people coming in with three tours. notes for tours and five tours and six tours and then they can be called back if need be. and i don't think they're signing up. i could be mistaken, to take the place of those soldiers as we increase our military presence. and yes, i think there's going to be a tremendous impact because coming home, seeing what it's like and having to go back. i know one young man who is a son of the one of many of the sons and grandsons come back and i see it. like in vietnam when he went to enlist, especially if well, anybody, but if you are a draftee, you're supposed to come down. you thought you'd go back for christmas with your family and instead they had a bus waiting for you. you signed up, got on the bus and he was bi, bi, just in case

you change your mind. and in this case these guys came home and they were supposed to go back to that think that disembarkation point with summer in seattle may be. and they won't allow it to go on leave to see their families as they were afraid people would run away. so i think it's tremendous and these people, the young people who come back when they're doing that have a lot of profound problems. >> i think it's also to keep in mind it's not just young people. >> that's true. >> one of the folks i was activated with, we celebrated his 63rd day right before they shipped them off to iraq. >> well. >> back to ron's question -- rogers questioned enron's comments. i think it goes back to what we

were talking about earlier, we're listening is very important and inside of us imposing a label, you're a hero, you're a villain, whichever label. instead of us imposing knights, hearing the story and letting that person tell the story that were looking for strategy, a better strategy in terms of lower suicide. >> okay, let me just to a little bookkeeping. we've got roughly 20, 25 minutes left. there's four people left on the roster and then i think what i'd like to do because this conversation is done on many different points that seemed to be sometimes tenuously related to each other. and so one of the things i'd like you to do if we could go down the line after that and if each of you do please try to not make it too long, but a couple

minutes. and please reflect back if you were to each other into the room what it is that you are coming away with from this conversation or is there some indie feel has been insane and you really feel should be put in. i would appreciate it if you would do that. is that okay? sound like a good way to go? okay. i'm sorry i can't read the handwriting. starts with an h. yes, sir. [inaudible] >> because that's part of ptsd. and i'm not here to bash the va, but i want to tell you just two stories real quickly. i happen to live not too far from fort lewis, one of the largest army post. i talk to these guys. i ride a motorcycle with 30, 40 old guys. i'm 62. the reason i do that as it gets that close to them to them and i can talk to them and listen to

them and hear about their pain. it takes them three months to get into mental health in el paso after they're released military because all the talk is on there have left because the bureaucracy of having to fill a little chat marks. are you going to kill yourself? exactly what these people said. two weeks ago i had a 24-year-old marine who's been home for a year killed himself. he went to the va for mental health three times and didn't get it. and what i want to say as we've been in iraq for 10 years and we still haven't figured out there's mental health issues for these guys coming back? how long is it going to take? we're going to be in afghanistan long after i'm gone and we're still going to be discussing this. and when i came here i thought, you know, academia is great. he gives us an out away to talk about it. there's formula different symptoms of poster back stress.

some are better than others. some are worse. i was diagnosed with ptsd about six or seven years ago when i worked with that now. they can be controlled. they can be healed. but it's a soul thing. it's not a mental disorder. when you kill people, that spark of life inside you guys just a little bit. and the more you do that -- i was a door gunner in a helicopter for two years. i looked in the faces of the people i shot. and you don't get over that putting them on tour is seeing or talking to them once every six weeks. and i know somebody is going to disagree with me here, but i think george bush was a brilliant president. he didn't bring back the draft, therefore the majority of americans are paying attention to what we're doing to these young people. i've got pictures on my phone and you can look at these guys. they're dead. their soul is gone. and when he does save them. i'm saying right now there's a perfect storm developing. and if we don't do something and

do something with the va. dr. tic has a program that works. why won't the va pay attention and so most people to hand? i have no question. >> if i could just add to that really strong comment. i mean, the philosophical point is that where a panel that been focusing -- our talk has been focusing increasingly on politics. our expertise focuses on psychological and medical issues for the most part. but your claim is that this is a spiritual issue. >> yes, absolutely. >> exactly, said the point is -- no, exactly, so what do you have a panel think about that? i mean, are your profession structured in such a way you can even at knowledge the point that he was making? or maybe you can, but will your profession at knowledge at?

>> can we jump in? >> one more thing and i'll sit down. i spent three months last year in australia and i hung around a lot of ourselves and i talked to viet am small civilians and they had the same problems. so it's not just unique to us. >> thank you, sir. >> i can safely say i have no tears answers. and i think that treatments, therapies, and go. when i was first trained many years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth i tell my children. there was a least 142 types of psychotherapy is and god only knows how many there are now.

what psychotherapies and institutions are offered are part of policy and part of politics and no doubt part of who knows what bureaucracy, money, whatever that may be. currently the therapies which are being offered as in the general public are called evidence-based practices. this may mean nothing to you, but i'm going to come around to what she said. and they are based on several things. and this is kind of intellectual. i'm not an academic. i think a lot and i read a lot. all psychology is our of philosophy. they are trained to scientifically prove whether a philosophy and i will give you

an example, cognitive behavioral therapy is the explication of stoa to them of the stoics fall off of the, okay? and is trying to test whether this is good or not. the way people have over a million years thought about things, what turns out to be true or not. in addition, however, besides those arcane things, which are very intellectual and often very academic, those of us in the field, i myself for one have to say that everything i know about treatment i have learned from the detriments. everything i know i have learned from the veterans. i have certain skills. i have a certain personality. i have a certain dedication. in my day you hoped for a calling. to be called by god to have something good to do, okay? and i have to say in my small

group that those people were very dedicated. i can't say that i know what quote, heels, heels ptsd. i have watched you guys and i know it helps. and i use that in all my treatments. i read dr. tic's book. i heard him speak he for her. i may not agree with every word he says. he has different philosophy than i do. nonetheless i don't disagree with the word he says. okay, but there are different ways. and i will wait my summary till the end. if anybody else wants to speak. >> to your question of whether the fashion mag knowledged back, i think the american psychological association has come a long way in the last 10 or 15 years, especially in shifting from a medical model of

diagnostics to okay wait a minute, there's a lot of people out there talking ronnie mentioned some oaks move forward. a lot of people who are successful, even under extreme conditions, let's ask them what's working and let's figure out, you know, how to trans late to the folks who are struggling. and so, i think and cheryl i would agree, i think the profession has turned a corner, looking up the importance of optimism, the importance of spirituality, the importance of resilience. it's still pretty new to a lot of missionaries, but i think were getting there. >> i think we agree on some things and not on other things. i think for instance the word resilient is the thing which every single one of my veterans has always said no matter how sick and i do mean sometimes some of them are sick. but the resilience is often used as a pejorative word. what does that mean? so in a way they think that they

catchword. the only thing i have about depression in general is they think that it's easier than it is. >> absolutely. >> far easier and shorter than it is. they might guess. >> okay, thanks for that question. i think a lot more could be said. i'm just trying to get everyone in. pc, craig. >> it's truly a humble honor to be able to stand in front of such a distinguished panel. i have just a couple questions in regards to comments made earlier in your presentation. if i am hearing correctly, i thought i heard several times, we have no models or model currently adequate to address the issues we face here today.

if that is so, however, i find it so interesting that the military, dod, is still at utilizing the logistic -- logistical and tactical mentalities and strategies of the light of such a chief joe says, ynez pierce nation or chief to come some. and just as bewildering to me is the fact that the same first people of this land, the native americans also utilize well-known secret ceremonies such as the sacred spring and fall of the chuan, the warrior societies, the sacred sundance and gas, the studio do this, the illegal ghost dance.

sacred sweat lodges talking golds and other strategies to address the spiritual lives of their warriors. to integrate them into such societies like a gucci.com is sacred psyd of the warriors of peace, chief sitting bull's most tightly held possession as dr. tic so eloquently speaks out in his book, war and the soul. so in closing, we in fact do have the model available. why are we using that? mag which, make which, make which and semper fi. thank you. >> anyone like to try this? >> see, as you're mulling over

that, i think the question that has started to build a someone who is a listener. i'm not an expert on this at all. i'm hearing really clear patterns, right? and we're going to get pretty soon to shelley who will try to talk about her concerns about over politicizing or miss politicizing things. but what i hear is there is a real problem created by, i think, people are talking about the bureaucratic patient is war. but the way -- what i'm hearing it's real problems created by the impersonal or depersonalization of the work process and the way that it's retrieved on the other end. and i could go into this, but it's not my panel. there is something pretty, to my mind, pretty profound here, very hard because you're talking about the entire structure of how people think of work and what it is to work with people when people are in situations

that are flesh and blood in sentiment and heart. i don't know if you folks want to reply to the comment at all. >> it's a tough one. okay, thank you for your comments. i think it's point taken. >> just commissary. [inaudible] >> -- we are not in conventional conventional -- [inaudible] >> this is a really -- this is the point -- [inaudible]

>> yet, this is a hard comment. it cuts into academia, too. it cuts into what -- [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] >> thank you, sir. shelley, you are up.

>> mina micheli corder ville. i'm a u.s. army veteran. i'm a female. that's the first thing it what you people to notice. please stand up. to female veterans and i say that because i hear he, him. there are women as well. you people are supposed to be professionals. don't leave us out. that's my first complaint. i have to say i'm really upset. i came to this conference. i was really excited. i came up away from oregon. i was so excited about this conference. i thought i was going to learn some really great stuff from you professionals, from the experts. i was totally unimpressed this morning. sounded like all you people are more for war than peace. i thought i was going to learn something about strategies to treat ptsd. i deal with veterans all the

time back home. people committing suicide, people threatening to commit suicide. many of us veterans have been the classes to try and help our fellow veterans. we know how to heal. maybe all you academics need to take a clue from all of us regular people. and i'm sorry. i don't mean to be disrespectful, but i've kind of had it up to here. i spent a lot of money, saved a lot of money to gain your to try to gain some sort of intelligence from you people to take back. so far all i've gotten is total frustration. when you are asked, what is healing? you people don't even know. you don't have a clue. i've watched all of you. all of your faces when you're asked that. and i thought to myself, why in the world are any of you out there. you needed to have up there was

ed tech and maybe some of us veterans who have been working damned hard to heal and to help our fellow veterans and to help our communities and our families. i am just totally blown away. and i'm sorry. i know i'm being very disrespectful, but i also know a lot of my fellow veterans are very upset right now, hugely disappointed. and i think we have a right to say we're disappointed. a lot of us paid a lot of money to come here. >> shelley, i think it's a great question. i'll be the first person to say academia is not in for free speech and you're speaking from your heart. so you don't have to feel bad about that. it's a tough question. why not. it's a tough topic. so i mean, i'll take some responsibility. let me ask a question that will turn it around because i was thinking maybe i should've gotten to this question right

away. these people do have some real expertise. so, what is the golden nugget from where you folks are? this is what i was trying to get at. i'll take responsibility. i didn't do it in a direct enough way. what is the golden nugget that you folks have been finding your part does? something that you think, you know, you walk around and they don't know this. they don't get it or the people that you're working with themselves are struggling for and they don't get? but you've been doing it for 10, 20 years and you're starting to see it. give us a golden nugget if you can. it might take a couple minutes for you to observe again, but maybe that should be which are closing comments are. is that all right? i'm going to let people respond. ..

from 17 to 50 is a pretty long time. some of the things i do with my fellow veterans back home, men and women veterans, we don't have any official therapy session because most people can't get in. to be very truthful. people can afford to pay for therapy. and we do have a lot of practitioners that are operating an hour of their time and week for a veteran. that is absolutely wonderful. we really appreciate it. we have people that are doing

pro bono work with families, but we still have to have people out there helping. we do--. >> in the public community? >> yeah, ex-community deals. >> like going out to reach out to the community on a volunteer basis? >> sure, reach out into the community. you can't just feel the veteran. you have to heal the family. you have to heal the whole community. [applause] it doesn't just stay within the veteran. we go out and take a veteran out for coffee. just to feel connected. that is part of the problem. we come back and we don't feel connected. why would we? >> i think if i could just add, maybe we are way to bar in the stratosphere but that is why people, one of the reasons why people are going to politics. that is my read on it. people are saying the talk about healing it. it is media that you said the whole community and so what was happening on this panel, this is

something i'm learning from the panel, is that veterans are agents of the society. you cannot disassociate the healing from the healing of the society. [applause] that is why we went so quickly to politics. but that is not getting into the heart of what are your concerns but you are concerned earlier about you know why are we going into politics and i think in some kind of foggy way that is why, because people sense that you want to heal for more. you want veterans to you for more. you've got to also have a society heel with a. >> that that is neatly-- mean we need to bring in politics when we are trying to discuss healing. >> i understand. >> we have thrown that out the door quite frankly. we are really pretty good at being able to separate policy from truth. troops. military members. >> right, right.

>> thank you. thank you. >> i will let ryan-- and then there is dana after we are done. >> i'm not here to-- norm i hear necessarily to attack individual workers, but one of the things i think we need to keep these messages coming out because there are people who are entrenched within the structures that in fact do have difficulty understanding. when we can find a military psychiatrist in the u.k. writing paper saying, going to war doesn't have to hurt, okay? now, that is a military psychiatrist. he is currently working in london. when we find that people in the va in australia have given an

address on vietnam veterans day. recall that-- day. i tried to address 10 agents about vietnam veterans. they are walking time bombs. we don't have to worry about them. they would have been like like that anyway. these are the kinds of things that i hear in the corridors of veterans affairs in australia and i'm sure it is the same right across other developed countries. so, i am not hear necessarily to defend the clinicians. we are in some ways ignorant about the best way to proceed. we are also fighting at battle in a different front in that front is the understanding and acceptance of individuals in power positions to create circumstances that allow this to happen. a simple problem, when i was on the nac, there was a group of people in tasmania who had-- one

of the veterans was an expert carpenter and he had a woodworking group. the government was out, would you supply of wood for the woodworking group? and this is more than just a group of men getting together smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee and turning would. there were more things going on there than what was visible on the surface. and yet after 12 months, the government wants to cut the funding. we can't say that this is in any way therapeutic. at which point, you know i take my hand from the throat of the man making a decision and say well, you are wrong. you are just wrong. i do appreciate your feelings, and i share them. i can only report what i hear

from veterans and what i hear from veterans are the same kinds of things you are saying too. we have problems than we do not know how to ameliorate completely the problems that arise when you are confronted with the horrors of war. we don't know how to do that in society. and mental health survey in australia recently has found that eight to 12% of all women randomly selected have a post-traumatic stress disorder. it is not fixed within our society. we are battling against attitudes in government and in the administration. you are not alone here. there is no quick fix. we just have to keep chipping away. that is all they can do. >> thank you. >> dana, you are the last one up.

>> continuing on what shelley said, i would-- i was wondering how much the society understands to my knowledge all of the work was outside of the country, and the society has a misunderstanding on how could it help the process that is here. i think the society invest in the state in the state should somehow-- it should be the result of this choice. thank you. >> yes, so when your you are worth, how important is the absence-- exempting combat veterans and their families and

friends? how important is the relative absence of any experience or sense of what war is in american society. i will focus on that and you can focus on australia if you want. how much of our world is that absence of experience at the societal level of play in the ability of combat veterans to heal or to reintegrate? in other words is the fact that your average american does not really have any clue about what war is about, does that really-- how much effect does that have on war healing? i think that is the question? yeah. [inaudible]

[inaudible] >> i can't answer your full question. i again come again, as much from usa due from anything else. i know the boundaries that i face, the things they can't move. i can only do what i can do. how does a society learn to welcome anybody? i think one thing simply is, what did you learn about compassion? it was only by suffering. how does anyone learn about compassion? they learn about it by suffering which is a developmental issue and an issue of lock. so if you had good luck and you have been lucky in life, and you have been lucky, i don't know how much compassion that you are going to get and feel.

we are all busy. we are centered in our own lives. much of what we do-- we are so busy leading our own lives that we don't reach out with ourselves, and that is a societal issue. what do you do about that? i really don't have an answer, so you are causing me to think about something, okay? and that is always good. it is always good to have what you believe turned upside down, because that is what i live for every day. i live to learn something. that is why it is worth giving getting up the next day. i will have to think about that. i am going to guess, like that movie, it starts one person at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time that you have to wake up and smell the coffee, and maybe you veterans can help do that.

whacking somebody over the side of the head probably won't do it something else will probably have to be done. i will think about it if you will think about it. >> the other thing i might add is that we might also thinking about it at the wrong level so you know we are talking about how society treats veterans and this goes back to one of the gentlemen's earlier comments. you know, we don't need to look at it at the society level. i have veterans in my neighborhood, so it is how do we treat, you know the veterans in our community. i mean it is an individual question as much as it is a question of. >> in other words, if those of us who are not veterans or not directly related to veterans took the time to stop and listee thought that we have to be responsible for what our fellow citizens-- we have asked her if

fellow citizens to do, then we would learn that experience. we learned it for what i believe is called deep listening earlier. because of a society or parts of a society can decide not to be responsible for their decisions and can decide to turn away and deny what they have asked other people to do, then you have, you you have an inability to learn vicariously through the experiences of people who have actually dealt with war. there are been one gentleman who has really been trying to speak. >> i am really trying not to speak. you asked the question about healing. we have got a healing circle this afternoon that shows compassion, that shows love, that shows healing and action and shows people actually showing their feelings and talking about past history and

other people in that room are listening. how many people care enough to be there? >> i could not be there. i have responsibilities. >> i know, i know and i had to walk the dog too. but i'm just saying you have an excuse for everything. there are no excuses. there is a reason but whatever. you have to be proactive. >> sir, no offense. okay, i understand that people do it in different ways. some of us walk around for an hour really trying to get in the mood for this, researching it and listening to people. i don't know, do you people want to address that? i think the content of the issue is that this panel is set up theoretically, not spirit chile. and you have had a very powerful spiritual experience and the point is that is immediately nursing. this is not practical in that sense, so i can understand why that would be frustrating. maam?

>> i would like to carry that further. [inaudible] i think, no i believe as an individual that i have the responsibility for my post-traumatic stress. a lot of that i'm not willing to talk about but i must feel that myself. when i go to family, they are like up. so i think it's individuals and as a community, we do need to bond as a community. we cannot ask the government to spend billions of dollars on something that is not going to-- [inaudible]

this is a community thing. that is my only comment. >> okay, thank you are going fortunately we have to close. we are 15 minutes over. i just got their marching orders on that. we had wanted to do round of comments but i hope it is okay. please continue the conversation. just this one thing, you feel bad as the moderator not digging out some of the nuggets that were there and i think you should trust that they are there and please, if you have questions, go directly to the people on this panel and really dig. you will find something. this is really hard to do in such a public forum. thank you for your patience and thank you for being here, all of you. [applause]

[gunshots] conversations]????

>> ladies and gentlemen, vice president biden has arrived. the hon. eric shinseki, secretary of veterans affairs, the national president of the legion of valor of the united states of america, and the commanding general of the united states army military district of washington.

>> present arms. >> present flag. [band playing "the star spangled banner"]

>> shoulder arms.

>> shoulder flag. [drum roll]

[trumpet plays "taps"]

>> right shoulder arms.

>> forward march. color guard left wheel. holt. -- halt. present arms.

present flags. order forms. -- order arms. order flags.

>> now can you hear me? over there, can you hear me? over here, good. okay, the founder of the national association of saved women coordinated, the oklahoma coordinator is here with us today, and she is right here in front. [applause]

>> and i don't know whether the lack veterans association national appreciation -- association present is here, are you here? right here. [applause] >> and i spotted larry, the former adjutant general of the foreign affairs, right there. [applause] >> he is a longtime supporter of the memorial. and what is also we have the retired brigadier general gary prophet, wal-mart, director of military programs, and he has with him to read wal-mart associates who have been honored by wal-mart with a trip to the memorial here. because wal-mart registered them. patricia pat murphy, a navy veteran from kansas. [applause] >> sandor, and navy veteran from utah. [applause] >> and james prince, an army veteran from tennessee.

[applause] >> so thank you, gary for being here with your associates. now, would everyone please stand for presentation of colors by the district of columbia, national guard. this is the first time the guard has presented colors for one of our programs. singing the national anthem will be by senior master sergeant angela burns, a member of the air force singing sergeants. this will be followed by the invocation given by chaplain captain ruthann, air force from joint base, in which most of you, as with me, know what was bowling air force base. but it has a new name and a new leader. so presented colors.

>> present arms. ♪ oh, say, can you see ♪ by the dawn's early light ♪ what so proudly we hailed ♪ at the twilight's last gleaming? ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ thro' the perilous fight ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched ♪ were so gallantly streaming ♪ and the rockets red glare

♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ gave proof through the night ♪ that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free ♪ and the home of the brave? >> arms.

>> please bought with me. lord, for our grandmothers, great-grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters and nieces, who thought it to serve this great country, in the armed forces, we honor and give you thanks for them. for women veterans who served and fought for equality and justice, when inequality and injustice was prevalent in the country for which they loved. thank you for their faith and fortitude, for believing their service would one day make a difference. for the women who would serve in years to follow, for the simple sacrifice, visions of victory, and shoulders on which we stand, we remember them. and we ask your continuous blessings on all women who serve in this great country. may our legacy of service be an

inspiration to all. this is my prayer in your holy name, amen. >> please be seated. at a groundbreaking ceremony in june, 1995, and i want to tell you that the blue star mothers have just arrived, so they are here. [applause] >> and they are regular attendees at our events. at our groundbreaking ceremony in june 1995, we began a tradition of having a servicewoman or veteran speak to represent each of the five services, because here, we pay tribute, individually and collectively, to all the women who have served or now serve.

who better to speak for them then one of their own? so we have these speakers lined up here today. the first would be lieutenant colonel elizabeth featherstone, army, who would be retired officially for pay services this december 31, but she's already had her retirement ceremony here at the memorial. for which we thank you. she worked in transportation and did tours and operations. she served in operation desert shield, desert storm, and did two tours in iraq. she has twice been awarded the bronze star. representing the marine corps, we have master sergeant shall long the rain or from combat photographer, the drill instructor, to education council, equal opportunity advisor and along the way, a degree in psychology.

sergeant rainer has shown her talent. to the marine corps. representing the navy, a senior peace officer brenda edwards and she is retired that are referred to her as the traveler. she was born in mississippi, went to high school in chicago, illinois, went to navy boot camp at orlando, florida. she want to mess management school in san diego, california. she has now been from north to south, from east to west. then it was off to see. and she did assignments around the world, and she received many awards for best operations, and i guess when she was the cook on the ship, they had the best food they'd ever have. [laughter] she even did a tour with the white house food-service teen. she qualified as a cpr instructor for the aviation warfare program, and was one of the first women to report aboard a combat ship. so if anybody needs help, cpr

wise, we have the expert here. so next, somewhere, is chief master sargeant tre king, air force. i went to a retirement it ceremony at then bowling air force base and the master of ceremonies was chief king. when i left that day, i had her promise to speak today. and not let us, she had to register for the memorial. so she is now a member. she's the senior enlisted leader for this joint base bowling, navy, air force d.i.a., and many other things. and she has served in turkey, japan, germany, korea, kazakhstan, she can correct me when she gets up here, and

occasionally she served in the united states. [laughter] during her time. and last is lieutenant commander katherine niles, coast guard retired. and lieutenant commander niles was commission and was the first commanding officer of the coast guard cutter stingray, an 87-foot coastal patrol boat, and she received an award for inspirational leadership. we are proud to have her with us today. so colonel featherstone, you our first. [applause] >> thank you for your warm geral yourome the good afternoon, everyone, and happy veterans dae to you all. thank you for your service. and i want to thank the women's memo for tor this opportunity to participate in hihonoring our fterans from all services. it was a veteran and his wife is joiuenced led me to join the

army in 1980.1988. lieutenant colonel george grace, and his wife, my grandparents, let me to join the army in 1988. i'm sorry, served in the army from 1942-1963. my grandfather, a world war ii veteran served in battle of gold, made a lifelong impression on me with his sacrifices and service to our nation. sacrificd my grandmother, an army wife foe life, and trained any what it meant to my grandfather to serve imrve. during college while i was deciding on my life, i found ia wanted to workin in a career fid where i could serve others.i i found myself drawn to mygr grandfather'san career in the service realizing i wanted to do what he did.o do serve his country in the army.s i was a young lady full of excitement and anticipation and receiver commission on a latent spring day may 1980. my i could not wait for what lay before me in sei rving my count. these opportunities and places

have been numerous. from a summit in fort campbelle kentucky,nu saudi arabia, iraq,i seoul korea, fort hood, texas, atlanta, georgia, heidelberg t germany, italy, baghdad, iraq, kuwait, back to fort hood, texas, and then to iraq, then tohe the pentagon. with many other posts forcises exercises, i've been blessed to learn how the army works from w the bottom to top. the longer i served i realized i was doing what my grandfatherhay did, and had my dream of serving others a reality. others i remained in service for these 22 years because i could notvicr dance them doing anything else. it has been fun, and been challenging, but not withoutbut sacrifice. i would never trade serving my r country. and i want to remember and thank those women veterans in service before me.

it was their path that made it a possible for this granddaughter, today grateful soldier, to have had the opportunity to serve asv my grandfather, lieutenant george grace did. god bless you, god bless ourss ilterans and their families, and stategod bless the united stats of america. thank you. [applause] >> afternoon everyone. first of all i just want to say i counted all the joy. i think i'd to stand before you today, and they don't take it it bghtly to stand before all of you that haefve laid the path. if it wasn't for you women, no offense to the men, but this is our day, this is our moment, it's about us right now, all of. us, if it wasn't for the women veterans that were there before me, and before we ladies theree toding here today, we would not have an opportunity to stand here at all. n stand he so i'm very grateful, very

honored and very humbled. my grandfather, who was a prior service can he was a horse a ma. marines, that's what we call him, i can't say i joined because of him because he never told me about the service. t he had a lot of things that happened by the time he retirede in 1974 that he did want to kill his little girl about. nevertheless4 , when i joined tj he never told you what service he was intellectually. i came home one day and said he said you will never make it itause of your mouth. [laughter] than i said something smart which probably emphasize his point. buddy each day i strove to make him and other women proud. other as a woman veterans it is a very ghgh bar that you all have sent. there is a lot that is required of a woman to maintain her femininity, to still be theain r mother, to still be that wife, just to be the home caregiver wt and still a home giver.

we can do it. [applause] 235 years of marine corps in existence. not all that time that the mills been part of that. i am short the marine corps is are very grateful they collected their original -- they corrected their original mistake. we began doing clerical duties in 1918. but as the dearly -- they let us do the girly stuff. then in 1975 they said they would let us do a little bit more. that was the biggest mistake they could have made. if you open the door we are going to kick it in and take over. they bought the ticket and we gave them the whole show. in 1975 they opened more feels

to us. except for a forgery, army, and pilots, we were able to do just about anything. that is what a woman does. i just got cliff notes. i did not write anything down. i am just winging it. when you think about what a woman does and what a warrior does, can you really write that down? as a woman marine, i jump out -- i job off a tower and then we get to the gas chamber voluntarily to get gassed. there are a lot of other things about marines. voluntarily get gassed. i have to get home by 7:00 because they care is about to close. pick up the babies. we are working on poddy training. i dropped them off and do the same job every day. when men, you are doing it, you

are doing it well, you have done it well, that we are proud. hopefully we are making you as proud of us as we are of you. [applause] >> in 1990, 1991 women marines set another standard when we deployed with operation desert shield and desert storm. that is when our men realized that they are just as aggressive, they are just as tough, they sometimes have more tenacity than the average male. they can kill a couple people, too. we went down there and we took names. we did what we had to do. now more has been opened up to us. it is not in vain. for those of you who are my grandmother's h, you are more

season. just like wine, you get better with time. i thank you because if you do not have a foundation you have nowhere to step. if you do not know where you come from you do not know where you are going. you are worried become from. you are looking fabulous. we are hot. [laughter] it is where we are headed. we are still doing those things and still holding the legacy you set in ralph for us initially. as a marine, i just want to say that there is no prouder moments that you have the opportunity to stand before you in our dress- blue uniform. the few, the proud, the marines -- i would like to consider are female veterans of the few work, the powder, the female brains. it is not marketed. they would not use it in any advertising.

that is just what i say. [applause] now in 2010, not only are we still doing what we have to do in the battlefield -- whether we are serving are giving birth to their children double what they serve, the marine corps has opened up 93% of its specialties to women. keep in mind that only 6.2% of the marine corps is female. we are kicking butt and taking names. on this day as we honor ourselves and those of you who are here, i just want to close with something that a lot of our marines do when they retire. it is called the wash. i do not know if anybody has ever heard it, but i thought it was fitting. from those of us who are still active duty, it goes like this. for many years you have stood be watched. while many of us lay about in

our racks tonight, used to be watched. while some of us were attending school, you women veterans stood the watch. before any of us were born, many of you stood the watch. as our families once the storm clouds of the war brewing over the horizon of history, she stood the watch. use all that your family often needed titans, but you also needed faith because you had the watch. so years used to be watch our fellow countrymen could sleep soundly and safely in knowing that you, women veterans, were standing be watch. today, those of this to are still active duty and are trying valiantly to carry on your legacy i get a proud manner, we

are here to say that you stand relieved. he stands relieved by those who have led, died, and trained. when veterans, retirees, we have the watch. semper fidelis. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. i am glad to be here today. i thank god for this day. i am very grateful and honored to be here today with all of you who have served our nation so well. on this veterans day, we pay tribute to the women who have served in all branches of the service. they have put their lives on the line so that we, at the united states of america, would have the freedom that we so deserved.

to those of us who are veterans ourselves, it has a very special meaning. veterans day is a time for us to think back to those who have led us into this time of year as well as what we expect in the future. we know not what the hour may hold, but we know that our women are out there fighting as well as our man. that means a whole lot. i served 26 years in the united states navy. i served on four ships. i sailed across all seven seats. i served for two presidents of the united states that it may out of the country where i'd left my family behind, but i am a veteran. yes or a woman and i am proud, committed, and honored to said served in the united states navy for 26 years. [applause]

i think back to all of this who have trained to be the person that they should be when they are honoring our country as women. you see, women were often thought of as being uncomfortable in any branch of service, but today i am here to tell you that the women have strived and strived to make a path so that all, not just women, but men as well at the same opportunity. as my fellow serviceman said, he said we had to strive while men kept us down in so many ways. let me tell you, we have been uplifted and given the opportunity of its quality to serve alongside of them. we have made a path that we will continue to follow. we will continue to follow that path we have set for the women in the united states services.

[applause] i am reminded today of one woman who touched my heart last year. she came to speak to us in the chief's mess. she was the first master chief yeoman of the united states navy. she joined in 1943. that is a long time. when i saw her and talk to her, she gave me the inspiration to know that women lead from the front as well as from the metal and be back. we support no matter where we are and we support all that we stand for. we stand for freedom, democracy, honor, courage, and commitment. we will continue to do that as well as we have done in the past to make sure that our young women understand that we to are not just the end, but we are the

beginning. [applause] i hope that all of those who i have gone before will continue to lead from the front as i did. as the brigadier said, i had been around the world, yes, but i have also planted a foundation for women to live by. remember that what we stand for no one can take from us. we are the women that served in the united states military. [applause] i am very proud to stand before you today on this veterans day to say thank you. i served, but without you, i could not have gotten as far as i did. i am proud to say once again, thank you not just to the women who went before us, but also to the men. my husband is a veteran as well

and i am proud of him. i will continue to be proud. recently when women could not be on submarines -- 2011, there is a new plan for the united states navy. we will see our first win and go on submarines. that will be obtained. week to deserve that training opportunity. i am looking "-- we, too, deserve that training opportunity. i am looking forward to that training opportunity. i think we will continue to strive and do as well as we have been doing. thank you and god bless you. [applause] >> it is all short people here.

no offense, ladies. i am an american chairman. i am a warrior. i have answered my nation's call. 2 million women veterans have served before me. 63,000 women are serving in the air force today. i am an american airman. my mission is to fly, fight, whein. how prelate would she be of a colonel who currently serves as a commander of the 89th airlift wing and pilot of the air force. i am thankful for a proud heritage, a tradition of honor and the legacy of valor. it is a traditional honor that extends all the way back to the revolutionary war up to the conflicts we are fighting in this very day. we salute the thousands of

veterans who dedicated their lives to defend our freedom, a legacy of valor that is surrounded by eight women whose strength and commitment have allowed us to echoed the sentiments "we are one nation indivisible." i am and american airmen. my nation's sword and shield -- i defend my country with my life. thank you to the infinite number of veterans who served as guardians of our freedom and have extended our justice, making the ultimate sacrifice. i am an american airman. let us celebrate all veterans who were wingmen of yesterday and made it possible for us to serve as leaders in the strongest military of the world. it is warriors of years past they gave us the intestinal fortitude to say "i am and american airman."

i will never leave the air men behind. i will never falter. i will not fail. failure is not an option. it is that blood and those tears that empower us to carry on the legacy of all that have served this country proudly before us. today we pay a special tribute to our veterans, those who have fallen, and those who continue to serve. to the family and friends who are in harm's way, we salute you today. i would like to give you a special tribute that i wrote especially for the women. it is entitled "a few good women." quilted together like fabric of a perfect blend, honored are our veterans laced with a few good women. sacrifices to many to mention, women served just to do their part. determined to serve and to

ensure america's victory, never settling for less, refusing to accept mere complacency. lives dedicated and lost for this place we call the land of the free. blood spilled in countries all over this world. flags flew at half mast. there will be no victory without the courage of our brothers and a few good women. desert storm, operation just cause, enduring freedom, and the revolutionary war -- last -- yes, even back then we played a significant role. many have asked us, did she really contribute? my answer is, yes. of course she did. today, please remember the soldiers that paid the ultimate price. remember those who went into harm's way. remember the airmen who left her husband and children all alone.

remember the holidays she will miss and the courage she has shown. consider the sacrifices made and the price her life will pay. we appreciate you, ma'am, for you all have paved the way. you taught us to get our all in an effort just to win. our legacy is carved in history because of the courage of a few good women. if i had a chance to do it all over and start my journey again, i would do it to serve with my sisters. thank you. a few good women. thank you. [applause] >> bring it back on down a little bit. soldiers, sailors, airmen, ladies and gentlemen, those serving, those who served in the past, there is to support our troops, thank you for being here today. it is a great day to be at

arlington. i have fond memories of this place. i was lucky enough to be here for the dedication of the women's memorial. it has been a special place in my heart since then. i have attended special events here. i had my retirement ceremony here at the end of june. as i just retired officially on november 1, i am reflect back on my career of almost 42 years of service. i can think of nothing but the good and fantastic times i did have. it is easier to forget all the struggles, the tough times, the difficulties, being away from family, being away from home. you can always remember the happy times, the adventures, the sites we got to see, and the friends and comrades that were made along the way. when i joined the coast guard almost 22 years ago, i had no idea where i was going. i went into it not knowing

anything about the service, not having too many family members talking about the military. it was something that i was going to try out. apparently its stock. it turned out -- apparently, it stoppuck. it turned out well for me. anytime there is some kind of patriotic music on, whether it is the start of a nascar race or anything else, might sons or standing at attention. they are either saluting where they had their hands over their hearts. that means a lot to me that my husband and i can bring that -- can and bring that into our children that they can be patriotic. it means something to be part of this country. i am during the motorcycle's right now.

rolling thunder will come up to the streets of downtown d.c. next year. they know how special our veterans and our military people are. as you can say, they both decided to go camouflage for this event. come on up here. [applause] i was very fortunate -- my husband is also active duty. the times i was on ship, he was a short. the times i was on ship, -- the times he was on a ship, i was a sshore. cooper has more seats time that a lot of people. i was about five months pregnant when i got off the ship with them in my belly. you can say he served some

underway time already. like many other military members, says the day i joined all i wanted to do was the best job that i could. it did not matter what my assignments were, when i started out as a seaman apprentice, when i was doing the hard and dirty job i just did the best job i always could. it worked out. i had a very good career along the way. there were some difficulties. as family and friends who have been proud of what i have done. i think that is what a lot of veterans or. they are just doing the best job they can. they are selfless. a sacrifice. they are people that you want to know. the people i have met along the way, i trust them to watch my back any time. that is held military folks are. pedicel veterans are. they give selflessly over and over.

to sing all of these folks here that have served in the paths, thank you. thank you for giving and giving as much as you can. the pride and experiences i did have in my career are indescribable. they really are. the places i have been, getting away from home, going from one coast to the other coast, going out to sea, pulling into foreign countries. most people do not get to experience that. i am very lucky and fortunate that i got to do this for my country. really, it was a privilege to do what i could for my country. i was not just booking at what my country could do for me. i was seeing what i could do for it. along the way, it was great for me.

with that in mind, i will keep it short. i want to salute on this very special day in this very special place all of our coast guardsmen that are out here today, not only guarding the home front -- you can see them in their boats guarding the whole land. we also have them overseas. the coast guard is a small service. you do not hear a lot about us. until maybe see a rescue at sea or a cruise ship that is being towed in. [laughter] or things like that. the coast guard is out there doing many missions every day. it has always been exciting. i also want to, again, just say thank you to all of our other veterans. our sailors, our soldiers, and our airmen, and to our future

sailors, soldiers, and m&m will come along the way. thank you very much. >> thank you. i'm very pleased to have with us chief master sgt denise jelinski-hall. she represents more than 432,000 soldiers and airmen in that position. the chief had an interesting pattern of assignments. she was born in minnesota, in a listed in the air force, went to

the air force base in texas, completed air-traffic control training at the air force base in nebraska. she then transferred to the california air national guard in 1987. and would you believe that she then went to the hawaii national guard in 1990? and she has been there until this assignment. i want you to be aware that we have snow and ice in this area. [laughter] best wishes. i[applause] >> i must say i am certainly not nervous about this day, but might keep are chattering. your blood really thins out after three years on the west coast and almost 20 years in hawaii. yes, we are going to have to

work on that. honey, tonight, the electric blanket. good afternoon. distinguished guests, honored veterans, good afternoon and welcome to today's ceremony. it is with an overwhelming sense of honor and deep sense of gratitude that i have been given this privilege of sharing a few moments with you on this special thaday. today we pause to honor those who have worn the uniform serving in armed forces of the united states of america. we gather to pay solemn tribute to their patriotism, love of country, and for the many sacrifices made so that america will always remain the land of the free and home of the brave. it is sitting today that we meet -- is fitting today that we meet

on the how the grounds of arlington national cemetery to remember those brave men and women who have gone before us. thousands live here in peace, having made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of freedom the world over. at the pages of history will reflect the american soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and coastguardsman that are not like any other military. we have not fought for a king, for pay, for plunder, or for land. since the founding of our nation, our service men and women have fought to defend our freedom and freedom of others around the world. in 2003, at the world economic forum in switzerland, general colin powell described it sang, "our record of living, our values of inspiration to others

is clear, and i don't think i have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what america has done for the world. we have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last 100 years, and we have done this as recently as the last year in afghanistan and put wonderful men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked them nothing except enough ground to bury the mem in." today, many questioned our intentions. in truth, they should ask themselves this -- is there any other country in the world whose freedom has not been partially paid for in blood by american servicemen and women? freedom the world over will exist only if the american

military remains the strong arm and compassionate heart for those who are too weak and a pressed to defend themselves. while we are those who serve before us and those serving now, it is especially poignant for me to be here at this memorial that honors women in uniform. little did margaret in 1779 know that women would make up 14.3% of america's active duty forces and 15.1% of guard and reserves. that is a total of over 280,000 women serving in our military. today, there are over 1 million veterans, and i am proud to be here with you today to honor them. our nation's finest rest here in arlington national cemetery, having given their last full devotion of duty. it made our country never forget

their courage and selfless sacrifice. the late president kennedy told our nation, "my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." the woman lying here in the eternal rest, those buried in hundreds of cemeteries across the country are veterans, and those in uniform today answered with a resounding response. listen to their voices. they are saying, sleep in peace tonight, america. the wolf will not come through the door. it not on our watch. today, america's service women stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers in uniform. we serve and protect our home front and deploy downrange in combat, adding to the illustrious history of the american fighting woman. in order to fully understand and appreciate where we are today, let us pause and reflect back on

the legacy of those brave women who came before us. one of the first woman to officially served in the military did so in secret. lucy brewer became the first woman to serve in the marine corps, disguised as a donahoe man. she served in a marine detachment aboard the u.s.s. constitution during the war of 1812. in 1917, loretta and listed in the navy. twin sisters joined the coast guard. in august, 1918, " bird johnson in listed as the first woman in the net is states marine corps reserve. -- in the united states marine corps reserve. ester enlisted in the first hour and the first day that the regular air force was authorized in 1948. capt. normal parsons became the first female and the national

guard in 1956. first the 10 soviet marie saint charles joined in 1957. -- first lieutenant sylvia maris st. charles joined the 1957. i think the best explanation can be found which said, "do not follow where the path may lead. go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." these women were true trailblazers. in the face of much opposition and joining a man's world, that overcame countless obstacles to serve with honor and distinction. the questions for those of us serving today is simple -- what path will we blaze? looking out on the faces before may, i see pride. honor, and determination. it just as our predecessors did, when you are confronted with a

situation that calls for strength of character, i know that you will respond as they did. you'll make the right decision. you are blazing a new path for those who follow. if confronting challenges it is easy, no. is it comfortable? definitely not. is it necessary? always. when you are confronted with such a situation, recall the words of president abraham lincoln. "courage is not the absence of fear. is going of board in the face of fear." when the japanese attacked pearl harbor, bombs were exploding and machine-gun fire shredded buildings, wooded and dying service member lying everywhere. fear and death were all around. the overwhelming devastation did not stop the chief of the army

nurse corps to answer the call with bravery and courage under fire. she became the first woman to receive the purple heart for outstanding performance of duty and meritorious acts but extraordinary fidelity. the same was true for first bataan that cordelia cook. she was awarded the purple heart and the bronze star, becoming the first woman to receive two awards. in 1940 through -- in 1943, the tenet elsie received a medal for army nurse. women serve honorably but we were not treated equally. most of the services have special names for the organizations. they were women army corps and women's accepted for voluntary emergency service in the navy. they were women auxiliaries

flying squadron in the army air corps and women joined the marine corps and administrative roles under the slogan, " free a man to fight." they were not considered = and said -- to continue to voluntarily served a defense of a nation that continue to prove their mettle. in 1959, the first female master chief entered the navy. during the 1960's, the first female army sergeant major. the first master gunnery sergeant in the marines and chris peterson became the first air force. senior force. professionals all, disciplined, dedicated, and committed to excellence. these women broke barriers and defiled traditional -- and defied traditional roles for females in the military. they rose to the highest level of enlisted ranks in positions

of responsibility. these women epitomized part of a famous " by helen keller, but are the antithesis of its conclusion. at that famous quote stated, "when one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us." these women were not stopped by closed doors. they did whatever it took to break down doors and create new opportunities for women. today, we must continue to do the same. the stereotypical role of women in the military was beginning to change, but the 1970's ushered in a new chapter for women in the military. several women all became the first female officers and their at respected services.

another glass ceiling had been shattered. female firsts have not just that about promotions. a master sergeant volunteered for duty in viet nam and became the first woman marine ordered into a combat zone. the navy had their first full qualified female fighter pilot. air force graduates became the first woman b-52 bomber pilot. and the first woman to command u.s. navy ship. more recently, in 2005, sergeant leanne hester, a military police officer in the kentucky army national guard, became the first female soldier and was awarded the silver star since world war ii. in 2008, the first female four- star general officer in the united states military. this is just a small part of the

history of the american fighting woman. this is our history. as we look back in time and reflect on the significant contributions of servicewoman, let me say how proud i am to wear the uniform that represents the united states of america and to serve my country. it is my honor to stand on the shoulders of great american service women who made it possible for females to serve in leadership positions. i will continue to share the her wrote stories of women so that generations to come will know of their tremendous sacrifice to this nation. veterans day gets us an opportunity to thank all veterans and to pay respect to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. it is also at an appropriate time to recognize and thank our families. many times it is the military family that carries the heavy burden, and for that we say thank you. thank you.

it is because of that strong support and the dedication of our military men and women that freedom has been spread around the world. today, we are soldiers, marines, sailors, airmen, and coast guardsmen, americans all wearing the uniform of the finest military in the world, serving with courage, conner, and distinction -- courage, honor, and distinction, deploying alongside our brothers. we are driving convoys, many security posts, flying combat missions, conducting medevacs. women have new roles and responsibilities, like the first female sniper in the u.s. military. we're putting our lives on the line every day, as it should be. we continue to build the legacy

of the american fighting woman, but it has come at a steep price. over 80 women were killed in the battle during the civil war and spanish american war. hundreds of women lost their lives in world war i and world war ii. during the korean war in vietnam war, more than 35 women lost their lives serving their country. today, over 130 women warriors have paid their last full measure of devotion to duty in iraq and afghanistan, and hundreds more have been maimed and when did. single women, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, wives, and sweet hearts. they died so that others may live free. they gave their lives to ensure the last line of president lincoln's gettysburg address will remain true throughout all eternity. that line reads, "this nation, under god, should have a new

birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." let me close by saying it has been my privilege being here with you today, honoring aren't military men and women who have written carnations -- honoring our military men and women who have written our history. it is an honor to be wearing this uniform and protecting our nation. it has been and will continue to be an honor serving next to you. may god bless you, your families, and may continue to bless the united states of america. thank you. [applause] >> someday, they will and that

one of these things that goes up automatically when you get in front of it. in april, cancer took one of the nation's leading advocates for veterans and women veterans when it retired air force master sergeant a lot washburn died. -- air force master sergeant delilah washburn died. she was the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of innovation that she implemented in veterans' support. she was an advocate and supporter of the women's memorial foundation. long after most would have given up hope fighting cancer, she continued working and participating in the organizations that meant so much to her. our coverage was something that i will long remember, because she was a friend. the disabled veterans national

foundation has donated funds for a plaque to be placed on a chair in the theater. her close friend and now president of the foundation, her mother, two aunts, a cousin, and other friends and foundation board members are here to finalize this action. and further at this time, rose petals from her funeral service will now be placed in the reflecting pool by a close friend and her mother. so if you would -- somewhere, we should have the plaque.

>> delilah washburn, master sergeant, retired. and that will be placed on the chair. [applause]

>> putting rose petals in a pool is something we normally do in our memorial day service, but we made a special exception today for this occasion.

thank you very much. and now we have a wreath at was provided by the gold star wives in honor of america's veterans and that will be brought forward. doing this is kim frazier, the national president, and martha, r.e board ougchai

so please stand for the benediction, by the chaplain, and this will be followed by the playing of "taps." >> receive, now, the benediction. god bless america, land that we love. ame stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. h and may the light of god shine upon each of us, may the lightup of god grant us peace and safety. this is my prayerhe in god's hoy name, amen. ["taps" plays]

>> we're live at the newseum this morning here in washington. it's a review of last week's midterm elections. we'll hear from a panel of sunday political show hosts including bob schieffer, christiane amanpour, candy crowley and david gregory. we understand they're running just a few minutes later but we will be joining them live when this does get under way. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] ♪ [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] >> again, we're standing by live at the newseum here in washington for a dug on the midterm -- discussion on the midterm elections hosted by politico. we will join it as soon as it gets started. in the meantime, we want to tell you about another program we will soon have on our schedule. officials discussed election results yesterday at a forum here in washington, the international lobbying and political strategying firm hosted this event. here's a brief look. >> biggest surprises, because every election you've got the shockers. i was certainly surprised by some of the governors' race outcomes in particular. what was the biggest surprise for you on election night? >> biggest surprise for me

probably that we didn't pull out in illinois. >> you polled me a few months before. >> yeah. that was between you and me. [laughter] yeah. he was trailing for most of this election, you know? and, you know, he was several points behind brady. and, in fact, giannoulias was outpolling him system and so the fact that he could -- and so the fact that he could end up outpolling giannoulias on election day and close that gap i thought was absolutely amazing. we did have one person on our staff who insisted for months that he was going to win this race. he kept telling us the undecided voters were by and large democrats and that they would eventually come home for pat quinn, and he was right. he was right. and it was just enough margin to win. >> is will a larger lesson, though, in that bill brady ran as a very outspoken conservative

candidate. illinois, you know, key to winning a lot of rex elections -- elections in illinois is the suburbs. is there a campaign strategy that quinn used to pull off the upset? >> well, yeah. even right now when we have a greater tolerance for candidates outside the mainstream, there's still a breaking points. particularly when states have a history of electing modern republicans or moderate democrats. bill brady's not one of those, and i think it just shows each though we had a greater tolerance, voters had a breaking point. >> i think illinois was an unpleasant surprise. i would agree with nathan that we thought we had a really good shot coming down the stretch the last couple of weeks there. that's a state where, you know, this partnership that you see in a lot of cases between the dj and the unions really paid off, where asme literally had, based on reports, had 4,000 paid

workers on the ground in cook county leading up to election day. and cook county, i think the turnout was higher in cook county over the senate race. and really i think at the end of the day that was the story. it set a better turnout operation based on union support. i think the other surprise that was a pleasant surprise for me personally is one of the states that i was dealing with every day was florida. we came through a, just a bruising nomination contest where we had over $70 million spent, you know, 95% of which was on negative advertisements between one of the two candidates. and, you know, thus, our nominee, rick scott, had a negative imimagine going into the d image going into the general election. it was a late primary and, you know, he was upside down. we sort of fought, you know, alex sink had the makings to be

a good candidate, didn't turn out that way. i think the scott team ran one of the best campaigns i saw in the country in what is, obviously, a critically important state. the rga spent over $9 million in florida, and i know dj was heavily involved. so 50,000 votes will take it. it was, you know, incredibly important to win, to win florida. >> and you were mentioning florida, rick scott spent tens of millions of his own fortune, california, meg whitman spent an insane amount of money, her own money, and lost, you know, by eight, nine points. it wasn't even close. is there a lesson, do you want self-funded candidates, or could that easily backfire? >> i think it doesn't easily backfire, but it can backfire. in california it did. if i were meg whitman's -- and this is all hindsight -- the lesson learned is she should

have taken a break. after she won that primary and spent so heavily, she went right back up on tv the next day. she dominated the airwaves for about six months, and i think people got so tired of this, and it built on the narrative that she was trying to buy the election rather than earn it. i think in that case the smarter thing would have been to take the summer off and start up again around labor day which is when you knew brown was going to go up. >> he was somewhat unconventional in that he waited. >> we ran a number of these races where we had incumbent democratic governors who were retiring, you know, doyle's a good example, who were in the 30s and 40s in job approval rating, you know, rendell in pennsylvania. in this case we had schwarzenegger who i think his job approval rating was literally in the high teens, low 20s. and can that was a tough thing. i think the democrats and

brown's campaign did a good job linking -- there was that one ad where they had -- >> yeah, that was a smart ad. >> they did a good job sort of linking meg to schwarzenegger, and that was a killer. also think, you know, look, the housekeeper issue kind of when it came up sort of parked it right in the middle of the last 60 days of the election. certainly did not help, and we paid the price with hispanics. i think, you know, the overall exit polling showed that we got, i think it was, you know, 13, 14% hispanics. >> a quick preview of a program that we'll have later on the c-span networks. check our program schedule for dates and times. again, we're pack live here in washington this morning for a review of last week's midterm elections. we'll hear from a panel of the sunday political talk show hosts including bob schieffer, christiane amanpour and david gregory. it's hosted by "politico" and we

do expect it to get under way in just a moment. as results continue to come in, this story from the associated press this morning. senator lisa murkowski's campaign declared that she is headed for re-election saying her rival's unverified voter fraud claims are pointing to his desperation. ms. murkowski who hoped for another term hedged on her -- hinged on her write-in effort. 45,132 ballots counted so far, and that should be enough for her campaign to feel that she is poised to win desprite of thousands of outstanding ballots yet to be counted and a pending legal case. that is the latest from the alaska senate race. and the president is still on the road. he is, again, from the associated press this morning has claimed a stronger hand on the world stage today. despite electoral defeats at home, failure to get a free trade agreement with south korea and lackluster international

support for his get tough on trade with china, quote, it wasn't any easier to talk about currency when i was first elected and my poll numbers were at 65%. the president argued at the close of the g20 summit. the president will spend the rest of the day and tomorrow in japan and will head home to washington for this coming sunday. again, standing by. >> so again, we are standing by waiting for the or astronaut of this discussion on the -- start of this discussion on the midterm elections. we understand it'll get started in many just a moment. this is live -- in just a moment. this is live coverage on c-span2.

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>> a picture from the newseum here in washington. as we await the start of this discussion on the midterm elections which were, which took place last week. we'll hear from a panel of the sunday political talk show hosts, bob schieffer, christiane amanpour, candy crowley and david gregory are the expected speakers this morning, again, hosted by "politico," and we are still standing by. a couple of races are still yet to be decided, seven house races yet to be called. two in california, one in illinois, kentucky's fifth district still undecided, two in new york, the fifth and 25th districts undecided and texas 27. expect those to be discussed. also, of course, the alaska senate race not called yet and one governor's race undecided between democrat mark dayton, and tom horner, the independent candidate.

[inaudible conversations] >> good morning, everyone. one more time. good morning, everyone. >> morning. >> much better. >> i'm up! >> good morning, mike. how are you? >> awesome. >> awesome many. everyone else awe many? awesome? we are going to get started in just a minute, so get ready to put your hands together for our

fabulous group. we'll be going for about an hour, and we really appreciate you coming. good morning.

[inaudible conversations] >> take it away. >> thank you. well, good morning and welcome and thank you for coming to our postelection analysis. welcome to our c-span audience carrying us live, and we are also streaming this live on "politico." we're going to keep it up there for the weekend, so we'll have a big audience today. my name's john harris, i'm the editor in chief of "politico," and i also as we get started want to thank very much our sponsors for this event, the national cable and telecommunications association with "politico," we've done a number of great things with them. they're great partners. thank you very much. [applause] i do think it is the time of year when we should be willing to take a minute and reflect on and thank the people who take

risks in the name of american democracy who are willing to put themselves and their reputations out on the line for all the rest of us. i'm talking, of course, about washington political pundits. [laughter] it's not easy trying to analyze events, make predictions, make sense of the chaos of politics. i know this personally. in 2006 i wrote a book with a friend of mine and a colleague, mark hall person, he's now with time magazine, probably a lot of people in the room know mark. mark and i tried to do a book, it was going to forecast what was going to happen in the 2008 elections from a vantage point of two years out, sort of the insider's guide about politics. the book was called "the way to win. "you can still buy it. [laughter] you've got to look on ebay.

anyway, it was a good book. there was one problem: in its 400 pages there was one name that did not appear, and that was barack obama. [laughter] so it wasn't, it wasn't 100% rock solid guide to the -- i still think there was a lot of wisdom in that book. [laughter] definitely some things, some things we missed. my, i've got a favorite quote about the hazards of predictions. it comes from the his story, arthur -- historian, arthur schlessinger jr., obviously, one of the giants of american history. he said the, you know, our record of bogus predictions should, quote, lead us all to acknowledge our profound and chastening frailty and to realize that the possibilities of the future are more various, more diverse than the human mind is is designed to conceive. the future outwits all our certitudes. and there was another quote on

the same theme. it was by yogi berra. he said, prediction is hard, especially about the future. [laughter] i look back, so every week on "politico" we do a q&a, a video q&a with these guys, chris wallace or fox also joins us, could not be here, in this which i press these guys, tell me what's happening. i look back and, you know what? these guys had a much better track record than halpern and i did. everybody makes fun of political pundits and all the rest, but we did pretty damn well this year. i think anybody watching these shows would have had a good sense of what happened, what is happening. and i like to think that's true of our "politico" coverage. so we don't always blow it, and these guys hardly ever blow it. i want to go and introduce them,

and we'll get this conversation going. christiane amanpour, of course, the anchor of this week with christiane amanpour on abc news. she started this not too long ago. when did you start? >> august 1st. >> of course, news junkies like us and probably most of the people in this room know her from her career at cnn, just recently joined abc. bob schieffer is cbs' news chief washington correspondent and, of course, the anchor and moderator of "face the nation." bob has covered washington for more than 30 years, but i know that's not true -- >> 0. >> more than 40 years, right? you need more than 30 years to pick up laird stories. [laughter] both bob and i know mel laird, the former defense secretary. he's covered virtually every important beat in washington in that, in those years. candy crowley is cnn's chief

political corps responsibility and anchor -- correspondent and anchor. she runs "state of the union" every sunday. she took the reins of that show in february, and in her role as chief political correspondent she covers a broad range of stories including presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races. i think we know candy is one of the real workhorses, you are going to see her on airplanes, out on the scene, the authority she brings to the summit. she's -- subject. she's earned that the hard way. i'd say that's true of all the people up here. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press," of course. he's been doing that since december of 2008, obviously, taking over one of the really esteemed chairs in this business from the late tim russert, somebody we all knew and respected and has very much lived up to tim's legacy with that show. in addition to his "meet the press" respondents, he's a regular on the today show and see him often on msnbc.

been with nbc since 1995. i thought you were a youngerfy than that,day. >> not anymore. >> time marchs on. okay. i just figured we would open it up with everybody talking a little bit about their shows and reflecting back. tell me, what was your biggest kind of get of the cycle, the really illuminating moment that you said, ah, this is really telling me something i didn't know about politics. david, we'll go on down the line. >> i think in the political context there were two that stand out, when robert gibbs said the house could fall was a moment because it was a bit of truth telling that he wanted to dial back -- >> why was that such a storm, right? this. >> well, because -- >> ray charles could have seen it coming. [laughter] and he said it and got in a lot of trouble. >> and i think we all like a real moment like that, a real moment of candor. by the way, he didn't say it was going to fall. he said, certainly, it is possible given how competitive

these house races are going to be. i think that was interpreted by the likes of nancy pelosi as somehow, you know, tamping down the potential for democratic candidates to rally. so that became a bit of an issue. i think on the other side we had all the campaign chair, and i think it was striking and certainly something that the president picked up on when you had pete sessions and john cornyn, the republicans, who weren't really in much of a position to talk about, you know, what areas they would actually cut, what new ground they would break policy wise if they got control again in congress. and i think that was an area that certainly democrats picked up and made people stand up and take notice. >> right. candy, give us a -- >> i mean, i have to give you one that i disliked only because it has a slight story behind it, and it was early on the most visible man around but jim demint, but he was also quiet. and it was hard to get at him and hard -- and so, he one day sort of surprising us said, sure, i'll come on. so we had him scheduled for the

show, and i came in -- i usually come in around 5. >> right. >> yeah. which you don't even want to know what time i get up. i'm one of those people who should just stay up. [laughter] so i got there, and somebody said lisa murkowski wants to come on. this was just after she said she was going to run as a write-in. and i said, well, what do you mean? it turned out that one of her aides showed up at the guard station at cnn at literally 3 in the morning saying can i talk to candy crowley because lisa murkowski is looking for her, would like to come on the air. she's also someone that doesn't go on on sunday all that much. >> or probably not asked that much until recently. >> exactly. exactly. and, you know, what we figured was, look, she knows we're having jim demint who had just excoriated her. she was an appropriator which

was a bad thing to be now. and so we had the two of them and just the tension between these two people who allegedly worked together, i thought, told us a lot about the tea party and how that is, how that was fitting into the mainstream where lisa murkowski -- >> will how often do you see that -- how often do you see that on the show, i'd be curious whoo others think, the behind the scenes moment, hi, good to see you, sort of congeniality behind the scenes with people who have different political perspectives, how often is it obvious they can't stand one another? >> that's hard to hide. [laughter] >> uh-huh. >> it really is. i mean, i think we've all had the experience when you get on and you think, whoa. the tension in this room is a bit much. but they can't hide that generally. >> right. great. bob, what are some of the moments -- >> you know, i wouldn't pick out any particular program. we had a really good, i thought, fall going into the elections. and, you know, one week it would

be somebody from one party, and another week it'd be someone from the other party. but i felt we made a decision early on in the summer that we were going to concentrate on nothing but the elections until the election. and i felt like, i felt like we did really well on that. you're talking about they don't like one another. one of the kind of low points in the year for me that kind of underlined just the partisan divide that we have in this country is at one point when someone one -- from one party, one of his aides called up, and we were having his opposite number on with us and asked if we could have a separate waiting room for his boss because he didn't want to sit in the same room with the person from the other party. [laughter] and we told him, sorry, you're just going to have to suck it up. [laughter] we can't put up a tent out in the parking lot, you know?

[laughter] but i thought that just sort of summed up where we were in this campaign year. and so while i wouldn't call that a highlight -- >> right. >> -- it is one of -- >> that wouldn't have happened 30, 40 years ago. >> oh, no. to me, that's what made it such a telling anecdote. >> i had an example from the other extreme which is we did a debate with alexei giannoulias, the illinois senate debate, and right before commercial break i had asked giannoulias a number of questions about his tie toss a bank that had loaned money to mobsters, it had been a tough exchange, and then kirk breaking in. and we go to break, and kirk turned togiannoulias and said, don't worry, now it's my turn, you know? many that was surprisingly nice, i thought. >> well, john, it's really nice to be here. i would just gently say that i have not yet presumed to be a pundit in washington, i'm new to

this, and it has been a really enjoyable learning curve. >> right. >> and i'm, obviously, coming to it in a much more reportorial world and with a great deal of curious and curiosity rather than instant expertise and delivering my prognostications which i'm studiously avoiding sensibly. i would say that my highlight probably was my first program when i interviewed nancy pelosi, and i thought that was a really good get and, obviously, i had met her in a different context, but i'd never interviewed her. and i was, obviously, struck as many of you know by her fighting spirit. and that, i wasn't too surprised when it turned out that she decided to fight for the leadership position right now because i think that's what she is, a fighter and be a true believer. one of the other interesting sort of combinations because i'm also doing a little bit more international and trying to put an international layer on policy and politics here, connect america to the world and the world to america. i had a program in which we had

both secretary of state hillary clinton and the iranian president ahmadinejad. not that they were sitting together, but the fact was that they were talking about the same things from their separate worlds. incredibly interesting to me. hillary clinton was very determined, very hard line, trying also to straddle the line of the administration which is engagement while, while staying very strong against iran. and ahmadinejad was as provocative and controversial as he always is. but he did tell me that they were going to go back to the nuclear negotiating talks which they'd planned to go back to. so i thought that was interesting. i know george will thought it was interesting because he sort of commented as i was on my conversation with him about stoning. if you remember the big controversy over this woman who was going to be stoned in iran. i was asking ahmadinejad about it and pushing him about it, and george will, i could hear him say, well, that's a fist for

sunday morn -- first for sunday morning television, stoning. i thought that was good. >> to me, some of the most interesting answers are the ones that are the nonanswers that you keep sort of going back on and back on, and i loved at one point we had steny hoyer on, and i said, so when are you going to start throwing overboard the democrats that aren't going to win. and he looked at me and said, you don't expect me to answer that, right? this. [laughter] okay. he gets the game, i get the game, and so this is just sort of the fun parts when you keep going and going and think, okay, we kind of got an answer in a nonanswer. >> right. >> john cornyn was interesting when he basically said on our show they weren't going to win the senate this cycle. so that was interesting. >> interesting. truth breaks out. [laughter] >> and as candy says, trying to get the details and trying to get the answers. you know, the election was a lot about the debt, obviously, that was what the tea party was, deficit reduction, eradicated debt, and it's very, very hard to get a real answer about where the cuts are going to be before

this commission which is advisory, but it was very hard. so i spent practically a whole program last week trying to press them on that. >> i talked to somebody who's been in a previous white house, the clinton white house where the circumstances in 1994, there are some similarities, some differences between the circumstances that barack obama and his team face now in 2010. and president obama called the election results a shelacking, but this person said it's more like a death. and people in politics have to go through the stranges of grief, you know, first you have denial, then you have rage, and only over time do you have acceptance, and in politics, unlike death, you do get a second chance. there's the sort of clarity about what action needs to be taken going forward for a recovery. where do you guys think of obama

white house is in the stages of grief? are they still in denial? rage? acceptance? what do you think, dave? >> i think -- [inaudible] is where they are, and it's only getting worse. you know, this was not the most successful overseas trip that any president has taken. m. >> right. >> i mean, they went and thought at the very least they were going to get some sort of agreement with trade on south korea, and that apparently has gone by the by. they're in a huge fight with germany -- >> just a historical note, november's always a pretty big travel month for white houses because they have various summits and often a peck is scheduled right around this time -- apec. i can remember the first president bush taking an awful trip after a bad election in '91, remember dick thornburg, clinton took this terrible death march after '94. >> well, and nixon, going back to nixon, you know, went off on those trips because he couldn't

go anywhere. [laughter] >> right. >> but you're right, it is a tradition. but i think, i think the white house and i think the republicans to some extent are both in this just kind of holding patterns right now would be the kindest way to discover it. because republican leadership has got to figure out what to do and how to deal with the new people who have come to their party. and the democrats, obviously, in totality array in the house -- total disarray in the house where they have this unexpected fight over the leadership. so i think until the two sides work out their internal problems, i don't think you can make any kind of prediction about what's going to come after it. but i think the fact of the matter the democratic party in washington is now going to be more liberal, and the republican party is going to be more conservative. so i think the partisan divide -- >> and you have a disappointed left, a disaffected middle and a resurgent right. and if you put all that together, it's a very difficult place for the president to be.

you talk about bill clinton, i mean, what his calling card was and the reason why he's so well thought of now as a political figure is pause he was the guy -- because he was the guy, the head of the democratic party, who balanced the budget. president obama is the guy who has, you know, returned or restored the era of big government at a time when a lot of people think the government is out of control. and is not responsive to what the economy actually needs. he's failed to win that argument that government is actually vital and part of the solution, not part of the problem. so that's where he's lost that middle of the country. and then, you know, whether it's the economy or whether it's the don't ask, don't tell policy, you've got the left that still wants a lot more from him. >> somewhere, i mean, as far as the republican party is concerned, it seems to me that the leadership on capitol hill is is right now in their post election co-oping. i think, you know, they see they want to have this freshman position, they would really like

christy nome from south dakota to go in that because she had some tea party backing. i think all of this talk about health care reform, yes, i think they're trying to bring the aboves into it, kind of stop the funding. but the fact of the matter is they know very well they can't repeal health care reform. they don't have the votes for it to override the veto, they don't have the votes in the senate, and they know they can't spend two years trying to repeal health care reform, so i think they're trying to play to that tea party side. i think as far as the president's concerned, one of the reasons -- and i think the main reason nancy pelosi who was, at first, a little bit reluctant to take on this minority position was, in fact, urged by a lot of people to do it. and one of them said, you know, it's not that we're afraid of john boehner, we're worried about the president. >> right. >> you know, we're worried he's going to, you know, saw off the branch here, and she's the one that can, that can go at him and kind of hold the line. so i think, you know, the

president's stuck in the middle -- >> so interest ising. in other words, don't try to pull a dick morris from the '90s. don't try to leave us out there. >> right. >> while you worry about your re-election. >> exactly. >> if so, you'll have her to answer to. interesting. >> somewhat counterintuitively, obviously, the narrative is that the republicans have won, and it's a complete shift in the balance of power, and that possibly is what it is, but i was just reading this one article, and the quote by the alabama republican spencer bachus who said you think republicans are in charge in washington, you can wipe that thought from your mind. democrats are in control of the presidency and the senate, it would take 67 votes to override any veto. to what you're saying, i think that's interesting in terms of, really, what is going to happen in the future and whether it is just a rout by one party of another. and having covered some of the campaigns on the road, i was struck by how people, american voters were really turned off by

the extreme partisanship and wanted more than anything their politicians to get together and solve these big solutions. because talking about compromise is not just a sweet little thing that we would like to happen. on the huge issues that face this country and the world, for instance, the deficit, they cannot do it with one party alone. >> right. >> and it's really -- >> tap into some of your foreign expertise,christiane. a lot of americans like divided government, they don't want just one party to have the wheel. they like some tension in washington. from the perspective of capitals abroad, what do people think? do they worry about divided government, or do they see it as potentially a good thing? >> i'm not sure that they look so much, you know, into the anytimety createty of the divided government, but they're certainly watching these results very, very closely. because capitals and people around the world want to know whether this means the united states is going to turn inwards, is there going to be more

isolationism than engagement, is there going to be battles over free trade, over protectionism? this what's going to happen with certain treaties that are there in the, you know, ready to be ratified? many people hope the starr treaty, will he get that through? if his senate doesn't ratify it, how is that going to make him look overseas? and then, of course, the afghan war. that's the highlight. and i think, paradoxically, stronger republican representation may make it easier for him to get -- and certainly for david petraeus -- to get the troops to get the sort of war machine going. although the president is, obviously, wanting to pull that back. it looks like it's going to go on for many more years than 2011. and i think that's going to be something that's very interesting. and you've heard the tea party candidates talk -- well, the

most prominent ones, certainly, sarah palin and christine o'donnell who failed, talk about afghanistan in if very broad terms. i think people abroad are looking at the big unknown which is the insurgency in the tea party and how that is going to effect not just domestic policy but foreign policy as well. >> some of my favorite imimagines from the campaign -- images from the campaign involve candidates almost like they're olympic runners making a mad dash for their car while the hapless reporters are chasing after them. and, bob, christine o'donnell, i believe, canceled an appearance on "face the nation" at the last moment. david, i believe that rand paul canceled on "meet the press "in may. virtually every local reporter in many of the states with

contested races has stories of candidates just kind of shutting down. what do you guys make of this effort to try to escape press scrutiny? i mean, gosh, canceling on face the nation or meet the press is unpatriotic. this is about unity and coming together. [laughter] >> look, they've obviously got a strategy about avoiding, you know, certain platforms where they're going to be held accountable in a certain way. and they know that. i think in the case of, you know, sharron angle, i think a candidate who says i'm not going to answer questions until i'm elected is a joke, and they should be treated that way by the voters. i mean, if you can't take tough questions and you want to be a united states senator? you've got a problem. now, you don't have to love the press, by the way. you don't have to love our programs or us or all the rest.

you should be able to take questions and be held account and not try to narrow cast your way to high office. and i think that sort of works itself out if you look at some of the results. you know, rand paul, i think, made an unfortunate decision, but he's, you know, he put himself out there elsewhere in the campaign and will continue to, i assume. >> well, i hope that doesn't become a habit with rand paul because he's going to be on "face the nation" sunday. [laughter] >> bob, i'm willing -- if he cancels, i'm willing -- >> i'll call you. [laughter] i mean, christine o'donnell, i think that the people, what adviser she had appeared she would simply make a fool of herself, and so they canceled her, or she canceled, and i don't think it's any more complicated than that. >> i think you're both absolutely right, but i think it's, it's -- it was, you know, they brought these untested candidates because they knew

that, you know, they wanted some energy and that they wanted to put these candidates out. but it was, obviously, a deliberate strategy of not talking to the press. it was partly because they didn't want to, you know, expose themselves as you say. but also because they were not able to answer, you know, all of the big questions that were out there. and as dade says, you know, in the -- david says, you know, the voters spoke, and that cost the republicans the senate. basically cost them the senate. >> christine o'donnell was a fluke. i mean, nobody expected her to win that. after she won there were not very many people glad that she had won. and had she not won, it would have been much better for the republicans because mike cassel would have won that seat. >> it wasn't a fluke because we had tom ross on, the chairman of the republican party in delaware. he said mike castle was meant to

win until external tea party support and forces came in and put her money wise and publicity wise and support wise over the top. >> are well, christine, a very small number of people turned out to vote, and no one expected, i mean, no one -- >> in the primary? >> yes, in the primary. >> she won it. >> so i would just stick with it, it was a fluke. [laughter] >> candy. >> there's no legal requirement that they show up on national tv to do anything. that's certainly their right. and i think that for all those reasons that these guys have stated, they don't. they do have local press, and they have sort of talked to the local press which are much more important, as we know, in state races. it's much more important to talk to your big state newspaper or your big state tv station which they doesn't always do -- didn't always do. i think, actually, what's more troubling is, first of all, there are outlets these people

can go to that are friendlier, and they can get their message out there in so many ways. they can just have a web site and pump stuff out, and they can go around and over the heads -- >> do you think that's sarah palin's strategy? >> sure, yeah. >> what strategy? >> you know, i think the other thing that's more troubling is a lot of them didn't do town hall meetings, a lot of them wouldn't tell you what their schedule was. and why? because they're a little bit afraid of the public because every time you turn on the tv particularly last summer, summer before were all these angry people, and politicians never look good when they're around angry people. and i think they sort of backed up. it's not just that they're not accessible to us sometimes, it's that they're not accessible to their voters. >> i think, in this my view and you guys feel free to object to it, that one reason we see our politics being so unstable with the republicans taking control and democrats taking control,

and now we have a reverse of that is that the middle of american politics, the broad middle is frustrated in what they -- and what they most want out of washington is people to not throw away principles, but not approach everything through the perspective of ideology. they want people to be mature, sensible and focused on solving problems. and yet the incentives of our political system, bunch of different incentives, push people to the extremes of right or left. and so the middle is chronically dissatisfied. and there's a paradox. what they want most, they get least out of washington. i'd be curious anybody's thinking on that, but answer it, please, in the context of are people going to get anything like governance over the next couple of years? and to put some historical context on it, newt gingrich and bill clinton fought, but ultimately they did pass welfare reform, they did pass a balanced

budget. it's not clear to me what the dynamics are over the next couple of years. is it all conflict? is there room for compromise? >> i just think the calendars compress so that room for consensus is, perhaps, a little smaller. you also have the principles involved and whether they can restore some trust where there's been virtually none to get some things done. they're the political -- do they have a grasp of the political theater in the way that the gingrich and clinton did, but i think the ground is there and i think the momentum is there for something on the budget and cutting spending and trying to restore some trust in washington. but i'd make two other points which is i think the disaffection of the middle is aggravated by the fact that people just lost faith in big institutions whether it's wall street or government or media. so that, that compounds the problem. the second thing is that the american people are not always consistent on these points. they say they want certain things, and a candidate stands up and says, you know, we've got

to raise the retirement age on social security. whoa, whoa, whoa, we weren't talking about that adult of a conversation. [laughter] so that's kind of a mixed message. you can still be punished yearly as a politician for going into some of these areas. >> you know, the budget commission thatter skin bowles, the -- erskine bowles, the clinton chief of staff just came out, they made the recommendation to raise social security and also raise the gas tax. my wife was traveling yesterday, and she saw al simpson at the airport, they were standing next to each other in line. they don't know each other but making small talk. she said, well, are you going back to wyoming? he said, no, i'm going into the witness protection program. [laughter] >> i'm curious to ask just from a perspective abroad, you saw who was going on in france, obviously, battles on the street over raiding the retirement -- raising the retirement age just by two years. do you think, gentlemen and ladies, that they will succeed in raising the retirement age here? >> in the next two years?

not a chance. i mean, that's just not going to happen. >> [inaudible] >> no. i think that what happens is they can do stuff around the edges, but i think if you're looking for major reform, change the nation kind of stuff, it's not going to happen in the next two years. i think there's some ground for debt as dade talked about in the budget -- david talked about in the budget. i think there's ground on trade. i think they have some smolally there. seems to me they'll come, obviously, to some position somewhere on tax cuts. the president seems eager, i think, i mean, we've gotten conflicting signals, but he does seem as though he wants to be seen as compromising with republicans. but in big sort of move it immigration reform, that kind of thing, i think it's going to be smaller piece things. >> i would agree with candy. i think they're going to come to some understanding on extending the bush tax cuts with the upper levels extended temporarily or some sort of an arrangement there but, quite frankly, i don't see much else coming together. >> are right.

and, bob went on face the face the nation, but here on the c-span audience can see it, please, explain your socks. [laughter] >> well, you know, my football team, tcu, is having a pretty good year, and i thought i would just go ahead and wear purple socks until we find out how this season turns out. also pulling for alabama to beat auburn. >> some athletes do not change their socks for the entire season, but i assume you've got more than one pair of those. >> i've got several pair. [laughter] >> bob, are you going to dedicate the program if tcu doesn't get a chance to play for the championship, does this become a political question? >> it would be to do away with the hated -- >> right. >> i've already done one piece. [laughter] >> a lot of people would like to do away with that. >> i guess everyone should know, i'm not unbiased about that. [laughter]

>> not on that question, no one's asking you. who, candy, are you really looking at for the republican nomination in 2012? i know, of course, we need to take a break from presidential politics, so maybe not this weekend, but, like, take a break over thanksgiving, how about, like, the first sunday in december? that's enough of a break, then we can get back to presidential politics. who are you going -- who would you want on your show? >> passing up the obvious suspects, mitt romney, etc. -- >> right. >> look, i think you have to look a little bit at thune. i think he's -- he's just interesting in and of himself, but he's -- senator thune. i think he's interesting. i know chris christie has said he's not running, but he's so interesting, and, you know, you've had him on. he's just a great get. he's the only politician i've

ever seen in my life who actually can take on an audience and actually come out looking better. and, you know, i think you've got to watch marco rubio only because the republicans are so excited about him, and, oh, this is our barack obama, and i don't think in two years they're going to do the same thing that the democrats did with rubio having two years of experience, but i think he's -- both of those guys are up and comers, and i think they will play a part in the presidential race, if not run. so i think they're interesting to watch. >> uh-huh. >> i think that newt gingrich will announce in january in iowa that he's going to run. and i think he'll be the first one to make the announcement. but beyond that i have no idea. i think it is totally wide open. i don't think any republican has emerged and broken up -- >> do you have a hunch as to whether sarah palin would run? >> my hunch has always been that she wouldn't, but now i'm beginning to second guess myself

and wonder if, in fact, she might actually do it. i guess if i were going to bet on it, i bet she wouldn't. >> i've been with bob for a long time, but i, too, am second guessing. i do think a lot of that's out the window now and that she's enough of a rock star and doing enough now to position herself. i think what bob says is very smart about newt gingrich. i'll have the speaker on on sunday as part of my round table, i'll be spew sure to saw ask him again. [laughter] but i'll credit bob. but i think it's so important, too, which is we're in such a different climate now with the republican party that there is nobody who's off the blocks with some sort of clear advantage. there's this very unsettled feel. i think the next year will tell us in terms of how the establishment in congress deals with the tea party. >> by the way, i have a different philosophy on predictions. i think you have to, they're like stocks. you have to buy and hold, otherwise you can't -- [laughter]

>> if you're going to be wrong, be consistently wrong. >> consistently wrong. otherwise, you chase it around and every day looks different. >> i mean, i'm with them on sarah palin -- >> somebody would have lost a lot of money, by the way, betting on my predictions. >> me too. but i think sarah palin, i mean, i've always thought she wouldn't run, and part of the problem is that running for president pretty much mirrors what you do to keep your speaking fees up and your books selling. so it's hard to tell what you're watching because the theater is the same and the moves are the same. >> go ahead. >> sarah palin because, obviously, the polls say what they do, you know, not many americans think that she's qualified. nonetheless, i remember, you know, being on a program and being asked about her. it was actually a comedy program in 2008 just before the elections, and people asked me about sarah palin, and i said, don't underestimate her. and i got roundly booed by the audience and roundly told that i didn't know anything. and the thing is one shouldn't, obviously, because look where

she is today. whether she runs or not may not matter, but whether she has a major influence may be, may be more to look at. and, obviously, she did in this round of midterm elections. and then i think we have to see what the tea party candidates do, as you said, in terms of influencing senate, the house and all the rest. i mean, rand paul taught us that far from the establishment republicans co-opting them as trent lott said we had to do, no, we are co-opting the republican party. maybe that's bravado and showmanship, but i think that's going to be interesting to she how that plays out. >> david, what do you think? is the tea party going to pull the mainstream of the republican party their direction, or are they going to get subsumed by just the process and the institutional apparatus of washington? this. >> i think it does depend. marco ruin quos' a good example of a candidate who isn't beholden to the tea party. he's got a lot more crossover

appeal, and he's not going to have to listen to jim demint, you know, in the senate. i think there's probably a lot of house members who do have to sort of come in under the fold a little bit, won't have enough of a power base on their own, but i do think they've made the caucus certainly more conservative, and i think independent voters are moving in a more conservative direction. i think it's less about social issues, more about government war issues. so, yeah, i think they do pull them a little farther to the right, and one thing about palin, just take a look at, you know, working class whites, the ones who voted for hillary clinton and whether a candidate palin would have a shot at those voters. you'd have to say that she might have a good shot. that's part of how she'll look at that landscape. you've got to look at it in a narrower lane and think about her prospects. >> just an observation, if what candy says is true, that her incentives whether she really just wants to make money and sort of be a power broker or whether she wants to actually

run for president, if it's true her incentives are the same, that is going to freeze up the republican field for a while because she's got every reason to leave this question open and tantalizing for as long as possible. now, i want to say something to the audience. we do not have provisions like we did at the last one of these events for you to write down questions. i'm going to exercise the moderator's prerogative, though, and if people do want to ask questions, they should raise their hand. we'll go back and forth. would like to make sure that it is, in fact, a question rather than -- and crisply made rather than a statement. we should do that and have a little fun with that. do we have something? yes, sir. >> hank -- are we on -- what do you think, what are the prospects for the start treaty in the lame duck session? anybody want to take a stab at that? >> i don't think it'll, i don't think it'll come up, frankly. >> yeah.