tavis: daniel wolff is an author and filmmaker. his latest book focuses on the plight of new orleans as we commemorate the anniversary of hurricane katrina. the book is called "the fight for home." the to have you on this program. -- good to have you on this program. >> you have been a big help. tavis: you have been to new orleans recently? >> it is still tough. you and i were there for it -- together. the neighborhoods that came back, you have some new houses. it is starting to look rough again. even the new houses. tavis: i am glad you read the text. how do we sustain a real conversation about our renaissance american city and what it says about us as a nation that we have not put it back on line as it should bend? how do you sustain a conversation about that when time passes by? >> people talk about katrina fatigue. i am convinced that is unlikely as civil war fatigue. it is too big of an issue. people know it. they want to know about it. they care about it, they nt to know what happened. they know that it is a test of the natio

. >> tonight, michael eric dyson on the birther of a candidate and richard wolffe on mitt romney's political gamble. >> an avalanche of dirty money is pouring into the state of ohio to take out senator sherrod brown. tonight, the senator tells me how todd akin, medicare, and voter suppression are moving the polls in the buckeye state. >>> and director spike lee says republicans are doing the wrong thing. >> everything that's happening now is really, i think, a plan to stop barack hussein obama from getting a second term. >> tonight, my exclusive interview with spike lee. >> thanks for watching. another day at the office with the mittster. today, mitt romney reignited the fringe, those in his party who don't see president obama as a legitimate president of the united states. here's romney in commerce, michigan, today. >> i love being home in this place where ann and i were raised, where both of us were born. ann was born in henry ford hospital. i was born at harper hospital. no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know this is the place that we were born and raised. >> afterward

let's bring in msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. richard, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks, ed. >> this is like fishing in a barrel. kind of fishing in a barrel, you can limit out pretty fast. it's kind of easy to define your opponent when all they do is lie. i want to play more of the press conference. here is more from president obama today on romney's welfare claims. i want you to respond to it. >> everybody who has looked at this says what governor romney is saying is absolutely wrong. not only are his super pacs running millions of dollars worth of ads making this claim, governor romney himself is approving this and saying it on the stump. they can run the campaign they want. but the truth of the matter is, you can't just make stuff up. >> richard, sort it out for us. >> you know, i want to flip this on its head for a second. because the romney campaign keeps on saying that all this discussion of tax returns are just a diversion. the obama campaign doesn't want to talk about jobs and the economy so they're creating

richard wolffe will help us break it all down. >> and hank williams jr. has become a national hero for obama haters. we'll bring you his latest hateful remarks and comment terry with michael eric dyson. share your thoughts with us on twitter and facebook. we're coming right back. d more t 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 e-class... quite possibly the most advanced luxury sedan ever. ♪ join mercedes-benz usa on facebook for the best summer sweepstakes. why not take a day toenz usa 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. >>> welcome back to "the ed show." i think it needs to be pointed out in this todd akin story that this has been kind of a slow turn and a slow burn all day long for the republicans. they didn't roll out of bed this morning and say, you know what, we got to get rid of this todd akin in missouri. they had to see whi

> joining me today, msnbc political analyst, our favorite import from the united kingdom, richard wolffe. salon.com editor at large, joan walsh. author of the book "what's the matter with white people: why we long for a golden age that never was." dimos vice president heather mcgee, cnbc chief washington correspondent john harwood of "the new york times." there's a lot of monkey business going on in tampa. no, literally. for three years police have been looking for this monkey that is believed to have wandered off a reserve 100 miles from tampa. the mystery monkey has been showing up regularly since then in backyards, outside restaurants, in a church parking lot and, in fact, it has its own facebook page with 83,000 followers. the mystery monkey of tampa bay. local police, state wildlife agencies and freelance trappers are tried to after it, but to no avail. the monkey has rebuffed these efforts, even removing tranquillizer darts shot at him in a display of defiance. >> made a monkey out of everybody who tried to catch him. >> republicans are about to head to tampa for this convention ne

joining me now, msnbc's joy reid and richard wolffe and michelle goldberg of "newsweek" and "the dailyeast." let's listen to what rush limbaugh had to say today, advising republicans how to handle this issue. >> for any and all of you republicans, when you are asked why you don't have a rape exception in the party platform on abortion, don't answer it. don't get into the substance. don't answer the question, republicans. don't go anywhere near it. it's a setup, it's a trap. you turn it right back around on them, and you ask the reporter if they've asked the democrats about the extreme aspects of their position. >> joy reid, yet another example of why rush limbaugh could never spend a day as a political candidate himself. of course, there is nothing extreme in the democrats' position on abortion. but rush limbaugh clearly thinks, now, that politically, at least, the no exception for rape provision, that is their official party position, he believes that is a serious political liability, and what he's at least saying there, it is so dangerous, we can't even talk about it. >> lawrence, ac

let me bring richard wolffe back in.s the start of the most critical part, obviously, of this campaign. what do you see is the priority for mitt romney? what does he have to accomplish in these next couple of months? what kind of things does he have to do to change those minds? >> well, for a start, we're entering this series now. you are coming from the high of the convention, you've done all the work on the speech, then all the attention goes to the other side. what you heard from paul ryan, he's reworking lines they worked on for the convention speak. >> that's the first of 150 times he'll say that. >> they'll have crowds, they'll have photos. there's a lot of photos in this phase, people traveling around, people waving. they'll go their separate ways, which you would expect so they'll cover more territory. but the thing they have to focus on now is the debates. because they still have not crossed that bar. the bar comes of not just looking and sounding presidential on your own but compared to a sitting president. it'

> joining me today, our favorite import from the united kingdom, msnbc political analyst, richard wolffe. buzz feed correspondent, michael hastings. jody cantor of "the new york times" is author of "the obamas" now o in paper back, and "bloomberg business week" editor, josh. five years, seven months, and 13 days after mitt romney first began running for president, the candidate has realized he's actually running for president. and that being the president of the united states would actually mean being the president of the united states. at a fund-raiser last night in north carolina, romney said, "i was at a coal mine yesterday. a group of miners, about 2,000 people gathered and one with tears in his eyes. i mean, really emotional. he said, i need you to save my job and help my family. i need you to save my job. and it hit me how big the responsibility is." coinciding with his new comprehension, team romney is embarking on a new strategy. politico writes, "romney spent nearly a year talking about how obama is a nice guy who just doesn't understand how the economy works because he has no p

richard wolffe just made the point they don't have the demographics to continue this kind of thing. >> i still think they can win in november and once you have the reigns of power and you control both sides of congress, you can really start playing with those rules to make sure that your power stays there for a lot longer than it naturally would. so i don't know if it's a suicide mission. >> without senator marco rubio, yes, indeed, and he is given a glimpse of his hope for america's future. he was speaking to my colleague, andrea mitchell on tuesday. >> the opportunity and the possibility of serving in a republican majority senate with a republican president and republican house and then voters given a second chance to do what we say we're going to do as republicans. they gave us that chance before. give us a second chance to run government and get a chance to do it right. >> as i understand it, we had one chance and it was a ca catastrop catastrophe, so give us another. >> they obviously didn't like it with democrats. they changed that. are they ready to hand it back to republicans?

joining me now is msnbc political analyst richard wolffe.the author of "revival: the struggle for survival inside the obama white house" and ana marie cox. thank you both for your time this evening. >> good to be here. >> richard, let me start with you. is it smart for the romney campaign to be bringing out so many reminders of the bush presidency tonight? >> i don't know that they're doing a whole lot. this is far as they're prepared to go. but if they want to cut off from the bush past, there is a path for them to say we're going to be the honest party. we're going to fix all the problems especially when it comes to debt. they don't want to talk about foreign policy the way it did in previous elections saying we are the party of national security. they really ought to be breaking. because this is minimal stuff. this is the bare bones of acknowledging that president obama was one of them. but otherwise you don't hear his name. think back to how clinton played a role in 2000, 2004, 2008. and now that's not the role they're giving president o

richard wolffe, tom perriello.hanks for your time. >>> coming up, somebody is comparing mitt romney to popeye. and that somebody is mitt romney. >>> plus all the world's a stage and it's time for the best air guitarist in today's summer break. stay with us. look at those toys. insurance must be expensive. nah. [ dennis' voice ] i bet he's got an allstate agent. they can save you up to 30% more by bundling your policies. well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. are you in good hands? >>> i'm not going to try to hide who i am and try to manipulate my life to try and avoid the truth. >> all i can do is be who i am. remember that popeye line i am what i am and that's all i am. ♪ i'm popeye the sailor man >> you know things are tough when a politician starts comparing himself to popeye. governor romney's team has a pr problem. voters just really don't like their candidate. so the campaign arranged an interview with fox news. >> i know it's a little early. it's a little ea

the team appears close to signing when the wolf -- randy wolff. move's will have to quickly. any player signed after august 31 does not qualify to play. tom tasselmyer always qualifies to give the seven-day forecast to give the seven-day forecast and he will have that [ male announcer ] everyone at southwest airlines works together for one goal: to get you where you're going. and with flights all over the country to choose from, it's a good thing we love our work. and now we're excited to take you to the beaches of northwest florida. fly nonstop from bwi airport to panama city beach, florida, for just 99 dollars one-way. book all of our destinations online only at southwest.com. >> we will have continuing coverage of the high school shooting aftermath, the latest on the alleged shooter, and how students try to move on. and the next top cop gets a chance to me residents. the unique challenges he will face in his new post. the latest on hurricane isaac af >> estimate at the forecast. >> -- a sneak peek at the forecast. >> a four on thursday. 90 on friday but not too bad as far

joining me now is msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. he's the author of "revival: the struggle for survival inside the obama white house." and rebecca wilkins senior council for citizens for tax justice. thanks to you both for being here tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> richard, let me start with you. what do you make of the announcement today? >> he knows how to drag this out if he has nothing to hide and he's been paying taxes at a respectable albeit low rate, then he should put the returns out there. but the cost politically to him is considerable. it looks like he's still hiding something. it looks like he's doing it from a position of privilege. i know something, you don't need to know it. and he's wasting his wife's political capital. she as the candidate spouse shouldn't be talking in this way about this kind of subject. she should be reaching out to voters her husband cannot reach. honestly politically it's a waste. and it's head puzzlingly awkward and curious as to why they're doing this. >> awkward and curious, head scratching

in new york, msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, nbc contributor susan delpesio.s. if i can get to you first, ken, we were in the last segment hearing lots of rowdiness behind. i wasn't sure what was going on, i was being told it had something to do with ron paul. can you enlighten us? >> generally, martin, any time there's a disruption at the republican national convention, you can usually assume ron paul supporters are behind it. this is a very highly core grow graphed affair. >> why is that? do they drink more than anyone else? >> no, they're upset. they feel they're being shut out by the establishment. in this case they were demanding a point of order, they were trying to oppose change in the rules that would basically make it more difficult for insurgent candidates like representative paul, in future primaries, to amass delegate rars they were shouting "point of order, point of order." they were ignored. that sort of riled them up further. >> i thought ron paul had assured us all there wasn't going to be any kind of this behavior. >> this libertarians are a f

joining me now, msnbc's joy reid and richard wolffe, who i believe has spent more than a day and a halfyou're ahead of nancy -- >> two and a half days. >> you're ahead of nancy o'dell. >> only in that regard. she beats me in the gravitas. >> richard, in the back and forth, where the dialogue is right now is not where the romney campaign expected it to be -- >> no. >> -- midweek after this vp announcement. where did they think they were going to be at this point? >> well, they thought the excitement would be overwhelming, that they would fire up the base to the point where they could lead this conversation, and it would be a conversation connecting deficit cutting with creating jobs. and that's obviously not where we're at. because we've never got beyond the scary parts of the ryan budget, and the fact that actually it doesn't really balance the budget, at least not for 30 years or more. so there's a problem here with choosing someone who isn't clearly ready to step up to the number one job. that's really the only test for a vp pick. can you imagine them as president? and instead, you ge

." >>> joining me today, msnbc political analyst richard wolffe, our favorite import from the uk. and msnbc policy analyst, the man with all the answers, the "washington post's" ezra klein. congressman paul ryan got republicans on their feet last night. with an impassioned conservative manifesto loaded with attacks on the president's record. >> i have never seen opponents so silent about their record. and so desperate to keep their power. they've run out of ideas. their moment came and went. fear and division is all they've got left. >> conservative opinion pages loved it. "the national review" calls ryan the happy warrior. the "wall street journal" heralds the ryan difference and the "washington post" announces, ryan sochools obama. among the confetti, there remains one glaring problem. in taking on the president, ryan forgot to back his arguments up on fact. here he is on medicare. >> an obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. the greatest threat to medicare is obama care, and we're going to

watts and daniel wolff. that is next time. we will see you then. >> there is a saying that dr.king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminating hunger and we have work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. >> be more. pbs.

here is stefan wolff as monday trading wrapped up in frankfurt. >> investors also a here in frankfurt are quite confident that most of the german companies have already written down at their assets and also their activities in greece, so there'll be no danger coming from there. and the euro debt crisis in greece is not the biggest issue here on the frankfurt floor. nevertheless, the euro debt crisis remains an issue because there is lots of uncertainty going on here, although investors are quite sure that angela merkel will not fulfil any wishes of the greek government to get more time or even for another debt cut. the dax ended up this first trading day of this week unchanged. >> let's take a closer look at some of those market figures now. the dax closed at 7033. the euro stoxx 50 down by 8.5%. the dow jones industrials currently at 13,264. the euro trading for $1.3345. argentina has filed a complaint against the eu at the world trade organization, objecting to a spanish law that limits imports of by a diesel fuel. spain has 60 days to show that its rules are not unfair, after which

. >> msnbc political analyst and msnbc contributor richard wolffe and columnist for "the washington post" ezra klein and with us from philadelphia former governor of pennsylvania and nbc news political analyst ed rendell. good to have you with us. >> good morning, mika. >> good morning. hi, willie. >> mika, how are you? >> thank you for coming back. >> pleasure. >> what was the deal with that? >> with brian with the chest hair. he did great job. i would have gone one more button up. >> did you tell him to do that? >> i did not. >> i know who did. lewis. >> oh, of course. >> you know this is what we do here because that's what he thinks. >> he's new. never listen to lewis. >> brian needs to learn that. gosh, if you're mitt romney, and you're getting ready for your republican convention, this is probably a little bit of a frustrating time because you'd want to talk about the different visions for the country and sort of choice of paul ryan as a way to set the table for a real conversation, and everybody is talking about an issue they don't want to talk about. >> uh-huh. >> abortion and thi

athletics owner lew wolff has petitioned to move the team to san josi, but the san francisco giants ownrritorial rights there. >>> two-cyclists are set to ride and collect donations for a wonderful organization called the her's breast cancer organization. that fremont-based non-profit provides post surgical equipment for patients not covered by insurance. neil wallski says he got the idea for the ride after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. and for ways that you can help, the her's breast cancer foundation, please visit our website ktvu.com and click on web links. >>> this november san franciscans will vote on whether they want to drain hetch hetchy reservoir in yosemite park. six years ago estimates for removing the reservoir ranged from 3 billion to $10 billion. the hetch hetchy system supplies drinking water to 1.7 bay area customers. >>> the countdown has begun, nasa's highly anticipated land tomorrow and why it's going to take a while before scientists know if the mission is a success. >>> showers are still lingering out there, but that is about to change. ktvu

. >>> wolffs out west continue to make headlines in northern california. a fire started by a lightning strike on saturday has destroyed more than 50 buildings inform washington state, firefighters are still trying to contain flames that have been burning outside seat follow a week. officials there believe the fire has caused an estimated $8.3 million in property damage. >> the fbi says it is not investigating a congressional trip to israel last year in which one lawmaker went skinny dipping in the sea of galilee. arizona congressman benefit quayle is defending the fact- fining trip and denies he acted inappropriately. and his wife say they left dinner at a restaurant on the sea of galilee and then he went swimming in his shorts for 30 second and grabbed some water to baptize their daughter. >> it was something that i wanted to experience and because that is where jesus walked on water and take that and then we went home. >> it feels like people are playing politics with some of my memories and that to me is just a very sad state of affairs. >> his opponent

up next we'll get investment ideas from patrick wolff and then talk commodities and natural resourcessprott u.s. holdinged rick ruehl. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget. i don't spend money on gasoline. it's been 4,000 miles since my last trip to the gas station. it's pretty great. i get a bunch of kids waving at me... giving me the thumbs up. it's always a gratifying experience. it makes me feel good about my car. i absolutely love my chevy volt. ♪ [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space. which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd, and you still need to retire. td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? >>> welcome back to "squawk box." let's look at some of the stocks on the move this morning. aol is high after declaring a special di

up next political analyst richard wolffe. >> we'll preview the liverpool season straight ahead.ut with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. [ male announcer ] it started long ago. the joy of giving something everything you've got. it takes passion. and it's not letting up anytime soon. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we understand that commitment. and always have. so does aarp, an organization serving the needs of americans 50 and over for generations. so it's no surprise millions have chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help cover some of the expenses medicare doesn't pay. and save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. to find out mo