Romney surrogates still using same feckless, offensive talking points

>> let's get right to our panel now. a pair of esteemed washington writers, jonathan capehart and dana milbank , political columnist. welcome to both of you. if i can start with you, ? jonathan, paul ryan and marco rubio spoke to a group of conservatives last night. they talked about helping the poor get into the middle class . in fact, i think we have a shot of paul ryan helping the poor. yes, there he is, in a soup kitchen during a campaign photo op . as we know, it was all just talk. when are we going to start hearing substance from these men or any republicans, for that matter?

>> paul ryan would say he's been talking substance for a long time on these issues. it's just that we don't like what he's saying. we don't like his prescriptions for how he would help the poor. personally, i think paul ryan --

>> how does it help the poor by stripping meals wheels, remove pell grants , how does that help the poor?

>> that's a question for congressman ryan. i'm telling you from his mindset, his perspective, one way to help people and the economy is to ensure the country is on sound financial fiscal footing. the way he wants to go about it would devastate the very people he says he wants to help reach the middle class and achieve the american dream .

>> dana , let's listen to some more of what paul ryan said last night. here he is.

>> both parties tend to divide americans into our voters and their voters. let's be really clear. republicans must steer far clear of that trap. ? we must speak to aspirations and anxieties of every american.

>> dana , paul ryan now says we shouldn't be dividing people but wasn't it he who said, before too long, we could become a society where the net majority of americans are takers, not makers? is that not dividing america?

>> well, it's all well and good to say let's steer clear of that dr trap once he's fallen to the bottom of the hole. i was up on the hill and saw paul ryan and the others there. i think for all the rhetoric, i think they are becoming to come to terms with reality here. i mean, paul ryan did sign off on this $800 billion tax increase. no, it's not enough. no, it's not done in the format it will need to be in the end. but they have finally chucked or at least reer toicly this long-time insistence. i think they're saying, okay, we lost the election, we are to get down to reality. they are off the cliff but it's an important concessions.

>> that's not bad, after four weeks, a general realization of reality.

>> today we heard john sununu echo his candidate's 47% remarks. also there's this editorial from the great ted nugent on how to resolve the fiscal cliff. the nug says, let's stop the insanity by suspending the right to vote of any american who's on welfare. how effective ? is voter suppression good at cushing insanity?

>> this is the first time we've heard from john sununu . probably not the first time we've heard from ted nugent . these are two outliers within the beaten republican party . remember, the polls were barely closed before republicans were coming out of the woodwork, talking about how they needed to broaden the tent, be more open and welcoming and approachable to the very people who turned their backs on the republican party and helped re-elect president obama . john sununu is addition you know, he's not speaking for the republican party . ted nugent , he's very entertaining and downright racist in some of the things he says.

>> if you like that kind of thing.

>> i guarantee you, they're not going to be standing at the speaker's podium in 2016 . the party moving beyond those characters.

>> i hope you're right. mitt romney , whom you've just written about is seclusion in retail therapy . the man who told us i love cars, american automobiles who bought himself a foreign car audi, built in slovakia, owned by ? a germany company. the capital of slovakia is quite aways away from detroit. is this is finally the real romney , the one he promised to give us and now we're seeing?

>> but he took his audi to costco and loaded up with cheap merchandise.

>> sorry sdmroop.

>> so he is a man of the people driving his luxury suv to the discount chain.

>> come o dana , he spends the whole campaign saying, i love america, implying the president doesn't. and the first thing he does is buy himself a german automobile.

>> well, first he moved out to this wealthy enclave, the home in california. he now has the luctiony automobile and joined the corporate board at marriott international . and then he took that break to complain he lost the election because obama was giving gifts to minorities. this has not been the greatest recovery from an election defeat. surely he needs time to lick his wounds. there might be a better way to do it. he did get to see twilight, so i guess he's enjoying himself.

>> i want to spare talking about dana 's column with dana , but if it were at the apex of his public attention spectrum and he could do a number of things, a number of effective contributions but the first thing he does is rejoin a board. how long will it be before he claims back those tax deductions he ?self-willingly rescinded to his tax rate would go up to 14% instead of the 9% it would have been at? how long do you think?

>> could be this tax year, no knows. it's clear governor romney has written off politics. otherwise why would he make the gifts comment unless maybe he's in deep denial of what happened. but it's clear, his time as leader of the republican party is done, is over. again, the polls were barely closed on election night before the party was already moving beyond him. a columnist at new york magazine who wrote that there are no romneyites, no one within the republican party to carry the romney banner into 2014 and 2016 . the party's moved beyond him. they're all focused on christie, jindal, ryan, rubio, any other person in the republican party in a governorship or high up in the senate who could possibly run for president in 2016 . they're focused on him, not romney .

>> maybe bobby jindal will welcome ted nugent . gentlemen, thank you