Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul denies composing hate-filled articles in a newsletter he published twenty years ago. INSIDE EDITION reports.
Ron Paul fires back at allegations that he published hate-filled political newsletters 20 years ago.
"I didn't write them and those aren't my beliefs, so I sleep well," Paul told CNN's Ali Velshi. "Why don't the concentrate on every word I've ever said, every speech I have ever given?"
The Republican presidential candidate spoke out on CNN Tuesday after a 1992 newsletter called The Ron Paul Political Report surfaced that said this about the Los Angeles Rodney King riots:
"Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks."
Paul also disavowed another 20-year-old newsletter he published that called Martin Luther King's birthday: "Hate Whitey Day."
Paul says he published the newsletters, but wasn't able to monitor them closely because he had a busy medical practice at the time.
Velshi asked Paul, "You haven't been able to sort of tell who specifically wrote them?"
"No, I really don't know. Twenty years ago I had six or eight people helping me with the newsletter and I was practicing medicine to tell you the truth," said Paul.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent spoke via Skype to reporter James Kirchick, who first wrote about the newsletters.
Kirchick said, "I don't think that you allow this stuff to be published under your name, for years, and you make millions of dollars off of it, which he did, and not know what's being published under your name."
The newsletters are coming to light after Paul was greeted enthusiastically on the Tonight Show Friday night. Some polls say he could even win the Iowa caucus in two weeks.
Trent asked Bob Cusack, Managing Editor of The Hill, "Is it possible that the content of these newsletters could make his campaign implode?"
"I don't think his campaign will impolde. Will it hurt his chances of winning Iowa? Yes. And will it hurt his chances of winning the Republican nomination? Yes," said Cusack.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney took his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination to Late Night with David Letterman Monday night, reading the "Top Ten Things Mitt Romney Would Like to Say to the American People."
#10. "Isn't it time for a president who looks like a 1970's game show host?"
#9. "What's up Gangstas...it's the M-I-Double-Tizzle."
And #1. "It's a hairpiece."
