heavily from bain capital, i got really upset. >> good to have you with understand tonight, folks. thanks for watching. the romney campaign was in search of a narrative yet again today. but they were stopped at every turn by mitt romney's mysterious finances. the day began with a brand-new add from the obama campaign. >> romney admits that over the last two years, he's paid less than 15% in taxes on $43 million in income. makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. we don't know, because romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010. >> you know what? i've put out as much as we're going to put out. >> what is mitt romney hiding? >> since mitt romney still has no answer about his finances, his campaign took really a dartboard mentality today to attack president obama. romney tried to latest line of attack during a stop in pennsylvania. >> he said, and i quote -- and he's speaking, by the way, of businesses, like this one. small businesses, big businesses, middle-sized

businesses, mining businesses, manufacturing, service businesses of all kinds. he said this -- "if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen." president obama attacks success and therefore under president obama, we have less success, and i will change that. >> of course, president obama never said people are not responsible for building their own businesses, he said no individual is responsible for the american system. but we already know where romney got his talking points for all of this. >> that man is a statist. he believes that only reason america is where we are is because of government and he is flat-out wrong. >> the romney camp also put attack dog john sununu in front of the cameras to make some more outlandish attacks. >> he has no idea how the american system functions, and we shouldn't be surprised about that, because he spent his early years in hawaii, smoking something.

spent the next set of years in indonesia. >> sununu went further during a conference call with reporters. he questioned whether the president of the united states, and says the president behaves like an american, asking the question. >> the president in making that statement, doesn't understand how america works, doesn't understand how business works, and i wish this president would learn how to be an american. >> and, of course, we all know where his attack came from. >> i think it can now be said, without equivocation, without equivocation, this man hates this country. >> so the romney campaign decided to chase a new narrative based on strategy from fox news and rush limbaugh. how did that work out? >> frankly, i made a mistake. i shouldn't have used those words. and i apologize for using those words, but i don't apologize for the idea that this president has demonstrated that he does not understand how jobs are created

in america. >> john sununu and the romney campaign just couldn't gain any traction with their new attacks, because there's only one thing dominating the campaign trail right now. it's all about romney's taxes. a new poll suggests americans, they want to know what is in mitt romney's taxes. 56% of voters said romney should release the last 12 years of returns. 61% of independents want to see the last 12 years. and it doesn't stop with voters. tea party icon ron paul told politico, "in the scheme of things, politically, you know, it looks like releasing tax returns is what the people want." texas governor and alleged romney supporter rick perry had this to say. >> no matter who you are or what office you're running for, you should be as transparent as you can be with your tax returns and other aspects of your life. >> and the editors of the conservative "national review" wrote, "romney's a politician running for the highest office

in the land and his current posture and probably unsustainable." i would agree with that. romney, this guy has really boxed himself in. he told the country, two years of tax returns, that's all you're going to get. there's ana arrogance to that, don't you think? just like when romney told andrea mitchell last year he wasn't considering releasing any returns. >> with respect to my tax returns, time will tell. that's not something i'm considering today, but we'll see. >> but if you were president, you would release the tax returns. every president does. >> if i become president, then i'll consider that. it's a little premature for me to be talking about that at this stage. >> is there some secret? people know wryou're wealthy. >> yeah, i understand. >> there's nothing to hide. >> no, nothing to hide. >> will romney give into the pressure again? it took boos from a republican debate crowd to change his mind before. >> back in 1967, your father set

what was then a groundbreaking standard in american politics. he released his tax returns. he released them for not one year, but for 12 years, and when he did that, he said this, "one year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show." when you release yours, will you follow your father's example? >> maybe. [ laughs ] you know, i don't know how many years i'll release. i'll take a look at what the -- what our documents are. >> the republican party should have listened to those boos. they should have also listened to the guy with the big tiffany's bill. >> if there's anything in there that is going to help us lose the election, we should know it before the nomination. and if there's nothing in there, if there's nothing in there, why not release it? it's a very simple model. >> mitt romney cannot survive on the losing end of this argument for much longer. you know, this is all about, in my opinion, 2009. think about it. the market went south in late '08 and early 2009. romney probably, on paper, took

a big loss. he may not have paid any tax in 2009, and yet still been worth millions and millions of dollars. if he would have released that to the american people, we got a big discussion in this country right now about tax fairness. would the american people render judgment? well, he's still worth millions and he's not paying any tax. basically his return would be making the case against the wealthy in this country, saying that, yes, they do need to pay more taxes. i think he's hiding something. and he would also be making the case against tax reform, because the fact is, people want the wealthy to pay more. every poll shows it in this country. romney would really be presenting a self-inflicted political wound if he allows the 2009 taxes to go out, if he never paid a dime. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will mitt romney make it to the convention without releasing his tax returns? te text "a" for yes, text "b" for no to 622639 and you can go to

our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment and we'll read your comments later. i'm joined by katrina vanden heuvel and michael steele. michael, i'll go to you first. how does mitt romney navigate through all of this and come out with a successful conclusion? how does he fix this mess? >> there's only one successful conclusion and that is releasing the returns at this point. the obama team has been masterful in boxing mitt romney into this corner. but let me tell you, straight up. this was so avoidable, i can't even begin to put it in words, how avoidable this was. remember, i was talking to aert ro recently who said, i've covered romney when he ran for governor. this was an issue there. bain and the tax returns were an issue then. you would think that by now they would have an answer to deal with these two questions. to allow this to become the central focus of this campaign at this stage is just mind boggling to me. we should be talking about the economy, the president's record

on jobs. i mean, i have to give it to the team, the obama team, you know, the jobs numbers come out for june, they suck, it's bad news, and what do they do? roll out this card. and they play it and they've been playing it well, with no adequate response in return. so going forward, the question is this -- when you announce your vice presidential nominee, do you want the first question asked, hey, should mitt romney release his tax return? what's your position on bain? or do you want it to be about the nation's economy and what, you know, a romney/fill in the blank ticket will do. >> romney's lost control of the debate and the dialogue. i mean, you have to ask. people say that a man or a woman campaigns as if they would governor. if this is how he campaigns, you're looking at secrecy, nondisclosure, dishonesty, and your point, ed, was really important about tax fairness. this country is sick of a system that's been rigged against the working poor, the middle class -- >> well, what if he paid -- >> what if he paid nothing? what if he paid 8%?

what if he paid 15% when working people in this country are paying 33, 35%, and they don't have an answer. to michael steele's point, sure, this campaign should be about jobs. it should be about how we rebuild the middle class, it should be about how we rebuild the infrastructure in this country, but mitt romney doesn't have answers about that either. when you ask him about what loopholes he would close that would defund social security that millions of americans rely on for security and dignity, he doesn't have answers about that. is that how he would serve this country? >> we're learning a lot about mitt romney through his lack of transparency when it comes to his taxes. but michael, you say the obama campaign is doing a good job pip mean, they're getting walked right into this. romney is his on worst enemy on all of this. what if he didn't pay any taxes in 2009? how does that fly with the american people? >> i put all of that in the appropriate context. unless there was some criminal behavior there, unless there was some ill-gotten gains that show up on that tax return or lead to

some ill-gotten gains, he did it by the books. he played by the rules that were in place. so i think that's the narrowtat that's puzzling to me. >> but if he didn't pay any taxes and, so-called, gets out in front of it, the american people will be seeing a tax return, this guy still worth millions and millions of dollars and he pays nothing, he would be making the case the democrats have been trying to make for a long time. >> making the case for tax fairness -- >> that's the argument i think he could make and say, look, i benefitted from this system. the system is imbalanced, it is not fair, and as president of the united states, i want to make sure it is fair for everyone. >> but michael, he doesn't do that -- >> i'm just saying that's what he should do. >> he wants to gut the right kind of taxation. i mean, to rebuild the middle class in this country, you need a jobs program. mitt romney doesn't have one. you need a plan to change the trade policy of this country, which in some ways both parties

have built into. bayne was not about job creation, it was about wealth creation, and you see it in the arrogance of mitt romney. >> but there's nothing wrong with that. that's my point. everyone is corral iriminalizin offshoring and the tax system. unless there was something that was done that was wrong or illegal, he played by the books. >> then why doesn't he release the tax returns, michael? you've called for those too. >> there you go. >> the list of republicans calling for them is longer -- >> i've got katrina vanden heuvel, editor and part owner of "the nation" magazine agreeing that mitt romney should come clean on his taxes. there's a bipartisan effort here, is there not? >> well, because, ed, the political narrative and the optics aren't good for the romney campaign right now. >> michael, can he go to the convention with this hanging over his head? >> no, i don't think so. maybe there are people out there that are a heck of a lot better and smarter at this game than i

am, but i don't see how you have that hanging over your head and not have that be a part of the conversation for five days. >> you have to wonder why, he's campaigned for so many years, how is it that he has just failed to deal with this? this came up in the primaries. it may be that his opponents were weak, it may be the hubris of thinking that the money would get him through or vote suppression would get him through, but now the narrative is such, and it's deeper, i've got to say, it's deeper than just releasing. it's about the system. >> so when does newt gingrich engage? i mean, his spoex gkes guy was this program last night, rich taylor, but when does newt gingrich engage and say, this is an issue i brought up a long time ago, there could be some problems here. how do they turn to the american people and i, we've opinion calling for transparency, our leadership in washington, but don't even have at it our own convention? >> i think you've already begun to see a little bit of that, ed, this past sunday, with the likes of a george will and others, and you know who are beginning to

frame this thing in the right way -- >> got to go. katrina vanden heuvel, michael steele, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. remember to answer tonight's question there at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitte twitttwitte twitter @edshow and on twitter. this lady has worked at the same plant for 40 years and now her job is being shipped overseas to communist china by bain capital. get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. the people of that town are asking mitt romney to step up and do something about it. two of them will join me next. republicans, you can't say raise taxes on the job creators, so why are they blocking a bill that would lower taxes for businesses that bring jobs back to the united states? i'll ask michigan senator, debbie stabenow.

and will mitt romney make it to the convention without releasing more tax returns? howard fineman has the latest on the republican revolt. share your thoughts on twitter with us, on facebook, and on twitter using the #edshow. we're coming right back. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled, we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy? cleaning better, doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm going to... drink this... on the porch! ♪ give me just a little more time ♪ [ female announcer ] mops can be a hassle, but swiffer wetjet's spray cleaner and absorbent pads can clean better in half the time

so you don't miss a thing. swiffer. better clean in half the time. or your money back. and for dry messes big and small try swiffer sweeper vac. my name is joann humston. i'm 35 years old and i'm a single mother of two girls. i work six years at sensada technologies and i recently found out that my job was going overseas. i'm worried that i won't be able to feed or clothe or pay for schooling for my daughters. >> the company mitt romney built is still outsourcing jobs. bain capital's latest target is a plant of 170 workers in freeport, illinois. sensada technologies is a car sensor manufacturing company.

at the end of this year, which is owned by bain capital, will close its freeport plant and send those jobs to communist, china. people who have devoted their life to this company and community are devastated. >> for a second time, i will lose my job to china. >> finding a job at 57 is going to be very difficult, let alone something that you can live on. >> i face the real possibility of bankruptcy and losing my home. >> when i found out that sensada was owned by bain capital and mitt romney helped start bain capital, and still profits heavily from bain capital, i got really upset with this. >> so last night, freeport city council unanimously approved a resolution organized by sensada workers saying, mitt romney, asking mitt romney to save their jobs. the resolution calls on mitt romney to come to from freeport to china. romney spokesperson told the huffington post romney left bain

in 1999 and has no knowledge of the situation in freeport. his surrogates appear to be just as clueless as the former govern. when asked if mitt romney should intervene, allen kinzinger, a romney supporter, ignored the question. >> when you talk about bain capital, it's an attempt by this administration to not talk about their record. which is really what the american voters are going to vote on. >> i'm not talking about the administration. i'm talking ability real people who are losing their jobs. >> the reality is when you talk about bain capital and mitt romney, it's an attempt to take the focus off what's going on and where the economy is at for november. >> those folks are in your district, buddy. what is happening in freeport, illinois, that is the economy. joining me tonight is shelly griswold, the director of community development for the city of freeport, illinois, and dot turner, a worker at the plant for 43 years. i want to thank both of you for

joining us tonight and telling the american people what it's like on the verge of being outsourced. dot, i want to ask you first, if you lose your job, what are you going do? >> well, i'm going to have to try to retrain myself at my age and do something different. >> what kind of impact will that -- this loss have on you and your family? >> well, i'll be losing a real good income, and i'll be going on unemployment. and it's going to really, really be really difficult for me to try to think about going back to school at my age and being retrained. >> i can imagine this is a tremendous shock to a lot of the employees there at sensata. your colleagues are training chinese workers taking your jobs. that's got to be tough. shelly, what do you expect mitt

romney to do? what would you want mitt romney to do? >> well, we certainly know his history with bain capital, and we understand, well, we don't understand fully what his relationship with bain capital is now, but we certainly believe he has some influence and the workers here really would love for mitt romney to come to our community and talk to the people who are losing their jobs. actually, what we would really love to see is the mayor, and i talked this afternoon, would be for governor romney and president obama to hold a debate in the city of freeport to talk about how to make america more competitive. companies like bain capital are in the business of creating wealth. we're in the business of creating jobs. they don't have to be mutually exclusive, but it's difficult to handle those on a local level because it's federal policies that make the difference. we would love to see a debate held in freeport, which is home of one of the famous

lincoln-douglas debates and we would like to see how we could keep our jobs here at home. >> how are you going to follow up on that? are you going to ask the obama team and romney team to do just that or is this community talk right now? you're on a national show saying you want this to happen. i think it's a heck of an idea. >> well, the mayor is on the case, and he is determined to make it happen. >> okay, shelly, why is the plant being shut down? are the workers not as good as the chinese workers? what was the reason given from bain capital for this action? >> well, the reason that i understand is because it's a business decision based on revenues and profits. however, we would stake our northern illinois workers, our productive workers, our well-trained workers, workers with a great midwestern work ethic against any worker, and we find it hard to believe they'll find people of the same caliber that our folks in freeport do right now. >> dot, who do you blame for this situation?

>> i blame the politicians. and the government for allowing these big corporations to take our jobs and send them overseas. i call it corporate greed. >> shelly, what would you like to say to mitt romney? >> well, i guess i would like to tell governor romney that it's really easy to stand on the stage and talk in abstract, but it's not abstract on a local level. we have 170 families in freeport that are going to be impacted. they're going to lose their jobs. some like dot have worked there their whole careers and now they're faced in middle age, they're going to have a very difficult time in this economy finding jobs. but it's not just them because there's a ripple effect. it's not just the people who work at sensata. it's the mechanics who fix their cars, the barbers who cut their hair. it's a ripple effect through our economy. we already had a not strong

housing economy in freeport before the recession. and it's even worse now. if we have families leaving freeport, we can't afford to have more empty houses in the community. it has a huge impact on the community and i would like governor romney to realize that. >> a town of 25,000 going to lose 170 jobs and this is the economy mitt romney is talking about, the company he started is getting rid of those jobs and sending them to china. quite a challenge you put out to the candidate and president. i hope they follow up on it. >> great to have you with us tonight. all the best to you. i know the times aren't easy. coming up, the common sense answer to bring jobs back to the united states, but the republicans, where are they? they're not going to let it happen. find out why they want to reward companies like bain capital for laying off american workers and shipping jobs overseas, and mitt romney said the rich are doing just fine and the middle class needs help. our panel will weigh in why job creators aren't creating jobs. stay tuned, we're right back on "the ed show." i've always looked up to my brother.

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this week, senate democrats are offering a plan to do just that. right now, companies get rewarded for sending jobs over seas. the cost of moving your company overseas is considered a business expense. it's tax deductible. if you lay off americans, hell, you get a tax break. to bring jobs home act would change all of that. it would end the tax break for moving jobs overseas. instead, you get a 20% tax credit for bringing them back to america. right now, we're actually paying companies to lay off americans and leave the united states. and look at what it costs this country. over the past decade, the biggest companies have cut their work forces by almost three billion workers, but they have hired 2.4 million overseas. laid off americans are rallying to change the tax law. workers from washington to georgia to maine are asking their senators to bring the jobs home. >> all of our jobs are going overseas and we need to bring them back to the united states so that our grandchildren and

their children will have jobs in the future instead of sending them overseas. >> those doing well in america ought to do right by america. >> walking out of here when we didn't need to was a crime. >> our government is allowing them to go away. they're paying them to go away. >> those workers simply want congress to reward companies that hire americans. republicans keep claiming they want to improve the economy, but tonight, they're getting ready to kill this jobs bill. let's turn to the sponsor of the bill, bring jobs home act, michigan senator debbie stabenow. senator, good to have you with us here tonight. thanks for joining us. and thanks for doing this. i think this is really what is infuriating a lot of americans as you saw in the last segment. this seems like a pretty reasonable proposal to create jobs in this country. will any of your republican colleagues in the senate support this? >> well, ed, first of all, it's always great to be with us you. we don't know what they are

going to do, but i know what they should do. they should tell the 170 families you were talking about in the freeport, illinois, not only would they lose their jobs but as taxpayers they won't pay for it. to add insult to injury, they lose their job, then they get the privilege of helping to pay for the move overseas. and so people in michigan, i can tell you, look at this and say, are you kidding me? or they say other things. you know, unbelievable. and so this simply says we're not going to pay for that anymore. >> why won't republicans support it? why won't they support it. >> i don't know. i honestly don't know. they talk about, well, we need comprehensive tax reform. fine. let's start with closing this loophole first. you want to bring your jobs back, happy to let you write it off as a business expense. we'll even give you an additional 20% credit, but we're

not paying to ship jobs overseas. >> it seems like the republicans are on the side of foreign countries right now. they won't amend something. they talk about creating jobs. they have blocked everything. is this political theater or do you think this will really work? >> we're going to put everybody on record and there's not one republican who should be voting against this. they should be joining every democrat in voting for this, and frankly, governor romney should be standing up and urging them to do that right now. it's very simple. i don't know any other country that would stand for this kind of tax policy. you know, in china, they say come on over. we'll build a plant for you. then they steal your patents, but the reality is that they are aggressively trying to take our jobs. every other country is. they know that to have a middle class, you have to make things. and so the first step in making sure that we're making things in america is to make sure we're not paying for shipping the jobs overseas. so everybody ought to be on the

sage wavelength on this one. >> did i hear you call out the romney campaign, that they should take a stand on this bill? >> i would sure like to know, wouldn't you? they could help me as a sponsor of the bill. i would love governor romney to step up and reach out to his republican colleagues, and the senate will be voting on thursday. >> do you think the majority of people from your state of mix michigan would support this? >> no question. >> mitt romney from michigan, won't support it now. what does that say? >> i don't know, but i can tell you this. doesn't matter if you're a democrat or a republican in michigan, we want jobs in michigan and we don't want to have the insult of helping to pay for jobs that are packed up and sent overseas. so this is very simple. >> great to have you with us. makes sense to me and a lot of americans. we'll see where it goes. we'll score this to see what republicans side with workers in this country. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." >> he's speaking, by the way, of this business, like this one. if you have a business, you

didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> middle class mitt romney takes another swipe at trying to help workers and totally misses. we'll explain with the big panel next. how long can mitt romney's tax disaster go until the republicans start thinking about going to the bench? howard fineman weighs in. and the labor leaders begin a new fight to raise the federal minimum wage. we'll tell you why a living wage needs to become a reality. so you brushed with colgate total and you didn't. let's compare. germ party! eww! now the colgate total mouth. nice! [ female announcer ] colgate total fights 90% more plaque germs. i'm in. [ female announcer ] colgate total. less germs. healthier mouth. [ male announcer ] this is our beach.

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this campaign is about the middle class. and about the poor, it's not about the rich. the rich are going to do fine whoever is elected. >> welcome back to "the ed show." that was mitt romney telling the audience poor and middle class americans need help while the

wealthy will do fine. he seems to be arguing against his own policies. he said it last night again. the quote was this, i know that people in this room are probably doing relatively well, relative to folks across this country, but not everyone in america is doing so well right now. 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're not having a good year. the people of the middle class of america are really struggling. now, if mitt romney believes that the job creators are doing well, why aren't the job creators creating the jobs? so what mitt's prescription is for all of this, what is it? >> what i would like to see in tax code is to bring down the top rates, all of the rates, and get rid of a lot of deductions and exempts. >> and he wants to tax the low income people.

his tax plan also increases taxes on people making less than $40,000 a year. half of middle class families with children. the top 2% of taxpayers have really gotten the lion's share of the bush tax cuts for the last 11 years and made good of it. romney or other republicans can't make the case that these tax cuts have created jobs. look at the numbers. let's bring in our ari melber of the nation magazine. alex wagner, and michael medved. great panel coming up. stay with us. especially you, michael, because you have to tell me off the bat, how does romney's tax plan hurt waiters and waitresses? go figure. >> it doesn't hurt waiters and waitresses. >> he wants to raise the taxes on them. >> it helps -- it does not. that's simply not true, ed. mitt romney's tax plan calls for a 20% across the board cut in all tax rates. and that's accomplished without reducing revenue by getting rid

of exemptions and deductions particularly for the wealthy. he has acknowledged many times there are many wealthy americans who would end up paying more because you get fewer deductions and exemptions. >> you're telling me i'm wrong when i hear and read in the tax plan that mitt romney wants to raise the taxes on people making under $30,000 a year? >> you are absolutely wrong. >> i am not wrong. ari? >> i'm not wrong. >> it's a smear. >> it's no smear, it's the truth. >> take a look at the tax plan as it's laid out in mitt romney's website or anyplace where it's laid out in a fair and open way. >> i'll do that, but i tell you what, you're wrong. >> michael is speaking only about the marginal rates when is a piece of this, not the whole piece. the romney plan also knocks down the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, a huge cut only for corporations, not for working people, and the tax policy center's analysis shows the

majority of people, because as mitt romney said, people are corporations, the majority of people who benefit from that kind of cut by that big 10% are people in the top 1%. it also goes after -- hold on, michael. you spoke for a while. i'm just responding to some of the things you said. number two, it goes after the 3.8% taxes on capital gains in the health care plan. most people in the bottom rungs that mitt was talking about, the waitresses don't have the capital gains so they don't get that. that's a cut for only people in the top bracket. number three, i want to run through a couple things. number three, $900 billion overall -- number three, $900 billion overall cut in the government revenue. that's one out of four government dollars. that's one out of four cops. one out of four soldiers. a big cut -- >> that's not part of the romney tax plan. that's part of what democrats charge against it. we may disagree on where to go with taxes.

let's be honest. when you talk about a corporate tax deduction, president obama favors lowering the top corporate tax rate. we have to be competitive with other countries. we have the highest taxes in the world. one of the reasons companies are moving their operations abroad is because they pay less taxes. when canada has half the tax rate, corporate tax rate we do in the united states, it's an invitation for companies to move across the border. >> we can talk a lot about the smoke and mirrors of mitt romney's quote/unquote tax plan, the reality is that we don't have the answers that we need. we know that he's called the paul ryan plan marvelous that will uninsure 57 million americans. some of those will be waiters and waitresses. the rest of the sentence is mitt romney's party knows about the poor and wants americans to help become less poor. nothing he has said will benefit the poor or take into

consideration the struggles of the poor or working class in this country. >> if i can suggest, i think the best way to help the poor and we would all agree on this is for the private sector to create more jobs. >> why haven't they done it? a new poll shows 44% of people think raises taxes on incomes above $250,000 a year would help the economy. and 44% say raising taxes on income about $250,000 would make the system more fair. michael, you're presenting a losing argument here. the people aren't with you. >> ed, i am not because there was a mcclatchy-maris poll taken at the same time that showed that people by a substantial margin favored a maintaining the tax rates we have now and not raising them on anybody. look, the president of the united states had the ability to raise these tax rates anytime in this first two years when he had 60 votes in the senate and he had big majorities in the house -- >> he didn't have them for two years and you know that.

about a year, but that's okay. ari, alex, and michael, thanks for joining us. coming up, the current federal minimum wage is $7.27. people who work hard deserve a livable wage. taking their case to you right now. right after this. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spaciouss. skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty,

above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood... up next, the service employees international union joins the fight to raise the minimum wage for workers struggling to make ends meet. we'll be right back. stay with us. 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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what is the price that you want from these working men and women!? what cost!? how much more do we have to give to the private sector and to business!? how many billion dollars more are you asking, are you requiring!?

when does the greed stop? >> well, the greed hasn't stopped yet. that was the late, great senator ted kennedy fighting for an increase in the minimum wage five years ago. the battle was won in 2009. it was increased from $5.25 an hour to $7.25 an hour. now there's a new fight. $7.25 an hour can't support our families. do the math. for a year in the minimum wage amounts to only $15,000 a year. that's almost $8,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of four. workers in america desperately need a raise in the struggling economy. people who work hard should be able to live off their wages and support their families. republicans are generally opposed to raising the minimum wage. take a look at what mitt romney said recently. >> certainly, the level of inflation is something you should look at and you should identify what's the right way to keep americans -- >> minimal inflation so far. >> right now, there's probably not a need to raise the minimum wage. >> there you have it, a tremendous difference between

the way the republicans and the democrats look at fairness. the republican unwillingness to help working men and women rains through our society. there's legislation currently being discussed in congress and the service employees legislation union sent out an e-mail to rally support. you can petition congress to raise the minimum wage at 99uniting.org. because everyone who works for a living deserves a livable wage. tonight in our survey, i asked you, will mitt romney make it to the convention without releasing his tax returns? 39% of you said yes. 61% of you said no. coming up, what will republicans do if mitt romney can't take control of his tax return problems? and would they possibly consider getting behind somebody else? howard fineman joins me for the discussion. ♪

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this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. and to the big finish tonight, you know, you have to answer whether the u.n. thinkable could happen. republicans, they have to be asking themselves, is mitt romney too damaged to be the republican nominee? no matter what, he may have provided a moment that will dog him in his campaign forever. you know it has happened before. we will never forget democratic presidential nominee michael dukakis riding in a tank in 1988. same year republican presidential candidate george h.w. bush won the election, and he also said something at his

convention that would come back to haunt him. >> read my lips, no new taxes. >> oops, this time around, we have mitt romney in a fix over his tax returns. and this is what he had to say about it. >> you know what, i put out as much as we're going to put out. once i have added the year, this year, and that's the information that gives people more information than is required by law. >> it's already been packages into an obama ad. >> you know what, i put out as much as we're going to put out. >> i'm joined tonight by howard fineman, nbc political news analyst, and editorial director of the huffington post media group. howard, great to have you with us. what are you hearing from republicans because the dam seems to have already broken with conservatives calling on him to release more returns. this is just a continual drip.

>> i was laughing when you introduced me because i was talking to your producer, and you and i and he all had the same idea at the same time earlier today. which is, is there any conceivable way that the republicans looking at this situation would say, you know what, we don't really want mitt romney anyway. why not put him out on the ice floe. i talked to some key people in the party, including a campaign manager from one of the other campaigns in this race in the republican side earlier this year. and i said, is there any way that the republicans would just say, you know what, let's get rid of this guy? the reason i said that and asked that is because you have had an amazing murderer's row of conservatives and republicans demanding or suggesting that mitt romney release many years of his tax returns. which is obviously something mitt romney doesn't want to do for whatever reason. you've had bill kristol, who is a king maker in the party, michael steele, the former

chairman of the party, rick perry, one of the candidates sort of saying it obliquely today. and rick santorum said it during the campaign. and then the national review, which is a very important organization on the conservative side and republican side, said release your tax returns. the wall street journal is sort of saying, and rupert murdoch has done nothing but criticize the romney campaign for what he sees as their ineptitude. i asked this guy who was a manager of one of the campaigns, could they get rid of romney? he said, no, that's crazy, but nobody likes mitt romney. he said in 2008, the other republican candidates, the one they didn't like, was mitt romney. in 2012, the one they didn't like was mitt romney. now, mitt romney used his money and his muscle to get the nomination. against essentially inferior competition. now, he's up against president obama, who's got probably equal money, laults of clout, and a research department, and mitt romney is looking like a deer in the headlights right now on the

tax issue. >> could he go to the convention, in your opinion, could he go to the convention with this still lingering out there? >> michael steele, the former chairman, who is no fan of mitt romney's, said no. he said no, i think, on our air, or if he didn't say -- >> he said it earlier tonight on this program, first guest. >> there you go. >> what do you think? do you think he could navigate through this and go to the convention with these tax returns minimal information to the american people? >> no -- first, i don't think the president can win the election just based on this. let's say that. as james carville was telling me, he has to make the case to middle class independents. but on mitt romney's side, there's no way he can go from here to late august without answering more about his business record, and of course, the rosetta's stone of any businessman's business record is their tax returns. i don't see how he gets from here to there without doing

more, especially with a whole conservative movement in the republican establishment lined up against him. >> what if he picks smbt that's a vp candidate who says, you know, i think yrm going to release the last ten years. that poxes in his selection as well. thanks so much. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. the "rachel maddow show" show starts right now. >> good evening, thank you. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. the mitt romney for president campaign today announced they have hired new staff. new staff specifically to work with the republican party's new candidate for vice president. there is no republican party candidate for vice president. but this announcement today means that the republican party would very, very, very, very much like you to think that they will pick a vice president very soon. hopefully sooner than the next plot twist in the bain capital/mitt romney won't release his tax return saga. the party would very much like you to stop talking about mitt romney's tax returns, thank you very much.

naturally, there are lots of exciting released tidbits in today's news about other things, like let's say his impending vice presidential selection which should be coming down the pike any day now. the "new york times" is out with an insider piece about mr. romney's campaign and their vice presidential vetting process. hinting that a likely short list of potential vps has emerged. according to the "new york times," the finalists are tim pa -- sorry, the mild mannered former minnesota governor tim pa-- pa-- tim pawlenty. in addition to governor snoozy, there's george w. bush's budget director, rob portman, and then what the "times" refers to as the two dark horse choices, paul ryan, the guy who became nationally famous when he suggested taking away medicare from old people and giving them coupons instead, and also louisiana governor bobby jindal. yesterday, he joins bobby jindal in louisiana for fund-raisers. the beltway press describing him as buzzed about as one of romney's most visible supporters and as a vp short lister.