[ applause ] >> but who burns for america on the inside. [ applause [ applause ] >> in tampa, the republican argument against the president re-election was actually pretty simple, pretty snappy. it went something like this, we left him a total mess. he hadn't cleaned it up fast enough, so fire him and put us back in. president obama started with a much weaker economy than i did. listen to me now. no president, no president, not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all of the damage that he found in just four years. [ applause ] now, but -- he has, he has laid the foundations for a new modern successful economy. a shared prosperity. and if you will renew the president's contract, you will feel it. you will feel it. president obama's plan cut the debt, honors our values, brightens the future of our children, our families and our nation. it is a heck of a lot better. it passes the arithmetic test and far more important, it passes the values test. let's talk about what clinton did and what president obama needs to do this evening and of course our distinguished panelist dana bash and anna navarro and maria cardona. good to have you guys back. the ladies in the house again. we are a popular item here. >> i agree with you. >> i want to ask you guys, because after this speech, and we were all watching it in the convention and a lot of people who came up to me and said, if i could just vote for clinton again for a third term. there was a sense of we are waiting for obama, and we kind of miss this guy. i mean, you want to weigh in on this, and eb you, anna, do you miss the guy? >> and the republicans were saying the same thing. >> listen, i think that it was a terrific night for bill clinton. i know bill clinton, and i like bill clinton and yes, i admit it on national tv. she sh he showed us last night what a political comeback looks like. he was marginalized and he went from the first black president to being accused of being a racist. and the guy who marginalized him had to call him back to the rescue, and he did it in fine clintonesque form. he was didactic and funny and lengthy, but he was very, very good. >> dana, tell me about the moment when you know it was a surprise to the audience, but we got a head's up that the president was in the hall and taking the stage, but the moment when you saw him come out, and clinton bowed to him. and he bowed to him before he hugged him and that is a passing of the torch moment. >> wasn't that amazing? bill clinton did a interview before the speech and said it is not a bromance or anything, but it looked like it with that hug. and you covered the fight in 2008 from cover to cover, anna, and you nknow about the tension between the two of them, and we all do, but we also, anybody who has covered bill clinton and who has kind of tried to get into the head of bill clinton knows that he is somebody who loves to be loved and want and needed, because he is actually really good at what he does. he is a master politician. so the fact that president obama and his campaign and president obama, the person in particular has started to reach out to him over the past couple of years, asking him for advice and asking him for surrogate and sent him on missions is kind of the culmination of that, and the culmination of loving the fact that he is back and wanted and needed and he knows he can deliver it like no one else. >> and how did he set up the president for tonight, maria, because the bar is pretty high. >> absolutely. bill clinton did three things brilliantly last night. the first one is that he was wonky, but he served it up in a colloquial way that everybody could understand it and everything that he was talking about was very relevant to everyday people's live, and the second thing is that in that way, h had a super defense and embrace of the obama accomplishments which is something that frankly a lot of people who said that the obama campaign had been doing this for nths, we would not be in this tight race, and the third thing is that he essentially became a surrogate for feeling our pain for the president feeling our pain through president clinton. so what president obama needs the do tonight is to grab that baton and make us feel that he feels our pain, and not just that clinton feels our pain, but that obama feels our pain. >> and that what barack obama needs to do tonight is to go out there and say, democrats, i accept your nomination, and whatever bill said. good night. whatever he said. >> all right. all right. play a little bit more of what he said. he specifically went after the romney/ryan health care reform plan. let's listen. >> so, if he's elected and if he does what he promised to do, medicare will to now grow broke in 2016. now, think about that. that means that after all, we won't have to wait for the voucher program to kick in, in 2023 to see the end of medicare as we know it. they are going to do it to us sooner than we thought. so, bill clinton opened up the window for the elderly and the seniors to talk about medicare and how is it going to impact them and he brings them back to the table and brings florida back to the table and how significant is that? >> it is incredibly significant because of the krcredibility he has and not just because of his own record of accomplishments and pushing the frankly same policies that obama wants to push, and in that way, he gives obama credible for what he wants to do. but not just seniors and when he did the defense of welre, he is opening up to bring the disaffected white voters who frankly the romney campaign was going after with his ad on welfare which is wrong. >> and health care and medicare in particular, entitlements what he talked about was important, but the main goal of the obama campaign if you talked to him going into the speech last night was for president clinton to really take a apart the romney economic idea, and the romney economic philosophy and he did that in his kind of folksy way, and talking about the trickle-down economics and also through the prism of his experience as president and his experience and he mentioned one or two or 12 times the idea that he had the presidency when america was at a time of prosperity, so it is kind of like, i have done this, guys, and i know how to do it. >> and real quick, how much of a threat is to romney that he is laying it out and laying it out effectively? >> well, it was a very effective speech last night and no ifs, ands or buts about it. i think that obama will get a bump out of clinton's speech of this convention and perhaps better than romney, but thank god it is not about the conventions, because if it were i would say stick a fork in romney, because he is done. he has hundreds of millions of dollars in advantage. >> she will have her republican card taken away from her. >> yes. >> extra room at home? >> stay with me. >> and i like being a gop latino, because there is a lot less of us and it is a lot less crowded, but the base is going to be important and romney has a chance to make up some ground there to really get his message across and he's got a lot of money advantage and now he is going to begin bombard iing the media with media and that is going to make a difference. >> we have to go, and they rear telling me to wrap it up, again. >> four women, and short time, this is not working. >> we have too much to talk about. thanks, again. we will speak again. and bill clinton on one thing, i had a chance to get on the floor last night to be on the floor and get a flavor of this and the reaction and the excitement from the crowd. take a look. >> we are old buddies and one time he nominated me in atlanta, and this is the fine as speech i have ever heard. it is just terrific. >> what do biden and obama need to do tomorrow? >> make sure that people know how we get into this mess. they state their case. and they make shure that people understand what kind of a record romney had in massachusetts when he came to creating jobs. they do that, this race is over. >> tell me what you thought about clinton's speech if he hits the points he needed to. >> it is a great speech and pointed out the inconsistencies and the shortcomings of the plans put forth last week and shows how president obama's plan so far have put us on the right track and we are not going on the right track as quick ly as we'd like, but we are on the right track and in stark contrast to the plans that put us right back into the ditch. he made a clear case of what we have done in health care and everything else. i thought it was a great speech showing that we are going in the right direction and not backwards. we need to be in a situati where we explain that one, it is their mess and their policies puts us in the mess, and we don't want to go back. we want to continue forward, and if we have four more years, it is quicker than we have done before. one booming voice missing this time around at the democratic national convention. >> the work begins anew, and the hope rises again, and the dream lives on. we will talk to edward kennedy, jr., about what his father would have thought about this year's election. ♪ [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour 1 on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour 3. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] zyrtec®. love the air. join zyrtec® rewards. save up to $7 on zyrtec® products. exclusive to t military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. try capzasin-hp. it penetrates deep to block pain signals for hours of relief. capzasin-hp. take the pain out of arthritis. mitt romney is the guy who said that corporations are people. no, governor romney, corporations are not people. people have hearts. they have kids. they get jobs. they get sick. they thrive. they cry. they dance. they live. they love. and they die. and that matters. that matters. that matters, because we don't run this country for corporations. we run it for people, and that's why we need barack obama. that was massachusetts senate candidate elizabeth warren at the democratic convention. last night her speech was not about her own race. that race would return late senator ted kennedy's seat to the democrats. it is about barack obama and she painted him as a president who is for the people and by the people and unlike the rival mitt romney who she portrayed as out of touch and bent on undoing all of the accomplishments of obama's first term. >> there is one person whose monumental presence is missedt a this democratic convention and we are of course talking about the late senator ted kennedy. in 2004 -- 2008 he gave a thundering speech for president barack obama. >> this is the cause of my life, new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every american north, south, east, west, young, old, will have decent quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege. >> this time it was former president bill clinton's turn to do the same, and he brought the crowd to the feet with the president's simple math he used to explain why america should re-elect him. i am joined by ted kennedy, jr., and it is so good to see you again. >> thank you, suzanne. >> when you look at the tape and you see that four years ago. >> yeah. >> what goes through your head? >> well, i am so proud of my dad, and so proud of the issues that he stood for, and every four years he would come to the democratic convention, remind us all why we were democrats. and the reason i'm most proud is the way that he always stood up for the underdog and the people who have been left out of our society. and it is very heartening to hear so many people stop me on the street to tell me how much my father meant to them. and so while i miss him greatly and while i wish he were here, i leave feeling really comforted. >> what do you think he would think about this convention and how is it going so far and where we are right now, because there was so much energy and so much enthusiasm when i was at american university and he first endorsed the president and then the candidate. i mean, it was electrifying in that room. >> well, this convention has also been electrifying, and he would have been on his feet clapping for elizabeth warren and her speech, and standing up for the same principles that he stood up for for. he would be honored that somebody of her caliber could serve the united states senate. for barack obama, barack obama made health care one of his signature causes, and took a lot of heat for it. a lot of president's advisers said, look, it is complicate and too many vested interests and you are going to be bogged down by this issue, and that is one of the reasons he stuck the neck out, and that is why my dad would be here and why every single candidate is going to be doing everything that we can to make sure that this president is re-elected. >> now, that is a promise that the president made to your father, it is not right, that that was going to be something that was at the centerpiece? >> well, it is not just a promise, but part of the president's own belief that this is the last thing here in the richest country in the world, we have to figure out how to provide decent affordable health care to every single american. and you know, my father tried working with many different people. i mean he worked with orrin hatch on expanding medicaid and he worked with president bush on the medicare part d, and the prescription drug program, and my father was willing to work with anybody who, you know, he was had his political beliefs, but he was not afraid to cross the aisle if he thought he could make progress, and this would be probably not the ultimate system that he would have designed, but, you know what, it, president clinton last night made an extraordinary case of why health care should be an issue thaw the democrats should be out in front of and being proud of and talking about. >> why do you suppose that the president has not been more effective in and chully convincing people that his health care reform plan is a good idea, because you look at the polls and it is looking pretty much evenly divided that people are not ambivalent or afraid of the health care plan and how do you make the case? >> well, people are afraid of change and so many vested interests when there is so much money and waste. and well, government waste is somebody else's profit. and when you talk about that there is a lot of people trying to throw sand in the gears and trying to slow down the inevitable changes, okay, but when you deconstruct the health care bill like president clinton did last night and talk about the positive things and the guaranteed issue and the fact that kids can stay on the parents' plan until age 26 and the medical loss ratios meaning that the insurance companies cannot make more than 15 or 20% profit, and all of that money haso go back into providing direct patient care. americans, when you poll people individually on those points, they support this proposal, you know overwhelmingly. >> and something that is near and dear -- >> and maybe they haven't, because it is complicated, suzanne, because it really is, but the president last night did a great job and i think that you will hear this president speaking a lot more about that. >> and something that is dear to your heart and obviously, that is the issue of disability, and where are we with that? are we making enough progress, because we heard that the president bill clinton saying that he needs to have medicare refo reform in place, and that repealing it would be devastatin devastating? >> well, i'm a health care attorney, and i've been a lifelonged a voe ska ed a voadve with disabilities and it is a fundamental right that has been denied to people with a physical impairment and i'm so pleased that president clinton mentioned people with disabilities specifically, because people with disabilities and their families have a lot at stake in this election. steny hoyer also mentioned people with disabilities and people are slowly waking up democrats and republican s ths this is a group, a group that is in an age where there's one or two percentage points that could determine the outcome of this election, people are speaking more to people with disabilities just as an example. a lot more needs to be done, but people are becoming more active and i'm so pleased that the democratic party is really taking the lead on advancing these rights. >> all right. ted kennedy, good to see you as always. appreciate it. >> thank you, suzanne. >> and bill clinton owned the night, but his wife was not there to share it with him. she had to watch from a computer screen in east timor and we will tell you what she is saying about the former president's speech. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco. a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna read one of these. i'm gonna read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags, swiffer 360 duster's extender gets into hard-to-reach places without the hassle. so you can get unbelievable dust pickup in less time without missing a thing. i love that book. can you believe the twin did it? ♪ swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back. mitt romney and paul ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible, but their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate family, rather our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another. i am my sister's keeper. i am my brother's keeper. that was sister simone campbell speaking last night at the dnc and for several months she was one of so-called none en the bus. they have been traveling the country criticizing the budget proposal put forth by paul ryan now the vice presidential nominee for the gop. campbell says that the plan would hurt the poor and runs counter to catholic teaching and she reminded people at the catholic bishops meeting last spring were called unjustified and wrong. and they say in georgetown, they are cutting off welfare benefits for those who don't need it will strengthen the program for those who do. i didn't know that nuns look like that? is it an old fashioned thing and the outfit and awe that? >> well, the one thing that everyone kept asking me is would she wear the habit and rock the head dress, no. they are a part of nuns who have long taken off the habit, and just in daily life as opposed to in prayer and in a convert. she is a j.d. and lawyer by training and in addition to a nun. >> why is she so popular and why when she spoke and introduced herself as one of the nuns of the bus, the crowd went crazy on the floor. >> i think that there's a lot of politicians who are looking for a religious validation for their positions. and in some ways, she brings that for the democrats, because, and the u.s. conference of catholic bishops is usually very conservative is backing the democrats on the budget, too, saying, look, if you make these cuts, you will hurt poor people, and that is immoral. ryan has been saying all along, if