The End of Ron Paul?

For me, it is. Not the principles, but the man. Sure, Paul has experienced tremendous grassroots support and I’ve been very sympathetic to a lot of his strong Constitution-based rhetoric. But if even a slither of the quotes in this New Republic article by James Kirchick are accurate, I’m not sure how mainstream libertarians can absolve him.

First: Many of the vile pull quotes here, no matter what context they may have been in originally, have nothing to do libertarianism or freedom or some principled Constitutional stand on secession. They’re just racist and homophobic. Two: even if Paul didn’t know of their existence, he should have made it his business to know. It’s exceedingly difficult for me to believe that Paul was unaware of the content in a newsletter bearing his name. Judging from what I’ve read and heard from the man, I do not believe he wrote these things. But I’m not sure it matters. If George Bush or Hillary Clinton or any mainstream politician were even remotely associated with the sort of rambling anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist and paranoid text, they would be finished as legitimate voices. Paul should be finished, as well.

(I would grant, however, that not all the quotes are as offensive to me as to some others. Blaming Norman Podhoretz for our foreign policy, calling environmentalists a bunch of Bolsheviks or questioning Martin Peretz’s support for Contras seems within the legitimate parameters of semi-rational discussion. Most of it, however, is odious.)

UPDATE: This is not good enough. At least not for me.

UPDATE II: Yes, I realize “mainstream libertarian” is an oxymoron.

UPDATE III: Andrew Sullivan says, “… there is a simple way to address this: Paul needs to say not only that he did not pen these excrescences, he needs to explain how his name was on them and disown them completely.” It’s not that simple. It is difficult to foresee any good explanation for why his name is on these newsletters. And I find it unlikely that he would be so forgiving of a politician he didn’t endorse.