Opinion: Ron Paul: ‘I don’t think I was cut out to be in politics’

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Ron Paul was an accidental congressman, the long-time Texas conservative and current GOP presidential hopeful said Wednesday, making his decision to retire from Congress ‘not too difficult.’

‘I don’t think I was cut out to be in politics. I sort of won by accident,’ Paul, 75, told the Fox Business Network in an interview scheduled to air Wednesday night. ‘When I was here for four terms early on, I was anxious to go home and go back to medicine. I have been pushing hard to hang around and do my best.’

Paul said that his descion to not seek reelection to Congress while simultaneously taking his third stab at president was rooted in his experience in 2008 when he lost the GOP nomination to Sen. John McCain.

‘I did that four years ago and I think it deserved some criticism. I think you should only run for one thing. One way or another, I am not going to stay in the House of Representatives,” Paul said.

Paul has performed well in GOP straw polls, highly unscientific applause measurments, and some online polls, but has found himself in the middle of the pack in most polling. Recently, he garnered only 7% support in the Des Moines Register poll, far behind Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. Those results have not persuaded him to consider running as an independent.

“You would think the laws should permit you to do that but some have indicated to me that is not necessarily so. Some states preclude it; if you sign on and become a Republican candidate, then the law says you can’t become an independent,’ Paul explained.

‘I have not really looked into that because I have not been thinking along those lines, but I think it would be a shame if you couldn’t do that. I have complained a whole lot about our system in this country. The democratic process here has a lot of shortcomings,” Paul said.

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-- Tony Pierce
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