Ron Paul is not distancing himself from his white supremacist, KKK, and Neo-Nazi supporters quick enough.
During the past month or so the conservative blogsphere and media has finally discovered the fact that GOP Presidential hopeful and Texas GOP Congressman Ron Paul has some very strange supporters. During the past months on Blogcritics, I have been exposing various and sundry rather tawdry aspects of the whole anti-immigration movement with profiles on John Tanton and Tom Tancredo. …
Article comments
— go to most recent comments26 - DragonTattooz
"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society. Federal bureaucrats and judges cannot read minds to see if actions are motivated by racism. Therefore, the only way the federal government could ensure an employer was not violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ensure that the racial composition of a business's workforce matched the racial composition of a bureaucrat or judge's defined body of potential employees. Thus, bureaucrats began forcing employers to hire by racial quota. Racial quotas have not contributed to racial harmony or advanced the goal of a color-blind society. Instead, these quotas encouraged racial balkanization, and fostered racial strife….”
I stopped reading at this point. If you seriously believe that this statement is racist, that tells me that you not only have a reading-comprehension problem, but you were also just grasping at straws to try to find something, anything, to try to smear Dr. Paul. Give it up, the man lives by his principles and he can't be bought. He scares you republicrats to death, doesn't he?
If this is your best shot, y'all are gonna lose BIG in '08!!!
27 - Dave Nalle
I think you need to read Ron Paul's stance on issues
I imagine I'm more familiar with Paul's issue positions than anyhone else commenting here. I campaigned for him in 88, worked for the LP in that same era and have run for office as a Libertarian candidate. I've also donated money to Paul's congressional campaigns.
before expecting he'd use 'every opportunity' to distance himself from his supporters. And how is this money 'tainted'? If I (for example) believe in polygyny, would my money be tainted? Would it satisfy you, if he gave 1% of his contributions to charity to cover any possible miscreant who gave to him? How much time/effort is required in this?
So you're saying that multiple marriage is equivalent to racism? Sorry, don't buy it.
The Paul campaign has a real problem and this article brings it out, even if it's a bit inflammatory.
Paul's viability as a national candidate is genuinely damaged by the public perception that his followers are a bunch of kooks and fanatics.
If it was just a few crazies out there, Paul could brush it aside, but because it is so many extremists and so many different brands of extremists, it distracts from his campaign and his message and needs to be addressed.
If you're really a Giuliani, Clinton, Romney, Obama, etc. supporter, OK, but please keep your (perceived) dirt to yourself.
Not particularly, actually. I'd be a Paul supporter were it not for his unconstitutional stand on separation of church and state and the unsavory coalition of lunatics who have flocked to his banner.
And back to the original article:
Lots of little money from lots of people versus a lot of money from a few? You are NOT serious on this one, are you? RP doesn't accept any corporate/lobbyist money, period. Think about it. It's a Good Thing®
Got to agree with this. Paul's done a great job with grassroots fundraising.
Dave
28 - bt
@gao xia en
The chron article is talking about big PAC donations from Texan firms, and at the end mentions how Ron Paul hasnt received any.
Then the opensecrets link is the actual details on his donations.
Cheers.
29 - Blaine
This was good for a laugh, shows the socialists that have worked so hard for so long to undermine our freedom are getting scared. Can't wait to see the slime piece "on an expose of the anti-immigration movement", I'll be howling!
30 - Nathan - Student @ UC Berkeley
"...Williams is in part responsible for the extreme numbers of “meet-up” individuals who have registered for Paul."
Yes... Williams and his goofy friends. That is his 'part' The other 'part' of the people "responsible for the extreme members of "meet-up" individuals who have registered for Paul" are the 60,990 (or so) other people. This pathetic attempt at trying to smear Ron Paul by second-hand association with his supporters is logically fallacious in the first place. Even more outrageous is the personally offensive, but rather poorly made, insinuation that people such as this "Williams" in anyway accounts for anymore than such a small fraction of Paul's support as to be inconsequential. I am sure that a sex-offender or two (or more, who knows) supports Hilary Clinton for president. Does this mean anything? I don't have to answer that.
This article has made me furious. It has also inspired me to re-double my efforts to get Paul elected. Ron Paul 2008!
31 - Amir
It is so transparently obvious why people with hateful, virulent messages donate to a rising star--for the press. These neo-nazi, white supremacist types are not getting a voice through Ron Paul. It's reporters like you that are giving racism a voice. Think. Stop the Smears.
32 - Michael Atkinson US ARMY RET
Yea these Ron Paul smear freaks call themselves out for crying out loud. In reality, they don't know what the hell else to say lmao.
The Strasbourg Tea Party - Europe for Ron Paul
Ron Paul 300
Glenn Beck Gives to Ron Paul Campaign
33 - Commenter
Dave,
Ron Paul is running as a Republican. Not a libertarian. If your concern is for the purity of Libertarianism why not focus on its virtues, and whatever libertarian candidate the LP party fields? Why reinforce, like a mantra, that the electorate is incapable of making an informed decision? Have you such a low opinion of the electorate?
34 - BC
Thanks for responding, Dave.
I respect your knowledge of the candidate.
I do feel though that in my 20+ years in this country no-one of the politicians had said anything that would possibly be helpful. And now I hear it from RP. I'm actually excited by it, and I talk to whomever I can about it.
You may be right that the public perception may get formed by articles like this rather than by a group of unpaid supporters waving signs by the freeway in the freezing weather, but I think he's still the best that was offered.
Do you perhaps have a personal issue with RP? (Like unpaid wages, or something of the sort?) Why did you stop campaigning for him? Are you of a racial minority and he'd hurt you?
I think many US citizens have an issue with the FedGovt in one way or another, so all could be classified as 'fringe'. What are we to expect next: Khmer Rouge supports RP? (and BTW, I think it's only in the US where govt forms ask your racial affiliation - this would be considered racist anywhere else)
Regaards,
BC
35 - TaxSlave
Gee, that's funny. All the nice people I meet at meet-ups to distribute campaign lit door-to-door, and I never suspected for an instant that they're all Nazis. Gee, they come from all walks of life and seemed like genuine Americans to me. And I never knew that somehow some Nazi was the reason I signed up on the Meetup site in the first place.
We've all been deluding ourselves! We thought it was our concern for the constitution and the bill of rights, and crashing currency bringing another depression, and one single man speaking honestly, whose words have the ring of truth.
And all this time it has been mind control from Nazis! How can I stop this? Should I get a tin foil hat? Is that how you avoided the mind control? Oh, no, the mind control is making me respond to a hit piece online! Help me! Help me!
There. I just put on a tin foil hat that says NEO on it. Took a Valium and washed it down with moonshine. I no longer need to suffer paranoid delusions about people dying in preemptive wars, people sneaking into my house and searching without warrants, monitoring all my communications, arresting me and making me disappear, or that stupid, mindless inflation that keeps stealing my sustenance out from under me faster than I can keep up, always going on, and on, and on, and I can't raise my income faster than prices, and it never stops.
I'm cured. No more mind-waves from Nazis turning me into a Paulbot spamming automaton. I'm ready for my National ID Card with an RFID chip now. I promise to rat on my neighbors for anything they do. I will stand in line and shut up. Bring on the Amero, lets make people pass a patriotism test to make sure they are loyal to the North American Union. Maybe if I get a lobotomy, I won't have to wear this tin foil hat around, having people snicker at me (I'll turn them in for that, you know).
Thanks for curing me.
--TaxSlave--
36 - Jim, Hangtown,Calif
Ron Paul is a ALL around good guy, Freedom is Love, Understanding and Tolarance. Life is short why make it a lie. Peace Sells
37 - Andrew
The 99% of the Ron Paul supporters who are not 'nazis' are rightly insulted. There is a double standard in the media that is becoming more and more obvious.
We are not allowed to take the minority of Muslims who want to kill Americans and use it to generalize all Muslims. We're not allowed to take the few dozen Jewish neo-cons in our government that are viciously pro-war against countries like Iran (countries that did no direct harm to us) and say that Jews want wars. And so too we should not be allowed to tarnish a group who, perhaps more than any other political movement, desire peace and friendship with all nations (not supremacy as this article implies).
I feel like we should make a point by encouraging Don Black to donate $1000 to Rudy Giuliani and then we'll watch you in the mainstream media say... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I always believed the media was bad. But now I think this country would be better off without the MSM at all (just keep the Internet and perhaps C-Span and PBS). Cause then the people who are easily manipulated would just stay at home on election night and the smart people would prevail.
Whether or not Ron Paul gets the nomination, you in the MSM have made at least one enemy for life.
38 - JDP
Its funny that theres a banner saying "Personal attacks are NOT allowed." This article is a personal attack on Dr. Paul's supporters. No one can attack Dr. Paul personally.
He appeals to all walks of life, regardless of their personal choices, because Dr. Paul supports your freedoms! If your neighbor wants to hate someone (without harming them, I might add) then that is their right! I hate the writer of this article but I wouldn't hurt him over it. Make sense? You can hate anyone as long as you don't infringe on their Constitutional liberties of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
39 - Joe
After reading this article the one thing I come away with is that Ron Paul is not a racist. As noted, he advocates the goals of "racial harmony and a color-blind society." Even if the author disagrees with him about how this is best achieved, certainly this is a commendable goal. I don't consider any of Ron's comments quoted here to be "racially insensitive," but even if they were, that is hardly an accusation that would keep me from voting for someone. Also it is odd that supporters of Ron Paul are offered as evidence of his racial insensitivity, without any evidence being offered that those supporters are racially insensitive. It can hardly worry me that he is endorsed by Pat Buchanan, Howard Phillips, and Chuck Baldwin when I have voted for all three of those men in the past. I agree with the Ron Paul for President campaign and David Fredesso writing in National Review that Ron does NOT have a moral obligation to disavow donations from people whose views he may not disagree with. I find it refreshing to have a candidate who does not pander to political correctness. I will be disappointed in him if he does return the money, but even that won't keep me from voting for him.
40 - Artus Register
Yawn. This non-issue is ancient. Still, how often would it have been written abut had the donation gone to Romney, Rudy or one of the other business-as-usual clones?
It is hysterically funny that Dr. Paul is so marginalized and cast off as a footnote, yet someone poured through all his supporters looking for a story. That in itself is the real story.
Fortunately for the "mainstream" war mongers representing the 22% of Americans who want to remain in Iraq, every one of their contributors has been of tremendous moral character, and without a bigoted thought--the media has double checked that for us and found not one wanting of ethical purity.
41 - GregM
I'm starting to wonder if these "smear" pieces weren't actually created to have the opposite effect. Perhaps SJ Reidhead is actually a RP supporter who is attempting to catch readers with a provocative headline, only to be made to look foolish by the commenter's. Who knows?
In the event that you (SJ Reidhead) ARE actually trying to smear Dr. Paul. You can forget it. You are wasting your time. This is not about Dr. Paul or his supporters, it's about the message. It's about freedom and it's about liberty, and it's about time. Even IF Dr. Paul were to lose his bid for the presidency, it doesn't matter! As you will see, we've already won.
42 - Phil
Everyone has strange supporters. Why does the media focus on Ron Paul at this time? They or others do not want him for President so this is their means of discrediting Ron Paul. Mind you, Fox40 TV aired the Republican debate and ran a cell phone poll to see who the viewers wanted for President. Fox40 also selected a panel of supposed generic Republicans. That panel did not show much support for Ron, so when they saw the cell phone poll favoring Ron Paul 2 to 1, their conclusion was that the cell phone poll was to be regarded as flawed. Fox40 didn't even allow for the possibility that Ron Paul could have so much support. Fox40 clearly showed their bias, and so it is here. We see what you're up to!
43 - Become a GOP PC NOW!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen: If you are interested in supporting Ron Paul, become a Precinct Committee person for the GOP in your town. This is the surest way to win for Ron Paul. PC's are given addresses and lists of registered Republicans and are given authority by the GOP to recruit as many new Republicans as possible. They decide who gets on the ballot! This is the way we can truly take back our Republic from the Neocons! We can take over the GOP at the starting at the local level.
Google your county's official GOP website and sign up to be a Precinct Committee person
44 - Gene
International readers who are interested in Ron Paul for President can help the effort by chipping into the grassroots effort and donate to RonPaulBlimp.com
45 - immigrant
Wow this ia heck of an irrational hit piece. It says to me that Ron Paul is steam rolling forward and will probably win the GOP nomination. Looks like someone really has it out for the constitution though. Since we're on the subject of radicals why didn't you mention the Clintons recieving support from known terrorists? What about the non traditional Republicans like Giuliani and Romney why did you mention La Rasa's or Arab supremacy groups' involvement with them and with Hillary? La Rasa is a latino supremacy and extremist group that routinely make trips to the white house to fight for amnesty for illegals and the abolishment of the concept of the rule of law in America. So Please lets not play pretend as if radicals supporting certain candidates is a new thing. Hillary has actually depended on it in the past.In a country where there is freedom of thought you're bound to come across things you don't like but then you first need to understand the concept of liberty to understand that.
46 - BC
Hear-hear!
It is polarizing, isn't it?
;-)
47 - Andrew Panken
Just to set the record straight. SJ Reidhead totally manufactured the statement that Will Williams is responsible for the large number of Meetups. Mr Williams has voluntarily setup one Meetup of his own accord and without needing permission from the campaign. Each Meetup is setup and paid for by the organizer themselves and is not in anyway associated with any other Meetup or the official campaign committee. All that is needed to setup a Meetup is $20 on a credit card. Meetup is a private company not in any way associated with the campaign. The campaign does not oversee the meetup organization in anyway. The campaign just doesn't have any authority over Mr Williams. They can't even "fire" him as a meetup leader since the campaign never "hired him". The author of the article doesn't provide any evidence to support the contention that Will Williams is a leader in the Meetups except that he is the leader of his group not any others. Obviously, the author is just attempting to smear Ron Paul by building Will Williams into a "Great Leader" of the Meetups. Why doesn't he just state that the idea of restoring our constitution is racism. Instead of smearing a whole campaign with the charge of racism based on a few bad apples.
48 - kes123
Let me summarize by collecting words from your post:
KKK, White Supremist, black men, racial, racist, tawdry, assault, extreme, nasty, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic.
I don't think I got all the emotionally charged adjectives, but the list seems to be representative.
Please read www.RonPaulLibrary.org to get the real positions of Dr. Paul (along with the proper context of some of the "quotes" provided in this article). Don't let incorrect, misleading, and emotionally charged rhetoric decide for you.
BTW, if you really want to know why it's no big deal that certain "extreme" people have donated to Ron Paul's campaign then you need to understand the basic tenants of liberty:
"The Philosophy of Liberty" Watch the YouTube and then tell me how it is that you disagree with the campaigns decision...
49 - Smithy
Reagan didn't return the KKK donations either, was he racist?
50 - Dean
LOL - You guys just LOVE to fire up us RON PAUL supporters.
All you're doing is spreading the flames though.....you can't put out a grease fire with water.
RP2008!
51 - Flo
Here people is a beginning website of the use of propaganda and it's history.
52 - JH
Oh, you can attack Ron Paul and smear him, but no one is allowed to attack you. Great. This piece is obviously written from a bias point of view and someone who is afraid of losing his government checks.
53 - Scott
FAIL
54 - Rational Ed
You can't have it both ways. You have ignored the fact the US military is the largest campaign donor to Ron Paul. The US Army, US Navy, and US Air Force combine to be his biggest support base by far in financial terms.
Now you want to focus on klansmen and other idiots as his base of supporters. This can only be true of you are saying the US Military are composed of racists and biggots. Are you ready to make that connection, becasue it makes little sense to go after minority contributors and ignore the majority contributors.
On the same subject, you should write an article about the frontrunners majority contributors. Clinton with Goldman Sachs and Guiliani with Elliot and Associates. These people have been part of every scandel from the current mortgage crisis to Enron to everything else. They have ruined our economy.
I challenge you to write the story of the major campaign contributors to the politicians running in 08. If the minor contributors warrant a story, then the major contributors warrant ten stories. Good Luck with the research. Open secrets.org is a good start.
55 - Aimee Allen
Why not write an article about how soldiers and priests and peace loving individuals love him? He's the favored candidate among soldiers.....
Weird how you chose to cover the KKK instead of what a country at war really cares about.
56 - Jeff
It is encouraging to me to see that most people see this article for what it is.
A political hit peice. Yellow journalism. propaganda. Smear campaign. corporate media spin.
Ron Paul 2008!
57 - Duane
What an insightful piece you have written. I've never heard this "news" from any other "source". I applaud your investigative prowess although, you should have mentioned that he is in fact THE Grand Poobah of The He-Man Black, Woman, Jew, Kitten, Baseball, Apple-Pie, Gay Haters Club. Just a little more digging and you would have uncovered this fact. He wants all old people to lose their Social Security as well. He also tried to get the endorsement of a brothel owner, I'm not sure if he got it though. Did you hear that he's spamming emails? And all of his support comes from 3 white supremacist teenagers in their parents' basement. I'm glad I could help.
Ron Paul 08!
58 - John
Was your blog designed by a retarded 8 year old on acid? Good Lord, what a mess of a site.
59 - aKKorn
"Williams is not the only white supremacist, KKK, or neo-Nazi supporter Ron Paul has. He is supported by David Duke and Pat Buchanan."
So which exactly is Pat Buchanan? Could you please point to you source that he is a member of the KKK, a White supremesist or a neo-natzi?
60 - troll
has any RP supporter here addressed the question of Paul's interpretation of the separation clause - ?
if so I missed it in this flood of defensive praise
is it a non issue - or would we see him work for changes in law - ?
61 - Lorenz
Smearing i see - if this is all you got, thats fine. Take a look at the other candidates, and you'll get lost in their closet . The title is misleading, and frankly wrong. It would be like if i put "Hillary Clinton and her Zionist, Oil greedy, and special interest friends." Have some humility, and change that title - there are no friends involved, and you're only hurting his name and dumbing down your credibility as a journalist.
62 - Abram Cookson
"Ron Paul has some very nasty white supremacist friends" - How is this a valid statement?
This is entirely untrue. Ron Paul has supporters from all walks and races. Even the ones we dislike. Next time just photoshop RP standing in front of a nazi flag and your smear job will be complete. I pray for more informative and less biased articles.
63 - Tyrone
As a African American I take great offense that you wrote such a smear article about this decent and patriotic man. He is no raciest, I have met him face to face and he has a big heart and is welcoming of all races. He has a message of FREEDOM, so that means anyone can donate to him, including a few kooks. Whatever there message, they still have a right to say it.
I am voting for Ron Paul!
64 - THISBLOGSUXX
Ron paul is far from a racist.
you're just scared of the man and his message!
65 - kg
Did you know that Hof donated $2300.00 to the Clinton campaign this past summer? Of course you didn't because the media wouldn't try to tarnish her by reporting it.
66 - ExcuseMeForPointingandLaughing
For all those PaulBots who sit all day and night in front of a computer screen with 2 minute interval refreshes on google searches to go out and be first in line to comment any where their hero is mentioned, please please get a life.
Read the FEC quarterly reports, the numbers and the names are there they are simple to cross reference.
I follow the money close because of what I do and get weekly auto updates to spreadsheets for all the candidates and then auto search the names across the net just to see what turns up.
Facts are facts and you are not allowed your own.
67 - ExcuseMeForPointingandLaughing
Damn you PaulBot fools can even do such a simple thing as sort out the registered donations by zipcode and see where all the real money is coming from.
Hell half of your donations don't even hit because anything under 200 doesn't register at all.
Look at the zip code distributions and map them out.
Most are coming from pure blue areas, you are being shilled and fooled to believe you have something when someone is only pulling your chain and working you like a puppet.
What a sorry bunch that cant even figure out they are being tooled for the entertainment of the far most wacko left.
68 - B. Young
Wana talk about supporters?
Ghouliani has mobsters, and pedophiles on his payroll.
Clinton has former black panther in her "Friends" list
Ron Paul had a few Neo-Nazi's donate to his campaign without solicitation. They donated online where there is no question on the form that says "Because of my past my donation may be controversial"
Excuse me if I am not impressed by the "Connection" that you imply
ohh yeah I forgot
Ron Paul's tears cure cancer, sadly he will never cry. Ever
69 - Your Conscience Talking
Sick Sick hit piece! You scum at BC Politics have really outdone yourselves this time. Julius Streicher would be proud.
Obviouly this Nazi/Paul thing is a yet another shrill attempt by the real Nazi-lovers out there to scare the more ignorant of conservatives into being frieghtenned of the one candidate least likely to act like Hitler. It's a sweet ploy if you're into treachory.
See you in Hell, BC Propaganda.nut.
70 - frank parker
Ron Paul brings Americans of every persuasion, race, gender, age, economic group, ideology, interest and profession together because his message is one of liberty.
People like the writer don't understand what that means. They talk the talk, but they haven't actually lived it. They think freedom is whatever they approve of or endorse and it's not, it's called tryanny. Americans have had enough of being told what to think, what words we can or cannot use, what to enbrace, what to celebrate, who to bomb, who to be intolerant towards and waht's acceptable and I don't think that a hundred thousand articles like this shabby smear piece will do anything but fire up that base.
KEEP WRITING, HACK, I CAN SEE THE FLOP SWEAT FROM HERE!!!
71 - Nick
Troll, I think Ron Paul has written articles about religion that have been misinterpreted. He wrote that the "secular left" as he calls it has attacked religion to eliminate it from public life. He wrote that he thinks the founding fathers were religious men who wanted a small government so religion would lead people instead. But he has not written anything to my knowledge that would lead me to believe he wants to change the First Amendment establishment clause. He would presumably uphold the Constututional separation of church and state but not advance policies that shun religion from the public.
For me personally, I think people trying to remove Moses artwork from court houses doesn't understand law history and that he was an historical figure who brought law to the people, as did Confucius and others who are represented in the Supreme Court building. I don't think tax dollars should finance faith based initiatives (like they do under Bush) but removing a statue to make a point is sending the wrong message, that people need to eliminate religion. And I'm an agnostic. I don't think we need to ban Christmas Carols or say Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas. All blown out of proportion for the sake of political correctness. When was the last time politics were correct anyway, other than Ron Paul, of course.
72 - Brino
I live in Europe.
We all look in dismay to what USA has become, we all can see the path of self-destruction your country has taken, WITH the blessing of your media (and people like you).
Unjust wars based o lies, making every day new enemeis, loosing allies, torturing suspects, suppression of freedom and guarantees, fnancial and economic disaster (well on it's way).
The only Candidate that makes any sense in USA is Ron Paul; I wish we had a man like that over here.
73 - Aaron
Terrible smear article. Not even elequently written. How did you manage to land this job? And besides that matter, how do you manage to breath?
74 - ExcuseMeForPointingandLaughing
You Bots think 4.2 mill in a day is some kind of validation that you got it right and the country is in a wave behind you.
Oh please I know Walmart stores that do volume like that.
Country wide you pull in 4 mill in a day after talking about it for how long?
Drug dealers in San Jose are laughing at you because they kicked in just to watch the fun.
Check the one day totals for Jerry Lewis from a real country wide deal.
You should have pulled 10 to 12 mill each hour if you were for real and not just spam postings to throw any internet poll to cheat and get the result you wanted.
[Personal attack deleted by Comments Editor]
75 - Dave
Well, this old JEW will be voting for Ron Paul. With this hit piece, the author reminds me far more of one real Nazi I remember as a child in Germany, who wrote articles on behalf of "the party" named Joeseph Goebbels.
When Paul says: "Racial quotas have not contributed to racial harmony or advanced the goal of a color-blind society. Instead, these quotas encouraged racial balkanization, and fostered racial strife….”
HE IS RIGHT!!!! This is not a racist statement; it is an observation that this particular social experiment, designed to impove race relations and better the lot of people of color, did not work.
When a man is attacked in this manner, I feel there must be good reason to support him. These attack pieces only draw more Ron Paul supporters.