Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who is running for the presidency once again at age 75, said on Sunday he's "pretty well-equipped" to be commander in chief despite what critics might say. 
 
 "I don't want to run people's lives around the world, I don't want to run the economy. My qualifications are a little bit different," the libertarian Paul said on "Fox News Sunday." 
 
 "But compared to others' he went on, "I'm pretty well-equipped, I have a fair amount of experience. I've been in the military. I was in the military five years, that gives me a little bit of experience. I would say I'm pretty well equipped. But to brag that I can run things, I don't do that because that's not what a president is supposed to do." 
 
 Paul, who's seeking the Republican presidential nomination, made clear that he believes in far more limited government than any of his rivals or President Barack Obama. 
 
 Asked by host Chris Wallace if he would support federal aid for victims of the Mississippi flooding disaster, Paul said he would not. 
 
 
 
 "The principle of ultimate insurance by government is a moral hazard because people do things they shouldn't do," Paul declared. "I have opposed flood insurance since I went into Congress for 30 years, since 1976. I have a coastal district, so I don't support FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]. I get a lot more complaints about FEMA than I get support... FEMA is a problem." 
 
 
 
 Paul rejected the premise of a question by Wallace that government should "enforce social norms and to protect people." Paul, for instance, has refused to condemn drug use. 
 
 
 
 "If you accept that ... that justifies all the economic intervention [by the federal government], that justifies the intervention in freedom of speech, interference in religious values," Paul said. "To take my philosophy of freedom and the Constitution, property rights and contracts, turn into a cliche and say, 'You're for legalizing marijuana,' that is so grossly distorting my views. I want to legalize freedom of choice, I want to enforce states' rights, I don't like prohibitions." ||||| House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Sunday entitlement reform, including changes to Medicare, should "be on the table" during discussions with the White House over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, although he once against declared that he won't back any tax increase to close the budget deficit. 
 
 Boehner also slammed President Barack Obama as "really not serious about tackling the big problems that face our country." 
 
 "Medicare, Medicaid ... everything should be on the table, except raising taxes. Because raising taxes will hurt our economy and hurt our ability to create jobs in our country," Boehner added during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation." 
 
 House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other Republicans have suggested that Medicare reform can't be tackled until after the 2012 elections. Boehner, though, has insisted that changes to entitlement programs have to be part of a $2 trillion dollar spending cut package that he would like to see included as part of a debt-ceiling boost. Ryan has called for making Medicare a voucher program that would permit participants to seek private insurance. 
 
 "We’ve put forward our plan. And our plan said that no one 55 or older would have any changes to their current plan," Boehner noted. "But for those 54 and younger, I think it’s time to make changes to those plans or they won’t exist. Remember, the greatest threat to our country and to our economy is doing nothing." 
 
 
 
 Boehner also refused once again to even consider tax increases as part of that debt deal reiterating the GOP position on the issue. President Barack Obama and some Democrats have called for the end to Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. 
 
 
 
 "The top 1 percent of wage earners in the United States pay 40 percent of the income taxes," Boehner said. "The top 10 percent of wage earners pay 90 percent of the income taxes. The people he’s talking about taxing are the very people that we expect to reinvest in our economy and to create jobs in our country." ||||| House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday he's "ready to cut the deal today" on raising the U.S. debt ceiling, but he insisted that President Barack Obama is "really not serious" about taking on the fiscal problems facing the country. 
 
 Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Boehner said he would stand by his public declaration that any increase in the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit has to be tied to changes in government spending, including popular entitlement programs like Medicare. Boehner's position has drawn criticism from the White House, U.S. business leaders and Wall Street, all of which want a debt-limit deal before the country nears default in early August. 
 
 "I'm ready to cut the deal today," Boehner said on Sunday. "We don’t have to wait until the 11th hour. But I am not going to walk away from this moment. We have a moment, a window of opportunity to act, because if we don’t act, the markets are going to act for us. Our creditors are going to act for us. And we could see exorbitant interest rates. We could see the end of our economy, if we don’t act.” 
 
 Boehner also affirmed his support for major changes to the Medicare program. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has proposed turning it into a voucher program where seniors could seek private insurance. 
 
 
 
 “The retirees are going to be taken care of. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that," Boehner insisted, despite criticism from Democrats that the GOP wants to do away with the program. 
 
 
 
 "But we all know that if nothing is changed, senior benefits are going to get cut," he added. "Why? Because they’re unaffordable. That’s why we have to deal with this, and we need to deal with it now.” 
 
 ||||| Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) refused on Sunday to back down from comments last week that the United States should have informed the Pakistani government that American officials knew where Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding. 
 
 "Why are we having trouble with the [Pakistani] government, why are we stirring up a civil war in Pakistan? It's because we've been bombing it," Paul said on "Fox News Sunday." 
 
 The libertarian Paul, who's running again for the Republican presidential nomination, said his opposition to the U.S. mission to kill bin Laden demonstrates the principles of his non-interventionist foreign policy. 
 
 "I'm saying that when you bomb a country, you violate their national security and sovereignty," Paul told host Chris Wallace. "We're doing that [in Pakistan]. At the same time, we're giving them billions of dollars. And you wonder why the [Pakistani] government gets in trouble with the people." 
 
 The Obama administration should have relied on the Pakistani government to arrest bin Laden and turn him over to U.S. authorities, Paul said. ||||| Newt Gingrich on Sunday bristled at the suggestion that his illustration of President Barack Obama as a "food stamp president" has racial undertones. 
 
 “That’s bizarre,” he told NBC's "Meet The Press" host David Gregory. 
 
 One of every six Americans receive food stamps, Gingrich said. 
 
 
 
 “What I said is factually true,” he said. “And to hide behind the charge of racism? I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist.” 
 
 In his address to the Georgia state Republican convention on Friday, the former House speaker who's seeking the GOP presidential nomination had called Obama as the “most successful food stamp president in history." 
 
 “I want to be the most successful paycheck president in history,” he told state activists.
– John Boehner does not want to use Osama bin Laden’s death as an excuse to end the war in Afghanistan or change the US relationship with Pakistan. “At this moment in time, we should reengage and strengthen our relationship with Pakistan, not walk away from it,” he said on Face the Nation today. “We have hundreds of billions of dollars that we’ve spent in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. We’ve lost thousands of lives. This is not the time to just walk away from the fight.” More from the Sunday dial, via Politico: Boehner also said he’s “ready to cut the deal today” on raising the debt ceiling, but President Obama is “really not serious” about tackling the country’s fiscal problems. Boehner wants everything, including changes to Medicare and Medicaid, “on the table” during discussions—“except raising taxes.” Newt Gingrich called Obama the “most successful food stamp president in history” Friday, but today on Meet the Press he rejected accusations of racism, pointing out that one out of every six Americans receives food stamps: “What I said is factually true.” Ron Paul insists the US should have informed Pakistan that it knew where bin Laden was hiding, and relied on the Pakistani government to arrest the terrorist leader, he maintained on Fox News Sunday. He also said, while discussing his views on limited government, that he would not support federal aid for Mississippi flood victims. Also on Fox News Sunday, Mike Huckabee said he “would have made a fine president,” but that he is “at peace” with his “very personal, very intimate, … spiritual decision" not to run.