By Michael Collins Piper
AMERICAN FREE PRESS got frontline mention as the very first words in the first paragraph of a muddled smear of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul published as a lengthy hit piece beginning on the front page of The New York Times on December 26. That article was followed up by a lead editorial by the Times in its December 28 issue denouncing what it called “Mr. Paul’s Discredited Campaign,” citing its own article as the evidence. The Times article was clearly a sustained effort to undermine Paul, making no pretense otherwise.
Constituting no less than 80 full column inches, the articled zeroed in on AFP at the get-go and focused on the fact that AFP has promoted the book The Ron Paul Revolution, presenting an overview of Paul’s speeches and writings over the last two decades.
The Times ranked AFP as its lead “evidence” that—in its view—unseemly groups and individuals endorse Paul’s efforts. The Times said a variety of “white nationalists,” “far right groups,” “white supremacists, survivalists and anti-Zionists”—and other villains—are rallying behind Paul.
Although the Times never categorized AFP per se, it described this paper by reporting that AFP “markets books like The Invention of the Jewish People and March of the Titans: A History of the White Race.”
Obviously seeking to impute “anti-Semitism” to AFP by referencing the book The Invention of the Jewish People, what the Times didn’t mention is that the book was written by an Israeli Jewish academic, first published in Hebrew in Israel where it was a national bestseller. Most people would not know that, and that’s what the Times counted on.
And while the Times was horrified AFP would carry an advertisement from another publisher on the history of the white race—proof somehow that AFP was “racist”—it never occurred to the Times that a book about the white race would seem no more shocking to the average American than books, for example, about the history of Africans, Chinese or Indians, which are in every library and bookstore.
The Times’ smear is an obvious effort to force Paul to denounce those who have united behind him and to divide Paul’s diverse groups of supporters and set them at odds with one another.
Michael Collins Piper is an author, journalist, lecturer and radio show host. He has spoken in Russia, Malaysia, Iran, Abu Dhabi, Japan, Canada and the U.S.
