Presidential hopeful Ron Paul’s racist past is coming back to haunt him. Racist newsletters published under Ron Paul’s name are resurfacing as the GOP candidate begins to gain traction in the presidential primary.
On Tuesday, the question of racism was front and center on CNN as host Ali Velshi confronted Paul about his racist past:
“You refer to disturbances in Washington’s Adams Morgan [neighborhood] as ‘animals taking over the D.C. Zoo,’ referring to African Americans,” Velshi noted. “You said that Martin Luther King seduced underage girls and boys. You talked about Ronald Reagan proclaiming ‘annual hate whitey day’ with Martin Luther King Day. And you advocated prohibiting AIDS patients from eating in restaurants. These things were published under your name.”
In the 1980's and 1990's Paul released a series of newsletters published under his name that were filled with the most obnoxious bigotry. Under Paul's name Newsletters were published filled with the most vile antisemitic, racist and homophobic rants.
Paul now claims he did not write the racist and homophobic material appearing in the string of controversial newsletters published under his name in the 1980's and 1990's. Yet it is hard to believe that Paul would sell and profit from a newsletter bearing his name without being aware of and approving of the content.
James Kirchick, writing for the The New Republic (Angry White Man - The bigoted past of Ron Paul), describes Paul's Newsletters as:
... decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing--but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics.
It remains to be seen if Paul can escape the taint of bigotry that has shadowed him for decades. For sure, Paul’s loyal followers will deny up and down that Paul is a racist. However, 20 years of racist newsletters will be hard for Paul and his supporters to sweep under the rug.
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