rammer had you had have should have won. he was phenomenal in that is next with "viewpoint." [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpoint." for months mitt romney said his campaign would focus on the economy. that was then. so far this week he has focused on the obama attacks medicare and today a likely loser his own taxes. >> romney: the fascinations for taxes i paid i find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues that we face. but i did go back and look at thigh taxes. and over the past ten years i never paid less than 13%. the most recent years 13.6% or something like that. i pay taxes every single year. harry reid's charge is totally

false. i'm still waiting for harry to put up who it was who told him. i don't believe it. >> eliot: while romney may not believe harry reid, smith said where romney taxes i quote has forfortified us from taking him at his word. quote, he never asked for stimulus money and opposed the stimulus because it dent doesn't work. however, in 2009 letters published by the wall street journal, ryan pushed for stimulus funds. he wrote i'm writeing to ex-please my port for the grant application submitted by the energy center of wisconsin and it's partners. i believe they would make effective use of the funds they would use from the doe. he tried to make an issue of the medicare issue in an appearance today. >> we want this debate. we need this debate.

and we will win this debate. [ cheering ] >> eliot: winning that debate was easy for mitt romney. he just debated himself. >> romney: the president's plan cuts medicare--excuse me--well, let's see there we go. by $716 billion. cut. this is going to be a big issue in places where there are a lot of seniors. >> eliot: that was the etch etch-a-sketch in action erasing his words. >> the president's affordable care act according to the aarp an independent voice that seniors value and take seriously strengthens and protect medicare medicare. according to the aarp, the republican plan, the ryan plan,

the romney plan undermines medicare. >> eliot: meanwhile, a group calling itself the special opposite rations education fund has released a video that tries to undermine one of president obama's signal achievements, the raid that killed osama bin laden. >> mr. president, you did not kilo sam bin laden. america did. >> eliot: two points. one, the president has consistently given credit to military professionals who took part in the raid who killed killedbin-laden. and smith, who you just saw in that clip, was a spokesman for the tea party express not exactly a bipartisan voice. and it was suggested that obama drop joe biden from his ticket and replace him with hillary clinton. jay carney had fun with that. >> one police i would not go for

advice on vice presidential advice is john mccain. joe, even you're laughing at that. that is a punch line. what can you do, it's politics. 13%. mitt romney puts out that he paid 13%. is that a disaster, landmine or how is this going to play. >> i don't think it's a disaster or landmine. it's just something that is not going to go away. you'll notice the statement was carefully worded. he has paid not less than 13%. if you take harry reid at thinks word, that does not include not paying taxes at all. he basically said i paid what i owed as far as he could remember not less than 13%. but you don't pay if you don't think that you owe anything or if your calculations reveal that other certain loopholes or offshore accounts, you will pay

zero. it does not clear up the question at all. the only reason why he responded to it today was because a reporter asked him about it. this is two and a half weeks as counting since "abc news" asked him specifically for more information on his tax and he said he would get back to you. it's basically all of a piece. it's not going to go away. it will not serve him well, and i don't think he should rest until he releases more than one years, more than two years which he said he absolutely refuserefuses to do. >> eliot: i'm willing to accept that he paid 13% every year. that seems to be the gist of what he has said. but most people will say wait a minute. he earned huge sums of money. very serious amount of money. he only paid 13%, and i meaning most folks out there paying 20%, 25%. i don't know if they think about it in percentage terms but this is fundamentally wrong. >> they are going to say that, and this is another argument that the obama administration

and the campaign is going to use and cram down mitt romney's throat. not only is he not releasing his taxes, he's asking you to take him at his word that he paid no less than 13%. and 13% is way more than or way less than many americans as you said would pay in a give years. we're up 20%. obama, 25%. some paying as high as 30% 35%. it's not going to ease the pressure any and in fact, i think it's going to serve the opposite. it will crank it up because it's not going to go away. i also believe this is one of the reasons why the taxes remain under lock and key as far as he's concerned. >> eliot: i'm calling my accountant tomorrow morning and saying, i want the mitt romney rate. i don't know what i'm doing wrong. let's go to paul ryan, this tension, does it matter that he said, i voted against the stimulus. i wouldn't play pork barrel politics. but then wait a minute, buddy here you are seeking the funds

and bringing the bacon back to your district. is this a real credibility issue or something that disappears in the ether. >> it's a real credibility issue. he's known as a national figure? we don't know how he was as a legislature lack at home. how much was he helping his district? was he bringing home the bacon a la stimulus when he said he didn't believe in it. there is reporting as late as today that shows the unemployment rate in paul ryan's district is still above the national average at 10%. he did not help people out there, and it shows that he was not necessarily tuned in to his

constituency because he was more ambitious on the national level. number one being for something and being against something until they start handing out the check. b, the fact that he's not doing his best for congress and he had national ambition since graduating from college and this was just a means to an end. >> eliot: i think also because this tension plays into it who what is about paul ryan, that that is the ideology that he wants the nation to see there is tension there he has not yet resolved. joe williams, great to have you on your program. >> my pleasure. >> eliot: for now let's it's a pleasure to welcome to "viewpoint," a real and genuine political pro the host of the gavin newsome show, and he happens to be the california

lieutenant governor. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. >> eliot: you've run campaigns a lot of them enormously successfully. i don't see coherence in the romney campaign. they're bouncing around like a ping ball issue to issue. no major theme. they seem to be off balance. >> i couldn't agree more. that's the reason for the ryan pick. they wanted to create polls across the country and in key swing states were not moving in their direction. the issue of tax returns were having an impact. and ironry of ironry we're going to open that issue up again. they started the attack, and i'll give them credit with the medicare with the counterattack i don't think it will serve them well, but you're right governor this is all over the map. i think cher' expecting they'll get it back on track at the convention in the next couple of weeks. >> eliot: on the other hand, we had expected right now to be

discussing jobs, jobs, jobs, then you pick paul ryan and then budget medicare, budget, medicare. it seems like a fundamental tension. i don't understand why they did it. >> i couldn't agree more. i understand it. they believe this is exclusive a base election. then i understand the ryan pick, expect you can counter that to the fact that there is already organized opposition with the base against barack obama. so what do you get? you give up women you give up latinos, and you give up independent voters in these key swing states. and then you take on the risks of these key swing states, and then all of a sudden you're vulnerable. i don't, as you don't understand fundamentally the pick. it may make you feel good the next few days but they did not even get a bump. you saw the gallup polls, no big bump. this is like dan quayle when they didn't get the bump that

they expected. >> eliot: that brings back fond memories. going back to the failed hall of fame. you ticked off the latino vote. it has not been pulled into the republican camp. and the romney campaign being so hostile to any reform in that domain. the gender gap is still as big as it has been. where do they go for those swing votes. >> you cannot just put up three or four governors or a few women to speak at your republican convention, and that's your outreach strategy. ryan hurts when it relates to the litany of issues where he's simply on the wrong side when it relates to gender equality. you can go down that list, and we'll have plenty of time to talk about it. i honestly don't get it as well. the demographics of this country are shifting. they're not trending in the

respect of straight, white males. i'm happy about it. i'm here hardly to counter it. i think it's encouraging from my perspective. may i say on the tax issue governor, this is remarkable. when i ran for mayor of a relatively smallcy it i small city. i had to put five years of tax returns up. because i ran and expose what i paid in taxes but expose where my investments were and what potential conflicts existed. it's about transparency and trust. that's what you want in elected officials. what governor romney is telling us, trust me. that's simply not good enough. i know one could demagogue this and play partisan politics, but i feel that the drum beat of concern is real, and i think the obama administration from a tactical and substantive per

perspective should not let this go. >> eliot: and for all the reasons you ticked off exactly right, transparency, conflict of interest trust that the american people should have in government officials. you stated that with real crispness. i hope the white house listens and continues to talk about. let's for a moment talk about the medicare debate. maybe you have to give them credited. it's a tough debate. it's divisive. can mitt romney win and persuade the public that his idea is anything other than ending the program as we know it? >> i think the best they're doing is trying to confuse people. it's not surprising they've come out and talked about the $716 billion that they were encouraging president obama to move from the trainline of costs in medicare. remember, the republicans from united in their concern about the runaway costs of indictment entitlements. they were looking at providers not beneficiaries.

they're trying to confuse this issue. i understand the distinction between the first ryan plan and the second ryan plan. the vouchers have not gone away. i think this is still a point of real vulnerable ability, and it's not just medicare, it's medicaid. as a former governor, you understand this inmately. they're talking about one-third cuts in medicaid. putting people out there in the streets and putting the burden on states to figure that out. it's passing the buck to beneficiaries and to the state on medicaid. that's a double-whammy for this campaign. >> eliot: you're exactly right. what they would propose to do to medicaid would lead to 14 to 28 million people thrown off the rolls of health insurance. it's hard to imagine what would happen to our healthcare system. it wouldn't work. the cost would be shifted elsewhere. >> you got it. >> eliot: we'll continue this conversation. gavin newsome, the host of the

gavin newsome show right here on current tv. thank you so much for joining us and sharing your wisdom. >> thank you. >> eliot: a new era on >> we talk a lot about the influence of money in politics. it is the defining issue of this era. the candidate with the most money does win. this is a national crisis.

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the day. out of the 100 top paid chief executives in the u.s. 26 took home more money last year than their companies paid in federal income tax. that includes aig citigroup and boeing which paid it's ceo $18.4 million while enjoying $605 million tax refund. the institute for policy studies say the high and low tax paid are related. so money gets deflected away from the government from benefits the environmental protection agency, from homeland security, and straight to executives' pockets. that's why the grips about corporate taxes are hard to stomach. this is good news. shareholders are tired of it. 53 executive numbers had their pay proposals voted down, includeing

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his court has proven to be the knowing, delighted accomplice in the billionaires' purchase of our nation. >> and you think it doesn't affect you? think again.

of sununu, you're wrong. mitt romney, you're wrong. we need more teachers, not fewer teachers and more cops and more firefighters that support our

what makes hershey's s'mores special? pure chocolate goodness that brings people together. hershey's makes it a s'more... you make it special. pure hershey's. >> eliot: "national review," a magazine founded by the late william f buckley is the influence leader of the conservative movement. it speaks about the free market theory that overtook and then destroyed our economy. they put a caricature of me on

their cover and called me the most destructive politician in america. why? my office and i were pursuing wrongdoing. we were suing coal-burning power plants who were violating the clean air act. we have suing virtually all the major wall street investment banks for committing fraud and violating their duty of honesty to the public. the feds were doing nothing about these problems until we did. lead to go billions of dollars of funds to customers and lowering fees again, something that the feds were unwilling to do. and as the article points out we were suing predatory lending companies along before 2004 and i was warning that subprime debt could be both harmful to the borrower and toxic to the economy. the federal government affirmatively tried to shut down

our effort. all these actions led the "national review" to deem me the most destructive politician in america. frankly, i wish the financial world were paying attention to what we were saying at a deeper level. evidence to the crisis of 2008 was visible. we tried to be heard about predatory lending and subprime debt, the voices of ideology of deregulation won out. clearly we've all paid an enormous price. there was a core logic to our cases. as one with a deep faith in the competition in the markets i also know that markets only work with tough enforcement of the rules with guaranteed competition and fair play. as the pressure to break those rules gets stronger and the amount of money involved gets larger. therethere, there is a principle that i feel that most of us believe in. it's always important in this society that the most powerful be subject to the rule of law

and the least powerful be entitled to the protection of the law. unfortunately, those most responsible for creating the financial crisis have escaped paying any price. we have an adjust department who seems incapable of framing important cases. they would rather focus on steroids and baseball than structural malfeasance. they are now trying desperately to rewrite history. disclaiming any responsibility and pretending that events simply did not occur as they did. a small group of individuals whom i prosecuted seem to have made it their business to do just that. using multiple platforms and venues to attack me personally and distort the record of these cases. ken lagone wenten cmbc to level yet another round of attacks.

>> look, this guy is a master at deception, like a kid, a spoiled kid. i'm here, pay attention. >> langone feels free to speak up. it is right. i bear him no ill will for him stating what he views are his case. not because the cases are more important but the principles we were trying to vindicate surly are, and so much what tried to be said are simply outrageous. let's talk about the case against ken langone. paid it's ceo over $200 million over a series of years. a report done for the board which is linked on our website by dan webb, one of the most respected prosecutors in the nation found that he was overpaid by $144 million. and that langone and the committee handled the matter

improperly. in the end an appellate court found because the new york stock exchange converted to a for-profit, they lost jurisdiction over the case. this was a ridiculous decision and the descending opinion said it was meritless on its face. the judge who wrote the opinion is one of the most political judicial actors i've ever encountered. more important langone in detail in the report. and paid more than $200 million by a board comprised of ceos of the very companies he was supposed to regulate with overwhelming evidence of our corrupt our system has become and behaves. the stock exchange board during this era is a paradigm of the locking conflict of interest.

yesterday, they also recalled my last appearance on their network and spoke despair ranging it. >> he kept pointing to a report, asking if i read it, if i read it. >> it had relevance to the case in connecticut. >> it's crystal clear while i was attorney general with fraud and deceptive accounting practices, the company settled for $1.64 billion at the time the largest payment in history. let me quote from "the new york times" reporting of the settlement. under the settlement reached with the justice department, the securities and exchange commission the new york attorney general's office and the new york state insurance department a.i.g. acknowledged that it had deceived the investing public and regulators. further from the "new york

times." mr. greenberg who was removed by a.i.g.'s board last ma march remains under investigation by the securities exchange commission. greenberg settled with the sec for $15 million. and a judge in written opinion found evidence to deceive investors originated with greenberg. they even covered greenberg settlement saying, ex-a.i.g. greenberg settles fraud charges with the sec. so mr. langone factors matter. these cases were absolutely correct, important and went to the heart of the type of corporate fraud that nearly destroyed our economy. now langone also made noise about fabrication of evidence. >> there is a case recently

heard, of court of appeals in new york state where the judge is allowing the case of a docket to go forward because the judge says there is indications that spitzer and his staff fabricated information. evidence. >> eliot: baloney and i'm editing that for tv. what that has to do with langone langone, greenberg or his buddies or me, that's hard to see. but if you would like to read the opinions, they're learned to our website. perhaps surprising, he claims that i'm a bully. believe me, i've heard this before. let me say this, most folks thought that i was david versus their goliath. i think the power is much more on their side of the field that it ever was on mine. fy use some tough language every

now and again too bad ken. stop whining, you and your colleagues destroyed the very fabric of our economy, and maybe it's about time that you heard someone tell you the truth. it's too bad that cnbc has lowered itself than having it's anchors to buy in the foolishness that langone spreads around. they support and perpetuate the charade. no checks, no facts, no balance. yet they call themselves a news network. finally let's put the specifics of these cases in langon, greenberg aside. the apologizists and deniers are trying to blind us to the massive problem that we still have in the arena of corporate fraud. it almost destroyed our economy cannot admit to its sins and own up to its own grievous failur