candidate richard mourdock. now, you remember mr. mourdock. he's the guy that doesn't believe in compromise. >> i certainly think that bipartisanship ought to consist of democrats coming to the republican point of view. bipartisanship means they have to come our way. >> that message must have spoke to mr. romney. because here's what he had to say about mourdock. >> we got to get this guy elected in the u.s. senate, you know that? >> mr. romney's made even more friends than just that. this year's list of speakers at the republican national convention is an all star lineup of far right republican governors. there's ohio governor kasich. the man who launched a war against unions in ohio. governor nicki haley who pushed south carolina's voter i.d. law. and how about governor suzanna

martinez? she slammed the dream act. even her own grandparents were undocumented immigrants. and last but not least, governor 36% approval scott. the man responsible for the voter purge. the man who wants to drug test welfare folks. take a look because these people give an idea of what mr. romney would offer in the white house. and the president has made that clear. >> this time they want even bigger tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. this time they want even deeper cuts to things like education and medicare and research and technology. this time they want to give banks and insurance companies even more power to do as they please. they have found a nominee for president who's promised to rubber stamp this agenda if he gets a chance. we can't give him the chance. not now.

not with so much at stake. this isn't just another election. this is a make or break moment for america's middle class. >> so, folks, this is a make or break moment. we are in home stretch. just three months left until election day and the stakes have never been higher. or more serious. joining me now is nia malika henderson reporter for "the washington post." and margie omero. thanks for being here. >> thank you. >> three months to go. will this election boil down to an issue of fairness? is the contrast in the economic policies and the policies of romney as opposed to the president on who has the fairest policy for americans, is that going to be the central decider

in this election? >> i think that's one of them. it's certainly going to be which candidate you think has the better vision for going forward. and you have -- under the president you've had 29 months of private sector job growth. and you have romney saying everything that obama's for, i'm against. so he's against 29 months of private sector growth. and the failed policies that got us here. looking forward, voters will look at which candidate has a vision that includes everyone. there's only one candidate who has that. that's barack obama. mitt romney's plan, independent group said, would increase taxes for 95% of americans and give a tax cut to 5%. so those are all things that the american people oppose. >> nia malika, when we get by all of the side conversations and what some would call distractions, the fact of the matter is that we have more

money that is going to be spent on this election than any election in history. the fact of the matter is we have more at stake being that we're in a slow recovery. really americans and what they do in 92 days will decide the economic policies because clearly romney by his own surrogates emission is bush, just more of bush. and president obama is going another direction. this could not be a more of a contrast between candidates and more of a contrast between directions. >> this is what you see democrats trying to say. in some ways politics can be small but this is a big choice that voters are going to face in november. you've seen from the romney campaign an attempt to make this more of a referendum on president obama and democrats saying it's a choice between

republicans and democrats. very interesting the way the governors that will be speaking in tampa, i think you're going to see from the romney campaign an attempt to really run an outside washington campaign. to look at some of the unemployment rates in some of these states. for instance, ohio, it's pretty good there 7.2%. in new mexico you'll have the governor of new mexico up on stage for the rnc. so they're going to try to make an outside the beltway argument and say republican governor have a better approach to the economy. so we'll obviously have to see what the democratic response to that is in charlotte come september. >> but using this out of washington strategy, many of your main speakers, governors of states whose unemployment numbers are lower than the national, don't they run the risk of as they beat up on the president for a slow recovery, they end up playing against their own unemployment numbers being lower that they want to take credit for in their home

state? i mean, how do you at one level say i brought unemployment down, but beat up on the president on what he's done and how do you convince voters that you're going to divide the national strategy from what impacted you locally if you're governor on that rnc stage? >> i mean, there's lots of inconsistencies. you have a lot of candidates who say i'm against getting help from washington unless it's true -- unless it's for my area or my district or state. there's lots of inconsistencies on the republican side when it comes to these kinds of things. ultimately this is about mitt romney's policies and where he stands. you see him paling around with folks who have gone off the deep end. to walk the plank on these extreme positions. you have washington now with record level low approval rating. mitt romney is not providing the leadership to show he would want to change that. it's no surprise that polls show that barack obama really has the

advantage in polling on who's a stronger leader. >>. >> nia malika, i'm a voter in ohio or pennsylvania. the recovery isn't as fast as i'd like. what does mitt romney have to say to me to make me believe he can speed up that recovery and has he made up that argument or is there an argument to be made? >> well, there certainly is an argument to be made, but so far he isn't. you hear these complaints from republicans that he isn't being specific enough about the how to speed up recovery. he's latching on to governors of these states. he was in ohio touting the kasich record there. there is this sort of mismatch between the president's policies and certainly he can probably take credit for the way ohio is doing especially with the ao bailout there being a significant driver of jobs in that state. but so far there hasn't been

a -- >> that wouldn't be the same auto bailout that your nominee romney said let it go bankrupt. >> that's the ect same one. and so it is -- i think there's more to come. you hear romney on the stump. it is a repackaging of the talking points we've heard from republicans so far on rolling back on the regulations. so increasingly there is this call from republicans for mitt romney to be specific and rather than just saying it will be so because he says it will be so, to actually put some policy plans out there. but so far he seems to think that he can sort of run a campaign where he's a little bit under the radar and essentially slide into the white house on these last ten weeks. >> margie, let me leave this with you. when nia malika was talking about associating himself, he's also associated himself with mr.

hubbard who is chairman of -- who was chairman on economic advisers. glen hubbard who is his economic adviser and writing pieces for the wall street journal. when you have the chairman of george buss economic council as your economic adviser and the bush policies are the ones that put us in this rut, you're talking about associations. that's a little hard sell if i'm a guy that's worried about the fact that we're in a slow recession that those policies caused. >> he's trying to please everybody and pleasing nobody. he has difficulties with his base. he has difficulty with independents. he has difficulty really speaking genuinely and warmly and openly with people. so he has issues from a lot of different angles. and people rejected it. voters reject it now. and it's up to democrats to make

their case and remind voters what the real difference here is between the two candidates. i think the president is well poised to do that. >> thanks to both of you for being on tonight. >> thank you, rev. >> thank you. coming up, the explosive story on how mitt romney hired a lobbyist. to reduce the property taxes on his $12 million home. incredible. and we have the details. and who is this shooter? he's the former member of a racist skin head band now accused of murdering six people at a sikh temple in wisconsin. we must end the violence. plus the right wing is ripping gabby douglas over her uniform. why we're awarding them a medal in absurdity tonight. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. [ donovan ] i hit a wall.

and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ 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.

folks, have you joined us on facebook yet? the "politicsnation" conversation is going all day long. the 47th anniversary of the signing of the voting rights act was a big talker today. bruce says he still remembers the day. calling it monumental. gloria reminds us quote, we fought for this and we are still fighting for this. and mary celebrated the anniversary with action. i am busy registering people to vote on this happy birthday for voting rights. we want to hear what you think too. head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to

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to the election, the gop is ramping up its efforts to suppress the vote. and now governor romney has put himself right in the middle of that effort. in the crucial swing state of ohio, a new voting law ends early voting on the friday before the election day. but it allows active military members to vote until the monday before election day. the obama campaign, dnc, and ohio democratic party are suing the state's election officials to restore early voting for everyone. because all voters must have the same rights. but over the weekend, governor romney accused the president of being anti-military calling his lawsuit, quote, an outrage. his claim that the president is antib-military is absurd.

steve at maddow blog tracks the romney lies. he says this one is, quote, as loathsome a lie as romney has told all year. obama campaign senior adviser david axelrod calls it shameful. under romney's logic, we could say he's against anyone not in the military. this is ugly politics. and it's wrong. joining me now are congresswoman marcy captor, democrat from ohio. and john saults. he wrote a piece on think progress.org titled why does mitt romney want to restrict voting rights for more than 900,000 ohio veterans. thank you for joining me. >> thank you. >> congresswoman, let me start with you. explain to our viewers what romney is claiming here.

>> well, what he's saying is that he's actually twisting the truth. because in ohio the accomplishment have denied early voting the last three -- that means our senior citizens, the spouses of those in the military won't be able to vote. the important weekend before election day. and what he's saying is because the obama administration is now taking that case to court, that ruling to court, that they're against veterans. but what the obama administration is for and the obama campaign is for, is for voting rights for all ohioans to vote the weekend before election. why deny them that right? >> including the military, those that are active in the military. so it's not against them.

it would include them, but they're saying include everyone else. >> but include everybody including our veterans. the people who love them, the people who support them, their families back home. why not support the citizens of ohio? and so he has really twisted this into the wind in a way we don't even recognize. but remember, the republican party in ohio is trying to suppress the vote here. because they know the president is ahead. >> now, john, you took it a step further. you pointed out that the law is only talking about active military. it doesn't even cover veterans. is that right? >> that's correct. this is a terminology issue. a veteran is someone currently on active duty. when you leave active duty you're a veteran. what mitt romney plans to do, there are over 900,000 veterans in the state of ohio. if you're a veteran you're over the age of 18 and you could

vote. under the romney plan, 900,000 veterans won't be able to vote early. active military is a different term. the law only protects people who are currently active military meaning it's their full-time job. our argument is simple. it doesn't surprise me based on mitt romney's service record. and i'm sure the most people around him it doesn't exist. the public has a hard time understanding what it means to be a veteran. if you're a veteran who served in vietnam and lost both of your legs or you're a disabled veteran who returned home from iraq and afghanistan or you're an elderly veteran from world war ii, you can't vote early. don't you think that it's hard for elderly veterans from world war ii to make it to the polls? that's what the romney plan does. it says that older veterans who has served their country for years, some who retired after 20 years of military service are somehow less of a veteran than our active military. i find that appalling as someone who served two times in iraq.

>> it is appalling. but congresswoman, how can they justify this? it seems blatant to me. >> it's blatant, sir. but this is being done to suppress the vote in ohio. during the gerrymandering, they split many precincts which will cause a higher use of provisional ballots around the state. they're trying to change the law as you can been covering this evening to not allow early voting for the majority of our voters. here in ohio, the three days before election. they're causing chaos at our local boards of elections around the state in some of our major counties and even some of the smaller ones. so there's a concerted effort here to suppress. >> doing this because this is happening all over the country. i was in florida yesterday, going back tomorrow. ohio's critical. pennsylvania has a lawsuit. in 2008, there was an estimated 93,000 ballots cast during three

days before the election. by changing the time and by lessen i lessening the options, you're saying the president is ahead in ohio. the number could be cut down and could be the deciding factor in a tight vote in ohio in who wins that state? >> absolutely. because those votes would not be cast. and people could have to go back to the polls. they're used to early voting in ohio. we've done it before. this would be changing the pattern that's been established here. many people go after church. people go late after work. they use that saturday voting. it will all be gone. and so this really would have a major impact. tens of thousands of votes are cast on that weekend here in ohio. >> well, i guarantee you we're going to stay on this story in ohio and all over the country. >> thank you.

>> congresswoman kaptur and john soltz, thanks to both of you. ahead, this fight is personal. president obama does not like mr. romney. we've got the inside account tonight. plus, why the right wing is questioning gabby douglas' patriotism. it's so absurd, it's actually funny. questions?

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folks, the olympics is a chance to celebrate some of our country's greatest athletes. but the gang at fox has found a scandal at the games. they're not worried about throwing matches or performance enhancing drugs. this is a different kind of emergency. a fashion emergency. >> the famous flag style outfits worn in years passed replaced with yellow shirts, pink leotards. how do we show our patriotism at the games? >> you know what? red, white, and blue. wear it. wave it. be proud to be an american. >> gabby had that great moment.

everybody was so excited and she's in hot pink. and that's her prerogative. >> yeah. who cares that gabby douglas made history becoming the first african-american to win the women's all around gymnastics title. she wore pink! pink! and it was her prerogative. except that gabby's teammate aly raisman also wore pink to the event. almost like it was a uniform. but here's another picture. here's gabby waving to the crowd after winning the gold medal. okay, i'm breaking out the telestrater. here's some play by play. let's look at what she's wearing. i see red. right there on the collar and the sleeve. and what's that on the front of the jacket? oh, yeah. that's white. and there's the blue on her sleeves and cuffs. that's not just gabby, the whole team has worn red, white, and

blue in london. the gang at fox should drop the fashion police act. did they think we wouldn't notice their silly attacks on our olympians? this, a gold medal performance in all around absurdity. nice try. but we got you. ade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. [ laughing ] ...is the crackle of the campfire. it can be a million years old... cool.

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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. make it matter. we're back on "politicsnation" with the taxing issue that's ignited a fire storm in washington. it started with senate majority harry reid accusing governor romney of not paying taxes. and the gop response had all the subtly of a sucker punch. >> listen, i know you might want to go down that road. i'm not going to respond to a dirty liar. >> you think harry reid's a

dirty liar? >> i just said it. >> the chairman of the republican national committee calling senator reid a dirty liar. and then today he did it again. >> there's no triple down in blackjack, but i'll triple down on my comments from yesterday. it is what it is. he's a dirty liar and we're moving on. >> and he wasn't calling liar liar. >> i think he's lying about his statement knowing something about romney. so this is what's wrong -- >> that's pretty stiff. you think the leader of the senate is lying? >> i really do. i think he's created an issue here. i think he's making things up. at a time when the country is just about to fall apart. >> today senator reid's chief of staff fired back saying they're a bunch of cowards and they're avoiding the issue. they're a bunch of henchmen for romney. and house leader nancy pelosi

said quote, harry reid is a person who is as we we know a fighter. a, he wouldn't say this is true unless somebody told him that. there are still questions about romney's tax returns and white house surrogate robert gibbs explained why this weekend. >> mitt romney gave john mccain 23 years of tax returns in order to be the tryout for vice president where john mccain picked sarah palin. if 23 years is good enough to show john mccain so mitt romney can be vice president of the united states, how come only two years is appropriate for voters when you want to be the president? john mccain can go to kinko's, photocopy the returns and hand them out. we couldn't talk about this tomorrow. >> i'd also like to see mr. romney at kinko's. but the truth is. all he has to do is release the

returns and all these questions would be answered. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell and michael steele. thank you both for being here. >> good to see you, rev. >> it's a pleasure. >> tonight, michael, i was waiting to talk with you. >> i bet. >> let me start with you. you're the former chairman of the republican national committee. >> yeah. >> does it make political sense for mitt romney to release more tax returns? >> i think politically it does. at this stage of the game and i've said this for several weeks now. i think that somewhere in the five to seven range of years back i think would give people a sense of what he's done and i think a lot of this noise goes away. the brew ha-ha with harry reid becomes a footnote.

and the country can focus on things that matter. the discussion that the president and mitt romney need to have about the direction of the country and how much it's going to cost us to get back on our seat. >> your successor called the senate majority leader a dirty liar. you took a lot of shots when you were chairman. some of it friendly fire. i've never heard you use that kind of language. how do you respond to the choice of language? >> for the job, i mean, look. you're on par with the leadership nationally of both parties. you've got to have a certain level of decorum and respect. i think there were other ways to express that harry reid was talking out of turn. could say if you've got the evidence, put up those individuals and let's go from there. but that's part of the problem. when you get into the name calling and that silliness, then you've taken the debate to another level. then you become part of the story as opposed to the point

you're trying to make. >> governor rendell, the fact of the matter is -- and i will take it that michael is saying he disagrees with the choice of language. >> absolutely, reverend. let me be clear. i believe that is not appropriate language if you are the leader of a national party to say about a leader of the opposition party. in any way, shape, or form. in my two years -- look, the worst i said was let's fire nancy pelosi. you don't personalize it that way. you keep it so that people understand you're trying to make a broader point. not take it to the point where people look at it as a personal attack. >> well, governor. the fact is that aside from the language which i think all of us may agree with michael that was kind of harsh in tone, the fact is they don't know that reid is lying unless they have seen mitt romney's tax returns.

how do you call somebody a dirty liar unless you know for a fact that the information would be the opposite of what mr. reid was told? >> absolutely. and remember, what reid said was a source told him that governor romney hadn't paid any taxes. now, he's just repeating what that source said. again, it's always a problem when you quote an unnamed source. someone who's not willing to put his name on the line. and apparently from what senator reid said, it was someone inside bain. look, he's not a liar. he's accurately telling you what the source said. if i were the rnc chair what i would have said is harry reid should have known better to not rely on a source who isn't named. that's a response. mitt romney should put this to bed. he should do at the very least what chairman steele said he should do. i think he should put the same 23 years out in public that he

gave to john mccain at the time. he was hoping to be vice president. his father did that. i mean, it's an issue that should be done and gone. because we do have more important things to discuss. i think the nation in general is waiting for an intelligent discussion of the real issues. no question about it. >> michael, let me go to another item. 54% of americans say they want to see more of romney's taxes. and i think it's really not that they are interested in the taxes per se, but more about whether he's fair. is he consistent in his own life with the policies he represents? the l.a. times shed some light on romney's taxes. specifically on the california home they paid $12 million in cash for. and are now doubling the size and adding an underground garage with an elevator. now, the times says quote, initially the romneys asked that

their 2009 assessment, $12.24 million, be reduced to $6.8 million maintaining their home had lost about 45% of its value in the first seven months they owned it. 13 months later after hiring an attorney to guide them, the romneys filed an amended appeal contending the home had suffered a less-dramatic fall of 27.3% to $8.9 million. so with all this money, it seems he really has tried to lower his property tax. i mean, there's a lot of reasons the people are saying let's see how you conduct business since you are so firm on what you're claiming you want for americans. >> let's be clear here and keep everything in context. i mean, people do that all the time. in the homes and communities around the country, people are getting tax assessments and they are evaluating those tax assessments based on the property value, what they could sell it for. and if those assessments are too

high and at the time that was done i presumed that that was at the beginning of in the middle of this financial crisis where counties and municipalities were trying to get as much revenue out of property they could. families and individuals were challenging those assessments. so that's reasonable and then for the lawyers to go in and take a look and do an evaluation and come back with a recommended number. so i don't put anything different or different spin on it. that's in keeping with what any homeowner did over the last four, five years when they got those assessments from the state and from the county. >> but governor rendell, because not everybody is running as president, how will that play in ohio for pennsylvania to regular guys -- here's a guy that will not release his information and we've been told with all these millions of dollars floating around and car elevators being built, he tried to get the

lowest property tax he could, hired somebody to do it. >> i don't think that's going to be a problem for him. a lot of those ohioan blue collar workers out of work probably did the same thing. and i don't think people are going to -- look. not paying taxes, that's a problem if that's the case. but trying to get, you know, a fair assessment or reduction in taxes, that's something everybody does. and, look. again, i don't think that's going to be what is going to hurt governor romney. what's going to hurt governor romney is if he didn't pay taxes and that comes out. that's obviously something a lot of americans will take seriously. and secondly, shoring money offshore. i think that's going to be something if in fact he's done that, that's something where a blue collar worker in ohio is going to stay he put money in bermuda and didn't pay taxes on it? because he was able to take it out and shelter it in a foreign

country. that, i think, is a real problem. but we don't know that it has occurred yet. >> i've got to leave it there governor ed rendell, michael steele. michael, they say i'm never nice to you. that's a nice tie you have on tonight. >> thank you. coming up, we're learning more about this alleged wisconsin shooter accused of killing six people at a sikh temple. how can a neo-nazi have easy access to guns? and what can we do about hate crimes on the rise? and the cheers could be heard all over america today. how about landing a rover the size of a car 354 million miles away on mars? what a triumph. what a country. stay with us. [ male announcer ] it's a golden opportunity... to experience the largest, most efficient line of luxury hybrids on the road,

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that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

it's becoming all too familiar. innocent americans gunned down in a public place. this time six people murdered and three critically injured as they prepared for a religious service at a sikh temple in suburban milwaukee. we're getting a disturbing picture of the alleged shooter. 40-year-old wade michael page of colorado. he spent six years in the army serving as a psychological operations specialist. in 1998 he was less than honorably discharged for drinking while on duty. in the early 2000s, the southern

poverty law center took notice of page who was then getting into the underground white power music scene. he founded a band that the splc says has deep ties to hate groups. their music was considered so violent, it could only be published on the internet. and yesterday another violent end that some may have seen coming. but no one was able to stop. yet again raising the question, what can this country do to stop this senseless violence? joining me now is ken jacobson from the anti-defamation league. thank you for your time tonight. >> pleasure to be here. >> page was well known to hate watch groups. what else can you tell us about him? >> i think one of the interesting factors was he was associated with the old -- one of the oldest skin head racist groups the hammer skins who you mentioned the music group. he performed two concerts in the

past two years in north carolina and then in florida. so hammer skins have a long history of racism. and of course we're seeing a kinder version of the lone wolf phenomenon. with the internet, spreading of hate available now in ways that were not before. he's not quite a lone wolf in the sense he has a connection to the groups. but the idea individuals can get all this information, can be stirred up then take it out on incident individuals. >> if the southern poverty law center noticed him. if some of these people are under the watching groups have come to attention, what happens that we can limit their ability to become violent and i think they're calling this already domestic terrorism out in where the sikh temple was. what can groups do other than monitor them? >> it starts with monitoring.

of course law enforcement knows about some of these groups. sometimes they don't know. then you have to look at behavior. we live in a country of free speech. people are allowed to say nasty things. the question is, he never apparently carried out any violent act before. if he had done so, his ability to get a gun might have been restricted. but since he never did, he was able to get a weapon. but i think we have to start with monitoring. we have to take it seriously. international terrorism is a great threat. people forget that most of the crimes that take place in the area of terrorism are domestic terrorism and many are hate terrorism. >> are we seeing a rise in hate groups? i think that the southern poverty law center saw there was a rise. is that causing concern? >> it's interesting. we found that anti-government hate groups are truly resurging. there's a lot of the -- in terms

of the white supremacist groups, they don't seem to be growing. but they are growing in anger and the willingness to take out their theories against individuals. white supremacist groups are not necessarily growing in number, but they're growing in their sense of anger and willingness to act upon it. >> now, the mark potsic told the new york times about this guy. quote, this guy was in the thick of white sue memist music scene and played with some of the best known racist bands in the country. there's open public expression of this kind. >> we live in a free country. the bands and the music play a key roll with the efforts of the individuals. it's not just a when you have a major concert somebody may act upon it.

we have to take it seriously. thank you for your time. whether this is crime in communities, whether someone is kick whether it's where we have urban violence or gang violence, 10,000 people are dying from gun every year. from gunfire from the use of gun violence. we must fight it. today i hosted aeeting of elected officials and leading clergy on how we deal with violence in our own community all over the country. we must stop the violence no matter who's using it, no matter what reason. there is no reason for guns in the hands of people to harm innocent people. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts now. get nasty. let's play "hardball."

good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this war over mitt romney's tax return. quote, when you're in a hole, stop digging. well the republican candidate keeps breaking that rule. he offers no reason except personal attitude. he allows his critics to question what he's hiding. harry reid said someone told him romney is sitting on ten years of tax returns in which he paid no taxes whatever. now, there's a good reason to keep a secret if it's true. i love the politics of this. you got the senator majority leading jumping in on obama's side. that's the first and best news of this kind for the obama side. he's a full fledged ally in the field now for the president. the kind of confederate, political confederate obama needs in this fight. he could use more of them and

get them now that the action's underway. showing up on the other side is reince priebus calling senator reid a liar on national television. lindsey graham is also calling him a liar. so we have a fight here about mitt romney's tax returns that's escalated to a nasty scene. all about one issue. is the man hiding something? maybe a lot of things. and it's only begun. let's hear from the game changers and what they think about it. mark halperin writes for time. both are seasoned analysts for msnbc. mark, i want to show you right now. let's begin where we left off friday night. harry reid used a source who told him mitt romney didn't pay taxes for ten years. if reid's goal was to keep the issue alive, he succeeded big time. first, romney told reid to quote, put up or shut up. then yesterday rnc chairman reince priebus came out swinging in romney's defense. let's listen. >> as far as harry reid is concerned, listen. i know you might