george romney was as good a man as i've ever known.pirational leader, worked for civil rights, promoted freedom. we node more like him. dad is fair game wrote tagg. grandpa is not. many members of the, quote, liberal media moved to defend the legacy of romney. >>> a tow truck attempts to pull a tractor trailer up an icy mountain. wow. gravity gets the best of the 16-wheeler. slides into the guard rail pulling the tow truck down with it over the ledge. oh, my gosh. this is horrible. and down a 180-foot clip. the reason we can show this to you is because the driver of the tow truck jumps out. i don't know if you can see it. he jumped out. opened his door. got out. slid down. tumbled down the hill with his rig miraculousry the guy in the big rig survived as well. >>> still ahead, why your awake? your slippery tweets, texts and e-mails are next. we always hear about jobs leaving america. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united

at least in "mad men" taking a swipe at george romney, mitt romney's dad running at the time for re-election66 and would go on to run for president in 1968. in still ahead -- while you're ahead, your inspired tweets and texts. [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology is now within your grasp with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis and even your trade ticket. everything exactly the way you want it, all on one page. transform your investing with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. if your neighbor could bring his jaw back up, he'd say, "thank you for making every day

when you search for "george romney" mitt romney's father. and you want information you will be taken to an ad for his son, mitt romney, and it takes you to the contribution page where you can send in a donation >> brown: how often does it change? is it tied to events in the campaign? >> i have a good answer on that. the romney campaign, which has been going for the primaries hasn't bought up as many of these google search terms, george romney being an exception. but at the same time during the primary if you searched information on rick santorum or newt gingrich you would often get romney ads telling you not so flattering things about the candidates and here's how agile these campaigns. can be. the last couple weeks the whole flap about democratic strategist hillary rosen taking a swipe at anne romney. if you search during that period for hillary rosen you got an ad bought by the romney campaign on the google search page that says "stand with mitt's better half" and took you to either a video of anne romney saying nice things about her husba

and the other thing is fine, you want to bring george romney into this. think about the message that obama was trying to convey there. it was basically an affirmation of the social contract. i got ahead because there was a safety net that was there to propel me and my wife forward. george romney believed deeply in the social safety net who supported education programs, anti-poverty programs, public housing. look at what he did at home. >> and palled around -- >> yeah. >> alex wagner of "now" and steve carnaki. thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> sure. >>> coming up, a catholic bishop compares president obama to who else? hitler and stalin. that's ahead. >>> and regular guy mitt romney attacks president obama for not being a regular guy. stephanie cutter of the obama campaign joins me next to discuss the president's regular guyness. >>> and mitt romney who constantly worships small business when he's reading from a teleprompter attacked a small businessman in pennsylvania yesterday and that small businessman joins me later.

i don't want him standing next to him. >> and he's referring to george romney of course and not mitt ut tag romney responded on twitter saying seriously, lib media mocking my dead grandma and later twitted that his dad is fair game but his grandfather shouldn't be adding that grandpa romney was an inspirational leader who fought for civil rights. they were able to work a name in the news into a story line that took place some 50 years ago. >> 1966. it was interesting. a.j., thank you. a.j. will be back with us in the next hour with more showbiz headlines. just weeks after her sudden death, we get the first peek at whitney houston's final film. >>> the good news, jeremy lin's surgery appears to be a success. we'll have more in sports. the best and worst supermarkets. the list is out when it comes to prices check out lanes and cleanliness. who lands at number one? ♪ ♪ ♪ that should do it. enjoy your new shower. [ door opens, closes ] [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day,

a clown, and i don't want him standing next to him. >> now, the amc drama is set in 1966 when george romneyd the character henry francis works for then new york governor nelson rockefeller. apparently mitt's eldest son was not pleased. he said seriously, lib media mocking my grandpa? i don't know. it's find of funny. >> they're trying to be

a clown, and i don't want him standing next to him. >> now, the amc drama is set in 1966 when george romneyd the character henry francis works for then new york governor

. >> it's interesting to note that when he ran, the favorite was george romney. >> at the very beginning. then rockefeller and then reagan. there was a lot of formidable people in the party who wanted that nomination. one of my favorite parts of going home to glory is one of my father's aides was a congressman named bob ellsworth. he was sent out by my dad to -- not schmooze him, but give him reports of the campaign. so he could call on reagan. it's just great because he kept trying to influence what was going on with eisenhower and reagan. and what was your grandfather -- >> he was sending people to see is eisenhower to convince the general that reagan was not a right winger. it was a funny relationship in the fact that many of dwight eisenhower's friends in palm springs, palm deserts became members of the so-called governor's cabinet in 1970 -- reagan won in 1966. and served two terms as governor. these are behind the ratings campaigns of '76 and '80. >> julia mentioned you father's views on china. and opening china to the west in 1972 with his visit to beijing was a triumph of his adm

. >> reporter: romney's father, former michigan governor and 1968 presidential candidate george romney, set the for releasing tax returns. in 1967, he gave "look" magazine 12 years' worth of returns. just releasing one year's wouldn't work, he said. that one year could be a fluke. mitt romney has been asked about following dad's example. >> i agree with my dad on a lot of things but we also disagree. and going out with 12 years of returns is not something i'm going to do. i'm putting out two years, which is more than anyone else on this stage. >> reporter: and diane, late this afternoon, mitt and ann romney applied for an extension for their tax returns for 2011, estimates they owe about $3.2 million. the campaign says he will file his return sometime in the next six months. diane? >> in the next six months. okay, thank you, jake. and also you know, on monday, i'll be sitting down with mitt romney and his wife ann. and we want to hear your questions for the romneys. so, send them to me at abc news or yahoo! >>> and we move overseas now to north korea, a nation trying to regroup after t

somebody did an estimate based on the time that george romney, mitt romney's father spend that he spent several thousand rounds of golf during his eight years as governor, mitt romney by his side for some of these. his father was something called speed golf. so mitt romney learned firsthand growing up that it is possible to balance governing with golfing. >> even worse, he talks about riding dressage horses and the types of horses that he rides when he is talking to sean hannity off camera. so this guy doesn't eschew the more well to do. he he goes to the question of authenticity. where the people will come to believe as some of us do that he will say literally anything about anything. and once he has lost people in that, he is not getting them back. i think the effect is that he has lost a lot of people which is why independents and women view him so poorly now. there are a lot of voters out there who he has yet to lose and he is working very hard to make that happen. >> thank you both for joining us. stay with us. much more ahead. >> yeah, i live for laughter. >> the edge goes to romn

within three weeks after nixon had filed, our opponent, george romney, dropped out of the race. the father of mitt romney. because we were leading him in our own closet polls 7-1. then came the new hampshire primary and the startling perceived upset of lyndon johnson by gene mccarthy. actually johnson won the race 49-42 and johnson was a write-in candidate. but mccarthy's 42% was so dramatic that everyone said, the press said, president of the united states is in deep trouble. four days later, after that bobby kennedy who had stayed out of the race, he jumps into the race and i remember many people were bitter about that and said it was completely opportunistic. remember murray kempton said that bobby kennedy enerring this race proves that st. patrick did not drive all the snakes out of ireland. [ laughter ] that was -- he gets into the race and then we got nelson rockefeller supposed to get in and challenge us. he gets up and announces i'm not challenging nixon in the primaries. we look like we have a wide open course. still in march we are. at the end of march, lyndon johnson

. >> it's interesting to note that when he ran the favorite for the nomination was george romney. >> yes. >> at the very beginning. and then rockefeller and reagan came in, it was really, there were a lot of formidable people in the party who wanted that nomination. >> what was the relationship between -- >> i love one of my favorite parts of going home to glory was one of my father's aides was a congressman named bob elsworth and he was sent out by my dad not to keep giving governor reagan good reports about the nixon campaign and it's going great, et cetera. he'd go out and call on reagan and, you know, it was just great because he kept, you know, trying to influence what was going on with eisenhower and reagan. >> always sending people in to see eisenhower to convince the general that eisenhower was not a right winger. >> it was a funny relationship. >> it was a funny relationship. in fact, many of dwight eisenhower's friends in palm springs, palm desert became members of the so-called governor's cabinet in 19 -- reagan won in 1966 and served two terms as governor. and then these

romney. today of all day, george w. bush popped out of where ever he's been to hang the legacy of bushanomics around mitt romney neck. that's a legacy that looks like this. eight wreckless debt exploded years of fiscal irresponsibility. the sort of image that hangs around mitt romney's neck. this is the thing that hangs around questions about whether or not somebody like rob portman or mitch daniels might have a chance. they were both george w bush budget guys and the budge elt was not a pretty thing. this goes to the central question of what people think of when they feel aggravated about the state of the economy now. do they think of the current president? do they think of president obama? what is what republicans hope? is there a possibility that people think about george w. bush and his economic legacy? his economic record. it's not just the national debt and deficit that president bush left behind. this, for example, is median household income during the bush administration. income went down during the time that pre

. >> the charge from the obama-biden campaign is mitt romney has george w. foreign policy agenda and take us back to that foreign policy. romney has 24 announced advisors on foreign policy. 17 of the 24 are george w. bush administration foreign policy people. the obama campaign sees that as a vulnerability. their narrative today, hitting mitt romney for being advised by these george bush people. the counter from the romney campaign? >> we have dan senoh, ambassador prosper -- >> two of the three advisors the romney campaign put out to counter mr. romy will have a george w. bush for ren policies, two were george w. bush for ren policy advisors. dan senor was the guy telling everybody the war was awesome and the other to be america's ambassador to the world on war crime issues while the administration was setting up secret prisons and torturing people. >> unless you believe mitt romney's foreign policy will be anything like george bush's foreign policy lets the george bush foreign officials advising mitt romney that that is not the case. chris hayes, up with c

romney, nothing like that. you know. the one thing i would say about that, i haven't seen the full clip until now. we can rule out george as a potential vp for mitt romney, cross that off the list. one thing is important to remember here. this is not that dissimilar to '04 when john kerry had the head but not the heart. they disliked bush so much and they thought he was the best nominee. i think that is a lot of the thinking now. and kerry didn't lose because the base wasn't excited, they were excited about betting bush. i think romney will benefit from that. the base will never be in love with mitt romney, but they dislike barack obama to the extent that it may not matter. >> you're making a heroic effort at bipartisan and being reasonable, but -- >> what's wrong -- >> it's true. it's true. >> i don't believe, you go back to 2004, you will find the number of top democrats so unhappy with the nomination they had before them. >> sure, they were just as unhappy as the top republicans are now. they talk about the folks that didn't get in in 2004. they talked about the folks not getting in 1992. >> the reality of it is -- >

that, of course, was a jab at george romney, mitt's father, who served as michigan's governor back innt today, that line wouldn't have been in the show. even though we're in the thick of this year's election cycle, a lot of people are wondering what's to come in the 2016 face-off? will hillary clinton be on the ticket? former president bill clinton weighed in during an interview with nbc's luke russert. >> she wants to come home, get a little rest, do some other things. she's told you and everyone else she thinks she'll probably never run for office again. but i've been there. i know what happens when you go through this decompression after years of relentless high-pressure activity. and i just think she needs to rest up, do some things she cares about and whatever she decides to do i'll support. >> so it might be no for now but perhaps we should take it with a grain of salt. >>> up next, mitt romney is lining up endorsements from fellow republicans, but a lot of endorsers sound like their arms are being twisted -- and hard. and you can follow me on twitter if you can figure out how t

only romney has been willing to talk about his financial affairs" they also said that governor george romneyresidential contenders on the spot. wait, that's the wrong romney. those articles are from 1967 with mitt's father, george, became the first presidential candidate. he only released one full year's returns showing he made $21.6 million, but he paid a tax rate of just 13.9%. that's far blow what many middle class people pay. people that make a lot less money are paying more in taxes. president obama wants to change that. he wants the rich to pay more, and romney wants him to pay less. the vice president was on the road thursday talking about it. >> the romney rule says let's double down on tax cuts for the wealthy. that's another trillion dollars in tax cuts going to the top 1% of american taxpayers. i don't blame her for crying, she is going to inherit it. >> joining me now is jared bernsteen, and maria kumar, thanks for coming on the show. >> thank you. >> jared, let me start with you, the president released his new tax returns today. it showed obama paid just over 20% in an income of

the big problem is mitt romney has a really bad problem with latino voters. george w. bush had 35% of the latino vote in 2000 and he won. john mccain had only 31% in 2008 and he got creamed. mitt romney has 14% among latinos in some of the most recent polling. it is not possible to win a national election with a number that low. the romney campaign knows it. one of the things mitt romney was overheard telling campaigners last weekend, his campaign would be doomed if he can't get his numbers up among latino voters. how do you get your numbers up among latino voters when you say you would veto the dream act or self-deportation, please see yourself out. and you adopt as immigration adviser, the guy who co-wrote the arizona papers please law where they can walk up to you on the street and demand to see your immigration papers, not if you were doing anything illegal but if you looked like you conceivably might be illegal based on how you looked. how can you attract voters when you say that state's immigration laws should be a model to the nation. >> you talked about self-dep

. >> that's the thing that sealed the deal with me with george romney and not mitt romney was a pictureth the supreme i saw. that was like wow. this is a republican that i could actually vote for. he seemed natural up there with diana ross. >> absolutely. >> i was like, where did the apple -- a refewtation of the notion that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. >> yeah. that's interesting. it's the kind of republican george romney that we don't have any more. >> right. >> we always save a seat at the table for our viewers and listeners around the country. can we invite sheila to join us? she is a -- is in new cumberland pennsylvania. is that near the bakery. >> no. we are in the sus qua hanna valley, in the middle of pennsylvania. >> what do you think about this romney cookie comment? >> my thinkg about that is if romney were invited to one of those team owners' homes that he talks about and he was in the backyard at a picnic table, he seems some cookies he doesn't particularly like the look of would he have said they were 7-eleven cookies? we teach our children that if don't parti