you have got to hand it to paul ryan. for sheer dishonesty and rank hypocrisy, the man really does take the biscuit. thanks so much for watching. chris matthews picks things up now with "hardball." thank you, charlotte. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews back in washington. let me start with this impressive week in charlotte. i've never seen such excitement in a political convention. it was in the faces of the people who stood at the edge of our stage, the loud roars when one of us said something about president obama, their deep concentration watching him. i don't know what this means for

november. we're going to get serious economic reports between now and then and we'll know if the economy's slowing down or beginning to perk. the news we got this morning wasn't status factory, but the real question is how the voters look at this election. will they view it as a choice between two candidates or as an up or down referendum on president obama. soon after the financial crash of 2008 and 2009. president obama last night kept pushing the idea that this election is a choice among vote es rather than a referendum. 20 times he uttered a variation of choose or choice. >> when all is said and done, when you pick up that ballot to vote, you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation. it will be a choice between two different paths for america. i'm asking you to choose that future and now, you have a

choice. if you choose this path. the choice you face -- you can choose a future -- choose -- choice -- choice -- choice -- choices -- choose -- choose. you can choose that future for america. >> well, that's pretty tough stuff. steve moore, for the, i guess you have a point of view on this. is this going to be like a baseball team where the manager said that pitcher started the game, but he's got to get out of there or you have two people facing off saying well, pick me, the other says pick me and you've got to choose between them? >> i think it's a smart strategy by barack obama, especially given the employment report that came out today that was disappointing, but i have a kind of iron rule politics and i've been in politics for a listening ti time, as you have chris. they're almost always referendum on the performance of the incumbent and that's the problem

barack obama has is that a lot of americans have concluded this economy isn't growing. when he says the line this week among many democrats, this was the best any president would have done, it was barack obama himself who said we were going to have the unemployment rate down below 6% now and if in three or four years, if i haven't fixed the economy, i won't have a second term. >> today, the unemployment rate did tick down because only 96,000 jobs were added and more have stopped looking for work. this is the short, smallest labor force. that means people looking for a job in 30 years. we have shrunk the working portion of our country because of disappointment in the job market. >> there's no question the yob job report was not what they

wanted. there are three numbers. the first is the raw number, which was lower than folks expected. there's the unemployment rate which did tick down and then there's another measure that people look at, 401(k)s. if republicans want to talk about whether you're better off or not than four years ago, somebody who's about to retire is looking at that saying the president inherited a terrible situation. by 401(k) nearly doubled in the last four years. he said in his speech things had gone more slowly and been more difficult. he showed humility and i thought he did a wonderful job of context lizing it last night. it's a choice between what kind of future we want to have as a country. what kind of economy we want to have. whether it's an economy that works for everybody or just the few and privileged like mitt romney. >> what about that? the idea that and let's say no back and forth.

if you have a president come in and the dow jones is down about 65, it's dropped dramatically, lower than it was for a decade and all of a sudden, it doubles up to 13,000. that means people have 401(k) money. they're better off dramatically. in fact, twice as well off as they were and this is somebody ready to retie tire, 72 years old, checking the market every day. if george w. had this situation, he'd be doing those hot dog jumping up and down in the end zone and he wouldn't quit. >> i agree with both you and steve. i think this is the best statistic that barack obama has. the stock market actually has done pretty well under barack obama, so you're both right about that. the problem that i think -- >> how does wealth affect retirement? if you retire, those people -- >> clearly, it's the wealth. in fact, if you look at the income statistics that came out last week, that were pretty

lousy, the only age group that saw an increase in their income were senior citizens, who are not in the workforce, but here's the problem with your guy's analysis though. it is true that there's a wealth effect in terms of higher stock market values. the housing market hasn't done much at all, but the bigger problem is when you look at the wage issue, steve. that's where o has a steep incline. wages are down 4,000 for the average family. >> you're piling on. here's president obama speaking about the tjobs numbers in new hampshire. >> today, we learned that after losing around 800,000 jobs a month, businesses once again added jobs for a 30th month in a row.

but that's not good enough. we need to create more jobs faster. we need to fill the hole left by this recession faster. we need to come out of this crisis stronger than when we went in and there's a lot more than we can do. >> i think you say the worst sin of the is the isn't that he hasn't got the economy come back, but that he promised too much. i'll get it down to %. is it what any other president has been able to do? bill clinton doesn't think so. been able to take this out on the edge of a precipicprecipice it back and get people working again after this kind of financial crash we had in '08 and '09? >> reagan did. >> he didn't have a financial crisis. >> come on, now.

>> that was a monetary recession caused by volcker. a systematic tightening of money. >> i disagree with you on that. the 1970s was the worst decade we had since the great depression in terms of income. but here's the point. reagan came in during a great economic kras is. read what people were saying in 1980. everyone thought we were up on decline, never recover. that the soviet union was going to overtake us. three years later after reagan put his program in place, the economy was booming. 6, 7, 8% growth. yeah, you can do this. you can get out of these things with the right policies. >> here's, steve, you've been around politics for a long time. you know how people make these decisions. in presidential elections, they

make a decision based upon things getting better or worse. if you look at the 401(k), the the housing market coming off the bottom, 30 months of jobs being created after 800,000 job losses at a time when obama came into office and you listen to his speech last night when he said i'm asking you to choose the harder path. tax cuts for everybody and tax cuts for wealthy people sound really good, but they're cotton candy and leave the worst deficits and bigger problems down the road. i'm asking you to take the harder path. this is a president who's asking people to actually engage in shared sacrifice, which hasn't happened for a long time. the republicans aren't asking anybody to do that. they're saying the last free lunch in america is sitting right here. it's more tax cuts and people who are thoughtful understand that more tax cuts cause more debt and problems for our kids. >> 1-877-tell-hln me what barack obama's program is then. i don't know what that program is. he didn't talk about what he wants to do, except more stimulus spending.

>> he talked about continuing to increase exports, a million new manufacturing jobs. >> how? >> he talked about a society where people where we invest in education and produce a workforce that's more competitive globally than the one we have. he didn't talk about carving out medicare and turning it into a voucher program. he didn't talk about leaving people out on their own unable to make ends meet and the social net. he didn't talk about the things that the republicans frank lly wanted to create where everybody's on their own. he talked about a shared sacrifice, which used to be a noble thing in this country and something that frankly, republicans used to do. >> steve, i am not in favor of sacrifice. i'm in favor of growth. the only people we need to sacrifice are the government. >> i just want to remind society voters, in 2009, we had an employment rate past 12% and the

stock market sinking with no floor below it. we didn't know where we were headed then. we were headed the wrong way. when your crowd, your part of the party, the year the conservatives left us. barack obama was left with a mess and didn't clean up fast enough by the people who left the mess. now, a lot of people can criticize the economy, but the people least about to criticize with r the people who left the mess. it's my view. i think all the polling shows, 60% blame it on bush. we thank you. please comeback, mr. moore. you got three in your hand this morning. coming up, which party had the better convention? it's not a toss-up. it's the democrats and this is a fact. because i was with both of them.

also, how the gop managed to fumble away their biggest advantage t. military, the troops. republicans didn't mention the war in afghanistan and democrats ran right out of the gaping hole. we'll be right back. hey. hey eddie. i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. ♪ [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out.

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welcome back. there were so many differences between the two conventions. we just saw one of the starkest was in the level of enthusiasm, loud and boisterous in charlotte.

rather business like in tampa. i could fit where ever i went. the first bit of trouble in tampa came when chris christie told delegates they weren't being loud enough. >> i get a little bit disappointed at the volume of noise on the floor of that convention the last two nights. i've been a little disappointed in it. >> wow. the enthusiasm level was one of the many contrasts between the conventions. take you through the others. another is the role each party gave to past presidents. bill clinton owned wednesday night in charlotte and made the strongest case yet for an obama second term. let's listen to big bill, the big dog. >> if you want a winner take all, you own your own society, you should support the republican convention. but if you want a country of

shared opportunities and responsibility, we're all in this together society, you should vote for barack obama. and joe biden. he was fantastic. >> president bush was not present at the convention and was barely mentioned by anyone except briefly by his brother, who said it's time to cut him a break. >> and my brother, well, i love my brother. he is a man of integrity, courage and honor. and during incredibly challenging times, he kept us safe. so mr. president, mr. president, it is time to stop blaming your predecessor for your failed economic policies.

>> well, i always like to remind people he didn't keep us safe september 11th, 2001. it was always after that. if a democrat had been president on 9/11, the republican party would have participated such villainizing of the democrats, it would never have ended. let's move on to the broader question here of how they treated the most recent chief executive. not much action there for w. pure love for bill. >> well, chris, i think they decided down down in tampa that for every minute george bush was mentioned, they were going to drop that percentage in the polls. as you mentioned earlier, americans understand by and large, 60 to 70% of them, that barack obama inherited a serious set of problems from george w. bush. two wars that have cost us

upwards of 2, $3 trillion. an economy that was crashed. and a gigantic debt that he had actually doubled while in office. this is what the president had to cope with at a time of terrible stress for the country. and i think people know that. they remember that and republicans don't want to remind them. >> boept both parties want to remind us of bill clinton, but neither wants to remind us of w. democrats are giving him a break. your thoughts. >> president bush has exited the political stage. he said once i'm out of politics, that's it. the democrats can run around and say, oh, they're tried to hide bush and he's trying stay off the scene, but that was the president's decision. the fact of the matter, chris, is that poor barack obama, oh, obama inherited a mess. oh, obama, oh all the troubles he's had.

this man has been in office for three and a half years. i'm tired of listening to the whining on the left saying poor obama as opposed to he's had a stimulus bill, a jobs bill. let's put the blame where it needs to be, at the president's feet for his failed policies as opposed to blaming george bush. >> most people don't agree, but republicans and democrats had limited prime time. on the final night of both convention, just as the numbers began their coverage, here's what the parties presented. 10:02 last night, joe biden was in a full lather. let's listen. >> america is not in decline! i've got news for governor romney and congressman ryan. gentlemen, never, ever, it never makes sense, it's never been a good bet to bet against the american people. >> any way, meanwhile, the week

before, here's what republicans were presenting to network audiences at 10:04 on their big night. >> i've got mr. obama sitting here. what? what do you want me to tell romney? i can't tell him do that. can't do that to himself. you're absolutely crazy. >> you know, ron, i've always given credit to your party, the the republican party, for competence in putting these shows on. you always have the balloon drop where the balloons do drop on time. you're really good at this stuff, but this year, when you only had an hour of prime time tv on the networks, you put on clint eastwood. the other guy put on joe biden. who's organizing your conventions these days? i think you lost some of your

luster in this business. >> well, chris, i know it's going make a lot of our republican friends a little unhappy with me, but i thought it was a little strange seeing clint eastwood, a guy who i love, talking to an empty chair. i get the point, but for goodness sakes, the one hour you have the american people tuning in and you're looking at an emp empty chair, i just didn't see the humor in it. i just wont have chosen that line of frankly, attacking the president. >> you know, joe, he apparently thought up this gig, whatever you want to call it, when he was in the green room. he just thought of it. that's a lot of power, can i have that chair, please? >> i think even though obama seems to have gotten a big bounce today in the gallup approval, you can bet that romney is way up with people who yell at empty chairs. i would say that's a demographic. >> you are cruel to our hero. i'm going to forgive him. i think, you know, this probably

is the way he's been his whole career. this hunch didn't work. let's talk about the crowd out there. this is always a ticklish point. but i was down in charlotte and there was a tremendous good feeling, you know that phrase, ron, you always hear. new south. it's better than it was. the race relations are much more mellow. i know it's tough to talk about it, but i was so impressed by the way people got along, open space with people, the excitement, the shoulder to shoulder feeling. it was so, these were the more important people. the delegates. not just the regular people. we had regular citizens, but these delegates, just a lot of positive feeling here. and diversity in the best sense. it was wonderful because they wanted to be diverse. your thoughts, ron? is that something the republican party just isn't over yet and has to get over at some point or what? >> i think it's a matter of ideolo

ideology. 96% of registered african-american voters who voted for president obama last time around, that's a high percentage. i didn't see the kind of diversity i wanted to see in tampa. there were a number of folks of coll color, but we need to recruit folks to run for office. ask for the vote before election time so hopefully, four years from now, we'll have a more robust and diverse republican party. >> how many delegates of color were there at the republican convention? >> it's hard for me to say, chris. i saw quite a few on the floor. the estimate i've heard is about 2.1%. that's again, something i've heard. i can't confirm that as a hard number. zpl and in real numbers, that is what? >> 40. or 50. >> it's about 21, actually. ron has the nerve to join whatever political party he wants to join.

positive feeling about america down there. i know most african-americans because of history and roosevelt moved into that one political party. the south was democrat when they were being treated the worst. it is an spresing part of american history and ron knows it better than i do. thanks for coming on. thank you, joe, for being tough. but fair. coming up, there was one word joe biden loved saying last night. well, literally, i think. he loved saying the word, literally. any way, this is "hardball," the place for politics. bob...

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more specific numbers in one speech than the republican leadership did in a week in tampa. >> a reasonable plan of $4 trillion in debt reduction over

a decade. for every $2.5 trillion in spending cuts, raises a dollar in new revenues. >> thot that the republicans did not have a plan. >> we are going to solve this nation's economic problems. we need to stop spending money we don't have. we will not duck the tough issues. we will lead. >> and as a last resort, we will use magic. >> back to "hardball." speaking of president clinton's speech, you may have caught this snapshot of hillary clinton watching her husband make his address. she was on a diplomatic trip in southeast asia. before watching though, the secretary of state had this to say about her husband's remarks. quote, i received the as prepared version, which i'm anxious, when i can, to prepare with the as delivered version. she suspected it's something like this zinger from paul ryan -- called for the same amount in savings. >> takes some brass to attack a

guy for doing what you did. >> and that was imprompt u. bill clinton's prepared remarks, just over 3,000 words. as delivered version, close to 6,000. just a bit more ad libbing and he would have doubled the original count. that guy is smart. did you happen to notice joe biden getting a bit literal with the use of one word in particular? >> governor romney believed it's okay to raise taxes on middle class by $2 thourk. in order to pay for another literally another trillion dollar tax cut for the very wealthy. and it literally amazes me they don't understand. general motors and chrysler were literally on the verge of liquidation. i mean, literally hung in the balance -- direction we turn is not figurativfiguratively, lite

your hands. >> biden dropped that "l" word ten times. the obama campaign pounced on that one. a message from the obama campaign. osama bin laden is dead, general motors is alive. they're moving fast. this past week in charlotte has been chock full of memorable moments i doubt anyone has forgotten about possibly the most bizarre incident from last week in tampa. of course, it's clint eastwood talking to an empty chair and before singing some of his recognizable songs, yesterday, singer song writer james taylor addressed some concerns of his own four-legged prop. >> i know it's an empty chair. it makes you nervous, doesn't it? it's all right. i'm going to sit on it. not going to talk to it. >> what a voice. what a song. people unfortunately are known

by their best work and with any work, clint's date with that chair will be forgotten. his movies, classic as they are, will be around forever. up next, after mitt romney failed to thank the troops, the democrats were sure to pay tribute to them in charlotte. you're watching "hardball." the place for politics. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool

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based on how accurate they've been in the past. i'm howard spielberg of fidelity investments. the equity summary score is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. get 200 free trades today and explore your next investing idea. stocks built on thursday's gains despite disappointing economic data. the dow rose 14 points, s&p gained six, nasdaq rose a fraction. as you heard earlier, just 96,000 jobs were created last month. the unemployment rate fell to 8.1%, mostly due to giving up

look i looking for work. and apple touched a high rerlier earlyer earlier before falling back slightly. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." for years, the conventional wisdom was that the republicans owned the issues of the military and national security. democrats played defense on those issues, but if you watched the two conventions this year, that has been turned on it face. for the first time since 1952, a republican acceptance speech failed to meng war, while the democrats put you have speaker after speaker to highlight the president's national security accomplishments. the president looked like a forceful commander in chief while his opponents looked like the foreign policy novices that they are. here's what the president said

last night. >> my opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy. but, from all that we've seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost america to dearly. after all, you don't call russia our number one enemy, not al-qaeda, russia. unless you're still stuck in a cold war mind war. you might not be ready for diplomacy with beijing if you can't visit the olympics without insulting our closest ally. >> who would have thought it would be the republicans playing defense now on the issue of national security? roger simon and p.j. crowley, a former secretary of state and retired air force colonel. years ago, i wrote a piece, the mommy and daddy party.

the democratic party is good on health issues and education and republican ss b about law and order and defense and keeping a gun under the bed. tough daddy and regular mommy. but today, the democrats have done a little border crossing. they are the guys that got bin laden and braggi inging about i. >> i thought they did a clever job especially on the last day of their convention in rebranding the democratic party as the party of patriotism and of strength. as we just saw, the republican party is a party of naivety, one that doesn't know how to deal with foreign policy. but what's more as biden said, they're doom criers. they don't trust america. they sell america short. >> why are they running two guys with no military backing, but with no real interest in foreign policy. neither has any interest about the world! because this was.

>> because this was supposed to be about jobs, jobs, jobs! one thing the neo cons, who i dearly d lly despise, they don' to rise to the troops and i thought it was nice, honestly put, some -- it's a life in and out of the military. we're stuck there. >> going back decades, you had the wine berger doctrine and powell doctrine, but for the first time, we are focused and understanding the cost of war. >> the human, long-term cost. and what obama has done, he's made a real connection, you know, with the military and with veterans. his line about romney being new to national security, but what hammered that home was the fact that he finished the the speech

talk i talking speech talking about a veteran who was able to recover and stand on his own. >> last night, senator john kerry led the attack. never mention it and never mentioned the people who have to fight these wars and survive. >> no nominee for president should ever fail in the midst of a war to pay tribute to our troops overseas in his acceptance speech. mitt romney, mitt romney was talking about america. they are on the front lines every day defending america and they deserve our thanks. >> on fox news today, he failed to even mention afghanistan or pay tribute to the people who fight these wars. >> do you regret opening up this

line of attack by leaving out that issue in the speech? >> i regret you repeating it day in and day out. when you dwif a speech, you don't go through a laundry list, you talk about the things you think are are important and i described in my speech my commitment to a strong military, unlike the the president's decision to cut our military and i didn't use the wordi use the . i think they refer to the same thing. >> i just love the way he corrects the reporter for asking the wrong question. there's a big difference between talking about the troops and veterans and people and talking about forced levels and things like that as institutions which is what romney did there. >> his trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hurricanes of thousands of jobs and put our security at greater risk. that america, that united

america will preserve a military that's so strong no nation would ever test it. >> i think there's a real problem where that guy being president of the united states. he's not really human. >> he's pulled out the reagan playbook, but it's just not working 30 years later the way it did 30 years ago. he wants to add things back in without explaining, without explaining what they'll do. >> yeah, but reagan, getting that salute right. he knew it was important to recognize he was commander in chief, but connecting with the people fighting the wars. >> the difference is that romney has talking points and in talking about veterans in jobs, the the work of michelle obama and jill biden, he's bridged

this divide in a way. >> dr. biden, the second lady, if you will, make iing a point almost in a civil war setting that women, taking an interest in mostly guys are getting injured badly, they're killed and being out and addressing them as individuals that are important, years after the battle. >> and that is what's so unpleasant if you will about romney's reply on fox. in afghanistan, it's 110 degrees, walking around with a pack and weapon or imagine you have a loved one who is and you hear him or hear referred to as a laundry list. that's a dehumanizing of what these people are doing. but to romney, it's just another issue. i don't need to deal with that issue in this speech. it's not a laundry list.

it's human beings. >> i remember the story, super bowl game and i'm watching the pilots come over and they see the guy in the cockpit and it strikes you that we all should remember that at any moment right now, no matter what time of the day, there are people on post in places like afghanistan who are scared to death. they're out there in the dark. they don't know what that sound was they just heard. they're trying to do their job and not get killed ch doing it all for us. >> and the difference is obama and biden have been there with the troops. romney and ryan have not. >> stick around. up next, our "hardball" picks for the best charlotte convention moments. this is going to be easy. ♪ ♪ ♪

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and you'll get offers on things you love. this totally changes the way i think about membership. saving money on the things you want. to me, that's the membership effect. nice boots! we're getting the first indications of a poll bounce for president obama coming out of charlotte. the gallup daily tracking poll, which is a week long average of voter opinions had been holding steady for about a week with obama up just one point. today, that adds up to a three-point lead. it's now 48-45. he's at 52 now, above the 50% mark, which is so key. and reuters poll just came out with president obama ahead by two. 46-44. romney had been up by a point or two in that one all week. we'll be right back. things are looking up for obama. [ ow

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i'm no longer just a candidate. i'm the president. >> that moment, surrounded by a lot of people including a lot of african-americans and there was so much pride and defiance when he said that. all the delegitimatization of this guy and all the birther crap. he said it. live with it. i'm president of the united states. >> that's right. there was a sort of put up or shut up moment there, too, that was right around that time when he started talking about foreign policy. and mitt romney going over to england for instance. the mention of beijing and how are you going to negotiate with beijing when you can't visit an olympics without insulting our greatest ally, the united kingdom there. >> they also reestablished the special relationship. you notice that? he reestablished england as our best ally. former president bill clinton was filled with great moments. he pounded republicans with a

pointed substantive speech. let's watch a bit of big bill. >> they want to go back to the same old policies that got us in trouble in the first place. they want to cut taxes for high income americans even more than president bush did. they want to get rid of the pesy financial regulations to prohibit future bailouts. as a president once said, there they go again. >> did you like that, mr. reagan? >> yes, i liked that a lot. bill clinton does so many things for the obama/biden ticket there. he's a reminder of what happened the last time a democrat was in the white house financially in terms of the health of the country we did pretty well. he's also a reminder of contrast of the last time we had a republican in the white house where we went off a cliff. he melds this substance with the sort of folksiness in a way that few other politicians can do.

there were more facts and figures in his speech than perhaps any other speech at either convention. and he ad-libbed half of it. >> you know, he walks on to that stage with the confidence of a guy going down in a refrigerator to make himself a sandwich. he's so confident out there. the first lady stole the show tuesday night with some heart felt stories about her husband. she talked about the president's reaction late at night sometimes near midnight he would read the letters from people with ordinary, very real problems. let's watch. >> i see the concern in his eyes, and i hear the determination in his voice as he tells me you won't believe what these folks are going through, michelle. it's not right. we've got to keep working to fix this. we've got so much more to do. >> i believe her. >> yeah. best speech by a first lady i have ever seen.

and, you know, all due respect to my own mother and i haven't seen all of eleanor roosevelt's speeches. she humanizes and warms up president obama. you can see her as she just describes it, you can see him sitting at the desk worrying about ordinary people. ann romney gave a nice talk about her own husband as well. but i got the feeling -- and i don't want to knock ann romney. that was all fine. but you get the feeling with barack and michelle obama, they actually did live the american dream. ann and mitt romney don't seem to appreciate the fact they had the american dream handed to them. >> yeah. either way, neither of these first lady for the candidate for first lady can sing like your mom can. they can't sing second hand rose like she did. >> that's true. >> gabrielle giffords who survived an assassination attempt just a year and a half ago took the stage to recite the pledge of allegiance. what a moment. let's watch.

there it is. we're just showing a picture of it. that captures it pretty well. let's go on to other things. what a moment. look at some powerful rallying cries we heard the other night. they got out in the playing fields. the president's allies. and they showed they can be team members and fight for him and help him win this november. i was so taken with some of these speeches, they were so good out there in charlotte. let's watch some of them. >> sure. >> this is the president who ended don't ask don't tell so that love of country, not love of another, determines fitness for service. >> barack obama has also lived up to his responsibilities as commander in chief. ending the war in iraq, refocusing on afghanistan, and eradicating terrorist leaders including bin laden. >> where mitt romney was willing to turn his back on akron,

dayt dayton, and toledo, ohio, the president said i've got your back. >> seven presidents before him republicans and democrats tried to expand health care to all americans. president obama got it done. >> ron, this is what i've wanted to see for months now. real confederates in the field. great speakers, strong cases for the president. >> you and i have been having these conversations since the 2000 election cycle. i've always been saying the same thing. the democrats have to take the gloves off and put the wood to the republicans. really go after them. and they did it this time. finally. >> okay. great to have you on, ron reagan. have a nice weekend. when we return, let me finish with a trio of good things i noticed in charlotte. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. in it ♪ haters best get to bloggin' ♪ so hot right now d esigthneatr ♪ our ♪ sunglasses be foggin' ♪ this crowd is classic ♪ so we play 'em like rachmaninoff ♪ ♪ just hooked 'em up with score alerts ♪ ♪now we're about to set it off ♪set it off like a score alert ♪ beep beep what? ♪if you set your phone to vibrate ♪ ♪ then it might alert your button flies all the ♪

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oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners.

let me finish tonight with this. obviously my main interest in the convention just held in charlotte is political. i noticed a trio of very good things down there. first and foremost, i saw a good number of politicians speaking out sfr the president. my favorite examples were governor deval patrick and john kerry of massachusetts. both were excellent. they delivered barn burners for the president. he should have them burning for the president from here to november. second i heard the president make clear that he and not the other guy is president. mitt romney has been counting on the president to be vulnerable. and for him the challenger to be in the