When the news broke that Paul was endorsed by Stormfront.org — a white supremacist group that champions “white pride, worldwide” — I was mildly flabbergasted. Then endorsements came rolling in from Vanguard News Network — “No Jews. Just Right” — and the Nationalist Coalition, another white supremacist group. I found this troubling to say the least, but the Paul campaign claims these groups had “nothing to do with Ron Paul and what he stands for.” Rather, they purport it is “his message of freedom, peace and prosperity – that’s why people support him.”

I wanted to give Paul the benefit of the doubt. In 2000, third-party candidate Pat Buchanan got support from strange anti-Semitic sources through no fault of his own. When candidates take positions outside of the mainstream on issues such as trade and federal government power, they will sometimes garner support from strange sources. If the Paul campaign was not emphatically seeking the support of these organizations, then I could see no clear reason to hold it against him.

My opinion changed when I stumbled across Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, a newsletter Paul has published since at least 1978. Much of the newsletter takes a libertarian stance on economic issues that most would consider to be far from mainstream, but which are consistent with Paul’s platform in the 2008 campaign.

But a troubling message emerges.

In the early 1990s, Paul took aim at the African American community. He described African Americans involved in a minor Washington D.C. race riot as “animals taking over the D.C. zoo.” He said the Los Angeles race riots would end when “blacks were able to pick up their welfare checks.” He later went on to suggest that African Americans should hold their demonstrations at “food stamp bureaus or a crack house.”

Paul also commented on the LBGT community in his newsletter. He longed for a day when gays would “go back into the closet” and argued that society would be far better off when “they were forced to hide their homosexual activities.”

The Paul campaign has denied Paul is responsible for the content of these newsletters. They claim that the letters were ghostwritten and simply published under Paul’s name. They also were apparently “taken out of context.”

This is a laughable explanation. Either Paul did not realize that, for 30 years, bigoted diatribe was being published under his name, or (more likely) he wrote or approved this message. At best, this is a demonstration of incompetence. At worst, it is a view into the mind of a true fringe candidate — a man trying to play to a base of bigots who carry a message of hate.

Even more damaging are reports that Paul publicly defended the message of the newsletter until 2001.

I do not mean to apply these negative adjectives to the vast majority of Ron Paul supporters. I participated in a debate Monday night with a representative from the Paul campaign and I would not characterize the support for his candidacy as sinister or devious.

We cannot, however, allow a man who publicly preaches “peace and prosperity” and whispers a message of hate to bask in the limelight any longer. Paul is no longer just the anti-war Republican or the anti-spending Republican. He has turned himself into the anti-tolerance Republican.

Those who support his strong commitment to limited government and an abandoning of an arrogant foreign policy should seek another candidate. While I may not agree with them, I know a vast majority of them support him for noble reasons. They deserve better than Ron Paul.

Eric Gregory is a State News columnist. Reach him at ericwgregory@gmail.com.