Will Ron Paul Fall after his Surprise Rise?
Frederick Clarkson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 01:06:05 PM EST
Rep. Ron Paul has broken out of his seemingly  permanent less-than-ten-percent in the polls -- to emerge as a contender in next week's Iowa Republican caucuses. This is in no small part thanks to his faith outreach consultants who have sought to help him craft a more decidedly evangelical approach while seeking a bigger share of the Religious Right vote.  Along the way,  Paul has sought to emphasize the Biblical roots of his public policy ideas.

Paul also owes considerable thanks to national media that have not devoted much serious reporting to his campaign, perhaps because of his standing in the polls, was not taken seriously as a candidate.  Meanwhile, in a remarkable election year twist, his libertarian anti-drug war, and old time isolationist foreign policy views have been taken by marijuana reform and anti-war progressives as a reason to crossover and support Paul in Iowa and elsewhere, while down playing or ignoring his unsavory views that are consistent with the depth and breadth of his support from the far right in the U.S.  

Election rules vary greatly by state, and in Iowa it happens that the rules allow for non-Republicans to vote in the GOP caucuses in Iowa. Therefore dedicated antiwar activists (including independents, Greens and Democrats) in the absence of a Democratic challenge to Obama, are planning to turn out for Paul.  In so doing however, they are aligning themselves with a man who is about much more than the handful of (important) matters where their views converge. Paul is not only seeking to appeal to theocratic evangelicals, but is also the candidate of members of such anti-progressive entities as the neo-Nazi group Stormfront and the John Birch Society.

The New York Times recently detailed the horrendous material published in his name in his newsletters, and today editorialized about the slippery way he has dodged responsibility for the newsletters' content, whether he personally wrote them or not:

Mr. Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas who is doing particularly well in Iowa's precaucus polls, published several newsletters in the '80s and '90s with names like the Ron Paul Survival Report and the Ron Paul Political Report. The newsletters interspersed libertarian political and investment commentary with racial bigotry, anti-Semitism and far-right paranoia.

Among other offensive statements, the newsletters said that 95 percent of Washington's black males were criminals, and they described the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as "Hate Whitey Day." One 1993 article appeared under a headline lamenting the country's "disappearing white majority."  Other articles suggested that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, was responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, praised the Louisiana racist David Duke and accused some gay men with AIDS of deliberately spreading the disease, "perhaps out of a pathological hatred."

A direct-mail ad for the newsletters from around 1993 warned of a "coming race war in our big cities" and said there was a "federal-homosexual cover-up" to suppress the impact of AIDS.

Mr. Paul, who, beginning in 2008, has disavowed the articles and their ideas, now says that most of them were written by others and that he was unaware of their content. Even if that were the case, it suggests a stupendous level of negligence that should force a reconsideration by anyone considering entrusting him with the White House.

When the newsletters first became an issue during his Congressional campaigns in the 1990s, however, he did not deny writing some of them or knowing about them.

Mr. Paul has never given a full and detailed accounting of who wrote the newsletters and what his role was in overseeing their publication. It's especially important that he do so immediately. Those writings have certainly not been forgotten by white supremacist and militia groups that are promoting his candidacy in Iowa and in New Hampshire.

Meanwhile The National Memo has a report on a John Birch Society video from 1998, promoting The American Sovereignty Restoration Act, which calls for U.S. withdrawal from the UN, and was introduced by Rep. Ron Paul who is featured in the video.  He has re-introduced the bill every year since.

The National Memo reports that the video:

... suggests that the United Nations is planning to impose a global dictatorship, leaving the U.S. Constitution "consigned to the ash heap of history," among other conspiratorial warnings.

Alongside ominous footage of burning crosses and a building labeled the "United World Temple," the video's narrator also warns that the U.N. plans to burn all churches that don't submit to the "anti-Christian attitude of the almighty" U.N. government, and incarcerate their pastors.

"If the United Nations has their way, there will be curtailment of our right to practice our religion," Paul says in the video. "They are not going to be believers in the right to practice our religion as we have seen fit throughout this country.  And therefore individuals who are interested in this subject certainly cannot be complacent about what the United Nations is doing."

Update [2011-12-28 17:15:51 by Frederick Clarkson]: TPM reports that the Paul campaign is touting the endorsement of a minister who appears to be a Christian Reconstructionist.

Paul’s Iowa chair, Drew Ivers, recently touted the endorsement of Rev. Phillip G. Kayser, a pastor at the Dominion Covenant Church in Nebraska who also draws members from Iowa, putting out a press release praising “the enlightening statements he makes on how Ron Paul’s approach to government is consistent with Christian beliefs.” But Kayser’s views on homosexuality go way beyond the bounds of typical anti-gay evangelical politics and into the violent fringe: he recently authored a paper arguing for criminalizing homosexuality and even advocated imposing the death penalty against offenders based on his reading of Biblical law.

“Difficulty in implementing Biblical law does not make non-Biblical penology just,” he argued. “But as we have seen, while many homosexuals would be executed, the threat of capital punishment can be restorative. Biblical law would recognize as a matter of justice that even if this law could be enforced today, homosexuals could not be prosecuted for something that was done before.”

Reached by phone, Kayser confirmed to TPM that he believed in reinstating Biblical punishments for homosexuals — including the death penalty — even if he didn’t see much hope for it happening anytime soon. While he said he and Paul disagree on gay rights, noting that Paul recently voted for repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, he supported the campaign because he believed Paul’s federalist take on the Constitution would allow states more latitude to implement fundamentalist law. Especially since under Kayser’s own interpretation of the Constitution there is no separation of Church and State.




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Gary North was at one time an aid to Paul working in his office.

by wilkyjr on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 09:09:50 AM EST

Supporters stick with Ron Paul for the most part. Some because of his surprising anti-war stance, and indeed there are many democratic party members who cross over to vote for Paul for this reason. Also his drug war stance is appealing to many people. That being said, for any democrat who seriously looks at the total package deal with Ron Paul, they could not seriously support this guy, and most republicans are not just indifferent to Ron Paul the actively oppose him. Still he is likely to pull between 25 to 30% of the vote, and that is enough to place him either first or second in the split Iowa primary. The good news is that he does bring a couple of neglected topics into discussion.

by chaplain on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 09:27:21 AM EST

I can only hope Ron Paul gets the Republican nomination for president. There are vast millions of quiet, apolitical, sane Americans who will be appalled by him.

by nogodsnomasters on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 02:40:56 PM EST
If by some unexpected circumstances, Paul got the nomination, American politics would be in complete disarray -- and not in a good way.  

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 03:04:47 PM EST
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The disarray we already have can get any worse.

by Edski on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 06:24:11 PM EST
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...if somehow antiwar progressives and drug policy reform libertarians, align with neoNazis and conservative Christian theocrats to somehow get Ron Paul the GOP nomination.  While this scenario seems most unlikely, lets take seriously that this is the defacto coalition that is already forming in Iowa and New Hampshire.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 07:17:38 PM EST
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had a few "experiences" with anti-war progressives, I would not believe that any progressive could vote for a Republican.

The ones I encountered were so pacifistic that they didn't even agree with self-defense, and the religious ones told me that I couldn't be Christian and defend myself from attack (such as by a murderer) and God forbid that I take a murder's life in defense of my own or the lives of my family.  I left one progressive Christian blog because the people there told me I couldn't use lethal force to defend myself or my family and be Christian (not to mention my home).

They certainly could not extend that viewpoint to a country defending itself from attack.

I would hope that they are few and far between.  As far as ordinary progressives, I have yet to meet a "pro-war" one.  The extreme versions I've met consider us pro-war because we believe there can be justification for war, just as there can be justification for killing another in self defense.

I think some arguments showing how Ron Paul's other beliefs could lead to war or violence within this country might weaken the support of the types I encountered (I admit, I don't know if they were typical of the "anti-war" progressives or not).  Increased violence and war certainly could be the result of another conservative Republican in office.

As far as people who want drugs legalized... the ones I've met would have voted for a dog or possibly even someone like Hitler if it would get their favorite chemical legalized.  I myself don't care if people use as long as they don't force it on me (even the smell of pot gives both of us a splitting headache), and I consider the approach taken by the past administrations to be completely on the wrong track and a total failure.  I agree we need to take a different path re drugs, but not the path of someone like Ron Paul.

 

by ArchaeoBob on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 10:03:22 AM EST
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lefties. Progressives are really the largest tent going, today. And of course, without an authoritarian-leaning ideology, there's going to be a lot of sway from far-left to pragmatic Dems.

The difference, usually is that Progressive Democrats do not push the fringe ideas very much, and certainly nowhere near how far right the Republicans have allowed themselves to be lead. For instance, the far-left includes anti-vaxxers and "Alternative Medicine" hokum-believers, but you won't see progressives agree with very much of those stances, no matter how well-meaning the adherents. There is 1 Congressman that pushes that sort of nonsense, but I know he gets a lot of push back from the reality-based, and I don't even know if he's still in office, as I don't remember his name.

Many of the progressives I know are not at all afraid to admit to being semi-Socialist in how we think that some resources should be allocated, or at least how those assets are produced, and who benefits most. But none that I know of are pushing for any of those alternatives because we're well aware that we have a full plate right now, trying to undo the damage we see being wrought on the poor and middle-classes. I do wish we were more vocal about what we plan for taxation on the wealthy. Not only do we NOT think that taxing the rich will immediately solve all our problems, nor do we want them to pay like Ike would have them do, but that we want to see structural changes that will steer up back toward a more-level playing field. Fair play, not everything divvied up equally, as they like to paint us.

by trog69 on Sat Dec 31, 2011 at 06:54:00 PM EST
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between the "Anti-war" progressives and ordinary progressives (I count myself as being an ordinary progressive).

The "Anti-war" progressives did have an attitude of "If you're not like us, you aren't progressive!".  I didn't buy that either.

I also strongly disagree about the view on taxing the rich.  Raising taxes on them immediately (and making sure that they pay) will solve a LOT of problems, and that's the source of most of the misery.  That is a view I find common to a lot of the "ordinary" progressives I know.

by ArchaeoBob on Sun Jan 01, 2012 at 08:53:32 AM EST
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I can see no good coming from a Ron Paul Republican or Independent candidacy. I don't want the election turning on how many of each side bolts for Paul.

The debates sure would be interesting, I imagine.



by trog69 on Sat Dec 31, 2011 at 07:01:12 PM EST
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The content provided a comprehensive overview of Ron Paul's rise in popularity, highlighting the role of his faith outreach consultants and media coverage.  expungement of dui in california However, it also addressed concerns regarding his past newsletters and associations with extremist groups. The inclusion of these critical perspectives adds balance to the discussion. Overall, the content offers valuable insights into the complexities surrounding Ron Paul's campaign.

by isabelladom on Mon Jun 05, 2023 at 02:07:56 AM EST


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