it's thursday august 30th and this is "now." joining me today, msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, our favorite import from the uk. and msnbc policy analyst, the man with all the answers, the "washington post's" ezra klein. congressman paul ryan got republicans on their feet last night. with an impassioned conservative manifesto loaded with attacks on the president's record. >> i have never seen opponents so silent about their record. and so desperate to keep their

power. they've run out of ideas. their moment came and went. fear and division is all they've got left. >> conservative opinion pages loved it. "the national review" calls ryan the happy warrior. the "wall street journal" heralds the ryan difference and the "washington post" announces, ryan sochools obama. among the confetti, there remains one glaring problem. in taking on the president, ryan forgot to back his arguments up on fact. here he is on medicare. >> an obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. the greatest threat to medicare is obama care, and we're going to stop it. >> ryan never mentioned that his own plan cuts medicare by

capping spending and forcing seniors to dig deeper into their own pockets to pay their bills. then there was the claim that the president is an out of control spender, driving up the debt. >> he created a new bipartisan debt commission. they came back with an urgent report. he thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing. >> ryan failed to say that he was on that very same debt commission and rejected the report, himself. and on claims that obama caused a factory to shut down in rye wrap's home state -- >> candidate obama said, i believe if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years. that's what he said in 2008. well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. >> factually speaking, we reached out to gm, general motors, which confirmed the

facility closed in december 2008. which was before president obama even took office. and to the larger issue of saving auto industry jobs, congressman ryan supported president bush's bailout plan but was opposed to president obama's, the one that is widely credited with saving both gm and chrysler. ryan's speech laid out a vision but it was a vision short on the truth. joining us now from tampa is the man who helped bring the word "game change" into common parlance, msnbc political analyst and national affairs editor for "new york" magazine john heilman, and also from tampa, msnbc political analyst and former rnc chairman, the notorious michael steele. gentlemen, great to see you both. looks like the weather has improved. chairman steele, i will go to you first on this regarding paul ryan. how much of it is -- we've seen a lot of happy assessments regarding paul ryan's performance last night. what do you make of the fact there were a number of distortions about the truth? >> well, you know, distortion is

in the eye of the beholder. in that room you're not going to sit there and get into the details of a specific policy. you're laying out broad themes. and so obviously from the left and from the obama administration, particularly the campaign, they want to go back and say, but you didn't say this, you didn't talk about that. that's not what last night was about. just as we'll see next week. there'ses going to be a whole lot of detail and specific facts left out of obama's narrative about what he's done over the last four years. so last night was about broad themes. last night was about setting up tonight for mitt romney and bringing down the hammer at some of the headlines have said this morning on the obama administration. so i thought for paul ryan it was a wonderful coming out party if you will. it was a great way for him to inject a new kind of energy into this campaign at a different level, at a different speed. i thought he did a masterful job with it. >> chairman steele, that speech has been fact checked by any number of major newspapers and editoria organizations.

it is clear that paul ryan distorted the truth. is fact not part of the coming out party for the republican party? >> well, no, facts are. obviously, alex, that's going to be a case that's going to be prosecuted from this point forward. in the campaign, if the evidence suggests that the facts as you set them out do not support the allegation or the charge that was laid out last night, then the campaign will deal with that, but, again, i get back to the bigger point. these conventions are not about getting into that level of discussion. the convention is laying out a broad scope of ideas and policy positions to be taken throughout the rest of the campaign. >> john, you were on the floor last night watching paul ryan. and i guess, you know, the comparison -- we wanted to sort of see whether there is a comparison to be made between paul ryan's, let's say, coming out party to paraphrase michael steele and that of sarah palin. there was a similar arder that

greeted sarah palin after she made her debut. i want to call to the attention of our audience some of the headlines there. the "washington post" saying palin comes out fighting, a pit bull in lipstick according to the "new york daily news." chicago "sun-times" says hockey mom shoots, scores. is there any comparison here to be made, john? >> well, in a modest way, i think, alex. i was on the floor for sarah palin, too, and it was an extraordinary performance. she was a totally unknown commodity and there was a high wire quality to it. you had no idea whether she was going to give a great speech. she could have melted into a puddle on the floor. no one knew. when she came out and gave a really, really good speech, there was a miraculous quality to it. that's not ry ryan. the expectations, he wasn't going to say so much of a black box. i think the truth for most presidential running mates, vice presidential candidates, is that they're expected to do two things well. they're expected on a speech like this, expected to rouse the

base and prove they can be an attack dog against the president, the nominee of the other party. paul ryan did both those things incredibly well last night. i agree with you, if you rate this substantively, it's an "f. "it's full of lies and the liars that tell them. it's a lot a lot of lies. one of the things we've learned in the cycle so far, what the media has to think about going forward, people are not being penalized for lying. the incentives for both sides are to lie with impunity because they're getting away with it. put aside that for a second and think of the style and political. stylistically, he started out slow, had a hard time figuring out the teleprompter. midway through the speech he was on fire. politically, he achieved the two things he needed to achieve, lay out the contrast, beat up on the president and rouse the hall. from people who i know who watched the show on tv who are experts on this subject, they say he came across well.

>> ezra, john heilman speaking from one perspective as far as the narrative here. the substance, the fact he gets an "f" on a lot of important policy issues. what did you make of paul ryan's address last night? >> i want to be careful in how i phrase this because i think it's an important point. >> i appreciate the long sigh. >> we've done something very dangerous in media and in politics more generally. and we have created this line where we can say over here is politics and politics is about message and it's about appearance and it's about how you're polling and it's about how do you come off during your speech? and we can judge that separately and apart from policy, from the truth of the matter, from what it's about. the conventions. i mean, as michael steele said, you know, it's not a policy argument at convention. in some ways there's an expectation for what politicians are going to do. they would do different things if we gave them different

expectations. when we say the expectation is not to be honest and not to be factual, we allow them among other things aside from just being untruthful to the american people, we allow them to back themselves into promises and into theories, if they don't fit the moment. so michael steele made the point, and it's correct, that one of the main things a convention does is they put forward a vision for the country. if that vision for the country is not based upon sound premises, if it is on a foundation of sand, it is not going to work. but having promised, having lashed themselves to that, they will and i think this happened with the bush administration and happens in many administrations, be forced into essentially policies that are not good policies. ryan's speech, i went and reread it three times at 1:00 a.m. because i had to look at something for a blog post we were doing. i wanted -- what i was trying to do was find more truthful claims to add to our post, which was the true, the false and the misleading. it was a really wrong speech.

it's not because you can't make a truthful attack on obama or even that ryan hasn't done it previously. it's just somehow in the architecture they built in the campaign the truthful attack doesn't work. and that's not a good sign in how they'll govern. it's not separate from their message to the people. >> that is a very eloquent and i think incredibly substantive and important point to make, ezra, and i think to some degree we're all implicated in this. >> i am, too. it's a good speech, but not true. >> we can focus on the fact paul ryan did a great job for mitt romney last night but what is actually moving the country forward? putting forward falsities and inaccuracies and prescriptions for the american country? richard, what did you make of paul rye wrap an in terms of th romney/ryan ticket? >> well, there are lots of ironies about this. you play the clip before, he said the president is extraordinarily silent about his record. well, i haven't heard anything in this republican convention about the greatest achievement mitt romney had in his career as

governor of massachusetts which was health care reform. that's the biggest thing he did as governor of massachusetts. we have two candidates who would rather not talk about big chunks of their record. even if you set aside ironies and discrepancies and inconsistencies and lies, i think paul ryan had a bigger problem and it goes beyond tl r delivery and this is where i think they were engaged in bad politics. republicans have presented with paul ryan's speech and this whole week a situation where essentially every single problem this country faces is because of president obama. if you're a small business and you cannot hire, it's because obama and the government is in the way. if you're a 20-something living at home, it's not your fault, as paul ryan said. it's your leaders. it's the government's fault, it's president obama's fault. >> it's the obama poster on your wall that's fading to yellow. >> this is the party of personal responsibility. this is the party that says, you go out and make this. you built it. but it's also saying you're the

victim of government. i think that's an incredibly bleak and simplistic vision and they've fallen into the exact same trap the democrats fell in in 2004 which is that every problem in the world, iraq, al qaeda, it's all president bush. but it actually -- voters said, you know what, iraq may be a bit of a mess and bush obviously has a hand in that, but al qaeda's real. osama bin laden was still there. he put out a tape in the middle of the election. and iraq, al qaeda was still there. if you look at the polls, if you look at the politics, the electorate is sophisticated enough to say, it's not all obama's fault. he could be doing better, but bush is to blame, wall street is to blame. so they're selling an image where, in a world where obama is everything. if you just get rid of obama, everything will be okay, and that's just not what people think is going on in the world or this economy. >> michael steele, in fact, chris christie, i was surprised, sort of strayed from the narrative that richard is outlining which is to say he put

some of the blame or seemed to suggest some of the blame lies on republicans' shoulders. what do you make of the contention that republicans are playing the blame game at this point and fundamentally it is not a winning strategy for the country? >> well, it's not from either side. and i think that's exactly one of the things that led to the rise of the tea party, for example. the big government republicanism that grew under the bush administration certainly was responded to in 2006 and 2008 by grassroots activism. i think chris christie in his speech wanted to acknowledge that and say, yes, we had a role to play in some of the difficulties that the people of this country faced today. but the question now is going forward, and i definitely appreciate richard's point about the blame game because that's one of the arguments that the republicans have been making about this administration. instead of saying, okay, i accept the burden handed to me by bush and now i'm prepared to these things, instead they have

looked backwards and said, it is his fault. we have not been able to this because a congress stands in our way. but the president didn't seem to have a problem, you know, issuing new regulations on welfare to get around that congress. in other words, he does have tools in his toolbox that he could have used to actually begin the process outside of that, you know, intransgent government, particularly the republican congress in their view to get jobs on track to create those jobs. this is going to be as we move into next week a conversation about going forward. you saw that rolled out pretty much this week in terms of, okay, ask yourself two questions. are you better off than you were four years ago? when you answer that question, will you be better off four years from now if you re-elect barack obama? so that's going to be the narrative and the finger pointing and the blaming, the american people don't appreciate it and i think a lot of it now has got to focus into what are you going to do next?

>> michael steele, i would say the president has used, as many probably executive -- he has tapped executive power in a way that is pretty profound in the last few months and that has stoked the ire of the gop. so it's interesting that you're saying that he should be finding even more ways to use executive power. we have to -- >> no, i'm not saying he should be finding more ways. i'm saying those tools are available with respect to job creation which he hasn't done. >> no, they're not. you can't spend money through executive power. i mean, there are things you can do to create jobs and it's important. there are things you can try to do to regulation, but fundamentally to create jobs, american jobs act, you have to spend money. constitutionally only congress can do that. believe me, nobody wants to create jobs at this moment more than the obama administration. if they thought there was some trick they could pull, they would have pulled it. their incentives are aligned here. >> ezra, you don't have to spend money. i'm not talking about that. you can deal with the regulations that prohibit the current structure to allow banks, to allow small businesses to access the market a little bit freer than they have been. >> we are not done with this

conversation. we have to bring john heilman back in to get his take on paul ryan's playlist. acdc to the led zeppelin. after the break we'll be talking about the rnc's best supporting speakers as well. condi rice gives a teleprompter free argument for republicans. >> ours has never been a narrative of grievance and entitlement. we have never believed that i am doing poorly because you are doing well. we have never been jealous of one another and never envious of each other's successes. >> we will revisit rice's making an america message and the gop's dream weavers next on "now." we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas. there's natural gas under my town. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy.

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the president takes more vacations than that guy on the bizarre foods show. and i'll give barack obama credit for creating jobs these last four years. for golf caddies. >> that was minnesota governor tim pawlenty, one of the few speakers so far to go for laughs. and hopefully one of the last. one of the more serious themes that emerged laugh night was the notion of beating the odds and realizing the american dream. it was driven home by former secretary of state condoleezza rice and susanna martinez. both women and both minorities. >> growing up, i never imagined a little girl from a border town could one day become a governor. >> a little girl grows up in jim

crow birmingham. the segregated city of the south where her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant, but they have her absolutely convinced that even if she can't have a hamburger at the lunch counter, she could be president of the united states if she wanted to be, and she becomes the secretary of state. >> governor martinez closed her speech tieing the american dream to mitt romney. >> in many ways, mitt romney and are very different. different starts in life. different paths to leadership. different cultures. but we've each shared in the promise of america. and we share a core belief that the promise of america must be kept for the next generation. >> inherent in the republican rhetoric last night, the suggestion that president obama does not understand the promise of america and somehow wants to keep its citizens from realizing their potential. that's a connection kentucky senator rand paul made more

explicitly. >> for most of our history, no one dared tell americans you didn't build that. brothers and friends of mine, they came to america on one of those leaky boats. hung owns his own business and twan manages a large company. they are the american dream. so mr. president, don't go telling the tring family you didn't build that. >> in his remarks paul went to the heart of the entirely misleading "you didn't build it" attack on the president, charging obama is somehow out of touch with the founding principles of america. barack obama, a mixed race man who grew up in a working class single parent household and went on to become the president of the united states is accused of not understanding the american dream by rand paul, son of ron paul, whose presence on the podium was the result of a behind the scenes deal making between his father and the republican party. john heilman, i want to ask you about this, first.

can the republican party succeed in trying to take away one of the most powerful elements of the obama narrative, which is the realization of the american dream? >> well, first of all, alex, i want to actually get back to the question you asked before about paul ryan's playlist. i find it appalling that it starts with acdc and not either with a tribe called quest. i also want to put out the weird ness that his band called zeppelin. on my playlist is listed under "l." >> i'm glad we're focusing on the stuff -- >> i found another misstatement in the ryan speech. >> you did. >> originally said z.z. top. that's why. >> on the broader question, look, the republican party's been trying to take that away from barack obama for a long time. if you're asking me whether the notion -- "a" it's inherent in everything most of the conservative critiques have always been, going back to

notion of him not being born in america, that's intrinsic to the claim he has no understanding of the american dream. there's part of the party that says that. this part which speaks to a mainstream part of the party says he doesn't understand, i think the nature of america and entrepreneurship and the self-made man. all that kind of stuff. i think for people in the hall and people, 47%, 48% of the country that's going to definitely vote republican, they don't believe that. i don't think for the par of the electorate that needs to be moved, the part that's swrgenuiy undecided, part of the reason they like him, part of the reason they've been rooting for him the last 3 1/2 yearses even if they decide not to vote for him in november is because they do believe he embodies the american dream. that's why they liked him in the first place. spending a lot of time trying to delegitimize that part of obama's story, just a political loser with the voters they're trying to reach and must reach if they're going to win on november 6th. >> richard, in talking about

what moves voters and what doesn't, there are emphasis last night on foreign policy. john mccain and condoleezza rice representing the foreign policy wing of the republican party. it's also a strength, thus far, seemingly, of the president's. is that a good place for them to go? the republicans? >> well, we're not trying very hard. this is the party that built two conventions at least around the idea that they own national security. it's extraordinary you're down to just two speakers who can try to make the case and the case really isn't that good especially for condi rice when she was secretary of state, second bush term. the policies of bush had changed. they'd moderated. and there is some continuity between the two presidents there. i will say she was a compelling speaker. she actually did tell a good story. like susanna martinez. and that says something because these two women, not only are they women, but they're outside of washington, they're outside of the party establishment. if mitt romney had wanted to capture some of that, some of that perspective, he could

have chosen someone like that to be the vp pick. he didn't. suzanne that martinez's speech, just to segue a little bit, her problem was when she said, i don't have much in common with mitt romney, but here's what we share. actually, they have a lot in common. they're both governors. again, yes again, they couldn't talk about the obvious point, i'm a governor, he was a governor, we had similar approaches. but you can't talk about mitt romney as governor because that's a no-go zone. >> michael steele, condi rice gave a very, very strong performance last night. i think one of the things a lot of us noted is it wasn't particularly partisan. it didn't attack the president by name. it certainly was a critique of some things related to foreign policy but wasn't nearly as strident. do you think there's buyer's remorse as far as vice presidential picks and/or 2016 condoleezza rice, is she going to be on the republican ticket if mitt romney doesn't win in november? >> as to buyer's remorse, i'm not sure about that. i think people are well

satisfied with the ultimate pick in paul ryan. i think as far as 2016 and beyond, i would even say as far as next year and beyond, when you're looking at the rebuilding of the party, the re-branding of the party going forward, condoleezza rice opened a very important door last night to begin again anew the effort to broaden the reach and the breadth of this party. we cannot stand isolated as the country further diversifies and grows. we are finding ourselves becoming a shrinking island in the political -- on the political landscape if we continue to instead of assimilate different perspectives and views which i think is always a strength, instead of alienate those perspectives and views, if we do that, we're going to have a real problem. i thought she really set a beautiful tone, particularly given that this was really from her heart. i mean, this is no cards in front of her, no teleprompter, talking freely to a party that she has freely associated herself with. and i hope people take heed to

her words. 2016 will take care of itself. last night she set a tone and a direction for this party, if we ever want to be relevant beyond this election. >> chairman steele, thank you for your time as always. john heilman, thank you for the incisive fact checking that is sure to make waves both in the twitter verse and online. thank you both for your time, gentlemen. >> you got it. coming up, waiting in the west wing. while republicans gather in tampa, president obama continues his campaign including this jab at governor romney's foreign policy chops during a speech in virginia yesterday. >> he doesn't have a plan to bring home the 33,000 troops who will be coming home from afghanistan next month. he likes to talk tough, but he doesn't have a lot of details when it comes to these critical issues. >> we will discuss the president's rnc bracketology and what he knows now, ahead, next.

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and i'd definitely use it again. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com. coming up, bishop, ceo and possibly the future president of the united states. a thus far unexplored chapter in the mitt romney biography includes his work in the mormon church, but ann romney says her husband isn't one to brag about good works. >> mitt doesn't like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point. we are no different than the millions of americans who quietly help their neighbors, their churches and their communities. they don't do it so that others will think more of them. >> how much detail will mitt romney give us about his faith tonight? e.j. dionne and michael scherer join us for a preview on the mittstery man.

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when mitt and i met and fell in love, we were determined not to let anything stand in the way of our life together. i was an episcopalian. he was a mormon. >> mitt and i also go to different churches but in any church, the best kind of preaching is done by example. i've been watching that example. our faiths come together in the same moral creed. >> mormonism is no longer off limits for team romney. his wife mentioned it by name on tuesday, and romney's faith came up in several speeches last night. mike huckabee, a baptist minister who in the 2008 primary defeated romney in iowa didn't exactly offer support for romney's faith but said it wouldn't affect his vote. >> i care far less as to where mitt romney takes his family to church than i do about where he takes this country. >> huckabee also used a speech to tear town the president's views on social and religious issues.

>> of the four people on the two tickets, the only self-professed evangelical is barack obama, and he supports changing the definition of marriage. believes that human right is disposable and expendable at any time in the womb, even beyond the womb. and he tells people of faith that they have to bow their knees to the god of government. >> romney is reportedly still tweaking his speech but is expected to address his mormon faith directly. the invocational prayer will be delivered by the president of the temple romney attends in boston. buzz feed writes about the 180 degree turn made in the campaign of opening about mormonism saying "the decision to start owning his religion on the campaign trail was more complicated and personal than a mere convention course correction," said people familiar with the evolution. "indeed the story of his journey to this point is one that shows the candidate's family struggling with realities of public life as a religious authority. one person close to romney says he recognizes his nomination

marks a historic moment for his church and he wants the convention to reflect the faith that has shaped him throughout his life." joining us now from tampa, msnbc contributor and "washington post" columnist e.j. dionne and also from tampa, official ambassador to "time" magazine, michael scherer. e.j., i'd like to start with you on this. in terms of the religion question, we talked ad nauseam about the humanization of mitt romney and a principle thing that might humanize him is his role in the mormon church. how much can he talk about mormonism at his speech tonight? and how much -- is there -- there's obviously a cost/benefit analysis going on here. how much do you think he will wrap his arms around his experience as a mormon bishop and the way the faith has shaped his life? >> well, one of the things we've talked about ad nauseam because it's true is that romney's mormonism has been a huge barrier in explaining who he is to people because it's very

clear his mormon faith is very important to him. i thought republicans were actually quite clever in setting up tonight, you showed those clips from mike huckabee and paul ryan where they're basically saying to non-mormon christians it's okay to be mormon, especially if your opponent is barack obama. although i thought in a backhanded way huckabee handed obama a little gift saying he's a self-professed evangelical. i'm not sure many evangelicals knew that. it's better than some of the other things they said about president obama. i think he's set up for it and i think he has to talk about it and doesn't have to worry about evangelicals in republican primaries anymore. it's worth remembering he lost in states where evangelicals made up a majority of the electorate. they're counting on the fact conservative evangelicals dislike president obama so much that they'll vote for romney whatever his faith is. that really was mike huckabee's message last night. >> michael scherer, there's an

interesting analysis in "the new york times" this past weekend talking about the need for a romney rye scrisis narrative, e president has one, whether clinton in his upbringing, whether george w. bush with his battle with alcoholism. mitt romney, his car accident he experienced while a mormon missionary in france or ann's battle with ms. both of the crises dredge up things romney would rather not talk about. ann's battle with ms brings to mind the fact they have access to premium health care, something mitt romney is not comfortable talking about. of course, the car accident talks about the fact he was a missionary and his mormon faith. what do you make of that, and does he need a crisis narrative? >> maybe he does. i mean, his real problem is being somebody that the american people actually want to see in their living room several times a week for four years. and i think that's what tonight's speech is about. it's his big first test getting in people's living room in primetime and saying, look, i'm okay, you're not going to hate watching me on tv. in terms of crisis narrative, romney, the crisis maretive he

wants to talk about is neither of those. it's i'm the turnaround guy. i went to the salt lake city olympics, it was in crisis, i fixed it. i was at bain capital, or bain consulting when it was in crisis, i fixed it. i went to massachusetts and made improvements there. that's the crisis narrative he wants to tell because it can -- it makes sense for him to tgo t the white house and fix this country. in terms of the personal things, i wouldn't be surprised if he does bring it up. they talked quite a bit as a campaign about the ms diagnosis. he doesn't dwell on it. it isn't something they've run away from. the car accident is different in he's sort of a passive agent in that crisis. i mean, he was in a car accident and then he recovered from the car accident. he wasn't actively dealing with the crisis in the same way. >> richard, the car accident, romney suffered relatively minor injuries but then became -- had a bigger role as a missionary in france. certainly his role within the mormon church is one of sort of -- he's a bishop in the mormon church. it's a very important thing to

him, donated over $7 million to the church in the last two years. can the mormon church, will that sort of humanize him in a way that satisfies everyone or should he be more sort of reliant on the narrative he is a mr. fix it, he's a workhorse? >> he should have done this a lot earlier, right? if buzz feed's report is true, why just have president 180 degree now? you've been running for president for six years, you've been a mormon much longer. it's a good thing he talks about his faith, good for him, good for his family, good for the church. he should be open about what he's doing because we all know it. a bit like the tax returns, if you've got something to take people through and explain, do it early. don't do it right at the peak time as you're entering the last phase of the general election. >> unfortunately, we have to leave it there. after the break, we will be finding podus, we'll be asking michael scherer about his revealing interview with the president. that's coming up next on "now." .

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only from starbucks. as republicans gather in florida president obama has been touring key swing states. he's back in washington today. no doubt preparing for next week's convention. after nearly four years in office the president is reflecting on the mistakes and missteps made along the way and what his second term might look like. michael scherer has the cover story in this week's "time magazine" titled "what obama knows now." interesting read. we've been paying attention to the gop. the president is, of course, still the president and doing things and thinking about things and making statements. i thought it was really interesting. your story talks about his priorities for maybe a second term. one of them is immigration reform. another is to reserve what he accomplished in the first term. and the other thing he alludes to is maybe trying to get citizens united overturned. >> he actually said after our interview he said in an interview with readit, the

website, that he would support the possibility of a constitutional amendment to overturn the citizens united decision. i think what he's really aiming there, he mentioned in our interview as well, he sees this as sort of a movement issue. a way of reclaiming the brand he had in 2008, the sort of change washington brand. he thinks there's a lot of dissatisfaction in the country. it's something you can actually take on the road and sort of build a steady long-term campaign over. >> ezra, we -- sorry. sorry, michael. ezra, we had a conversation earlier in the show with michael steele about what the president can or cannot do. i thought it was optimistic of him to think that he's going to get immigration reform done if he is re-elected. he seems to think the mitch mcconnell line of thinking which is we're going to do everything we can to make sure this is a one-term president, that obviously evaporates if he becomes a second-term president. >> the theory if he wins again, the fever breaks. that is a language he always uses. what he means by that, in particular, the moderates, the

folks who don't like the course the republican party have been charting will say we failed twice in one of the worst economies on record, not able to get barack obama out of office in 2012 and not able to elect john mccain in 2008 so we have to be doing something different. and secondarily, he -- they assume, at least, that there are going to be folks -- there's a bui buildup of resentment among senate republicans and some house republicans we didn't come here to just say no all the tile. we want to get things done. it's going to be entirely dependent on what kind of congress they face, contra what some argue. they need congress. particularly on immigration reform. the reason they like to talk about immigration is if mitt romney gets 24% of hispanic vote, they're goire are going t high-level people in the republican party saying, we have to get this issue off the table, we have to do it now because we can't win in the future with demographics doing the way they are unless we make some massive and generationally defining

outreach to the hispanic community. >> e.j., i think we still have you here. that notion that the biggest threat, i mean, the real -- the thing that will cause republicans to actually change their position and come to the deal making table, is the threat of getting unseated and just that that is the most powerful weapon at this point in terms of getting any policy push forward. what to you make of that? >> well, first i think there are still republicans out there who might like to pass stuff. secondly, if obama wins, one of the reasons will be that he overwhelms romney among latinos and a lot of republic ans are going to look at that and say, we can't stay where we are on this issue or we're going to keep losing elections. the third things to go back to what michael was saying about citizens united, that's a great issue for obama because it can underscore how much the billionaires are spending to get him out of office. secondly, you can build a movement both for a constitutional amendment and for proposals to make it -- make small money more important in

politics. reform proposal being unveiled by others to have matching -- to match small contributions. so i think there's a real campaign there. but on immigration reform, condoleezza rice said it last night. the republicans just can't stay where they are. she didn't put it in those terms but that was her sib limbal message. >> jeb bush will be taking the stage tonight. he's been an advocate of reform as far as republican party platform on immigration. it will be interesting to see what he says in a matter of hours. thank you e.j. dionne and michael scherer. the cover story in this week's "time," "what obama knows now." pick it up and read it. t dog.

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welcome back. time for "what now."

rumor has it a surprise speaker at the rnc tonight could be academy award winner clint eastwood who endorsed governor romney earlier this month. ezra klein, your speak for surprise speaker tonight? >> there was a period of time when mitt romney basically shut down bain to help a bain partner find his daughter who had gone missing in new york. i heard this from somebody else, not a source, but somebody -- >> pontificating. >> my bet is it's going to relate to that story, her or her father. shows mitt romney being human, doing something really, really admirable. >> richard wolffe? >> my pick since i have no idea, joe lieberman and zale miller as a double pick because davis fell flat. go back for the second time. >> i will say if anybody is interested in my pick -- >> i'm interested. >> -- the killers. the killers. they're a band. i will say a band that i enjoy. they're also led by a mormon singer, brandon flowers. mitt romney has said he's one of their favorite bands. >> let's go with it. >> they don't even have to be there. they could be a hologram on

stage in, and i think, look, the killers are "k" on a playlist. paul rye wrap did not mention -- zeppelin led. >> it could just be zeppelin. just his favorite band, zeppelin, who he may not have actually heard before. >> that, ezra, would really truly be something. we have to leave it there. thank you again to richard and ezra. that's all for "now." tomorrow, i'm joined by chris hayes, karen finney, and inside the actor's studio, james lippman who will analyze the performance. until then, find us at facebook.com/nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. good afternoon to you, andrea. >> good afternoon to you. coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," mitt romney's big moment. what will he tell us about himself? paul ryan firing up the base last night. what about his facts? tim pawlenty is going to join me. obama 2012 campaign manager

stephanie cutter with response today. chris cillizza, eugene robinson, michael gerson, michael steele and ed rendell. "andrea mitchell reports" live next from the republican national convention in tampa. al about aspirin. bayer advanced was completely different. it really did get rid of the pain. put bayer advanced aspirin to the test for yourself at fastreliefchallenge.com.

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ok, how's this gonna play? try manly [ screams ] [ male announcer ] eew, ok, just do your thing. hey! hey! [ male announcer ] definitely a little bit epic. stride. what is miss iing is leadership in the white house. college graduates should not have to live out their 20s in their childhood bedrooms. staring up at fading obama posters and wondering when they can move out and get going with life. >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports" paul ryan electrifies the convention with a stinging indictment of president obama's record aimed at the tea party base, at young people and at other independents. >> he created a new bipartisan debt commission. they came back with an