let's turn to bob shrum, democratic strategist and professor at nyu, and i want to preface my comments to you, bob, in the last segment that we ran, showing mitt romney with those folks from pennsylvania, they were hand-picked republicans sitting at the picnic table with mitt romney. and i think we just saw a real contrast here. do you think the obama team is hoping that mitt goes out and does more of that stuff? >> well, he's going to have to try, because he has to find some way to connect with people. but he's very bad when he's spontaneous. you know, i watched that segment and he looked like a man who was visiting another planet. one where there was no general motors, which there wouldn't have been if he'd had his way. he couldn't even empathize with those people, let alone give them answer. someone would say, the arts budget is being cut in school, and he'd say, yeah, and scratch his arm or scratch his face. he just doesn't relate to people. you look at the president, he's in his groove, he's out there campaigning, he knows what he wants to say. he knows what his fundamental messag

>> this hearing is about an attack. >> joining me now, bob shrum, democratic strategist and professor at new york university. you know, the republicans, bob, have been so far off the mark on this, and they're actually rooting against economic success in an industry. professor, there has to be a lecture there somewhere. >> well, look, there's a reality. and the reality is, you're right. they want the economy to go down. they want jobs to be destroyed. look, mitt romney took the position that we should let general motors go bankrupt. if that had happened, there'd be no volt, no jobs, no gm, because there was no financing available without a government bailout. that, by the way, is why mitt romney has no chance of carrying michigan in november. you're also right that this issue is a symbol of something bigger. these folks hate the government. they hate the government, whether it's a government that saves us from depression or a government program like medicare. so you have romney who wouldn't have saved general motors, now endorsing a plan to privatize, voucherize, and destroy medicare.

let's turn to bob shrum, democratic strategist and also professor at nyu. bob, what's your reaction to this? why is he going down this road? he knows it's not true? >> well, first of all, ed, i've got to say, i know why sarah palin's for him for vice president, because he'll make her look like she was qualified for the job. look, in his view, his folks are members of the communist party, because they're for the medicare guarantee, which republicans are trying end to. they're for tax fairness, the progressive income tax, which of course was promoted in this country by that great communist leader, theodore roosevelt. look, these folks have a vocabulary of lies and smears. he's just the outlier, the wha canko, the extreme edge of it. if you think rationing in the health reform bill, which never existed. you think of west himself saying that democrats are vile, vicious socialists before he escalated to calling them communists, there's a playbook here. the playbook is they can't win on the substance. they have to label democrats. he makes the tactics transparent

bob shrum with us tonight here on "the ed show."

. >> bob shrum, cynthia tucker, thank you for your time ahead. >> thank you. >> rocker ted nugent goesg about president obama. my response is coming. it's very important to understand how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing mor

bob shrum with us tonight here on "the ed show." and before we go, this just in. this is the george zimmerman mug shot. this was just released by the seminole county sheriff. it is the picture trayvon martin's family has been waiting for. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz, the "rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. and congratulations on your book. i'm hearing great news, number one "new york times" best seller. >> we just heard, it's the second week at number one, which just blows my mind. really nice of you to say. >> congratulations. you bet. >> thanks, ed. and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. this is one of those days whereç there's simultaneously a lot going on in the news of politics, but there's also a lot going on in the news about just news. now, we have not covered the twists and turns of the trayvon martin shooting case in sanford, florida, as closely as have many of the other shows on this network. but today is the day when whether or not you have been following this story closely, today is the day that this stor

washington bureau chief, susan page, bob shrum, and jp fare, senior communication strategist. great to see you all. susan, i want to start with you. mitt romney is conveying this me versus the president message. a strong speech gave way to other things. look at this. >> the democratic party has done an effective job to try to mischaracterize our views. i think in the final analysis i will win by having support of men and women. my wife has the occasion as you know to campaign on her own and also with me, and she reports to me regularly that the issue women care about most is the economy. >> the economy, susan, very important issue, not the only issue for women in america. how hard is it for romney to close the gap we saw in your wing state poll? >> i think it is a huge task. he's now lagging, president obama, 18 points among women. there are not enough men in america to elect you if you have that kind of deficit among women. has he to focus on the economy and probably has to mend fences with women when it comes to some of the women's health issues that have been controversial

>>ing in 1994 you and bob shrum managed to defeat mitt romney by ted kennedy defeating romney in the senate race by using in that campaign, as well. >> in that race, andrea, noncollege chabed working women in the polling were the target group. and we really focused on then them. one line of attack were layoffs of women like them working women in places like marion, indiana. the second was his record at bain with the 40 top managers hired, only one was a woman. >> republicans are using the layoffs of women the way they compute the recession layoffs during the obama tenure to take a counterattack against the president. >> that's a pretty grossly misleading figure considering the fact that this country was losing 750,000 jobs a month when he was sworn into office. he's got a strong case to make with women on his policies on the advance that is this economy has made under his leadership, 4 million jobs created in the last two years. as long as he makes the case strongly and contrasts his position with romney on issues that women care about -- >> where is the president vulnerable? >> well