chris matthews, chris cillizza and maggie haberman. >>> don't miss msnbc's prime-time coverage of then national convention tonight. it kicks off at 7:00 eastern with chris matthews and rachel maddow. on every one of our cards there's a date. a reminder... that before this date, we have to exceed expectations. we have to find new ways to help make life easier, more convenient and more rewarding. it's the reason why we don't have costumers. we have members. american express. welcome in. o mancelar aarmeanla u obo oume tu. sueaine p psof d and -o mio wiy psof d i whi and [ ]wihe ou'lesir r . pa.o us n wiy psof d verai alsollst and [ ]wihe ou'lesir r . thdeon dd aame t t us n anl soe. w trleon po lrnrinemrarsrp izg eo anl soe. w heov d hoa oft qu yode >>> we as women have figured it out, because guess what, we do know how to do the math, and this is why so many of the women in this nation have got to figure out am i going to go in that voting booth and vote for my children's future. >> ann romney this morning, the morning after, trying to build on the momentum from a convention night that

and we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch the great chris matthews on "leno."e all know he can talk polit s politics, but scream like a monkey on national television? you're about to know. ♪ ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. join zyrtec® rewards. save up to $7 on zyrtec® products. ♪ >>> we told you at the top of the show lance armstrong, after dropping his fight yesterday against doping charges, has been banned for life from the sport of cycling and stripped of his seven tour de france titles. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends armstrong's decision also means he'll no longer be able to compete in trath lonz, his new obsession, as you may know. at age 40, he won his first 70-mile i

it happened yesterday when romney was being interviewed by chris matthews. not chris matthews.allace. >> mike wallace's vestigial tail. >> oh, gosh, that's awesome. >> stephanie: nicely done, sir. [ applause ] go ahead. >> wallace was pushing him on okay, give us some specifics about how -- what would you would do with medicare. romney says you're trying to make me talk about my entire plan. and it is as if -- as you said, they're saying it is too much for you. you can't take it all in. >> stephanie: like their taxes. you people have seen all you need to see. >> right. >> stephanie: and then -- you were talking about cnn. one cnn commentator lost his mind over akin? what's that about? >> that was eric erickson. >> stephanie: yes. >> yes. who, when he's on cnn just is sort of this, you know, blob of evil that is sitting there. >> stephanie: i think the chiron says that. >> that's his profession. blob of evil. on his blog though, red state he actually just goes crazy sometimes. says things that -- well bloggers will say. >> right. >> so he went on this tear about how the akin thi

hi, i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today, abc's sam donaldson, nbc's kelly o'donnell, "the new york times"' helene cooper and "new york" magazine's john hileman. it's kickoff time. the conventions will be the biggest time yet to muster troops and reach millions at home. restless tea partyers probably won't get as bad as 1964, when barry goldwater delegates made things impossible for nelson rockefeller, chanting while he spoke, "we want barry." >> it's danger to the party. [crowd chanting "we want barry"] >> well, four years later with the vietnam war the big story, riots outside the convention hall in chicago stole the spotlight from vice president hubert humphrey, who was saddled with lyndon johnson's war. he never recovered from those images in the chicago streets. sam, this is the old question of campaigns and conventions, especially conventions. what picture are you going to give to the country? here's the question for the democrats. ironically it's not too much noise and excitement, it's complacency, minor

chris matthews joins us from tampa. chris, what is your first reaction?rting the simpson-bowles compromise, this is a guy who walked away from simpson-bowles. i don't know how he can criticize the president for not doing what he didn't do. this is the whole heart of his attack on the president was that, failure to accept leadership. and he has failed to do that. i thought it was a very negative, nasty speech that didn't have anywhere near the elevation of condoleeza rice's speech, it was american, thrilling, talked about the route to america, the brilliant people who come to this country to work and live. it talked about it is not where you come from, where you're going. it was a complete smackdown to all the attacks. i thought condoleeza rice was spectacular tonight. this was a canned advertisement. >> steve schmidt, and reacting to what you both saw, obviously condoleeza rice's speech was received very, very well in the house, it was not all about mitt romney, the only compliments were in generic terms, nothing specific. what do you think about the comp

this is reince priebus and chris matthews. here's how the media has handled the campaign heretofore, and not called out, especially the president, how it's so different from 2008. let's roll this tape. >> that cheap shot about, i don't have a problem with my birth certificate, was awful. it's an embarrassment to your party to play that card. getting rid of the work for welfare is dishonest. you can giggle about it, but the fact is your side is playing that card. when you start talking about work requirements. that's a race card. if you went to harvard, brag about it. this guy has a african name. >> sean: they're going to put y'all back in chains. bill clinton even suggested the race card was used against him in 2008. >> i think if anything, really when president obama won, showed that the country was well beyond race. i think most of the dialog and the debate has been very good. it's been a debate that has nothing to do with race. we want to judge president obama simply on his policies. we're drowning in a sea of debt. >> sean

up next live from tampa, it's msnbc's own chris matthews.ere with his take on the rnc and a preview of his upcoming special on president obama which airs tomorrow night. plus, tropical storm isaac is still dumping water across the gulf coast. you're watching a special edition live from tampa, florida. we'll be right back. look, it's no-tie matthews. you do this every morning? it's the only way to get fresh coffee. not in my house! this new flavor lock pack from maxwell house helps seal in freshness. wow! that is fresh! am i still yelling? [ male announcer ] maxwell house flavor lock. always good to the last drop. like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. 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

>> it was [ inaudible ] for some reason willard gets on chris matthew's last nerve.t least not that blatantly. i have been talking about the new book "it's even worse than it looks," but basically it argues that the core of washington's dysfunction lies with the republican party, and you talk about poor tom brokaw here, despite his attempts to cut the thing to death, he knows good and well which party latched on to the right side of those events. >> yeah, the fact remains -- i read a quote somewhere saying given the democratics of this country, this is probably going to be the last time they can use this argument. >> stephanie: yeah, you said what we have in this campaign is the joining of old republican money and straight out of the swamps of the wallace campaign 50 years ago. it's an unholy mess. you are exactly right. >> yeah they are talking a lot down here about tempering the celebration because of what is going on in new orleans. i don't think they can do it. chris christie is not here to give a moderate sober-side speech. he is here to stir up the crowd. >> st

lawrence o'donnell will be leading our coverage from tampa is chris matthews. mitt romney's choice of paul ryan was never a gimme, never seen as the safest choice in the world. to you tonight, chris, what would it look like tonight if that gamble is paying off and what would it look like if the gamble did not work out? >> well, that's great. that's a tough one, rachel. i think we'll see the excitement in the room reach a crescendo with ryan. i think ryan is the spirit of the republican party 2012. i think he's tea party, he's mainstream, he is the party. romney may be the nominee. he's the heart and soul of this party. i think they will show that in the room every face will radiate it. i don't see how they can have a down night tonight. tomorrow night i think is a big question for us all i think tonight is the night. i think also something happens. i think they made a mistake. they should have put ryan on to put his speech on with romney tomorrow night. there's always the risk he'd outshine him. it's like e.t. calling home. when ryan's in the room with romney, h

and coming up, chris matthews as that special guest newt gingrich.nt to miss that, just ahead at 5:00. >>> next, the real stars of the gop convention, the guys with the checkbooks. stay with us. >>> and as we head to break, take a look at the weather in tampa, where apparently isaac has not yet said good-bye. [ "the odd couple" theme playing ] humans. even when we cross our "t"s and dot our "i"s, we still run into problems -- mainly other humans. at liberty mutual insurance, we understand. that's why our auto policies come with accident forgiveness if you qualify, where your rates won't go up due to your first accident, and new car replacement, where if you total your new car, we give you the money for a new one. call... to talk to an insurance expert about everything else that comes standard with our base auto policy. [ tires squeal ] and if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, your repairs are guaranteed for life. call... to switch, and you could save hundreds. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your p

joining me live from tampa right outside the republican national convention is chris matthews, host of msnbc's "hardball." chris, first thanks so much for being here tonight. >> thanks, reverend al. >> you've seen a lot of campaigning. how do you address the romney strategy here? >> well, it's blatant. we grew up with people like bobby kennedy and we grew up with bill clinton and barack obama who were unifiers. they knew how to unify people across ethnic lines. that was their genius as politicians. it's much harder to do that. i remember the dirty faces of the people on along the line when bobby kennedy was laid to rest. to me it's simple politics to divide. the easiest thing is raise the racial charge, welfare cheats, easy welfare checks, food stamps, welfare queens, young bucks using food stamps to buy booze with. this was the reagan line for years. i know they use it now and everybody hears it. maybe being white i can spot it from a different perspective than you can. i hear the dog whistle. i know who it's aimed at. and it works. the scary thing is poor barack obama in this sense h

>> i want to bring chris matthews in here. chris, in terms of what you're hearing from chuck and -- >> kelly, i love -- kelly, can you tell us watching romney how was he specifically different tonight than you've seen him in previous public orations like this in a big room? >> mitt romney looked like he was taking his time, he had done a lot of preparation. one thing i noticed is aides said he spent so much time with the meticulous details of the speech and you saw it in the pacing of how he delivered it. the day in and day out campaign trail has a much looser feeling in terms of it's not so formal and not so important to be perfect. it was important for him to be right on tonight. to have that kind of a demeanor that people could relate to and ability to deliver a speech of this length and with this content to an audience -- there were moments where there were higher points and lower points. one of the things about the modern convention is many people are on their phones and blackberries, taking pictures and reading things whi

joining us here in washington, the host of "hardball" chris matthews. you came on set and said you like what harry reid did. >> how could you like that? >> i liked it because i think obama has needed confederates in the field for most of his life in politics. he's always been a soloist. i think that doesn't show strength. people aren't interested in just guy who is gives good speeches. you need a team. you can't be a leader without followers. and harry reid went in and got into the fight. he's forcing this issue again. here we are talking about mitt romney's taxes. what a weird thing to be talking about. were we going to do this for weeks? if a new guy jumps in the field next week and fights him on the other side, same issue again and again? maybe the jobs picture is getting better. >> you said before about the president's cabinet, you said there's not a political person in there except ray la hood. >> i grew up in politics where you had a cabinet fighting for you, a whole bunch of party chairs. they're you're party. where are they? >> hillary clinton, t

chris matthew is next. >>> how much trouble is akin makin? let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews. let's start with mitt romney. now, hear this. if you want to speak with mr. romney romney now and in the future, you are not to ask him about what he dubt want to be asked about. today's list of question, anything on todd akin, anything on abortion, themes the rules, we're told. you want to talk to mr. romney, ask about him and -- he wants us to talk about. has it gotten this bad? are we now in the world of third world dictatorships where the big man acts now by decree, ask what i tell you to ask. let's hear from rick tower and ron reagan. have you seen this story that's out today, the the cbs affiliate reporter said that in order to get an interview with the candidate of the republican party for president, it's important that you not ask any question about what's in the news. you must not ask about the part's position. these are the rules. >> i don't understand how he thinks this is going to fly. it's certainly not going to fly in televised debates where he'll loo

chris matthews is in tampa and he's back with us. ur former rnc chairman michael steele. chris? >> i think the most democratic absence is sarah palin, who was on the ticket last time. think of a party having someone run for vice president, selecting that person for the second highest honor you can give them at a convention, and the next time around basically not inviting them. but there's so many others. you mentioned some of the big once. think of steven king from iowa, a real far-righter. or joe walsh. or michele bachmann. there's so many out there that are so far to the right in terms of their positions on abortion rights. or there's birtherism like louis gohmert. they don't want them up there. two messages, one to sell them at the working class. that's the way they're headed. you may not like it, but that's the goal. the second is to keep quiet. the fringe people, the john boltons, the people like that on the hawkish right, or the tea party types, or the religious right, or the elements in the platform they agree to tonight, keep

leading coverage from tampa is the one and only chris matthews. chris, this is the big night. i mean, there has not been much said about mitt romney personally these past couple nights. it's been a good commercial for the republican party, not much on the nominee. but tonight that all changes. is there anything that surprises you about tonight's agenda? >> no. i think that clint eastwood is interesting because no matter what script he's given, he's still clint eastwood. we know the guy, his back story. he's tough. he's got character. the big problem tonight for mitt romney is will the words define him or will they simply guide us to his weaknesses, his attempts to create a notion of himself rather than the reality. i'll go back to it, the back story is more important than the script tonight. we'll all be watching for that thing. >> there's one thing i wanted to get your take on before we go too far. we just fed in this tape from chris christie today talking to delegates in tampa about how they should react to mitt romney's speech. this is chris christie. listen. >> i want to t

chris matthews is a flag for the democratic party.ody in the democratic party would say something as stupid as this. this guy is so out of control, they are going to have to label ms-nbc, "s" for sexual content. this is a rousing stuff here. he is crossing a very bizarre line here. the interesting thing is, barack obama -- a great irony, barack obama would probably win re-election easily if he presided like bill clinton did. >> sean: brilliant point. the point -- end of welfare as we know t. now we have dependency and a return to welfare. >> barack obama's policies have repudiated bill clinton. >> sean: there is another cable channel, people forgot -- it's called cnn. they do a piece about sarah palin, going to chick-fil-a. and they play this song, "stupid girls" going into it. watch this. stupid girl, stupid girls...: >> sarah palin is hungry for chicken and controversy. >> sean: no -- no idea. none whatsoever. even though the lyrics of perfectly clear. >> yeah. yeah. i love the explanation that they gave us. the music selection was

." >>> good evening, i'm ezra klein in for chris matthews and leading off tonight. you remember this? >> i barack obama do solemnly swear. >> that was barack obama's inauguration less than four years ago now and it seemed for a shining moment like america had opened a new chapter in its difficult and frequently shameful history with race. but it wasn't true. even as obama took that oath, researchers were going back through the 2008 election, running through the numbers, running through the polls and finding that far from being a postracial election, it was an usually racial election. tested this in an interesting way. first he ranked areas of the country based on how often they entered racist search terms into google. then compared obama's share of the vote in those areas with john kerry's's share of the vote from the '04 election. just an election cycle before. he found that obama had lost 3% to 5% of the popular vote compared to what you would have expected from kerry's results or as he put it, obama's race, "gave his opponent the equivalent of a home-state advant

chris matthews and "hardball" is next. >>> feeling lucky? let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in tampa just outside of the tampa bay times forum, the sight of the republican national convention. there she is. mitt romney comes into prime time television tonight. the question is whether he'll come into national focus or not. some winsome lines, no doubt some chuckle worthy ones about his choice of music on his ipod. all portray him as a good hearted square. perhaps a bit out of touch, but closer to your heart. we need to look for the real person behind the words tonight. the back story to what's presented because it is the back story, the real person, that ends up walking into the oval office and end up being there longer than what is scripted practice. clint eastwood will appear tonight. he gives away his funny toughness whatever his script. the question is tonight, what character will mitt romney reveal in his moment of national close up? joining me is howard fineman and john heilemann. i have to ask you about some questions and challenges fac

i'm chris matthews back in washington. does truth win out? really? if one side of a fight puts out something misleading or down right dishonest, who you going to call? who's going to come in, umpire the thing and really set it right? right here in the fight here is the challenge in this election. separating disearnable fact from partisan fiction. a plant closing. who you going to call when -- fills the air and when one side doesn't care what someone says. let's get to it with willie brown and john nichols. if there's something discernible, the republicans haven't let facts get in the way so far this week, but perhaps the biggest distortion was the big picture when it came last night in romney's speech talking about the promise of president obama in 2009 as if he and the republicans tried their best to work with the republicans at the election. >> four years ago, i know that many americans felt the fresh excitement of the new possibilities of a new president. americans always come together after elections. we're good and generous people and united by

good evening, i'm chris matthews in new york. let me start with the republican cold feet over paul ryan. their one-day wonder has become dare i say it? a bit of a morning glory. bloomed saturday, kept the blush sunday, by yesterday, the troops were restless. why on god's earth had mr. romney gone out and found the one candidate that could nail them in the coffin with the budget -- throwing mama off the cliff to finance big tax cuts for top 1%? now, we know what's worse than being tagged for republicans voting for the ryan budget, it's having the master mind behind it on the ticket. i give you the next president of the united states, romney said on saturday. getting it wrong wasn't the gaffe, it was some fear, naming ryan himself. this guy could be worse than quyale because this time, the presidential candidate and his team knew the weakness, saw the trouble they were walking into before they walked into it and that's not the best argument for mr. romney's business. this may be the worst merger since aol bought time warner. with m

. >>> up next, "hardball" with chris matthews. >>> road rage. let's play "hardball." >> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washingtowashington let me start with mitt romney's bumpy adventure. before this week, his most infamous trip out of the country was when he roped the family dog to the roof. no more. after trashing the brits' olympics, degrading the arabs, we figured there would be worse trouble coming in poland. and, boy, we were right. here's the word from romney's spokesman on that leg of the trip. hold your ears. this is official. kiss my -- he yelled to reporters, asking for a word from the candidate. he yelled at the other one -- shove it! these are his people speaking for mitt romney. anyway, is this the message for mr. and mrs. north america and all the ships at sea? kiss my -- and shove it? talk about a bad audition. his people wanted to show how well he would behave overseas. so who is the character we have seen the last week? the one we discovered out there in the country of the world. mitt romney or don rickles? tonight, before

good evening i'm chris matthews in nantucket. let me start tonight with this right wing assault on women, this cave man view of the sexes. nobody paid it any attention last week when speaker boehner himself dared to mention the so-called knuckle draggers in his party. the hard right wild men who believe the president's a secret muslim invader, that women who have an abortion or use an iud should bemurderers. now comes todd akin talking about legitimate rape, finally, we meet the missing link. the birthers and the personhood nuts and not become a freak show. a woman forced to have sexual relations at the threat of harm is a victim of rape. no qualifiers, no area of legitimacy. by the way, as michael kingsly put it, in politics, a gaffe is what you say things. the editorial director for "huffington post" and cinch a a "huffington post" cynthia tucker. here is what this guy said in an interview. he was answering a question about pregnancy as the result from rape. >> seems to me first of all from what i understand from doctors, that'

>> i think i expect people like chris matthews to think it was warmongering. conservative commentators, they had a different opinionened a i loved it. i knew -- you know, in all sincerity i knew what he was going to be talking abo and thought it was important and i know people continue to ignore what's going on in syria and i agree with them. >> tonight is a big night for mitt romney. four years ago you watched your husband prepare for this similar address to the nation. drawing from your experience what do you think is going on right now with the romney family and with mitt romney as he prepared in these last few hours? >> well, i'm guessing he probably has a pretty easy day. he's practicing his speech, and ann is with him, i'm sure, and, you know, he's come to this point. he's ready for tonight. and he's ready to tell america just what a great president he can and will be. >> meghan, congressman paul ryan last night said in his speech a challenger must stand on his merits. look at them taking a look at the romney/ryan ticket. voted against acts, backed some

[captioning made possible by nbc universal] >> this is "the chris matthews show." >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> tear down this wall. >> i can hear you! >> a time for change has come. >> saving private ryan, launched from a battleship, paul ryan's own plan to privatize medicare ignited a war. team romney said they saw it coming but this fast? medicare has been a campaign mainstay since the 1990's. now paul ryan, a candidate into house.te four more beers, president obama is tapping into american's love of libation and revealed this week that the white house has been home brewing, even had a few on his bus out in iowa, a way to paint the president as more joe six pack next to rigid romney. blame for rain? the president can't control the weather but when asked to describe economic conditions like a weather report, everyone, in a new focus group, gave a stormy forecast, even one predicting an earthquake, tsunami. can president obama convince them the sun will come out tomorrow? hello there. chris is away. i'm chuck todd, welcome to the show. with us today, howard fineman w

from msnbc's "hardball," chris matthews. the music of the smashing pumpkins.