Martin Luther King said. What is important is the character of the individual. You know what is really interesting though? And this could be behind it. Because I as a Republican candidate, probably am getting the most number of black voters and black supporters.
Click here to see the rest of the YouTube video.
That sounds more like the Ron Paul that I know. And it’s a quote directly from his mouth instead of on some decades-old newsletter. Should Ron Paul have paid closer attention to the newsletter written under his name? Yes, of course. That was a huge mistake and I sincerely believe he regrets it. He has repeatedly said time and time again that “I didn’t read them at the time, I didn’t write them, and I disavow them. ” Dr. Paul says that he was too focused on being a full-time medical doctor and raising five children in Texas plus this was back in the olden days before the Internet made it easy to share documents. He essentially just lent his well-known name to the letters.
Some critics have cried “if he didn’t even read the newsletter, how is he qualified to be president?!” I’ll say it again, he should have read and stopped the offensive newsletters from ever being published. He has apologized and accepted moral responsibility for allowing them to go out under his name. But let’s face it, he has had far fewer gaffes than any of the other presidential candidates.
This error in judgement is just one strike against him. But it in no way compares to all of Newt Gingrich’s baggage, in my eyes.
He trusted somebody that he shouldn’t have. That’s the only mistake that he made. This will blow over in a day or two, just like it did in 2007.
Sure hope you’re right. Difference between now an 2007 is he wasn’t about to win Iowa…
Well the ones making a really big deal out of these few letters that were inappropriate is a group that Newt Gingrich is involved with…so I guess that explains that
As far as any person in the House or Senate complaining about not reading a simple newsletter would be like the Pot calling the Kettle Black….they passed a 2000 page bill(Obamacare) and admitted they didnt’t read it and also admitted they don’t read many of the bills they vote on…I certainly find that a hundred times more dispicable than these few letters that he did not write and was not aware of at the time..but they don’t have anything else so I guess they will ride this poor dead horse right into the ground..
Great point about not reading something. These clowns (Newt most definitely included) pass laws, yes I said laws, without reading them. This is the last grasp of desperate individuals.
Ron Paul Covered Up Newsletters For Political Reasons http://bit.ly/vSscFl
I know Ron personally, and have for nearly 30 years. He served on our board of trustees in the 1980s. I can vouch for what Julie says here. There is not an ounce of racism, sexism or any other invalid, reprehensible or inappropriate “ism” in the man. He maintains the highest standards of character and integrity. — Lawrence W. Reed, president, Foundation for Economic Education.
I don’t know if it will blow over or not. The media has grabbed a hold of this story and I don’t know if they’ll let go soon, or easily. I think a big part of it will depend on how he answers the questions. I hope that his team helps him put together a coherent answer. I think he should call people together and give a comprehensive answer it, and move it to a higher level – like Obama’s speech on race after the whole Jeremiah Wright stuff.
I like Ron Paul, but he’ll never make it through to nomination, let alone the white house without actually dealing with this. Everything you wrote is true, now he needs to take action and out Rockwell or whoever, or it looks like he’s hiding something. How’s that going to look running against the first black president with over a billion dollars in his campaign bank?
Ron Paul needs to lead from the front on this. If this was me I’d be screaming from the rooftops about somebody writing that junk in my name, I’m very disappointed in him.
Thanks for this post, Julie. I DMed you on Twitter earlier today and I was going to ask you your thoughts on this topic. But I see you got it all down here.
I also don’t think those are RP’s words, and if he is a closet racist, he’s the best actor in the last 100 years. But I wonder if he does know who wrote those things.
One other disappointing thought. Regardless of who wrote them, it’s brutal politically to have his name over each and every one. If we see this much now, can you imagine the attention they would see in a general election? It would be regurgitated 24/7.
@speedmaster he’s not a racist. He needs to clear the air though … We live in a world where perception is all too often reality. We can all think what we want, even if it’s true. Ron Paul, if he is to have a chance as POTUS, has to make this go away, or he needs to (fade to black) … saddening as it may be ;/
Fellow Paul supporters need to think ahead, South Carolina —-> General Election etc … I’m all for him being vetted, everyone is his spot is, nothing new here….but, if he is to fight ‘another day’, then this junk needs to go away.
I think the campaign has done a poor job handling the newsletters. It’s not like they didn’t know this was coming. I don’t know if Rockwell or Rothbard wrote them, but I think Rockwell was the editor and he should own up to it if was him. In 1996, Ron defended the newsletters. That was a mistake. The whole thing has been a horrible mess. But I don’t think he wrote them and I don’t think he’s a racist.
I think Eric Dondero wrote the letters.
All one has to do is look at his past statements to realize Ron Paul is not a racist. I agree with you that he should have known what was in the newsletters, but that is a mistake in judgement. Anyone who thinks that should disqualify him for President is simply being unrealistic and is exercising a little tactic called wishful thinking.
Having said that, I do think he needs to deal with this head on. Get in front of it, so to speak. Herman Cain made the mistake of not doing that with the accusations that were thrown at him and it caused him to drop out. I’m not saying the accusations against Ron Paul are the same, but they still need to be dealt with.
Baffles the mind why him and his team haven’t just killed this thing. And the majority of Paul supporters aren’t thinking Endgame on this. Merely standing on principle, won’t get him anywhere in this culture. He doesn’t stand a chance if supporters, just say “you know he’s not racist” “he didn’t write them” “this is old hat” etc… We all knew this was coming, why didn’t Ron Paul squash this once and for all years ago? If we want to change the narrative, amongst so many other things in this country …. who cares about Rockwell, or whoever wrote these things? much more important things here. Also, doesn’t this taint austro-libertarians, and anarcho-capitalists? I’m perplexed, to say the least, he’s not showing any leadership on this.
More egregious than claiming to have had nothing to do with the newsletters is the 1995 video of Ron Paul on CSPAN trying to sell his newsletter. Additionally, what of the photos of Ron Paul with StormFront Founder Don Black, or the photos of Ron Paul with the editor of alternativeright.com and white nationalist Richard Spencer, or his associations with Marcus Epstein who has a wrap sheet for beating up a black woman in Georgetown and hurling racial slurs at her… I used to really like Dr. Paul, but the fact that he allowed people like Don Black and Richard Spencer to haunt his campaign sickens me.
Additionally, I know Ron Paul probably didn’t write those newsletters, and believe it or not, I don’t think Lew Rockwell did either. I think it was Murray Rothbard himself who wrote that crap. But I’m sure Lew and Ron both went along with Rothbard’s plan to use racism to win over the “rednecks” in the early 1990′s.
Maybe Ron Paul and team don’t know for sure who wrote the letters.
Puhleeze! To all you witless zombies who just keep whining “He needs to do something about this…he needs to answer the questions…” and on and on. The issue HAS been dealt with. The questions have been asked and answered and answered and answered. For Pete’s sake it’s a non-issue for anyone with a brain.
@christine if it’s been dealt with, why hasn’t it gone away? (The Media and all those that are scared of what he represents)
and …Thank you for exemplifying one of the reasons why Dr. Paul won’t get through to the nomination. Most of his supporters annoy so many people because they go straight to name calling, and exercising kneejerk defensiveness. I swear that the majority of Paul supporters are not taking the long view of this. Or taking into account: how would Obama and CO. handle Ron Paul? The media is doing this to him now, what’re they going to do then? Let alone the GOP establishment. Hugh Hewitt said yesterday he’d vote for Obama instead of Paul!!!
It’s a POLITICAL FIGHT, do you know what that means?!
Your feelings don’t matter.
Sincerely,
Witless Zombie who would like to see libertarianism stand a chance in this country, but the odds are decreasing everyday.
Reason said the same thing I said here: http://reason.com/blog/2011/12/25/the-right-way-for-ron-paul-to-respond-to
Though I am an economic progressive who agrees with Ron Paul on a majority of economic issues, his impatience with issues of human rights means that I simply can not vote for him for the office of President. This does not take away from the validity of his ideas; however, his behavior shows that he simply does not have the patience to see that his economic ideal is applied equally across all ethnic and social groups, which is definitely a responsibility of the office of the President.
Now before anyone dismisses the above argument as a representative for the disadvantaged whining for more entitlements, consider the many social and economic groups which rely on the government for the simple acknowledgement of their human rights. The fact is that economic policy does not happen in a vacuum, and if Ron Paul is not willing to spend the same amount of time on human rights issues as he is on economic issues, then he should stick to a position which deals with ONLY economic issues without the human rights agenda, such as House Budget Chairman or Secretary of the Treasury.
I also think that both Ron Paul and Julie are mistaken when they say that Ron Paul has black people in his back pocket. People like myself, black, highly educated and politically aware (and good looking) , are estranged by many candidates, including Ron Paul, because we simply do not exist in great enough numbers to affect a vote. So hell no, Ron Paul doesn’t have my vote, because it is not in my political interests to vote for him. I will, however, take his superior economic policy and use it in my private life.
Wrote an article about it on my blog if anyone cares to read. My guess is that you won’t though, because it is a viewpoint that is not easily espoused nor even expressed.
http://www.occupyxmas.net/2011/12/thank-you-and-goodbye-ron-paul.html