numbers game. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, spin cycle. it's become a monthly ritual. weark than expected jobs numbers come out, and the president says he's making progress. so it was today when we learned that only 80,000 jobs were created last month and the

unemployment rate held firm at 8.2%. how's it going to play in november? despite the weak jobs numbers, republicans are nervous that mitt romney is kicking away a winnable election. it began with a tweet from rupert murdoch and is now spreading throughout his media empire. and now a lot of conservatives who never liked romney are saying, i told you so. also, remember when pennsylvania's republican house majority leader said voter i.d. laws would help mitt romney win the election? here's what he was talking about. a new study shows that three quarters of a million people in the state don't have the proper identification and most of them are likely democratic voters. and not even scarlet ohara said the name ashley so much. >> look, ashley. >> ashley. ashley, ashley, ashley. what's not respectful, ashley? ashley -- ashley, ashley, ashley, i'll say it again. >> that's joe wallach --

duckworth lost both legs fighting in remark and joins us tonight and our joe walsh highlight reel. exactly how many times did joe walsh say the name ashley? stick around for the "slideslow." robert reich was the secretary during the clinton administration and jared bernstein served with vice president biden. secretary, let me start with you before we get to the politics of it. explain to me the substance. what's going on? what's in the big picture? >> essentially, michael, unemployment stalled. the same as last month, but we also exceed that 80,000 jobs were created in june. that's nothing to crow about. the average monthly job growth of the last three months has been about 75,000 jobs. a substantial decline from the job numbers we saw in january, february and march. now, it's a similar slowdown to

what we have seen in previous years. the hope, obviously, is that we get more job growth later in the year. that's a hope politically, but it's very hard to make good news out of today's job numbers. >> mr. bernstein, where is it headed? i think we're aware of the statistics that since world war ii, no president's been re-elected when the rate has been north of 7.4%. is it likely that 8.2 could get under 7.4 between now and november? >> absolutely not. you never know, but that is way outside anyone's forecast. the most optimistic forecast i've seen to have the unemployment rate trending down a bit below 8% by the end of the year, but between now and then absence important policies to green rate more job growth. it's hard to see things change that much. >> let's talk about politics. this morning governor romney was quick to attack the president

and his policies. take a look. >> the president's policies have not gotten america working again. and the president's going to have stand up and take responsibility for it. i know he's been planning on going across the country and celebrating what he calls forward. well, forward doesn't look a lot like forward to the millions and millions of family that is are struggling today in this great country. it doesn't have to be this way. america can do better. >> the president also mentioned the jobs numbers in his speech this morning. >> we learned this morning that our business has created 84,000 new jobs last month and that's overall meaning that businesses have created 4.4 million new jobs over the past 28 months, including 500,000 new manufacturing jobs. that's a step in the right direction. that's a step in the right direction.

but we can't be satisfied because our goal was never to just keep on working to get back to where we were back in 2007. i want to get back to a time when middle class families and those working in the middle class have some basic security. >> mr. secretary, he used a golfing metaphor. is it time for the president to put aside the 9 iron and bring out the driver? does he need to do something more bold relative to the economy? >> i think so, mike. it's hard for the president, obviously. he was correct. he was dealt a terrible hand in the worst economy since the great depression. though i think he is going to have to say something more than we're making progress, it's slow progress. i was dealt a bad hand. he's got to be a bit bolder, i think. >> what might that be? >> well, he could say, you know, we are going to have to get the

vote, obviously republicans are not going to give him any votes. he can say if and when i do get the votes, we're going to have a new works progress administration. we're going to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, education. we are going to have a first class nation in every respect. we're going to put people back to work. >> do you think the president has to do something for bold than he has? looking at the polls, they are neck and neck. i agree with your analysis and i like bob riche's ideas. i think that's precisely the kind of thing the president should talk about. he doesn't need to introduce necessarily a bunch of new things. he can say absolutely correctly, i've got ideas that i've been trying to promote on capitol hill now for well over a year. and some of them are just really good common sense. >> crossroads gps is out with a new ad in the united states going after the president's economic record. >> america's jobless rate is still too high. barack obama has a lot of

excuses for the bad economy. >> headswinds coming from europe. an earthquake in japan. an atm, you don't go to a bank taler. things we cannot control. >> but barack obama never blames the skyrocketing debt. tell obama for real job growth, cut the debt. support the new majority agenda at newmajorityagenda.org. >> there's this narrative that the republicans have woven together of all the debt occurred on his watch because of the big spending. >> first of all, it is factually incorrect. a lot of it comes from the bush tax credit, the medicare drug act coming from george bush and a lot of it is coming from the mess that the republicans created and cleaning up wall street. but mitt romney is in no position of whittling the debt down when he's advocating a gigantic tax cut for the wealthy that he is not going to pay for. he has not shown how he is going to close the loopholes to whatever he's going to close.

it's both a dishonest and hypocrite call message. i think democrats aught to be standing up to it and saying, that is dishonest and hypocrite call and not blaming him. >> i see feeding that narrative, whether fact or fiction we can discuss, but if it is fiction the supreme court decision having been upheld constitutionally as taxing authority of the congress. i can answer the phone for a living. i host a radio program if where i hear from people that say, see that? i knew i was going to get whacked for a tax to pay for obama care. largely the people calling asserting that have health insurance and won't be subjected to a penalty. >> i heard the same thing from a friend of my sister's. look, at this point, you really need to do an information campaign. and just like bob was saying, it's not that we should have a discussion about whether it is fact or fiction, it is fiction. i have crunched the spending numbers myself. the fact is, the congressional budget on this, nonpartisan,

very clear on this point that this penalty, it is really a free-loader penalty for people who can afford to get insurance policy but to therefore shove the costs onto the rest of us is expected to hit 1% of the population. and if you have insurance, it's not going to ding you one bit. >> mr. secretary, the sales job has been terrible by the white house on that point. i don't deny what jarrett bernstein is saying but the white house is not carrying the ball in that regard. >> i don't think so at all. the white house has basically allowed the individual mandate and the supreme court's tax discussion to carry the day. mitt romney was saying this is not a tax until very recently and romneycare in massachusetts has exactly the same individual mandate. again, what the white house needs to do, it seems to me, and democrats and others need to do is call it for what it is. this is about paying your fair share. it's about participanting in a national health system. youly get it back.

the healthier people have got to pay into it. they are going to get it back when they are older and less healthy. this is all of us in this it together rather than the republican view of us basically separate and apart. >> i want to show you what the president said with the nbc affiliate. he laid into romney for his flip-flop earlier this week. the president questioned romney's principles. >> the fact that a whole bunch of republicans suddenly said, this is a tax. for six years he said it wasn't and now he's reversed himself. so the question becomes, are you doing that because of politics? are you abandoning a principle you fought for for six years simply because you are getting pressure for two days? >> jared bernstein, quick thought from you on what you just watched. >> we are deep into the silly season, my friends. this is one of the most unaned

debates we have seen. we have an implicit tax on the rest of us to cover the uncompensated costs. romney understands, it was part of romney care and part of the health care plan. this is very, very simple. and it shouldn't be nearly as confusing as it's been. >> with regard to flip-flopping, mitt romney is not just a flip-flopper. he's a double somersault triple-double dip flip-flopper. this guy is all over the map on every single issue. that's an important quality to bring out to make people understand. and it is in aspect of character. >> mr. secretary, thank you. robert reich, mr. bernstein, thank you. there are a lot of people on the right who didn't like romney saying i told you so. this is "hardball." the place for politics. and while other sunscreens can feel greasy ultra sheer® is clean and dry.

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welcome back to "hardball." it began with a few tweets from rupert murdoch to shake up his staff. and also admonishing him over his play it safe campaign approach. yesterday, "the wall street journal" which is owned by murdoch, published a blistering editorial. it said that romney was quote slowly squandering an historic opportunity to unseat obama. given the state of the economy. conservatives like bill christol and laura ingram also piled on. here he is getting piled on in new hampshire. >> advisers telling him, it's fine, take a week. should romney call the cease-fire or get out there on the trail and jet off the jet-ski. >> what's going on and how concerned should the republican candidate be? ed rendell was the former governor of pennsylvania and msnbc political analyst and city phenotype moore is on the

editorial board, the senior exhibition writer. governor, if the criticism was coming from salon.com, you and i wouldn't be here having this conversation. >> you're right. no question about it. >> i was going to say, of what significance if any is this in showing problems that persist with romney's base? >> i think first of all, we've got to keep things in perspective. in terms of voters, this criticism has no meaning at all. first of all, it's in the dead of the summer when no one's paying attention to politics xwept except all of us. secondly, it's inside baseball. voters will be concerned with the campaign from september on. voters will be concerned about the conventional speeches and the free debate performances. those are opportunities where mitt romney, if he does great in his convention speech, the debates, all this will be a thing of the past. so in terms of voters, it doesn't have any effect.

where it could hurt romney is among contributors. >> it didn't hurt him last month. he had $100 million a month for republicans. >> i agree. but the criticism has really reached an apex right now. that's the only place it could hurt him. i think right now in term of the voters, the outcome all inside baseball. >> stephen, i'm sure you saw today's "new york times," which reports on romney's relationship with murdoch. listen how "the times" describes one of the earliest encounters when he met with the board. quote, despite being prepared and animated, particularly on his love for data crunching, mr. romney failed to connect with either mr. murdoch or the journal's editorial page editor paul gigot. instead of articulating a clear and consistent conservative philosophy, he dwelled on charts and executive management. at one point, mr. romney declared i would probably bring

in mckenzie, the management consulting firm, to help him set up his presidential cabinet, a comment that seem stod startle the editors and left mr. murdoch visibly taken aback. tell us what the relationship is between the editorial board and governor romney. you would think this is a natural constituency for his campaign. >> well, we've been very tough on mitt romney. i know mitt romney personally, i like him. we didn't like romneycare too much and what you're doing this story on right now is the editorial we had the other day where we basically said, look, governor romney, the game is on. let's get going. it's time to really take the gloves off and start hitting. i think one of the weaknesses of mitt romney's campaign so far has been that he's allowed these attacks against bain capital, against his business act and what he did when he was running that company, this should be an asset. this is a guy who created whole new industries. who provided the finances for companies that have created tens

of thousands of jobs, unlike the president who's never created private sector job. he's on the defensive on this, obama's running ads against him and there's been little positive response on that. you know, governor, i agree with you that this is kind of a slow season for politics. a lot of people aren't paying attention to this kind of day-to-day combat, but i do think the major issue as you know is going to be jobs. we had a lousy jobs report today. and what mitt romney has to do in my opinion is really go after obama much more aggressively on his miserable jobs record. stephen, for those who missed the editorial, let me show you a part of it. this is the criticism from "the wall street journal" yesterday. the romney campaign thinks it can play it safe and coast to the white house and it's mr. om obama's fault. the message is obama isn't working. thanks, guys, but americans

already know that. what they want to hear from the challenger is some understanding of why the president's policies aren't working and how mr. romney's policies will do it better. governor, is there a candidate problem? is there a staff problem? is there neither? how do you assess that? there's now a call for some shake up in the ranks of the romney campaign. >> well, i can't ever remember being associated with a campaign where there wasn't a call for a shake-up at some time during the campaign. that's the nature of the beast and stephen, no offense, i read the "wall street editorials." >> that's music to my ear. >> that probably goes over the head of the average voters. >> you read it and i think the mitt romney people do. i think we got our message across to them. >> i agree. but guys, remember, you want to save your best bullets for when the nation is focused. and i agree you can't let the summer go by and he certainly

can't coast in saying obama has done a good job, vote for me. he's got to do more. what i would really start doing more is after the democratic convention. i'd come out with guns blazing for those remaining nine weeks and really hit it hard. >> governor rendell, stephen moore, thank you both. up next, the joe walsh/ashley banfield reel. he sure loves saying her name. and you can follow me on twitter as long as you can spell smern connish. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

back to "hardball." time for the "sideshow." when you think brad pitt, you probably don't think conservative values. there's a reason. in addition to being a big time hollywood a-lister, pitt has

been a big supporter among other things, of gay marriage. but get this. the actor's mother jane pitt wrote a letter to a local missouri newspaper in response to an op-ed advising christians not to vote for romney because of his mormon religion. she wrote any christian who does not vote on writes in a name is casting a vote for romney's opponent, barack hussein obama. a man who sat in jeremiah wright's chair for years, did not mark the national day of prayer and is the liberal who supports the killing of babies and same-sex marriage. i guess that's why it's a good rule of thumb to steer clear of politic at family get togethers, right? and this one has the added touch of going viral. finally, illinois congressman joe walsh is drawing criticism for blasting tammy duckworth, his democratic challenger in the race for using her military experience for her campaign. walsh spoke with ashley banfield yesterday and gave new meaning

to the concept name dropping. >> because she's a war hero, ashley, that demands our respect, but that doesn't demand our vote. ashley, this wasn't a slip up. so like, i don't know about you, ashley. but right now, ashley, i can tell you, i'm not going to back down. no, that's not what i said, ashley. ashley, no. don't you agree, ashley? ashley, you did plenty of research. hey, look, ashley. ab lee, ashley, ashley, ashley. what's not respectful, ashley? ashley, ashley, ashley, i'll say it again. ashley, look, this is what happens when you have a congressman that's always out in front of people talking. all right. the final tally, walsh said ashley 90 times. but let's flash back to a year ago. joe walsh was on "hardball" in the midst of the debt sealing debacle and had quite the strategy about the tea-party deck plan. do you see where this is going? >> hey, chris, let me ask you a question. do you support that, chris?

the president's plan is we have to stop that, chris. chris matthews -- hey, chris, hey, chris, hey, chris, chris, chris, chris, chris, chris, chris, chris. i love it, chris. >> 61 name drops for chris while on "hardball." he broke his record with yesterday's interview. that's "hardball" for now. coming up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®. 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.

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