>> not right. a lot has happened. speaking of big boy pants, this is what i think big boy pants looks like. hillary clinton responding to having shoes and tomatoes thrown at her. >> i have experience in our own country and israel where protests are part of the fabric of democracy. so in one way seeing people express themselves, even though their assumptions and conclusions were absolutely wrong, is a sign of that freer environment that egypt now enjoys. therefore, i was not offended. you know, i was, you know, relieved that nobody was hurt and i felt bad that good tomatoes were wasted. but other than that it was not particularly bothersome. >> yeah. we're going to go back to

politics here in the u.s. but i just thought we'd start on an elegant, completely -- there's not a word i can use that's probably appropriate for television. she's got you know what. she does. she's perfect. >> she's got a pair of big ones. >> all right, thank you. >> no whining. >> thank you for that. >> he says "big ones" and gets away with that. >> okay. yeah, hillary clinton. that's the way to do it, by the way, everybody. let's get to the news. president obama continues to aggressively target mitt romney, telling an ohio crowd that the former governor, mitt romney, does have a plan for creating jobs, just not here. >> i've got to be honest. today we found out there's a new study out by nonpartisan economists that says governor romney's economic plan would in fact create 800,000 jobs. there's only one problem. the jobs wouldn't be in america. they would not be in america.

they'd be in other countries. by eliminating taxes on corporations' foreign income, governor romney's plan would actually encourage companies to shift more of their operations to foreign tax havens creating 800,000 jobs in those other countries. i want to give incentives to companies that are investing in you, the american people, to create american jobs, making american goods that we're selling around the world stamped with three proud words "made in america." >> the romney campaign called that tax report biased, pointing out it was written by an economist that has also bodonat to the obama campaign. the super pac supporting him sets a new fund-raising high, "restore our future" collected $20 million in june, four times what it raised in may and dwarfs

the top super pacs supporting president obama in the month. weep also have tv's willie geist. >> this is so exciting. first i want to welcome willie geist back. >> he's the cutest thing i've ever seen. you've run my nantucket operation. i can't tell you how proud i am, willie, for all the hard work you've done for all the kids. >> there's a lot of pain in easthampton now. it's a big hill to climb. we're doing our best. >> i wanted to ask mark mckinnon, yesterday we were fascinated, i was fascinated by the pact that you had a "time" magazine joe klein comparing this obama campaign to the 1988 willie horton campaign that george h.w. bush put on and also

about a campaign of 2004 where we're talking about mitt romney and him being a millionaire and outsourcing jobs. they are creating a narrative. the one thing flpolitically you have to give them credit for is they're getting the president out there and keeping him going pretty darn well in july. >> they are, joe. those past campaigns in the presidency that were really aggressive in the early months in the last several cycles in june, july, may, set the cement on the picture in framing the election early on were the campaigns that went on to win. democrats look back at the kerrey campaign and say we're not going to do that again, we're going to be aggressive and put the pedal to the metal and not let up. >> john heilemann, craig shirley yesterday e-mailed me and said when he played basketball in

college a million years ago, he said his coach always told him that november games were won in september. a very good point. you prepare, you prepare, you prepare. we saw this and certainly saw this in the 1988 campaign. we saw it in the 2004 campaign. are we starting to see it now where the obama team is so successful in framing mitt romney as a rich guy who will do anything to make a profit, including outsourcing jobs, are they doing such a good job at developing that theme that once mitt romney does start spending all of his money in earnest, it's going to be not too late but it's going to be hard for him to get rid of this first impression? >> well, that's certainly, joe, what the obama campaign is trying to do and it's certainly what the romney campaign fears. there's no doubt that the people in romney world did not want to spend july on defense and trying to deal with these -- it's not how they wanted to spend this

month. i'm still curious what we're going to see when we start to see the next round of serious polling that comes out. but remember, the end of june the president had a horrible month of june. the national polls came out, the numbers had not moved. mitt romney is having a worse july than the president had in june but until we start to actually see some movement in the numbers, i think we have to still withhold judgment on how much this is sinking in. there is a different model of 1988 and it's the 1980 example where jimmy carter filleted ronald reagan and the undecided did not move and then moved to reagan. until we see erosion in romney's numbers -- this is bad for romney. a lot of the things they're trying to burn in are really damaging and we don't yet whether the impact is there or not. >> let me just ask you again because it was only a month ago

we sat here and we said bain is a losing argument. bill clinton went on television and said what he did at bain, that's good work. it seemed like the obama campaign had gotten away from it a little bit and gone on to mitt romney's role as governor, something he didn't want to talk about in massachusetts. what made them get back to it? >> i think they saw indications in swing states that it was working, was having an impact. this tax debate is interesting. you remember that he held hit line about a month before he finally broke from the pressure and the problem was that he hadn't paid any taxes and he dropped 20 points. >> and this tax thing is really something. he's been steadfast but not refusing more than the one year you plus the one year that's coming. i personally don't see hough he's going to withstand that pressure when it's coming now from people within his own party. you have to believe the fact

that he won't release the tax returns means there's something in there that's going to make this worse for him. >> let's go to vice president joe biden real quick and take a listen to what he said yesterday. they're firing on all cylinders at the obama white house. he is on a meeting about seniors issues. >> let me start by quoting my dad, a phrase my dad used to always use. whenever you'd say something, some would say, well, this is what i value, this is what i support. my dad would go like this. he said, look, don't tell me what you value. show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. seriously. show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. don't tell me you value women in your office space, in your

corporation if you have a budget where you don't have any women that are being paid like men. don't tell me that you value and are deeply concerned about senior if in fact you eviscerate the things that you know they rely on, not only for their well being but i'll return to this, for their dignity. for their dignity and their pride. i resent when i see on television, usually the other team but every once in a while someone on our team, not in the white house because democrat, will say something like, well, we have to cut it to preserve it for the other generation. there's a tendency, i'm not even sure it's intended, to pit one generation against the next. that's bizarre. i don't know anybody i grew up with in my neighborhood who wasn't going to do whatever it takes to make sure her mom has

her prescription drugs. i don't know young people who sit there and say, you know, let's cut it now so we're going to have it. i want to be up front with y'all. i view this literally as a family affair. >> okay. joe. >> where do i begin? i'm not allowed to criticize joe biden. >> no, you're not. >> just like a statement made last week, that is just pure 100% democratic demagoguery. you know what my dad told me? my dad told me after i had my first son, he said, hey, joey, don't reach into his pocket, don't break his piggy bank, don't steal his money. my dad actually didn't say that but then again, joe biden's dad didn't say don't judge a man by his budget. this is what we do as politicians. we make things up and get a glint in our eye. but here are some facts, though,

that joe biden can't deny. don't tell me that you value social security if you can just look at the numbers over the next generation and know it goes bankrupt if you keep going the barack obama way, which is to do nothing. don't tell me that you care about medicare or that you care about the poor getting their medicaid when you know demographics is destiny and the numbers don't add up and if we keep going barack obama's way and doing nothing about it, medicare and medicaid will go bankrupt. don't tell me you care about the next generations of americans when five minutes on google looking up what the top economists in the government, the congressional budget office, the office of management budget, everybody agrees objectively it's not a matter of ideology but a matter of math. america's going bankrupt, that we're stealing from our next generation, that medicare and

medicaid can't sustain itself. don't tell me you care about seniors if you're going to let their programs go bankrupt. don't tell me -- >> that's great coming from you. that makes sense, joe, coming from you. but going after the ryan budget -- >> listen. >> i'm listening. >> no, you obviously didn't listen to what joe biden said because everything he said was basically don't tell me that you're a good doctor if you open up a patient searching for cancer and then you find it. and then you just sew the patient back up, pat him on the back and say you're fine, go ahead, we love you, i'm not going to be mean and take the stuff out of you. this is some reckless talk. i will tell you as somebody that respects president obama and likes him personally and thinks that he does do what he thinks is best for america, even though i disagree with him, same with joe biden, i think this is very

depressing. it's depressing talk. >> i'll let you take it to ratko mladic -- take it to ratner. would you want to defend paul ryan's budget? >> if you want to demagogue it. paul ryan at least, whether you agree with everybody paul ryan did and i've even said i didn't like the voucher part of it, i said he should have just layered the rate of growth. at least he had the guts to take on medicare. and, yes, i may have spoken for, what two and a half minutes, 2:45 right now. but now we've got to turn it over to steve ratner, who has been burning the midnight oil to come up with these biased left

wing torts. let's watch the snunumbers now, let's see the facts. >> good morning, everybody! >> what do they have in the water there? >> that's a setup. >> i'm just pushing back. >> i haven't even pushed yet and you're pushing back. >> poor ratner. go for it. you and joe, go. you take on joe. give him the charts and seep what he says. >> i understand what you say about president obama. let's litigate romney because romney has endorsed the ryan budget and i don't believe just -- all the problems that you identified with entitlements are absolutely true. we're going bankrupt, stealing from our children, we can debate separately whether the president has or hasn't done what he needed to do. >> mika, what a good guy. we should have steve ratner on

next. >> let me just tell you, you have credibility making this argument. >> you could. and i think biden going after . >> mitt romney -- people would be particularly unhappy if they understood what's in it. what's in medicare is basically to turn it over to the individual, give them a check for $8,000, $9,000 and go find health wear. right now the average city pays 25% of his or her medicare. under ryan it would go to 50%. they would take medicaid and just hand money to restaurants

in a black grant. >> everything like food stamps, they would just cut, then let him get out there and lay all this out. >> i'll speak briefly to the politics of this. the democracy guys just have more research on this issue. they're spring voters and they explain to them what's on the ryan budget the it is one of the things where is not word. . whup think about the road map, they came out and said bain, taxes, kaymen smith. you're going to see them i think

going after this ryan stuff. the vice president is a leading indicator of where the campaign is going now. they think if you spell out the implications of the ryeat budget. >> another line that, being fact based, when he said i don't know anybody in my neighborhood that is concerned about or wants to steal from the next generation. of course we're going to say we don't want to steal from the next generation. also those poll numbers know that you can get gag social security and there just ant -- they said, hey, don't touch my

medicare, the largest growing program that we have. this is politically a tough issue. joe biden is incorrect when he says senior citizens in his neighborhood are willing to sacrifice now to help the future generation not be bankrupt. >> all right, that's fair enough. my kinnen. >> me parents said we had to have a college first and we talked about means testing and -- >> go ahead, joe. bead. >> willie, what did you your father say to you about budgets? a weird dad. >> my dad never said a damn thing about budgets, that's for sure. >> you know he's good.

you know joe biden. >> coming up, we'll talk to campaign manager stephanie cutter. campbell brown will be here, nancy snyderman, for medical head lines with dr. emily senay. but first here's bill karins. >> we're in the middle of our latest heat wave. the worst wet of the country is rain heading from northern new england. all of the state of maine has a chance of getting id. south of there it is going to be a a hot day, near 100 degree heat from boston to new york,

all the way down to d.c. as far as the kentucky fos the sizzle of the country. yesterday we had a steam bath. detroit could be one of the hottest locations in the nation today. detroit 102, chicago 100, michigan 100. that cold front is going to sink down on us a little bit on wednesday cooling off chicago and detroit. still very hot tomorrow . we get these cooldowns back to where we should be and the heat continues. "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ ♪

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26 past the hour. time to look at the morning papers. one of the top executives at google will be the ceo of yahoo!. marissa mayer will start today. i believe she is expecting a tie -- >> she is. >> i believe you know hersh rig -- her, right? >> i do. >> "pentagon bulks up defenses in the gulf." yesterday just u.s. navy gunners opened fire on a small fishing

vessel on the coast of dubai after that crew ignored warnings to back away from the ship. at least one was killed on the fishing boat. >> and today's "boston globe" explores efforts by both presidential candidates to boost fund-raising from those living overseas. mitt romney reportedly send this son to hang rones. >> that's not good. >> one went to the hospital after the needle punctured the roof of his mouth. the company that caters meals is heightening their safety procedures. >> and dozens of olympic athletes arriving in london were

delayed for hours when the bus got lost on the way from heathrow airplane. finally the driver abandoned the gps advice on board and took out an old fashioned map. olympic marathoners are expected to cover roughly the same distance in half the time, only they'll be on foot. >> it's early. >> gps can sometimes confuse. >> let's go to politico now. your article, veepstakes. >> i think it contains bobby jindal and maybe as a wild card paul ryan. there's a big debate that romney

assumes he wants everything between boring or safe. and in it it's cleared that they're worried he's coming off as too dull. a lot of guys say, no, no, he's so much more exciting. he can do the imfact of a stationen. -- chicken. >> i don't know what to say. >> is portman the guy, chicken and all? >> i said for six months i thought rob portman was the favorite on substance and politics. for the first time last week i'm starting to get a little shaky on it. >> how come? >> i don't know. there's just a little bit of vie brace. >> what's the change? now i need to know! >> there's something about it that i'm starting to think that bobby jindal could somehow

surprise us all and come in and get this. i think romney is still worried about enthusiasm from the conservative base. bobby jindal is the guy of all the existing ones, he's the first indian america on the ticket and really strong with the base. . litz not ought of guys better than the others. >> i think -- i like rob portman politically because he's from ohio, he's a conservative but he's moderate temperamentally. a lot of people would say he's dull. he's got a background in a lot of areas in washington. he'd be ready to be president from day one. that's very positive. and i think we all like personally tim pawlenty. i guess he called himself a walmart or sam's club

republican. he is a conservative guy. but my gosh, he is impossible not to write. he's every bit as relaxed as mitt romney is stiff. i think you'd have a good stylistic difference that you might not have in you had mitt romney and portland? tim pawlenty is a conservative guy and was governor for two years in a blue state. >> he's been great on behalf of romney. but i will say about portman, having sent time with portman, they seem so compatible to me. he's solid as a brick and safe

as a seat belt. >> can i make a quick point on portman? as somebody who covered him on capitol hill, there's no doubt he's a policy wonk. he probably better than dealing with the press than almost any politician that i've written both they are. think think that would help any any. he has very little clue dealing with reporters on a personal level. >> and quickly on the timing of this, some suggest romney might do this sooner rather that be later who get the pain -- >> who knows. if he wants to generate excitement going into that overseas trip, then to advice

veep and his foreign policy and then into the convention, that might not be a bad strategy. >> if you pop the cork, you lose the bubbles. >> when we're talking about exciting? in terms of these guys it's a relative term. >> they all make vwere all in t whole arena watching the screen. the kiss cam had the first couple giggling like teen-agers. sports is next. ♪ ♪ i still love you so, i can't let you go ♪ i love you, ooh baby i love you ♪ sorry. sore knee.

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time for some sports. >> thank god you're back. >> you ready? why sports -- >> yeah, it wasn't working. >> let's not even talk about k-par and then sullivan came in with his sports voice. >> the u.s. men's olympic basketball game played its last exhibition game here in the u.s. before heading overseas to keep training, getting ready for the olympics. president obama at the game last night with the first lady and

his daughter. joe biden as well. the u.s. down 8 points in the first quarter. lebron the one-handed dunk there. american still down 6. president obama, they put him up on the kiss cam. you go g to the arena, they want them to kiss and they didn't oblige. didn't do it. got a little boo from the crowd. lebron, he will 30 points. kevin durant the dunk. team usa wins 80-69. president obama given another chance on the kiss cam. let's see if he's going to do it this time. leans in. his daughter prodding him. there you go. that's more like it. the president of of the united states on kiss cam. >> a lot of talk surrounding the 2012 version of the dream team has centered around kobe bryant's assertion that this year's team would beat the original 1992 dream team, michael, magic, larry, 11 future

hall of famers. at halftime president obama did his part to put that debate to rest. >> you know, there's a generational thing. i was around in '92, i was a bulls fan so i've got to go with the original dream team and i suspect that michael and sir charles and others would point out they were probably never down at any point in any of their games. but this is a great team, unbelievable talent. kobe's a competitor so you expect him to do a little trash talking whenever the opportunity arises. >> john, the president is being a diplomat. that's not a generational thing. >> it's a reality. >> the dream team just on the inside would destroy this team. >> this is a great team. >> but that team was -- >> zeus, mercury, other gods. >> kevin youkilis made his return to fenway park as a member of the visiting white sox. got a warm reception from his

old fans in boston. >> third baseman number 20, kevin youkilis! [ cheers and applause ] >> those of course the cheers of "youk," not the boos. that's youk tipping his bat. the notorious tough guy had to wipe away a couple tears before getting into the batter's box. when he got on base, more cheering from the fenway crowd. adrian gonzalez puts a swing on one for the red sox, launches into the monster seats. the red sox win 5-1. by the way, carl crawford in the lineup for the red sox for the first time this season, 1 for 3, couple of runs scored. the minnesota twins have the fewest wins in the national league. watch ben revere getting down and dirty from the twins.

robbing extra base there is. second inning, twins already up 7-1. joe mauer, a solo home run over the right field wall. twins win the final of 19-7. the orioles the second place team in the a.l. east. game tied in the bottom of the eighth, 2-2. bases loaded for raul ibanez. yankees win 6-3. they now have a nine-game lead on the orioles in the a.l. east. up next, it's what we've been waiting for, steve ratner with the charts. and g.q.'s look behind the most invasive process in politics, vetting the v.p. candidates. keep it on "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ t dog.

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♪ i know there's nothing to say ♪ >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> takes havens, offshore accounts, carried interest. mitt romney has used every trick in the book. romney admits that over the last two years he's paid less than 15% in taxes on 43 million in income. makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> you know what? i put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> that's the latest ad in the obama campaign airing in pennsylvania. we're going to go to steve ratner at 45 past the hour. look at the tax plans of the two candidates as well as one option that was put on the table but then not really gone for,

simpson-bowles. >> unfortunately i don't have 15 years of romney's tax returns so i can't answer the questions in them. there's a lot of talk ba b taxes, romney's and tax propo l proposa proposals. let's remind everybody what the bid and ask is among the various participants. the president has proposed $1.5 trillion of tax increases over the next ten years as part of his budget plan and of course he's been arguing about whether you increase it on everybody making over 250,000 or everybody making over 1 million. so this white and blue bar at the bottom represent what you lose, which is roughly about $400 billion over the at the years if you go just over the million versus going over the whole $250,000, in which case you gain about $860 billion of revenue. romney has had two tax plans.

his first was to endorse the continuation of the bush tax cuts, which means there's no change since all of these numbers are based off the current policy, what is currently in place. his second tax plan was a 20% across-the-board cut in tax rates, which would cost $2.8 trillion, plus a bunch of other stuff for another trillion for a net loss of revenue of $3.8 trillion. he says he's going to offset this by eliminating deductions but in a second we'll show you how hard this is. he's never specified a single deduction he'll eliminate. simpson-bowles would gain 1.8 trillion in revenues. there's going to be a big bipartisan push in washington to get behind simpson-bowles as we get close to the fiscal cliff.

let's look at the way romney has handled his taxes and ways to gain revenue by eliminating deductions and loopholes. there's about $1 trillion a year of loopholes and deductions in the tax code. it's not corporate jets. these are the big five, the fact that you're not taxed on your health care benefits, the fact that you great mortgage interest deduction, the fact that iras and 401(k)s are not taxed until much later, locate on capital gains and dividends and charitable contributions being deductible. mitt romney's tax rate is so low because he's played heavily in these two. he's got up to $100 million ira, that is not taxed at the moment. most of his income is in capital gains and dividends. that's why he has such a low tax rate. >> maybe that's why he doesn't want to release the returns. joe. >> you look at the health care tax break, the mortgage tax

break. i find no politician alive is going to be willing to go after that any more than they're willing to go after what's required to say social security or medicare over the long run. i mean, the biggest chunk and you're exactly right, this ain't tax deductions for corporate jets. this is -- these deductions help middle-class americans primarily. >> that's of course exactly right and that's why i put it there because this is really politically toxic stuff. you can't propose tax cuts and say we're going to close loopholes when you have no idea what loopholes you're going to be able to close. let's close by looking at one other fun chart, which tracks the top tax rate for people who make $ 250,000 sense the inception of the tax rate in 1912. it stayed pretty low until world war ii when we had to pay for the war and everybody's tabses went up very high. there were different provisions and other loopholes but

directionally this is where the world was. when reagan came in, tax rates dropped dramatically and were kind of reset at this lower level. the point i most li wanted to make is tax rates are by any historic measure very low but very interestingly when we compare the obama plan to the romney plan, we are fighting over a very small piece of ground. we're fighting over the distance between me and willie, not over western europe. >> just to go back to the point that you and joe were just discussing, you cannot take anybody -- we talked about paul ryan earlier today. paul ryan is as guilty of this as mitt romney. can you not take a republican seriously who says they're going to cut the top rate, big corporate tax cuts, big tax cuts for the rich if they will not specify which of those deductions they're going to curtail in order to cut taxes for the paelty and keep revenue

neutral. and romney and paul ryan and every other republican is equally guilty. >> joe, jump in. >> i want to show the first clart against that talks about how simpson-bowles raises $1.8 trillion in revenue and the reason why republicans might be willing to support that plan but not willing to support barack obama's plan. that's because republicans know barack obama over the past four years has shown he's not going to take the tough decisions. he not going to make the tough decisions. on the other side of it, sure, he'll raise taxes. he's a democrat, he's a progressive. that's what democrats and progressives are comfortable doing. but he won't make the tough cuts. simpson-bowles, on the other hand, they make the tough cuts, on whether it's social security or medicare or whether it's the general budget. and there a lot more republicans than the media reports on, mark,

are there not, that are willing to say, okay, you want to talk about raising revenue? fine. if it's part of a bigger plan. they cut spending over the long run to save america over a long-term debt crisis, sinus up. >> joe, that was my biggest disappointment by president obama. they had another commission that had similar findings. we wouldn't be having this debate had he done that a couple years ago. i hope we still have a chance to do it because that's absolutely the right route to go. >> coming up, how to make america more competitive. harvard business professor will join us when we come back.

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oh, god, it's been so long. is it time? is it time? please, tell me, tell me. hurry up! >> hurry up? anyway -- this is at mika's

request. this is a big story this morning. i'm surprised we waited till 56 to tell you about it. maybe stubs up there in alaska, that's the mayor. >> he's a cat. >> the residents say he's doing the best job we've ever had. he hangs out at the general store, people visit the town, they buy things, they put money into the economy. >> that's the mayor. >> how did this become news? >> somebody -- >> we're on television doing news, aren't we? >> maybe stubs, still getting it done. >> still getting it done? >> and professor of harvard business school michael porter when we come right back. ♪ ♪

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i love how they do this show, don't worry, you should not worry about it, you should be for these changes, social security is going to preserve you but it's going to really kill your kids. i know i have a bad reputation of speaking plainly. i'm going to continue to speak plainly. it served me well my whole life.

>> we're back with mark mckinnon, along with steve rattner. joining us from harvard, michael porter and associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc police call analyst eugene robinson. joe on joe biden, the campaigns now fairly effective with joe biden. >> he's a fairly effective campaigner. of course we have the don't criticize joe zone. but that's blatant demagoguery. it goes against mathematical realities. he's saying, hey, seniors, we're not only going to keep your social security and medicare, which none of us course want to do, but we're not going to touch future generations of social

security either despite the fact that joe biden knows social security is going bankrupt, medicare is going bankrupt. willie geist, you and i were joking about the simpson-bowles plan. my older kid will not be affected by the simpson-bowles plan but my 4-year-old boy -- how old is george geist? >> just turned 3 now, george geist. >> george w. just turned three. they love calling him that out in the hamptons. just turned 3. and seriously is joe biden trying to defend the honor of jack scarborough age 4 and george w. age 3? this is preposterous talk. >> well, it is. and you wonder why we can't have

a serious dialogue about it, but the reason is because every time somebody comes out with an idea, whether you like it or not, to reform medicare, look at social security, they're met with a press release that's already printed and on the shelves of most democratic representatives attacking that plan. there's never been, i haven't seen recently anyway, a constructive dialogue about these long-term problems. >> let's take this dialogue and to turn why professor porter is here. joe was talking about the mathematical realities in the competition between the two campaigns and the conversation they're having about where money should be spent or not and how we try to deal with our deficit. how does that parallel, even come remotely in sync with us staying competitive, which wouldn't we argue at this point that we are not? >> it's not only are we not. we're facing the greatest economic challenge we've faced in probably a century in america. we have been a very strong,

robustly competitive vibrant economy now for decade after decade after decade and for the last roughly decade we have totally started slipping at the fundamental level. we did a survey at harvard business school of thousands of our alumni and there's enormous concerns that the underpinning of our economic machine have dissipat dissipated, our job creation stopped way before the deep recession, our participation in our work force is at a 30-year low, we're stagnant in terms of rages, stagnant in terms of wealth creation and yet we're having a discussion that you've been talking about this morning, i've been listening in, that just is not connecting with any of the fundamental issues. this is the defining issue in america. it's about the future opportunities of mention, it about the future influence this country has in the world and yet

the simple things that have to be done although politically complicated, the simple things that have to be done are just not being done. >> joe. >> professor, what is so frightening to me when you look at where the united states economy is right now is we actually have two things happening at the same time. the first thing we have happening is this long-term debt crisis we have to take care of but the second thing and i think the more vexing problem is the fact, just like you said, we are economically in a long-term slide. go back to 1973, real wages have been declining since 1973 for american males. you look at what happened in 1978, china goes global, globalization explodes. these are not problems that you can talk about fixing on the back of a political bumper sticker, are they? >> they are not. and they range from the skill

problems that we have. we have millions of jobs in america that cannot be filled because we don't have the skill level available. we have a corporate and tax system that is funt fundly -- we confronting an international raiding system that challenges some of his -- and yet while other countries are racing ahead, improving infrastructure, simplifying regulation, impliifying the legal system and driving the economies, we're just not doing anything in america. it's troubling. >> eugene rob irobinson, jump i. >> we have to do several things at once. that's what makes it difficult. yes, we have to get our long-term fiscal house in order. yes, i would argue we need some

economic stimulus now but longer term we have to work on skills, we have to do something about our infrastructure. we are being outpaced by country after country on those scores and that costs money. that's not free. and so there are these competing impulses. it's not as easy, not just on the back of an envelope but in fact take all the spreadsheets you want. it's hard to make those numbers add up. >> it is but, you know, again you were talking earlier about simpson-bowles. here is a plan that is sort of a balanced compromise. if we talked to the business community, almost every business leader would agree let's do it. let's just reach compromise, let's move forward. if we actually had a glimmer of progress and some kind of a compromise plan within a large range of what it might compose, just at simple act of doing something and moving forward

would be transformational for our economy. right now there's simply no confidence that america will address any of these issues. and start i think unprepared to make investments, it's unprepared to do anything but put that capital over there in those emerging economies where they do see the growth happening. >> john heilemann. >> let me ask you a question that goes to the core of competitiveness and the current political debate. we are talking about outsourcing and offshoring a lot. >> we are. >> part of the reason why romney is in trouble is because he's trying to say i wasn't at bain when a lot of this outsourcing, offshoring took place. make the argument for why offshoring is a good thing. because i've been waiting for mitt romney to stand up. he wouldn't be in this trouble if he would just say here's the argument for it, the global economy, et cetera. make the argument. >> about 25 years ago we really

started entering a truly global economy. and in order tore american-based organization to grow and penetrate in kpl communities, it needs to get closer to the customer, it needs to provide services to penetrate the market in this country. so outsourcing -- building a global strategy with a global supply chain is how we actually grow in america. but we go from thinking about how american companies can build global positions and strengthen their market share in international markets to any time somebody moves a job outside the united states, they're how disloyal. again, that's not the right discussions. we have had an epic loss of jobs that could be done in america. but the reason we've lost those

jobs is we have a corporate tax punitive legal system that scares companies. so this issue of, first of all, outsourcing is good if it supports the internationalization of american companies, but it's a sign of a broken economy if people are outsourcing because we have a complex, convoluted, high-cost location to do business. >> but if you look at manufacturing, though, we get really upset when a job is lost to china or brazil. richard cohen doesn't seem to in the when a job is a loss to -- a plan that may have taken 10,000 people to run in the past, can

you run with five people and sophisticated machine. that's been a huge record in some the unemployment that we see and we don't talk about that. >> that's true. but we also have millions and millions of jobs today that are not being thrilled because we look the right skill set. not just the college level jobs but the technician jobs. the sort of semi skill, middle-sk middle-skin. >> of course the global economy is growing, there are needs, there's a large of pfs that needs -- our research shows if harvard were to involve surveys of many hundreds of thousands of business leaders, the challenge is that we just are not productive enough. we don't have enough skill, we don't have enough productivity

in america partly because we let that happen to us by not fixing simple things that make our business environment nor complex. we're not productive enough to justify the rages we have today. so we're just not getting our fair share of those jobs. >> steve rattner, jump in the conversation. >> i agree with much if not all of what professor porter said. but first on the globalization point, i think it is inevitable, i think we all should agree in free trade and on balance it brings more benefits, and where i did i agree, it's having workers who ros less than our workers. some jobs may have been driven out. i don't think that's the prime require source of the offshoring i think that forever.

i do agree with you that there are some -- we will not be able to compete globally if we have automobile plans that have ten time as many workers in them that remains them to operate. it allows them to be paid in some non-american ways. and my third and final comment, i'd love you to comment, i think this animal -- i don't think the amount of dollars you would need to fix the infrastructure, to pit the context of the federal budget. the problem is everything in the federal budget can be squeezed by health care and they have the low-hanging fru, infrastructure,

education and training. it's a political will more than an economic problem to address a lot of these issues. >> first of all, you nailed it. competitiveness while you can compete in the other markets. the on way can you do that is through productivity. you have to be a productive enough do-to-do business so you can put for sale -- that simply is not true enough today to support job growth and the prosperity growth that we saw. the solutions are vef straight forward. one of them, for example, is we've got to hope up high school

immigration this would be a anymore benefit to the productivity of our economy and the still level of our economy. but we can't even agree to stiple a green card to every graduate issued in an american university so those bright young people can stay here and become part of our community. it's a political will problems. we're talking about the buffett rule. that doesn't matter. we're talking about a lot of things that don't maher. there are side shows, they're all basically understand. there's a lot of agreement, pe have to simplify regulation, be more aggressive in terms of trade, address these issues partly through negotiation. we have to reduce the corporate tax rate. we have to stop punitive of

american multi-nationals so they leave all this trillions of dollar overseas. these things are not difficult conceptually. there's a lot of -- >> professor, i think at the bottom line what we really need is growth. is it a consensus on the budget? what's the top thing that needs to happen in order to promote kbroet? >> i think probably the top thing to promote growth right now would be to achieve some kind of a budget compromise. >> predictability. >> that there would be some previous districtability. the american people would not think we're not going bankrupt, we wouldn't have a biz an teen example be, a we would have done something important. until that happens, i wasn't

sure -- >> fantastic. >> and we get to the point that frustrates so many americans, which is that we know what the solution is and often times it's seeded right in front of there and we can't get there because of our political process. >> we try. maybe we will have that discussion someday, i hope we do. but. we do particular talking around the edges and thankly it's difficult for me tone vision the step-by-step scenario in which that changes. we caned to the grand bargain between obama and boehner. we were there and then all of a sudden we weren't. >> we're going to find out this year whether this can happen because we have the fiscal cliff coming. we'll try to get sim some-bowles in place and i think it's going to be an ventful yearnd i think this will happen.

>> joe, can you think how this will play out? >> i i can actually envision you us being responsible as it comes to the physical fiscal crisis, more so than the professor that everyone's talking about. unfortunately because it's much more complicated. i've got to see, you talked to some of the technical leaders out in sill i con valle-- silli valley. one of their greatest fractions is they don't have enough workers to take those high paying jobs. there's a political battle in washington, d.c. that doesn't allow us to keep the best and brightest in the world here in america. somebody asked me why we should allow graduate students to stay in america. and i said because i would rather that graduate student that is going to create you a

new company, that creates 15 or 1,500 new jobs, i would remember those jobs being created in new york or same. that's unfortunately a ralt that -- i'm telling you, this debt crisis is about math. but the problems the professor is talking about goes hutch deeper. >> it will take a long time. i mean, even that one strand that joe was describing about graduates leaving, taking their greatest institutions here in the states and leaving. >> and we force them to leave. >> right. >> they want to stay. >> that's one strand of the problem that tiks kek aids, to see once you fix it, the benefits. >> well, that actually would be a fairly short-term response

once we started allowing people to stay, they would stay and those numbers would pile up over time. some of the other issues like infrastructure, for example, we keep stalling and debating and discussing whether we should get anything done. america used to have very efficient infrastructure, made our economy very president clintonive, moving things around. now we're eroding and falling on the ranks of infrastructure in the world, bit by bit and year by year. i'm i didn't can't -- why are we're discussing these things? why can't we do these things? we at the school believed we got to now have business to step up. a lot of companies wait until irn u of skill and supply base

and for a variety of reasons of moving investments back in the u.s. i think there are some good things going on in our economy. we have some great core strengths. we're still the entrepreneurial center, still the science of technology center but we see bm we need to get some of these big approximately early. >> you'lline, tell bus your tam wa. >> oh, it's about mitt's money. >> got it. and there was a lot? >> mm-hmm. >> got to read the peace. it's about bain and how we got there. i see a series of m miscalculations by the romney campaign that kind of let them

into the situation. up next, she sparked a fire storm last week by suggesting that mr. romney may have committed a fell any. steph any culter joins us next. we're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. ♪ jfk, blown away, what else do i have to say ♪ now you can apply sunblock

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♪ ♪ welcome back to "morning joe," 26 past the hour. a live look at washington d.c., a beautiful shot of the white house as the sun comes up this morning. joining us now from chicago, obama deputy campaign manager stephanie cutter. stephanie, good morning. good to have you on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> so how you doing? >> good. >> yeah? >> how are you doing? >> we're good, we're good. we're talking about mitt romney, bain, the things you might have

said perhaps about things being a felony. are you walking back those remarks as i might have seen on another network and any regrets this morning? >> no, no. i mean, if you look at what the discussion was that we were having, you know, last week it was revealed that mitt romney signed his name on a series of s.e.c. documents saying he the chairman, ceo, president, sole owner of bain capital but he's also telling the american people that he's not responsible for anything that happened there. we're simply pointing out the fact that both things can't be true. either you're telling the truth to the s.e.c. or you're telling the truth to the american people. you can't on one hand say you're the head of this company and then say you don't bear any responsibility for what happened. that was the simple conversation we were having. and if you're signing documents to the federal government that you knowingly know that aren't true, then that is a criminal offense. but we are not suggesting that romney committed a crime here. we're actually suggesting he's

not being up front with the american people about what his involvement was with bain. and day by day more and more evidence comes out that he was involved with bain. he took a salary, he shared in profits. he came back to boston to appear at board meetings. his name was on annual reports and press releases and all sorts of things. i think he just needs to level with the american people. if he's going to take credit for things that happened at bain after the olympics, he should take responsibility for the other also. >> hello. hello. can you guys hear me? >> i can hear you. >> the question is this, stephanie. it's a simple question. are you still saying this morning you believe that it's possible that mitt romney, the

republican nominee, is committing a federal felony? >> i'm saying the same thing i said last week, that his explanation doesn't add up because both of these things can't be true. you can't sign your name on a federal government document that you're the head of the company and that you have nothing to do with it. both things can't be true. day by day, as information comes out, it's clear he's misleading the american people. not to mention the irony of the discussion in the first place is he put bain capital in the central premise of his candidacy to be president. in what world does he think he's sole owner, ceo, president, he's drawing down a salary, is it even possible he's not responsible for what happens at this company? i think most americans would

disagree. >> what about what ed gillespie said this weekend on "meet the press" and we've also had a lot of other people that worked at bain, democratic supporters of barack obama, that have come out -- i was watching wolf blitzer a couple days ago, there are people that know romney, that support barack obama, that say this line of attack against him is blatantly false. and even wolf blitzer himself came out, which cnn doesn't usually do that, this is blatantly false, mitt romney was called at the last second to try to save the olympics being held in the united states of america, he left very quickly and he thought he might come back but he just never came back. >> maybe give the money back. >> what do you make of that retroactively retired argument? >> i'd like to retroactively retire. but, you know, i think that,

joe, i understand what wolf said the other day but let's remember these reports aren't coming from us. they're coming from the press. the press is the place where this stuff is getting reported. we might highlight it but the press is reporting this information about mitt romney's involvement with bain. but again, i find this whole discussion about when exactly he left bain to be ironic. there's plenty to talk about the years he was at bain and when he was at the olympics. he shared in the profits, continues to share in the profits, took down a salary, invested in companies before he left bain and made -- invested in the companies, that "the washington post" calls the pioneers in outsourcing. that was before he left for the olympics. it's a legitimate discussion to have. this is his bain record. he's the one that put pain on

the table. he what was going to do to fix the economy, how he was denigrating the president of of the united states, when he was there, when he wasn't there, this is a legitimate discussion. >> if this is a legitimate discussion, and i agree with you, if he's going to put bain out front, i'm not pushing back on that, i think it should be discussed but if now a candidate can be criticized for earning profits from a company that makes money outsourcing jobs overseas, we going to get a chance to look at president obama's portfolio? i guess he's got a lot of money invested say in jpmorgan. do we need to go company by company by company to see if the president has also profited from companies that he hathen

outsourced jobs overseas? >> the president has a set of policies that closes those loopholes that send job overseas and a whole set of incentives to bring jobs back from overseas. mitt romney won't close the loopholes that do that. that's the key difference between the two of them. i think this entire discussion. this is a presidential campaign. presidential campaigns are about choices. everybody's record gets examined. if you're putting it on the table, we have to examine it. the question is whether it implements the decision you've given as president. i have to assume it will influence his choices as president. >> fair enough. stephanie cutter is raising questions about the mystery we don't know about, about how mitt romney made his money, when he

made it in certain periods of time. i don't see her saying he's committing a felony. i see her raising questions. why doesn't he just erase those questions by relieving us of the mystery and releasing his tax return. >> those are two separate issues. you and i have talked about the tax issue and mitt romney before. >> release everything. >> i'd like to just get something on the record. romney said when he was resisting putting out more than he's put out, he said if i start putting out my tax returns, the obama campaign is going to want more and more and more. can you see how many that number is. >> well, john, we have talked about it. there's a standard out there. his father put out 12 years. barack obama put out several

years, john kerrey put out several years every time he was a united states senator. there is a strong tradition of putting out multiple years. i don't have a number on mitt romney's years, i'd like to see multiple years that tells a story of what he did as a businessman and how he invested his money. we only have a very small snapshot from one year of tax returns. from one year we learned he has a swiss bank account. >> stephanie, we've heard these questions, you guys have raised they, it's fair game. is it not, mark mckinnon? do you have see these questions again and again and again and again? >> i think stephanie is very good at what she does, she's great being the tip of the spear and keep the campaign going.

i think by dropping the word "fell any," she's saying she's not suggests he's committing a crime and you use the word felony. >> was that over the top, stephanie? you know what you were doing. >> by putting your name on a document that you know is not true. that is a criminal offense. we're raise questionings that his explanation wasn't adding up. and actually, we have come down and we continue to come down that he's not being factual with the american people. i do think he was chairman, president and ceo with bain for those three years he said he was gone. i think that's a exact. it doesn't take three years to change of the top of the letter head. and they didn't do that.

but at the end of the day, this largely doesn't matter because here's what we can talk about, we're happy to talk about whatever he wants to talk about. it's a legitimate discussion to have. >> let me ask mika quickly. i want to ask mark mckinnon a quick question here. mark, what is the explanation? because stephanie said something that most americans would say, okay, he left. why did it take three years for him to change the letterhead? i believe romney was not the de facto ceo when he left to work on the olympics but why did it take so long for them to change titles and other things? >> i think that's a legitimate question to ask the romney campaign and to ask mitt romney. but i think he was off to the olympics, somebody else was running the company. mitt romney started the company.

>> he still got paid. >> they were having an issue of succession. romney had been the ceo and the question then was amongst all these other partners, who was in charge. >> they've not done a very good job explaining the simple question who was running bain? well, there was a management committee. it shouldn't be that hard to explain, if mitt romney wasn't running the company, who was running the company? >> well, call bain. >> it sounds like -- i agree it's not a good answer. give me a name, give me a face. the romney people haven't and handled this well. but you understand the complexities of moving the company from one hand to another. do you buy the explanation of mitt romney and also the bain people that this was a difficult transition? and do you understand what we

may not understand as people that doesn't work on wall street that make the billions of dollars that people like you make just by walking down the street. >> at least you didn't say trillions, joe. i have seen partnerships go through this, they can be protracted, they can take a long time. as you were saying, mitt romney hasn't explained what was going on. >> i've talked to a lot of republicans off camera about this. every single one cringes at how damaging this is. it's awkward and damaging. >> damaging as we said, that a lot of these stories are going

on and they're still not explaining it. >> coming up, the august issue of "gq." ♪ this is ourun ♪ this is ourun pres♪ t wise singe trar milel esmabrlack ]...ed o a bui'm ididesma esma" mae spth neve'll a bui'm ididesma bu dboht a ..toast. th...to l capita e e ventur nyfly a,irlinean , flight ytime. le m can ly u th...to l capita e e ventur what a coincidence? whn yoatlet? w creall the tc ladbo wanted to provide better employee benefits ingba compthbotty'e, eir irstrywas.or the tf "lne land gh gd nit" ] ♪ af-lac ♪ aflac [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac!

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welcome back. it's 7:46 in the morning here in new york. so just how invasive is the vice presidential vetting process? here is deputy editor of "gq," michael hainey. good morning. >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> before we get to that, sales fair to say robust with the kate -- >> "bust" being the operative

word. >> oh, no! >> it's a media question. >> the popsicle, are you kidding me? what's wrong with you? >> what's more american than a popsicle? >> wasn't that a bomb pop? >> a rocket pop. >> look, you're in here. a picture of you, willie. >> let's talk about the veep process. you had a writer who subjected himself to this for the article. >> we had him do what an ordinary citizen never does. we had him vetted by the people who vetted sarah palin, not necessarily the best people to have vet you but it was just sort of what you do if you're an ordinary guy and the sort of process you have to go through, which is evan bayh, former indiana senator said it's basically like getting a colo

colonoscopy except they're using the hubbell telescope. >> oh! >> what did they do? >> that dating history, everything you did in college that, woman that cleaned your house, did you give them a 1099 form? they talked to his ex-girl friends and stuff. it's an amazing process. it's in the phase where they should just outsource it to ok cupid or eharmony. you would get better answers from those people. it's this matchmaking process. it's where they are all. >> mark, you've been through this a little bit having run some campaigns. how deep do you dig? >> as deep as the hubbell. >> or maybe last time not so much. >> it's interesting to thing that are the issues today that

you can you asurvive? is drug use okay today in. >> everyone sort of vets the last mistake. when danhere, we said what's go to be the sing that could emerge this time, i would look for liar loans, in the mortgage crisis, you've overstated your felt, some states where that might have hatched. >> i asked the bigger question on the vpt." in other words is rob pore mampbt going to -- >> one of the things that a lot of the campaigns actually looked

to political science is that the running mate does not matter." you vote for president, you vote for vpt." the one way in which it matters. is it allows you into the decision of the-ready to be president on day one is the only thing that matters substantively, it's the only thing that voters are looking at." what does it say about his judgment."

>> when you think about it through that lens, that's going to be for romney to pick through the numbers. >> how about the mitt romney piece, desperately seeking mitt? >> wells has this great line where he says, trying to sort of penetrate the romney veneer is like trying to cut a billiard ball with a butter knife. we said what is this guy? so we sent her out on the campaign trail. what is behind the mask that is mitt romney, so it a fantastic piece of writing, just sort of eight months on the campaign trail. >> do you know what this is? i'm going to make willie say it. >> it's a great group of us.

jake wood, team rubicund, he had a quit -- many people who are doing good in the world. >> i just bring it all together. >> thank you very much. >> the new august issue in the newsstands july 24, if you haven't picked up the previous issue, michael highly recommends it. still ahead, the top medical headlines with dr. nancy snyder than. ry sornesore k cost of n feelse. why don't you uy zebgreeo i e ons storyoe e thfreezer. same medicated pain reliever edal tysstheras.

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good morning, it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. welcome back to "morning joe." let's get to the news, president obama continues to aggressively target mitt romney, telling an ohio crowd that the former governor mitt romney does have a plan for greating jobs, just not here.

>> i've got to be honest, today we found out there's a new study out by nonpartisan economists that says mitt romney's economic plan would in fact create 800,000 jobs. there's only one problem, the jobs would not be in america. they would be in other countries, by eliminating taxes on corporations foreign income governor romney's plan would cause companies shift operations to foreign countries. 6 i want to give incentive that are investing in you, making american products, made by

americans. >> an economist who has also donated to the obama campaign. romney will be in pennsylvania as the superpac clekted a career high. it also dwarfs the 6 million -- >> i wanted to ask more mckinnon, i was fascinated, i was certainly fascinated by the tablgt that you had joe kleine comparing this obama campaign to the 1988 willie horton campaign and also a voting campaign of 2004, where we're talking about mitt romney and him being a bit young, a millionaire and outsourcing jobs, they are creating in there, the one thing politically you have to give him credit for, they're getting the

president out there and they're keeping this narrative pretty darn well in july. >> they are, joe, you look at past campaigns, in the early months in several cycles, june, july, may, by the campaigns that went on to win, democrats look back at the kerry cam pan and say we're not going to do that again, we're going to be aggressive and we're never going to let up on the pedal. >> craig sherman e-mailed me and said when he played basketball in college which was a million years ago, that november's games are won in september. are we starting to see it now

where the obama team is both successful in framing mitt romney as a rich guy who will do anything to make a profit, including outsourcing jobs, are they doing such a good job? developing that theme, that once mitt romney does start spending all of his money in earnest, it's going to be part for him to give a new first impression. >> there's no doubt that the people in the romney world did not want to spend july on defense and trying to deal with this, that's not how they wanted to spend this month. i'm still curious what we're going to see when we start to see the next round of serious polling that comes out. you remember, at the end of june, the president had a horrible june, the nbc polls came out, the numbers have not

moved, mitt romney is having a worse july than the president had in june, but before we see some movement in the numbers, we have -- there is a different model than 1988 where jimmy carter flayed ronald reagan for all of 1980 and the other side didn't budge. and then they came over at the last minute. we don't know yet whether the impact is there or not. >> mark, let me just ask you again, because it was only a month ago, we sat here and said bain is a losing argument, bill clinton was a losing argument. it seemed like the obama campaign had gotten away from it a little bit and talked about

milt romney as governor. >> i think they saw some early indications that it was working but they earlier saw that it was having an impact. the tax base reminds me of the 1990 -- disclosure became a big issue, he held his line, held his line about a month before he put any pressure and he dropped 20 points. >> this tax thing is really something because he's been steadfast about not refusing more than one year. in the face of the press center, hiss father and many, many people. i don't know how he's dpg to with stand that pressure. the fact that he won't release the tax return is something that will make things worse for him. >> let's go to president joe biden, they're firing on all cylinders in the obama white

house. congressman paul ryan's budget proves that republicans subscribe to a different set of values than democrats. >> let me start by quoting my dad, a phrase my dad used to always use, this is what i value, this is what i suppose. my dad would go like this, he would say this, don't tell me what you value, show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. seriously, show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. don't tell me you value women in your office space, in your corporation, if you have a budget where you don't have any women that are being paid like men, don't tell me that you value and are deeply concerned about seniors if in fact you

eviserate-what's in the budget. i resent what i see on television, not someone on our team, but a democrat, will say something hike that, we have to cut it to preserve it for the next generation. it's not intended to pit one generation against the next. that's bizarre, i don't know anybody i grew up with in my neighborhood was going to do everything it takes to make sure their mom had prescription drugs. there weren there weren't those who saidlet cut it now so we're going to have it. i'm going to be straight with

you all. i view this literally as a family affair. 100%. >> the first son, hey, joey, don't reich into his pocket, don't break his piggy bank, don't steal his money, my dad didn't say that, but joe biden's dad also said don't judge a man by his pledge. that's what we do as politicians, we make things up and then we get a glint. here's some facts that joe biden can't deny, don't tell me that you value social security if you can just look at the next generation, don't tell me that

you care about medicare, or you care about the poor getting their medicaid, when you know that demographics is destiny and the numbers don't add up and if we keep going barack obama's way and doing nothing about it, medicare and medicaid will go bankrupt. don't tell me you care about the next generation of americans when five minutes on google, looking up what the top economists, and the government, the congressional budget office, the office management budget, everything agrees objectively, it's not a matter of ideology, but a matter of math. america's going bankrupt. but we're stealing from our next generation, that medicare and medicaid can't sustain itself. don't tell me that you care about seniors -- >> coming from you.

>> listen. >> i'm listening. >> no, you obviously didn't listen to what joe biden said, because everything he said was, don't tell me that you're a good doctor if you open up a patient searching for cancer and then you find it. and then you just sew the patient back up, pat him on the back, go ahead, i'm not going to mean a cut something out of you. i will tell you as somebody who respects president obama, he does what's best for america even though we didn't agree with him. even joe biden. this is suppressing talks. >> going after paul ryan's budget, he said this is got what

romney's doing. >> if you watch to demagogue it. paul ryan at least, i have often said, i didn't like the voucher part of it, he just have just lowered the rate of growth. i may have spoke on for, what, 20 and a half minutes and now we got to turn it over to steve ratner to come up with these bias left wing shorts. go ahead, let's watch the numbers, let's hear the facts. good morning, steve. >> what do they have in the water up there. >> i'm just pushing back. >> i haven't even pushed yet and you're pushing back. >> poor rat never.

>> you take on joe, you give him the charts andlet see what he says. >> i understand what you're saying about obama. let's litigate romney, because romney has endorsed the ryan budget. all the problems that you identified with entitlements is absolutely true, they're going bankrupt, they're stealing from our children, everything you have said, you can debate separately what the president has or has not zone. >> mika, i know i like this guy, he's a good guy, we should have steve ratner on more. >> you have credibility making this argument and going after paul ryan is fair.

>> mitt romney has endorsed the ryan budget and he doesn't talk about it buss he's not sure what -- so what's in medicare, is to turn it over to the individual, give them a check for $8,000 or $9,000 and tell them to go find health care. right now the average person pays 25% of his or her medicare, under ryan it would be 50% of medicare, they would say go do what you want to do and we can all rest assured that that would result in less medicaid for the poor. >> if romney really believes, let him get out of this, lay

this out and see what people say about it. >> stan greenberg, and james carville, they go around to independent voters, swing voters and explains to them what's in the ryan budget on repealing the child tax credit, on tax care, it is one of those thingts where romney is most vulnerable, and when you think about the road map that romney is per suing. bain taxes, cayman swiss, that stuff's going to hurt romney, the president's been on there in the last two weeks, this vice president's a leading indicator of where the campaign is going now, they think with swing voters, if you spell out the indications of the ryan budget, it's horrible for romney. >> when we come back, campbell

brown comes back. and also our "morning joe" checkup, dr. nancy snyderman and dr. emily senay. but first, to bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> this heat wave has been relentless this summer, it's been going on for a good portion of the last month, for the next two to three days from the eastern rockies all the way to the east coast are going to be kind of high and brutal, not as bad as two weeks ago, but by july standards, this was -- it's going to be hot, it's going to be humid, this cold front will slowly drop down and cool off green bay and minneapolis today. but look at chicago, look at detroit, everyone near 100, we will cool off in the great lakes and new england, but it won't be

until thursday that we see the cooler air riding, so it's just another day in the heat and what a summer it's been, new york city, mid 90s today, you're watching "morning joe" by starbucks. ph[ cells e ring e th fe. bhey,e. otgtahe jet d thwir fl thewi t ibeld've fine0%with moor 36 emut i d.ded 60 .. t do d itta like dyng can a from you' growe al righe seyou at home. [ male announcer ] the volkswagen autobahn for all event. we good? we're good. [ male announcer ] at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering. ah,-- you w,ou kno yt ever cng canupt ..rds ofle whist] t did nothnt to k thabout .

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remember that story about the -- >> as a husband, i came here. >> do you know he left our suitcase twice. >> he did it again. what's wrong with him? >> how do you guys even function as a family? >> it is the idea that all things related to the children are my responsibility and i just drew a line sewhere and i said, you know, what? suitcases are your thing. and he found a way to screw that up. >> it hasn't sunk in for some reason. so we have a suitcase arriving today. >> he's a little shell shocked.

>> we were out at dinner and some couple was laying neblgts to us. >> but for some reason that did. >> i think here's the mistake, i think there's a mistake that you're making and that is that you're going giving him only one spopt. >> he's so scattered brained, he needs more. >> and that would help? really? that's why we're so good at what we do. because we do it all. they do nothing, and they do it all. so it feels bad about not being able to do things. but i said, honey, you're good at foreign policy, it's okay. >> i believe he sabotaged the first one so you would never ask him to pack the bag again. >> just so we can pick a -- let's get back to the piece that you wrote, i loved it and i

thought it was so interesting on so many levels. almost half of the organize's funding, 46% comes from federal and state governments, making it imperative. there is almost no room for even slight deviations, those who are not in lock step with the organization are viewed as enemies to the cause, this mind set will doom planned parenthood to failure. it will support only lawmakers who are with it 100% of the time, it virtually guarantees that the debate will be partisan. >> you apply it to planned parenthood. >> first let me say i do support

planned parenthood, i think the work they do is very important. just as a practical matter, when 40% of your funding comes from federal and state governments, you cannot support a strategy where you only support democrats, they claim to be a nonpartisan website, this election site, they have not endorsed, and i just don't think that makes sense, i mean politics is cyclical, democrats are up, politics are up. when you're relying on almost half of your funding to come from the government. >> is this a new problem, campbell? haven't planned parenthood always been aligned with democrats? >> senator susan collins, republican from maine who's pro-choice, she had a long, as she described it a great working relationship, and they applied to her what they applied to all

these candidates which is a security test. if you're not with him 100% of the time on every legislation that they deem important to choice or important to women. they had a great relationship with up until she voted to confirm justice samuel alito to the supreme court. that was the kiss of death. they raised money for her opponent, she was favored to win, so it was sort of done politically. they burned a bridge with her, and the counter to that, what i use as an example of a single issue advocacy group, that i think is being really smart about this, is gay rights advocates, particularly on marriage equality who had a huge victory when gay marriage passed in new york. four republicans crossed party lines and they did that because the human rights campaign which worked very hard on this brought together a bipartisan coalition

of democrats and republicans, they got big republican donors to say to those four republicans who will back you up when you make this vote, they went to the party leadership in albany who was against gay marriage, and they said you got to come to the forefront for a vote. the same thing i think could be applied at the federal level and the state level with all of these values that are taking place across the country, and i think it's overnight that they start thinking that way. >> couldn't the argument be that planned parenthood current need that? they're good with that one source of support? >> there's a very good chance that we could have a republican senate and they're going to be continuing to fight this battle. i think it crazy that you're good. >> what has been the -- it seems to me that the republican party

has become a more pro life over time, which is to say there are pro choice republicans than there were before, a lot of those -- as moderate members are weeded out, i'm not challenging fees, i'm curious as to whether that's part of the story, that there's been more on both sides, there's been more rigid adherence to either the full choice agenda, and the full pro-choice agenda, the country is broadly pro-choice, but likes restrictions et cetera, et cetera. >> it's hard for those moderate republicans to win. susan collins, they abandoned susan collins and they replaced her. >> campbell, what kind of response have you gotten? >> so, cecile richards spoke

about it saying we have a lot of republicans on our board. how does having republicans on your board help? they just vote against it when it comes up on the hill. it's an important point that they should be talking about. i don't approach this in an ideological way at all. i really view this as a practical matter, sort of rethinking strategy. >> so here's republicans for planned parent statement, did you see this? it came out in an e-mail to politico. planned parenthood has million of republican donors and volunteers because our mission is consistent with republican values such as individual responsibility and personal freedom. we have a long history of republican support and will continue to reach out to

republicans who support us and our programs. that doesn't mean we can't do better in recognizing the extraordinary effort it takes in the current political climate for republican office holders to protect us from harm and advocate for our programs, the climate is part of this, maybe. >> yes, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be trying to build toward something else. i recognize i'm making a plea for bipartisanship in the middle of a heated election, and that may be crazy. but barry goldwater's wife was one of the founding of planned parenthood in arizona. it's a long tradition, maybe the country has moved in such a way that this is not possible. the gay rights advocates are doing it. i'll give you one more example. susan collin, she doesn't

support the measure. and who led the fight on the republican side to get don't ask, don't tell overturned? susan collins. >> it also seems that it would be in sync with planned parenthood. it should be bipartisan, it doesn't have anything to do with the choice in life issue. >> campbell brown, it's so good to see you. >> good to sigh you. >> we'll be back. >> i haven't -- i'm so sorry about your husband. >> i'll work on him. i haven't given up yet.

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joe left. he's scared and i'll tell you why. he would have been here but you're going to talk about those exams we all need. medical editor dr. nancy snyderman and dr. emily senay. >> i have known her for a very long time. >> do all tvs know each other. >> we, what do you call it? we had picked up a little alcohol. >> let's see if you all agree on all of these studies and let's hope that you don't. >> the benefits or lack thereof of sitting for a long period of

time, like three hours a day like we do on this show. great headline, lousy science, it basically said that people who sit longer than three hours a day shave two to three years off your life. even men with no cardiovascular risks who sit all day long without any breaks do have a risk for heart attack. if you have a desk job, get up every hour on the hour and move. >> the fact that most people are heavier now and that's what the bigger problem is. >> nancy's right, the science this week t headline was great and the message was still great. don't sit for three hours in a row, you have to. have you tried to sit solidly for three hours without moving and keeping active.

your said tear and it gets harder to move the more weight you put on, so the message is still good, get up every hour and move around. instead of texting or e-mailing the person two doors down, get up and go talk to them. >> obesity is the bottom line alzheimer's, there's a discovery, hopefully in the secure? >> slowly. >> that's extreme. >> the. >> every pharmaceutical company is trying to find the drug that will stop it. the big news over the weekend, is that as a person ages, a change in gait may with a

predisposition to dementia. >> it's cool science. >> and a very easy test to do in the doctor's office, and many doctors know when they look at older patients and they look at their gate, they know something's wrong. >> my father had dementia, we were all, two -- i have two siblings and physicians and we all saw the early signs of dementia, and we did two things this year, we got my parents a dog, and we have a young man who comes in every day and they have great problems. my father is cerebrally is five

years younger than he was last year. my 89-year-old father right now is firing on all cylinders. >> do you attribute that more to the dog or the person. >> it's a combo plaza, doing little puzzles is not enough, you have to have a challenging cerebral conversation. and he walks a mile aday. >> in fact the studies confirm this, that activity such as strength training, walking, you know, just practicing balance, these things can actually improve memory in people who -- in everybody, not people who have some sort of impairment. >> get young friends, get a cute guy to walk you. >> what does that entail, exactly. the 40-year-old guy comes over and do they sit for an hour and talk? >> my father went from not being able to walk to the end of the

day, now he's walking an hour a day. they talk politics, they do boy stuff. they probably spend four or five hours a day really, really talking. but nothing more than a half hour or 15 minutes. >> transfat restrictions, the average lunchtime purchase dropped 2.4 grams of transfat per patron. >> it's called public house. it takes people to make bold moves, not everybody is going to agree with. these are the changes that will change this population as we allow them to go forward. >> what has worked? >> this was a public health intervention where they told these food industries they had to take the transfats out, they studied a pregroup and a post group and a guess what?

it worked, transfats went way, way down and trands fats are a disaster for your health. >> mayor bloomberg is one brave guy who understands public policy and public health. >> how is the big gulp thing working? >> people are too lazy to go out and get another big gulp or something. so anything that can make people consume fewer calories and move more -- >> you're winning, celebrate, make it #winning. >> i didn't agree with bloomberg's third term, i think i'm changing my mind. >> do you agree with closet fascists. dr. nancy snyderman.

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...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ iszeaed

>> it is "morning joe," stick around right now for the dayy rundown hosted today by young luke russert. double trouble, president obama hammers mitt romney with a two-part tax attack. trying to link together what romney paid in the past and what he wants you to pay in the future. across the atlantic, hillary clinton reacts for the first time to the romney campaign, using her in their attacks against the president. find out what she has to say about the ghosts in 2008. and the kiss can. good morning from washington, it's tuesday, july 17, 2012. i'm luke russert, i'm filling in for chuck todd. president obama and milt romney take their blistering battle

over who can run the economy today. the president will hold four fundraising events in texas as obama takes aim at the record at town hall and pennsylvania. he'll be greeted by the new obama ad. this time asking if romney and the unreleased years, quote, paid any taxes at all. >> tax havens offshore accounts, carried interest. mitt rom any has used every trick in the book. romney admits that in the last three years he's paid -- we don't know because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> i have put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> it will not die, the taxes story and mitt romney, the president will not let it and he was back in ohio yet for his eighth trip to the state thi