but democrats continue to fight today. >> women will have access to the health care that their doctor says they need. not what an insurance company says they need or what some right winger wants to take away from them. >> yes, it is a war on women. because if they really cared about women and didn't like obama care they would have a proposal on the floor. >> do you really want to take away these benefits from women? from children? from men, from families? yeah. i guess you do. i guess you stand for going back to the old days. >> that's just it. republicans are living in the past. they are attacking women's rights at a time when this country needs jobs, jobs, jobs. joining me now is terry o'neill, president of the national organization for women.

and malik a henderson, political reporter for "the washington post." let me thank you both of you for joining me tonight. >> thanks. >> great to be here. >> terry, this bill is radical. i mean, it actually criminalizes abortion. and yet it has 222 co-sponsors. i mean, how's that for the gop priorities? >> i know. reverend, you are absolutely right. and i think that what we immediate to do right now is focus on removing those people from the house of representatives. we need to defeat them in november. as many of them as we possibly can. there are a number of republican representatives that are at risk. they are vulnerable this year. we need to go after them and we need to see how they vote this evening. but many of them are already on record voting the wrong way in this ongoing war on women. and we simply need to replace them. >> now, the gop bill that is being put forth for this vote today was first introduced by

arizona congressman trent franks who is a republican. and it has 222 sponsors as i said. co-sponsors. 2 16 of them are republican. and 204 of them are men. now, also was something to note is the bill was discussed in a hearing back in may, yet delegate eleanor holmes morton, the district's lone non-voting member of congress, was not allowed to even speak about it. yet the bill is about her district. >> right. that's -- that's pretty remarkable. i think this isnq going to give democratsmainin a chance to rea return again to a theme that did them some good in terms of polls among women. that is of this idea that republicans were going to roll back women's rights, roll back women's access to health care. gain traction in the polls certainly showed they were leading among republicans.

what's interesting here is that you do see something of a division between the sort of campaign romney wants to run, a focus on the to economy. and the sort of campaign that these congress folks want to run in congress, republicans who also are, of course, are up for re-election in november. so there is a lot of daylight in some ways in terms of at least what romney wants to talk about in and what republicans on the hill want to talk about. but i do think you are going to see democrats obviously try to link the two ande really try to frame romney as someone who is -- whohock also wants to rol rights. you have seen these ads specifically in virginia, casting romney as an enemy of planned parenthood, enemy of abortion rights. and so i think that's going to be an interesting development. we will to see what comes out of the vote today. i don't think it has any chance of passing p pit think it needs 280 votes. i don't think that will happen. >> month. i don't think it has a chance either. what's inning, though, is as they are winding down, headed for break, that they are even

going through this -- that's probably futile rather than going through some job creation which theyey claim they want. but then they haver consistent been on the anti-women or war against women kind ofnt proposa and not dealing with jobs. mine, look at the agenda. voted to defund planned parenthood. they fought the birth control mandate. they voted to ban d.c. from using district funds for abortions. i mean, they have been -- i mean, just over and over and over again, aggressive in these fights against women's rights and not nearly as aggressive in terms of fighting for jobs. and raise being well, romney's running a different campaign but he's not denounced any of these efforts by them. >> no. i -- romney has become the enemy of planned parenthood and become the enemy of women's access to reproductive health care. i don't think there's any doubt about that. you know, it is really interesting, i think that if romney succeeds in focusing on

the economy, he will lose independent women voters. because his economic plan is devastating to women. once women start really paying attention to that, he's going to lose the independent women's vote. it is entirely possible that maybe these reckless attacks on women's access to reproductive health care are really intended to rev up the republican base preciselyh deep because indepena women, there will be -- i predict there will be a very significant gender gap when we finally reach november, when the independent women really begin looking at romney's economic plans for women. and beyond that, i think that she raises a really important question, at least in my mind. what is behind this reckless attack on women? it is creating an enormous gender gap. certainly on the part of democrats and it makes it more likely that these vulnerable republicans in the house will be defeated.

you know, as far as i'm concerned, this is -- they are pursuing an agenda that needs to beis stopped and all of the enablers of extremists like trent franks need to be stopped and need to be replaced. >> it is not even politically wuz. one of the reasons we wanted to lead with this tonight is tomorrow, tomorrow morning, 47 million will get guaranteed coverage for preventative services, including contraceptions, contraceptives, domestic violence counseling, well-women visits. tomorrow morning. yet, they have done all they could, senators like mitch mcconnell are bent on getting rid of the affordable care act that makes this go into effect tomorrow which will do huge things for women starting tomorrow. >> and you can imagine that democrats and certainly the obama campaign will talk about this and you see that already that they are being able to -- they are able to target certain groups around ofthis. not only women, latinos and

african-americans really tout some of the benefits for obama care and you do have republicani who are very insistent of they want to roll back obama care, replace it with, no sense of that just yet. it is interesting on the one hand you feel like republicans do have something of an entryway in terms of talking about the economy and talking about the jobs and talking about this president's record so far but they are in some ways using these very divisive cultural issues to gin up their base. whether or not that will work or whether or not that works for them in november to give mitt romney a boost because he certainly needs that among conservatives, i think it is an open question but important now i think you do see if you look at polls people are overwhelmingly concerned about jobs in the economy and divisive social issues just aren't where people are in terms of what they are thinking about in terms of this election. >> it may gin up their oppositions base. thank you both for your time this evening.

>> thank you. >> ahead -- willard romney will come to even more controversy as a bombshell, a real bombshell, accusation on his taxes comes out from one of the most powerful politicians in the country. plus, the former republican party chair in florida is spilling secrets. he says his party actively tried to suppress the black vote. florida congresswoman debbie wassermann schultz joins us live. the cost of republican extremism is gridlock at a time when people need leadership? republican members of congress are talking. big story today.

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folks, have you joined us on facebook yet? that's where the "politics nation" conversation happens 24/7. today people were talking about vor suppression. marquest reminds us that the first step to have stopping voter suppression is to expose it. and deidre has the second step. i encourage all people who know someone that doesn't have the right i.d. to help that person get it, quote, we have got to stand up. john called out the gop's false claims on voter fraud. quote, it is a voter fraud fraud and no, that wasn't a fraudian slip. we want to hear what you think, too. head over to facebook and search politics nation.

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find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. we are back with a bombshell accusation in the controversy over mitt romney's failure to release more tax returns. the claim comes from the top democrat in the u.s. senate. majority leader harry reid. part of an interview he gave to the huffington post, the article says, quote, a month or so ago, reid said a person who had invested with bain capital called his office and said,

quote, harry, he didn't pay any taxes for ten years. reid recounting the person as saying, now, do i know that that's true? well, i'm not certain, said reid. but obviously he can't release those tax returns. how would it look? folks, this is a dramatic escalation of a controversy over romney's taxes. the speculation is coming from one of the most powerful politicians in the country. it comes just days after romney was caught off guard with another question about his taxes. >> was there ever any year when you paid lower than the 13.9%? >> i haven't calculated that. i'm happy to go back and look but -- my view is i have paid all the taxes required by law. >> romney still hasn't come back with an answer on that. and he still hasn't addressed the question about his finances.

the american people have a right to know more. joining me now is democratic strategist bob shrum who ran ted kennedy's campaign against romney in 1994. bob, let me start with you. senator reid said he didn't know if this claim about romney's taxes was true. what's your take on the fact he was willing to put this into play at all? >> well, let me put this in context. romney is returning from the worst foreign trip of any presidential candidate since his father went to vietnam and came home and said he had been brainwashed. as i wrote in my column in the daily beast today he must have been sitting in that stadium saying, oh, to be in ohio now that the olympics are here. well, he's going to be back in ohio and will face these questions. and i think harry reid went out there and said what a lot of us are thinking and some of us have already said if you have been in a presidential campaign, you

want to release those returns. you sit down and you look at them and the only reason you wouldn't release them is if there's something profoundly embarrassing in there. i think this is going to dog romney all the way through the fall. he's going to have to either put them out there or just stonewall and if he didn't pay taxes for any number of years or if he has a lot more swiss bank accounts or offshore accounts, he's going to keep stonewalling. look, he's already been embarrassed. i mean, he got a bigger deduction for his wife's dancing horse than the average middle class family earns in a year. i think we are dash i think he will stonewall. i think there is something really bad in the returns and i think harry reid is probably right. >> when you look at it just politically, look at the fact that polls show 54% say that he should release more tax returns. 44% think it will include more damaging information. if you are advising willard mitt

romney, why wouldn't you tell him to release more given this view? got over half of those polls saying you should release more. and you have almost half, over 40% saying that they think because he's not releasing it there'sing? more damaging. why wouldn't you tell him to release it other than whatever he would release is more damaging than not releasing them? >> that's right. you have heard calls from prominent republicans saying he should release a couple more returns, at least and even people in his own camp. there is a bit of discussion about whether or not to release additional tax returns. he has been a very steadfast in his refusal to release additional tax returns. and he has had that position going way back to 1994. when he first ran for senate. i think he has judged that whatever is in those tax returns are more -- is more damaging than stonewalling and so far he has been able to get away with that and he is betting the only

person that will be thinking about mitt romney's tax returns on election day is mitt romney when he goes into the voting booth there. i think, again, or -- democrats have been very good at have this narrative mitt romney is out of touch, he's wealthy and doesn't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. and he -- i think when on this foreign trip in some ways hoping to change the subject, hoping to get away -- >> oh, he changed the subject all right. >> he did change the subject. not in a good way but he going to come back, i think, and face more questions. he's going to be haunted by that statement in that interview where he says he would be more than happy to go back and look and see what tax rate he paid well beyond the years he's released. i think he is going to get more of those questions and goes back again to the romney campaign has a way of trying to avoid the press. we saw that overseas when they had a confrontation over there with the press. i think when he gets back here, these questions are going to continue to dog him. >> bob, you -- managed campaigns

against him including ted kennedy's campaign. will he cave in or do you think that no matter what they are going to dig in and maintain this position that they are not giving any more information now? >> look, i think she's right. the fact of the matter is that he's got some smart people who work for him. they have -- they -- he either hasn't told them what's in the returns because they are afraid even to tell them or the have sat down, looked around the table, finally looked at each other and said, we can't afford to release these. one of the things i don't understand is this guy has been running for president since 2002. when he ran for governor of massachusetts in 2002, he was already heading for a white house run. why in the world wouldn't he fix his taxes in those subsequent years? he didn't have to take every deduction he was entitled to. a prudent person would have seen to it they could release those returns. but i don't think he's that kind of person. i think instinctively he does or says the wrong thing. i mean the example she just

cites where he says yeah, i will be happy go back and look and come back to you. that's going to haunt him. and because he's instinctively bad and it goes back to i like to fire people, i'm also unemployed, all of it -- we have -- corporations are people and you went home to walk your dog bank of america that night, i remember. but -- he -- there is this narrative out there that i think has taken hold and he's gone through a whole month or more than a month now where we have been talking about bain, we have been talking about his offshore accounts and talking about his taxes and good lord, for the last week, we talked about the folly of this trip overseas. >> let me give you something else to talk about. he's not the only one that seems instinctively bad. let me show you what an aide of his did with the media today. >> governor romney! >> governor romney, do you have a statement for the palestinian? >> what about your gaffe? >> governor romney, do you feel

your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip? >> governor romney. >> show some respect. >> this is a holy site for the polish people. show some respect. >> they have a strange way of respecting holy sites, don't you think? >> in some ways, yes. that was rich gorka, press wrangler out there and whose job is to defend and deflect questions from the press and to defend mitt romney from having to answer those. i have been out there shouting questions to mitt romney often in that scenario. i think the press clearly frustrate order that trip they didn't get a many questions. it was three altogether. he did do some interviews with the national press but the traveling press corps very much invested in asking him questions. getting him to respond to what many people judge to be a disastrous trip from the very

beginning. starting in london and remarks he made in israel offensive to palestinians. you saw that frustration bubbling over. i think many times lower level staff members reflect a greater frustration from the higher levels of a staff. >> that's rue but they -- they rarely extend such invitations to the media. thank you. double duty tonight. thank you. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> still ahead -- a former top republican says party officials have been plotting to suppress minority voters. what are democrats going to do about it? we will talk to congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. plus, think you got olympic fever? check out this guy. one of london's finest brought some moves in our summer break. stay with us. ♪ ♪

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presidential elections have been won and lost. it has become a central battleground in the fight over voting rights. florida is among 19 states to pass restrictive voting laws since 2010. republican officials there have enacted measures to limit early voting, restrict voter registration, and purge voters from the roles entirely. estimated 87% of the voters on the original purge list were minorities. and they were more likely to be democrats and independents. a former chairman of florida's republican party has some new accusations that are even worse. in court documents released last week, jim grier talked about attending a gop meeting where political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks

from voting. he said, quote, they talked about not letting blacks vote and minority outreach programs were not fit for the republican party, end of quote. these accusations are does pushing to say the least. so what's being done about it? joining me now is florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. chair woman of the democratic national committee. congresswoman, thank you for joining me tonight. >> thanks for having me again, reverend al. it is great to be with you. >> let me ask you first what's your reaction to these claims about suppressing the black vote from the former state chair of the republican party of florida? >> well, the former chairman of the republican party in florida, jim grier, would certainly know and those are some explosive allegations. in there, we have been struggling, democrat versus republican, since 2000. democrats fighting to make sure

we can get as much access to the polls for eligible voters as we can and get their votes counted and republicans have been doing the opposite. republicans since 2000 from when they shut down the recount and prevented lawfully and legally cast ballots from being counted to the last two years since they took over the governor's mansions and held the governor's mansions and the legislature, that passed laws designed to make sure that fewer people can get access to the polls. what we are doing is making hurt that in spite of all that effort to prevent people from getting to the polls, the obama campaign and democratic party is making sure that we can get people the answer to their questions about how to register and about where the polling place is, and about what they are going to need to bring to the polls and people can log on to gottavote.org and get the information and answer to those questions because the democratic party will do everything we can to make sure

that regardless of whether you speak english or spanish, regardless of where you live, if you are eligible to vote and lawfully eligible to vote, we are going to doing everything we can to make sure that you can cast that ballot. the republicans are doing everything they can to prevent it. >> congresswoman, you know i spent some time in florida lately. >> yes, did you. thank you for that. >> voter i.d. and nonpartisan. not for either party-going back with the bishop next week. one of the things i noticed, going after the early voting, look at the data, 54% of african-american voted early last time. >> that's right. >> it is consistent with some of their strategy is consistent with some of the things dpreer is saying. >> it is. it is, reverend al. you only have to look at the statistics. some of which you just cited. you have about 60% of african-americans that voted in the election that cast their

ballot sunday before the election day. so it is not surprising that because they -- the african-american community turned out in such high percentages and voted for barack obama that one of the provisions of the -- of the voter suppression law that the republicans in florida passed got rid of voting on the sunday before the election. and so what we are doing at the obama campaign and democratic party is making sure that regardless of those obstacles thrown in the path of voters, we are doing everything we can to make sure that vote verse the information they need, whether they speak english or spanish, because the gottavote.org website, that website has the information in english and spanish and we want to make sure people get the answers to their questions particularly about what they need to bring to the polls. in florida, and in other states, photo i.d. is required now. that's challenging for some people to get, particularly african-americans. 25% of african-americans don't have a photo i.d. we are setting up a system with

our volunteers and our wlaurs that we are deploying to make it easy to get them to the polls. >> the "miami herald" reports that the justice department has documents claiming that florida voter purge violates voting rights, voting rights act. in pact, it says, quote, the feds say florida never submitted a new citizensship, maintenance practices, to them for approval. and being in florida is a voting rights state, and supposed to get pre-clearance from the justice department, it didn't do it before they went with this voter purge effort. >> basically the republicans in florida led by governor rick sp spatt got caught violating the voting rights act. we have six florida counties subject to the voting rights act for past -- obstacles and discrimination in getting people access to the polls.

and so the department of justice has said that the voter purge efforts by rick scott and republicans in florida violated the voting rights act because every change in the ving rights law that is -- happens in a voting rights state has to be pre-approved, submitted and pre-approved by the department of justice. they didn't do had a. the reason they didn't do that is because they wanted to try to clear people off the polls, off the voting roles as much as possible before they got caught. now fortunately that voter purge, thanks to the department of justice, this information has ceased and, again, through gottavote.org, we are doing everything we can in the obama campaign and democratic party to get people the information they need to get registered, make sure they know where their polling place is and what they need to bring to the polls. >> i might add before we let you go you nor i nor anyone i know is trying to say people had a

shun be purged shouldn't be purge. >> no. >> a lot of people we found were not noncitizens, not -- >> that's right. >> as well as the fact that people that we are finding out that don't have the photo i.d. are citizens. we are not saying to let fraud go. we are saying there is no fraud. >> absolutely. if you are legally and lawfully eligible to vote you should be able to cast your ballot. it is absolutely outrageous and un-american for the state of florida under the republicans leadership to put people on a purge list that are -- eligible to vote, lawfully able to vote and then accuse them of being noncitizens and actually purge them before they various tie it. it is not right. and fortunately we are able to put a stop to it, get them turned around and that will help us make sure we can get people to the polls who legally and lawfully should be able to get to the polls and cast a ballot. >> congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for your time. >> thank you, reverend al.

coming up -- the cost of extremism. gop leadership is failing the country. and now even some republicans are saying it has to change. [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. and also to build my career. so i'm not about to always let my frequent bladder urges, or the worry my pipes might leak get in the way of my busy lifestyle. that's why i take care, with vesicare. once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle and is proven to treat overactive bladder

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we are back with a pause from the political battles of the day. time to relax and recharge. that's right. it is time for the "politics nation" summer break. we begin with the most amazing card trick you may ever see. this guy's got skill. look at that. unlike a republican deal, there's no strings attached. at least not any we can see. amazing. now to london. the city's famed double decker buses are really getting a workout. thanks to all those extra tourists. talk about road ready. this pushup performing double decker comes complete with sound effects. the artists that created it said

he hopes it inspires even nonathletes to get moving. now we need one of those for this do-nothing gop congress. speaking of moves, check out this break dancing british police officer. he wowed the crowd by busting loose. somebody call "britain's got talent." reminds me of another dancing king. too bad president bush is skipping next month's republican convention. he could have been the life of the party. and that's today's summer break. these work, right? no. all right. mom! look what i found in the shed! no! no! no!

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we are back with a look at the cost of republican

extremism. americans are hurting. they need jobs. they need the government's help. but republicans are ignoring those cries for help and pushing their own extreme agenda. now some republicans have had enough. g it was announced today he is retiring and offered this scathing criticism of what his party has become. >> the atmosphere today and reality of this to -- in the house of representatives no longer encourages the findings of common ground. words like compromise have been considered to be dirty words. people are more interested in fighting with each other than they are in getting no t no-brainers done. >> a republican says republicans are more interested in fighting than governing. he's not alone. gop congressman richard hanna

told a new york paper, i'm frustrated by how much we, i mean the republican party, are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in the -- in this moment in history. no wonder these republicans are frustrated. they have been hearing more and more extreme rhetoric from the far right of their party. from politicians like tea party senate candidate richard murdoch who is refusing to even talk about compromise. >> i don't think there is going to be a lot of successful compromise. hence have you the deadlock we have today. what i said about compromise and bipartisanship is i hope to build a conservative majority in the united states senate so bipartisanship becomes democrats joining republicans to roll back the size of government, reduce the bureaucracy, lower taxes, and get america moving again. the fact is you never compromise on principles. >> another extreme tea partier, ted cruz is poised to win the

republican senate primary in texas today. extreme takeover of the gop is real. and there's a serious cost to the american people. joining me now is victoria, fellow and university of texas and our nbc latino contributor. wayne slater, senior political reporter for the "dallas morning news." thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> now, wayne, are you surprised to hear this kind of criticism coming from within the gop? >> no, i'm not surprised. you look at what the tea party method, its approach, actual banner of the tea party as it begins to form in 2009. and manifested itself in 2010. no compromise, no retreat. and what's happening now is the chickens have come home to roost. and the republican party less and less is a place for moderate republicans. so what you see is a squeeze and

divide within the republican party, we see it here in texas with the ted cruz race. we have seen it elsewhere where the idea of compromise is out the window and the whole thing is about my side, my way, my highway, or no way. >> well, let me ask you victoria. when you look at the fact that several republicans have come out and spoken out strongly against the extreme turn in the gop-led olympia snowe who announced her retirement from congress earlier this year. spoken out about, quote, an atmosphere polarization and a my way or the highway ideology. former state senator chuck hagel recently said that there is a streak of intolerance in the republican party today that scares people. and richard luger reear said of murdoch said his embrace of an

unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my fills on if you of governance. are we going to start seeing more and more of a backlash for moderate republicans to try to take this party back towards some kind of track towards moderation and for that matter, a position of being able to win independent voters? >> regrettably, reverend, i don't see it. at least important the short to medium term, i think that this may be the decade of the tea party for a number of reasons. is the movement in 2010 institutionalized? it is not just folks going to rallies and get angry. folks going to rallies and phone banking, block walking and voting. second, redistricting that happened this last time around was able to carve out a number of state and congressional level seats for the tea party and that's going to stay around. finally, the senate so we are seeing that growing constituency of your ted cruzzes and marco

rubios, rand pauls in the senate and they have a longer term there. we are going to see longevity of the tea party for at least a decade. >> now, let me ask you when you look at ted cruz, tea party candidate poised to win the republican senate primary today, oppose amnesty and the dream act. medicaid sun constitutional. wants to abolish the department of education. supports radical privatization of social security. and proposes state nullification of the affordable care act. i mean, he's poised to win the republican primary tonight in texas, wayne. i mean, what's his chances of winning in november if he clinch it is nomination? what's this mean? >> yeah. his chances are very -- if he wins the nomination tonight, which it appears he very well may, then his chances of winning

in november and in a red state like texas are 90% to 95%. this is a republican state, republican seat. he would join those other strongly conservative tea party minded senators in washington in the event that he wins tonight he may not but if he does, and i think he's right. what's happened here is the institutionalization of the tea party. reminds me of what happened in 1988 when a preacher from virginia, pat robertson, basically decided to put together a political operation. not a religious operation but a political efficient political operation and that institutionalization of the tea party and in a place like texas today has created a turnout that says basically you have to be farther right than the other guy in order to be nominated. these two people who were running against each other, ted cruz, and the so-called institutional sort of establishment candidate, lieutenant governor, aren't --

don't differ virtually all on any main issue. this is about the tea party demand that you have a visceral sort of fighting stance when you show up in washington. i was with ted cruz last week here in texas traveling. ted cruz told a group much to their approval that i'm willing to compromise so long as the other side comes around to my way of thinking. >> wow. when you look at that, victoria, you feel that even the politics of it doesn't make sense. poll shows majority of americans think the republican congress is extreme. 52% of americans said the extreme and job approval for the republicans in congress is dismal. recent "washington post" poll showed 71% of americans disapprove of the job republicans are doing in congress. so they are really killing their

party. >> it is no longer a matter of whether republicans and democrats will play in the sandbox. now whether republicans and republicans will play in the sandbox and regrettably it doesn't look like they are. >> victoria and wayne, thank you both for your time tonight. >> nice to be with you. we will be right back with my etiquette tip. [ female announcer want to spend less and retire with more?

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welcome back. we all know the basic rules of etiquette. send thank you notes. hold the door. say please. and thank you. after his debacle overseas, willard needs a crash course in manners. so i present to you reverend al's etiquette tips. let's start from the beginning

of mitt's trip. who can forget house take on the london olympics? >> do they look ready to your experienced eye? >> you know, it is hard to know just how well it will turn out. there are a few things that were disconcerting. >> well, we all know this was the beginning of the romney shambles on twitter. so here's tip number one. never insult your host. you won't get invited back. and we all know he loves sending things overseas. next lesson. here's romney getting chatty after one of his meetings. >> i appreciated the insights and perspectives of the leaders of the government here. and opposition here. as well as the head of mi-6. >> oh, boy. he's talking about meeting with the uk's secret intelligence service. shhhhh.

tip number two, mum's the word. especially in england. romney keeps his taxes private. why not do the same with state secrets? while we are on the subject of staying quiet, don't insult an entire culture. that's what he did to the palestinians. tip number three, think before you speak. if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. willard, on your next trip make sure to follow these tips. you will do much better. but wait. there's one more from your aide. >> show some respect. >> governor romney. >> show some respect. >> we won't have another chance to ask him questions. >> this is a holy site for the pole your peop polish people. show some respect. >> i think i need a new chapter on reverend al's etiquette tips. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now.

road rage. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris math news washington. let me start with mitt romney's bumpy adventure. before this week, his most infamous trip out of the country was when he roped the family dog to the roof. no more. after trashing the brits olympics, degrading the arabs, we figured there would be worse trouble coming in poland. boy, we were right. here's the word from romney's spokesman on that leg of the trip. hold your ears. this is official. kiss my -- he yelled to the reporters asking for a word from the candidate. he yelled at the other one -- shove it. these are his people speaking for mitt romney. is this the message for mr. and mrs. north america and all the ships at sea? kiss my -- and shove it?

talk about a bad audition. his people wanted to show how well he would behave overseas. so who is the character we have seen the last week? the one we discovered out there in the country of the world. mitt romney or don rickles? let's talk about the latest crazy road trip of mitt romney's. jonathan martin is with politico. part of the traveling press corps recovering mitt romney. he joins from us poland. glen johnson is "the boston globe's" politics reporter. with me here in the studio, simon marks, chief correspondent for feature story news. jonathan martin, i know you don't like to get into this but let's talk about the fact that you are on the spot and you have "dateline" integrity and looking good. here's the infamous dustup in warsaw. early this morning, reporters covering romney tried to shout questions to the governor. as he got into his motorcade. romney had only answered three questions from the