Moral of Paul-Alex Jones Tale: Take "Attack" Button off Auto-Pilot

by Mondoreb

David Fredosso of The Corner at National Review Online makes the same point that has been bothering any fair-minded observer of the feeding frenzy that is all things Ron Paul:

On the Right, or in parts of it anyway, hatred of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) arguably matches or even exceeds antipathy toward Hillary Clinton. So eager are conservative bloggers to pounce on Paul that a number of them have accused him of "paying" $1,300 to 9/11 conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Fredosso then goes on to reveal this little gem:

The "payment" to Jones (and yes, it is that same Jones) was not a payment at all, but a partial refund of Jones’s $2,300 contribution. It is clearly marked as such, if you look in the right place on the electronic FEC forms. Paul's spokesman said he put a line in to the campaign treasurer when he noticed it being discussed on the blogosphere, but that's the answer he's going to get.

That sound you hear is certain bloggers scooping up myriad forks and knives to help choke down the barrels of ink written damning Paul for "paying" this scoundrel. One doesn't have to be a Ron Paul supporter to note the salacious glee that every tainted contribution brings to a select portion of the right wing blogging brotherhood.

Sure, Paul has his crazed minions; so does Hillary, Rudy and anyone running for President. But there's something of the smell of chum in the water when the Paul campaign pulls a boner.

Allah Pundit of Hot Air, offers a tight-lipped apology--sorta.

Duly noted and duly corrected. You’ll find the disbursement here about three-quarters of the way down. I could have done without the insinuations of laziness (”bloggers can’t be bothered to do five minutes of research”), especially when bloggers are credited in the same post for having discovered the donation from Don Black — can the campaign “not be bothered” to police for that sort of thing, given their unsolicited yet rising support among white supremacists? — but kudos to Paul for returning, well, not quite all of Alex Jones’s filthy $2,300 but a good-sized chunk of it.

Call it an apology with an attack addendum added to the end. A. Pundit goes on to add one more observation.

The first step is always the hardest.

Couldn't agree more. A little less Attack -Paul-on-Autopilot might be good advice for my fellow right wing madmen.

It takes a big pundit to admit a mistake.

UPDATE: He is a big pundit. Allah puts up a Paul ad video "to make amends". That's the spirit. As MadisonConservative comments at Hot Air: "The integrity of Hot Air stands untarnished. Let’s see Kos make such a retraction." Those were my thoughts exactly. They'd be heading to the mattresses and hunkering down.

At the same time, some over-zealous Paulistas attack DBKP for quoting those who link Jones with white supremacy and the Troofers. I need another cigar.

Like the man says: some days, no good deed goes unpunished.




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