90′s Ron Paul Letter Warned of “Homosexual AIDS Cover-Up”
A 1990′s direct-mail solicitation for Ron Paul’s political and investment newsletters warned of a “federal-homosexual cover-up” to play down the impact of HIV.
The letter — found by New Republic editor James Kirchick in a political literature archive at the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society, paints a rather unflattering picture of Paul, chock full of conspiracy theory assertions about such topics as HIV and race relations. Reuters reports:
The eight-page letter, which appears to carry Paul’s signature at the end… urges readers to subscribe to Paul’s newsletters so that he could “tell you how you can save yourself and your family” from an overbearing government.
The letter’s details emerge at a time when Paul, now a contender for the Republican nomination for president, is under fire over reports that his newsletters contained racist, anti-homosexual and anti-Israel rants…
Among other things, the articles called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a “world-class philanderer,” criticized the U.S. holiday bearing King’s name as “Hate Whitey Day,” and said that AIDS sufferers “enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick…”
The letter promoting Paul’s newsletters was written about 1993. It was during a period in which Paul – who left Congress in 1985 after serving about eight years – returned to Washington after a decade’s absence.
The letter promoting Paul’s newsletters claims that Paul – through what he describes as a network of “extraordinary sources” in Congress, the White House, the Treasury and Justice departments, the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service – had acquired unique insider information that would his subscribers to “neutralize” the plans of “powerbrokers.”
Paul’s letter went on to describe various plots and schemes that he had “unmasked,” including a “plot for world government, world money and world central banking.” He also claimed to have exposed a plan by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to “suspend the Constitution” in a falsely declared national emergency.
Despite being “told not to talk,” Paul wrote that his newsletters also “laid bare” the “Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica,” and a “federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS.”
Paul claimed that his “training as a physician” helped him “see through” this alleged cover-up… He urged the letter’s readers to send in $99, which would buy subscriptions to his monthly political and investment newsletters, a copy of his book “Surviving the New Money,” an investment manual and access to the “unlisted phone number of my Financial Hotline for fast breaking news.”
Members of Paul’s camp have cried out against reporting on the eight-page solicitation letter, claiming that the articles were never written by Paul (despite appearing with his endorsement and signature). however, one of Paul’s campaign managers asserts that the Republican presidential hopeful “does not deny or retract” the material in his newsletters:
As Paul made a campaign stop in Manchester, Iowa, on Thursday, his Iowa chairman, Drew Ivers, repeated Paul’s assertions that he did not write the articles that resurfaced this week in a report in the Weekly Standard magazine.
Paul has said that he is not sure who wrote the articles that were published under his name. He has said the articles do not reflect his views, and noted that his public stances – supporting gays in the military for example – have run counter to the incendiary statements in the newsletters.
In an interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger on Wednesday, Paul said of the newsletter’s articles: “I didn’t write them. I didn’t read them at the time and I disavow them.”
When Borger continued to pursue the subject, Paul removed his microphone and walked out of the interview.
“It is ridiculous to imply that Ron Paul is a bigot, racist, or unethical,” Ivers said.
However, Ivers said, Paul does not deny or retract material that Paul has written under his own signature, such as the letter promoting Paul’s newsletters.
When asked whether that meant Paul believed there was a government conspiracy to cover up the impact of AIDS, Ivers said, “I don’t think he embraces that.”
Paul’s newsletters “showed good factual information and investment information,” Ivers said. “It was a public service, helping people understand and equip them to avoid an unsound monetary policy.”
This is a cheap attempt to go after Ron Paul by mainstream media, who routinely deny or are discouraged from reporting on such insider, ‘conspiracies’ although they live amongst a political culture that is thick with them. Ron Paul is much better than this crap being thrown at him. An honest Republican is too hard for some people to handle, and thus a target. A political newsletter from the 90′s? How relevant to today’s gripping economic, political, strategic, and environmental issues. Paul, as a conservative, is not a warmongerig fool or stupid, shoot from the hip kind of guy on national issues like so many of the Republican ‘frontrunners’.
Chris, you can dismiss this as “a cheap attempt to go after Ron Paul by mainstream media” all you want, but neither you nor Paul can simply sweep this under the rug. Why shouldn’t we expect better from a guy who claims to value personal responsibility?
Frankly, Paul is a nut, no matter what his old political newsletters say. If president, he would ask Congress to do away with federal minimum wage laws and abolish several federal agencies, including the Dept. of Education, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, and the EPA. As low as our federal minimum wage is, it saved many working Americans from a further erosion of their wages in the face of inflation and the Great Recession. And how can someone possibly justify pulling the plug on HUD-subsidized housing, thereby making many Americans homeless?
He would also resist efforts to make rich people pay their fair share in taxes. Over the past few decades, we’ve slashed their taxes, expecting the benefits to trickle down. Instead, the gap between the rich and poor has widened. Income for the richest Americans has skyrocketed, while everyone else’s income has remained level. The rich prosper at our expense, and Paul will ensure that they continue to do so.
The poisoned cherry on top? Paul opposes overturning Citizens United. This is “a dagger poised at the heart of American democracy”, as Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley says — and Paul thinks we SHOULDN’T do anything about it. His inaction will ensure that moneyed interests will buy our democracy and game it for their own purposes, to the detriment of the 99%.
Long story short, I don’t care how honest Ron Paul is — if he’s our next president, we will all honestly be worse off. He’s a bad libertarian, but even a good libertarian would be horrible for our country. Reject anarchy for rich people: reject libertarianism, and ESPECIALLY reject Ron Paul.
Washington Post says South Carolina primary is Romney matches last hope.