[Rice:] Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have the integrity and the experience and the vision to lead us. They know who we are. They know who we want to be. They know who we are in the world and what we offer.
[Morgan:] Who better to advise Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on foreign policy than Condoleezza Rice. Her speech in Tampa brought the crowd to its feet, as the former secretary of state defended the pair and the party. Before she addressed the convention, Dr. Rice spoke to me. Dr. Rice, how are you?
[Rice:] I'm very well, thank you. Nice to see you.
[Morgan:] Very nice to see you. Mitt Romney has two big problems, according to all the polls: women and black voters. You are a very high-profile woman and a block voter. How do you feel about that, and in particular, this recent extraordinary poll, it seemed to me, the "Wall Street Journal"NBC poll, that said Mitt Romney was rating literally polling zero amongst black voters in America. I found that staggering. You must have done too.
[Rice:] I do, except I also know that a lot depends on how one asks the questions. And I'm always a little bit suspicious of polls myself. Look, what we have to do is as a party is to explain to people why these issues, which are so prevalent among Americans in general, also speak to concerns for minorities and women. If you are a black person and you're not concerned about the fact that the unemployment rate among young black men is more than twice the national average, then you're not concerned about minority issues. If you're not concerned about the fact that our schools are failing kids in the least privileged circumstances, many of whom are minorities, then you're not concerned about minority issues. And Mitt Romney speaks to those issues. And so we have a tendency to say, what are minority issues? Well, education, jobs, the sorts of things that most Americans are worrying about these days.
[Morgan:] Is he focusing enough, though, on the black vote, on the female vote? Does he need to do more? Because is that going to be a problem? At the moment, there's a perception that Mitt Romney's decided, you know, Barack Obama, I can't beat him with the black vote, so there's no point wasting time and energy chasing a vote I'm not going to get?
[Rice:] Well, look, there was great pride and I shared it in America's first black president. Everybody understands that. Ultimately, one has to ask, are these policies that are helping America and, in particular, are they helping some of the most vulnerable among minorities, kids in failing schools, unemployed youth? And the policies aren't helping those constituencies. So I do think that Mitt Romney is speaking to black voters, speaking to women voters who hold many of the same concerns. But it has to be there has to be receptivity on the other side too. It can't just be a one way transmission.
[Morgan:] One of the problems the party has it reared its ugly head last week with the Todd Akin fury is this percent that because of some of the extreme positions, as many people see them, on social issues like abortion and other, that adds to the fire that somehow the party is anti-woman. What did you make of the Todd Akin thing? You yourself are not as hard line about abortion as many in the party.
[Rice:] No, no. Well, first of all, the way that the party leaders, Mitt Romney and others, responded should tell people how the party feels about that. It was a statement that that really bordered on ridiculous. And I think everybody said that. Now, women, the party and women; you saw a parade of women who are leading this party, governors and senators. And I say, what more do you want? Yes, they are women of conservative views.
[Morgan:] Well, actually, what they really wanted Dr. Rice was probably you as VP to have a real position of power in the party.
[Rice:] First of all, nobody wanted that, especially me.
[Morgan:] A lot of people wanted that.
[Rice:] Well, I didn't want that.
[Morgan:] You really didn't want that?
[Rice:] No, I really didn't want that. We've got a great candidate for vice president in Paul Ryan.
[Morgan:] You've said that you have no desire to be in Mitt Romney's cabinet should he win in November. Not many people believe you.
[Rice:] Well, they should.
[Morgan:] Look me straight in the eye. Are you 100 percent or 99.99?
[Rice:] Piers, I wrote a memoir called "No Higher Honor." There is no higher honor. But I've had that honor. And I'm very happy to be, now, a professor at Stanford. And that's where I'm going to be.
[Morgan:] Far more important than anything has been your appointment as one of the first two female members of the Augusta National Golf Club.
[Rice:] Yes.
[Morgan:] A triumph for women all over the world.
[Rice:] Yes. Well, I'm very honored. I'm honored that the members of Augusta want me to be among their number. It is a beautiful golf course with wonderful traditions. And I said some time ago, you know, the face of America, the face of golf is changing. And I'm very grateful to enter with Dala Moore, who's also
[Morgan:] When you say you're honored, a bunch of old dinosaurs who banned women for over 100 years, it's not that great an honor, is it? It should have happened years ago.
[Rice:] It happened, as it should with private clubs, on the timing of the members of that club. But I am honored. And I look forward to playing there. I've got to work a little bit on my short game, because it's very hard to hold the greens at Augusta.
[Morgan:] Have you chosen your first partner to play with you?
[Rice:] No, but I'm working on it.
[Morgan:] Because I'm available.
[Rice:] You ready?
[Morgan:] Well, I banned myself until they allowed women back, so I've now released my own ban. So I'm available.
[Rice:] I see.
[Morgan:] I can help you with your short game.
[Rice:] I do have a long line. so
[Morgan:] Dr. Rice, it's a great pleasure. Next, Rick and Karen Santorum. I'll ask the former presidential candidate about his now famous hand speech and his advice for Mitt Romney.
[Rick Santorum , Former Presidential Candidate:] Under President Obama, the dream of freedom and opportunity has become a nightmare of dependency, with almost half of America receiving some sort of government assistance. It's no surprise fewer and fewer Americans are achieving their dreams, and more and more parents are concerned their children won't realize theirs. President Obama spent four years and borrowed five trillion dollars trying to convince you that he can make things better for you, to put your trust in him and the government to take care of every problem. The result is massive debt, anemic growth and millions more unemployed.
[Morgan:] Rick Santorum has come a long way in a few short months, from Mitt Romney's number one challenger to a loyal supporter. I sat down with him and his wife, Karen, shortly after his big convention speech. Welcome to you both. First of all, let me see these hands. It was all about the hands tonight.
[Santorum:] They asked me to talk about welfare. And when I thought about that, I just thought about, well, what the center part of welfare reform as I worked on it, because I helped to write the bill, was work. So when I think of work, I think of my grandfather and I think of what he did to work his way, and that he wasn't reliant on welfare benefits, as immigrants don't. So I thought I'd I really felt that that was a sort of theme, to talk about him and his hands, which I had talked about before. And the more I thought about it, it I just thought of all of the people I have met.
[Morgan:] Actually, I thought it was powerful. I like the way you threaded it through. What I didn't like so much is you continuing to make out that President Obama, in some way, wants everyone on welfare to forget about going to work, because you, in your heart, know that is not true. That is not what has happened, is it?
[Santorum:] Well, what has happened is a dramatic expansion of government entitlement programs and programs like and more to come, Obamacare, which is a huge government expansion that is going to, quote, "guarantee people health insurance," which of course, you know, it does not necessarily mean health care.
[Morgan:] But you don't actually believe he wants people on welfare to stop looking for work or being placed. You don't think that is really what he wants, do you? Be honest.
[Santorum:] I think that what the president of the United States may, in his own mind, believe is the way to get America going is the way to dependency and it is a way look, people on welfare I worked with this issue. People on welfare made rational economic decisions not to work, because the government programs were so generous that it cost them money to work. These are things that while he may not say, well, I want does he really believe, oh, I don't want people to work? No. But his policies lead to rational decisions which lead to dependency.
[Morgan:] Right, but that is quite an admission you just made, because if you don't think that is what he really believes, you should be more honest about it.
[Santorum:] No, he believes that the government should do more for I don't believe there is any question that Barack Obama believes that the government should do more and that you cannot trust the private sector. He goes out and uniformly condemns profit, condemns the private sector.
[Morgan:] There are so many accurate things that you could go after President Obama on. Why go after things which just don't really stack up?
[Santorum:] Well, I would make the argument that when you dramatically expand the size and scale of government, when you dramatically expand social welfare programs, when you provide waivers to work requirements, as he did people don't talk about this, but two years ago, he did a waiver to Food Stamp's work requirement, and Food Stamps have exploded. He has dramatically increased the social welfare state in this country. And you can make the argument that he believes that it is a good thing, that government should be there not just as a safety net, but should be there to provide sort of a basic. He is someone who believes in the living wage, that government should guarantee a certain wage. Yes, he believes in a heavier hand of government. And I would make the argument that that leads people to be dependent upon Washington for them to be provided for. And I think that is a dangerous thing.
[Morgan:] Well, it was good to see you up there, back on form, back on fire. I always said about you that whether you agree with you or not, you are a man who is at least consistent. I think that is a powerful thing in a politician.
[Santorum:] Well, thank you. I'd rather use the word I try to be authentic. I just try to be who I am.
[Morgan:] They're similar things. Good to see you. Nice to see you, Karen. Take care. Take care. Next week, I'll be in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the live coverage at the Democratic National Convention. I'll sit down with all the party's movers and shakers. And I'll be in the CNN Grill every night with special midnight editions of PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT. And that's all for us here in Tampa. Goodnight, everyone.