>>> i'll work with anybody who wants to work with me to continue to improve our health care system and our health care laws, but the law i passed is here to stay.
>> not if house republicans have anything to say about it. the rules committee will meet on monday to talk about, yes, the repeal of the obamacare act. which majority leader eric cantor vowed to hold a vote on next week. this is not going away. meanwhile, the president is opening a new line of attack on governor romney , criticizing him for quote, abandoning his principles and suggesting a weakness of character.
>> the fact that a whole bunch of republicans in washington suddenly said this is a tax, for six years he said it wasn't, and now he suddenly reversed himself and so the question becomes are you doing that because of politics, are you abandoning a principle you fought for for six years simply because you're getting pressure for two days?
>> six years versus two days. ben smith , the president often issues his strongest rebukes of governor romney in these rhetorical questions. are you doing that, are you abandoning your principles and what he's saying is of course mitt romney is. later in the same interview with a local nbc affiliate, because the president is focused on being out and getting press in these states, he also said explicitly that governor romney changed his arguments here about taxes to echo what rush limbaugh said. do you think this is an effective way to get beyond the tax word choice debate and get into what's inside mitt romney 's heart?
>> i think they're trying to get him in this box where if he stays with his, you know, basically everything he's done for the last year has been selling out, where his entire campaign for the president has been a demonstration that in axelrod's words, that romney has no core. i think that's an argument they didn't feel was really sticking and they kind of moved away from, actually, over the spring. it seems they're getting back to their core character attack on him.
>> a bit of a double whammy where they are also trying to say he's a hostage. there was some debate, do you paint him as an extremist or a man can no core, a flip-flopper. to thread the needle, they say he has no core so he follows what the extremists are saying.
>> right. there is sort of this, as you said, this hostage idea of you might not even blame him for being a hostage. it might be really tough to be a nominee in the tea party year of the republican party , right? it might be a hard thing.
>> oddly it's why they love what murdoch said, that's his weakness.
>> it might be hard but if that's how he's going to govern, it is extraordinary because everything we have seen in the polling suggests that the public is not especially interested in the difference between the commerce clause power and what kind of partial tax penalties you could administer under the taxing clause of the constitution. i just got really bored talking about it. i do this for a living. but obviously, the president is opening what looks to be a new chapter in the health care attack. here we are on friday, jobs numbers, a lot going on, and he's saying don't believe mitt romney on health care , because he is rush limbaugh 's sock puppet .
>> listen, we were talking earlier about republicans trying to go after this and repeal it, but on and on and on, we've got republicans trying to repeal it, we've got this vote that's not going to mean anything but be a messaging vote. as far as mitt romney is concerned, i just -- we'll have to see --
>> are you speechless?
>> i am. i have no idea where to go from here.
>> it's a talk show . go ahead.
>> i am not speechless. i will jump in here. if you look at what the house republicans are doing, they have already voted to repeal this bill. they are all already on record. this was the first bill that they did out of the box after the elections. all they're doing is redoing what they've already done. if you look at the messages out of the democrats today about the jobs numbers, democrats are saying now look, republicans are just trying to fight the fights we've already fought, trying to relitigate old battles. that's where the democrats are going. i think it's still interesting that the house republicans are pushing forward on this vote. i don't think they trust mitt romney to be the messenger on this.
>> exactly.
>> they know he's not doing a good job and they know he's a flawed messenger on the health care message so they want to be out there on their own, on the record, saying this is what we're going to do, even if we have a republican in the white house , it's going to go all the way. they're making the message for mitt romney because they don't trust him to do it on his own and it seems he can't do it on his own.
>> there's a strong point to the historical record which is they have taken this position, there isn't a lot of ambiguity about it.
>> they're getting really good at it.
>> i want to bring in mitt romney . he's not here with us on satellite but he did take questions today for the first time in 35 days on the campaign trail and he has a different view of the history here. let's take a listen.
>> i've spoken about health care from the day we passed it in massachusetts and people said is this something that you would apply at the federal level and i said no. i said the right course for the federal government is to allow states to create their own plans, and by the way, the proof is that i was right, because obamacare is costing jobs in america.
>> michael, does it work for him to say he's just always been consistent because that's what he said today, a few hours ago.
>> look, i do think that as a simple sound bite to say that you can do something at a state level but it's different to do it at a federal level is a reasonable, defensible position for him to make and he can say it concisely. the problem is, there is so much noise around it, so much push-back, so much kind of almost absurd debate over commerce clause versus tax versus penalty that i think he gets drowned out. i actually don't think it's a totally crazy position to take.
>> there is also a lot of old video of mitt romney saying certainly not caveating it in the way he said, that's not how he said it from the beginning. he talked about it, he may not have explicitly said here's my plan for national policy but he talked about the mandate, why it was a good idea in the 2009 " usa today " op-ed has these caveats where it shouldn't be national model.
>> he called it a model for what the country could do on health care . he's getting himself so tripped up. while i agree with the supreme court they said it's a tax, it's a tax, but i also agree with the dissent. i don't agree with the majority on one piece but the majority said this on that piece. health care is just not his wheelhouse.
>> it's so unpopular. if he can just be you know what, whatever i said in the past is past. i'm the guy that's going to repeal it. that is true. that's his campaign promise . that is appealing to a lot of people.
>> what they say in chicago is what is true today is not always true tomorrow with him. that undercuts that ongoing credibility. what is striking here ultimately is the president's out here saying as a matter of precedent this bill, this law now, is not going away. a lot of pundits thought as a political topic, it might, and that doesn't seem to be the case either. we are here now in july, both candidates trading volleys on health care . after the break, we are now going to look at a very important agreement that has opened a critical supply road between afghanistan and pakistan, after seven months of closure based on diplomatic difficulties. we will touch on the questions that confront secretary of state clinton after the break. [
>> not if house republicans have anything to say about it. the rules committee will meet on monday to talk about, yes, the repeal of the obamacare act. which majority leader eric cantor vowed to hold a vote on next week. this is not going away. meanwhile, the president is opening a new line of attack on governor romney , criticizing him for quote, abandoning his principles and suggesting a weakness of character.
>> the fact that a whole bunch of republicans in washington suddenly said this is a tax, for six years he said it wasn't, and now he suddenly reversed himself and so the question becomes are you doing that because of politics, are you abandoning a principle you fought for for six years simply because you're getting pressure for two days?
>> six years versus two days. ben smith , the president often issues his strongest rebukes of governor romney in these rhetorical questions. are you doing that, are you abandoning your principles and what he's saying is of course mitt romney is. later in the same interview with a local nbc affiliate, because the president is focused on being out and getting press in these states, he also said explicitly that governor romney changed his arguments here about taxes to echo what rush limbaugh said. do you think this is an effective way to get beyond the tax word choice debate and get into what's inside mitt romney 's heart?
>> i think they're trying to get him in this box where if he stays with his, you know, basically everything he's done for the last year has been selling out, where his entire campaign for the president has been a demonstration that in axelrod's words, that romney has no core. i think that's an argument they didn't feel was really sticking and they kind of moved away from, actually, over the spring. it seems they're getting back to their core character attack on him.
>> a bit of a double whammy where they are also trying to say he's a hostage. there was some debate, do you paint him as an extremist or a man can no core, a flip-flopper. to thread the needle, they say he has no core so he follows what the extremists are saying.
>> right. there is sort of this, as you said, this hostage idea of you might not even blame him for being a hostage. it might be really tough to be a nominee in the tea party year of the republican party , right? it might be a hard thing.
>> oddly it's why they love what murdoch said, that's his weakness.
>> it might be hard but if that's how he's going to govern, it is extraordinary because everything we have seen in the polling suggests that the public is not especially interested in the difference between the commerce clause power and what kind of partial tax penalties you could administer under the taxing clause of the constitution. i just got really bored talking about it. i do this for a living. but obviously, the president is opening what looks to be a new chapter in the health care attack. here we are on friday, jobs numbers, a lot going on, and he's saying don't believe mitt romney on health care , because he is rush limbaugh 's sock puppet .
>> listen, we were talking earlier about republicans trying to go after this and repeal it, but on and on and on, we've got republicans trying to repeal it, we've got this vote that's not going to mean anything but be a messaging vote. as far as mitt romney is concerned, i just -- we'll have to see --
>> are you speechless?
>> i am. i have no idea where to go from here.
>> it's a talk show . go ahead.
>> i am not speechless. i will jump in here. if you look at what the house republicans are doing, they have already voted to repeal this bill. they are all already on record. this was the first bill that they did out of the box after the elections. all they're doing is redoing what they've already done. if you look at the messages out of the democrats today about the jobs numbers, democrats are saying now look, republicans are just trying to fight the fights we've already fought, trying to relitigate old battles. that's where the democrats are going. i think it's still interesting that the house republicans are pushing forward on this vote. i don't think they trust mitt romney to be the messenger on this.
>> exactly.
>> they know he's not doing a good job and they know he's a flawed messenger on the health care message so they want to be out there on their own, on the record, saying this is what we're going to do, even if we have a republican in the white house , it's going to go all the way. they're making the message for mitt romney because they don't trust him to do it on his own and it seems he can't do it on his own.
>> there's a strong point to the historical record which is they have taken this position, there isn't a lot of ambiguity about it.
>> they're getting really good at it.
>> i want to bring in mitt romney . he's not here with us on satellite but he did take questions today for the first time in 35 days on the campaign trail and he has a different view of the history here. let's take a listen.
>> i've spoken about health care from the day we passed it in massachusetts and people said is this something that you would apply at the federal level and i said no. i said the right course for the federal government is to allow states to create their own plans, and by the way, the proof is that i was right, because obamacare is costing jobs in america.
>> michael, does it work for him to say he's just always been consistent because that's what he said today, a few hours ago.
>> look, i do think that as a simple sound bite to say that you can do something at a state level but it's different to do it at a federal level is a reasonable, defensible position for him to make and he can say it concisely. the problem is, there is so much noise around it, so much push-back, so much kind of almost absurd debate over commerce clause versus tax versus penalty that i think he gets drowned out. i actually don't think it's a totally crazy position to take.
>> there is also a lot of old video of mitt romney saying certainly not caveating it in the way he said, that's not how he said it from the beginning. he talked about it, he may not have explicitly said here's my plan for national policy but he talked about the mandate, why it was a good idea in the 2009 " usa today " op-ed has these caveats where it shouldn't be national model.
>> he called it a model for what the country could do on health care . he's getting himself so tripped up. while i agree with the supreme court they said it's a tax, it's a tax, but i also agree with the dissent. i don't agree with the majority on one piece but the majority said this on that piece. health care is just not his wheelhouse.
>> it's so unpopular. if he can just be you know what, whatever i said in the past is past. i'm the guy that's going to repeal it. that is true. that's his campaign promise . that is appealing to a lot of people.
>> what they say in chicago is what is true today is not always true tomorrow with him. that undercuts that ongoing credibility. what is striking here ultimately is the president's out here saying as a matter of precedent this bill, this law now, is not going away. a lot of pundits thought as a political topic, it might, and that doesn't seem to be the case either. we are here now in july, both candidates trading volleys on health care . after the break, we are now going to look at a very important agreement that has opened a critical supply road between afghanistan and pakistan, after seven months of closure based on diplomatic difficulties. we will touch on the questions that confront secretary of state clinton after the break. [