We really hate to bother with this, but since We Have a Master’s Degree — in Philosophy! — it’s our job to take out the trash:

Meanwhile, the candidate has faced increased scrutiny over racially incendiary newsletters published under his name. When pressed by CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger, on Wednesday in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Paul was defensive – and eventually ended the interview.

The candidate reiterated comments he’d said in the past, “I didn’t write them, didn’t read them at the time, and I disavow them.”

That was Wednesday, before yesterday’s revelation that he did read at least one of them, and once stood by its content. And we’re going to stop the clock at Wednesday, because there’s something about that “disavowal” that’s nagging at us.

In short: It’s a cop-out.

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[Twitter]

Our guest columnist wishes you would stop goading Fox News into demagoguing a stolen pagan holiday, and surely extends the same detailed heartfelt consideration to Ramadan.

My family and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I offer this to all because Christmas is a holiday for all, whether you are a Christian believer or not. The message of Christmas is full of hope, peace, joy, and the fellowship of all mankind; so I find it amazing that every year we hear more accounts of a ramped up “war on Christmas.”

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We’ve been ignoring the whole Ron Paul Racist Newsletter Thing because we thought it had been done four years ago, and that the verdict was he had been incredibly stupid to let something like that go under his name.

That is: We were satisfied that Ron Paul had profoundly racist minions whom he wasn’t paying attention to, whatever his own considered views on Rational Bigotry, and we figured that was damning enough.

And besides, racism isn’t as fun as serial adultery or clueless wealth.

But folks are hitting the Nexises, Lexises, and Googles, and turned up some new evidence:

Rep. Ron Paul has tried since 2001 to disavow racist and incendiary language published in Texas newsletters that bore his name, denying he wrote them and even walking out of an interview on CNN Wednesday. But he vouched for the accuracy of the writings and admitted writing at least some of the passages when first asked about them in an interview in 1996.

Well! That is news! Go on:

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[via Know Your Meme]

“Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told Fox News & Commentary that she found the card to be a bit unusual. ‘It’s odd,’ she said, wondering why the president’s Christmas card highlights his dog instead of traditions like ‘family, faith and freedom.’” [Fox]