94% of americans say african-americans say they'll vote to re-elect the current president and those who will vote for mr. romney, zero, none, zilch. not a soul. good luck with that speech at the convention, sir. thanks so much for watching. chris matthew is next. how much trouble is akin makin? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. let's start with mitt romney. now, hear this. if you want to speak with mr. romney romney now and in the future, you are not to ask him about what he dubt want to be asked about. today's list of question, anything on todd akin, anything on abortion, themes the rules,

we're told. you want to talk to mr. romney, ask about him and -- he wants us to talk about. has it gotten this bad? are we now in the world of third world dictatorships where the big man acts now by decree, ask what i tell you to ask. let's hear from rick tower and ron reagan. have you seen this story that's out today, the the cbs affiliate reporter said that in order to get an interview with the candidate of the republican party for president, it's important that you not ask any question about what's in the news. you must not ask about the part's position. these are the rules. >> i don't understand how he thinks this is going to fly. it's certainly not going to fly in televised debates where he'll look like a fool if he takes that stance and i don't think it will fly on the trail, either. if you tell them they can't ask a certain question, what do you

think the first question is going to be? >> i know. >> of course they're going to ask about akin and abortion and everything else. these are legitimate question. he strikes me as a guy who's the ceo who's just used to getting his way. you can't do this and that, bow down to him. it doesn't work that way when you're running for president. >> you know, rick, it reminds me of what i know is the political press and the the business press. a ceo of a major u.s. corporation could deny access and perhaps protect himself or herself from any coverage, but if you're running for president, you're not dealing with the business press, you're dealing with the political press that knows what the headline is tonight and goes for it. >> i would add if you're president of the united states, you can avoid the press and only take a conference when bad news hits the republican party. because the todd akin story hit the fan, so chris, come on. how can you say --

>> president obama ever tell the press not to ask him any questions? >> and won't even face the press. >> excuse me. there's a difference between not having a press conference and dictating what the questions should be at the press conference. >> doesn't the president stand up there every time he does a press conference and list off the names of the people -- >> but he doesn't list the t questions. here's the background. today, a reporter from the denver affiliate of cbs says she was given a set of rules limiting her interview with mr. romney. no questions on todd akin or abortion. >> political specialist sean boyd just finished an interview with romney. just literally a couple of minutes ago. sean, you were at one of only four local reporters to get to talk to him and what did you ask him? >> i had about five minutes with

him and we got tlau fair amount of material. the one stipulation was that i not ask him about abortion or todd akin, the missouri republican who created a fire storm after saying women's bodies shut down in a legitimate rape to prevent pregnancy. i did ask him about the female vote and energy. >> obama -- quote, it's no surprise why on tuesday, the republican party's officially endorsed the akin amendment, which would ban abortion for all women and paul ryan has struggled to explain his support for redefining forcible rape, he calls it. mitt romney's campaign might be abt to muzzle reporters, but women across america deserve to know the truth. that's party talk there. we should note that the romney campaign pushed back on story this afternoon, but their spokesperson didn't deny it

either. do you think they can take their way out of this by saying this is an odd case, we don't prescribe what a reporter is not supposed to ask? >> i think in general, both the president and nominee, mitt romney, should in general not set up ground rules or excessive ground rules or dictate what the press can an can't ask. you're right. it's going to backfire. i just point out that the president is as guilty as mitt romney, but i think as a general rule, you should be open to the press. okay, dictator ship is a good word because it used to be there were party organizations run. will rogers famously said i belong to no organized political party. they had leaders. they met. they organized to decide whose turn it was. whether w.'s or some kid's. except you never got that turn. in the republican party.

but now, let's take a look at the republican leaders who have trashed this guy, todd akin, and thbs get out of the race so we don't have to talk about you. that's the big story. placating republicans. let's see this lineup of establishment bold print names saying get out of the race and see what happens. >> i can't defend what he said. i can't defend him. >> i'm suggesting that he get out. >> ask him to step down. >> i think he should get out. >> if it was me and i had an opportunity to let someone else run and give ourself as better chance of winning, i would step aside. >> those are the boldface names i mentioned. doesn't seem to matter because people like tony perkins are still behind akin. it seems like in the modern party. you don't need the women, the

moderates. all you need is a niche to hide in, to back you and comfort you on the hard right. >> and you'll notice that republicans are calling for todd akin to leave because they disagree with the substance such as it is. they simply think he's a loser now and he'll lose to claire mccaskill and they might give up their chance. that's why they want him to leave. our vice presidential candidate agrees with akin. he cosponsored legislation with todd akin. paul ryan is todd akin and todd akin is the republican party now to their debtriment. >> isn't that true in effect, that when the republican party has drafted well apparently ratified this coming monday, that there's to be no abortions under any circumstances, even rape and that's really what's behind that is paul ryan's argument is that forcible rape

should be included in some of this personhood amendment stuff. this is the hard right philosophy of most of the delegates, isn't it? >> todd akin's an honorable man who said something thoughtless for which he's apologized for, for which the entire republican party has condemned him for. i don't know what more we could do, put scissors in the back of his head and suck his brains out. >> how about reputeuated what he said? what he actually said and not just complaining he might not -- >> as far as the -- >> no, they haven't. >> yes, they have. >> no, they have not. >> ron -- would you want them to repudiate is -- >> magical sperm killing, sperm sigh dahl females. >> has paul ryan repudiated that? i haven't heard him mention that in particular. >> i want -- you disagree with

the charge that this strange commentar commentary, here's what he said. there ought to be some punishment for rape. there ought to be some. what a strange thing to say. but it should be for the person who did the raining, but should include legitimate rape. what i think he meant is that he didn't trust a lot of women who said they were raped. which i thought was offensive and for him to say i misspoke, it wasn't like i got the wrong capital of new jersey. it wasn't a mistake. it was a real difference of opinion. i thought. >> it was a thoughtless statement. we've all staid this over and over xwen. our party, we said it -- practically throw him out of the

party, have a male prostitution ring, and the democrats will defend that. look, this is the one thing and as far as radical -- >> did you just go back and whip barney frank one last time? how far back do you want to go? >> and the fact is -- >> difference of opinion is a matter of fact. women do not have ceremonyici when they are raped. that's what todd akin preferred though. >> i want to go back to a strong position rick may hold here. one good shot here. rick, as the republican party leadership, people like romney, the presumed nominee, the party, reince priebus, the chairman of the party, do they no longer enjoy true authority? are they respected as leaders in the party who can say to the republicans in missouri, you

shouldn't have this guy as your nominee for senator and therefore, you should find someone else and get him to remove himself? have they lost that authority? >> well, they've all said that. look, it's governed not only by party rules, it's governed by legalities and right now, todd akin holds the cards here. the leaders only can lead so far as people want to follow. you can proclaim yourself a leader, but the party structure has always been that way. >> the people very far over on that side, the tea party people, like murdoch who knocked off lugar in indiana and knocked off bob bennett, are they really stronger compared to the party leadership than they were? >> they're organized and they're organized and show up and go to the meetings and get their people elected and recruit and campaign. if all the people with other points of view other than i imagine you're talking about the

tea party, want organized, then they can be in charge, too. the tea party figures out we want to participate and take the power. >> one last thought, ron. i think you said this today in one of the interviews today. i think the difference between president reagan and the republican party today, i don't think he went around spending this kind of extreme action trying to push it through and really trying to outlaw and ban it. i think he said it was wrong to have an abortion, but i don't think he went as far as these people, that even if you're ra p, you have to have that baby. >> to my knowledge, he never attended a single anti-choice rally. the republican party has created a frankenstein over the last decades. they've pandered to, propagated ignorance. now, ignorance is coming back to bite them and wants a seat at the table in the form of todd

akin, paul ryan and many other members of congress who agree about this weird female spermicide stuff. >> wait a minute, ron, didn't the president give an interview in 2003 -- >> i believe that after 22 weeks, there are conditions for abortion. >> 2003, the president said that he would support abortion in all cases, including third try midwe trimester. >> you have to show me that quote. >> i'll send it to you. >> one other applaud for your dad, i'll say this. he would not have taken us into that idiotic war in iraq. like with that guy w. who had nothing in his head to fight back with. coming up, who do you trust when it comes to medicare, president obama has the edge. is he ahead by enough to win in those states? will medicare help win a tough

state like florida? also, remember those navy s.e.a.l.s who criticized obama, now, some others are defending the president. they say the charge that he failed to praise the men who pulled off the mission is simply not true. truth ought to matter, don't you think? see if you can guess what two groups are upset by this anti romney ad. ♪ i'm a romney girl in a romney world life is taxes it's fantastic ♪ ♪ silver tip your hair tax shelters everywhere ♪ >> let me finish tonight with how romney's gotten deeper and deeper in bed with the right wing thanks to this akin mess. this is "hardball." the place for politics. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected,

and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america than in any other country. in fact, over the last five years, no other energy company has invested more in the us than bp. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. today, our commitment to the gulf, and to america, has never been stronger.

when paul ryan helped carry the home state of wisconsin? the university of minnesota's smart politics blog notes that since 1944, there have been eight vice presidential nominees from the midwest and all eight helped carry their home state. wisconsin hasn't gone republican since 1984, but polls there are tightening thousand. [ male announcer ] with a driving range of more than 550 miles you'll inevitably find yourself on a desolate highway in your jeep grand cherokee. and when you do, you'll be grateful for the adaptive cruise control that automatically adjusts your speed when approaching slower traffic. and for the blind-spot monitor... [ beeping ] ...that helps remind you that the highway might not be as desolate... as you thought. ♪

yeah, maybe not. v8 v-fusion juice gives them a full serving of vegetables plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what's your number?

front and center in this campaign and following mitt romney's pick of paul ryan for a vp, even a bigger issue, but it's a hot topic benefits the president for sure. in a new quinnipiac poll, in three battleground states, not only do americans want to keep the program as it stands, they believe the president would do a better job on medicare generally. in ohio, obama leads romney by ten points. in florida, obama leads romney by eight points, in wisconsin, by nine. this is on the issue of who will do a better job on taking care of medicare.

and also our msnbc political analyst, i want to start with gene on this. the old rule of politics is don't step into the other guy's topic because you'll always lose. if you're a democrat, don't talk about cutting spending. useded to be if you wanted to talk about being tough on the economies, if you're a democrat, wouldn't be your favorite issue. medicare, republicans since reagan went back have opposed medicare. the ama was their partner this opposing it. why would they start talking about something they have never been credible on? >> i think they decided to try something new this year figuring that with paul ryan on the ticket, they were especially vulnerable on medicare. try to turn the opponent's strength and partially neutralize the issue. i doubt they were under the ul

ligs they were going to win on this issue, but maybe not lose as badly as they otherwise would. >> let me go to robert on that. seems to me if you're an elderly person, later 70s, 80s and you're still cooking and voting and you hear somebody's coming along the tinker with your medicare, which is the one thing you've been counting on in your later years, and a guy says i've got this new hiidea, i'm going voucherize. what are we talking about here? the insanity of the ryan plan, i got to first of all, go find the insurance xaend see what they're going to charge me? they're not going to charge me something cheaper than medicare. >> romney and ryan may think it's pretty cagey. i've spent three days in the past ten with ryan on the trail and almost every speech he gives, in the first two or three

minutes, he's right on to medicare. doesn't sidestep the issue. from what i hear in boston is that romney's whole gamble and it may be a political gamble, but putting ryan on the ticket, should he win, he's going to have to address medicare if he's president of the united states, so might as well be up front about his views so he can have a mandate should he win. >> that's fair enough, but gene, back to the question. suppose you're a woman in this country watching this show now. someone in your 40s to 60s and you've got an ageing parent and you're thinking i'm going to take my mother, find an insurance company. and i've got to find her an insurance policy that can be paid for by paul ryan's voucher. seems like you're just messing with people here. >> i think it's not just that. not just people thinking about their elderly parents or their parents themselves, but people 40 to 60 who may well believe

ryan that you're not going to be affected right now, but if you're 40 to 60, you would be, most of those people would be voucherized at some point under ryan's plan and they know they're familiar with the sort of infirmities that people have. i don't think there is not a mandate in the country for making medicare into a voucher program. there just is not and i don't think there's going to be. >> it does seem there's an age issue here, robert. let's look at the states we're looking at. the three states obama keeps this lead, in ohio, the president's up over romney 50-44. now, that's pretty healthy. in florida, the president has a three-point lead. not much there. wisconsin is the closest of the three. the president's up by two. i think that may have something to do with the selection. of mr. ryan who's the home state guy from wisconsin. but my question is are these big

enough? has the republican candidates by pushing this issue, eroded somewhat the natural democratic advantage? >> it's a nice balance for president obama, but if i was the president, i wouldn't be too confident. i've spoken to paul ryan about this many times. he comes out of a purple district. ryan always tells me and unless you address this head on, the democrats will be able to define the entire debate. romney couldn't avoid this issue. if romney was avading it, he's be getting heat from the right. >> i can't wait for the debate between joe biden and this guy, paul ryan. because there's a real generation. gene and i know. biden's going to be very good. he will tell you case after case after case of people in delaware he's helped with medicare issues

and the other guy will be a little colder. won't be quite as winsome. >> what about that image of paul ryan in florida with the 78-year-old mother who's on medicare? you're going to see that at the convention. >> keep trying, fella, keep trying. thank you. up next, one of the big things of next week is we built it. as in private enterprise, not the government. but take a guess who built the arena where the convention is being held. that's a little factoid people might be noting. this is "hardball." the place for politics.

♪ hello...rings ♪ what the... what the... what the... ♪ are you seein' this? ♪ ♪ uh-huh... uh-huh... 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.

to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac!

[ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! with our babysitter. no. these work, right? no. all right. mom! look what i found in the shed! no! no! no! ♪ ew! were you guys just making out in here? what? no! is it okay if i quit my job and start a blog? no. really? cold cuts from a package? yes. [ male announcer ] in a world filled with "no," it's nice to finally say "yes." new oscar mayer selects deli meat. the tastes you love and no artificial preservatives. it's yes food. will the republican convention fall victim to bad timing? here's david letterman on the

todd akin situation andd yizic. >> a potential hurricane is heading to florida, however, no cause for alarm. according to todd akin, florida rarely suffers damage from a legitimate hurricane! it's time for nobody cares. oh. ♪ >> well, first of all, let me say -- >> well he's not only, david only taking note of one of david's situations, but actually, he's head of the, on the house sciences and technology committee. at a fund-raiser in new york last night, the interesting thing here, todd akin is on the house science and technology

committee, but somehow. another note on the republican convention, remember president obama pointing out that business owners, depending on public projects like roads, republicans twisted that remark to make it sound as if the entrepreneurs themselves didn't deserve credit. the theme of the second night will be we built this. get it? we built this. not the oppressive government. but hang on. the building where the convention is being held, the tampa bay times forum was built in large part thanks to government funding. the 1996 project had a budget of $139 million, 62% of which or $86 million, came from public money, so republicans, remember where you are. next, what could cause a republican judge in texas to call for a tax increase? bring on county judge tom head and his concern if president obama is re-elected, it could start a civil war and that could cost money for him. let's watch. >> he is going to try and hand

over the sovereignty of the united states to the u.n. what's going to happen when that happens? i'm thinking worst case scenario. civil unrest, disobedience, civil war maybe. we're not talking a few riots here and demonstrations. we're talking lexington, concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy. i don't want a bunch of rookies back there. i want trained, equipped, seasoned veteran officers to back me. >> the president giving up the country to the united nations? he used that bird brain scenario to justify a potential tax hike needed to beef up military personnel. how would you like to have this character in court passing judgment on you? judge head. remember that name. finally, who might be less than pleased with this ad starring romney girl. >> hi, romney! >> my, miss. >> do you have something to

hide? >> well, yeah, jump in. ♪ i'm a romney girl in a romney world life is taxless it's fantastic ♪ ♪ silver tip your hair tax shelters everywhere ♪ ♪ he's a boss millionaire with accounts everywhere he'll disclose all the dough he's making ♪ >> easy to see why mitt romney wouldn't be a fan, but how about the swiss government whose department for foreign affairs released a statement saying the video promotes the idea that the only idea to have a swiss bank account is to hide money. up next, a group of navy s.e.a.l.s is now coming to president obama's defense. that's ahead here on "hardball." you're watching it, the place for politics.

♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil,

shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. to experience the ultimate expression of power... control. [ engine revs ] during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection.

stocks closed near session lows as word came that the federal reserve may not be poised to enact new stimulus measures after all. the dow slid about 115 points on the trading session. the s&p down 11 and the nasdaq was down 20 points. tech stocks lead the losing streak with hewlett-packard tumbling. and a sliver of good news for facebook, which got a go ahead to acquire insta gram. that's it from cnbc, we are first in business worldwide and now back to "hardball" and chris.

as we reported last week, a group of former special operations forces, many with ties to the republican party, the tea party groups and the birthers have launched their attack on president obama over his handling over the bin laden raid. they accused the president of leaking information about operation and taking too much credit for its success. here's part of a 20-minute video they put online. >> they didn't, this administration didn't capture or kill or eliminate bin laden or anybody else. there's a whole lot of folks in the military, intelligence committee, who have been working on this for a very long time. >> mr. president, you did not kill osama bin laden. america did. the work that the american military has done killed osama bin laden. you did not. >> wow. well, this week, the group came under strong criticism from special forces and other

military leaders. some say the group is breaking a central creed, respect for the -- quote this is an unprofessional, shameful action on the part of the operators who appear in the video. period. on tuesday, the head joint chiefs of staff appeared with his criticism. >> the american people don't want us to be another special interest group. if someone uses the uniform, whatever uniform it is, for partisan politics, i'm disappointed by that. because i think it does a road that bond the trust with the american people. >> so, did this group cross the line? i think so. but will their message find a receptive group on the right? michael -- spencer akerman. i'm going to start with spencer.

let me ask you about this group. it seemed to be marbled in hear with people of the birther persuasion, who are incredibly, i think, nuts, but believe in some conspiracy theory that mrs. obama, the mother of president obama, somehow conjured up this notion, her son should be president some day, so she managed to marry a guy from africa with the name obama. then figured out well, i'll have the baby over in africa, then lie about it and put out newspaper accounts where he was really born. what an insane way to have your brain worked to think that somebody would ever think like that and pull it off and for what purpose? if you wanted your son to be president, you'll probably marry joe martin across the street who has an ivy league education. this guy ben smith really gets to me. >> this is an organization that really kind of gets laughed at when i've had conversations with

the people in the military and pentagon around it. not a will tlot of people view credible. it's one thing about leaks, quite another to inject yourself into the middle of a presidential campaign. >> does this have nothing to do with their military role r, more are their ideology on the right? >> it's hard to understand how they'd get any traction. as a cover to make this sort of strange critique of obama, this is a president who's prosecuted more leakers than any other previous one to the consternation of civil libertarian organizations. >> foreign policy magazine report that is one of the main spokesmen in this group, ben smith, has put this out on his blog. you are an imposter. you are a muslim. you are the manchurian, may you

go back to the country, you little, little man and take your supporters with us. that is the thinki ining hind t guy. >> thanks for having me. one of the things we have to sort of look at here is this has been a well coordinated campaign that started this year. the new group led by the birther is the third political, the third super pac that has come out to attack obama over the bin laden raid and over national security leaks. it seems to be well funded. there have been allegations from democratic groups that karl rove is the one behind it and we're going to see more of it. next week at the republican convention, they're having a event where they're going to have former navy s.e.a.l.s and special forces guys, even u.s. senators, i was told today, up on stage talking about this. >> what's rove's involvement?

>> the evidence is circumstantial. he's featured prominently on one of the web pages, which is one of the three super pacs involved here. >> we'll see about that as we drop this story. the video does some selective editing of the president's speech to make it seem like he took all the credit and never thanked the intelligence and military teams. in reality, we all know the president's rarely given a speech where he hasn't credited those who did the work in that case and took the risk. here are a few examples. let's watch what he really said. >> over the last ten years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and counterterrorism professionals, we've made great strides in that effort. thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless

individuals over many years, the leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten america again. because of the sacrifices now of a decade and a new greatest generation, slowly and systematical systematically, we have been able to decimate the ranks of al-qaeda. and a year ago, we were able to finally bring osama bin laden to justice. >> you know, even in casual conversation with somebody high up with the nfc, you get a very strong impression from them that they know darn well this wasn't a partisan operation to go get bin laden. the the team they work with are totally nonpartisan. these people that work nfc, they aren't democrats. it's a mixed bag of americans doing their duty and they're incredibly good at it. right and i think you know, what

we're seeing here politically obviously is the president's opponents taking one of his greatest strengths and accomplishments and trying turn it into -- it's not an accident that right now, the obama campaign is fighting back against this really hard. they've been silent. the white house has sort of been silent on this, but now, they're punching back saying hey, making the points you said. the military should not be involved in these partisan activities. >> i think the whole swift voting of john kerry was sleazy. let people do what they do for their country and move on. thank you. up next, dirty, ring amoney and now, we're learning a lot of it is anonymous. it's subsidized by you, the taxpay taxpayer, because these groups are getting tax breaks. we're going find more about this bad money in politics when we come back. this is ha"hardball." the place for politics. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's,

we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. nothing complicated about a pair of 10 inch hose clamp pliers.

you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping's easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. no. come on. how about... a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes. starting at just $5.15. only from the postal service. in a new tv ad set to run in eight swing states, bill clinton takes to the camera to argue for his second obama term. >> this election to me is about which candidate is likely to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. the republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation. that's what got us in trouble in the first place. president obama has a plan to

rebuild america from the ground up. investing in innovation, education and job training. it only works if there is a strong middle class. that's what happened when i was president. we need to keep going with his plan. >> if i were obama, i'd marry that guy. president obama knows he needs in order to win re-election. we'll be right back. rogaine? well, i'll admit it. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference. [ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com.

welcome back. as you just saw, we call our segments on money and politic, dirty, angry money. now, there's a new twist. taxpayer subsidized money.

a new report by propublica, proves the second two are true as well. the report found that 501c4s do little or nothing to justify. instead, they are pouring much of their resources into political races and that means you, the taxpayer, are picking up the tab and donors to these groups, the majority of this so far in 2012 support republican causes, get to stay anonymous. well, to demonstrate how powerful these groups can be, here's an ad from one that helped take down a 14-term well respected democratic congressman. >> it's the worst economy in decades. and the folks in washington are living it up, spending our tax dollars like there's no tomorrow. leading this big song and dance, obama, of course, and nancy pelosi. but there's one face you might not expect to see. our old friend, john spratt.

spratt approved billions in deficit spending without messing a beat. let's pull the plug on this song an dance once and for all. >> they found the commission on hope, growth and opportunity, a social welfare group paid for this ad. and a series of others that cost an estimated $2.3 million. on the tax return said it spent nothing, zero to influence elections. former congressman john spratt may disagree. he lost the election. richard wolf is an msnbc political analyst. great reporting here, but my big question is, how did this group, this so-called nonpolitical group get to spend all this money, defeat a good congressman named john spratt in south carolina. and here we are two years later and the irs hasn't caught up with them? >> that's a good question.

that's a question that should be asked to the irs. i'm hardly the first person to talk about this group. we looked at more than 100 groups that have spent money on politics, some of which are very valid c4 group that is have been around for a long time. this was one of the examples you looked at, you thought, why is nothing happening? if nothing happens to this group, what is the point of having rules. >> why are they nonprofit? why are they treated as -- >> they said they are. they applied to the irs, and they said, we want to be a social welfare nonprofit, we're going to do things to help the american public. we're going to publish -- i think they called it economic studies from valid economists. and we're going to take those to the american public and to congressmen and we're going to change policy. and that's what they said in order to get their application for recognition by the irs approved. the irs approved them within weeks.

and, of course, they told the irs they were going to spend nothing on politics. soon after getting that approval. >> well, why would karl rove ever be trusted by an irs agent to do something nonpolitical with his money? let's go to richard wolf on this, this is what i find squirrelly about this. we all grew up knowing there was a 401 c3, but now there's a 401 c4. they get to operate as a nonprofit. you have people like crossroads gps run by rove that can keep its contributions to this anonymous. >> these are public welfare education groups, let's face it, kim's reporting and propublic ka is reporting the definition of welfare. it's quite clear the irs does not have the resources to go after this, and remember, we are in a political situation where

congress -- let's face it, members of the republican party are wanting to defund operations where the irs was even involved in health care reform. so how political would you have to be assen administration to say, we're going to beef up irs policing or enforcement of a tax code which has been abused by political groups. it is itself politically controversial. it's clearly an abuse of the irs. >> are there any liberal groups using this tax dodge? >> yeah, most definitely. we took a look at the 2010 election, that was the only election you could get the tax returns for, and prepare the tax returns in their applications with what they told the ftc. we found that liberal groups and progressive groups are doing this, not to the same extent that conservative groups did it, though. >> they've been out there doing this kind of trash talk about people like -- incumbents -- they've gone out there and

destroyed republicans on the other side. have they done this kind of dirty business? >> the same kind of ads. not as creative, but they've definitely don ads that are against republicans, and you don't have any idea where their money is coming, from definitely. >> i think one of the old conservative arguments, and you hear from people i respect like george will. let's get rid of all this policing of who gets to give money, make sure everything is online, immediately online, with the modern technology we have, you just have it listed on a website, immediately how much money you're getting from different people, so at least there's transparency, here you see the right wing and some on the left exploiting the opportunity not to be transparent. >> let's face it, republicans are better at it this time around, there's more money slushing around the system. can we clean up the tax codes so that people are not pretending to be some how public welfare organizations when they're not? can we at least have honesty in this, and, yes, openness and

transparency, that's a bear minimum. >> i think with the modern technology we have, where you can punch up something on a blackberry, you can see who's giving money to someone and decide if you like them or not. i think have you broken ground here. when we return, let me finish tonight with mitt romney. he's so deep in bed with the right wing of his party now, he cannot crawl back or sneak back to the center for anybody. what's with you? trouble with a car insurance claim. [ voice of dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ normal voice ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. are you in good hands?

let me finish with the wayward shift of the right ward party. voters believe both candidates were both to the left of where they say they are, obama loses. obama would be accused of being intent on a far larger government role than he's supported. romney being able to sell himself as a candidate far more moderate, far more to the left of the primaries he's made to the left and since. i think that scenario is highly unlikely, it's increasingly obvious that mr. romney, whatever stance he took as governor in massachusetts has married the right wing of his party. the neo-cons, the religious right, the hardliners against abortion rights. he's not, nor can he be confused with the guy who pushed health care in massachusetts, who once called himself stronger on gay rights than ted kennedy. that memory is as faded as the old newspapers of that era. if any remain anywhere, except in