>> "inside washington" is broughto you in part by the american federation of government employees -- proud to ma america work. for momore iormation about afge and membership, visit afge.org. >> mr. chairman and nomination for presideent of the united states. >> this week on "inside waington," the grand old party makes itfficial. >> joined mitt romney and me. let's s give this effort everything we have. >> a look at the supporting cast. >> this man ll not let us down. >> tonight, i saenough. hope and change has become divide and conquer. >> when somebody does not do

their job, w've got to let them go. >> where does this party go from here? >> over the long haul republicans need to be more respecectful of voters they are trying t to attract >> the 2012 republican national convention in tampa serve up no surprises except perhaps for clint etwoo's rambling performance in the key 10:00 hour thursday night but conventions rarely do surprises anymore. this was mittt romney's major opportunity to sell themselves to the american people. >> in america, we we do not apopologize for success. what america needs is jobs -- lots of jobs. you knowhere is something wrong with the kind of job he has done as president withh whe best feeling you hadas the day you voted for him. >> ok, you were in tampa.

did mitt romney make the sale? >> i think he did a good job in introducing themselves to the ameran people. you know, most people have not seen him and paul ryan.. we have done nothing but see him and paul ryan. about 28 million households watching him, probably he also did a good job in selling theew theme. the new theme is not barack obama, european socialists. the new theme is disappointment. we were all happy four years ago with his message of hope and change. t there is no hope. ere was no chae. now we he to move on. >> whether they believe it or not in their hearts it is a pretty good team. >> it is better than mitch mcconnell almost runun out of the box after the election saying our job is to defeat thisis guy.

this is the moment that people finally are gogoing to start to tu in. it is labor daday weekend. it is the convention. this is the real deal for the next two m month and i think -- they did not do anything wacko. all the french stuff is completely suppressed. >> exit for clint eastwood. >> occaonally with factual things, but other an that, they did well. >> i think romney sceeded in convincing the convention that he was one of them. thatas thehe firstst thing he had to do. he did present to the american peop a face, but also falsehoodsds. frfrom the beginningng, the romney story was we wantethis president to succeed. it is a lie. the party wanted him to fai from day one, and d they set out

to do just that. the other thing that i thouought was breathtaking was paul ry's peormance. chilling as a matter of fact in his brazenness to resort to falsehoods. >> one quick question --o you agree that when most people le they were sold on mitt romney? >> i think they feel that t mitt roey can win. he got the ninationy being the most delectable, and then he seemed to turn hard right by picking paul ryan. now he has gone back to being sort of a kindly father figure who can lead americaa outf its problems. >> in the latest "washington post"/abc news pollll, mitttt romney has a 56% on favorability ratingng. polls show americans like barack obama a lot more. how does he overcome that deficit? >> i in my lifetime, the american

voters have always chosesen the candidate that they preferred personally. is not an accident. the failures of presidents have been failures essentially of personal qualities, of character or personality the only exception where ty chose a candidate e they like less to be presint was 1968 and richard nixixon. >> romney -- what is holding him back is the fact that he is not that w well liked. that is somethingou can at least in principle change. that is why we had the ann romney speech. if he can close that gap -- that is why i think the election is in his hands and out of obama's. >> what abouout that -- did mitt romney start to climb the likability mountain? >> i i thinknk so. there were lots of people who did testimomonials who were very persuasive. ann romney certainly made a big difference. he is not exciting, but i did

nonot think he was threatening ther. i think there is nothing to really overtly dislike, and he did t the best he could. the question is -- isist enough? >> if you are on the fence --- did you u hear anything there that uld move you toward mitt romney? >> i did hear a very convincing statement abouout h understanding about how the economy and how business works.s. not that big an applause line, but it is clear he has a desire to make this country move. what does not work for him is time. he does not hold up over time. bain capital will be back in frt of us. his income tax returns will be back ifront of us. the question i is -- what is this inividual l really about at his

court? how did he make his money? what does he do with this money? alall of these questions are still germane. >> no questionon a about that, b but he says he will put america back to work. how will he do that? >> he does not say tt -- well, he does say that. he says if we remove thehe restrictions from business and lower taxes, this will unleash prosperity and that wiwill filter down. all votes will -- all boats willl rise together onon this rising tide. democrats will say we have tried that but it does not work. one point about his personality -- what he lacks is a compelling story. john mccain had a compelling story. barack obama has a compelling story. mitt romney's story is of growing up in white privilege you know, going to prep school where he cut off another kid's hair, starting a business thatt

became a successful business. thats the story. >> and the olympics. >> that is an event.. >> john kennedy did not have that kind of story except he was a war hero. he had a war story. >> mitt romney clearly has trouble talki about himself. not his business, but himself. as we said, bring out

>> a storybook marriage? no, not at all. what mitt romney and i have is a real marriage. [applause] >> all right, as we say endlessly, mitt romney seemso be uncomfortable talking about and self in public. he will talk numbers all day long, talk about the salt lake city olylympics, but he has s a hard

time g getting people to look a the man inside the biography. in any otherrofession, i guess that woulde an attractive trait, but with modern politics, it is deemed a failure. what did ann romney tell you about her h husband that you did not alalready know? >> we have known all of this. they told us all of this. >> mark was saying he did ot hear any anecdotes. give me an example. >> some of the people from the churchho testified about how he had helped them -- that is the kind of thing you need more of. >> we did not see that in the 10:00 hour. >> no, we did not. >> hee is a private guy running for a public position. he does not want to talk about his lif. he does not want to talkk about

his income taxes or his swiss bank accounts. americans want to know everything. ththey want to feel they have a re humanan being up there, not just the anti-obama. >> what did paul ryan tell you about obama -- about mitt romney, or did he stell you about paul l line? >> we hed a lot about paul ryan because he told us aot about papaul ryan. as it chris christie tell us about hihimself. a lot of people giving their own stories and their n narratives. ryan is a poseur. there's nothing genue. you get the impression he played a role and has been playing this rolfrom the time he was a kid. >> if charles were here, he would give you a real -- >> that is not what i mean. >> i did bump into him and mark in florida as you know. my question was -- how enthusiastic are these delegates about theead of the ticket?

>> i think what t is really interesting is how at the convention they managed to bring together tea pty with evangelical and the kind of moderates like mitt romney would have represented. i think they have done a a goodd job, except for a few of the ron paul-ites. it has been quite unanimous and quite holding together with a convention that is united in its opposition and on hostility to barack obama. they were going to support whoever was the nominee. mitt romney may not ha been their emotional choice but they are gointo stand in line behind him. i did not thinkhe was much enthusiasm in the room until chris christie spoke. he lived up everyby. >> mr. president, real leaders do not f follow polls. real leadaders change polls.

>> it was very tough. it was slightly off-message, and it could have been titled "chris christie in 2016." it was not so much a keynotas a man announcing his own path to the presidency. i do not thi it fit in very well with the e message of either the nominee or the vice- presidential nominee. itit was chris christie making his national debut, and he did well. >> what was really obvious -- he mentioned romney''s name seven times and his own 37.7. it was a long time. he is the keynote spker. he is supposed to ge everybody keyed up for this nominee. >> you do get the christie sense the and rubio were talking more about themselves -- get the

see that christie a and rubio were talking more about themselves. >> rememr the great speech on behalf of walter mondale. look at the great speech in 1956 on behalf of a adlai stevenson and look what happened. >> bararack obama 2004. >> a great speech given by ronald reagan. this is the time for change on behalf of barry goldberg. look at what happened. keynote speeches are not positive >> can i aska question? why did ryan risk his reputation by a speech that was full of energy -- he is the darling of this convention in some ways -- why would he risk alall of that by putting into it things that are overertly false? >> it is just a guess, but he is

learning what it is to be the vice-presidential c candidate. you are the hatchet. you are the hammer. they are going to sell your point of view.w. they arere going to sell that barack obama took $700 billion out of welfare -- medicare. the candidate does not wawant to say it. paul ryan has to say it. >> who is barack obama's hammer? joe biden. > the vice-presidenential candidatate is usually theype persrson, but you have to have some kernel of truth. i don't think blatantt lies have ever been told. >> a word on the republican party and minorities next. when we

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get fios. [ male announcer ] vivisit verizon.com/hotprice. that's verizon.com/hotprice. contact the verizon centntce r customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. welcomome to the value you deserve. welcome to life on fios. ♪ ♪ >> if you look at the speaker list you have got the strongest bench any party has had in memory. romney is sort of the old guy.

you have marco rubio, these new govevernors, chris christie givi the keynote address, this new guy cruz from texas, you've gogovernors and a few young senators all in their0's, who represent the future of t party, although ideologically they are more conservative, more rain toght, a and i thinknk you will have hisrically overturning by the new generation of which romney in >>he republican party these days is 89% whit they a are increasingly white in a nation that is decrcrsing the white. the elelectorate when ronald rereagan was elected with 86% white. 74% white when john n mccann lost and 72%hite in 2012. thearty's inability to reach

within message toto minoritie for the republicican party going forward >> charles says that is the classic liberal resnse in which he breaks the party down into ethnic percentages. the beginning of the broadcast, you may recall, we played a a brief clip of former florida governor jim bush who said that over the long haul republicans need to be more respective of voters they are trying to attract. do you read that as me respecul of hispanics? >> i do not see how you can avoid the conclusion. whato youou do when you have a governor like gen brewer of arizizona who supports these very represessive anti-immigration legislatio?? thearty platform is so strong on anti-immigration, which can be interpreted as anti-hispanic. it does nott matter what basis they put on the screen inn the

convention. fact is republicans are very anti-immigration, which means anti-hispanic. >> they say theris a number you havave to reach if you want to be president of the united states. >> they have just written off african-americans. then there were african- americans on the podium. >> that always have african- americans on the podium. singing god bless america or prayin bid back. the entertainment value was alwa there. >> and anne a archer davis who switched parties i thinknk both parties love to put these slippers on. i find ththem sort of unattractivee when they get up there, both guys what is really interesting is ed to see at l least some minorities on the floor. there was almost -- you know every time thehey went to the floor of the convention it was

an extraordinarily wide group. go to any restaurant in f fairfax county and it would not look like that. >> a republican more fous in the 2002 the republicans that unless they couldd reach out to minorities especialally hispanics and women thahat they were doomed as national party. no democrat since lyndon johnson has won the white vote, which means jimmy carter once, bill clinton twice, barack obamanc have all won the presidency on the minority vot. it is doable. this maye the last election if romney wins going solely on the white vote. >> you heaeard a lot of people in the convention saying you're trying to dide america, splitting it up, and they're trying toring it together, and a lot of people holding up signs about women. >> one video going broke across the country is what happened to that cnn camerawoman. peanuts were thrown at her by two people participapating in the

republican convention, saying, "this is how we feed animals." they were thrown out of the convention, but that story has gone around the country, and it says somethinng. that would never happen at a democratic convention, not because democrats are better t becaususe they would not do that kind of thing. >> what is ahead fo the

>> now is the moment whehere w we can stand up and say, "i'm an american. i make my destiny. we deserve better. my children deserve better. my family deserves better. my country deserves betterer. >> looking ahe to this party in the 2016, who will we see in leadership positions? >> i agree with charles. faces like christie, some of the govevernor''ss, some of the young

senators. i think we will see a whole new face. it will not be the romneys. it will be younger people. >> if the stick loses, and that is what we'realking about -- if this ticket loses the party will go farther right. it said that they nominated a guy who is morally in the middle to get moderates, and forget about moderates. there are other people we are forgetting about. there is still michelle bachmann, ne gingrh, rick saorum rand paul. there is a whole body of far- right conservatives sayaying they have experience. >> i tnk we should not write off romney. i think he will be a very tough executiv if ectend if it is possible toto move the party at

all to the center -- at all -- he will try to do that because that is the way heoverns. >> finally, could he not have had just one humorous anecdote about mitt romney? >> there were no ananecdotes about mitt romney. none. she said he is a funny guy. >> people would say richard nixon is funny. >> tell me what is funnier than putting a dog on the roof of your car and driving to your location? >> i hope the humane society heard that one. >> ok,k,ou heard it here. >> one of the few unforced errors i have ever heard. >> going to give mark and chararles the last word. we will see you next week after the democratic national convention.

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