By ,
Published January 08, 2015
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 5, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Tonight is being called the second most important race of the 2012 election year. And it has enormous national implications for the president.
Now in recent weeks, the White House has attempted to stay as far away from this race as possible. And when you look at the Obama record and compare it to what Governor Walker has been able to accomplish, well, it is pretty obvious why the administration was hesitant to get involved.
Now thanks to Walker's budget cuts, jobs are being created while tax dollars are being saved. In addition, a monstrous deficit has now become a surplus in Wisconsin. But that's not the case under the Obama economic plan with this health care law and its failed stimulus act doing nothing more than add $5 trillion to the national debt.
And joining me now to debate the two very different paths that Governor Walker and President Obama have chosen are Walker supporter, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and from Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Robert Kraig, and he is a supporter of Tom Barrett.
All right. Mr. Kraig, very simple question -- first of all, you know, for the president to be so close to Wisconsin, knowing this is a close race, supporting Mr. Barrett, not being willing to go in and put his, you know, prestige on the line here and you know, sending out a tweet, you know, what is it? I heart you, I love you. Doesn't that seem a little weak to you?
ROBERT KRAIG, CITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN: I actually think he should have done more. We did get Bill Clinton, we got the tweet --
HANNITY: You didn't get the president.
KRAIG: I think the president should have done more. So, I don't disagree with you. But I think, quite frankly, that the results are going to be a huge implication for the presidential election. So, I don't disagree. He should have done more.
HANNITY: OK. Now, Senator, let me go to you. Because there is a lot at stake here. And I think more than anything else, I think this is going to send the message to every reform governor that has put their political careers on the line and they have said, look, this is what we have to do to balance our budget. I am going to make tough decisions but I'm going to take $3.6 billion in a deficit and I am going to turn it into a surplus, but there is going to be a little pain involved. Do you think politicians -- if Walker is not recalled tonight and he survives, do you think that will embolden politicians to make more courageous decisions like this?
SEN. RON JOHNSON, R-WIS.: Absolutely, Sean. This is incredibly important election nationally because, you know, we need some stiff spines here in Washington. I try and keep pointing out that the budget deficit Governor Walker had the courage to lead and actually fix was a thousand times smaller than what we are dealing with here on the national level.
So no, if the reward for actually acknowledging the problem and taking the hard decisions and the tough votes to fix it is to get booted out of office, that will send a terrible signal to other elected officials here in Washington who are going to have to have the courage start facing up to the very serious problems we have in this nation.
HANNITY: Yes. All right. Mr. Kraig, look, whether you agree with Governor Walker or not is kind of irrelevant. But you got to look at the statistics in your state, your unemployment is lower, the Obama Labor Department confirmed that he has created just under 30,000 jobs in the last year. Three point six billion in the deficit to a surplus of $150 million. Do you not recognize that that is a good thing for your state?
KRAIG: Well, the jobs numbers, whether you take Walker's or the traditional jobs numbers, are horrible. That it's the worst job performance in the Midwest. The only comparative numbers you have between states that's last in the country --
HANNITY: Wait, wait, wait -- the unemployment rate is 6.7 percent.
(CROSSTALK)
KRAIG: If you are saying -- well, it was lower to begin with. But if you are comparing him to Obama. Obama's job record is much better than Walker's, so let's talk about real numbers.
HANNITY: Wait. Obama hasn't created a single net job since he's been president. He lost a million jobs. So, I am asking you -- wait a minute. He's on the positive side of job creation. Those are the labor statistic numbers. That's indisputable. He has also taken a massive deficit, unlike President Obama who gave us $5 trillion in debt, and he turned it into a surplus. You may not agree with his methods, but you can deny that that is a good, responsible thing to do for Wisconsin?
KRAIG: His job performance is 50th in the country. Well, as far as the deficit, we have a -- you have to have a balanced budget in Wisconsin. Every previous governor has balanced the budget.
HANNITY: But he inherited a deficit.
KRAIG: Without attacking people's rights.
HANNITY: But he inherited $3.6 trillion deficits.
KRAIG: The previous governor faced larger deficits and he didn't take away people's rights and create a huge protest movement, the biggest movement in state history, in order to do it. I am saying that it is disconnected from the deficit --
HANNITY: It is not disconnected.
KRAIG: He went after unions as a power play. Not in order to save money. It's a non-fiscal matter.
HANNITY: You give me the talking points.
KRAIG: No.
HANNITY: But here's the bottom line. Because I think it's, look, I think its self evident, which is the problem, Senator, and that is that we cannot live beyond our means. And what I find interesting in this race more than anything else, is we ask for principled politicians. And then when we get one, it seems that the public, if they re-elect Scott Walker tonight, and don't allow this recall to go forward, that indicates to me that the country is getting serious about deficit spending. Senator?
JOHNSON: Absolutely. And Sean, the big difference here between Governor Walker and President Obama is Governor Walker led. You know, this President has put forward four budgets now, he has yet to propose a solution to save Social Security or Medicare. His last two budgets now received three votes in Congress. Final tally, 0-610, that's how unserious his proposals are.
So, no, it is a stark difference in -- I'm confident that the voters of Wisconsin are going to be supportive of our elected officials who have actually taken on the challenges and, you know, taken the tough votes and solved the problem. It's extremely important for our nation.
HANNITY: Thank you both for being with us.
Content and Programming Copyright 2012 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2012 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/president-obama-vs-governor-walker-whose-policies-have-worked-best