08/30/12 08/30/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from tampa, florida, this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace and presidency. we are broadcasting from the republican national convention, inside and out. >> you just rammed our camera. as democracy now mike burke the chance to interview republican donor sheldon adelson, a woman identified as adelson's daughter grabs "democracy now!" camera

and tries to take it into a private suite, then throws it on the ground rid under david koch. rolling stone reporter matt taibbi on "greed and debt: the true story of mitt romney and bain capital." what mitt romney represents, this economics that seized massive composition heading up toward a tightening of the bill everywhere else. >> all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from tampa. tropical storm as it is heading

north after battering the gulf coast with heavy wind and rains. more than 730,000 people remained without power in louisiana and mississippi after isaac slowed to a crawl and lashed the area on wednesday. 60% of residents of new orleans have gone without power and some neighborhoods saw flooding, the city's rebuilt levees helped prevent a repeat of the mass devastation of hurricane katrina seven years ago. among the areas to see flooding was plaquemines parish, where surging waters flooded homes and businesses. goingon't know what we're to do, but we're going to stay here as long as we can. >> the water in the back is about to get into my laundry room. that room is a little lower than the house. >> i saw water in my house. the computer is all under water.

>> new orleans has been on lockdown with large numbers of police and national guard, many armed with assault rifles, patrolling the streets. on wednesday, new orleans mayor mitch landrieu announced a curfew for all residents. >> we're going have a zero tolerance for lawlessness during this emergency, and to make sure the city is secure. in that regard, we're going to join with jefferson paris that just decided to institute a curfew now that the storm will be with us for some time, will stress the system and make sure the streets are clear. today, it will begin. it will be a curfew from dusk till dawn in effect until otherwise notified. >> opposition activists in syria claim thousands of people have fled eastern areas of the capital damascus after deadly shelling by government forces. on wednesday, opposition members

said dozens of people were killed when the syrian regime bombarded several districts and then carried out executions in house-to-house raids. in a televised interview on wednesday, syrian president bashar al-assad declared his resume is winning the conflict and dismissed calls for a buffer zone to protect the 3 million syrians it has displaced. a u.s. drone strike has killed four people in remote province in yemen. the victims were traveling in a vehicle when there were hit by one of three missiles. a contingent of some 200 u.s. marines has begun operating along guatemala's western coast in a further escalation of u.s.- backed militarization in central america. the u.s. says the marines are deployed as part of operation martillo, an effort to intercept drug traffickers in planes and boats. the head of the u.s. military's southern command confirmed the mission on wednesday. >> the efforts of the marines

here in guatemala are to help provide more persistent on a trinket ability for key rivals own for maritime traffic in the pacific, which is the pacific coast of guatemala. once we find information, we will pass that to the guatemalan armed forces and law enforcement and their authorities, and they will take care of the intercept. >> wisconsin congressmember paul ryan formally accepted the republican vice-presidential nomination wednesday with the prime address at the republican national convention in tampa. ryan vowed a turnaround for this economy should mitt romney defeat president obama in november. >> 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 runaround, america needs a turnaround in demand for the job

as governor mitt romney. president obama is the kind of politician who puts promises on the record, then holds back the record. but we are four years into this presidency. the issue is not the economy that barack obama inherited, not the economy he envisions, but this econo are living. >> paul ryan's speech was briefly interrupted by two activists with the group codepink. the demonstrators chanted "i body, my choice" and "fund healthcare not warfare" until the were forcibly removed. trayvon martin shooter george zimmerman has won the removal of the second consecutive judge in this case. on wednesday, a three-judge panel ordered to refusal of george lester -- judge luster

after he made disparaging remarks about zimmerman's character last month. his predecessor in the case was also removed after complaints from its averments attorney. zimmerman remains free on a $1 million bail bond. those are some of the headlines. from tampa, florida, this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace and presidency. we're broadcasting from wedu here in tampa, florida. as we cover the republican convention inside and out. we are doing to hours of daily coverage from the republican convention. you can go to democracynow.org. senior producer mike burke filed this report. >> we were not recording her. we were doing an interview. >> do me a favor -- do me a

favor -- >> we have been spending the last several hours walking on hours walkingsuites and said the convention hall, on the lookout for campaign backers and republican politicians. we ran into david koch earlier. >> i like paul ryan. he's a superstar. >> what do hope to hear in his speech? what about correcting the budget deficit and reducing our national debt and keeping us from going bankrupt as a country. >> how has citizens united affected this year's campaign? >> pardon me. >> how much money are you going to spend? what impact of citizens united had on this election campaign and the relationship between the shadowy groups and the committee? >> not just the republican

national committee, but the democratic national committee as well. both have benefited from the citizens united ruling. there is more money coming to one side or the other, the cash is still flowing. i view this as property. as long as you are properly disclosing, which is the problem with the law, the underlying law in the citizens united case, if you get that in place, then you know who the donors are, their addresses and businesses. >> we ran into newt gingrich and asked him about the impact of citizens united. >> i personally prefer a reform that allows everybody to give their money directly to the candidate as long as they reported every night on the internet. i am not particularly frightened with their current system. >> but what about some can spend over 100 man dollars on this campaign? what you just saw in indiana, nebraska, and texas, the

candidate with the most money lost. i do not think the money is the end all, the all. i think there are other things involved. >> we just spotted sheldon adelson been pushed in a wheelchair down the hall. karl rove is right behind him. we're going to try to follow him. mr. adelson, your thoughts on the romney/ryan ticket? >> no time. >> we're trying to follow karl rove and children adelson down the hall. -- sheldon adelson down the hall. how much money are you going to spend on this election? >> get off me. >> he is just walking. >> i did not touch her, she ran back in to me. she just grabs our camera. this woman grabbed our camera. >> there was a loud noise from the sound of "democracy now!"

video camera hitting the ground. mike burke attempted to question the billionaire casino sheldon adelson the woman described as his daughter grabbed the camera from hany massoud, then attempted to take the camera into a private suite. she then drop the camera on the ground. our senior producer mike burke joins us to describe what happened. explain. >> we were on the fifth floor of the tampa bay times forum, the site of the republican national convention and hany massoud -- was that most of the day walking along the hallways or the corporate suites are, try to find politicians and campaign donors and various other people to speak with. you're the end of the evening, we were walking down the hall where we see sheldon adelson, who has played a critical role

in this year's election after already done intensive means of dollars first to newt gingrich, then to mitt romney's campaign. we attempted to ask him a question. we got in two questions and then what happened, it really shocked me. a woman standing right behind sheldon adelson, whom we later learned apparently was his daughter, she stopped and forcibly pushed herself back into me, where i lost my footing. from there, she went over to our camera person hany massoud, and grabbed the camera. she was only about two or 3 feet away from the suite where they were going to watch the speeches. she attempted to go into the door with the camera. hany said something along the lines of, what you doing, this is our camera. she dropped the camera then on

the ground. she goes into the suite and there's some commotion outside. we have some audiotape or videotape from hany's camera. we were not sure if his camera was broken are not at that point. it forcibly fell on the ground. we have some tape. it is a little unclear who was speaking, but there are two times on the tape where sheldon adelson's daughter comes out from the suite and apologizes to us. this is after several -- >> after she body slams to, steps back into you? >> body slam may be a bit too much, vichy definitely stopped and went back with force. >> into your body? >> yes. regular viewers of "democracy now!" meno he been frequently speaks to the press.

it was a rare chance for us to speak to such an influential figure. another voice on the tape is a top aide of sheldon adelson. he works for the las vegas assange corp. read this is one of the casinos that sheldon adelson announced. he basically said, we will take care of it, everything will be fine. to identify this woman as adelson's daughter? >> i believe it was andy. or someone else. there was a large entourage that responded to this incident. a third incident happened where another one of his aides ended up grabbing my cell phone, attempting to take myself hundred once hany's camera was on the ground, i attempted to take out my android to record what was happening. he immediately grabbed my hand and grabbed on to the phone and

refuse to let go. he held on for about 20 seconds or so. you can hear that in this tape as well. take a listen. >> privacy. >> we were not recording her. >> do me a favor. do me a favor. do me a favor -- >> you just tore up my camera. you took on camera. >> are you joking? >> i'm sorry. >> it's on camera, we're not worried about it. >> should i camera and ran off with it. >> that's my point, it's on camera. >> i've worked for 12 years and have never seen anyone grab a camera like that. >> [unintelligible] >> in a private citizen.

>> she grabs the camera. >> i know. and a stand. -- i understand. >> the best thing is to back off. >> there you have the commotion. mike, what happened next? >> one thing i forgot to mention, karl rove was standing by when almost all of this happened. he was walking down the hall with sheldon adelson and was going to the same suite. he witnessed at least the beginning part of this. interestingly, a few minutes later, we decide to leave outside his suite. we're walking down the hallway, and all of the sudden we see newt gingrich, former speaker of

the house, former presidential candidate, who is close personal friends with sheldon adelson. sheldon adelson gave the gingrich campaign tens of millions of dollars, really helped keep him in the race earlier this year. we were able, once -- we decided to follow newt gingrich and see where he was going. we were not sure if he was going into sheldon adelson's suite or not it turns out he went to 571 as well. >> and to explain what these are, the corporate suites overlook the arena. so you walked in a door as if you're walking into an office, the the other side looks out onto the arena, and these are where the large corporate donors have their party's and their suites for the evening. some of the large donors also can sit on the higher bleachers of the arena, and sit with their

wine and watch the proceedings below. >> we tried to get into several of these suites last night. every single time we were turned away. >> maybe we can talk more about who sheldon adelson is. >> there's a reason we were trying to speak to in. he pledged to spend as much as $100 million on this year's campaign. it is in an attempt to beat president obama. one of -- according to citizens united, you can spend unlimited amounts of money whether it is the super pacs or 501c4's. we interviewed peter stone on "democracy now!" several times. a want to go to a clip of peter when he was on "democracy now!" in july, outlining who sheldon adelson is. >> he was a leading supporter of newt gingrich's effort, the

outside group that was backing gingrich. he had longstanding ties to gingrich and was hoping he would get the nomination. when gingrich withdrew, he threw his support, reluctantly initially, to romney. he felt romney was not as decisive as gingrich, and might not be quite as good on certain issues of particular importance to sheldon adelson. no. 1 on his agenda is strong support for the israeli government, in particular conservative wing of the israeli political parties. he has close ties to netanyahu, and generally considered a hawk on middle east issues. he opposes a two-day solution to the israeli-palestinian conflict. gingrich have been far more outspoken. romney is strong on these

issues, too. now he is backing romney, overriding concern is to defeat president obama. he thinks obama is weak on israeli issues, middle east issues. he publicly has castigated him for his economic policies. i think he described them to forbes as socialist-style economic policies, which he is worried about continuing for another four years. he is dedicated to defeating obama. he is also throwing a lot of money, tens of millions of dollars, into other groups outside groups that are playing big in trying to help republicans win the senate, and keep the house. i reported a few weeks ago in "huffington post" that he has given an estimated $70 million or committed estimated $70 million so far this cycle. we know about $30 million is

public at this stage. i've learned he has given at least $10 million to a karl rove group that does not have to disclose its donors, a crossroads gps, and pledged another $10 million for karl rove's operation. likewise, he is given $10 million recently to a koch entity, one of the groups backed by charles and david koch. he is definitely committed to getting obama out of the white house. and try to help republicans make majomajor gains in the fall in e congressional front as well. >> investigative reporter peter stone, describing the casino billionaire magnate sheldon adelson, who was planned such a significant role in this post- citizens united election, promising some $100 million in this election. mike burke? >> when we were outside the

suite after sheldon adelson's cameradaughter took our camerasd through to the ground, there is a gentleman, i did not give his name, but he was urging us to leave. he made a comment saying he is finding all of this, like that was the reason should not be questioning him. we will continue to be in the corporate suites, covering the streets, and been on the convention floor. this is a media event that it is estimated 15,000 journalists are covering. it is very important not to covered just cover, but to uncover what is taking place both here in tampa at the republican national convention, and also as we move on to charlotte next week for the democratic convention. "democracy now!" senior producer mike burke, thank you so much. this is "democracy now!,"

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we continue to follow the money. we will be joined by rolling stone reporter matt taibbi. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. from tampa, florida, this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace and presidency. we continue our coverage by turning to an issue that has been raised repeatedly during the campaign, the personal wealth of republican presidential nominee mitt

romney. a new article by matt taibbi sheds light on his fortune, revealing how bain capital used private equity to raise money to conduct corporate raids. he writes -- well, matt taibbi joins us now. he is a contributing editor for "rolling stone" magazine. his most recent in-depth piece

is, "greed and debt: the true story of mitt romney and bain capital." he is author of, "griftopia: a story of bankers, politicians, and the most audacious power grab in american history." matt taibbi, welcome to "democracy now!" lay it out for us. an excellent piece, investigative piece on mitt romney's's w wealth. >> it started when i had to cover the campaign earlier this year, and i was listening to romney's speech about that. he came up with this whole image of a prairie fire of debt raging across america that was literally going to burn children alive in the future. i kept thinking to myself, this nobody know what this guy did for a living and how he made his money? mitt romney is unabashedly a leveraged-buyout artist. and that is a guy who borrows lots of money that other companies have to pay back. that is the simple formula.

he started out -- his most famous tales are essentially venture capital deals like this staples situation, or he built the company from the ground up. after staples, he switched to a different model that he preferred for the rest of his professional career, which he put down small amounts of his own cash, borrowing the rest typically from a giant investment bank, taking over controlling stakes in the company, then forcing the company to pay him either through management fees or through dividends. that is his business formula. >> explain what private equity is. >> that is what private equity fund does. essentially, it is a synonym for what in the 1980's recall the leveraged buyout business. it is a small group that raises capital than those and beverages takeovers of companies using

borrowed money. and the 1980's, the sort of business was glamorized here a couple of things, in particular, pop culture, the movie "wall street was >> or the famous michael douglas character from the movie was essentially a private equity guy. he was a leveraged buyout takeover artists. there were called barbarians of which is a true story. they essentially are guys who borrow money to take over companies and extract wealth from those companies to pay off their investors. >> matt, you say mitt romney is not the flip-flopper that critics say he is. >> this is a subtle point about mitt romney. i don't want to strip the

comparison to much, but it is almost like he has a kind of religious conviction about being able to live to people outside his head, so to speak. that tenant of extreme muslim religions or is ok to lie to the infidel. i think mitt romney has a little bit of that. he seems to believe it is ok, that there is nothing particularly wrong with changing one's mind about things, and he does it repeatedly in the way i think is to from other politicians. for him, it is just changing a business strategy. he does not see why everyone to get so upset about it. >> you say that mitt romney has a vision, that he is trying for something big. lay out what that vision is. >> mitt romney is really the representative of an entire movement that has taken over the

american business world in the last couple of decades. america used to be, especially the american economy, was built upon this brick and mortar industrial economy where we have factories, we built stuff and sold it here in america, and exported it all over the world. that manufacturing economy was the foundation for our wealth and power for a couple of centuries. then in the 1980's, we started to transform ourselves from a manufacturing economy to a financial economy. that process, which on wall street takeoff and naturalization, was really lead this revolution where instead of making products, we made transactions, made financial products like swaps. we created money rather than

building products and selling them around the world. that revolution was really led by people like mitt romney. the event of financial is asian from the point of view of that -- the finalization from the point of view was that it was extremely good at picking up the well. the old economy had this sort of negative affect on spreading around to the entire population. in the financial is ancient revolution, you can take all the money and do not have to spread it around with anyone. mitt romney was a symbol of that fundamental shift in our economy. >> yesterday, "democracy now!" mike burke caught up with the texas governor rick perry and asked him about his comment about mitt romney, calling him a vulture capitalist.

take a look. >> this up mitt romney, compared into a vulture, what do you mean? >> how are you? >> those were your words during the primary season, governor. do you have any comment at all? >> that was the silence of governor perry not responding to mike's question. yes, governor perry called mitt romney a vulture capitalist. what does that mean? >> this is how companies like bain made their money. a great example was the company i went and visited kb toys, which used to have its headquarters in massachusetts. they took over the company with

like $18 million down, finance the other $302 million. that is borrowed money that subsequently became the debt of kb toys. when they borrowed the money to take over that company, they did not have to pay it back, kb had to pay it back. once they took over the company, they induced it to do a $120 million "dividend recapitalization" which basically means the company had to cash in a bunch of shares and pay bain and its investors a huge sum of money. in order to finance that, that did take out over $60 million in bank loans. essentially, you take over the company, you force them to make enormous withdrawals against their credit card, essentially, and pay the new owners of the companies. they took over a floundering company that was sort of in between and faced with

threatening changes in the industry, and they forced them to cash out entirely and take all of their money to the new owners. >> just for the record, governor perry's comments about mitt romney was very interesting. he said, there are vultures sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick, then they swoop in, eat the carcass, they leave with that and leave the skeleton. >> that is exactly right. that is what they do. again, they borrow money, take over the company, the company now has this new massive debt burden. if the couple was already having trouble meeting its bubble gum line, suddenly, the -- its bottom line, suddenly, now has $300 million in new debt it has to pay. it might be paying millions and millions of dollars every month. a great example is dunkin donuts, whose parent company was taken over a few years ago by a

combination of the carlyle group and bain capital. dunkin was induced to do one of those recapitalizations. it had to pay half a billion dollars to its new masters, and just to pay the debt service on the loan they took out to make that payment to carlyle group and bain, that is a light 2 million cups of coffee every month just to pay the debt service. they are vultures waiting to hang out for companies to get sick, then forcibly take them over an extract fees, commissions, and dividends, by force, essentially. >> earlier this week, "democracy now!" spoke to two workers from sensata technologies, which bain capital is the majority owner. 170 workers at the sensata plant in freeport, illinois are calling on romney to help save their jobs from being shipped to china. the plant to manufactures sensors and controls that are

used in aircraft and automobiles. this is a sensata worker, talking about the response they have received. >> will try to save our jobs and we were called communists? we return to save our jobs from going out to china from the united states, and we were called communists. if there had not been a large police group in there, i am sure we would have been more threatened. they started this u.s.a. chant. we were like, yes, we're all for the usa, too. that is what we're trying to do. we're 2012 paying manufacturing jobs from being moved out of this country -- trying to keep well paying manufacturing jobs from being moved out of this country to china. it boggles the mind to what they are thinking. >> he is describing going to and

i was romney campaign event last week. romney was maybe seven rows in front of him, and asking about their jobs, their company owned by bain, being sent to china. in fact, some of the workers went to china to train the workers in china so they could take over their jobs. their last day will be the friday before the elections. they will be on the unemployment line to apply for unemployment on monday. on tuesday, they vote. can you comment on the situation? >> it is absolutely typical of private equity transaction. i think one of the glaring misconceptions about this kind of business that has persisted presidency is that what these companies do is turn around and fix companies that they're in the business of

helping these companies. romney constantly uses the term "help." here wrote a book called " turnaround." they're not in the business of turning businesses around and creating jobs. what they are in the business of doing is reaping the investors to lend them the money to take over. the workers are completely irrelevant in this game. the old school industrialists like mitt romney's father, there were men and women who built communities. they had factory towns, were very anxious to leave hard legacies that people could see -- hospitals, churches, schools. but these new owners have absolutely no allegiance to american workers, american places, american communities. their only allegiance is to the investors and to themselves.

it is not at all and characteristic to have these situations where people are pleading for their jobs -- and characteristi. that is irrelevant to these groups. they are internally about making profits. if that means shipping jobs to china or eliminating jobs, that is what they're going to do. that is the new generation of corporate owners. >> last month, mitt romney gave a series of tv interviews defending his role in bain capital. this is mitt romney speaking to cnn. >> there is nothing wrong with being associated with bain capital, but the truth is, i

left any role at bain capital in 1999. that is known and said by the people at the firm, said by the documents are from -- the documents offered. i think anyone who knows that i was out full-time running the olympics knows that is where i was. i spent three years running the olympic games. after that, we worked out our retirement program officially and handed over the shares i had for bain. there's a difference in being shareholder, and a person running in hannity. i had no role of running bain capital after february 99. >> matt taibbi, he is referring to the time gap, 1999 when he said he left in 2000, 2001, 2002. the significance? >> i don't think it was terribly important whether he was sitting at the helm or just actively accepting the vast amounts of money that were sent his way as a result of the deals that were concluded at that time. again, mitt romney -- i'm sorry,

bain capital took over kb toys through that disputed time period and made it an enormous profit. i think it was something like $100 million profit out of that deal. mitt romney shared in that. whether he was actively strategizing or not. the groundwork for deals like that had been laid in the decades before that were he was actively involved in deals like taking over a company like ampad, a similar deal to be kb deal. it is irrelevant to me and should be to everyone whether he was actually working there are not. he shared in the profits, and did not have a problem with any of those deals. >> matt taibbi, u.s. senate romney's fortune would not have been possible dollars you have said mitt romney's fortune when not have been possible without the direct assistance of the government.

>> yes, there is a tax deduction for all of that borrowed money. when mitt romney or bain capital, when they want to take over a company like kb toys and borrow $300 million to do it, and that new debt becomes the debt of kb toys, when kb pays the monthly service on that debt, the service is deductible. and if they did not have that deduction, these deals would not be economically feasible. they would not be possible. i spoke to one former regulator from the sec who worked both in the sec and an accountant at a big accounting firm. he reviewed a number of these deals in both the public and private capacity, and said, without that deduction, he has never seen a deal that would have been economically feasible the left a private equity deal that would have been

economically feasible. intalked about romney's role other cases. >> generally speaking, these private equity deals are made possible by the sort of get rich quick easy money schemes that started appearing on wall street in the 1980's. in the old days, the real power in the american economy was or belonged to the industrialists, the men and women who made things. they were the primary sources of cash and revenue. in the 1980's, we started to develop these new methods of simply creating money out thin air. the first great one in the 1980's was john bonds. this ability to conjure instant millions of people like the fictional gordon gecko the power to take over mighty companies.

airlines, you know, industrial companies, or is 10, 15, 20 years ago, someone who did not have his own fortune never would have been able to take over those companies. that is what happened with this transaction with beall's. romney's the junk bonds to take over a couple of department store chains, which he subsequently merged. even finding out milkin was under investigation and would surely have to defend himself in court under fraud charges, romney pressed ahead with the deal anyway and ended up making another tidy profit on that deal. >> matt, what do you feel the reporters here the convention should be asking that romney about his time at bain? and what his plans are for the presidency? >> one of the questions the

reporters don't ask, they're making their entire their entiredebt. paul ryan, his entire political profile is based on this idea he is an enemy of debt and budget slasher, and mitt romney has named his entire campaign rhetoric on the sort of prairie fire of debt theme, yet this is a guy who made his fortune creating debt. somehow this question has not been asked. how is that not hypocritical? it is not been asked of either of them. i would like the mainstream press at least ask that question. it is an ideal debate question that should be asked some more down the line. >> matt taibbi thank you for being with us. his most recent article is in "rolling stone, "called, "greed and debt: the true story of mitt romney and bain capital."

he is author of "griftopia: a story of bankers, politicians, and the most audacious power grab in american history." >when we go floor of the convention. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. from tampa, florida, this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace and presidency. our special coverage of the republican national convention inside and out. if you miss any one of our two hours, you can go to democracynow.org. one of the people i spoke to on the floor of the convention last night was a man and a top hat, bearing a striking resemblance to the first republican president, abraham lincoln. george engelbach previously served one term in the missouri house of representatives, alongside todd akin, the congressman who is now running against clair mccaskill for the senate, who ignited a firestorm as saying is rare for women to become pregnant from rate because it is legitimate, the female body has ways to try to

shut that whole thing down. george engelbach ran unsuccessfully for reelection, now a member of the missouri republican delegation at the national convention here in tampa. what do you think of your senatorial candidate todd akin's and his comments? >> one, i served with them for two years in the missouri house. i never, ever heard him say anything derogatory or of color. he has apologized. he has asked for forgiveness. and since when can we not forgive? i forgive. if there was no forgiveness, we're all in trouble. >> the entire leadership here at the republican convention, paul ryan it a personal call to

romney, they have called for him to step down. >> i know nothing about that. >> they have called publicly for him to step down. >> i don't pay any attention to what they're doing. >> do you think if he steps down, someone else to have a better chance -- >> he is not going to step down. >> talk about his views on abortion. what does this can represent? >> that is the size of an 8- week-old fetus. >> what was wrong with what he said? do think he was unfairly targeted? >> he said what he said, i feel, and a wrong connotation. it is documented there is a relatively low consumption rates with highly dramatic rapes, rapes that are just brutal. the >> is there another kind of

rape? >> certainly. >> what is the other kind? >> for example, if you rape some girl or lady that was sort of inebriated, maybe a little bit high on drugs or something, that goes on all the time. when i grew up, it was called "slipped someone a mickey." it is not consensual and it still happens. that is the rape that is really hard to prove, many times. >> but is it still rape? >> yes. >> so why not say it is as brutal as any other one? >> i'm not defending his statement, i am saying i defend him read i'm a really to talk about his rape. i'm here to make it into rebel for every convention and get

some enjoyment myself. and sometimes there was someone else has to say. >> and paul ryan and mitt romney become the president and vice- president, do you have hope that abortion will be abolished in america? >> i think abortion is going away just because of education and because of people are realizing what it does to society data abortion. i don't know that it will totally go away, not in my lifetime. >> mitt romney was pro-choice before he was anti-choice. he supported abortion before he now speaks out against it. does that disturb you? >> no. people change their views. you ask me about the party versus what lincoln's party was. he has chosen to take on a different view. i used to be supporter of the democrat party and tell mr.

gephardt decided he wanted to be pro-choice. i cannot believe in killing life. you don't know how many hours i have sat up to try to keep an animal alive newly born in the cold of winter. >> that was george engelbach, who previously served one term in the missouri house of representatives alongside todd akin. he is a member of the missouri republican delegation and looks address is remarkably like the first republican president abraham lincoln. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. during an address by former secretary state condoleezza rice, just a few feet from billionaire tea party funder david koch, who is a new york delegate, i caught up with another new yorker, longtime long island congressmember peter keane. >> i strongly opposed what he said. i am pro rivlife.

>> that there should not be abortion in any case? that there should be no abortion with no exception? >> [unintelligible] i would allow abortion in the case of the life of the mother or severe health risk of the mother, and that is the same position ronald reagan had. >> what about in the case of rape or incest? >> no, it is to be taking innocent life. todd akin was totally wrong in his description. but if you believe is a human life, it is a human life. >> the republican party platform is for smaller government. when it comes to women, it comes for greater government and greater government intervention. >> it is protecting innocent life. >> and if it is in the body of a woman, she should not make the decision? >> that is my position. >> so should a woman who wants to have an abortion, should she

be charged with murder? >> we're not talking about the woman. >> the doctor? >> yes. >> the doctor should be thrown in jail? >> if you have a lot and someone violates it -- i got to go. >> do you think paul ryan's position which you share will help you realize that will eventually in america? >> you let someone who you want to pursue your goals. it will certainly not happen in the next four years, for sure. >> what about mitt romney? >> he is also pro-life. >> new york congressmember peter kinig. meanwhile, as hurricane isaac turned to tropical storm isaac, lashing the gulf coast with heavy rain and flooding parts a louisiana, members of the state's delegation anxiously awaited word on whether their families back home were riding out the storm. i spoke to jonathan johnson, and

that large delegate from the city of slidell, just outside of new orleans. >> right now we have a lot of rising water. in any the rain and went to stop. >> hatcher house been affected? >> i just got off the phone with my wife. i live in an older house about five or 6 feet off the ground. there is water in a little canal and by use the liver around, and it is rising. >> has the rebuilding of the levees helped? >> we do not live in an area with levees. we're right on the north shore of new orleans. we have smaller bodies of water that is well as the water comes in from a storm surge rid that is what we really deal with more. we do not have levees. >> the big concern in new orleans was whether the new levies would hold. what is your assessment?

>> it is a brand-new new orleans. the system is great. i've had a chance to drive around the last couple of years and see the work that has been done. the corp has done a fantastic job. i do not in new orleans has what to worry about as in the past. >> would you say the government said new orleans'? >> nice try. i would say the people. >> who pay for the rebuilding of the levees? >> good question pri i think the people of new orleans. >> you just said the army corps of engineers did a fantastic job. >> yes, they did. >> the government. across the people along with the army corps of engineers did. nice job good try. >> your try to say it is the

government. which you said that kind of government and people partnership is important and the role of government is to do that kind of work in the very crisis situation? >> the government in their proper role, yes, absolutely. >> yesterday, the thing was "we built it." what is the explanation of that slogan? >> if you're going to store far from my personal situation, i am not going to dive will deep into that. i think that is pretty self explanatory. individuals build their own businesses. >> back to the case of louisiana and new orleans. the people built their small businesses, and with the help of government protecting them now, for example with the rebuilding of the levees you said was very, very important, together, that

is what makes america. >> government has a limited role in our lives, yes. we have to have government, but as a limited role. we respect that and appreciate that within the boundaries of what they're supposed to do. >> jonathan johnson, and at large republican delegate from the city of slidell, just outside of new orleans. that does it for our broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now!]