A Look at Ron Paul's Newsletters

"The criminals who terrorized our cities-in riots and on every non-riot day-are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to 'fight the power,' to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible. Anything is justified against 'The Man.'" This quoted text from the Ron Paul Political Report, typifies the sort of writing that has been the focus of major news investigations and debate.

Damning evidence to be sure, but did Paul actually write it? Do we now have a major political candidate who openly voiced racist views?

According to The New Republic, Ron Paul has been publishing newsletters since as far back as 1978. The titles of the newsletters have varied, including Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, and The Ron Paul Survival Report.

The New Republic notes that this is not the first time that Paul's newsletters have come back to haunt him. During a 1996 political run for a House Seat, some other quotes were brought to the limelight, quotes that were then dismissed as "out of context," by Paul's campaign. It wasn't until 2001; the New Republic reported that Paul would say that someone else had actually written the controversial passages.

The newsletter, which does carry Paul's name at the top doesn't have a byline, so it is immediately inferred that these writings are those of Ron Paul's. He says in a brief, Reason Magazine interview that he didn't write anything like this quote from the page eight of the newsletter, "Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings, and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."