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CNN Live Event/Special

GOP Ticket Candidates Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan Speak in Ashland, Virginia

Aired August 11, 2012 - 13:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Fredericka Whitfield in Atlanta. We want to take you to straight to Ashland, Virginia. Why? Because five hours after presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney there announces his choice as a running mate, Paul Ryan, now the two are appearing there.

Let's listen in to Paul Ryan.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, Randolph, Macon, thanks for your hospitality.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. Why don't we get rid of the bad news first, OK?

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: President Obama is the president of the United States, and the good news is that on November 6th he won't be any longer.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: And here's why. We have come to a very crucial moment in our nation's history. We are at that proverbial fork in the road. We've got a choice of two futures ahead of us. We know that.

President Obama, with his party firmly in control the first two years got almost everything passed into law that he wanted, and now we're living under those policies. Now we're witnessing a nation in debt, further in doubt, deeper in despair. Now we're seeing a country where after the recession this so-called recovery is the worst we've seen in 70 years.

Unemployment above 8 percent the entire time. We have had the largest deficits and the biggest government since World War II. Nearly one out of six Americans today is living in poverty. That's the worst we've seen in a generation. Household incomes are down, unemployment is up.

You know what the good news is? It doesn't have to be this way. We can turn this thing around. We can get this right.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: You know how we do that? We elect a leader. We elect a leader because right now we need leadership. We don't need attack. We don't need blame. We need leadership. We need someone of a principle, someone of achievement, someone of integrity. That man is standing next to me. His name is Mitt Romney. And he's going to be the next president of the United States.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: That's right.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Take a look at leadership, experience, integrity. Successful man in business, starting businesses, turning around failing businesses at an astounding success rate. I'm proud of that. We're proud of that because when Americans succeed we all succeed.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: His country asked him to save the Olympics and he did it, and we're all proud of that moment.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Whether he's governor of Massachusetts, the credit rating of Massachusetts was upgraded. For the first time in our history, the credit rating of America under President Obama's leadership was downgraded.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

RYAN: When he was governor of Massachusetts unemployment went down. Under Barack Obama, it's gone up.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

RYAN: And when he was governor of Massachusetts, incomes, household incomes, family incomes went up. They've gone down $4,000 over the past four years.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

RYAN: Now President Obama cannot run on this record. It's a terrible record to run on, and he didn't change. I've served in Congress this whole time. He didn't tack to the middle, he didn't do things that were centrist. He stayed hard left. So if you can't learn his record and he didn't moderate, what's he got left?

(CHEERS)

RYAN: He's going to divide and distract this country to win an election by default and you know what? We're not going to fall for that.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We see that hope and change has become attack and blame, but we know better, and being here in this great state of Virginia, a state that those of us who are all Americans are in debt to, the cradle of so many of our great founders, one of the best said our rights come from nature and nature's god. They don't come from government. That's the idea of this country.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We believe in liberty. We believe in freedom. We need to exercise it and each generation has its chance. This is our generation's defining moment. It doesn't matter what generation you come from. This is the most important election in your lifetime. We are at that proverbial fork in the road, and so what we have here is a man who has met and is right for the moment, and that man who is right for this moment to get us on the right path off of the wrong path, is the man who's about to be the next president of the United States and that is Governor Mitt Romney.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.

RYAN: Thank you.

ROMNEY: Thank you. No, you stay here. You stay here. You stay here. You stay here.

Wow. What a crowd here. Thank you so much. Wow.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Thank you, Ashland, wow. You guys are great. Thank you. Olympics.

Well, it's an honor being here with you today. People keep telling me this is the center of universe. People in Washington think that's true about them. It is not true. This is the place. This is the place.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: What an honor. It's an honor to be with you and to have -- have you spend some time with the next vice president of the United States and myself, and it's an honor to be with your governor, what a great leader. You are so lucky to have a person who understood what it takes to bring jobs back to Virginia. Virginia is doing well in part because of his leadership and skills and also that of his lieutenant governor, Bill Bowling, a great friend, and I hope the next governor of this great state of Virginia. And one more person, George Allen is around here somewhere. What a great leader.

Where is George? There he is right there standing above the crowd. Governor, next Senator George Allen.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, today was a big day for me. I'm sure it was a big day for Paul and for his family, and I think it's a big day for America. We took a step forward in restoring the promise of America because I've selected a person who is a leader. As we look for people to help guide our country, as I look for people to work with me, if I get that chance I want someone who is a leader. And leadership begins with character, character and vision.

(APPLAUSE)

This is -- this is a man whose character was formed early. He was in high school when his dad suddenly passed away and he matured quickly in a setting like that with a family that surrounded him and a community that helped him regain his footing. He began with interest in public service not because of personal ambition, but because of his passion and faith for America and a belief that America needed individuals who would put the country first and who would put the issues of America ahead of the issues of their personal concerns.

And so he went to Washington and for 14 years, he's been battling in Washington as a leader and he's found some extraordinary capacity there, which is one to be an intellectual leader in the party. He's one of those that understands how government works and how it can be tamed and how we can restore to the people of America the rights and powers of the people, how states are the places where new ideas are developed and tested and grown. He understands the constitution.

And he's done something that very few people in Washington learn how to do. He's made friends on both sides of the aisle. He's garnered respect from Republicans and Democrats and one of the big issues that come up like how do we save Medicare instead of doing what the president did which was cutting it by $700 billion. That's what president Obama did.

(BOOS)

He said -- we'll get him back. This man said -- yes. We'll get back. This man said I'm going to find Democrats to work with. Find a democrat to co-lead a piece of legislation to make sure we can save Medicare, Republicans and Democrats coming together. He's a man who has great ideas and capacity to lead, to find people across the aisle to work together to make things change for the American people.

I have to tell you, I'm happy today. I hope you're happy. I'm happy today.

(APPLAUSE)

I know -- I know that the Democrats are working very hard today. They're pulling out all their books and they're looking at every vote and they're interviewing everybody in this neighborhood. They're not going to find anything, but they're doing all of that work and they're getting ready because their campaign has been all about bringing America's perspective on this race as low as they possibly can make it. This is a man who appeals to the better -- the better angels of the American people, asks us to lift ourselves. We're going to talk about issues and a vision for America and not dragged in the dirt like you're seeing for the Obama campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

You see, we love America. We love America. We're noting about to besmirch the office of the presidency by succumbing to the kind of attacks and violent charges that are coming from the Democrats. We'll talk about what has to be done to restore the greatness of America and that includes to have faith in our institutions, restore trust in them. And this man and I are not going to in any way, on any day, lose your trust. We will honor with dignity and courage the responsibility you give us as the leaders of your party.

(APPLAUSE)

Now this is -- the reason he's here and the reason I'm here is that we recognize this is a critical time for America. And you know that. When you have 23 million Americans in the richest nation on earth, 23 million Americans out of work or stop looking for work, you know something's going on, something's critical. When you have more people on welfare -- excuse me, on food stamps than any time in history, you know there is something unusual and critical going on. When one out of six Americans have fallen into poverty you know there's something serious going on. When our national debt under this president, the debt held by the public is -- he's added almost as much debt as the prior presidents combined, over $1 trillion a year, you know something is seriously wrong.

And so we step forward not out of partisan passion, but instead out of love of America to say we want to do what's necessary to get America back again and to get more jobs for people in the middle class and more take home pay.

(APPLAUSE)

There are five things -- there are five things we know we have to do. This country is going to come running back. We're not like Japan that went through the long 10-year period of decline some people are afraid that that's what we're facing and they're wrong. They're right if they elect Barack Obama.

(LAUGHTER)

If they elect Paul Ryan and me, we will do five things that will bring back America's economy. You will see a resurgence in jobs and a resurgence of competitiveness and we'll finally get America back to a balanced budget. Five things, one, take advantage of our energy, coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, renewables.

(APPLAUSE)

Number two, we're going to make sure that every American has the skills they need to succeed, those that are older, training programs that give them the skills for the jobs of today. And number two, we're going to make sure our kids have schools that prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow, and we're going to do that by putting our kids and their parents and teachers first and the teachers' union behind.

(APPLAUSE)

We're going to have trade. That's my number three, trade that works for America. It's good for us to trade when other nations, but when people like China cheat, we're going to hold them accountable. We're going to open up new markets for American goods. Number four, we'll do something that's only been spoken about, but must be done if America will be strong in the future and that is we're going cut the deficit and finally get us to a balanced budget.

(APPLAUSE)

And number five. Number five, we'll champion small business. We're going to --

(APPLAUSE)

If we want more jobs and more take home pay, we have to make it easier for small businesses to grow and thrive. That means keep their taxes down, keep the regulators from smothering them, make sure that we keep health care costs affordable. And one way we can do that is by repealing and replacing Obamacare.

(APPLAUSE)