Wisconsin Recall Elections Over; Tea Party Activist Confronts Obama
PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross country. This is the first day of school since the devastating earthquake hit Joplin, Missouri, killing 130 people. Joplin high school was among of the many buildings damaged or destroyed so students are attending classes at a middle school and a retrofitted shopping mall. In Wisconsin, the ballots are in from the last of a series of recall elections and two Democratic state senators will retain their seats beating Republican challengers. The recall was triggered by a fight over collective bargaining rights for state employees earlier this year. In Forney, Texas, 11-year-old Caroline Gonzales is named mayor for a day. She won a Facebook contest. Her first order of business was renaming Main Street to Justin Bieber Way in honor of her favorite pop star. President Obama set out on his Midwest bus tour to find out what's on people's minds. Well, he definitely got a piece of Ryan Rhodes' mind the other day in Iowa. Take a listen.</s>RYAN RHODES, IOWA TEA PARTY CHAIRMAN: When with you're talking about civility, how is your vice president calling us terrorists?</s>OBAMA: Sir --</s>RHODES: I would like to understand that.</s>OBAMA: I will explain. He did not call you guys --</s>RHODES: He said we were acting like terrorists.</s>OBAMA: No, no. What he said was for us to be willing to take the economy to the brink was irresponsible. And it was.</s>PHILLIPS: Ryan Rhodes is the founder and chairman of the Iowa Tea Party, joining us live from Des Moines. So, Ryan, did you get what you wanted from the president?</s>RYAN RHODES, IOWA TEA PARTY CHAIRMAN: Well, I got to ask a question. You know, that does say something about this American process.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, did he give you the answer that you were looking for? Did it satisfy you?</s>RHODES: Well, no. I mean, he jumped in to defending and saying, I've gotten called every name in the book. I can tell you this. I've been -- I'm catching up with him on those names in the last days from a few people. But, you know, we're out here and the fact, is you can't have a debate when one side of the aisle, Harry Reid and whether it's Joe Biden sitting there and listening to people say it and not actually challenging them on it or whether it's people on down the party, he's the leader of that party just the same as he's the president. And it's time for him to actually lead and not let people use that rhetoric out there. I mean, he spent most of the town hall talking about how unreasonable the other side was. So, I mean, I want to know how you come together on that when that's your general premise and starting point.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you, did you find it pretty remarkable, the president obviously realized you were a critic, but he stopped. He looked you in the eye and actually engaged you? Did that in any way change your mind on how you may feel about the president?</s>RHODES: Well, I have respect for him for doing that, but we are -- we're ideologically opposed, and I think that's pretty apparent. What he wants to do with the country and what I want to do with the country, the direction I want the country to go, are just -- they don't line up in any way, shape or form.</s>PHILLIPS: Now, you're backing Michele Bachmann, right?</s>RHODES: Yes, I decided to come out and let people know I was going to vote for Michele Bachmann last week.</s>PHILLIPS: And what is it that you like about Michele Bachmann, and what do you think about Rick Perry jumping in?</s>RHODES: Well, for Michele Bachmann, she's honest. I mean, people give her a hard time for a mistake, but she jumped at a chance to say, oops, we've got better things to talk about like the economy and jobs. When it comes to that, she stood up and said, we have to have a balanced budget and we have to actually get our debt under control because if we don't we're not going to have a whole lot of -- we're not going to have an America left. As to Rick Perry, you know, I think he's just starting to introduce himself to people so we'll see. I don't know enough to make much of a critique on Rick Perry.</s>PHILLIPS: Final question, let's just go a little bit further into your exchange with the president before I let you go. I've got a final question for you. This came after your first question to him.</s>RHODES: Balanced budget is reasonable.</s>OBAMA: He wasn't objecting to the balanced budget amendment. He was objecting to us almost defaulting.</s>RHODES: Then why doesn't somebody pass a balanced budget amendment. It's simple. We can pass --</s>OBAMA: It doesn't sound like you're interested in listening.</s>RHODES: You haven't listened either. You blame it on everybody but yourself.</s>PHILLIPS: I'm curious, Ryan, because as we're talking now it's much more calm and it's a civil discussion. But at that moment, it appeared to be possibly a little confrontational and neither of you were able to get your points across and the conversation didn't get to finish, and the president moved on. Do you think maybe if you would have engaged him differently that the conversation might have lasted a little longer and you guys might have been able to get a little more in depth?</s>RHODES: Well, no. It's funny because that part of the question was actually me answering the person to my left who asked what the Tea Party stands for. And then halfway through -- when I turned to the side and was kind of talking to that person is when Obama jumped in -- President Obama jumped in and said that the balanced budget wasn't what he objected to. So it was almost like a separate conversation getting pulled in, but that -- at that point, you know -- they voted down the balanced budget. OK, for him to go out and say they weren't against the balanced budget is not -- I mean, they can pass that on its merits, in and of itself, and we could debate everything else the next day. But if they don't want to pass a balanced budget, I just don't know how it can even plan on working to cut this.</s>PHILLIPS: Ryan Rhodes via Skype out of Des Moines. Thanks, Ryan.</s>RHODES: Thank you for having me on.</s>PHILLIPS: You bet. Coming up, the estranged wife of a "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Taylor Armstrong has apparently committed suicide. We'll have more in your showbiz headlines.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If your commute drives you crazy, this town may be a good fit. Getting to work within this unique city takes less than 15 minutes. Where does less time in the car mean more fun outdoors? We'll tell you after the break.