mr. axelrod, thank you. we'll be back in a minute with our political rounditably. >> schieffer: and we've added two people to the table, columnist michael gerson of the "washington post," and john fund of the "national review" who has written a book called, "who's counting-- how fraudsters and bureaucrats put your vete risk." john and norah are still with us, of course. let me start with you, michael. why do you think he didn't bring up the 47%? that seems to me the question everybody in washington is kicking around these days. >> i have a suspicion about the president's performance because i saw it myself in 2004, when i helped prepare george w. bush for his debate, the first big debate against john kerry. he had not debated in four years. he knew all the facts, but he hadn't been sharp fling the argumentes, youun the three points here, the three points here, the offense and the defense. i think something like that took place in this case. the president has not debated in four years. it was a wake-up call.

mr. axelrod's comments. >> i think now based on the investigation of intelligence, they made the decision, to conclude that 24-6s a terrorist a-- that this was a terrorist attack. in the day as after it was not clear. lou: a direct contradition of one another. bywo senior members of the president's campaign team. when is it? which raises the question why security officers were not the ones speaks to media. meanwhile, as they offer conflicting accounts of what president obama knew and when, the obama administration today rejected calls for u.n. ambassad suzanne rice to resign, rice was on sunday morning show circuit 5 days after the benghazi attacks, maintaining evidence that pointed then to a spantainous ac -- spontanious attack. statements proved false by sources in the intelligence community and state department, and reported by fox news. a spoke person for secretary of state clinton said that secretary believes rice has done 88 a suburb job as -- done a quote, suburb job as u.n. ambassador. contravened their statements to the american people. and congress. we'll take all that up he ton

mr. axelrod to answer that question. i would hope that the new york times as they camped outside of scooter libby's house, are you camped outside of the scooter rice residence or anything? >> great we have another assign mint. >> we a dead ambassador and two navy seals dead and another security officer dead and the president answers this the next morning by flying to vegas for a fundraiser. i submit if this were a republican president and this went down this way you would have reporters camped outside of hillary's house and rice's house and demand that the president do a full-blown press conference on what happened. maybe it is a income pa tense and series of mistakes, when you attacks on benghazi and the red cross office and then postings on facebook we are coming after you on september 10? they don't have actionable intelligence? what? this is ridiculous. i think the press is partly culpable here. >> chris: jeff? >> people are raising this as a question and this was not the case three weeks ago when ambassador rice was

mr. axelrod but in tend, mrs. obama did win. the minimalist verdict, that could have been a lot worse.s the view of obama as a debater from the men who have stuck with him for this current campaign are thinks first campaign when he was trying to win the nomination. certainly we're hearing the obama said trying to spin this as maybe not as bad as everybody thinks it was from the democratic side but it seems likes everybody thinks it was pretty bad from the democratic side. as the night goes on in terms of your overall big-picture response, are your feelings of this being mitigated at all by the passage of time or is this as bad as you officially thought? >> no. i root for the president to do well. i thought he would come in with a strategy and it looked like the strategy of, not rope-a-dope but very defensive. he seemed like he wanted to endure the evening rather than relish it. romney came in to enjoy the evening and you can see it by his body language and he addresses the president, and i thought respectively. he did call him mr. president and extended the good wishes to their family

mr. axelrod doubled down on the suggestion that these deaths are our ambassador and three others are being politicized by governor romney and congressman ryan. we'll take a closer look at the charge. one state's plan for equal education is raising serious concerns of racial profiling. we'll tell you about a proposal to use students race annette is in satisfactory tee to determine their academic goals. a man hit from 24 miles in the air and hit a speed of 833 miles an hour during his fall. can you imagine? how is it possible that this death defying jump did not break every skydiving record known to man? we'll take a look and tell you more about the man who just broke the speed of sound. >> when i was standing there on top of the world you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records any more. you do not think about gaining statistical date a. the only thing yodata. the only thing is you want to come back alive. any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own t

mr. axelrod said to the president, just keep saying what mitt romney is saying is not true.d from mitt romney was a lot of statistics about how we're in severe, severe problems in america. couple uncomfortable moments for mitt romney when he was off his game 'cause i don't think he expected or anticipated this kind of assaultive, strong chicago community organizer meeting style out of the president who did come on strong. i think too strong. >> steve: he did. in fact, one of the things -- it's a tactic they use. up with of the things the president did was he came out and he listed like five different things about mitt romney when it was an uncomfortable question about his record, so mitt romney felt obligated to answer. okay. point one, this, this. he didn't have enough time to turn things around. >> i thought the president should have done better, big they basically -- the moderator helped the president time after time and the questions. to ask mitt romney, how are you like george bush? what the heck is that about? was the question, hey, president obama, how are you not lik

mr. axelrod. remember those commercials, don't squeeze the charmin? i swear it is his doppleganger.not that he's interviewing a guest, he is actively interviewing himself. this is when we will the clip. >> when you watch the president always feels he has got so many pluses comegys personal comegys and some come he can be funny, she has this great image for america but a lot of things are just perfect about the barack obama. [applause] >> we have a lot of men in this room. how many times -- looker now that the table. everybody has a different look. everybody is unique. i tell my children and doesn't matter what you look like on the outside it matters who you are on the inside, in your heart. i try to tell that to my kids. men, look around you at the table. how many of you would never let the words triple off your tongue "ghosh, he's handsome." [laughter] i'm just saying. the thing is i like watching peers morgan when he is doing that once a month review of the jackson family. is it just me or is the jackson family on cnn every every night? it seems like they are coasting one of the s

mr. whipple, david axelrod. remember those old commercials don't squeeze the sharman? i swear it's his doppelgÄnger. we are all squeezed now, that's a problem, right? actually when you listen to piers morgan, and this happens oftentimes, it's not so much that he is interviewing a guest. he's actually interviewing himself. this is when we roll the clip. >> i always feel he's got so many -- personable, handsome, he can be funny. you know, abroad he has this great image for america. a lot of things are just perfect about barack obama. >> i do know, we've got a lot of men in this room. okay. how many times, look around you at the table, look around them everybody has a different look, everybody is unique. i tell my three children it doesn't matter which look like on the outside, it matters who you are on the inside in your heart, whether you -- i tried to tell it to my kids. but man, look around you at the table. how many of you would ever let the words trip off your tongue gosh, he's handsome? i'm just saying. the thing is i like watching piers morgan when he is doing tha

. >> it seems suddenly this liar thing or theme is bubbling up and we heard axelrod allude to it. mr. woodhouse called romney a liar, and if we can roll a video of the obama campaign, insinuating that mitt romney was lying. was this anything you heard mitt romney lie about? >> he had the facts on his side and he came armed with them. again, anyone watching that debate would say, well, if he was lying why didn't the president point out what he was saying that was inaccurate? he didn't do it. mitt romney, again, has been very clear where he stands. this just shows this is a campaign that is grasping at straws and struggling because they know their candidate was embarrassed in front of the country. >> there are those, we have speculated every campaign does opposition republican, they try and time the release of videotape that has commitment saying 47 percent, blah, blah, blah. do they have another one these in their pockets? should we expect something? >> chicago politics? i would not be surprised if they release something. my advice when i work for candidates is, hire a private investi

mr. whipple, david axelrod. remember those old commercials? don't squeeze the sharman?is his doppelgÄnger. we're all squeeze now. that's the problem. when you look to piers morgan, the siphon off his time. it's not so much she's interviewing a guest, he's actually interviewing himself. this is where we will the clip. >> i always feel he's got so many pluses. he's handsome, he can be funny, he has this great image for america, but a lot of things are just perfect about barack obama. [applause] >> i don't know, we've got a lot of men in this room. how many times, look around you at the table, everybody is a different look, it's a mature children it doesn't matter which look on the outside, matters who you are in the insight, your heart, whether you walk us christ upon july. i tried to make is that. then, look around you at the table, how many of you would let the word strip off your tongue, gosh he's handsome. [laughter] i'm just saying. the thing is i like washing piers morgan when he's doing that once a month review of the jackson family. is it just me, or is the jackso

"the new york times" says that david axelrod is personally overseeing biden's debate preps writing, quote, mr be counseled on how to avoid mr. obama's mistakes and even correct them with a more aggressive prosecution of the republican ticket. it's a lot of pressure that could backfire. >> it's interesting going forward into this week, i think it puts pressure on joe biden maybe exactly what the obama team didn't want, which is biden to feel the pressure of having to do well, which maybe is not a good place for biden to be. >> let me bring in white house reporter for "the new york times" peter baker. peter, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> what's your anticipation here? i think it's obvious what happened with the president debate puts a lot of pressure on joe biden to perform exceptionally but it puts pressure for different reasons on congressman ryan. >> absolutely. look, there's a momentum at this point for governor romney coming out of last week's debate. it stole the opportunity for the obama campaign to kind of cement what had been building into a modest lead.

instead his top aides like david axelrod are promising a passionate, more energized mr. obama. >> i think he's going to be aggressive in making the case for his view of where we should go as a country and a country that's built around a growing, thriving middle class not this top down theory that governor romney has. >> reporter: one thing that hasn't changed is the circle of advisers helping the president prepare. the president said no one is to blame but him for his flat first debate performance. >> do i think that on television what was clear is that i was being too restrained when mr. romney was telling his tall tales. >> reporter: but romney says the president is just making excuses and argues his surging poll numbers in most battleground states are a sign the momentum has shifted his way. >> his campaign is about smaller and smaller things and our campaign is about bigger and bigger crowds fighting for a bright future. >> reporter: governor romney has now left the campaign trail as well, heading home to massachusetts to do debate prep too. and the man who has been

mr. romney does have difficulties when the pressure on him increases? because we've heard david axelrode presidential campaign as being anm mri for e soul. >> think about it, martin, if the roles were reversed and mitt romney were winning, he wouldn't be -- i should say winning in the polls, in the number of survey that is have come out over the last two weeks, he would have a sunnier disposition. he'd be in a better mood. of course he's going to be testy. of course he's going to be a little short and brusque with the media and with anybody who is questioning him about the state of his campaign, the state of his candidacy. so i don't fault him for being testy. i mean, if anything, what he should be thinking about and worried about is how is he going to turn this ship around in the 38, 37, 36 days that he has left to make his case to the american people. >> well, anna marie, chris christie says he can turn it around on wednesday night, and he says we're going to wake up with a fresh sense of this candidate on thursday morning. what are your thoughts? >> well, i love chris christie for a

axelrod. he had a proem with governor romney's shirt. >> steve: look for mr. romney to wind up with a bump in the polls, because of the president's weak one. and she writes of the president. he's never been punctured before but by debays and wednesday night. if you open the window, this is what you heard. soft hiss of air departing from a balloon . she said the president is a very good politician . >> gretchen: it will be a town hall setting and that is a different environment and questioning coming from the audience. brian excellent point to bring up. i was thinking that this morning and how many people watch the debate. that was a concern that i had . had people been energized to care and listen to the differences between the two cand des. two find out more people watched the debate since 1992 was heartening. the idea that that many people wanted to come to the tv and see what was going on in the nation was heartening. >> steve: pat buchan an said it was the best one in 52 years. but pat going back to the kennedy/nixon debate. >> gretchen: people on the demo

mr. president. the numbers are just horrible. he goes it is not your fault -- yet. at one point david f. rod -- axelrod wondered what it would be like to govern in good times. the president laughed. you kidding? we never would have gotten the job. my book does what other books don't. look at obama through the lens of his beliefs and policies. i got a lot of fly on the wall conversations inside the white house and the back rooms of capitol hill but this book gets inside battery factories and high-speed rail meetings and the facility of that infamous solar manufacturers, solyndra. my novel approach to evaluating this president was to figure out what he is doing and this is the most important thing you should know about barack obama. he mostly tried to do what he said he would do. he came into office with a well-defined pherae and try to put it into practice. sounds boring. the book is more interesting than that. sort of no drama. his campaign agenda did not attract attention partly because everybody was obsessed with his race and his pastor at ads comparing him to paris hilton and partly because his agen

mr. mayor, thank you so much for bog the show. >> glad to be with you, luke. good morning. >> mayor reid, the president's senior strategist, david axelrod this about the booklet. >> of course, the pamphlet reflect it is ideas the president advanced throughout this campaign about where we need to go as a country. building on the progress that we have made. it is the -- the plan that he talked about at the convention. and it is the plan that he talks about every day. but we wanted to codify and put tonight one place. >> now, looking through this pamphlet there is not a lot of new ideas here. i cover capitol hill. a lot of the ideas went to die on capitol hill. why is president obama putting out this type of literature 13 days before the end of the campaign? shouldn't it have been earlier if this was his big idea? >> not at all. i mean, we are in the phase of the campaign we are grinding it out. and many of the ideas that -- in that booklet are what has allowed us to generate a more than 5 million jobs and bring unemployment bell i 8%. we are not going to allow the folks in romneyville to launch baseless attacks without providing individua

mr. romney when asked specifics wednesday night. president obama may get tough questions about how the white house has handled the aftermath of the libya killings. listen to senior campaign advisor david axelrod on "state of the union" with candy crowley. >> the president called it an act of terror the day after it happened but when you're the responsible party, when you're the administration, you have a responsibility to act on what you know and what the intelligence community believes. this is being thoroughly investigated. >> he's saying president obama as early as the morning after the attacks in benghazi identified the killings as an act of terror. in that rose garden speech that he's referring to, however, the president only mentions the word terror once, and it wasn't until the end of that speech. also, it comes after the president speaks in broad terms, mentioning 9/11 and the wars in iraq and afghanistan. you can decide for yourself if his one use of that word terror is directly defining what happened in benghazi. listen. >> as americans, let us never, ever forget that our freedom is only sustained because there are people who are willing to fight for it, to stand up for it, and in s

mr. president? what were you doing between april and september? >> at the same time you have other people like david axelrodly con drived. your reaction? >> well, was the attack in april inspired by video? was the june attack inspired by video? no. what's contrived is the effort by some media outlets to cover up one of the biggest national security failures in modern times. this was a failure before benghazi, during the attack itself, an after. it's been an effort to mislead to keep the narrative going that al-qaeda's been dismantled. if you believe, in fact, al-qaeda-inspired militia attacked this conflict using mortars and heavy weapons, so much for that narrative. what's been contrived is the story of explaining the attack. there's the disconnect between the world as it exists and being explained barack obama. there's a dangerous disconnect between the obama's administration characterization of the world and the way it exists. >> it sounds as if you think mitt romney can win this tonight. >> absolutely. in many ways the foreign policy decisions of this president, leading from behind, scaring our friends,

mr. iuorio, who we don't frequently get to see, sitting right here. >> not enough, thank you. >> did they miss that axelrodfrom today, instead of today? shouldn't they have, what do you think, they've got lost in cyber -- maybe it got hacked or something, jim, maybe it was a cyber attack. did it just get lost in the shuffle do you think? can you put this off for another four weeks? >> the issue as you know government is very inefficient and not good at things so they can do -- >> what happened last week, do we know? >> we do not. >> why not? >> i called the employment and training administration, seems to be some separate entity within the bls, like five times i called four people, something like 20 calls. >> you said this is steve liesman from cnbc. >> i said steve liesman from krb become. usually that causes people to quake and respond almost immediately. and i was going to call out the employment and training administration fort the calls i made. >> i did get a statement that it was the, look, they made some comment as kelly evans did reporting on it, too, they made some comment on how the big increase

mr. president obama said the libya attacks were an act of terror. he said he's not providing any specifics and when he does, according to axelrod romney is being outrightnest. the romney campaign acknowledged that president obama was much more aggressive tonight but jim said romney won on content and in terms of likability with his tone and sununu, the former chief of staff essentially a romney surrogate of sorts he outright went after candy crowley in spin alley. what president obama said about libya was one of the most dishonest things sununu had ever heard and that it was not candy crowley's place to insert herself and he said that candy crowley was wrong. we've looked at the transcript from what president obama said in the rose garden and he did refer to acts of terror. the question is was he referring to libya as being an act of terror or was he referring to acts of terror or generally -- that debate will continue. one other thing debates where you like to start strong and finish strong, nobody saw the end of the debate in terms of spin alley. most campaigns were out there and didn't see the final five minutes or when president obama was talking a

mr. president, your title as a president is you own your own airplane and your own house but not your own facts. >> dana bash joins us now from new york. even david axelrodpects the republicans to get a bounce from romney's performance. you've been around a long time. last night's debate be a game-changer? >> reporter: when it comes to the actual polls, we, obviously, have our instant poll which shows that people overwhelmingly thought that mitt romney did better generally and also on the important issues, but when it comes to the actual campaign, unclear if it's going to change people's minds, but there is no question it has changed the narrative. at this point in an election, that is really, really critical. let's look at it from mitt romney's camp. a couple of days, he had conservative columnists saying let's cut our losses and put our money in our resources towards getting the senate saying, you know, forget it, it's game over. now, they are not saying that at all. so that is going to help romney with energy when it comes to grassroots campaigning and energy when it comes to fund-raising and donors so that all cannot be sdouptdiscounted. will it win

axelrod on site tonight in kentucky. david, thanks. we're now joined by the republican senator from one of two host senators in kentucky from tonight, mitch mcdonnell, leader in the senate. mr. leader, first off, i'm curious to get especially following what chuck todd predicted would be the gop reaction perhaps, i'm curious to get your reaction to the debate tonight. >> it reminded me of al gore in 2000 walking over and standing by president bush, sort of getting in his face. the vice president was interrupting, talking over congressman ryan. congressman ryan was very respectful and made the point, which is this is an election that involves a huge choice. the fundamental question for the american people is do you want four more years like the last four years? an i think paul ryan got that point across very effectively. for those independent voters who like a more respectful exchange, i think the vice president constantly talking over and interrupting and making facial expressions as if he wished he were somewhere else will probably not go down to the benefit of the democratic ticket. >> when congressman ryan was talking, can you name an area where in your view, senator, he