Ron Paul Must Address Racist Newsletters

Ron Paul’s 20-year-old racist newsletters have come back into the spotlight recently, particularly thanks to a CNN interview that he walked out of. Paul insists that he didn’t write or even read the newsletters, that he disavows the statements, and that “anyone who knows me” can attest that he’s not racist. But that’s not good enough for Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast. “Well doctor … the vast majority of us don’t know you,” he writes. “So how about filling in that canvas?”

For those unfamiliar, Paul’s old newsletters contain some bald-faced, jaw-dropping racist lines. An article written after the LA race riots, for example, contains this gem: “I’ve urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming.” If Paul isn’t the “I” in that sentence, he should tell us who is, Tomasky argues. Then, he should give a speech detailing his current racial views. But he won’t do either, because "among Republicans and conservatives, there simply aren’t enough people who care whether he’s a racist or not.”