Coulter: 'Paul Ryan is the perfect pick'

close

Video

Watch out, Democrats: Romney-Ryan ticket energizes GOP base

Ann Coulter weighs in on Republican ticket's impact on White House race

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 13, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The man who could be the next vice president of the United States had the privilege of returning to his home state of Wisconsin on Sunday. And not surprisingly, Congressman Paul Ryan showed his raw emotions when he was greeted like a rock star by the massive crowd.

And that excitement carried over into Des Moines today where he spoke to raucous group of supporters at the Iowa state fair. Now, a word of warning to Joe Biden, this is the guy that you're going to be sitting across from in October's vice presidential debate. And by the way, you won't be able to hide behind Barack Obama's teleprompter. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN, R-WIS., VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama has given us four years of trillion dollar plus deficits. He is making matters worse and he is spending our children this into a diminished future. We don't have to stand for that. We're not going to stand for that. And on November the 6th, we're going to change that.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now, if I were Joe Biden, I'd be worried. As for the president, he happened to be in Iowa today as well. And he had this to say about Congressman Ryan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I know Congressman Ryan, he is a good man. He is family man. He is articulate spokesman for Governor Romney's vision. But the problem is, that vision is one that I fundamentally disagree with.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

Governor Romney and his allies in Congress, they think that if we just get rid of more regulations on big corporations and give more tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, if we end Medicare as we know it, make it a voucher system, then somehow this is all going to lead to jobs and prosperity for everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: And joining me now with her take on Romney's decision and the president's ridiculous continuing class warfare rhetoric, is the author of newly released paperback, "Demonic: How The Liberal Mob is Endangering America," Ann Coulter is back with us. Mr. Coulter, good to see you.

ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, "DEMONIC": Good to see you, Sean.

HANNITY: Here is why I like this decision. And I know you wanted Chris Christie and I know you stole his inhaler, quote, "breathalyzer."

COULTER: I changed my mind.

HANNITY: You changed your mind, that is your prerogative, you know, you could do that. Here's why --

COULTER: No, I think Paul Ryan is the perfect pick. I didn't see it until Romney did it. And you know, I trust Romney, he'll make the right choice. And I was right, he made the right choice. It's a beautiful synergy, it's the perfect combo platter.

HANNITY: There were many that were predicting he would go safe. There is a boldness to this decision. Here's my take on this. He said, we're going to take on your economic ideas, your failed policies, we're going to offer a bold alternative to what Obama's offering. We're going to take on the class warfare, we're going to take on redistribution and let the American people, you know, hear both sides. This is fight we can win. That is why I like it.

COULTER: I don't like it so much bold. I mean, I know what you mean, I just think it's smart. It's smart to trick the Democrats into being forced to debate ideas. Because that is not their strong suit, that's not their playing field. And they win on issues like Medicare, like taxes when it's an issue that gets talked about for five, 10 minutes a day on some business show, some place.

This is going to be the issue of debate now. How the Democrats are lying about Medicare. It is going bankrupt, it will bankrupt for anyone age 45 or under by the year 2034, roughly. And the Democrats don't have a plan. I mean, what was Obama just saying in that speech just now? He acts like he knows something, it's a vision I fundamentally disagree with. What is your plan? What is the Democrats' plan? And part of their plan by the way is for those 55 and older who get to keep the old Medicare is to start underpaying the doctors, so you are not going to have good doctors anyway.

HANNITY: Yes.

COULTER: Under the Ryan plan, the doctors for people on Medicare 55 and older, they will be paid better. You'll get better doctors. You'll get better medical care. And those of us 55 and younger, we'll get better medical care because prices will come down when someone is paying other than the government, i.e. someone who cares what the price is.

HANNITY: Yes. You know, and the narrative is, and I found the president using these terms. We just heard him using class warfare, all weekend long, David Axelrod and company, he is dangerous, he's extreme.

Let me ask you what is more extreme. Borrowing 40 cents of every dollar, you know, raising the debt in this country nearly $6 trillion in four years, or saying that we've got to live within our means and just reduce the rate of growth of government. What is more extreme here?

COULTER: Right.

HANNITY: It seems like this is an argument that is very winnable when it is calmly debated on substance, which I think is what this choice does.

COULTER: Yes. Republicans always win on issues that get elevated to the national issue. Democrats win when they can call names and create and tell lies. You can't -- conservative can't respond to the deluge of lies coming from, you know, every major mainstream media outlet. We have -- you can get some of the truth on one cable station, a few conservative magazines. You can't respond to it all. By elevating this to a national conversation, of course we win. The same way Ronald Reagan won.

This is going to be an election about ideas. And on this class warfare I keep hearing about, it's like Evita Perone saying, I don't love the poor, I hate the rich.

HANNITY: Yes.

COULTER: It is not going to help the economy to raise taxes on the rich. And by the way, the liberals, I hate them more than liberals do but it is not going to make the economy percolate and get people their jobs back, by taxing George Soros more. When Ronald Reagan -- and this is the anniversary of Ronald Reagan's tax cuts -- when he cut taxes, slashed taxes, there was lot to cut. He increased the revenue to the United States Treasury. If you want to spend a lot of money on government programs, you should want to cut taxes because that will increase the money going to the IRS. But they don't care about that. They don't care about the economy. They don't love the poor. They hate the rich.

HANNITY: All right. Let me show you. I wish I had more time because I could show you, I mean, he eviscerates Obama at the healthcare summit that they had. I mean, literally tore him up. But I have a couple of moments. One is that the Republican retreat in Baltimore and the other is when he took on tax cheat Tim Geithner.

I want you to see these -- I mean, these are really incredible moments of somebody that is well informed, knows budget numbers better than anyone else in Washington and has no problem using them when around Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

RYAN: The spending bills that you've signed into law, the domestic discretionary spending has been increased by 84 percent.

You've also said that you want to take a scalpel to the budget and go through it line by line. We want to give you that scalpel.

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: We're not claiming to solve all the problems facing the country. But it does meet the critical essential test --

RYAN: Which is?

GEITHNER: -- of restoring our deficits to a more sustainable position for the next ten years.

RYAN, FEB. 16: Here is the point. Leaders are supposed to fix problems. We have a $99.4 trillion unfunded liability. Our government is making promises to Americans that it has no way of accounting for them. And so, you are saying, yes, we're stabilizing it but we're not fixing it in the long run. That means, we're just going to keep lying to people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Here is my take on this. When we saw the effort to remove Scott Walker in Wisconsin, it was very telling to me that the people of Wisconsin understand the times that we are living in. Understand the dangers of deficit spending. It seems to me that what Ryan has been arguing, what Mitt Romney is positioning us here, is that they are banking on the fact that the American people understand the danger of us becoming a bankrupt society. Is that fundamentally -- does this campaign come down to that?

COULTER: Yes, and I mean the other thing a voucher program does is it harms the Democrats' true constituency which is government workers. Their constituency isn't old people. They just cut Medicare payments for people who are on Medicare now. So, you are getting lousy, or not as good doctors, and that is going to increase if we stay on the path we're on. Medicare is going bankrupt, that is according to Tim Geithner and Alice Rivlin and Ron Wyden and the whole slew of other Democrats, they can't avoid saying that.

But what a voucher program does is it cuts out the government workers, the highly pensioned and well compensated government workers and gives you the voucher to go spend it and look over your medical bill. We were just talking about how you know, people who have dealt with someone in the hospital, check the bill. You'll see a $50 bill for Kleenex.

HANNITY: All right. We --

COULTER: But right now, the consumer doesn't care because the government is paying. When the consumer cares medical costs are going to come down and your medical care is going to improve.

HANNITY: You know, I never thought it was possible, but I think that Ann Coulter loves somebody more than Governor Christie, and I think it's Paul Ryan. It's amazing. We made history tonight. Ann, good to see you.

COULTER: For this position. Good to see you, too. He is the best for this position.

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.