that future is built on a solid and equal educational foundation. i hope we will not posture and bicker with partisan politics when dealing with the future of not just blacks but of all americans. all of us benefit from this. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. how tragedy unites. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with the aftershock. after midnight tonight, we get through a week of this attack inside our country that killed 12 and wounded dozens more. so what's it done to us? what has this event stirred in this country?

made us different from the people who watch this program, say, just a week ago. i want to know. i want to hear again the many separate human actions that night that tell us what kind of a country we are and where we are headed. i want to hear not just about the villain and the victims, but also the heroes. the impulsive good guys that night. the ones who showed what hemingway described as courage, grace under fire, and under pressure. i want to know how aurora is going to affect this country. us. today brought the announce many that denver, colorado, just miles from the tragedy will host the first presidential debate this autumn. this all but guarantees that the two presidential candidates, president obama and mitt romney will be asked about the tragedy. what should they say? let's ask governor ed rendell of pennsylvania what obama should say. and what rick thinks romney should say. it will be interesting. to start with, let's their personal stories following a tragedy like aurora. look at how heartbreaking they are and tell us a lot about the spirit of community and caring in this country. here are a few including one relaid by the president himself.

let's listen. >> i kind of poked my head up at that point and realized, oh, my gosh. nobody is in here. it's just us. there were a few other heads. here and there people i could see leaving the theater but really the theater was empty. it felt like so, that's when i got out and yeah. i thought, i kept thinking. oh, my gosh, i think john just took a bullet for me. i was thinking about what a great hero he is. he saved me and he gave me the opportunity to live. he would have done it for anyone that day, you know? the nearest person sitting next to him. he would have been like, this person needs my help now. that's just who he was. and everybody knew it. he went above and beyond to help everyone. >> and its really amazing to see what, how the community is pulling together. and as i was walking up, i was thinking, whatever he was trying to accomplish, he got the opposite. because people -- really care.

and it means a lot to me and i'm really glad i came. >> stephanie, 21 years old, had the presence of mind to drop down on the ground with her, pull her out of the aisle, place her fingers over where she, where allie had been wounded, and applied pressure the entire time while the gunman was still shooting. allie told stephanie she needed to run. stephanie refused to go. instead actually with her other hand, called 911 on her cell phone. >> you know, these are the stories i'm just getting myself about this tragedy of a week ago after midnight. and i'm stunned, so impressed again that even for casual moviegoers who went out to see a batman movie after midnight to catch the first showing would behave in this way. governor rendell, i don't want to talk politics right away. i want to talk about our country. these people, a couple of guys in that theater saved the lives

of the women sitting next to them themselves got killed themselves. i mean, this is something you don't expect right off the bat among civilians. they weren't warned they were going into combat. >> it shouldn't be a surprise that two of the three men who did that were in the military. because our military are heroes and called on to do stuff like that on a daily basis. look. we are a great country. we have a sense of community. we used to care for each other and take care of each other and politics never got in the way. if someone lost their job, we all pitched in and took care of them until they got back on their feet. i think we've lost a little of that in the country. and when we band together in tragedies like this, it shows us what america could be. what we have to do is to do something to limit the possibility that something like this happens again. we can never eliminate the possibility but gosh, in the name of those victims, we ought to do something. >> i'm impressed when people

turn on the tv and identify with something that happened 3,000 miles away. and they would not have identify with these people except their largely fellow americans. there is something american of ours that goes beyond politics and the sympathy, the real, i've been listening to another networks all week and it is something. >> it is amazing. it's something everybody can relate to. we all go to the movies. might daughter went to "dark night rises" the night before. i had all kinds of mixed feelings. those people went to a movie and ended up dead or 50 something ended up wounded. all of this, it is the human story that come out. i mean, it is an awful thing for the country to witness. nobody should go through it. the stories of people who would stay behind. and think to yourself. would i do that? and nobody knows until it is there. people did that. they put their lives on the line for others. it's remarkable. >> we debate a lot of good things. i love debating like nobody's business. governor rendell and rick and i,

we have real arguments about the future of this country. how we tax ourselves, how many guns we let get the people's hands. all of these are great debates. the viciousness sometimes between people, not just different points of view but different people get out of hand sometimes. people really begin to hate each other about their politics. i don't like the point of view about the top 1% economically but i don't hate them. they're well off. i just don't like a lot of the point of view politically. i think fairness is a key issue in this country. this idea that we've gotten to where we have a country, i thought, let's take a look at what president obama said back in when he was just a candidate for president. i like to see what he had to say a while ago. if we have that, we can get that up. obama said in 2004 about america and the blue states and the red states. let's take a look at that. i think he had the right tone. i hope he can get it back again. here's the president when he was not the president. he was just a freshman. he wasn't even a senator yet. he was a nominated candidate.

one party for the senate out in illinois. here he is. obama i think at his best. >> i stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger american story. that i owe a debt to all of those who came before me. in no other country on earth is my story even possible. >> rick, that's why we liked him. >> i think that's right. >> unity. >> i think if you remember, president clinton after oklahoma city, i think to me that was a turning point. >> same deal. >> it was the way he handled that. the way he came there and to see, we'll see how this tragedy unfolds. i don't know how it will play politically. we'll see. >> governor? bill clinton, your close friend. nobody was ever better as the nation's older brother than he was after oklahoma city. >> he was a phenomenal, i got to see him firsthand when ron brown and all those americans went down in the plane crash. i went to dover with the president as the bodies came off the plane. and i saw him talk to those families and, chris, he was unbelievable.

the empathy that he showed and the way he comforted them and made them feel their loved one was special and doing a mission for the country. it was awesome. i mean, say what you will about bill clinton. there was nobody better at talking about this country and why this is a great country and bringing us all together. >> let's take a look at the president now. now it will get tricky. rick and i, we're all going to disagree now as we do in this country. but let's not get personal for at least this show. speaking of the national urban league conference last night, president obama addressed the issue of gun control. he was very careful. he was speaking as we are right now in the wake of this tragedy where a guy came in with a semiautomatic weapon with a 100-round clip in it. let's listen. >> i like most americans believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. i think we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation. that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national

heritage. but i also believe that a lot of gun owners would believe that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. as we convene these conversations, let's be clear. even as we debate government's role, we have to understand that when a child opens fire on another child, there's a hole in that child's heart that government alone can't fill. >> that's for sure. by the way, this country has an unusual record. while two-thirds of the murders in this country are committed by firearms, another 4,000 are committed by other means of killing. we have a violent streak in us that doesn't require a gun in your has not to execute. here's brian williams, by the way, on the other side of the argument asking mitt romney about his position on guns following the colorado shooting. let's listen to the governor. >> i don't happen to believe that america needs new gun laws. a lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. but the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from

happening. >> as a practical matter, do you have a problem with being able to buy 6,000 rounds of ammunition off the internet? >> well, i don't know that i'm going to be able to find a way to prevent people who want to provide harm. from being able to purchase things that can carry out that harm. what i want to do is find the people who represent a danger to america and find them and keep them from having the capacity to use or buy things that could hurt other people. >> of course, that's the challenge, being able to do it. do what tom cruise did in minority report. finding out criminals before they're criminals. who would not like to do that? i'm getting back to my usual status here. causing trouble. here's the situation. semiautomatic weapons. ak-47s. diane feinstein pushed through that assault weapons ban for awhile. then it died. what do you think we have to do about the semiautomatic weapons where you can bring a clip of 100 rounds with you and walk into a room and really be a terrorist. >> first of all, a 100-round

clip is illegal. that law was already broken. second, he didn't have an ak-47. he had an ar-15. it is semiautomatic. not fully automatic. >> i know that. >> and it shoots a 223. it is one of the most common varmint rifles in america. doesn't shoot any harder. it shoots faster if you can shoot. >> 60 rounds a minute. >> 60 rounds. because he had 100 clips. >> 60 rounds a minute. >> that's already illegal. that was already illegal. the guy clearly had some sort of mental defect, mental deficiency. i think today he said he doesn't remember the incident at all. how do you predict that? >> he would say that. >> well, yeah. >> he would say he forgot it. i would say i forgot it. i would act deranged in the courtroom, too. i would put on that anthony perkins show he put on in the courtroom the other day and i would put that on, too. governor, here's your thought here. you represent a state that's heavily pro gun. pennsylvania. you did for all those years. you wouldn't have gotten into that office if you had been anti-gun.

it is deer hunter country. we know that. how do we reconcile the needs of the rural communities to have their gun rights respected with the needs of big city mayors and people who live in rowhouses to not have kids on the street corner with semiautomatics? >> well, let me start off by saying, chris, that's actually not correct. when i was mayor of philadelphia, i headed the effort by the mayors to sue the gun manufacturers. so my role as someone who is in favor of reasonable controls on guns was pretty well known. and it was used against me in the election. and in a state that has the second highest nra membership, behind only texas, i won three times for governor. 10%, 12% and 21%. so so much -- >> correct me completely. where were you on guns? do you support the second amendment, obviously. and you -- >> of course. >> the right to have a shotgun in your house, i suppose. >> there's no question. handguns, shotguns, all those things. but it is insane for a civilized country to make it legal for a citizen to carry an automatic

weapon that can dispose of 60 bullets in a minute. >> it wasn't an automatic weapon. >> a semiautomatic weapon. it doesn't matter. it can shoot 60 bullets. i shot an m-16 in the army. i know what an m-16 can do. it's one purpose. it's to kill people and kill them quickly. we're insane if we let these weapons be legal, imported, sold, or distributed. secondly. we ought to go back to the assault weapon ban on any clip that has more than ten bullets in it. remember, this young man went into gander mountain and bass pro to buy his glock, his semiautomatic glock and his semiautomatic ar-15. there's no way that any -- there are gun owners, nra members who agree with that. after gabby giffords was shot, chris, 71% of the people in the country said we should make it illegal to have a magazine clip that has more than ten bullets in it. and that was a factor in the ability to kill all those people and it is a factor in holmes' ability to kill all those people. if he could not get his hands on

a semiautomatic weapon, he wouldn't have been able to kill and injure 70 people. there's no way in that period of time he would have been able to do it. and it makes sense. are we going to be able to eliminate these incidents? no. can we limit the harm? absolutely, yes, we can limit the harm. and as a civilized society, we have no choice but to do it. if our politicians don't have the guts to do it, shame on them. >> governor, as you know, the 100 clips is already illegal. manning if one or or two -- >> but 33 clips. loughner had a 33-clip magazine. and that was legal. that was legal. 33. 33. >> my guess, governor, is that there are at least two or three people in that theater that night who had a concealed carry weapon who didn't bring their weapon into century 16 because it wasn't allowed as a gun-free zone and they wished to god they had that weapon. and i think -- >> that would have been wonderful. we would have had in the dark a shoot-out battle. do you know how many innocent people would have been killed by the other shots? that's insane. that's insane. >> you're for right to carry.

you're for gun control. >> you guys are nuts. you guys are nuts. >> "hardball" is back to normal. thank you very much, ed rendell who has now clarified his position. i thought you took the bob casey position. thank you, sir. >> i ran against bob casey. >> you beat him, too. thank you, rick tyler. coming up, republicans push strict voter i.d. laws to keep voters from voting. i think in pennsylvania the plan may work. over a million voters may be without the proper i.d. to vote this november. plus, ad wars. both sides of the presidential race are going negative trying to paint the other guy as the other. it is a strategy with risks. it can make you look bad yourself. and mitt romney dodges questions about his wife's dancing horse. the latest from the london olympics. boy, it's getting bizarre over there. and what is all the soviet talk from the republicans? thank god it's gone for 20 years. this is "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack.

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new poll numbers out with some key states. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. in michigan, a new poll from michigan gives mitt romney a one-point lead over president obama. the polls have been very close and this has to worry the obama campaign. in missouri. surrounded by nine in a new poll out there. 49-40. missouri has been trending red. finally, in new jersey, a new monmouth poll puts them in single digits. obama 50, romney up to 42. maybe a bit too close for comfort in a state that hasn't gone for a republican since 1988. we'll be right back. you know what i love about this country?

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welcome back to "hardball." pennsylvania's strict new photo i.d. law may be having the effect the republicans wanted it to have, intended it to have keeping likely democrats from

voting. a new report commissioned by the aclu, one of the plaintiffs in the case against the strict photo i.d. law shows there are 1 million registered voters in pennsylvania. that is, people who have voted and expect to vote in this election who think they have the right to vote. the right i.d. to cast a ballot but actually don't have the right i.d. the report also shows that one in three registered voters in the state doesn't even know there is a new voting rirlt. jim birch, from the democratic party which is gearing up its get out the vote effort. judith brown de -- danis. let me go to jim. good guy jim. you've got a challenge on your hands. it looks like a two-front war. one front is to win this case in the pennsylvania courts on the constitutionality. the question of whether it is constitutional has set up this barrier to voting. and secondly, if it holds up in court, how to deal with it in november. >> you're absolutely right. there is a two-front war.

we're fighting it on both fronts as effectively as we can. how are we preparing that it does not get stricken down? we're identifying and recruiting voters who we think are affected by this. some of the folks you mention that either don't have it or don't know they look the proper kre den sshls. we're getting to them. and we've been doing it. next week we're really pushing with our get out the vote efforts to reach out to those whom we have targeted to make sure they have what they need in the event we do not strike down this law. >> so what do they need? >> well, they need one of six forms of identification. our governor can't name them. let me tell the governor what the law is that he signed. you either have a military i.d. you have a federal i.d. like a passport, a state issued i.d. like a driver's license, either a health care facility that's run by the state, a university form of identification or some form of a municipal identification. those are the six things you need. if you don't have them, you need to come with some type of a birth certificate or some type

of form of credential. >> my health card doesn't have my picture on it. would that qualify? >> no, no. you're going to have a problem. you may think that's enough and you'll do nothing between now and november if you live in pennsylvania. we'll get to you, chris, and we'll make sure that even though if we're knocking on your door and you say i'm fine. move to the next house. we'll ask you specifically why you think you have what you need. if you don't, we'll make sure that you do. >> just to be a good public interest show, the minute somebody looks in their wallet or their purse and looks around the house. i hope you're all doing that in pennsylvania especially and you kntd find this means of i.d., this government-issued i.d. card with your picture on it that's current. what do you do? you have to call your community. you have to go to penn-d.o.t. which is basically dmv. you have to get on the subway or the bus and get there, right? you've got to do the work. >> that's exactly right. we've touched on this before. reach out to your committee person. reach out to someone in government who has given you reliable information in the past

and say, this is my situation. this is what i have. is it enough? if you have access to a computer, we would invite you to go to our web page. www.padems.com/vote. there you can find out whether or not you have what you need. while you're there, look at the video of governor corbett failing to name the six forms of i.d. >> you got your shot. let's try to help here. i know the shots are sometimes appropriate. let's say this. democrats say the real intent of the voter i.d. law is to give the advantage to mitt romney. pennsylvania house majority leader mike turzai actually said, he certainly said that when he talked about it last month. let's hear the guy indicting himself here. >> we are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we've talked about for years. the pro second amendment. first pro-life legislation. abortion facility regulations in 22 years. done. voter i.d. which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania. done. >> there is a photo i.d. this guy never wants to see again

where he comes out and publicly basically says, the purpose of this new i.d. law is not to prevent crime or corruption or anything else. it is to get this guy romney to pull an upset in pennsylvania. >> as lawyers we call that the smoking gun evidence. >> i call it the perry mason moment. when the bad guy stands up and says you got me. >> that's right. this is the smoking gun evidence. there was no evidence of voter fraud in pennsylvania but there is evidence of voter suppression. >> you're a lawyer, right? >> that's right. >> what chance do you have in the constitutional fight in harrisburg? >> we think we have a very good chance. advancement project is counseling that case because the pennsylvania supreme court has said this is a fundamental right. to have the voice to be able to elect people who are going to make the laws that govern your life. >> is this like the old literacy test, how do you spell this? give me some greek philosophy? these incredible questions they used to nail people with. >> it's the new barrier. the new wave barrier. we know height impacts the most.

it impacts african-americans, latinos, and elderly people who turned out in record numbers in the last election. >> and also people who live in old ethnic neighborhoods. let's face it. in south philly and people like that. a the love people live in rowhouses. they don't all drive. and the older they get, the more they shouldn't drive, to be blunt about it. >> this impacts philadelphia. that's no coincidence. this was cooked up to win this election. >> let me talk turkey with you. i'm looking at these numbers. i think it's a reach for the republicans. but i think this election is explosive. i don't think it is too close to call. i think it is too early to call this election. i don't know which way it will zig zag between now and november. we've got a new number out here. real clear politics average. it says it is within 47 to 42. to me that's no difference at all. that's almost within the point spread within the margin of error. your thoughts about whether with the help of this i.d. card requirement, the republican

could steal that state. >> well, chris, with the help of the i.d. card, if the state party and others were not doing due diligence, assuming it is not struck down. if we sat on our hands, yes. there could be a significant contributing factor to their efforts here in pennsylvania to steal this state away from president obama. but having said that and i've touched on this before. we are not going to allow that contingency to take place. we've been proactive in dealing with this unfair and unnecessary piece of legislation. and we will continue to be aggressive in our efforts in that regard. but yes, if we were to sit around and do nothing and believe the trumped up explanations for this unnecessary build, yes. there could be a problem. we will not allow it to happen here. >> i like your spirit, sir. thank you very much. it is a red scare in the republican party. why are they always talking about the soviet union? will these guys accept that it is over? the big fight between us and the soviets are over?

it was over ever since yeltsinin stood up on that tank. there are only a few people that don't like it not being over and they keep saying soviet union. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

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is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. back to "hardball." now to the sideshow. remember when herman cain was the leader of the pack in the republican nomination fight? here's cain himself on the daily show showing how he would react to a national crisis. >> mr. president, i have an incoming cable. the pipeline has exploded in several spots. oil is spilling everywhere. gather those most affected and explain why their sacrifice is not in vain. >> creatures of the forest,

assemble! we have a disaster on our hands. i know that you have sacrificed much. but until we get this contained, run. >> okay. recently launched the internet tv channel. and next year takes over for a conservative radio show host. next, feel like you've heard the term soviet union a tad too much over this course of this presidential race? here's some of the back to the cold war moments we've seen on the republican side. as they go after the president's policies. >> what people recognize is that there is a fear that the united states is in an unstoppable decline. they see the rise of china, the rise of india, the rise of the soviet union and our loss militarily going forward. >> we're seeing the soviets pushing into the arctic with no response from us. in fact, the only response is to

announce the early retirement of the last remaining icebreaker. >> he entered into an agreement with a soviet -- excuse me, with russia with regard to the new s.t.a.r.t. treaty which was one sided. >> that last one was obviously a slip of the tongue. here's one of the advisers around the candidate, richard williamson, hitting the obama administration for its approach to the situation in syria. >> leading means engaging an issue like syria, one that is according to the commander, the biggest strategic blow we could give to iran b is if assad leaves. it is strategically important to the soviet union. to say nothing of the humanitarian crisis. >> hear it again. the soviet union. it could be the reason here that romney is allowed into his circle. neo conservatives who still think and feel in cold war terms. they miss the cold war.

up next, the power and peril of negative ads. the obama and romney campaigns are trying to paint the other guys not like the rest of us. will going negative help or hurt? that's ahead. this is "hardball," by the way, the place for politics. you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... ...as you thought. ♪ every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide

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hey there. here's what's happening. the judge overseeing the case against accused theater shooter james holmes has ordered the university of colorado not to release his school records. he says it would impede the ongoing investigation. the drought gripping 2/3 of the u.s. is intensifying the amount in exceptional drought jumped to 20%. and a tornado watch is in effect from pennsylvania to vermont until 9:00 p.m. eastern tonight. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." if you believe romney campaign advertising, you would think the president was not looking out for you. as for the obama campaign, they imply romney is different. "the new york times" reports that negative advertising is alive and well in and it is all about describing your opponent in term voters can't relate to. in other words, make them different than you and i. ten or so battleground states are being pelted with negative tv ads right now. the top markets this week are ohio, virginia, florida, north carolina, and nevada. all there on that map. with me are two men with experience in political ads. democratic steve mcmahon and republican michael steele. both friends of mine. there you go, gentlemen. here we go into this. we're going to study the power of these ads in a somewhat objective way for a taste of what the obama campaign wants you to know about mitt romney, take a look at this recent ad. this is how they want you to see the guy. >> tax havens, offshore

accounts, carried interest. mitt romney has used every trick in the book. romney admits that over the last two years, he's paid less than 15% in taxes on $43 million in income. makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> do you know what? i would put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> that seems pretty straightforward except for that somewhat snarky pronunciation of the word "any" they hire the most sarcastic voices in the world to do these. you know what? that's the romney position. i'm not giving you any more than the two years. that's the deal. live with it. is it accurate? >> well, you know, it's accurate to the extent that he says he won't give us any more than two years worth. but the other aspect that i think is very interesting is the wording. so they start off by saying that he uses every trick in the book. well, that connotes something

evil kwb, nefarious, underhanded. he followed the same tax laws that everyone else has followed that has allowed him to take breaks that he needs to take. on his taxes. so it is how you frame it and how you create the impressions to your point that is the most devious here and it is a very good ad. >> i love that. that that's an old lyric. every trick in the book reminds me. nice sound to it. >> the same tax laws we all follow. we all keep our money in the cayman islands. is he like you and me. >> you're being sarcastic. is he like you and me? is he the regular guy -- i'm not saying franklin roosevelt. he was a bit off the charts in terms of not having a regular experience. the whole thing today seems to be democratizing high office. the president ought to be like us. he ought to go to the store, the supermarket once in a while. he ought to do the laundry once in a while. he ought to cut the lawn once in a while. is that asking too much of these politicians to be like most people who are watching the show?

>> it is not during the campaign. once they get the office, that's the last thing they want to see is you mowing the lawn and going to a 7-eleven. let's be honest here. the framing, the set-up framing is the core thing to sort of bring these guys down and to make them something, as you describe, as something other. that's what this ad tries to do. >> for their part, the romney campaign is using a line of a recent obama speech to make you think he cannot relate to the average small business guy. let's watch. >> if you've been successful, you did not get there on your own. if you got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> my father's hands didn't build this company. my hands didn't build this company? >> through hard work and a little bit of luck, we built this business. why are you demonizing us for it? >> it is time we have somebody who beliefs in us. someone who believes achievement should be reward. not punished.

we need somebody who blooe believes in america. >> to me that's, i'm sorry. we will fight over this. i think that's an absolute lie, that ad. obama never said that somebody else got your job for you. he simply said the roads and the bridges that get people to your business or get your business' product out, you didn't build. that's true of every home developer, everybody who runs a grocery store. you need the basic facilities of the public sector. >> ironically the person that they trotted out to do that ad, apparently according to a report i read last night, a dnc truth squad report was himself the beneficiary of government loans to build the business that he's talking about his father building. and then he said, well, of course i used government loans. of course somebody else helped me. that's the american way. i would be a fool if i didn't. you're right. they took it out of context. >> that's not the point. >> what is the point? >> he was talking about there was a teacher who helped you get there. there was a road that somebody else paid to build. >> let's been honest for a second. besides quibbling, what is the big thing obama is trying to say

here and what is the big thing romney is challenging him on? >> the big thing the president is saying is does romney does he share your values? or will he address them or is he somebody else operating by a different set of rules? >> what is the big argument? >> the big argument here. the contrast is very clear. obama, you know, doesn't believe in you. he doesn't trust you. he doesn't have faith in your ability to grow your business and to do what you want to do with your own hands. that's why they stressed in that commercial, the word believed. believe in america. believe in you. believe in your community. so that's the contrast. one's saying this guy doesn't believe in you. and the other one saying this guy is not like you. that's going to be the test. >> let me correct your papers now. you're wrong because obama doesn't give enough credit to the entrepreneurial guts of a lot of people who go out and start business, whether i think a small diner, he makes it sound like they're a product of all these things. the key distinction to people

who run businesses isn't that they inherited them. they founded them. i don't think he gives enough credit to that. on the other hand i think the other guy romney never gives credit to the fact of the public sector. you can't do business without a good education, without a good. and a lot of things the government loan will do. research is supported by government money. not by profit making operations. a lot of the good stuff in this country would not get done economically, people would not get rich, jobs wouldn't have gotten rich without the internet. you know? right? >> that has nothing to do with the political ads that you played. that's the point. you have to do analysis of the ads. the ads are going to something other than the core which you talked about. >> if you looked at what the president actually said, he was talking about the teacher who helped educate you. he was talking about the road built by taxpayers. >> so what? it has nothing to do with

politics. >> he is not taking away from the business. >> let me take the democratic side which i occasionally do. these guys keep voting against every highway and construction bill there is out there. every time the president talks infrastructure, they chuckle. and i don't think you should chuckle. eisenhower was the big road man. remember? and lincoln was the big railroad man. kennedy was the spaceman but so was johnson and other people. we have to build in this country again. replace the smell of decay with the smell of construction. we got to do some things. >> when you run for office, they will come and tear you down on that. that's the analysis on the ad. not on the substance. >> you can get friendly with me but don't get intimate. don't be talking about my career here. >> i was trying to help you out. >> i voted for you. you did not vote for me. up next, why did mitt romney say he's not even going to watch the dancing horse? he's got a horse in this race. he's going to let his wife ann worry about that. is he embarrassed by his wealth and the way he spends it? could it be he is one of them and not one of us? this is "hardball," the place

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♪ hello...rings ♪ what the... what the... what the... ♪ are you seein' this? ♪ ♪ uh-huh... uh-huh... uh-huh... ♪ ♪ it kinda makes me miss the days when we ♪ ♪ used to rock the microphone ♪ back when our credit score couldn't get us a micro-loan ♪ ♪ so light it up! ♪ even better than we did before ♪ ♪ yeah prep yourself america we're back for more ♪ ♪ our look is slacker chic and our sound is hardcore ♪ ♪ and we're here to drop a rhyme about free-credit-score ♪ ♪ i'm singing free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ dot-com narrator: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com. mark your calendars. the commission on presidential debates announced the four dates you want to remember this october including one for v.p. nominees. october 3rd on the domestic issues in denver, colorado. october 11th will be in kentucky. october 16th in town hall style where candidates will answer questions from undecided voters in new york. and october 22nd b will be the

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when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind spot monitoring that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... ...as you thought. ♪ we're back. it seems like only a few weeks ago we hadn't heard of dressage at all known as horse ballet. made its way into the mainstream as rafalca co-owned by ann romney gets ready to perform in the london olympics right now. if you thought mitt romney was interested in the success of rafalca, think again. here he was with brian williams last night on "nightly news." >> seems to me this completes your olympic experience. you get to run the games and now you actually have a horse in the race. what's that going to be like? >> well, it's an exciting

experience for my wife and the person she's worked with, the trainer who's riding the horse. and obviously it's fun to be part of the olympics in any way you can be part of it. >> when is the event and for those of us who don't follow the sport, what happens? are there rounds of competition? is there just one chance? what happens? of competition, one chance, what happens? >> i have to tell ya, this is ann's sport. i'm not sure which day the sport goes on. she will get the chance to see it. i will not be watching the event. i hope her horse does well. >> well, he seems to be dancing around that horse question, didn't he? anyway, dana millbanks. i think i heard him say there in the middle of all that stuff he was throwing out to try to get this away from him, the horse is excited about this olympic. i don't know how you read that. >> must be very exciting for the horses to get this trip across europe. in fact, the romneys went to europe to import him. >> fly or ship? >> i think they strap him on to the roof of the ship.

>> they flew the horses. that is exciting. >> it is. i think the reason -- >> this is wild. >> strap them to the top of the airplane. >> that's cruel. >> i think the reason romney is dancing around the dancing horses is ricalto, if that's how we pronounce the name, is more of a threat than shamus the dog. that showed weirdness, but this shows who owns a herd of dancing horses? >> this is going to make wind surfing like half ball on a stick in south philly. this is so elite. erin? dressage. >> he doesn't want to talk about it. he said i'm not going to be watching it. my wife is. he's not even going to watch it on television. his wife's problem now, just like the bermuda shell company that he transferred to his wife the day before he became governor of massachusetts. he's running away. it's her problem, not his. >> i don't know. brian williams asked romney if his experienced eye london looked ready to host the olympics.

>> you know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out. there e a few things that were disconcerting, stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that, obviously, is not something which is encouraging. >> what are olympic organizers like hairdressers and political supporters or consultants, they never like anybody else's way of doing it. anyway, that reply didn't go over well in the uk. a headline asked who invited him? prime minister david cameron countered, we are holding an olympic games in one of the busiest, most activity cities anywhere in the world, of course, it's easier if you hold the olympic games in the middle of nowhere. nowhere was widely viewed as a dig at salt lake city. here he is battling it out in his first diplomatic experience. fighting it out with a conservative prime minister. if you can't get along with that guy, who can he get along with?

erin? >> the other comment in this interview that was a problem, just about the people of london, we know the olympians, the athletes are ready, we know the volunteers are ready, but we'll have to see if the people of this country can come together and celebrate the olympics. he's questioning the brits abroad. >> why is romney -- i said it was political consultants, is he now saying nobody does it like i did it? >> maybe that's what he's thinking, but that's not what you're supposed to be doing. the whole world is watching, so he has this pratfall in this interview, first, the awkwardness with the french-sounding name and german horses and then the strangest of consulting the host. he's been spending the day climbing back away from those remarks and also facing all this heat from the press corps. >> i didn't see any curveballs in there, however, i think he

did ask reasonable questions, but romney cannot do unprepared material. he seems to need his very sharp staff. you cover him, erin, he's very good when he has time to prepare a specific answer. he's pretty good in his speeches and debates, but when you get him out in a rope line or unfamiliar territory, he doesn't know what to say. i just got off the aircraft. >> apparently. >> there's yet another answer in that interview where brian was asking him about differences of opinion that he has with the nra, and he couldn't name one. just like sarah palin in 2008 couldn't name supreme court justices, she couldn't name publications that she reads, and not to compare mitt romney exactly with sarah palin, but you have to be able to answer differences of opinion. >> anything but buckle to anybody on the right, whether the nra, norquist, anybody. yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. that's his approach. >> whatever you need me to say.

that got him through the primary, but in a way he is like a dressage horse who follows a routine carefully. >> i think dressage ain't going to sell anyway. thank you, dana millbank. i always speak bad english when i talk about high-priced sports. when we return, let me talk about the impact of the tragedy in colorado. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. why not try someplace different every morning? get two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase sapphire preferred.

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this. i think all great events have great impacts. this country has never gotten over the kennedy assassination, i never have. for many, 9/11 still haunts. this horror in aurora, colorado, continues to penetrate this country's feelings. i think it's had a stronger impact on this country than the words in this presidential campaign this summer. i think people feel for each other in ways that don't come across in the political back and forth. they care about each other in ways that don't get displayed when we talk about red states and blue states. keep them in our minds and hearts when the debate heatens up and heightens. we need to remember we don't despise each other, but we do despise many the arguments thrown up by the other side. i know it may sound odd coming from me, but i know if i found them lying in a ditch somewhere, say, after a traffic accident, i'd do everything i could to care for them. i know this and you know this about yourself. we are all god's children,