0 in this election, will we rise above the ugliness? will we rise against the blame game? the class warfare, the race warfare. and allow those that are cynical to bring us back to the past. or were we serious four years ago and try to grab the best and build a great future. that s our quest. thanks for watching. i m al sharpton. hardball starts right now. it s getting dampa in tampa! let s play hardball. good evening. i m chris matthews down in tampa. let me start with this republican convention down in tampa. i came down here with one thought in mind. this could be the game changer for mitt romney. here comes romney s chance to show his human side. i ve seen it done before, in 1988 when george bush sr. came into the new orleans superdome and gave the speech of his life that certainly got to me. but here i am in tampa, hearing a message that troubles me as an american. it started with that joke, so-called, that the republican candidate told friday about no one having asked him
for mitt romney. here comes romney s chance to show his human side. i ve seen it done before, in 1988 when george bush sr. came into the new orleans superdome and gave the speech of his life that certainly got to me. but here i am in tampa, hearing a message that troubles me as an american. it started with that joke, so-called, that the republican candidate told friday about no one having asked him about his birth certificate. here s a guy, born to a famous family, mocking a guy born with none of his advantages. had to weather the endless ethnic attack. imagine the president of the united states having to produce his papers, just to prove he s in office legitimately, and that s how funny this birther thing has gotten. then i put it together with this new romney tv ad attacking obama for passing out welfare checks. and just to rub it in, to ensure that no one missed the point, did you catch romney following it up by saying, this was obama s effort to excite and shore up his ba
i m a hardheaded realist, absolutely i am. and i say we have come from last place, we now find ourselves in third. there is a lot more blue sky to go in the days ahead. woodruff: plus, margaret warner examines the comeback for the u.s. auto industry after strong sales in 2011. brown: and we close with hari sreenivasan s book conversation about life lessons learned from the elderly. that s all ahead on tonight s newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. brown: scale back and streamline, but maintain security. those were the watchwords today as the president and the pentagon outlined the
iowa and assess what that could mean for primaries yet to come. brown: and gwen ifill sits down with former utah governor jon huntsman. i m a hardheaded realist, absolutely i am. and i say we have come from last place, we now find ourselves in third. there is a lot more blue sky to go in the days ahead. woodruff: plus, margaret warner examines the comeback for the u.s. auto industry after strong sales in 2011. brown: and we close with hari sreenivasan s book conversation about life lessons learned from the elderly. that s all ahead on tonight s newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.
jon huntsman. i m a hardheaded realist, absolutely i am. and i say we have come from last place, we now find ourselves in third. there is a lot more blue sky to go in the days ahead. woodruff: plus, margaret warner examines the comeback for the u.s. auto industry after strong sales in 2011. brown: and we close with hari sreenivasan s book conversation about life lessons learned from the elderly. that s all ahead on tonight s newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. brown: scale back and streamline, but maintain security. those were the watchwords today as the president and the pentago