A bit of a downer

For those who haven't seen it yet, The New Republic posted what many are calling a devastating article about Ron Paul today. To sum up, beginning in 1978 and for about 15 years or more a newsletter went out under Ron Paul's name and multiple issues of the newsletter contained incendiary statements that were anti-black, anti-gay, or anti-Israel as well as paranoid conspiracy theories.

As I understand it, these statements came up in a previous campaign for Congress, at which time Dr. Paul repudiated them, claiming that although the newsletters bore his name he did not draft or even read the content most of the time. He did "accept moral responsibility" for allowing these to be published with his name at this earlier time.

Perhaps I'm naive, but I don't believe Dr. Paul himself wrote or ascribes to the statements made. The problem as I see it is twofold. First, clearly he knew these issues were out there and could have taken pre-emptive action to explain and innoculate against the impact of an article like TNR's. Not only didn't he do that, but after the article posted today the campaign initially failed to respond and Dr. Paul's comments to a friendly face at Reason were less than helpful. He has since issued a short, formal public statement, and I suppose time will tell whether that is sufficient.
Second, and of more concern to me, assuming I'm correct and Dr. Paul doesn't espouse any of these views from his newsletters, what does it say about his judgment that he let them be posted in his name--not just once or twice but apparently with at least some regularity over a span of more than a decade?
The thing that excited me most about Dr. Paul's candidacy was that he was inspiring so many people--in particular young people--to care about the issues I personally hold so dear in the policy realm: personal responsibility, individual liberty, and dedication to these principles in our Constitution. He has engaged a whole new generation in discussing what is the proper role for the government.
My hope now is that whatever happens with this story it does not derail the excitement over these issues, that others continue to fight for them.
Anyone interested in this issue, I suggest you check out the Hit and Run blog page at Reason.com for various posts.