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CNN Live Event/Special

Paul Ryan Remarks at Campaign Event in High Point, North Carolina

Aired August 12, 2012 - 13:55   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. One day after making a formal announcement as a ticket for president and vice president, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan now making another stop, this time in North Carolina. They'll be making two stops in North Carolina as they continue to make their bus tour through swing states. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin right now speaking. He and his family welcomed to the stage, along with Mitt Romney and his family. Let's listen in. They are now in High Point, North Carolina.

REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WI, VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- thank you for what you're about to do, because together we are going to get America back on the right track.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: It is our duty to offer you, our fellow citizens, a clear choice in this election. We have a clear choice of two futures. Are we going to accept the status quo, accept the path that President Obama has put us on, with government taking over our health care, government taking over all these different aspects of our economy, Washington picking winners and losers in our economy, putting us on a path of debt, putting us on a path of doubt and decline, or are we going to get America back on track, turn this economy around, get back people to work and leave our children a better future?

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We can turn this around. We can do this. We can get this country back on track. We can get people back to work. We can get our debt paid off so our children inherit a better standard of living than what we got, because that's what our parents did for us.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: But we're going to need your help. We're going to need you -- this is al of us in it together -- we're going to need you to talk to your co-workers. We're going to need you to talk to your friends and your neighbors. And this election is so important, we need you to talk to your relatives even on this one.

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: We're at an inflection point in this country, where the very idea of what this country stands for is on the line. America is extremely unique, because it is not just a place. It's not just North Carolina or Wisconsin or Massachusetts or Maine or California. America is an idea, and the idea of America was very clear. Our founders made it really explicit. Our rights come from nature and God and not from government.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: That's the idea of this country. That's the nature. The principles that built this country -- liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination, government by consent of the governed. Those are the principles that made us great, those are the principles our founders put in place, that our veterans fought for and secured. Every generation faces this test. This is our generation's test.

And when a country is facing a test like this, is when a country so desperately needs leadership.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: You know, the history books say that there are common characteristics of what makes a great leader. A person with a bedrock of principles, a person with a moral compass, a person with a vision, and a person who has the skills and the experience to put that vision into place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sounds like Romney.

RYAN: Guess what? Sounds like this guy, doesn't it?

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We know who we are. We know what we believe. Now we just got to go do it.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RYAN: This man is the epitome of leadership. This man, through everything he's done in his life, raising his family, building successful businesses, saving troubling ones, helping create jobs, knowing firsthand experience that if you have a small business, you did build that small business! That's right.

You know what it takes to increase jobs, increase take home pay. He knows what entrepreneurs go through when they are suffocated with red tape, uncertain taxes, government regulations, you know what?

Remember when we had the Olympics back when it was in salt lake? Remember the chaos? Remember the waste and the bloated spending and the corruption that was plaguing the Olympics at that time? Waste, corruption, bloat -- sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?

Who did they turn to? Who did they ask to drop everything in his life and save the Olympics? That was this man right here. A man who, as governor, increased jobs, improved the credit rating of a state, balanced budget without raising taxes, increased family income, all of the opposite of what President Obama's policies have done. President Obama came into office with hope and change. His policies have been put in place. They are not working. They are failing us. He can't run on that. He didn't moderate one bit at all so now he's turned hope and change into attack and blame and we're not going to fall for it.

The person with the skill, the person with the integrity, the person with the vision, the person that is going to be the next president of the United States is this man standing next to me and his name is Mitt Romney.

FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MA, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, you've been listening to Paul Ryan, the vice presidential pick of Mitt Romney there. They're in High Point, North Carolina, underscoring that they are a team, a force to beckon with and making their stops in North Carolina before ultimately going their separate ways.

Mitt Romney will be heading on to Florida and to rally in that swing state, then Paul Ryan will be heading to Iowa, the Iowa State Fair on Monday and perhaps by chance he might even be running into the president who will be beginning his three-day swing through the state of Iowa come Monday.

We're going to continue to watch the tour, the bus tour, of Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, and bring you the very latest as they continue to make their way to -- on to their third state after making their way through North Carolina.

We'll have much more on their tour and the president's plans for this week as well in about 30 minutes. Join us in the NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Now we're going to take you to "THE NEXT LIST" already in progress.