tv MSNBC Live MSNBC July 2, 2012 8:00am-9:00am PDT
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messaging after the supreme court's health care rule something after days of hearing gop leaders stress that the mandate is a tax and the authority of the congress. here was romney's senior adviser the infamous etcha sketch guy an hour ago with a different take. >> the governor go does not believe the mandate is a tax, that's what you are saying? >> the governor believes what we put in place in massachusetts was a penalty. he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax, but again -- >> he agrees with the president? he agrees with the president that it is not and he believes that you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax, but call it a penalty or a fee or a fine? >> that's correct. >> i want to bring in the power panel. we have the political editor for thegrio.com and republican
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strategist allison stuart. >> big news for this morning. a mixed message after most everybody on the sunday talkers was saying this was a tax coming from the right. they reneged that the mandate wouldn't result in the tax. they seem adamant that this is not a tax. how do they get away from the moment that is an echa sketch moment? >> the main thing with concerns with the health care plan and the ruling is that this is another middle class promise by the president. he promised while campaigning through the negotiations with obama care that this would decrease premiums for everyday americans by $2500 when this raised it. many families are paying more than $5,000 more for insurance premiums. >> the question was not about president obama. it's about mitt romney.
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it's about mitt romney's main spokesperson just over an hour ago telling everybody that mitt romney agrees with the president. let's figure out why is mitt romney coming out and saying that this is not a tax, disagreeing with every republican person that was on the talkers yesterday. this is a big mixed message on a monday morning after the sunday talkers. do you agree with that? >> the main message mitt romney put out is what he plans to do on day one of his presidency. to issue waivers across to every state. also work with both houses of congress. republicans and democrats. institute free market reforms and replace obama care. that's the main message we are hearing out of the romney camp. we need to have competition in health care and take the government out of the way between the patient and their doctor and let people make their own choices and shop across state lines. that's the message we hear out of the campaign, day in and day out. >> we heard from everybody over
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the weekend and super peeker boehner about the fact that this was a tax. take a listen. >> this has to be ripped out by its roots. this is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. the american people do not want to go down this path. >> as we hear the republican leadership saying they have a problem with the affordable health care act, what is the right going to do now that the romney campaign and mitt romney himself are at odds over how they want to move forward with this message and do not feel that this is a tax. they think it's a penalty like what was instituted in massachusetts. >> i think what they are going to do is tear their hair out. when you look at the reality of what happened today, he has under cut what is shaping up to be a potentially significant attack line. not valid, but significant. it kind of speaks to the bigger problem with the romney
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campaign. of all the people in the world that can criticize president obama and democrats over health care reform, the last person in the world that can do that is mitt romney. he has the same health care plan he passed in massachusetts. this i think is the crux of the problem. they have a tax. a penalty that is a tax in massachusetts. that's the crux of the problem. this speaks to a bigger problem, a bigger division. the romney campaign and republicans that you can't get your story straight of what is the problem and the attack. >> chris said they will pull their hair out whether casually or closely will be pulling their hair out as well to figure out where is the message and the path of listening to how the romney campaign wants to frame the narrative of health care and what they want to do if mitt romney were to be elected president and not contradict
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themselves to the polls come november. when we talk about that and let's all keep in mind that mitt romney said making it a tax would be okay when he was referring to it in massachusetts. this is really sticky territory for him. do you think eric was trying to send a message to those people on the right who feel that it's okay to get on the airwaves and beat that drum too much and take the focus off the economy? >> i don't think he was trying to send a message. we will know if they flip flopped or change their remark. my sense is that the problem the romney campaign is hard to say this is a tax on the federal level or it's not a tax on the state level or vice-versa. the health care law is similar to the national one that it's hard for them to make a message about it. you can see in the interview eric was struggling to say here's what happened nationally. it's hard to explain the difference between those thing when is they so similar. >> a lot of people will be
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reacting from the message from "the daily rundown" makes its way through the twitter verse. we have a tweet from rupert murdoch saying met with romney last week. they will be hard to beat unless he drops old friends from team and hires real pros. doubtful. chuck todd talked to eric about this in the interview this morning. he brushed it off saying he can't respond to every tweet. what wait does a message like that carry and especially after an interview this morning. >> it's water cooler conversation, but the campaign has been doing a great job and talking about jobs. another important point made this morning with chuck, since the supreme court ruling, the campaign raised $6.7 million for more than 55,000 contributors.
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thats ens a clear message that people are ready to invest in the plan for turning health care around. they are tired of the broken promises on the part of the president. that money on speaks loud and clear and they want to hear what governor romney's message is and they trust he will be able to implement free market principals and will turn this economy around and create jobs of for 73% of americans, that's the number one issue. the economy. >> the message is he agrees with president obama and that it's a penalty and not a tax. thanks to all three of you. four months to go until the election and decisions are made, but there new cash concerns for the obama campaign. the read out of a call made by president obama obtained by the daily beast for the top 2008 donors to give through the max. the president said in 2008, everything was new and exciting.
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now i'm the incumbent president with gray hair and change is hard when you have an obstructionist republican congress. >> kristin welker and why does the president feel like he needs to make this call. is it based on the fact that the romney camp was able to raise over $6 million in such a short period of time after the supreme court decision on health care. >> one of the components and that phone call echoes a lot of the conversations that i had with some of president obama's top campaign adviser who is say their biggest concern this election year are the super pacs. the great unknown. the great wild card in this election year. if you look at the fund-raising so far, by some accounts they outpaced democratic super pacs by a margin of 3-1. don't forget, thomas, that in may just last month or two months ago now, the romney team
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outpaced obama raising $76 million compared to president obama who raised $60 million. obama officials said they were expecting that because romney just clinched the nomination, but they are trying to give donors a wake up call because they say this is really one of the largest hurdles moving forward. in addition the quote that you just read, another thing that president obama reportedly said to his donors during that call that he made aboard air force one according to the daily beast, we have to take the super pacs seriously and if we don't, the political scene will be changed permanently because of the special interests and they are going to consolidate and run congress and the white house. president obama's reelection team trying to make the donors aware of the fax that mitt romney is a formidable candidate when it comes to fund-raising. this is a big hurdle and the
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obama team bafrging on grass roots and setting up large broad based efforts in the key swing states like florida, north carolina, virginia and iowa. that's where they are putting their stock. when it comes to the super pacs, it's the thing that concerns them. >> at the white house, kristin, thank you. a relentless wave of 100 degree plus heat possibly through the rest of the fourth of july holiday week. warnings across 23 states after the scorching and deadly temps claimed lives. equally killer storms several of which swept into the mid-atlantic with the power of a hurricane doing damage and downing trees and power lines. the result is more than two million people in nine states plus washington, d.c. are without electricity. that means no air conditioning orphans and no access to the internet for a lot of people and the priority is trying to keep
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cool. >> i am in the library so i can bring these guys to read books. >> a lot of people asked us to stay their house and we have been here at the library. >> we have been here for an hour and a half and my body temperature is up here. >> mike slidell has more. >> the 100 degree heat. >> how are you, buddy? we had the story about the average temperatures basically around 95 to 100 degrees. when we talk about how fast the people may get their power back on and get into the ac and comfort, what does it look like for the areas that are devastated by the downed trees? >> pep coe services d.c. and the two counties in maryland that they will have 90% back on by friday at 11:00. friday night. this is only monday late morning.
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we have five more days. for some without power and air conditioning and it may not hit 100, but it will be 95 to 98. we are in the upper 80s today. it's going to be a long slow slog. some folks on this street said they headed into work early to find air conditioning. the reason that raced from the midwest into the mid-atlantic knock down thousands of trees and wins clocked at 91 miles an hour. dulles outside of d.c. gusted almost hurricane force. this is one of many examples of big hardwood trees that provide shade and save energy money on your home. it shades your house. that is down over a power line and this has been here since friday. no sipe of chain saws and pep coe is here from out of the state and out of the country. they are getting help to get in here and get the power on as quick le as they can. there were a lot of frustrated people and there is no break for
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them. overnight they told me the locals are saying it didn't feel comfortable until 4:00 a.m. the low temperatures are going down to the upper 70s. without air moving, you don't get a fresh breeze to blowout the hot air. forget about going up stairs. forget about that. >> mire sister is in montgomery county and without power for the last 72 hours. it's about 90 on the top two floors of her house and 75 in the basement where they have to sleep at night. hopefully she won't hear about waiting until friday. mike slidell in washington, d.c. for us. more on the top story, the mixed messagining monday and the penay to avoid health care is not a tax. we will have the communications director join us with his reaction. plus this. >> we want to take a common sense step by step approach.
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republicans believe in a common sense step by step approach. >> speaker boehner's response to do the republicans have a health care plan of their own? do they? we will pitch that question to shawn spicer, a lot on those issues coming up. don't forget you can always join the conversation with us right here. follow me on twitter. tell us what you think about the music today. the president from interview: i talk to folks on rope lines and in coffee shops. people who have been out of work. you can tell it wears on them. narrator: he's fought to pull us out of economic crisis for three years. and he still is. president obama's plan keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. mitt romney and his billionaire allies can spend milions to distort the president's words. but they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. he is. i'm barack obama and i with scottrader streaming quotes,
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here. we booked you to talk about fund-raising, but first there is news being made this morning. i want to get your reaction to something romney adviser said to our chuck todd on "the daily rundown." take a listen. >> the governor does not believe the mandate is a tax, that's what you are saying? >> the governor believes what we put in place in pass pass was a penalty and disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax, but again -- >> he agrees with the president that it is not and he believes it and you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax. you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine? >> that's correct. >> does this not contradict what republicans who have been hammering the president all weekend that this penalty is a tax? isn't this an important pivot that he is announcing over how mitt romney feels? >> mitt romney felt the same as
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always. he will repeal all of obama care and he agreed with the dissent part of the supreme court. he thought the entire thing was unconstitutional. the question you should be asking is the president of the us said this wasn't going to be a tax and sent the solicitor general to the court and said call it a tax. when the court ruled he said it's not a tax. the president has been the that has been inconsistent on this. that's where the american people will recognize and this president is continuing to say whatever fits his interest. governor romney has been consistent that obama care is not something that is in the best interest of our economy for health care. he will repeal it day 1 and agree with the descent. >> when it comes to the affordable care act is based on what mitt romney was able to do, his greatest legislative accomplishment as governor of massachusetts and the fact that he conferred with the heritage
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foundation who created designing and crafted what we call the connector and also the romney 2009 op ed and using tax penalties or tax credits and others have proposed encouraging free riders to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others. here again we have this morning with herric agreeing and saying that this is a penalty and not a tax for those considered free risers. is there a problem with the larger message from mitt romney trying to try away from massachusetts health care in the national conversation about what the affordable health care act is? >> no. what he said is he took a problem in massachusetts and created a massachusetts solution for it. what his state needed at the time, it worked with a democratic legislature and did what the massachusetts people
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enjoy today. the same model he said doesn't work for california or colorado or florida. as republicans we have always believed in state's rights. what will work in state and shouldn't be federalized. governor romney has been consistent that just because something worked in massachusetts, doesn't mean you federalize it. that seems to be the biggest problem with the democrats and they look at one idea and model everyone on this and creates a one size fits all solution. the beauty of the united states is that each state whether it's an education or health care policy or transportation can say we have needs that are unique and we will create a unique solution. by no means do you create a national model and say everything has has to live by this. >> they repeal and replace something that worked and i want
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to talk about the fund-raising on this. they raised more than $6.5 million on n online donations, but are republicans in danger of overplaying the hand on the fact that mitt romney took to the podium in washington, d.c. and talked about repealing and replacing something that right now while it's not in full effect, there provisions that americans are enjoying under the affordable health care act. >> sure. to the fund-raising aspect in the first 36 hours after the ruling came down, we took in $5.5 million from 55,000 donors and most of them had never been involved in the campaign before. what it show and this gets to the second point, the majority of americans now believe that the court ruled it was constitutional. the only way to overturn obama care is through the ballot box, electing mitt romney who made a commitment to repeal it day one. people want to get involve and they realize there is a clear
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choice whether we want government in the middle or whether we want as the governor talked about, the replace aspect is taking market-driven forces to allow the system to put in place reforms that help drive down cost and help cover more people and deliver better health care. it doesn't inhibit job creation. i think there is a big difference as speaker boehner noted this week of putting a 2700 page bill that you pass in the middle of the night and speaker pelosi made clear that no one was able to leave before it passed. taking a step by step common sense reform market-oriented process that allows us to look at the problems and address them and deliver better health care and at the same time helps our economy. >> sean spicer, thanks for your time this morning. a preerkiate it. >> why financial giants are leaving the big apple and doing so for the bushes.
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tom cruise katie holmes untieing their knot. is religion behind the report and a new report that katie is being stalked. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! put it on my spark card! [ high-pitched ] nice doin' business with you! [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet?
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a standoff between president obama and a handful of republican governors which are threatening not to comply with one part of his health care law. latinos are the most demographic group for president obama and his push for the hispanic vote, coming up. yers do the ironing. have our fridges cater our parties. and tell our ranges to whip up dinner. let's plug in to summer savings before they're gone... ...without wasting an ounce of energy with smart machines that turn housework into house play. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. right now, save $600 on this maytag french door refrigerator,
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thin coffee shops. people who i thave been out of work. you can that i forget how to put gas in my car. tell it wears on them. narrator: he's fought to pull us out of economic crisis for three years. and he still is. president obama's plan keeps taxes down for the middle class, invests in education and asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. mitt romney and his billionaire allies can spend milions to distort the president's words. but they're not interested in rebuilding the middle class. he is. i'm barack obama and i >> republicans are doubling dun to beat back president obama's health care law now that it has been upheld. governors are now saying the states won't implement parts of the law including wisconsin's scott walker and florida's rick scott and new jersey's chris cristy and louisiana's bobby
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jindal. >> every governor has two critical decisions. do we set up the exchanges and secondly, do we expand medicate? we are not doing either. >> joining me now is bill cassidy from louisiana and the congressman is also a doctor as well. great to you have here. as we hear it, your governor is saying it. are he and colleagues banking on mitt romney winning and repealing the health care law? couldn't respects be accused of playing politics? >> it's a broken system and putting more money into it will not rescue the system. as it is constituted, accepting greater obligation is bad for the health of the states and the federal government. ultimately for patients. >> a doctor was on "meet the press" with the governor yesterday. he gave startling facts about what's going on in the state of
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louisiana. let's take a listen. >> in louisiana, 48th in the country in terms of child poverty and premature death and 48th in terms of industrial accidents and so forth. just by expanding medicate alone and accepting the president's expansion, 340,000 out of his 860,000 uninsured people get covered. >> as a doctor, when you hear about what's going on in your home state, how can it not afford to implement the exchange? >> it's interesting, medicaid pays so far below the rates, often times a patient cannot see a doctor. it is the illusion of coverage without the power of it. howard dean's wife, a doctor in vermont, does not accept medicaid because medicaid pays so poorly. if you take louisiana's medicaid and expand it further, that means more people will have the illusion of coverage without the
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power of it. our state will go most deeply in debt. >> they will have the luxury of being able to opt out because of the practice as a doctor and her own capabilities of finances for her better medical treatment? could people in louisiana not have the option? >> she does not accept medicaid patients. that's the point. it pays so poorly she does not accept the medicaid patients. i was walking home from church and a woman stopped me and takes in foster children. she cannot get therapy for them because medicaid pays so poorly. they ran a series of articles about how across the nation medicaid pays so poorly patients cannot see doctors. this is the solution for the lower income. >> when we talk about the
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solutions that are the potential options, what are the right options for the state of louis louisiana and the larger picture if people are against the affordable care act? >> if your goals are to provide access to quality to lower cost. if you don't first, access ultimately suffers as does quality. medicate's prime example. the first thing is lower cost. republican solutions center around this as a primary variable empirically we know once you do that, access to quality medicine expands. >> when we look at massachusetts as a model for what the country can look at, they have seen health care costs lowered and done so dramatically. >> no, they have skyrocketed. >> in the small insurance mark, they have the highest premiums
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in the in addition. in terms of medicaid, on a per person recipient gets more than almost any other state to pay for the patients and even then it is consuming an ever greater portion of the budget. >> that's not all together correct. as we look at the faxes. >> it is. >> going through six years ago, health care costs have gone down as the health access has gone up. >> they have not. if you show me that statistic, if you go to kaiser family foundation and the look at the preem just cost for a small business, they are the highest in massachusetts. if you go to kff.org and look at the amount of money received per se sip i don't want, massachusetts is among the top. if you look at the headlines about what a hole it is putting in the budget. we are in the health plan and it is putting it in a deep hole. >> massachusetts and the
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heritage foundation and what mitt romney is a terrible example of what other states can learn from? >> first i will say that that's a good college try. governor romney attempted to veto the provisions and they were overridden and patrick has taken it in a different direction. that's number one. number two, states by the constitution do have the power to coerce behavior. the government doesn't unless it's by taxing power. good for massachusetts that they gave it a try, but when you see the costs are exploding, why in the heck are you taking to the rest of the country. bad for the patients and bad for our fiscal health. >> sir, thanks for your time. appreciate it. now new evidence that the obama campaign sees the latino vote as one of the important demographics in november. the obama campaign has been
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outspending to woo that vote. since mid-april they spent $2 million on spanish language and radio ads. the romney campaign spent $110,000 in that same period. the president getting help from celebrities like marc anthony to get out the vote. >> my name is marc anthony. latinos are a force that can and will help decide this election. we have jobs and the economy and education and immigration. president obama is on our side. we have to make sure he gets four more years to make more progress. >> in addition, the pro-obama super pac committed to spending $4 million on targeted ads. joining me is nbc latino contributor and a "usa today" columnist. the new gallup poll is showing what's taking place within the community. the majority identifying as
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independents. 51% is independents rather than going left or right. democrat or republican. does this mean the vote is more up for grabs than the president's 40-point lead would suggest? >> not necessarily. if you look at the numbers for registered voters, it's still 52% leaning democratic. the trend is towards obama, but he haswo challenges. number is to keep the momentum going with latinos. they favor the health care act and favor his deportation policy and appreciate that he challenged arizona's law. that's half the challenge. the picture part is a little harder. that is mobilizing and getting them to turn out on election day. if you think of the numbers as say the circles, they are 50 million latinos and 20 million registered voters and 12 million are expected to show up. there is a gap there in turn out. he has the support. the challenge is getting the turn out.
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>> it is the support and the turn out is the key. when we look and target where the turn out will be critical, it's in states like colorado, florida, nevada. we expect democrats to come close to topping the $20 million they spent in 08, wooing the hispanic vote. that's a large investment in trying to get the population engaged, interested and informed on why they want to vote for president obama. >> that's not just the size, but geography where it's located. latinos are concentrated in the swing states and the southwest and florida. even in a few states you may not normally think of like north carolina which obama won in 2008 by roughly 15,000 votes. there is 180,000 voters in north carolina. even in a state like that, if he gets them to turn out and show up and vote for him, they can swing the state for him. >> even though the money is not being spent by the romney
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campaign as much, it's not complete necessary president obama. >> no. i have seen the romney ads, the spanish translations are not great. they are awkward. when you look at what romney is doing. he has a spanish language twitter and a website about the health care act. that's in addition all the information he has on his website. romney doesn't even have a spanish language website. it speaks the interest in our community that how much of the resources they are willing to put in and invest in us. >> thank you so much and you can read more from raul reyes. they have great content on issues important to latinos in the u.s. we encourage you to check it out. still on the agenda, new jersey's chris christie known for speaking his mind, but what made him unleash this round of tough talk?
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you stupid? i'm sorry for the idiot over there. >> no more tom kat and did scientology split up tom cruise katie holmes? hey america, even though they don't need one, wes, clay and demarcus tried on the new depend real fit briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even while playing pro football. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. get a free sample and try one on for yourself. home protector plus, from liberty mutual insurance, where the costs to both repair your home and replace your possessions are covered. and we don't just cut a check for the depreciated value -- we can actually replace your stuff with an exact or near match.
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so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. ryan bald czar of pop goes the week joins us with more on this. here's the daily news coverage said creep show that shows the cars that have been tailing and
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hanging around where katie holmes allegedly lives. what is the real deal. is it the truth that these are people from the religion of scientology? >> it is yet to be determined. what's interesting is people tailing tom and katy is not new, but some intelligence is coming from the photographers that are so used to it. the white cadillac and the black suv are sitting out there. some of the people used to getting these photos are lingering and lurking. what is reported and believed is they are with the scientology organization and that is one of the divicive issues between katie and tom and as their daughter is 6 years old, she will be indoctrinated and more educated and that may have been one of the deciding factors and katie's decision to file for divorce. >> they are going to be stalked and people try to get their photographs and really invasive. this is a whole new level looking at it from the side of a
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third party of scientology. >> it's his third marriage and the last one was controversial and rumors of scientology and this being a contract between the two. i was as a journalist covering war of the world when is he proposed to katie holmes in paris. i was there and on the same train car watching them interact d even then it was a suspicious thing. a lot of people had a raised eyebrow and some rumors that katie would get $3 million for each year they were married. that would be $3 million. this is the uber entertainment story for a marriage and divorce. >> and the people released any type of statement to say this is false? >> they deny they have anything to do with the vehicles and they are not tailing them. tom cruise's people said they were disappointed. he was disappointed about the divorce and is keeping quiet. he is in iceland and she is in
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new york. it's much more private in new york than in california. >> not a lot of people bought their engagement and having a child together. people still question all of this. >> it is. his previous girlfriends and wives either had nothing to say suspiciously so or aloued to things suspiciously. this will only heat up and it will all be about scientology. >> great to see you. thanks so much. >> very strong words for john roberts and time now for the side by. chief justice roberts said they ruled in favor because he wanted to be loved by the establishment. a beloved man for the liberals and extremely disloyal. mitt romney's secret weapon and his wife and a new interview and
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ann romney suffers from cancer and multiple sclerosis and what she learned about being careful when it comes to her health. ann romney is viewed slightly more favorably than laura bush. chris christie was holding a news conference when a reporter asked him an off topic question. >> did i say on topic. are you stupid? on topic. on topic. next question. good. thank you. ♪
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the olympic torch relay made a special tribute this morning, taking the torch to the grounds of the childhood home and grave site of princess diana. it comes nearly 15 years after her death. the race that's been making headlines, the tie between allison felix and geneva tarmoh will be decided tonight.
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both women agreed to a run-off race to determine who will claim the final spot in london. they tied for third place during trials last month. now we move on to the so-called romney olympics. during romney's week off the campaign trail in new hampshire, mitt romney won't be lounging around. his family takes part in a series of sporting events on the presidential candidate's $8 million family estate and they do so all for glory. phil rucker wrote all about the romney family games and joins us now. as we got from reading your piece, mitt romney doesn't like to lose in these family games or even in campaigns, for that matter. how big is this for the candidate and his family about this all going under one roof and having these romney olympics? >> well, it's mitt and his wife ann and their five sons and their five daughters-in-law, then 18 grandchildren so 30 in all. they compete each summer in the romney olympics which is sort of a mini triathalon of running,
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biking and swimming at their lakefront estate but then they have added some sports after mitt romney started losing to some younger family members. they added things like seeing how many nails you can hammer into a board in two minutes or less, seeing how long you can hang on to a pole, how far you can throw a football. it's sort of all in fun and games but there's certainly a competitive edge to their family vacation. >> they take this very seriously. then the other part i was reading, they gather at night to talk about career goals, family issues, parenting issues, their sons might be facing on how they're dealing with their own children. it sounds like, you know, a perfect slice of americana for a lot of people. >> yeah, well, you know, this is such a big family and they're spread out from coast to coast. one of the sons is in boston. a couple of them are out in california. so this week in new hampshire is really the one time when they're all together and what they do every year is they discuss sort of each son's career, sort of
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how that's progressing. one of the sons likened it to kind of your own personal board of advisors. then they also talk about parenting tips and they certainly all had a lot of children in the last few years so they're trading ideas and what works and what doesn't. >> this is a mandatory, none of the kids opt out of this. you got to show. you got to post. >> you've got to be there. mitt romney's son tad told me in an interview a couple years ago he was working at the l.a. dodgers and of course, baseball being a summer sport, he didn't think he could take the week off in the middle of the season, and he told his dad that and his dad just said nope, you will be here, and he showed up and sure enough, he had to beg for forgiveness from his bosses at the dodgers but he was there and they learned from that point on never to miss a summer week in new hampshire. >> how does this compare and contrast to how president obama vacations with the first lady and the kids? >> well, it's very different but president obama has a much smaller family. it's really him and michelle and their two younger daughters.
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they take some vacation time every christmas time out in hawaii. they have tended to take some time in the summer at martha's vineyard but it's just a much smaller family. they don't have the vacation compound, if you will, on the lake in new hampshire which is where the romneys get together. >> thanks for your time. great read. i appreciate it. >> yeah, thanks. glad to be here. that will wrap things up for me. thank you for your time. i will see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern. until then, follow me on twitter. don't go anywhere. "now with alex wagner" is coming up. she is the champion of our msnbc olympics for replacing copier toner. the great alex wagner. >> if there's a paper jam, i'm your lady. gold medal in solving paper jams. thank you, thomas. the obama campaign is shaking its coin cup. does the fund-raising blitz speak to urgency or desperation? we are going to talk cash dash with obama super pac honcho, bill burton. plus the supreme court
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upheld it but will state governors drive a stake in the affordable care act? and "daily show" writer kevin bleyer will join us to rewrite the u.s. constitution. all of that when we start in a mere 180 seconds. but they can be really well thexpensive.ted a puppy, so to save money i just found them a possum. dad, i think he's dead. probably just playin' possum. sfx: possum hisses there he is. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare,
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with only 126 days to go until the election, teams obama and romney have finally found something to agree on. sometimes a tax isn't a tax but a penalty and sometimes agreeing with your opponent isn't really the best campaign strategy. it's monday, july 2nd and this is "now." joining me today, msnbc contributor, ari melber of "the nation." sam stein of the huffington post, mar
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