Ron Paul: There’s “No Way” I’m Endorsing Romney
“He has the delegates, but he doesn’t have the hearts and the minds of the people”
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
June 20, 2012
Congressman Ron Paul has appeared on two major news networks and declared that there is “no way” he will endorse Mitt Romney for president.
On last night’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Paul said that despite his own son’s endorsement for Romney, he would not be throwing his hat in with the former Massachusetts governor.
“Well, it looks like he has the delegates, yes,” Paul told Blitzer. “But he doesn’t have the control of the hearts and the minds of the people. And right now a lot of people — a lot of delegates who are pledged to vote for Romney are actually very strong supporters of ours and will be strongly supporting us when we want to put things into the platform that say, hey, we don’t need another war. Yes, we do need to audit the Federal Reserve. Yes, we ought to really cut spending.”
Despite assurances from Rand Paul last week that he had discussed the Romney endorsement with his father, the senior Paul said he was not ready to fade away and vowed to fight on with his campaign all the way to the convention, even though victory is now impossible.
“I think it’s legitimate for us to continue to debate,” Paul said. “I know they don’t want the debate at the convention. Everything has to be smooth and proper.”
“But, you know, I helped pay for the convention because the taxpayers pay Republicans $18 million-plus. And Obama gets $18 million plus to have these grand parties. I think we should be serious and discuss differences.”
The Congressman also declined to oppose a lawsuit that has been brought against the RNC by his supporters. The suit, challenges the GOP’s “binding delegate” rule that enforces delegates in certain states to vote for the candidate who won the state primary. It argues that delegates have the “Constitutional right to vote their conscience” at the national convention.
“If they have a legitimate argument that they can make and that’s what they want to do, I’m not going to say ‘Don’t do it’,” Paul said.
Watch the video:
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Paul repeated that he would not endorse Romney.
“I would say he has core convictions, but I just disagree with them,” the Congressman said.
Paul also outlined his desires for the national convention, noting that although he will not have enough delegates to “take over the convention”, he would relish a speech on the floor or failing that an on site “meeting” to influence the party platform.
“All I want to do, if I don’t get a speech on the floor in the convention, all I want to do is have a meeting and say, ‘Look, we have numbers, we have people, we have enthusiasm, we believe in something. Why don’t you pay a little attention?’ And actually I think they are. They don’t know quite how to handle it.” Paul urged.
“I think [the GOP] has lost its way. I think a long time ago. I can’t see the difference” between Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, Paul argued. “They’re both very militaristic, interventionist, pro-war… do Republicans really stop welfare expansion? No. Do they really cut back and balance the budget? No, they usually introduce bigger budgets.”
“When it comes to the philosophy of government, there’s not enough difference for me,” Paul concluded. “I would like to change those convictions of the Republican Party because there were times when they had much better positions. And there’s no reason why we can’t restore those and improve upon them.”
Watch the interview:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ron-paul-theres-no-way-im-endorsing-romney.html