with a budget shortfall has forced far fewer deputies to look after the ever growing inmate population. i'm john seigenthaler. thanks for watching. if you want a crowd, start a fight. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. one of my rules with politics is if the truth about the politician is better than it appears, they'll come out and tell you. if, however, the truth is worse, the politician will clam up and stay clammed. mitt romney has refused to release his income taxes over the years. all he put out was the 2010 return. he promises to put out his 2011 returns.

what about all the years he was swashbuckling at bain? all the decades he was making the big money? did he pay taxes in those years like regular people? and if not, why not? and harry reid, the democratic senate leader, is now on the hunt for romney. he says romney has not paid federal taxes for ten years at all. romney says put up or shut up. i don't know whether reid is playing sorry. i don't know if he's playing surrogate or what. but he's popping this guy. >> and what he's doing is he's taking up the oxygen. any time that mitt romney is attacking harry reid because mitt romney has not released his taxes, that's a really good day for barack obama. i mean, he's -- this is a tar pit. and harry reid has drawn mitt romney into this tar pit again and again in the last day or two. and he's damned if he does,

damned if he doesn't. >> what if he says i only spent seven years without paying taxes. you were wrong. >> i only paid 5%. >> he has to release the returns. this thing keeps festering. i spoke to romney last week and said, look, balk, if i release them democrats will distort them. they're distorting them already. >> you got close to romney? >> i interviewed him last week. >> we don't. relentless drum beat about the returns are hitting romney. the democrats may have found a way to pry him open and shake something loose in this little kerfuffle. let's listen to harry reid. >> the word is out he hasn't paid any taxes for years. let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't. >> let's talking subtle and carrying a big stick. today on reed's home turf, las vegas, romney hit back. let's listen to him. >> harry reid really has to put up or shut up.

so harry, who are your sources? let's have harry explain who that is. by the way, harry, i understand what you're trying to do, you're trying to deflect the fact that jobs numbers are bad, that americans are out of work and you're trying to throw anything up on the screen that will grab attention away from the fact of the policies of the white house that haven't worked and the senate that haven't got a budget in place for three years. let me also say categorically, i have paid taxes every year and a lot of taxes. a lot of taxes. >> okay. but last night senator reid reinforced his attack releasing a statement saying i was told by an extremely credible source that romney has not paid taxes for ten years. it seems to me what romney is trying to cover up, there's not obama in the economy and all that, but he doesn't want to release his tax returns. why not? >> he does not want -- >> what's he hiding? >> i have no idea what he's hiding. that's the big question. we don't know who is reid's source and until we do it's all

speculation. i saw spunk there from romney saying put up or shut up to reid. but this is not going to go away. romney thinks he can keep talking about other issues. david was right. this keeps -- >> how can a nonpartisan moderator of the debate say -- not that i would have any such influence over -- >> of course not. >> -- nor being selected, but they cannot have asked this question. they have to ask if it's not answered. >> this question is not going away until election day. there's only one way it goes away. that's if he releases taxes. i've been saying this for weeks. why do you go with a slow bleeding wound? because ripping open the chest cavity is worse. and mitt romney is the only guy probably in his campaign who fully knows what's on the taxes. >> let's speculate here, it's fair enough. it seems to be the issue of paying the right amount. if he ends up paying, 25%, 30%,

he's in cover. if he looked like he skated on huge incomes and not paid a reasonable amount -- most americans are looking at a good tax code. >> there are a lot of other things that could be in the tax accounts. swiss bank accounts, offshore havens, getting forgiveness from the swiss accounts. something that may not be legal. >> see attachment 20. >> exactly. not just the rate of return. >> it's not so much what's in the return. we all know mitt romney's wealthy. the issue here is transparency. i think that's the democrats real issue. >> the issue is fairness too. people don't like the idea of people who make money off money not paying the taxes you and i make working. >> if he bet against the housing market, if he paid in overseas taxes rather than american taxes because of dodging. people have been speculating for weeks. this won't stop just because harry reid is getting into a fight. >> harry's got his towel boy working on it, i shouldn't call him that. eric fehrnstrom ramped up the fight when he compared harry

reid to joe mccarthy? let's listen to this one. >> this reminds me of the mccarthy hearings back in the 1950s. it was another son from massachusetts then joseph welch who finally asked the question that should be asked of harry reid which is have you no sense of decency, sir? >> that is the lamest flackery i have ever -- there's no comparison. have you now or ever been a tax avoider? >> how dare you ask me that. >> it goes against the message of boston saying this is a trif frivolous action. if you're comparing it to the mccarthy hearings, it's a serious issue. >> why did george romney give 12 years of taxes? >> harry reid bringing up george romney was a low blow. it gives romney -- >> here's the issue. what's rom northeast' big proposal on the economy? the corporate tax level. [ overlapping speakers ] >> it's a relentless effort to

give a cut at the top. and we find he's already hardly paying taxes. he wants further tax cuts. meanwhile, they want to cut all the entitlements and programs. >> it is inconceivable that you can have a guy worth anywhere from a quarter of billion dollars to a billion dollars who won't give a somewhat full explanation of where that money came from and how he got it and what he's done with the money how it might be impacted by his presidential decision. >> they started by saying, p.t. barnum, give credit to him, i always do that, p.t. barnum, if you want to start a crowd, start a fight. it was a great technique before tv and radio and all that. it was a great technique before tv, radio and all that, but here's my question. why would mitt romney get into a fistfight with harry reid? >> it's a mistake from romney's part. harry drew him into the fight. wanting him to not talk about the jobs report today. it seems like it was democratic strategy. >> there was no basis for that strategy. >> he first could have done it

with no basis to that. >> this is a fight that mitt romney cannot win. he can try to duck it. he can't do that successfully. when he tries to make the issue, harry reid's source rather than his own taxes. it's a bad strategy. it's not going to work. this impression that he's not transparent about his personal finances, he won't explain the details of his tax policy, it's all the same thing. >> let's look at someone trying to get the information out of him. romney does not give an inch on this question. even when asked broad questions on tax rates, speculative questions, he doesn't. let's listen. >> we know that there was one year when you paid about a 13.9% tax rate. can we clear this up by asking you a simple yes or no question? was there every any year when you paid lower than the 13.9%? >> i haven't calculated that. i'm happy to go back and look, but my view is i have paid all the taxes required by law. >> was that funny? why was he laughing?

as far as we know, romney has not updated abc news on his taxes. that was an abc report. let me ask you this. why does he make that idiot kind of laugh when making a point about his taxes? >> chris, i'm not going to comment on the laugh. >> i think it's a nervous laugh. >> i talk to republicans all the time. when they see an answer like that they say the same thing to me, why wasn't he prepared for this? these questions were always going to come. that's the question on the right. >> you know what? >> give the laugh a break. >> you guys were on the right. and the guys in the party should have maybe been tougher in the primaries when people were raising these issues and he was ducking then, realizing that if he couldn't answer it back then, he'd have a hard er time in the general election. >> how come santorum didn't jump on this? >> conservatives were pushing for this but it wasn't an issue. they're talking about who's

better to beat obama. >> not who's the best accountant. i think what he's done is stepped on what could have been a fairly good story today which is the unemployment rate went up to 8.3%. he didn't. he focused on his own economic mystery story which is good in politics. we always want the rest of the story. why did we get mad for pardoning nixon? he closed the books on watergate. we didn't want the books closed, we wanted to find out what happened. thank you david corn and robert costa. coming up, mitt romney may not have shown much in recent weeks but he thought he could always count an a bad economic report to boy him up. he didn't get it today. thought not the way he likes it. also if you think you've seen a lot of political ads lately, just wait. will flood a handful of swing markets. up to the end despite being outspent over the past month, it's obama's ads that seem to be connecting. and republican steve king, king of the crazies, he's defending dogfighting from a

concrete wall to separate the u.s. and mexico. more birther conspiracies out of his mouth. that's just in the last few days. king of the crazies. and who says the entertainment industry hates republicans? mitt romney just got an endorsement from jenna jameson. she's the star of the movies you don't take your mom to. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ lane ] your anti-wrinkle cream is gone. but what about your wrinkles. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it has the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce wrinkles

in just one week. "why wait if you don't have to." rapid wrinkle repair. neutrogena®. recommended most by dermatologists. well, the u.s. congress is going on summer recess and leaves town with a distinction of being the least popular and least productive congress in modern american history. that might not improve any time soon. that's because two more freshman republicans won their primaries last night in tennessee making the historic 87 member freshman class of last year two years ago the republican party undefeated in primaries this year. in other words, all those right

wingers elected with tea party support in 2010 are staying on. we'll be right back. [ feedback ] attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today.

welcome back to "hardball." it's been a bad few weeks for mitt romney and his campaign and it showed in recent polls. the obama campaign has hammered romney on his taxes and his big trip overseas, highlighting one big gaffe by him after another. yet for the past few months his one big trump card has been on the first friday of each month he's been able to refocus the conversation on the bad economy. based on the government's jobs report. well, today we got new numbers. and unfortunately for romney, and fortunately for obama, they were better than expected. the government added, counted 163,000 new jobs in july, a dramatic increase from july which was about 60 some. the unemployment inched up to 8.3% but that's because more were in the labor force trying to get work. the markets weighed in and gave

their approval. the dow jones responding to the economic news up 200 points in the dow. that's after getting the economic news of today. this morning mitt romney and president obama both responded to the news in their separate ways. let's watch. >> we just got a new number from the unemployment report. it's another hammer blow to the struggling middle class families of america. because the president has not had policies that put american families back to work. i do. i'll put them in place and get america working again. >> we haven't had to come back from an economic crisis this deep or this painful since the 1930s. here's the thing. we are not going to get there. we're not going to get to where we need to be if we go back to the policies that helped to create this mess in the first place. >> so as we enter a critical period of the presidential race, the question is what does this mean for romney's campaign. mark hall rin is a political

analyst for msnbc. eugene robinson is a political analyst for msnbc. mark, this number, i meant what i said. normally romney if he can make it to the first friday of the month, he's in good shape. right now, i think it's a little better than mixed. 163,000 new jobs compared to about 60,000 last month. more people trying to get work which is a good sign in a weird bay, but the rate did go up to 8.3. i'm looking at the dow and the verdict was very positive today. >> well, chris, in washington and new york we can talk about those numbers and imagine what they'll do to the electorate. i think the president can win with the economy this bad. that's a bit of a change in the cw from what i thought before, but what matters is how people are experiencing the economy. whether it's 160,000 or 40,000. whether it's 8.3% or 8.2%, i don't think that matters as much as how people are experiencing things. i think the romney campaign is right, people can continue to experience the economy as weak and continue to worry that businesses are reluctant to invest until they see more

certainty about europe, about the fiscal crisis and about what direction washington is going to go. >> what strikes me is we keep looking at polls and you would think romney from a business background and being the potential relief pitcher here, he doesn't do much better than the president in the match-ups on who can deal with the economy. >> no, he hasn't really made the sale on the central thesis, really, of his candidacy, which is that he can fix the economy. and obama can't. but he can. why hasn't he made that sale? well, we know where his favorable ratings are. we know that he hasn't been specific and to the extent he has been specific, those policies sound familiar. i actually think the whole question of his personal finances comes into play, too. if there's something he won't tell us about that, what is he not telling us? >> yeah. murky. >> if he doesn't make that leap, i frankly don't see how he wins this election. >> let's look at the latest new york times quinnipiac poll. in three key battleground

states, obama and romney are neck and neck on who do voters trust to do a better job on the economy? look at those numbers. they are pretty even, mark. i think that's amazing because you think obama has the strength of foreign policy, to an extent, he's more likable. we'll get to that in a minute. and he's the income bent, with the economy has week as it's been, a challenger would always look better. >> i think this is always going to come down to one thing assuming the economy didn't improve, could chicago knock out mitt romney and make him unacceptable? they've done a good job for the last two and a half months putting things in that direction. i think to some extent the election is going to come down to on the personal side on the question of dealing with the economy, romney's v.p. choice, convention sites and debates. if he hits his marks in those on the personal side and on the economic side, i think he'll win and the obama campaign is going continue to do what they can to

throw him off the stride to make it harder for romney day to day to be ready for those big moments. >> let me ask you. do you think he could win an election in the summer when nobody's really watching? in other words, what he did back in his re-election. can you do that in a presidential election, knock him out of the box before labor day? >> i think you can. i don't think they've done it. they've done serious damage to him. there have been many days in the last two and a half months where the discussion wasn't about the president's record on the economy, but it was about mitt rom northeast' finances, ability mitt romney's policies. the democrats could argue the country would like even less than what the president's done. i don't think they've knocked him out. i think they've laid down a solid foundation. if romney hits his marks, the convention speech debates. i think he probably would win. but i think the president and his allies and staff are doing and will continue to do a pretty aggressive job defining the election on their terms.

making mitt romney the unacceptable alternative. >> can we knock the guy out even if you have a fantastic august blasting the guy? can you knock him out of the ring he can't come back no matter what he does? >> i think you can. i don't think the obama campaign has definitively knocked him out. he's not knocked out. i think he's been damaged. look, obama won the summer. he has won the summer. romney wants to win the fall. >> i love the way they do this. i didn't think you could do it in a presidential election this early. let's look at the usa today gallup poll out last month on who is more likable. twice as many people say the president. i don't know how you can render an opinion on romney. he doesn't seem to have a public personality. i've heard different views of what he's like in private. he doesn't show a personality. >> well, the obama campaign has gone out of its way to give him a personality, to give him an unattractive personality. he's a selfish rich guy who laid you off. >> that's true.

>> that's the image they're trying to point. romney did not define himself. therefore the obama campaign has got to define him in the minds of the voters. i think that's dangerous for mitt romney. he's going to have to hit some marks. >> perfect execution. what i wonder -- let me ask you mark, quickly, this thing about personality, you sort of have it or you don't. george herbert walker bush didn't seem to have one until the convention that he delivered a speech that he delivered so eloquently and poignantly. are they working on that? >> there are analogs he has to do it. on this election i think bill clinton's selection of al gore. al gore's selection of lieberman. i think those showed personality at the top of the ticket. in terms of the debates, i think

bush 2000 is the analog the romney campaign should look at. he showed a lot of personality in those debates, made people more comfortable with him. the private romney is definitely more engaging and personable than he's been able to show. it's those three moments, if he can perform in those three moments in the economy and personality. >> you grabbed me there naming lieberman for the highest offices in the country. i don't know what effected the electorate college and all but it did show guts. i remember saying at the time this is ricky trying something new. you think there's still a chance that litd will name someone sort of revolutionary or really cutting edge? >> i think it is how he presents it. if you present it in the right way, clinton picking gore was a bit of a surprise for sure, but it is how the event goes, how you talk about why you made the choice. if romney does that in an effective way, just as the way gore showed something about himself when he picked lieberman, not just because of the pick but the perception, that's the analog they want to follow along with clinton's

election of gore. >> i love this stuff. as my son in acting says action defines characters. you have to take steps to show who you are. thanks to you both. is rush limbaugh spreading more conspiracy theories of president obama or making fun of harry reid? the latest from the underwater walrus. there's rush. look, he makes fun of himself. this is "hardball," the place for politics. i am not a vegetarian... look at these teeth! they're made for meat! do i look like i'm stalking plants? [ male announcer ] most dry foods add plant protein, like gluten

but iams never adds gluten. iams adds 50% more animal protein, yum! [ male announcer ] ...a naturally complete protein source. look at this body! under this shiny coat is a lean, mean purring machine [ male announcer ] iams. not just food, nutrition for life. i'm an iams cat. feed me what i'm born to eat. meow.

the world is gripped with olympic fever and i have got it bad. i caught it from a horse. the romney's olympic dressage steed rafalca. yesterday was rafalca's first day of competition and she crushed it. power prancing to a score of 70.243. that is unheard of. in that i have never heard a

dressage score. >> well, in case you're not a dressage enthusiast, rafalca came in 30th out of 50 in round one of individual dr, dressage. will ferrell proved to us his signature political imexpress is still very much intact. >> i'm glad i'm done with the circus. it's a real circus out there. forget about it. >> well, want to know what ferrell's first and only open counter was like. he recounted the experience on conan. it was during the president's run-up to the 2000 election. >> the white house press is all around him and the campaign press i mean. they go up and say hello. so i'm like hi, mr. governor. thanks so much. he's like, pleased to meet you. and i could tell he has no idea who i am. he's just looking at me like --

>> looking at you. >> is this a long week for you? the show, is it hard work? i think he thought i was a crew member or something. i just said, nice to meet you. he was like, yeah. and i walked away and i think he added it up later. >> oh, he added it up. >> yeah, he did. >> that was before bush was even in office. ferrell had the w impression i think for the history books. best ever. and mitt romney scores another endorsement. hold off on the duo making a joint appearance for more reasons than one. it's jenna jameson known in some circles as queen of porn. she voiced her support for romney yesterday at a san francisco strip club. her word of support for romney, quote, i'm very looking forward to a republican being back in office. when you're rich, you want to have a republican in office, closed quote. that's exactly what president obama's been saying romney's for the rich. maybe miss jameson should stick to acting. while we're on the subject,

politico reports that one republican leader is worried about the prevalence of strip clubs in tampa where they're going to be holding their convention later this month. "the new york times" this month quoted strip club owners saying republicans spend three times more than democrats in such establishments. finally, how did rush apply to harry reid's speculation that mitt romney did not pay taxes for a decade? when it comes to rush, if it's not a birther conspiracy theory it has to do with the president's college transcripts. if you think that has nothing to do with the reid-romney feud, listen to rush talking about a phone call he says he got during a break on his radio show. >> i got on the phone. somebody, i don't know who it was, said they went to school with barack obama at harvard. and the guy told me that obama got the lowest grades that any

harvard graduate ever got and that a bunch of professors gave him bs and cs when he didn't show up to class. i'm corroborating it now, i'll telling you now. so i am calling on barack obama to release his harvard transcripts. based on this i got a call. >> what a joke. he won the distinction of being editor of the harvard law review. the first african-american to do that in a blind test. in other words, the whole proceeding in which you get it turning in essays and scores and all that information is done without your name on it. and certainly not your ethnic group. rush is completely -- well, he's a wind bag on this one. see what i mean? touting an anonymous call. saying somebody called in that obama got the worst grades at harvard but got bs and cs. you don't get cs at harvard. that's too big a stretch even for rush.

he's once again bringing the president's transcripts into debate over romney's taxes? there's a connection. up next, spending dirty angry money to control his campaign. despite being outspent, the obama campaign's ads seem to be connecting with voters. that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc.

hey, there, i'm veronica de la cruz. here's what's happening. temperatures were searing in oklahoma where a series of wildfires were burning. it was a record-breaking 113 degrees yesterday. more than 100 u.n. members voted to condemn the syrian government for the escalation of prices there but russia, one of syria's closest allies called the measure harmful. and authorities say a blown tire caused the deadly crash of a double-decker bus in southern

illinois. and now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." swing states are being hammered with political ads this summer. if you look at the past month, the pro-romney forces and the campaign and the super pacs are outspending the obama people. the koch groups, america for prosperity plans an ad buy to begin next week. should the obama campaign be worried? it seems despite all those republican dollars spent, romney isn't inching up in the polls. let's bring in our strategists who are ad makers. the ad men i must call them. democrat steve mcmahon and republican todd harris. gentlemen, you are both gentlemen. this campaign right now, look at the differential, why is not

paying dirt? why is your dirt money, you're not getting pay dirt on the romney side. what are you doing wrong? >> the fact is you can reach a point of diminishing returns with advertising budgets. and what you have on the romney side over the last few months of about 150 million in pro-romney, anti-obama spending. about 130 million on the democratic side. which for the average poor bastard that has to sit and watch all of these. >> is that how you talk with your friends? you swore. are you talking about how in secret romney is really a charming fellow? in public you're gross. >> that's right. for the average person who has to watch these, it's the equivalent of being overtaken by a tidal wave or an avalanche. they are both getting bombarded -- >> how come -- we went out in iowa. i compared the bombing in world war ii. it worked. it blew away santorum. how do you say ads don't work in

presidential campaigns? >> here's what happens. the more you know, the less they work. and the less you know, the more they work. the reason president obama's ads are working against mitt romney. he was ahead two weeks ago in ohio and florida. he's now behind in both of the states because they're introducing new and relevant information. it's relevant because it's about the economy he'd create. and it's troubling. >> that's something i'm learning. i was reading the pre-interviews. that's fascinating. it doesn't do good to pound the old arguments. if you come up with something brand new, like we do here every night, it works. here's a new ad by obama and his people. released it this week set to run in eight swing states attacking mitt romney on his tax returns. or lack thereof. let's watch. >> we work hard, stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. 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 raise taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he plays less. you pay more. >> why did he put in -- maybe you can help me. why did they do the product placement. what was the trump plane behind him? what was that about? >> it's delivering message. audio and video at the same time. it's bad news if you're mitt romney or an independent voter who thinks he's a bone head. that's a great ad. the reason it is a great ad is it does three things effectively. new information relevant to the conversation and leverages a concern people have both about the economy and where mitt romney would take it. it's a very effective ad. >> i thought it's classic class warfare. an argument they tried to prosecute earlier this year and didn't work. they're coming back to it now.

i don't think it's working. >> look in florida. >> what kind of an ad campaign would you run if you were obama? the economy is better than you think? >> i think the ad is the most effective attack on obama has put on romney is romney in his own words. you know, whatever the gaffe was, they put that sequence of gaffes together in one spot. >> the romney campaign put out this ad attacking the president in florida. let's watch that one. >> four years ago barack obama was concerned about florida's economy. >> when wages are flat, more and more americans are mired in debt. our economy as a whole suffers. >> but under president obama, 8.6% unemployment, record foreclosures, 600,000 more floridians in poverty. he focused on obama care instead of jobs. barack obama, what a disappointment. >> that's bleak. >> yeah. do you know why that ad isn't working for them? there's no information in there

that's new. the president is expressing his concern about the economy in 2008. they're saying the economy isn't good today. everyone knows that. but people don't blame president obama the same way -- >> i don't know about the foreclosures. they came from the financial crash. >> the purpose of that spot, though, was not to deliver a factoid. it was to deliver an idea and an emotion. but it doesn't have to be new. the idea is while people are out of work and what people are suffering, the president has been off chasing this extreme agenda. whether it's obama care or -- >> do you think the country is in that bad of a mood as the ad is? i wouldn't say we're in a good mood. but that ad was bleak. >> that was an ad from florida. >> is it worse down there? >> in florida they're worse. >> you guys are running that pace. two republican senators and a governor with most of the delegation, blame it on the

dems. mother jones reported today on the group. two left leaning groups that showed the tiny fractions of americans spending big money on super pacs this year. this is educational for us. 1,082 people made up 94 october of contributions by all contributions in a 2012 election cycle. this number is devastating. just 47 of those people who each donated a million dollars or more actually account for more than half of the super pac giving. i'm going too to put you on the defense. here we have 140 senators but only 47 characteristic or thes now are running this show. they put -- they are giving the lions share of all the money going to super pacs. 47 guys, maybe some women, are calling the shots in the presidential election. you think that's good for the super packs? >> no. but guess whose fault this is. off of this so-called campaign reform that says an individual can give as much as they want but a political party is capped at this paltry amount of money

that is not enough to do anything in any modern day campaign. that's the problem. >> what's the issue here? i think these people are fanatical. >> the political party is a distinction of the differences. these are all republicans, 98% of them are republicans. and they're all people worried about their estate taxes going up. >> if you turned on the tv in one of these key states during the campaign now to november 6th or whatever it is? >> november 6, yeah. >> you're going to hear money thrown at you by 47 people. >> 150 million on one side, 130 million on the other. we are not talking about the republicans in the romney campaign significantly outgunning the democrats. it's not just happening. the numbers speak for themselves. >> what i know is this. romney won't tell us the tax returns. the rich people on your side won't tell who's giving money to the campaigns. that's consistent. thank you, steve mcmahon, thank you, todd harris.

you're hiding something. up next, steve king. the king of the crazies. a heck of a week this week. he's done everything from defending dog fighting to suggesting president obama's mother telegraphed news of his birth from kenya to look like he was born -- he's a nut. he's a nut. this is "hardball," the place for politics. wç

well, the romney spokesman who told reporters among other things to shove it is taking time off from the campaign. i love the way this is done. abc was first to report the news that rick gorka would take a

break. earlier in the week, gorka was involved in this infamous dust up with reporters. >> governor romney! >> governor romney, do you have a statement for the palestinians? >> what about your gaffe? >> governor romney do you feel your gaffes have overshadowed your trip? >> show some respect. show some respect this is a holy site for the polish people. show some respect. >> i love the juxtaposition. kiss my -- this is a holy site. put those thoughts together. no word on when gorka will return to the campaign. who knows? we'll be back.

we're back. congressman stephen king of iowa is known for making controversial statements but by crazy standards he's had a heck of a week. in just the past few days he's questioned why dog fights are illegal. and why culturalists push the idea that diversity has made our country strong. he doesn't believe in that. he also floated the idea maybe obama's mom sent a telegram from kenya to hawaiian newspapers 51 years ago to announce her son's birth inaccurately. is this guy for real? ron reagan is a contributor and author of "my father at 100." and liz, she's the author of

"liz free or die." liz, thanks for joining us. in a recent town hall, steve king from iowa answered a question from someone who wanted to know why he opposed legislation to make it legal to attend dogfights. let's watch what the congressman said. >> when the legislation that passed in the farm bill, that said it's a federal crime to watch animals fight or to induce someone tols watch an animal fight, but it's not a federal crime to induce somebody to watch people fighting or something wrong with the priorities of people that think like that. >> what do you make of this guy, this character? >> well, it's so interesting because he went on to say all these crazy things about kidnapping children and taking them across state lines and then dropping them off at a playground, which actually is illegal in all 50 states. i think somebody like this, he's gone out of his way to vote against any kind of bill that has anything to do with protecting animals. and after a while, you think, a,

what did an animal do to him? and b, i think he watches those aspca ads with the dogs in the crates like other people watch porn. it's insane! >> what's this, the michael vick fan club? what are we talking about here? this guy wants to go further in this direction, he wants to legalize dogfighting, cockfighting, under the theory that's just as bad or no worse than people fighting except for the obvious difference. people decide to go into boxing. >> well, exactly the point. but it is easy to make fun of steve king. >> and i intend to. >> it is easy to make fun of the steve kings of the world. if olympics was a competition, maybe not the gold, but he would be on the medal stand. maybe he's on to something with the dogfighting. maybe he's really saying we aught to make it el legal to watch people fight just like dogs. your point was the right one,

dogs don't choose, people do. >> listen, they also don't fight people after they lose. >> king's comments were distorted and he tried to explain what he meant. you won't believe this. take a look. >> what i said is that we need to respect humans more than we do animals. whenever we start elevating animals up to above that of humans, we have crossed a moral line. for example, if there's a sexual predator out there who has impregnated a young girl, say a 13-year-old girl, and it happens in america more times than you and i would like to think, that sexual predator can pick that girl up off the playground at the middle school and haul her across the state line and force her to get an abortion to irradicate the evidence of his crime and bring her back and drop her off at the swing set. and that's not against the law in the united states of america. >> you know, i don't know where to begin, but i'm guessing that has something to do with the

pro-life position, but nobody can be kidnapped, raped, it is at least statutory and then somehow the young girl would never bring evidence against him because she has no brains at all. he said, took her back to the swing she was swinging on at the playground. what does he mean here? >> i don't know. that's what is so insane about him. and just to top it off n his big week, he then goes on, he's hammering home the fact we need english as the national language. he apparently speaks english and i have no idea what he's saying. >> i would like to have a spot check with a u.s. congressman and make him take the immigration exam, the naturalization exam, and answer questions. your thoughts? >> that would be great. he's warning us of the epidemic of legal rape and kidnapping going on all over the place. i thought it was illegal, you probably thought it was illegal, too. >> it is called the man act.

anyway, at the same town hall, he talked about dogfighting. king also took a question from a birther asking why he isn't investigating obama's eligibility to be president. here we go again. he went back into it again and here's his theory. let's listen. >> we went down to the library of congress and we found a microfish there of two newspapers, the only two in hawaii, each of them published the birth of barack obama. it would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of barack obama being born in hawaii and get that into our public libraries in the microfiche they keep the newspapers published. they may announce that in a telegram from kenya. the list goes on. >> i have another explanation, you, sir, are insane. thank you, ron reagan, lizz winston, thank you for joining us tonight. we'll be right back. but what about your wrinkles. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair.

it has the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to visibly reduce wrinkles in just one week. "why wait if you don't have to." rapid wrinkle repair. neutrogena®. recommended most by dermatologists.

let me finish tonight with this. it's about the king of the crazies. u.s. congressman steve king, republican of iowa. so he goes through the records, documents the newspaper announcements of barack obama's birth in hawaii, but continues to push the birther case. this maker of laws continues to maintain the president of the united states wasn't born in the united states, that somehow a white woman from kansas married a guy from kenya, then went with him to kenya to have the baby they named barack hussein obama with the purpose of the kid

growing up to become the american president. she did this with the cooperation of the secret service. any sane person would ask the question, if this woman from kansas had this idea to have her son elected president, would she, a, marry a guy from east africa, b, schedule the baby's delivery in east africa, c, take the boy with her to indonesia for several years and d, create a false paper travel including birth announcements that state the child's birth in a state far from the american mainland. the king of the crazies has an interesting way of thinking. he asks why everyone would outlaw dog fighting or cock fighting or anything like it when we allow humans to fight. is there a trick question? humans decide to fight. animals are thrown into an arena, perhaps in someone's garage, and prodded into fighting. is that difference too cool for school? he says a sexual predator can impregnate a