The Rightness of Ron Paul

Little Green Footballs posted this revealing John Birch Society documentary about the UN plot to take over the US that features Ron Paul.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X554O6TwiYM?feature=player_embedded&w=640&h=360]The back-and-forth in the mainstream media about whether Ron Paul is "extreme" or not, or whether he should be held accountable for the vile racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic views that appeared for years under his byline in his eponymous newsletter (which, for the love of God, was promoted on mailing lists owned by Willis Carto) is as disingenuous as its past anguishing about whether Pat Buchanan can fairly be called a racist and anti-Semite.The answer about Buchanan is "yes"--just look at his associations and his last few books. The answer about Paul has to be a little more qualified, since he doesn't seem to invest that much energy in his hatreds and he's held his tongue for the past decade or more. Nor should Paul's loucher statements take anything away from his refreshing sane-ness on a host of important issues, civil liberties and the war on drugs not the least among them (though he is a proudly inconsistent Right to Lifer too). But Jeez, people. James Edwards of the Political Cesspool and Don Black of Stormfront--two unapologetic white supremacists--trust him on the issues that matter the most to them. Click here for Edwards' endorsement of Paul and here for this New York Times story about Paul and racism, which includes this nice sound bite from Don Black:

“We understand that Paul is not a white nationalist, but most of our people support him because of his stand on issues,” Mr. Black said. “We think our race is being threatened through a form of genocide by assimilation, meaning the allowing in of third-world immigrants into the United States.”Mr. Black said Mr. Paul was attractive because of his “aggressive position on securing our borders,” his criticism of affirmative action and his goal of eliminating the Federal Reserve, which the Stormfront board considers to be essentially a private bank with no government oversight. “Also, our board recognizes that most of the leaders involved in the Fed and the international banking system are Jews.”

Ron Paul has raised alarms about the NAFTA superhighway and the Bilderbergs; he has sounded dog whistles about cosmopolitan Jewish bankers and warned about the coming race war. If Obama raised the shitstorm that he did by questioning the wisdom of a policeman who arrested the dapper (and physically unprepossessing) Henry Louis Gates in his own home, then why should Paul get a pass on his documented Bircherism and racism?But does Paul even want a pass? Because here's the really frightening thing: For many in this new era of American decline, Ron Paul's racism stands him in good stead. Earlier this year, I went to a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, at which the white nationalist Richard Spencer offered the Republicans unasked-for strategic advice. "The GOP is the White People’s Party, whether it likes it or not," he said. If they want to win in 2012, he went on, they need to embrace rather than run from their essential identity.It will be interesting to see how this latest eruption of the New Hate plays out in the coming weeks.If you enjoyed this post, please go to my Facebook page and "like" it (there is a button that will take you there on the top right hand side of this page). You can also follow me on Twitter. Itanimulli