"politico" from this morning, it's all top romney campaign strategist stewart stevens. 's reportedly not only the campaign's chief strategist, but also its chief ad maker and chief speech writer. those were three different positions in the obama and bush campaign. so you stevens is reportedly pushing for romney to keep dodging the specifics. all of this is happening as the specifics of steven's only life are becoming quite an issue. this guy is kind of amazing. not only is he a strategy and an ad maker and speech writer but he is also an adventurer, and a hollywood screen writer and on top of all of that he was a strategist, for bob dole mccain, and george w. bush. now romney is trying to place the problems squarely on steven's shoulders. hum. but it is really stevens' fault or is he maybe beingscape goated as republicans trip over each other running away from mitt romney. here is the truth. it isn't the strategist it's not even the candidate. but the truth is it's the policies stupid. as conservative commentator dave frum tweeted this morning . . . and you know what he'

is stewart stevens the problem. is this all on mitt romney since his campaign says he's making all the decisions? >> well, i remember very clearly september of 2000, we called it black september in the bush campaign. we were down by three points. all the guns started shooting at us. everybody wanted me fired because the ads were terrible and the campaign was going down the drain. they wanted all our heads. it was a lot of talk of internal dissension. and then a couple of weeks later due to the debates and a number of other external factors within the campaign because the campaign didn't panic, we were able to right the ship. i think it's way too early to be writing off the romney campaign. it's a lot of seasoned veterans there. i think they're going to lock down and they understand the dynamics and the physics of this thing. sure, the fundamentals look good for obama right now coming out of the convention. but they had the second convention. they get to step on the republicans' bounce. as we've seen in the last week

but i wasn't expecting this to happen with the romney campaign, but mitt romney now with stewart stevenshe likes him a lot, i don't think he's going to change him, an being felix and oscar kind of combination actually, but they seem right now to be foundering around the idea of what to do next between now and the big debates. >> john, you were just suggesting that the problem is outside of romney, the shape of the republican party, it's skewing towards the tea party, and that has made mitt romney's life difficult. but isn't it fundamentally mitt romney's failure? this isn't about the republican party. this is his ability to tell his story to the american people. and he just isn't very effective at it. >> well, look, let's stipulate he is behind in the race, but he's not far behind. he could still win the presidency. so let's put that on the table. but i do think he's running in a party that fundamentally isn't about where -- who he is and where he came from. it's a different party and he's trying to adapt to that, but, yes, he does have to try to take the economic credentials that he has

following an exclusive story stewart stevens is taking internal heat for the problems, and a campaign structure that has him acting as chief strategist speechwriter all at once. and taking heat about president's supporters earlier this year at a private fundraiser released today on the internet by mother jones. >> eliot: perhaps romney doesn't think that the 47% of the american people that he derides includes any of the people he says he wants to help in the latest ad. >> my plan is to help the middle class. trade has to work for america. that means crackdown on cheaters like china. >> eliot: at issue president obama tried to take away from romney in an ohio campaign speech. >> obama: today, launching a new action against china. this one against illegal subsidies that encourage companies to ship auto parts manufacturing jobs overseas. we're going to stop it. it is not right. it is the against the rules, and we will not let it stand. >> eliot: romney is also repeat lid attacked the president on another key foreign policy challenge, iran's nuclear program, and the threat of an iranian a

. >> what happened to stewart stevens and to some extend gillespie is that the romney people believede win this race by telling people how lousy barack obama is. we don't have to be specific outline big details, economic policies, we simply need to say that barack obama hasn't fixed things, and that i, mitt romney have. that clearly -- or it appears that is not enough. the indications are in the polls that they are going to have to do something. so i think if there is something in the brain of stevens, mitt romney and ed gillestby tonight, it is that we need to roll out specific plans about the economy, that can convince people not simply that i say i can fix the economy, but so that that tiny sliver of movable voters, and it could only be 4 to 6 to 8% will move from obama or finally decide to go with romney, because they think he can fix things. at the moment they don't think he can. they are not sure obama can, but if romney can convince them he has an idea, has a set of specific plans that will make a difference in their life romney wins this thing. but i see very little evidence t

they are stewart stevens, his media adviser, dan who is is now working with paul ryan. they share this clash of civilizations view about world affairs and also trying to paint the president as the other, as the guy who has some kind of apologist agenda out there. i don't see mitt romney's career as much of a foreign policy guy. he never has been. he was plugged into the neocon view in 2007 and that's still where he is. >> yeah. and this rins eince priebus follows, that he's not one of us. and i said this yesterday. 37% of republicans right now in ohio, a key state in this election coming up in november, believes that the president was not born in this country. so this birtherism is not a theory. mark halperin, howard fineman, thank you. >>> coming up, we all thought it was going to be about the economy, remember that, but overnight foreign policy is emerging as a crucible in the campaign and that may not be good for romney who wanted to run on one thing, jobs. >>> also, wait until you hear the latest riot of misinformation and downright nastiness from, guess who, the la

one is stewart stevens. the other is bob white, someone that has been with him since the bain days. but a lot of that is him. he's more in charge of his campaign than i think people in the political class appreciate. you know, we in the political class -- there's too many people -- who's really running things in who's the karl rove? >> let's take a shot at the president, who says this? >> the guys traveling with him were pushing him to do it. >> was it neocon or -- >> i think this is a fight he's been trying to pick for a while. remember the title of his book, no apology, this is what he has been fighting. it's almost like a chip on his shoulder, he wants to prove -- >> and it's going to be incumbent upon him, if he's going to make an apology, he needs to define what is differently and it will look like opportune nichl ism. >> they want to fight it generally. >> he doesn't have an answer to the question. would you have pushed mubarak out? >> right. >> he didn't have it. i asked him that direct question. he wouldn't say. >> he fell all over the map in libya. >> would you fire on a cr

. >> our goal today, viewers at home, stewart stevens -- the people who don't like stewart stevens who are giving those anonymous quotes to politicpolie need kevin williamson running the mitt romney campaign. >> i'm going to defend -- i think kevin's point is exactly right. >>> no, authenticity. >> i sort of agree. >> america has for a kun interest that fought to get rid of inherited wealth and inherited power -- >> is that what we fought for? >> you bet we did. >> so they exappropriated jefferson. >> it was a good fight. as a country that fought against empire, we have a lot of people who have been president. the bottom line, the rich guy presidents have, if they're smart, roosevelt, others, even kennedy, they have figured out how to live rather glamorous lives, to live rather large but to communicate that while living large they have a little bit of concern for the little guy. romney's problem is not that he is rich. romney's problem is that he cannot communicate that he has a little concern for the little guy. >> yes. there's also this awkwardness and indetermine nancy and shape shi

it's based internally on the campaign and externally among with stewart stevens and this lack of having campaign message, the lack of having a plan to use the conventions and then use the time afterwards, this period between the conventions and the debates to really define romney with specificity, to show how he would govern barack obama. as you've talked about on your show last week, conservative after conservative, starting with "the wall street journal," trent lot, many others have gone you on the record to say, come on, we want specificity. we want a war of ideas, and we're not getting it from you. and i think that has had a ripple effect internal will why people who are privately uneasy are being more vocal about how uneasy they are with the direction of the campaign. >> let's take a look at some of the that criticism. it is mounting of the romney campaign from the right. here is what eric erickson, a conservative blogger for red state wrote this morning. quote, team romney seems so scared of being more unliked than he is already that they refuse to actually pound a consistent, har

the fall guy is a man named stewart stevens.al stories trying to blame him for the miscue. >> of course, he was responsible for the clint eastwood escapade. there's still time for romney to become a human being, perhaps even a decent presidential candidate. but it's only two weeks. it's only two weeks till the first debate. does he have enough time? >> well, not -- well, that's going to be difficult because the other issue that's sort of come out recently is that romney had some money stumbles, right, during the primary phase of the campaign. so he's still furiously fund-raising. he's spending so much time in front of $50,000 a plate donors that he's not spending a lot of time, to peggy noonan's point in her column, he's not spending time talking to people. in order to humanize himself he has to do more media that isn't fox news, because he's already got those voters, or go out on the campaign trail. can he assemble a crowd of enthusiastic people who will wave the flag for mitt romney? i don't know if he can do that before he do

they say stewart stevens does everything and everything he doesn't do, blame romney.he afghanistan omission in the rnc speech is addressed specifically saying it was their fault we gave them a speech with it in there. they didn't put it in. >> it will be interesting to watch how they get nemsz and act today. world events overshadowing this afternoon. a professor that lived here in and egypt helps us understand what's really going on over there. >>> time for your business entrepreneur of the week. joshua davis knows the frustration of looking for funding. after being turned down by multiple lenders, he contacted a community group making loans to small business owners. he got the money he needed and he's back to focusing on flavors. for more watch "your business." [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance? try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. align naturally helps maintain digestive balance. ♪ ooh, baby, can i do for you today? ♪ try align today. begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four

we were alluding to how stewart stevens was the focus of the political article, looking at him making very inappropriate decisions over time. it talks about the chaos surrounding his -- romney's acceptance speech and how it wasn't completed until days before he was set to deliver it. in fact, politico said the hasty process resulted in a colossal oversight. what's your thought here? >> i wasn't surprised by it. i think the reporting is solid, but i think you could write that kind of a story about virtually any campaign including the president's re-election effort. i think it's part and parcel in what goes on in a circumstance like this. the only other factor we haven't addressed, richard, is this situation in the middle east is normally a trump card for the republicans to thump their chests and be the party of national strength. that model doesn't apply. i think that the president's strong suit is foreign policy in this campaign, and that's a problem for governor romney. >> jonathan, when you look at athi this, is there an opening for the republicans? >> absolutely. the new article th

romney's chief strategist stewart stevens asserted romney has the better temperament to be commander in chief saying, quote, it was an issue with barack obama four years ago. he had stumble after stumble for foreign policy. he's run for president twice and it's not been his problem. the white house and state department did scramble to explain the president's suggestion that egypt is no longer a u.s. ally. a statement that got criticism yesterday from none other than jimmy carter. >> we ought to reach out a hand of friendship and encouragement to the egyptians and let them proceed in forming their own government. >> state department spokeswoman victoria newland did her best to explain why the president downgraded status. >> for the president's comments i'm going to send you to the white house. as a matter of fact and practice the word allally" generally is d with a treaty ally, which the fact of the matter we have a close and london standing partnership with the government of egypt. >> of course under that definition is israel an ally. israel is a treaty ally. couple of other things o

it talks about how romney's top strategist, stewart stevens, is responsible satellite/radar some of the major missteps here. here's what bay buchanan said on "the daily rundown." >> this story is ridiculous. i have been in many presidential campaigns. the key to a good one and governor romney is absolutely clear about, this he doesn't want yes people. he wants people who are going to tell him exactly what they think. you have a good, strong discussion. a final decision is made by the governor. >> if this is correct, any of these indications we've been reading in the papers, is this a problem with mitt romney? >> it's a problem that it got out to the public more than anything else. to see disagreements play out in a campaign is not unusual. to see them play out at this stage is. so that's probably -- it's extremely early to see this kind of backbiting. but it is up to mitt romney to right his ship. they said they're going to go forward with an economic message. they've got to do that. they're out with two very good ads. they have the debates coming up. but they have to put their best foo

the problem now is stewart stevens wearing too many hats. speech maker. ad maker. top strategist.s he doing too much and has the campaign become fractured. >> there's another story here that said the campaign will shift strategy from the status quo to change. i don't know what that means. i mean i know what taxes mean and cutting spending means and growing the economy and lower unemployment. but status queue versus change all of a sudden on the eve of the debates what's that about? >> it's not a big strategy shift. more of a reemphasis of romney's five point plan. larry you have been calling for a big policy campaign, big theme election but it won't be that in the final stretch. just a re-emphasis of what romney has already been saying. >> that's most regrettable. thanks very much. look, i just want to go back in history. ronald reagan did this. he had his troubles but he did it anyway. here's how romney can do it too. don't forget romney won by standing his ground, being himself, holding to his pro growth principles. yes in the reagan camp the last battle for the heart and mind o

head right now, when he says that they don't need to turn the campaign around, when you have stewart stevenshat's a problem. if they start getting specific, like bay said they are going to, they can win. >> but this is what's key. we are going to be able to challenge the president on his record. to make him start defending his lousy record and to explain why he is unable to create jobs and give opportunities -- >> 4.5 million jobs. >> let him defend one in six americans in poverty, one in seven americans in food stamps. that is a debate we welcome. something that the media has not been willing to challenge him on. >> this is getting serious, bay. >> can we just have a feel-good moment maybe? we got to tip a cap quite literally to the playoff-bound nationals, the washington nationals. first time that that washington has had a playoff team since 1933, when i was just a boy. the painful thing it's against my los angeles dodgers. fdr was president when he was playing the giants in the world series and he said i'll have to sit on both sides. washington going all the way. thank you all for being h

they're stewart steven, his media adviser, people like dan senior, now working with paul ryan. they sort of share this clash of civilization view about world affairs. and they're also trying to paint the president as the other, as the guy who has some kind of apologist agenda out there. i don't see mitt romney having studied his career as that much of a foreign policy guy. he never has been. he was plugged into the neocon view in about 2007 and that was the beginning of his foreign policy education and that's still where he is. >> yeah. this very much follows a lot of what republicans have been saying about obama, not being one of us, the way they've successfully gotten -- and i said this yesterday, 37% of republicans right now in ohio, a key state in this collection coming up in november, believe the president was not born in this country. this birtherism is not a theory, it's out in the electrorate. >>> with the events and libya and egypt overnight, foreign policy is emerging as a crucible in the campaign. that may not be good for romney who wanted to run on one thing, jobs.

quoted worrying allowed by romney's fortunes and especially about the role of senior advisor stewart stevens. a growing number of conservatives are blaming stevens for advocating a campaign of caution, politico reported. one that puts all the em fa not on how good knee could be but how bad obama is. romney campaign officials, however, insist they are on course. the candidates' travel schedules this week tell the story as the campaign enters its final 50 days. president obama heads to florida and virginia, and romney heads once again to florida. we're joined by susan page and dan balz, chief correspondent for the "washington post." susan, we have been all consuming this daily diet of polls especially from the battle ground states. presumably the romney campaign and the obama campaign have been doing the same thing. do they interpret those numbers the same way we have been? >> well, i think that both campaigns see a small bump for president obama coming out of the conventions, although it's going a little narrower. in these three most critical battle ground states -- ohio, florida and virginia

it isn't the chair or the ho-hum convention or the looked video or stewart stevens or the improving economy or media bias or the message or mormonism. it's mitt. is it that simple? is the problem at the end of the day that it's the candidate himself? it's mitt romney who perhaps isn't what some thought he would be in terms of a candidate? >> i think it's some of the intangibles that surround the race, but i think largely it's the candidate himself. the problem, as i perceive it, is he's trying to please too many different bosses. he had to attack far to the right craig to win the primary process. he survived it. i thought there was going to be a leftward move towards the center to put him more where he was at the governor of massachusetts. it's come in drips and drags, but there's too many mitts. that's the problem. i disagree with something said. people know him by now. he's running for two years. they're still having a hard time putting this guy in a particular column on different issues. >> is part of it, michael, that he's not an idea log at his core, and he had to pretend to be somethi

romney and chief strategist stewart stevens comed together a speech days before he gave it.olitico writes, quote -- hours after the politico article published steven says the campaign is shifting strategies to focus on the governor's policy solutions and make this year's election a debate between status quo and change. here's what romney senior strategist ed gillespie said in the last hour -- >> it's both a new emphasis and a renewed emphasis on specifics. >> which convention that guy was watching. >> where everybody learned -- >> which convention was he watching? >> i mean i learned more about furniture to say empty chairs than about mitt romney at that convention. >> what happened here was, the field for the primaries was so pathetic and weak, with so many troubled characters against romney, that romney never really had to try very hard in the process and he got to the presidential election and he faces off against a president who's not only specific in detail, but very competitive, with a very aggressive team and he's floundering all over the place. so what happened was i

is this sort of the blame game where they're all pointing fingers at stewart stevens but everyone shouldlity as well principally, the candidate himself? this is the candidate who is arguing that he can fix the problems of the economy because he's a turn around artist? >> i'm a big believer that at the end of the day all these campaigns reflect the principal and in this case mitt romney. he serves as his own campaign manager. he has about seven different power centers inside his operation. he hired stuart stevens. he had looked around, talked to ken mehlman and other folks before settling on stuart stevens. at the end of the day he picked stevens, stuck with stevens. best i can still very much believes in stuart stevens. this is the mitt romney campaign and i think this cautious approach, this refusal to really engage in this war of ideas that paul ryan and i think the conservatives enam mored with paul ryan want, it reflects mitt romney as much as it would reflect stuart stevens. until they resolve that and the candidates decides i want a war of ideas, fight about the partial privatizati