Tom Knapp, Steve Kubby’s former campaign manager and still one of his campaign staffers, hates Ron Paul.
Steve Kubby has just endorsed Ron Paul.
That should make for some awkward conversation around the campaign table.
Tom Knapp, Steve Kubby’s former campaign manager and still one of his campaign staffers, hates Ron Paul.
Steve Kubby has just endorsed Ron Paul.
That should make for some awkward conversation around the campaign table.
I went there, too. It’s irresistible.
So do you, Roderick, care to comment on the whole “Ron Paul is a racist” thing? The reason I ask is that if you, of all people, don’t think he is then I’m not particularly worried about this old newsletter people are bringing up.
Well, I haven’t followed the debate that closely (apart from reading the back-and-forth in the comments section on Tom’s blog). But the quoted passages don’t look like RP’s writing style, he’s said he didn’t write them, he’s repudiated the content and taken responsibility for the fact that it appeared under his name; I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt.
But then I neither endorse nor oppose Paul (I disagree with him on too many issues to officially “endorse” him; but I vastly prefer him to all his rivals and thus wish his campaign well) so not much turns on my judgment.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul68.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html
Hateful, no?
Roderick,
1) I don’t “hate” Ron Paul. I oppose his presidential campaign and think that various aspects of his career should have been scrutinized earlier because they tend to damage the libertarian movement by association, but there are only a handful of people in the world whom I hate, and Paul is not one of them.
2) To the best of my knowledge, Paul has never repudiated the racist content of the 1992 newsletter, either explicitly or by way of cutting his longstanding ties to racist public figures like Larry Pratt and racist organizations like the Council of Conservative Citizens and the League of the South.
Ultimately, I suspect that the real story on Paul is not that he’s a racist, but that he’s a consummate politician — willing to crawl in bed and at least play footsie, if not “hide the salami,” with whomever he has to in order to advance his career. That happens to be the rule rather than the exception in politics these days … but one of his big selling points with libertarians and with the general public has been precisely that he’s NOT a casting from that mold.
Regards,
Tom Knapp
Hi Tom,
1) I didn’t mean you hated him qua person, but my impression was that you hated him qua libertarian-identified candidate.
2) I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but why doesn’t “A staffer wrote some things under my name that I did not approve. I have taken responsibility for these comments and apologized. If you look at my 30-year record and my numerous writings on the subject of race, I think anyone will clearly see that those comments do not reflect my beliefs” count as a repudiation of the content?
Roderick
“Ultimately, I suspect that the real story on Paul is not that he’s a racist, but that he’s a consummate politician — willing to crawl in bed and at least play footsie, if not “hide the salami,” with whomever he has to in order to advance his career.”
Oh please. Lobbiests don’t even go into his office anymore because they know he’ll vote against anything unconstitutional. A person can’t be that principled and be a “consummate politician.”
Knapp, your nothing but a partison. Partison politics hurts the libertarian movement and the LP too. You shouldn’t be partaking in something that we all critisize the 2 big parties of doing.
Tracy