that's what this is about. i always say when it comes to taxes, one man's tax cut is another man's tax increase. that's the message we will see play out. >> that's exactly where the divide is. this was the president just about an hour ago in the east wing of the white house. excuse me. east room of the white house. >> we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. let's agree to do what we agree on. the fate of the tax cut for the wealthiest americans will be decided by the outcome of the next election. my opponent will fight to keep them in place. i will fight to end them. but that argument shouldn't threaten you. >> obviously that was the east room, not the east wing of the white house. the romney campaign put out a statement saying president obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase. it just proves again that the president doesn't have a clue how to get america working again and help the middle class.

chris, that's exactly what you were pointing out. one man's tax cut is another man's tax increase. >> you know, we're back to square one in some ways. the president actually said this in his announcement. he said the two parties disagree sharply on a lot of things, nothing more so than taxes. that is the case. look, republicans, mitt romney has said it in that statement. john boehner, others have said it. look, raising taxes period is a bad idea in the current economic climate. i would say for people who say that this is all politically motivated, these two sides do believe this. i do think there is politics in this but they do believe it. the republicans believe making tax cuts, getting rid of tax cuts in a time like this is the wrong thing for the economy and president obama clearly believes that let's take care of those $250,000 or less, we will debate about the others who make more than that in the election. this is why we have elections. this is why people, the parties simply disagree. i do think it's an issue that they both believe in the

rightness of their political philosophy, and we will not as a result, there will be no compromise on this. i don't think there will be a compromise on taxes until after the election and it's possible, this is worrisome for all of us, it may not even be then. this idea the election will be a mandate, sure, barack obama will win or lose, but congress, the house, the senate, going to be closely divided. remember, nothing goes through without that congress. i think we just have to be careful about assuming everything on november 7th is going to be totally clear on the way forward. >> that's why we call it a fiscal cliff. one other point on money. june fund-raising, team romney, the victory fund, the rnc, raising $1.61 million -- $106 million. they have a lot of cash on hand. the obama campaign did better than last month, the month before, $71 million combined. you can see the disparity there. >> one thing i will say, i think we have to put this in context.

barack obama is the single greatest fund-raiser in the history of presidential politics. i say that because this is someone who raised $750 million in 2008. the idea he is being outdistanced even though the obama folks have been prepping that, saying we are going to get outspent once romney becomes the nominee, that's true but it is a remarkable accomplishment by mitt romney to be outraising the president of the united states, given what the president of the united states has demonstrated is his massive fund-raising ability in the past. >> thank you very much, thanks for starting us off today, chris cillizza. joining me now is the traveling press secretary for the obama campaign and former white house deputy communications director. jen, great to see you off the road. you're back on the road going to iowa tomorrow. >> yes. i have cooled down since the trip. >> but let's talk first about this fund-raising disparity. the romney team, not just the campaign, but all the other groups as well, are certainly outdistancing your team, and there's no hamptons big money

raising this summer so far, at least, for the president's campaign. you're letting the republicans do that as they did decidedly yesterday. >> well, this was our best month to date. we have known as chris referenced that we would be outraised throughout this process. there was good news and notes for us in there, including 700,000 new donors. that makes us up to 2.4 million donors we have out there today and 98% of the donations were from people giving less than $250, you know, total. so that means those are people ready to volunteer, they want to be part of this. they want to be engaged. we know this campaign is going to be about who can run the best neighbor-to-neighbor grassroots kind of campaign. that's what we're focused on. i will also note, nobody should forget that when george bush and john kerry were running against each other, john kerry outraised george bush several months after he won the nomination. so energy, enthusiasm can't buy a better candidate and can't buy

excitement. i mean, money can't buy energy and enthusiasm, can't buy excitement for a candidacy. >> this is largely a symbolic gesture of the president, kicking off the tax debate which will continue through the beginning of november for sure. what is his justification for $250,000, whereas chuck schumer, nancy pelosi and others are talking about the $1 million? >> governing is about making tough choices. as we know, we can save nearly $1 trillion over ten years if we don't extend the tax cuts to the highest income. the president believes we need to use that money to invest in education, invest in innovation, invest in helping people get a fair shake and a fair shot. that's an area where mitt romney disagrees with the president. we're not quite sure why he wouldn't want to just move the ball forward and extend the middle class tax cuts for a year right now. we can have that debate later -- >> what about the argument the economy is too weak right now to

take a tax increase which would be the case if you don't extend the tax cuts? >> well, the tax cuts for people making over $250,000 a year is going to the top 2% of people in this country. the vast majority of those people don't need those tax cuts. we're talking about many millionaires and billionaires who don't need those tax cuts. again, it's about making choices. do you want to have that money to invest and help the middle class or do you want to help the people who don't need the tax cuts to begin with. >> this is an argument you obviously are happy to have. >> absolutely. we're happy to have it. >> now, iowa is where it all began for president obama when he was first running against hillary clinton. the people of iowa, though, are in a very different place and the economy's in a very different place than it was. he can't come in and say i'm offering hope and change. what can his message be tomorrow in iowa? >> well, the president's going to continue to lay out the difference between his vision for the future of the country and mitt romney. in iowa, that's about helping small businesses, that's about

helping the rural and agricultural economy, that's actually been doing quite well because of exports and a number of other reasons over the course of the last four years. and you'll really hear him continue to lay out the contrast. this week, he'll talk more about tax cuts and what he wants to do differently. all those middle class families in iowa that are worried about their taxes going up, he wants to make sure they don't have to worry about it and he wants to use the money that we would give to high income -- the wealthiest americans to help more iowans go to college and invest in clean energy and biofuels and items that really run the economy there. >> pleasure to have you here. >> it was my pleasure. great to be here. >> good luck on the road tomorrow. >> thank you. >> joining me is sean spicer, communications director for the republican national committee. sean, thanks so much for coming in or for coming on today. let's take your position about the why not extend the bush tax cut for the $250,000 and less. >> well, i think jen just tried

to talk about why they were doing it and it's actually interesting after a really poor jobs report last week, which followed on the heels of a dismal one from the month before, they want to now go out and raise taxes. so i say a couple things. first, the joint committee on taxation has said there are 840,000 businesses that will be affected if we raise these taxes. so the folks that trying to go out there and keep america humming, raise -- or hire people, the backbone of the u.s. economy, they want to go out and raise taxes on it. second, the interesting thing that i thought was funny about jen's point is they want to raise taxes so that they can spend more money. so not only do they want to hurt the economy and hurt people who are trying to create jobs, they want to take that and continue to rack up the deficit. this president is the same one who said when it came to president bush's record on the deficit that it was unpatriotic.

he's now racked up more debt than almost any president combined, almost exceeding $16 trillion in national debt. in multiple ways, what they're doing is not just wrong for the economy, it's wrong for job creation and wrong for the long-term solvency of this country. we continue to pass more and more debt down to the children and grandchildren right now so that they can spend more and tax more. >> i think they did talk about taking some of that money and using it for debt reduction. i don't think it's clear that that would necessarily lead to more spending. just as a matter of principle, how do you explain or justify continuing the tax cut for the millionaires? what is going to be your best shot, your best argument against that? >> i think i just stated it. there are 840,000 businesses in america that file this way. so you can't sort of go in with the scalpel. if you want to do what the president is proposing, and that's why as chris noted, you know, chuck schumer, who is by

no means a republican or conservative, is saying no, this is the wrong thing. leader pelosi has come out casting some concern about this. so it's within his own party that he has to square the circle first and figure out why his own party isn't even on board yet. i think they know what we know, which is that too many small businesses will be affected by this. it will affect the ability of them to go out and hire more people, raise additional capital. i just don't understand how you can see multiple jobs reports come in as bad as the last two and then say as part of your solution, hey, let's raise taxes. that may be the most opposite thing that you could possibly do at this time. >> i want to also give you a chance to respond to robert gibbs, who was on "morning joe" and the "today" show as well today, making the point, their point about mitt romney releasing his tax returns and putting to rest questions that the obama camp is raising about offshore bank accounts. this was what gibbs had to say in part. >> release the tax returns. put all this to rest.

if you're not -- if mitt romney is not hiding something in bermuda and switzerland and the caymans, it will be in the tax returns. >> he was debating that on "morning joe." what's your response? >> well, i think the obama campaign has been pushing this story for awhile. the companies that they cited in the "washington post" story have all been fact-checked to be false. governor romney wasn't at bain capital after 1999 when all of the examples they cited. i think that this is a distraction. they have bad jobs numbers, bad deficit numbers. the economy's not doing well overall, now they're trying to distract everyone from focusing on the issues that they care about because they know that their record from the last three and a half years isn't something they want to talk about. hey, let's find something else to go after. but the accusations have been proven completely false. the governor has released his tax records. i think they're doing anything they can to not talk about the

issues that they should be. there is no incumbent that normally campaigns that doesn't sit back and say okay, this is what i did over the last three and a half years, if you want more of it, vote for me. what they want to do is talk about the past, blame people, blame congress, blame everyone else and get everyone to not focus on the issues that are most important in this election because i think they don't want to expose the record that they have. >> of course, there have been a lot of people who have suggested that governor romney could release more of his tax returns and follow even the example of his father, the sterling example of george romney, who released a dozen tax years and said that if you do any less, it can be taken out of context and not be really illustrative. >> it's a distraction. he released the tax records. there will never be enough for team obama. so again, i think most people know that governor romney has been a very successful businessman. he released his tax records and now all the obama administration wants to do is say hey, let's get the issues to focus somewhere else because we don't want to talk about our own record.

again, i don't really think this is an issue that people are out there going oh, my gosh, this is what i want -- i'm going to vote on. they're worried about their jobs, worried about the direction of this country, worried about what obamacare is going to do to their health care. i truly do believe that this is a total distraction. >> sean spicer, thank you very much. thanks. up next, more on the politics of those tax cuts with ed rendell and michael steele. still ahead, syrian stalemate with william cohen. [ female announcer ] you can make macaroni & cheese without freshly-made pasta. you could also cut corners by making it without 100% real cheddar cheese. but then...it wouldn't be stouffer's mac & cheese. just one of over 70 satisfying recipes for one from stouffer's.

president obama has certainly set the stage for another showdown over the middle class tax cuts. against republicans demanding that all the bush tax cuts be extended. it's pitting the president

against mitt romney as well as the republican leadership, who are demanding across the board cuts. former pennsylvania governor ed rendell is also an nbc news political analyst, joins us from philadelphia. michael steele is here, the former republican national chairman and msnbc analyst as well. thank you both very much. governor rendell, first to you, because on cbs this morning, you were asked about the president's and the white house's counter to the bad jobs numbers on friday and you said to keep pointing the finger of blame at someone else doesn't resonate anymore. people are getting sort of tired of that. do you think that it's not effective for the obama camp to keep blaming george w. bush and what they inherited? >> i wouldn't blame president bush but i would continue to point out i said earlier, andrea, it's good for people to remember that we were losing 750,000 jobs a month when the president took over. that's what he's inherited. though 84,000 may not sound like much in terms of a gain, it's a whole lot better than losing

750,000. i think he's doing the right thing there. he's also doing the right thing in stressing his jobs bill. his jobs bill contained 11 separate components, almost all of which republicans had supported in the past, and they essentially stonewalled him and stopped any progress from things that were like $50 billion of spending on infrastructure we know creates well-paying jobs on the construction sites and back in our factories, and it's hard to understand why they would obstruct that type of initiative. >> what about the tax cuts? michael steele, do you think the republicans really have a great talking point when they talk about tax cuts for millionaires in this economy? >> it's not just about millionaires. i know that's the talking point a lot of democrats want to emphasize but it is about every american who contributes to this economy, from the least to the greatest amongst us who pay into this tax system so the republicans have argued that since we have gone down this road this far on the bush tax

cuts, that let's be consistent in making sure that those who do create jobs at the top end for those who are coming up the ladder, make sure that that balance stays in place. the president wants to go and say for those who make $250,000 or more, we want to raise their taxes but for those who make less than that, we'll cut it. well, what's the cost there? they harangued this administration, harangued republicans and bush administration about the cost of the bush tax cuts, yet now he's proposing at least $1 trillion to $2 trillion worth of tax cuts out of the $3 trillion that is part of outside from that top tier in the bush tax cuts. i think there's a little bit of inconsistency here to say the least. i think the governor's point is a smart one in that you can't any longer look backwards on this. this administration owns this economy. they have to speak in terms of going forward. what that means for the american people, and that's part of the tax cut debate, part of the spending debate that we haven't

really fleshed out, and a whole lot more. >> governor rendell, what is your counter to the criticism of this tax cut proposal from the president? >> first of all, it does produce over the ten-year period $1 trillion in savings. we all hear about the need to cut the deficit. this is a proposal by the president that would cut the deficit by $1 trillion, not exactly chump change. secondly, one of the problems with michael's argument and the argument that was made by the fellow who preceded us, it just isn't correlated to the facts. when president clinton raised taxes on the top 2% in the country which is exactly the same group that president obama is proposing, we heard all this talk about oh, it's a recession, you can't raise taxes on the job creators. well, he did it and we created 23.5 million jobs in the six and a half years that followed. so there is no correlation to job creation and raising taxes on the top 2%. >> but governor, there is -- you

left out one key ingredient there. the fact that during that same period, the republicans in the house cut spending along with the president's blessing and support. so that's where you get that ability to surge the economy out of recession, is during that 1990 period, they cut the spending while the president argued for a tax increase, the congress also cut the spending of the country. that's how you create that balance. but if you want to not cut spending, you want to continue to spend and you want to also raise taxes, you are going to create a great deal of pressure on the small businesses of this country that are actually the ones who employ people. >> governor rendell? >> i think cutting spending is a good idea but there are certain things we have to invest in if we are going to get the economy rolling and we have to invest in infrastructure, we have to invest in research and development. interestingly, both president bushes and president reagan, government spending when they were facing with recessions, government spending went up significantly in the year right

after the recession hit, and it helped to in fact calm the recession and restore the economy. so this is ronald reagan, george bush and george w. bush, all of whom increased government spending when they were faced with a recession. on the short run. on the short run. >> and created deficits. >> on the short run. on the short run. i think most economists agree we've got to do it in the short run while cutting spending on the long run. there are things we can cut and things we have to invest in. >> we have to leave it there. michael steele and ed rendell, two former national chairmen, thank you very much. up next, the politico briefing. candid camera edition. why are republicans crying foul?

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opponent's every public appearance, are taking it to another level. according to the candidates, at their homes and posting it online, unnerving some who say it's an invasion of privacy and even a security risk in this post-gabbi giffords world. charlie, you edited this piece and from what politico is reporting, democrats are now going and video'ing people at their homes, posting them online. is this individual campaigns, is it organized? >> well, where we found the videos was on the dccc website and it's been sanctioned by the party. you see a bunch of different republican candidates listed there. they're on youtube but also posted on a democratic congressional campaign committee website. clearly it's something a strategy the party's pursuing. >> charlie, we know in the past that these trackers were able to capture moments that were very embarrassing and in some cases, politically fatal for candidates

but this seems really different. this seems as though it's taking it to a whole new level when you're putting people on their homes, at their homes, showing them going to the hardware store, showing their families potentially. has anyone raised concerns within the party about this tactic? >> certainly within the republican party there are a lot of unnerved republican members of congress and their family members because the idea here is that a line has been crossed, that politicians as you know, they understand you give up a degree of privacy when you run for public office, but the line has been at least in the past that you leave the homes and family out of it. but when you run raw footage of people's homes, their addresses, and you sit outside the house and just put them on the internet for no apparent purpose other than for other people to pick it up or for anyone to see, that's when people really begin to get nervous about what some of the implications of that might be. >> i think we will be following up and seeing what party leaders have to say about it, because it does seem as though it is escalating the whole invasion of privacy. as you say, when people run for

office, they are -- their lives are supposed to be an open book to a certain extent but this does involve families and people who are not necessarily part of the deal. >> right. i think that's why members are so upset. it's also involving their neighbors as well. there were numerous members that told our reporter that their neighbors had come up to them and said they had seen people in the bushes or their neighbors had chased them away or mechanics working on their farm had chased these people away. all of them in the aftermath of the giffords tragedy has really made it a scary time for members of congress. >> charlie, thanks very much for the briefing. up next, the incoming president of the national governors association joins me on taxes and the fight over health care. plus, hot button issues up for a vote this week on capitol hill. that to come, elijah cummings joining us. send me your thoughts on facebook and twitter. ovider is t

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topping the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports" only hours after hillary clinton's weekend trip to afghanistan, another bomb attack at a nato base south of the capital. six american troops were killed in the roadside bomb blast, according to u.s. military officials. the taliban is claiming responsibility for that attack. thousands of people across the country are experiencing an internet service blackout today. just after midnight, the fbi shut down a backup web server providing internet access to users whose computers had been infected by malware a year ago. if you're having connectivity problems, contact your internet service provider. it's no longer whitewater rafting in colorado as local rivers turn black with soot from the recently controlled wildfires around fort collins. a kayaker captured surreal wa r waters on a video cam mounted on his helmet.

barney frank has now become the first sitting member of congress to enter into a same sex marriage. the veteran massachusetts congressman announced he is retiring at the end of this term. he married his long-time partner over the weekend at a ceremony just outside boston. massachusetts' governor officiated as the couple took vows to love each other quote whether the book reviews are good or bad, for better or for worse, on msnbc or fox, for as long as they both shall live. congratulations from us to them. as congress comes back from the july 4th recess, house republicans are scheduling a series of votes on hot button issues to put the president and his democratic allies on the spot. joining me is congressman elijah cummings of maryland. good to see you. thanks very much. look forward to you coming back to town after the recess. n you know the first thing you will face is a house vote on repealing the president's health care bill. how are the democrats going to face all this?

this is not an easy vote for some democrats who themselves do not like the health care bill. >> i think the vast majority of democrats will be voting against this repeal effort. to be frank with you, andrea, the american people just saw the supreme court issue a decision in favor of the health care reform bill and clearly, it is something that is very important. we've got to -- this took a lot of effort on the part of this president to get this done. nobody else has been able to get it done. and it has yielded already quite a few benefits to so many people. a lot of them in my district. so i think that again, surely the republicans are going to have the votes, but they know this is not going anywhere. they know that it's not going to get through the senate. i think we need to concentrate on looking at this very important law, going back to our moral authority and that is taking care of our people and

try to address it and if there are issues with it, look at it as a project as opposed to a product. >> i also want to ask you about the middle class tax cuts. where do you come down, because there is a divide in the democratic ranks between or among people like chuck schumer and nancy pelosi, who believe that they should focus on the millionaire tax level, whereas the president is proposing to extend the bush tax cuts for people making $250,000 and under. >> well, i come down with the president but i can also understand other democrats' position on that. but let's be clear on this, andrea. no matter what the limit is, whether it's $1 million or $2 million, the republicans are going to oppose it. you understand that. let's not kid ourselves. i think that the president has drawn a line. i think he has given himself i guess some wiggle room just in case, there's negotiating to go forward, but as i've said to my

colleagues many times, so often we start so far to the right in negotiating that when we end up, we're still far to the right in the compromise. so this is going to be resolved and i think the president's doing the right thing. >> i also want to ask you about new reports that federal prosecutors are filing more charges or unsealing indictments against those involving the death of border agent brian terry, who of course his death was at the heart of the fast and furious controversy which you have been part of in defending eric holder against the attacks and the contempt citation. where do we stand now on that? i know the attorney general is supposed to speak to the naacp this week in houston and again, is fighting the contempt citation which we understand is not going to be prosecuted by the justice department. >> yeah, the criminal contempt citation, that's done with. that's not going anywhere. on the other hand, remember

there was also a civil contempt charge of contempt and we expect that that will be litigated in the courts. but i still say that this was a politically motivated type of effort, but as far as the prosecutions are concerned, i'm glad to hear that justice is about to indict other people. i have always said that attorney general holder was trying to look into this thing very carefully, make wise decisions not to disclose information that might be harmful to prosecutions, and that was part of the reason why he was trying to negotiate with our committee. again, i think that's a good thing. i am determined as we all are to get to the bottom with regard to what happened to brian terry and i know that we will. >> elijah cummings, thank you very much, congressman. >> always a pleasure. the national governors association gets a new leader this week. delaware's democratic governor takes over from virginia's governor when they meet at the

end of the week. just as more and more republican governors are boycotting the obama health care plan. joining me is governor markell. welcome. congratulations to you taking on a big job. just today, texas governor rick perry announced that texas will neither participate in the expanded medicaid program, nor set up the health care exchanges required under the obama health care law. so how does that -- how is the health care law going to work, if you can have as many as half of the states boycotting it? >> well, it's a little bit strange given that it really is now the law of the land, the law of the land is settled, and so what we've been doing in delaware all along is we have been moving forward as though it would become law. it is the law. what we're doing is we're taking a careful look at the expansion of medicaid. the bottom line is that with this law or without the law, the status quo before was absolutely unacceptable. health care was too expensive, not enough people had access, so this law's a good step but a lot of us in the states still have a lot of work to do.

>> do you have any concerns about the medicaid expansion and whether the states, i know initially the federal government picks up the tab, 90% or so but eventually, do you think the states are going to get stuck with this? >> we're taking a very careful look at it but i have to say, compared to where we are now, the additional reimbursement is certainly a lot higher than where we have been, but we have to understand what the ramifications are should we choose to go ahead with the expansion. but regardless of that, the most important thing i think is that most of the states, all the states, are going to have to figure out a way to start rewarding for quality. moving away from what has become a sick care system, where providers get paid based on how many procedures they do, and moving toward a health care system, where we reward quality and where providers and facilities and the like are actually rewarded for keeping people healthy. that's not really the world we live in these days. >> we have these jobs numbers on friday and it could not be worse -- i guess it could be worse but it certainly is not

going to give a lift to the president's campaign. four months out, even though delaware enjoys a very healthy employment rate, what about these national unemployment rates, 8.2%, the fact that only 80,000 jobs were created, and the drag on the president's campaign going forward. >> well, the president's the first one to understand that we have lots of work to do. i think we have now had 28 or 29 months in a row of expansion and that's why i have been grateful he's been focusing on some really important things like export promotion, making sure that more businesses in this country have an opportunity to export. he signed a great bill a couple months ago to make it easier for companies to go public, because we find that a lot of jobs are created after a company does go public. i think the move that he announced this morning with respect to the taxes is also an important one. i think he's taking a number of steps all of which are very important. bottom line is we have to do better and he knows that. >> what is your main goal as the

incoming head of the nga? >> well, these days for so many states, it really continues to be about jobs. we're going to build on the work of the governor of nebraska, who has actually been the chair for the last year. we're having the meeting in virginia but he has been the chair, building on his work around entrepreneurship and the like, and i'll be announcing my own initiative in just a few days, still focused on job creation. the most important thing that all of us in government can do is recognize that it's not our job to create jobs, but it is our job to create a nurturing environment where businesses can be successful. that's very much part of what we're going to continue to do at the national governors association. >> thank you so much. thanks for the correction. i should have known that, of course, nebraska, the chair, not virginia. but you will be meeting in williamsburg. look forward to seeing you there. is kofi annan's peace plan destined for failure in syria? the medicare debate continues in washington... ...more talk on social security...

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hi, everyone. coming up in just 15 minutes on "news nation" democrats launch a full-out assault on mitt romney's offshore accounts. >> and then release the tax returns. put all this to rest. >> will this coordinated effort pressure romney to reveal more about money in bermuda and the cayman islands and as you heard there, will it put pressure on him to release his tax returns? plus, within the past couple hours, president obama takes to the east room to pressure congress to extend the bush era tax cuts for the middle class. we'll have the back and forth on that one. and have you heard congressman alan west's latest i guess you could call it strange comment. he has been comparing social security to slavery. right now, united nations special envoy kofi annan is in tehran just after a trip to

damascus where he met with bashar al assad to salvage the failed peace effort. >> i have just had a very candid and constructive discussion with president assad. we discussed the need to end the violence and ways and means of doing so. >> former defense secretary william cohen is chairman and ceo of the cohen group and joins me now. well, since that statement, we learned that assad went on tv with german television and said he's not going anywhere. so i don't know what kofi annan is negotiating. there's rising criticism of the administration for not taking a bigger leadership role. that came from john mccain over the weekend. >> it's difficult for the u.s. to do much more than it is doing other than taking military action. i'm not sure anyone is advocating that. i think what kofi annan is trying to do is find a means of

cessation of the hostilities to allow the parties to talk. there's a lot of ambiguity saying move to a transitional form of government with the consent of all parties. what does that mean? assad is saying i'm staying. the opposition is saying you have to leave. we're saying he has to leave. the russians have yet to speak on this, the chinese, but they have signed on to annan's proposal. much remains to be seen. this may be a temporary break in hostilities if we have that but then unless this is resolved, at some point in time, the fighting will continue. i think what will happen, other parties will continue to fund the opposition, coming from gulf states. we are providing some intelligence and humanitarian support. the killing's going to go on until such time i think as the international community puts such sanctions on syria and iran and by the way, this is one of the problems of having iran involved, that they not be seen as brokering any kind of peace deal because that would lessen

the pressure on them as far as turning to the international community saying okay, we have been peace makers here, remove some of the stringent sanctions against us. >> russia said today it's not going to send new weapons to assad but it is still sending parts and repairing old weapons. this is what john mccain had to say on "face the nation" this weekend. >> the fact is the united states has played no leadership role, now 14,000 people have been massacred by

remains to be seen. i think that's what kofi annan is trying to discover whether they can persuade assad he's got to go. eventually he has to go soon rather than later. >> bill cohn who came down 18 flights of steps just because of the power outage in your apartment building. it continues here. it's unbelievable.

thank you very much. thanks for a special effort to get here today. and it was an historic weekend this weekend where two former wimbledon players reclaimed past floory. on saturday serena williams returned to championship form following a year of serious illnesses. and then she tied her sister venus winning a fifth wimbledon title. both of them went on to win the doubles champ as well. roger federer defeated andy murray who hoped to become the first british champion. federer regained his number one ranking. now on for all to the olympics. >> it ain't easy, believe me. [ male announcer ] at scottrade,

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excuse me. i'm reading this book "the gospel according to the fix." it comes out tomorrow. which political story will make

headlines in the next 24 hours. chris, i think it's your book. >> you know, everyone's reading it, andrea. i'm surprised. you've caught me totally by surprise. yes, my book is out tomorrow, "gospel according to fix." if you like what i say, that's a sliver of people. >> my only complaint is that i tried to do the washington read. there's no index. >> no index. i know. i know. >> no index. >> but a blurb from andrea mitchell which is always important. >> you've got it. that does it for us. congratulations to chris. tomorrow on the show, a special guest, actress sigorney weaver. a look at her hit, political animals. tamara hall has a cut in. >> we don't get to see your acting. you really did read it. okay, my bad. thank you, andrea. in the next hour, democrats launch a full out assault on

mitt romney's off shoir accounts. >> release the tax returns. if mitt romney's not hiding something in bermuda, switzerland, in the kay mans, it'll be in the tax returns. >> we'll have the romney response. will this coordinated effort pressure governor romney to give up more about his money in the kay man islands and bermuda? in the past couple of hours president obama pressuring congress to extend the bush era tax cuts for the middle class. we'll have both sides of the argument. congressman alan west. he is now comparing, listen to this one, social security to slavery. [ engine revving ] ♪ hey, hey, hey ♪ [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] with fuel economy that's best in class and better acceleration than camry and accord, you'll wish you had the road to yourself. [ tires screech ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites.

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look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions, and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. all the news in the nation that's following developing news. president obama comes out on a monday swinging making the fight over tax fairness once again front and center. in fact, just a few hours ago the president called on congress to extend the bush era tax cuts

for middle class families while letting those for the wealthiest americans expire. he says tax breaks for the rich are toxic for middle class families and this economy. >> we've tried it their way. it didn't work. the wealthy got wealthier but most americans struggled. instead of creating more jobs, we had the slowest job growth in half a century. instead of widespread prosperity, the typical family saw its income fall. the romney campaign pounced saying, quote, president obama's response to even more bad economic news is a massive tax increase. it just proves again the president does not have a clue how to get america working again and help the middle class. joining me now, washington, d.c. congresswoman eleanor norton holmes. thank you for your time. >> of course. >> this divide that's been reported with democrats, there are some democrats, chuck schumer, for example, and