me at the table, former mississippi governor and chairman of the republican national committee, haley barbour, senator barbour let me speak with you, boehner was asked last week by a romney supporter can you help me love mitt romney, and he said no, no, i wasn't elected to play god, the american people probably aren't going to fall in love with mitt romney, 95 percent of the people who show up to vote are going to vote for or against barack obama. mitt romney has some friends, some relatives and some fellow more monls who are going to vote for him but that is not what this election is about. it is going to be a referendum on the president's failed economic policies. romney is a solid guy, he is going to do a great job even if you don't fall in love with him. is that enough, though, just to say let's get rid of barack obama this is it going to take more than that? >> of course, every presidential election of the united states is a reserve the, referendum on the incumbent president if the incumbent is running and his record, in this case obama's economic policies and failure to help the economy

despite a growing course of voice on the republican side, george will, haley barbour bentley, crystal go on and on and on, mitt looks like he's not going to budge on this, right? and why? >> i think so. i think there are a couple of factors at play. one substantively, he feels like he's going to do as much as mccain did and that's a -- that's a somewhat solid back step -- >> bill: but at this point he's only released one year not two. >> but he's going to release his 2011 returns in october or so. he got a six-month extension. as of that -- maybe they can speed up that, i don't know but i don't think they're going to do more than that. i also feel like they probably -- nobody's told me this but i feel like they probably think that this is a kind of thing that they take flak for in the media but that if it gets overhyped over talked about it will bother some voters to the point where it turns off some people. i think that's kind of been their calculus about a lot of things. whether they're right, i don't know. >> bill: let me ask you this. when you find out -- just looking at this from

haley barbour is a former chairman of the republican national committee.g to raise taxes on families making more than $250,000 a year? >> well, i think what he said today, the point is let's get those people making $250,000 and less, which are 98% of the population, let's go ahead, republicans, democrats agree that they ought to keep the tax cuts. let's do that, get that off the table. the issue of the top 2% is much more contentionious. probably not before the election. let's take care of those 9%. >> do you think in terms of economic recovery sort of fragile, is it smart to raisetachs on anyone right now? >> what he is saying -- >> what are you saying? >> he's the president of the united states? >> so you support him. >> of course, i support president obama. >> on this specific issue, raisingtachs on those making more than $250,000 at this time. >> i thought it was a brilliant move to say let's take care of the 98%. i spent a lot of years working with president clinton. our rate was 39.6%. we had the greatest economic expansion in the history of our coun

here's the thing, reid, haley barbour has suggested that they have all called on mitt romney to release more tax returns. between bain -- romney has spent a lot of time playing defense in these last few weeks. >> i'll leave it to alice and karen to debate the merits of the actual argument. but set that aside for a moment, and look at the politics of the argument. what will haley barbour and other republicans talking about over the last few stays before talking about mitt romney and his taxes and his business instead of talking about the economy which is not doing terribly well and it's not exactly what president obama wants to be talking about. if this campaign becomes a referendum on president obama, that's not necessarily a great thing for an incumbent whose approval rating is less than 30%. if this becomes a choice election, that's what obama's trying to do is make this a choice between the two candidates and disqualifying the other guy, i think that's a smart political strategy. >> here's the problem that the romney campaign has. they knew going into this that they had to be able to

the former governor of mississippi, haley barbour.can national committee. they got a joint project, if you will, going on in mississippi. we'll talk about that. also politics, presidential politics. the president's latest tax proposals that he released today as well. haley barbour coming up. >>> also, a special interview with the son of the former florida governor jeb bush, george t. bush is here in "the situation room" today. he's trying to generate support for younger americans for republicans and for mitt romney. we'll talk to him about what's coming on. our strategy session. all of our reporters. lots of important news coming up at the top of the hour right in "the situation room." can you hear me? >> i can hear you now, wolf blitzer. thank you so much. i appreciate it. see you in a couple minutes. >> and now to this i need to finish a tweet. wait. i need to return an e-mail. it's beginning to feel like this clip from portlandia. >> dvr. face book update. >> wait. wait. you know what's happening, right? you're spiraling. you're ou

haley barbour, bentley also calling on him to release those returns. no word yet on the romney camp that any further release is on the way. and they are not alone. texas governor rick perry, a former republican rival says that romney should be as open as possible. meantime on the other side we've got republicans criticizing the obama campaign for what they're saying about mitt romney. john mccain calls the campaign disgraceful for targeting those tax returns and targeting romney's time with bain. hi calls it chicago style and sleazy. meantime former new hampshire governor says that he shouldn't have said that president obama learns to be an american. what he really meant is he needs to learn the american formula for business. lynn? >> tracie potts for us in washington. tracie, thanks so much. >>> to utah where a southwest airlines pilot wanted in connection with a colorado murder attempted to steal an empty plain from a small airport. the man then killed himself after he couldn't get the plane off the ground. nbc's kurt gregory has the details. >> repo

haley barbour hasn't been the biggest, most supportive romney backer but he's a prominent republican. it reminded me of when we were going through this at the republican primaries. at that point back in january romney had released zero as was trying to hold that off until he got through the primaries and chris christie said mitt romney sh should go forward and release these. i'm starting to think this is building towards something where there will be more of a release here. will it be as definitive as what his father put out, i doubt that. i do think there will be more coming at some point. >> i think the obama campaign has to say over and over again, swiss bank accounts, cayman islands. the script writes itself. >> it does. but what if we're going to learn more bad things from his tax returns? i really do think since we've sat here since january, we've had similar conversations before and it hasn't really made much of a difference, i'm not saying there's anything illegal. i won't go there. but there is something that's being hidden. otherwise you just get them out there. >> i very mu

look, national review, haley barbour, ron paul, bill crystal, the governor of alabama.has united the disparate wings of the conservative movement as much during mitt romney's candidacy as this call to release his tax returns. >> so all right. let me make this point, jonathan, this is a bipartisan tradition. john mccain did only give two years, which is fair to say. but george w. bush gave eight years of tax returns. john kerry gave 20. my god, i can't even believe he saved 20 years. president obama gave 12 years. jonathan, that's the point. i -- how do you graciously, if you're mitt romney, give in here? >> well, there's no gracious way to give in anymore, because he's had his back up against the wall for so long. but there still is the opportunity to give in, get it out there and move on for him. i mean, you know, those of us who have, you know, gone to kind of crisis communications 101 have taken those -- 101 course of crisis communications understand that you've got something that you don't think people are going to like, the best thing you can do is get it out there

former republican party chairman and mississippi governor haley barbour told cnn mitt romney should release his tax returns. "new york times" columnist paul krugman says mitt romney should level with voters about how much he would personally benefit from the policies he advocates. krugman wrote, unless romney does reveal the truth about his investments, quote, we can only assume he is hiding something seriously damaging. >>> the arkansas "democrat gazette" reports democratic congressional candidate ken aden dropped out of his bid for a northwest arkansas seat after the newspaper found documents disproving aden's claims he was in special forces in the military. "the washington post" reports swing states are about to be slammed with a summertime blitz of new ads from conservative karl rove's super pac crossroads gps. the group bought $25 million worth of anti-obama ads that will air in nine battleground states starting today. >>> "the huffington post" reports the department of justice argued in a trial yesterday the voeder i.d. law in texas would disenfranchise 600,000 minority voters who don

mississippi governor haley barbour, alabama's governor bentley also calling on him to release those returns. no word from the romney camp that any further release is on the way, and they are not alone. texas governor rick perry, a former republican rival says that romney should be as open as possible. meantime on the other side we've got republicans criticizing the obama campaign for what they're saying about mitt romney. john mccain calls the campaign disgraceful for targeting those tax returns and romney's time with bain capital. he calls it chicago-style sleazy campaigning and saying the focus should the be on5 trillion added to the deficit. meantime former new hampshire governor john sununu said he shouldn't have said that president obama needs to learn to be an american. what he really meant is he needs to learn the american formula for business. lynn? >> all right, tracie, thanks. >>> last night on the rachel maddow show, dan rather talked about the refusal to disclose the financial records and he said in his view it's hurting romney's campaign. >> he and his staff must realize that t

you're hearing this from, you know, were two of his former opponents, rick perry and ron paul, haley barbour. i think these are all guys who have seen this movie before, and they think from what they've seen that this is going to happen. at some point mitt romney is going to have to release more than two years of his tax returns, and they would rather see this happen in july than see it happen in october. >> the romney campaign, though, is just insistent and the governor himself that they're not going to any more. they're hoping to change the subject on to other things. he's leaving for the olympics next week. he'll have a foreign swing and then he'll pick a vice president in the convention, so they're hoping they can get beyond this. i'm not sure they can, because there are still republicans who will be out there saying he should release them. but i'm struck by just how defiant they are on this. >> i wanted to ask about whether either side can change the subject, because this campaign has been -- gwen: they're certainly trying. >> -- so relentlessly negative and really character attacks on

. >> reporter: and mississippi governor haley barbour, too, on the phone with us. >> the advice i give romney is who cares about your tax returns. we need this campaign to be about obama's record. >> reporter: it is pressure romney has felt before, running for governor of massachusetts, his opponent released her returns. he did not release his. >> you have refused to release your income tax returns. do you have something to hide? >> i believe very deeply in my personal privacy, what little is left. >> we have reformed our tax structure -- >> reporter: but it was mitt romney who help set the standard on releasing tax returns when he ran for president, releasing more than a decade of his. the question diane asked -- >> but you have nothing to hide why not release 12 years as your father did? >> i'm happy to release two years of records. that's plenty for people to understand how i pay my taxes. >> and tonight, mitt romney is sticking to that. even amid growing concern from some republicans which fields the question, what is he hiding? the question the obama campaign loves hearing asked,

point, counter-point or would you agree with haley barbour on this? >> haley and i are in agreement on the global economy. the reason we're sitting here today, as you know on friday, i unveiled and rolled out our first car. i went to china two years ago, bought their most advanced electric car company, moved it to the united states of america and on friday we had 1,000 folks at the factory opening, governor barbour, former president clinton. a great rollout. we got to get back to manufacturing in this country. we can't become a service economy. we have to make things here in america again. we're making cars and we're shipping them off to denmark. a great american success story, but it took governor barbour and myself working together. this wasn't a political issue. we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this company. he as a governor he wanted jobs, i wanted a great work environment and incentives to make me make money. we came together. how do we get this country moving forward together? we have to get this partisan politics allowing other

former mississippi governor haley barbour., to the members of your own party and shows us the money! so here to discuss his taxes -- not your taxes but mitt romney's taxes is former arizona republican congressman j.d. hayworth. j.d., glad to have you inside the "the war room." >> here we are! let's do battle. >> come on! no, i don't want to show you up. >> whoa! whoa! >> those are fightin' words. i know. democrats, though, are suggesting mitt romney should release his tax returns because the implication is that he's hiding something. do you think he's hiding something? >> not democrats. we saw a trio of my republican colleagues. sure i've got my son john micha here tonight. i'd like to think like father, like son. george romney released the records in '68. you know the obama media culture would say, there is something wrong with mitt, he actually made money that's inherently evil. but i see this as a prelude to the large campaign. and i'm glad you're seated, i actually agree with something president obama said today. >> hallha

i spoke to haley barbour, he said he has to get this stuff out there or it's going to be a distractionbut romney's whole campaign is digging in because they do not want to play the chicago-style game when it comes to wealth. they're going to put it right back to romney and play hardball. >> hang on, stay with us. joining us now is our special guest top romney surrogate, former new hampshire governor john sinunu. the governor, as always, welcome back to the "kudlow report." let me read what you told reporters on a conference call this morning. and isle quote, the president clearly demonstrated that he has absolutely no idea how the american economy functions. the men and women all over america who have worked hard to build these businesses, their businesses form from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world. it is the american way. here's the punch line. i wish this american would learn how to be an american. what do you mean by that? >> well, i probably was too harsh there. that's not the best choice of words. sometimes you say something you wish you can pull it ba

haley barbour said, well, there's a lot to love about him, but said in the end, i think the election is all about defeating barack obama. i'm not sure that's right. i think both of these candidates are going to have to give us a little more to go on. it's so close now and it's going to be close right up until the end. >> bob, talk with us a little bit about this announcement from the president yesterday about the tax cuts. a lot of people saying this is purely political, despite denials from the white house. is it an attempt to simply move away from the numbers on the economy and friday's job report? >> well, you can certainly make that argument. yes, i would guess that there is a political component to this. we do have an election coming here, but this is just a continuing effort to draw the line. because while the romney people are trying to make this a referendum on barack obama, the obama people are trying to make it a referendum on mitt romney. they're saying, look, if we're elected, this is what's going to happen, and if you elect him, that's what's going to happen. it's all rh

here is haley barbour today. >> the united states is in a global battle for capital and labor. if we're trying to attract capital so we can hire more people, deploy technology, improve benefits, what do you think that $850 billion is going to go? it's going to go to government instead of for more employees, higher wages and expanding the economy. pretty simple. >> the bush tax cuts for the well thinkest of americans, why do we still have this funk, this malaise in the economy. they don't create jobs. your response would be what? >> to blame this recession on the bush tax cuts which came into effect ten years ago, i think most republicans and conservatives would shake their head at that. financial collapse of 2008 is the significant factor in the recession. but to say the low tax rates, what romney was saying the president effectively writing off all voters making over $250,000. he's trying to win the voters making 250,000 or less. but for the individuals that pay, obama doesn't want to speak with him. >> i guess what i'm asking is whether there's anything quantifiabl quantifiab

. >> bob: there still is among republicans, haley barbour came out and let romney have it being not aggressive enough in this campaign. there is still an ongoing debate why he doesn't highlight his own biographical background. it may have to do with the vice presidential politics because there are people angling now. knowing how it works it's probably down to three choices. >> dana: what do you think? >> bob: i have no idea. probably portman. >> eric: stay on this. >> greg: i want to focus on what cheney said. he was half right. the whole ticket wasn't just palin. it was also mccain. they both lost. it's amazing that bona fide war hero lost to a guy whose only pedigree what he ate one. what is the reason? the reason is the tiny "r" next to their name. it was because they were republicans, who didn't stand for anything anymore. it didn't have anything to do with palin. >> bob: you don't think palin had anything to do with -- >> greg: no. i think palin added excitement to the ticket. but they weren't going to win. >> eric: there is an interesting discussion here. why would dick cheney at this po

. >> and yesterday, haley barbour was asked about mitt romney's tax returns. >> tax returns, should he release the tax returns? >> i would, but should it be an issue in the campaign? >> finally, a different take from jason chaffits. he said that. >> i think he has released a tax returns. >>> with four months before election, we've got new poll numbers. let's check the the scoreboard. according to a new "washington post" abc news poll, the race is tied 47-47. an a new reuters poll has obama up six, 49-43. we'll have new poll numbers from some key battleground states later in the program. we'll be right back. attention, well, everyone. you can now try snapshot from progressive free for 30 days. just plug this into your car, and your good driving can save you up to 30%. you could even try it without switching your insurance. why not give it a shot? carry on. now you can test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. >>> when it comes to dirty, angry money, there are few senators -- when it comes to sherrod brown. conservative groups have spent $10.5 million to date. t

you have calls from people like haley barbour saying he should release. >> great to have both of you here, thank you so much. and today the president, we showed you just getting on to air force one, he'll embark on a two-day campaign -- stop in virginia. virginia is also a big military state. republicans have been aggressively hitting the president over defense cuts even though they passed with bipartisan support and were never expected to take effect. d. it's my dream vehicle. on a day to day basis, i am not using gas. my round trip is approximately 40 miles to work. head on home, stop at the grocery store, whatever else that i need to do -- still don't have to use gas. i'm never at the gas station unless i want some coffee. it's the best thing ever. as a matter of fact, i'm taking my savings so that i can go to hawaii. ♪ >>> the billion dollar buy. a new political article takes a behind the scenes look at the plan hatched by karl rove and other conservatives to spend close to a billion dollars to invent the white house. have you heard of nick ryan and stephen law? they are two of t

haley barbour on down. >> greg: good point, but also it speaks to the media which tends to ignore theseries, which i think is what obama said. a bigger story. >> kimberly: they are not going to be there now. >> bob: a bigger story -- >> greg: two different sides, bob. of course you think the tax returns are a bigger deal. i happen to think obama's philosophy is a bigger deal. >> kimberly: now it's been exposed. he let the mask slip. now you hear it. he can try to walk it back and change it, clarify his comments but they're out there and they'll be used. >> bob: he has been exposed by picking out certain thing he is said over the course -- >> kimberly: his words. >> bob: a lot of other words he said. >> kimberly: his thoughts. >> bob: mitt romney is hiding something and that's why people ask him to come out. he better come out now. >> kimberly: hiding he's a mormon? give me a break. >> greg: obama is background. face it. he comes from a faculty lounge mentality where achievement is marked by the number of ann coulter scenes you boycott. >> eric: do you remember when president obama said

. >> and yesterday, haley barbour was asked about mitt romney's tax returns. >> tax returns, should he release the tax returns? >> i would, but should it be an issue in the campaign? >> finally, a different take from jason chaffits. he said that. >> i think he has released a tax returns. >> more of them. >> shouldn't -- >> no, i don't. >> why not? why shouldn't the american people see those? >> he's been very successful. released everything he's required to release. i think it's a diversionary tactic. most people don't care about this. he's been very successful. get over it. >> do most people care about this issue? >> well, i don't think they care about this specific issue obsessively, but as you said and what michael said, if you put the secrecy of most of his financial transactions next to concerns about outsourcing and offshoring that the democrats have been poking around at next to their efforts of trying to paint mitt romney into a corner on defending tax cuts for the wealthiest americans and if you sort of put the aura of secrecy around the whole thing, then i think you raise que

at crossroads and haley barbour and i are fundraisers. we am just a laborer. i thought the article while i appreciate some of the nation things but there were exaggerations. >>neil: i hope the genius thing was not an exaggeration. >>guest: i made a comment about you and they attributeed to me because they were really talking about you. >>neil: i am still trying to get on the cough of "highlights," for children. from "you didn't build that," to "you didn't do squat." and now another example that this president should follow. you might be surprised by who that president is. alan simpson, tonight, 8:00 p.m. on fox business network. forget the olympic controversy. >> a guy wants do know if i will win or be ready? am i ready in are -- are we ready? >> mitt taking a hit over the remarks but are security officials saying that mitt romney got it right? i'm conso. i'm not paying hidden fees or high commissions. i'm making the most of my money. and seven-dollar trades are just the start. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. i'm with scottrade. and i'm loving every mi

congressman ron paul, former mississippi governor haley barbour, senator olympia snow, bill kristol andick perry? aside from all being republicans, this is one thing. >> i'm a big believer that no matter who you are or what office you're running for, you should be as transparent as you can be with your tax returns. >> but not all republicans believe governor romney should release his tax returns, especially vp possibilities like tim pawlenty and rob portman. senator john mccain, a romney surrogate, also doesn't think the public needs to see the tax returns, saying i can personally vouch for the fact that there was nothing in his tax returns that would in any way be disqualifying for him to be a candidate. bells and whistles, david, that's what this show is about. but really, we are starting to see some rank breaking, if you will, among conservatives calling for romney to release his tax returns. how long can this go on? >> until election day. because the metaphor i've been using, imperfect, i'll grant you, is romney has a choice between a slow bleeding wound and opening up his chest cav

mississippi governor haley barbour, alabama's governor bentley also calling on him to release those returns. no word from the romney camp that any further release is on the way, and they are not alone. texas governor rick perry, a former republican rival says that romney should be as open as possible. meantime on the other side we've got republicans criticizing the obama campaign for what they're saying about mitt romney. john mccain calls the campaign disgraceful for targeting th