$837,000 including compensation for unused sick and vacation days. the city must honor the contract regardless. whatever happened to honoring the interest of the public? it is always great to see you here, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow night. lou: good evening, everybody. the drum is running mate paul ryan energizing the ticket. the polls this electio in this w president obama and governor romney in a tight race giving added weight to the bottom of the ticket not helping matters the obama campaign vice president joe biden's pension for gas. >> these guys gets me going a little bit, and you're going to have trouble translating all this because that poor lady will

have tendinitis by the time she is finished. stand up, let them see you, god love you, what am i talking about? you're making everybody else stand up. >> lived in long island for 10 years or so, god rest her soul, wait, your mom is still alive, your dad passed. >> slit me say it again. thank you, and thank you dr pepper, and thank you chancellor, dr. paper. lou: meanwhile, given the republican ticket a boost in fund-raising. the romney campaign brought in more than $10 million in less than a week after the announcement of congressman ryan as a vice presidential candidate. our next guest says governor

romney's choice ofrn running mae has him excited. a detailed plan for entitlement reform, balancingro the budget d joining us now, american historian, author of the book the true gold standard. s my goodness, good to see you. it's been too long. let's start with paul ryan. you know when. your thoughts? >> outstanding. i have to say yen man. lou: 42 years old. >> yes. well, he has been a 7-term congressman. as a teenager he spent time in the private sector working for mcdowells and obama ever spent working in a real job his entire life. lou: very impressive. a 7-term congressman. forty-two. he was not just messing around in his late 20's. >> no, he was an inspired and

mannerly on the, not least because of hardship. his daddy died when he was young. he had to get job. he went to work at mcdonald's. then some of the vocation of politics and public policy the takeover. he went to work for jack kemp very early. >> is that where you first met him? >> yes. lou: and jack kemp, i mean, here is a conservative, economics or politics, a conservative, a man who is given to innovative thinking and bright ideas about how tough push ahead economic growth and prosperity. and, of course, he made those views known. everybody remembered the enterprise zones. that was one of his ideas. >> yes. among many other parts of his career. jack was a -- a exciting man. he was a man who turned on a

buffalo which was a democratic stronghold for an entire and one buffalo. every two years in a big way. he did it because he was a pro-growth republican. he was at sizzle back as well. >> as you say, i just think a mother is a great comparison between the two. jack kemp and paul ryan. energy, charisma, and the obvious if you will, the happy warrior persona that they bring to politics. >> the happy warrior. diving, a phrase that was applied to fight and roosevelt. jack kemp was that true, happy warrior of free markets and enterprise and economic growth. we are now -- lou: rihanna talk about medicare we are talking about the advantage. we are talking about -- we are talking about the things in the weeds right now, medicare,

entitlement, budgets, that i don't think anyone really thought we would get to for at least, if we did, another, well, their to. and here we are. and people across the media, whether business media, a popular media, having to contend with real issues and it hasn't even been a week. does that surprise you? >> not as a result of paul ryan. this man, unlike the camp reagan years where there was as certain to indifference to deficits, when america was really striving to get back on top. lou: we were not so well acquainted. >> with they got very big. we had our eyes closed. lou: mr. reagan and his wide open. >> he did. you'regrowth and full employmene

has focused on this budget problem and, well, for almost a generation, the deficits don't matter. paul rhinos that they do. lou: in that thing most people who are looking at 23 million people unemployed and underemployed, discouraged, when they look at one and a half percent growth, they understand that there are consequences to public policy choices and budget's five years to my trillion dollars plus deficits, $16 trillion in debt. and in entitlement spending without and. it is, perhaps, to be on the right side of history, time for. joining us now with her reaction to what is becoming a more frequent extension of power by this president is elaine chao. the former secretary of labor. your reaction to stripping out the work requirement from

welfare reform. >> i think it is stunning. it is stunning views of executive powers and the disregard for our three branches of government. on the intent of the welfare reform law that was passed in 1996, it was quite clear in the work component was a very important part of it. basically all of our research we knew that work was a major component and all of the assistance programs revolve around the work focus that people had a much better chance of getting off of the roles, starting new lives and getting better jobs. lou: this president is being criticized for creating dependency across this nation and this just plays into the hands of his critics because it gives every appearance that he is putting dependency above work and opportunity for those who

seek work. >> it really perpetuate the cycle of poverty. children are growing up in a home where they do not see a mother or father go to work every morning on time and where they understand what work is all about. this affects these young people and it sets them up for failure. lou: there is more than sufficient stress for those folks, for millions of americans, as many as 25 million americans who are either out of work or underemployed or discouraged workers. as you know better than anyone. to bargain the 46 month in which donna plummet rate in this country has been above 8%. what will this administration do and should they be doing? >> what has been happening is a lack of job creation. our population growth every month requires the creation of

225,000 new jobs. we have been below that. i would say this past june report was much better than august 2011 in which there was no job creation. what is happening now is, yes, the presid sure that our policies are leading the private sector create the jobs that would ordinarily be created under normal circumstances. that is not happening. the economy is being held back. lou: to what degree do you blame this president directly? it is often said that presidents are given far too much blame for bad times and too much credit

for good times. >> many of the workers that are traditional in the workforce are now the longer and the workforce. the labor participation rate is very low at 63.8%. the labor participation rate was 67%. the average unemployment rate was 5.2% during that same period. it is jarring to hear the numbers. public policy has an impact. not only legislatively, but also through the regulatory avalanche that is now flooding businesses and discouraging them from creating new jobs. lou: and so

we are grateful and we try to do our part in service of the nation. my next guest has launched a new super pac. representing active duty military. the special operations for america pac, montana state senator and retired navy seal commander, ryan zinke has been awarded two bronze stars for

combat 22 years in the military. he says that president obama is jeopardizing the safety of our troops and national security for political gain. strong strong charges, senator. we are thrilled you are here. that strong charge is being supported from some quarters. would he make of it? >> well, you know, it started with the death of bin laden. and former president clinton, it is a political commercial. looking at it from a point of view where the decision was the decision. i think the most important thing is the united states, had the capability to go after characters and terrorist like a modern. the president went too far, i think, and took the credit as if that decision was the most important thing. the risk of making that decision

was the guys on the ground conducting the operation. lou: that is the last place that you want that risk. of course. house homeland security committee chairman, heater king of new york. he is very concerned and upset about the cia's belated discovery. i want to get this exactly right. a four to 5-inch stack of documents with a hollywood production team about that osama bin laden rated. in which they apparently glorified the president's role. what is your reaction? >> for what purpose? security leak is a great concern. admiral mcraven has said these leaks put our troops in harms way. when the leaks for the purpose of making a movie -- they do put our troops in harms way.

when you look at the disclosure, everyone in special operations knows that it just wasn't the navy seals. every service is represented. it is a culmination of capability as a nation to conduct the operation. but when you disclose it, what it does is it puts that team to dependents in the military members at home and abroad at risk. we have to stop that. we have to stop the continuing leaks that were troops at risk. as well as the rules of engagement overseas. lou: i would like to show you something. you referenced atmel mcraven, head of special operations command. >> he is a great leader. lou: it seems something poignant about loose lips and chips --

sink ships. i pledge allegiance and silence about the war. she talks and this happens. if you can't make it out, it is obviously thinking. zip your lip, save a ship, back of the men in uniform. censoring our conversation about the war. my goodness, is there anything complex about this or any of our elected officials, any of our military or intelligence? this seems like a straightforward stuff. >> well, it is a straightforward, but it has become politicized. that is the problem. as commander-in-chief, you know, your decisions have to be the best interest of our country and you can't play politics with our military. that is where we are pushing back. special operations, we are going to be straightforward and not make it personal. we are going to be important.

this belongs to all of us. it is not a republican or democrat entity. it is an american entity. and we want to do what is best for our troops and our nation in place that first. lou: the super pac, give us the name and how folks can participate. >> special operations for america. we were at nascar this weekend, number 32, we are racing in indianapolis. lou: you have a car flag, i love it. >> we have a car with a race number 32. we are grateful and thrilled to be at nascar in indianapolis. we have a good group of advisers, former senators, former governors, it is a grassroots effort

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♪ >> i think the appointment adds -- has thrown the base of the republican party, tea party republicans, socia conservatives because congressman ryan is a certifiable right-wing ideologue that has excited them. but that kind of excitement, side four years ago when john mccain appointed sir palin's. huge crowds, much of the same kind of reaction, and i don't think it worked out very well. lou: i was sure -- that was obama adviser. my guess was that he would pick the 2004 democratic candidate, senator john kerry and his

running mate, senator john edwards, who got everybody excited. i don't know why that didn't occur. but does he was trying to spin of the new running mate, congressman ryan, comparable to governor palin. all i can say to that is, good luck. the alaska governor had one year and ten months of experience when she was nominated for vice president. ryan has seven terms. u.s. congressman. that is pretty impressive. he also is a chairman of the house budget committee, one of the most important committees in congress, from which he has managed to actually take of all lot of the intellectual direction of the republican party and the house itself. he has been successful as a

legislature as well. this is a number that i think a lot of people aren't aware of. he signed his name to 1,064 bills and resolutions. that is a lot. that is a very productive 14 years in congress. many of those bills and resolutions, by the way, deal with tax policy and spending, restricting it to not boosting it. the ryan budget has been passed in each of the last two years, by the way. he has authored the budget. that, if that is not impressive to you, think about this. the democratically controlled senate has gone more than 1200 days, let's put that over here, 1200 days and have not passed a

single budget for the government of the united states, even that is required by law to do so, even though, you would think, that this president would insist upon it doing so because of budget, as we all know, is the blueprint for the administration's for america. there have been zero budgets, zero. democrats have energetically attacked the ryan budget but calling it a vote to and medicare, by the way. those plans, and that they wish to talk about that. we are going to talk a lot about medicare, i have a feeling. you should know that in 2000 to 11 the votes set and medicare

was the light of the year, a line of the year. i am going to make your wager here tonight and if you will, just remember this, the light of 2012 will be the medicare lie again. why is that? because democrats are ignoring the fact that the ryan plant would not affect people currently in medicare for those aged from 55 to 65 who would join the program over the next decade. besides that, governor romney is making it clear the new republican ticket will run on his budget plan, not grants. that means there is going to be some flexibility, and it includes extending the bush tax cuts, reducing tax rates by an additional 20%, getting rid of the estate tax and a call to rid ourselves of the alternative minimum tax. to do so without raising taxes. romney promising no high income earners will have taxes reduced either. president obama, on the other

hand, given four straight years of trillion dollar plus deficit. and with the appointment of congressman ryan to the ticket it is clear that this election will be about the issues. this is what the democrats wanted. what the conservatives wanted. and it is delightful that everybody is h say. we gave all you people what you need to know. spreading the wealth. is that president obama's agenda favorite? >> this is a choice about two fundamentally different businesses for america. does the president have secret plans for america's future? plans for america's future? what would four more years of so... [ gasps ]

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>> if our goal is jobs, we have to stop spending over a trillion dollars more than we taken every year. and so, i'm going to eliminate every nonessential program that i could find, including obamacare, and i'm going to work to reform and save desk. lou: what i say? a tough crowd. joining him at the governor's pitch for the presidency before the naacp, the presidents snub of the naacp, and the author ed klein, number one best-selling book, "the amateur." great have you with us. >> thank you. lou: do think that this was a good idea or a bad one to show

up for the naacp? >> i think this could end up as a great moment in this campaign. even a ronald reagan moment for him. he went before a crowd that he was not going to be very favorable, and he did not -- lou: i'm sorry to laugh, that's not very favorable. >> 96% of african-americans favor president obama. that is pretty close. >> that is a lot of courage for him. >> and then to give the naacp at the same message that he would give to the business roundtable, which is entrepreneurship, capitalism, obamacare, socialism is often work in this country. lou: i love the way in which he reaches out to the crowd. as he talks about repealing obamacare. you know, that was a great moment, i think. >> i thought he looked very

statesmanlike. he looked composed, he wasn't shaken by the jeers. you know, -- lou: he was surprised but not shaken, i love the fact that the convention gave him a standing ovation at the end. i don't know if that translates to votes, but it certainly translates to a good moment on both the part of the naacp as well as governor romney. by the way, the last time president obama -- the last president not to do so did manage to win, and that was george w. bush running for reelection in 2004. do you think this may have been a mistake on his part? and the 96% be reduced significantly? >> in a while, when i wrote my book, interviewed a lot of african-american businessman, political leaders, and to a person, they are all very

disappointed in the obama administration record. they point out that maybe the unemployment rate -- whatever it is, 2%, 8.2%, in the the inner cities, google from anywhere from 18 to 25 to 30 -- it's a depression. and they are very disappointed that the president hasn't done more. if he can gain -- if romney can gain two or three points from the obama black vote, he could perhaps swing north carolina and obama only won by 14,000 votes. lou: it is one of the things that needs to be discussed in the public arena. that is that the vote, that monolithic vote, it is rationalized. i don't know what might be justified. perhaps, the reality is, what is the white vote, quote unquote? >> they voted in such numbers in those numbers happen to fall in

favor. lou: it would be quite different. it is a question of maturity in society. >> is a question of maturity and where does the naacp stand right now? they still have an attitude that they are victimized, where as younger, black, businessmen in the black community, well-educated blacks often feel that they want individual responsibility not to be victims. there is a big difference, and i think the naacp is lagging behind. lou: having staked out a historical position, i think this election -- per song when have to wrap it up, it's never been clear the selection will be about individual choice and individual freedom. individualism versus statism and government power.

it's going to be quite an election in quite a campaign here. remarkable. when excess says obama's tries to work between the suburbs and the city. from the ethics public policy center, and author of spreading the wealth, a good to have you with us, stanley. there is nothing that could have been written to surprise me more as a

strategy to move money from the suburbs to the urban center. and the all-out attack. >> i was surprised myself. but the president wants to abolish the suburbs. but for two decades he has been supporter of a movement to have city government control suburban.gov. ultimately the president wants to redistribute the wealth to the suburb. lou: talking with joe the plumber he was not kidding. >> no. it will get worse in the

second term. the sustainable communities initiative and nobody pays attention but it will not kick in until second term. at that point* they will send out plans to localities to redistribute wealth and pushed the suburbanites to move back then he can hold federal aid hostage that would have the chance formative defect. lou: how the president defect such change started a new

organization called building one america. it gets state legislatures forcing the suburban to put the money to the city. happens right now in minneapolis. obama of will play the pressure campaign on a city legislatures. lou: any report the president puts together a

new coalition out to the suburbs themselves? how progressive it is that plan? >> we are a majority suburban country. you cannot take up plan because they would out vote to. so the plan is to split the suburbs against themselves. those who are less well-off and necessity. this plays out with the regional tax base. lou: this is amazing charges. i would think the i would think the republ want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

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the obama administration announced that it will extend the moratorium for 30 years on offshore exploration of oil. the moray -- according to the institute for energy research, at least 85 or $86 billion of undiscovered oil on the continental shelf is off-limits to drilling. others think the number is larger than that. for more on this and other energy issues, we are joined by

gulf oil ceo, joseph petrowski. >> thank you for having me. lou: that would million oversight of a split that into this what they have done this intentionally? >> this administration is amazing. they talked just yesterday about great advances in production we have made. production has been down almost one third on public lands. simply are not friendly towards either. lou: yes, and oil companies going broke, the nation is dependent upon coal for power generation. this administration doesn't seem to have a focus other than the anti-fossil fuel. the amount that is true. you know, all of the above is really, i think, a terrible

thing. life is about making choices. and choices should be based on economics and cost. all of the debate yesterday

disaster. lou: did congress show interest in the fact that we are watching a horrible drought that is driving prices for corn and therefore ethanol significantlye aware of the drought, but i think that they thought that the renewable statistical glove. by the way, they have gone up 1.5 cents an week. it helps get back to the consumer. lou: when we talk about a gallon of gasoline and we start talking about it, heret is, serious business. >> 136 billion gallons of what we consume in the united states last year. the point is that most of our refineries are making a buggy product that needs at all. a blending product. even if the worst case scenario happens to the corn crop and it

goes up another 50 or 60 cents a gallon, we are so going to have ethanol in the short run. lou: intoxicants becoming a synonym for we don't know what to do. >> it really is. all of the above is saying i'm not going to make a choice or not we make the choice on how economics and what is best for the nation. we have good stories on oil. our domestic production, because natural gas is a tremendously positive story. ethanol, we were taken off of it, demanded a certain amount and not let price dictate, it is and not let price dictate, it is where you

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mom, i can handle it from here. announcer: you don't have to be perfect... bye-bye. have a great day. that's too much pressure. have the day you have. to be a perfect parent. yes! timothy: there are two people in the world who want you more than anything. they'll make some mistakes, but they will love you more than you can ever imagine. announcer: there are thousands of children in foster care who will take you just as you are. thrillers include the first commandments, state of the union, the last patriot, and his very latest, blacklist. blacklist is, well, it's been out for a few hours. it's already on the amazon top 10. brad thor, great to have you with us. >> thanks, lou, great to be here. lou: congratulations on the new book. i'm half way through it. i'm reading it on amazon's -- shameless plug for amazon because i love it, kindle fire,

and i have to say it's just -- it's a terrific read. it has you from the very beginning. >> thank you. lou: i was fascinated you began the book with a quote from senator frank church, a democratic senator, played a large role that people don't realize, but for him to cry out with caution about what we're doing to ourselves, it is the legislative equivalent of presidentize p hour's -- eisenhowers beware of the military complex. >> exactly. it's faction. where do the facts end, fiction begin? i started that blacklist with that quote from frank church where he said basically if the nsa ever turns its giant listening ears in on the united states, surveillance will take over and privacy will be dead. in the wake of 9/11, what happened? the giant ears were turned inward, and we'll all suspects now.

everything we do, text messages, e-mails, gps positioning, phone calls, it's all recorded, sifted, and stored. lou: security agencies treat our grandparents and our infants as if they are not only suspects, but terrorists who should bear the brunt of security forces. the -- this book, the premise of the book, how did this occur to you to focus as you have on this environment that we're in, to bring in the ideological, the -- what would it be? religio-ideological world changing around us. >> the writer's job is to beat the headlines. we talked about this, and i was brought in with other creative thinkers to look over the horizon and see where the next threats are coming from. that's the same process i apply

for books. i'll tell you, lou, i saw total surveillance in the country, how the explosion in surveillance would be the next big thing we'd talk about in the public square. i said that would be a great thriller. lou: a great thriller. you touched on it, but not to the degree you bring to "blacklist". nicholas, the character, is one of my very favorite characters you created. you're a protagonist, scott, is obviously, he's quite a fellow. tell us about nicholas, how he came to be? >> that's never been asked. first time i'll tell you about nicholas. i have a dwarf in the book, a little person, who deals in the purchase and sale of black market intelligence. stolen top secret items. i got it from watching one of my

children's animated series. dora the explorer has a guy who lives under the bridge, and you can't get by unless you tell a riddle. i thought, boy, what could a person do who dealt in being clever, purchase and sale of information. it's one of the most popular characters in my books. lou: yeah. it's a terrific book. very quickly. >> sure. >> the political situation, as you find it now, who do you think should be president of the united states? >> well, i was a surrogate in a big supporter of rick santorum. we have governor romney now as our nominee, and i think all the polls showing obama ahead have got the democratic thumb on the scale. i think the samples are off. it's going to be a horse race, but we have no choice. this is the most important election in our lifetimes. mitt romney has to win. i believe he will win. we need to get the house too. we need to control the house and senate to turn the country

around. it's the only way it's going to begin. lou: all you want is the government. >> absolutely. lou: read "blacklist," and find out why he wants the whole thing under a all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

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