Ron Paul has been running like a scared rabbit away from his racist newsletters, because he knows that ugly, overt racism has become political poison.

But there are some kinds of bigotry that still play well with the conservative base. Soon there will come a day when haters like Ron Paul won’t be able to get away this kind of hate speech either: Paul Defends Past Criticism Of AIDS Patients.

The Texas congressman wrote in his book, “Freedom Under Siege,” that people with sexually transmitted diseases like AIDS bear some responsibility for their condition and should not burden others with the cost of their care. 

“The individual suffering from AIDS certainly is a victim — frequently a victim of his own lifestyle — but this same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care,” he wrote. 

Asked about the comments on “Fox News Sunday,” Paul said: “I don’t know how you can change science.” Sexually transmitted diseases are “caused by sexual activity,” he said, and “in a free society people do dumb things, but it isn’t to be placed as a burden on other people, innocent people.” 

“Why should they have to pay for the consequences?” he said. 

Paul called that idea a “socialistic attitude” and said insurance companies should determine coverage. “The market should handle this,” he said.

Homophobia is still a great way for conservative politicians to scare the base into supporting them — and so is misogyny.

Paul also defended a passage from the same book that suggested victims of sexual harassment should quit. 

“They have the right to work there or not work there,” he said, adding that federal law does not need to cover sexual harassment as violence in the workplace is already prohibited.

If you think of yourself as liberal but you support Ron Paul and his creepy libertarian fantasy politics, you should have your head examined.