we knew the david axlerod event was coming. they told us about that yesterday.lyndra was kept a secret until the last minute. why? >> a little bit of cloak and dagger out here on the west coast a romney adviser got on the press bus. we had not been told where we were headed but that the romney adviser said, we are headed to solyndra. the reason we are engaging in secrecy is because we are concerned that president obama would try to block the romney campaign from having this event out here thichlts a firm that received half billion dollars in stimulus money through loan guarantees. they were concerned that the obama campaign or president obama himself would try to block them from having this campaign event here. we asked mitt romney about that. he wouldn't go that that are. he would only say, people out there who don't want this story to get out. i have to tell you, a lot of us were already placing our bets, making some educated guesses and when we got here, there were some satellite trucks here, even ours. we did guess right. we were coming to solyndra. they cou

joining me from chicago is david axlerod, the senior strategist in the obama re-election campaign. play what started all of this. hillary rosen was on anderson cooper 360 talking about what some call the role on women and mrs. romney when she said this. >> you have mitt romney running around the country saying, well, you know, my wife tells me what women really care about are economic issues and when i listen to my wife, that's what i am hearing. his wife has never worked a day in her life. she has never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing, in terms of how do we feed our kids and send them to school and why do we worry about their future? >> now, jim ma cena, the campaign manager took issue on twitter almost immediately. you took issue on twitter almost immediately. the first lady sends out a tweet critical of this. the vice president says it was wrong. the president himself answering questions about it. why is this such a big deal? >> i don't know in the long term whether it will be a big deal. it was an unfortunat

bush's brians, then david axlerod is barack barack obama's homer. >> guest: is what? >> host: homer. >> guest: that's a pretty good line i wrote. he is his homer. >> host: what do you mean? >> guest: david axlerod is a brilliant creator of permanent stories for politician -- personal stories for politicians. so when barack obama ran in 2008, he didn't have a record to run on because he hadn't done anything. but he did have to run on was his personal story. the son of a black african and a white middle american mother. a man who sought his identity and found it. who was raised by these saintly grandparents and so forth and so on. this was a story because homer was known for talking about taking a trip and during the trip coming to some inner understanding of one's self. this was a story that david actle -- axlerod fashioned obama. but there is no story. we've seen that story, it's old. he can't run on that story again. and he doesn't have a record in his first four years of success with the economy. i don't think anybody would disagree with that -- to run on, either. c

chief strategist from the obama campaign, david axlerod and senior romney advisor, ed gillespie. axlerod and gillespie. only on "fox news sunday." >> iran and north korea continue to pursue their nuclear programs. we'll ask our sunday panel is another round can rein in the rogue nation. >> i remember my dad. >> what do you make of mike wallace from brookline, massachusetts, having had this extraordinary journey. >> it is extraordinary. >> all right now on "fox news sunday." >> hello again from fox news in washington. first i want to thank all of you who sent me notes on the loss of my father. some of you met my dad for a moment, some watched him on television for years. but he meant something to you and your notes have meant so much to me. i'll have more on my father later in the program. >>> now on to the 2012 battle for the white house which shifted to the general election this week when mitt romney became the presumptive republican nominee. we'll talk with one of his senior advisories but first, david axlerod is in chicago. welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> thanks and let m

david axlerod misspoke, but it's fair game to exploit his statement.: you know, dick, "the washington post" had an interesting piece yesterday, and they talked about how axlerod, geithner -- we'll talk about what he said in a minute -- >> and the president's other advisers are in a bit of a pickle because they can't go out there and tell the american people it's all roses and sunshine right now. they have to acknowledge the plight that we're in, and yet they can't be too doom and gloom because we don't like that either. >> well, i think the important thing to remember is this: today the united states senate is voting on the buffett rule. mitt romney's against it, barack obama's for it. what it would do is make sure that people -- not businesses, but people -- that makeover a million dollars a year would pay 30%, the same thing the firefighter or waitress or ordinary person at salary pays. mitt romney's against it, barack obama's for it. it's called tax equity, fairness. and we're, and to make this, to get distracted by david axlerod's somewhat stumblin

we'll talk with one of his senior advisories but first, david axlerod is in chicago. welcome back to "fox news sunday." >> thanks and let me add my condolences to the others you have received. >> thank you so much. >> i want to start with what barack obama promised in 2008. >> if you don't have any fresh ideas and use stale tactics to scare voters, if you don't have a record to run on, you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. >> here is what president obama has been saying about the republican budget. >> budget so far to the right, it makes the contract with america look like the knew deal. it's an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. it is thinly veiled social darwinism. >> this from the candidate of hope and change? >> well, chris, come on, that -- to say you don't want to engage in empty scare tactics it difference than saying we'll look at the proposals on the other side and critique them that's what democracy is about. the republican budget is the wrong direction for this country. more massive tax cuts for people at the top, more c

david axlerod said this morning we're not worried. if they're spending this much money, when you're flaming, you're -- explaining, you're losing. >> i want you to respond to this. governor sununu last night. >> the problem is the president actually believes that garbage and that's what is wrong with this administration. this president, his administration and campaign is delusional. they're out there trying to convince first of all themselves that things are okay then convince the constituents. einstein had a saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. that in my opinion is a definition of incompetence. >> let me make it clear about john sununu was that was garbage. he's a hatchet man, we know that. >> he quoted einstein. >> einstein took it from bill wilson. the fact is sununu is known as a hatchet man. i want to come back to the point, in one targeted state after another and nationwide, obama is beating romney and for one reason, romney's positives are 35, negatives in the 40's, he's a

bush's brain, then david axlerod is the barack obama's homer. >> guest: his what? >> host: homer. >> guest: that's a pretty good line i wrote there. [laughter] well, he is his homer. >> host: what do you mean by that? >> guest: what i mean is david axlerod is a brilliant creator of personal stories for politicians. so when barack obama ran in twaipt, -- in twaipt, he didn't have a record to run on, because he hadn't done anything. what he did have to run on was his personal story. the son of an african, black african and a white middle-american mother. a man who sought his identity and found it, who have raised by his, these saintly grandparents and so forth and so on. this was a story, a homerric story, if you will, because homer was with known for talking about taking a trip and coming to some understanding of one's self. this was the story that david axlerod fashioned for obama to run on, a brilliant story. the problem is, in 2012 there is no such story. we've seen that story, we know that story, that's old. he can't run on that story again. and he doesn't have

when david axlerod was pressed on this yesterday, he was very quickly shifting the argument from what the president said on friday to this whole debate about the public versus the private sector. take a listen to him on cnn yesterday. >> private sector, we need to accelerate job creation in the private sector. >> right. >> one of the ways we can do that is putting teachers and can firefighters and police back to work -- >> that's the public sector. >> but that'll help accelerate the recovery. >> reporter: you can hear from that sound bite right there that david axlerod was not directly answering whether he agreed with the president that the private sector is doing just fine and instead shifted it to the public sector which is not really what the question was about. and this is where the battle is going to be joined because the romney campaign is trying to push the line that, bayically, the -- basically, the president is more focused on growing government jobs, not the private sector. megyn: ed henry, thank you. >> thank you. megyn: their position, the administration's position is that

also governor romney's campaign responding to a tweet sent outir david axlerod. take a break from the campaign cycle suspended negative ads out of respect for the victims of 9/11. earlier this afternoon axlerod tweeted, youza. hold on. he was referring to this casino mogul. he donated big to newt gingrich. now he's donating to mitt romney and the tax break axlerod says he will receive under mitt romney. romney's campaign hit back saying ... take a listen to what romney has to say to the national guardsmen. >> for 375 years, whenever your countrymen have encountered threat and danger you have willingly gone wherever the cause of freedom has called, you have answered. and as the threats to liberty emnight from distant lands you served far from home and far from family. the nation has asked much of you, much more than had been expected but you never fall toward, never wafere -- never wm your mission. i saw the guard in louisiana after it was hit by hurricane isaac. people who just finished repairing their homes from katrina, the dpraj isaac felt like too much to bea

as the trail continues to lead that way, david axlerod abandoned his position the president's people were blameless and wendell goler reports new questions about what the administration is saying to whom. >> reporter: the president's senior campaign advisor seemed less definitive than when he ruled it out. >> i can tell you the president of the united states did not leak classified information. strong signals have been sent. there are leaks out of every administration. >> axlerod left the white house in february of 2011. the controversy continued. >> it began after the killing of bin laden which the president deserves credit for but the leaks that poured out of the administration on the days and weekend following that, the agreement with sony pictures to do a film on it. >> court filings showed the c.i.a. produced more documents about cooperation with the film producers though there's no information they provided classification information. tuesday mitt romney condemned the leaks. >> this conduct is con templable. it betrays our national interest and compromises our men and women in

they talk about the book -- the reporter talks about how in may when david axlerod went to massachusettso make the case against mitt romney right as he was securing the win on the gop side to become the nominee. axlerod went there and he got booed an got into a contentious back and forth with voters. apparently they say president obama was in the west wing watching with growing disgust. calling it an ill conceived spectacle. and chastised the team we are not going to do this kind of thing again? he many right it was a dumb thing to do. anybody who has been around the game knows it's a dumb thing to do. every campaign i have been in and i have been in 8 or 9 presidential campaigns. the wheels always come off whether you are in a wing or losing campaign. these two have been together a long time. but there is no second guessing, there is no formula you pull off the wall and run the same campaign. this one is equally stressed out because they moved the campaign to chicago. you can't have a campaign in chicago when the white house and half the operatives are in washington, d.c. i think a fail

. >> president obama's senior adviser david axlerod called ryan a right wing ideology. >> to still theost stride dent voices in the republican party but should trouble middle class, seniors, students. >> alan: there were some tense moments in london when one of the city's largest recycling centers caught on fire. the fire brigade sent more than 200 firefighters to tack the blaze that could be seep throughout the city. for a time there was concern the smoke would blow toward olympic park nearby where the closing ceremonies were scheduled to take place but the fire brigade got it under control before that happened no one was injured. >> ama: members of the san francisco fire department honed their skills in a fire drill in a highrise building. it was a simulated four alarm fire on the tenth and 11th 11th floor with victims. firefighters had to take the stairs to get to the victims. commanders often threw the firefighters a curve, putting victims, played by volunteers in spots where firefighters would not expect them. >> still ahead, grand finale is in support for tonight's outside lands

he hoped it would be much more broad-based. >> guest: i guess the story from david axlerod. in the interview he had done in some newspaper story, he talked about working with harold washington, and how he and others were so excited in 1988 when they got 20% of the white vote. right. harold washington -- when most people in -- most white people identifying in chicago as democrat, and they did a lot -- almost -- not quite double but almost double what they did in 1983. and harold washington, who spent 90% of his anytime white neighborhoods trying to convince white voters to vote for him said -- i won't say it on public decision -- or c spain, ain't it a -- to be a black man in america. if you lay that aside, got up the next morning, gave a great speech, told people how great chicago was and he was ready to serve another year. and this ills 1987. unfortunately months later, i'll never forget it in november of 1988, he died of a heart attack. >> host: skip ahead a few years, carol mosely brown. she sets tout build the same type of coalition harold washington wanted and she is th

it's a good story from david axlerod, and in the interview he had done, and some newspaper story, he talked about working with harold washington, and how he and others were so excited in 1988 when they got 20 #% of the white vote; right? harold washington, when, you know, most people -- most white people identifying the city of chicago as democrat at that time, and they did almost not quite double, but almost double what they did in 1983, and harold washington who spent 90% of the time in white neighborhoods trying to convince white voters to vote for him said, and i won't say it on public television or c-span, ain't it a -- to be a black man in america. he laid that aside, got up the next morning, gave a great speech, told people how great chicago it. he was ready to serve. this is 1987. unfortunate lip, months later, i'll never forget it in november of 1988, he died of a heart attack. >> host: right. skip ahead a few years. >> guest: uh-huh. >> host: carroll mosely bronze. she sets out for the same coalition and was much more successful amongst whites. did she do that at the expens

you had supporters of mitt romney there shouting at david axlerod, a guy who is clearly in charge of the president's reelection campaign. rather than saying these are folks on the other side, axlerod -- you heard the clip, you can't handle the truth, my friends, you can't handle it. did he miss an opportunity to look like the classy guy in this situation? >> you can say that. but this is all meaningless and has no relevance to the american people and totally misses the point. people are angry. but they are not just angry at president obama. they are angry at the state of our economy that it many totally imbalanced. there is concentration of wealth. the middle class is suffering and the reality is neither side has a credible answer. not just how to stop the bleeding but to create long-term growth. both sides will engage in these trivial games, finger pointing, the reality is this is hard work. but they don't have the answers. if they don't have the answers all they can do is tear other guy down. megyn: the campaigns have put out a no bullying rule and they are trying to educate the pub

here is david axlerod. >> selling himself as an economic savior. the massachusetts record was alarmingly weak. he brought the orien takes of a financial engineer whose career has not been about generating job. it's about short-term profits. it's not about long-term growth and building for the future, but taking what he can when he can. heather: mr. axlerod constantly heckled which romney supporters during the speech. molly, first of all -- what was going none the background of david axlerod's speech? >> reporter: that's team romney trying to drown him out. the romney supporters were chanting where are the jobs? and tell the truth. and here is how david axlerod responded to them. >> you can't handle the truth, my friends. that's the problem. >> reporter: you can't handle the truth is what he's saying. what you saw there is part of the reason the romney campaign kept it on the down low that the governor was going to solyndra to prevent the obama campaign from interfering with that press conference. heather: what does this say about the future of the

david axlerod called romney a charlatan. steffey cutter the campaign manager, said he could be misrepresenting his position with bain to the sec which could be a felony. candidate obama railed against personal attacks back in 2008. >> if you don't have any fresh ideas you use stale tactic to scare voters. if you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone who people should run from. you make a big election about small things. shannon: alan colmes is host of the alan colmes radio show and "thank the liberals for saving america." and the author of "50 things liberals love to hate." shannon: alan i'll start with you. accuse something one of a fell any during a campaign, you can't take that lightly. >> stephanie cutter said either felony or lying. she didn't say he's a felon. he is lying. i was just watching the clip you were playing. i just made notes of the live stream. he repeated the lie that obama says you didn't build that. that clearly was out of context. he talked about student loans. they want

david axlerod saying after the iowa vote that mitt romney is a charleton. in his first public appearance since his near-win in iowa, rick santorum spoke about the importance of tuesday's primary vote. >> you fight to be first. you have a responsibility that comes with that. and that is to lead. not pay attention to what the polls say or what the pundits say. how many pundits were right over the last six months about what was going to happen in this race? none. serially wrong. they're worse than weathermen. so, don't trust them. trust yourself. >> an insult to bill karins right there. after a disappointing sixth place finish in the iowa caucuses, michele bachmann has announced she will drop her bid for the republican nomination. the minnesota congresswoman did not offer an endorsement for a candidate in the race, but she did say republicans must rally around whomever the party chooses. bachmann may be out but rick perry says he is staying in the fight, announcing tuesday night he would head back to texas to assess his campaign, yesterday he shocked his own s

>> david axlerod with the obama campaign. >> the person of the year is federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. he and other like minded bankers have kept the world from skidding into a deep depression. to the friends and family of the sandy hook victims, our thoughts and prayers and are love are with you. next week tune in for the 2012

>> reporter: certainly, david axlerod was on state of the union with candy crowley. let's listen to how he summed up their view of the choice of romney. >> i think it's to help further define the race. don't think it's shaken up the race because governor romney has embraced many of the positions that congressman ryan espouses, extremely as they sound. i mean he's for the trillions of dollars of tax cuts for millionaires. >> reporter: so that's just a summary of the kind of lines we're expecting to hear from the obama campaign and from president obama himself linking ryan to romney and to this idea that they're going to be serving the interests of the rich and of corporations, whereas obama and biden are going to be serving the interest of the middle class. >> athena jones in chicago, thanks so much. >>> a u.s. navy destroyer and a merchant ship collided early this morning. it happened neither strait of hormuz in the middle east. the guided missile destroyer uus porter." leaving a huge gash in its side. >>> officials in iran say rescue operations are now over after tw

david axlerod says in a conference call this week with reporters that the president didn't want the american people to see two candidates on stage insulting each other and for that reason he stayed above the fray but he needed to look for aggressive. >> stay above the fray? right after the debate, the president's campaign officials and advisories called mitt romney a liar. >> they absolutely did. and i think that's because they realized the strategy didn't work. >> let me ask you about campaign contributions. the obama campaign saying that 181 million i believe was raised in small donations. nevertheless, governor romney was able to raise more than 10 million right after that debate. what does that mean, those campaign contributions, at this point? >> the president's campaign had such a big month in september because a lot of his supporters thought he was going to win and they wanted buy in and they put up the biggest month any campaign has had in this election season. i would point out president obama had a bigger month in his fir run for office in 2008. but really, for romney, he just ener

sessions" and this sunday on "meet the press" david gregory speaks with obama campaign senior advisor david axlerod and republican senators rob portman and marco rubio. >>> and now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day, today on your nbc station. have a great weekend. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

david axlerod also wrote disappointed in hillary rosen's comments about ann romney. they were inappropriate and offensive. >>> a congressman is facing backlash after comments he made in a town hall meeting in his homestate. >> what percentage of the american legislature do you think are card-carrying marxists ? >> i believe it's about 78 to 81 members of the democratic congress party that are members of the communist party. >> but west is not backing down. his staff released a statement reading in part "the congressman was referring to the 76 members of the congressional progressive caucus. the communist party has publicly referred to the progressive caucus as its allies." outraged progressives responded with their own statement saying "allen west has denigrated the millions of americans who voted to elect congressional progressive caucus members, when people like representative west have no ideals or principles, they rely on personal attacks. we will not engage in base and child iish conversations that lower the high level of discourse americans rightly expect from

and i think everyone that watched david axlerod squirm, and candy is not exactly a hostile host, sawreal lack of preparedness. this campaign is demonstrating they believe they can skate through with this election. megyn: you saw her pressing him. everything he named was something they tried to pass and couldn't. she wanted him to get specific. how will the agenda get through. how will it change next time around. did you hear an answer to that? >> the reason candy crowley is hosting and has been selected by the debate commission to be the first woman to moderate a presidential debate, although may gain want to be the first to say i thought you perhaps could have been the first woman to host a debate. >> that's something we both agree on. >> kevin, you can have your time. listen, kevin and i worked in this format. we know it's difficult to rat the off every single solution the president is going to put forward. we have to talk in sort of generalities here. but anybody who watched the president's convention speech and heard him lay out a specific plan for what he hopes to accomplish in

few weeks, look, we're not doing what you think we're doing, and i see before me the picture of david axlerodning. . >> as soon as he was on the air, how could we be doing this to catholics. the denial of the reality is there every day, including at today's conference. >> press conference. >> conference call and listen to a representation of the administration saying, we planned this all along, this day, this compromise in the face of all truth. this has nothing to do with what happened to us in the last-- >> directly contradicting the crazyiest conference call that they gave when the rule had been made. >> let's talk about the politics, is this going to solve the political problem for the administration with catholics? >> here it is, as catholics who were inclined to say, okay, let's accept this, but there is a bitterness about this moment that i think is permanent and enduring, because you cannot say to people we are not doing this to you and go ahead and do it. the fact that there's this tone, we can tell what you we're going to say two and two equals five and believe in our ideological bu

. >> for more with the senior campaign advisor, david axlerod and ed gillespie, "fox news sunday" is the place to be at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern time right here. >>> millions of americans suffer from eating disorders. the impact that it has on them and their loved ones can be awful. we're going to discuss how to cope with that coming up. >>> we're also taking your questions on this right now. all you have to do is go to foxnews.com/"sunday house call" and join our live chat. they've gone high-tech. we may answer your question on the air. we'll be right back.

david axlerod called out again charles and david koch.as quote contract killers for turning super pacs hat run ads attacking the president. >> we are going to be prepared to respond to the attacks we expect to continue from not just from around the campaign, but from, you know, the koch brothers killers and carr and super pacs that will continue to pound away on behalf of governor romney. we'll respond vigorously. we'll treat every ad that comes from those entities as an ad from governor romney. we'll compare our record and vision with his and let the american people decide. megyn: the koch brothers have emerged as a favorite tarring is of the 2010 campaign. they were accused of not paying their taxes and an ad was launched that went squarely after the koch brothers. we had you on the last time to talk about the last attack against your employers and the obama campaign does not seem deterred. why is this a problem? >> i think every american should be concerned about it, because it's inexcusable to have someone like david axlerod. we are n

the president leads by 50 points and their idea is in colorado and nevada, a state which david axlerod said they would definitely win and a large latino vote in central florida, which is, when i was in the convention, tampa, the puerto ricans, not cuban americans, they want to draw the vote out. they know they're getting clobbered among white voters and this is about 36%. it's interesting that he's going to those states where there is heavy latino populations. they have to make sure that those people who are for obama come out and vote for him. >> fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin. we thank you as always. brian, campaign event cancelled last week by the omagh bama campaign is rescheduled for saturday in prince williams, virginia. >> you heard the race for the virginia u.s. senate seat has polls showing tim kaine holding a slim lead over republican challenger george allen, 50-46 and that lead is smaller than it was six weeks ago. today, cane joined anchor allison seymour to discuss the race as it entered the final stretch and this is a portion. >> reporter: with five days to go now,

. >> owe bomb me's campaign senior advisor, david axlerod, had a different view of the situation in iraq. >> there's a tremendous disquiet in iran. their currency has dropped in value by 50%. their oil business has dropped by 50%. there's resttiveness in the political environment there and they're feeling the heat. that's what the sanctions were meant to do. remember, when he came to office we were isolated on our position on iran and in the world and today the world is unified against iran with us all because of the leadership of this president. >> and we're getting some new details this morning about the confusion within the obama administration following the attack on the u.s. consulate in benz, libya, that killed four americans. "the wall street journal" reports that cia told president obama for more than a week after the attack that the assault was the result of a spontaneous protest. that's from the cia. according to the president's brief, they say it was not adjusted until the 22nd. they disputed the accuracy of the cia's initial finding. the romney campaign has been critical of t

the obama campaign top strat jit david axlerod opened a second front on the economic record but romney supporters didn't buy it yesterday. >>> it's new this morning a report says more college graduates are finding jobs than in recent years and coming are coming to maryland for cyber security job. a student who lives in texas says he is moving to maryland to find a job. a federal report sha's the short -- shall says the shortage of experts is severe. >> cyber hacking has been around since the early 90s. it's now that ten years, 20 years later he, that the government -- later, that the government and large organizations are coming to terms with that. >> economist say it's not just the government ram upping up cyber security at&t hired a dozen. they are driving universities to develop new curriculum. >>> rg steele filed bankruptcy just one week after sparrows plant went off line. laying off 2,000 people. the company was formed last march out of a family owned operation that goes back to 1975. rgly theed -- listed more than -- rg listed more than 1,000 in assets and liabilities. >>> the su