them. they're distorting them already. >> you got close to romney? >> i interviewed him last week. >> we don't. relentless drum beat about the returns are hitting romney. the democrats may have found a way to pry him open and shake something loose in this ker f l fuful full -- ker fuf l. >> let him prove he has paid taxes. because he hasn't. >> today on reid's home turf, romney hit back. let's listen to him. >> harry reid really has to put up or shut up. so harry, who are your sources? let's explain who that is. by the way, i understand what you're trying to do. you're trying to deflect the fact that jobs numbers are bad, that americans are out of work. and you're trying to throw anything up on the screen that will grab attention away from e

the fact that the policies of the white house haven't worked and the senate haven't got a budget in place for three years. let me also say categorically, i have paid taxes every year and a lot of taxes. a lot of taxes. >> okay. but last night senator reid reinforced his attack releasing a statement saying i was told by an extremely credible source that romney has not paid taxes for ten years. it seems to me what romney is trying to cover up, there's not obama in the economy and all that, but he doesn't want to release his tax returns. why not? >> he does not want -- >> what's he hiding? >> i have no idea what he's hiding. that's the big question. until we do it's speculation. i saw spunk there from romney saying put up or shut up to reid. but this is not going to go away. romney thinks he can keep talking about other issues. david was right. this keeps -- >> how can a nonpartisan member say -- not that i would have any influence over such --

>> of course no. >> -- nor be selected, but they cannot not have sk this question. they have to ask if it's not answered. >> this question is not going away until election day. there's only one way it goes away. that's if he releases taxes. i've been saying this for weeks. why do you go with a slow bleeding wound? because ripping open the chest cavity is worse. and mitt romney is the only guy probably in his campaign who fully knows what's on the taxes. >> let's speculate. fair enough. it seems the issue of paying the right amount. if he pays 25%, 30%, he's in cover. if he looked like he skated on huge incomes and not paid a reasonable amount -- most people are looking at a good tax code. >> there are a lot of other things that could be in the tax accounts. offshore havens, getting

forgiveness from the swiss. >> see attachment 20. >> exactly. not just the rate of return. >> it's not so much what's in the return. we know he's wealthy. the issue here is transparency. >> the issue is fairness too. people don't like the idea of people who make money off money not paying the taxes you and i make working. >> if he bet against the housing market, if he paid in overseas taxes rather than american taxes because of dodging. people have been speculating for weeks. this won't stop just because harry reid is getting into a fight. >> harry's got his boy working on it. eric fehrnstrom ramped up the fight when he compared harry reid to joe mccarthy? let's listen to this one. >> this reminds me of the mccarthy hearings back in the 1950s. it was another son from massachusetts then joseph welch who finally asked the question that should be asked of harry reid which is have you no sense

of decency, sir? >> that is the lamest flackery -- there's no comparison. have you now or ever been a tax avoider? >> how dare you ask me that. >> it goes against the message of this is frivolous. if you're comparing it to the mccarthy hearings, it's a serious issue. >> why did george romney give 12 years of taxes? >> harry reid bringing up george romney was a low blow. >> what's romney's big proposal on the economy? [ overlapping speakers ] it's a relentless toefrt give a cut at the top. and we find he's already hardly paying taxes. he wants further tax cuts. >> it is inconceivable that you can have a guy worth anywhere from a quarter of billion dollars to a billion dollars who won't give a somewhat full explanation of where that money came from and how he got it and

what he's done with the money and how it is impacted by his presidential decision. >> p.t. barnum, if you want to start a crowd, start a fight. it was a great technique before tv and radio and all that. here's my question. why would mitt romney get into a fistfight with harry reid? >> it's a mistakes on romney's part. harry drew him into the fight. wanted him to not talk about the jobs report today. it seems like it was democratic strategy. >> could have said there was no basis to that. >> this is a fight that mitt romney cannot win. he can try to duck it. he can't do that successfully. when he tries to make the issue, harry reid's source rather than his own taxes. it's a bad strategy. it's not going to work. this impression that he's not

transparent on his personal finances. he won't explain -- >> here's a guy -- >> it's all the same thing. >> let's look at someone trying to get the information out of him. romney does not give an inch on this question. even when asked broad questions on tax rates, he doesn't. let's listen. >> we know that there was one year when you paid about a 13.9% tax rate. can we clear this up by asking you a simple yes or no question? was there every 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. >> was that funny? why was he laughing? as far as we know, romney has not updated abc news on his taxes. let me ask you this. why does he make that idiot kind of laugh when making a point about his taxes? >> i'm not going to comment on the laugh. >> i think it's a nervous laugh.

>> i talk to republicans all the time. when they see an answer like that everybody says the same thing. why wasn't he prepared for this? these questions were always going to come. that's the question on the right. >> you know what? >> give the laugh a break. >> you guys were on the right. and the party should have maybe been tougher in the primaries when people were raising these issues and he was ducking then realizing that if he couldn't answer it back then, he'd have a hell of a harder time in the general election. >> how come santorum didn't jump on this? >> conservatives were pushing for this but it wasn't an issue. they're talking about who's better to beat barack obama. >> not who's the best account t accountant. i think what he's done is stepped on what could have been a fairly good story today which is the unemployment went up to 8.3%. he didn't. he focused on his own economic mystery story which is good in politics.

we always want the rest of the story. why did we get mad for pardoning nixon? he closed the books on watergate. we didn't want them closed. thank you david corn and robert costa. romney may not have shown much in recent weeks, but he thought he could always count on a bad economic report to boy him up. he didn't get it today. also if you think you've seen a lot of political ads lately, just wait. will flood a handful of swing markets. up to the end despite being outspent over the past month, it's obama's ads that seem to be connecting. and steve king, king of the crazies he's defending dog fighting. more birther conspiracies out of his mouth. that's just in the last few days. king of the crazies. and who says the entertainment industry hates republicans? mitt romney just got an endorsement from jenna jameson.

this is "hardball," the place for politics. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. by what's getting done. measure commitment the twenty billion dollars bp committed has helped fund economic and environmental recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious.

last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. well, the u.s. congress is going on summer recess and leaves town with a distinction of being the least popular and least productive congress in modern american history. it might not improve soon. that's because two more freshman republicans won their primaries last night in tennessee making the historic 87 member freshman class of last year two years ago the republican party undefeated in primaries this year. in other words, all those right wingers with tea party support in 2010 are staying on. we'll be right back. nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands?

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welcome back to "hardball." it's been a bad few weeks for mitt romney in recent polls. hammered romney on his taxes and

big trip overseas. highlighting one gaffe by him after another. yet for the past few months his one big trump card has been on the first friday of each month he's been able to refocus the conversation on the bad economy. based on the government's jobs report. well, today we got new numbers. and unfortunately for romney, and fortunately for obama, they were better than expected. the government counted 163,000 new jobs in july. a dramatic increase from july. the unemployment inched up to 8.3% but that's because more were in the labor force trying to get work. the markets gave their approval. the dow jones responding to the economic news up 200 points in the dow. this morning mitt romney and president obama both responded to the news in their separate ways. >> we just got a new number from the unemployment report. it's another hammer blow to the

struggling middle class families of america. because the president has not had policies that put people back to work. i do. i'll put them in place and get america working again. >> we haven't had to come back from an economic crisis this deep or this painful since the 1930s. here's the thing. we are not going to get there. we're not going to get to where we need to be if we go back to the policies that helped to create this mess in the first place. >> so as we enter a critical period of the presidential race, the question is what does this me mean? eugene robinson is a political analyst for msnbc. mark, this number, i meant what i said. normally romney if he can make it to the first friday of the month, he's in good shape. right now, i think it's a little better than mixed. 163,000 new jobs compared to about 60,000 last month.

more people trying to get work is a good sign in a way but the rate went up. the verdict was positive today. >> well, chris, in washington and new york we can talk about those numbers and imagine what they'll do to the electorate. i think the president can win with this economy this bad. that's a bit of the change from what i thought it was before. what matters is how people are experiencing the economy. whether it's 160,000 or 40,000. whether it's 8.3% or 8.2%, i don't think that matters as much as how people experience things. people can continue to experience the economy as weak and continue to worry that businesses are reluctant to invest before they see more certainty about europe, at the fiscal crisis and what direction washington's going to go. >> what strikes me is we keep looking at polls and you would think romney from a business background and being the potential relief pitcher here, he doesn't do much better than the president on who deals with

the economy. >> he hasn't really made the sale on the central thesis of his candidacy which is that he can fix the economy. and obama can't. but he can. why hasn't he made that sale? well, we know where his favorable ratings are. we know that he hasn't been specific and to the extent he has been, those policies sound familiar. you know, i actually think the whole question of his personal finances comes into play too. if there's something he won't tell us about that, what is he not telling us? >> yeah. murky. >> if he doesn't make that leap, i frankly don't see how he wins this election. >> let's look at the latest new york times quinnipiac poll. obama and romney are neck and neck on who do voters trust to do a better job on the economy? look at the numbers. they are even, mark. that's amazing because you think obama has more of a strength of foreign policy. and he's the incumbent.

you would think with the economy as weak as it's been, the challenger would always look better. >> i think this is always going to come down to one thing assuming the economy didn't improve. could chicago knock out mitt romney? they've done a good job for the last two and a half months putting things in that direction. i think to some extent the election is going to come down to on the personal side on the question of dealing with the economy romney's v.p. choice and debates. if he hits his marks in those on the personal side and on the economic side, i think he'll win and the obama campaign is going continue to do what they can to throw him off the stride to make it harder for romney day to day to be ready dpr those big moments. >> let me ask you. do you think he could win an election in the summer when nobody's really watching?

can you do that in a summer election? knock him out of the box? >> i think you can. i don't think they've done it. they've done serious damage to him. there have been many days in the last two and a half months where it wasn't about the economy. but rather about mitt romney's finances, about mitt romney personally and mitt romney's policies the democrats could argue the country would like even less than what the president's done. i don't think they've knocked him out. i think they've laid down a solid foundation. if romney hits his marks, the convention speech debates. i think he probably would win. but i think the president and his allies and staff are doing and will continue to do a pretty aggressive job defining the election on their terms. >> same to you, gene. i wonder. can you knock the guy out even if you have a fantastic august blasting the guy? can you knock him out of the ring he can't come back no matter what he does? >> i think you can. i don't think the obama campaign has definitively knocked him out. he's not knocked out.

i think he's been damaged. look, obama won the summer. he has won the summer. romney wants to win the fall. >> i love the way they do this. i didn't think you could do it in a presidential election this early. let's look at a gallup poll late last month on who was more likab likable. twice as many people say the president. i don't know how you can render an opinion on romney. he doesn't seem to have a public personality. i've heard different views of what he's like in private. he doesn't show a personality. >> well, the obama campaign has gone out of its way to give him a personality, to give him an unattractive personality. he's a selfish rich guy who laid you off. >> that's true. >> that's what they're trying to point. romney did not define himself. therefore the obama campaign has got to define him. i think that's dangerous for mitt romney. he's going to have to hit some

marks. >> perfect execution. let me ask you, mark, this thing about personality you have it or you don't. george herbert walker bush didn't seem to have one until the convention that he delivered a speech. are they working on that? >> there are analogs e had has to do it. on this election i think bill clinton's selection of al gore. al gore's selection of lieberman. i think those showed personality. in terms of the debates, i think bush 2000 is the analog the romney campaign should look at. he showed a lot of personality in those debates, made people comfortable with him. the private romney is definitely more engaging and personable than he's been able to show. if he can perform in those three moments. >> you grabbed me there naming lieberman for the highest offices in the country. i don't know what effected the

electorate college and all but it did show guts. i remember saying at the time this is ricky trying something new. you think there's still a chance to romney will name someone sort of revolutionary or cutting edge? >> i don't. i i think it's how he presents it. if you pick in the right way. but it's how the event goes. how you talk about why you made the choice. if romney does that in an effective way just as the way gore showed something about himself when he picked lieberman not just because of the pick but the presentation. that's the analog they want to follow. >> i love this stuff. as my son in acting says action defines karcharacters. you have to take steps to show who you are. thanks, you both. is rush limbaugh spreading more conspiracy theories of president obama or making fun of harry reid? the latest from the underwater

walrus. look, he makes fun of himself. this is "hardball," the place for politics. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something.

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the world is gripped with olympic fever and i have got it back. i caught it from a horse. the romney's olympic dressage steed rafalca. yesterday was rafalca's first day of competition and she crushed it. power prancing to a score of 70.243. that is unheard of. in that i have never heard a dressage score. >> well, in case you're not a dressage enthusiast, rafalca came in at 30th place.

will ferrell proved to us his signature political impression is much intact. >> i'm glad i'm done with the circus. it's a real circus out there. forget about it. >> well, want to know what ferrell's first and only encounter with w was like. he recounted the experience on conan. it was during the president's run up to the 2000 election. >> the white house press is all around him and the campaign press i mean. they go up and say hello. so i'm like hi, mr. governor. he's like pleased to meet you. and i could tell he has no idea who i am. he's just looking at me like -- >> looking at you. >> is this a long week for you? the show, is it hard work. i think he thought i was a crew member or something. i was like anyway, nice to meet you. and i walked away and i think he added it up later. >> oh, he added it up.

>> yeah, he did. >> that was before bush was even in office. ferrell had the w impression i think for the history books. best ever. and mitt romney scores another endorsement. hold off on the duo making a joint appearance for more reasons than one. it's jenna jameson known in some circles as queen of porn. she voiced her endorsement for romney at a strip club. quote, i'm very looking forward to a republican being back in office. when you're rich, you want to republican in office, closed quote. that's exactly what president obama's been saying romney's for the rich. maybe miss jameson should stick to acting. while we're on the subject, reports that one republican leader is worried about the prevalence of strip clubs in tampa where they're going to be holding their convention this month. the new york times this month quoted strip club owners saying republicans spend three times more than democrats in such

establishments. finally how did rush ae ply to harry reid's speculation that mitt romney did not pay taxes for a decade? when it comes to rush, if it's not a birther conspiracy theory it has to do with the president's college transcripts. if you think that has nothing to do with the reid-romney feud, listen to rush talking about a phone call he says he got during a break on his radio show. >> i got on the phone. somebody, i don't know who it was, said they went to school with barack obama at harvard. and the guy told me that obama got the lowest grades that any harvard graduate ever got and that a bunch of professors gave him bs and cs when he didn't show up. i'm telling you now. so i am calling on barack obama

to release his harvard transcripts. based on this i got a call. >> what a joke. he won the distinction of being editor of the harvard law review. the first african-american to do that in a blind test. in other words, the whole proceeding in which you get it turning in essays and scores and all that information is done without your name on it. and certainly not your ethnic group. rush is completely -- well, he's a wind bag on this one. see what i mean? touting an anonymous call. saying somebody called in that obama got the worst grades at harvard but got bs and cs. you don't get cs at harvard. that's too big a stretch even for rush. he's bringing the transcripts into debate over romney's taxes? there's a connection. up next, spending dirty angry money to control his campaign. despite being outspent, the obama campaign's ads seem to be connecting with voters. you're watching "hardball," only

on msnbc. humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? wake up!

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i'm milissa rehberger. here's what's happening. more than a hundred u.n. members voted earlier to condemn the syrian government for the crisis there. but russia called the measure harmful. temperatures are searing in oklahoma where six wildfires are burning near the site of the slaughterville fire. as chris mentioned a moment ago, stocks surged. the dow up 217 points, the s&p 26, nasdaq 58. back to "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." swing states are being hammered with political ads this summer. if you look at the past month, the pro-romney forces the campaign and the super pacs are outspending the obama people. the koch groups, america for prosperity plans a ad buy to begin next week. should the obama campaign be worried? it seems despite all those republican dollars spent, romney isn't inching up in the polls. let's bring in our strategists who are ad makers. the ad men i must call them. democrat steve mcmahon and republican todd harris. you are both gentlemen. this campaign right now, with your dirt money you're not getting pay dirt on the romney side. what are you doing wrong? >> the fact is you can reach a point of diminishing returns with advertising budgets.

and what you have on the romney side over the last few months of about 150 million in pro-romney, anti-obama spending. about 130 million on the democratic side. which for the average poor bastard that has to sit and watch -- >> is that how you can talk with people? in public you're gross. >> that's right. for the average person who has to watch these, it's the equivalent of being overtaken by a tidal wave or an avalanche. they are both getting bombarded -- >> how come -- we went out in iowa. i compared the bombing in world war ii. it worked. it blew away santorum. how do you say ads don't work in presidential campaigns? >> here's what happens. the more you know, the less they work. and the less you know, the more they work. the reason president obama's ads are working against mitt romney.

he was ahead two weeks ago in ohio and florida. he's now behind. they're introducing new and relevant conversation. it's relevant because it's about the economy he'd create. and it's troubling. >> that's something i'm learning. i was reading the pre-interviews. that's fascinatin it doesn't do good to pound the old arguments. if you come up to do something new. here's a new ad by obama and his people. released it this week set to run in eight swing states attacking mitt romney on his tax returns. let's watch. >> we work hard, stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. mitt romney made $20 million in 2010 but paid only 14% in taxes. probably less than you. now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break and raise taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year.

mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he plays less. you pay more. >> why did he put in -- maybe you can help me. why did they do the product placement. what was the trump plane behind him? >> it's delivering message. audio and video at the same time. it's bad news if you're mitt romney or an independent voter who thinks he's a bone head. that's a great ad. it does three things effectively. new information relevant to the conversation and leverages a concern people have both about the economy and where mitt romney would take it. it's an effective ad. >> do you like the ad? >> i thought it's classic class warfa warfare. an argument that tried to use this year. they're coming back to it now. i don't think it's working. >> look in florida. >> what kind of an ad campaign would you run if you were obama? the economy is better than you think? >> i think the attacks obama has put on romney is romney in his own words.

you know, whatever the gaffe was, they put that sequence of gaffes together in one spot. >> the romney campaign put out this ad attacking the president in florida. >> four years ago barack obama was concerned about florida's economy. >> when wages are flat, more and more americans are many debt. our economy as a whole suffers. >> but under president obama, 8.6% unemployment, record foreclosures, 600,000 more floridians in poverty. he focused on obama care instead of jobs. barack obama, what a disappointment. >> that's bleak. >> yeah. do you know why that ad isn't working for them? there's no information in there that's new. the president is expressing his concern about the economy in 2008. they're saying the economy isn't good today. everyone knows that. but people don't blame president obama the same way -- >> i don't know about the

foreclosures. they came from the financial crash. >> the purpose of that spot, though, was not to deliver a factoid. it was to deliver an idea and an emotion. but it doesn't have to be new. the idea is while people are out of work and what people are suffering, the president has been off chasing this extreme agenda. >> do you think the country is in that bad of a mood as the ad is? i wouldn't say we're in a good mood. but that ad was bleak. >> that was in florida. >> is it worse down there? >> in florida they're worse. >> you guys are running that pace. two republican senators and a guy with most of the delegations. blame it on the demes. mother jones reported today on the group. two left leaning groups that showed the tiny fractions of americans spending big money on super pacs this year. this is educational for us. 1,082 people made up 92% of

contributions by all contributions in a 2012 election cycle. this number is devastated. just 47 of those people who each donated a million dollars or more actually account for more than half of the super pac giving. i'm going to put you on defense. here we have a hundred senators but only 47 contributors now are running this show. they put -- they are giving the lions share of all the money going to super pacs. 47 guys, maybe some women, are calling the shots in the presidential election. you think that's good? >> no. but guess whose fault this is. off of this so-called campaign reform that says an individual can give as much as they want but a political party is capped at this paltry amount of money that is not enough to do anything in any modern day campaign. that's the problem. >> what's the issue here? i think these people are fanatical.

>> these are all republicans, 98% of them are republicans. and they're all people worried about their estate taxes going up. >> if you turned on the tv in one of these key states during the campaign now to november 6th or whatever it is? >> 6th, yeah. >> you're going to hear money thrown at you by 47 people. >> 150 million on one side, 130 million on the other. we are not talking about the republicans in the romney campaign significantly outgunning the democrats. it's not just happening. the numbers speak for themselves. >> what i know is this. romney won't tell us the tax returns. the rich people on your side won't tell who's giving money to the campaigns. that's consistent. thank you. you're hiding something. up next, steve king. the king of the crazies. a heck of a week this week. he's done everything from defending dog fighting to suggesting president obama's mother telegraphed news of his birth.

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[ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. well, the romney spokesman who told reporters among other things to shove it is taking time off from the campaign. abc was first to report the news that rick gorka would take a break this week. and he was involved in this now infamous dust up with reporters. >> governor romney. do you have a statement for the

palestinians? >> what about your gaffe? >> governor romney do you feel your gaffes have overshadowed your trip? >> show some respect. show some respect. this is a holy site for the polish people. show some respect. >> i love the juxtaposition. kiss my -- this is a holy site. put those thoughts together. no word on when he will return to the campaign. who knows? we'll be back. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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for making controversial statements. but he's had a heck of a week. in just the past few days he's questioned why dog fights are illegal. and why culturalists push the idea that diversity has made our country strong. he doesn't believe in that. he also floated the idea maybe obama's mom sent a telegram from kenya to hawaiian newspapers 51 years ago to announce her son's birth inaccuratery. ron reagan is a contributor and author of "my father at 100." and she's the author of "liz free or die." liz, thanks for joining us. in a recent town hall, steve king from iowa answered a question from someone who wanted to know why he opposed legislation that makes it illegal to attend dog fights. let's listen to what he said. >> whether the legislation that passed in the farm bill that says that it's a federal crime to watch animals fight or to

induce someone else to watch an animal fight, but it's not a federal crime to watch people fighting? there's something wrong with the priorities of people who think like that. >> what do you make of this guy? this character? >> well, it's so interesting because you know, he went on to say all these crazy things about kidnapping children and taking them across state lines and then dropping them off as a playground, which is illegal, i'm pretty sure, in all 50 states. i think somebody like this. he's gone out of his way to vote against any kind of bill that has anything to do with protecting animals. after a while, you think, a, what did an animal to do him? b, i think he watches the aspca ads with the dogs in the crates like other people watch porn. it's insane. >> the michael vick fan club? what are we talking about? vick has cleaned up his act, but this guy wants to go further in this direction. he wants to legalize dog

fighting, cau fighting, cock fighting, except for the fact there's an obvious difference, people decide to go into boxing. >> it's easy to make fun of the steve kings of the world, really easy to make fun of the steve kings of the world. if ignorance was an olympic event, he would be a medal favorite. he would be on the medal stand. maybe he's on to something with his dog fighting. maybe what he's really saying is we ought to make it illegal to watch people fight just like we do dogs. your point was the right one, dogs don't choose. people do. >> also, you dont shoot people after they fight if they lose. >> i never thought of that end game. king said his comments had been distorted and tried to explain what he meant. you're not going to believe this. >> what i said is we need to respect humans more than we do animals. whenever we start elevating animals up to above that of humans, we have crossed a moral

line. for example, if there is a sexual predator out there who has impregnated a young girl, say a 13-year-old girl, and it happens in america more times than you and i would like to think, that sexual predator could pick the girl off the playground at the middle school and haul her across the state line and force her to get an abortion, to eradicate the evidence of his crime, and bring her back and drop her off at the swing set and that's not against the law in the united states of america. >> you know, i don't know where to begin, but i guess it has something to do with the pro life position. nobody can be -- you're kidnapped, raped, it's at least statuto statutory, and then the girld would never bring evidence because she has no brains at all. he said took her back to the swing she was swinging on in the playground. what does he mean here? >> i don't know. this is what is so insane about him. and just to top it off, you know, in his big week, he goes

on, he's hammering home we need english at the national language. he apparently speaks english and i have no idea what he's saying. >> i would like to have a spot check take the u.s. congressman like him and make him take the immigration exam. >> your thoughts? >> that would be great. >> he's warning us of this epidemic in the country of legal kidnap and child raping. it's going all over the place. i thought it was illegal, you probably thought it was illegal, too. >> it's called the mann act. there's a law against taking someone across a state line for sexual purposes. at the same town hall where he talked about dog fighting, he also took a question about bi h birthers. he went back into it again. here's his theory. let's listen. >> we went down into the library of congress and we found the microfiche there of two newspapers, only two newspapers

in hawaii. each had published the birth of barack obama. it would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the birth notice of barack obama being born in hawaii and get that into our public libraries and that microfiche that they keep published. that doesn't mean there aren't other explanations how they may have announced that from telegram from kenya, the list goes on. >> i have another explanation, you, sir, are insane. thank you ron reagan and lizz winstead, thank you for joining us. we'll be right back. ♪

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let me finish tonight with this. it's about the king of the crazies. u.s. congressman steve king, republican of iowa. so he goes through the records, documents the newspaper announcements of barack obama's birth in hawaii, but continues to push the birther case. this maker of laws continues to maintain the president of the united states wasn't born in the united states, that somehow a white woman from kansas married a guy from kenya, then went with him to kenya to have the baby they named barack hussein obama with the purpose of him becoming the president. she did this with the cooperation of the secret service. any sane person would ask the question, if this woman from kansas had this idea to have her son elected president, would she, a, marry a guy from east africa, b, schedule the baby's delivery in africa, c, take the boy with her to indonesia for several years, and d, create a

false paper travel that places the child's birth in a state far from the american mainland. the king of the crazies has an interesting way of thinking. he asks why everyone would outlaw dog fighting or cock fighting or anything when there are humans allowed to fight. animals are thrown into an arena, perhaps in someone's garage, and prodded into fighting. is that difference too cool for school? he says a sexual predator can empriginate a 13-year-old which she says happens me time than you know, haul her across the state line and force her to have an abortion, bring her back and drop her off at the playground where he found her. what kind of cony is this that you find her? it's not here. the only thing weird and unreal is the u.s. congressman telling them. that's "hardball" for now. have a nice weekend. "the ed show" starts right now.

good evening. americans. welcome to "the ed show." i'm michael eric dyson in for ed schultz. 95 days before the 2012 election, harry reid is torching mitt romney over his hidden tax returns while president obama runs up the score like carmelo anthony. this is "the ed show," and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> the word's out that he hasn't paid any taxes for ten years. let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't. >> harry reid is still punching on mitt romney's taxes, and mitt romney keeps on responding. >> harry reid really has to put up or shut up. harry, who are your sources? >> tonight, congressman george miller on romney's ongoing tax problem and the new questions about romney's massive ira account. >> this morning, we learned that our businesses created 172,000 new jobs in the month of july. >> good news on jobs, leaves republicans scrambling. steve breaks down today's big

report. retired porn superstar jenna jameson explains her endorsement of mitt romney. when you're rich, you want a republican in office. the big panel tackles that tonight. and nas has the hottest new album in the country. tonight, one of hip-hop's premier poets joins me for an exclusive interview. where do you stand on president barack obama? >> a former boxer has knocked mitt romney for a loop. harry reid continues pummeling the candidate over his tax returns. he said a source tells him mitt romney hasn't paid any taxes in ten years. >> the word is out that he hasn't paid any taxes for ten years. let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't. >> just to make sure you heard what he said, reid gave this statement to the huffington post last night. it's clear romney is hiding something. and the american people deserve to know what it is. in case you didn't really get where he was coming