It seems that a lowly reporter Ben Swann, at Reality Check, Fox 19, not the high-powered motor-mouths at the big papers, has got the name of the writer of that allegedly racist issue of Ron Paul’s old newsletter. It was..er..on the newsletter – what a shock, eh?
The writer is… allegedly… one James B. Powell.
The blog truthsquad.tv has done a nifty bit of research on the timeline. What it shows is that the only racist newsletters ever produced by Ron Paul were reports by Powell including the one Kirchik brings up, “How to Protect Yourself From Urban Violence,” written for The Ron Paul Strategy Guide, and was specifically about racial violence.
And, what’s even more interesting, he points out, is that James Kirchik, the gay New Republic writer who dug up the Ron Paul newsletter and made an issue of it four years ago, and made it an issue again recently, and yet again recently, has gone on record to said there was no name on that report (there wasn’t in the scans they published)…. even though there clearly was in the link provided at TNR.
Kirchik is a Fellow with the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, to which most hawks belong, including former presidential candidate Steve Forbes. Forbes has backed social conservative Rick Perry, not Ron Paul. In New Hampshire, one poll cited by the Washington Times shows Perry at 1% to Paul’s 24%.
And, even though Kirchik claimed not to have seen the name, many detractors of Ron Paul have tried to stick it to his supporters/associates. The detractors include David Weigel of establishment libertarian Reason magazine, allegedly in bed with the neo-conservative Koch brothers, and also Larry Kudlow of the popular financial show Kudlow & Cramer (that’s Jim Cramer, target of Patrick Byrne’s Deep Capture website on financial corruption). Both were ready to suggest the racist author was Lew Rockwell, the publisher of the popular Ron Paul-endorsing Lew Rockwell blog and the founder of the libertarian Mises Institute, which Ron Paul often cites in his books. Note that Cramer’s nemesis Patrick Byrne supports Ron Paul.
Lew Rockwell has several times denied being the author. So has Ron Paul. Still, that hasn’t stopped people from irresponsible smears. Some have even floated the notion that Murray Rothbard wrote the piece.
Rothbard, being dead, has not been able to say anything about the subject.
But those of us who aren’t dead would like to point out what a clear instance of intentional sliming this seems to have been. It really looks like Kirchik knew who had written the letters and yet publicly attached Paul’s name to them.
[Note added, 1/6/2012] Of course, offensive as the views expressed might be, they are in fact the views not of a minority in this country (although only a minority would publicly endorse them or apologize for them, I’m sure). They are, in my outsider opinion, the views of a majority of the country.
That’s the real reason for the hysteria. If those kinds of views weren’t widespread, a savvy newsletter writer wouldn’t use that language, now, would he?
But that leaves us with this to ponder – why are democrats always so threatened by the demos?]
Here’s the analysis from truthsquad tv:
“Starting as far back as 1976, Congressman Paul published a newsletter. It has gone by several names. The Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Investment Letter, etc.
That newsletter was largely an investment newsletter, dealing with currency, gold and investments. That was the case from 1976 to 1988.
Over the course of those 144 editions, no racist content.
To understand this story, you have to look at the timeline.
In 1984 Paul gave up his seat in Congress when he made an unsuccessful run for the Senate.
In 1985 he went back to Texas to continue to practice medicine full time as an OB-GYN.
His return to politics as a Congressman was in 1996.
In 2007 when Congressman Paul was last running for president, a newspaper called The New Republic found copies hard copies of the newsletters, and these, they reported, were filled with racist, anti-homosexual and conspiracy oriented content.
So lets talk content.
In all, the Ron Paul newsletters were released on a monthly basis for 20 years. That means there were no fewer than 240 editions published.
There are a total of 20 editions of the Ron Paul newsletters, which have passages or sections of racist, bigoted, or anti homosexual language, as well as conspiracy theories.
Since the conspiracy theories, aren’t really the issue here, lets stay on focus and talk about the racist passages.
The way The New Republic newspaper stacks it, the total number of newsletter editions with racist passages is not 20 but actually 9 newsletters.
Lets look at those 9.
I told you that Congressman Paul was fully out of Congress at the beginning on 1985.
The first racist passage shows up in October 1990. The next month, in November of 1990 a reference to David Duke. The following month, in December, 1990, the author attacks Martin Luther King Jr. Then in February of 1991, another newsletter has passages trashing Dr. King’s legacy.
So what we have here, racist passages show up from October of 1990 to February of 1991. 4 out of 5 consecutive months.
A lapse of about a year goes by, 15 months to be exact.
Then, in June 1992, a “Special Edition on Racial Terrorism,” focusing on race riots in Los Angeles. One month later, in the very next edition he wrote about black rage. The final report where we see racist tones is 6 months later in a passage about the disappearing white majority.”
And this is what truth tv has to say about Kirchik:
I found, when researching this story that back in 1997 the original author of The New Republic article, James Kirchick, explained that most of the newsletters had no byline.
Specifically, none of those racist newsletters had a byline, says Kirchick, except for one.
One newsletter that contained the byline of someone else, not Congressman Paul.
But Kirchick fails to disclose two very important things: who’s name was in that byline, and which article they wrote.
He only states that the mystery writer wrote “One special edition” of the Ron Paul Report.
The only special edition I can find is the 1992 article, “A Special Report on Racial Terrorism.”
Why is that important? Because this edition of the newsletter that is most often quoted to prove racism.
So does that mean the most racist evidence in these newsletters actually has someone else’s name on it?
I don’t know, but I’d like to find out.
I have repeatedly tried for 2 weeks to contact The New Republic and James Kirchick to get an answer as to which special report had another author’s byline, I’m still waiting to hear back.”
Lila:
An editor’s note to the post at truthsquad TV claims that James B. Powell works at Forbes, but when I double-checked, it looked like they got the wrong person.
The Powell at Forbes has a career that doesn’t match the profile of our guy. More likely is the James B. Powell of powellreport.com, although we’ll have to wait to confirm.
I think that’s why CNN has apparently pulled the original piece. Anyway, the page now returns an error.
[Correction, Jan 7, 2012:
While I need to get more details, a second look at the two resumes, shows some match ups. The Forbes director, whom I won’t link until I find out more, does include finance and science as his background.
The newsletter writer has a background in science and finance too. The newsletter writer puts out an advisory for physicians. The Forbes director apparently has a background in medicine. More to follow.]
And here is James Powell’s website (or rather, the website for his current newsletter, Jim Powell’s Global Changes and Opportunities Report), which has an account of his career as a newsletter writer:
“Jim Powell has an extensive background in both the sciences and finance which has made his market analysis and timely stock selections highly valued among both private and professional investors for over 25 years. Before starting his current newsletter, Global Changes and Opportunities Report, Jim produced Growth Stock Alert and was the research director of the popular investment service, ValuTALK which was distributed worldwide on CD and audio cassette tape. Jim is also the founding editor of the investment newsletters, High Tech Investor, Technology Stock News, and the Physicians Financial Advisor.
Jim is the author of two books, The Dow Jones Irwin Guide to High Tech Investing and Super Investment Trends. He has also produced a number of Consumer Guides® for non-professional investors including, Best Rated Investments from $1,000 to $10,000 and the always popular series, Where To Put Your Investments In (current year). Additionally, Jim has contributed to many popular periodicals including USA Today, Business Week, Barron’s, and Time.
Jim Powell is a frequent speaker at the annual New Orleans Investment Conference where he presents his Top Picks For The New Year. He is the only speaker who consistently tells his audience how his previous stock recommendations performed..
In addition to his publications and public presentations, Jim Powell provides specialized investment services to private clients through his firm, James B. Powell and Associates.”
Lila: Note that the “New Orleans Investment Conference” is one of the best-known conferences of its kind.
It was founded by James Blanchard (of Blanchard Coins):
“Founded in 1974 by legendary entrepreneur James U. Blanchard III, the Conference is now in its 39th consecutive year. It ranks as the preeminent gathering of private investors and attracts wealthy individuals from all 50 states and over 35 nations.”