response to a call that came in a short time ago where a caller was talking about how ron paul was dangerous because of his views that we should not interfere she was making reference to september 11. people of all stripes, sizes, and colors -- >> appreciate your calls and comments. coming up in just a minute, congressman ron paul at the soap box. at politico.com -- the story next up for mitt romney is rick perry. thanks for being with us. >> how are you? >> first of all, where physically are you in iowa? >> home of the steak fry, but where michele bachmann will be

hosting a town hall meeting. a flurry of evans before the straw poll to turn out voters to central iowa who lived about one half an hour to one hour drive. >> jonathan martin, coming up in a moment congressman ron paul will speak. we will listen in to him and we will check in in 20 minutes. >> thank you very much. glad you are out this morning. just wondering, how many will manyames tomorrow? that's good. maybe we will get a few more of you to, as well. most people know the candidates are and i would this week and what is going on tomorrow. it is delightful to be here and attending the fair. and i am sort of enjoying the weather as well, having come from texas recently. it is great to be here, but of course, the real thing that motivates me is the issues that i think have been messed up in our country and we have to change our way, we have to change our direction.

the american people are tired of what they are getting. they know they're serious problems. there is a lot of frustration. there is a lot of unemployment. somebody has to come up with answers. a few years back, in the 1970's, i first ran for congress and i was pretty concerned. i believe the stage was set for the kind of problems we have today. it happened back in august of 1971. that was the time that we decided that money does not matter, we can print money, nothing to back our currency. we can print money and can leave -- live happily ever after. we believe as a people if we could just counterfeit our own money, we could live and not have to work anymore. what did we end up with? a huge amount of debt. we 0 $3 trillion to foreigners. -- we owe $3 trillion to foreigners.

they are frustrated and washington, which makes it frustrating for people across the country. a lot of people have become dependent on the government and we are doing way too much. the simplest explanation is that we have to drastically reduce the size of our federal government. most people are starting to realize this but the big argument is, where are we going to shrink it? people say you need by partisanship and compromise and sacrifice. my argument is we have had too much bipartisanship. it is the bipartisanship that has -- have endorsed all of the problems. if we enact the republicans to shrink the guise of government, they doubled the size of the department of education and get us involved in a bunch of wars. we elect democrats to expand the wars. and we have republicans to expand the budget and democrats doing the same thing. there is always this compromise.

the big spending conservatives and the big spending liberal get together and they don't have to worry in the short run. they can always delay it. sure, you can tax to a degree but there is a limit. you can borrow to a degree, but if you borrow too much, interest rates go up. there is a magic answer -- keynesian economics. it is called fiat's money. the miracle pill is that you print the money when you need it. that is what 1979 was all about. no restraints on the monetary authority, and all our problems in the last 40 years came from the fact that big government has subsidized -- is a subsidized by the printing press. the american people are starting to realize it has a lot to do with our monetary system. they know the prices go up when the value of the money goes down and they are not too happy about it because the standard of living goes down. people can make a little more

money and the checks go out but if the money below goes down, the standard of living goes down. that is one of the reasons the people are very upset. the people on retirement, the people getting social security, are starting to recognize this. the tragedy is production is down. the productive jobs have gone overseas because of this monetary system and overregulation and over taxation. we chased our jobs overseas. in order to get capital back in you have had a strong currency, a tax code and regulatory code that invites the business is back. it is so sad to me to think in my lifetime we saw a point where there was a country called communist china evolved into being our banker. there is something about that, and we should reverse that, but we have to endorse a very basic principle, and that is called freedom and the constitution. [applause]

but since it was bipartisanship that got together and spend all the money, how do you get out of the mess? how do you get people to agree to cut spending? that is where the difficulty is and there is no agreement in washington. what i have done is tried to propose a way to try to get the two sides to come together. the area that we could most easily cut is what we spend overseas. we spend way too much overseas. we have an american empire overseas. we spent trillions of dollars. obligated to spend trillions taking care of the seriously wounded and injured individuals coming back home, which we are obligated to do, and we pass out all of this foreign aid and it is all supposed to be for national security. all of this mill terrorism doesn't help us. it doesn't make a secure. people won't vote against it because if you vote against the military budget -- not realizing all you are doing is giving subsidies to the military

industrial complex -- they claim and accuse you of being an american and not caring about the military. i tell you what, that is the way i have been voting and i am proud of one thing. during this campaign and the last campaign, our campaign always raised the most money from the military people, more than all of the other candidates put together. [applause] and having served in the military -- i was drafted in 1964 -- nick -- 1962 and was in the air force for five years, so under its -- i understand a little bit what it is like to have a bad war going on and people being sent from the world and ending up with no-when wars. we should it be able to defend and non interventionist foreign policy on moral principle that you did not initiate wars, you don't fight unless it is constitutionally declared. it is a very simple answer as

far as i am concerned about how to start off by saving a lot of money. that is to have not intervention, stay out of the business of other countries, mind all of our business and bring all of our troops home. [applause] that means the middle east, japan, germany, south korea, the whole works. because if you do that one thing instantaneously -- and the president does have the authority -- that a means bring the troops home. they are going to get paid all of the money, let them spend the money here rather than japan and germany. psychologically it would give a tremendous boost to the economy. you have to change a lot more than that. you have to change the nature of what people want. the appetite for big government has been around. there is a lot of blame to go around. you complained the president, you can blame congress is, that

philosophy, economic intervention. but you also have to look at the people. how many people ask their congressman -- i want you to vote for this, i want you to vote for -- >> we are having some difficulty with our live coverage of congressman ron paul at the state fair in iowa. we will continue to listen in. and you can get more in permission by logging onto c- span.org/campaign2012. our phone lines are open. we will get to your calls in just a moment. we are also monitoring our coverage -- it looks like it is back. we will go to mary from fort wayne, indiana.

>> the republicans keep talking about an imminent -- an amendment to the constitution to balance the budget. when they added that amendment, why not for term limits for all of congress? this will eliminate career politicians and maybe they will worry more about what is good for the country and less about the people who voted for them, and not so much about reelection. also, i have not heard anyone in the senate or the house that has reduced their staff in an effort to save money. >> mary, thanks for the call. >> and they should ban from congress, the lobbyists. they should not have more than the people. >> roger joining us from cedar rapids, iowa. >> everyone is congratulating

president reagan for the things that he done. i have one question about that. ronald reagan and alan greenspan moved social security, which was supposed to have been a protected amount of money, they moved it over to the general fund to give congress access to that money without being questioned. i would like to have someone respond about that and see why they believe that this was correct -- a correct thing to do. >> thanks for the call. your comments from iowa state fair. ron is from houston. republican line. good afternoon. >> i would just like to say, i am totally disappointed in the republican party because they are not the republican party

they used to be. they have gone way too far to the right. i can't vote for them anymore because of this. . d it's troubling some of the things they say -- repealing the amendment. all of these pledges they are signing. it is just too much and i can't do republican anymore. >> julie is joining us on the democrats' line from bethlehem, pennsylvania. us. y name is juli i and i hard-core democrat. and a more and more i hear ron paul talk -- i tell you, i am really liking him. he is one of the few republicans who always has his head on his shoulders and saying the right thing. if i was to switch, it would be because of ron paul. and i would like to give a shout

out to rachel madow. >> go ahead, john. you are on the air. we will go next to mike from minnesota. >> ron paul does make a valid point. it can be kind of scary, though. >> thanks for the call. again, we apologize for the slight technical pick up a but we are back live at the soapboxes at the iowa state fair. >> that if you try to treat a problem by doing more of the same, it is not going to work. understanding of the business cycle works and what you have to do, and a liquidation of debt and some money -- but all of this can be summarized by defending liberty. that is what america was all about. liberty and freedom of choice. we had the largest middle-class and was low wealthiest country in the world and we are losing it.

the middle-class has been shrinking significantly for 10 years. we are losing our jobs in this country but this can all be reversed, and it is not difficult. understand and respect where our liberties come from in a natural god-given way. defend that can have confidence that it works. and what fits in so perfectly is all you have to do to have achieved -- to achieve this is ask anyone you vote for, how serious are they and how consistent work day in defending the constitution. if we go back to the constitution, we are going to solve just about all of our political and economic problems. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you so much. remember hillsdale college. >> i will. >> congressman ron paul. this is his third presidential bid. he was the libertarian nominee back in 1988 and ran for president in 2004 -- in 2008, i should say, and began in 2012. he also announced he is retiring at the end of his term. his son is rand paul, the senator from kentucky. our phone lines are open -- we will go to monica from

indiana. democrats' line. monica, go ahead, please. >> anybody talk about reforming social security without mentioning repaying the debt that the u.s. government's owes to social security. with all the talk about americans paying their bills, how about starting with paying off that one first? medicare is prepaid and there is no reason in the world why they should be cutting our prepaid funds. give it to those people who paid into it like it was originally meant. >> thanks for the call. 15 minutes ago we were checking in with jonathan more in a few minutes ago. ron paul came to the podium so we broke away, but jonathan martin' is back alive. your story from politico -- "

next up for mitt romney is repair a." rick perry and during the race the same day of the straw poll. >> i thought the conservative member of congress from iowa -- i tell you, he was a little irritated about the move, saying it would step on the straw poll. and then noting perry was coming to iowa and going to michele bachmann's home town, waterloo. king was irritated about that. he said it may be subtle in texas but not here in iowa. i think that i was sensibilities especially among the political s -- political class are going to be threatened here and by what

perry is doing. but keep in mind, if he does come here, he works the state aggressively and catches on, this could be ancient history by the time of the actual vote. >> the debate last night, a lot of attention on mitt romney and your piece pointed out his left unscathed but it could change with rick perry entering the race. >> it was kind of like the last preseason football game before the regular season begins. there was sort of an air of a preliminary quality to it. i think with rick perry getting in, mitt romney's sort of summer urge will come to an end because he will have to start engaging not just president obama but his actual gop competitors and namely rick perry, who even now not in the race has been surging in polls. >> i what is the place to be

over the weekend. can you get the viewers what was happening meeting not to the , the straw poll tomorrow and michele bachmann on "meet the press?" >> this was a five-day period. candidates descending on the state, going to the state fair, which is not just a large political event but a civic event. people from all over the state, even beyond the borders, come to the fair, tens of thousands of people. you add to that the debate last night with the straw poll saturday, rick perry's debut and sarah palin making this last- minute splash at the fair and michele bachmann's decision to join rick perry in her hometown in waterloo, and what you got for political junkies like us, a

real fantasy few days. it is the best of politics, the best of iowa, and the best part about it, steve, is temperatures are well below 100. as you know, it can get really humid out here. >> and we'll all remember that in january and february when the caucuses get underway. >> to paraphrase it elvis -- she is in the building. sarah palin is at the state fair as we speak. what is termed motivation? >> it is a great question. i think we are all trying to figure it out. i always thought it was a fool's errand to get into sarah palin's head. she may want to run still. but there is no question she definitely wants to be part of the conversation. she does not want to be forgotten. it could mean a very unconventional candidacy or somebody who wants to be a

player in the course of the primaries. >> the straw poll will take place on the campus of iowa state. nine names on the ballot. six actively participating. >> the big question is who shows up. what is the universe? will it be 10,000 people or 20,000 people? four years ago you had 14,000. if it is less than that, i think you have to look for tim pawlenty to do well or ron paul to win this thing because he has a dedicated band of followers. as you get closer to 20,000, michele bachmann would be the winner because that would indicate there is an organic turnout. that people have not just come on buses or tickets that were paid for but have shown up on their own accord. >> back in 1999, steve forbes spend millions of dollars to win the straw poll but it has not always been a good barometer of what happens in the caucus.

>> mitt romney spent millions four years ago. he lost by nine points at the caucus the following january to mike huckabee. it is a test of organizational strength. it plays a winnowing role when there are upwards of a dozen candidates running. as a predictor of the caucus, it is not anywhere near perfect. >> jonathan martin's peace piece available online. former gov. tim pawlenty, a lot of attention on what he needs to do tomorrow. when he was at the kiosk earlier today -- what is in need to do? >> he has to improve his standing in the polls. i think referring to the polls in june by the register -- he

was sixth. that is a real low bar. if he won this thing or really close to winning it -- he will have a difficult time convincing his donors he is a viable candidate. on a practical level he has to show some strength. but i tell you what, tim pawlenty said this morning at an event my colleague hosted, that he is open to doing some kind of retrenchment of this campaign, running a leaner style of campaign if it means staying in the contest. recheck -- retrenching to a one- state campaign and kind of living off the land. but that is not the campaign tim pawlenty planned a year ago. >> jon huntsman also not competing in the straw poll today, putting all of his efforts in south carolina,

florida, and new hampshire. it >> his campaign strategy i think is reminiscent increasingly of where john mccain was four years ago at this time. if jon huntsman cannot break out in new hampshire, throw a scare into mitt romney or whether the ate is, then it is hard for him going forward. he's really got to do well there. that is why in the months ahead you will see him putting a lot of time in the granite state. >> jonathan martin, as always, appreciate your time. thanks, and safe travels. decatur, alabama, as we continue your phone calls. we are awaiting former gov. tim pawlenty who will be at the soap box at 1:30 p.m. eastern time. >> i would like to address the previous caller's questions about entitlements and anton amon reform -- the one who said he was on social security. i understand where he was coming

from. i called in a couple of months ago and spoke to congress and the sarah -- becerra, and he said republican plan was to means test and income level was going to be 20,000 a year. the democrats, the best i could gather from that side, their plan is more lenient, 254 american -- married company -- for a married couple and 200 for single. i think maybe three, five years -- they have hit us before like this with retirement and drawing social security, deducting one from another. means testing is a fancy word saying based on your income. we have to be prepared because money changed the bankruptcy laws in 2005 and they used the fancy used -- word means

testing. everybody, just hang in there and we will just have to wait and see. thank you so much for taking my call and you have a blessed day. >> john is joining us from iowa. independent line. >> how are you doing today? i think what we need is an actual politician that is not going to lie to the american people. i think the american people are ready for some level of transparency. and i think we just need a little bit of honesty in the game and a little bit of up- frontness from everybody in what the situation is with the economy and how it will affect us. i don't know -- i would like to see actually one of the politicians actually stand up and say what is really going on and where we really stand globally in this economy. >> thanks for the call. you can long on to iowastatefa

ir.org. there is information about the infamous butter cow. it has been a tradition. and they're also featuring fried better this year. dallas, texas. democrats line. go ahead. go ahead. >> i would like to speak about campaign donations. during the last election, president obama spent over $785 million just to get himself elected. now, the republican field. no one has yet utilize the bush network of donors. in the last election -- it worries me. obama already spent $37 million just on financing his reelection campaign. >> and he raised $2 million last night in a series of fund- raisers in new york city.

he is back in washington today. he is celebrating the super bowl champion green bay packers. leonard from fort worth, texas. >> this is leonard from fort worth, texas. the proud state of texas. i have been listening to the stop all morning. i am a democrat, by the way. i am speaking about republican and democrats -- there is good and bad in each party. but i am sick of this business -- what you need to do about the rich people not paying the tax. secondly, all we need to do something about term limits for democrats and republicans, congressmen and senators. we need term limits. that would eliminate a whole lot of the bickering and partisan politics going on in washington. have a good day. >> thanks for a call.

representative michele bachmann is making the rounds. not only appearing sunday on "meet the press" but she will appear on "face the nation," "state of the union," and "fox news sunday." they all rare in the weekend's on c-span radio. we will get a democrat perspective from debbie wasserman schultz on "face the nation." former gov. tim pawlenty taking the stage at the soapbox. >> "the bill more and register" politics editor would like to welcome you and to the soapbox. the next speaker is tim pawlenty, the former governor of minnesota. please welcome former gov. tim pawlenty. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> good afternoon. thanks for the opportunity to share a few thoughts about the future of our country but before

i do that, i wanted to do is a special guest, my wife mary, former first lady of minnesota. a big part of my campaign. i know she would like to share a few thoughts with you about the great state of iowa and this country. mary pawalenty -- pawlenty. >> thanks for being here. i know you're seeing one or two politicians along the way. we love the seeing eye was a fair and going to the minnesota state fair, of course. i would like to say thank you. i appreciate i was -- iowans. we have come to appreciate all engage you are and how people genuinely asked good questions of the candidates and doing the job you do so well cycle after cycle. it matters, obviously not only to iowa but it matters more broadly to our country and ultimately to the world. thank you for doing what you do best. i do want to say a couple of

things about my husband who you will hear from in a moment and hopefully you will get the opportunity to ask him some good and perhaps tough questions. but i want to tell you a little bit about who in it -- who he is. you all see and in this political arena but he and i have been married almost 24 years -- this september. two kids, anna going off to college this fall and mara who is 14 years old. i support my husband not only because i love him so much but also i support him with my head. i have watched him and tough times and good times and bad times. i have seen him throw it all, as all of you who have been in long-term relationships have. i know this is a person whose head and heart are generally -- genuinely connected. is someone who has his compass said. he is someone who, i think you got to know him, he is the kind

of person who who you would want as a neighbor. in a long-term friends and neighbors -- that you would know this is a person you would like to not only be your friend, somebody you would like to be alongside, but someone you can genuinely respect as a leader. i am confident that he is the person who has the best judgment and wisdom, character, strength, and experience to be the next president of the united states. ladies and gentlemen, again, my husband, tim pawlenty. >> love you, thanks. >> thanks a lot. i know you are out here to enjoy the fare and the weather and the food. i appreciate you coming by. i am just want to address one issue today -- jobs in the economy. and there are questions, i would be happy to take them. i know one issue facing iowa and our country is if people had access to jobs. if we had a chance to go around and ask each of you what matters to you the most, i think we

would hear about your family, i think you would hear about the importance of having housing and paying for your mortgage or the rent. i think you would hear about concerns about putting gas in your car. i think you would hear concerns about being able to pay for health care and down the list. all of those things and more. getting kids to college -- it requires money. for most iowans and most americans, the way to get money is to have a job. the best way to answer the question is what are those things that we can do to make it most likely that the jobs will grow in this country. because of you don't have access to a job, your life it's pretty tough in a hurry. you know that's the issue. we have had three years or so of president obama's direction and we have to step back and ask, how is it working? the answer is, not very well. with a crushing levels of unemployment in the country. nearly $4 a gallon gas.

we have a federal government that seems out of control and not capable of getting spending under control, and we have an economy it pointing toward instability and maybe a decline. it is not acceptable for america, not acceptable for iowa and reduces our ability for a better quality of life for citizens. we should talk to the people who provide jobs. 6 million people -- 6 million companies in the united states. 5.9 million of them have 500 employees or fewer. so, most of the jews in the economy is in small or medium- sized businesses. if you talk to the folks who want to either start or grow businesses will provide jobs, they tell you the same thing -- they say, the burden has gotten too heavy. the costs have gotten too high. they talk about taxes being too high. they talk about regulations being too heavy. they talk about regulation costs being too expensive.

they talk about health care costs going through the roof. and if we don't answer those concerns or address those concerns, we are not going to be about to provide the quality of life for our citizens that we want. i think what we do about that is turn to our government and say we want to take it back and getting -- get it in a better direction. i have the most specific, aggressive, bold as pro-jobs graph -- plan. number one, we've got to get the business tax rates from some of the most expensive in the world to more competitive so our companies can compete. currently are companies get taxed at 35%. we need to bring it down under my proposal to 15%. in exchange for that, clean out all the loopholes, credits, exemptions, as many as possible so a business possibility to compete depends on your ability to connect with customers and

not your ability to get a lobbyist or buy off or influence congress. a flat, symbol, tax rate. [applause] number two, most of our small businesses in this country and jobs providers pay their taxes on their own individual returns because of what is called a pass through entity. they don't pay the business or corporate tax rate but they pay it on the individual terms as a small business. i think it is important we do individual taxpayer relief as well. i am proposing to take the six tax rates down to two and had a simpler, flatter tax system, and it and limit taxation on interest, dividends, capital gains, an estate tax. then we called for an energy policy that is an american energy policy and not a middle east and energy policy. [applause] and then we need to fix health care reform the right way. look, if you like the approach

president obama has taken on health care, vote for him. but my experience, taking a problem and dragging it into washington and creating a top down system where you offer citizens one choice for a limited number of choices and then you regulate it and yet government employees staff and bureaucrats run it and you tax people more to pay for it, is not a good plan been in the long run it will not best serve our people. it will be financially insolvent in the next 15 years. we do have an out of control health care system but it has to be fixed the right way, like i did in minnesota. we have to have individuals who have skin in the game, with better information about quality and price. we have to pay providers just not for volume of procedures, but we've got to make sure they are actually getting paid for better health. then we got to let in on the regulations more broadly. a lot of business -- they say, yes or no if i need a permit but

tell me quickly. so there is a whole proposal about regulatory reform. i want to get to your questions, but i want to close with one overarching thought i think some of this whole debate. that is this -- if you think about what separates the united states of america from the rest of the world, it is not that we are the biggest country in population -- we are not. we are not the cheapest country in the world, although we do need to be more competitive. if we are not the biggest, and we are not the cheapest, what is it that has made us the most successful, exceptional nation the world has known? the answer is, we are the freest country in the world and when people are afraid they can do a number of things. they can dream as they see fit. they can invent, create, they can design. they can associate as they see fit. they can worship as they see fit. they can speak as they see fit -- like this german does. that freedom unleashes in the human potential the ability to say "i can do this.

" it is fundamentally different than most other cultures throughout the globe through most of time. when the government comes and say, you know what, we are going to take over, where they say we are going to make it more difficult, or they will tax it or regulates it or make it slower or discourage it, they not only run of their budget but they do something else that i think is equally or even more corrosive to the country, and that is, they weighed down the american spirit. they weighed down and discourage the american people. you have people all over the country who are discouraged and war. not because of themselves, not because they lost faith in their family or their church or neighborhood or community, but they lost faith in their government. they lost faith in their government. what is going on with that, people say barack obama had his chance. he came through iowa and other places and he said both for me,

and he had great speeches and rhetoric. the great speeches did not put gas in my car, great speeches to not pay your mortgage, great speeches does not pay your health care, great speeches does not buy your groceries. [applause] so, what we need to do is this -- tell barack obama that he had his chance. it's not working. and if you like the way the country is going, vote for him. but if you want to get this thing moving and grow jobs and gas prices down and get the federal government under control and get results -- not based on flapping your job and getting fancy speeches, it is getting it done like i did in minnesota. thank you. i'd be happy to take your questions. thanks a lot. all right, who's got a question? sir. >> we have been hearing a lot of candidates talking about jobs overseas, keeping them here at

home. i read every port that a lot of the candidates have all of their campaign material contract overseas and not in this country. >> question from this gentleman over here with the super-t- shirts on. talking about candidates saying growing jobs here but they are making or ordering the materials from places overseas. that is their prerogative. the direction i have given my campaign is to buy american, and to buy it from here. yes. >> my name is gabe and i am from the great state of minnesota. i wanted thank you for speaking to us but i want to address one concern, and that is you have not stood for me and my friend. you have not stood for us. that is really hard for me as someone who supports the national organization for marriage, someone who stands for

the definition of marriage between one man and woman -- i thought our country was about life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness for everyone, no exception. i want to know, when will you stand up for me and that is what i want to know from you today because you are discriminating against me, and it hurts, it really does. >> the german and a friend is asking a question about gay marriage or traditional man ag -- the gentleman in front here is asking a question but a marriage. i understand we have a difference of opinion on this issue. let me give you my perspective and i am sure you will give me yours or have giving me yours. from my perspective, i am not the point nor i him every -- ever at the point saying every domestic relationship is the same as traditional marriage. the relationship between a man and woman in a traditional marriage is important for our country, society, and coulter and i think it should remain elevated not just in our words but under our laws that is why i supported and offered laws as

marriages between a man and woman. >> i support that you have your moral values but that is something that is hurting my future and how i get to live my life, and that is something -- for someone who talks about government that gets out of your lives, why this government get involved in our marriages. >> the question -- the german ones to know why the government is dead -- gentleman wants to know why the government gets involved. i think every state has an history of the country laws defining or addressing marriage. this is not a new thing, but an important thing. we would just have a respectful disagreement, sir. go ahead. with the nebraska shirt on. [inaudible] i think the gentleman was asking about the cut line of large

versus small. the statistic, 6 million or so businesses -- 5.9 million or so have 500 employees or fewer and most of those have 100 employees or fewer. >> is anyone towards a bad -- this will be the last one. turkey ranch -- turkey hill ranch. >> and the arab world, 99.9% of the land mass is owned by arabs. and you tell me why they cannot find room for a palestinian state other than israel? >> the question about why we can't get a palestinian state -- >> why doesn't have to take land from israel when they own most of the land? >> the question about land available other than from israel for a palestinian state. it is a long and involved issue with a lot of complexity.

we should stand by our friends in the world, we should stand by them strongly. one of our best friends in the world is the nation of israel. we stand by them shoulder to shoulder. there should be no daylight between us and israel. unfortunately the current president has repeatedly stuck his thumb in the eye of israel in a way that undermines the friendship and undermines their security interest and ours. it is not helpful to them and not helpful to us. now you have been denied as nations -- united nations or people -- declaring, this anemic organization, think about declaring a unilateral palestinian state without israel's concurrence or agreement, without america's concurrence or agreement. all it would do is reflect a coalition between hamas and fatah.

pick up the hamas charter -- the words and tones stand for the destruction of israel, hostility towards the united states. we should not have the united states or anyone else unilaterally imposing anything on israel. thank you for coming out. i know the sun is hot. i appreciate you being here and i appreciate the chance of sharing a few thoughts with you and i hope you'll come to the straw ballot, vote for my campaign. >> a chance to watch the political process on fold. the latest in a series of punches -- president of candidates speaking at the sobel

box location. you heard from minnesota gov. tim pawlenty and before that, congressman ron paul and before that, herman cain. and we will hear from debbie wasserman schultz on the democratic side. former speaker newt gingrich, and then michele bachmann is scheduled to speak at 5:00 eastern time, 4:00 local time. she is also appearing on all five sunday morning shows which can be heard on c-span radio. now i chance for you to weigh in on what you have been hearing and seeing. susan joining us from bloomington, illinois. welcome to c-span. >> thank you for giving us something intelligent to look at. i am a 99er because my job went to india. i sent out thousands of resumes. there are no jobs in this country. obama ran on the idea of change. ok, he had his chance. now i want to see some real

change. >> do you have a favorite thus far? >> actually herman cain. he has not been there and he is not corrupted by it all but he is a businessman who knows how to run a business and make jobs, and he makes common sense. >> can he win the nomination? >> i don't know, but it sure would be an interesting opportunity. during this in debt ceiling debacle they had, i kept waiting for one person in washington to say as a gesture in good faith, we will cut 20 four -- 20% of our staff and take a 20% production since we know everyone will have to sacrifice. that sure as the world did not happen again i want to know who is going to support term limits. who is going to support the line item veto, and who will have the guts enough to say all americans are created equal so everybody in washington will have the same social security and the

same medicare that i am getting. >> reign was in the forecast for today but as you can see the sun has broken through -- rain was in the forecast today. we will have live coverage of the straw poll that gets underway at 1:00 eastern time, and our coverage is at noon eastern time did it look at "gut the maureen register -- "the des moine register" -- you can see sarah palin has arrived at a half an hour ago. >> i agree 100% with a lady from illinois. everybody is making dreams and promises to all veterans. i am a vietnam veteran. i was stationed at camp lejeune , i am one of the guys who drank the water, the drinking water, and nobody is doing nothing.

i had a friend who passed away from that. what is the government doing? letting us die? we fight for our country and nobody does nothing. you go to the va hospital, they treat us like we are dirt. >> dennis and san diego. you are next. >> hi, i'm dennis from san diego. i call in as a democrat -- calling as a democrat, but of the republican opponents, the one i admire is michele bachmann because she is down to earth, no-nonsense candidate. she speaks from her heart. she truly believes in everything she says. i think she is a great human being, a great wife and mother, and on top of that opens her home to those less fortunate through the foster child system. i admire very much and i would even go as far to say as i was personally offended to see

that's the that photograph of her in "newsweek" magazine. but having said all of this, i am sorry, i cannot vote republican in 2012. here is why. because their legislative agenda, no matter how you cut it, is always going to be aimed at making the rich richer and the poor poorer. thank you for your time very much. >> edward joining us from west virginia as we continue our live in the road to the white house coverage on c-span. >> calling about the people hollering about the rich getting richer. you know whenever you start a multimillion-dollar business and you hire 1000 or 2000 people, your taxes are paid to those people and they turn around and give it to the government. the government makes more money. at the same time, these businesses have to make money for the stockholders to keep the business running. they have to have money to pay for this to the insurance program obama started. that will be money out of the business's pockets. i would like to know one person

who could tell me he got a job offer of a poor man because of the dead, he is stupid, he has to be making less than 3 cents or 4 cents an hour. >> i would like to reiterate what the last caller was saying. it is very true -- when you finally get all of the money out of the rich people, who is the next person in line? that is some been mr. obama and a lot of other people, whether democrats or republicans, don't say who is next on the chopping block. the other thing i would like to say is, if all of these folks are so smart and washington, how, they forgot us a baby boomers would start retiring? they were caught with their pants down wondering where they were supposed to get the money. isn't it a case of mismanagement? >> michael, charlotte, north carolina. democrats' line. >> this is michael. how are you doing, steve? is a wonderful time.

democrats haven't had a reason to really get excited looking at these republicans who are coming out and not really wanting to take either responsibility for some of the things they have done. just think, we have a president of the there who really wanted to do things for the country -- no support at all. just no, no, know. democrats, this is a chance to really show boat world. we do it -- show the world at the ballot box. everybody who is a democrat and republican and independent, here is a chance for us to show the world what this country is all about and let's show these republicans what we really want. thanks again. america, our best days are still ahead of us. we are going to have to remove these republicans from office. >> thanks for the call, from north carolina. next is a viewer from iowa.

kelly is on the phone. independent line. >> yes, i was just watching on the soap box at the state fair, and the one viewer made a comment about the marriage and he asked him about it. i really don't like the republican pausing you about gay marriage and how the government gets into it -- i really don't like the government policy viewer. if you are gay, whatever. man and women -- man and woman, that is cool, make more children. >> mike is joining us from boston. democrats' line. what is on your mind? >> i found it disturbing that during the debate last night, none of the panelists asked the candidate anything significant. all across the united states there are these flash mobs in wisconsin, boston, pittsburgh,

all across the nation blacks are attacking whites in these violent flash a mob episodes -- and that is the empirical evidence. white people have been under siege in this nation, and in london, and they are not doing anything to fight back and these panelists don't ask the questions, saying what is the mitt romney and tim pawlenty going to do about that? >> over the 10 days of the iowa state fair, an estimated 1 million visitors. iowa is a state of 3 million in total and the state historical has held the first in the nation presidential caucus. the first taking place to 1970's, in the 1972 campaign, with the george mcgovern using it as a springboard to his nomination, and in 1976 none of the above came in first, with jimmy carter coming in second and iowa propelling him to the nomination. this year, of course,

republicans converging on iowa for a debate last night at the state fair and a straw poll tomorrow. christine is joining us from michigan. go ahead. republican line. >> i called in as a republican but with most of my friends, we find ourselves becoming more and more disgusted with the republican party. we are moderates and we truly do not understand why there are no people either from the very liberal democrats or from the very conservative republicans who recognized that most of the people out there are moderate, middle-of-the-road. there is nothing out there that is answering any of our questions. we are also very, very frustrated with the whole debt issue. there is absolutely no question in most of our minds that there will have to be some tax increases. but the very frustrating thing is that nothing that the people in washington are doing i faxed

them. they are doing nothing about getting rid of ear marks. they're not cutting their pay, not doing anything about their insurance. and once again, they are totally ignoring what the american people are asking them to do. >> do you have any candidates so far, christine, that he would support? -- you would support? >> i would have to say probably no, but maybe leaning a little bit more toward cain, and even that is very iffy. we have been talking to most of our friends and we say the same thing -- there is nobody out there answering the questions that the moderates are asking. >> thanks for your call. these are live pictures of the iowa state fair. next is cindy from massachusetts. go ahead, please.

>> i just want to say, you know, i think we need taxes, not taxes. we have had a future redistribution of wealth. it is not one that follows the path of socialism. it is the one that follows the path of fascism where all of the wealth is getting concentrated in the top few percent of the income bracket. we need it taxes so that we don't have to cut programs that put money back into the economy and into the hands of consumers will actually spend it. >> thanks for the call. anthony from north carolina. go ahead. >> thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to comment -- just make a couple of comments. first of all, i would like to say that i think a lot of the american public has been misinformed.

a lot of republicans like rick santorum, they seem to make reference to ronald reagan as if he did a lot of great things for our country. in reality, and ronald reagan -- in reality, ronald reagan is the founder of trickle-down economics and basically a lot of americans don't understand how that affected our country. ronald reagan supported giving the big businesses tax breaks and putting more money in their pockets with the hope that those big businesses and the wealthy in this country would use that money to create more jobs. and over the last 30 years, that has not happened. we have lost more jobs in this country than we have gained in the last 30 years. i think candidates like ron paul, who i endorse wholeheartedly,