Paul held up five fingers as Perry groped for words, and the video has been viewed thousands of times online since Wednesday's Republican debate.
Paul, a Texas congressman, said in an interview Saturday with The Associated Press that he wasn't piling on and that Perry had "a human reaction." Paul said he was trying to bring up his own proposal to abolish five federal agencies.
"But when he talked about three departments, the thing that flashed through my mind was, 'But I'm for five.' That's why I held up five fingers. Only three?" Paul said.
Paul has heaped plenty of criticism on Perry, the Texas governor, and did so again during Wednesday's debate. But Paul said he offered sympathy as the candidates left the stage.
"I said: 'You know, we all do that, you know,'" Paul said. "But I said: 'You're not supposed to do it on national television.'"
Paul spoke to a crowd of more than 200 Saturday at a veterans event in Spartanburg, where he and Perry and other GOP candidates were appearing at a debate on foreign policy in the evening.
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes Galveston. Paul serves on the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Financial Services, and on the Joint Economic Committee. He is the chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, where he has been an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policy.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree. He served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 until 1968. He worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist during the 1960s and 1970s, delivering more than 4,000 babies, before entering politics during 1976.
Paul is the initiator of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty and his ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom (2011), End The Fed (2009), The Revolution: A Manifesto(2008), Pillars of Prosperity (2008), A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (2007), and The Case for Gold (1982). According to University of Georgiapolitical scientist Keith Poole, Paul had the most conservative voting record of any member of Congress since 1937.[3] His son Rand Paul was elected to the United States Senate forKentucky in 2010, making the elder Paul the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child of his in the Senate.[4]
Paul has been termed the "intellectual godfather" of the Tea Party movement.[5][6] He has become well known for his libertarian ideas for many political issues, often differing from both Republican and Democratic Party stances. Paul has campaigned for President of the United States twice before, first during 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and again during 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination. On May 13, 2011, he announced formally that he would campaign again during 2012 for the Republican presidential nomination. On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek another term in Congress in order to concentrate on his presidential bid.[7]
