Well, I guess someone had to defend Rand Paul against the charge that he’s a racist. But, as DougJ points out, a Paul campaign spokesman had to resign after this:
In December, Chris Hightower, the spokesman for Paul’s senate campaign, was forced to resign after a liberal Kentucky blog discovered that his MySpace page had a comment posted around Martin Luther King Day that read: “HAPPY N***ER DAY” above what appears to be a historical photo of the lynching of a black man.
So, you know, maybe that was a clue about how the Paulists view black people. It’s all fine and dandy to say the Civil War need not have been fought or that the Civil Rights Act erred in barring segregation in restaurants but you are not a racist. Asking the rest of us to believe you is kind of insulting, however. You try to hide behind some stupid ideology. But we can see right through your ideology.
Or we can just check with Dave Neiwart:
[Ron] Paul in fact has a long history not just of associating with the extreme populist right, but of promoting their beliefs in the public square:
— He has been proclaiming that Obama is installing a “New World Order” regime for months now.
— This reflected his long record of public associations with the far-right Patriot movement in the 1990s.
— These views were manifested in his 1990s newsletters.
— They were also reflected in his radical-right record in Congress.
— This included a horrendous record on the Martin Luther King holiday.
More on that record here and here.
— As a result of all this, he also has attracted a powerful bloc of militiamen and white supremacists.
— This turned up especially in his recent presidential campaign. More on that here and here.
So, is it any wonder that Rand Paul is surrounded by people who celebrate Martin Luther King Day by posting lynching photos on their MySpace page? Are we shocked that Rand doesn’t want the federal government desegregating lunch counters? Please.
