title of president, the position, the status? one thing we have learned, presidents who like the job of getting to the white house tend to be the ones who enjoy being there, and those who enjoy being the work of president tend to be the best at it. that's "hardball" for now. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" from new york. 84 days until the 2012 election. what's happening? republicans are so scared of the ryan/romney plan, they're literally running to their mommies. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> we're the ones who are not raiding medicare to pay for obama care. >> the romney/ryan lies about medicare have turned into a full throttle campaign push. tonight, we'll show you the official republican playbook that instructs candidates to deceive voters by hiding behind their mothers' skirts. >> rick would never do anything to harm social security or medicare.

>> former health insurance executive wendell potter on the campaign of lies. howard fineman on whether or not it will work. and north dakota senate candidate heidi heitkamp who is fighting the lies on the ground. >> he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. >> going to put you back in chains. >> the romney campaign claims the vice president is getting racial with his newest attack. michael eric dyson is here to set the record straight. and president obama officially lets the dogs out. the romney camp is howling mad about the president's dog on the roof jab. >> who let the dogs out? who, who? >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. you just can't sugar coat this. the romney/ryan ticket is executing a plan to turn its greatest weakness into one of its biggest strengths on the campaign trail. the way to make the plan work is to just lie.

>> there's only one president that i know of in history that robbed medicare $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call obama care. >> of course, the president does nothing of the sort. that simply is a lie, it's not the truth. the nonpartisan congressional budget office said $716 billion will be saved by eliminated subsidies to the industry and also wasteful programs in medicare. these changes are endorsed by the health care industry. the money will be redistributed into the health care system to provide seniors with better preventative care and prescription drug savings. the romney/ryan plan requires $2 trillion in cuts to medicare to provide tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. the cuts will increase premiums for seniors by $1,200.

folks, i don't know how else to do this. those are the facts. those are the absolute facts. but today, mitt romney kept repeating the big lie. >> did you know that he has taken $716 billion out of the medicare trust fund. he's raiding that trust fund and you know what he did with it? he's using it to pay for obama care. >> the lie is now a major part of the romney campaign. here's the latest television ad to spread the lie. >> you pay into medicare for years. every paycheck, now when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. why? to pay for obama care. >> the ryan plan expressed his confidence about the lie when he was interviewed on fox news today. >> you and governor romney think that medicare, which has been a very difficult issue for

republicans for a very long time, and polls suggest that people almost automatically think republicans are hostile to medicare, can be a winning issue for you. how? >> absolutely. because we're the ones who are offering a plan to save medicare. >> really? paul ryan has a good reason to believe he can win based on this lie. the gop already tested the big medicare lie in a special congressional election. last year in nevada, republican mark amodei was neck and neck with kate marshall. they wanted to protect him from medicare attacks by going after obama care with the big lie. they saw big time results, according to a video released by the nrcc. >> on the issue of medicare, which candidate would better protect seniors on medicare. remember, we started down on this 39-26, which was from the r versus d, people signing a party position to the issue of medicare. by the time we're done with the

race, and again, we're only trying to play it to a draw, we held an eight-point lead in the electorate. >> the next step was to convince voters the republican candidate would never cut medicare even though he supports the ryan budget. so what do they do? they used his mother. >> i'm mark amodei and i approve this message because while kate marshall and her friends have already supported cuts to medicare, you should know i will work to support and improve the program. >> you had better, mark. i'm counting on you. >> okay, mom. i'll do my best. >> pulls at the heart strings, doesn't it? he beat kate marshall to win the seat. he still supports the massive cuts to medicare in the ryan budget, but voters believe, well, they believed his mom. see, republicans all over the country are now running to mom for help. >> rick would never do anything to harm social security or medicare.

in fact, it's one of the main reasons he's running. >> you wouldn't do that to your mom, would you, tim? >> i wouldn't do that to anyone. i have always supported social security and i have worked to make it secure. >> mark amodei thinks a plan to end medicare is quote, excellent. >> that's not true. >> how long before we see paul ryan's mom on the campaign trail? the big medicare lie and the mom strategy are now part of the republican playbook. the national republican campaign committee is telling other candidates, go out and use the same methods. >> one of the lessons we learned, republicans can win the medicare fight, and we have proven it. and finally, once medicare is regulated, we have chased them off the field of an issue they want to talk about and we're back on something we know we can win on. >> this is exactly why mitt romney and paul ryan will keep lying about president obama and medicare and the total program. but lies have a way of catching

up with you. romney is trying to remain unified with paul ryan on medicare. here's what he told reporters about his plan compared to ryan's plan. >> my plan for medicare is very similar to his plan for medicare. >> very similar. but not the same. but here's what romney's surrogate, john sununu said when he was pressed about the similarities between the two plans. >> this is from mitt romney.com and it sounds awfully like the paul ryan medicare plan. >> but it's very different. >> oh, it's very different. you know, it's hard for these folks to get on the same page when they're not telling the truth. i find it amazing that mitt romney would go down to florida and not have an answer for medicare when he knows he's going to be asked about it. how could he pick a candidate he's not on the same page with. his answer to the reporters was vague. just like his tax returns. i can't believe that paul ryan would go to iowa when we're in the midst of the worst drought

in 50 years and not expect some questions on, well, what are you going to do? what kind of support are you going to have out there? oh, he just wants to enjoy the state fair. these guys are not on the same page. they can't be trusted with leadership. they're winging it. it's a dart board mentality. i also think it's going to be awfully hard for romney and ryan to tell seniors across america that president obama is slashing medicare when there have been no reductions in benefits whatsoever. but a lie is a powerful thing. and for mitt romney, lying may be his only hope at this point inside 90 days. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will the romney/ryan lie on medicare work? text a for yes, b for no to 622639. you can always going to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. we know for years that the industry has lied to us. i'm joined tonight by wendell potter, former communications

director and vice president of cigna. and now he's with the center for public integrity, "huffington post" contributor and author of the book "deadly spin." great to have you with us tonight. this is -- i have laid it out, exactly what the republicans are doing. this is what they're doing on the campaign trail. they're out there saying president obama and the word stolen was used by the rnc chairman, that they have stolen $716 billion from medicare for seniors to pay for obama care. is this true or false? >> oh, it's absolutely false. in fact, what the president is doing is what needs to be done, to reduce payments over the next several years. but absolutely not cutting benefits. this is a very big lie. and it's very consistent, though, with what the insurance industry is doing and has done for many years. i am certain that my former colleagues in the insurance industry have been helping with the talking points for the romney campaign. >> well, the talking points are quite interesting.

a republican leadership is telling the candidates not to use the word entitlement reform, privatization, or every option is on the table. i mean, is this the strategy the insurance industry uses with their playbook on how to message to the american people? >> it absolutely is. it's almost out of the page out of the playbook. they spend a lot of our premium dollars on focus groups and doing a lot of work with linguistics to determine what words work and what words to avoid. so you can rest assured that this advice is coming from the same people who have been doing a lot of work for the insurance industry for many, many years. you know, we do need to strengthen medicare. you'll be hearing that, too, from both sides. that's a term that tests well. but you have to look behind what exactly they're trying to do to the medicare program to find out who really will be strengthening and improving the medicare program. >> what does it tell us about mitt romney? and paul ryan, that they would

flat out distort to the american people what is happening to seniors when right now seniors are not seeing any reduction in benefits? >> what it tells you is that they'll stoop to lying. they'll do whatever it takes to try to deceive people. that's why i wrote the book "deadly spin." we're not talking about benign spin. we're talking about spin that really is deadly. and this will lead to people, if we were to implement the ryan plan, you could rest assured that many, many senior citizens would die who otherwise wouldn't have to. because of the fact that benefits would be reduced. over the past ten years, premiums in this country have increased 113%. and that's also at a time when insurance companies have been transferring more of the cost of care to us. that's what would happen if we privatize medicare. >> you know, the democrats are out there saying that, you know, the republicans, they don't want any kind of program whatsoever when it comes to health care as far as the government is involved.

they really want to get rid of medicare. you have been on record saying that the romney/ryan plan is a potential nightmare for every american under 55. now, i kind of know -- i think i know why you're saying this, but i would like to know why you think it's a nightmare for people under 55. >> if you privatize it, give people a voucher, it's based on the rate of inflation. the cost of medical care has always exceeded the rate of inflation. over time, the value of the voucher would diminish to the point that seniors will be paying a lot more out of their own pockets for the premiums and also out of their own pockets for care. >> so they couldn't keep up? >> they couldn't keep up. >> you're not going to be able to keep up. also, they're doing the same thing to the postal service right now. if they set up a system that they can't keep up, eventually, they'll make the case that we might as well eliminate it. am i off base on that? >> no, you're not. it would be a system that would have to fail. it could not be sustained. >> wendell potter, thanks for your honesty tonight.

let's turn to howard fineman, editorial director for the "huffington post." i find this rather amazing. does the romney camp, howard, really believe that it can win on medicare? >> well, i think they're trying to make a virtue of a necessity at all costs here, ed. my sense from talking to people in and around the camp is they settled on paul ryan for a host of reasons, perhaps. the catholic vote, the midwest, et cetera. i don't think they chose him because they wanted to lead with this issue. that just doesn't make sense. but they're trying to make a virtue of it desperately. i spoke with ed gillespie who is an adviser, former republican party chairman, what he said to me is we want to deal with the issue now. we know that democrats are going to attack us on it. let's do it now. let's try to neutralize it and get back to the economy later.

but that doesn't make sense to anybody who looks at any polling who knows that the big issue in the campaign is what to do about the future of the economy. i think they're talking through their hat a little bit on this one, but they're desperate to try to neutralize what has been and still is a democratic advantage. >> paul ryan did an interview with fox news today. he struggled to explain his medicare cuts to fox news. >> doesn't your budget contemplate major savings on medicare on something of the same amount? >> only president obama raids $716 billion from the medicare program, cut $716 billion from the medicare program to pay for obama care. we don't do that. >> you make savings, how much? >> i joined the romney ticket. what mitt romney is proposing to do is repeal all of obama care. >> you're not saying, though, you don't contemplate in your budget plan significant savings in medicare, are you? >> we can get into the complicated baseline issues, but

that's the current law. we keep with the current law in our budget. >> but it is the case that in the budget that you have passed through the house of representatives, significant savings of upwards of $500 billion in medicare? >> we do not add cuts to medicare program in the house budget. >> can he continue the dodge the question all the way to november on this? >> no, and i think he's a terrific questioner, by the way, i'll tip my hat to him there. britt knew exactly what he was asking about, and paul ryan was dodging and filling like crazy. and the fact is that the ryan/romney budget proposal on health care does the same thing. it contemplates about the same amount of savings in more efficient programs and so forth that obama care does. it's exactly the same thing. so they now have an ad -- the republicans have an ad out attacking the president for doing exactly what the romney/ryan budget does. and there's no other way around

it, and britt had him dead to right on that. >> great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. coming up next, when it comes to the ryan budget, some republicans are running scared. they don't want to warm up to this. heidi heitkamp is running for the seat. i'll talk to her about what the ryan plan means for the november election. stay tuned. it's time to get going. to get your feet moving to the beat. it's time to start gellin' with dr. scholl's and feel the energy from your feet up. thanks to the energizing support and cushioning of dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles, you'll want to get up and go. s optondlo em

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coming up on "the ed show," the paul ryan pick is already putting senate seats in play for the democrats. later, ronald reagan's budget director destroys paul ryan's budget. interesting there. and all of a sudden, republicans care about offending minorities. we'll tell you about joe biden's chain remarks ahead. stay with us.

welcome back to "the ed show." conservatives say they're just thrilled with paul ryan and having him on the ticket. best thing that can ever happen to them. but the ryan budget is proving to be a pretty tough sell for some republicans in competitive races around the country, and democrats are jumping on the opportunity. for instance, in up state new york, kathy hochul won in a solid red congressional district by basically tying the ryan budget to her republican opponent. well, she's now facing a tough re-election campaign. she's attacking the ryan plan one more time. her opponent, republican chris collins, well, he refuses to talk about it. as the buffalo news reports, collins would not even when asked again and again, indorse or even comment on ryan's budget. in the state of nevada,

democrats are hoping to connect senator dean heller to the ryan budget. he voted for the ryan plan last year but voted against it this year. in montana, the republican candidate for senate, congressman denny rehberg, is also trying to distance himself from paul ryan and his budget. >> he refused to support a republican budget plan that could harm the medicare program so many of montana's seniors rely on. >> what does this all mean? down in florida, congressman connie mack, running for the senate, called the ryan budget a joke. he missed the vote on it, in fact. yet his office said he would have voted for it if he had been present. and in the state of north dakota, one of the richest members of the united states congress, republican rick berg, is embracing, he is embracing and standing with the ryan plan wholeheartedly. interesting move. burg voted for the ryan plan but democrats believe most north dakotans don't agree with ryan's vision for america. it is an aging population in north dakota, and medicare means

an awful lot to those folks. let's turn to heidi heitkamp, democratic candidate for the senate. great to have you with us. you have been very involved in your entire career when it comes to health care and the health care delivery system. and now you are faced battling against this lie that the republicans are putting out there, saying that president obama has taken $716 billion away from medicare. we are know what the truth is. now, the ryan budget, is it a political winner for democrats and how will it play in your race? >> you know, ed, i don't look at it so much as a political winner or loser. it's just bad for the country, and it's bad for seniors. it's bad for women, it's bad for kids, bad for students. it's a bad plan for the country. and it's our obligation to talk about the ryan budget, talk about what this means for the future of our country. for the fabric of our safety net, and spend a lot of time analyzing the specifics.

they have a plan, we have an obligation to talk about that plan and explain why it is that that plan would be a disaster. especially for seniors. >> the affordable care act right now is delivering good things for seniors in your state. prescription drug benefits. and if this plan were to go through and we'll document later on in the program, it will be an increase in price for seniors. do your constituents get that? >> well, we talk a lot about the doughnut hole and what it means to close the doughnut hole, and one of the things i talk about that a lot of people don't, i think, is that when you -- when prescription drugs cost seniors too much, they don't use them correctly, and that increases the cost overall. so it's so important that we close the doughnut hole. we have now today about over $500 of additional benefits to literally tens of thousands of our seniors. and we have to continue those benefits. and you know, to suggest that

there has been any guaranteed benefit cut in medicare as a result of the affordable care act is very dishonest. we're in that season where up is down and down and up and if you have enough money, you can continue to tell the lie. and maybe you can convince people it's the truth. >> well, rick berg does have a lot of money, your opponent. he also is taking -- he also is taking the playbook right from the republicans. he's actually using his mom to purport this lie on the president's record on medicare. what are your thoughts on that? >> well, for me, i think it's more important that we educate. i have asked congressman burg for a health care debate where we can spend an hour actually talking about this. he won't debate because the facts aren't on their side. and so they do anything to cover it up, do anything to convince people that up and down and down and up, and that someone like me, who spent my career protecting seniors and doing everything that i can to help, you know, the elderly in my state, that i would ever do anything that would cut their benefits, which is ridiculous.

most people in north dakota know me and know i would never do it. >> do you wear it as a badge of honor that karl rove and his group are going to spend over $1 million trying to defeat you? >> that's on the light side. checked the numbers today. we're looking at $2 million in north dakota, which is a huge chunk of change. it may not sound like a lot to your viewers in california, but in north dakota, that's saturation television. >> 81% of north dakota is in a drought. 50% of the country is in a drought. the president talked about it yesterday in iowa. and i understand the governor of your state today is asking for federal help. republicans asking for federal help. where does your opponent stand on the farm bill, which has not been voted on in the house? >> well, it's a confusing thing, ed, because once again, we go back to the ryan budget, which said we're going to take $180 billion out of the farm program, reduce crop subsidies by 20%, then he says i'm for the senate

bill. then he doesn't know if he's for the house or senate bill and can't get it done in the house anyway. never mind what he's for, he's ineffective in promoting any idea. >> would you go face to face with your opponent on "the ed show"? you're saying he won't debate you. let's call him out and let's get the facts out on the table. would you be willing to do that here? we'll bring you both in to new york. >> i would tell anyone i will do anything i can to actually sit down and have a conversation about the issues. these 30-second commercials do not inform the electorate. they give an opportunity for a lot of rich people to spend a lot of many and in the end, the voters are more cynical and more confused than they have ever been. we need to have debate. love to do it. >> the invitation is going to go out to rick berg's office. let's talk about medicare, let's talk about what the big lie is all about. heidi, thanks for your time tonight. i appreciate it very much. coming up, republicans keep saying paul ryan is one of the smartest guys in washington, but he might actually need some help

with his math. find out why ronald reagan's budget director is giving ryan a failing grade.

paul ryan is a lot like reagan. >> when ronald reagan talks about god, when paul ryan talks about god, he exists. not that he doesn't exist outside of the middle part of the country, but he's alive and well between new york and california.

>> reaganesque attributes. >> ronald reagan. >> i think he's more like barry goldwater, but that's another story. welcome back to "the ed show." conservatives love to compare paul ryan to ronald reagan. turns out they're totally wrong. one of reagan's own budget architects wrote a scathing critique of ryan's plan in the times. they say his budget yields only a rounding error's worth of savings. and it boils down to a fetish for cutting the top marginal income tax rate for the super wealthy in america. and reagan's budget director goes on to say he calls ryan's plan phony and calls it devoid of credible math or hard policy choices. so we thought tonight we would take a closer look just at the numbers. joins me is david kay johnson, pulitzer prize winning writer. medicare, the way they want to do this right now, ryan wants to

turn it into a voucher. this is what they want to do. they want to turn medicare into a voucher or what he calls -- >> premium support. >> such a premium. he also wants to raise eligibility age to 67. and seniors would pay $6,400 more. house does the country move ahead under this plan? >> i don't know how seniors pay $6,400. they don't have the income to do this to begin with. in case of the eligibility, we have more and more team who should be getting health care in their early 60s who are going to get sicker because they don't have health care until they're 67. >> what about the voucher program? this basically is taking people and saying we're going to give you some money and you're -- an allotment of funds and you're going to be able to go out into the private sector and pick any insurance company you want. >> the problem with it is is what he's really doing is saying we're going to make a fixed contribution to your care rather than provide you with the care. and under the last iteration of

his plan, for every tax dollar he said he would save you using the same math he costs you $8 out of pocket. you save a dollar and spend $8 and this is good because, i don't know. >> we don't know why. medicaid, this is going to be a real cut to the poor in this country. medicaid is going to cut $700 billion over the next ten years. that's the bottom line. it is an absolute cut. the poor and the elderly are going to be hurt. nursing home people, people in wheelchairs, people with disabilities, the bottom line. 14 million to 19 million people will be thrown off the program. now let's get to the taxes end of it. if you're in the middle class and americans earning between $50,000 and $100,000, you get a tax hike of over $4,000. is that correct? >> it depends on how you measure the numbers. in every scenario, they all go up and they go up in the range of depending on where you fall on this, $500 to $5,000. it's a lot of money for anybody making $50,000 to $100,000.

>> where does the $4,479 come from? >> this is one of the studies than analyzed it based on cash income, which is broader than the measure typically used. >> as you see the plan, there is no way that the middle class is going to get a break under the ryan budget? >> oh, no. that's $350 a month out of your pocket you're going to have to pay in higher taxes if you hit the high number. even if it's $2,000, that's a terrible burden on people. >> what about the millionaires? we keep hearing they're going to get a big break. what type of break are we talking about? >> enormous. 23.5 times for the richest americans over the top tenth of 1% compared to the poorest americans. $331,000 of tax savings. the average american worker works ten years because the median wage is about $33,000, less than $33,000. that's ten years of work. >> he wants to bring the rate down?

>> almost a third. >> almost a third from where it is right now for the upper income people in america. >> that's right. and you have to make that up either by more borrowing, higher taxes, or less services. >> how is more money going to be coming into the treasury? it's a theory that more people are going to get employed because the wealthy people get more money to take home, and they're going to be the job creators so it's a theory that we're going to grow the treasury. >> right. >> but we know for sure the only people who are going to be paying in are the middle class. >> we know for 12 years we tried this and where are the jobs? >> david, thanks for your time tonight. >> there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. what's the matter with being an idealog? you stand for something. >> the paul ryan honeymoon is over. republicans in washington are comparing the paul ryan vp pick to the day the music died. the big panel weighs in next. the vice president hammers republicans on their ties to wall street and righties are crying foul.

michael eric dyson weighs in on joe biden's chains comment. and president obama makes a joke about the dog mitt romney put on the roof of his car. tonight, the romney camp is responding. >> who let the dogs out? [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar for every dollar car insurance companies say they'll save you by switching, you'd have like, a ton of dollars. but how are they saving you those dollars? a lot of companies might answer "um" or, "no comment." then there's esurance. born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency. so whatever they save, you save. hassle, time, paperwork, hair-tearing-out, and yes, especially dollars. esurance. insurance for the modern world. click or call.

welcome back to "the ed show." now, in public, republicans are out there saying paul ryan, oh, what a bold choice. he's an exciting guy. good looking dude, good in front of a crowd. he's a visionary. but wait a minute, behind closed doors on capitol hill, a little different story. in a series of off-the-record interviews, several republicans expressed their concerns with vice presidential candidate paul ryan. they don't want to debate medicare and they don't think he's ready to be president of the united states. they're even coming up with clever ways to talk about the ryan disaster. one gop operative is referencing

buddy holly. this is the day the music died. that's pretty innovative. mark mckinnon was one of the few willing to go on record about ryan. he said i think it's a very bold choice. it means romney/ryan can run on principles and provide some real direction and vision for the republican party. and probably lose. certainly not a vote of confidence. let's bring in joy reid, republican strategist susan del percio, and attorney and author catherine crier. great to have all of you with us. i don't know where any of you stand on this. i have to ask you susan because you were on the program, you thought it would be rather disastrous if it was a paul ryan decision. that's where it is. what is your opinion after the first 72 hours? >> it was going to be tough if it was going to be ryan, because politically, it doesn't make sense and we're hearing some of that play out now. i guess i should have done that off the record like some of the

other folks who did it for the politico story. the truth of the matter is this is going to be tough in a lot of congressional races. and that's what happens when you have a surprise, and i think that's part of the backlash that you're seeing. it also put a lot of political advisers on their heels because they don't have the answers that they, you know, laid out for a lot of -- especially first-time candidates running for congress. >> how big of a gamble is this for republicans to put a guy on the ticket who has a radical budget? a lot of the stuff he wants to do just does not poll well in this country. >> i was one of those people who said that he should pick paul ryan because i think he's running on ryan's ideology anyway. he might as well put him on the ticket. but now i'm starting to wonder if it was me trying to work mind control. it's incredible because the problem is, as susan said, it's down ticking. you have races particularly in florida where there's congressional races. even allen west, someone who won on a tea party ballot. it's a republican leaning

district, but an elderly district. he's got a lot of people over 55 in that district. people whether they're over 55 or under, don't like the idea of medicare vouchers. >> what about the back chatter? that can't help. >> it's difficult. i have read several articles where they're saying the romney advisory team as a whole was saying no, no, no. and romney came out and insisted. and once you have now made your announcement and you're out there, not only is it the medicare dilemma, but this afternoon, they were being pressed by their own constituents about tax policy. and the answer was, we will tell you our tax policy in the light of day after the elections. they have now several times in the last 48 hours refusing in their own meetings, their own town hall meetings to respond to direct questions from constituents and saying we haven't figured it out. i don't know, romney says, how much my plans overlap.

excuse me, you vetted this guy, you selected him, and you don't have a coordinated policy response. >> the rollout, the first day was great. a surprise, they did a great jop rolling him out. for everything they did, the counter measures so no one would discover it, they should have prepared for days two and three. that's where they don't seem in sync. these answers should have been out there. >> not only being in sync but being together. a mistake was to separate them. the first images you want to see in the media is the two of them running together, but the calculation was romney doesn't want to try to explain the medicare thing. you're right, on taxes at least, republicans are usually on firm ground when it comes to taxes. they have never won an election on medicare. they're fighting in the election on ground they're not familiar on. >> when you say zero cap gains rate, your president would be paying no taxes, when ronald reagan in 1986 said wages and capital gains should be taxed the same. >> the first time they lost that debate.

>> going back to they should be together. in the roll out, they rolled it out probably a week earlier so they could get all of the bugs out of this. >> should have waited longer. >> he has to take the hits, but hopefully by next week rolling into the convention, they will have done that. >> they want this medicare story to go away, do you agree? >> you picked mr. medicare. this election is now about medicare. i agree with catherine. >> his budget keeps it alive. it keeps the discussion about health care and medicare alive. they can't get away from it. if they want to redo the tax situation -- >> i think the medicare is an easy issue for us to wrap our arms around. >> it's also easy to demagogue. >> 8 in 10 americans don't want it changes, 79% don't want a voucher. >> without medicare, what's the purpose of paul ryan? that's all he's known for. >> that's just one.

there are multiple issues that are going to give the republican constituency a big problem if they stick to the positions, certainly paul ryan has presented, but even mitt romney. >> who stands with paul ryan on the stump? you have these moderate republicans who want the independent voters in their district to vote for them. all of a sudden, this guy shows up with a radical budget, out of the mainstream. i'll give you, granted, it is change, but it's radical change and people aren't ready for it. who stands with him, who doesn't stand with him? big call for the republicans? >> i think you're going to see a lot of the top names who were thrown out as possible vp choices out there. the romney campaign did something well, they have great surrogates out there. >> sununu made a mistake today. >> big mistake. >> they have rubio out there, they have chris christie out there. they have a lot of people who they have kind of walked through the process, so i think that's going to help, and that's probably who you'll see out there. >> rubio who walked away from privatizing social security, which he used to believe in.

>> great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, president obama brings up the tale of seamus the dog. and the romney campaign, they're crying foul. we knew we would get to the dog sooner or later. we'll bring you the latest next. it's a good one.

how many americans know about this? up next, the story of seamus keeps dogging the romney campaign. now the president is taking a shot at mitt over the whole thing. in the big finish, republicans want an apology from the vice president of the united states, joe biden, for his latest remarks. i'll ask michael eric dyson if the vice president should give them one. stay tuned.

welcome back to "the ed show." well, it's official. the tale of seamus the dog is now fair game on the campaign trail. president obama was in the works today on the road in iowa and he was talking about the imaginary energy policy, and really hit

mitt romney on that, but during the speech, he managed to slip in the wise crack everyone has been waiting for. >> he said that new sources of energy like wind are imaginary. governor romney even explained his energy policy this way. i'm quoting here, you can't drive a car with a windmill on it. that's what he said about wind power. you can't drive a car with a windmill on it. now, i don't know if he's actually tried that. i know he's had other things on his car. >> the president was referring to the story of seamus romney back in 1983. mitt kennelled his irish setter and strapped it to the roof of his car in a road trip. the story has caused outrage among dog lovers. it's just another example of romney being out of touch and it really hits home with voters. a recent poll shows that 68% of voters think it's inhumane to kennel a dog on the roof of your

car and only 20% have a favorable opinion of romney's treatment of dogs. meanwhile 44% have a favorable view of the president's treatment of dogs. romney said the president continued to embarrass himself and diminish his office with his unpresidential behavior. the good news is romney hasn't strapped a dog to the roof of his car since 1983. tonight, i asked will the romney/ryan rule -- will the romney/ryan lie about medicare work? 18% of you said yes. 82% of you said no. up next, joe biden and the so-called racist code word. find out why republicans claim the vice president has gone too far, and they want an apology. we're coming right back.

in tonight's big finish, republicans must be desperate. they're now accusing vice president joe biden of using racist code to attack mitt romney today. >> unchain wall street. they're going to put you back in chains. >> the romney campaign is actually calling biden's comment a new low in the campaign. and romney surrogate john sununu told andrea mitchell he's outraged.

>> going to be folks across the country who are going to try to take that as some kind of code word that is going to suggest that the republicans are trying to be racial in their programs. that's ridiculous. >> but hold the phone. there was no republican outrage when former presidential candidate rick santorum used the same code almost one year ago today. >> because they will put you in chains called obama care and you will be dependent upon government and you will never break away. >> so it's okay for the republicans to talk about president obama's policies enslaving americans but it's not okay for the democrats to say the word chains? joining me tonight, msnbc political analyst and georgetown university professor michael eric dyson. before i ask you a question, i want to go to this. campaigning in ohio tonight, the candidate, mitt romney, said the following in a response to joe biden's comments. here it is.

>> so mr. president, take your campaign division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reunited america. >> so now mitt romney is accusing president obama of running a campaign of hate. what is your response and where does it take the campaign? >> it's utterly ridiculous just like the overresponse, the ridiculous response to the chains. we saw vice president biden said, look, they have you chained up here in terms of wall street. let's unchain you. it was a metaphor linked to what his statement before that had been. so if anybody was listening, they would see chained by wall street, unchain. and they're going to put you back in chains. secondly, how can a republican party that has plagued dog whistle politics and whose expertise is in racial codes calling president obama a monkey, an ape, un-american, a kenyon, someone not born in america, a communist, and on and on and on.

he doesn't share the anglo-saxon heritage from mitt romney's own campaign. so thirdly, i think, what is important here is for us to understand this is the politics of distraction. the republican party, especially with mitt romney's leadership, has done nothing to not only reach out to african-american people and other people of color, but its policies have been detrimental in both theory and practice to the very strength and stability of these people. but to call president obama a man full of -- who is angry and who has hate is not only ridiculous but it appeals to, gin, those racial politics that says any african-american person who expresses himself with vigor automatically must be angry, which is quite ridiculous when it comes to president obama. >> senator rob portman was on the platform tonight so was john casic. to characterize the campaign saying take your anger and your campaign of hate back to chicago, does this elevate the

rhetoric in the campaign, and where does it end? where is the civility in all of this? >> it is escalating the racial rhetoric here. you go from accusing the obama campaign of racial manipulation through vice president biden's remarks, but then you up the ante of what you think is a racialized remark. you say take your campaign of hate back to chicago. that has a lot of meanings. chicago, a city that features prominently african-american middle class leaders and other prominent spokespeople like reverend jesse jackson and the like. they're suffering from extraordinary economic and social devastation with high rates of murder and the like. it rings in a nasty way and suggested that the escalation of the rhetoric is going to get nasty and mitt romney, unlike john mccain four years ago, is willing to do whatever he has to do in order to win. that means even stirring up the pot of racial animus in code words. >> it cert