pro growth policy reform plan. our political panel is going to weigh in. also this evening, the dow closed a weak a 57. six weekly advances. surprised on the upside. these july numbers give us a great august, but the question is how long? famed investor mar you gabelli gives us his top picks. our special guest, former democratic congressman and obama nomine tor archer davis. he tells us why he's not only left the fold of the democrats to become a republican, but how he's getting a headline role at the republican national convention a week away. out's a conversion. i call it an kpexorcism. here now with the latest, cnbc contributor, robert costa of the national review. i'm sure you know the story of the scorpion and the frog. if romney releases five years of tax returns he's the frog. will the scorpion of team obama not sting him to death? >> it's an apt analogy. we saw a schoolyard taunt from chicago. obama's campaign manager sent a letter to boston asking governor romney please to release five years of tax returns and they will never mention them again. they got a quick response which said, no thanks. we have 80 days before the election. we are done talking about tax returns. you can keep talking about it. they resisted the bait. that's for sure. >> paul ryan put out one or two years today? >> just like mitt romney paul ryan is putting out 2010 and 2011. >> you think the issue is dead. that there won't be play, romney, nothing. out's over? >> i just got to the studio from virginia. i was with paul ryan as he enthralled hundreds. they were not talking about tax returns. it was a republican crowd. paul ryan has changed the conversation. it was about bain capital and romney's tax returns. now it's about medicare, entitlement reform. paul ryan is a game changer. >> it worries me, robert. i was going to ask you what the message was. this worries me. not that ryan and romney don't have to defend against the scare tactics. i get it. if you obsess about medicare and the debt and deficits you lose the economic growth message. you lose the whole unemployment message. that has to be issue number one. you look at the polls, the gallup poll. the number one issue, 54%, jobs and the economy. guess what. federal debt, 7%. 54% jobs and economy, 7% the federal debt. this is something ryan and romney have to deal with. if they obsess about medicare they may be in trouble. >> only part of the platform is the green eye shade conservative. he is a fiscal hawk. i have talked to ryan many times. he says his mentor is jack kemp. that's part of paul ryan's political persona. as much as he talk budget he is a pro growth politician. >> we have to keep him on the supply side. >> yes, sir. >> thank you very much, buddy. we'll see you soon. all right. it's been a week since the addition of ryan to the romney ticket infusing the campaign with enthusiasm, tremendous crowds and a surging youth vote. my question tonight is will the debate around medicare and deficits divert attention from the number one issue which is economy and jobs as bob costa and i discussed. what's needed? my humble opinion, a clear republican kbrout plan. i mean clear. let's bring in former clinton white house aide, steve malanga, author of "shake down" the continuing conspiracy against the american taxpayer. cnbc contributor jennifer ruben, author of the right turn blog. are you worried? we have 8.3% unemployment. if you add discouraged workers it's 15%. as i said before the gallup poll shows a vast, far, huge margin people are worried more about the economy than they are worried about the budget deficit. is there a danger we'll get into green eye shade land? >> there is always that danger with are you ablrepublicans. romney tips off his five main points. he's talking about energy development, helping small business. he's talking about trade. this is a pro growth message. as you know, the best way to narrow the budget gap, the easy way is through growth. if you get 4% growth you will solve other problems. when he's out there on the stump, first of all, he's more enthusiastic, pumped up and ticks off five elements of his plan. within that he throws in that they are going to get rid of obamacare. that's the big applause line. it's a growth and employment message. >> all right. i want to hear he has a 20% across the board tax cut. i would like to hear him say more about it. and tax reform. he has a 25% corporate tax cut which may be more in terms of growth more important than the personal tax cut. he has a 4% economic growth rate. this is in his documents now. this is what his economists are putting out. he says he'll create 12 million jobs in his first term. all of this is doable on the supply side, in my opinion. is he emphasizing it? yes, i have heard the five points, but a lot of times he doesn't put the numbers, goals and targets in which i love because i'm a numbers guy. what's your take? >> first, he had to respond and ryan had to respond. they were essentially a tax on ryan's medicare proposal. i think he had to respond to that. it's only august. however, i agree. we has to talk not just about tax cuts. e h has to talk about tax reform. the other half of the tax reform makes tax cuts work. it makes it credible. right now he's being attacked because essentially if you look at the tax plan it doesn't look like it works until you get into the fact that we are going to have tax reform with it. ryan has, i i think, more detail. >> and they both have to do this. i want to go to you on this point because you worked for bill clinton. romney is saying he'll take federal spending from 24% of the economy to 20% of the economy. in the first term that could be 137b9 5 trillion. barack obama has no such thing on the table. >> i don't think he will, larry. going back to your point, the last 80 days will be purely about jobs and the economy. >> do you think? >> it will not be about tax return. it will not be about budget deficit reduction. >> do you think barack obama, for one minute, wants to talk about jobs in the economy? seriously. asking a serious question. >> he has to talk about jobs in the economy in the 5 to 7 states he and the campaign will focus on that's being discussed at dinner tables right now in those states. that's all they will talk about. >> isn't the problem all they do is trash romney? let's take this tax thing. romney says that for ten years i paid a 13% plus tax rate. harry reid is a liar. it's a smear tactic. >> it was a priority. >> joe biden said it yesterday or the kay before you will have new shackles around you which is a horrible thing. that's a smear thing. >> do you think eric is right and they will talk about the economy and jobs? >> team obama and eric knows these people better than i. they have been trying not to talk about that. they could always revert and come forward with something else. but that's what romney wants to talk about. he has a very effective stump speech where he talks about the record of the past and what we can do in the future. that has to be romney's message. people have the wrong idea that there are two distinct choices. one is a referendum. one is a choice. you have to do both and say the incumbent doesn't deserve re-election. i do and here's why. mitt romney would be happy to talk about it. we had unemployment numbers out of the bureau of labor and standards today. 44 of 50 states had an increase in unemployment including 5 or 7 swing states. that's a problem for the president. >> steve, very interesting. there is a number. 716 billion. that's the amount that team obama is basically stolen from medicare to finance obamacare which people hate. people like medicare. they hate obamacare. does that stop the mediscare attack on romney? i'm looking at a poll in florida. 48 to 41. more people are scared of obama on this than romney. 65 and over. 54-24. more people are scared of obama than they are romney. i think the 716 billion is the biggest number in the whole mediscare debate. >> i think people are throwing their hands up. when you listen to them debate it you have to put the eye shade on. >> three-quarters of it i don't understand. uh admit it openly. >> i think what people will vote on is not who has the best plan but who's stepping up to the plate saying, you know, i'm going to be forthright with you. chris christie says voters want politicians who stand up, tell the truth and treat them like adults. if ryan does that it's a plus. >> a lot of the scare tactics aren't working effectively. romney can say obama is talking about chili -- the food, not the country -- and putting people in chains. he's saying i'm the grown-up talking about jobs, getting america going. they have to get off it, back to the unifying message. >> here's what ryan does well. he knows the numbers. every time obama and biden accuse ryan of ending medicare as we know it all ryan has to do haul out the $716 billion. the republicans aren't taking $700 billion out of medicare. it's the democrats taking it in order to finance obamacare which basically the country hates. what are you going to do about that? >> it will be interesting to see the campaign response. ryan is on the ticket. romney has to make a decision on how much of the ryan plan he wants to own versus how much of the ryan plan he wants to discard. at the end of the day, think team obama will be able to flawlessly execute attacking the ryan plan. >> $716 billion. last one, jennifer. romney called it medicare advantage yesterday. i thought that was very clever. something like 14 million people signed up for medicare advantage which is a choice of insurance companies and they get their premium support and if they want to add to it, they can. that's a pretty simple, easy way to identify the idea of choice. medicare advantage. people love it. >> right. that's what the $716 peopbillio hacking away at. it get ace way from the talk about vouchers and other stuff. the obama people are really grasping at straws saying they aren't cuts. saying quicking people out of medicare isn't a cut. very strange. >> lower marginal tax cuts create jobs and growth. that will lower the spebd spending to gdp, lower the deficit and make america great. i'm kudlow, a supply sider. thank you all. coming up this evening, six straight weeks of gains for the dow and s&p, the longest winning streak since january 2011. will it continue? we'll ask the ceo of gamco investors. later on, former friend and confidante of obama archer davis is going to tell us why he's no longer confident. free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. we have a clear choice in this campaign. i'm kudlow. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. -oh, that's just my buds. -bacon. -my taste buds. -[ taste buds ] donuts. how about we try this new kind of fiber one cereal? you think you're going to slip some fiber by us? okay. ♪ fiber one is gonna make you smile. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new fiber one nutty clusters and almonds. . . let's do some stock market work. the dow and s&p have had six weeks of gains. the dow closed just four points shy of the four-year record. the s&p added nearly three points. nasdaq climbed 14. all right. joining me now on set, mari mario gabelli who runs gamco investors, ceo and chief investment officer, old personal friend and friend of the show. welcome. later on the program i will use the telestraiter board to show we have good numbers coming out in the month of july which i think helped promote the stock market in august. i want to ask you, can the numbers last? are we out of the woods regarding the recession? that was the message that came out of the numbers. >> you're the economist. i'm a stock picker. i do bottoms-up research and look at sectors of the economy. we gather data, project it, array it and try to find what companies will do what for the shareholders. but the data deals with the consumer. housing is improving. autos are going to flatten out from here. they have had a big run. they will continue to promote inventories, higher production in 2013 won't be as good a as it was in 2012. then the consumer has to worry about food and fuel. >> talk to me about food and fuel. >> gas prices are up. >> it's not as high. dropped to $3.30. now $3.60. >> they are talking about tapping the strategic petroleum reserve. >> desperate political move. a terrible move. >> you want to jawopen down the price in case something happens. >> in case you don't believe in free markets which of course obama does not. >> within that framework cars are getting more fuel efficient. casey's gave us numbers for july. consumption of gas was down a little bit. there is a difference in when weekends occur in a month. everyone loves to hang their thumbnails on it. >> you're worried about consumer spending power. >> psychology of the consumer with regard to the concept of food and fuel. they are deleveraging the numbers show they are 63 trillion dollars of net worth driven in part by stabilization in the housing values. if that starts improving it will be -- >> if the stock market can stay. >> financial assets are important. you're one of the great all-time stock pickers. what do you like now? >> if you look over the next three, four years clearly we have to help infrastructure in this country. the aging of the population. a human population, the aging of bridges, cars, airplanes. the aging of a lot of things. keep them fresh, competitive. within that framework you take companies that are interesting entries on a global basis. navistar dropped from 40 to 25. 30% held by carl icon and another individual. they are looking at how to do it. meanwhile in europe there is a country called fiat industrial run by sergio marsioni. they have a truck company. it's logical to put them together. they came up with the wrong engine design. they will fix it. there are cyclical dynamics occurri occurring. 72 million shares. that's interesting. >> one more. >> in the vendors to boeing, commercial aviation is booming. in china they will build 50 new airpor airports are you worried about defense cutbacks? >> the vendor is to boeing. one that's intriguing to me is honeywell. i'm talking big cap stocks because there are little companies i like like the next greek yogurt play which is not greek yogurt but a company like that which will do that is gluten-free. smart balance is positioning itself. if she can sell stock they would have a good tail wind. there is a lot going on. we are excited about spin-offs, companies come in and say we are rearranging assets. irene rosen field is creating a terrific business. we like bourbon. whether it's beam or brown forma which has jack daniels or wild turkey. >> terrific. i haven't had a drink in 17 years. >> i'm sorry to whet your appetite. >> coming up on kudlow today, obama says if he could have any super power it would be the ability to speak any language. is he serious? i don't know what he's talking about. what about the ability to say capitalism in english and solve the economy. whatever. today's state by state unemployment numbers show a jump in 44 states. that spells big trouble for the incumbent. the breakdown on that and other hmms, coming up next. 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[ male announcer ] fiber one. so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska? with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. dude's good. dude's real good. dudes. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. let's get a check of the headlines. facebook now half of the ipo value. jackie deangelis has the details. good evening. >> good evening, larry. you are exactly right. facebook shares down again today. 4% to close at $19. that's half the initial public offering price from may 18. why is this happening? cnbc'sle julia borstin explains. good evening. >> investors are concerned about facebook slowing growth. leading into the expiration of the lock-up period when early investors are allowed to sell shares short positions were on the rise. wall street is questioning what mark zuckerberg has in the works to rev up ad revenue and diversify praps with a move into e-commerce. back to you. >> thank you. big news for big business. striking workers in the caterpillar factory in joliet, illinois, ratified a six-year contract with all the concessions including a wage freeze. shares are up after hours. meantime passengers aboard an air france jet forced to make an emergency landing in damascus, syria, were asked to chip in and pay for jet fuel. france has sanctions against syria and the damascus airport wouldn't accept credit cards. the airline found a way to pay for fuel. no word how much the bill was. the bureau of labor statistics released state by state unemployment figures. 44 of 50 states showed unemployment was creeping higher. nevada, a swing state, posted the highest unemployment rate at 12%. >> that 44 state number is a bad number, but i want to say to viewers there is really no evidence that the unemployment rate will determine the election. things like income, attitudes, there is no evidence of that. by the way, nevada may be a perfect case because i would say now they are in the democratic column sh even with 13% unemployment rate. that's grist for another mill another time. thanks for coming on. up next, a good week on the economic front. pretty good. slow and steady as she goes. hold off the double dip recession. that's my take. we'll ask our experts what they a think. 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that's the ticket! sleep train's ticket to tempur-pedic is on now. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ back.elcome welcome back. i'm larry kudlow. in this half hour, first of all, archer davis seconded the nomination for president obama in 2008, as you may recall. his harvard law school buddy was obama. today davis has not only left the democratic party, he's joined the republican party and will likely be a headliner at the republican national convention. davis is highly critical of all the democratic policies saying they've gone too far to the left. he will join me as my special guest later on. also, has russian president vladimir putin solidified his grip on power and become an awe authoritarian bordering on dictatorial? a russian punk band got two years in the pokey just for protesting. the russian society is not free. we know that. first up, the free american economy produced a bunch of numbers last month that came in better than expected and helped drive a surprising stock market rally the pros, at least some of them, were fuelled. i have been talking about it all week. there is more good data i today. let's go to the charts for a quick review before we get our investment strategist. first of all, this one is the s&p 500 in yellow. the blue line is the ten-year bond rate. notice, bond prices rising. bond yields rising. stock prices rising. why? they are both signalling better economic growth. bond rate's up, better growth. stock prices up, better growth. let's check on the next one. retail sales came in a surprising 0.8%. so things were not so bad, at least -- these are three-month changes but things aren't so bad. 0.8% surprised a lot of people. industrial production and manufacturing. here, too, better than expected numbers right there. actually up 0.5 to 0.6%. this was surprising and it beat the consensus. now, today, the index of leading economic indicators which was slumping but produced a pretty good rise today, again, surprising all the geniuses who expected something much worse. i think finally the consumer price index, you've got to love this. i know there are inflation hogs but you can see the trend is down. in fact, in the last two months the trend has been negative. there may be a cpi, inflation problem coming up. i sure don't see it. all right. i think that's the next one. we go back to "the kudlow report." let's bring in brian kelly, the cofounder of shelter harbor capital, ceo of bull and bear partners, brian westbury from first trust advisers. brian kelly, there is no recession coming out of the july numbers and probably something like 2% growth. it ain't great. i want 4% growth. but if it continues, the stock market rally might continue. that's my question. >> i think you make a good point. the u.s. economy is actually on probably the best footing it's been on in the last four years. i'm more worried about china as something starting to slow. here in the u.s. you have a housing market recovery. the only problem i have in the u.s. is the fiscal cliff. >> right. >> it's paralyzing companies. the longer it goes on, the more economic damage it does. >> there are so many unknowns here. the politics, the fiscal cliff. jack, things came out better in the last batch of data. i could have said nonfarm payrolls. i'm not sure but they did peat the street estimate. all the things i showed. retail sales, industrial production, nonfarm payrolls, leading indicators. they all beat street expectations. the question for you, jack, going forward, can the trend continue? stocks will rally if it looks like 2, 2.5%. >> i think there will be traction. it feels different this time around. it feels like we hit rock bottom in industries. in fact, housing is one of the numbers. the permit numbers we saw were tremendous. we do see a light at the end of the tunnel. it was no coincidence we have seen a lot of improvement in the numbers along with the ryan vice presidential nomination. i know a lot of people will be skeptical of that. >> was this the paul ryan bull market this week? come on, jack. in your heart. >> yes, it was. >> i call it the square ticket. this market was earning twice as much as it was ten years ago. it's exactly where it was as far as the index goes. all we are seeing is a multiple going back to where it was. if you see an r-squared election, look -- >> r squared, romney and ryan. i love it. i want to say to the viewers i didn't coach him. he said it all on his own. brian, the july numbers pub lushed in august are a dream. do you think the august numbers to be published will be so good? >> think they are going to be good. we have seen this coming for the last five, six weeks. the initial unemployment claims numbers which were trending up in april and may. they came back down. we called this the plow horse economy. it ain't going to win the belmont, but it ain't going to keel over and die either. just to continuehe metaphor we hit stumps, rocks, clay in april and may. things slowed down and looked like they were faltering, but we broke through and we are moving 2%, 2.5%. out's a great environment for stocks. >> this is an argument many smart people are making that nominal gdp, money gdp from which corporate revenues and sales fell in june in a nasty way. that we got a slow down in revenues and a slow down in profits. i want to ask what's your take on that? >> we had a slow down in profits but it's come a couple different times over the cycle. >> this week is about paul ryan. the pick and the better romney in the polls. the biggest thing is the supreme court ruling on obama care. businesses could wait. people could wait and they waited for that ruling to come. the uh economy is still growing. they can't wait forever. they have to produce. but i definitely think the lull we had was about that. >> all right. interesting point. what about the fed, the ecb? do we need easy money to continue the rally? how do you see it playing out? >> well, you need to separate the economy from the market. we are up almost 10% off the lows when draghi made comments over the weekend talking about that he's going to do everything it takes. a lot of the new information, the information is already priced into the market. so you need to separate that. i don't think right now today is a great place to go buying this market. in fact, i took a lot off and end up this week short the market because i think we'll have a pull-back. spain is not going to raise the hand and say we need a bailout until they have no other choice. if you see they have $30 billion for bankia, that's the way they are trying to do it now. >> do we need an easing move by the fed to keep the economy going and the stock market going? >> no. >> jack, same thing. are you relying on the fed? one word. >> not necessary. i will say it that way. you have bernanke and a draghi put in place. everything they are telling you is working. >> okay. brian, i'm skeptical. jack loves the easy money but he did call it the ryan rally. i have to give him credit for that. thank you. you're terrific. up next, russian punk rockers thrown in the pokey for two years by vladimir putin. all they did was protest. what happened to russia's move toward a more civil, capitalist, democratic society? 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[ engine revs ] the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. . riots . riots are heating up in russia and elsewhere in europe in response to a two-year prison sentence for a popular russian punk band that spoke out against the putin government. are old russian regime tactics back in play? here is radio talk show host john bachelor. is there a wall left or is it back to a complete autocratic story with mr. putin doing whatever he wants? >> i'm told this is a winner for putin, defender of the faith. these young women broke into a church associated with the tragedy and triumph of the last 1200 years of russia. it was built after napoleon's retreat from moscow. it was demolished by stalin. mr. putin is happy to identify with the russian orthodox church where the domestic vote is. this is a popular move in moscow. >> so they protested foolishly in the orthodox churches which pis pissed off everybody else. what about the broader picture? i agree it was a dumb move on their part. what is the state of the rule of law, of democracy in russia now? >> it's fragile, larry. i i agree. i don't think vladimir putin is anybody's idea of thomas jefferson. this incident strengthens his hand domestically. that more much informs his ability to projest power internationally. that's what we care about, especially because of the middle east. russia's entanglement with syria is a threat to peace in the middle east and a threat to us. >> can you say that the hard-lined but popular move to throw the rockers in jail strengthens his stance in syria? >> it also distracts from the syrian tangle where the russians don't have better answers than we do? the russians are committed to making sure the united states fails in syria. they believe we lied and betrayed them in libya. vladimir putin leads a national security apparatus committed to russian power. at that point vladimir putin doesn't trust washington. there is no communication between president obama and president putin. this is a low point of the last four years, to my experience. >> i thought obama was going to warm up as the election season comes to an end. you're saying there is no dialogue. >> none. vladimir putin is popular at home not only because of this show trial but an economy based on energy. at the same time, mr. obama is poorly received in any of the offices in the kremlin right now. putting this all together, the conviction of the young women makes vladimir putin a rock star in moscow. >> where is the punitive vice presidential candidate hillary clinton in all of this? why isn't she talking to vladimir putin? >> an excellent question. we could ask the same question, larry, why isn't hillary clinton talking to barack obama? i i'm told there is no relationship between the state department and the white house whatsoever and hasn't been for some time. these are separate planets. >> i believe that's called a total foreign policy dysfunction, john. doesn't get worse than that. i will give you the last word. >> i emphasize that the relationship with moscow is illustrative of what i have been told is poor relationships with all the leadership of europe and north africa. this is not an isolated matter. the obama administration has failed to follow through on its promise of better relations with our allies. >> i conclude it is time for a change. anyway, john bachelor, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> coming up, disillusioned by a democratic party moving too far to the left, arthur davis, former democratic congressman defects to the republican party. he's going to have a headlining role in the upcoming gop convention. davis is next. ♪ [ male announcer ] to hold a patent that has changed the modern world... would define you as an innovator. to hold more than one patent of this caliber... would define you as a true leader. to hold over 80,000... well, that would make you... the creators of the 2012 mercedes-benz e-class... quite possibly the most advanced luxury sedan ever. ♪ join mercedes-benz usa on facebook for the best summer sweepstakes. to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! 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[ male announcer ] fiber one. i i want to play a clip from the democratic national convention seconding barack obama's presidential nomination. take a listen. >> i'm honored to second the nomination of the man whose victory tonight takes us closer to becoming what we know america can be, ladies and gentlemen. >> all right. well, that was then. now mr. davis has deserted the dems, disillusioned by the kind of change president obama has brought to america over the last three years. so he's made a right turn to the gop and he's just been given a headlining role. we welcome back artur davis from alabama. as always it's great to see you. >> thank you, larry. >> in a word, you have made a bold move. you're a strong player. you ran for governor and you may run again. what was it that caused you to make this switch to the gop? >> well, there are a lot of reasons, but the simplest one that a lot of people will understand, the democratic party is no longer a party that fixates on growth. it is a party that fixates on trying to level out conditions in america. that's a perspective, but i think it is the wrong perspective for the challenges we face. the democratic party that i used to know was a pro growth party that believed if you maximized prosperity it will spread. you will expand the middle class and it moved people from the middle class to the upper middle class as well as people from poverty to the middle class. that's disappeared in favor of a fixation on leveling out the economy. in terms of the democratic party, the free enterprise economy and better mobility sounds like the bill clinton democrats. the barack obama democrats in three and a half years plus have pulled the party so far to the left there is no room for you. is that what's going on here? >> well, that's right. there used to be a dprout agenda. now the agenda is more mandates, more taxes, more threats of taxes from businesses, more regulations for businesses. the epa becoming more aggressively involved than ever in every aspect of our economy. things that can't pass congress happening to regulatory fiat. the reality is it's a party whose priorities have changed and a party fixated on mandates and government's footprint is incapable of creating genuine sustained growth in this economy. >> i'm sorry. i was just reading your article in the national review. you cite some big disappointments. black unemployment. very high. the level of child hunger and black communities, very, very high. and the low education achievement. this stuff has to be fixed. do you think that mitt romney and paul ryan have a better grasp of the policy directions that will ameal rate unemployment and hunger and education? >> well, they do because they recognize that you don't solve those problems by throwing money or new programs at them. you solve them by strengthening the education and the skills base of the work force. i saw paul ryan today. out's why i'm informal. you don't wear ties to paul ryan events. i'm encouraged that he's on the scene of the next vice president of the country. he's one of the smartest guys i have met in the congress. he's also courageous. he understands we have to deal with the challenges, promises made e to the next generation. we have to deal with unsustainable mandates and if we don't we'll get a train wreck, the same way we had a train wreck around the capital market several years ago that nearly caused a recession. we gel eat that around entitlements unless we act now. what i hear from the democratic party is that, well, you shouldn't act because it's just not what we should do right now. >> here you have joe biden sinking like a stone in the polls, as he should, saying romney and ryan will put you all back in chains. you call that racial viciousness. i agree with you. he won't even apologize for it. what's your take on the story? >> i didn't call it racial viciousness. uh said he was calling ordinary conservativism racial viciousness. he was saying the ordinary conservativism is racial viciousness or racial bigotry in disguise. i don't agree. but it's part of a pattern. when they are not talking about putting people in chains they are talking about old people being thrown off medicare where the reality is none of paul ryan's plans would affect anybody on medicare or they are making false allegations about taxes or throwing stuff out there, hoping it sticks. it doesn't become the challenges we face. >> i have 25 seconds. what's the biggest talking point you will make for governor romney as you go out for him. 25 seconds. >> there are 7 million of us who voted for barack obama who are traveling in a different direction because we didn't get the unified country we wanted, the results we wanted on the economic front. >> great stuff. artur davis, we appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> "the kudlow report" will be at the republican national convention starting monday, august 27. join us as we go to tampa. we have all-star guests lined up. programming note for monday. i will be joined from ann coulter. that's it for this evening's show. i'm larry kudlow. thanks for watching. ♪ ♪ three, six, nine ♪ the goose drank wine ♪ the monkey chew tobacco on the streetcar line ♪ ♪ ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand ♪ pat it on your partner's hand ♪ ♪ right hand ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand ♪ cross it with your left arm ♪ pat your partner's left palm ♪ clap, pat, clap your hand, pat your partner's right palm ♪ [ male announcer ] it's back. the volkswagen beetle. that's the power of german engineering. you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. 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