ezra klein is filling in for rachel tonight. always good to see you, ezra. >> good to see you too, michael. thank you very much. thank you for you at home sticking around for the next hour. rachel has the night off tonight. let's be honest here, july 26, 2012 was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day to be mitt romney. even if you consider yourself the staunchest mitt romney supporter out there, i think you have to admit today didn't go exactly according to plan. the kickoff of romney's overseas trip has been a disaster. here's a lead paragraph tonight, "mitt romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive." it's been a bad day for mitt romney, a bad day that all began with this seemingly innocuous comment he made to our own brian williams last night. >> in the short time you've been here in london, do they look ready to your experienced eye? >> it's hard to know how well it will turn out. there were a few things tha

ezra klein is in for rachel mad dow tonight. ezra klein is filling in for rachel maddow tonight. >> good evening and thank you very much. thank you to you at home for staying with us for this hour. rachel has the night off. in colorado today, the suspect in last week's mass shooting in the denver suburb appears in court for the first time. james holmes had what is called a first advisement this morning. he sat with one of his court apointed attorneys. reporters in the courtroom said his lawyer shielded him from victims of the shooting and the relatives who had come for the hearing. he is not expected to be charged formally in the case until next week. the trial itself could be as much as a year away. prosecutors say the man stormed into a midnight premiere of the new batman movie last week in the city of aurora. he came in with tear gas and guns and wearing enough protective gear that police almost reportedly mistook him for one of their own. though officers arrived in two minutes, he managed to kill 12 people and wound 58 other

it's turn to ezra klein. zra, thanks for coming in. >> good evening, man. >> let's get to preside obama's plan in a moment, but i would like you to assess mitt romney's 59-point plan first. specifically, does it do much for short-term economic growth? >> no, it's literally anything they can think of to get to a high number so they can say over and over they have a 59-point plan. it's anything from repeal obamacare, pass a balanced budget announcement, to very, very small things related to specific regulations. what it doesn't have is short term economic support. so there is potentially an individual tax that came up later, but there's nothing serious about infrastructure, about state and local jobs. it's not clear how it would get money back into the economy. whatever you want to say about cracking down on china or sighen a free trade agreement with latin america, those things take times. republicans had the problem that barack obama doak all of their ideas and if mitt romney said we should pass a pay roll tax

ezra klein, karen finney and i will all try to count mitt rom flee's money. and crazy joe walsh is back in the rewrite tonight. since crazy joe never found the time or courage to serve in the military, he now considers it unfa that his opponent actually did. and he is attacking iraq war vet and double amputee tammy duckworth for not trying to hide the fact from voters that she served in the military. i know this sounds crazy. but this is crazy joe walsh we're talking about here. crazy joe is back in the rewrite tonight. nnounc er ] think your kids are getting a dependable clean in the bathroom? [ gasps ] think again. try charmin ultra strong for a clean with fewer pieces left behind. its diamondweave texture is soft and more durable so it holds up better for a more dependable clean. fewer pieces left behind. charmin ultra strong. lookin' good, flo! feelin' good! feelin' real good! [ engine revs ] boat protection people love. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> the obama battleground bus rolled into ohio where unemployment is going down and the o

ezra klein is filling in tonight. good evening, ezra. >> good evening, and thank you, and our thoughts are with ed and his family at this difficult time. thank you to you at home, as well, for sticking around for the next hour. rachel has the night off. >>> today on the floor of the united states senate, the top deck, harry reid, said something that he doesn't normally say. he said something that is kind of unusual, actually. he said, you know what, why don't i just play it? >> that is poppycock. >> he said poppycock. the reason that harry reid said the totally awesome word poppycock on the senate floor today was because he and the top republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell, were trading jabs back and forth about which side is to blame for nothing getting done in the senate this year. and when mitch mcconnell blamed that on the democrats, well, out came -- >> that is poppycock. >> that is awesome. what happened in the senate today aside from the poppycock reference was something truly remarkable. in a chamber that h

visit progressive.com today. >>> tonight's ezra klein challenge is the hardest one yet.. all right, here's why. the most important thing that happened in the economy today was this incredibly, insanely confusing sentenced flashed in bloomberg terminals in every hedgefund and investment bank across the globe. draghi: yields disrupting policy transmission are in ecb remit. this is a sentence, one sentence, or fragment, that caused a huge stock market rally. it's a sentence that could mean the eurozone is going to survive, and it is a sentence that when i first saw it, i understood three words, "draghi," "are," and "in." i understand it now, and in two minutes, you're going to understand it too. all right, do we have a clock? okay. go. let's begin at the beginning here. draghi is mario draghi, the guy who runs the european central bank, europe's ben bernanke, and as much as the crisis there is anybody's fault, it is his fault and that of his predecessors. they are the ones that control how much money is available. now, the simplest way to understand the euro crisis is greec

i say that's probably true, but still, "the ezra klein challenge" is next. >>> tonight's "ezra kleinhallenge" is the hardest one yet. i mean, i've got -- this is going to be tough. all right, here's why. the most important thing that happened in the economy today was this incredibly, insanely confusing sentence flashed across bloomberg terminals and every hedge fund and investment bank across the globe -- "draghi: yields disrupting policy transmission are in ecb remit." this is a sentence, one sentence, or a fragment, that caused a huge stock market rally. it's a sentence that could mean the eurozone is going to survive, and it is a sentence that when i first saw it, i understood three words -- draghi, are and in. but i understand it now, and in two minutes, you're going to understand it, too. all right, do we have a clock? okay, go. let's begin at the beginning here. draghi is mario draghi, it's a guy who runs the european central bank. he's europe's ben bernanke. and as much as the crisis there is anybody's fault, it is his fault and that of his predecessors. they are the ones who

ezra klein, karen finney and i will all try to count mitt rom flee's money. and crazy joe walsh is back in the rewrite tonight. since crazy joe never found the time or courage to serve in the military, he now considers it unfair that his opponent actually did. and he is attacking iraq war vet and double amputee tammy duckworth for not trying to hide the fact from voters that she served in the military. i know this sounds crazy. but this is crazy joe walsh we're talking about here. crazy joe is back in the rewrite tonight. the postal service is critical to our economy, delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. zagat just gave he

ezra klein, as always, thank you for your insight and wisdom, my friend. >> thank you. >>> after thereak, texas does battle with the doj over its controversial voter i.d. law just as governor romney plans to speak in front of the naacp there tomorrow. the trouble in the lone star state is next. >>> under the proposed law, concealed hand gun licenses would be acceptable forms of photo i.d. but student i.d.s would not. many of those without i.d.s would have to travel great distances to get them, and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. we call those poll taxes. >> that was attorney general eric holder speaking moments ago at the naacp conference in houston, using strong language to criticize texas' voter i.d. law. this comment comes as the justice department is battling the lone star state in court over that measure, arguing that it has the potential to disenfranchise 1.4 million voters, the majority of whom are black and hispanic. ari, you have been tenaciously covering this story. talk to us about this case, how you think it will play out in fe

we called it the ezra klein challenge.he challenge was this, could i make you care about spanish bond yields in under two minutes. my argument was simple, if you're picking one indicator to watch to see if it was going to survive or fall, you would pick spanish bond yields because it would be bad if greece had to leave the euro, but it would be survival. there is no world where spain goes down and the euro endures. if spain goes down, the euro is going down. spanish bond yields, the thing you need to remember is the higher a bond yield is, the higher a country has to pay when they borrow money. spain can't afford to borrow the money necessary to finance itself, and the eurozone is going down. and that means our economy might be going down, too. well, since i did that segment, spanish bond yields have kept going up. this graph may not look so scary, those two lines, but it is actually terrifying. it's spanish bond yields at record highs. this is way above the level which the gryo, which spain and the euro can survive. tonig

but still, the ezra klein challenge where we test that is next. teaching the perfect swing begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. put me at 5 timesd out my greater risk of a stroke, my first thoughts were about my wife, and my family. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if y

ryan grim and ezra klein, thank you for coming on the show tonight. to capitol hill and picks a fight over defense cuts. only problem is republicans voted for them. amazing. plus, does willard mitt romney have a sarah palin problem? she has been a thorn in his side since day one. we are learn being a possible convention snub. [ groans ] [ marge ] psst. constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue... and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education >>> we are back with a big homecoming on capitol hill. congress has a record low approval. a

that story plus tonight's bit of television daring do, the ezra klein challenge, is coming up. >>> mitt romney wanted to be the republican presidential nominee in the 2008 election. and he failed. he got close, but he didn't win the nomination. senator john mccain did. then mccain, of course, lost to now president barack obama. that was the bad news for mitt romney and the republicans. the good news is there was a lot for mitt romney to learn from the '08 campaign from mccain and his own example. for example, do not pick an untested, unvetted shoot for the stars running mate. it will not end well for you. another lesson was a little less obvious and a little more personal. one mitt romney needed to learn the hard way. even if the election doesn't seem like it's all about foreign policy, you have to at least appear like you know what the heck you're talking about. you're asking to be the commander in chief, not the haircut in chief. so do not confuse all the bad guys, all the people who don't like america, and each other, and roll them into one big ball of evil. >> this is about hezbolla

nothing is out of the question. >> thanks, ezra klein.it. >>> up next, the bubba factor. bill clinton is once again front and center on the trail. why are both candidates fighting so hard to claim the clinton mantel? ron reagan weighs in. aspirin, really? i haven't thought about aspirin for years. aspirin wouldn't really help my headache, i don't think. aspirin is just old school. people have doubts about taking aspirin for pain. but they haven't experienced extra strength bayer advanced aspirin. in fact, in a recent survey, 95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. what's different? it has micro-particles. enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of pain. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about. ♪ rethink how you re-energize. ♪ get a boost of natural energy with a new starbucks refreshers™, in

joining me now are msnbc contributor ezra klein and columbia university political science professor, dorian warren. we can ask you anything you want. there's not going to be any jailing. ezra, thanks for making that run over here. i hope we captured it on video for our website, which is tradition when rachel does that. so now i know why the money is in the cayman islands. it's against the law to even ask about it there. >> it's the chicken and the egg, which came first, the law or the money? >> with him, who knows. but this in the world where he's the regular guy out there trying to appeal to people. the regular guy on a jet ski, with a $90 million house besides the lake. this cayman islands thing is not going away. >> no, this cayman isles money, remember, there was a swiss bank account that mitt romney had forgotten about at one point. and this is the stuff that's leading to the change in the battleground polling. the republican consultants have begun to agree that what obama is saying in the battlegrounds is beginning to make battleground voters think, this guy does not really unde

ezra klein is in for rachel mad dow tonight.n for rachel maddow tonight. >> good evening and thank you very much. thank you to you at home for staying with us for this hour. rachel has the night off. in colorado today, the suspect in last week's mass shooting in the denver suburb appears in court for the first time. james holmes had what is called a first advisement this morning. he sat with one of his court apointed attorneys. reporters in the courtroom said his lawyer shielded him from victims of the shooting and the relatives who had come for the hearing. he is not expected to be charged formally in the case until next week. the trial itself could be as much as a year away. prosecutors say the man stormed into a midnight premiere of the new batman movie last week in the city of aurora. he came in with tear gas and guns and wearing enough protective gear that police almost reportedly mistook him for one of their own. though officers arrived in two minutes, he managed to kill 12 people and wound 58 others. he was armed with a p

that story plus tonight's bit of television daring do, the ezra klein challenge, is coming up. [ male announcer ] this is rudy. his morning starts with arthritis pain. and two pills. afternoon's overhaul starts with more pain. more pills. triple checking hydraulics. the evening brings more pain. so, back to more pills. almost done, when... hang on. stan's doctor recommended aleve. it can keep pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rudy. who switched to aleve. and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. >>> mitt romney wanted to be the republican presidential nominee in the 2008 election. and he failed. he got close, but he didn't win the nomnomination. senator john mccain won. then he lost to now president barack obama. that was the bad news for mitt romney and the republicans. the good news is there was a lot for mitt romney to learn from the '08 campaign from mccain and his own example. for example, do not pick an untested, unvetted shoot for the stars running mate. it will not end well for you. another lesson wa

let's see, ezra klein will join us next. and mr. chuck todd who got this whole penalty versus tax thing going. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! [ garth ] olaf's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! put it on my spark card! [ high-pitched ] nice doin' business with you! [ garth ] why settle for less? great businesses deserve the most rewards! awesome!!! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? >>> whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the supreme court's decision to uphold it. >> it was a victory for people all over this country who are a little more secure because of this law. >> when the bill com into effect, being a woman wi

ezra klein is filling in tonight. ughts are with ed and his family at this difficult time. thank you to you at home, as well, for sticking around for the next hour. rachel has the night off. today on the floor of the united states senate, the top democrat, harry reid, said something that he doesn't normally say. he said something that is kind of unusual, actually. he said, you know what, why don't i just play it? >> that is poppycock. >> he said poppycock. the reason that harry reid said the totally awesome word poppycock on the senate floor today was because he and the top republican in the senate, mitch mcconnell, were trading jabs back and forth about which side is to blame for nothing getting done in the senate this year. and when mitch mcconnell blamed that on the democrats, well, out came -- >> that is poppycock. >> that is awesome. what happened in the senate today aside from the poppycock reference was something truly remarkable. in a chamber that has been essentially paralyzed by filibuster after filibuster on

joining us now is "the washington post" ezra klein, a man who possesses one of the biggest brains inca. we've all seen the video of mitt talking about the economy, but rare is it that he also takes questions about his 59 points jobs plan. he says the president has released, i'm quoting him, no jobs plan of detailed as his own, but neither of that statement is true. >> right. mitt romney does have a 59 point jobs plan ch i have read it. >> so have i. >> now, mitt, barack obama had the american jobs act, which in addition to having 41 points, 400 plus page piece of legislation. >> 432 pages. >> vastly more specific than anything romney had put forth. as far as mitt romney does not know that barack obama put forth a specific jobs plan, it's usually suggesting he's not been paying attention to presidential politics and if he's not been doing that, i kind of wonder what he's doing. >> do any of the major portions of his plan help create jobs here and now in the immediate future? i'm talking about the 59 point mitt romney plan. >> his plan is primarily focused on long-term questions and on

ezra klein is filling in tonight. off. today on the floor of

the conventional wisdom would say yes, but ezra klein who joins us live from washington says not so fasto, ezra, thanks for being here. you are the only one out there saying that mitt romney is smart not to release his taxes. it does put you in odd company though because rush limbaugh says the same thing and since i don't usually think of you two having much in common, i have to ask what is it that you guys see here that most other folks, myself included, don't get. >> i don't speak -- i think that much has been clear in my career, so i don't know why he says what he says. i'm not in the business of giving campaign advice. the difference between mitt romney and the people telling mitt romney to release his taxes is that he know what is is in his taxes and those people don't. and so the fact that mitt romney has that information and thinks he shouldn't release them and apparently does his campaign. this is a decision he has talked over with his top strategists. makes me think in a way mitt romney might know something they don't. there might be things in those taxes he can't recover from.

ezra klein filling in for rachel maddow tonight. >> you're looking great over there. >> thank you.

ezra klein is filling in again for rachel tonight. good evening. >> how are you doing? >> fine, my friend. how are you? >> i'm all right. thank you very much, and thank you to you at home for sticking around for the next hour. rachel has the night off, but we

ezra klein is filling in again for rachel tonight. good evening. >> how are you doing? >> fine, my friend. how are you? >> i'm all right. thank you very much, and thank you to you at home for sticking around for the next hour. rachel has the night off, but we have a packed show tonight that includes an amazing admission by one state republican party about voter fraud. a full sensory of what climate change will look like, and exactly the best new thing that the world could use on this day and on this week. it's very uplifting. but we begin tonight in congress where senator orrin hatch, the top republican on the senate finance committee, which means he's a top senate republican when it comes to taxes, is not all that happy about president obama's proposal to extend the bush tax cuts for everyone but the rich. >> just the other day, the treasury secretary blamed europe and rising oil prices for our economic slowtop pup down, yet he did not discuss the pale of uncertainty that democratic politicians including his boss are putting over the economy with their refusal to exten

ezra klein at the washington post writes, romney would get his old job and salary back plus any raises he would have earned during his absence. and bain promised that if necessary he would craft a cover story saying that romney's return to bain and company was needed because of his value as a consultant. so there was no professional or financial risk. no professional or financial risk. that's the kind of security that's denied to most americans. there's also news today undercutting romney's claim that he left bain back in 1999 to run the salt lake city olympics. >> i had no association with the banishment of bain capital after february of 1999. that's when i left the firm. i'm very pleased with the experience i had with the firm, but as everyone knows, i went off to run the olympics for three years. i was there full-time. after that i came back and ran in massachusetts for governor. i have no role with regards to bain capital after february of '99. >> turns out that's not what his official biography on the salt lake olympics website said. in 2002 it read quote, romney is the founder an

joining me now is melissa harris-perry and ezra klein.why no party hat for today's tenth anniversary? where's the hat? >> you said nobody showed up, i was like i'm here. i like this point, because as soon as we say it's ten years old, then we remember that of course the obama presidency is only three and a half years old. for this deficit to lay at the feet of president obama, it would have to basically be in preschool. but instead this is a school-age deficit. and that's because this deficit began under president bush. it has to do with tax policies. and it is those tax policies that romney is suggesting bringing back. >> slammed the gop talking tax policy. he slammed them for refusing to help the middle class, only the rich. take a listen. >> they basically want to give $5 trillion in new tax cuts mostly for the wealthy on top of the bush tax cuts. i don't think top-down economics works. i believe that we grow this economy from the middle out. from the bottom up. i believe the heart and soul of this country is making sure the working pe