Ron Paul's racist comments

[SleeperHE]

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Because I can't find what you're saying in the articles. Please quote.

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I've asked redbean the same question three different ways, and he can't seem to come up with any material...

But he's not a troll, so lets take his word for it.

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Can't come up with any material?

Hmmmm.....I sourced the assertion to a Texas Monthly article from 2001, and explained that it is a pay-for-use service to access their archives.

Here's a link to article with an excerpt of the 2001 Texas Monthly article:


Link to Texas monthly Excerpt

An excerpt from an apparent interview with Texas Monthly as quoted on the blog Everything2.com clarifies the above information as follows:

"In spite of calls from Gary Bledsoe, the president of the Texas State Conference of the NAACP, and other civil rights leaders for an apology for such obvious racial typecasting, Paul stood his ground. He said only that his remarks about Barbara Jordan related to her stands on affirmative action and that his written comments about blacks were in the context of 'current events and statistical reports of the time.' He denied any racist intent. What made the statements in the publication even more puzzling was that, in four terms as a U. S. congressman and one presidential race, Paul had never uttered anything remotely like this.

"When I ask him why, he pauses for a moment, then says, 'I could never say this in the campaign, but those words weren't really written by me. It wasn't my language at all. Other people help me with my newsletter as I travel around. I think the one on Barbara Jordan was the saddest thing, because Barbara and I served together and actually she was a delightful lady.' ...

"His reasons for keeping this a secret are harder to understand: '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." ' It is a measure of his stubbornness, determination, and ultimately his contrarian nature that, until this surprising volte-face in our interview, he had never shared this secret. It seems, in retrospect, that it would have been far, far easier to have told the truth at the time."






As many have said before RP made a fairly big political blunder by following bad advice from his aides and not putting the newsletter issue to rest when he had chance. From my judgment this is no where near enough evidence to "incriminate" him as a racist especially given the full context of the excerpt; not just the section you quoted redbean.

[RedBean]

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Tom, let me ask you this much:

1. Do you think the newsletter expresses racist views, or has racist comments?

2. Do you think Ron Paul is responsible for the newsletter?

Rather than just go on my assertion alone...let's discuss it....

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Tom? Tom? You still out there?

Oxley? Oxley? You not around either?

Hmmm...strange, when it comes down to actually discussing my assertions, rather than simply post funny rhetorical one-liners...you guys seem to be nowhere to be found....hmmm...

Well, if you guys to get back around....the doors still open, and the questions are still up. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Ineedaride2]

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Second half is true in Dr. Paul's eyes, as he's on record as saying he had some moral responsibility for them.

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NOW we're getting somewhere. I can agree with you 100% that he has some moral responsibility for whatever was written in that newsletter. I'll even go so far as to say he was temporarily insane to put his name on a newsletter that was being written by numerous other people.

Finally, we can agree on something.

But this. does. not. make. him. a racist.

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Aside from taking responsibility, Paul also defended the comments as being "in context to current events".

I think his defense of the comments are what make him a racist, in addtion to his responsibility for them, in addition to my belief that he wrote them.

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A point which he clarifies later, but for which you give him absolutely no credit. (which is your option, but it does put a damper on your point.)

[AlexM]

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From Paul's newsletter:
<font color="red">The criminals who terrorize our cities--in riots and on every non-riot day--are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to "fight the power," and to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible. Anything is justified against "The Man." And "The Woman.' </font>

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Do you disagree that some children are raised this way?

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The author alludes that all young black criminals are raised this way,

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How else do you think people become criminals other than how they're raised? You think people are born criminals?

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in the same piece that he defines "criminals" as being believed to be 95% of blacks

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False.

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while at the same time, in the same paragraph, saying that he's "never head of it" happening once with white children.

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Dunno, how many white people have you met who were raised to believe that black oppression is responsible for all white ills? I mean, some kids are certainly raised to be racist, but not to this extreme.

[owsley]

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I read the article, and there are definately some parts in it that would be considered racist.


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Thanks for being honest about it. Most folks are either defending the article without having even seen it, or they are arguing it isn't racist out of their blind devotion to Dr. Paul.

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No, that's not what they are doing, do you see why? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Other people have mentioned that Paul has thousands of hours and pages of speeches and writings that give a completely opposite view about race relations, why do you totally ignore them? Given that he is a racist (fact), was he lying when he wrote them?

[AlexM]

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The comments most definately are, and Ron Paul is most definately responsibly for them.

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First half of this is a maybe, second half is definitley false.

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Second half is true in Dr. Paul's eyes, as he's on record as saying he had some moral responsibility for them.

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Yes, he certainly feels responsible. That doesn't mean he is, and I certainly don't agree that he is.

[Brainwalter]

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So your rationalization that the comments aren't racist is to pick apart the semantics and grammar?

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Bull [censored], your transparent tactic is to intentionally misconstrue statements, and take them out of context to make them more sensational. Then if someone calls you on it you dismiss the complaint as semantical rationalization. Give me a break, maybe this has worked for you somewhere but I think most 2+2ers are perceptive and honest enough to see through it, besides the inveterate RP-haters who will back you up. I doubt you will sway any fence-sitters with your smears (oh wait you were a fence sitter yourself, lol.)

[AlexM]

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From Paul's newsletter:
<font color="red">The criminals who terrorize our cities--in riots and on every non-riot day--are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to "fight the power," and to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible. Anything is justified against "The Man." And "The Woman.' </font>

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Do you disagree that some children are raised this way?

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The author alludes that all young black criminals are raised this way,

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No he doesn't. "They" obviously refers to the subject of the last sentence, which is "the criminals who terrorize".
(who he claims are largely black) This is quite a different statement than "all blacks are raised this way".

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So your rationalization that the comments aren't racist is to pick apart the semantics and grammar?


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WTF are you talking about? He's not picking apart semantics and grammar, he's stating what was clearly meant. If anything, you're the one picking apart semantics and grammar by trying to change the meaning by removing the words from context. He was very clearly talking specifically about criminals being raised this way.

[TomVeil]

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Tom, let me ask you this much:

1. Do you think the newsletter expresses racist views, or has racist comments?

2. Do you think Ron Paul is responsible for the newsletter?

Rather than just go on my assertion alone...let's discuss it....

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Tom? Tom? You still out there?

Oxley? Oxley? You not around either?

Hmmm...strange, when it comes down to actually discussing my assertions, rather than simply post funny rhetorical one-liners...you guys seem to be nowhere to be found....hmmm...

Well, if you guys to get back around....the doors still open, and the questions are still up. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Actually I was on my way to work. Glad you missed me.

I believe that the newsletter has racist comments, yes. Most are based off statistics, and a lot of them aren't saying the things that you WISH they were saying, but yes some of the comments in the newsletter are racist.

As an editor of a newsletter, you have professional responsibility for your newsletter. This does NOT mean that everything in your newsletter becomes your views. If you think that he wrote it, then you think that he wrote it and you can think he's a racist. If you don't think that he wrote it, then this whole thread becomes something else doesn't it?

Luckily it's easy to check! We can compare this to other things that he's written and we can look for racist voting patterns. Because no matter how you wanna spin it, what ACTUALLY MATTERS is his actions. And in his whole career, this is the ONLY thing that has ever come up? Hmm...I guess I know which way I'll lean on this one.

[RedBean]

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From my judgment this is no where near enough evidence to "incriminate" him as a racist

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He defended the comments as being in "context of current events and statistical reports".....but since he denied any racist intent...then it can't be racist...AMIRITE?

Tell me again which statistical report or context supports the following statement, or how it doesn't have a racist intent:

Paul's newsletter:
<font color="red">...our country is being destroyed by a group of actual and potential terrorists -- and they can be identified by the color of their skin. </font>