john heilman, i want to ask you about this, first. the republican party succeed in trying to take away one of the most powerful elements of the obama narrative, which is the realization of the american dream? >> well, first of all, alex, i want to actually get back to the question you asked before about paul ryan's playlist. i find it appalling that it starts with acdc and not either with a tribe called quest. i also want to put out the weird ness that his band called zeppelin. on my playlist is listed under "l." >> i'm glad we're focusing on the stuff -- >> i found another misstatement in the ryan speech. >> you did. >> originally said z.z. top. that's why. >> on the broader question, look, the republican party's been trying to take that away from barack obama for a long time. if you're asking me whether the notion -- "a" it's inherent in everything most of the conservative critiques have always been, going back to notion of him not being born in america, that's intrinsic to the claim he has no understanding of the american dream. th

we'll go through the night at the rnc with john heilman in just a moment. we begin this morning with hurricane isaac, the storm that spared tampa for the most part but is whipping the gulf coast as we speak. at this moment, isaac is a category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 80 miles an hour. it made landfall yesterday then backed off a bit and now has made a second landfall. right now a mandatory evacuation order is in place for parts of plaquemines parish in louisiana after water topped several miles of a levee there. officials now going door to door this morning telling people to get to higher ground. again, that's in plaquemines parish. bill karins has new information on the storm's path. first let's start this morning with the weather channel's paul goodloe live in gulfport, mississippi. paul, what does it look like this morning? >> reporter: i tell you what, willie, this morning the wind has been howling. i have my hand-held anemometer wind gauge. easily over 25 miles an hour but a lot of gusts in the 30s and 40s. once you get above 30, it sta

we will fact check ryan's speech with ezra klein, john heilman and michael steele. >>> plus mitt's main us preview governor romney's big speech and whether it might provide answers to the mormon question. and while the gop's party's president obama stays the course. we'll talk to michael scherer about the president's game plan from 2012 and beyond, when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. we, softest, and most colorful options... ...across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get labor day savings with up to 24 months special financing with your home depot credit card. atd anc ] elib f buoe 0%rtalen tu. indhra le p sca't f d ou f-et. wo ts, u'levi r al adi ple rk u're ta e wo ts, toe to ra en anizlpe-ve it g 3xpod erre d es p ut..yoe ho p fheie prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

john heilman not long ago about this show, said, you have to say, swiss, islands, cayman accounts.iss islands -- cayman islands, swiss bank accounts, over and over and over again to the american public and it reinforces this narrative, not only is mitt romney a secretive rich guy but a james bond. >> it's both what he's done in the past and what he would do in the future actually with everyone's taxes including his own that i think is what makes this issue so resonant. you have on the one hand the fact he picked a nominee for the vp slot that would essentially eliminate his taxes. i mean, paul ryan has recommended no capital gains. >> szeroing it out. >> that's where he gets the vast majority of his money. actually, his rate would be 0.82% if he went with the paul ryan budget. that's pretty shocking. then you also just have what romney's own plan is, which is to cut the tax rates from millionaires and billionaires like himself. the income tax rates by about 20%. and he says that that would somehow be revenue neutral, but all of these wonks and economists have gotten together and ha

joining me now is democratic strategist bob shrum and john heilman, also an msnbc analyst.nce yesterday. the ad's narrated by a man whose wife died of cancer. he had lost his health care after bain capital took over the steel plant where he worked. his wife died years later. let's listen to this ad. >> then one day she became ill and i took her up to the jackson county hospital. and admitted her for pneumonia. that's when they found the cancer. and by then it was stage 4. it was -- there was nothing they could do for her. and she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done for anyone. and furthermore, i do not think mitt romney is concerned.

joining me now is democratic strategist bob shrum and john heilman, also an msnbc analyst. we see here been talking about it since yesterday. the ad's narrated by a man whose wife died of cancer. he had lost his health care after bain capital took over the steel plant where he worked. his wife died years later. let's listen to this ad. >> then one day she became ill and i took her up to the jackson county hospital. and admitted her for pneumonia. that's when they found the cancer. and by then it was stage 4. it was -- there was nothing they could do for her. and she passed away in 22 days. i do not think mitt romney realizes what he's done for anyone. and furthermore, i do not think mitt romney is concerned. >> well, here's how romney's spokeswoman andrea saul, his top spokesperson, responded to that harsh ad today. let's watch closely what she says. >> to that point, you know, if -- you know, if people had been in massachusetts under governor romney's health care plan, they would have had health care. there are a lot of people losing their jobs and losing their health care

>> by the way, the question to jeb was every bit as leading as john heilman's was the other day. >> goodsh, how great is my candidate? how wonderful was paul ryan last night on a scale of 1 to 10. say between 9 and 10. >> it was an unbelievably long question to a democrat. chuck todd is straight ahead on "morning joe." mom: ready to go to work? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? on every one of our carda reminder...ate. that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in. [ sneezes ] [ m