Pardon me while I scoff in this alliance’s general direction
So, this happened over the weekend:
Ron Paul, Ralph Nader agree on ‘progressive-libertarian alliance’
In this corner, a libertarian, tea party hero who ran several campaigns as a candidate for US president on the Republican ticket. And in that corner, a progressive icon of the left who also ran several campaigns for the US presidency but on the Green Party ticket.One might think the two men, seemingly ideologically opposed to one another, would rather argue than help one another.
However, on Wednesday’s broadcast of Freedom Watch on the Fox Business channel, Judge Napolitano sat down for an amiable interview with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Ralph Nader to discuss a progressive-libertarian alliance in the 112th session of respective chambers in Congress.
Nader, who has recently called this coalition “the most exciting new political dynamic” in the US today, explained that it works well because both groups stand against corporatists who believe government should be run in the interests of corporations.
Given Paul’s bigoted statements about blacks, Jews, and gays –
The Freedom Report’s online archives only go back to 1999, but I was curious to see older editions of Paul’s newsletters, in part because of a controversy dating to 1996, when Charles “Lefty” Morris, a Democrat running against Paul for a House seat, released excerpts stating that “opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions,” that “if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be,” and that black representative Barbara Jordan is “the archetypical half-educated victimologist” whose “race and sex protect her from criticism.” At the time, Paul’s campaign said that Morris had quoted the newsletter out of context. Later, in 2001, Paul would claim that someone else had written the controversial passages. (Few of the newsletters contain actual bylines.) Caldwell, writing in the Times Magazine last year, said he found Paul’s explanation believable, “since the style diverges widely from his own.”
Finding the pre-1999 newsletters was no easy task, but I was able to track many of them down at the libraries of the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Of course, with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself. Some of the earlier newsletters are signed by him, though the vast majority of the editions I saw contain no bylines at all. Complicating matters, many of the unbylined newsletters were written in the first person, implying that Paul was the author.
But, whoever actually wrote them, the newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul’s name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him–and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing–but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics.
and despite his efforts to walk-back those statements –
“When you bring this question up, you’re really saying, ‘You’re a racist’ or ‘Are you a racist?’ And the answer is, ‘No, I’m not a racist,’” he said.
Paul said he had never even read the articles with the racist comments.
“I do repudiate everything that is written along those lines,” he said, adding he wanted to “make sure everybody knew where I stood on this position because it’s obviously wrong.”
I’m not buying it. If it’s your damn newsletter, you take responsibility for what’s in it. I’m supposed to believe you don’t know who wrote those articles and that you never read or approved them?
Libertarian, please.
Something is going on out there in Politiland. Am I the only one whose spidey sense is tingling?
[via Raw Story]
I don’t think Paul is a racist, and this Libertarian-Progressive alliance cuts through the political landscape in a way that is both exciting and close to my heart as a libertarian progressive. Still, good to keep reminding people that he’s not got a stellar record on issues of race.
Anyway, to another point: my spidey sense was tingling all weekend with the wishful thinking that Beck was fired after the video clip of him saying last June that his viewers need to shoot radicals in the head went viral online. Unfortunately, nothing changed. Beck’s still a yellow propagandist at Fox spewing hatred for little old ladies:
http://www.sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/2011/01/why-is-glenn-beck-obsessively-targeting.html
I hope your readers will join the effort to help get Beck fired:
http://www.sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/2010/11/petition-fire-glenn-beck.html
How in the world can someone be a libertarian-progressive? Libertarians want to do away with social security nets. How can a progressive reconcile their principles with that?
BTW, I know quite a few folks who are conservatives (as in they think Ann Coulter is great) who consider themselves libertarian/republicans. I guess, in the end, progressives do have much in common with the hard-right.
They only hear about the wars and pot as well as gay marriage and forget about the fact that limited government means not just doing away with SS and Medicare but also the Civil Rights Act of 1964, public schools, the FAA, FHA, and that limited government does NOT apply to Women’s Reproductive Rights (wants to undo Roe Vs. Wade)
They have so much in common: the Clueless Selfish Bastard alliance.
Ralph Nader’s said some mighty damned offensive things about Barack Obama, if I recall correctly, including “Uncle Tom”. Why anyone still takes that bitter old bomb-throwing has-been seriously is beyond me.
I promise you Ron Paul doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. I defy you to find some audio where the language even sounds like him! He is a libertarians, which by definition means judging a person as an individual, by the content of his/her character. That means NOT seeing people as part of a group. RP explains racism as “a sin of the heart” and “an ugly form of collectivism, the mindset that views humans strictly as members of groups rather than individuals.”
Obama and the left generally, view and exploit race in this manner. Think about it yourself- who is the true racist? I believe in the man personally, as do millions of others around the world. Obviously, Nader does as well. Why not unify against war, corporatism, and the money changing Federal Reserve?
You really should read this article and it will tell you that it is probably not worth it. It doesn’t mean that there are not good things about him, but for me, the dark political views that he has (like his rant against FEMA for example) pretty much outweigh the good sides.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/08/27-1
I promise you Ron Paul doesn’t have a racist bone in his body.
and you are?
I defy you to find some audio where the language even sounds like him!
so written statements, or transcribed statements don’t suffice? you need audio and proof that it’s ron paul, not a ron paul impersonator? oooookkkk.
Obama and the left generally, view and exploit race in this manner.
bullshit.
Think about it yourself- who is the true racist
as between who? me and ron paul? ron paul and obama? what the hell is a “true racist”?
I believe in the man personally, as do millions of others around the world. Obviously, Nader does as well.
i’m happy for you and nader. i don’t believe in him. i don’t trust him. i don’t trust liberals/progressives who do trust him. i don’t know you. your beliefs and “word” mean nothing to me. i base my opinions on facts not rumor.
Why not unify against war, corporatism, and the money changing Federal Reserve?
why not indeed? but why not do it with someone who hasn’t been called out by free republic as being racist and anti-semitic.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1835179/posts
yeah. FREE REPUBLIC.
i get that there’s some new progressive/libertarian alliance brewing, but don’t think for a second that black folks are as politically idiotic as ron paul seems to think they are [from freep]:
“A 1992 newsletter by Republican congressional candidate Ron Paul highlighted portrayals of blacks as criminally inclined and lacking sense about top political issues.”
Don’t even.
This is a great post and I agree completely. Nader’s an insane racist rethuglican in the pay of Karl Rove who stole our votes and spoiled our election. He’s responsible for the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina and everything that happened after 2000. Nader shouldn’t even be allowed on TV, much less run for president.
Nader and Paul have never done anything for anybody except themselves because they’re both narcissist. They should be banned from all media outlets. Who do these people think they are? Obviously they’re narcisist rethuglicans in the pay of Karl Rove to run against Our President!
All good democrats know there are only two parties and you have to vote for OUR TEAM or you’re voting for the insane racist rethuglicans in the pay of Karl Rove! Both these racists have blood on their hands from 9/11! Why aren’t they in jail where they belong?
I propose, as a good and faithful Democrat, we start a petition for Our President to ban all turd party (haha!) vote stealers and election spoilers from participation in our electoral process. These two insane racists must be stopped!
I know this may sound like quackery, but, when someone goes up against the Federal Reserve (cartel), the IRS, the CIA, and other KGB/Gestappo/Mafia agencies in this country, just like other repressive governments, there will be conspiracies to marr a person’s reputation. The IRS destroyed Joe Louise; tax evasion was the only way to bring down Al Capone; they tried to get Martin Luther King with tax issues; if you mess with their MONEY, they’ll come after you. I don’t know if Ron Paul wrote or endorsed those evil news letters or not, but what I do know is that he’s coming after “their” money; he opposes those angencies that steal from you every payday.
you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. the CIA has conspired to mar Ron Paul as a racist? Whatever you’re smoking, you need to share it… immediately.
-ABL
LOL. That was one helluva giant leap. Hope your legs are ok.
Goddamn, yes, I’ve been pointing out for ages and ages that Paul’s BS about having no idea who was writing “The Ron Paul Report” doesn’t pass any sort of smell test. The only way you can accept his statements about that are to be one of his blind idiot worshipers.
And there’s so very little liberal in Nader’s brainpan. The guy’s union-busted his own employees and accepted funding from the GOP, so I say to hell with him.
Ralph Nader crawled out from under his bridge?
Oh I forgot, it’s election season.
Him and Paul – a perfect match. Neither would ever get my vote.
Rand Paul mentioned on the website of Southern Poverty Law Center. Maybe the apple falls far from the tree. Or, maybe it doesn’t.
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2011/spring/electoral-extremism-23-candidates-on-radical-right
No spidey sense going off for me. This is the week for a bunch of has-beens: James Carville, et al slithering out of the woodwork to get attention because the publicity train slowed down enough to let them hop on board.