cleaner, fresher and brighter every day. >>> we are back with colin powell, former secretary of statemer chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. general powell, mitt romney made his first foreign trip. there are some who think that there were gaffes galore, there were some that think that it went pretty well. what was your reaction to it? >> the good thing about a gaffe is you tend to get over it. i don't think these so-called gaffes, whether it was what he said in london or what he said about culture in the middle east are lasting problems for him. he demonstrated that he can participate in foreign relations in a way that is constructive. i think he did fairly well in poland. and everybody was focusing on the gaffes as opposed to what he actually said. so i think it was problematic that these gaffes got such attention. but at the same time, i think he did himself good by going to these countries. >> you famously chided him when he said that russia was the number one geopolitical foe of the united states. you looked at the cameras and ed said, "think, mitt." do you think he's thought t

but the positive moment we had was over when colin powell endorsed president obama. i was just listening to comments on putin towards the end of the speech and i'm reminded when secretary powell said not long ago, he said come on, mitt, think. russia is not our number one enemy. and i know that colin powell was listening to that speech tonight. that's a powerful endorsement. that's an endorsement that matters in the middle of the electorate. when you look at the people who are out there on the sidelines who have yet to endorse in this race, there's one person who really matters, who has a lot of credibility, that's colin powell. i wonder politically if there's a repercussion to that. >> sabre rattling at russia is a proven way to not get that endorsement. i think that's an important point. but culture wise and in terms of historical impact, a lot of great points of potential big inflection point in the campaign. i don't mean to make light of other things, but the clint eastwood thing blew their final night and they're making light of it already. but i cannot believe i

it's not going to be colin powell, right? revelations from a tell all book on the death of the world's most wanted terrorist, now suggesting that the government's version of what went down during the raid on osama bin laden's compound may not have been the whole story. wait until you hear the twist. plus, ann romney hoped to win over at least one group of voters last night with comments directed straight at the women in the crowd and at home. we'll debate whether she got the job done and what it means in the fight for the female vote. >> you are the best of america. you -- [cheers and applause] you are the hope of america. there would not be an america without you. tonight we salute you and sing your praises. [cheers and applause] megyn: we have a fox news weather alert for you now. authorities in jefferson parish, louisiana, just announcing a dusk to dawn curfew during this storm. we are awaiting the next update on isaac from the national hurricane center which we expect to receive before the top of the hour. the storm is fa

heard this explanation, and the white house will say when responding on the david plouffe thing, colin powell promised you were going to do things differently. he invited the higher level of scrutiny. >> but at we saw during the clinton years, which i remember clearly, was another time when it seems it was as bad as it's ever gotten, the horrible things, that hillary clinton murdered vince foster, and all this craziness, unfortunately these lines keep getting pushed back, and if we as the media and people don't push back and say it's not appropriate, it's going to continue to happen. >> but it wasn't the other candidate making those attacks. >> but it shifted the line. >> let's go to the sort of what the result has been? mitt romney is losing. >> that's right. >> so we can debate all of this. >> it's being rewarded. this kind of attack -- the fact is that romney is losing. republicans are acting as those it's important to win a moral victory, but if you win a moral victory and lose the election, how much have you gained? >> have you ever met a campaign that complains about the attack ads that

that information was given as evidence to secretary powell, and colin powell went to the u.n. everybody remembers that speech. >> i can trace the story of a senior terrorist operative telling how iraq provided training in these weapons to al qaeda. after we went to iraq, after we found out that there is no wmds, after we found out that al qaeda and saddam we not working together, they went back to ibn sheikh al-libi-- and this is all according to the armed services committee-- and they asked him, "why did you lie?" he said, "well, i gave you what you want to hear. >> smith: he complied. >> absolutely. >> "i want the torture to stop. i gave you anything you want t hear." >> smith: but the consequences of that... >> tragic, absolutely. the world is different. look at all the blood that we lost in iraq. look about how the iraq war helped al qaeda, both with recruits and financially. a lot of people are uncomfortable with enhanced interrogation techniques. >> would you have been in favor of it, if you'd known that it was working? you'd known that >> if it was saving lives? i don't

i was so exhausted that "the new york times" or some newspaper said that i couldn't remember colin powell's name. i don't even remember that. it's really hard, especially if you're sick. >> for anybody, so when you have a chronic illness like she does, you have to listen to your body. >> love you. thank you. and for more information, you can go to the website, cdc.governcdc.gov. >>> in columbia, did you know that nearly one in five teenage girls or are are already mothers? many are still children themselves. this week's cnn hero is carving out brighter futures for themselves and their kids. >> teen pregnancy is a very big issue. when you go to the slums, it is unbelievable what you see. many of my girls live here. you see these girls. they're babies holding babies. about ten years ago, i was volunteering at this maternity hospital and i was holding this baby. and he passed away with me. his teen mother failed to raise the money to cover treatment. four days later,pass ed away in an accident. i realized i didn't want any mother to feel the same grief i went through. my name is catalina escob

. ♪ it's fun it to come to the dnc ♪ >> colin powell is equally musically challenged.boy blagojevich is caught on camera taking on elvis. ♪ >> yikes. don't quit your day jobs, fellows. oh, wait, never mind. perhaps they should have made a speedy escape like president bush tried to do after this press conference. >> this was one of the famous episodes with george bush looking like he didn't know what he was doing because he didn't even know where the door was. >> i was trying to escape. >> and talk about wanting to escape, who can forget vice president dan quayle exercising his spelling expertise in front of the cameras. >> add one little bit on the end. potato. >> you write phonetically. there you go. >> there you go. >> i wouldn't try your luck at, are you smarter than a fifth grader, dan. >> i guess he was wrong and i was right. >> and speaking of a gaffe with an "e" on the end, here's a technical one. and you're in my way of my script, there, if you will move. >> and don't you just hate those meetings that go on and on and on? president ronald reagan certainly did.

. >> i was on the floor in philadelphia in 2000 when colin powell was booed at a republican conventionout affirmative action. but ed rendell, last night you saw condoleezza rice, that was a very powerful political debut for an accomplished foreign policy expert and speaker. what to you think of condoleezza rice as a potential, let's say, gubernatorial candidate in california if not presidential candidate, herself? >> if she wants to be governor of california, she'll be a tremendously powerful candidate. no question about it. she gave a good speech. what was interesting about her speech, it was fairly nonpartisan. she didn't rip and shred and tear. she tried to build up. and there's not enough of that, not only in this convention, but in american politics today. >> quickly, i wanted to also look at the battleground states. we're in a situation where we have a tie race and there's complete agreement on what the battlegrounds are. let's just throw up a map right here. there are ten states that everyone is focusing on. north carolina, iowa, florida, colorado, virginia, nevada, ohio, wiscon

bush association, cha cheney, rumsfeld, rivals colin powell, richard armitage who had risen with them inside the party. and despite all the differences among these members of the previous administration, they shared some common traits and beliefs. all of them had backgrounds in the military or in the pentagon, and this was as true of the secretary of state who had been chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, richard armitage, as it was of cheney and rumsfeld. it's rare to have an administration with two former secretaries of defense. and they also shared some common beliefs. um, america was unquestionably a force for good in the world, military power was of supreme importance, and, in fact, the disagreements among them were how and when force should be used by the united states, should it be saved for big wars or used as it was in iraq. so immediately after obama's election in 2008 i decided i wanted to take a look at the democrats over the same time period. really many of my books have covered the same time period from the '60s through, um, the present day. and i'd kind of come across

and speaking out to i find it disgusting george bush, dick cheney, rumsfeld, a condoleeza rice, colin powellake so much money from retained their memoirs. i scrape together $5 polar a speaking speeeleven day propagate the lives if they did when they were an office. codepink has spent telling people take some handcuffs and tried to arrest them. when you have no accountability for the sins of the past you have none for this. >> here is what comes to mind. talk about the government, the military, coming back especially during sports season. approach says we are behind. we should sit down. it is we the people that have to do it. everything goes back to the simple bumper sticker. if the people the, the people will follow. and specifically to the peace movement. inclusion to do the work we need to do. i am in love with you. >> i am so inspired by this community that has shown me how you can integrate the local economy with the global picture. we do not want to see the local and the global. you really are a model for us. thank you for bringing it back you are the ones i have been waiting for. thank

colin powell. secretary of state condoleezza rice and congressman allen west of florida.ell, it was equally incredulous. this tweet from kara davis, quote. if a black conservative shouts in the nbc forest, does anybody hear? and this tweet from one black republican, i am the 0%, according to the liberal media. and obama. i simply don't exist. we want to talk more about that because it was so jarring to see that. joining me now are cnn contributor and democratic strategist and will cain. come on, will cain. 0%. is that possible? >> no. it's highly improbable at the very least, right? and you just pointed out a few that do exist. so, yes, let's go with impossible more than improbable. the poll conducted i think a survey of 1,000 people. if you looked into the poll, it said 12% of their respondents were african-american. that means 120 people they polled. that fit the profile there. and if zero of 120 said they would not support mitt romney, i don't know. can you project that out and make a generalization? i know we do this with all polling. but obviously what we learned her

you'll remember in los angeles, i think it was in los angeles, with colin powell talking about the needve action in the republican party and endorsing that. they have a strong personal relationship. mrs. powell and condi grew up in the same town, in the same neighborhoods. tonight, she went before the crowd and talked about the importance of immigration. didn't get much of a response to that, but it's a great personal story. >> a rejoinder to some of the more fringy elements of the party. david, you have kids in school. i was thinking about what you thought about her pushing e education, and she made a wonderful statement about religious tolerance. she and huckabee. they were saying basically -- and also it came up in ryan's speech. an attempt to talk, i guess, to people who may have proceduejud against people who may be mormon. it seems like all three of them tried to do that tonight. >> i really think there were speeches, parts of the speeches that were for the hall and parts of the speeches that were for the television audience. because this is as much about mitt romney as it is the

from george bush to dick cheney and condoleezza rice and donald rumsfeld and the latest one being colin powellhey make so much money from writing their memoirs, and then, i am scraping together $5 to do a speaking tour. they are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars for one top. they are getting millions of dollars for their books. and they are propagating the lives that they propagated when they were in office. nobody has held them accountable. at codepink, my organization, we have been telling people so and so is speaking at this place, go in there and tried to arrest one in the name of the citizen. [applause] when you have no accountability for the sins of the past administration come you have none for this administration. >> i could listen to for the rest of this world. but here is what comes to mind. in terms of the government and the military, i think it comes back to what we are doing. i always refer back to the sport season. you are like a good coach. a good coach talks to the team. much of what you have been doing is talking to the team. because it is we, we the people, that have t

i know colin powell listened to that speech tonight and that endorsement matters and when you look atho really matters who has a lot of credibility, that's colin powell and i wonder politically if there is a repercussion. >> saber rattling at rush shays a proven way to not get that endorsement. that is an important point but culturewise and historical impact, great speeches and big point in the campaign, i don't mean to make light of other things but clint eastwood thing really seriously blew their final night and they're making light of it already but i cannot believe that it happened. we'll do all of this again next week for the democrats convention, more fun maybe times two. i want to thank my guests. next week, we'll be here, on tuesday, but our coverage of the republican convention in tampa continues with the great, one and only chris matthews. humans -- even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see wha

he's also referred to general colin powell and thomas as thinking like whites. he went on to say there's a difference between having a black skin and black thinking. he's referred to american actors cuba gooding jr. has been hitting in a servile way from how those sectors are selling out to the white industry in hollywood. and last but certainly not least, spike lee has gone after clint eastwood. now, it's interesting. he went after klindienst went and said that his to movies, flags of our fathers, and the letters from didn't have enough black people in them. was racist that he wouldn't include black people in his movies. flags of our fathers and letters from hiroshima. it turns out that the first movie, flags of our fathers were about the american soldiers who raised the american flag that amount. none of whom were black the second movie, letters from iow jima were told from the soldiers none of whom were black. [laughter] so, not only is spike lee a racist, he's also a dumb ass. [laughter] [applause] but we should all be thankful that spike lee's racism has at

i do not know if he has spoken specifically with colin powell but it is not beyond the governor to call if he felt necessary to get his input. he succeeded vice of a wider range of people. >> that is an important point. but mitt romney looks for is not one voice. to advise him. he wants to hear a whole spectrum of opinion. then he takes his counsel and make his decision. try to say he goes to this person or that person is not the way he operates. >> let's turn to the overall state of the race. maybe you can answer this question. i can tell you the answer before the -- 56% disapproved of the way barack obama is handling the economy which inverters say is their number-one issue. why is mitt romney not further ahead? an incumbent with those numbers should not be in the game. >> the key phrase is he is the incumbent. it is not easily beating incumbent presidents. just because he is the incumbent president's, but voters tell us is they do not -- he does not get all the blame for that. they started with great hopes about the president and now there has been disappointment. there is a sense th

you know colin powell had them.d you learn? >> i learned that we have a long way to go in this campaign and we need to clean it up fast. >> mika, what did you learn? >> i cede my time today, because you have the most important what have we learned today. >> kate scarborough, 9 years old today. happy birthday, baby, love you. i can't wait to see you very soon. >> she's really a great little girl. >> mark halperin, you can attest to that. she's a special little girl. >> kate is awesome. >> awesome. what else are you going to say? but she is. coming up, straight ahead, olympics, all day. >> enjoy. >>> good morning, everyone. welcome to our nbc olympics headquarters in new york. i'm kelly tilghman. the knockout round in men's volleyball. bulgaria, the winner of group "a," faces germany. the winner there faces the winner of poland versus russia in one semifinal. on the other side of the draw, team usa faces italy. that is scheduled two hours from now and will be shown live on msnbc. the winner will face argentina or braz

you know colin powell had them.hat did you learn? >> i learned that we have a long way to go in this campaign and we need to clean it up fast. >> mika, what did you learn? >> i cede my time today, because you have the most important what have we learned today. >> kate

. >> we talked to colin powell and he talks about how he walked i guess -- in the bronx, he decided hek in a store in the bronx as, you know, carrying crates an kept working there and led to something else. the jobs were there. >> that's the economic conversation you were talking about that we're not having the big economic conversation. the big economic conversation we're not having is that change from industrial america to post-industrial america, where jobs really weren't sent overseas because there wasn't a free global market to where it is we're not having that conversation and no easy left, right solution to that. >> two things too, a lot of people, this is -- don't want to get into a long debate here, but you hear about the 1% and 99%, everybody talks about george w. bush's tax cuts only that simple we'd abolish them tomorrow. you have i.t. creating the huge divide between the haves and have nots and you have productivity, we're more productive as a country ever than ever before. >> but -- >> that's leaving more and more people behind. >> it's also -- >> out of work. >> the amaz

you'll remember that in los angeles, i think it was in los angeles, colin powell talked about the needd endorsing that. they have a strong personal relationship, mrs. powell and condi grew up in the same town, in the same neighborhoods. tonight, condi rice went before this crowd and talked about the importance of immigration. didn't get much of a response to that. but as you say, it's a great personal story. >> and i thought a rejoineder to some of the more fringy elements in this party, birtherism. david, you have kids in school, young kids. i was thinking what you thought about her pushing education. also a wonderful statement about religious tolerance, both she and huckaby both went from an evangelical back-ground. it also came up in ryan's speech. an attempt to talk i guess to people who may have prejudice against people who are mormon, to really say it's not what church i go to, it's where i'm taking the country. seems like all three of them tried to do that tonight. >> i really think there were speeches, parts of these speeches that were for the hall, parts for the television aud