to allow people now to change the rules. we had i.d. why do we need new i.d.? why disenfranchise people? why call voter suppression a new name? let's stop it and let's stop it together. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. one week later. what have we learned? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. where's the bounce? a lot has happened in the week since paul ryan joined the romney ticket. conservatives are thrilled. energy is up. money is pouring in, but republicans are also nashing their teeth over ryan's plans for medicare. and the expected poll bounce has been nonexistent. and now we learn that ryan asked

for stimulus money for two companies. that's something he's denied, but yesterday was forced to concede the bottom point. bottom line is the veep pick working? also, mitt romney claimed he paid 13% in taxes each of the past five years. democrats say prove it. consider this. you probably make a lot less than romney and paid a lot more than 13% and this fight isn't going away. plus, is it swift boating 2012 style? a former group of navy s.e.a.l.s are trying to deny president obama credit for getting osama bin laden. where have we heard this before? and paul ryan is a supporter of ayn rand. why is he suddenly running in the other direction? and let me finish tonight can pennsylvania's last chance to hold a fair presidential election. we begin with whether mitt romney's choice of paul ryan is working. ed rendell is now an nbc political analyst. and nia-malika henderson is

covering for the washington post. nearly a week after the announcement, what affect has the congressman had on the race. after the choice was announced on saturday, a democratic operative suggested this narrative and i love it. listen to this. here's my prediction. the cycle of reaction will be exactly the one with palin. the press will say interesting. democrats, huh? press, he's so dynamic. what a boost of energy. republicans, what a great speech. the base loves it. democrats, uh-oh. republicans, the big m.o. has shifted our way. and the press, he's breathing new life. then the democrats, but way there's more. press, hmm. republicans, uh-oh. nia-malika, where are we in that spectrum relative to paul ryan? >> you know, as i think the press were at the hmm phase and republicans are at the uh-oh phase, obviously we've got the speeches that are coming up at the convention a week from now.

but there obviously is more picking over ryan's record than we've seen out of the press lately. these reports about him taking stimulus funds for instance. and a lot of reaction from republicans who had this initial burst of excitement. you saw certainly from grassroots folks a lot of money pouring into the romney campaign. still there is a sense, i think, from republicans that maybe this boost of energy and this bold pick might not end up being worth it because of all the conversation now that we're having about the stimulus package, about medicare. because this was a campaign, let's face it. the republicans thought they could win just on the economy. what we see now we're talking about medicare. >> governor i said before this was announced one thing that united conservatives was a desire that paul ryan be the pick. how are each looking at it now? >> first of all, i think it's a little bit too soon to say which way it cuts. i agree with malika, not only has it been a disastrous week,

but it's much worse than palin because it came on much faster. the reason it came on much faster, michael, is because the romney campaign was absolutely unprepared to answer the seminole question they should have known they were going to get. okay, governor. you've said during the primaries that you endorse the ryan budget and the ryan medicare plan. do you still believe that? and of course you see governor romney back tracking. he hasn't been able to explain where he disagrees with the ryan budget. now recently he says he's for it 100%. two days ago he said there were some disagreements and it was his budget he was going to control. it's a mess. all we're talking about is medicare instead of the economy. all we're talking about is how the romney campaign screwed up again. it's brutal. and the stuff on stimulus, so unprepared. >> i'm going to get to both of those in just a moment. >> okay. >> let me show you some data. what bounce did mitt romney get from naming paul ryan from the

ticket? a pretty small one compared to past candidates. now, t"the new york times" nate silver said it netted the romney campaign about a point. going to past tickets, the average was closer to six points. so the net/net of this so far whether it's the medicare conversation, whether it's the stimulus now response seems to be, you know, nothing there that's discernible. >> right. although i think paul ryan will give a good speech at the convention because he's a good spinner and he doesn't necessarily cue to the truth. so i think he's going to give an effective speech at the convention. that may change a bit. but it's been a disaster because the one thing the romney campaign wanted to do is keep this on the economy. and again, the lack of preparation. how about congressman ryan. michael, if you'd read my book number one out of my top ten lists of politicians wussiness

is when you don't vote for something and then try to take credit for it. and i cited congressman ryan writing that letter to the department of energy. >> relative to stimulus funds. >> right. how could he not have known that? it's shocking. >> i'm not so sure that medicare thus far has been a net negative. i mean, it seems to me that the white house is a bit on the defensive. they've got this new campaign commercial as a matter of fact that i want you to show and dissect. see if it seems defensive. >> now mitt romney's attacking the president on medicare? the nonpartisan aarp says obama care cracks down on medicare fraud, waste, and abuse. and strengthens guaranteed benefits. and the ryan plan? aarp says it would undermine medicare and could lead to higher costs for seniors. and experts say ryan's voucher plan could raise future retiree's costs more than $6,000. get the facts.

>> and the ad cams days after days of attacks. here is romney illustrating that point. >> i want to bring as much clarity. so i prepared a small chart here. my plan presents no change. the plan stays the same. no adjustments, no changes, no savings. the president's plan cuts medicare -- excuse me. well, let's see. i go -- there we go. by $716 billion. cut. >> nia-malika, it's an awfully complicated issue. who wins or who's winning thus far? >> well, i actually think the republicans are winning this fig fight. these ads they put out, a lot of ads are propaganda.

i think in this way they have won this war. you have democrats on the defensive on of all things medicare. something that they have been the champions of and something that people are more readily identify democrats with than republicans. you saw republicans lose a race in upstate new york over this issue. they have since been able to frame obama as someone who is stealing in medicare. in actuality it's slowing the cost of growth and savin money in the vantage. but you see there that republicans have been very, very smart in getting on the offensive will around ryan's plan. and in some ways being able to separate mitt romney from paul ryan. who knows if it'll be effective down the line, if they're going to be able to keep this going. but so far so good. we'll see ryan in florida. i think he's going to be with his mom there coming across as somebody who of course why would he want to cut -- end medicare as we know it. he'll be there making that argument. so i think so far i would give

the victory to republicans over this week on medicare. >> governor, the other issue you've made reference to. reported that paul ryan trying to steer stimulus money to companies in his home state. ryan had called the stimulus a wasteful spending spree. on wednesday he was asked about that. here's what he said. >> a report came out again today in the ap. it was a repeat of that wall street journal article from a couple of years ago where you had asked for stimulus money for your district. is that accurate? >> i don't recall. i haven't seen this report. so i really can't comment on it. i opposed the stimulus because it doesn't work. it didn't work. >> today he conceded he was wrong having wrote, after having these letters called to my attention i checked into them. and they were treated as constituent service and veterans affairs are handled pl this is why i didn't recall the letters earlier. they should have been handled differently and i take full

responsibility nar. called him out in your book about wusses. apart from denying it and being held accountable because he was wrong, what's wrong with an elected official who opposes a program, doesn't get his way, and then on behalf of his constituents tries to bring home all the bacon he can? >> nothing. >> what's wrong with what happened here is how he lied about it. it's not right to write the secretary of energy and ask them for money for a program. he signs that letter himself. i guarantee you he reviewed it. i would never send a letter to the secretary of energy of the united states as governor without reading it and signing it myself. he looks like a fraud. and this is the guy who's supposed to be the honest young gun. tlrs nothing wrong. his defense should have been look guys, i was against stimulus. but it passed and if states were going to get money for economic development projects, i wanted wisconsin to get its fair share.

that would have been the perfect answer. quickly on what malika said did. >> reporter: on medicare. >> yeah. i agree the republicans have done good in the short-term. democrats haven't been forceful enough. congressman ryan kept the same $718 billion cut in medicare in the ryan budget. we should hang that around his neck. and number two, the difference of what the president wants to do. when the president cuts medicare, he's cutting it on the provider's side. most of those cuts were cuts to what the drug companies could make by supplying drugs to medicare. when the republicans make cuts to medicare, they're cutting it on the beneficiary side. we should drive that point home. >> thanks so much for being bang on "hardball." coming up, mitt romney admits he paid 13% of taxes in the last five years. and he's not releasing more returns. he paid a lower tax rate than most americans. and the fight over his tax returns, not going away.

this is "hardball," the place for politics.

mu poll numbers from two key battle ground states. let's check the "hardball" score board. first to wisconsin and a new cnn poll taken since ryan was put on the ticket finds president obama ahead by four. 49-45. own to my home state of pennsylvania, a new franklin and marshall poll gives the president a five-point lead. 47-42. we'll be right back.

i just have to say guinn the challenges that america faces, 23 million people out of work, iran about to become nuclear, one out of six americans in poverty. the fascination with taxes i paid i find to be very small minded compared to the broad issues that we face. but i did go back and look at my taxes. over the past ten years i never

paid less than 13%. >> welcome back to "hardball." in that alleged effort to be candid, mitt romney opened up the issue of his tax returns anew. today campaign manager jim messina sent an e-mail with quote, if the governor will release five years of returning, i commit in turn we will not criticize him for not releasing more. and they responded saying hey jim, thachks for the note. it is clear that president obama wants nothing more than to talk about governor romney's tax returns instead of issues that matter like putting americas back to work. will he shake the story and do his taxes matter? joan walsh is an msnbc political analyst and author of the new book "what's the matter with white people."

ammann javrs is a correspondent. let me begin with you. is this getting traction? do people care he's only releasing two years of tax returns. >> if you frame it in terms of documents, the voters don't compare about that stuff. what they care about in the gut is this sense somebody's getting away with something you're not getting away. . if romney is playing a lower tax rate than other americans, those folks are going to resent that and want to see how this happened. >> this is your strong suit. the semantics of this become important. >> yeah. what we're talking about here is the federal effective tax rate. that's after you take your deductions and everything else. he's saying he paid 13%. most americans, your median income in this country was about $75,000 a year. those folks paid about 5.6% in an effective rate.

although they paid payroll taxes on top of that. most people are paying a lower rate. but there are a lot of high income people who earn a lot of money in salary who are paying much higher tax rates than he paid because they're getting their money in salary, not in earnings from investments. which are taxed at a lower rate. so those folks are the folks who will look at a 13% rate and say boy, i wish i could get to that. >> do we fault mitt romney for whatever the rate he's paying so long as he's paying it lawfully. if we have beef over this isn't it better at the tax code and those responsible for drawing it? >> well, yeah. i think you make a good point. he's probably doing things legally. we haven't seen anything to indicate that he wasn't. but we don't entirely know. and the extent to which he's using these offshore accounts could contribute to this lower tax rate. if the american people knew about them, they're not illegal.

but they would make you a little bit squeamish. i do have a to say, the last poll i saw said 63% of americans want to see more tax returns. and finally every time he opens his mouth to talk about this, he sounds more and more entitled. i mean, calling those 63% of americans who would like to see more taxes small minded? and ann romney's tantrum last night? >> i'm glad you brought it up. i want to show it. last night on "rock center" ann romney made clear she and mitt will not release more tax returns. >> the more we release, he more we get questioned and pushed. so we have done what's legally required and there's going to be no more tax releases. >> is she not correct as far as she took the argument? the more they release, the more they will be subject to this kind of scrutiny? >> well, sure to the extent that

the more we talk about anybody's policy plans or backgrounds, they may get more scrutiny. it's possible they would get less. it's possible that -- it's possible that we would see things and it would be the same stuff we saw in the other two years and we would all move on. i doubt it because if that were the case, then i think they would have made these records available to us sooner. there's got to be something a little bit more offputting than what we've seen so far. >> how do you see that issue? >> that hits it on the head. you can infer here that's what's going on is the romney campaign made a clear position that the heat they're taking is less than the heat for whatever they would take for what's in the returns that they think would be embarrassing. part of the reason is there are two kinds of rich people in this country. rich people who work for a living and rich people whose money works for them. that's the camp the romneys are in.

so their taxes are very, very low. we have seen the swiss bank account and the ann romney trust and other offshore details. so clearly they know what's in the rest of the documents and they feel that whatever it is would be worse. and ann romney said almost exactly that last night. we're going to continue to get hit and get questioned if we put these out. so we're not. >> i think part of their thoughts might be harry reid overplayed his hand in the way he handled this scenario. and within their base, within their constituency that the net of it has been just fine. >> within a lot of people. harry reid came out and said he had a secret source who said mitt romney hadn't paid any taxes. without any basis or proof for that. that's a tough allegation to lay at the feet of a presidential candidate. especially when you're not willing to back it up with any proof, sources, anything. so i think the romney cam were pretty happy when they saw that.

it gave them a villain to go after. i've been on the campaign all week with paul ryan. every time he mentioned harry reid, there were boos. they do not like that guy. that can help sometimes. >> joan, i guess that raises the questions of how it's playing with independents. because i think to each of the respective bases, the harry reid issue has emboldened democrats where are they? and from the gop side of the aisle, that name doesn't carry much sway. >> well, the last poll i saw independents cared about this too. but i just think -- the last thing i want to say is i feel like listening -- every time i hear that sound bite of mitt romney saying well, i went back and looked at ten years and i checked myself. i think that makes the issue even more tangible. because it's like, hey, buddy if they're there, they're in a file. you just looked at them. just turn them over to other people. and i think it's going to get

reporters even more avid to get more information. maybe they won't find harry reid's source, the mystery man. but you know -- we all know reporters are out there looking for any source they can find. and his sort of waving the ten years that only he can look at, i think made the issue much more vivid to people. i don't think it's going away. >> on that we can all agree. final word, go ahead eamon. >> i'll tell you it's very hard for a reporter to get ahold of personal income tax information. it can be a felony. it's going to be difficult. i think the romney camp is secure. they don't want to release it. they'd have to have a rogue agent within their finance team. >> thank you both. i appreciate you being here. up next, how do you think joe walsh responded when someone called him a loose cannon? that's next in the sideshow. this is "hardball," the place for politics. you know what i love about this country?

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mitt romney says he wants to cut funding for pbs. when he heard that oscar the grouch was like seriously i already live in a garbage can. how much worse can my life get? which explains why today sesame street was brought to you by the letters o, and bama. >> now to the sideshow. think it's a bad sign if you're in the midst o after heating campaign and you're hearing you're a quote, loose cannon. this might ring a bell. >> the government sets the rules. don't blame banks and don't blame the market place for the mess we're in right now. i am tired of hearing that crap. you know what? it just pisses me off. too many people don't listen. >> a signature episode from joe

walsh. walsh and tammy duckworth fielded questions from reporters earlier this week. the congressman was asked whether he's too much of a loose cannon to stay in congress. >> am i too much of a loose cannon, look. i went there because i'm scared to death that this country has precious little time to turn this thing around. and that causes me to be more outspoken. i said, and tammy loves to jump on this, all joe walsh does is scream from the mountain top. i consider that to be part of my job. am i too much of a loose cannon? no. i think people appreciate any republican or democrat who finally talks straight to people. >> ask yourself when was the last time you cast a ballot for someone and thought that guy with go for the mountain toch. rage against the machine unleashed rage against paul ryan. he's a fan of rage against the

machine who talks about corporate greed. if you think that's an odd pick for the guy? you're not alone. the musician penned an of ed for rolling stone threads in part, it's amusing because he's the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. i clearly see he has a rage in him. a rage against workers, womens, gays, poor, environment. basically the only thing he's not raging against is the privileged elite he's groveling in front of for campaign contributions. morello's response to he likes the sound not the lyrics, i don't like his sound or his lyrics. you've got the sausage race in wisconsin. the playing of sweet caroline at

fenway. if you're at nationals in d.c., the racing presidents. the larger than life presidents hit the field during the fourth inning. if things go as most people expect, tomorrow will be the 500th straight loss for teddy roosevelt. and the losses haven't been gracef fuful either. he's been distracted by popsicles. the one time he crossed the finish line before others, he was disqualified for shoving someone dressed like a cat. so what if the 500th time turns out to be the charm and the washington post as they put it recently, victory won't change teddy. after all, he couldn't possibly have a bigger head. up next, a group of ex-navy s.e.a.l.s is trying to deny president obama credit for the raid that got osama bin laden. and if you want to follow me on fwiter, you just need to figure

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i'm milissa rehberger. here's what's happening. paul ryan has released his 2010 and '11 tax returns. two u.s. troops were gunned down earlier by a member of the afghan police force in farah province. and gas prices are up 39 cents since early july. so the obama administration is reportedly considering a release from the strategic petroleum reserve. now back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." a new organization opsec is going after the president for one of the biggest achievements of the obama administration. the capture and death of osama bin laden. the group has a mission to go after all politicians who leak classified information for political purposes, but in their new documentary, they charge the president with taking the sole credit. take a look. >> they didn't -- this administration didn't capture or kill or eliminate bin laden or anybody else. there's a whole lot of folks in the military and the intelligence community who have been working on this for a long time. >> mr. president, you did not kill osama bin laden. america did. the work the american military has done killed osama bin laden. you did not. >> democrats are already calling this a swift boat campaign

reminiscent of the attacks on john kerry eight years ago and plan on fighting back against what is expected to be a tv campaign ad this fall. daniel gomez is a member of the opsec group. gentlemen, thank you boit for your service to our country. mr. gomez, i want to start with you if i might. doesn't the president deserve credit for issuing a very difficult order? this was far from a certain mission. and in the process we invaded the sovereignty of pakistan. do you give him credit for that? >> absolutely. we believe the president deserves full credit for the ingredient on the operation. it was a difficult decision to make. a lot of his advisers were against it. you have to give 100% credit for making the call send the unit in. >> it was something he was strenuously criticized during the campaign. he was called naive and worse during the course of campaign and i know it because he said it

to me on at least three occasions that he was willing to take that shot even if it were in pakistan. and his opponents including democrats at the time, they thought that was mistaken. >> yes. we agree. we never said he should not have full credit for giving the green light. >> so your criticism then is this whole mission has become politicized because of the leak of the information. isn't that 20-some minute video that i watched the other night itself politicizing this operation? >> no. if you look at the whole video, we go through a lot of the points. we give the president a lot of credit. but i think one of the points we try to highlight through the video is if you look at the prior wartime presidents. you look at lincoln, eisenhower. they only gave credit to the troops. and that's what we were trying to highlight in the video. the only time that these presidents lincoln and eisenhower and others only use the word i is when they say i think you to the troops.

so the point of the video is to highlight the difference between the current administration and how they viewed giving credit opposed to other wartime presidents. >> i'm glad you brought that up. there's something that got left on the cutting room floor. you and your organization say the president is trying to take credit for the accomplishments of the military. listen to what the president said in his address to the nation the night it was announced bin laden had been killed. >> over the last ten years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we made great strides that that effort. we've interrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. in afghanistan we removed the taliban government which had given bin laden safe haven and support. around the globe, we worked with our friends and allies to capture or skill scores of al qaeda terrorists including several who were part of the 9/11 plot. >> sir, it's not just he said it that night. i've heard him say it time and

time again. like thanks to the tireless work of the military. respectfully, where is the beef with regard to the president of the united states? >> i think if you watched his whole presentation the night that osama bin laden was killed when he came out, i think that you'd come to the conclusion just like we did. i think a lot of americans came to the same conclusion is that he focused, i think, a majority of the comments on himself as opposed to the troops. we're not saying that he didn't thank the troops, that he didn't give credit to the troops. we're saying a big majority of the presentation was focused on him and his administration. that's the point we're making. >> mr. gomez, it's an uncomfortable position for me to be in disagreement with a navy s.e.a.l. here's the transcript, sir. i know the statement very, very well. i think that's a misrepresentation. what am i leaving off here? >> i'm laughing so much. i'm wondering if mr. gomez is going to shoot another video he

says we give full credit to president obama. you don't support a video like that and say the comments just like that. which is the president did a great job in killing osama bin laden. i think the reason that is is what you have is conservative right wing activists behind this entity. so you've got some navy s.e.a.l. guys that are out here basically saying what is directly different on tv than in the video. the president clearly ordered on operation to kill osama bin laden that was difficult to make. and let's talk about the war that i fought in. let's talk about iraq, a war that started because of faulty leaked intelligence. a war that caused the vice president's chief of staff to go to federal prison for leaking the identities of a cia officer. and these are the hard core facts. where are they? let's talk about the issues that effect veterans right now. you have a president who opened the va for thousands of veterans to come in from the desert storm era and vietnam era. you have a republican like mitt romney who said i would not have

moved heaven and earth to kill osama bin laden who wants an endless war in afghanistan. what they're trying to do here is hurt a president who killed osama bin laden, ended the iraq war, and has a budget right now that's given $11 billion more to veterans than what mitt romney is supporting. >> i have no tolerance for those who leak classified information and jeopardize american security. it needs to be said eric holder is pursuing investigations and prosecutions in that regard. mr. gomez, it strikes me. this was the biggest news event in the ten years since september 11. there was an insatiable appetite on the part of the media to get to the root of this. regardless of what the president's predisposition might have been and i see no evidence he overstepped his bounds, the media were going to shake a story out of what happened. in pakistan. where am i wrong? >> well, i'd like to go back to a couple things jon said there.

first, this organization is not just a group of navy s.e.a.l.s. this is a group of former -- >> he's correct. they actually have a general in the organization who believes osama bin laden wasn't born -- i mean -- they actually believe. there's a birther who believes the president of the united states wasn't born in america. >> go on, mr. gomez. >> i haven't interrupted jon when he spoke. >> you haven't. go ahead. >> i would like to continue on with what i was saying. this group has a large number of former army, navy, air force, marines personnel. a large number of intelligence personnel. it's very eclectic group. you can't bucket just one group into a certain political party. i would argue that jon's group isn't just one party. >> it's vote vets. we have 220,000 members which is probably more than what you have. >> come on. let him finish. >> i'm sure they're not just in one political party. so ours has an eclectic group.

we've got democrats, republicans, independents. you can fact check this. it's all public record. i donated to obama's campaign in '08 in the primaries. i've voted for republicans and democrats. it's just like people with that you serve with in the army, jon. and the same in the the squadron i used to fly. you can't just bucket a group of people into one political persuasion. >> i'm not bucketing -- i serve with people of all political persuasions. there's a difference between expressing an opinion and lying. what you've done in this video is lied. there's been no evidence that's come forth there's been leaks. at all. zero. you're basically saying the president didn't say thank you when he did on tv. there's a big difference between telling the truth and us having a civil disagreement whether or not you support ryan's budget or the president's budget. and whether or not you want endless war like mitt romney. there's a difference between

having that conversation riglik right now. then lying. >> i wish i had more time. i don't. thank you both for you service to our country. >> this was a nonpartisan issue. >> thank you. up next, why is paul ryan now running away from ayn rand, the righter who influenced his political beliefs? this is "hardball," the place for politics. here's my morning routine. gotta start the day off right. wardrobe. cute. then new activia breakfast blend. a great way to help start the day. mmm... creamy lowfat yogurt with grains in yummy breakfast flavors, like apple cinnamon. its hearty, with twice the protein of regular lowfat yogurt and helps regulate your digestive system. our morning routines are important, aren't they? new activia breakfast blend.

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in the presidential race has been in just four states. virginia, colorado, iowa, and florida. here are the top five cities where the campaigns and their allies have spent the most this week on television ads. number five, charlotte site of next month's democratic convention. number four, denver. number three, des moines. number two back to colorado. this time colorado springs. and the top city for campaign ad spending this week, roanoke, virginia. we'll be right back. copd makes it hard to breathe, but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function.

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with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. we're back. for years there's been a powerful group of conservatives who've been devotees of ayn

rand. it includes alan greenspan, ron paul and rand paul. barry goldwater, clarence thomas and jack kemp. clarence thompson invites them to his home for a viewing of the fountain head. paul ryan has long embraced rand's policy. now that her other socially liberal ideas are proving to be an embarrassment for a candidate who needs support, ryan is running away from his muse. joining me now is robert costa and ron reagan. robert, isn't the answer here that atheism is poison? she was an atheist and consequently now he wants nothing to do with her. >> michael, i've spoken with paul ryan at length about his past history with rand. and he told me that he read rand during college.

he rat atlas shrug and was inspired by the story of john gall. he believes in thomas more than rand of all people. and that he was inspired by rand because she believed in the free market. and that's where he really identified with her back when he was doesn't mean he belie believbeliev believes fully inch everything she said or wrote. >> i don't think it was only back in college. when he spoke to a group of rand devotees in 2005, he credited the russian american thinker for inspiring him to get 234 to politics. let's listen where. >> the reason i got involved in public service by and large f i had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be ayn rand. the fight we're in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectiveicism. >> ron, is it as i have put forth, it's about her lack of faith? >> well, i'm not certain. to the long list of things we can blame paul ryan for, let's add to that list forcing us to

rehash the turch udbayinalities of ayn rand. i remember reading "the fountainhead" when i was about 14 years old and being struck by the tedious egoism of its protagonist and wanting nothing more to do with it. it's disturbing that a man who is aspiring to the vice presence dnsy seems to be in a projecting adolescence. her atheism, as you said, does give him a lot of problems. she was adamantly pro choice. she wouldn't believe that our rights, for instance, are god given. she would think we make them for ourselves. that poses some problems for paul ryan, i suppose. >> robert, i must confess, i went through the same phase. and i know you, i suspect you did, too. >> michael, i have readatous shrugged. we have all read rand. when i have spoken to paul ryan

about this, he told me the core of why he was attracted to rand was not because of her pro choice views, but the way she champions entrepreneurs. that's what he's trying to take into pauldices and into his speeches on the trail. that's at the core when he talks about his inspiration. that theme, not the other elements of rand you have to pay attention to. >> i guess ron, the issue is he never explained it as such until the eyes of the nation were on him as a potential vice president. >> he used to fois this book on his interns in congress, forcing them all to read this. ayn rand believes that government had no function except the military, police, and the judiciary. that everything else was out of bounds. you know, that paul ryan sees her as some kind of inspiration is actually a bit chilling. >> not so much, mr. reagan. i respectfully disagree in the sense that when ryan talked about hand, he talks about rand in the same context he talked

about milton freeman, free market thinkers. to say it's anything beyond that, all you have to look at is paul ryan's political clear. he's not just a new face on the national scene. he waw elected to the house in 1998. if you tell me he has a randian record, i would disagree. >> fortunately, no one is crazy enough to have a randian record, so yes, you're right about that. >> ron paul, perhaps. >> i have 15 seconds left. was your dad an ayn rand person? >> no, he was not. no, he was not. i never saw him with "atlas shrugged" or the "fountainhead" in his hands, and he didn't appear to have read it. >> thank you. >> when we return, let me finish with the league battle over that tough voter photo id law in my home state of pennsylvania. and how this state can still hold a fair election in november. you're watchb "hardball," the place for politics. you know what i love about this country?

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let me finish tonight with this. the lead editorial of today's "washington post" said among the new republican backed voter id laws, pennsylvania's is, quote, the one with the most demonstrable partisan motivation. nevertheless, a state appellate court upheld the law which would require a photo id for voting. polls suggest that voters

approve voter id measures and they sound reasonable except when you understand that many pennsylvanians, perhaps to a million of them, don't have the requisite form of photo id to vote. who are they, many poor urban minori minorities. one estimate holds that 18% of philadelphians lack principle forms of id. democrats in the city enjoy a 6 to 1 registration edge. now, judge robert simpson of the kompcom commonwealth court acknowledged they might have a partisan reason, but thee refused to stop it. they said it was, quote, a minor change to the state election code, but it's a major change. what happens next? this case heads to the state supreme court which currently consists of 6 rather than the customary seven members. that's because one justice was suspended after being criminally charged leaving the court with three republicans and three democrats. at the state is the state

supreme court justice, ron castille. he's a republican and also a war hero who left a leg in vietnam who has never felt compelled to toe a party line. that has spanned his career. just eight months ago, it was castille who distinguished himself in an otherwise partisan ruling when the supreme court threw out a redistricted state legislative map which was designed to benefit the gop and they did it by a 4-3 vote. many eyes are now shifting to justin castille to see if he will stand in the way of this becoming pennsylvania's partisan equivalent to push v. gore. in the health care debate, john roberts did not want a repeat of that decision on this watch, choosing to underscore that we were a government of law and not men. similar thinking might motivate justice castille. where the commonwealth entered to a stipulation acknowledging there's not a single known case of the type of voter impersonatio