next week is is mommy party's chance to hug america. they can start by please not mimicking that eastwood experiment. so martin, i wanted the to guest to be mitt's accountant. >> thank you very much and that you can to all of you. it's friday, august the 31st and team romney is happy to get away from clint eastwood any which way they can. >> i will work with all my energy and soul to restore that america. >> what? what do you want me to tell romney? >> now is a time to restore the promise of america. >> i've got mr. obama sitting here. i was just going to ask him a couple of questions. >> when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an american. >> can't do that to himself.

you're absolutely crazy. >> i didn't know it was coming. >> restore every father and mother's confidence that their children's future is brighter even in the past. and they are off. mitt romney and paul ryan have departed florida, hitting the road as official nominees of the republican party. they took off on their new rides, twin campaign planes, slapped with the words, believe in america, with ryan off to virginia and romney bound for new orleans to tour damage from hurricane isaac in the flooded suburb of lafitte.

perfectly timed for romney to mock concerns about the oceans warming and its impact on our planet. >> president obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans. and to heal the planet. my promise is to help you and your family. >> no, i'm sorry. that was last night's acceptance speech. his one big joke of the night. clearly, he thinks hurricanes are hilarious. don't forget this knee slapper. >> i appreciate this opportunity to join you on dry land this afternoon. >> oh, mitt, stop it. okay. so, we know that mr. romney won't try to do anything big like help the planet, that would be silly. well, what will he do? >> i will work with all my energy and soul to restore that america, to lift our eyes to a better future. that future is our destiny.

that future is out there. it is waiting for us. our children deserve it. our nation depends on it, the peace and freedom of the world require it. >> wait a minute, now, i'm confused. well, rest assured if paul ryan's speech was short on truth, romney's was equally short on specifics, so if you found yourself not so much bewitched, just bothered and bewildered, you're not alone. >> i've got mr. obama sitting here and mr. president, how do you handle, how do you handle promises that you've made when you were running for election and how do you handle it? what do you say to people? do you just -- you know -- i know people -- people are wondering, you don't -- okay. >> yes.

mystery guest, clint eastwood's performance had the rare trick of becoming more and more mysterious the longer he went on. from his bed head to his oversized suit, he gave the impression of having wandered on to the porch to rid the kids of his lawn and somehow found himself on stage. it was just plain weird. until it got scary. >> when somebody does not do the job we've got to let them go. let him go. we'll just leave it there, shall we? let's get right to our panel in philadelphia, professor james peterson, in washington, dana milbank and here in new york, msnbc political analyst, karen finney. karen, we couldn't choose a more suitable person to answer this first question. you are a professional.

you have done this job. how is it possible that on the biggest night for mitt romney, they had clint eastwood performing what seemed to be a -- >> i feel like we found ourselves in this place many times during the romney campaign. how did we get here, how did that let that happen? this is malpractice of some sorts, because usually, these are very controlled speeches, the whole program laid out carefully and i don't think anybody yet knows what that was that we saw last night. >> but this is a ceo. he's supposed to run companies brilliantly, and yet, this was amateur hour. in fact, it would be an insult at amateur night at the apollo. >> it was offensive, vulgar and completely inappropriate. despite the fact he's a republican, i'm a clint eastwood

fan, i don't want to see that. i don't want to see him with his hair sticking up trying to ad lib on a big stage. come on, be clint eastwood, but not that guy. >> romney's aides have said that romney himself laughed at his routine, but were rather surprised by the chair and thought that mr. eastwood wanted to sit down. what was your response? >> just sheer confusion on my end. romney may be a good or may have been a good business man, but doesn't seem to be a very smart politician because something that plays well in a green room or a practice session between you and a big time star like eastwood may not play well on the big audience of the convention and i feel like mr. eastwood and or his camp was kind of trapped from the criticism of the super bowl ad and him not wanting to play too much political favorites.

it just looked like a mess. when you're talking about conventions, the question is what gets across. what got across was confusion and disorganization and improper vetting on the part of the romney camp. >> dana, you know that if you were a professional nfl wide receiver or linebacker and you stormed -- >> that's not funny. >> and you stormed forward and scored a touchdown and you did this across your throat, you would likely be suspended. what on earth was this man do g doing? >> i think here, we have another instance of it's not clear eastwood knew what he was doing, that the romney campaign had no idea what was going to happen. they're saying when he asked the stage hand for a chair, they thought he wanted to sit it in himself. it's inexplicable to me that let's give the republican party some credit. they run these sorts of things like clock work to the second

with every little word sketched out and i don't know why they chose this time. it wasn't just with eastwood. they let chris christie go off and promote chris christie for president in 2016 campaign. it's uncharacteristic. they just let everybody go wild. >> both conventions, there was a whole speech writing operation where every single speaker has to submit their remarks. >> you know this stuff, karen. >> they cut it out if they don't like a line they have with fear of death if you repeat it on the stage. every single thing is timed out as dana was saying, so how this slipped through is a complete mystery. >> except, professor peterson, wasn't clint eastwood representing the republican party? a distillation of their attitudes of the president, which is basically, shut up and go and do something unspeakable to yourself? >> it was. he seemed to be paternalistic. the whole idea of sitting a united states president down and

talking down to him is paternalistic beyond remark here, so he did seem to fit in with some of the themes of the ways in which the republican party wanted to depict this president, but it doesn't get across even that way. you and i can read into that, but that's not what gets across cht it's more confusion and just what is going on here? the invisible obama, the chair twitter entity that's cropped up over night has more followers than ryan or romney picked up over the course of a week. so you can see people's interest over the spectacle as opposed to the message or substance. >> and yet, dana, the republican national convention knew that at 10:00 p.m., all of the television networks were switching off and what did they get? did they get the video of mr. romney? no. did they get marco rubio? no. what they got was that.

clint eastwood. >> they said it was a mystery speaker. what we didn't realize was it was a mystery to them as well. >> surprise. >> surely, they did not expect everybody to be talking about this. the nominee gave a perfectly serviceable speech. quite a good speech, but it's lost in this now. i guess i blame hurricane isaac for just jumbling the whole thing up and they just got some bad karma. >> i'm not so sure about that. karen, i want to play one bit of sound from last night from the nominee himself because that's who we should be talking about. a bit where he paid tribute to the late neil armstrong. >> that unique blend of optimism, humility and the utter confidence that when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an american. >> some people have suggested that was a little nod towards those who believe the president, the current president is something other than an american. >> i also sort of took it as this idea, remember in the beginning of the campaign,

romney was talking about and we've heard him, he doesn't understand america, america's economy and this americanism, if you will. >> the surrogate saying he doesn't understand americans. >> this idea of being, i'm proud of america. why our president wants to apologize. that's the other way that i took it and again, the biggest irony of that is president obama has a uniquely american story that literally would not be possible in any other country on the earth and that, to me, speaks to american exceptionalism in a way romney doesn't seem to understand. >> there are a number of percentage of people in that auditorium and watching this, who do not believe this president was born in the united states. when romney says you need an american, there are some folks saying yes, president obama's not an american. we need an american. it seems ignorant and sad, but the bottom line is you're

playing to some of the base's realities of the republican party with those comments. >> final question to you, dana. clint eastwood has emerged with momentum and publicity for his next movie. what about the republican nominee himself? does he come out of the that convention with momentum? >> he comes out of this convention as a caretaker. i think everybody realizes that the movement of this republican party is in a different detection. it's with marco rubio and chris christie and paul ryan and we now have a place holder in place and these guys assume he's fix ing to lose because they're getting ready to run in 2016. >> next, did governor romney leave the specifics behind in tampa? stay with us. >> we will not duck for tough issues, we will lead. >> oh. romney ryan administration will do good, not bad. ♪

♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. join zyrtec® rewards. save up to $7 on zyrtec® products.

anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life.

phillips'.

mitt romney needed to deliver the the speech of his life thursday, yet what's most remarkable about his vision for the next four years may be what romney did not say. no remarks about medicare, social security or immigration. nothing about iraq, afghanistan or syria. even his comments targeting female voters were mostly just a list of women with whom he shared office. part of his message to women was that he's worked with him. even some conservatives are lambasting romney for in the words of paul ryan, duck the top issues. >> not a word about afghanistan. we're fighting a war. 6 to 8,000 troops this.

240 some casualties this year in 2010 2012 and the word isn't mentioned and no tribute to the troops fighting there? >> joining us now from washington is democratic congressman ed marquee of massachusetts. i noticed something else about which romney did not talk in great detail. his time as governor of your state. why do you think that was? >> well, governor romney would like to put his record as governor of massachusetts into a hermetically sealed deposit box in switzerland. we were only 47th out of 50 states in job creation during his four years as governor, but he also wants to make sure that no one pays attention to the fact that romney care is the

basis for obama care, that he did believe in climate change, rather than making it a bunch line the way he did last night. he did believe in other words in the things that it seems to me were really at the heart of who mitt romney was, but that person is now nonrecognizable because that's the price you must pay to be the republican nominee for president. >> okay, you've somewhat anticipated what i was going to ask you because you know that the the way a speech ends is often it most powerful force and this is the way romney chose to end his speech. >> president obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans.

and to heal the planet. >> what was your reaction, sir, when you heard mitt romney using climate change for a cheap laugh like that? >> well, again, it's just the opposite of what he was saying to the people of massachusetts just six years ago. he believed in it and he was actually allocating state money for clean energy. but today, you know, climate change is just a punch line to them and clean energy is a punching bag to the republicans and you might as well be talking to an empty chair as trying to get romney now to admit that he believed in all those things just six years ago because and here's the problem, just one week ago in houston, there was an oil barren summit that romney went to where he raised $6 million and promised to kill

wind energy subsidies and keep the oil subsidies on the books. >> and also, sir, he did talk about energy and repeated his claim that we're going to achieve energy independence within seven years of him should he be elected president. i can't find anybody who believes that is actually possible. >> well, here's the good news on the day that barack obama was sworn in as president on january 20th, 2009, the united states was 57% dependent upon imported oil. today, we're down to 45% dependence. more over, we're at an 18-year high in oil production in the united states with records for wind, for solar and for fuel economy standards of the vehicles which we drive.

what romney has now announced is that he doesn't like increasing the efficiency of the vehicles which we drive in america and he's going to take those rules off the the books and paul ryan over the last four years has voted over and over and over again to take those fuel economy standards off the books. that's 3 million barrels a day that we have to import from the persian gulf. so, the romney plan, you know, here's the thing about romney and the republicans this week. they have an ability to harness vol amounts of information and that they can dramatically increase defense spending, cut taxes for the wealthy and balance the budget at the same time and not hurt grandma and her medicare. that's just patently false. not only grandma, but they hurt

clean energy, pell grants. we know the icebergs are cracking off of the antarctic. the arctic is now at its warmest state in history and all of it now must be denied because no republican can get elected president of the united states without denying the science of medicine, of climate and that's unfortunately a tragic state for what was once a great party. >> congress ed markey, thank you so much for joining us, sir. next, a preview of the next big stop in 2012. charlotte. stay with us. >> ryan trestretching the truth make his speech more effective is just another form of doping in that if you believe him, you are a dope. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it!

now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake! [ male announcer ] well, you can't beat them. [ giggles ] ohh! you got something huh? whoa... [ male announcer ] humana understands the value of spending time together that's a lot of work getting that one in! let's go see the birdies. [ male announcer ] one on one, sharing what you know. let's do it grandpa. that's why humana agents will sit down with you, to listen and understand what's important to you. it's how we help you choose the right humana medicare plan for you. because when your medicare is taken care of, you can spend more time sharing your passions. wow. [ giggles ] [ male announcer ] with the people who matter most. i love you grandpa! i love you grandma! now you're a real fisherman.

[ male announcer ] humana. stop! stop! stop! come back here! humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our optional better car replacement. if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy one a model year newer. call... and ask one of our insurance experts about it today. hello?! we believe our customers do their best out there in the world, and we do everything we can to be there for them when they need us. [car alarm blaring] call now and also ask about our 24/7 support and service.

call... and lock in your rate for 12 months today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

paul ryan's relationship with the truth remains under some scrutiny following his rnc address. fact checkers agree that at best, mr. ryan exaggerated some details. at worst, he flat out lied. but it's a claim mr. ryan made on the radio this month that's raising new questions about whether mr. ryan literally crossed the line. indeed in an interview with a conservative host, the superfit ripe was asked about his chiseled -- question, did you run marathons? yeah, but i can't do it anymore because my back is just not that great. question, i've just got to ask, what's your personal best? answer, under three. high twos. i had a two-hour and 50

something. two hours and 50 something, bravo, sir. that is unbelievable. under seven minutes a mile. a time so unbelievable that the the experts at runner's world want to know more. by their reporting, yours would be the fastest marathon ever run by a candidate on a national ticket by more than a half hour. runners world reached out to the romney ryan ticket and are awaiting a response. for now, we'll take your word, mr. ryan. but don't leave the good people waiting too long. they are after all in something of a hurry and you know who also is in a hur ru. the organizers of the democratic national convention in charlotte, so as we go to break, here's a look at the frenzy to put the final touches to the convention stage. ♪ ♪ [ snoring ]

[ male announcer ] introducing zzzquil sleep-aid. [ snoring ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] because sleep is a beautiful thing. [ birds chirping ] introducing zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil. ♪

to dabble with the idea of hybrid technology, it's already engrained in our dna. during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection. has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

from love and respect to a night at the catskills, here are this week's top lines. we do feel lucky. >> i accept your nomination for president of the united states! >> the show in tampa i'm sure will be very entertaining. >> the obama bashing is going to be delicious. >> telling the mitt romney story. >> she also got me one of these three packs of shirt frs costco! some people in your party don't like you. >> well, we're a big party. i am what i am and that's all that i am. >> i want to talk to you about love. >> we have become paralyzed for our desire to be loved. >> i love you women! >> we built it. it being i assume, mitt romney. >> i learn how to deal with every character who walked in the door. >> shook the hand of the american dream. >> butter milk, 2% milk. low fat. >> joe biden told me that he was a good golfer. >> what did you shoot today?

>> oh, i don't keep score. >> i can tell you, that's not true. >> i'm interested in politics. >> supporter of mitt romney. >> you cannot lead from behind. >> mitt romney. >> we chose more government instead of more freedom. >> join mitt romney and me. let's get this done. >> paul ryan is in the reality wing of the republican party. >> the only thing really missing from our night at the catskills is a ventriloquist. >> i've got mr. obama sitting here. we own this country. we don't have to be -- >> we appreciated clint's support. >> if you felt that excitement when you voted for barack obama, shouldn't you feel that way now? >> you took two jobs and nine bucks an hour. started a new business. bain capital. it was bad enough that i might lose my investor's money, but i didn't want to go to hell, too. >> i need to have you do the

work on november 6th. >> don't boo. vote. >> let's get right to our panel now. we're joined by toure, the ko hos of "the cycle," jared bernstein. if i can start with you, toure, the republicans seemed to sprint. romney has gone to new orleans to look at some storm damage. after that, he returns to dry land in ohio. so have the republicans now got the momentum they were looking for? >> i'm not ready to say that. i think it was a good speech. he looked presidential. he rose a bit in my eyes, i think in many people's eyes, but any momentum you would normally see is going to be stamped out because the the dnc starts monday, so they're not going to get that traditional bump. what really stuck out to me was the foreign policy stuff at the end that will surely scare a lot

of moderates. we're going back to the cold war with russia. you know, saber rattling with raup, maybe going into iran. very frightening. if you're not a hard core conservative, that message is going to be very frightening for you. that's for the party faithfuls. we're in a base turnout election, so of course, you're going to say those things, but is that really going to suede people? i don't know. >> we've heard that paul ryan may be heading to ohio tomorrow perhaps to see the big game. polls show a tight race in lots of big ten states. so, do you think mr. ryan is going to have more of a spring in his step coming out with his speech in tampa? >> i think the republicans are -- the way this campaign went. i think they're going to be -- so far, there's been no imagine news by the white house or the campaign. they're really missing an

opportunity. >> the slight problem, the news that was made is clint eastwood's somewhat bizarre performance, isn't it? >> yes, but all of america is talking about how clint eastwood endorsed romney and thinks that obama should no longer be in the white house come january 20th next year, that is a message that many are hearing right now, so this is -- >> i'm sorry to press you on this. but i've been reading virtually everything since late last night and early this morning. and i don't hear people talking about that. i hear people asking questions about what on earth clint eastwood was doing. further questions about whether it was appropriate for him to insult the president of the united states regardless of who's in that office. that's what people seem to be focused on. as for actual content, i'm struggling to think of anything specific that mr. romney said about anything. >> i fundamentally disagree. >> tell our audience what

specifically mr. romney said about medicare and the wars in afghanistan. >> those are being heard throughout america right now. romney's speech last night left americans with a very clear understanding that he excels at business expertise and the ability to turn thipgs around. he also left a clear impression that he very much support women in his life. the fact he was able to list a litany of very important placed women in his administration and the fact he relies on so many of them. these are all elements that american public doesn't understand. the american public hadn't heard his mother had run for senate before. >> jared, how would you respond to the view that mitt romney displayed his brilliance as far as the the economy's concerned? >> well, i'm afraid that sounded like a lot of spinning from julianna. what i was listening for and i think what a lot of independents

were listening for was not the kind of red meat for the base. not a will tlot of the emotiona love stuff. it was something that at least signalled folks that i have a pretty concrete plan to turn the economy around. and thus far, things like saying i'm a business man, i worked for bain, we did a lot of good stuff, simply hasn't worked, so i think people don't come away and again, by people, i mean the narrower group of folks in the middle who are probably going to decide this election. i don't think people come away understanding the policies. i think they think there are a lot of falsehoods there, i'm not sure what to believe. it sort of sounded like everybody can have everything they want, the way ed markey was talking a second ago. just nothing that would lead you to think ths a good plan for job creation. >> i just loved that he talk ee

about his mother running for senate, but should not have a big part in decision for their bodies. >> yule yan na? >> you know, what is most interesting today is is again that we are talking about what happened last night with mitt romney and his speech. that is such a massive missed opportunity on behalf of the obama folks. >> i don't understand what you mean. >> if you recall -- >> what would you expect us to be talking about today? >> four years ago, immediately after the democratic national convention -- >> right. >> senator mccain announced his running mate and no one was talking about then senator obama's speech the next day, nor throughout the weekend. it seems to me that it's really a significant mistake on behalf of the obama campaign to not even come out with something such as even an ad. completely -- >> it's like -- let toure speak first.

>> the last two weeks, the republicans have had to deal with three different split screens. two were not really their fall and then one was. last week was all about todd akin and romney trying to burst through that. the beginning of the week was isaac. created a lot of awkward optics and then last night became the clint eastwood show. we should not be talking about clint eastwood and this senile performance at all. he should not be sharing this day with clint eastwood. it's so embarrassing. who would have thought that? >> jonathan, juliana's hypothesis is actually testable. i don't think she's right, but she may be and here's the thing. if the, you're always going to get a bump. the republicans or democrats are always going to get a bump after their convention. i predict this bump is going to be quite small and let's see if that's the case, then i think many of the points she's making, this idea the democrats should

have responded differently, whatever, then i think you've got pretty much proof positive that they really didn't make the deal. they didn't seal the deal. >> jared bernstein, juliana and toure, thank you all for joining me. >> next, did three days in tampa help team romney narrow the gap with women? stay with us. >> this was not a story in a speech. this was not a speech that was designed to move an audience, although romney himself had done. this was a solid speech. that was a good speech. that was not a great speech. you do this every morning?

it's the only way to get fresh coffee. not in my house! this new flavor lock pack from maxwell house helps seal in freshness. wow! that is fresh! am i still yelling? [ male announcer ] maxwell house flavor lock. always good to the last drop. atd g,c ] elib fed [ male announcer ] maxwell house flavor lock. buoer hi urrtalen tu. sileind dhmp llle peca't [ male announcer ] maxwell house flavor lock. d ou tdss f-.

wostwi ts, u'levi do wostwi ts, di plrkv nre tlis e toto thrawi en b, anizlpre-e itthsuco sxp erem geti d

pe ces sap houtck..yohoac ps. fhecont you know i've been out there trying to focus with a headache and i can't do my job. bayer headache relief takes care of my pain fast. it definitely works for me. helps me get back to doing my thing. [ male announcer ] try the dual action formula of bayer headache relief. so, did mitt romney close the gender gap? he certainly pulled out all the stops in tampa this week, including last night's nod to his mother who ran for senate in

1970. take a listen. >> when my mom ran for the senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. i could still see her saying in her beautiful voice, why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation? >> lovely applause line there. it was certainly a hit with the delegates. apparently, republicans think it's fine for women to have a say in the great decisions facing our country, just as long as they leave the great decisions facing their bodies to someone else. we're joined now by representative karen bass of california. good afternoon. >> good afternoon, thank you. >> whatever else you want to say about the romney ryan ticket, both men certainly love their mothers and that's a great thing, but is that going to make women, particularly undecided women voters, fall in love with them? >> well, i certainly don't think so. women are smart enough to know

the difference between a variety show and public policy. and so, i happen to think that all of the controversy over todd akin a week ago was he was really a scapegoat. the doctor that told todd akin that crazy science was romney's surrogate a few weeks ago. it is a part of the romney platform. he has said openly that one of the first things he wants to do is to defund planned parenthood, so just as you said, it's time for us to make decisions about the country, they believe in small government, but they do think the government should monitor individual pregnancy. >> and so, i take it you were not impressed with mr. romney eloquently describing his mother or claiming that he elevated women to senior positions when he was governor of massachusetts or that he has plans to celebrate women in positions of

seniority should he become president. >> you know what? it's lovely to do that and of course, everyone loves when people talk about their families and i love talking about my mother, too. or putting women in your cabinet. the bottom line is it's about public policy, so you can have as many women as you want in positions, but if your policy is that you're going the defund planned parenthood, that the government should monitor what doctors do in exam rooms, if that's your policy, then who cares how many women you have around? >> so, you're saying that mr. romney was almost per foming optics that appeared to benefit women, but when it comes to substantive policy, women will run a mile from him. >> well, there is no evidence of anything other than that. and i know paul ryan. i'm on his committee and he's the chairman of the budget committee and i know and it's always expressed in a budget what your values are. and so, he has been very clear about how he wants to cut

funding to medicare. how he wants to cut funding to medicaid, to women's health programs. these things are very clear. they're articulate. one thing you can't say about paul ryan is paul ryan is not an etch e sketch guy. he has written his values and policies in writing. he has his manifesto, the path to prosperity. he has put his viewpoints in writing and there's nothing about that platform or anything that romney has said thus far that has made me believe that his policies will benefit women. you can put women in token position or in substantive positions, but if your policies are against women and harm women, then i don't think having women in the positions really makes a difference in that regard. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> thank you. next, the president takes his message directly to the troops.

stay with us. [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids. but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day, and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. your favorite patient is here! [ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost.

the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

mitt romney never uttered the word war or afghanistan last night in tampa. meanwhile, president obama traveled to ft. bliss, texas today two years to the day after he announced the end of the iraq war at the same base and also took the opportunity to suggest that threatening to go to war, that's a serious business. >> i will never hesitate to use force to defend the united states of america or our interests. at the same time, i will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary and when we do, we will give you the equipment and the clear mission and the smart strategy and the support back home that you need to get the job done. >> nbc's kristen welker is trafl trafling with the president and joins us live.

and without being overt about it, did the president intend to send a little message to the romney campaign with his visit today? >> reporter: well, it was interesting, martin. president obama never mentioned mitt romney by name but he seemed to be trying to send him a message as well as to the voting community highlighting what he sees as his largest foreign policy achievement, ending the war in iraq. this is something he promised to do when he was a candidate back in 2008, so that was one of the big highlights today. i want to read you something else the president said that almost could have been directly aimed at mitt romney. he said if you hear anyone trying to say that america is in decline or that our influences has waned, don't you believe it because here's the truth. our alliances have never been stronger. of course, a comment like that comes on the heels of the rnc

and mitt romney's speech last night in which recriticized some of the foreign policy decisions. there were some opportunities for the president to gain political traction. the romney campaign was ready with a response though martin. they issued a statement essentially criticizing president obama for the high rate of unemployment in the military community. even though the white house called this an official event, the romney campaign clearly paying close attention as well. >> now, the white house today announced a change of plans that will take him to louisiana on monday. is that right? >> reporter: that's right. president obama will travel to louisiana on monday. of course, mitt romney is there today. white house press secretary jay carney said that president obama had made his plans before he knew about mitt romney's plans. both campaigns have been asked if this is sort of a break in protocall for mitt romney to go to the area that was ravaged by isaac before president obama and

both campaigns have sort of batted that type of criticism away, making the point that it's ju important they both go and visit that area. by the way, it's going to be a very busy weekend. president obama will be campaigning in key battleground states. iowa, colorado, ohio, leading up to the dnc and of course, his big speech on thursday night. >> and do you know finally if the president watched any of mr. romney's speech yesterday? >> reporter: well, according to jay carney, he didn't watch any of mitt romney's speech and apparently, hasn't watched a whole lot of the rnc. we've been pressing carney on this all week long, but he says that the president gets his news through the traditional means. he reads about it in the newspaper. so as far as we know, president obama did not watch his speech, but he is tuned in to what he had the say. >> nbc's kristen welker, thank you so much. and we'll be right back to clear the air. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues

like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine.

creamy spinach artichoke dip, crispy garlic chicken spring rolls. they're this season's must-have accessory. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. in the final night of the republican convention gave us an okay performance and a bizarre mitt romney's gosh, that's a bit of a mistake. i'll start reading again. it's time now to clear the air. the final night of the republican convention gave us an okay performance by a good actor and business cameo from clint eastwood, but the overall impression of mitt romney's speech felt as though it could have been given 30 years ago at the height of the cold war. how else to explain his obsession with russia, a nation he has described as the number one -- in the form of a swipe at

president putin. >> under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty and mr. putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone. >> and then, as if to emphasize his desire to return to a previous moment in history, mr. romney was even more explicit. >> this is the bipartisan foreign policy legacy of truman and reagan and under my presidency, we will return to it once again. >> under my presidency, we will return to it once again. now, it's well-known that neither mr. romney nor mr. ryan have any foreign policy credentia credentials, but those comments would have been nor appropriate in 1982 than today and then there was mr. romney's attempt to mock the growing threat of climate change. of course, 30 years ago, the science on climate change was just beginning to e emerge, but m mr. romney