....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Whoa Ron!
Here's why our foreign policy isn't the only measuring stick for Presidential voting....My friend TJ at Project for the Old American Century, snagged this bit from Wonkette via TPM Cafe. Mr. Paul's very racist statements from the past give me a little better view of my district's representative to the House. So, you can pretty well scratch whatever pluses I gave him in previous posts. Live and learn.
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"Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal," Paul said.
ReplyDeleteThat's an especially strange statement from a libertarian. The libertarians I've met favor legalizing marijuana and other drugs and know that a huge percentage of the arrests in this country are drug-related. They believe this is an obnoxious intrusion on the part of government.
Also, I think Mark Twain had a better understanding of the real criminal class in Washington.
Finally, I'd say that Paul's combination of a peaceful/isolationist foreign policy and racism is a lot like Pat Buchanan's. And I guess I'm not convinced that overt racism like this is really any worse than the nasty racial effects of constant militarism (with W bragging about the military being the most "diverse" institution in America).
As a constituent, maybe you should call Paul's office and ask about those quotes--are they accurate and does he still feel that way?
well, you're a much better citizen than i will ever be. i tried to deal with congresscritters and politicals four times, each time swearing i'd never do it again. the last time stuck.
ReplyDeletebut, here's what wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Paul) says about that (and it's not very encouraging):
A 1996 article in the Houston Chronicle[49] alleges that Ron Paul made comments in a 1992 edition of his Ron Paul Survival Report (a newsletter that he had published from 1985) which could be construed as racist, and that this could help his political opponents.
In a 2001 interview with Texas Monthly magazine, Paul acknowledged that the comments were printed in his newsletter under his name, but explained that they did not represent his views and that they were written by a ghostwriter. He further stated that he felt a "moral responsibility" to stand by the words that had been attributed to him, despite the fact that they did not represent his way of thinking:
"They were never my words, but I had some moral responsibility for them...I actually really wanted to try to explain that it doesn't come from me directly, but they [campaign aides] said that's too confusing. 'It appeared in your letter and your name was on that letter and therefore you have to live with it.'"[50]
In an April 2007 column on his official House of Representatives website, Paul criticizes racism, calling it "an ugly form of collectivism" that groups an entire race into one, rather than judging people individually. At the same time, he defends the free-speech rights of people to say what they wish, and criticizes "third parties" who defend minorities by "presuming to speak collectively for minority groups."[51]