captioning sponsored by cbs ♪ >> i shook the hand of the american dream and it has a strong grip. we could be the men and women our country call for us to be tonight. >> you are the hope of america. i can't wait to see what we are going to all do together. >> you said one word about paul ryan it would be leader. >> you did build that small business! >> america needs paul ryan right now! >> we are picking the pathway for a generation. >> campaign 2012, the republican national convention, from tampa, florida. here is scott pelley. >> good evening, we didn't hear the president's name here in prime time last night, but tonight, will be very different. paul ryan will accept the party's knowledge nation for vice president and we are told that he will take on the traditional role of the number

2. he will name names and go after president obama's record with gloves off. ryan represents the party's emerging generation, 42 years old, a seven term congressman from wisconsin, and most importantly, a policy expert who wrote the republican plan to balance the federal budget harmly through massive cuts in spending. got hiv is here and we have our campaign 2012 correspondents down mere the podium and on the convention floor. bob, what does congressman ryan need to do tonight? >> well, i think his assignment is to start the argument to try to convince people that mitt romney is the guy who can fix things, who can make things better, maybe he is not the guy you want to go have a beer with, but he is the guy who has the expertise and we are told he is going to take the fight right to the democrats, the traditional role of the vice president in most campaigns.

millions -- it is kind of a different deal for paul ryan. this is a congressman that people on the other side of the aisle like and usually makes speeches, very wonky speeches about the intricacies of the federal policies, you know, copayments and things about medicare, tonight he has got to be the pitbull or at least that is his assignment. we will see how it goes. >> thanks, bob. >> norah o'donnell has been doing some reporting and she has learned a few things about the congressman's speech tonight. nora. >> that's right we will hear from congressman ryan tonight and he will be the pitbull as bob mentioned, a senior advisor rom my told me says this will be a hard-hitting critique of president obama. a deconstruction of obama's economic record. i am told specifically he will talk about the debt in this country, reference ago big debt clock that is here in the arena that of course talks about and has the numbers of the national debt. he will take on obama on obama care or the affordable care act. romney and ryan have said they would repeal that, because it

burdens small businesses. and you are also going to see paul ryan touch the third rail of politics, entitlement reform, specifically medicare, it was paul ryan who was the conservative architect of a plan, his house budget plan that all the republicans in congress voted on that would turn medicare into a premium support plan, what does that mean? democrats say it would end medicare as we know it, republicans say, no, it will be a premium support plan where we give seniors a fixed amount for the future and that would save medicare. scott. >> nora, thank you when mitt in the chose paul ryan a couple of weeks ago as his running mate, the first reporter they spoke to was bob schieffer for 60 minutes. >> what will be congressman ryan's role if indeed you are elected and he is vice president? will you send him up to the hill? will you put him in charge of certain things? >> i anticipate there will be certain areas that are his areas of expertise and he has passion and concern there and actually take a lead role in helping

oversee those areas and there may be some cabinet officers who will work primarily with the vice president. but he would also have a role in helping shepherd legislation on the hill. you can't imagine having someone like paul ryan who has been able to work with democrat senators, democrat members of the house as well as republicans and been able to make things happen there. i can't imagine not using him and to have his skill in finding those people that can come together and find common ground despite differing views and issue, one of the key reasons i select selected him is that he has that unusual, almost a unique gas to find people of different parties who are of a common purpose that can come together to do something that is right for the country. >> congressman what has happened to capitol hill? congress cannot seem to get anything done anymore, even, even when there are things that both sides seem to want to do they can't seem to find a way to get it done. >> since i have been in congress for 14 years, it starts in my

opinion with a fundamental lack of leadership. president obama has not provided the kind of leadership we need to bring people together. the senate hasn't passed a budget for three years although we have a budget law that says you have to pass a budget every year so it is dysfunctional. >> bob why does mitt romney think paul ryan is the man to help him get elected? >> well i asked him that question and he said that they just agree on policy and they both, the conservatives in the party, a lot of the strong voices on the conservative side urged him to take paul ryan, but i came away from that interview just watching the two of them together. i came away from the interview believing depicting most of all because he liked him, he picked him because he liked him. i think they just struck a chord there and i think he liked him and felt comfortable with him. >> bob, thank you, with jock dickerson or political director, vice presidential candidates are often picked because they will appeal to independent voters,

that any candidate needs to win, doesn't seem to be the case in paul ryan's case. >> that is not the case with ryan. you know, cheers will go up in the crowd here when ryan's name is mentioned in some of these speeches, but you talk to some republican strategists and they are still nervous about ryan's ability to reach out to those swing voters and those independents, one of them veteran said this is a great pick for the wall street your honor is a battle ground state. the worries about ryan's medicare plans and budget cuts will spook swing state voters and that worry exists here even in the hall, i ran into a veteran republican official and he said, you know we have been talking about medicare, we should be talking about jobs. >> john, thank you very much, bill whitaker is down on the convention floor and he is with governor scott walker, who is the governor of wisconsin, paul ryan's home state. bill. >> yes, i am here with governor scott walker and, governor, you and paul ryan have never had

conservative credentials questioned but we have had some delegates here who have told us they don't think that governor mitt romney is conservative enough, and is yet to win the trust of some bedrock conservatives. why is that? and how do you change that? >> i would say a few weeks ago in the u.s.s. wisconsin when he picked paul ryan, i think we knew for some time mitt romney as governor, as a private sector leader and someone who had the experience he needed to president, when he picked paul ryan he showed the courage and passion to be an exceptional president and you will hear about that tonight and certainly hear from mitt romney tomorrow and you will see conservative as well as swing voters across the country move towards the romney-ryan ticket in the next few weeks. >> governor, thank you very much. and back to you. >> bill, thank you, speaking to the convention at the moment is former secretary of state condoleezza rice and bill plante is down there on the convention moore and he has been listening to the former secretary's speech

bill. >> the former secretary is valuable to president bush not only because of her time at the state department but also the white house, she can bring foreign policy critiques to the obama administration that nobody else can. but she is also valuable to the romney campaign for another and perhaps even more important reason, and that is that she is both african-american and female. a ph.d. who can talk to all of those college educated women who overwhelmingly favor president obama. >> scott. >> bill, thanks very much. dr. rice began her speech before we came on the air but let's listen in on a bit of it now. >> americans have believed that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances. >> and your greatest reply in controlling your response to circumstances is a quality education, but today, today when

i can look at your zip code and i can tell whether you are going to get a good education, can i honestly say it doesn't matter where you came from? it matters where you are going? the crisis in k-12 education is a threat to the very fabric of who we are. >> my mom was a teacher, i respect the profession, we need great ones and not poor ones and not mediocre ones. >> we have to have high standards for our kids because self-esteem comes from are achievement, not from lack standards and false praise. and we need to give parents greater choice, particularly, particularly poor parents whose

kids, very often minority, are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. this is the civil rights issue of our day. >> if we do anything less, we condemn generations to joblessness and hopelessness and life on the government dole. if we do anything less, we will endanger our global imperative for competitiveness, and if we do anything less we will tear apart the fabric of who we are and cement the turn toward entitlement and grievance. mitt romney, mitt romney and paul ryan will rebuild us at

home and they will help us lead abroad. they will provide an answer to the question where does america stand? the challenges will and the, the challenges are real and the times are hard but america has met and overcome hard challenges before. whenever you find yourself doubting it, just think about all of those things that america made the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect. our revolutionary founding against the greatest military power of the time? a civil war, brother against brother, hundreds of thousand dead on both sides but we emerged a more perfect union, a second founding when patriots were determined to overcome the birth defect of slavery and the scourge of segregation, a long struggle against communism with the soviet union eventually ends in collapse and europe is at peace and in the aftermath of 9/11, the willingness to take really

hard, hard decisions that secured us and prevented the at, followup attacks that everybody thought were foreordained. >> and on a personal note -- [ applause ] >> and on a personal photo, a little girl grows up in jim crow birmingham, the segregated city of the south where her parents can't take her to a movie theatre or to a restaurant, but they have her absolutely convinced even if she can't have a hamburger at the woolworth's lunch counter she could be president of the united states if she wanted to and she becomes secretary of state. [ applause ]

>> yes, yes, yes. yes, america, america has a way of making the impossible seem inevitable in retrospect but we know it was never inevitable. it took leadership and it took courage and it took belief in our values. mitt romney and paul ryan have the integrity and the experience and the vision to lead us. they know who we are. they know who we want to be. they know who we are in the world and what we offer. that is why, that is why this is a moment and an election of consequence, because it just has to be. that is the freest and most compassionate country on the

face of the earth will continue to be the most powerful and a beacon for prosperity and liberty across the world, god bless you and god bless this extraordinary country, this exceptional country, the united states of america. >> pelley: condoleezza rice, national security advisor and then secretary of state in of course george w. bush's administration. john mccain, 2008 pub nominee knows something about running mates, he will join bob schieffer and me right here when cbs coverage of the republican [ male announcer ] the perfect photo... [ man ] nice! [ male announcer ] isn't always the one you plan to take. whoa, check it out. hey baby goat... no that's not yours... [ hikers whispering ] ...that's not yours. [ goat bleats ]

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but zantac® works differently. it relieves heartburn in as little as 30 minutes. in fact, so, when heartburn strikes, try zantac® this has been medifacts for zantac® >> pelley: back now at the republican national convention, we are joined by the 2008 republican nominee for president, the senator from

arizona, john mccain. senator, first of all, happy birthday. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> pelley: mitt romney has limited experience in foreign policy and like several recent presidents he has no experience in the military. why should he be the next commander in chief? >> because he has the right instincts the way ronald reagan did. he understands the importance of american exceptionalism, he doesn't want to lead from behind, he wants to lead from in front. he understands the importance of plea trade, of america's role in the world and the rich heritage of american leadership. this president, obviously, leads from behind, has not even spoken a word about the people in syria who are being massacred. i mean, remarkable lack of leadership on the part of the president. >> pelley: senator, i want to ask you, you know something about running mates and what they can bring to a ticket. >> yes. >> pelley: i would say paul ryan is no sarah palin.

if he is given the job of being the attack dog, even democrats say they like him, even when he don't like his policies. >> can he do that? >> sure. listen, everybody liked joe biden and he does a pretty good job with a southern accent. so, yes, i am sure that paul can but his strength is not as an attack dog, his strength is discussing the issues like medicare and like social security like the need to balance the budget, like the national debt, these are issues that are really important to the future of the country. he can argue them and describe them in a way that americans can understand. >> pelley: let me just ask you this, had the republicans made a mistake by shifting the argument from medicare rather than jobs? >> i don't think so, bob, because every two years, ref every four years at the end, the last couple of weeks show dumping grandmother over the cliff in a wheelchair, we are having a debate that the american people are

understanding, one we are about to go broke and obama care took $761 billion out of medicare, they cannot -- they can't conceal that. they can lie about it but it is a fact and the american -- so i think we needed this debate. we needed debate on the fact that medicare is going to go broke in 2,024. and we have got to do something about it. senator mccain, sr. senator of arizona in 2008 no, ma'am plea of your party, thanks for being with us. >> thanks and i am very pleased to note i am now older than mr. shiver. bob schieffer. >> still ahead the main event, vice presidential mom knee paul ryan's address to the convention, this is cbs news coverage of the republican convention, this is cbs news coverage of the republican national convention. if you made a list of countries from around the world... convention, this is cbs news coverage of the republican national convention. ...with the best math scores.

...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this.

>> cbs news coverage of the republican national convention continues. here again, is scott pelley. >> pelley: in just a few minutes, mitt romney's running mate congressman paul ryan of wisconsin will be addressing the convention. bob schieffer, i wonder what you are expecting from that speech tonight. >> well, we keep hearing and we have gotten a few excerpts here, i do not see that he mentioned president obama by name in this speech. i think what is quite interesting about what is going on here, we have heard that president obama's name a lot before we get into prime time at 10:00 o'clock when the networks go on the air, but last night people were very careful not to say barack obama. i just wonder if there is some sort of research or polling that they have done that has told them not to go at the president directly but to talk about his

programs, and i am anxious to see just how far paul ryan goes when he lays out this case tonight, maybe he will turn out to be the greatest attack dog in the history of politics, you heard john mccain he said well joe biden is a nice guy but look what he can do. maybe we will see that from paul ryan but i am anxious to see him in this role because this is not the paul ryan that people on capitol hill are used to seeing. >> pelley: jan crawford is down on the convention floor and talking to her sources, jan, what do you know about the speech that is coming up? >> well what my sources are telling me this is all building toward tomorrow night when mitt romney speaks, we saw ann romney last night say her husband a had the character and the heart to fix america's problem, chris christie saying mitt romney has the guts to say it and. >> paul: says he has the ideas, it is going to be bold and also urgent, we are running out of time but with we still have time to fix these problems. a strong, strong, making the case for mitt romney, and on the campaign trail i have been covering these two out on the

road, paul ryan can be very hard when he is talking about president obama, whether or not he is going to mention him by name, as we are wondering tonight when he is out there talking to voters at these rallies he gets great applause lines when he is ma'am merg on the president so i would expect a little bit of that tonight and that will go over very well of course with this crowd. but my sources say they want these speeches in this convention to be positive, to be forward looking and that's a lot of what we heard. the speeches from condoleezza rice which got huge applause, some people are saying it may be the best speech of the week was just exactly that. >> pelley: jan, thank you very much, norah o'donnell down there at the edge of the podium, nora, congressman ryan is famous for getting down in the weeds with specifics on the budget and tabs i wonder if you are hearing whether he will have any specifics in his speech tonight. >> i am told by senior romney advisors that there will be some specifics but not the kind of stuff that will make your eyes glaze over at 10:00 o'clock at night. this peach is structured in

three parts, the first part of the peach is biographical where paul ryan is going to try to introduce himself to millions of americans he is going to be just a heartbeat away from the presidency if the, it is a, if the romney-ryan ticket is chosen so talk about the town in wisconsin he grew up and still lives on the same street, worked at mcdonalds and elected to a young age to congress and a hard-hitting critique of president obama i am told a deconstruction of obama's economic record, and the third part of his speech why mitt romney should be president of the united states. but i must say, it is a hard road for congressman paul ryan to top what was the soaring rhetoric of former secretary of state condoleezza rice tonight. >> pelley: congress ryan was first elected in 1999 and 28 years old, he was the youngest member of that freshman class, john dickerson, what has his record been in terms of bipartisan work and reaching across the aisle? >> well, you know, we played

that click earlier of governor romney talking to bob saying he had a unique ability to bring people together. i talked to congressman chris van holland the democrat that works with ryan, the ranking member of the house budget committee, paul ryan is a very nice guy but his philosophy, his economic philosophy is just so different than the democratic philosophy there haven't been a great deal of bipartisan agreements that ryan has put together and passed two pieces of legislation, neither one of them of note, he is a very smart guy but he is a very ideological guy, and that has not created a lot of bipartisan friendship. >> pelley: and here is congressman ryan taking the stage at the republican national convention now. preparing to accept his nomination as the party's nominee for vice president of the united states. >> thank you.

thank you very much. thank you. hello, wisconsin. thank you very much. thank you. thank you so much. thank you. mr. chairman, mr. chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, i am honored by the support of this convention for vice president of the united states. i accept the duty to help lead

our nation out of a jobs crisis and back to prosperity. and i know/foe we can do this. and i know we can do this. .. >> i accept the calling of my generation to give our children the america that was given to us, with opportunity for the young and security for the old. and i know that we are ready. our nominee is sure ready. his whole life, his whole life prepared him for this moment. to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words. after four years of getting the run around america needs a turnaround and the man for the job is governor mitt romney! [ applause ]

>> i am the new come tore this campaign. so let me share a first impression. i have never seen opponents so silent about their record. and so desperate to keep their power. they have run out of ideas. their moment came and went. fear and division is all they have got left. with all of their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money. and he is pretty experienced at that. >> you see, some people can't be dragged down by the usual cheap tactics, because of their character, ability, and plain decency are so obvious, and

ladies and gentlemen, that is mitt romney. >> for my part, your nomination is an unexpected turn. it certainly came as news to my family. and i would like you to meet them. my best friend and wife, jana our daughter liza and our boys, charlie and sam. the kids are happy to see their grandma who lives in florida. there she is, my mom betty.

my dad, a small town lawyer, was also named paul. and until we lost him when i was 16, he was a gentle presence in my life. i would like to think he would be proud of me and my sister and brothers. you know what? i am sure proud of him and where i come from, janeville, wisconsin. i lived on the same block where i grew up. we belonged in the same parish where i was baptized. it was that a kind of place. .. the people of wisconsin have been good to me. i have tried to live up to their trust, and now i ask those hardworking men and women and

millions like them across america to join our cause and get this country working again. >> when governor romney asked me to join the ticket, i said, let's get this done and that is exactly what we are going to do. >> president obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. those are very tough days. in any fair measure of his record has to ache that into account, take that into account. my own state voted for president obama. when he talked about change, many people liked the sound of

it, especially in janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory. a lot of guys that i went to high school with worked at that gm plant right there at that plant candidate obama said i believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years. that's what he said this 2008. well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. and it is locked up and empty to this day. and that is how it is in so many towns. where the recovery that is promised is nowhere in sight. right now, 23 million men and women are struggling to find work. 23 million people. unemployed or underemployed. nearly one in six americans is in poverty.

millions of young americans have graduated from college during the obama presidency, ready to use their gifts and get moving in life. half of them can't find the work they studied for or any work at all. so here is the question. without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years? the first troubling sign came with the stimulus. it was president obama's first and best shot at fixing the economy. at a time when he got everything he wanted under one party rule. it cost $831 billion. the largest one time expenditure ever by our federal government.

it went to companies like solyndra, with their gold plated connections, subsidized jobs and make believe markets. the similar us was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. the stimulus was a case of political patronage. >> you, you the american people of this country were cut out of the deal. .. what did taxpayers get out of the obama stimulus? more debt. that money wasn't just spent and wasted. it was borrowed, spent and wasted. maybe the greatest waste of all was time. here we were faced with a

massive job crisis so deep that if everyone out of work stood in single file that unemployment line would stretch the length of the entire american continent. you would think that any president, whatever his party, would make job creation and nothing else his first order of economic business. but this president didn't do that. instead, we got a long, divisive all or nothing attempt to put the federal government in charge of healthcare. obama care comes to more than 2000 pages of rules, mandates, taxes, fees and fines that have no place in a free country.

[ applause ] >> that's right. that's right. >> you know what? the president has declared that the debate over government controlled healthcare is over. that will come as news to the millions of americans who elect mitt romney so we can repeal obama care. [ applause ] >> and the biggest, coldest power play of all with obama

care? came at the expense of the elder think. you see, even with all of the hidden taxes to pay for the healthcare takeover, even with the new law and new taxes and nearly a, on nearly a million small businesses the planners didn't washington still didn't have enough money. they needed more. they needed hundreds of billions more. so they just took it all away from medicare. $716 billion funneled out of medicare by president obama. $760 billion. >> our parents are being sacrificed all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. the greatest threat to medicare

is obama care, and we are going to stop it. [ applause ] .. >> and congress, when they pick up the heavy books and the wall charts about medicare, my thoughts go back to a house on garfield street in janesville. my wonderful gras grand ma janet had alzheimer's and she moved in with mom and me, though she felt lost at times, we did all the little things that made her feel loved. we had help from medicare and it was there, just like it is there for my mom today. medicare is a promise and we will honor it. a romney-ryan administration will protect and strengthen medicare for my mom's generation, for my generation and for my kids and yours.

[ applause ] >> so our opponents can consider themselves on notice. in this election, on this issue, the usual posturing of the left isn't going to work. mitt romney and i know the difference between protecting a program and raiding it. ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate. we want this debate. we will win this debate. [ applause ]

>> obama care, as much as anything else, explains why a presidency that began with such attention, anticipation comes to such a disappointing close. it began with a financial crisis, it ends with a job crisis. it began with a housing crisis they alone didn't cause, it ends with a housing crisis they didn't correct. [ applause ] >> it began with a perfect triple a credit rating for the united states. it ends with a downgrade of america. it all started off with stirring

speeches, greek columns, the thrill of something new, now all that is left is a presidency adrift, surviving on slogans that already seem tired, grasping at a moment that is already passed. like a ship trying to sail on yesterday's wind. [ applause ] >> you know, president obama was asked not long ago to reflect on any mistakes he might have made. he said, well, i haven't communicated enough. he said his i don't know is to, quote, tell a story to the american people. as if that is the whole problem here? he needs to talk more and we need to be better listeners?

ladies and gentlemen, these past four years, we have suffered no shortage of words in the white house. what is missing the leadership in the white house! what is missing is leadership in the white house! [ applause ] >> and the story that barack obama does tell, forever shifting blame to the last

administration is getting old. the man assumed office almost four years ago. isn't it about time he assumed responsibility? >> in this generation, a defining responsibility of government is to steer our nation clear of a debt crisis while there is still time. back in 2008, candidate obama called a $10 trillion national debt unpatriotic, serious talk from what looks like a serious reformer. yet by his own decisions, president obama has added more debt than any other president before him. and more than all the troubled governments of europe combined. one president, one term,

5 trillion in new debt. he created a new bipartisan debt commission. they came back with an urgent report. he thanked them, sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing. republicans, republicans stepped up with good faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems. how did the president respond? by doing nothing. nothing except to dodge and dental go the issue. >> demagogue the issue, $16 trillion in debt and still he does nothing .. in europe, massive debts have put entire governments at risk of collapse and still he does nothing. and all we have heard from this president and his team are attacks on anyone who dares to

point out the obvious. they have no answer to this simple reality. we need to stop spending money. we don't have. it is really simple. it is no not that hard. my dad used to say to me, son, you have a choice. you can be part of the problem or you can be part of the solution. the presented a administration has made its choices, and mitt romney and i have made ours. before the math and the momentum over wellment us all we are going to solve this nation's economic problems.

.. and i am going to level with you. we don't have that much time. but if we are serious and smart and we lead, we can do this. after four years of government trying to divide up the wealth, we will get america creating wealth again. with tax fairness and regulatory reform. we will put government back in the side of men and women who create jobs. and the men and women who need jobs. my mom started a small business and i have seen what it takes. mom was 50 when my dad died. she got on a bus every weekday for years and rhode 40 miles

each way to madison and earned a new degree and learned new skills to start her small business .. it wasn't just a new livelihood, it was a new life. and it transformed my mom from a widow in grief to a small businesswoman whose happiness wasn't just in the past. it gave her hope and made our family proud. and to this day, my mom is my role model. [ applause ]

>> behind every small business there is a story worth knowing. all the corner shops in our towns and cities, the restaurants, cleaners, gyms, hair salon, hardware stores, these didn't come out of nowhere. a lot of heart goes into each one and if small business people say they made it on their own, all they are saying is that nobody else worked seven days a week in their place. nobody showed up in their place to open the door at 5:00 in the morning, nobody did their thinking and worrying and sweating for them, after all that work and in a bad economy, it sure doesn't help to hear it from their president that government gets the credit. what they deserve to hear is the truth, yes, you did build that!

we have a plan for a stronger middle class with a goal of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years. [ applause ] >> in a clean break from the obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20 percent of gdp or less, because that is enough. the choice, the choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth or hard limits on the size of government. and we choose to limit government.

>> i learned a good deal about economics and about america from the author of the reagan tax reforms, the great jack kemp. >> what gave jack that incredible enthusiasm was his belief in the possibilities of free people, in the power of free enterprise and strong communities to overcome poverty and despair. we need that same optimism right now. and in our dealings with other nations, a romney-ryan administration will speak with confidence and clarity. whenever men and women rise up for their own freedom, they will know that the american president is on their side.

instead, instead of managing america's decline, leaving allies to doubt us and adversaries to test us, we will ask, act in conviction that the united states is still the greatest force for peace and liberty that this world has ever known. president obama is the kind of politician who puts promises on the record and then calls back the record. but we are four years into this presidency. the issue is not the economy that barack obama inherited, not the economy that envisions.

but this economy that we are living. college graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms staring up at fading obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. [ applause ] >> everyone, everyone who feels stuck in the obama economy is right to focus on the here and

now, and i hope you understand this too. if you are feeling left out or passed by, you have not failed. your leaders have failed you. none of us the -- none of us should have to settle for the best this administration offers, a dull adventure less journey from one entitlement to the next, a government planned life, a country where everything is free but us. listen to the way we are spoken to already, as if everyone is stuck in some class or station in life. victims of circumstances beyond our control, with the government there to help us cope with our fate. it is the exact opposite of

every thing i learned growing up in wisconsin or at college in ohio. now, when i was waiting tables, washing dishes or mowing lawns for money i never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. i was on my own path. my own journey, an american journey, where i could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself. that is what we do in this country. that is the american dream! that is freedom and i will take it any day over the supervision and sang know a sanctimony of tl planners. [ applause ] by themselves, the

failures of one administration are not a mandate for a new administration. a challenger must stand on his own merits. he must be ready and worthy to serve in the office of president. we are a full generation apart, governor romney and i, and in some ways we are different, there are the songs in his ipod which i have heard on the campaign bus. and i have heard it on many hotel elevators. he actually urged me to play some of these songs at campaign rallies and i said look i hope it is not a deal maker, mitt, but my play list is stuck with sep preliminary. >> zeppelin. >> it begins with ac/dc and ends

with zeppelin. >> a generation apart, but that doesn't matter. it makes us different but not in any of the things that matter. mitt romney and i both grew up in the heartland. and we know places like wisconsin and michigan look like when times are good. we know what these communities looked like when times are good, when people are working, when families are doing more than just getting by. and we know it can be that way again. we have had very different careers, mine mainly in public service, his mostly in the private sector. he helped start businesses and turn around failing ones and by the way, being successful in business, that is a good thing. [ applause ]

>> mitt is not, has not only succeeded, but he succeeded where others could not. he turned around the olympics at a time when a great institution was collapsing under the weight of bad management. over spending and corruption. sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? he was a republican governor of a state where almost nine in ten legislators are democrats and yet he balanced the budget without raising taxes. unemployment went down. household incomes went up, imagine, under under mitt romney massachusetts credit rating went up. mitt and i also go to different churches. but in any church, the best kind of preaching is done by example.

and i have been watching that example. the man who will accept your nomination tomorrow is prayerful and faithful and honorable. not only a defender of marriage, he offers an example of marriage at its best. not only a fine businessman, he is a fine man. worthy of leading this optimistic and good-hearted country. our fates come together in the same moral creed, we believe that in every life there is goodness. for every person there is hope, each one of us was made for a reason bearing the image and likeness of the lord of life.