'Relax, dude, it was a rally speech'

By Bill Adair
Published on Thursday, January 5th, 2012 at 12:09 p.m.

Related rulings:

Says a new national poll shows "the majority of the American people believe we should have a gold standard" for U.S. currency.

Ron Paul, Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012.

Ruling: False | Details

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Ron Paul speaks during a campaign stop in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 3, 2012. Later that night, he made an incorrect statement about public views of the gold standard.

Ron Paul has a pretty good record on the Truth-O-Meter -- a larger share of Trues and Mostly Trues than the other Republican candidates -- but in a speech this week he wrongly characterized a poll about public support for the gold standard.

When we investigated his claim, we got a fun response from his campaign spokesman Jesse Benton:

"Relax, dude, it was a rally speech to supporters, not a major policy speech or a debate."

We've been called a variety of names by campaign spokesmen -- some not suitable for publication! -- but this is the first time in a while we've been addressed as "dude."

So Dude! Here's our Truth-O-Meter item, which rated the claim False.