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clothing? or medicine that fights cancer? with tree cell technology, we think it can. growing ideas. ♪ captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> the word is out that he is not paid any taxes for 10 years. >> i am not going to respond to a dirty liar. >> this week, now playing, dirty, rotten scoundrels, also known as the presidential campaign. >> it was stage four. there was nothing they could do. >> a pro-obama super pac and prius mitt romney was -- and ply as mitt romney responsible for someone's cancer. >> under obama's plan, he would not have to work. >> i want to sit thank you to president bill clinton. >> president clinton. >> president bill clinton. >> both sides display of affection for bill clinton. as syria is pounded into rubble, even the president's

supporters ask where is the united states. and, the mission to mars. they did not build this baby in the united states. -- did not build this baby in china. >> well, pulling in the key states of florida, ohio, and pennsylvania tell us that a lot of voters think a second obama term would be bad news for them financially, but according to a new poll, 56% of people have a favorable view of president obama, and mitt romney is that 40%. you have to go back to 1984 for a number that low, however,it has been such an uplifting week. let's start with campaign ads. we the to the pro-obama super pac add that implies that mitt romney is responsible for the wife.

>> she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he is done to anyone. >> she had worked at a steel plant in missouri for almost 30 years, was laid off after bain capital closed the plant, his wife died. the wife had insurance from her job. she lost that insurance after leaving her job because of an injury. what does the obama campaign say about the ad? >> the obama campaign is distancing itself because they did not run the ad. the ad is a broadcast by priorities usa, a super pac that supports the president, but does not coordinate with the president. so, priorities is standing by it. they claim that although the ad is trying to blame mitt romney for the hardship, they claim

they are sending the message then mitt romney is not -- that mitt romney it is not sensitive to the fallout from some of the actions that were capital. the mitt romney campaign is pushing back hard, which suggests it might be having an effect. all of the negative ads, if you go back to that abc/washington post poll, he has moved about five points. >> roger, your thoughts? >> it is a bad advertisement, and the obama people should ask for it to be stopped even though they legally have no responsibility for it. it is just an insult to far. they would have been fine with the facts. bain capital under mitt romney takes over a company, loads it with hundreds of billions of dollars of debt, plays -- pays billions of dollars to stockholders, closes the

company, people lot of work, no health care. fine, end of the commercial. the whole thing with linking the poor man's wife with mitt romney, nobody likes that. that is overboard. >> charles? >> the fiction the campaign has nothing to do with the end, it as one problem. -- it has one problem. officially there is distance between them, but stephanie cutter said she had no knowledge of the woman's story or when she died, and it turned out there is a recording of a conference call that she organized for the official campaign where he is on the phone with his story. they have a secondary problem of truth-telling. >> i think that was last may, even. >> everybody is correct. >> it is a bad advertisement.

the obama administration can not run from the. . -- it. they had some connection with this individual some time ago. you could find the same thingthe point is what i would love to do is get the people that write the advertisements, the campaign consultants, both sides, put them in rfk stadium , system up, and let them have sure nobody is standing, burned down the place because their role in the campaign. >> mitt romney's says that if they were living in massachusetts, she would have been health care. now, mitt romney's ed. -- ad. >> he removed the requirement of work from welfare. it is wrong to make any change that would make america more of a nation of government dependency. >> the president says mitt romney is robin hood in reverse. >> it is romney hood, asking the middle class to pay more

>> -- taxes so he could give tax cuts to people making more than $3 million a year. mitt romney says the robin hood stuff is baloney. >> it is only august. imagine what it will be like by november 1. >> the welfare at is in the same category of the ad that the obama people you -- obama people used. they did not get welfare. -- gut welfare. new ways. the five-year probation is still there. you still have parameters of the law. they happen to the waivers and inflicted by republican governors. so, it is false. >> as we saw, they are all in love with bill clinton when it comes to welfare reform could >> -- welfare reform.

>> resurrection. --e's a guy that is impeach, impeach, has forced from office in disgrace, has led to his wife, his cabinet, the congress, several investigators, the american people, and this year he will give the speech of the democratic convention nominating obama, but on the other hand, dick cheney and george w. bush will not be at the gop convention because they are not that popular. this is the state of american politics today. >> charles, do you have thoughts on this high discourse? >> i two comments. the one, about rfk, what you in their care i thought that would be good. you guys are wrong on the welfare issue. when the law was written in 1996, and we authorized in 2005, reaching reauthorize in

2005, -- re-authorized in 2005, liberals tried to gut the work requirement. they tried the legislation and what a lot did to hermetically seal the work requirement is to make that section, 407, have no authority to issue waivers to anybody. the administration, by using a ruse, they have now reinstated the authority of waiting the work requirement, and that completely undermines the structure of the reform because of course the governor wants to increase the amount the federal government will pay and to reduce the regulations that control who gets it or not. but, the federal government -- the achievement in 1996 of your great president clinton, was to make the work will on way for -- make the work rule on wearable. the administration has done that a legally. that is why the law is now

guarded. in clinton, clinton can and has refuted it. so, i do not know who they are talking to. independent voters in the swing states will be swayed by an argument about welfare? it seems like a debate from the 1990's but >> and not try to -- 1990's. >> i am not trying to cause trouble, but according to charles, the advertisement is accurate. >> maybe i'm being overly critical here, but i hear a dog whistle in that ad. even though in fact more what people are on welfare than black people, that is not the public perception of welfare, and this advertisement seems to say a black president is now saying minorities do not have to work for their health-care check. they did it in the mail for sitting around, watching tv. that is not the truth, but i think that is the dog was so. reach a dog whistle. -- dog whistle.

>> anytime the real issue is brought, all of the sudden it is a silent dog was so that only -- dog whistle that only liberals here. if barack obama had been white, like bill clinton, and he had done this, he would have the same attack. clinton passed the law in thewas he a racist? mickey, one of the leading neo- liberal writers in america, he wrote a book called the end of the inequality and he is written about this reform that has been introduced. he says it gets the entire legal -- guts the entire legal structure -- structure of it. let me give you simply one example. the reason it gets it is it allows governors to waive the work rule, and to instead institute job training, which includes hula dancing, self- esteem class's and keeping a journal. that is what we are talking about by gutting the law. what clinton insisted on, what conservatives are insisting on and what obama is overturning his the work first requirement. >> hula dancing in keeping a journal.

said. -- i knew that was going to be said. following on what rush limbaugh said, obama does not want to put people back to work, he wants to put people on welfare and i will be the day there we see the demise of the system. >> what is the truth? >> the truth is they are opening up the possibility, and you are right about this -- the question about whether they had the authority is certainly an open question, but whether they allow governors to introduce innovative ways to achieve work requirements, you still have that five-year limitation on welfare. the welfare rolls. -- you are not bringing people into the welfare rolls.

when you're trying to do is find ways to enforce the work requirement for >> it sounds -- requirement. >> it sounds like giving the states more power. >> it is, and there are republican governors who have saw these waivers and if there are a hula dancing cresses, it will be the governor the institutes them, not the federal government. so, the real point of this advertisement is that it is part of the mitt romney effort to try to make the president looked more liberal than clinton. >> romney went through the culture where. he said obama wants to have a culture of dependency. to richard nixon. -- go back to richard nixon. >> mitt romney wants states to decide on contraceptive. why does he want them to decide on welfare? all of a sudden he is not a fan of states anymore. >> i am touched by my liberal colleagues defection for -- affection for state rights, it

is new and welcome, but this is one area where you did not want states to exercise their independence and that is with the innovation of the law was in 1996. it made a hard work requirement. the success is undeniable. it cut the rolls by two-thirds. child poverty was reduced in half. liberals have always opposed it. they try to oppose it legislatively. they did not succeed, and now this by administrative fiat. that is not the way to do it. -- the ann romney tax return debate continues. -- the mitt romney tax return debate continues. >> this is not about me. mitt romney is the first presidential candidate since his father ran not to release his income-tax returns. >> he is basically lying about his statement and knowing something about mitt romney. >> in least senator gramm did not call senator harry reid a dirty liar, but the issue is that from the inside bain capital source, mitt romney has

not paid taxes in 10 years and the governor says he has given us the information is required to, but if he has nothing to hide, why not give the degradation and just give it to -- get rid of the aggravation and just did it -- did it us? >> well, he should. not been born in the united states, he released his birth certificate not once, but twice -- when barack obama was accused by wackos of not being born in the united states he released his the the certificate not once, but twice and he to put his -- put this issue to rest. there is one man that has seen mitt romney's tax returns. he saw them, and he chose sarah palin. nothing in them that is problematic and john mccain is not a local region known liar >> if so, why not release them? >> -- john mccain is not a known liar. >> if so, why not release them? >> the other issue we are ignoring his the mccarthyism of hat -- harry reid.

i have 57 communists, which is the announced by liberals for 60 -- denounced by liberals for 60 years and now. they have the edward r. murrow award and out every three weeks because he is the great icon. he is the man who stood up to mccarthy. harry reid, did you know the phrase he used -- "word is out." you have the man accusing him and nobody here will be announced in? -- will denounce him? calling him a liar. -- we had to do what republicans calling him a liar. >> what about on this panel? >> one thing, when it comes to john mccain, what did he actually see? he has not seen the tax returns that are of most interest, and that this is 2008, 2007 and 2009 reports. those are the ones that people want to see because they

reflect what his tax rate was during the financial collapse. john mccain sell pre-2008. -- saw pre-2008. those are the returns he saw. they do not reflect the losses that the tax experts say could have effected mitt romney's tax rates. >> for the record, i think the majority leader was wrong with mccarthyism. let's move on to the real substance. i think mitt romney is doing a disservice to the fellow members of his republican party. not like john mccain, he released two years of returns. -- he had a public background. everybody had an idea of what his income was like. here is mitt romney, one- quarter of $1 billion, almost a billionaire, how did he make his money?

he has swiss bank accounts, offshore tax havens in the party and explanation of how he otherwise, what happens after the convention if something comes out? he is been extremely selfish, self-centered. it is not in the interest of the republican party to have him behave this way. >> as the only republican, he does not all any of us anything. -- he does not know me or the rest of us anything. two years is ok with me. if he has his reasons, that is fine. >> this is not the republican party. he is running for president of the united states. i will denounce harry reid for macarthy is impaired >> how many years did john f. kennedy released? >> it is about politics. mitt romney is hurting himself. there is an aura of secrecy around him. money in swiss bank accounts. money in the cayman islands. tax returns he would not release. people are thinking what does

he have to hide? >> why not get this stuff before he runs, so that it does not come back to play? >> one of the questions around -- the mitt romney, the -- the campaign will not answer is how many tax returns did they ask their potential vice- presidential candidates to give to them? he says john mccain asked him for 10. mitt romney says they are working off of the same game plan. did they only look at two tax returns for rob portman? >> this feels itself-inflicted headache. -- self-inflicted headache. >> my criticism of the tactic is i agree, mitt romney should have released this in 2006. at this point, i would not give the obama campaign, anybody, anything beyond two years. there are hundreds of thousands of pages here. he will be the only issue for the next month.

it will destroy the romney campaign. he knows it. how many years of -- i'm saying, the attention given to the tax returns would take the entire election -- let me finish the sentence. the simple attention that would be given to it would monopolize the campaign for a month when money is behind and he is trying to make an issue of the actual state of america and what will happen in the future which is what you would think an election ought to be about. >> it -- is a time for the obama dime in syria? >> the intensity of the fighting, the defections, they point out how important it is that we come together and work towards a good transition plan. >> the secretary of state commenting on the defections of the syrian prime minister and others as the fighting rages in aleppo. a new york times columnist

quotes william perry saying that if he were in the pentagon he would recommend military invention. madeleine albright, also. nick burns, same thing. it is getting a little late. is the obama administration making a mistake? >> easy for them to say. first of all, the sanctions that they have been posed are working. they proposed new sanctions. the foreign-exchange holdings the syrians had are virtually gone, and they've gone to the the russians have said how are you going to pay it back? that is the problem -- the trouble they're in now. now, weigh that against the carnage that is taking place on the ground, and of course, the longer you wait, the worse it gets on the ground. you cannot say the status quo is holding for the syrians.

they are in trouble and they're about to collapse. >> nick burns is quoted, the former state department official, saying arab states are asking where is the united>> where are the arab states in this? it is a middle east problem. is turkey going to come in on our side? they would not come in our side for iraq. they have no stomach for invading another muslim state. we are on the edge of madness. let me quote the second reason. bashar al-assad is believed to have many tons of nerve agents. does this sound similar to we believe there are weapons of mass destruction in iraq? are we going to spend another nine-year war, $4 trillion, thousands of deaths? jfk said after the bay of pigs, when we had a promise not to invade cuba again, as great of

the nation as we are, our powers are limited. we cannot prevent bad things happening everywhere. >> charles? weapons of mass destruction in syria and iraq is a the government of syria has an admitted openly that they have them and they said they would only use them against foreigners, not their own people. so, if the people that have them are saying that they have them, i do not think it is a question that they have them. as to the intervention, it is simply not going to happen. this president is not going to do it. i do not think he would do if ever, and surely not between now and election day, and by then the fate of syria will probably be determined. i think it will hinge on the battle of aleppo, and the influence will be the turks. they are the neighbors and their backing the rebels. >> i agree with charles. certainly, nothing will happen between now and election day. as people will criticize the

president for that, i think if you look at any public opinion poll, that is what the public wants. we might be helping them in covert ways, but every poll shows americans want our government focus on fixing our is very wary of international intervention. >> mission to mars. >> the spectacular thing about these pictures is we see these huge mountains in the background, and it really promises to have layers, sediments, things for us to study to unravel martian history. >> that is michael meyer, to emigrate pictures sent back by -- commenting on the great pictures sent back by the robotic explorers curiosity. now, an olympic athletes are having a great run him london, but nasa deserves a gold medal. a country that could do this,

with this machine, loaded, we could do anything. we could balance the budget, reduce the deficit. >> that is why when you heard the end of the space flight, he -- the week in and read the weeping when the space was ended, he was the person that said that capability. i think they demonstrated that. >> we have pulled off of the deal with the europeans to do this again. russians. >> i think it is magnificent, -- now they are doing this with the russians. >> i think it was magnificent, and it is a big enough event and exciting enough that it can inspire kids again to think about space, engineering, and look at the cool things they can do. >> roger? >> ended is cheap. -- and it is cheap. nasa's budget is $17.8 billion a year. the military budget is $680 billion a year in know, we could do this, -- and, you know, we

could do this, and we should continue searching space, and then look for signs of intelligent life on earth. [laughter] >> it is clear we have this fantastic technology. this is the one place that government is able to do stuff the private sector cannot. this is pure science. that is why nih does. -- that is what n.h. does. nih does, it studies how the cell. no company is going to do that. its studies how the sell works. when the government does that incense or biology, it creates the substrate for everything after word spread that is where our money has to go, -- -- nasa gets a that a boy from everybody. and that is it. last word. see you next week. >> for transcripts, log on. >> "inside washington" is brought to you in part by the american federation of formation about afgee, proud tow

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