you have one last surprise for the family. >> i do. it has been such a pleasure getting to know you and work with you. because this was all a gift, everything here. you get taxed on it. we don't want you to have to pay for the taxes. so they're giving awe check for $20,000. >> steve: very nice! great story there. good morning, everybody. the so the romney campaign is on the attack shifting the heart of the discussion from jobs to medicare. they revealed something of a new weapon over the weekend. vice-presidential candidate's 78-year-old mom. her name is betty just like myom. i'm martha maccallum here in america's newsroom. >> i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer congressman ryan bringing his mom on stage in the country's largest retirement community, the villages in

florida. >> mitt romney and i will protect and strengthen medicare so that the promises that were made, that people organized their retirements around like my mom will be promises that are kept. medicare was there for our family, for my grandma when we needed it then. and medicare is there for my mom while she needs it now and we have to keep that guaranty. [cheers and applause] martha: that is the heart of their message right now. chief white house correspondent ed henry is at the white house this morning. ed, bring us up to speed what happened over the weekend. >> reporter: good morning, martha. almost like fighting fire with friendliness. you bring in your mom. she is a florida retiree. congressman paul ryan has been getting hit hard by the obama campaign and he is trying to humanize it. he will not affect anybody over 55 years old. including his own mom. it put as face to the story. the obama campaign say that

is great. they don't want to attack his mom. the fact that his plan, they believe will hurt senior citizens and they're pushing back on congressman ryan's charge in fact the president cut over $700 billion medicare in his health care plan. what they are saying in the obama campaign, robert gibbses was on one of the sunday shows, mostly eliminating waste, didn't affect beneficiaries and extending the life of medicare. take a listen. >> if he wants to protect medicare for his mother then he should thank, first of all thank president obama for what he has done in the past few years to extend the life of the medicare trust fund. to help seniors with their prescription drug costs. to help seniors get preview preventative care. >> reporter: what the romney-ryan camp is saying though, extending the life of medicare for eight years as you hear robert gibbs touting is hardly enough even the president in his back in 2006, the audacity of hope was talking about

how medicare is broken. what you need is a long-term solution not just short term changes that extend it year to year. you need a big plan, martha. martha: that is fascinating where we are. that is the heart of the debate. it is monday, so you have both candidates gearing up for a tough week on the campaign trail. where with you find them ed? >> reporter: i'm out with the president tomorrow and he is hitting the battleground of ohio and then the battleground of nevada. this is becoming a defining issue in this campaign as you noted. the romney-ryan camp is obviously not going to cede any ground. they're in the battleground of new hampshire. the first time in a few days they have been on the trail together. we'll see them a few days before the pub push convention gets going. you see the republican campaign pushing back. martha: interesting moves according to karl rove's electoral map. he will be here in a little while. give us an indication why they are spending time

there. see you soon. gregg: want to give you context and medicare and the expense we're talking about. this program currently covers about 48.7 million people across the america. more than 30 million expected to join medicare by the year 2030. the cost of medicare, well it is up 114% over the past decade. martha? martha: medicare traffic additionally has been politically kind of a hot potato for republicans. it has been a tough issue for them. it has been a line of attack for the democrats. this is fight they. karl rove is former senior advisor to george w. bush. talk about why they're doing that. why do they want medicare to be central to this debate right now. gregg: betcha five bucks he will have the whiteboard. martha: and maps. he is fully armed. gregg: he is great. meantime ann romney will reportedly be named the main

headliner for the first night of the republican convention. this formal announcement expected later today, part of a bigger roleout of the convention schedule. mrs. romney is considered one of her husband's most effective surrogates. she has gained popularity among female supporters. martha: bret baier and megyn kelly will have one of the big futures of the evening. full coverage kicks off this sunday, folks. it is here, august 22nd. gregg: you will not get much sleep. new numbers raising fresh concerns about the strength of our economy. the labor department says 44 states saw their unemployment rise in july with four states seeing no change at all. the states that saw some of the biggest spikes in the jobless rate? well, take a look, they include north carolina, which jumped from 2%, 2%

from june i should say. michigan which rose 4%. nevada which also climbed 4%. what does all of this mean for president obama's re-election chances? let's turn now to charles payne, ceo of wall street strategies. also a fox business news contributor. before we get to that, is it true, charles, so many people have actually given up looking for a job, that they're not really, these statistics don't really reflect true unemployment? >> you're absolutely right, gregg. you go back to the amount of people that were in the jobs market, people actually looking for a job, actively involved in the whole process our national unemployment rate would be well over 10%. having said that, we're starting to creep up, now 8.3% from 8.2%. that irony of it all. perhaps as the head lines start to read a little better some people might get off the sofa to re-engage in the process. when they can't find a job

the unemployment rate goes up. more a truer number . the idea that 44 states, first time in three years we've seen anything like this, 44 states would have their unemployment rates go up at this particular time in the so called recovery is very alarming. gregg: yeah, 12% nevada. 9% in michigan. let's look at another map. the unemployment rate rose in 10 states that could be pivotal in the presidential election. there is the map. talk to us about how this impacts the race. >> you know, it's sort of interesting in a sense that of course we talk florida all the time. they had a pretty big bounce there at 8.8%. iowa, it is not high, you know, with respect to where the nation is. neither is new hampshire but these are obviously key and vital swing states. wisconsin obviously we know. virginia we know. colorado we know. you know what i find really interesting about this? we know it is about jobs and sooner or later they will talk about medicare, at least the presidential

candidates, and talk about the employment picture with the next jobs report next friday. four highest states with unemployment they all voted for obama. the californias, rhode islands, new jerseys of the world, they will not be swayed. four lowest states of unemployment are gop states, solid red state. we know unemployment plays a role but interesting how some of these states are entrenched with their ideology. gregg: the white house is fond of pointing out 150,000 jobs on average are created every month this year. that doesn't keep up with population growth, does it? >> we would need 250 for population growth and north of 300 to chip away. over the last four months the number has been 116,000. considering how these numbers are continuously revised lower, we might see five month average of under 100,000 jobs when this nation is capable of creating well over 300,000

jobs a month. gregg: they are always rejiggered after the fact. you think the department of labor would get that. >> some people think it is deliberate. wink, wink. gregg: charles, great to see you. >> all right. martha: let's put the jobless rate in a bit of context right now. there are nearly 24 million people in this country who are unemployed or underemployed. the average amount of time unemployed has reached 39 weeks. which means that if you lost your job today on average you would be unemployed until may of 2013. and nearly four million people have been out of work for at least a year. tough picture. he is the man behind blockbusters like "top gun" and daze of thunder but hollywood is mourning today as ledges endairy director tony scott apparently commits suicide. a live report coming up. gregg: what if ryan said that? a top political commentator suggesting a double-standard in the media's handling of joe biden's controversial,

y'all in chains comment. a fair and balanced debate still ahead. martha: republicans picking up where democrats left off, bringing medicare to the forefront of this campaign. why the romney camp wants this fight, in this presidential election. i'm serious, we compare our direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! between taking insulin and testing mylood sugar...e, is this part of your life? freestyle lite test strips? why, are they any... beep! wow, that hardly needs

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gregg: welcome back. the mars rover curiosity doing some target practice on the red planet. curiosity aimed its laser at a large rock, zapping it dozens of times, burning a small hole right through it. since landing on mars two weeks agos six-wheeled rover is checking out the instruments and craters on the surface of the red planet looking to see if there was any evidence of there being life once on mars. >> wow! all right. back to politics right now. folks, the romney campaign says the battle over medicare is a fight they want to have on center stage in fact.

despite skepticism coming from some political experts on all of this, saying romney team should stay focused on job. listen to some of the back and forth. >> now you heard the president has been talking about medicare a bit lately. we want this debate, we need this debate and we are going to win this debate. [cheers and applause] >> we think a more fulsome debate about the future of medicare and the romney-ryan approach is good for us. martha: we also heard from robert gibbs earlier in ed henry's hit on this. form karl rove joins me now. former senior advisor to president george w. bush and karl, good morning. good to see you. >> i'm fine. how are you? martha: how do you feel about the fact that medicare has become so central to this debate? >> there was going to be a debate about medicare. the question whether it would be on the republicans terms now, out in the open

or whether it would be on democrat terms with late night phone calls to seniors in the closing days of the campaign and really ugly mail pieces scaring the heck out of seniors about republicans taking away their medicare. republicans want to have the debate now and want to have it for one very important reason. they have something they can hang their hat on. president obama, as part of obamacare, took $716 billion out of medicare in order to fund obamacare. he took the basically, used, the medicare as a piggybank to pay for obamacare. the reductions primarily in two areas. $415 billion cut from payments to doctors and hospitals. now this is going to be a real problem. first of all we have 14 million people that work in health care. they know these cuts are coming. we already pay a doctor or a hospital, from medicare, 81 cents for what a private insurance company would pay a buck. now the insurance companies are not trying to make the doctors and the hospitals rich. they're trying to make it as cheap as possible.

we already underpay for medicare what they would normally get. as a result, doctors limit the amount of coverage, the number of medicare patients they have and hospitals are forced to find ways to make up the losses on medicare patients by charging more to the nonmedicare, nonmedicaid population. and this is going to hurt and they know it. the other part there is $156 billion cut out of what is called medicare these are insurance policies seniors can get. 24% of seniors took advantage of this gives them services for preventative care and additional wellness programs. right now the government puts out $1.14 for every dollar it puts out for every dollar of medicare advantage plan. if you compare apples to apples peltz and look what medicare provides and same costs under medicare advantage, we're spending 9% less under medicare advantage. some health economists think if we took rules and regulations away from medicare advantage and

allowed them to compete more the total cost would sink more than a dollar and have all the preventative well mess programs for free. martha: what it will end up being seniors will pay more out-of-pocket, not folks who are seniors now, but folks who are seniors in the future. >> they look at the house republican budget for example and they look there and they find out are some seniors who would pay more. for example, under the house republican budget which is not the romney plan which obviously paul ryan had a lot to do with, if you're a senior making 400,000 or more a year in family income, your working and 70 years old and still working on wall street and you make 400,000 a year you will have to pick up $6500 of cost. if you make more than $160,000 a year, family income, you will have to make up about, about, $4500 in costs. that you would otherwise be covered by medicare. if you're less than $160,000

a year annual income as a senior, as a senior, there is no change whatsoever. now that is the husband budget. that is not the romney plan. romney's plan is different than that look, it is phony. why are we paying more for the health care, paying as much for the health care of warren buffett and bill gates as we do the working man and working woman, who, drove a truck or waited tables or worked in a warehouse all their life? martha: there is means testing element to this of great interest especially when you look at fair share argument being made and people pay being higher taxes. same folks don't want to pay the fair share when it comes to medicare. karl, i want to get to your map. i'm fascinated by the weekly electoral maps. we want to look at changes that happened since last week. we'll start with south dakota and south carolina. both are in the head column for karl's map. they were not last week. red for south carolina and south dakota. i will get through these

quickly and get your thoughts. new hampshire is light blue, leaning obama. we see romney and ryan campaigning ahead of the convention. also ohio goes to toss-up from leaning romney. so that is a very critical part of this map as well with. and wisconsin, since the addition of paul ryan is light blue but less dramatically blue as it was on last week's map, right, karl? >> one correction. ohio went from lean obama to toss-up. martha: that is what i meant to say. >> in the obama total of 14 electoral votes. those are a toss-up. joe trippi and i were talking about this the last couple of days. we both believe wisconsin by this time next week will be in the toss-up category. recent polls showing trending that way. i'm seeing private polls indicate now leaning towards romney. we're likely to see this move from light blue to toss-up yellow. martha: things are getting very interesting as people are focused on the election. as we get closer and closer

numbers get truer. that would appear to be the case. ask you a couple of stories that popped up over the weekend. getting a lot of attention around media outlets. the todd akin story and what he said about legitimate rape as a quote. he had to do some serious correction on that comment over the weekend. there is skinny dipping in the sea of galilee story making headlines as well. what do you make of these two stories? how significant are they and do they deserve the attention they're getting? >> well, look, the akin story will be important inside missouri. my suspicion is that congressman kevin yoder of kansas who is the allegedly the skinny dipper in the sea of galilee will have explaining to do back home. the major issues will be ones that, you were alluding to earlier. the deficit, jobs, the economy, economic growth. our entitlement crisis. debt crisis the all these things will be more important. this gives a personal flavor to the campaign and a

fascination, the sea of galilee story. and the other story about congressman akin of missouri --. martha: how much will that hurt him among claire mccaskill? >> we'll see how it explains place out here. he has some real explaining to do. there is story that will pop today that i think will be frankly more important. this is a major element of the obama campaign strategy. they won in large measure in 2008 because they outspent john mccain june and november. $850 million to mccain and the rnc 525 million. last week the republicans announced they raised $101 million in july. and had $185 million cash on hand. the democrats announced that they had raised 75 but did not issue the cash on hand number. they have to release it today. at end of april democrats had $95 million more in the bank. at end of may, $61 million. the end of june.

23 million. my sense today, that cash advantage will be wiped out and republicans will have more money in the bank for the fall campaign than the democrats do despite the presidents 205 fund raising. >> i have a hard break. karl, thank you so much. we'll talk to you soon. >> you bet. martha: we'll be right back. ♪

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martha: this is quite a story, folks. talk about a test of endurance? a 62-year-old american woman is trying to become the first person to swim from cuba to the florida keys without protection of the a shark key. why would someone want to do that? diana yyad starting the swim. distance is 103 miles. if the sharks don't get you the other creatures might.

nyad has been stung several times by jellyfish. she explains how she has many times. >> there are deep personal reasons, athletic reasons, reasons of wanting to feel alive at this age of 62. but alongwith that, in total sincerity is may my, my desire to show the connection between this beautiful country and our beautiful country. only that short mile away when i was eight years old i used to stand on the beach and i said to my mother, i wonder if anybody could swim over there? martha: well, now she is going to find out. pretty cool. she expects to take at least 60 hours to complete her swim. what a woman. she wish her well. diana ynyad. gregg: he said why climb mount everest. because it is there and he died doing it. last chance of a peaceful solution may have come and gone in syria. united nations observers

leaving the country. their mission ending yesterday. syrian regime and rebel forces look like they will fight it out to the very end. leland vittert in our mideast bureau in jerusalem. what is the latest on the ground? >> reporter: gregg, right now it is holy holiday of eads. amateur video coming out of the north and south part of the country. in aleppo the rebels have been unable to maintain any real foothold there in order to give them a base of operations. down in the south in dara, also major violence in the birthplace of the revolution. right now we're seeing a number of syrian troops defecting over to the rebel side. so far it is not enough to really make a big difference on the ground. also not enough to replace the rebels weapons that they are running there you and ammunition they are going through on almost daily basis here. gregg, the latest numbers out of aleppo and from dara

there are dozens of people killed both in today's fighting and also over the weekend. gregg? gregg: gets worse day by day. leland vittert live in jerusalem. leland, thanks. martha: an insider attack in afghanistan leaves another american soldier dead. and that brings the number to 10 in the past two weeks. what is the u.s. military doing to try to stop these attacks in afghanistan? gregg: plus what a new poll shows about eligible voters that could spell trouble, with a capital t for president obama's re-election hopes.

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call the number on your screen. [♪...] >> i have to give you your dream shot. you two characters are going for top gun. five weeks you fight against the best fighter pilots in the world. >> no points for second place. martha: who could forget that. how many of us can quote lines from "top gun" back in the 1986 blockbuster of that movie. really sad news that we got this morning. tony scott, the director of that movie and so many other hollywood hits died yesterday after apparently taking his own life. adam housley is live in los angeles on this. adam, what do we know about the tragedy? >> reporter: martha, news

getting to makes its way around hollywood. there are reactions. this was shocking news yesterday as it came out. tony scott, very known popular action film director, the brother of ridley scott. apparently topped his car on the vincent thomas bridge, which spans the cruise terminals and jumped 185 feet to his death. there was a suicide note found in his prius that he left at the enscene where this all took place. a very well-known hollywood director. unstopable. ""man on fire"". "top gun.". beverly hills cop 2. "taking of pelham 123". back in 2009 i should say he responded to a question about why he is known as being so intense on the set. take a listen. >> called fear. >> pushing everyone. >> i'm terrified of failure.

>> reporter: that is tony scott back in 2009 on the red carpet. sad news in hollywood. he was 68 years old, martha. martha: certainly is. what is the rye action so far from people there, adam? >> reporter: this happened midday yesterday, toward 1:00 p.m. the news didn't start coming out until later on in the evening sunday night in los angeles. we're only getting a few comments. we expect to hear more. ron howard said in a tweet. no more tony scott movies. tragic day. justin timberlake. tragic news for tony scott. my prayers and condolences to the scott family. elizabeth hurley, a fellow tony scott, talented filmmaker. i went rock climbing with him once. rip. we expect to hear more throughout the day. tragic death, very well-known director. his action films are basically a who's who of the last 20 years of action films. martha: so many

accomplishments in his life. we'll learn more as the day goes on, thank you very much. adam housley in los angeles. >> reporter: bye, martha. gregg: the u.s. military's top general, martin dempsey, in afghanistan today for stocks with senior commanders there about the recent spate of insider attacks against nato forces. the latest took place yesterday. two afghan policemen suddenly opening fire on u.s. troops in the kandahar province. one american soldier was killed, bringing the number to then in the past two weeks alone. >> there is always evidence in these of the vulnerability of local police to influence is greater because, we, describe it, i think pretty accurately actually, as, you know, police in these environments whether at the point of corruption. they don't move around the country in the way the army does. so to your question are the

local police more vulnerable to those kind of activities? absolutely. gregg: let's bring in peter brookes, former cia officer and a senior fellow of national security affairs at the heritage foundation. peter, good to see you. >> good morning. gregg: 32 green on blue attacks this year alone. 40 nato soldiers killed including 24 americans who. is behind this? is it the taliban that is recruiting these guys? >> there are a number of factors appears to me. there are infiltrations. there are people recruited by the taliban certainly want us to fail in afghanistan and to hasten our departure. there are potentially other personal issues that come up between a trainer and a student. this is very bad, gregg. problem, not only bad for us, the tragic deaths of our brave americans and coalition forces but also for afghanistan because this is going to affect the training. no matter how hard you try and how professional our soldiers are this will

affect their training because of level of trust and afghanistan will have to take this mission over some day so it is really bad all the way around. gregg: u.s. forces already use a eight-step vetting process for all afghan recruits. what do we do? do we step it up even further to a 20-point vetting process? better counter intel to uncover in advance these turncoats? >> i you have to. i don't know exactly what the eight steps are. maybe needs to be 10 or 25 or whatever. but we'll need to do that. our military is taking steps. they have to make the group smaller. may have to have an american or coalition soldier watch each one of the afghan students. counter intelligence are important. what do the guys do when they're off-duty, especially policemen? are people watching them to see if they're having contact with taliban that might recruit them? so there are steps that have to be taken but you have to remember, the other thing we have americans out on patrol, on missions with afghans.

one of the most important things between soldiers and, when they're in the field is trust. gregg: sure. >> the trust between them. that my buddy has my back or my other forces have my back here. that will be damaged as well from what is happening in the training environments at bases or at other training facilities. gregg: peter, as we continue to draw down troops through october, i mean thousands of them, does that mean that the americans who remain become even more vulnerable to these kind of green on blue attacks? >> that is the potential. unless you can get your arms around this problem about some of the things we're talking about. better vetting. watching afghan students, counter intelligence. the other thing i'm worried about, gregg, what will happen to the our coalition partners? will they decide the cost is too high and start pulling out their troops even faster? that is very, very bad situation. something we have to deal with because it is not only bad for us and our coalition partners in the future but it is also bad for

afghanistan. gregg: how is it possible we can locate and kill usama bin laden but not the head of the taliban, mullah omar? >> mullah omar i think is in pakistan. gregg: so was bin laden. >> exactly. there is very interesting alliances going on there. that is whole another challenge besides what we have going on in afghanistan but definitely related. gregg: has to job one. peter brookes, good to see you as always. >> thank you, gregg. martha: a runaway car causing some big problems. what caused this car to go to speeds of up to 100 miles per hour? gregg: plus fallout continuing over these controversial comments from vice president joe biden. >> unchained wall street. [booing] they're going to put y'all back in chains. gregg: the campaign refusing to apologize for the vice president and he is not apologizing either. and now, the top political commentator saying this is

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martha: on this monday morning and a top political commentator has suggested that a double-standard exists in the media's handling of joe biden's controversial, y'all in chains comment. peggy noonan said it would be a whole different ballgame if congressman paul ryan had made that remark. listen. >> if it had been a republican vice-presidential candidate made those gaffs one after another, so comicly and all on tape, the subject today of the panel would be how stupid is this person? can this person possibly govern? joe biden is american politician. he has been around forever. a big garrulous, a person,

to person, pal. that has a certain power. can play daffy old grandfather will make 15 mistakes and says two or three cute things that can work in a debate. >> very interesting. the obama campaign as you know refused to apologize for the vice president's comments. they reiterated that over the weekend. >> let's look what the vice president said. speaker boehner and even paul ryan have been traveling this country talking about the need to unshackle the private sector. unshackle the financial industry. the vice president was taking the metaphor a step further wanting to put other people in shackles. the word he used chains is distraction from the larger argument. martha: not sure what the big difference between shackles and chains is. meaning pretty much the same. kirsten powers, "daily beast" columnist, fox news contributor. and tony sayegh. welcome to both of you.

kirsten, is peggy right, would this be completely different story if paul ryan had said that. >> she is absolutely right. it is not just, peggy is right that it would be how dumb is this person, but even worst it is racist, race mongering. everyone would be hysterical about it. there is such a clear double-standard. and look the obama campaign doesn't need to apologize for it because the media doesn't really care. they, from the very beginning with biden have been willing to look the other way on all of this, sometimes they're whacky things and sometimes things actually completely inaccurate, if someone else for example, sarah palin had said would be evidence how stupid she is. martha: it does raise some questions is and rudy giuliani raised this question, tony, over the weekend as well. you know, i mean, is he credible? the biggest thing about a vase president, right, the most serious thing that any voter has to decide if something god forbid were to

happen to the president would i feel comfortable with this man in charge? >> well that is the problem now, martha. these gaffs which at some point in his career were almost comical, made you feel almost endeared to him because he does have that kind of uncle joe mentality and image, especially among washington press corps that has known him for 30 years and personally likes him. now all of sudden you're starting to see the gaffs have a lot more meaning. when you tell a predominantly african-american audience, your opponents, republican opponents want to put you back in chains, that is unmistakeable play at the worse kind of politics and racial division our country seen in long time. coming from a man who should know better that is the exact problem. do you want this person a heartbeat away from the presidency? the cumulative effect of gaffs are beginning to catch up with him. that exact same way day, martha, the joe biden was in town in virginia lied to a

voter said he would not make any changes to social security whatsoever. he is part of a group in the process of making changes to social security because the trustees gave him a report in april said they had to or disability funding would run out by 2016. these are substantive gaffs, not just style gaffs. martha: you think about the ryan and biden match up, that is what people will see. i raise the question, you are also voting for vice president and voting for the person you feel you would have the most confidence in if something happens to the president. what do you think that matchup, what does that debate look like, kirsten? >> it's hard to predict. i do think the republicans are making a mistake by going after biden this way because they're lowering expectations now so much that all he has to do is come in and be sort of semiserious and i think he will be considered to have won the debate. the end of the day, very few people actually vote based on who is at the bottom of the ticket. so something pretty spectacularly bad would have to happen for biden to

actually affect obama's re-election. martha: kirsten raise a good point. joe biden goes in there with incumbency on his side, the vice president of the united states and people respect that office, if he doesn't make any news in that will that be enough for him, tony? >> very good point. exceeding expectations enough sometimes to come out on top. what i think you have in this case a very serious pick in paul ryan. i actually think paul ryan was specifically considered for this role because they understood there would be a double-standard in analyzing these two guys. and ryan is so articulate and for two years have done the lion's share of defending and promoting the budget of the republicans in congress that he is prepared for the type of double-standard i think much better than perhaps sarah palin was in 2008. he is not going to fold in the klieg lights of the big leagues here. he will step up to the plate and hit it out. martha: tony, kirsten, thanks so much. great to see you guys. >> thank you, martha. gregg: a reliable supporter

of president obama looking a little less so today. "newsweek" magazine shocking its readers with this cover, there it is, telling president obama, hit the road. coming up what's behind the change of heart? martha: a hiker becomes an internet sensation, turning the camera on herself to try to keep calm in the face of unbelievable circumstances. >> the pain has started. at first i didn't feel it. it was, kind of funny. i didn't think it was real. yeah, this is kind of really scary. oh, man. oh, man, oh, man.

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martha: this is incredible story. watch this video of anaway car . left-hand side of the screen there you see the car come screaming down the side of the highway. it veers across into the

other lane. here it comes again to get a closer look. it hit as police cruiser. the driver called the police as soon as he realized something was wrong with his car. it was speeding out of control. the troopers were able to some extent to keep the traffic away. >> i vehicles and went into the right median, into the left median, everything i could do to get around people without causing any kind of accidents. fortunately there were no accidents. no one was injured at all. hit the median guardrail. the police were right there. and, then, just, barely nicked one of the ford expedition. martha: wow! that sounds like, that was handled very well. by that driver under those circumstances the. the car traveled 25 miles like that. at speeds topping 100 miles an hour. investigators say, at this point in all they do believe that the gas pedal was stuck. gregg: don't you turn off the ignition? i mean, that, would stop the

car. martha: that is the discussion with the expedition as well when it had all those issues. gregg: turn off the ignition. martha: call gregg jarrett for advice apparently. gregg: maybe you can't turn off the ignition. martha: i don't know if i can answer that question. we'll do experiments. gregg: i apologize if i'm wrong. people running from their homes in northern california. the raging pond der rosa, one of 12 fires burning in the golden state alone. >> i was on the road and there are flames on the road on either side. i looked up. everything was black. looked like i was in a black box. i drove through it. i couldn't breathe. then it was fire everywhere, like you turn around everywhere on all sides of you. gregg: claudia cowan is in san france with the -- san francisco with the very latest. claudia? >> reporter: one-two punch in california. several major wildfires

burning out of the control in the north part of the state. the biggest is the ponderosa fire in shasta county. by sunday it had grown from 5000 to 7,000 areas. now it is up to 12,000 acres and now threatens 3,000 homes. 7 homes have burned to the ground. it is burning in a rural, heavily forested area. hot, dry conditions are fueling this wildfire. 120 miles north of sacramento fire crews continue to do battle with a fire in plumas county. this began july 29th. this has burned 45,000 acres. this one threatening 900 homes. gregg: claudia, how about the rest the west coast and especially the hawaiian islands right now. >> we have fires throughout the pacific and the west. thousands of firefighters in idaho, washington and even hawaii trying to bring major wildfires undercontrol. 350 homes near boise threatened by the trinity ridge fire which burned.

138 square miles. poor visibility because of huge smoke. volunteer erackcations on in hawaii as it grows to 2,000 acres and power outages and rose closures. washington state crews finally getting a break in the weather. they have a wildfire began last week. about the 50% contained. crews around the west still dealing with winds and hot, hot temperatures and possibility of more lightning strikes. gregg: best of luck to you folks getting a bit desperate in the some of the fires. claudia cowan in san francisco. thanks. martha: there is a new challenge for the presidential contenders getting people off the couch into the voting booth. is there a reluctance to vote this time around? we've got some new polls suggest that is the case. who would enbenefit from that, coming up? gregg: we're awaiting a town hall meeting in new hampshire. governor mitt romney and his running mate, congressman

paul ryan, together again in what appears to be a change in campaign strategy. we're live in new hampshire next. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

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martha: fox news alert after blaze -lg their own trails for a week, governor mitt romney and paul ryan back together on the campaign trail. we are waiting for a town hall in new hampshire where they will be taking questions. it looks like a beautiful day in laur new hampshire as well and here as well. gregg: it is beautiful here in the studio. martha: lovely, isn't it? gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. presidential candidates are not known for staying silent in town hall events that romney and ryan are holding today. they will focus on the alternative medicare pwhrapb

thaplan that they say will not affect anybody over the age of 25. we are live at a college in new hampshire. carl, what do we expect here today? >> reporter: it will be a little bit of the medicare, mostly it will be the romney-ryan ticket arriving back here in new hampshire the first time for the two-some to be together. he held this in abeyance until this moment so he could introduce his candidate to the granite state. we'lcoming to new hampshire is symbolic for romney. he has a vacation home here. yesterday he was at his lake house and went to church. paul ryan by contrast was campaigning in florida, whethe where he went to the

"villages." he brought his mom along to say that the obama administration is gutting medicare. the democrats say that is an out-and-out falls hooout and falsehood, because mr. ryan's budget would have cut that much from the program. they will criticize mr. obama's administration as to welfare reform. they will talk about the work requirements being taken out of the welfare reform authored by bill clinton, that to drive a wedge with spring voters and libertarian voters. the he bottom a government is building government big wer ne with new requirements and building some of the sort of nanny dependency state. this is a town hall meeting

which means that the public, new hampshire voters, notorious for asking tough questions may have an opportunity to throw a do y couple of spit balls at ryan and romney and perhaps they'll make some news with their answers. gregg: carl cameron live in new hampshire. martha: carl is one of those new hampshire voters who throws tough questions out there himself. a new poll that shows that president obama may have some trouble with voter turn out come november. nearly 40% of americans are expected to stay home on election day. these sums come from suffolk university. many of them woul would khaouz president obama when they did vote. 40% say that they are unlikely to vote and if they did go to the polls they would be supporting president obama. 43% of folks that are not registered said they would back

the president if they were registered and able to vote, raising concerns for the president's camp. larry sabato is in the center of politics. how does this compare to 089? >> 08? >> estimating 40% of the voters won't show up is probably accurate. it was 37% in 2008. i think it will tick up two or three percentage points. there is less energy in this election, especially on the democratic side, that is another problem for president obama. and they know it. that's why necessity are putting so much money and effort into voter identification and get out the vote activities, because they have got to reenergize young people, minorities, and others. but, look, there is nothing they can do about the vast majority of that 40%. half a life is showing up and

100% of mythical life is showing up. and the vast majority of that group, of that 40% similarly will not show up. martha: let's take a look at another element of this poll, and this is how do you view the candidate in terms of favorability numbers. i want to reiterate for everyone at home, these who answered these questions are unregistered, unlikely voters, those who are likely to sit out this ball game are very sraeubl to president obama. 55 say they favor president obama. only 25% say they have a favorable opinion of mitt romney. that stacks up as well, right, larry? >> absolutely. again, you have to wonder if they were motivated to register to vote, and to vote in 2008, which the vast majority of them didn't, those of able, why would they be motivated now after four years of incumbency, with an economy that is not doing

particularly well, unemployment is disproportionately high among the 40% not voting. there are loads of reasons why this isn't going to happen. also it's weighted -- the unlikely to votes are weighted toward the 18 to 29 year olds. the youngest voters, they were about 17% of those who turned out in separate. i'll be surprised if they are that high. i'll bet you, martha, that the 60-plus -- 60 years old and older voters are going to be a larger percentage this year. they were about a quarter of the voters in 2008. i think they'll notch up a couple of percent this year, and they tend to be more republican. the younger voters tend to be more democratic. martha: no doubt that is one of the reasons that we see so much focus on medicare because that is a real important issue for those voters. have a great day at the university of virginia. we will see you soon. >> same to you, martha. gregg: let's take a closer look

at some of the numbers here. even estimated 90 million voters expected to sit out the 2012 presidential election choosing not to cast their ballots at all. compare that to 75 million in 2008. in the 2010 congressional election 18% of the voting aged citizens did not register to vote. martha: one g.o.p. congressman is now finding himself in a bit of hot water after taking a quick dip in some other kind of water off of israel. the f.b.i. reportedly just wrapping up an investigation of a night last year when kansas congressman kevin yoder apparently went nor a late-night swim in his birthday suit. he went swimming without a bathing suit. he was among several lawmakers who went swimming in the sea of gallilee during a fact-finding mission, i wonder what facts they found there. that happened last august. yesterday he did apologize for the incident saying, quote the grap gravity of the situation

is not lost on me. i feel regret for what occurred and i want to apologize to my constituents for a momentary lapse in judgment. martha: bathing in the sea of gallilee might be a spiritual opinion. gregg: this is where jesus is reported to have walked on water. it could arguably be disrespectful. after all we're talking about members of congress here. martha: who are such upstanding citizens, 99.9% of the time. gregg: wikileaks founder julian assange calling on president obama to end a, quote, witch hunt against his whistle blog website. speaking from inside ecuador's embassy to avoid getting arrested he says the u.s. is trying to punish him for leaking military and diplomatic secrets onto his website. he demanded the release of american soldier bradley manning. he is awaiting trial on charges

that he passed secret files to wikileaks. take a listen. >> as wikileaks stands up press, so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our society. we must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the united states of america. i ask president obama to do the right thing. the united states must renounce its witch hunt against wikileaks. gregg: well julian assange is facing rape and sex assault charges in sweden which he claims is all part of a plot to bring him to trial in the united states. martha: to syria where president bashar al-assad has also made a very rare public appearance. he showed up at a damascus mosque to mark the muslim holiday. this is the first time that he has been seen in public since the july bombing that killed

several top government officials. despite the holiday human rights groups are reporting 100 people died in the fighting across syria yesterday. some omost of the violence was in a city where it all began months ago. gregg: we'll tell you why iran says it would welcome a strike on its nuclear facilities, and what one israeli expert says president obama should do to cleanup his position on iran and fast. martha: have you seen this? the latest cover of newsweek is causing quite a stir, why the usually supportive magazine is changing its tune now. plus this -- gregg: some chaos at a charity race, the incredible video of what happened when a antique police car made an unplanned

appearance in the stands? >> have you ever seen anything like that? >> no, it's pretty bad. i've been going to the races for about 35 years and i'd never seen anything like that.

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martha: the city of dallas is preparing for two more rounds of aerial spraying to try to lower the threat of west nile virus there. last night four planes pull of pesticide covered parts of the county that had yet to be sprayed. tonight and into tomorrow five more planes will cover the entire dallas area with a second dose of this pesticide. the west nile virus has kaeuld at least 2killed 20 people across the state of texas. this is a big story in dallas. gregg: a development a major one in the war of words with iran. an iranian commander saying his

country would welcome an israeli air strike on the nuclear facilities. it would allow them to get rid of israel, quote, once and forever. a former inch israeli intelligence chief wants president obama to get involved or at least make his position known. he writes the following, the u.s. president should visit israel and tell its leadership and more important its people that preventing a nuclear run is a u.s. interest. and if we have to resort to military action we will. so what is next? lee harris is our knocks fuse middle east analyst. a week doesn't go by when the leadership in teheran vows the destructio of israel. does president obama's failure to visit during the term of his presidentee, our closes ally in the region israel suggests that he's not fully committed to stopping iran's nuclear

program. >> for many israelis first, for also many arabs in the gulf and syria and elsewhere, two policies have been questioned by the obama administration, one was in june of 2009 when there was a possibility for the administration to support an uprising against the regime, president obama did not want to see that happening, did not get involved. second, there is a concern in israel that the united states administration may not do whatever israel needs the u.s. to do in order to bring down the nuclear weapon of iran and actually the regime. gregg: over the last several days as you know israeli newspapers appear to be consumed by reports that the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has already definitively decided to launch a tactical strike against iran's nuclear facility some time this fall. how likely, in your judgment, is that?

>> as in the united states is in israel, contingency plans. gregg: we are not talking contingency here. the newspapers say he already decide he. >> the newspapers basically are knowledgeable about contingency plans and they assess whether the prime minister will go ahead and do it. what prompt israel to do it is not only their own will, it's what the iranian leadership is doing. if they bring in the long-reign missiles that can hit israel and bring together a nuclear, you know, bomb of any dimension, that would be for the israelis the crossing of the red line. israelis much have information about that. gregg: if the israelis did that, surely teheran would ret-l rate directly and indirectly through its nonstate allies, hezbollah, hamas, rocket attacks, so on and so forth. are the defense systems of

israel good enough to protect its population? >> that's what israelis think they do have and that's why they want more technology from the united states. keep in mind and you said it clearly it won't be only iran and missiles it's going to be, guess what syrian missiles that would help them to get out of this problem. it would be thousands of middle sized rockets from hezbollah on the north. martha: is it your sense, bottom line here, wahlid, that president obama is not willing to take a pre epl tiff military action against iran's nuclear program. >> all the information tells us that he prefers the diplomatic course and economic sanctions. last resort he says he would. we don't have any indications that he would actually do it. gregg: do you believe him? >> i believe the president if confronted with a very serious

situation would. it's when you do it. after we get a first strike, after the israelis get a first strike or before. gregg: they may not survive that. wahlid pharus, thank you. martha: a man is fighting to keep his wife's remains buried in his front yard in alabama. does he have the right to do that? a legal panel weighs in on that next. gregg: she broke her ankle while mountain climbing and was trapped inside a dark trench for hours. coming up next, how a video diary helped her stay calm. >> this is kind of really scary, oh, man, oh man, oh man. i'm going to flashy, flashy again. to let everyone know i'm here and i'm in pain.

gregg: it's 22 minutes past the hour. let's take a look at some of the stories stopping the headlines right now. britain's prince philip leaving a scottish hospital today. he spent the last five days there receiving treatment for a bladder infection. buckingham palace saying he'll be joining other members of the royal family on vacation in scotland. a pair of russian cosmonauts are leaving the international space station today to install a new debris shield. the spacewalk expected to take six and a half hours. there is a new study out that finds that states with the least religious residents are also the stingiest when it comes to donating to charities. utah, mississippi, alabama topping the list, while maine, vermont, massachusetts rounded out the bottom. i'm not sure that's a list i really want to be on. i'm on a lot of lists. martha: you want to be on that list? gregg: how about you. martha: i want to be on the most

generous list. gregg: i try to be generous. martha: an inspirational story now of a trapped colorado hiker, andhe stayed incredibly calm and composed really. she was even funny at times in the face of excrucia excruciating pain. she did a diary of her ordeal while she was waiting to get rescued. tametammy vigil has the story. >> a tail of survival on tv makes this girl and her friends cringe. >> i just broke my ankle. >> this is me moving my foot. >> her ankle dangling.

the bone separated, ligaments torn after slipping down an eight-foot trench metal rods and screws now hold everything in place. >> this is kind of really scary. oh, man, oh, man, oh man. >> she never cries but jokes the entire time of the six and a half minute video. >> how close is the nearest anything? yeah, wyoming, you suck. >> as she waits an hour and a half for her friend to return to help. >> i'm going to just flashy flash again, let everyone know that i'm here. and i'm in pain. >> i really surprised myself. i did not think i would ever have the capacity to affect my emotions like that, to keep so calm. >> reporter: five hours later search and rescue crews rappel her down the mountain but bubbling up a romantic feeling. >> i already liked her, absolutely. but that definitely solidified

her. >> reporter: her ankle will be on the mend for a while, but her heart feels better than ever. >> i like this guy. this is going to be something good. >> hey, you come, eric, thanks. can't wait to hear what you have to say, okay, bye. martha: i don't think i would have that capacity to be that calm with my ankle dangling from the rest of my life. gregg: i would just like to say on behalf of wyoming it's a beautiful place, it does not suck. it does not suck at all. martha: that's what she said in the middle of that video. gregg: geysers. martha: i think she was delirious, but she was very composed and they did come and get her. her friend was on the way to get help so she had some level of hope that somebody knew where she was. gregg: yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. but the pain probably affected her judgment. martha: now she probably likes

wyoming a lot better. gregg: president obama getting a jab from a major mainstream magazine. we'll tell you why one newsweek pundit is telling him to hit the road and how he's using the president's own words to do it. martha: we'll take you live to a town hall with governor mitt romney and congressman paul ryan back together on the campaign trail today talking medicare with voters, and they are in really one of the states that has the toughest reputation whe it comes to voters and big questions. we'll be back with some of that.

gregg: fox news alert, take a look now at live pictures, st. ann selm college in new hampshire. governor mitt romney and congressman ron paul are teaming up for the first time in a week for a town hall meeting. medicare is expected to be a major focus with 14% of folks in that state over the age of 65. we are just five minutes away from the beginning of that. we are going to bring it to you when it begins. martha: well, hit the road barack, that is the very surprising title on the headline of "newsweek" this week, latest controversial cover that they've put out calling out president obama inside part of the article that goes along with that cover story reads like this. welcome to obama's america. nearly half the population is not represented on a taxable return, almost exactly the same proportion that lives in a household where at least one

member receives some type of government benefit. we are becoming a 50-50 nation, it proclaims, half of us paying the taxes, the other half receiving the benefits. i'm joined now by byron york, chief political correspondent for the washington examiner and a fox news contributor. how were you surprised to see this cover? >> pretty surprised. i think "newsweek" is trying to achieve some balance after publishing the mitt romney whimp story a two weeks ago that got a lot of attention. it was by a liberal writer who also wrote the story of the coming obama landslide, for the daily beast. this writer is a british historian and is part of the glamorous global elite, and among whom it's very fashionable to support obama. near is neil furniture us son

writing an across the board indictment of obama and domestic and foreign policy and saying this guy has to go. martha: he points out in the story that he was a supporter of john mccain. he says when president obama what's elected i joined with so many people feeling that it was, you know, a huge milestone for the country, and the ground that had been traveled, in terms of electing an african-american president. but he goes onto talk about the unemployment rate, and education, and infrastructure and all of the promises that he says the obama administration made that he feels they have not lived up to. there has been so much discussion, byron overall of the last four years, deep into the 2008 election about the praise that has been heaped on president obama by the so-called mainstream media. does this signal in anyway a turn in that do you think? >> this is someone coming out and saying, the numbers just are what they are. the unemployment rate is 8.3% and they told us it would be 6%

or below at this point. the workforce is smaller today th it was years ago. it has not grown. so the performance numbers of president obama's presidency just are what they are. now if you read this article it's pretty clear that neil furnishing us son is really energized not by mitt romney but by ryan r-frplt he met ryan a couple of years ago at the home of a washington fe financier, and he was determined to get spending under control. if you read the article, romney is okay and paul ryan is really great. martha: that raises the question, how much of an impact the choosing of paul ryan has had on this race, and do you think we'd be seeing this cover on this magazine, which does not usually run covers anything like this. if it weren't for the ryan pick? >> well, i find it hard to believe that this particular article by this author would have been written without the ryan pick. it's clearly the ryan pick is

what energized the author here. and it's clear that the ryan pick has energized the republican base, there is no doubt. look at that rally you're about to show in new hampshire? there are a lot of people there. it's a swing state and they are very enthusiastic about mitt romney. now what's it doing with the independent voters that both sides are fighting for? it's a khra sha cliche to say it but we just don't know. we'll know later. martha: one of the biggest messages that they need to work on, one of their aims today would be to clarify the medicare issue. are you surprised at the way that is sorting itself out so far at least in this race? >> the romney -- first of all by picking paul ryan they knew that they would elevate medicare into a top issue in the campaign. they weren't surprised by that. they've been very, very aggressive at turning it around on barack obama and saying, he, through obamacare is the one who would actually cut medicare benefits for current seniors. they've been very, very

aggressive pushing that. on the other hand everybody still says that the top issue is the economy and the creation of jobs. and that's what mitt romney stressed day in and day out before picking paul ryan and they are going to get back to that pretty soon. martha: ferguson talks a lot about that issue in that piece as well. thank you so much. good to get your thoughts on it. it's a pretty surprising cover for "newsweek." thanks very much. gregg: speaking of jobs, even the tonight show with jay leno is not immune to downsizing. nbc is laying off about two dozen staff members while others are accepting pay cuts, including leno himself who reportedly agreed to a significant reduction in his multi-million dollar salary. let's bring in fox business network's cheryl casone. cheryl, what is the deal, is.com cast the owner looking at audience erosion here and projecting, wait a minute are ad revenues are going to start to go down in. >> it's a numbers game. it all comes down to the money,

gregg, that is one piece of the peulz and it'puzzle. comcast took over 18 months ago. they bought entire lot. at the same time audience erosion for this night show, yes it has been happening. he's got about 3.7 million viewers a week night but that is down. david letterman, though, same thing. who is gaining viewers is jon stewart, owned by viacom. they have to reevaluate the entire structure of nbc news line, and nbc late night, i think it was matter of time until the tonight show was next in line. at the same time the budget for the show stayed at a high level until now. gregg: 2.3 million a week which is an astonishing number. >> right, now it's down to

1.7 million. you have to realize the ad revenues. we went back and looked at advertising revenues nor the tonight show with jay leno back in 2009. he was bringing in about $175 million in ad revenues. but that's 2009. if you've got a higher budget and lower advertising revenues are coming in and because of the bad economy that is a very real possibility for nbc. gregg: the fall begins, new season, can we infer from this that maybe the folks at comcaast and nbc realize they are not getting good reaction to their phraoeupl timeline up this fall and they are expecting to lose some money. >> that is a very good possibility. in the summer all the networks come out with fall shows. if madison avenue did not give nbc -- by extension comcast a good perception of what was projected for the fall line up, yes you will see cost cutting at

the tonight show and also at the today show. the ratings for the today show are down as well. that is the main revenue driver for nbc universal. they are also struggling. they made a little bit of money on the olympics, but guys they paid $1.8 billion for broadcast rights for the olympics. they have to make that moa that money back, gregg. gregg: it's great to see you. you can catch cheryl and dennis kneale at noon eastern time. martha: a california man is recovering this morning after being trapped inside a concrete hole for almost 24 hours. the 45-year-old told police that he got stuck after trying to recover his lost shoe. he was eventually discovered by a group of horseback riders who heard his cries for help. when they arrived the man had already been stuck in the hole the whole day in sweltering heat. this is so crazy. he is, thankfully expected to be

okay. gregg: i thought all the stuck people were in china and were kids but now, you know, a little closer to home. martha: let the shoe go, that is the moral of the story. gregg: shoes aren't worth that much, are they? >> poor guy. gregg: i'm not into shoes. and alabama man's battle to allow his wife to rest in peace. she is currently buried in the front yard of the family's home, yeah, big old headstone there. the state's fight to move the grave is setting off a battle over personal property rights. we will take a look at both sides of that issue. martha: a day of fun at the racetrack lands several people in the hospital. we are going to show you the moment an antique car lost control at the missouri state fair. >> i seen the car coming, and another friend of mine was standing beside me, i said you better duck, here comes a car right through the guardrail. it doesn't get any better than endless shrimp at red lobster.

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martha: taking you now to manchester, new hampshire where we are waiting for a romney-ryan

town hall. we have seen them pull up in the car. they will be on the stage in a few minutes. new hampshire is a state that of force mitt romney would like to win, he has a vacation home there, he feels it's a second home for him, yet it has been leaning obama according to the karl rove map that we just looked at a little while ago. it's an area that they want to make traction in terms of the medicare argument today and one of the final stops as they go through the course of this week leading up to the national convention where they will become the official nominee and vice-presidental nominee. carl cameron is on the ground, he's been watching awful this fowatching all of this for us. we are seeing the team reunited. they are saying romney is a better campaigner when ryan is at his side. they have made quite an impact. we've seen budging in some of the numbers that would back up that notion, gregg. gregg: what is interesting, as we mentioned in the granite state 14% of the voters there

are 65 and older, so obviously medicare, and getting the romney-ryan message across that we are building and strengthening on medicare, not tearing it down, that it's the president who would actually end, to some extent, medicare as we know it, sort of turning the tables on them. the other issues we pointed out in the first hour of our program is that new hampshire is one of the ten states that has really seen its unemployment going up month-by-month, and it's of course one of the battleground states here because the romney campaign really feels like, martha, it's in play this year. martha: it's interesting to watch these two together. we spent so much time wondering who the second person on this ticket would be. they do by all accounts really seem to like each other, get along well, and that went into the decision no doubt that mitt romney made when he picked paul ryan. paul ryan is no shrinking violet

to be sure. he's not going to sit on the second half of that ticket and try to bolster mitt romney. he's a very strong speaker in his own right and somebody who has articulated that vision in the form of a very controversial budget that he put out there. now he says that he is on the romney team, and that he is in favor of mitt romney's plan for the budget and for medicare, which is slightly different than his own. let's listen to a little bit of that. >> it's great to be back. good to see you. wow. [applause] >> look at this. father, how are you? good to see you. you can say father how rurbgs they all say hi back. it's great. i was here with the senunus a couple of years ago and i served in congress with some very capable, conscientious legislators, thank you for sending up frank ginka to wong. he's an awesome guy. what about charlie bass?

that is a man who knows fiscal responsibility who has fought with us. and your rock star senator, kelly ayotte, yeah, great to see you, kelly. [applause] >> it's nice to see my family. my cousin francie lives in portsmouth, my cousin mary lives close by. it's great to see you today. friends, we have a big decision to make. this is no ordinary time. it's no ordin election. and the choice is basically this. we can stay on the same path we are on, a nation in debt, a nation in doubt, a nation in decline, or we can elect real leaders like mitt romney and get this country back on the right track. [applause] [chanting]

>> the problem we've been having in washington is that too many politicians, like president obama. [booing] >> just wait, i'm about to make a point. [laughter] >> too many politicians like president obama have been more worried about their next election than they've been worrying about the next generation. that's not leadership, that's politics. we won't do that. we will lead. we want to earn your support. we want to deserve this victory. , sso that when we do this we have the moral authority and the mandate to fix this country's problem, to reacquaint ourselves with the american ideal and get people back to work. [applause]

>> let's be very clear and fair. the president inherited a difficult situation, no two ways about that. the problem is he made things worse. and that's why the president has run out of ideas. and so, his campaign has now been relegated to waging a campaign based on frustration and anger, dividing people, distracting people to try and win an election by default. of all times when we need leadership, it is now. it is such an amazing moment in history because i have rarely seen a moment where the man and the moment meets so well like mitt romney does at this moment in our history. [applause] >> when you think of the challenges we confront you need a leader. when you look at this man and his life, the example, it spells

leadership. remember the olympics back in the late 90s? all those stories at salt lake about the wasteful spending and the bloate the bloated spending and the corruption. sounds kind of familiar doesn't it? who did they call? they called this man, mitt romney. he dropped what he was doing, went to the olympics, and he made our country proud. [applause] >> look at what he's done in business. for me i think it's a good thing that we have a leader who actually knows how to create jobs. [applause] >> his success in business is the american dream, it's the american success story. it's the thing we want to see happen to our own children. he took small businesses and grew them.

he took struggling businesses and turned them around. an 80% success rate, that is a asto u.n. ding. i am proud to stand next to a man, tens of thousands of such who gave jobs to many americans. i'm proud to stand next tow a man whto a man who with experience knows if you have a business you did build that. that's what drives our economy and gives us prosperity. we should be proud of that. it's who we are. [cheers and applause] >> when we see people work hard, take risks, achieve success we take pride in that, we don't recent that. it's as if the president is speaking in people where they

are stuck with their current station in life and only the government can help them with that. wrong. we want to see upward phoeb built and prosperity. take a lock at the record which is such a clear contrast between the record of mitt romney as the leader, as governor of massachusetts and president obama. remember when the president said, when he came in office he would create jobs, unemployment would never get above 8%. it's been above 8% for 42 months running. 23million americans -- back at you. [laughter] >> 23 million americans are struggling to find work. nearly one out of six americans are in poverty today. that is unacceptable. [applause] >> look at the record of this man, the credit rating was upgraded when he was governor of

massachusetts. the credit rating was downgraded under president obama's failed leadership as president. [applause] >> unemployment went down, unemployment went down in massachusetts. and household income over the past four years, family income has dropped by more than $4,000 under press' failed leadership whether this man was governor o massachusetts family income went up by more than $5,000. real results with real leadership. [applause] >> when he was governor of massachusetts he worked with people across the aisle. look we all come from states where you have to work with the other party to get things done. president obama came in and said, we're not red states, we are not blue states, we're just the united states. we're going to put aside childish things. this is the third president i have served with and i have never seen such bitter partisan

rhetoric like the kind we have today. when mitt romney was governor he reached across the aisle, he got things done and he balanced the budget without raising taxes. [cheers and applause] >> now we've heard a little bit about medicare lately from the president. we want this debate, we need this debate, and we are going to win this debate about medicare. [cheers and applause] >> you know like you, when i think about medicare it's not just a program with numbers and words, it's personal security that has been there for my family when we need it. i had my mom, betty down with me in the villages in florida on saturday -- [cheers and applause] >> she's been on medicare for

over ten years. when my grandma moved in with my mom and me and we were her caregivers when she was suffering alzheimers. medicare was there when we needed it then. it's there for my mom when she needs it now. and what president obama will not tell you is that his signature achievement, obamacare, raids $716 billion from medicare to pay for obamacare. [booing ] >> once more, he puts this new board of 15, unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats that he's about to appoint who are required to cut medicare in ways that will clearly lead to deny care for current seniors. his campaign calls this an achievement. do you think raiding medicare to pay for obamacare and putting bureaucrats in charge of cutting it is an achievement? [no ] >> i don't think so either. next time you get your paycheck

look at the line above payroll taxes. we pay our payroll taxes for two programs, social security, and medicare. that's the law, that's how it's supposed to work. but now because of president obama it's being siphoned off to partially fund obamacare as well. that is not an achievement that is a raid on medicare, and mitt romney and i are going to stop that raid on medicare, restore this program and get these bureaucrats out of the way from standing between our senior citizens and their medicare. [cheers and applause] [chanting] >> medicare should not be a piggy bank for obamacare, it should be a guaranteed promise that our seniors can count on. in order to save this program, for those who are already retired and people who are about to retire, you have to reform it

for my generation. because by the way it won't be there for us when we retire. the good news is there are bipartisan solutions to this problem. it originated in the clinton commission in the late 90s, the by partisan commission to save medicare. it has bayh par bipartisan support in congress today. for younger americans when they become medicare eligible let them have a choice of guaranteed coverage options, including traditional medicare, that they can select from. just like i do as a member of congress, just like kelly and charlie and all of rest of us. we choose. i think the future to saving medicare is to let 50 million seniors decide how they get their healthcare instead of relegating that decision to 15 unelected bureaucrats. that is the american way to save these programs so that we can guarantee the promise of medicare for today's seniors. [applause] >> i won't go into all the things that we're proposing to

do to get jobs back because i want to leave something for mitt to talk about. [laughter] >> the point is, we are offering you solutions. the president has a failed record. he clearly can't talk about that. he didn't change tune, he taxed far to the left. but it's not just that that we have to talk about are solutions, how to get people back to work, how to have more jobs, higher take home pay. the romney-ryan plan for a stronger middle class is aimed at doing just that. [thank you ] >> now it really comes down to this. are we going to stick with the path we are on or get this economy growing again? my dad said a lot of things that really stuck with me since i was a kid. he would always say, son, you are either part of the problem, or you're part of the solution. he usually was saying that to me when i was part of the problem. [laughter] >> right, francie?

>> today, sadly president obama is part of the problem and mitt romney is the solution. [cheers and applause] >> it's just that clear. that's what it is. [cheers and applause] [chanting] ladies and gentlemen, we're going to get this back, we're going to turn this economy around. we're going to be truthful to our founding principles. we will not blame others, we will take responsibility, we will not duck the tough issues or kick the can down the road. we will get things done. and the way we're going to do this is we're going