0 secretly a muslim. is there a war on islam or not here? this cover of "newsweek" to explain that part of that narrative. >> we're going to continue this discussion on our website. rula, thank you for joining me tonight. romney's mad men. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews down in washington wishing everyone celebrating rosh hashanah is happy new year. let me start tonight with the danger of running for president without knowing why. that appears to be mitt romney's situation or predicament. it's the reason his campaign is out of whack. president obama was talking to a wealthy group of supporters, talking about the other america, the one that obama was serving when he dumped the work requirement for welfare. what does it tell us that romney not only runs tv ads but uses it to back up his wealthy contributors? the poor of this country are just freeloaders off society, the bulk of the political support is made up of such freeloaders? david corn is author of "showdown" which comes out tomorrow and joan walsh is author of "what's the matter with white people." let's watch, listen, and decide. >> all anybody said was, don't worry how do we convince everybody that they have to take care of themselves? >> so it was beyond dog whistles and using health care. only a dozen people in the room, he's saying what he believes about half of america. >> you know, this strikes me with barack obama, claiming guns and religion. most have an old habit that they've got to break, in this case very well off people talking about cultural vote so way. all politicians don't do this. some do they get caught talking in a way that would be terrible embarrassing described as moochers. >> well, a couple of points. you referred to president obama during the pennsylvania primary, audio, not video, and he spoke about people who have lost their jobs or are facing unemployment and cling to their guns, their bibles, their religion and feel an antipathy and therefore oppose free trade and immigration. so it was very damaging to him and still is damaging to this day. here you have mitt romney caught in a similar circumstance on video. >> what was his perspective talking to this audience in this thing they just captured? >> it's hard to imagine or conclude, i should say, what is in his mind. partly he could be saying, look, i need your help because 47% of the people will never support me because they support obama, president obama because they rely on government, because they have this attitude towards government. it could be that he is speaking as a pundit. this is his analysis of the battleground. i'm just giving you one benign explanation. >> it would be a right-wing pundit. joan, when i saw this, what i talking about a large segment of the republican base. like it or not, there are a lot of white people, older white people in that category as well. so they've gone from stigmatizing and doing this dog whistle stuff to now it's just crystal clear. there just aren't that many. i think the country is 12% black. if you're talking about 47% of the electorate, it's equal opportunity contempt. it's hugely damaging. >> jim mecina of the campaign has said this about romney's comments. it's shocking that a candidate for the president of the united states would go behind closed door and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half of the american people view themselves as victims, entitled to handouts and are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their lives. it's not my job to care about those people. we can never convince they should take personality responsibility and care for their lives. he's saying, andrea, how does anybody deal with that? >> that is the most damaging part of it because he's suggesting not only that he can't get their votes but that he has responsibility to them as a future leader. now, let me just say, as joan just pointed out, that most people on food stamps are white. so he's speaking to a he have -- about a very broad segment. >> when he's talking to white people, that's now not how they say it. >> mitt romney wants to help all americans struggling in the obama campaign as the governor has made clear he's concerned about the growing number of people dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people on food stamps, nearly one in six americans in poverty and 20 million americans struggling to find work. mitt romney's plan creates 12 million jobs in four years and that's a general statement. it doesn't quite refute whatever damage is to be made here. >> it can't refute. these are his words. i think you picked out a key sentence for a guy running to be president who says we have too much divisiveness. what do you want me to do? the statement here doesn't take issue with what he said. >> let's talk about that tape. is it your guess or estimate now, joan, that the democrats, the campaign of barack obama will get this tape out because it will enrage the base, if you will, people being disdainfully talked about here, as handouts, moochers, freeloaders, being described in that relatively tough language by a president for language, will that be useful in the obama campaign? >> i think it will be hugely useful. it revs up their base. too many white working class voters have take then bill of goods that republicans are going to help them when all they have to offer is tax cuts. >> thank you so much. andrea mitchell, joan walsh, and david corn. politico described the dysfunction of romney's campaign itself when staffers blame one another for romney losing ground. is it too late for romney to change course and deal with this problem we just showed you? plus, if you can't impress the voters, you suppress them, right? we're going to show you how hard republicans have made it for democrats to vote in my home state of pennsylvania. and live from new york, it's saturday night. "snl" has a mock anti-bain commercial. >> i got hired part time at an orange julius until bain acquired that and .ut not the whole company, you understand, just that one store. >> this is "hardball," a place for politics.