A former senior aide to GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has decided to “set the record straight” in a ‘tell all’ post on the Right Wing News blog — and in the process, has confirmed that Paul wishes “the Israeli state did not exist at all.”
Eric Dondero served as former senior aide to Paul when he was a U.S. Congressman from 1997 to 2003, and worked closely with the candidate as an aide since 1988.
“I’ve noticed in some media that my words have been twisted and used for an agenda from both sides,” Dondero wrote, explaining from the outset why he had decided to set forth his views in such a blunt manner, on the site that he chose. “I wish to set the record straight with media that I trust and know will get the story right: conservative/libertarian-conservative bloggers.”
Ron Paul is not a racist, Dondero wrote. “I never heard a racist word expressed towards Blacks or Jews come out of his mouth. Not once,” he wrote. “Is Ron Paul an Anti-Semite? Absolutely No. As a Jew, (half on my mother’s side), I can categorically say… No slurs. No derogatory remarks.”
However, the candidate’s feelings about Israel versus the Palestinian Authority are another matter entirely, Dondero wrote.
“He is however, most certainly Anti-Israel, and Anti-Israeli in general. He wishes the Israeli state did not exist at all. He expressed this to me numerous times in our private conversations. His view is that Israel is more trouble than it is worth, specifically to the America taxpayer. He sides with the Palestinians, and supports their calls for the abolishment of the Jewish state, and the return of Israel, all of it, to the Arabs.”
The candidate apparently has “no problem” with American Jews, however. “In fact, there were a few Jews in our congressional district, and Ron befriended them with the specific intent of winning their support for our campaign,” Dondero wrote.
More than 100 people have written comments in response to the post, including many who noted that Dondero was fired by Ron Paul, and several who pointed out that he ran against the Congressman in a follow up race. One person said his “real name is Eric Rittberg.”
Many contradicted Dondero’s assertion of anti-Israel sentiment, using the lone example of pointing out his isolationism did not stop him from being one of the lone voices in the U.S. who supported Israel’s attack on the Osirak nuclear plant in Iraq.
