>> that tent is an increasingly scary and rowdy play. iron carmon gets the last word. thanks for joining us. watch the very last word on lastword@msnbc.com, and you can always follow my tweets. and we are back on the@alexwagn. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 90 days before the 2012 election. a hard-hitting commercial has mitt romney's campaign on the path towards self-destruction. the facts are getting in the way for romney. this is "the ed show," let's get to work. >> she passed away in 22 day. i don't think mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. >> a hard-hitting campaign against mitt romney. >> republicans are jumping all over the romney camp's response.

>> that's the potential gold mine. >> united steel worker and political analyst howard fineman is here with the politics. president obama arrives in colorado to highlight romney's archaic stance on women's rights. >> he said he would take the affordable care act and kill it dead. >> tonight, sandra on the republican-led war on women. mitt romney has this guy hitting the president on welfare reform. >> you're calling mitt romney a liar? >> well, you seem shocked by it. yes. >> "the washington post," e.j.dionne is here with the latest. and republican golden boy, paul ryan, is on mitt romney's short list. i'll tell you why romney would be a good pick for romney but a better pick for the democrats.

>> good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. a major conservative opinion maker says today is the moment mitt romney lost the election in it all started with a television program, featuring the story of a former missouri steel worker. >> i don't think mitt romney understands what he's done to people's lives by closing the plant. i don't think he realizes that people's lives completely changed. when mitt romney and bain closed the plant, i lost my health care and my family lost their health care and a short time after that my wife became ill. i don't know how long she was sick and i think maybe she didn't say anything because she knew we couldn't afford the insurance. and then one day she became ill and i took her up to the jackson county hospital and admitted her for a pneumonia. that's when they found the cancer. by then it was stage 4.

there was nothing they could do for her. and she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. and i furthermother do not think that mitt romney is concerned. >> reaction from the right wing has been predictable. on fox news, several personalities said the democrats were accusing mitt romney of murder. >> what we're seeing is a really morally bankrupt charge of murder and it really couldn't be imagined or envisioned in any free state. >> they actually, with a straight face, attempt to make this argument which is beneath contempt and does not deserve a dignified response. >> the impression is, after you watch it, mitt romney kind of killed that guy's wife. >> if you think this ad says mitt romney killed a woman, you're missing the point and the whole argument the way this is being played out. this ad is a testimonial from one individual. joe soptok believes his life was

affected negatively. here's what we know for sure. in 1999, bain capital bake the majority shareholder of gst steel. mitt romney left to run the olympics in 1999 but remained ceo and chairman of bain. by 2001, gst steel declared bankruptcy. it is plant in kansas city was closed. from 1999 to 2003, bain capital made profit from gst steel. bain lost mog but joe lost his job and insurance. his wife had a job but lost it a few years later along with her insurance. we have no idea if joe's wife would be alive if he kept his job at gst steel. but we do know this. we know how he feels. joe soptok is not stepping down

from his opinion. he told cnn today, that's the way i feel. mitt romney is a very rich man. i don't think he has any concept as to how when you close a big company how it affects people, how it affects families and communities. you know, it affects everyone. we are not going to deny this worker, this american worker, joe soptok's opinion. voters should be able to make their own decision about mitt romney's business activities and what they mean if he becomes president of the united states. i believe mitt romney's business history cuts right to the heart of what he brings to the table economically to this country if he's president. the soptoks got stuck in the backwash of an economic model where the rich benefit at the expense of workers in this country and everyone else. mitt romney's campaign knows how bad this is. today his spokeswoman went on fox news and tried to defend romney's policies by bringing up health care reform. >> to that point, you know, if people had been in massachusetts

under governor romney's health care plan, they would have had health care. a lot of people are losing their jobs and losing their health care in president obama's economy. >> now, let's back up a second here. joe soptok's wife would have had health care if she lived in massachusetts thanks to mitt romney? the united states now has the same health care plan as the state of massachusetts. but here's what mitt romney wants to do with the u.s. health care plan. >> what the court did not do in its last day in session, li do on my first day if elected president of the united states. that s. i will act to repeal obama care. >> the true leader of the republican party was not happy when he heard the comments from romney's spokeswoman.

they can say, yeah, romney care was the found dags for our plan. >> right wingers also freaked about the romney camp's statement. oh, my god. this might just be the moment mitt romney lost the election. wow. this is why the story of someone like joe soptok is so very powerful but conditions leading to his wife's death was brought on by a system that did not account a society to leave their job and barack obama himself has told this story from a very personal level. >> when my mom got cancer, she wasn't a wealthy woman. it pretty much drained all of her resources. >> she developed ovarian cancer, never really had good, consistent insurance.

>> as of 20 oh 14, all americans will have access to affordable health care in this country. mitt romney, he wants to get rid of that. joe soptok's story is not about character assassination. it's about a real-life story. there are a lot of soptoks out there in american. this election will decide whether there will be more stories like joe's or fewer. i think the media people out there across the country to get on their high horse and say, well, the obama team, they need to disevow themselves. really? no, they need to embrace it. this is happening to workers who lose their jobs thanks to the vultures at the top who want to make more of a profit. we just move them around and when we get rid of them, we get rid of it. let me tell you something, folks. this is what this ee lengtlecti all about. this is what barack obama's presidency has been about, to get more people covered so the

soptok isn't common places for people in america. you heard it today from romney's spokeswoman. she said that that person would have health care if she had lived in massachusetts but then mitt romney says he's going to repeal health care and strike it down. will the real mitt romney please stand up? no, this is a perfect ad at the perfect time and this is exactly what this election is all about. the haves and the have-nots, who calls the shots. get your cell phones out. tonight's question, are republican economic policies dangerous for working class americans? text a for yes, text b to no to 66239. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by leo gerard. mr. gerard, great to have you with us tonight. is this story commonplace? does it ring true for people in this country that work with

their hands? >> it absolutely rings true. the business model that mitt romney has promoted is one where he makes a lot of wealth at the expense of all of the people and as we talk about the gst steel, joe soptok was one of our members and we tried to work like crazy to load this company up with debt, put as into around the corporation's neck so when the economy started to go side ways, they put the company in bankruptcy. they fired all of the workers. similar to what they did to utilities in florida. in america, when you lose your job, you lose your health care. that's what president obama is trying to fix. >> after hearing joe's story, mr. gerard, do you think this is below the belt, the use of this story in an ad? they say it's slanderous? >> absolutely not. absolutely not. i think this is a story that joe

soptic has about what it did to his and him family and there's probably many people like that who have had their lives destroyed, removed the inability to get health care, the inability to send their kids to college because we've outsourced and outshored millions of jobs in this country. >> what are you saying to the right wingers who say she got sick three years after that plant closed. my next answer is he would have worked the next 20 years if given the chance. >> joe and many others would have worked there 30, 35, and 40 years and they would have had decent health cares and pensions and had a chan to send their kids to school. the bain capital, the romney economic model is one where they get wealthy at the ex tense of the every day working folks and, ed, only in america of the stylized countries when you lose your job, do you lose your health care. and that's what president obama has fixed and that's what is making these guys apeleptic.

we've got to understand that the bain/romney model, wealth accumulation, is one that destroys other people's lives and if he was so sure of what he's done, let him stand np front of those people. why didn't he leave those people with their health care? it wouldn't have mattered much to him. he was already a millionaire. and why doesn't he show his taxes? >> thank you very much. >> i'm ticked off about him. >> many americans are. now let's turn to howard fineman. howard, the politics of this, was this a big misstep by the romney camp and their response to this ad to compare it to health care in massachusetts, the very health care plan that now, if he's president, he wants to strike down mitt romney? >> well, i think it was a telling response, a revealing one, and i think a problematic one for the romney campaign. democrats and others who support president obama are asking,

well, wait a minute. do you, mr. romney, believe that everybody should have access to health care, be guaranteed access to health care? because you're sort of saying that this person would have had it in massachusetts. whereas on the right, as you pointed out, a lot of commentators and people in the tea party are saying, wait a minute, the romney camp sounds like it actually secretly likes romney care. so which is it? and i think the fact that andrea saw who is pretty high up in the hierarchy there in boston having been up there, i know how it operates. she wasn't freelancing, i don't think. i think she was giving a defense that reveals the contradictions in mitt romney's career and in his candidacy. >> but it seems like they were really caught flat-footed by this and didn't have the proper response for it because it's such a true story. >> yes. >> this isn't a political shot at somebody. this is exactly what happened to a guy who lost his job and what

happened to his family. >> right. and it was an interesting response by the romney camp because, as i say, it reveals the contradictions in his candidacy and in mitt romney's career. which is he? is he the guy who at one point essentially made a commitment to seeing that everybody in massachusetts had access to health care? or is he the guy who wants to get rid of obama care which is essentially the same thing? >> howard -- >> that's why conservatives are upset and that's why the left is paying notice. >> howard, thank you for being with us. answer tonight's question at the bottom of your screen and share your thoughts at t"the ed show" and on facebook. sandra joins us to talk about the election, women voters and rush limbaugh. stay tuned. when skin meets god. romance happens. confidence happens. ♪ when skin meets goddess,

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heads to colorado and turns the

focus on women's issues. sandra, one of the women at the rights, is my exclusive guest, next. and newt gingrich. i'll ask e.j. deon how far republicans can take this latest line. and michigan is the latest state to block the vote. share your thoughts on twitter and facebook using. where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. 20 million men already have. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help

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when it comes to a woman's right to make health care choices, they want to take us to the policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century. >> president obama on the campaign trail in denver, colorado. this comes just a week after expanded coverage for women took effect under the affordable care act, preventive care, cancer screenings, and counseling are now more accessible for millions of women at no cost. >> i don't think your boss should get to control the health care that you get. i don't think insurance companies should control the care that you get. i don't think politicians should control the care that you get. i think there's one person to make these decisions on health care and that is you. >> the president was introduced by georgetown law school graduate sandra foot. republicans blocked foot from

testifying about contraception earlier this year. rush limbaugh attacked this american, calling her a prostitute. now limbaugh wants credit for his insults. >> when i say the name sandra flunk, what's the first thing that pops in your name? my name is what most people think of. i should be getting a finder's fee. >> after she was smeared by limbaugh. >> mr. romney could only say that those weren't the words he would have chosen. well, mr. romney, you're not going to be the candidate we choose. because if mr. romney can't stand up to extreme voices in his own party, then we know he'll never stand up for us. >> let's bring in sandra tonight, attorney and women's rights activists who hit the campaign trailier today with

president obama. sandra, nice to have you with us tonight. you're in the mix of it no doubt. krista cafer, director of a conservative group, says president obama's approach to women's rights is instults and what is your thought about that? >> that is complete plea incorrect. i was trying to talk to the women of colorado about the important choice that we have in this election, an approach that has moved us forward on women's access to preventative care and health care and making sure it's affordable for all of us, versus a candidate who has absolutely promised to take us backward, to and that's why we were there, to make sure that it was clear that this affordable care act has economic consequences for women and is so vital to both our

health security and economic security as well. >> there's a misconception out there, i believe, that women's health care is just about contraception and reproductive rights. how do you change that point of view? how do you change that thinking? >> i think we all have to talk to those women that we know to make sure that they understand that the affordable care act has delivered so many services for women, well women visits, screening for guest tags small diabetes when we're pregnant, cancer screenings, hiv screenings, all of the essential affordable health care that we need and i think it's also important that we begin to talk about it, not juch as an issue for women but an issue for all of us because women's health affects the health of the women that they bear and a new poll shows obama is trailing mitt romney in colorado but he's still ahead with women voters. how confident are you that the

swing state women were going to be coming out, supporting this president in november which many people, analysts are saying that this could be a huge factor in the election? >> yeah. i'd have to say that after today i'm feeling very confident. you can tell from some of the footage that you've played that that was a packed auditorium and those people were fired up. and the biggest applause and cheers were when i talked about what affordable care act will do. women won't have to pay more for insurance just because they are women and the auditorium goes crazy, these are people who understand the difference that these policies make in their lives and they are ready to fight for a president who has fought for them. >> rush limbaugh wants a finder's fee for putting you in the limelight. i think he's probably mixing up his facts when it comes to just exactly how you splashed on the naonal scene. it was the democrats, if i recall, who asked to you testify

in front of a committee and you were denied by darrell issa. but limb limbaugh wants a finder fee because his name is associated with you. what are your thoughts? >> i think it's interesting to take credit for a woman's whose voice you tried to silence. women really care about access to the health care they need and they care about all of us having that health care. >> sandra fluke, good to have you on "the ed show." thank you so much. >> thanks. coming up, this could be a new low. if there is one. a new low for newt gingrich. he used to be one of romney's biggest critics. now he's become romney's biggest fan. find out why. then, congressman paul ryan and his immoral budget are at the top of romney's vp short list, both democrats and republicans are saying go baby

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching. the romney campaign is standing by its welfare whopper. in fact, mitt romney is unleashing the perfect junk yard dog to defend his latest lie. newt gingrich has suddenly become a spokesperson.

he's defending the claim that president obama is relaxing welfare to work requirements. the romney campaign camp has started running this ad in heavy rotation nationwide. the ad, which we won't show because -- look, it's blatantly untrue. it claims that president obama is gutting welfare and handing out checks to people who don't want to work. almost every major news outlet debunked the ad within hours from it is debut. here's the facts. romney was one of the governors who was asked for the reform. now, governors in utah and nevada plan to use this new waiver being offered by the obama administration. both governors told greg sergeant "the washington post" that they would not reduce the welfare to work requirements in their states. the republicans are left with no substance to make the argument. so they are just relying on pure

politics. >> unless you make it a mandatory work requirement, it would get waived to a point where it would become a joke. this is a very real issue. the american people overwhelmingly believe in the work ethic. >> so there you have the real argument. if republicans can give the waivers to republican governors and destroy the safety net, it's okay. but if president obama requires states to prove they are moving people from wealth fawelfare to work, that's not good enough. let's turn to msnbc contributor e.j. dionne, author of the book, "our divided political heart." thank you for joining us tonight. i want to point out the vast majority of states in this country are running deficits and if you turn money over to governors with a waiver, the last thing they want to do is hand it out to people who don't want to work. so i don't understand the conservative argument on this at all.

maybe you can shed some light on that. >> it's great to have you back and love to wendy. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. you know, there are three big problems with what mitt romney did. as you pointed out, the ad itself is based on a lie. this does not get rid of the work requirement. ron haskins, a republican architect of this plan, we've been arguing about this for years. waivers have always been part of making welfare reform work. that's the problem. second, state-ranked. you have two republican governors who asked for this. reid and sandoval. these are not some left-wing folks. the third problem of the ad is that he uses bill clinton. now, if you quote and try to identify with a democratic president who's no longer around, like fdr, harry true man or jfk --

>> you can get around with it. >> yeah. and bill clinton happens to be around and he said, wait main, this isn't true. don't try to identify yourself with me. so i don't -- i mean, i get what they are trying to do. they are trying to suggest that obama wants to give money away to people who don't work and that's a political argument but has nothing to do with what obama did. >> is newt gingrich the best spokesperson for romney? it seems like newt is taking on this assignment so he can get back in good if somehow romney wins the white house because he was the one trashing him the most during the primaries. what do you make of this? >> well, i think it is smart. newt can come back because he was a speaker when welfare reform passed so that theoretically gives him some standing to enter into this argument. and we haven't heard much from newt lately. so it's kind of a natural issue for him to jump in on. and ep doesn't have anything better. he called president obama the best food stamp president we've ever had. this is a continuation of the same last false argument.

>> but this really plays into old racial politics about poverty, doesn't it? >> well, this is really surprising because one of the things -- i had my own kwaums about this welfare reform bill. i would have voted against it and passed something more generous to the poor. but one of the advantages of it is it really did get rid of the stigma about welfare that you were giving away money to people who didn't work. and i think for a long time welfare has really not been an issue in our politics and the republicans clearly miss it as an issue and so romney is trying to use these new hss rules to act as if it's revived as an issue but the fact is, we still have a welfare to work system and obama isn't about to get rid of it. >> and finally have we ever seen a campaign lie this much? >> you know, i was thinking about that, ed, and i've covered a lot of campaigns and a lot of pretty vicious campaigns but it doesn't seem -- the way romney

takes obama's statements and clips out the heart of them and strings together sentences to -- >> taking it to a new level? >> yeah. i think really this is a new level and i'm not given to say stuff like that. >> e.j. dionne, thank you so much. >> thank you. a lot more coming up on "the ed show." stay with us. >> if mitt romney asks you to run as his vice president, would you agree to do so? >> everyone loves paul ryan for vice president. coming up, the panel weighs in on why ryan is a good choice for republicans and democrats. and the goals of republicans are clear. voter i.d., which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> they will do whatever it takes to suppress the democratic vote. former ohio congressman john bu shari on how to stop voter suppression in its tracks. wake up!

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welcome back to "the ed show." with only 90 days left to go, the republicans and democrats seem to be warming up as romney's vice presidential pick. republicans love ryan because he's young, popular, hard-line conservative. picking him would show romney is serious about making conservative choices when he's often viewed as a moderate. meanwhile, democrats are chomping at the bit for the same reasons. his budget is so controversial, the ryan plan, that the bishops described it as immoral and completely guts medicaid and as we reported here on "the ed show" time and time again, americans don't like republicans gutting their social safety net. paul ryan is a good choice for republicans. but i think he is a great choice for the democrats. for more, keith, susanne, and

democratic strategist michael murphy. great to have all of you with us tonight. i'll start with you, susanne. would this be risky business for mitt romney if he was to the reaction when the ryan plan was presented and the way it was just so out of the mainstream from what americans are used to when you start talking about vouchers on health care in. >> to back up your promo was right. there's a lot of conservatives that like paul ryan and would like to see him. however, politically speaking, some of the other high-profile picked, if romney is going to be successful, it's got to be a referendum on barack obama and he cannot get into a back and forth with people on his own ticket. they should not be deciding how they get along or disagree if they are going to win. >> but he may have a hard time

coalescing the conservative base. ryan would take care of that. >> and also cause other issues where nobody is going to question rob portman's credentials. >> it was sarah palin until election day. paul ryan is not a hockey mom. when you talk about his business experience, which is the mantra of the romney campaign, his business experience, as i understand it, is a paper route and he worked for the family company. he's always been on the public payroll, albeit in congress and other positions, this is not somebody that i think compliments the romney theme and message. >> newt gingrich was the one who said that paul ryan was the equivalent of right wing social engineering. you know, newt gingrich -- you've got this guy proposing this budget that turns it into a voucher program, tells

republicans that you're on your own. i think it's a wonderful idea for democrats. >> i don't think you've seen republican strategists or people out there involved in politics saying it's a very good idea. although i will tell you this, at least he put forward a budget unlike our democrat counterparts who haven't been able to vote on a budget in over 1,000 days. that's a debate. here's the point and here's the exact point, this conversation, that should not be what we're going to talk about in this presidential race because if that's the case, romney will lose. so i understand why democrats want him on the ticket but i think that's why -- >> there are a lot of ideas from romney. like to go to the london olympics. we're dying for ryan. >> romney's problem is bigger than any vice presidential nominee is going to be able to solve. he's going to pick somebody safe

and boring, i assume. if he picks paul ryan, make it shows courage that he's trying to do that. the republican party is beholden to the conservatives, the tea party group, the people who want to move us in a right wing radical direct. at some point romney has got to suck up to that group to give them something, whether it's at the convention or before the convention. romney is beholden to the gop right wing. >> susanne, you've got to love that he's just selling you on this. why didn't you buy it? >> romney moved to the right and did all of that to win the nomination and that he's supposed to tack back like democrats did in 2008. they had to go left to win the nomination and tack back to the center to win the election. >> well, who's putting him name up on the short list, then? >> it's a great combination. >> they want to fundamentally it to be free.

>> is there anyone out there that doesn't say we need to make reform at some levels? >> not those radical reforms. that's what they don't want to do. >> now, some people don't want paul ryan's plan. that's all right. again, bringing it back to what we were talking about, why he does not belong on the vice presidential ticket. >> keith, wouldn't the money people, the people supporting romney want somebody who is going to take them down this road? >> of course. romney has all of the money in the world. he doesn't need any money right now. you know, the bigger problems are with paul ryan is that he represents everything that was bad about the bush administration. paul ryan was there in congress when they voted for the two wars. they voted for the prescription drug problem that wasn't funded. they voted for all of the different expenses that came on the bush -- he voted for the t.a.r.p. administration. >> are we really going to go down there -- that's all that barack obama has done? are you telling me that he hasn't achieved anything that you have to go back to bush?

>> the bush administration agenda. so in addition to his pivot to the right where he's got the right wing agenda in terms of the ryan budget plan, he's got this legacy in the congress as this bush administration basically flack. and i think that's going to hurt him, too. >> and if i may, susanne suggesting, say, romney portman, that's the equivalent of doll and dollar. chris christie is one of the great -- >> and if you don't run chris christie, we'll end up with mitt romney as a nominee and we'll lose. >> susann, let's say that romne picks paul ryan. do you think that will cost the republicans the house and the senate? >> i think it could be very problematic, absolutely, and that could be another reason why they don't choose him. you know, that -- >> who would be your pick?

>> portman. >> bush baggage? >> the reason -- what romney needs now mostly is someone who he is going to be perceived as being comfortable with. there's a lot of stuff being said about him that he hasn't seen comfortable in his own skin and to some degree that is true. the most important credential that he has is making sure that the person he picks is qualified and also he is comfortable with. >> i'm going to sell ryan to you one more time. didn't mitt romney sign off on the ryan plan and say that he would endorse it? >> i'll respond to -- if you're saying that paul ryan is probably the best thing for the republicans, i'm saying that's probably not a good thing for republicans. >> 26 congressional district of new york because of paul ryan, kathy won that race, because of paul ryan. >> hot news story at the time. >> keith boykin, susan d susan del percio, thank you.

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in the survey tonight i asked, are the republican plik policies dangerous for the working class americans? 98% said yes and 2% said no. still to come, republicans are pulling out all the stops to block the vote. former ohio congressman john boccieri weighs in on early voting rights. listen to miss radio show channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. follow me on twitter @edshow and like "the ed show" on facebook. we're coming right back. 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

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breaking news at this hour. a major shake-up at the susan g. komen foundation. the president and two board

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in the big finish tonight, the republican effort to block the vote. it just conditions. it's their top priority. we've seen the legislative efforts to suppress the democratic voting blocs in a number of states this season. we told you about florida, pennsylvania, and ohio. now it's michigan where there are reports of voters being turned away because they refused to check a box asking them about their citizenship on the ballot. the republican led state legislature passed a bill requires voters to affirm citizenship but governor rick schneider, he vetoed it. that confusion was evident at the polls last night during the michigan primary. as poll workers argued with voters who refused to check a box that they are not legally required to do.

all these efforts are aimed at suppressing the vote in order to stop the so-called voter fraud. the problem is voter fraud doesn't exist. republicans can't get elected on their agenda of slashing medicare, medicaid, and social security. they can't elected on advocating wealth cuts for wealthy americans at the expense of the middle class. so what do they do? they resort to legislative at the state level. the romney campaign has signed on to the strategy as we have told you. they have been spreading the lie that the obama campaign is trying to deny the right of active military servicemen and women in ohio from early voting. the exact opposite is the truth. the obama campaign is trying to expand early voting for all registered voters, including military personnel. i'm joined tonight by john b

boccieri. good to see you again. good to have you with us. >> thanks, ed, for having me. >> you bet. i'm really surprised that there are 15 military groups that are intervening in this lawsuit in ohio which the obama campaign has filed and they are siding with mitt romney. what's the disconnect here? are they misguided? >> well, it's a shame the republicans are using our veterans groups as cover fire for their true mission which i believe is to roll back early voting in ohio. the irony is that the same veterans, nearly a million of them, and military families, those currently serving on active duty or in the reserves, are not going to be able to early vote because of the efforts of the republicans in the state legislature. they rolled back what was in place in the 2008 election because of the success of the program. >> you think that this is a hangover from marriage measure 2

because the get out to vote was so strong and they went to work to try to suppress the vote? >> no question. in fact, one-third of all of the votes that were cast in 2008 were by in person early voting. in two of the largest counties in ohio, cuyahoga county and franklin county n. t, nearly 20 the casts early cast were early votes. it's very clear that this has been a coordinated, precise action by the republicans as if it was a joint military effort across the country to try to roll back voting rights, whether you're in florida, whether you're in michigan, pennsylvania. we've seen this act before. in ohio, let me add this one point, ed, they tried to pass a bill that suggested if you showed up at the wrong precinct, you couldn't be told which was the right precinct to get to and vote. it's outrageous. >> why are republicans attacking these labor-rich states? i have a theory that of course

the labor movement in this country has tremendous infrastructure. they can get boots on the ground and they've got to put strength against strength to try to suppress the vote where the labor-rich state workers are. what do you think of that? >> well, i think it's an outrage and for someone like myself who's actually flown ballots in baghdad and watch the iraqis perform their own by dipping a finger into ink and that was how they discounted fraud, we see this coordinated effort to try to push people away from the polls. the facts are, it was a razor thin election, nearly 100,000 votes separated john kerry from becoming president and president bush being re-elected and that's about ironically how many votes would be counted in the last three days of election if they roll back early in person voting. we've got to support the president's lawsuit here that's going to restore early voting for everybody, including those military families, for the million veterans in ohio and

restore some sanity in our election process back in the state. >> obviously there's going to be a court ruling probably next week, we're told, august 15th. what can be done to stop all of this outside of that? >> well, if you believe in what we've been talking about, is that everybody who is a registered voter in ohio and has the ability to vote early should be able to do that all the way up to the election. it worked in 2008. there was no reason why the legislature took this action to roll it back other than to suppress the vote. so if you can go online, go to votevets.org and sign our petition and help us support veterans restoring their rights for early voting rights in their state and track this as the lawsuit is heard in the courts. >> john boccieri, thank you very much. keep up the fight. thank you. that's "the ed show." the rachel maddow