Rep. Ron Paul Does Not Condone Violence. Not Even Against Chris Wallace.

Congressman Ron Paul’s district in Texas includes around 200 miles of the coast, from Galveston to Corpus Christi, but he’s more concerned about the upcoming hurricane season than he is the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe it’s because, as he said, “Nobody seems to be able to predict exactly where it will go.”

Though Paul, a Republican who ran for President in 2008, has strongly criticized President Obama for his big government policies, but he doesn’t believe Obama deserves to be beat down by the press and others for his response to BP’s oil leak in the Gulf.

“It represents the idea that the American people think the President is everything to everybody,” said Paul, who thought blaming President George W. Bush for Katrina was an silly too, even though he was critical of Bush in other areas, like foreign policy.

But he agreed with Imus’s point that Obama “should go into fireside chat mode,” and show more empathy to the people on the Gulf Coast whose lives are being destroyed.

“All of us like to have our hands held once in a while,” said Paul. In his opinion, bureaucracy is blocking the road to practical solutions in cleaning up the mess.

Obama, he added, has the power to bend the rules. “He could say, ‘Not only do I care about these beaches and wetlands, but I’m going to help you get the bureaucracy out of your way,’” said Paul. “That would maybe accomplish something very positive.”

A self-described “man of non-violence” who would not consent to Imus waterboarding Chris Wallace, Paul is also a non-interventionist when it comes to foreign policy, whether dealing with Korea or with the Middle East. He called Israel’s sanctions against Gaza “atrocious,” and likened them to acts of war, but conceded that Israel’s well being is very much the United States’ business.

“We are not only very close allies of Israel, we finance Israel,” said Paul. “Any weapon they use, or ship they own, or plane they own, or threat they make, we back them up.”

The goal of Israel’s sanctions on Gaza is to de-legitimize Hamas, the Party that was elected a few years ago to run the government there. While they have been accused of attacking Israel and carrying out terrorist acts, Paul pointed out they came to power legally, and that the best way to deal with them might just be to talk to them.

“They’re probably not the best people the world,” he said of Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization. “But didn’t we talk to the Soviets? We’ve talked to the Chinese over the years, and they were thugs. And yet, in talking to and dealing with countries like China, actually, our relationships have improved.”

The Congressman’s son Rand Paul recently sought and surprisingly won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, but was disparaged soon after for saying that businesses shouldn’t be forced to abide by civil rights law.

“This whole idea that you enforce political correctness by using the race card, that turns me off,” said Paul.

Been down that road.

-Julie Kanfer