Seeing somebody refer to Ron Paul as a demented racist has really made my day... With posts like that, no argument could possibly be lost on these forums.
I don't think Ron Paul is demented nor racist, but surely you can see that his behavior in this matter naturally leads others to think so?
If something is put out with your name on it, you simply MUST monitor it closely since people will think (and logically so) that it's either written by you, or on your behalf with your approval. If that something contains horrific statements, you simply MUST immediately and energetically repudiate it, with no equivocating. Paul did not; he attempted to equivocate and claim they were taken "out of context". I'll admit that I have not read these statements in context, but some of these quotes are so outrageous that it's impossible to see what context could make them acceptable. If that context exists, it's up to Paul to put it forth and explain it, because with an honest reading even someone moderately Paul-friendly such as myself can imagine no such acceptable context.
Since Paul did not put out such a context, one naturally assumes that one's original thought - that there exists no such context in which these statements are acceptable - is in fact correct. That leaves only two possible explanations. First, Paul himself holds those views, or second, that Paul is so personally close and/or politically entangled to those who do hold those views that he will take the political heat for their views rather than burn that relationship. I've seen nothing else that makes me think Paul is a racist, much less of that caliber, so I'll give him a pass on the first, but I cannot in good faith give him a pass on the second. And the second also has some stain about it - a substantial amount actually. If one is to be a representative and a leader, much less President, one cannot afford the luxury of letting such racism stand, not among one's friends and certainly not in a publication under one's own name. When something so vile goes out in one's name, one needs a much more strenuous defense than "you don't understand" to escape any stain. I don't judge it a complete disqualifier any more so than Obama's relationship with Reverend Wright, but like that this is a serious issue in judgment - only more serious since the majority has more power to oppress than does the minority.