January 08, 2008

Ron Paul's 'limp-wristed' past

Posted by: Chris

A must-read piece on The New Republic's website today by Jamie Kirchick, who wrote op-eds for me  at the Washington Blade while still in college. Jamie unearted years of newsletters published by Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul that are saturated with attacks on gays, blacks and Jews -- not to mention conspiracy theories galore.

As the maverick libertarian in the GOP presidential primaries, Paul has caught the interest of many gay Republican and independent voters -- and was endorsed by Andrew Sullivan. It's hard to see how Paul can effectively distance himself from the story, considering the volume of bile that Kirchick outlines.

As far as gays go, the highlights from the newsletters -- including Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report,  and the Ron Paul Survival Report -- include a 1990 reference to a reporter from a gay magazine "who certainly had an axe to grind, and that's not easy with a limp wrist."

In an article headlined, "The Pink House?" the author of a newsletter, whom Kirchick presumes is Paul, complained about President George H.W. Bush's decision to sign a hate crimes reporting bill and invite "the heads of homosexual lobbying groups to the White House for the ceremony.

"I miss the closet," the author added. "Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."

Kirchick reports a "particular obsession" in the Ron Paul newsletters with AIDS, which is described as "a politically protected disease thanks to payola and the influence of the homosexual lobby." A 1990 newsletter article approvingly quoted "a well-known Libertarian editor" as saying, "The ACT-UP slogan, on stickers plastered all over Manhattan, is 'Silence = Death.' But shouldn't it be 'Sodomy = Death'?"

In one particularly offensive passage, an article argues that "gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense."

"[T]hese men don't really see a reason to live past their fifties," it concludes. "They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners, [and] …  they enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick."

I've avoided writing about Paul because his candidacy isn't viable and he has consistently struck me as the somewhat wacky counterpart to GOP's Dennis Kucinich. Kirchick's report confirms he is too unbalanced to be taken seriously for any public office, much less president of the United States.

Ron Paul responds

A statement released under Ron Paul's name on his campaign website disclaims authorship of the articles in questions and argues the TNR report was "politically motivated":

The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed.  I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.

This story is old news and has been rehashed for over a decade.  It's once again being resurrected for obvious political reasons on the day of the New Hampshire primary.

When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine full-time, a newsletter was published under my name that I did not edit.  Several writers contributed to the product.   For over a decade, I have publically taken moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name.

Way too little, mostly too late. Paul should identify the persons he claims are responsible for the newsletter so that Paul's disclaimer -- moral or otherwise -- can be adequately vetted. Additional questions linger: Did Paul never even read any issues of the newsletters? Did he profit from them?

The man is running for the nation's highest office; it's not enough to ask us to trust that he merely fell asleep at the switch.

Technorati Tags: Jamie Kirchick, newsletters, Ron Paul, The New Republic