On Tuesday, the Washington Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman reported on an aide to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who had a long and colorful history of neo-Confederate sympathies. If you aren’t already familiar with the story, it’s best to read Goodman. But basically, during the 2000s, Jack Hunter, known by his moniker “The Southern Avenger,” was a South Carolina-based radio shock jock who wore a pro-wrestling style mask emblazoned with the Confederate flag, advocated secession, chaired the League of the South, and celebrated the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Hunter went on to work for Ron Paul’s presidential campaign before working on Rand Paul’s 2011 book, and he now does social media outreach work for Paul. I’ve largely let this story play out without commenting, but now feel compelled to after reading Paul’s utterly terrible response.

It’s worth noting first that several writers have come to Hunter’s defense. Daniel McCarthy of the paleo-conservative outlet the American Conservative, where Hunter has written, dismissed Goodman’s article as “cherry-picking” of old quotes. He added that “Jack has re-examined his thinking and confronted questions of fairness that the right has too often avoided.” He noted that Hunter now supports same-sex marriage, though he “respectfully disagrees with its comparison to the Civil Rights struggle, whose magnitude and sacrifices exceed anything else in the past century.” Andrew Napolitano also expressed support for Hunter. But none of the defenses dispute that Hunter said or wrote anything highlighted in Goodman’s article. Even Hunter himself writes, “The role of a radio host is different from that of a political operative. In radio, sometimes you’re encouraged to be provocative and inflammatory. I’ve been guilty of both, and am embarrassed by some of the comments I made precisely because they do not represent me today. I was embarrassed by some of them even then.” I don’t profess to know what’s in Hunter’s heart, but from a pure public relations perspective, it isn’t very convincing to argue that your current more moderate tone is really genuine while at the same time confessing a willingness to publicly misrepresent your views if the job calls for it.