brits, the british, causing trouble, and why are the british just jumping on this guy -- i don't know how to describe it. how do you describe it? >> chris, there is no question that there is nothing the british core enjoys more than having fresh meat to savage, particularly if that fresh meat happens to be a presidential candidate from the united states. i think mitt romney, and equally his team misread some of the very british tea leaves that existed going into this trip to london. there had been an enormous amount of moaning and whining about the olympics by ordinary brits over the course of the last several weeks. but the mayor of london, boris johnson, himself a conservative said to everybody about a week ago, it's time to put a sock in it. largely brits listened to that. but mitt did not. >> well we love boris johnson. i think i look like the guy anyway, so i like him a lot. let me ask you, chris. what do you think is going on here? you're allowed to dump on your country or its problems at home, but don't come in from somewhere

else and start doing it? >> i think that's exactly right. us british are not very good at positivity. we've been whining about the olympics for several weeks now. you've heard about the problems with the security. the taxi drivers, the cabdrivers have been moaning about the olympic route network. you get them in every olympics, of course. but there is nothing quite like somebody coming from overseas, telling us that we're not behind our olympics, for brits to really get behind it. i think so since mitt romney rocked up a couple days ago, you can almost see the brits put their arms around the olympic stadiums say say you know what? we are behind this. i've been watching some of the opening ceremonies secretly because you can't see it for a couple of hours yet. everyone is behind the games and it's looking good. >> he still looks stiff as hell walking around number 10 there. it's a strange way the guy walks. i want to know the politics of this. we'll get to the pictures and the quotes in a second. here's the point. i thought cameron would like him. aren't they fellow tories? >> i think that is exactly the

point there has been a tremendous strain in the relationship between britain's conservative party and the republican party here in the united states. going back over the last ten years, since george w. bush forged a very close relationship with former british prime minister tony blair, with whom he was not an ideological soul mate. here was an opportunity for mitt romney and david cameron, peas in a pod politically, both conservatives to try and establish some kind of alliance that could take them both forward. and instead, mitt romney has found himself causing david cameron to come out and push back on this issue of the olympics, because as chris ship knows, better i think than any of us, david cameron's own credibility is at stake over the success or failure of these olympic games. >> well, let's look at romney trying to clean up the mess. but i do want to remind our viewers here in the states of what david cameron did to take a shot at him in the morning. let's take a look at this

morning on the "today" show, our big morning show here. mitt romney tried to end the static he had stirred up with a "nightly news" interview he did with brian williams. he did it by complimenting now. he has switched in the past just about everything. here he is switching on the british olympics. here he is, mitt romney this morning. >> after being here a couple of days, it looks to me like london is ready. and of course it is hard to put on games in a major metropolitan area. >> and here he is with his original comment about trying to, well, causing trouble. here he is the first time out. let's listen. >> in the short time you've been here in london, do they look ready to your experienced eye? >> you know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out there were a few things that were disconcerting. >> you know, i have to tell you, chris, that this is wonderful romneyism. it's taken us a while to build up this wonderful catalog of switcheroos by the guy. here he is doing it in about 24 hours, going from one side to the other. disconcerting. looks like he's got it together here. >> i think it's a big switch room. it was huge story for the british press. they had a lot of fun with it.

you've just been running some of the headlines, mitt the twit or mr. nowhere, that apparent reference to him being in charge of the salt lake city games in 2002. that was quite a mild rebuke from the prime minister david cameron when he mentioned that. i saw the response last night from salt lake city. they weren't particularly very complimentary about mr. cameron. and they said look, if he wants a map of where the middle of nowhere is, he can come and get one from us. but really, this is a bit of a fauxas or a political difficulty for him. because at the end of the day, these two men should get on very well. as you just mentioned, david cameron is a conservative prime minister, and yet the european brand of conservatism is a lot more liberal than the one you've got here. >> we're eating it up here at home as well. here is prime minister cameron. he made clear he took issue with romney's original uncertainty that london could handle the games. let's listen. >> i think we'll show the whole world not just that we come together as a united kingdom, but also we're extremely good at welcoming people from across the

world. so i'll obviously make those points to mitt romney. we are holding an olympic games in one of the busiest, most active bustling cities anywhere in the world. and of course it's easier if you hold an olympic games in the middle of nowhere. >> i just love that tape. the way he lowered his voice. of course it's easy when you're handle them in the middle of nowhere, salt lake city. by the way, here is the great boris johnson piling on. let's listen. he is the mayor of london, of course. >> i hear there is a guy, there is a guy called mitt romney who wants to know whether we're ready. he wants to know whether we're ready. are we ready? are we ready? yes we are! >> as i said, the british tabloids of course pounced on. willie geist who is in london for the olympic coverage has the best of them. let's listen to willie. >> the covers are all about the opening ceremony. but inside the daily mail, who

invited party pooper romney. >> oh no. e. >> and in the london times, it says nowhere man romney loses his way with gaffe about the games. >> let's start over here again, simon, and talk about the special relationship. i know that somebody way back in the obama administration unfortunately said what special relationship. i've always treasured, i'm a churchill nut. well like churchill more than you do over there. this relationship, i've always liked it whenever the brits, the british people like an american movie for example. i saw "blades of glory" over there with my daughter and i loved laughing with the brits at an american movie, something ludicrous with will ferrell. what is our relationship? here is a tricky one. what is the relationship between the old country and the new world right now? >> well, look, it's absolutely clear, chris, that there is a special relationship. it's a special relationship that was forged back in 1939 with the alliance during the second world war.

it's a special relationship that has thrived in recent times, even when you have had political leaders who do not see eye to eye idealogically, like george w. bush and tony blair. and it's a special relationship that david cameron and barack obama, again, not ideological soul mates have, managed to continue taking to a fresh level. what is so troubling about the events of the last couple of days is that mitt romney, the man who hopes to be president, hopes to be doing business with david cameron, perhaps even with boris johnson, a man who has national political ambitions in the uk, this has put a strain in that relationship and made it difficult on the basis of what we have seen to imagine how they can go forward and establish a productive working relationship, unless there is some kind of do-over further down the line. >> you know, chris, churchill, again, my hero, said we are two peoples divided by a common language. in the case of mitt romney, no one speaks the language he speaks. so how do we explain this? we've been covering his strange

use of the language for months now saying i read the newspaper when i was on the aircraft. and everybody in america says on the plane. we don't talk like that. it's conehead in a way. what do you make of his opening remarks over there and the way he talks? disconcerting. >> well, i think there is something about the language barrier. i find that when i'm here i have to change my vocabulary when i'm talking to americans. actually there was a very interesting thing that obama said in downing street yesterday when he was standing outside the door of number 10. he said it's great to be here in the back side of downing street. i don't know how much you we referred to back side, but it's not the rear entrance as you would call it, obviously what he was referring to it. >> i think we use fanny differently as well. there are so many words we use differently. bottom line, is there going to be a lasting impact of the kerfuffle we have just described? simon, you first and then chris. will this thing be something you people in britain remember in the pride you have for your olympic games for the next couple of weeks?

will it be recalled at the end of them and in the months ahead that the american presidential candidate, mitt romney came there and caused trouble? >> i think the lasting impact can be characterized slightly differently, chris. this has set the stage for the way in which the british press is now going to cover mitt romney going forward through into the convention and towards the election. and remember that the british press is not an island. mitt the twit was the headline published by the sun, owned by rupert murdoch. same with nowhere man in the times of london. those are murdoch publications. so again, people on this side of the atlantic may well say, well, does that raise ongoing questions about where conservatives stand vis-a-vis mitt romney's leadership? >> we have raised the question for me. i can tell you that. chris, your view of lasting impact here. >> i think it was always going to have a difficult time in europe because we see things differently on the other side of the atlantic.

europe is still very much obama's territory. we still think he is pretty good, he is the world's statesman. he did a lot better things than the guy that came before him. i think mitt romney, apart from the fact that no one really knows who he is was always going to have a tough time. he just made it worse by coming along and saying you guys, not ready for the olympics. the brits aren't very good at looking forward to something. it takes someone from outside to remind them this olympics is a good thing and we're all behind it. and they certainly are tonight. >> we'll remember this scene. we'll play it again tonight from "love actually" where the british prime minister played by hugh grant stands up for the country against the gauche combination of a couple of american presidents. the worst possibility of yank portrayed in that movie. thank you for joining us, simon marks and chris ship. coming up, this isn't the first time we've seen mitt romney insult his host. remember those cookies in pennsylvania? what is it with romney. plus, a minority of americans less than half now take obama at his word that he's

a christian. maybe this is michele bachmann's pushing of the muslim brotherhood. and the romney campaign has grossly distorted the president's words in a campaign ad. we have the misleading ad, and what the president actually said, all coming up. and will farrell on what romney should have said about the olympics. that's in the sideshow. by the way he's coming on the show tuesday next week with zach galifinakis. this is "hardball," a place for politics. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years.

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it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! back to "hardball." mitt romney's trip to london has been overwhelmed by his comment on wednesday that london may not have been 100% prepared to host the games. it's not the first time romney has made an awkward comment that offended people and left others cringing. last year when he met with a group of unemployed floridians in a coffee shop, his effort to empathize was a little tone deaf. let's listen. >> i should also tell my story. i'm also unemployed. >> are you on linkedin? >> yes, actually. and i'm networking.

>> a lot better than what we've got. >> so here he is yukking it up with people who are out of work, and he is worth well over a quarter billion. back in april, when romney visited a small town in pennsylvania, he was less than thrilled with the cookies he was served. believe it or not, cookies, didn't like them. let's listen. >> i'm not sure about these cookies. they don't look like you made them. did you make those cookies? you didn't, did you. no, they came from the local -- >> bakery. >> 7-eleven or bakery or wherever. >> the cookies were the homemade pride of the local bakery. why does he keep saying things like? this? i want to start with scott on this. i don't think that these are ultimately the most important things in the world except it guess on and on. the guy is from another planet, he will have these problems. but this guy is running for president here and talks like he is from another planet. that's odd. >> this has been going on for years.

when you were playing the cookie clip, i was reminded in 2002 when rudolph giuliani was campaigning for him in boston's north end and some guy offers them a canolli. and mitt romney says no thanks, i don't want it. and rudy being the smart politician he is, picks it up and eats it. he knows when you are offered a canolli, you pick up and take it. in his defense, he has never sold himself as that guy. with the comments you just played in london, it continues to get him in trouble. >> wasn't it clemenza that remembered the cannoli? this is a serious problem for this guy. he seems to be heading into three major televised debates an hour and a half each. he can script himself or be scripted for a while. at some point he switches to romney. it seems like he has good line here and there. and the minute he is caught with an unusual question, brian asked him about the olympics are you prepared? and he makes a shot at the londoners he is trying to woo, the first thing he says seems

offensive. without a script by his bright team, he is lost in space. >> he can perform well in debates. so i wouldn't count him out. the lower he sinks, if he makes a comeback and performs well, he'll get extra credit for that. he obviously has a gaffe problem and has for some years. and to be sort of a dime store shrink for a second, chris, i attributed it all to the most famous gaffe of modern american politics, which was in 1967 by george romney when he said in a local detroit television interview that he had been brainwashed in vietnam. so if you're george romney's son, and you revere your father, the one thing you don't want to do is make a career ending gaffe. so he is in a situation now where it's like don't make a gaffe, don't make a gaffe, don't make a gaffe. and that's like don't think of an elephant, don't think of an elephant, don't think of an elephant. you think of the elephant. you make the gaffe.

and you do exactly what you're try so hard to avoid doing. >> that's line actually in -- i can't stop movie references -- "the anatomy of a murder" when the jury is told to ignore some testimony. they said it's like saying don't think of a blue cow. all you can think of is a blue cow. anyway, charles krauthammer was left nearly speechless, and he is rarely speechless by romney's comment that he found some things about london's preparation for the games disconcerting. here is charles, a usual friend on the right. let's listen. >> when romney answered in that question is unbelievable. it's beyond human understanding. it's incomprehensible. i'm out of adjectives. all the man has to do is say nothing. >> scott, he didn't say nothing. here it is a question. now put it all together. he doesn't like the local cookies. what else? he thinks he is unemployed, even though he is well worth well over a quarter billion. he thinks that's a cool thing to say to people who are suffering often the humiliation as well as the injury of being unemployed.

people feel that in their souls when they're out of work and they're trying to get a job. here he is chucking over the fact that he is a multi, multi, multimillionaire is in the same straits as them when it's so obvious the all at the table he is not in the same situation. it isn't funny. >> no. and i think one of the most ironic things about it is here is somebody who often gets knocked for trying to please everybody, for trying to say, you know, whatever his audience wants to hear. so you would assume somebody like that would be really good and really smooth, almost sort of too smooth. but that part of it is fundamentally missing with him. he doesn't know how to operate when it just off the cuff. we've seen it over and over. you can play a dozen clips that relate to his wealth alone over the last six months in which he has come across just looking stiff and aloof and out of touch. you know, the bigger question does any of this matter. and again, this is not something he is trying to run as. he is trying to run as the competent, maybe even boring technocrat who can fix the economy.

so it may not matter in tend. but it certainly has hurt him at every step along the way in his political career. >> john, you and i talk about these things. we think about them all the time. the difference between in this case a successful businessman, meaning a guy who has made a lot of money. that's a successful businessman, and a successful political or national leader. i think we're learning the difference here. learning how to deal with national sensitivities on the other side, recognizing that every country has a sense of patriotism, not just the united states, unless they have some terrible tyranny going on. even then they're proud of their country. not knowing that you're stepping on the toes of millions of brits when you say something like this, you mock their best efforts. and you're coming in from outside to do it. that is the difference between a successful -- a successful business guy can do that and still be rich. a politician can't do that very long. >> yeah, there is really not much of a connection between success in business and success in politics. we've seen that over and over again with very successful businessmen have gone into the cabinet. remember don regan. >> he was a sharpie. >> disgrace.

he had been head of merrill lynch. and then unsuccessful business people like harry truman whose haberdashery went bankrupt and he turned out to be a pretty damn good president. so i think there is a connection in the minds of some people between these two skills. and that might help romney in this campaign. by the way, when 130 million americans are voting in november, most of them won't have paid any attention to his awkwardness in one-on-one retail politics. so it may be that it doesn't end up mattering. but the thing for voters to focus on is whether they accept in an unthinking way that somebody that has been successful in business will necessarily have the right skills for the presidency. >> i'm going to try to go on in that point at the end of the show tonight. thank you so much, scott and jonathan. up next will ferrell on what romney should have said in london. look at this guy. he is so funny. by the way, he is coming on this show live next tuesday. and that is "hardball," the place for politics.

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back to "hardball" and to the sideshow. first off, forward. it's the obama campaign slogan this time around. it's been around a couple months. but it hasn't caught on. not like hope and change did in 2008. conan o'brien came up with ways to revamp the new phrase. >> we are moving this country forward. >> change only comes through challenge. >> no you can't. no you shouldn't. don't even try. >> no, no, there's no jobs for you man. >> the economy's bad. it's all my fault. and i can't fix it. >> didn't have enough money to pay the bank, honey. and we have to move. we have to move. >> you should vote for mr. romney. >> come on, man. i'm serious.

i'm serious. >> it's amazing what you can do if you screw around with the context. actor will ferrell is as close to being on a campaign blitz as he'll get, a publicity tour for his new comedy "the campaign." he was on "morning joe" and kicked off with a nugget on how to get mitt romney off to a better start in london. >> can i start off by saying that i think the olympics are going to run perfectly. great facilities. world class. i mean, i think it's going to be the greatest games of all time. >> you agree with governor romney. >> yeah. i stand by my statements. >> funniest guys are the guys that don't laugh when he tells the jokes. there you have it. ferrell and galifinakis will be on "hardball" tuesday. don't miss it. here's a pre-olympics moments that's into sideshow

territo territory. there was a bell ringing ceremony to commemorate the games. for mishaps in the coming weeks tried to ring his olympics bell. >> jant say there won't be hitches because there is one of the bigs things you can do. when there are things that don't go according to plan, london with cope. oh, my goodness are you all right? terrible moment there. disaster averted. thank you. >> the bell just flew off the handle there. is that what are m romney meant when he said there may be some disconcerting mishaps in the olympics run-up? first lady michelle obama spoke to the members of the usa team this morning to put them at ease while still pressing them to bring home some gold. >> you all take advantage of everything. stop, look around you. this only happens every if

years, so try to have fun. try to breathe a little bit. but also win, right? in the end, winning good. >> just remember her brother's a basketball coach. they're in for a great couple weeks, those athletes. up next, wonder why michele bachmann is pushing her line about muslim brotherhood infiltrating? probably because half of americans don't believe obama when he says he's a christian. a dangerous point. this is "hardball," the place for politics. coming soon extra butter tickets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf.

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here's what's happening. accused colorado shooter james holmes is being treated by a psychiatrist at the university. a website launched where

they want to give an honest description of george zimmerman and they ask for donations. the school bus monitor bullied by her students is retiring after receiving three quarters of a million dollars in donations. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." u.s. congresswoman michele bachmann, who was invented here i think calls to look whether the muslim brotherhood is infiltrating our government here. she has created a battle within the republican party those who think the accused including top aide huma abedin are fair game. and those who do not think this is fair at all. this comes in the face of new polling shows the majority of americans are not willing to say obama is christian. it also grows depending on ideology.

no surprise there. reverend c. welton gaddy is president of the interfaith alliance, one of more than 40 organizations that have written bachmann and her allies to protest. and writer for news week and for the daily beast. reverend, i want to get to the heart of this thing. here you have michele bachmann, a member of the house intelligence committee zeroing in on one of hillary clinton's closest aides and saying that she ought to be investigated because she has relatives that are questionable, and therefore she is questionable. a lot of good republicans on this point. john mccain, john boehner, lindsey graham, scott brown, marco rubio, have all said this is bad. we shouldn't be doing this mccarthyite stuff in this country. a number of politicians like rush limbaugh, john bolton are all dechbtds defending this scurrilous attack on this woman who has worked for her country and for secretary clinton.

what do you make about what is going on right now? >> well, i think you pegged it, chris. the way you described it going into this segment. we're talking about politics. we're not talking about religion. we're not talking about security. we're talking about a very questionable kind of patriotism that would risk scaring the people of the united states, trying to undercut their confidence in the security provided by the united states government in order to attract a few votes. they also know that this figure that came out today about the number of people who think that the president is muslim, it is a way to play in demonizing a religion to the extent that they think they can win an election. everyone knows that according to the constitution's religious freedom provisions, it shouldn't make any difference whether the candidate is a mormon, a muslim, or a christian. but they know because they have

been involved in financing a well structured campaign to convince people that the president is a muslim, they know that if they can get that belief, then they can play on a prejudice, and it is nothing but a political strategy. >> okay. i agree with that. so i'm already well spoken here by the reverend. i do believe that less than half the american people accept obama at his word that he is a christian, is part of an overall strategy that is relentless. people like donald trump over and over again raising the birther questions, questioning this man's word. it's gotten to the point where more people disbelieve him than believe him. i've never heard a person say i'm jewish, oh no you're not. or i'm catholic, no you aren't. you accept people in this country for what they say they are. >> i think there are two different things going on here. on the one hand, there are probably republicans for whom this is just a republican answer. it's a way for them to signal their contempt for him, their genre fuse toll take him at his word about anything that he

says. >> see the numbers? only 49% accept him at his word. 17% actually call him a muslim. but all the rest with the cute don't know. and we know darn well they know what they're talking about. they just want to stick it to him. >> some want to stick it to him. some probably just believe what a lot of their leaders are telling them. if you have somebody like michele bachmann saying the obama administration is complicit in a muslim infill frags of our government, you have this stuff on radio laws. >> sharia law in effect. >> right. have you these books coming out. so i think we know well enough not to take michele bachmann seriously, but she is a serious politician. she is the second biggest fundraiser in the house. she has a huge following. and we can't be surprised that people -- that there are people out there that take her at her word. >> to make your point. back to you, reverend. this makes the point. the percent sedge of people saying president obama is a muslim rise as you move toward the right on the political spectrum. 30% of republicans. 34% of conservative republicans believe he is a member of the islamic faith. just 8% of democrats do. it really does move absolutely

with correlation here. as you go from left to right or center left to right, it just goes higher and higher percentages of people believe that he is a muslim. if you went to nazi i suppose you would get 50 or more percent. it's unbelievable. >> but chris, these are people who are judging a man's religion who don't know much about religion. and in fact, what they know some politician has told them. i actually think that there is a bright spot in this whole thing with what ms. bachmann has done. when interfaith alliance put out the word about us getting together a letter protesting what has happened, you look at people on that letter. the national council of jewish women, the aclu, the interfaith alliance, people all across the political spectrum as well as the -- yeah, the national council of catholic bishops.

so you've got both diversity across the religious spekd rum and diversity across the political spectrum. my hope is there is a lot of people who are saying ms. bachma bachmann, enough of this. let's have an election on what the election should be about and get politicians off of trying to do political stump speeches that turn out to be sermons and not hide your prejudice under a cloak of religion. >> and why don't we take a look when people do join on the opposite side, michelle, and join in this witch-hunting of people like huma abedin. and look at the witch-hunter, -- who are the witch hunters. rush limbaugh, no surprise there. he makes money doing. this newt gingrich has tried to stay in the game with the far right. eric cantor, he is the new nixon, he doesn't believe a word of this, but he rides this horse better than anybody. >> and he knows better than to stand up to these people. >> right. he is nixon. and john bolton, who wants to be secretary of state. imagine a secretary of state of this country who engages in this kind of witch-hunting.

>> i think somebody should ask mitt romney whether he agrees with john bolton that these are legitimate questions. one of the things that was fascinating was there was this moment when it seemed as if finally michele bachmann and her ilk were going to be marginalized in the republican party. we had this very rare outbreak of republican decency. and there has been such a huge pushback. the tea party has come out in support of michele bachmann, the religious right, the religious research council came without with a statement of support. talk radio has rallied around her. and these are really important forces in the republican party. and eric cantor knows that. so his statement of support for her today i think is a sign that, you know, that unfortunately the john mccains and the eric boehners who are trying to kind of marginalize this kind of thing are not going to be successful. >> you speak well and true. thank you very much. i don't mind to be condescending. i agree with everything word. it rang with me. thank you so much reverend welton gaddy.

and thank you michelle goldberg. up next, oops. they did it again. the romney campaign takes more president obama words mildly out of context in a new ad. we've got the ad, by the way. watch and see how they lie here. it's really sad. and this is "hardball," the place for politics. stocks for your portfolio? with the fidelity stock screener, you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. i bought the car because of its efficiency. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget. i don't spend money on gasoline. it's been 4,000 miles since my last trip to the gas station. it's pretty great. i get a bunch of kids waving at me...

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we're back. remember the romney ad that twisted president obama's you didn't build that into a condemnation of small business owners? well the romney campaign is at it again. let's watch this web ad they released yesterday. hitting the economy. >> we've tried our plan and it worked.

that's the difference. that's the choice in this election. that's why i'm running for a second term. >> you know, i had to file my own personal bankruptcy. i had to close my business. >> i've been looking for a job for two years. >> you know, it's difficult to find employment. >> a year ago i was laid off from my job. >> i have to work part-time in order to make ends meet. >> well, now let's look at what obama actually said at a campaign stop in oakland, california, the original words. >> i'm also goingo ask anybody making over $250,000 a year? to go back to the tax rates they were paying under bill clinton, back when our economy created 23 million new jobs. the biggest budget surplus in history. and everybody did well.

just like we've tried their plan, we've tried our plan and it worked. that's the difference. that's the choice in this election. that's why i'm running for a second term. >> when you watch the whole thing, it's obvious that president obama was talking about the booming economy under president clinton. not today's economic climate as the romney ad would have you believe. with me now is david corn msnbc political analyst and author of "showdown" and ron reagan also analyst and author of "my father at 100." is there any room for wiggle there, david corn? i was reading something today saying there is a case you can find there that the romney ad was true. i don't see it because clearly if you look at that paragraph, it's about the clinton experience with tax rates that they just want to get back to. >> there was a piece in the washington post that tried to make a case, but i think that was an instance of someone bending backwards to be overly r

to a campaign who is ripping yet again a single remark, a single sentence out of context. we spent last week arguing about the "you didn't build that" remark and thou the romney campaign turned it into an ad. if you go back to really the first ad the romney campaign put out for this campaign back last november, they had barack obama on video saying, if we talk about the economy, we're going to lose. and they sliced out, that was from 2008 speech, the sentence before that in which he said, john mccain said if we talk about the economy, we're going to lose. so again and again and again, they keep doing this very creative editing. you know, you have been in the business a long time. ron has watched this for a long time. there's a certain amount of spin and interpretation that you can get away with, but i think these guys are really far over the line. and it's too bad there's no referee to call them out. >> here's the problem, ron, i'm thinking of this, we're not aiming these ads at the 46 or

47% on the left center and the left or the 47% on the right and the right center, we're aiming at the 6% in the middle. and those 6% i will argue until dooms day are inattentive. they haven't made up their mind because they haven't watched enough. therefore, they will fall for this stuff. >> that's quite possible. i was reading an article in the washington post, i don't know if it was the same article david was referencing. ironically, it was how this could work for romney, and inadvertently, the author made his own point for himself by demonstrating how it could work, not once in the article did the author do what you did, chris, which was call this what it is, a lie. he did not explain the context of barack obama's remarks. he said only that critics would allege that mitt romney was twisting barack obama -- it's -- critics will allege that because

that's true. we will have to see if he will be able to get away with it, as you put it aptly, lying about what barack obama says. fwl. >> he will -- >> a normal conversation, you wouldn't hang around with a person much longer if every time you said something to them, they took out two sentences dumped them, and put the first and fourth sentences together to make a point you never made. they're going for the fresh meat, the voter who never paid attention and is willing to buy the worst about the guy because they're down on politicians, the undecided? >> yes, and the economy is bad. people in the middle, well, on both sides, maybe disappointed that barack obama hasn't done more to make the economy better. some can argue he saved us from a depression, but still, it's not where we want to be. ads that take the lines out of context, you didn't build that, private sector is fine, all this stuff. plays on that. and ron is exactly right.

the real problem here is that you can get away with this because there's nobody who's going to say, a lot of people won't say in the major media, that you're lying, this is wrong, this is unfair. and we're going to treat you as we would a child who lies in this way and send you to your room and not pay attention to you seriously. so if those voices don't counteract this, the campaigns do this again and again and again. and they don't really care about the fact checkers that may or may not blow a whistle. >> it's like the old joke about the older woman who said i'm not voting for goldwater because he's going to take away my tv, i hear. and he said, no, actually, he's just going to get away of the tennessee valley authority, the tva, and she said i'm not taking any chances. >> mitt romney sat down with matt lauer and questioned him about the negative turn the campaign has taken. >> it seems like one wave of negative ads after another. are you proud of the campaign you're running so far?

is this the campaign you would like to run? >> i'm very proud of the fact that my campaign is focused on the economy. what we're focused on is not personal attacks but instead we're focusing on policy differences and where we think the president may have gone wrong, where we think we could do better. >> yeah, ron, except he's got a lot of people out there calling this guy an islamic terrorist. he doesn't have to do the dirty work. >> and that was another perfect example of the mainstream media doing that fair and balanced thing. it's everybody, everybody is doing it, everybody is running negative ads. i don't remember barack obama running an ad about mitt romney where he actually lied about something mitt romney said. maybe i have just missed it, but i haven't seen that yet. >> you're a good man, so you didn't miss it. a very good man, ron reagan, so you didn't miss it. david, we have to go. thank you, david corn, thank you, ron reagan. >> when we return, let me finish with a debacle of mitt romney's

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let me finish tonight with this. remember all the conversations we had about the difference between a businessman and a successful politician? you know, how one person has to focus on making profits. the other on leading lots of people. well, the idea was the two jobs are very different. calling for different kinds of competence. one person has to be good at numbers, the others at people. once has to be sensitive to

market movements, the other sensitive to moods and sensitivities. we're hearing the shout of indignation from the streets of corners of london exposing the derns between a good businessman and a good political leader for all to see. i don't know why mitt romney told brian williams that he saw the preparations for the london olympics as disconcerting. was he speaking to the british oes? to the americans back home? even the people of utah who might feel some satisfaction their guy is saying their brits aren't up to what he helped them get done back home inthis may be what we're talking about, the difference between a guy who can make a lot of money, and -- no big harm done. you can say that. you can also say we have just witnessed a nice little harmless example, the difference between a leader in the money business and a leader in the people business. and that's "hardball" for now. thank for being with us. see you again monday at 7:00

eastern. have a great weekend. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show." i'm michael eric dyson in for ed schultz. 102 days until the election and mitt romney is taking heat from one of america's greatest olympic heroes. tonight, the legendary carl lewis joins us live from london. get your running shoes on. this is "the ed show" and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> he wants to know whether we're ready. >> unbelievable. it's beyawn human understanding. it's incomprehensible. >> are we ready? >> looks to me like london is ready. >> are we ready? >> you have to sort of shake your head. >> conservatives continue to pile on mitt romney. howard fineman has today's romney shambles fallout. plus, olympic legend carl lewis said mitt romney should stay home if he doesn't know what to say. mr. lewis joins me live from london tonight. >> it's another conservative lie that just won't die. you won't believe the new numbers about president obama and islam. and you won't believe how the

romney campaign reedited his naacp speech to make it look like he was a big hit. all that, plus director peter bogdanovic on gun violence in movies. ellen burstyn on obama versus romney, and jay roach on art imitating life in his new movie. >> after cam brady's punching incident, he's jumped 11 points in the polls. >> mitt romney's splash across the pond may be engolfed by the games in the pond, but by the scathing estimation of the brits and the head shaking wonder of romney's usual allies here in america, the candidate himself continued his mile-long walk back and in fact, mitt romney hasn't talked this much about the olympics since 1988 when he took a break from outsourcing american jobs to