>> is our intelligence good enough and coordination of it to prevent another 9-11, or do we know? >> we have to look at the record. we have prevented another major 9-11 style attack so i think the intelligence community is better. >> what are you referring to? >> nothing of that scale happening, other plots that have been foiled that you speak and write about and know very well. some slipped passed and we were lucky to prevent them. >> the underwear bomber? that goes to the big themes of your book and that is the dni and national counter-terrorism was supposed to make sure that

didn't surface. they dropped a dime on his son. there was a secondary list of people to go into there. if you got to detroit, he would have been gone to the secondary for additional screening. that was an example where the apparatus didn't work or maybe that is an unfair critique of the apparatus. >> it is down to what you think the mission of intelligence is. are you going to prevent every little event? the answer is no, you will not be able to always operate perfectly. but i think the intelligence community is doing a better job on counter terrorism and we are safer from a large-scale attack. the question that peter raises is that because of the

constitutional reform, or because we were spending double what we did before 9-11. so increased money, focused and lessens learned from 9-11, or rather overtime whether the commission is leading to increased national security down the road. the institutional reforms are open questions and being debated but the intelligence community has improved performance in ten years. >> if there are no other questions, thank you, mike, very much. your book is for sale. and you are prepared to sign them. >> absolutely. thank you for having me. [ applause ]

>> you are watching booktv. 48 hours of non-fiction authors and books. here are programs to look out for: tomorrow at 5:30 we will have the booktv college experience. watch for these programs and more all weekend long on booktv.

for a complete schedule, visit booktv.org. we have the author of the "gop: civil war". he talked about the divisions and how they will effect the gop elections. hington journal this is under an hour. >> we want you to meet eric ham who has written a book called "the gop civil war" give us your background. >> i started on the hill working with bill nelson. i was a national advisor for him. left to a well-known think tank:

the center for strategic and international studies where i was working with members of congress, both sides of the aisle, and educating them on foreign policy issues. iraq and a lot of work around china as well. moved on from there doing work for a university leading a project called the 3-d security initiativ initiative. so worked on peace building measure and working closely with members of congress and members of the administration and staff as well on a number of different issues. >> how did you get into the line of work? what is your education? >> at the university of michigan i studies economics and political science. moved to the university of chicago and got a masters from the public policy there. came to washington.

and found a spot right here in our nation's capital working on the hill and it moved from there. >> some people are going to say you work for a democrat: bill nelson. >> a central democrat. >> now you are writing about the gop civil war. >> yes, but this isn't an i would think a controversy. it is book that looks at the party. it is a comprehensive analysis of what is going on in the party. we are in a two-party system and the party is going through an internal struggle and no one can deny that. we are highlighting what many writers have been talking about around town. >> who is in the civil war >> what is are the sides? >> there are the moderates or what you call the political establishment and the tea party

activist. we saw it coming to fruit during the government shutdown and when the whole situation finally ended you had i would consider one of the tea party main say stays sarah palin coming out to be looking at key races in 2014 where they are looking to take on many established conservatives namely mitch mcconnell. and i think we are going to see major damage within the party in 2014. >> our topic this morning is based on eric ham's book "the gop civil war" we want to talk to republicans only. 202-538-3880.

if you are a republican and live west of the mississippi or further out west, mountain and pacific zones and hawai acrobatics -- as well. what do ann colter and john boehner have in common? >> i believe they believe in the party and the direction of the party. but i think they have different ideas on moving forward. john boehner has to actual govern and appeal to an activist base within the party. but he has to think about the direction of the company at large in terms of how the country is moving forward. we are dealing with major issues right now.

we are grappling with high unemployment. there are a number of issues that are coming to fruition namely the debt ceiling debate that is going to take place in 6-7 weeks. those are issues he has to think about. whereas someone like ann colter resides in the activism within the party. it is like selling red meat to tea party people and far right. >> is there common ground? do they share ideas and ideals? >> i think they want to say the party become more successful than it has been particularly in winning elections. how they actually get there i think is open to discussion between them. >> the government shutdown, was that harmful to the republican

brand? the tea party favor? >> absolutely. that was hugely detrimental to the party. if you look at the poles, the majority of americans think the republicans were at fault for the shutdown. leading up to the shutdown you had the fill buster by ted cruz and i think for many americans that gave the impression this was owned by the tea party. and what it did was submit for many americans that the gop has the difficult time trying to govern. and when you had the actual shutdown and you had many americans particularly working in government whose checks were not going out and veterans not

having benefits didn't play well for the republican party. and on the flip side, there was an immediate pivot to obamacare. so many of the losses and wounds inflicted on the republican party, those immediately seemed to go away and there was a huge transfer to what happened to the democratic party in the midst of the obamacare rollout that was bungled. but still, many, many americans saw that shutdown as firmly in the category of the gop. >> what is on the positive side of the ledger in your view for republicans right now? >> that is a good question. actual, republicans i think are in a good shape in that they do

have control of the governorships and legislators throughout there country. there are no shortage, i think, and i talk about this in the book, of great potential candidates in 2016. i would say that they have a much deeper bench than the democratic party beginning with, of course, chris christy who won in a blue state with a huge landslide. his issue is bringing the party together, the activism and establishment wing of the party. but winning in a blue state like that goes a long way in securing the 2016 nomination. and you have jeb bush, the governor of louisiana, perhaps

the governor of new mexico. she hasn't talked about running, but i think you have a number of candidates with gubernatorial experience who i think could play well in 2016. >> in your book, you write the road ahead is rocked with great challenges as a party that is becoming more tone deaf since the election of the first president of color. the other seemingly hurdle to climb for the gop is young voters. >> the republican party lost young voters among number of demographics that i think they will need to win going forward. in 2012, women, people of color -- and if the republican party wants to be seen as a national force going forward, they will need to find a way to promote policies and ideas that

resinate, not only with young voter, but with women and minorities. i think many republicans thought that president obama was running a campaign geared 2020 and maybe 2016 but we saw the race that he ran and the demographics he was able to bring along, i think we saw we are much further along in 2013 and 2012 than we would be in 2016-2020. so going forward the republican party needs to create a big tent mantra of being all people in the party. the first thing they need to do is figure out how we speak to the voters and what is the issue they care about. you look at one demographic that i think was overlooked in 2012 and that is the asian-american

population which obama won handedly. they were 1% in 2008 of the. in 2012 they were 3%. and some people say 3% isn't a big jump but that is a 128% difference. and obama won that group overwhe overwhe overwhelming. and they are beginning to move out of democratic blue-leaning stat states, and we are seeing them move to north carolina or alabama. and those are places with democrats were not able to compete, but because you have this demographic moving into the these red states, possibly turning them blue or purple, i

think it makes it more competitive for democrats to be able to compete. and i think the gop needs to figure out how do we begin to speak to these voters and develop a message that will resinate with them. >> another trend you have in the book, this is edison research, hispanic voting trends: we talked a lot about this. but you put a chart 6% in 2000, 10% in 2012 and the democrats percentage of that vote has increased accept for the outlying year of 2004. it has been increasing for accurate -- democrats -- why the republicans vote has been decreasing. >> and this has been discussed quite a bit after the 2012 race.

i don't think we can talk about this enough; the importance of the latino groups because they are growing. you look at issue this population cares about and namely the immigration issue. and i would argue this is room for the republican party to really make gains because president obama hasn't moved the ball forward on this immigration debate. we are still not seeing movement,we are not seeing much take place in the house or senate, but this is an issue that the latino population cares about. we have not seen movement from this president. and there was a headline i saw a few days ago that talked about the historic rate of

deportations under this administration. i think that is room for the gop to really begin to make in-roads in terms of how they address a policy that will move this debate forward and possibly bring the latino population into this gop tent. but of course, the issue remains is this something that they can actually talk about. this is where i think some of the candidates in 2016 could play a role namely susanna martinez and possibly marco rubio. i think they have the candidate but now they need to develop the policy to move the latino population into the tent. >> what percentage of the electorate are african-american and why have the democrats been

able to capture 90% of their votes consistently? >> well, i think you just have to look no further than president obama what he means symbolically to the african-american population. there are many african-americans who thought they would never see an african-american president in their lifetime. and i think while democrats have historically been able to whoo the african-american vote, i think seeing the gains this president has made has been unprecedented by previous democratic presidents. bill clinton was poplar among african-americans. seeing this president, i think

is the symbolism for african-americans is huge. i think as long as he is able to project that i think african-americans will always support this president. even if his policies don't meet with their needs >> how do the republicans make inroads? >> thai think they need to speao the issues. we saw, and i talk about this into the book, the autopsy that the republican national committee put together. it was a $10 million platform suggesting we need a more aggressive and dialogue and debate about reaching out to

various communities, namely the african-american. the republican national committee opened an office in detroit, a largely african-american city. and that is one avenue of reaching out to meet voters where they are. now we need to see both rhetoric and policy matching these outreach activities. >> "the gop civil war" is the name of the book. eric ham is the author. and again, for this segment, gop-only. our next segment is democrats only. but charles crat hammer had an opinion about the civil war. >> my argument is there is much

less division and the liberal media wants us to believe the opposite. they love running stories on the great civil war among republicans. it is actually happening on the democratic side where there is a massive rebellion against obama and obamacare. i refuse to play along with mainstream media and overplay and oversi emphasis the tactics. >> i don't disagree with him there is a looming crisis within the democratic party. i am sure that is going to be the discussion you will have later. but i do believe that is coming. i disagree with them on the analysis of the civil war within the democratic party.

it is real and it is happening and we are seeing it take place. we have seen it take place prior to 2012. we have seen people like mainstays, dick luger from indiana, we have seen him get primary and lose out to an extremist candidate. we are seeing mitch mcconnell now grappling with a challenge from his right-flank. senator lindsay grahm is being challenged on the right. and many more races to come. just before i came on, i was reading in the washington times where pat roberts from kansas is being challenged from the right. this is a huge fight within the

party. in the book, we talk about, you know, what is going on within this fight within the party, and it is real, and i think until the party can grapple with its direction, i think they are going to struggle to win the whitehouse for quite some time to come. there are a number of issues where the party is fighting and there is a chapter in the book called going out of power where i talk about the national security implications of the civil war within the party. in 2012, there was no discussion on national security as we would expect to see from the republican party. this has been an issue that the party has owned since vietnam. this is one of the main stays of the republican party.

it is surprising obama has been able to move this issue from the gop camp into the democratic camp. that is not to say it will remain there. i do believe the american public, while they trust obama more than they trusted romney on national security, that is not a permanent fixture for the democratic party. it is an issue where the gop has room to grow. but that is a casualty of the civil war. >> let's talk some calls. karen, go ahead >> there is a big difference between conservative republicans and republicans. i am a conservative and i happen

to be black. chris christy is a republican not a conservative. we want conservative. >> karen, whose ideas do you like? >> ted cruz and west. >> why? >> we want conservatives in the whitehouse. this war is silly. conservatives need to take the party back over. that is all i have to say. >> i think what she is doing is she is helping advance the thesis of the book. there is this huge battle going on between conservatives and republicans. but i think when we talk about republicans, i think people typically think of the establishment candidates; people who are running washington.

if you look at the budget battle particularly that is taking place, conservatives as she is pointing out, were unhappy with the budget deal. and i think we will see this play out even more in about 6-7 weeks when we have the debt ceiling standoff that is going to take place in congress. and i think many republicans, particularly in the house and senate, are going to be looking over their shoulder in terms of how they should vote because the conservatives as she is putting it is looking for them to, i think, not advance this debt ceiling advance.fight within th. oft: here is the front page "the wall street journal" this morning.

inen's my head just exploded washington state. [laughter] guest: that is a great point because i wrote an article right after the shutdown ended saying there are consequences and it only exposes a rift between the part -- within the party. you saw largely conservative organizations like the u.s. chamber of commerce actually begin to enter into this fray, and there standing with establishment candidates in states like michigan and idaho against many of these tea party weivists who are now saying

want our party back, we want to take our country back, and for the first time we are beginning theee, i guess, establishment fight back against many of these activist candidates. host: there is a conversation going on on our twitter feed about your credentials and whether you should be allowed to gop civil war given your background and credentials. what i would say to that is a may not be a conservative,a but i have been in washington and i have been a part of these fights that have taken p and taken place in a numberla o issues and i write about the issues and people are welcome to reject them or accept them. >> host: could you support chris

christy or mitch mcconnell? >> absolutely. i think what christy is doing in new jersey is great. he is ring in the budget. and there are no shortage of candidates who i think would be great for the country and are doing great jobs. i think what martinez is doing in the state of new mexico is fantastic. i think mia love -- i thought she was a great congressional candidate. i think she is one of the rising stars. and i believe christy is the one to beat and i think he can get hilary clinton a tough run. >> host: a tweeter tweeted in i

am a ron paul support. ron paul -- what was his affect on the party? and rand paul's effect? >> i was in iowa during the 2012 caucus and i was in a little down there. i was in a gym in a high school and there were so much fervor and excitement for ron paul. i was surprised at where he came out in the caucus because there was so much excitement and energy for ron paul. it wasn't just older people but there were a lot of younger people excited about ron paul.

it will be interesting if that excitement could translate to his son rand in kentucky. i believe he is running in 2016 and i think it will be interesting to see if that excitement and will translate to his son. and what is his next step and what role is he playing in 2016? will he try to be a gop king maker? those are the questions out there for a ron paul and what his role is. next call is from ryan, in beaver, pennsylvania. >> i want to say i am disappo t disappointed in republicans and democrats because once they get in office it is all of the same.

>> what do you mean by that? can you give an example? >> well, you have obama saying he is stopping with the surveillance stuff and continues it even more than what bush had. i am not saying what bush did was right. he was wrong, too. i don't trust democrats or republicans. >> you think it is something once they get to washington? >> it is the bankers running them. >> that is a good question. and a good comment. i thank you for that. in my book, in the chapter going out of power, i discuss a section called ghost of iraq. in that section, i discuss how republicans will have a very

difficult time moving forward until they can move away from the sustain of debacle and afghanistan. and until there is a new phase within the party and new ideas generated that get beyond afghanistan and iraq, i think the party is going to have a difficult time of being able to regain the trust of americans. i think that is one symptom of a larger issue. what does the party do to begin to get voters to see them as trust worthy and effectively being able to govern? we have seen so far a government shutdown. we have seen u.s. credit ratings diminish and i think largely americans believe that is the

result of republican-incompetence. >> naomi, oklahoma city, oklahoma. go ahead. >> we don't care what color you are and that should be put to rest. i am tired of the race issue being a problem. and next, the media is out stirring the pot because they know obamacare is in trouble and likely to lose a lot of seats in

2014. i think the media is stirring the pot to cause problems to divide. >> who is a republican you like and would like to see stay in office? >> i like a lot of them in the house. tray goudy is a brave soul from south carolina. there is people from georgia. i should not recall their name >> are you a member of the tea party or did you support them? >> i am not a tea party but i support them because all they are after is for both parties to get back to the constitution and

stop trying to tear it down. >> all right. thanks for your time this morning. >> i do believe them stirring the pot is going to be a huge issue. and she talked about south carolina as well. i want to tackle all of this. i do believe that given that you have democrats who have about 23 seats they have to defend, i believe is it going to be a competitive race and republicans have a great chance of taking control of the senate. and i do believe they are going to be able to use the obamacare issue as a huge block to hit

democrats over the head. you have a number of democrats who are runner squared is lagging in the polls as result of obamacare. regarding south carolina, i think there is no shortage of fireworks that will fly there. it is very interesting because you have both senators who are up for reelection and interestingly enough senator scott hasn't come out to endorse lindsay grahm so that is intriguing. and nicky haley who i list as a potential 2016 candidate as well if she can win a reelection in south carolina. so i think south carolina has a number of different issues that i think will provide, i think additional fodder for what might be to come in 2016. >> next call for eric ham is from rose in horsehead, new

york. rose you are on the washington journal and eric ham is the author. >> hello, this is rose. >> we are listening, rose >> listen, i have been disconnected three times. i think you ask stop having phone lines if you disaconnect people who identify themselves as republicans. i have been on hold or discun h discuneth -- disconnected three dames. >> rose, we are all ears. >> i am a physician and i am concerned about all kinds of things including, the first thing, was the police state -- i will ignore that. i am a physician. i am concerned about health care. i am concerned about the

constitution. i believe there is no deception among conservatives. i believe there is no dissension -- dissension -- among health care providers. i believe there is no dissension behind patients. i am a handicapped physical. my favorite book is the wounded healer. my dad son was a wounded hero. >> rose, what issue would you like eric ham to talk to? we are talk about hits book the "gop civil war" >> i think he is totally unqualified to speak on the subject. >> is there anything you would like to add to what dr. rose has to say? >> i agree on the issue of health care. i think that was a huge debate

in the 2012 election. and i think it will be a big debate in the 2014 mid-term and the 2016 presidential elections. i think regardless of what the president is able to do to get obamacare working and running effectively i think it is going to be an part of the discussion. >> host: ron paul attracted to the republican party but the gop shunned them. big mistake. >> i thought ron paul and i was on the ground and witnessed the excitement of the crowd. he tapped into the people who were disaffected by the government. and it was similar to what we

saw in 2008 with then senator obama. and i thought if there was a way for him to take that and turn it into the votes. we were waiting for the moment when we saw paul win a primary. that is a question going forward and how it translates into the votes of what will be behind his son in a 2016 race. >> host: steve is a republican from jackson, mississippi. >> i would like for you to comment on the race where bradley burn, a conservative won the republican primary and was elected to congress for the special congressional race.

he is a state legislator and had the backing of the business community. he is a smart republican. >> steve, did this happen in mississippi? >> no, in alabama. bradley burn was elected congressman in mobile, alabama area. he beat the tea party candidate in the primary and beat the liberal democrat. >> host: steve, what do you think about it? >> i think that is where the republican party needs to go. they need to nominate burns and i would like for this writer to comment on bradley burn winning in a conservative primary in alabama. >> host: we got the idea. steve, thank you. are you familiar with this race? >> i am. that was part of the article i wrote for the hills' newspaper talking about this race in district one, i believe.

it pitted a tea party conservative against an establishment candidate. i think we will see a slew of these in 2014 where organizations like the chamber of commerce is going to stand up to the more activist of far right candidates. this was a huge test for the tea party in 2013. i think it is view of what to come in 2014. i think what this race does is it solidifies the thesis there is a civil war in the party. when you mention haley barber and i speak about him extensively and call him a grownup in the republican party. i think we are going to see people like barber and some of the other grownups or elder

statesman within the party beginning to stand up and speak out and become more forceful in supporting and backing establishment candidates in 2014 and forward. >> host: eric ham," the gop civil war" just an e-book -- why? >> it was an issue of time. this is something i thought i could put together, given i had been travelling the country during the 2012 race and looking at the issues, and i could get it out there and people could download to e-readers and tablets. i wanted something people could read or follow on the train or sitting in a waiting room.

something they could read and get a pulse of what is going on in one party. >> host: what was the process like? >> it was the first book i wrote. it took well over a year to write it. there was no shortage of story lines to write about fame namely because it was written in the backdrop of the 2012 election. it was a stimulating exercise. i would like to write another book exto exam the party. i want to believe able to provide this information available to them. >> available at amazon.com. here

are more statistics. 52% for romney. 48% for obama. latino and asian went to obama by big numbers. i want to go back to the daddy party versus the mommy party. that was tag line in the 2012 election. what about women? >> we talk about demographics in the book. there was no shortage of information on the importance of women in the 2012. looking at women candidates and what is taking place in congress

and the role of women. new hampshire has an all-women delegation. so 2012 could be considered the year of the women. i think 2016 will be the year of the women. we are seeing women flex their political power in terms of voting and women overwhelming outnumber the men going to the polls and obama was able to take advantage of that. the republicans haven't been able to write the ship on how to talk to women about women's issues. and until, and unless they can do that, it is going to be a problem for them. the republican heaparty has a

number of well-qualified women who could run in 2014. people like martinez, potentially nicky haley, possibly the senator from new hampshire. i think there are a number of women candidates. but of course, between now and 2016, or when the women may or may not declare, i think the party needs to figure out how do we address these issue or talk to women. >> host: next call comes from david in st. joseph, missouri. >> thank you for having me. listen, it is kind of ironic we have a socialist democrat claiming how we who dare to oppose their bringing of a

socialist police state because we dare to stand up for the constitution like the tea party does that of where, you know, the loud screaming baby brats -- >> david? when you say you stand up for the constitution -- can you give give an example of what you mean? >> i hate having the voting rights being curtailed by people who are allowed to create voting fraud and when you try to correct it with proper ide identification laws, and the same people are saying you are discriminating against them, they have to have the same id t identification to get social security benefits from the government and state, and that is all right.

but you have to identify who you're to vote and that is a combat and bad. the complete assault and out to destroy the second amendment that has been launched by your guest's side for many years which i have fought for over 40 years. >> host: i think we got the point, david. eric ham, a response for the caller? >> thanks dave for your comments this morning. i don't think that either party is trying to in any way infringe on the constitution. and regarding the issue of voter identification fraud, it has been proven and studied and highlighted that there is no little voter