Rand Paul’s Social Media Director, aka “The Southern Avenger,” has a Confederate pride problem

You just can’t make this stuff up…

In something of a Paul family tradition, the conservative Washington Free Beacon reports that the co-author of Rand Paul’s 2011 book embraced racist, pro-Confederate imagery and language during his stint as a radio shock jock. That man, Jack Hunter, still goes by the moniker he used in his more colorful past life: the Southern Avenger.

Last August, Hunter was hired as the senator’s new media director, a position that he apparently still holds. According to the Charleston City Paper, Hunter and Paul began working together in September 2010 when Paul hired him to work on the book, The Tea Party Goes to Washington. Hunter’s path to that point began with the conservative commentary he offered on the radio and at his website — commentary that first brought him to the attention of the far-right media.

The Free Beacon’s Alana Goodman explored the Southern Avenger’s past blog posts as maintained by The Internet Archive. The examples largely hew to the “racism is over, except against whites” school. Like “Black and White Pride,” from 2004.

With this kind of guy at the helm of his Social Media, Rand Paul is sure to make tremendous inroads in his outreach efforts to minorities as he looks ahead to a possible run for president in 2016.