>>> we are back with vice president joe biden going on the attack in a very personal way speaking to voters in the swing state of ohio just a couple of hours ago. the vice president hammered those he calls, quote, rich guys who talk down to low and middle income americans.
>> i resent when they talk about families like mine that i grew up in. i resent the fact they think we're talking about we're envy, job envy, wealth envy , that we don't dream. my mother and father believed that if my brother or sister wanted to be a millionaire, they could be a millionaire. my mother and father dreamed as much as any rich guy dreams. they don't get us. they don't get who we are.
>> let me bring in our political panel, jimmy williams and associate editor and columnist for the hill a.b. stoddard. this is what the president was referring to on the view, the passion that vice president biden , the connection, that he is able to bring. what's your take on those remarks in ohio ?
>> i think they're pretty risky, tamron. i understand what he is doing. he is trying to energize would-be supporters who would not vote for mitt romney anyway but may be disappointed with the president's first couple of years with some of his policies and the state of the economy and may not be really excited about this upcoming election and i know that he speaks effectively to those people and you could hear it in the crowd. it is very risky because so many persuadable voters that they're trying to win over in order to make it over the top and be reelected in the fall are turned off by this type of i don't know if you want to call it class warfare or this pop lichl. they are not so much resentful of rich people of a system they feel treats them unfairly, but i think going after rich people the way the vice president did today is actually a risk when thur trying to win over swing voters .
>> it is interesting. it worked for senator santorum when he talked about his background, his family, working in pennsylvania, his grandfather, and as well as newt gingrich when he won south carolina . i am intrigued by the fact you believe it is risky for vice president biden but sure worked for a decent period of time for newt gingrich . he may have blown it on other issues but along those lines it worked and kept rick santorum in a race that many people and he would admit the first week or month thought he would never survive. why would it be risky for one side and not the other?
>> i think those are two different cases. i don't think it worked for newt gingrich .
>> it worked in south carolina . go ahead.
>> he saw the republican party rally around mitt romney in defense of a free market system and start to criticize him openly including senator jim demitt and other influential leaders in the party. for rick santorum who refused to jump on mitt romney in those following days after this 30-minute bain video came out from the super pac that favored newt gingrich , rick santorum refused to actually jump on the gingrich bandwagon and also attack free market system and capitalism, so i think that what rick santorum is doing is saying i come from a humble background and you know where i have been and you know where i am going and i understand people like you and it didn't work for him ultimately. he is not the presumptive nominee and mitt romney is. vice president biden and president obama need to win over people who are skeptical of both parties and not republicans or democrats and mad at both parties and they need to many of them can be small business owners and who believe that starting a business is risky and sometimes people lose their jobs and they might understand that the bain capital story is actually -- there are exceptions to the stories but sometimes there is risk and reward and people lose their jobs and they might think attacking mitt romney that way and saying rich people don't understand us is a mistake.
>> a.b., going back to that point and correct me if i'm wrong, there were republicans including congressman ryan who felt that it had gotten so ugly that the bain capital line of attack was hurting mitt romney and they wanted it to stop for fear that it would exactly play out the way we're watching, that the democrats would rightfully go after mitt romney on this weakness. did that not happen?
>> i think there is a difference here, though. you can scare people with those -- with the bain capital ad that the obama team released this week. it is terrible to watch men say i worked for 28 or 30 years and my livelihood was destroyed and i lost my job and they took everything and left us debt ridden and bankrupt. it is awful. it is obviously a compelling argument against mitt romney because he was involved in private equity and it was not something that you invest time and energy in to create jobs. it is an effort to create wealth. it is not an effort to create jobs. that's a fair ground for attack. i think had vice president biden gets up and says they don't get us, those rich people , it is something that can be perceived by people who are not democrats, who are persuadable voters, yet to make up their mind about this election as an attack upon rich, successful people, and that is a risk for the democrats.
>> let me get you in here. do you see it as a risk you move by the vice president coming out and saying they don't get us and referring to as he did and a.b. points out rich people ?
>> oddly, i am going to agree with both of you. hear me out on this one. i think in states like wisconsin and minnesota and some of the midwestern and pennsylvania and labor states, i think the bieden message, the santorum message, the pop lis message, the fdr message rings well and people like it. i think in other states that are battle ground states southern states that are right to work states like north carolina , va virginia, and places like florida , i don't think it plays well and i agree with a.b. from that perspective. what matters here are independents and independent women ages 30 to 50. in certain states they can certainly relate to that but in many states they probably don't like the tone of it. i think it works and it all depends on where you're trying to do it.
>> you mentioned florida and not working there, jimmy. the miami herald , i have it here, part of the article, 815 jobs were lost while romney led bain to this company in miami , 850 jobs were lost, and with romney at the head of bain it has been well documented they say and also the tampa bay times talks about medical technology facility, that same company, dade bering, saddled with debt, wound up shutting down two medical facilities in miami , 850 jobs lost. that doesn't sound like a location or state to state problem. i don't care where you are, you lose your job, 850 jobs, that's a hot topic.
>> a.b. was right when she said private equity , there is an upside and a downside to it and what the obama campaign is doing and by the way they have the right to do it is pointing out the downside to it. florida , two parts to florida . there is the panhandle and there is the rest of the dag gone state. it is a very different place. the panhandle, the red neck rif era, ask joe scarborough , that's the south. they still fly con 23ed rat flags and the middle of the state used to be a farming area, a huge suburb now and southern florida , very, very different places. you're right from the perspective that when you -- when someone comes in, corporate raids, you lose your job, you have lost your job. you have lost your house. you now had to move and move in with family members and that is a bad, bad story to have to be told over and over again. by the way, the obama campaign will do that again and again and again all across the country.
>> to your point, a.b., let me bring you in the first points out, the bain story continues to chase romney as he is in south florida , miami , and then onto tampa. if it is risky business with joe biden and some of the language that you're not fond of that he used in ohio , is it risky business for mitt romney to -- if this narrative of the rich guy who doesn't care continues to chase him? is it risky for him to give the appearance that he is running from it and not facing it head on? have we heard strong enough language from mitt romney defending bain capital , his role, and how that would incorporate and what kind of president he would be for this country?
>> you're right. the team obama is attacking not private equity they say so much as the fact that mitt romney has used his years to describe himself as a job creator and they argue that's not how you create jobs. mitt romney is not offering an adequate response to this story. his campaign, the top of the week, when the obama ad came out said, well, he was gone by the time that happened. he had already left. that -- he is not going to defend private equity . he needs to actually define and you are right, tamron, what exactly he was doing, what the risk and reward system is for a businessman whether you're in a small business or a huge business, and that is the kind of thing he needs to defend if he wants to win the election and describe himself as a better steward for the economy than president obama .
>> all right, a.b. always a great pleasure having you both
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