CNN "Piers Morgan Live" - Affordable Care Act

Interview

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MORGAN: Health and Human Services, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius taking all the heat of the failure of ObamaCare and the GOP is out to keep the pressure on her boss.

Joining me now a rising Republican star is the author of "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and a Nation's Challenge." In the Chair with me tonight Governor Scott. Governor welcome to you.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER, (R) WISCONSIN: Good to be with you again. Thanks for having me Piers.

MORGAN: Are we now in a position where the Republicans would love Kathleen Sebelius to keep her job for as a long as humanly possible?

WALKER: Well, obviously many of us like myself warned about the problems we're seeing with ObamaCare and not just with the rollout but with the program itself.

But as I have cautioned to many other Republicans in my statement across the countries, we need to be very careful. We need to be joining with Americans whether they were for or against the Affordable Care Act and joined in their frustration, not in anyway look like we're relishing this or if ObamaCare goes over the cliff we shouldn't be the ones pushing it. We should be back trying to help everyday Americans find a better, a better alternative and that's exactly what we're trying to do.

MORGAN: Does the apparent catastrophe of ObamaCare in any way justify the government shutdown? Was it a time the Republicans were getting all the heat for forcing that, but now some are saying, "Well, they had a point, didn't they?"

WALKER: Well, I said months ago, so long before this so I'm not hindsight 20/20 but I had said back in August that I think the federal government is too big, too expensive that takes on too many responsibilities for individual's lives. But what I thought was necessary was left the few things that aren't necessary in the government are things that should work. And I had a difficult time justifying that making it work meant shutting it down.

I do think drawing attention to ObamaCare and the preceded failures was important, but as we've seen you don't need a Republican to point that out. Everyday people are finding out sadly everyday that -- not only is the website not working but the program itself is not working. And it seems like every time someone from this Administration comes forward that there seemed to be even more problems on the horizon including even more details about the website itself not only not working but not being fully built out.

MORGAN: Indeed it does. Let's play a clip now from -- this is you on this week. You're talking about who should be president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I think it's got to be an outsider. I think both the presidential and the vice presidential nomination either be a former or current governor and people who've done successful things in their states have taken on big reforms or ready to move America forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: So we did a better research into who you ruled out with that comment. There'd be no Marco Rubio, no Ted Cruz, no Paul Ryan, no Rand Paul. Now a cynic, my suggest, Governor, that you deliberately ruled them out because they're full and quite useful candidates and it clears the decks for you.

WALKER: Well, they are great people. But in my book and the purpose of the question I was asked in that interview was who would my ideal candidate be. And it ultimately would be either current or former governor. I tell stories in my book about what governors are doing all across America, that's the one bright shiny spot for Senate right voters across this country after last year's presidential election is that in 30 states, there's Republican governors, there's Republican state lawmakers who are out there leading the way with real reforms.

And I think most people, Republican and Democrat alike looking at Washington would like to see some outsiders coming and shake things up. One of the few exceptions on that list probably would be someone like Paul Rand who I know firsthand has been a true reformer. He's from Wisconsin but I've seen broader than that, he's one of the few people who have the courage to take on Washington. And the other folks are good decent people but really reform is happening in the states and that's why I made the point I made.

MORGAN: And tell us where the Republican Party is. I mean many people have been talking you up as a potential candidate, they've obviously talked about Chris Christie in glowing terms, he's a governor so he takes your box.

What it'll come down to you surely is who wins the civil war within your party? Who wins the GOP battle for hearts and minds? In the sense that it's likely to be either a Tea Party candidate or a moderate candidate. It can't be both. You obviously veer more to the Tea Party side. If somebody like you electable to the Republican Party as their nominee?

WALKER: Oh, I think any of the 30 Republican Governors are and I think they prove it in the states. I mean think about states like Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, you look at Florida, you look at New Mexico and Nevada what do all those states have in common? They're all battleground states in the Presidential election that Barack Obama carried in the last presidential election. And yet they're all states governed by Republican Governors, why? Because we have an optimistic vision for the futures of our state, we talk about it in terms that are relevant to everyday people.

And then most importantly, we show we have the courage to put those reforms into place not just to talk about it but to actually put them into action to better serve the people of our states and that's where I do think you can bridge that gap being optimistic and focused on economic and fiscal issues. That's what we're doing in the states and that's what needs to be done in America.

MORGAN: Governor, it's a fascinating selling book "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story, A Nation's Challenge". Scott Walker, good to talk to you.

WALKERS: Piers, good to be with you.

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