Every president has a model that inspires them. Bill Clinton had JFK. President Obama cites Mahatma Gandhi. As for GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul? Well, we have to go back 114 years and to a Democrat for his inspiration.
[Read: Ron Paul Sees a Path to Super Tuesday Success.]
"Oh, Grover Cleveland," Paul chirps when asked for his presidential model. "He endorsed the foreign policy of non-intervention, he was a gold standard person. He loved the veto. He just thought government was too big," Paul says of the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms, in 1885-1889 and 1893-1897." [Vote: Who is your pick for the GOP nomination?]
But he has no use for any president of the 20th Century, and doesn't even mention GOP giants like Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, or Ronald Reagan. "I can't find a president, ah, unless I'm missing, no, ah, I'm not too happy with the presidents we've had in our lifetime," says Paul.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 GOP hopefuls.]
Despite that and his libertarian leanings, though, Paul says that he's never been so comfortable in the GOP.
- Vote now: Who is your pick for the 2012 GOP nomination?
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sawyer jager of NE 12:21PM October 10, 2011
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