president george w. bush. take a look. >> you watched and worried, two wars, tax cuts for millionaires, debt piled up and now, we face a choice: mitt romney's plan, a new $250,000 tax cut for millionaires and increased military spending and or president obama's plan, deficit reduction, millionaires pay a little more. i'm president obama and i approved this message because to cut the deficit we need everyone to pay their fair share. >> paul: okay, so is the obama camp saying a vote for mitt romney means two more wars? kim, explain to us what the obama camp is saying with this strategy of linking mitt romney to george w. bush. >> well, this is part of the alternate reality of the obama world. what we have to do is blame everything that's wrong in the country right now on george w. bush, blame it on the wars, blame it on the president bush's tax cuts and everything else. of course, it's not actually why we're in the situation we are. it's in part because we had a big housing crisis and also, compounded, dra

george w.ush won twice, ronald reagan won. george h.w. bush won with the conservative republican platform. so republicans would say the platform does not determine who wins the election. however, mitt romney does have that gender gap you just mentioned. i want to do a little bit of history here. could the todd akin problem potentially be a mitt romney problem? yes if they don't put it to rest. yes, if it begins to affect him among moderate suburban women. let me show you exactly what i mean. if you want to go back in time, this is the state of colorado. these are national exit polls from the last two presidential elections. this is nationally. john mccain actually won among suburban women. he won by four points nationwide among suburban women. we all know he lost the election big time. look at 2004, george w. bush won by 12 points. that's the big difference. republicans need to win big in the suburbs. which means they also need to get suburben women or else. let me show you an example of what i

george w. bush on the convention's opening night, the former president finally appears in tampa tonight. on tape. not in person. it's night two of the republican national convention. msnbc's primetime coverage starts right now. >>> good evening. and welcome to paul ryan night in america. i'm rachel maddow here at msnbc headquarters in new york city along with ed shultz and al sharpton and chris hayes and steve schmidt who was the senior strategist for mccain/palin in 2008. lawrence o'donnell will be leading our coverage from tampa is chris matthews. mitt romney's choice of paul ryan was never a gimme, never seen as the safest choice in the world. to you tonight, chris, what would it look like tonight if that gamble is paying off and what would it look like if the gamble did not work out? >> well, that's great. that's a tough one, rachel. i think we'll see the excitement in the room reach a crescendo with ryan. i think ryan is the spirit of the republican party 2012. i think he's tea party, he's

he looks like a real moderate now. >> george w.n things like immigration and so forth -- >> we may look back on w. as a moderate. >> thanks to eric, hugo, maggie and ari. see you back here tomorrow. until then, find us on facebook.com/nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. good afternoon, andrea. >>> thanks so much. coming up next, how many ways can he say he's sorry? but what is todd akin sorry about? we'll hear from david brody on this topic. plus, patrick gaspar from the obama campaign and mark mckinnen. we are tracking the storm that could disrupt the republican convention in tampa. and pete williams with a sit-down with justice scalia. all that next on "andrea mitchell reports." than what they brush with. they think all brushes are the same. they're not. that's why i tell my patients about the new pro-health clinical brush from oral-b. unlike an ordinary toothbrush, it has pro-flex sides that individually adjust to teeth and gums. it truly provides a better clean. trust the brand more dentists and hygienists use. oral

on but this has been a you know this is still the george w. bush administration's activities being carried on by the obama administration actions as well the lead prosecutor on this john a down and was appointed by you casey who was appointed under george w. bush who was one of the neo cons who was was very quote anti terror anti islam in the number of respects so we're seeing the same kind of thing going on underwear bomb i think they did expect that a great many liberals especially but conservatives too would be outraged at this violation of the rule of law and that's probably why this was announced as you say after you know a number of years that the announcement came the day before a major holiday in the united states labor day holiday i don't think that that coincidence is by accident. for the latest news video here's a taste of what is for you right now. a new. vision of the future. let's take a look at some of those other stories making headlines around the world this hour. people have been killed. after. sponsibility. recently seen a r

that night, george w. bush, of course, won the state of florida as well.the '04 election, officials in the states took another look at early voting. at whether offering more days and more hours for early voting might help more voters vote without it taking all day. and lots of people leaving the polls in frustration without voting because they just didn't have the time to wait. voters also decided maybe there was something to that early voter thing. maybe they'd be -- they'd better get their ballots in early, wherever they could the next time around. this is the percentage of people who voted ahead of time, who voted early in some key states in 2004. and here is the percentage of people who voted early in 2008. the additional percentage is that blue bit there, right? each of these states is considered a swing state now for this next election in 2012. look at that list. where early voting went up in 2008, when it grew, all of these states flipped from red to blue. from choosing the republican nominee in '04 to choosing the democratic one in 2008. the percen

go back to failed policies of george w. bush. you don't see george w.: we aren't talking with george w. bush. >> you don't see george w. bush in the romney ad. the reason why bill clinton is appearing in a barack obama ad is the two men share a common vision for america of shared prosperity where everybody moves forward and pays their fair share as opposed to. >> sean: talking points, this is annoying. >> let's talk about the ads. >> sean: talk about the bill clinton ad. >> you don't see george w. bush in an ad. >> he said the tax cuts should be extended because of a poor economy. he said stop attacking bain they are a good company. bill clinton said that mitt romney has met the threshold, he can be president. he gets the big speaking engagement, why? to save barack obama becaus. >> you don't see george bush in an ad because george bush is not running for president. he said it it in the ad today. what is the choice. president obama has done nothing about talk about bain and mitt romney's tax returns and nothing to lay out the clear choice of a plan here

or as his friends called him, george w.! >> [applause]

hour with craig unger examining the return of karl rove -- the man who masterminded the rise of george w. bush from governor of texas to the presidency, advised bush during the two wars in iraq and afghanistan, who some claim helped seize the 2004 election and for bush and who was at the center of two of the biggest scandals of the bush ministration. today, how karl rove went from almost indicted to becoming the most powerful political operative in america. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. republican congress member todd akin has refused to drop out of missouri senate race, defying calls from leaders of his own party who say he could hurt republican chances this november. he sparked a national controversy over the weekend after he told an interviewer that women are somehow capable of blocking pregnancy during what he called a legitimate rape. republicans from presidential candidate mitt romney to crowe wrote to senate leaders urged akin to withdraw before a tuesday deadline for missouri candidates. but

when the bush economic george w.economic agenda was proposed a lot of people, you included, said if you follow through on this, you'll get mall distribution of income. slow job creation, and am i right to say that you've been proven right. >> sadly. i'm sad to say that it's true. after the bush tax cut was put in affect. the lion share of that tax cut went to the very wealthy, we had fewer jobs than the ten years before, even the eight years before. we also had slower economic growth. it culminated in the great meltdown of wall street. we had absolutely nothing to show for that bush tax cut. the supply siders are wrong. nothing trickles down. >> eliot: what i like to say to people. put a aside ideology. look at fact. it's the same blueprint we tried under george w. bush. >> it's worse. the tax cuts they want to provide to the very rich are multiples of the bush cuts. the cuts to the promise to the poor are much more onerous. 62% of the programs are designed for the poor. we're talking about head start food stamps, pe

on but this has been a you know this is still the george w. bush administration's activities being carried on by the obama administration actions as well as the lead prosecutor on this john donne and was appointed by a new casey who was appointed under george w. bush who was one of the neo cons who. was very put anti terror and islam in a number of respects so we're seeing the same kind of thing going on under obama i think they did expect that a great many liberals especially conservatives too would be outraged at this coalition of the rule of law and that's probably why this was announced as you say after you know a number of years that the announcement came the day before a major holiday of the united states labor day holiday i don't think that that current students is by accident you also mentioned a number of years now mention that the period of time in the criminal investigation with drops and i say due to the difficulties in assembling evidence from incidents which did happen a long time ago in iraq and afghanistan is that not a reasona

the republicans just can't quit george w. bush. i'll explain ahead. you're watching "politicsnation" as we get ready for the republican convention right here on the place for politics, msnbc. look at those toys. insurance must be expensive. nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands? >>> have you checked us out on facebook yet? the "politicsnation" conversation is going strong all day long. today the anti-choice republican party had everyone talking. shirley says republicans must not be in their right minds if they think women will fall for this. and brenda says this is 2012. we're going forward, not backward. not just women, but all of us. coming up next, we've got more on how this policy could be the republican party's achilles heel. but first, we want to hear what you think. head over to facebook and search "politicsnation" and like us to join the conversation that

among them, "bush's brain: how karl rove made george w. bush presidential." he also wrote "the architect: karl rove and the dream of absolute power." i wanted to play an ad from karl rove's superpac, american crossroads, who paid $9 million to air in battleground states in july. it highlights the obama comment that prompted tuesday night's "we built it" theme at the republican national convention. before we play a clip, if you could talkut karl rove in the convention. you were just with him at a political event. >> he cited me from the audience in a bad way, as usual there was a moment in the movieee "godfather 2" when one of the bosses says that we are bigger than general motors. there were those who said that carl grove was finished after 2008, when bush left office. >> scooter libby indicted, crowe was about to be indicted. >> yes, but it did not happen. karl rove is bigger than the republican party. in texas, when george bush was governor, he took over the republican party's financing, started a political committee, and he has done the same thing here wit

and without any public debate or discussion george w. bush turned that most important part of the commons beating heart of democracy the vote turned it over to fewer than a half dozen very secretive and republican party connecting corporations this is insane we need to learn from ireland's experience and sell our voting machines for scrap metal and go back to counting paper ballots by hand like virtually every other developed country in the world does privatizing our vote was a crime against democracy it's time to undo that crime and take our votes back from the will of the other corporations you can learn more over a black box voting dot org and that is the big picture for tonight wednesday august fifteenth two thousand and twelve if you missed any of tonight's show you can now watch it in h.d. on hulu at hulu dot com slash the big picture for more information on any of the stories we've covered visit our website said tom hartman dot com free speech at oregon r.t. dot com and also check out our two youtube channel is there a link to tom

what they have said is we won't spend as much as george w. bush spent but nobody thinks that what happened in 2008 or even what happened from 2001 to 2008 was about george w. bush spending too much. that might have been a long term problem. i think it probably was. you don't want to run deficits when your economy is growing. but that is not responsive either to what created this crisis or frankly, what's really going to get us out of this crisis. >> there were two names you couldn't say last night at the convention. one was bain capital, the other was george w. bush. >> mitt romney. you couldn't say mitt romney either. >> they have updated their prescription for the country with voter i.d. laws and transvaginal ultrasounds. let's not forget those. we will be talking more about the ryan road map after the break. while much of the nation prepares for tonight's paul ryan rollout, many americans got their first introduction to the congressman when he gave the gop response to president obama's 2011 state of the union. >> this is the future in whic

in fact, it was closed under george w. bush's administration.slammed the president for not doing anything with the simpson-bowles debt commission, but ryan himself voted against the recommendations. let me play a clip from president obama on the campaign trail in virginia yesterday. >> -- pay a little attention to what's happening in tampa this week. don't boo. vote. [ applause ] vote. sometimes they just make things up. >> in fact, you've take an bit of heat on your campaign because your pollster said, we are not going to let our campaign be dictate the by fact checkers. is the president right jt did paul ryan make things up or at least extend the truth a little bit? >> listen, president obama came to my state, the commonwealth of virginia to tell us we didn't -- let me go that gm plant. let me tell you what the president said when he went to janesville, wisconsin back in 2008. he said, as president i will lead the effort to retool these plants. he went to that plant in february of '08 and october of '08. what he told them, they knew the plant

that factory got closed down and i don't think anybody in the audience thought he was condemning george w. bush but take a look at this picture and we're going to put the picture. oh it's full. this is the last vehicle off the janesville assembly line and it's been donated to the. in the cube ok i donated to the united way of north rock county december twenty third two thousand and eight this was a plant that was closed during the presidency of george w. bush why is paul ryan talking about this it's an absolute joke because listen presidents do not create jobs ok governments do not create jobs my solution is why is the guy running for vice president up their line about you know i don't think he was lying at all he probably thought he was in line here he what he really think that all of us republicans in that audience thought that he was condemning i don't push no i don't think that all that ever said that but he presented two facts he said barack obama he came here he stood here and he said this plan going to close down if i'm elected it'll be here for one hundred years from now and then

2009 as confronting what i call the legacy of the two georges, and the first george, of course, is george w. bush. obama needed to figure out what he was going to do in the wake of the bush presidency. the other george, less obvious, would be george mcgovern. the republicans ever since the george mcgovern campaign of 1972 there's been kind of a republican trope that republicans can fall back on at election time, even when it's not necessarily true that the democrats are weak on defense. and the fact that this is not true shows up over and over again, um, at the time of the persian gulf war, the shock and awe of american high-tech weaponry that we saw at the beginning of that war actually was, um, developed in the late 1970s, um, in the pentagon of jimmy carter under a guy with a high-tech background named william perry. democrats and republicans have both been familiar with issues of the use of force, and it's not a black and white democrats weak on defense issue. and so the other -- the problem in writing this book was the vulcans had all worked alongside one another in one administration

. >> george w. bush. >> yeah. >> exactly. >> the thing is -- this -- >> this is easy because it's kind of a joke story compared to the akin story and you don't have a running mate who has associations with the -- with these characters. if there's a problem, one of the problems that romney has by putting ryan on the ticket it does associate him more with a very unpopular branch of congress and a party, the public opinion polling on congress in general, congressional republicans is horrible. he's taken on water by being associated with them. he has a great chance to say these guys are a bunch of idiots. >> he doesn't do that. bob herbert, that's one of my great frustrations with mitt romney is, you know, i said a couple years ago when glek glen beck was calling the president a racist who hates white people, want to run our party run our party and condemn this and move forward. look at the examples george w. bush set and barack obama set. george w. bush had the majority leader of the senate say somethi

when george w.ush is president and i am vice-president, tests will be taken, results will be in majored, and no child will be left behind. [cheers and applause] for eight years, clinton and gore have talked about social reform -- social security reform, never acting, never gore have talked about social reform -- social security reform, never acting, never once offering a serious plan to save gore have talked about social reform -- social security reform, never acting, never once offering a serious plan to save george w. bush and i are going to change that, too. i have seen our military at its finest with the best equipment, the best training, and the best leadership. i am proud of them. i have had the responsibility for their well-being, and i can promise them now -- help is on the way. [cheers and applause] soon our men and women in uniform will once again have a commander in chief they can respect. [cheers and applause] the commander-in-chief who understands their mission and restores their morale

plus the other criterion of getting george h. w. bush elected in his wake. >> weight. >> i think he made very good points. i am very hung on reagan, and i think he will be included in the leaders of destiny. he is headed in that direction. and i believe that he is very consequential as a president. the two greatest presidents of the century were franklin roosevelt and ronald reagan. and one was probably the most liberal president of the century and the other was the most conservative president of the century. on the question of secrecy of his health, you know, that is a very good point. it did come out during his presidency. they weren't able to bury bear it until history got ahold of it. it was gotten a hold of my journalism. but your point is very well taken. >> hello. i respect what you're doing. i just have this feeling that, and certainly no much more than i do, but i have this feeling that this is such a complex topic because i think each president is a product of their time in history. to go back to john f. kennedy, while i b

he did it with george w.t for romney. >> you say this with tremendous knowledge of the guy. >> i almost feel sorry for him. >> i agree. remember why he picked sarah palin because he couldn't stand romney. let's look at -- my heart soars. i get in trouble for saying how thrilled i am by speeches. but i felt wonder in our country. but what a speech. it was grand. here is secretary of state condoleeza rice coming back into political life to share her personal story. toward the end of her speech he was talking about what it is like to grow up in the segregated south. >> and on a personal note, a little girl grows up in birmingham, the segregated city of the south, where her parents can't take her to a movie theater or to a restaurant but they have her absolutely convinced even if she can't have a hamburger at the wool worth's counter but she can be president of the united states if she wants to and she becomes secretary of state. >> and she talks about what draws people from all over the world to the united state