the george w. bush question, settled. for undecided voters, who very reasonably might be worrying about putting another republican in the white house, since the last guy was george w. bush, this is what was ringing in your years last night if you've ever thought about that problem. and actually, in terms of the day two coverage, or even the late, late night coverage after the debate wrapped up last night, in terms of fact checking that whole exchange, george w. bush did hint at privatizing medicare, which the president referenced there. george w. bush did hint at that, but he did not go as far as mitt romney did, which is to put the guy responsible for the kill medicare budget on the ticket as his vice presidential nominee. think about that as a political point. the fact check just twists the knife further, for romney it just makes it worse. all the promises you say differentiate yourself from bush are things that bush promised too. and the president points out, all the places that you say you are actually worse, all the

george w. bush, who had held about half that amount. he broke the clinton's record and so on. so it's important to know it's a story. it's meant to bomb its critic is quick to jump on him for devoting so much time to fundraising. and he absolutely has broken records. but there's a very understandable reason why. and what we've seen in presidential fundraising is an unintentional consequence of the rules of our political system, that we have campaign finance rules designed to reduce corruption or the appearance of corruption. and to do limit the amounts of money that presidents are candidates can raise from any individual or any group. the idea is you cannot buy an election if the comic of $2500 to a presidential candidate per election cycle. when you combine those relatively low campaignÑ contribution limit for the rapidly escalating cost of campaign, presidents are virtually forced to spend more and more time raising money and it has been an escalation. 20 years ago with stories about how th

this is the same old george w. bush argument. they thought that this made it seem less scary. >> for younger people. what we said then, and what i've always agreed, is let younger americans have a voluntary choice of making their money work faster for them within the social security system. that's not what mitt romney's proposing. what we're saying is no changes for anybody 55 and above. >> when charlie pierce from boston wrote up that moment from the debate at "esquire" magazine today he wrote this. "you could hear the screams from romney headquarters all the way up the charles to where i was watching." democrats have so far been keeping their powder dry on this very, very potent issue. on the republicans wanting to privatize social security. not just privatizing medicare, and thereby getting rid of it, which has been an issue in this campaign, but privatizing social security and thereby getting rid of it. before last night, that was paul ryan's record and it was george w. bush's record. but nobody knew if romney and ryan were g

that's exactly what george w. bush did. everything is the same. but even more right wing, in fact if i was obama campaign, i would run an ad like this. >> is mitt romney a newser? as governor of massachusetts the state was 47th in job creation. there are only 50 states. >> i worked at one company bain for 25 years. >> cenk: he drove companies into bankruptcy. >> harvest them at a significant profit. >> cenk: thousands lost jobs. it is not that mitt romney doesn't care about winning. it is that he isn't on your team. >> romney: corporations are people, my friend. >> cenk: like this guy. what he really cares about are his real friends. under bush, stock prices of favored companies went up while jobs for us went down. mitt romney, what is the difference between you and george w. bush? >> if you raise taxes on the so-called rich, you're really raising taxes on the job create os. >> stop this war on job creators. >> they're the same republicans with the same plan. they win. the rest of us lose. can we afford to make this mistake again? >> cenk: now loo

george w. bush, the time he spent in ohio, florida, pennsylvania, and you can certainly find examples of presidents attending to the electoral concerns, but i said what we see if we look at it systematically, if we looked at it over decades, with the presidents do, what patterns would play out and is there a disproportionate focus on the electoral matters to the estimates and what did you fight? >> the short answer is that we have seen a substantial increase in the time that presidents devote to electoral concerns. and the clear indicator is fund-raising. if a president goes to ohio to years before the election is either because it is one of the largest states because he cares about the good people of ohio or because it is likely to edge in the presidential election? that is a bit harder to say, but what is unambiguously electoral is the presidential fund-raising. and that we have seen escalate over the past three and a half decades. we've also seen a rise in strategic travel and disproportiona

bush and he's on the record as saying that in ninety nine george w. bush told him that when his father invaded iraq he failed because he didn't extend the war long enough if he'd extended it into the next election cycle he would have won and that if george w. bush became president he wasn't going to have a failed presidency like his father he was going to have a war in iraq against saddam hussein it was going to get enough political capital that not only would he get reelected but that he could privatized social security and that's actually the sequence of events that he followed four years after mickey herskowitz came out with this minus the great support over the. iraq war well he thought i don't know if you recall in two thousand and five right after he was an arboretum he came out he said i got political capital i'm going to spend it lots privatized so security and that kind of but you know so is it possible that both stories are right the that one was personal one was institutional the both are wrong i mean i think that there is something much bi

bush i think he's up for useful i think he's to the right of george w. bush i don't think the math because governor romney with the right door to work with this mitt romney is and i think obama articulated those points but clearly you know when george bush came in he talked about compassionate conservatism i guess this is like uncompassionate evil conservatism you know he wants to block the dream act he wants to do you want to basically deep on the department of education and on top if you want to put tax cuts there were there similar is he does believe in deficit spending don't let anybody tell you that mitt romney does not believe in deficit spending because he has not told the american people clearly how we plan them paying for his five trillion dollar tax cut and his two trillion dollar military buildup and until he gives a very good one answer everybody just like george w. bush it only got a president since richard nixon i don't know i think the real the real the reality of the situation though is like any political observer with sort of any honesty

bush conspiracy theory of course was always that john kerry absolutely destroyed george w. bush in that debate when bush was supposedly wearing a listening device. so if he was wearing a listening device whoever was supposedly whispering in the president's ear was not whispering things that helped him. that's always the part i didn't understand. but the 2012 version of that theory now is that mitt romney cheated in the debate against president obama this week not by having somebody feed him the answers through an ear piece but rather by bringing the illegal crib sheet on to the debate stage with him. you see, previous debate rules have set out very clearly that, quote, no props, notes, charts, diagrams, or other writings or other tangible things may be brought into the debate by any candidate and yet have a look at this damning evidence. this is at the very beginning of the debate on wednesday night and as you'll be able to see clearly here what is that in your pocket? mr. romney very clearly pulls something from his right pocket and he pops it on to the podium in front of

bush wrote that policy at his behest -- >> it's out of the george w. bush institute and jeb was on the board -- >> jennifer: fascinating bush politics going on. thank you, joe for coming inside "the war room." check out joe's piece in the new york magazine. up next, brett ehrlich takes some of the mystery out of mitt romney. >> coming up we discover there are many, many layers to mitt romney, he is like an onion, or a landfill, don't go away. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa. [ ryan ] it doesn't get any better than endless shrimp at red lobster. you can mix and match all day! [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's endless shrimp just $14.99! try as much as you like, any way you like! like parmesan crusted shrimp. hurry in, offer ends soon! i'm ryan isabell and i see food differently. ♪ >> jennifer: in our mitt mom

but this is very unusual and i saw george w. bush 43 was fair. the republican committee hosted it websites. hundreds and hundreds of conservative groups were there. again, that is all fine and well. this company, which is highly, highly partisan also overtime required in contracts that i think probably should not have gone to such a partisan company. in the me just say two. one was if you're in the white house to meet your e-mail according to the presidential records are public documents and they're supposed to be hosted on whitehouse.gov. the rose made sure his e-mails were hosted on smart tack in any of his staffers, other people in the white house also had their e-mails there. so when rove was investigated for the valerie plain unfair and again in the u.s. attorney scandal, said my 22 million e-mails were deleted and these are all government documents and they have never been found. so that was one thing he seems to have gotten away with. another thing was in 2004, smart tag played a central role in the presidential election. the secretary of

sam stein, in terms of the george w. bush legacy, this is the guy as you know we discussed with john, he's the one that like the republican party has been so -- such a converted effort not to mention and yet, when it comes down to actual policies, mitt romney in some ways a continuation of the george w. bush legacy. is this something the democrats can ride through november 6th. >> your question was so good it left mark speechless there. >> i lost the audio there. i got it back. >> no just give credit to alex. such a good question. you know, bush has not -- as you noted in the beginning bush has really been sort of absent from the discussion and for large reasons for both candidates because mitt romney obviously doesn't want to have that linger over his candidacy and obama has said -- obama has tried to avoid the notion he's blaming his problems on his predecessor. last night's question was probably the first sustained time that i can remember in this campaign where it actually came into focus and i thought, you know, oba

allowed them to operate by like bandits, and it was done under george w. bush's watch. there isn't difference between romney and bush. >> that raises the critical question. why doesn't the romney campaign say look at the parallel of george w. bush it seems to be a winning argument. >> and it's an accurate one. we lost the populous in obama. interest is no spirit there. there is no guts. that's why he lost the first debate. he's not feeling our pain. the pain is very widespread. if you lost your house 50 million americans have lost their homes or they're going to lose it. they have to change neighbors give up schools. their kids think they're losers. they did something wrong. this guy is not addressing this. >> eliot: was he more akin to the plutocats that you write so persuasively about in your book. >> i think by invocation and personality he's a techno contract. he could be member of the plutocats if he wanted to. that's why wall street backed him in 2008. i do think that obama does understand what is happening to the middle class and i think you should not underrate

they advised george w. bush, al gore and sarah palin before their famous debates. with the stakes so high, what marks do our political insiders give these candidates? we'll tell you, in the "nightline" report card. >>> and, what's your percent? are you in the 47%? what does it take to be in the 1% of the 1%? this year, the percentage has taken on a life of its own, and we get right to the point. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is a special edition of "nightline," one-on-one, the candidates debate, october 3rd, 2012. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. tonight, a high stakes showdown as president barack obama and mitt romney took the stage in denver to go head to head for the first time. an estimated 60 million americans tuned in to watch this critical moment in an often contentious presidential campaign with the election just 34 days away. crucial swing voters still undecided. with romney trailing in the polls, time running short, tonight could be his turning point. here's ho

he advised george w. bush before he took the stage. martha raddatz and matt dowd tell us who they think had the upper hand in a "nightline" report card. >>> and i'm getting to know you. from coors light drinkers to hbo watchers, how presidential campaigns are user hyper personalized information about what you like to do, buy and watch to try and win your vote. >>> good evening, i'm terry moran. tonight, the highly anticipated final round as president barack obama, republican challenger mitt romney took the stage to go head to head in the last presidential debate. this is a crucial night, and it could tip the scales in a side-by-side comparison, 15 days left until the election and millions of early ballots already being cast so here's how it all happened in florida tonight. the two men who would be president squared off for the last time in the homestretch of a race that could not be any closer. this time, in boca raton, florida, swing state turf and this time sitting across from one another. you could sense the urgency of the moment. >

is the governor summoning the compassionate conservatism of george w. bush? chris hayes gives us the how and why next. ♪ constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. is an awesome place to be. introducing the all-new 2013 chevrolet malibu eco. ♪ sophisticated new styling, the fuel-saving intelligence of eassist, 37 mpg highway, and up to 580 highway miles on a single tank of gas. ♪ the all-new 2013 chevrolet malibu eco. ♪ it has everything to put you in the malibu state of mind no matter what state you live in. ♪ >>> he's the invisible man of the gop, his endorsement a brief i'm for mitt romney came as a pair of elevator doors were closing. despite being the last republican to occupy the white house he was nowhere to be seen at the republican national convention but is mitt romney now embracing a little bit of w.? as the republican nominee moved toward the center of w

i'm talking about president george w. bush. roll the tape. >> what is the biggest difference between you and george w. bush? and how do you differentiate yourself from george w. bush? >> so i want to bring in ari fleischer, the former press secretary for president george w. bush. ari is also a cnn contributor. and, ari, before i go to you, get in my ear, do we have the sound yet from mitt romney or are we just going to talk about what he said? we heard mitt romney. and he did differentiate himself in places, ari, but, you know, you could say he was backpedaling pretty hard from your former boss. what did you make of what he said? >> i'll tell you, brooke, that was uncomfortable for me. because i'm a bush defender. and i'm proud to be a bush defender. and when i hear somebody running for the presidency on the republican ticket and i understand it, he's doing the political thing you have to do in terms of not getting too close to george bush or political reasons. i get why he's doing it, but as somebody who did what i did for a l

if i am obama, i want to pivot to george w. bush. basically from my point of view, i would be straight remind people, you've got sketchy economic plans and also sketchy overseas plans. you've seen romney -- he's come across very bellicose on the stage, on the stump, he's out there. seems like that shoot first, ask questions later policy -- the pivot is to make sure that people remember what -- >> i think that's one of the biggest mistake that is president obama could make. i think most voter, like me, are sick of all of this blame against george w. bush. >> i don't mean it -- >> you don't pivot to george w. bush to commend him on -- >> not saying that. let me clarify. the reason i say this is because -- i'm not saying he did bad stuff in the past. but there is a way of reasoning that is familiar to me. when i listen to romney reason, where it seems like he's trying to puff himself up and throw this sort of rhetoric out there -- >> i think it's a slippery slope. he was the boogie monster, george w. bush was, four years ago. four years

bush and the result, i think, was that in this effort not to sound like george w. bush he spent a good part of the night sounding like barack obama, making those sound arguments that the president made. >> megyn: that is a comparison that team obama tried to paint to paint romney ryan as the next bush-cheney. bret? >> bret: i was really surprised about the libya thing. i think the president even tried to go back to libya to draw him out and possibly get engaged on the libya topic. let's go back to fox news senior political analyst brit hume and "fox news sunday" anchor chris wallace, both in washington. brit, first your thoughts. >> brit: well, one thought would be, i thought bob schieffer did a good job in the same way jim lehrer did which was by keeping a light hand in letting the candidates go at it as much as possible. the ii thing i thought about this was mitt romney had a job tonight. that was to come across as a plausible commander and chief. it would have been very damaging to him if there had been areas of the world and subject matters raised by the questi

that description you just gave is the description that i would use to characterize george w. bush used to work for. i'm guessing that you wouldn't think of it that way or well bush had bush had this i think you could describe bush that way for the first forty years of his life and then he had this crisis with alcohol and religion that made him a much a suddenly a very self propelled person to get to be president is a very difficult thing you know sort of bun bumble into it and whatever his faults as president and this was a man of him bush and focus and self-discipline and the way he overcame the alcohol is tested. to that and maybe my character here we leave him when we say goodbye to him he still only twenty eight years old and maybe we see him beginning to grow to himself what we have to what he has done as he has had to confront as we all have the dysfunction of this political system and he's also had to confront the way the kind of people who buy books i mean i mean this is a minority you know watching the show we do this book. that qualifies you somebody with you know p

i was very critical of george w. bush. what was the shame? let's talk about the shame of the bush years and then talk about the shame of the obama years. go ahead. >> you really want to do this? here we go. >> i'd love to. you guys are the ones that are still, four years later, trying to justify the re-election of a president by going back four years after vilifying george w. bush for eight years for conducting a war against terror. in much the same way that barack obama has done over the past four years. >> this is a nearly 4,000-word article. you're setting a context for when somebody comes into office, what he was given, the same way you would do four years from now about whoever the preceding president was. >> that's pretty strong language. >> it is. >> let's talk about that shame. >> i think the shame of the bush years has to do with iraq. i think it has to do with a mission in afghanistan that went awry because iraq was ignored. it has to do with to be torture kinds of policies. you know what the litany is. and i watched you the other d

bush back up now as to connect mitt romney to him. i think if george w. bush did get back on the campaign trail, people would connect him more to mitt romney and still an et ma although i think it was a gallup poll on pew poll had his favorabilities for mitt romney at the time. >> here's a clip republicans are highlighting from bill clinton's speech on the campaign trail in ohio today. >> governor romney's argument is, we're not fixed so fire him and put me in. it is true, we're not fixed. when president obama looked into the eyes of that man who said in the debate i had so much hope four years ago and i don't now, i thought he was going to cry. because he knows that it's not fixed. the question is, which path will fix it? >> now, he went on to obviously strongly endorse president obama saying president obama's moving in the right direction he can do a better job fixing it. that line, it's true, we're not fixed, republicans are pounding the obama campaign, jamal, on that right now. >> you know, wolf, sometimes the big dog gets a little loose from the yard