"obama trip gaffeless, picture-perfect." the article said, david axelrod could not have scripted a better week for his candidate. four years and four days later, the conservative "washington times" headline reads, "romney endures tough road trip." the article says, on a trip mitt romney hoped would impress america's allies, the presumptive republican presidential nominee managed to anger the nation's potential adversaries, particularly palestinian leaders, who felt mr. romney's comments during his trip to israel smacked of racism. today mitt romney tried to lie his way out of the palestinian controversy on the network most receptive to his lies. >> i'm not speaking about it, did not speak about the palestinian culture or the decisions made in their economy. that's an interesting topic that perhaps could deserve scholarly analysis, but i actually didn't address this. >> this is what romney is now denying he said about the

economic achievements of israelis and palestinians. you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality. as i consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, i recognize the power of at least culture and a few other things. before getting mitt romney on the plane home today, team romney managed one more ridiculous mistake, this time by the traveling press secretary who apparently believed that it is acceptable in poland to angrily demand that the press kiss him. >> governor romney, do you feel that your gaffes have overshadowed your foreign trip? >> this is a holy site for the polish people. show some respect. >> governor romney, just a few questions -- >> show some respect. >> we haven't had a chance to ask him questions. >> kiss my [ bleep ]. this is a holy site for the polish people. show some respect.

>> romney press secretary also thought it was perfectly reasonable to tell a political reporter to "shove it" before calling reporters to then apologize. today the romney campaign and republican national committee released this ad. >> my own experience was i got the chance to start my own business. i know what it's like to hire people and to wonder whether you're going to be able to make ends meet down the road. >> romney of course has absolutely no idea what it feels like to wonder if you're going to be able to make ends meet. he was born rich, inherited $1 million from his father, which he really didn't need by then because romney had devoted his life to moving from rich to super rich. and he made it to super rich without ever taking a chance of any kind, without ever risking anything. and now another reading from the real romney. romney explained to bain that he didn't want to risk his position, earnings, and

reputation on an experiment so bain sweetened the pot, he guaranteed that if the experiment failed, romney would get his old job and salary back, plus any pay raises he would have earned during his absence. bain promised that, if necessary, he would craft a cover story saying that romney's return to bain & company was needed because of his value as a consultant. so, bain explained, there was no professional or financial risk. tonight, with 98 days until the election, president obama's reelection campaign released this television ad that will air in six swing states. >> you watched and worried. two wars, tax cuts for millionaires, debt piled up, and now we face a choice. mitt romney's plan? a new $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, increase military spending, adding trillions to the deficit. or president obama's plan, a balanced approach, $4 trillion

in deficit reduction, millionaires pay a little more. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message because to cut the deficit we need everyone to pay their fair share. >> joining me now, msnbc's joy reid and ari melber. joy, just to set the table for the audience about what the kissing's all about. >> yeah. >> it's that the press has felt shut out. in fact, greta van susteren, no enemy of romney's, wrote on her blog yesterday, "there has been no press access to governor romney since we landed in poland. we are in a holding pattern. i can't help but feel a bit like the press is a modified petting zoo since we are trapped in a bus while polish citizens take pictures of us." so the press, as it will, in these situations starts to yell the questions when the guy's walking by. and the traveling press secretary thought he'd turn that into a romantic opportunity of sorts. >> absolutely. >> and demand a kiss. >> how dare the press demand to

ask questions of the presidential candidate? how dare they? you know, i think, lawrence, we are starting to see what a sense of entitlement looks like in realtime. what i'm starting to get from mitt romney -- because he's not dumb, okay? >> well, i'm reserving judgment. >> we'll reserve judgment on that. >> that's one of those things everybody says, he's not dumb, he's not dumb, he's not dumb. a bunch of dumb things have happened. >> it's true, but you've got to start to presume he's not trying, right? it's starting to look like he's really not trying to run for president. he simply feels entitled to the office so he isn't bothering to prepare, he isn't bothering to think through what he's going to say, he doesn't care who he offends. that's the only conclusion i can come to, unless he's dumb. and, ari, he's gone back tonight to the culture of economic achievement. he's written this piece for the national review and comes out and stresses, yes, culture does play a role. he never mentions palestinian culture and why the palestinian

culture has left them so far behind the israeli culture in economic achievement. but he is trying now to please conservatives with yet another expression about culture determining economic achievement. >> yeah. diplomacy is harder than it looks, and he made these comments out there. he brought up the notion of comparing the cultures of two peoples, a nation state and the palestinian quasi-state that wants more rights, and he decided that while there, in jerusalem there, he would bring up this cultural comparison. but now he's backing off and saying, well, maybe it deserves more scholarly research. when you're president, you don't get to do that. you don't get to punt back to the academy or anywhere else. you have to decide what is worth saying and words matter an incredible amount when you're abroad. the other thing i'll say about this is, i do feel for him that he's learning how hard it is. i don't believe he really knew this. maybe it's entitlement, maybe it's the fact that he hasn't done it before, but it's a relatively new thing to have candidates go abroad. mccain and obama did do it, but in the cycle before candidates

did not travel abroad, and you have to go back to sort of the thomas dewey election to find other examples. mcgovern and assassin -- stasen, dewey's rivals, the only other people who did it. there was a piece out basically reviewing what he said in israel and said he maybe violated the first rule of traveling abroad, and they know something there about how combustible it is. they said, first do no harm, and he's done some harm. >> and, joy, he's a panderer, a relentless panderer. so, yes, of course he gets off the plane in israel and he's going to pander and he's going to say praiseful things about the israelis, who are an easy population to praise. i've been to israel. there's a lot to praise there. what he didn't know, because i'm not so sure he's so smart -- it's not hard to know this -- what he didn't know is, how do i praise the israelis without

insulting the palestinians? he didn't know how to do that. >> and you also have to consider the possibility, right, that everything that romney has done hasn't been about the country he's in or the audience that was directly in front of him. you know, there is a way in which saying the things that he said pleases, once again, the base that he's truly beholden to back here in the united states, conservative christians who do have this view of anything related to muslims, right? that they are inherently inferior, inherently bad, and anything you say that slights them with that base. you could read into it, a machiavellian lead of what he did in israel is, you know what, this is another dog whistle back to the base, culture matters. there's a lot in this op-ed that he has in the "national review" that goes back to a lot of these same tropes that are trying to constantly stroke this base to say, you are superior. you are inherently superior because of something he's vaguely calling culture. >> there was one diplomatic expert who was highly impressed by the romney trip. let's listen to ambassador rush limbaugh.

>> now the reporters are harassing romney, they're trying to create gaffes. they are trying -- they're working on behalf of barack obama. they are attempting to carry forth the miehm that romney's foreign trip is a disaster, that it's one gaffe after another. they are trying to do this in the mainstream media. and the fact of the matter is, romney is having a home run of a trip. >> exactly one rave review, ari. there it is. >> i love it, lawrence. i love it, and i love having the ambassador here, a little sampling of what you can get for three hours a day if you want it. the problem is that rush limbaugh doesn't know what he's talking about. you know, you've worked in the upper echelon of politics. there is swearing, there is stuff that goes on where people use, you know, bad words. i've been chewed out by democrats as well as republicans when reporting. that's not the problem. the problem is, they're shutting down access to, as you mentioned, fox news' greta van susteren to the "new york times," even though they're

spending tens of thousands of dollars to go and report on the trip. dylan myers looked at then-senator obama's trip, he took 25 questions during his trip from the traveling press corps on a battery of issue. i've traveled and seen him scream, trying to get a question in, the same thing that rush limbaugh says is bad. i've seen it happen to both candidates. the difference is that then-senator obama took those questions. the count in comparison was three. three questions mitt romney took over this whole trip. and again, just like taxes, just like so many other issues, it really raises a fundamental question, even if you want to be sympathetic to mitt romney, which is, why is he so afraid to have an open dialogue about any aspect of his campaign? >> and just for the audience to understand, the reason why the press yells these questions is, every once in a while, not often, a president will turn and answer them. we saw bush do it on a golf course. if you yell questions, it will happen. so it makes it worth it. and then they yell more, the more you shun them, as romney's doing.

joy reid and ari melber, thank you both for joining me tonight. coming up, did mitt romney pay zero in taxes for ten years? david cay johnston will join me. and sandra fluke will be here with congress' latest moves to block health services for women. and in the "rewrite," mitt romney gets attacked for his involvement in the olympic sport of dressage, and fox news does the not mount an all-out attack on the romney attacker because this time the romney attacker works for fox news. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally.

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why does mitt romney think that his tax returns could destroy his chance to be president? could it possibly be that he paid no taxes for ten years? that's coming up next.

and in the "rewrite" tonight, fox news attacks mitt romney for sending his very expensive horse to the olympics. a man, a horse, and fox news are in the "rewrite." building pass, corporate card, verizon 4g lte phone. the global ready one ? yeah, but you won't need... ♪ hajimemashite. hajimemashite. hajimemashite. you guys like football ? thank you so much. i'm stoked. you stoked ? totally. ... and he says, "under the mattress." souse le matelas. ( laughter ) why's the new guy sending me emails from paris ? paris, france ? verizon's 4g lte devices are global-ready. plus, global data for just $25. only from verizon.

can we clear this up by asking you a simple yes-or-no question. was there ever any year when you paid lower than the 13.9%? >> well, 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.

from time to time, i've been audited, as happens i think to other citizens as well. >> that's mitt romney's answer to a simple yes-or-no question. senator harry reid thinks that he now knows why mitt romney refuses to answer that simple yes-or-no question. senator reid tells sam stein at "the huffington post" that he spoke with a bain insider who told him, "harry, he didn't pay any taxes for ten years, reid recounted the person saying, he didn't pay taxes for ten years. 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?" bloomberg's "businessweek's" josh green speculates that mitt romney likely did not pay any taxes in 2009 after suffering investment losses in the financial meltdown. politico asked the romney campaign on july 18th if there was any year in which romney paid zero dollars in taxes.

romney press secretary andrea saul then replied, not true. team obama released this ad today. >> was there ever any year when you paid lower than the 13.9%? >> well, i haven't calculated that. i'm happy to go back and look. >> abc news reached out to the campaign today after romney's answer. a spokesperson would only reiterate, mitt romney has paid his taxes in full compliance with u.s. law. >> joining me now is david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning columnist for reuters. david, it is not conceivable to me that he would not know the yes-or-no answer to, was there ever a year you paid no taxes? the returns get presented to him and a couple of things get pointed out. if they're really in a big hurry, they point out, here's where you sign and here's how much you owe. here's how much you're paying

this year. and when it's zero, the accountants proudly point to the zero. >> it is beyond belief, lawrence, that this man who has worked so hard, as you've pointed out, to go from being rich to super rich, to replace the silver spoon in his mouth with a thick, solid platinum spoon, doesn't know whether he paid less than 13.9%. maybe he doesn't know the exact personal, but he knows the answer to that question. it's just another example of his forgetting things, whether it's bullying people or other important events, he's gone to the "i don't recall" defense. >> now there's a party line developing in the republican party about why he shouldn't show any more returns, kind of supporting the romney position, enunciated now by dick cheney. let's listen to that. >> you asked every vice presidential, potential vice presidential pick, to give ten years of tax returns. you released ten years of tax returns.

president bush, governor bush at that time, released ten years of tax returns. what do you think? as a practical matter, should romney just bite the bullet? >> you can argue, should it be one, should it be five, should it be ten? if he had two years out, they'd want four, if he had six out, they'd want ten. >> now, there's a guy whose tax returns were quite complex. he is involved with a very big international company. >> and he paid very heavy taxes. cheney paid almost the maximum every year. >> really? he was up close to 30 or above? >> 35% or so, right at the top. absolutely. >> because he was taking basic salary income from a corporation and not trying to do any magic tricks. >> that's right. cheney's not about making money. cheney's a man who's all about the power that he has. romney's a guy who's about making money. >> he also knew, there may be a day where i may have to submit these returns for a senate confirmation to another cabinet post or, as it turned out, a vice president. he was living a life with those returns knowing he might have to

reveal them publicly. >> right. he may become defense secretary rather than a vice presidential candidate. >> when you look at the beauty of david meier's question, yes or no, did you ever pay less than that rate? it's such a simple, easy question. that's what everybody should be coming up with. when they get their chance with romney, it should be modeled after that yes-or-no style. >> well, and you have to parse questions very carefully here. andrea saul's response is, of course he paid taxes. sales taxes? the poorest person in america pays taxes. did he pay federal income taxes and massachusetts state income taxes every year? that's the question. >> not property taxes and all other kinds of things you can't get out of. the issue here, it seems to me from the romney side has always been, it will go away. the olympics will come along and it will go away. we'll go to israel, it will go away. he goes to israel. he gets hit with it again. >> it is not going to go away. i don't think you're going to see them release anything. one of the lessons that will

hopefully come out of this is that people will begin to realize that the superficial understanding that most of us have about taxes is wrong. if you're in romney's league, you can legally pay no taxes. there are deferral rules and you can borrow against your untaxed assets. by the way, i've been consistent. of i've been asking for romney's returns from 1984, and he needs to release all the returns 1984 to now and come square with the american people about whatever happened. then we can talk about whether he complied with the law or not. is there something seriously wrong with the law that lets people with huge fortunes live tax-free by borrowing against hir their assets or by deferring their income if their managers of private equities and hedge funds. >> meanwhile, he and his wife go around bragging about things in their tax returns, that can only be documented in their tax returns like, oh, we give 10% of our income to the church. we don't know that. you're just saying you do that. and the church can't know it,

because they haven't seen your tax returns. >> well, we know it for the one year. for the one year we have a return, we know about his gift to the church. but we don't know about every year. and people of romney's level are typically expected to give much more than 10% to the church. >> but the church doesn't ask to see your return, to prove this is your 10%. >> no, it's is a matter of honor. >> david cay johnston, thank you very much for joining me tonight. coming up, the war within the republican party. a republican quits the house of representatives today because of his party's refusal to compromise. and mitt romney's horse has danced back into the "rewrite" tonight, after getting attacked on fox news. even fox news has had enough of the romney's dancing horse.

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there's trouble in the republican house of representatives tonight after a member announced his retirement today because his party fears the word "compromise." john boehner suffered a major defection in the house of representatives today, and we'll bring you that story next. and in the "rewrite" tonight, fox news considers that perennial political question, which is more elitist, wind surfing or dancing horses? charles krauthammer actually asked and answered that question. that's coming up. but will it last.

lashblast 24hr with anti smudge power will last through all your drama. who knew lashes this big could last this long. lashblast 24hr from covergirl. when you say the word "compromise," a lot of americans look up and go, oh, oh, they're going to sell me out. and so finding common ground, i think, makes more sense. >> why won't you say -- you're afraid of the word. >> i reject the word.

>> in the "spotlight" tonight, the republican war within. house speaker john boehner, who famously hates the word "compromise," today lost the service of his longtime friend and colleague, congressman steve latourette. latourette announced that he's retiring and that he's doing it over the fear of compromise. >> for a long time now, words like "compromise" have been considered to be dirty words. and there are people on the right and the left who think that if you compromise you're a coward, you're a facilitator, you're an appeaser. i have always believed, and ralph taught me, that the art of being a legislator is to find common ground and get the things that you can get to pass legislation, to solve the country's problems. >> latourette in his 18th year of congressional service was in line for a committee chairmanship, but he decided he didn't want to play the republican game you have to play these days to get it.

>> i had one fellow who is interested in running for the tni chair said, you know, the expectation is that if you want to go up in the ranks of either party, you've got to give them your wallet and your voting card. and the overwhelming criticism with me over the years is that sometimes i vote funny, according to my party, and i'm not interested in giving them my wallet or my voting card. >> joining me now, ana marie cox, special correspondent for the guardian u.s. and jamal simmons, democratic strategist. ana marie, when you're retiring from a house seat, you don't do it with 98 days to go before the election. you do it as far in advance, at least a year, give the party a chance to find the right person to go in your place. this was something that had to ruin john boehner's day. >> well, there's been a lot of tinges ruining his day lately, probably the guy at the top of

the ticket in the fall. but, yeah, it does suggest that perhaps latourette isn't probably interested in the good of the party. compromise in and of itself isn't something that people inherently shirk from. but it's when you get involved in an extreme polarized environment, compromise is just giving something to the other side. i mean, real compromise is about two people coming to an agreement that they can both feel good about, right, or two sides coming to an agreement. but if you look at things as democrat or republican, black or white, red or blue, you're not going to see anything as moving forward. you're going to see it as making sacrifices for the other side. that's something that obviously latourette is uncomfortable with so he's leaving. >> let's listen to a new york state upstate congressman, republican richard hanna who had this to say. he said, "i have to say that i'm frustrated by how much we -- i mean the republican party -- are willing to give deferential treatment to our extremes in this moment in history. we render ourselves incapable of

governing when all we do is take severe sides." he was talking about michele bachmann there. he also said, on a personal note, he said, "i would say that the friends i have in the democratic party i find much more congenial, a little less anger." jamal simmons, that would seem perfectly obvious, wouldn't it? >> well, yes. i mean, what's happening in the house is this tea party caucus which has come in really has been driving them so far and far to the right. and when you think about what's happening with redistricting and all of the other ways that it's really pulling the house apart, it makes it very hard for somebody who just wants to get things done to get things done. lawrence, i spent today on your old stomping grounds up in the senate with my old boss max cleveland, who had his 78th birthday, chuck rob was there, a lot of these older, moderate members of the senate. in the senate, you still have a little bit of that collegiality. i remember when max was getting attacked by saxby chambliss and people like john mccain and chuck hagel were willing to come to his defense.

you don't see anything like that in the house of representatives, and it's really tearing the country apart. >> you know, there's another issue that latourette brought up today, which is this system now of how you move up to chairmanships in the house, which to me just is completely corrupt. what he said was you have to give them your wallet, meaning you have to raise enormous amounts of money not for yourself but for the party and for re-electing other house members. and then you have to give them your voting card, which is to say you have to vote with the party on absolutely everything. and ana marie, to my eye, that makes the old seniority system look good, where if you just sat there, they couldn't take it away from you, you didn't have to give them anything back. if you sat there and waited long enough, you would get your chairmanship and they wouldn't make you pay for it. >> it's true. it does make seniority in ten years seem like a good idea. because also this idea of this fund-raising and you give them your wallet, you give them your

voting card, that again ties into this idea of the party as the ruling apparatus. that the only way to move forward is give money to get money, give votes to get ahead. and it really creates a position for people if they want to vote my their own conscience or raise money in certain ways and not other ways or take money from some people and not other people, they're put in a position where they can't even really play. they can't even get to the level where their vote will make a difference, where they'll continue to make policy for their constituents. it must be incredibly frustrating, i have to say. i kind of understand why someone would want to leave. >> jamal -- >> i wouldn't want to do it. >> yeah. jamal, we saw how difficult it is for an upstate new york republican house member to be in the same party as michele bachmann, with those statements to the syracuse newspaper. >> sure. >> what pressures can possibly be brought to bear on john boehner, who then can somehow reason, if possible, with the michele bachmanns of his party to make them understand, we would like to be able to

continue to elect republicans in upstate new york? >> well, you know, i'm going to challenge you a little bit in this proposition that john boehner is in control of the house. i actually think -- >> i'm not saying he is. i'm asking -- i'm really asking -- that's the old system. the old system is, if you had a problem, you let the speaker know about it, you let the leadership know about it, that someone else from another place was causing you a problem, and there would be a conversation, and that the problem would usually go away. the michele bachmann would stop talking that way. i don't know. i mean -- >> yeah -- >> what does boehner do? what can he do? >> well, exactly. but what i'm saying is, i think that john boehner can't do anything. john boehner looks very often like he's in a hostage video because these folks are holding him in a way that he doesn't even feel like he really looks like he believes some of the things that he's saying. i think eric cantor and some of these rebel upstarts are the ones who are really in control of this horse, and john boehner is just being drug along. >> and ana, you see the absurdity of, you know, him

trying to say to leslie stahl, you know, anything but the word "compromise." he's trying to get through the sentence without using the word "compromise," to the point where it's just obviously funny to leslie, that he was trying to do this, that there would be some price to pay within his caucus if he simply says the word "compromise" to her. >> i think jamal is totally right about the hostage video analogy. maybe he's trying to send us messages through different shades of tan, i mean, i don't know. it would explain something about that varying color of orange he has. but it is getting kind of ridiculous. you can sense the frustration in boehner, you can sense the frustration in a lot of sort of moderate republicans. and not just moderate republicans but republicans who want to get things done. i don't think boehner can be called a moderate, really. >> right. >> but their hands are tied. their hands are tied by their parties and by the money they have to raise. and it's a system that the american people obviously don't like. >> and there's the last word. ana marie cox and jamal simmons, thank you both very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> thank you. coming up in the "rewrite," fox news actually attacks mitt

romney for participating in what it calls the upper class olympic event of dressage. and while they're at it, of course, they find a way to attack a democrat for a sport they wrongly think is even more upper class. and all of that is in the "rewrite." and later, another day, another attack on women's health services in the congress. sandra fluke will join me with the latest. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about fees.

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in the "rewrite" tonight, sport, as mitt romney would call it. specifically, the romney family's favorite sport, dressage. which on the only romney tax return we've ever seen produced a $77,000 tax deduction. a tax deduction for a horse greater than most americans' annual income. fitzgerald was right about the very rich in more ways than he knew. they are different from you and me.

for them, family fun is deductible. fox news resident thinker charles krauthammer has been critical of mitt romney in more ways than one, and now he's fed up with ann and mitt's dancing horse. >> i understand that the horse has been important in her treatment of ms. i have total respect for that. but i'm not sure why the horse has to be in the most upper class hoity-toity olympic event ever invented. it's unnecessary. they're running for the presidency. you know, after he wins, if he wins, he can take the horse on air force one if he wants. feed him, you know, from the white house mess. but can't you just sit it out so that your horse isn't in this equestrian event? i mean, it's not exactly the equivalent, but it approaches, you know, john kerry wind surfing in that incredible outfit. there's no need for that. i don't get it. >> what would republicans do

without john kerry? so charles krauthammer thinks that john kerry's wind surfing is more hoity-toity than the romneys' dressage? all right. let's look at the facts. the romneys' dancing horse is worth $500,000. john kerry's wind surfer? $1,800 out the door, brand-new and loaded, but you can pick up a used one for a fraction of that. dressage is a french word. wind surfing is english. and the french language is the most hoity-toity language on earth. it is now, it always will be. and dressage is a french word because dressage was invented in europe centuries ago. the great pioneers of dressage

include the likes of antwan deplouffeno, michael cavendish, first duke of newcastle, and of course francois robichon de la guerineiere. the inventor of wind surfing was jim drake. he created the windsurfer in his spare time in his garage in santa monica, california. he patented his invens in 1970 and created the company windsurfing international based a couple of miles down the road in marina del rey, california. now, you would think this would be a no-brainer for republicans. an american invention versus a european invention. an american sport versus a european sport. jim drake's sport versus francois robichon de la gueireine's sport. the first duke of newcastle's

sport. jim drake, who passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 83, is the stuff of republican folklore. jim drake created a business in his garage that then created jobs and an industry, not just here, but around the world. imagine -- imagine if a democratic presidential candidate had ever even attended a dressage exhibition. fox news would be all over that. rush limbaugh, who lives the most elitist of lives flying around in his private jet while he rakes in his $50 million a year, would be screaming about elitism, just like he did when john kerry was photographed windsurfing. everyone at fox news would be screaming about the elitism of a democratic presidential candidate involved with dressage in any way. what do you think sarah palin thinks of dressage? we know what she thinks of dressage, but she's not going to

say it. not as long as the republican presidential nominee is a dressage horse owner. so charles krauthammer whacks mitt romney for participating in what krauthammer calls the most upper class hoity-toity olympic event ever invented. and then, to keep his fox news paycheck coming, he has to add this -- >> i mean, it's not exactly the equivalent, but it approaches, you know, john kerry windsurfing in that incredible outfit. >> krauthammer has to say that windsurfing is more upper class, more hoity-toity than dressage. but krauthammer is right the first time, when he said that dressage is is the most upper class, hoity-toity olympic event ever invented. windsurfing is also an olympic event, though krauthammer does not seem to know that. oh, and you know what jim drake

was doing full time when he was inventing the windsurfer in his garage in his spare time in santa monica? jim drake was an aeronautical engineer who helped design the x-15 rocket plane and the tomahawk cruise missile. what more could jim drake have done to get republican respect? but the only thing -- the only thing that charles krauthammer hates more than dressage is jim drake's sport. ase, every day!

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mr. speaker, this is the first time in our history that a stand-alone bill has come to the floor to deny the residents of the nation's capital the same constitutional rights as other americans. we won't stand for it. >> that was congresswoman eleanor holmes norton on the house floor tonight speaking against a bill that would have banned abortions in the district of columbia after 20 weeks. the republican-led bill fails tonight by a majority vote of 220-154. but it needed a two-thirds vote to pass, roughly 280 votes. women's reproductive rights were also debated on the senate side today on the eve of the next phase of the affordable care act. tomorrow, august 1st, under the affordable care act, preventive services like

contraception, hiv testing, and diabetes screening, among many other benefits, will be available without paying a co-pay. but senate minority leader mitch mcconnell seems worried that as the benefits of the affordable care act become a reality the popularity of the law just might increase. >> i think it would be appropriate to have a vote on the repeal of obamacare, and i would and hope to be able to offer that amendment during the pendency of the bill on cyber security, which we believe will be open to amendment. >> no discrimination where they're charged more and get less. that's what obamacare is. if you want to repeal that, then bring it on! we're ready to fight. >> yes, it is a war on women. because if they really cared about women and they didn't like obamacare, they would still have a proposal on the floor to keep these fine pieces of the legislation going forward. >> so i'm wondering, what is with this idea of repeal?

do you really want to take away these benefits from women? from children? from men? from families? yeah, i guess you do. >> joining me now, women's health advocate sandra fluke. sandra, it seems to me that the best selling tool for the affordable care act is to actually have it go into effect and have people see when their benefits actually are. there are some rebates going out there now from insurance companies to different people around the country because the insurance company was using too much of the money for nonhealth care purposes within that plan. and now we're seeing these other benefits come online tomorrow, particularly in the area of women's health. and that, seems to me, is what has mitch mcconnell so excited today. >> yeah, i think you're absolutely right. and i think that when americans start to go to the doctor and see that they can get access to these preventive services that they haven't had before, things

like screening for gestational diabetes, well-woman visits, access to contraception, domestic violence screenings, those types of benefits, they will realize that the affordable care act delivers real health benefits to all of us and that it's not the terrifying piece of legislation that some republicans have made it out to be in their attempts to frighten people of it. >> and there's mitch mcconnell trying to get yet another vote on repeal, this time on a piece of legislation that has absolutely nothing to do with health care, and it's no coincidence that tomorrow's august 1st and new benefits take effect. >> absolutely. and even if i were not in favor of the affordable care act and of these life-saving preventive services for women, i would question senator mcconnell's leadership in choosing to attach a repeal vote to something as important as the cyber security bill. this is able national security of our cyber grid, something that the republican leadership supposedly takes very seriously, and yet they're holding that up

with an amendment that we all know is not going to pass. >> let's listen to secretary sebelius on some of the other benefits that are coming. >> starting in 2014, it will be illegal for companies to deny someone coverage because they're a breast cancer survivor or pregnant or a victim of domestic violence. and it will also be illegal, finally in america, to charge women more than men just because they're women. in other words, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing condition. >> it seems that's what mitch mcconnell doesn't want voters to find out. >> yeah, i think you're absolutely right. >> and, going forward, do you anticipate that there will be more discoveries about what these benefits are around the country? i mean, one of the struggles i think you had when you were in this initial argument about

what's going on with the contraception coverage in this bill is that people didn't understand the bill at all. >> right. >> and so they were actually discovering this contraception provision for the first time because they really didn't have much knowledge about what else was in it. >> i think that's right. and i think this is going to be a gradual process because these women's preventive service at no cost go into in effect tomorrow, but for each individual woman, it will start as soon as her insurance is renewed and a new plan year starts, assuming that it's not a grandfathered plan. so we'll each discover this on our own sort of insurance's timeline. and i would actually really recommend folks check out the national women's law center website for a q&a on how to talk to your insurance provider about when you'll get those benefits. >> sandra fluke, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. up next, "hardball" with chris matthews. road rage. let's play "hardball."

>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washingtowashington 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. and, 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 reporters, asking for a word from the candidate. he yelled at the other one -- shove it! these are his people speaking for mitt romney. anyway, 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? tonight, before i welcome will ferrell and zach galifianakis to the show, let's talk about the latest crazy road trip of mitt romney's. jonathan martin is with politico. i he was part of the traveling press corps accompanying mitt romney on the press corps. he joins us from 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're on the spot, you have "dateline" integrity and looking good. here's the infamous dustup in war saw. 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 press corps during the entire three-country trip. >> right. >> his spokesman made it clear he wasn't going to answer any more than those three. let's watch what hap