Skip to content
quotesby

Neil Cavuto: ...your campaign has received a $500 campaign donation from a white supremacist in West Palm Beach. And your campaign had indicated you have no intention to return it. What are you going to do with that? Ron Paul: It is probably already spent. Why give it back to him and use it for bad purposes? Neil Cavuto: ...this Don Black who made the donation, and who ran a site called 'Stormfront, White Pride Worldwide,' now that you know it, now that you're familiar after the fact, you still would not return it? Ron Paul: Well, if I spent his money and I took the money that maybe you might have sent to me and donate it back to him, that does not make any sense to me. Why should I give him money to promote his cause? Neil Cavuto: ...Hillary Clinton has had to do this, a number of other candidates have had to do this. Do you think that just is a bad practice? Ron Paul: I think it is pandering. I think it is playing the political correctness... What about the people who get donations, want to get special interests from the military industrial complex? They put in - they raise, bundle their money, and send millions of dollars in there. And they want to rob the taxpayers. That is the real evil ... that buys influence in government. And this is, to me, the corruption that should be corrected... you are missing the whole boat - the whole boat, because it is the immorality of government, it's the special interests in government, it's fighting illegal wars... Neil Cavuto: All right. Ron Paul: ...and financing, and taxing the people, destroying the people through inflation, and undermining this prosperity of the country.

Ron Paul#68

PoliticsEthicsCampaign financeExtremism

About this quote

What does it mean?
Ron Paul argues that returning a donation from a white supremacist would be pointless because the money is already spent and returning it would fund the donor's cause.
In plain terms
He says giving back the money would just help the donor.
What can you take from it?
Donations already spent shouldn't be returned if it supports harmful causes.

Where it applies

  • campaign finance scrutiny
  • public criticism

Putting it to work

  • refuse to return money
  • publicly explain spending

Questions to consider

  • Is it better to return money to distance from extremist donors?
  • What are the political risks of keeping such funds?

Another view

Returning funds could signal rejection of extremist support.

More from Ron Paul

  1. Question: You wanna gut that safety net... Ron Paul: But the safety net doesn't work. Question: Tell me why it doesn't work. Ron Paul: It does work for some pe…

    Permalink to quote #67
  2. The do-good liberal who said we have to take care of everybody -- and they are well intentioned -- the more debt they run up to give to the poor, the poorer th…

    Permalink to quote #69
  3. Howard Fineman: The people who don't pay their taxes on principle are heroic people, in the manner of Gandhi and Martin Luther King? Ron Paul: I think if they'…

    Permalink to quote #66

Related quotes

  1. Each nation has its own pet sins to which it is merciful, and also sins which it treats as most abhorrent. In America, we are peculiarly sensitive about big mo…

    Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt quote #59
  2. 'It was a political donation for my personal use.' 21 February 2008 at the Mahon Tribunal, referring to a ?5000 donation.[3]

    Bertie AhernBertie Ahern quote #20
  3. The long-awaited 'campaign finance reform' vote finally took place last week, with the House ultimately passing the measure. The debate was full of hypocritica…

    Ron PaulRon Paul quote #72