Little Green Footballs [1] notes:
The Only Man Who Can Save America tries to save himself from The New Republic’s article: Ron Paul Statement on The New Republic Article Regarding Old Newsletters [2].
“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.”
The problem for Dr. Paul is that there was a lot of this stuff. It stretches credulity to the breaking point to believe he had absolutely no idea what was being published in his name for that long. Doesn’t pass the sniff test.
First of all, I have to say up front I’m less than fully comfortable with TNR being the source of this article. As I suggested the other day [3], a liberal paper like TNR is going to come out on the idea that Paul is not leftist enough. They also have a habit of making stuff up as they go along. Doubtless they have motivations of their own which do not involve truth. TNR has long since been given over to trying to make the world safe for socialists. They’ve often enough been caught at outright fabrications as to make them something of a legend in the world of the leftist press. (See also, Beauchamp [4]) Yet, even Paul isn’t denying the story, so I suppose in this case we can take the content of the story as given and go from there.
And the newsletter isn’t the only source of the odor. There are Dr. Paul’s numerous appearances on the whacked-out conspiracy radio show hosted by 9/11 Troofer Alex Jones—and there are all those Nazis and New World Order types hanging around, who somehow, somewhere got the impression that Ron Paul was their kind of candidate.
And there’s the heart of it all. Paul made no effort to denounce these idiots. It all fits and very well indeed. If that were not so no single article could damage him. As it is…. Well, there’s no defending him.
[5]As for Paul’s continuing popularity among a small segment of voters, I can only suggest that their devotion to the man is not based in the facts. If it were, the anti-war nutbags following him around like little puppy dogs would have been repulsed by his record of overt bigotry. Keep in mind, my friends, most of Ron Paul’s current followers come down somewhere between Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson politically. Why would they turn such a blind eye to Ron Paul’s bigoted past? What explains this? What purpose could such devotion be serving?
Here’s the thing; By now it should be obvious even to his drooling legions that Ron Paul has no chance whatsoever of winning his bid to be nominated, much less the White House itself. The only thing that Paul and his people could hope to do is to split the Republican vote. Now think also; Can we take the fact that until Paul came along most of the people were devoted Liberal Democrats, as an indication of their true motives? Might this explain why so many leftists have signed on to Paul’s campaign? A desire to split the Republican vote?
I hear you asking about numbers…. ” You can’t possibly expect Ron Paul even in splitter mode, to get more than one or two percent of the overall vote” … and you know what? That’s true…. (There are some states where he’s played heavier, too) …but think, now; The last several cycles, we’ve been within one or two percent of 50/50. How much of a split would it take to throw the election, do you suppose?