changed. when mitt romney and bain closed the plant, i lost my health care. and my family lost their health care. and a short time after that, my wife became ill. i don't know how long she was sick. and i think maybe she didn't say anything because she knew that we couldn't afford the insurance. and then one day, she became ill and i took her up to the jackson county hospital. and admitted her for pneumonia. that's when they fount the cancer. by then, it was stage four. nothing they could do for her. and she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done to anyone. and furthermore, i do not think mitt romney is concerned. >> reaction from the right wing has been predictable, on fox news today, several personalities said the democrats were accusing mitt romney of murder. >> what we're seeing is a

morally bankrupt charge of murder, and it really couldn't be imagined or envisioned in any free state. >> they actually with a straight face attempt to make this argument which is beneath contempt and does not deserve a dignified response. >> the impression is after you watch it, mitt romney kind of killed that guy's wife. >> if you think this ad says mitt romney killed a woman, you're missing the point and the whole argument, the way this is being played out. this ad is a testimonial from one individual. joe believes his life was affected negatively by mitt romney's business activities. right wingers call the ad slanderous, but here is what we know for sure. in 1993, bain capital became the majority shareholder of gst steel. by 1995, bain added more than $100 million in debt to the company. mitt romney left to run the olympics in 1999 but remained ceo and chairman of bain. by 2001, gst steel declared

bankruptcy. its plant in kansas city was closed. from 1993 to 2001, bain capital made at least $9 million in profit from gst steel. bain lost nothing. but joe lost his job and his insurance. joe's wife had a job, but she lost it a couple years later along with her insurance. now, we have no idea if joe's wife would be alive if joe had kept his job at gst steel. but we do know this. we know how joe feels. and joe is not backing down from his opinion. despite the criticism from the right wing. he told cnn today, that's the way i feel. mitt romney is a very rich man. i don't think he has any concept as to how when you close a big company, how it affects people. how it affects families and communities. you know, it affects everyone. we're not going to deny this worker, this american worker, joe, his opinion. voters should be able to make their own decision about mitt romney's business activities. and what they mean if he becomes

president of the united states. i believe mitt romney's business history cuts right to the heart of what he brings to the table economically to this country if he's president. the soptics got stuck in the backwash of an economic model where the rich benefit at the expense of workers in this country and everyone else. mitt romney's campaign knows how bad this is. today, his spokeswoman went on fox news and tried to defend romney's policies by bringing up health care reform. >> to that point, you know, if people had been in massachusetts under governor romney's health care plan, they would have had health care. there are a lot of people losing their jobs and losing their health care and president obama's economy. >> all right, now, let's back up a second here. joe's wife would have had health care if she lived in massachusetts. thanks to mitt romney? the united states now has the same health care plan as the state of massachusetts. but here's what mitt romney wants to do with the u.s. health

care plan. >> what the court did not do on its last day in session, i will do on my first day if elected president of the united states. and that is i will act to repeal obama care. >> well, the true leader of the republican party was not happy when he heard the comments from romney's spokeswoman. >> oh, there's -- that's the potential gold mine for the obamaites. because they can say, well, yeah, and romney care was the foundation for our plan. >> right wingers across the internet also freaked out about e romney camp's statement, conservative blogger erick erickson wrote, oh, my god, this might just be the moment mitt romney lost the election. wow. this is why the story of someone like joe is so very powerful. the conditions leading to his

wife's death were brought on by a system that did not account for the most vulnerable among us in the society who lose their jobs and don't recycle back into the economy at the same level. barack obama himself has told this story before from a very personal level. >> when my mom got cancer, she wasn't a wealthy woman, and it pretty much drained all her resources. >> she developed ovarian cancer, never really had good, consistent insurance. >> as of 2014, all americans will have access to affordable health care in this country. mitt romney, he wants to get rid of that. joe's story is not about character assassination. it's a real life story. joe and his family, they're not alone. there's a lot of soptics out there across america and that's what republicans are in denial about. this election will decide whether there will be more stories like joe and his family or fewer. and for media people out there across the country to get on

their high horse and say, well, the obama team, they need to disavow themselves from this ad, really? no, they need to embrace it. this is what is happening across america to workers who lose their jobs thanks to the vultures at the top who want to make more profit. we've got a culture in this country now that we treat workers like furniture. we move them around and when we get rid of them, we get rid of it. this is what this election is all about. this is what barack obama's presidency has been all about, to get more people covered so the story isn't commonplace in america. what is the plan for the republicans? well, you heard it today from romney's spokeswoman. she said that that person would have health care if she had lived in massachusetts. then mitt romney says he's going to repeal health care and strike it down. will the real mitt romney please stand up? this is a perfect ad at the perfect time and this is exactly what this election is all about. the haves and the have nots, who

calls the shots? get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, a republican economic policies dangerous for working class americans? terxt a for yes, text b for no to to. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by leo gerard, president of the united steel workers international union. great to have you with us. is this story commentplace. does it ring true for a lot of people in this country that work with their hands? >> it rings absolutely true, ed. i want to try to tie the two pieces together. the business model that mitt romney has promoted is one where he makes a lot of wealth at the expence of all the people. as we talk about at gst steel, joe was one of our members and we tried like crazy to save the plant, but they were determined, the bain model, the romney model, were determined to load

the company up with debt, put a noose around the corporation's neck so when the economy started to go sideways, they put the company in bankruptcy. they filed all the workers, similar to what they did in facilities in florida, and in america, when you lose your job, you lose your health care. that's what president obama is trying to fix. >> now, after hearing joe's story, do you think this is below the belt? the use of the story in an ad, how they say it's scurrilous, slanderous? >> absolutely not. absolutely not. i think this is a story that joe has about what it did to him and his family. and there's probably many, many other people like that who have had their lives destroyed, had their families destroyed, removed the about ility to have health care, to send their kids to college because we have outsources and offshores jobs in the country. >> what are you saying to the right wingers who said she got sick three years after that

plant was closed. my reaction is he didnwould hav worked 30 years there given the chance. >> they would have worked and had decent health care and decent pensions and had a chance to send their kids to school. the bain capical, romney capital model is one where they get wealthy at the expense of everyday working folks, and only in america of the imaginer industrialized countries when you lose your job do you lose your health care. that's what president obama has fixed, and that's what's making these guys apopleptic. we have to understand that the bain/romney model of getting wealth, wealth accumulation, is one that destroys other people's lives. and if he was so sure of what he haas done, let him stand before those people. if he has so many millions of dollars, why didn't he leave those people with their health care. he was already a multimillionaire. and let me say, he ought to show his taxes to see where he made his money.

>> good to have you with us. >> i am ticked off about it. >> a lot of americans are. let's turn to howard fineman, nbc news political analyst. howard, the politics of this, was this a big misstep by the romney camp in their response to the ad to compare it to health care in massachusetts, the very health care plan that now if he's president, he wants to strike down, mitt romney? >> i think it was a telling response, a revealing one, and i think a problematic one for the romney campaign. democrats and others who support president obama are asking, well, wait a minute, do you, mr. romney, believe that everybody should have access to health care, be guaranteed access to health care? because you're sort of saying that this person would have had it in massachusetts. where ason the right, as you pointed out, a lot of commentators and people in the tea party are appleptic saying wait a minute, the romney camp sounds like it secretly likes

romney care. so which is it? and i think the fact that andrea saul, who is pretty high up in the hierarchy there in boston, having been up there, i know how it operates. she wasn't free-lancing, i don't think. i think she was giving a defense that reveals the contradictions in mitt romney's career and in his candidacy. >> it seems like they were really caught flat flooted by this and don't have the properly response for it because it's such a true story. this isn't a political shot at somebody. this is exactly what happened to a guy who lost his job and what happened to his family. >> right, and it was an interesting response by the romney camp. because as i say, it reveals the contradictions in his candidacy and in mitt romney's career. which is he? is he the guy who at one point essentially made a commitment to seeing that everybody in massachusetts had access to health care? or is he the guy who wants to

get rid of obama care, which is essentially the same thing? that's why conservatives are upset and why the left is paying notice. >> howard fineman, great to have you with us. >> remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen a share your thoughts on ed show and on twitter. >> sandra fluke introduces the president today in colorado. next, sandra joins us to talk about the election, women voters, and rush limbaugh. stay tuned. mom: ready to go to work? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

coming up, president obama ledz to colorado and turns the focus on women's issues. sandra fluke, one of the women at the center of the fight for women's rights was with the president today and is my exclusive guest next. and newt gingrich defend's mitt romney's lie about the president's new welfare policy. i'm ask e.j. dionne how far republicans can take the latest lie? and michigan is the latest state to block the vote. we'll tell you what caused some

voters to be turned away from the polls last night in the primary. share your thoughts on twitter and on facebook using the hash tag ed show. we're coming right back. stay with us. i'm freaking out man. why? i thought jill was your soul mate. no, no it's her dad. the general's your soul mate? dude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a killer investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him.

[ male announcer ] try the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. when it comes to a woman's right to make her own health care choices, they want to take us back to the policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century. >> president obama on the campaign trail today in denver, colorado, hitting republicans on their approach to women's health care. this comes just a week after expanded coverage for women took effect under the affordable care act. preventive care, contraception,

cancer screenings and counseling are now more accessible for millions of women at no cost. >> i don't think your boss should get to control the health care that you get. i don't think insurance companies should control the care that you get. i don't think politicians should control the care that you get. i think there's one person to make these decisions on health care, and that is you. >> the president was introduced by georgetown law school graduate sandra fluke. congressional republicans blocked her from testifying about contraception coverage earlier this year after giving her testimony before a house democratic panel, rush limbaugh attacked this american, calling her a prostitute. now limbaugh wants credit for his insults. >> when i say sandra fluke, what is the first thing that pops out of your mind? when you mention her name, my name is what most people think of. i should be getting a finder's

fee. >> today, she welcomed the president's support after she was smeared by limbaugh and had words for mitt romney. >> mr. romney could only say that those weren't the words he would have chosen. well, mr. romney, you're not going to be the candidate we choose. because if mr. romney can't stand up to extreme voices in his own party, then we know he'll never stand up for us. >> let's bring in sandra fluke tonight. attorney and women's rights activist who hit the campaign trail earlier today with president obama. sandra, nice to have you with us tonight. you're in the mix of it right now, there's no doubt. christa kafer, the director of colorado's future projktd which is a conservative group says that president obama's approach to women voters is insulting. and she called your presence at today's event a side show. what is your reaction to that? >> that's just completely

incorrect. president obama was in colorado today and i was there to try to talk to the women of colorado about the important choice we have in this election. a choice between a president who has already helped to move us forward on women's access to preventive care and health care and making sure that's affordable for all of us versus a candidate who is absolutely promised to take us backward. to kill obama care dead. to defund planned parenthood, and that's why we were there, to make sure that it was clear that this affordable care act has economic consequences for women and is so vital to both our health security and our economic security. >> there's a misconception out there, i believe, that women's health care is just about contraception and reproductive rights. how do you change that point of view? how do you change that thinking? >> i think we all have to talk to those women that we know and all of the voters we know to make sure they understand that the affordable care act has delivered so many services for

women, well women visits, screening for gestational diabetes when we're pregnant, cancer screenings, hiv screenings, all of the essential affordable health care we need. and i think it's also important we begin to talk about it not just as an issue for women but as an issue for all of us because women's health affects the health of the children they bear and it affects the economic security of the entire family when a woman is able to afford the care she needs. >> a new poll out shows president obama is trailing mitt romney in colorado, but he's still ahead with women voters. how confident are you that the swing state women are going to be coming out, supporting this prident in november, which many people, analysts are saying this could be a huge factor in the election. >> yeah, i have to say that after today, i'm feeling very confident. you can tell from some of the footage you played that that was a packed auditorium and those people were fired up. and you know, the biggest applause and the biggest cheers

were when i talked about what the affordable care act does. when i talked about that women will not be required to pay more for the same insurance just because they're a woman, and the auditorium goes crazy, those are people who really understand what a difference these policies make in their lives and they're ready to fight for a president who has fought for them. >> side show of all this, rush limbaugh wants a finder's fee for putting you in the limelight. i think he's probably mixing up his facts when it comes to just exactly how you splashed on the national scene. it was the democrats, if i recall, who asked you to testify in front of a committee and you were denied by darrell issa. but limbaugh wants a finder's fee because his name is associated with you. any words for him? what are you thoughts? >> i really think it's an interesting request to ask to take credit for the voice of a woman you tried to silence. i don't think that's going to work out well. the women of america are speaking out about these

policies, not because of anything that mr. limbaugh has done but because they really care about access to the health care they need and they care about all of us having that health care. >> sandra fluke, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much wloorb. coming up, this could be a new low. if there is one. a new low for newt gingrich. he used to be one of romney's biggest critics. now he's become romney's biggest fan. find out why. then congressman paul ryan and his immoral budget are at the top of romney's vp short list. both democrats and republicans are saying go, baby, go. we like this one. our panel will weigh in on that. stay with us. the capital one cash rewards card

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching. the romney campaign is standing by its welfare whopper. in fact, mitt romney is unleashing the perfect political junk yard dog to defend his latest big lie. former house speaker newt gingrich has suddenly become a romney spokesperson. gingrich is defending romney's claim that president obama is relaxing welfare to work requirements. the romney campaign, camp, has started running this ad in heavy rotation nationwide. the ad which we won't show because, you know, look, it's blatantly untrue. why do it? it claims president obama is gutting welfare and handing out checks to people who don't want to work. almost every major news outlet

debunked the ad within hours of its debut. here are the facts, republican governors have asked for more flexibility and power in handing out temporary assistance money in their states. romney was one of the governors who was asked for the reform. now, governors in utah and nevada plan to use this new waiver being offered by the obama administration, both governors told greg sergeant of the washington post that they would not reduce the welfare to work requirements in the states. the republicans are left with no substance to make the argument. so they are just relying on pure politics. >> unless you made it a mandatory work requirement, it would get waived to a point where it became a joke. this is a very real issue. the american people overwhelmingly believe in the work ethic. >> so, there you have the real argument. if republicans can give the waivers to republican governors and destroy the safety net, it's

okay. but if president obama requires states to prove they are moving people from welfare to work, that's not good enough. let's turn to msnbc contributor and washington post columnist e.j. dionne, author of the book "our divided political heart." e.j., great to have you with us tonight. i do want to point out that the vast majority of states in this country are running deficits. and if you turn money over to governors with a waiver, the last thing they want to do is hand it out to people who don't want to work. so i don't understand the conservative argument on this at all. maybe you can shed some light on that. >> i wish i could understand the argument, ed. first, it's great to have you back, and love to wendy. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. you know, there are three big problems with what romney did. as you pointed out, the ad itself is based on a lie. this does not get rid of the work requirement. ron haskins my colleague who is a republican architect of this plan, we have been arguing about

this stuff for years, said waivers have always been part of making welfare reform work. that's the first problem. the second is states' rights. you have two republican governors out of the five who asked for this, governors reed and sandoval, and they're not about to gut welfare rules. they're not some left-wing folks. the third problem with the ad is that he uses bill clinton. now, if you quote and try to identify with a democratic president who is no longer around, like fdr or harry truman or jfk -- >> you can get away with it. >> right, but bill clinton happens to be around. he has come along and said this isn't true. don't try to identify yourself with me. so i don't -- i get what they're trying to do. they're trying to suggest that obama wants to give money away to people who don't work. and you know, that's a political argument, but it has nothing to do with what obama did. >> is newt gingrich the best spokesperson for romney?

it seems like he's taking on this assignment so he can get back in good if romney wins the white house because he was the one trashing him the most in the primaries. what do you make of this? >> it is smart. newt can come back in because he was the speaker when welfare reform passed. that theoretically gives him some standing to enter into this argument. and we haven't heard much from newt lately, so it's kind of a natural issue for him to jump in on. and he would love nothing better. he called president obama the food stamp president. so this is a continuation of the same last fall's argument. >> this really played into old racial politics about poverty, doesn't it? >> this is really surprising. i had my own qualms about the welfare reform bill. i would have voted against it and passed something more generous to the poor, but one of the advantages is it really did get rid of the stigma of welfare, that you were giving away money to people who didn't

work. and i think for a long time, welfare has really not been an issue in our politics, and the republicans clearly miss it as an issue and so romney is trying to use these new hhs rules to act as if it's revived as an issue. the fact is we still have a welfare to work system, and obama isn't about to get rid of it. >> and finally, have we ever seen a campaign lie this much? >> you know, i was thinking about that, ed. i have covered a lot of campaigns and a lot of pretty vicious campaigns, but it does seem, i mean, the way romney kind of takes obama's statements and clips out the heart of them and strings together sentences -- >> taken it to a new level? >> i think this -- really, this is a new level. i'm not giving to saying stuff like that. >> e.j. dionne, great to have you with us. >> a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. >> if mitt romney asks you to run as his vice president, would

you agree to do so? >> everyone loves paul ryan for vice president. coming up, the panel weighs in on why ryan is a good choice for republicans and democrats. and the goals of republicans are clear. >> voter id which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> they will do whatever it takes to suppress the democratic vote. former ohio congressman john bouchera on how to stop voter suppression in its tracks. this is the plan for back to school. introducing share everything, only from verizon. a shareable pool of data to power up to 10 different devices. add multiple smartphones to your plan, so everyone in your family can enjoy unlimited talk and text. the first plan of its kind. share everything. get your student a samsung galaxy nexus for $99.99.

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♪ who is he? it's aaron cross. he's an outcome agent. we should go. if there is hell, now would be the time to bring it on. ♪ ♪ what are you gonna do? [ cross ] i'm gonna finish what he started. [ male announcer ] "the bourne legacy." rated pg-13. show." with only 90 days to go until the election, both democrats and republicans seem to be warming up to the thought of congressman paul ryan from wisconsin as romney's vice presidential pick. republicans love ryan because he's young, popular, hard-line conservative. picking him would show romney is serious about making conservative choices when he's often viewed as a moderate.

meanwhile, democrats are champing at the bit, jumping on the paul ryan bandwagon for the same reasons. his budget is so controversial, the ryan plan, that the catholic bishops described it as immoral. it guts medicaid and dismantled the social safety net. as we reported here on "the ed show" time and time again, americans don't like republicans gutting their social safety net. paul ryan is a good choice for republicans, but i think he's a great choice for the democrats. let's turn to keith boykin, also with us tonight, republican strategist susan del percio and democratic strategist michael murphy. great to have all of you with us tonight. i'll start with you, susan. would this be risky business for mitt romney if he were to pick paul ryan based on the reaction that was out there when the ryan plan was presented and the way it is just so out of the main stream from what americans are used to when you start talking about vouchers on health care? >> to back it up, the promo was

right. there's a lot of conservatives out there who like paul ryan, who would like to see him. however, politically speaking, i cannot see how he would be on the ticket. >> why not? >> he's too divisive. this should not be an election about paul ryan or frankly any of the other high profile people who were mentioned. if romney is going to be successful, it's got to be a referendum on barack obama and he can't get into a back and forth with people on his own ticket. they can't decide how they get along or disagree if they're going to be united against president obama, if they're going to win. >> he may have a hard time coalescing the conservative base. ryan would take care of all that. >> and also cause other issues where no one is going to question rob portman's credentials. >> four years ago, it was all about sarah palin from september to election day. the best you can say about paul ryan is he's not a hockey mom. democrats are dying for paul

ryan. we talk about his business experience, which is the mantra of the romney campaign. his business experience as i understand it is a paper route and he worked for the family company. he's always been on the public pay roll, congress and then in other positions, but this is not somebody who i really think complements the romney theme and message. >> newt gingrich, i think, was the one who said paul ryan's budget was the equivalent of right-wing social engineering. newt gingrich, one of your chief conservatives saying this. you have a guy that proposed the budget that eviscerates medicare, turns it into a voucher program. tells senior citizens you're on your own, and this is the guy republicans want to put up against barack obama and joe biden. i think it's a wonderful idea for democrats. >> i don't see people in politics saying this is a good idea. >> the weekly standard said that. >> i will tell you this, at least he put forward a budget unlike our democratic counter parts who haven't voted on a

budget in over 1,000 days. and here's the point, and the exact point, my forewarning should not be on it, this conversation, that should not be what we're going to talk about in the presidential race. if that's the case, romney will lose. i understand why democrats want him on the ticket, but that's why i think it won't happen. >> there's a lot of bad ideas coming out of the romney campaign, one of which was to go to london and trash the olympics. i don't know what to expect, frankly, but as i said, we're dying for ryan. >> romney's problem is bigger than any vice presidential nominee is going to be able to solve. whether it's paul ryan or tim pawlen pawlenty, he's going to pick someone safe and boring, i assume. if he picks paul ryan, maybe it shows courage in his part, but the reality is the republican party is beholding to the conservatives, the tea party group, the people who want to move the country in this radical right-wing direction. at some point, romney husbaas t suck up to the group and give them something. whether it's the convention, before the convention, he's

beholding to the right wing. >> you have a lefty selling you on this. why can't you buy it? >> i just can't. the fact is, someone argued romney moved to the right and did all that to win the nomination, and he's supposed to tack back like democrats did in 2008. they had to go left to win the nomination and tack back to the center to win the election. >> who is putting his name on the short list, then? >> i don't know. it's a great conversation. >> they want to fundamentally change the big three. social security, medicare, and medicaid. he has put foorth a budget. >> is there anyone out there who doesn't say we need to make reforms at some level to those three things? >> not those radical reforms, to privatize. >> some people don't want paul ryan's plan. that's all right, but bringing it back to what we were talking abou about. >> keith, wouldn't the money people who are supporting romney want somebody who is going to

take them down this road? >> of course, but romney's got all the money in the world. he doesn't really need any money right now. the bigger problem with paul ryan is that he represents everything that was bad about the bush administration. paul ryan was there in congress when they voted for the two wars. they voted for the prescription drug program that wasn't funded. they voted for the -- all the different expenses that came on the bush administration. thee voted for the t.a.r.p. program, he voted for the auto bailout. >> are we go to going there? this is where you want to take this? >> that's all that barack obama has done. he haas not achieved anything? >> he voted for 94% of the bush administration agenda. so in addition to his pivot to the right where he's got this right-wing agenda in terms of the ryan budget plan, he's also got this legacy in the congress as this bush administration basically flack. and i think that's going to hurt him, too. >> ed, if i may, susan is

suggesting say romney/portman, that's the suggestion of dull and duller. how about chris christie? >> ann coulter said if you don't run chris christie, we'll end up with mitt romney as a nominee and we'll lose. that's the situation we're in right now. >> let's say romney does pick paul ryan. do you think -- you won't buy it, but let's say he does. do you think that could cost the republicans the house and the senate? >> i think it would be very problematic, absolutely, in the house and senate, and that perhaps could be another reason why they don't choose him. >> who would you your pick? >> portman. >> bush baggage? >> the reason, romney needs now mostly is someone he's going to be perceived as being comfortable with. there's a lot of, you know, stuff being said about him that he doesn't seem comfortable in his own skin, and to some degree that is true. the most important credential is making sure the person he picks is qualified and who he is

comfortable with. >> i'm going to sell ryan to you one more time. didn't mitt romney sign off on the ryan plan, saying he would endorse it? >> if you're saying paul ryan is probably the best thing for the republicans, i'm saying that's probably not a good thing for republicans. >> 26 congressional district in new york because of paul ryan. cathy hochal won that race because of paul ryan. >> that was a hot news story at the time. >> keith boykin, susan del percio, michael murphy, thank you for being here. coming up, republicans aren't letting up when it comes to voter suppression. michigan is just the latest state trying to block the vote. i'll explain, stay with us.

ed show surzy tonight, i asked, are republican economic policies dangerous for the working class americans? 98% of you said yes, 2% said no. still to come, republicans are pulling out all the stops to block the vote.

john buchaira weighs in on the fight for early voting rights for all residents in his state coming up. and you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. and on progressive talk stations throughout the country. follow me on twitter on ed show and like the ed show on facebook. we're coming right back. uh-huh... ♪ ♪ it kinda makes me miss the days when we ♪ ♪ used to rock the microphone ♪ back when our credit score couldn't get us a micro-loan ♪ ♪ so light it up! ♪ even better than we did before ♪ ♪ yeah prep yourself america we're back for more ♪ ♪ our look is slacker chic and our sound is hardcore ♪ ♪ and we're here to drop a rhyme about free-credit-score ♪ ♪ i'm singing free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ dot-com narrator: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com. metamucil uses super hardworking psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model, but you should feel a little more super.

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to try to block the vote. i'll ask former congressman john bucherry what can be done to stop it. stay with us. occieri what can b stop it. stay with us. this is new york state. we built the first railway and the first trade route to the west. we built the tallest skyscrapers, the greatest empires. we pushed the country forward. then, some said, we lost our edge.

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and to the big finish tonight. the republican effort to block the vote, it just continues. it's their top priority. we have seen the gop legislative efforts to suppress the democratic vote in numbers of states this season.

we told you about florida, pennsylvania, and ohio. now it's michigan where there are reports of voters being turned away because they refuse to check a box asking them about their citizenship on the ballot. the republican-led state legislature passed a bill requiring voters to affirm citizenship. but governor rick snyder, he vetoed it. a rare good thing for him. citing potential confusion among voters. that confusion was evident at the polls last night. during the michigan primary. as poll workers argued with voters who refused to check a box that they are not legally required to do. all these efforts are aimed at suppressing the vote in order to stop the so-called voter fraud. the problem is voter fraud doesn't exist. republicans can't get elected on their agenda of slagging medicare, medicaid and social security. they can't get elected on advocating for tax cuts for the wealthiest americans at the expense of the middle class.

so what do they do? they resort to voter suppression at the state level. the romney campaign has signed on to the strategy as we have told you. they have been spreading the lie that the obama campaign is trying to deny the right of active military service men and women in ohio from early voting. the exact opposite is the truth. the obama campaign is trying to expand early voting for all registered voters, including military personnel. i'm joined tonight by john boccieri, former ohio congressman, lieutenant colonel and instructor pilot in the air force reserve. he also worked with the obama re-election campaign. good to see you again. good to have you with us. >> thanks, hed, for having me. >> you bed. i'm really surprised there are 15 military groups that are intervening in this lawsuit in ohio, which the obama campaign has filed. and they're siding with mitt romney. what's the disconnect here? are they misguided?

>> well, it's a shame that the republicans are using our veterans groups as cover fire for their true mission, which i believe is to roll back early voting in ohio. and the irony of the whole thing, ed, is those same veterans, nearly a million of them, and military members' families, those who are currently serving on active duty or in the reserves are not going to be able to early vote because of theefts in the republicans in the state legislature. they rolled back what was in place in the 2008 election because of the success of the program. >> you think this is a hang over from measure two, because the get out to vote effort was so strong, and then the republican legislature in ohio went to work to try to suppress the vote? >> no question. in fact, one third of all the votes that were cast in 2008 were by in-person early voting. in two of the largest counties in ohio, in the last three days of the election, nearly 20% of all the votes that were cast

were early votes. so it's very clear that this has been a coordinated, precise action by the republicans as if it was a joint military effort across the country to try to roll back voting rights. whether you're in florida, whether you're in michigan or pennsylvania, we have seen this act before. in ohio, let me add this one point, ed, they even tried to pass a bill that suggested if you showed up at the wrong precinct, you couldn't be told which was the right precinct to go to to vote. it's outrageous. >> why are republicans attacking these labor-rich states? i have a theory that of course the labor movement in the country has tremendous infrastructure. they could get boots on the ground, so they have to try to get strength again strength to suppress the vote where the labor rich voters are. what do you think of that? >> it's an outrage. for someone like myself who has flown ballots into baghdad and watched the iraqis perform their own democracy and elections by

dipping a finger in ink. that was how they, you know, discounted fraud. we see this coordinated effort to try to push people away from the polls. the facts are that it was a razor thin election in 2004. nearly 100,000 votes separated john kerry from becoming president and president bush being re-elected. that's about ironically how many votes would be counted in the last three days of election if they roll back early in-person voting. we have to support the president's -- his lawsuit here that is going to restore early voting for everybody, including the military families, for the million veterans in ohio and restore some sanity in our election process back in the state. >> obviously, there's going to be a court ruling probably next week, we're told, august 15th. what can be done to stop all this outside of that? >> well, if you believe in what we have been talking about, is that everybody who is a registered voter in ohio and has the ability to vote early should be able to do that all the way

up until the election. it worked in 2008. there was no reason why the legislature took this action to roll it back other than to suppress the vote. so if you can go online, go to votevets.org and sign our petition, and help us support veterans restoring their right to exercise early voting privileges in the state, and hopefully follow this and track this as the president's lawsuit is heard in the courts. >> john boccieri, good to have you on "the ed show" tonight. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. the "rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening. >> good evening, that story you were just covering with the former congressman, we have more on that ahead this hour. it's really important stuff. >> a big one. thank you, rachel. >> and thanks to you at home for sknroining us this hour. the republican convention starts in two and a half weeks. it's already august 8th somehow today, and the convention is the last week of august. the last week of this month. that would usually mean that everybody in news would be on

vacation now. resting up before we all work 90 or so straight days without breaks, starting with that convention and running straight through november. but you may have noticed that most of the news world is not on vacation right now. contrary to how this usually works in an election year. most of the hosts and anchors are around right now. and that is in part because of this. the mitt romney campaign last month told everybody that they were going to announce their vice presidential nominee before the republican convention. not at the convention, but before. and they haven't done it yet. and time is now running out before that convention, which means that everybody is around in the news biz because everybody is around waiting for that announcement. there are just not that many days left to do it. i mean, we know they want it to make a big impact like the sarah palin announcement made in 2008. we know the timing will likely be a sudden surprise sort of

thing. but waiting for that means basically that nobody is leaving work. nobody is leaving their desks. nbc news reported today, quote, with a high degree of confidence, that the three finalists for the republican's vice presidential pick are former minnesota governor tim pawlenty, former george w. bush budget director, rob portman, and the author of the controversial house republican kill medicare budget, paul ryan. those are the three. what happened to marco rubio? as soon as it was clear that mitt romney was going to get the presidential nomination, the whole beltway all but concluded that marco rubio was going to be mr. romney's vice presidential pick. now marco rubio isn't even on the short list? i mean, if they're trying to make an impact, i suppose it could be they're leaking short lists that don't include mr. rubio so as to fake everybody out that they're not going to fake him so there will be extra impact from the surprise of the fact they did pick him. i suppose that's