Paul Admits 'Some Responsibility' for Racist Newsletters

Ron Paul now says he accepts "some responsibility" for controversial newsletters, published in the 1980s and 1990s under Paul's name, that spoke of coming race wars in the United States.

"These were sentences that were put in, I think it was a total of eight or 10 sentences and it was bad stuff — it, it wasn't a reflection of my views at all," said Paul in response to a caller's question on WHO's Jan Mickelson radio show in Iowa. "I think it was terrible. It was tragic and I had some responsibility because the [letter went out under my name]."

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Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign released a new video Thursday attacking Paul for the publications, and Newt Gingrich slammed the Texas congressman last week for what he called "really nasty" content, The Hill reported.

The newsletters once referred to Martin Luther King Jr. as "the world-class philanderer who beat up his paramours" and who "seduced underage girls and boys."

In another article, the author writes that "given the inefficiencies of what DC laughingly calls the criminal justice system, I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."

In 2008, Paul said that he did not know who had written the offending essays and that they did not represent his views.

He told listeners Thursday that he acted as a publisher rather than an editor of the newsletters.

"If you think about publishers of newspapers every once an a while they get some pretty chunky stuff in their newspapers and they have to say 'this is not the sentiment and position of that newspaper' and this is certainly the case ... this is probably 10 sentences out of 10,000 pages for all I know," Paul said.