Paul: Gingrich a 'chickenhawk'
(CNN) - Rep. Ron Paul said Wednesday that rival Newt Gingrich was a "chickenhawk" for voting to send American troops into war while never having served in the military himself.
Paul was responding to a question from CNN's Soledad O'Brien on the program "Starting Point" about Gingrich's assertion that the Texas congressman would be a "dangerous" candidate.
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"You know, when Newt Gingrich was called to serve us in the 1960s during the Vietnam era, guess what he thought about danger? He chickened out on that and got deferments and didn't even go," Paul said. "Right now he sends the young kids over there and the young people come back and the ones in the military right now, they overwhelmingly support my campaign."
Paul pointed to the number of veterans who are supporting his bid for the GOP nomination, citing their endorsement for his platform of limited American involvement overseas
"We get twice as much support from the active military personnel than all the other candidates put together," Paul said. "So Newt Gingrich has no business talking about danger because he is putting other people in danger. Some people call that kind of a program a 'chickenhawk' and I think he falls into that category."
Paul has previously criticized the former House speaker for deferments he received during the Vietman era. Paul himself served as a surgeon in the U.S. Air Force after attending medical school.
Paul also said Wednesday he had no idea who posted a snarky message about rival candidate Jon Huntsman on his official Twitter page.
The post, which appeared late Tuesday as results were being complied in the Iowa caucuses, read: "@JonHuntsman, we found your one Iowa voter, he's in Linn precinct 5 you might want to call him and say thanks."
"I didn't quite understand even what you just read, but, obviously, I didn't send it," Paul said. "So, I don't even understand. I'm sorry, I didn't catch the whole message there about Jon Huntsman. I haven't talked about Jon Huntsman in a long time. I don't know what's going on there."
The message was sent from the account @RonPaul, which is the candidates official feed. Paul admitted Wednesday that he "has some help tweeting."
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Why is Ron Paul the crazy old uncle? Someone please explain this to me.
Maybe your the lame old boring grandpa that everyone is tired of hearing. You so called conservatives need to come out of the closet and let people know what you really are, Liberals. You're giving the real conservatives a bad name and destroying any chances we have of having a real conservative candidate in office with your constant bashing of real conservatism. You say you wan a conservative, but you don't. Let's face it, when all is said and done you want more of the same ol same ol and you're all bark with no bite. You lack the cajones to live your lives on true conservative principals. That's fine, just please don't lump the rest of us in with the likes of you and portray yourselves as something that you are not. If you don't want to label yourselves as liberals at least come up with a new name. Take your wars, your special interest subsidies and tthe rest of your progressive agendas with you and just go away.
W and Deferment Dick Cheney are the Kings of the Chickenhawks! Both of them did whatever they could to escape the fighting in Viet Nam and serve their country and look what they did. Newt is cut from the same cloth. I don't agree with Ron Paul on most things but he is right about Newt!