president obama is talking about change and mitt romney is talking about clouds. as friday, september 21st, this is "now." joining me today, on this friday, senior national correspondent for bloomberg business week, josh greene, author and columnist jay mcinnearry, politico reporter, the instrep pid maggie haberman and buzz feed's michael hastings. there are 46 days until the presidential election and the volley between the campaigns is at a rapid fire pace. president obama just spoke to seniors at the aarp taking a veiled shot at governor romney's 47% comments and suggesting medicare and social security benefits don't make you

dependent on the government. >> given the conversations that have been out there in the political arena lately, i want to emphasize, medicare and social security are not handouts. you've paid into these programs your whole lives. you've earned them. >> this afternoon, paul ryan will speak to the very same audience. according to his prepared remarks ryan is expected to frame his argument around repealing the affordable care act saying, quote, in order to save medicare for future generations we propose putting 50 mimmen not 15 unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of their own health care decisions. this week romney made his pitch to latino voters at a univision town hall. >> i'm not going to be rounding people up and deporting them. we're going to be putting in place a permanent solution. when i'm president i will do what i promise. i will put in place an immigration reform plan that solves this issue. >> the president addressed that so-called broken promise yesterday, when he took his own turn at the univision mike admitting where he fell short.

>> well, you know, as you remind me, my biggest failure so far we haven't got an comprehensive immigration reform done. we're going to be continuing to work on that. >> president obama also took the moment to concede the limitations of his presidency a risky proposition at this late calendar date against this particular opponent. >> obviously the fact that we haven't been able to change the tone in washington is disappointing. i think that i've learned some lessons over the last four years. and the most important lesson i've learned is that you can't change washington from the inside. you can only change it from the outside. that's how i got elected. and that's how the big accomplishments like health care got done, was because we mobilized the american people to speak out. >> mitt romney did not disappoint. taking the president's comments and running with them no matter the context and the fact that most of the rest of the world at this point has told mitt romney

that he needs to be focused on the bigger picture, namely who he is and exactly what he wants to do. governor romney chose not to listen. opting instead to focus on the ear guy for approximately by our count the billionth time. >> the president today threw in the white flag of surrender again. he said he can't change washington from inside. he can only change it from outside. well, we're going to give him that chance in november. he's going outside. >> then again, governor romney isn't particularly comfortable discussing specifics or directly answering specific questions. "the new york times" this morning relays his interaction with a reporter who asked about his recently ramped up campaign schedule. quote, said romney -- look at those things. maggie haberman, no one loves

trees, clouds, the nature maybe more than mitt romney. we've got somebody very, very choice quotes. but this does bring to the fore, perhaps, mitt romney struggles at this moment in time which are pronounced and which have been observed by many both in his own party and outside his own party. in terms of this latest line of attack that the president has flown thrown in the white flag do you think this gets him anywhere? >> i think probably not. i disagree with this idea it was taken wildly out of context. i think it was -- >> what idea? what part do you think was in context? >> i think it is in theme with what the president has tried to say before as recentlied a his convention speech about change coming from outside washington. i think when you are president and you say i've discovered change, you know, can't come from within washington, i get what he's trying to say. i don't think is a momentous thing, a game changer by any stretch of the imagination and i think it's an example of mitt

romney kind of feeding on news cycles, right. chasing one after the other and going from one thing to the next to the next and looking for way out of what has been a very bad week. the problem is they keep saying we're resetting and going to focus on telling people how much -- with more specifics, people want to hear more about what he's going to do and then end up with this thing what they push out the most. i think that is where they're in trouble. look, i still think -- i think this is still a race that is not a lock for president obama, but i do think if you look at the trends and polls he is ahead. he is ahead in the battlegrounds which is what matters and i think mitt romney needs something big to change the dynamic. >> this is a choice, right? josh, they heard the president say this and then you have mitt romney as enthusiastic as i've seen him in a really long time speaking to that crowd, deciding okay, we're going to make this hour -- this is our plank today, what we're running on today. >> i don't know if that helps romney. romney has a point here. i mean obama, what change he has brought about primarily the health care law was done from

inside. he cut deals with the pharmaceutical industry, twisted arms, what a washington insider is supposed to do. it's perplexing he's embracing obama care doesn't want to say i came from the outside and changed the inside or whatever. romney has never given any details about how he's going to change anything. he pos sits he will and people will fill in the details and they're not. it's one reason he can't seem to make any headway. >> there are two things, in terms of the narrative of what the president has been inside or outside washington, he has been saying this stuff since 2007, if not 2008, the change that we -- why have you to be the change you want to see. this has been over and over again something he said. the idea somehow he's throwing in the towel by admitting that seems to be a complete fabrication. but the other thing i would say is, when romney says i'm going to be the guy that brings change to washington, i want to play this piece of sound from romney in florida yesterday talking about what he'll do when he gets to washington. >> i can change washington.

i will change washington. we'll get the job done from the inside. republicans and democrats will come together. he can't do it. >> jay, i guess the question is, when you hear mitt romney say i can change washington, i will change washington, i'll bring republicans and democrats together, it just seems like a totally -- doesn't seem -- that's not the guy that you necessarily think of in this sort of big like change like moment, you know. he has not been that kind of candidate. the other thing i thought was interesting, republicans and democrats will work together. there has been not a lot of doving of the hat to the other side of the aisle in this election cycle and certainly not in mitt romney. >> i think we all keep waiting for specifics. and, obviously, the debates will be somewhat telling. i can't imagine him getting through debates without saying something specific, but lowering taxes and cutting the deficit two contradictory goals are the only general points of policy

that i can really pin on mitt romney. you know, i think, you know, i think it was a little bit odd and unfortunate that the president's inside washington remark, but you know -- >> why did you think it was unfortunate? why did you think it was unfortunate? you just think -- tell me. >> for one thing, he is inside washington, as josh has said, what he has accomplished, far less than most of us would like, has been getting down to business inside washington and i just think it's -- it's a peculiar remark, but i think, you know, i don't think that it's very -- you know, i don't think it's going to play beyond today. >> i do think, though, if we're talking about, you know, the universion town hall, the president's admission his wording on immigration reform and saying that was the greatest failure of his first term. >> well, he struggled yesterday.

i mean president obama struggled. i've been following him around the last month and a half and he nails these things. i think the line that was being pushed by the right this was one of the most aggressive interviews he faced is correct. you see him admitting this was his biggest failure. now previously he had said that not being able to tell the story of what he's been doing was his biggest failure. not only -- and then also the fact that this inside/outside washington comment. his whole campaign is based around the fact that he's going to go back to washington and fulfill all these promises he's making to us. to say send me back to washington, though i can't actually do anything there, because of the republicans, it puts him in a difficult position. >> i disagree with this. i mean he's not saying put me back in there so nothing can happen. he's acknowledging the fact that there needs to be some sort of public engagement in the issues that pushes elected officials in congress who are responsible for passing legislation into positions where they craft change, which is to say pass legislation rather than sitting on their hands as they have

been. >> that is not how health care happened, right? as josh said, the way he went to say it that's how i got health care done. >> i think -- i want to talk about the mimmigration piece. this is an area where he is weak, given the fact that he's trying to punt this to the republicans. there is a lot of assessment from both liberals and conservatives that there was bipartisan agreement on this, the president made a decision he was going to go first with health care and punted on immigration. you have david axelrod this morning saying actually -- let's hear what david axelrod had to say. >> it was a priority, savannah. i was in a room in 2009 at the white house where he called together all of those members of congress who supported immigration reform in the past, republicans and democrats, and said let's lock arms and get this done and every single republican walked -- every single republican walked away because it became the policy of the republican party, to walk

away from immigration reform. >> josh, go ahead. >> there were elements within the democratic party, senator chuck schumer, who wanted to lead with immigration, do this, thought it was an issue that wins for them. remember also, george w. bush tried to do this and it failed in the senate, blocked by republicans. i don't know how plausible it would be to think that obama could have pulled it off. maybe he could have, come at the cost of health care, but the idea that it's this sort of obvious thing he should have and could have done i don't really buy. >> i think that it's a choice, right? it was one or the other. the advantage that president does have on everything relating to immigration is that mitt romney will not illustrate any position on anything any specifics as far as -- >> it doesn't kill him not having done it. this is an issue that's sort of cutting in republicans's favor all of a sudden. >> and he has the dream act. >> and the amnesty provision and romney has proven unwilling to say what he would do. we don't have time to play the sound where he's getting grilled by the jose diaz ballhart.

you are looking live at woodbridge, virginia, where president obama is set to speak at a campaign event in just a moment. we'll bring you the remarks ahead live on "now." endless shrimp is our most popular promotion at red lobster. there's so many choices, the guests love it! [ male announcer ] don't miss endless shrimp. try as much as you like, anyway you like. like new teriyaki grilled shrimp for just $14.99! my name is angela trapp, and i sea food differently.

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president obama is speaking at campaign event in wood bridge, virginia, right now, let's listen in. >> he loves barack obama and they turned to the little boy and said, well, what does barack obama do? and the little boy says, barack obama, approves this message.

so you know it's election season. that's what i do. i approve this message. and that's because in the coming weeks, you've got a very big choice to make. this is not a choice between two candidates or two parties. this is a choice between two different paths for america, two fundamentally different visions of our future. my opponents are big believers in top down economics. don't boo. vote. mr. romney thinks that if we just spend another $5 trillion on tax cuts, the favor the wealthiest 2% of americans, all our problems are going to be solved. jobs and prosperity will rain

down from the sky. deficits will magically disappear. we will all live happily ever after. the end. there's only one problem. we tried that scheme during the last decade. it didn't work. top down economics don't work. this country doesn't succeed when only the rich are getting richer. we succeed when folks at the top are doing well, but also when the middle class is doing well and folks who are fighting to get into the middle are doing well. when more people have a chance to get ahead and live up to their god given potential, i don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims. who think that they're not interested in taking responsibility for their own lives. i don't see a lot of victims in this crowd today.

i see hard working virginians. some of you may be students trying to work your way through college. some of you may be single moms like my mom. putting in overtime to see if you can provide a better life for your kids. some of you may be senior citizens who have been saving your whole life for your retirement. some of you may be veterans who served this country bravely. soldiers who defend our freedom today. nobody believes that anyone's entitled to success in this country. we don't believe that the government should be helping people who refuse to help themselves. but we do believe in something called opportunity. we believe in a country where hard work pays off. where responsibility is rewards,

everybody gets a fair shot and everybody doing their fair share and plays by the same rules, that's the country we believe in. that's what i believe in. that's why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states. sy told you before and i will tell you again the the path i'm offering is not necessarily going to be quick or easy. because the truth is, it's going to take more than few years to solve challenges that built up over decades. but i can tell you this, virginia, this is america. our problems can be solved and our challenges can be met. we've got the best workers in the world, the best business people and entrepreneurs and scientists and researchers in the world, colleges and universities in the world. there's not a country on earth that wouldn't trade places with the united states of america.

so the path i'm offering may be harder, but it leads to a better place. i'm offering a practical, five-point plan to create jobs, and grow the middle class. and rebuild the economy on a stronger foundation. so let me break it down in case you guys missed the convention. just in case. or just in case you only saw michele. number one -- >> that was president obama speaking to a riled up crowd in woodbridge, virginia. michael hastings has been on the campaign trail with the president. the president is up by at least five points according to some polls, higher margins and others in virginia, the confederacy he won in 2008. and early voting starts in the state today. >> right. >> we saw some -- i'm going to say swagger-ific behavior on

display at the stump and mention of mr. romney and victims. of course alluding to romney's infamous 47% video. >> pretty explicit alution to that video. over the past three weeks the obama campaign has been feeling good post-convention, they survived this libya incident. yesterday was a stumble but i think they've been feeling quite confident and you see it in his demeanor, you see it in the crowds pretty excited out there. and i think that's how it's going to -- i mean i think you know what they don't want -- i saw bob woodward say -- talking about the october surprise and i think that libya moment, there was this sense of oh, my gosh, is this going to be the thing that blows up in our face. now we've moved through, romney keeps having secret videos of him hating poor people coming out. >> i don't think there's secret videos of him hating poor people. >> i don't know that they've moved through libya. yesterday you had the white house say for the first time this was a southwest evident terror attack -- self-evident terror attack.

>> a complete walk back from everything susan rice said. >> with the caveat -- it's not over yet. >> i don't think we can say -- >> maggie is not done with this yet. i don't think the white house is done with it. >> if you look at any foreign policy issue during the election, they flare up for a day and everybody forgets them because no one in the end -- >> look, there's a of importance placed on the presidential debates one on foreign policy and i'm sure the romney campaign will have some things to say. maggie to the 47% video, it is becoming clearer by the day just how much this is a gift to the obama campaign. >> absolutely. >> we knew it was bad at the beginning but this looks like something they can ride for weeks if not until the election. >> it has eaten up the week, the sunday shows. what you saw was most interesting clearly mitt romney's believes it was harming them because he changed his approach. initial approach was to double down on it and embrace the video to the point about changing messages his campaign tried to disavow the video and debunked because there were two minutes cut off and this part edited

strangely and then went out in florida and said i'm for the 100% of america and reiterated that yesterday. that tells you all you need to know about what their tracking was showing internally about how much damage this was doing. i think this is coming at a moment when people are paying attention, i think it did break through, i think that the language was very specific and i think again, it is not -- they are trying to frame it but this is an ideological difference about a governing philosophy and it's true that has been the argument on the stump, one thing to talk about your opponent's policies and another thing to sound like you're insult his supporters. >> we're saying -- it's not my job to concern myself with half the country, almost verbatim, not my job to concern myself with those people. >> it fits the kash ka tour. >> he wasn't wearing a top hat at the time but that might be in the two minutes we haven't seen. john sununu wouldn't hire peggy noonan to run a campaign but

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peggy noonan is not backing off his criticism of mitt romney in her column today, she argues the campaign needs a shakeup, a, quote, new ceo and writes, this week i called it incompetent. but only because i was being polite. i really meant rolling calamity. the candidate can't run the show, can't be the ceo of the campaign and be the candidate. meanwhile, ann romney is not sugar coating her feelings about the party cannibalism. she was asked on iowa radio yesterday about what she would say of republicans who have been critical of her husband.

>> josh, i have to play this sound because it's from our 10:00 a.m. show, chris jansing's show, interview with john sununu asked about the other lady conservative circles, peggy noonan, and what john sununu had to say. >> i wouldn't hire peggy noonan to run a campaign. i don't ask her to have me write her columns. the fact is, is that what is going on in america is a response to a president who has established a campaign of class w warfare. >> internal bickering, does it not? >> noonan is this mild mannered

little woman -- >> let's back away from little woman. she is a force. >> every week her column is like beating romney over the head with an umbrella. she's kind of writes it -- makes valid points a lot of conservatives feel and haven't articulated. one reason the romney campaign is so uncomfortable by her coming out and saying this, because we latch on to it. there is something there. and sue sa knew knew known for kind of blowing his top might not be, you know, the best surrogate to put opposite her, but he, too, i think reflects a frustration from within the romney campaign they're getting all this kind of friendly fire criticism that they don't want and isn't helping them. >> and makes it easier for the rest of us to write about. >> rolling calamity. >> such a great phrase. bumper sticker. sort of like, you know, the name of a new rock and roll tour. >> yes. >> obama should run with it. but romney shouldn't worry too much. he lost peggy noonan but gained ann coulter.

>> yes. >> one of the qualities that ann singled out as being admirable is that romney is square. and she thinks we've had too much hipness, so that gives them -- >> well, i guess. >> that gives them their theme song. who's side of hughey lewis and the news. hip to be square. >> rolling calamity doesn't imply squareness. you think that as being a nebulous, hurricane like -- at any rate, maggie, i want to talk about ann romney. i thought that sound of late, as hastings pointed out in the break, ann romney was a secret weapon, used strategically and you can really sense her stress levels and anger at the way that her family has been treated, husband has been treated. i guess i guess how effective she is in those moments as a surrogate for mitt romney? >> i think she is reflecting the same way sununu is, the way we were discussing, there is a sense of frustration in the campaign. a lot of it gets directed at the

press but the reality is they're frustrated because where they are, they are not in a position of strength, not a great three weeks, pretty bad three weeks and we're running out of time. i think that's what she is reflecting. i think that is probably not the message that the campaign was hoping that she would deliver. mostly because i think that the view of voters is you chose to run for office and this is what comes with it. yes, it is a punishing media environment, very hard and a ton of criticism but this is what comes with it. i think that it's -- i think people cut the spouse of a candidate flack more often than not so i think it might come with that. >> i think women too, the fact that the scolding nature of it. >> right. >> the stop it part, is -- it does not run -- i mean that rubs people in the wrong way and one can only imagine, i mean if michele obama did the same thing it would be -- i mean the human cry would be massive. >> i think it's just a very difficult thing to say essentially at this point in the race. you had mitt romney say a version of this in an interview

with chuck todd, wouldn't it be nice if we could have an agreement where essentially we don't attack each other, just talk about ideas and things like taxes and my business experience and all this stuff is off the table, his business experience is what he has put out as his qualifications for running so that's going to get looked at and analyzed and be a part of the conversation. and so i think that we've just reached that point in the campaign where i think it's very intense, i think that both sides are feeling a lot of pressure but the side not doing as well is going to be more visible about it. >> the pressure is definitely on around the table. we will come back after the break and seems few people or events can bring washington together these days. that is an understatement indeed. this week burmese pro-democracy leader aung san suu kyi meeting with the president, cabinet members and top leaders of both parties in congress for a rare moment, everyone in washington seemed to agree on something, her extraordinary legacy and role as a leader on the global stage. i had the chance to speak with aung san suu kyi, my conversation with her is coming up next. the capital one cash rewards card

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yesterday you may have noticed i was playing hooky from the show but it was for a good reason. i had the great privilege to sit down with democracy icon aung san suu kyi at a town hall discussion hosted by amnesty international. the nobel peace prize winner is traveling in the u.s. for 17 days. her first visit here in nearly 30 years. needless to say her journey has been a remarkable and almost unimaginable one. this past april she was eelected to the burmese parliament a little more than a year after being released from 15 years of house arrest. she spoke at length about her time living as a political prisoner behind barb wire and cut off from the outside world. she never felt despair or anger. >> i always thought of my father as a soldier, as a member of the burmese army, as well as the father of the burmese army.

and because of that, i'd always had deep affection for the army and i have to say that affection never vanished throughout the years that they kept me under house arrest. and, i must be fair and say that although they kept me under house arrest, they treated me well. most of them treated me as my father's daughter. that is to say, they treated me as a member of the family, albeit a rather troublesome one. >> we also spoke about the state of the world and the aftermath of the arab spring. her message to those fighting for freedom, always embrace peace. >> i do not understand people who think that violence is a legitimate way of defending human rights. because by using violence, you are undermining the very foundation of human rights. so, i think if you want to protect human rights, you should do it through your ability to resist violence at every stage

of the way. >> and despite what appears to be a world in the middle of great turmoil, sue chi looks at these turbulent times, taking into the accounts of the extraordinary times in which we live. >> i don't think you can say that world is restive. i think human beings -- >> to watch my complete discussion with aung san suu kyi visit now with alex at msnbc.com. here comes money boo boo. teams romney and obama log their latest campaign cash hauls but while the candidates roll in the dough some supporters grumble they are doing too much fund-raising and not enough stumping. does cash lead to the white house? we'll examine that next on "now."

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florida's palm beach county yesterday raising some campaign cash at a pair of private fund-raisers. while that trip brought romney to a swing state lately the republican nominee has been spending so much time raising money he's had to travel to texas, california and massachusetts, states he's guaranteed to win or destined to lose. as it turns out, romney's much hyped war chest may not be quite the gold bullion stuffed beast we imagined it to be. the latest fec numbers show the romney campaign ended august with $50 million in the bank. a number that includes the $15 million romney owed on a $20 million loan. meanwhile, the obama campaign finished up last month with nearly 89 million left on hand. so where did romney's money go? among other things like a significant ad war with the president, according to the fec, some $200,000 last month went to bonuses for his staff. a word to those republicans calling for heads to roll in the romney campaign, they don't come cheap. maggie, we were talking during the break about the money

question and the romney war chest and the fact that it is not as formidable, perhaps, as we thought it might be given where he is numbers wise in terms of fund-raising and actually the donor base he's looking at which is high dollar donors may be getting towards maxing out and in terms of small donors those are giving less than $200 in august, romney had 9.4 million in small doughtations, obama had 25.1. >> that is a significant figure. that has been an issue, trying to build out the small donor model. they've had a tremendous amount of success at the high donor level. surprising to me how much that's been able to continue going this whole time and part of that is because you can give more in the general election to the victory fund money but as you said the victory fund issue is why it's sort of a little less than we thought it was going to be in the sense of what can go strictly just to ads, how they can spend it. the expectation it was going to be this massive ad dump. just going to be thousands of

points a week. we're not seeing that yet and the playing field is slightly different than it was going to be. the outside groups are still going to massively favor the republicans, we think, at least the rate of fund-raising is going right now, crossroads has done successfully and much more than the democratic groups have. but it is not quite the same thing as we had thought. the other important thing here is that the obama folks you see that in the numbers, invested very early in advertising spending throughout the summer to define mitt romney. >> yes. >> and that was their gamble. the romney folks did not invest the same way and the question is, you know, thinking that nobody would be tuning in that much until the fall. as peggy noonan who you described before put it in a column not that long ago, we are getting voter perception -- voters are getting perceptions and bringing in information in different ways now than they did 20 years, 10 years ago, because it's constantly coming through in ads. not what it used to be. >> and michael hastings, talking

about the obama campaign defining mitt romney from jump street to put it in analytical terms, you know, romney has been cementing that narrative for them in earned media which is incredibly powerful. >> and the major obama super pac has also been hitting this same message that, you know, romney's this -- he's out of touch, the sort of corporate tycoon, the bain stuff. over the summer a lot of media resources in chicago at the obama headquarters devoted towards pushing this tax narrative. today we're hearing we're getting the notes like is today the romney is going to release his taxes. he still has to even release his taxes from 2011. they've stuck to the narrative and as romney, know we've heard the big money going into the romney campaign, a lot super pacs and they have divergent messages sometimes. >> the question is whether -- in terms of the ad war whether folks are just tuned out to the ads at this point given how

saturated the airwaves have been. you know, and, you know, whether something like that 47% video cuts through all of that noise that no advertising blitz can. >> i think that the early obama ads were successful in defining romney in a way that he is only reinforcing with almost everything he says, whether he meant -- means for it to be heard or not. >> i think -- we know the answer to that question. >> i've always heard he's great in a small group and i guess we know what he's like in a small gruch group now, although we weren't meant to. i frankly -- unfortunately, we here in new york don't really get to see the ad wars going on. we are taken for granted. >> we in new york do know about the donor community, right? josh? that's also part of the question here is -- we haven't seen departures of the big fish leaving the romney campaign. >> one other thing that ought to

worry romney in the numbers the one expectation i had and lot of people had paul ryan's inclusion on the ticket would bring in a lot of small dollar conservative donors who would be excited by that pick and from what i can tell that didn't happen. on the one hand that's got to be worrisome to the campaign. the other thing, romney's strategy all along was predicated we're going to dump money into ads, in the final months, but, you know, according to cantor media which tracks these ads there are 43,000 political ads running every day in the united states, so the idea that you're going to be able to kind of move things and define yourself and overcome obstacles through paid television advertising i don't think makes a lot of sense. >> if you look at the numbers we had them on the show a couple weeks ago in las vegas i think in three months, the romney campaign was running or ads were running 31,000 in three months. i mean that's -- that's where your eyes start to glaze over, guys. you are looking live at paul ryan addressing the aarp in new orleans right now. we will bring you some of his remarks and also it's friday,

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the first step to a stronger medicare is to repeal obama care because it represents the worst of both worlds. i had a feeling there would be mixed reaction so let me get into it. it weakens medicare for today's seniors and puts it at risk for the next generation. >> that was vice presidential candidate paul ryan speaking to seniors at an aarp event in new orleans just a few moments ago.

a lot of boos when he talked about appealing obama care. this was, indeed, a revealing week for governor romney and his team and the republican party on whole. it's time to look back and ask, what just happened? >> my favorite actor is gene hackm hackman. >> you want gene hackman to play your wife? >> to play her? >> this week we learned a lot about who mitt romney really is. >> i'm kind of a snooki fan. >> learned some things we didn't want to know. >> what does mitt wear to bed? >> really? >> i didn't write the question, man. >> the best answer is as little as possible. and some things mitt didn't want us to know. >> 47% who are with him, who are dependent on government. >> some things mitt really doesn't want us to know. >> i'm sure he wished he didn't say it. i'm sure he wished the hidden camera wasn't there. >> republicans insisted it was all about wording. >> it's not elegantly stated. >> mitt romney probably could have better explained himself. >> he was, obviously,

inarticulate in making this point. >> didn't state it the most elegant way. >> almost have two score and seven percent will vote for my opponent. >> elegance might have helped but sometimes you just need a little discretion. >> you look sharp. >> you haven't seen me naked. >> we're going to keep it that way. >> all right. i like that. keep it that way. >> as bad as it was, mitt romney didn't have the worst week. >> new trouble this morning for actress lindsay lohan. >> at least criminally speaking. >> lohan left the scene of an accident after she struck a man. >> she was arrested here in manhattan this morning. >> and even if the gop is looking grim these days, there might be a party savior waiting in the wings. >> who will never have the elite smart people on our side. >> no, not steady eddie. tim tebow, said this week, he has not ruled out running for office. perhaps this eager young

athlete. >> i'm excited to be a jet and excited to be here. exciting for me. i'm excited. >> paired with another eager young athlete. >> i'm excited for what lies ahead. >> excited about this. >> could bring real excitement back to the republican party. >> i'm very, very excited about it. >> exciting. >> really excited. >> excited about this. >> exciting. >> exciting. >> they're excited. michael hastings, who had the worst week? who had the worst week? i think the romney people were struggling. on a positive side mother jones had a great week, long-standing, great magazine, long tradition and great to see the impact they're having on this election. >> josh, worst week? >> romney. it's not impossible to think he'll come back, but he essentially blew up his campaign tis this week and on the romney richter scale of gaffes this was by far the worst one. >> jay? >> aside from the guy lindsay lohan hit --

>> or lindsay lohan herself. >> i was wondering around -- suddenly a car taps me. >> oh, man. >> but i would say other republican candidates because we've had this great phrase this week i love so much, it's an oxymoron reverse coat tails. scott brown is running as fast as he can from mitt romney, so are most of the other republican candidates and they had the worst week. >> head winds, maggie haberman. >> the original and say mitt romney. i wouldn't go quite that far yet. anything can happen. mike bloomberg got elected and we said he wouldn't in 2001. i don't think this was -- not a close call this week. >> i'm saying paul ryan because he has to run with the dude. >> wow. >> so excited, so excited and where did it go? thank you to josh, jay, maggie, and michael. that is all for now. see you monday when i'm joined by heather mcghee, eric baits and samuel stein. and catch us sunday for our education nation special the parent teacher association. i will be hosting a special

panel on education reform at the new york public library and speaking with michele rhee, joe klein and the star of the film "won't back down" which focuses on parents and teachers with a premier this sunday at 6:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. "andrea mitchell reports" is live next from new york city.

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports" change agent. >> obviously the fact that we haven't been able to change the tone in washington is disappointing. i've learned some lessons over the last four years and the most important lesson i've learned is that you can't change washington from the inside. >> threw in the white flag of surrender again. he said he can't change washington from inside. he can only change it from outside. well we're going to give him that chance in november. he's going outside. >> president obama firing back