us who have put taxes on the table. it's you. so stop insulting our intelligence by suggesting that we're all small minded and do what every modern presidential candidate has willingly down and release your tax returns. unless of course you're got something to hide. chris matthews and "hardball" is next. defending the cave man. let's play "hardball." good evening i'm chris matthews in nantucket. let me start tonight with this right wing assault on women, this cave man view of the sexes. nobody paid it any attention last week when speaker boehner himself dared to mention the so-called knuckle draggers in

his party. the hard right wild men who believe the president's a secret muslim invader, that women who have an abortion or use an iud should bemurderers. now comes todd akin talking about legitimate rape, finally, we meet the missing link. the birthers and the personhood nuts and not become a freak show. a woman forced to have sexual relations at the threat of harm is a victim of rape. no qualifiers, no area of legitimacy. by the way, as michael kingsly put it, in politics, a gaffe is what you say things. the editorial director for

"huffington post" and cinch a a "huffington post" cynthia tucker. here is what this guy said in an interview. he was answering a question about pregnancy as the result from rape. >> seems to me first of all from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that down. but let's assume that didn't work or something. there should be some punishment, but the punishment should be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> what do you think of that when you hear that said by a united states congressman by the way? not just a candidate for senate. this fella is already in office. representing about 6 or 800,000 people. your thoughts. >> it tacks my braet away, chris and lest we think todd akin is some ultra conservative creten,

let's not be fulled into thinking that. that has become the view of the republican mainstream. i first heard this nonsense in 2003. on the floor of the georgia senate. don thomas, a republican speaking in favor of an antiabortion bill stood up and said basically the same thing. women don't get pregnant through rape. and that guy was a physician. since then, i have heard various versions of that foolishness, which is medically unsound repeated in various places by republicans. by conservatives. now, the contempt for women inherent in that view is simply appalling. they don't believe that good girls get raped at all. only in their view, shameless hussies who have somehow asked for it get raped.

and again, that view has now filtered into the mainstream of the republican party. >> what do you think he means? let's get to the heart of the thinking behind this. this wasn't a gaffe. this is thinking on his part. my question is this. in other words, if a woman is threatened with her life, her children's life, a knife's up to her neck, a gun's at her head and she has sex with a guy under that threat of life or danger to her well being, is that a rape unless it's a physically overwhelming force? what's he trying to parse here? what was he trying to say? >> unless she is beaten within an inch of her life or has a gun pointed at her head, it's not really rape. that's what the thinking here is. again, they believe that a woman who yells rape was doing something she had no business doing. they don't believe that a woman who is going about her business at her office, going to the car in the mall parking place can be

raped, assaulted by a stranger. they believe only women who are somehow putting themselves in harm's way shameless hussies are out there charging rape. that's the view that is implicit in todd akin's comments. >> howard, i wanted to start with a woman because of the obvious nature. what does this fella mean? i followed the rest of his statement trying to figure out what he's trying to say here. you know, i think there should be some punishment. some punishment? used to be a capital crime in much of the country. well, we got to do something to this guy. but the punishment ought to be on the rain epist. >> what matters here and makes this important politically is not what it might or might not do to the missouri senate race.

whether he stays in or not et cetera. claire mccaskill's chances of re-election or not. what matters is that the views todd akin has espoused and the legislation he's supported is in line with what the perspective presidential nominee paul ryan believes and supported. that's what turns this into a huge issue. because akin is the paul ryan of missouri. and c created a huge problem for the romney campaign today and yesterday as they sought to serve todd akin from paul ryan and unite paul ryan with the somewhat different view that mitt romney would have had. >> go back to -- this guy ryan, forget this budget stuff. when it comes to -- a cosponsor

of this personhood amendment. if a woman uses an iud, that is murdering. so, here's a guy, ryan, who's totally in sync with this guy. he may not have the cave man vocabulary, if a woman has an abortion, she's killing a person and there doesn't matter if it's the result of a rape or not. >> he has said for years that he does not believe in abortion in case of rape or incest. that has been his policy up until the time that mitt romney basically says it wasn't. i have not heard paul ryan say he does not believe that. the only exception he believes in is if the mother's life is in da danger. paul ryan was a ko spore son or

the bill that would have changed the definition of rape. federal law now says that federal funds may be used toay for an abortion in case of rape. the republicans had a bill last year which paul ryan cosponsored that would have said federal funds can only be used in the case of forcible rape. that didn't pass. the bill was changed, but paul ryan was a cosponsor of that. so as far as i'm concerned, paul ryan's views line up very neatly with todd akin's views. >> howard, you know this guy's not alone there. tony perkins, who's been on this program and i've -- but i want people to hear that point of view. they're going to vote november. they ought to know what they're getting on that right wing side. tony perkins is out today, head of the family research council, supporting this guy. >> yes. that's right. and i think what's going to happen now is that the romney

ryan headquarters up in boston have said that the ticket is unified. and what that means is that they're unified behind mitt romney's current view. which is that abortion can be allowed in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother. also, mitt romney has not directly or completely or really at all endorsed the human life personhood amendment you're talking about alto we did flirt a little in mississippi during the primary season. >> has ryan taken himself out as a cosponsor? all this bs is hiding the fact that the core belief of this campaign is there. >> that's what's going on right now. paul ryan is who he is. paul ryan said proudly year after year, week after week, day after day, he said there's nobody in congress more pro-life than me.

and as cynthia said, he supported the amendments you're talking about. one reason there's pressure from the ranks to get todd akin off the stage is that he reminds everybody of where paul ryan was until a few minutes ago and probably still is. >> you know, this is what -- let's take a look at what howard just said. top republicans, reince priebus and senators mitch mcconnell and john cornyn are urging akin to reevaluate his candidacy. that's politics speak for inviting him to get out. the senate campaign committee has said it will stop supporting his race as did karl rove, but this afternoon, akin tweeted i am in this race to win. we need a conservative senate. help me defeat claire by

donating. then he seems to leave the door open in a raging interview with hannity. let's listen. >> all of those things have to be taken a good look at and i appreciate your perspective and also, so yeah, continuously be taking a look at all those different alternatives. at this point, my sense is that it's the right thing to do. >> i think we're watching a very quick desperate cover up here. what they want is this alliance with the hard right. the real feverish cave man type. the personhood types. they want them as part of their coalition, but the minute the middle of the country gets a good hearing of them and knows what they stand for, you're only getting rid of one person. the element is still there. >> they don't just want an alliance. the hard right has taken over

the republican party. they're not trying to run away from paul ryan. yes, they want todd akin off the stage. they want todd akin off the stage because he's foolish enough and inarticulate enough to say what he really thinks in the middle of a high profile u.s. senate campaign. paul ryan has the good sense not to talk about abortion anymore. but the fact is i have not heard paul ryan say himself that he has changed his views. paul ryan still does not believe that abortion should be available for women who are victim of rape. he still doesn't believe that. so this isn't an alliance. this is isn't uneasy marriage of convenience, these ultra conservatives who have nothing but contempt for women have now taken over the heart of the republican party.

>> chris -- >> mitt romney -- no, he doesn't. >> i would just say -- >> obama's at 54% among women. according to our own nbc "wall street journal" poll. romney's down to 39. that's a 15-point spread. i would say that's going to be a grand canyon at the end of the week. >> that's what the republican strategists are worried about, but mitt romney picked paul r n ryan knowing full well how deep into the pro-life sent m he was reaching to get this guy and mitt romney and his people did it. knowing i'm sure that they were going to have to deal with this at some point and now, they're trying to say paul ryan's on board with us. don't worry. but this is not like a generation ago when george h.w. bush changed his pro-choice position to go along with ronald reagan. this is a much farther leap to the right.

that paul ryan represents. and how the romney campaign handles this and how indeed as sin that points out, paul ryan handles it, is going to be very important over the next four days and could affect that gender gap you're talking about. >> i think romney's leaning toward ryan. i don't think ryan is going towards romney. i think we're going to see the culture of this ticket is more ryan. we're going to watch a ryan convention. not a romney convention. we'll say it up there. thank you for your passion and your thoughts tonight. coming up, the other republican embarrass m, walking on water you might say. that's politico's report today that a group of republican freshman went on an alcohol fueled dip in the sea of galilee. this is carry on congressman time. if that sounds like a celebration to you, by the way, you are not alone. one of the congressmen went

skinny dipping in the holy water over there. we're going to talk about that coming up, which normally would have been our biggest joke. plus, welfare fraud. those pro romney ads. claiming the president's ended the work requirements for welfare. also, good-bye, no drama obama. hello, campaign tension. but bigger stuff in that coming up next. let me finish for tonight with a romney presidency would look like if he means what he says. that's going to be pretty scary. this is "hardball." the place for politics. [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego.

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welcome back to "hardball." other than claire mccaskill, the people happiest about the todd akin story are a bunch of republican freshman who have been overshadowed by the foolishness. last summer was house republicans taking the country to the brink of this fall. by refusing to raise the debt the stock market took a big dive. you think that would leave house

members chasing the republican surprise, but a trip to israel funded days later were not taken that hard. politico reports that on august 18th, six congressman on the trip took an alcohol fueled post dinner dip in the sea of c galilee. yet another black eye for the republicans. mark halperin and john halperin are both msnbc political analysts. i don't know what to make of this, mark, and i am slow to jump on this. the other story was horrendous, this guy's attitude about women and their rights was beyond cave man behavior, but this, they go swimming at night. one guy doesn't bring a bathing suit. on this apac junket. it's a serious trip to learn about the situation politically. they take a night off after some drinking i guess at dinner and all go swimming in the galilee.

what's wrong with this? >> well, let me take the opportunity to condemn as i did this morning, congressman akin's remarks on ambiguously important for all of us to speak out against those an the problems with them. on this story, the one thing that's happened since the politico story broke last night is that it appears there's no longer an fbi investigation. that's what most of the reporting suggests. that's good news, but the shoes are still left to drop. the congressman who went skinny dipping is playing it down. he said alcohol wasn't part of his motivation. the question is begged, why was eric cantor so unhappy? are there pictures? what caused the unhappiness? until we see what happens there, it might imperil some of the members involved, but could be a broader scandal that hurts the republican party. we just have to wait and see. more on the facts and i think some reporters will look into it despite the akin diversion, despite the presidential being a

deves deversion. >> here's eric cantor, who apparently that night or the next morning who was on the trip among 30 republicans, he left before the galilee swim occurred, but said this, he was so upset that he rebuked the 30 law mmakers on the trip saying they were distracting from the mission of the trip. so i don't know what the distraction was, john heilemann, but i don't get it. i've been there a number of times. a trip sponsored by a pro israeli group, jewish group. very educational trips. they show you a lot about the geography of the land and the situation they're facing with the palestinians, but i don't get it here exactly. what do you think is the story here, what could be? >> a couple of things. one is obviously one of the reasons maybe eric cantor is upset is because for some religious people, christian and jewish alike, that the sea of

galilee has a certain religious significance of importance for them, where jesus is supposed to have walked on the water and for congressmen to go splashing around in the nude is disrespectful. joe scarborough, who has a lot of connections in the south says this kind of thing will be passed around from pastor to pastor and will have a real affect. i think at a broader level, you've got a bunch of freshman congressmen who came into the republican party in 2010 who have this stance, which is that they were not part of washington. not part of typical washington. they were going to change the capitol in some fundamental way and this kind of thing, fooling around, doing this frivolous stuff, it kind of cuts against that image of seriousness. that's like a thing a caricature of an old washington hand would do and not the thing that a bunch of young, earnest bright reformers would bring to the

capitol. >> young israelis or americans go over there and love the state of israel and what it stands for. this swimming is very popular. it's part of a ritual of growing up kind of thing. >> it may be that this is innocent and that the facts as they've been presented create a misleading impression. i go back to the question though of what was upsetting to eric cantor. if the reporting's right. what was upsetting to him about it if it was something that was acceptable. then i don't see why he would be upset. he's obviously one of the most prominent jewish american politicians. probably the most prominent in washington and knows the country well. if he was upset, the question's begged, why was eric cantor upset. >> one way to put this, just a kouchl days before, this country just went through a terribly negative experience of the inability of our legislatures,

especially the young tea party types who had come to congress refusing a make a deal or negotiate anything. instead of dealing with our crisis, pregnaotecting the goodl of the united states, they let that thing drag on and on and then within days later, they're over there taking their clothes off and running around. didn't go out for a swim with swim trunks. they went out for dinner and that ended up taking them into the sea of galilee. you might say that suggested a high jinx inappropriate to our national circumstances that week. >> my second point before, they had been doing something that a lot of people felt was kind of holding the country hostage during that period of time around the debt creeiling debac. a very serious thing and there's just an image of frivolity here

and lack of seriousness that i think if you heard that a bunch of democratic congressman had been engaged in some high stakes gamble and they went out to a washington nationals game and got drunk and were peeing on a fire hydrant, you'd get the same problem. it's kind of demeaning especially in a time when these people have been engaged in some serious and economically dangerous business. >> i like your imagery. one thing i do like about junkets, they do cost money, but one of the good things that normally happens on these trips if they are bipartisan, i've been on a couple when i, worked in politics. if they get on with you and you have conversations over the space of a few days, you find a lot of common ground and things get done. here was a totally partisan trip. it ser serves purpose if all it

does is send people away to agree with each other. thank you very much, mark halperin and john heilemann. up next, christine o'donnell is back and she has a new way of describing herself. i'm not sure you're going to buy this one. so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different rates. well with us, it's the same flat rate. same flat rate. boston. boise? same flat rate. alabama. alaska?

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...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. back to "hardball." mow to the side show. she's back. that's right, tea partier christine o'donnell is weighing in on the presidential race. remember this abracadabra? >> some people say that mitt romney isn't the most consistent candidate because he's changed his mind about big important issues over the years. >> that's one of the things i've

liked about him. he's been consistent since he changed his mind. >> it's tough to for get her i'm not a witch ad. o'donnell was on cnn today and in the midst of criticizing the president's policies, had a new way of describing herself. >> hear all these stats and figures that policy wants like me love. we feed on this stuff. the debt to gdp ratio hit 100%, but the young people hear that and say what does that mean. when they hear these i believe marxist sound bites coming from our own president -- >> so you're a policy wonk now? when did that happen? >> i've been involved in policy for 20 years. >> policy wonk. >> policy junkie. >> i love solidad o'brien and think of this one, christine o'donnell policy wonk will be

headlining an event troublemaker fest to coincide with the convention. next, larry bailey, a retired member of the us navy s.e.a.l.s founded an organization to attack president obama, and confessed an alter yor motive. i have to admit i'm a birther. if there were a jury of 12 good men and women and the evidence were placed before them, there would be no question barack obama was not born where he was he was and is not who he says he is. i wondered who would comprise that jury. this might be the tweet of the weekend in remarks to todd akin's comment -- the word from nate silver of "the new york times." quote, here he comes. it's impossible to win a senate race with zero percent of the women's vote? it's my quote of the week. next, mitt romney keeps pushing the false line that president obama ended work requirements for welfare. he's not going to let the truth

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i'm sue herrera. in a day of thin trading, all three major indices closed slightly lower. dow jones industrial dropping 3.5, s&p and nasdaq both down just a fraction. apple shares closed at an all time high of $665 apiece and became the most valuable company ever. apple's $623 billion market cap is about $4 billion more than the record microsoft set back in 1999. that's it from cnbc. we are first in business worldwide and now, back to "hardball" and chris.

welcome back to "hardball." if todd akin insists on staying in the race, he will have accomplished to things for democrats f one, give them a juicy symbol of the war on women and two, a -- he may hand to democrats a senate seat, but until yesterday, they figured to lose. so how will the democrats attack and how will republicans react? with me now, todd harris and steven. todd, the ball's in your court. would you keep this guy? despite what he said? >> i agree with john cornyn, who said he ought to step aside. these comments not only are they outrageous, but from a purely political strategic standpoint, this is a massive distraction

and as long as he remains the republican nominee, that distraction is going to continue. >> but tony perkins of the family research corporation, one of your close political allies, says he's fine. he should stay. doesn't that influence your opinion in his favor? you're cultural allies on the right like this guy. the way he thinks. doesn't that matter to your coalition? >> they do like him, but you know, there are other candidates who are running in missouri who are also popular with cultural conservatives and at this point, they would probably have a be r better chance of winning. >> let's go back to steve mcmahan. don't you wish he stays in the race. >> i think he'd be a fine candidate in the fall. >> well what do you think is behind his thinking? i think there's something

profoundly frightening in this sense. this guy talks about legitimate rape as if there weren't people who were really raped. they weren't physically overwhe overwhelmed, knifed. what is he trying to get out, do you think? get into the mind of todd akin when he says legitimate rape. what's he talking about? >> it's difficult, chris, to get into the mind of an em. it's appalling and almost impossible for anyone to understand what it is he could have been thinking. what's amazing is if you look at mitt romney's statements over time, last night initially, his statement was we don't agree with him. by today after cornyn and some other folks who have come out strongly and denounced the comments, mitt romney decided maybe i need to take a little harder stand. i think it's interesting to watch the political hot potato

this person has become, todd akin, to the republican party and to see what happens over the next 24 hours. by 5:00 tomorrow, he'll have to decide whether or not he's going to stay in the race or not. i think he'll be gone by 5:01. >> let me ask you about paul ryan, is that he is the cosponsor of a bill called the personhood amendment, which says you're a person after conception. if that's the case, you're basically murdering somebody if you participate in an abortion or use of an iud. now, the question is, he's totally against any kind of abortion under any circumstances. isn't he basically the same as todd akin? >> come on. >> what's the difference -- a guy who says it's murder if you have an abortion or a guy who says there's no -- in having a pregnancy after a rape. they both deny the need for any kind of alleviation for

literalism in term of a woman's right to choose. >> to what he has said, the idea that women somehow biologically forestall, that is crazy talk, but with people who believe that abortion is wrong, that is a ridiculous con flags that doesn't exist. paul ryan and mitt romney have condemned these remarks -- >> what's paul ryan's position? how is it different? in ord in other words, if he's -- doesn't matter how you become a person. you still can't have an abortion. that's what he says. >> there are a lot of people who believe that abortion is wrong regardless of the circumstances of the pregnancy. but that has nothing to do with these crazy comments from todd

akin. that is trying to take this mess that has happened, this horrible thing. stick it on to romney. >> i don't have any problems because it's the same thing. let e me go to steve. if you say a person's a person under the law after conception, you can't have an abortion in any circumstance. that would be in effect murder under common law. once you get to this step of personhood, you're getting to the notion of what a murder is. >> i think the personhood amendment is not something most would support. i think todd raises a legitimate point when todd akin talks about a legitimate rape, that's sort of a different thing. it's not for a different reason. i think what it does here is that it opens up a conversation about paul ryan's views on reproductive rights and issues

that affect women that mitt romney and paul ryan didn't want to have. the point you're making, which is right, is that prior to yesterday and prior to today, the romney campaign clarified, paul ryan and todd akin on an issue of reprodugtive rights at the same position. today, the romney campaign said they don't support abortion, sorry, oppose abortion rights in the case of rape. that's a different position paul ryan held yesterday when he held the same position on abortion that todd akin held. >> and i do think the republican party is pointing itself in the direction of paul ryan's thinking. not the well lack of thinking, of mitt romney on most occasions. thank you, todd harris. thank you, steve mcmahan. up next, good-bye no drama obama. remember no drama obama? a new book reports on the tensions inside the obama campaign. let's find out what it is. i think there's bigger stories

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we're back. no one would down play how hard a test president obama's re-election is going to be, at least not me and the candidate himself. according to a new ebook out today, president obama privately had doubts about his chances and foresaw a scenario where republicans won both houses of congress and two liberal supreme court justice left paving the way for a 7-2 conservative

majority in the supreme court. according to this new account by glenn thrush, obama's also motivated in part by a genuine disdain for romney. and he believes stands for nothing. but the book also reports that internal conflict has dogged the obama team this time around and the campaign officials suspect joe biden is eyeing the possibility of a presidential run in 2016. what this all means, glenn thrush is author of the new ebook and evan thomas is a contributor to the politico playbook series itself. thank you so much. glenn, let me start with you about this concern obama, the constitutional law professor has is faired to get re-elected and cost the democrats not just the congress in both house, not just the white house, but the supreme court and at least long-term perpetuity. >> this is his fierce you are

jgeneral sy now, chris. the president really has a sense in addition to not really liking romney personally, he feels that he's the only thing standing between you know, the united states and sort of the future health of the country both sort of economically and morally and this tremendous wave of corporate conservative judicial activism that romney represents. and he's told people point blank that that's his big nightmare. the other thing he's really concerned about this is that economy really does a v-shape recovery in 2013 and mitt romney gets credit for that. >> well, let me ask you this, evan. do you think skirmishing in the campaign or hatred of the opponent are new phenomena? i've noticed that you nay not dislike the guy when the campaign starts or the woman running against you, but god, by november, you really got a problem with them. because you really have to have that get up in the morning i have to beat this s.o.b. or you can't win. >> that's true.

it varies. in 2008, obama was pretty respectful of mccain. this time around, he doesn't feel the same respect for romney. so, it does very little. but yes, your basic point is true, you have to get revved up. of course, you're going to be angry. the miracle is how well our system works that after the '60 election, nixon thinks kennedy's stolen the election, but is gracious about it. think of gore in 200 -- >> today, they would. >> yeah, well, maybe. >> today, i don't think we would get to that happy ending. you start this one on biden. i'm fascinated by biden. i hear buzzes around that he's told hillary he's running, he's ready to run. what is your reporting and your series tell you so far about biden's hopes? >> well, this is -- i should get glen to address this, but i think the white house was a little taken aback by how independent biden is. he's mostly a good soldier. he isn't always. and he's got a big mouth. and he has big ambitions.

whether -- he's going to be pretty old next time around, but -- >> yeah. >> he's an ambitious guy. >> let me go to glen on this. the question here is, has joe biden decided to run for president in 2016 even if obama doesn't get re-elected? >> i don't know if he's decided, chris. i've had obama people tell me, he'd be stupid not to consider it. the vice presidentcy has some currency. and with the exception with all the gaffes and the "saturday night live" moments he's had a good run of it. and he has always had a first crass staff. people like ted kaufman -- >> bruce reed, yeah, they are all good people. yeah. i know he's got a first rate staff. are they ambitious for him to run? does he have a team that's ready to run? >> i'm not sure if he has a team to run, but i think that's definitely the twinkle in his eye. and in terms of biden's jumping the gun on the gay marriage

announcement, as you recall in may, which really ticked off the west wing, there was a suspicion that that played into that. you know, biden told them, privately, according to my sources, that the president should not come out for gay marriage because it would kill him in the swing states, and then they turn on the tv and telling david gregory the same thing. david plouffe was very angry with him. obama was angry but kind of smoothed it over. but this is a guy -- we focus so much on the externals with joe biden -- this is a guy making noise internally. >> what are you hearing, gentlemen, about hillary clinton? is she responding of having to go up against biden next time? evan, any word of that in this piece? >> no, let me defer to glen on that. he's the reporter here, i'm the editor. >> okay, glen, you go at it. hear anything new about secretary clinton having at least potentially the idea of being the next democratic nominee for president? >> i don't want to incur the

ralt of any of the hillary people. look, i covered her in 2008 for a long time. and i can tell you, she is -- her hands are full with her current job and she's pretty tired right now. she's been crisscrossing the globe. and i frankly don't think it would come down to a biden/hillary thing. you recall in 2008 how differential biden was to hillary. i think if hillary really wants this and has the resources behind her, my gut sense is that biden wouldn't go for it. >> okay, thank you very much for that. i like the thinking there, it sounds right to me. glen, evan, thank you, buddy. the book is called "obama's last stand." when we return, let me finish with what you get if you vote for mitt romney. think about the stakes. i'm going to tell you what they are. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. if you are one of the millions of men

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let me finish tonight with, again, the stakes this november. you can vote your impulse in this election. you can say, well, the economy is not growing the way it should, let's change presidents. or, you could look at the choices here and decide who is the best bet to lead the country country you believe in, that includes but isn't limited to the kind of economic growth you'd like to see this month or next. that bigger choice is getting heftier by the minute. you vote for obama, you get a second start at what he's been trying to do, smart use of government action to stimulate a fair, safer america. you vote for romney and you get a slew of things. you get him, the him he's created of himself the past few

years. i'm still not all that sure what that means in personal terms, but if you take romney, the candidate, at his word, he's a dedicated disciple of the right. tax breaks for the wealthy. no deems with democrats on cutting the deficit, no marriage equality, a war footing with iran. militants towards china, a cold relationship with russia. you get something like what the hard right has wanted for years and on every front. you get the well thing, you get bachma bachmann. of democratic anti-american types sifting through the capitol cloak rooms. you get the birther types, the folks peopler boehner calls the knuckle draggers. you get the people that hate science, like akin with his quack this here rips about rape. you get the real hawks like john boll dip, just waiting for another empty suit to fill with the latest war they've got on their agenda. with the bushes, they hadn't won for the first two for the second. w was much emptier as skuments go, all hat and no, well -- you