Rosie O'Donnell Loves Ron Paul - Eric Dondero Doesn't

2008 libertarian Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul did an outstanding job of promoting military non-interventionism in the Fox TV South Carolina debate, even better than he did in the MSNBC debate. (Both debates can be seen on Ron Paul's YouTube page.)
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Paul made it clear that U.S. interventionism in the Middle East had resulted in blow back. He only talked about 10 years of bombing and sanctions against Iraq and didn't get around to talking about 60 years of supporting Israeli aggression against the Palestinians, 55 years of aggression against Iranians, or the U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia for 10 years before the September 11 attacks.
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As you can imagine, right wingers went nuts, accusing Paul of "blaming America" and saying "America deserved to be attacked." Scott Horton on AntiWar.com did a good job of clearing up what Paul did and did not say to counter the twisting of his words.
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Paul did such a great job that Rosie O'Donnell and other members of ABC television's morning talk show "The View" were debating his statements fiercely, with three women supporting him and one woman attacking him - using over and over the absurd one word argument, "TERRORISM!!!" See all ten Youtube minutes.
I myself have a history with Ron Paul since 1987, when he was out of congressional office and ran for and won the Libertarian Party nomination in 1987. His main competition was Lakota (American Indian) activist Russell Means. Like the many other pro-choicers in the party, I was annoyed that Paul initially misrepresented his position on abortion, saying he thought it should be a state matter after "viability." But as we learned from a book he had written on the topic, to him viability meant conception and he wanted a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion that the states would enforce!
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So a few of us formed the still existing Pro-Choice Libertarians and through organizing persistence got him to promise not to talk about abortion at all. (See my photo at left from way back when.) We tracked all his clippings (in those pre-news.google days), and except for a couple minor slips we caught from perusing the clipping service articles, he evidently kept his word.
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Of course, since those purest libertarian days Paul has slipped into a number of statist positions, including supporting constitutional amendments to outlaw flag burning and curtail the rights of children born in this country to illegal immigrants. However, he has remained a staunch non-interventionist, like Dennis Kucinich, his liberal Democratic counter part who also is running for president. In fact, he's a lot stauncher than some of the so-called libertarians infecting the Libertarian Party now a days!
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One warmonger to respond to Ron Paul's statements was Paul's former congressional campaign manager Eric Dondero who now fulminates daily about fighting "Islamofacist" terrorists on a variety of forums. He declared he's running against Paul for congress in his home district in 2008, unless Paul resigns or another republican stands up against him. See RightPundit, RedState.Com, and this blog.
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Dondero was Ron Paul's travel aide when Paul was running for the Libertarian Party nomination, ran his 1996 congressional campaign where Paul re-took his seat, and worked for a time in Paul's congressional office. I can say from personal experience that Dondero is a sleazy little operative, quick to insult and smear others with lies. So I thought a lot better of Paul when I heard he had ended their alliance.
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The most persistent unpleasant rumor whispered around about Dondero himself was that he allegedly "beat his wife." He introduced me to her at the 1987 libertarian convention and she definitely had the kind of sad sack, always wary demeanor of a woman who expected a whack in the head momentarily. They later divorced.
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I therefore was quite suspicious when I read Dondero's claim on a libertarian discussion group in November of 2006 that his NEW wife had been mugged three times. Two paragraphs from the post will make his boorish style of argumentation quite clear:
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Yup, I'm a bigot alright. Married to a Chinese woman. Been all around the world; 30 countries on 5 continents. Speak 15 to 20 languages. Have had more Mexican and Filipina girlfriends than you can shake a stick at.
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My wife has been mugged three times (!!!) in the last three years in Houston. Once where they put a gun to her head. All because she's Asian. And illegals and others here in Houston prey on Asians, cause they think they've "got money."
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After the posting I replied on the discussion group, referring to the 1987 rumors, and wondering if Dondero's current wife really had been mugged or if the injuries came from someone a little closer to home. Dondero promptly dropped off the discussion group. It has been estimated that as many as 3 million women a year are assaulted by their significant others. That sounds low to me!
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I also noted at the time some men may prefer to date immigrant women. First, many come from countries where deference to abusive males is still prevalent. Second, tenuous immigrant status makes them less likely to report physical assaults to police and/or are more easily intimidated by threats a man will press false charges against them. No wonder so many American men import "mail order brides." If the rumors and impressions are true and Eric's American born wife finally got up the gumption to call police on him, it would make sense he then turned to foreign born women. While arrests may not always prove searchable on one of the many Internet background search services, convictions usually are.
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I guess Eric was still mad at me on February 13, 2007 when he responded to my request he stop sending me his demented emails by ranting about my "pussy." When I responded to another mass mailing with the phrase "nut job," he responded suggesting I give him a "blow job." I'm sure Paul's conservative Texas district is dying to have someone like Eric Dondero represent them - NOT! At my leisure I'll send some of his supporters the emails, complete with headers.
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Unfortunately, these kinds of abusive males are everywhere, even in the peace movement. But don't get me started on patriarchal peaceniks! A subject for another day!!