Is Ron Paul A Racist Or Not?

I get a lot of e-mails and comments on my blog from Ron Paul supporters who argue that Ron Paul is not a racist and provide me YouTube clips and news articles to prove it. 

However, Ron Paul's newsletters raise some serious doubts as to whether or not he is a racist. First, lets review the facts.

Its been established by witnesses and public records that Ron Paul was heavily involved in his newsletter published under his own name: 

"...the officers of Ron Paul & Associates included Paul's wife Carol, Paul's daughter Lori Pyeatt, Paul staffer Penny Langford-Freeman, and longtime campaign manager Mark Elam (who has managed every Paul congressional campaign since 1996 and is currently the Texas coordinator for the presidential run), according to tax records from 1993 and 2001."

Its clear that he was intimately and deeply involved with the magazine in terms of editing, publishing, financing, advertising, and staffing his newsletter.We don't know exactly how much money Ron Paul made from these newsletters but from all the available evidence, he profited nicely from it. We also know that Ron Paul let Lew Rockwell or Murray Rothbard ghost write many of these racist articles. Both of these men are known for spouting racist and anti-Semitic views in other forums. We know that Ron Paul started publishing these articles in the 1990s. 

Now that we've established the basic facts, lets review why his newsletters raises some serious doubts as to whether or not he is a racist.

First, if Ron Paul isn't a racist, why publish the trash in his newsletter in the first place? Yet, those articles are there for all to see. 

Initially, Ron Paul absolutely denied he penned those newsletters. Then we get a half admission that he did write articles but we're to believe he only focused on economic issues. But given all the lies Ron Paul has said about his own newsletters, its difficult to believe that he only wrote the economic articles. Can we really believe Ron Paul didn't write them?

Even we are to believe that he's being honest that he only wrote the economic articles, he allows well known racists to write the articles. Why hire these men in the first place? Why didn't he reject the articles when these men submitted it for publication? Why didn't he issue a retraction and apology after they were published? Why didn't he fire these men after the article were published? The fact that he let racist men write racist articles with his approval and never once objected to it before or after these articles were published is troubling. 

There's the additional question of why even try to use racism as a strategy to increase his business? Its such a horrible business and public relations idea unless you know your articles are being read by the racists in America who have no qualms or objections with the content of the newsletters. Then there is no problem. 

If a magazine or newsletter was found to have published racist material, they would have issued an apology and retraction immediately. Moreover, they would not have purposely used racism as business strategy to increase circulation and profits.

Ron Paul never did this. Instead, the let these articles stand as they for more than a full decade since the 1990s without any corrections, retractions or apologies. Only when he's running for President in 2008 and 2012 does he try to distance himself from his own newsletters that were published under his name. 

How convenient. 

I think the evidence is overwhelming that raises serious questions about Ron Paul's bigoted views towards minorities. I don't like accusing people of racism and I don't do it lightly. 

Yet, its very clear that there's strong evidence that he is. There's no denying that there are serious questions about Ron Paul's bigotry. Even if we are to view all the evidence in a way that is most favorable to Ron Paul, his actions and words strongly raises doubts that's not a racist.

Whether Ron Paul is a racist or not is a matter of legitimate debate since we're deciding which man we want to live in the White House and be President. With all the available evidence and the troubling questions they raise before you, I'll let you decide if Ron Paul is a racist or not.