bob shrum and michael steele weigh in on that next.nd president obama stressed the importance of education in las vegas. he did that today with another excellent speech. former nfl star warren sap discusses the impact of public education in his new book, and he will join me later in the show. what did it mean to him? share your thoughts on facebook and on twitter using #edshow. we're coming right back. - one serving of cheese is the size of four dice. one serving of cereal, a baseball. and one serving of fruit, a tennis ball. - you know, both parties agree. our kids can be healthier... the more you know. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." congressman todd akin should be the hero of the republican party. but they're pretending that he isn't. at least until the election is over in november. look, there is no doubt his fellow republicans will warmly embrace this guy if he wins. and he may be taking friendly fire right now, but he's just the kind of staunch conservative right-wing zealots are looking for. they want to guy who is not going

michael steele, bob shrum, with the commentary with me next. stay with us. we'll be right back. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? experience thehas your ticket pressure-relieving comfort of tempur-pedic, and sleep risk-free with sleep train's 100-day money back guarantee. get 36 months interest-free financing: no down, and no interest for 3 years. plus, get free same-day delivery. sleep train's 100-day money back guarantee, interest-free financing, and free delivery? that's the ticket! sleep train's ticket to tempur-pedic is on now. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ >>> coming up, the republican party supports todd akin's stance on abortion, so why

michael steele, bob shrum, with the commentary with me next. stay with us. we'll be right back. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? >>> coming up, the republican party supports todd akin's stance on abortion, so why are they running from him? why don't they support the guy? bob shrum, michael steele weigh in on that next. >>> and president obama stressed importance of education in las vegas. he did that today with another excellent speech. former nfl star warren sapp discusses the impact of public education in his new book and he will join me later in the show. what does it mean to him? share your thoughts on facebook and on twitter using the hash tagg ed show. we'll comin

bob shrum on the power of palin. that's next. >>> and the obama campaign continues its push to open up early voting for all folks in ohio. now some military groups are joining the fight. i think they're wrong at it. ohio congresswoman betty sutton will join me for the conversation. >> and it could be mitt romney's biggest lie yet. a new romney campaign ad claims the president is gutting welfare? we'll have the facts later. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter. using the hash tag "ed show." >>> we all know dick cheney does not apologize. he hasn't apologized for iraq, for warrantless wire tapping, for torture. in fact, when cheney shot his friend in the face, the friend apologized to him. but now, the former vice president is getting about as close to an apology as he could ever get. and walking back comments he made about sarah palin. the controversy erupted last week when cheney said putting palin on the 2008 republican ticket was a mistake. >> i like governor palin. i've met her, i know her. she's

bob shrum on the power of palin.hat's next. >>> and the obama campaign continues its push to open up early voting for all folks in ohio. now some military groups are joining the fight. i think they're wrong at it. ohio congresswoman betty sutton will join me for the conversation. >> and it could be mitt romney's biggest lie yet. a new romney campaign ad claims the president is gutting welfare? we'll have the facts later. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter. using the hash tag "ed show." we're coming right back. this is the plan for back to school. introducing share everything, only from verizon. a shareable pool of data to power up to 10 different devices. add multiple smartphones to your plan, so everyone in your family can enjoy unlimited talk and text. the first plan of its kind. share everything. get your student a samsung galaxy nexus for $99.99. >>> we all know dick cheney does not apologize. he hasn't apologized for iraq, for warrantless wire tapping, for torture. in fact, when cheney shot h

bob shrum on the power of palin. that's next. >>> and the obama campaign continues its push to open up early voting for all folks in ohio. now some military groups are joining the fight. i think they're wrong at it. betty sutton will join me for the conversation. >> and it could be mitt romney's biggest lie yet. a new romney campaign ad claims the president is gutting welfare? we'll have the facts later. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter. using the hash tag "edshow." we're coming right back. the ver. it's not an olympic sport, but it takes real effort and it takes a diaper that fits their every move. pampers cruisers with 3-way fit adapt at the waist, legs, and bottom for up to 12 hours of protection and all the freedom to play like a real champion. pampers. proud supporter of babies' play. ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. >>> we all know dick cheney does not apologize. he hasn't apologized for iraq, for waurnltless wire ta

thank you, bob shrum and john heilemann. >>> coming up, ryan's hope. the latest buzz is that paul ryan really does have a chance to be named mitt romney's number two. conservatives hunger for him. but can mitt really pick a guy who wants to replace medicare with a means-tested voucher system and bumps the cost of health care it's retirees? that's going to sell. >>> also the hostile tea party takeover of the gop gained more momentum last night. the house is already occupied territory by the tea party. now the senate may be about to fall to them. the republican party is going through a metamorphosis to the hard right. and to paraphrase jim croce, you don't tug on superman's cape, you don't spit into the wind and you don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger. and you don't mess around with bill. bill clinton, that is. the romney campaign's dishonest ad about welfare reform has stirred the big dog into action just weeks before the democratic contention. that's a bad move, and i love it. i love that bill's coming into this thing. >>> finally cherks this

bob shrum weighs in on that. stay tuned. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide. so when you call or visit, you can ask for a name you know. because personal service starts with a real person. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our support teams are nearby, ready to help. it's no wonder so many investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. now some military groups are joining the fight. i think they're wrong at it. betty sutton will join me for the conversation. >> and it could be mitt romney's biggest lie yet. a n

some of the things he's been hit over in this campaign, bob shrum was hammering him on in 1994. so you would have thought by now he would have come up with better answers. >> and i think it's an excellent point, bob. because if you have a competent staff at all and if you yourself -- if you're a competent candidate as cynthia said, you at least remember what you got hammered on before. you don't have to even figure this out. this is some of the vulnerabilities you brought into the race. and it's hurting him. look at the fact that he is now even having a problem with independents and men. which he was showing some strength when we look at the cnn poll, among independents the president is now ahead of romney by 11 points. 53 to 42. among men he's ahead by six points. 51 to 45. where romney was showing strength in these two areas not long ago. >> yeah, look. the obama campaign -- and cynthia's right about the presidt knowing how to throw a sharp elbow. the obama campaign took heat at the beginning when they set out to define romney. they didn't pay attention to the heat or critics i

thank you bob shrum and steve moore. you had a good shot on the show, steve. don't knock it. >>> hot tea. tea party candidates are winning races. the behavior in the house will now be followed by the behavior in the senate. oh, boy. not so fast. could these guys cause more trouble for the republicans than for the democrats? that's my question tonight. the tea party is just trouble. >>> plus, one right-winger out there is going after another right-winger. frank gaffney is going after grover norquist saying he's a member of the muslim brotherhood or working for them. what is going on in the right? should we just sit back and watch the joyous craziness on that side of the world. >>> speaking of right wing extremists, richard murdoch says his idea of compromise is having the other side cave into him. that's how tea partiers think. joe donnelly is even in the polls with murdoch and donnelly comes here tonight to play "hardball." >>> finally, should english become america's language that you have to be able to speak fluently before you become a citizen? it's never b

michael steele and bob shrum, thank you. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. romney's spokesman and ari melber debate the trip next. [ male announcer ] we did a febreze experiment with the azerbaijani wrestling team. ♪ can febreze air effects defeat the smelly air in their gym for good? [ man ] what can you smell? [ inhales deeply ] a lot of flowers. it's on the zingy side of floral. potpourri factory, maybe. you can take off your blindfolds now. oh my gosh. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] success. victory over odors, for good, both here and in your home. febreze. breathe happy. has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call. and it looks pretty serious. sle

michael steele and bob shrum. i want to start with shrum. mitt romney finally admitting he's running on the paul ryan plan. last night he told a green bay station his plan and ryan's are the same. let's watch. >> paul ryan and my plan for medicare, i think is the same. if not identical, it's probably close to identical. >> shrummy, i think what we're seeing here is the same kind of evolution on the ticket we saw with w and cheney where the vp set the pace because the vp has deep convictions like cheney did and w didn't have them. here we have setting the tune for his new partner romney. tell me what you think about what's going on, the identical nature of their health care plans. the far out right wing position that ryan takes on abortion basically criminalizing it saying it's a person you just killed. >> listen. politic's a vacuum and he's running a campaign that's designed to be a referendum on the economy. if republicans could gum up the worst in the house, things are bad. blame the president vote for me. when he picked ryan, that gave it

thank you, bob shrum and john heilemann. >>> coming up, ryan's hope. the latest buzz that paul ryan does have a chance to be named mitt romney's number two. can he really pick a guy who wants to replace medicare with a voucher system and bumps the cost of health care to the retirees? that's going to sell. >>> also the hostile tea party takeover. the gop gained more last night. now the senate may be about to fall to them. republican party is going through a met mamorphosi moamor telelight. >>> and you don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger. and you don't mess around with bill. bill clinton, that is. the romney campaign's dishonest ad about welfare reform has stirred the big dog into action just weeks before the democratic convention. i love it. i love that bill's coming into this thing. >>> and is mitt romney trying to take the words out of this guy's mouth so he could do a better job of pandering to him? look at this. the answer in the sideshow. this is "hardball," the place for politics. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yea

michael steele and bob shrum, thank you. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. romney's spokesman and airy melber debate the trip next. choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. [ "human" by the human league playing ] humans. we mean well, but we're imperfect creatures living in a beautifully imperfect world. it's amazing we've made it this far. maybe it's because when one of us messes up, someone else comes along to help out. that's the thing about humans. when things are at their worst, we're at our best. see how at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility.

michael steele and bob shrum, thanks so much for your time tonight. remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen and share your thoughts on twitter and facebook. we want to know what you think. >>> coming up, mitt romney's european vacation was either a disaster or a strong conservative statement depending on your point of view. former romney spokesman richard grenell and ari melber debate the trip, next. [ male announcer ] it seems like every company has a facebook page these days. but where's the relationship status? well, esurance is now in a relationship...with allstate. and it looks pretty serious. esurance. click or call. metamucil uses super hardworking psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model, but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. >>> coming up, the final word of romney's overseas adventure. p ari melber and richard degree nell. >>> a texas tea partier thanks sarah palin, sean hannity and glenn beck in his victory s

bob shrum, sometimes the day-to-day tactics get confused with the strategy. isn't this guy running against health care, trying to deny his own past with health care that you were involved fighting him on, and now his spokesman out there saying, yeah, but let's not forget, he had health care, the same health care plan, by the way, he wanted the whole country to model itself after. here we go. bob shrum. >> well, he doesn't have any strategy or any particular vision. they wanted this to be a one-dimensional referendum. if you're kind of unhappy with the economy, then give me a try. so you're going to get all sorts of things like this. they're not ready. they had 18 years to get ready for the bain attacks that crushed romney when he ran against ted kennedy. they could have straightened out his finances, made sure i paid tax taxes. closed swiss bank accounts. they didn't do it. >> don't go over the whole list of all his problems p i think we've got here the most severe problem of his campaign. he is running as the former moderate governor of massachusetts. preten

republican party's choice clear, president obama's campaign goes back to the future, stealing a page from bob shrum call on him to do with what his own father did, releasing multiple years of personal tax returns. >> i think bain is the beginning of a narrative. bain will be around for the whole campaign, so i think it's the foundation, and that narrative will tie together by the end of this campaign if romney doesn't find an effective answer to this, he will come across as the candidate of the few, by the few, and for the few. >> his wealth and his success in a year where these are all issues that people are talking about, you know, have the possibility at some dimensions to, you know, make him a caricature of himself. he'll have to offer a pork hopeful vision for the future of the country. which he has the capacity to do. >> through the dissidence, the romney campaign fights to get out its message. >> you put yourself out there, you describe what you believe, hopefully people sort through the chaff thrown by the opposition and they getton what's the core of the person running for office. i hope t

congressman chaka fattah and bob shrum, thank you. >> that's what he said about ryan's medical plan. >>> coming up, paul ryan may want you to think he's a deficit hawk, but once upon a time he was a chicken hawk. caving in to every republican budget bashing bill that showed up on the house floor. but ryan's radical ideas go way beyond the budget. >> planned parenthood, i'm not for federal funding of abortions. the dream act, it's two wrongs making a right. >> he's gone to extremes on women's issues, immigration, and civil rights. we're exposing the entire ryan record. >>> and summer break hits an ohio county fair. but watch out. this gator's going rogue. you're watching "politicsnation" on msnbc. >>> folks, have you checked us out on facebook? the "politicsnation" conversation is going all day long. today our fans had a lot to say about the new v.p. pick paul ryan. donald thinks this will make the campaign interesting. quote, let's see how ryan sells his medicare plan to seniors. shawn writes with the ryan pick, mitt just doubled down on romney-hood. and the favorite photo of this da

. >> cordes: bob shrum i want to bring you into this.n't it be wrong for democratdemocrats to underestiml ryan? he's a pretty tough debater, and a match-up, head to head between him and vice president biden would be pretty interesting to watch. >> yeah, i think that's right. first, nancy, by the way, i should say i've joined david up from at "newsweek" and the "daily beast." i just need to correct that. secondly, i think he will be effective in a debate, and i think people will watch with fascination to see how he does against vice president biden. but the big story here for me is every time we go through one of these vice presidential selection, we come up with a new rule. i mean, after sarah palin, the new rule is you gotta make sure your selection, the person you're picking, knows what they're talking about on foreign policy. i think the rule we're going to come up with after this one is never pick a man with a plan. ( laughter ) because in guy-- this guy is going to become front and center in this campaign. it's almost going to be th

to assess the politics tonight, bob shrum. gentlemen, i'm talking about this decision.bama campaign is taking this new study that's just come out showing a romney style plan. helps the rich at the expense of the poor. and they're running with it. this bar graph you're looking at right now shows how various income bracts are affected. and clearly the poor get hurt and the rich gethelped. today the obama campaign made this. the center piece of a new ad that will air in eight swing states. let's watch it. >> you work hard. stretch ever penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. mitt romney made $20 million in 2010. but paid only 14% in taxes. probably less than you. now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break and raises taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a ye

bob shrum and michael steele are here with their reaction. >>> today, the obama care birth control mandatein full effect and republicans are overreacting. >> i know in your mind you can think of the times when america was attacked. one was december 7th, pearl harbor. the other is september 11th. i want you to remember august 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. >> the panel weighs in on a new era in women's health. >>> and d.l. hughley's new book is causing a stir. he joins me live tonight. governor mitt romney's tax plan went to that strange foreign land called independent analysis and came back looking like a loser. unfortunately for mr. romney, the truth is out. his tax plan would slash taxes for the very rich and raise taxes on the poor and middle class. the independent study by the tax policy center bent over backwards to view romney's plan in a favorable light, but concluded that the net effect of romney's plan would be this. millionaires would get an $87,000 tax cut, but 95% of americans would suffer a $500 tax increase on average. it could be worse for families. the stud

joining me now is bob shrum, democratic strategist who ran senator kennedy's campaign against romneynd patrick murphy, democratic house candidate from florida who is running against republican congressman alan west. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you, reverend. >> bob, joe biden is heading to florida next week. what do you make of this aggressive strategy? >> i think it is a -- they have been aggressive all along. i don't want to give me self credit but i wrote in the daily beast romney lost the summer and obama had won the summer. they won it by being aggressive and destroyed the central rationale of the romney candidacy, a business value could create jobs. now they are going to move on to medicare and ryan nomination gives them a huge opening to talk about that. i think what you are going to see from vice president biden, who, by the way, is a big as net florida. the republicans last week had this fake campaign to try to say that the president wanted to replace him which is totally untrue. he is a big asset in pennsylvania and florida. he will talk about the two big lies t

to assess the politics tonight, a war unto himself, bob shrum a democratic strategist and steve moore journal". gentlemen, i'm talking about this decision. the obama campaign is taking this new study that's just come out showing a romney style plan, helps the rich at the expense of the poor. and they're running with it. this bar graph you're looking at right now shows how various income brackets are affected. and clearly the poor get hurt and the rich get helped. today the obama campaign made this the centerpiece of a new ad that will air in eight swing states. let's watch it. >> you work hard, stretch every penny. but chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. mitt romney made $20 million in 2010 but paid only 14% in taxes. probably less than you. now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break and raises taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year. mitt romney's middle class tax increase. he pays less, you pay more.

with me are bob shrum and michael steele. i want to start with you, michael because you're always a stra straight shooter around here. is cold feet too cold a term to tough a term for the feeling some are having about ryan with his difficult budget to sell? >> i don't think it's so much cold as it is nervous. i think that as the dust has settled on this and particularly those down ballot congressional races, we're only talking about 25-seat change in the house. when half are close to half of these seats may be in districts that are too close to call for some republicans, if it becomes a major concern, now that as you already noted, the conversation had shifted away from even you know, taxes and tax returns and the like to okay, let's talk about the specifics of your budget cht let's talk about the specifics of medicare and i've begun to hear a little bit of that rumbling among republicans. are a little nervous about it. >> politico's story today was headlines gop pros fred over paul ryan reports. quote, away from the cameras

bob shrum and michael steele are here with reaction. >>> today, the obamacare birth control mandate ist say the republicans are overreacting. >> i know in your mind you can think of the times when america was attacked. one was december 7th, pearl harbor. the other is september 11th. that's the day of the terrorist attack. i want you to remember august 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. that is a date that will live in infamy. >> the panel weighs in on a new era in women's health. >> and comedian d.l. huguely's new book on politics is quite a stir. >> it's provocative. >> the great d.l. huguely joins me live tonight. >>> governor mitt romney's tax plan went to that strange foreign land called independent analysis and came back looking like a loser. unfortunately for mr. romney, the truth is out. his tax plan would slash taxes for the very rich and raise taxes on the poor and middle class. the independent study by the tax policy center bent over backwards to view romney's plan in a favorable light but concluded that the net effect of romney's plan would be this -- millionair

with me now, michael steele and long time democratic strategist bob shrum. want to start with shrum. last night, he told a green bay station that when it comes to medicare, his plan and ryan's are the same. let's watch. >> paul ryan and my plan for medicare i think is the same. if not identical. it's probably close to identical. >> i think what we're seeing here is the same kind of evolution on the ticket we saw with w. and cheny. here we have a right wing social engineer as mitt romney calls him basically setting the tune. tell you what you think about what's going on. the identical nature of their health care plans. the far out right wing position ryan takes on abortion basically criminalizing it by saying t ii a person you just killed. >> romney was running remarkably contentless campaign designed to be just a referendum on the economy. if the republicans could gum up the works in the house, things were bad, blame the president, vote for me. so when he picked ryan, that gave it content and they've been all over the lot the last few days. first they said a

. >> democratic strategist bob shrum will weigh in on the power of palin. >> another day, another lie from the romney campaign. this time, it's about welfare. msnbc's jonathan alter is here with reaction. >>> governor, what did you buy? >> and mitt romney lets his true colors shine with another out of touch moment. you won't believe what the unemployed millionaire picked up at the hardware store. good to have you with us. thanks for watching. in this election cycle, every day is tax day in the 2012 presidential campaign. even when the conversation isn't about mitt romney's personal tax returns, it's about his tax policies. >> he'd ask the middle class to pay more in taxes so he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than $3 million a year. it's like robin hood in reverse. it's romney hood. >> the president's latest nickname for his opponent has the right wingers throwing absolute fits. they're trying to defend mitt romney by calling robin hood a tea party member. >> robin hood was stealing from the government. robin hood was a tea party activist. robin hood was anti