for breakfast or lunch or dessert. we just don't know. >> he doesn't need to eat any more chick-fil-a. >> he doesn't. where does it go from here? >> again, i think it's unfortunate. and we have to be very, very clear and not separate these matters. a tax on lg welcome to "the ed show." i'm michael eric dyson in for ed schultz. 96 days before the 2012 election, mitt romney is horsing around with billionaire donors in aspen while president obama is fighting for the middle class. tonight i'll show you mitt's fancy dancing on taxes.

this is "the ed show." as ed would say, let's get to work. >> mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he pays less, you pay more. >> on the air and on the stump, president obama is drilling mitt romney over his middle class tax hike. and the romney team is trying to change the narrative. >> that report you referenced is a joke. >> tonight, karen finney and the dnc patrick gas par on the politics of romney's ongoing tax nightmare. and dean baker on the policy implications. and why on earth is twitter getting on the great young gymnast gabby douglas over her hair? i'll explain in the dyson-ary. president obama has mitt romney on the ropes over a tax plan that doesn't add up and would raise taxes on the middle class from mr. romney. just one day after a damning independent analysis, the obama campaign put out an ad that will air in eight battleground states. >> mitt romney made $20 million in 2010 but paid only 14% in

taxes. probably less than you. now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break and raises taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase, he pays less, you pay more. >> the romney campaign has been caught completely flatfooted. on a conference call this morning, romney advisers struggled to combat the truth about their tax plan. romney adviser eric fernstrom called the independent analysis a joke. another adviser said the romney plan would create 5 million to 10 million jobs but couldn't explain how the campaign arrived at that number. it's important to understand what they're saying here. after an independent analysis says romney's plan would raise taxes on 95% of americans, romney's advisers call that report a joke. and yet won't provide details to dispute the report. then those same advisers claim the romney tax plan will explode job growth. today governor romney tried a similar strategy saying he'd put out a tax plan that can't even

be analyzed, not by any group, ever. so the romney campaign deliberately created a tax polipolan that can't be analyzed, yet the tax policy center scored it. they bent over backwards to analyze the romney plan in a very favorable fashion to mitt romney and it still didn't add up. president obama's new line of attack on romney's tax plan continued today on the campaign trail in orlando, florida. >> he's asking you to pay more so that people like him can pay less. so that people like me pay less. first they said this is a liberal organization despite the fact it's headed by an economist who worked for george bush. then they said that the study failed to fully take into account the massive economic boom that would come from cutting taxes on the wealthiest

americans and the biggest corporations. because we all know how well that worked out the last time we tried it. >> the obama campaign also revealed a digital tool to calculate the effect of the romney tax plan. >> just enter some simple information to see how much you'll save thanks to president obama and you'll also see how much extra you would pay under mitt romney. >> now, let me get this straight. in the course of 24 hours since the release of this independent analysis, president obama is hammering mitt romney on the stump, the obama campaign has a new ad out and the campaign has a new tax calculator comparing the obama plan to the romney plan. but, hey, the romney camp didn't make this and they certainly didn't take it lying down. today they rolled out a presidential accountability score card on president obama. here's mitt romney's presentation of the presidential accountability score card in his speech in colorado today.

>> i'm going to start off with a bit of a report card. some of you've been handed a little piece of paper here. if you haven't gotten that, you will. i see some people opening these things up. i'm going to talk about those in a minute. you don't need to open it up yet. i've got a report card here. and it shows his report card. if you look at the arrows, it says jobs on the far left the obama record. it has a little red downward arrow. we have fewer jobs under president obama. then there's underemployed and unemployed. that's gone up, that's in red because it's a bad direction. >> kind of corny and cute huh? which by the way is not true. it's a tough economy, but it has gotten better under president obama despite mitt romney's report card. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question -- which one is the joke? mitt romney's tax plan or independent analysis of romney's tax plan? text a for mitt's tax plan. text b for the analysis to 622639. or go to our blog at

ed@msnbc.com. i'll bring you ut the results later in the show. i'm joined by patrick gaspard and karen finney. it's a dnc kind of night tonight. i want to return to mitt romney on cnbc a few months ago. let's take a listen. >> so i haven't laid out all the details of how we'll deal with each of the exemptions. i think it's funny for the groups to try to score it because frankly it can't be scored. those kind of details will have to be worked out with congress and we have a wide array of options. >> is that comment coming back to bite him in the saddle of the horse he claims not to own? >> good to be on, michael. that comment is absolutely ludicrous and almost comical if

not for the tremendous stakes we're contending with here. mitt romney has laid out a plan that clearly raises taxes by an average of $2,000 per family on folks who are making less than $200,000 a year in order to pay for his deficit-busting tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires who aren't even asking for these kinds of benefits. an independent analysis has demonstrated this. and, as the president noted, the center that released that analysis is headed by someone who was a principal on george w. bush's economic council and mitt romney's own campaign a few months ago called the institute's reports level and competent. mitt romney continues to try to run for president by not being transparent, not releasing the details of his plans to the american people by hiding his taxes, by doing all that he can to misrepresent this president's

record who has done a tremendous amount to pull us out of the great recession that he inherited. >> so karen, in light of that shredding and deconstructing he delivered there, how big a problem is this for mitt romney? because in the last 24 hours, the obama campaign employing this independent report, really seems to have the romney campaign on the defensive and, dare we say, on the ropes. >> yeah. here we have yet again team romney not prepared. i mean, the fact that they thought they were going to get through this campaign without having to give any real details. as you pointed out in the opening, the tax policy center themselves tried to bend over backwards to make the numbers work out and the numbers still didn't add up. this is part of the problem they're having when it comes to his own tax records and for policy after policy. he's giving us rhetoric and platitudes and kind of generallities without filling in the details. in the context of a campaign, it's naive of his team to think that the rest of us aren't going to at least figure it out on our own. we're not just going to take his

answer as the only answer. we're going to say wait a second, let's see how the numbers might work out. what we're seeing is the devil's in the details. again, his tax records, he doesn't want to give them up because he says there's stuff people will go through and pick through. he doesn't want to give us the details of his economic plan because guess what? it's going to give a tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and it's going to gouge the middle class with an additional $2,000 increase. >> yeah. he can't play ostrich and hide this stuff in the sand and think we're not going to look at it. we've got google and a thinking cap. patrick, the obama campaign has been making connections between romney's bain capital years and his refusal of releasing more tax returns and karen referred to. now they're connecting that to his tax plan to paint a picture of a candidate incapable of connecting to the middle class. do you think the narrative is taking a toll on the romney campaign? >> well, i think, michael, that we have seen from their reactions to this that they are quite concerned about it's

abundantly clear that their candidate is radically out of touch and their campaign can't conform to policy that benefit middle class voters in any real way. if you look at how they explain how they're going to pay for their tax cuts, they say that they're going to reduce tax expenditures. well, what are tax expenditures? the american people need to understand that by the reduction of tax expenditures, mitt romney means we're going to lower benefits for families that rely on the earned income tax, eliminate benefits for interest on middle class home mortgages, eliminate benefits for folks who rely on these tax breaks to provide for their health care as well and for their child care. so when you dig a little deeper, it becomes clear they're trying to hide the facts and mitt romney becomes the sleight of hand artist at the carnival while he's trying to reach into your pocket to take your cash. they're trying to run from that

record. >> karen, let me ask you this. didn't know patrick was a fan of magic. after senate majority leader harry reid has said he's been told mitt romney didn't pay taxes for ten years, romney said this to sean hannity. take a look. >> it's time for harry to put up or shut up. harry's going to have to describe who it is he spoke with because that's totally and completely wrong. it's untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. it's wrong. >> now, who's got to put up or shut up here? doesn't mitt romney have to put up or shut up so everybody else can shut up? >> it's time for mitt romney to put up or shut up. there's another issue here. we've got patrick, i'm going to give him this advice. think about the specter of what we've just seen in the last several days. you've had democrats and our president fighting for a tax cut for the middle class while republicans blocked that. and while the republican nominee for president is pushing a plan

that will raise taxes on the middle class, that is the contrast in this election. we have to take that to the people. i want every candidate down ballot, i want candidates to explain how they can dare defend something like that. that's the put up or shut up. make mitt romney explain how it is by raising taxes on the middle class or raising taxes by taking away those win credits that is a burgeoning industry in america, that that's going to help our economy. >> all right. let's listen to president obama today some more. let's take a listen. >> they have tried to sell us this trickle-down tax cut fairy dust before. and guess what? it didn't work then. it will not work now. it's not a plan to create jobs. it is not a plan to reduce the deficit. it is not a plan to build our middle class. it is not a plan to move our economy forward. >> sleight of hand, fairy dust.

you guys are really getting deep into the comical arts here. president obama is attacking trickle-down economics and painting romney as the same old things on steroids. does this resonate or do people get fooled into believing romney is offering something new? >> i think voters always realize that elections are more about the future than they are about the past. they know that this president inherited a terrible mess and he's done all that he could to right the ship. and they know he's pushing us towards a future where our children are going to have a chance to outcompete and outinnovate their competitors overseas. whereas romney is only trying to help the wealthiest folks who aren't looking for the break he's forwarding. mike, if i could, i want to touch on the put up or shut up moment. mitt romney says we need to, this is a man who refuses to release his tax returns to the american public. a man who misrepresented in private equity where he said he created hundreds of thousands of jobs but we know he outsourced jobs instead. somebody who hid the hard drives from his tenure as governor of massachusetts.

and we've now discovered that he was hiding his resources under mattresses in bermuda and in the cayman islands. so he's the one who needs to put up immediately if he intends to be the chief executive of this land. >> karen, briefly, do you want to respond? >> well, i just want to point out that think progress put out a really great piece that showed -- i think it's important we remind people and i think most people remember, that the longitudinal data shows us does not work. wages tend to stagnate. investment isn't better. the economy grows a little bit slower. again, you don't even have to take it from president obama or the democrats. the numbers actually tell the story. what they're pushing is snake oil and it doesn't work and hasn't worked for this country. >> fairy dust, slight of hand, snake oil. great stuff. thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thanks. >> thank you, michael. >> remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts

on twitter and facebook. mitt romney once said his tax plan could never be scored. now we know it would never work either. economist dean baker explains why romney's plan isn't worth the paper it's printed on. thoug, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team.

coming up, mitt romney's tax plan doesn't add up for the middle class. economist dean baker weighs in on the problem next. a young man in arkansas dies after he's detained by police. now his family is searching for answers. we'll have the details. and mitt romney hit the campaign trail in colorado where the wounds of last month's shooting are still healing. i'll ask the reverend jesse jackson if either candidate will have the guts to lead on gun control. we'll be right back. the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs.

a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. the romney camp called the report on the candidate's tax

plan a joke. but when you look at the tax policy center's analysis, it's clear why the romney campaign ain't laughing. we already know the plan would raise income for people making more than 200,000 bucks a year while cutting income for those making less. but as "the washington post's" ezra klein points out, the plan is not even workable. keep in mind the center gave romney the benefit of the doubt when testing the plan. accounting for implausibly large cuts. under that scenario, mitt romney said the plan would work because rich people would pay the same they do now or more. >> for middle income families, the deductibility of home mortgage interest and charitable contributions, those things will will continue. but for high income folks, we're going to cut back on that. so we make sure that the top 1% keeps paying their current share

they're paying now or more. >> yeah, but ain't that the problem? the top 1% paying what they're paying now. can't they pay more? here are some tax expenditures from the tax code in order to lower rates across the board. employer provided health insurance, social security benefits, moving expenses, education related tax credits, medical expense deductions, state and local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable contributions and many others. not only is it implausible to cut most of those credits, there aren't enough of them to make up for the size of the tax cut for the rich. so what else could romney do? cut spending. cutting spending would make the plan more regressive because government spending tends to benefit low and middle income households. and if romney did cut spending, we already know it wouldn't come out of the military. >> i will reverse president obama's massive defense cuts. time and again, we've seen the attempts to balance the budget by weakening our military only lead to a far higher price in the future. >> no cuts on the military but

they sure will raid your pockets. for a guy running as businessman in chief, his tax plan isn't across the board done. let's turn to dean baker author of the book "the end of loser liberalism." thanks for joining me. >> thanks. >> does the romney campaign know that this really doesn't work? do we have to come up with empirical facts to show that? they must know because they don't put it on the table. the tax policy center, they're calling them partisan. these are people who have worked in both democratic and republican administrations. their model is open. it's not a secret. mitt romney himself had praised the tax policy center during the primaries when they modeled rick perry's plan and said how much money it would cost the government. if he thinks they've done it incorrectly, he has good economists on his team. what they do is put their alternatives on the table. if they think they did something wrong, you say, no, we're not going to get rid of the mortgage

interest deduction, we're going to get the money somewhere else and tell us where the somewhere else is. but i've looked at what the tax policy center did. i think you'd be hard pressed if you're a mitt romney supporter saying this is way better for the middle class. hard to see what they would do. >> yeah. if they've got a better way, tell us. spill the beans or keep talking. romney was not across the board tax cut until he felt some pressure in the primary. here's his declarations on taxes back in february so people will remember. >> there are a couple things i'd like to announce today. i'm going to lower the rate across the board for all americans by 20%. all right? >> now, dean, doesn't that mean if romney had his druthers, would he have stayed away from a tax plan like this? doesn't seem to favor what his ideas are. >> well, it is very hard to tell. obviously the republicans got into a bidding war who's got the bigger tax plan and cuts, certainly popular are the republican base. we know when he was governor in massachusetts, romney was a

relative moderate. so what does he really think? i couldn't say. so what he would try to do if he were president, that's something for people to guess at. what we have to do is look at what he's saying now, and what he's saying now he's talking about big tax cuts for the wealthy. again, if he's saying it's going to be paid for, the only way we can see -- if he has something else, put it on the table -- is taking away things like mortgage interest deductions which are big things for middle income people. >> how can the romney camp but any spin on this tax plan to make it sound good for anyone but the wealth willy? i don't get it. >> i think their whole effort thus far is to be vague and say we're not going to do this or that and try to get away with numbers that clearly don't add up and hope that he's not called on it. that's why it's great that the tax policy center took the lead and did this. they do have a well-respected model. it's not just out of the blue. their models have been used for years and years. they're respected across the

political spectrum. again, they put the cards on the table. and i think it's really incumbent on the romney campaign to say if it's wrong, here's why. >> do you expect romney will ever fill in the blanks for us, or is this as much detail as we'll ever get on his tax plan? >> my guess is he will try to be evasive. i don't see any good blanks. again, i'm willing to be charitable to him. if there's something -- i would tell you right now, if i thought the tax policy center had missed something, oh, they did it wrong, i would say that because i'm not on the obama campaign, they're not paying me. i would say that. i don't see it. i don't see any way to interpret his plan and be more generous to the middle class. unless you're going to say he's not serious about having balanced cuts, in other words, he's just going to give people a big tax cut and not pay for it, which may be what he intends. but that's certainly not what he's saying. >> well, he ain't saying much. dean baker, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks. coming up, a 21-year-old man is picked up by police. minutes laifrt, he's dead. what happened to chavis carter? we'll have the latest. michele bachmann is trying to save america from the muslim

brotherhood. mark samoan, marcia dyson and jimmy williams weigh in. stay tuned. you're watching "the ed show" on mks.

it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. yeah, and i took on all the bigger, tougher ones. but now that mr. clean's got this new select-a-size magic eraser, i mean, he can take on any size job. look how easily he gets things cleaned. it's enough to make you cry. you, specifically. not me. i'm just happy we don't go near rex's mobile home as often. because it's hard to clean or because you're scared of an itty-bitty doggy? [ dog barks ] aah! oh! [ clears throat ] yeah, that was a sneeze. i think i sprayed myself.

[ male announcer ] new mr. clean select-a-size magic eraser. lets you pick the right size for every job. the global ready one ? yeah, but you won't need... ♪ hajimemashite. hajimemashite. hajimemashite. you guys like football ? thank you so much. i'm stoked. you stoked ? totally. ... and he says, "under the mattress." souse le matelas. ( laughter ) why's the new guy sending me emails from paris ? paris, france ? verizon's 4g lte devices are global-ready. plus, global data for just $25. only from verizon.

what happened to chavis carter? police say a 21-year-old man killed himself in the back of a squad car. but carter's mother says that story doesn't add up. over the weekend carter was arrested in jonesboro, arkansas, for drug possession and a missed court date. >> he was searched twice,

handcuffed behind his back, and double-locked. but police say shortly after placing him in the car, they heard a loud thumping noise. when they checked on carter, he was slumped over with the shot in the head and a small-caliber gun nearby. >> any given officer has missed something on a search, be it drugs, be it knives, be it razor blades. this instance happened to be a gun. >> police say carter committed suicide, but how does a person reach for a gun and shoot themselves in the head while handcuffed? carter's mother said her son was left-handed yet he was shot in the right temple. >> what do you think happened to your son? >> i think they killed him. i mean, my son wasn't suicidal. >> police are still investigating the incident. jonesboro police chief michael yates admits the story is bizarre and defies logic and is now ordering and offering further details.

>> we've reviewed the dash cam video, and, as late as today, managed to have some witnesses come forward that observed the incident from start to finish. and their statements tend to support that whatever transpired in the back of that police transpired in the back with the officers in a different location. >> yates met with local african-american leaders and reportedly told them that the fbi is also investigating. the community wants answers. >> the point is, this is strange. you know, and it certainly demands further explanation and investigation. it's not just a black thing. a human being died in the back seat of a police car while handcu handcuffed. >> amen, reverend. chavis carter is dead and we don't know why. the police report shows that carter had just $10 worth of marijuana on him. there's a lot more coming up in

the next half hour on "the ed show." stay tuned. i think accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous. >> michele bachmann has doubled down on her islamaphobic remarks. and why is gabby douglas getting a lot of twitter hate for the way she wears her hair? i'll explain in the dyson-ary. to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too.

has a facebook page these days.

but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. you? >> sorry, i can't right now. i'm on my way to a meeting. >> senator mccain was on the senator floor saying what you're doing after huma. >> i can't do it right now. >> can you do an interview later? >> i can but i've got to get here. >> that congresswoman wants to stay in shape. she's running away from the television camera. michele bachmann is determined to save this country from the muslim brotherhood. she won't answer questions about it, but she is determined to

save this country from the muslim brotherhood. in june, bachmann along with four other house republicans sent letters to agencies suggesting certain u.s. officials included longtime aide to hillary clinton huma abedin are part of a muslim brotherhood plot to infiltrate the government. due to bachmann's baseless claims, ms. abedin now receives extra protection from the fbi. several top republicans publicly chastised bachmann's tactics, including speaker of the house john boehner. but that hasn't stopped bachmann. she has now wrintten an op-ed i the minneapolis star tribune, telling americans she's protecting them from islamic extremists. i'm on the case because someone has to question obama administration's indulgence. it is my duty as a member of congress to ask why the obama administration has repeatedly undermined america's national security and vows to political correctness related to radical

islam. the safety and security of every person in my district as well as all americans is of preeminent importance and concern to me. wow. let's turn to radio talk show host mark simone and social activist marcia dyson. let me ask you, mark, how big of a problem is this islamophobia for the republican party? is this as extreme as michele bachmann has made it out to be? >> well, let me be honest. first, i'm not the biggest michele bachmann fan. i don't know what she's up to. it's like harry reid shooting off his mouth yesterday. it's a problem all through politics. sometimes there's a legitimate concern but you get this hysteria and this hyperbole and it clouds the issue with nonsense. and huma abedin seems like a fine woman. is she trying to hurt her reputation by bringing up ties to the muslim brotherhood? she has ties to anthony weiner. what could be worse than that?

i think bachmann is not as crazy as she acts. same thing with harry reid yesterday. i think sometimes they just love that controversy and the attention it brings. it's the cheapest way to get attention, but they do it. >> marcia, since this controversy has erupted, michele bachmann has raised a million bucks. so what does that tell us about the republican party, about her kind of politics? >> well, it shows that it sells and paranoia is lucrative. on this red scare, the only red should be embarrassment of the republican party to try to talk about the political correctness of the democratic party and not going at the so-called terrorists of our country when they forget about the kill of osama bin laden. they have an i'm afraid of the muslims and don't give a damn about the other citizens. they don't care about the pri live raigs of guns and gun

regulation with the nra and mass killings within our inner cities. and they don't really care about -- when you have the republican representative mike kelly from pennsylvania saying it was a terrorist act when on august the 1st the affordable care act was placed i think into motion, then i think they're totally off base, that michelle obama is playing to the right-wing republicans in her party. the most crucial thing is that americans like women who want pro choice and catholics and gays and homeless and jobless people and mormons are american citizens, too. >> do you agree with kelly? >> yeah. but don't tie all republicans to it. you may have answered your own question. what you said is probably the answer. she raised a million dollars. it's a fund raising gimmick. it's not that she's appealing to the base. it's sometimes you're appealing to the worst element of the base. listen, we've got crazies on both sides of the aisle. >> but eric cantor has come to her defense. is he one of the crazies she's appealed to? >> remember, these people all work together. it's like if one of your

colleagues here does something crazy, you've got to decide -- it depends on their relationship. harry reid was just crazy yesterday with that statement. you know what it's like when you work with someone and you have to defend them. >> i don't want to draw a parallel dwbetween what harry rd said and what michele bachmann has done repeatedly. marcia, you were anticipating in civic engagement between israelis and palestinians. what does this kind of conversation do to the nature of the argument between israelis and palestinians and for a possible peace pact, i mean, creating that kind of dissention h has to be bad news. >> unknown to michele bachmann and a lot of the republicans here, there is something going on where you're getting the citizens of the middle east, whether they're israelis or jewish or christians. they have that conversation so

they can have their own peace. and what it signals on is you have possible people leading this country who are intolerant of the so-called other world. creates scares. >> harry reid. >> harry reid he was attacking barack obama. but michele bachmann is attacking people in our society. as an african-american woman, i take quite offense to that. and it is a form of witch hunt. she's doing it for dollars, then it's the wrong dollar bill. >> what about that? the fact is that many muslim people, people who follow islam, have been loyal citizens to this country and have served as marcia says in every echelon of this society and they're being witch-hunted by michele bachmann. i know you're not a fan of hers, but why doesn't the republican party stand up to that? >> i think half of them do and half don't. you're not wrong with what you say. it isn't equivalent. what i meant was it's the same stupid tactic. if you have a concern, bring it up. you don't have to use this hysteria to make your point.

think about what harry reid is saying. an investor in bain told him that romney paid no taxes? >> you keep coming back to this, which is not the point. the point is not harry reid. we had a segment on that. this is about michele bachmann. huma abedin is getting death threats as a result of this. let me ask you this. is mitt romney going to have to weigh in on this soon? when is he going to weigh in? >> if i was him, i'd stay away from it. >> how would you if you're the leader of the republican party and someone representing the republican standard is standing out in a way to besmirch the character of those unjustly besmirched. >> i think if he can't deal we the situation of the conflict between christians, i'll say michele bachmann, and our middle east situation here stateside, he won't be able to do anything if he's the head of our foreign policy government. he has to speak to it because people are being vilified not for not paying their taxes or

whatever their financial records, we're talk about people who are threatened, targeted and being profiled in america. we saw them going out there because we're so ignorant sometimes internationally, people going after chic, indian, because people go after people. i take that to heart. >> you get this crazy stuff year in and year out. whether it was obama's birth certificate. i wouldn't even respond to that. with bush it was leaving the national guard going awol with clinton it was who killed vince foster. if you're the candidate, you've got to stay away from that nonsense. >> but you also have to say that this is not what represents us at our best. because it's not simply about michele bachmann, is it? it's also about what the republican party's values are. isn't it, marcia? >> i think absolutely what their values are. you call terrorism about people you think are incubating interest the middle east when you don't think about the terrorism from everyday lives from people who won't get health care and things of that nature. >> have to end that conversation there. thank you so much, mark and

marcia. thank you so kindly. coming up, she's an olympic champion and only 16. but that's not what people are talking. i'm cracking open the dyson-ary. ? try manly [ screams ] [ male announcer ] eew, ok, just do your thing. hey! hey! [ male announcer ] definitely a little bit epic. stride. a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done... i'm going to read one of these. i'm going to read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 dusters extender gets into hard to reach places so you can get unbelievable dust pick up in less time.

i love that book! can you believe the twin did it? ♪ [ female announcer ] swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back. ♪ coming up, the twitterverse erupts over an american gymnast's hair. we'll look at the internet's idea of priorities next in the dyson-ary. don't forget to go to facebook and like "the ed show." while you're there, make sure to vote on our facebook poll. we want to know who you think is the greatest olympian of all time. remember, if you don't like "the ed show" on facebook, you have only yourself to blame. we'll be right back. i've been fortunate to win on golf's biggest stages. but when joint pain and stiffness from psoriatic arthritis hit, even the smallest things became difficult. i finally understood what serious joint pain is like. i talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. because enbrel, etanercept, suppresses your immune system,

it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biolog medicine prescribed by rheumatologists.

16-year-old gabrielle douglas has achieved more than most people can even dream of. douglas and her fellow u.s. gymnasts dominated the olympic competition winning the first

gold in that event since 1996. tonight she is one of two competing for the gold again, this time in the individual all-around final. americans have taken to twitter throughout the olympics to show their support for team usa and to respond to the games in realtime. well, in tonight's dyson-ary, i'll tell you what the word priority means to the critics on twitter. first the actual definition. priority, noun, something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives. by that definition, you would think that people would be focusing on gabby's accomplishments, her team's big win, the fact that she has the potential to be the first african-american to win the all-around gold medal in gymnastics. and she's done this at an age when most girls are just dreaming of getting their driver's license. instead most people in the african-american community have taken to twitter to insult her hair. let's look at some of the lowlights. gabby douglas you made history with your talent and hideous

hair. we as a public have to fix gabby's hair. congrats to gabby douglas on her gold medal. wish i could say that about that hair. oh, my god. horrible. gabby douglas shouldn't be the standout in those commercials until she gets her hair done. and it goes on and on. gabby douglas is an olympic champion, a title reserved for the best athletes in the world. she's being recognized on the world stage for her ability to outperform her competition in a sport. and to get there, she had to break a sweat, just like everyone else. that should be the focus. let's check the dyson-ary. priority, according to the twitterverse, noun, petty, shallow, self-hating, disgraceful. let's turn it back to the text poll survey i asked you at the beginning of the show. in the spirit of the olympic games we're going to issue a spoiler alert for those of you

who wait until the re-air to learn of the resolutions. mute your televisions now if you're in that category. tonight's survey question was based on the romney campaign's thought that the tax plan analysis is a joke. we asked which is a joke. 94% say mitt's tax plan. 6% say it's the analysis. coming up, mitt romney signed an assault weapons ban as governor of massachusetts. now he's running away from those issues thanks to tea party radicals. up next, reverend jesse jackson will weigh in on banning assault weapons. stay tuned. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550

ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the cookie-cutter retirement advice ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you get at some places. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 they say you have to do this, have that, invest here ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you know what? ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 you can't create a retirement plan based on ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 a predetermined script. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we actually take the time to listen - ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 to understand you and your goals... ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 ...so together we can find real-life answers for your ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 real-life retirement. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 talk to chuck

ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 and let's write a script based on your life story. ttd#: 1-800-345-2550 welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney had a busy day of campaigning in the swing state of colorado today. while there he took some time to meet tw the victim of last month's movie theater shooting in aurora. and there's no doubt about it it was a great thing for governor romney to do. president obama also visited shooting victims and their families in colorado on july 22nd. a few days later he gave a speech to the national urban league in new orleans. the president said gun owner ship was part of the national heritage but wept onto say common sense weapons. >> they belong in the hands of soldiers and not in the hands of criminals. i believe the majority of gun owners should agree we should do

everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons. that a mentally imbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily. >> unfortunately president obama has not called for a single piece of legislation, furthering sensible gun regulation sense he's been in office. meanwhile, mitt romney signed an assault weapons ban when he was governor of massachusetts. now that he's beholden to tea party members in his party, he doesn't have the guts to tackle this kind of issue. for more on this, let's turn to reverend jesse jackson, a legendary civil rights leader. >> good to be part of the dyson show tonight. thank you, sir. >> reverend, what is it going to take for someone to stand up and lead on increasing gun control in the country?

>> first of all the issue now is not just about gun control. guns for the house protect your house. that's your choice. guns for hunting. similar weapons in a very different zone. an ak-47 shot in the white house last 11/11/11, 25 police were killed by the same weapon. the same weapon used to kill people in aurora, colorado, could be used to bring down airplanes. this is a matter of national security. you don't hunt deer, nor elk, nor rabbit with the guns. you don't protect your house with them. they're only used to kill people, and they should be banned. >> governor romney signed an assault weapons ban in massachusetts, he said this a few days after the deadly colorado shooting. >> i don't happen to believe 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. >> doesn't this muddy the situation here? is this the type of thinking that exacerbates or at least escalates the problem? >> because he lost the legislation based on a gun position is a kind of fear. the courage come bottom up and not top down. that's why police chiefs around the country are now rallying. the police chief are not crying out because their men and women are less able to defend the public. they cannot defend themselves. if they can no get past the zone of protection in the secret service and police, they have no place in a civil society. and what you're looking at now is not just an instance. you're looking at a pattern. if the taliban can come to america without an airplane in

my sixth attempt round of ammunition, can buy unstoppable semiautomatic weapons, this is domestic terrorism. and domestic terrorism and domestic tranquility really cannot coexist. this was to send semiautomatic weapons. >> well, your home state illinois governor pat quinn proposed an assault weapons ban. it comes when they've seen a 35% increase in the homicide rate compared to last year. what impact will this have on violent crime in the past? >> it will have some impact. in the areas, guns and drugs and in iraq it's the opposite. guns out. jobs in. and a budget. we needed such an urban policy within our own country, but you

done have guns sold within chicago. guns are sold -- the guns are sold and manufactured in the suburbs. there's a target market for the guns, and there's a target market for gun trafficking and drug trafficking. until we break the cycle of guns in and drugs and jobs out, we're going to look at an ugly, dangerous bottomless pit. we all deserve more in the security. earlier in the program we told the story of carter. police say he killed himself in the back of a squad car. there are questions surrounding the incident. what do you make of these kinds of incidents that routinely happen to young african-american or other people of color? >> over 100 young african-americans have been killed while still in custody of police or some security officer. in the case in arkansas, here's a young man who they searched twice. all right. who was handcuffed.

they say he shot himself in the right tem l. with his left hand. he was left-handed. the department of justice must happen right now as a deterrent. this is more trayvon martin. >> right, switching gears, and let me for the sake of full disclosure say jesse jackson junior, congressman, was my former student, your beloved son. we know he's battling a serious health concern. can you tell us the latest on your son? >> well, the revelation is they're finding some forms of depression, maybe connected to an intestinal surgery. but that's not conclusive. all we can say is he's under the best of medical supervision. he's resting to regain his strength. and the prayers are appreciated by his family and him very much. >> our prayers g