Obama, not ‘Mr. Business’ Romney, gets Bloomberg endorsement

>> we begin with our hearts and minds still very much with those reeling and recovering from sandy's devastation. at least 74 people are dead in the region, dozens more lost in the caribbean. some 5 million are still without power. but life is starting to move forward, and after a day as comforter in chief consoling those who lost everything in new jersey, the president is back on the trail with just five days to the election. we're expecting air force one to touch down in las vegas in just a few moments, and earlier today in wisconsin the president regathered his campaign fight making his closing argument in this election and urging voters to say no to the purveyors of cynicism.

>> they spent millions to stop us from reforming health care and wall street and student loans, and their strategy from the start was to engineer pure gridlock in congress. their bet is on cynicism. but wisconsin , my bet is on you.

>> of course, wisconsin is a key part of the president's so-called midwest firewall, including iowa and ohio. states leaning in his favor that would hand him the election. even with romney sweeping the rest. our newest poll shows the president's lead holding but narrowing. in wisconsin romney has cut his opponent's lead from six points to three. in iowa the president maintains a six-point lead down to eight points two weeks ago. these final days every minute, every move, every vote counts, as mitt romney is well aware. doing three events in virginia today where he staked his race on the business savvy that has made him a millionaire many times over.

>> we don't need the secretary of business to understand business . we need a president who understands business and i do and that's why i'll be able to --

>> i'm not sure that mr. romney realizes that this week everyone's been reminded that americans need much in a president than the ability to make money. moments ago, another man noted for his business expertise, now leader of the nation's largest city, independent mayor mike bloomberg , has just endorsed president obama for four more years. let's get right to our panel. with us from washington, msnbc political analyst david corn , author of "47 percent." and joy reid managing editor of thegrio.com. of who always brings 100%.

>> borrowing the words of calvin coolidge who said the business of america is business . the most respected businessman turned politician mike bloomberg has just endorsed the president. what do you make of that move?

>> what was interesting was one of the reasons mayor bloomberg cited, which was climate change . looking at the devastating impact of the storm sandy --

>> due mean that nonsensical, mumbo jumbo , nonsense that isn't believable.

>> we will remember when mitt romney joked, actually joked, about rising ocean levels and the president's desire to do something about it during his speech in tampa. and so i think mike bloomberg is taking that quite seriously, and even though this isn't been an issue unfortunately in this campaign and even though i think the president cares about this, wants to do something about it, he's been sort of beat back by obstructionistic congress on this front, mike bloomberg sees it as a serious matter. it's a reminder in these closing days when we get focused on firewalls and gaffes and nongaffes, what comes on tuesday has a lot to do with the future of this nation and the future of the world, quite frankly , because the nights is such united states h as such an impact. i think bloomberg is bridging us back to why we're in this.

>> i want to get your rae action on reaction on bloomberg and read you what the economist has said. they said mr. romney has an economic plan that works only if you don't believe most of what he says. this is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. i mean, what's happened to all these businessmen? i thought romney 's calling card was his business expertise.

>> yeah. it's interesting, martin, that you mentioned old cal coolidge. a lot of what mitt romney and his running mate paul ryan are talking about in economic policy , if you believe what they're saying at any given moment, would take us back to that era when business and wall street had a free hand and workers had no rights, their bosses were bound to respect. it was the preunion era when you had robber barronsons running ram hant over the rest of the country. mitt romney would return the country to an era when the balance of power was held by very large businesses in wall street and not by their employees. that said, if the economist and michael bloomberg have one thing in common, it's like they know how to do math. mitt romney 's promises don't add up because his real business it turns out is marketing. he's microtargeting a message to whatever audience is in front of him at that very moment and then telling the next audience sometimes the opposite. it does depend on whether you believe, look, if he was still the 2003 or the 1990s era romney , bloomberg said he might have joted for him but this guy has change sod many times because he's constantly in the business of target marketing .

>> it's really hard to keep track pivoting off joy's point here now. he's the guy in favor of business but yet the heads of the -- the ceos of chrysler and gm had to come out and say you're lie being us and you're going to hurt our sales with your lies. he's not really keeping up with business there, but i have to tell you also, earlier this week he got subsumed by the sandy coverage as it should have, but i put out a story with another videotape in which mitt romney talking to a fund-raiser earlier this year says, you know, there's a better business environment in china than the united states . well, why is that? it's because they have no worker protections, no environmental --

>> they have no human rights , david .

>> and low wages. so is he saying he wants to bring us back to that point? like to the days of cal coolidge as joy suggests?

>> david , yes.

>> there's a lot going on that doesn't compute and when it does compute it's rather scary.

>> there's something called the moonlight magnolia theory of economics. the south practices it right now. when you strip away unions and you can lower wages, businesses are more profitable. that's why wall street -- you see the stock market tick up when companies lay people off because it's considered more efficient.

>> romney 's closing campaign appears to be focused on frightening people. in ohio he puts out an ad that frightens people as david has said into believing they will lose their job in the auto industry but in virginia he frightens them into believing they will lose their health care . listen to this.

>> perhaps needing the care of a specialist, if he or she makes a call to the doctor and if obama care is installed and the president is re-elected, why when making that call you're most likely going to have the receptionist come back and say, sorry, we're not taking any more medicare patients.

>> again, joy, a total lie, and yet frightening to people who may believe what he says.

>> yeah. i think the thing is that, again, this is a marketing -- it's something unlike martin that i have ever seen. i have been following politics for a very long time and he literally has not really paid a price for this kind of behavior. so what the lesson that mitt romney has learned from this election is that he can get away with a lot of what we used to call flip-flopping but what a lot of democrats just call flat out lying, and he's doing what he has to do. i mean, this is a guy who a lot of people have said his only true ideology is that he believes in the ambition of mitt romney , and he will do and say whatever it takes.

>> the most important line of this whole campaign, public line, not talking about the 47% video, was when mitt romney --

>> but the second reference to your own journalism in this broadcast.

>> thank you for pointing that out.

>> when mitt romney 's pollster said we will not be dictated to by fact checkers, it's been the mantra of his campaign, fashths don't matter, reality doesn't matter, i will say anything at any given point in time. it's not just flip-flopping, not making reckless charges and accusations that don't hold water and when you're called out, what do you do? you say it again and again and again. as joy pointed out, if he wins, he will be rewarded for this behavior. i know from having two kids, when you let them get away with stuff, they don't start behaving better.

>> david , as the race gets closer and election day bears down upon us , we have the legendary mike huckabee suggesting if we vote for the president we may yet have to pay for it in eternity. listen to this.

>> your vote will affect the future and be recorded in eternity. will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire? this is mike huckabee asking you to join me november the 6th and vote based on values that will stand the test of fire.

>> david , your vote will be recorded in eternity and it must stand the test of fire. is it now his view that the unforgivable sin is voting for this president?

>> well, apparently not santa, but god is keeping a list of whether you're naughty or nice and if you're naughty, you're voting for barack obama and you're going to hell. i saw this the other day, too. it's just one of the many outrages that are just kind of cascading past us in these final weeks. i'm glad you picked up on it, but, you know, apparently there's no such thing anymore as a liberal christian , and the only type of christian that will get through the pearly gates are those who accept mitt romney 's lies and vote for him. you know, it's really -- i wish there was more of a national discourse in which something like this could be called out and mike huckabee could be shamed. but, you know, he's doing it to a particular audience. that audience hears it and the rest of us either don't pay attention or aren't offended.

>> incredible, joy and david , thank