Romney, well, clearly hes in debt to the hawks, the neoconservatives who write the stufer we heard last night, this talk of accusing the president of iran of genocide for the things he said about israel. Its purely political stuff. That and what he said about russia being our number one enemy in the world today. All this old cold war stuff. Whats beneath it . Who knows. What we do know is he feels the need to wear that neocon suit. Will he rip it off if elect . Why would anyone think that . He spoke about wanting a peaceful planet. Talk about learning a dance for the occasion. John rileman and ron reagan join us. Mitt has a tendency to assume whatever political profile he thought would best help him win. In 2007 facing a relatively moderate john mccain and rudy giuliani, he tacked to the hard write. Everything could always be tweaked, reshaped, fixed, addressed said one former aide describing his outlick. Saying it was foreign to him on policy issues that Core Principles mattered that somebody would go back and say, well, three years ago you said this. As the president said today, lets take a listen. Were acustomed to seeing politicians change their positions from like four years ago. We are not accustomed to seeing politicians change their position from four days ago. John heilemann, this is a unique thing like weve always talked, you cant hold onto a greased pig, it just slips away. This is almost an illusory being, this romney person. What does he believe . He was talking last night like he was george mcgovern, no disrespect to george mcgovern, we just lost him, but this idea of i want a peaceful planet. All this soft putting flowers in the end of guns stuff last night. Where did that pes nick come from and why . It came from the same place that the guy who came to denver and talked in the first debate about how about bipartisanship and about positions that were considerably more centrist and soft on questions like health care. It came from the same place. We have all been around president ial politics for a long time. Theres a standard set of moves where candidates in both the republican and Democratic Party run to the far right or the far left or farther right or farther left than they really are to get through the nominating process in their parties and then they begin a gradual drift back toward the center. I think the Obama Campaign expected mitt romney to do that on demows tick policy, on Foreign Policy in a gradual, traditional way over the course of the summer, into the fall. Instead, governor romney kept very much in the hard right mode all through the summer and into the early fall, and then suddenly in the debates, in the month of october, he did something really out of character for most president ial candidates. He made his lurch in the center in one fell swoop. First in denver and then last night on Foreign Policy. Its a really bold, audacious gambit. It does raise the question and i think the question has been asked for the entire time hes been running for president , what does mitt romney actually believe, bhaes in his heart, what are his core convictions . Just making a mistake, if this succeeds, what hes done here, hell be rewriting the rules for the rule book for president ial politics for years to come. Forever. Ron, it seems to me though there are reasons to believe why he couldnt escape the commitments he made. He signed on the grover norquist, he put it in blood. He put the grobs on a Pat Robertson down in liberty university, honorary degree. Totally part of the religious right. Theyre working for free, all these guys around him from the neocon far right, all the hawks that were involved with the iraq war. So how does he break loose from all these eng tanglements . Are they part of the charade . You go out and pretend youre a moderate, a wolf in sheeps clothing because we want power. If you have to play that game of looking like a reasonable person to get there, at least well win with you, well be there at the winning circle. Well, that seems to be the story with mitt romney. Theyre all cynics. Yes, its very cynical. Hes like a political cubist. Is that his nose, is that a foot sticking out of the side of his head. Hes a politician in a fun house mirror. John made an important point there. Its not just about mitt romney. This is going to set a temp plat, if he wins, if hes successful in this big lie strategy of running for president , this will become a template for campaigns on both sides of the aisle moving forward. As you know, people who run campaigns are always waging the last campaign, whatever won there, theyre going to drag it into the next cycle or the present cycle. Imagine if we find out that you can lie so brazenly and not have to pay for it in a president ial campaign. In fact, you can triumph through lying. It will be quite an extraordinary thing. Lets take a look at it, ron and john. Lets look at last night. Here he is presenting himself as a man of peace saying military action was the furthest thing from his mind, even on iran, on iran. Last resort hes talking. Lets watch. Its also essential for us to understand what our mission is in iran, that is to dissuade iran from having a Nuclear Weapon through peaceful and diplomatic means. I laid out seven steps. Crippling sanctions were number one and they do work. Youre seeing it right now in the economy. Its absolutely the right thing to do to have crippling sanctions. I would have put them in place earlier but its good they have them. Where did we find this sudden scholar to quote henry v. He was more hawkish in the iran in the primaries. He talked about kinetic action against iran. Lets watch. If we get to that point and they continue and they look like they have now created a weapon and have a means to deliver it, do you support ap first strike against them either by israel or by us or a combination of the two to halt that process . Yes, and i think you actually have to act before they actually had a weapon, a deliverable weapon. They have to understand that they will take military kinetic action if they continue to pursue a nuclear option. Well, he should have said yes, bubba. He figures this guy must be a right winger, lets feed the guy. Theres a different standard al tocchet from the one he adopted recently. He said if they have a weapon, not if they have a capability. Under that standard we could attack holland tomorrow. Let me ask you about this, what is he, John Heilemann . Youre writing the book about him this year. Who is he beneath the garb, the neocaan clothing, the talk of peace. I dont know the answer to that question. Especially on Foreign Policy. Unlike we can at least look at his record as governor of romney and make some judgments. In this case on Foreign Policy, he is a blank slate, and we can only go by the things he said because hes never had a chance to practice Foreign Policy in the past. Ill say last night we talked about that interview yesterday on your show before the debate where i brought it up, and, you know, hes basically endorsing a first strike against not basically he is, in fact, endorsing a first strike against iran, a very bellicose posture. Last night he sounded maybe not totally mcgovernite but barack obamaite. He was endorsing the president s position. I thought i heard somewhere the sound of Sheldon Adelson and maybe john bolton choking on a pretzel last nilt. The neocons must not be happy with that new language. Its the case that the country is weary of war. I knows if hes going to win over the undecideds left in the battleground states he cant come across like someone who is going to jump into more foreign entanglemen entanglements. Its an untenable political position at this point. I just want to get to iran on this political question, the poll tiges of this thing. I dont know who is more likely to strike at iran if it looks like theyre getting close to having a weapon. I wouldnt put it past obama. I think he knows its essential we do something to prevent from that happening. We have no idea how much of a hair trigger we would have in using it. We have no idea. Theyre not even like the pakistanis who are scary enough. It seems to me if youre calculating this election who is most likely to strike, i would do it this way. I would say who is most likely to do it in a way that considers the consequences, theyre ready for the reaction, the blowout thats going to come next. We better damn well be prepared for having the ships in the right place, the alliances in the right place so when it does happen theres the least negative reverberation because there will be reverberation and the smart president will be ready for it. Not attacking, thats easy. Obama would have the rational reason for doing it if he ever do it. Its worth mentions neither hawk romney or dove romney seems to know what hes talking about. He threatened military action if it wept hawk romney threatened military action if iran continues to pursue its program. Presumably if he took office in january, they would still be pursuing their program. Dove romney doesnt seem to know any better. He says he loves sanctions now, the sanctions are very effective, this is terrific. He would have imposed them sooner. Well, here is a news flash. You unilaterally dont impose sanctions. You had to get the World Community together to do that, and that took a little bit of time. Yes. I dont think you understand american e septionallism, ron. Under his theory of american exceptionalism you do it when you damn well feel like do it, that second. Last night romney stated if he is were president we would be out of afghanistan by 2014. Turns out to be the exact same day as the president. Lets take a look. Weve got to be finished by 2014 and when im president well make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014. As i said, that sounds like hes announcing a date of withdrawal which is odd since during the primaries he was so critical of president obama for doing just that. He announced the date of the withdrawal of our surge forces based upon a political calendar, not the calendar that the commanders on the ground said it was based for our mission. That was wrong. This president , however, has done made it very difficult for our troops to be able to be successful in that mission by, number one, announcing a withdrawal date for our troops. I think it was a mistake to say the specific date we withdraw. I guess, john, hes talking about an alternative strategy of sneaking out of afghanistan. Thats right. It seems like you ought to alert your allies to your general thinking before you conduct it. Well, again, chris, to the point, the parallel point to the one ronald reagan, jr. Just made, ron reagan just made, those are theres a logistical issue. Its not like you snap your fingers and suddenly all of American Forces like are suddenly vanished from afghanistan. Marching those troops out takes time. It takes movements and material and logistics. You cant do that in an unplanned, ungradual, unmethodical way. Its not like again, its not something you do instantly. Theres no way you can surprise how would he know that . How would he know . Youre asking him to know something he doesnt have any way to know. No one in the history of his family looking forward or backward, through all the known generations, has had any interest in the military life at all. How would he know any of this stuff youre talking about . At all . He would have an interest because he wants to be president. And the way this comes with the job. If you want you can have serious policy advisers around yourself and one of the things thats true about mitt romneys team, and i say this not in a blanket way, he has some very good people around him on the political side but he has one of the weakest policy shops on domestic and particularly of Foreign Policy of either nominee in either party i have seen in my time covering policy. Hes not got advisers around him who can tell him the things were talking about. Hes running for secretary of commerce and hes calling it the presiden presidency. Thank you very much. Coming up, grand theft auto. First mitt romney was against saving the Auto Industry, then he was, he said, for save it. Now he says he was never against it in the first place. Why the switcheroo . Three reasons, theyre all the same, ohio, ohio, ohio. If romney loses ohio he probably loses the election. At long last president obama goes up with an old ad or a new ad actually laying out his vision for the next four years. Its been a long time coming. Is two weeks enough to make his case . Well see that in two weeks. Its the day after a president ial debate. That means the great james liptop is here with us to review from the directors chair. Finally, let me finish with a choice between a president who is at home with americas place in the world, barack obama, and a candidate who wants to take us back to one that caused so much trouble. This is hardball, the place for politics. They can be enlightening. Hey, bro. Or engaging. Conversations help us learn and grow. At wells fargo, we believe you can never underestimate the power of a conversation. Its this exchange of ideas that helps you move ahead with confidence. So when the conversation turns to your financial goals. Turn to us. If you need anything else, let me know. [ female announcer ] wells fargo. Together well go far. Two weeks to go weve got some new senate polls to report. Lets check the hardball scoreboard. We start in florida where the race looks to be tightening. A new ppp poll gives bill nelson a fourpoint edge over connie mack. They must have him mixed up with his father. In pennsylvania morning call poll shows democrat senator bobby casey leading tom smith, the self financer, by eight points. Well be right back. At shell, we believe the world needs a broader points. Well be right back. Financer, points. Well be right back. Generate cleaner electricity. That has around 50 fewer co2 emissions than coal. And its also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. A minute, mom lets broaden the Worlds Energy mix. Lets go. [ male announcer ] jill and her mouth have lived a great life. But she has some dental issues shes not happy about. So i introduced jill to crest prohealth for life. Selected for people over 50. Prohealth for life is a toothpaste that defends against tender, inflamed gums, sensitivity and weak enamel. Conditions people over 50 experience. Crest prohealth for life. So jill can keep living the good life. Crest. Life opens up when you do. Back to hardball. If there was any doubt ohio is the center of the political universe this year and for the next two weeks, certainly two pieces of information tell us it most certainly is. First, nate silver has crunched the numbers on the Tipping Point states and his model shows ohio blows away the field. Theres an exact 50 50 chance ohio will provide the decisive electoral vote for whoever wins. Silver says in the thousands of election simulations hes done, the winner in ohio wins the election 95 of the time. Do you like the way they do business, 95 is pretty good for any bet. The reason number two occurred last night in the debate. In a debate that was supposed to be about Foreign Policy, the most Heated Exchange between obama and challenger romney came over the auto bailout, an issue of crucial importance to voters in ohio as well as iowa and wisconsin and, of course, michigan. The Huffington Post pollster. Com average of ohio polls show the race has narrowed but obama continues to lead there, 48 to 46 . Steve rattner, formerly Obama Administration lead car adviser, the car czar. The Washington Post chris sill lis za an msnbc contributor who knows nothing but cars except he likes it and he knows a lot about politics. Lets look at the most heated ex xang. It was spurred by a question about trade with china but went straight to the heart of ohio where one in eight jobs are tied to the Auto Industry, especially in toledo. If we had taken our advice about our Auto Industry, wed be buying cars from china instead of selling cars to china. Im a son of detroit, i was born in detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like american cars, and i would do nothing to hurt the u. S. Auto industry. By plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks and it was president bush that wrote the first checks. I disagree with that. I said they need they need to go through a managed bankruptcy. Governor romney, you keep on trying to, you know, air brush history here. You were very clear that you would not provide government assistance to the u. S. Auto Companies Even if they went through brups. You said that they could get it in the private marketplace. That wasnt true. They would youre wrong, mr. President. No, i am not wrong. Youre wrong. I am not wrong. Look it up. Romneys New York Times oped headline, let detroit go bankruptcy, is often evidence he would let the Auto Industry fail. In fairness, he didnt select the headline. He would have withheld federal money from the Auto Industry. He wrote a managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental reconstruction the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate cost. The federal government should provide guaranteed for postbankruptcy financing. Steve rattner, youre the expert. It seems if i want to borrow money as a company to stay alive nd i would remember who turned me down. He thinks he got away with it last night, romney. I think the president said it exactly right. The fact is that under the romney plan the companies would have gone into bankruptcy without any government help, but they would have never come out because there was no private financing to help them during this period. The reason president bush gave them money was because they had no money. They had run out of money. They literally were on the verge of closing their doors, laying off their workers and liquida liquidati liquidating. So bankruptcy means bankruptcy. He makes it sound like its managed bankruptcy. Its not really what we think of as chapter 11. Theres a lot of different kinds of bankruptcy. Theres what we did, which was