congressman chris van hollen and wendell potter, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you., ann romney's flash of anger at nbc's natalie morales for daring to ask her about the romney secret tax returns. it only makes you wonder, once again, what the romneys must be hiding in those tax returns. and i think it could be, it really could be, a felony. seriously. >>> and in the "rewrite" tonight, paul ryan, ayn rand, and johnny carson. we'll show you the video paul ryan's former love, ayn rand, when she did "the tonight show" with johnny, when she did it right here in this build at 30 rock. ♪ why not take a day to explore your own backyard? with two times the points on travel, you may find yourself asking why not, a lot. chase sapphire preferred. there's more to enjoy. right? get. out. exactly! really?! [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. now in two new flavors. >>> you want to see ann romney really, really angry? just ask her about the romney's tax returns. wait until y

congressman chris van hollen and wendell potter, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thank you.ank you. >>> coming up, ann romney's flash of anger at nbc's natalie morales for daring to ask her about the romney secret tax returns. it only makes you wonder, once again, what the romneys must be hiding in those tax returns. and i think it could be, it really could be, a felony. seriously. >>> and in the "rewrite" tonight, paul ryan, ayn rand, and johnny carson. we'll show you the video paul ryan's former love, ayn rand, when she did "the tonight show" with johnny, when she did it right here in this build at 30 rock. has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. [ male announcer ] to hold a patent that has changed the modern world... would define you as an innovator. to hold more than one patent of this caliber... would define you as a true leader. to hold over 80,000... well, that would make you... the creators of the 2012 mercedes-benz

. >> tonight, wendell potter on the nonstop romney lies. jonathan alter on the possibility these lies could work. >> the fascination with taxes i've paid i find to be very small minded. >> mitt romney dumps gasoline on his tax return fire. we have an exclusive response from senator harry reid. >>> "the associated press" nails paul ryan on his request for stimulus funds. and ryan pulls a palin to try and dodge the question. >> you had asked for stimulus money for your district. is that accurate? is that report accurate? >> i never asked for stimulus. i don't recall -- i haven't seen this report so i really can't comment. >>> and when a problem comes along, you must whip it. ♪ tonight, jerry gasol premieres the song dedicated to mitt romney's dog. thanks for watching. seven years ago a major bill figure in this country explained the truth about republican politics. there is no doubt the romney campaign is currently following his advice. >> in my line of work you have to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink

. >> former health insurance executive wendell potter on the campaign of lies. howard fineman on whether or not it will work. and north dakota senate candidate heidi heitkamp who is fighting the lies on the ground. >> he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. unchain wall street. >> going to put you back in chains. >> the romney campaign claims the vice president is getting racial with his newest attack. michael eric dyson is here to set the record straight. >>> and president obama officially lets the dogs out. the romney camp is howling mad about the president's dog on the roof jab. >> who let the dogs out? who, who? >> good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. you just can't sugar coat this. the romney/ryan ticket is executing a plan to turn its greatest weakness into one of its biggest strengths on the campaign trail. the way to make the plan work is to just lie. >> there's only one president that i know of in history that robbed medicare $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call obama care

it could not be sustained. >> wendell potter, thanks for your honesty tonight. let's turn to howard fineman, editorial director for the huffington post. i find this rather amazing. does the romney camp, howard, really believe that it can win on medicare? >> well, i think they're trying to make a virtue of a necessity at all costs here, ed. my sense from talking to people in and around the camp is they settled on paul ryan for a host of reasons, perhaps. the catholic vote, the midwest, et cetera. i don't think they chose him because they wanted to lead with this issue. that just doesn't make sense. but they're trying to make a virtue of it desperately. i spoke with ed gillespie who is an adviser, former republican party chairman, what he said to me is we want to deal with the issue now. we know that democrats are going to attack us on it. let's do it phau. let's try to neutralize it and get back to the economy later. but that doesn't make sense to anybody who looks at any polling who knows that the big issue in the campaign is what to do about the future of the e