A reader recently wrote to me disappointed that I had talked about six other Presidential candidates in my Jan. 31 column, but completely ignored Ron Paul. This was AFTER I had drawn the sorts pro-Paul cartoon for the Feb. 7 issue, but before he saw it. Let me be perfectly clear, I am a progressive, therefore I view government as a tool- not the enemy. In theory, we the people ARE the government . Libertarians like Paul are usually either a few steps away from being anarchist or... they are big states-rights advocates (which frequently translates into ant-integration, anti-civil rights... Old South if you know what I mean.)
Mind you, there are plenty of Libertarian philosophies with a great deal of merit, streamline government, government accountability, personal rights and privacy. I completely want any of you Libertarians out there to feel accepted and esteemed. I certainly agree with Ron Paul on Iraq. But when I was growing up, legitimate, respectable Republicans considered John Birch and members of the John Birch Society looney fringe kooks. I figured there was some reason why not the media, but his fellow Republican candidates were marginalizing Paul, as if they were embarrassed by him. Turns out, I was right. If you read 30 years of his newsletters, you find out that he's not just a raving racist and homophobe, he's a full blown secessionists- as in Confederate States of America!
Check this out
Ron Paul is not going to be president. But, as his campaign has gathered steam, he has found himself increasingly permitted inside the boundaries of respectable debate. He sat for an extensive interview with Tim Russert recently. He has raised almost $20 million in just three months, much of it online. And he received nearly three times as many votes as erstwhile front-runner Rudy Giuliani in last week's Iowa caucus. All the while he has generally been portrayed by the media as principled and serious, while garnering praise for being a "straight-talker."
From his newsletters, however, a different picture of Paul emerges--that of someone who is either himself deeply embittered or, for a long time, allowed others to write bitterly on his behalf. His adversaries are often described in harsh terms: Barbara Jordan is called "Barbara Morondon," Eleanor Holmes Norton is a "black pinko," Donna Shalala is a "short lesbian," Ron Brown is a "racial victimologist," and Roberta Achtenberg, the first openly gay public official confirmed by the United States Senate, is a "far-left, normal-hating lesbian activist." Maybe such outbursts mean Ron Paul really is a straight-talker. Or maybe they just mean he is a man filled with hate.
Read the whole article in it's original context
The New Republic
Angry White Man
The bigoted past of Ron Paul.
by James Kirchick
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
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