small businesses, big businesses. i will make my job one creating good jobs for the american people. [ applause ] so let me come back to you. i've spoken longer than you might have expected. less than i sometimes do. i'm going to turn to you and ask you for any questions you might have. i'll do my best to respond this guy's already up with a question there. so we'll come to that -- we'll come to that and then i'll end with a few thought. please, go ahead. >> how are you planning on fighting the fourth wing of the democratic party, which is the media. obama said he created 80,000 jobs and they let it go at that. they didn't say he lost 150,000 jobs. we need a fighter out there. i've been listening to alan west talk.

he'd make a great vice president. he's a fighter and that's what we want. >> thank you. all suggestions are welcome. i can tell you this, you know, we are fortunate that the american people get their information from a larger and larger array of outlets. and so people get their news from cable, from talk shows on the radio, from the internet. and so people find sources that they find the be the most reliable. we're able to communicate broadly to the american people not just through one or two networks, but instead through a whole host of vehicles. that's why i think for instance, that when the president came out with obama care, and when the mainstream media by and large thought it was okay and encouraged people to accept it, the american people instead got their information from a wide array of sources and recognized that it's bad medicine. it's bad economics.

it's bad policy that's got to go. so i'm hopeful despite the fact that i realize that now and then i'm fighting an uphill battle in some organs of the national media. that nonetheless there's some people who are open and unbiased and are willing to get our message across. and by the way, i can't wait for the debates to have a chance to go face-to-face with the president. [ applause ] and so people will watch for an hour or an hour and a half three times and get to see our different perspectives. look, the president the other day was kind enough to give me a call on the day that i cinched the nomination and he said, i con congratulate you and i think the country will benefit from an important and honest debate on the issues. and on the course for america. the future for america. and i think that's absolutely right. so far his campaign hasn't started that. all they're doing is attacking

on every diversion they can come up with. but i do hope at some point the president gets sirius about talking about the direction for the country and the fact that the direction he's taken us in so far has not put america to work, has not fulfilled his promises it's time many the view of the american people to take this country in a different direction and make us strong again. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> i work for military bases as a contract engineer for many years. >> can't quite hear you. you work fz a military contractor and have for many years. >> what bothers me is a lot of equipment that the u.s. military uses is foreign made. you go on a military base you see a bus made by mercedes benz. our troops are forced to use a little italian pistol that shoots a little .9 millimetre

cartridge instead of the .45 colt that we used to. it's italian design. it's nice that they want to support all of the economies of the world, but what about our workers here? you have every piece of manufactured equipment for the u.s. military made here in the united states and you'll add probably another couple million jobs to what we already have. [ applause ] >> i actually believe that america is make the best products in the world. and if we're making the best products in the world. we will be able to make sure that in the military and in our homes as well we're buying american products. i believe that competition and a president that puts in place policies that helps american manufacturers of all kinds compete will create american jobs and will put those jobs back into this country that have left in many cases. i read an article the other day

by a columnist at "the washington post" his name is david ig nashs. he said a study has shown if we would be serious about taking advantage of our coal, our oil, our gas and renewables that america could be the largest energy producing nation in the world within ten years and -- [ applause ] >> and if we did that, if we did that and had low cost available energy that manufacturing would come back to this country. if we want american goods to be the best in the world, we want to make sure that the input costs, our energy costs are competitive. they can be. they will be. you're going to see that happen here. let me mention something else about our military commitment. that is this, i'm concerned that after the conflicts we've been through a lot of our military equipment is damaged and needs to be replaced. i know there are some who think we should economize on the military and cut back on our

military capacity. it seems to be the one place the president's comfortable cutting which is our military spending. he's cutting the number of ships we'll make. the number of aircraft we purchase. he wants to cut the number of active duty personnel this our military. my view is this. our military must be second to none. it must be so superior no one in the world would ever think of challenging it. [ cheers and applause ] and so i would take shipbuilding from nine per year to 15 per year. i would buy more aircraft. add 100,000 active duty personnel to our military ranks and make sure our veterans get the care they so richly deserve. [ applause ] let's see -- sure go ahead. he's got a note pad here.

okay. go ahead. that's not fair. i need a note pad. >> so this year it will be the first time i have the privilege of voting. >> excellent. >> i paid a lot more attention to politics than i have in the past couple of years. i can say that seeing you here in person it's given me a lot more respect for you as a person in terms of the sincerity and passion you have for this country. i totally understand your position on small government. i think it's an honorable stance that doesn't get -- it doesn't necessarily get the credit it deserves for whats the trying to do. and i see that you project yourself as somebody that is a champion of liberty. i was really moved when you said this country is propelled by free people and one of the corner stones is that we're allowed to pursue our own happiness as we so choose to do it. it's kind of personal and maybe strained from the economic discussion here. i guess as an example considering, for instance, your religious affiliation and it

being a minority. so i guess just my question is, in terms of life -- in terms of -- in terms of social equality and women's rights and gay rights and liberty in that area, what is so wrong about exploring liberty and giving liberty to everyone in every field not just in the economy? >> i do believe in providing personal liberty, economic liberty, political liberty to the american people and belief that everyone in this country should have an opportunity to pursue their course of life as they choose. i believe that's what makes america america. i support the statement that you make and there may be some places we have some differing viewpoints. i sfrins, believe that when it comes to a very tender issue, the issue of abortions.

i know well meaning americans come to different conclusions on that topic. and some light myself attach importance to the unborn child as a life just as we do to -- [ applause ] just as we do to the mom and to the person carrying the unborn child. and because there are two lives involved, we have to weigh what is the right course in protecting liberty and life in that setting. and my view is that we should protect the sanctity of life unborne and living. -- unborn and born. so there's some of these issues that are very difficult for some. i believe that people come to different conclusions out of a well meaning intent. not all these issues are easy. i think we should show respect

to people who have come to other conclusions, acknowledge their right to reach those conclusions and ultimately let the american people make the decision as to what they think is right. i don't think -- i don't think that an important issue like that should be decided by a one vote majority of the supreme court. i think these decisions should ultimately decided by the american people. thank you. yes, sir. here, i'll give you this one. >> you won't get this back. will you be announcing your vice president before or after orlando? >> tampa, you mean the republican convention? yes.

i can't give you the time line for that. that's a decision we'll make down the read. nor can i give you the individual. i can tell you that the person i choose you will look at and say, well, that's a person who could be president if that were necessary. and that for me is the most important single criteria. thank you. >> as a state legislature, will you stop sending us unfunded mandates? [ applause ] >> you see state legislatures and former governors have pet peeves and one of them is when the federal government says you've got to do something and doesn't send the money for you to do it. that happens too often. i actually have a different plan altogether which you're going to find creates an awful lot of work for you and your colleagues. it happens to be in my view good for america. that is we have some big

programs. the federal government has become so large and unwielding that in many cases it's being governed or programs are managed by people who are so out of touch from what's actually happening in people's lives they're just not doing the job the programs ought to do. i take a program like medicaid, an individual that provides health care services to the poor, i'd take that hundreds of billions of dollars and i'd cut it up state by state based on the shares they're getting this year and send it to colorado to say you care for your own poors health care in the way you think best. and likewise -- [ applause ] >> that might apply to housing vouchers and food stamps to help the poor in the community. my experience what it means to be poor in massachusetts is different than montana or

mississippi and i'd rather let the legislators and the governors of the respective states what's the best way to provide the care for people who need the care. we're a generous people, we're a compassionate and generous people. we want to have a strong and able safety net for the people who need our care. but i believe that these major programs to the extent they can be managed effectively at the state level should be managed there. it would make sure we do a better job caring for those who need the care and by the way, it will save a lot of money because instead of all these bureaucrats and all these programs that in many cases just don't apply to a state like colorado as it might somewhere else, we could say -- do you know how many job training programs there are by the way? federal job training programs? 47. 47 different federal job training programs. they report to eight different agencies in the federal government. think of the overlap, the bureaucrats. i take that money and say here

colorado you use your money as you feel best to train your own people. that means some work as you transition to a state led program. my view is i like competition. i like states competing with each other. learning from each other and i -- i feel to tell you my favorite story about states competing. i learned it when i just was a new governor because i wanted my state to grow and ad jobs. my fellow governor governor schwarzenegger also wanted the same thing for his state. he came to massachusetts and put billboards with him on the billboard with him wearing a t-shirt with big muscles and it said come to california. here he was poaching jobs from a fellow republican state. so i put billboards up in his state with me in a t-shirt flexing my muscles.

and it says, smaller muscles, but much lower taxes, come to massachusetts. [ applause ] >> i'm the local d.a. and i have a crime question for you. about 16 years ago we had a horrible double murder less than a mile from where you're standing where a 17-year-old young man was raping an 11-year-old girl and killed her and her 42-year-old mother. i prosecuted it, a messa county jury convicted him of first degree murder. a judge sent him to prison for the rest of his life. the colorado supreme court said that's right. last week the u.s. supreme court said that was cruel and unusual punishment. what do you think about that? and what can we do about things like that to keep our streets safe?

>> this is another issue that a number of people feel -- come out on different sides on. people of good faith. i for instance feel that and i realize this was not a death penalty case, yours was a life imprisonment case. i happen to believe that the death penalty tends to prevent some of the most heinous crimes. [ applause ] >> and i also believe that the prison terms that are of the nature you describe can also prevent some of the most heinous crimes from occurring. this is a decision which is normally made state by state. i believe in this case the supreme court was looking at the age of the offender. i'll tell you a 17-year-old, a setting like that is one that breaks my heart. i'll look at that particular case. but i can tell you, i'm someone

who comes down on the side of swift and severe punishment for those who commit these serious crimes. [ applause ] >> tell us about your plan for education. >> thank you. let me tell you about my own experience in education. i came into a state where my pred predecessors had taken some action in a to reform the education system. and they did a good job. that was back in 1993 a long time ago. they said, you know what? for kids that are going to be in high school to graduate with a degree, they need to pass an exam. in math and english and i added science to that. and we're also going to have the state take over schools that are chronicling failing and fix them. and equalize the funding per

students and open the door to charter schools in our state so people have greater choice. and interestingly these measures and others had a big impact. massachusetts students are ranked now number one in the nation. there are four measures in the exam. we rank number one out of all 50 states. i added something else to what they did. i said those who pass this exam the graduation exam, if you pass in the top quarter of your high school class, you're entitled to a john and abigail adams scholarship which we established four years tuition free at a massachusetts institution of higher learning. public institution. so we created a big incentive for kids to do well, for schools in trouble to be managed by folks to get them back on track. by the way, the provision, the original legislation said there was a provision in the union

contract which was interfering with the education of a child if the school got in trouble we could get rid of that provision. when i was governor the teachers union wasn't happy with charter schools. i put a moratorium on those. in my state the democrats had 87% of the legislature. you might think it's hard for my veto to be upheld in. this case the black caucus came to my aid along with a number of leading democrats. in the urban area our kids need school choice to get out of the worst schools. i'm convinced that school choice and the kinds of measures i described make a big difference. if i'm president the federal dollars in education, those are dollars that go to the poor, the disabled. the federal dollars are going to be attached to the child not to the school or the state or the district and so the child can go

to whatever school they want and take those dollars with them so we empower school choice across the nation. thank you. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ] >> back here. yes, sir. here comes the microphone. you've got a big voice, but this will help. >> thank you. something that's very important to the people of this area and some of us former law enforcement personnel would like to hear you speak on second amendment rights and our ability to have our own firearms. [ applause ] >> you know i love the constitution and i like all the amendments. i'm happy with all offense them. the second amendment is one which i respect. i believe people should have the right to bear arms for whatever legal purpose they have in mind. simple answer. >> in the debates i'm sure

you're going to be hammered about what the other team likes to call romney care. why don't you make the point that that was what the people of massachusetts put you in there to do and you did what the people of massachusetts wanted you to do and didn't force it down somebody's throat. [ applause ] >> thank you. i sure hope the president brings it up because i'll point out the differences wean between what we did and what he did. what we did was work in a bipartisan basis. my legislature looked at the bill and out of 200 legislators only two voted against it of 200. the business community, the labor community, the advocates for the poor all came together and said this is a good step forward. not perfect. i vetoed a number of measures in the bill and those weren't upheld. but nonetheless it was something we worked out for our own state. i love the idea that the founders -- the founding fathers had of federalism.

it's a strange term to describe the fact that states are the places where we make key decisions that affect the lives of people. i like that idea -- and i don't like the idea of the federal government coming in and saying we're going to take away the rights of states. we're going to impose the will of one party, one party exclusively on the entire nation. our nation is divided about half-and-half between republicans and democrats. but they said we're going to impose our will on the entire nation and raise taxes by $500 billion. cut medicare by $500 billion. by the way, when your more liberal friends say gosh you republicans are going to cut my medicare, my social security. whoa. there's only one president that's cut medicare by $500 billion and this is president obama. i want to save and reform medicare and means test it so higher income people don't get as big a benefit as lower income

people. but i will preserve those and this president has not. thank you. good point. i'll keep it in mind. [ applause ] back here. all right. >> this is kind of a comment and a question. so why is the obama team in the liberal media want us to think that we should be more angry with what you do with your money than what obama has done with mine. [ applause ] >> thank you. i'm not going to apologize for success at home and i'm not going to apologize for america abroad. i went out and began a business.

and the business turned out to be more successful than i ever imagined. the profits of the business went to people who invested with us. a church pension fund. not my church, someone else's. if you want to know whose, i'll let you know. in the process, we were able to create jobs in our own little business and some of the places that we invested were able to create jobs as well. i saw a report by my former kpaeng bank capital, the one i helped start that said of their investments in 350 companies over the years that 80% of them grew, which is good news. and 5% went bankrupt. you won't hear about the 80% when jobs were created. i find that very different as you point out between investing my money and money of people who provided me with their resources for the purpose of my investing it find that very different than when the president takes your

tax dollars and invests it in the businesses of companies of his campaign contributors. i believe the government can play a big role in encouraging science and research. i believe in those things. i do not believe of investing billions and billions of dollars in companies that have political connections. it's wrong. it smacks of corruption. it is not the right course for this nation to take. i will get us out of that practice in a big hurry. thanks so much. thank you, guys. i'm told i get one more question. >> our tax code is bad. and it's full of corruption because the lobbyists can go in

there and it dictates what's going on. do you support a fair tax or flat tax that would get rid of the nonsense so america can truly be what it needs to be? >> thank you. look, i want to see us simplify the tax code. i want to see it simpler, flatter, fairer. what i proposed at this stage is this. i want to lower the marginal tax rate. that's the tax rate you pay across the board by some 20% so the top rate goes from 35% to 28% and so forth. bring the rates down. i will limit the deductions and exemptions. so that we can pay for that reduction and you think, well, then what have we accomplished? what we've accomplished is this, small businesses and entrepreneurs will be able to keep more of their money to build their business which is what i want to have done because for me it's all about jobs. it's creating good jobs for the american people. i want to bring those tax rates down. and you know, i'll with happy to look at other measures, the flat

tax, the fair tax. i want to make sure that we don't reduce the burden on the highest income tax payers. we don't raise the taxes on middle income tax payers. for me, by the way, this campaign is about the middle class and about the poor. it's not about the rich. the rich are going to do fine whoever's elected. it's the great majority of americans who are hurting under this president who need help. i'm running to help those people and will do it. let me say this, let me just note this, this is a -- this is a critical junction for america. and you know that. the president says that, i say that. the question is are we going to be headed in the direction of the liberal policies of the past or are we instead going to take the kind of approach that has proven time and again to build the strongest economy many the world. with using our energy resources, opening up trade, even bill clinton recognized the wisdom of fair trade and free trade around the world. of making sure we restrain the size of government.

of investing our time and talents in providing jobs or education for our kids and also in preserving economic freedom. are we going to do those things? if we do those things this economy will come roaring back. we're going to surprise the world with how strong america is. how many jobs we create. i'm convinced that's what's going to happen if i get elected we're able to take that new course. i can tell you this, the consequence of getting it right is so marvelous, it's so terrific, we will be able to have good jobs for the people today who need them. we'll be able to be confident that our kids can find the jobs they need when they come out of school. and we'll be able to preserve liberty for ourselves and our friends. i say that coming from a conversation a number of months ago with leaders in great britain, with tony blair and david cameron and a number of the leaders there. one of them said this to me, he said myth, if you're lucky enough to be elected president of the united states and you

travel around from foreign capital to foreign capital, you will undoubtedly have rehearsed for you all the mistakes they think america is making. but please don't ever forget this fact. the one thing he said we all fear the most is a weak america. [ applause ] american strength is the best peace the allies have ever known. a strong economy that's creating jobs, a strong military, second to none. the world depends upon it. our children depend oupon it. that's what this election is going to come down to. keeping america strong creating the jobs in the economy that will allow us to do it. i will get the