the team to truly represent america, we let them wear clothing like the rest of us, made all over the global economy. for any who disagree, they could toss their ipads into the fire that senator reid wants to put the clothing in. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. >> good evening, americans, welcome to "the ed show" from new york. mitt romney said president obo president obama owes him an appallies. >> in february of 1999, i left bain capital. i had no role whatsoever in the management of bain capital. i had no role in the management of bain capital after 1999. >> the romney campaign is in full throttle panic mode. >> i don't recall a single meeting or a single investment in a decision at bain. >> a defiant mitt romney stonewalls on his time at bain.

the president undercuts romney with one sent ngs. >> i think most americans figure if you're a german ceo and president of the company, that you are responsible for what that company does. >> tonight, eugene robinson on the new evidence against mitt romney. and former rnc chair michael steele on how the republicans are reacting to this mess. the face of the worst congress in history is in some big trouble. eric cantor is facing a serious challenge for his house seat. >> actress madeleine stowe supports his challenger and she's here tonight. >> and another one of the greatest lies ever told. >> increasing the cost of health insurance for the american people and making it harder for small businesses to hair new workers. >> tonight, two small business owners are here to tell us why obama care is already helping their bottom line. >> good to have you with us. thanks for watching. mitt romney's bain problem is officially too big for him to

ignore. the candidate made the rounds on five television networks to explain why he was listed as ceo, president, chairman, and sole share holder of bain capital for three years after he said he left. romney stuck to his guns in an interview with nb krc's peter alexander. >> in february of 1999, i left bain capital and left all management authority and responsibility for the firm. i had no ongoing activity or involvement in the affairs of bain capital because i went out to run the olympics. the president's campaign has been, i think, outrageous in making the kind of charges they have. i think the kinds of attacks are beneath the dignity of the presidency. i think the president needs to rein in his campaign and start about the real issues people care about. >> that is mitt romney's story and he's sticking to it even though s.e.c. filings like this one from january of 2000 show mitt romney's signature of the

bain paperwork. this relates to a deal, a deal with vmm merger corporation. president obama told a reporter in virginia, the buck stops with mitt romney when it comes to bain. >> most americans figure if you're the chairman, ceo, and president of a company, that you are responsible for what that company does. ultimately, mr. romney, i think, is going to have to answer those questions because if he aspires to be the president, one of the things you learn is that you're ultimately responsible for the conduct of your operations. >> but romney continues to insist he had no involvement with bain after 1999. other than collecting a six figure salary each year. >> after february of 1999, you never attended a single meeting for bain, a business meeting, even by phone, attending a meeting regarding bain or bain entity snz. >> you asked quite a few questions. i didn't involve myself in any

way with bain capital's enterprise after february of 1999. >> not participating in a single meeting? >> i don't recall a single meeting or single participation in an investment decision by bain or personnel decision. >> the word here is recall. really? no business trips, no phone calls, nothing. this is romney's own sworn testimony in massachusetts when he was running for governor. there were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to massachusetts, board meetings, thanksgiving, and so forth. i returned for most of those meetings, others i attended by telephone if i could not return. that sworn testimony simply does not match up with the interviews that the candidate gave today to five different networks. president bill clinton was on the "today" show this morning. he said romney's business background is central to romney's campaign. >> all your work life before you run for president is relevant. i think that will be relevant.

i am a little surprised he only released a year's worth of tax returns. that's kind of perplexed he because this is the first time in, i don't know, more than 30 years that anybody running for president has only done that. >> but romney remained defiant on his tax returns today. he does not plan to release any more after the 2011 returns are completed. >> i put out as much as we're going to put out. once i have added the -- this year, and that's the information, gives more people than is required by law. >> why not be as open when you're returning for president as you were four years ago when you were being considered for vice president. >> i'm not going to be able to satisfy all of the demands of the obama campaign. >> this is a key point. romney doesn't need to satisfy the obama campaign. romney doesn't need to satisfy anybody other than the american people. we want to know. now, we need to know, we need to

know, what kind of economic model mitt romney would design for this country. what does he really believe in? your personal finances would help us understand all of that, especially if you have so much money invested overseas. but according to romney, today, only less than 1% of his money is tied up in foreign investments. >> the money that i have is managed by a blind trust. now you understand that, i hope your reporting will point that out. i don't manage the money i have. in order to make sure that i didn't have a conflict of interest while i was governor or while i was considering a run for national office, i had a blind trust established. >> that applied for too the caymans, bermudas, and swiss accounts? >> it applies to all of the investments by me. from the financial disclosures, the overwhelming majority, 99.5%

are in u.s. enterprised. >> hold it a minute, 99.5% of his money is in american investments. vanity fair report said romney has at least $30 million in the cayman islands. that's the conservative assessment. that's only.5% of his net worth. if this is true, he is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 billion. maybe mitt romney wants to rethink his answer. either he is overstated the amount of his american investments or he is the six billion dollar man. romney could solve all of this mystery if he would release multiple years of tax returns and be honest with the american people about hisify nances. that's the bottom line. here is the bottom line for all of us as voters, we do care about tis.

we care about this especially as liberals because of the scrutiny that president obama went through in the campaign in 2008. asking a man about his finances or any candidate about his or her finances is standard operating procedure. americans, voters, we deserve to know. get your cell phones out. tonight's question, will mitt romney ever come clean about hisify ahis i finances? text a for yes, b for no. you can go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com. americans do care about this story. this is why mitt romney went in front of five television cameras today. it's in the twitter world, in the blogosphere, it's on every show. people are talking about it all over talk radio. so americans do care about this. let's bring in michael steele, msnbc kriblter and former rnc chairman, and eugene robinson,

pulitzer prize winner columnist. eugen eugene, yz a journalist, did mitt romney close any doors today to this story or does it continue on? >> i didn't hear any doors close. what i heard was him being very precise in his language in talking about, well, i didn't participate in the bain enterprise. i don't know what that means. i don't recall a single investment decision. i don't know exactly what that means. but i think he is slicing the onion awfully thin, and be very, very specific ability what he's ruling out when he intends -- when he tries to leave the impression that he left bain. i think the common sense question is, why on earth would you sign your name to forms to the s.e.c. saying you were ceo and managing director and everything else of this company if you didn't know anything about it? if you weren't actually

responsible and willing to take responsibility for what the company was doing? that would be a very unwise thing to do, and i think mitt romney is more meticulous than that. this doesn't square. >> well, the white house says tonight that they are not satisfied with mitt romney's answers today. they say that they still want to see more tax returns and minutes from romney's meetings at bain capital. michael steele, your thoughts, did he close any doors today or is it more complicated? >> it's a little more complicated there, ed. i agree with eugene, no, the doors weren't closed. i don't think, as tightly as they would like. in fact, they may have been widened a little bit. what you saw today was the romney campaign finally, finally after what is this now, two weeks of just really relentless story telling by the obama campaign, try to get in front of the story. >> so he's making it worse. >> exactly, and i think that lag

time has allowed a perception to be created, an ideas around his wealth and what he's trying to hide and all of that stuff that you don't want to have attached to your campaign at this stage, attached. and now you're trying to get in front of it, and i think it's problematic. can he get around this? yes, he's going to have to, i think, ultimately release more than two years worth of tax returns. can he get around it on the bain side? yes, but he has to come out more as eugene said because you're going to have guys like eugene and yourself asking the tough questions. you're running for president of the united states. we're in tough economic times, we had this battle between weth and those who don't have wealth, and you have to stand square somewhere. and i think today was the beginning of that, but i think it was a little too late and not enough. >> the title of mitt romney's last book and maybe only book was no apology. he offered no apology today whatsoever. in fact, it was a tone of arrogance that this is all the

tax information you're going to get. eugene robinson, wouldn't senator john mccain be able to offer some kind of insight here? wouldn't he know what's in the tax returns seeing that romney was vetted? what about that? >> i guess he would. so we should all beat a path to mccain's door and see if he remembers what the numbers were. not just mccain but others in the campaign that might have seen all of the tax returns. and look, romney says, we'll never satisfy the people who want more information, more information. so we're not going down that road. that's one explanation. the other explanation, the other possibility is that there's stuff in there he just doesn't want to be seen more widely, and you can believe either of those things until we see some evidence. >> well, romney says that, you know, he wasn't associated with bain after 1999, but he says he should get the credit for the jobs that were created by bain after 1999. here it is.

>> businesses that we helped create and helped start went on to create lots of jobs. so if you're responsible for starting a business and it grows and adds a lot of jobs in the coming years, then i'm happy to point out my involvement was helping to get that business started. >> michael steele, shouldn't he if he's going to take credit for the jobs created, shouldn't he get the blame for the layoffs and outsourcing at bain after 1999? >> i'm sure i can count on you. >> he can't have it both ways, can he? >> to be fair, and not to split the hair too much here, i think what he was referring to is that those companies that he worked with, while he was there, that -- it didn't stop once he left bain. those companies continued to grow and do what they do. i think that was the reference point. but you do ask a broader and i think just as important question that in the narrative of bain and in the perception that all of this has been glommed together, there is no separation between when you started and when you left. it's all bain all romney, you're

going to have to clean it up a little bit better than it's been cloocleaned up today. >> quick answer, you first, mr. steele. could this drip to november? >> potentially, yes. >> gene? >> yeah, i think it could unless he gets a plumbar in there fast. >> he needs one. i wonder if that would be a union plumber? probably not. eugene, michael, thank you for your time. remember to answer tonight's question at the bottom of the screen. we share your thoughts on twitter at ed show. we want you to do that and on facebook. coming up, actress madeleine stowe will join me and explain why majority leader eric cantor is bad for america and in trouble. you don't want to miss it. stay tuned, right back. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar,

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from his constituents. >> republicans claim, they claim that the affordable care act is a job killer and bad for small businesses. i'll talk to two small business owners who say the law is helping them create jobs and save money. and harry reid is calling for filibuster reform after senate republicans blocked a bill that would have created a million jobs. richard wolffe joins me for the discussion. share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using the hash tag ed show. we're coming right back.

i notice the house of representatives. the republicans and the house of

representatives voted to repeal it again. 33 votes to repeal the health care bill. all it would take is one vote to make sure that all of you don't see your taxes go up next year. you tell me what would be a better use of time. >> president obama on the campaign trail in virginia earlier today taking a few shots at congress. it's one of several stops today he made in the key battleground states and the polling is in his favor in virginia. he's 8 points ahead of his opponent, mitt romney, and railing against a do-nothing congress appears to be a good strategy. congress has a 10% approval rating. congress is now less popular than richard nixon during watergate. congress is also less popular than the bp during the oil spill crisis. and how in the world do you get a 10% approval rating? well, this is how. this is the face of the worst congress ever. majority leader eric cantor has led the charge and opposition and opposing the president's

policies. he's up for re-election this year in a depending conservative district, virginia's seventh. yet, it looks like even his own constituents are losing confidence in the congressman and his scorched earth strategy appeared to be backfiring. the majority of voters said they would support a candidate who works with the president at least some of the time. and the republicans war on women, particularly in virginia, has taken its toll. voters said they would support a pro choice candidate by a surprisingly large margin, 68% to 23%. how is it going in virginia? i'm joined tonight by actress madeleine stowe who is the keynote speaker at a women's strike force event on saturday in richmond, virginia. madeleine, great to have you with us tonight. got to say, big fan. great work over the years. >> it's a pleasure to be here. thank you, ed. >> i have to ask you, we have been reporting on this war on women and there's been a lot of developments in virginia with

this radical governor. has that connected with voters? what are you seeing in the state? >> first, i want to say i have a great deal of interest in the state because my husband is from virginia. and his entire immediate family is as well. they're all buried there. so we have watched very carefully what is going on, and it's absolutely stunning and appalling. there is a huge public outcry, i think governor mcdonnell, who passed this ultra sound bill that requires all women to have an ultrasound before they derminate a pregnancy has struck a raw nerve. initially, what he wanted to do was something called a transvaginal procedure, which would -- is really basically akin to rape. there was a huge public outcry, and now they can have an abdominal ultrasound but that is still an invasion, a governmental invasion in a woman's right to privacy. >> you sense this is going to motivate voters to make a

difference? >> it's going to make a huge difference, and there's another big called hb-1 that would make it illegal for women to get contraception as we know it, to deny women the morning after pill, you know, these basic things the ihave to control their bodies and their futures. it's a major political issue and a social issue of our times. >> well, the numbers show that virginiaens are against these radical measures, no doubt, to the point where a gentleman that i understand you're supporting, wayne powell, wayne powell, we want americans to know who this gentleman is because he's going up against eric cantor who is responsible for a lot of obstruction in congress. he's a vet, pro choice, pro social justice, pro economic justice, yet relatively unknown. wlie are you motivated to support this guy? what about removing cantor? >> first of all, in terms of women's reproductive rights, wayne powell went, when there

were these massive protests and people arrested for paefrly demonstrating on the capitol steps, wayne powell went right to their aid and agreed to represent 30 men and women pro bono. he is a fiscal conservative, which i think serves the seventh district very well. there's a problem with eric cantor, eric cantor is a man who shorted, who actually shorted u.s. treasury bonds for his own personal financial gain. this is unpatriotic. now, this is one of two things, either has been giving inside information to his wall street bookie, or he doesn't have confidence in his own ability as an american leader. you know, for his own nation. he bet against his country. and to me, this is unpatriotic and reprehensible. >> how much do you think he is the cause of obstruction? and how much damage has he done to the country, in your opinion? >> let's put it this way, when

john boehner was trying to come to terms with president obama to reduce this deficit, eric cantor went full blast against it and he voted, he supported the ryan bill. the ryan bill will put the deficit $6 trillion deeper than we already are in the next ten years. okay, he has obstructed any kind of progress in the american congress and in the senate and it's been a real problem. and as we all know, americans are sick and tired of having congress do nothing. and eric cantor is the hands of wall street, in the hands of people who are now controlling the major -- pulling the financial levers of this country. >> and quickly, you're on the ground in virginia. do you think he's vulnerable? >> he's extremely vulnerable. once people know that his interests are in wall street and major corporations and that wayne powell is interesting in

main straight, there's going to be a big conflageration. >> thank you. >> coming up, the biggest lie about small business. the republicans claim the affordable care act is killing mom and pop operations. we'll uncover the truth next. and a new report shows condoleezza rise at the top of romney's vp list. this could be a plot to take the pressure off mitt's bain problems. our panel is going to weigh in on that. stay tuned.

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you know, in this business, we say we have to go to the source. we're going to do it tonight. we have been exposing the biggest republican lies this week. tonight, we're going to tell you the truth about the affordable care act and how it's helping american small businesses. first, here's what republicans want you to think. >> obama care is a job killer. >> increasing the cost of health insurance for the american people and making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers. >> not only will this tax place more hardship on small businesses to follow the law. >> they're going to decide to make everybody part time because they can't afford to pay the fine and they can't afford to pay the insurance. >> who wants four more years of obama care. >> we know a number of small businesses across america, owners who would love to have four more years of obama care. let's talk to a couple of those business owners.

not professional talkers. these are workers, these are small business people. i want to introduce people to cathy cook. she runs a pet store in or gone, and kimberly runs a private investigation firm in hermosa springs, florida. i'm going to do a ciras of these interviews with small business owners. you're the first ones to come on "the ed show." all we here from republicans is this is a job killer. cathy cook, you own "all about the pets" and you have six employees and you say your tax savings was more than $6,000 under the health care reform. but the republicans say that you can't afford it. what's the truth? >> well, the truth is before the affordable care act, my employees were contributing to premium support. and with the $6,000 i was able to take away, they no longer to have contribute to their premium support. that basically gave them a

raise, and i know of other small businesses that have taken people from part time to full time or who have hired more part time people. i don't know what the republicans are talking ub. i love the health care act. >> kimberly, you run a private investigation business with your husband. will it allow you to hire more people because republicans are saying it's a job killer? >> i todon't understand how the republicans say it's a job killer. our business is really hard by the recession. but now we're seeing things tick up a little bit and with this affordable health care act, we're looking forward to bringing obnew people. >> cathy, could you employees afford health care coverage before the affordable care act? >> absolutely not. i paid for their health care, and they contributed part of the premium. it's one of the ways i dealt with the continually escalating premium. since the health care act, my premiums have stabilized, they

have not increased as they were increasing every year. >> kimberly newman, what about covering your grown son and daughter? are they on your health care plan? >> my son is a filmmaker in new york city and my daughter is in vintage fashions in st. louis, and both of them have recently graduated from college. and you know, they're in positions -- my son is a freelance filmmaker so he doesn't have health insurance. he has to be on our policy. we have really appreciated having these extra few years of them on our policy so we can get them set up until they get into -- until they get really going in their careers and they can afford their own health care. >> you know, we just want the truth on "the ed show." both of you meet payroll. both of you have deadlines, both of you have obligations. cathy and kimberly, i'll ask you first, cathy, is the affordable health care act a job killer? >> absolutely not. it's a job creator. they call themselves job creators. they are not.

>> kimberly? >> i'm telling you, ed, it's going to be -- it's really going to help us be able to afford to bring people into our business. >> i want to thank both of you for being on here tonight. and i hope i didn't embarrass you by saying you're not professional talkers, but i think you know what i'm talking about. you're just average americans who are out there running a business, paying your bills, meeting deadlines, meeting payroll, and you have employees and it's not killing your business. it's helping you business, and i think this is a story that has to be told across america. cathy cook and kimberly newman, i appreciate you joining me on the program. thank you. there's a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay tuned. >> i speak with people of a wide range ofbackgrounds and views. john bolton is different than condoleezza rise. >> is the condie job just a con job? >> if we had done this, the might have been a feather in barack obama's cap, so nope,

can't do it. got to fill abust. >> and democrats say republicans flushed a million jobs down the toilet just to harm the president. now senator harry reid is making news about filibuster reform. that story is ahead. [ morgan ] right now when you use your visa card, you're entered for a chance to win a trip to the olympic games for life. to cheer the summer athletes to new heights, starting in 2016... as you experience every moment, every emotion, every four years... for the rest of your life. visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. people everywhere go with visa.

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♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ welcome back to "the ed show." mitt romney is pulling the old bait and switch to devert attention away from his bain problems. last night, drudge ran a story claiming condoleezza rice is at the top of romney's vp list. she will not be romney's pick for vice president. this is just a stunlt by the romney campaign and a diversionary tactic. there's a laundry list of problems with condie from being pro choice to helping start the iraq war. we remember when she said this about saddam hussein. >> the problem here is that there will always be some

uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons, but we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. >> there's no doubt her record is a mess with republicans but it's good news for mitt. he has problems with african-american voters and wipen voters. this news conveniently helps him in both of those demographics. this afternoon, a spokesman for condoleezza rice said she's not interested in the job as vice president. a short time later, romney told fox news he's standing by his pledge to pick a pro-life running mate. in other words, enough problems in one day. no more, i have to clarify this. it looks like the condie story is a con job by the media. let's turn to ari berman and kelly goff, and michael medved. you just spoke a few days ago, i

understand, to mitt romney and talked to him about vp candidates. what was your response and how ridiculous is the vp talk about surrounding condi rice? >> i don't think it's ridiculous at all. she would be a formidable candidate. the kind of candidate any nominee for president wants to choose. what kind of candidate is that? somebody where you can say, i don't like the policies, i don't like the ideology, but she's a formidable, capable, kaumptitant person. no one would have a moment's hesitation if she was the vice presidential candidate that she would be prepared to take over the white house? >> no one? are you buying that? >> i think the bigger story is why she would decide to run in the vp slot with someone she is more qualified than in a lot of ways. i love when the media turns something into a big story that has been around for a year. i wrote about this last year and

interviewed a consultant who said gender and ethnic diversity factor into sources. and he was kevin madden who is now senior adviser to mitt romney. >> ari, would the romney camp -- all right, just be stupid enough to pick somebody with bush baggage? >> no, and let's be real here, ed, the campaign is going to pick a boring white man as their vp because they're going to play it as safe as possible. they don't want someone like condoleezza rice. she doesn't have economic experience, she reminds people of the bush administration. romney is going to go with someone like ohio senator rob porter or tim pawlenty. >> he's not going to go with rob portman because he has bush baggage as well. rob portman was budget director for jogeorge w. bush and an unlikely choice. >> there's something to the bush baggage is what you're say sng.

>> condoleezza rice is someone who transcends that. she has a 3 to 1 approve disapprove positive rating from all of the polling that haas been done on her. she's one of the most admired women in america. what stuns me is why it is when even conservatives, sarah palin, said condoleezza rice would be a wonderful choice. >> that's the kiss of death right there. >> even conservatives are acknowledging that she is a serious candidate, i don't understand why people on the left are so eager to dismiss her. >> let me say this, too. i'm going to challenge something that was said earlier, condoleezza rice, floating a name like that is not trying to win the black vote. we saw what happened at innaacp speech. it's about helping him win the independent voters because they like things like diversity and inclusion and inclusiveness. at the moment, the gop is sort of zero for zero in reputational issues on that front. >> it hurts the gop when you have a war on voting and a war on women and then you have

someone like condoleezza rice you're turning to to try to rep repel both of those. >> in the midst of this bain thing, isn't she the perfect diversion? >> she's not a diversion. this is a very, very real possibility. by the way, bobby jindal is, marco rubio is, i think that the certainty that you have that mitt romney is going to choose a, quote, boren white guy, gee, i didn't think we were supposed to gender and race stereotype. >> let me say this, what we're miss sg that the one thing that condoleezza rice would bring to the ticket is armor for romney and the gop in terms of racial gaffes. which we're going to see plenty of this year because we have already seen a ton of them from gop elected officials since president obama was sworn into office. so i think there's something to the fact they know with president obama's likability ratings, they can't afford to

attack this man personally and be seen as racist. >> i want to talk about the five interviews mitt romney did today trying to mop up the mess with bain. i'll ask all of you the question i asked uyean jeugene robinson michael steele. did he close doors? >> because i was broadcasting my own show, i didn't hear the interviews, but i -- >> he went against sworn testimony from his times back running at governor in massachusetts saying he had nothing to do with bain after 1999 but the documentation, i mean, he was very bold today or pigheaded, whatever you want to call it. he didn't give any ground on this. he said he didn't have anything to do with bain after 1999. >> there was no seb standive response to the fact he was there three years after he said he was, and not only that, but there's just the problem romney has that people don't believe what he is saying, and he has to offer some sort of substandive response and he has to offer more than two years of dax returns. it's not going to satisfy

republicans at all. let alone the people -- >> you said earlier, ed, you suggested the condoleezza rice was an attempt to distract from bain. honestly, this bain thing is a crazy attempt to distract from president obama's stewardship of the economy. bain capital hasin't been runnig the economy the last three years. >> they didn't fill out the filing reports. there's a serious discrepancy here. they took it so far as to suggest a felony. >> lots of people in the democratic party think these attacks are embarrassing. >> the process is embarrassing? >> bring the charges. bring it. >> kelly, you have the last word on this. this is supposed to be embarrassing? a vetting process? >> the average american person can answer questions about their place of employment, time of employment, and taxes in one

sentence. that raises a question for voters. >> ari, kelly, and michael, great to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. coming up, congress is o outraged that the united states olympic team uniforms are being made in china. you won't believe how much ralph lauren is selling these things for. we'll bring you the numbers next. [ male announcer ] you sprayed them.

thought they were dead. huh? [ male announcer ] should've used roundup. it kills weeds to the root, so they don't come back. roundup. no root. no weed. no problem. up next, members of congress have spoken out about ralph lauren's foreign made uniforms. tonight, the company is responding. and to the big finish, republicans continue to block legislation to help the economy. i'll talk with richard wolffe about whether filibuster reform could be the solution. harry reid talked about it today. and don't forget to listen to my radio show. monday through friday, noon to 3:00. follow me on twitter at ed show and like the ed show on facebook. we would love you to do that. we're right back. at exxon and mobil, we engineer our gasoline

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i think the olympic committee should be ashamed of themselves. i think they should be embarrassed. i think they should take all of the uniforms, put them in a pile, burn them, and start over again. >> outrage from congress has hit ralph lauren. the designer announced today the uniforms for the 2014 winter games in russia will be made in the united states of america. however, raffle lauren is still making a lot of money off this year's uniforms that are made in china. the men's uniform cost a staggering $1900. the women's uniform is selling for $1600. do the math for the 530 athletes and ralph lauren is pulling in about a million dollars, not to mention what they'll make on sales to the public, because people just want them. some of the money will end up in executives' pockets here in america. meanwhile, a good chunk of the

money won't be going to help middle class workers who need it in the struggling economy. bad decision by the olympic committee. interesting how congress responded to it, and the republicans have been quiet about it. i asked you will mitt romney ever come clean about his finances? 5% say yes, 95% say no. coming up, the republicans voting against jobs and helping the economy. now the top democrats say they have had enough. find out why the rules could be changing for republicans when we come back.

if you're still unsure about whether republicans are holding back the economy on purpose to try and hurt the president, just look at this vote. >> finally tonight, the big finish. there's more proof that the republicans simply do not want the economy to get better under president obama. senate republicans blocked a vote that would have created jobs and boosted small businesses. this took place late yesterday on the senate floor. the small business jobs and tax relief act. sounds simple, right? it would have offered a 10% tax credit for mom and pop operations that added to their payrolls, and there's a cap, so only small businesses would only benefit. it also gives a deduction on major equipment purchases. 100% write off for 2013. can't beat it. this bill would have added about a million jobs to the united states economy.

630,000 of those jobs would have been created for small businesses across america. but senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader and the rest of the republicans, gnnah, we don't want to do that. they did what they always do. they filibustered. they killed the bill and blocked the job creation. harry reid told me on my radio show today, he has had enough. >> there's filibustering until we have to change the rules. we can't go on like this anymore. i don't want to get rid of the filibuster, but i have to tell you i want to change the rules and make the filibuster meaningful. >> republicans mounted the highest number of filibusters in history in the senate over the last two years. it looks like they'll break that record again before the november election. let's turn to msnbc political analyst richard wolffe. great to have you with us tonight. reid went on to say if barack obama gets re-elected and of course harry reid is still the majority leader, they're going

to do something about this. your thoughts on this. what should -- should republicans take notice of this and will it have an effect to motivate either side to go to the polls in november with more intensity? >> i'm not sure what harry reid meant by not ending the filibuster but making it more phe meaningful. but clearly, it's in need of reform. the best time to do is when the other side thinks they're going to be in the majority. if mitch mcconnell is right, there's a 50/50 chance, the time to do is when both sides think they can be in the majority. there's a danger. you cannot change the rules back, but clearly, this is not democratic, it's not working. it's undermining the system as the founders would have intended it. nobody wanted a vote of 60 to get through the constitution. yes, this is a time to it, but the time is actually while the other side think s they have a chance of success because then

you have a combined interest in doing it. nobody wants to be filibustered that much and republicans will have payback if they take over under these ruled. >> this was a spontaneous reaction. they really didn't think that the republicans were going to filibuster this one because this was a slam dunk to help small businesses, and this is exactly what the republicans love to tell the american people that they are the champions of small business. this was the time to do it, wasn't it? >> you could not come up with a more favorable collection of words without saying motherhood, apple pie, and small furry animals. it's small business, it's jobs, it's tax cuts. what is the problem here? and the problem is that nothing can work in this situation. everything becomes a test of another debate, a bigger principal, and that principle is we lost the last election and we wanted to win it. and you cannot function as a democracy like that. not with this system. you want to play lie parliamentary rules, you need a

parliamentary system. that's fwhaut what we have in this country. >> how many americans figure out what a filibuster is. i think many do know what it is. and obstruction is what they're putting up with. mitt romney did five interviews today. did he close the door to the bain problem or is this going to continue to drip? >> if you look at the surface, you say, hey, he looked confident and he was affirmative. if you listen to what he said, it does not track with the facts. it doesn't track with the signature he put to his own official documents. most people say when i sign a piece of paper, i'm taking responsibility for something. he told nbc news today that he had no responsibility, literally, that's what he said, no responsibility for what happened at bain. that just doesn't track with people's life experience. either the paper meant nothing, the papers that he signed to the s.e.c. saying that he was chairman and chief executive and everything else, either those papers meant nothing or the interview meant nothing. this is a good performance on the face of it, but you don't

have to look hard to say there are many unanswered questions, the story is far from over. >> the obama campaign not backing off. the white house saying they weren't satisfied with his answers. they want more tax returns. to me, mitt romney is coming off as a spoiled rich guy who always had authority and nobody has told him what to do and damn it, this is the tax rurnls and you're not going to get more. that's the way he came off today. >> if he was doing what he was doing in this documents for three years, every journalist out there will get their hands on other invested documents and every single one of them will be a story now because of what he has just said in these five interviews. every single one will be a story all the way through to the convention. that's what he set up today. he need today put out his own documents. he needed to answer every question, not do a 15-minute interview. that time is going to come because this campaign cannot sustain another month of these stories. >> and if the reporting earlier is correct about how much money he