I was never a fan of Rand Paul’s father, Ron Paul, a man whose newsletters contained racist slurs and who refused to return money from white supremacist organizations. Paul was effective in speaking “conservative” while espousing small-town bible-belt views. I often characterized him as a small-time grifter who managed to gain a ticket to the big-boy’s club because of the extreme division in our country’s electorate. He authored no significant legislation and was mostly regarded as an articulate “kook” much like the democrat Dennis Kucinich.

And, now we find that the son, Rand Paul, along with his father’s organized “Paul-bots,” seems to have the same viewpoints – and, even worse, the willingness to take money from white supremacists while denying that they will influence his positions. If this were literally true, why would these groups continue to support Rand Paul.   

A troubling story …

Meet the "Southern Avenger"! Another Member of Rand Paul's Team Has White Supremacist Past -- A top staffer is exposed as a pro-secessionist radical, but it's not the first neo-Confederate on staff.

Jack Hunter, who co-authored Rand Paul’s 2011 book and now directs new media for the Kentucky senator, has a past alter ego as the “Southern Avenger,” a provocative radio personality known for wearing a luchador mask emblazoned with the Confederate flag and for making outrageous comments about race and Southern secession, Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon reveals today.

As the arguably white nationalist Southern Avenger, Hunter praised the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, saying he “raise[s] a personal toast every May 10 to celebrate John Wilkes Booth’s birthday,” compared Lincoln to Saddam Hussein, and suggested the great American president would have had a homosexual relationship with Adolf Hitler, had the two ever met. He also advocated against Hispanic immigration and in favor of white pride, warning that a “non-white majority America would simply cease to be America.”

Prior to that, Hunter was a prominent neo-Confederate and pro-secession activist, serving as a chairman in the League of the South, which, according to its website, “advocates the secession and subsequent independence of the Southern states from this forced union and the formation of a Southern republic.”

Many have called the League implicitly racist, but Hunter denied this in an interview with the Free Beacon, and disavowed many of his earlier statements, chalking it up to the naiveté of youth. “I was a young person, it was a fairly radical group — the same way a person on the left might be attracted in college to some left-wing radical groups.” (He said in 2009, when he was in mid-30s, that he still believed much of it — “In fact, I might be getting worse” — and he continued to produce the radio show until 2012, when Paul hired him full-time.)

And the worst part for Paul-land is that it’s hardly the first time something like this has come up. In late 2009, Rand Paul’s campaign spokesperson was forced to resign after Kentucky blogger Joe Sonka discovered the MySpace page for Chris Hightower’s heavy metal band, which was a fan of KKK gear and wishing people a “HAPPY N***ER DAY!!!” on Martin Luther King Day (that post was accompanied by a photo of a lynching). There was also, of course, Paul’s momentary opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

UPDATE: In September of 2010, Paul’s Democratic opponent called on him to return $1,200 in donations from three “white separatists,” Virginia Abernethy, William Johnson and Carl Ford. Paul refused, with a spokesperson telling the Louisville Courier-Journal: “Dr. Paul condemns hatred and discrimination, and if the white separatists who donated to his campaign think he shares their views they are badly mistaken and would be in for a rude awakening when they see that 20% of his campaign staff is made up of African-Americans.” The state chairman of the League of the South was also involved in a Paul-affiliated organization. Source: Meet the "Southern Avenger"! Another Member of Rand Paul's Team Has White Supremacist Past | Alternet

Bottom line …

I did not believe Ron Paul had the qualifications to become the President of the United States and that his position in the House was simply the wishes of his relatively small number of bible-belt constituents. And, I do not believe Ron Paul’s son, Rand Paul, has the qualifications to become the President of the United States. Why he is unwilling to simply return the relatively few dollars from white supremacist groups is beyond me. But, it remains deeply troubling. I think Rand Paul’s chance of getting the Republican nomination is relatively small – but like his grifter father, he is milking the political system to feather his own nest.

I am willing to discuss competing viewpoints. BTW: I feel the same way about Tom McClintock, a man who talks “conservative” but seems to be in the same “small-time” grifter classification.

-- steve

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