January 7, 2012 11:28 PM

Ron Paul says he is not racist, slams drug laws as unfair to blacks

By
Corbett B. Daly
Topics
Campaign 2012

Texas Rep. Ron Paul said Saturday he is not a racist and pointed to his beliefs about unequal prosecution of drug laws to prove it.

In a debate hosted by ABC News, Yahoo! and WMUR, Paul was asked about some controversial newsletters with racist remarks that he sent out under his name in the 1980s and 1990s. Paul said they are distraction from the real issues at hand, which are his record and beliefs regarding race in the United States.

Paul said that Martin Luther King is one his heroes for practicing "the libertarian principle of peaceful resistance and peaceful civil disobedience," and highlighted his understanding that the drug laws in the United States unfairly penalize African Americans.

"True racism in this country is in the judicial system," Paul said, "the percentage of people who use drugs are about the same with blacks and whites. And yet the blacks are arrested way disproportionately."

"They're prosecuted and imprisoned way disproportionately," he continued, "they get the death penalty way disproportionately. How many times have you seen a white rich person get the electric chair or get, you know, execution?"

"If we truly want to be concerned about racism, you ought to look at a few of those issues and look at the drug laws, which are being so unfairly enforced," said Paul, who is known for his libertarian views on U.S. drug policy.


Add a Comment See all 154 Comments
by sociallyjust January 10, 2012 9:24 AM EST
Yes, Ron Paul IS prejudiced and racist from his old racist/prejudiced background-mentality, which is deep-rooted from during his formative years.

His hidden, irrational hatred and views of others who are not 'mainstream White', will indeed adversely impact his ability to make fair, and/or unprejudiced decisions.
Reply to this comment
by infotechsailor January 10, 2012 12:04 PM EST
your comment is retarded
by dan3193 January 9, 2012 10:00 PM EST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0hpiwfM2qo
Reply to this comment
by dan3193 January 9, 2012 9:58 PM EST
Reality Check: Fair Coverage Of The story behind the Ron Paul newsletters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0hpiwfM2qo&feature=player_embedded#!

Here is a fair analysis of Ron Paul's newsletters. This report shows that only 9 out of 240+ newsletters contained racist comments. It seems obvious that these are not his personal views and that he did not write the comments in question. There wasn't racist content at all from 1976-1988 and the racist content only appeared from Oct. 1990-Feb.1991 and June, July, and December 1992. The only thing it seems Dr. Paul is guilty of is negligence for allowing such terrible things to be published under his name, unless he decided to become bigoted for about nine months of his life at different intervals to completely contrast his decades of integrity and his deeply held moral beliefs.
Reply to this comment
by JohnMikal January 10, 2012 9:11 AM EST
I would like to add some new information regarding the newsletters issue to hopefully wrap up this topic as a blatant attempt by opponents of Ron Paul to smear his name.
Ben Swan of the program Reality Check did some additional work on the story after the video link you gave. At this point, we now know who wrote all the racist articles. The story was originally brought up by James Kirchek when he distributed the questionable newsletters years ago and deleted the authors names from the materials he distributed. After much digging from Ben Swan's team, they were finally able to determine that James Powell was the author of all the inflammatory articles in the newsletters. It is a sorry state of affairs that more 'reporters' are not as thorough as Ben Swan. Keep up the good work Ben!

http://www.dailypaul.com/200979/ben-swann-reality-check-author-of-racist-newsletter-revealed
by calebsally January 10, 2012 11:37 AM EST
Maybe Paul just doesn't want to admit that he dropped the ball on regarding the newsletter issue. (Honestly, he should just say that instead of deflecting.)

Then again, his views on the Civil Rights Act, though based in *ahem* "libertarian" philosophy, NEVER sat well with me anyway. He doesn't have my vote in any regard.
by IO_Storm January 9, 2012 6:11 PM EST
Ron Paul is right again,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlyy8JdWALg

Ron Paul 2012!
Reply to this comment
by calebsally January 9, 2012 12:11 PM EST
Not convinced. Ron Paul dodged the newsletter issue and his son won't talk about it.

As far as I'm concerned, Ron Paul is severely questionable when it comes to racism.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/ron-paul-rand-racist-newsletter-debate-king
Reply to this comment
by Dialogos January 9, 2012 3:41 PM EST
How ignorant. That article proves NOTHING about PAUL. I have studied Pauls techings since the mid-90s AND PAUL IS NO RACIST. Paul has addressed the BOGUS newsletter story for years. The MSM brings it up to sway the ignorant.

One question folks. Which candidate sponsored audit legislation (HR 1207) that lead to the exposing the 16 TRILLION dollars in secret Federal Reserve bailouts to banks and foreign corporations in 2010? His name is Dr. Ron Paul!!!!! $16 Trillion is more than our entire $15 trillion national debt. This is why the Wall Street establishment wants you to vote for someone else. Wake Up!!!!

Ron Paul has warned his supporters for three decades and more about the dangers of a fraudulent fractional reserve banking system in the hands of private central bankers, and no one can legitimately argue any longer that those concerns have not been justified.

BTW, Ron Paul is the only veteran in the lot. Dr. Ron Paul served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and then in the United States Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968.

Ron Paul receives more financial contributions from active duty vets than all the other candidates combined. Why is this? They know that Ron Paul is the best solution for our National Defense, though the establishment media is trying to make him look like a kook who would hurt national security. We need to defend our borders and give all these National Guard troops who are on their 3rd and 4th tours of duty a break. What if there was a real war in the near future? Our military is already at the breaking point from wars started to help banks and oil companies. We need an agenda to help repair America.

For freedom and peace. Vote for Ron Paul 2012!!!!
by calebsally January 10, 2012 11:33 AM EST
Wow, you're mad. Anyways, apparently he *hasn't* addressed it, only deflected it.

Oh well; he and his son's non-answers haven't convinced me otherwise, so unless you have a more compelling argument than "Paul has addressed the BOGUS newsletter story for years", then forget it.

Extremely questionable when it comes to racism/prejudice, I still say.
by schnickel January 9, 2012 12:45 AM EST
Okay--Ron Paul wants to talk about race, or no?,,,first the newletters in his name had racist tones about Jewish people and he just completely shrugs it off as nothing, a non issue, 2. then immediately goes to ( by his own comparison) another 'non issue' about drug laws being unfair towards people of black skin,,, then wants to insult white skinned people who are wealthy as having benefits from a racist law. He should have been told that is how money works with lawyers and judges and it doesn't matter what color you are,,as long as you have money to buy a good liberal/libertarian lawyer who is buddies with a liberal judge, you'll most likely get a lighter sentence.
Reply to this comment
by Rob_Waters January 9, 2012 8:41 PM EST
Sure, he'll talk about race issues. 20 year old newsletters are not as issue. The drug war IS an issue. See the difference?
by PatDissent January 8, 2012 7:46 PM EST
Ron Paul is either lying, or he will say anything to deflect from his proven 20 year history of publishing a racist newsletter. Blacks are *NOT* being targeted by the death penalty, and statistics from Paul's State of Texas prove it.

Here are the facts the "professional" reporters *SHOULD* have presented in this story :

Between 2000 - 2009 Texas (which Paul represents!) executed 106 Whites and 101 Blacks.

In 2010, 7 Whites and 5 Blacks. In 2011, 6 Whites and 3 Blacks.

I dug up these statistics in about five minutes. What is the excuse of CBS or the MSM in not digging these facts up and grilling Paul about them? These statistics prove either that Ron Paul is lying, or he is horribly ignorant. So when will a reporter get around to finding out which it is?

Ron Paul desperately wants to talk about ANYTHING other than a 20 year history of publishing racist and anti-Semitic newsletters. By the evidence at hand we have to believe either Ron Paul is a racist (by his own statements, in video and print supporting the newsletters), or Ron Paul is horribly, tragically incompetent by letting his name be used for over 20 years without checking how it was being used.

The reality is either choice SHOULD disqualify Ron Paul for anything above dog-catcher.

Now that this information is out there, I eagerly await the pathetic attempt by the Paulistas to refute this vicious pack of facts.
Reply to this comment
by ricomacalester January 8, 2012 8:17 PM EST
I voted for Obama, might vote for him again depending on the realities
in November, but this is just laughable. It's almost a caricature of
how to distort and slant the news coverage on the newsletters that has emerged in the last few weeks. Congratulations!
by crOx28 January 9, 2012 7:02 AM EST
2010 census data for Texas 70.4% white, 11.8% black...how
about factoring this into your "vicious pack of facts" to see if
the numbers look a little more in line with what dr. paul is saying...
See all 4 Replies
by mutedd January 8, 2012 6:25 PM EST
Ron Paul is the only candidate bringing up the discrimination of blacks in our justice system, that alone is wow, no other politician would dare touch that subject! will it take us people to teach the main stream media that it is impossible for Ron Paul to be racist!

Ron Paul 2012!
Reply to this comment
by dudanation January 8, 2012 5:42 PM EST
I stopped dumping my money into the Ron Paul campaign through straight donations. Now I purchase massive amounts of his signs, bumper stickers, magnets etc.. which goes right to his campaign anyway, and I'm posting signs all over the place, trying to get people to pay attention to the man.

When I talked to an old lady on a plane about who she liked she didn't know anything about Paul because the media doesn't cover him. Once hearing what he stands for, she was immediately convinced that he was the candidate to vote for. You have to go looking for him on the internet to see what he stands for. So don't bother with the non-stop internet praise, people of modern age already support Paul. We need to reach out to those who don't use the internet much and show them that he is the most popular candidate. Put signs on every piece of grass where appropriate, banners on every fence, stickers on every bumper (only to people you know please) and wear your baseball caps and pins all the time so everyone in the United States of America knows that Ron Paul is the next president of the United States of America.
Reply to this comment
by josephle2k January 8, 2012 5:39 PM EST
Constant Bull Ship News:
Slanders Abuses Disparagements Aspersions Denigrations Calumnies
Prejudices Partialities Favoritisms Predispositions Preconceptions Preferences Preconceived notion Foregone conclusion Impartialities
Parodies Caricatures
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