worker. from penalty to tax. mitt romney's evolving take on the health care ruling. >> the supreme court is the final word, right? the highest court in the land? they said it was a tax, didn't they? so, it's a tax, of course! and feeling the pinch. squeezed by sanctions, iran plays a shell game with its oil. and that's what happens when you set off an 18-minute fireworks show all at once. officials in san diego are now still trying to figure out just what happened. it's safe to assume it was a big disappointment for 50,000 people who turned out expecting to see =i-mì(l% and good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. in our "daily fix" today, the president is on the bus traveling through ohio and pennsylvania, attacking china for alleged unfair trade practices against american-made autos and suvs. meanwhile, the "wall street

journal" and "the weekly standard" are both jumping on mitt romney, who is now calling the health care mandate a tax, not a personality, despite what eric fehrnstrom, his top adviser, told chuck todd the other day. chris alyssa is managing editor and nbc news' white house correspondent and political director chuck todd, host of "the daily rundown," and it's all your fault, chuck todd. why did you make eric fehrnstrom say that? let's go back to where we begin. if you want to hang on just a second, i want to ask chris where you think we stand to set the table here. you've got the president in ohio today, pennsylvania tomorrow. we know the jobs numbers are coming tomorrow. he's today, coincidentally, perhaps not, announce another trade action against china for alleged unfair trade practices against american autoworkers. at the same time, we have mitt romney, some would say twisting himself, some conservative

republicans would say twisting himself into a pretzel over this whole issue. >> i think, andrea, let's go thursday to thursday. so, it's only a week ago. it seems like a lot longer, though. it's only a week ago that the supreme court ruling on the health care law came out. so, the last seven days i think clearly have been good for barack obama and bad for mitt romney. romney struggled, i think, to find his messaging.ç eric fehrnstrom with chuck saying it was a penalty, not a tax. mitt romney kind of correcting, saying it's a tax, trying to get on the right side of the issue. i think in general, we've seen over the last seven days the romney team caught a little bit by surprise on the ruling, not that the supreme court upheld the law but the way that they upheld the law, that they ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional under the commerce clause but said that congress's right to tax means it can stand. i think that caught the romney campaign by surprise it was not one of the likely scenarios that most of us had mapped out. i don't think it was one of the scenarios they had mapped out,

and i think they're still trying to deal with that, playing little bit of defense and they made a pretty obvious mistake, eric to chuck earlier this week made a mistake that made things worse. >> chuck, what is your take now, a couple of days later? we see mitt romney still trying to explain it. this was mitt romney on cbs last night. >> i said that i agreed with the dissent, and the dissent made it very clear that they felt it was unconstitutional. but the dissent lost. it's in the minority. and so, now the supreme court has spoken. there is no way around that. you can try and say you wish they had decided it a different way, but they didn't. they concluded it was a tax. that's what it is. >> so, it's a tax. >> but he seemed to be, it's a concession. he was conceding it's a tax. he's not, it's not in the same vain and enthusiasm with the rest of the republican party is grasping on to this tax argument, and that is what appears to be of concern to a lot of theç leading conservati

electuals. there's kind of two streams of the conservative movement, sometimes when it comes to criticizing romney, sometimes it comes from the tea party, but sometimes insularly. so the "wall street journal," bill kristol, they were sort of in that role. and this goes to a couple things that as has been true about romney from the get-go. number one, he's just not a nimble candidate. when put off message, he struggles. he doesn't know how to deal with it, just doesn't understand how to call an audible, to use a sports term. second, it's a reminder we never litigated health care during the primaries, and he never had to go through this angst. and we see they were caught between two problems. one is his own health care record in massachusetts and the other is looking like a flip-flopper. those are two, both of which -- >> they're irreck kribl differences. >> irreconcilable, a rock and a hard place. eric fehrnstrom tried to create the line, walk a fine line. romney's trying to walk that fine line, too, and i think it shows you they're so concerned

about the flip-flop -- they still think that is very dangerous to them and i think that's what you saw come to bubble up this week. >> let's take a look at the "wall street journal" editorial. they write "this latest mistake is of a piece with the campaign's insular staff and strategy that are slowly squandering an historic opportunity. romney promised republicans he was the best man to make the case against president obama, whom they desperately want to defeat. so far, mr. romney is letting them down. chris cilliza, plus bill kristol compare that to losing candidates from massachusetts, talking about dukakis and kerry. that is not a favorable

when things are going bad, your staff is too insular, they don't have enough experience. some of this is just the day-to-day politics. go back to 2008. remember how barack obama was consulting with too many people who were telling him what he wanted to hear? he didn't bring in outside people and he wasn't doing it right, he wasn't making up ground on hillary clinton. you know, i mean, this is a critique that goes on. that doesn't mean it's not something that the romney folks have to deal with, because chuck is right. the establish has never -- a part of the republican establishment has never loved mitt romney. it's why we went through haley barber, mitch daniels, chris christie, paul ryan. they were looking for -- >> jeb bush. >> -- someone other than mitt romney, you know? they wanted someone else. they never loved him and this is a way to appeal to them. >> one final point. this is all, you know, interesting, except until tomorrow's jobs numbers, which

will completely, potentially change it again. >> the story goes in two directions tomorrow. if it's a better-than-expected jobs report, this just adds to the toll that's been taken, and he's, you know, some of the stuff's in his control, some of the stuff's out of his control. the stuff's out of his control. this is the faulty fault lines of what's wrong with this strategy for romney. or it's a disappointing jobs report like may -- >> or flat is a third possibility, it's flat, which is the same narrative. i mean, these jobs numbers do tend to bounce around a bit. >> it can a little bit, but that's the fear if you're romney. like, this bad week becomes a lot worse if tomorrow's a good day for the economy and obama. >> and this just happens to be the day that the president announced another trade action against china, while he happens to be in ohio. that's another whole story. you've pointed out this week in your battleground map on monday exactly how important and why it was to boith camps. >> romney cannot get to 270 without -- sorry, one state from the rust belt -- >> ohio, pennsylvania or

michigan. >> michigan or ohio has to get it right and win everything else. >> threading the needle. thank you very much. chuck todd, great to see you. chriscillizza, thank you very much. is it a tax or a penalty? romney's position on the health care mandate leaves people confused. jason chaffetz of utah, beautiful utah. thanks for joining us from out there. >> thanks, andrea. >> hope it's cooler out there, although the west is getting hit as the rest of the country with this heat wave, having just come from colorado. let's talk about tax, mandate, "wall street journal." you know, what do you say to bill kristol and the "wall street journal" editorial page, which is a very conservative, mainstream conservative-minded, you know, editorial page, about this alleged confusion on part of mitt romney and his campaign? >> oh, i think they could have been clearer from moment one. but as we just heardç from governor romney, i think he's crystal clear, he supported the dissent. he thought that that was the right call. but in this country, the

majority of the supreme court rules and they ruled that it's a tax. that's what it is, and you move forward. so, it's a pretty big stretch to suggest that upholding so-called obama care is somehow a loss for mitt romney. the reality is, obama care is bad for the country, it's terribly confusing, it's a massive bureaucracy, it's going to be a massive cost to individuals. three-quarters of the people that are going to get hit with this tax are going to be people making $120,000 or less, according to the congressional budget office. so those will be the things that come october or november when it really counts, that will be first and foremost on people's minds. >> well, what they've argued is that only 1% will actually be hit with this penalty or tax, whatever you want to call it, and they would have competing arguments from the cbo and elsewhere about the cost, potential cost. but at the same time, couldn't you at least argue, congressman, that if the president had lost, we would, everyone, conventional wisdom would be hammering him for the weakness of his presidency and for going against

the supreme court. so, at least having won the argument, won the supreme court ruling, most of the supreme court ruling, that he's in better shape than he would have been otherwise? >> perhaps, but every american's going to get hit with these taxes, andrea. look at the medical device tax which kicks in at the first part of the year. that's going to hit everybody, and that's a new tax. everybody's going to have to pay for it. we took $500 billion through medicare out to help pay forç this. this is not a win. the problem is, the country doesn't know how it works, it's terribly confusing, it's a massive, new bureaucracy, it creates more expenses. it's just, it's not palatable to what i think people are looking for in this country. >> the counter argument is that that medicaid device tax, it replaces others so that there is a net -- that in terms of net, it is not a burden on individual payers. in other words, there are plenty of ways you can slice and dice this thing, and there are some

popular components to it that the president's going to be able to campaign on. >> well, there are some popular components, but by and large, it's terribly expensive. i think it's the wrong prescription. we're going to vote on it in the house next week again, and i think health care will be one issue. but when you get jobs and manufacturing and the loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, particularly in ohio where they've lost nearly 18,000 manufacturing jobs, we've lost nearly 599,000 manufacturing jobs under barack obama, these are going to be the things that are really going to be first and foremost in the campaign. >> and what is your advice to the romney campaign as to how they should approach this, given the criticism by the "wall street journal" and other conservative republicans? >> well, look, in many ways, it's going to be a referendum on barack obama. the imperative and justification for re-electing president obama has evaporated, and that's the reality. jobs are not going well, health care is a mess. there's not a lot really to point to to justify re-electing

president obama, and i think mitt romney in that scenario, talking about what çhe's done turning around the olympics, helping to turn around massachusetts, i mean, that's the kind of thing that the country is looking for. and one of the reasons i from the very beginning was supportive of mitt romney. he's the right person at the right time, and we need to go in a different direction. the country's off track. lo at the manufacturing numbers. the president's out there touting that in ohio, and yet, they're at a net loss in ohio. so, if you want different results, you're going to have to elect different people. that's why i think mitt romney's going to be the next president of the united states. >> thank you very much, congressman. i want to double check those numbers, because i remember seeing ohio governor john kasich saying they were a net plus, so i'm not sure about the net loss in ohio, but to be continued. >> bureau of labor statistics released in july. >> okay. okay, i think you probably have later numbers than i do or john kasich, but i'll check that out. thank you very much. thanks for the clarification. >> thank you. meanwhile, overseas, nato

trucks rolling across pakistan and the border into afghanistan once again after seven months. how did an embassy row barbecue here in washington help break the deadlock? and then kate snow here to preview her heartbreaking story for tonight's "rock center," a generation of infants, children now addicted to painkillers, even before they're born. plus, an olympic skier reaches across generations to fulfill a woman's dream, a dream born during the injustice of segregation. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ale anno] imagine facing the day with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults.

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nato trucks are once again ruling, allowed to use a crossing from pakistan into afghanistan after they were reopened for the first time in seven months.ç

nasser is a former adviser and special representative to afghanistan and pakistan and contributor to "bloomberg view." as of july 1st, the new dean of foreign policy, graduate school at johns hopkins. great to see you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. congratulations on all the new jobs and titles. >> thank you. >> let's talk about this, because this negotiation, there was a real divide in the white house, in the obama white house. hillary clinton and the state department team wanted all along to just, say you're sorry last november. okay. there was fault on both sides. it's clear that the pakistani military may have fired first, but the bottom line was, we killed 24 pakistani troops. >> that's right. >> they were demanding an apology. that was the price for keeping this border opening going for the nato troops. and for months and months, the pentagon and the white house refused to let hillary clinton po apologize. >> that's right. the assumption was if we pressured pakistan, that they would buckle. and in the end, we had

overestimated our hand and underestimated their resolve. >> and they were too weak to buckle. it was a political weakness of their teams over there and of their civilian and military government that made it impossible politically, domestically for them to buckle to the united states. >> that's one issue. there is enormous amounts of anti-americans in pakistan. also, pakistan held a very strong hand. we depend on them for supplies going into afghanistan now that the president has announced that we're going to withdraw, we'll need the roads out of afghanistan even more than the roads into afghanistan, and we need their cooperation on drones,ç we need their cooperation on varieties of anti-terror issues, and they well know their stability matters a lot to the united states. so we kept threatening them and they fully well knew these were hollow threats, and essentially, they were proven right. >> the key player here, aside from hillary clinton, was tom nides, the deputy secretary of

state. he went over there and negotiated this deal last weekend. he had been quietly working behind the scenes with sherry raymond, the ambassador in the united states, and it was in her backyard at a barbecue where finally the end of june, tom accepted the invitation and the national security adviser going to her house was a signal they were ready to deal. >> absolutely. this is proof of a case where as problematic as our relation with pakistan is, as legitimate as our gripes are, we just cannot afford not to do the diplomacy's work, that in the end, it's better to have a relationship with pakistan than not have one. we're likely to get more from them by cooperation than by just applying pressure. and in this one case, the state department ultimately was proven right, and the white house saw the benefit of going back to a policy of engagement. >> it was partly that we're in the middle of a campaign and the republicans were accusing the president of going on apology tours. and so,dq

pakistanis as these double dealers who are supporting terrorism and that constrained the administration's own ability to manage this issue. >> it's complicated. >> it's very complicated. >> it's clear bin laden could not have been hiding there

without somebody hiding, so we have a lot of grievances against them, but we need them. >> we need them and the best way is to have relations with them. >> vali nasr, thank you for being here. >> great to be here. washington waiting for tomorrow's jobs report. coming up next, the six other things you may not have thought of which could still swing this election. one, thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics, put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? the spiked heels are working. wait! [ garth ] great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? [ cheers and applause ] what's in your wallet? why let constipation stry miralax.? mirlax works differently than other laxatives. it draws water into your colon to unblock your system naturally.

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so i know how important that is. welcome back. in today's "political briefing," four months to go to election day. what are the economic and foreign policy issues that can still reshape the campaign? joining me is "politico's" alex burns. hey, alex. there's a list of things that could happen. we've gotten through health care and still need to see it debated, but what else do you see on the horizon potentially? >> well, andrea, we've all heard of an october surprise, but if you look at the next four months, there are a couple foreseeable events and some less foreseeable events that could shake up a pretty stable race. for starters, you've got the jobs numbers. coming tomorrow, we'll get the regular intervals that will kind of recast the debate over the

economy between barack obama and mitt romney. also coming up in the next couple weeks, mitt romney's big foreign trip whereç he'll be headed to israel gives him a chance to outline a foreign policy vision and take on the president in that area in a way we haven't heard him do so far. >> and at the same time, we've got our own domestic, you know, the fiscal cliff that we're going to face in the fall. there's going to be a lot more debate on that as we focus more attention on it going forward. >> there sure is, and i think this is -- you know, we are in sort of the phase of the campaign where things slow down a little and the candidates start to take stock of just how much here is outside their control. if we were to get into august and face another credit downgrade, say, or if europe were to really backslide economically in a way more dramatic than we've seen in the last couple weeks, i think then you have once again a pretty shaken-up campaign, another opening in particular for mitt romney to prosecute the case against the president. >> and of course, you know what's going to happen on foreign policy and we're going to be talking about that next with david ignatius, because

looming over everything else, iran and israel, and i can tell you that there is, you know, not a great percentage, but a certain percentage of people thinking that israel could even act against iran before election day, so we've got a lot -- >> it's kind of a great thing to talk about in the context of electoral politics, because it is of course in some ways a much gger deal than an election, but people are pretty split in washington on what impact it would have on this race if we were to end up in, you know, a military conflict internationally, whether that leads people to think we're living in an unstable world and we need a new hand at the helm or whether that rally around the presidentç th know. >> thank you so much, alex burns. thank you. >> thank you. >> good to see you. and straight ahead here, exclusive reporting from "washington post's" david ignatius on iran's nuclear demands. plus, can a documentary filmmaker help bring a latin american dictator to justice? this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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i was worried about 'em, you know? i mean for instance my mom went to bed tonight before making my dinner. which is fine, i mean i, i know how to make dinner. it just starts to make you wonder. is this what happens when you age? my friends used to say i was the lucky one. i had the fun parents. where's the fun now? night guys! [ sighs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] venza. from toyota.

is a potential showdown looming over iran's nuclear program? there's word that tehran's new bargaining position could split israel and the united states. david ignatius has been reporting exclusively on this. he's an associate editor and columnist for "the washington post," and he wrote about all this, where the negotiations may go next, and he is just back from israel, not coincidentally, i suspect. david, what are you hearing there, because i'm hearing a lot of conversation that barack was pretty tough and you're hear iran is taking a hard line in their negotiating position. >> andrea, i'm hearing as you suggest, hard lines on all sides. first, to speak about israel. i was in israel for four days last week and had a chance to talk to much of the senior israeli leadership, and the message very much was don't

think that there is a kind of pass for the rest of 2012. israel continues to see an approaching, as they call it, zone of immunity for iran that if israel is going to strike to protect its own security, it needs to do so before that zone begins. many people think that israeli military leaders are thinking about the last quarter of this year as the time when it might not be possible for israel to strike çsuccessfully. and more so, the message very much from jerusalem is this crisis is still heading toward a collision point. in terms of the negotiations, i did obtain from a source close to the talks a copy of the powerpoint presentation that iranian negotiators made in the last formal session of the talks in moscow, and it is very

hardlined. the basic iranian demand is that they be accepted as a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty with all the rights that they say that includes, including enrichment. at this point, the position of the u.s., and other negotiating parties, not to mention israel, is that no enrichment from iran can be prevented until they normalize their file of the united nations and clear up all the questions which they haven't begun to do, so it's very much a standoff. >> and iran is being squeezed. we just put up on the board some of the effects they've acknowledged. they're being squeezed economically. the sanctions, the european sanctions have kicked in on july 1st, and now what we're seeing, reports are that they're playing a shell game with their oil, hiding some of their oil at sea, in tankers. how long can they get away with that? >> not very long. as i look at the sanctions that took place june 28 and july 1, i think you're looking at a world

in which in a few months, it would be very hard for iran to export any significant volumes of oil. they may switch the names of tankers, theyç may switch the registration, but the u.s. has gotten very good at tracking that kind of subterfuge and they're prepared to do so. so, i think the iranians are looking at the possibility of very sharp reductions in income, in economic activity toward the end of this year. that adds to the urgency on every level. you know, it adds to the urgency for them to strike a deal, but also, i think you're going to see some political consequences of this very sharp economic squeeze later in the year. >> thanks so much, david ignatius, for your reporting on iran. >> thanks, andrea. >> always nice to have you. and there is a new epidemic in america, pregnant women who are addicted to prescription painkillers giving birth to addicted babies. the symptoms are heartbreaking to watch. new warnings with tremors and problems of crying inconsolably.

tonight on "rock center" at 10:00 eastern, kate snow takes a look at this growing crisis. >> reporter: this 3-week-old girl in a florida hospital isn't tired or hungry, she's in pain because her body craves a drug. her mother was addicted to prescription painkillers, and now this tiny baby is going through withdral. so, what can you do to make her feel better? >> she gets a pacifier. she's bundled and she's swaddled, and then we also give her morphine. >> reporter: she's on morphine. >> yeah, she is on morphine. >> reporter: this treat the withdrawal by giving the baby morphine because it's a lot like the drug her mother was taking. it calms her down like any addict getting a fix. so, she's still addicted to a drug right now?ç she's addicted to morphine at the moment. and she's 3 1/2 weeks old. >> just heartbreaking. nbc's kate snow joins me now. kate, in this reporting, i think you were at a hospital in

portland, maine. tell us more about what the long-term effects are on these infants? what about their development? >> that was actually tampa in ft. myers, florida. the long-term impact they don't know, and that's the scary part. this trend of babies being addicted is so new that there aren't really kids who have grown up yet to study. they're trying to study it now. they worry that there may be attention deficits, that there may be developmental delays and other developmental problems because of what they've been through. we should point out, they do eventually come down from these drugs. they will be weaned. that little baby there is eventually weaned off the drug, but that can take weeks, up to months, and of course, it's also costing us a lot of money, andrea. >> now, kate, we've seen, we've had decades, a generation, if you will, of seeing babies, especially in low-income communiti communities, where prescription painkillers, it's more

widespread across income and geographic barriers and right across the country. >> yeah. no, that's absolutely right, and that's what makes this really difference, because you can find moms who are well off and affluent, you can find moms who are working-class, you can find moms who are professionals. it cuts across every socioeconomic area. there are pockets in this country. we go to west virginia tonight. t-u'll see over towards appalachia area, there are lots of pockets there of a lot of abuse of prescription drugs, and so you find more babies. there's one hospital there where we visit. they say on some days, up to 60%, 65% of the neonatealial intensive care unit, 65% of the babies are in withdrawal. >> kate snow, doing "rock center" tonight, we'll be watching. >> takes one to know one. thank you, andrea. >> and you can catch kate's report tonight on "rock center" with brian williams, 10:00 eastern, of course right here on

nbc. guatemala is still trying to come to terms with a brutal history, the military dictatorship that reigned with terror from 1960 to 1966. if a picture can tell 1,000 words, can a documentary bring a dictator to justice? yates is revisiting the story in her latest film and here is part of her journey. >> i hadn't touched these rolls of film for decades, and the memories came flooding back. >> i remember clearly why i went. the anger at my own country, the united states, for being on the wrong side of so many conflicts. since 1954, the u.s.ç had propd

up military governments in guatemala. these dictatorships had become powerful and ruthless. but now they were being challenged in a wave of revolutionary change sweeping central america. >> and joining me now is director and documentary filmmaker pamela yates. it's very good to meet you. >> thank you. >> because you know, i covered a lot of that, all those years -- >> yes, you did. >> -- during the cold war when this was really an off-shoot of the anti communi-communist, you cold war mentality here in the united states was to support a dictator at any cost because the idea was that they were holding off what could be a leftist regime. >> exactly. and you know, now we see that resonance in many of the cases where we are supporting dictatorships because of antiterrorist measures. but the national security doctrine of those years was particularly brutal. in fact, the sole genocide of the americas in the 20th century

happened in guatemalaa. very few people know about it in the united states and very few people know about it in guatemala because it's not taught in the schools there. so, that was really the impetus for making this new film 30 years later, to try to bring that story to light, to try to give it a new life. and for me, you know, i got a second chance. it's not very often that life gives you a second chance, and the making of "granito" and being able to contribute to this case through this evidence was a second çchance. >> when we talk about rios montt, i'm shocked it's not taught about that legacy, decades and decades are not taught in the schools down there. your film is now going to be used as evidence in the trial? is he finally being brought to justice? >> yes. well, actually, it already has been used in the evidentiary hearings in the guatemalan courts, where the judge had to decide whether there was sufficient evidence to indict

the general for genocide. that combined with archival documents and forensic evidence from the forensic anthropology team that have exhumed the graves from the mass genocide convinced the judge there was enough and he is indicted for genocide and is under house arrest, so the trial is upcoming. >> she ruled in january, but when will he go to trial? will the trial actually take place? will it have to be moved outside of guatemala or can he get a real trial there in that territory? >> well, you know, there is really a justice ticking point happening in guatemala right now. in the last two years, it's not just general rios montt. in the last few years, more people have been convicted and arrested for crimes committed in the 1980s than in the previous 30 years, and it's really a result of all of the granitos, all of the guatemalans and international allies who have not given up on this quest for justice for over 30 years.

and it's also due to an amazing new attorney general named claudia paos who has moved forward these prosecutions. she's really taken the political will. the evidence was çthere, but t political will was not, and now the political will is there, so it's an important country to watch, and these are important cases because it's also the first time a former head of state in the americas has been indicted for genocide. >> it's extraordinary. has the u.n. played any role at all or the war crimes commission? >> well, you know, the united nations helped set up a commission against impunity, what's particularly called the cc, and that's been helping with ending this culture of impunity, or at least making a dent in it, trying to bring strength to the judicial institutions in guatemala. and that's been a really big plus, and the united states has supported it as well. >> pamela yates, great to meet you and congratulations on your work and good luck, and we're

pleased if you would report back to us. >> thanks. you can actually see the film streaming on pbs. it will be streaming free all over the world. >> we will. >> in english and spanish. >> thank you for that. >> thank you. >> and good to see you. and coming up next, back on the train. how an olympic athlete helped an inspiring woman fulfill her dream. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's bringing the future forward.

his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain.

so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. hi, everyone. i'm tamron hall. coming up on "news nation" in 15 minutes, mitt romney is in trouble with some conservatives over his back-and-forth over whether he thinks the insurance mandate is a tax or a penalty. romney now says it's a tax. that, by the way, is a direct contradiction of what his senior adviser said on msnbc monday. plus, ann romney on the attack. she's saying that president obama's strategy is to "kill and destroy" her husband. and they're demanding congressman joe walsh resign after he doubles down on his controversial comments, saying his opponent was an iraq war

veteran, a double amputee. he says she talks too much about her military service for this a day after independence day, a fresh reminder of just how young our country is and how recent our ugly past. this summer, 75-year-old dorothy flood rode in the dining car of a train for the first time. she had always dreamed of traveling this way, but she grew up riding on segregated trains. her wish to travel first class was granted by the wish of a lifetime foundation, helping fulfill dreams for senior citizens. its founder is jeremy bloom, two-time olympic skier and former nfl football player, who joins me from new york along with dorothy flood, who is in houston and i think still basking in the glow of that long-awaited train ride. thank you very much for joining us. first of all, just how special was it to be able to fulfill this dream? >> it was very special. i just enjoyed it immensely.

it brought back lots of memories, and i just enjoyed it. >> and tell me about as a child and a young woman growing up riding segregated trains. i guess it was when you were very young. and seeing the divide where you could not go into the other sections of the train. >> well, i was raised in an integrated neighborhood, so we got on the train in north new jersey, we got to the mason-dixon line, we had to change trains, we had to change cars. and all of a sudden, i was in a black car, and i never could understand that. and i asked my grandmother what was going on. but while i was running back and forth, because it was a very long train ride, i wouldç run the dining car, and there was a glass pane where i could see in the dining car. and i just wanted to know why we couldn't go in there. i saw the white tablecloth, the linens and everything. and here i was coming back to sit with my grandmother and we

were eating out of a shoe box. and i said, this just doesn't make sense to me. and it was just one of those things, and it was a very long train ride. a lot of times when i would look through the glass, i would see other children and a little white girl came up to me when i was on the train and she put her fingers up on the window pane and we just played on the window pane. then her mother called her back. but i had a lot of memories on that train. >> jeremy, tell me about your foundation and how you came to decide to fulfill this wish for mrs. flood. >> so, wish of a lifetime we grant lifelong wishes to people in the later stage of their life, mostly 80, 90 and 100-year-old people. and -- >> she's young. she's only 75. >> she's definitely a young yun for our organization. but brookdale senior living, our biggest partner, which is the most successful senior living company in the united states, they helped us find this wish, and dorothy's wish, when

everybody, when brookdale and everybody at wish of a lifetime heard about her wish, it was a no-brainer for us to want to grant it. and you know, i think, andrea, you said it the best. it's symbolic not only of her extraordinary life, but how far we've come as a society and how young of a society we are. but to be able to see her be in the dining car ofç a train and fulfill a wish 60 years in the making was special for all of us. >> now, your background, you were an nfl player, you were in the olympics. how did you come to this foundation and to this ability and desire to fulfill dreams for seniors? >> you know, when i was traveling around the world with the u.s. ski team, we would ski and compete in just about every country outside the united states. and i started seeing things when i was 17, 18, 19 years old in other countries, where their culture would just really respect the oldest people inside their country. and you know, one moment happened to be in japan.

i was on this really crowded bus and an 80 or 90-year-old woman started walking on to the bus and everybody jumped out of their seats. they helped her on to the bus, gave her a seat and bowed to her, and i was really struck by this cultural difference. i think one of the most important generations most important generations in our country are the older generation, and i think we need do a lot more to support and thank them, and that's what wish of a lifetime aims to do. >> and dorothy flood, do you have any message for jeremy and all of his colleagues. >> to keep up the good work and thank you so much for allowing my wish to come true. >> you're absolutely welcome. well deserved. >> thank you. >> it's meaningful for all of us, dorothy flood. nice to meet you. thanks for joining us in houston. gerald bloom, lots of luck in your continuing work of your foundation, because we all value our seniors. >> thank you. >> and what political story will make headlines in the nextç 24 hours, that's next right here.

great! tyler here will show you everything. check out our new mobile app. now you can use your phone to scan your car's vin or take a picture of your license. it's an easy way to start a quote. watch this -- flo, can i see your license? no. well, all right. thanks. okay, here we go. whoa! no one said "cheese." progressive mobile -- insurance has never been easier. get a free quote today.

which political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours? msnbc contributor chris is back with us. it's going to be jobs, jobs, jobs.ç let's clean up a little bit of the statistical arguments. i got into it with congressman cha vits earlier, and the fact is that there has been more -- there have been more jobs created in ohio than any other state except california, according to the latest data, but there are arguments over whether jobs are directly related to the auto industry or overall manufacturing or offshoots of the auto industry. governor kasich went over it. >> andrea, i would say one thing more broadly.

if yu look at the swing states, the unemployment rate is actually lower than the national average. ohio is one of them. it's fascinating is what matters more is kind of the national overlay or how people are feeling in their specific state. you mentioned jobs, jobs, jobs. june's jobs report will be out at 8:30 in the morning. this has become a huge political moment every first friday of the following month. after may, disappointing jobs report kind of led to a very difficult month for the president on the economy. look, i think there's only a few more of these jobs reports that matter, andrea. i think once we get past labor day, people's minds get cemented over whether the economy is getting better so this one does matter. >> it does. that does it for our report. happy july tomorrow we'll go over the new jobs reports and my colleague tamron hall has a look on what's

up next on "newsnation." hello, tamron. >> there certainly is. president obama hits the road for his first bus report of the campaign season. we'll get a live report. plus mitt romney in trouble with some conservatives over his back-and-forth over whether he thinks the insurance mandate is a tax or a penalty. and he seems to believe she talks too much about her military service. hings can make a big difference. like how a little oil from here can be such a big thing in an old friend's life. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend.

i'm tamron hall. the "newsnation" is following the conservative backlash sparked by mitt romney now saying the health care law mandate is a tax. that is the opposite of what his team said earlier this week. "the wall street journal" delivered a scathing op ad today saying, quote, if mitt romney loses his run for