The New York Times has gotten around to reporting on Ron Paul’s political newsletters that contained numerous racist, anti-gay and anti-Israel passages. These are newsletters that are well known to LGF readers, but it’s well past time for the Times to report on these newsletters.

The latest issue of The Weekly Standard, a leading conservative publication, reprised reports of incendiary language in Mr. Paul’s newsletters that were published about 20 years ago.

A 1992 passage from the Ron Paul Political Report about the Los Angeles riots read, ‘Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks.’ A passage in another newsletter asserted that people with AIDS should not be allowed to eat in restaurants because ‘AIDS can be transmitted by saliva’; in 1990 one of his publications criticized Ronald Reagan for having gone along with the creation of the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which it called ‘Hate Whitey Day.’

The magazine article largely matched a similar report in The New Republic in 2008, and it was written by the same author, James Kirchick. The passages were plucked from a variety of newsletters that Mr. Paul’s consulting business published during his years out of Congress, all of them featuring his name: Ron Paul Political Report, Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, Ron Paul Survival Report and Ron Paul Investment Letter.

Mr. Paul did not respond to an interview request, but repudiated the writings in 2008. Likening himself to a major news publisher, he said he did not vet every article that was featured in his newsletters. ‘I absolutely, honestly do not know who wrote those things,’ Mr. Paul said in an interview on CNN at the time, adding that he did not monitor the publications closely because he was busy with a medical practice and ‘speeches around the country.’

Despite his protestations to the contrary, Paul was on the letterhead as editor and is responsible for what is put into his newsletters under his name. He had no problem with running these stories, and never issued corrections until confronted with the issue back in 2008, years after they ran.

Paul continues trying to run away from his newsletters, but they keep catching up to him — as they rightfully should.

Also see:
Ron Paul’s Shaggy Defense - Ta-Nehisi Coates