our potential leaders. if you actually get into the numbers, you quickly see that paul ryan s budget cuts over $5 trillion from spending, 62% of which comes from low income programs so we re talking about medicaid, food assistance. meals on wheels, respite care for disabled people, pell grants, 30 million americans. right, that s the millions who would lose access to medicaid, to food assistance, are just incredibly striking. what they re trying to do here he doesn t mention his path to prosperity budget, he just offers a number of set of words. yes and the thematic behind it all, what they re really trying to do here is argue that if you simply get rid of the safety net, people will pull themselves up by their boot straps. well, every time we ve tried this trickle-down supply side stuff poverty hasn t gone down. poverty has gone up. we absolutely need a safety net
growing up in the mormon church as opposed to maybe you, chris, in the catholic church. the answers were very interesting to me. some of it has to do with his mission and the mission experience, but a lot of it has to do with the family story about their own relationship with their great grandfather and that relationship to the united states of america. that story that mitt was fond of hearing how his family fought and came up by their it boot straps from real depredation and prjs prejudice in mexico. he didn t feel he could talk about it because it s about polygamy. let s look at a documentary exploring a side of mitt romney we don t hear often about, his family s mormon faith. let s watch how you handled it. the romneys had left the united states to go to mexico to avoid persecution, but it s also
responsibility. but you don t tear the whole thing down. by the way you reform, you don t totally roll back. there s just, you know, symbolic problems that will lead many to lather in a huge way in this. and that is that this is a guy with a car elevator. this is a guy who won t release his tax returns, this is a guy who didn t pay taxes. you know it seems to me that the conservatives it s bad. the conservatives that do the best, politically, are conservatives like paul ryan from a sort of very middle class background, chris christie, margaret thatcher, a shopkeeper s daughter, ronald reagan, a guy that pulled himself up by his boot straps from, you know, the depression in iowa. here with mitt romney, you do there s no relatability. you do have a guy who seems so insulated. who dismisses and i m dead serious here, this is a question for my conservative brethren and sisters and republican brethren
i think not. if you watch the conventions this year, you might be forgoting it s not harmless to children. the stories of parents and grandparents who overcame poverty lifting themselves out of it with nothing but hard work and dedicated effort. they had luck or help from the community that contributed to their success. nor did we hear how social mobility diminished since they pulled themselves up by their boot straps. the fact is, it s harder in the united states to lift yourself from poverty now than it was 50 years ago. yet, in the midst of a presidential campaign where the economy is the central issue, we rarely hear poverty mentioned by either candidate. according to a new report by fairness and accuracy reporting, less than 1% of the campaign coverage addressed poverty in any way. that is, at least, directly.
it s interesting that headline from bill clinton, you know, this is a big decision about what kind of country do we want to live in. both sides have said the same exact question. there are two great strains in the american tradition. one is rugged individualism. personality responsibility, pulling yours up by your boot straps. in the other case, we are all in it together and if you re down on your luck you may need a helping hand. the party successful is those that can reconcile those two. that s what we look forward to getting back to charlotte and the president s comment. we understand that jobs are created by the private sector, that job businesses drive job creation, that government tends to operate at the margin even it s at the force that creates economic growth. i think it s important for us to say that otherwise you do run the risk of being misinterpreted. martha: one of the things that was said about former president clinton s speech last night because that he didn t bash co