Tag Archives: NBC

Ron Paul officially put to bed speculation he would be returning to the presidential stage this year as a candidate — or that he’d endorse any of the remaining candidates — on Tuesday’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

“The system is very biased,” Paul responded when asked by Leno whether he’d give it a shot as a third party or independent candidate.

“We talk a lot about democracy, and send our troops overseas, and want to spread democracy. But democracy isn’t all that healthy in this country. Because if you’re in a third party… you don’t get into the debates. The truth is I had tried to do for the last five years, what I have done, in a third party, I probably wouldn’t have gotten… made it to your show.”

Leno acknowledged Ron Paul’s refusal to be given a speaking role at the RNC last week, asking “If you had endorsed Romney, would you have gotten a speaking role?”

“I imagine I would have,” Paul replied, careful not to mention Romney by name.

Leno pressed for information on how negotiations went down with RNC event managers, Paul explained “the tent was too small and we had too many people.” Asked again if a Mitt Romney endorsement was a prerequisite, he confirmed it was, but “it’s not in writing.”

Leno cracked wise back, “kinda like NBC. Yeah okay, I get it.”