and main street found its fight again. and we, the locals, found delight again. that's the power of all of us. that's the power of all of us. that's the membership effect of american express. hi, happy friday. thank you for staying with us for the next hour. it's been kind of an exciting day. actually, i have to say, been sort of a weird day for us at our offices here at the "rachel maddow show." if you go to our blog right now at maddowblog.com, you will see we have posted video that the bass player from nirvana sent us. video of him throwing our swedish horrible tasting licorice candy to his pet goats. it's fine for them.p >> becaur becaup because that'sbes

to work here. tthe whole stafrthe whole staf divertp diverted fdiverted investigation of color ride, which which is what's in that e tastip tasting candy, we'v investigatiinvestigating and w chemipchemist to look into s p on clearing calcium depa from the . itp it's beit's been veryp investigation earlier had the basic from -- here it is eating the candy before he gave it to the goats. we are such fans, that honestly, this thing will go on forever for us. >> he's sniffing. he's chewing. he's eating it. this is good for you. good medicine. this is apollo. eat it. >> and there's more. all of the details are at maddowblog.com right if you want them.

more detail than you ever wanted on the subject of aluminum chloride and krist novoselic's goats. >> in life, you get guitar heroes. music is important to us as humans. depending on what music you like and who was popular at formative times in your life, it can be an emotional touchstone for you. you follow these folks to the end of the earth or the rolling hills outside of seattle where the goats are. as humans, we're wired to have a powerful emotional connection to music. not everybody has it but most of us have it. i certainly have it. when you try to use that connection, people's emotional connection to certain bands, for some other purpose like for a political purpose, say, like maybe you want a specific band to be playing your private gala for your highest dollar donors at your political convention, let's say you want to do that. the question of which band do you pick for that kind of role is a hard thing to calibrate. this is an emotional thing.

you have to count on your donors being into that band, knowing who they are, knowing what they sound like, having a positive emotional reaction to it, liking them, not finding it cheesy. the romney follkz have picked a band for their convention party that they're setting up for their biggest donors. it's a band, honestly, that i like very much and have my whole life. their biggest hit was in 1981. so from the romney campaign's perspective, they picked 1981, honestly, as the emotional target for when people might have bonded with this particular band's music. if that's the target year they're picking for some reason, 1981 must have been a hard choice because it was a spectacular year for american music. kool & the gang, celebration, also known as the bar mitzvah song in our way too young office. that was 1981. also -- ♪ all aboard

>> crazy train. ozzy osbourne. best intro to a song ever. that was in 1981. also -- super freak by rick james. how did this all happen in one year in one country. the greatest country on earth. how about this? stray cat strut. i'm a lady's cat. that was 1981. god, i love that. or this one? just can't get enough by depeche mode. were you a new waver? more people in 1981 learned that intro on the piano than learned chopsticks, i swear. 1981 also, devo, whip it. 1981 was a great year for american music. 1981 was kind of a breakthrough year. in particularly in the united states for alternative and new wave and punk music. a lot of the stuff we were listening to was british, and a lot of stuff was american. that was the year the dead kennedys did nazi punks blank off.

which must to my parents' chagrin, i learned every word to. even the words i was not allowed to say when i learned that song. 1981 was a spectacular year for music, and the mitt romney for president campaign has decided for their high dollar donors, for the people who are committed to raising more than a quarter of a million dollars to elect mitt romney president this year, they have decided to reward these donors with a special vip, closed to the press event. for the talent for that event, they have reached deep into the deep well of amazing music that came out in 1981 and they found this. ♪ getty up >> who does not love the oak

ridge boys. this song, elvira, was their biggest hit in 1981. that's going to be who is playing the mitt romney bundlers only, closed to the press, private reception at the vip lounge they have set up just for their bundlers on the fifth floor of the tampa bay times forum arena in downtown tampa for the duration of the republican national convention. the romney campaign has also reserved two bundler specific hotels for their high dollar donors. the weston tampa harbor hotel, and another one in st. petersburg. what's awkward here is that the romney campaign is the first presidential campaign in modern american history to not disclose who their bundlers are. but they are nevertheless setting up a special vip room for the bundlers at their site and special hotels for the bundlers. even though it's secret who they are, presumably, if you stake out those spots, you will be able to start to put together a list of who the secret romney bundlers are.

you'll know because they are going in the v.i.p. room, right? as we get closer to the launch of the convention, a lot of republicans are already in tampa, but we're starting to learn more, sort of hour by hour, including from good reporters like michael isikoff. starting to learn more and more about what is going to happen at the convention and what places in downtown tampa are key to the movement of power and influence around the republican nomination for president. physically here, the one furthest on the right, the miriam adleson pavilion. remember when the young guns decided they were going to paint themselves pink and call themselves women friendly during the war on women kerfuffle? the young guns decided the way they're womaning up for the republican convention is they're

naming a pavilion at the convention at the rnc for sheldon's wife. yeah. and over here, here's an important spot. this is jackson's bistro an harbor island. anyone hoping to enjoy the view will need an invitation and exclusive invitation at that. the massive restaurant will close to the public for the whole week of the republican national convention, the owners say they'll be serving a single customer. one unnamed lobbyist from washington who will host breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout the week for hundreds of vips. the whole restaurant the whole week? yeah. also, just around the corner from where mr. romney will be accepting the republican nomination for president, on the same day, in fact, a gala reception for zillionaire donor

david koch of the koch brothers. of the right-wing corporate group americans for prosperity will host a celebration in honor of their ben factor david koch, along with fellow republican zillionaire donor art pope. the event is being called "a salute to entrepreneurs building america." a salute to entrepreneurs. it should be noted that both david koch and art pope who are the two men being saluted at this entrepreneur event, both of them became fabulously wealthy by inheriting companies by their fathers. neither founded anything or invented something. they both were born very, very, very wealthy and then inherited dad's business. those are the entrepreneurs we're saluted for building america. republicans whose inherited wealth, who inherited wealth and then used it to build political influence for themselves. we're saluting them at the convention, incidentally, that will nominate the son of

michigan's governor who was also the head of american motors who is a second generation presidential candidate, mitt romney, who is still refusing to disclose his tax returns. after declaring not just his tax returns but also his business record off limits for the campaign, during an interview with nbc's chuck todd you'll be able to see tonight here on msnbc right after this program, showing that documentary, mitt romney is now saying his business record is back. he wrote an op-ed titled "what i learned at bain capital." we have not had a business man as president since herbert hoover. mitt romney is making the argument that i have the skills to run the company because i ran a company called bain. what i learned is what i will apply to running the country. that argument is the reason his tax returns still end up being a germane and key question. what we have seen about what mr. romney learned at bain, it is

about obviously how to accumulate tons of money but also specifically how to shield it from american taxation. that definitely worked well toward the project of making him a very, very, very rich person. avoiding taxes and regulation can be a strategy for one guy or one company to get rich in america. but of course, how do you extrapolate that to being president? avoiding taxes can't be america's strategy for getting rich as a country. what are we going to do? evade ourselves? what is striking about this republican national convention as we get more information about what exactly is going to be happening day by day next week is how high profile all of the adelson, koch brothers, karl rove, high dollar donor stuff is and how comparatively low profile the republican party is. at the last republican convention, when we had a republican president and a republican vice president who i should note were very deeply disliked in the country, the republicans at least were able to say that the reason that president bush and vice

president cheney couldn't be there was because of tropical storm gustav. this year, they're not counting on tropical storm isaac or anything else to keep their political history away from the rnc. we knew even before we knew the storm track of isaac, the storm track of anything, that george bush wouldn't be there, dick cheney wouldn't be there, even sarah palin would not be there. the last republican presidential nominee will be there but getting an undercard speaking slot right between mitch mcconnell and a former msnbc legal analyst who is now the state attorney general in florida, a woman named pam bondi. mccain is between mcconnell and bondi. republicans with major political accomplishments do not seem to be the stars of this event. the big stuff, the big show offy stuff, the whole point of the event, the people for whom the really good talent is being saved -- it's the zillionaires.

it's really the money that is the star of the show, elvira. joining us now is nbc news national investigative correspondent michael isikoff. nice to see you, thank you for being here. >> great to be here. >> i know you're not pursuing this line of inquiry because you want to sneak in to see the oak ridge boys, but i have to ask if of the events you're reporting on, whether most of them are open to the press or are going to be closed doors. >> funny you should ask because most of them are closed doors. i learned about many of these by getting the schedules from gop fund-raisers and consultants who have been getting these invitations, but one of the most prominent ones, which you mentioned, the salute to david koch oddly enough is a public one. and i actually went on the americans for prosperity website today, registered for the event. it appears i can bring a guest, so i know you have some anchoring responsibilities, but

if you would like to salute david koch, you're more than welcome to join me. >> well, if i held a lottery for that privilege on the staff, i would be trampled by the people trying to participate in it, so i might have to defer. mike, the conventions are always sort of slurries of cash. they're always sort of slurries of lobbying events. it happens on both sides. certainly, the democrats vet their donors in the same way that the republicans do historically, but is there something different about the scale or the relative emphasis happening at the rnc this year. as i said in the intro, it feels to me the highest profile events and positions at the rnc are about the donors. >> first of all, this is the year of the mega donor. post-citizens united and we're seeing these astounding sums poured into the race. $30 million so far by sheldon adelson and predictions he may go up to $100 million. the americans for prosperity has put out it's going to spend as much as $150 million. much of that is believed to be koch brothers money.

so we're seeing the sorts of sums that we have not seen for quite some time. and so in some respects, this is a coming out party for the mega donors like david koch and sheldon adelson, and they're being much more public than they have before. but it's also noteworthy because congress back in 2007 after the jack abramoff scandal imposed new ethics rules that were supposed to put tight curbs on these types of events. in fact, lobbying entities were barred from throwing parties for a member of congress. but sure enough, clever lawyering and some interesting ethics rulings, interpretations of that, have thrown open the bar so we're basically back where we started. instead of honoring individual members of congress, the lobbyists are honoring groups of members of congress.

the congressional yacht caucus, the oklahoma delegation, i brought a whole bunch of these with me. and you know, so that's one sort of way they're skirting the rules. i talked to jack abramoff today about all this who said nothing has changed. he'll be there as a commentator for "inside edition." and he's saying all of the old games that were in play that led to these congressional lobbying restrictions are back in play in a very big way at this convention. >> i'm just imagining all of these lobbyists wearing those tool belts they wear to make change at the ballpark for beer. cashing out at the restaurant, cashing out at the vip rooms. it's going to be quite a sight. michael isikoff. thanks very much. happy tampa. chris hayes is joining us just ahead.

the last time we talked to chris hayes on a friday night, remember what happened? moments after we talked to chris, the whole news cycle blew open with a friday night leak about who the vice presidential nominee was going to be. that's what happened the last time we talked to chris on a friday. okay, here's the plan. you have a plan? first we're gonna check our bags for free, thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you. next, we get priority boarding on our flight i booked with miles. all because of the card. and me. okay, what's the plan? plan? mm-hmm. we're on vacation. this is no plan. really? [ male announcer ] the united mileageplus explorer card. the mileage card with special perks on united. get it and you're in.

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and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger. when it comes to rape and when it comes to the issue of should it be legal for a woman to get an abortion -- >> so, i'm very proud of my pro life record and i have always adopted the idea, the position that the method of conception

doesn't change the definition of life. >> when paul ryan said the method of conception, what he's talking about is rape. that's what he's talking about in terms of policy. that rape victims should be forced by the government to bear the child of the rapist. in terms of politics, the reason the presumptive vice presidential nominee of the republican party is giving news interviews about rape in the final days before the republican national convention is of course because of this guy. >> i may not be the favorite candidate of some people within the republican establishment. but the voters made a decision. >> is there anyone or anything that could make you change your mind? >> claire mccaskill would withdraw and give the election to me, that might be a consideration. >> you know what? claire mccaskill is not going to withdraw and give the election to you. in fact, claire mccaskill is going to beat you. before last week, todd akin was ahead in the missouri senate

race because missouri as a state is trending pretty red, but todd akin is not ahead in that race anymore. >> if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. >> yeah, that guy is no longer ahead. i know it's shocking. since then, it seems like it took about a day or so for missouri to digest what had just happened with todd akin. there was a pop-up poll done immediately after his remarks, and it did not show a big change in the race. mr. akin was still ahead of claire mccaskill by a point, but as soon as people absorbed he really had said that thing about legitimate rape in describing his view that rape victims should be forced by the government to bear the child of their rapist, the polls started to look like this. this one on wednesday, three days after his now famous remarks, mr. akin is losing by ten points to claire mccaskill. so the republican party does not want todd akin to stay in the race against mccaskill.

the republican party would very much like him to disappear. short of that, they would like him to stay as far away from the news cycle as possible. because when mr. akin is in the news, the fact that paul ryan agrees with todd akin on forcing rape victims to bear the child of their rapists, that fact is also in the news. needless to say, republican u.s. senate nominee todd akin is totally not invited to the rnc. he is specifically and publicly not invited to the party's convention. today, democratic groups are pointing out that the rnc has invited to the convention the guy who has become perhaps todd akin's biggest defender and advocate, not to mention a fellow force rape victims to bear the child of their rapist policy enthusiast. i'm talking about mike huckabee. he has a primetime headline speaking slot at the rnc next week. and he's not only rushing to todd akin's defense this week, he's helping him raise money. he sent a blast e-mail to his friends and supporters saying,

quote, is this what the party thinks of principled pro life advocates. i'm waiting from the apology from whoever the genius was who thought it wise to shoot our wounded and run over him with tanks and trucks and feed his body to the liberal wolves. i will join todd as often as i can in our fight for party's pro life policies. if they can't help us get to the majority, we'll do it without them. todd akin who has basically been expunged from the party while trying to justice his position that pregnant rape victims should be forced to bear the rapist's child, he cannot come to the republican national convention. but mike huckabee, who believes the same thing in terms of policy he is a prime time national convention headliner. the republican party's problem on this issue is that todd akin's vision for women's rights

and a crackdown on rape and incest victims is a common position among candidates. >> when it comes to rape and the issue of should it be legal for a woman to be able to get an abortion if she's -- >> i'm very proud of my pro life record. and i have always adopted the idea, the position that the method of conception doesn't change the definition of life. >> rape doesn't change what we're going to force this woman to do. paul ryan just like todd akin wants the government to have the power to regulate the pregnancies of rape victims and incest victims to insure the government's chosen outcome even if it's against your will. even if it's against your doctor's will. don't worry, the argument goes he's only going to be vice president. >> but let's remember, i'm joining the romney/ryan ticket. and the president makes policy. the president in this case, the future president, mitt romney, has exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, which is a vast improvement of where we are right now. >> mitt romney is going to be

president and the president sets policy. his policy for exceptions for rape, incest, and life of mother, i'm comfortable with it because it's a good step in the right direction. >> good step in the right direction. vast improvement. he's saying overturning roe v. wade and criminalizing abortion except in rape, incest and woman's death, would be a step in there right direction. a step in the right direction toward what he actually wants, what he would do with a hypothetical paul ryan presidency, which is criminalize abortion for everybody, including rape victims and incest victims. and so on the friday before the republican convention, rape policy and the split down the republican ticket over who is more of a hardliner against rape victims. not rapists, but against rape victims, is what the country is talking about with regard to the republicans' presidential ticket. this is the conversation heading into their nominating convention which todd akin or no todd akin is not a situation they want to be in. this is not what they wanted all

their local tv interviews to be about at that point. that's probably something they should have thought about when they picked paul ryan as the vice presidential nominee. democrats are counting on people who might otherwise be okay with republican and are themselves republicans not being okay with this stuff. >> i was a republican most of my life. >> i am still registered republican. >> i was raised in a very republican, conservative family. >> one of the things that makes me really upset about it is the attitude toward birth control, contraceptives and abortion. >> if you truly believe in a small government, that government shouldn't be deciding what i can and can't do with my own body. >> i'm very concerned about mitt romney's policies concerning women's rights. >> he wants to reverse roe v. wade. >> i don't even want to think about them having control. as a woman, i don't. >> if you're a conservative woman and you believe in small government, then barack obama is your candidate because he's keeping the government out of

the decisions that should remain between you and god and you and your own conscience. >> the obama/biden campaign has posted that today. todd akin did not create this problem for the republicans, but he did bring this problem they have right out into the open, and the democrats are pressing their advantage on that. because of that, we're about to see how big a problem it is for the whole country with the whole country paying attention to this when the republicans least want them to be doing that. so you brushed with colgate total and you didn't.

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hey, tonight, the schedule for the republican national convention changed. you might have heard, you might have been planning on the fact that ann romney was going to be speaking on monday night. that's the night of the convention that is most in the cross hairs of tropical storm isaac, but regardless of isaac, the republicans seems to have realized that monday night will be covered by cable news, like us, but it will not be covered by the networks. they have decided to move ann romney out of monday night. they're not going to put ann

romney on monday night. they'll get a chance to cover her on network tv by moving her to another day, and they'll get a chance to move something else into monday. something else into monday that maybe they wanted to bury, maybe they didn't want at all to be on network tv. what's that? that's coming up. mom: ready to go to work? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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- a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. the man we're about to show on the screen is not president obama. but he would like to play president obama on tv or at your next party, perhaps. he works for a living as a barack obama impersonator. he said he will perform at a 30-person party for $300 plus travel. he will work a trade show for $800 plus travel. last week, he posted a picture of him with, i think, the real donald trump. it reads, be sure to watch the republican national convention. the picture was picked up, and i think this screen grab on the screen might be the only copy of it still around. right around the time of the photo, donald trump was teasing the public with what kind of role he might play at the

republican convention next week. >> i'm doing something. i have been asking to speak, but i am doing something that is going to be, i think, really amazing. it's going to be great, and we'll see what happens, how it is received, but it will be pretty wild. i think it will be potent. we'll see. >> they have asked you to speak at the convention? >> yes, they have asked me to speak. i may do it, but i don't think you can do both. you'll understand when you see what i'm doing. >> oh, okay. >> oh, okay. the smart kids on the internet machine are betting he will be showing up at the convention with the barack obama impersonator guy he took a picture with, and then he's going to fire the impersonator, you're fired. tah-dah. there was a time with donald trump when he was going to run for president himself, remember? he polled great.

just behind romney even with huckabee. his platform when he was running for president or seemed to be, consisted of a single gigantic plank. >> i would like to have him show his birth certificate. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? >> either he wasn't born in the country or he doesn't have a birth certificate. >> people have birth certificates. he doesn't have a birth certificate. >> he doesn't have a birth certificate or he hasn't provided it. he gave a certificate of life birth. >> he won't give us the longer than long form birth certificate. he's not a person. vote for me, fire him. after president obama did in fact release a long form birth certificate in april 2011, making much fun of donald trump in the process, after that, donald trump did kind of go away for a while. it seemed like maybe the election had seen the last of him, but then he came back like a hand out of fresh dirt over a grave. he endorsed governor romney in february in las vegas and started raising money for mr. romney at lots and lots of

fundraiser after he started beating the birther drum again. >> i think if you look at the birth certificate, take a look and tell me really, you analyze the birth certificate. there are many people that don't agree with that birth certificate. they don't think it's authentic. >> right after donald trump said that, mitt romney appeared with donald trump at a fund-raiser in las vegas, right alongside him, both there in person. yeah. asked how he could be doing a fund-raiser with this guy pushing the birth certificate thing, which mr. romney said is totally nothing he believed in, he offered a explanation of why he was doing the fund-raiser, a mathematical explanation. >> i don't agree with all of the people who support me and my guess is they don't believe everything i believe in, but i need to get 50.1% or more and i'm appreciative to get the help of a lot of good people. >> that's why he was doing the trump thing with the birther thing. mitt romney had done the math, not hard math, but he needs

50.1% of the vote. the new poll shows mitt romney with zero percent of the african-american electorate. the romney/ryan electorate trailed by not even sure what you can call a margin, 94% to 0%. he is losing badly among latino voters. by a 35-point margin which is almost exactly the margin that mccain and palin lost the latino vote when they lost to barack obama in part because of the low portion of latino vote. mitt romney is running out of ways to meet his own low mathematical expectations. >> i need to get 50.1% or more. >> he's right. from this distance he cannot get there by winning over african-american voters. he's also not getting anywhere with latinos. his only hope is to win over white voters by a very large margin. today in his home state of michigan, in the city of commerce, michigan, on the eve of the republican convention, he

said this. >> i love being home in this place where ann and i were raised. where both of us were born. ann was born at henry ford hospital. i was born at harper hospital. no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know this was the place we were born and raised. >> nobody's ever asked to see my birth certificate. want to know why? nobody is suspicious -- over the next few days, you're going to hear and see and read those words a lot. almost as soon as he said them, mr. romney was asked to defend making these birther comments, this birther joke in michigan. he did say, hey, it was just a joke. under the hash tag future mitt jokes, the great oliver willis tweeted today, quote, nobody wonders if i'm an absentee father. then he tweeted, everyone assumes if i have a gun, it's

really just for hunting. 50.1%. every vote counts. the ones you have written off and the ones you might get if you're willing to write off certain others. why would he make a birther joke on the way to the republican national convention. does is the romney campaign think there's an upside and think it helps if they reward and comfort and proverbially clap on shoulder anybody who is the kind of person who still holds a deep seeded feeling that this man should not be an american president. that there's something illegitimate and un-american about this man being in charge of the government. what will they do to reach the 50.1% and what really does help them to get it? joining us now is chris hayes, host of up with chris hayes, the author of "twilight of the elites." thank you for being here. >> wonderful to be here. >> let me ask you about my overall thesis about the math, which is if you're performing at the same level as the losing ticket did with latinos and

performing even worse with african-americans, mathematically, the way you make it up is by winning a larger portion of white vote and suppressing african-americans and latinos who might vote against you. is this a way to stoke some of the white vote? >> i think there are two things happening here. one, i don't think the math works out in terms of who are the marginal voters on the fence about voting for mitt romney who are going to be persuaded to move into the column to move him over the 50.1% who are going to be persuaded by these racial appeals. >> even people who don't like president obama because of racial prejudice but don't have an interest in the campaign, they say, if you don't like obama because of his race, we're with you. let me make this joke, make you feel better about it? >> the idea is i think there's some number of those voters who might be offline who might be

brought online. there's no one who could be persuaded from one to the other. to place the math, 50.1% is a crucial number because it's going to be a really close race. everyone understands that. this looks a lot more like 2004 than 2008. 2004 was a real base election. a base mobilization election, the legendary election of the gay marriage amendments and evangelical getting out the vote. the battle to mobilize the base, and it's dawning on both sides, but romney particularly, the other thing i think romney is doing here, and dave weigel had a smart piece way back when romney first was locking up the nomination. they started this war over barack obama eating dog in his biography. there was this stupid back and forth about you're going to make seamus jokes and we're going to make jokes about you eating dogs. and dave said something makes conservatives like you more than liberals hating you. what this is, it's a ricochet strategy. you're never going to love mitt

romney, but if liberals hate him enough maybe conservatives -- >> this is like, hey liberals, complain about racism. if you're complaining about racism, your flaming liberal outrage by the light of your flaming liberal outrage, i look better. >> that's right, and i think there is resentment in -- there's a very complicated psychological experience of how people think about race in the obama era. something we'll talk about in the show tomorrow. particularly, i think there's a hair trigger resentment among a certain cohort of white voters to be accused of racism or feel anyone who doesn't like barack obama and is white is therefore racist and if those charges come out, that creates a solidarity with mitt romney who is a victim of the great political correctness machine. >> do you think that is also motivating the welfare attacks.

we have five ads on welfare in two and a half weeks when essentially accused president obama on a totally nonfactual basis of being the president of lazy welfare recipients who don't want to work but want your money? >> the hilarious thing is that i'm going to take the bait. because i'm now sitting on the "rachel maddow show" show being like, those ads are super racist, but no, it's very difficult when you look at the history of attacks on redistribution, particularly around welfare, have had a loaded racial subtext forever. you'll note in the romney ads, there's not a single african-american who appears in one. >> the back of one guy's head. >> it's a multiracial look of the american worker or the people on welfare. none of them are black. they understand what the history of the racial subtext is, but they also understand how that appeal and that charge that that person is taking your tax dollars and giving it to someone else, how it resonates in the obama era in which you do not

have to state the race of who that recipient is. >> soaking economic resentment, the racial under lying of economic -- economic insecurity turns into racial he resentment. but it's also baiting liberals to complain about them being racist which makes them look good by the fact they're defending themselves against racism charges. >> that's complicated. you're giving them a lot of credit. i also think mitt romney wanted the crowd to like him today. and he said something -- >> i thought that until i saw the tape. i think it was totally planned. anyway, i don't live inside his head. thank christ. chris hayes, the host of up with chris hayes on msnbc. his new book is called "twilight of the elites." we're going to be right back. stay with us. is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪

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when the republican presidential nominee mitt romney sits down for television interviews, there are generally few surprises. no matter what you think of him as a candidate, he's been campaigning for the presidency nonstop for about six years. in that time, he has answered every conceivable question. but two weeks ago, chuck todd sat down with romney, and the candidate said something completely unexpected. you can see it in its full context tonight in the mitt romney documentary airing right after this show. after telling voters to elect

him for years because of his past experience, particularly in business, mr. romney said he would like to see his past taken off the table for the campaign. >> our campaign would be helped immensely if we had an agreement between both campaigns we were only going to talk about issues and that attacks based upon business or family or taxes or things of that nature, this is just -- this is divergent. >> after years of vote for me, i was successful in business, as of now, his background in business is just a diversion, or at least when he taped the interview with chuck todd. today, he tried to pull off a hard to execute, rarely seen flip-flop-flip on this. he published an opinion piece in the wall street journal putting the spotlight back on the business experience as he's describing as just a diversion. mitt romney, what i learned at bain capital. mr. romney bolstered the op-ed

about how he intends to sell himself and the candidacy at the republican national convention. when appears before crowds, he doesn't think what can i do here to portray myself in a way that would be appealing to the public? people who have hired me in the past have been pleased they did, mr. romney said, referring to his roles as chief executive of bain capital and governor of massachusetts and head of the winter '02 olympics. he said i don't have a plan to take everybody to my childhood home and say here's where i rode my bicycle. people who have hired me in the past have been pleased that they did. on one page of the wall street journlg he's relaunching his time as ceo of bain capital. as his relevant experience for being president of the united states. on other page of the same paper, bringing back his massachusetts governor record, saying people who hired him, meaning elected him for that job, were pleased that they did so. the people of massachusetts were

not pleased that they hired mitt romney actually it turns out. the director of suffolk university's political research center looked into how massachusetts residents liked mitt romney once they ee leked him governor. the conclusion was his favorable was a straight line down from his honeymoon. after two years it dropped to 47%. his approval rating dropped to 47%, to 36%. and then massachusetts replaced him with a democrat. before mitt romney, republican governor, the massachusetts governor was a republican. before that the republican governor was a republican. and before that republican governor, the governor before that was a republican. massachusetts wasn't against republican governors. we had four in a row. but then after mitt romney, massachusetts went democratic.

and mitt romney left office with an approval rating so bad, it's basically george w. bush territory. now he's saying people who hired me in the past have been pleased that they did. that is not true at all of the last time mitt romney held public office. this is going to be awesome. how are they going to explain this stuff? why you didn't run for re-election and how massachusetts thought of you at the time and thousahow they thi you now? >> if the wall street journal won't call him on it, will the press covering the rnc call on that stuff before that big arena full of people next week? i can't wait. it's going to be a lot of fun. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before.

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because he's a behind the scenes kind of guy. the top lawyer for the george w. bush presidential campaigns including in the florida recount in 2000. here's the actor bplaying him i the hbo movie. he worked for the rnc and republican congressional committee and even advised the swift vote guys in 2004. now of course, he is the lawyer for the mitt romney campaign. he is one of those guys you have never heard of but for whom you may want to set a google alert. when big important things are going on in the republican party, he's usually there on the ground. where is ben today? today he is at a rules committee meeting in tampa trying to prevent the republican party from ever again having the ron paul problem this year. even though ron paul did not win state primaries or caucuses,

supporters used the party political process to win delegates for multiple states for ron paul anyway. almost 200 ron paul delegates at the convention this year because of that. even though he didn't win any states. that is probably never happening again because ben ginsburg pushed through a new rule, when a candidate wins a primary or caucus, they get the corresponding number of delegates, period. end of story. republicans moved up the day mr. romney will technically be crowned the republican nominee, that happens at the role call and supposed to happen on wednesday when it would have been broadcast on the networks live. and they moved it to monday when there will be no network coverage. which takes care of one pron they thought they would have, some supporters of mr. paul have been pushing to make their voices heard during the roll call vote. several have signaled their interest in making their admiration for ron paul known on the