john, you heard mr. sununut general colin powell suggesting that the only reason he voted for the president was because he looks like him. and even john mccain came out today and told "national review" it was colin powell who got us into iraq, so i guess it wasn't george w. bush, dick cheney, done rumsfeld, but it was colin powell. >> at least mccain wasn't racist like john sununu who it's never mentioned, the guy was thrown out of the white house -- >> oh, we've mentioned it today. >> good, i'm glad you did. >> of course. but you see this attempt to rubbish the endorsement from a man who actually knows something about the world, is something of an american hero, and so what happens is they have to denude the endorsement. >> and what's happening to mccain is he's getting a lot of pressure from the right because you saw that he thought that mourdock -- wasn't even an apology, mourdock's statement wasn't nearly good enough and suddenly turns around and says maybe it was good enough. so mccain, you know, is in a p

john sununu. joining me now is brett o'donald a debate coach for mitt romney as well as -- >> i want to take a his within you to mrchair john sununu in an interview on thursday. i'm sure you've heard it but let's play it for our viewer who may not have. >> when you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder if that's an endorsement based on issues or if he's got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> so brett, what was your reaction when you heard that? >> well, i mean, i think that's a little off message. and governor sununu has addressed that remark. i respect colin powell. the messenger that really needs to be paid attention to is governor romney. and paying attention to what he's actually saying. and i think the speech he delivered in iowa sort of laid out exactly what their message is going to be for the rest of the campaign. >> you know, there are cynics who would suggest, brett, that john sununu is

mr. romney no doubt has been followed by a performance by governor john sununu where he felt he had to smear president with some despicable words this afternoon when he was interviewed by my colleague andrea mitchell. just listen to this. >> what people saw last night i think was a president that revealed his incompetence, how lazy and detached he is. >> governor, i want to give you a chance to maybe take it back. did you really mean to call barack obama, the president of the united states, lazy? >> yes. i think you saw him admit it the night before when he delivered the pizzas. he said, you know, they're making me do this work. he didn't want to prepare for this debate. he's lazy and disengaged. >> now, professor peterson, we have to be absolutely clear and truthful, john sununu is an adviser to mitt romney. >> yes, he is. >> aside from the fact he appears to be an over perspiring hyperventilating mass of bitterness, the president is now nothing more than a lazy feckless pizza poi, boy, is tha right? >> hopefully romney will distance himself from these comments. let's look at what's going o

john sununu and colin powell. we can talk about numbers all day long but this is another buzz story. let me play what mr. sununu said on cnn. >> when you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> may it be the mourdock comment at the beginning of the week regarding rape or john sununu with this line here. he said colin powell is a friend and believes he based his decision on policies. but that's not what he said initially. what do you make of members of your party? we're talking about mr. sununu and his comment that colin powell was backing president obama because he's black. >> the reality is individuals make comments on both sides that both candidates don't agree with both campaigns. >> he's a surrogate not an individual. >> colin powell is a great american. he's made his individual decisi

john sununu, senior adviser to the romney campaign. >> i don't own stock in either fannie mae or freddie mac. mr. speaker i know that sounds like an enormous revelation. but have you checked your own investments? you also have investments in mutual funds that invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. [ female announcer ] food, meet flavor. flavor, meet food. it's time for swanson flavor boost. concentrated broth in easy to use packets. mix it into skillet dishes, for an instant dose of... hell-o! [ female announcer ] get recipes at flavorboost.com. bill: a major scare for passengers onboard two american airline flights. their seats came loose in mid-flight. an american airlines pilot putting the heat on the company for that. >> american airlines operates the oldest fleet in america. as your car gets older it requires more maintenance. as our aircraft gets older it requires more maintenance. not just pilots can write an aircraft. there are 1,000 furlough notices. bill: what needs to happen here? this has happened before and just in the past week? what's going on? >> reporter: this is the third reporte

john sununu, former chief of staff under george h.w. bush. good to have you on. thank you. as for the president, the campaign says mr.ma did what he set out to do. >> was he satisfied with his performance? >> well like i, i've said before, presidents never is satisfied with his performance. he is always challenging himself and he will, this, he will review it. if he wants to make some changes in the next debate he will do so. what he was satisfied with that he went and told the american people the truth and i think is fairly well-convinced that governor romney didn't meet that standard. jon: so to be fair and balanced here is ben labolt, the obama for america national press secretary. let me read you a quote from maggie haberman at "politico". >> sure. jon: post-debate the president's campaign was spinning valiantly in the media center that no mistake among democratic operatives here and in other states that obama blew it. if that is the thinking of the mainstream media, how do you try to counter that notion? >> well, listen, governor romney delivered a great work of performance art last night. something that think c

john sununu answers that. martha: the governor's personal finances come front and center, as the governor comes out swinging. that exchange straight ahead. >> have you looked at your pension, mresident, have you looked at your pension? martha: the candidates came out swinging last night in round two, they traited jabs. one of the most heated exchanges happened when they discussed the tereist attack i terrorist attack in libya. i'm martha maccallum good morning. bill: i'm bill hemmer good morning. president obama, governor romney clashing over the characte characterization of the terror attacks in benghazi on september 11th leaving four americans dead. governor romney questioned the president's claim on whether his administration started calling the attack an act of terror setting up one of the more memorable moments of this debate, number two. >> you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror, it was not a spontaneous demonstration, is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in benghazi an act of tere roar. >> get the

mrs. jones, what do you think? >> there was nothing sleepy about it. >> very interesting to watch. dana, thank you very much. another man who has been up for a little bit as well, john sununu, the former governor of new hampshire, a senior adviser to the romney campaign, joining us this morning. good morning, sir. so nice to see you. thank you for talking with us. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm really well, thank you. >> pretty one-sided package you put forth. you left out the fact that candy crowley admitted later on that mitt romney was right on the libya terrorism issue. so it would be nice to include that the next time -- >> well let's include it right now. you love to jump right into it. let's go for that. talking about benghazi, let's play a chunk first of the original exchange. i know dana just had that a moment ago in her piece but we'll play it again and and and where candy jumps in and talks about act of terror and then we'll play what she said after that. go ahead. >> well you played it already. >> no, no, no, let's do it again. >> the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden. and i tolded american people and the world that we are going t

mr. obama speaks in shorter sound bites. they're also trying to make sure he doesn't look like he's lecturing. mitt romney will try to get punches off. john sununubut at the same time, you don't want mitt romney to appear too mean to the president. >> gretchen: the american people just want to hear as many answers as possible. so i do hope they have these time limits and that the candidates are forced to say what they mean and what they think in a short period of time. is it that tough? the american people have so many unanswered questions, especially the people who have not made up their mind about who they'll vote for. so if they're going to invest 90 minutes in watching this debate tonight, they want to hear a lot of answers. tomorrow night. so they want to be able -- we're talk being it so much, it feels like it's tonight. it's tomorrow night. they want to hear as many answers as possible. i hope the time limits will be in effect. >> brian: shear why president obama is in unchartered water. he hasn't debated in four years. instead of being the 40 something senator who has got two years in office with this great orator skills and promise, tal