chris cillizza, eugene robinson, michael gerson, michael steele and ed rendell. "andrea mitchell reports" live next from the republican national convention in tampa. al about aspirin. bayer advanced was completely different. it really did get rid of the pain. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com. ar ntlr gh rg [ nn ]errequ gh sf owgrl. rg now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake! [ male announcer ] well, you can't beat them. [ giggles ] ohh! you got something huh? whoa... [ male announcer ] humana understands the value of spending time together that's a lot of work getting that one in! let's go see the birdies. [ male announcer ] one on one, sharing what you know. let's do it grandpa. that's why humana agents will sit down with you, to listen and understand what's important to you. it's how we help you choose t

bob shrum and michael steele weigh in on that next. and president obama stressed the importance of education in las vegas. he did that today with another excellent speech. former nfl star warren sap discusses the impact of public education in his new book, and he will join me later in the show. what did it mean to him? share your thoughts on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. we're coming right back. - one serving of cheese is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier... the more you know. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." congressman todd akin should be the hero of the republican party. but they're pretending that he isn't. at least until the election is over in november. look, there is no doubt his fellow republicans will warmly embrace this guy if he wins. and he may be taking friendly fire right now, but he's just the kind of staunch conservative right-wing zealots are looking for. they want to guy who is not goin

michael steele is joining us. we are going to throw a little bit up on the web.

. >> bob shrum, michael steele, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. >>> next, it could be the republicans' teflon lie. could romney and ryan win by misleading seniors? we'll have the truth. and ryan's new twist on the debate over medicare. ♪ why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants, with chase sapphire preferred. [ male announcer ] 6 years old. then 7. going on 11. in the blink of an eye, they're all grown up. marie callender's homemade tastes are another great reason to sit down and savor every last moment. ♪ because time flies... right before your eyes. marie callender's. it's time to savor. is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in three ways. natural energy from green coffee extract, only from starbucks. natural energy from green cof

bob shrum and michael steele weigh in on that next. and president obama stressed the importance of education in las vegas. he did that today with another excellent speech. former nfl star warren sap discusses the impact of public education in his new book, and he will join me later in the show. what did it mean to him? share your thoughts on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. we're coming right back. [ male announcer ] aggressive styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. the 2012 c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. ♪ join mercedes-benz usa on facebook for the best summer sweepstakes. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." congressman todd akin should be the hero of the republican party. but they're pretending that he isn't. at least until the election is over in november. look, there is no doubt his fellow republicans will warmly embrace this guy if he wins. and he may be taking friendly fire right now, but he's just the kind of staunch conservative right

one, michael steele was that first step. disclaimer, michael and i were friends for 20 years and we grew up in the republican party when it was different. when george herbert walker bush was president, a much different climate around racial politics than there is now in the republican party. so, michael steele was undercut and this was my position. very successful as a chairman. he won the 2010 midterm elections. the biggest walloping of the democrats since the '40s and the guy gets run out on a rail, frankly. there weren't people that didn't like he wanted to change things. why is that important? let's put this in context. we were talking off camera about other issues of importance in this country. republicans can't even engage in this dialogue because they're afraid of being called racist. the reason they're afraid of being called racist they don't have anybody that looks like me, you can't trot out condoleezza rice and others when it is convenient for you at the convention every four years and not have them in the party.

michael steele and bob shrum, thank you. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. romney's spokesman and ari melber debate the trip next. [ male announcer ] we did a febreze experiment with the azerbaijani wrestling team. ♪ can febreze air effects defeat the smelly air in their gym for good? [ man ] what can you smell? [ inhales deeply ] a lot of flowers. it's on the zingy side of floral. potpourri factory, maybe. you can take off your blindfolds now. oh my gosh. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] success. victory over odors, for good, both here and in your home. febreze. breathe happy. has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call. and it looks pretty serious. s

michael steele and bob shrum, thank you. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. romney's spokesman and airy melber debate the trip next. choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility.

steele/former rnc chairmmn > < 1:02 to 1:07 > >> < peter schaller/tampa > < looklive in < runs: >>> < it's not just democrats marching against the rnc here in tampa.. its republicans too. tonighh gop leaders tell me,, when it comes to uniting the party, there's a lot riding on mitt romney's speech thursday 36:50 to :56 >>> < it's a - complex new world aad its going to be here toostay so the first party to master it will be the winner in november. >>> > uninon workers protest nats>>>>>> another night of protesting in downtown tampa, many in this crowd support pressdent obama. >> but its not this croww concerning ggp insiderr.>> >> ron paul protest nats>> >> it's defiant marches llke this. >> >> sot < 3:37:51 to :54> >> < the tough part for them is that we're just not going to cross over. >>> >> ron paul supporters at the rnc feel unsettling for the establishment.>> epublican party leaders like michael steele says if he had a ooe on one talk with mitt romney, he would give this advice before mitt's thursday night speech. >> >> sot < 44:28 to :31 > >> < don't wwrry about what the pundi

i think michael steele ended up being right. after everyone was worried about the weather. >> somebody backing them up. >> state of wisconsin. >> that's your plug? >> that's it for today's edition of "the daily rundown." tomorrow, another packed show from tampa. david gregory, chris matthews, and stick with msnbc. and updates on isaac. coming up next, chris jansing. tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression, including risk of suicide, may occur. alcohol may increase these risks. allergic reactions, such as tongue or throat swelling, occur rarely and may be fatal. s

michael steele and bob shrum, thanks so much for your time tonight. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. former romney spokesman richard grenell and ari melber debate the trip, next. [ male announcer ] it seems like every company has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call. metamucil uses super hardworking psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model, but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. >>> coming up, the final word of romney's overseas adventure. p ari melber and richard degree nell. >>> a texas tea partier thanks sarah palin, sean hannity and glenn beck in his victory s

michael steele, what about you? do you think the convention speech is a make or break for mitt romney? >> i do. i think it's going to be the one moment where everything kind of comes together. folks come off vacation, settle down, start focusing on the campaign. i think that, you know, the party leadership is going to be looking to say okay, how do you send us out into this battle. yeah, i think tone to substance to the visuals, all of that will matter for him, even with a 2-point, three-point lead going into the convention. he still is going to have to lay out solidly the substance of the argument for why he should be president of the united states. why the american people should fire barack obama and hire him, putting it in managerial terms. it's going to i think be very important for him. >> do you think we're now beyond the initial glow of paul ryan that excited so many conservatives and republicans, that the pick, perhaps, reinforced the obama campaign's character rick turf mitt romney as a guy that wants to he

that is something we wait and see. >> michael steele, speaking to me a short time ago. republicans here are breathing a sigh of relief that this convention has not been totally derailed by hurricane isaac. that is not what they are thinking in southern louisiana, however. the water continues to pour into neighborhoods in new orleans. 15,000 people have been ordered to evacuate an area in southeast of the state, and hundreds of people have had to be rescued by boat. we get an update from braithwaite, one of the most affected areas. >> the cleanup operation is underway in this area, just outside the new orleans flood wall, where this was completely inundated with water. come around, and you can get a sense of how high the water levels got. you concede the rooftop with the water level just underneath it. about 200 people had to be rescued from this area when the levies were breached. overnight, he water levels rose and people had to get out quickly. the flood water has gone down dramatically, compared to the height of the storm. we would have been very much under water, st

eugene robinson and karen finney and michael steele. thank you. ann romney will talk from the heart and it will be a real open speech. what does she need to say? meghan mccain weighs in on that. >>> we are keeping a watchful eye on tropical storm isaac. it will bring tremendous storm surge with it. it is a slow-moving storm. residents not taking any chances. a full update after this. atd anc ] elib f buoer 0%rtalen tu. bsinsindhhcra le sca't d ou tf-et. wo ts, u'levifal adi plrk u're ta e wo ts, toe ra en b anizlpe-ve itsu 3xpnc erresu ge d ped es sap ut..yoe hoac p fhe >>> the gulf coast remains on high alert as we speak. up to 15 inches of rain and the possibility of tornadoes. we have it all covered for you. >>> plus, do republicans or the president need to tone down campaign events because of this potential natural disaster? melissa harris perry will found off on that. we will say hi to meghan and have more after this. plin inst catar ntlr gh rg [ nn ]errequ [ nn ]errsfu owgrl. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergie

senate. >> who does that we include, michael steele? who is with this guy in persisting? >> that's him and the supporters, those folks who went to the polls an elected him in missouri primary a few weeks ago. that's the basis of his energy right now. he's probably got some poll numbers if they've rushed together to sort of get a vibe on the ground on how this thing is playing. and there is no big push from the grassroots, evangelical community. you have the family research council and others coming behind and standing with him, so he's got support that is probably growing to some degree to your point. for him right now, the witching hour is an hour from now. we'll see whether or not he actually does step out. i doubt it and there's no incentive for him to do it. there's nothing the party can do about it. >> the longer he stays, the more risk for the new balance and persia core voter. nia, i have to ask you about this. in a gender sensitive point, i've noticed that the women i work with, the producers and all, not all liberals, i got to tell you, by any means. despite the

michael sper convi itch is a rao host and michael steele is former chair of the republican national committee. they're both msnbc political analysts. now it's important to note latourette took a shot at both parties but clearly retiring from one. his problem was at home is that often as in politics tougher than your brothers and sisters than you are on the other side. for years now i noticed you tried to carve something of a moderate position near the center coming from the republican side that the suburban voters tend to adhere to. they are not wingers. they are not tea partiers. they tend to want less government but they're not crazy. they don't want to get rid of government, and they want fair taxes. are we going to see less and less voice for people like that in the years ahead? >> i sure hope so because the largest growing group of voters in this country are not rs or ds. they are is, independents. the sort of behavior you're talking about is what has driven many of us straight out of the republican party. the republican party has got to stop taking marching orders from talk radio hosts

michael steele and bob shrum, thank you. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. romney's spokesman and ari melber debate the trip next. [ male announcer ] we did a febreze experiment with the azerbaijani wrestling team. ♪ can febreze air effects defeat the smelly air in their gym for good? [ man ] what can you smell? [ inhales deeply ] a lot of flowers. it's on the zingy side of floral. potpourri factory, maybe. you can take off your blindfolds now. oh my gosh. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] success. victory over odors, for good, both here and in your home. febreze. breathe happy. [ male announcer ] it seems like every company has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance

fred malek, michael steele, ed rendell. thank you very much, all. >>> up next, tom brokaw talking about condoleezza rice's political future and conventions past and future. crashes ] [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the same... consider this: when the unexpected happens, there's one brand of battery more emergency workers trust in their maglites: duracell. one reason: duralock power preserve. it locks in power for up to 10 years in storage. guaranteed. so, whether it's 10 years' of life's sunny days... or... the occasional stormy one... trust goes a long way. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. >>> i move senator barack obama of illinois be selected by this convention by acclimation as nominee of the democratic party for president of the united states. >> hillary clinton four years ago officially nominating barack obama at the democratic convention. an example of how former rivals can come together and eventually serve on the same team as they now do. joining me here, speaking of our team, nbc news

michael steele, thank you. howard fineman, thank you. >>> coming up, from the republican national convention here in tampa, the man who had hoped to be giving the acceptance speech is going to talk, we'll ask newt about this dog whistle and this romney dishonest ad campaign. >>> also, this republican party wants to show one face to its supporters and another to a national audience here on television, that's why michelle and sarah and the w. are not really going to be speaking here. and four days of free advertising for republican presidential candidates. how seriously might the romney campaign be damaged if isaac shortens this one, reduces to it a day or two? finally, let me finish with this tampa convention, what it can be and what it shouldn't be. this is "hardball," the place for politics. hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ ghs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas station

first to you, michael steele, why tampa? that was your decision. >> that wasn't my decision alone. 168 members voted unanimously -- >> you could have vetoed it. who comes to the gulf coast in hurricane season? >> look, this is the chance you take, i guess, in life when you got to take those chances, particularly when you have a diamond place to come to. we're excited to be here. we vetted this through. everybody knows what the risks were and what the upsides and downsides were and the upsides clearly, clearly outweighed the downsides. to all those folks out here who are whining and blaming and second-guessing, get over it. if you get wet, roll with it. you're in tampa, for goodness sakes. enjoy the convention. we're about to nominate the next president of the united states. the republicans are psyched for this. i just think all of this noise right now is just no way to start the convention. look at it this way. if we were some place else in the country, we would still be focused on this region because the storm is going to h

michael steele, thank you. howard fineman, thank you. >>> coming up, from the republican national convention here in tampa, the man who had hoped to be giving the acceptance speech is going to talk, we'll ask newt about this dog whistle and this romney dishonest ad campaign. >>> also, this republican party wants to show one face to its supporters and another to a national audience here on television, that's why michelle and sarah and the w. are not really going to be speaking here. and four days of free advertising for republican presidential candidates. how seriously might the romney campaign be damaged if isaac shortens this one, reduces to it a day or two? finally, let me finish with this tampa convention, what it can be and what it shouldn't be. this is "hardball," the place for politics. hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stati

. >> michael steele. >> welcome to florida, baby. good to be in your backyard. >> good to be here. >> you saw this coming, didn't you? >> yeah. >> michael steele. >> oh, yeah. two years ago. i'm that way, you know. >> you know, it's one of those things that willie and i were talking about earlier we played the odds and the odds were this is a great spot to have a convention, i think the delegates and everyone will have a great time. so you get a little wet. >> look at the hearty souls that are here. >> a bar and three people. thank you. so -- >> and we have a lot of florida people as well. >> it will be fun. listen, there's a bar, i'm happy. >> exactly. and really quickly, willie, a lot of news over the weekend, but the biggest one, that blockbuster trade you were talking about between the red sox. >> huge. >> and the dodgers, the red sox cleaned their team out. they cleaned up their payroll. >> season is over, getting ready for next year, got rid of gonzalez, josh beckett, carl crawford after that experiment, and unloaded over $200

joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell and michael steele. thank you both for being here. >> good to see you, rev. >> it's a pleasure. >> tonight, michael, i was waiting to talk with you. >> i bet. >> let me start with you. you're the former chairman of the republican national committee. >> yeah. >> does it make political sense for mitt romney to release more tax returns? >> i think politically it does. at this stage of the game and i've said this for several weeks now. i think that somewhere in the five to seven range of years back i think would give people a sense of what he's done and i think a lot of this noise goes away. the brew ha-ha with harry reid becomes a footnote. and the country can focus on things that matter. the discussion that the president and mitt romney need to have about the direction of the country and how much it's going to cost us to get back on our seat. >> your successor called the senate majority leader a dirty liar. you took a lot of shots when you were chairman. some of it friendly fire. i've never heard you use t

michael steele -- >> it was huge. what i liked about it was, he reached back a little bit to what we did in 2010 with the seniors health care bill of rights where we talked about protecting seniors from the raiding of then $500 billion on medicaid. he brought it forward. and he said to them, we're going to protect you. then offered the carrot to the x-generation saying we have options for you. we have a way forward for you. i think that goes to the opportunity that the republicans have, and the problem that the democrats will run into. >> and willie, these conventions are usually about reaching out to middle america. reaching out to people that may not have focused yet. but last night with paul ryan, i think something very important happened. let's just say it. this is a convention where people have come together to core row nate a candidate that most of them aren't really excited about. paul ryan last night, spoke to conservatives -- i read jim guarantee in national review on-line and i certainly would put myself in

michael steele. >> quick question for you sh, a how much of the convention will be consumed by george bush? the looking backwards or are you planning to really focus on laying out what an obama second term will look like and how much better off the american people will be given the last four years? >> michael, i don't think that we'll focus on george bush anymore than your convention focused on george bush, but what we are concerned about is where we are going as a country and the reason that the bush ed administration comes up is because the proposals that governor romney and paul ryan are proposing are so derivative of what we saw in the last decade. another budget-busting tax cut to explode the deficits and raise burdens on the middle-class. deregulation of wall street. these are the exact things that got us into the mess in the first place, so, you know, we don't want to relitigate history and we don't want to relive it either, but that is the context in which the past will be discussed and of course, congressman ryan has a special link to it, because he voted for all of the polic

>> doing great. >> good. >> michael steele and -- >> fumbling. >> sam stein with us in washington. along with mark halperin in new york and joining us on set -- >> this is huge. >> obama campaign and former white house press secretary, robert gibbs. >> i got to say, i was very impressed, mika, that people in the control room remembered the old brother gibbs joke, staying alive. walking on playing the bee gees. >> you got to hear a little bit of begys. how is auburn going to be this year? >> joe, we'll under promise and over perform. the boys ready and going to have a good year. >> are you going down to games? >> i will sneak down to games. >> even this fall. >> the best thing i ever did was get my son interested in it and then take him to a game and sort of guarantees now can't let my son down. >> a good parent. good parenting skills, right. >> i have an 8-year-old girl kate that turns 9 today. happy birthday, kate. >> so awesome. >> i think i need to buy her a set of golf clubs for her birthday. >> exactly. >> get her out on the golf course. >> that's what has to be done. >> just

and michael steele, former republican, national committee chair. michael, uh i go to you first. our friend archer davis, former congressman called biden's remarks, you know, they're going to put y'all back in chains. he called it racially vicious. i want to know your response to the episode and what if, michael, mitt romney or paul ryan had said such a thing? wouldn't today the main stream media just be going nuts and calling for their resignation? >> absolutely. this would be the height of hysteria around the question of racism and whether or not ryan is fit to serve on the ticket, et cetera, and that mitt romney should replace him. that's exactly what would have happened. and certainly, i even talked to a democratic reporter today who said, well, you know, biden is biden. yeah, biden is biden. but stupid is stupid, too. you don't want to make those stupid comments. african-american audience, you say something like that. when i heard it i went, ooh, really? you went there? the reality is there is no place in the game now. we need to talk about real issues. we don't need this di