Peter Bradley emails:

Like James Fulford, I didn't always agree with Joe Sobran. From what I understand, he had come to take an unfortunately common Catholic position on immigration and said in a speech something along the lines of "I don't think Jesus would stand at the Mexican border and tell those people to go back."

But I met Joe on several occasions and found him to be very friendly. He was also not afraid to associate with non-P.C. types such as Jared Taylor (he spoke twice at American Renaissance conferences) and Sam Francis.

He also had a wicked sense of humor and I will always remember one of his columns (not sure if it was from his syndicated column or in his newsletter) in particular.

In 1999, then-Congressman Bob Barr gave a speech to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), a group which advocates for whites just like the NAACP advocates for blacks. Barr may or may not have known about the views of the CofCC but backtracked immediately when the media started pressing him about the speech, saying

"The fact is, I strongly disagree with many of this group's ridiculous views, and have said so publicly.

It is a sad day in our country when a Member of Congress cannot speak before a group without subjecting them to an exhaustive investigation to determine if one of their members has ever written an offensive or ridiculous column. "

Joe's next column included the following:

"[I]t has been reported in several newspapers that I once spoke to the Council of Conservative Citizens, which is currently being pilloried as a radical racist organization.

It's true I addressed them some years ago. But I should state here, for the record, that I would never have accepted their invitation if I had known then of their associations with Republican leaders."