On november 7th its going to start Getting Better just with the news weve voted for big change. The time for change has come. Theres time for a big change. Romneys rhetoric isnts the only thing that has an odd de va have you quality to it. Governor romney will deliver a policy speech . Iowa on the economy. According to excerpts he will present a few goals that sound obamaesque. Quote but in reality, and be off the stump romneys economic policies couldnt be more of a departure from the current administration. Phil Philip Rucker writes in the Washington Post so where does this slash and burn approach to the federal government leave the country . The cover story in Rolling Stone argues romneys policies not only run counter to those of president obama but will unwind a centurys worth of work to strengthen the American Social compact. Quote on one count governor romney is right this is a big choice eviction and for president obama its not about hope and change. Its about the hope of keeping in place all the change thats already been made. Eric, your story, your magazine. A great piece. The cover of the magazine. Lets talk a little bit about you sat down with the president for this interview and the piece outlines two pretty macro visions for the country. I wonder if you think that choice is clear to voters at this point. Well, i think romney has done his best as the president himself says in the interview to fuzz that up and one of the interesting things when we ask him directly do you think that governor romney has lied to the American People through all his changes of position, what the president said is i think we won the argument and so that they had to change their tack. I think thats an interesting way of looking at it. We huz talking after the first debate when romney did his most abrupt aboutface, but he really said we have the ideas, we have the plan, we won that. It was clear to them their plan wasnt working and they shifted and tried to fuzz it up and look like us. The question is, this has been much discussed today, a comment that president made to the interviewer talking about your daughter, wasnt it, and her wishes for the the and he said he does well with kids because they have a detector for b. S. Ers, the family way of paraphra paraphrasing. Do you think the American Public has that same level of detect n detection . Thats always one of the problems in the election. Its really hard for substance to get lost. Because we chase things like the b. S. Comment, rather than diving into the real differences and the policy debate. I think this election has played out over a long enough time that its really difficult for the Romney Campaign to hide all their predispositions and thats what youre seeing is all these juxtaposition clips you get day after day of where he was on abortion then and now and where he was on taxes then and now, so its very hard over the course of that long a campaign to keep your true self hidden. And its hard to keep your character hidden. One of the things thats clear about romney is he has been all over the map as ted kennedy said in one of his debates with him, my opponent im pro choice my opponent is multiple choice. In the old days we called that flip flopping. Its surprising it hasnt been applied more to governor romney as john kerry. He doesnt have a core and i think people want that. Its about athen tisty. People want to know what youll stand for. Theyll go for if theyre not sure what you stand for is right. Im happy the president used the word were not allowed to say on tv. We really want to. Can you tell, america, we want to use it. We wont. Children, its still safe for you to watch the show for the moment. I think its great. He is drawing a contrast and i think that part of what happened that first debate is we lost fighting barack obama, we lost that man who emerged, especially in the last year, we saw him in 2008, he went away and in the last year since the debt ceiling debacle we saw him. The fact that hes calling him out and using a salty term, maybe that will help with these blue collar white men who apparently are even trending farther against him. I think hes got to do that and i think we also all of us are, its incumbent on us to call out the contrasts. In the last debate i was so disappointed with the media, hes doing a wise thing, moving to the center. Hes lying. Hes lying and not tells us what hell really do and scoring points politically because thats smart to do. I mean its terrible. And i also it comes down to the fact that everyone kind of enjoys the political process and game of the political process but everyones also understands you know what, though, the day after the election, someone has got to govern and so it really matters what their ideas are and what people are thinking about. If you look at the endorsements the president has received from the Salt Lake City tribune or Washington Post or one from colin powell yesterday, it had to do with barack obama the policies of the past four years and what he wants to do in the future but the fact that they have no idea what this other person is. And they have no idea who hes going to bring into the white house with him if he were to end up winning. As we talk about endorsements the new yorker had an extended endorsement of barack obama. Not mitt romney. I want to read an excerpt. I thought they both argued on behalf of the president s record thus far and argued sort of the counter factual option which is, if the key note of Obamas Administration has been Public Investment whether in infrastructure, education or health, the keynote of romneys candiedisy has been private equity. A democracy cannot lay off its failing citizens. It cannot be content to leave any of its citizens behind and not the 47 who romney wishes to fire from the policy. Very strong words. Weve gone back and forth about who mitt romney is and how the campaign portrayed him. A piece in the New York Times saying maybe listen to bill clintons advice about how to portray romney as a severe conservative was a bad idea. Seems like theyre back on the flip flopper this guy has no core message something they bandied about at the earlier stage of the election cycle. After as romney tacked to the center they did they suddenly said actually he has no core. The problem potentially is that to voters would voters voters are happy it if you flip flop their way. Voters would rather they flip flop to them than you disagreed with them. Thats romneys best. Its a close election. Were conflating being a moderate with being a flip flopper. There is a difference when youre talking about bill clinton first on abortion. Like the Obama Campaigns argument is mitt romney is secretly really zealous on abortion, going to go out of his way with executive orders and Everything Else to shut down abortion rights. I think a lot of americans probably look at romneys record which is all over the map and think hes faking it for the right wingers. Maybe and you know, im not sure which way thats going to push voters. I would actually disagree on the abortion thing, i think his statements about who he would appoint to the supreme court, calling to mind scalia and thomas, his choice of paul ryan who has 100 rating in terms of pro life, there is i think now i would have a year ago said his policy positions, you know doesnt matter what he personally is. But i thought the whole point he had no core, right. These are different arguments. But again, i say theres a difference between some guy who will stand in the middle and compromise and strike grand bargains to someone who will go which ever way the wind blows and listen to the loudest voices in the room which is the contention. So much stuff we didnt get to and have to go to break. This is how the show goes sometimes. After the break Abraham Lincoln once said a house divided against itself can not stand. Wonder what great republican would think ability todays gop. Colin powell has voiced his reservations. Im a republican, more moderate mold and thats something of a dying breed, im sorry to say. We will look at the family feud, next on now. Bob. Oh, hey alex. Just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. Great its always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. Wow, your hair looks great. Didnt realize they did photoshop here. Hey, good call on those mugs. Cant let em see what youre drinking. You know, im glad were both running a nice, clean race. No need to get nasty. Heres your honk if you had an affair with taylor yard sign. Looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. Now save 50 on banners. We dont let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. So if youre one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day. Block the acid with prilosec otc and dont get heartburn in the first place [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. [ male announcer ] its time for medicare open enrollment. 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We get to know you and your needs, then give you our best quote and our competitors. You choose and save up to 70 . That could mean 250,000 of coverage for just 15 a month. We offer plans with no medical exam, and weve been in business for over 100 years. Call Fidelity Life. Or visit fidelitylife. Com for your free quote. [ horn honks ] hey, honey. Do we have Life Insurance . [ male announcer ] or visit fidelitylife. Com to secure your familys future today. Humorous will rogers said, im not a member of any organized political party, im a democrat. But these days, democrats seem to be rowing in the same direction while republicans are scattered all over the high seas. One person walking the gop plank these days, Indiana Senate hopeful Richard Mourdock whose comments on rape made a week after filming campaign ads with mitt romney are distracting from the former governs economy first message. Well, i hope you enjoyed that romney endorsement while it lasted. Mourdock. You can blow the kiss good bye, right, Romney Campaign. Mr. Mourdocks comments do not reflect mr. Romneys views. We still support him. Wow, not often do you hear somebody say i disagree with your views on rape and incest, but, um, um, i disagree with your views on rape and incest but not a dealbreaker. The job of scrubbing the deck fell to john sununu out in force to clear up any doubts about the campaigns position. Rape is a heinous vile act and horrible and when mourdock s says that romney immediately condemned that. Was the unfortunate rape snafu cleaned up . Perhaps. Not before sununu went on to say this about former secretary of state colin powell and his endorsement of president obama. When you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder whether thats an endorsement based on issues or he has a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. What reason would that be . Well, i think when you have somebody of your own race youre proud of being president of the United States i applaud colin for standing with him. What better way to compound a highly charged and emotional debate over race than by starting one over race. With a party like this, no wonder policy seems eager to leave the sinking ship and doesnt help when ship mates seem all too willing to throw you overboard. Friends like these, wes, who needs enemies. Lets talk about the Republican Party here. Whats amazing to me, piece by piece, that the im not going to call it snafu, the disastrous conversation around rape has been largely one of their own making. Same thing with colin powell. Okay. Someones going to break ranks and endorse the president again, cant let it go and then it becomes this debate over race, which is not a very good thing for the Republican Party to be talking about right now and also shows a party in turmoil two weeks before the election. And it shows a party whos really trying to define who they are and stand for. I think whats going to be really interesting to see is after the election, is really where youre going to watch a reckoning of the Republican Party to figure out okay, regardless of what happens we have got real issues we have to face going forward, demographic issues, economic issues, policy issues, and the Republican Party right now theres a tremendous amount of infighting and not just about the candidates, its not just about the issues that people are debating right now, it is who are the Republican Party and what is it they stand for. Also, you know, for john mccain to be talking about someone wrecking their legacy he gave us sarah palin. The positive thing i will say to balance about that about senator mccain he did not go into the racial suer in his campaign the way the romney folks have. All the push back against the powell endorsement four years ago came from the far right, i debated pat buchanan on hardball. Rush limbaugh playing the race card. Mccain wouldnt go there. You have a romney cochair being one of the first people on National Television to say that this is all about race. So you have to understand that black people are the real racists now according to the Republican Party and white people voting for romney god fored by you say any whites are voting for romney because hes white that is just reboatent. I would add like what sununu said was not a genius stroke of dog whistling but the people who are happy to talk about john sununu today are the Obama Campaign. And worth noting he issued an apology saying colin powell is a friend and respect the endorsement decision he made and do not doubt it was based on anything but his support of the president s policies. Piers morgans question whether colin powell should leave the party and i dont think he should. Sununus job has been to go out and say what everybody is thinking in the Romney Campaign but wont really say and its kind of hard for them to reel him in on things like this. Reeling in john sununu has provened to be a difficult task. They wouldnt put him out if they didnt think he was playing a role. He doesnt work for himself. This is not the first time john sununu has made a racial argument about the president. The thing that hurts him, if you listen to the endorsement colin powell gave its an effective argument. Its simply saying we understand i have a lot of respect for governor romney but when you look at the policy that hes prescribing, his foreign policy, the problem isnt the fact that he wasnt able to memorize the facts the fact he didnt have a perspective and context to the facts these are real issues that general powell was pointing to and i think that caused a real problem within the Republican Party and john sununu. The other thing were not talking about is the gop wants to get the senate back and they did this in 2010 where they had sort of wacky candidates they put out there and the democrats got the seat. This may happen again. Think about todd akin in missouri and mourdocks race, this is not good for the republicans. And i talked to a senior unnamed republican who said look, if i could sit everybody down in the room i would say you, be quiet. You be quiet. This what is were talking about. Were not going to talk about rape, or race. Theres no point in doing this two weeks out before the election. Indiana and missouri are states they should just win. We all wrote them off. We dont have the latest polling we have, one poll from october 21st shows Claire Mccaskill beating todd akin by six points right now. This was the race she was supposed to lose and yes, so all of that taken with all of that said, Rush Limbaugh is out there saying theres we dont have time to play this whole sound and it is a long and winding piece of sound that says theres not a whole lot of love for conservatives in the Republican Party except for right now which is election season but overall were punted to the sidelines. I dont think the question is, what are the republicans going to do if they lose. That narrative has already been written. Theyre going to double down. Theyre committed to this course. I wish there was a reexamination within the Republican Party. There will be long term. Dont think there will be short term. The real question is what is barack obama going to do if he wins if hes faced with the same kind of obstructionism hes been faced with and that i dont think we know the answer to. Obama is someone who spends his whole life navigating the middle ground and navigating it very, very successfully. You look at harvard law review and what he did there and brought the conservatives into the fold on the harvard law review. What happened when he got to the white house there was no middle ground and he never encountered that in his life before. I think it took him a couple years to figure that out, that the middle ground was gone.