Something often overlooked in the Ron Paul newsletter story: the basic political cynicism that led to their publication in the first place.
There isn’t a whole lot of new information in the Washington Post’s latest story on the Paul newsletter scandal, but there is one fresh name attached to an on-the-record quote that could prove damning to Paul, who has said for years that he was totally unaware of the racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay language that filled his for-profit leaflets.
From the Post:
But people close to Paul’s operations said he was deeply involved in the company that produced the newsletters, Ron Paul & Associates, and closely monitored its operations, signing off on articles and speaking to staff members virtually every day.“It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product. . . . He would proof it,” said Renae Hathway, a former secretary in Paul’s company and a supporter of the Texas congressman.
In its digging, the Post doesn’t find any evidence that Paul actually believed the ugly stuff filling his newsletters. It’s suggested that something else may have driven them.
“A person involved in Paul’s businesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid criticizing a former employer, said Paul and his associates decided in the late 1980s to try to increase sales by making the newsletters more provocative,” the paper reports. “They discussed adding controversial material, including racial statements, to help the business, the person said.”
This is slightly different explanation than the one uncovered by Dave Weigel and the team at Reason back in 2008. Their reporting also found no evidence that Paul believed the stuff in his newsletters. But in their case, the story was that Paul was out to expand the libertarian base by going after the simmering white supremacist/militia/survivalist community.
From Reason:
Financial records from 1985 and 2001 show that Rockwell, Paul’s congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982, was a vice president of Ron Paul & Associates, the corporation that published the Ron Paul Political Report and the Ron Paul Survival Report. The company was dissolved in 2001. During the period when the most incendiary items appeared—roughly 1989 to 1994—Rockwell and the prominent libertarian theorist Murray Rothbard championed an open strategy of exploiting racial and class resentment to build a coalition with populist “paleo-conservatives,” producing a flurry of articles and manifestos whose racially charged talking points and vocabulary mirrored the controversial Paul newsletters…
So, two big stories, two explanations, one theme: the incendiary and offensive language found in the Paul newsletters were inserted for cynical reasons.
Paul has denied having knowledge of what was in the newsletters on a number of occasions. His campaign denied the accounts of Hathway and others cited in the Post Friday. It seems clear at this point that the newsletters haven’t had a great effect on Paul’s core of support — people who like him just don’t think he’s racist.
But the explanation for why the offensive stuff was in those newsletters found in the Post and Reason — that it was some kind of ploy to squeeze support from the rubes on the newsletter subscription list — might give Paul supporters pause if it became known. Paul has made his name on being the non-politician and the honest man in the race. The Post and Reason’s reporting on the cynicism behind his newsletters challenges that reputation.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
There's so much resentment here for RP--way before the racist newsletters came about. I don't think the real motivation is fear of RP re-instituting segregation but of pulling independent voters from Obama. I plan on voting for Obama, but RP is definitely the type of guy who's not scared of cutting the Gordian knot of our "pay-for-play" political system.
If he were running on the GOP ticket, I wouldn't hesitate to vote for him.
It's ridiculous to think that because he made money off race-baiting newsletters that he'd be prone to institute racist policies. Fear not, as he's not anywhere close to the GOP nod, partly because they fear what he would do to the last 30 years of molding the republican base, but don't act like this is the story that ruined you on RP. This just makes him an easier target.
underscore_jh "It's ridiculous to think that because he made money off race-baiting newsletters that he'd be prone to institute racist policies."
And that's supposed to make voters feel better?
underscore_jh No one here is worried about RP taking independent votes from Obama. Were he to run as an indy, which I doubt, he's already branded himself as a Republican and a conservative, and would tend to draw more votes from the Republican side of the ledger than Obama's side. In fact, I'd be delighted if he ran as an indy.
I suggest you think a bit more carefully about why many of us here would direct scorn at RP, and his followers. (The fact that you "wouldn't hesitate to vote for him" tells me you haven't done too much thinking on the subject.)
1 would have to be a real idiot to think he didn't know.....the republican party is a party of racist ideas only.
sick piggies
Come on. He knew about it. It was published, regularly, above his signature. The alternative would be worse for a candidate, in my opinion. What, you're routinely publish wildly controversial stuff over your signature without knowing what's in it? Ever heard of due diligence?
Southern strategy 101.
When Paul supporters try to lure my liberal, nearly pacifist heart with his isolationist rhetoric, I tell them that a President Paul would never be able to turn those promises into policy.
The stuff from the newsletters is another matter.
I've never seen so many people so bad at trolling, I mean if you can't do it very well then why even try?
I don't believe Ron Paul is an out and out racist but he does have Stormfront.org and Don Black's support and money, I haven't heard of him giving that money back yet either
I just saw a friend on FB posted a "LOL Catz" image of R** ***L that stated boldly "Corruption Fears This Man".
My first thought was that Corruption probably snickers at this man, just like the rest of us do.
spas485 They're just delusional. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to call it. I know they have a right to support anyone they want and defend him, but it just seems their knowledge is limited.
spas485 His supporters think he's against corruption..but the truth is, his ideology seeks to make corruption legal...no regulation, no watchdogs...'let the market decide' bullsh*t. He's not against corruption he's for eliminating any legal penalty for it.
Senility that's why Ron Paul isn't a racist, because he can't remember it doesn't count. He'll just have to go back & re-read the most forgettable previously unread parts.
I HATE IT when LIEtards lie about Dr. Paul and his greatness. He has served 10 terms in Congress as an outside the BELTWAY WASHINGTON OUTSIDER, he's the BACon on the BLT of FREEDOM...he's the SEVERED HEAD of Medusa, turning to stone the Kraken of waste and fraud, destroying the bureaucrats and the military industrial complex and all their lies and how he totally wipes lobbyist out thus forming the foundation of liberty and FREEDOM...in a way that most people simply don't get right away.... You just have to really listen closer.....and squint....and get rid of the blacks and jews.
Eustace Tilley 2.0 I like Ron Paul. Why do you have to tell lies about him like that?
pshipkey I kid. He's not a racist. He has black friends, looked into the vag of many a black, and personally saved all the black babies in America.
Eustace Tilley 2.0 The BLT of Freedom...you should copyright that, like Freedom Fries - it will be in diners across America.
Eustace Tilley 2.0 You write:"He has served 10 terms in Congress as an outside the BELTWAY WASHINGTON OUTSIDER."
Can you really not see the blatant, absurd contradiction in that sentence?
markpkessingerEustace Tilley 2.0 Actually, oddly enough I do believe he does. Quite well.
=D
You've been snarked.
Eustace Tilley 2.0 Love the trolling. Your probably giving some RP supporters the vapors right now.
Still think he's less crazy and less racist than Newt.
HarryBowman So the only choice is between a paranoid delusional and a narcissistic sociopath?
dale0987654321HarryBowman You could choose Obama the baby killer.
pshipkeydale0987654321HarryBowman WHY DIDN'T WE KILLL SARAH PALIN'S UGLY ARSE BABY TEATARD....
dale0987654321HarryBowman The GOP offers the full spectrum!
NotBornEveryMinutedale0987654321HarryBowman And then some...what a collection of losers they've come up with this time.
NotBornEveryMinutedale0987654321HarryBowman SHORT END OF THE SPECTRUM...THE ARSE HOLE
I find it interesting that RP has always voted against issuing anyone the congressional medal of honor, because A.) it's not a power described in the Constitution and B.) is a waste of taxpayer's money. And yet, he voted to have commemorative coins designed, minted and GIVEN to the Boy Scouts, who then got to sell them for a profit - none of which is prescribed in the constitution and furthermore, done wholly at taxpayer's expense. Seems to me this inconsistency makes his supposed positions on constitutional powers and government spending insincere, and simply a cover for something else.
Thoughts?
dale0987654321 My thought: he's a hypocrite...as well as a lunatic. He's a lunatic hypocrite. It's like them talking about small government - they only want small government as long as nothing they like/want gets cut.
cognachas4pawsdale0987654321 If you hate him so much why do you think about him twenty four hours a day.
pshipkey you fail at trolling for that statement
nicholasmchugh
And anyway, he fails at life for supporting Ron Paul.
more.compost I am hoping they are at most 10, would give some excuse
When you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. Ron Paul has fleas. I don't want to vote for a man who willingly gets fleas, so he can make money. I expect more principal. I wish other voters did too.
idread Without a "none of the above" option on the ballot, then, you'll just be another non-voter. Each and every presidential candidate has lain down with fleas* so s/he can make money -- it takes a lot of money to get elected in these United States.
* and every other parasite nickname you can think of for "fundraisers," "bundlers," etc. Raising money is a dirty business because those who do the work expect to be paid -- and paid more for raising more money and/or taking legal risks, and even more for setting up firewalls to shield the candidate from the blowback.Maybe Ron Paul's offense (by comparison) is getting personally involved. Perhaps a 21st century POTUS is required to understand and execute plausible deniability.
PS: The principal problem with your use of the word "principal" is that it seems to imply that you expect more of "a person who takes a leading part in any activity, as a play;chief actor or doer." You want "principle" in this context.
brad.morrisonidread You're comparing apples and oranges. I can't think of any other candidate "raising money" with blatantly racist materials.
I've never been a fan of false equivalence. It doesn't make those who espouse it look as if they are "fair," it makes them look shady.
brad.morrisonidread Oh, and no, I'm not using shady to describe a coolish place out of the sun, but I trust that readers here can guess intent from context.
Bwakfatbrad.morrisonidread Bottom line: We all know candidates have to raise money through fundraising, donations, etc. What is objectionable here is, as you state, the fact that Paul made a million dollars on peddling racist newsletters. I've never heard of another candidate doing that either.
idread None of you plan to vote for any GOPers, so what are you snarking about?
pshipkey We like mocking you, and your deluded ilk, and your wackadoodle candidate.
pshipkey Are your feelings getting hurt?
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So his racism was just financially motivated and that makes it all better (sarcasm).
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