we'll do our part here. so everybody hope you have a great weekend, and we'll see you on monday. ♪ [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening, i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpoint." mitt romney releases his 2011 tax returns and if you're a middle class voter you won't be shocked to hear the rate he pays is probably somewhat less than yours. according to the trustee who supervisors the romney's blind trust, mitt and paid $1,935,708 in taxes on number of $13,696,951. an effective rate of 14.1%. the romneys also donated more than $4 million in charity, and

claimed that $2.25 million deduction. the trustee released information on the romney's tax payments between 1990 and 2009. over that period they owed and paid federal and state income taxes every year, at an average tax rate of 20.20%, the lowest annual effective tax rate of 13.66%. when it comes to money it's good to be mitt romney. when it comes to the race for president, not so much. in fact, it's fair to say if mitt romney could take a mulligan on this week he would. taking a look at the latest swing state numbers the poll has the president up 5 points in colorado. you have 5 points in wisconsin and up 8 points in iowa while the latest fox news poll has the president points in florida. 7 points in ohio, and 7 points in virginia. just to be clear, if mitt romney does not sweep almost all of those states he might have to go back to bain capital, if they'll

take them. and mitt romney is taking any opportunity to lash out the president says that could be used as an attack line, including these innocuous remarks from mr. obama on thursday. >> obama: you can't change washington from the inside. you can only change it from the outside. something that i would like to concentrate on in my second term is being in a much more constant conversation with the american people so they can put pressure on congress to help move some of these issues forward. >> eliot: within hours romney tried to use that comment to take a jab at a florida rally. >> romney: the president of the united states said he can't change washington from the inside. isn't that amazing. no wonder why he has had such a hard time over the years. >> eliot: perhaps romney forgot he made an identical comment in 2008. >> i don't think you change washington from the inside. i think you change it from the

outside. >> eliot: david axelrod put it best on the "today" show. >> the fact that romney picked up on it and attacked him on it shows he's cascading from one attack to another. >> eliot: the attacks are falling flat, listen to the response that paul ryan got from the aarp conference when he attacked the affordable care act act. >> the first step to a stronger medicare is to repeal obama-care. [ booing ] >> because it represents the worse of both worlds. i had a feeling there would be mixed reaction, so let me get into it. it weakens care for today's seniors and puts risk for the next generation. >> eliot: he brought his retired mother with him. don't do that to your mom.

next time leave her at home rather than subject her seeing her son get booed. and now the cash funds. while romney can draw on $42 million in a joint account with the republican national committee, that money has to be shared with other candidates. even so, like a ceo romney handed out bonuses to his top managers includes 37,000 to political director. $25,000 to campaign manager and $10,000 to two senior staffers after this week he might have done better to fire them. for more let's go to our guests tinaupui. did he release his tax returns? they're better than we're

talking about. >> he's following through on a promise and being consistent on something. now where are the other eight years. this is a standard started by his father, let's see the last ten years and not the last two years. >> eliot: the issue for next week, this week he dumps on 47% of the public showing no empathy, no sympathy, no understanding of how most folks lives. they he gives us on friday afternoon one year of tax returns. in one weekend we can talk about where the other eight. imogen. >> he was head of bain capital for years and years. when buying a company, he would not do two years of due diligence on a company he was buying. years. we want to see all the tax returns in full. >> eliot: i haven't heard it phrased quite that way.

someone at the debate should ask him. how many years of due diligence how many years of tax returns. and now we know those he inquired off it certainly went beyond two years. the tension here, the inconsistency is simply overwhelming. how about the number itself. 14.1%. is that a lot of taxes. >> no, it doesn't seem that way and it will be very hard for him during the shared sacrifice argument. no one minds that romney is rich. it's america. you celebrate that. but the fact is that he can't comprehend that the system is rigged in his favor. normal people can't go offshore. they don't get amazing accounts to cattle off that money so they pay 14% fundamentally. he'll have problems moving forward. >> that's such a good point. i don't care that he's know he's rich. that he lived such a privileged life.

they keep trying to share the narrative that they've had hard times. no, sheno, they haven't. and if they can't recognize that, he can't be president of the entire country. >> eliot: i think you're both exactly right. it's not that we resent wealth. we celebrate it. look at those who are enormously wealthy. but they've been able to demonstrate sympathy and% understanding that they have benefited from the system that permitted them to be wealthy. they don't talk down to people, like the famous 47%. i don't think he overcomes that tape. >> i don't think so either. the important part of it this week is watching it this week and then accusing the president of dividing the country one group against another group and then the next thing he says is the next 47%. it proves that he's running against himself from ten minutes ago. >> eliot: this is weather vane the etch-a-sketch.

>> right relaunch, and relaunch. >> eliot: what happens next. >> if romney wins it will be because of the economy and despite his campaign. he has been an awful candidate. but we can't be in danger of saying it's over before it's over. fundamentally no president has been re-elected since 1946 with an economy-- >> cenk: that is true, but we've seen job reports that are quite poor. the public appreciates we're on a trendline but it's only marginally better and they have not heard anything from mitt romney that sound like a plan that will work. it's been cast as a rehash from george w. bush and the public understands that that doesn't work. he has had a chance to give his houranswer and he has not given it

coherently. he has not done too much to turn this thing around. >> it's a party that is shrinking. they want viewer people to vote for them by going to their base and trying not to have a big tent party. they're basically angry white men. i've been at the rnc. the dnc the contrast was stark in that dnc looked like america in 2012. and the rnc looked like america in 1912. >> eliot: that's right. the gender gap and the gap with latinos of a margin greater than 2-to-1, which is why it was fascinating to see romney on univision. you've been standing against the most anti-immigrant voices saying terrible things and then expect the latino community should be sympathetic. how are they going you cannot win an election with

just angry white men. >> and the republican party will have to do soul searching and much needed soul searching if romney loses. >> eliot: many people think it has already begun. it's dangerous to write the obituary or do an autopsy when the cadaver is still alive, but people are beginning to figure out where does the republican party go to expand with women latinos, african-americans. the coalition that interestingly george w. bush could put together. he did live well. he was wealthy, much of it by birth, but he didn't demonstrate an antipathy. >> he was an uniter, but not a divider. >> eliot: you can be a divider only after you're elect: mitt, you took the lesson too early. the attacks on the president are they going to work, this stuff not being able to change washington from the

that seems so futile. >> i think probably not. let's face it. romney is a walking gaffe machine. when he says to obama you just made a gaffe, then we find out he made a gaffe previously.% romney needs to reveal his campaign talk facts and statistics that are true, and let's face it, everyone talks about bill clinton used facts. that's what voters want. they want facts figures and proper arguments. >> eliot: the public would love it pivot from the 47% and to a real debate on what an economic policy would succeed. but mitt romney has not given us that speech. he has not stood behind a podium and said here is my economic agenda and here's why it's going to work. >> what he lacks in charm he makes up for in secrecy. >> eliot: i think you gave us the headline. there is a lack of clarity.

a lack of capacity even to understand what he been. where has paul ryan gone? being booted to aarp, further proof that the medicare debate that they relish they want to engage in, this is not a selling point for anyone in america. >> there was a moment when ryan came on board and we thought we would have a proper debate about specifics. but of course ryan has not been allowed to speak, has he. he has been pushed back. >> eliot: he was permitted at first but when you peel back the layers on his onion, the numbers don't add up. >> the headline is that he's not truthful. he lied about his body weight or his body fat content. it's not true. he said that he ran three-hour marathon. >> eliot: that's what bothered me. >> i've run a marathon. >> eliot: do you remember your time. >> everyone remembers their time. this is like the date you got married. that's the kind of number it is. >> eliot: i wrote an article and i wrote--if you run a marathon,

you don't forget time. you could be off by an hour. >> 517. which is up there with al gore. >> eliot: al gore's time is a good time. >> well, yeah, imogen no marathon? >> no. >> eliot: start training. i think it's the lack of credibility that is attached to his policy. mitt romney has no charm, no empathy, no believability, where does he go? what does he do? >> he goes to the baseline saying things like the world needs an american to lead it. that kind of stuff. he's going to the base. >> eliot: but when the middle east was front and center for perhaps more than 24, he stumbled over himself with a comment that was so completely inappropriate. >> and especially in with regards to foreign policy, and

that's scaring the international community as it word because happened over libya was the big error. >> eliot: that was a much more curious gaffe. >> we're not talking about putin who used what romney said about russia being our number one enemy to justify opposing our missile defense systems in europe. that's a huge story that he is causing us harm by continuing. >> eliot: leave and go back to bain right away. as soon as he possibly can. tina dupuy and coauthor of the twitter diaries, and imogen lloyd webber thank you for your time at another time. >> we have more viewpoint coming up. now to my point. (vo) jennifer granholm ... >>for every discouraged voter,

there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

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so the issue of the week is all about taxes. who pays how much to the government, and do the rich pay more or less? well we all know federal income taxes are only one part of the total tax burden. there are lots of other taxes such as state and local income tax as well as sales excise, and property taxes. a regressive tax system is one in which people with low income pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than do wealthier people. so according to the institute of taxation and economic policy how

many states have a regressive tax system? it's our number of the day. 50. that's right. all of them. some of course, are worse than others. for instance n washington state the poorest 20% of the non-elderly of their income these state and local taxes while the top 1% paid only 2.9%. what makes state tax systems so regressive are sales and excise taxes which are a big part of state revenue. those tax rates are the same for everyone. yet the poor spend a bigger percentage of their income on products such as most food and clothing that are subject to those taxes. so if you run the math, that makes those taxes regressive. so the next time mitt romney attacks the 47% remind him that for a numbers guy he's misreading the data. what happen's when you put susan sarandon and cyndi lauper together on the same couch. well, it's conversation you won't hear anywhere else. that's for sure. plus, singer and activist,

wyclef jean. only on current tv. >> eliot: mitt romney has largely based solely on campaign statements is that romney would cut marginal tax rates 20% and eliminate alternative tax and close enough loopholes to make his economic plan revenue neutral. of course all of these come with a large asterisk as romney has yet to identify a single loophole he's willing to cut. here we have the painstaking work to crunch the numbers. thank you for your time, henry. >> thanks for having me. >> eliot: i read your report. is it fair to say that mitt

romney fails when it comes to the debt. >> as described there is no way that you can do what he's saying he's going to do without massively increasing the deficit and the debt unless he's going to raise taxes on the middle class and and whack a bunch of loopholes that people will fight to keep and he's too scared to say he'll whack, and then reduce government spending. >> eliot: just so it's clear you did not do this in a heart sonpartisan way you took his numbers and built it in the model. >> that's right. we took the cbo numbers, i think they're too aggressive on their own. they assume a lot of good things will happen that may not. but then apply cutting the tax rates, giving credit for some loopholes, and then accelerating

the economy, which he says he's going to do. even then you massively increase the debt and the deficit. >> eliot: in a week where we've been otherwise entertained by horrendous comments, horrendous in my judgment and politically as the polls demonstrate, it's time to come back to the substance of his campaign, and you say the add up. >> that's right. there was a huge to do about how we must reduce the debt and deficit. and there is no question that it is a problem. but everybody wants tax cuts and nobody wants to do the hard work, and romney did not doing that. the plan makes the debt and deficit worse. >> eliot: it leads me to the conclusion that in truth mitt romney and the republican party is not, in fact, so concerned about the debt and deficit. they're those who are dedicated that cut tax rates cut tax

rates, and that will generate growth. that is their mantra. >> that is right the congress research service that released a report a couple of weeks ago said basically look, everyone said since the dawn of time that tax cuts spur growth, but there is no evidence of that when you look at the numbers. that may an flawed premise right there, but again you can't cut everybody's taxes from an already low level and have it be revenue neutral. maybe when taxes were equal to reagan years. >> eliot: yes, i would say name the loophole you're going to close, and they're unwilling to do it for political reasons and they don't want to eliminate the tax loopholes for capital gains they're not willing to do it. >> the point you made before is incredibly important. people look at our economy now as exactly the same as the one

that reagan inherited in 1982, and then cutting interest rates cutting taxes releasing investment capital giving people an incentive to invest. that was an issue and it really helped. now there is a huge amount of money that is really to invest, but there is no demand because the consumers are strapped. that is the problem. we need to get money to the middle class. >> eliot: this is, as you say very clearly in this is a demand crisis. they're sitting on 2 trillion-dollar to 3 trillion-dollar. >> with record profit margins. if we cut taxes so they'll invest, why are they not investing now? >> eliot: and the interest rates is essentially zero. >> the money is free. take as much as you want. >> eliot: the lack of investment is attributable to lack of demand, which means a response that someone needs to spend.

who should do it? government. to complete the lodge income a bizarre way what romney is suggesting does not accomplish what he claims he wants to accomplish which is lowering the deficit but it may have a reverse affect. >> if the republicans want to get behind that and that makes sense, i would like to see if we're going to deficit spending, to go to infrastructure. >> eliot: that's a stimulus. >> i know. >> eliot: too many contradictory messages. but the bottom line, this could be a huge stimulus, now i want to go to another thing. one good piece of news in the economy, the iphone. people are actually looking at the iphone, and i walked down to my office, and there were people lined up around the block to be the first person to buy it. they think this will have a measurable impact on our

economy. >> shocking. this product did not exist six years ago. it is now a bigger business than micro sos. just the iphone. >> eliot: do you have one. >> i do. and i need to buy another one but i'm not going to wait in line. >> eliot: i have a blackberry that's so last century. >> i don't mean to dump on blackberry, but you need to get an iphone. >> eliot: explain to me why the economic impact of the iphone such a massive product. most analysts think they're going to sell 50 million units over the next three months. that's measurable in the economy. it's made in china but the intellectual property is here. >> eliot: and that may be the paradigm of the future, manufactured elsewhere, but intellectual property here. >> but bring manufacturing back. this is another thing about romney's plan that is

frustrating. where is it in that plan that is going to get people paid more. not just get people jobs, but good paying jobs. >> eliot: that's what we need. last question, qe 3 do you think you it will make a difference? >> in the real economy absolutely not. psychologically perhaps, maybe it pushes up asset values a little bit but money is free. the gas pedal is floored. you can press a little harder but it's not going to do that much. >> eliot: give ben bernanke for trying. he looks tired. i feel for him. >> henry blodet. editor in chief of business insider. thank you for your if you have an opinion, you better back it up. >>eliot spitzer takes on politics. >>science and republicans do not mix. >>now it's your turn at the only online forum with a direct line to eliot spitzer.

>>join the debate now. gaeme inc. thank gaemezilinsky, thank you for joining

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♪ eat, drink, chew orbit! ♪ our conversation is with you the viewer because we're independent. >>here's how you can connect with "viewpoint with eliot spitzer." >>questions, of course, need to be answered. >>we will not settle for the easy answers. >> eliot: still to come, the real moochers? corporations. we'll talk with david cay johnston about his fascinating new book. but first homer simpson goes to vote o'reilly defends his beloved channel and takes it's first shot at mitt romney's famous video. when it doesn't fit anywhere else, we put it in the viewfinder. >> so you have this 47%. this don't pay taxes. and these people are never going to vote for us. when i talk about these people who don't pay taxes, i don't mean senior citizens. all right, i don't mean members

of our armed services. and i don't mean southern whites. now when i say these people, i mean black people. >> i mean, what's the big deal? >> can't be on top for as long as the fox news channel has been on top and sell a product that is inferior or dishonest. that's impossible in this country. >> he says it eight times. he has a set up, the romney campaign said i'm going to capitalize on that. which is fine. then out comes this tape from 2007 that shows he said something similar but not clearly different. those words. >> romney had clearly prepared himself to appeal to latinos because here he is monday on the campaign trail. and here he is last night on univision. apparently he just entered the spray tan booth and cranked it you will to monadbav.

>> you can check in, but you can never leave with your valuables. >> it's especially true in california aka north mexico. >> that was great. >> if you're going to vote, you'll need some photo i.d. >> i lived here all my life. >> stopping all americans from voting is for the protection of all americans. >> i'm a 40-year-old white guy who didn't go to college and gets all his news from monitors at gas station. >> what about my social security card. i've been using it for 70 years. >> no photo, no voto, shenanigans murray, if that's your real name. >> you thought you would ice in your argument facts and you would attach numbers to them that were real. i thought it was a bold choice on your part ♪ oh, poor people hate to have a

job ♪ the only thing ♪ that poor people hate ♪ more than condoms ♪ is having a job ♪ >> eliot: why do i think this campaign and election is over? mitt, go home. how corporations rob us blind with the full support of the government 37 it's go time. what time is it rob? oh, then it's go. go. go. go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. go time!

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prize winner david cay johnston describes how corporations use guile and misleading statements to rig markets and insulate themselves from competitive forces. turns out the 47% may be more victim than free loader. joining me now david cay johnston author of the new book "the fine print: how big companies use plain english and other tricks to rob you blind." news today, mitt romney paid all of 14.1%. how does he do it? is this right? is this proper within the boundary line? >> well, he doesn't work. you and i work. we're taxed at higher rates than people who have income from their capital that they've would have paid 12% except he decided not to take all the charitable deductions that he was entitled to. this is the man who said, i pay exactly what the law requires and not a dollar more.

well, no he decided to pay more so he could say he paid 14%. >> eliot: this works very bad for him. >> somewhat. >> eliot: especially in the context that 47% are moochers. now the ordinary rate or top rate for someone who has a salary is 35%. >> romney said he's quarter $250 million. i suspect it's more than that. but many of them work tax free because of the rules we have that allow them to borrow against their untaxed assets and never pay taxes. he doesn't count them. >> eliot: and of course the great wisdom of this is we've made interest deductions deductible. >> it makes sense if we then level out and say we're also we don't. >> eliot: because what you're saying we've given a prevalence of debt over equity. >> exactly.

>> eliot: and that prevalence of debt means we have more leverage and more volume tit of like the crises in 2008. >> and it's all borrowed money. you give us examples of how companies rip us off. >> yes. we pay to get the information over the super highway. as al gore described it. they put in a whole bunch of rules so they're only building it in a few little areas. we now invented the internet. we're now 29th in the world and falling we're behind behind moldavi in

internet. >> eliot: why not force them to use the money. >> well, yes we've cut staff. we've gotten rid of the rate payer advocates or stripped them of their staff. in virginia they completely destroyed the regular store staff and it will cost residents of virginia untold amounts of money because there is too much government. >> eliot: i heard mitt romney say regulations are bad. they drive up costs and they're bad for competition. regulation can be good? >> not only can regulation be good to balance the law on behalf of the consumers, but most of the regulations come from business. they put them in there oh to tharwt competition and take away consumer rights. >> eliot: the driving force behind capitalism is competition. companies do everything that they can do to eliminate competition. >> exactly. >> eliot: that's human nature, but if we're going to have competition and capitalism that works, no one needs to step in

and say we're going to enforce the rules. >> and then promote that competition and don't do things like put people's lives in danger unnecessarily and raise praiseraise prices that have no relation to cost. the oil price lines are monopolies. oil gas pipelines are partnerships and they don't pay the corporate income tax so they get to keep this money. it's $0.03 per day per american. that's $1.1 billion a year. so. >> eliot: how do they get away with this? why can't people stand up and say, stop, you can't collect this tax and not refund it. it's a scam. >> it is absolutely a scam. the bush appointees went through incredible machinations to creating is that does not exist in regulatory law which is what

i teach in syracuse in the business and law schools, and go around the regulatory system and put this in place, but nobody but me has written about it. >> eliot: we will change that. david cay johnston, author of "the fine print." people have got to read this and act on it. some lawyer has got to get that money back to consumers. john fugelsang johns me to wrap up the week coming up on "viewpoint."

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>> eliot: james murdoch is apparently getting a promotion. why? news corp must think that illegal wiretap something good bus. goodbyes. and jennifer granholm with former labor secretary robert reisch and look at

economy with will if you have an opinion, you better back it up. >>eliot spitzer takes on politics. >>science and republicans do not mix. >>now it's your turn at the only online forum with a direct line to eliot spitzer. >>join the debate now. >> eliot: how do you get a big promotion at news corp, running one of the biggest criminal enterprises ever to be unoverred. illegal wiretapping hacking massive bribery, 50 people arrested so far. i guess it also doesn't hurt if your dad owns the company. turns out james murdoch is being given a larger role overseeing news corp u.s. television operations. the quality of his

administrative and manage the skills must have folks at newspapers corp. okay, no surprise there is no accountability of that company. but do the folks who run news corp really believe that jamie murdoch should be in charge of the tv operations. who is on board there? and what record do they have that shows that he participated in this activity or willfully ignored what he was being told. the guy wouldn't be permitted out of a management teen i didn't course in any company i've been involved in. i would like to have a chat with folks on news corp board and find out what their logic is. and finally, where is the uniquely inept u.s. department of justice? it has made so much out of irrelevant and tiny cases it has made against so many companies violating an institute statute called the

foreign corrupt practices act. the department loves to to show joust how tough it is, but now they have the most important case sitting there in front of them. it's a ground ball. it's easy. even a rookie could field this one. what are they doing? it's not clear. if they fail to make this case, then eric holder is a failure as attorney general. game on, >>and now to my point. that is a whole bunch of bunk! the powerful my steal an election but they cannot steal democracy.

>> eliot: when historians look back at this past week, it might just be called the week mitt romney lost the election. that's what happens when a video is leaked of a candidate making disparaging comments about nearly half of the electorate. and it's never a good sign when a senior adviser jumps ship

either. which was the case when tim poll pa pawlenty left. and this was the week that we learned that jesus was married. not to a man but still. >> jesus had a wife? huh? stunning new artifact just uncovered. >> lucky lady. >> eliot: yes, lucky indeed. and she may have been a disciples as well. to make sense of the week that was, political satirist, john fugelsang. i know you love to talk about these theological issues under any circumstances but wow this week. >> my husband was crucified by the romans, lucky me. you know, it's amazing.

a lot of theologians have said this for a long time. if you were an unmarried 33-year-old jewish man in first lands healing lepers was not the most strange thing about you. it was not done. number one the sex hangups of the catholic church, that's coming in from st. paul and parts of leviticus. jesus was not a guy with the sex hangups, and this would be consistent with his personality. number two, in terms of my church of orientation the catholic. they made sell celebacy not because of jesus but they didn't want them to leave money to their families. >> eliot: what was the theological basis for celibacy.

>> i'm giving it to you. paul, for example, st. paul who many theologians feel may have been a closeted gay man in first century holy man. but if paul's letters with that perspective in mind, he'smaybe this guy is hiding something in his time. then his contradictions make sense. but in the case with christ, with the celebacy, they believed jesus was coming back in their lifetime. that's why they said don't get married, don't have children. they thought the world was going to end in their lifetime. the modern catholic church, married priest is the conservative point of view. st. pope was married for and for a thousand years popes could marry and have kids. this could be very good news. >> eliot: there is an argument that this is not my domain and

not for me to speak to the catholic church about what would help them. >> go ahead. >> eliot: this one i'm going to be leary of, i know i've seen others write passionately if you got rid of the mandate it would permit the church to expand. what about the woman as a disciple. >> this speaks to core of many christian faiths. jesus went everywhere with thinks 12 apostles and three women. so reading the bible, at least for the women he first appeared to. they were the women who did not abandon him when busted by the cops, they stuck by him. there were clearly 15 apostles, but the men who wrote the bible no no, there were 12 apostles and three groupies. >> eliot: i thought ruth was the first one who had groupies.

>> good news for christianity. >> eliot: i just got to ask though how substantial of factual basis or how deep is the support for the notion that this papyrus changes understanding of history. >> theit all depends. the bible is like occupy wall street of the tea party. people who want to take support of this, people who want to see women take more of a role in the christian faith will support this. >> eliot: it's great to talk about something other than mitt romney for a couple of minutes. but i got to come back to it. him pawlenty, who useed to bash wall street now going over to be the ceo of the financial services round table being paid close to $2 million a year. is this someone jumping ship?

is tim pawlenty, a nice guy. i used to know him a little bit. >> to quit the campaign six weeks before the campaign is no normal week. but this is no normal campaign. he leaves mitt romney to be lobbyist of big banks. what is the difference? >> eliot: unless it's a sure sign that the campaign is history. they know it's history. >> to keep in mind, one of the reasons why tim pawlenty who should have stayed in the race. if he just would have hung around he would have been the anti-romney alternative they were looking for. he should have stuck around. but romney has been paying off tim pawlenty's campaign debt. it's very telling that he's leaving right now. >> eliot: it's hard to fathom. he was plain vanilla. you could be in the room with him. i've met him. he's nice.

but there is nothing memorable about him. >> no. >> eliot: he doesn't leave an impression. >> i think he's a sucker for being a lobbyist. he could have made millions for being a spokesman for ambien. >> eliot: we'll get to that next week. the other issue that will stick around until election day there any way mitt romney can come back from this? you don't show lack of empathy. >> he probably didn't mean it when he said it. whatever he's around, that's whey believes. this 47% is very mean, very dismissive of the poor. half of these people in this bracket because of the earned income tax credit. they're too poor to pay taxes. they get subsidies. the damning part of it is how wrong his map is. the 47% are not the people who will be vote automatically voting automatically for barack obama. it's millionaires who gain the

system, it's people too poor to work and those folks don't vote as often as they should. >> cenk: and they vote in heavily red states. >> and they're red-state citizens. >> eliot: i'm going to say but i think this game is over. in my mind i think there is a moral equivalency. if he's willing to say anything and gather and disdain 47% that just as bad. >> that is class warfare. when you fight for the bottom, it's class warfare and this includes active duty troops who are exempt from federal taxes. that's who he insulted. >> eliot: many that the republican party voted against when they come back even though the unemployment rate