he offers an example of marriage at its best. not only a fine business man, he's a fine man. worthy of leading our country. and ready to lead the great turnaround that we have spent four years waiting for. you know, i'm not the only one who has told mitt that maybe he needs to talk about more about himself and his life. it wouldn't hurt if voters knew more about the little things that reveal a man's heart and character. this is a guy who at the height of a successful business, turned the entire company into a search and rescue operation the moment he heard that a college young daughter was missing. he's a man who could have easily contendsd himself with giving donations to needy causes but everyone who those him well will tell you that mitt has always given himself. he's one of those guys who doesn't just exhort and oversee

good works, but shows up and does the work. mitt romney is is the type we've all run into in our communities. the man who's there right away when there's need but never first in line when praise and credit are being handed out. he's a modest man with a charitable heart. a doer and a promise keeper. he's the kind of person every chance could use more of. and he'll be the kind of president who brings out the best in our country. when he asked me to join the ticket i told governor romney, let's get this done. that's been my message ever since. i'm asking all of you the same. we know what we are up against. we know how desperate our opponents are to cling to power.

but we are ready and i hope you are too because i know that we can do this. whatever your political party, let's come together for the sake of our country, let's put these divisive years behind us, let's give this effort everything we have, let's get this done and elect mitt romney the next president of the united states. of america. thank you, everybody. and god bless you. >> that was vice presidential nominee paul ryan wrapping up his remarks at the values voter summit in washington, d.c. he was making the pitch to the public and his own party, that despite the week the romney/ryan ticket has had it ain't over. it is friday, september 14th. this is "now." joining me today, msnbc political analyst and georgetown university professor michael

eric dyson. nicolas is here from "the new york times" as daily show cocreator and author of "lizz free or die,iz winstead and buzz feed editor and chief ben smith. we are following a couple developing stories in the hour. the university of texas austin has evacuated all campus buildings after receiving bomb threats. school officials say a man called in claiming to have placed bombs throughout campus. no explosives have been found. no decision yet about whether to resume classes today. north dakota state university is ordering a campus evacuation after receiving its own bomb threats. we will continue to monitor this situation as it progresses. homeland security, the fbi and the atf are monitoring the threats but have not heard anything at this time that links the situations, needless to say this comes as the global stage has been shaken by events throughout this week. case in point, a man posted a video on youtube in california and sets the middle east aflame

with protests. modern technology has created a new butterfly effect, in this case the initial actor isn't a winged suspect, but a one-time methamphetamine manufacturer and criminal guilty of federal bank fraud. under the alias sam bacile is reportedly behind the "innocence of muslim" that has sparked outrage across the muslim world. anti-american demonstration protesting have spread in northern africa to southeast asia. in tunisia protesters tore down the flag and set fire to cars in the parking lot and breached the outside walls of the american embassy in sudan's capital city. we've gotten word that the president and secretary of state will be andrews air force base this afternoon when remains of the four americans killed in benghazi this week will return. the internet brings the world together also gives anyone with a computer the ability to light

a fuse and ignite a tragic chain of events. joining us from washington, david wood, senior military correspondent with "the huffington post." always great to see you. >> hi, alex. >> these are certainly changing and tragic times. that news that the president and the secretary of state will be greeting the remains of chris stevens, the ambassador to libya, i think it is with heavy hearts the nation welcomes back his body under tragic circumstances. want to talk about sort of the larger picture here which is just how this thing started sort of, you know, in one corner of the world and has spread rapidly throughout the muslim world from africa to southeast asia. you are a military and defense expert. what do you make of the situation in terms of how we protect american interests overseas at the same time accounting for the fact that we are a country with free speech and civil liberties are a big part of what makes america. >> you know what word i've been thinking of this morning, patience.

we've seen this before. notably you'll recall at the end of the cold war, communists and authoritarian governments fell or crept away to be replaced by jub lens and very quickly what happened was, the extremist groups sprang up to take advantage. there was a big struggle for power all across the former communist world and there was a lot of violence. what eventually got it cooled off was, americans being involved military, civilian and diplomats, being involved in helping those people build their own civilian societies. it's dangerous, it's dirty, it's frustrating, it takes a long time. it's exactly the kind of work that chris stevens was doing in libya. passion fatly believed in this. so, what seems to me is, we need to back off, we need to understand there's a lot of frustration out there in the arab world. because of their economic

situation and the political fight for power. it will calm down. we need to be patient and reiterate our own values. do what we can to protect our people out there. but recognize that they are doing dangerous work and we can't always protect them 100%. >> michael, peggy noonan has an interesting take in "the wall street journal." she calls it the age of would-be prinsent, that assassinated arch duke ferdinand. she writes whatever the exact impact of the anti-muhammad hate film that went viral we have entered an age of would be prin sips. everything disseminated everywhere instantly it isn't one man with a gun, but a laptop or a phone, we had the v to think about new ante dotes because it's not going to go away. david offers a powerful rejoineder it's the work of individuals that counter the chain of events set in motion

sby singular precipes. >> you want to protect the right of people to express themselves and have access to the first amendment right to express volatile ideals in a complicated situation. on the other hand you see the full meanting of national or international outrage and global response because of the demonization of a predictable minority. so is to say that, you know, the fact that it's the targeting of muslim brothers and sisters is exacerbating tensions we have at home here. it's not as if oh in america we've resolved this with grace. >> far from it. >> and then in the global situation, it's outrageous, no. it just exposes our own flanks in a very serious fashion. >> you know, what's interesting is, we have got an lot of feed of these images but libyans i won't say protesting but countering the feed of the, you know, the embassies being attacked and so forth. they have signs that say sorry people of america, this is not the behavior of islam and our

prophet. benghazi is against terrorism. chris stevens was a friend to all libyans. lost in all of this is mitt romney effectively, you know -- i won't say put a stamp of approval, but didn't -- made every effort not to talk about the video itself because that was seen as a freedom of speech thing, where it was, of course, an incredibly loaded hate hp fillsd screed, the auspicious under which it was made is a gray area. the rhetoric around islam and the muslim religion in the united states has become as toxic as it ever has been and that video i think is a crystal clear example of it. >> just to jump in. i think -- i don't know if you've ever been on read it for instance any day you want to find something to be offended by any religion. this film had been out for months. it's a film that's ludicrous and offensive, there was a very specific chain of events people

chose to organize riots, assault on the embassy where there were leaders making deliberate choices in the internal politics of this country. the idea that this movie was the central force here, that this was allen inevitable -- all an inevitable outcome -- >> i'm not trying to say that. an industry in arab world, that clerics that ferment their hate. the news outlet that first broadcast this news outlet notorious for creating controversy and creating tension within the sort of western and arab -- >> any given day you can find something like that. >> what is it, renaldo, the anthropologist talks about imperial nostalgia. we destroy countries and then meet with them after destroyed. you're talking about a chaines what happened. that doesn't account for what america has done, how it has been perceived and understood in a world where it is also foe meanted with far more skill and

grace than these so-called barbaric acts that have revealed it. >> sure. >> a bit more responsibility in that. >> what actually happened does seem like something we ought to be discussing here. but what happened -- >> what happens is when american has -- [ inaudible ]. >> egyptian cops, muslims played out in the crow terrific way, they tried to blame the jews. >> bobbie had a good analysis, you can't ignore the political realities on the ground, setting aside the media environment and whether this happens on the internet every day. bobbie ghosh writes -- i mean this, of course, is the legacy of the arab spring. >> yeah. what typically happens in these situations, is that in the middle of this political turbulence and struggle for power, those who are most radical gradually gain the upper

hand and most radical and often best armed. and so again, what it calls for from the united states is not the overheated rhetoric we've seen recently and the political bickering and the calls for america to be strong, as if we weren't, but kind of patience saying okay this is going to burn itself out. we need to again, to be working with the people who are patiently trying to build their own civil society. it does work. it takes a long time and a lot of patience. and it's not helped again by the overheated political rhetoric that we've unfortunately seen this week. >> can we add to that the fact that what i was trying to make earlier, but we also have to account for your can find hate on the internet but they didn't all equal. it doesn't target people with the vicious specificity muslims have endured in this country since 9/11. we can't pretend because there's anti-clirs yan stuff out there, that it parallels what's going on, not only attacks and

assaults muslims but stigmatizes them in ways we haven't dealt with. when we see these, we're able to point the finger how horrible it is. we're horrible because we've quietly fueled and fomented the kind of unnecessary hostility towards muslims we ought to take a mirror and look at ourselves. >> i would also say it's not just the internet, right? this kind of rhetoric is echoed throughout the political discord and the vilification. this is a -- >> guy in california didn't aasnate -- assassinate a person. didn't kill somebody. >> that is true. >> there is much more to discuss and unpack after the break while the romney campaign battles a back lash caused by the candidate's misleading middle east comment his running mate faced protesters when he can his speech last hour. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i -- >> thank you so much. i appreciate your support. thank you so much. i appreciate it. thank you very much. appreciate it.

thank you. oh, that's so kind. thank you so much. appreciate it. >> we will discuss team romney's troublesome week and why conservatives and poll numbers are not on their side. that's next on "now." most of the pain i experience is neck pain that also becomes headaches. i was very skeptical about aspirin. bayer advanced was completely different. it really did get rid of the pain. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago.

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at one time disputes were decided by duels and disagreements settled by fists. apply those to politics and americans overwhelming believe president obama would deliver a knockout. according to a new poll by yahoo! news and "esquire" nearly three had in five americans say the president would win the a fistfight with governor mitt

romney. the presidential debates are the closest we will probably come to an actual boxing match but this week blow for blow mitt romney took more hits. secured by top reasons for being too vague in his policies a list of conservatives cyst criticizing him for his libyan comments include -- peggy noonan, mark salter and 2008 mccain senior adviser steve schmidt. governor romney defended his decision to speak out on libya saying his position was no different than the president's. >> by the way, what i said was exactly the same thing the white house reached, which was that the statement was inappropriate and why they backed away from it as well. >> in the same interview with abc, romney tried to stake out a position on iran by planting a flag right next to president obama. >> president obama said exactly the same thing. he said it's unacceptable for iran to have a nuclear weapon. your red line is the same as his. >> i laid out what i would do to

keep iran from reaching that red line. >> your red line going forward is the same. >> yes. and recognize, that when one says it's unacceptable to the united states of america, that means what it says. >> in that almost palin-esque pretzel, romney seems to be saying while he and the president are saying the same thing, he's the one who really means it. not content to just simply stop talking about foreign policy, romney pivoted yesterday to china. announcing on trade china has taken president obama to the mat. the chinese who own more than a trillion dollars of our debt and with whom we did half a trillion dollars worth of trade last year are not happy about romney's comments. their official news agency called romney's china attacks a, quote, cancer that is, quote, seriously plaguing relations between the two countries. for good measure they noted --

capping off romney's rough week polls showing the candidate's support is slipping in three states. the new poll shows among likely voters the president leads romney by five points in florida and virginia and has a seven-point edge in ohio. the polls also show that people have essentially made up their minds. in each one of the states just 2% of likely voters said they might vote differently on election day. nick confessore, it has not been a great week for many people. it has been a difficult week on the global stage, tragic in terms of loss of life. if we turn to the campaign psychit has been a rough week for mitt romney. i wonder what your assessment is in terms of how this is played out in republican circles and conservatives have had a difficult time figuring out where they stand as far as their nominee. >> look. i think each party has a bed wetting [ inaudible ] and they always pop up when their guy is doing as well. what's different here it's a different way for them to

express the underlying fear why is this so hard for you, mitt. this is a party that really believed in its core that this would be if not easy to win, that obama was kind of a sitting duck. and they don't understand and they're a little fearful about why it's so close in this kind of economy with this kind of record in their eyes, right. they're kind of panicked about that in some way like how can you not put this one away. >> someone noted, i can't remember who now, at the start of every month, there is sort of conservative i won't say saber rattling but these -- slate that said, every month conservatives sort of get spooked and think oh, god, this guy isn't up to the job. and this was going on throughout the primary cycle. we are now in september and october. and as we noted earlier in the week, people have started voting. the clock is -- i mean it's ticking. >> yeah. it is ticking. and you know, just to even watch that he ended up being the candidate and these fringe people were allowed to stay in

the race so long that michelle bachmann wasn't chased out, it says that we all feel we're just saddled with this and when a bath mat should have been able to beat obama based on the polls and romney is looking like it's not it, i would be panicked more than just at the beginning of every month. i would never stop wearing depe depends. >> dave wood, beyond the strategy and the seeming lack thereof, the other thing i thought romney's comments betrayed were a really naive understanding of the arab world and also an incredibly vague foreign policy platform. rich whimson, romney's senior adviser on these matters gave an interview where he tried to outline some specifics and for me what that did was underscore how completely obscure and vague romney has been and how incapable he's been in terms of elucidating a foreign policy platform any way different from that of the president.

>> yeah. i've talked to rich williams. he's a smart guy, but what bother med about this week was, the romney campaign's emphasis on returning to a strong america. and trying to portray president obama as weak. the problem with that is, we've been there. remember when ronald reagan was president and his whole mantra was returning to a strong america. and what actually happened was, a decade of unprecedented terrorism, assassinations of americans abroad, hose stage taking, that whole decade was book ended by the 1983 bombing of the marines in beirut and the 1988 bombing of pan am 103 over lockerbie scotland. in the middle, of course, was the reagan attempt to ranson hostages selling arms to iran. the problem with declaring you're going to be stronger than anybody else, people want to test you. that's what gets us into difficulty and sure did in the

past. i really hate to see the campaign deagain rating into i'm going to be stronger than you because it's not good for the practical world. >> well, and it's i think in terms of spending more on defense, and getting involved in more military conflict overseas i'm not sure there's an american appetite for that. i thought this was interesting, jon huntsman asked by mark halperin about mitt romney's foreign policy. this what is he had to say. >> what is the basic difference between president obama's strategy and philosophy towards dealing with the arab spring versus what governor romney is proposing? >> well, i don't know what governor romney is proposing at this point, and i'm a little -- >> is that -- >> that might be a problem. >> that's kind of a problem, isn't it? >> you don't know what mitt romney's proposing? >> it's kind of a problem. >> so then you -- it is kind of a problem which is the understatement of the year. kimberly -- >> kind of a big deal. >> yeah. i won't paraphrase biden here.

but put it out there. kimberly strasle writing -- it has been a weird week. on some level romney jumped the gun and was wildly irresponsible. when it comes to things that he could own, whether that's talking about specifics in terms of tax reform, or actually enunciating a foreign policy agenda, he seems unwilling to go there because he's too freaked out. >> on foreign policy, i think there is a fairly strong coming out of these neo conservative figures from the bush years around him showing strength, giving his real [ inaudible ] to bomb iran. there's specific things. what's limiting sdmishts i have to interrupt you. the red line talk is the same. out of mitt romney's mouth. he has the same red line -- >> he's certainly concerned about these. >> the relationship between mitt

romney and netanyahu is -- in terms of significant foreign policy difference i can't name one. mitt romney said he's not -- >> i think we and/or the israelis would be likely to bomb iran that seems like a difference. that's what netanyahu thinks as well. >> mitt romney hasn't said that. >> he won't say that because this country doesn't want another war, doesn't want involvement. if you hear -- >> doesn't want us to bomb iran. >> he's to the logic of where he's going, but on syria also, we should be doing more. what more should we be doing? we don't want to talk about it. nobody does want more american boots on the ground or american involvement. >> we don't have the money for it if he's going to balance the budget by 2016. >> besides that great point, i want to argue, though, the premise of the "wall street journal," it wasn't a bold move, it was a desperate move. that's different. mitt romney is desperate to seize authority over this fringe movement in his own party that embarrasses him to a certain

degree. the bold thing to say i don't truck with that. i'm a much more moderate republican, i want to appeal to the conservative base but those are not my values. that would have been a bold move. this shows he is rutterless, doesn't know what he's doing, into the politic ticks of buster, clint eastwood his way through. that's a movie, not an empty chair or maybe you're the empty chair and not the movie. >> i knew someone could bring up the empty chair -- >> he spent -- i mean think of how long his playbook has been jobs, the economy, barack obama isn't up to it. sometimes you get the sense he stopped thinking about foreign policy like 20 years ago, russia is our greatest -- >> greatest foe. >> but, you know, you often get the sense of like this is not -- this is an area of policy he delegated more than candidates delegate in other areas. he has his guys around him. he studied on it. he had some positions. it's not like he has a grand vision for foreign policy. when the campaign suddenly becomes about foreign policy,

it's harder for him to navigate. >> >> he made it so releasing that statement when he did and putting himself in between the president and secretary of state the day that tragedy was sort of announced and dealt with. it is a curious position. he's still attacking china. that happened yesterday. if you want to go back to the economy you can go back to the economy. >> he's a bull in a china shop. >> i'm not sure i saw the wisdom of the obama campaign using a statement from china's propaganda agency to attack romney. it's like must read. >> they're far more open. >> david wood, you who have called for patience in these blustery times, we hope that someone takes your advice out there, my friend. >> i do too. thank you. >> i'm sorry we have to leave it there. thank you as always for your time and great writing and reporting. coming up the donor wears prada. that's for you, nic confessore. growing evidence that the obama campaign is becoming more

reliant on the [ inaudible ]. while the president brings in bigger spenders may be developing a small dollar deficit. he are going to talk money and influence with bill burton ahead on "now." this country was built by working people. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that. making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ for real. ...that make a real difference. my name is adam frucci and i'm the i love new technology,om. so when i heard that american express and twitter were teaming up, i was pretty interested.

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president obama's bid to keep running this town is getting a boost. you like that? getting a boost from jay-z and beyonce. next week hip-hop's reigning king and queen will throw a

$40,000 a plate fund-raiser for the president. on the same day ann romney will be in dallas raising campaign cash at the home of the king of crawford, former president george w. bush. the money is needed to fund a massive ad war. according to an nbc analysis, the romneys and obama campaigns have spent a combined total of $591 on television ads. more than half of the spending since mid march has gone to three states, florida, ohio and virginia. those are the battlegrounds where new polls show president obama in the lead. we can thank the campaign beast known as the super pac for most of the that outside spending. joining the panel is senior strategist and co-founder of priorities usa, president obama's money bunny, bill burton. >> money bunny. >> well, someone else is already the money honey we thought money bunny was fitting given the hop to it attitude you've had recently and -- looks like you had a big haul in august, $10

million raised. is that a sign that the democrats have finally overcome their ambivalence about super pacs? >> nothing like fear to focus the mind. and i think that as democrats have seen this is a close race, i mean the thing that's been mostly motivational i think for a lot of democrats is that i think everybody agrees that mitt romney had a convention that was not up to the same standards as the democratic convention. stumbled through the last couple days and even still this race is basically tied, the president ahead a little tiny bit. this is going to go close to the election day. knowing that hundreds of millions of dollars are coming from the right wings, adelsons, kochs, karl roves, somebody wants to have the president's back. >> and nic, you've done great reporting on this in terms of who's got the president's back. beyond jay-z and beyonce and anna winter, one of the top bundlers. you make the point there's a very, very large number of high dollar donors this campaign

cycle compared to last campaign cycle. you note that the top raised or gave at least $200 million for the president's re-election bid and the dnc through the end of may, close to half of the total up to that point. >> that's right. i'm told that figure is probably a bit low. it's not that he doesn't have small donors, he does. the kind of pattern is, as a kind of bell curve in reverse, lots of like $3 people but because he's raising with his party and they can take much larger checks than he could for most of 2008, he is relying a lot on people who can write a $70,000 check. there's a lot of big money in this race in both campaigns. certainly obama has more small donors than mitt romney. but what you see and this is a report in our story about his bundlers, the extraordinary dependence of all presidential campaigns in this era on a pretty small handful, couple hundred people raising money from their friends and associates. >> and then the question is, bill, what sort of -- how much is the president indebted to or

whoever becomes president indebted to the folks that have given him this money. nick points out there are top donors that have pending pieces of legislation, looking for things. there is the question of, you know, if you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours. whether that's going to occur or occurring now. >> another great piece in the "new york times" today, eric lipton's story about how much big oil companies are getting involved for mitt romney. they're more engaged than any other sector of the economy trying to van impact on the race. the truth is on the republican side it's, you know, people are making an investment. if you're annd give to see to it that president romney deregulates the epa you're making all that money back. if you're wealthy your taxes are going down if mitt romney is president. on the democratic side you're giving -- your taxes are going to go up if president obama gets his way in the wealthiest 1%. for a lot of democrats, like in the entertainment industry, for example, they give because they care about equality environment

things like that. they're not selling more movie tickets because president obama gets re-elected. >> everybody wants something, you know. i don't think it's fair to say that republican donors, they're evil guys and get what they want from their evil president -- >> that's fair actually. >> and they -- >> they don't want anything. >> an example on the documents we obtain the single biggest bundler for president obama as of 2007 is jeffrey katzenberg. he onces equality, a lot of things. he also wants to build movie studios in china. he needs help from the administration to get that done. everybody has interest at stake. >> and you can argue some of those interests are less carcinogenic than others. >> if you look at date it in nick's story, look up this story, that document he got leaked is not the sort of thing you see floating around every day and the detail. my colleague ran through it one of the biggest industry is the tech industry, bigger than hollywood. those guys have all sorts of regulatory interests. >> those tech guys. i want to ask you this question

then, we looked at the top markets in the general election where the ads are running, the number of times presidential ads have run in the last four and a half month, in las vegas, 31,000 times, cleveland 27,000 times, denver 26,000. setting aside the down ballot races where money does have a disproportionate influence, this is sort of a race to the top, there needs to be more money because there's more money and the endless cycle but does it make a difference in terms of swing voters. >> it does make some difference but the incremental last dollar being spent on the shopping -- obscure cable channel at 3:00 in the morning. they're running out of prime time slots for the ads. the next dollar is not the most effective one. the 31,000th ad you see is not the one going to change your mind. but you know decided by three voters maybe it is. >> maybe we should pull back. not just about the videos running, romney or obama, and the evil on the other side because of what they want to do

with the money. it's a wu tang presidency with respect to jay-z, cash rules everything around me got to get the dollar. it's excluding people who otherwise might be suitable candidates to become president of the united states of america. thomas jefferson outraising, you know, or whoever else was opposing him. aaron byrd outraising or outshooting hamilton. the reality is that we're excluding an entire pool of talent, predicated upon dollars and i don't -- sounds pretty crazy. >> only michael eric dyson can create a sentence that references aaron bird and the wu tang clan. a fair point. the president at red it on august 29th over the longer term we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn citizens united assuming the supreme court doesn't revisit it. i mean, fairly strong words given the fact that you have --

has a super pac and running it, the money bunny, do you think that is going to be a priority of the president's if he is' leektsed to a send -- elected to a second term. >> if governor romney becomes president romney, then we're going to be in a situation where you have an administration that's based on these super pacs and is not going to be in any kind of hurry to change things. the point that michael made that's so good the way this excluded people from the process, is going to be a big -- a big part of 2016 because right now there's a lot of money, numbers are very big, but in 2016 it's going to be all about how big is your super pac. >> i'll hazard a guess. i don't think anybody will win an open party primary for president without a super pac and a couple billionaires in the future as long as super pacs exist. it's not possible. you're not going to have social conservative candidates winning without super pacs and most won't have them and same on the left. it's going to have the effect you're talking about, you to have one of these and rich friends who support you to really make a go of it. >> a dismal prognosis.

bill burton thank you for maintaining a straight face while i called you the money bunny. >> that was like the fourth time you did it on the show. >> how bad a week did mitt romney have? is vice president biden doing it on purpose? all the week's unanswered questions when what just happened returns. ahead on "now." time for the entrepreneur of the week. joshua davis knows the frustration of looking for funding. after being turned by multiple lenders the owner of the gelato fiasco contacted a community group making loans to small business owners and got the money he needed and now back to focusing on flavors. for more watch your business sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. [ thunder crashes ] [ male announcer ] if you think all batteries are the same... consider this:

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it was a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad week for some at least. no person was seriously injured in the video you are about to see but the health of the political campaigns you'll see is another story. it is time to look back and ask, what just happened? >> have a right to know which loopholes you're going to go after. >> explain to me how that adds up. >> give me an example of a loophole you will close. >> if you wanted answers this week all you got were more questions. >> governor, where are the specifics? >> could conservatives like mitt romney any less? >> romney looked weak today. looks like richard nixon. >> if you can't beat barack obama with this record, then shut down the party. >> why is it that republicans have selected a guy that has decided, i'm not going to tell anybody what i'm going to do if i'm president? >> could paul ryan's i phone case get any dorkier? could iphones get skinnier.

>> the challenge to make it better and smaller. >> coot perez hilton get smaller? >> the challenge to make it better and smaller. >> seems like every week prince william and the duchess of cambridge are rumored to be pregnant. >> new speculation about a royal baby. >> duchess seen drinking water instead of wine. >> left many wondering if there's an heir in there. >> ever such a thing as free money? >> look at the money. more money. more money. >> joe biden doing this stuff on purpose? >> [ inaudible ] any college in america. >> no really. is joe biden doing this stuff on purpose? >> going to call you, this is no [ bleep ]. i didn't know you guys were here. >> does joe biden know if he's doing this stuff on purpose? and just how bad a week was it for mitt romney? >> tragic disgraceful outrageous disgusting. >> was his week worse than this kid's?

>> justin, run. >> was it better than this guy's? we can't say for sure, but one answer we do know, this is the path mitt romney is charting. >> terrible course. >> ben smith, can mitt romney recover from this week? >> of course he can recover. i mean, you know, you just never know what's going to happen. in 1996, a race clinton ran away with this period was consumed by a skndsle of fund-raising by chinese donors. what did you make of the week? >> well, i feel like the new phrase should be shut your loop hope. i think we need to say shut your loophole. the week was full of things we thought we were going to hear in the debate like foreign policy, big foreign policy debate define what mitt romney is going to be like on foreign policy and as it laid before him that was my

biggest take away, we saw how he would react to something that was big and he failed. it was a fail. >> it will be interesting to see how through the debates one debate dedicated to foreign policy interesting to see how he sort of recalibrates his strategy and performance on the debate stage. >> exactly. >> nick confessore, your take away. >> polls moved two points, everyone had a collective freak out and everyone needs more xanax. >> that said, that ohio poll number, sen-point spread is a big -- it's a big deal. i think you can't -- >> yeah, but polls are polls they move back and forth. we'll see. listen, it could be in a week, creep up more and we begin to see what the gop fears is which is the race opening up in a permanent way. >> and the polls are taken before everything that happened this week. michael eric dyson your piece of wisdom for the week? >> don't know if i have wisdom. fear to share. john smith and -- [ inaudible ]

when i look at mitt romney he wants to be gulliver and the big guy, but he's really a small person and he scares me because of the bluster and the bravado and gunslinger mentality can lead this country into decline. i hate to sound like a right winger with a left wing bias but i'm scurred and i think that we've got to take our political future in this country seriously. >> we do. stay engaged. thanks to michael, mick, liz and ben. see you monday at noon eastern when joined by martin bashir, the obama campaign's ben he bolt, heather mcghee, wes more and eric baits. find us at facebook.com/now. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. >> good evening, alex. have a good weekend. coming up we'll have the latest on the violent anti-american protests taking place in 11 countries. joining me guests jon huntsman, plus we will learn more about

the man behind the anti-muslim video that sparked the chaos and the state of the presidential race with chuck todd, chris alyssa and breaking down our new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll next here on "andrea mitchell reports." 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 ]

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" days of rage. anti-american violence spreads. protests now in at least 11 countries including tunisia where police are firing tear gas to stop protesters from storming the u.s. embassy. in benghazi the fbi working with libyan officials who have arrested four people suspected of launching the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate. president obama prepares to greet the return of the remains of the slain americans at andrews air force base today. and mitt romney continues to defend his attack on the administration's handling of the cairo protests. what i said was exactly the same thing the white house ac