[applause] >> hi. the 30th annual miami book fair international's closing authors chris mathews of msnbc's hard ball and the syndicated chris mathews show. as jimmy carter once said, thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny about government officials by the press and the public are an important part of our democratic society. chris mathews has fully embraced the notion through his work in the media, political commentary

and several best-selling books as a speechwriter for president jimmy carter and serving as chief of staff for the speaker of the house of representatives, tip o'neill, chris mathews has been on the front lines of for several decades. his access provides an intimate glimpse into the personalities of some of the world's most influential power players. his newest held, "tip and the gipper" chronicles cooperation with flashes of conflict that was the relationship of tip o'neill and ronald reagan. it is before 6:00 and two bonifay mislaid his ronald reagan, after 6:00, we can be friends. before 6:00, it's politics. so without further ado ladies and gentlemen, let's talk politics and let's welcome chris mathews. [applause] [cheers and applause]

>> must be women. [laughter] whose frowning at me? one guy. looking around for the france. it's great to be down here. i love this place. i love the weather. when your kid, summers are warming to get high. for some reason, summers are always warming your kids. anyway, i wanted to read a book about something i knew about. i have three books inside. this is the first of three i'm going to. the other ones about the 60s, what i was really like. every time i meet a kid come everybody here knows what i'm talking about. the 60s are just exciting. you could hear the music right

now. i'm a walrus. you can hear it, right? i heard it at chapel hill when i said that gore. it's great. even if you wanted to drugs or crazy stuff, it was great entertainment. because it was all around you and i was always a show on campus. it was a free time. and so, i want to write about that going into the peace corps in 68. [applause] >> sure was. peace corps. and on the peace corps knows exactly what it was right. even if we got things done for nothing compared to what it did for us. changed our lives absolutely. i want to talk about that because were the only white guy guy -- like i said never been. telling people not to keep their books and run businesses. i knew a little.

i didn't know a whole lot. all the other guys for mbas. i was convinced of is equivalent to an mba. didn't hurt anybody. the whole idea, but will part with the mamba snake it tried to jump in my window when i drove by it and it's a six-foot long snake. the garlic this. they galloped vertically. the attacker nervous with them and they're going you've got 15 minutes. they keep coming at you until they get you. so this was over my when i was driving one day. you can see the heat waves coming up the dirt road. so i wasn't talking about that. this one guy said i never thought in my life i'd be driving a motorcycle in africa over a snake stone. [laughter] i never predicted that happen in his life.

the other book i read about growing up. anybody catholic here in the early 50s catholic? stuart mary. it was like growing up in dublin 200 years ago. the rulers at the edges on them, but will hang. she just died, so i'm almost free. i cannot muster a top web. they all had to be good-looking. the girls i got to class the racers had to be good-looking and the way the nuns made their decisions totally autocratically. black-and-white milkshakes or chocolate. black-and-white mint b. nielsen. to remember this stuff? been in love with regina thomas from eighth grade to grade school and she never met. i've got to write that without my wife getting mad.

it was a long time ago. he went around grade school. so that's what i wanted to write about. the funnest job, the funnest job i ever had besides what i do come which obviously you can tell i get a kick out of a lot, especially monday to went they have exhausted by thursday and friday i am iraq. but i still love it. bill loves everything. [laughter] he likes you, girl. go, girl, girl. anyway, there's no doubt what a job it was. it was the greatest job. in your early 30s you bop around. your writing speeches as the plane takes off at 45 degrees and you're taping the the next and it was just unbelievable.

i read about in the book about what it was like to lose. got lost in seattle after election day. total drama have been on the plane. it's kind of like a james bond opening. a boutique scene and the rest is about something else. insert it gets you into it. eventually life is like that with schwarzenegger, which is an opening scene. so i wanted to get the action going. it's a great action writing. the greatest action writing never? henry melville, the last chapter about the hunt. i read about the kennedy book. i love to do that and get that rate. so your rep to. and then i write about being with the toughest job ever in my life, which is working with tip o'neill. i lucked into the biggest job in politics for me. the topic i fighting reagan come

a great communicator. the great irony is that grew up liking reagan. without likes him. he of course is the gipper. speaking of catholic school, one thing they did in catholic school in third grade they prevent a movie projector to show you the all-american said they can begin the indoctrination. this is your orientation as a catholic. you got to know the importance of notre dame. it's all about the team. they're never changing the name, by the way. it's always going to be the fighting irish. some people say it makes us look bad. well, we do fight. i was going to call this book donnybrook. i thought two irish guys fighting wasn't very newsy. two guys want to fight? that's interesting. no it's not. they always fight. but they did fight a lot. i thought that was the story.

then i realized when i began to study it, i looked back on it. they thought, but the only ended up making a deal. today they just buy it. it's like they got down to the car dealerships to hacker without any intent of buying a car. imagine if you were like hey we got some time. let's go argue with the guy. no attention. go around and argue with him. i got a better deal at the ford guy over there. can she do something better for me? that's what it's like in politics. they don't disagree. they agree to disagree because they fight. now they don't even need a reason. the democrats passed the republican health care bill and republicans attack them for it. this is heritage foundation stuff. individual mandates, self-reliance, good republican values. the wrong guy did it.

obama did it. obamacare was a smart move by the president. don't put your name on it. this is an product placement. this isn't going to help anybody. i told my producers, obama on television. it's been hit so hard. call them the president. get the name of rest for a while. just call the president talked to bill. i slip into it, too once in a while. it's better that way. the way i write a book and everybody here who's had an idea, i will now maybe change your life. [laughter] i try not to be sarcastic it doesn't work. i'm trying to be nice now. you can write one part of readiness that rating. if you decide what you want to do is get a thought across, a story across from a series of stories, the feeling, a sentiment. you can do it in the following ways. first of all, their size tips to

writing. i wouldn't be teaching it. the only time i break this rule is when i knock the staffer tv every night. it's called io name do i say something like what we start with this. and then i write, let me end with this and finish with this depending on my mood. if you watched me, it will tell me something. the word and disarray. sometimes they think the word finishes right. i'm not sure why. i write that stuff. i read that stuff at 4:00. we do it at 5:00 bhajan on the air at 7:00. i just really write fast here generally when i'm writing some in for the ages like a book or newspaper article, i follow these four or five steps. the first step is simply collect your thoughts. i do little scraps of paper.

in fact, i'm getting attention from san francisco papers. i just put on the table but will have index cards scribbled ideas. just collect the quote, fax, thoughts, whatever. just put them on the table. at 17 when added to a column. and then i would arrange them. that was called organization. collect is the first step. don't start writing the first sentence. don't try to write while you're collecting. collect can only collect your material. a second staff and only this step. don't do anything else. organize. but this stuff in the chronological, logical, whatever. if you stick to the stage and don't get drawn into another state, if you're just collect them, it's easy, fun. you can do it drunk. it's easy.

late at night and thinking of things. throw it on the table. organization you should be sober for. i'd be clearheaded, cup of coffee, maybe. have fun with that. so far breaking the spine. the third stage and just as much fun, keep your heart light in your headlights. now it's time to wrap it. you've got it all organized. just start roughing it. play the music. knock it out, splash it out there. regurgitated, but following that organization, ray? and then you get to the underfund power. put it away somewhere, go watch a movie. go live. and then come back and polish it. as long as you stick to those for stages, collect, organize, rough and polished you will have

something done that you wanted to get done all of your life, but now it's done within a week. you will have it done. is everybody going to thank me now? [applause] it will be done. it won't be talked about. by the way, you can use the process to write supposed. and then you're locked in. you got to climb over the wall to get the cat. so when i wrote this book hen it tip and the gipper, i basically had four tools, elements. i had reagan's diary, which is amazing. i'm too busy to keep a diary. reagan was president of the united states feared he would go home every night and write this very long diary entry. he would describe, you have to buy the thing to get the whole

thing. douglas brinkley and nancy reagan agreed to do all this. you basically go through it and it's got weather, like a farmer's almanac. everything about the weather. reagan's god at all they are. all the social life. in other words, that's what men do. you basically go out with the west has been sent her friends, ray? you don't pick your friends. you your wife takes her friends and their husbands. he's hanging out with people that bloomberg's and justin doherty's are cool guys i'm sure. and hangs out with the rich crowd. they were nancy's husband's friend. he's a weird guy. check that one out in google. so he also did this family. he's a family is an important. see ron showing up in patti

showing up in marine when they were showing up. they bring their husband or spouse. who is bringing who is all in there. also with this political news. what happened at the meanings? donnie brooks, all the description. he can really like you, but knock your head off. the strange relationship, the conflict did nature of it. it's all in there. the other thing with typical male is the press conference. every morning i got up in the congress is in session may begin reading the papers. sometimes i'd be scared to death because ibm to make a something wrong. i still have this problem of saying things i wish i hadn't said. is my life. and i get up and read the paper. i rush in and try to write a statement i think you estimate that they sometimes. he would come in, talk to the press coming in outside. this big guy showed up. there was three of us.

ari weiss, genius, very orthodox guy. it cites a professor of hebrew. curt o'donnell is a boston irish guy. and myself. the three of us with reach them on the world. thibodeau is that these questions that were always the same. pick a big vacuum cleaner. what do you hear? anything special? the idea that was we better tell them everything. who's dropping a dime on them? he's up to something? you want us to watch them. what are the republicans up to? i want to know at all. our job was to make sure we did know everything. they would say where we are clerks he was about 25 at the time. ari has a beard, very religious looking guy. he would just somehow know of it going on on the hill. i knew was going on in the media world and politics in the anglos

he wanted to play. he would go over and say some d'antoni, like do you have something for me? i may have missed event format day. are you going to get something for me? out of federally based out of my office next to the ceremonial office and i would not have a statement for the day before he could get there. then i would put it on the desk as he sat down. i let doing this. he was put down and that would be his statement for the day. derby tip o'neill's opinion that day. [laughter] but i knew what to write and he knew what he wanted me to write. if he was thinking about it, he'd be thinking this. if he wanted to type it up, he typed it up. i knew what he wanted me to stay. so i did that for six years and absolutely required nothing go on. never get in trouble, never say the wrong thing. tepid stuff of my life. all the time were up against the

toughest. he was the best there was. in fact, he watch the challenger speech down here and he and i watched them while emotional about it. i said peggy arafat speech. i can tell. the next day he called a in an end to congratulate her and thank her for the country. we had good relations with the reagan people like jim baker and kenny duberstein and we would work deals on the site. there is a homeless guy i was on a hunger strike as they're going to name a nuclear submarine a warship to be. it is very cat that, and he said, why are becoming a warship the body of christ? which seem to be a reasonable thing. so i said, when it should call mike deaver because he's playing

the piano. maybe we can kind of deal with him. so i call them up and he called me back. i said this guy is on its 56th day of his hunger strike. he saw me eating bread has he doesn't want to be called the corpus christi. he was definitely drinking in those days. seems like a reason to kill yourself. [laughter] but that monday, he went to reagan and the secretary of defense change the ships named to the city of corpus christi, which is what he was supposed to be anyway. good helmet started eating again. later on he would recognize these incredible rallies against the white house that had nothing to do with except you wouldn't believe what they're doing now. he would organize an incredible rallies. the steelworkers at 4:00 in the morning. my greatest glory await us went to put common space is one of yours?

i loved that more than anything because it meant i could cause wonder and hit the nail had been around for 100 years. and so, it was fun. organizing stuff behind the scenes. it is a great job, a touch of her wanted to write about because they think we need that tonic. the sense of politics is fun and positive and people don't hate each other and they get done. they did it. when reagan got in trouble and 82, tip back to math. the social security deal really works. it really does work. on tax reform they got the race under 20%, but they also equalized regular income with cap gains income, equity income which is much more progressive. tipper a letter to reagan and saddam never tell anybody this, that you got to get to thatcher's second that this

thing. now we don't have work anymore. it really did stand up behind reagan when he went to moscow. he met gorbachev first. tip came back and said he reminds me of a new york lawyer. i said don't hold me to that one. in new york lawyer, whatever that meant. it was new york lawyer, which we thought the younger guys thought that was funny. he didn't think he was the smartest reagan. turned out he was. he told gorbachev tremendous guy is the only president we've got appeared in a separate deals for us. by the way, he really does want to reduce nuclear weapons. reagan, like most sane president hate mutual assured destruction. he said one time, why should all the russians die because we screwed things up? he was very human about not ever wanted to have it work. kennedy spent the last part of

their jeers turned to reduce the number and get that off our back you were still making sure that one now. so it was a good relationship about fighting, disagreeing, but caring more about our country then the fight. now today we have a situation where it never seems to end. we have deadlines after deadlines at work. december 13 is going to get ignored. were going to fight right through january 15 for another shutdown. i'm not a fan of the tea party people. you will know that. but it's their type accent don't like. they have a case. the debt is now as large as gdp. if they were all crazy and attacked ex, people would listen. shutting down the government and calling people communists like this guy, ted cruz does, calling haeckel economy. once i saw my city can't do that. you can't talk like that in this country. we've been through all that before. but you know, saying the debt

thing doesn't matter, everybody knows that matters. we had a near miss and love him and another near miss this time. it like what, are you guys crazy? politics shouldn't be a problem. it should be a solution and now it's become a problem. because in the end they don't deal. i was talking to a group of people and make it as little work for raising money to get hit by sandy. it said the country doesn't aim or democrats. they need more republicans, in a complicated. what is a grown-up? charles schulz was obviously brilliant. what he said-charles schulz wasy brilliant. what he said, in fact, he's one of the guys that said don't expect to be inspired every day. get up and work. something comes to me. i don't say i don't have an idea, i think i'll take it off. he said the difference between a grown-up dedicated this. kids are great.

the kid gets to sit in the back seat and complain. this is how important kids. she's on my site or she just touched me or he just touched me. or when are we getting our? i'm hungry. whine, whine, whine. that's it kids do. that's their prerogative, their entitlement. the purpose to drive the car, pay for the gas and know what they're going. they have to get there. they have to have a plan. politics today is a bunch of kids in the back room in the backseat of the the car complaining. it's like kid, he's on my site. i don't care what side. i want a grown-up. that's the problem today. your people complaining about the other side. it never ends. i think as far should the right wing fall. i think there was a problem.

if we talked to somebody else, you have to meet them occasionally, like say hello, i'm the president. let's get together. let's talk. every time i needed a h-hotel echo he's many the message across. he doesn't like them. i really like you. but it should come to the hotel near my house? [laughter] hemmingway i'm sure being readers when he was writing, remember he always said, i don't know which one of the books. he said whatever company sense to bother him to bother him here we say let's meet at a buyer could then i can leave. then they're stuck at the bar drinking. you're going back to where you want to be. catch you do not the apartment. he also needs a nice number electrode which sends all the wrong signals for dinner.

[laughter] i'd be glad to have 12 of you over for dinner_[laughter] i'd be glad to have 12 of you over for dinner. [laughter] anyway, think da vinci. anyway, it does not work. they don't like each other. somebody once said to jimmy carter, one trend on the hill. he'll tell you what going on. i talk to people. i guess he's too big to have the relationship. i'd ask what's going on. you got to have someone on the inside to tell you what's going on. let's figure it out. personalities to play cards with these guys. franklin delano roosevelt felt the need because he wanted to get during the course of the game and after a few drinks company with pay joe doesn't like you. you got to spend time with the kids and grown-ups to hear what they say. nobody's going to stop you and tell you everything they know.

after three of four hours of playing cards they will tell you a lot. that's the adult relationships in there. i used to work in the old days before newt gingrich came along and change a lot of this stuff, they were friendly. people like -- thinking of gerry ford and tip were best friends. and rostenkowski. these people would try 14 hours on thursday night to chicago to drive back on monday with two guys sleeping in the back. one day try again, one guy keeping them awake and sleeping on a mattress because they push the station wagon seats over. they didn't have all these allowances. they got to know each other. talk about kids, family, lives. guys to talk after a while. take the bio. i'm worried about one kid. the other kid is the booze problem. the other problem with politics is because it is said do this.

the mansion tuesday, wednesday, thursday night. listening to this house telling them what's going on at home. the kid is drinking again, got caught in school again. he's not doing his homework. all you hear is this to pay every night. you go to work in everybody's looking good, how great you are. doesn't build strong marriages. it doesn't. so it's better if the wife comes to washington with the number. that's what tip always encouraged. bring your wife to washington. that's socialized, weekt's where the socialized, weekends you can campaign, but most of the time you with your family and raising them. if they stay at home, you're campaigning and you never see them. you might go to church with them. that's about it. so a lot of this is social. politics today is somewhat dashed so much as written the

cost to shame. so much is the idea of a honeymoon. when you first get elected president of the united states, used to be you got the respect of the pair. the press left you alone because the people picked you. you should have a chance to get your program across. they should be voted on. he didn't play any games. i know obama gets elected. they don't say give the guy a shot. it's like how to get rid of them? so it's not in the constitution. but elections sort of matter and you ought to get the guy who gets a good in the future probably a woman give them a honeymoon. it was a happy signing ceremony. it used to be every once in a while they would have everybody's smiling. there is plenty pictures of tip and reagan smiling because they just solve the problem. like social security or tax reform or whatever. they are glad they did it or reduce the deficit.

they smile because they can sign it together. there's no honeymoons. no successful deals. none of the joy of politics as they are. it is this constant threat of shutdown followed by these disappointing 11th hour so-called solutions that you know could've been reached months before. just a vietnam war could've been in 69 instead of 73. the same terms. we know it was the same terms. you go, why are these guys putting around? pay attention. again it's just a game. we're taking it seriously. when is this going to end? we know it's not going to end until the last hour. and so, i think in the old days they were growing up. they always compromised in the end. he was not the guy who gave the speeches are wrote pamphlets. he was a much more moderate governor of california, mature moderate president than ideologue and tip o'neill would always be there to make videos. i wish boehner had this dust.

i don't understand them. i think he's afraid of. [laughter] he just did. he's the godfather brother. it's just, get it together. if i were him, i would just call it though. all the crazy right wingers in tea party say about now. i'm running for speaker. when somebody gives me. a fun thing speaker, and making the calls around here. look at it though. [applause] challenge these people. i know they're afraid. the next town meeting to sit in the back row, probably with a couple pops, who says he sold us out. i say talking to the president the other day. you are within. you are one of them now. it's crazy, crazy. talk about participating in government and giving away your role. your role is to argue. your role is to fight it deal in the end because as long as

everybody this room is going to be two political parties share in political power in the country. get used to it. it's not uganda. it's not tanzania. it's not one-party states. it's always two parties fighting with each other. got it? that's the way it's going to be. there's going to have to be compromised. people say they just did it my way. they're not going to do it your way. it's never going to work that way. you've got to be a learned tune to believe that. sometimes we should do the cartoon music when these people come on. [laughter] mr. peabody, where we going today? [laughter] i just wish they recognize the simple fact that two political parties. one of the house, when the senate, when the white house. occasionally one will have all three for maybe a gear and then it will go away and be a brief moment during roosevelt's first

turned for lbj after jack was killed. some are briefly people get their moment in do a lot of big things. generally the public holds back rather quickly and says we don't want anybody in charge. we like to divide it up and keep them honest. the trouble with today's instead of keeping the other honest, both sides keep the other from doing any other thing. that's a problem. i have the old solution. the reason you compromises because you don't find common ground. even if you're a centrist republican or a centrist democrat. there's a big difference. you probably are necessarily more hawkish of your republican. you're not a passive is. he just a few overs to be better. basically you disagree. so occasionally have a common ground like tipping rake in the

northern island with an h2 in the cold war. so what you do is you compromise, just like at home. you do corporate tax reform in the revenue. we want to go after being a republican. i want to save money and medicare, medicaid. now you don't do anything and plan the other side. the other side insisted on it. we have to give corporate tax reform because the other side would be a deal otherwise. to do that you've got to first convince the public it's essential that we deal. once you convince them of that, most important thing in the world is to deal in compromise and make government work. once you have sent to be grown-ups and up listening to the phone vendors out there, then the government will work again. both sides have to tell their people a deal at some point if

necessary. at that point they were given duplicate. i want to push it on us. if we don't negotiate and compromise, there will be no government. do you like the way it is now? t. like it? now, nobody does. we have to become grown-ups. that's my point of view. of course there are broad. [laughter] anyways, thank you. i was glad to take your questions. [applause] fair, thank you. i came here to sell books or china. if you wait for me tonight, i'll wait for you. you could assign book with your name on it for me. i never gave up on this. i'm crazy. i will sign every person spoke in this room. as caroline kennedy said companies sell bespoke side of the back of your car. i am here to sign your book. thank you.

yes, sir. >> how do you expect the democrats to find a compromise to republicans when the republicans can't compromise the monks themselves. republican conservative senator from utah was replaced by senator leahy. >> stand up. john mccain stood up to them. i think that richmond, was going to win. i think he standing up already. around the country they're just going to have to stand up to them. that's happening now. they're willing to fight them. ica. mitch mcconnell is not even a tune. he's not my cup of tea, but he's a reasonable guide with the end save the bacon in terms of the debt ceiling. he is one sop in many ways he's tough. i also think he cares abut the country. i think he will do it. lamar alexander will have a say.

i would like to see the republicans. i like to see them be in a party accrue up with backup of civil rights through. the republican party of lincoln. a new book coming out next year that i just read. make you cry over you so inspired by the midwestern public into and fought for civil rights in the 60s. so powerful. macola, charlie howie, those are the guys. the southern segregationist down here to lift a finger. they were totally against desegregation. >> how are you doing, i'm robert. i want to go back to the carter administration and ask you, a lot of people talk negative about the administgative about the administration and the gas prices and economy was terrible. i would like to have a good come back and take it things about the carter administration. >> well, i think clean as a whistle. that's a start.

great values. without the need for energy independence, he was really big on that. people made fun of this letter. he was working on it. he did not the answer. that's why he gave up. the congress went back in. see what else. the panama canal and had to be done. he did it. it had to be done. the united states for not funding because the nationalists would've insisted we gave them control. it's getting bigger. getting wider. i think it's working. it's still one of the greatest miracles i've ever actually witness. there's no engine. it's all water. reagan ran against that. human rights around the world inconsistently. the fact the united states as a champion of human rights. we didn't implement it in iran

unfortunately. it's just going to honduras for decades. >> i asked people, what policies did he pass or was for basically make things bad? i can't get an answer. >> when you talk to your hawkish friends coming is the only guy that got his role. egypt in bed with it. he did that. [applause] we keep forgetting to ran was not your number one strategic enemy like it was today. it was featured today got a method with israel. that was quite an achievement. >> hotkeys that one network with my boss. thank you. >> about compromise and it seems like there aren't any other adults on the other side. and when the president came into office -- >> why do you think on her such a on a string of the tea party

people? by disney just tell them to shove it? >> exactly. exactly. he's an ambitious guy. reminds me of a young nixon. smart and is ambitious. .. [applause] >> the 60-foot thing on health health care, the 60 vote requirement on the stimulus package drove him to it, you know. he couldn't get the public option. that economy would have just kept going down.

even if that would have hamstrung them. >> i want to thank you for coming here and i want to thank you for your -- over the years i've been watching you. >> along time. 20 years next year. >> yeah. i think writing the book or at least to promote the book and people think just writing it, the hardest thing is to promote it and to get the book out there. and the next question is. >> let's talk afterwards about bookwriting. >> the tea party if it weren't

for the present economy would have come back a long time ago. >> 's government shutdowns i know are hurting the economy. it's faith in our system underlies consumer confidence and i think it's undermined it lately. if you assume the government will pay its debts and you assume the government will operate confidently and reasonably and it hasn't been so if you pick up the newspaper and you're thinking about buying a car and they make you extend your credit and take a risk and have less cash you go well i would rather have cash. these guys are. i think that's a fact. it doesn't take an economist to know the consumer confidence is driven downward. something told me the other day a smart retailer, christmas is not going to be booming this year because of all the craziness.

>> that's enough. come back later. i will be at the signing table. >> are you avoiding getting into politics yourself? >> yeah. [laughter] >> why? >> well because i like to be happy. [laughter] [applause] i am good at some things and not at others. okay here is why. do you want an answer? first of all you have to raise a lot of money. i would go to pennsylvania and i could be a pennsylvania senator. i could do that if somebody came to me and said here's 20 million box and i'm going to run your

campaign that would be tempting. my problem is nobody has. [laughter] and i'm trying to find out why this is. my wife always says to me what's the big reason you want to be a senator because i'm not a policy guy. because the next time i would -- they would vote on war i would vote no. that would be my reason because i have heard them do that call every time in my life whether it's good not to or panama or how many times have we been fighting in iraq and asked to do it will be fun and opiate cakewalk. i have been hearing this every time there's a war. zero cost urgency. it's always you must do it and it's free. two months later it's well we didn't get the facts right and it's going to cost a fortune and it's never going to end. >> hi chris.

>> let me finish this question. [laughter] is a great question. it will haunt me as i sleep. i know somebody here who would run. somebody ought to run. >> i'm from pennsylvania. on your show which i love and others the focus -- speaker is why i wouldn't do it. [laughter] monday night i'm at home with my wife cathy and we are empty nesters. my dog as much as passed the bar. i have been precariously successful precariously. so it's funny i get a call from the mayor of erie for some fund-raiser and he said i'm coming down this week. the fund-raiser could be one of my new friends, would be saying i'm coming to work on some bill.

i will be working out of your office and i might oh my god. another week of my life helping some lobbyists get something done because he gave me some money and now i've got to help him. why am i spending money but obviously he is bundled for me. the other is the mayor of erie. he is a good guy. whoever he is he calls me up and he goes hi it's joe from -- and is perfectly entitled to do this. we have a similar problem it's getting out of hand. i will be there a week, you help me? i'm thinking i have an op-ed i want to write in "the new york times" for wednesday and i want to write that. i'm thinking about "meet the press" next week. i don't want to go -- do the project all week and yet he's totally entitled to use me as his lobbyists. so do i want to write on the

problem, do i want to work on this stuff? do i really want to do this? that is what senators do. moynihan was in beller meant some more hoisting one or two having a good time. he wants at the lieberman your trouble with you is your state is too small and you can't hide in it. [laughter] moynihan would say oh he's upstate somewhere or he's down in new york this weekend. it's carlisle, having a great time. i don't think i can get away with that in pennsylvania. we don't have cosmopolitan senators in pennsylvania. that's my answer. if i could be a cosmopolitan senator and right for the digest once in a while, some important monograph once and while that would be great like moynihan was >> the question is how can we get equal time on your show and

others instead of the presidential election of 2016 which is so much the focus now? how can we get equal time or more to the major issues such as the increasing inequality in our country? >> republicans are trying to reduce the number of debates because they think it's too much of a clown card. i'm just telling you. what do you want me to debate? >> sorry? >> what do you want me to debate that i'm not debating? >> economic inequality. >> that's what we talk about. that's what i talk about. >> i watch it every night. >> what do you think i talk about? >> the presidential election. >> i love it. >> i did too but there are so many other issues. [applause]

>> i do that too. just think about it. >> if you want to watch -- ed schultz is your number. he's got your number. let's go, let's go. he's good at that. he's really good at that. he does three hours of radio and that. he does four hours a day. what do you won't? you've got your man. i think we get some policy in there too. >> thank you. >> it's not the learning channel. [laughter] i sneak in the spinach. you want all spinach. >> hi chris. >> the guy asked one tough tough question and he heads out the door. [laughter] he is out there taking notes. he is. look at this.

he is taking pictures and notes. go ahead. >> and 2016, the last time you are here at the book fair which was before 2008 you made a prediction of who would be the next president. >> it was obama. >> no, no actually when you were here. >> what the year was this? >> was before the 2008 election. >> i was here two years ago, right? i was here in 2011. [laughter] >> what are you up to? [laughter] i didn't have a book. >> you had a book about encouraging young people. >> life is a campaign. so what did i say? >> you said hillary would be the next president. >> yeah because i thought it was a good bet. i will say it again.

>> that's what i want. [applause] larry summers told me this the other day. he is so smart. he said look, 80% chance secretary clinton runs for president, 80% chance if she runs she wins the nomination. i might put it higher and 60% likely she will win the nomination and that gives her a 38% chance which is really high but that sounds really smart. you don't know what's going to happen. you don't know what the republicans are going to end up doing. there is a natural rotation between the parties. it's really emphasize. it's emphatic that rotation. we really do follow it with very few exceptions we generally switch parties after eight years. no matter what happens we turn

over to the cold side of the pillow. try something new. we have had enough of this crowd. hillary clinton will run. she will nuance herself away from obama to some extent. she won't be running as his guy but she will be running as a democrat in that mean something to a lot of voters. you can't bet on her is a short thing in general. i also think -- look she has to give back in training. politics is a profession and you don't put boxing for four years or eight years. you go to any reporter now local tv or radio market and you will have a rush want to be with a microphone. not as smart as rush limbaugh but with the same party line and what about benghazi, what about benghazi? every time you go near a microphone you hear it.

he's not going to live forever. you start counting how many ahead of me? you start inking. that's why people retire to make that calculation. how many years of stress they are willing to put up with to have a little more money but it is stress and stress is real in every job and the stress of the presidency. look at the guys not quickly they grade. they just do. she is going to have that thing about the focus on her is so intent but women my age want her so she has got that wind at her back. they want her. new age men want her. traditional guys like me, i was at an event a while ago and i said how many guys, i was at a connecticut country club.

how many of you guys want her. five. there will be a lot of offsets voting going on. there was someone to vote for obama. i think she cast the wrong vote on the war and she paid for it. she opposed the iraq war and hasn't changed her mind. but i don't see anybody beating her. i don't know what joe biden is going to do. i wish he would run. i want a fight. i want him to try. go for it. joe, show your stuff. don't say a word against hers, just campaign positively. i don't see many people in the field. klobuchar is popular in gillibrand. i wish diane feinsteifeinstei n was 20 years younger. warren. if she goes to hillary she will have a real issue. she will be the reformer.

she will go to her left i guess. nobody will go to the center. on domestic's she will be at the sweet spot. she is very positioned incredibly well i think no matter what obama does. i hope the iran thing works. i hope it does. >> hi chris. first of all i wanted to thank you for your many years of public service as we celebrate this year, the 50th anniversary of the president which is really transformational for generations. >> that's true. >> president that we should look back to on how jack kennedy did compromise and was able to very aptly cut a deal even with the fiercest of republicans. >> and with khrushchev. >> that's right. a question for you.

it seems to me that our top three leaders, the congress and the white house all have a disdain for the political process. these guys -- harry reid and obama all of them have that element but they don't seem to enjoy the political game. that process that you so much love, i loved as a student, as a student senator when i went to boston college. it i loved the process but these guys don't seem to love the process. they're such disdain. >> let me answer. the answer is, it has lost the people in the business to get things done. it has lost its joy. i think the stopgap is just going from week to week kicking down -- the can down the road never having a sense of achievement. most people want to achieve something in life. i don't know what you achieve in politics. just think about this.

in my lifetime and a lot of our lifetimes the united states congress got together and it's something unbelievable. it passed the civil rights bill out of nowhere. it just did it and i don't know what it's done sense. it did great things. it changed america and there wasn't much in it. wait guys in white women voted for other people. i know women don't want to hear this, then gave women the right to to vote and maybe there was pressure at home. america does get better all the time but it's really slow lately and if you are it's a different country then you would have lived 20 years ago. the different country. you are not only ostracize, you're pretty well totally accept that, almost totally and that is something that is changed. this country is a broadening democracy and those who support it look better in history.

>> no one looks good in history in opposing the expansion of rights. they always look bad. it's true. right now, we came out world war ii and didn't do anything. we came out of -- we thought we could do anything. 75% of the american people thought the federal government could do what it set out to do. that is where the peace corps came from and the moon program and i wish the democrats were asked confident as they were good in their values. they are good with their values. >> i wish republicans who have a horse sense had values. they just can't seem to get it together. eisenhower looks like god lately we never thought so at the time. 95 sure beats the hell out of

those speed traps that we drove during college. south carolina especially. south of the border and all that stuff. there were all billeted lines when i came down here to college. the whole country is connected because of ike. i wish a democrat would come along today or republican like bloomberg and say why don't we make this country truly were denied -- united? it's becoming a bicoastal country. trying to deal with infrastructure but i'd tell you i would love for this country to be connected again. [applause] i would love to see north by northwest in real-time. he would be building up indiana and st. louis in the cities with

whom and the whole country would be united again. it's weird, we have this beautiful continent and no one wants to live there anymore. chicago is the exception. anyway. my big dream is that we continue to do big things as a country. in france 20 minutes on the english redish channel. 20 minutes. it's so perfect. how come the french? [laughter] and if you look at what's going on in china they are rebuilding that country for nothing and the bullet trains in the speed and the way they live. i was there with my wife 20 years ago and they need everyone's computers. what are we doing? i don't know.

i think we spend their money on entitlements and paying our debts and the military we pay for it. everybody thinks it's all free. it is all-volunteer army and that means it's going to cost, cost, cost and it's going to be hugely expensive. we are just paying for a role nobody else in the world wants. anyway our leaders have to explain the costs of things to us again. >> hi chris. congratulations on hardball. i watch it almost every night. >> thank you. >> i wanted to ask you about the problem with gerrymandering which appears -- >> you guys in florida are going to fix that, right? i heard you are going to fix fit down here and get a commission like you have in california. >> that is what i wondered.

>> is the only way to get away from partisan politics. california, two politicians have to match each other and they have to go to the center. the one who goes to the center gets the most votes. that's how you get away from left-wing right-wing politics. no moderate will ever win unless we change the system. in pennsylvania 100,000 more people voted democrat in the congressional races. we have 13 republican congresspeople and five democrats. they give that out. some of it is just good old neighborhood segregation. liberals live in big cities too. i don't know what causes that. is it the chicken or the egg? do they become liberals? whatever it is liberals live in cities. so you waste all the votes in the big cities in the rural areas go 60/40 republican in the

suburbs 65/45. nancy pelosi 85%. that is why when you go statewide they are distributed in the ad up. that is why the senate is more liberal. >> just as much as some guy living in the suburbs. you live in the big city, i have never lived in the state that has college. florida has close call. very much close call. i forgot. >> there are only three types of people here. those that vote, those that

count and those that can't count. stupid joke. >> he always look to the voting had a different number. he would always save bush, this big tall woman would say kerry. i'm sorry, gore. >> hi chris. i am a big fan of the worldwide government. >> what? >> worldwide government. >> world federalism. >> no, just a different government for different countries around the world whether it be israel or china or different places. >> i think of that as a career and in gold by the way. how is democracy doing in different countries. >> exactly in the thing that confused me about america is the two-party system. you think we will ever get to a place where there will be more voices than the two-party? >> now and even if we do it will be like israel.

they have a lot of people who participate in the likud bloc. you have lieberman who is far right and in britain you have the liberal democrats and you have two parties there, the tories in the tories and the middle-of-the-road party. i think if you had three parties one would gradually replace the other just like the republicans replaced the legs and the liberals in britain because of the nature. 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. if you don't goes to the house. nobody wants the house. that is more scary than ever. we want the voters to pick the president. it takes 218 to pass the house. i don't want to sound like yesterday but i think that is the system we got for our lives,

two parties that the republican party could change a lot one way or the other. it could change radley -- radically. he could go with to the hard writer could go back and of course i want to go back to the center so i can have a choice. i love having choices. i like this guy christie. we will see. there's something about him that seems real but i will root for him until he proves to me that he's not worth rooting for because i have to root for somebody on that side. i will push him until he blows. i think the country really wants a choice. they want an election. our country wants that and the only thing we liked about the last election. the president bumped into me at the al smith dinner and he turned to me and he said i'm going to mention my speech.

the stroke was the big debate last year. i had no idea what was going on there. but you know, he's not perfect and he is trying and he has the right values and it's going to be tough. i wish he had more negotiators on the other side that would balance this thing out. if boehner had the ghani's to do it. he seems like a nice guy but a weak guy and i don't get why he wants that job. why do you want to be married to maryland room monroe if you are not married to marilyn monroe? [laughter] why say it if it ain't so. she is going like this. do i have to spell it out for you? last question. >> we are actually at the end of our program ladies and

gentlemen. a round of applause for chris matthews. [applause] thank you, thank you very much.