Having hammered away at Ron Paul over the last three days, in the interest of fairness, I’ll comment on the non-story story that won’t die. Rep. Paul’s campaign accepted a $500 donation from a white supremacist. Some people, for irrational reasons, want him to give the money back as a repudiation of white supremacist ideas. Please. As if accepting $500 dollars is going to influence a campaign, or that the campaign could possibly screen every donations for ideological problems.
Yes, he could’ve returned the money after it was brought to his attention. But why should he? I agree with this logic:
“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.
There’s already too much credit given to irrational, feel-good nonsense in politics. Logic requires we always give credence to sanity alone, but sometimes, when reason fails, it must be delivered as a “suck it”. Kudos to Rep. Paul’s campaign for telling relentless opponents looking to score cheap points on a non-issue to suck it, even if it harms him.
Poosibly of interest.
He definitely has the “crank magnetism”. His reverence for states in his “federalism” and what they should be able to decide for themselves opens him up to fandom from this sort of kook. I don’t think Paul believes in that outcome, but his deference to local government over individual rights leads to that sort of consequence.