By Adrianna McGinley
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul attributed his rising support to the failure of the current economic and political environment, but admitted that he has been guilty of not always transmitting a clear message on the campaign trail.
At a breakfast held Wednesday by the Christian Science Monitor, the Texas Congressman said he needs to refine his message but added that he notices a shift in the public that may boost his chances of surprising the GOP field next year.
“I think people just flat out don’t understand what I’m talking about,” Paul said. “But the people who do get super excited about it because it’s an alternative that explains how we got in to trouble and what we have to do.”
Paul took responsibility for those who do not understand his message saying, “It’s partially my fault, and I think that’s what I work on the most, trying to refine my message, but I don’t think it’s a complicated message…If you have the right ideas and you’re forceful enough, you can have an influence and you win an in, and that’s where we are right now because the whole attitude of the whole country is shifting in our direction.”
Paul attributed his success to the public’s disappointment over the current economic situation.
“The people are noticing the government doesn’t work…I think it’s the failure of the entitlement system, the failure of our foreign policy, the failure that now the people recognize of the Federal Reserve, and I think that’s the reason why now people are looking more carefully, because we’re offering a solution to our problems and an explanation to how it happened. Too often people say when we have a recession what do you do, they don’t ask why did you have a recession?”
Paul noted the public’s lack of confidence in the two-party system as well, saying, “The people are coming to the conclusion there’s not a whole lot of difference between the two parties…I think an alternative party would be very healthy in this country.” Yet he denied any possibility of running as a third party candidate should he not win the GOP nomination.
“I’m not considering that at all.”
Paul did however, express willingness to work with the left should he win the election. He applauded liberal lawmakers Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (D-Vt.) for their stance on issues concerning the Federal Reserve. “You’ve got to give some credit to the people who think,” Paul said. He added later that he would consider creating a new “Department of Peace” that the anti-war Kucinich could run.
Paul criticized the U.S.’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“After 9/11, I voted for the authority and I voted for the funding to go after those individuals responsible, but I didn’t vote for nation building,” he said. “Republicans and Democrats in the last several decades have accepted the idea that we are this exceptional nation that we have something to offer, and we’re not going to offer it by setting a good example and trying to get people to emulate us. We are so good and so wonderful, that we’re going to force it on people. We go to these countries, we don’t know their culture, their religion, their economics or anything, and it leads to perpetual war.
Paul also doubted the likelihood that the U.S. will remove all its troops from Iraq.
“We’re not going to leave Iraq, we’ve just built an embassy over there that cost the American taxpayer a billion dollars.”
Later, Paul turned to financial matters, arguing that the U.S. must not agree to a bailout of Greece, Portugal or any other European nation in fiscal crisis.
“Greece should declare bankruptcy,” Paul said. “[We] should stay out of it, [we] should not put a greater burden on the American people because the only way we can help them is by inflating our currency, further leading to the destruction of the middle class.”
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:54AM
Gay Republican Group Demands Apology From Santorum
GOProud, a gay-rights oriented Republican organization, issued a statement Thursday night demanding an apology from Rick Santorum after the Presidential candidate neglected to thank a gay soldier for serving in the U.S. military.
The soldier, Stephen Hill, made a video appearance during Thursday’s GOP debate and asked the candidates if they would reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell if elected. The video was met with jeers by some in the crowd and Santorum stated that sexual activity should not be a part of military service.
“That brave gay soldier is doing something Rick Santorum has never done – put his life on the line to defend our freedoms and our way of life,” the statement reads. “It is telling that Rick Santorum is so blinded by his anti-gay bigotry that he couldn’t even bring himself to thank that gay soldier for his service.”
The organization goes on to point out that Hill served in Iraq, a war that Santorum, a former Senator from Pennsylvania, backed while in office.
“How can Senator Santorum claim to support this war if he doesn’t support the brave men and women who are fighting it?” the statement asks.