birth to his church attendance to his basic american loyalty? do you really feel proud? that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from minneapolis. 83 days until the 2012 election. well, mitt romney is whining about a hate campaign, his buddies are stealing your right to vote. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the president's campaign is all about division and attack and hatred. >> the romney campaign is raging about chains. and silent about voter suppression. tonight, the reverend al sharpton on the romney campaign to distract and conquer. and the nation's airy berman on the surprise ruling that will help republicans steal the election. >> wonky on you, but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. >> the republicans serious guy on budgets has no answers for

fox news. robert reich is here tonight to explain paul ryan, the fraud. my plan has already extended medicare by nearly a decade. their plan ends medicare as we know it. >> howard dean on today's smackdown from the president on medicare. and the architects of romney care and obama care say paul ryan is dead wrong when it comes to rationing health care. >> we're saying get rid of the health care law, stop putting this rationing board in charge of current seniors' health care. >> john gruber and john mcdonagh join me tonight exclusively. >> to have you with us. thanks for watching. if mitt romney gets his way, this is what we're going to be talking about for the next 83 days. >> the president's campaign is all about division and attack and hatred. i think unhinged would have to characterize what we have seen from the president's campaign. it's designed to bring a sense

of enmity and anger. >> he said it's all about anger and hate. he started this line of attack last night. >> so mr. president, take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting america. >> the way romney is talking, it sounds like the obama campaign did something terrible to the romneys. but it must be pretty bad if romney is throwing around words like hatred and jealousy. but in reality, vice president joe biden just made a simple point about republicans wanting to deregulate wall street. >> unchain wall street. they're going to put you all back in chains. >> vice president biden's metaphor is now the number one issue for republicans in the romney campaign across america.

former speechwriter for george w. bush wrote in the daily beast today, joe biden must step down as vice president of the united states. give me a break. and romney's attack dog john sununu says biden was talking in racial code. >> there's going to be folks across the country that are going to try and take that as some kind of a code word that is going to suggest that the republicans are trying to be racial in their programs. that's ridiculous. >> this has been the romney camp's message for the past 24 hours. it is a manufactured outrage is what it is. and the purpose is to distract voters from the real outrageous like this one. >> we begin with breaking news on pennsylvania's controversial vor identification law. today, a harrisburg judge refused to block that law from taking effect. >> sure, let's talk about joe biden saying the word chains while republicans block hundreds

of thousands of voters in a swing state which is crucial in this election. the pennsylvania voter id law was written by republicans and endorsed by republican governor in tom corbett. the judge's ruling today lets this law stand. i can't believe it, and the implications, my friends, are absolutely huge. all voters must now obtain a valid pennsylvania photo id in order to cast a ballot. it sounds easy, but the judge said this. judge robert simpson said the law was a reasonable, nondiskrm nutore, nonsevere burden when views in the widespread use of photo id in daily life. pennsylvania is a case study of why not all burdens are created equal. more than 9% of registered voters in the state of pennsylvania lack properly identification. for instance, in the city of philadelphia, the number at 18%. 44% of the city's voters are african-american. minorities, the elderly, and the

poor. these are the groups most likely to lack the proper documents needed to vote this fall. to obtain a voter id. this is the plan. this is the game plan that the republicans are using to steal states from president obama so they can win the white house. hey, look, don't take my word for it. the republican leader in the house in pennsylvania said the same doggone thing. >> voter id, which is going to allow governor romney to win the state of pennsylvania, done. >> judge simpson said the house leader's comments did not factor into his decision because there was no proof of partisan motivation. really? what did judge simpson think the house leader was talking about? let's figure it out this way. in 2008, barack obama won the state of pennsylvania with 620,478 votes. since 2004, the number of voter fraud convictions in

pennsylvania is what? four? these were all cases of ineligible voters trying to vote. the number of cases of actual impersonation fraud is zero. those numbers aren't going to help mitt romney win pennsylvania one bit, but this number could. 758,000, that's right, that's the number of pennsylvanians who don't have a valid photo id under this law. here's what's at stake, my friends. 20 electoral votes. in a close election, 20 electoral votes could be the ball game. this is much more offensive than someone saying the word chains in a speech. the right to vote is granted by citizens, by the united states constitution, but the country is now much closer to the mindset of this fox news guest. >> hey, look, voting is a privilege. i mean, there are things you have to do to vote. >> really? a privilege? i guess we should change the

name of the voting rights act to the voting privilege act. if mitt romney wants to talk about hatred and anger and division, that's what he wants to talk about, we should be talking about this story all across america. i hate the thought that people are going to be denied the right to vote in this country. and i'm angry that a political party would divide americans into two groups, those who can vote and those who cannot. get your cell phones. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, which is the bigger outrage, joe biden's comments or suppressing the minority vote? text a for biden's comments, text b for suppressing the vote. to 622639. you can always going to our blob at ed.msnbc.com and we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by reverend al sharpton, host of politics nation on msnbc and head of the national action network, and ari

berman. author of "hurting donkeys." great to have you with us. reverend, i'll going to you first on this. the numbers clearly state that pennsylvania could now be in jeopardy. what's the push back on this, reverend? what do we do? what do democrats do? what options are available at this point? >> well, two things. one, there will be an appeal to this ruling, but at the same time, groups like ours, the national action network have gone into pennsylvania, have gone into other states and actually organizing churches and people on the ground to get people their voter photo id. we have a two-prong strategy because we must not while we wait on the courts to go back and forth, not equip as many people as we can with their ids so they can vote. this is clearly a problem when you're dealing with seniors like the lead plaintiff on the case who are on fixed incomes, they can't afford $10 or $20 for a

passport or a license. that's why it's been referred to a new poll tax. when you have the head of the state representatives there saying blatantly this is about romney winning, romney can win because of this, we are clearly being violated here, and we're being clearly violated for this election. we have always used id. why not have the id we use when nixon was running and when reagan was running and clinton and the bushes? why all of a sudden do we need new id now? he told us why. because that's how they intend to win this election. >> receive rnd, how are you going to motivate and mobilize and get people on the ground moving 82 days as of tomorrow, 750,000 people? there's never been a heavier lift in american politics to move people like that. i mean, how is this going to happen? >> i think we have got to -- we are already on the ground before the 85 days. labor and others are coming in. but we have to do what we can to

mobilize people, and at the same time, continue to fight in the courts. but a lot of people that are beginning to understand this is even bigger than this election. this is assault on voter rights. this is saying this country last year, erected a statue of martin luther king on the banks of the potomac, but this year are trying to undue and revoke what king and others did and some gave their lives for including viola louisa, a lady from michigan, where mr. romney's father was governor, went to selma to get the voting rights act, now it's being neutralized by these maneuvers. >> i guess we can say we ran into an activist judge. you have been covering this case. why did the judge rule to uphold this law? >> well, it really was a ruling, ed, that seemed pretty devoid from reality given that pennsylvania admitted its

central rationale for the law didn't exist because there was no voter fraud in pennsylvania. at the beginning of the trial, it looks like the deck was going to be stacked against the state. the judge basically said he was deferring to the state that the law was constitutional, and he dismissed a lot of what the plaintiffs argued which i thought was surprising because he said number one, the law is nonpartisan even though voter id laws in pennsylvania and across the country have been passed exclusively by republicans and he said it was nondiscrimnutore even though blacks are twice as likely as whites to not have these ids and people of color are disproportionately effected not only in not having the ids but not having access to things like birth certificates to get the ids. you have a situation where the facts on the ground didn't support the conclusion that the judge in pennsylvania reached in this case. >> is there a chance that this ruling is still going to be struck down in an appeal, ari?

what about that? >> it's possible. the state supreme court in pennsylvania is deadlocked 3-3 between democrats and republicans. so they need four votes on that court to overturn this ruling. if the court deadlocks it goes back to the lower court and the law is likely to stand. my impression from talking to people on the ground today in penpen, they're preparing to go through with this law on the books, try to get as many people ids as possible, but there's unlikely that this law is going to be blocked before the election. that's just the reality right now based on this ruling. >> you know, reverend, there are people who have voted in pennsylvania for decades that have never had an id. that are economically challenged, some of them don't even have transportation. we're talking about people into the thousands, if you look at the margin of victory that barack obama had in 2008 and also how close it was in 2004, i mean, is august 15th, 2012, possibly the day barack obama lost the election?

>> no, i think august 15th 2012 may be the day that we lost voting rights and the people of this country began to see a regression in terms of our democratic principles. it's not just about the president's election. and it's not just people that don't have id. they have id. they have the id they voted for years with. this is new id. and i think that we've got to let the right wing have to deal with the fact that they're the ones changing id based on a non-existing problem. we're not against id. let us use the id we always had in pennsylvania. >> well, it would seem to me it's going to take a lot of people coming into the state of pennsylvania to help out with this. i mean, this is going to take a mammoth effort to make this wrong a right between now and november 6th. reverend al sharpton and ari berman, great to have both of you with us. remember to answer tonight ffs question at the bottom of

the screen, share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. coming up in the program, medicare misinformation. it is out there big time. the republicans double down on what really is their biggest lie to date. running into this election. we'll show you just how they're struggling to keep their story straight when we come back. stay with us. you're watching "the ed show" live from minneapolis. ♪ [ male announcer ] aggressive styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. the 2012 c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. ♪ join mercedes-benz usa on facebook for the best summer sweepstakes. you have a plan? first we're gonna check our bags for free, thanks to our explorer card. then, the united club. my mother was so wrong about you.

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coming up on "the ed show," former vermont governor howard dean on the latest romney lie on medicare. and that's exactly what it is, a lie. former labor secretary robert reich on paul ryan's admission they didn't run the numbers on the romney budget. really? and minnesota republicans have now nominated a candidate for congress who says women are genetically predisposed to being subservient to men. we will introduce you to michele bachmann's mentor, allen quist. share your thoughts on twitter and on facebook using the hash tag ed show. we're coming right back. ing the calcium they take

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welcome back to "the ed show." for the last couple nights here on "the ed show," we have been debunking mitt romney's latest lie about medicare. i mean, this is their campaign. today, it looks like the romney campaign is really struggling to keep the lie going. they have launched a slick new campaign ad to deliver the same old misleading message. >> when you need it, obama has cut $716 billion from medicare. >> republicans spent the day repeating that lie about the $716 billion. and they run into trouble when they're confronted with the truth. remember president obama's

affordable care act saved $716 billion by cutting overpayments to insurance industry experts and costs? ryan's plan cuts $716 billion from medicare all together. he repeals the affordable care act but does not replace it. the cost will shift to seniors, you can count on it. mitt romney really needs to pick a plan, doesn't he? >> congressman ryan has joined my campaign. and his campaign is my campaign now, and we're on exactly the same page. >> romney still won't clarify what his own plan for medicare is. so the former governor from minnesota tim pawlenty tried to keep the focus on the big lie instead. here is his attempt. >> so it is not beyond factual -- it is absolutely beyond factual dispute he has cut $716 billion of money that was projected to be spent on medicare over the next ten years.

>> it's not a cut in medicare. let me read from the cbo. >> it's a cut. >> obama says the republicans just seem a little bit desperate right now. >> i think they know their plan is not very popular. you can tell that because they're being pretty dishonest about my plan. especially by the way when it comes to medicare. now, this is something i have got to point out here. because they are just throwing everything at the wall to see if it sticks. >> i am joined tonight by howard dean, former governor of vermont, and former chairman of the dnc. governor dean, good to have you with us tonight. they are off message, they are off point. they're not on the same page when it comes to a vital issue. and they have spent so much time talking about repealing obama care, they have no plan for themselves. how much damage are the republicans doing to themselves right now? >> they're starting to do a lot. what they're using is old

propaganda techniques used by the soviets years ago. they say something that is not true and they're going to spend $200 million saying it again and again, hoping someone believes it. here's the problem they have, very few people in america believe that republicans care about medicare. because they have tried to hurt it so many ways. nor do they believe they care about middle class people. they do believe that whatever the faults of the democrats, they have stood up for social security and medicare. so it's propaganda generally, and it didn't work in russia and it's not going to work here, it generally does not work when people know that it's a lie. and that is the problem the republicans have. people know it's not true. they don't believe that president obama is going to cut medicare. they do believe that the republicans don't like medicare and social security. that's the uphill fight the republicans have here. >> i mean, i just find it amazing, 79% of the american people don't want a voucher system, they don't want to change anything when it comes to medicare. they want to leave it alone. that's 8 in 10 americans. yet they continue to send

surrogates out in front of television cameras and doing interviews saying no, president obama, and they use the word stole, stole the money to pay for obama care. and this continues. this is paul ryan. he insists on telling this medicare lie. here he is on sean hannity's radio show today. listen to this. >> i am eager to have this debate. we're going to have this debate and we're going to win this debate. the reason you're hearing these kinds of things is because the president knows he is so vulnerable on thissi issue. it's the president who took $716 billion from the medicare program to spend on obama care. that's cuts to current seniors that will lead to less services for current seniors. >> governor dean, they lied about you in twoub 4, but they're really lying now. >> people in politics lie all the time. his last phrase was where the lie was. it does not cut services to seniors.

that's just a fact. it does not. it takes -- it does take money away from insurance companies and some providers. but the other thing it does is strengthen the medicare trust fund. when ryan cut medicare in his budget, he got rid of president obama's health care bill. all that money he cut was taken directly out of medicare, away from seniors, away from programs and given actually, i hate to say this, was given for tax cuts for people who made $1 million a year and more. what they're trying to do is ridiculous and nobody is going to believe it. the thing is they have hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to our pal john roberts' citizens united case, which theand they' to put hundreds of millions of dollars behind the ads. i don't think they're going to win. people know the republicans don't like ordinary americans, and that's what their problem is. >> i hope you're right on that, i really do. i'm going to beg to defer with you a little bit here. i believe this misinformation campaign that they've got going

on right now is very -- is very organized. they're very disciplined about it. they're not going to give up on it. i think it's going to affect a lot of people, and don't you think the obama team is going to have to stay on point because they're not going to stop lying over on the other side? >> no, that's right. they're going to have to fight and fight and foyt. at the end of the day, the problem is the ordinary people of the country, the average working people, they know the republicans are not on their side because the republicans actually cause this horrible recession we're in by their give-aways to the banks and give-aways to people who have lots of money. that's what george bush did for eight years. he cut taxes and wouldn't pay for it by cutting programs. that's why we are where we are. they're going to get barrages by hundreds of millions of dollars of korpshzs money paying for the ads. there's not going to be a lot of people who believe them at the end of the day, but the president has to stay on message, has to be tough about it. this is going to be the toughest election of my lifetime. >> no question mitt romney hired one hell of a liar because

that's about as good of a lie sound bite i have heard in a long time. thanks so much wroorb. coming up, mitt romney is trashing an independent study of his tax plan. and gop budget expert paul ryan, well, he really hasn't krufrbed the numbers yet. robert reich is here to set the republican ticket straight. then the mitt romney interview wishes that we would not do. we'll talk to the architects of romney care, the guys who put it together. they stick it to the governor, former governor of massachusetts, about the facts and about medicare. you're not going to want to miss this one. stay with us. [ lenner lesaneed to carr

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welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney, he is whining about a recent analysis of his tax plan. the nonpartisan tax policy center says the romney tax plan would do this. provide large tax cuts to high-income households and increase the tax burdens on middle or lower income taxpayers. that's what they said. today, romney responded by saying, they made garbage assumptions and they reached a garbage conclusion. all right. somebody has to take out the trash. romney could end the speculation by telling the american people what assumption s he's willing o put forward, but he refuses to say what he would actually cut. today, romney, he did shed a little birth of light on this plan. we know what he's going to cut,

amtrak, pbs, the national endowment for the arts, the national endowment for humanities. really, really big stuff, right? important stuff is what it is. this is what mitt romney considers a serious proposal, ending funding for big bird and elmo? his budget is so full of holes, even the gop genius paul ryan can't explain it. >> we want to reduce the size of government. >> what about balance? >> i don't know exactly when it balances. i don't want to get wonky on you, but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan. >> think about that. the question was, what about balance? well, you know, we're deficit hawks and budget hawks, but we really haven't run the numbers yet. we haven't run the numbers because there are no numbers. this is the way mitt romney plays the game, whether he's running the olympics or whether he's running for president. his books always seem shrouded in secrecy, don't they?

by the way, where are those taxes? we're not going to get those, either. that's later in the show. for more, let's bring in robert reich, former labor secretary under president clinton. cn be, c contributor and author of the book "beyon outrage." lord forbid if the american people ask for detail on this. will cutting things like pbs balance the budget? >> no, ed, they will not. i mean, look, romney has studiously avoided any details with regard to how he's going to pay for these gigantic tax gives ways to the retch or how he's going to cut the budget. that's why paul ryan's budget, the budget he has come up with for the republicans in congress, has taken center stage, because it must be that ryan's budget fills in the details of romney's lack of detail. particularly when romney says that ryan's budget is a marvelous budget, a wonderful budget, couldn't have come up with a better budget himself. well, it is his budget now.

>> isn't it a moment of embarrassment on the part of the romney campaign that they've got the vice presidential candidate saying they haven't run the numbers yet he is the chairman of the house budget committee? you think the american people are going to put that connection together? >> i don't think the american people are going to pay a lot of attention to specific numbers. when it comes to numbers, particularly numbers that are obfuscated by republicans over and over again, what republicans are counting on that people's eyes glaze over. they say, we don't know what the truth is, we can't tell what the truth is from the democrats or republicans so we're not going to pay attention, but it's very important that people pay attention. that nonpartisan tax policy center that romney called garbage is largely respected, by all partisans, by both sides because it's so vigorous with regard to numbers. it's been careful and looked at what romney has said, the little

romney has said about what he want to do the tax code, and they have concluded that every millionaire on average, will get from romney's proposal at least $295,000 a year less in taxes than they are paying now. ryan's tax benefits to the rich are even bigger than that. and where are these going to come from? romney said they're going to come from closing tax loopholes, but he refuses to say what tax loopholes he's going to close, and he's not going to close any of the tax loopholes he himself has benefitted from, such as the carried interest loophole that allows private equity managers to treat their incomes as capital gains. >> yeah, well, you know, they're like an engine that's not running very well right now. when something goes bad, the problems begin to multiply. this is a day after ryan said that he hasn't run the numbers. this is romney adviser ed

gillespie. he had a similar problem. here's the multiplication. >> how many years would it take for the romney budget to result in a balanced budget? >> wolf, i'm not sure of that myself. i'll get that to you and i'm sure it's on our website. i'm embarrassed i don't have that at the top of my head. >> i don't think there's anything you can and i say after that sound bite. it doesn't sound like anybody knows what the heck is going on. >> ed, the fact of the matter is they haven't run the numbers because there are no numbers to run. and there will not be any romney numbers to run as long as romney is running. >> yeah. robert reich, great to have you with us. thanks so much. >>alize rr a lot more coming up in the next half our of "the ed show." stay with us. >> my campaign has made it very clear. the president's cuts of $716 billion to medicare, those cuts are going to be restored if i become president and paul ryan

becomes vice president. up next, the architects of romney care and obama care will tell you who is really lying about medicare. mitt romney uses a secret weapon to combat harry reid on his tax returns. >> the only reason we don't disclose any more is, you know, we'd become a bigger target. >> and michele bachmann's mentor might be headed to congress. i'll show you why he might be more radical than she is. here's my morning routine. gotta start the day off right. wardrobe. cute. then new activia breakfast blend. a great way to help start the day. mmm... creamy lowfat yogurt with grains

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people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. welcome back to "the ed show." this will probably be mitt romney's least favorite part of the show tonight here on "the ed show" and his campaign, but if you're a conservative and you're watching tonight, i want you to set aside all partisanship for just a moment be a fair-minded american about this. we're about to set aside politics for a minute and get to the truth of what is going on in this country.

you see, back in 2006, mitt romney signed sweeping health care reform into law in the state of massachusetts. i mean, there's ted kennedy. it was celebrated by a lot of people. it was landmark legislation that all sides could agree on because it was going to help people in the state of massachusetts. but mitt romney, you see, right now, he doesn't like to talk about the success of his signature achievement as gchber. in fact, his running mate hates it. >> i'm not a fan of the system, but they say the system bursting by the seams, they see premium increases, rations and benefit cuts. they're frustrated with this system. >> paul ryan says romney care is rationing. if that's true, then mitt romney, i guess, is going to be the rationer in chief if he gets elected. but tonight, the men who helped create both romney care in the state of massachusetts and the affordable health care act are here tonight to set the record straight. we're going right to the source, the two gentlemen that were

right at the heart of putting the bills together. joining us tonight are jonathan gruber who is a professor of economics at mit and john mcdonagh, professor at harvard school of public health. it's great to have you both on "the ed show" tonight. i appreciate it so much. i will go so far as to say both of you are the sources. you can put it to rest tonight for a lot of americans. professor mcdonagh, let me ask you, romney claims your health care plan raids $716 billion from medicare. is that true? >> no. the affordable care act reduces the rate of gloerowth of medica spending by reducing payments to hospitals and insurance companies as a way to pay for part of the expansions in the law. but those are reductions that were for the most part agreed to by the hospital industry, by the home health care industry. what they would not agree to, and what would deeply unsettle

them and make their operations very difficult would be to repeal the expansions in the law because they are suffering right now very greatly under the weight of all of the uninsured and uncompensated care across america. >> and that really was the concept of this health care bill, is to get more people covered. number one, to get more people into the system to get more money into the system but also to get better outcomes. i think the american people do get that. professor gruber, what is the difference between the affordable care act and paul ryan's plan for medicare? >> well, the affordable care act and paul ryan's plan for medicare have at their core a similar concept, which is the concept of the exchange of individual choice across private health insurance plans. the difference is the affordable care act is applying to a population where the system is broken, where they have no access, and they find a lifeline

for getting insurance that is not now available. paul ryan's system takes a system that fundamentally works, the medicare system, ripped it up, and rebuilds it. we should try it first for the nonelderly where the system is broken. if it works, i'm happy to try it, but let's first try it where we need to. >> mr. gruber, let me ask you, was romney care a model for the affordable health care act? was it -- what was going on in massachusetts, was it a model for the national act? >> it was a model in a couple different ways. one is yawn and i and other experts were constantly shuttling back and forth and we're asked how did you do it in massachusetts? my favorite quote of john's is the massachusetts act is the affordable health care act with three more zeros. also, the success we had in massachusetts was so instrumental in making

politicians comfortable with what's they were about to undertake. >> professor mcdonagh, paul ryan is out there saying romney care in massachusetts is failing. is that true? or is it successful? >> well, it's actually proven right now to be quite successful. more than 98% of everyone in massachusetts has health insurance. about 99.8% of children have health insurance. but i think that the real litmus test is to do some political shorthand. so senator scott brown, our republican u.s. senator, strongly opposes the affordable care act, and strongly supports massachusetts health reform. in 2006 and 2010, we had two hotly contested gubernatorial elections with well financed republican contenders in boejt of those elections, those candidates supported massachusetts health reform.

there was a group in massachusetts last year that tried to gather signatures put on the ballot a question to repeal the individual mandate in the massachusetts health reform law. they had to abandon their effort because they couldn't get the signatures. more than two thirds of people in massachusetts support this law and want to see it continue. and there's no credible group in massachusetts that is advocating repeal or scaling it back in any significant way. you know, we're on the other side. the rest of the country is looking toward implementation of the affordable care act, whether they like it or they dislike it, we're on the other side of that. we're about eight years ahead of the rest of the country, and what we can say very clearly in massachusetts is it's working and it's working well. >> okay. so what we conclude tonight from you two gentlemen, the source, who were very involved in writing the bills both in massachusetts and on the national level, the afford care act, that number one, paul ryan and the republicans are lying

about the $716 billion that's been taken away from seniors. and also that romney care in massachusetts is failing, when both of you tell us tonight that it is not failing. it is working. let's make sure i've got that correct. is that correct? do both of you agree on that? >> absolutely. romney care had two goals. they wanted to cover the uninsured. we have covered almost all of the uninsured, and they wanted to fix a broken nongroup. that's where paul ryan lied in the clip you showed. the premiums have fallen by more than 50%. >> all right -- >> i would add something quickly, on medicare, governor romney has said that he wants to repeal the entire affordable care act. if you do that, then you repeal the shrinking of the medicare prescription drug doughnut hole and you take away a host of benefits that medicare enrollees are getting right now. the only person really advocating cutting benefits to

current medicare enrollees is governor romney and congressman ryan. >> jonathan gruber, john mcdonagh, great to have you with us tonight. we'll have you back. this story isn't going away. coming up, the story that just will not go away. ann romney says her husband has nothing to hide when it comes to his taxes. but she says they're not going to be releasing any more returns. i'll show you what she said when we come back. stay with us. [ male announcer ] we've been through waterbeds, latex beds, and now beds infused with gel? but through all the fads, 6 million people have found their best night's sleep on something else. ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how fast i fall asleep. ask me about staying asleep. [ male announcer ] so next time you hear that gel is the answer to sleeping hot, know that tempur-pedic beds have been proven in independent tests to sleep cooler than the leading gel beds. just ask me. [ male announcer ] tempur-pedic. the most highly recommended bed in america.

up next, ann romney talks tax returns and paul ryan meets with big money donors. we'll have the details. stay tuned.

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[ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney's tax issue is still on the table. and the campaign's so-called secret weapon to deal with it, ann romney, she isn't helping matters. >> why not be transparent and release more than the 2010 and the estimates for 2011? >> have you seen how we're

attacked? have you seen what has happened? >> it's been in the press quite a bit. are you angry it's been in the press? should you not be questioned about your finances? >> we have been very transparent to what's legally required of us. but the more we release, the more we get attacked. the more we get questioned, the more we get pushed. and so we have done what is legally required and there's going to be no more tax releases. given. mitt is as honest, his integrity is just golden. we pay our taxes. we are absolutely -- beyond paying our taxes, we also give 10% of our income to charity. we have no issues that way. the only receesason we don't disclose more is we become a bigger target. >> so it's because you'll just continue to face more questions. >> well, it will just give them more ammunition. >> to american people, though, when they hear about, you know,

perhaps accounts with your name on it overseas in tax shelters, they feel like you may be hiding something. >> there's nothing we're hiding. we have had a blind trust for how many years. we dont even know what's in there. >> that's their story and they're sticking to it. meanwhile, paul ryan is already taking closed door meetings with the billionaire donor sheldon adelson in las vegas. adelson is the guy who has pledged $100 million to defeat president obama, all to insure that his own taxes are lowered under a romney administration. according to the "new york times," ryan met with adelson and three dozen wealthy donors in vegas in a luxury suite with a guarded elevator at adelson's venetian hotel. as the meeting went on, hundreds of union protesters lined up outside, calling out the ryan budget. a budget paul ryan will talk about with billionaire donors but not with average middle

class working americans. tonight in our survey y asked you which is the bigger outrage, joe biden's comments or suppressing the minority vote. 3% of you say biden's comments, you're really worriy eied about that. 97% of you say suppressing the vote. up next, he helped make michele bachmann into a right-wing star and now he wants to join her in congress. we'll introduce you to a republican congressional candidate allen quist. stay tuned. he's a dandy. ♪

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and to the big finish tonight. where do all these radicals come from? michele bachmann's mentor in minnesota wants to join her in congress. and you know what, he just might get his wish. this is going to be a tough night. former state representative turns soybean farmer allen quist. he won the republican primary in minnesota's first congressional district. he will face democratic congressman tim waltz in november, and he has bachmann's full support. as mother jones reported, quist worked with bachmann in the late '90s to fight minnesota's state education standards. with quist's help, bachmen won a seat in the state senate a short time later. now she's returning the favor and fund-raiseri ra-raising for. who is he? quist at one time believed

dinosaurs co-existed with man. he once compared a university's gay counseling clinic to the ku klux klan. he called for mandatory aids testing to obtain a marriage license. and now he's having to explain an interview he gave back in 1994. here's what quist had to say about the roll of women in society. >> political arrangement in marriage, similar to any other political arrangement. and that political arrangement is that when push comes to shove, the higher level of political authority normally, i i think there are exceptions, but normally should be in the hands of the -- >> okay, i'm joined by terry o'neill, president of the national organization for women. terry, who knows what happens in the heartland, but this is a dandy. i want to say this guy is radical, but first, i need to

say the comments are disgusting. what do you make of this kind of candidate? >> it's really outrageous and astonishing this man has gotten so far in his efforts to become member of the house of representatives of the united states of america. a man who thinks women are predisposed for subserveiance. he's also a man who is deeply and in an ugly wayhomophobic. i agree with you, ed, i think it's going to be a very tough race. there's going to be lots of right-wing money pouring into this race, and it's going to be very important for everyone to, i think, toeraly around tim waltz. he's a good person and a good candidate, and has served his district well. and the good news is he is well liked and very popular in his district. >> does this highlight the gop's war on women? >> oh, absolutely. if you go to allen quist's own website, he is calling for abolishing the department of education. he's calling for repeal of obama

care. and by the way, it's only because of obama care that 14 million women who would have had health insurance all this time if they could afford it, they're now going to have access to affordable quality health insurance, and more women are going to have access to preventive care, contraceptions and mammograms and so forth. >> is your organization here in minnesota strong enough to defeat this guy? >> you know, absolutely. and our organization in minnesota is working very hard on a number of campaigns, and i think that they will defeat him. i think certainly we're going to be working with them and helping them, and i think we can defeat him. it is going to be tough. but he is completely so far out of bounds. he has no place in the house of representatives. >> terry o'neill, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. it is amazing what so people will say and what