book smart. >>> willard mitt romney, he's just an average joe. four separate houses across the country bp but like a lot of americans in this tough economy, romney wanted to streamline his lifestyle. back then his spokesman said, quote, they have more space than they need so they are down sizing and simplifying. so in 2009 romney sold his utah ski lodge which fe featured eight full bathrooms for 4 pillon. then dumped his belmont massachusetts home. then took up residents in a nice home outside boston. romney kept the $10 million home in new hampshire and bought a lovely ocean front property in la jolla. which includes, five bathrooms, lap pool and spa. and a deck with panoramic views of the pacific erosion for $12 million. this, ladies and gentlemen, is the home he now plans to bull doze and replace with an 11,000 square foot structure. nearly quadruple in size. the renovation is necessary. because, according to romney's campaign, the home is quote, inadequate for their needs. i'm sure the average american can relate. so how divorced from reality

to mitt romney's presidential campaign is just a symptom of a much larger problem the corporate takeover of our bill or rights it's all in my daily take. republican front runner for president willard mitt romney his swimming in money today and one of the biggest contributions yet of this political scene. isn't it company w span l l c as in limited liability corporation cut a check to romney for one million dollars but what exactly does span do who is behind you spend nobody knows it's a mystery why because the company disappeared shortly after the donation in fact it seems that the company only appeared in the first place just to give mitt romney a million bucks heaviest band was incorporated in march made the contribution april and then was dissolved by july the owner of the manhattan address supposedly belonging to the company claims he has no records of that company ever citing shop up their package doesn't even have a website so essentially mitt romney a guy who's running for the highest office in the land just got a million bucks out of thin air it could've come from some billionaire hedge fund could it come from a chinese business tycoon put it in a pile of money from a poly

. >> the second slice of the republican soul belongs this year at least to one willard mitt romney, made money, who was born wearing chinos and deck shoes and wants to joke with you about being unemployed. mitt romney is the 20th candidate of wall street, aka the fat cats, the rich, the other half, even though they are more like the top 1% or 2%. these republicans are the plutocrats and mitt romney is their guy. so republican coalition has these two parts, the base and the plutocrats and every once in a blue moon we see these two sides at odds with each other. the great men of wall street almost unanimously wanted the bailout because it saved their hide, and the base hated it. guess what, wall street won. wall street won because wall street wins as long as the plutocrats and base agree, fine, they are the force, but when they differ, bet on wall street. for this reason, i've believed we get some deal to raise the debt ceiling. wall street was simply not going to let congress tank the economy, goldman sachs does not want america to default on its debt, so that was probably never going to

. >>> plus, willard mitt romney running to the right. will a tea party really be happy when he gets there? >>> and martin luther king, jr. iii on jobs, justice, and his father's long legacy. he will be with me tonight. >>> welcome to the show, i'm al sharpton. tonight, we are all watching hurricane irene's path where it might make land fall and win. as preparations of being made all along the east coast, it reminds us of how essential our government is and how our front line government workers are to all of our safety. we will talk about that later in the show. but we start with tonight's lead. rick perry's troubling weekend bothers me. americans from all over the country will gather to honor martin luther king, jr. in the coming days. we will march on saturday. rain or shine. we will unveil the monument. sunday. but texas governor rick perry will be spending time with man who believes dr. king believes no credit for civil rights. despite receiving an invite as governor to the ceremony honoring dr. king this weekend, rick perry will not

and here is this shocker from willard mitt romney. >> you have to make sure that promises we make in social security, medicaid and medicare, are promises we can keep. there are various ways we can do that. one is is we can raise taxes on people. >> corporations. >> corporations are people, my friend. of course they are. everything corporations are ultimately it goes to the people. where do you think it goes? >> corporations are people. so the obama administration, anti-american socialists, why? because corporations are people. so if you see corporations as people, i guess that makes sense. so i've got to bring on my guest because i have to go home to take my pet for walk, bank of america. >>> joining me now, is congresswoman donna edwards, democrat from maryland and bob shrum, from new york university. >> congresswoman, this is outrageous. you have the front-runner, the day he is getting ready to debate. they are going tonight, the republican candidates it debate, saying that rather than deal with people talking about corporations must be treated as what they are and be taxed for wha

. >> all of a sudden, karl rove and the gop establishment love willard mitt romney. wonder why. >>> and while vice president joe biden is visiting china, this happened. a brawl on the court with the georgetown team. what is behind it? we've got it all tonight, stay with us. [ grandma ] why do relationships matter? [ grandpa ] relationships are the basis of everything. [ grandma ] relationships are life... if you don't have that thing that fills your heart and your soul, you're missing that part of your life that just fulfills you. ♪ [ male announcer ] for us at humana, relationships matter too. the better we know you, the better we can help you choose the right medicare plan. that's why humana agents sit down with you to figure out your medicare options. and we have nurses you can call anytime, even at 3 a.m. because when you're on the right humana medicare plan and taking good care of yourself, then you can be there for the people who matter most. [ grandma ] my family is my joy, my hope... they are my heart. it's the reason we get out of bed in the morning... [ gra

. >> the second slice of the republican soul belongs this year, at least, to one willard mitt romney.vernor who made his money laying off american workers and laying off jobs and wants to joke about being unemployed. he is the 2012 candidate of the plutocrats, the fat cats, the rich, the other half. like they are the top one or two percent. and mitt romney is their guide. they give him oodles of money to show how much they care. the republican coalition has the base and the plutocrats and once in a blue moon we see them at odds with each other. this happened when congress and the white house bailed out the banks. the great men of wall street unanimously wanted the bailout because it saved their hides and the base hated it. and guess what, wall street won. wall street won because wall street wins. as long as the plutokrats and base agree, they are a unified force. when they differ bet on wall street. i always believe we get a deal to raise the debt ceiling. wall street was not going to let congress tank the economy. goldman sachs does not want america to default on its debt. that was p

. >> as we said the straw poll winner back in 2007 won willard mitt romney, his first name willard, current republican front-runner. back in 2007 here's what he said about the republican hopefuls who declined, declined to take part in that iowa straw poll. >> you know, it's too bad the other guys weren't competing here. if they thought they could have been successful here, they would have been here. >> that is mitt romney then, the same mitt romney who is not in the straw poll this time, even though he is there campaigning today. shannon travis, why no mitt romney in the straw poll, and is he taking any grief from the folks there in iowa? >> reporter: well, the first question, brooke, why no mitt romney? mitt romney says he's focusing his attention on races that award delegates. you know, you have to collect delegates in order to win the republican nomination, and the straw poll that's going to be held here on saturday does not award delegates. as paul just mentioned, basically a test of organization and popularity here in iowa. he spent a lot of money last time for a narrow win, and this t

the romney campaign is going for the full thurston. if he insists we call him willard instead of mitt, then we will have confirmation. joining me now, eugene robinson. willard, thank you for being here tonight. mind if i call you willard. >> i do actually. mitt romney is thurston howell iii, does that mean jon huntsman is the professor, because he believes in global warming and he believes in evolution, then michele bachmann could be maryann, sarah palin, of course, is ginger. >> wait, wait, wait. you've got ginger and maryann backwards. >> do you think so? >> i totally see bachmann as ginger, but keep going. >> no, but there it ends. who's the captain, who's gilligan? >> well, the skipper is hard to say. the thing is, if you think -- if you're thinking about this in terms of pure impression, ron paul is the skipper, don't you think? >> yeah, i was thinking ron paul for gilligan and newt gingrich for skipper. >> that does put rick perry in the position of being gilligan, i'm afraid rick santorum will sue me for even saying that for being religiously offensive. >> that's a given, so we

. >>> in the spotlight tonight, why mitt romney can't win. willard m. has taken in more money than any other republican presidential candidate and restore a future a new super pac created by romney supported advocate for romney's candidacy has reported raising $12.2 million in the first half of this year. $1 million of that came from a company that seems to have briefly existed, possibly for the sole purpose of funneling $1 million to the romney super pac. nbc reports that w. span llc made a $1 million contribution to the super pac just six weeks after w span llc was created. then 11 weeks after that, the company filed papers dissolving it as a corporate entity. w span llc was created in march by a boston lawyer who works for the law firm ropes & gray. one of ropes & gray's longtime clients is bane capital, the investment firm founded by mitt romney. the address listed for w span llc in the super pac's sec report is 590 madison avenue. the real estate company that manages 590 madison avenue has never heard of w spann llc, but bane capital does have offi