A solicitation from the 1990s that carried Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s name predicted a “coming race war,” suggested the government was engaged in a “cover-up” over AIDS, and warned that a plan to update U.S. currency was really a conspiracy to “steal our freedom and our prosperity.”
It is the latest controversial writing to resurface this week as the congressman’s record is coming under new scrutiny amid speculation that he may be gaining ground in Iowa, where the first GOP nominating contest of the 2012 presidential campaign will be held next month.
The letter – an appeal for supporters to subscribe to Paul’s newsletters – was obtained by Reuters from James Kirchick, a contributing editor for the New Republic magazine, who said he found the letter in archives maintained by the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Sent under the banner of “Congressman Ron Paul” and carrying Paul’s signature, the letter offers “wealth-saving intelligence” gleaned from Paul’s network of sources within the federal government.
“I’ve been told not to talk, but these stooges don’t scare me,” the letter said. “Threats or no threats, I’ve laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.)”
Paul has struggled to craft an explanation for offensive statements that were contained in his newsletters from the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational,” one newsletter said. Another, referring to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, said that “order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks.”
On Wednesday, Paul disavowed the statements, saying he had not written them, nor had he read them, at the time they were mailed out. But in the past, Paul had defended some of the writings, suggesting they were taken out of context.
Drew Ivers, the Iowa chairman for Paul’s campaign, told Reuters on Thursday that Paul stands by material he has written under his own signature. But when asked if that meant he still believed there was a federal cover-up relating to AIDS, as the letter states, Ivers said: “I don’t think he embraces that.”
Now, Paul spokesman Jesse Benton tells Talking Points Memo that Ivers was not authorized to comment on the matter, and that Paul “did not write that mail piece and disavows it.”More at LA Times
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