for his father, george romney. one needs to look no further than his race in 1994, a campaign in which george romney played a key advisory role. >> his father, i think, essentially moved into the house in belmont. he was a wonderful guy. always thinking. sometimes independent and often independent of mitt. >> your dad, what kind of adviser was he? >> he loved the campaign. and he'd go on, if you will, rallies. he would do parades, walk down the street, shake hands with people. they probably wondered who is this 88-year-old guy out there campaigning for mitt romney. >> massachusetts governor bill weld sat down with george romney and his son shortly after mitt's loss to ted kennedy. >> the thing i remember most was what is mitt romney was doing. he was turning sideways in his chair looking at his father with an expression that i can only describe as hero worship. >> my purpose in making this trip is not to impose my views on anyone else. >> governor george romney is the sort of republican not seen much these days. >>

for his father, george romney. one needs to look no further than his race in 1994 and a campaign in which george romney played a key advisory role. >> his father, i think, essentially moved into the house in belmont and he was a wonderful guy. always thinking. >> your dad, what kind of adviser was he? >> he loved the campaign. and he would go on -- if you will -- rallies, go out and speak to rallies. he would do parades, walk down street and shake hands with people. probably wonder who'd is this 88-year-old guy who is out there campaigning for mitt romney. >> massachusetts governor bill weld sat down with george romney and his son shortly after mitt's loss to ted kennedy. >> but the thing i remember most is what mitt romney was doing and he was turning sideways in his chair looking at his father, an expression i can only describe as hero worship. >> my purpose in make thing trip is not to impose my views on anyone else. >> governor george romney is the sort of republican not seen much these day. >> george romney wa

that is something that the romney campaign approved, that governor romney now owns. the ad that was put out by priorities usa is not an ad on behalf of the obama campaign. it wasn't put out by the obama campaign. it was not funded by the obama campaign, so there's a fundamental difference. i find it somewhat ironic, to say the least, when you think about the fact that -- you think about the fact that newt gingrich is out there defending governor romney. what level of dante's political hell has newt gingrich and mitt romney entered? >> this is what i find so confusing, why would newt gingrich go out there and talk about welfare when he knows he has to talk about an ad that admittedly isn't true, i mean how stupid is that? why would he do that, what's the upside of doing that? >> you know, this campaign, it is the most puzzling campaign, to me, the romney campaign. there's no message. we're now about what 90 days out, there's still no focus. you could literally walk down the street of any major city or small town and no one can tell you what governor romney is running

the romney flag is up. romney bus is in the background there. what i can tell you from a messaging stand point on the romney bus, this is a new wrap on that bus that we haven't seen in recent weeks. it says more jobs, more take-home pay. getting back to that message on the economy. that message aimed at the middle class is what the romney campaign will be delivering over the next several days for the bus tour. as we were talking a few momenting ago, to go to the hurry up and wait nature of this announcement. no paul ryan signs on the site. we've been scouring the scene, looking for any sign of a paul ryan sign of sorts, even saw romney advance people. they had their lead advance people like they had top ads advisers coming in. saul one of the people with a sign up to the chest. i said hey, charlie, flip the sign around. give us a sense what you have. it was just a mitt romney sign. perhaps they're bringing those in as we speak. as we said, it is official. the mitt vpapp did activate, finally even though much of the political world knew this last

romney. what is his budget? where are his tax returns? there's still this giant question mark that hangs over all of these questions, where he says, oh, it's not my -- it's not his budget and i'm not going to tell you what the answer is. you're just going to have to figure it out. that's just not good enough. >> let's listen to the way that joe biden handled the day after this thing he said yesterday, where he used the notion that the romney people wanted to put you back in chains. he went off-script, ad libbed a little something. everyone said, hey, wait, that rhetoric's going way too far. a lot of crazy, fake outrage about it. let's see how biden handled it today. >> i know i am sometimes criticized for saying exactly what i mean. it's not going to change. but let me tell you something. barack obama does exactly what he says he's going to do. you don't have to worry about barack obama changing positions midstream. >> joy, as much as biden may have misspoke when he used that phrase, the not

the bain capital and romney capital and romney economic model, they get wealthy at the expense of the everyday working folks. again, only in america is when you lose your job do you lose your health care. that's what president obama has fixed. that's what's making these guys like this. we have to understand that the bain-romney model of getting wealth, wealth accumulation destroys other people's lives and if he was so sure of what he's done, let him stand before the people. he has so many millions of dollars, why doesn't he leave the people with the health care. he was already a multimillionaire. show his taxes to show where he made the money. >> thanks so much. >> i am ticked off about them. >> a lot of americans are. turn to howard fineman, political analyst and editorial director of the "huffington post." the politics of this, was this a big misstep by the romney camp and the comparison to health care in massachusetts, the very plan that now if he is president he wants to strike down mitt romney? >> it was a telling response and a revealing and problematic for the romney campaign.

romney. that could balance the ticket a little bit. he doesn't have any foreign policy experience. he he's never run a statewide campaign. would he be ready to take over in the case of an emergency? >> that's the million- -- in this campaign, the billion-dollar question. you touched on the chemistry between mitt romney and paul ryan. both candidates have to know they can lean on and count on each other. but first of all, mitt romney will look at someone who he thinks can be a president. can be the leader of the free world, if something were to happen to the president. that's the first criteria. but paul ryan is -- he's in great shape. he's a fitness nut. you know, he has led races and exercise in the house for quite a while. part of this because he knows his father and his grandfather both died in their 50s. so, you know, he wants to stay in as good of shape as he can. >> it's been a bumpy few weeks for mr. romney. three, new polls showing president obama is actually widening his lead over th

romney can define himself. the obama team goes after romney again on bain and calling on him-to-do what his own father did, release multiple years of his personal tax returns. >> i think bain is the beginning of a narrative arc. bain will be around i suspect for the whole campaign. so i think it's the foundation of a narrative arc and i think that is all going to tie together by the end of this campaign. if romney does not find an effective answer to this he will come across as the candidate of the few by the few and for the few. >> his wealth and his success in a year where these are all issues that people are talking about you know, have the possibility at some dimensions to you know, to make him a caricature of himself. he'll have to offer a positive hopeful vision for the future of the country. which he has the capacity to do. >> through the dissidence, the romney campaign fights to get out its message. >> you put yourself out there. you describe what you believe. hopefully, people sort through all the chaf

that -- that guy next to romney's not already a romney? [ laughter ] >> you sure that's not like -- brick romney or chad or fudge romney? >> i don't really know him well because i've never been to the tomb. >> that's right. jokes from house minority leader nancy pelosi. one late night comic, though, was not laughing. >> paul ryan, like mitt romney and like president obama, and like joe biden, is a good family man. we have four good family men in this presidential race. [ applause ] >> what about me? i don't need family men. i need a monologue, more herman cains, more john edwards, that's what i need. let's get herman cain, john edwards back in this case. >> maybe donald trump? >> donald trump says he has a big surprise in store for everyone at the republican national convention this year. a surprise he says people will love. so apparently he's not going. >> senator john mccain said it would be wise for president obama to drop joe biden from the ticket. wait -- john mccain's giving advice about choosing a running mate? like donald trump giv

, they're making assumptions about romney that romney doesn't make. >> even romney's own economists have said, that put together his plan, that this isn't going to raise taxes on middle-class families. that's the core problem with the so-called ryan budget. the problem with paul ryan is, i think he's probably a very decent person, but he's well outside of the mainstream of where most americans think we should go. they think we should raise taxes on rich people. they don't want to get rid of medicare. that's just not what they want to do. >> if he does say it with a smile on his face and i think that optimism does make a difference and i thought that the best line in his speech yesterday was about saying that this is not the new normal. >> and that puts it back on president obama's record. >> right, right. >> the big anchor for him going into this election. >> well, that's true. again, we have a choice. it's no longer referendum. that was the decision, not only a tactical decision, but a shift in the campaign. i think the tax thing is important. people need to be reminded we're not only e

in other words, romney's ad is a blatant lie. but romney is not backing down. he claims bill clinton is on his side. >> i think president clinton would be surprised to see that the legislation that he and republicans agreed upon to put work into welfare is now going to be waived, that work requirement, by virtue of a president who has a very different view about welfare than i think bill clinton and republicans did some years ago. >> romney is either lying or he's misinformed. former president bill clinton is not surprised at all. in fact, a clinton spokesman said president obama's new policy is consistent with policies enacted in the 1990s. the former president is giving the plan his blessing. looks like mitt romney got it all wrong again. joining me tonight is jonathan alter, msnbc political analyst and columnist for bloomberg view. great to have you with us. why is the romney campaign telling one lie after another? i mean, we just ran a story last night and also tonight on the ohio voting and now this. what's going on here? >> well, they are starting to real

romney is happy to get away from clint eastwood any which way they can. >> i will work with all my energy and soul to restore that america. >> what? what do you want me to tell romney? >> now is a time to restore the promise of america. >> i've got mr. obama sitting here. i was just going to ask him a couple of questions. >> when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an american. >> can't do that to himself. you're absolutely crazy. >> i didn't know it was coming. >> restore every father and mother's confidence that their children's future is brighter even in the past. and they are off. mitt romney and paul ryan have departed florida, hitting the road as official nominees of the republican party. they took off on their new rides, twin campaign planes, slapped with the words, believe in america, with ryan off to virginia and romney bound for new orleans to tour damage from hurricane isaac in the flooded suburb of lafitte. perfectly timed for romney to mock concerns abou

romney and mr. christie. >> three packs of shirts the other day from costco and they're very nice shirts. >> you can't lead by being aloof, you can't lead by being programmed. >> great, play the [ bleep ] clip. >> i'm not sure what i said, but i stand by what i said, whatever it was. ♪ how you like me now how you like me now how you like me now ♪ >> we have a packed show for you today so let's get going. isaac is now a hurricane heading toward the gulf coast and new orleans with winds 75 miles per hour and we'll bring you much more on the storm just ahead. >>> but we begin with mitt romney about to reach a major milestone in his five-year quest with a state by state roll call in just over an hour to begin the formal process of nominating him as the republican presidential candidate. romney and his running mate, paul ryan, arrived in tampa just a few hours ago gearing up for the first big night of the storm-delayed gop convention. with marquee speeches by mitt's wife as well as new jersey governo

mitt romney appreciates and admires the work and the ideas that paul ryan has done but mitt romney has his own plans. >> mark halperin, you brought up a little-known e-book called "game change" and the phrase being bandied about in the world of political media is that this in fact may be a game change as well, this pick of paul ryan. what do you make of it? >> it might be and just like the pick of sarah palin, it's not clear if it ends up being a game changer, which side it will be a game changer for. paul ryan could help mitt romney make up the small lead that barack obama has now and help him put wisconsin in play and redefine the race, or he could cost mitt romney so dearly with senior voters and other groups in wisconsin and in florida and pennsylvania and iowa that he contribute to his losing the race. we have to see. >> it's an either/or situation, you're saying. maggie, it's very rare that both sides greet this political news with such fervor and so many broad smiles, yet both democrats and republicans were very happy about paul ryan as mitt romney's choice for vp. i guess the q

. >> romney -- romney wore a tie and no jacket and ryan wore no tie with a jacket. i don't know what that means. but erick erickson, what did you think of the options of this? >> you know, i thought it was actually not too bad. i thought the optics weren't terrible -- it frees me up to be able to do that this morning and i can go with paul ryan now and be more casual. i'm struck by two things. first of all, i think the romney campaign has been largely listless this summer. they weren't put on a good message. there were a lot of barack obama mistakes in june that they weren't able to capitalize on and now you have paul ryan. they send him a talking point we're not going to embrace paul ryan's plan. well, yeah, you are. and that you're trying to pedal this with a straight face, i think that encapsulates what's wrong this summer. thing is fight we need and to his credit he did a better job selling mitt romney than mitt romney did selling himself in the last three months. there's one other point worth mentioning. we are now really at a historic changing point. this is f

there is a problem with the romney message and it is romney and not paul ryan. >> we'll take a break . we'll be back and talk about the tough negative political ads and are the campaigns going too far in the inference and accusations. we'll be right back. panel plus and our special monday preview of the week ahead. and you can find it on fox news sunday.com. stay tuned for more from our panel. by then there was nothing they could do for her. she passed away in 22 days. >> what does it say about a president's character when his campaign tries to use a trag edgy of a woman's death. >> john: the adsaid the woman died because of mitt romney with bain capital. debby wasserman schultz said that illuminates the time of romney's time and other people said the adgoes beyond decence yereason. >> i didn't catch a lot of what she said. i was laughing whether she could say the folks at proprietaries usa was democrats there. is a credibility issue here. over the last couple of weeks. they are raising money for priorities usa . david plouffe runs -- i mean bill burton. and plouffe has been involved

join mitt romney and me. let's give this effort everything we have. ( cheers and applause ) let's see this thing all the way through. let's get this done. ( cheers and applause ) >> he obviously motivated the party base very well. but i think he appealed to a broad swath of independents watching tv as well. >> brown: other delegates we talked to today, like kevin krick of california, agreed. >> the guy came up there and showed himself as poised, put together, smart, focused, on target and plenty of empathy. >> brown: but not everyone was thrilled. juliette jordal of minnesota is a ron paul delegate. >> i wasn't heard and i'm not feeling like ryan really brought me into the party today. >> brown: tonight, before the balloons fall, the final sale must come from the head of the ticket, mitt romney. we asked several delegates what they want to hear. >> now for him it's a big deal of really showing that contrast between his promise and his ability to make his promises come true like he did in the olympics. >> he's

the mitt romney mitt romney is selling is not the mitt romney his chief spokesperson is saying he is. and when his new friends keep telling themselves he should never have done, which happens to be something he should be bragging about, not hiding under the bed. well, that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >>> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. 90 days before the 2012 election. and a hard-hitting commercial has mitt romney's campaign on the path towards self destruction. the facts are getting in the way for romney. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. >> a hard-hitting ad on mitt romney has his campaign in a tail spin. >> if people had been in massachusetts under governor romney's health care plan, they would have had health care. >> republicans are jumping all over the romney camp's response. >> that's the potential gold mine for the obamaites. >> we weigh in on the consequences of outsour

would it have been better for romney if the night had ended with ann romney's speech? >>> and then, of course, there's isaac, the hurricane, dumps gushing rain overtopping levees, but not breaking them, as emergency evacuations are ordered in a parish south of new orleans. we're live on the gulf coast this morning. good morning from tampa, florida. site of the republican national convention. it's wednesday, august 29th, 2012. this is "the daily rundown" , i'm chuck todd, another busy hour ahead. tom brokaw, roy blunt, bob mcdonnell from team obama, stephanie cutter and a great round table. michael steele, susan law, steven page. let's get down to the first reads of the morning. tonight, paul ryan will accept the vice presidential nomination in the biggest speech of his political career to date. the big night follows a program last night that was like a peanut butter and egg sandwich. two great tastes that maybe don't taste great together. two prime time speeches accomplished what they set out to do. but in making the soft sell and the hard sell on the same night, did t

five for romney. >> nevada. five. romney. new hampshire. 12 votes. >> madam secretary, new hampshire, the granite state where it all begins. where this year, not just our leaves will turn color, but the entire state will turn red. new hampshire, home of wolfborough the next summer white house for the united states of america. new hampshire casts nine votes for our adopted favorite son mitt romney of massachusetts. and three for representative ron paul. [ applause ] >> new hampshire. nine. romney. new hampshire, 50 votes. >> madam secretary, the garden state. the proud home of tonight's keynote address given by governor chris christie. [ applause ] proudly cast all 50 of its vote for next president of the united states, governor mitt romney. [ applause ] >> new jersey. 50. romney. [ applause ] >> that is the official word over the top, as you can see in the graphics. mitt romney has been voted the republican nominee. again, he won't officially accept; of course, until thursday. but after a long and at times bumpy primary proce

mit or ann romney? >> mit mitt. >> i don't think you mean that. >> she was wonderful. >> it's a good night for you and the romney campaign. nice to see you. we'll be back right after this break. >> a lot of conservative people have been in hollywood. in fact, some of them are around town. i saw jon voight. there's a lot of people around town. john zeer, academy award winner, terrific guy. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start

romney has a more difficult path. on the other hand, if the overall water table rises for him air, lot of states that now look very difficult for him will look a lot easier. the fact that he's put wisconsin in play helps him enormously if they can keep that. we talked to scott walker this morning and he believes the enthusiasm that we all saw during the recall election out there will carry through into november. >> rose: and rob portman believes the same thing in ohio. i haven't heard much about the tea party out here. is it simply because their people, their support, paul ryan being one, marco rubio being another, are the future stars of the party. >> it looked like an angry protest in 2009 when we saw it in the town hall meetings, but in fact when you look at the republican governors, they are governing in many ways like tea party conservatives -- >> are they governing effectively? >> some are. not in an uncontroversial way. these are not governors with 65% approval rating. they don't. they are governing in a way th

mitt romney's plan? a new $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, increase military spending, adding trillions to the deficit. or president obama's plan, a balanced approach, $4 trillion in deficit reduction, millionaires pay a little more. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message because to cut the deficit we need everyone to pay their fair share. >> joining me now, msnbc's joy reid and ari melber. joy, just to set the table for the audience about what the kissing's all about. >> yeah. >> it's that the press has felt shut out. in fact, greta van susteren, no enemy of romney's, wrote on her blog yesterday, "there has been no press access to governor romney since we landed in poland. we are in a holding pattern. i can't help but feel a bit like the press is a modified petting zoo since we are trapped in a bus while polish citizens take pictures of us." so the press, as it will, in these situations starts to yell the questions when the guy's walking by. and the traveling press secretary thought he'd turn

and there will not be any romney numbers to run as long as romney is running. >> yeah. robert reich, great to have you with us. thanks so much. >>> there's a lot more coming up in the next half our of "the ed show." stay with us. >> my campaign has made it very clear. the president's cuts of $716 billion to medicare, those cuts are going to be restored if i become president and paul ryan becomes vice president. >>> up next, the architects of romney care and obama care will tell you who is really lying about medicare. >>> mitt romney uses a secret weapon to combat harry reid on his tax returns. >> the only reason we don't disclose any more is, you know, we'd become a bigger target. >> and michele bachmann's mentor might be headed to congress. i'll show you why he might be more radical than she is. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ pow

romney. there have been plenty of rich people who served in the white house, but they tended to sail against the wind and against their own interests. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek imm

a lot to know about mitt romney and ann romney over the last several years. pretty important speeches from both paul ryan and mitt romney, even though mitt romney self-acknowledged a little bit of a blunder there when he introduced paul ryan as the next president of the united states, unfortunately for him that was a mistake. he came back and said i've made mistakes before. i'm really talking about the next vice president of the united states. stuff like that happens all of the time. we'll play that clip for you later. let me bring john king, gloria, candy crowley into the conversation. we've got our analyst standing by as well. they obviously staged this, john, very, very carefully for millions of americans. it's really the first introduction of paul ryan. >> that's part of the two big challenges. number one introduced a guy most of the country doesn't know. maybe they have heard his name, heard of the budget, this is the first time people are getting a lo at it. part is the personal introduction. the other part, what are you going to say, what do you want t

here romney, you know, romney hasn't done that at all. if he had doubled down on who he is, if he had said, if he had picked rob portman and said this guy knows more about the federal budget and federal government than anybody i know, the two of us, that's our job. our job is to get this thing back on track and that's why i picked him that would have at least doubled down on the message that he's going to make things better. >> rose: would it have put ohio in play. >> yeah i thought before he made the pick that ryan would be a bad pick politically. after the first few days i thought this is work out better than i thought it would. >> rose: and today? >> today i think people did not talk about is ryan qualified to be vice president. i thought he is a young guy and younger looking guyment that has not been much of the debate. if he gets to the fall he does well in dedebate people will say that say a good governing pick, a good pick for the right reasons, i think this could work out to be a net plus. >> did the romney team see this as a roll

the "new york times" david brooks has his own take on the real romney, writing quote, mitt romney was born on march 12th, 1947 in ohio, florida, michigan, virginia and several other swing states. he emerged hair first, believing in america and especially its national parks. he was given the name mitt after the roman god of mutual funds and launched into the world with the lofty expectation that he would some day become the arrow shirt man. it's unlikely romney and the gop can answer the identity question in just three days. romney started his political career 18 years ago and has spent much of the campaign cycle trying to avoid talking about it at all. nonetheless, team romney today begins its process of revealing the mitt-stry man with two big speeches, one from his wife, ann, his chief personality surrogate. the other from new jersey governor chris christie, his principal funny man and the guy who knows what might go down if romney is elected. >> you going to entertain or inform or both? >> you know, i think probably more inform than entertain. i think, you know, my style can be ent

romney thinks he can handle that. he has certainly proven that being a massachusetts governor coming from a state where he had to appeal to both sides. >> don't get any bluer than massachusetts. it may be the republicans turning the spotlight. don't expect president obama to lay low during the week ahead. he is also visiting swing states and raising campaign cash with the help of some n bchl a stars. here is dan lothian. >>> the president will be heading out to nevada. that's an important state for the president. he has gone there talking about what he has been doing to help the homeowners that have the upside down mortgages. that is a state that has been impacted by the downturn in the real estate market. the president visiting that key state and going to the state of ohio. that's a place where recently he had that bus tour, has been spending a lot of time in the state. he is ahead in the polls. both states critical to deciding who wins the white house. of course, the president also going to new york. new york city,

that mitt romney is a good guy. he doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't take drugs, doesn't womenize and he prays. >> the idea that if you are a religious person no matter what your faith, is you have something in common. >> i thought it was a very smart point to make. >> it was not like a calculation. i think they got really badly burned. in 2007 you had voters, they wouldn't shake ann romney's hand because she was a mormon. they were really badly hurt by it. i think it is something they decided they can do it. i think the advisers have been urging them for a while. >> tonight, paul ryan opened that conversation for mitt romney tomorrow night by really walking in and talking about the shared creed among all the people. and mitt romney has been so cautious about this subject and it is really something humanizes him. and paul ryan allowed him to go there tomorrow night and he wants to. >> i think he's been hiding here for too long. everybody knows as he committed mormon. he donates tens of millions of dollars to the

and week one of the romney-ryan ticket. we'll ask our sunday panel how the running mate is doing so far . from hollywood and to extreme sports. he may be romney's top advisor all right now on "fox news sunday". and hello, again, from "fox news sunday" in washington. with paul ryan joining the republican ticket, the republican campaign took on a new intensity this week especially over who has the best plan strategy for medicare. first robert gibbses welcome back to "fox news sunday". >> thanks for having me. >> chris: paul ryan campaigned in the village with 78 year old mother betty yesterday. he said the republicans want to protect medicare and the president is turning it into a piggy bank . >> when i think about medicare, it's not just a program, it is not just a bunch of numbers, it is what my mom relies on. the president raids $716 billion from the medicare program to pay for the obama care program. >> chris: your reaction. >> if he wants to protect medicare for his mother he should thank president obama for what he has

you sure that's not like brick romney or chad or fudge romney? >> i don't really know him well, because i've never been to the gym. >> that's right, jokes from house minority leader, nancy pelosi. one late night comment, though, was not laughing. >> paul ryan, like mitt romney and like president obama and like joe biden, is a good family men. we have four good family men. what about me, i don't need family men. i have a monologue. i need more herman janes and john edwards. i don't need family men. let's get herman crain and john edwards back in this race. >> or maybe donald trump. donald trump says he has a surprise for everyone at the republican national convention. a surprise he says people will love. apparently, he is not going. >> senator john mccain said it would be wise for president obama to drop joe biden from the ticket. wait, john mccain is giving advice about choosing a running mate. it is like donald trump giving advice about choosing a barber. >>> speaking of the vice president. >> president obama said he is sticking with joe biden a

>>> vamos al punto, esta semana es la convención republicana en la florida, donde mitt romney será nominado, el ex secretario carlos gutiérrez dice cómo los republicanos quieren ganar el voto hispano. >>> también qué hacen el presidente barack obama y el gobernador mitt romney para ganar, se valen los ataques personales, tenemos a rosario marín extesorera de estados unidos, y también henry cisneros, además, para que no se nos quede nada fuera de la convención en tampa, viene alfonso aguilar y ... franco, los republicanos van a perder el voto latino pero pueden hacer algo, también con nosotros carlos chirino y rebeca ... ♪. >>> >>> vamos al punto con jorge ramos ♪. >>> vamos al punto, esta semana comienza en tampa, florida la convención republicana, pero ya todo está dicho que mitt romney es el candidato a la presidencia y paul ryan es el candidato a la vicepresidencia, pero para qué sirven, en parte para publicidad, para promoción, después de las convenciones los candidatos suelen mejorar en las encuestas. >>> el plan era que comenzara mañana pero la naturaleza pudo más,

mitt romney is in desperation mode. conservatives are turning on him, and he continues to lie about welfare. the obama team is hitting back. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> have you seen this? mitt romney claiming the president would end welfare's work requirements. the "new york times" calls it blatantly false. >> the president exposes romney's welfare ad for the lie it is. meanwhile, the romney camp goes all in on their welfare whopper. >> president obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform. >> wall waldman and dr. michael eric dyson are here with the latest. >> righties continue to slam the hard-hitting joe soptik atd. >> when the president of the united states of america makes that kind of accusation, that's different from what mitt romney did. >> bill burton of priorities usa put out the ad, and he's here to respond. >> the catholic bishops called him budget immoral, and the republicans want him as the vice president. >> i worship the ground that paul ryan walks on. >> richard things the you

and even some republicans have been pressuring romney to do the same, because they believe if romney releases these tax returns, then this issue will ju go away. so now you have jim messina, who's the president's campaign manager, firing off a letter to pa, "governor ry gn, saying in apntly frshamore he o ers, theoreur campaign will demthat h provid. so i am preped torovide asrancesn just that point. if the governor will release five years of returns, i commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more." they say he won't criticize him in ads, they won't criticize him in any commentary. but matt rhodes is dismissing this letter, writing in part, "it is clear that president obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting americans back to work, fixing the economy, and reining in spending." the romney campaign, they have said time and time again, that this is not an issue. that what mitt romney wants to focus on is how he can go out there and create jobs for the millions of americans

one thing that's clear, after the first 48 hours of romney ryan, mitt romney is acting like a new candidate. >> i guess you think i made the right decision, the right choice? people ask me why i chose paul ryan. the answer is i wanted someone who was a leader. >> paul ryan has given the republican ticket and romney himself a boost of energy and it's not just evident in the largest rallies we've seen. finally looks like he's enjoying being a candidate again. here's how he confidently took on a heckler in wisconsin last night. >> you see, young man, this group here is respectful of other people's rights to be heard. >> and clearly, ryan himself is enjoying and he enjoyed that warm reception back home in wisconsin. >> my veins run with cheese, bratwurst and a little spot of some miller. >> now, of course, romney is hardly the first presidential candidate to try to use a vp pick to relaunch his campaign. walter mondale, bob dole, al gore, john mccain tried to shake things up. all lost any way. the question is, whether the ryan pick will be more than a short-term boost. will romney's relaunch do

there's a feeling in the romney campaign and certainly outside, among republicans, that romney has to do more than just say the status quo is unacceptable. in terms of our economic condition. he has to say what he would do to turn things around. he told you he's looking for somebody who's got that vision for the country, he's looking for more bold leadership in a running mate. so this is an important moment for romney, a presidential-level decision. as we always talk about a vp pick. it's about the message that romney wants to send not only about how he would govern, which is important, but about how he wants to lead and what that vision is. so i think this paves the way leading up to the convention speech as well of mitt romney being very specific about what he thinks the turnaround plan is for america and for the american economy. and in paul ryan, he has a top surrogate now who is not only going to draw some real bold distinctions with president obama, but who is a strategic thinker about the budget, about the deficit, and about the debt-fueled challenges that america faces. >> dav

he says romney has not paid federal taxes for ten years at all. romney says put up or shut up. i don't know whether reid is playing sorry. i don't know if he's playing surrogate or what. but he's popping this guy. >> and what he's doing is he's taking up the oxygen. any time that mitt romney is attacking harry reid because mitt romney has not released his taxes, that's a really good day for barack obama. i mean, he's -- this is a tar pit. and harry reid has drawn mitt romney into this tar pit again and again in the last day or two. and he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. >> what if he says i only spent seven years without paying taxes. you were wrong. >> i only paid 5%. >> he has to release the returns. this thing keeps festering. i spoke to romney last week and said, look, balk, if i release them democrats will distort them. they're distorting them already. >> you got close to romney? >> i interviewed him last week. >> we don't. relentless drum beat about the returns are hitting romney. the democrats may have found a way to pry him open and shake something loose in t

romney and mr. ryan will become officially the republic ticket it in just a little bit under a couple hours. this has been a long long process for mitt romney. he started with, at one point, at many as a dozen names being threated around the country. the mentionables. brought it down to a list of three or four in the last several days there was a real emphasis that maybe it was rob portman and maybe tim pawlenty and a buzz began at the beginning of last week that paul ryan height be the pick. in norfolk, virginia but the uss wisconsin obviously kind of hard to overlook as an irony or intentional coincidence for the ticket. insofar as mr. ryan is the congressman from wisconsin and as we have been talking about. the house budget committee chairman with the ryan budget in his portfolio which now becomes a big part of the romney agenda. he was early supporter of the ryan budget when the likes of newt gingrich and other republicans criticized. gingrich called it right wing social engineering and got roun

we've got to destroy romney. this year both conventions are going to be about romney. there's going to be a convention trying to break him through, connecting on the economy and jobs. then you're going to have a democratic election which i don't think is going to be about president obama. they've thrown in the towel on that. it's going to be about ruining romney. we won't really know what's going on in the polls and all this i think until late september after we go through all this. and i frankly think if romney can use his speech to put a positive vision going forward it will be a good contrast to the tone of the campaign that will do him a lot of good. >> governor brewer you also have, if there's a lot of work for romney to do, to break through some of the negative advertising, as you say, and mike said, there's also some issues that the party has right now. i mean here you have congresswoman akin with his comments about rape, that talked about abortion, doing a lot of damage. the entire republican establishment, including mitt romney saying get out, and he says no.

tax expert rush limbaugh whose tax returns are about as big and complex as romney's rushed to romney's defense, echoing what both mitt and ann romney have said about why they are not releasing the tax returns and doing so in a way that makes it much more clearly an insult to the intelligence of what ann romney would call "you people." >> once they get ten years of tax records, they'll be able to point to something in there that will make the uninformed class think, well, that's outrageous. how in the world did he write that off? he's a tax cheat myrtle. how in the world can we vote for a guy like that? something like that is their objective. doesn't have to be true. all it has to be is complicated. all it has to do is be unusual. all it has to have is something in there that is not quite common. >> harry reid has just issued a statement in response to mitt romney's put up or shut up challenge. it is a long statement. i will read it quickly in part. harry reid says, there is a controversy because the republican presidential nominee governor mitt romney refuses to release his tax returns

like romney is boring. as you know, doubling down on what you're selling isn't always the worst thing, even if it's boring. his only weakness politically is he was tied to george bush for about a year and a half. you see him there trying to address the one liability that he has, there's no perfect candidate. that that's portman's weakness and he's trying to deal with it. >> it's at least portman versus pawlenty. >> so do you weigh the negatives of pawlenty versus portman with the bush administration. >> pawlenty's strengths, i think, for one is that he's a governor. that would allow mitt romney to run as an outside washington candidate. i think his strengths, we saw him -- or his weakness as we saw them on display when he was running for president himself, he just didn't catch people in a straw poll. that's going to be his weakness. whether or not people look at him and see him as a president. if he comes across credibly as somebody who can take the roll of president on day one. another weakness for him is

romney first called. first hurdle you have to get over sean has to like you. in the second round. >> and that happens right away. after that question. >> no. i think people are interested in this. generally look everybody who is vetted submitted massive amounts of information and went through follow-up questions and interviews and a rigorous process and it is very well done and professional and my cap is off to them for running a great process. i know a lot of the others considered were called late last night and told it was not going to be them. is that the same for you? well, you know, i served as national co-chair of the mitt romney campaign . he called me. i think it was monday and indicated the direction he was head i certainlyy appreciate that and there was an indication about the process and not about his thinking and decision . he call would me monday evening. >> that is disappointing. i interviewed you twice last week and i tried to pull teeth and you didn't give in at all. >> you have to go back

that the romney mitt romney is selling out there is not the mitt romney his own chief spokesperson is now admitting to be the very same mitt romney who governed massachusetts and did what his new friends keep telling themselves he should never have done, which just happens to be something he should be bragging about, not hiding under the bed. well, that's "hardball" for now. thanks for bed. that's "hardball" for now. the ed she starts now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to the ed show from new york. 90 days before the 2012 election and a hard hitting commercial has mitt romney's campaign has the mitt romney campaign on the path to destruction. this is the ed show. >> she passed away in 22 days. i don't think mitt romney realizes what he has done to anyone. >> a hard hitting ad has his campaign in a tail spin. >> for people had been in massachusetts, they would have had health care. >> republicans are jumping all over the romney camp awe response. >> that's a potential gold mine for obamaites. >> what he is in on the consequences of outsourcing and howard fineman is here with the

the romney camp's statement. oh, my god. this might just be the moment mitt romney lost the election. wow. this is why the story of someone like joe soptok is so very powerful but conditions leading to his wife's death was brought on by a system that did not account a society to leave their job and barack obama himself has told this story from a very personal level. >> when my mom got cancer, she wasn't a wealthy woman. it pretty much drained all of her resources. >> she developed ovarian cancer, never really had good, consistent insurance. >> as of 20 oh 14, all americans will have access to affordable health care in this country. mitt romney, he wants to get rid of that. joe soptok's story is not about character assassination. it's about a real-life story. there are a lot of soptoks out there in american. this election will decide whether there will be more stories like joe's or fewer. i think the media people out there across the country to get on their high horse and say, well, the obama team, they need to di

mitt romney is bringing that up. if i were his people, i would be very careful about that. >> could that part have been edited out of that speech? if for example the point was to get to know mitt romney, that was all about president obama and mitt romney's critique of his foreign policy. but we don't get anything out of this as far as what governor romney wants. many people left thinking he wanted to go to war with iran. >> mitt romney thinks that barack obama has been a bad foreign policy president and so do a lot of other people. what he's done in iran is a perfect example. you can talk about -- he's not done anything to deter iran from building a nuclear weapon. nothing. and when israel is our greatest ally in the middle east, we need to stand with them no matter what. and i think if you talk to the israelis, they have questions whether barack obama is going to side with them. >> chip, you have to back it up. >> it's the truth. >> explain to me exactly what it is that you think barack obama or susan rice or secret

for romney here? he's held hostage by a lot of people. he owes a lot of people favors. again, his unwillingness to put himself out there and take any political risk speaks poorly for him as a governor, i don't mean as the governor of massachusetts, but as someone who wants to push ideas forward. he seems to have no ideas of his own. the idea that he's resisted adelson so far, i mean, the devil gets to play the fiddle for as long as he can. he's only going to be able to resist him until he gets into office and has to do something. and we don't know what that will be. >> and jonathan, isn't it sort of humiliating to be, i won't say bullied, but pummeled around by sheldon adelson? >> yes, especially when you're dependent on his deep pockets to help make up the fund-raising gap between you and the president. if it weren't for sheldon adelson and a bunch of other independent folks, these 527s, throwing money to help him, he'd be at a disadvantage. but i want to say something about mitt romney's supposed re