Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul speaks at Pitt

Ron Paul isn’t pleased with the media prematurely declaring Mitt Romney the Republican… Ron Paul isn’t pleased with the media prematurely declaring Mitt Romney the Republican presidential nominee just 10 days after Rick Santorum dropped out of the race.

“Every once in a while we come up short on the coverage, you know. Evening news doesn’t seem to cover what we’re doing,” Paul said, to loud boos from the audience. “And when they do, they come out with headlines like ‘Where is Ron Paul?’ Where’s the media? That’s what we want to know.”

Though Paul has been largely dismissed as a viable candidate by national discourse, the Texas congressman and prospective Republican presidential nominee filled Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall on Friday night. Paul spoke for about an hour to an enthusiastic crowd of more than 2,000 listeners waving signs and wearing T-shirts to show their support for the candidate.

Paul’s speech came just a few days before the Pennsylvania Republican primary, which will take place on Tuesday.

On stage with his wife Carol and granddaughter Linda, Paul spoke to the attendees about the importance of individual freedoms, limited government and fiscal responsibility.

Pitt senior Nathan Gish, an avid Ron Paul supporter, said he isn’t worried that his candidate might not end up in the White House.

“Whether he wins or not doesn’t matter,” Gish said. “What matters is his message.”

Paul began his speech by going after one of his most targeted government agencies — the Federal Reserve System.

“Let’s get a full audit of the Federal Reserve and find out what they have been doing with our money,” Paul said.

Paul also blamed the Federal Reserve for an expansion of government and the economic crisis.

“What would happen if we didn’t have a Federal Reserve to facilitate big government is [that] the government would have to pay their bills,”

Paul said. “And [the government] would recognize that they couldn’t afford [to keep spending].”

In what were some of the most applauded lines of the night, Paul outlined his opposition to the United States acting as the “policeman of the world.” He said that U.S. overseas military campaigns have cost the nation American lives and money while alienating many people abroad.

“The idea of a Taliban is not to be anti-American,” Paul said. “They are anti-occupiers. We worked with them against the Soviets … Now we are the occupiers.”

Paul also addressed recent increases in power given to police and airport security, which he linked to the erosion of individual civil liberties.

“If we don’t do something about it, we have to start blaming ourselves,” Paul said. “We have been too lackadaisical, so we need to wake up and start doing something about it.”

Paul also stumbled around gay rights for a small portion of his speech, stopping short of explicitly addressing the issue, but conceding that people have a right to live the way they want.

“Why is it so much that, if we give people the freedom to practice their lifestyle, that we are endorsing behavior that is unbecoming?” Paul said. “You have to have more tolerance.”

Paul also touted his drug policy, saying that people should be allowed to use drugs and deal with the consequences themselves.

“I happen to disapprove of the use of most drugs,” Paul said. “But it’s the whole idea of allowing who is going to make these decisions for us.”

Paul stressed that his message is about a push for maximum freedom, the freedom to succeed or to fail. The self-proclaimed revolutionary attacked Republicans and Democrats alike, saying that the former party has a horrible track record as far as protecting civil liberties whereas the latter opposes economic liberties.

He encouraged the audience members to challenge parties, conventional wisdom and their educations.

“We have to challenge decades of an education system that teaches that you have to have a Federal Reserve, you have to have the federal government protecting, you have to have consumer protection,” Paul said. “It doesn’t work.”

Cliff Maloney Jr., Pennsylvania campus coordinator for the Ron Paul 2012 campaign, introduced Paul on stage and said afterward that he thought the talk went well.

“The event was an absolute success. We filled every seat in the house,” Maloney said in an email. “The grassroots organization in the state has been astonishing. We have our people in the places they need to be. We expect a very strong showing in Pennsylvania.”