Paul finally gave up his principles

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...p123004S50.DTL


Paul Keeps White Supremacist Donation

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

(12-19) 17:06 PST West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP) --

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has received a $500 campaign donation from a white supremacist, and the Texas congressman doesn't plan to return it, an aide said Wednesday.

Don Black, of West Palm Beach, recently made the donation, according to campaign filings. He runs a Web site called Stormfront with the motto, "White Pride World Wide." The site welcomes postings to the "Stormfront White Nationalist Community."

"Dr. Paul stands for freedom, peace, prosperity and inalienable rights. If someone with small ideologies happens to contribute money to Ron, thinking he can influence Ron in any way, he's wasted his money," Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said. "Ron is going to take the money and try to spread the message of freedom.

"And that's $500 less that this guy has to do whatever it is that he does," Benton added.

Black said he supports Paul's stance on ending the war in Iraq, securing America's borders and his opposition to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"We know that he's not a white nationalist. He says he isn't and we believe him, but on the issues, there's only one choice," Black said Wednesday.

On his Web site, Black says he has been involved in "the White patriot movement for 30 years."

The Web site LoneStarTimes first reported on Black's donation on Oct. 25.




Now I'm curious. Are the Paul supporters going to show up here and say that taking money from a bigot is perfectly acceptable, or are they going to do the right thing and denounce this.

And before anyone starts talking about how this wont influence Paul, this isn't about influence, its about integrity. Honorable men don't take shady money, whether its from crime, racists, or anybody else. And since so many Paulites have had so much fun telling us how much money Paul has raised, he certianly doesn't need the 500.

That means there's only two reasons not to return it. Either he really needs the money, in which case this is a net loss and if he can't see that maybe President isn't a good career choice for him. Of course we know he doesn't need the money. That leaves us with the second choice. Specifically, he does not want to offend or alienate a voting block and donor base which is tacit approval of that block/base.

So which is it? Does he have no integrity and runs a painfully incompetent campaign, or does he have no integrity and doesn't want to burn a bridge he approves of.
 
So which is it? Does he have no integrity and runs a painfully incompetent campaign, or does he have no integrity and doesn't want to burn a bridge he approves of.
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Actions speak louder than words.

Put Ron Paul's willingness to take money from these racists in context: he is also perfectly willing to write a regular column that appears in their racist newspaper.

I think the proper conclusion is that that their racist views are not too far removed from his own.
 
Ron Paul is irrelevant.

He was successful at hitting the national radar, then rational folks heard his message and giggled.

He's got a very confused and vocal following amongst anti-establishment kiddies and any who generally fail at life and blame the "system" for their failures.

Unfortunately, Dr. Paul has been a no go from the get go.
 
You know you're a political force to be reckoned with when you're a candidate who 'doesn't stand a chance' and you're getting smeared with childish nonsense like this. These claims are demonstrative of the threat RP is to the stagnant political landscape. I expect we'll be seeing a lot of this sort of hostile defamation in thw coming months...
 
Uh, as a humorous aside, does anyone else find it uproarious that the country's most prominent white supremecist lives in such a cosmopolitan place as West Palm Beach??
 
First off I DO NOT think he is a racist. But many of the founding fathers were racists, and they ran a hell of a government. I'd take a racist over a communist any day, especially one who wants to hugely shrink the government.
 
I'm not a Ron Paul supporter (my choice would be Bill Richardson), but I thought this quote from Mahatma Gandhi might be appropriate:

First they Ignore you.

Then they laugh at you.

Then they fight you.

Then you win.

Giving money back to a racist is a bad thing; what every other candidate does with tainted money is give it to charity.
 
unless the guy is a felon, i dont care. if a racist wants to give their money to someone who denounces what they stand for, then thats fine by me.

stage2 said:
whether its from crime, racists
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you do realize that, while racism is disgusting, it is not a crime, right? this guy has as much right to be a racist as we have to be disgusted by it. unless you want to get into thought crimes, but i thought those were a bad thing...

you know what, youre right. by accepting money for his campaign from a racist, ron paul has associated with him and therefore has obviously admitted he is racist. racists shouldnt be able to donate to campaigns. i mean, they really shouldnt even be allowed to vote. we should prolly take away their houses too, and demand the realtor who sold them the house give the money back. we should prolly not allow those realtors to buy their own houses either, as they have associated with a racist, which obviously makes them racists themselves.

stage2 said:
So which is it? Does he have no integrity and runs a painfully incompetent campaign, or does he have no integrity and doesn't want to burn a bridge he approves of.
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youre really reaching now arent you? just repeat after me: he has no chance...he has no chance...he has no chance. there we go.
 
Questions

Questions that I might have just missed the answer to:

Did he give the money privately or on behalf of Stormfront?

Have Paul or his staff voiced any affiliation with or support of Stormfront's ideals?


Can't really draw a conclusion until those are answered.
If he's a private citizen making a private donation, no foul.

If he donated on behalf of his organization, then I agree, give it back. You're right in that he certainly doesn't need $500 with all the rest he's raised.

Bigger point though, this is what elections are all about. You don't like something Ron Paul did? Don't vote for him. It's about choice based on information.

I don't necessarily agree with you, and I certainly don't agree with racism, but cheers to you for at least making an effort at research to help make your decision. More Americans should do that.

Edit:
Also, cheers for being concerned about issues other than guns. A lot of us get carried away with what a candidate might do to/for guns and forget to look into the rest of their platform.
 
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so should the government give tax dollars back to white supremacists?
Tax money is taken in your name.
Does that make YOU a racist?
Of course not.
The whole thing is ridiculous.
 
It gives the appearance of tacit approval of the donors belifes. On principal I would return the money so that I would not be tied to a racist. That is IF I were a vaible canidate. Lets see what Dr. Paul does.;)
 
So which is it? Does he have no integrity and runs a painfully incompetent campaign, or does he have no integrity and doesn't want to burn a bridge he approves of.
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It's not difficult to choose an answer when two unbiased options are thoughtfully provided.

Of course, there could be a third option...

"Dr. Paul stands for freedom, peace, prosperity and inalienable rights. If someone with small ideologies happens to contribute money to Ron, thinking he can influence Ron in any way, he's wasted his money," Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said. "Ron is going to take the money and try to spread the message of freedom.

"And that's $500 less that this guy has to do whatever it is that he does," Benton added.
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I was always told not to look a gift horse in the mouth. If it were me, I'd keep it. Doesnt matter what kind of weird personal openions the giver has, his money is just as green and spends as well as anyone elses. Racism is ugly, but its not illegal.
 
you do realize that, while racism is disgusting, it is not a crime, right? this guy has as much right to be a racist as we have to be disgusted by it. unless you want to get into thought crimes, but i thought those were a bad thing...

you know what, youre right. by accepting money for his campaign from a racist, ron paul has associated with him and therefore has obviously admitted he is racist. racists shouldnt be able to donate to campaigns. i mean, they really shouldnt even be allowed to vote. we should prolly take away their houses too, and demand the realtor who sold them the house give the money back. we should prolly not allow those realtors to buy their own houses either, as they have associated with a racist, which obviously makes them racists themselves.
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I was wondering when this argument would come up. I find it really funny that when Hillary or Obama get caught taking donations from less than admirable folks, they get jumped on by lots of people here. Yet somehow its perfectly fine for Paul to take a donation from a former grand dragon of the KKK. No harm no foul right?

As far as your argument molson, its one huge fallacy. Nowhere here have I advocated the Black or any other racist not be able to donate. I didn't even suggest that Paul should screen all of his donations.

What I am saying is that just as these bigots have the right to donate, Paul has the right to refuse the donation or send the money back.

Like I said, men of principle don't accept tainted money, whether its from crime, racists, or the chinese. You can't sit there and chastise the clintons while at the same time give Paul a pass.

Of course when you have someone who writes articles that appear in supremacist publications, and has a large following in the "stormfront" crowd, it is telling that he won't send the money back.
 
Huckabee said in a debate that he would glady accept support from the homosexual crowd but he wouldn't change his views. The same is said about Ron Paul. He doesn't need to give it back. A better thing would be to give it to someone who doanted but really can't afford it. Ron paul isn't a racist and there is nothing wrong with taking one's money.
 
Hilary Clinton is not a Chinese national so there is nothing wrong with taking ones money, right? I love pointing out double standards.

Taking the money amounts to tacit approval, returning it is action and we all know that speaks louder than words(i.e. "I am not a racist, but I will take his money", vs. "racism is wrong, I will not accept this money").
 
stage2 said:
I was wondering when this argument would come up. I find it really funny that when Hillary or Obama get caught taking donations from less than admirable folks, they get jumped on by lots of people here.
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first off, i havent jumped on hillary or obama. the only issue with hillary i know about is her possibly accepting donations from an illegal donor or accepting funds that were raised in an illegal way. thats a whole new ballgame, which i addressed already and you conveniently ignored, when i said, "unless the guy is a felon".

stage2 said:
Yet somehow its perfectly fine for Paul to take a donation from a former grand dragon of the KKK. No harm no foul right?
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several other people on this thread, and ron paul himself, have already stated my position on this matter.

stage2 said:
What I am saying is that just as these bigots have the right to donate, Paul has the right to refuse the donation or send the money back.
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actually, you have insinuated that paul is a racist if he does not send back the money. at the very least, you have said he is a bad person. i disagree.
several other people in this thread, and ron paul himself, have already stated my position on the matter.

stage2 said:
Of course when you have someone who writes articles that appear in supremacist publications, and has a large following in the "stormfront" crowd, it is telling that he won't send the money back.
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and there it is. the very thinly veiled accusations of racism.
 
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