for that, we're joined by strategist steve mcmahon, a democrat, and todd harris, of course, is a republicaneve, let me hear you right now about this. first of all, can we all look at this fight now? i think it's fascinating. let's look at part of the rick perry new ad campaign going after mitt romney. perry ads are good. >> people who are consulted by the romney administration were also being consulted by the obama white house. all we did was look at white house visitor logs. >> i've spent my life in politics. i hate to lose. i don't think i've ever hired an illegal in my life. we hired a lawn company to mow our lawn and they had illegal immigrants who were working there. i'm running for office, for pete's sake and i can't have illegals. >> you just don't have credibility. >> hypocrisy. there are a lot of reasons not to elect me. >> here's the other point of view. here's mitt romney's campaign releasing an attack ad of its own yesterday, going after romney. by the way, the video was later pulled at the request of cnn, because most of the footage came from their network. let's watch part of

steve mcmahon, a democratic strategist.snbc political analyst michael steele, former chairman of the republican party. all right, steve mcmahon. you're the democratic strategist. if president obama were your client how would you have told him to answer the are you better off now than you were four years ago question? >> four years ago -- >> you would have told him to say yes? >> i think he just gave the republicans an ad. when you say the american public is not better off today than they were four years ago you're going to see that again and again and again. just like -- >> you think he should have made the case of saying as bad as it was four years ago -- >> oh, my god, yeah. >> he did earlier in the interview. >> if you look at the polls people remember what it was like four years ago when he came into office. what he needs to do is remind them of the circumstances then. they're far worse than what we're seeing today and the progress that's being made. acknowledge the progress is too slow. i think he probably wasn't think

talk about all this with msnbc contributor and senior fellow at the brookings institution and steve mcmahonic strategist who has advised three presidential campaigns. gentlemen, it is good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> let it's talk about the flat tax, first of all, e.j. can this revive rick perry's campaign? >> i think when you look at what he's doing, there are short term politics and then there's substance and long-term politics. short-term politics it's a good move because he needed to do something bold. he's been hemorrhaging supporters on the right of herman cain who are attracted to cain's plan. this is a very radical plan both on the tax side and spending cuts. it will require -- that will probably appeal to those voters. short term it will probably help him. long term there are some huge problems here. one is that flat taxes benefit the rich and hurt the middle class. he tries to get around that by saying, well, you can pay at the current rate if this tax is going to raise your taxes. what he does with that is massively increase the deficit. and so he then caps federal spe

steve mcmahon is a democratic strategist and john feehery is a republican strategist.to john. we'll give you a chance to explain it. on saturday of a faith and freedom banquet in iowa, perry made light of his debate performances. let's listen to the man. >> we are not called to be perfect. if any of you have watched my debate performances over the last three or four times, you know i am far from perfect. >> you know, he's trying to make light of that. on tuesday, perry said maybe doing the debates was a mistake. let's listen, he keeps moving in this direction. >> these debates are set up for nothing more than to tear down the candidates. it's pretty hard to be able to sit and lay out your ideas and concepts with a one-minute response. if there was a mistake made, it was probably ever doing one of the -- ever doing one of the campaigns when all they're interested in stirring it up between the candidates. >> yesterday perry's campaign manager said they were trying a new strategy, "we immediate to be spending time, particularly as the last entrant, with voters, doing town

steve: welcome to fox, fox, fox, and friends from the guy with the 9-9-9 plan. >> gretchen: he was our guest in the last hour. coming up this hour, we have linda mcmahonher thoughts on the super committee and how they will do. their time is running out. let's start with a fox news alert and major development. the united states is pulling out our ambassador to syria now. robert ford has been temporarily brought back to washington after credible threats were made against his personal safety. the state department blaming the syrian regime for this threat. >>> the death toll from the earthquake in turkey is rising, 270 people now reported dead and the death toll expected to go up as rescue workers are using their bare hands to pull survivors from the rubble. more than 1,000 others are hurt. dozens of buildings were flattened. this took place in the eastern part of the country. highways have caved in. there have been over 100 aftershocks since the original quake. one measured 6.0. >>> songs of hope at a vigil for missing baby lisa irwin. ♪ amazing grace, how sweet the sound ♪ >> gretchen: this is the first time lisa's parents attended a vigil for their dau