Bob Barr Does What Ron Paul Should Have

Back in August, Ron Paul received an endorsement and donation from Stormfront, a virulently racist, anti-Semitic white supremacist organization.

At the time, there were many, including yours truly, who said that the Paul campaign needed to do was renounce the endorsement and return the donation. They did neither, of course, and seemed as times to encourage the impression that they were open to support from anyone regardless of how far out on the wacko fringe they happened to be.

Not the best way to run a political campaign to say the least.

Well, Reason’s David Weigel reports that Bob Barr’s campaign has handled the situation far, far differently:

Yesterday, James Buchanan posted a racist Barr endorsement at WhiteCivilRights:

A vote for Bob Barr would at least send a message to the Republican Party that conservatives and Whites won’t sit still as they are stuck with a liberal presidential candidate like McCain. Supporting Bob Barr might even pave the way for a Third Party to replace the increasingly repugnant Republican Party… If voting for McCain is a waste of time, since he’s never going to win (because conservatives hate him), then the best course of action may be a protest vote for the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr. If Barr gets millions of votes, it will be a very strong sign that the neocons and their warmonger policies have failed and the Republican Party should change course and stop supporting wars for Israel.

Stormfront member “WhiteRights” posted the column in the site’s message boards, which is where the Barr campaign found it. Barr campaign manager Russ Verney released this statement:

The Barr campaign is not going to be a vehicle for every fringe and hate group to promote itself. We do not want and will not accept the support of haters. Anyone with love in their heart for our country and for every resident of our country regardless of race, religion, nationality or sexual orientation is welcome with open arms.

Tell the haters I said don’t let the door hit you on the backside on your way out!

Barr consultant Steve Gordon sent me the statement and added: “We denounce anybody who doesn’t want to treat everybody equally under the law.”

Well done, and appropriately so.