conference call, john sununu is speaking for mitt romney on fox news and said this. >> he has no idea how the american system functions and we shouldn't be surprised about that. because he spent house early years in hawaii smoking something, spent the next set of years in indonesia, and -- 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. >> the president, our president, has no idea how the american system functions. yes. except he's in charge of it. there's more. sununu went after the president hours before that in a little noticed radio interview. >> he does not understand america. it's not just that he doesn't understand the private sector. he doesn't understand america. >> president obama doesn't

understand america. so three times today, john sununu went after the president of the united states for not understanding america. is it any doubt that this is a planned strategy by the rom new campaign? listen to what the candidate himself said today at rally in pennsylvania. >> president obama attacks success and, therefore, under president obama we have less success and i will change that. >> encouraging entrepreneur, celebrating success instead of attacking it and makes america strong. that's the right course for this country. >> his cost is extraordinarily foreign. now these attacks aren't coming out of nowhere. this agenda was set by rush limbaugh yesterday. when he said the president, quote, hates this country. today is the gop's new talking point. and rush admits the connection.

>> so i think sununu has been appointed with the task of going out and performing the duties that i am suggesting need to happen. >> the romney campaign performs the duties that rush says needs to happen. this is ugly politics. but the american people won't be fooled. they know what our president really stands for. and what he really says about this country. >> we will not be going backwards. we will be going forwards. we will win this election. and we will remindtle world just why it is that the united states of america is the greatest nation on earth. god bless you. >> joining me now is steve, co-host of "the cycle" here on msnbc. and joan walsh, editor-at-large with salon.com and msnbc political analyst. first let me thank you both for

being here. >> thank you. >> steve, this what the romney camp does when it is in trouble, take orders from rush limbaugh, and suggest the president of the united states is not american? >> yeah. i think -- i think there are would points this are illustrated by this. one is -- we have seen this before during the campaign. the extent to which romney really is kind of beholden. broadly speaking to sort of the republican party base. his credentials as as a conservative have been suspect from time he got into this race and is somebody that doesn't have much flexibility. much power to sort of be himself and whatever that means as a candidate. he has to cater to the conservative base and give it what interest wants, whether that's rhetorical, whether that's in terms of ideology and policy positions. something we have seen consistently. the other thing that goes hand in hand with that is because there's so much suspicion about his credentials as a conservative among the republican party base and conservative base, there isn't much enthusiasm for mitt room any. what there is dash on the republican base is lot of resentment and resistance towards president obama.

what you see -- you want to get those people out to the polls. you are not going to tell them to vote for romney. go vote against the socialist president. >> joan, the reason is it seems so coordinated, yesterday rush limbaugh said president obama hates america. you know, is the -- romney campaign taking the cue from rush? listen to what rush said yesterday. >> i think that it can now be said without equivocation, without equivocation, this man hates this country. this is what we have. as a president, a radical i h, december ices the country, and the way it was founded and the way in which it became great. >> that was yesterday. today i played in your intro where he took credit for what sununu said three times today. all three were today. then you have the candidate himself talking about foreign.

so this is a concerted effort to either energize their base, as the president is other than us, un-american, and to turn the page on the lack of transparency from mr. willard romney. >> well, in particular, reverend al. this has been a terrible week for mitt romney. i think if he loses in november we are going to look back and we are going to say this is the week he lost. he's being hit, republicans are asking him to show his taxes. we have got this bain debate he really started. he is the one that said i'm not part of the outsourcing stuff. i left it in february of 1999 and forced reporters to look at when did he leave and find all these discrepancies. this is the backdrop against which the horrible attacks come that this man is desperate, as steve said, base t base never liked him. we have sort of fast forwarded through the potentially inspiring part of the campaign to get to the very end of the

2008 campaign when sarah palin started her stuff about he's pa palling around with terrorists, he's foreign, he is not like us. he doesn't love the america we love. they skipped the whole we love mitt romney part and have gone straight to we hate this extraordinarily foreign president. and it is -- ugly and it is going to stay ugly until move. >> now, and -- and, steve, there's some irony this concerted effort because let's look at the person who is speaking. john sununu. he was born in cuba. he was the chief of staff of the first president bush. and he spent $600,000 on a personal trip and trips and political junkets. took a government limo from d.c. to a rare stamp auction in new york and was forced to resign in 1991. this is the guy talking about

the president of the -- you know how the government works. >> there's something else that find interesting about sununu. he was the governor of new hampshire from 1982 to 1988. he was the white house chief of staff from 1989 to '91. he has not been in politics since then. it is more than two decades. talking 21 years now. he's from a different era in politics. yet, this is the guy the romney campaign -- one of their top public faces this year. it strikes me that -- that happened because of what i'm talking about where there's such little enthusiasm for romney within the republican party. there were so few people willing on speak up and vouch for him in the pep primaries that this guy -- sort of a holdover from two decades ago, came as top surrogate and still is. >> then when you go -- goes right along -- because i want you to understand i'm feeling -- i really feel this is a concerted effort because here again, you have romney repeated a favorite attack of his on president obama that he has

apologized for america. watch this, joan. >> it is time for us to have a president that will not apologize for success at home and never apologize for america overseas. never again apologize for america abroad. and never again apologize for america abroad. i will never apologize for american greatness abroad. we will never again apologize for america abroad. >> apologize for america abroad. i don't know what he did there. un-american. i mean, joan, what is the politics of this? >> he has never apologized for america abroad, domestically ever, reverend al. we all know that. all reporters have to say that, every single time he makes that allegation. i think we know what the charge is. there is a segment of the population that doesn't like the president, doesn't trust him, has bought into this idea he is foreign, not one of us. some of it is skin color, i don't know what it is. but clearly, some of it is race.

and he is basically going to be attacked this way for the rest of the campaign because it is all they have. i think there's something like 58% of romney voters say they are voting against president obama rather than for mitt romney. it is -- i think it is exactly the opposite or close to the opposite of when you are asked about president obama where people really support him. this is all they have and this is what they are stuck with. >> steve, in -- this is the candidate and direct surrogate. then when you get to others now that are -- more extreme right, there is a new cartoon making the rounds of right wing blogs hogue -- watch this. the president stab beibing unclm in the back. look at this cartoon they are going around. at the same time you have right wing radio host michael savidge

calling the president evil. so -- i think that there's -- there's this extreme -- caught with things that they can't answer. they are -- can't turn the page so let's get ugly. let's make him un-american. let's paint him as everything but american so people -- i mean, it is not the president that has done any of this. it is romney who won't answer the questions. >> yeah. i think you would like to think -- the -- what you are showing there with the cartoon, that has been constant for obama's presidency from the right. we have seen this sort of reaction, resentment of him from the moment he became president. you would like to think a presidential candidate like romney would make sort of a bold stand and really repudiate and disavow that stuff and say i don't want to be associated with this in any way. again, it gets back to what we are talking about. this is -- a significant portion of mitt romney's sport comes from people that have these very strong feelings of resentment towards obama. he is aware of that.

he is afraid to stand up to. >> it thank you so much for your time. be sure to catch steve and the gang on the cycle every day at 3:00 p.m. right here on msnbc. coming up, the call for mitt romney to release his tax returns arelouder from his own republican party. republicans in congress are in trouble. so you won't believe who they are turning to, mr. 13%, dick cheney. you can't make this stuff up. call of the personal foul. president obama drops the ball on the kiss cam. and hears it from the crowd. >> president obama on the ever popular arena in-house arena kiss cam. >> he blew it.

>> he came back strong in the second half. we will show you how this one ended. ♪ ♪ lord, you got no reason ♪ you got no right ♪ ♪ i find myself at the wrong place ♪ [ male announcer ] the ram 1500 express. ♪ it says a lot about you. ♪ in a deep, hemi-rumble sort of way. guts. glory. ram.

folks, have you checked us out on facebook? the "politics nation" conversation is going on all day long. today everyone seems to have an opinion on john sununu saying he wished the president would learn how to be an american. devora says that was rude. i would love to hear what they say in a quiet room. deondre says sununu is a comedian. where can i buy a ticket to his

show? the other big talker was the president and the first lady's kiss cam moment. jamie says they looked sweet. just like ordinary people. carlos says it is great to see a couple who loves, this is real family values. we want to hear what you think, too. head over to facebook and search "politics nation" and like us to join the conversation that keeps going long after the show ends. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

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because the calls are only getting louder and it is his own party doing the shouting. ron paul is the latest to urge romney to release his returns. oh, and did i mention all of these guys, too? >> the cost of not releasing the returns are clear. therefore, he must have calculated there are higher costs -- >> asked today that question, do you think that governor romney should release his tax returns and i said do i. >> there's obviously something there because if there was nothing there, he would say have at it. >> should release the tax returns tomorrow. it is crazy. >> mr. kristol, it is crazy. that's the exact point the obama campaign makes in a new ad airing today. >> over the last two years, he has paid less than 15% in taxes on $43 million in income. makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. >> it certain will you makes me wonder. but mr. romney isn't budging. he tells the national review,

quote, i'm simply not enthusiastic about giving the obama campaign hundreds or thousands of more pages to pick through, distort and lie about. i don't think mr. romney is worried about lies. i think he's worried about the truth in those documents. what the fact of the matter is who needs his returns? after all, he has given us plenty of material himself. at his fund-raiser yesterday where the tickets went up to $50,000, romney said, quote, it's tough being middle class in america right now. the waiters and waitresses that come in and out of this room and offer us refreshments, they are not having a good year. yes, governor, it is tough. but you are not providing real solutions to help them. joining me now is ezra klein of "washington post" lump mist and

msnbc political analyst and ryan grimm, washington bureau of chief for the huffington post. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having us. >> why are the tax returns so threatening to romney. >> we don't know. we don't know until we get to 2009. what you heard in the obama campaign, something a lot of people have begun talking about, is there's some possibility that either in 2008 or 2009, mitt romney did not pay any effective federal taxes at all that he had such heavy losses due to the financial crisis, wiped out his tax liability. i asked a bunch of tax experts about that and said it is not likely. it is entirely plausible that he paid 1, 2 3sh, 3, 4, 5 or 7%. a number low enough that's problematic. second, he some level of sheltering when you put it on paper and explain what it is to people, it is just going to be deeply embarrassing and problematic for his campaign.

so with all of that there, i think the -- underlying question here is why knowing he was going to run for president again and after he turned in 26 years of taxes with john mccain so he knew taxes were an issue, why did he not clean these up in 2008? why was this a problem at all n. >> ryan, when -- he turned in all of these pages to the mccain campaign campaign, the top strategists for mccain, john smith told the huffington post, the tax returns were not what kept romney from being vp in 2008. he said, quote, we never sat around having a discussion about mitt romney's taxes but wealth was an issue. he says, quote, we knew it would be a big liability that the presidential and vice presidential candidates together own more than a dozen homes. it was something like out of "saturday night live" or "saturday night live" skit. but meanwhile, talk of the vice presidential choices, reaching fever pitch, i wonder, ryan, is the -- mr. romney going to ask

his vice presidential candidate to give him his tax returns? >> "the new york times" reported that he is, in fact, asking important tax returns from the people he's vetting for vice president. that's the exact same thing that he and the senate will do of anybody that he wants to name to any significant cabinet position. even significant -- insignificant cabinet positions that have to go through the senate. so, you know, there's certainly a lot -- bunch of different standards. >> i don't want to go through that too quickly. he will not release his to the public but he's asking for the tax returns of those that he's considering to be a vice presidential candidate. so he's asking for what he will not give the public. >> right. there are a ton of things we don't know here. one thing that we don't know is how many years of tax returns he's asking from his vice president at prospects. we can assume it is -- a lot of

years because tash -- you know, anybody that will do a significant vet of somebody is going want to see a lot of the years. but until he's more forthright about what he's asking for and what he is willing to give, we are all feeling in the dark here. >> now, you mentioned his offshore accounts. and romney gave pretty weak defense about his offshore accounts today. he told the national review, quote, well, first of all, all of my investments are managed in a blind trust by virtue that the decisions made by the trustee are the decisions that determined where the investments are. of course, we already know one of the investments went to his son. i mean, there's some pretty interesting investments that this trustee made that just happens to be very close to mr. romney. >> i think the underlying issue here for romney is he looks at this issue. he looks at these questions people are lobbying at him and he says that -- i did nothing

wrong here. i did nothing illegal. i did what all of my friends did. i put my assets into a blind trust. i stayed within the letter of the law. nobody is saying i'm -- should go to jail over it. i did nothing wrong. and what -- i think a lot of voters are looking at and lot of people looking at this issue are saying the rules you play by are not the rules that normal people play by. he's sort of fitting into this larger discussion going on to america about the rules the very rich end up playing by this help them remain rich and help top the 1% pull so far away from everyone else and it is not that these things are illegal and not that they are even necessarily morally wrong. we set up the tax code and my romney's accountants are paid to do this. he has become a walking embodiment to the advantages that come to the top 1%. very large tax cuts for the rich, paid for by large cuts to social spending on the poor, you have a double problem because it seems like he wants to make the rules even more -- in favor of

him and folks like him who have the accountants figure out how to get your money offor in order to get you the best deal from the tax man. >> it is like last night saying that the waiters and waitresses that were serving his people -- people give up to $50,000, are having a rough year. so in order to help them out he wants to give a tax cuts to the guys that can write the $50,000 check and taxes hike up for the waitresses and waiters or at least they don't get a tax cut. ryan, you have some interesting new details about the timeline of romney's departure from bain. >> this is another area where we have -- kind of been feeling around in the dark. romney won't release any significant details about what specifically he did with bain capital between 1999 and the end of 2002 when he was elected governor of massachusetts. but, you know, he said that he retroactively retired and had

nothing the to do with them in any way after february of 1999. but just a -- huge stack of evidence has emerged that that is simply false. we have him testifying in june woot that he was attending board meetings for companies affiliated with bain. we have six of his -- six document was his signature he filed with the sec. now, you remember had is 2001, 2002 when everybody was thinking about enron. no ceo at that time was signing any documents and filing them with the sec that he was than certain were accurate. you know, the -- the idea this he would just hey, here is an sec document, quick sign this and fax it back, that's insane. >> middle of enron. very good point. >> that's insane. either that -- he's crazy and reckless or, you know, he spent a lot of time going over the documents like any other responsible ceo would do. they were talking about real

jail time for people and real fines for people who signed documents that turned out to be false. and so, you know, ceos -- have come forward and said yeah, especially during the enron time. i was making all of my employees who worked on those documents attest to their accuracy and validity. it is just unfathomable it would come to him and he would just dash off his signature and then go back to organizing the olympics. >> very good. vining. i'm going to have to leave it there. we are certainly going to keep watching this. ryan grim and ezra klein, thank you for coming on the show tonight. dick cheney heads to capitol hill and picks a fight over defense cuts. only problem is republicans voted for them. amazing. plus, does willard mitt romney have a sarah palin problem? she has been a thorn in his side since day one. we are learn being a possible convention snub.

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we are back with a big homecoming on capitol hill. congress has a record low approval. and they needed a little guidance. so today they called in their white knight, their savior, their hero. a man to fire up the base with big ideas, big solutions. they called in dick cheney. that's right. the former vice president and accidental shooter who went to capitol hill today for a little republican pep talk. meeting with house gop leaders and going to a senate lunch. let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? cheney helped turn a $236 billion surplus into an over $1 trillion deficit. he watched the unemployment rate grow more than 3.5%. he has no regrets about waterboarding. he left office with a 13%

approval rating. yet, this is who republicans are calling in to rally the troops. and he's fighting today against defense cuts set to go into effect in january. saying they are unacceptable but how about this one? the republicans voted for these cuts. 174 house republicans voted for last year's budget deal. amazing. you really can't make this up. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell. now an nbc news political analyst. and richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst. and author of "revival." thank you both for being here tonight. governor rendell, they are looking for leadership from dick cheney? i mean, what's the strategy here? >> it is like the song says, looking for love in all the wrong places. you know -- dick cheney was the guy that told us deficits didn't

matter and now he's coming in and telling us we can't cut the defense budget. i think you are aware we spent $700 billion a year on defense, second biggest spending country in the world is china at $70 billion. the next 14 countries combined with china spend less on defense than the u.s. does. and republican hawk like robert gates, former defense secretary, said we could cut $80 billion a year from the defense budget. so dick cheney doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about. >> now, i mean, richard, do you feel that when you call in a man like dick cheney, what would be the possible motivation given how he left the white house, his standing in the public and polls, what could possibly be the motive here? >> you set this up quite right. rally the troops. remember that they need rallying right now. things are not going great for them. their until me is struggling.

these defense cuts that we are talking about, they were meant to be unacceptable. they were meant to be so painful that you would actually come up with a policy for doing what republicans say they want to do which is deal with the deficit. they will never -- were never meant to go into effect. that's why people voted for them to force an agreement on congress. so they are trying to wiggle out of their own obligations here. using dick cheney may make them feel good but it is actually undermining what they say republicans say will create jobs and is what they stand for which is dealing with the deficit, they are trying to get out of their first obligation and biggest sales pitch to the american people. >> now, governor, the -- fact that mr. cheney had a fund-raiser, raised $4 million for mr. romney but something very interesting. they had headlines from cheney's -- romney's fund-raiser. but there was no photos. a lot of coverage of the event, $4 million cheney helped romney

raise. but no puck tours of the two. how much distance is romney trying to have to cheney having both ways, not be seen with him yet get the money and let him rally the troops on the hill? >> well, exactly right. they don't want to picture -- a picture that could be shown during the campaign. that's the reason even president bush had that lukewarm endorsement of the governor romney. i think as he was entering an elevator or the elevator door was closing. this is bizarre. this is part of the comedic effect of the entire romney campaign. but -- what's serious about it is that with all of the mistakes and all the errors, this is still a horse race. one of the things i'm interested in seeing is that after theed about two, three weeks that governor romney's campaigns had, we are -- where will the polls stack up after those three weeks? >> he mentioned the -- mr. bush's endorse many. let me show you this endorsement. >> comical. you know, i'm interested in

politics. i'm -- i'm -- you know, supporter of mitt romney. i hope he does well. but you know, he can do well without me. >> this is today where they were asking bush whether he was going to appear on the campaign. he said he can do well without me. he went further saying that he's doing best to stay out of politics. let me show you this. >> i think it is bad important the presidency, former presidents, opining and telling people how it should be done. eight years was wonderful. i was famous and powerful. i have no desire for fame and power anymore. >> might have been awesome for him those eight years but go ahead. >> well, that's another discussion. i may get in trouble for saying this but i think president bush has done a dignified job of staying out of the public eye and not taking part in this.

if republicans were honest, they would say we are following the bush agenda. we think that was great. we liked deregulation and corporations doing what they want and the bush tax cuts. they should be asking him to go out and campaign for it. i don't think he's got any calls to refuse because he's not getting the call. but let's give him credit where it is due. he has dignified presidents and ex-presidents by staying above and out of the fray at this moment. but if republicans were honest they would say we love the guy, we want to carry on where he left off. >> governor rendell, the fact is that the president made it clear that this is the bush policies. today he made the case, while we don't want to go back to bush policies. watch this and give me your reaction. >> we spent almost a decade doing what they prescribed. and how did it turn out? we didn't see greater job growth. we didn't see middle class security. we saw the opposite.

and it all culminated in the worst financial crisis in our life times. >> governor? how do you respond? here's the president connecting them to the policies of bush and cheney. >> well, i think that's a fair comparison. it is a fair comparison not because he's pointing to blame the prior administration. but he's saying that romney/ryan budget and all of -- views they have, as richard said, it is exactly the same. it is -- as yoga bare a said deja vu all over again. i want to echo what richard said. i think president bush, george w. bush, has been a fine ex-president and contrast it is class he has shown with the lack of class that vice president cheney has shown is dramatic. >> on that note, i will end it. governor ed rendell and richard, thanks for your time to be on the show mitt. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> coming up, sarah palin going

to crash the party in tampa? the mama grizzly is roaring. mitt romney has some decisions to make. what do david hasselhoff and presidential kiss cam have in common? summer break is up next. look at those toys. insurance must be expensive. nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands? with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day,

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we are back with our summer break. it is time to take break from the political battles of the day. a time to relax, rest, and recharge. we start with alaska. a small town. celebrating their mayor's 15th year in office. yes, mayor stubs is a cat. meet america's only feline mayor. he was elected on a write-in ballot in 1997. he keeps on winning. how does he do it? a wineglass full of catnip daily. and how's this for a segue? happy birthday, david hasselhoff. the "baywatch" icon turns 60 today. we all know he likes burgers. but how about the world's biggest cake? okay. he will have to settle for south america. bakers if bolivia constructed

the biggest cake south of the equator. it is not the world's biggest cake. but i guess that's what happens when when you outsource. back in washington, the pressure was on for the president and had nothing to do with gop opposition. he was caught on kiss cam at team usa's basketball game. and it didn't go too well. >> president obama on the ever popular arena in-house arena kiss cam. >> he blew it. >> he blew it. but he came back strong in the second half. they were caught on camera. there they are. this time dahler, malia, vice president biden and the coaches all encouraged them. and he delivered with a slam dunk kiss. the fans went wild. once again, the president proves that he's got game. that's your summer break for the

day.

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with a little more than a month until the republican national convention, there is a growing speculation over the role played by sarah palin. will she be invited to speak? will she crash the party? will she overshadow mitt romney? last summer palin's bus tour cruised into new hampshire and just as romney was announcing his candidacy and palin was unapologetic about stepping on his big day. >> we are in the same territory at the same time but good work -- more power to mitt as. e >> a few months later palin was open about who she favored in the republican primary. >> newt is whom i chose up here in alaska to best represent ideas that many alaskans want to see as -- the preferred presidential candidate in this

area. that's who i cast my vote for. >> and she's been clear about what she thinks about romney himself. >> bless his heart. i have respect for mitt romney but do not have respect for what he has done through this debt increase. >> i am not convinced and i don't think that the majority of gop and independent voters are convinced and that is why you don't see romney get over that hump. >> seems he is nominee, are you happy with that? >> you know, anything is still possible. there can still be a shake-up. >> joining me now is peter boyle of special correspondent for "newsweek" and "daily beast." his new -- article is called romney's palin problem -- where's her convention invite? peter, thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> hello, reverend sharpton. it is good to see you. >> does mitt romney have a palin problem? >> well, he -- he does with that

cohort of republican conservatives who believe that sarah palin, you know, embodies, in fact, their philosophy and is a voice for their brand of conservatism. i mean, i think he has a problem with them generally and i think the fact that he's considering not inviting the last vice presidential nominee to the convention exacerbates that problem. >> now, you just raised my next point. she is the last vice presidential nominee of this party. so it is pretty much assumed she would be invited to come to the next convention and to speak. yet, you wrote in your article yesterday, quote, the rom new campaign prides itself on a slavish adherence to script.

palin cannot be trusted to avoid the impulse to go rogue. that's why perhaps the romney campaign has not asked her to speak at the convention. >> yeah. i think that's true, reverend sharpton. i don't think we could expect that she would, you know, go off and, you know, do something truly strange. i mean, i think she wants romney to win. i think that she would give a pro-conservative, pro-republican message if she were asked to speak. i think that she would have some difficulty adhere strictly to script. and, you know, she has a history that suggests to her and i would say probably with some reason that listening to the establishment republican party is not necessarily a good thing for sarah palin. and i think that the romney folks, many of whom, are, in fact, most of whom are the establishment of the republican party just as soon not take the

chance of whatever would come. >> all right. peter boyle, we are going to watch and see what happens. thanks for your time tonight. we will be right back. [ ryan ] maybe just a short run today. [ man ] "the odyssey," by homer. book one. tell me, o muse... famous town of troy...

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♪ welcome back to "politics nation." this weekend, former alaska governor sarah palin attempted to explain the party's platform in a way that even a child could understand. >> we are getting steamed up. because obama is tipping us over, pouring out and drain iin the entrepreneurial spirit from us. >> a new take on a classic nursery rhyme. to score political points? well, i guess governor palin is

going rogue again. you know, this got me thinking. there are a lot of other great nursery rhymes out there and i would like to take this opportunity to share some of our favorite nursery rhymes with you. i just happen to have my book here. so let's start with this classic. humpty-dumpty sat on a wall. humpty-dumpty had a great fall. he didn't need help from all the king's men because humpty could finally afford health care again. good thing the affordable care act was upheld. or humpty-dumpty would be scrambled eggs. how about this one? willard, willard, quite contrary. how does your money grow? with tax shelters offshore and blind trusts galore, all shady deals in a row. who doesn't love a nursery rhyme

about hidden treasures? finally, one of my personal favorites. speaker john boehner sat in a corner eating his blueberry pie. but when he was asked to compromise, he sat down and began to cry. nobody should ever cry over blueberry pie. i commend governor palin for her creativity. but while her teapot speaks rhyme, it definitely lacked reason. think of a good nursery rhyme. get you through the heat of the summer. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now.

>> 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. here's one big fat reason he's not going to tell you about those tax returns. 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. again and again and romney's right wing allies, limbaugh, he hates america. bachmann, we've got the muslim

brotherhood sneaking around the government. demint, the most anti-american administration in history. what a horror show. a candidate who hides who he is sends out his wolfpack. say the other guy is the enemy within. creepy is too nice a word. had guy wants to suggest in lincoln's chair. robert costas and maggie haberman. i want to go to bob. thank you for joining us. bob, you've had a unique experience sitting with mitt romney talking about something he'd least of all want to talk about which is 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 a little hardball with obama's allies and he's not going to give in and release anything pre 2010. >> why not? does he