not if it means saying something, meaning something, believing something beyond the one sacred goal on which romney has set his heart on, to get himself elected president. that's "hardball." "the ed show" with ed schultz starts now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 85 days until the 2012 election. mitt romney has picked the most radical vice presidential candidate in the history of the republican party. i love it. tonight, i'll remind you why. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. one thing we've got to get straight -- one thing we've got to get straight -- >> the paul ryan backlash begins in iowa. and the vice president is on the attack in north carolina. >> what's gutsy about giving millionaires another tax break? what's gutsy? what's gutsy about gutting medicare, medicaid, education?

>> mitt romney goes hard right with a guy who says progressivism is a cancer on america. >> what i have been trying to do is indict the entire vision of progressivism. >> it's a cancer. >> exactly. >> tonight, john nichols of the nation magazine tells us exactly who paul ryan is. joan walsh and e.j. dionne on the president's counterpunch today on the campaign trail. now's terry o'neal on what romney/ryan means for women. james hoffa of the teamsters and larry cohen of the cwa on what the ryan pick means for labor. and vermont senator bernie sanders on paul ryan's medicare lie. >> there's only one president that i know of in history that robbed medicare $716 billion. paul ryan and i talked about saving medicare. >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. it choices in the 2012 presidential election have never

been as clear as they are tonight. mitt romney's announcement of congressman paul ryan to be on the ticket as his running mate has the republican base all excited. the roll-out no doubt positive, probably the best thing romney has had because he's had a rough summer. and the choice takes any controversy off the table that might have come up at the republican convention later this month. they're going to like this. conservatives are happy. president obama wasted no time today defining the stark difference voters face with a romney/ryan ticket. >> i've got to tell you, i know congressman ryan, a good man, a family man. he's -- >> you're okay. >> he's an articulate spokesman for governor romney's vision, but the problem is that vision is one that i fundamentally disagree with. >> well, the election is no longer a referendum on president obama. it's a choice over a vision and a future for america. now, ryan has a vision of the future. president obama called deeply

pessimistic well over a year ago. vice president joe biden said we finally know exactly what mitt romney will do as president. >> congressman ryan has given definition to the vague commitments that romney has been making. there is no distinction between what the republican congress has been proposing the last two years, actually the last four years, and what governor romney wants to do. so let's cut through all this. >> now, if you watch "the ed show," none of this should be a surprise to you. we have been talking about paul ry and his agenda for the last two years on this program. this is not a pretty picture. >> the ryan plan, which of course the republicans voted on, would grease the skids for imaginer corporations to outsource profits so they could get away with not paying their fair share of taxes. today, a group of religious leaders signed a joint statement condemning cuts. one signature was from father thomas kelly of wisconsin.

he wrote, as a constituent of congressman ryan and a catholic priest, i'm disappointed by his cruel budget plan and outraged he defends it on moral grounds. >> i sleep soundly knowing what i'm trying to do is help fix the country's problems. >> for years, people who had medicare and medicaid, they slept pretty well at night, too. but now they're under attack from you, and yeah, you can sleep well at night because nobody is going to be touching your pension, nobody is going to be touching your health care. >> you don't have to listen to me if you wasn't to know where paul ryan stands on america. you can listen to the candidate himself. listen to this. this is a very fascinating clip of paul ryan when he was on a right-wing radio show explaining what he thinks of liberals and progressivism. >> what i have been trying to do is indict the entire idea of progressivism because i see progressivism as the source, the

intellectual source for the government problems plaguing us today. so to me, it's really important to flush progressives out into the field of open debate. >> i love you. >> so people can actually see what this ideology means and where it's going to lead us and how it attacks the american idea. >> okay, hang on just a second. did you see my speech at cpac? >> i read it? i didn't see it, where read a transcript of it. >> i think we're saying the same thing. >> we are saying the same thing. >> it's a cancer. >> exactly. look, i come from -- i'm calling you from wisconsin where i'm born and raised, where we raise our family, 35 miles from madison. i grew up hearing about this stuff. this stuff came from these german intellectuals to madison, university of wisconsin, and out from there, the beginning of the last century. this is something we're familiar with where i come from. it never sat right with me. as i grew up, i leard more about the founders and reading the austrians and others that

this is really a cancer because it basically takes the notion that our rights come from god and nature, and turns it on its head and says no, no, no, they come from government, and we here in government are here to give you your rights and ration, redistribute, and regulate your rights. >> that is a priceless piece of audio. progressivism is a cancer. now, if you're watching tonight and you're a liberal and you watch "the ed show," you know who i am. i'm a lefty. i'm not a cancer on america. i work hard, i pay my taxes, i take offense to that. but this is who paul ryan is. he thinks that liberals shouldn't be in the decision making process. he thinks that we come from some german elitist attitude about how america should be run. i thought that the republicans were all about big ideas. social security, medicare, medicaid was a big idea when this country needed it. and there's no march in washington saying that we need to change all of that. i'm not going to go so far as to say that mr. ryan is a cancer,

but i will say that he is deeply out of the mainstream. conservatives now have a voice on the ticket to deliver the agenda of the 1% in america. >> we now have somebody on a ticket who is us. somebody is on the ticket who can explain all of this, believes all of this in his heart, and in his soul. his name is paul ryan. >> conservatives believe this message is broad enough to work in a general election. we'll see. if people hear what paul ryan believes, they will vote for republicans? well, today, the romney campaign found out, well, it might not be that easy. let's go to the middle of the country at the iowa state fair. pretty american there, isn't it? paul ryan was shouted down by protesters telling ryan to stop the war on the middle class. ryan dismissed them. >> iowans and wisconsinites like to be respectful of one another and peaceful with one another

and listen to one another. these ladies must not be from iowa or wisconsin. >> be respectful of one another but it's okay to go on the talk show of a right winger and say those liberals are nothing but a cancer on society. actually, those people are from iowa, and they are from an organized group called iowa citizens for community improvement. and it was interesting, ironically, this exact same location a year ago the iowa state fair when mitt romney made this gaffe a year ago. >> we have to make sure that the promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare are promises we can keep. and there are various ways of doing that. one is we could raise taxes on people. >> corporations. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> oops, the reaction to the ryan selection should really surprise no one. it was not an etch-a-sketch moment for the romney campaign. i tweeted this this weekend. romney has picked a running mate that's from a congress that has a 7% approval rating.

you tell me how is that change? it's not, and it's no game changer either. the ryan rollout is probably the least popular vice presidential pick in 12 years. just go to the numbers. usa/gallup poll today, 42%, they say it's fair or poor. 39% say it was an excellent or good choice. i mean, sarah palin, joe biden, john edwards, joe lieberman, and dick cheney, they all polled a heck of a lot better than that when it was first announced they were going to be on the ticket. even if americans don't know exactly who paul ryan is, they know his ideas are way out of the mainstream. 79% of americans do not want to change medicare. almost 8 in 10 say leave it alone. preserve it the way we always have. i mean, folks, if you look at his premier issues, they poll terribly with the american people. turning medicare into a voucher program, nobody wants to do that. huge tax cuts for the rich?

show me a model where we are going to tax ourselves into prosperity to pay for record debt, record foreign debt, and record trade deficit. it's not going to happen. huge programs cut for the poor. what are you picking on them for? conservatives say paul ryan is their modern day version of ronald reagan. they got it wrong again. he's more of a closer version of this guy, a modern day version of barry goldwater, the conservative standard bearer who was rejected by americans in a landslide. americans of the past have rejected any attempts to undo the social contract that we have had with the middle class and the poor in this country. a rising tide lifts all boats. well, that philosophy, it doesn't view it that way. there's going to be people left behind, and that's okay. that's what that philosophy is. we now have an opportunity to reject it once again. get your cell phones out. tonight's question, is this the most radical presidential ticket we have ever seen?

text a for yes, b for no to 622639. you can always going to our blog and leave a comment. we encourage you to do that. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. isn't it interesting how wisconsin has been like the life blood of big political stories in the last couple years in this country? well, now it's cast into the presidential campaign. joining me tonight is john nichols, washington correspondent to the nation magazine and author of the book "uprising." who is paul ryan? i think, you know, people who follow politics know exactly who this guy is. buzz he believes that he wants to get into the entire vision of progressivism and he goes so far as to label it a cancer. isn't this damaging for america? >> it's a pretty remarkable statement, especially for a wisconsinite. you know, paul ryan comes from janesville, wisconsin. the same town russ feingold comes from. they went to the same schools

and their dads were both lawyers in janesville. one of the things that is important to understand about paul ryan is he's a son of privilege. he was raised in a very nice house in a very nice street. he didn't come from a blue-collar family, he didn't come from a working class family. he was raised in the embrace of the conservative wing of the republican party of wisconsin, which has always had a problem with progressivism. the thing that you should understand, though, is progressivism came out of the republican party. it didn't come from german philosophers. they came back to wisconsin and said if we can end the sin of slavery, we can change our economics. >> he wants to indict the entire vision of progressivism. what kind of message does that say about bringing the country together? when president obama was elected, he wanted to be the president of all people. this man sounds like he only wants to lead the people who are going to think the way he thinks. >> i think that's incredibly right.

this is an incredibly divisive platform. one-on-one, he's very amiable, but when you're writing off not just a whole philosophy but what came from those ideas, you're really ripping into the core of the country. >> it's easy to figure out his budget when you listen to what he says. when he is in speak about his philosophy, it's easy for him to put something like that down on paper which is attack the poor, attack the elderly, attack the downtrodden, cut all of the programs we have had that have helped this country be great, what it is today. this man has no foreign policy experience, no private sector experience. he's never been elected to a state office. he represents one eighth of the state of wisconsin and he has no major market in his backyard. has he gone under the radar? >> absolutely he has. remember that statement about progressivism, that came from 2010, a couple years ago. if you listen to the whole interview, glenn beck says i don't really know you.

even two years ago, national right wingers weren't that familiar with paul ryan. he's a guy who has been hanging around washington for a long time. but he has inserted himself into the debate over the last two years with, i think, a great deal of ambition, trying to get himself to exactly where he's gotten. >> who stands on the stump with this man with the radical vision for america? this vision of tearing apart institutions that have helped this country be great and give people an opportunity? who stands with him? is he going to be toxic on the campaign trail? >> it's got the potential to be this, ed, already, there are republican candidates for the u.s. senate who have been airing ads in states like montana, making a point that they voted against the ryan budget. because they know how unpopular it is. one of the things we're going to be watching for is that first republican candidate who when paul ryan comes into his district or her state, says i'm not going to be around that day because they're not going to want to stand next to a guy when

he indicts progressive mpt, indicts the philosophy that franklin rosevelt said helped to build the new deal. >> so great to have you with us. it's going to be a very interesting week. remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts on twitter and on facebook. we want to know what you think. coming up, the obama/biden team comes out swinging. the democrats deliver a unified message today. you won't believe what paul ryan said in response. stay with us. that's next.

coming up, the president went after paul ryan today on the stump. e.j. dionne and joan walsh on how democrats are handling the new man on the ticket. that's next. mitt romney's problem with women voters will only get worse with his new running mate. national organization women's terry o'neal is with us tonight. and later, vermont senator bernie sanders on this unbelievable lie they have been talking about all weekend long since this announcement and now mitt romney and paul ryan are

pedaling this stuff about medicare all across america. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using the hash tag "ed show" we're coming right back. it's time to get going. to get your feet moving to the beat. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's and feel the energy from your feet up. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, you'll want to get up and go. optond em si y

t there. - one serving of cheese is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier... the more you know. welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. president obama and vice president biden got their first chance to talk about mitt romney's new running mate. tonight, the obama campaign is united in its message. bottom line, paul ryan, hey, he's a nice guy. he's got real bad ideas. pundits call ryan a gutsy choice for romney. joe biden fired back. >> what's gutsy about giving

millionaires another tax break? what's gutsy -- what's gutsy about gutting medicare, medicaid, education? what's gutsy? >> at the same time, both president obama and paul ryan were making stops in central iowa and both spoke at the state fair. they're both getting a firsthand look at what is essentially become ground zero for the worst drought in 50 years in this country. ryan will have to explain why he is blocking a farm bill that would provide disaster relief for farmers and ranchers. president obama asked supporters in iowa to pass along this message. >> unfortunately right now, too many members of congress are blocking the farm bill from becoming law. i am told that governor romney's new running mate paul ryan might be around iowa in the next few days. he's one of it leaders of congress standing in the way. so if you happen to see congressman ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to iowa and our rural communities.

>> not far down the road in iowa, here is paul ryan's response. >> we'll get into all of the policy things later, alex. right now, i just want to enjoy the fair. >> just enjoy the fair. you have a disaster, a drought that's taking place, the worst in 50 years, you're in the backyard where farmers and ranchers are having a hard time, they're worried about what kind of disaster relief is going to be there. and all ryan wants to do is just enjoy the fair. president obama did exactly the right thing today. you go to a part of the country, what's on the minds of the people, and what's on the minds of the people is their economy and what is happening to the ag communities with this drought. actually, mr. ryan, the iowa state fair is the perfect place to talk about the farm bill and those other policy things. let's bring in joan walsh, editor at large, salon.com and author of the upcoming book "what's the matter with white people?" and e.j. dionne, author of the book "our divided political

heart." great to have both of you with us. joan, you first, no doubt, we have a distinction here. we have a choice. but is this the way ryan is going to be on the campaign trail? they can't define what's going on with medicare and medicare and what the differences are between the two candidates. i'm talking about the presidential candidate and vice presidential candidates, romney/ryan. yet when he's asked something in detail, is he campaigning in disguise? >> that was remarkable, i want to enjoy the fair. that was such a remark of entitlement, ed. you know, you really are pressed to discuss policy at state fairs when you're running for vice president. so it was one of those moments where we really don't know what paul ryan is going to be on a national campaign. he grew up in janesville. he's liked by people in his community. he's gone to washington. he's got a very narrow purview. he's liked by the koch brothers. you know, he's got some friends in high places. but that retail campaigning,

there was just a touch of entitlement there that i think he's going to have to work on. that was not a good answer for the people of iowa. >> e.j. dionne, how do you answer a question like that without definition? you would have to say we're going to get the farmers and ranchers relief but not put it in the budget. that's basically where he would be coming from. and just two hours after romney named paul ryan his running mate, the national republican campaign committee released a memo and a video warning members not to talk about entitlement reform, not to use that term, not to use the term privatization, or every option is on the table. don't ever say that. what does this say about ryan and the campaign? what are we seeing here early on? >> actually think you have an interesting split in the republican party between republicans on the ballot particularly in congressional races and a lot of professionals and the party base in the idelogs. let's give romney some credit.

he has brought liberals and conservatives together. how often does a decision win cheers from both sides like the ryan pick did? but i think the professional republicans know that ryan's positions are real problems for their party. i think what you're seeing today from obama and joe biden, and biden, is they're trying to put romney in a box. first, he wants credit for boldness, but he wants to back away from some of ryan's positions. well, that's going to be a problem for him. and they're really trying to sort of tie romney now to the republican congress. last i looked, their approval rating was around 17%. president obama was very careful to say that ryan is one of the leaders of congress standing in the way. how often are we going to hear that? and as joan said, we don't know what kind of campaigner ryan is going to be on the national level. >> evasive. that's the word we have to come up on the first daise. he's not definite about medicare, what is going to

happen there. and he's not definite about how he would help people in the worst drought in 50 years in this country. joan walsh, who is going to stand with this man on the campaign trail? if he's such a radical and it's in his -- what moderate republican is going to stand up there and say i can get independent voters with this guy at my side? >> they're going to be terrified. they are going to run away from him, and e.j. makes the point this was such a bold move bomb the man of mystery, mitt romney, who won't define anything and he's told us that, people might not vote for me if they knew what i was going to do, is now married to that man who carved out a far right program. >> does it help democrats? >> i think it does. >> what do you think? does it help democrats? is this the golden goose to carve up? >> i don't know if he's the golden goose. i don't believe in the gold standard, but i think he is of immense help in defining the issues. i think he really makes it much easier for democrats to say that the republicans are radical.

i don't think thats an inappropriate word, and ryan helps make that clear. the kind of cuts he wants to make really remind people that they are not as anti-government as the republicans are. americans are often anti-government in theory, but they are in practice in favor of the government doing a lot of things. and ryan is against the government doing a lot of things that the americans want government to do. >> joan walsh, e.j. dionne, thanks for joining us tonight on "the ed show." paul ryan's policies are bad for women. how bad? well, i'll ask terry o'neal, president of the national organization for women. and the paul ryan pick has big labor in this country up in arms. james hoffa and larry cohen will tell us what the union ground game is going to be against thi ticket. stay with us.

this is really a sick proposal. a sick proposal. that's what it means to the average woman. >> california senator barbara boxer slamming the ryan budget. mitt romney is having a tough time with women voters already. he trails president obama by double digits across the country. selecting paul ryan as his running mate, well, it's not going to help the ticket at all, i don't think. simply put, paul ryan's policies are bad for women, and his record proves it. ryan voted against equal pay for equal work. he wants to gut social security, medicare, medicaid, the big three, which would disproportionately affect women in the country.

his budget would also hurt families. he wants to slash food stamps in the farm bill by 18%. he wants to ban abortions even in the case of rape or incest. he wants to eliminate abortion care, even when the life of the mother is at risk. is that radical? he wants to defund planned parenthood. he even proposed giving legal rights to a fertilized egg, which would essentially outlaw abortion, iv fertilization and some forms of contraception, and of course, both ryan and romney promise to repeal the affordable care act. leaving millions of women uninsured and taking away their access to affordable care and all of those preventive clinics across america. i'm joined tonight bterry o'neal, president of the national organization for women. good to have you with us. when you see what paul ryan has actually done in the congress, what he believes in and what he is proposing, how dangerous is

this for women in our society? >> well, you know, from young girls all the way to the very oldest women, paul ryan's vision for the united states is fiercely and harshly anti-female. you know, medicare, his proposal to convert medicare to a private voucher system, on average, would cost seniors about $6,000 per year extra for their health care costs. but women are in a -- it's much tougher for women to afford that because they work a lifetime at unequal pay. when people 85 years old and older, 70% of them on medicare are women. so this attack on medicare really is an attack on women. and the same thing is true of his attacks on social security. and his attacks on medicaid, 50% of medicaid dollars support nursing homes. >> do you think that this pick drives women, independent women, into the obama camp? >> no question about it. what is really surprising to me is that romney, who really does

need the women's vote in order to win this election, i predict that the gender gap amongst independent women voters is going to swell into the double digits as more and more women begin to pay attention and really see the vision that romney and ryan have for us. >> so obviously, he wants to roll back roe v. wade. he would be the real political disciple to do all of that. >> oh, yes. >> with that, isn't there going to be a resurgence of conservative voters that would say, okay, our guy is on the ticket now. this is our time to move? isn't it going to help the base get out to vote for the republicans? >> you know, it's not because not only is paul ryan adamantly opposed to women having access to abortion care, including care that is necessary, for example, if the woman has heart disease or diabetes or cancer, and needs to terminate that pregnancy, paul ryan would say no. paul ryan is also anti-birth control. and again, you know, even conservatives believe in birth

control. 98% of women in this country who are sexually active have utilized birth control. that includes women who are extremely conservative 98% of sexually active catholic women. his anti-abortion stance might have moved the base, but will depress the base is he's also firmly anti-birth control. >> how would women move forward in this economy with this kind of thinking and these kinds of policies? >> we can't. if women don't have access to birth control, they will face greater health risks and that's costly. and as long as paul ryan's vision, if his vision actually got enacted into law, women would have less access to the very things, the resources that they need in order to meet the expenses. you know, when you deprive women as a class of access to the health care they need most, and you're opposed to equal pay, and you want to gut social security and medicare and medicaid, women

really have almost nowhere to go. that's exactly what women are going to understand as they take a careful look at what this guy is proposing and that's why they're going to lose that election. >> terry o'neil, national organization for women. thanks for joining us. a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. you can't lift people out of poverty if you don't have a growing economy. >> there's a new republican leader in the party's war on the middle class. james hoffa of the teamsters and cwa's larry cohen react to the ryan pick. 2% tim pawlenty thanks mitt romney for passing him over by keeping the tax issue on the table. >> how many years of tax returns did you provide to the romney campaign? >> i don't know the exac number, george, but it was several years, i believe. >> the gop versus the big three. vermont senator bernie sanders helps us debunk the big lie coming from the new romney/ryan ticket.

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welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney's choice of paul ryan proves that he is not worried about the problems of the working middle class in this country. all you have to do is look at ryan's record. ryan supported governor scott walker's radical plan to end collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. that's just the tip of the iceberg. under ryan's watch, his wisconsin district has seen a number of manufacturing plants close. for instance, in 2010, a chrysler plant in kenosha, closed. 575 jobs lost. in 2008, a delphi plant was closed in oak creek, wisconsin. hundreds of people lost their jobs. also in 2008, a general motors plant in janesville was shut down. roughly 5,000 people lost their jobs there. you know what ryan did? he stood silent on the sidelines while all of this was going on. bottom line, this guy is an outsourcing, not a fighter for

the workers, not a fighter for the middle class. he has no record of showing anything like that. for more, let's turn to james hoffa. internation brrth hood of teamsters and larry cohen, president of the communication workers for america. >> great to be here. >> let me just say that it has to be stated, president obama can't win without labor. the democrats can't win without labor. you have the infrastructure, you have the communication, you have the boots on the ground. now you also are facing the ticket, whether you agree with everything president obama has ever done for the labor, if you have any sins that need to be forgiven, now is kind of the time, isn't it, mr. hoffa? with this ticket, this is a radical push-back at labor, is it not? >> this is probably the most anti-labor slate you have ever seen before. romney/ryan is unbelievably anti-labor, romney is for national right to work. he's against card check. he's against project labor

agreements. he's already said that. on top of that, you put ryan who voted against extending unemployment. he's against osha, he's against fair pay for women who do equal work. he voted against the bring the jobs home act. he's basically anti-labor. you have two aten-labor people out there right now, and that's what we're going to tell our members. that's what we're going to go out and articulate to our members and say this is a clear choice. if you want somebody who is out to end the union that protects you, to end your ability to be in the middle class, then you better make sure that you vote for barack obama. >> mr. cohen, what about what mr. hoffa said? wouldn't this be a big motivated moment for wage earners in the country to get out and do what they have to do? >> absolutely. politics is about choices. and the choice is more clear now than it was last week. american workers want more and better social security, not less. income replacement is already among the lowest in the world in retirement.

they want better medicare, not less and not more attacks on their health care. they want better job security. not more offshoring of work. 500,000 customer service and tech jobs have left in the last five years. i do think, though, ed, as you mentioned earlier, we need a clear return to progressivism and populous politics in the democratic party as well. we can't be complacent and say the choice is clear. we need democrats to come out for workers' right, for employment security, for retirement for america's workers, for better health care. but it is clear the choice could never be starker. >> it's also very clear in an interview he's done on right-wing radio he views the progressive movement in the country as a cancer. progressivism and labor unions in the country walk hand in hand. are you a cancer? >> it's like he's from the 1890s. he doesn't see, he's from the gilded age, the rich get richer.

he wants tax cuts for the rich. and he basically wants to keep down the workers. make shire they can't have unions. that's how he sees the work. they want to get rid of the new deal. they want to get rid of the fair deal. they want to get rid of the great society. they resent everything that has been done that helped the average worker out there or the average person, the average american that's trying to get by. and that's a clear choice. i have never seen a ticket like this, and i think that this is a big enhancement for barack obama. i think we have to articulate this to our members, but it's clear they basically want to keep down working people and people that are trying to make it in america, and they want it all and they don't want us to have anything. >> mr. cohen, they keep talking about how this is going to put wisconsin in play. what is the pushback from labor on that? >> well, i think, you know, there's always going to be some truth to that, when they have a native son, but i think as we have been doing in the midwestern states in the last year, we will speak out about

workers' rights and the choice is clear. we will speak out about health care rights, and the choice is clear. we will speak out about civil rights versus voter suppression, and the choice is clear. so again, i think politics is about choices. and for working americans, whether they're in a union or not, the choice is clear. we have to keep people focused on what it means to have a 21st century democracy verses as jim said, a 19th century oligarchy. working people in this country whether they haveian or not are smart and they'll see the difference. >> great to have you both with us tonight on "the ed show." thank you so much. you won't believe who told tim pawlenty he was being skipped over for vice president. plus, paul ryan keeps quiet on his tax return debate. we'll bring you the latest. stay with us.

up next, why not tim pawlenty? he gets snubbed by mitt romney, but t-paw still has mitt's back.

>> and to the big finish, republicans claim president obama is stripping $700 billion from medicare, but the real threat to the big three is the new republican vice presidential pick. bernie sanders will weigh in on that and what the future holds if they get elected. don't forget, you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. follow me on twitter at ed show and like the ed show on facebook. we're coming right back. it's time to get going. to have the energy to keep up with your kids. to step up to a new challenge. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's and feel the energy from your feet up. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, your feet will feel so good you'll want to get up and go.

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welcome back to "the ed show." one years ago today, poor governor tim pawlenty of minnesota received only 13% of the vote at the iowa straw poll. a year later, things just don't seem to be getting much better for t-paw. he was again not chosen to be the number two spot on the gop ticket, and this time, he didn't even get a phone call from romney. he didn't even call him? he southsourced that, too? tagg was given the assignment of breaking the bad news to pawlenty.

this didn't stop t-paw from being a loyal soldier. he hit the airwaves praising the romney/ryan ticket. however, one question seemed to catch him off guard. >> how many years of tax returns did you provide to the romney campaign? >> i don't know the exact number, george, but several years i believe. >> several years, so more than two? >> well, we don't get into the details of the vetting process, but i gave them a bunch of tax returns. i don't remember the exact number of years. >> oh, come on, tim. you're a stickler for details. you know exactly how many you gave mitt romney. i bet you know it's exactly what, you know, i tell you what. i think that you gave john mccain just as many four years ago. now to be fair, pawlenty isn't the only republican dodging this question. >> how many years of tax returns did you turn over to the campaign? >> it was very exhaustive vetting process.

it's a confidential vetting process, so there were several years. but i'm going to release the same amount of years governor romney has. i have to tell you, bob -- >> how many is that? >> two, i'm going to be releasing two, which is what he's releasing. >> i one thing the paul ryan vp pick hasn't changed is wi still don't know what is in mitt romney's tax returns. at this point, we may never know. and that's, i think, just the way they like it. that '08 and '09 must be a dandy for romney. tonight in our survey, i asked is this the most radical presidential ticket ever. 94% of you say yes, 6% say no. coming up, mitt romney says he and paul ryan are going to save medicare. now, we're going to break down the latest big republican lie. this is what's out there, that obama took so many billions of dollars from seniors. not true. bernie sanders joins us next. coming right back.

> there's only one president that i know of in history that robbed medicare $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call obama care. think of that. what paul ryan and i have talked about is saving medicare. >> this president stole, he didn't cut medicare. he stole $700 billion from medicare to fund obama care. if any person in this entire

debate has blood on their hands in regard to medicare, it's barack obama. >> folks, they will stop at nothing. republicans are already playing offense on the issue of medicare, and they're doing really what they do best, they just are repeating a lie. here's mitt romney on the stump today about it. >> my plan for medicare is very similar to his plan for medicare, which is do not change the program for current retires or new retires, but do not do what the president has done, and that is to cut $700 billion out of the current program. >> romney and the republicans failed to mention, get this, the $700 billion reduction in the cost of medicare under the affordable care act, what they call obama care, didn't come at the expense of recipients where people are going to be getting screwed, not getting the right kind of care. it came from cutting subsidies to insurance companies that were overcharging the seniors.

they also failed to mention that paul ryan's own budget keeps the $700 billion cut in place, in addition to slashing benefits through a voucher program. when it comes to social security, ryan isn't giving specifics. yet ryan wanted to privatize the program along with the bush administration back in 2005. ryan's plan saves the biggest budget cut in medicaid. okay? now, he wants to cut federal medicaid spending by over $700 billion in the next ten years. that means cutting funds for the poor, the elderly, and disabled children. that's what they're going to do. that's their priority, while they want to give tax cuts to the rich. let's turn to bernie sanders, a fighter for the people. senator, good to have you with us. you heard the sound cuts. this was from the stump today. republicans are saying they are saving medicare. what do you call it? >> well, everybody understands

that they are destroying medicare as it is currently constituted. what they intend to do is convert medicare over a period of years into a voucher program. so what they're going to say to a 70-year-old senior who is dealing with cancer or heart disease, here is a check for $8,000. go out, get the best private insurance policy you can, and lots of luck. now, you tell me, ed, if somebody is dealing with cancer or heart disease or a serious illness, what $8,000 is going to do. everybody knows what it means is that, a, seniors are going to have to come out of -- come up with more money out of their own pocket or their kids are going to have to help them. or worse, they're not going to get the care they need. >> senator, what they are doing is they are playing this $700 billion bullet point, saying that you heard reince priebus, that president obama stole this money, that they're going to be shafting seniors. that simply isn't the case. and i like the fact --

>> no, it isn't the case, ed. and the point to be made is i hope most people know, in the united states today, we spend almost twice as much percapita taw on health care as do the people of any other country. we have a wildly inefficient and wasteful system. so what we were trying to do and what we did was not cut benefits for seniors but make the system more efficient. that's a good start. i'm a single payer advocate because i think we could do a lot more. >> if it's turned over to the states, that, of course, is a whole different ball game. but selling the american people on obama care and making them understand exactly, you know, that this is a lie, this is a major lie. they're using this money -- >> ed, i want to say a word on medicaid and the massive cuts they're proposing. let's be very clear. a lot of people don't understand this. this year alone, we're going to be losing about 45,000 people who die because they don't get to a doctor when they should. these are people who don't have any health insurance.

if medicaid is significantly cut, that number will increase significantly. and what that means is a death sentence for a whole lot of people all over this country. we have 50 million people who have no health insurance today. 45,000 are dying because they don't get to a doctor. the idea you would make devastating cuts in medicaid, leave people, children, working people, out there with no access to health care at all, is criminal and it cannot be allowed to happen. >> your thoughts on the ryan pick now that you heard a sound bite earlier tonight. he thinks progressivism is a cancer. >> well, i happen -- as a strong progressive, i think what the fight here is about is the feeding the oligarchic form of government that romney and ryan want. what they believe government should be is a handful of wealthy people controlling the economics and politics of the country. that's what they believe.