Presidential candidate Ron Paul said there seems to be a “concerted effort” to keep his views from reaching the American public, after he was granted only 89 seconds of speaking time at last Saturday’s Republican debate on foreign policy.
“Sometimes they don’t want to hear what I have to say because I do challenge the status quo of both parties … maybe there’s a concerted effort to make sure these views aren’t circulated too widely,” Paul said Wednesday on Fox News.
Paul says he wishes he knew “the absolute answer,” but that ultimately “we’d have to ask the people who are managing the debate.”
“I can postulate, sometimes I challenge the status quo,
” Paul said.
The Texas congressman has seen a wave of renewed attention after a Bloomberg poll showed him in a four-way tie with Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney among likely Iowa caucus-goers. A Public Policy Poll also found Paul among the top three Republican candidates in head-to-head match-ups with President Obama.
“The good reception we
’re getting on the campaign trail, especially by young people — I
’m pleased that we
’re getting recognized,
” Paul said.
He also renewed criticism about the congressional supercommittee tasked with striking a budget deal, saying lawmakers
“don
’t want to admit the country is bankrupt.
”“From my viewpoint, they
’re not really talking about cuts, they
’re only talking about cutting proposed increases from the baseline,
” Paul said.
“The only thing that keeps us going is the illusion this will last forever.
”Paul
’s comments echoed those he made earlier Wednesday at a forum sponsored by the Cato Institute in Washington. There, Paul denounced the Federal Reserve as harmful to the American economy and described proposed cuts by the supercommittee as
“puny.
”“There is no doubt the Federal Reserve is immoral, unconstitutional and a disaster. We don
’t need it,
” Paul said.
