why do you have david axlerod coming out today and saying we would fire anybody who's doing that?use they've been called out on it, they've been exposed, because they've been had. they had no choice. david axlerod isn't going to come on and say, yeah, we came up with that weird word at a focus group last week. they have to deny it, then they have to go back into the focus group or back into the campaign session and come up with a different word, a different phrase. but the goal is going to be the same; you have to single out romney as being just a little bit different than the rest of the americans out there, and we all know they're talking about his religion. megyn: what do you make of it, moe? they say it was mentioned over a dozen times in different interviews, and then they quote axlerod, and here's the quote. he didn't use the word "weird" himself, he made the observation that, quote, when he -- meaning romney -- makes jobs about unemployed or a waitress pinching him on the butt, it does snap your head back and you say, what's he talking about? he didn't say anybody that goes

does anybody really think that bill burton is operating independently from david axlerod, the campaign strategist for the obama campaign? i mean, we really are in a make-believe alice in wonderland world on these matters. >> michael isikoff, thank you for your excellent work on this and taking time to be with us tonight about it. appreciate it. >> thank you, rachel. >>> when the supreme court makes people laugh at the law, they are not doing an awesome job of being a supreme court. >>> it not my usual practice to do stories about other people in the media, because usually we media types are not news that matters. tonight, a rare and excellent exception in praise of stephen colbert, next. >>> a quick trip to the department of corrections. i mentioned the great new piece in "time" magazine about how democrats win and have always won elections by defending the social safety net. i began by defending program like medicare and social security. he used the example of jfk beating richard nixon in 1960. when i described that campaign earlier i said that jfk won in part by making richard nixon

david axlerod was on television and this is what he said about the downgrade. >> the fact of the matter is, that this is essentially a tea party downgrade. >> i believe this is without question, the tea party downgrade. >> this is the tea party downgrade because a minority of people in the house of representatives, countered even the will of many republicans in the united states senate. >> tea party downgrade. you're an objective reporter. i'm not. what do you say? is that an overstatement or can you find the rational there? >> look, reverend, al. if anyone had any doubt on friday night when standard an poor's came out with this report saying washington is fundamentally broken, we proved them right in the last 48 hours or so. both sides, instead of saying what with we do here, are looking thousand pin it on the other side. if you go through some reasoning of the s&p statement, the fact of the matter is, the principal was washington is not getting together to do big things about the debt. you had john boehner walk away from the grand bargain that would do something about the debt. now tu

here's david axlerod. >> the fact of the matter is this is essentially a tea party down grade.he tea part i brought us to the brink of a default.i brought us brink of a default. >> here is an e-mail from the republican national committee, it's the obama downgrade. how do we get it to the next step to get an agreement on deeper deficit reduction and god forbid maybe an adult conversation about jobs and growth if washington immediately just starts pointing fingers? >> the blame game is what's helped to get us into this fix now. everybody knows that. people are disgusted around the country with the politicians and n. washington. words don't matter very much anymore. the president came out today to reassure the country and the dow jones was down 409 when he started speaking. it wound up the day with a loss of over 630 points. so clearly what people are looking for is something strong he. they're looking for action. and i think the congressional question is the president needs to get the congressional leaders back into washington. cut a deal about jobs and get the economy growing. n

. >> david axlerod, former chief white house adviser, he was on television over the weekend in doingarting to frame the conversation of what 2012 will look like. let's listen to that and we'll cob back and talk about it. >> when people don't support plans that have in the past garnered bipartisan support, when people are willing to walk the one to the brink of default, when people, instead of saying where there's a will there's a way, it's my way or the highway, you have to assume that politics is at play. >> in some ways, this is nothing new under the sun, right? >> right. >> the obama administration saying the republicans are in transition. obviously, the president gets the bully pulpit, but he gets the negatives of being blamed. >> their option is running against the congress, running against the opposition because they have limited good news on the economic front to tell. so what you're left with is having to go after your opponents and basically destroyed them. that's what incumbents do who want to make the election a choice rather than a referendum. they're dealing with the sor

does anybody really think that bill burton is operating independently from david axlerod, the campaignfor the obama campaign? i mean, we really are in a make-believe alice in wonderland world on these matters. >> michael isikoff, thank you for your excellent work on this and taking time to be with us tonight about it. appreciate it. >> thank you, rachel. >>> when the supreme court makes people laugh at the law, they are not doing an awesome job of being a supreme court. >>> it not my usual practice to do stories about other people in the media, because usually we media types are not news that matters. tonight, a rare and excellent exception in praise of stephen exception in praise of stephen colbert, next. this is my band from the 80's, looker. hair and mascara, a lethal combo. i'm jon haber of alto music. my business is all about getting music into people's hands. and the plum card from american express open helps me do that. you name it, i can buy it. and the savings that we get from the early pay discount has given us money to reinvest back into our business and help quadruple our f

does anybody really think that bill burton is operating independently from david axlerod, the campaignegist for the obama campaign? i mean, we really are in a make-believe alice in wonderland world on these matters. >> michael isikoff, thank you for your excellent work on this and taking time to be with us tonight about it. appreciate it. >> thank you, rachel. >>> when the supreme court makes people laugh at the law, they are not doing an awesome job of being a supreme court. >>> it not my usual practice to do stories about other people in the media, because usually we media types are not news that matters. tonight, a rare and excellent exception in praise of stephen colbert, next. [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony, a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning unequaled inspiration. [ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan in a recent comparison test. when you s

david axlerod, debbie wauser man schultz. you have the president coming there later this week. are they trying to take away from what's happening with the straw poll, or are they really just trying to make a play for iowa? >> they're trying to make a play for iowa, and they're trying to decide that it's a maximum attention on the state of iowa. i mean, if you have a special edition of mitchell reports and the daily rundown and media from all over the country there focused on the political action in the republican party, democrats don't want to be completely out of that story. david axelrod, debbie wasserman-schultz, and especially mitt romney, the republican frontrunner, to make sure that the democratic arguments aren't lost. when we get to the fall of 2012, iowa is going to be a swing state. barack obama carried it in 2008. he very much wants to carry it next time. >> okay. john harwood, many thanks. see you again. >> okay. >>> casey anthony thought she was a free woman after being acquitted last month of murdering her daughter. now she's being forced to return to florida to r

and from the president's chief strategist, david axlerod, speaking about romney: he was very, very goodt for himself and his partners but not nearly as good at saving jobs for communities. well, is that a personal attack, or is that fair game? in any event, team romney now firing back with this. >> because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation. ♪ megyn: so will that backfire on the president? joining me now, syndicated radio hosts leslie marshall and lars larson. panel, welcome. good to see you again. >> welcome back. >> good to see you, we missed you. megyn: thank you very much. this is an interesting back and forth to me because the president did come out, and this is 2007, and said, quote, i do not want to see research that is involve inside trying to tear people down personally. if i find out somebody is doing that, they will be fired. and then goes on you hoard in, you know, that -- you heard many that ad, now we get this political report saying his plan is to destroy romney with a ferocious personal assault on romney's ch

because they sent david axlerod out on the sunday shows to blame this on the tea party. it would be quite another thing if we heard that from the president himself. >> reporter: yeah. i'd be highly surprised if president mentions the tea party. he never mentions the tea party, in fact, in public, but his surrogates do, saying this was a tea party downgrade. and i think you heard republicans like senator lindsey graham fire back immediately on some of the sunday talk shows saying, wait a second, it wasn't the tea party that piled on this debt. as i mentioned, the bush administration certainly piled on a lot of debt with two wars they didn't afor and other programs, but this president has added a lot to the debt in just two and a half years. megyn: indeed. ed henry, thank you. >>> breaking new information coming in right now on the u.s. military helicopter that was shot down in the afghanistan. we're going to get back to the white house as soon as the president comes out, but this is another big story and an important one. the pentagon is now confirming that the helicopter

. >> david axlerod talking yesterday morning about the economy and the president's upcoming jobs speechhe final stop of his four-day visit to china, the vice president telling the audience the united states will handle its debt problem, assuring the group that despite the recent market turmo turmoil, the u.s. remains, quote, the single best bet in the world in terms of where to inch vest. one student asked vice president biden the safety of china's $1.7 billion in u.s. treasury secretaries. biden responded, quote, you're safe. we're going to check in on business before the opening bell. simon, what are you looking at today? let's talk about libya. the price of oil is coming down as the market debate tess degree to which we're going to be able to get back online, the 1.3 million barrels a day that we lost in libya. there's a lot of concern that the infrastructure may not be there and the oil companies will have to go in and determine that. but on the face of it, it's quite good. whether it will speak true to u.s. consumers is another question. "the journal" this morning reporting that ny