worry, we'll take care of you." how are you going to do it, in two months before the elections, to convince everybody, you've got to take care of yourself? >> well, there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what, all right? there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they're entitled to health care, to food, to housing, you name it. but that's an entitlement and government should give it to them. and they will vote for this president, no matter what. i mean, the president starts off with 48, 49, 48. he starts off with a huge number. these are people who pay no income tax. 47% of americans pay no income tax. so, our message of low taxes doesn't connect. he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. i mean, that's what they sell every four years. and so, my job is not to worry about those. i'll never convince them to take personal responsibility and care

for their lives. what i have to do is convince the 5% to 10% in the center that are independents, that are voting one way or another sometimes based on emotion, whether they like a guy or not. >> after issuing a statement where romney said he wants to help all struggling americans, the candidate responded by following up in a quickly planned press appearance in florida last night. >> it's not elegantly stated, let me put it that way. i'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question, and i'm sure i could state it more clearly and in a more effective way than i did in a setting like that, but it's a message which i'm going to carry and continue to carry, which is, look, the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes, because frankly, my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them, and therefore, i'm not likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who are in the middle. >> the obama camp fired off a statement calling romney's remarks shocking. campaign manager jim mess in saying in part, "it's hard to serve as president for all

americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation." >> this is the guy that said i like to fire people. this is the guy that said if you need help going to college, shop around, go borrow money from your parents. this is the guy who said to millions of families on the verge of foreclosure of their homes, we're just going to let the market hit rock bottom. >> all this comes as romney tries to hit the reset button on his campaign after what nbc's "first read" is calling a brutal three weeks. >> who dismisses 47% of the american population as victims? write off 47%? why? >> well, if you're campaigning for president, you have to try to be campaigning to be president for all americans. >> these are the most reprehensible, despicable, pathetic words that i have ever heard come out of a candidate's mouth. >> he's not acting like a candidate that wants this thing a ton. >> all right, let's bring in shawn spicer, communications director for the republican national committee. shawn, thanks for spending time with us this morning, and i want to start with something that conservative blocker erick

erickson wrote in response to the remarks we were just discussing, saying "the romney campaign should double down on what he said. they should own it. the trouble for the left and media is that most americans agree with mitt romney." what do you think here? should romney double down on these comments? >> well, what mitt romney said was that he didn't state it the most elegant way but that it's a different philosophy that he's trying to express. this administration has been focused on a government-centered society where government grows larger and larger in terms of the services. they put out an infographic earlier this year talking about the life of julia, how every american is dependent on government. at their convention, they talked about how government's the only thing we all belong to. and i think what mitt romney is talking about is the free enterprise system, allowing people to go out there and make it on their own, to try to succeed, get government out of the way and let the free enterprise system work and let our country flourish. so, it is two different philosophies that are being expressed during this campaign, one centered on government, one

centered on free enterprise. >> sean, should he double down on these comments, though? should he take this more strongly and specifically, should he continue this idea? >> i mean, you heard just now, you played the clip, richard where he said, look, this is what i believe in, in terms of i am going to talk about this message of free enterprise, i'm going to talk about not having the government in the center, reducing regulations, cutting taxes, allowing businesses to thrive that they can create jobs and help lift everybody up. i think you are going to hear more about that message. so i mean, he said it in the correction, yeah, he's going to continue to talk about how a free enterprise system helps america, helps businesses, helps people hire people to get jobs, to create a better life for their families. >> you know, sean, his comments from the tape that we were just playing and in the past, that he's leaving basically this group for his opponent, president obama. he's saying that he's never going to get them. but the tax foundation actually found that the percentage of nonpayers is actually higher in republican states on this map right here. so, the question might be asked, you know, how can you win by not

addressing almost half of the electorate, much of which are republican states? >> well, i think what the governor was talking about there is that when you look at polling right now, there's about 47%, give or take, on both sides that are hard-core, saying 47% saying i'm going to be with obama and 47% or so, give or take, that are with me, and we're both sides are playing for that, you know, 6% to 10% in the middle. that's what he was talking about in terms of appealing to that group, that you aren't going to appeal to a message of lower taxes, lower regulation, free enterprise, less government to a group that's already agreed that they're supporting president obama. what the governor was talking about is a strategic way of saying, okay, there's a group of people in this election that have already decided they're with president obama. there's a group that's decided with me. both sides are now going after that group in the middle and trying to express our philosophy going forward that we need to put these 23 million americans back to work, stop spending more than we have, the $16 trillion in debt is way too much.

>> sean, we're getting close to about 45 days before the election mark, an important mark. and headlines yesterday were "retooling," then "backroom infighting" and now this. do you lose another week in your narrative, in your campaigning, and can you afford that if you're governor romney right now? >> well, i think when you look at what's going on in the states, especially the battleground states, the concern out there is still first and foremost jobs, and that's what governor romney and paul ryan and the rest of the campaign is focused on talking about. so, when you look at what's actually happening on the ground in the states, voter to voter, those are the issues that are driving this election. that's what we're talking about. and i think at the end of the day, that's what's going to carry this election, is people saying i'm not better off than i was four years ago, mitt romney's got a plan that's going to get this country turned around, get the debt under control, put people back to work and get the government out of our lives. i think that's going to carry the day and that's what you're hearing more on the ground in the states. i know sometimes the beltway

mentality is to get caught up in the day-to-day back and forth of what's going on inside the campaigns, but that's not what the average american cares about. >> sean spicer, communications director for the republican national committee, thank you for your time today. all right, let's bring in our power panel for this tuesday. the agreeos joanne reid, also msnbc contributor, hogan greeley, former national communications director for the santorum campaign. and steve elmendorf, a democratic strategist p.m. good morning to all flee of you. >> great to be here. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> joanne, i'll start with what david brooks in "the new york times" wrote and i'll quote him here. "personally, i think he's a kind, decent man who says stupid things because he is pretending to be something he is not -- some sort of cartoonish government-hater. but it scarcely matters. he's running a depressingly inept presidential campaign. mr. romney, your entitlement reform ideas are essential, but when will the incompetence stop?" so, how big of a blow is this? we've also seen criticism coming from writers such as bill kristol. >> right, and i disagree with

david brooks in this instant because i don't think this was a case of romney being phony. i think when he tries to do the birther stuff or identify with the tea party movement, you get a sense that he's being false. this was mitt romney among his pals, mitt romney among his peers, in a room full of wealthy donors where he actually was being more comfortable than you normally see him and speaking candidly, saying what he really thinks. and the problem with that is it's not what sean spicer was just saying in the previous segment. he didn't say, well, 47% of the electorate is unavailable to me because they're partisans who are with obama. he said half of the country are essentially moochers. he said half the country are dependents who feel that the government owes it to them to give them health care and social security. he basically was saying half the country are sort of dead weight. and that's a lot different than just saying that politically they're not with me. he said what he thought in a room full of sort of the upper class, and that reinforces the fundamental problem for romney, is that he can't relate to the average american, that he essentially thinks that there are the winners, who are these

sort of well-healed caplets, and there are the losers, which is everybody else. >> hogan, you were nodding your head there. your former boss took some heat on the campaign trail for talking about, of all things, welfare reform as well. what were you nodding yes to? >> i was just listening to the analysis. i think there was some truth there, and of course i hate to say that, but she's right on a couple fronts. i think from a numerical standpoint, mitt romney was right in talking about the 47%. i think the makeup of that 47% was grossly misrepresented in what he called them, just simply because a lot of those folks are made up of the elderly, who will vote for mitt romney. a lot of them are veterans who will probably vote for mitt romney as well. i think this is a classic example where he had a chance to come out and address this in a broader context and say 47% of the people do take some -- or don't pay taxes, and i want to get those people off the government rolls and i want to get them paying taxes and make

it a bigger, uplifting message, to talk about how he would be different as a president and say this is a fundamental debate about dependency on government. i'm against it and here are my policies that will help people get off the government rolls and on to the taxpayer rolls instead. he had a chance to do that here and i think he missed an opportunity. >> fumbled, perhaps, there. steve, you know, campaign events as recent as yesterday, congressman paul ryan bringing up president obama's own off-the-cuff remark which you probably remember at a fund-raiser during the 2008 campaign. let me play you that sound first. >> it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant or antitrade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. >> so, steve: recomme, can romnr as obama did in '08? >> what mitt romney said is

wrong on so many different levels, and it's a problem on so many different levels. the first problem is that he's running for president of the united states. he's not running for president of one half of the united states or president of the republican party. and as barack obama said so brilliantly in his speech at the convention, you know, we're a community and we need to all work together to a common goal. and you know, to divide the country and say this half is this half is just wrong. second, his facts are wrong. that 47%, those people are paying taxes. many of them are paying a higher tax rate than mitt romney is because they're paying their payroll taxes at 14%. and third, all politicians should understand, when you're running for president or any other office, you can't talk out of both sides of your mouth. you can't go to a fund-raiser and say one thing and then go on tv and say another thing. you need to speak consistently about what you're for. and it just goes to show the choice we have in this election is so stark, and mitt romney has laid it out so clearly that i think democrats, rightfully this

morning, and people in the country, rightfully this morning, see what they really have here. >> all right, steve, you teed it up for our, our power panel. please stick around. we'll come back to you in a few minutes. next, who are the 47%? an in-depth look at those people and the states and republican views of the 47% over the years. then, developing news. joint patrols with afghanistan's military have been suspended indefinitely after deadly attacks on u.s. troops. what does that mean for the planned 2012 u.s. withdrawal. nbc's atia abawi live from kabul. we've all had those moments. when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost. when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership.

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developing right now on msnbc, three live events we're watching this hour. a campaign rally kicks off any minute in dover, new hampshire, with vice presidential candidate paul ryan. we'll be watching that for you. minutes later, the start of a

campaign event in iowa with current vice president joe biden. we've got our eyes on that one. also any minute, white house press secretary jay carney will come to that platform right there and he will hold a briefing. all these live in the next few minutes. the number that stands out from governor romney's comments at a private fund-raiser, 47%, as we've been talking about. now, that number, he says, will vote for president obama no matter what. that number, he also says, don't pay income tax. well, romney is alluding to research done by the tax policy center. it found just under 47% do not pay income tax. now, of that group, half do not make enough to pay taxes, many of which are working poor. the other half, the tax policy center says, zero out because of tax credits and benefits for senior cities and low-income working families. now, the top ten states with people who do not pay taxes. number one is mississippi with 45% not paying income tax. the rest of the top ten span through the south, finishing

with idaho at number ten. 39% of the people there don't pay income taxes. of note here, all but one of these states voted in republican governors. now, this reflects the changing attitude of republicans during the ronald reagan presidency, 62% thought government should help those who need help. today, pew research finds it's 40%. all right, let's bring back our power panel, the agreeos joy-ann reid and steve elmendorf. hogan, to you. when it comes to who's government-independent in this country, when you look at all that information, does governor romney just have it all wrong then? >> well, i think he has it all wrong in the sense of the analysis and the delivery. i think the point he should have made, obviously, was that when you're talking about government dependency, this should be the fundamental issue in this debate, in this election. instead of talking about president obama dividing the country and then governor romney

himself dividing it in half and basically saying those people aren't going to support me and those people are made up of a bunch of victims who just want the government help -- we all know that's really not true, an accurate description of who actually lies within that 47%. he should have come out and made the point that we as republicans want to get that 47% actually being taxpayers, not taxtakers, and showing how his plans as a republican would make that happen. and instead, he missed an opportunity here and we got to see kind of behind the curtain of how some of these fund-raisers actually go. >> and again, we're watching live pictures here of governor romney on the left-hand side of the screen. he's just about to hop on to a plane and head to utah. joy-ann reid, hogan brought up a good point, we got to see what's happening behind the veil. >> right. >> and is this then feeding the fears of these who are critics of governor romney, that he cannot connect with the average voter, that he does have two sets of messages?

and actually, steve brought this up earlier, too. >> right. i mean, the problem is, it is an axiom of conservatism ever since conservatives opposed civil war pensions, right? that the ideas of things like social security and medicare are moral hazards, bad things. conservatives have always opposed those programs, but the way that the republican party won the reagan democrats away from their former party was by saying, you know what, we respect you, we respect your values. that's sort of what president obama was getting to in his moment. we respect you. well, mitt romney has shown a lack of respect for working-class voters who have become a core of the republican party. that's the big problem here. >> steve, before we get to you, we also have pictures. we're watching, again, paul ryan. he is speaking at a town hall in dover, new hampshire. these pictures here of governor romney about to hop on to a plane. this is all going on right now. we'll continue to listen in. if there is anything of note, we'll have it for you. ezra klein wrote "republicans have become outraged over the predictable effect of tax cuts

they passed and are using that outrage as the justification for an aagenda that further cuts taxes on the rich and pays for it by cutting social services for the nonrich." so, ezra's essentially saying here, when you look at that quote here, steve, that these remarks are actually core to his actual agenda. >> they are, and let's look at who this 47% are. there are two big groups in here. most of them are people who get up every day and go to work and are struggling. they're just not making enough to pay federal income tax, but they are working families. the second group are senior citizens. and if you ask your average senior citizen, am i a victim? is social security and medicare something that i'm getting from the government? the answer is, social security and medicare are something that that senior citizen worked all their life, paid taxes and earned. so, you know, the governor has his facts all wrong in the case he's making. and again, he's trying divide america in a way that is not helpful for moving the country

and the economy forward. >> joy, when does he bounce back? >> romney? >> yeah, how long? >> you know, i think he would have to literally deconstruct his entire campaign and start over. >> monday? >> i don't know how he can do it, because he has shown what he really thinks about working class voters. that's the base of the republican party right now. i don't know how you recover if you've shown a lack of respect for the people you want to vote for you. >> thank you so much, our power panel on this day. joy-ann reid, hogan gidley and steven elmendorf, thank you four your time. still ahead, jose diaz-balart talks about his sit-down interview with governor romney and reacts to another portion of that interview raising eyebrows this morning. developing now on msnbc, another deadly attack in afghanistan. joint operations between nato and afghanistan soldiers suspended. how will that impact the timeline for u.s. withdrawal? and a court victory for the duke and duchess of cambridge. the details of the order handed down today to the french magazine that published those

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make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ tough day in afghanistan, apparently in revenge for that internet film that's triggered so much rage in the muslim world. afghan officials say a suicide bomber drove a car with explosives into a minibus carrying workers near the kabul airport, killing at least a dozen people. that attack came as the u.s. suspended most joint u.s./afghan military operations following a wave of insider attacks. nbc's atia abawi joins us live right now from kabul. atia, let's start with that suicide attack. what else do you know about it? >> reporter: hi there, richard. well, you said 12 civilians died in that attack, both foreign and afghan. the majority were actually south african civilians living inside the country. it happened when a car bomb struck their minibus on a main road outside of the airport

here. his b his bee islami says it was to avenge that anti-islamic movies that's caused outrage throughout the world and the country, so obviously many people taking advantage of the opportunity to attack foreigners again in afghanistan. >> and another big headline coming out is the suspension there of those joint situations with afghan forces and nato forces. what might this mean for the u.s. withdrawal plans? >> reporter: richard, it's definitely not a good sign. the motto and mission of nato in afghanistan the last three years has been pounded in our head over and over, shoulder to shoulder, afghans and u.s. and neighboring forces working together to have a prosperous end to the war in 2014, but by not working together in many missions and operations it shows there is a big lack of trust between the afghan forces and nato forces here.

isaf for their part say it's a temporary measure because of the increased in insider attacks we've seen when afghan forces turn on coalition forces, but they say it also has to do with this film. they're afraid that more afghans will turn on westerners in retaliation. richard? >> nbc's atia abawi in kabul with the latest, thank you. romney one on one. telemundo's jose diaz-balart joins me to talk about his sit-down with the republican nominee and we'll ask him about a joke on that secretly recorded romney fund-raiser that may not go over so well with latino americans. two-time olympic gold snowboarder shaun white arrested and taken to the hospital all in the same night. what happened that ended with a black eye and criminal charges. ♪ ♪ i fought the law and the law won ♪ [ male announcer ] you like who you are...

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the american system of limited government and free enterprise has done more to help

the poor, has done more to uplift people out of lives of dependency and on to lives of self-sufficiency, has done more to create opportunity than any other economic system ever designed! we don't want to replace that, we want to renew and revitalize that! >> all right, republican vice presidential candidate paul ryan moments ago at a campaign event in dover, new hampshire, using the "d" word, dependency, that is causing a firestorm on the campaign trail today. also, we're waiting to hear from vice president joe biden. he's expected to deliver remarks at an event in iowa any minute. we'll be watching both of those and get you the highlights. now, while mitt romney's comments caught on camera at that fund-raiser last may are getting most of the attention this may, he also made headlines in exclusive one-on-one interviews with telemundo's jose diaz-balart. for one thing, romney downplayed a report of infighting in his campaign. >> i've got a terrific campaign. my senior campaign people work extraordinarily well together, i work well with them. our campaign is doing well.

and frankly, these process stories take away from what's really of concern to the american people. >> so, no changes in your campaign? >> no, i've got a good team. >> telemundo's jose diaz-balart joins us live right now. amigo, as you know, right before your interview yesterday, governor romney trying to gain some attraction with latino vote voters, so essential to his campaign, spoke at the latino chamber of commerce in los angeles, and then later, that secretly recorded video of romney's remarks at a may 17th fund-raiser in boca raton, florida, that came out, included a reference, as you know, about his father being born of american parents in mexico. let's listen to that. >> had i been born of mexican parents, i'd have a better shot of winning this, but he was -- unfortunately, born of americans living in mexico. they lived there for a number of years and, i mean, i say that jokingly, but it would be helpful being latino. >> jose, what do you think? how will latinos view that when

they do listen to it? >> it reminds me, richard, of the great cuban patriot jose marti, who said once, "if i weren't cuban, i certainly would have wished i were." but this is a different story, because this is mitt romney joking about the fact that he wishes that he could include in his resumé the fact that his parents were mexican american. >> right. >> and the fact of the matter is that when you have 50.5 million latinos living in the united states of america, the overwhelming majority of whom are of mexican background, certainly having that in your curriculum vite would have been helpful, but that doesn't win elections. what wins elections are specific issues. and what you say about what you're going to do and who you are going to help and why. and that's why i think this controversy has legs. >> in one of the questions you

asked, when you look at the issues that are important to this voting group, it's the issue of reform of immigration and the policy that the government now undertakes. >> that's right. >> let's listen to part of that interview. >> i'm going to make sure that we have a permanent solution to help dreamers, to help these young people who came to this country through no fault of their own, brought here by their parents. i want them to understand what their permanent status is. and from the very beginning in my administration, i will work to put in place legislation that deals with the major immigration issues that america faces, including that one. >> jose, stand by. jay carney, press secretary for the white house, is speaking, speaking on the issue there of the 47% that mitt romney brought up in those comments that were just released in those tapes. take a listen. >> not just the people who voted for you. you've heard the president say so many times, because he deeply believes it, that we're in this

together, all of us. from the time he began his career in public service, from the time that those of us in this room first heard of him in 2004, his message has been about the fact that what unites us as americans is far greater than the things that divide us. and that's fundamental to who this president is and it's fundamental to what guides him as he makes decisions. when he made the decision against the advice of many to take action to save the auto industry, the president did not ask whether the 1.1 million americans whose jobs would be saved had voted for him or against him. when he pressed for 18 small business tax cuts, he didn't ask if small businessmen and women were democrat or republican.

when he fought to pass health care reform, he didn't wonder whether the 129 million americans with pre-existing conditions who would be helped by this reform, who would be given security through the reform, were likely to be with him or against him in 2012. that's just not how he thinks. and i think the way you have to approach the job is with a keen understanding that you're out there fighting for every american, and this president's agenda has always been about building the middle class, strengthening the middle class, bringing people up into the middle class. and that's what it will be going forward. >> all right, press secretary jay carney right now. this narrative gobbling up the time today, not what necessarily governor romney had wanted.

and back to our friend, jose diaz-balart. jose, how will this issue that's been discussed so fervently over the last 24 hours affect the latino american voting bloc? >> that's a great question. you know, the big question is -- is there very little time left. and i asked the governor this myself in this exclusive interview yesterday with him -- there's very little time left, and the latest nbc news/"wall street journal"/telemundo poll shows there's still almost a 40-point gap between the latino support for president obama versus the latino support for governor romney. how can you cut that, mitigate that almost 40% difference? well, that's certainly a very difficult thing that he has to overcome. he talked a lot about in this interview latin america. he has a very concrete vision of how the united states should deal with, for example, common issues of relevance between mexico and the united states. he talked about venezuela, hugo

chavez. >> right. >> as you know, the elections for that country are coming up next month. he also talked about cuba and the castro brothers. so, he has a specific issue with the united states and latin america which he feels has kind of been abandoned by the obama administration. so, he's trying i think under a number of different ways to get his message across. the problem is that these road blocks that seem to be created by himself keep coming up on the road to the 6th of november. and how do you deal with those, you know, road blocks when you don't have a lot of road left? >> yeah. we're in the 40s right now in terms of the days left. as always, my friend, great job, great interview there. >> that's right. >> with governor romney. appreciate your time, as always. >> always a pleasure. >> all right, my friend. >> thank you. >> jose diaz-balart. >> what does mitt wear to bed? >> really? really? >> i didn't write the question, man. >> mitt and ann romney unplugged. their answers to everything from bedtime attire to snooki versus

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voters in the cold. there's a new study that says as many as 700,000 young people of color between the ages of 18 and 19 may be unable to cast ballots in november. up to 475,000 african-americans, 250,000 hispanics, 46,000 asian americans and 6,400 nativ americans could be kept from voting. 17 states either have existing or pending laws requiring photo i.d. to vote in person. in pennsylvania, for instance, that state's supreme court is now mulling over whether to uphold or strike down such a law there. conservative groups like true the vote, meanwhile, are claiming the laws stop voter fraud, but other comments suggest otherwise. >> and my prediction is that after all the votes are counted, even the dead votes of democrats in chicago, detroit and cleveland, i predict that we will win. >> now, joining me now is an

original member of the freedom riders, democratic congressman john lewis of georgia. thank you so much for being with us today, representative. and you gave an impassioned speech at the dnc in charlotte. many people remember that, on this very issue, and i want to share with viewers what you said, just a little bit. take a listen. >> i've seen this before. i lived this before. too many people struggling, s l suffering and dying to make it possible for every american to exercise their right to vote, and we have come too far together to ever turn back! >> congressman, you were referring to your work with the student nonviolent coordinating committee in 1965, when you lived through that brutality of the march on selma. that march almost killed you, and republicans deny there is necessary connection here between these moments and that time in history. what's your reaction? >> well, my reaction, it's very simple -- you cannot forget the

past, you cannot forget history. there is a deliberate, systemic attempt to make it almost impossible for hundreds and thousands and millions of our citizens to be able to participate in a democratic process. yes, minority like latinos, asian american, native american, but also white, the disabled, our senior citizens. and that would be a reminder of the past. i said during the convention that the vote is precious, almost sacred. it is the most powerful, nonviolent tool that we have in a democratic society. now, i read this article in "the new york times" just yesterday. a brilliant report er, california, visited wisconsin, did an investigation, and there was not one incident of fraud. and when someone talks about the

dead voters in cleveland, in chicago or detroit, these large urban cities that are going to turn out and vote, they're talking about people of color, they're talking about people in urban america. and there is a effort to win this election, to steal this election before it even takes place. it's not right, it's not fair and it's not just. >> congressman, why have these laws been allowed to proliferate? i showed earlier, just moments ago, how it swept across the country. is it simply because people have forgotten the national struggle, the issue that you just were talking about, that we shared from your speech during the dnc convention? are they aware of all the groups that it affects here? >> well, apparently, people are forgetting recent history. i know what i saw, i know what i witnessed, i know what i lived

through. i almost lost my life on that bridge in selma, alabama. i gave a little blood. but others gave much more. three young men that i knew, two young white men and one young black man, gave their own life in the state of mississippi during the summer of 1964. there were other people that were beaten, in jail and arrested. there were other people who were never able to register to vote simply because of the color of their skin, never able to cast a vote. and what has happened in pennsylvania and so many other states will be another attempt. and it happens primarily in states where you have republican governors and republican-controlled state legislatures. >> democratic congressman john lewis of georgia, thank you for your time today. >> thank you. >> and we'll be right back. i wish i could keep it this way. [ dr. rahmany ] you see, even after a dental cleaning... plaque quickly starts to grow back.

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right now, a major league

investigation is under way following allegations of racism and home phobia against a member of the toronto blue jays, as a result of this photograph taken of unel escobar. the message written on spanish is a homophobic slur. the blue jays are addressing the controversy in a few hours. rob simplecare of nbc sports is coming. the eye black this area below here. >> guys wear it to cut down on glare during day games. it was stickers and what whitten on it something commonly used as a homophobic slur in latin america. a fan took a photo of it, sent that on to the blue jays and to some others in the media, put it on-line and basically that led to the toronto blue jays issuing a statement saying we don't condone this thing. >> i'll read it for our audience

here, saying quote -- of course we want to err on behalf of discussion when discussing this because there could be space where this type of language could be miss interpreted but as you described to us this term is seen as derogatory. >> it's interesting. there have been other instances over the last few years of professional athletes getting in trouble for using home phobic language. kobe bryant fined by the nba last year for audibly yelling a homophobic term at a referee. there have been other instances like this. leagues are taking this more seriously now, cracking down. what escobar ends up saying was the cause of this, maybe a prank, maybe he'll say he meant something else by it, who knows, but maub and the blue jays are taking it seriously. >> what's the talk about it being a club room antic?

what's that sort of description fit? >> i mean, this guy, es ocobar known as a guy that likes to joke around. there's thought he might have put it on there as a joke to teammates, even talk it could have been a prank played on him, someone might have put this phrase on his eye black stishgs and put it on without knowing, seems unlikely to me. interesting to see what his explanation is when he and the blue jays address it at yankee stadium this afternoon. >> what kind of punishment could result from this. >> it's easy to see how a suspension could result froms this. a lot of folks calling for escobar to be suspended for the rest of the season for something like this. a fine, assuming baseball determines he did mean to put this on his eye black is very likely. i would expect a fine and suspension. >> we'll see what happens today. rob, thank youp. >> thank you. >> vice president joe biden speaking at a campaign event in iowa talking about the

obama/biden vision for the middle class. he's been clearly contrasting the president's plans for health care and medicare with the romney/ryan plans. of course iowa has one of the highest senior populations in the country. let's listen for a little bit here. >> handed a bill for a trillion dollars that year, the debt that was inherited and the economic recession kicked in. they didn't tell you any of that. but what they really didn't tell you, is again, they're not on the level about this debt. let me explain what i mean by that. there were a number -- you may remember reading the paper, the president put me in charge of negotiating a debt agreement with the republicans and it was going relatively well. and we met for 40 hours. very -- i mean i get along well with my republican friends in the house and senate, for real. that's been my reputation. because i respect them. just before we were ready to make a deal, at the same time what was going on, there was a

debt commission set up. you heard a lot about it. ryan talking -- congressman ryan talking about it. the simpson-bowles commission, bipartisan group. there are other bipartisan groups out there, dim men chi rivlin. i won't bore you with the details. >> vice president biden speaking in iowa. a very busy hour for live events on the road. that wraps it up for things here this hour. thomas roberts returns tomorrow. "now" with alex wagner is up next. stick around. man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org

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when does an inflection point become an inescapable downward spiral. quick, someone call boston. tuesday, september 18th. and this is "now." joining me today, the man who helped bring the word game change in common par lens, msnbc political analyst and national affairs editor for "new york" magazine john heilemann, politico senior white house reporter glenn thrush, msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director karen finney and msnbc contributor ari melber of the nation. when did it all begin to go so very wrong for mitt romney? the trouble started just before the olympics, thoepg look presidential while in london, romney found himself in over his head. >> fourth time