for r thee obama perspective, , how much mitt romney actually pa as a wealthy american matters. we have to consider transparency. mitt romney is going to have to prest his choices to the americanan people. how is he goingo expand foreigign pocy and economic decisis? the third most importantnt thing is mitt mney has been running for president since 2007. he could have t taken care ofis taxes a long time ago. we have t seenen him dohat. that raises questions abo his ility to plan. >> the romney campaigned said this just is more fodder to nitpick. itit is interesting to see -- i ththink people care about this issue.. he has released his 2010 taxes showing and above 13% rate. what he said yesterday it isis doing nothing to quellll thi debatete. priorities usa has a an advertisement saying under mitt romney's plan -- paul ryan's plan, mi romney woululd payy 1%. >> a bad choice ther way. we have to make choice to go to commercial break and we are going to resume our discussion with the round table after the break. first, the federal hot minute. >> as elected officials look to reduce f

as a practical matter governor i'm not that worried about that in terms of pennsylvania from obama's perspectiverobably ahead enough in pennsylvania to overcome whatever shenanigans go on there. ohio is probably a different story. >> jennifer: well, i don't know, 750,000 votes in pennsylvania is an awful lot. nonetheless, i'm so grateful that you're all over this, michael tomasky of "newsweek" and daily beast. thank you for coming inside "the war room" again. after the break, republican freshmen do their best impression of college freshmen in the holy land. aah, they'll splash around in those waters. we'll have more at our political round table. that's next. we'll be right back. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true! [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> jennifer: one of the weirder stories from the weekend, the fbi was investigating a congressional trip to israel that ended up with one republican lawmaker skinny dipping in the sea of galilee. now politico reported what was supposed to be a fact-finding trip for g.o.p. freshmen took a detour after a night of par

also think just as a strategy from romney's perspective, it f i'm in his camp, i think from the obama perspective, running against congress is a great idea. from romney's perspective, this is a clash of two wildly different philosophies about government and governing. his campaign has to be about that -- >> tax cuts for the rich, extending those for the wealthy, that's where romney is. that does not poll well at all. >> of course, when it's conveyed that way. >> it's fact. >> then why isn't obama polling at over 50%? >> there's also a clash between the fills fee of universal -- philosophy of universal health care and the biggest clash between the romney that was and the romney that is. >> great conversation. great to have you with us for the first time. >>> republican lies ran rampant on the state level. karl rove's dark money group is busted running a false ad where -- in the middle of the country, in north dakota. we're calling him out next. stay with us. [ male announcer ] if it wasn't for a little thing called the computer, we might still be making mix tapes. find this. pause this. play this.

wolf, give us some analysis on -- from the obama camp's perspective. how will the obama camp attack this? >> i think they'll immediately start talking about what paul ryan's budget as the chairman of the house budget committee would have called for if it was obviously approved by the house of representatives whether republicans have a decisive majority. it didn't get approved by the u.s. senate. the democrats don't have a majority. but what i'll say is that paul ryan wants to end medicare as we know it. they'll say he wants to really effectively end social security too. very popular entitlement programs for seniors in the united states. medicare the health plan for seniors in the united states. social security the real relief if you will for so many millions, tens of millions of elderly americans that are retired and elsewhere. they're going to go after paul ryan and mitt romney on this issue, and they're going to try to score some points. i've just been going through some of the reactions i've been getting from democrats out there from obama supporter,

from the obama perspective all they can do is attack mitt romney and his plans. >> eliot: boris, you'rerect. the numbers that matter are the jobs numbers. and when they fit into a pre-existing narrative and capturing is that the public believes in, and the short snippet of the ad, they're putting a lot of money behind and it talks about the steel mill that was closed, the husband whose wife was sick. that again plays right into into the lack of sympathy concept. that's what i think they're beginning to win between that, the tax returns the bain, there is an unified attack that is cutting into mitt romney's capacity to understand the economy. >> this is sort of a piece of narrative that has been coming together through all wings of the democratic coalition over the last several months. the idea that romney is greedy that he lacks empathy. his economic plans his time at bain capital all of this sort of comes together in an unified portrait that paints a picture of romney that i think has been much more consistent than what the romney campaign has tried to paint of obama. you had for a lon

i also think the strategy from romney's perspective, if i'm in his camp, i think from the obama perspectiveainst congress is a great idea. for romney's perspective, this is a clash between government and governing. his campaign has to be about the strategy. >> tax cuts for the rich? that doesn't poll well at all. >> when it's conveyed that way. >> it's fact. >> then why isn't obama polling at over 50%? consistently. >> there's also a clash between the philosophy of universal health care which was romney's philosophy six years ago and the philosophy of romney now. >> great discussion. ari, keli, and michael grade to have you on here. >> republican lies ran rampant on the state level. karl rove's dark money group is busted running a false ad where? in the middle of the country, in north dakota. we're calling him out next. stay with us. including the gs and is. [ engines revving ] because control is the ultimate expression of power. [ revving continues ] ♪ during the golden opportunity sales event, get great values on some of our newest models. this is the pursuit of perfection. yeah, you -- y

give us some analysis from the obama camp's perspective. how will the obama camp attack this? >>. >> it was obviously approved by the house of representatives where the republicans had a decisive majority. the democrats don't have a majority. but what i'll say is paul ryan wants to end medicare as we know it. they'll say two very popular programs for seniors and the health plan for seniors, the united states, social, the real, you know, relief if you will, for so many millions, tens of millions of americans. so they're going to go after paul ryan and mitt romney on this issue and they're going to try to score some points. i'm just getting some of the reactions from obama supporters. and, youd know, they're saying out loud already, this is great news for the president and his team because they think they'll have an issue on which to run the hammer away from mit romney and paul romney, writing the ticket right now. let's seed if that pays up. sometimes they shouldn't be so enthusiastic about projecting this is going to be a disaster for the republicans. i remember back in 1980 w

so you know, from the obama campaign's perspective, they want a campaign that draws bright lines and istinctions between president obama and mitt romney. adding paul ryan to that mix as romney's running mate certainly does that. >> paul ryan, well known inside the beltway, if you look at the recent poll from cnn, 38% of the rest of the country hasn't heard of congressman. you've got also 16% who have no opinion at all. add those numbers up, you have 54% of the folks out there who will be able to have -- to form an opinion about him. how much does that work in mitt romney's favor, or might he have needed somebody who was well known that could gal vannize the enthusiasm that way? >> he's going to galvanize conservatives for sure. certainly within the beltway in washington, a lot of conserve tim columnists and other thinkers who were championing the cause of paul ryan. you're getting behind in the race, don't go cautious, go bold with a real fiscal conservative. so he's done that here. he can go out there and give a very tough speech criticizing president obama and raise money and be a s

are there any drawbacks to putting michelle obama out there from the obama campaign perspective? this is clutch time. this is sort of what they've been saving her for. politically, you know, there could be drawbacks if she was drawn into this sort of daily back and forth. remember the comment about ann romney and whether she was too much of a stay at home mom. they want to keep michelle obama away from those kinds of fire fights. >> okay. jodi kantor talking to me about michelle obama not too long ago. >>> now this. a north carolina woman says she used google earth to discover possible undiscovered pyramids in egypt. chad myers has been looking at some of these pictures. what do you think? >> some are pretty impressive. remember how we found that face on mars too. you never know what you're going to see. google earth is looking at these. they're not very large, but they are big enough to actually be discovered. and at least looked at and find out whether there's actually something out there that no one's ever seen before because the sands shift in the desert, right? some things c

michael, you heard what was said by kristen welker from president obama's perspective. >> yeah. >> they're what we wanted. they're doubling down on something that isn't working. what's your response sp. >> i think they're right. it does open up that door and that opportunity for the obama administration to relitigate the last four years or the four years prior to their coming into power. again, it gives them an opportunity to talk about something other than the policies that have not worked, that this president has put in place over the last four years. so, you know, they're going to champ at the bit a little bit to go after ryan. but what they get in ryan is someone who can push back. as we've seen before, richard, this vice presidential candidate as a budget chairman was not afraid to look the president in his eye and basically, you know, call him out a little bit. you know, the president tried to return that favor by putting him in the front row and dumping on his plan. but the reality of it is you've got a candidate in ryan who's willing to push back, who can, as christian aptly put it

donald, interest mitt romney's perspectives, you don't know president obama's perspective, but from hisi think he's doing really well. i believe that paul ryan has energized the party and the base and they're doing nicely and polls are starting to come out. i saw a fox poll, mitt is actually up by a point and he was a little bit down and nows' up. it's close to election and it's a very, very close race. i really think he's going to pull ahead and maybe substantially pull ahead. what's happening with jobs and the economy is terrible. what's going on with the rest of the world the way they treat us and laugh at us is terrible. so, i really think, i don't want to say this to anybody, i think he's going to win easily, but i don't want to say that because i want everybody to go out and vote. >> so when you look at some of the polls then, how do you rationalize that in your mind, that a lot of them are in a dead heat if the economy is where it is. >> i'm surprised by some of the polls, i think he's about eter than some of the polls are showing. some polls are showing that mitt romney is leadi

are there any drawbacks to putting michelle obama out there from the obama campaign perspective?her. this is clutch time. this is what they have been saving her for. politically, there could be drawbacks if she was drawn into this daily back and forth. remember the comment about ann romney and whether she was too much of a stay at home mom. they want to keep michelle obama away from those fire fights. >> thank you. >> thank you. >>> speaking of politics, i am headed to tampa. we'll be anchoring the show live from tampa. it's basic week. it kicks off august 27th. see you from tampa. >>> some thieves steal because they need money. others do it just for fun. when one guy broke into this house, did he get a little more than he expected. >>> the multistate lottery called powerball. jackpot a cool $320 million. it will probably go higher before tonight. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive. [ engine revving ] it's brin

obama. then, labor secretary hilda solis defends the administration with a labor day interview on women and jobs. hello, i'm bonnie erbe. welcome to "to the contrary," a discussion of news and social trends from diverse perspectives. up first, battling for the women's vote. president obama and the democrats soon have their week in the spotlight. among other things it's their chance to respond to this week's charges by republican presidential candidate mitt romney and gop convention speakers. one prominent goal at the gop convention was to narrow the looming gender gap. >> when my mom ran for the senate my dad was there for her every step of the way. i can still see her say in her beautiful voice "why should women have any less say than men about the great decisions facing our nation?" [ cheers and applause ] >> toward that end an array of female gop luminaries took turns promoting the romney/ryan ticket as good for women, especially mothers. they want to change the campaign focus from women's right back to the economy and push back against the so-called republican war on women. >> it's a myth. it's a political campaign that the democrats have calculated. first time since ronald reagan that the republicans won the

and this -- they look at this and say, this is from heaven in our perspective. obama> both sides seem to be happy. let me tell you about the e lucid polling, lately they have been going to obama. the inattentive voter out there, are they going to hear more they like from the romney team now or more from the obama team? >> this is a base shoring up decision. this is about shoring up the base, but here's the one thing they have going. this guy has a 54% i have never heard of him rate, right? the one thing about that, and the thing i said about president obama when he was a senator running against senator clinton, when you have a large group of people who don't know you yet, then you can have a campaign. when people already know they like you or don't like you, there's no room for a campaign. that's where mitt romney is having running for president for so long. >> he's got a lot of unknowns out there. >> that's right. but this room is the room for a campaign. i think that's part of the value. my concern here if you're ryan, right, is that this is a guy who is great in re

perspective. >> president obama and mitt romney have faced scrutiny about their religious beliefs.o it's a rare opportunity to read or hear what either one has to say about it, let alone answer questions about faith by an exclusive interview published by the national cathedral in washington. both president obama and mitt romney agreed to written interviews about their faith. joining me is reverend doctor frances wade. he put this together. first of all, i have to say, normally i would assume in previous presidential years this wouldn't be a difficult thing given both are hesitant to be so public about the faith, how difficult was this? >> actually, the campaign has twoopted very well. they were eager to do they were. they were generous in the response. it's true they delayed a long time. i think we are trusted, but it was not gift to get their attention, and they took it very seriously and followed through in a good way. the first question is how does faith play a role in your life? i've said before my faith has grown as president. as president lincoln once said i've been driven to

be, forgive the complex, from a taxpayer perspective, certainly not her husband's perspective high maintenance. >> obama's is saying romney is killing people. we need to step up. >> barack obama promises change, but since his election, the only change we've seen is this and this and this. so vote for mitt romney. don't let obama finish the job. >> i'm scared to death, if you must know. >> from what i've heard it's lou dobbs. both presidential candidates need women family. that's next. >> this court has proven to be the knowing, delighted accomplice in the billionaires' purchase of our nation. >> and you think it doesn't affect you? think again. >> it's an age old question with crucial implications in this presidential election, what do women really want in president obama and mitt romney are both attempting to answer the question, pulling out all the stops to court women voters on a swing through colorado this week the president portrayed himself as the protector of reproductive health to put women health provisions in the affordable care act. romney announced the women for to fight back on what it calls

it's not just an attempt to run on the economy is bad and from their perspective president obama is responsiblehasn't done enough and it's time to give mitt romney a chance who has experience in business. that's their basic argument. this is different. this is an appeal to those who have been tea party conservatives as well as energetically concerned about the budget deficit. this is an appeal to a completely different play to try to make something happen. it is a game-change choice because it's basically saying that running on the economy alone may not be enough, may not do it. they've had a bad summer. they've fallen behind in key battle ground states. ryan as pawlenty and portman is of course from the midwest. and can help them in that key area because they've got to win at least two of the big midwestern states in order to make this happen. so the battle ground states are critical both midwestern states are crucial. and i guess when they add it up, there's a generational difference, there's an energy difference. he has great reputation for being smart, conservative. brings a lot of that ene

obama a lot of past rivals. he didn't really pay his dues. he bought his way into politics quickly. he's a guy who's changed positions. he's not from the perspectivef the obama campaign a man of principle. i think barack obama might respect paul ryan as a guy who stands on a certain set of principles that obama disagrees with. i think they see romney as a guy who is just a chameleon. >> i think that's it. his willingness to say absolutely anything to get elected. glen wrote this about the feelings compared to some of his previous opponents. when he talked about romney, aides picked up a level of anger he never had for clinton or mccain or sarah palin. there was a baseline of respect for john mccain. the president always thought he was an honorable man and a war hero, said a longtime obama adviser. but this romney thing, i have noticed it in these primaries. these guys of whatever caliber who are opposed to him come out of those debates with him really hating him. >> angry. >> because he does something that they think breaks the rules. it's something about saying anything that works, not having any convictions. a lot of them are loosy goosy but he

and they look at this and say, this is mana from heaven from our perspective. the obamaple couldn't be happier with this pick. >> but the question both sides have to say. let me ask you about that elusive 6%, that seem to be undecided. the inattentive voter out there, are they going to hear more they like from the romney team now or more they like from the obama team? >> this is a base shoring up decision. you're right, this choice is about shoring up the base. here's the one thing that they have going. this guy has got a 54% "i've never heard of him" rate, right? and the one thing about that, like i said about president obama running against senator clinton, when you have a large group running against you that don't know you, you can have a campaign. and that's where mitt romney is, have been running for president so long. >> he's got a lot of unknowns out there. >> that's right. but this room is the room for the campaign. i think that's part of the value. my concern here, if you're ryan, right, is that this is a guy who is great in retail politics. great on the ground

but i feel that the drum beat of concern is real, and i think the obama administration from a tactical and substantive per perspectiveuld not let this go. >> eliot: and for all the reasons you ticked off exactly right, transparency, conflict of interest trust that the american people should have in government officials. you stated that with real crispness. i hope the white house listens and continues to talk about. let's for a moment talk about the medicare debate. maybe you have to give them credited. it's a tough debate. it's divisive. can mitt romney win and persuade the public that his idea is anything other than ending the program as we know it? >> i think the best they're doing is trying to confuse people. it's not surprising they've come out and talked about the $716 billion that they were encouraging president obama to move from the trainline of costs in medicare. remember, the republicans from united in their concern about the runaway costs of indictment entitlements. they were looking at providers not beneficiaries. they're trying to confuse this issue. i understand the distinction between the first ryan pl

. >> from the perspective of the obama campaign if i can bring you back in here.ndidate on the short list that the obama campaign will hate or love the most? >> i am not worried about any of them right now. as far as paul ryan, a lot of democrats think they have an opening if it's paul ryan because he has come out with budget proposals to trim spending including medicare that is very, very popular with seniors. he wants to change medicare and the way it's publiced for people under 55. they would see a significant change in the way medicare is handled by the federal government and they say they will have an opening if it's paul ryan to go after him on medicare. he wants to end medicare as we know it. they say that's the republicans and romney will be vulnerable on that issue as a result of that medicare being very, very popular. remember seniors in the united states vote in much higher percentages than younger people vote in the united states. that's an historic fact. as far as paul ryan is concerned, it would bring a lot of energy to that republican base and turn

some have theorized that obama had been imbued with an anti-colonial perspective and was hostile to british and european traditions. there's little, if any, evidence to support this theory, and it represents an extremely selective interpretation of obama's youth. his post-primary education included a private college prep school in hawaii, private colleges in los angeles and new york city and law school at harvard. his secondary and higher education, in other words, was not radically different from that of, say, john f. kennedy -- prep school and harvard, columbia law school -- bill clinton, georgetown and yale law school or george w. bush, prep school, yale and harvard business school. if obama's world view was influenced by his upbringing -- and even this is an open question -- then surely these long years of elite american schooling must have counted for far more than the father he barely knew or his four year in elementary school overseas. so that's point one about obama. and the second point, um, is that he's not a dove, and in some ways was never a dove, at least not in the 1970s sense

perspective? do you think obama wants trillion dollar deficits every year? he obviously signed them into law.s spending the money. versus what? first year will you have a trillion dollar deficit? >> i wouldn't say what he wants. it's what we're getting. >> bill: what we're getting. >> we're getting broken promises on deficits, broken promises on jobs, broken promises on bringing people together in this country. we're not going to do that. we're going to get this deficit under control. we've shown through various budgets we've offered we can get this deficit down fast, get the size of government back down to where it's historically been very quickly so we don't have the biggest government we've had since world war ii, which is a world war posture. we're showing it's not too late to get the american idea revived, to get back to work, get people back on the ladder of life. look, when i was a kid growing up in janeville, wisconsin, just like anybody growing up in a middle income family, i worked at mcdonald's, waited tables, did all of that stuff, i sold oscar mayer meat products, and they let me

perspective. i'm interested in president obama getting re-elected, but what does he have to do or what do these candidates do to get young people to the polls? >> andrew hit it right on the money. how are we going to get jobs? how are we going to pay off our student debt. president obama and paul ryan had talked about how they were not able to pay off their own student loans until they had the ability to write books and make money through other ways. they were not able to pay off student loans until then. that kind of talk, and then inclusions how to pay down our student debt and how we can get jobs is what is going to win the young vote in november. we have not had enough of it yet. >> jennifer: i really appreciate you guys appreciate you able you trying to mobilize and get the word out out to get young people mobilized and enthused about democracy. that's andrew jenks of mtv and jay cock of huff post live. thank you guys. up next, it's the begin of many campaigns tying house republicans paul ryan's budget hits the air. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more

perspective and analysis. great to see you. >>> president obama's senior campaign advisor continues to slams paul ryan this morning. appears on "meet the press" david axel rod smashed him as an idealog with the wrong policy. >> there were debates in the republican primary where neither governor romney or either of the candidates mentioned middle class. now they are incorporating it into their rhetoric. i think there is a national consensus that we need to pursue economic policies that will lift the middle class. we have a very clear choice as to whose will and whose won't. that will create pressure for policies that will move our country forward in the right direction when the president is re-elected in november. >> the romney-ryan team is sitting back with their own new web video that criticizes the record on the economy and the unemployment rate. and with mr. ryan on board, some say governor mitt romney could now be looking to refocus his campaign on one of the major issues facing our nation, that the fiscal mess, unemployment and how to better grow the economy. former president george w. bush advisor karl rove

obama that mitt romney can not match."trt=:05obama uses the finely crafted production to policies, perspective nd accomplishments.stions over the money -- whose [sot phil swarts washington guardian]the staff that produces the videos are listed as staff of the white house. white house payrolls that are getting disclosed." the washington repeated requests for payroll information were know if taxpayers are footing the bill for obama's white house the cost to produce "west wing week." and, line separating official business from campaign sepp with national taxpayers union says [graphic "wingone"]"until you get the hard to know where the line is."chaudry]arun çah-roonÑ chaudhary çcha-white house one time obama campaign worker is credited with wing week. [graphic "wingtwo"] chaudhary,,who has ince been replaced as the house videographer, the videos were campaign ads.[take video but in the west wing week -- viewers won't find disagrees with the president's politics or policies.[sot in west wing week ]sot in 1:03:17 "on demonstrated the latest step in his committment to encourage economroh.e pprenan ghtono tparsa ghtoto t

and if you just want to go from a straight down the middle perspective, president obama's an extremistit in any way. he's more out of step with the public on this than todd akin is because 60% of people say abortion should either be illegal in all circumstances or legal only in very narrow circumstances. jon: isn't it true, judy, according to the polling that the country has become more conservative on abortion? >> they have become more conservative on abortion, but that's because women have grown accustomed to having these rights, and all of a sudden the rights, they have to think about this for the first time, are in jeopardy. and i'm afraid, rich, you and i are just going to have to disagree. if you look at todd akin and the nine resolutions that he and vice presidential nominee ryan have, have offered, you see a steady pattern of limiting access to family planning and to abortion. that's not a point of view, those are facts. >> right. and 60% of people, i think about 61% of men in the latest gallup poll, about 60% of women say abortion should either always be illegal or should be l