roundtable. no, he was too busy testifying before the senate banking committee part of an investigation into his company's recent $2 billion loss. and i guess that hearing that hearing on the catastrophic trading screwup is not the best of op i think its for mitt romney who states his financial strategy on less wall street regulation as he made clear today. >> i will halt all the obama era regulations and put in place a policy that no agency of government can add regulations without removing equal and opposite regulations. >> say good-bye to clean water i guess. he then took questions but only after the national media was kicked out of the room. >> the governor is going to remain here while we say good-bye to our friends from the press. good-bye. >> do you remember when romney said he only wanted to discuss wealth disparity in quiet rooms? that's what he means. yes, he doesn't quite warm up to

the media like the president who is spoke out on wall street and mr. dimon quite succinctly last month with the ladies of the view." >> jpmorgan is one of the best managed banks there is, jamie dimon the head is one of the smartest backers we've got. they still lost $2 billion and counting. this is why we passed wall street reform. the whole point was even if you're smart, you can make mistakes. >> yes. anyone can make mistakes. even absurd ones which mitt romney continues to prove as with his remarks on public payrolls on tuesday. >> well, that's a very strange accusation. of course, teachers and firemen and policemen are hired at the local level and also by states. the federal government doesn't pay for teachers, firefighters or policemen. so obviously, that's completely absurd. >> now, listen, he was only off by billions of dollars.

11% of the country's public school costs thousands of police jobs and millions in federal emergency grants all paid for by the federal government. but anyone can make a mistake. you know what, wall street can relate, mitt you are their man and they've shown it to the tune of 37 million wall street dollars to the president's $4.8 million. that doesn't even count the $10 million check just shelled out by ca sin notes magnate sheldon adelson to the leading pro-romney super pac. i'm sure that doesn't come with any strings attached. let's bring in our political panel now. ken vogel, reporter for politico. and "washington post" columnist dana milbank and msnbc contributor joy reed, the managing editor of the grio.com. ken, the excellence of your reporting is before us once again with you pointing out wall street has dumped its love affair with the president and

fallen for mitt romney. so the seven-year itch is reduced to just three. i guess they've forgotten that many freewheeling lack of regulation brought the country to its knees. >> well, it's not just the regulation which of course has increased under the obama administration in the form of dodd-frank overhaul but it's also the president's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy and fear among wall street types particularly hedge funders he'll do away with this so-called carried interest provision that allowed mitt romney to continue to profit from his holdings in boyne capital and pay a relatively low tax rate on it. additionally, the president has engaged in a lot of aggressive rhetoric towards wall street targeting it. wall street fat cats. we've heard that a lot from the president and his campaign. wall streeters are not happy about that and they do, like you said, see one of their own in mitt romney, someone who will do away with some of the regulations in dodd-frank as he said who will oppose increased

taxes on the wealthy and so it makes sense for them to back him. >> indeed. dana, sheldon adelson is placing his $10,000 bet with mitt romney now, the biggest ever made to romney's super pac. he won't be demanding any kind of influence over the arab/israeli conflict just like karl rove won't influence any policies despite his heading a $100 million super pac, is that right? >> of course not, martin. what's an extras $10 million here or there. >> right. >> he gave a larger sum to newt gingrich in opposition to mitt romney. he's still got a deficit of $10 million or so to make up. i doubt that this is the last we'll hear from him. that's the reality of this obscene campaign fund-raising cycle that you know you can go out and raise 2500 bucks for your candidacy or some guy who's with a wink and nod can give $10 million. >> it's great. joy ann, the other thing that happened was that romney decided that he was going to take some

questions at the business roundtable. but he kicked the press out. now, he's delayed filing his tax returns. he doesn't like to disclose his own financial details. this man has a problem with transparency, doesn't he? he's running for president. why doesn't he take a few questions. >> quiet rooms is, martin. it's very important. mitt romney partly he doesn't want to make any mistakes. this is a very careful campaign. because it tends to happen when he tries to ad lib. it doesn't go well. i think part of the reason is he wants to be able to talk openly with business leaders and wealthy individuals who he wants to give him money about what he would do, none of which will be good for his campaign for people he wants to win over in the election. >> to joy's point, wasn't that what he did at that palm beach fund-raiser where i was caught by garrett haake talking about what he would do like close the department of education and department of commerce. he never says that publicly. he knows if he starts doing

that, that isn't going to be very impressive to the voter. >> you've got to be really careful these days on the campaign trail. >> careful about telling the truth, ken? careful about telling the truth. >> how you target your message. >> telling truth, is that a problem, ken? >> it's framing. >> framing? >> what he said there is not entirely different from what he said on the campaign trail. he's a little more blunt and more candid. you expect that with your supporters. however, this expectation that what you say in private will not make its way into public i think is pretty much out the window at this point. and you express your sort of private candid thoughts to your donors or your supporters at your peril as president obama saw in 2008 when he talked about these voters clinging to their guns and religion. that hurt him. >> that went a policy. however, let me go to dana for a moment. we know only romney likes to talk about wealth disparity in quiet rooms. today he was talking about the

wealthy moving their money offshore. >> i want to see lower tax rates. it makes no sense we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. i know what that will do. i've been in business. slowly but surely enterprises will move to places that have lower taxes or you'll recognize your income in places that have lower taxes. >> like he has, swiss bank accounts, isn't that he's done? >> the government is forcing him to move his money to grand cayman and to switzerland. don't make them force me to put my money in a swiss bank account. but look, i mean he's got that the certain record build up here. this is how he's going to overcome it. i was at the jamie dimon hearing this morning. a lot of that was the same. they're all basically saying aren't these dodd-frank regulations going to drive business overseas. even jamie dimon was saying not really in our case. >> you joy reid, ken vogel, ken milbank, stay on shore if you wouldn't mind for a moment. stay with us.

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we've been telling you that republicans would take a page from the karl rove playbook and start attacking the president exactly where he is at its strongest. and now they are, the old swift boat captain is back at the helm, this time accusing the president of spilling

intelligence secrets for the sake of political gain. >> this is unseemly to take the secrets of the united states government and reveal them for partisan political purposes to get himself reelected. i mean it's really astonishing. >> yes, it is to see the same people, the same tactics, the same hypothetical sit all these years later karl rove was the key political operative in a white house that used bogus and often leaked intelligence to start a war. yes, to start an unnecessary war that cost the lives of almost 4500 american fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. it's absolutely astonishing that karl rove has the temerity to show up with mr. sean hannity and level these charges against the white house. and to do so without ever revealing that he's the brains behind a $100 million super pac aimed at the president's defeat. >> karl rove the architect,

thanks for being with us as always. good to see you. >> thanks, sean. >> the architect indeed. there you have it. now let's welcome back ken vogel dana milbank and joy reid. dana, republican senator john cornyn called on attorney general eric holder to resign because of the allegations. let's take a listen to what mr. rove said about mr. cornyn last night on fox news. >> he's a form ser supreme court justice. he spent about 20 years on the bench. he has a very keen understanding of the tension between the legislative branch and the executive branch and a very keen understanding of law. he is not a man to make rash or intemperate remarks. >> okay. first off, mr. corn inwas not a supreme court justice. he served on the texas supreme court for six years. not 20. and he is given to making intemperate statements. in fact, he justified violence against judges during the terry schiavo case and now he's

pulling another stunt with mr. holder. is that right? >> well, i think so. i mean, in fairness, i don't suspect anybody tuning into fox news and seeing karl rove is going to say is he with the brookings institution. they will know who this guy is and where he's been before. the irony is even richer than you say. he came within a whisker of being indicted in the valerie plame case rather similar to this. the substance aside, even democrats in the intelligence committees on capitol hill are saying they are troubled by what's going on here. but it's, of course, being taken a step further now and particularly rich not so much in john cornyn's case but in rove's case to be making these claims. >> isn't, joy, it also not just particularly rich as dana says but dishonest of rove to appear on a television program without disclosing his role up front as this kingpin behind the super pac that's amassing so much

money behind the republican candidate? >> it would be except on that network. i'll leave it at that the as far as that's concerned. i have to tell you, i was literally stunned listening to karl rove speak. this is the guy who had to go in time after time after time to stop himself getting indicted. in the valerie plame case was about attempting to go after the wife, a secret operative wife who worked for the cia of an ambassador sent to africa to find out if really iraq was trying to acquire nuclear material from niger. this was about covering up the biggest intelligence blunder or sham that we've had in modern history. the idea we went to war based on the idea that iraq was getting nuclear weapons and leaking a cia operative's name. this is unreal he col even speak the word leak. >> ken, when are we going to start seeing ads about this leak story from karl rove's super pac? didn't he just unleash another major buy in nine states?

>> you know, i actually would not be surprised to see ads either from super pacs or outside groups associated with rove or others. its democrats should sit up and take notice anytime karl rove says anything that suggests a strategy or attack in the presidential or congressional races because not only does he have this role albeit an unofficial one with american crossroads and nondisclosing non-profit cousin of the crossroads gps, but he also is the unofficial leader of this vast network, this coordinated network of these other outside groups that get together once a month sometimes more frequently to discuss strategy and actually discuss divvying up individual races and ad buys so that they're not overlapping or stepping on each other's toe. as to whether they would focus on the leak as a political issue, on the one hand it kind of plays into this idea they've been trying to put forward that president obama is out of his depth, that he's nakedly political.

on the other hand, anytime you raise a leak, it gets back to the substance of the leak which is the killing of osama bin laden. that's a good issue for president obama and not for republicans. >> indeed. dana, our friends on fox news also say that the president and his alleged leaks are to blame for the 33-year jail sentence which was imposed on a pakistani doctor who helped the president kill osama bin laden. take a listen. >> a man sitting in jail for 33 years based on the gross negligence of the obama administration in keeping secrets. >> that's pretty frightening. who's going to want to trust us in the future. >> what's frightening is how fast and loose they play with the truth. that doctor they're mentioning was in prison because of his ties to terrorist groups. my question to you, why is rudy guiliani crying crocodile tears for someone who supports terrorists? >> it's almost like when the party switches power in the white house, everybody trades scripts and starts exchanging the accusations the other way. of course, we were hearing the

very same things directed at the bush administration and one karl rove before that. so you know, these things will be resolved in the, in, ways we probably won't hear about in the intelligence committees and in these internal investigations likely not with a special counsel but we shouldn't be at all surprised that they're bringing this out in the context of a campaign. the only surprise is that ad that you mentioned hasn't been cut already. >> it's been cut even as we speak. ken vogel, dana and joy reid, thanks so much. stay with us. much more ahead. >> you've shown enormous discipline and you're a role model for those of us who need to follow in your culinary footsteps. >> good. i hope after we're finished i'll still be a role model. wake up!

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diplomatic situation concerning syria. this afternoon, the white house press secretary is taking heat for a somewhat metered public spoons to russian involvement. a short time ago, secretary of state hillary clinton had this to say. >> we disagree on syria. now, it's not the only issue we disagree on, but it is one where people are being killed every single day where violence is escalating. where the government has engaged in these brutal assaults against unarmed civilians, including children. >> nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in the region for us with the latest. richard, the secretary of state says russian helicopters are being used to attack protesters. now the russian foreign minister has accused the united states of arming the syrian opposition. so can we be definitive about either assertion?

>> well, the russian foreign ministry is dialing back on that. according to a statement released not along ago, the russian foreign ministry is saying that the foreign minister lavrov was misquoted and that he didn't say that the united states is supplying weapons to the syrian opposition in syria per se, but is supplying weapons to the region. so it appears that russia is trying to at least dial back on this war of words. that wouldable significant in the terms of u.s./russian relations but the fact that helicopters according to the united states are still destined for syria is -- that hasn't changed. >> jay carney at the white house briefing today was peppered with questions not least as to whether the administration would characterize this as a civil war. and whether the time has come for some kind of intervention. given the relentless attacks and subsequent deaths, this is to all intents and purposes, a

civil war, isn't it? >> it depends on how you define civil war. if you define it as civilians killing their neighbors because of religious or ethnic divisions, it's not quite reached that level yet. it took a long time for iraq to get there. but it's certainly heading in that direction. i think it's still a more of a rebellion against the bashar al assed is regime but as the confli the opposition is increasingly rallying behind sunni slogans using sunni historic motivations to inspire fighters to go out. the militia groups carrying out horrible atrocities and massacres in the regime's name are generally shiite. so there is certainly a civil war underpinning to this conflict but you haven't quite seen neighbors turning on neighbors and people stopping each other in the street and

carrying out executions based on religious or ethnic divisions like you had in the worst days of iraq or lebanon. it is heading in that direction. i would say it's rebellion on the brink of an ethnic war. >> richard engel, our thanks to you. stay with us. the day's top lines are coming up. sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. that's chilly. [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. mcallen, texas. in here, heavy rental equipment in the middle of nowhere, is always headed somewhere. to give it a sense of direction, at&t created a mobile asset solution to protect and track everything. so every piece of equipment knows where it is, how it's doing or where it goes next. ♪ this is the bell on the cat.

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>> no, how does it go. >> ♪ baby, baby, oh. >> i don't think i like it. >> romney is going on a six-state bus tour and mitt is very excites because he's never been on a bus. >> romney as a privileged is prince ling ends today because now mitt is just your average blue collar fan of dessage. it also goes by the street name horse ballet. >> mitt romney visited a restaurant in iowa and had trouble thinking of the word for doughnut. newt gingrich mere little responded that never would have happened if i was the nominee. >> i'm so impressed with your discipline and the way you've lost weight. >> good, i hope after we're finished i'll still be a role model. >> it's like somebody goes to a restaurant, orders a big steak dinner, martini all that stuff. >> 275,000. might want to hang on to that one. >> and accuse you of running up the tab. >> governor scott walker hosted a bratwurst party for republicans and democrats. i didn't go because i heard it

was a total sausage fest. >> plsts clean impersonator former lead singer of midnight oil. taller of the two twin peaks. >> mitt says president obama is out of touch. >> how much out of touch he is. the president needs to get in touch. it's finally time to have a president who is in touch. >> i think mitt may be out of touch with what out of touch means. >> let's get right to our panel now. joining us jared bernstein, former chief economist to the vice president and an msnbc contributor and karen finny, a columnist for the hill. welcome to you both. jared, mitt romney has released a chart of what he would do in his first 100 days in office. of course, it does not mention the self-deportation of 11 million immigrants and doesn't seem to a much in the way of any policies. what did you think when you read it? >> i was looking for something that would back up the claim that there were some jobs. i was looking pretty hard

because earlier work by romney and his campaign have suggested quite clearly that they don't really believe there's anything to be done in the short run. they don't believe that stimulus works. they don't believe that be government spending helps. the other day they said they didn't believe that folks needed to see policemen and teachers and all of that. >> but they do believe in tax cuts and slashing regulations. >> and slashing budgets. so one of the things i noted in there was he said in my first 100 days, i'm going to cut the nondefense discretionary budget bill 5%. those words probably don't mean much to anybody. that's the part of the budget about which 30% goes to states as something called grants and aid. federal government shares that money with states. they use it for the very kinds of employment that when he starts cutting that, the layoffs we've seen in the public sector will only accelerator. >> well done mitt. karen, the chart on his similar day one ad released last month demonstrate his campaign is willing to make as many empty

promises as it takes to win. i was struck by the utterly vac cuious nature of his assertions. he says and i'm quoting he'll stand up to china's unfair trade practices. what does that mean? >> yeah, like he stood up to rush limbaugh, right? it doesn't mean anything. here's my version of his first day just reading his chart. he's going to give himself an additional tax break. he's going to -- is he going to stand up to china when maybe by that time, how do we know we won't need china because of what's going on in iran particularly given the standoff that teams sob going on between syria and russia? he doesn't know. then he's going to scale back regulations so guess what, if your kid guess asthma and that's considered a pre-existing condition and you don't have health care, you're out of luck. he's repealed health care reform and not said what he's going to do with all those people who need health care irinsurance. that's what the first day looks like. >> basically good luck if you get asthma and you're a child.

jared, one thing he won't do is anything involving financial regulations. senators were quizzing jamie dimon today on his $3 billion loss. morgan's stock today is actually up. do you think his testimony did it make you feel any safer about banks making risky bets today after hearing wimr. dimon. >> not particularly. you're right. not only did every republican candidate have repealing dodd-frank as part of their platform but romney has said many times that's what he'd like to do. senator corker tried to get dimon to basically denounce dodd-frank and jamie dimon didn't take the bait. what he implicitly said, what he hinted at is one of the reasons why is that is big loss didn't ding taxpayers was because due to dodd-frank and due to getting ready for the conditions in dodd-frank, the bank had increased their capital reserves.

he actually alluded to this as one of the the cushions that helped protect them in this regard. so the they could afford a $3 billion loss. they kicked up their capital reserves. that's very much related to dodd-frank. so if anything, i thought jamie dimon at least implicitly gave a bit more support to that regulation. >> jared, i wanted to mention something you wrote about on your blog, north dakota is an almost completely red state. however, there appears to have been a sudden outbreak of genuine economic common sense. what happened? >> this is a great story, the story of the day. north dakota voted at a ratio of three to one against the elimination of their property tax. this is a state unlike many others pretty flush with revenue because of a surge in oil and energy pries. and instead of voting to get rid of property taxes they actually took the longer view and realized how that would decimate their public services. so they dismissed all the supplyside nonsense about if you get rid of this tax we'll grow

faster and recognized get what, sometimes you need some revenue. >> wow, a remarkable story. jared bernstein and concern finny thank you so much for joining us. next john boehner teams up with mitt romney. at least he's trying to find someone a job. stay with us. >> the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs. and if some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it. ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing new dentyne split to fit pack. it splits in to two smaller, sleeker packs that fit almost anywhere so you can take them everywhere. dentyne split to fit. practice safe breath. thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day!

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marching to the same drummer when it comes to attacking the president. it could be the first actual work mr. boehner has done during this latest break from capitol hill. of course, you wouldn't know it by visiting one of his two websites. this one at boehner.house.gov. here is that site's home page. if you look closely, what is the first item your eyes are drawn to? the headline reading boehner hosts listening session with ohio job creators in hamilton. well done, mr. speaker, the people of hamilton like the people of america want to see some action on job creation. naturally we want to learn more, but when you click on the link, it takes you to this blog post and wait look closely at the date under the headline, may 11th. that's over a month ago. and remember, you're always saying that time is of the essence on job creation. joining us again are jared bernstein and karen finney. karen, can i ask what goes through your mind as you watch the dynamic duo of mitt romney

and john boehner come together for the good of their party if not the country? >> you know, i think about all of those house candidates who are going to have to go out this fall and defend why it is at the top of their ticket their guy who is a i megamillionaire deserves yet another tax break while people still need jobs. that's what i really look forward to. i want to see democrats making these guys have to make that case to the people that they're campaigning with. that's essentially what the romney agenda is about. i want the house republicans to have to defend that agenda. >> i'd love to hear that, too. jartd, do you believe mitt romney will be giving john boehner his marching orders between now and november or will it be the other way around particularly since we know romney doesn't have, according to his esteemed independence economists doesn't really have much thoughts about the economy. he calls paul ryan's budget marvelous and that appears to be what's directing had imin terms of economic policy. >> i don't believe that mitt

romney's going to be giving marching orders to leader boehner. i think that what they're doing here is coordinating. and i think what they're coordinating around are the kinds of things that we'll be seeing in coming weeks and months that are actually of great import to the economy and things the electorate ought to learn a lot about. for example, health care reform, the supreme court is going to be telling us where that's going. the jobs agenda as karen was just talking about, tax policy. the idea, and the president's been strong on this point. the house republicans are really the ones who are standing between the people of america and a better economic recovery. they're sitting on the transportation bill, for example, bipartisan support in the senate. they won't pass it in the house. a lot of infrastrung tocture jo there. >> i was just going to say, i love jared bernstein. i love policy people because they hold out hope that the

something that matters will get done when what's going to be going on is pure politics. let's be honest is, john boehner is taking his orders from paul ryan eric cantor as is mitt romney. so that's what this is about. this is about trying to pretend like they can have some kind of unified front. there is a question as to why do we think that romney would be effective if we have a divided congress given he doesn't seem to be able to get much enthusiasm among the people in his own party. >> indeed. in addition to that, romney not only has new friends in the house but also in the senate. listen to mitch mcconnell attempt to back up romney's claim that the federal government has nothing to do with supporting police officers, firefighters and teachers. take a listen. >> there could be another justification which was that it might get the economy going. we tried that with the stimulus. how did that work out? most people think it didn't make any difference at all. >> yeah, could i speak to that, martin.

>> please, because i imagine, jared, 400,000 teachers whose jobs were saved might actually think mr. mcconnell, it made some difference to our lives. >> you know, this is like at some point you kind of have to believe your own eyes. there were moments during the recovery act where mayors had pink slips in one hand and a recovery act check in the other hand and they ripped up the pink slips. there's no question, absolutely none. it is a fact that the recovery act helped preserve to retain many hundreds of thousands of jobs. there's no question and these guys ought to know a little bit about what goes on in the budget as i said in our earlier segment in fact, there's grants and aid where federal government shares revenues with states. that's also used to employ these kinds of workers. >> karen, is this just a sign of republican selective amnesia? do they really expect us just to have forgotten what happened? as i said, those 400,000 teachers whose jobs were saved? >> this is more of the republican party trying to tell us that the sky is purple when

we can see that's just not true. right? because the more they talk about this, the less it seems they actually understand how the government that they're supposed to be part of actually works as jared said. part of the reason we're seeing these shortfalls within state and local governments, clearly romney doesn't understand this is because the stimulus dollars are starting to trim down. that's why they're now in trouble. so clearly they don't understand how it works. >> these guys are very -- i've seen this extremely clearly. they are totally intent on running against government and they're not going to let the facts get in their way. >> absolutely. jared, you're not going to let the facts get out of the way. thank you so much. next, 41, a new look at the presidency that gave us willie horton, dan quayle and clarence thomas. first sue has the market wrap. >> good afternoon, martin. it's a selloff day on wall street right now. the dow jones industrial average is off triple digits at this hour. off about 102 points on the

trading session. it was a late day selloff. we held our own much of the day. we're down 101.57 on the dow jones industrial average. standard & poor's is down 11 points on the day and the nasdaq composite is down about 28 points. jp morgan chase has been up about 2% on the trading day. that's it from cnbc, we are first in business worldwide. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

seen his star rise since he left office. partly due to reassessment of those years but also due to the second george bush and the rank gop partisanship that will followed. it's those four years that are the subject of a new

documentary, tomorrow night on hbo and we are delighted to have that film's director jeffrey roth with us in the studio. good afternoon, jeff. this film is george h.w. bush in his own words. what does he think of the current republican party? do you think given what you now know about h.w. that he would actually win a nomination for this current republican party? >> well the one thing i can say about him is he does not say anything about any current administration, former or past. he -- he stays out of that. as far as him winning today, i'm not so sure because he is a very private man. he doesn't like to sell himself like they do today in front of a microphone. it is always about, you know, this, that and the other. he wants his record and the things he does to speak for himself and i'm not sure that would fly this time around. >> in terms of content, when he

wasn't an extremist, was he? i mean, today's republican party requires that you pander to a particular wing aggressively. that's what we have seen throughout this primary season. >> yeah. i think that's probably why at the time he probably upset a lot of people because i think that that's -- best thing he did was the decision based on what he thought was best whether it made this person happy or that person unhappy. >> when you look at him now, why is he so much more popular now than he was, say 20, years ago? >> i think it is easy when a time passes on and you can just look and all the anger and the -- moments at the time when people are all up in arms p. slowly dissipate, and you can just really, i guess, look at the facts and see what he did and i think probably that is why. >> some cynics would say it is because of his son and the contrast that clearly has been drawn, h.w. goes into iraq and comes out fairly quickly.

george w. bush goes in and we are still there. >> same thing happened with truman. he was december late when he came out of office. it is because because of time people look at him and it is truman now. >> you were saying that you felt that george h.w. bush was centrist or even left of center but did give us clarence thomas in the supreme court. >> he did. again, it is based on a decision he thought was best at that moment whether it is in the middle or on the right. >> does george h.w. make any comments at ball his son's presidency? >> other than he was a proud father, no. whether it is his son or whether it is president obama or -- anybody running today for the republican party, he stays out of it. >> he doesn't offer any critique, any -- assessment of the roy his son served as president? he doesn't offer any insight? >> no. playing the proud father and doesn't want to go there. >> thank you very much indeed. the film is on hbo tomorrow

night, i believe. >> tomorrow night. >> premieres tomorrow night. thank you so much. we will be right back to "clear the air." ♪ surf's up everybody get your boards and your wetsuits ♪ free-credit-score-dot-com's gonna direct you ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. you get a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more cash -- well, except her. no! but, i'm about to change that. ♪ every little baby wants 50% more cash... ♪ phhht!

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it is time now to "clear the air." perhaps one of the greatest ironies of this coming presidential election is that it won't be mitt romney, the person, who ultimately influence it is outcome. it will be his policies as they have been applied in europe that could sink the president. take a look at this map of europe. eight of the eurozone nations are currently back in recession. spain, belgium, irp land, italy, netherlands, portugal, slovenia, of course, greece. then there are a further three nations who don't use the single european currency but are also back in recession. britain, denmark, the czech

republic. virtually every single one of these countries reacted to the recession by applying the fundamental principles of mitt romney and congressman paul ryan's budget. that is stop spending, start cutting. this continues to be mitt romney's campaign slogan. >> if i'm president, i will cut pend. cut spending. i will cut programs. i will eliminate programs. cut federal spending. he wants to add more to government. he wants another stimulus. he wants to hire more government workers. he said we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. did he not get the message of wisconsin? the american people did. it is time for us to cut back on government. >> it is almost incredible to hear this talk given what has been happening in front of our eyes in europe as their leaders lit a wildfire of austerity that's incinerated their economies. there is now a very real anxiety that that fire could spread here

to the united states. unlike the short-sighted mitt romney who thinks only of his own ambitions, the president is acutely aware of how europe could affect us. >> the longer term, even as european countries with large debt burdens carry out necessary fiscal reforms, they have also got to promote economic growth and job creation. some countries discovered it is a lot harder to rein in deficits if your economy is not growing. >> that's why he is pushing for a very different approach. >> i sent congress a detailed jobs plan, full of the bipartisan ideas that would put more americans back to work. it had broad support from the american people. it was fully paid for. if congress had passed it in full we would be on track to have a million more americans working this year. >> this is the social contrast between these two men.

romney wants to emulate european policies that brought that continent to its knees, the president wants to chart a very different course in order to rebuild this nation's economy. the tragedy for him is that even with the best of intentions he hasn't been allowed to implement his policies. but mitt romney's approach is there in europe for all to see. perhaps he did learn something while hiding out in paris at the height of the vietnam war. thank you so much for watching. dylan ratigan is here to take us forward. what do you have for the hour ahead. >> we will deal with the issue of global financial system. the need to repair, and restore wall street and financial services sectors of the world from a risk accumulating cabal that's sucking the life out of the world to an opportunity seeking joyful mission that will release prosperity into the

world. >> isn't it incredible to you after the crash of 2007, 2008, you are still having to talk and rediscuss the issue of regulation and control of the system? i mean -- >> no. >> does it defy belief? >> no. simply think about, you have a complex system that was invented in '99, our system and europe. same thing, same experiment. brilliant experiment. lot of money for a lot of people without spending a lot of money. who does want to do that? the experiment failed terribly. we didn't repair it when it failed in 2008. instead we pretended it didn't fail by printing a bunch of money. it is now -- hit the echo happening now. it is failing again. ironically instead of doing the single one page solution that would solve all of this, the restoration of capital requirements, on one page, not 3,000 pages, not 10 pages,