Ron Paul calls Occupy Wall Street a 'legitimate effort'

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul said Wednesday that the Occupy Wall Street protests were a "legitimate effort," but he wasn't exactly sure what they are outraged about.

"I can't speak for the people out there because I don't know who they are or exactly what they are demonstrating against," Paul told the Nation Press Club. "I can argue the case for their right to express their outright frustration with what is going on. Some are liberals and some are conservatives and some are libertarians and some are strict constitutionalists. And if you read carefully over what I've written over the past 10 or 15 years, I talk a lot about this, that eventually we will go bankrupt."

"As far as the federal government involved in the practice of civil disobedience in the various states, it's really up to the states to deal with it. I think that civil disobedience, if everybody knows exactly what they are doing, is a legitimate effort. It's been done in this country for many grievances. Some people end up going to jail for this. But to speak for a special group and say, 'Yeah, I like what they are doing or they are not doing,' but what I want to do is try to sort it out and tell people why they are struggling and that this was a predictable event."

Watch this video from CNN, broadcast Oct. 5, 2011.

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