Judging from the comments to our previous post on Ron Paul, it appears his supporters haven’t read the position papers on his website, because they consistently misstate his positions.

Yes, Ron Paul does want to send Them back home and he does want to revoke birthright citizenship (even as he piously says the Constitution is his guiding light.) And says so on his issue page on immigration.

No amnesty. Estimates suggest that 10 to 20 million people are in our country illegally.

End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong.

Ron Paul has taken no clear position on Iraq except for a vague “bring them home.” He doesn’t even say ‘bring them home now” or mention the word “Iraq.”

We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing America and bring the troops home.

As for racism, quoting the Houston Chronicle.

“Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action,”Paul wrote.

Paul continued that politically sensible blacks are outnumbered “as decent people.”

Orcinus amply documents Paul’s continuing alliances with and support from the extreme Right.

While I think the evidence that Paul is incredibly insensitive on racial issues — ranging from a racially incendiary newsletter to his willingness to appear before neo-Confederate and white-supremacist groups — is simply overwhelming, it isn’t as simple to make the case that he is an outright racist, since he does not often indulge in hateful rhetoric — and when he has, he tries to ameliorate it by placing it in the context of what he thinks are legitimate policy issues.
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Here, for example, is Clay Robison, writing in the Houston Chronicle the same week Molly wrote the above:

[Democratic candidate] Morris recently distributed copies of political newsletters written by Paul in 1992 in which the Surfside physician endorsed the concept of secession, defended cross burning as an act of free speech and expressed sympathy for a man sentenced to prison for bombing an IRS building.
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Helping fuel the U.N.-bashing in the 1990s, you’ll recall, was the conspiracy theory holding that the “New World Order” suggested by the first President Bush in 1991 was actually part of a larger plot to enslave the world under a global government located at the U.N. Black helicopters and sightings of Chinese troops massing on the borders were part and parcel of these beliefs.

And helping promote these beliefs, and lend them the legitimacy of his office, was Congressman Ron Paul, who even to this day promotes the “New World Order” theories.

Watch out for the black helicopters and put on the tin foil hats.

Oh, then’s that little matter of the David Duke endorsement. If he’s so moderate why hasn’t he rejected the endorsement?

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While reading up on the subprime debacle, I came across this fascinating and unsettling tidbit. Bond rating agencies to not do due diligence but rather unquestioningly accept the data as presented by the firm who wants their bond rated.

As Moody’s puts it in its own code of conduct, “Moody’s has no obligation to perform, and does not perform, due diligence.” The other two agencies have similar provisions.

“A rating is completely irrelevant when gauging whether a [structured finance] deal is safe, because ratings agencies aren’t obliged to look for fraud [and analytical methods sometimes need improvement]

What a cozy arrangement for all involved.

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Ron Paul has been getting a lot of attention lately in his presidential run. Even lefties who ought to know better think he might be some kind of straight-talking anti-war populist with real ideas for change.

Nonsense. He’s a sharply right-wing libertarian who, like most libertarians, is deeply tortured by the thought that someone, somewhere might gain benefit from his tax dollars. He hates taxes and also suffers from the hard right-wing delusion that abolishing the Federal Reserve will, with a wave of the pixie dust wand, make everything wonderful again.

He opposes regional agreements the US might a signatory to. This is not because GATT, for example, is noxious and exploitative but because it, gasp, allows other countries to have a say in what America does. In other words, he believes in American Exceptionalism and is also isolationist, a pretzel of logic that only those on the fringe right try to negotiate.

As for immigration, he wants to send all undocumented workers back home, stop birthplace citizenship, eliminate hospital care for the undocumented - but somehow neglects to mention enforcing the law against employers who hire them. That the US economy would be in a shambles if all of Them were sent home does not occur to him, but then reality seldom dents the skulls of ideologues.

His stand on the war is conspicuous by saying absolutely nothing about what should be done in Iraq. Not one word.

He wants to remove Roe vs. Wade. “I am also the prime sponsor of HR 300, which would negate the effect of Roe v Wade by removing the ability of federal courts to interfere with state legislation to protect life.”

He’s also heavily allied with and supported by neo-confederate forces, is rabidly anti-gay, and has a 100% rating from the Christian Coalition.

Don’t be fooled by the low-key approach, he’s further to the right than either Bush or Cheney.

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