here we every with me now to discuss this is eric bowler, and msnbc contributor and washington post opinion writer jonathan kapart. i want to start with you, jonathan, because you did write the piece in the washington post that essentially this is a smart strategy for democrats. flesh that out for us. you talked a little bit about it in your setup in talking about how when mitt romney was running for president all the attacks on bain capital and showing how sort of dark ask sinister bain capital was worked in nicking at some of the support that mitt romney could get. when i saw finally realized what harry reid was doing, thanks to michael tamaski s great piece, it reminded me of what happened when the 47% video came out, and i think the reason why the 47% video of mitt romney disparaging the 47% of folks he knew weren t going to vote for him is that by the time the video came out, all
get wall street to open up the wallets after the president had started the attacks on bain capital and mitt romney and clinton went to vouch for him with the rich votes in new york. he was trying to help him with the rich white voters that the president has always struggled w. east was doing it he contin contradicted, insulted president obama and praised mitt romney in the span of a week. megyn: we have that keyed up. i don t believe we should be raising taxes or cutting spending either one until we get this economy off the ground. there is no question in terms of getting up and going to the office and, you know, basically perform the essential function -gs of the office a man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold. i care about the long-term debt of the country a lot. remember me i m the only guy that gave you four surplus bulge
often leave scars and, you know, romney doesn t have a strong answer to get out of it because strong answers, answering these attacks on bain and on the cayman islands and that sort of thing probably bring up more inaccuracies that prolong the story. so they re having some trouble over there. is pinned down and, it may leave a mark. jon: here s what charlie cook writes in today s national journal . charlie cook, a noted political observer. he says this ought to be a steep uphill fight for obama. voters seem perfectly open to the option of firing the president but the obama camp has given voters specifically in swing states where wall-to-wall advertising is running reason to hesitate about hiring romney. so i guess in other words, he is saying that the president is tearing down romney s character. that s right. jon: and the romney campaign hasn t figured out a way to respond effectively. matt, would you agree? yeah, i that is right. hope and change is turned
cory booker tried to dial it back. you heard about this scene emerging and it wasn t just those three. telling barack obama tube back off of the attacks on bain capital. the company did some good. yet the president came out fighting back then, saying that i want this line of attack and has continued it, beating that drum ever since. let me start with you on this. why? what they want to do is that the president s campaign is desperate to define mitt romney in a fashion that makes him unacceptable to voters. not so much i don t think they can make him unqualified as they can make them unacceptable. this is the period him and i have said this for years, this is the period in the early summer, where the challenge tends to be where the definition is set in stone. romney has done nothing in that picture. he is a mere shadow to voters
off as an inspirational of something better, something different, is running a typical nasty attack campaign. the question is, karl, are the romney folks responding in a way that is you think is appropriate? well first of all let s look at the impact on a couple of key groups that president obama depended upon. among young people he is running 11 points behind where he was four years ago against john mccain and level of enthusiasm among young voters is way down. that is problematic for the president. independents, which he carried by eight points, two recent surveys show him losing independents to mitt romney by 7 points and five points. it is already having an effect. you re right at some point the romney campaign has to effectively respond to these. thus far it hasn t had an impact. before the attacks on bain capital began on may 15th, at which point the gallup daily tracking poll was 45-45. as of last friday, the most recent gallup tracking poll, raise after two months of pounding