Capitol Correspondent
Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul, whose long-shot campaign has been gaining media attention in recent days, apparently has the support of an unusual constituency — the white supremacist movement.
Stormfront.org, a white supremacy web site, as well as others, such as http://WhiteWorldNews.com, have actively supported Paul's bid for the presidency, including directing donors to his campaign. Stormfront has also endorsed Paul for president.
"Once in a great while a presidential candidate is presented to us. A candidate who not only speaks to us, but for us…I am supporting Ron Paul in his run for the presidency," the Stormfront endorsement says. The endorsement praises Paul's plans to reduce taxes, close the borders and eliminate trade deals, such as NAFTA.
"Whatever organization you belong to, remember first and foremost that you are a white nationalist," the endorsement continues. "Put your differences with one and other aside and work together. Work together to strive to get someone in the Oval Office who agrees with much of what we want for our future. Look at the man. Look at the issues. Look at our future. Vote for Ron Paul 2008."
The white supremacy movement directs potential donors to the independent ThisNovember5th.com web site, which is a fundraising mechanism for the Paul campaign. The web site netted Paul $4.2 million from some 37,000 people on Nov. 5 — a record amount raised in a single day through the Internet by any Republican candidate.
The Paul Campaign on Thursday announced it had refunded $3,000 of the millions of dollars it had received Nov. 5. The money was donated on stolen credit cards, in sums of $5 per card. There was no indication, however, that white supremacists were involved in the stolen-card donations.
ThisNovember5th.com was created in memory of Guy Fawkes' failed Gunpowder Plot in England in 1608. Fawkes planned to blow up Parliament and kill King James I to restore the Catholic Church in Protestant England. Paul supporters used the web site and Guy Fawke's Day to support "Ron Paul's Revolution."
Jesse Benton, communications director for Ron Paul for President 2008, said he was unaware of the existence of Stormfront until just a few days ago, though Stormfront radio endorsed Paul in mid-October.
As for what the campaign will do with the supremacist donations, Benton said white supremacists are wasting their money on Paul, a physician and long-time congressman from Texas. "We are not in the business of trying to track who is giving us money," Benton said. "If they want to waste their money on us we will take it and use it to promote freedom and individual rights, not their agenda."
There is no indication that Paul has courted right-wing support. But a wide array of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups have backed him nonetheless, and there have been rumors about right-wing support in the blogosphere for months.
On Oct. 4 Will Williams, a former leader of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, posted on the neo-Nazi Vanguard News Network that white supremacy supporters should support Paul for president.
"Till then I recommend folks get involved in the Ron Paul 'revolution' and work with political activists in your communities who are attracted to his anti-globalist message," Williams wrote. "Be disciplined. Blend in; find common ground with them and artfully radicalize those who are receptive and avoid those who are not. … Most of you would be surprised at how many good people can be exposed to a, let's say, 'pro-majority' message among the remarkable groundswell of fed-up, mostly white Ron Paul supporters — many, early on, from the 9/11 truth movement. They are finding their backbones as they are exposed to more and more hidden truths, especially about the hidden hand of Jewry behind every foul venture."
In addition to his white supremacist activities, Williams is the organizer of the Upper East Tennessee Volunteers for Ron Paul [http://ronpaul.meetup.com/175/?gj=sj6] . Williams also worked on conservative Republican Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign in 2000.
Besides the endorsement from Stormfront.org, its founder, Don Black, donated $500 to the Paul campaign, according to Federal Elections Commission filings ( http://disclosure.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00432914/307525/sa/17A/10). The Lonestartimes.com has the full background on Black's donation (http://lonestartimes.com/2007/10/25/rpb1/ ). Stormfront also has a dedicated thread, "The Ron Paul Revolution."
The Ron Paul meetup.com, which has more than 42,000 Paul supporters on it, also has several well-known white supremacists declaring their support for Paul. Michael Mazzone, the Chicago leader of the white supremacist Church of the Creator — whose motto is "RAHOWA," or Racial Holy War — is listed as a supporter http://ronpaul.meetup.com/94/members/5169035/ ], as is neo-Nazi Nationalist Coalition member John Ubele [ http://ronpaul.meetup.com/699/members/4500957/] .
On the Vanguard News Network , convicted bomber and neo-Nazi Todd Vanbiber posted his support for Paul, saying "I think I'm going to get in touch with the local Paul people and see if I can help. I am serious about this shit." [http://www.vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t=52557] Vanbiber was convicted and spent 5 years in a Florida prison for planning to bomb over a dozen Orlando locations.
The Vanguard News Network, Stormfront.org, neo-Nazi Nationalist Coalition, the Church of the Creator and the National Alliance have all been listed as or linked to white supremacy and hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The center is the nation's leading authority on hate groups in the United States and it publishes a hate group map annually. The 2006 hate group map can be found here: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp .
The Houston Chronicle documented Paul as having written some questionable materials himself. In his 1992 independent political newsletter, Paul reported on a survey of blacks. He has refused to provide the survey to anyone. His comments include:
* "Opinion polls show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action."
* "Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the 'criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."
* "We are constantly told it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."
* "We don't think a child of 13 should be held responsible as a man of 23. That's true for most people, but black males who have been raised and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such."
Earlier this year Paul addressed a gathering of the Robert A. Taft Club in Arlington, Va. The club is run by Marcus Epstein, executive director of the conservative Team America PAC, or political action committee. Epstein also writes for the anti-immigration site vdare.com, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate site, and is a regular writer for the white supremacy journal American Renaissance.
[ http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=1095] The Law Center said it was not clear if Paul knew of Epstein's supremacist ties.
