bill clinton frequently lied to the press. they didn't like him at all and she didn't like the press at all that's why she did this thing with the press corps, and i think that her position at that point was that if she gave up anything she might give up everything so she really held on to get into this kind polarized attitude with the right-wing conspiracy argument, so i think that she lost what she had in college and law school which was the sense that her role was never to alienate someone and how fearful she was that she would lose what she was succeeding in gaining. >> would you comment on the relationship between president clinton and president obama and how it sits? >> i think none of us know fully with that relationship is in the bill clinton made a very conscious decision that it was to his self-interest and he makes the case for obama's reelection that they couldn't make himself of all of these complicated questions. and number of things that he put on the table of the democratic convention and talks us through or in

you get top billing and a wonderful piece about the clintons. i was anxious to get to it because everybody knows that bill did his thing at the democratic convention. he is back in full effect. >> the most striking thing to me, they have been the development of his importance in this race. there is no one in the obama world -- many people at the senior levels of that campaign said to me that his speech was the single most important moment of the campaign so far. we could see it in poland and for this groups, that is when the corner got turned on president obama's ratings as an economic manager. he is running a little bit ahead of them, and the right track- wrong track. literally the moment that bill clinton stopped speaking, no president, not even me, could have fixed the problems in just four years. that is probably the most important single sentence. it is amazing, if you remember how much bitterness there was between president obama and bill clinton together. the story is how the two of them got over that alienation between the two of them ov

bill"bill and hillary" clinton's relationship affected their political lives. describes how each partner assistanted in the other's career gabs. it's about an hour. [applause] >> good evening, everybody, thank you all for being here. i'm directer of the kansas city public library, it's a great pleasure to have you here and have will chafe here to talk about his excellent new book. called the reflective, ranchy and rivetting. i want to write a book that gets that kind of press myself. i'm trying to live a life that first of all. [laughter] but this book and tonight's top i -- topic will remind us we have a presidential campaign going on in which there is a human cry about what is truth and what is fact, what is fiction, what is a lie, and it reminds us most of this is reterritorial exaggeration but there was a time in american history there were really great liers. we're going to be reminded of that tonight. remember barry gold water talking about richard nixon? i can't tell you what he said, it's a family library and family television tonight. but there was a t

>> i think bill clinton will set the default is barack obama's. you hear all these things about president clinton, about how he doesn't take care of his daughters and dozen jews enough on capitol hill. he thinks that president obama has failed to go out and sell the policies of the country. to make a clear and convincing educational argument for the obviously clear choice for electing -- is being elected president. barack obama gets the big stuff right and doesn't do the easy stuff out all. what he means by that, here is a guy with extraordinary communicative capacity. what he said before charlotte was that people need education, not eloquence. his frustration with president obama is that he has not done that. he would be able to make this case on its own. tavis: other questions, you mentioned barack obama wanting to the post-partisan. barack obama doesn't really care about the infrastructure and the party -- the party politics. how does bill clinton's reemergence put him back in charge of fastening how the dnc moves forward? >> until hillary clin

bill clinton gave the same kind of speech that he gave at the convention. we went to the math. he used numbers. bill clinton makes the case for mitt romney or barack obama you think who in their right mind is voting for mitt romney. he breaks it down and makes it easily understandable, and then introduced bruce springsteen. he did five songs plus that real thing. that was not a real song. >> cenk: yeah, we have clinton on tape. he's so good at it. he has the folksy thing. >> mr. romney says i'm gonna do

clinton -- catch bill clinton. on "the today show," two minutes of president bush talking is not going to keep you awake. anybody talking is not going to keep you awake. they want the snippets. we will see if we can give them a snippet. ok, here we have ross perot. fast forward through here. david is doing a good job here. you ought to see this in fast motion. we want to move on to clinton. ok, could you go back there just a little bit? here is the reaction shot with ross perot speaking. back a little bit, right about there. go ahead and pause. >> you are a mature individual and you make a mistake -- >> ok, pause. where is the camera? who is the debate about? where is ross perot? where should he be? he has a right to be up on that stage just like everybody else. bill clinton and george bush looking at him, which is fine. now, we are going to have bill clinton. let's predict what's he going to do. he has good instruction. good instruction. what's he going to do? ok, he is going to look at the camera, but first, we w

where is bill clinton, how is bill clinton most effective? >> i think we've already seen some very, very effective operations with bill clinton. and of course that begins with the convention where you can see the numbers moving as bill clinton spoke. you've seen him going into target states, working with candidates who in turn will turn out the vote that will make a difference for president obama. and he is also and not so incidentally in a year in which democrats are facing this flood of post-citizen united super pac money, bill clinton has done fund-raising with the president, he's been doing fund-raising alone. he's been a real partner every step of the way. >> ann lewis, good to have you. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >>> today's tweet of the day comes from chelsea clinton. she writes happy 37th anniversary to my mom and dad. and put up a picture of them at their wedding. there it is. research suggests ch 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

bill clinton grins when he fights. >> yes, he does. and he's obviously really enjoying himself. >> i know, it's great. it's great fun. >> but he's also being tactically really smart. because he can go there in a way, you know, with all that motion and all those gestures in a way that is difficult for president obama to do, either because he's president or because that's not his kind of music. so bill clinton knows exactly what he's doing and he is, i think, being very effective. >> last thought, ten seconds, cynthia. will joe biden have some music as well as lyrics tomorrow night? >> i think he will. i mean, i think, let's hope he doesn't get two improvsational, but i think joe biden likes politics too and enjoys the music and enjoys a good political brawl. >> okay. let joe be joe, i say. bring it on. talk about grandpa finnegan, the works. talk about scranton 30 times, it doesn't bother me. anyway, thank you, cynthia turk and eugene robinson. >>> when we return, let me finish whether president obama is better with a good debate perfor

bill clinton has a grim when he fights. >> yeah, he does. and he's obviously really enjoying himself. >> i know. it's great fun. >> but he's also -- he's being tactically really smart because he can go there in a way with all that motion and all those gestures in a way that is difficult for president obama to do, either because he's president or that's not his kind of music. bill clinton knows exactly what he's doing and he's being very effective. >> ten seconds, cynthia, will joe biden have music as well as lyrics tomorrow night? >> i think he will. let's hope he doesn't get too improve sags nal but i think joe biden likes politics, too, and enjoys the music and enjoys a good political brawl. >> let joe be joe, i say. bring it on. say it 30 times, it doesn't bother me. come on, joe. thank you, cynthia and eugene robinson. whether president obama is better with a good debate performance or a good unemployment rate, which he actually got. you're watching "hardball," a place for politics. you want the best for your body, so choose the multivit

bill clinton and hillary clinton. and yet both are coming to barack obama's defense at a critical time in the campaign. john heinemann national affairs editor at new york magazine wrote a piece about the clintons and david corn of "mother joans," the author of "47%." i'm starting to talk like the guy on "saturday night live." >> i love you! >> let's talk about the internal relationship that is driving this. is it self-interest, is it bill clinton's love of the game, patriotism? what mix, what alchemy unites these? >> it's all three. bill clinton believes he and barack obama are on the same page. he thinks romney would be a disaster for the country and obama is pursuing policies that are now, not what he advocated in 2008, but what he's pursued in 2009, '10 -- >> moderate, center left democrats. >> obama is no longer positioning himself as a antidote to clintonism. he says it's about working for the middle class, getting this stuff done. clinton loves that because it restores clintonism. >> it's for people that work ha

. >> bill clinton is one of my favorite presidents from the modern era. he balanced the budget. he worked with the other side, and he made america a better place to live in the 90s. >> what kind of 18-year-old are you? >> a smart one. >> i'm thinking of voting for romney i'm so irritated. >> no, no, no, no, no no, no romney move forward forward. >> cenk: i think she was clear on that, ben. >> yeah, she was definitely very clear on that. i don't know what possessed me to say that the kid had hair like arsenio hall. i instantly regretted that, but not so much that we didn't put it on television. >> cenk: that's true. you're the one who talk about hair with hair all over the place in that video. any way so you have undecided voters in ohio, i understand? >> yeah, i ran into a couple. they're just friends just to be clear, just friends and one of them was a romney supporter and one was an obama supporter. they both had gone to the rally and i said perhaps illegally persuading them to vote one specific way. >> she she. >> get out of town. >> she's a romney sup

coming up, bill clinton's roll in the campaign of obama. the fortunate son of a republican governor turns out to be an american idiot. no, it is not the idiot you think it is. and later, yes, the award winning actor, writer, director, public policy expert and all around political wise man rob reiner will come back and he's going to show us a political ad that he has just directed. that's coming up. i'm so g lad you called. thank you. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. a great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. . >>> coming up on "the last word," the fight over the rules in today's presidential date. joy reid and karen finney will be here. >>> and bill clinton has become president obama's

bill clinton is continues with the florida event. president obama probably made the right call to come back. it wouldn't look good if he continued with that event down in florida if people are pounded by rain. all attention will be on this storm for a while, especially on the east coast, so he has a chance to get out there and be in front of the cam ras. we don't want to talk aboutfall politics in a natural disaster, but it will give him a chance to respond and look presidential. >> mitt romney had to cancel three events in virginia. the latest poll out of the state. he's closing the gap, although the president still has a four-point lead. how do you proceed if you're mitt romney? he doesn't have an official role, so is whatever he does open to criticism, or is it -- do you even morph through a political lens? where does mitt romney play through all of this. >> he can campaign in states not adversely affected by the storm. he can stay in ohio. i don't think there was any downside to spend more time in ohio and put in homilies in the

a lot of skittish democrats would look to bill clinton as a validator. >> the very first thing bill clinton did with medicare was cut it. and we just got word today from the treasury that it looks like the debt ceiling will ripen right in the middle of january. they're going to need to raise the debt ceiling which means there's going to have to be some kind of deal. >> coming up in the rewrite tonight, we have a new american idiot and he turns out to be of all things, the son of a republican former governor. >>> and like mitt romney, who is also the son of a republican governor, this one likes to make jokes about where president obama was born. america's new biggest idiot is in tonight's rewrite. with the spark cash card from capital one, sven's home security gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! how does this thing work? oh, i like it! [ garth ] sven's small business earns 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! woo-hoo!!! so that's ten security gators, right? put them on my spark card! why settle for less? testing hot tar... great businesses deserve the most rewards!

he can cut romney off at the knees in a way maybe president obama shouldn't go there, but bill clinton can. >> you know, i'll just say one thing, ron is so right about this. i wrote this cover story in the magazine about the clinton -- clinton's role. >> great story. it's out now. >> the thing clinton kept saying while he was writing that convention speech, these people don't need eloquence, they need education, they need explanation. you have to tell them the facts. you have to lay the case out for them and the brilliance of bill clinton is not just that -- he invests the people that are listening to him with the intelligence to figure it out. if he lays the case out for them and clears away ideology, that they will understand and then do what the right thing is. >> well -- >> that's a very powerful tool. >> here is more from bruce springsteen talking about what the president has already done. maybe he'll do a better job than the president of selling himself. let's listen. >> i came here today because i'm thankful for universal health care, you know, the lack of which was for so long

he was ahead of bush '41 and bill clinton. but eventually he did fade in the polls. what is the virtue of having ross perot appealing to iowa voters? is this the deficit hawk and tea party support. >> i think there's a very big sliver of voters out there that are anxious about the direction of the country as it relates to spending and deficits and bringing reform and bringing a new sensibility to washington. we haven't seen that for the last four years. ross perot i think speaks to a lot of those voters. i don't want to make too much of endorsements but it does say something about this -- the voters out there who care about those issues that governor romney does have that type of support. the independent swing voters that many years ago looked at somebody like perot who could bring a change to washington, i think they see the same in governor romney right now. somebody who can really tackle deficits bring down spending and reform washington with a new sense of putting the country back on track. >> now the joint committee on tagsation, highly regarded the congressiona

bill clinton. did somebody wild bill in to the rodeo?

you're going to see bill clinton and barack obama together a lot. chris: like the old motorcades with ike and dixon, the canons of new york. i love it. tell me something i don't know. >> early voting, as we all know, has been going on, and we're starting to get some indication of how it's going. over half a million votes have already been cast. both sides are spinning the numbers. so far it looks like republicans are doing better than they did in 2008 and the democrats are doing better also, solt margin is smaller than it was at some points in 2008. republicans do better with mail-in votes and democrats better with in person. >> they are doing tons of events across the country. given up two days a week to stump for this president. chris: mayor of san antonio. he was the star. >> touring historically by colleges and universities. >> there's one question that hasn't been asked that needs to be asked. which of george w. bush's policies do you disagree with? how will the administration be different than the last republican administration? chris: when we

. >> so bill clinton just finished speaking. bruce springsteen up next. the big question, will bill return and play the saxophone with bruce? in ohio, the answer tonight on the turks. >> cenk: the answer on why bruce springsteen warmed up to obama as well. and you're used to bankers getting away with financial crimes? now we have a bank who are may have gotten away with stabbing someone. >> here after dropping him off at his home things got ugly. >> jennings pulled out a penknife. >> i understand he required stitches. >> cenk: things will get ugly tonight. i'm going to rage about that. that's not even the elbow of the day. we have that coming up, too. that was a fun one. anyone know what time it is? you got that right, it's go time. [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> cenk: now you can see if i had obama behind me, oh, boy that can't be a good sign. that must mean that he's trailing and, indeed, he is. the gallup poll of likely voters 52%-45%. first don't believe the hype. gallup has been wildly off in the past. not just in this cycle especially when they do likely vote

you have to lay the case out for them and the brilliance of bill clinton is not just that -- he's he invests the people that are listening to them with the intelligence to figure it out. if he lays the case out for them and clears away ideology, that they will understand and then do what the right thing is. >> well -- >> that's a very powerful tool. >> here is more from bruce springsteen talking about what the president has already done. maybe he'll do a better job than the president of selling himself. let's listen. >> i came here today because i'm thankful for universal health care, you know, the lack of which was for so long an embarrassment to our country. i'm thankful for a more regulated wall street. i'm thankful gm is still making cars. i'm here today because i'm concerned about women's rights. i don't have to tell you the dangers to roe versus wade under our opponent's policies. i'm here because i'm deeply concerned about the continuing disparity in wealth between our best off citizens and our everyday citizens. >> you know, ron, it's always great to have you on. it's always

let bill clinton -- give bill clinton the job of trying to dismantle mitt romney. let other people do that. and you, barack obama, try to be the guy that you were four years ago, updated, wiser, stronger, more sophisticated than you were. >> i think the best way we agree the best way for him to stay in as starting pitcher and not get relieved, to use world series terminology, is to strike out the side. do the job of a pitcher and nobody's going to relieve you. thank you howard and john. in a strange way, had you a good point to make. obama has to sell the future. we all agree on that. >>> coming up, president obama won the big moments in last night's debate. did he win back those key voting groups, those blocs, if you will, he needs to win to win the election? women. latinos, younger voters were big for him last time. can he get them energized again this time? did he do it last night. >>> you're not really going to hated this one. bosses for romney. there's a growing list of ceos around the country ordering their employees to vote for, guess who? mitt romney or els

william jefferson clinton. bill clinton. reporter: from politics to philanthropy, former president bill clinton is on a roll. ( cheers and applause ) his speech at the democratic national convention was a huge hit. >> we believe that we're all in this together is a far better philosophy than you're on your own. >> reporter: yet he even got mitt romney... >> if there's one thing we've learned in this election season, by the way, it is that a few words from bill clinton can do a man a lot of good. >> reporter: as well as president obama. >> you continue to be a great treasure for all of us. >> reporter: when he got both to appear at his annual clinton global initiative meeting in new york late last month. why do you think that's going on? what's happening? >> well, first, i think a lot of it is when you are out of office and you're out of the line of fire, you become less of a target. so people did me all the i'm, do you think you're doing more good now than when you were president? and i say, no, but i understand why you thin

bill clinton. did somebody wild bill in to the rodeo? >>> we have mark udall with the lay of the land in the battou

we have heard from bill clinton. let's listen quickly now to president obama speaking early this afternoon in new hampshire. apparently trying to blunt mitt romney's attacks on the debt and the deficit. here's the president. >> finally, we've got to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 10 years. i put forward a plan to do it and worked with republicans and democrats, all ready to cut spending that we didn't need or couldn't afford and i'm ready to do more. but i'm not going to cut things like education. i'm not going to cut research that helps grow our economy. we can't get this done unless we also ask the wealthiest households to pay higher taxes above $250,000. pay the same rate when bill clinton was president. we created 23 million new jobs and we went from deficit to surplus. the's how you do it. >> so, there you heard it. the president invoking bill clinton who's in ohio today campaigning with bruce springsteen also in ohio, john king. john king, we've talked about ohio. we have called it the mother of a

i think bill clinton will be campaigning for barack obama on nearly 11 of 12 of those days. chris: with obama? >> no, no, no, with obama or democrats. >> widely circulated report that hillary clinton had told a magazine that one of her former aides that women not having it all. that she was the catcher in the rye read by the interviewers teenage daughter. so it was completely out of context. >> oh, my goodness, why. you know, justice scalia took off hunting, guess with who? >> elena kagan. >> you knew. >> in republican circles is where they should throw a hail mary pass in michigan or pennsylvania. romney doesn't really want to but a lot of the super pac groups do. they want to make pennsylvania competitive. >> i've been thinking about that a long time. the big question this week, they have a debate victory bind them. the big question this week, they have a debate victory bind them. who chris: welcome back. they each won a debate. but the third one and that's this week's big question, who has the most at stake? >> the president. he has to be commanding and in charge of ameri

bill clinton is one of them. cnn's fareed zakaria recently sat down with the former president to talk about foreign policy and the economy and 2012 politics. >> do you think bebe netanyahu is right that the united states needs to draw a clearer red line with iran with regard to its nuclear capabilities? >> well, because i was president, and because my wife is secretary of state, i have to be very careful what i saw about this. but what i know is that the idea that the united states and israel are working closely together on this is not true. they talk all the time. president talks to prime minister -- >> just say that again once because you said the idea that the -- they are. what you saying is that they are not talking together. >> the idea that they are not working together is inaccurate. i know that the president and prime minister talk all the time. i know what hillary's doing. i know that the security services work together. and i think had this is the most difficult of all questions, how to handle this. the

that's how bill clinton does it. >>> a number of new national polls out right now. a national journal poll found the race tied up. a national public radio has obama up by seven. these can't both be right. the latest nbc/wall street journal poll, always right, splits the voters. the new poll from nbc/wall street journal/telemundo, look at this, 50% spread, howard. >> this is a number -- >> this is the lead. >> this is a number that drives karl rove and -- >> the architect. >> the architect and most other republicans of the bush era completely crazy. >> because it was -- >> completely crazy because it's self-made. it's what mitt romney did to himself in the primaries, what the republicans did to themselves in the primary. they know unless they get 35% minimum or so of the hispanic vote, they can't win the election. they're going to hope and pray that that 70% doesn't turn out because hispanic turnout is traditionally lower than the numbers indicate. if that percentage holds up, it makes it very, very difficult. in states like this one, in states like colorado, a swing