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[applause] >> the president heading to new york city for a couple of events this ching -- events this evening, we'll cover one of them

at 9:00 from the apollo theater. colling -- coming up this afternoon, republican presidential candidate rick santorum will be at the southern republican leadership conference, coming up at 2:00 eastern here on c-span. you can follow all the events from today with the announcement by rick perry, he's dropping out of the campaign, and more on our website at c-span.org/campaign2012. yesterday the obama administration rejected the keystone oil pipeline project. this morning, "washington journal" talked with a member of the national resources defense project about the pipeline project. >> you are with the national

resource defense council. what is their position on the keystone x.l. pipeline? >> we've been opposed to it since it was first opposed. we've been opposing expansion of oil production in canada, as you know, it's a very destructive form of oil extraction, basically strip mined and drilled from under the forest. it represents a dirty form of energy that we don't need in the u.s. we have better choices. >> so your position on the president's position? >> we think that the president shows real leadership in rejecting the tar sands pipeline yesterday. it was a real step for clean energy, an important step for clean energy and the president took a strong stand and stood up to big oil in making this decision to reject this very dirty and destructive pipeline. host: is it over? it can still happen, can't it? guest: the pipeline can be reproposed, the company can reapply. any company can apply to build a

new pipeline in the united states. for now, this propose of the keystone x.l. pipeline is over. host: do you expect them to reapply? guest: they've indicated an interest in reapplying, we'll have to see what happens in the coming days. host: we're going to put the numbers up on the screen if you want to comment on the keystone x.l. pipeline. i'm sure you've seen the editorials and articles, but "the wall street journal" in their editorial entitled "the anti-jobs president," writes, environmentalists think they can prevent the development of canada's oil rich tar sands and the rally against keystone will keep the carbon in the ground. they can't and it won't. they will build a pipeline to the pacific coast from alberta and sell its petroleum products to asia instead, china in particular. guest: right now, the united states is the main market for

tar sands oil. the united states and canada. the canadians have not yet permitted a major tar sands pipeline across the land and the pipeline that would go across canada to go to asia or california is not being allowed, it's facing a year of delay because of concerns in british columbia. keystone x.l. is about them not wanting such a big, destructive pipeline. host: how much of this pipeline exists already? this is just an extension, isn't it? guest: it's called an extension but it's almost entirely a new pipeline. only one relatively small part of it exists, there would be mostly new build, across montana and most of it across texas

would be new. host: representative joe wilson, who was our guest prior to your coming out here, said we've been -- the technology exists to keep this safe. that we've been using pipelines for over 100 years, etc., that this is a no-brainer, he said. guest: what's interesting is nrdc, my organization, has done a lot of looking into these types of pipelines and there's something new here. before we didn't have pipelines that carried this tar sands oil, it's more corrosive. the first pipeline the same company built leaked 14 times in its first year. that's an awful lot of leaks and spills for a brand new, supposedly state of the art pipeline. host: what about the alaska pipeline? has it environmentally, what his it done? guest: when you look at other pipelines that carry other substances, they're quite different. what a tar sands pipeline is,

it's essentially pumping this heavy gunk that has the consistency of peanut butter that's been diluted, at high pressures, which causes high temperatures, over vast distances, and when you look at the, for example, having an oil spill in our farm lands in nebraska, where the aquifer comes up to the surface of the land, that could be devastating to farmers. it's different than a lot of pipelines we have seen in the united states. host: our viewers also mentioned the aquifer and water issue. how do you look at it? guest: i think water has been one of the key drivers of opposition against this pipeline in the united states. we've seen people in nebraska who are so opposed to having the pipeline go through the aquifer that they achieved a decision last fall to choose another route. there's a large portion of this pipeline through the nebraska where the route hasn't been

determined yet. host: please allow 30 days between your calls. walter, on our republican line, you're first up. caller: thank you for taking my call, i do appreciate it. i can respect if you are saying these issues because you truly love nature and want to protect the environment but i believe there's an ulterior motive here. when president obama mentioned that naturally we were going to have to make energy costs skyrocket, i want you to look at every american, and i want you to look at people in their homes sitting on unemployment and i want you to tell them that, listen, we're worried about maybe a little squirrel or an endangered caribou and we don't want you to go to work, we don't want america to become independent and we want to sit here with windmills in our back yard. the reality is, all these natural, all these new technologies for clean things are a hoax. i want a nuclear power in my

back yard, i want digging for oil, i want america to become independent and not have to be tied into the mideast with oil. so i want you to look at every american and say, we care about a squirrel more than putting an american back to work. host: we got the point, walter, thank you. guest: thank you for your comment. you raise excellent points about the need for jobs and the need for energy independence and we do believe that the way forward to achieve those things is through reducing our dependence on oil, that means building clean energy as a way forward in terms of jobs and economic security and also frankly national security. there's been a lot of military leaders speaking out recently about how expanding our dependence on oil from any source is not the way forward to our security. what we need to do is start reducing our dependence on oil, we've been doing that successfully in the united states and can continue to do it. which mean wegs don't need expansion of tar sands oil from

canada. host: didn't i see a report from exxonmobil that oil will still be the vastly -- vastly the main energy source through 2040 at least? fwoip the oil companies have it in their interest to promote oil as the major energy source. every major oil company is invested in tar sands and is pushing this keystone x.l. pipeline, not really in the interest of americans, not for jobs, not for security, but so they can reach the deep water port in the gulf coast and have world oil prices at their fenger tips and export this oil anywhere they want. ironically, this might cause oil prices in the midwest to rise because instead of having more oil coming to the u.s., what it really is going to do is divert oil, be a bypass for the midwest, and take the oil to the gulf coast for export instead system of supply and demand, you

will see a rise in oil prices. that's something the pipeline company, transcanada, itself, has said. host: jeanette, a democrat in california, go ahead. caller: i watched the senate hearings with the transcanada people and the president of transcanada was asked repeatedly is there any guarantee that the oil that's going to come through that pipeline, any part of it will go to america? and he said, unequivocally, no. and he said it over and over and over. so i'm curious why we're going to destroy the aquifer and all of these states, i mean, along the pipeline, not the whole state, but along the pipeline, to make 20,000 jobs over, what, nine states?

come on. this is ridiculous. plus the wastewater stuff is going to be injected into so-called empty wells. they not empty. it will go into the aquifer. host: susan casey-left co-wits. guest: you raise important questions about the water for supplying farmers and land owners with the water they need. transcanada indeed has not been able to guarantee that the oil would stay in the united states, partly because it's primarily destined for export. the refineries in the gulf coast themselves have said they're going to turn a lot of oil sands -- tar sands oil into diesel which would go overseas to latin america and asia and europe. you raise the point about the jobs, there are wildly inflated jobs estimates about the pipeline. what it would bring by transcanada's own numbers is a

few thousand construction jobs a few hundred permanent jobs, not the tens of thousands of jobs that we hear people claiming right now. it's actually cruel, i think, to hold up a pipeline a single pipeline construction project, as though it's somehow a national jobs plan when it's not. what we need in this country is a jobs plan to bring us clean energy jobs so our water and land doesn't have to suffer at the same time that we're getting our economic jobs that we need. host: has the president's green jobs initiative been successful? guest: i think we see a lot of things being done to create green jobs in this country and a lot more needs to happen. one of the barriers, frankly, has been the oil industry. when you look at the kind of opposition there's been to clean fuel standards and to clean energy niche fivetives and initiatives to fund chi lat change a lot of it is coming from the oil industry, which to our way of thinkinging needs to

start he chidging itself from an industry looking at oil as its profit, to looking at energy, because then it could join with what i think the majority of americans want, which is a clean energy future. host: our guest is the international program director at the national resources defense council, law degree from the university of virginia. juan, oklahoma, david, independent line line, you're on "washington journal." caller: i have a -- kind of -- first of all, i'm a welder and i do pipeline work. i'd like to say that i unequivocally am against this pipeline coming across our aquifers and i am so the very region i used to have some of the best welders, my well had

the sweetest water in the area, i've had gas wells around me and now my well is poisoned. this is what's going to happen to everybody's watt fer the pipeline comes across the area and it starts leaking and i guarantee you it will leak at some point. guest: thank you for that comment, especially coming from you, someone who has seen pipeline construction. there's a pipeline safety inspector who worked on the first keystone project, the one that's had 14 leaks in its first year of operation, and in part it's the nature of raw tar sands oil and diluted bitumin that makes it leak but it's also making sure the pipeline companies are really taking care to build these pipelines safely. and we haven't been able to see those kinds of assurances from transcanada. the pipeline safety inspector

who has come forward about the first keystone pipeline made a lot of claims he saw in terms of bad practices in building that first pipeline. i think the proof is in the pudding when we see how many leaks it's had. host: from texas, bobby, republican line. go ahead. caller: thank you very much. quickly, i would like to refute most of what this woman has said. first of all, this goes to -- let's duo to climate change. man is not causing climate change. we have always had climate change, ever since the earth started. that's a fact. you can look it up, you can look and see that greenland, they were raising crops in the year 800 in greenland, then they had to leave because it froze. so man didn't cause that. the climate changes. that's number one. number two, when you refine oil you get gasoline and diesel and many other byproducts. you don't just get gasoline. we refine more diesel than we use system of we sell it.

that's -- and you don't say that when you're talking. and you don't bring out the points equally. so you are a fraud, woman. and you should not be able to have a platform on tv. guest: thanks for your comment, i appreciate you bringing up the climate change point. it's an important one. scientifically there is no doubt that climate change is real and happening and although in the past people have said well it's happening elsewhere in the world, how does that affect us here in america, especially in the past year, we have seen the effects of climate change in our everyday lives. there have been droughts and wild fairs -- wild fires, there have been floods, there have been violent storms, all these things attributable to climate change and these things not only hurt our homes and communities, they hurt our pocketbooks, frankly. the costs of climate change have also started to be tallied and they are high. especially this past year in the united states. part of the way to fight climate

change is to start reducing our dependence on oil, that means we should not be going after ever dirtier and higher carbon sources of oil like tar sands oil. host: all right, this is from joseph who tweets this in to you. guest: for many years we have talked about what it would take to get off fossil fuels. as long as we keep talking about it and not doing it, we won't get off fossil fuels. i think we could do it much more quickly, we can start by not going after the much dirtier, much more expensive and difficult to extract fossil fuels. use what we have now but don't start expanding, don't go after every last drop before we make the transition and get off of oil.

host: haven't there been efforts for years to try other things, solar power, hydrogen cells, president bush had announced a big initiative for that. is that going anywhere? guest: i think that our clean energy initiatives are making great progress. the o'thing making great progress, frankly is fuel efficiency standards. our use of oil in the united states is going down. that's a really great thing. we should be proud of that. america can really be a leader a world leader, in clean energy and that's frankly where our future lies. america should be a world leader , and clean energy is a great path to choose. it's an inspiring path to choose to do that. host: just to tie it in, we've gone relatively paperless in the last 10 years or so in a lot of electronics, but those electronics take electricity, grid and more power plants. is that better than using paper? guest: i think that ultimately

what we need to be doing is reducing our use of oil for things like fuel -- through things like fuel efficiency standards but also moving ourselves off of fossil fuels in our electricity grid, moving to solar and wind. we can do that. we have it at our fingertips to make it happen. we are looking at more electric vehicles and smart growth so we can be building our communities better so that we can get around, we can do the things we need to do in the day and with the same ease we do them now, but without the same level of -- level of dependence on oil. host: how did you get interested in these issues? guest: i have been interested in these issues have from very young. i went to law school to do environmental work and have been doing environmental advocacy for 0 years. it's something i care passionately about. with climate change right now the major threat facing our world, i think we all need to be doing everything we can to build our clean energy economy and

reducing our dependence on oil. host: susan casey-lefkowitz is our guest. and sue from illinois on our democrat line. guest: i agree with the gentleman that called about the climate taking its natural course and changing its own self. i'd like to know how this woman got to c-span today? did she take a jet, how many cars she has in her family, so if people aren't willing to do a little riding a bicycle, combining themselves to transport themselves to work and back, then you know you're part of the problem and not the solution. so i just don't believe that -- i'm going to have to say she's also false too because you're going to have to put yourself where your mouth is. i live not far from windmills between lincoln, illinois, and springfield, and i can tell you i hardly ever see them running at all. that's my point.

i thank you very much. guest: yourself right that it's going to take a change in behavior from individuals to reduce our dependence on oil. and i agree with you, i actually walked here this morning, i live over in arlington, virginia, it was about four and a half miles but i walk back and forth to work every day because i think that is the best way to show how committed i am and frankly it's also just a healthier lifestyle. i'm not saying everybody should work, people need their cars to get around but we have better ways of fueling our cars and better ways of building efficient cars and that's been, i think, a real success story for america in the recent past. host: how long does it take you to get to work? >> it takes about an hour each way, and it saves going to the gym. host: what do you think about employers giving subsidies for parking or metro riding? do you think that helps, encourages energy efficiency or

better use of our resources? guest: i think anything to encourage walking and taking public transportation is a good solution. more than that, more than individuals' choices, we need to make sure it's easy for people to make those good choices and that comes back to the oil industry. because as long as we have an industry that is so rich and so powerful and so set on essentially, you know, raking every last drop of oil oute're e able to proceed. they're going to keep setting up barriers to achieving clean energy goals, whether that's in the big picture in terms of changing what our energy looks like in the u.s. or whether it's in the kinds of choices you and i have in our everyday lives for how we get around. host: susan case question-lefkowitz, champaign, illinois, james, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm going to talk very quickly

because i've got something, i've got a lot to say. to the lady on your show, i'd like to say to her that a lot of us here in champaign, this is a university town, we're well aware of the environmental damage they're doing, the oil companies. in the 1930's, the united states government paid a man named dr. john kerry to perfect a process called low temperature carbonization of coal. not invented but perfected. this is where you take a ton of coal, you put it in a total vacuum, you heat it to 800 degrees and you get a barrel of oil out of it. the coal that's left burns pollution-free, you get 5,000 feet of rich fuel gas, basically natural gas and at the same time, the offpeek steam, the steam created by this, can generate up to 10,000 kilowatts of free power again. we went to the department of energy, myself and some macroeconomists here at the

university, they won't give us a loan to do it. we went to the commodities market up in chicago to talk to some men and at the end of the meeting, a gentleman who works for, let's just say the largest oil company on earth, sat and told us, as long as there's billions of barrels of oil in the ground, they're going to see to it we go nowhere because if they can suck it out and sell it for money, they're going to do it. so please, get on google, look up low temperature carbonization of coal, late in the 1930's, by the way, point of history, they sent dr. john kerry to japan to show it to them. they are an island nation with no natural resources. how to you think they fueled the war machine against us? they invaded the manchurian coil fields of china, set up 11 l.t.c. plants and created oil. host: we have to bring this to a conclusion. susan casey-lefkowitz, what do

you have to say? guest: those are great questions, it shows a lot of ingenuity and creativity in america, it shows with the right leadership we can be inventing and creating great quds for clean energy. these are things that will help us get off of all fossil fuels eventually so we can be safer and more secure from the effects of climate -- threats of climate change, which are some of the biggest threats facing us right now.

guest: this is an argument we hear a lot but condition da has not built any of these to its coasts. keystone pipeline x.l. would be the first pipeline to carry tar sands oil to a deep harbor. the aboriginal peoples along the type een -- pipeline path and tanker path are opposed to it. there are public hearings in canada, what you're hearing is thousands of people speaking up and voicing concerns about their water, their land, and the climate. all the same kinds of concerns you heard in the united states

around the keystone x.l. pipeline. host: what is bitumen? guest: bitumen is a raw, tarry substance, looks like soft coal, that's what is mined in the forest they scrape off the top of the forest and wetlands and use hot water and steam to wash the bitumen from the sand. that's why it's called tar sands, you've got tarry stuff micked with sand. host: are the canadians refining it? guest: they are refining a lot of it in canada. traditionally that's what's been done. it's a newer move to have the raw stuff brought to the u.s. and refined here, mostly because they found it ended up being more expensive for the oil companies to build new refineries in canada since the existing ones are almost at

capacity and have turned to the midwest to take tar sands oil and now to the gulf coast. host: next call comes from sal in holbrooke, new york. democrat. caller: i've got a question, i've got three questions. somebody has to look this up. in 1985, you talk about gas, there was a guy invented two cars, one got 85 miles per gallon, the other got 65 miles per gallon. why won't -- were gas companies tai loued to buy this up and make it disappeared. the other thing, i understand why iraq has nuclear weapons, all the gas and oil we bought there over the years helped them. i don't know why we're not drilling here in the united states. you can look up on the internet, we have plenty of gas and oil here. and you talk about animals and people dying, if i -- if they

decide not to give us oil, i can't afford $5 a gallon for gas. we don't take that into consideration? you talk about lives being lost, look at the troops that went over there to defend these people that died over there while the oil and gas companies got rich off this war. what about that? you talk about life and preservation, what is more important? maybe we should start digging in our own country. fwoip you raise a lot of excellent points. i was speaking the other day with general steven anderson who did a lot of logistics in the gulf in the war and what he says is that, indeed, our troops are being put in danger every day because of oil. and what that really means is we need to get off oil. it's not about where the oil comes from, because unfortunately oil is all tied together in a global market and taking it unfortunately from the u.s. or canada won't make us safer or the troops safer.

what we need to do for our energy security is to reduce our demand for oil and eventually get off oil all together. that's the way to essentially relieve this dependence on places like the mideast right now. host: next call, we have about 10 minutes left with our guest, comes from duh luth, georgia, freddy on the republican line. caller: can you hear me? host: go ahead. caller: susan comes across like she's an expert on this green technology, so i want to ask her three quick questions. please don't avoid my questions. number one, how much does one windmill cost? that's number one question. number two, what's the maintenance on one of those windmills for a whole year? number three, how long will one turbine last? i know it costs $100,000 just to put a base in to put one windmill up. so i want to know the cost of the windmill, how long will the turbine last and what's the

maintenance cost for a whole year? i bet you can't answer one of the questions? guest: thanks so much, freddy, i can't answer those question, that's not what i'm an expert in, the costs. what i've been focused on is tar sands oil and the extraction of the tar sands pipeline. what i know is it's a risk to our safety, our land, our water and our climate and we need to find better solutions. at my organization we do have a lot of people who work on those types of issues in detail, we'd be happy to follow up. if you go to our website, www.nrdc.org, you can get in contact with us and we'd be happy to get -- to follow up with the costs of the turbines. host: give us a history of the nrdc? guest: it's been around 40 years, we work on all kinds of environmental advocacy but climate and energy are our focal points.

we have a team that works on clean energy and one team that fights dirty energy because we believe you have to do both to make sure we can build a clean energy future for ourselves. host: who started it? >> it was -- guest: it was started by a group of people but john adams was one of our founders and worked there for many years until he retired a few years ago. we have over 1.3 million members and activists right now, mostly in the united states but some from around the world. most of our work is done right here at home in the u.s. i've read -- we are an international program, we work throughout the americas and we have a branch in china. host: how would you describe china's environmental regulation at this point? guest: china is such a fascinating country, they're making huge strides forward on

clean energy. and on trying to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels but at the same time they're growing rapidly. their consumption is grow, wealth is growing so people are wanting to drive more. so it's a real race there to see really what succeeds. are they going to succeed in becoming a lead for the clean energy? or are they going to increase their construction to the point where their use of fossil fuels is also still part of the picture. host: do they have strong environmental laws at this point? guest: i'd say it's a mixed bag there. they're trying to increase environmental laws. what you see is in the past, there's been such problems from pollution, but there's been real outrage at not having clean air, not having clean water, the basics. i think often we forget in the u.s. how much our environmental laws have brought us. they've really helped us breathe easily, trust that our water is clean and not every other

country has that. china is working hard to develop that. the people are asking for it. host: rich, an independent in l.a. go ahead. caller: susan, the squirrels and i thank you very much for walking to and from work every day. would it be effective for obama to publicize the oil industry contributions received by congress members supporting the keystone pipeline? and why isn't obama on tv every day detail with power point slides how filthy tar sands oil is? guest: thanks for that comment, you know it's interesting, i think that there is actually more and more information coming out about the contributions from the, especially the tar sands oil industry, to members of congress who have been supporting the keystone x.l. pipeline. it's been a part of this story all along. and i think you're right. we need to have leaders from our administration out there talking

about just how dirty tar sands is and what we see is that the debate has really grown in the united states as people have learned about where the tar sands oil comes from and how it's taken out of the ground and what kind of long-term impact it can have on our climate. host: when you read the statement by the president, he essentially isn't saying, it's a done deal. guest: what the president i think was saying is this round is done, it is rejected, it's a done deal. any company can come back and propose a new tar sands pipeline in the future. we know this is essentially a fight for the long haul, fighting expansion of tar sands oil extraction. we're up against one of the biggest and most powerful industries in the world, that's why obama showed real leadership in standing up to the oil industry and speaking out for the health and safety of the american people, that's fundamentally why this decision

was made. host: from the president, from the white house yesterday. host: this decision -- host: we have a few minutes left with our guest, our caller from austin. caller: i want to bless c-span, thank you for your programming. i wanted to comment on the idea that somehow avoiding the pipeline is going to kill our jobs. and i point directly to oregon with the spotted owl issue where the lumber companies and their moneys were focused on keeping the lumber industry and not giving the spotted owl any recommendation. however, it's turned out that their economy has turned out to be stronger with all the ecotourism and jobs related to

that industry which is clean and beautiful and has benefited the local economy, why do you think that the pipeline is going to be any different? also, there are jobs inherent in the clean industries. and those jobs would far supersede the oil pipeline. that's all, i just have a comment on that and thank you for the nrdc, i am a member. thank you. guest: thank you so much, thank you for being a member of nrdc, we appreciate your support. i think your comment is exactly right. you know, when you weigh up the jobs and then look at the fact that if there's an oil spill you might actually have farmers losing their jobs and homes and livelihoods in america's heartland, the two don't come together. i think that republicans in congress and the oil industry rather cynically have been using the jobs issue as though somehow the single pipeline is a national jobs plan. people need jobs in the u.s. and what we need is not a single

construction project, but a real plan for how our whole nation can move forward and grow stronger economically and clean energy is a real pass for that, as opposed to dirty energy which bears such a high cost in terms of water, land and climate. host: just to let you know, rick perry is suspending his campaign, we'll have more on that as me morning develops, especially with our c-span radio news update in a few minutes. clarkton, russ, go ahead. caller: i would like to ask your guess, since she's avoiding the questions, i would like to know if she gets taxpayer money to support her organization? and she avoided the question, does she own a car? does she fly since she's a director of the international? do you get on a plane? do you walk everywhere you go? i would like you to tell the people that, straight out. thank you very much for taking

my call, c-span. guest: thank you. i'd be happy to answer those questions. nrdc is funded primarily through individual contributions. we also get money from private foundations and grants. i believe that there is a little bit of government grants that nrdc receives for a few projects, and we don't take money from corporations and yes, i do own a car. i inherited it from a my grandfather a few years ago, we use it occasionally to visit family, i do fly, i regret having to do it, i wish there were better ways to get around but what i am encouraged by is the aviation industry, especially in europe is one of the industries that's been doing what they can to change the kind of fuel that they use. looking at biofuels that are sustainably grown, and looking at ways to reduce their use of oil. it's really interesting, the kind of strides that they're making. i think that they can get there. host: last call for our guest

susan casey-lefkowitz for the national resources defense council. miami, ernest, republican. caller: yes, i -- thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak. i'm watching the guest talk about climate change but you have to realize that climate change is predicted in the bible and that's because we don't trust in god and everybody trying to blame it on oil and all these things. also, i would like to ask the young lady, what kind of electricity does she use, what kind of power does she use to generate power in her home? it's like, they say they want to get off oil but they're not bringing up solutions and at the same time, right now, our country is on under threat from

iran and other countries and what are we supposed to do? are we supposed to bow down to these peoples here who don't really abide by their own rules and regulations and allow our country to go into chaos like it's been under this president? you know, it's ridiculous. host: we're going to leave it there, ernest. guest: thank you and i hear the concerns you raise. i think a lot of us are worried about continued dependence on the mideast. and the real way to stop that type of dependence on oil from the mideast is getting off of oil altogether. as long as we continue our dependence on oil, we put ourselves and our people at risk and clean energy is the way to stop that. clean energy, which is homegrown, which depends on american ingenuity, that's the best pass forward. when we look -- path forward. when we look at something like tar sands extraction in canada, which is so destructive on the

ground up there, to the people there but also strikes a blow at our fight for climate change, a blow at you are oatells to use clean energy. tar sands is not the right path forward for the united states, we can do better and have better and cleaner solutions. host: can you see any trends when the internal combustion engine was developed at the turn of the last century, can you see any trends in environmental concerns? guest: you knowing it's interesting, i think that when we look at our dependence on oil over the years, it has for a long time been a concern, but i think it's flaring up more now than ever in the environmental community because conventional forces -- sources of oil, the kind where you stick a well in the ground and the oil comes up, those are starting to dwindle. so we're looking at types of oil which in the past were not considered economical to go after and now suddenly, with higher prices of oil, they are. they're more expensive, they're

more risky, they're more difficult to get, more destructive to get, yet that's our future if we continue our dependence on oil. i think we can do better. we have cleaner solutions we should be turning to in our future instead of these dirtier solutions of the past. host: our guest is with the national resources defense council. thank you for being a guest. >> the iowa caucuses -- caucus results were certified today by the state and the formal count finds that former pennsylvania senator rick santorum came out ahead of mitt romney. rick santorum will join the national committee chairman at the southern republican leadership conference. that's scheduled to start at 2:00 eastern, we'll have it when it starts here on c-span. until then, we'll take you to comments from c-span's "washington journal" viewers, their reactions to the keystone decision.

host: we want your reaction to this decision. the area code is 202, 7370001 for democrats, for republicans,

202-73 -0002. for indepents, 20246628-0205. you can contact us by twitter, email or you can vote on facebook, whether or not you are in support of the keystone x.l. pipeline, facebook.com/cspan. speaker of the house john boehner spoke about this yesterday. >> the president is selling out american jobs for politics. the president was given the authority to block this project only and only if he believes it's not in the natural interest of the united states. is it not in the national interest to create tens of thousands of jobs here in america with private investment?

is it not in the national interest to get energy resources from an ally like canada as opposed to some countries in the mideast? the president said he will do anything he can to create jobs. today that promise was broken. host: and the "financial times" also placed the story on its front page.

they conclude, if republicans' highest priority was jobs and oil the pipeline would bring, they could have tried to negotiate a knew move chally acceptable timetable with the president. what they actually wanted was to embarrass obama and they succeeded. the biggest loser in this game of political football is the national interest. heather zeikel, an energy advisor to president obama, had a competing op-ed this morning.

host: first call on the president's decision on the keystone x.l. pipeline, from wisconsin, rick on our republican line. you're on the air. caller: yes, i have a major problem with president obama turning that down. we need the jobs in america and he has been not for the unions and everything that has

supported him for president. that's why i have become a republican. i have always voted independent and democrat, but i'm tired of everything being held up by this president of the united states. host: eagle river, risk, ron, democrat. good morning to you. what do you think? caller: i think the guy that just called ought to think about what he -- if he'd like to have fresh water to drink if that pipeline happens to have a leak in it. also, i think it's a great decision to slow this down. doesn't seem like our energy policy is guided by common sense anymore by the republicans. they think as long as there's one little tiny gallon of oil in the ground, we should be going after it. and i think our policy as far as energy goes, we should be going just the other direction. they should be investing in green energy, processes that are

renewable that we can use over and over again. aye got a perfect example of this. right now, my house, my garage, and all my hot water is being fed by a pellet stove outside my house. it is so energy efficient and it's no smoke and it's very clean. these are the things that can be developed. it's made for wood scraps. it's a renewable. it's not oil. this is the direction we should be going. thank you. host: steve, a republican in haymarket, virginia, good morning. caller: probably something missed yesterday, the congressional research council released a report saying that in all the years of the united states, we've only used 17% of our known recoverable oil. we are the number one producer of oil on the planet, as to this new report, get it on climatedepot, whereas you still cannot get the raw data

generated by michael man and james hanson. host: what's your point, steve? caller: the point is, we've got plenty of energy and there's no reason whatsoever to not get this energy and the guy that just called about the pell lote stove, he's making carbon monoxide, which is a poison. carbon dioxide is the most essential element for life on earth. host: we'll leave it there. nancy pelosi also spoke about this issue yesterday at a press conference. [video clip] >> if the republicans cared about the pipeline, they would not have put it on such a strict timeline. third of all this was -- this oil was always destined for overseas, just a question whether it leaves by way of canada or leaves candy by way of the united states. without taking a position on the pipeline, i don't agree to the stipulation that this is oil

going to china now instead of the u.s. it was always going overseas. i don't know where to, but it wasn't for domestic consumption. that's an important point because the advertising is quite to the contrary. host: and "the washington post" leads with this story. and johnson is an independent in athens, georgia. caller: thanks for taking my call, i appreciate it. i have a couple of things, i was watching you guy this is morning, it's nice to have c-span, it's -- you guys are important. i appreciate you being on. also, just follow the money when it comes to this energy gig. it's always going to be wherever the money is going. i'm somewhat concerned that we don't get the, you know, the construction throughout this country, straight down the

mississippi, but it might -- that might be a smart thing, especially after getting only 45 days to review it. but i just want to say thank you to you guys. host: from cookville, tennessee, al on our republican line. caller: good morning, peter, thanks for taking my call. you know, this is a very good example of what this administration is all about in the first place. they have been tied town for the environmentalists since the administration started. for example, we had a lot more oil even here in tennessee that we can't drill because of the e.p.a. i just don't -- you know, we cry about everything else. he says he's concerned about us, let me ask you something, when you stop paying $3.25 or $3.50 at the pump for gasoline or $4 or $5 or $6, he's really concerned about us?

i don't think so. this pipeline was a very good idea. that just tells me, he's got his hands tied by the environmentalists. thanks for taking my call. host: and the "houston chronicle" as well, which is where the pipeline would have ended, "obama rejects keystone pipeline permit." and from the "washington times," "obama's pipe dream economy." and from "the new york times," president obama has properly rejected the keystone x.l. pipeline and rebuffed the demands that the controversial

project be desireded in haste under an election year deadline. far more important to the nation's energy and environmental future, "the new york times" writes is the development of renewable and alternative energy sources. this is the winning case mr. obama should make to voters in rejecting the republicans' craven indulgence of big oil. mary in north carolina, robert on our independent line. what do you think about the president's decision? caller: if they've got so much oil in canada, why don't they build the pipeline in the northern states, that way they don't have to ship it so far. they could ship it to all the northern states instead of shipping it from texas all the way up. host: charlotte, north carolina, you can see the map of the proposed pipeline, actually two different maps, there are two different proposed pipelines. charlotte, north carolina, joel, a democrat. caller: yes, thank you for accepting my call. i will say about the pipeline, i

don't think it's necessary for right now, and then as far as job creation went, president obama tried to get the infrastructure line going, 2/3 of the american people told the republicans and the congress to pass that law. 2/3 of the american people. now, those jobs would have created a couple million jobs that i know of. the infrastructure people would have had to buy materials to do their work and the other companies would have to furnish the material to the people who are selling it to the infrastructure people. that was at least three million jobs and the republicans -- and the congress refused to help. they blocked it because they knew that -- they're destroying our country just to get one man out of office. this is deeper than the american people may think. they better think what they're doing if they put a republican

president in office. thank you. host: if you go to facebook.com/cspan, you can vote on whether or not it's a good idea to have the oil pipeline, currently it's about 60-40 or 70-30 for the pipeline. and to illinois, matthew. caller: i just want to point out that, you know, the democrats talk about jobs, well this is easy right here. this is a clear job creator. they don't want it because of the environmentalists, you know, you guys have a map of how much pipelines cost the country? can you throw that up on the screen? it's ridiculous. there are so many miles of pipeline. they don't want this one pipe, i don't get it. thanks for taking my call. host: haley barber has an op-ed this morning, "why i freed 26

inmates," is the title of the op-ed. he writes --

that is a little bit of haley barbour is op ed this morning in the "washington post." in his first 2012 campaign and, president obama focuses on energy. here is the commercial.

clip: secretive oil billionaires fact checking obama up without checking the facts. two 0.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly. our dependence on oil is below 50%. president obama kept his promise. i am barack obama and i approve this message. host: the president will be making a three-state, five-day tour, making stops in several key states. caller, what do you think of the pipeline decision? caller: i was wondering if you

were aware or if the public was aware that in the business section of our newspaper in the last month, they should who had a controlling interest in these oil stands and a portion of the pipeline. it is going wherever china wants to send it. do a little fact checking and see who owns the oil stands and why they want to send it down to the gulf coast of texas and louisiana. host: you can see the map there of the proposed pipelines on the screen. 1,700 miles long. it would be about a $17 billion project to put the pipeline through the u.s.. it would extend from alberta to illinois. there is currently a pipeline that exists from alberta to illinois and oklahoma.

this would be an extension of that. georgia, independent line, what do you think. caller: i think it was the right decision to not go forward with the pipeline. you made a reference to the wall street journal. i have a comment on that as well. is he an expert on this? number two, the wall street journal is for what? big business. i think it is a joke. i want to make a comment briefly on the haley barbour issue. i am not for that, necessarily, but we need to take individual cases and really look at them. look deep, because we need to get the food stamp president back out of office.

thank you. host: the wall street journal we have not read this morning. the washington times had the editorial against it. here is what the wall street journal had to say.

the natural resources defense council will be out here a

little bit later to take your calls on this issue. from the baltimore sun this morning, a new south carolina paul, mitt romney about 32%, newt gingrich 22%, rick santorum 14.5%, ron paul 14.5%, rick perry at about 5%. and a national poll has mitt romney at 30%, newt gingrich at 27%, rick santorum and ron paul at 13%, and rick. four%. -- 4%. this is the column this morning in roll call. this is looking at the house of representatives in 2012.

if you are interested in reading the whole thing, rollcall.com. back to your calls on the pipeline. this call comes from topeka, kansas. lou, a republican. how close would it come to kansas? caller: western kansas. i have two questions to ask somebody. one question has to do with the offer that this would cross. -- aquafier that this would cross. where is the water going to

come from to pump the oil sands from canada to texas? this is naturally dry country. we need something to put in the pipe the size -- pipe besides sand and oil. to liquefy it, to push it down the pipe. the second question is, somebody -- i have heard inflated numbers on both sides from the range of 8,000 jobs to20,000 jobs. surely somebody has a better estimate than the political people who wants to make a case for the big numbers or the little numbers but i hope you ask somebody those two questions. where is the water going to come from to put in the pipe to boost the oil? how many real jobs are there? thank you. host: if you are just joining us now, "the des moines register" reported this morning that the iowa caucuses are up in the air, that rick santorum is currently leading by 34 votes, but there are eight precincts out that cannot be certified.

therefore, at this point, they are not declaring a winner. 9:15 eastern time, the republican party in in what is -- i a what is -- iowa is opening its doors and holding a press conference. from politico, the debt ceiling going up despite a house vote.

that is from politico this morning, as is this article on rick perry.

again, that is from politico. pennsylvania, a democrat. what do you think of the decision on the pipeline? caller: i am with him 100%. first of all, i want to thank c- span for keeping us up to date on everything. i'm a long time as there. i wanted to tell you, do we really want to pipe that oil through the country if there is a break or anything like that?

i agree with the democrats that called earlier about we need to go for green alternatives. with the kansas republican, i agree with him also. how are we going to run the oil through those lines and at what expense? host: you probably heard this story. wife has said's ex- she could end her husband's career with a single interview. she sat down with brian ross of abc news for two hours. her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail, but now there is a conflict inside abc about when it should air.

that reference to the esquire article, in august of 2010, marianne gingrich sat down with esquire magazine. it is a long article, in case you're interested in reading it. you can do a quick web search for marion gingrich and esquire. that is from august, 2010. from the hill newspaper, newt

gingrich's daughters tried to set town before interview with his wife. upon hearing that the -- this article, by the way, came out at 9:39 p.m. eastern time last night. one more abc story.

mitt romney is accused of having money stashed in the cayman islands that he does not report on his taxes. you can read the full thing at abcnews.com. speaking of taxes -- that is according to the tax policy center. eureka, what do you think about the pipeline? caller: thank you for taking my

call. i would like to remind all of the good american citizens that reside in states that would be affected by this proposed pipeline to think of this one fact. the number one economic business, most profitable, has been the oil industry. my reminder is -- >> today's washington journal online anytime at c-span.org. next, on to south carolina where rick santorum and herman cain will address the top republican southern leadership. this is the same day that rick santorum has announced that he actually took most of the votes in the iowa caucus, rather than rick santorum. >> with so much at stake for the future of our country, we asked for wisdom in selecting our

candidates, and we pray that the leaders who emerge from this long and arduous process be imbued with the knowledge, integrity, and moral courage to lead our great nation forward. lastly, lord, we pray for the success and stave return of our troops -- safe return of our troops engaged overseas. in your name, amen. and now, the pledge. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. have a wonderful time. we have some great speakers. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> please help me in welcoming sharon day. [applause] >> get afternoon. what an exciting day we have had already. i want to thank you for being here with us this afternoon. we have a great session in store for you. we have congressman tim scott, senator lindsey gramm, tony perkins, and my partner and chairman of the rnc, rinse prix this. he hit the ground running. he turned the political game

around, our political operation, and he is a fabulous cochair as we go forward to make sure we make the changes in america that we need in 2012. welcome fellow southern republican regional members that are here. we have 14 states represented at the southern republican leadership conference here. i want to give a great complement to my good friend, the south carolina gop chairman, the national committeewoman and your national committeeman. what a great job they have done in south carolina putting together the great operations here. i also want to give a big shout out and congratulations to your governor, the 2012 chairman of the southern republican leadership conference. have niki haley. what a fighter you have in niki haley. in about 48 hours, it will be time for the republicans of

south carolina to vote. come november, with your help, we will elect a new republican president. we will get a new internal -- and new attorney general that supports states' rights and our constitution. entrust me, we will get a different opinion on federal rights over state rights. let me tell you, when i vote in november, i cannot wait to go to my polling place with my the voter i.d. card, my a driver's license, my no. 2 pencil and marked in my choice for the next president of the united states which will be a proud republican president. [applause] together, you and i are going to put an end to barack obama bozo administration when we elect the next republican -- barack obama

is administration when we elect the next republican president of united states. everyday we stand together means we are one day closer to the end of barack obama sale the administration, and i cannot failed obama's administration. and i cannot wait until we send barack obama back to illinois and a boeing 747 built here in south carolina. our republican friends in illinois are going to have to take one for the team and welcome him with open arms. we know that it is not going to be easy to take back the white house. we know that well this president is not a commander-in-chief, he truly is a campaigner in chief. last week, he held his 73rd fund-raising event. he has the fund-raising down. he has the vacationing down.

what he does not have is the leadership part down. he is the undisputed dead king of the last five presidents -- debt king of the last five presidents, the food stamp president. private sector jobs have dropped 6% while federal government work force has grown by over 11%. barack obama blames america's problems on a do nothing congress. well you know what, he is half right. the past -- the house passed 28 bills that would have helped our economy, but it's harry reid who did what he did best, nothing, 28 times. the house passed a budget on time and harry reid again did nothing. that is why i agree with barack obama on the fact that he is half right. we do have a group of to nothing

senate democrats led by a do nothing majority leader, harry reid, and come november, we are going to send him home and take back control of the senate with a new president. [applause] the state of the union speech on tuesday will be more distortion of the truth and more promises of his accomplishments and more empty rhetoric of his failed promises. the state of the union is going to fall on the thousandth day since the senate passed a budget. what an appropriate time for him to stand before the american public and try to talk about a do nothing congress and a do nothing senate leader. he criticized president bush for raising the debt ceiling. in fact, he voted against it himself. but now to hear him speak, it is

unpatriotic, it is playing politics if we do not support his raise onion another again debt ceiling. this president, like debbie wasserman schultz, nancy pelosi and harry reid defending his record. what can be defended? a national debt of $15.20 trillion. a federal deficit of $1.3 billion? new government regulations? his policy of envy and disdain for personal success. the fact that instead of encouraging private sector jobs , he is trying to grow jobs on the back of small businesses instead of creating the keystone

pipeline. what did he say today? he said no. it is time we say in a collective voice to president obama, and no, no to your failed policies. no two-year failed leadership. the primaries, as they go forward, we know is going to be painful for one candidate over another. i'm going to ask you to grieve for 24 hours, and then dusted off coming get up, and make sure you do all you can to make sure that president obama is a one- term president, that we make harry reid the minority leader rather than the majority leader, and that we increase the number of republicans that we sent back to congress. every generation has its challenge, and every generation has a call to action. looking at you in this room,

when you leave here today, i hope you understand that this is our generation's call to action, our generation's call to arms to make sure that we save this country from the devastation it has seen in the last three years, not for ourselves, not for our party, but for our country, for our children and our grandchildren. because i know that it is a beautiful sunny day out there in charleston, south carolina. you are not sitting here in this room because you love our party. you love our values. you love the convictions of our party, but you are here because you love our country, and that is what i reach out to you today to say be ready every day until november to make sure that together, together we save this country for the next generation. cut the c4 all you do and all

you will do for our great united states of america and our proud military -- thank you for all you do for our great united states of america and our proud military men and women. [applause] it is now my honor to introduce a good friend, gary jones, the former oklahoma state chairman and now the current state auditor an inspector for the great state of oklahoma who is going to bury proudly introduced dacey watts. thank you -- two very proudly stacy watts. thank you for being here. >> thank you. it is my pleasure to be here from oklahoma and introduce j.c. watts. he has made oklahoma proud since he played football and then he became a congressman.

he came into a town hall meeting in my hometown, and something he said has really stuck with me. he said when he got out of professional sports, he never dreamed he would get into a profession where people had bigger egos. he is one of those people who truly believes in what he does and he has gone on to make us very proud. oklahoma was one state in the nation where all of the counties voted for john mccain. we are going to do our part to make sure the republican nominee wins oklahoma. i want to introduce my friend j.c. watts. thank you. [applause] >> chairman, thank you. hugh i understand -- hugh i understand that a lot of the

delegates went down to the announcement this morning with governor perry and we lost the press. this is what the gathering has done this afternoon. with the weather being what it is and all the great food here in charleston, i suspect we will not see a whole lot of folks come back here. one thing i have determined from this crowd that we have here is that i'm going to guess most of your baptist because nobody sat on the front row. i am honored that the southern republican leadership would think enough of me to extend an invitation to come and be with you this afternoon and share some of my thoughts with you. it is always good to be summoned to events like this because i get an opportunity to see some old friends and an opportunity

to make new friends. i have spoken over the last 15- 20 years of republican events around the country, a lincoln day dinners, republican conventions around the country, in these times give you an opportunity to rehash some of the good old days. you have men breaking bread than having fellowship in many of your respective states. you know, we're obviously in a presidential year, and we're going to elect the leader of the free world come the first tuesday of 2012. while i think we will have our respective candidates and who we support, i hope that at the end of the day we are not divided on our values and principles and the importance of staying focused on certain things.

first things first. the values and principles that we hold dear as a party and that we think are important to get our country to the next level and sustain the exceptional as some of america. for the last nine or 10 years, i have had an opportunity to spend time with grandkids in kids and try to get kids through college and making memories with my grandkids, and i probably think about it more than i should, but as we have heard people say that we should not think of ourselves as better than anyone else are we should not think more highly of ourselves than we should, i hear what they're saying, but at the same time, that is the subliminal message that i hope we do not buy into in saying that america should be a normal america.

i have spent time with my grandkids and i have concluded that i do not want my grandkids to inherit a normal america. i want them to inherit an exceptional america. can france, -- and friends, over the next 10 years, i promise you we're going to have some heavy lifting. we are so bad in our federal government -- and i will submit to you that when i point fingers i just -- i do not just point fingers the democrats. republicans have had as much to do with where we are today financially as democrats have. [applause] but i submit to you, be that as it may, to get us on the right track or get as to where we all want to be, it is going to take some heavy lifting. i mean extremely heavy lifting. i understand we have about a 1.5

trillion dollar deficit -- a $ 1.5 trillion dollars deficit, and i submit to you we have no real clue what our deficit is. for so long, we have been manipulated, we have been spun to the point that we have allowed folks to say to us that two plus two is seven. then all of a sudden someone comes along and says no, no, no comment two plus two is for. we say, he is extreme. she is radical. [applause] it is going to take some heavy lifting to get us where we need to be, and we cannot ignore the math. regardless of what you think we need and when i think we need and what you think the government should be spending money on our where i think the

government should be spending money, where republicans think it should be spent, where democrats think it should be spent, the bottom line is that two plus two is four. we cannot continue to say that it is seven. it is what it is. it is the math. i will ask you this question. if you think -- if you take the top four or five issues on the lips and tongues of the american people, the top six issues, i will guarantee you four of those six issues will be balancing the budget, not spending more money than you take in, paying down public debt, getting tax relief, understanding that we do not need more taxes, we need more tax payers. [applause] pain down our national debt,

balancing the budget and having entitlement reform. every dollar that is sent into washington, every dollar they use and into washington, that i sent in to washington, about 68% of it is on autopilot. we are arguing about what to do with the other 30%. 70% goes to entitlement spending, were you cannot do anything about it. until you do something about the $0.70 side of the equation, the $0.30 is not going to get this anywhere. again, entitlement reform is on the lips of 80% of americans. tax relief is on the tongues of a% of americans. paying down our public debt is on the tongues of 80% of americans, and balancing our budget. the last time we balance our

budget, we had a balanced budget -- in my 54 years of living, the last time we had a balanced budget, newt gingrich was the speaker of the house of representatives. the last time in the 35 years that we have had any entitlement reform was when newt gingrich was speaker of the house. we got tax relief. we created an environment that created 11 million new jobs. and we paid $450 billion toward our public debt. regardless of what the top six issues are, they may not fall into that order for you or many americans, but i guarantee you those four things in the top five or six issues that 80% of the american people are talking about. it is calling to take someone

that has been called all of the ugly names. they have gone through the difficult fires. they have kissed off democrats and republicans, but it the end of the day, they got results for the american people. in this place that you and i call home, and that the rest of the world calls america, it is a pretty special place. and it is going to take some pretty heavy lifting to get us to where we knew -- where we want to be. and i close by leaving this with you. we all have our candidates that we would like to see elected president. regardless of who you think the president should be or who the is, nobodyfrontrunner

comes into south carolina with more than four delegates, and you need to get over 1100 to win. this is where the game really begins, in south carolina. i believe on saturday, south carolina is going to cast the vote that is going to be heard around the world. at the end of the day, regardless of who the nominee is, and i'm going to do everything within my power to see to it that it is newt gingrich -- [applause] but it the end of the day, regardless of who the nominee might be, we all have to put our egos aside, put our differences aside about who those candidate should have been, and make sure we are victorious the first

tuesday of this year in taking back the white house. thank you very much for letting me come. [applause] >> what a great american. j.c. watts. fabulous. it is my honor to introduce a conservative columnist who has a regular column in the new york daily news. he is the author of the book "losing our religion, the liberal media's attack on christianity." please give me a big role well come -- please give her a big

old welcome as we bring her up to the stage. >> hello, at thank you. thank you to the southern republican leadership conference for having me here, and to all of the speakers and governor haley for hosting us in our liberal -- our lovely state. it is always nice to leave the liberals zaniness of manhattan and come to the place were my three loves, hunting, fishing and nascar, get some respect. they think nascar is fictitious, like something will ferrell invented. because i get to travel a lot, i need a lot of conservatives from all over the country, and i'm

always reminded how intellectually diversity are as a movement. this gop primary is a testament to that. we have flirted with this candidate or that candidate over the past few months. that says a lot about how broad our interests are and what a big tent we have become. meeting different kinds of conservatives means i am also regularly challenged to define either out loud or to myself what kind of conservative i am. to me, it always comes down to one core issue, and that is limited government. as a pundit, i am often asked to give my opinion on these issues from the specific perspective of being a woman. i am asked right think of abortion as a woman, as if men

cannot have an opinion on right to life issues. i usually respond with something totally inappropriate to like i do not know, let me ask my uterus. let me tell you, i am not a conservative because i think conservative policies are good for women. i think conservative policies are good for everyone. [applause] that, thent believe you should not call yourself a conservative. you should not stand up and represent this movement if you do not believe that conservative policies are truly best for everyone. it is conservative fiscal policies in particular that matter most to me. my daily life is not impacted by reproductive issues, important as they are.

i daily life is impacted by my taxes, spending and big government, and so is yours. i tell you this about where i come from as a conservative and how the fiscal issues matter most to me not because i think the social issues should not matter. i tell you this because i really wanted to mean something when i say the social issues matter because their fiscal issues. our economic decisions have moral consequences and, and what ever happens in this primary, and the eventual republican nominee will have to knowledge this when he goes up against president obama. obama and his campaign will do their very best to paint our candidate, whoever that is, as some crazy, religious zealot who is stance on social issues is

backwards in time and scary. it will be challenging to talk about why social issues matter to conservatives, especially at a time when jobs and the economy are top-of-the-line to most voters, but if we can make the argument that economic issues are social issues and vice versa, we can win this fight and introduce a whole new generation of american voters to conservatism that makes march, fiscal sense, but is also unapologetic and uncompromising about its values. the argument he not come in the form of a sermon, although there is a place for that. the argument can come from our academics and scholars, and in fact it has been made most notably by our party is resident

economic want, paul ryan, who if you do not like, by the way, you're just wrong. [applause] he is great. no one talks economic policy better than paul ryan, but a few months that he wrote a little discussed essay for a catholic publication called "our sunday visitor." he writes, "anyone with a budget to meet at home, in business, or in a parish finance committee understands the trade-off required in responsible budgeting. governments face similar choices, that their budgets also shape the economic future. a budget with low taxes, spending restraint and less borrowing can help restart the economy, create jobs and increase resources for investment, charity and assistance for the needy. it is immoral for government to make promises they cannot fulfil.

budgetary discipline is a moral imperative." paul ryan is talking about the moral imperative to balance the budget because he knows that when people are prosperous there more generous. communities can assist one another better and prosperity is not a societal evil but a force for greater good. another example, my friend rick santorum, and this is not an endorsement, just an illustration, has talked for years about the breakdown in the economy and the breakdown in the family. whether he is talking about abstinence or higher education, he relates those issues to the economic impact they have on individuals, families, the community, the country. he has had the courage to insist

that we cannot of course our conversation about the economy from -- divorce our conversation about the economy from our conversation about the family. two different approaches to the same project. paul ryan is saying we should make sound economic decisions because they have moral implications, and rick santorum is saying we should make sound moral decisions because they have economic implications. either way, these are connections we need to be making as conservatives. we can no longer afford to be just social conservatives or just fiscal conservatives. we must be both because both are intertwined. [applause] under the current administration, this government has acted immorally. whether it is the spending, the borrowing, raising the debt

ceiling or putting politics before growth and job creation, the fiscal policy of the obama administration is immoral. do not be fooled by the class or touchy-feely rhetoric. they do not want to take from the rich to give to the poor. they want to take from the rich to grow government. [applause] that is not as bad fiscal policy, that is immoral fiscal policy. 2012 is not just an opportunity to win back the white house and maybe even the senate -- and i know we're all looking forward to doing both of those things -- but it is also a fantastic opportunity for us to reestablish our bona fides as an intellectual lead this -- intellectually the first group. it is an opportunity to reintroduce conservatives to

americans who have been brainwashed to think that there are two competing conservatives, fiscal and social. it is important for us to remember who we are and what we stand for and present that vision in a meaningful and relevant way. that is the way to beat obama. more than that, that is the way to promote, preserve and protect conservatism beyond a single election cycle, and it is the way to turn this country around again. thank you very much, and enjoy the rest of the conference. [applause] >> our next speaker is a former

congressman from my home state of florida. he is currently the host of morning show on msnbc. please give a huge welcome to joe scarborough of morning joe. >> thank you so much. it is great to be here. i bring you a warm welcome from the official network of the republican party, msnbc. [laughter] let me just say, reverend al wishes he could be here. despite the network i work for, do not judge a book by its cover. we had j.c. watts here a moment ago. like him, i was in the historic class of 1994. in fact, i was the first republican elected from northwest florida since 1873.

and they hung the last 1 days in -- they hung the last one they sent up there, so this is a tough democratic district. i think a lot of people here will appreciate this. there currently no photos of me floating around on the internet sitting on a love seat with lanancy pelosi. i'm in good standing. [applause] speaking and not judging books by its cover, since i last conference and since people like congress and at lot of us that came in in 1994, who balanced the budget for the first time in a generation, balance the budget four years in a row for the first time since the 1920's, past historic welfare reform -- you know, over the past decade,

unfortunately, calling yourself a republican has not always meant acting like a republican. we have to remember that in 2012. think about it. a decade ago, washington was run by republicans. we had the white house, the senate, the house, and republicans inherited a $155 billion surplus. by the time george w. bush left office, there was a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit. the national debt was doubled. a $7 trillion medicare drug plan was passed. and they did not stop to figure out how to pay for it. we stop and think conservative. -- stopped acting conservative. so when the elections came into

the assignee, we lost. a lot of conservative republicans said -- came in 2008, we lost. a lot of conservative republicans said we deserved to lose. in 2010, a lot of republicans found their voice and remembered why they got sent to washington in the first place. the thing we need to know, especially those of you in south carolina who are going to have such a big decision to make in a couple of days, we need to always remember that big government conservatism is just as destructive to the future of this country as big government liberalism. [applause] i do not think there is such a thing as big government conservatism. we need to elect republican leaders that are going to say no to wall street bailout. we need to elect republican leaders that are going to say no to taking over detroit. we need to elect republican leaders that are going to say no

to another decade of deficits, note to another decade of occupation across the globe, and also, we need to elect republican leaders, conservative republicans who understand what i think a lot of us understand in our debt, and that is that gut, andep -- in our de that is that every social ill in this country cannot be micromanaged from washington, d.c. [applause] my dad passed away this year, but he taught me by example that those jobs that make such a huge difference to this country, they're not created in stimulus programs out of washington, d.c. they are not created by government bureaucracies and washington, d.c. they are created by hard work and discipline, and dedication

to the job you're doing. that is something that i just do not think politicians on both sides of the aisle have understood overcapacity year. the answers s -- over the past year. the dancers still do not lie in washington -- answers still do not line washington. we owe it in 2012 to tell americans the truth. what candidate out there -- because we are making this decision on who is going to lead our party for work, hopefully over the next four years -- what candidate has told you how they're going to balance the budget? ok, ron paul. well, he is going to shut everything down. there you go. anybody else?

i should know as a lawyer they never ask a question like that unless you know the answer. and let -- other than ron paul, you do not have republican politician saying that we have to make tough choices and these are the choices we have to make. we do not have candidates running for president like paul ryan. god bless paul ryan. he was about 14 when i met him. he was working for sam brownback in 1994. i could not be more proud of him. he stepped forward and talk about the biggest fiscal issue of our time. is medicare. it is medicaid. it is social security. they do not hear enough politicians telling the truth about that. look back have the health system started. when fdr came up with social

security. the numbers were pretty good. fdr was a smart guy. he was a democrat, but he was a smart guy. he realized he needed to start social security for americans when they turned 65. by the way, the average life expectancy back then was 62. if you made it to 65, we would start writing you a check. but if you did make it to 65, think about these numbers. there were 40 people working for every one person on social security. today, how many people work for every one person on social security and medicare? three. we of three people working for every one person on social security. by the time baby boomers retire, all of the baby boomers -- the scourge of humanity, by the way. in the 1960's they gave us

discover. in the 1970's they gave us polyester. in the 1990's they gave us bill clinton. by the time the those numbers do not add up. now, i am not agree with math. i went to the university of alabama. it's a problem. do we have in the people from alabama here? roll tide, baby. if you are from alabama, you do not have to be good in math, because we only have to count number one. roll tide. but the thing we republicans need to tell americans when we talk about saving medicare and talking about social security, it is not about ideology, it is

about math. the numbers do not add up. it is not right wing at social engineering if you are paul ryan and you just tell americans the truth. in fact, i think we have a really good formula for winning in 2012. it is not really that complicated. any one from new jersey here? i'm going to guess there is someone here from new jersey. right there. you have a governor, and we love having him on this show, chris christie tells the people of new jersey the truth. the numbers cannot add up. he is gone after the public unions that have had -- that have tried to destroy him. he is gone after the editorial boards, but he keeps talking facts. he keeps talking numbers, and guess what? he is currently one of the most

popular republican governors in america. because in the end come in 2012, i think our formula for success is pretty simple. we have to be strong. we have to be consistent. we have to show courage. and we have to be conservative. if republicans remember that lesson, if they turned their back on the mistakes of the past 10 years, if they have the guts to step forward and trust americans like we did in the 1990's, that they will understand that we will make the tough choices, the republican party will be fine, and we will send barack obama back to chicago. thank you so much. i greatly appreciate you guys having me. god bless you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> all right. that is great. are you getting energized? are you getting charged? are you getting good information? we're ready to go to debate tonight, right? we are ready. ok. it is my honor to introduce the next speaker, congressman tim scott who is from the first district of south carolina, which happens to be right where we're sitting in this city of charleston. he is a former member of the south carolina house of representatives, and is one of the new members of congress that are changing the ways of washington does business that fully understands that washington does not tax enough's, spends too much. it is my honor to introduce congressman tim scott. [applause]

tito thank you. thank you very much. thank you. -- >> thank you. how many of you are ready for a new president? are you really ready for president who believes more in the american people than he does the federal government? >> as they sit in congress i have these dreams, dreams of a president who is conservative. if we had a conservative president, what would be different in washington today? i made a little list. i checked it twice. we need to get rid of the guy who has been naughty and not nice in the white house. if we had a conservative president, the keystone pipeline would not be a headline on the news tonight.

we have 25,000 americans that will still be without work because our president has guided -- decided the environment lists and their paychecks and their contributions are far more important than putting americans back to work. we would not be sitting here growing more and more dependent on oil. we would find ourselves having -- having a stream of oil that comes from the north, through our country, creating 20,000 new jobs in lowering the price of a gallon of gas. when you have a liberal in the white house, what do you have? well, you know, i would really like to make a decision about the pipeline sometime after my election.

you have the dodge ball. dodge ball happening in the white house. it is shameful. if we had a conservative in the white house, it would not have been 1000 days since the senate passed the budget. [applause] i am not sure how long we should go with the current senate. i think we should have christmas in november, and send those guys on with a watch, metal, or something, because we need a brand new senate. with your help and the rest of the american people, we will find a way to bring home the conservative message, even to the do nothing as united states senate, god bless their sweet souls. we from the house have said 28 bills to the senate, and what

have they done? let me give you my rendition of the senate democrats waiting to approve the job bills to help america's future. it is unfortunate, very unfortunate, that they are more concerned about taking a nap than they are about passing 28 jobs bill that would create jobs here in america. but worse, even in our home state, we are being attacked by our federal government. immigrations sued by the federal justice department. voter i.d. brought down by the federal government, and worst of all, boeing company having to given to extortion by saying we will make a deal so that we can continue to build jobs in our right to work state so we can build airplane of the future,

the 787. when you put that all together, you come to one conclusion -- it is time for change in the white house. it is time for change in the white house. i left earlier this week around the debt ceiling. let me see the hands that believe we need to raise the debt ceiling by another 1.2 trillion dollars. so it is not a light, does no one has their hands up? how do we explain to the world at the world's greatest country with a 15 trillion dollar debt things we need another 1.2 trillion. how do we go over to europe -- talk about austerity plans when we cannot find a way to bring our spending down. i did not understand it. when you have a liberal in the white house that americans --

that believe we should bring all the resources to washington and let the government take care of you to my need and silly people, i find that offensive, condescending. we hear comments about the world -- who does not believe in the american people, but believe in socialism. i think to myself as i read through the couple thousand pages of obama care at how my friends with a straight face will say we are trying to find a way to reduce taxes on the middle-class. has anyone else heard that besides me? you all smile, because it must be a joke, but it is not funny. when you look at obama care come here is what you find.

$500 billion of new taxes and fees on the middle class. what else do you find? i like that boo. what else do you find? you find their readings of medicare, half a trillion dollars from medicare to give health insurance to kids who can get a job. now i am not quite sure how we find that there. i am not sure how they stand with a straight face and say they are the party of the middle class, that they are looking out for middle class tax breaks but will not give a middle-class person a tax break for more than 60 days. i am not sure how they do not find that funny, but they do not. because they believe we are asleep at the wheel. another thought coming for them. there is an election, and it happens in november of this year, and this year we will

elect a republican in the white house. and we will put a republican majority in the senate. [applause] we will maintain our majority in the house, and we will finally have christmas in november when the first act of the new president's will be to remember that concept of repeal, and he will start the process of repealing obama care and restoring freedom to america, giving liberty to americans. god bless you. make it happen. god bless you. [applause] >> please welcome south carolina

chairman party, todd collins, please. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. thank you for coming this afternoon. it is my great honor and privilege -- privilege to introduce our national committee chairman. he is the chairman of the national republican committee in 2011. in his first year of german he oversaw a dramatic turnaround building it to a strong and effective organization for electing republicans in 2012. rnc has raised more do order -- more donor money than any time. at the same time they broke new ground to employ new communications strategy and innovative technology for voter out reach. he is totally committed to reviving the republican party to reach the common goal of defeating barack obama next fall. with sound fiscal stewardship,

dedication of conservative principles, and needham -- message of freedom and prosperity, he continues to lead the party to victory in 2012. he is leading our national party, but the best thing i can say about him is he has become my friend. i am so honored to have a friend and mentor leading us in the 2012 and back into the white house. welcome our rnc chairman, rice frefreeman. [applause] >> good afternoon, republicans, and it is great to be here today. thank you, chad. he is doing a fabulous job here in south carolina. i come here with the message from the republican national committee that we are ready to fire barack obama, save america, and in the process we will also save our party. republicans have the momentum,

enthusiasm, and we will have the resources and the manpower to beat barack obama in november. but let me tell you something, it is going to be a fight. we have work to do. you, myself, all of us together. that is because we are up against the campaigner in chief, and administration in full campaign mode and $1 billion chicago political machine. that is what the other side has. we have something stronger on our side, the right message and right priorities. we offer a message of freedom, a message every new wall, a message of prosperity, and a message of economic opportunity. and we have of the priorities

and policy priorities that will add it all up and bring it all together. this election is about the failed record of barack obama, somewhat our message will be about holding him accountable for that record. in 2008, barack obama had no record, so he ran on hope and change. as we know it, 2012 -- as we know, in 2012, he has a record, so now he is running on the concept of fear in division. that means he is already admitted he has failed. every time he tries to make the election about something other than his record, he is admitting failure. so we have to be out there hitting the message, attacking the president on his record,

holding him accountable for his policy and reminding voters of his broken promises. 2012 will be a referendum on barack obama. did his policies work? did he fulfilled his promises? are we better off as a country today than where we were three or four years ago? that is the same questions that reagan asked about carter's record, and that is the same question that we will ask about obama. that is the most objective, reasonable standard by which to judge a president. it is not my standard. it is not the republican party standard, it is the standard that barack obama set for himself. at the rnc we launched a web site to answer that very

question. it is called a failedpromise.com. it is a top-10 list, but it is no joke. it is 0 barack obama stockton failed promises. here they are. in 2008 he promised to fight the addiction to foreign oil. just last year he said his own energy policy was a hodgepodge, and he said we are not where we need to be. look what he did yesterday. snubbing his nose at 24,000 more jobs in the keystone pipeline. he called wall street executives that cats wall raising more money from wall street then all of the other candidates combined. he promised a lower cost of health care, but health care premiums have risen over 9 percent signed just last year alone. he promised to be and lobbyists from the white house, get he has

hired over 100 of them himself. he promised to save 9 million families from foreclosure, and under his watch foreclosures actually sky rocketed by 7 million. remember when he said that adding four trillion dollars to the debt was unpatriotic? do you remember that? yes. then he increase the debt by 4.5 trillion dollars. he promised to cut the deficit in half, and what did he do? he introduced the biggest structural deficit in the history of the world just last year. he promised to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the area of clean energy, and what did he do? he flushed over half a billion dollars down the toilet to a company called solyndra in the

silicon valley. that brings us to his number one failed promise, for those of you that are keeping track, barack obama promised if he did that have the economy fixed in three years, that he would be a one-term president, and that is a promise we're court to hold this president accountable for. [applause] that brings me to my second point. there are not a lot of people here, but i have to tell you, we are here because the america we love cannot afford a second term of barack obama. we've seen what an obama presidency looks like. we do not need another term, we need a different president. remember this, remember this, everything the president has an active, every liberal pipe dream

he has pursued, he has done no wing -- knowing he would have to face reelection. imagine what would president obama do if he knew he did not have to run for a second term? if the republicans won big in 2010, the pungent said the president would move to the center to get reelected. does it look like this president has moved to the center? barack obama is a left-winger. there is no question about it anymore. what would he try to do in a second term? from the way it looks, everything short of making the united states a full member of the -- of the european union. look, we cannot afford to find

out. in this election, our children's future is at stake. our freedom is at stake. america is at stake. we have to win this election or we will lose america. if we do not, collectivism will replace individualism. government agencies will replace free enterprise. federal mandates will replace the constitution. dependency will replace self- reliance. and the dreams of obama will replace the vision of our founders. this election will be about whether or not we want to have a country of takers or a country of makers. do you want to have more people writing the wagon or more people driving the wagon? this election is going to be whether we will have a cradle to

grave society, or do we want to pursue what is in every american heart, the drive for individualism and economic freedom. [applause] sometimes we forget history, even those of us that are political junkies. this country was founded on the idea of freedom. that is what makes us unique among the nations of the world. the idea of individual liberties. the champions by historical giants like jefferson and adam and madison. that is what brought america together. it is almost the paradox of sorts. unlike some of the other countries in this world, it is our individuality that unites us. not race or ethnicity or greed, but individual liberty. that is what we are fighting

for. we're fighting for freedom. that is what motivates me. no matter how hard biscuits, no matter how difficult this election may become a we cannot lose faith. it is up to us to halt obama's relentless march to the far left. his top priorities are not america's priorities. [applause] let me tell you something, barack obama is not your daddy's democrats either. he is not bill clinton. he is not kennedy. he is the first unapologetic liberal to live in the white house, and he has to be the last. [applause] because at this is the president that would rather about to chinese leaders than stand up for america's greatness. that would rather

trashed the constitution than preserve our rights. the president that would rather refer to the united nations then defended the united states, and the president that allows the democratic national committee chair to exploit the tragedy in tucson, ariz., just to trash of ththe tea party. [applause] we serve the principles of jefferson, washington, in madison. he serves the demand of union bosses, central planners, and the elitist bureaucrats. we believe in the philosophy of our founding fathers. he believes in one man's philosophy, the philosophy of barack obama. in america we have had presidents that have studied law, taught law, and practiced

law, but we have never had a president who thought he was above the law like how this president believes about himself. we have never had a president who sought to change the american dream for a european socialistic nightmare. barack obama has put america on an utterly unsustainable to directotrajectory. the more he grows the government, the more he grows the debt, the less freedom our children will enjoy. when washington, d.c., runs the economy, washington, d.c., runs our lives. and when washington, d.c., can tell us what to do, we cannot tell it to stop. it is time to end the barack obama presidency before his

presidency ends of our way of life. are you with me? [applause] as rnc chairman, it is my promise to you to run of strong, robust, functional, operational, republican national committee that will bring all of races together, white house, senate, and the state houses and beyond to be victorious in november. we have to be victorious together. as you might know, i have two little kids. i want them to grow up in america that a strong, vibrant, and healthy. i want them to grow up in america bursting with opportunity. that is not the america that we see today.

that is certainly not the america, god forbid, that we will seek with a second term of barack obama. but victory in november is only possible if it is a united victory. if we're all in this together. so i asked you to keep up the hard work. keep up the hard work that our party needs, but more importantly, this election is not about the republican party, the democratic party, this election is about america. everyone of us in this room, everyone of us, we have all been blessed in different ways, and we may not agree on every little thing, on every little detail or end weidate, but in the can agree that if we're going to save the country, and if you

agree with me that the idea of america is at stake in this election, then we need to come together. we need to do everything we can to fire barack obama, save america, and in the processing of our party. god bless you. have a great week. thank you. [applause] ♪ >> i told you he is a great partner. i told you he is a great chairman. another big round of applause for our chairman. [applause] i would also say for the members of the press that are here, he will be available for any further questions or interviews you may want to have with him. please do not hesitate if you want to talk again about the

plans our great party is doing under his great leadership. it's now my honor to introduce henry mcmaster. he is a former south carolina attorney general. south carolina gop chairman tom and the 2008 national convention sergeant of arms. he was the first united states attorney appointed by president ronald reagan. he is married to wife peggy. has two beautiful children. please join me in welcoming henry mcmaster. thank you. >> thank you. i have a long speech. welcome to south carolina. i know a lot of the folks that would have been here are probably out working in the primary right now, but i am

glad you are here. this is the hard core, i guess. charleston is the number one tourist destination in the united states today, as you know. we have overtaken las vegas. they have a saying in las vegas. they say what happens here, stays here. in charleston, we say what happens here didn't ever happened. so you all are free to have a good time. we do not know what the world would be like without charleston. frankly, right now i do not know what the world would be like without the republican party. we have work to do. [applause] i just want to make one point, and it reminds me of a story that makes the point about the talking dog. maybe you have heard it. the city slicker was writing out into the country and he saw a

sign that said talking dog for sale. he said, i have got to see this. he pulled over to a farmhouse and knocked on the door and ask the farmer, you have a talking dog for sale? he said, yes i do. he said, i would like to see him. they went out back and there was a dog lying on the ground. the city slicker said, all right dog, a top. the dog said, i speak spanish, i speak french, i play the harpsichord and the piano. the man said, you are selling that dog? why in the world would you sell that dog? the farmer said, because that dog is lying. he can do any of those things. -- cannot do any of those things. [laughter] you see, the farmer missed the point.

what i want us to do in this day of the electronic media and things happening so fast, we have as on television right now and you cannot pick up the telephone without a ton of messages coming in on you. that is a ton of electronics, and that is great. but you cannot win an election without troops on the ground. you have to have people willing to do all the things necessary to have troops on the ground, to have the meetings, to go to the hot dog fry the barbecue, the organizational meetings, to teach the young people what happened before and what they have to do. if you do not do that, you cannot have a political party, and i do not want anybody to forget that because it is easy to forget it. the best example i can think of happened in 2000. i like to leighton -- like in

the political party to the firefighting party. they are trained and ready to go and when a fire comes there at your house before you know it. when you have a little fire going, you may wonder why they bring six fire trucks to my house when i have a little fire going. it did not take all that. it is because they do not want to give the fire a fair chance. they do not want a fair fight. they want to stop the fire out. that is what we have to do as republicans. every time the opportunity comes up, we have to jump on it. we have to be ready, trained, organized. you cannot do that once the alarm sounds. you have to be organized in advance. if you go back to 2000, some of you will remember that in south carolina we started having our presidential primaries in 1980. we had a party chairman named dan ross.

dan ross said way back then, we do not have enough republicans. a lot of our democrat friends are pretty conservative, but they think if they vote in a republican election they will wake up dead in the morning. we have to do something to let them know they can be republican and it will not kill them. he said there is a state law on the books that allows us to have a republican primary, why don't we do it? they said, because you have to run it. no workers are supplied by the state. you have to run it with the party. he said, ok, we will. the first one was in 1980 and that is when john and conley was bested by ronald reagan, who he went on to become president. ladies and gentlemen, it took a lot of work to put that on, and

when i became party chairman in 1993, we had a lot of success. we had county chairman, district chairman, precinct leaders, people coming to leaders. -- coming to meetings. they got together, they cooperated with the legislators. we had a real stem to stern team approach and it worked. -- the state has come a the state senate, the majority of constitutional officers and today we have all nine. we of seven of eight representatives in the house and senate. back to 2000, we thought we would have a big turnout. that is when george w. bush, john mccain, alan keyes and a bunch of others were running. it was red hot and we said we have got to start getting this thing ready because we have to run the primary. we got with the county chairman.

we got with the precinct leaders and we started going to the polling places and finding which ones we could use on election day. there are about 1900 of them. we got a big head start. the party leadership was 100% for it. things were rocking along. we said this is going to be a big turnout. we have to have them open. in a general election, they all have to be opened. sometimes you can combine a few when circumstances make one unusable. we never had opened all of them before, but our goal was to open a mall. we were walking along very well, and all of a sudden something happened in virginia. there is a case in the u.s. supreme court that said that a party convention is tantamount to an election by the state, there for that party convention must be pre cleared by the department of justice or you cannot have it. it will not count.

we got the news while we are in mid-preparation, and we thought, well if that is what the supreme court thinks about the state convention where they chose a nominee to the u.s. senate, whether they're going to say about our primary where we are trying to open up precincts? if the question is raised, we are cooked. we kept working, and guess what happened? somebody raised the question and said we could not have it. we had not pre cleared it, even though we had an attorney general's opinion saying that the primary is not tantamount to a regular election there for you do not have to pre clear it. the attorney general said that in account. we were afraid. fortunately, as i mentioned, we had a head start. we were like the fire department. we had already begun training. leonardo begun organizing. the thing rolls along -- we had

already begun organizing. the thing rolls along, and sure enough, about one week before the primary was held we had a three judge panel here. at that time, we had on the desk in the courtroom books stacked high. we had the 1900 precinct ready to go. we get three workers for each one of them. with their telephone number, name, address, all of that information stacked up in front of the three judges. the three judges were asking this question of the plaintiffs. you say this primary has not been cleared by the department. you say the primary is an attempt to keep people from voting. how can you say that when the republican party has organize the entire state? they have virtually every precinct open and organized for an election that is going to happen in a week. how can you say they're trying to keep people from voting? it looks to us like they are

trying to let people vote. they are encouraging people to vote. you know what happened? we settled the case. that was the end of it. the judge ruled that we could go ahead and we did. the largest number of votes we've ever had before was about 200,000. in that primary we had 577,179 people come out and vote. [applause] if that had not happened, if the republican party of this day, just like the republican party in your state, just like the precinct captains, just like the county chairman, if they had not been selected with care and willing to work and done their job, we would not be here now because the south carolina primary would not have achieve nearly the status it has. that is what you call preparation. that is the call work and organization. that is how you have victory.

if you do that, you have victory every time, and victory is what we want. in closing, i will say this, just to quote at great philosopher and country-western singer, tim mcgraw. i like it. i love it. i want some more of it. the it is victory. thank you. [applause] >> all right. next it is my honor to introduce tony perkins. he is the president of the family research council. he is a former member of the louisiana legislature. he hosts a national radio program called washington watched weekly.

please join me with a big welcome for tony perkins. [applause] >> thank you. it is great to be with you here in south carolina. i bring you greetings not only from the family research council in washington, d.c., but from my home state of louisiana that has shared in the privilege of hosting this event in the past. i was here this morning. i almost feel like i am home in louisiana. i was able to have grits for breakfast this morning, so i feel a little bit better. i do not know if you have been watching occupy d.c., but that occupation now has been going on for 1094 days. we're looking forward to it ending on january 20th, 2013.

[applause] recently, i was up north and i was speaking, and much like sharon, they introduced me from the fact that i had served in the louisiana legislature. after my speech, i had a guy come up to me and say you know what? you do not sound like you're from louisiana. i said, what do you mean? he said, i watch the show about louisiana, swamp people. i said, not everybody sounds like james carville. of course, in south carolina, you have your own reality show, bootleggers. i have watched that one too. i want to thank each of you because you and folks like you across this country are the backbone of the conservative movement.

many of you have labored for years, and you have advanced that unifying vision of conservatism that ronald reagan articulated so well, peace through strength, small government, free enterprise and traditional values. if america is to experience crain is once again, if we are to be respected -- greatness once again, if we are to be respected around the globe, we must commit ourselves to the ideals on which the conservative majority was built. i am sure you have been watching the news over the last several days. the world has watched in shock and horror the accounts of the concordia, the huge cruise ship that foundered off the coast of tuscany, veering off course and hitting our raw -- a rock.

it is estimated the 29 people have died in this unfolding disaster. there is global outrage at the irresponsibility and careless and actions of the ship's captain. he abandoned the ship and refused to report after fleeing, even when ordered by the coast guard. in reading the transcript of this exchange with the coast guard, i was amazed. there were families and individuals still on board struggling to find their way to safety in the dark and frigid waters, and i was astonished at his disregard for his duty. you know, a ship's captain, his main duty is the safety of his passengers and crew. that captain failed to fill this most basic duty.

he abandoned those entrusted to him and to his care when they needed him the most. i think all of us would agree the outrage over his actions is justified. but just like the comtes de concordia, our culture is foundering. the family is in great peril. cultural indifference has resulted in more ratan 55% of america's children spending -- more than 55% of america's children spending the bulk of their adolescence growing up in single-parent homes. where is the moral outrage over the fathers, or in some cases, the mothers, who have abandoned their responsibility to care for the physical and emotional needs of those they have brought into this world? what ever happened to the idea of personal responsibility and

of honor? apparent walking out of the life of their child is every bit as devastating as a captain leaving his sinking ship. according to the centers for disease control, girls raised in homes without both parents are nearly twice as likely to engage in premarital sex as those who grow up with a dead and a mom in the home, and green -- a dad and mom in the home, and we know what that leads to. there twice as likely to drop out of high-school and become teen parents. 40% of births are occurring out of wedlock. children in homes without both parents are much less likely to graduate from high school and much more likely to experience health problems and childhood poverty. where is the outrage over the epidemic of the lack of responsibility? over the -- where is the average

over the millions of dads and moms to be simply walk away from their families just as the captain of the concordia did? he fled his ship when the going got tough? if we hope to get our nation back on a course of fiscal responsibility, if we literally hope, as i think most of us in this room do, that we can and must shrink the size and scope of government, we must first strengthen the american family. there are, of course, in every crisis in every trial, there are heroes. on the consortia, -- concordia, survivors told of panic as the men ignored the order that women and children should be first into the lifeboats. what can you expect when the ship's captain was one of the first to leave? the example of leadership, or the lack of example of leadership is powerful. but in the midst of this melee, there were those who acted

selflessly. there were 71-year-old francis serve all, who died after giving his life jacket to his wife, nicole, telling her to go first as he stayed behind on the ship. his wife reported that she never saw him again. well, even in this day of political correctness and so- called sexual equality, some are simply tempted to ask what man would not take care of his wife or family in that situation? their right to ask a question, because that is what is expected, or at least it is what should be expected. if america is to remain free, if we are to once again be a prosperous nation that is leading the world both by word and by deed, we must embrace once again those values that have made america great, those

values that expect more of each and every american. yes, our economy is struggling. yes, government has grown beyond its needs. yes, we must train again. but we will never succeed until we strengthen the american family, and we once again call for a personal responsibility in america. we must not turn our back on the family. we must be the party that is willing to uphold those traditional values that made america a great nation. may god bless you and may god bless the united states of america. [applause]

>> we have more marching orders. jim cunningham served as the political director for the national rifle association and also directs the state and local affairs division of the nra. he was hired in 1984 and is now serving his second tour of duty with the nra. he as previously served as director of federal affairs for the nra and served as political director for the christian coalition. he is the proud father of 10 children, which we all know are going to be republicans as they get registered to vote. please join me in welcoming chuck cunningham. thank you. [applause] >> good afternoon. the second amendment is alive

and well today. i stressed today, because firearms ownership is often a volatile issue. all it takes is some nut to violate current law by using a gun to harm or kill others, and then you have the gun ban crowd, including the media, hammering the drum for more gun laws that of course criminals will not obey. they use these tragedies to pursue their extreme agenda, even though they do not see how useless and how much of a failure the gun laws dollar are. in any given day, your second amendment rights are under attack. at the international level, the

united nations and other multilateral organizations are scheming of the time to restrict our gun rights. there will be several conferences and meetings this year doing just that, to try to seek restrictions on firearms. beyond guns, it actually gets to an issue of sovereignty and self-determination, whether we choose our laws or allow bureaucrats to. there is no other country in the world that has a constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. that is what makes the citizens, not subjects or service. it is truly unique on the planet. i do not have a whole lot of confidence in the secretary of state, hillary clinton, defending our second amendment right in international forums. [applause]

at the federal level, there is the obama administration. while we are not at the top of their hit list as far as rights to take away in the first term, we almost certainly will be in the second term. there is the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, which is a rogue agency. that is not a new phenomenon. that has been happening for over a decade. i am sure you read about the fast and furious program that the atf has instituted under eric holder's justice department. this is a program that, a strangely enough, cleared gun purchases to people they knew were criminals and firearms that would be going to the drug cartels, and they were not doing it by the dozens to just trace individuals, they were doing it by the hundreds and thousands. that leads us to believe exactly the presumption that was their

fighting congressional oversight hearings, which was this was an excuse to call for more gun control by causing more violence in mexico caused by gun violence and the misuse of firearms so that we would in america restrict our rights. they did this without the mexican people's knowledge, obviously without the american people's knowledge. unless there was a firearm found at the scene of a crime where the border guard was killed, the atf would probably still be running this operation today. it was ill-conceived and poorly executed. because of that, we called for eric holder resignation. there are many other reasons as well. [applause] congress just two months ago a bill that would could

allow people to have a permit in their home state would be able to in all states, except illinois, which is the low frontier, but in the other 49 states, you would be able to carry arms for self-defense. if passed 272-154. congress has also had the votes to repeal the dc gun ban and registration statute that has been stricken down by the courts, that they have modified, but still does not work for law- abiding citizens. unfortunately, we do not have the white house that is likely to sign the legislation, so as in so many cases, the best way to change policy is to change politicians, and that we have an opportunity to do on november 6th. [applause]

the courts are a very important issue, something that has been more important in the last five years than many years previous. we have the heller decision and the mcdonnell decision. both for landmark supreme court cases. both decided by 5-4 majorities. in the heller case, they affirmed that we do have the right to keep and bear arms. in the macdonald case, they decided that their right it was decided in the heller case extends to all states. the problem is there were only five votes in this current supreme court, and four votes voting against the second amendment. obviously, there should not be a whole lot of confusion in the phrase, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms should not be infringed." but that decision could easily be reversed. that should provide a lot of incentive to be involved this year. we have in the state's,

identified laws that need to be repealed. a good example of that is here in south carolina. a few years ago they had a law that would restrict law-abiding citizens to purchase an arbitrary -- a number of firearms in an arbitrary period of time. in this case, it was one handgun per month. criminals did not have to abide by that, it was just law-abiding citizens. the repeal that law, but before they did, unfortunately virginia and a couple of other states have copied it. we're seeking to repeal that in various state capitals. working on right to carry and changing and so the people have the ability to carry a firearm for self-defense as they apply for a permit or a license and also that you have

no duty to retreat while under violent attack even if you are outside your home. these are important initiatives for us, as well as trying to get exemptions from the national check if you have to carry permit. also trying to shut down the anti-gun mayor of new york city, michael bloomberg, who has conducted illegal sting operations that are now felonies in many states. also, end gun buyback programs. we want to prevent the destruction of items of value and forces to be auctioned off to gun dealers. this is part of the culture war. you do not have to look very far to see that. as a matter of fact, there was

an article in the paper where a discount store in your city was fined $30,000 for selling toy guns. toy guns that some bureaucrat decided were too realistic. they had six plastic guns that were toys on sale and were fined $30,000. hitches to the hysteria there is, even about -- it shows you the hysteria there is, even about look-alike firearms that do not function as firearms. this is not about playing a game. the second amendment is very important for us to protect. despite violent crime rates being a record lows, we of to stay vigilant to protect the future for our grandchildren and future generations. this is not about firearms. it is about freedom itself. we appreciate your support in defending the second amendment. [applause]

>> all right. it is my honor to introduce the senior united states senator from south carolina. lindsey gramm was the fourth term u.s. representative from south carolina's fourth district. i travel in and out of washington, d.c. quite a bit. as i stand in line with many of our travelers going to different locations, senator graham stands in line the same as i do as we wait to go through security. he not only is a great senator, he is a great individual who understands that. he is just another one of us try

to go through life. please join me in a huge welcome for south carolina senator lindsey gramm. [applause] >> thank you. welcome to charleston. all right. here is the deal. i give a short speech and you all go out and spend money. does that work? who is from out of state? welcome. god bless you all. i hope you enjoy charleston. how many people are ready to voted? me, too. saturday is a big day for our state. a lot of us are trying to figure out who we are going to voted 4. how many people think this election really matters in 2012? i will give you some good news. there was a pull out recently that said 55% of the american

people believe president obama was more liberal than they are. that is a pretty good audience to start talking to. my belief is that conservatism sells. conservatism is going to be the answer to our problems. we need to pick the best messenger to sell conservatism. that is what we are trying to figure out in south carolina. president obama has done his part to beat himself. it is up to us to finish the job. president obama cannot have helped us more. he ran as a centrist and he has governed from the last ditch. there is not a big crowd in the last ditch. nancy pelosi and harry reid have taken over the agenda. more people in this country are beginning to realize a second term for president obama is not

going to help the situation. it is going to make it worse. how many people believe four more years of barack obama is going to solve all our problems? i do not. most americans have figured out he has had his chance. when he got to be part -- president of the united states, people were pulling for him. he represented that kind attitude we all wanted. that we are all in this together. when he got into office, he took this country into the last ditch and we have not gotten out of it. obamacare. how many people believe this is going to make your life better? the reason we are taking our time in south carolina is because we want a nominee that can go to the public and do more than say all barack obama has failed. republicans need to elect

someone who can take the message of ronald reagan, the optimism that makes us special and close the deal with the american people. it is not enough to say barack obama has failed. we have to show america a way it will work. if you want your children to do as well as you have done, change the tax code so people can create jobs in america. there is nothing holding us back in this election other than ourselves. when this primary is over, your person may not have one -- won. i have been in primaries. it is hard to lose. i have a simple message for everybody here today. sake,it is over, for god's let's come together. [applause] i was introduced as a member of

the reserves. i have been in the military for 30 years. i believe radical islam is as big a threat to us as the national debt. i believe in the coming years, we will have to preserve our military's ability to protect us. the best way to fight radical islam is to fight in their back yard so that they do not fight in our back yard. i want a nominee for the republican party who can look at camera in the eye and say, on my watch, the next person we catch trying to join al qaeda and low us up at home, the last thing they will ever hear is you have the right to remain silent. we need a president who can tell our friends in israel, we are not going to abandon you. we need a president who can let the iranians know that when we say you are not going to get a nuclear weapon, we actually

mean it. ladies and gentlemen, the opportunity to take this country and preserve the american dream is in our hands. if there are four more years of the obama administration, it may be too late to turn it around. the chance to change the tax code, to bring in regulations that are stifling job creation and create opportunities for your children that you at had is going to take somebody turning washington around. do you believe washington is broken? send somebody to washington from the republican party who is willing to challenge republicans to fix it. i am excite said about us winning the white house, the house and the senate. why should we have to ask ourselves, if we win it, what

will we do with its bank? second lines are hard to get. the american people turned on us when we did not deliver for them. my hope is that if we are fortunate enough to recapture the white house and have majorities in the congress, that we will put the american people also entrance ahead of everything else, that we will do the things that should have been done 20 and 30 years ago to save social security and medicare from bankruptcy, that we will be bold and are in the trust of the american people. the last comment i want to make is the term fair. how many times have you heard fairness mentioned in this campaign cycle? let me tell you about the word fair. if i had to explain to someone from mars the difference between a republican and democrat, i

hope they can understand my accent -- they were from southern mars. i think republicans believe fehr means a good opportunity to do the best you are capable -- fair means doing the best you can do with what you are capable of doing. i believe our democratic friends have a definition of fairness that looks at the outcome, not the opportunity they want to change things based on the outcome. every society that tried to make everybody the same and fix the outcome did not last long. the american dream is not guaranteeing the outcome. the american dream is guaranteeing a chance to be all you can be. ladies and gentlemen, the american dream is at stake.

the american dream is at risk. barack obama needs to go and we are going to win in 2012. god bless you all. [applause] ♪ >> we still have a couple of great speakers. before we hear from them, i want to do a couple of housekeeping issues. the buses will be leaving as soon as we are completed here. if you want to bring your own car, there is plenty of parking. next, we get to hear from one of our great republican candidates. it is my honor to introduce one of the great candidates up out party, our next president of the united states, rick santorum.

it earned his law degree -- please. i agree. rick santorum are earned his law degree in 1986 and first ran for office at the age of 32 when he unseated a democratic incumbent. rick and his wife have seven children. give me a huge welcome to rick santorum and thank him for all of the energy and all he has done to help us in the candidates' process. thank you. [applause] ♪

>> thank you for that great introduction. it is great to be here. i am here with a few friends up on the stage. my most important friend is my wife karen, the mother of our seven children. we have had a wonderful time here. we have spent the last two weeks here in the low country. we have had a wonderful time. we come down to the low country a lot. we have been vacationing here for over 20 years. charleston is a hot rods and we have enjoyed it a lot. we have spent some -- charleston is a great home for us and we have enjoyed its a lot.

-- it a lot. thank you all for being here. thank you for the great work you are doing for the republican party. this is the most important election in our country's history. this is an election about the fundamental freedoms we have. we have a president who has a different view about what makes america great and about what makes -- what america is. from our founding principles, america has been a country that believes in limited government, and for people to be able to for them in will their lives and to be able to provide for themselves, their family, their community, and their country. that is the greatness and the uniqueness of this country. it is a free country based on

rights given to every individual. the government's job was to protect those rights it was limited to protect those rights. president obama does not see america that way. he sees america on the road to being like every other country, which is top down. our founders left those countries to come to america to establish something different. barack obama wants to return us to what we came from. that is why this election is the most important one. that is why south carolina has a huge role to play in that process. they have the opportunity to speak loudly about what candidate they want, to carry for that message, someone who has the vision and the track record to back up that vision. someone who can win these days that are necessary for us to win and to relate to these folks are necessary for us to relate to,

not just by their policies bought by their record and their history. we are going to win or lose this election based on 10 states. those are the 10 states where a group of folks called reagan democrats made all of the democrats -- made all the difference. ladies and gentlemen, i come from one of those states. i come from a background and a town where there were lots of reagan democrats. people ask me how i won a 60% democratic district when i ran against a 14 year incumbent. how i won against a democratic incumbent when i ran toward the united states senate with more than 500,000 more registered democrats in a year where george bush lost the state by 2000 and i won by 6. how did you do that?

it is by going out and talking about the values that make this country great. the value of hard work. i grew up on -- grew up in a steel town. i talk about the value of hard work and the value of giving every single american the opportunity to rise in society. it has always been about opportunity to me. that is what my grandfather and my thought it taught me here is if you work hard and do your best in america, it will receive the reward you. a lot of people are questioning whether that is true. a lot of people are feeling left behind thinking no politicians carry -- care about them. democrats are saying, we will take care of you. the people of america do not want to be taken care of. [applause]

they want someone who believes in them, someone who believes they can do things if we can set a playing field that allows for it or opportunity and the opportunities all rise. we seem to be fixated on talking about cutting taxes and promoting economic growth. i am all for that. we seem fixated making sure that top rate -- a lot of folks are not paying that top rate. they are wondering, how are you going to help me? do you care about me? the answer is, we better care about them. they are the heart and soul of america. i come from that area of america, western pennsylvania. the area that barack obama said clings to their guns and their bibles. thank god they do. [applause] i have put forth an economic plan not just for the economy,

but for the family, that will restore the institutions and the economy that is necessary. for those folks out there paddling along to have the opportunity to be able to succeed and provide for themselves and their family and help rebuild a lot of the communities in small towns across america. the plan at the slow were shows we have not only small -- strong principles of supply-side economics, but an unplanned rate in double digits. we have to have someone who can understand and relate to the problems going on across america in the states necessary to win if we are going to win back the trust of the american people and win this presidency. we have an opportunity to put someone out there who is in

sync with the people and that america needs to participate again in the enterprise of america, to participate fully, to half upward mobility and have hope and optimism. that is what we are looking for in a president, someone who has plans that give others hope and optimism that they can be part of the revitalization of the american economy and their communities and their own families. that is why i talk about the family as the center and bulwark of our society. the family is absolutely essential if we are going to have that the elimination of poverty and we are going to have opportunities. we have to have a government that nurtures as the poorest families and focuses on how we

can hold an environment together and promote fatherhood and marriage. all of these things are critically important. as the family breaks down, the economy breaks down. people are isolated in trying to do the job of two people in raising a family, which is so much harder. we all know this. republicans as well as democrats do not have policies other than the democrats giving folks money. that does not solve anything. it perpetuates dependency. for people who do not want to be dependent. they want opportunity. we bring back to the table better than anybody else left in this race. we also bring something that is also important, someone who can rally the base of our party. someone who is unapologetically a conviction conservative on national security, on moral, on

constitutional, economic, on fiscal issues. i have no apologies for the strong positions i have taken over the years. they have been consistent and i have led all the way around. we have important issues in this race. we have an important group of people have to keep energized and involved in the republican party called the tea party. [applause] if you look at the tea party and you look at the issues that got the tea party started in america, it started with the wall street bailouts and the furor that was going on about government reaching in and taking control of a sector of the economy. it was typed up even further by the talk of obamacare and taking over the health care system and cap and trade and the takeover

of the energy sector and the manufacturing sector and controlling the environment. that is how the tea party got going. that is what put the energy in the 22010 race -- in the 2010 race. the two candidates i am competing with in south carolina to win support individual mandates. there was a similar obamacare plant in massachusetts. both of them supported global warming. one of them sat on a couch with nancy pelosi and talked about the need to do something. both of them supported the wall street bailouts. how're we going to differentiate ourselves on the major issues of the day if we nominate twiddle dumb and kildee -- tweedle dum and twee

dle dee? [applause] south carolina can speak loudly that we want clear and bold contrast. the last time we were disrespect around the world and the last time we knew we had a president that was over his head. south carolina was told by the pundits and the media, we just need to win. pick someone who is more moderate who can win. south carolina said know. we are going to pick the conviction conservative. we are going to pick someone who represent our values, someone who has the energy and enthusiasm and the vision to do what america needs to put america back on the right track. they took a leap of faith in this ultra-conservative, this man who was old and out of touch he was so conservative and was a throwback named ronald reagan.

[applause] i remind you all that when you took that chance in south carolina for ronald reagan, he was not the runaway -- ronald reagan we know and admire. he became that reagan because south carolina believe we needed someone like a reagan. [applause] and so i encourage you all, over these next 24 hours, those of you who are from here or from out of town, spread the word. we have an opportunity in south carolina to surprise everyone. we are fortunate to have won the state of iowa today when the official certification came down. [applause] we have one state under our belt. we had an opportunity to surprise again. with your help and support, the

people of south carolina who every single day say, senator, do not go out and compromise. fight for the principles you believe in. i say back to you, do not compromise. voted for the principles you believe in. vote for me for president. god bless you. [applause] ♪

>> we are winding down here, folks. >> how does rick perry getting out of the race affect your campaign? >> he is a native of pennsylvania. [overlapping speech] [applause] >> welcome to the college of charleston. we are pleased that you could join us. welcome to td arena. despite the fact that you are sitting in a modern basketball arena, this campus is quite historic.

it was founded in 1770 by three men who would sign the declaration of independence and three men who would sign the u.s. constitution. the college has borne witness to every single presidential election of the united states since 1789 when george washington was elected. you might be interested to know that three of our alumni have significant connections to washington and the republican party. robert mills, class of 1793. he designed the treasury building and the washington monument. j.c. fremont, class of 1836, was a key figure in securing california from mexico. perhaps more importantly, in 1856, he became the first republican candidate for president of the united states. unfortunately, he lost to

democrat james buchanan. jim edwards became south carolina's first republican governor since reconstruction. he went on to serve as secretary of energy under president ronald reagan. as you leave this conference today or tomorrow, whatever, i hope you will take time to walk two blocks west on george street to see the heart and soul of this campus. it is even more beautiful at night if you can make it in the evening. now, herman cain. i want to share a different view of herman cain that you have not seen or read about in the newspapers. it is a personal view. in 1977, he left coca-cola and joined the pills berry company in minneapolis. that same year, i joined the

faculty of the business school. we have similar academic backgrounds. mathematics, statistics, computer science. we met at a local professional society meeting of management scientists. he was the speaker. it was my first exposure to his booming voice and high energy presents. i was more impressed by the contents of his speech. he advocated use of simple practical applications of mathematics and statistics to address a wide variety of mathematics problems. this ran counter of the accepted approach of the day. main line management scientists tolerated only theoretical mathematics solutions. they could only be used on a few types of problems. imagine the volume inside this arena. imagine that to be the set of problems a manager or a leader faces on a day to day basis and

he needs answers to. this theory needs to be applied to not all of them, but just be like up there, a few of them. herman cain wanted to solve all of the problems, at least all of the important problems. we expanded the computer science tools we applied. we even called for the use of methods from the behavioral sciences. in 1977, that was heresy. i invite him to class to speak to our students. he told my students the most important step in solving problems was the problem identification step. be sure you have identified the important problem and look for ways to solve it. come up with a variety of tools to find a solution. he and i interactive for several years. he moved onto parking and became the ceo of godfather's pizza and

we lost track of each other. in 2004, we were simultaneously elected to the same corporate board in atlanta. the third largest manufacturer of firm equipment in the world. it may have heard of matthew ferguson tractors. herman cain still had the high energy presence. it was magnified to a new level. he was full of life. he had enthusiasm that was infectious. our fellow directors and ceo's from around the world would jockey to sit at his table and sit on his role of the airplane on his role of the bus he was in. all of that jockeying to get close was not necessary. that voice could be heard across time and across space and through walls. whenever he traveled, people were drawn to herman cain. in our board meetings, it was clear that he had matured into

the consummate ceo. his perspective was always strategic. he stayed out of the weeds. it focused on the well-being of employees and the satisfaction of customers. after all those years, he still stressed problem identification. are you addressing the right problem? 35 years ago, he taught my students to properly identify problems before trying to solve them. over the last decade, he taught me to think strategically, to choose the strategy, put your tips on that strategy and stay the course. over the last 8 months, he taught all of us that you do not have to be an elected official, you do not have to be a washington insider, you do not have to think conventual lead to have good ideas and practical solutions to difficult and complex problems.

ladies and gentlemen, it seems appropriate that this one time mathematician and computer scientist is today known by a number. mr. 999. herman cain. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. it is wonderful to see you here today. thank you for being here and thank you for that very warm welcome. if we go back in our history, our founding fathers that it right. not once, but several times.

in the preamble to the constitution it says, we the people. we the people of the united states of america. we the people of the united states of america in order to form a more perfect union. the unit is in trouble. the union is in trouble because we have become a nation of crises. an economic crisis, an energy crisis, national security crisis, illegal immigration crisis. the union is in trouble. all we have to do is look at it that. there is one thing i warn you about tax. liberals hate the facts. [applause] it drives them crazy.

fact, our national debt is now bigger than our gross domestic product. fact, the national debt increased 50% since president obama has been in office. now he is asking for another $1.20 trillion. fact, 1999. that happens to be the year 1-9- 9-9. my first grandchild was born. my first grandchild was born in 1-9-9-9. when she was born, the national debt for every man, woman, and child in the united states of america was $20,700.

that is a that. at the beginning of 2012, new year's day, my fourth grandchild was born. he was born with $48,000 in debt before he took his first breath. that is a fact. if president obama spends another $1.20 trillion, every man, woman, child in this country will be looking at $53,000 per person in debt and is still climbing. this economy is not in recovery despite what you are being told. you are not being told the truth

about this recovery. our gdp grew last year less than 2% for the whole year. they call that a recovery. china had a bad year last year. they only grew at a 8%. we grew less than 2%. that is a fact. this economy is still on life support. the union is in trouble. you may as well get ready to say hello to $5 a gallon gasoline again. because of what is going on in the strait of hormuz. mahmoud ahmadinejad is rattling his sabers again. he knows that uncertainty drives

up the cost of oil, which drives up the cost of gasoline. if he does not dry up the price of oil, he will not have permits it to fund his nuclear aspirations. that is a that. it is also a fact that this administration is probably not going to do anything about it. fact, washington is broken. and america is broke. what part of broke don't they understand? broke. in 1773, the communist -- the colonists were so fed up with king george that they showed

their defiance by dumping t in the boston harbor. the boston tea party. two years later, we had the american revolution began. 8 years after that, we won the american revolution. as the old preacher would say, i stopped by here to tell you today, we need another revolution. we need a solutions revolution. [applause] this time, it will not be about bombs and bullets. we are going to fight this solutions revolution with brains and ballots at the ballot box. that is how we will fight this

revolution. i have been asked repeatedly for the last several weeks and couple of months, who am i going to endorse? i have said consistently, the unconventional candidate that ran an unconventional campaign and achieved surprising results is going to make an unconventional endorsement. people say, what does that mean? that means, many people in the media are not going to like it. the american people are going to love it. the people are point to love it.

my unconventional endorsement is the people. we the people of this nation are still in charge. we are the ones who are going to be able to take out our power back. i am endorsing the people. the people who started this country. we have allowed the politicians to take it away from us. the message is simple. this revolution is going to have to be driven from the bottom up. we are going to have an independence -- and energy independence revolution. we are going to have a regulatory reform revolution with a solution. we are going to have a sound money solution as part of this revolution. the lead a revolution we are

going to use to take our power back is the 9-9-9 revolution here in this country. [applause] one of the comments i got most often after i ended my quest for the position of president was to please keep 9-9-9 allies. we well, with the 9-9-9 revolution. you can become a member of this army. i like the way someone described it to me. he said, now that you are out of the race, you were a david against goliath. that is right. so now, that has forced me to create a whole army of davids.

that is you all. that is us. that is what this revolution will be about, an army of davids. we are going to focus on all the solutions you have heard me talk about. the first one we will focus on is the 9-9-9 revolution. sign up at cainconnections.com encourage your favorite candidate running for congress and your senator to adopt the 9- 9-9 plan. we need solutions, not more rhetoric. encourage them to adopt the 9-9- 9 plan. when they say they have got to study it, you know what that means. they are too lazy to go to the website and what they thought

minute movie that explains it. do not take, we have to study it. that is how we are going to launch this revolution. the legislation is being drafted as we speak. after we get the legislation drafted, we will send it to those who have helped to recruit to adopt its bank and ask them to read it. -- adopt it and ask them to read it. i believe we can win this. change is not going to come from inside washington, d.c. we know that. we have to make it happen from the bottom up. from the outside with an army of davids. whoas the ira's philosopher

made the statement, -- the only irish -- the ira's philosophy who made the statement, the only way for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. i am not going to die and not having done something to take our nation back. [applause] we the people are still in charge of this country. i am endorsing we the people. it will be we the people who are able to take our power back out of washington, d.c. this will be the biggest transfer of power out of washington, d.c. and back to the people since this nation started. we want our power back.

i am reminded of my grandfather who was a small farmer in georgia all of his life. on saturdays when one does and grand kids were running around in the yard and my grandfather had loaded up the wagon to go into town to sell the program that he -- the produce he had grown. as a treat to the grand kids, my grandfather would announce to all of us running around wildly around that wagon with two mules hitched to it, he would say, them that's going, get on the

wagon. get out of thet, way. i have a message for washington, d.c. to getat are going on the solutions wagon, get on. those that are not, get out of the way. >> that concludes the southern leadership conference. thank you for being here. thank you for sharing our proud message. the buses will be leaving. you can pick them up.

there is parking at the event. sec travels. god bless america and our military families. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

>> just a programming reminder -- we will have more coverage from the southern republican leadership tomorrow on the c- span networks. follow c-span now. republican rick perry says he is dropping out of the race and endorsing new gingrich. the texas governor announced his decision this morning at a news conference in south carolina just two days before the primary. governor kerrey says he concluded that there was "no viable path forward quarter made for him in the race in south carolina. he praised former speaker gingrich as a visionary. here is his speech. -- governor harry -- governor perry says he concluded that there was no "by double path forward" for him in the race.

>> good morning. listen, thank you all for coming out. particularly to my incredible staff that is here. i want to say thanks to each of you for the work you have done. y'all were awesome. it has been a real privilege to be able to learn and grow under your work. as i stated numerous times during the campaign, this campaign has never been about the candidates. i ran for president because i love america. i love our people. i love our freedom. matter-of-fact, this mission is greater than any one man. as i have travelled across this great country, starting in charleston, going to iowa, california, down into florida and numerous states in between,

obviously, i discovered this tremendous purpose, and resiliency of our people. they have never lost hope, despite the circumstances that we find ourselves in. they had not stopped believing in the promise of america. they have not stopped believing in the american dream. americans are down, but we can never be counted out. we are too great a people for that. what is broken in america is not our people. it is about politics. what we need in washington is a place that is humbler with a federal government that a smaller so that our people can live freer. i entered this campaign offering a unique perspective, a governor who had led a large state, leading the nation in job creation, an executive leader who had implemented conservative

principles. a son of tenant farmers, who was born with little more than a good name, but who has experienced a great opportunity and freedom of this country. but i have never believed that because of conservatism is embodied by one individual. our party and the conservative philosophy transcends any one individual. it is a movement of ideas that are greater than any one of us, and we will live long past -- it will live long passed any of us in our lives. i do not get confused. i know we cannot lose track of the ultimate objective in carrying out our mission, and that objective is not only to defeat president obama, but to replace him with a conservative leader who will bring about real change. our country is hurting.

make no mistake about that. 13 million people out of work. 50 million of our citizens on food stamps. $15 trillion national debt and growing. we need bold, conservative leadership that will take on the entrenched interests and give the american people their country back. i have always believed the mission is greater than the man. as i have contemplated the future of this campaign, i have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in the 2012 campaign. therefore, today, i am suspending my campaign and endorsing newt gingrich for president of the united states. i believe newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country. we have had our differences,

which campaigns will inevitably have, and he is not perfect, but who among us is? the fact is -- there is forgiveness for those who seek god, and i believe in the power of redemption, for it is a central tenant -- tenet of my christian faith. i have no question that newt gingrich has the heart of a conservative reformer, the ability to rally and captivate the conservative movement, the courage to tell those washington interests to take a hike if that is what is in the best interests of our country. as a texan, i have never shied away from a fight, particularly when i considered the cause to be righteous. but as someone who has always admired a great if not the greatest texas governor, sam houston, i know when it is time to make a strategic retreat

from. so i will leave the trail, return home to texas, wind down my 2012 campaign, and i will do so with pride, knowing i gave fully of myself of a cause worthy of this country. as i head home, i do so with the love of my life by my side, a woman who makes every day good when she is there by me, and that is my wife, anita. honey, thank you for all you have done. she has been an incredible patriot during this process. i also want to thank my son griffin and his beautiful wife, meredith. sydney, who is not with us here today, but the fact is, with a good wife, with three living

children, and a loving god who is in my life, things are going to be good no matter what i do. i am proud of the politics we have put forward to the american people and i believe that we have provided the right path forward for our party and our nation. overhaul washington, providing, i think, the road map for that, proclaiming the 10th amendment and all the goodness of allowing the states to be more competitive in the local government, creating energy and energy security, energy jobs and energy security, cutting spending, eliminating these unnecessary federal agencies, cutting taxes to the flat and simple 20%. i will continue to fight for these conservative reforms because the future of our

country is at stake. and the road we are traveling road, president obama's is a very dangerous one. i want to thank some wonderful individuals who i have come to know and admire and who have stood by my side in this state. caiden dawson, thank you, brother, for all the work you have done and just being the loyal supporter you have been. a strong and a good man in the united states congress, ambassador wilkins. i talked to all of them this morning. i just want to thank my supporters, the men and women who have come across the country to be here in south carolina that were in new hampshire, in iowa. god bless you for loving your country, for volunteering in being here and making a difference. in particular, i want to say thanks to governor bobby jindal,

who has just been a fabulous spokesperson. steve forbes who, as i know him more, i admire him greatly. what a fabulous, patriotic american. governor sam brownback. congresswoman candace miller. congressman sam graves. all just great americans who we have come to have such great respect for and reflect their love of country. i want to say it really special thanks to three distinguished veterans who have joined me on the trail. medal of honor recipient mike boynton n -- thornton. he spent the last few days with us as we travelled across south carolina. but my christian brother who has

traveled so many miles with me, young marine captain dan moran. they truly represent what is best about america, who give up so much of themselves, and they have been uplifting for me as a citizen, as the commander in chief overtaxes forces, and, again, they are truly my heroes. i began this race with a sense of cause. i felt lead into the arena to fight for the future of this country, and i feel no different today than i did then, knowing a calling never guarantees a particular outcome, but the journey that tests one's faith and one's character.

now that the journey leads me back to texas, neither discouraged nor disenchanted, but instead rewarded highly by the experience and resolute to remain in the arena and in the service of my country. our country needs bold leadership and real transformation. our country deserves that. we must rise to the occasion and elect a conservative champion to put our nation back on the right track, and this, i know. i am not on fighting for the cause of conservatism. as a matter of fact, i have just begun to fight. god bless you. god bless this great country of america. thank you for coming out and being with us today. [applause] [applause]