>> up next on c-span2 its today's edition of washington to. we kicked off or show asking viewers if they thought that romney should run for president again. we spoke with reporter on the same topic. we look at items in today's newspaper. this segment is about 45 minut minutes. >> host: will get two calls and comments in just a moment. and also let you hear what governor romney said on the program early this week. a quick look at other headlines. richmond times on the star of the former governor of virginia, bob mcdonald. yesterday as the defense wrapped up its test when, a daughter testifying on the relationship between his mother and father and the jury could get the case as early as friday. this from "the miami herald." governor rick scott when his republican nomination but he will be challenged by the new democrat governor crist, former republican governor of florida.

records on governor scott plan kept secret with you go to plan for the governors mansion grounds in tallahassee. this from the arizona republic as the arizona republican selecting as republican candidate for governor in arizona the we will follow all of these races and you can check at the schedule online at c-span.org with regard to the debates coming up in a key house, senate and gubernatorial races. a contributor to cnn.com on the issue of mitt romney. is joining us live on the phone. >> caller: thanks for having me. >> host: on speculation based on the comments governor romney said on the hugh hewitt program. you say it is not out of question that that romney could run and could potentially get the 60 nomination for the gop. why? comic part of it is about him in and partners about the republican party but there are moments in history are

candidates have remade themselves like richard nixon is able to come back after losing the presidential race in 1960 in the gubernatorial race from 1962. so romney could follow that. part of that is about some of the fragility of the republican party. many other major candidates are extremely vulnerable and untested. so it opens room for someone who's more familiar and someone who has been out there since my last time and continuing to make a name for himself. >> host: let me go back to these which is the of online at cnn.com the republicans would naturally be jittery about selecting a candidate who could make it to the primaries in 2008 at crashed and burned against the president in 2012. you asked this question. how could someone recover from this kind of loss? how could romney end up as the next republican nominee? wilmette romney run for president in 2016, how do you

answer that question? >> caller: well, he's done in some ways what richard nixon did in the 1960s. he has made himself a key factor in fund raising, endorsements and through ad campaign goes to the midterm campaigns. that's been very important in terms of rebuilding himself. he has kept himself alive as a political player and shown that they consolidate raw the kind of money that other candidates have not been able to do. chris christie, i mean, he has there is problems and other candidates like rand paul still have the big question. it keeps alive speculation that he would be the one republicans go to again. >> host: is there a nixon analogy to all of this? >> caller: there is. he has followed some of the steps of what nixon has done. the context is very different.

he has followed the path of candidates who have taken the laws, and rather than banishing them from the public stage made themselves integral players to the party. if the party needs them, there are still people who can prove how effective they can be. >> host: we're talking with julian zelizer, professor of history of public affairs at princeton university. is also a contributor to cnn and cnn.com writing about the speculation renewed again this week about whether or not that romney might seek a third residential bigger i want to share with you a poll that came out from i will but it's also that with a lot of political.com to after that romney opening the door to another possible presence of an. this poll shows has a huge lead among 2016 i were republican caucus voters. the source of the polish "usa today" suffolk university released yesterday. 35% of likely gop caucus voters would vote for mitt romney in

2016 and then down the list is chris christie and rand paul. many of those in the single digits. julian zelizer, your response to that? >> caller: i mean, i would take that with a grain of salt only that is the most familiar republicans still such to think of like a is registering just what people remember from the last election, and a lack of knowledge about who the other candidates are. that said, it does reflect this idea that if he decided to run, it would be safe because he is a name in the gop. he provides primary voters and non-primary voters a certain comfort level engines understand what kind of campaign he would have. that means a lot to republicans who are very determined to win the white house in 2016. >> host: julian zelizer, you follow this closely.

what is your gut instinct? do you think you'll go for? >> caller: i don't know. i'm not sure if he and his father wants to get into it again. i think the speculation would be attractive. is a person committed to public service, and my gut is that it will depend on the other candidates rather than him. if there is a since there is no strong candidate, he would be the kind of person interested in dealing with his party and getting into the campaign raise. but if one of these other candidates proves to be stronger, if someone else emerges, i do think he would step aside. >> host: your latest book, when is it coming out? >> caller: it's coming out in january the. >> host: thanks very much. of course, we will follow that on tv. julian zelizer, professor at princeton university and the conservative for cnn.com. his piece on whether or not mitt romney will run again in 2016.

thanks for a much for adding your voice this moment to the program. we want to hear from republicans only because we thought it would be interesting to hear from the gop whether or not you would be ready to accept mitt romney as a third time presidential candidate. nic is joining us from fairview tennessee. should mitt romney run in 2016? >> well, if he's really changed. icom from the tea party wing of the republican party. can you hear me? >> host: i sure can. >> caller: okay. and i look at it this way. the democratic party is a party of slime, and establishment party, the republican party is the party of stupid. i knew mitt romney was going to win because he's too nice. i mean, we have guys in their debt a ruthless. i remember, he said i'm going to find something on them. there's nothing on the guy. but then the person brought his

taxes, watch me. and they did. this goes all the way back to lyndon johnson when he portrayed barry goldwater as a warmonger. look at what lyndon johnson did with the vietnam war. we need republicans that have got the guts and not stupid. they fall in line like lamar alexander. i'm going to do a write-in candidate because he gets spanked by harry reid at every turn. so that's the problem. i hope, i if romney runs, i'll t it this way, i'll do what i do with most presidential elections, i'll hold my nose and vote republican or just stay at home. okay, thank you. >> host: thanks for the call. the question this morning, should mitt romney run for president in 2016? he made his comments on the hugh hewitt program leaving the door open for the possibility and it

is just a possibility might again run in 2016. there is this a tweet from one of our viewers saying right now that romney looks like the best the gop has to offer. good morning, where are you calling from? >> caller: maryland. >> host: you're on the air. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. i just wanted to say republicans are still stuck in the past and this is indicative of the poll. i think that mitt romney is a good man. he's consistent with the times. i just think that republicans are going to have to change the focus. i mean, and come up with some new ideas and some new plans for america. >> host: thanks for the call. let's go to j. in pennsylvania also a republican. what do you think on this question, should mitt romney run? >> caller: possibility. i would rather see somebody else but i think the first caller was

correct. nice guys finish last. and that we've got to get people that are, that can act like the democrats who are really basically street fighters and thus would have to be. we've got to get down and dirty and not worry about being nice people in the things i'd like to have a republican leader do is to try to have a history lesson for the american people, to talk about what they stand for, which is individual liberty, and individuals, not groups. and to try to teach people that republicans, we don't believe in ethnic voting blocs, not because we are mean but we believe in individuals first. and when you have people talking about a hispanic vote, we have a lot of republicans who bow to that idea, which is racial extortion. it is basically holding a gun to our heads and saying, you know,

you will vote for our group or else. we don't believe in that. we believe in assimilation and we believe in the melting pot. and that is not, we don't have anybody with the guts to express that, to give a good teaching of what america, how america became what it is. that was the abolition of group identity and diversity, and making us all similar and oneunited people. >> host: based on all of that one name in the republican party that best represents your point of view. >> caller: i don't know anybody. and -- i don't know anybody. i don't think we're going to have any kind of leader that's ever going to do that. and i'd like to see possibly some kind of alternative third party someday i guess. i don't know what it's going to be, but i don't think romney is going to run. but as pat buchanan said for

many, many years, demography is destiny. demographics are shifting and republicans are finished if we don't try to explain to the american people how we're going to remain united and not vulcanized comment as to what to do that is to secure the border, assimilate the people that are here, have a slow down on migration and maybe we can save ourselves. >> host: j., thanks very much for the call. and as this blogger can probably run in 2016 is again kid went for the other party. he needs to be think this. and from the hill newspaper, could romney really run? that's the question. a senior advisor to the romney campaign in 2012 did not reject out of hand the possibly of a run when asked in india for his thoughts. he said quote thanks reaching out but i pretty much stay out of the 2016 speculation. another senior advisor said, romney has been cleared, he is not going to run. his favorability though has not

improved since 2012 staying fairly steady at about 47% favorable, 43% unfavorable. that's from a february gallup poll. let's go to join from virginia. good morning. >> caller: good morning. yes, i would vote for mitt romney. i believe he is the most presidential of the people out there. i think he was right on just about every issue, even though he was chastised for his opinions. he turned out to be right. and i think by now we know that this country, in my opinion, would have been a lot better off had mitt romney won the presidency. .. mary says mitt's campaign needs more vigor and tech savey, i would vote for him. caller: hello. host: yes, good morning. caller: i think it's very complicated. yes, i think mitt romney would have been an excellent

president, but we need someone in there who can outsmart the local press, and that is going to be the whole ballgame. and i don't know if we even have a chance, because -- because of the local press and the bias media. but mitt romney would have been a great president. he's so presidential compared to who we have now that it's sad, makes you want to cry. host: thank you. this is the headline from cbs news. mitt romney on 2016 saying circumstances can change. jean has this tweet. the gop cannot come up with anyone else so they want to replay the also ran. that is the problem. our question, should mitt romney run for president? we're asking it because he was on the hugh hewitt program on

tuesday. here is part of that exchange from earlier this week. >> if you personally believe, genuinely believe you were the only candidate who could bit hillary and that belief was confirmed by your family and your friends and respected political advisors, would you not then fill obliged to run? >> well, hugh, the reason i came to the conclusion i did, which is this is not the right time for me to run, is because of my belief that someone else stands a better chance of winning than i do. i do. >> had that not been the case, had i believed i would actually be best positioned to beat hillary clinton, then i would be running. i actually believe that someone new that is not defined yet, someone who, perhaps, is from the next generation will be able to catch fire, potentially build a movement and be able to beat hillary clinton. if i thought that weren't the case, i would have been running. but i think we've got a number of very good people looking at

this race. i'm expecting someone to be able to catch fire and get the job done. >> now, i'm pressing, and i'm pressing an advantage of long acquaintance, and so forgive me for this. but that's subject to change, right? people's candidacies implode, circumstances change. people who organize campaigns approach you, and so i'm not asking you -- can i wouldn't presume to ask you to say, yeah, i'm in the race, but circumstances change. and if you thought that, in fact, it were not that way, if you thought you were the only one who could do this, you'd change your mind, wouldn't you? [laughter] >> i'm not going there. you're going to press. this is something we gave a lot of thought to. early on i decided we're not going to be running this time. and, again, we said, look, i had the chance of running. i didn't win. someone else has a better chance than i do. and that's what we believe, and that's why i'm not running. and, you know, circumstances can change, but i'm just not going

to let my head go there. i remember that great line from "dumb and dumber" where -- >> so you're telling me i have a chance! [laughter] >> you're telling me, i have a chance. it's one out of a million. [laughter] >> host: that from early this week, the hugh hewitt program. give us a call, tell us about whether or not you think mitt romney should run for president in 12016. we're -- 2016. we're dividing our lines for republicans only. eastern half, 202-585-3880 and republicans in the mountain and pacific time zones, 202-585-3881. also send us a tweet or e-mail, journal@c-span.org. if you're interested in hearing the full interview, by the way, it's at realclearpolitics.com. what will it take for you to run in 2016. also another story from inside "the new york times," an audio that was released from a conversation that took place

this past june at the koch brothers event at mitch mcdonnell envisioning undoing president obama's initiatives. this is from the new york times: s political apparatus this year, mcconnell laid out a confrontational agenda for a republican-controlled senate aimed as dismantling the president's legislative success in the budget. initially reported by "the new york times" and the nation magazine, senator mcconnell telling a mid june gathering that if the republicans gain control of the senate and retain control of the house in november, congress could use the budget process to force the president to roll back his priorities. and there's another headline this morning on another initiative that's going to get a lot of attention in the weeks ahead. this is from the "washington times." the president eyes a global climate deal without congress. republicans slamming the move as

another power grab by the president. next is john, jo next is john joining us from brookly, new york, on the mitt romney question. good morning, john. >> caller: hello? >> host: yes. go ahead, please. >> caller: i'm sort of hanging in the -- i'm not democrat, i'm not republican, i'm decided now. mitt romney, if he's going to run, they're going to pick him apart. but i'm leaning towards the president. i don't think people analyze what he did, and i think with all the changes he made with the banks and with -- like i just heard on the news that the health care this year will save $100 million. have you heard that yet? you won't hear that. now, these ideas are going to to be put against each other, and everything will be analyzed. so i don't know. i don't know. i like a lot of the things that

obama did, i like some things he didn't do. but if you look at where things was when he first started with the banks, with the economy, with education, 'cuz my son just finished howard university, and he had to get loans. and when he was getting those loans, he had to go through theback and pay the -- the bank and pay the bank fees to get a loan for an education. obama stopped that. there's a lot of things he did that mitt romney better get ready. >> host: john, thanks for the call. and bill says: mitt can run, the key is to do what americans want. their top priorities to finally be addressed; jobs, the economy and debt. the front page headline on "the washington post," the headline from karen -- [inaudible] the border stance weighs on the midterms. here is part of what "the washington post" is reporting this morning:

in the past few days democratic candidates in nearly every closely-fought senate race have criticized the idea of aggressive action by obama. some strategists say privately it would signal he has written off the democrats' prospects for retaining control of the chamber, deciding to focus instead on securing his legacy instead. let's go back to your calls on the question of mitt romney. mike is joining us, bethesda, maryland. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i have a love/hate relationship with mitt romney. i hated him in 2012, but i would love him in 2016. >> host: why's that? >> guest: because he's probably going to be up against hillary clinton. who must be stopped. and he is, i think, the only republican who has the substance and the ability to raise the resources to run against the

clinton juggernaut. >> host: hey, mike, in the republican primary in 2012 who did you vote for? >> guest: in the republican primary, i was hoping pawlenty would pull it out. >> host: uh-huh. of course, he dropped out well before that. >> caller: yep. >> host: thanks very much for the call, mike from bethesda, maryland. taking that one quote from the hugh hewitt interview, circumstances can change. again, leading the speculation on the possibility of another bid by mitt romney. we're asking republican callers this morning their thoughts on all of this. donny from morristown, tennessee, good morning. >> caller: good morning. actually, i'm from sweetwater, tennessee. >> host: okay. >> caller: but my comment is the only reason that mitt romney didn't win the election was because the republican establishment didn't back romney. you see, mitt romney was vetted, i mean, he was vetted by the republicans and the democrats.

i mean, the republicans fought tooth and nail against mitt romney instead of backing him. and, i mean, i don't want understand it -- i don't understand it. i mean, they couldn't find anything on this man, nothing could they find on this man. they couldn't dig up any dirt. so then, you know, by the time democrats got to him, he had already been vetted. everything the man said just about has come true, you know? i mean, he's a governor, and we all know that, you know, if you want a really good president, you pick a governor. you don't pick a senator. senators make sucky presidents, you know? i mean, that's just the way it is. history proves that. >> host: donny, bottom line, if mitt romney ran in 2016, would you vote for him in the primary? >> guest: oh, for sure. look, and as far as hillary goes, hillary's been running for president ever since bill clinton went in the office. talking about her, you know, the you're talking about an also-ran. i mean, she didn't run for

president -- she's been running for president for 20 years. >> host: okay. thanks for the call from sweeterwater, tennessee. this is another headline that might get to another part of the problem for republicans, a summer of gop flip-flops is the story this morning from seth mclachlin. louisiana governor bobby gyp call the's lawsuit wednesday -- jindal's lawsuit makes him the hatest gop presidential hopeful to use the dog days of august to recalibrate himself toward conservative voters who will decide the 2016 republican nomination. >> host: diane is joining us from new york. good morning. >> caller: hello, steve. i'm a longtime viewer. really enjoy it. although i believe c-span has moved a little to the left. >> host: we had a caller the other day said we're too far to

the right, so hopefully we're somewhere down the middle. >> caller: yes, wherever we can see it. i can see mitt romney running again, but if there are co-runners like rand paul or dr. ben carson, i think the people should decide, i would vote for any one of those. i think mitt romney lost the last time because the press was so for mr. obama. anyone would be better than hillary. romney's a decent man, i believe anyway. and, steve, c-span, i just want to make a little aside, c-span took it to chris christie, his woes in new jersey. i just heard this morning that in my state app i drew cuomo has -- andrew cuomo that failed to receive "the new york times"' endorsement due to corruption, and i'd love to the see a report on c-span about this. >> host: diane, thanks for the call. and, clearly, this program reflects what's been written

about. our goal is to share editorials from all perspectives, and we talked about governor christie because he's been talked about as a potential 2016 presidential bid. but good thought about governor cuomo. this is from pretty toe this morning, mitt romney's circumstances can change. again, that quote from the the h hewitt program, and also an interview with former running mate paul ryan who said i sure wish mitt would run. quote: i think he'd make a phenomenal president. he has the intellect, the honor, the character and the temperament to be a fantastic president, but he keeps saying that he is not going to run. again, that from pretty toe this morning. -- politico this morning. congressman ryan out with a new book as he appeared on cbs' face the nation." matt is on the line. >> caller: good morning, c-span. i believe mitt romney would fail at his attempts because the evangelicals wouldn't turn out

for him like they didn't turn out last time. and just to correct my friend down in sweetwater, tennessee's a huge establishment candidate, and that's the kind of rino establishment we want to see run again. >> host: who to you like? >> caller: i voted for rand paul. i'm clearly grassroots oriented, and i think you need to have passionate -- [inaudible] to articulate the message of america back to the people who have forgotten it. it's been lost. we're not going to get that from moderates or establishment folks on either the right or the left. but with regards to mr. romney, he seems to be a decent fellow, and i certainly did vote for him against the president, but -- excuse me -- i don't believe the evangelicals would turn out for a mormon, sadly. i think that was a huge oversight on their part, but i think we'd have the same result. >> host: matt, thanks for the call from york, pennsylvania. another race that we're keeping an eye on in iowa, susan page

this morning in the "usa today," the latest polls showing that race is deadlocked between congressman bruce braley and state senator joni earnst, one of those key races that will determine the makeup of the senate in the 114th congress. the story's also available online at usa today.com. mitt romney in 2016, what do you think? >> caller: i'd say, yes, i would vote for mitt romney. i voted for him before, i'd vote for him again. i believe he is a good, decent man, and he has the experience to pull this economy up. i think he has the gumption to go after our enemies, and i do believe he can beat hillary. and there's one great thing about him. we won't have to pay for his vacations the way we had to pay for obama. he has the money to pay for his own vacations, so the taxpayer won't have to fund that. [laughter] thank you. >> host: teresa, you still with

us? teresa? i was going to ask her who she voted for in 2012. let's go to maria from pennsylvania next. good morning. maria? >> caller: hello. >> host: yes, go ahead, please. >> caller: yes. i voted for mitt romney in the primary, and i voted for him as president. i think the united states does not deserve a person as decent as mitt romney. the man i believe is very honest, and the lady from tennessee is correct. we do not have to pay large amounts of money for his vacations. and i think it is too much of us to ask this man to to run again. politics is too dirty for a decent man like mitt romney. i supported him all the way. >> host: and you would vote for him again if he did run? >> caller: yes. but you know what? i think poll sick ticks is -- politics is very difficult, and i think it takes a toll on his family and himself. i think there'll be other people

who will be more ruthless in politics. so let him be. he's a millionaire, and he's happy. leave him alope. >> host: okay. maria, thank you very much for the call. the washington post this morning and chris with "the fix" writing the nine ways mitt romney has told us he won't run for president translated into three-word mitt poems. and "the washington post" says, quote: lection it didn't see likely the republicans would be clamoring for romney to run for president again. we want to get to your calls and comments on whether or not you think mitt romney should run. again, the phone lines are open at 202-585-3880. republicans only for the first 45 minutes. for those out west, republicans dial 202-585-3881.

harry is next from sarasota, florida. how do you answer the question, harry? >> caller: well, i think mitt romney should run for president again because i don't think america needs another democrat in the white house. because what the democrats are doing in the white house is, frankly, is terrible. and i think mitt romney would do a better job than what most democrats would be doing. >> host: do you think the republican party would embrace him again? >> caller: yes, i think they would. >> host: okay. thanks for the call from florida. from hattiesburg, mississippi, david. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i think mitt romney should run for president because during 2012 you see in the debates, of course, he -- [inaudible] russia would invade ukraine. and also mitt romney understands how to bring jobs. >> host: dave in cortez, colorado. good morning. >> caller: hi. i'd love to see mitt romney run for president.

i think, i liked seeing him lose, and i would think he'd lose again, and i'd also like to see if he had a son, i heard one of his sons is getting into politics, because then he could lose too. >> host: okay. we'll go on next to ron outside philadelphia. good morning. >> caller: hello? >> host: good morning. >> caller: good morning. i don't know who i'd want to vote for. i voted for the first time in my life, i'm 60 years old, and this is when obama was running. i voted for romney. i'm kind of sorry he didn't win. but the way i've been watching this stuff, why don't they get somebody that's educated that's not a millionaire or billionaire that knows how to save must mond spend money and do business rather than these billionaires that are in there, you know, their country club setting where one doesn't want to tick off the other one, you know? they've got this thing that i

keep hearing that i'm sick of is democrat/republican, democrat/republican. it sounds like a football game or something, you know? and it's all to do about money. >> host: ron, thanks for the call from pennsylvania. headline this morning from "usa today," homecoming for one, plea for another. a look at peter curtis held in syria for two years, and an emotional appeal from shirley sotloff pleading for her son steven's release. just below that. and a look at these freelance journalists including steven sotloff. the headline, reporting abroad and alone: the perils abound for freelancers in global hot spots. latoya is next from hairerstown, maryland. should mitt romney run in 2016? >> i think he should. i'm one of the few black republicans that i know, and i voted for him in 2012, and i just -- i didn't think he was going to win, but i was hoping

that he would. but i think he should. i think it wouldsome fresh air for the united states if he won. >> host: what do you like about him, and what's your sense about the republican party including the more conservative base of the party? would they 'em brailles him, would they support him in a crowded g work p primary? -- gop primary? >> caller: i think the republican party needs someone like mitt romney. the if they want to win over like in a previous show you were talking about how they can draw more african-americans to vote republican, the only way they're going to do that is with someone like mitt romney, to me. because he is, he's honest, he's straightforward, he has values, you know? i just don't see anyone out there right now that can draw the african-american vote to the republican party. >> host: thank you. another listener on c-span radio, so we appreciate that while you're driving into work in the morning. netflix came out with a documentary after six years of

access to the romney family as he began in 2008 and then again run anything 2012, it's -- running in 2012, it's now available on netflix, and here's a preview courtesy of the trailer from that program. ♪ ♪ >> i just can't believe you're going to lose. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> so what do you think you should say in a concession speech? >> ♪ ♪ >> by the way, somebody have a number for the president? >> i do. >> okay. [laughter] hadn't thought about that. ♪ ♪ >> if you don't win, we'll still love you. [laughter] the country may think of you as a laughingstock, and we'll know the truth, and that's okay. >> mitt! >> it was a very different setting than any of the debates we've held so far. these are all people competing for the same job. how in the world do we find

these things out? >> he hates to disappoint. >> are you going to -- [inaudible] [laughter] >> ouch. ,. >> this may not end well. >> a recent poll said 43% of americans are not even sure who you are. >> mormon. >> [inaudible] >> how did you feel on the stage? >> i would not want to do this again. it's too much. >> what happens to anybody in this country who loses as the nominee of their party, they become a loser for life, all right? [cheers and applause] barack obama has changed our race. he's changed our prospects. he's a very good debate or. [cheers and applause] >> oh, mitt romney's a flip-flopper, he's this, he's that. i go, man, is this worth it? it's like trying to convince people that dan quayle is smart, all right? oh, you flip everything. in which case i think i'm a flawed candidate. >> please welcome the next

president and first lady -- [cheers and applause] >> a year ago we pledged to you we loved you no matter -- >> and now we're not so sure. >> now we're not so sure. [laughter] >> the mitt romney documentary that was released last year and part of that fueling speculation on a bid in 2016, and this headline again this morning from politico, a new suffolk university/"usa today" poll showing he breaks away in iowa. this survey, released yesterday. 35% of likely gop caucus voters would vote for mitt romney again in 2016, and the door was opened when mitt romney telling hugh hewitt, quote: circumstances can change, but i'm just not going to let my head go there. that full transcript of interview is available on the hugh hewitt web site, also at real clear politics. susan is joining us from kingston, illinois. should mitt romney run in 2016? >> caller: i think it would separate people if he ran even

more than they're separating america now. he, you know, in an honest way said that rich people mean more than the 47%, and he can't take that right. it's just a reality. he thinks corporations are people. to say that latinos should self-deport themselves wrecked his chances, i think. i think he'll get all the votes of rich people and no minorities, and that's about it. >> host: who is your preferred candidate, susan? >> caller: oh, i'm not sure, i'm not sure. i don't have one. yeah, i think he'll draw the support to have rich, but that'll divide us each more. i think -- even more. i think we need somebody who will bring people together more. >> host: thanks for the call. from the 2016 republican convention, and our question if you're just tuning in or listening on c-span radio, renewed speculation on whether

he'll run in '16. one of our viewers saying the gop won't let rand paul win, he is too much of a loose cannon. michael is joining us, woodbridge, virginia. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'd like the say i did vote for mitt romney in 2012 as ap alternative to our current -- an alternative to our current do-nothing president. the clip you played in the netflix video about how he thought he was a flawed candidate, i think america needs a flawed candidate because we've elected a perfect candidate two elections in a row, and he's turned out to be an absolute disaster. he's a disaster on the home front, a disaster in foreign affairs, he's a disaster for our military. i just think that we need to find somebody who has true, real world experience which barack obama had zero real world experience when he took the oval office, and he still has proven that he doesn't have the capability and he can't surround himself with people who can give him the capability to truly run

the country and be the global superpower the united states has become and always would be or should be. i think mitt romney is that guy. and i don't want -- i think, you know, the american people, it was a very close race in 2012, and i think we made a big mistake by not electing him. >> host: michael, if mitt romney does not run, who is your candidate? >> guest: i would probably vote for rand paul in a primary. >> host: uh-huh. >> caller: but i would vote, i would have to vote establishment even though on a bad day there's not, you know, a dime's worth of difference between an establishment republican and an establishment democrat. i would like to see somebody who could lean even more conservative maybe than mitt romney and really bring the tea party movement into the republican big tent truly for the first time. >> host: okay. michael, thanks much for the call. riding high is hurricane marie,

making it a surfer's paradise. the photograph on the l.a. times. and next to that is a piece about governor brown who is seeking re-election and agreeing to a $330 million tax break to try to keep the movie industry filming in california. the state to hike film tax credits for the next five years. this morning's front page of the l.a. times. heath from wisconsin, good morning. >> caller: good morning, and good morning to c-span nation. i could not agree with the caller mike from virginia any more. i mean, it's mitt romney has a history of fixing things and, unfortunately, the people didn't see it in the last election. the media propped up president obama not once, but twice. the media made the mistake of listening to a great teleprompter reader, but the guy who had no history of running anything. he put the wrong people in positions in his cabinet and government positions, and now the country is paying for it. finally, the media is waking up that we have a president who is

do nothing. mitt romney should run again. it took ronald reagan a couple times before he became a great president, and he turned the attitude of the country around. i think mitt romney could do it again. >> host: where would you put yourself ideologically in the gop; moderate, conservative, liberal? where are you on the spectrum? >> caller: i'm a definite conservative republican, and i think we need somebody who has got executive experience who has ran things before, who could turn around this country. my second choice would be my governor, scott walker. scott walker has fixed things in wisconsin. he took a $3.6 billion deficit, now we have a surplus all without raising taxes, and i think governor walker -- can i would hate to lose him as governor, but i think he would make a great second choice. >> host: he's in a tough re-election battle himself, isn't he? one poll had that race dead even. >> guest: the polls that are going on around here are oversampling democrats. scott walker will win the governor's race in november.

>> host: bottom line, you would support mitt romney in the primary and the general election? >> caller: absolutely. i think he could turn this country around because barham that hood winked america. >> host: okay. thanks very much for the call. the story that's been getting some buzz over the last 24 hours, tom brokaw, executives at nbc news are fuming over the comments of deborah you are the miswho had to apologize after announcing the network news organization had been asleep for 15 years. she dropped the clanger in a new york times interview saying, quote: nbc news hasn't kept up with the times in all sorts of ways for maybe 15 years. i think the organization had gone to sleep. the new york post told tom brokaw, managing editor and anchor and others from nbc news and jeff zucker now at cnn were

apoplectic over her remarks and saying she is making enemies. her asleep comments is incredibly disrespectful to many of nbc's top journalists. our next call is elizabeth from south carolina. mitt romney in 2016, what's your take on this? >> caller: i think romney is too honest to win an election. i think his principles are honorable. i love the way he goes about business, and the last few callers have really hit the nail on the head. .. someone who operates under a no holds barred, you know, he's an honest man. but honesty is what we need. host: who did you support in 2012? caller: i voted for romney.

host: do you think the party would support him in a contested primary? caller: i believe they would. i think we seen a lot, and i think that our experience has shown us that we really -- we need an honest man, but it is difficult to win an election being honest. host: okay. host: okay.

clever people know how to touch the hearts and minds of others either language and trust and words that they use. as a matter of fact it's called dog whistling. dog whistling is a popular term in politics now that essentially means if you know anything about dog whistles the pitch goes beyond the capacity of human beings to hear, but the dogs can hear it. so it is with innuendo they had a meaning of it is so subtle that only those people that have a connection to be able to recognize it and that is both the beauty and the danger of what we are talking about.

a discussion on what's next in the u.s. response to the islamic group isis. from today's washington journal this is about 45 than at. >> host: joining from new york is clinton currently with george george washington homeland security policy institute serving as a senior fellow and previously was the fbi special agent as the terrorism task force unit from 2002 to 2003. thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> host: we want to talk about isis. a trained in the army, the isis

leaders using their expertise on the ground in iraq into syria. and also, we are getting more and more reports about americans joining isis. by your estimation how many americans do you think of linked up with this terrorist organization? >> guest: well, it's hard to see exactly how many are with isis. i saw a report this morning there was a confirmation writing from npr there have been 140 americans that have joined the fight in serious. this tended to be spread based on what kind they joined, so there've been americans joining in serious over the last two to three years. a year ago the numbers were 70 and you might see an even split between al qaeda in serious and the islamic state of iraq the islamic isis. the fighters are joining up with isis. they are very motivated about what is going on in iraq. they see isis as the global

leader of jihad and really want to join the movement. the other part is the social media function has really attracted most of the foreign fighters into serious to isis ranks, so i would say out of the 140 you are seeing 90% or more in isis camp now. the remaining 10% might be a variety of different units inside. >> host: you served in the army, worked at the fbi. what motivates these americans to turn on their country? >> guest: i think what you see is a mix of dynamics. there is no one solution or one understanding of what creates these foreign fighters and why they want to join up coming into the mix or a combination. what was thought during the post-9/11 era as it was all about ideology or if it's true to a certain extent you have some of these individual americans that are doing it for very ideological reasons but you

see a lot of social dynamics in sociological dynamics going on. if you look at the group for minnesota in 2007 there were a lot of fighters that fought in somalia and now we see there's about 15 more in the same community in minneapolis. now you see the social and ethnic dynamic where the groups of guys got together. the other are the sort of all americans to join up and they largely come into context with this militant form of islam through the internet and they essentially pay their way to get these conflicts. a lot of that is ideological but a lot of it is also psychological when you look back at the history of these individuals there tends to be some strange psychological patterns going on and this often times goes completely undetected by the family and friends. they are extremely isolated and they are only way of mobilizing

us through the internet so it's a unique dynamic that's come to the scene the past few years. >> host: there are answers in "the wall street journal" looking at the economy and the headline there is a breakdown i want to share four of the elements according to "the wall street journal" the main sources of funding for the islamic state extortion and crime networks from hostages, collecting the rams in exchange for releasing those hostages, the oil in the fields in areas under its control that is then resold it to the traitors in a vast market and then finally come finally, donations receiving funds from private citizens and islamic charities in the east and europe can you break that down further? >> guest: i think it's really important for people to understand sort of the differences between the al qaeda model in the past decade and really the new isis model.

it was known because bin laden was a businessman. he was great at rallying support for about the middle east and north africa and pulling in donations and when you have donations you can sort of plot and plan and you don't have to be confined to a geographic area which is one of the strengths and weaknesses of al qaeda that has a distributed network where they can pulling resources they can find and recruit but they struggle to deliver on the objectives they can set out. one of them is to build an islamic state. they couldn't follow through on that. you look at isis one of the things that is motivating people to join and be a part right now is they have pursued deliberately planned to the plan to create an islamic state and changed their name to islamic state, essentially i.s.. they started out more building with more building their own networks and criminal apparatus and building illegitimate

networks for all sorts of enterprises they can use to fund themselves. by doing that that, they've actually created a success by creating the state and with that now are receiving a lot of the donations and international support to pull that away from al qaeda. so it's an interesting dynamic. a isis sort of person to be reversed because the occupied territory, and they are also using members that they have personal relationship with. at the core and access that brings isis to together is the legions of the foreign fighters that fought in the 2003 to 2007 timeframe. he died in 2006 but continuing on into 2007 and 2008 the members of al qaeda in iraq they fought at the time and built their own networks and integrated into those areas especially in iraq and they've built out of their illegitimate systems to fund themselves. that is what is propelling them today. they still have those connections.

they know how to work the criminal networks and they are experienced at it. >> host: as always we welcome your questions and comments. you can also send us a message at c-span doll wj or e-mail c-span@journal. he's formerly with the fbi joint terrorism task force and the name that we are hearing more of is how vico abdu. >> guest: it goes to speak to the experience that has been gained over the past ten years. of the leader of isis was captured and imprisoned and then released. he's fought against the united states. he's been operating for quite some time today i think you saw one of the articles this morning talking about how many of the military officers are being used as a sort of integrated into the

ranks so you see a lot of military experience and they know how to command the unit and they are well equipped and these leaders have created a deliberate plan that is separate from al qaeda. with baghdad when you see how he's created the state of deliberate steps he's taken, he's following what is laid out in the book called the management of savagery which was translated by william as a combating terrorism center written by a name to a sensually cover their real identity but it lays out in very specific detail how to build an islamic state. what you see these leaders doing is following that blueprint in iraq. so it's interesting about him he comes from the legions there are much more men of action and what you see with the old al qaeda

leaders they are much more. they are propagandist and a sort of ideological theologians but they are not the ones that are fighting on the front lines and any experience they got from that with bin laden had in the 1980s. however they are inspiring on the front lines. you will see reports from the actual fighters in isis saying i saw him out here in western iraq and that's very inspirational and motivating and set them apart in terms of their leadership and al qaeda. >> host: there is this question is the war against isis winnable? >> guest: i would say this. i wrote an arc will yesterday called why does the u.s. want to be a foreign enemy.

there is a belief in the united states that it is about taking on the united states and i think this is very different from al qaeda. specifically they said that in order to topple the enemy or the regime's power corrupt dictators throughout the middle east and north africa you have to go to the united states. essentially to let them fall. isis is very different. they are going after different objectives. there are elements in iraq and syria with their support that they receive from iran so there are very different dynamics. what's been interesting the past two weeks is this push especially what i've seen in the news, the u.s. needs to step in and deal with isis. and to that, i would say we need to clearly define what our interests are.

in a certain sense, isis has been attacking the regime in syria. so, by stepping in to take care of isis, we are empowering a solid two is a corrupt dictator who's been oppressing his people. so, we really need to think about what is a war with isis and why do we need to pursue it. i absolutely believe that if the u.s. turn all of its military efforts and focus on isis that isis could be decimated. and if you look at the history of these al qaeda affiliates and the rise up and down, al qaeda and the arabian peninsula with their group in yemen, you know they essentially took over and were quickly eliminated by the yemen a letter a with support from the u.s.. if you look at how this has gone with al qaeda and the islamic sahara, the same thing has happened. they rose up and then with support from the french in this case during intervention that so-called islamic state immediately evaporated. and so yeah i think sure, we can

win a war with isis. i don't think that is really at all a question. the question is what do we seek to gain by going in on behalf of the entire region and eliminating this threat. a isis in my opinion poses as much of a threat to the stability of the iraqi government to iran in terms of just being a pain on the border and then saudi arabia, i think a lot of the countries where these fighters are coming from, saudi arabia being probably the largest should feel very nervous about the risk of the foreign fighters coming back home. >> host: let me ask you about a couple hostage related issues. this is from msn that confirms an american woman is being held hostage in serious. she's a 26-year-old humanitarian worker held captive for about a year and is the third american known to have been kidnapped by the militant group, and there's this video pleading for her

son's release. the story this morning inside "the new york times." in that year since he vanished in syria as family asked news organizations to abide by a complete blackout. that changed with the beheading of the 40-year-old james foley. this is a portion of the plea for her son's freedom. stomach the terrorists of the islamic state, my son is in your hands. steven is a journalist who traveled to the middle east to cover the suffering of muslims at the hands of terrorists. he is a royal and generous son, brother and grandson. he's an honorable man who's always try to help the weak. we haven't seen him for over a year and we miss him very much. we want to see them home safe

and sound and to hug him. since his capture i've learned a lot about islam. i've learned that islam teaches that no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others. stephen has no control over the actions of the u.s. government. he's an innocent journalist. i've always learned that you can grant amnesty. i ask you to please release my child. >> your reaction and comment? >> guest: i think it's extremely sad situation. the u.s. policy has been and i sure will continue to be not to negotiate with terrorists groups for the release of hostages. while i feel for the mother, and i do understand that it is a terrible situation, it has been demonstrated time and time again and most recently by an ap article that describes how these

groups essentially look to extort as you brought up earlier by capturing hostages from western countries in order to finance themselves. in this case, i'm not sure what the situation will actually turn out to be. i imagine that isis is trying to evaluate the reaction that came from the beheading of foley just last week and what tools they can use in terms of that in terms of their own propaganda with the united states. i'm sure they know that any sort of act of barbaric like that is likely to just bring more pressure on them and we've seen that in the last two weeks in the media but in terms of release or negotiation the u.s. is a tough spot. in a tough spot. what i thought was admirable if they tried to go in that rescue mission that sounds like last year. it must have been one of the most dangerous missions to try

to rescue the hostages. it is a negotiation against their very own policy but can continue in the future. >> host: homecoming for one, plea for another. and the "boston globe" reporting all a load the perils for freelancers in global hotspots. good morning david.

it had had an inordinate, they ended up with an inordinate number of children going into adult hood getting into the police system and many of them end up in prison. prison has always been the ground for the spread of islam. what do you think about this and the effect of the spread of islam through the prison system. i think prison radicalization

and globalization is a very, very small influence of the situation. the number one influence -right-brace social media specifically facebook, twitter. pretty steadily and homeland security has done a lot of research. it pales in comparison to what we are seeing today which is one and two predominantly in social media out of the 140 that have gone to syria i would ask 12010 of those are mostly recruited through social media with some facilitation and the local network so in the case of serious or even some ali a these recruits that were going overseas i don't think that is coming through prison

radicalization. prison radicalization is more of an issue for domestic extremists and even in the case of al qaeda is staying in the united states attack. >> host: according to fox news confirmed as the second american killed in a fight that broke out he joins douglas macarthur also killed so what can you tell us about your prospective what do you think happened? >> guest: as long as it goes on in syria and there is a success it is achieving they are going to attract more crudes and it is just a basic number seen. as the conflict goes on and isis continues to have success, you will have an exponential growth and that is globally. and in the case of the united states lets say the number is i think quoted 140, that is

probably double what it was a year ago which was 70 or so and it will continue to increase. the more media attention that isis get, the more success they achieve the greater the growth and recruitment will be. but i think it's important to understand is that these foreign fighters especially in the case of the suicide bomber in syria from florida these fighters transited back and forth. there seems to be the belief that once they go over to syria syria maybe they stay there but we have seen several instances as well where the fighters travel from the united states and have gone to syria they come back and maybe even returned to the middle east. so that is a great concern. many of the plots are by the technical ability you see disrupted by the fbi quite a bit

but may be recruited by the internet or just decide they want to undertake an attack on al qaeda or in the future and this is their ability to pull that attack off is very limited. there are lets say 140 of them would but if they come back to the united states they are now trained or even all qaeda and the arm. i think that is the greatest fear because they have the capacity to pull off the substantive attack inside the united states. >> host: joining us from new york to senior fellow at george washington homeland security policy institute. prior to that he was an infantry officer and fbi special agent on the joint terrorism task force and served as the executive officer of officer of the combating terrorism center at west point. mark joining us in new york,

good morning. >> guest: i have been to be of the jewish faith and israel does not behead people. i'm probably going to switch parties because i did like romney and i'm not a wealthy man but i think that he stands for something and they hope to have them as the leader of our country. >> host: thanks for the call. let me take his point and ask about the response to all of this. how has the white house handled the? there is one that we have the competing interests that are also going on. but one is we would be helping out the regime in syria which has been in the two-year civil

war now destroying large parts of its own country and by pushing down the isis or clamping down on them too hard, we can be empowering or helping out his regime. on the other side is the crumbling government in iraq which is really turned to iran for support as isis has grown and so by helping out in terms of pushing down on isis, we are actually empowering iran which is one of our known adversaries in terms of nuclear negotiations and iran which by all measures was really hurting us inside iraq in the past decade when we were trying to stabilize that country. what i think is smart is the united states has done one is to protect kurdistan and the kurdish people they stood by the united states multiple times and they've been one of the bright spots in the transition period.

the other one is going after the mosul dam and they control baghdad from isis because it gives the ability to actually unleash a huge disaster on all folks that are south of the river so what you see in terms of the measure so far have been very limited and smart in terms of protecting the interest. the question is where do we go from here? we have antagonized isis to a certain extent and came up with the james foley beheading video and this is a response to the strikes of the question is how limited can we be to that antagonized isis where they are doing retaliatory attacks against the u.s. homeland and at the same point about and power of their adversaries we have in the region mainly iran and syria. >> host: republican for kentucky presidential bid has a lengthy piece about the

president's handling of isis and the middle east and one close the article this morning in the journal, senator paul saying the middle east policy is unhinged to see who to act against mixed with little regard to consequences. next is jim joining us this morning from south carolina from george washington university. >> caller: good morning. what's your guess originally for the iraq war to overtake saddam hussein? >> guest: i believe most of what was told to me and justified and i am disappointed with the reality of what's come out. >> host: should the president has have kept troops in iraq?

>> guest: i don't think they should have kept them in iraq it was time to make the transition to the iraq he government. >> caller: [inaudible] every country and every citizen [inaudible] fighting each other just because we go to iraq to fight the war that we shouldn't have gone to. thank you. >> host: we will get a response. >> guest: if i understood the question correctly it is what should the u.s. response be after being in iraq the u.s.

needs to realize it's not the center of the universe and much of what is going on in the middle east has very little to do with the united states. the trigger point was the 2003 invasion of iraq. but since the u.s. has left all of those stakeholders in the region are trying to seek out their own interest. some of them are state actors like iran, serious, saudi arabia. but a lot of them are not state actors. so i think the u.s. needs to vary narrowly decided that its interests are and then support those. but i what i am concerned about is that it has been almost 11 years now since the initial invasion of iraq and i'm not entirely sure as to the way most of the american people for their interests are in the middle east and what do we want to achieve moving forward and i don't think there is a real consensus on that in washington. and so our policy will continue to drift over the near-term

crisis is or trying to contain what the problem is in externalities in the objectives because i don't think there is any consensus. >> host: on the line for independence. >> caller: i want to state i think it is a given that we shouldn't get too involved in this sunni shiite religious war which is going on. we should have learned our lesson not getting involved in that. it's like a family feud goes back more than 1,500 years between the sunnis and shiites. where do we go from here? there was a diplomat from kurdistan that in the united states through weeks ago he stated that his objective

through visiting the united states was to try to get the american public support for the aspirations of the kurdish people for independence. i don't think that's got much coverage, but i think that's an interesting concept. perhaps we should support the aspirations for independence. it seems to be going along the way also giving some support and we would then have a very reliable area and return we could possibly monitor the situation in kurdistan and be able to react quickly in the event. >> host: what about that scenario?

>> guest: i'm very critical of that scenario. kurdistan has been functioning in terms of its own governance. they are prepared militarily to defend themselves and they can maintain their own security. a lot of very strong business interests are there and they can really be that sort of democratic state that we have always sought in the middle east from the u.s. perspective. one of the frustrating things that have been revealing to me is that the notion of democracy as a way to sort of bring all of these entities together is a flawed philosophy. it is not going to bring about the results we want. we are not going to see another version of the united states in these countries due to the ethnic and tribal differences that have been there for centuries. and so, i am for looking at breaking up these countries are allowing them to become autonomous. and that doesn't just apply to

iraq. somalia is another example where we have seen essentially the country that functioned as three function as three countries were three nationstates for quite some time. and that can actually give us allies. it can give us some sort of strength in these regions rather than try to compete with other adversaries like iran to peshawar influence in the country like iran. so i'm open to it but in terms of the international system there is a lot of resistance to creating autonomous regions. though one might be south sudan that has recently become its own nationstate. so we might look at something like that as a model. but i agree i don't believe that forcing the countries to stay together is an amalgamation of different ethnic groups painted long ago was the best solution moving forward depending on what our interests are and i think one of the u.s. interests in the middle east is backing and supporting a strong kurdistan.

>> host: our topic what's next for the u.s. dealing with isis. our test as clinton watts. this is from the "the washington times" focus on douglas macarthur became who was killed in a fight between fury and forces and is a member of isis he's an american and now to americans reportedly killed in a fight. the headline u.s. citizens joining the islamic state a major threat to the homeland if i mentioned this headline because they say to you the cd you think isis is in spite of the u.s. already? >> guest: to say there are no card-carrying members of isis so they don't necessarily get issued an id card but i think you have a couple different elements of what can go on. you have the numbers that are in iraq and serious right now and some of those are from the

united states. and they will likely try to return home should they survive the battlefield. it will be a small number and they are of a great concern when they migrate back. however i think the u.s. counterterrorism architecture since 9/11 has improved dramatically and they have done a great job. fbi and homeland security law enforcement attracting that down. what's more concerning is the unknown which is the random isis supporter who doesn't actually travel to the region, doesn't actually make contact with the group that is inspired and then conducts violence on their own to this is the violent extremist created inside of the united states somewhere. i wouldn't say that is under isis control, but i think it is concerning that it's very sour to the mr a inspiring folks inside of the united states to conduct attacks inside in spite of the u.s. homeland and that is a sick because concerned and one that we need to watch out for. you can see this play out and it

will continue the next one to two decades where you have people suffered in a conflict overseas and a nonstate actor and they will rise up and go down based on the nature of each of those conflicts. so, al qaeda, the arabian peninsula for the concern you don't see much of it now. now what you see is a lot of isis and in the time here kelly saw the foreign fighters being recruited. so you will see this up and down dynamic pretty routine over the next ten to 20 years based on what the conflicts are going on around the world. >> host: at the american legion convention he talked about his approach in response to our pullout from iraq and how the u.s. is dealing with the ongoing terrorism threat. >> the answer is not to send in large-scale military deployments that overstretch our military

and lead for us occupying countries for a long period is time to end up feeding extremists. rather than military action has to be part of a broad strategy to protect our people and support our partners to take the fight. so we are strengthening our part is. more military assistance to government and kurdish forces in iraq and opposition in serious. we are urging them to forge the kind of inclusive government that can deliver the national unity and strong security forces and good governance that are ultimately going to be against terrorists. and we are urging countries in the region and building an international coalition including our closest allies to support iraqis as we take the fight to these barbaric terrorists. >> host: comments of the president at the american legion convention and this morning in "the new york times" and taste you're interested in reading questions on airstrikes in security is the editorial. we will go to sean joining us in

key west florida. good morning. it is unquestionable that we would rely on this and based on this concept we have made mistake after mistake after mistake and we are involved in making another mistake which is going to lead into other mistakes. we are told that isis is worse than al qaeda ever was and that we need to go back and re- train these people after we've trained the iraqi army for 11 years. many many think the intelligent decision which is to get out of there immediately. let those people handle the problem in whatever fashion they decide is necessary. we are only going to be creating future mistakes by the actions we are taking

>> guest: i thought it was a more formalized version of the statement about how we want to engage moving forward. i have my skepticism about some things the president said that in general he's right in terms of the approach that we need to protect american interests and help our partners that are in the region that we need to not go all in. what's been fascinating and some of the claims that we need to deploy i think one of the estimate was ten to 15,000 troops. our history the past decade told us that is not a solution. believing we can build strong enough governments in these regions and in these countries that don't have the economic basis to support themselves, that don't have the diversified economy and that don't have a social capital necessary to really support a democracy that we can build these governments and institutions i don't believe that. and i don't think i would stop

terrorism anyway. at least to have an element in the countries that are dissatisfied in the way they are going to try to change the status quo. i don't see as necessary and we've just seen in the past 12 years no matter what we put into it we cannot force a good governance system on the countries in the region. we can be supportive, but we can't force it. what's been interesting while we talk about the governance in the post-arab spring north africa middle east, we haven't really done a whole lot in terms of supporting the good governance of the countries. and even if we did, i don't think that would stop the foreign fighter migration of species from the middle east to south asia. >> host: the next call was caller is from centerville virginia on the line for independence. good morning. >> caller: thanks for taking my call. a couple of quick things. the idea that these folks are here is false.

i was telling the call screener you are going to get breaking news one afternoon that some of these guys -- he key was too late for that. they crucified children and what they did to mr. foley was a horrible thing that they aren't going to go away unless we remove them from the planet and the only way is to go in and get it done. >> host: the headline is focusing on the beheadings are a common practice in serious. this is on the usb port but also that isis is bringing children, mostly boys in the around the age of 14 and some as young as 10-years-old for training. >> caller: i understand that and my point that is basically

have to worry about united states security and interests overseas. the interest overseas and those that operate are our problem. the people we need to worry about our begins, the women, the men that make this country work. this is a cancer and say a man or woman had cancer that isolates the cancer and get [inaudible] one other point before i go, 1986 i was in the reserve center and i had a guy walk in off the street and he was working for the mujahedin. >> host: we are getting some feedback. we got most of the plate and we will get a response. thanks for listening to us on c-span radio.

>> host: i don't think that the policy of decimating isis would be a feasible or productive. on the productive part, we just tried that approach over the last ten to 12 years. we went throughout the entire planet eliminating every al qaeda linked affiliates battling them down and many of the actions especially when it comes to military occupation only a rate of the recruitment to the nonstate actors. so the policy definition while not feasible but acceptable to the public would also generate more fighters to the ranks of isis. the best way to destroy isis is too much isis destroy itself. there are violent practices and lack of popular support among the population will ultimately lead to the demise. i think that there are strategies, some of what the

president either did to that will help isolate isis said that it comes to their own doing and that is the best way to defeat the movements like isis. >> host: we are talking about the next step dealing with isis from massachusetts. the line for republicans. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i never hear anybody talk about what strategize as saudi arabia and kuwait and the fight against syria. when george bush ran first term, dan rather's reported he didn't show up, and immediately they fired him. the media is corrupt.

>> host: okay. with that segment we will get a final statement. the first point was the genesis of isis. >> guest: )-right-paren is of the genesis of isis comes from the regions of iraq, those that fought together around the 2003 can't 2004, 2005 and 2006 and the foreign fighters that came from what i called it the second fighter migration the first being in the 1980s into the second in iraq post-9/11. now we are seeing the third largest migration in syria today, scary and iraq. so what isis has really become from the failures of al qaeda to achieve its objectives all qaeda while they had an attack against the west brought us into the conflicts in the afghanistan and iraq and did they fail to deliver on their objectives. most of the foreign fighters that you see today go between 18

to 24-years-old. 9/11 was coming up on 13 years ago. they were invincible they were young children at that time. so what they grew up knowing in terms of being rallies to the cause and inspired in terms of the activity with the conflict in iraq from 2003 to 2010. and what inspired them is the notion of actually building an islamic state and the filings that they saw on social media. the social dynamics to be part dynamic to be part of the cause that is bigger than them. the islamic state of iraq they have a different project very and the way they fight conventionally on the ground is wildly different than what we saw from al qaeda. >> host: what worries you the most and is your biggest concern? >> guest: foreign fighters returning back to the united

states working under the direction of isis or independently on their own. seeing the success of attacks like the west a small and what happened in boston during the marathon to replicate those low resource attacks in the state. >> host: clinton watts ad in his expertise to fight isis joining us from new york thank you very much for joining us.

put this in a little bit of context of why people come to different conclusions on the same topic. we generally have the purpose of the election which is the

purpose of holding elections is that we know who one and we are confident who one and there are no questions. so anything that cleans up the electoral process that gives us the certainty is a burden worth paying because that is the purpose purpose in the election. democrats generally believed that legitimacy in elections involve participation. anything that limits the participation of all of those that could vote from voting undermines the legitimacy of the outcome even if that means that the results may be a little messy on the edges. these are both legitimate positions to take. this is a perspective towards the purpose of the election of voting. but each perspective focuses on a different answer to the question of what is a legitimate burden for the state to impose upon the voters in the voting

process and of course underneath this is that not so secret or very little secret but of course each side takes a position that is very comfortable with outcomes that will help them. the broad electorate better it is for democrats into the narrow generally the better it is for republicans. that isn't saying that they are doing it for that reason it's just always easy to do the right thing if the end result is the one you want. we have more from the weeklong look at political campaigns. today we focused on crisis management on the campaign trail. from today's washington journal this is just over 55 minutes. >> host: if you are counting 68 days until election day in

office because he's then we are calling his campaign 101 getting beyond the polls into the race is looking at how the campaigns are run and today we are going to focus on the issue of crisis management. and your candidate or campaign as one of those moments that could derail the candidacy and joining us here at the table as the democratic strategist celinda lake and republican strategist reb jesmer. both of you thank you very much for being here. with fpi strategy with me begin with the reputation for the campaign or candidate. >> guest: it's good to be here what normally happens is you have a general consultant or media consultant and pollster and within that the campaign manager you also have people who come up with the narrative for the campaign and enough narrative, you try to hold and protect that as long as we can. with another becomes the reputation of the candidates

personally. and it's usually of these people working on it so i don't think it really comes down to one person. it comes down to a collection of people trying to implement a strategy. >> host: one example is what happened to senator john walsh. explain the mistakes made by the senator and his campaign. >> guest: i think the error is john walsh made a huge mistake in plagiarism but there are other politicians that have plagiarized and i think that what happened was they didn't answer in the brand or in the personality so first they said they didn't do that and they didn't know about it and i think

really it was the value of the soldiers and i would have liked to see and having been born and raised in the state they should've gone to the country and said i apologize. i've let the people of montana down. i apologize, and i will listen to do the best job in my state and straightforwardness, the apology, taking responsibility, also i think one of the absence of crisis management is to keep it short and have one response dot different responses where you are digging yourself deeper and deeper. we have a saying in the business if you are going to dig a hole, stay out of the way.

>> guest: generally you have one shot to the story and if you don't get it right after the crisis you are in real trouble and i think for others that have struggled you can't come you only have one chance you need a little more time if the cover and senator walsh has 90 days left in it's getting tougher for him anyway. but he had his story changed several times in 48 hours into that isn't helpful. >> host: you're going to go through a couple of moments and get your assessment as we look at the campaign 101. crisis the phone lines are open you can begin dialing the numbers on the bottom of the screen between democrats, republicans and independents.

or send a message. in 2012 congressman todd akin who was viewed in the senate to bed losing to claire mccaskill in large part because of this moment. >> if a portion could be considered on something like that without in the case of rape should be legal or not? >> how do you slice this particular question. it seems to me first of all from what i understand from doctors that's rare and if it is a legitimate rate the female body has ways to try to shut that holding down but let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something i think there should be shown to because some punishment but about to be on the rapist and not attacking the child. >> host: when you heard that, your reaction? >> guest: i remember exactly where i was. it was sunday at the republican

committee. i was pretty floored. this was someone we were going to have a very hard time relating to over half of the electorate. there was a mistake there were several that the congress released his book and the problem we have here is the congressman didn't believe he is anything wrong so it's hard to clean up the crisis when you don't believe you made a mistake but it is saying and an inappropriate comment. the consequence obviously he didn't handle it very well in the next several days and he lost the support of the great many republicans and some democrats as well. >> host: as the head of the senate campaign you pulled money in the campaign, pulled money out of? >> guest: we did. it just wasn't going to work.

everyone from the presidential nominee and down asked him to get out of the race and he chose not to sue the other thing i would say as you remember he held up to the media consultant office which also i think at times people go to click. you have to get your story right. you have one chance that you should think 24, 36, 48 hours. governor. going to handle this very well. in a couple of days he took 36 hours and brought together before the voters and did a great job. and the congressman held up in a campaign office in another state think rob said something very important. this is a bipartisan trait area

-- trait. it is so much harder to handle when they do not think they did anything wrong. this is a different kind of error. you just cannot violate cultural norms. this is a bipartisan trait, a generational trait. for representative akin, one of the problems was, as he said, i have been saying this for years. i hate to disappoint you, but you're an obscure congressman and no one knew you were saying this stuff. it reinforces what he was talking about. no one knew you always have that position. i think one huge category of crises, and some of the hardest ones to handle, our when your candidate violates a cultural norm. it does not mean they did anything wrong. it is their value. that is really hard to handle. to 1988, wherek the bush campaign tried to paint a picture of michael as weak area this is a picture, worth

1000 words. as we look at this moment, you can see is wearing the helmet, riding this tank. what happened? why was is a seminal moment in his 1988 campaign? >> first of all, i think we have this all of the time. candidates should be candidates and officeholders. >>ev every once in a while you have candidates doing the worst days but they don't try to pretend they are a nurse or garbage collector. the candidate needs to stand their role and that allows you to characterize them. i think people have trouble relating to him already. he was always off. i admire and love the man. but the blueberries in iowa.

>> they were trying to be tough on defense. and there was a pass in victory and they tried to correct it and oversight and investigations overcorrected it. >> host: jesmer is with ft1 australian -- strategy -- what is your background? >> guest: i started out in minnesota as a campaign manager

and there wasn't a great deal of campaigns there so i moved to mississippi, tennessee, chicago and came to washington, d.c. in 1999 and worked for the republican national committee and was at the senate committee in the last couple cycles and joined a media firm. >> host: and celinda lake is here. >> guest: i went into woman's politics and worked with a firm and then went on to start my own firm. >> host: kay is from california

on the line. democrats line. >> caller: what i would like to see is all people coming out of the office keep doing it. can we get a responsible government? we need term limits and all of the money out of politics and that goes for federal, state and county because we are in such a mess with the people that were in the government running our country which is totally careless. >> host: rob jesmer, how do you respond to that? >> guest: i think there s sentiment is shared by many around the country. i think my view on term limits -- i think the jury is still out on state and local. let people have term limits and

they can vote them out every 2-4 years if you are running for senate and not enough people participate in the process. people are unhappy. >> host: phone lines are open. (202) 585-3881 for republicans and (202) 585-3880 is the democrat line. >> guest: i think we are spending too much money in the wrong kinds of way and it is tearing down the system. i agree with it. we need campaign finance reform

desperately to get the system back in gun control -- control of the voters. >> host: governor howard dean here from the caucus. >> you have already gotten the picture here. i was about to say there is disappointed people here. you know, something, you know something -- if you had told us one year ago we would come in third in iowa we would have given anything for that. and you know something? not only are we going to new hampshire we are going to south carolina and oklahoma and arizona and north dakota and new new mexico, california, texas,

new york, south dakota, and michigan and washington and then going to washington, d.c. to take back the whitehouse. >> host: that sounded different on television. they were in the room and didn't sense the moment. >> this is such a classic error. it happens a lot and suddenly people think the audience is in the room rather than in the tv and rob will have interesting comments on this. television is a hot medium. in a room where everyone is yelling at you. that was nothing. people are yelling over you. when you look at the new president and he is yelling like a mad man it is a hot med i'm and people forget in the crowds.

>> guest: he had a hard time managing the moment there. and you look at governor dean now, i think he is well-respected in politics and this kind of unable to overcome that moment but takes time. we had another lecture a week later and a couple more and there wasn't enough time for him to get the wheels on the track. >> guest: you have these moments

where campaigns show emotions like hilary clinton in michigan but sometimes it works against you like howard dean. often the public reacts stronger than you think and you cannot predict it. >> guest: i agree. we live in a world where people didn't have access and the genie gets out of the bottle and it is hard to get it back. >> host: and bridge port continues to be a drag for chris christy. mistakes made and how he handled this? >> guest: lots of mistakes in the way he handled it but the reason it has dragged on and on is is there a sense of

inappropriate use of office and corruption. this is a little different. this seems like rather than the act getting magnified. howard dean, if you know him, he is a cool actor but give rousing emotions. this is a case where people think government did something inappropriate and it hurt voters. voters are not for giving because they want a political vendetta for sitting in traffic day after day. i think they are covering up real corruption and that is what the public thinks. >> guest: i think the press conference he did went well. he is trying to answer the questions that the press had as opposed to ducking and hiding. i don't agree with -- i will say

one issue i think is the problem with christy is the investigation is still continuing. it isn't a one-time moment and then behind you. until the investigation is closed and he is exonerated is going to be challenging. >> host: john from golden bridge, new york. good morning. >> caller: i have a question. i heard last night the campaign director for mitch mcconnell had worked for the ron paul campaign and there was someone who they bribed bribed essentially. the other question is who is doing the bribing and i wonder

what you think this effect will have the on the mcconnell campaign. thank you. >> guest: i am not sure what the caller said. i know jesse benton well and think highly of him. he is a great public employee. >> guest: i had not realized the decision either. thank you for informing both of us. i will say that i think i am sure the mcconnell team will handle it rapidly. but i think it a case where mitch mcconnell has been in the town too long and gone washington so they better handle it rapidly. >> host: this is headline from aaron blake called the remarkable explosion of fitzgerald. when you don't have a driver's license and you are in a car pulled over by police with a

female friend or staffer who is not your wife -- not good for a candidate. >> guest: super not good for any candidate and super, super not good if you are an fbi agent. you have a narrative and brand and when you violate that you get into real trouble. when you act outside of it, it seems you know really violating the voters. so i think you could double the price because of what his narrative was. >> host: and now the ohio party is trying to help the down ballots in that state. >> guest: it is a little bit like what happened to congressman aikin where they are trying to cut him loose and save the other races. there was a little drip, drip, drip on this.

bad information started coming out on a daily bases. i would say some of these things it is whether or not they are relateable to the governor. can i understand how this happened? and i think with mr. fitzgerald people have a hard time how a person in authority and leadership doesn't have a driver's license for ten years. not in addition to his issues with the woman in the car which were not helpful as well. >> host: eight years ago, george alan running for election and lost to jim web had this as he campaigned in rural virginia. >> we are going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas. this guy in the yellow shirt is

my opponent falling us around. we are going to places all over virginia. and he is having it on film. it is great to have you here and you show it to your opponent because he has never been there and will probably never some. [applause] >> his opponent is with a bunch of hollywood movie moguls. welcome to america and welcome to the real world of virginia. friends, we are in the midst of a war on terror. >> host: george alan loosing was so damaging to him. why so? >> guest: i think if you step back this is one of the fields are sarah alan used that term repeatedly over the years and no

one every called him on it. i don't think anyone realized what he said. it was habitual for him. as a result of not realizing the impact of it it took a long time to write the ship. get your story straight and apologize. they got into it at the "washington post" which is never helpful getting into a fight with a newspaper that close to election specially. they didn't seem very sorry. northern virginia is a diverse community with a lot of ethnicity and people had a hard time relating to what he said. it seemed foreign to how they lived their live and he didn't seem sincere.

>> host: celinda lake? >> guest: i think one it violated norms and when you culturally violate norms it is hard to get back. and this is an issue where he said it privately and people didn't call him on it but the rom didn't see anything wrong because he repeats it. i have two rules i say the candidates: don't use cultural norms and don't characterize. >> host: linda from high point, new jersey with our guest. go ahead. >> caller: a previous calling was talking about there should be term limits. the voters can vote them out so they don't need term limits but

that is not necessarily true. a voter votes for his state senator or congressman because they do well for their state. so that will not necessarily vote out the person they need but it doesn't mean the congressman or senators do well for the country as a whole. >> guest: i think you raise a good point and a sentiment a lot of people have. i personal am strongly against term limits. i think my own observation and i don't do governing or lobby but it is shifting power if you get rid of the seniority. it is complicated to governor. that said, i think you are

expressing the sentiment and raise a thought full point. >> caller: steve is next. good morning. >> caller: consistent with what the last caller said. people can vote who they want. i am not big on the tea party or pelosi's left. but they represent their part of the country so i don't have a problem with that or term limits. but i do have a problem once they get into congress what happens is they are expected to tow the party line and not do what is better for their state. and they are subjected to internal discipline. and that is where i have the problem. not term limits. >> guest: i feel like the opposite problem is happening which is leadership isn't as powerful as it used to be and move the ship down the path, if

you will, and get things passed. there was a lot more depths to leadership. there is more in the democratic party than the republican party. that is somewhat due to obama being in the whitehouse. i would say going back in general to the issue of term limits -- i think one of the issues people are speaking to is election reform in general and primaries and how we nominate people and how we do redistricting. and what you have, i think, is congressional district now is roughly 900,000 people and most of them are carved up in the way and are overwhelmingly partisan and you have low voter turnout in primaries. so your representative only needs to worry about 50,000 of

the people because that is who shows up at the primary and reelects the congressman. i think it is important more people participate in the process and i think there is ample room to change the way these congressional districts and elections are how we deal with them and i think it would be more responsible. >> host: we are calling this week campaigning 101 and the issue of crisis management. rob jesmer, republican strategist and celinda, democratic strategist. david is on the line now. independent caller. >> caller: i am disturbed by the image manipulation in campaigns.

i wonder if you have ever seen that is not the candidate and if you have been asked to do that? >> guest: your callers are asking really good questions. i would say two things. i think the voters smell it a while away. there is a common sense to the voter and they have good instincts and smell when something is funny. the second thing is this day in age when you have the internet and unbelievable opposition research and constant exposure. it is a nine news cycle day so you better have a brand you feel comfortable with. you cannot keep them boxed and packaged like once might have been possible and you can avoid

anyone knowing about jfk's personal life, for example. that is not going to happen today. i have been asked to package candidates that i didn't feel comfortable. we don't run around with scarlet l's on our firm but our firm is progressive and we only work with pro-choice candidates. i like candidates who know what they are, know what they stand for and want to talk to me about how to communicate it and not what to believe. i feel more comfortable with that. >> host: we started talking about talking about mitt romney who opened the door with comments leading to thinking he might run again. if he were to run again, how would the campaign deal the

scars? >> guest: i think ty would be on his side and actions speak louder than words and there is probably several things we can do to eleaveate that. i will say in a presidential context it is hard when you have over a billion spent defining your opposition and you know that comment -- part of the problem with that comment was it fed into the narrative and i talked into the beginning about how campaigns how narratives about how they want their candidate to look. well the opposition does, too. they say they want to point this guy or woman into the a light. and that played into what the obama campaign was projecting about mitt romney. it would be a big problem.

i don't think he is going to run again. >> host: douglas from new hampshire. independent caller. >> caller: do you guys think basically the best liars get elected and become leaders in this country? doesn't it lead to sociopaths in washington, d.c. doing their own thing? >> host: is that what you think, doug? >> guest: yes, if you look at the laws we getting it is ridiculous. >> guest: you sound exactly like independent men in new hampshire. i think a lot of voters believe what you believe. i think it is really too bad and i don't know what rob takes but i bet he fells the same way. having worked for 30 years for

elected officials i will tell you they were not all great but anyone of them could make mer money and have a better life if they were not in public service. even the tea party members who i don't agree with but they really care about the country. i think it is unfortunate because a lot of independent voters and you speak eloquently for them. and i understand why voters conclude this and hate them all by the time they get to the end and saying i am voting for the lesser of two evils. that is why i want campaign finance reform because we've to get the campaigns under control. given what they are like i understand why voters like yourself concluded that.

but i think the number of candidates i thought were out and out liars, gosh, honestly maybe one my entire career and i certainly don't think most are sociopaths but i can see why you think that. >> host: sue from naples, new york. democrat line. >> caller: i have two thoughts on campaigns in general. i think the majority of voters vote emotionally. and i also think that campaigns run far too long so that politicians when they do get elected to an office they forever more have to serve two masters. one is the next campaign and their party business and the other is the job they were hired

to do and govern. those two things are problematic. >> host: we will get a response. rob jesmer. >> guest: the campaigns i have been a part of the system. the reason they package it up is because that is how voters want the answer. if they wanted long answers about medicare fixes and such no one would get elected because i think voters on some level have

their fathers and mothers working and trying to get through college or whatever it maybe and getting down to the nitty-gritty. >> host: ann from greensboro, north carolina. good morning. >> caller: i would like the guest to maim one thing the republicans have done to help the middle and lower part of the country? it seems like they will not do the equal pay for women, they will not increase the minimum wage and there are so many

things proposing to help the middle and lower part of the country. i have not seen anything republicans did. they did dirty job bills that haven't been passed by the senate. but the job bills were for businesses and tax breaks. so i would like him to name one thing the republicans have done to help the lower and middle income people. >> guest: let me answer in two ways. one i think the country and the republican party that binds us together is the government spending is out of control and we are not at a sustainable pace. and all of us are going to have to pay that bill. we are trying to slow the growth and rate of government so all of us -- this woman calling or others are not going to pay our kids that is coming and that is

$17 trillion in debt. i think generally speaking those things are things the republicans are trying to do. let me tell you one more thing. i think our policies are correct and sometimes they are incorrect. we need to do a better job speaking to this woman or other people and esh plaining to people why our policies are helpful to them. you need to look no further than the last presidential election, which is one we should have won, which shows the issues we have with middle class voters and relating to them. >> host: you are advising anthony wiener for a comeback bid. what would you recommend someone like him do if he wants to run again?

>> guest: don't! >> guest: that is a hard one because he had a come back and that was the come back and he had trouble in the come back. i would say a couple things. i would say his wife plays a very important role here. a lot of women voters may decide i don't want to be married to anthony wiener. i think he needs help and most women have concluded that he needs help. i would get it. and then say, you know -- because america does believe in redemption and even rewards it. i admire what bush did with this drinking and admired he handled it and came back. people admired him for that. >> reporter: let me ask you about governor perry.

he is indicted and the mug shot picture of him smiling. what was the strategy behind that? >> guest: i think governor perry thinks he is correct and has done nothing wrong and shouldn't be portrayed as a criminal. he is trying to project leadership. there has been overwhelming bipartisan rejection of what this judge did in travis county texas. some have come out and said this is ridiculous. the governor has done a good job of handling this. >> host: rob in california. >> caller: i am a former city council candidate but didn't make it to the primaries. my question is what is your position on citizens united? >> host: celinda lake?

>> guest: i am completely opposed to it and in favor of reforming campaign laws. we are working with a number of groups to try to get citizens united overturned. legally it is complicated. the problem in my opinion is this is not free speech. this is botched speech. legally -- every time we make progress and in some cases bipartisan congress like senator mccain being a leader we get turned back. this is a tough issue but i am opposed to citizen united. >> guest: this is where we part ways. i think they get turn back by a court which has ruled over and over again this is speech. this happened on the left and hasn't happened on the right as much. if you look back to 2002 things

were worse today than they were then. and so actually my solution to this is actually have no limits to donations to national or state parties and have them disclosed. the money would go to a central location and people would be held accountable. >> host: eddy from massachusetts. republican line. welcome to the conversation. >> caller: in response to the lady who said the republicans haven't done anything and everything they pass is to help

corporations. doesn't she realize burger king is leaving the country? all three of the major beer companies all left the country already? corporations are people. people make things. people make cars. please, give the corporations a break. >> host: more of a comment than a question. celinda? >> guest: i came from the state montana that says corporations are not people and i will quote by governor corporations will be people who texas votes one on death row. we don't have the highest corporate tax rate and there is a huge loop hole that allows these companies to take their profits and we should be closing

that out and we should be using that money to invest in the country. it is disappointing in the global economy. you had companies that invested in the community and workers and this country. and now you have companies that are not. >> host: an investment is what, though? at what stake. >> guest: we are not just competing -- businesses in virginia are not just competing against people in maryland and west virginia. they are competing with people all over the world. the internet has allowed goods and services to move throughout the world easily. and businesses exist to make a profit. and public companies, many of

them, their shareholders are teachers unions and state employee unions and they have a responsibility to try to bring a profit so the investment works out. i never understand the democratic position on this making it harded to do business in the united states. a couple of them get up and leave and i think that is unfortunate but there is a way to stop that and that is change the regulatory structure. >> host: one republican candidate running in delaware and here is the how the o'donnel campaign responded. >> i am not a witch. i am nothing you have heard. i am you. none of us are perfect. but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. politicians to think spending, trading favors and back room

deals are the way to stay in office. i will go to washington and do what you do. i am christine o'donnel and i approve this message. i am you. >> guest: i think this reinforced a narrative of her being flaky and nuts and it made it worse for her. >> guest: and the whole ad seemed like out of the wizard of

oz. if you are being called a witch and you go and say i am a mom or whatever i cannot remember who she was and just say, you know, listen my opponents are engaged in ridiculous name calling and negative advertising and i don't want to engage in that. i want to talk about the issues that affect you. the other thing i would say about in candidates where they get in this state where thank you it is all about you versus rob. but no, it is about you. >> host: fort myers, florida, lewis democrats line is on air. >> caller: good morning. i have a question for you. i am 76 years old. i have voted across republican and democrat and independent. but i found in the future that

republican is backing away from seniors period. if you notice in the last few years how the republicans have voted in congress, can you name me one good thing they did the seniors of america? >> guest: i am glad to answer this question. i think the best thing they did is try to fight against obamacare that is going to make your health care worse and gutted $700 billion from it. i would say the second thing is the programs, i am sure you like today, they are trying to preserve them for the future. the democratic party has done a master job demonizing the republicans on this but whether it is congressman ryan that comes up with a solution to trying to solve a problem that

we know is coming which is these programs going bankrupt. and they say we will take away lewis' social security and medicare but we know the solutions deal with 55 and younger and don't touch the programs for those in it. this is a pure marketing point of view: lewis we hope you join the republican party soon. >> host: one of the most closely watched governor's races there. barbara is on the line from florida outside of orlando. republican line. >> caller: good morning. my biggest pet peeve between the democrats and the republicans is that the democrats have kidnapped the black american vote and i just think it is absolutely awful. there is such a great divide.

and the democrats further that divide with the narrative of the republicans are racist and a lot of people need to know it was a problem that signed the emancipation proclamation and that means the abolishment of slavery. so in the 1850s the republican party formed to stop slavery and the democrats narrative is hold and dividing the nation and i would like to see the republicans stand up and take back this voting bloc. obama divided this nation by

race and class more than you will ever know. thank you all. have a great day. >> host: thanks for the call. celinda lake? >> guest: your comment makes it harded for republicans. the average voter is educated and pays attention to information on what the candidates say. they are not kidnapped by anybody. and you are right. the republican party has come a long way from its roots in 1850s. and the republican party has attitudes of 1850 and 1950. i am offended by your comment

about president obama being divisive. i think it is a great moment when this country has an african-american president. he has worked very hard to unite the country. >> guest: from a tactical and strategy point of view i will show an ad from elizabeth warren accusations. here is how they responded >> i never asked my mom for documentation when talking about the native american heritage. my parents had to elope because my father's side wasn't happy. i never asked for or got benefit because of my heritage. the people that hired me all said they didn't know about it.

scott brown can continue attacking my family but i am going to keep fighting for yours. >> host: was that effective? >> i think it was. i think it wasn't true but it was an effective ad. she had the advantage of this coming out in the spring of that year so there was a lot of time to ride the ship. >> guest: i think the other thing about her and rob laid out the formula and he answered her straightforward and not

apologizing and second she answered and put herself in the situation voters can imagine. all of our family have myths we shared and then she turned it to the voters. the pattern she followed being within the brand and answering in a way voters could relate to and imagine themselves hearing stories and their parents and taking to the voters was classic and wonderful way to handle a problem like this. >> host: last call is from oxford, maine. go ahead. >> caller: i have nothing against citizens united except for one thing. i think businesses should be able to contribute and i don't like the idea of businesses from california coming in and

spending twice as much money as the businesses maine can afford to upset our maine legislature or whatever. >> host: okay. we will get a response. >> guest: i just disagree. i understand why people don't like it. but i think it is a constitutional protected right. i think people have the right to do this. >> host: when you have a crisis what is your advice? >> guest: think about it. respond once and quickly. and stay within your brand. >> take a deep breath, get all of the facts and get them out and do it once and tell the truth. >> host: rob jesmer, a veteran

of republicans campaigns and a democratic pollster, celinda lake. >> guest: thank you and thank you to the callers. >> join us later when the cato administration talks about war. that will be live at 2 p.m. an c-span. >> join us later for more booktv. tonight a look at the book industry. we will tour publishers simon and and talk about the future of brick and motor stores. american history tv and tonight's theme is music in history with a program on world war one and american music. on c-span at 8, voting rights

and election law with a panel discussing topic. and an hour later, ethnic campaigns as part of ethics and campaigning. this weekend on the c-span network. friday night, native american history. on saturday live all day coverage from the national book festival. and saturday evening a debate on scotland's decision on whether it can end their agreements. on c-span two friday at 8 p.m. in-depth with ron paul and then all day coverage from of a book festival with speakers,

interviews and call-ins. and afterwards is sunday at 9 p.m. with william burrows talking about his book the asteroid threat. and a nasa movie about the a pollo landing. and then a look at the sherman campaign. and sunday night a look at the election laws and bush versus gore. let us know what you think about the problems. call us, or on twitter use #c123 or e-mail us. join the conversation. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

>> host: open lines as we talk about the possibility of mitt romney running or this headline more pain ahead despite the lowest unemployment rates. david is joining us from grand blank, michigan. good morning. how are you today? >> caller: good. how are you? i want to hear the republican commentators view on the alternative plan to the aca and with a single-payer tax system, i work in health care and one time i went to the hospital and

i had cobra and was charged $8,000 and i paid finally but the insurance told them they will cover $1500 and a paid a $100 deductible. i would like to know how they think representation isn't good for the health care system and they write all of money off and the taxpayers are paying the bills anyway. so i don't understand the "the new democrats and the return to power" -- democrats -- and that

is all. >> host: jeff miller from florida said there are individuals who broke federal law and they should be held to a count. the president talked about this issue and his speech is on our websi website. viola from george on the democrats line. -- georgia -- >> caller: i just want to make a comment on all of the negative callers calling and bashing. he has been fighting hard to help the american people but it is just he has no help from congress. i think it is outrageous that people don't listen to your daily report. when you give the news the

budget deficit is decreasing and jobs are being created every month and where did they get the id idea? he is not a war monger. he loves people. thank you for taking my call. i love the program and always watch it. ... you. --s is a story you mentioned you mentioned emigration -- immigration. from the washington post.

>> host: our line for independents is john from clarksburg, maryland. good morning, open phones on this thursday morning. >> caller: hi, how are you doing? >> host: fibro, how are -- fine, how are you today? >> caller: good. i just get frustrated with the republican party right now. with the republican party constant tally, i mean, even to make a statement and not be ashamed to say that the one big accomplishment they've done is try to defeat obamacare. because they've done nothing. i mean, all they've done has been obstructionist. but to actually say that with a

straight face and not be ashamed and just resign from your job, it's just pathetic. second, more important statement, attacking obamacare and having nothing to offer of value in response. and to be afraid -- again, both parties are guilty of this, of corps war dismany the -- cowardice in the fact that neither party has the gumption to ever once mention the insurance industry. all they bring up is the question the doctors are being paid too much and need to be paid less, or the insureds need the pay more. and there's a big equation that's missing, it's not even brought up. it's the fact that the biggest industry -- and it's huge -- that makes money out of this is the people we write our checks to for our premiums each month. they've never been called to task, never once been audited by an outside independent agency ever. they claim they make 1% or 2% a year profit, and if you're a trillion dollar a year business and you're only making that kind of interest, you quit.

you do something else. the fact is paying, you know, ridiculous salaries, ridiculous retirement fees to their top execs, and no one will say let's audit this. we do it for, we do it with the states for auto insurance. why isn't the health industry regulated, and why are the republicans so cowardly that they won't even bring up the insurance industry? >> host: okay, john, thanks for the call. are you listening to us by radio, by the way? >> caller: ing yes. >> host: okay. xm radio. immigration crash could lead to the shutdown, this washington post reporting from michael sheerer that injecting the issue into the annual budget discussion raise it is possibility of a pending stalemate that could lead to another government shutdown in the fall. such a confrontation would pose a risk for both parties: from charles town, west virginia, ren line, robert. good thursday morning to you.

>> caller: hi, good morning. i'm calling in, i actually, i was a candidate for the primary election in west virginia this year -- >> host: for what office? >> guest: for congress, actually. i was running for congress. it was a crowded ticket, and of the candidates that ran, i actually was last, but i was good with that because i only invested about -- of my own money, which is about $5,000. and i was hoping that the voters would educate themselves on the candidate. but the, when it come down to it, i was $9 a vote is what it ended up working out to. the candidate that won spent almost $90 a vote. >> host: and who was that, robert? >> guest: alex happyny was the congressional -- haney was the congressional candidate for the ticket that won. but what i'm finding is, he was running on an ultra conservative ticket, but he came over from maryland just the year prior. so he doesn't even live in west virginia when he started to run. >> host: right. >> caller: he actually rents a

house there. regardless of that, my problem is i find myself as a republican torn between voting for a democrat who has spent his life in west virginia and works for the state or voting for a republican candidate who is running in name only for the state. so it's a toss-up in this election for me personally. but it comes down to it, you know, i have to vote for the state before i vote for the national level. so that's my comment. >> host: robert, thanks for the call. by the way, story this morning front page in "the new york times" looking at the economy in parts of west virginia and the job prospects or lack thereof for minders who are losing jobs -- miners who are losing jobs. it's also available online at nytimes.com. greg from virginia, open phones, democrats' line. good morning. are you with us? >> caller: yes, i am, good morning. >> host: good morning. >> caller: i know everyone hates

to kind of look back, but i want to look back at the beginning of the iraq war and kind of tie it to the situation that we have in the mideast now. basically, by getting rid of saddam hussein, i think anybody who looks at it objectively realizes that, you know, that's the first thing that took the stabilization out of that area, and now we have all this stuff with isis and all these groups going on, you know, trying to take over territory and causing a lot of problems over there. i want to hearken back. i heard david kay on c-span who was a u.n. inspector in iraq looking for wmd before the war started, and c-span had him on, and he stated right then and there that there are no wmd cans in iraq. and i know people are tired of hearing about it, but the fact is with what the bush administration did with our foreign policy and also in our domestic policy is going the take 20 years, maybe even a generation to fix. and that's what people don't seem to get. and one more thing. osama bin laden, who's dead

now, thank god, you know, he stated his goal was to get the united states involved in a protracted war in the mideast and basically bankrupt us financially. and president bush and his administration played right into his hands. and they kept him around all that time to use as kind of, you know, to be able to use him to motivate people to vote for more war for the republicans and then look what happened when obama got in. they got him. >> host: okay. >> caller: so, please, don't forget about your history. thank you. >> host: thanks for the call. front page of the atlanta journal constitution, a look at the senate race with michelle nunn and david purdue, nunn portraying purdue as mitt romney in ads, and this morning we spent 45 minutes based on the former republican presidential candidate did on hugh hewitt program leaving the door open at least slightly for a 2016 presidential bid, and the hill headline quoting stu stevens, ap

adviser said, quote: thanks for reaching out, but i pretty much stay away from 2016 speculation. another adviser according to the hill newspaper, kevin madden, saying it's clear that mitt romney is not going to run. you can read that story online at thehill.com. louise is joining us from chicago. good morning, independent line. >> host: good morning, steve, how are you this morning? >> host: fine be, thank you. >> caller: good. i am a retired senior, and i live down j town in a real nice area. i'm 73 now. i want to bring up racial mocking. i feel we need to pass a law to prevent people from walking down the street and being harassed by people who do not know them, mocking them racially, facially and insinuating they're thieves. i think we need to pass a law, because people need to get along, and racial mocking does not help. it's very negative, and and it is very, very, very ugly. >> host: okay. thanks very much for the call.

one of our viewers saying i'm concerned our inaction against isis will result in an attack on the american home lambed. you can send us your -- homeland, you can send us a tweet on c-spanwj. independent caller, good morning. >> caller: good morning. my question is i sit here and i watch both the democrats and the republicans in congress, and i would like to know why they're suing him for his overreach in executive powers, but i myself, i'm an older woman, i'm 72, i want the congress either to be called back in before any action is taken. i think they need to be on record. i want to know where they all stand regarding this. i don't want care that it's -- i don't care that it's, you know, an election year. i think they represent us, the people. and i want them to do their job. >> host: okay. >> caller: and i find that it's

almost so hypocritical to be, you know, suing him on one respect, but then when it's something so important as bombing in syria, going out after isil or isis or whatever you want to call 'em, i just want the congress to do it. i don't think this should be just left up to the president. i know that he has those abilities, but i don't think something for war. and -- [inaudible] run out president barack obama. i would really appreciate that. i voted for you. now i want you to make congress do their jobs. i want everyone to take a job. >> host: lou, thanks for the job. i'll stop you there. thanks very much for the call. ronald has this point, saying: stop sending our children to war to protect oil interests. let's go to albert next in chat coop chi, florida. good morning. >> caller: good morning, how you doing? >> host: fine, thank you. how are you today? >> caller: i'm all right. okay, my point is each when

president obama became -- even when president obama became president of the united states, you know, mitch mcconnell said that they were going to work hard to make sure he don't have thinking that he did for the american people on record. and so the reasons that the economy is the way it is now is because of the republican party has been working against them from day one. and i don't understand that. we supposed to be american citizens. you know? and, yeah, we got a right to run for office, but then we should respect the president. >> host: gladys is next from san antonio, democrats' line. good morning to you, gladys. >> caller: good morning. yes, i am responding to the lady who said that a democrat, african-americans have been kidnapped or maybe she didn't say it exactly like that, but that's what she meant by the democratic party, and that is not true. the truth of the matter is african-americans are intelligent people, and they're capable of making decisions.

i'm an african-american, and i analyze the issues. i'm very well informed. i know what's going on. i know what they do. i know the legislation they pass. what they're against and what they are for. that's why i vote for democrats. we are not ignorant, as she has indicated. that is just not so. but the republican party at one time might have been for african-americans, but they deserted us, and they don't care about our issues. all -- it seems like all they're concerned about is taking care of the wealthy. they don't even care about this nation. look at what they've done in congress. not working with the president and not caring about america. if you care about america, then what you ought to do is support issues that will take care of our nation. >> host: another caller from texas on the republican line, liberty, texas, cw. your thoughts on all of this. good morning. >> caller: yes, sir, thank you. the reason why i'm under the republican tent is because i'm a libertarian.

>> host: uh-huh. >> caller: and as far as the democrats, i feel that a rich democrat is a real democrat, but everyone else, they want you indigent. they are not the party of the working man anywhere. why? because they've been deindustrializing the nation longer than i am old to. these wars and rumors of wars, who's really doing it? they exploit our patriotism and keep us running and stampeding and scared and, oh, terrorism, terrorism. they could wipe them people out in 72 hours over there in that desert. they don't want to. it's the banks that's running the show, folks. it's the new world recorder. y'all need to -- i new world order. y'all need to wake up. >> host: okay. c.w. from liberty, texas. julia from basset, virginia, independent line. good morning. >> caller: good morning. >> host: go ahead, julia, you're on the air. >> caller: all right, yes. i would just like to say that as

far as president obama, when he first came into the office, everything was in a total chaos. i mean, people were on the street, there was so much homelessness, and it took him a while. but i must say that he worked hard trying to -- [inaudible] he had so many people working against him each when he would -- even when he would try to do something, he wouldn't get a whole lot of support from it. so is, you know, i hate to say this, because i'm like, you know, just trying to make him look bad, really i've never seen so much prejudice. i mean -- >> host: do you think anything will be different after the midterm elections in the final two years for the president? >> caller: do i think anything will be different? >> host: do you think it will be

different for the president. >> caller: well -- >> host: trying to get things done through congress? >> caller: well, i really hope so because, you know, that's why i'm independent. i'm neither republican, i'm not democratic, i am for what is right. >> host: thanks for the call. from the "wall street journal" this morning, karl rove writing about the midterm elections, the piece is titled "countdown to kicking out harry reid." one of the points with ten weeks to the election, republican candidates must show voters their governing priorities. next call is jeff from north carolina on the republican line. good morning. >> caller: jeff? yes, this is jeff. i've got three things to comment on. thanks for this television show. but the first thing i want to say is this: back in 2008 when barack obama, it was made public he attended a church that celebrated 9/11.

now, if that church and that happened to be white, there is no way a white man in a church celebrating 9/11 would have been elected. he got elected regardless of that. his racist views on trayvon martin, on this michael brown thing as is installing eric holder who is completely a racist person. for them to be, for president obama to be so racist publicly should not be a surprise to the rest of america. now, when it comes to the muslim issue, he has sided with muslims on every instance. and i'm talking radical muslims. unfortunately, a muslim can say he's peaceful, yet parts of the muslim faith would like to cut off the heads of americans.

>> host: okay. jeff from north carolina. we'll go next to gwen in birmingham, alabama. good morning, gwen. >> caller: good morning, steve. how are you? >> host: fine, thank you. >> caller: you know what? sometimes it's just so hard to follow up with some things that people say, because first of all, steve, this is america. we are all in this together. the terrorists don't care who they kill. when they came over here and happened 9/11, it was not singled out you're black, you're caucasian, you're hispanic, you're asian, you're an arab-american, it was we all got killed, a race of people on 9/11. i mean, i'm going to get away from that. but as far as mitt romney running for president again, i really don't think so because you know what's going to be in people's head? those 47% statements that he made. that's going to always stick with people. it's when he made that statement about the 47%.

and i don't think, i just really don't think that he can even get past that. there's something about a person when they run for president, you just know. and he just don't even seem the type. thank you, have a great day. >> host: a poll from iowa, a deadlock is the headline in "usa today," bruce braley challenging republican candidate joni ernst, and a survey showing the race is dead even. next is brett, independent line here in washington d.c. open phones on this thursday morning. >> caller: hey, steve, you, josh, pedro and greta have been doing a great job, especially with john last weekend. and i think a lot of people would be doing better if they thought of themselves as a world civilian. with all the interests of the world trying to gain every

advantage they can all over the world, maybe we could get along better here, because it seem like so many positions of the people calling, the lady from florida had a point, she said walking black. and i misheard her because of the line, and i would have said mocking because some talk show hosts don't, they'll run recordings of people calling c-span, and i've never once heard anyone but an african-american being recorded on the rush limbaugh show. now, as far as mitt romney, i'm a little phobic, so the -- klaus phober, so the two words car elevator scare me. [laughter] the other thing that i called about is the thing you mentioned about closing the government because of president obama's immigration problem, that he might do executive action on. and real quick my only comment is that all the people, liberals and conservatives and the media

after the people showed up at the border, you know, the maybe 20% kids said i we've got to secure the border first. yeah, that's great. but i thought this -- [inaudible] about the no-fly list that they say some terrorists had passports. maybe one from michigan, the guy who -- [inaudible] the reporter who had his head, you know, who was murdered overseas. well, the no-fly list, wouldn't it be great if we thought about that as an unsecure border? if you have a passport for america, it's the same as having a visa that you've overstayed on. you can be be on the no-fly list and not be able to go past our borders. but if you're already here ask your visa's expired, you're one of at least 5-10 billion people, and as long as you're working, immigration and customs enforcement won't invade your place of business and take you and put you on an airplane. the best thing to do is have a

biometric card that all those visas are attached to so if you're working, people can find you. if we really don't have room for you here and we would rather have our citizens have the jobs. >> host: i'll send the compliments to the rest of the team at c-span. mitt romney's comments on the hugh hewitt program, business insider web site, during the interview romney said his experience running a national campaign would likely make him a stronger candidate in 2016 and baseically saying circumstances could change but, again, reiterating that he is not running at least at the moment, but fueling speculation on a potential 2016 bid. and this headline from inside the washington times. the president eyes a global climate deal without congress. >> here's what's ahead today on c-span2. next, a hearing looks at military retirement benefits. then, a congressional committee on postal service oversight.

and later, another hearing, this one on chronic illnesses. >> here's a look at some of our prime time programming tonight. on c-span2, more booktv. tonight's focus is the book industry. we visited a number of book fairs, and there's a panel discussing the future of brick and mortar bookstores. and be on c-span3, it's american history tv. our theme is music in history. >> join us later tonight on c-span for a special look at ethnic and racial innuendos in modern political campaigns. speakers include former florida representative lincoln diaz balart at florida international university law professor george knox. here's a preview.

>> clever people know how to touch the hearts and minds of others by the language and choice of words that they use. as a matter of fact, it's called dog whistling. dog whistling is a popular term in politics now that essentially means if you know anything about dog whistles, the pitch of it is beyond the capacity of human beings to hear, but the dogs can hear it. all right? and so it is with innuendo. the hidden meaning of it is so subtle that only those people that have a connection with it will be able to recognize it. and that is both the beauty and the danger of what we're talking about. >> that was a short part of our program on ethnic and racial innuendo in modern political campaigns. you can see all of that tonight at nine eastern on our companion network, c-span. >> c-span2, providing live

coverage of the u.s. senate floor proceedings and key public policy events. and every weekend, booktv. now for 15 years the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. c-span2, created by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> now, a hearing on recent changes to military retirement benefits. the senate armed services committee examined a provision that was part of a biartisan budget agreement -- bipartisan budget agreement which reduced colas for working age military retirees. congress voted later in the year to repeal that cola cut. here's how they came to that decision. it's two hours, 15 minutes. [inaudible conversations]