only on current tv. >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer, and this is view point.a slug fest. president obama and governor mitt romney fought it out toe-to-toe in last night second presidential debate. the president was control and in command, and perhaps not a day too soon. the gallup poll shows mitt romney with a six-point lead over the president, the biggest in the campaign. those numbers don't reflect what happened in last night's debate. these do. 48% of registered voters say the president won the content compared to 33% for mitt romney. after the candidates came out and shook hands, the gloves came off and the fight began starting with jobs and the auto industry bailout. >> obama: when governor romney said that we should let detroit go bankrupt, i said we're going to bet on american workers american auto industry, and it has come surging back. precisely what i recommended and what happened. >> obama: candy, what governor romney said simply isn't true. he wanted to take them into bankruptcy without providing them any way to stay open, and we would have lost a

thank you. >> a pleasure to meet you, eliot. >> eliot: thank you, sir."viewpoint" for tonight. i'll see you back here monday with cenk cougar, john fugelsang fugelsang, and general granholm, and vice president al gore. for the big debate. [♪ theme music ♪] >> john: good evening, i'm john fugelsang, and welcome to "so that happened" the week in review show that looks back on all of the events of the week you may already be trying to forget. we kr have shelley wrighted. and lizz winstead. filmmaker, and a visit to comacon new york cit

thank you. >> a pleasure to meet you, eliot. >> eliot: thank you, sir.t's "viewpoint" for tonight. i'll see you back here monday with cenk cougar, john fugelsang fugelsang, and general granholm, and vice >> jennifer: i'm jennifer granholm. tonight in "the war room" from new york city, clever to the point, easy to understand and utterly devastating in its use. yes, folks we have a new favorite word. >> what if i told you that there was a man who told the truth -- >> i like to be able to fire people who provide services to me. i have a missouri foxtroter. >> until one day when everything

we'll see you tomorrow. [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpointitt romney flip flops on one of the most divisive issues in american politics--abortion. and the supreme court hears arguments on another divisive issue, affirmative action. we start with the election and the numbers. likely voters in the latest gallup poll are evenly split between romney and obama. and in ohio, obama leads by a single point and obama has a two-point lead in wisconsin and the president leads romney in florida. here's what he told the morning show. >> it's hard to keep saying what he's saying isn't true. >> governor romney had a good night. i had a bad night. >> mr. obama said despite the debate the fundamentals of the election hadn't changed, and he had this assurance for his supporters. >> is it possible that you handed him the election that night? >> obama: no. >> you're going to win? >> yes. >> eliot: as for how did mitt romney do against the president bill clinton had his own ideas. >> i thought w old moderate mitt. where you been, boy i missed you all these last t

only on current tv. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpointhe stakes could not be higher for president obama heading into tuesday's second presidential debate. the president had maintained a narrow lead in the polls all summer, especially in the key swing states. but since the first presidential debate, more voters have been taking a second look at mitt romney. now the race is simply too close to call. let's go to the national numbers first. the president trails the former massachusetts governor by two points in the latest gallup tracking poll. mr. obama leads romney by a single point in the politico gwu poll and perhaps giving him solace, likely voters in the absence news "washington post" poll give mr. obama a three-point edge over governor romney. turning to 12 swing states that will almost certainly decide the election the aggregateed united states today gallup poll has the president trailing mitt romney 46-50%. and astonishing after all the talk last summer of a gender gap women voters in those states split their preferences with 48% for

>> eliot: you are absolutely right.re we navigated the arab spring -- >> jennifer: remind people of that. the incident in benghazi is a tragedy, but syria is totally different from benghazi. you are saying the whole thing wraps together making him look weak -- >> eliot: exactly. >> jennifer: he goes right at mitt romney and saying are you saying you would send american men and women into war in syria when we don't know who the next leader is going to be? and the same answer in afghanistan. do you agree we should be out of afghanistan in 2014? it's the same -- would you go and bomb iran? is that what you would you do? >> eliot: i think these are correct arguments, but i hope they register emotionally -- would you agree with me emotionally the debate about foreign policy shifted recently? >> jennifer: it has, but he can shift it back. >> eliot: even even tonight we're seeing the little things on the bottom of the screen saying benghazi-gate. we are now a mere 28 seconds away from the opening bell. which will be an excitin

"viewpoint" is next. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpointitt romney attacks president obama on one of the president's strengths--foreign policy. the new poll shows the president passive, disconnected performance at last week' debate may have cost him his lead. that despite friday's jobs numbers showed that unemployment had finally dropped below 8% for the first time since the president took office. according to the latest pew poll if the election were held today, 49% of likely voters would support mitt romney to just 45% for president obama. the president led romney by eight points in that same poll just under a month ago. we'll have more on that a little later in the program. mitt romney may have been hoping to widen that lead with a much anticipated speech at the virginia military institute today that articulated his approach on foreign policy, focusing primarily on u.s. relations in the middle east. the g.o.p. contender portrayed the president as naive in his dealings with our enemies inand enempty with our friends. >> i know the presiden

[ ♪ music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening, i'm eliot spitzer.s is "viewpoint" coming to you tonight from our current tv studio in los angeles. it was billed as a major address on economic policy. mitt romney would tell a crowd of iowa supporters and the world how he would lead the country forward into a new era of prosperity and growth. romney spoke today and yes romney did dust off the same five-point economic plan he has been touting for months. the only thing remotely fresh that romney offered was more cries for change wrapped in a series of unrelenting attacks on president obama who apparently bears sole responsibility for everything that has gone wrong in washington the fast four years. >> this is a year of a choice. americans want to see changes. four years ago people voted for a partisan president and washington is in gridlock because of it president obama reminds us that he inherited a terrible economy. it's not what he inherited but with the misguided policies that slowed the recovery and caused millions of americans to endure lengthy p

"viewpoint" with eliot spitzer is next. we'll see you tomorrow. >> eliot: good evening. i'm eliot spitzer. this is "viewpoint." the third presidential debate of the 2012 campaign is history. and we are in the homestretch of the race for the white house. president obama and mitt romney met to debate foreign policy at lynn university in boca raton florida, last night and when it was all over, romney's running mate, congressman paul ryan, picked a winner close to his heart. >> i think governor romney won this debate and you know why i think he won it? because americans, for a third time now got to see a man ready to become a great president. >> eliot: the polls suggest voters saw the debate a little differently. undecided voters in a cbs news poll favored president obama's performance by 30 points over mitt romney. registered voters in a cnn poll gave the president an 8-point lead over his rival and voters in 11 swing states gave mr. obama an 11-point debate margin over romney in a public policy poll. those swing state voters also favored the president by 6 points when they

ram. >> eliot: who is the real mitt romney?regulation the etch candidate manage to remain true to one thing in denver last night, his nickname castigating while also praising parts of the president's signature reform law, dodd-frank. >> romney: this is an enormous boom for them. >> you want to repeal dodd-frank? >> romney: i would repeal and replace it. >> eliot: romney's attempt to portray the president as in the pocket of wall street is especially bold given that until now romney has carried the water for the big banks in opposing the few regulations that would actually limit the most profitable and riskiest activities. here with me now to do the nearly possible is dennis kelleher, president and ceo of better markets, inc., a group dedicated to financial reform. thanks for coming in to completely unravel this pretzel that my brain has turned into. does he love dodd-frank or hate it? >> he makes the tv show "extreme makeover" look like a failure. he bares no relationship to either where his money is coming from nor his career.

. >> eliot: good evening, i'm eliot spitzer, and this is "viewpoint." the september jobs report is in. and the numbers are better than expected. way better. the unemployment rate below 8% for the first time since january 2009. it's good news for president obama, after his underwhelming performance in wednesday' debate. and bad news for mitt romney, and his conspiracy-minded supporters on the republican right. more on that in a moment. according to the bureau of labor statistics, unemployment dropped to 7.8% last month down .3 of a percent since august. employers added 114,000 new jobs. including 104 in the private sector and 10,000 in the public sector which had seen months of steady decline. in july's number revised to 181,000 with an additional 40,000 new jobs. president obama shared the news with a cheering crowd at a campaign appearance in fairfax virginia. >> obama: this morning we found out that the unemployment rate had fallen to its lowest level since i office. but today's news certainly is not an excuse to try to talk down the economy to score

see you tomorrow. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this "viewpoint."is it that some republicans senate candidates don't understand about abortion and rape? plenty. as in ugly new battlefield on the war on women showed last night, and the time could not be worse for mitt romney. comments when an abortion appropriate came into a debate for indiana candidate for senate richard mourdock against democrat joe donnelly. they both say they're pro-life. richard mourdock said this. >> the i think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that god intended to happen. >> eliot: some republicans backed off michigan quickly. mike pens has urged richard mourdock to apologize. and others say quote richard mourdock's comments damage all republicans especially romney as the fight for the women's vote intensifies. this could be a defining moment for romney and he should immediately denounce both murdoch and the comment. with the policy poll showing the lead to romney. with the race neck and neck, romney does not need the gender gap to co

>> exactly. >> eliot: how many 15 rounders did you have? >> two. >> eliot: you won them?d for. >> but you go into a zone that you can't explain. >> eliot: was the president in that down? >> yeah, he was in the zone. >> eliot: he was throwing the left jab. >> he started changing strategy, and then you could see the tide shifting. for that it was you know, he went on to retain it. >> eliot: he took body blows in the first debate. >> for sure. >> eliot: do you give credit to the boxer or the guy in the corner. >> a little bit of both. the guy in the corner has to tell the boxer, we have to switch up the strategy and that's what happened. >> eliot: you've been in the corner with a lot of boxers. who do you give the credit to? >> he was so bad in the first debate so non-present. he didn't need anyone tell him what he needed to do. i'm sure he got better advice give credit to the people who advised him. he didn't throw any punks. he didn't counter punch. romney gave him wide-open shots and he didn't take them. he wasn't there. every fighter has a fight where they're not there.

. >> eliot: good evening, i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpoint." a speck for is haunting mitt romney courtesy of the obama campaign. it is 8'2" tall and covered with yellow feather. more on that in a moment. first, the cnn poll showed if the election were held today, likely voters would favor obama over romney by just four points. while ohio has obama ahead by just one point. earlier today romney campaigned in iowa where he tried to appeal to the farm vote. >> romney: i will do everything in my power to strengthen once again the american farm the family farm strengthen our economy. >> eliot: but as romney spoke a plane flu over head that said crack down on wall street not sesame street. they are trying to exploit romney's promise to end government support with public television with that banner and this ad. >> big yellow a menace to our economy, mitt romney knows it's not wall street you have to worry about it's sesame street. >> romney: the president is spending his time talking about saving big bird. i'll spend my time talk about saving jobs. >>

>> eliot: let me ask you this. there's no question that over the last several weeks florida has been moving toward mitt romney. what do you ascribe that to? the unemployment rate there. is it 8.7? can the president remedy that? >> well, i think that it's been more than anything, the impact of the lies concerning the president's plan regarding the healthcare plan. i think that the fact that the other side has been pounding with ad after ad after ad this nonsense that the president's going to cut medicare benefits when the opposite is true, he's actually closing the doughnut hole, that's had an effect on florida's senior votes and i think that people have to see through that. the romney campaign is running a campaign of lies. outright lies. i think the president's starting to point that out. i think that other people in the party are starting to point that out. i've been pointing that out for quite awhile. i think people will have to see through that. in fact, the romney and the ryan plan to cut medicare and social s

. >> eliot: good evening. i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpoint." the first presidential debate of the 2012 campaign is over. president obama could be forgiven if he wanted to press the reset button. the candidates were all smiles as they came out shook hands in denver last night but when the 90-minute debate was over, mitt romney was the only contender with a reason to keep smiling. according to a cnn poll, 67% of adults thought romney won the debate compared to just 25% who picked the president. 46% of undecided voters in a cbs poll gave the win to romney to just 22% for mr. obama. nearly a third of the undecideds were undecided. romney's positive rating rose above 50% for the first time in this campaign in a reuters poll. the president's ratings stayed unchanged at 56%. romney stayed on the attack even though his positions were to be charitable and flatly untrue. here's some of what he said about his tax plan and the economy. >> romney: i'm not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. my plan is not to put in place any tax cut that will add to the defi

thank you for joining us. >> a pleasure, eliot. >> eliot: let's start with the important question. what do we know about al-qaeda's attacks in the consulate in ben gassy. >> this was a well planned attack. somebody had been casing the consulate in benghazi for some time. whether they acted on the spur of the moment or if they had direction in outside of libya remains to be scene. >> eliot: the difficulty given the uncertainty and it's impossible to get your arms around all the facts very quickly. but the difficulty then is how do we then move in our evolving relationship with the new libyan government to control al-qaeda's presence and respect their sovereignty. where do we go in this evolving arab spring, in libya in particular. >> a lot of this takes time. building up a strong system of government, institution of government libya in particular build gadhafi never wanted an institution that would rival his him. every political faction within libya has weapons and obviously at least one of them or more used them on the consulate a few weeks ago. >> eliot: what i hear you saying, an

thanks for joining us tonight. >> thanks, eliot. >> eliot: to dig deep near the poll numbers let's bring in anna greenberg and steven seigman, senior vice president of global strategy group as well as a professor at columbia university. thank you for joining us. anna since you're farther away, we'll start with you. as you heard me say to nancy the first stage of grief is denial. there is a tendency among many partisans and democrats to say ah, those numbers don't mean -- what's the current state of the gender gap? >> well, of course the numbers are true. if you look at the share of the vote that obama got in 2008 among women he's not getting that right now. he hasn't been getting it for most of the year. over the course of august and september, and early october he started rebuilding his strength among women primarily because of republican missteps starting with todd akin's comments going into the republican convention and then finally the 47% video. and i think you know, in some ways, the lead that was built primarily on qualifying romney, it wasn't a surprise when he presented himself

>> eliot you know, obviously you know, extortion is speech. somebody says hey if you don't do this to me -- if you don't do this, i'm going to do this to you, threaten them with some sort of financial harm, you know we recognize laws on the book that that is extortion. we put people in the mob and other places. would you argue that mafia speech related to extortion should be legalized? >> eliot: well, look, not to dig back too far into my past back when i prosecuted the mob i don't remember they made a first amendment defense. the reason is when you attach a threat to the speech, it acquires a whole different nature. i think that's why -- i zeroed in on the word "coercion" that you raised quite properly so in the beginning. if it is done in a coercive way we feel powerful about it. if it is done in an are intive way, it is like an editorial. how you define the line is an issue. did we agree on the conceptual framework? >> i think you know, if this goes the route of where anti-union campaigns go, this is really the framework for this kind of wo

>>now that's politically direct. >> eliot: stop whining.t's my message for david siegel, the founder and ceo of westgate resorts. he's one of the largest resort developers in the world and i usually have enormous respect for him. mr. siegal started a business out of his garage, and started a huge time share company that operates more than 10,000 units at 28 resorts. for that i congratulate him. but on monday siegal sent the thousands of employees at westgate a long letter that he drafted saying that if barack obama is re-elected he might be forced to lay many of them off. i quote, if any new taxes are levied on me or my company as our current president prance i will no choice but to reduce the size of this company. the crux of his complaint, he's paying too much taxes. i quote, they want you to believe that it some how makes sense to take more from those who create wealth and give it though those who do not. and some how the economy will improve. they don't want you it know that the 1% as they like to label us pay more than 31% of the taxes

eliot? >> eliot: i think barack obama. i think mitt romney tries too hard. >> cenk: vice president?> al gore: i think in a funny way, romney may be liberated by the fact that he is so far behind, and maybe a little looser in his presentation. i think that the president will win the debate but worry the -- vis-a-vis the expectations that romney may exceed his expectations a little more than the president does. >> cenk: governor grandholm? >> jennifer: i agree with you. i think the president will do well. i think romney has the potential to overplay his aggressiveness and need to overcome. if there is a tie, it goes to romney, and if the president is calm and cool, he wins. >> john: i think democrats underestimate governor romney at their own demise. >> cenk: i think mitt romney if he is overly aggressive, he will lose ground, if he is underaggressive that will be a problem. it will be tough to hit that window. so i think there's some chance he overreaches, and if he overreaches, it could look ugly. so we'll see how it plays out. so obviously you will be watching the debate with us he

. >> jennifer: you're very gracious, but, eliot,-- >> eliot: i don't know about being gracious in a debate jennifer: you know this is a debate where george w. bush said we should not be engaged in mission building. >> eliot: we were shotting about this before we came back. it's fascinating how even let's give him full credit, he may have believed it at the moment. circumstances change, and in the world of foreign policy in particular, suddenly the word was turned upside down and what was viewed as a fundamental principle of non-engagement, non-eninvolvement was turned upside down for george w. bush's administration for better or for worse. to the vice president's point subtle nuance, something that the president may be talking about when it comes to bengahzi and the unilateralism of mitt romney with an effective rhetorical point that doesn't translate well. >> al gore: on the other hand where experience in foreign policy can make a difference, avoiding mistakes that could be embarrassing and coming back in the post debate analyses as a big problem. the most famous example was ironically ma

>> eliot: no. >> cenk: he likes fetuses so much because he looks like one. >> eliot: stop cenk that'snough. [ laughter ] >> eliot: he wasn't laughing in a mocking way. but he was respectful. i think he came across as the likable joe that we have gotten to know over many years of government service. >> cenk: really? >> eliot: one or two times did he interrupt perhaps more than he should have. but i think joe was likable. and i don't think that paul ryan came across as a kid. >> cenk: really? >> eliot: yes, i think joe biden's dexterity with facts was greater -- >> john: yeah, i would say joe biden won on performance, but i agree paul ryan was relaxed. he didn't embarrass himself once. >> cenk: i thought he had talking points throughout. joe looked like a real human being, to your point. paul ryan every time you went to him, all right. these are the things i memorized, that's the sense i got. >> john: like i said before i think whoever looks like they are having the most fun is the winner, and on that front joe biden won. >> cenk: let's go to michael shure. >> president obama needed his

former new york governor, the host of current tv's "viewpoint," eliot spitzer. thanks eliot. up next, the president spent the day overseeing fema's response to one of the largest disasters in u.s. history. mitt romney spent the day ducking reporter's questions on whether he would eliminate fema. two statements that i think largely speak for themselves. you're watching "the war room." we'll be right back. of the country. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup. only on current tv. so vote and vote smart. >> jennifer: right now, across the northeast millions of americans are relying on the local, state and federal governments for more than a little help. the need for public assistance in a crisis like this storm is simply massive. back in june 2011 when governor romney was trying to win over republican primary voters at a debate, you may have seen this. he had this to say about how to fix the financially-strapped federal emergency management agency better known as fema. take a listen. >> romney: every time you have an occasion to take s

good night everybody. >> eliot: good evening. i'm eliot spitzer.t." 2012 has been highlighted by democratic claims of a republican war on women. transvaginal ultrasounds refusing coverage of birth control and of course, todd akin's deplorable comments. despite this women's issues have almost been lost in the campaign issue finally servicing in a small way in tuesday's debate. that small mention did little to help the

>> eliot: no. >> cenk: he likes fetuses so much because he looks like one. >> eliot: stop cenk that's enough. [ laughter ] >> eliot: he wasn't laughing in a mocking way. but he was respectful. i think he came across as the likable joe that we have gotten to know over many years of government service. >> cenk: really? >> eliot: one or two times did he interrupt perhaps more than he should have. but i think joe was likable. and i don't think that paul ryan came across as a kid. >> cenk: really? >> eliot: yes, i think joe biden's dexterity with facts was greater -- >> john: yeah i would say joe biden won on performance, but i agree paul ryan was relaxed. he didn't embarrass himself once. >> cenk: i thought he had talking points throughout. joe looked like a real human being, to your point. paul ryan every time you went to him, all right. these are the things i memorized, that's the sense i got. >> john: like i said before i think whoever looks like they are having the most fun is the winner, and on that front joe biden won. >> cenk: let's go to michael shure. >> president obama needed hi

. ♪ >> eliot: welcome back. politically direct current tv's coverage of the second presidential debate. i'm joined here by governor jennifer granholm, two-term governor of michigan. i always say the best speaker at the democratic convention. she stirred the audience and our own john fuglesang whose great show will be beginning shortly. so in a minute and less, we'll have the opening bell. jennifer, what do you expect to see the president do to show he's in command he's in charge. >> jennifer: i think he will speak with clarity about the differences between him and mitt romney. i think he will bring it home with optimism and passion. >> john: i think the president needs to show he's more comfortable around humans. this is the forum to do it. >> eliot: tonight will be about differences and contrast. if there was a word in the last debate, it was convergence. the president seemed to be malleable. >> jennifer: mitt romney was malleable. president can't allow him to do it. >> john: mitt romney has to be better than l

come on eliot. >> eliot: he spoke to his wife with no passion. [ laughter ] >> eliot: that was the onlyoment when i saw in his eyes the energy and caring that got him elected president -- >> jennifer: what about when he quoted lincoln? >> eliot: it sounded old. >> cenk: all right. vice president gore what did he do right? >> al gore: well that was going to be my answer. i thought he handled the medicare question well. but he allowed governor romney to make that $716 billion charge that was completely blown away at the democratic convention and then all of a sudden it's back again. >> eliot: uh-huh. >> al gore: and somebody who just tuned in for the first time might think president obama is cutting all of this money out of medicare, and romney is going to ride to the rescue. >> cenk: now all of a sudden we have drama. >> jennifer: that's for sure. >> cenk: we're looking forward to the vice presidential debate which we will be covering here on current next thursday, and then two more presidential debates, and now i can't wait to see how president obama responds, and we will certainly be l

what is it eliot. >> eliot: man, i like that introduction. i'll be nice to you some day too.t richard mourdock statement who is running for the senate in indiana, the crazy republican who is saying answer where someone has been raped and there is a pregnancy, there should not be a right to an abortion. reopening the war on women. the republicans cannot stay away from this issue. romney has endorsed the guy and has refused to pull his endorsement. it's going to be crazy. >> cenk: appreciate it eliot. when we come back an elbow on top of a head that you've been dying to deliver. please me, you're going to enjoy this. you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything

now we go to al gore, eliot spitzer, jennifer granholm, john fugelsang. i can't wait to hear what you though thought. >> i agree with you. this was a takedown many my opinion. i thought he got a lot of really strong hits on governor romney that went unanswered, and the ones that governor romney did try to answer, i didn't think he did that well. governor romney himself had some moments, but i think overall it was a clear win for president obama. if i could just make one other point here. i think that it was interesting that romney tried to move airway from the image he has cultivated for this long campaign of being a hawk and leaning towards military interventions, just as we saw him in the previous debates try to move away from his positions on giving tax cuts to the wealthy, we saw him in this debate moving away from a hawk-ish position on our military strategy, and he ended up essentially endorsing a great many of the positions that president obama has taken and has implemented very skillfully in foreign policy, and i think the net result was a clear w

oh, eliot spitzer. >> eliot: you almost forgot about it.u're going to be sitting next to me tomorrow night. you better be nice to me. we have governor granholm coming up about what it's like to prepare joe biden for debate. and then p.j. crowley one the great voices of the state department explaining what we now know, what we don't know and what we should know about what happened in bengahzi. >> cenk: and we'll host "the young turks" together on friday. >> eliot: i look forward to it. >> cenk: thank you eliot. when we come back, the elbow of the day. or the light saver of the day. they're doing this this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>that's an understatement, eliot. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 day

. >> cenk: eliot spitzer with "viewpoint."ot: i was hoping that you would tell me. i've been listening to you trash mitt romney, literally. man you're going down the totem poll. the supreme court term, is is it going to be as fun as last year. and libya, an interesting story to see how long the republicans try to flay this one. it won't do them any good. and "countdown" to denver. it will be fun to see them talk about the debate more than the candidates do. we'll have a good time. >> cenk: sounds good. we voted not guilty on all counts of mitt romney. >> eliot: come on, you guys--i'm glad i never had you on one of my juries. >> cenk: thank you eliot. when we come back, elbow of the day. i'm going to tell you who it is. keep it between you and me, it's on paul ryan but who will deliver it on his head? it's a really fun topic. we'll see when we come back. no no, don't let him fall. people when i'm upset. they're doing this this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>that's an understatement, eliot. um, hello. thes

everyone have a great weekend. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> good evening i'm michael shure sitting in for elioter, and this is sup. vice president joe biden and made paul ryan clash early. martha raddatz moderating and keeping a tight grip on the proceedings, the topics included this sharp exchange on social security and medicare. >> social security and medicare going bankrupt. if you reform these programs for my generation, 55 and below. >> who do you believe him or me, a plan that added $6,400 a year more and with regard to social security we will not privatize it. >> shocking to know that both sides claimed victory after the debate. democrats praised biden on the substance of his arguments while republicans attacked him on style points. >> biden new to pick up that flag and go in. did he it tonight and effectively. >> i don't think from a stylistic point of view that he did himself any good. >> he looked like an arrogant cheshire cat smiling and laughing every time ryan spoke. >> joe biden is joe biden. he's authentic and real. he's state forward and he says what he thinks and he says what h

eliot spitzer is our best.is the host of "viewpoint" on current tv every night at 8:00 pm eastern. a couple of foreign policy questions i wanted to ask you about is libya. bob schieffer started with libya. i was surprised that romney was not more aggressive -- didn't really score on that. >> i'm with you. i was sitting there -- we had -- vice president gore and governor granholm and john fugelsang, we were in new york and cenk uygur was in los angeles. but the benghazi issue had been the focal point of all of the screaming by the republican party. and rather than going after it romney just kind of mumbled and bumbled around. and i said something is going on. and i also think he was a little bit nervous and out of his element, but there was no concerted attack even on that issue, and that was the first moment when we saw the new strategy. >> bill: and he also -- he did repeat this line that president obama wants to put daylight between the united states and israel. so he was trying to drive that wedge in there.

have a great weekend. [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzer and this is "viewpoint."ld think about coming back in. the numbers are starting to look better for mr. president obama. he won by a 15-point margin over romney. and in another poll, it was

oh, eliot spitzer. >> eliot: you almost forgot about it.hat again. your you're going to be sitting next to me tomorrow night. you better be nice to me. we have governor granholm coming up about what it's like to prepare joe biden for debate. and then p.j. crowley one the great voices of the state department explaining what we now know, what we don't know and what we should know about what happened in bengahzi. >> cenk: and we'll host "the young turks" together on friday. >> eliot: i look forward to it. >> cenk: thank you eliot. when we come back, the elbow of the day. or the light saver of the day. home of the brave. ♪ ♪ it's where fear goes unwelcomed... ♪ ♪ and certain men... find a way to rise above. this is the land of giants. guts. glory. ram. currenttv

. >> eliot: you didn't have to cut to me? i was listening.i say the presidential race was over last week? >> cenk: you're going to remind me of that again? >> eliot: you persuaded me that have fact. we have to eat crow. this is a new game. we'll talk about that, foreign policy this is the issue of the moment. did mitt romney say anything today or was it all sizzle, no steak. we've got stephen barton, one of the victims in the aurora shooting horror, and he'll put pressure on the presidential candidate on gun control. we've got a lot of issues coming up. >> cenk: looking forward for t eliot, and by the way, it's still over. now when we come back, the elbow of the day. shows slavery guys didn't get it. the kid executer didn't get it. who gets it, you'll find out when we come back. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. build a ground-breaking car. good. now build a time machine. go h

all right, guys, we'll see you tomorrow. [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> eliot: good evening i'm eliot spitzerug fest. president obama and governor mitt romney fought it out toe-to-toe in last night second presidential debate. the president was control and in command, and perhaps not a day too soon. the gallup poll shows mitt romney with a six-point lead over the president, the biggest in the campaign. those numbers don't reflect what happened in last night's debate.

any memorable moments from debates in the past that you remember eliot? >> then only one -- seeing this ten seconds to go brings it back. i had a problem with one of my opponents that had a binder on the lectern and the moderator had to run up and take it off. and i think it totally threw my opponent. >> al gore: i think the single best line is when ronald reagan said i'm not going to make an issue of age and hold my opponent's age against him. great good humor, funny, but it ended the race. >> cenk: yeah to the point we were discussing earlier about substance, you know, one of the most memorable moments was when george hw bush looked at his watch. here we go. >> i'm jim lehrer and i welcome you to the first of the 2012 presidential debates between president barack obama, the democratic nominee, and form massachusetts governor mitt romney, the republican nominee. this debate as the next three, two presidential one vice presidential are sponsored by the commission on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a

eliot, what do you have. >> eliot: i hear there was a debate last night cenk.d pars over the obama campaign and see how they can resurrect themselves. you and i still predict that they're going to win big. voter i.d. has been the pennsylvania statute struck down or the delayed implementation. big and important news in terms of november. here in new york the innocence project, a great group of folks 300 person found to be convicted wrongly will get out of jail. we'll talk about folks out of there, and how they do it and we'll shed light on the criminal justice system. >> cenk: sound great. when we come back, the elbow of the day. you know who it is. you cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. enm01525 w of the day on thursday. there was some good responses but here's our favorite. we decided to go with it. minuteel warner said obama drops an elbow on himself for playing t

>> eliot: we're going to have a great show. the gender divide. everything from the president on down presumed he would have a ten-point margin among female voters. suddenly it's gone. where did it go? it's the mystery of the moment. we'll be chatting about that. the issue of corporate leaders employers dictating to their employees for whom they should vote. is it constitutional, legal good bad exercising free speech or something worse than that. and then a decision out, a great victim for the--a great victory for the cause of civil rights. >> cenk: we'll be looking forward to it. >> eliot: thank you, and congratulation as soon as thank you. on the kid, i know, thank you so much. when we come back, kid or not i'm dropping elbows. we'll show you who when we return. always outspoken, now unleashed: joy behar. >> on my next show, nate burkus talks about what to put in your bedroom with dr. ruth says what to do in it. >> only on current tv. >> cenk: the guy that put together obama 2016, the guy that tries to scare you. he got called out on a being a g