Romney speaks at Clinton Global Initiative

>>> whatever you think about his tax return , he's given substantial money to charity. he might want to talk about that today.

>> that was bill clinton slyly reminding the country about mitt romney 's tax returns . about 30 minutes before romney took the stage at the clinton global initiative in new york city . mitt romney did not talk about his tax returns at the clinton event today, but hilalary clinton did when she spoke there yesterday.

>> one of the issues that i have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner. especially from the elites in every country. you know, i'm out of american politics , but it is a fact that around the world the elites of every country are making money . there are rich people everywhere. and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries.

>> she is so good. at being out of politics. she's so out of politics. bill clinton double underlined that point today on " morning joe ."

>> i think it's worth pointing out that of the 33 countries in the oecd, the group of well theier nations, only chile and mexico take a smaller percentage of their income in taxes that we do. it's worth pointing out that if you have a lot of money and you earn only capital gains , you pay 15%, which is radically lower than the rates that any other advanced society.

>> when bill clinton introduced mitt romney at the global initiative today, mitt romney shocked the audience, absolutely floored them, by revealing that somewhere, deep down, the man actually has a bit of a sense of humor.

>> if there's one thing we've learned in this election season by the way, it is that a few words from bill clinton can do a man a lot of good. all i've got to do now is wait a couple of days for that bounce to happen.

>> unfortunately for romney 's bounce, this afternoon, president obama attended the same event and was introduced this way.

>> i am violating all protocol today. because if you're an american citizen and you interdouroduce the president you're supposed to say the president of the united states and shut up. that's it. i just want to make one comment about this. i want to finish that speech i started in charlotte.

>> president clinton , thank you for your very kind introduction, although i have to admit, i really did like the speech a few weeks ago a little bit better. afterwards somebody tweeted that somebody needs to make him secretary of explaining things. president clinton , you are a tireless, passionate advocate on behalf of what's best in our country. i am grateful for your friendship and your extraordinary leadership.

>> joining me now is karen finney and e.j. cohen. he's also an msnbc political analyst. e.j., you've been around a while, you can figure these bounces. what kind of a clinton bounce is mitt romney going to get? he told a good joke. that's a big surprise that he could do that. there should be some bounce, right?

>> first of all, i think hilalary clinton got a great bounce for 2016 out of that early speech and also about the way clinton keeps rising in the polls. mitt romney actually gave a pretty good speech at the clinton global initiative . he had a sense of humor, he talked about helping the poor, which struck me at least as a lot better than that 47% speech. he was actually quite specific, and you know, i think in the end, obama gets the bounce whenever clinton appears on the screen. but clinton is so popular right now, particularly among swing voters, that even a few pictures with clinton might take a little bit of the edge off obama 's bit. so it was a smart thing for him to do.

>> let's listen to bill clinton on cnn a short time ago talking about mitt romney and his 47% comment.

>> i think if he's going to double down on that 47% remark, that will cause difficulties because we now know that the overwhelming number of those people work and have children. until the current election season, republicans and democrats supported both the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit . this is a rejection of basically more than three decades of bipartisan policy to support work and family. it's not a bunch of free loaders.

>> karen finney, the 47% are still controlling every hour of this presidential campaign now.

>> indeed. but i've got to say one thing about the idea of the bounce. because a couple of days from now with the romney team yet again has not calculated, we'll all be talking about how not even bill clinton could save mitt romney . i have no doubt in my mind. but yeah. i mean, look. remember president clinton , like president obama comes from somewhat humble beginnings. he understands the 47%. he understands that sort of lack of respect that you heard in romney 's voice and how people hear that. and guess what? he's the guy that the obama campaign is going to send out to talk to that 47% and remind them why they should be voting for president obama rather than governor romney . i agree with e.j., it was a decent speech from governor romney . i don't think he's got enough days left to turn things around.

>> it's interesting that on the day mitt romney was apairing at bill clinton 's global initiative, bill clinton did more anti- romney media in one day than he has done since the convention. here is he on cbs this morning.

>> we know what governor romney says, which is that his proposal for dealing with the debt is first to make it bigger by adopting another round of tax cuts . but he wants to defer until after the election saying what the specifics are. i think that ought to be a little bit of a red flag .

>> e.j., if you're the obama campaign you just want t clinton initiative to go on and on.

>> he's continuing his role as a math teacher, which he is pretty good at. you know what struck me though? when clinton was speaking earlier. the earned income tax credit which has an ugly name, was one of the really good deeds of the clinton administration . he really boosted that up. and if you remember classic clinton rhetoric, it was always about people who work hard and play by the rules, in other words, the 47% in many cases. and so again, i think that clinton 's gift for obama is he has a way of explaining what for most people are complicated and distant issues and bring them back down to earth, which is why you're right. they should keep the global initiative going.

>> thanks for joining me.

>> thanks.

>> coming up, rupert murdoch has funded an anti- mitt romney video. who could get him to do that? the answer is in the rewrite.

>>> and later, rosario dawson will be here. and we'll talk about the voter registration drive today and the other issues facing the campaign. y find