Gov. Walker defends Ryan's GM plant shutdown claim

>> comment on that but first nbc's ron mott is on the floor with wisconsin governor scott walker . ron , to you on the floor.

>> hey there, rachel. thank you very much, wisconsin governor scott walker here with me. paul is on the mind.

>> yeah.

>> you got emotional during the speech.

>> i did.

>> explain.

>> i know paul well. i grew up down the road from him. i mean just what he said was not reading off a teleprompter talking about his life and his dad and knowing about his mother and those stories are real, they're who they are. and, you know, particularly when he talked about the gm plant. a lot of folks in my small town went into that plant to work and when he talked about the promises and the fact it's been closed. that's the real deal and shows this isn't just some concept that disconnected concept, that this is the real deal in places like janesville .

>> truly in play, "a," do you believe that and how much do you think that has to do with you coming out on top in the recall?

>> we thought when we won by a bigger margin than two years ago you can't win in wisconsin with more than 200,000 votes with just republicans and conservatives, it takes independent, swing voters and even discerning democrats, they came out overwhelming telling us what they wanted even though didn't agree with every step we took, they wanted bold and courageous leaders. mitt romney showed he was a reformer and could win in wisconsin . when he put paul ryan on the ticket, that took that point and just took it much further forward. not just because paul from wisconsin , but because i think people in our state view paul 's transparency as a true reformer.

>> it's rachel maddow in new york. i only raise it because you did too, but i don't mean to be a fact checker but on that plant, isn't it true that plant closed during the bush administration ? is your criticism the auto bailout wasn't big enough to come back and re-open it? that was not barack obama shutting down that plant?

>> no, it actually -- it had two rounds of layoff and ultimately closed down a few years ago but a good example and for all the people who said it was good in janesville and kenosha, it wasn't. in the end what they ended up doing in that bailout was doing a bankruptcy that was a managed bankruptcy which is essentially what mitt romney talked about in the first place, we would have been better off and saved the taxpayers more money if they would have been more effective doing that early on.

>> you think the auto bailout was not effective for wisconsin and ohio and neighbors states?

>> it wasn't in wisconsin . if you ask those who worked in janesville , they don't feel like it's effective because they're not working today. what we need is true prosperity and comes more effectively through the private sector and what paul talked about tonight. he talked about freedom and prosperity. those are the things i think independent voters, as well as the base cares about in the state of wisconsin .

>> i hear you on the general issues. it is surprising to hear you run down the american auto industry at a moment that it really has come back and to see such a bright spot in the economy, you talked about as if -- things haven't worked out in the auto industry since the bailout. it's a surprise.

>> it didn't in wisconsin and ultimately did in places like michigan but could have come back more effectively and sooner had they taken the advice of mitt romney earlier and did a managed bankruptcy instead of spending all those dollars of taxpayers' money that could have been done more effectively in the private sector early on. we wasted a lot of money and it's yet one more of the many indictments against this president and his administration and why we need forward.

>> was this private sector credit to save --

>> a managed bankruptcy could have been effective and i think that's ultimately where they ended up going after several difficult misstep as long the way.

>> i appreciate it.

>> it was not barack obama 's economic policies that closed that gm plant. that plant was closed in december of 2008 . it's in "the washington post " right now, governor walker. it had nothing to do with obama's policy whatsoever. you can't get away from the fact.

>> no, what i'm saying long term, the idea of that coming back, the idea of the auto industry coming back is something that could have been more effectively done if they had more aggressively gone down the path of mitt romney 's suggestion to go down a managed bankruptcy than one that cost the taxpayers millions more.

>> are you making the case that that plant in janesville would have better employment today if they had followed mitt romney 's theory of a managed bankruptcy that you could guarantee in your economic model that that plant would still be employing and making things today?

>> no, i --

>> i don't think you can and that's the key here.

>> the only one who made that promise was barack obama who promised the people in janesville that plant would still be open and the fact of the matter is -- that's --

>> but, governor --

>> you're right and he made --

>> if you want to talk over and not let me talk, that's fine. apparently that's what you do a lot of but in the end barack obama is the only one who made a promise about that. no, no, let me finish. barack obama -- let me finish. let me finish. barack obama was the only one who made that promise. he's the one who made the promise. if he wants to live up to that promise i'm not making a promise, i'm pulling out what he said about what would happen. it didn't happen under his presidency.

>> it couldn't happen under his presidency. he was inaugurated in january of '09. it closed in december of '08 so how could he fulfill a promise when he wasn't in office, governor?

>> because he said it wouldn't close and if it wouldn't close ultimately he would have come back and would be in play after he became the president.

>> retroactively he should have had it open?

>> no, i'm saying if it was effective in helping the automobile industry it would have brought it back if that was his promise but his promise ultimately failed, which is why people aren't employed in janesville or kenosha and why we see in 44 or 50 states unemployment has gone up in the mast month and why we see 42 consecutive months of unemployment above 8% and have 23 million, sadly 23 of our fellow americans, were either unemployed or underemployed. that is a clear indictment. paul ryan not only talked about that, he had an optimistic plan of how to move it forward. we'll hear more details tomorrow and doesn't matter how long you talk over me and the facts are the fact and we'll move our country forward with mitt romney and paul ryan .

>> thank you for talking to us and, ron , thanks for letting us step all over your interview. tom brokaw and