Framing Dr. Ron Paul [Big Update!]

7 Comments

1. 

   Oui on January 28, 2012 at 1:24 pm

   .

   Elections 1978-1980-1982

   (Wikipedia) – Paul lost some months later in the general election, to Democrat Robert Gammage, by fewer than 300 votes (0.2%), but defeated Gammage in a 1978 rematch, and was reelected in 1980 and 1982. Paul was the first Republican representative from the area; he also headed the Texas Reagan delegation at the national Republican convention. His successful campaign against Gammage surprised local Democrats, who had expected to retain the seat easily due to the Watergate scandal. Gammage underestimated Paul’s popularity among local mothers: “I had real difficulty down in Brazoria County, where he practiced, because he’d delivered half the babies in the county. There were only two obstetricians in the county, and the other one was his partner.”

   1996 Campaign

   The party endorsed incumbent Laughlin, including assistance from House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and the National Rifle Association. Paul responded by running newspaper advertisements quoting Gingrich’s harsh criticisms of Laughlin’s Democratic voting record 14 months earlier.

   Paul won the primary with assistance from baseball pitcher, constituent, and friend Nolan Ryan (as honorary campaign chair and advertisement spokesman), as well as tax activist Steve Forbes and conservative commentator Pat Buchanan (both of whom had had presidential campaigns that year).

   Paul’s Democratic opponent in the autumn general election, trial lawyer Charles “Lefty” Morris, received assistance from the AFL-CIO, but Paul’s wider contributor base out-raised Morris two-to-one, giving the third-highest amount of individual contributions received by any House member (behind Gingrich and Bob Dornan). Paul characterized Morris as a stooge of trial lawyers and “big labor” while Morris ran numerous advertisements about Paul’s advocacy of federal drug law repeal. Morris also accused Paul of authoring questionable statements in past newsletters, some of which were characterized as racially charged. [Ron Paul & Associates (RP&A), Inc.]

   Paul-itically Incorrect – Ron Paul’s Wacky Views Highlight a Bitter Race (1996)

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

2. 

   Oui on January 28, 2012 at 2:15 pm

   .

   Angry White Man – The bigoted past of Ron Paul

   James Kirchick TNR issue June 2, 2008

   If you are a critic of the Bush administration, chances are that, at some point over the past six months, Ron Paul has said something that appealed to you. Paul describes himself as a libertarian, but, since his presidential campaign took off earlier this year, the Republican congressman has attracted donations and plaudits from across the ideological spectrum. Antiwar conservatives, disaffected centrists, even young liberal activists have all flocked to Paul, hailing him as a throwback to an earlier age,

    « click for similar stories  

   when politicians were less mealy-mouthed and American government was more modest in its ambitions, both at home and abroad. In The New York Times Magazine, conservative writer Christopher Caldwell gushed that Paul is a “formidable stander on constitutional principle,” while The Nation wrote of “his full-throated rejection of the imperial project in Iraq.” Former TNR editor Andrew Sullivan endorsed Paul for the GOP nomination, and ABC’s Jake Tapper described the candidate as “the one true straight-talker in this race.” Even The Wall Street Journal, the newspaper of the elite bankers whom Paul detests, recently advised other Republican presidential contenders not to “dismiss the passion he’s tapped.”

   A rebuttal to James Kirchick…
   Old Angry White Man Discovers James Kirchick, Anti-Paul Crusader, Writing With Merit and a Rigorous Frankenstein Government Defense

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

   • 

     Arthur Gilroy on January 28, 2012 at 4:51 pm

     No surprise about Kirchick. He’s had spook written all over him from the get-go.

     AG

     P.S. Thanx for the heads up.

   • 

     Arthur Gilroy on January 28, 2012 at 5:15 pm

     The questions “Is the Ron Paul campaign being Neo-Conned? Perhaps suckered by AIPAC?” are moot.

     Why?

     Because one cannot “sucker” a truly honest man. Ron Paul is saying exactly and precisely what he has been saying for about 30 years. If you disagree with him? He continues saying it. Agree with him? Ignore him? Even put a (metaphorical or not-so-metaphorical) gun to his head? He’ll go right on saying…and doing…the same things that he has been saying and doing. That’s where he is at, in my estimation. No fear. No fear of losing, no fear of winning and no fear of the often lethal PermaGov military/political establishment.

     

     No fear?

     No fear? No “suckering.”

     Just straight ahead and damn the torpedoes. Even if they purport to agree with you.

     AG

     P.S.  “Damn the torpedoes! Four bells. Captain Drayton, go ahead! Jouett, full speed!”-Admiral David Farragut, American Civil War

     

     Saaaaaayyyy…he look just  like…aw, no. Can’t be. Just a coincidence. Right?

     Riiiiiiiiight…

3. 

   MassCommons on January 30, 2012 at 4:05 pm

   Just because Kirchik is a neocon doesn’t let Paul off the hook.  Ta-Nehisi Coates brings the knowledge:

   http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/01/no-one-left-to-lie-to/252123/

   http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2012/01/compensation/252195/

   • 

     Oui on January 30, 2012 at 4:40 pm

     .
     It’s all been rehashed and no one does reasearch on original documents and newspaper articles. It’s all laziness and innuendo in the left-wing blog community, very sad. Here is the original story from a former assistant Eric Rittberg, who has also gone by the name Eric Dondero:

     Fmr. Senior Aide, US Cong. Ron Paul, 1997 – 2003
     Campaign Coordinator, Ron Paul for Congress, 1995/96
     National Organizer, Draft Ron Paul for President, 1991/92
     Travel Aide/Personal Asst. Ron Paul, Libertarian for President 1987/88

     Statement from fmr. Ron Paul staffer on Newsletters, Anti-Semitism [excerpts]

     (RightWingNews) – Is Ron Paul a “racist.” In short, No. I worked for the man for 12 years, pretty consistently. I never heard a racist word expressed towards Blacks or Jews come out of his mouth. Not once. And understand, I was his close personal assistant. He has frequently hired blacks for his office staff, starting as early as 1988 for the Libertarian campaign. He has also hired many Hispanics, including his current District staffer Dianna Gilbert-Kile.

     Is Ron Paul an Anti-Semite? Absolutely No. As a Jew, (half on my mother’s side), I can categorically say that I never heard anything out of his mouth, in hundreds of speeches I listened too over the years, or in my personal presence that could be called, “Anti-Semite.” No slurs. No derogatory remarks. Again, American Jews, Ron Paul has no problem with. In fact, there were a few Jews in our congressional district, and Ron befriended them with the specific intent of winning their support for our campaign.

     Is Ron Paul a homo-phobe? Well, yes and no. He is not all bigoted towards homosexuals. He supports their rights to do whatever they please in their private lives. He is however, personally uncomfortable around homosexuals, no different from a lot of older folks of his era.

     Again, let me stress. I would not categorize that as “homo-phobic,” but rather just unsettled by being around gays personally. Ron, like many folks his age, very much supports toleration, but chooses not to be around gays on a personal level. It’s a personal choice. And though, it may seem offensive to some, he has every right in my mind to feel and act that way.

     Finally, let me make a couple observations. The liberal media is ferociously attacking Ron this morning, on everything from the Newsletters to his various PACs. I’m amused at how off-base they all are. If they are looking for something that went un-explained after many years, it’s the Nadia Hayes incident from the end of the presidential campaign in 1988. I personally am still a little ticked off by this, and surprised that nobody has ever followed up on it.

     For years afterwards, Rockwell, and Blumert had complete control of Ron’s enterprises through Jean McIver and (former JBS/Jesse Helms fundraiser) David “James” Mertz of northern Virginia.

     "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

     • 

       MassCommons on January 31, 2012 at 7:16 pm

       Sorry to be repetitious, but as Coates has repeatedly written, the issue is not whether Rep. Paul “is a racist”.  The issue is whether Rep. Paul’s behavior in publishing (for economic, and political, profit) racially-charged articles in his newsletters is racist.  

       Once again, Jay Smooth says it better than I can:  http://www.illdoctrine.com/2008/07/how_to_tell_people_they_sound.html