Ron Paul’s philosophy: A libertarian can’t be a racist

[COMMENTARY] In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul responded to charges of being a racist because of his association with a racist newsletter.  Since this incident and other allegations, including a Michigan Messenger report that Paul’s campaign was receiving support from neo-Nazis and white supremacists,  his  campaign has tried to distance itself from racist accusations.

However, Paul, a self-described libertarian, says  that his  philosophy precludes his being a racist.  Indeed, Paul  appears to have  unusual support for a Republican, or even for some Democrats, among black voters.  In the interview Paul told  Blitzer,  “I am getting the most number of black votes and black supporters because I attack the two wars that blacks are suffering from: the war overseas and the war on drugs.”

In fact  a Ramussen poll from October 2007 had  Paul receiving 31 percent and 33 percent of the black vote in a general election against Sens. Barack  Obama and Hillary Clinton, respectively. It is unclear if or how this support has changed, but it is unusually high for a Republican to poll that well  among  blacks.  President Bush won just 11 percent of the black vote in 2004. 

Continued -Paul’s opposition to the war in Iraq is widely known, but his position regarding the war on drugs  less so. In the interview Paul told  Blitzer:

“And what about the war on drugs? What other candidate will stand up in front of the camera and say, ‘I would pardon all blacks, all whites, everybody who is  convicted for non-violent drug acts and drug crimes.’ This is where the real discrimination is