'Everyone Knows' Paul Not Racist: Blitzer Challenges Paul on Newsletters

Blitzer asked Paul to explain how his name came to be attached to such "shocking" content, leading Paul to repeat what "everyone knows" about him and his viewpoints, without ever once explaining how the content came to be. After avoiding the original question for two solid minutes - the testy reply ended with Paul saying, "I am the anti-racist because I am the only candidate - Republican or Democrat who would protect the minority from these vicious drug laws." Blitzer tried a different approach to encourage Paul to actually answer the question being asked of him.

WB: Congressman, there's a lot of material there, but let me try to just figure out: How did this stuff get in these Ron Paul newsletters?

RP: Well....well....I have no idea...uh, have, have you ever heard of a publisher of a magazine not knowing every single thing? The editor is a responsible for the daily activity, and people came and gone [sic] and there were some people that were hired. I don't know any of their names I do not, absolutely, honestly do not know who wrote those things. But I do know there was a transition, there were changes around, and...uh...it...to me it's been rehashed, and this is the politics of it all. If it were important enough, why didn't the people of my district who have heard this for these ten years or so since it came up, and people believe me. Why don't you believe me? And just say, look, its in there, its bad, I had a moral responsibility, but that doesn't mean you can, you know, indirectly charge me as being a racist, and that is what is being done, and yet I am the most anti-racist because I don't see people in collective groups and I practice...and you now, right now, even before this thing broke guess when our next fund raising day, our next Super Day...we raised $4 million one day, $6 [million] on the next...the next one is on Martin Luther King Holiday...I mean, this is it. Martin Luther King. Rosa Parks. Gandhi. They're the heroes of my, in practice of civil disobedience, in trying to get the burden of Government off our backs, and that's why I'm the one that protects the individual blacks who are in the city who are so being, so unfairly being treated and thrown in prison. That's the message that needs to be heard and I'd appreciate someone helping bring that out, rather than nit-picking over something done many years ago which I did not write.

Blitzer followed up with the question which has been on the lips of most people following the story:

WB: Did you used to read these newsletters? Congressman?

RP: Not back, not back, not back then. There might have been times I would, at times. But you know I was in a medical practice, I travelled a lot, I was doing speeches around the country. Frequently, you know, I never did see these. Matter of fact, some of the things you just read, uh...I, I wouldn't have recognized them...and, and the point is its not part of my character. The point also is, when people get charged, they usually have a clip. They never have a clip of someone saying something, a slip of the tongue, then they are blasted to Kingdom Come. No body has ever heard me say that, they know those are not my thoughts, and therefore the people have not rejected me in Texas and in a way this is a bit of a witch-hunt. I know there is reason, I don't say that you are unjustified in asking the question, but you also have to think of the motivation behind this and maybe, maybe this is part of the anti-Ron Paul deal - you know, I got excluded from the debates the other night - and maybe this is part "knock down Ron Paul because he's gaining grounds with the blacks." I've got more votes right now and more support from the blacks because they understand what I'm talking about and they trust me.

Blitzer then asks Paul to repudiate all of the slurs, racist comments, and such contained in the letters, which Paul does in the following way:

RP: The most important thing is anything I've ever said in my life has repudiated that for years and years and years. So I do repudiate everything that is written along those lines and what I heard tonight. And like I say, I've never read that before, if you ask me to dig up a copy of that I wouldn't have the vaguest idea, that's how unimportant it was to me. But obviously it IS important, it needs to be ironed out. In many ways, Wolf, I think I should thank you for bringing about so I could clarify this and make sure everybody knew where I stood on this position.

The entire interview can be seen below (the transcript here is my own, and may contain slight errors):