this one, why mitt romney won't release his tax returns. this was becoming too much of a focus. publicans were in danger of the candidate getting swamped. mr. romney was getting swamped by the mystery of the tax returns, which he would not release, so republicans at that time of the campaign, july, they were trying as hard as they could to get the focus off the campaign, all these small questions about mitt romney's character and his financial history. they were trying to get the focus off those meddling questions and instead, turn the focus to big ideas. big ideas like the republican vision for the country. the clash of big, different ideas about where the country should go. republicans were stepping in as of july 2012 to help the romney campaign refocus. some of them were carping, some were trying to help. and notably among those trying to help was paul ryan. >> what i think this all means, maria, is whoever wins this election basically is going to determine what this looks like next year. yeah, we are stuck with this current situation and the log jam that has to be broken is g

the mitt romney with the 47% tape is the real mitt romney.ook at the paul ryan side of it, the makers versus takers rhetoric before. look at the budget. this is a budget line item by line item that is consistent with the message romney was delivering in the 47% tape. this is fitting the social safety net, voucherizing medicare, shipping back aid to the poor to the states, massive tax cuts for the wealthy. the very sort of thing that was supposed to be the dividing line between obama and between the republicans in the election last year. the thing with the election was supposed to settle. as you say, this is basically, with a few cynical accounting tweaks, this is basically the same thing paul ryan put out in 2011 and 2012. >> what about the smaller stuff that is surfacing at the same time? what do you make of the resurfacing of the obama welfare lie and the legislation that passed in the house today, the free obama phone lie and the other particularly racially charged elements of the republican thesis from the campaign that democratic voters

made is that she blamed the media and she blamed the media for not allowing the real narrative of mitt romneyme out, and i blame the romneys and the campaign because i called it on the road in the course of the convention, convention and political malpractice the way that those tremendous testimonials from mormons were not shown in prime time and instead it was clint eastwood and the chair. but respond, joy, to that whole issue of it's the media's fault. >> you're obviously right. i was at the convention when they played this video. i thought if this is getting on tv this will really help him because it shows him as a human being. when you're the challenger in a campaign, it's on you to try to define who you are because, of course, the incumbent is spending money defining you the way they want to to the voters. the romney campaign never created a narrative that was this is the real mitt romney because they didn't want to talk about mormonism, they were afraid of alienating the religious right and they didn't want to talk about his time in massachusetts because they were afraid it would a make

>> reporter: we heard mitt romney say in his heart thought he was going to win. in the time between the presidential election and this week's interview at his house in san diego. he's reviewed all the good and the bad from his campaign and when he talks about his role in the future and wanting to have influence still over republican policy, you get a sense of how hard it is to come so close to the presidency and lose. >> well, i recognize that it's the guy who lost the election. i'm not in a position to tell everybody else how to win, all right. they're not going to listen. i don't have the credibility to do that anyway, but i still care, and i still believe that there are principles that we need to stand for. i look at what's happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there, not to be in the white house doing what needs to be done. >> reporter: ann romney flatly blamed media bias in favor of president obama as a major reason for her husband's failed candidacy. meanwhile, mitt romney says the power of the incumbency and public support for oba

he thought, you know, the american people had to hear because they weren't hearing this side of mitt romney out on the campaign trail. and he knew instantly he had a story to tell. >> so he didn't go there as a guy who disliked romney? >> no, this was not a get moment. this was not, hey, i'm going to sneak this camera in here. there were other cameras in the room, there were other people recording. obviously they were for romney, because this is a $50,000 dinner fund-raiser plate. he talks about romney's personality. he talks about what was said that was not getting any exposure. we all focus in, the media what, on the 47% comment. but there was another story that was told that did get some attention by the media. and that is the story about the sweatshop in china. and about how mitt romney went over to china to purchase this when he was with bain. and this gentleman will tell the story how that hit him and how he thought that that just had to get out. he just didn't get the tape, you know, fall into and it say, hey, i'm going to be somebody. he talks about why he released it now. >> now i

he wanted everybody to see the real mitt romney. and when romney was almost arrogant enough to say that hep went into that factory and saw the barbed wire in the fences and -- >> sure. and that was to keep people out, right. >> to keep people in. to keep people out. well, look, i'm not the smartest guy in the world, but i've driven by prisons and when it's turned inside, it's not so that you can keep people out, it's so you can keep people in. >> thank you, mr. gerard, i appreciate it so much. thanks for being on the ed show tonight. remember to answer tonight's questionnaire at the bottom of the screen. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow and on facebook. and do that for the weekend show coming up too. >>> conservatives are out in full force at their annual convention. we'll tell you who shot first. stay tuned. >>> democrats are about to make the biggest mistake of their lives. "the ed show" congressional committee will tell us what the president said today. and i'll tell you about the future of the new ed show. you won't want to

they were totally in the tank for mitt romney.ublican pundits claimed that mitt romney was going to win by a landslide and there is nothing more you can do to get people at the polls than to portray him as the winner. they claim it's the media's fault. if the media had-nicer that he wouldn't have been nicer. it shows our out of touch they are when it comes to the american landscape. it's not about the media. it's not about other people. it's about them and their policies that were soundly rejected. >> michael: god bless them, i think it will make everyone happy to have that be the case. whether you're biased or not probably feels that the 47% issue was a big problem for mitt romney no matter what. here's the former governor, former candidate talking about that. >> it was a very unfortunate statement that i made. it's not what i meant. i didn't express myself as i wished i would have. you know, when you speak in private, you don't spend as much time thinking about how something could be twisted and distorted and could come out wron

. >> start with mitt romney. improbable not in the best position to chart the course. >> cpac not strongly supportive of romney. >> i left the race disappointed i didn't win. it is up to make sure we learn from mistakes, my mistake. >> if mitt made one mistake, he didn't talk enough about his success. >> guess what, i made a lot of money, i have been very successful. i am not going to apologize for that. >> how stupid is that? >> there's a certain schizophrenia in the party. >> we can't keep doing what we're doing. >> opinions are all over the map. >> i reject pessimism. >> the can yulturculture. >> what the hell are we thinking. >> the message is a muddled one. the fire is not there. >> 2016 is shaping up to look like a rerun of "the golden girls." >> i am stunned, stunned is the only way to describe how stunned i am. >>> good evening. i am alex wagner, in for lawrence o'donnell. the biggest problem facing the republican party was perfectly summed up by a musical choice used at cpac today after a lunchtime panel

all along with david, i wanted mitt romney's words and mitt romney's words only. he's the guy running for president. i wanted his words to be the absolute center of attention. maybe it would be fun to go on a show or do this show or that, but i thought that would change the topic of the conversation away from the primary thing that was most important to me. of course, i'll -- i expected to be ripped apart by the right wing media. i'm sure that's to come. the blowback will occur. before the election, i thought it was too important for me to just stand-up and say hey, i did it and try to get a little bit of fame from it. >> up next, more with scott prouty. the man who changed the face of the 2012 election, next. stick around. >>> coming up on "the ed show," our exclusive guest will respond to mitt romney trying to spin his way out of the 47% comments. that's next. what's next? he's going to apply testosterone to his underarm. axiron, the only underarm treatment for low t, can restore testosterone levels back to normal in most men. axiron is not for use in women or a

how did he bring mitt romney down? how significant was that video to mitt romney's campaign? do you think it will affect the way that politicians conduct themselves at fund-raisers in the future? >> well, i think that the whole idea that you can count on being taped just about anything you do is going to affect a person's willingness to be candid, whether it's in politics or otherwise. the irony is, here we have mitt romney being brought down by a bartender of all things, but it was probably the most significant event in the campaign. >> now, let's move on to the conservative confab taking place in d.c., the cpac. bob mcdonnell and chris christie were not invited. what do you make of that? >> well, apparently, they're considered rhino these days, rino being republicans in name only, which will surprise a lot of people. chris christie is remembered bitterly for many republicans for speaking out for president obama in the last stages of the race against mitt romney. interestingly, mitt romney is being invited. he's somebody who's never been a favorite of the conservatives, the

i think i have more empathy that mitt romney had. i don't know how i describe myself, but i was behind this whole thing. i was bartending that night for the romney fund-raiser. >> let's talk about may 17th. what happened that day? >> we got there, you know, it was, you know, a political fund-raiser. we did our usual thing. we set up and, you know, it went off without a hitch. i work high-end parties all over just for extra money. and you know, it was really just another typical party that i've done plenty of them just like it. >> did you know you were going to record him? >> you know, i did -- i brought the camera and a lot of other people brought cameras, like i said, for thinking that he would come back and take pictures. clinton in the past had come back with the staff and taken pictures. and that was, really, my thought. i hadn't really made up my mind, you know i was willing to listen to what he had to say. i was interested to hear what he had to say. but i hadn't -- i didn't go there with a grudge against romney. i was more inte

his speech and ended with me the same way that steve deace usually does, when he's talking about mitt romney. >> friday to you, sir. thank you. >> thank you. >>> a bit of deja vu. as governor romney was delivering his speech. the president will deliver a campaign style speech where he will ask congress to authorize some $2 billion in renewable energy investment. there's a split screen that you probably haven't seen in some time there. all of this comes a day after the president wrapped up his week-long so-called charm offensive. he met with congressional, to for a more bipartisan approach. with republicans riling up the base with cpac as you just saw, the president on the road pushing his second term agenda. will this week's meetings end up making a difference at all? joining me now, politico managing editor. good to see both of you. let's start with you. so much of the talk this week was about the, perhaps change of tone in washington. but today at cpac, you had kelly focusing most of her speech on benghazi. mitch mcconnell calling for a repeal of obama care. now the president is back givin

all along with david, i wanted mitt romney's words and mitt romney's words only. he's the guy running for president. i wanted his words to be the absolute center of attention. maybe it would be fun to go on a show or do this show or that, but i thought that would change the topic of the conversation away from the primary thing that was most important to me. of course, i'll -- i expected to be ripped apart by the right wing media. i'm sure that's to come. the blowback will occur. before the election, i thought it was too important for me to just stand-up and say hey, i did it and try to get a little bit of fame from it. >> up next, more with scott prouty. the man who changed the face of the 2012 election, next. stick around. ns. there's nothing like our grilled lobster and lobster tacos. the bar harbor bake is really worth trying. [ male announcer ] get more during red lobster's lobsterfest. with the year's largest selection of mouth-watering lobster entrees. like our delicious lobster lover's dream, featuring two kinds of lobster tails. or our savory, new grilled

conference, republicans are still trying to distance themselves from the damage done to the party by the mitt romney7% video, which they know rushed romney's candidacy and fear has the power to continue to define them as a party. here's marco rubio, attacking everything mitt romney said in that video without ever using the words "mitt" or "romney." >> the vast majority of the american people are hard-working taxpayers who take responsibility for their families, go to work every day, they pay their mortgage on time, they volunteer in the community. this is what the vast majority of the american people still are. what's changed is the world around us. >> senator rubio acknowledged that voters see the republican party as the party fighting for rich guys like mitt romney. >> they look to washington, d.c. as if they don't have enough troubles to begin with. every week, washington is creating some sort of man-made crisis for them to worry about. and they look at the political process, whether it's fair or not, and what many of them see is, they think that one side is fighting for the people that have made

mitt romney is back in the public eye. the former presidential candidate celebrated his 66th birthday today and he's speaking at the cpac convention later this week, but no matter what he does, for the rest of his life, he will probably always be remembered for this. a fund raising dinner back in may of 2012 and at this dinner, mitt romney said that really what he really thinks about the 47% of americans. romney said 47% of americans believe that they are victims. he said they depend upon government. he said it's not his job to worry about these people and if mitt romney has hid way, no one would have heard these comments whatsoever. but thanks to one man, the world saw the real mitt romney. one man recorded a video that changed the course of the election in 2012. one man who i had a chance to talk to today. how big a decision was it for you to release the tape and to go through all of this? >> it was tough and i debated for a little while and you know, but in the end, i really felt like it had to be put out. i felt i owed

question. >> okay. >> john: did mitt romney misunderstood the question or did we all misunderstand mittey. >> he reminds me the guy in high school the football player who caught the one catch and still wears his jacket. do you remember that time because that's all he talks about, i was the governor of massachusetts. >> give it a break. he has been through enough. >> john: he has been through enough but he has not learned anything from it. >> he has a rich man's mouth. that's the problem. he don't know how to talk around broke people. >> john: that's been very true. but does the guy have--seriously, does he have anchor beliefs? >> no. >> and he kept saying--he has no core beliefs. he kept saying during the interview minorities. i couldn't attract minorities. women not a minority. he didn't figure that out. >> and like people like when a white dude keeps yelling minorities. >> john: and they just wanted free stuff. this guy says they just want free stuff meaning obama-care, and then turn around in the same speech calling obama a tax. which way was it? the same condescension and lack of un

and for the first time since the election, mitt romney and his wife ann open up. ter the break, i will ask cruis stirewald what role romney should play. >> focus on getting america through a difficult time and on the track to roman the most powerful and strong nation. to remain the most powerful and strong nation. for fast relief. cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. ♪ oh what a relief it is! cue up alka-seltzer. it stops heartburn fast. some people will do anything to help eliminatlitter box odor. ♪ discover tidy cats pure nature. clping litter with natural cedar, pine, and corn. and these come together, one thing you can depend on is that these will come together. delicious and wholesome. some combinations were just meant to be. tomato soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> i believe i could have made a difference for the people of this country and you think gosh, i haven't been able to get the job done and it was very hard. >> shannon: four months after losing h his bid for the white house mitt romney and his wife are speaking out for

breaking a promise he made with mitt romney when he was mitt romney's running mate. one top republican already saying ryan is heading in the wrong direction. telling the washington post quote, i know a number of people who have real concerns about where this is going. this is crazy. at a time when business is doing well, record profits with a record stock market, republicans want more sacrifices from regular people? they want more budget cuts on top of the ones they already got? not a chance. we settled this during the debate and during the presidential campaign. paul ryan should know he lost. joining me now is krystal ball and james peterson. thank you both for coming on the show. >> thanks for having us, reverend. >> krystal, wall street is booming while republicans target the safety net. isn't this why republicans are the party of the rich? >> it is. because they have no message what they're for. the only thing we see is them fighting with all their being to protect tax cuts for people who really don't need tax cuts. so when you have no other message, when that's

as we all know and as we covered, that tape arguably made it a lot harder for mitt romney to win the election and reemerges as romney publicly reemerges to a crowd. the guy behind this, scott prouty, he's a regular guy, an independent. he's not tied to any political organization. in your estimation from the rnc's standpoint, how much do the comments continue to haunt romney and the party? >> well, there's no question, they're not helpful. i mean, governor romney said so much. part of the reason that we're moving forward and, again, i think what we can't do is not learn lessons from what happened in november. not only in the presidential election but throughout the entire party. that's what we've been focused on doing, ha do we need to do better in unquestionably comment like that don't help us. we have been focused on trying to figure out what's the way forward, messaging, tone, demographics, the whole spectrum, if you will of what it's going to take to grow our party and win more elections. >> you talk about message willing and tone. cpac's organizers caught flack because they exclud

mitt romney will be there. you mentioned all the names.andidates or people who will never even become president of the united states. so the idea that those folks would be given platforms and not the chris christies, bobby jindals and other people in the republican party who are a whole lot more serious makes you wonder whether cpac is even relevant. >> indeed. chr krystal, we have an early tweet from the ever humble donald trump who says this. lines for my cpac news address start at 7:00 a.m. outside the potomac ballroom. acu has asked that you get there early. donald trump. the biggest attraction. your view of him as far as his humility goes, first? >> it's impressive, really. quite impressive. the thing is, besides just him alone creating a carnivallike, unserious atmosphere, what the gop really needs right now is ideas. they need thought leader. they knead to do some soul searching and actually come up with some solutions that would appeal to the american public. donald trump is exactly the wrong

but in fact, magnificent mitt romney is back tomorrow.e will be speaking as well, as well as the great sarah palin and the great donald trump. what do you expect mitt romney to say to the cpac crowd given what was a fairly poor performance in the presidential election? >> last time he said he was severely conservative. i wonder if they actually believe that now, and so i don't know, i don't know why -- it's almost like lazerous risen from the dead. why would he come again? he's not going to run again. ran 17 times for president. lost every single time either in the primary or the general. i'm not sure what he's going to add to this except maybe he thinks he's the moral leader of the republican party having just been the banner holder. i'm not sure what he can add to it. let's be honest who the moral leader of this group is, that's grover norquist. you heard the reaction he got. no one cheered more wildly for anyone than grover norquist. guy who says if you raise prices, i'm going to beat you in a primary. >> dana, what do you expect magni

all along with david, i wanted mitt romney's words and mitt romney's words only. he's the guy running for president. i wanted his words to be the absolute center of attention. maybe it would be fun to go on a show or do this show or that, but i thought that would change the topic of the conversation away from the primary thing that was most important to me. of course, i'll -- i expected to be ripped apart by the right wing media. i'm sure that's to come. the blowback will occur. before the election, i thought it was too important for me to just stand-up and say hey, i did it and try to get a little bit of fame from it. >> up next, more with scott prouty. the man who changed the face of the 2012 election, next. stick around. there's nothing better than salon color, full of beautiful highlights and lowlights. that's why nice'n easy builds dimension into every shade. so here's a challenge: love the gorgeous dimension of nice'n easy or we'll pay for a salon color. take the salon challenge, from nice'n easy. or we'll pay for a salon color. we asked total strangers to w

[ laughter ] >> jamal: mitt romney -- mitt and ann romney were both on fox news sunday talking about hing about what it was like the moments before -- on election day. >> we were convinced that we would win. we saw that the polls were very close, but we new the energy and passion was with our voters and my heart said we were going to win. >> it's amazing they are still talking about polls being close this far after the election because the polls weren't that close. >> jamal: they weren't. >> all of this talk -- no they were never close. legitimate, real reputable were not close! >> jamal: and you would think that he would have a little bit more blame -- he does take responsibility for his own problems in the campaign but they had an entire operation built on an electorate that hasn't existed since 1988. their assumption about who was going to show up in the polls, not enough african-americans, latinos, young people, women, and he just couldn't seem to come to grips with the fact that there's a few america taking hold, and it is multi-racial. >> it is. and it is oddly satisfying to sit

have a nice weekend. >>> coming up, mitt romney, slammed by jim demint and rick perry for not being conservative enough but the crowd actually cheered romney. what's the lesson? go hard right or stick to romneyism? vague conservatismed. and used to support the defense of marriage act and used to support gay marriage until his son told him he was gay. this is fascinating. until a family issue, he didn't have that same position. now, a change of heart. two thing, one, all politics is local, of course, and two, as more people come out in terms of their orientation, more americans will be accepting of same-sex marriage. >>> plus, we know the gop wants president obama to fail, will do anything to be sure he fails that, and no new taxes, all they really can agree on. on screwing obama, but why hasn't president obama offered republicans a deal from his point of view? his idea of a grand bargain? forcing republicans to say no and walk away from the table. he wasn't done that yet. >>> by the way, donald trump tweeted yesterday, really big crowd expected tomorrow at cpac for his speech. here's the really

. >>> a willard/mitt romney sighting. hold on to your remotes.urfaced with a kind of sort of anticipated cpac speech. his comments on life after the campaign, life after the campaign, car rides and dining out. just ahead. [ bells jingle ] [ cash register dings ] [ male announcer ] wow. a brave choice. okay, focus. think courage. think shaun white. think how perfect they'll be for outdoor crafts. mr. white. [ male announcer ] they're good for circulation. plus, they're totally practical. yeah, freedom. scan me. stride on, pale-legged, short-shorts guy. ♪ none of us think bad things are gonna happen to us. i'm here at my house on thanksgiving day, and i have a massive heart attack right in my driveway. an artery in your heart, it's called the widow maker. and mine was 95% blocked. they took me to the hospital, and the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone, so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a blue-collar worker. to me, bayer aspirin is another too

you need to know this mitt romney's attack on the forty seven percent lost him an election that the republican party's inability to separate itself from his comments could lose the american people and the man who filmed romney making his infamous speech will appear on amazon he sees the ed show to reveal his identity talk about his decision to leak the video of the press before he changed the course of the two thousand and twelve election the filmmaker was a bartender at what he calls a mom and pop operation in florida so many americans suffering through the great recession he had no health insurance and struggled to make ends meet he was the forty seven percent so when he saw mitt romney tell of a room full of rich donors that it wasn't his job to worry about those lazy worthless indicted masses who leech off the government bartender filmmaker knew he had a duty to his fellow citizens to reveal the truth about the republican nominee for president of the jones released the leaked video in september and it caused a firestorm romney's campaign never really recovered you'd think the republicans e

or was this more about the man, mitt romney and what he had been saying?when i made the video, i really i had no preconceived notion of what was going to be said. but when i heard it, then you know, the frankly, the idea that he would go by the sweatshop in china that's what really angered me the most. >> he, you're talking about the moment in the speech when he says he's gone to visit a factory in china and speaks of deplorable working conditions. >> and had a good feeling. >> and tries to spin that as look at these, these, the barbed wire fences that keep these workers in. that's because they want to be there. and other people, they're trying to keep the rabble rousers out, peemt that want a piece of that pie. >> it was absurd. the whole tape, there was individual parts that were just one was worse than the next and the next. there was a lot of different parts that were probably offensive to different people in all different ways. >> he managed to actually hit many different pieces of the electorate in that one speech. what i want to know, i think a lot

massachusetts, mitt romney served as governor. hn kerry vacated his senate seat, some said ann romney might be a good choice. the "boston herald" reported mitt's son tag was considering tossing his name in. neither took the plunge. over to michigan. mitt romney's father george served as governor in the '60s. we found out last week carl levin won't run for 20 election. "roll call" reported scott romney was considering a bid for the seat a few days later. scott romney announced it wasn't the right time. the latest the buzz about that michigan seat? ron that romney mcdaniel, mitt romney's niece, she told "the detroit news" she's "looking at a republican run for the seat." she would of course be following in the footsteps of her grandmother, lenore romney, who ran for senate in michigan in 1970. next, minnesota state senate judiciary committee cleared the way yesterday for a marriage equality bill to get a full vote in the senate out there. leading up to that point there was heated debate between lawmakers on both sides of the issue. t

way mitt romney has behaved in corporate america, the vulture capitalism. uniformly by all of mr. romney's competitors in the primary but it did seem to work. and then there was just a vociferous backlash among the republican establishment that you shouldn't talk that way about success. how do you think that plays out? >> it looked like we were attacking capitalism, and i don't think that was the intent. but i do think this, all over this country tonight there will be people waking up at 3:00 in the morning, tossing and turning and not being able to get back to sleep. it's not because they're worried about tax breaks for the rich, or about financial bankers on wall street getting too small bonuses. it's about how they're going to get their kids in college, it's becoming more difficult to raise children frankly in this culture. ronald reagan was very good as making what was known as reagan democrats fighting for him and i think our party has get an away from that. >> i know you have different views and come from a different place, but he was really the champ

we went through this with mitt romney. we saw that the private hedge mutual funds guy getting income, millions and tens of millions of dollars and talking about it and treating it as capital gains. >> that's what they think their entitlement is as opposed to -- sorry. these guys see this as an entitlement. we ought to cut their entitlements, not cut the earned benefits of retirees. >> and karen, your final word on this is i don't believe the republicans have identified any loopholes, have they? >> no, they haven't identified any loopholes. you know, ed, the other political losers in this potentially, although you've got republican house members who are in gerrymandered safe districts, remember that you have got some folks, republicans running for senate statewide, and republican governors who are going to have some trouble as the republican brand continues to plummet. >> backyard budgets are going to be in this equation, no doubt about it. >> that's right. >> robert reich, karen finney, leo gerard, great to have you with u

>> one of the most highly anticipated speeches of day will happen under two hours from now when mitt romney romney's first official public speaking appearance since his failed bid for the white house. join ming he from national harb, maryland, is kasie hunt. >> good morning, mara. >> what is the anticipation for governor romney's speech, and are people abuzz there? >> well, people are more curious than excited, and they don't know what to make of it. they are interested in what he has to say, but from the stage it is vailed criticism from folks like marco rubio and rick perry who took jabs at him from the stage. >> any idea why romney chose this event for his first public appearance since the election? >> well, this is an audience that he has tried very hard to woo over the years. last year when he was here, he ad libbed the speech and insisted that he was severely conservative, and something to win over the activists that come to the conference, but there is a simpler explanation, too, because last year when thought to be the president of the united states, they invited him back and he sai

when he heard about the news, they ran it through the office and said, oh my god joel, mitt romney justed 47% of americans dead beats. you got to be kidding me. overnight in the days following romney lost four points of approval just because of that video. >> cenk: wow. >> everyone on the obama campaign believed after that video they had this thing locked back. after the debate it was shaky but that's how important it was. >> cenk: now michael covered the campaign that was following the campaign throughout, that's why that is really relevant observation. but let's also talk about the second part of this. how appropriate was it for this guy to make that tape and put it out. he's working there. romney said this is private. he didn't say it to the workers. just to the guests. appropriate or not. >> i think more people should do stuff like this all the time. it shows that you can't get away with saying one thing in private and another in public. the pay for access in terms of how the campaigns are run. to get in that room you had to be paid an obscene amount of money. unless you have that a

let's go backwards a anymore and go to mitt romney. -- he said he would have averted the sequester if he was president. let's take a listen. >> i look at what is happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there not to be in the white house doing what needs to be done. >> michael: so karl did he just come out of hiding to push the gop's talking points that the president is to blame for the sequester? >> in fairness -- i doubt that anybody was calling him. i don't think he is the most popular man on earth, but i have no doubt that he would have solved the sequester problem, he would have sold one or two houses and paid for everything. i think ann probably had the checkbook ready. but this interview was painful as far as watching what romney thinks passes for human emotion and for his calculations and rationalization of what went wrong in the campaign. they have had months to get the story straight that sounded plausible, and they still can't dictate to anybody this the press why they think they lost. >> michael: we h

bitterness and regret just some of the words being used today to describe mitt romney and ann romney's first sit down interview since the defeat. here's nicole wallace, former senior adviser to john mccain's campaign earlier today on "morning joe." >> whenever you come out and talk about what went wrong there's just a -- sort of wreaks of the bitterness and the regret and hard to watch. >> i also remember watching the interview in grad school thinking, you know, that's not the future of the republican party and i must say with all due respect to governor romney, i had that feeling watching him, too. >> that's of course bill kristol and the romneys made it clear as the first read team said in the words and tone that they have not moved on from their loss. >> i look at what's happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there. not to be in the white house doing what needs to be done. >> that was that crushing disappointment, not for us. our lives are going to be fine. it's for the country. >> romney lingering on even as his party attempts to move forward. rebuild, rebr

. >>> mitt and ann romney have been spending a lot of quiet time at home with their secret tax returns since the presidential election. this weekend they decided to take their nightly dinner table conversation why mitt lost to fox news. which means i owe the romneys a small debt of gratitude to the romneys for this first segment, serving it up on a silver platter. >> good morning, y'all. >> he is the worst republican in the country. >> mitt romney sat down for his first interview. >> my heart said we were going to win. >> the great princess biline, mostly did. >> i'm mostly over it. >> i went through a number of my mistakes. >> corporations are people, my friend. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. >> any -- >> i'm speaking, i'm speaking. >> had to be careful. >> he still can't quite explain that 47% comment. >> the enduring legacy of his campaign. >> what i said is not what i believe. >> not familiar with what i said, but i stand by what i said, whatever it was. >> mitt romney. >> i'm mitt romney. >> was viewed by suspicion by conservatives in the last election. >> can we drop a