because, you know, when bill kristol and these others are saying there's some serious problems theret romney is at risk right now of squandering this opportunity, "the wall street journal," rupert murdoch, all these others are saying it. what's the most important thing they need to do to fix? >> i think they have to recognize that we're in a campaign mode where simple, tough, declarative sentences are required. this is not a campaign to be won on nuance, but to be won on making sharp distinctions with the failure of the obama administration economically, the loss of jobs, and the pain that americans across the country are feeling. and i think you're going to see that enunciated very clearly by governor romney and his campaign, who frankly, i think, has a great asset, because it is in a political sense, quite ruthless in the long run. >> now you know why john sununu was a co-host of "cross fire" here on cnn for several, several years. hey, governor, thanks very much for coming back. >> thanks. nice to see you, wolf. >>> coming up, new video of the panic and the chaos inside that cruis

is it a placation to bill kristol or like calm down, of course, we are bringing on more people.did you make of it? >> it is a of course bringing on more people. and the gop operative is a strategist who makes the campaign ads, so all of them will stay, and beth myers and others, i don't hear them getting thrown out of the campaign. romney has a inner circle and he is a politicians who likes to have a tight knit inner circle and i don't see him shifting. >> and it does seem at there is an element of the republican party who was of course never on board and don't pretend, and the "wall street journal," and the last guy on board bill kristol the last one on. and first to criticize. >> he was insufficiently con ser vative to them, and now he is accusing him of mismanagement and what you are describing is exactly right how do you have a staff shake-up without a staff shake-up? i don't know if it is going to placate them, because they are not looking for symbolic shift, but a strategy to change and they are upset with the tactics and the strategy of the last few weeks. >> but remember

romney also took heat from weekly standard editor bill kristol accused romney of running his race on auto pilot and insisted "his campaign's monomaniacal belief that it's about the economy and only the economy has gone from being an annoying tick to a dangerous self-delusion." apparently romney doesn't agree. >> romney: as long as i continue to speak about the economy i'm going to win. >> eliot: romney's hidden financial assets from "the associated press" riding the undisclosed holdings meaning the public doesn't know what he's got, what it's worth and what it is being taxed. >> president obama is betting on america and american workers and mitt romney is betting his resources in the cayman islands in bermuda in switzerland and god only knows where else he's putting his resources. >> eliot: to discuss the multifront assault on romney from left, right and sister and ben white. and sam seder host of ring of fire and majority report. guys, thanks for joining me. mitt romney is under assault and it seems to me when you watch what he's done, post-supreme court decision on healthcare, it i

kristol said, fine, we'll go back to the democrats because we're more comfortable with them anyway. because their whole thing is essentially, it's foreign policy based. the rest of it is veneer. it's based on the theory -- i think i related to you at the time the soviet union collapsed and before "the weekly standard" was founded, bill argued that america had to find another enemy. america had to go on a crusade because a nation is judged not by how it treats its people but how it performed on the world stage and therefore we needed an international crusade. i said, i thought that was evidence that he had never met any americans. we did not -- our grandfathers didn't send our fathers to war to be part of a crusade. they sent them there because they thought it was necessary to protect our country, our way of life and our friends. and when the war was over, they were perfectly happy to come back and run their tractors and work in their gas stations and their factories. and they do not sit around wishing that their son could go off some place, or their daughter in this case, go off som

bill kristol thinks it could be condoleezza rice. >> he is crazy, bill kristol. >> there is talk of condoleezza she there are people talking about her. she is pro-life. and romney said in an interview with me and elsewhere he is not going to pick a pro-choice candidate -- sorry, she is pro-choice. >> not going to pick condoleezza rice because she is closely associated with the bush administration. all eight years. governors tend to like governors. i expect him to pick a for or former governor, despite there are members in congress will be get serious consideration. i don't buy that the female look. i'm sure they look at them in broad numbers i don't see anybody to fit the bill. >> last 15 seconds are yours. >> dull like dulls. he will double down on dullness. go with portman, solid, stable, he knows his stuff. he can rely on him. not flashy. you run against charisma. you try it in 2008, how did that work out? >> john: that is why we like to give you the last word, charles. thank you, guys, have a great weekend. thank you so much for showing up on this holiday week. that is it for the panel. sta

bill kristol has written that the only reason for a political movement is to hold and exercise power and that anything that stands in the way of that -- this is the argument for big government conservative. anything that stands in the way of that needs to be jettisoned. he's argued over the years that this idea of cutting government stands in the way of holding power because people like government and, therefore, you shouldn't be for cutting it because -- and the conservative argument is, that's not why we're here. we're not here because we want to hold power. we're here because we want the power "a" restrained and "b" used in good rather than bad ways. >> use it in one way, the libertarian -- >> well, the neocon wants -- >> and the cultural conservatives do it differently. >> they're all held together by the facts that if the other guys, not them, but the other guys, the big government liberals have it, they all lose. >> do they really lose? does the neoconservative lose? >> well, they -- they do currently, although they argued when -- they argued at the time when buckley and others

bill kristol. some tough words in the "wall street journal" for the romney campaign. are they seemed frustrated. >> i think they are frustrated. a lot of conservatives are. not only conservatives. i don't even care that much in the sense what exact plan mitt romney offers in healthcare or tax reform or energy. he has a lot of details throughout. i think what a lot of people would like to see is a lot of people hope mitt romney wins the presidency in november. i would like to see him stand up and say i have a plan and i am going to aggressively address these problems and fix the economy. they seem to be playing prevent defense. that doesn't work that well even in the fourth quarter. playing it in the second quarter and it is in a tie game it seems awfully risky. they are risk adverse but being risk adverse could be risky. >> how to i don't need to read the quote from your latest column. >> i said everything i have to say many, many times. look, they have a theory. i don't believe it is a staff problem. eric is a competent guy and smart guy. the theory of the race is th

so the "wall street journal," bill kristol, they were sort of in that role.nd this goes to a couple things that as has been true about romney from the get-go. number one, he's just not a nimble candidate. when put off message, he struggles. he doesn't know how to deal with it, just doesn't understand how to call an audible, to use a sports term. second, it's a reminder we never litigated health care during the primaries, and he never had to go through this angst. and we see they were caught between two problems. one is his own health care record in massachusetts and the other is looking like a flip-flopper. those are two, both of which -- >> they're irreck kribl differences. >> irreconcilable, a rock and a hard place. eric fehrnstrom tried to create the line, walk a fine line. romney's trying to walk that fine line, too, and i think it shows you they're so concerned about the flip-flop -- they still think that is very dangerous to them and i think that's what you saw come to bubble up this week. >> let's take a look at the "wall street journal" editorial. the

and it is time for our sunday group, bill kristol of the weekly standard. former democratic senator evan byah. fox news analyst liz cheney and kirsten powers of the daily beast web site. with all of the around-the-clock, 24 hour coverage of this terrible event. it is still important to keep it in context. and let me put up stats. for than a billion movie ticket were sold in north america, last year. less than 1% of homicides involved five or more victims and it stayed below that rate for decades, having said all of that bill what are your thoughts about the rampage. >> i don't think i have any original thoughts but i was struck by the act of heroism, by three young men who have saved, in each case their girlfriend or fiancee's lives by pushing them down and covering them and in each case lost their own lives and, it seems to be chair risk of early of these acts. and, the person who barred the door, at columbine and let the students escape. so that is heartening, in what is a terrible story. >> chris: it understandably reignited the debate on gun control and

our frepped - friend bill kristol hammered romney to release them. is it more of the same and plays in a wealthy individual had bank account. >> chris: is there anything wrong. >> i think it bothers some of the middle class. i don't think it is positive. it call comes back to the four or five percent that are decided to the economy. is there unexpected data. it comes down to the debates they need to elevate their game. who can present a case of growing jobs and appeal to people's aspiration of a better america. they are critical as the last ones when jimmy carter and ronald regan. i am not saying romney will. but he crossed the threat hold. >> chris: what do you think. tax issue. >> it is washington as usual. the president's opposition researchers ran out of material to use. and i think everybody around the even bill who is squishy this morning. >> chris: even bill? >> i will get the poigns after the show. >> there will never be enough. >> chris: so that romney said no. >> i think he is good where he is. if the obama administration focus focusing on

i used to love having bill kristol tell me what i was doing. and the good news for the romney campaign. they have all of the pieces of the puzzle on the board to win. but they have to put them together. they are troying to grow and they had a small knit family who came through the tough primary and they are adding new people on board and hard to grow that way. they will get there and they have a lot of good things going for them. they have a good core team and will do well . >> yes, as for the flip flop on the penalty and tax. that was an avoidable mistake. it was a true meaning of unforced error. and it comes to compelling message and selling himself instead of barbing the president they do acknowledge they need to have a narrative about his own agenda. and that in the 59 point plan he is talk being repealing certain regulations and cutting the corporate tax rate increasing trade with latin-america. bill is right. he will have to make the case to voters. particularly if president obama remains popular in battle ground states and more popular i

bill kristol editor of "weekly standard." a.b. stoddard associate editor of the hill.columnist charles krauthammer. a.b., what about clinton's role on the dnc? >> republicans are feeling sour about it because they know that clinton is obama's best hope, the best focus for the convention. i don't think it's a big risk. i don't think bill clinton will pay him back with some off the reservation remark. best thing for hillary clinton and bill clinton and the best thing for president obama. i think bill clinton will be reminding, he is good housekeeping seal of approval for the wavering democrats. reminding the democrats and independents watching that his record paired historic deficit reduction with 20 million new jobs and he will critique romney's approach to the economy and the republican economic policies. i think he is the best spoke spokesman that obama could have put forward at the convention, especially on a big sports night that threatens their viewership. i think it's a win-win for all three of them. >> bret: charles, does this indicate a weakness with perhaps mid

. >> except when you have bill kristol and rupert murdoch, it makes enough of a balance, just like romney to the naacp today, every bit counts. if you can sway from 4%, 5% up to 6%, 7%, that's a big difference and if you can get some of the conservatives who are trying to really come at you by saying we don't know what you're thinking about, how can you convince other people, then it becomes a kind of imitation and it has some significant consequence. >> this election is not even being played between the 40 yard lines. it's being played between the 47 yard lines. there are 6% undecided at this point and i don't think they take their cues from rupert murdoch, bill kristol, as much as he may think so. it's about impressions. i think romney doesn't have to be very specific in his policies to convey the impression he wants to as he's trying to do, as a successful mr. fix-it. >> i'm thinking about the fact that if rupert murdoch and all these people, not saying the average conservative watches out for them, but if the wind begins to move in a different direction and those people begin to feel

bill kristol? >> look, it's up to mitt romney what he wants to do. that's not the issue in the race. it's about how do we get the greatest country on earth out of debt, back to work, a good energy plan, and have stronger leadership on the national stage. that's what people are going to vote on. this president's i think undermining the decency and dignity of the electoral process, focusing on a 12-year-old job and old tax returns. that's not -- that may be what obama thinks important but that's not what the voters of virginia think important. i lived for 18 years where president obama just was this last weekend, in virginia beach. they're not asking me about that. they're saying how do we get back to work, how do we create energy independence and how do we get out of debt. this president's racheted up debt, trillions of dollars in new debt, that's what's important. this president's got no leadership when it comes to getting us out of debt. it's more excuses and more hide the ball. listen, i understand it. if i had a lousy record of unemployment over 8

even haley barbour, george will, bill kristol, leading republicans say just do it, already, put the taxes out there, take this issue off the table. >> well, mitt romney has released as you noted two years' worth of tax returns and that's basically been the standard for republican nominees for president. >> that's a very low end. >> there's no allegation or insinuation of wrongdoing or any time that he's been in trouble or accused of wrongdoing. why would mitt romney be held to a different standard than almost every other republican nominee for president? >> well, my answer is that i think senator mccain released substantially more than two years. >> he did two years when he was running but he had done the annual disclosures to the senate. >> which i don't think governor romney has done. so he's creating his own problem. that's the issue. so what the american people, you know, they hear about funds in switzerland and the cayman islands that he only paid 15% capital gains when others in his income bracket are paying 35% and 40%. so i think there's a legitimate issue about disclosure, transp

bill kristol thinks that's the wrong strategy. what do you think? >> i agree. as a reporter i would like more answers from the romney campaign. we keep asking and they keep on not giving answers. he's absolutely right. >> i think there's an obligation to say more about what you're going to do. i would also say the economy is really bad, there's no question, but it's not enough of a disaster i think for the romney's entire campaign to be just pointing at the jobs numbers and hammering the president. if you go back as i did recently for a piece i wrote and look at bill clinton's 1992 campaign, ronald reagan's 1980 campaign, both campaigns against an incumbent presiding over a sick economy with roughly equivalent unemployment rate, both candidacies were about a lot more. clinton had health care, welfare, he was a new democrat, he was kind of an inspiring character, and reagan had the soviet menace, afghanistan, iran hostage crisis, big foreign policy argument that romney may be getting ready to make. i just don't think romney kind of has enough right now to seal t

the conservative bill kristol has offered baker dinner if this anecdote is true. so dr. chip in for the bill if it is true? >> i definitely would chip in for the bill because i don't think he's going to have to buy him dinner. i think what you're going to find out is this is something reagan said rhetorically, but certainly didn't mean it literally. already research is embargo out he took national security meetings over the course of his first 100 days. bottom line, it's apples and oranges anyway. the things the next president is going to have to deal with in terms of syria and all these other issues developing around the world is one piece of it. so foreign policy is going to be very, very important. but also, our economy is quite different. this is a globalized economy. you are required in terms of working and focusing on the national economy to think very, very seriously about things that are going on globally. again, it goes to some of the reasons why some of the conservatives are so disappointed in mitt romney because there are serious issues and questions about his

conservatives like the weekly standard's bill kristol and radio host laura ingram also piled on.am taking romney to task for his vacation in new hampshire. >> advisers telling him, it's fine, take a week. there's no week to spare. we got a country to save. should romney call the cease-fire or get out there on the trail and get off the jet ski? >> what's going on and how concerned should the republican candidate be? ed rendell was the former governor of pennsylvania and msnbc political analyst and steven more is on "the wall street journal" editorial board. he's the sfr economics writer. governor, the if the criticism were coming from salon.com and the new republic you and i wouldn't be here having this conversation. >> you're right. no question about it. go ahead, michael. >> i was going to say, of what significance if any is this in showing problems that persist with romney's base? >> i think first of all, we've got to keep things in perspective. in terms of voters, this criticism has no meaning at all. first of all, it's in the dead of the summer when no one's paying attention

letters here to turn their fifteen republicans fifteen problem on the whole book and including bill kristol perry a whole bunch of other folks the people if you look up the word republican half of these folks his pictures come up in the dictionary they're telling mitt romney release your tax return here and i was in here and just western media only he won't do it are going to go ahead jump in. peter i want to do it if. there's a fair time you're going to go ahead. the mitt romney's tax returns are actually absolutely relevant because mitt romney has a tax proposal that would give himself even cuts so that is very relevant barack obama's transcripts relevant and you know it when we had president bush who was a speech student and wire in the sea and we had dick cheney the vice president was a dropout from yale and none of those mattered made them those were not that that made them worse presidents or maybe they were but we do know that you know so these are distractions and for someone who comes on on t.v. saying that you're not here to defend mitt romney and that you're not here to defend th

they look at the months leading up to the leck a the election a an interesting item bill kristol broughted why president obama is not getting dinged more for the state of the economy. and high pointed out, this poll that said 41% of people think that president obama has a clear plan to fix the economy. only 27% of people think mitt romney has one. that could be why things are not going more in mitt romney's direction, despite the bad jobs number. >> jamie: great to have both sides, even if they didn't sit together, looking forward to seeing you in the chair, filling in for chris wallace. thanks. >> thanks, jamie, see you soon. >> jamie: you don't want to miss the interview, debbie wasserman schultz and you want to tune into fox news sunday, every sunday and it airs at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> eric: coming up, "sunday house call" and scientists are working on an injection they think can be used as an alternative to breathing. what are we, fish? the doctors will be here to explain. >> jamie: no guess and big news in the battle against hiv. we'll explain a new at-home test and ho