mr. romney said we shouldn't have left iraq. that we would be better if american troops were still there. i wonder if you feel like there is any sort of foreign policy or military foreign consensus about what we should have learned from iraq, about what we won't do as a country because of what we learned from the iraq war. >> i think there should be a consensus because i think a lot of the lessons are very clear. i think the first bush administration rushed into war based on intelligence that turned out to be wrong, to go after weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist and to end up occupying a country without having thought through a strategy, without having a plan, and finding -- got ourselves deeper into the middle of an insurgency campaign that cost us thousands of lives and put america's blood and treasure on the line for a cause that was really in the end questionable. i think when president obama came in, he was very clear that he wanted to responsibly end that war. and he did that. the discussion here, the question o

after his convention, you will recall that mr. romney went on vacation. mr. romney, even after he had such a big win at the first presidential debate, he did not have any big, morning after the debate rallies or anything. he went and did an event that was off his public schedule, but nobody knew for sure he would be anywhere, and there wasn't a big crowd of people around him while he was rallying the troops to his big win. it was a very quiet morning. and then again today, after the second presidential debate, mr. romney did no public events in the morning. i mean, i don't know if it means anything important, but it is an unusual choice for this candidate that no other modern candidate has done. and mr. romney, it wasn't just a fluke. he keeps doing it after big events. that said, mr. romney did not take the whole day off today. this afternoon, he did a rally in virginia and then he stayed in virginia for the day to do another virginia rally tonight. on the democratic side, vice president joe biden did an early afternoon rally in greeley, colorado, today. he

mr. romney told that same story about meeting mr. doherty yesterday while campaigning in iowa. >> he skied a lot, he skied in some of the places i had. we had a lot of things in common. he told me that he keeps going back to the middle east. he cares very deeply about the people there. you can imagine how i felt when i found out that he was one of the two former navy s.e.a.l.s killed in benghazi on september 11th. and it -- it touched me, obviously, as i recognized this young man that i thought was so impressive. he -- according to the reports on cnn international that i read, he was actually in a different building, in an annex, a safe place, somewhere else across town when he and his colleagues there heard that the consulate was around attack. and they went there. they didn't hunker down where they were in safety. they rushed there to go help. this is the american way. we go where there's trouble. we go where we're needed. and right now we're needed. right now the american people need us. >> politicians repeat the same stories on t

romney leads by three. on the deficit, mr. romney leads by nine. on all of these issues, that's the one on which he has the strongest trust from voters as compared with president obama. and that confidence in mr. romney on the deficit turns up not just in the nbc/"wall street journal" poll, but in a lot of national polls. even though he hasn't given a lot of details as to how he would handle the deficit as an issue. the bottom line, there's no question as to who you would rather be here, right? you would rather be president obama than mitt romney looking at these numbers. that plus 19 advantage that the president has on looking out for the middle class, that is a death nail for mr. romney's campaign if he cannot turn that around. but i think looking ahead to tonight's debate, there is a real opportunity in the huge disconnect in the electorate, in a way that reflects a real risk for president obama. there's this huge disconnect between mr. obama's best number with voters and one of his worst numbers. which is that president obama has so far not bee

you heard the president last night with mr. romney. mr. romney being a different mr. romney than we've seen him for the last 18 months or the last section years. do you think even with the new hit romney that showed up last night when he starts talking about states' rights, when he starts talking about regulation or deregulation, when he starts saying he doesn't advocate $5 trillion tax cut when in fact the numbers prove that he does and has been advocating that, will that resonate with independent voters and/or undecided voters in your state of ohio? >> i don't think so. i think people realize that governor romney is still wrong on medicare and still wrong on trade and still wrong on jobs and still wrong on the middle class. i think that's increasingly clear. again it goes back to which path do you go. do you want to go back to the trickle down economics you give tax cuts to the rich and hope it helps the middle class or do you focus on the middle class and that's trait enforcement, it's i don't think training at community colleges like columbus state and sinclair. i

mr. romney was there with his wife, ann romney, but the president was there without the first lady. michelle obama was not in the room. i think that is what made mr. romney's joke more awkward than it otherwise might have been. >> campaigns can be grueling, exhausting. president obama and i each very lucky to have one person who's always in our corner, someone who we can lean on and someone who's a comforting presence without whom we wouldn't be able to go another day. i have my beautiful wife, ann, he has bill clinton. >> which is a funny joke, but he's also a little bit mean to the first lady, right? mr. romney did go on at the end of his remarks to say very nice things, very nice and serious things about the whole obama family. that sort of softened the blow there a little bit. michelle obama was also the subject of a self-deprecating joke from president obama, himself. >> tomorrow it's back to campaigning. i've been to cities and towns across our great country, and i hear the same everywhere i go. honestly, we were hoping to see michelle. >> that was not president obama's funnie

case in point, mr. romney's tax plan. for months he's been telling us that he'll cut everyone's taxes by 20%. so some of the country's brightest economists did the math and found that romney's tax plan promises to cut taxes by $5 trillion without adding to the deficit. but when mitt romney took to the stage last night, he delivered a line that beggared belief. >> no economist can say mitt romney's tax plan adds $5 trillion if i say i will not add to the deficit with my tax plan. >> so black is white, up is down, and everything is the way he says it is in the world of mitt romney. like yago, mitt romney delivered those lines in the presence of a black man, but on this occasion the president would not be deceived. he allowed mr. romney to rehearse the full extent of his lie and then just a few hours ago drew our attention to what really happened last night. >> the real mitt romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts in favor of the wealthy. the fellow on stage last night s

mr. romney, too, was aggressive often pushing his way past time limits to finish a point or answer a previous question. at times the two men stood just a few feet apart, on which refusing to allow each other the final word. they hit on topics ranging from jobs and health care to immigration and foreign policy, but it was an early question about energy that set the tone for the night. >> in the last four year, you cut permits and licenses in half. >> not true. >> so how much did you cut them by? >> by how much can you cut them by then? >> we've actually produced more oil -- >> no, how much did you cut licenses and permits on federal land and waters? >> here's what we can did. there were a whole bunch of oil companies -- >> i had a question and the question was how much did you cut them by. >> you you want knee answer, i'm happy to answer the question. >> proiks on private lands is down. >> no, it isn't. >> production of oil is down 14% and production of gas is down 9%. >> just not true. >>

those are just the lies mr. romney told about himself. would you like to address some other lies he's told about other people, including the president? >> well, there are a number of things, but mitt romney if you look back over the course of his political career, and his wife has been a key witness to all of this, there isn't a single position we can nail him down to that he's kept over the course of, say, two, three weeks, let alone three months or three years or 30 years. if you ask him whether he is pro life, you know, back when he was governor of massachusetts, well, no, he was pro choice. but today he's staunchly pro life. if you ask him whether or not he's going to cut taxes for the wealthiest of americans, he'll tell you in the last debate, no, he does not plan a tax cut but he says he plans a tax cut -- a 20% tax cut across the board. there are a number of ways -- i've witnessed once when mitt romney once said he was pro gay adoption. and the very next day he said he was staunchly against it. so, to call someone out on their mist

romney say, mr. president, you've been on an on poll i go tour, you don't know what you're doing in the middle east, you're waiving the work requirement for welfare. if he keeps going like that, the president is likely to lose his temper, isn't he? >> reporter: oh, i don't think so. look, the challenge facing president obama -- >> you don't? >> reporter: -- is the equivalent of a football team ahead trying to run out the fourth quarter. i think his challenge is to deflect, to respond to those with some element of humor, bemouss bemousseement. he'll cite fact-checkers and say independent analysts say your welfare charge is wrong, that sort of thing. i would expect him to be as much above it and not peevish, arrogant, not condescending as is possible to be. this is a president who doesn't make too many mistakes. >> karen, tonight's focus is domestic. >> yep. >> no bigger domestic issue than the economy, as we know. we'll have a rather open format. do you think we'll actually hear a specific from mr. ro

mr. romney and mr. obama have both concluded their remarks. now, those were live, just a couple blocks from here, in new york city. i'm here with w. kamau bell from "totally biased" with w. bell on fx. is this the sort of thing you score and say who was better? or is there something more important about their competing performances here? >> you know, it's like any talent competition, you have to judge several different categories. >> okay. >> both of them are funny, both of them can deliver a line. barack obama knows how to do this. i feel like barack obama is like a swiss army knife. he's got several different settings. funny barack is a very easy setting for him. >> okay. >> whereas romney has awkward romney and mean romney which is why funny romney is not a setting for him which is why he looked awkward when he was funny. >> he was funny. opening joke where he was talking about wardrobe changes on the campaign, sports coat, suit and tie for an evening event, ann and i can relax with what we wear around the house. looked very stern while del

mr. romney's put himself in a box and president obama knows it. with 29 days to go, and you can say governor romney is between barack and a hard place. joining me now is an opinion writer for "the washington post" and an msnbc contributor and margorie, democratic strategist. thanks to you both for being here tonight. >> thank you. >> jonathan, it seems like there's a lot of around mr. romney's policies. >> yeah. absolutely, rev. because we've spent so much time focused on his performance and that's sort of the sugar high from the debate on wednesday but then you start focusing in on what he actually said and there's a lot there. as you said, he's boxed himself in a corner. you know, for instance, on his tax policy, on the $716 billion that he says the president is cutting out of medicare which is also in his running mate's own budget, just done in different ways, yeah, he's boxed himself in a corner and i think a lot of democrats hope and we've seen on the campaign trail since the debate that the president is pushing back on a lot of things that h

romney's offshore investments or mr. romney's career at bain capital and his offshoring history through that company. and after one of the longest wars in history was ended by this president, and with the longest war in our history set to wind down over the next two years, there has been zero discussion from any of these candidates at the presidential level or the vice presidential level about veterans, about keeping our promises to the 1% of the population that we have had fighting in our name for more than 11 years now. ed schultz, when you look at what has been covered so far and what hasn't been covered, what do you think the president most wants to get -- wants to get to tonight that hasn't been covered so far? >> i think it's a lot about emotion, rachel. you know, the first time ed and wendy schultz ever met barack obama, we went in his office in january of 2007. he had been on my radio show a few times, but we had never met. so we had the opportunity to go in his office, and he had a huge picture of muhammad ali,

romney at the fund-raiser say the president isn't adult enough to lead the country. listen to mrs. romney. >> what's happening in greece and look what's happening around the world, we look at what's happening. this is a frightening worlgd. we need a grownup and someone to understand the economy. so i'm glad mitt can be this gronup to all. >> ha, ha, ha. with all the president has done across the world from bin laden? he's not a grown-up? the implications are offensive when you see them in debates acting all cordial to the president. >> it's a little more. ann romney isn't running by president but romney by extension believes the president isn't a grown-up by comparing him to one of his sons during the presidential debate. this is insensitive, given the 2008 was historical election, first african-american president, not just disparaging to the man barack obama but disparaging to the office. shame on her. what david was saying earlier when we were talking about mitt romney wanting to turn back the clock. he sounds like the robert be behrens believes hard work is only by the fat cat o

six months after romney mr. was elected governor in massachusetts, this is really telling, he expanded all of that state's policies on affirmative action. those rules that allowed women, minorities, people living with disabilities, protections, equal protections as being state employees. he did it proverbially in the dead of the night. there was no press conference. no press release. he snuck this in. when civil rights groups found out about it and took him to task, he appoints a weak-kneed commission that comes back with lackluster recommendations that still don't offer -- put in place those protections again. it took governor duval patrick to reinstate those practices when he was elected governor. mitt romney has a lot to explain about affirmative action, a lot to explain about his sxhimecomm to women. >> thinking about the issue of single parents, and how romney explained that. he linked his explanation or response to a question about firearms to the issue of single parenting. take a listen to this. >> we nee

it's a good friend, mr. obama. >> hello, mr. romney. >> hello, mr. obama. you remember mr. obama, right? last week at the debate, mr. obama taught us all a new word. choke. mr. obama is the president of the united states. a very important job. you have to make big decisions and you're in charge of a lot of people for four years. >> mr. romney, i think you made a mistake. i think you mean eight years. >> you see, kids, mr. obama just did something called using your imagination. >> hello, mr. romney. meow. >> now, kids, don't be alarmed. this puppet isn't real. look. this is bill. he's a union worker. you pay him with your tax dollars so that can he crouch down with a sock in his hand and make silly voices. you disgust me. but before i go, remember, there's only one person in the world that's like you and that's you. people can like you exactly the way you are. but if they don't, then just pretend to be the sxabt opposite of what you are and then maybe they'll like you. >> but doesn't that undermine your original -- >> bill, you're fired. >> jimmy fallon. still ahead, why are

mr. romney worked both those strategies last night and mr. romney, of course, won the debate, on style, on presentation, he won on demeanor. now day two is the attempted cleanup for things he actually said. today has been a day of mr. romney's campaign saying he did not mean what he said about people with pre-existing conditions being able to get health insurance. his campaign said today he does not have a plan for that even though he said he did. the romney campaign today said he did not mean what he said about half the energy companies supported by the obama administration going bankrupt. he didn't actually mean that. sort of rolled over from democratic and liberal bewilderment last night that mr. romney was abandoning his main economic plan that he was running on, his $5 trillion tax cut plan, his big trickle-down plan, to be rolled over from democrats being bewildered about that to the beltway press and mainstream pundits i think now having a hard time deciding whether they are supposed to call that a lie or whether they're supposed to ju

that's because mr. romney canceled on the ladies of "the view." they're high risk, you know, only one of them is a conservative. let's get to our panel now in washington. michael crawly, deputy washington chief for "time" and professor michael eric dyson, and with me in new york is joy reid, managing editor of t thegrio.c thegrio.com. the president is roaring around the country today. the vice president is out campaigning, former president bill clinton is out, the boss is out, and mr. romney, he sent his wife onto "the view." >> you know, it's pretty rough. he's trying to tag team there, i suppose, but the president seems to be in full control of the facts, and as a result of that, the wind is behind his wings with that extraordinary performance the other night, and he's been reinvigorated. he's galvanized the base and the base has spoken back, yes, this is what we want. as a result, his people are out there telling the truth about what his policies are because they're defensible, number one. secondly, because they are rooted in real, thirdly, bec

the president left out the frequent attack about mr. romney's 47% comments. a cnn opinion research poll taken after the debate shows 67% of registered voters believe mitt romney had a better night. 25% said president obama. a cbs poll says 46% of uncommitted voters said romney had the stronger performance. 22% said it was the president. the headline in this mornings usa today, romney seizes offense on obama's record. romney takes fight to obama. after a handshake in the middle of the stage and talk of the president's 20th wedding anniversary, they got down to business with details on taxes and debt and what is best for this country's middle class. >> this is where there's a difference because governor romney's plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut on top of the bush tax cuts and military spending that the military hasn't asked for. it's $8 trillion. how we pay for that, reduce the deficit and make the investments we need to make without dumping those costs on to middle class americans is one of the central questions to this campaign. >> under the president's p

mr. romney is not wising up. he made the same mistake when he tried to say that president obama had not said the word terror when he talked about the benghazi attack in the rose garden a day after the attack. the president had, in fact, used that word. but if you read the conservative blogosphere, and the conservative blogosphere only, that never happened. and that apparently was enough of a fact check for mitt romney. that's what he read, so that's what he believes, that's what he tried to use, and what turned out to be a humiliating gotcha attempt that failed before the largest possible audience. right? between 50-something million people watching him fail in a presidential debate. >> i'm the president. and i'm always responsible. and that's why nobody is more interested in finding out exactly what happened than i do. the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden and i told the american people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened. that this was an act of terror. >>

now, we all know who mr. romney likes. how could their replacements change the future for women in this country? >> replacing any of the liberal justices would be catastrophic for women rights, civil rights, regulation, for the social safety net and you cannot underestimate how much how much of a change it would be. they have been preparing for this for a long time. they have spent the last few years passing the pro-choice that they want to challenge and use it as a vehicle to get up to the supreme court but even take the one that we've got, which is, with the lead over placing sandra day o'connor is not as sympathetic to abortion rights as it used to be and they would like to lay the groundwork to bit by bit chip away at roe v. wade which to be catastrophic to women, particularly marginalized women, particularly low-income women. >> now, vice president biden came out swinging about mr. romney not denouncing mourdock. laura, listen to this and give me your reaction. >> they can't even get up the gumption to condemn the sta

he was far more effective than mr. romney. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, now an nbc news political analyst and ana marie cox. >> good to be here. >> governor rendell, let me go to you first. how does president obama's perform man last night impact the race with 20 days to go? >> i think it does two things and they are both beneficial. one, i think as you can see from the flash polls, not only did people generally think he won the debate, but independent voters by a fairly wide margin thought he won the debate and i believe there is still 8 or 10% that haven't made up their mind. you know, the pollsters say they are 4% undecided but a lot of people lean that can still be persuaded. so i think he made a very compelling case. he looked like the leader that he is, he addressed the issues forthright and called governor romney on the mistakes and misstatements and he actually left a few of them out like governor romney said he would grow the pell grants and the romney/ryan budget cuts them, not grows the

but mr. romney is standing by his man recommending mr. mourdock as the one individual likely to tip the senate toward the republican party. >> there's so much at stake. i hope you'll downmi in supporting richard mourdock for u.s. senate. >> see how close they are? but do they seem like men who have a genuine interest in the victims of this horrifying crime? have they ever done anything to support women who may have been violated in this way? to follow that clown is the ring master himself, the man whose artificial appearance is only matched by the stupidity of his pronouncements. here was the latest, demanding the president release his academic history in exchange for a $5 million donation to charity. >> if he releases these records, it will end the question and, indeed, the anger of many americans. >> no, mr. trump. releasing those academic records will only fuel your racist anger because you know exactly what you're implying. so there you have it. trump, mourdock, and romney, a blue chip firm of fools comprising a bone head, a mutton he

what mr. romney had said. >> i'm sorry, jim. i'm going to stop the subsidy to pbs and other things and i like pbs, i like big bird i actually like you to, but not borrowing money to pay china for supporting it. >> and the big broadcasting systems. what's the truth? could big bird be going bye-bye? joining us, from the christian monitor, good morning. >> good morning. >> so are big bird and pbs really in any danger here? >> well, i don't think big bird's had a week this good in a while. he's huge on twitter now. i think his twitter presence increased like 800,000%, and the thing about big bird and "sesame street" is they have so much outside funding. it's not like "sesame street" will disappear. pbs, the subsidy, it's a sizable chunk of their budget and would be a big blow. >>? how much? a perspective? how much the government chips in? >> it fluctuates year to year. 10% to 15%. in 2011, 12% funneled stlu came from the government subsidy. >> definite lay sizable clunk there. pbs has released a statement accusing governor romney of

the original question to mr. romney, how are you different than george w. bush. but when mr. obama had a turn, this is what he said. >> there are some things where governor romney is different from george bush. george bush didn't propose turning medicare into a voucher. >> i don't know about george w. bush and medicare and vouchers was he right there? >> i do know. earlier this year i read "renewing america's promise", and what surprised me when i read it is right there in the medicare section, there was a big thing on turning medicare into a voucher. it says the commission introduced a reform plan then on the next page. as president the governor will seek to reform medicare by building on these recent bipartisan efforts. he doesn't use words premium support or voucher. but if you know what that plan is he's talking about from the bipartisan reform commission is, that's premium support. this is something the republicans wanted to do for a very long time. it's something mitt romney wants to do now. so the contrast he drew is not quite right. there is continuity. >> you think a

one of the women called mr. romney's attacks hypocritical. which of the specific comments of romney was hypocriticahypocr? there were a lot. >> i think the entire performance was hypocritical. and, you know, if you just look at -- if you take away the substance, people are always saying don't listen to what they say, watch what they're doing, watch the split screen, watch how they are responding, and i think romney looked very uncomfortable throughout the entire debate and it felt like he was just reciting notes that he had read on wikipedia rather than having his own intuitive grasp of the world. >> he was sweating like a school boy -- school girl, sorry, who hadn't prepared for the exam. he was literally perspiring in front -- i wanted to throw a tissue at him. >> what has he spent the past month just going on and on about? attacking the president over his response in libya. first question out of the gate is on libya and romney stumbles over his answer, can barely answer libya and discards all the talking points he's been using. if he's sit

romney's position on iran. he says mr. romney's position has always been to find a diplomatic solution first, a military option last. new york magazine's john heilemann calls him on that falsehood. take a listen. >> yes, of course, he always said it should be the last resort. but if you're talking mostly about the military and you're doing it in israel, people are going to get the impression you're more bellicose than when you're talking about the need for talks, right? >> i think this is like splitting hairs. >> ana marie, tough love this guy. is there any republican who is more factually challenged? >> there are very few. for me dan is so intimately linked with iraq i sort of can't picture him without wearing combat boots. and i think, you know, it's not splitting hairs. dan is definitely hawkish on all of these things. again, so many people surrounding mitt romney have been former bush advisers, were pro-iraq war enthusiasts, have been pro-syria intention enthusiasts. these are people that want to go to war. sometimes i

mitt romney has talked about the attacks in libya. >> mr. romney and the entire republican party is trying very hard to politicize something that's a tragedy, where the administration has been absolutely candid and direct and upfront as you just said, the cia talking points said what they said. now, what's important here is really to get larger than this. mitt romney went out within moments of hearing what was happening in cairo and without even thinking about it criticized our government at a time where he didn't even have the facts. you know, another example of mitt romney shooting before he had even aimed properly, before he even had the right information. and so, number one, it's disgraceful that the nominee of the republican party has zero experience in foreign policy. in fact, this is the single most inexperienced twosome to run for president and vice president in the modern history of our country. >> wow. >> but on each step of mitt romney's journey until foreign policy, what he's done is proved that he has no depth. he was -- he says

romney and mr. ryan going in to tonight's debate, trying to tell voters what they say on television isn't what they're saying in other places. if that's effective, that will certainly hamper the romney effort to come back. it's an important measure, but not necessarily the most important. most importantly, the economy that really is very important. >> and we'll see how sole lid t solid the gains are after the next round of polls. suffolk university who also does rounds of polling, they decided to stop polling in virginia and florida because they already believe they're leaning towards romney. what do you make of that? >> i don't talk about other polls, but we're still polling in the states that we had planned on polling all along and virginia and florida are those states. >> and you'll keep on going. >> we expect to keep on going, yes. >> peter brown, thank you so much for joining us today. >>> may the force be with you. time now for the polysci war. here's what he told the young turks. he's very wi

today mr. romney rallies voters in iowa a day after delivering what his campaign called a major foreign policy address. speaking to an audience of cadets at the virginia military institute, romney hit on a wide range of hot button issues in the muslim world from the war in syria and the obama administration shifting response to the deadly attack on the nebs b -- the embassy in benghazi. republican candidate suggesting he would take a harder line to make sure that tehran does not get a nuclear weapon. >> i'll put the leaders of iran on notice that the united states and our friends and allies will prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons capability. i'll not hesitate to impose new sanctions on iran and will tighten the sanctions we currently have. i'll restore the permanent presence of air cast carrier task forces in the eastern mediterranean and the gulf. i'll work with israel to increase our military assistance and coordination for the sake of peace we must make clear to iran through actions

. >> to which one might ask, even better for who, mr. romney? we'll get to our panel for more on the intersection of a hurricane and presidential campaign in a moment, but first, we want to get more on the crane collapse here in midtown manhattan. a precarious and dangerous situation as the boom itself is now hanging on top of what will be the tallest residential building in new york city on 57th street and 6th avenue. let's get right to rehema ellis, about a block away from the building, for the latest. as i understand it, construction sites were ordered to tie things down by 5:00 p.m. on saturday, so what has happened here? >> reporter: well, what happened is what they hoped would not happen. what they feared could happen, martin, because, as you point out, two days ago they had ordered all building construction crews to stop, to suspend that construction with anticipation that something like this could happen. but this is beyond their anticipation. in fact, what we're told by the national weather service is that the wind was blowing at only a

he's harshly critical of mitt romney and how mr. romney is running his campaign. he says he was annoyed by mr. romney's references to his father as inspiration and influence on him. "i just don't see it." where is it? is it on issues? no. george would never have been seen with the likes of sheldon adelson or donald trump. regardless of the spit take it causes from your father's old friends as you try to wrap yourself in the mantle of your father's integrity, the fact is funds must be raised and the romney campaign announced that just last month in september they raised $170 million, which is a lot but is $10 million less than the obama campaign raised. the campaigns are closely matched with what they are raising. where the president and democrats are getting swamped is by the money spent by outside groups. the dark money. money spent outside the campaign. since labor day the spending on the presidential election by outside groups, the proportion of that spending that's been pro-romney and anti-obama is almost three quarters a huge majority of the dark money spendi

given that mr. romney and mr. ryan have given no details but have given a promise that they're going to reduce taxes by 20%, how does mitt romney deal with that tomorrow? what does he actually say that he has previously refused to say on explaining that? >> well, i think it's fascinating that they're treating mitt romney like he's the president and a lot in the media treat president obama like he's the challenger. what president george w. bush did when he was governor of texas is said i want to reduce taxes across the board and i want to make sure we have a balanced budget. he wasn't very specific during the campaign, and when he became president, he released a series of principles that went to capitol hill that said these are the measures that meet my -- >> here is the problem with that though, ron. people who have assessed his mathematics have deemed them to be completely impossible. michael, this is just in from mitt romney on how he'll pay for his massive 20% across the board tax cut. take a listen. >> everybo

>> governor romney disagrees with mr. mourdock and mr. mourdock's comments do not and flekt governor romney's views. we disagree on the policy regarding exceptions for rape and incest but we still support him. we still support him. the romney campaign will not ask the ad to be pulled. why? because they share the same extreme views on abortion that are being -- becoming mainstream in the gop. >> i believe that life begins at conception. >> would you have support the cons r constitutional amendment that life is at conception? >> absolutely. >> i think when life begins at that horrible situation of rape, it's something that god intended to happen. >> i've always adopted the idea that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life. >> this is an extreme party. and this is an extreme candidate. he picked a running mate as far to the right on women's issues as you can get. a guy who wrote the redefined rape law with the legitimate rape todd akin. mitt romney and the gop is selling you a haunted house and for the next 13 days the

romney made them feel more negative than positive toward mr. romney by a 22-point margin. those results match other polling that shows those comments alienated undecided voters. regardless of what you think of the substance of that it statement from mr. romney, it did turn the whole republican pundit class against him, called every candidate in a contested race to distance themselves from the presidential nominee of their party to start campaigning against mitt romney, telling voters, listen, i don't like that guy on that issue either, but vote for me any way even though i'm a republican. whether or not you think the remarks were scandalous, the polling impact of them is now showing up directly at a time when mr. romney's egregiously bad polling numbers seem to be calcifying and when most voters are now starting to vote. an incredibly negative impact for romney and his campaign at a difficult time for them. now on the eve of the first presidential debate, if they were hoping to put that behind them, any hope of getting away from the issue has now been expunged because "the

romney? >> that's exactly what mr. obama has to do. he has to remain calm and look like he is the commander in chief that he is for the united states and if he can -- if obama can be just who he is, there's no way that romney can get the narrative that he actually wants. but if obama can be himself, then i think that he will be just fine. >> abby, neera, thanks for your time and i think you're right, if the president is who he is and mr. romney is who he is, i think that will work to the president's favor. we'll be right back. >> thanks. oh no, not a migraine now. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula. >>> welcome back to "politicsnation." in just two hours, the two presidential candidates will debate their visions of america's future. i had the honor of addressing voters from a debate stage, too. back during my 2004 run for president. and while i lo