sam stein of "the huffington post" is here, the most vice president heather mcghee and "rolling stone" editor ehrlich bates. >> despite a proverbial flat tire following a rocky week for the governor the romney/ryan campaign launches a bus tour through ohio. last night on cbs romney insisted his campaign will be making no u-turns. >> a lot of republicans would like to know a lot of your donors would like to know, how do you turn this thing around? >> it doesn't need a turn around. we have a campaign which is tied with an incumbent president of the united states. >> romney's bus has another pot hole to navigate around this week. the campaign released his 2011 tax documents on friday afternoon, along with a 20-year summary of his returns since 1990. the 2011 returns show the governor paid 14.1% in taxes, on over $13 million of investment income. president obama's campaign is already bringing romney's taxes back to the forefront releasing this ad in ohio today. >> mitt romney attacked 47% of americans who pay no income tax including veterans, elderly, the disabled. >> my job is not to wor

back with us, sam stein, kelly o'donnell, joshua green.ond to this. charles krauthammer and "the washington post," charles, the patron saint of conservatives, the headline, go large, mitt. listen do this line. makes you think how far ahead romney would be if he were actually running a campaign, but his unwillingness to go big, to go for the larger argument is simply astonishing. and mark, charles goes on to say what many conservatives have said in the past several weeks, he's behind and continues to play small. >> he does and he continues to have days that don't really amount to much. yesterday they had sort of a veterans message and economy message doing events in virginia, but they can't wait for just the tee baits. conservatives want to see not just big events in terms of ideas but big events that grap the nation's attention. romney campaign is frustrated because all he asks about is the process, conservatives are waiting for mitt romney to be big in events and message, big in personality, and it seems like right now the campaign is wai

and white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein, explaining how the red sox are still going to win the world series. and anchor for bb world news america, catty kay. so great to have everybody with us. willie, i was looking at the clips of mitt romney from his political performance last night. i thought he did pretty well. you have so many people talking about how this race is over, and you hear it wherever you go. we've got a long way to go. and if romney can right his ship, anything possible. that said, a flurry of polls out this morning that are just absolutely devastating for mitt romney. if he's going to turn that corner, it looks like he's going to have to turn it pretty quickly. >> yeah, he did what a lot of people like you called for him to do which is to step into those remarks he said. a lot of conservatives said you said it, it's on tape, now embrace it. there's critical battleground states that don't look so good. joe, you want to take a look at some of these? >> first of all, willie, why don't we look at these fox news poll numbers because they are the bat

. >> sam stein, this comparing mitt romney's performance to a baseball batting average has got to gets guy williamson fired by midnight tonight, right? >> i think he'll stay on the payroll, unfortunately. it's a bad analogy. mitt romney could have waited 12 hours, woken up and seen the news and said we all mourn the loss of life here but it's time to look at the president's strategy vis-a-vis the arab spring. the problem i think that romney has is that there's about three different factions within the republican party. there are people who are unpoll jetically pro international engagement. there are people who want to do it more subtly, more realistic. and then there are the people who are the ron paul types who want to disengage from the international community. he has to contend with three separate faction within his over party and i think they look at that and say it's a lot easier for us to go after president obama on character groinds, accuse him of sympathizing with the protesters. and that's where he gets in twubl. he's not being weighty. he's actively shying away from the weig

. >> joining me tonight, keli goff, who is political correspondent for root.com and sam stein, political rorter for "the huffington post." great to have both of you with us. keli, you first. how offensive is this? imeg reasng is it has to respond to? >> well, i'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, we're heading into, like, 20 territory, ed. i think at a certain point this stepcande ese ert any candidate do to not get support? right? like, i think at this point we have to start having a competition just to see where the lineof offensiveness, how far we can push these boundaries. apparently making rape jokes esn'do it, makg mini cments doesn't do it. maybe somebody has to drop the "n" bomb, but with rick per re and the rock thing. >> sam, how does he overcome this? >> i don't think he does. todd akin should have a rule he shouldn't speak about women or women's issues because it causes him more proems than it's worth. obviously missouri is a conservative state, or trending conservative. it's not going to vote for president obama like it did. claire mccaskill has always been in a dog fight with resp

joining us now from charlotte, north carolina, is msnbc contributor sam stein of the huffington post. sam, how is it down there and are people still talking about the empty chair? >> it's hot down here but not as hot as tampa, thank god. as for the empty chair, yes, clint eastwood was like the star of the rnc. people loved it. they're all doing their eastwooding, trying to find empty chairs to make fun of so yes, it's still resonating. >> i want to ask you, as rahm says this points to a serious problem, not just strategically in terms of the take-away from the campaign but mitt romney's ability to get a message out there and his lack of specifics as the "wall street journal" editorial board points out. i think it's very telling that this is what we walked away from -- this is what we walked away with from the rnc. >> romney has two problems right now. first, he was playing catch-up at his convention in that he had to catch people up on his biography. obama had done so much damage to his personal brand that they needed to reintroduce him as a human being and that was job one at the con

his statement verged on something very dangerous for our troops. >> jon stoltz and sam stein, great to have you with us. >>> coming up, mitt romney isn't the only one dividing america between makers and takers. his running mate, paul ryan. i'm going to tell you something, this guy's an expert at that. i'll talk to democratic candidate challenging ryan for his house seat in wisconsin. >>> and over the last 30 years the rich have only gotten rich in this country. well, mitt romney's comments about the 47% resonate with the mega-wealthy? dean baker will join me. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. you know, there's a chance we could witness political history on november 6th. we could watch a candidate become a two-time loser in one night. congressman paul ryan will appear on the ballot twice in the state of wisconsin's first district, as mitt romney's vice presidential running mate and as a candidate for re-election in the house of representatives. two-time loser, could it happen? if romney fails to get elected and ryan is edged out in wisconsin, i mean, come o

john heilman, sam stein and mark lebovich join the panel. council speaker christy quinn joins us for a look at the party platform and front and center emphasis on social issues. all that when "now" starts in a mere 180 seconds. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la [ male announcer ] dow solutions help millions of people by helping to make gluten free bread that doesn't taste gluten free. together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. solutionism. the new optimism. idide? and the human element can solve anything. you're not my dad ahh!! hey honey, back feels better, little dancing tonight, you and me? dr. scholl's pro inserts relieve different types of lower body pain by treating at the source so you're a whole new you. go pro with dr. scholl's. stop! stop! stop! come back here! humans -- we are beautifully imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world. that's why liberty mutual insurance has your back with great ideas like our opti

>> it takes brass to attack a guy for what you did. >> sam stein?s an important point, pay attention, as if he'd put unimportant points you shouldn't pay attention to into his speech. >> katty kay? >> i like this is personal to me, because it's so bill clinton. it's all personal and it's all about me. >> true story. john heilman? >> not on the list, but my favorite, citation of bob strauss saying every politician wants to -- >> i liked at 11:15, he said let's talk about the debt. what better time to get into it? thank you again to john, katty, sam and mark. that's all for "now" in charlotte. i'll see you tomorrow in new york city when i'm joined by john heilman again, kurt anderson, heather mcgee, and james lipton of inside the actor studio who will analyze president obama's speech. "andrea mitchell reports" is next from inside the arena. >> thank you so much, alex. bill clinton sets the stage for president obama to make his case for four more years. we'll talk about expectations with beau biden, barbara boxer, tom daschle, valerie jarrett and actre

>> sam stein -- >> sam's not little.e's a giant in the industry. >> he is a giant in the industry. >> he's a diminutive fellow, though -- >> you're turning into me. i'm going to start calling you mushka. >> what if he's wearing socks today. >> why does it always come back to my appearance? >> because you do have that -- >> sam feels objectified. >> we're going back to our hogwartz cam in a minute, but let's do sports. >> let's do sports. peyton manning led the broncos, deemed as super bowl contenders, but last night's game against the falcons giving everybody pause. third play from scrimmage in the game. manning looking for jacob tamme, picked off, moore returns it all the way to the one, michael turner would punch that for if the falcons, 7-0, atlanta, early on, next broncos possession -- >> i'm sure he gets revenge. >> steps in front of it and he's going the other way. >> redemption -- >> triple coverage. >> how about this? still in the first quarter, broncos start to put a drive together, but manning overthrows it. >>

with me now is jeffrey toobin, author of "the oath," and white house correspondent sam stein. joining us. i can only assume this is one of the best written books of its kind because you are one great writer. i read "the nine." i don't know how you escaped law school. you know how to put sentences together and also make it fun and easy and enjoyable to read without getting into jargon. congratulations again. >> thank you. >> i want you to be a tutor to the voter out there, not just women, gays, minorities, but everybody who cares about civil rights, cares about the kind of country we live in. what's at stake, say romney wins for two four-year terms, gets eight years, a shot at picking justices, or president obama gets four more years, what's at stake in those periods of time for the future of the country? >> does the constitution still protect a woman's right to choose abortion? may a university use race in admission? may congress regulate campaign spending at all or are we going to continue to deregulate campaigns like citizens united? will there still be a barrier between chu

with me now is jeffrey toobin, author of "the oath," and white house correspondent sam stein. you for joining us. i can only assume this is one of the best written books of its kind because you are one great writer. i read "the nine." i don't know how you escaped law school. you know how to put sentences together and also make it fun and easy and enjoyable to read without getting into jargon. congratulations again. >> thank you. >> i want you to be a tutor to the voter out there, not just women, gays, minorities, but everybody who cares about civil rights, cares about the kind of country we live in. what's at stake, say romney wins for two four-year terms, gets eight years, a shot at picking justices, or president obama gets four more years, what's at stake in those periods of time for the future of the country? >> does the constitution still protect a woman's right to choose abortion? may a university use race in admission? may congress regulate campaign spending at all or are we going to continue to deregulate campaigns like citizens united? will there still be a barrier bet

his statement verged on something very dangerous for our troops. >> jon stoltz and sam stein, great toe you with us. >>> coming up, mitt romney isn't the only one dividing america between makers and takers. his running mate, paul ryan. i'm going to tell you something, this guy's an expert at that. i'll talk to democratic candidate challenging ryan for his house seat in wisconsin. >>> and over the last 30 years the rich have only gotten rich in this country. well, mitt romney's comments about the 47% resonate with the mega-wealthy? dean baker will join me. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ droid does. and does it launch apps by vo

his statement verged on something very dangerous for our troops. >> jon stoltz and sam stein, great to have you with us. >>> coming up, mitt romney isn't the only one dividing america between makers and takers. his running mate, paul ryan. i'm going to tell you something, this guy's an expert at that. i'll talk to democratic candidate challenging ryan for his house seat in wisconsin. >>> and over the last 30 years the rich have only gotten rich in this country. well, mitt romney's comments about the 47% resonate with the mega-wealthy? dean baker will join me. ♪ what are you doing? uh. who taught you how to do this stuff? you! all right! i learned it by watching you! [ male announcer ] parents who skim, have kids who skim. kraft macaroni & cheese. you know you love it. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad w

. >> sam stein tells me she tore the house down, lit the woods on fire. >> almost as much as obama.he had everyone going saying how many auto jobs that saved her state, the crowd was in her hand. the hand gestures were amazing in their own right. you shouldn't speak. just -- >> i love it. >> goodness gracious. with us msnbc "time" magazine's senior political analyst mark halperin. national affairs editor for "new york" magazine and local analyst john heilemann and political editor and white house correspondent for "the huffington post," sam stein. >> let's get to it, on a scale of 1 to 73, how did the president do, mark? >> i thought it was surprising. he was -- couldn't say he was the best speaker even last night, let alone during the convention. it was a fine speech. i don't think it's going to cost him anything. it was surprising to me that there was nothing new in it in terms of policy and it did very little to position himself to, if he wins, i still think he has a better than 50% chance of winning -- >> especially after this week. >> to help govern the country. i think he will

sam stein, you want in? jump in. >> yeah.t want to remark on how incredible it is that we're still talking about mitt romney's tax returns. i think this is, like, six months into this. it started in the republican primary, obviously, when he released one year and it escalated over the summer and it's culminated in this release. and it looks like we'll be talking about it for a couple more weeks at least. and it shows an ineptitude on the part of the campaign to anticipate this as a problem. i mean, they could have dealt with this in a different manner, and they just didn't do it. and i think it's a real testament "a," to the ability of the obama campaign to keep the story going, but also to the ineptitude of the romney campaign to figure out how to do it before it blew up in their face. >> barnicle. >> that's one of two big mysteries i think a lot of people have about this campaign, why they didn't take three or four years of tax returns and dump them out last christmas eve. >> get it over with. >> he's been running for presi

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. >>> up next, sam stein. first here's nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. >> it sure was a noisy night last night with storms moving across the east coast. it was a powerful cold front, brought some areas wind gusts up to 40 to 60 miles per hour. now, you can see the starting to cool off on the backside of that front, so it is going to feel like fall as we go through this last week of summer. can you believe it? there's that rain exiting the east coast. it will still hang on across boston and northern new england through the morning, but you will see improvements through the rest of the day. also another minor cold front moving through minnesota. that's just going to knock back temperatures a little bit. a closer look at the rain. you can see it is exiting cape cod. new york city, we're starting to dry things out. we'll see increasing sunshine here as well. temperatures around 71 and then lower 70s down in the nation's capital. and then tomorrow, temperatures taking on that full-like feel. highs across the northe

keli goff, sam stein. >>> comi up, a hidden video at tt rney ndses sparked controversy about mitt romney'sin china. we'll tell you all about it next. ♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. topbelkim for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> up next, new details about mitt romney's past investments in china. >>> and later george w. bush i stayg aw from the mpaign trail, but his trip to the cayman islands could be a headache for mitt. >>> when i was back in my private equity days we went to china to buy a factory there. and, boy, about 20,000 people, and they work in these huge factories. they make various small appliances. and as we we walking to this facility, seeing them work, the nuer ohourtheyork for . what they earned, living in dormitories with the little bathrooms at the end, maybe ten rooms. in the rooms they had 12 girls per room. three bunk beds on top of each other. >> welcome back t

. >> keli goff, sam stein. >>> coming up, a hidden video at a mitt romney fund-raiser has spked controversyit eyas iestments in china. we'll tell you all about it next. yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. >>> up next, new daiut mioms investments in china. >>> and later george w. bush is staying away from the campaign trail, but his trip to the cayman islands could be a headache for mitt. >>> when i was back in my private equity days we went to china to buy a factory there. and, boy, about 20,000 people, and they work in these huge factors. they make various small appliances. and ase wer wngo t li sg work, the number of hours they work for days. what they earned, living in dormitories with the little bathrooms at the end, maybe ten rooms. in the rooms they had 12 girls per ro. three bunk beds on top ofach wmek e show." you know, mitt romney never specifies what factory he's talking about in that clip from the fund-raising dinner i

. >> joining me is jonathan chait and "the huffington post's" sam stein.t the differences are and the similarities in the tapes. >> what obama was trying to say was that, yes, there's a constituency that's opposed to him and he expressed it in a kind of condescending way that people don't like and understandably don't like, but it was fundamentally an express of social solidarity. he was saying my policies will benefit these people. we can explain it and we need to make the case, and if we make the case, i think we can get some of them to come our way. romney's was essentially saying my policies are not going to benefit those people, so they're never going to vote for us no matter what which is a kind of a disturbing thing to say if you want to be president. >> your thoughts on what's similar and dissimilar? >> one is trying to reap out and one is assuming they won't be for your cause. another famous comment, he started off saying, why are these people voting for you? it's easy to say they don't want to vote for the black man. they won't vote for me becaus

sam stein, and jerusalem based journalist tweeted get ready for 10,000 tweets about the absurd bomb chartnew more than ambassador dennis ross. he served as the point man in the middle east process for george h.w. bush and bill clinton. he's a political analyst for msnbc. we're glad to have you, ambassador ross. we've seen never a speech like this at the u.n. by such a key, prominent leader. here's what tom brokaw said with it on "the daily rundown." >> think what they would say if president obama did something like or george w. bush or if mitt romney had made a speech and held up that kind of bomb and drew the line across it. it kind of boggles the mind, quite frankly. >> ambassador, what if this had been an american president doing something like this? >> well, i think obviously there's a certain backdrop to what happened during the whole question of -- during the bush administration of iraq. i think this was a kind of graphic way of trying to show something. would an american president do that at the u.n.? it's an open question. is it effective? if you're trying to explain an issue peop

sam stein covers politics for "the huffington post." here's here to talk about this.hat do you make of these numbers we're getting that show definite strength in races we were seeing neck to neck. it looks like democrats are pulling ahead. >> the trend is pretty obvious. i think the democratic brand is consistently polled better than the republican brand. you're starting to see a reflection of that in the polls. one thing that's clear after the conventions is the country by and large is buying into the fact that the economy wasn't as bad as republicans said it was. you look at all of the national polls. obama is doing as good if not better than mitt romney on the issue of the economy. i think in that case, the rising tide has lifted all of the boats. i think the country is looking at the democratic party and saying their platform is where we want to move the economy forward. the republicans had two years control of the house. we don't like what they did. maybe we should try something new. >> i wonder whether it was bill clinton's wonderful -- it wasn't just a rousing

see you live, live from charlotte, north carolina tomorrow when i'm joined by sam stein, john heilemannistine quinn. "andrea mitchell reports" is next. good afternoon, andrea. >>> good afternoon. thanks so much, alex. coming up, we have a really great show, some guests here in charlotte. chicago mayor rahm emanuel, actor and former white house staffer kal penn. former congressman patrick kennedy and teddy kennedy, jr. former white house aide melody barnes. mark halperin, chris cillizza and eric mccormick. all that next on "andrea mitchell reports" live from the democratic national convention in charlotte. want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake! [ male announcer ] well, you can't beat them. [ giggles ] ohh! you got something huh? whoa... [ male announcer ] humana understands the value of spending time together that's a