From the 10.15.2011 edition of CNN's Your Money:
Transcript:
VELSHI: All right. Thanks, Tom. In addition to criticisms of his economic plan, Mitt Romney has had trouble gaining support among the Tea Party. CNN Contributors Dana Loesch and Will Cain are here. Dana is also an organizer with the Tea Party.
Dana, looking at some of your Tweets here, just to get a flavor of where you come from when it comes to Mitt Romney.
"I was against him last election, I'm against him this election, I will be he against him so long as he is an unrepentant rhino, which is a Republican in name only."
That go on. That is sort of the flavor. You are not supporting Mitt Romney.
What's your problem with Mitt Romney who is polling, most days higher than everybody else in the Republican race.
DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he and Herman Cain are neck and neck in a lot of polls. Cain came out on top in the recent poll from South Carolina. But the last primary I was weighing which was worse Romney care or McCain-Feingold. And I figure that McCain-Feingold for the immediacy was worse. But McCain is not a factor this primary. So, Romney his record is what I have a problem with. He's not a conservative. He's simply not a conservative candidate. I really do appreciate the people who try to insist that he is. I mean, look at his record when he was governor of Massachusetts, 47th out of 50 states in terms of job creation. He passed-it's still a socialist health care plan at the state level. Socialism at any level is still socialism. He tries to use federalism as a way excuse it.
VELSHI: Just to stick up for him a little bit, let's bring in Herman Cain's nephew, William Cain.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That's my uncle and that's my job. I didn't know that.
VELSHI: Will Cain is not, as far as I know, Herman Cain's nephew. But Will Cain is a CNN contributor.
Will, Herman Cain is giving Mitt Romney, at the moment, a bit of a run for his money. But Mitt Romney is still most Republicans choice for the most part.
CAIN: I have to say Dana is not alone in her feelings about Mitt Romney. There's a complete lack of enthusiasm. And it is not just Dana, you can see it in the polls. While Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann have their rise and falls, from 7 percent to 20 percent and back down to 7, virtually none of that support seems to flow over to Mitt Romney.
There's a sense of resignation with Mitt Romney. Support is resigned to go to Mitt Romney at some point. The reason for that is because of a complete failure, a complete lack of viable alternatives.
A failure to find alternatives to Mitt Romney. Rick Perry stinks of crony capitalism. He stinks of pay to play. Michele Bachmann shows a complete ignorance of conservative concepts like federalism, declaring Mitt Romney's health care mandate unconstitutional, or free market saying she can give $2 gasoline. I think what you see with Mitt Romney, there's a sense of inevitability, it will end being him.
VELSHI: Dana, what do you think of Herman Cain's ascendance lately?
LOESCH: I like Herman Cain. My only criticism of Herman Cain has been his lack of foreign policy experience. I've been pretty outright with that from the beginning. I think he needs to be tested a little bit more on that. And if he is the nominee he should pick someone with a very strong foreign policy record.
But I like Herman Cain. He's very good at retail politics, he is good on the economy. I have a little bit of concern about 9-9-9 Plan. Simply because of the national sales tax and the possible foundation for a value added tax like we see in Europe. Other than that, I think that he's better than what, in my opinion, what we have in the White House right now. So I don't think that -- he seems like a good candidate, but we still have a long way to go. And there's still a lot of vetting to be done.
VELSHI: Will?
CAIN: Yes, I feel the same way about Herman Cain. He's certainly an attractive candidate. His biography alone is compelling. 9-9-9, I agree has some serious substantive problems. But I have to say, for conservatives like Dana, who so strongly will be opposed Mitt Romney, I say this with all due respect, Dana, at some point you have to ask yourself, are you taking a position of similar to that of Occupy Wall Street. I'm going to complain about Mitt Romney, but what will I do? Will you vote for Obama if Mitt Romney is the candidate? What will you do?
VELSHI: Good question. Dana, what happens if Romney is the candidate?
LOESCH: See, and that-I'm so glad that Will brought that up. I have mondo respect for Will, by the way.
CAIN: Thank you.
LOESCH: I think that winning Congress, winning the House of Representatives and winning the Senate is so underappreciated. Because this is-
CAIN: I agree.
LOESCH: I sort of look at it like this. If we have another president - if we have another term of Obama, if conservatives take over the Senate and maintain control of the House, that's going to pretty much circumvent anything radical that he would try to do. If you have someone like Mitt Romney who gets elected, and you have a strong conservative presence in the Senate and House of Representatives, they are going to do kind of the same thing and circumvent anything Mitt Romney will do.
The problem is though, is the Republican Party selling out its soul. There comes a time when you have to ask yourself when is compromising over and over again too much to the point when the party becomes indistinguishable from the opposing political party.
CAIN: That's a fair philosophical questions, but I think we have to ask ourselves, would you rather have Republican Congress with Obama as president or Republican Congress with Mitt Romney as president? I think the second alternative certainly sounds better.
LOESCH: I would think that-well, any generic Republican candidate, just to echo some of the polling, when they do not even bother naming the Republican candidate, is beating Obama in the polls. I think any Republican candidate would do at this point. I also think I'm not ready to say Mitt Romney is going to be the nominee. I'm still-Rick Perry may do something-
VELSHI: Why is that, Dana, because we're 13 months away from election. You are wise. Everyone else seems to be treating this thing like it's going to be decided in the next month.
LOESCH: Everyone is already ready to crown Mitt Romney. I don't understand the rush to immediately look at him as the nominee for the Republican Party. We are still so far way from that. And in terms of fundraising, too, sure, Rick Perry has problems. I haven't decided on a candidate and I have criticisms of every single one of them. But he out fundraises Mitt Romney, he raises like, I think, $3 to $4 million more than Romney did last quarter.
VELSHI: He did some stuff on Friday to sort of put some new energy into his campaign by putting out an energy policy. Let's see where we go with that. We have lots to go to talk about that.
Dana, always a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for being with us. You guys should follow Dana on her Twitter. Interesting stuff.
Follow Will. Will what is your-
CAIN: Will Cain, pretty simple.
VELSHI: And Dana?
LOESCH: DLoesch.
VELSHI: DLoesch, L-O-E-S-C-H. Follow these two. Good stuff.
LOESCH: S-C-H.
VELSHI: Very good.
Make sure to tune in October 18th, Tuesday 8:00 p.m. Eastern for CNN Western Republican presidential debate. It is in Las Vegas. Anderson Cooper will moderate.
I've got a question. If a foreign student gets a degree in the United States, in science or technology, or engineer or math, should they be allowed to stay here and use that education to start a business? Would that actually create jobs here in the United States? Don't answer. Don't answer. Think about it for a second. We're going to take a break, pay the bills, and talk about it on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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