Ron Paul 2012: Jack Welch Advises He Drop Out of Race

The former chief executive of General Electric, Jack Welch, and his wife have called for Ron Paul to drop out of the 2012 Republican Presidential race, even though all four of their own children are Paul supporters.

Appearing on CNN, Welch’s wife, Suzy, said: “Ron Paul’s followers are not party regulars. He’s not a party regular. He really has these very, very impassioned followers. All four of our children are huge Ron Paul followers. So we’re living with this.”

The four kids that were referred to were likely from Jack Welch’s first wife, Carolyn, whom he divorced in 1987. Suzy is Welch’s third wife.

In response, Paul playfully told CNN: “But the part of that interview you should have reported on was his wife saying that their four boys all supported me. So that was the magnificent part of that interview and maybe tonight he’s going to have to discuss it with his sons why he wants me to get out of the race!”

Welch had earlier written a column for Reuters in which he explained why he wanted Paul out of the race, but he cautioned that his followers must be appeased by the mainstream party somehow.

He wrote: “Now, the GOP isn’t technically going to ‘fire’ Dr. Paul. But look, even Ron Paul knows he’s not going to unpack his suitcases in the Lincoln Bedroom. At some point, his wildly entertaining, Don Quixote-like campaign for the White House is going to run out of time.”

Welch added: “Paul is unlikely to mount a third-party campaign -- he’s said so himself. But he’s also unlikely to spend the next few months out on the stump for the nominee, or even in dutiful silence. In fact, you can easily imagine Paul as an outspoken TV commentator from now until November, basically running without running, just to keep his ideas in the mix. But Paul is not really the GOP’s problem. It’s his followers, perhaps as much as 15 percent of the general electorate, many of them young, vocal and highly energized. Like Paul himself, they’re not exactly party regulars.”