why is mitt romney willing to risk jumping into the gutter with trump on that issue? also, gas prices. when they were going up, the republicans were blaming president obama saying he was harnessing fuel efficiency. what do they say now that gas prices have gone down? if mitt's experience in business makes him such a good job creator, why was massachusetts 47th in job creation when he was the governor? and etan patz, the story about how the missing child story that started it all was solved. finally, shooting the messenger, chris christie explodes when told that new jersey's revenues are heading way short of estimates. we begin with the return of the birthers. >> birth certificates. >> many great times in the history of politics. >> with me now are two msnbc political analysts, joan walsh,

"showdown." david, is there a constituency for donald trump? are there a group of americans out there who are waiting for a trump endorsement so they know what to do, or trump involvement so they know to whom to write checks. >> gosh, i really hope that's not the case, michael, because then we're in deep doo-doo. but i do think he's playing to part of the republican base which just won't give up the ghost on portraying barack ob a obama. entity. it just won't go away. and whether he doesn't get america or doesn't understand america, or that he wasn't really born here or he doesn't understand the economy or that he's a secret service muslim, so many things, it's so engrained in their view of the president,

even after three years plus of his presidency. >> but david, anybody who would be motivated on that issue is already in the romney camp. that's the part i don't understand. let me show you so that everybody at home knows when we're talking about. in an interview with the daily beasts lord grove, donald trump would not back down to his questions about the president, now point to go a photo and biography wrote by a literary agency in 1991, recently clekd by the website. a book publishsher came out and said that. he said he was born in kenya, raised in indonesia. his mother never spent a day in the hospital. but the literary organization calls it a fact-finding error on her part. but trump doesn't believe it. that's the way life works. he didn't know he was running for president, so he told the

now they're sayg bor in can ya and raised to his mistake. she pointed down the hood. give me a break, said the trump st ster, a photo of president obama unearthed by the folks at brightbart. the folks at brightbart say we don't buy the birther argument. we're putting it forward because we think it's evidence of the shoddy job done by the media four years ago to vet the now president. what do you make of that? >> they're bottom feeders. my god, i didn't think it was possible to get lower than andrew brightbart, but his spawn had gotten lower than andrew brightbart. you put that out there, you know you're aiding and a betting birtherrism. the three of us have something better to do on a holiday

weekend than talk about the farce that is donald trump, but we're here doing it because mitt romney lacks the spine to stand up and say, i'm sorry, i'm not going to to have a fundraiseer with you. it's an important point. the romney slogan is, leave no obama hater behind. he uses seizuurrogates to lead base. david is probably right, people who love trump will vote for romney or maybe they'll stay home. there is no great love for, so maybe his campaign thinks there is some percentage in him standing by the orange-haired bully and talking to him and having his hug and having his endorsement. >> joan, what's the proper response? i know we're probably thinking of recent incidents on the campaign trail, the hilary rosen

incident where there was repud ya repudrepudiation issue. if there is a birthing process, i want to know about it. i don't think anybody condemned trump and said, what the hell is he talking about? >> no, i love kevin madden but there he was. it doesn't mean we endorse his hours, he doesn't endorse our hours. i've been there with them where they said they're afraid of that energy in their own party. this is a moment where somebody, mitt romney preferably, could say, you know, i like donald trump but this is the kind of politics i don't want to trek in. . when barack obama, our first black president, had to stand up and show his papers to that

wealthy, polite. it's time for us that, possibly. >> this election is all about those very few who are legitimately undecided, and i just cannot believe as a political proposition that it benefits the romney campaign to have this issue relitigated. david, your thoughts? >> i think you're right. i don't think this plays to the suburban suburbanite independent voters, and i don't think donald trump is doing withis with any strate in mind. but the question is, once this does happen, what does mitt romney do about it? it reminds me of a couple weeks ago when mitt romney met with a supporter who said the president should be tried with treason. a woman called barack obama an arab. he doesn't really do anything,

he just kind of laughs it off. >> let me show you in advance of next tuesday's meeting with mitt romn romney. >> i think what's most important to remember is when you sign. governor romney has made it very clear he disagrees with comments like that. he's made it clear every time. it's been a topic of conversation whether it's in the media or the blogosphere. >> he'll stand up next time and talk about why he wants to be president, why he believes the economy needs turned around. >> i think the argument will hold much more water if truf wasn't there. if he didn't continue to drive at home, then i would be more inclined to say,.

>> you go, david. >> thanks, joan. the point is he's using trump to raise money for his own campaign. you don't have to go out there and renounce everybody who said, i support you and i also believe this crazy thing. but i don't expect kands to do that. and you stand next to him and you are legitimizing him, and don't forget rkts in helping the camera in that way, too. this is not just -- they are losing to remain. >> joy, allow me to show you what happened this morning when

joy tried to have fun with him. i have something for you. my birth certificate. >> joan, it's an issue that's not going to go away as long as trump is still on the stage in some form of politics. >> trump is using romney, too. if trump wanted to somehow be morphed into some part of the year, and talk about a stature gap between the two parties. that's what obama raffled off to his supporters. he's actually humiliating mom knee. >> in my opinion, he's back in

mitt romney, and he's going to use a presidential campaign to do it. he's going to hue mill i can't tell romney because chris asked in the midst of that great interview why some republicans can't let go of the birther talk. >> i don't think you believe a word of this, but why do some people in your party, including vet wealthy donald trump who i had mixed feelings about, everybody does, perhaps not you. i like him in some way, yet he's not going to play this birther certificate, locally born in hawaii. why do some people keep pushing he's not an american? >> beats me. >> thank you. >> david corn? it beats the speaker, the former speaker. >> wait a second. let's not let the speaker off easy here. what did he say last year? he said that barack obama, the only way to understand this guy is if you realize he has an

anti-colloniur perspective, the guy who took out osama bin laden. he's had his issue that the president is different, that he's a foreigner. he did it in a more he is owe t ter. if he did that, it's just more of an activity. >> thank you for being here. we appreciate you both as always. coming up, when gas prices were going up, americans blamed president obama. now that they're way down, do you think they're giving him the credit? this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] knowing your customers

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welcome back to hardball. about 31 million people will hit the road this memorial day weekend, according to aaa. today the national price for a regular tank of gasoline, $3.67. for months republicans couldn't talk about anything but gas prices. they accused the president of causing the spike in prices this spring, and they said he had always wanted the prices to go up to satisfy his own

environmental interests. that is absurd, gas prices are set to the market, and it doesn't take a political genius to debunk that. why would a president in the middle of a reelection want americans to feel pain at the pump? does the president deserve credit for you for lower gas prices? krista freeland is editor, and a democratic strategist with the center for american progress. krista, let me start with you. as you know, for months republicans have been accusing the president of having an environmental agenda to make gas prices go up. here was haley barber last summer. >> the president's policies have been clearly to drive up the cost of energy so americans would use less of it. that's not environmental policy, that's their policy. they think we'll make less pollution, making all these alternative energy sources more competitive. >> and newt gingrich earlier this year tied gas prices

directly to the president. >> you believe that he wants to see more expensive gas, you have said? >> of course he does, charlie, you know that. he has said himself his policy has been outrageously anti-american energy. the high price of gasoline is a direct result of obama. >> mitt romney misquoted the president to make it seem like he wanted higher gas prices. here's that tape. >> there's no question that when he ran for office he wanted to see gas prices go up. he said energy prices would skyrocket under his views, and he selected three people to help him implement that program. the secretary of energy, the secretary of the interior and the epa administrator. and this gas hike trio has been doing the job over the last three and a half years, and gas prices are up. >> the president never said that he wanted to see higher gas prices. as a candidate, he once said that curbing gas greenhouse

emissions would curb it to skyrocket. the "washington post" said gas production has actually risen each year of obama's presidency. krista, what do you make of this? is it fair to call it a conspiracy that has been woven of the president that is now debunked? >> i wouldn't call it a con spir iscy, but i would call it politics as usual. everyone knows the president cannot in the short term affect the price of gas at the pump. as it happens, the high prices in the spring were about politics, but not u.s. politics, they were mostly driven by iranian politics and markets were factoring in what looked like very high risk of a war with iran because of its nuclear program, and that's really what set the prices high. appear lists at that point were predicting the price would go as high as $4, maybe $5 this summer. republicans saw an opportunity. this is, i think, going to be an

election chiefly about the economy. you can talk about gdp and other esoteric systems all you like, but if the price at the pump is high, that is an economic number people really feel. so they went for it. >> does america have a responsibility if not on gas prices, on the whole keystone pipeline issue? >> i don't think so. the people understand that the president can't do anything short term to lower gas prices in the immediate, and i do think that when people look at his energy policy, he really has been looking forth. energy production is higher than it has been in decades, so people can't say he is pursuing all avenues to increase our energy production, and i think it's really cynical for republicans to jump on the back of that, and i'm waiting to hear all the credit now that gas prices have gone down, and it's memorial day. typically gas prices hit their

peak and it's lower than it's been, so where are the republicans now? >> krista, take a look at this chart, if you could. this really debunks the notion that policies of any president can have a major impact on gas prices. if you look at the prices in europe versus the prices in the united states which are reflected on the bottom, they go almost in lock step. the only difference are that american prices are lower because taxes on gasoline are lower. pretty clear, is it not, that it's one of those subjects, and i think there are a handful of them, where if it goes well, the president gets credit sometimes that he doesn't deserve, and when it goes poorly, he gets blame that he equally doesn't deserve? >> i think that's exactly right. we all know the price of oil is set on the world market and that is not a market that the u.s. president controls. i do, however, disagree with danielle about the keystone pipeline. if i was a republican strategist, i would be hammering that issue. and i think we already saw mitt romney push it this week.

it doesn't have an impact on the gas prices today, but i think they would say concretely this president is not supporting getting more oil in the united stat states. the keystone pipeline issue is a place where he can do that. he can then say, look, white pictures were going to be thrown number there. according to kantar media. 81% of those groups focused on energy. watch this. >> then and now, the difference, president obama's administration restricted oil production in the gulf, limited development of american oil shale, and obama personally lobbied to kill a

pipeline bringing oil from canada. >> danielle, is this an issue being removed from the table of those a-listers that we'll be talking about between now and november. if gas prices continue to decli decline. >> it wouldn't reduce the price of gasoline and the amount of jobs it would create were actually in question, so i don't think that was her strongest argument and maybe that's not why they were going for it. so i do think it was tricky to put all the gas prices in one basket, and, and each candidate is putting forth to help increase energy dependence and re.

it one that will actually create energy independence for us. >> thank you, chris freeland, thank you, daniel thaet next on the side show. this is "hardball," the place for politics. if you are one of the millions of men who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone.

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♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. back to "hardball." now for the side show, first off, there's been a lot of buzz lately about how much the 1968 presidential campaign of george romney, mitt's father, is influencing mitt's current strategy. george's political career toppled with one simple word, brainwashing, which he used to describe his initial support for the vietnam war. mitt got candid in an interview

with the wall street journal. i don't think my father's comment figures into this at all. it's my own thinking that makes me want to kick myself in the seat of my pants. i've had a couple of those during the campaign which haunted me a little bit, but i'm sure before this is over, it will haunt me a lot. so which gaffe did romney cite for an example? >> i like to be able to fire people who provide services for me. >> i can see how that would be a little light. how do a chess game and talk of perfect teeth wind up in one campaign ad? we've all seen our share of out there campaign ads. this one might just take the cake. >> give me a second and i'll tell you why i'm just the right fellow for the job. born in minnesota, my dad was a coach and history teacher. he got a job and became a diplomat with the government. we went around the world. i've ridden an ostrich.

i've done a lot of stuff. my wife and i raised two daughters who both have straight teeth, college degrees, and for six years they served on the u.s. military with one of these. congress is broken. who is going to fix it, d.c. insid insiders? they've got their horses in the race but all we see is their south end. >> in barstow's words, he was, quote, winging it, but how do you not win? the chief of officers legislative services recently projected that the state's revenue might fall short by governor christie's estimates by over a billion dollars come june 2014. true to form, christie struck back at rosen and the lawmakers. let the name calling begin. >> these people across the street are going through

withdrawals. they are on the floor sweating, shaking, they don't know what to do because they need to raise taxes. they have to. because they have to spend more. the only thing that makes them shake more is the possibility that we might actually cut taxes, so they needed to call in. david rosen, the dr. kevorkian, of the partisan offices of legislative services. why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy? how often do you have to be wrong to finally be dismissed? >> well, you've heard it. dr. kevorkian. now rosen himself concedes these kind of estimates are anything but foolproof. somehow i doubt that team romney watching that outburst might think, hey, there's r. v. up next, mitt romney says he knows how to create jobs.

the governor of massachusetts says something different. that's ahead. and if you want to follow me on twitter, all you have to do is figure out how to spell smir conish. with one combined serving of fruits and vegetables. new capri sun super-v.

. i'm sue herera with your cnbc market wrap. the dow is at 75 points, the nasdaq down 3, s&p down almost 3 points. it rose in may to its best level since october of 2007. facebook shares ended the day off more than 3%. they've actually lost about 17% this week alone. but on your memorial day barbecue, well, it's going to cost you a little bit more this year. according to the usda, staeak,

chicken and pork prices are up compares to other yearly levels. now back to "hardball." governor romney came to des moines last week, warned about a prairie fire of debt. that's what he said. prairie fire. but he left out some facts. his speech was more like a cowpie of distortion. >> welcome back to "hardball." in speeches this week, president obama made clear he is taking the lead in attacking mitt romney. here are some of the highlights. >> when you're president as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, your job is not simply to maximize profits. those of us who spend time in

the real world know that the problem isn't that the american people aren't productive enough, why is he peddling the same bad ideas that brought our economy to the brink of collapse? that was tried, remember? the last guy did all this. he famously declares that corporations are people. >> some are questioning whether being his own surrogate is a smart move for the president. but what no one doubts is that the president intends to hit romney early, often and hard. nbc's andrea mitchell is the host of "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc and a ceo politico reporter. andrea, are you surprised he is his own dick cheney? >> not really, because let's look at the track record of his own surrogates over the last couple weeks. joe biden and then cory booker.

if you can't rely on your attack dogs, then you have to be your own attack dog. but i think they understand they're coming after him double barrels and he has to fight back first because the pro-obama super pacs don't have the reach and have not shown the facility to go negative and go hard as much as some of the republicans have. >> glen, historically speaking, and if one goes back just the last couple of cycles, don't we typically find at this point, memorial day weekend, you don't have the president invoking with the name of his opponent. it is a bit unusual that we get to where we are so quickly? >> it is, but as andrew said, we are in the post-citizens united era here, and i think with surrogates like cory booker and ed rendell, obama needs to do some of this work himself. the other point here is with acceleration of the news cycle, who is going to remember that obama was saying this stuff this

early on? i think to a certain extent, it's a lot better to be making these direct attacks in may or june than it will be in october and november. so i think the calculation is do it now so you don't have to do it later. >> right, but i guess what i would respond to that, andrea, by saying is that the best thing, politically speaking, that the president has going for him is his likeability. you know, even some folks who won't vote for him think he's a pretty decent guy, doesn't he run the risk of driving down that popularity number if he's the attack dog? >> no, he does, and he does need to worry about the independent voters and losing the independent voters, and some of the bain attacks, frankly, have cost him support not only with the voters but with the business community. so when you look at where there is so much less enthusiasm on the democratic base for president obama compared to the enthusiasm on the part of the republican base for mitt romney, then you have to really figure

you're going to fire up that base and you've got to do it with this kind of aggressive campaigning. i think that's the calculation, that they are in the mode of getting their supporters out because this could be this closely fought, and they now have a lot of people who are pretty much sitting on their hands. >> glen, let's talk jobs. romney, of course, has argued that his years as a successful businessman qualify him to fix the nation's economy, but it's not as though romney has never held a government position. he was, after all, the governor of massachusetts for four years, something he rarely mentions. >> are you sure about that? >> president obama pointed that out. >> he doesn't want to talk about what he did in massachusetts, but he does talk about being a business guy. >> in a piece about how romney's governorship isyi campaign, you've written, no candidate in modern history has so aggressively undersold what has been seen as the most

desirable location for the presidency since the 1970s, running a state. and here's why he might not be talking about his term as governor. he was ranked 47th in job growth and job growth was just 1.4%. expand on your remarks. >> how can a candidate, particularly when you've had five in the last six presidents or five in the last seven presidents, emerge from governors' mansions. can you imagine having a candidate who has that as a central part of his resume and he doesn't discuss it. the majority leader of the massachusetts house told me the other day that recruiters always tell you to look for the gaps in the resume and that he thought there was a four-year gap in governor romney's resume. but i think, you know, to a certain extent, governor romney is going to have to talk about this. the record is out there. the obama folks are going to have to hound him. i think after this round of bain attacks we'll see some massachusetts attacks. he might as well get out there

and own it, and you know, it is not an entirely terrible record, even when you throw in health care reform. >> andrea, i know that some people would say that it's because of health care reform that he doesn't talk about his massachusetts record, because to talk about what he did as governor would immediately conjure up, among other things, the record on health care. i have a different theory. if he had been the governor of one of the 49 other states, would he be more apt to talk about his record? in other words, is there this thought process in the minds of americans that they associate massachusetts with liberalism and consequently governor romney doesn't want to talk about the record because he doesn't want to talk about being a massachusetts governor? >> i think it's a combination. i think it's health care, the mandates, you know, the whole rick santorum mantra about that. and it's also massachusetts. and maybe primarily massachusetts, michael dukakis, the way he's been caricatured by republicans. it's the tea party and the way the tea party approaches being governor of massachusetts. that surely was a theme of the

campaign, it was a theme of all of his challenges in the campaign. >> hey, thank you both. we had the a-team, andrea mitchell and glen thrush. we appreciate you being here. >> thank you. etan patz, one of the hottest cold cases in the country 33 years later. this is "hardball," the place for politics. indfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed.

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going to be the most negative in history, but so far the facts don't bear that out. in fact, according to our friends over at cantar media which tracks political advertising, 50% of the broadcast ads on tv have actually been positive versus 49% that have been negative. we'll be right back. whoa.

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that haunted people for decades. etan patz was abducted on his trip to the bus stop near his man at that time tan apartment 33 years ago today. deanna thompson is the mother of emma thompson, a second grader, who was abducted and killed in 2009. he was on the radar screen peripherally but was never interviewed by investigators in the first go-round three decades ago? >> that is correct. the police commissioner detailed that at a news conference yesterday. what led them to this suspect 33 years later was a tip. apparently the suspect had been talking to relatives about how he had harmed a child in new york years ago. he does suffer from mental illness, according to his relatives, so perhaps they didn't take those claims seriously until just recently when the fbi and nypd began a new search digging for a body

down in that neighborhood, and one of the relatives apparently real realized, oh, my goodness, perhaps what he was talking about, about harming a child, that this could be a connection. so they alerted police -- >> apart from his presumed confession, is there any evidence that we're aware of that ties him to the crime? >> the only evidence that we know of is this confession. you've got hours of written and verbal audio confessions and confessions to witnesses over the years. there is no physical evidence. they don't have a body. there is no witness who says i saw him with that kid way back when in 1979. >> i guess what i'm driving at is i'm thinking of cases like the lindbergh baby case where there were multiple people who came out and said, bruno hoffman didn't do this, i did it. have the police ruled out the crackpot factor here? >> look, that's certainly what perhaps the defense is going to

go to, the kaan case where there was probable cause to make an arrest, and then the case fell apart because the probability of the accuser didn't hold up. in this case, what's the credibility of the person making this confession? he's on medication, he has a history of mental illness, but the confession is apparently detailed. the police actually took him back to the scene and had him do a walk-through where he detailed what happened. he said he lured this little boy with the offer of a soda can down into the basement, and it was there where he strangled this child and put him in a garbage bag and left him on the sidewalk to be picked up by the garbage trucks with the rest of the trash. >> my condolences to you on the passing of your daughter. i've been watching and i appreciate the strength that you've exhibited. you are sadly, uniquely qualified, to tell us what kind of closure the family of etan

patz might be able to draw from this. >> you know, being able to find out who did this to your child is always a breath of fresh air, if you will. you just want to know who it is so you're not under anybody else's suspicion i'm sure they' sigh of relief even if someone did think they're guilty, and they know now they possibly they have the right person. >> what has been the significance of the etan patz case to the movement to make sure we're protecting the interests of children over the last several decades. >> i don't know that. i'm basically the same age that he would be. so obviously when he disappeared, i didn't know. he was the first to be on a milk carton, and it really changed what we were able to do.

>> all of this attention, dumpsters were not something that would have historically been searched when you had a missing child, and now the whole drill with law enforcement has been altered. >> i don't think it was part of their procedures to look in the trash. we got lucky by the grace of god to find summer in the trash, and it's a shame how many children are in our landfills, but that has come a long way since then. >> you received closure in your case in so far that the man is behind pars with life in prison, that is something you're comfortable with, am i right? >> i wanted to make sure that he paid for what he did, and i didn't want to ahow him to be in my children and family's life for the rest of our life such as drags us through court, so i just wanted to take care of him and put him where he belonged.

>> jonathan, with regard to the gentleman now suspected for the etan patz case, what kind of a life has he led for the last three decades? >> after working in new york city in his teenage years, he got off, married in new jersey, has children, a normal life, no criminal history to speak of, so that's what is baffling about this. yes he has a history of mental illness and has been on medication, but the police are scrambling to find out everyone he has been in contact with to find anything to link him to this case and see if he is linked to any other case. right now they have their work cut out this weekend and they will have a very busy weekend pouring over this 33 year case history and find witnesses or evidence to help corroborate the confession he has given. >> i have barely a minute left.

why the question. he lured him with soda allegedly, why? >> we were told that in the hours of questions time and time again, and he was never able to offer an answer, he never did has to why he went after that beautiful child that day. >> so sad, but at least, we hope the family gets closure that this is the guy and there is a cop vix so their lives can go on and be more fulfilling. thank you so much, i appreciate you having been here under difficult circumstances. when we return, allow me to finish with a big fight over free speech. should people be able to postcomments anonymously online? dare to compare challenge. get healthier, stronger hair in less than 7 days guaranteed. then tell us your results on facebook. pantene healthier hair in less than 7 days.

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i bathed it in miracles. director: [ sighs ] cut! sorry to interrupt. when's the show? well, if we don't find an audience, all we'll ever do is rehearse. maybe you should try every door direct mail. just select the zip codes where you want your message to be seen. print it yourself or find a local partner.

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let me finish tonight with this -- the blogs out there can be harsh. now it's reported that the state of new york is seeking to ban anonymous comments from websites. it would protect a person's right to know who is behind an anonymous internet posting. it including social media. the intention is to combat cyber

bullying. back in 1995, the court said protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. it allows them to express quit kal minority views. and back in 1960, justice black reminded that if anonymous salespeople has been unlawful at the time of the federalist papers, the writers would have been forced to use their real names or the papers would have been unpublished. i was curious what would be appended to the time.com story. some did and they framed it nicely. this is no different from something that hu jz jintao supported in china, but mobile

weather.com said it is not freedom of speech to tear into people mercilessly under the guise of a fake name. steve said protection from believing can be covered under looib louse speech, hate speech, and in some instances the violence against women's act. if i don't like what you posted and call you a name, that's my right. patriot engineer analyst usa said the internet is not a forum for free speech. it is not a free for all. there are rules. take your free speech and your soap box and go elsewhere. and finally freedom is not free. he is right. my heart likes the new york initiative, my head says otherwise. it's doubtful the law can with

stand scrutiny and just as well. it's important to remember that many died to preserve the right for free speech, even the offensive. that's all for "hardball," "politicsnation" starts right now. >> welcome to "politicsnation" i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, president obama is raising the intensity of his campaign to a whole new level and going into full attack mode, making his most direct case for reelection and calling out willard mitt romney by name. not once, not twice, but over and over and over in a speech in iowa. >> the world view that governor romney gained from his experience explained something. it explained why the last time he visited these very same fairgrounds, he famously declared that