republicans who have it upside down as he made his case this afternoon in san antonio, texas. >> i don't believe in top down economics. i believe in middle out economics. bottom up economics. i believe in fighting on behalf of working families and giving them opportunity. that's not a democratic idea. that's an american idea. that's what built this country. >> that tit for tat after a week that kicked off with some stellar spin with the romney camp saying that retired retroactively from bain capital and jon stewart for one, he ain't buying it. >> i'm not saying that if you have a time machine, you necessarily have to kill hitler. but this retroactive retirement is the worst use of a time machine i have ever seen. >> or to even lower gas prices, but even as the week threatened

to be sucked down the drain of mitt's hot tub time machine, the obama camp released a new ad hinting at romney's lack of tranz pa transparency. >> tax havens, offshore accounts carried interest. mitt romney has used every trick in the book. he admits in the last two years he's paid less than 2% on 43 million in income. >> the romney campaign of course was busy trying to change the subject, suggesting what else? that the president isn't american. here's romney east surrogate on a romney conference call earlier today. >> the president is clearly dem traited that he has absolutely no idea how the american economy functions. the men and women all over america who have worked hard to build these businesses, their business

businesses, from the ground up, is how our economy became the envy of the world. it is the american way and i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> some of us which campaign operatives would learn some more sophisticated tactics. let's get to our panel. with us from washington, dana milbank and david corn. david, let me start with you. we know it's july and the romney camp is sweating it out. didn't take them long to dive into the the shallow end of the pool, however, talking about the president not being american. isn't this just a sign of desperation? >> well, it's a thing they've come back to again and again. i like john, he's combative, arrogant, but he's often more of a straight shooter than a lot of surrogates, but when he starts talking that way, it's a pale version of birtherism.

we've heard -- that barack obama doesn't get america. i don't know why he would say that about barack obama. you could have a disappearance of policy, but i know why he would say that. there's really one reason and again and again, they keep coming back to that default position, that there's something odd, different, about barack obama. he's not really one of us. they don't even have to wink and that's what he fell into today as he was trying to make a more sophisticated point. >> dana, he didn't stop there. on fox today, he went at the president as an indonesian socialist pot head. i'm not making that up. >> he has no idea how the american system functions and shouldn't but surprised about that because he spent his early years in hawaii smoking something. spent the next seven years in

indonesia, another set of years in indonesia and frankly, when he came to the u.s., he worked as a community organizer, which is a socialized structure. >> now, we have to give david corn his big pun points, but i guess real americans have swiss bank accounts, cayman island holdings, that kind of thing. >> at least we aspire to, i suppose, professor. the interesting thing here is just yesterday, the romney campaign was complaining -- as a vulture capitalist and now, they've shot that whole argument to pieces here by coming right back to the birther argument and saying that the president is not american. you can't expect the other side to restrain itself when that's the kind of rhetoric that you're

dishing out. >> david. >> i'm sorry, what's interesting is they, they act this way as if barack obama had not been president for three and a half years. those are the type of shots you take at somebody who has not yet been elected, the public doesn't know well. right now, we've seen barack obama as an american president for the last three and a half years, so whatever he smoked or didn't smoke back in hawaii, whatever he learned or didn't learn in independent neonesia, completely ir rell vapt to evaluating his job performance or what he might do in the future. >> yeah, is this the politics -- is this the politics of distraction? when i was at the game last night with obama, when he walked in, that crowd erupted in mostly nonafrican-american, in enormous applause to recognize him at the president. isn't this the politics of

distraction? >> it's as if they're living in an alternative -- >> when you've been on the kiss camera cal camera, it's hard to make the case that you're un-american. i'm not sure being a pot smoker makes you terribly un-american either, unfortunately. >> exactly right. or kissing and smoking at the same time. david, today, he quoted a line from the president. >> he said this. if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. we value schoolteachers, firefighters, people who build roads. you really can't have a business if you didn't have those things, but you know, we pay for those things. the taxpayers pay for government. >> yes, taxpayers pay for government. revelation. what is his point? does he know what it is? >> it is a lie. we heard the president at the top of this show and he said if

you have a business and you succeeded, you didn't do it entirely on your own because you have roads, infrastructure, you use the internet that the government helped to create. you use the trans continental railroad, which lincoln helped bring about. so when mitt romney says that the president says that your success was create d by others, he's flatly not saying the truth. he is misrepresenting what the president said. >> let many ask dana. your column today envisions -- suggesting they could go back and have president bush leave office before the presidential crisis. this could fix a lot of problems, couldn't it? >> it could solve a lot of problems. look, if he is able to do that and can go back in time and get rid of the accounts in the cayman islands in bermuda, if he can get the dog off the roof of the car, i think he's going to be a more formidable candidate and we should take this very seriously. >> and if he could fix my

student loans, he'd be the man. thank you so much. coming up, say insourcing. i say outsourcing. >> the blind trust is an age old ruse, in you will. >> to the time machine! to retroactively retire that sound bite. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

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the outsourcing headache for mitt romney just keep on coming, fast and furious. first, there were attacks on his record as ceo of bain capital, but now, we're learning that romney also outsourced the the production of u.s. olympic

uniforms in 2002. that's right, america's torch -- were clad in uniforms from burma. outsourcing has been the topic this summer on the trail, but now, it's moving to capitol hill where democrats are pushing legislation that would close tax loopholes for american companies that send jobs overseas, so let's get the latest from representative jan shah cow ski. you've introduce ed legislation right at the heart of debate and sending american jobs to china and india and so forth, so what would your bill do about this particularly and exceptionally important problem? >> it would create patriot corporations of america. for those companies that do 90% of their hiring in the united states of america and most of their research and development,

that those companies, those are the ones that would get a tax break instead of outsourcing companies getting actual benefits for taking our jobs overseas. they would also get to be ahead of the line in contracting with the federal government and so, this would also add them to treat their employees well and set a certain double standard for how they treat their employees. a class of corporation of our job is to help our country, not just to help ourselves, which is what mitt romney has done through the all his career. just looking at how much money he is going to make. >> what about the romney-bain connection. here again, here is a person who's outsourced so to speak so well that he's been able to protect his own wealth as a result of exporting his capital. bain capital has been the bane of our existence here even if

you're for a free market. so tell us the relationship between bain and mr. romney and why that's suggested he would be a poor president of america. >> in addition to the actual outsourcing, whichred and we've really sad stories of people who have had to build a stand for the announcement that their jobs were going to be outsourced. how demeaning and humiliating is that, making you actually do the construction work at the site of telling you that you're going to lose your job and "the washington post" called him a pioneer in outsourcing, but i think the thing that's really going to haunt mitt romney is the fact that most americans understand that they get early retirement, but they don't get retroactive retirement. during the period when bain was outsourcing jobs and mitt romney was the president and ceo of the company and receiving $100,000,

most people think that's a pretty good income and that usually given for doing nothing at all and not answering the questions and so people are saying wait a minute now, it's not just the outsourcing. it's the money in a swiss bank account, the money in bermuda. it's the $100,000 salary. it's not releasing his tax returns and that adds up to somebody that maybe the reason he can't tell us what's really going on is because it would be so bad that he'd rather take the heat and i think that that kind of situation, especially in this kind of economy, is embodies what people will reject in a presidential candidate. >> sure, sure, it's more than a bermuda triangle. let's switch topics because in addition to this outsourcing debate, there's a big fight brewing over the bush tax cuts and the fiscal cliff that comes at the end of the year.

>> if we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then i will absolutely continue this debate into 2013. >> nsenate democratic leader sad they would actually prefer, prefer, to see america go off the so-called fiscal cliff. this coming january. along with the trauma that would unleash on our economy. >> now, congresswoman, here's mitch mcconnell saying that the democrats are trying to push this country over the fiscal cliff. speaker john boehner says the democrats are trying to quote tank the u.s. economy. how are democrats planning to push back? >> i am so proud of the democrats who have said, no, we're not going to fall for this game. there is nothing more cynical than what the republicans have said because they actually did try to push, many of them, push us over the fiscal cliff in the chicken game that they played

over the death krooeling last time and to blame the democrats to sit down and talk to them after all of the compromises and outreach that has been offered by the democrats, what they're essentially saying is only way to do it is our way and if you don't, then you're the ones that are pushing us over the cliff. you know, and the cliff will exist if we don't go back to the clinton era tax rates for the wealthiest americans, guess who's going to have to pay for that lost revenue? he's going to push senior citizens over the cliff with our medical and social security. they want to go ahead with a ryan type budget and cut food stamps and all kinds of programs and education, so their threat is an empty one and a mean spirited one. >> no doubt about that. thanks for joining us today.

>> thank you, professor. coming up, former vice president dick cheney back on capitol hill. [ male announcer ] let's say you need to take care of legal matters. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer pport. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're baed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that st makes sense. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going.

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♪ 99 bushels of wheat on the farm, 99 bushels of wheat ♪ [ male announcer ] yep, there's 8 filling layers of whole grain fiber in those fun little biscuits... so they stick with you, all morning long. kellogg's® mini-wheats cereal. [ mini ] yee haw! a big breakfast in a little biscuit. these may be the dog days of summer, but there's a big fight raging right now on capitol hill and dick cheney wants in. the former vice president is in washington today where he'll huddle up with republicans in the house of representatives. they've got some big votes pending this week on cuts to military spending. republicans agreed to those cuts last year, but now, they smell a wedge issue and are trying to back out of that commitment, all while persevering and preserving on low tax rates for the rich and now, luke russert. welcome to the show. >> how you doing, professor?

>> doing fine, my friend. look, dick cheney as vice president, he spent a lot of time hiding in secret undisclosed locations. but now, he's not hiding. he in fact he had a fund-raiser last week for mitt romney. now, he's in washington as congress gets ready to vote on $110 billion in defense related spending. what's going on with this guy? is there a resurgent of dick cheney? >> it's interesting. dick cheney had kind of disappeared for a while, but now, he's back in a big way and a lot of republicans no longer fear being pictured with him. a lot of republicans i spoke to today welcomed him. he didn't talk about the politics of it when he met with the republican senators. he talked about the direct impact, the idea that these cuts, over 500 billion scheduled on top of the 487 already agreed to could decimate the d.o.d. he used his experience to talk about when planning for weapons

systems, they go far in the future, so if you cut any money, you could decimate the ability for america to defend it. you could say he can preach all he wants, they agreed to this deal. the reason this is so difficult is because no one wanteded to have this. the super committee was supposed to succeed. hone honestly, they didn't get there. no one on either side wants to budge. >> this is red meat for the republicans obviously and dick cheney is ready to feed it to them, but how is this going to get carved together? >> what your seeing now is republicans are trying to paint this as obama's defense cut. now, that's actually the president owns these cuts. there was never supposed to occur, however, what's going to be interesting as you go down and get closer to the election,

where do these cuts have a real impact? florida, ohio, virginia, states that have a large military contracting business that could possibly see their workers being laid off. that's the reason there's a lot of expectation here on capitol hill that folks are going to try and punt this into the next year, maybe get some temporary extension or say we'll do it in the lame duck, but if you do it in the lame duck, you can still have pink slips before election day and that makes a lot of folks nervous. >> they might punt it, but we'll see who's op the return team. >> nice class at the the game. >> trying to be like you when i grow up. stay with us, the day's top lines are coming up. doesn't take three years to change the top of the letterhead. doesn't take three years to pick a new chairman of the board and they didn't do that. [ kate ] many women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food.

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from the kiss cam moment to some thin mints to america's dream team, here are america's top lines. i am not a role model. >> doesn't take three years to change the top of the letterhead. >> i was just the guy with the smoke screenish yet still legal title and ceo and managing director. the most frightening and current bat man villain. >> governor romney's plan would create 800,000 jobs. the jobs wouldn't be in america. >> i realize the company i was ceo of in 1999 did things that would hurt my presidential run in the present. this retroactive retirement is the worst use of a time machine. >> hey, i'm talking to you, mcfly. >> the blind trust is an age old

ruse, if you will. >> to the time machine! >> have you heard from mitt romney lately? >> i have not. been watching my fox though. >> governor, welcome back. >> thanks, good to be with you. >> that would be a big mistake. >> condoleezza rice -- >> this is a nongauchable. >> if this flood outside money continues, 17 old angry white men will wake up and realize they just bought the country. >> yes! >> i've got to go with the original dream team. >> i am not a role model. >> what's your favorite girl scout cookie? >> those mint -- >> when can i cut your hair? >> can you make my hair look like this? >> you would not want a president who was disloyal to his barber. >> that's good, man. >> sexual chocolate.

that's the way to start this panel. s.e. cupp, one of the hosts of "the cycle," and michelle coddle, washington correspondent for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." obama critics love to call him the food stamp prosecutesident. now, a popular refrain is that the president is cutting blank election year checks. smells like a distraction from the bain damage to me. >> well, this is an excellent statement. in terms of an argument, it's a little bit awkward one for the republicans to make because what the president has done with welfare is they're giving opportunity for states to apply for waivers for more flexibility. this does no do away with the work requirements and usually republicans are all for cutting through federal bureaucracy and allowing states more

flexibility, so while it makes if r a great sound bite, not exactly true and it's actually really awkward argument for them. >> let's get to the bacon, brother perry. the president isn't getting the welfare requirement, is he? can you explain what the white house is trying to do here because obviously, it is been an approach. tell us what's going on here. >> in '96, the welfare law basically imposed the requirement -- in order to get aid from the federal government. the law was passed at a time in which the economy was booming. it was easy to find a job versus right now. the government is saying we're going to allow states to apply and oppose different ideas to get people off welfare into jobs. it will be a tryout program. the states are going to look at these plans and decide if those

are gutting the law or spirit of the law. the same with no child left behind in terms of education. >> s.e., let me play for you how rick santorum defined this issue. >> if president obama gets up and says i'm going to change the law by speaking. this sounds like a two bit dictator, not a president of the united states. you do not change the law by speaking. by grandfather left in italy who could get up and change the law at by giving a speech. >> though our friendship is of recent vintage, i sill love you. >> doesn't make it any less potent. >> absolutely not and we're going to be great friends for years, but s.e., come on. and you just riffed in an intelligent and problematic fashion about the president and his collectivist ideology. >> i have to say, this is something, mr. santorum and i

have in common. by grandfather also left italy and came here for greener pastures, but jen rogen has a great piece in the "washington post" today about this. she talks about if you look at the list of laws that president obama has decided he's not going to enforce, it's a long list. from immigration laws, voting laws, terrorism laws, even parts of his obama care that he's going to allow people to get around through waivers, whether you think this is red meat or making something of nothing, this is a good, effective talking point for republicans and mitt romney. >> what they said, he made the trains run on time. but the reality is to -- but to compare obama to musalini, a person deploying the strength of the state to suppress those who were free to a president who's been openly elected by his constituents.

>> certainly, senator santorum wasn't comparing them on all counts, but suggesting says i'm not going to enforce the laws of the land, that's what i'm charged to do here. f i think it's an interesting comparison if maybe an artful one. >> but we got to get back to whether or not obama is selectively doing this. michelle, at least rick santorum has some fire in his belly, which is more than i can say for mitt romney. why don't we here mitt sound that tough on bain or taxes or just anything? >> the bain issue is one romney is still having issues with. he hasn't quite figured out how to defend himself and it is not something even his own party members are comfortable with. we've heard a lot of people saying you need to hit harder, stop apologizing, you need to sound tougher. this is something that going forward, he's still working on and you would think after the primary, they would have worked

this out because they had plenty of practice being attacked, so they're running out of time here and he does need to come up with a good narrative. >> sure. perry, romney is complaining about negative attack ads against him. isn't that ironic considering how he beat up on santorum, gingrich and the rest? >> it is very ironic. i mean, rahm emanuel on sunday essentially said mitt, stop whining and i think that's right in a lot of ways. romney really won the primary by taking down opponents. a lot of republicans are saying why aren't you doing the same thing now. we picked you because you were so tough in the primaries. be a little tougher now. usually, the challenger is the tougher candidate. in this case, obama's really taking it to romney in a lot of ways and romney east kind of standing there and watching the job numbers hoping they'll elect him. >> look, this mussolini comparison gives support to

enemies of america, we often hear this in times of war, but certainly here, to subject this man is a dictatorial force really bads to this organization of obama. >> i don't think rick santorum was calling him a dictator. i think he was saying -- >> he's been reenforcing that. >> i don't think so. i think he was suggesting simply there are laws on the books that obama's decided to not enforce and i think he's been doing that to score some election points. so perry and michelle's points, they are absolutely right. republicans and conservatives want more from mitt romney. they want him not to be more negative against obama, but at least to defend himself in more visceral ways when he's called a criminal or liar or felon. i mean, conservatives need to see more emotion from mitt romney and i think the clock is ticking on that. >> he's got to little to some little wayne i am not a mar shan.

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the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. the president is deep in the heart of texas with two fund-raisers an a plane that the lone star state could be a battleground for the presidency. let's go to kristen welker. always pleasant and yet poignant reporter. thank you so much for joining us. the president is in texas with donors and it sounds like he struck a gusher. tell us what's going on. >> he certainly has.

he could net as much $4 million. the mayor of san antonio has told reporters that would be a new record for a democratic president. so, certainly netting a lot of cash there. he had some high powered help. eva longoria was with him at one of those events. today, the president attends an event hosted by the lgbt counsel. also performing, jeff walker. texas is really a state that has great fund raising potential for both candidates. of course, it is traditionally a republican state. romney has net about $7 million there. president obama more than $4 million to date. so this is a state that both candidates like in terms of fund raising and it really rates right up there with new york and california, so expect to see these candidates return there. >> that's big news and some more big news.

of course the president may when he suggested texas, typically red, could be a battleground state. is he coloring outside the lines there? >> i think he was hoping for an applause line, which he got. perhaps being a little sarcastic. texas hadn't voted for a democratic candidate in a presidential race since 1976, so i think a lot of people would be surprised if texas turned blue in 2012 and the president referencing the fact that the obama campaign has put states like north carolina and virginia back in play. of course, president obama won both those states in 2008, which are traditionally red states. at least they were up until that point. if you look at polls there, it's a very tight race heading into the fall. >> democrats are dig iging in their heels on the bush tax cuts. how tricky is this for the president? >> it's a little bit of a tricky issue.

white house press secretary was asked if the president was also digging in his heels in the same way that some top democrats on the hill are. some top democrats on the hill for a little background have said they're willing to go over the fiscal cliff if republicans won't agree to increase taxes on top income earners, those making more than $250,000 when white house press secretary was asked about this, he didn't respond directly. he said that the president still supports extending the bush era tax cuts r for those making less than $250,000 and called on congress to try to get a deal done and prevent this from happening. >> thank you so very much. >> thanks. coming up next, democracy for sale in america. that is the problem. we talk solutions. but first, amanda drury has the cnbc market wrap. >> yeah, today was a real comeback in term of the market. stocks going into tomorrow, take a look at the dow, the nasdaq and s&p. lots of nice green.

the dow up by 78, s&p up by 10 and nasdaq, a gain of 13 points despite the fact that ben bernanke today did not give any further clues on whether or not they're going to go down a further pop of monetary easing. that is it from cnbc. we're first in business worldwide. the wife. hey, babe. got the jetta. i wiped the floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby. you're a grown man. alright, see you 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. [ male announcer ] it startedong ago. the joof giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon.

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senate republicans today defeated the disclose act, a bill designeded to require transparency on donations. this comes just days after mitt romney's super pac raked in over $20 million in june and thanks to citizens united, which unleashed unaccount eed money, that number could reach over a billion dollars. to hear harry reid tell it, our american democracy is now for sale. >> if this flood of outside money continues, the day after the election, 17 angry old white

men will wake up and realize they just bought the country. about 60% or more of these outside dollars are coming from these 17 people. >> robert reich is professor of economics at university of california berkeley and former labor secretary under president clinton. he's also the author of "beyond outage" though it's hard to see how we could not be outraged at recent doings. the supreme court assume -- did senate republicans just make fools of the justices? >> in many ways, they did. the majority of the supreme court in citizens united did assume that congress would pass some sort of disclosure. so that you know, the majority opinion was based upon disclosure of who was contributing what. and according to the majority of the supreme court, that would deter those who were going to

give gigantic amounts of pun mo for their own purposes, to make deals to corrupt politicians, but now, the senate has said no, we're not going to have any disclosure at all. we're going to have this done in complete secrecy, so it makes citizens united even worse. >> secretary reich, let me play you something former clinton adviser james carville said about this on sunday. >> the thing in this campaign, democratic super pacs have been more influential so far. they have driven the debate much more than the republican super pac. >> are democrats starting to beat the gop at their own game and if that's good for the president, does it -- into democracy? >> first of all, i don't think if you look at the amount of money raised by the super pacs, the republican super pacs, they may not be as effective as james

carville says, but certainly the amounts of money are much greater and you also have this second group of things. they're called social welfare organizations, so-called charitable organizations, but they are the ones who can take the money in secret. the chamber of commerce. the crossroads organization by karl rove and others. they are the ones that are really very, very secret and they are also raking in huge amounts of money and i would say even if the democrats surprisingly and i don't think they will, even if the democrats were going to take in more money that republicans, it still undermines our democracy. we're still left at the end of the day, with a democracy that is bought and owned and basically responsive to millionaires and billionaires and not to average people who can't afford to make these big campaign contributions. >> let me read you something that you wrote. we have an almost unprecedented

concentration of wealth and unlimited political spending and secrecy. the mega selling of american democracy is a republican invention and the romney and gop are its major beneficiaries. if that's true, what can the rest of us do about it and do you worry about citizenism spreading like wildfire and worry about -- with their hind parts on their hands saying i can't do anything about it? >> i am. once we're cynical about our system of government, the most precious thing we have, our democracy, then essentially those who want to undermine democracy don't care about democracy, they win hands down. i think we've got to fight all of us who care about our democracy, fight for disclosure of who is funding what. we have to fight to repeal citizens united, even if that takes an amendment to the

constitution and we've got to fight for campaign financing, so that every dollar raised over and above let's say $500 per person is matched by a pool of money that is available to all major candidates. so, there's no advantage in going after the big donors. we've got to fight for this. if we give up on the possibility of fundamental reforms with regard to our system of democracy, then the game is up. everything else we want is impossible to achieve. >> thank you, my friend, robert reich. >> thank you. we'll be right back to clear the air.

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it's time now to clear the air. and offer a rare note of thanks to republicans for finally showing some true colors. it happened today when john sununu, george h.w. bush chief of staff and romney surrogate had this to say about the president of the united states. >> the president clearly demonstrated that he has absolutely no idea how the american economy functions. the men and women all over america who have worked hard to build these businesses, their businesses, from the ground up, is how our economy became the envy of the world. it is the american way and i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> now, this is a familiar attack line on the president. his big government to mitt romney's mastery of job creation, but what was the last

thing you said, governor sununu? >> i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> ahh. now, that's a line we don't often hear from the romney campaign. in fact, it sounds more like who am i thinking of? >> i think it can now be said without equivocation, without equivocation, this man hates this country. >> there it is. no more cold words, no more racial dog whistles. you see, when mitt romney speaks to voters, most people only half hear p message. they hear him talk about the magic of free markets, about how barack obama doesn't understand the real america, but what romney really means is what rush limbaugh said, that the president should be thrown out of office because he's not a real american. a real american? a man with offshore bank account, a man who won't share the road map to his success by releasing his tax returns?

but that is the heart of the matter for romney, but all this talk about real america, he knows the race card may be his best ticket to the white house and thanks to john sununu, everybody es does, too. thanks for watching. chris matthews picks right up. the heat rises on romney. let's play "hardball." good evening. let me start with mitt romney's tax policy. don't pay it. that's one way to get rich. don't pay taxes. any for years at a time. that's one reason he's not going to tell you. he's not going to tell you anything about those years he was building up his wealth. instead, he's going to unleash his dogs to bark that obama, a guy who released all his

returns, doesn't know how to be an american. limbaugh, he hates america. bachmann, we've got the muslim brotherhood sneaking around the government. demint, the most anti-american administration in history. a candidate who hides who he is sends out his wolfpack. creepy is too nice a word. way too nice and this guy wants to sit in lincoln's chair. robert costas and maggie haberman. bob, you've had a unique experience sitting with mitt romney talking about something he'd least of all want to talk about cht his tax returns. give us the tick-tock. >> so, i spoke to romney this morning, chris, and he's digging in, he's sick and tired of talking about his tax returns. talking about his offshore investments. he wants to move on. i'm not sure if he's going to be successful, but his whole strategy today was to push back against obama, show some spine and say he's going to play