what we're pointing out is this is what mitt romney has done. you know, this is the central predicate of him running for office. and what he's done at bain capital is make an awful lot of money for himself while putting an awful lot of people out of work. his job there wasn't making jobs. his job there was in fact making money for himself. if you're going to be the president of the united states, the american people have the right to ask do we want these values and this culture, these wall street values and this culture at 1600 pennsylvania avenue? that's what we're pointing out. we're not attacking private equity firms. what we are doing is examining his record at bain capital. >> but at the same time too, on the very same day, be reaching out a hand and asking for money from people who do the exact same thing that mitt romney does and, in fact, has worked with bain capital. even just the timing of it, did someone not realize that? >> well, look. again, i think -- you know, no one's attacking private equity firms. heck. i wish i owned a private

i think this is a debate helps mitt romney. thor mo it's fought over -- the more it's fought over the economic matters, i mean, president obama wants to blame everything on everybody who came before him. he acts like his economies aren't the cause of the bad economy we have right now. the more the election is fought on those issues the stronger it will be for mitt romney and the republicans. >> james -- >> how does a guy from the bush administration sit here and blame obama? i mean, it's obama who takes office and losing 750,000 jobs and then mitt romney wants to talk about carter. but if you say something about bush you can't do that. if you say somebody about bain -- you know, ari i didn't interrupt you. >> go ahead. >> people are complaining and whining about the bain thing forever. you get in the game, they'll come after you. you don't get to tell just your side of the story. they'll tell the side of obama, they'll say you lost jobs or did this. i'm saying his record at bain, he put it front and center. it is a very valid i

the obama campaign trying to walk a very fine line against mitt romney. the criticism is coming, and as you'll see it's not just from the romney side. the campaign launched a new five minute documentary attack ad. >> i feel in my heart people need to know what romney did to indiana in 1994. >> we had been bought and sold in the past. we never had a problem. >> when bain capital bought us, that was a whole different story. >> mitt romney takes from the poor, the middle class and gives to the rich. he's just the opposite of robinhood. >> today they drew a response from the romney campaign which used obama supporters to make its point, including corey booker. >> have you had enough of president obama's attacks on free enterprise? his own key supporters have. cory booker of new jersey. >> i have to say, i'm not here to indict private equity. >> even obama's supporters have had enough. >> enough is enough. >> mayor booker criticized the attacks on bain. but the ad left out what else he said. >> this kind of stuff is it nauseating to me on both sides. it's naus

isn't -- do you deny that you're engaging in any kind of personal attacks on mitt romney? or is it okay to do that? >> governor romney believes that any discussion of his record is automatically negative campaigning, which i think tells you something about his record. he's put this forward as his economic record. we'll talk about the president's economic record. we're with losing 750,000 jobs a month when he came into office. manufacturing was in decline, the auto industry was on the brink. gm is the number one ought mow maker in the world again. we'll talk about the president's record and governor romney's record. >> appreciate you being on, thanks. >> thanks for having me. >>> let's try to get some more answers, raw politics with david gergen. the president's campaign doubling down and making mitt romney's record a central part of the campaign. p president said this is not a distraction, this is a center piece of the campaign. is that a mistake at this point in the campaign? >> it's certainly a surprise, anderson. the president enters this fray with a lot of evidence tha

but attacking mitt romney over it, when it's not what mitt romney said, it's so unnecessary. it's revealing about president obama's character. when he ran in 2008 as the post partisan, someone who would bring us together. boy did he sell us a bill of goods. there is nothing post partisan about him, if ever there's an occasion to be post partisan, it's the one-year anniversary of the killing of been been been. he had everything in his hands to bring us together. he chose instead to split us apart once more. >> do you agree that torture is what led to the killing of bin ladin? >> i'm no expert nor is fleischer, but i did look up what one expert said at least, make fallin, who is a former interrogator and special agent in charge of the criminal task force at guantanamo bay. he said, by saying some event in waterboarding years ago is a disservice to our service members. a whole lot of experts. this is all for the experts to argue. a lot of experts say that's not the case. they were waterboarding under bush, and they did not get bin ladin, those are two facts that we know. we stop

. >> to me mitt romney takes from the poor and the middle class and gives to the rich. he's just the opposite of robinhood. >> today they drew a response from the romney campaign which used obama supporters to make its point including newark, new jersey, mayor cory booker. >> have you had enough of president obama's attacks on free enterprise? his own key supporters have. cory booker of new jersey. >> i have to say, i'm not here to indict private equity. >> even obama's supporters have had enough. >> it's knaus eighting the the american public. enough is enough. >> mayor booker criticized the attacks on bain. but the ad left out what else he said. which was critical of both campaigns. >> this kind of stuff is it nauseating to me on both sides. it's nauseating to the american public. enough is enough. stop attacking private equity, stop attacking jeremiah wright, this stuff has got to stop. what it does, it undermines to me what this country should be focused on. >> that was mayor booker sunday morning. by sunday evening, mayor booker was out with a youtube video downpla

mitt romney though does have another record when it comes to job creation. his time as governor of massachusetts. so instead of talking about bain tonight, we're going to talk about that. but first, the news on what he said about putting americans back to work and setting a goal. >> by virtue of the policies we put in place, we get the unemployment rate down to 6% or perhaps a little lower. depends in part upon the rate of growth of the globe. as well as what we're seeing here in the united states. but get the rate down quite substantially. >> now, his critics say that he's essentially promising that something right there that may happen anyhow no matter who's in office. in the words of the congressional budget office's projection, as economic growth picks up, the unemployment rate will decline to around 7% by the end of 2015. before dropping to near 5% by the end of 2017. by the end of 2016, the cbo estimates the jobless rate will be 6.3% which is pretty close to what governor romney is promising. it's a lower standard that he's holding the white house acco

this one, presumptive republican nominee mitt romney. he spent the week talking about his private sector business career and said again he helped create 100,000 jobs when he was ceo of private company bain capital. the numbers don't add up. i'll explain that in a moment, but first some background. romney's claim on creating jobs came in response to a new series of ads released this week by the obama campaign attacking romney's record at bain. now, one ad focuses on the closure of a kansas city steel mill which led to big job losses. it features workers who say that romney and bain ruined their lives. watch. >> bain capital was the majority owner. they were responsible. mitt romney was deeply involved in the influence that he exercised over these companies. >> they made as much money off of it as they could and they closed it down. they filed for bankruptcy without any concern for the families or the communities. >> like a vampire. came in and sucked the life out of us. >> vampire that suck the life out of us, strong words. romney says he

what did that mean to mitt romney then, full equality and what does he believe now? we'll get into the specifics of what he wrote 18 years ago, but first, news of the timing yesterday from president obama. two senior administration officials say vice president

but attacking mitt romney over it when it's not what mitt romney said. it was so unnecessary, anderson. my point is it's revealing about president obama's character. when he ran in 2008 as the post-partisan as someone who would bring us together. there is nothing post-partisan about him. if there's ever an occasion, it is the anniversary of the killing of osama bin laden. he had everything to bring us together but he chose to split us once more. >> do you buy the enhanced technique it is what critics called torture is what led to the killing of bin laden? >> i'm no expert and nor is fleischer. i did look up what one expert says at least. mark fallon who is a former special agent in charge of criminal investigation task force at guantanamo bay he said some event in water boarding years ago led to this is a disservice to our service members. a whole lot of experts. this is for the experts. the experts say that's not the case. by the way they were water boarding under bush and they did not get bin laden. those are two facts we know. bush stopped the water b

i think this is a debate that helps mitt romney. the more this election is fought over economic matters, president barack obama doesn't act as though he's been the president for the last three and a half years. he acts as if none of his policies has anything to do with the bad economy we have right now. more of the election fought on those issues, the stronger i think it's going to be for mitt romney and republicans. >> james? >> how does a guy from the bush administration sit here and blame obama? i mean, it's vexing. obama takes office losing 750,000 jobs and then mitt romney wants to talk about carter. but if you say something about bush, can't do that. if you say -- you know, ari, i didn't interrupt you. there are people complaining and whining about this bain thing forever. you get in this -- you get in the game, they're going to come after you. you don't get to tell only your side of the story. that's what happens when you run for re-election. i'm just simply saying that his record at bain, he put it front and center. it is a

and it also matters, anderson, not just what mitt romney has done or what barack obama has done. but who they think actually might be able to take the country into the future. so they're not just selling their past records, they're selling kind of that, you know, to bring it back up again, they're selling hope. and whoever can do that best and say i'm your guy ends up winning. >> clearly the obama campaign wants to make this not a -- not on his economic reported, but a referendum on a choice between these two candidates. >> they definitely want to make it a choice and that's why they're talking about bain capital and the president the other day saying, look, mitt romney may have some business experience, but it's not the kind of experience you would need as president. but in the end, anderson, when you have an incumbent president, he's got a record that he's got to define. and if the american public doesn't think you've done a good job. they're not going to rehire you. that's why what worries the obama campaign right now, are some of these economic numbers which show there was on

mitt romney has made his business record a center piece of his campaign. he's talked about himself as a job creator. and therefore, it is reasonable and in fact i encourage it for the obama campaign to examine that record and discuss it. i have no problem with that. >> by the way, the obama campaign insists they had nothing to do with mayor booker making that correction. you be the judge. moving on. david axelrod echoed the youtube comments. >> really his chief credential for running for office, he never talks about his years as massachusetts governor. i think for good reason. they weren't stellar years. this is his argument. i was a businessman. i can lead the economy. so it behooves us to ask what did you do. and some of these cases are disturbing and deserve to be looked at. >> when asked about the booker affair, president obama echoed what axelrod said. >> governor romney, his calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. he's not touting his experience in massachusetts. he's saying i'm a business guy and i know how

i think this debate actually helps mitt romney. the more this election is fought over economic matters, the economy, barack obama acts as if he hasn't been the president of the united states for the last 3 1/2 years. he wants to blame everything on anybody that came before him. he acts as if none of his policies has anything to do with the bad economy we have right now. the more the election is fought on those issues, the stronger i think it's going to be for mitt romney and republicans. >> how does a guy from the bush administration sit here and blame obama? it's vexing. obama takes office losing 750,000 jobs, and mitt romney wants to talk about carter, but if you say something about bush, you can't do that. you say something about bain -- you know, ari, i didn't interrupt you. there are people out there complaining and whining about this bain thing forever. you get in the game, they're going to come after you. you don't get to tell just your side of the story. they're going to tell the side of obama, they're going to say you lost

for mitt romney, can he decrease the gap. with the registered voters, there's a slight bias toward the democrats. once they switch to likely voters, it's going to boost mitt romney's numbers. >> the majority of voters still think things are on the wrong track according to today's polls. how much of an issue is it? >> i think it's an issue. i think that the environment in which this race is happening is going to matter a lot to the outcome. >> the economy, whether or not it gets better. >> the economy, the jobs number, gas prices, all those things will affect the race, but people will go into the voting booth, not voting on how they feel about this moment, but what's the difference between the visions of mitt romney and barack obama and who is best to lead our country right now. regardless of the situation, people won't go in there and say thank you to any elected official. i think they say, what's next? so that's the big question voters are asking. what's the difference between the president and governor romney? >> can obama

what did he have that mitt romney lacks? >> i don't know it's governor romney was lacking, president bush had a personal connection with the hispanic community. i think they felt he believed in them. maybe it was his experience. as a border government. >> i guess i should have said outside the state of texas in his corner. >> what we need to see is whether or not governor romney has a capability to make that personal connection with the hispanic community, so they believe that he believes in them. >> alberto gonzales and juan carlos lopez, thanks, gentlemen. appreciate it. >>> ahead this evening, donald trump refusing to back down on his claim that president obama was not born in hawaii. what mitt romney supporters are saying today after mr. trump hosted a romney fund-raiser last night. >>> plus, a look back at what gary tuchman found when he went to hawaii in search of evidence about that birth certificate. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made. when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp...

we are not -- people don't care what mitt romney did in a contracting steam industry 20 years ago. they care what obama's not doing today to create jobs. >> james, is it. >> obama has created more jobs now -- >> sorry, james go ahead. >> the truth is he has created more private sector jobs than his predecessor created, romney was 47th out of 50th in job creation and that was after louisiana suffered hurricane katrina, which obviously we had massive job losses. so, romney's record is certainly nothing imminently fair to talk about -- want to talk about obama's job creation record as president, we can talk about his job creation record as governor of massachusetts that is a totally fair thing to do and i'm sure they will do that. >> is it critical, james, of president obama to attack mitt romney on, you know, basically doing what private equity does, which to mary's point is make money for the investors and sometimes creating jobs, sometimes cutting jobs, doing -- to attack him on that in those ads and then the same day that those ads are released, holding a big fund-raiser with priv

hon west a vague hoipt apology from mitt romney about an incident almost 50 years ago he says he doesn't remember. romney was in north carolina today trying to shift focus back to the economy with his speech at a manufacturing plant. the speech in which he used the word future at least four times. but it is romney's past, his very distant past, actually, all the way back to his teenage years, that got the headlines. it is today's front page, the washington post. romney's pranks could go too far. an article that paints a young mitt romney as remembered by his classmates as something of a bully. romney was asked about it in north carolina today. >> well, i think i was one who did some stupid things in high school, and if anyone feels that they were offended by that, i certainly apologize for that. >> well, the stupid thing in question, the one getting all the attention, concerns a student at the michigan prep school romney attended. a student names john lauber who was reportedly relentlessly teased for his presumed homosexuality and for having long bleach blond hair. five of romney's class

mitt romney and the birthers. governor romney does not doubt president obama was born in hawaii but he seemed to bring the issue up in remarks about amending the constitution. we'll play the tape and let you decide for yourself what you think he said. he made those remarks at a las vegas fund raiser with america's best known birther right now, we're talking about donald trump, who doubled down on his beliefs. >> nothing's changed my mind. and by the way, you know, you have a huge group of people. i walk down the street and people are screaming, please don't give that up. look, a publisher came out last week and had a statement about obama given to them by obama when he was doing a book as a young man a number of years ago in the '90s born in kenya and raised in indonesia. i mean, this was the statement. this was from obama. >> that's not true. the publisher says it was only a typo. and for the record, president obama has produced both a short and long form birth certificate showing he was born in hawaii. he made t

bond about that and about what he believes mitt romney definition of equality is. >> back in 1949, mitt romney talking about seeking what he said was full equality for gays and lesbians. to you, what does full equality mean? >> it means enjoying all of the rights that everybody else in the country enjoys. if everybody else enjoys rights one, two, three and four you enjoy those rights too. >> mitt romney did not favor same-sex marriage or civil unions. does that sound like full equality to you? >> not at all. it doesn't sound like it and it isn't like it. >> you have been very outspoken advocate for marriage equality. what was your personal reaction to the president's endorsement yesterday? >> i was thrilled and excited. i always felt that he felt this way. i was waiting and waiting for him to say so. i wish it had been sooner. >> were you surprised he said this before the election? >> well not because of the series of events that preceded it. in statement from vice president biden, the secretary of education and the rising tide of people in the country who changed old ideas and said the