joining me now is dana milbanks, a columnist for the washington post and patricia murphy. ank you both for being here tonight. >> hi. >> dana, what do you make of this back and forth between the two campaign managers? >> i love it when they become pen pals and start sending letters as if they're being genuine about it. of course the letter wasn't really meant for the campaign. it was meant to keep this issue alive. and guess what. it did just that. the romney folks took the bait again. once again, we're talking about mitt romney's taxes. and it seems that this has enough energy to just keep on going. romney keeps teasing out a little bit more. okay, now he's saying it's 13%. but we have to trust him on that. so it's only going to ask the next series of questions. i think the obama campaign is looking to tweak them each day. >> patricia, messina seems clear he wanted romney to release five more years. they will span the time romney's been running for president answer questions people have about the one return he has released. and five more years of returns would also address

it's really important for women. >> dana milbank, terry o'neill thanks for your time tonight. >> thankhead, the former chairman of florida gop has made some shocking claims about the effort to suppress the black vote in that state. i'll talk to him live. >>> and up next, here's a kicker. a boxing kangaroo and a whole lot more coming up on your summer break. [ male announcer ] we did a febreze experiment with the azerbaijani wrestling team. ♪ can febreze air effects defeat the smelly air in their gym for good? [ man ] what can you smell? [ inhales deeply ] a lot of flowers. it's on the zingy side of floral. potpourri factory, maybe. you can take off your blindfolds now. oh my gosh. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] success. victory over odors, for good, both here and in your home. febreze. breathe happy. the u.s. hadn't won gold in over 100 years. but thanks to them... and her... and especially this guy, all those years were just a prologue to this. ♪ it's amazing how far you can go with a little help along the way. td ameritrade. proud sponsor of the 2012 u.s. olympic team. td ameritrade

joining me now is dana milbank, columnist for "the washington post" and back with us again is crystal "the cycle" on msnbc. and of course clint eastwood joins us. thank you all for being here. clint, i got to start with you. what were you thinking? all right. i gave you a chance. let's move on. dana, we're in the hall last night, you were there. what was the feeling as this was going on? >> first of all, i think clint eastwood just told you to shut up, reverend. it does look like he combed his hair for your interview. so that's a good sign. he did not give them that last night. >> we're talking about respect. all the jokes aside. i thought it was the most despicable disrespect for the presidency. when you have the president where this kind of -- where he implies the president speaks in a vulgar way, i mean, if a democratic convention had done that, they would be killing us. i think for him to be allowed to get away with that kind of disrespect and no one challenged him. mr. romney or rubio came behind him and said absolutely nothing about how he disparaged the president of the united

dana milbank says this could be divine intervention but not coincidence. it is good to have you here. you ask the question in your article has god forsaken the gop? i know it's tongue in cheek but it is almost like, unlike anything that we've ever seen storming into a national convention. >> you know, thomas, i wrote about this a month ago about this theoretical possibility. there's like 0.2%. i don't claim to have a direct pipe line to the big guy but if you look at what some republicans have done in the past, you know, michele bachmann and pat robertson and glenn beck, they have attributed meet logical phenomena to god's wrath. you picture the skinny dipping in the sea of galilee where jesus is said to have performed so many miracles and then you have the hurricane barreling toward tampa. i don't know what you make of that. i think michele bachmann has alleged she's heard god talk to her before. let's get back to the platform. specifically the ban on abortion is even in cases of rape and incest and the platform is tough on immigration, marriage equality.

joining us now from washington is dana milbank and jared bernstein, an msnbc contributor and former economic adviser to the vice president. good afternoon. dana, immediately after the ryan pick was announced, now wrote paul ryan's affect on mitt romney would be quote the effect of a ball and chain. how is that holding up. you wrote it. >> i appreciate it, martin. we've seep this happen before and we know how this plays out. now, paul ryan's saying this is a debate we want to have. now the results are in. he's seen the debate and you'll notice they're moving on to other subjects. this is not a debate they're going to win. now, interestingly enough, within those poll number, some of the older voters object less to ryan and romney on this. it's the overall voters saying we don't even want you to change this program down the road. >> indeed, why is their argument not working? you're an economist. paul ryan tells us he understands numbers. why is this argument not working? >> this has to be fixed down the road and the sooner we start it, the better. the problem is, how do you fix it? there's a ri

joining me now is dana milbank and erin mcpike. anks for joining me tonight, both of you. >> thank you. >> tonight, let me ask you, d a dana, seriously no jokes aside. boehner trying to rally the troops by saying he wants to go on the offensive. is this even believable? >> many americans do find the republican position to be offensive, so it's not surprising from what point of view. you know, the truth is republican house members and senators running for re-election were going to be charged with the ryan plan anyway. particularly in the house. they didn't just vote for this thing once, they did it over and over in this obsessi obsessive-compulsive tick. now it is the republican ticket. for the vast majority it's not going to matter. but where the battle is with the seats in play, this makes their challenge that much more difficult to hold on to control of the house. >> dana's right. when you look at the vote on republicans on the ryan plan, 228 voted yes. only ten voted no. and three didn't vote at all. so you have at least 228 repu

and dana milbank, columnist for the washington post. thank you both for being here tonight. >> absolutely. >> happy birther day. >> thank you. i would say the same to you, but i don't celebrate it, dana. >> okay. >> melissa, it's not so subtle or is it subtle? what do you make of what romney said today and what he's been saying all along. >> couple of things. the first is we should just take that fact, no one's asked to see my birth certificate and pause on that. i think he's telling the truth. no one has ever asked to see his birth certificate. this is a man who has been running for about eight years. the vakt no one asked to see his should make us pause and say why then the constant unabated calls to see president obama's even after he's -- >> if you really want to go back there. >> exactly. and i think that's precisely where -- first we want to pause and say romney has told us an awful lot about the birther movement itself simply by making that statement. i think the other thing we want to remember here is this wasn't a scripted momen

joining me now, dana milbank of "the washington post" live from the nation's capitol and from philadelphianbc political analyst and former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell. thanks, gentlemen, for joining us. >> hi, karen. >> i want to start with the idea that this group is a, they would say nonpartisan and that they're a social welfare group. that just does not stand up to any kind of scrutiny, right? >> right, like they're handing out clothing and food to the poor. something like that. no, of course not. i don't think anybody's fooled by this. there's been this proliferation of groups on both sides and i think they want both sides are trying to deny association with this while benefitting from their accusations. let's think about this one in particular. every time these guys air this video or put money into ads, they're reminding everybody, oh, yeah, it was president obama that killed osama bin laden. let's have that said over and over and over again and whether he took too much credit for it, i think that's a charge that the obama campaign is willing to live with. >> and actually, gover

steve kornacki, one of the hosts of "the cycle" and matt miller, and dana milbank, political columnisthe washington post." steve, we were supposed to begin this week enthused by a thunderous performance by romney ryan in new hampshire and yet, here we are today talking about a bloke we haven't even heard of 24 hours ago. >> who's this romney guy? this is a crucial time for mitt romney because what his campaign is really looking at is one of the themes this summer is that romney's favorable rating is a lot lower than what it should be. people clearly prefer obama. that's the press, the obama attack ads, the questions about the taxes. what they are thinking of, what the romney campaign is thinking of is what happened to bill clinton in 1992. in the spring of 1992, people thought bill clinton was going to be an electoral disaster. he had really from an image standpoint, the best convention. where they did the man from hope. really told the bill clinton story to america. and people left saying not only do i like this guy, this guy should be president of the united states. that's what repub

let's get right to our panel in philadelphia, professor james peterson, in washington, dana milbank and here in new york, msnbc political analyst, karen finney. karen, we couldn't choose a more suitable person to answer this first question. you are a professional. you have done this job. how is it possible that on the biggest night for mitt romney, they had clint eastwood performing what seemed to be a -- >> i feel like we found ourselves in this place many times during the romney campaign. how did we get here, how did that let that happen? this is malpractice of some sorts, because usually, these are very controlled speeches, the whole program laid out carefully and i don't think anybody yet knows what that was that we saw last night. >> but this is a ceo. he's supposed to run companies brilliantly, and yet, this was amateur hour. in fact, it would be an insult at amateur night at the apollo. >> it was offensive, vulgar and completely inappropriate. despite the fact he's a republican, i'm a clint eastwood fan, i don't want to see that. i don't want to see him with his hair sticking up

then dana milbank asks, has god forsaken the republican party? s take and if divine intervention is the only hope to win the white house. that and much more after this. >>> hi everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. topping the agenda today republican renegade. tensions within the gop hitting a boiling point as they a defiant todd akin digs in against calls to bow out of the u.s. senate race in missouri. >> this is not about me. this is not about my

season has gotten nastier than any other campaign season on record, and bring to your attention dana milbank writing in the "washington post," "what's different this time is the democrats are employing the same harsh tactics that have been used against them for so long with so much success. they've ceased their traditional response of assuming the fetal position when attacked and obama's campaign is giving as good as it gets and then some." >> i'm skeptical when anyone says this is the nastiest campaign ever. we hear that every time the campaigns start to go nasty. i think the key here is, the clintons were very successful. they always punched back. when the successful democrats are the ones that hit back. yesterday, i counted four shameless jokes. the obama campaign has tried to paint mitt romney as a bankster, some sort of corporate criminal hiding out in bermuda and what not. this is a pretty nasty campaign. i'm all for nasty campaigns, more to write about. >> with that glib assessment, michael hastings, josh, you know, david axelrod was asked about this and gave a glib respornr respon re

. >> "the washington post," dana milbank, as a rule, politicians aren't the most loyal lot.y second and party third. romney has a particular problem commanding loyalty and the republicans playing brew tis at this week's convention have been brutal, exploiting the tepid enthusiasm for romney, up and comers are putting down mark es for their own presidential bids in 2016. they haven't gone so far as to disparage romney, such flagrant disloyalty would be a turnoff but using their moments on stage as auditions, unfortunately for romney, the implied assumption is that he's going to lose. >> mark halperin, i am shocked, shocked, that any politician would use their moment -- >> try to get some limelight. >> at the convention. >> take an opportunity to have people hear what they have to say. >> ronald reagan would never do that in 1976, barack obama in 2004. >> lord knows bill clinton wouldn't. >> bill clinton, do you think that guy would go on stage -- >> only been on for 45 minutes. >> drum on and on and on. >> forever thinking everyone was hanging on every word. when we weren't.