joining me now, erick erickson. red state.com . and van voejones. co-founder of rebuild the dream. ick, do you believe this was the president kind of giving a peak behind the veil of what he really thinks? or was this a misstatement like romney had said corporationings are people too? >> you know, i think the white house realizes it was a damaging statement. because now they're trying to focus on, oh, he meant the roads and bridges to the business. this is consistent to what he was saying going back to his kansas speech last year. the president believes the more successful you are, the more you owe to the federal government. the most successful people are successful in spite of government not because of government. the most successful people happen to be the lease t dependt on government. >> van, the president has adjusted his language on this since friday. this isn't he used that sort of populist tone to criticize business leaders. do you think this was a slipping of the vail or a misstatement? how do you read it? >> this is just silly season. the president said what anybody would

let's talk about it now with red state.com's erick erickson. he's with us so is rick santorum and alice stewart. also senior political analyst ron brownstein. so, erick, where does this clarification get romney exactly? it certainly doesn't help him with the folks who are worried he's a flip-flopper, does it? >> no, that's the problem. i think the romney campaign doesn't want to be seen as a flip-flopper, so they want to be careful how they do it, but sometimes you can be so careful you trip over your feet. that's what's happening here. he just needs to go on and say it's a tax. it didn't work well for him in the primary campaign to say, well, it was massachusetts and states could do something the federal government can't do. he might as well just go on and say, yeah, it's a tax. the individual mandate is a tax. and, anderson, i do have to take one issue when you said it wasn't the largest tax increase in history. remember the cbo window only looks at ten years. the individual mandate doesn't start for a few years. if you move the cbo window to

you know, erick erickson on this program, one of our best s entrepreneurs in our country built redstate.coment of the united states sticking up for america's government, what we have done as the american people through the -- that's patriotic. he is a balanced president. he says the entrepreneur has to work well, but the rest of america has to work well, too. let's all be in this together. that's the height of patriotism. >> effective corporate tax rates are near record lows. corporate profits near record highs right now. what do you make of what van just said? >> that's the most articulate, beautiful log back of what the president said. i don't think it's true when you look at the whole host of things the president has said over the past year starting out in kansas. i'm not going to say the name o the city, i'm afraid. i can't pronounce it. it's the city in kansas where he gave his economic kickoff speech earlier this year. it coincides with what elizabeth warren, one of his apointies said up in massachusetts and other democrats are saying. the more successful you are you owe more to the g

his course is extraordinarily foreign. >> let me bring in erick erickson first.ourse is extraordinarily foreign. he's speaking about the sitting president of the united states, and his course is foreign. what is he talking about? >> wolf, they probably should have called him a liar or felon. it's crazy to me they would get upset about john sununu and mitt romney giving the hurl. but i think the president is profoundly ignorant the way the free market works and i agree with john sununu and mitt romney. the president in his own autobiography says he was failure in his own private job. he's benefitted from working in government, working in ak deem ya. i don't know he knows how to start a business in this country. for him to say somehow if you've built something, you didn't really built it, other people do. no one denies other people contributed to your successful in life. this is just grade school marxism that he's entering. >> i'm going to bring maria in in a moment. i'm going to hold you accou accountable for this. if this is a president who doesn't know what he's

and erick erickson, editor and chief of red state.com.rick, first to you couple things jessica yellin pointed out at the top of the hour. team obama is running major ads during the olympics. michelle obama is in london. defense secretary panetta visited poland to discuss missile defense. all of these happen to be places that mitt romney is going on his trip, london, israel -- england, israel, poland. this cannot be a coincidence. how do you interpret that? is this campaign as usual? do you think the romney campaign looks like it's running a little scared? interpret this for me. >> well, you know, actually i think it's smart politics by the president. it is politics. he does want to highlight while romney's going to those areas where the romney campaign wanted to argue the president has not treated these particular allies as well as he should have. i would agree with romney. but it's good politics. and it's an advantage of having the white house in play this time for barack obama. remember, he too went on a foreign trip in 2008. and while

hilary rosen, erick erickson, guys, thanks very much for coming in. >>> there's something different abouttial race that hasn't been seen in almost 70 years. neither candidate has direct military experience. we're taking a closer look at what that might mean come november. and in our new 6:00 p.m. eastern hour, my interview with bill gates. why the fight against aids has brought him right now here to washington. talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk to your doctor. [ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have our

democratic strategist donna brazile and erick erickson. erick, you caused a huge stir out there in blogospear when you wrote this on redstate.com. when congressman walsh pointed out duckworth eers service in the military about the extent of her public campaign platform. attacking as ins sensitive, hostile to veterans. all he did is tell it like it is. that's what is so refreshing about joe walsh. you said you support him one thousand percent. you're getting hammered for all that. >> let's make it a billion. the left is hammering me for that. they hammered joe walsh for saying things -- republicans hammered joe walsh for calling it like he sees it. the interesting thing here, wolf, is that joe walsh probably isn't going to win. the district was completely redrawn, it's heavily democrat. he's given the best fight he can. he's being very aggressive. but i standby what joe walsh said and tammy duckworth made his point. when she's in the public and talking to the public, in the district and out of the district, she spends a lot of time talking a