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

. >> they are 75%, so mr. romney has the lowest support since its gerald ford. i think mr. romney made a strategic decision to go after the hispanic vote. the republican platform reflects that. tavis: how would you situate the issue of immigration reform? >> i think it is more of a proxy for how people feel they are being disrespected by the rest of the country, and they brought immigration to the fore, not so much that is the issue, but it feels like it is being used, and people reacted to it. tavis: ferris is a bifurcation of the attitudes -- there is a bifurcation of the attitudes. there are a lot of hispanics who are disappointed of him not having done more in his first term, particularly in the forum that mr. romney showed up separately and mr. obama showed up separately. you promise. a promise is a promise. what do you make of that sentiment? he did not -- there are people who feel he did not push enough on immigration. >> we have to understand the country comes first. 2009 was a full-fledged economic collapse. to implement immigration reform would have been nonsensic

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

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

polls suggest the president is pulling away from mr. romney. it is in that too close to call category. take me inside florida and tell me what has happened on this issue. they are the ones, with their aggressive push, put this issue fote clor r t en coffor r a lotf americans on the front pages of papers about this issue. >> it is amazing we are talking about voting controversies in florida in 2012, given what went on in 2000. it is staggering to think that florida could be going back to those days. but what happened is, after republican governor richard scott was elected in 2010, he and the republican legislature worked to reword clause and they made major changes. one was to put severe burdens on voter registration drives and prevent groups like the league of women voters from registering voters. that was enacted in 2011 and was blocked by the courts in may, 2012. for about a year, voter registration drives were shut down in florida. he cut back early voting from 14 days to 8 days, including the sunday before the election when african-american

mr. romney did look a little frustrated a few times. i kind of liken him to a pit bull on a leash trying to get loose. i agree with him on values, whereas the democratic party, i don't agree with their value system at all. >> did you go into tonight's debate already deciding who you were going to vote for? >> i am decided as far as i am not going to vote democratic party, i know that. as far as an independent candidate or mitt romney, i am not sure yet. >> as far as tonight is concerned, watching mr. romney, did that change your opinion whatsoever? >> yes. i am not sure, there are things he is making points about it, i am not sure what he is actually saying. so i need to find out more about where hes headed before i can really make an informed decision. i do have a comment about the health care. this is for any party willing to listen, and that is, i believe that a good way to reduce the cost of health care in this country is fort somebody of government to regulate the billing practices of the health- care industry people. i think that'

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

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

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

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

it could go back in the next few days in mr. romney's direction. neil: is the next debate in florida the rubber match? >> the campaign that has the strongest, deepest grass-roots efforts to get out the vote will win and i think that will be president obama's -- neil: reminded me of this, they were not as bad as tonight. >> mr. romney's job tomorrow will be to do with the president did the day after the last debate and that is go out on the hunt. neil: this is where you and i disagree. i don't think governor romney was any less productive than he was two weeks ago. the president was more effective, that is the difference. >> the difference was the president backed him up throughout the night on the facts and statements made that contradicted. neil: you didn't see any signs of the president backing him up? >> for the most part i thought it was managed well. the commander in chief gave performance tonight. neil: do you ever find out what was his problem to israel? >> i can tell you this, tonight he was as strong as i have ever seen him. neil: i think

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

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

here's how mr. romney's remarks were quoted in the press report that day. the idea was put all your energy and passion at the job all the hand. i heard from secretary jim baker just a couple weeks ago. he said in the first hundred days of the reagan presidency, we had a national security meeting one day where we talked about developments in latin america that were of concern. and after that meeting president reagan called me in and said, i want no more national security meetings over the next 100 days -- all of our time has to be focused on getting our economy going. mitt romney told this to a bunch of donors in montana in july. this is the thing he was praising ab the ronald reagan presidency. it turned out this never happened. he never stopped his briefings because he said he needed to focus on the economy instead. after mr. romney told that story and it was reported in "the wall street journal". the editor said he went through the notes on reagan's presidency to check the story by mr. romney. he said he could find no evidence this happened. jim baker him

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

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

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