Yeah, Ron Paul Is Racist After All, Sorry
This week probably marks the moment that schadenfreude finally left the Ron Paul campaign.
There's always been a kind of awful element of fun to listening to rabid Paul defense, given that much of it was reality-optional. But, hey, at least his fans believed in something. And no true believer deserves this week. In the last seven days, some of Paul's former staffers admitted to deliberately courting racists, with his blessing. Then, adding insult to injury, Paul's current ties to American white supremacist groups surfaced courtesy of Anonymous.
As outlined before, there were only a limited number of explanations for Paul's racist, conspiracy-oriented newsletters, and none of them were good. Either he believed the things he printed, merely capitalized on the things he printed, or was unaware of the things he printed. It was a spectrum ranging from monstrous to cynical to incompetent.
Apparently, it's the second option, at least according to the Washington Post:
"It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product. . . . He would proof it,’’ said Renae Hathway, a former secretary in Paul’s company and a supporter of the Texas congressman.
"... A person involved in Paul’s businesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid criticizing a former employer, said Paul and his associates decided in the late 1980s to try to increase sales by making the newsletters more provocative. They discussed adding controversial material, including racial statements, to help the business, the person said.
“It was playing on a growing racial tension, economic tension, fear of government,’’ said the person, who supports Paul’s economic policies but is not backing him for president. “I’m not saying Ron believed this stuff. It was good copy. Ron Paul is a shrewd businessman.’’
Read more: http://www.vice.com/read/yeah-ron-paul-is-racist-after-all-sorry
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