"Ron Paul racist rant caught on tape!" (note, in quotes)

[Bill Thompson]

OMG someone working at Ron Paul's newsletter killed a guy once and Ron Paul never knew about it. That makes Ron Paul a murderer. Let's go interview him about it until he is angry and storms out. That will be proof that he is a murderer. We know he kills people because when he talks his lips move.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

How is it wrong?

There is plenty of evidence in the public sphere that Ron Paul is racist. But like anything, the world is not all black and white. Ron Paul defends the blacks incarcerated for drug crimes and acknowledges the inequality of it. But that's because he's defending his Libertarian position against laws restricting the behavior of adults who choose to use currently illegal drugs. If you listen to what else Paul has to say about blacks he continually refers to them as people who want a free handout.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

OMG someone working at Ron Paul's newsletter killed a guy once and Ron Paul never knew about it. That makes Ron Paul a murderer. Let's go interview him about it until he is angry and storms out. That will be proof that he is a murderer. We know he kills people because when he talks his lips move.

This wasn't a major newspaper here, this was a 2-bit, 10 page newsletter.

Once again, it went out under his name, he paid for it out of his campaign funds, thus he is responsible for the content, even if he did not write it.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

OMG someone working at Ron Paul's newsletter killed a guy once and Ron Paul never knew about it. That makes Ron Paul a murderer. Let's go interview him about it until he is angry and storms out. That will be proof that he is a murderer. We know he kills people because when he talks his lips move.

Your denial is way over the top here.

Please, Bill, stop and think. It was Ron Paul's publication. Every bit of it except a single issue was written IN THE FIRST PERSON with the implication those were Paul's words. It wasn't a news letter with multiple opinion pieces.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

He did not write those things. And he shut down the newsletter when he found out the staff whom he had trusted printed that stupidity.

I advise people to stop listening to Progressive Talk Radio. They lie.

Bull.

Watch the CNN story (not "Progressive Talk Radio") I cited.

Ron Paul doesn't deny making some of the remarks in question. He actually admits he made the remark about young black males who mug you being fleet of foot, for example.


He denies writing the things in his newsletter. At one time he accepted "moral responsibility" for them, but now denies that as well.

Even if you wish to make the case that he's not racist, do you think any of this argues for someone you'd want to be president? Someone who can put his name on a document the he doesn't read or accept responsibility for? Someone who knowingly provided a forum (a sign he was at the very least sympathetic to racist and CTist ideas)?

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

OMG someone working at Ron Paul's newsletter killed a guy once and Ron Paul never knew about it. That makes Ron Paul a murderer. Let's go interview him about it until he is angry and storms out. That will be proof that he is a murderer. We know he kills people because when he talks his lips move.

Strawman argument. I don't think Ron Paul ever had employees working at his newsletter. It was his baby entirely.

If he was only in it for the money, is that a better argument for his character than that he believed the racist and CTist nonsense in his newsletter?

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Please, Bill, stop and think. It was Ron Paul's publication. Every bit of it except a single issue was written IN THE FIRST PERSON with the implication those were Paul's words. It wasn't a news letter with multiple opinion pieces.

Yep. And since there were no by lines on the articles, the assumption is that 100% of the content was his. It's a stretch of credibility to claim that he didn't write the articles himself, but it's completely absurd to suggest that he never even read them and has no responsibility for them.

 

[Bill Thompson]

This wasn't a major newspaper here, this was a 2-bit, 10 page newsletter.

Once again, it went out under his name, he paid for it out of his campaign funds, thus he is responsible for the content, even if he did not write it.

Are you saying he printed these things up himself alone in his basement or something?

The comments in question does not sound like the ideas of an educated man. Ron Paul is an educated man.

Lots of foods are sold with name Betty Crocker on it. That does not mean there was a Betty Crocker who invented that recipe. Sander's image is on KFC but there are foods sold there that he never approved when he was alive. In fact, he hated the mashed potatoes gravy.

 

[Bill Thompson]

There is plenty of evidence in the public sphere that Ron Paul is racist. But like anything, the world is not all black and white. Ron Paul defends the blacks incarcerated for drug crimes and acknowledges the inequality of it. But that's because he's defending his Libertarian position against laws restricting the behavior of adults who choose to use currently illegal drugs. If you listen to what else Paul has to say about blacks he continually refers to them as people who want a free handout.

I would like to hear that. Show me a link.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

I would like to hear that. Show me a link.

Why bother? You obviously haven't viewed the CNN video in the link I provided.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Are you saying he printed these things up himself alone in his basement or something?

The comments in question does not sound like the ideas of an educated man. Ron Paul is an educated man.

Lots of foods are sold with name Betty Crocker on it. That does not mean there was a Betty Crocker who invented that recipe. Sander's image is on KFC but there are foods sold there that he never approved when he was alive. In fact, he hated the mashed potatoes gravy.

Round and round the mulberry bush
logical arguments become blurred
It boggles the brain
how one can claim
one must print one's own words to be heard.

 

[Bill Thompson]

Your denial is way over the top here.

Please, Bill, stop and think. It was Ron Paul's publication. Every bit of it except a single issue was written IN THE FIRST PERSON with the implication those were Paul's words. It wasn't a news letter with multiple opinion pieces.

Did he work alone on them? Are any of them online to read in their entirety or do we have to rely on a sentence here and there?

My first impression of your comment that they were wriitten in the first person is that all opinion pieces are written in the first person. That is different from saying "I, Ron Paul, think that...". It is also a custom to denote something with your name at the end of an article. If I wrote something I was proud of, I would put my name on it and not just have my name as a caption.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

The comments in question does not sound like the ideas of an educated man. Ron Paul is an educated man.

No True Scotsman Fallacy if you're pointing to the conclusion that therefore Ron Paul could not have written the text in his newsletter. This is simply circular reasoning.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

My first impression of your comment that they were wriitten in the first person is that all opinion pieces are written in the first person.

Yes, and if there is no other name on them, then the editorial staff is the "I" in them. In this case, the editorial staff consisted of Ron Paul. There was no other name on these articles.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Ron Paul is a very opinionated person. It doesn't matter how you excuse his newsletter, Bill. We're only beginning to see his recorded words on screen.

 

[Bill Thompson]

This wasn't a major newspaper here, this was a 2-bit, 10 page newsletter.

Once again, it went out under his name, he paid for it out of his campaign funds, thus he is responsible for the content, even if he did not write it.

No. He is not. His supporters are who wrote the stuff.

How frequently did this 10 page newsletter go out? You cannot expect the guy to be around to approve every publication. And if it went out frequently, it is doubtful he would have had the time to write every part of it.

It is like having a magazine with Lance Armstrong's name on the cover and some wack-job working there writes an article about something crazy like why black people cannot race on bicycles like white people. And we want to accuse Lance of racism.

 

[Bill Thompson]

Ron Paul is a very opinionated person. It doesn't matter how you excuse his newsletter, Bill. We're only beginning to see his recorded words on screen.

How can you say that? Every racists I have known are proud of what they believe. Ron Paul already believes in unpopular stuff that has kept him from being president. It does not make sense that he would lie about being a racist.

 

[Bill Thompson]

Yes, and if there is no other name on them, then the editorial staff is the "I" in them. In this case, the editorial staff consisted of Ron Paul. There was no other name on these articles.

But the two pieces to the puzzle do not fit. I mean, we are trying to say the guy in the video in the OP who has a PHD is like someone like David Duke. It does not seem like the same guy.

 

[Alferd_Packer]

No. He is not. His supporters are who wrote the stuff.

Who were working for him.

it was HIS COMPANY that published the newsletters.

How frequently did this 10 page newsletter go out? You cannot expect the guy to be around to approve every publication. And if it went out frequently, it is doubtful he would have had the time to write every part of it.

Why not?

He wasn't in Congress at the time. He was running around trying to raise funds for his next go at it.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

But the two pieces to the puzzle do not fit. I mean, we are trying to say the guy in the video in the OP who has a PHD is like someone like David Duke. It does not seem like the same guy.

Yes. . .now think it through.. . wouldn't that suggest that Ron Paul is trying to remake himself to appeal to a broader audience? Or at least that he's tolerant of racist and nutty CTist opinions when he thinks those remarks are limited to that audience?

Again, even if he didn't write the words in his newsletter (written as first person opinion pieces with no other name on them but Ron Paul's), are you satisfied with his changing response to questions about these comments?

And what about the comments (mentioned in the CNN piece) that he doesn't even deny were his own words?