Ron Paul casts lot with extremists, conspiracy theorists

Ron Paul, the libertarian former Texas congressman whose hard-line views are widely admired on the radical right but who claims to reject racism, has started a new organization stacked with a hodgepodge of far-right extremists.

AsThe Daily Beastreportedyesterday, the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity is ostensibly designed to promote a discourse about U.S. foreign policy. But its advisory board is stacked with what writer James Kirchik characterized as a bevy of conspiracy theorists, cranks, and apologists for some of the worst regimes on the planet.

And just who are the far-right luminaries helping guide Pauls new endeavor?

One is Lew Rockwell, Pauls former congressional chief of staff who now heads the Ludwig von Mises Institute, an Auburn, Ala., think tank with deep ties to theneo-Confederate movement. Theres Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox News and journalist Eric Margolis, both 9/11 truthers who suspect that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks may have been orchestrated by the government.

And alongside them sits Butler Shaffer, a Southwestern Law School professor who similarly once asked: In light of the lies, forgeries, cover-ups, and other deceptions leading to a war in Iraq, how can any intellectually honest person categorically deny the possibility of the involvement of American political interest in 9/11?

But thats not the worst of it, according toThe Daily Beast.

Also on Pauls board are prominent former government officials who claim that American Jews constitute a fifth column aimed at subverting American foreign policy in the interests of Israel, Kirchick reported. One of those is Michael Scheuer, a former CIA intelligence officer who has accused a long list of individuals and organizations of being intent on involving 300 million Americans in other peoples religious wars,The Daily Beastsaid.

Still another board member is Walter Bloch, a fellow at the Mises institute whoThe Daily Beastsaid believes the wrong side won the war against Southern secession and blames most of Americas current problems on the monster Lincoln.

Yesterdays article wasnt the first to note the affinity many extremists have for Paul. An article inThe New York Timesin 2011, when Paul was running for president, noted that while white supremacists, survivalists and anti-Zionists had allied behind Pauls campaign, he had not disavowed their support. Paul told the newspaper: If they want to endorse me, theyre endorsing what I do or say it has nothing to do with me endorsing what they say.

The controversy surrounding Pauls new organization is reminiscent of past revelations. Paul has been accused of authoring a series of newsletters, written under his name, that Kirchik says reveal decades worth of obsession and conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews and gays. When Kirchik first detailed those newsletters in 2008, Paul claimed that he had not written them and he had no idea who had. Kirchik says in his latest article that the newsletters, which ostensibly gave supporters political news and investment advice, netted his family over $1 million per year.

Read more:
Ron Paul casts lot with extremists, conspiracy theorists