of course one powerful significant alternative interpretation. it is that what mitt romney said about the haves and what he considers the moochers is exactly what he thinks. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed shultz starts right now. >>> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 49 days until the 2012 election. mitt romney's comment about the 47% has america talking. tonight more of the shocking undercover tape and president obama weighs in for the first time. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> others have said that you just kissed half the electorate good-bye this election year. that you all be called them moochers. did you? >> mitt romney continues to clean up after last night's disaster. mother jones has released the full video of a mitt romney fundraiser and it gets even worse for the republican. tonight senator bernie sanders on america's first glimpse of the real mitt romney. bob shrum on the victims mitt romney is dismissing. and richard wolf on romney's disastrous view of the middle east. >>> go

>> willard mitt romney, the mr. chairman, and delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> willard mitt romney, the republican nominee for president of the united states. exactly who is he and just what does he stand for? >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> we need people who recognize that pro-life is the way to go. >> people often say, well, who is the real mitt romney? is it the liberal, the moderate, the conservative? >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> it's really all of those things. >> in this hour, the making of a presidential candidate. his rise through business and politics. >> we took on an entrenched machine and we won. >> what forces have shaped the man? my dad was a huge presence in my life. i wish he were able to see what i'm up to right now. >> i believe in my mormon faith and i endeavor to live by it. >> all of these folks who have worked with him throughout his life are still right there beside him. that just tells you everything you need to know about his character. >> there ar

delegates, i accept your nomination for president of the united states. >> willard mitt romney, the republican nominee for president of the united states. exactly who is he and just what does he stand for? >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> we need people who recognize that pro-life is the way to go. >> people often say, well, who is the real mitt romney? is it the liberal, the moderate, the conservative? >> i was a severely conservative republican governor. >> it's really all of those things. >> in this hour, the making of a presidential candidate. his rise through business and politics. >> we took on an entrenched machine and we won. >> what forces have shaped the man? my dad was a huge presence in my life. i wish he were able to see what i'm up to right now. >> i believe in my mormon faith and i endeavor to live by it. >> all of these folks who have worked with him throughout his life are still right there beside him. that tells you everything you need to know about his character. >> there are people who know him personally who say he's a very

presidential campaign and it specifically is one of the next things that the romney campaign is going to have to deal with out of this tape of mr. romney speaking at a fundraiser, which has just been published in full by mother jones. let me explain. last night after mother jones posted about five minutes of the tape from the fundraiser, mr. romney convened a press conference in california at which he did not apologize for the remarks he made at the fundraiser, but suggested that maybe the editing was making him look bad. if you could see the whole thing in context, it might be better for him. he called for the whole tape to be released. >> we don't even have the question, given the snippet there, nor the full response. i hope the person who has the video would put out the full material. >> want to know how bad mitt romney is at running his campaign? if you want to know how bad his campaign is right now, period, what he said there about not having the question released, the question had already been released. and at that point in the evening, the people who published the first five minut

romney's comment about the 47% has america talking. tonight more of the shocking undercover tape and president obama weighs in for a first time. in the "the ed show." let's get to work. >> others say you kissed half the electorate good-bye this election year. that you called them moochers. did you? >> mitt romney continues the cleanup after last night's disaster. "mother jones" has released the full video of a mitt romney fund-raiser, and it gets even worse for the republican. tonight senator bernie sanders on america's first glimpse of the real mitt romney. bob sha rum and eugene robinson on the political disaster for republicans. david k. johnson on the 47% of american victims mitt romney is dismissing. and richard wolf on romney's disastrous view of the middle east. >> we have a potentially volatile situation, and we sort of have to live with it. field and ultimately somehow something will happen to resolve it. >> thanks for watching. for the the better part of the year mitt romney tried to let people know who he is. the hidden camera video from a florida closed door fund-raiser h

romney. if he exploits the debates to his favor and increases his standard beyond that of obama, he will fit right in. the bad news, romney has to beat obama to do it. and what a big night for politics, history and our bloled country. that's "hardball" for now. "the ed show" starts right now. >>> good evening, america. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 43 days until the 2012 election. only nine days until the first presidential debate. mitt romney thinks it's fair to pay a smaller tax rate than americans who earn $50,000 a year? you like that? this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> what's your big idea? >> freedom. >> now we know. mitt romney loves freedom and he loves his low tax rate. >> you think it is fair? >> yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economic growth. >> tonight, richard wolf on mitt romn romney's definition of fair and dean baker on romney's ability to game the tax code with chinese investments. >> my expectation would be in the crunch in october, governor romney is going to be for todd aiken. >> republicans turn to newt gingrich to try to save

leaving more questions than answers. romney also tells 60 minutes his campaign doesn't need a turn around. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the obama team released the biden. mitt romney released his taxes. it turns out he's already disqualified himself from being president. >> i haven't paid more than are legally due. if i had paid more than legally due, i don't think i'd be qualified to run as president. >> tonight the epic campaign day that ended an epic campaign week. >> tonight the epic campaign day that ended an epic campaign week with former ohio governor ted strickland and the nation' ari melber. a full analysis of romney's sketchy tax return with david cay johnston. and bernie sanders joins me to look at paul ryan's attempt to fool people at the aarp convention. >> the first step is to repeal obama care because it represents the worst of both worlds. >> and todd akin is forced to answer for his illegitimate rape remarks for the first time. >> they say a lot about how he views thing. >> good to you have with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the dynamics o

romney's been having in this campaign. the fact is romney is reaping what he sowed. who was it that suppressed the effort to suppress the black vote? if he and his agent, the chairman of his party wasn't behind it, he should say so. who orchestrated this racially coded attack on poor people, welfare, for not having to meet a work requirement? wasn't that mit's voice saying, "i'm mitt romney, and i approved this message"? who's been backing 100% the obstructionist republican congress and its number-one priority to terminate the obama presidency through the filibuster? if romney's got it hard, perhaps it was he from the start using the dirty tools of the old days this responsible, voter suppression, coded racial appeals, the filibuster. if he's having a tough month, maybe he's earned a few more. howard fine men and more are here. first, new polls in the presidential race. let's check the scoreboard. according to a national journal poll, president obama leads 50-43. the president also has a seven-point lead nationally in the new princeton poll, 52, romney at 45. two interesting state n

>>> it might be called the city of lights, but mitt romney's last months in paris felt pretty dark. he had gotten word from his girlfriend, ann davies, that she was dating another man. but mitt had to wait until the end of his mission to see her. >> he walked off that airplane and we only had eyes for each other. >> christmas eve 1968. >> he walked right by his mother, his father, right to me. and it was as though time had stood still. it was an amazing moment where nothing -- it just dissolved, those 2 1/2 years dissolved and we were right back to where we were exactly when he left. >> and he proposed? >> on the car ride home, he was like, oh, my gosh, i've waited so long for you. let's just get married now. and i'm like, why not? let's do that. and, of course, that was not good news to either set of parents. >> ann was 19, mitt, 21. their parents wanted them to wait. but they wanted a valentine's day wedding. what did you guys do when you got that? >> yeah! all right! >> close friend dane mcbride remembers the telegram he received with the news. february 14, you knew exactly what

. including two who started today. early signs show mitt romney has llr worse problems than e th is he eshow let's get to work. >>> seems like we've been waiting for this day for a long time. >> obama voters showed up in full force today in iowa. the election has begun in the fit swg ste wi ear thammp i ing . >> my job is not to worry about those -- >> tonight, dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman-schultz on the democratic effort to get out the vote in iowa and beyond. >>> "mother jones" unearthed yet another lost romney tape from his in years. bcal n st pars >>'ll ask robert reich what mitt romney means when he says he's harvesting companies. >>> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut whole thing down. at he's talking about when it comes to women has the nerve to call senator claire mccaskill unladylike. we'll bring you the latest on the todd akin disaster. good to have you wh us anr hit, folks. ioicoff e 2012 electionn january. today it was the first state where people could cast their votes in person for the general election. the race is on. the race has been tight

i know mitt romney thinks pakistan is very important. is it inconceivable somebody would ask him why, how, what his plan would be when it comes to that country? politics should move us some distance tort debate and decision making on the hardest problems we face as a country. that is not what we're getting from our politics right now. if we're not getting it now, when are we going to get it? have a great night. >>> tonight, paul ryan finally realizes that mitt romney is the worst thing that ever happened to him. >>> we're exactly six weeks from election day. >> exactly six weeks away. >> and he touched down in ohio. >> ohio. >> ohio. >> ohio. >> romney, ryan, romney ryan. >> there we go, all right. >> does he have any. >> i come back to number three. >> romney is a strikeout. >> if we don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and he'll lose. >> it is a big day in the big apple. >> president obama is in new york right now. >> america wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy. >> there was president obama giving a speech. >> i accept people are going to call me awful

, americans. 57 days until the 2012 election. the mitt romney post convention bump? it never happened in the polls. and now the campaign is scrambling to come up with a back up plan. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> i will not take god out of the name of our platform. i will not take god out of my heart. >> the romney campaign is flailing on the stump and they are getting slammed in the polls. tonight richard wolf on the obama bounce and the romney collapse. >>> former reagan budget director david stockman on romney's tax loophole train wreck. >>> and jan schakowsky on romney's preexisting problems with obama care. >>> and the national media is portraying chicago's striking teachers as overpaid and greedy. >> chicago teachers are the best paid of any school district in the country. >> the average chicago teacher makes about $76,000 a year. >> nearly four times higher than what the average american receives. >> we'll tell you what the chicago teacher strike is all about. >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. the romney campaign says that the 2012 election will follow a

head start -- just give me a break here. the only redistribution romney likes is when takes over a company, dumps the workers, widens the profit margins, flips it, and walks off with the proceeds. now, that's a predistribution he can get excited about. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 48 days until the 2012 election. the undercover romney fund-raiser video has members soft republican establishment calling for an intervention. tonight, the new portions of the tape that could force mitt to take them up on the offer. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> it's unfortunate when something gets misinterpreted like this or is taken out of context. >> the romney campaign says their unedited tape is being mischaracterized. meanwhile, karl rove, scott brown, and republicans around the country are completely freaking out. tonight, dnc chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz on the republican chaos. the romney camp wants to talk redistribution? >> th

keep dropping every day, when mitt romney's appearances on tv look like he's quitting the race with the sound off and sometimes with the sound on. in the middle of all that, there's his pretaped remarks about snooki from "the jersey shore." we now return to our regularly scheduled presidential campaign catastrophe. >>> mitt romney is drowning in stupid people. they work for his campaign. they send clint eastwood out on the convention stage. they contribute money to his campaign. they ask him incredibly stupid questions at his fundraisers, which we now have on tape. but, as that same tape proves, the very stupidest person in mitt romney's life tonight is mitt romney. >> when did it all begin to go so very wrong for mitt romney. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. >> i like being able to fire people. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i'm not familiar with precisely what i said but i stand by what i said whatever it was. >> which brings us to the present day. >> it's been a rough day for mitt romney. >> his message is being drowned out. >> captured on tape. >> governor ro

we get to the election, the dumber mitt romney appears to be getting. >> there's no question we've made a couple of mistakes. >> time that cruel cruel mistress is slipping away. >> you may have noticed there's an election going on here in ohio, i don't see a lot of victims. i see hard working ohioans. >> we can't afford four more years like the last four years. >> how many times can you visit the state of ohio before they get tired of seeing you. >> the president makes his 29th trip. >> if we win ohio, we'll win this election. >> if we win ohio, we win the election. >> governor romney has logged 17 trips. >> no republican in history has won the presidency without ohio. >> romney, ryan. >> oh, sweet jesus. >> make no mistake, ohio, big problem. >> so you're a big romney supporter. >> if we don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and will lose. i get the last word. >>> with just 41 days until the presidential election, new swing state polls show that the secretly recorded tape revealing mitt romney's intention to abandon 37% of the american people if elected president is

. we'll show you how mitt romney is dragging down republicans all over america. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >>> when you express an attitude that half the country considers itself victims, my thinking is maybe you haven't gotten around a lot. >> the president is destroying mitt romney for denigrating half of america. and mitt romney is scrambling to explain his own family's history of welfare. >> my dad had to get financial h help, the government helped his family to be able to get on their feet again. >> howard fineman on the republican train wreck. and we'll go to boston for live reaction to the elizabeth warren/scott brown debate. >>> mitt romney says, he would have an easier time getting elected if he were mexican. and he uses a slur to describe undocumented immigrants. tonight, we'll go live to miami for reaction from the latino community. >>> and mitt romney's coal miner photo op is backfiring in his face. >> people wonder how they're going to have a brighter future. >> i'll tell you what a mitt romney presidency means for workers. >>> good to have you with us ton

-point lead in the buckeye state. ten points. ohioans are reacting against mitt romney's notorious comments about the 47%. the president drove that point home today. >> i don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives. and i've got to tell you, as i travel around ohio and as i look out on this crowd, i don't see a lot of victims. i see hardworking ohioans. that's what i see. >> it's not just voters in ohio responding to that message. the president has a nine-point lead in florida. and a 12-point lead in pennsylvania. look, there's no mystery about what happened. the secret tape of romney was a game changer. there's no running away from what he said. there's no spin cycle that can clean up his comment. 47% who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it, it's an entitlement and the government should give it to them and they will vote for this president no matter what. >> a new poll finds 54% of all voters have an unfavorable view of romney's comment

i hate mitt romney. >> he did not have a great week. >> if you think are you going to get to the white house you are going to spend time in this chair. >> why not admit that this is a stumble in. >> our campaign is doing well. >> we are talking about a campaign. >> i have a terrific campaign. >> he is going to get half the vote. i'm going to vet half the vote. >> they have a real problem. >> romney wobbles. >> he is changing his strategy again. >> we have thrown a different mitt romney. >> it is like an etch astretch. >> i have experience in health care reform. >> mr. moderate. >> who is this man? >> he is rebranding himself as a warrior for the 100%. is this who he is? i thought it was actually mitt romney. the thought that we are asking this problem is crazy. >> the clock is ticking. we are up to mitt romney 8.0. >> two duelling messages of unit fighting it out. >> it ain't the eye of the tiger. >> it is the thrill of the fight. >> in her debate tonight, elizabeth warren tied her opponent scott brown to republican madness and mitt romney specifically. >> it is not just about se

not reflect the views of the united states government. mitt romney also reacted to the attack west side this statement. i am outraged by the attacks on american diplomatic missions in libya and egypt and by the death of an american consulate worker in benghazi. romney held a press conference the next day. >> possibly the administration was wrong sympathizing of those instead of condemning their actions. it's never too early for the united states government to condemn attacks on americans and to defend our values. the white house distanced the last night from the statement saying it wasn't cleared by washington. that reflects the mixed signals they are sending to the world. >> jon: president also faced the media on wednesday. >> the united states condemns in the strongest terms this outrageous and shocking attack. we're working with the government of libya to secure our diplomats. i've directed my administration to increase our security at diplomatic posts around the world. >> jon: that is an extremely abbreviated time line. question for us on news watch how did the media react or f

on, as mitt romney ends another tough week. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government. gwen: the candidates swing wildly, from foreign policy last week back to domestic policy this week. >> this question is not who cares about the poor and the middle class. i do, he does. the question is who can help the poor and the middle class. i can. he can't. he's proven it in four years. >> we've always said that change takes more than one term or even one president and it certainly takes more than one party. gwen: while poll after poll documents a distinct change in the presidential contest and as romney releases another year of tax returns, voters begin to focus. covering the week, gloria borger of cnn. john dickerson of "slate" magazine and cbs news. john harwood of cnbc and "the new york times" and sam youngman of reuters. >> award-winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill and national journal

>> cenk: so, what is the elbow of the day? the guy who did the most amount of damage to romney's campaign? let's put mittens in the ring and find out who it was. it's romney! no one could have damaged mitt romney's campaign as much as mitt romney just did. he's in a lot of trouble! eliot spitzer will tell you more about that next on "viewpoint." >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer. this is "viewpoint." when a presidential candidate is forced to leave a scheduled fund-raiser for an impromptu news conference, it can only one mean one thing. trouble. >> good evening. i understand there is a video that's been on the internet for a few weeks that has attracted some attention and i thought i would make some comments about it. >> eliot: that was mitt romney last night after mother jones posted video excerpts of his of its web site of romney taking questions from potential donors at a private $50,000 a plate fund-raiser may 17th at the florida home of private equity manager mark leeder. we played part of the tape monday. we're going to play a lot more of it tonight starting with the

, obama leads romney by ten points. down in florida, the president's lead in the poll is nine, 53-44. the president looks to be opening up a big lead now, even in the face of this coordinated attack from the right. with me now are mother jones bureau chief and msnbc political contributor david corn and cynthia tucker. i want to talk about the good news for the obama team right now. cynthia, why do you think -- take a minute here -- despite this ugly campaign i've just pointed out in its pattern, its thread, what they are doing to try to delegitimize this president, why is he doing well in the toughest states? >> we've talked about what campaign has done wrong. we haven't spent as much time talking about the things obama has done right. obama has done a lot of things right. for one thing, he's just a stronger candidate. he relates to people better. he's more approachable. his favorability rates are higher, while romney has high unfavorability ratings. but obama actually has a set of principles he believes in. so, he has a message that he carries out on the campaign trail over and over agai

one point separates president obama and mitt romney. that of course, within the poll's margin of error. meanwhile, former president bill clinton making news today. declining to rule out whether his wife, secretary of state hillary clinton will be making a bid for the white house in 2016. >> i just don't know. she's an extraordinarily able person. i never met anybody i thought was a better public servant. but i have no earthly idea what she'll decide to do. >> president obama, president obama back in washington today after a pair of campaign events in wisconsin, saturday, at a fundraiser, the president criticizing mitt romney for describing 47% of americans as victims this morning on nbc's "meet the press," senator kelly ayotte, republican from new hampshire, pushed back. >> that certainly was a political analysis at a fundraiser, but it's not a governing philosophy. he absolutely has a vision for 100% of america. and that's very different from this president. >> more on all of these stories in our next two hours. sunday afternoon here we are, no one probably happier to see a new week b

and boy oh, boy, president obama and mitt romney now in a big argument over policy toward china with one big difference between them. mitt romney, as president of bain capital was exporting jobs to china. now, president obama is fighting to bring back jobs from china. you know which one is better for the american people. we'll get into that plus a whole new video that's got mitt romney in trouble. lots to talk about here. we'll take your calls too, on the "full court press." first, today's current news update. it is lisa ferguson standing by in los angeles. hey, lisa, good morning. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. no doubt mitt romney will face another round of criticism this morning after calling nearly half of all voters dependent and entitled in a video leaked to mother jones. here's a look. >> 47% of the people who will vote for the president are what? supportive of tom and have been supportive of tom but obviously i would have loved to have seen a different result. >> the president won wisconsin he goes on to say there is no use in him catering to those voters and that he, in

secrets of mitt romney. governor romney's release of her 201 # 2011 returns have raised more questions to his murky financials and now he's got a paul ryan problem. the 2010 remarks paul ryan made says that one of the main investments mitt romney has is a way to, quote, hide money. >> we don't want to have a situation where we're penalizing businesses for keeping their money, their capital, and their headquarters and their manufacturing facilities in america. so rather than having ireland and the cayman islands be the place where you hide your money, why don't we make it america? >> the place you hide money? don't believe your ears? let's play it again, sam. >> so rather than having ireland and the cayman islands be the place you hide your money, the place you hide your money, the place you hide your money -- >> so even paul ryan, his own running mate, says using the investment vehicles romney uses is a way to hide his money, as in hide it from tax laws. ryan shows why this issue won't go away for romney. the returns tell the tale of a man who's made nearly a quarter of his income last ye

party is starting to break ranks? if you're mitt romney, you double down. wednesday, 1e79s 19th, and this is "now." >>> joining me today, jonathan chait of "new york" magazine, casey hunt of the associated press, margaret carlson of bloomberg news, and "the new york times" mark leibovich. while governor romney secretly recorded fund-raising comments amount to yet another scoop on a veritable ice cream sunday of campaign gaffes they happen to be an expedient method to insult massive amounts of people. he portrayed 47% of the country for a bunch of government freeloaders. it takes skill to alienate that many americans in one swoop. if romney instead chosen to vilified every person that watched the super bowl he would reach fewer people. it's larger than the number of people who went to the ballot box and voted in 2010. it's equivalent to brushing off every single person who owns a smartphone. despite writing off a truly staggering number of americans many of whom might be voting for romney in november, the candidate appeared on fox last night to defend his comments at the may 17th

the lack thereforethereof. >> governor romney tends to have the tendency to shoot first and aim later. >> what you have is the political instincts of a rock. you know you have it wrong when even the conservatives are lined up against you. the man stays true to his roots but now he's revealing to the world that he's dangerous. forget a crisis at 3:00 a.m. i would not trust this guy with a phone call from a telemarketer. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> jennifer: the fiery attacks in libya that killed the american ambassador and three diplomat there is were quickly followed by fiery political rhetoric here at home. ambassador j. christopher stevens and three other u.s. officials were killed last night. details about the attacks are still coming in, but here is the latest of what we do know. back in july an incendiary ridiculous movie about muslims was released reportedly by a guy named sam sam sam bacile. he claims to be an israeli. it's not clear who he is, whether he is an israeli and whether a guy named sam bacile exists. but it was so offensive that the grand musti of jackpot condemned it

produce a hologram of mitt romney calling half the country victims, in your living room. when that happens it will be posted and cataloged for posterity at our website. the three clips are posted there now if you want to check them out. maddowblog.com. have a great night. >>> here it is. it's kind of heavy, but the most manipulated tax return in the history of presentation campaigns has been released. all 400 pages of it. but the ones we really want to see, the ones that could unmask mitt romney as a tax criminal, they're still secret. >> mitt romney will campaign more aggressively in battle ground states this week. >> the campaign reset for mitt romney is officially under way. >> how do you turn this thing around. >> well, it doesn't need to turn around. >> the romney ryan campaign launches a tour through ohio. >> no republican presidential candidate has been elected president without winning ohio. >> he's got to offer specification. >> i could tell them specifically what my policy looks like. >> he seems to be saying the first thing that pops into his head. >> he seems to be boun

was mitt romney wrong to criticize the response? plus, as the presidential race kicks into high gear, will the presidential post convention bounce last? rumors of the republican tickets demise premature? welcome to the journal editorial report. i'm paul gigot. anti-american protests spread across the arab world this week over a film in defense of islam and the prophet muhammad following the murder thursday of four american diplomates. including united states ambassador chris stevens in benghazi, libya, in what officials believe was a terrorist attack designed to coincide with the anniversary of september 11th. and joining us dan henninger, mary anastasia o'grady and, with the anti-american protests across the arab world this week, tell us about our standing in that part of the world, and the ferment in arabia? >> well, i think, paul, what's happening here is where essentially we came in when the arab spring began in egy egypt, tunisia and spread to other countries and the feeling at that time that came out the united states couldn't really support any of these movements in the arab s

with the terrorists. sarah palin, no. mitt romney. how low can you go? man, that's going to dominate our talk this morning. first, let's take a little time out to get the latest, today's current news update from lisa ferguson joining us from los angeles. hi, lisa. early good morning to you. >> hey, bill, good morning, everyone. we are seeing more political fallout this morning after statements from mitt romney took aim at president obama during the attacks in libya and cairo. tuesday night, romney blamed president obama for sympathizing with the attackers and then he double downed on those claims again wednesday morning. take a look. >> the administration was wrong to stand by a statement sympathizing with those who had breached our embassy in egypt instead of condemning their actions. >> romney is basing that off of a statement from the u.s. embassy in cairo saying it does not support the criticism of muslims' religious beliefs. not only was that statement never approved by washington, it was also issued four hours before the attacks in an effort to calm the situation down. presiden

joining us tonight. keep up the great work. we end this broadcast tonight not knowing where mitt romney stands on health care. that's the hitch. i'm ed shultz. the rachel maddow starts right now. >>> this is the logo of the china offshore oil corporation. it's kind of cool right? i like to call this cnooc. as you can tell, the logo is kind of a pick to graph e ex-planing what they do. it's supposed to be an oil derrick and the c is the platform that it's sitting on. the whole thing is in blue water because they are an offshore oil company. this chinese company is a huge company. it's almost entirely owned by the chinese government. in 2005, they tried to take over an oil company based in california. so big chinese, state-run company trying to take over a california company. this is the chinese government, a big business deal like that actually does have national security implications for us as a country. that's the kind of international business deal that's subject to review by something called the committee on foreign investments in the united states. a big committee that reviews this

♪] >> eliot: good evening. i'm elliot spitzer, and this is "viewpoint." romney is ramping up his campaign this week. the republican candidate appeared this colorado today and plans to join paul ryan tomorrow on the final two days of a three-day bus trip through ohio even though as we told you last week ohio polls show president obama with a five-point lead in the critical swing state. it's a part of fire up gop voters and get back on track a week after romney secretly taped statements damming half of the population. romney insisted in his "60 minute" interview last night. that his campaign was doing just fine. actually romney is trailing in all of the latest national and zing-state polls, and in the "politico" poll out today . . . the president may be giving romney an opening for attack on fiern affairs. that after steve quizzed the president. >> i was pretty certain and continue to be pretty certain that there will be bumps in the road, because in a lot of these places one organizing principal has been islam. there are strains of extremism, and anti-americanism and anti-western sentiment

romney has announced he'll release his 2011 tax returns in one hour. in the meantime president obama ripping into mitt romney's latest line of attack in an afternoon campaign stop speaking at a rally in virginia. the president said this of romney's accusations that he's given up on changing washington. >> i made this same point in a town hall in florida. i said one thing i've learned is that you can't change washington just from the inside. for some reason my opponent got really excited. he rewrote his speech real quick. he stood up at a rally, proudly declared, i'll get the job done from the inside. what kind of inside job is he talking about? >> this started when governor romney's team tried to get traction by going after the president 'remarks he made at the univision forum regarding bringing change to washington. >> i learned lesson over the last four years, and the most important lessons i've learned is you can't change washington from the inside. >> the president today threw in the white flag of surrender again. >> here's one of the problems. four years ago governor romne

washington," the grand old party makes it official. >> join mitt romney and me. let's give this effort everything we have. >> a look at the supporting cast. >> this man will not let us down. >> tonight, i say enough. hope and change has become divide and conquer. >> when somebody does not do their job, you have got to let them go. >> where does this party go from here? over the long haul, republicans need to be more respectful of voters they are trying to attract. the 2012 republican national convention served up no surprises except perhaps for clint eastwood's rambling performance in the key 10:00 hour thursday night, but conventions rarely do surprises anymore. this one was mitt romney's major opportunity to sell himself to the american people. >> in america, we celebrate success. we do not apologize for success. >> what america needs is jobs -- lots of jobs. >> you know there is something wrong with the kind of job he has done as president when the best feeling you had is the day you voted for him. >> you were in tampa. did mitt romney make the sale? >> i think he did a good job in

since march his approval rating has hit 50. on the centerpiece of mitt romney's campaign, the economy, he's lost the six-point advantage he had in july on how to handle the economy the candidates are now tied. joining me is perry bacon political editor for the grio and msnbc contributor and ron foreignier fornier editor-in-chief of the national journal. good morning. romney's own supporters have said any day he is not able to talk about the economy is a bad day for the campaign so how bad is this for mitt romney right now? >> this last three weeks have been horrible for mitt romney. co coming out of the convention his goal was to humanize himself, show he had some empathy with the public to close that empathy gap. what has happened is he has not been able to close that gap and president obama has been able to do what he needed to get done which is to convince americans that the country is heading on the right track. that number has gone up. it's still low but has gone up. and to convince americans he is the right man to fix the economy. for the first time as your poll shows, that numb

about romney's flailing campaign was said by democrats at this very point in 2004. look what happened in '04, kerry suddenly closed the gap. why? that's when the first debate was held. reviews of kerry's performance, you'll remember this if you watched it, is pretty strong. bush's, not so much. we remember kerry lost in 2004 but we tend to forget how close he came and the fact he owned the month of october. in that month the race was tight and kerry came close to pulling out a win in ohio that would have given him the presidency. not predicts mitt romney is going to buns back the same way now. i'm just pointing out how matter how bleak things look for him, he might. that does it for "the cycle" today. martin bashir, it's all yours. >> good afternoon, it's wednesday, september 19th. and mitt romney is ready to hit the reset button again. with just two weeks until the first debate. ♪ >> you all but called them moochers. did you? >> no, i'm talking about a perspective of individuals who i'm not likely to get to support me. >> obama supporters are nothing but lazy parasites. get a job!

we heard from the real oz, mitt romney, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, we're told but how can we ignore the real mitt when he says half the country is filled with beggars, moochers, loafers, moochers, people who don't want to work, want the better off to give them breakfast in bed. he's the real willard who wants him to give him control of the country. that's our topic tonight, the man behind the curtain who thinks compassionate conservative is yesterday's magic act and wants to crack down on the little people big time, at least that's the way he talks when he's fobing for money down in tony boca raton. cynthia tucker is a syndicated columnist. first, brand new poll numbers nationally. let's check the "hardball scoreboard." new pew poll president obama over romney, 51% to 43%. howard s this real, eight-point lead? >> well, it could be. i think it's significant it's likely voters. what's happening now, chris, is that some of the news organizations and polling organizations are starting to go from registered voters to likely voters, to people who are motivated. and i

presidential campaign news. possibly the worst day the mitt romney for president campaign has had in politics since mr. romney got the nomination. but that was before the news broke late today of something that's likely to make things considerably worse for mr. romney and for his campaign. we have a very, very full hour of news ahead. including frank rich being here for the interview. we need to start with tonight's breaking news. secretly-recorded video from a private mitt romney for president fundraiser appears to show the republican nominee for president characterizing half of the elector at as inable to be dependent. that's the portion he will not bother with, le doesn't need to be concerned with because that's the portion who will vote for president obama. now in the interest of full disclosure and also of understanding the importance of this news and where this video came from, i first need to explain there's a rachel show mad show connection to this 37 late last month, somebody posted a clip of mr. romney talking that appears to come from the same speech in the same place from

make this vision for the country and romney's vision for the country. you, alex, he's to be talking about medicare today. highlighting a new analysis from a harvard romney/ryan plan someone who is was hired in 2030 would pay an extra $125,000 over the course of their lifetime. we should point out that harvard professor is a former obama campaign adviser from 2008. study is basically not genuine, is not real. they call it false attacks and discredited attacks. so the romney campaign firing back quickly on that line of attack. alex, i can tell you the issues that you just heard the president bring up are issues that resonate here in florida. medicare especially rez nasonat here in florida because seniors voters. at least they did back in 2008. tighter, here, alex. the president does have a slight lead here. but the unemployment rate is higher than the national average. that could really be his biggest challenge to holding on to this state in 2012. you know, this state has 29 electoral votes. it's really the most coveted swing state. president obama is back at the white house tomorrow

questions at a forum hosted by univision and facebook. it's the same event that governor romney addressed last night. as we wait to hear what the president will say, the political world is buzzing over what seems to be governor romney's leap to the left a little bit anyway on issues like health care, immigration, and gay rights. >> i'm not going to be rounding people up and deporting them out of the country. we'll put in place a permanent solution. i have experience in health care reform. now and then the president says i'm the grandfather of obama care. i don't think he meant that as a compliment, but i'll take it. individuals should be able to pursue a relationship of love and respect and raise a family they would choose. i can see hospital visitation and rights and similar things provided to individuals. marriage for me continues to be a relationship between a man and woman. >> what about those 47% comments that governor romney did not intend the public to hear? still standing his ground for days, the governor seemed to backtrack on that as well. >> this is a campaign about t

>>> this morning on "meet the press," mitt romney needs a game-change, is the first presidential debate it? romney is behind in all of our battleground polls. the candidate presses for rebound. >> we do not want four more years of where we've been. a represent a very different path. >>> president obama, meantime, tries to seize the moment as elly voting begins around the country. offering a closing argument. >> when i took office, we were losing nearly 800,000 jobs a month and we were mired in iraq, today i believe that as a nation we are moving forward again. >> this morning, the state of the race, a debate preview and a look at the issues that will sway undecided voters. with us, republican governor of new jersey, the keynoter at the gop convention, chris christie. and for the obama campaign. the architect of his 2008 run. now, white house senior adviser, david plum. finally insights and analysis if our political roundtable, plus the latest from the battleground map. joining us, founder of the faith and freedom coalition, ralph reed. >>> former democratic governor of pennsylvan

exactly why romney is there today meeting with factory workers. that new poll just mentioned shows president obama with a 7--point lead in ohio. if romney loses ohio the team says he has to win almost every other swing state. now, this all follows the governor interview with "meet the press" where he appeared to flounder when pushed on specifics regarding his policy proposals. >> you haven't specified where you'd cut loopholes in particular. give me an example a loophole you will close. >> people at the high end, high income tax taxpayers will have fewer deductions and exemptions, those numbers will come down. i say we'll replace obama care, and i'm replacing it with my own plan. >> you keep that as part of the federal plan? >> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform, of course. >> as romney sat down for that interview, news came of the bounce for president obama following the democratic national convention. romney pollsters, though, are knocking the bump and in fact in a mem refo referring to as aa s high. joe scarborough is saying what many republicans won't say out loud