Comments on: Rand Paul Aide’s Claims Regarding League of the South are Hogwash

By: Erika

Erika — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 20:43:17 +0000

Sam, since i’m by no means an expert on cars and the late 1960s were way befoer my time i don’t have any idea :)

i do know tha tthe old Forid Taurus that i drove during law school was built in Atlanta but that is about it.

and from the perspective of someone born years after his heyday, i have to say that for a segregationist he seems like ironically an extremely colorful figure ;)

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 14:34:16 +0000

Thanks for those historic pictures, Erika. Lester Maddox was famous for giving out axe handles to be used as weapons. Odd that he was clowning around on a Mercury Marquis (deSade?) at the opening of I-285 as they built Caddys in Atlanta (in Doraville, like the song). Maybe they built Mercs there as well, but I thought Ford of Atlanta only made pickup trucks. Side note: CB slang for I-285, the Atlanta loop, is the “Watermelon 500″.

By: Erika

Erika — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 11:11:06 +0000

Sam, if you want to see why Rand Paul was giving a coded message that his intended audience could read loud and clear, see Lester Maddox’s protest signs and monument to private property of which photos are available here:

http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/misc/maddox.htm

and also see the photograph of Lester Maddox at the opening ceremony of I-285 because its hilarious. And be warned that if you like old pictures (and/or Atlanta) you can spend hours on that site :)

By: Erika

Erika — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 17:59:29 +0000

Sam, people did pay attention and no doubt including the vast majority of the people here who recognized Rand Paul’s statement for exactly what it was – old fashioned support for racial segregation and discrimination straight out of the White Citizens Counsel playbook. Complete with the old standby argument so beloved by the Citizens Counsel types that forcing them to serve black customers was Communism or at least an affront to capitalism. For someone like me who was born several years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but who know the history it was stunning to see a candidate for statewide office in 2012 making the type of argument.

the vast majority of Kentucky voters no doubt knew exactly what he met – and the fact that he won the election makes it a reasonable inference that many of them supported it. Given the poor state of historic education (especially when it comse to teaching the ugly parts of history) its quite possible that some younger people did not realize what Rand Paul was saying

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 15:57:12 +0000

David Cary Hart, the new Age of Information only works if people pay attention. Rand’s comment that he would have opposed the Civil Rights Act on the grounds that a shopkeeper can refuse service to anyone he chooses, seems to have strengthened his base and everyone else here does not seem to care.

By: concernedcitizen

concernedcitizen — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 23:14:06 +0000

Well Reynardine it just goes to show the perverse nature of those who engaged in slavery.

By: Kiwiwriter

Kiwiwriter — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 17:00:11 +0000

He knew what he was doing, and he knew it was bigoted and racist…he just didn’t care, or thought it was all very jolly.

By: Sam Molloy

Sam Molloy — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 04:57:00 +0000

According to the NPR radio station in Louisville Friday night 7/12, young Rand did not apologize and claim he never knew, he instead has defended his choice of Hunter as his advisor. I would say his aspirations for any national office are toast, but he might replace Mitch McConnell as Kentucky’s regular contribution to the Daily Show with John Stewart.

By: David Cary Hart

David Cary Hart — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 21:51:30 +0000

SPLC is correct. However, if any of the folks in Kentucky care about this it will those who find the LOS connection appealing.

By: Reynardine

Reynardine — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:17:44 +0000

Slavery was so protective of the racial integrity of the *black* race, that they held a man wasn’t a man till he broke a black girl in.

By: Commenter

Commenter — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 17:48:47 +0000

There’s a lot more on Hunter’s activities with the League of the South over here. I’d agree that the media’s coverage of this topic has been decidedly odd – mostly, I think, because the original Free Beacon story mined the readily available trove of columns and videos he’d produced as the Southern Avenger, and didn’t bother digging further into his time with the League of the South. The coverage has also focused on those of Hunter’s activities of which Rand Paul was most likely to have been aware – there’s no way he could’ve avoided knowing about the Southern Avenger persona, but he might not have known of Hunter’s past with the League of the South.

But it’s not possible that Hunter didn’t know what he belonged to. He was a Septurion – a leader of a seven-person cell that met regularly to study neo-confederate tracts. And he and other South Carolina Septurions themselves met on a regular basis. This was an intellectual commitment he made, not some youthful dalliance. And, as best I can tell, he’s never repudiated it.