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CNN Saturday Morning News

White Supremacist Gang Infiltration of U.S. Military Examined; Paul Ryan Gives Speech in Florida

Aired August 18, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

(MUSIC PLAYING)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

Look who's heading to Florida, and he's not alone. Paul Ryan bringing a special guest to the Sunshine State, but will she stave off critics to his Medicare plan?

Plus, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, the KKK, these groups aren't dying out, they're growing. All morning we're putting "Hate in the USA" in focus.

And later, a reported 46 bullets to kill one man. The controversial shooting of a Michigan man now has the Justice Department involved.

Good morning, everyone, I'm Randi Kaye. It is 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 on the west. Thanks for starting your day with us.

One of the most powerful men in Syria may be on the run. Syrian rebels say they are trying to help Syrian Vice President Farouk al Sharaa defect to neighboring Jordan. The key member of President Bashar al Assad's inner circle has not been seen publicly in weeks. A rebel spokesman says al Sharaa fled the capital of Damascus more than a week ago, but the state-run media insists the veteran has never thought about leaving. All this as new fighting and shelling breaks out across Syria. Opposition activists say at least 34 people have been killed already today.

Turning now to U.S. politics and the race for the White House, we're getting a first look at Paul Ryan's finances now that the Republican vice presidential candidate has released his tax returns. In 2011, Ryan and his wife reported a total income of just over $323,000. Of that, the Ryans paid almost $65,000 in taxes. That amounts to an effective tax rate of 20 percent.

One thing to note, that 20 percent that Ryan paid, it is a higher tax rate than what Mitt Romney says he paid over the same two years. Romney has resisted calls to open up more of his own books. The Republican candidate refusing a deal offered by the Obama campaign which said it would end its requests for more information if Romney released five years of returns. Instead, the Romney campaign says it will continue to focus on the economy. And the economy isn't the only issue in focus for the Romney/Ryan campaign. There is also, of course, Medicare. And despite his controversial budget plan which cuts billions from the program, Paul Ryan is not backing down, saying this is a debate he and Romney will win. Ryan is taking his Medicare plan right to the voters today in Florida. We'll bring you that speech as it gets under way.

For his part, President Obama heads to New Hampshire today to campaign for that state's four electoral votes. He has two events there, including speaking at a high school in Wyndham, New Hampshire. His east coast stop comes after he spent considerable time in the Midwest in the past week.

And we have Paul Steinhauser with us. He is at the villages in Florida. That is where Paul Ryan is set to speak this hour. So, Paul, what can you tell us? Paul Steinhauser, can you hear me?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello?

KAYE: Hey, Paul, it's Randi in Atlanta. I know it's loud there, but let's talk about what's happening there at the villages event and the Paul Ryan event. What can you tell us?

STEINHAUSER: We're here at the villages just north of Orlando. As you were probably saying, this is a very large, largest in the United States, and also, Randi, a very, very Republican community. As you can imagine, the people I've been talking to all morning are Romney supporters, and they're also supporters, they tell me, of what Ryan/Romney are proposing to do with Medicare. I had a chance to talk to some people. Take a listen to what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indiscriminately running all over our country. It's really embarrassing. It's just got to stop and that's why we're here for Romney and Ryan. We're going to do the job here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm concerned about the money being taken out of Medicare by Obama right now and going to other places. So, we're very interested in what Romney and Ryan are doing, and I completely trust the Ryan plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: That's some of the voters there in Florida at the villages event. We'll speak more with Paul Steinhauser. I know it's a little loud there. We're going to spare you some more of that.

Their job is to defend against enemies both foreign and domestic, but are a few bad apples slipping through the ranks? Up next, as we focus on hate in the USA this morning, a look at how white supremacists are infiltrating the military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Seven minutes past the hour. New this morning, health officials are warning people to throw out any cantaloupes from southwest Indiana because of a salmonella outbreak. At least two people are dead, 141 people sick from the tainted fruits. This is affecting 20 states. You can see them all here. We have them highlighted for you on a map. The outbreak began in July. Health officials are warning people, don't try to wash the fruit because both the outside and the inside could be infected. Sorry about that. That map didn't come up.

All right, let's check some other stories right now cross-country.

First to California, where flash floods turned some intersections into a muddy mess yesterday. This is in San Bernardino County. Mud slides blocked some roads. Police say some people were trapped in their cars surrounded by Russian water. No reports of injuries.

Now to Utah, where dash cam video shows officers pulling over a drunk man twice and he had his wife and four kids in the car with him. The first time Robert Hills makes a run for it. There he goes, leading police on a chase for 20 minutes, hitting top speeds of 115 miles per hour. No one was hurt. Hills apparently had a record and that's why he didn't want to stop. He faces DUI charges and reckless driving.

And in Kansas City, Missouri, a war veteran has been reunited with the dog that saved his life. Logan black and Diego, the bomb-sniffing dog, worked at least 40 missions together in Iraq. After retiring, black wanted to adopt Diego, but the pup was still owned by the government. But last week after five years he was finally allowed to take him home.

Now to Colorado, where a 29-year-old hiker is expected to face animal cruelty charges after he left his German shepherd stranded on a snow- capped mountain. Anthony Ordelani says he left the dog after a storm rolled in and he was worried for his safety and the dog's feet were injured. A group of volunteer hikers went back up the mountain and rescued the dog days later. Investigators say Ordelani didn't make any attempt to go back and get the dog and assumed that it was dead.

A critical campaign stop today for Paul Ryan as he speaks to seniors in Florida. He's about to take the mike with a very special guest. We'll bring you his speech once it gets underway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. A grieving mother in the Dominican Republic says her pregnant teenage daughter died because doctors waited too long to give her chemotherapy. The 16-year-old had leukemia, but she also was 13 weeks pregnant. Doctors hesitated to give her chemo because it could end the pregnancy. The Dominican Republic has very strict antiabortion laws. Some 20 days after the teen was admitted to the hospital she finally started receiving chemo, but she died yesterday after suffering a miscarriage hours earlier.

As we've been telling you, Paul Ryan is set to face the political spotlight in the sunshine state today. You're looking at live pictures from a place known as the Villages. They're getting ready for him there, that's for sure. It is one of the largest retirement communities in Florida, and today it plays host to Ryan, who will tackle the issue of Medicare, no doubt, head on before a group of seniors.

And guess who's joining Paul Ryan today? His mom, who is herself a Medicare recipient. We'll bring that to you as soon as that speech begins.

Their job is to defend against enemies both foreign and domestic, but are a few bad apples slipping through the ranks? Up next, as we focus on "Hate in the USA," a look at how white supremacists are infiltrating the military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The man accused of shooting a building manager at the Family Research Council in Washington will not be released on bond. Instead, he'll be given a mental health evaluation. But there's an interesting debate going on right now, who is to blame for Wednesday's shooting. Here's what the head of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in labeling organizations hate groups because they disagree with them on public policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Perkins' accusation outrageous. The group released a statement, saying in part, "The SPLC has listed the FRC as a hate group since 2010 because it has knowingly spread false and denigrating propaganda about lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, not, as some claim, because it opposes same-sex marriage."

The attack at the Family Research Council wasn't just a random act of violence. Two weeks ago, a lone gunman went on a shooting spree at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, killing six. We later learned the gunman, army veteran Wade Michael Page, was a white supremacist. Statistics show hate groups are on the rise. The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 1,000 known hate groups in the U.S. and the FBI reported nearly 7,000 hate crimes.

This chart shows really what we're talking about, hate groups in America in the last decade. You see it right there, a disturbing trend, which is why we're putting "Hate in the USA" in focus this morning. This hour we want to discuss the presence of white supremacy groups on our military bases. Some say it's more prominent than you might think. Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence explains.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, the military has very strict rules that say troops cannot be a member of a white power group or have any sort of racist tattoos on their body, but there are a small number of believers in the ranks, and they're everywhere from boot camp all the way up to special operations forces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Wade Michael page's belief in white power was tattooed all over his body, as his MySpace photo shows. But back at Ft. Bragg, you couldn't tell by looking at it.

CHRISTOPHER ROBILLARD, FORMER SOLDIER: He didn't have the tattoos when he was in the army.

LAWRENCE: But fellow soldier and friend Chris Robillard says Page wasn't shy on his views and ranted against nonwhite people.

ROBILLARD: He would mention the racial holy war that was coming.

LAWRENCE: A criminologist says he identified with the Neo-Nazi movement in the army because he thought African-American soldiers got preferential treatment.

PETE SIMI, CRIMINOLOGIST: Specifically what he told me at one point is if you join the military and you're not a racist, then you certainly will be by the time you leave.

LAWRENCE: Well before pictures like this were posted on Facebook, the FBI had identified hundreds of veterans involved in white supremacist incidents, and federal investigators say small numbers of white supremacists have infiltrated most parts of the military.

While Page was at Ft. Bragg in 1995, three soldiers were caught and convicted of murdering a black couple outside the base. All were identified as Neo-Nazi skinheads. The army cracked down on racism in the ranks, the army kicked out dozens of soldiers, but the problem goes way beyond one base.

T.J. LEYDEN, FORMER MARINE AND SKINHEAD: At every major military installation, you will have at least two or three active Neo-Nazi organizations actively trying to recruit on-duty personnel.

LAWRENCE: T.J. Leyden would know. He's a former marine and skinhead, who says some military units ignore overt racism.

LEYDEN: I used to hang a swastika flag in my locker and everybody in my unit all the way up to my commander knew it. The only time they asked me to take it down was when the commanding general would come through just so they wouldn't get in trouble.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Now, that's not to say that is the case across the board. Even Leyden told us that in his brother's unit, his brother's commander took an extremely hard line on white power and any sort of racist propaganda, and he would crack down on it almost immediately. So the military has some very strict rules in this regard, but sometimes it comes down to how much the individual commander is going to enforce them. Randi?

KAYE: Chris Lawrence, thank you very much. As Chris mentioned, the Pentagon does have a zero tolerance policy for any racist hate groups or members, but that doesn't mean individuals aren't slipping in. So, should the military be doing more to prevent this? My next guest says absolutely, yes. Scott Barfield was an investigator for the Defense Department back in 2006, part of a special task force appointed to study the problem of Neo-Nazis and skinheads infiltrating the military. Scott, thank you so much for being with us this morning. What did you find in your study six years ago about the white power movement within the military? And do you think that today is as bad as or maybe worse than it was then?

SCOTT BARFIELD, FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATOR: Well, when we started looking into this about six years ago, we initially identified white supremacy on Ft. Lewis. And through our investigation, we determined the soldiers in Ft. Lewis when they deployed overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan were now linking up with soldiers that we identified in Ft. Bragg and Ft. Stewart, and then we started seeing them working with branches of the military like the Navy and the Marine Corps. And I know it was a growing problem then. We saw these individuals working together across country and now internationally. I can only imagine with the lack of, I guess response that we got then, that the problem today is even worse.

KAYE: I want to read to you what you said in the '06 report, and I'm quoting here, "Recruiters are knowingly allowing Neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces and commanders don't remove them from the military, even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members." That's a very strong statement. I mean, what was your evidence for that? And it sounds like you do think it's still happening.

BARFIELD: We -- I should say I -- interviewed I think the number was a little over 300 individuals over the six years that I was there. Some of the soldiers that I interviewed specifically told me recruiters would help them cover up tattoos or help them come up with a definition of what the tattoo meant so people wouldn't ask them if it was a gang tattoo. Out of that 300 that I did interview, only two wanted out of the gang or the white supremacy movement. The rest were still in. Whether they were into the military to get the training, you know, at that point, I don't know.

KAYE: So, do you think it's possible that recruiters might have known about the Wisconsin shooter, Wade Page's white supremacy tendencies back when he enlisted?

BARFIELD: I would believe so. Based off of what I saw, when we started seeing more of the white supremacy and more of the street gangs in the military, that was when the war in Iraq was really ramping up, and I believe based off of what I saw with the lack of response that we got from the individual commanders, it was a numbers game. At that point, it was tough to recruit, it was tough to build the numbers up, and as we're deploying more troops overseas, the response that we would get when we would identify a gang member or a white supremacist before they would deploy was, we'll just send them over to Iraq and we won't have to deal with the issue here. KAYE: Yes. We heard in Chris Lawrence's report just a moment ago that it's not unheard of for some soldiers and marines to hang these swastika flags in their barracks or on the walls in their lockers, that it's up to the individual commanders to monitor this? So why isn't there some sort of policy outright banning this behavior?

BARFIELD: There are policies in place that don't allow the paraphernalia, I guess you would say. But I've had commanders, I've had sergeant majors when I was still at Ft. Lewis bring me paraphernalia like white supremacy flags, boots with swastikas on them, gang paraphernalia, and we would identify that, interview the soldier, identify the soldier being involved with one of these groups that was in violation of an army policy. And after you would identify him and get some kind of paper, that's about as far as it went. And it seemed like the more we did this, the more the regulation got watered down, and as time went on, it seemed like the tattoo policy got weaker, too, where you're seeing more tattoos exposed.

KAYE: Something else that you mentioned in your '06 report, quoting here, "Today's white supremacist in the military become tomorrow's domestic terrorists once they're out." That is a really frightening statement. Is the Pentagon doing anything really to actively scrub these white supremacists from the ranks? And what should they be doing?

BARFIELD: I don't believe so at all. Through the six years that I did this, there was myself and one other guy, Hunter Glass. We worked together out of Ft. Bragg and Ft. Lewis. There really wasn't anybody else that I identified that was a gang specialist that works strictly with gangs in the military. I don't believe there's a lot going on to scrub it at this point.

When we identify, you know, training today's soldier or today's skinhead or gang member as tomorrow's domestic terrorist group, I'm not talking, you know, we're going to have a whole gang of white supremacists go and attack a police station or something like that. But if you look at a few years ago when the police officer was killed and the Wisconsin shooting today, these are individuals. These are individuals with military training that are taking this fight to the street.

And if we go back to where I said earlier, where the commanders would say, let's send a soldier overseas to Iraq, we are now training these guys, and they're getting training that they wouldn't get here where you have somebody who's maybe shooting an assault rifle at them every single day. When they come back to the United States and bring this fight to the street, they're numb to this at this point.

KAYE: Scott Barfield, thank you very much. Appreciate your insight and your time this morning.

BARFIELD: Thank you.

KAYE: A battle brewing in the 2012 campaign, and it is all about Medicare. As we've been telling you, any minute now Paul Ryan will discuss the issue in Florida before the nation's largest retirement community. It is an area where Republicans out-number Democrats by a two to one margin. He'll be speaking there at The Villages just north of Orlando. You can see the crowd certainly getting ready for him. And his mom is traveling with him as well. So, we might even hear from her. Who knows?

Joining me now from New York is Amy Holmes, anchor of GBTV's "Real News," an independent conservative. And in Washington, we have Maria Cardona, a CNN contributor and Democratic strategist.

Good morning to both of you. We may have to interrupt this if Paul Ryan comes out, because we all want to hear that. But let's start with you, Amy.

Paul Ryan says he and Romney will "win the debate" on Medicare. We know seniors supported Republicans strongly in the last two presidential elections, voting 53 percent for John McCain in '08 and 52 percent for George W. Bush in '04. So, how critical is today's speech for the Romney/Ryan team?

AMY HOLMES, REPUBLICAN STRATEGY: Well, I think today is the beginning of a continuing conversation on entitlement reform. And as Paul Ryan has said over and over and over, for seniors 55 and over, their Medicare wouldn't change under his plan.

But I think that Mitt Romney has sort of a bit of a political challenge here, which is how much of Paul Ryan's plan does he want to adopt as his own, and how much he says, look, the veep on my ticket has a lot of interesting, creative and, you know, important ideas about how we go about entitlement reform, but you know who's at the top of the ticket? Mitt Romney.

So, to the extent that Paul Ryan is, you know, going to be speaking about this, speaking about this issue, I think Mitt Romney also has to sort of own his own plan at the top of the ticket.

KAYE: Maria, those election stats are pretty hard to ignore. You can't argue with them, but the Obama team is hitting back hard. Maria, let's hold that thought, both Amy and Maria. We're going to listen to Paul Ryan speaking there in Orlando, taking the stage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congressman Paul Ryan!

(APPLAUSE)

REP. PAUL D. RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mom, wave. Hey, everybody! Hey, everybody, how are you? Oh, wow. I want to introduce you to my mom.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: This is my mom, Betty. She's why I'm here. She and her grandkids are why I'm here. Say hi to my mom, Betty.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Thanks, mom. Have a seat, mom. There we go, mom. Friends, we have a big choice to make. This is no ordinary election. It's not an ordinary time. We have a choice. We can stay on the path we are on, the one President Obama has put us on.

CROWD: No!

RYAN: It's a nation deeper IN debt. It's a nation further in doubt. It's a nation in decline. Or we can elect a leader, a leader who will make the tough decisions, who will apply our founding principles, get us back on track, restore the American idea and get people back to work.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: You see, President Obama and other politicians like him in Washington have become more focused on their next election than they have on the next generation. Not us. We're not going to do that. We will lead. We want to earn your support. We want to deserve victory, so that when we win, we have the mandates, the moral authority to stop kicking the can down the road and get this country back on track.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: It's very clear that President Obama -- you guys see that? It's very clear. You guys see that? Yep, it's coming. You got the medic coming? Thank you very much. Say hi back for me.

It's very clear that President Obama inherited a difficult situation. There's no two ways about it. The problem is he made matters worse. This is why the president has run out of ideas. This is why the president is not running on hope and change anymore, he's running on anger and frustration, fear and smear. We're not going to do that. We need real leadership.

Let me tell you about the man who is about to be the next president of the United States, and his name is Mitt Romney.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: I don't think I've seen a time in our nation's history where the man and the moment have met so perfectly. This man is a leader. Everything Mitt Romney has done in his life has prepared him for this moment in our history to provide the kind of leadership we need. Look at the beautiful family he's raised.

Do you remember the Olympics in the late '90s? Remember the scandals, the wasteful spending, the bloat, the corruption? Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? When they needed someone to turn it around, who did Salt Lake call? They called Mitt Romney. And Mitt Romney turned those Olympics around and made America proud, and we thank him for that leadership.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Look at what he's done in business. He helped start new businesses. He helped turn around struggling businesses. He helped create great businesses that we all know now -- Sports Authority, Bright Horizons, Staples. This is a man who actually created jobs, who knows what it takes to get people back to work, to get businesses up and running, to create prosperity, to help people in need.

Take a look at what he did when he was governor of Massachusetts. Of all contrasts that we can have, this is as clear as it gets. President Obama came in to office promising to create jobs and prevent unemployment from ever getting above eight percent. It's been above eight percent for 42 months. When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, unemployment went down.

And 23 million Americans today are struggling to find work. Nearly one in six Americans are in poverty today. Household income, family income has gone down by more than $4,000 over the past four years. When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, family income went up by $5,000 over his four years.

Remember President Obama used to say he's going to bring everybody together? There aren't red states or blue states, just the United States of America. We'll set aside childish things. It's the most partisan atmosphere I've ever seen, and this is the third president I have served with.

When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, a Republican in a Democratic state with a Democratic legislature consisting of 87 percent of the legislature, what did Mitt Romney do? He reached across the aisle, he extended the hand, he negotiated, and he balanced the budget without raising taxes.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: This is the kind of man for this kind of moment we need to lead our nation at this crucial moment.

Now, you've heard the president has been talking about Medicare a bit lately. We want this debate, we need this debate, and we are going to win this debate.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Now, like a lot of Americans, when I think about Medicare, it's not just a program, it's not just a bunch of numbers. It's what my mom relies on. It's what my grandma had. You see, like a lot of people, and I see some Wisconsin hats all around here. Wow, that's a pretty good showing. Hey, Pat.

We had this rule in Wisconsin. It's kind of an unwritten rule. You turn 65, you've got to go south for winter.

(LAUGHTER)

RYAN: We call them snowbirds. My mom's a snowbird. She is a Florida resident. She lives just down the road over in Lauderdale, and she, like many people here, she comes down here for the winter, just like so many folks from all over the country do. You know, my grandma moved in with us, with my mom and me, when I was in high school. She had advanced Alzheimer's. My mom and I were her two primary caregivers. You learn a lot about life. You learn a lot about your elderly seniors in your family. You learn a lot about Alzheimer's. Medicare was there for our family, for my grandma, when we need it then, and Medicare is there for my mom while she needs it now, and we have to keep that guarantee.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: My mom has been on Medicare for over 10 years, and I won't tell you exactly how many years over 10 years she's been on it. She plays tennis every week, she exercises every day. She planned her retirement around this promise that the government made her because she paid her payroll taxes into this program, which she had this promise with. That's a promise we have to keep.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Here's what the president won't tell you about his Medicare plan, about Obama care. The president raids $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for the Obama care program.

(BOOS)

RYAN: What's more, in addition to that, he puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.

(BOOS)

RYAN: You want to know what Medicare's saying about this? From Medicare officials themselves, one out of six of our hospitals and our nursing homes will go out of business as a result of this. And 4 million seniors are projected to lose their Medicare advantage plans that they enjoy and they chose today under this Obamacare plan.

(BOOS)

RYAN: What's worse is the president's campaign calls this an achievement! Do you think raiding Medicare to pay for Obama care is an achievement? Do you think empowering a board of bureaucrats to cut Medicare an achievement?

CROWD: No!

RYAN: Neither do I. Medicare should not be used as a piggy bank for Obama care. Medicare should be the promise that it made to our current seniors, period, end of story.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Here is what Mitt Romney and I will do. We will end the raid of Medicare. We will restore the promise of this program, and we will make sure that this board of bureaucrats will not mess with my mom's health care or your mom's health care.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Now, let me just see a show of hands. How many of you are 55 or over? Wow. OK. OK, how many of you are not? All right.

Our solution to preserve, protect, and save Medicare does not affect your benefits. Let me repeat that -- our plan does not affect the benefits for people who are in or near retirement.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: It's a promise that was made and it's a promise that must be kept.

But in order to make sure we can guarantee that promise for my mom's generation, for those baby boomers who are retiring every day, we must reform it for my generation. To save it for this generation, you have to reform it for my generation so it doesn't go bankrupt when we want to retire.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: The good news is there are bipartisan solutions to do this. The plan we support originated in the Clinton commission plan to save Medicare in the late 1990s. It's a bipartisan plan in Congress today. It's a plan that says do not change benefits for people 55 and above, and for those of us who are younger, when we become Medicare-eligible, we get a choice of guaranteed coverage options, guaranteed affordability, including traditional Medicare. So, we get to pick the plan for us when we retire, and that means all those providers compete against each other for our business and we don't have to beg for the mercy of 15 bureaucrats whether or not we'd get our health care.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We think the best way to save Medicare is to empower 50 million seniors, not 15 unelected bureaucrats, to make their decisions on how they get their health care.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Mitt Romney and I will protect and strengthen Medicare so that the promises that were made that people organize their retirements around, like my mom, will be promises that are kept.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: One of the ways that we can make sure that this promise is kept is to get people back to work, is to grow this economy. That's why we're offering solutions for more jobs and higher take-home pay. The Romney/Ryan plan for a stronger middle class is designed to get this economy growing again.

(APPLAUSE) RYAN: And 12 million jobs, grow the economy at four percent -- this would create 713,000 jobs right in Florida alone. The key to doing it is to get us back to work. We have lots of energy in America. Let's use this energy in America so we can create jobs and lower our gas prices.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We need people who are out of work to be able to go back to school to get the skills they need to get new jobs and new careers so they can get back on the path to prosperity.

We also have to grow more things in America. My buddy, Adam Button, I see him here. He's your Ag commissioner, knows a lot about growing things. We make things in America, we grow things in America. We have to make more, grow more, sell it overseas. That creates good jobs in America.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We also have to stop spending money we just don't have. We've got to cut spending, get this deficit under control so that we leave our children and our grandchildren a debt-free nation. That affects jobs today.

We have to champion small businesses. Small businesses is the engine of opportunity, the engine of job-creation. We need to -- you know, growing up, my dad worked and my mom stayed at home. I have got three siblings, a sister and two older brothers. My mom stayed at home. When my dad died, my mom went back to school. She went back to college, got a new skill or a new trade, and then she started a small business. My mom had three or four employees at that small business that she started. We were taking care of my grandma at the time. She was going to school and then she started this small business.

And mom --

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Mom, I am proud of you for going out, getting another degree. I'm proud of you for the small business that you created. And mom, you did build that.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: That's what America is all about. I'm so proud of her for that. I'm so proud of her for doing that right in the middle of her life.

This election is the most important election in our lifetimes no matter what generation you come from. You know, there are a few things my dad would always say that have always really just stuck with me. Number one, he would say, "Son, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution." He was usually telling me this when I was part of the problem at the time.

(LAUGHTER) RYAN: The other thing he would say is, "Son, in this country, every generation of Americans solves their problems so that their children are better off." That's the American legacy.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: It is our duty to save the American dream for our children and theirs.

When we talk about these things, when we look at the fork of the road we're in, when we look at the enormous choice we have in front of us, when we have such a clear contrast between the leader in Mitt Romney and the failed leadership of President Obama, the choice is very clear.

It goes deeper than that, though. It really comes down to a question of what kind of country do we want to have? What kind of people do we want to be? You know, our founders were so eloquent when they created this country. They said it very clearly. Our rights as individuals, as citizens, our rights come from nature and god, not from government.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Our founders preserved this, founded this, secured this, and our veterans have kept it ever since, and we thank those veterans.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Here is the commitment that Mitt Romney and I are making to you, our fellow citizens. We're going to give you the choice. We are not going to duck the tough issues. We're not going to keep kicking the can down the road. We will lead.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We will not blame other people. We will take responsibility.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: And we will not try to transform this country into something it was never intended to be. We will not try to replace our founding principles. We will reapply our founding principles.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We are suffering from decades of politicians from both political parties that have made empty promises to voters just to get reelected. And soon those empty promises will quickly become broken promises with painful consequences for all of us if we don't act.

We need leadership. We need to make sure the government keeps those promises to people who are organizing their retirement around these promises, like my mom, Betty. We need to make sure that the promise in this country is not only there for my mom's generation, but for my children's generation. We need leadership. Mitt Romney is the man for the moment to provide that leadership. This is a defining moment. This is our generation's time. And you know what? We can do this. We can turn this thing around. We can get this economy growing. We can get families back on the path of prosperity. We can secure Medicare's promise for tomorrow. We can do this. And with your help, together, Florida and the rest of America will get this country back on track.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: Thank you very much, everybody! Thank you for coming out today! We love you all. Thank you so much for your support. We really appreciate it.

KAYE: You've been listening there to Paul Ryan speaking to seniors, hugging his mom, Betty, there, getting some cheers of her own, a Medicare recipient, by the way. He talked a lot about Medicare being there for his grandmother, being there for his mother, who's been on it for 10 years, and he talked a lot about President Obama, accusing him of raiding $716 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare. We will continue to watch Paul Ryan today. We'll continue to talk politics with Amy Holmes and Maria Cardona. They'll join us after the break and we'll talk much more about the debate of Medicare. We'll be right back.

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KAYE: Just before the break, we were listening to Paul Ryan speak in Florida, and joining me now to talk about this from New York is Amy Holmes, anchor of GBTV's "Real News." She's an independent conservative. And in Washington, Maria Cardona, a CNN contributor and Democratic strategist. Maria, to you first on this one. Sorry we had to take a little break there and listen to him. So, apologies for that. Let me first get your take on what you heard and what you thought.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, his mother's adorable, so let's put that out there. That was great. Betty was a great touch there, very smart. It was a bold speech to be making in Florida, because clearly they know they have a huge disadvantage when it comes to talking about Medicare. A lot of Republican strategists said they know this will be an albatross around Mitt Romney's neck, which is I guess why he can't decide whether to embrace it, like when he said if the Paul Ryan plan came to his desk whether he would sign its entirety or walk away from it, so they know it is a huge risk.

But the speech was also boldly misleading and deeply hypocritical. What he's talking about, what President Obama does in terms of Medicare and his Obamacare is he actually cuts future spending. There are no cuts in benefits. In fact, he adds 10 years of life to the Medicare plan by doing what he did, and he increases benefits for seniors.

What Paul Ryan is not telling the seniors in the audience is that he actually is turning Medicare, future Medicare into what is really a glorified coupon book, which is great if you go shopping but not great if you're looking for good health care.

KAYE: All right, let me just jump in here, because you are correct, the Congressional Budget Office, according to our CNN research, does say that it would result -- that counter to Romney's claim, it also found Medicare would not lose $716 billion --

CARDONA: Absolutely.

KAYE: -- should the health reform law remain in place. You heard, Amy, Paul Ryan talking about the president raiding Medicare to pay for Obama care, raiding it for $716 billion. So, how does this al square?

HOLMES: Well, there is so much debate back and forth about that, and even President Obama in an interview addressed this question and seemed to sort of be trying to spin it. I'll let the people with the green eyeshades sort of debate back and forth the $716 billion question whether or not Obama care takes it out of Medicare. Obamacare's defense is that they will be cutting costs, so therefore it doesn't come out of Medicare. But the way that it's written, it does. In the long term, again, that's very debatable.

But I'm looking at the speech today that Paul Ryan gave in Florida and I find it interesting that Survey USA found that the people that they surveyed, the voters they surveyed, the people who like the Paul Ryan pick the best were actually seniors. They like the straight talk. They like addressing the entitlement crisis that is about to hit all of us gen-x-ers as the baby boomers are retiring, and they appreciate the theme that Paul Ryan kept articulating today, which is leadership, tackling the issues head on.

I was on the Santorum/Lieberman Social Security commission back in 2000, and that's when Democrats and Republicans were willing to come to the table and discuss the entitlement process in a candid way. Now, there were different approaches and different solutions, but we knew we couldn't kick the can down the road. And it turns out, a lot of voters appreciate that Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are willing to say we are going to stand up and we're going to debate this issue and we're actually going to address it. It's not going to be all of this, you know, sloganeering. We're actually going to be leaders and try to do something about the entitlement crisis.

KAYE: In 30 seconds, Maria, and I mean 30 seconds what do seniors need to hear from the president?

CARDONA: Well, what they need to hear is the truth in terms of what he does, what he has done with Medicare, in terms of cutting future spending, taking it out of fraud and abuse and making sure that it saves their benefits, both now and in the future, extending it by 10 years. We can continue to extend it by working together, like Amy says.

But what Republicans want to do is to cut the benefits for future Medicare recipients like all of us, and basically cut those benefits to give the wealthiest continued tax cuts. That is not what voters want. That's not balance. That's not fair. And that's why this is a problem for the Republicans.

KAYE: All right, that was 33 seconds, but I'll let you have it. Amy Holmes and Maria Cardona, thank you so much. Appreciate both of you. CARDONA: Thank you so much, Randi.

HOLMES: Thank you.

KAYE: Up next, what's going on with Jesse Jackson Jr.? We'll have an update.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., who is on medical leave from Congress, is suffering from quote, "serious depression." That's according to his longtime friend and former Massachusetts congressman Patrick Kennedy, who visited Jackson at the Mayo Clinic where he is receiving treatment for a bipolar disorder. Kennedy says he expects Jackson to make an announcement about his political future in just a few weeks.

There is a lot more ahead on CNN Saturday morning, which starts after a very quick break.

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