Strange Bed-fellows? Or the Company we Keep?
If a politician receives a donation from a Neo-nazi (or from several), should that politician be expected to give the money back? Or should a prospective voter be worried about the other supporters of that politician – especially if the prospective voter has *nothing* in common with the other supporters? Can a non-Nazi like myself trust someone that Nazis like?
Or does it make sense to ask these questions? Or is this like “Have you stopped beating your wife?”
I’m clear, by the way, that the supporters of a politician do not equate with approval of that politician.
But if I were supporting a candidate who was *also* supported by Nazis, I’d be worried that either I or the Nazis were barking up the wrong tree.
Ron Paul has accepted – and not returned when notified – a donation from an American Neo-Nazi (as reported at Jewcy by Daniel the Orthodox Anarchist). And despite several attempts from the OA Blogger and professional journalist, R.P. never called him back – until his blog post started getting traction.
Then comes this article at the JTA, including such scary lines as “Paul’s candidacy was dismissed early on due to his support from white supremacist, Libertarian and other fringe groups…” so should those anti-war hippies and pro-business or pro-gay libertarians be concerned about the white supremacist folks?
It’s valid, by the way, for someone to wonder why person X, Y or Z likes Hilary Clinton as well.
There’s a lot of fall out from this story: Daniel’s reply, and Andrew Sullivan gets into the act, and Jewcy’s editors defend Daniel and call Sullivan to the carpet. Despite all the blogging and metablogging, I’m not sure everyone (but Daniel) is missing the point.
Sure, Neo-Nazis have a right to donate to a politician. And yes, in a representative democracy they have a right to participation in the political system of the country. That’s not the issue here – even though that seems to be where Ron Paul’s supporters seem to take every conversation (such comments will be filtered, you’ve been warned).
The issue is, given that Nazis like Ron Paul – and Ron Paul doesn’t seem to mind the Nazis’ attention and support – shouldn’t I be afraid of him regardless of any other political position he has that I may or may not support?
Category: politics, rightwingers
Discussion: You came too late to this party
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It’s an interesting question, and a well-reasoned take on it. I read an article the other day elaborately reasoning that if neo-Nazis donate money to RP, then RP is definitely also a neo-Nazi. Then, as an afterthought, an actually good point was raised: If lobbyists’ money is dirty to Dr. Paul, then why is this money any cleaner?
I can see some arguments either way there, but it’s still troubling as a Ron Paul supporter. My suspicion is that the neo-Nazi support is just incidental to the campaign, given that Paul’s foreign policy is one that would minimize monetary aid to Israel for reasons entirely different.
If he is indeed attractive to unsavory folks for other reasons, then he seems quite skilled at leading a political double-life. I suppose we’ll see how things unfold.
Have a nice day.
It appears to me that this whole money trail thing is just as often used for political shenanigans by the other side. Want to destroy a politician? Make sure the “wrong” people donate to him/her and then force him/her to return the money, then explain why they took it. They may never have known it was donated!
Hillary got taken through that, and Obama was hit over a pastor with whom he is friends, and it is guilt by association. Worse, it encourages a hyper-fundamentalistic attitude that says that I will not associate with anyone who associates with someone who is one of the “wrong” people.
Bah, politics!
Reminds me of a the idea that Conservative (etc) democrats were going to be voting for Hillary in the primaries b/c they knew that a Hillary Candidacy would unite the other conservatives to elect whomever the Republicans nominate.