From John Walsh's letter to Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, on the program's coverage of Ron Paul:
“I have a bone to pick about your coverage of Ron Paul and the five comments that appeared in his newsletter a generation ago.
“First, contrary to what you say, the rest of the MSM does publish the exact words of the statements — in fact they appear ad nauseam in semi-official publications like the NYT.
“Second, as you surely know, Paul has said he did not write those statements, did not read them or know of them at the time and DISAVOWS them. You did not mention that.
“Third Ron Paul is against the death penalty and mandatory minimum sentences in part because they are racist — and he has said so. You did not mention that.
“Fourth, the head of the NAACP in Austin who has known Ron Paul for 20 years says that the man can in no way be considered a racist. You did not mention that.
“Fifth, in an interview with Bill Moyers Ron Paul specifically says that Libertarianism is incompatible with racism. You do not mention that. I think you have a duty to tell the whole truth on the matter because a half truth is a full lie — as the saying goes.
“Finally I might ask which is more racist — bombing people of color all around the world as Obama has done, for example in the war on Libya for which your constant guest CIA ‘consultant’ Juan Cole was a cheerleader — or five statements written by someone else a generation ago which have now been repudiated by Paul?
“Have you forgotten that your program is subtitled the War and Peace Report? My friends in NYC have taken to calling it Hypocrisy Now! I hope that soon it can reclaim its older tradition of principled and consistent anti-interventionism and report the full truth on antiwar candidates like Ron Paul, the only anti-imperialist and peace candidate in the race.
John V. Walsh, MD,
Professor of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, University of Massachusetts Medical School.”
One question Paul should be asked is whether or not the doctor believes, as Lew Rockwell (the imputed author of the memos, though he denies it) and most other southern libertarians do, that plantation owners should have been compensated after the freeing of the slaves for their lost ‘property’?
Alexander Cockburn can be reached at: alexandercockburn@asis.com
As far as Yuppocracy Now! goes, he last straw for me was Goodman’s cheerleading for the yuppies, with more money than brains, who were wandering around in a war zone and got caught trespassing by the Iranians. Hell, those three were dumb enough to be real CIA agents.
Israel wants its US puppet to start another war for Israel, which is obvious to anyone paying attention.
Among Republocrats only Ron Paul refuses to kiss Netanyahu’s ring.
If we observe that Israel overwhelmingly controls the US media we are of course “anti-Semitic.”
But everyone from Amy Goodman to Rush Limbaugh pretends that Ron Paul either doesn’t exist or is a lunatic. That’s mighty convincing evidence.