little hardball with obama's allies and he's not going to give in and release anything pre 2010. >> why not? what's he so sensitive about? >> he's sensitive because he says to me today that he's already released hundred of pages and he said to national review today, i don't want to release hundreds more, thousands more, to let the obama people quote lie about these thousands of other pages in his pre 2010 returns. he i think is not nervous about what's in the returns, but about the political consequences. >> what did his previous returns, he's given us one year, what in those returns has been d distorted? what's his claim to be a victim here? >> i don't think it's so much of being a victim. he just does not want this dominating the conversation. romney east whole campaign is pegged to be former ceo of bain capital. so he's just playing a political

strategy here. nothing else. not really complaining, but rather just trying to change this whole nature of the campaign. >> i think he's hiding something. in pennsylvania today where mitt romney's campaigning, the obama campaign is running a tv ad that zeros in on romney's tax returns and asks what i'm asking. what's he hiding? >> tax havens, offshore accounts, carried interest. mitt romney has used every trick in the book. he admits that over the last two years, he's paid less than 15% in taxes on 43 million in income. makes you wonder if he pays any taxes at all. won't release anything before 2010. >> you know what? i've put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> let's dgo to maggie. my question is this. did my way of measuring this, studying politicians, if it's

bet r than it looks, they'll tell you and if this looks like there's something he's hiding, he'll have to deal with that effectively, which is it's not as bad as it looks. if it isn't, why won't he show us? >> i think you have a point in terms of things could look worse. evening if it's not bad, it will be made to look bad. the problem is that he is a very wealthy guy. he is earning investment income, which is a little different than the way most people make their money. things are going to show up differently. instead of a yearly salary, because he has not been an bain for a long time. he is making money off investments. >> which means he's paying what? >> 15%, i believe. i might be off by a point or two. but that was a controversy and that's where this whole tax return thing snowballed and became an issue in january. i think he is concerned even if it's not you know hiding, not specific details, i think he is

concerned about trying to explain to people what this all means for something who is wealthy and making his money in a different way than many americans do. in terms of the swiss bank thing, that's the one piece they feel, or at least one of the pieces that the campaign thinks has been distorted. their argument was the swiss account showed up because he reported it on his tax return. he paid taxes on it. the obama campaign said he didn't. again, this is not something average voters have. >> it's also because he wants to lower the tax rate for corporations and shift the burden to more humble people. this morning on the romney campaign conference call, john sununu brought out the big battery attack against obama. let's listen to how they're trying to shift this away from what seems to be the serious embarrassment of the taxes not paid to something more ethic. >> 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. >> i wish this president would learn how to be an american. well, that's an odd thing to say about a guy who's basically a stellar american and went to the best schools, worked his way up, won at political offices time and time again. while minutes later, a reporter on this call asked sununu to clarify his comment about the need for the opponent, president obama, to learn how to be an american. let's watch. >> what i thought i said, but i guess i didn't say, is that the president has to learn the american formula for creating

business. the american formula for creating business is not to have government create business. the american formula for creating business that i wish he would get comfortable with is to create a climate which entrepreneurs can thrive. if i didn't give all that detail, i apologize. >> it wasn't about a lack of detail. an ins -- i've never seen this n american politics where one runs against the other and says you not really one of us. you're not really in this campaign because you're not a part of this country. liz smith fired out this response. the romney campaign is officially gone off the deep end. the question is what else they'll pull to avoid answering serious questions about romney at bain capital and investments in foreign tax havens. back to bob kcosta. this shift in focus once again from the issues about how romney made his money, his claim to greatness as a business expert

and to the old ethnic factor. what do they mean by learn how to be an american? >> i disagree respectfully that it's an ethnic play here. i think it's a poor choice of words by john sununu. what i'm more interested is the role of john sununu, this former white house chief of staff, he's been romney's biggest attack dog in this campaign. he's giving romney an edge in a week when he needs an edge, a change in the topic. have sununu out there trying to push that obama's dishonest. that obama's a liar. he's throwing around these phrases. i think it is a play by the romney campaign to get something else on the radar beside romney's tax returns. >> stop there. assume i i said to you, learn how to be an american. >> it's a poor phrase. >> what does it mean? why don't you learn how to be an american, costa.

>> i think it means you made a mistake in that phrase. >> what do you mean? i considered it a serious slur against somebody, a fellow american to say they're not really an american. >> if you meant that in a direct way, it would be a mistake. >> want me to play it again? >> i'm not disagreeing with you that it was a bad phrase. it was obviously a poor choice of words and mistake. chris, chris, i was on the call and it was an economic argument he was making. i was listening to the whole call. >> you know, if that won't so harmonious with the stuff limbaugh put out today, he hates america, the stuff bachmann's been putting out, over and over again, this sense and it feeds into that 48% of american people in our latest poll that are not going to say this guy's a religion he is. i've never seen this in politics, where people have a mistrust of his national identity, his religious statements. they keep going back to this

learn how to be an american. we got the muslim brotherhood running around. demint of south carolina saying this is the most anti-american administration in history. what's going on here, maggie? >> look, i think that as you said, there are people who think this was deliberate. as bob said, there are people who think it was accidental. there was a reason it blew up on twitter while the call was going on, which is there has been by some on the right, a move to sort of paint the president has other. the romney campaign has publicly rejected that in the past. i know sununu apologized on the call, but there has been this sort of whether it is about race or not, it is a way of making him seem sort of not one of us or suspicious and i think that you know, this plays into that. again, i think as bob said, this was an effort to try to get mitt romney back on offense, whether it was an intentional statement or not, that is now the result of it and this is what is

breaking through. >> bob, let me get back to your magazi magazine. one thing i liked about buckley is that he took the -- aspect out of the movement. you're not suspecting here that maybe sununu's playing that game the dirty old game of the hard right of making people's nationality and their loyalty suspect as part of winning the argument? >> i couldn't agree more about buckley's leadership and i think we still try to follow it today at national review, when i was on that call, chris, in all honesty, i did not hear sununu trying to make some kind of covert -- i heard a fumble try ing to paint obama as a lefty in economics. not saying it was well phrased, but i did not hear some suspicious game. >> let me correct you, sir. you can be on the the left on economics and still be a good

american. you just made that mistake again. you can't say you're not american if you're what you just called a lefty. people kenzian economics is considered lefty by some on the right. they don't believe the government should compensate. i happen to disagree. i went to grad school in economics. that's what kenzians believe, but you can't just call that anteamerican. >> i was just trying to report what i heard on sununu's call. >> you said sununu was trying to say he's a lefty by not saying he's an american. >> that's what he was trying to say. >> you can't call someone who disagrees with you some kind of foreigner. >> couldn't aglee more. >> thank you. please come back. coming up, yesterday was rush limbaugh who said president obama hates this country. today as we reported, john sununu said the president needs to learn how to be an american. is it as much about who he is, his background as it is about what he does in politics?

always, dirty, angry money. anonymous donors popping up spending millions to defeat democratings, then disappearing. is this sneaky business any way to run a democracy and wait until democrats remind everyone that this protector of the rich supports paul ryan's budget plan. let me finish with obama's duty to sell so that anybody out there all voters can understand it cht this is "hardball." the place for politics. ur retir, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.

how do people feel about president obama's proposal to end the bush tax cuts for the wealthy? not too badly. a new poll finds that 44% believe that raising taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year would help the economy while 22% say it would hurt. 24% say it would make no difference. looks like the president's done the calculation, at least politically. also, americans say a tax hike for the wealthy would make the

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as you just heard john sununu today said he wished the the president would learn how to be an american. romney today said he calls obama extraordinarily foreign in his economic policy. just the latest example of a conservative including the president questioning the president's patriotism. take a listen to rushbo. >> this man hates this country. he was indoctrinated as a child. sent to prep ivy league schools where his contempt for the country was reenforced. he moved to chicago, it was the home of the radical left movement. this is what we have as a president. a radical ruthless politician who despises the country and the

way it was founded and the way in which it became great. >> tlet's listen to the congresswoman. >> remember, this is the same president who whispered to the russian communist president that he would be more flexible in his second term, so he sees himself as a law unto himself rather than a man bound by the constitution. that's why i say he is the most dangerous president we have had in the history of the united states. >> and hear what senator jim demint last year. >> it has been the most antibusiness and i consider anti-american administration of my lifetime. >> and newt gingrich, of course. >> the president of the united states, the most radical president in american history. >> of course, he talked about

his colonial attitudes based upon a relic, you'd think the president was a radical lefty and he actually is based on the record, but then do people care on the right about reality? keith, eugene, i want to start with congressman ellison. you're a victim yourself of some of this, but this crazy yahoo talk, do you think the people who push this stuff over and over again, this guy's done everything right. raise ed his family right. fought his way to the top and in a blind test, becomes head of the review. everything he's done in clean as a whistle. he's never done anything wrong. the perfect father, husband, the perfect american and all they do is trash the guy and it's impossible for me to believe they would have said the same about a walter mondale or jimmy carter or bill clinton.

there's an ethnic piece to this, i've never call anybody in this country all his opponent nonamerican. >> chris, there are a group of people in our country who have a very rigid idea of who belongs and who doesn't and in their mind, you know, what economic class you come from matters, what color, what's your sexual orientation matters, there's a whole set of cry tier that they will tier area they will use and if you don't meet thoed, you're excluded. >> well, can i help you a lot here? can i, i think you're being too technical here. black americans were here in this country before like 90% of us white guys, okay. we're the immigrants. we came in the last 150 years, everybody. most of us came -- your crowd, to be honest about it, has been here since the beginning, okay? this idea that you're not an

american is absurd. now, you may not like somebody, but the idea they're not american is crap. your thoughts. >> i'll agree. it is, it's not -- >> as you should. >> it should be roundly objected to and but you know like right now, we're dealing with a controversy where you know, mrs. bachmann has written letters to various agencies saying that there's deep penetration of the muslim brotherhood and is pointing it at a specific member working in this administration. you know, so it's not -- >> based upon what? >> upon nothing. nothing, just bald allegation. we've challenged her on it. we wrote a letter saying this is wrong and untrue and prove it. and she has just regurgitated the same old stuff. this is not only the president. it is a prevailing attitude of trying to kick some people out of what it means to be an american. this is an ongoing, recurrent theme and we need to stand up against it.

>> eugene, houma, who's married to a fellow who happens to be jewish, been through some hard times, brought on by himself, but she's stuck with him. i would call her a loyalist. and as for her working with hillary clinton hand in glove, whatever you think of hillary clinton, most of us think a lot of her, she would be able to suspect someone trying to influence her and would know if someone was trying to push a muslim brotherhood line on her. >> she knows a lot about the middle east. look, that's absurd. i think you have to, you have to tease all of this apart and you have to separate out those who might sincerely have these craye views and those who pick their shots and who come out with this stuff. streenlgically or tactically. i think right now, frankly to change the subject from bain and

mitt romney's tax returns. i think john sununu and rush limbaugh would love us to talk about anything but those suggests, so they come out with these eruptions to try to change the subject. >> i'm not going to say this is some brilliant choreography, but here's mitt romney, the candidate himself today, describing obama's economic program as extraordinarily foreign. let's watch the candidate. >> it is changing the nature of america. changing the nature of what democrats have fought for and republicans have fought for. in the past, people of both parti parties understood that encouraging people to lift themselves as high as they can, encouraging entrepreneurs, celebrating success instead of attacking it makes america strong. that's the right course for this country. his course is extraordinarily foreign. >> he snuck it in there through the applause there. extraordinarily foreign. if i remembwere romney, his mon

the swiss bank accounts, caymans, i wouldn't be talking about foreign economics because that's what he might be accused of. but here he is once again playing the ethnic card. foreign, anti-american. it never stops. again, nobody accused walter mondale or jimmy carter or bill clinton of being a foreigner. >> what i want to say, chris, is that yes, it does have some political utility. it works now because it strikes a deeper cord. this is what senator mccarthy was trying to do. t trying to whip up and make people alien, foreign, and then make them radio active so you can do anything you want to them. >> well, mccarthy was drunk most of the time and wrong all the time. before he became elected, a couple of communists they did find, but i want to thank you guys. great to have you on.

up next, the first couple on the kiss cam. we're going to lighteni things up. there he goes. romeo. this is "hardball." stay with us. the place for politics. [ female announcer ] with the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. free streaming quotes, all your investments, positions, and even your trade ticket are all on one customizable page. see the 360 investing dashboard at e-trade.

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obama is now attacking romney's record. it's like he is hrk ell bent on making the word bain synonymous with the a source of harm or ruin. >> i had no role whatsoever in the management of bain capital after february of 1999. he took a leave of absence and ended up not going back and retire retired retroactively to

february of 1999. >> in 2002, he retired ret retroactively back to 1999. if mitt wins in november, he's beaten obama and if obama wins in november, mitt can just say he retroactively retired from the race in 2009. >> back to "hardball." this is the "sideshow." love is on the jumbotron. the president and first lady were court side as a u.s. versus brazil basketball game last night with their daughter, malia, and joe biden. let's see what happened when they showed up on kiss cam, the first time, that is. >> we got president obama on the ever popular in house arena kiss cam. >> he blew it. >> he didn't? >> i don't think he saw it. >> so, he missed that first love shot. the the two got another shot later in the game.

>> boy, malia's cute. how many people get a second try on the kiss cam? according to the white house, the president and first lady didn't know they were on the first time. next, there's been some buzz about the uniforms team u.s.a. will be wearing at the opening ceremony for the olympics. the ralph lauren uniforms were made in china. some calling for a complete do over of the uniforms. mitt romney headed up the salt lake city olympics in 2002. as for the current made in the u.s.a., romney was evasive last week when asked about it by jonathan carl. >> should those uniforms be made in the u. schs.a.? >> i'm not going to weigh in on that. the olympic games are about the athletes and we're going to watch them perform and these other matters are extraneous, i think.

>> of course, he says ouch when outsourcing is an issue, but it was also an issue in 2002. human rights groups protested when they learned the outfits were made in burma. while asked about it, the committee said the torch relay clothes were manufactured in myanmar. myanmar, not burma. the fact is, myanmar is burma. just shows the dangers of a too quick denial. two nights from now, jeff daniels start of "the newsroom" will be our guest here on "hardball." thursday night on "hardball." up next, more dirty, angry money. $14 million of outside money raised so far to defeat our next guest, bill nelson of florida. watching "hardball." place for politics. [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's four course seafood feast, just $14.99. start with soup, salad and cheddar bay biscuits then choose one of 7 entrees plus dessert! four perfect courses, just $14.99.

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i'm mandy drury. the dow gained 78 points today. s&p rose 10 and nasdaq was up by 13 cht stocks ended higher following testimony by ben bernanke. he told lawmakers that the central bank is prepared to take action if needed to boost the economy. on the earnings front, goldman sachs profits far exceeded expectations, but shares ended only slighty higher and after the bell, intel reported earnings. now i'm going to hand you back over to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." dirty, angry money is flowing

down to florida. all the usual suspects are trying to influence that is that the race and they're using big dollar amounts to do so. the goal to oust senator bill nelson who's facing off against the republican challenger. the family, one out of all these deep contributions, well, senator bill nelson's with us now. why would a guy named sheldon adelson who's made his money in china, apparently, he makes more money every night in his casinos in china than they make in vegas overall. why does he want to nail you? >> chris, i don't think he cares about florida. i think he is just -- of the others and have the public policy enacted.

you're seeing the influence of money coming in, but at the end of the day, i don't think it's going to be successful. i think the american people are going to really stand up on this one. >> well, it's this funny money. count here, $15 million. let's look at the figures. karl rove super pac announced last week they had reserved over $6 million in air time this fall to run against you, then sheldon adelson has given a million dollars to a pro connie mac super pac. total outside conservative groups are spending nearly $15 million. it's not even part of the official campaign. you're very pro israeli. sheldon adelson is hawkish on israel. you're pretty hawkish. has he raised any issue with you on foreign policy? anything that would justify a voter switching sides down

there? >> the short answer is no. and at least we know who sheldon adelson is because he's not hiding behind these irs c4 organizations that don't have to disclose their donors. obviously, that's why we had the legislation trying to get it considered and it was blocked with a filibuster. in order to disclose the names just like all the rest of us have to disclose our contributors, why shouldn't they? but it's because they can hide behind that masquerade and therefore, they can give their billions of dollars and not be known. if you required a lot of those donors to put their names out there like everybody else has to, they wouldn't do it. >> in pennsylvania and other states now, if you're just a t

littili little person, a regular human being and want to vote, you've got to get a photo i.d. card. these people can walk in with millions of dollars and never show their face. >> that's correct and just to add insult to injury in florida, the legislature has passed what in effect is a voter suppression law specifically to cut down on the number of minorities, specifically hispanics and african-americans, so they're really stacking the deck here. if you take those kind of efforts that make it harder to vote and then add that with this avalanche of tv advertising that is attack and by the way, all the stuff's been run against me, the fact checkers like politifact, they said it's not only false, it's pants on fire false and yet, that's what the public is being dished. now, chris, you and i know, you

put enough tv advertising, you can sell a box of soap. and so, that's what we're up against and that's what i'm fighting. >> and they're also trying to confuse connie mac with his father. thank you very much. a moderate democrat. turning now to jonathan, thank you for telling us about how this works, where people go in almost like a hit squad. they go into a state like south carolina, go after a guy like john spratt. budget hawk. no liberal. and they kill the guy and you still don't know even know who put the $4 million check on the table. >> yeah, john spratt has no idea. this is a group called the commission for hope committee. scott reed was the campaign manager for bob dole. he announces this organization. says it's going to be a $25 million organization. it's going to have the backing of all these different

industries, but they go to the irs and they say we want to be a non profit social welfare organization, we're not going to be involved in electoral politics. don't worry. they get that, that designation from the irs. therefore, they don't have to i divulge the names of their donors. they get one donation from one anonymous donor and immediately go on the air against 11 democrats with just brutal ads. their real focus was john spratt, one of only three committee chairman taken out in 2010. you know, they accumulate all of these different complaints to the s.e.c., the irs, saying these guys are just breaking the law, breaking the law and then what happens? 2011, they just go out of business and there's nobody to go over. >> so there's nobody coming on the air saying my name is this, and i paid for this ad.

they simply learned all these terrible things about a good guy like john spratt and i mean that. he fit that district pretty well for a democrat and then to have somebody come in, do we know if this person has a particular knowledge of john spratt? why did they pick him? >> when i asked him that, he didn't really know. his idea was look, if you take out the budget committee chairman, you going to undermine the entire fiscal policy of the entire policy, especially president obama. he thought it came down simply to that. it was obviously a big trophy in 2010. >> the funny thing is, i'd say funny in the worst way. spratt made sure there was a budget every year in the house. he came through. unlike the senate, he actually delivered on the job even though it was tough to do it. this is a real loss. it's really political terrorism, this kind of money going in with no name on it. any way, thank you.

up next, if you think mitt romney's getting hurt on bain capital, just wait until the democrats start hitting him for supporting paul ryan's budget plan. there's stuff in this plan that he's going to have to pay for like cutting medicare and medicaid while protecting the wealthy on taxes, so in other words, every dollar that doesn't go to somebody that needs an operation, sits in the pocket of somebody with a lot of money. what's with you? trouble with a car insurance claim. [ voice of dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed.

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president obama put iowa back in the democratic column in 2008, but this year, the race has been nip and tuck. we've got a new poll from iowa. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard. shows a president with a five-point lead. other polls have called iowa a toss-up, so this could be good news. the ppp tends to skew slightly democratic. this is new york state. we built the first railway, 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.

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don't tell me that you value and are deeply concerned about seniors if in fact you e vis

rate the things that you know they rely on. not only for their well being, but for their dignity. for their dignity. and their pride. they made a clear choice. lower the standard of living for those on medicare and medicaid rather than ask anything of the wealthiest. >> there you have it. that was vice president joe biden yesterday at the white house in a briefing for senior citizen's issues with a critique of the paul ryan budget, which republicans, including mitt romney, do support. democrats are convinced that the budget will become toxic once the public understands how harsh it is. the biden speech will be a harbinger in many kass of attacks that could come this fall. with me now, chris cillizza and erin mcpike. chris, you're the great political watcher. moment by moment. hour by hour.

you know what's going on. this biden attack on the cuts medicaid, medicare, which affect not just poor people, but in the case of middle class people, medicare operation, procedures you won't be able to get, whatever goes on, it's going to hurt people at the same time, this fella, paul ryan, who advertised the fact he's a fair budget cutter is protecting the rich while he hurts the poor. is this going to be an issue? >> well, democrats think so and i would say this is you mentioned biden made these comments to a group of seniors. i think this is an attack or a point that democrats think wings them the most points, the most credibility, really cuts against romney the most 60 plus voters talking about medicare and social security. we refer to it as the third rail of american politics for a reason. back in 2005, george bush tried to do something with social

security. that's the danger with paul ryan about fundamentally reimagining medicare, turning it into a voucher program. in both 2004 and 2008, 60 plus-year-old about a quarter of the presidential electorate. mccain won them by four. george w. bush in '04 won them by eight. obama just wants to narrow that gap or not lose them badly. he's not going to win the election there but could lose it. he wants to keep it narrow among seniors. they think this is a way do that. >> erin, my dad was conservative republican. but the one thing he liked was medicare. you know. he worked all his life and said finally i get something for all the money i paid into the government. medicare doesn't -- really popular among people over 65. they really like it. now to come along and threaten to cut it or turn it into a voucher program could be really political suicide for the republicans. do you sense biden is out there like advertising what's to come of a preview of a movie coming?

>> absolutely. president obama is going to florida actually on thursday and friday for a couple of events and i expect that he will talk about it then. as chris mentioned, this is an important thing with senior citizens and, as you mentioned as well, in florida and i think that's the reason why paul ryan is not as hot a commodity in terms of the veep stakes now because so many people -- i have spoken to said that if he is mitt romney's running mate in florida, it would damage the republican ticket with senior citizens. >> john heilemann talked about a newly released survey by democracy court showing the mitt romney is vulnerable to attacks for his support of ryan. let's watch. >> go around independent voters, swing voters, and explains them what's in the ryan budget on repealing child tax credit, education cuts, medicare. it is one of the things mitt

romney is most vulnerable. vice president is a leading indicatedor where the campaign is going now because they think with swing voters, independent voters, if you spell out the implications of the ryan budget, it is horrible for romney. >> i guess the real question is if there is going to be pain all around i think even seniors would understand that. had know what is going on. these are tough times. they don't want to screw the young people. when they see romney or will be told romney wants to protect the tax breaks for the very rich people, makes sure nobody pays 39% of their income, will they wonder why are we getting cut in medicaid? medicare. >> well, you know, chris, i think that's certainly what obama and democrats hope to say. you heard biden in that clip you played at the top of the segment saying that -- they have shown what they care about and values are. i continue to return to this over and over again. that presidential elections are very rarely decided by people going -- undecided voters going to the two websites and looking where they stand ovary issue and checking the box on which one you agree with. counting up the checks on one side and checks on the other side.

and voting for the guy have you more checks with. it winds up being about values. it is a feel vote and heart vote. it is who understands me better. who empathizes and sympathizes? that's what biden is trying to use the ryan budget. look, they have laid out their priorities. it shows that they don't share your value, senior citizens. i think that's the broader context of the argument that the obama campaign is going to put forward. >> erin, you last word here seems to be people hate the word socialism. when it comes to people in 60s, 70s, 80s, that paid into a program their whole life they don't consider it socialism, medicare. >> not at all. again, this is what we will be seeing -- i think it will be a bigger issue in october as we are going into the debates. we will hear about it a lot in those debates. i talked to some of the super pacs that plan to make this a big issue later this fall. >> ryan is not on the ticket.

do you agree with that? >> i agree because i don't think mitt romney wants to double down on a plan he had nothing to do with the writing of. and tie himself very closely -- >> how about the republicans -- >> -- not popular. >> the plan, not the man. >> i mean, i think ryan without the plan is appealing but ryan without the plan isn't ryan. >> i think he's going to be ryan all over this ticket p the other side has anything to say about it. he has ryan as a running mate whether he likes him or not. thank you. when we return, let me finish with obama's doing to the cell so anybody, 2-year-olds can understand it. he has to do some explaining. he has the ability to do it. i think he has four months to do it and i think he should. eat good fats. avoid bad. don't go over 2000... 1200 calories a day. carbs are bad. carbs are good. the story keeps changing. so i'm not listening... to anyone but myself. i know better nutrition when i see it: great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains.

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this. i want president obama to focus on something between now and november. i would like him to speak similarly and clearly about what he's accomplished. i have said simply and clearly. remember denzel washington in the movie "philadelphia"? he played the lawyer who told prospective clients to explain this to me like i'm a 2-year-old. no fancy words, no jargon, no language that shows how smart you are. just clear and basic and real. obama rescued the american car industry. we are back where we were proud of and excited about the kids and gotten back. the biggest reason is this president did what was necessary. he rescued the industry.

we, this country, rescued our auto industry. second, this country pulled itself back from the economic -- we saw tonight 2008 and 2009. we did it by using the smartest and most state of the art thinking of our great universities. nobel prize winners like paul krugman teach. huge drop in consumption and pullback in investment. we, the american people, countered it with the jobs act of 2009, just when we needed it to prevent a second great depression. third, that health care bill. we as a country faced up for the first time in our history to our duty. we agree every american has to take personal and family responsibility for their health needs and agreed as a country to meet our duty on health and millions rely on emergency realms. we agreed that every american should meet their own health duty, not to dumb the cost on someone else. it is the president's duty now to tell people. this country's middle class that has health insurance. people that have health challenges, how this will make things better for him. he needs to sell the health care

act. as if he were talking to a 2-year-old and he can do it. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for about with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead -- an orchestrated smear. today willard mitt romney's campaign began an ugly coordinated assault on president obama. they are trying to change the subject from mitt romney's financial secrets. one of the campaign's top surrogates, former new hampshire governor john sununu, spearheaded the attack on a conference call with reporters. >> the president clearly demonstrated that he has absolutely month idea how the american economy functions. the men and women all over america who have worked hard to build these businesses and their businesses, from the ground up

is how our economy became the envy of the world p it is the american way. and i wish that this president would learn how to be an american. >> i wish this president would learn how to be an american. why would he have to learn? a few minutes later on a call in response to a reporter's question, sununu clarified his remarks. >> what i thought i said, but i guess i didn't say, is that the president has to learn the american formula for creating business. the american formula for creating business is not to have the government create business. if i didn't give all that detail, i apologize. >> an apology? not for calling the president un-american but for not giving details. okay, it was a mistake. a slip of the tongue. an accident. right? not so fast. just a few minutes before t