Why Ron Paul's Racist Newsletters Didn't Hurt Him in Texas

[steve2470]

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/why-ron-pauls-racist-newsletters-didnt-hurt-him-in-texas/250427/

The fact that Texas Rep. Ron Paul once published racist sentiments in his newsletters has been known for quite some time. And yet Paul has managed to keep getting elected in his Houston-area district on the Gulf Coast. A onetime Democratic consultant in Texas, who asked that his name not be used, emails this anecdote from the 1996 general election that returned Paul to Congress after a 12-year hiatus:

At the time I was Lefty Morris' campaign manager, who was the Democrat running against Ron Paul in the general election. Our campaign released the "Ron Paul Political Report" to reporters and later focus grouped some of his writings and affiliations at a restaurant in La Grange, Texas.

At the time, the "Ron Paul Political Report" was listed in an online Neo-Nazi Directory that also included publications by the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Brothers (or something like that).

Of course, we thought we could use this to our advantage. So, in the focus group, we let participants look at the newsletters and told them that Ron Paul's Political Report was listed in the Neo Nazi directory with the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups.

*more at link above*

[LiberalAndProud]

1. Some of my best friends are Texans

but you can't argue that there is a certain 'culture' in that state.

<= For my friends from Texas.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Amazing, not surprised, just amazing

Oy

What is shocking is that some of the folks who vote for people like Paul are actually minorities.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. There were black people here in Mississippi who campaigned for Haley Barbour.

I asked one woman, "Are you out of your mind?" She just looked at me. I have a gay ex-friend here who is an ardent supporter of Republican causes -- the more fascist, the better. One time he said to me, "I don't care about gay rights!" That kind of shit un-nerves me.

[steve2470]

3. "Next a woman says, "It's the media. They never report the good things that the Ku Klux Klan does."

Yes... believe it or not, it's at the link.

[Denninmi]

4. WTF is wrong with these people?

Another quote from the piece:

"I groaned and sunk into my chair in the observation room, staring at the wall. And then, I noticed that the mural on the wall at the Cottonwood Restaurant, where we were conducting the focus groups, had paintings of Texas settlers killing Indians. There were Indians hanging from trees. Settlers slicing Indian throats. Children smiling at the carnage. "

I'm sure there are many righties that would defend that the way they do the confederate flag.

[Zalatix]

5. Effin' WOW. 10 out of 12 in that focus group supported the KKK.

Now that's scary.

[Lunacee2012]

6. Please, just remember

that not everyone from Texas is like that. I'm sure as hell not.

[Ilsa]

8. It's freaking LaGrange Tx.

This area was settled by a lot of German and Czech familes in this part of Tx. They tend to stay put if they can, and there isn't much reason for anyone from the outside to move to LaGrange. It doesn't surprise me that they have a love of the KKK. I bet they had more than a few Nazi supporters in the 1940s.

I don't live in that county, but I travel through it alot. Driving through Texas is sometimes like driving through several countries.

[Gman]

12. Very true

It's like that in Paul's district from La Grange down to Pt. Lavaca and east Along the coast. They are all pretty isolated being over 100 miles from the closest metro areas. Sometimes the kids move away, but enough stay. That's pretty much the way it is there.

[Ilsa]

13. Many people don't realize that except for

Cable and Internet service, the only progressive or new thinking these people would be exposed to is through leaving home and going to college. (Even libraries in small communities can be lacking.)

That is why a college education is still so critical for keeping the ranks of the democratic party full of not just middle class workers, but people who have been trained in critical thinking. I believe that is why so many small town people continue to vote against their own best economic interests: they have little exposure to philosophy and their minds being trained in logic. It's better than 30 years ago, but it is still difficult in small towns.

[NNN0LHI]

9. This kind of racist background is a plus in some Texan circles

Gets you more votes than it cost you.

That was obvious.

Don

[Mr Dixon]

10. WOW

This is just Sad, old habits die hard i guess.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Used to have a corner mom and pop grocery near here that was called Knuth's Kountry Korner

As I got older I learned that the way they spelled it was not coincidental. Later learned that monthly KKK meetings were held at one of the local hardware stores in that town. And this was in Illinois maybe 40 miles from Chicago.

Don

[Odin2005]

14. Being a racist shithead HELPS you get elected down there.

[UTUSN]

15. R#10 & K. The source want's anonymity but I.D.s self as "campaign mgr" for Lefty!1 Bwah-HAH!1 n/t

[Dragonbreathp9d]

16. Easy- because they still burn crosses in African American's yards

In a little town just outside of Denton (krum) a black family lived there for less than a week before a cross was set ablaze on their front lawn ('05 ish).