this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" starts right now. >>> democrats push back against mitt romney's attempts to paint president obama as the welfare president. the question is, are the negative attacks working? or are they just becoming white noitds? >>> and as the fighting rages on in syria, president ba saw her article alabama assad appears on tv for the first time in three weeks sitting next to his new bff from iran who promises his country will stand by him against the u.s. what do they hope to accomplish by supporting this faltering regime? >>> more gold as aly raisman dominating the competition, calling her own performance the best she has ever done. the question is, would it be enough to keep up with china in the medal count? hi everybody, good morning, this is "way too early," the show that doesn't need a balance beam to fall flat on its face. i'm glad you're watching us on msnbc. or listening live on sirius xm radio. let us know why you're awake. choose to e-mail at waytooearly@msnbc or tweet us

you're watching "first look" on msnbc. direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. >>> welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. the president of egypt, muhammad morsi is in iran today for the summit meeting of the 120 nation nonaligned movement. it is the first iran visit by an egyptian leader in decades. >>> in florida an appeals court has agreed to have a new judge for george zimmerman's trial because the p

this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early with willie geist" starts right now. >>> i want to talk not about what divides us but what holds us together as an american family. i want to talk to you tonight about that one great thing that unites us, that one great thing that brings us our greatest joy when times are good and the deepest solace in our dark hours. tonight, i want to talk to you about love. >> the greatest lesson that mom ever taught me, though, was this one. she told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved

this is the first look on msnbc. willy is next. >> a comment made by joe biden asking the president to take his campaign of division, anger and hate back to chicago. how did the obama team defend about putting people back in chains. paul ryan continues to dance with the third rail issue of medicare. the question is has the romney campaign answered where the candidate stands on the ryan plan? it is starting to come unglued as a report said many of the red sox players don't want to play for the manager bobby facility. what or who is going to give up in boston. sn way too early for this.

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this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we're going to begin this morning with a summer surge. new fund-raising figures from the obama and romney presidential campaigns are out this morning, and they show unprecedented intensity with one campaign managing to outpace the other for a third straight month. nbc's claire lake ka is live for us in washington, d.c. she has all those details. claire, good morning. >> good morning to you, lynn. that is right. and august is heating up right now. both presidential candidates are raking in big bucks. all the while trying to court the middle class. mitt romney in new hampshire isn't just hauling groeshries, he's hauling in the cash, to the tune of more than $101 million last month. $25 million more than team obama's take in july. romney has now topped the president in fund-raising three months in a row. >> really what both campaigns are trying to do, particularly the obama campaign, is define the opponent as much as they can. >> reporter: while both campaigns are raking in milli

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this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now.> antihate groups for the better part of the decade for his involvement in the skin head music scene. could this have been prevented? >>> after falling behind mitt romney in fundraising for the third month, president obama fights back on the campaign trail referring to his o opponent as romney hood. the question is is it more like the kevin costner version or romneyhood men in tights? >>> and a heart stopping finish to the soccer game against canada as the neighbors from the north refuse to back down forcing extra time. it's "way too early" for this. >>> hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. this is "way too early," the show that is much more fun when i'm watching from my sofa at home. glad you're watching us. let us know why you're awake. or tweet us. or you can do what alex morgan do and text the word "awake" followed by your response to 622639. we'll read the best responses later in the show. that was a go usa yell. before

this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> and we are going to begin this morning with getting down to business. after brutal blows from each side, by the end of the day wednesday, it seemed the candidates on the campaign trail were easing up on the personal attacks and zeroing in on one issue -- medicare. nbc's claire laka joins us from washington with more. claire, good morning. >> good morning to you, lynn, yes, that's right. but it has been a war of words between president obama and gop rival, mitt romney. with words being tossed around like unhinged, and hate. and both candidates now going at it in blistering fashion on the latest hot campaign topic. both campaigns spent the day firing at each other over medicare. president obama was joined by the first lady on his third and last day of campaigning in iowa. he attacked gop claims in a his health care plan reforms cut medicare by $700 billion. >> i proposed reforms that will save medicare money by getting rid of wasteful spending in the health care system. >> paul ryan

stay with msnbc as we bring tu latest. back after this. muay indict cio thco ody muay s et indict cio manc e' be b muay s et indicfohao >>> a convention sendoff for paul ryan. time for the poly-sidebar. mitt romney's running mate is back home in wisconsin right now before heading on to tampa tomorrow. he's holding a campaign rally in his own town shortly and joining the hometown crowd, the secret service. congressman ryan is now under full protection. >>> so is ann romney. she was assigned her own secret service detail on friday afternoon. no comment from the secret service but it is typical for the wife of a presidential candidate to receive their own details at the same time as the convention. >>> congressman ron paul won't have a speaking role at the convention but he's still in town and his supporters are all there, too. paul held a six-hour rally yesterday including a 77-minute speech that celebrated his accomplishments, defended his libertarian philosophy and calling for his liberty movement to move forward. the only

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this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. >>> a gunman opens fire during morning worship at a sikh temple before being shot and killed by police. the question is, who is he and what was his motive? we'll have a live report from wisconsin. >>> and government continues the fight in syria as rebels in desperate need of supplies say they are accepting weapons and money from al qaeda. the question is, if the rebel movement is hijacked by extremists, who exactly are we supporting? >>> and the spacecraft "curiosity," nasa's largest and latest $2.5 billion project touches down safely on mars to cheers and awkward high-fives from nasa engineers. the question is, if we don't find signs of life on the red planet, can the mission still be considered well spent? it's "way too early" for this. hi, everybody, and good morning. i'm thomas roberts in new york for willie geist, and this is "way too early." we really are glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live o

this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with a storm threat. tropical storm isaac is still hundreds of miles away from the u.s. coast, but the possibility of a direct impact has florida officials urging residents to prepare now. nbc's kurt gregory has the latest. >> reporter: wind and rain in puerto rico, a glancing blow from tropical storm isaac as the system meanders across the caribbean. warnings are in effect for the dominican republic and in haiti, where aid groups are mobilizing to assist the thousands of people still struggling in makeshift shelters 2 1/2 years after an earthquake destroyed the capital city. >> the next 24 hours will be very critical for the population of haiti, and the international red cross is extremely concerned. >> reporter: concern is spreading throughout florida as well. the latest projection map shows the state feeling the storm's force as early as sunday. in cape coral, firemen wasted no time in securing a storm curtain around city hall. >> to protect the glass and

this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. "way too early" starts right now. >>> democrats push back against mitt romney's attempts to paint president obama as the welfare president. the question is, are the negative attacks working? or are they just becoming white noitds? >>> and as the fighting rages on in syria, president ba saw her article alabama assad appears on tv for the first time in three weeks sitting next to his new bff from iran who promises his country will stand by him against the u.s. what do they hope to accomplish by supporting this faltering regime?

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i'm lynn berry, this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, willie geist is next. >>> with president obama and national democrats hammering the message that paul ryan looks out for the rich while slashing into programs for the poor and the elderly, we get new numbers this morning. showing just how the country feels about mitt romney's veep choice. the question is do voters think ryan is a right wing radical or reasonable republican. >>> governor chris christie gets a major role at the republican national committee. the question is will governor christie deliver a palin-esque speech? >>> how did a dude on a jet ski climb a fence and walk

this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we begin this morning with running mates. after a weekend of being side by side, mitt romney and his newly minted vp pick paul ryan will be campaigning solo until the republican convention. the two drew huge crowds last night in ryan's home state of wisconsin after making a pit stop in north carolina sunday morning. nbc's claire leka join us us live from washington with the details. >> reporter: good morning, mara. in their first interview together on "60 minutes," mitt romney made it clear he would be the one calling the shots and they would campaign on his budget plan. >> my veins run -- >> reporter: thousands of supporters turned out to welcome home wisconsin's native son and presumptive republican vice presidential nominee. >> when we win this election, we go fix this mess in washington! >> reporter: in the 48 hours since congressman paul ryan was added to the romney ticket, the gop presidential campaign has fired up. >> i guess you think i made the right decision, the right c

host of "the melissa harris perry show" msnbc. ezra, msnbc policy analyst. thank you both for joining me. >> thank you. >> absolute. >> i melissa, let me start with you. it is a big night. >> yeah. >> but it is a big night for welfare-to-work debate. >> yeah. welfare-to-work debate that's bizarre and manufactured because there's no debate to be had here. look, the -- the attacks are simply fictitious in the sense they say the president obama fundamentally changed the current welfare requirements. faerm administration has not done so. in fact, if anything, what the bae obama administration did, what the gop claims it wants which is more localized control and more control at the level of states, away from the federal government saying this is exactly how it has to happen. >> two republican governors including sandoval speaking tonight requested the waivers. i just quoted one. >> exactly. as we know, states are having a tough time financially. a lot of reason they are having a tough time financially is because this do nothing congress has been unwilling to crea

right here on msnbc. great to see you, as always. >>> the future of wikileaks founder julian assange remains in limbo. left leaning government has granted assange asylum. >>> three members of a russian punk band were sentenced to two years in prison on hooligan charges. this sparked outrage around the world in support of the feminist rockers. they sang a punk prayer, plead together virgin mary to save russia from vladimir putin. >>> facebook takes a hit and so does mark sdpluk customzuckerbe. he lost $600 million just yesterday. >>> plus, for the love of rand. why paul ryan is distancing himself from paul rand's views, despite saying for years he's a huge fan? steve kornacki from the cycle will weigh in. and you can weigh in also. tweet me @thomasaroberts. [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50

right here on msnbc. we'll be right back with all the famous faces you won't be seeing at the republican national convention. we'll play some of their greatest hits. next. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team. devry university, proud to support the education ari'm fine.y, babe? ♪ ♪ ♪ with a subaru you can always find a way. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. >>> we're learning who's in and who's out of the gop national convention. and i'm sorry to report some of the most entertaining republicans will not get a chance to speak to a live national audience. for example, the new york times says texas g

you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] if you have to take care of legal matters. legalzoom has an easy and affordable option. you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support, backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] you may be an allergy muddler. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. [ sneezes ] who the hell is he? [ dita ] it's aaron cross. ♪ [ marta ] you've had alterations to two different chromosomes. ♪ it's the most exciting development in the history of the science. ♪ i'm not just a science project, doc. ♪ should have left me alone. ♪ you okay? let's go. [ male announcer ] "the bourne legacy." rated pg-13. starts tomorrow. >>> good morning and welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. here's some of the top stories making news this morning. at least 30

and crystal ball cohost on msnbc. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having us. >> chris, do you buy mr. ryan's response to all of this today? >> i don't know. look -- i mean, look. there are two different channels. people have offices in districts and then in washington, d.c. he said it came through the district offices. what's revealing to me is this is a pretty big request. >> $21 million. >> $21 million. >> not quite a constituent service is it? >> also if you're the penny pincher you're saying and you think there's all this money flying around which is the sort of soul of the critique of the stimulus, then you should put into practice your -- you should put into practice in your own office a process of very intense forensic scrutiny of these requests if that is the thing that you think is the problem with the stimulus to begin with. you shouldn't just be passings letters out the door with your signature saying $21 million here, $21 million there, what the heck. >> isn't that the point, crystal? if you were a

susan ferriccio, megan mccain, msnbc contributor chris eli za and of course my colleague msnbc's ron mott who is our man on the trail of mr. paul ryan. welcome. >> thank you, sir. >> chris, i want to start with you. we heard three examples of what could be an acceptance speech. looking ahead, optimism, biography, partisanship. what will be the pieces of the recipe tonight? >> it's interesting. i think that the the least piece of that mix will be partisanship would be my guess. solely because mitt romney is not a red meat conservative. it's remarkable that he got to this point in the race. it will be relatively heavy on biography and uh think one thing interesting about that is this is not someone in mitt romney who has ever been comfortable talking about himself. you know, the idea that mitt romney could do the "i still remember a place called hope" it is harder to imagine that. but i think he has to find a way to tell the story. his wife did it well. turned over the sawhorse as a desk, eating tuna fish. can he humanize himself in the way he's struggle to so far? >> outit's interesti

of course, msnbc will have live coverage. i'm veronica de la cruz in the msnbc newsroom. stay tuned. we will have more coverage in a moment. >> i went back it to my buddy's house and said, i did something bad. the next day i went to school, trying to make everything normal again. but in reality, it wasn't normal. i took somebody's life. somebody's son, somebody's brother. you know, and thinking back on it, it's sad because that didn't have to happen. that diplomdn't have to happen all, but it did. now i've got to deal with it. in the process of this, i want to try to help somebody else, like a guy that might have three years, make sure he don't come back as a murderer. that's my new life now. >> yeah! woo! >> but, no matter what's at stake in the game, the all-too-familiar sound of an alarm reminds the inmates of whose yard this is. >> why is everybody down? >> there's an alarm so that's just -- everybody in the institution, every time you hear an alarm, everybody gets down, all inmates. sometimes there might be a fight, there might be somebody who is hurt. so they have t

msnbc. thank you both for joining me. >> thanks, reverend. >> crystal, do you agree in some ways this is paul ryan's convention? >> i do think that's true. and i'm reminded of something grover norquist said which is pick a republican with enough working digits to handle a pen. that's all they see mitt romney as. they never thought of him as the ideas guy, the one to push the party forward and lead them in terms of policy. they always thought he would be the one to sign the ryan budget and the other ideas into law. clearly also paul ryan is the one who generates the most enthusiasm amongst the base. he's the one they're psyched to see and hear what he has to say. in that way, i think it is paul ryan's convention. >> now, we're told if associated press is correct, we're told by them that he's going to be short on policy, long on personality. but his policy that made paul ryan the nominee. and firing up the base that crystal's talking about. help fact check me on this. you're the policy man. le

with us on set in new york, we've got msnbc contributor mike barnicle, the chairman of deutsch inc., donny deutsch. also pulitzer prize winning editorial writer for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor jonathan kapart and also, author of "as texas goes." and in washington, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin and political editor and white house correspondent for the huffington post, sam stein. "the new york times" is leading the story about the new republican nominee, ted cruz and how he's shaking things up. "the washington post" has a story about how the senate race in wisconsin has become a tight affair because the tea party's influence. looks like they'll have an impact and may even bump tommy thompson who has been a political heavyweight for years up in wisconsin out of the way. it looks like the tea party is re-asserting itself. >> joe, it does.

i'll be right back in an hour with rachel maddow and the rest of my msnbc colleagues for full coverage of the republican national convention. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. >>> thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, mitt's moments. in just a few hours, mitt romney will accept his party's nomination for president of the united states. much of tonight's proceedings are dedicated to reintroducing mr. romney to the american people. to change minds and erase his sky-high negatives among voters. we'll hear fellow mormons talk about romney's faith. something he himself rarely addresses. and then a big part of the evening is devoted to his time at bain capital. it's the company that made romney even more wealthy than he was. he's now worth up to $250 million. but it's been a political liability for nearly 20 years. also tonight speakers will try to defend mr. romney's time as governor of massachusetts. he rarely talks about those four years in boston even though they're his only experience as an elected public official. maybe it's because romney ca

you're watching "first look" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] did you know all those screens that keep you connected are sucking moisture from your eyes, causing irritation and dryness? [ thud ] really? [ male announcer ] revive your eyes with visine®. ahh. [ male announcer ] only visine® has hydroblend, a unique blend of 3 moisturizers that soothe, restore and protect eyes for up to 10 hours of comfort. which means all day comfort... for my non-stop day! [ male announcer ] visine® with hydroblend, find it in these visine® products. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ club scene music ] [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. >>> welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. the secret service arrested a man near seattle, washington for allegedly making an e-mail threat against president obama. the suspect is due in court this afternoon. >> in syria the government says it is ready to discuss the possible resignation of pre

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>> yeah, thomas, it was a big event, and people from msnbc's own s.e. cupp to grover norquist as you said, to the short-lived spokesman for foreign policy for the romney campaign, who is gay, himself, were all in attentadan at the event held at a gay bar in tampa. >> the ryan/romney ticket is not considered to be, one, particularly lgbt friendly. how do log cabin republicans respond to critics what say they're asking to be recognized by a party that would rather disown them? >> i think that they have moved a step beyond even answering those sorts of questions, thomas, and are sort of working on within the party how do we make it so that this is a party in which the existence of and presence of gay conservatives are just a fundamental and inherent part of what it means to be a part of the republican party? >> is the biggest problem the prominent gop party leaders, the ones that are lesbian and gay, remain in the closet? >> i definitely think that it is always beneficial when you have more people who are out and more people who are willing to discuss thos

eastern on msnbc. we'll have another sneak peek of that for you tomorrow. >>> our political panel will be here next. we're talking about ryan's roots, plus president obama talks hoops. i'm rhyming today. but first, the white house soup of the day, oh, this is great, chipotle beef. i hope it tastes like those chipotle burritos i like so much. you can always follow the show on facebook, you're watching "the daily rundown" on msnbc. i love chipotle. get the burrito bowl, less calories than the all burrito. [ john ] no. were you just... no. are you supposed to be driving that in here? no! did mom say we could eat all that? [ john ] yes. [ male announcer ] it's nice to finally say "yes." new oscar mayer selects. it's yes food. new oscar mayer selects. so i test... a lot. do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetou