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"Kelly Clarkson has defended her support of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.  The &amp;#039;Stronger&amp;#039; singer endorsed Paul via her Twitter page on Thursday, revealing that she was impressed with some of the politician&amp;#039;s proposed policies.  &amp;quot;I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last Republican nomination and no-one gave him a chance. If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he&amp;#039;s got my vote. Too bad he probably won&amp;#039;t,&amp;quot; she wrote.  However, many of her followers reacted negatively, responding with citations of Paul&amp;#039;s alleged homophobia and racism, causing Clarkson to retaliate and further explain her previous message.  &amp;quot;Man my eyes have been opened to so much hate tonight. If y&amp;#039;all ever disagree with something I say please don&amp;#039;t feel the need to attack me. I will listen to what you say and any articles or viewpoints you have when you say it with respect. Being hateful is not a healthy way to get people to see or hear you,&amp;quot; she posted. &amp;quot;I was raised to respect people and their decisions and beliefs and I hope you will grant me the same decency. If you don&amp;#039;t agree with me simply unfollow me. It&amp;#039;s really that easy. I hope you don&amp;#039;t because I would love the chance to hear what you have to say but if you&amp;#039;re so blinded by hate you can&amp;#039;t seek peace and progress then that is your unfortunate prerogative.&amp;quot; Clarkson also apologised to those who she had inadvertently offended, further explaining: &amp;quot;I am really sorry if I have offended anyone. Obviously that was not my intent. I do not support racism. I support gay rights, straight rights, women&amp;#039;s rights, men&amp;#039;s rights, white/black/purple/orange rights.  &amp;quot;I like Ron Paul because he believes in less government and letting the people (all of us) make the decisions and mold our country. That is all. Out of all of the Republican nominees, he&amp;#039;s my favorite.&amp;quot; &amp;gt; Kelly Clarkson announces North American dates for &amp;#039;Stronger&amp;#039; tour 2012 Watch Kelly Clarkson&amp;#039;s video for &amp;#039;Stronger&amp;#039; below:       "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/news/a357707/kelly-clarkson-defends-support-of-republican-ron-paul/>