interested in negotiating is a position of weakness and so that's the comment. and the question, a little bit of comic relief here, what do you think of glenn beck's planned august 24 restore courage rally in jerusalem, and folks, good tourist folks like john and his crew of -- >> thank you for the. i do talk about that in the i think the alliance that is being struck by the right of center in the jewish community with the far right of the evangelical christian community is a shonda. [laughter] you know, it's not good for the jews. we do not share a common set of ideas and interests. and in the long run, many of these sort of the end times theology, this ain't good for

the jews in the long run. and so i don't think that this is an alliance that is healthy. i think glenn beck is an opportunist who is using this as a way to find a market to sell his books and his tv shows and his radio, and his cynically playing with matches sitting on top of the tinderbox, you know, he was warned by israeli military officials to move his rally because he could start world war iii. so it's maybe a laughing matter, but this was israeli military officials. glenn beck moving his rally. that's a serious, he's a kid playing in a very dangerous sandbox year, and i just really hope that this is a disaster of an event that nobody goes to and nobody pays attention to because it has the potential to be a real spark for trouble. he's doing a real disservice to the jewish people and to the state of israel. [applause] ..

[applause] >> thank you. i want to start first off by thanking katherine and ronnie for organizing this and for inviting me here. as i've said on many trips to manhattan, aye attend -- i've attended events here, and it's truly an honor to be on this side to have podium. so thank you for that. and i also want to apologize for being so late. i know that that's not respectful of your time so, please, accept my apology. we started out at, you know, about 5:00 in the morning at "fox & friends", and we've

literally, you know, gone nonstop up until the final stop at cnn a few minutes ago when one interview goes late, it just kind of piles up, and then everything is late. so i sincerely apologize. and what i want to do tonight is really address what's on your mind and answer your questions not just about the book or about the 2010 campaign, but also about moving forward. so i'm going to try to keep my remarks short so we can quickly get to the q&a. i wanted to start by talking about why i wrote the book and what i hope to accomplish with this book. i wrote the book because our party is certainly at a crossroads, and there's a division. and going forward i truly believe we have to unite. as a matter of fact, i extended on one of my fox interviews today an invitation for karl rove and i to kiss and make up. [laughter] we can go forward a united party. but i wrote, i do talk a lot

about the cronyism of especially the republican party in delaware which those leaders have been ousted, but the reason i bring that up is not to perpetuate it or to fan the flames, but to put it to rest and to say that, you know, if that, you know, that crony crowd would embrace the principles that the grassroots crowd that our party was founded on, not just our party, but our country was founded on, we will be a powerhouse if we can unite. and i detail some of the things that my campaign has endured and what i went through as a candidate, again, to illustrate a point of what happens when we divide instead of when we unite. and everybody knows, it's no secret that the 2010 elections, um, the republican party was

divided. but i think that there are some examples to look at. and i draw the contrast between kentucky and my own race where in kentucky we had the nrsc, and we had senator mitch mcconnell really campaigning against rand paul, you know? he was the worst thing to happen to politics until he won the primary. the day after he won the primary, the two, you know, mitch mcconnell and rand paul were arm in the arm, and they were saying that's the past, we've got to move forward to make sure this guy crosses the finish line. and, unfortunately, that didn't happen in delaware. but it's got to happen in order for us to win in 2012. so that's the message that i hope that people can take away with them by reading this book. i tried to tell the story of how i got involved in politics and, um, what made me embrace the principles that i did and why i chose to become a republican.

and i told it in a way that some political advisers have said was a little too honest, i probably shouldn't have admitted some things, but i did that, again, um, so that the reader can relate. because it's not about how many mistakes we've made or if we've ever fallen because you simply cannot pretend to be perfect. it's too exhausting and too weary to keep up that facade. we're human. but what it's about is about whether you get back up again, whether you're willing to own up to your mistakes and whether you're willing to correct your mistakes and whether you're willing to forge ahead in spite of the opposition. so that's why i chose to address many of the things that i did in my book and talk about it, where i came from and some of the hardships that i personally endured so that people can be inspired to get involved. when i was on the campaign trail, i met so many people, you

know, and in the last chapter i talk about one of the stories where my sister and i, my sister jenny was working with me on the campaign trail, and we stopped to get gas. and she ran in to pay the woman behind the counter, and when she saw the o'donnell for u.s. senate sticker, the woman said, you know, tell your sister we're really rooting for her, we really hope she wins, and then she went on to very articulate her frustration. and, of course, jenny said, well, you can do more than hope that she wins, you can vote for her. and her response was very telling. you know, she said, oh, i'm not political, i'm not the type who votes. and i chose to tell that story not to shame her, but because there's this mindset that, you know, a certain elite control the political party, and they forget -- or not just the political party, but the political establishment on both sides of the aisle. and the people who are impacted by this policy forget that you

can get involved. not only can you get involved, but you must get involved. so i talk about some very practical application. and you here in this room, especially the republican women, you guys are the leaders and especially being manhattan republican women -- [laughter] i've often said women boll decisions -- politicians have a double standard, conservative women politicians have, you know, face it even more, double whammy. republican women in manhattan, you guys have a triple whammy. so i really hope this book can inspire you, that in spite of the opposition that you might face, that in spite of what might seem like, you know, all the odds against you we have a winning message. and the beginning part of the book is the story, how i got involved, where i came from, how i got involved in politics, and, um, you know, maybe we'll get to it during the q&a, but i'll tell

you now quite honestly, i got involved because i thought the boy signing up at the college republican table was cute -- [laughter] and they were paying $75 a day to go pass out literature on election day, and what college student -- especially in the early '90s -- would turn down that large sum of money? so although my motives might have been a little wrong to begin with, i found that i truly stumbled upon something that i loved. being in that environment and especially this was in north jersey, i got to talk to some of the local candidates and ask them questions. and, you know, i was a little too naive to realize that you can't ask these candidates these challenging questions. but, you know, why do you stand for this? why do you take this position? you know, in case i knock on a door and they ask me about this, can you explain this, you know? and that sort of curiosity got

people's attention, and then from there, you know, what might not have started out as the right reasons, it tapped into a passion in me. and i realized i like what these republicans have to say, i think i'm republican. and, you know, i don't know what i was registered at the time, quite honestly. but then there i found myself, i got invited to then actually work on the bush/quayle campaign as a youth leader at the convention in houston in 1992. and, again, just being a curious college student asking people questions, and that, um, you know, the people who were around me embracing that and not looking down that i was young. that's what brought me into my political career. and then i close it with some practical application about the principles that the republican party stands for. because, again, these are not just the principles on which our party was founded, these are the principles on which our country

was founded. and i try to give some very practical application about the policies that we need to embrace moving forward. and what we can do for those people like the woman that we met at the gas station who said i'm not the political type. i get it. i used to state that. and then suddenly i found myself the political type, very much the political type, you know? but, again, you have to get beyond that mindset. so i close the chapter with some practical application. but some of the policy stuff that i talk about, there's a chapter that i call the freedom food chain. because one thing that, you know, we all are saying is that government is too big, the size of government, you know, exploded under barack obama, and recently i've heard some democratic pundits saying, you know, don't those republicans get that that's a good thing, big government is a good thing and government is supposed to take care of it people? and unless we can clearly articulate why, no, big government is not a good thing,

we're going to lose. and i also talk about, there's a chapter called defeating the power of the sound bite because, you know, again, especially being in manhattan, sometimes you might feel frustrated that all around you is this liberal commentary, this misinformation put out there. i of all people understand that frustration of the misinformation. but yet we have power right now. information technology has put the power back into the hands of the people and especially women who are the activists, who are the unsung heros in any major advancement in american history. you are the ones who can take this information into the pta meetings, into the little league games, into, you know, your arenas, into your jobs and help talk about this, help counter that culture of misinformation that tends to plague some mainstream media. um, so i talk about, you know, defeating the power of the sound bite, how the sound bite derives

its power in the first place, and then i also talk about some practical arguments against socialism. because, again, that's a topic that's coming up a lot as we head towards the 2012 elections is that, you know, a lot of people say obamacare is the final nail in the coffin. that's what's going to cement this entitlement culture that we have and push us over the edge. and, again, the democratic pundits are pushing back with, well, isn't socialism a good thing? so i try to address some of the fundamental flaws with socialist economies which is, number one, it reduces the value of the individual to that which is cost effective. and you see that clearly with socialized medicine. if it's not cost effective, that person doesn't deserve that treatment. but, number two, you could then say, well, what about modeling some socialist, you know, systems like france, you know? we model their fashion, and

isn't it cool to, you know, everything french is, you know, hip and cool. so why not have america model the french socialism where it's compassionate? isn't that okay? no, t not okay. it's not okay. it's not right to put that kind of a impression on people. and the second flaw that i point out, and i go into greater detail about this, is that in a socialist economy if you don't already have the means to get ahead, it's very likely that you and generations to come will stay dependent on the government. and that's the problem with the socialist model, is that it snuffs out the american dream. the american dream, you know, on the campaign trail i would ask people, you know, what do you think the american dream is? what do you think the american dream is? and so often people would raise their hand, and they'd say it's to have a car, to have a house,

or even to say to have a car and a house for your family. and that sounds great, and you might think isn't that the definition? but it's not. to me, the definition of the american dream is to be able to work hard, to earn that house, to earn that car. and that is the american dream, that no matter where you've come from or what kind of economic background you may have started in, if you're willing to work hard and sacrifice and go the extra mile and exercise the spirit of entrepreneurship and make those creative sacrifices and take the blows and take the hits and have several failed businesses before your business model finally succeeds, you will leave your children and your grandchildren a better future. and in a socialist model there simply doesn't allow for that room for that profit margin when

more than half of it is going to pay for taxes and, you know, these -- what are they called in france, social fees? you know, which is a euphemism for more tacks, there's -- taxes, there's not enough profit margin. so we have to remember the principles on which this country was founded, and we have to remember that not too long ago democrats supported this as well. so going into 2012 we have to have, i believe, a radical ideological reawakening of these principles that made our country great and can still make our country great. i don't think it's too late. but it will take a lot of work, and it will take us unifying, a unified party is what can make sure that barack obama truly is a one-term president. and i could go on, you know? [applause] i have a -- [laughter] i have a whole chapter that i

call our follower in chief where i lay out many of what i think are barack obama's flaws. but i'll probably -- you guys probably have some questions about 2012, so i'll save it for that. >> okay. if you have a question, please, line up behind the mic. >> who do you think's going to be our candidate? >> um, you know, i honestly don't know. i think it's early, but i will say this -- >> if you had to guess, who would you guess? >> you know, it's really hard to say. >> you're talking like a politician. >> people get frustrated when i say that, but i think all of them have really great characteristics, and i think it's a real testimony to the dialogue that the tea party has brought to the table, the mere fact that, you know, a balanced budget amendment was even part

of the discussion before raising the debt ceiling. and, again, you know, let's look to that whole debt ceiling discussion as an example. if instead we had a set -- instead of pointing fingers at each other and saying they're to blame, they're to blame, we had pointed the finger at barack obama and said what is wrong with a balanced budget amendment, what is wrong with putting in safety measures to make sure we never get in this situation again, and we had spoken in one accord pointing, putting the blame where it belongs, i think that we would have been much more successful. but instead we've got to get over that finger pointing. but the mere fact that that was even part of the discussion and the mere fact that we have true champions, um, of the constitutional principles not just, you know, people who are saying it just to win the

nomination, we have true champions who, i believe, are going to fight for our country and for our party. and we've got a winning message. and we've got to be confident of our message. and we should be proud of our message. and if we can adopt that attitude going into 2012, you know, we can do great things. >> hi. you touched a little bit on your troubles after your primary win and the difficult difficulties you had with the party establishment. what is your relationship like now with the delaware republican party and the rnc, and what are your plans politically? >> they're great questions. now, first of all, i do want to claire guy -- clarify that, you know, my trouble is with the former republican leadership. there has been a growing discontent in delaware with the political establishment that has -- on both sides of the aisle -- that has pretty much

shut out the people, the voters. so my candidacy didn't create the discontent, we tapped into it. and then because of the dirty, underhanded tricks that the republican -- the former delaware republican leadership did, those leaders were ousted. and the new chairman of the republican party you wants that we need to unite. and he's been doing -- john cigler, he's the former president of the nra. he's been doing a great job of reaching out and trying to build that unity so that we can take back our statehouse and that we can be a strong, unified and to help, you know, the former republican leadership take pride in the principles in which we stand. but, you know, the ousted leadership is still unhappy, and be, um, they're still resorting to some underhanded tricks because i talk about how one of

the things that our former chairman, tom ross, did was file a false claim against me with the sec. and not only did our delaware republican leadership do this, but the democrats did it as well through a group called crew. they filed a false claim with the u.s. attorney's office. now, i have since been cleared of all those claims, but why i say that it's a sleazy, underhanded trick is because it's abusing the political process. filing a false claim with the u.s. attorney's office for political motives is abusing the justice system. none of you in this room, um, who has a vendetta against your neighbor can accuse them of burglary and get the police to look into that without facing consequences when they realize that it was, you know, a vindictive claim, that you did it vindictively. but that's what our former chairman did, and the sec saw

right through it, there was no matter to their claim so, you know, they're trying to fight back right now and trying to say that some things are inaccurate in the book, and i would just say, you know, these are the same people who lost their post because of their dishonest tactics. so, you know, dishonesty and trick erie is not off the table for them. but, thankfully, we have a new leadership and new people involved in the party who are, you know, mending those bridges. and as far as is the rnc, you know, chairman steele was great. he called me the day after the primary, he personally came to delaware, and i talk about that in the book. so i hope at least with the rnc we still have that good relationship. and like i said earlier on fox, you know, and on cnn, i extended the olive branch to karl rove and said, come on, let's kiss

and make up. so hopefully we will, and, hopefully, we can all get behind whoever it is that wins the nomination and make sure we're talking about the issues at hand and make sure we're holding barack obama accountable. >> fortunately, this afternoon i had the pleasure to hear you as i was driving in. >> oh, good. >> and i thought it was a great deal on your part to say what you did to karl rove, you know, by way of the radio station. [laughter] my question is, you alluded and you have been talking about it, the establishment across the board in all the political parties. you were, obviously, a victim thereof, and i think one of our other major candidates previously has been, and she still is. would you run for office again and, if so, in what capacity and for what position? >> okay. that's a good question, and i think that was the third part of your question that i forgot to answer. you know, in the book i talk about, you know, the decision-making process when i ran for office in previous

times. and i can honestly say i know you guys are probably like, oh, my gosh, i can honestly say i don't know. and the reason for that is right now my focus at hand is to -- we're filing countercomplaints against crew. i started christine pac so that we can fight because crew is the same organization that went after sarah palin, you know, they went after kurt wheldon, some good candidates. and my lawyer in that case also represented many of crew's other victims. and, you know, as she would explain, it's an exhausting process, you know? the fbi called my childhood friends, you know? all because of this, i have to say allegedly for legal reasons, this allegedly perjured affidavit that crew filed.

usually what happens is these candidates, obviously, they lose the election because, you know, crew will file this complaint and then release a press release all in the same day so that as you're getting closer to election day, the headlines read, you know, candidate is accused of this illegal activity. you know, all of my attorneys' clients, including me, have been dismissed as these. but what happens is you're so emotionally tapped, you're so financially tapped that you're just glad you survived. well, i didn't earn that title, "troublemaker," you know -- i did earn that title troublemaker for a reason, and they picked on the wrong person. and we are fighting back. and we are filing our own series of countercomplaints with the u.s. attorney's office, with our state attorney general and with the irs. now, our state attorney general is bo biden -- yes, there is

relation. our vice president's son, so let's see if i get a fair shot. [laughter] you know, i'm sure he'll want to give this case all of the proper treatment it deserves. but we're also asking the irk rs to revoke their tax status, to revoke crew's tax status because they're a 501c organization. so when george soros, you know, donates his, you know, millions to crew, it's a tax writeoff. if he and juan buffett want to -- warren buffett want to write for checks to the government, great, but he gets to write off his check to crew. when you're a 501c organization as you probably very well know, you cannot engage in direct political activity. you can educate the voters about issues, but you cannot actively campaign. and if you look at crew's top the worst reelects -- top 12

worst reelects, you know, the most horrible candidates who won re-election, eight of those 12 are republican. and of those four who are democrat, three of them are african-american. you know, so there's a very clear agenda here. and in the very beginning of crew's existence they didn't go after democrats at all until people started pointing the finger at this obvious partisanship, this obvious political motive, and then they started picking on the black caucus. and usually not with the fanfare that they go after people like me or sarah palin or others. so they're, obviously, politically motivated, and, you know, guilty of slander in so many ways, alleged he guilty of slander -- [laughter] and we're fighting back. so that is on, you know, the top of my requirety list right now

because -- priority list right now because when candidates or political opponents do not have a platform to stand on, don't have a record they can defend which, you know, even the democrats are beginning to say about the obama administration, they don't have a record that they can defend. they resort to the politics of personal destruction. so if we don't fight back how and stop this corrupt behavior going into the 2012 election, they're going to continue to do that. again, you can't accuse your neighbor of burglarly because you might face some charges of your own for abusing the justice testimony. justice system. crew cannot do what they did. in the terms of running for office again, like i said, i honestly don't know. if it depends if we have a congress-full of alan wests and jim demints, i can enjoy civilian life.

and that sounds very appealing. but i wrote the book because we need more alan wests, jim demints, michele bachmanns and sarah palins and many some of you here looking into this room. when people watched what happened and realized things that you said 25 years ago are going to be dug out and taken out of context, you go why the heck would i ever do that? why would i put my family through that, why would i embarrass myself or risk my reputation like that if we allow them, we're allowing them to begin all over again. because we need two challenges to hold this administration accountable, to put their name on the line. and, again, we might not win the first time around, i be -- but we're making a difference and paving the way and moving the standard further along for

future candidates, especially, especially for i women. so i really tip my hat to what your organization is doing here in such a difficult district. [applause] >> thank you. >> i wondered if you would be willing to talk a little bit about your experience with the media during your campaign. was there anything that surprised you or shocked you in the coverage? and, also, do you have any advice as to what conservatives should be prepared for in terms of coverage with the election in 2012? >> yeah, okay. remind me to address both parts of your question because my mind was -- there's so many things that i want to share in the answer to that question. first of all, there were a lot of surprises, a lot of surprises with the media. and, you know, we all expect the unfair treatment, we all expect the double standard, um, but i

was surprised how some conservative media, you know, would justify getting behind a man who co-authored the disclose act which i, essentially, call a grassroots gag order with that incumbent protection clause and then, also, a man who supported cap and trade, a piece of legislation that i believe is really destructive to our economy, um, but yet conservatives who also oppose these legislation justified getting behind this candidate, you know, for reasons that i think are false, you know? is because it's better to have a republican in there. and my response to that -- so, first of all, i was surprised at the malicious treatment from the conservative media. i mean, downright malicious where they would repeat some of the false accusations that the former -- i love saying the former delaware republican leadership -- [laughter] the former leadership would put out there. um, but, you know, to address

that point, you know, number one, exit polling shows that my opponent, mike cassel, was declining in the polls. and before my party's attack against me, i was ahead in the general election and had a 2 to 1 advantage over the coveted independents. in delaware there are almost as many independents as there are republicans. so when you have a 2 to 1 advantage, if you can secure your base and get out to the polls polls and have a 2 to 1 advantage with the independents, you can win. so until we started infighting, if we had modeled what they did in kentucky, i believe we would have had a republican this that seatment but, you know, there were some surprises. i remember the day after the primary, "good morning, america," wanted to talk to me, and my publicist saw they had george stephanopoulos

interviewing me. and they're like, no way! i was like, come on, i can handle it. but george stephanopoulos is very fair, i mean, very fair. and even when he had on my opponent, and i talk about this in the book in one of the pictures. i talk about how my democratic opponent, chris coons, uni, everybody would ask him -- the winner of that election served in the lame duck session because you would be sworn in to immediately fill the rest of the term vacated by joe biden. so my opponent, you know, had literally no less than five public positions on how he would vote on extending the bush tax cuts. he had five public positions. so depending on the audience, that's the position that he took. and i would try to get this out there, but, of course, i'd say it in rooms like this, but then

it would never be picked up by the media. well, i was on "good morning, america," one morning and as i was leaving to go to the next campaign event, you know, they had chris coons on immediately after me. and george stephanopoulos says your opponent accuses you of having no less than five positions on tax cuts. and he says, thank you, george, for affording me the opportunity -- something to the effect of, you know, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to set the record straight. my position on the tax cuts has been and always been -- george stephanopoulos, i could have kissed the tv screen, pulls up his smartphone and says, well, i have your web site on my smartphone right here, and it says something different. i was like, ah! [laughter] you know?

so george stephanopoulos, of all people s the one who held him accountable. again, that didn't get a lot of play unfortunately, but i was very happy, and there was a lesson learned that. , you -- obviously, george stephanopoulos recognizes his position now as a reporter. and he will throw the tough questions, but he does it evenly. he'll throw the other side as well. so that's one of the surprises is that what the unfair treatment came from. sometimes i was surprised by people who should friendly and supportive, and the fair and balanced coverage i was going into these interviews expecting -- so you can't really have a prejudice about who will, you you know, two's professional -- who's professional and whether it's the ap or gannette, you never know who is going to choose to take their role as a professional newspaper

seriously, and who's going to use that role to advance the political agenda. but as we're going into the 2012 elections, what we can expect is that, you know, we can expect unfair treatment. we can expect misinformation. but, again, information technology has put the power back into the hands of the people, so at this time unlike ever before we are not powerless. yes, it means we have to work harder. yes, we have to stay one step ahead of them. but if we are vigilant, we can defeat the power of the sound bite. and, again, i have that whole chapter in there about, first of all, you know, how the media derives its power from the sound bite and wow we can misarm it. it's what kryptonite is to superman. but we can use that sound bite to our advantage if we are just

as clever, just as creative and just as vigilant. and just as unified. i mean, do you hear any democrats turning on each other, turning on their base the way that we are? you know? so -- and did i address all three points? i did? all right. remember, i might forget all of them. >> hi. your last statement made, prompted me to get up and ask you a question very specifically. how would you, specifically, unify the tea party movements with the party? >> okay. well, first of all, what i think we have to do is, um, be proud of the principles that, on which our party was founded. right now, though, there's almost not to say an embarrassment, but, you know, whether it's joe biden calling the tea party terrorists or

other people saying that the tea party is causing this paralysis in congress, you know, i think where that's coming from is because the tea party and the middle class movement that propels the tea party has put the establishment on notice, and, you know, politics will not be the same. expect tea party -- and the tea party, at least in my campaign, we had a lot of democrats, we had a lot of independents, and they're unified around discontent with the career politicians who have turned congress into a favor factory. and one of the things that we can recognize about the 2010 elections is that the reason why so many tea party candidates won their primaries is because their message was resonating with the everyday voters, and they were, you know, whether it was rand paul's race, my race, they were

engaging people in the political process like never before, and they were articulating comments and solutions that, you know, you don't need an ivy league degree in political science to get. so the message was resonating. and i think what that does is it proves the power of the message. again, these are the principles on which our country was founded. and as i said earlier, they're the principles that made our country great and can still make our country great. so gowng forward how we can uniknew is if, you know, the establishment part of the party would get over bruised egos or whatever it is that has them frustrated or we can nice that, you know, you can't trade favors anymore and embrace the grassroots movement that won so many primaries based on principles. if they would extend their

expertise, extend their resources and their knowledge to this grassroots movement, and we could come together, that's when's gown to defeat obama. but, again, unfortunately, it's a prig if. we've got to be unified. we've got to be pointing fingers at each other. but at the same time i don't think there's any reason why we have to be embarrassed about our message. we've got a winning message. and in that captainer about defeating the sound bite, i talk about how freedom is inscribed on the heart of every individual. why we yearn for a better life for our children. that's why when you work, you want to be appreciated and loved by your spouse, because you want your unique preciousness, your individuality to be, to be celebrated by those around you. and that is how freedom is inscribed on our heart because

in a free market economy, in what america once was, you have that freedom to take your god-given gift, your very unique talents and go make a life for yourself. unless unlike a socialist economy where you role is given to you, and that's your lot in life, like it or not. you know, it snuffs out productive, you do it -- you do what you're told, and if you're good for that, good for you. don't try to make a better life for yourself. again, in that chapter i articulate that freedom is inscribed op the heart of all the people. our challenge is to articulate that. if our message is not resonating with people, you don't abandon the message, you reframe the message. i wouldn't go to a 12-year-old and talk about this very wonky stuff and why it's such a bad

thing that the imf is calling for the dollar to be removed from the reserve currency because, well, you know, my nephew might understand because he's very smart, but most 12-year-olds won't get that. so you talk to them on their level, but you don't abandon your principles. you just reframe the argument. and that's what we need to do. and if we can do that as a party, as a movement, again, i'm very optimistic that we can make sure that barack obama is a one-term president because, um, everyone -- i agree, let's clap to that notion. [applause] [laughter] anyway, as you can tell, i'm very passionate about that. any other questions? >> any other questions? okay. um, christine -- >> thank you, ronnie. >> i can't thank you enough for coming. [laughter] it was a great pleasure for us, it's a great honor. >> thank you very much. >> thanks a lot. >> thank you for having me, and thank you for being patient with

me being late. [applause] >> christine will sign your books at the front near where they're being sold. carol will be selling the books, and she'll do some signatures for you, all of you. and we want to thank her again for being here. >> thank you. thank you. [laughter] [applause] >> and good luck. good luck with everything you do. >> thank you, ronnie. >> all your endeavors. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> oh, i forgot to thank c-span for covering it. sorry. thank you, c-span, for covering the event. [inaudible conversations] >> you're watching booktv on c-span2, 48 hours of nonfiction authors and books every weekend. >> what are you reading this summer? booktv wants to know. >> the first book on my reading list this spring and summer was cleopatra by stacy schiff. and it, what a great insight in recounting her life.

it was a book that was recommended to me, and so i decided to pick it up and read it and then continue it with the strong woman theme, if you will, with elizabeth i, that's by margaret george. that's on my ipad, i'm reading both of these as e-books. going back, doing these two, cleopatra and elizabeth i, it got me on to the historical and older novel type approach, and with my bible study group i'm rereading pilgrim's progress which is delightful. to get back into that, it's been a while since i've reread it, and then because of the movie out with schleck coming out -- shrek coming out, with my family, we're rereading "atlas shrugged," which is very timely for those of us here i