OUT OF TOUCH

Former Aide: Ron Paul “Personally Uncomfortable” Around Gay People

A close aide to Ron Paul has clarified the presidential hopeful’s feelings about the LGBT community: We give him the heebie-jeebies.

Right Wing News has a lengthy post from Eric Dondero, who worked as a Paul staffer from 1987 to 2003, which discusses Paul’s views toward Jews, blacks, Hispanics and gay people.

It puts the whole racist newsletter in a new light (and doesn’t exactly paint Dondero as a paragon of diversity).

“Is Ron Paul a ‘racist.’ In short, no. 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. And understand, I was his close personal assistant. It’s safe to say that I was with him on the campaign trail more than any other individual, whether it be traveling to Fairbanks, Alaska or Boston, Massachusetts in the presidential race, or across the congressional district to San Antonio or Corpus Christi, Texas…

One caveat: He is what I would describe as “out of touch,” with both Hispanic and Black culture. Ron is far from being the hippest guy around. He is completely clueless when it comes to Hispanic and Black culture, particularly Mexican-American culture. And he is most certainly intolerant of Spanish and those who speak strictly Spanish in his presence, (as are a number of Americans, nothing out of the ordinary here.)

Though Dondero denies Paul is an anti-Semite, he does say the candidate is rabidly anti-Israel and has called for the abolition of the Jewish state “and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs.” He also claims Paul is a staunch isolationist who feels  America should have stayed out of WWII because “saving the Jews,” was absolutely none of our business.

But what about them homosexuals?

Is Ron Paul a homo-phobe? Well, yes and no. He is not all bigoted towards homosexuals. He supports their rights to do whatever they please in their private lives. He is however, personally uncomfortable around homosexuals, no different from a lot of older folks of his era.

In 1988, Ron had a hardcore Libertarian supporter, Jim Peron, Owner of Laissez Faire Books in San Francisco. Jim set up a magnificent three-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 three 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. I chided him a bit, but he sternly reacted, as he often did to me, Eric, just do what I say. Perhaps “sternly” is an understatement. Ron looked at me directly, and with a very angry look in his eye, and shouted under his breath: “Just do what I say NOW.”

Wow, who knew Paul threw bitch diva fits?

Dondero also recounts an incident, years later at a campaign stop in South Carolina, when Paul swatted a gay supporter’s hand away rather than shake it. The incident bothered one of Paul’s staffers to the point where he almost resigned over it (but didn’t, naturally.)

“Again, let me stress. I would not categorize that as ‘homo-phobic,’ but rather just unsettled by being around gays personally. Ron, like many folks his age, very much supports toleration, but chooses not to be around gays on a personal level. It’s a personal choice. And though, it may seem offensive to some, he has every right in my mind to feel and act that way.”

Does someone want to explain to Dondero exactly what “homo-phobic” [sic] means?

Source: NY Daily News

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