a fiscal conservative would not have made those votes disturb the bush/cheney area, but mr. obama area, mr. ryan is now pushing a button that keeps the bush tax cuts, again, whether or not you like the bush tax cuts, they are not a fiscally conservative thing. they were not paid for, they were just larded on to the deficit. he keeps those budget-busting bush tax cuts whole, and then he adds on to them, more than $4 trillion more in tax cuts that hugely, disproportionately, go to the richest people in this country. hundreds of thousands of dollars going to every millionaire in the country. that's expensive. how does he pay for it? he does not say. he says, that's not his call to make. you may agree with that or you may disagree with that. but the point is, it should not be called fiscally conservative. it is something else. in fact, it is something else very specific. that congressman paul ryan, until recently, was very, very happy to talk about. >> the reason i got involved in public service, by and large, if i had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be ayn rand. it's

back in two thousand after the bush cheney election and there was a dramatic acceleration in drilling activity both had received large contributions from oil and gas interests and the vice president had been the chief executive of how a major player in the drilling industry. the dates of birth growing economy also means expanding our domestic production of oil and natural gas which are by. i don't feel for transportation electricity in manufacturing whatever our hopes for developing alternative sources and for conserving energy and that's part of our plan the reality is the loss of fuel supply virtually one hundred percent of our transportation needs many democrats fought the bush cheney energy policy they felt they were shut out of the process of developing the nation's approach to energy this administration is a gas and oil administration frankly and so they're they're wedded to an old policy they're wedded to a twentieth century policy when we need a twenty first century policy you have the bush administration you have to all men at the very top and they aren't sympathetic they're

one raised about a quarter of a billion dollars for the bush- cheney campaign. the 1980's, they had bailed out george w. bush and his will ventures, dewitt and reynolds had. this company started off as a legitimate high-tech company in chattanooga during the dot-com boomed. it later reform under a different name and different ownership, but by then it had become a political operation. this was a highly, highly partisan republican high-tech company. its biggest clients included the bush-cheney campaign, jeb bush, republican national committee, streamed live the convention -- the republican convention. somehow or other in 2004, in the state of ohio, which was the single most crucial state in the electoral college, when it came to the actual voting, the secretary of state of ohio, a guy named ken blackwell, and the secretary of state's job is to tell-part is to ensure fair, nonpartisan elections -- happened to the co-chair of the bush campaign. there is no conflict there. he gave a contract to host the film oversight for the republican the last brother for the vote

in two thousand and four the bush cheney administration's environmental protection agency asserted that fracturing does not threaten drinking water this was childish by a thirty year e.p.a. environmental engineer weston wilson acting under protected whistleblower status the former chairman c.e.o. of halliburton dick cheney within a few months of coming into office and as vice president he was pressuring the administrator of. christie todd whitman to exempt hydraulic fracking from safe drinking water act regulations my own point of view as a technician. i just thought it very alarming that he be a technically had described how toxic these materials are toxic at the point of injection and still come out with a summary that says they don't need to be reported or regulated. and that led me in the fall of zero four to object on technical grounds then the inspector general of e.p.a. began an investigation of my complaints. and several months into that congress took the report from e.p.a. saying that fracking did not present a risk. along with other information and exempted hydraulic fracking

bush or dick cheney had done this.onize a certain industry, that is in this case, private equity. and you suggest that it has led to the murder of some people. and then behind the closed doors, in the white house, you are having meetings with private equity firms to take over a refinery in a key swing state, because you are worried about job loss and you get a secret deal passed and then all of a sudden the epa gets a phone call. they agree to relax the environmental regulations. if it happened under bush/cheney people would have said it sounds like them. this was president obama crew from the white house in "wall street journal" yesterday and reported in the "washington post" and elsewhere. this is a big deal. >> eric: this is a big f'ing deal if you want to take biden's word. croppny capitalism, crony socialism. total political hypocrisy. three pend refinery, suvenoco refinery that they got private equity. by the way, obama not only demonized private equity, he demonized the oil companies. he takes two industry that

. >> and then just quickly, bush/cheney.ber the time when we all knew that cheney was on the search committee and lo and behold became the vice presidential pick himself. there was a cry at that time, too. >> i don't think cheney really brought a lot of votes necessarily for george w. bush. but he was a very, very powerful vice president. that line you opened up with about a warm bucket of spit or whatever, you know what, if you look at some of the recent vice presidents, including joe biden right now, he's playing a very, very influential role, al gore as bill clinton's vice president, very influential role, and whether you like dick cheney or not, he was extremely important during the eight years of the bush administrations. so i don't accept that warm bucket of spit stuff. >> in case anybody is wondering, wolf, and i was actually, i remember the quote but i couldn't remember who said it. the quote mentioned at the beginning of the segment, that was john nance garner, the guy known as cactus jack. fdr. >> right. and maybe

last time a sitting president was running for re-election, you were on the operative side on the bush-cheney about the challenge you saw sitting in where the obama folks are sitting, dealing with the opposition convention and the advantage of having -- being able to go second. >> well, i think that when you go second, the other team, the other side has telegraphed everything that they're -- >> their whole message is out there. >> yeah. and you know exactly where they're coming from. it's like in football. if you get to watch all the plays beforehand and know where to go. but at the end of the day, we know what the arguments are going to be on each side. there's no surprise really. we've been having -- and the campaign didn't just start this week. this has been going on for a long time. >> sure. >> and so, you know, some of this media aspect is starting this week and the final push will start now. but there are really no revelations at this point in politics. and i think that both sides are already engageding on a lot of the issues that are going to be critical as we move forward. >> right. >

with us from washington, msnbc contributor, former bush cheney adviser, robert traynham. republican strategist, terry holt and brendan daley. thanks so much for being with me. so, robert, i want to start with you. i thought it pretty astounding that mitt romney did not seem ready to answer what is probably the the most obvious follow-up question, which is how is your budget different than ryan's? why did that take him by surprise? >> i'm not sure it took him by surprise, but there was an answer. he intimated look, i'm the guy running for president. i'm at the top of the ticket. of course we're going to have differences because in a legislature, i was an executive and you know what? that's okay because we're two different people and have two different offices. if you look four years ago when barack obama chose vice president or then senator biden, there were differences between those two. there's nothing wrong with differences and when you take a listen to what mitt romney has said, consistently, it says this is my number two, these are my issues and these are my policies.

with bush and cheney you had two individuals who constantly reminded us we were at war, who constantlystan conflict and the iraqi conflict in context. we had the surge. it was part of our psyche because the administration forced it into our psyche. i'm not sure the obama administration does that in the same way the bush and cheney administration did. >> jim, i want to go back to you. how about that? obviously there's a big difference between what the secretary of defense says and he has regular appearances anyway, versus that sort of presidential level focus. what do you make of that? >> you know, we have to go back and review the history of this, too. you'll remember that afghanistan was largely ignored as the bush administration turns its attention to iraq, even senior military leaders said the kind of resources and attention was not paid to afghanistan while the u.s. was waging war in iraq, and it was only until after the end of the war, u.s. involvement in the war in iraq, that the focus was shifted and president obama surged additional forces, much to the chagrin of many of his co

simultaneous war we were in at the time we still aren't out of, the war in afghanistan, the other bush/cheneyhas become the obama war, is still very much under way. five so-called green on blue attacks where uniformed afghan security forces fired on coalition troops who are training them or otherwise working with them. two of the attacks were today. at least seven americans have bing killed just in the last week by uniformed afghan service members we're supposedly working alongside. and this appears to be part of a trend in afghanistan right now. a bad trend. by the associated press's count, there were five coalition troops killed in 2009, five in 2010, last year, it was up to laesk, and this year, which is not over, there have already been 34 coalition troop deaths in green on blue, or insider attacks in afghanistan. nbc news has learned today that in response to the attacks by afghan security forces on americans, all u.s. military personnel in afghanistan have been ordered to have a fully loaded magazine in their weapons at all times. no matter what else they're doing. the army has also ord

as counsel to the bush-cheney presidential campaign he played a central role in the 2000 florida recount if romney become president he would obviously play an important role in the administration. i am pleased to have him here to talk about many issues, including the candidate, welcome. >> thank you, charlie. >> rose: it's good to see you. one magazine described you as one of the most important and powerful people that were not well known in washington. if i were you, i'd take great credit for na. >> i was flattered by tile may question the accuracy a little. >> rose: of least known or more powerful. >> more powerful. >> rose: you worked for mitt romney 2008. you worked for him in 2012, this campaign. how is he different today? >> you know, i think he's learned from the experience, as anyone would, but especially somebody like mitt romney who spent his career kind of analyzing situations and succeeding in them. and so i think any one of us is better a second time around having learned from the experience, even television interviewers, perhaps. >> rose: the thing that hangs over himarchs

it's bush/cheney 2.d him. >> and i saw bolton yesterday at the convention center. i saw the mustache. >> thank you joy reid who has spotted john bolton here. and joan walsh. well thought out both of you fellas -- gals we say these days. >>> two actors join me next to talk about the mystery man who may make an appearance tomorrow night at the convention. we'll be right back. direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! >>> we're back. the federal budget received plenty of attention in this convention. two actors who are members of the creative coalition are with me. they are advocating for something on the republican chopping block, federal funding for the arts. with me is tim daley and evan handler. romney is out for dumping of federal funding of

[laughter] so we see him tie himself up in knots with supporting ralph kneader, bush/cheney in 2004.ent of bill clinton. what people -- and iraq, of course. and what people i don't see but i think sense is that he suffers, he suffered very much from those isolations that he brought on himself. after the clinton business, i rang him up, and i'd seen him on television looking not well, and i said how are things? he said, man, i'm living in a world of pain, he said. this is two or three weeks after it had broken, and he suffered very much, i think, about iraq. he didn't talk about it, but you watched him watching the news, and when the vote, when the first democratic election took place in iraq, the excitement, suppressed excitement he showed and the misery during the civil war period, 2005-'6. he was like, he was like a houdini where he's right host of the time, but every now and then he would go out on a limb and shackle himself so dramatically that, you know, had he escaped or partial escape would have been all the more amazing. and that was his, why he was loved, i think. he made in

governor bush selected richard cheney as his running mate and that election would ultimately be decided by a supreme court ruling. here is his speech from early august 2000. mr. chairman. mr. chairman. thank you all. >> [applause] >> thank you! >> mr. chairman, mr. chairman, delegates and my fellow citizens, i proudly accept your nomination. [applause] thank you. thank you for this honor. thank you for this honor. together, we will renew america's purpose. >> [applause] >> our founders defined that purpose here in philadelphia. ben franklin was here. thomas jefferson. and of course, george washington. or as his friends called him, george w.! >> [applause]

follow me on twitter @james rosen, and i'll tweet some of the senior bush/cheney officials who are travelingressman ryan. jenna: i follow you everywhere you go, and you don't even know it. on twitter and otherwise. >> reporter: for this, i'm grateful. take care. jon: and, remember, fox news is america's election headquarters. the republican convention in tampa just over a week away. be sure to join bret baier and megyn kelly along with the entire fox news election team for all the big speeches and complete analysis from tampa. >>> to the wildfires out west, now, the governor of oregon declaring a statewide emergency because of widespread fires. he's calling on the national guard to help fight the flames. while in washington state a fast-moving wildfire has now consumed 70 homes, forcing more than 400 people to leave the area. dan springer is streaming live for us from washington. how expensive is it to fight all these fires, dan? >> reporter: well, yeah, jon. in addition to all the property loss, this is costing tax taxpayers tens of millions of dollars across the country. this fire alone st