four years. we can t four more years like last four years. he said that by now we d have unemployment at 5.4%. the difference between where it is and 5.4% is 9 million americans without work. i wasn t the one that said 5.4%. this was the president s plan. didn t get there. megyn: mitt romney saying repeatedly tonight we don t have to settle, that i think you know better, we don t have to live like this. that was one of the points he was trying to make in that answer. welcome back to hofstra university in hempstead, new york, on long island. we ll go to greta van susteren in washington for her take on the debate, what she has coming up on on the record. greta: thank you. rhines priebus is at hofstra university. welcome. mr. chairman, let me talk about the debate. did you think it was fair? are you satisfied with how it went? well, look, i m not going to whine about the rules or the
make an impact after what both sides believed was a lackluster performance in his first debate. even the president said so himself. the challenge will be somewhere between his first performance and vice president biden s performance, finding that sweet spot, wher whether he can do itd for governor romney whetherel capitalize on what was a good run the first time around. megyn: a word about the audience here, the town hall participants. there are some 80 there. they all submitted their questions. candy crowley selected the ones that will be used tonight. right now 80 nervous souls out there, 82 if you count the candidates, because they don t know which ones with have been chosen. they ll learn as we learn who will stand up and question the next president of the united states. candy crowley from cnn. good evening from hofstra university in hempstead, new york. i m candy crowley from cnn
failed administration and what s going to be different over the next four years. he wants to be the man with the plan, the man who can fix things. the man who can make life better for the average american who s watching. and you will see him tailor comments tonight. he s talking to people in denver. he s talking to people in florida, he s talking to people in ohio, he s talking to people in northern virginia. very small audience out there that s going to decide that election, and that s who mitt romney s talking to tonight. i ll tell you, we are told that the balance, a balance is what they re looking for between domestic policy and foreign policy. tonight, candy crowley choosing questions from these audience members tonight, supposedly with the balance of those two remarks. i am desperate to hear mitt romney s answer on afghanistan. i think a lot of people in the country are desperate to hear both men talk about veterans and some other matters of foreign policy that we haven t heard
coal plant, you can go ahead, but you ll go bankrupt. that s not the right course for america. let s take advantage of the energy resources we have, as well as the energy sources for the future. and if we do that, if we do what i m planning on doing, which is getting us energy independent, north america energy independence within eight years, you re going to see manufacturing jobs come back, because our energy is low-cost. they re already beginning to come back because of our abundant energy. i ll get america and north america energy independent. i ll do it by more drilling, more permits and licenses. we ll bring that pipeline in from canada. how in the world, the president said no to that pipeline, i will never know. this is about bringing good jobs back for the middle class of america. and that s what i m going to do. mr. president, let me just see if i can move you to the gist of this question, which is, are we looking at the new normal? i can tell you that tomorrow morning, a lot
is, and you re trying to satisfy the person that raised the question, because the audience is watching you there. you re trying not to rile up your base. you re trying to appeal to the undecided. and you re dealing with the moderate. you re dealing with five different things at one time. romney, who has not been good at dealing with two things at one time spontaneity. and he has the sixth added thing. he has to remember the falsehoods he told last time. so he has to remember the lies, he has to innovate, connect, and deal with the constituency there. so it s a whole lot for him to juggle. this is msnbc s coverage of the second presidential debate of 2012, set to get underway momentarily from hofstra university in hempstead, new york. i m rachel maddow here at our headquarters in new york. chris matthews is at the debate site. chris, in light of the challenges that this format aforesaid, what do you make of the fact that the romney campaign has really been bragging about how muc