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CNN Saturday Morning News

Accused Murderer Found Dead; Interview with Author Augusten Burroughs; "TIME" Magazine Cover of Mother Breast Feeding Three-Year- Old Draws Controversy; Violence Continues in Syria; Mitt Romney Gives Commencement Speech at Evangelical University

Aired May 12, 2012 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY MAYES, ADAM MAYES BROTHER: Anyone that was directly involved with Adam pretty much lived in fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: That from the brother of Adam Mayes, the man suspected of kidnapping two girls and killing their mother and sister, who is now dead. New details in the dramatic conclusion to a massive manhunt.

And today we put same-sex marriage in focus. What President Obama's new stance on the issue means for his campaign and what critics are saying.

And he's made us laugh and cry with stories about his dysfunctional childhood, the importance of being thin and running with citizen scissors. Award-winning author Augusten Burroughs joins me live in studio to talk about his new book and his take on why same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west coast. We have a lot to tell you about this morning, so let's get straight to the news.

We're keeping an eye on Liberty University this morning. That is because Mitt Romney is giving the commencement speech at the evangelical school. Liberty, of course, is the school founded, of course, by television evangelist Jerry Falwell.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding Romney's appearance there. Some students are unhappy with a Mormon being invited to speak at the Christian university. Romney's camp says there won't be any policy mixed into the speech. Instead it will be personal stories and some lessons.

Rick Santorum has a message for Mitt Romney -- use same-sex marriage as a weapon. Santorum, who just endorsed Romney earlier this week, offered the advice at an event last night in Arkansas. He's telling Romney to, quote, "step up and use the same sex issue to get in touch with value voters." Here's part of the message. "This is a very potent weapon, if you will, for Governor Romney if he's willing to step up and take advantage of a president who is very much out of touch with the values of America." That's a quote.

JP Morgan-Chase is scrabbling in the wake of a massive $2 billion trading loss. The big bank now faces a credit downgrade much like the one the country got last year. The bank's CEO Jamie Dimon admitted it was a major mistake by the bank. Many expected a harsh reaction by Wall Street. Shares dropped around 10 percent but the market as a whole, well, it was pretty quiet.

Three more people have been taken into custody for allegedly helping Adam Mayes evade police. Mayes killed himself in the woods near Alpine, Mississippi, earlier this week as soon as police closed in on him. Next to him at the time were the two sisters he had with him after killing their mother and older sister. The girls are still shaken. Here's Mayes' brother.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY MAYES: We don't plan on claiming the body. That's just how we feel. Anyone that was directly involved with Adam pretty much lived in fear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Mayes' wife has been charged with two counts of murder in the case.

A Florida woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a gun into the air. Marissa Alexander's defense was Florida stand your ground law, but the judge ruled the law didn't fire, firing a warning shot to supposedly scare off her abusive husband. There were two kids in the house at the time, so that led to three charges. The jury convicted Alexander after only 12 minutes of deliberation.

More than 7,000 burdens have turned up dead in South America. Officials say in Peru alone 5,000 birds have starved has forced some anchovies and sardines south, and at least 2,300 have been found dead in Chile. It's believed they're sticking around to feast on the influx of fish from Peru, and that is causing them to get caught up in the fishing nets.

And Reynolds is joining me now to take a look at the week's coolest discovery.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This is an amazing story. We're talking about a World War II fighter aircraft found in the Sahara. Take a look at this. This is a P-40 kitty hawk made and designed in buffalo, New York. These were actually shipped over to England. England actually used them. The Royal Air Force used them to fight the German air force.

This is amazing that it's in such pristine condition. It's been sitting basically in the desert for decades and decades. What happened to the pilot, we have no idea. It's one of mysteries. Because it's in relatively good condition, he survived. Crash landing, but they have no idea what happened to him. Even the glass is still intact on the aircraft. It's interesting.

What is kind of sad though is that the battery was removed from the aircraft. There are a few pieces here and there were removed that give a little bit of evidence that he survived is and not only did he try to survive but fix the aircraft. But 24 years old, more than likely he perished in the desert.

KAYE: Goes back to 1942?

WOLF: Absolutely.

KAYE: That's a great discovery.

WOLF: Absolutely.

KAYE: And don't go too far. We have things to show you including the discovery of the oldest Mayan calendar.

WOLF: It's got a lot of people creeped out. Haven't we been talking about the Mayan calendar forever?

KAYE: The good news the world is not going to end at least this year. Take a breather, chill out, relax, get another cup of coffee.

WOLF: See you in a little bit.

KAYE: All right, ever read a book that is so up front and almost brutally honest you can't put it down? You're going to meet the author of the title of one of these books. It is titled "This is How." Augusten Burroughs joins me live to share his life experiences.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. You might have heard of my next guest who wrote the book "Running with Scissors" which has since been made into a popular film. The true story is about being raised by his psychiatrist of his suicidal mother and being the victim of relentless bullying. But Augusten Burroughs isn't one to shed tears. In fact the most tragic accounts in this and all of his books are told in such a way that even though you know you should be crying, many times you can't stop laughing.

In his new book "This is How," he writes about how he know he was gay since his preteen years. He offers some, let's say, untraditional advice. Augusten Burroughs in studio. Good morning to you.

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS, AUTHOR: Good morning.

KAYE: I'm a huge fan, and I just read the new book. You can see all my folded pages here.

BURROUGHS: I do.

KAYE: That's how well I read it.

But I'm going to talk about it in a moment. But we want to talk about something that's obviously been in the news this week. As a gay man who has found love and I understand you're engaged, I'm curious. I want to get your take on President Obama's new stance on gay marriage saying that he now approves it.

BURROUGHS: You know, I think it's a great thing. I think it's a real positive move. I've always seen it as a human rights issue or a civil rights issue. I don't think we can place more importance on any institution than on an individual. So that's why I've never really believed that gay marriage should be left up to the voters.

KAYE: And do you think this gentlemen, do you think this is in part a political tool?

BURROUGHS: I don't know. I would imagine it's genuine. I don't know why. He's a sophisticated, modern guy. I would think it's genuine. But I'm sure it's also politically handy.

KAYE: We had the director of the Log Cabin Republicans on the show earlier this morning, and they are still against Obama. They are for same-sex marriage but against Obama. Does that surprise you at all? What do you think?

BURROUGHS: It doesn't really surprise me. I always really loved him since the first time he was on television when he spoke in long complete sentences. We had never seen that from someone running for office. It was amazing. It was like, you know, that was it. I just became a fan.

KAYE: Last hour we also spoke with Emily Salyers of the Indigo Girls, and we asked her if this has gone far enough, should he have done more. He's done a lot but should the president have taken it a step further, maybe not leaving it up to the states. She said what he's done right now is enough for today. It's enough for now. Do you agree with that?

BURROUGHS: I do agree with that. I can't even begin to speculate on how difficult a job it would be to be president, and you can't anything, let alone of that magnitude overnight. So it is a big step. It is a big, government step, even if it's just a single step.

KAYE: Because you hope to be married one day.

BURROUGHS: Yes. I mean, I was joking with my partner that I really wanted to be married so we could go the next day and get divorced, but he didn't think that was funny.

KAYE: I'm sure he didn't think that was funny.

I want you to stick around. I want to dive into the memoir he's just written and the self-help book and some of the others that we have out there as well. So we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. I'm joined once again by Augusten Burroughs, author of the new, untraditional self-help book "This is How." What made you dive into the world of self-help?

BURROUGHS: I was really excited by the opportunity to sort of share what I learned through, you know, surviving so many things from so young with people. I mean, the number one question probably that I get asked when I'm away on tour is how did you survive, you know, and then it's fill in the blank -- alcoholism, neglect, what have you. I wanted to answer that question.

I didn't have parents. I mean my parents were sort of dysfunctional and out of the picture. I didn't have adults in my life to solve my issues. I had to solve them myself. Those tools can be useful for other people when they want to solve their own problem.

KAYE: You give advice for just about anything.

BURROUGHS: Whatever ails you.

KAYE: Exactly. You give advice for shyness, fatness, molestation, grief, alcoholism. But the tone in your book, I wasn't sure -- it was very sincere, but it's also snarky.

BURROUGHS: I'm emphatic. I want people to really understand what I'm saying. You may think you know the truth. You may think, but, you know what, knock a little harder with your hammer because you've got to get through what you believe is true into the deeper truth, because we've all grown up with so many assumptions.

So many kids grow up with the thought to believe I can't do that, I'm not smart enough, so they discount entire options or worse, clinging to a dream, which they maybe don't actually have the talent to do, and, you know, that's -- when anybody wins, you know, the Tonys or the Grammys and they stand up there and say this is for you who when you have a dream, never let go of it. I always think don't tell them that. Have you ever seen the YouTube videos they do of your song? Sometimes a dream gets in the way of a really great actually life you could have.

KAYE: It's so interesting because you're not a therapist.

BURROUGHS: I'm the opposite.

KAYE: And the book is so empowering. One of the chapters really struck me was called "How to end your life." You go back to the moment from when you were weighing the pros and cons of whether you wanted to commit suicide. What you found was you didn't want to kill yourself. You wanted to end your life.

BURROUGHS: I was so deeply unhappy with my life and I didn't see any option for when I got out of this childhood, so I have to kill myself. But when I thought about it deeper, deeper, I realized that's not going to have the effect I want. First of all, I'm not going to be around to enjoy the punishment that this inflicts on those I love, you know, which is part of it. But mostly I'm not going to have that peace and relief. It doesn't release you. It add as new layer of sort of horror, you know, or discomfort or struggle to the depression you already have. I realized it's not that I want to kill myself. It's that I want to end my life.

KAYE: The life you were living then.

BURROUGHS: Step outside of it completely.

And I did. I changed my name when I was 18, I moved across the country from Boston to California. I mean, I didn't outrun my past, but I did feel, wow, I am starting over.

KAYE: You have had, as you mentioned a little bit there, but one of the most difficult and dysfunctional childhoods ever. You were abandoned by your mother. You moved in with your therapist, raped as a child. You were a caretaker for your suicidal mother. You were abused by your father. Looking back as an adult and for anybody who might be watching today, how did you get through it? What would be your survival mechanism that you turned to that somebody could maybe use?

BURROUGHS: It's really important that you not feel sorry for yourself or be a victim. Even if you've been victimized, you can't be a victim and wait for someone to make amends or someone to pick you up and help you. You have to take responsibility. You need to have a really profound understanding of the fact that this is your life. You are the author of your entire life. And that gave me optimism. I mean, I thought even though today and yesterday and the day before had been awful. Tomorrow could be completely different. I mean if today was so much worse than I imagined, tomorrow could be so much better than I ever hoped.

KAYE: You just have to change and switch.

BURROUGHS: You have to change your thinking. You can't allow yourself to slide back, you know. It's like getting over your past. The way to do it is by living in the present and the future. Not by reliving all these painful experiences you've had.

KAYE: You visited a lot in your memoirs. I'm glad. I think this is a healthy break for you. You write about your father in "A Wolf at the Table," and you share this heartbreaking story you wanted to be so close to him that you actually stuffed his clothes to try to create him so you could be close to him. Have you come to peace at all with that memory of your father?

BURROUGHS: I have. You know, I came to peace with it so many years ago that I don't -- I don't feel a sense of a sort of sadness when my father passed away, you know. It's like an alternate light. I had the father I had. We had the very limited relationship we had. And that's all we had. And it's just not worth it for me to imagine the what-ifs. What if he had been, you know, or what if he -- there's no point. It's not real. It's make-believe.

KAYE: What about your mom? You haven't spoken to her in 10 years.

BURROUGHS: In 10 years. I love my mother. We don't speak. We had a very rocky road when I was a kid. I want some peace, fly above the clouds for a while. KAYE: You also write one thing in this struggle of trying to be thin. We live in this world of obesity now. You say that instead of constantly struggling to be skinny, this is in your "This is How" book, is to be thin happy. Help us. How do we get to thin happy?

BURROUGHS: What is thin? What is this thin thing? I know someone who suffers from anorexia, and she's, you know, 70 pounds, and she's not thin. I've about got friends who have been on a diet for, you know, for 20 years. So thin is this elusive thing. I don't think it's about weight. I think it's about being smarter or beautiful or having more followers. It's about all these different things.

And I feel at some point you have to stop wanting it. The brain is magnificent, and to focus on your gastrointestinal tract is a complete waste. The thin, sometimes it will take care of itself, sometimes it won't. One of the most beautiful women I have ever seen was poolside out in California, and there is no way to describe her. She was fat in a bikini and sarong, and every single person there was looking at her like how are you doing this? This isn't supposed to be -- you're fat but you're beautiful and sexy, and it short circuits. But it's because she obviously had found this real comfort with herself because, I mean --

KAYE: Happiness.

BURROUGHS: The cliche of beauty is on the inside -- the problem with cliches is they're often true but they're so familiar they just go. It's really is on the inside.

KAYE: If you could leave our viewers with one piece of advice today of all this advice, what would you leave them with?

BURROUGHS: Do not lie to yourself, and you know the true answer. You know it somewhere. And if I feel it like a sensation in my chest, and always, always, always follow that.

KAYE: I bet you've had some incredible reaction, people coming up to you and asking your advice now.

BURROUGHS: They do, about things like school homework. I say, I have a fourth grade education. They say how do you study? I say throw your books away and go see a movie.

KAYE: I hope the kids aren't at home listening to that. Augusten, thanks so much. The book again is called "This is How," and it's out and online as well and in stores you can pick it up. It's a great read.

Mitt Romney courts conservatives while keeping an eye on the youth vote. We'll go live to h Liberty University in Virginia, the site of a very important speech for the former Massachusetts governor.

Teaching kids to swim, for one woman it has become a personal mission to help children, and that's what makes her a CNN hero.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: "TIME" magazine's new cover is making some uncomfortable. A mom breast-feeding her three-year-old son is the new cover story. Some doctors say it's fine and some moms think it's pretty gross. We'd like to hear from you. How old is too old for a mother to breast field her child. You can tweet me @RandyKayeCNN. We'll read some of your comments on the air later on in the show.

But first, most people spend months or ever years planning their vacations, but now many people are leaving it up to chance and buying a mystery trip. Rob Marciano explains why this mystery unknown can be the trip of a lifetime in this "On the Go."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When Liz spoke to Mystery Trip, she didn't expect to be soaring above the trees in Hawaii.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually had never done zip-lining before, believe it or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Neither have I.

MARCIANO: From zip lining to surf school each day, a new thing was revealed, even the destination. In a mystery trip they don't tell you what the extras are or what hotel or what the extras are. The planners try to make sure the adventure matches your personality. One gives you a quiz to determine the travel sign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We both came up as a barbarian.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That means people love to travel to the ends of the earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For example, Luxury Online, they offer you travel destinations. You can get a great value for a minimal amount of money.

MARCIANO: And with an open mind a mystery trip can be worth the suspense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You go with the flow and enjoy the moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. Bottom of the hour. Let's get straight to the news. We're watching two big stories coming out of Syria this morning. A funeral service ended moments ago for dozens of people killed in suicide bombings in Syria's capital on Thursday. Their coffins were lined up. Huge crowds came to remember those killed.

Also this morning two journalists who were imprisoned in a Syrian jail were released. They're headed home soon, and it appears to be a prisoner swap. Ivan Watson is following these developments from the Syrian-Turkey border. Ivan, let's start with the funeral.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Amid this, a shadowy group we've only heard a little bit about have claims responsibility for previous attack before these kinds of bombs. We don't know much about the alleged group. We have to say the groups in Syria are fractured, divided. There is no coordinated leadership. So it's anybody's guess who these guys really are. Randi?

KAYE: How are people reacting to this in the capital? Does this add skepticism to the cease-fire that started on April 12th but never really went into effect?

WATSON: Well, it's chilling if you look at this from the outside. This looks like Iraq of 2005-2006, only instead of the Iraqi government being the ones attacks now it's the Syrian government which had previously had the monopoly on the use of force against Syrian protestors.

The Syrian opposition has gotten increasingly armed. There are basically village militias that have sprung up to fight against the Syria government. They're using the kinds of tactics, roadside bombs, and now we're seeing these much many larger vehicular explosions, the types of things that insurgents used in Iraq.

And the U.S. government consistently accused Syria of funneling through insurgents and suicide bombers through its territory to Iraq to attack Iraqi government and U.S. military government. Now the Syrian government is being hit by the same type of tactics. It's sad and a deadly irony here.

KAYE: Let's talk about these imprisoned journalists who are now free. They were feared dead but now we're hearing they're released in exchange for Iranian prisoners held by the opposition. What do we know about that?

WATSON: This is incredible. These two journalists, Turks, disappeared on March 10 in Syria, north of Syria, hadn't been heard from and were really feared dead. The Turkish government was asking for information about this and suddenly a week ago they popped up again in a prison in Damascus. It appeared they had been in Syrian custody the whole time. A Turkish Islamic charity has helped negotiate with their release and just hours ago, these two journalists who everybody feared dead including their family were flown from Damascus to Tehran and they're about to head back to Turkey. We talked with the father of one of them. He said, "I'm happy right now. It's like my son has been reborn."

But what's interesting is that yesterday the Syrian rebels released two Iranians. This was negotiated again with that Turkish charity and now these two released. It looks like a prisoner swap, because the Iranians back the Syrian government.

Turkey hosts lots of opposition activists as well as tens of thousands of rebels, and it looks like a prisoner swap using the proxies between these two regional powerhouses inside the Syrian battleground. That's the shape of politics that are helping tear apart Syria right now even as Syrian citizens kill each other day after day in the street. Randi?

KAYE: Ivan Watson for us on the border in Turkey. Thank you very much. You can see we had a few little hits in Ivan's live shot there because that's such a difficult and remote area to get the story out to you. But we did want to make sure we were able to bring it to you.

It is a big day for one group of college graduates and their commencement speaker. Mitt Romney speaks to the class of 2012 at Liberty University. We're going to bring you his comments live.

And if you were leaving the house right now, just a reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone, your gadget. You can also watch CNN live from your desktop. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. Earlier I spoke with one of our regulars here on the show, Bill Santiago. He's quite funny. We talked about all kinds of things like the breast-feeding issue, which was a big topic this week, and a few other things. So take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: There's been a big week, as you know, for same-sex marriage.

BILL SANTIAGO, COMEDIAN: Right.

KAYE: First on Sunday Vice President Biden says, quote, he's comfortable with it and Tuesday, of course, North Carolina voted against it. Then just day later President Obama and his big announcement saying he's for it. Are you having a hard time keeping up with all this?

SANTIAGO: Yes, yes. The sequence has me very entertained. Biden comes out. They send out the gaffe-meister to test the waters, and he said he's comfortable with it. I thought it was funny, the terminology, "comfortable" with it, like pajamas.

And President Obama comes out the next day. He saw the reaction was positive and people wanted him to come out and he finally decided that he was fully involved and ready to -- I love the fact that he brought evolution to it. It wasn't enough. He had to throw evolution in there. That's a double stick and a whammy.

KAYE: I want to talk about the word "evolution" in just a second. I want to ask you about Biden. Obama said maybe bind got a little ahead of himself.

SANTIAGO: You have to be very naive that it was totally calculated. They sent him out there on purpose. People know he makes mistakes. He has a reputation for sticking his foot in his mouth. If it didn't go well they could use it as plausible deniability.

But he went out there to get the White House's message going. And Biden's saying he's comfortable is just as good as Obama says he's comfortable. I think they're both gay marriage comfy.

KAYE: Is "evolution" the big word now, do you think? Evolving? SANTIAGO: Oh, yes. Just the imagery, he could have said he made up his mind after consulting with a burning Bush and mitigating with the bark lash.

He went with evolution. He's evolving. He's reacting to political climate change, you know. He loses the tale of doubt and coming out. Yes, I'm for marriage equality, like it was this big momentous thing. Essentially he said, you know, nobody should be denied to do something they might regret.

KAYE: Let's get to the next topic here before we run out of time. I want you the look at this front page cover. Yes, I know, time is of the essence here. It's "TIME" magazine. And, yes, it's a mom breast- feeding her son who turns four next month. People are outraged, calling it disgusting. Do you think it's shocking or overreacting?

SANTIAGO: It's not shocking at all. There's a couple of weird things. It's teasing, tantalizing, at the same time supposed to be promoting parental attachment. But these people look very detached from everything. They're looking straight into the camera. He doesn't look three. I'm glad they said he's about to turn four. He looks like he's in middle school. He's wearing army fatigues. I think they should be weaned before you're sent into battle.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: Only you would notice the army fatigues.

Listen, I want to talk to you about this. There's a huge problem in Pennsylvania. Nearly 40 percent of the 911 calls are what they're calling "butt dials," I guess people putting their phone in the back pocket and dialing 911 somehow by accident?

SANTIAGO: Yes, yes. It's a crisis. Well, it's supposed to be an accident. I actually think our butts are growing so exponentially that they're calling 911 to report the emergency situation. Help, she's eating again. By the way, "butt dialing" is not to be the same as booty calls. 911 being inundated with four million booty calls, that would be bad.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: I'm really glad you clarified the difference there. Bill, thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: He's so funny. Check it out. My newsroom blog is now up for you to see, so go and see it. Go to CNN.com/Randi for stories and guests that you may have missed or you just want to see again. And, of course, you can continue to tweet me as well @randykayeCNN.

And the Fortune 500 list is out. Today we're looking at two Fortune 500 CEOs who are making it a sister act.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KAYE: Two of the most powerful women in business are keeping it all in the family on the fortune 500 list. Frontier Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter and Campbell Soup's CEO Denise Morrison are sisters, 13 months apart. They are the eldest of four daughters, all of whom followed in their father's footsteps and became executives. They attribute part of their success of their mother teaching them that, quote, "Ambition is a part of being feminine."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: "TIME" magazine's new cover is making some people uncomfortable. It features a mom breast-feeding her three-year-old son. Doctors say it's fine, other moms say it's too much. I asked you to tweet me. Here are some of your answers.

Heather tweets "It's time to stop when kids get teeth. That's nature's way of letting you now."

Someone else tweeted "How old is too old is up to the parent. In many countries three is normal to breastfeed as well as OK with experts. Who cares?"

Katharine wrote "I say when a child can verbally express hunger it is times to keep the nursing bra on lockdown."

You can tweet me @RandiKayeCNN. Keep them coming.

Today, the class of 2012 at Liberty University will leave their class behind and head into the real world and hear a few words from Mitt Romney. Any moment now the Republican presidential candidate will give the commencement address at the nation's largest evangelical school.

CNN Political reporter Shannon Travis is at Liberty University for us this morning.

Shannon, this is the first time Mitt Romney is making a big to Christians. And after a rough week on the campaign trail, the timing couldn't be better. What do you thinking from his speech, heavy on politics or not?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Not so much on politics. A lot of people are listening to the speaker introducing Mitt Romney. He should be taking the campaign in just a moment. The campaign won't be heavy on politics. It will be very personal to inspire the students go out in the next phase of their life, first phase of their careers to fire these students.

There will be a few digs at President Obama. Take a listen at one from the excerpt that the campaign has released. Aisle read a short quote here. Quote, "For you and so many young Americans our current troubles can be discouraging. You are ready for jobs that were supposed to be ready for you. Millions wait on the day when there are jobs for everyone willing to work and opportunities to match your hopes and goals. But don't lose heart because that day is coming."

Now, again, not an explicit political attack against President Obama, but certainly a dig. One other thing of note, Randi, if governor Romney doesn't make a political attack, his opponents are out here with a little political dig at him. There's a plane flying around. I think it might be still flying around that has a big banner on its trailer and it simply reads "GOP Equals Higher School Debt."

Now, we got a release just before we saw the plane that it's from the liberal group Moveon.org. They're trying to tie him to the Paul Ryan plan and he supports the cuts in student loans. It will be interesting if Governor Romney addresses that or anything else explicitly political.

KAYE: I'm sure he saw that as we're looking at pictures of him. It looks like he's about to come over there to the podium. He's still being introduced. While we wait for that, Shannon, he's in some rough waters there, right? Not everyone was so thrilled to have him come and speak in terms of students.

TRAVIS: You're absolutely right. Last month when we found out he wows be giving this commence meant address, a lot of the students and beyond protested wildly. Obviously -- let's take a quick moment, not quite yet, Mitt Romney, OK, it looks like he's coming up. Let's take a pause and watch him approach the podium. Ready?

KAYE: All right, let's listen in as Mitt Romney speaks there at Liberty University, speaking there to try and woo the hearts of evangelical evangelicals. Let's listen in for a bit.

(APPLAUSE)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you so very much. Mark, thank you for that very powerful and moving and emotional, for me, introduction. Thank you for your friendship. What a great man. Chester Falwell, thank you for your introduction and support and kindness today, Dr. Jennifer Falwell, distinguished guests, parents of friends of graduating seniors for Liberty, for graduates this moment mark as clear ending and a clear beginning. The task set before you four years ago is now completed in full. To the class of 2012, well done and congratulations.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: By the way, I'm told that some of you may have taken a little longer than four years to complete your studies? One graduate has said he completed his degree in only two terms, Clinton's and Bush's.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMNEY: In some ways that I share this distinction with Kathy. It comes to a sudden stop at Chick-Fil-A. Your chicken sandwiches were comfort food during our primary season. And heaven knows there were days we needed comfort. Kathy Truitt, thank you and congratulations on your well-deserved honor today.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Of course there are some people here who are even more pleased than the graduates. That would be their parents.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: Their years of prayers and emotion and investment have added up to this emotional achievement. And with credit to Congressman Dick Armey, the American dream is not owning your own home. It is getting kids out of the home you own.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMNEY: Lately I've found myself thinking about life in four-year stretches, and let's just say that not everybody has achieved as much in these last four years as you have. But that's a theme for another day.

But two observations. First, even though job opportunities are scarce in this economy, it's not for nothing that you have spent this time preparing. Jerry Falwell Sr. long ago observed you don't determine a man's greatness by his talent or wealth, as the world does, but rather by what it takes to discourage him. America needs your talent and skill. If we take the right course, I am convinced we're going to see a resurgence in the American economy that will surprise the world and that will open new doors of opportunity for those who are prepared as you are.

Of course --

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: What the next four years might yet hold for me is yet to be determined. But I will say things are looking up and I take your kind hospitality today as a sign of good things to come.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: I want you to know I consider it great a life honor to be here to address you today. Your generosity of spirit --

KAYE: You've been listening there to just a little bit of Mitt Romney speaking at Liberty University, targeting the evangelicals, trying to get that Christian conservative vote. We'll be right back after a very quick break with more.

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