Eric Dondero, who served a variety of positions under Ron Paul, including Senior Aide from 1997 to 2003, issued a wide-ranging statement to Right Wing News on Monday, asserting that Paul is not a racist or homophobe, while shedding light on some of Paul’s personal beliefs on things like using a gay man’s bathroom and the existence of Israel.

The statement, which is alternately helpful and insanely damaging, was dismissed as being written by a, “disgruntled former staffer who was fired for performance issues,” by Paul spokesman Jesse Benton to Lucy Madison of CBS. “He has zero credibility and should not be taken seriously.”

Why would the Paul camp want to wholly discredit a man who that says Paul is “absolutely” not an anti-Semite and states that he, “never heard a racist word expressed towards Blacks or Jews come out of his mouth,” in the 12 years he worked for him? Because he follows up every positive statement with a tremendously large, “but…”

Observe:

On charges that Paul is a racist:

I worked for the man for 12 years, pretty consistently. I never heard a racist word expressed towards Blacks or Jews come out of his mouth. Not once.

He has frequently hired blacks for his office staff, starting as early as 1988 for the Libertarian campaign. He has also hired many Hispanics

Buuuuut…

He is completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture.



On charges that Paul is an anti-Semite:

As a Jew, (half on my mother’s side), I can categorically say that I never heard anything out of his mouth, in hundreds of speeches I listened too over the years, or in my personal presence that could be called, “Anti-Semite.” No slurs. No derogatory remarks.

Buuuuut…

He is… most certainly Anti-Israel, and Anti-Israeli in general. He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all.

On charges that Paul is homophobic:

He is not all bigoted towards homosexuals. He supports their rights to do whatever they please in their private lives.

Buuuuut…

In 1988, Ron had a hardcore Libertarian supporter, Jim Peron, Owner of Laissez Faire Books in San Francisco. Jim set up a magnificent 3-day campaign swing for us in the SF Bay Area. Jim was what you would call very openly Gay. But Ron thought the world of him. For 3 days we had a great time trouncing from one campaign event to another with Jim’s Gay lover. The atmosphere was simply jovial between the four of us. (As an aside we also met former Cong. Pete McCloskey during this campaign trip.) We used Jim’s home/office as a “base.” Ron pulled me aside the first time we went there, and specifically instructed me to find an excuse to excuse him to a local fast food restaurant so that he could use the bathroom. He told me very clearly, that although he liked Jim, he did not wish to use his bathroom facilities.

On the newsletter controversy:

The liberal media is ferociously attacking Ron this morning, on everything from the Newsletters to his various PACs. I’m amused at how off-base they all are.

Buuuuut…

He strenuously does not believe the United States had any business getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII. He expressed to me countless times, that “saving the Jews,” was absolutely none of our business.

So, yeah, it’s kind of simple to see why the Paul camp is trying to discredit Dondero. While assertions that Paul isn’t anti-Semitic might help a little bit, sharing supposed stories of how he’s allegedly an isolationist who believed the CIA knew about the 9/11 attacks (much like FDR knew about Pearl Harbor) ahead of time isn’t exactly the kind of defense Paul’s team is looking for.

The full statement can be read on Right Wing News.

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