either candidate can get it done i think there's too much corruption in the government and the bush kerry kerry yeah i was just like like which one do i like the least ok i'll use the other for the other one yeah yeah so it's kind of the same thing as two thousand and four that maybe it's just like one of those here like they just wants to be to get it over with and they just want to hear more details on plans get it over. and get on with a dumb thing right saying yeah good they do this thing that i'm not that smart. they're the smart ones with all the millions of dollars do you think they get put on a better salary. and whether or not you think this election is boring the bottom line is we only have about a month until it's finally over and we can all gladly move on. take a look now at some other stories making global headlines israel shot down a droll over the country's southern desert unclear who launched the aircraft but suspicion is falling on the lebanese militant group hezbollah israeli officials call the incident a potential act of terror and threaten to retaliate this marks the first t

either candidate can get it done i think there's too much corruption in the government and the bush kerry kerry yeah i was just like i like which one do i like the least ok i'll use the other a vote of the other one yes so it's kind of the same thing as two thousand and four that maybe i just like one of those here but i feel like they just wants to be to get it over with and they just want to hear more details on the plans gang get it over with and get on with it and do something for it saying what could they do to snatch things up not that's work. yet they're the smart ones with all the millions of dollars do you think they get put on a better show right. whether or not you think this election is boring the bottom line is we only have about a month until it's finally over and we can all gladly move on. thanks so much for joining us here in r.t. today you know just a couple of minutes it'll be i'll go off talking to the co-founder of casper ski lab the issue is all about how to ensure your computer security in this digital age and of course the age of hackers and nobody is safe apparently spot

a choice right as one of the other and if by a really good option then what you did and the bush kerry kerry yeah i was just like i like which one do i like the least ok i'll use the other a vote of the other one yeah yeah so it's kind of the same thing as two thousand and four that maybe it's just like one of those here the new times a new age you need to support the people of your country is very important so is that what there is that what's missing this year neither of them are really speaking to the people yes forty seven percent that came from romney and now the thirty percent thing that came from ryan and. a lot of presidents telling us that they don't care about it right at this point a month away from elections i feel like they just wants to be to get it over with and they just want to hear more details and plans get it over with and get on with it and do something very good they do things up on the it does work. yet they're the smart ones with all the millions of dollars do you think they get put on a better show right. whether or not you think this election is boring the bottom li

either candidate can get it done i think there's too much corruption in the government and the bush kerry kerry yeah i was just like i like which one do i like the least ok i'll use the other the other one yeah yeah so it's kind of the same thing as two thousand and four that maybe it's just like one of those here i feel like they just wants to be to get it over with and they just want to hear more details on the plans and get it over with and get on with it and do something. good they do this nice things up. there the smart ones with all the millions of dollars do you think they get put on a better show right. whether or not you think this election is boring the bottom line is we only have about a month until it's finally over and we can all gladly move on. and all the way here in our team we talked to member of the u.k. parliament who risked his political career for exposing the truth about his country's mission in afghanistan. the sun rises over what seems like analyst forest but here in new directions cry for hundred kilometers north of light of all storm as in much of the world it's disapp

either candidate can get it done i think there's too much corruption in the government and the bush kerry kerry yeah i was just like i like which one do i like the least ok i'll use the other the other one yeah yeah so it's kind of the same thing as two thousand and four that maybe it's just like one of those here but i feel like they just wants to be to get it over with and they just want to hear more details on plans you get and get it over with and get on with it and do something for it saying could they do this now as things up. there the smart ones with all the millions of dollars do you think they get put on a better show right. and whether or not you think this election is boring the bottom line is we only have about a month until it's finally over and we can all gladly move on. thanks for joining us here in just a few minutes the darkest secrets of the world's economic manipulators they'll be revealed and of course the one i'm sure that does the cost report. in the middle of russia is no way from civilization or any three hour helicopter treat from the nearest village. they still one fa

either candidate can get it done i think there's too much corruption in the government and the bush kerry kerry yeah i was just like like which one do i like the least ok i'll use the other the other one yeah yeah so it's kind of the same thing as two thousand and four that maybe i just like one of those here but i feel like they just wants to be to get it over with and they just want to hear more details on plans yet get it over with and get on with it and do something. good they do says there's things up. there the smart ones with all the millions of dollars do you think they get put on a better show right. whether or not you think this election is boring the bottom line is we only have about a month until it's finally over and we can all gladly move on. for the coming up in just a few minutes here we look at the scars of war still visible in vietnam almost four decades now off the former u.s. president mr nixon called it a day. in japan the average height for men is one hundred eighty two centimeters ten centimeters shorter because of that some employers refused to hire me one of them even t

kerry defeated bush. neither kerry or mondale translated that into an election night win, although steve kornacki likes to think about a potential mondale president history. as the dust settles, they're back on the trail today. obama is en route to a rally in wisconsin, but earlier today in denver supporters saw the obama we hoped to see last night. >> when i got onto the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. he said that he doesn't even know that there's such laws that encourage outsourcing, never heard of them. he said if it's true, he must need a new accountant. we know for sure it was not the real mitt romney, because he seems to be doing just fine with his current accountant. thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on big bird. it's about time. >> that guy's a winner. mitt romney joining paul ryan this evening in my home state of virginia, but which mitt will show up? the mitt who won the debate by putting the president on the defensive, spoke directly to voters and there was a moment or two of humor. will we see the same mitt on the trail for the past 16 months. you be the judge. here he is stopping by a colorado cpac meeting before leaving denver. >> last night i thought was a great fuopportunity for the american people to see two different visions for the country. i think it was helpful to be able to describe those visions. i saw the president's vision as trickle-down government, and i don't think that's what america believes in. >> all right. let's put it through the spin cycle. steve, you were there in denver. what's your take? >> looking at that obama response, i think everybody says why didn't you say it to his face? why didn't you say that last night? i think, look, it's pretty well established by this point why this was such a disastrous debate for obama. i'll play a quick clip here, and this is a jumping-off point to talk about what he needs to do in the next debates to avoid a repeat of this. let's play a clip of an opening romney gave him that he completely missed. >> i'm not looking to cut massive taxes and reduce the revenues going to the government. my number one principle is there's no tax cut that adds to the deficit. i want to underline that. virtually everything you said about my tax plan is inaccurate. so if the tax plan he described were a tax plan i was asked to support, i'd say absolutely not. i'm not looking for 5i trillion tax cut. i won't put in a place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. that's not my plan. >> that's three different moments during this debate when mitt romney noticed the bump in the set for obama. what he's saying there is he's arguing against math. the idea that you can cut faxes 20%, can you tell taxes for everybody and it's deficit neutral and faye for it by closing unspecified loop moles and dealing with deductions. that is the romney position. it's up to bahama to make romney get specific about it to say okay. it's easy to say you deal with the deductions and it's easy to say it's deficit neutral and let's talk about the specific deductions and talk about the home interest deduction and health care deduction and the charitable giving deduction. these are things that people rely on and things that are popular with voters. let's put mitt romney on the spot here and say if you pay for it with deductions, this is on the table. are you telling middle class americans these things are at table. obama never did that last night. there are three specific problems for him if he behaves this way in future debates. he doesn't look like a leader so passive like that. the second thing is these are complicated issues. if you follow this campaign every day and follow the policy minutia every day, you understand the math problem mitt romney has. most people need to be walked through this. it's why bill clinton's speech was so successful and they call him the explainer in chief. you can explain the math to you and make you see why the numbers don't add up and why mitt romney is cute on these things. the third thing is simple. i said in the show yesterday, mitt romney is really good when he's carrying out prescripted attacks. that is all he did for 90 minutes last night. he spent months preparing for in and had every line internalized and he's good at that. you need to knock him off that game. think about the primaries. when rick perry started to mix it up with him a little bit, that's where the $10,000 bet came from. you income him off the script, and that's where the trouble starts for mitt romney. obama didn't even try. >> i completely agree with that. mitt romney, as you said, he's very good when he can go and say what he wants to say. they didn't take any moment or opportunity to get him off the game. the other failure i would say is overall the president and his team have been excellent at framing this election as a choice rather than a referendum. last night the president let mitt romney dictate the terms of the debate as a referendum on obama's policies. he did not level that choice comparison. there was very little discussion, very little pushback as you say on mitt romney's policies. so it seemed like the president just spent his time defending what he did in the past four years without mitt romney ever having to really explain what he would do going forward. the only thing i can think is that the president was told first and foremost play it safe. don't make any big mistakes. don't do anything big that shows up in an attack ad. you can't do that in politics. you can't show up afraid of making a mistake. you can't play it safe. you have to be on the offense and win the day. the one thing i will say for mitt romney and for the republican party is last night mitt romney very aggressively moved to the center. finally seemed to commit to i am a centrist. i support very closely to where obama is. just slight differences. i think it's an acknowledgment that he really can't run on the far right policies that the republican party has been pushing. it took until now with the republican party sort of staring over the abyss at a potential loss before they would give him that permission to move to the center. >> i think you're right, but i also will say that president obama moved to the center as well. a lot of talk today was how moderate president obama sounded. that's because whether you're in an audience of friends, left-minded people you can say certain things you don't say when 67 million people or so are tuning in. it was a night where both guys were vague. both guys gave factcheck.org a run for their money. but the president's performance was so bad to me, so lackluster partly because it's a hard record to defend. even granting that, it almost made me think there was something intentional going on here. that this was a strategy of sorts, because he's better than this. >> yeah. >> and let's say that he came unprepared. he was tired. he wasn't ready for aggressive mitt romney. even then you reflectively fall back on the past few weeks of things you've said on the trail. the 47%, the bain attacks, the bush attacks. that stuff is in your memory. i don't know why that didn't just naturally come to him with all of those openings that romney gave him. they should have. then the lack of enthusiasm was palpable. i got an e-mail blast after the debate from the obama team. the subject line of it was, hey. that is as much enthusiasm as i felt in the entire debate from him. >> understated. >> it was understated to a fault. >> i think if we look at why obama performed the way he did, the number one most important thing for obama is likability. if he is seen attacking people with zingers, which are completely unprofessional, completely unpresidential, i mean, this sort of street fight combative thing, that's not where he wants to be. i was talking to martin bashir before the show. he doesn't want to do that, and his entire life is wrapped around that, about not being combative in that way. he doesn't want to do that. that's his entire life wrapped around that. i mean, i also saw, you know, a guy who is leading. the likability is more important than winning this debate. i know i'm winning this thing. it's this dynamic we've seen a lot in las vegas or perhaps atlantic city when we get a champion and challenger. the challenger has nothing to lose and goes nuts and flings punches everywhere. what does he have to lose? i don't need to mix it up with you. i'm going it to win on points and layback. sometimes that strategy wins and sometimes it doesn't. >> it's always frustrating if you're a fan to watch it fully. >> it's bizarre. >> you don't want it. s.e., i understand you were checking out some of the coverage from our friends at current? >> yeah. the reaction to this was interesting across the spectrum, but the kids at current tv had a very hard time, very hard time explaining obama's loss. but uncle al had his own theory. take a look. >> obama arrived in denver at 2:00 p.m. today just a few hours before the debate started. romney did his debate prep in denver. when you go to 5,000 feet and you only have a few hours to adjust -- >> that's interesting. >> i don't know. maybe -- >> al, can i say the first time -- >> to me this is an important point. i drank two cups of coffee before coming on. >> there is a delicious irony in al gore blaming the planet. >> right, right. >> for mitt romney's win. that's aamamazinamazing. >> some colleagues on this channel, i thought msnbc's coverage after this was great last night. i was watching chris matthews. he got there about the same time barack obama did. he didn't have any trouble with energy. >> no. >> he didn't have any trouble. >> he was wired and on top of it. >> speaking our friends at current. we commented on jennifer granholm's exuberance during the speech. if you tuk her exushance and combined it with barack obama's nonexuberance, you could have found a happy balance there. you have the perfect candidate. >> we could morph them. we need a hybrid. >> can we merge those together? >> emotionally mitt is much closer to jennifer on that scale. he seemed caffeinated and on ludes and stuff like that. >> he had a diet coke and maybe two. >> he seemed much more energized than we've seen. >> think of the republican primary debates. it was newt gingrich and rick santorum. he needed to turn it on in the republican primaries, and he did. >> steve, what do you think the ultimate impact is going to be? is this the game change moment to use the term that we hate? >> i swear we're living in this mirror image of 2004 where the bush role is played by obama and where kerry is played by romney. i remember september 30th, 2004, watching that debate and watching the reaction after that debate between kerry and bush and the reaction of democrats. i thought of taking some of the quotes from some republican and conservative pundits talking about how this changes the race, just switch in kerry's name for romney, switch in obama for bush. exact same sort of mental adjustment. the silver lining for that for democrats is bush went on, and he didn't i think win the next two debates but recovered and was serviceable in the next two debates. >> do we really think that anybody who was a lean obama voter changed their mind and said, now i'm going to vote for mitt romney because he won that debate? i don't think so. >> i think it was the first time -- this is what i wanted as a conservative voter. i don't mind telling you i'm voting for mitt romney. i wanted to see a go for the jugular moment. >> from mitt, yeah. >> i'm already in the tank. i feel as though, you know,

historical context, what tonight reminded me of more than any other debate, the first kerry/bush debate, where john kerryk the battle to george bush. and bush, the president, seemed very uneasy, didn't seem comfortable and like he wanted to be challenged. that's what i felt tonight. the challenger, mitt romney, seemed more presidential than the president. more in command of his facts, his arguems and his principles. i thought the answer on the government, re-- referring back to the constitution, veryesquive. obama seemed nervous, ill at ease and off his game and because of the fact that romney was always looking at obama when obama was talking to him, much better than when obama was talking and looking down, like he was being lectured. i think we have to talk about the debate and the debate rules and the moderator. you know, the idea -- they were very excited, the debate commissioned about the 15-minute pods to allow more exchange. but it allowed more, longer speeches and talking points. jim lehrer, a man for whom i have tremendous esteem, seemed to lose control of the debate, occasionally. he seemed to

post-debate bounce kerry did in '04 and take it one step further and turn it into something kerry couldn't do eight years ago. in '04 president bush had a six-point lead before the debates but kerry's performance boosted him tying the men for the final debate but it was senator kerry in december '04 and not president elect kerry. the national polls are close her today than eight years ago but the numbers in key battlegrounds today tell an obama victory story. democratic strategist steve el mendorf, kerry's deputy campaign manager in '04. how are you? >> good, how are you. >> tell me about why your guy won the debates and lost the election and what that says potentially about this dynamic and this race right now is this. >> i think any challenger has a benefit when they get up on the stage against the president of the united states. the debates level the playing field. they put you on the stage in an equal footing. i think mitt romney comes into the debate with an advantage because of that. i think the question in this race, all campaigns are different and i think in this race, this is very much of a choice election. i think people see very different visions for the future between t

historical context, what tonight reminded me of more than any other debate, the first kerry/bush debate, where john kerry took the battle to george bush. and bush, the president, seemed very uneasy, didn't seem comfortable and like he wanted to be challenged. that's wha >>> look. i got five boys. i'm used to people saying something that is not always true but keep repeating it and hoping i'll believe it but that is notthink we have to talt the debate and the debate rules and the moderator. you know, the idea -- they were very excited, the debate commissioned about the 15-minute pods to allow more exchange. but it allowed more, longer speeches and talking points. jim lehrer, a man for whom i have tremendous esteem, seemed to lose control of the debate, occasionally. he seemed to throw something out there to keep the conversation going, sometimes it seemed to be helping obama, like saying, you are for a balanced approach of tax cuts and>> thank you. bret, at the beginning of the show, you were jealous of me because i was with the action and now you are with the action. >> yes. chris wallace has good analys

kerry. blames bush for the bad economy, kerry for the bad debate. read the trip. you'll see that biden won it. >> i think he was told to get in there, make some commotion, because he had ground to make up for. that's just a fact. i think if you're looking for the vice president to try to save the day, there's a problem. >> if obama has a performance like he had a couple weeks ago, i don't believe it's possible for him to win the election. i don't know how he can possibly have another performance like that and expect to win. how could anybody be so stupid to vote for him if he performs like that again? >> we're moving rapidly to the second and third act to find out how this plays out. the president has to be on his game in the next debat debate ot could slide even more for him. >> even if he changes his style, whatever political tactic the president settles on, he can't change his record and can't change his policies. the wind is at governor romney's back, you can see it on the trail, in the debate. >> the reality of the race on the ground is we're ahead. it's narrower than before the last debate, but we feel good about where we are, have a great ground game going, a great debate on tuesday. we expect mitt romney to have a great debate as well. he's a great salesman, and he's very, very good at it. >> these debates are giving us the ability to cut through clutter and give people a clear choice. that's what we're offering. >> greta: the race is razor-sharp close. mitches at stakmuch is at stakeh candidates as they take to the stage tomorrow night for debate two. newt gingrich joins us. could the debate be as critical as i've just suggested? >> it could be. my gillmy guess is the presidend be somewhat better than last time. my gels is romney will be as good as last time, because he's a very trained, very thoughtful person who gets where he's at. tomorrow night will either be a tie or where a slight romney advantage on top what happened. that will carry the race on for one more oweek. if obama comes in, against my expectations, is as bad as he was notice first debate, this is over. i mean, he will not recover from two consecutive disasters. >> greta: how could he have it as bad as last time? >> well, falls the facts are moving against him. i describe this race right now, the problem for obama is five words -- unemployment, banghazi, and big bird, adding up to a hard sell for him. banghazi gets worlds and worldse and worse, the lies get deeper in. the vice presidential debate, biden lied about banghazi. unemployment stays bad. one of the reasons unemployment looked better for one week was that california hadn't filed 33,000 jobs, which is truly weird. then you look at gasoline prices. california was i think, peaked aat $5.87 a gal last week. anweek. >> greta: the strategy since the last campaign largely has been to criticize governor romney, saying he's a liar. i suspect tomorrow the president 8 come out -- not going to say he's a liar, but do everything to make that the message to the american people. can he do that without looking like a bully or petty himself? >> well, i don't think obama will look like a bully, because i think romney can stand up to him. i don't think he has that potential. the challenge he has is that -- essentially the obama case has degenerated to, yes, the president is inadequate, but romney would be worse. that's the heart of his basic message. romney can say, you know, the american people deserve to know the truth about banghazi, what happened? why did you send the u.n. ambassador out to five different shows to say something that was false? and then he's been on campaign trail being that direct. romney can say the price of gasoline is too high. obama has to face the fact if you're an average everyday american, a truck drive driver,u buy things at the grocery store, the prices are too high. he can't get above 5 50%. if you're the incumbent president and can't get above 50%, you have a big problem three weeks out. >> greta: you said the unemployment rate has gone down from 8.1% to 7.8%. california was late to report. he has the fact that he'll say he saved the auto industry. the unemployment rate in ohio is doing pro foundly betters than, for instance, the state of nevada. he goes back to the fact that he inherited a mess. nobody denials that. he says, it takes a while to get out of the mess, but that will be his argument tomorrow night. >> people will have to look say and do i think four more years of romney will be better than four years of obama? the profiles of gasoline has gone up $2 a gallon since he became president. the fact is that banghazi is ultimaterly inexplicable, and that the answers they've given are false and misleading. now we have him hiding behind hillary clinton. he's hiding behind john kerry on the first debate. highed will behind george bush on the economy. going to raise las vegas to raise money immediately after an american ambassador is kid kill, at what point does will than obama take responsibility? >> greta: the polls are incredibly close. >> i think part of it is frankly the weakness of the republican party in reaching out to a wide range of minority grooms. african americans are dramatically more conservative than their vote for obama, and part of that is the republican party's fault. the elite media has worked overtime to prop up obama over and over and over again. that's why you see a little bit of an argument about candy crowley's role tomorrow night, whether or not you ought to follow the rules in only having a town hall meeting, not having the moderator try to define things. part of its is obama is annual attractive personal. this is a will pleasant person with a nice family, with a good smile, that people really wanted to have succeed. i mean, i think a lot

bush ii ran. kerry was excellent, but there was a core in bush, despite the fact he was losing the debates, that sort of connected with people. so even though we felt, i was there the first kerrythat he was slaughtered by kerry. but you didn't leave there disliking him. the problem with romney is, his likability. and if he walks out tonight, not only losing, but still not likable, it's over with. >> i just want to talk about what steve said. i think we know who president obama is. and i think there were some real impactful moments in the last time president obama was in this position. in one of the debates, foreign policy was huge. and there was a big narrative out there that president obama, you know, he couldn't take the 3:00 a.m. phone call, wasn't prepared, didn't have executive experience, wasn't ready to do foreign policy. president obama stood up in that debate, and i think it's one for the highlight reel. he said, if we have intelligence that osama bin laden is, you know, in pakistan and the pakistanis are unwilling or unable, we will do what we have to do. something to that effect. i mean, it was very effective. and so i think that president obama has a record in a de

kerry was destroyed by bush and that's how he won, the switch i will give you 120,000 votes in kerry would have won storks even though the bush people are widely thought to have completely destroyed kerry, he almost won, i don't think you could say that the real estate's campaign has done as effective a clinical, political, you know, death squad job on mitt romney as the bush people did on john kerry and that's why i think governor romney has a decent chance to which. >> rose: what might they have done that they didn't do? >> well that is a great question, because they did a lot, i don't know the an to that, i don't know the answer to that, so maybe he did do it sufficiently. i think the big debate, and you have seen something about this already is is should they go after him as a right wing extremist or a flip flopper and in the end they have spent most of their rhetoric prethe denver debate on right wing extremist. there are those who think, well they would have been better off following the bush model even more precisely, the bush reelect model and gone after him simply as a flip flopper, a guy you can't trust. >> rose: there is also been on the part of at least two republican candi

kerry debate. numbers changed, everything was different. eight years ago to the day, the gallup poll had john kerry and president bush tied, exactly the same numbers, on registered voters, john kerry up among likely voters. the numbers are almost the same. you know what? you don't call the timing of the election. democrats might have wanted to two weeks ago, republicans want it now. let's wait and see. the sweep of the debates, how the economy shapes up election day. if 2004 is any guide, two or three-point race and it may not feel that close for the losing side. >> can i ask a question of stewart? i azbrdegree with you 100%. just a quick question. would you agree that the three, two, one scenario, which is wonky for your audience. >> our audience is sophisticated. >> if romney can win back, indiana, north carolina, carry ohio and florida, win a handful of other states, nevada, colorado, new hampshire, a variety of others, do you agree that that's a plausible scenario today? because ten days ago, that was a written off scenario. is that a viable pathway for mitt romney today? >> i think ohio looks to be in play now, where a couple weeks ago it looked like it was falling out of pla

. >> try to dry some parallels, dan, to that debate between president bush and john kerry. kerrymber one. of course, we all know what eventually happened in that race. how much does last night move the polls, do you think? >> it will be interesting to see if it moves the polls. equally important, the psychology, fund-raising, all those aspects between now and -- re remember, this is not going well for him. next week will be the vice-presidential debate in which i think paul ryan will do quite well against joe biden. you could have the situation where they wrap up two debate victories before he gets back on the field. so whether the poll numbers move or not, we'll wait to see, buttal all the other elements you want to see. having the narrative go your way and the grasset reus and your troops be energized. this couldn't have come at a better moment for mitt romney. >> there's been some discussion. the democrats trying to push, the twitter hash tag #testymitt the way he moved around jim lehler. once you take a punch right in the jaurks it takes them some time to get their legs. i ex

bush is the incumbent president. his challenger is this guy, massachusetts senator john kerry. remember at the democratic convention this year when john kerry gave the bang-up speech about mitt romney learning everything he knew about russia by watching rocky 4, and his overseas trip actually being a blooper reel and all that stuff? this this great barn burner of a very funny speech by john kerry. everybody said, afterwards, where was that john kerry when he was the guy running for president in 2004? well, that john kerry actually did show up in 2004 when he was running for president. at least he showed up for the first debate against the incumbent president that year, and in that first debate against the incumbent president, challenger john kerry cleaned the president's clock. >> i made a mistake in how i talk about the war, but the president made a mistake in invading iraq. which is worse? >> president bush and senator kerry were hard at it again today, campaigning across battleground states, continuing the spirited debate they had last night on terrorism in iraq, but this time they were not on a common stage and kerry had the kind of con