Ron Paul, Racist Anti-Semite?

Speaking of blowback, it seems the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy," which now apparently includes the likes of CNN, is focusing its firepower on Ron Paul, not only for blaming America for 9/11 criticizing American foreign policy in the Middle East, but also now for his allegedly racist and anti-semitic views.

Oh my.

Herewith, a 1996 Houston Chronicle article quoting excerpts from newsletters Paul sent to supporters in 1992, such excerpts apparently provided by the campaign of his then Democratic opponent, Austin, Texas lawyer Charles "Lefty" Morris. As quoted, Paul contended that black, teen-age male criminals are "unbelievably fleet-footed," that "polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action," that "we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in [Washington, D.C.] are semi-criminal or entirely criminal," and that "the most powerful lobby in Washington of the bad sort is the Israeli government."

I wasn't aware there was a good sort of Washington lobby, and surely there must be some less than fleet-footed black teen-aged criminals out there; but I have no interest in defending Paul, assuming the quotes are accurate and that they are not misleadingly taken out of context.

As I have repeatedly noted, Ron Paul is not going to win the Republican nomination and is not going to be President of the United States, and so all the backlash against Paul for espousing views well outside what counts as the current range of acceptable mainstream Republican opinion (more's the pity) and experiencing a surge of internet interest and activity is almost laughable.

So, for that matter, is the notion that among all the middle-aged white male candidates thus far declared as Republican candidates, Paul might be targeted by Republican conservatives as holding or publicly expressing (two quite different things) views that are beyond the pale on racial or ethnic grounds.

Here's the thing. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom of the Left, most Republicans, most conservatives and most middle-aged white men are not racists by any reasonable definition of the term. Neither are they either entirely pure of heart in such matters nor will their comments over the decades withstand close scrutiny for failure to show appropriate deference to current political sensibilities in such matters.

That said, accusations of racism (though possibly not of anti-semitism, interestingly enough) pretty much constitute the "nuclear option" in American politics. Maybe Paul can give an adequate account not only for those quotes but also for everything he has ever said or written that could be construed as indicative of racial or ethnic prejudice and maybe he can't. That all depends in large measure on what counts as racism, what counts as merely racially insensitive phrasing of an otherwise innocuous observation or opinion and what counts as fair comment on racial issues. But the same goes for every other candidate, as well, so they and their supporters had better be damned careful about that particular political gambit.

Let me repeat that I am not interested in defending Paul or any other candidate insofar as there may be legitimate evidence of that candidate holding racist or anti-semitic views. Who knows what we have yet to learn about any of the candidates as their campaigns progress? What does at least for now primarily interest and amuse and, just a little bit, worry me is how quickly and easily frightened certain elements of the Right are over what so far amounts to no more than a little internet buzz over a man who stands no chance whatsoever of being nominated or elected president.