RNC chair emerges as party's unapologetic defender
Reince Priebus becomes an outspoken critic of liberal campaign tactics
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 14, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: He is the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and now Reince Priebus has emerged as the unapologetic defender of his party.
Now with the left throwing one low blow after another, it is Priebus who is firing back at this gutter politics. Take a look at some of the chairman's latest hits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY", JULY 8: This president has shown he is not who he said he was. He claimed he was going to bring everyone together. He's going to be this uniter. He's been the most divisive, nasty, negative campaigner this country has ever seen.
PRIEBUS, "THIS WEEK"/ABC, AUG. 5: As far as Harry Reid is concerned, listen, I know, you might want to go down that road. I am not going to respond to a dirty liar who has not filed a single page of tax returns himself.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you think Harry Reid is a dirty liar?
PRIEBUS: I just said it.
PRIEBUS, "MEET THE PRESS"/NBC, AUG. 12: This president stole. He didn't cut Medicare. He stole $700 billion from Medicare to fund ObamaCare. If any person in this entire debate has blood their hands with regard to Medicare, it's Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Joining me now, the Republican National Committee Chair, Reince Priebus is with us. Well, I just said it, I mean --
PRIEBUS: Back-track. I mean, it was true. It remains true. But we have a real opportunity here to save the American dream and this country. I really think that this president has a problem with the American dream.
You know, I don't think parents out there -- Democrats and Republicans alike are looking for the glass half empty America that Barack Obama wants to sell this country. That's not what we are.
So we are going to be aggressive. So my view is if they want to punch us, we are going to punch back with brass knuckles. That's what we have to do.
HANNITY: You know, I got to tell you. If there is one thing that I have heard consistently from conservatives, only up until recently, things seem to have changed. That why isn't -- why are the Republicans not fighting back harder?
I know they threw a lot of money at you in July and August. Outspent you two or 3-1. But there has been a desire -- when you say, OK, this is a nasty, negative, most divisive, nasty, negative campaign, here's the question -- is that true?
PRIEBUS: Look at what Joe Biden said today, with this chains comment and a lot of comments and a lot of the Priorities USA ad, which basically blames Mitt Romney for the death of someone six years after they left the company.
I mean, at the end of the day, the only thing shovel ready around here are the words coming out of Barack Obama and Joe Biden's mouth.
So I just think that we are doing this and the fight that we are having. And I'm just speaking as the chairman of the Republican Party -- it is not about the future of our party. This is about the future of America. This is worth fighting for. We are going to lose this country, unless we turn this economy around.
This president hasn't lived a mission. He hasn't fulfilled his promises. As a result of all that, we are going to lose the very idea of this country.
HANNITY: I think a big mistake was made in 2008. Everything was taken off the table one thing after another. Here you have, Mitt Romney, being basically called a murderer, a felon, a tax cheat.
He hates women. He hates dogs. He wants dirty air and water and he doesn't like kids with autism and Down syndrome. You are not going to fight back hard?
PRIEBUS: Of course, we are going to fight back.
HANNITY: Rhetorically.
PRIEBUS: You are seeing that. I think you've seen one of the benefits of having an RNC and the Romney campaign that's working so well together.
We're raising the money. We are going to be able to outspend Barack Obama's campaign toward the last three months of the campaign. They have spent all of their money early. We are spending now -- we are driving the message.
I think that the leadership and courage and conviction that Mitt Romney showed by picking Paul Ryan tells one really important thing -- that this election is very different. It is not going to be about just winning an election. This election is going to be about governing like we campaigned. That's what this country needs.
HANNITY: There are 49 million Americans in poverty, 47 million Americans on food stamps, 25 million Americans un and under-employed. Maybe overtime, these become statistics. These are real lives, real people, really suffering.
I think we deserve better than a president who said he would bring us together and is running a campaign out of Chicago, full of lies and, you know, comments such as the president's running. You know, I don't know, where is the decency? I am a little shocked -- well, as critical as I have been --
PRIEBUS: When you consider what Barack Obama ran on. I mean, he was going to carpet the world. He was going to bring everybody together. He was going to be different --
HANNITY: Heal the planet.
PRIEBUS: This operation is one of the most hateful, divisive operations that we have ever seen in this country. This president has not met the basic promises that he laid out to the American people. He is not a man of his word.
I think of all the things, we can talk about the economy, jobs and all the issues. Of all the things that I think will undo Barack Obama, is that he is not real anymore. There is something that America's starving for, are real, authentic people who want to serve this country with a pure heart and make a difference.
That's why this Medicare debate, how to get the debt and deficits under control, that's why we are going to prevail because we are offering something bigger than what Chicago is offering this country.
HANNITY: Interesting. Let me ask you this. You have a theme to the convention I hear?
PRIEBUS: We do. A better future, this country deserves a better future. We don't want another four years of this misery that we've been through. I don't think too many people do.
I will tell you, when I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, my dad was a union electrician. I remember driving around town. My parents like a lot of parents, and I'm sure a lot of people watching right now, they didn't point to the beautiful house on the corner and say, look at kids, look at these lousy people over here that are successful.
My dad looked at me and said, listen up, pal, if you go to school and you work hard, you are going to live in that house. And mom and dad hope it's a lot bigger than that house.
Every parent in America wants their kids to be successful. For whatever reason, this president is using success, making something from nothing and living the American dream as a negative. That's not what parents want for their kids.
HANNITY: You know, it's funny. You are describing my father from Brooklyn. My grandfather came here with 40 bucks in his pocket from Ireland, Irish Catholic, need not apply, and fought in World War II, my father did, buying that $13,000 house on a 50 by 100 lot. I had three sisters and one bathroom. That's hell on Earth, Chairman.
PRIEBUS: I had one sister, but she spent a lot of time in the bathroom.
HANNITY: Three was hard.
PRIEBUS: My mom was born in Khartoum, Sudan. My dad was in the Army in Ethiopia. They moved here to Queens, New York, and then back to Wisconsin. So America hangs in the balance.
HANNITY: Good point.
PRIEBUS: We are going to have a great debate about big solutions to big problems in this country. I think that's what America's starving for.
HANNITY: Chairman, I hope you keep fighting hard. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us.
PRIEBUS: Thank you, Sean. Appreciate it. God bless you.
HANNITY: And make sure that Governor Romney doesn't kill anybody between now -- that's what he is being accused of.
Thanks for being with us.
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