The Ron Paul Newsletters
Now that we have disposed of "no options are off the table," and we need some hits, let's talk about the Ron Paul newsletters. You know which Ron Paul newsletters I mean, don't you? (How many times do you think I need to mention them to get a decent Google rank?)
I have received more evidence (which I am not at liberty to disclose) indicating that Rothbard wrote the offending passages, enough that, for me, I can say "case closed." So what do I think happened? Well, although I criticize Rothbard quite a bit here, I recognize that he was a genius. What's more, by all reports (I never knew him), he was extremely charismatic. And, finally, he was a true believer: he really thought he had the solution that would lead to a sort of paradise on earth for mankind. So when he says, "Look, we can use these racists to forward the revolution," it's easy to be swayed. That doesn't excuse it, but it may help explain it.
And I think Paul and Rockwell were swayed. Once Rothbard was gone, they both probably woke, as though from a bad dream, and asked themselves, "What the f*&( did we just do?" It was a terrible lapse of judgment on their part. And the reason they have been so clumsy dealing with the mess... well, it was Rothbard! It's hard to admit that your idol has feet of clay.
So does this disqualify Paul from deserving support for the GOP nomination? It sure would... if every other candidate was not saber rattling at Iran. I'm sorry, but when it comes down to choosing between a candidate who let someone use his name to make some really tasteless jokes about minorities, and a candidate who is likely to kill 100,000 Iranians... well, sorry, mass killing just seems a bit worse to me than racial boorishness. But perhaps there is something funny about me in this regard.
I have received more evidence (which I am not at liberty to disclose) indicating that Rothbard wrote the offending passages, enough that, for me, I can say "case closed." So what do I think happened? Well, although I criticize Rothbard quite a bit here, I recognize that he was a genius. What's more, by all reports (I never knew him), he was extremely charismatic. And, finally, he was a true believer: he really thought he had the solution that would lead to a sort of paradise on earth for mankind. So when he says, "Look, we can use these racists to forward the revolution," it's easy to be swayed. That doesn't excuse it, but it may help explain it.
And I think Paul and Rockwell were swayed. Once Rothbard was gone, they both probably woke, as though from a bad dream, and asked themselves, "What the f*&( did we just do?" It was a terrible lapse of judgment on their part. And the reason they have been so clumsy dealing with the mess... well, it was Rothbard! It's hard to admit that your idol has feet of clay.
So does this disqualify Paul from deserving support for the GOP nomination? It sure would... if every other candidate was not saber rattling at Iran. I'm sorry, but when it comes down to choosing between a candidate who let someone use his name to make some really tasteless jokes about minorities, and a candidate who is likely to kill 100,000 Iranians... well, sorry, mass killing just seems a bit worse to me than racial boorishness. But perhaps there is something funny about me in this regard.
This looks just like the newsletters in question to me.
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Now that I think about it, the tone and style of the newsletters does sound a lot more like Rothbard's writing voice than like Rockwell's. But while Rockwell may not have personally written the newsletters, I think he bears some responsibility for their publication given that he was (correct me if I'm wrong) the editor. I still believe that he is in the best position out of anyone (since Rothbard is no longer among the living) to take responsibility and explain what happened, and that his failure to do so is harming Paul's campaign. (True, it may be harming the campaign in only a very marginal way, but still...). And I don't understand why he doesn't just do this right now, in light of the ongoing race, for which he's presumably rooting for Paul.
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