natural ability. i think in that sense -- i didn't go to the white house accordance dinner but i was asked to cover it for msnbc and talk about it. i tell you, the first one he did, he's woody allen and flip wilson combined. you were there, you were up there in the desk. it's so well done and he's so comfortable in it. he is better at that format than anyone i've ever seen. he's better than. he's got a second career. >> i'm going to go to isaiah and then to ally at the washington center. isaiah, you're first. >> hi. a few years ago on the rachel m

maddow show, you insisted that justice so tomayor was still there. do you still stand by those statements you made on the rachel maddow show? >> sure. justice sotomayor said several times that she got where she did at princeton, that she didn't have the grades to handle it. she got there through american hardwork who are viewing practically what i think is a disposition, really, to go after white folks in this country. i say in a sense white folks built this country in a sense that they were all folks at the constitutional convention.

all white medals are in a dead or do you understanded world war i, world war ii. but clearly enormous contributions in this country. i don't deny that for a second. 350 years of not taking responsibility. i don't deny that. >> let me go toally next. hi. i had a, presidential elections that are going to be coming up. as we know, the gop has many fractures t. and i just want to

do you think we're building our own demise from the gop. and failure is somehow going to aid the republican party inside. >> i don't believe the republican party is fractured. in 1968, the democratic party was at war with themselves. as i mentioned, i was in chicago, and those demonstrators in the streets and the demonstrators on campuses and many folks who were in the urban riots, they were democrats. and they were protesting against a deck i. so the dem kragt party was at war with himself. the republican party is not. .

some of the statements he made really do correspond with those of a moderate or liberal. they all got to cfk, even though they disagreed in their record. i think the republican party has an ability to win this election in november, and i am increasingly doubtful that any of the lead candidates can -- i think they can do it, but i'm getting more and more doubtful that they will do it. and i do because i think governor romney, whatever has been said for him, once he breaks out and you have the momentum and you're in the open, it's like broken field running. the goal field is ahead and people should rally around him. but the republican party is -- let

me put it this way. it's a conservative party and it is not reconciled yet in the nomination of mitt romney, becau because. >> he is not 101 with us. is he saying the right things? the catechism, it's a religious and ethnic bays flishing in its share of the population and different registrations. for example, california. richard nixon carried it to the computer six times. we lose it every time now, because the hiss boat is a

larger share. even followed individuals bp custome customer. >> ariel, did you have a question at the washington center? >> yes, i do. shifting back the nude ya after so much of president sees. now, do you think the more main street media moved to the left in the con vikz of albert hiss for being a soviet spy. >> you're very well read and i think they're exactly right. they never forgave him. nixon carried the attack, and there was so much rough by him.

. -- even when i was in st. louis, we would hear rumor of this where kennedy had all the girlfriends. my wife was in that. they all heard these stories and they simply covered up for kennedy, and kennedy's recklessness was astonishing. but they were all covered up. let's take kennedy and johnson. nothing richard nixon did, in my judgment, compares to what was done to dr. martin luther king when kennedy ordered his wire taps because of communist connection. but they got all this material on his personal behavior and personal life, which was very lurid and all the rest of it, and they sent it to the fbi who produced it and sent it to the white house, and the white house was trying to distribute it to the press -- they all knew that! all of them were democrats and

they all tried to cover up for their own administration. writing a bio? sdb that compare to the formal assassination. >> two seconds since. this is the famous "i am not a crook" briefing. let's watch. >> i want to say this to the television aud from public service. i have earned every scent, and that with all the rumors of public life, i welcome this kind of examination because people have to know whether or not their president is a crook. well, i'm not a crook. i've earned everything i've got.

>> a defining moment in this presidency. >> very moving moment. i did all his briefing books. we write the questions and things, and on the front of that briefing book on a little card for the president, he wrote, i am not a crook. so he rehearsed the line before going in. >> why did he say that? >> i don't know. he told me on the plane i really gave it to him and stuff, and yes, sir, mr. president. but it's very wounding to see. shelly and i worked for the president, he was like a father to us, and it was very wounding and very painful. we were down in kepingstain. but it was a very bad moment in his presidency. to kn he had the opportunity to do all the things in the second term to do what he wanted, the freedom to make history, and then to see it all, because of

the idiotic break-in, and frankly, the failure to -- it's understandable to act precisely. as the president of great britain said, you have to be ahead of your time and he's not a great butcher. >> the first time we had an appointed vice president become president, the bookend was richard's resignation. what was his mindset of that far day. >> it starts with the beginning of the week. we were up at camp david with. and we found out that nickson had said on the tape and

subsequent to that, things a are -- and we knew in the beginning of the week that we were finished. we said, the country isn't ready for nixon to resign, but if we drop this tape, they will see nixon has no choice but to resign. so we dropped the tape on monday. he was talking with barry goldwater and hugh scott and john rhodes, they all came up and persuaded him he had to leave. they were already working on the resignation speech, it was nonsense. it was horrible. who was i talking to just recently? i was with hague and he had sort of deputized me to go talk to the staff. some were bitter and angry, what

are we quitting for, this is awful. he sent me over to talk to trisha, julie and d.d. in the sun room, explain to them that the old man had to go. very rough. >> let me turn to bob lichter at george mason university. any final thoughts or questions, bob? >> pat, you have been in politics as a commentator, communicator, candidate, just about everything, and i wondered if you have any single principle you would give to somebody running for high office that could structure the way you try to communicate with the electorate. >> i don't know if you can. i don't know if you can. we're all different. and as we talked about president obama and president nixon and ronald reagan, how different reagan and nixon were in terms

of communication. and what their strengths were. nixon loved the press conferences, and we would be out there, and they would be -- >> he was a lawyer. that was his training. >> also he's in the arena and the dogs start yelling. people loved it. they were like, let's get a beer and watch him go up against these folks. when he was on, he was outstanding. after each one of them, he would go up five points. and of course he would have his major speeches. but reagan, you know, reagan's sport was the anecdote, story and come on with mes that he had, it's a gift from god. he's a kid. everybody likes ronald reagan. so those skills he has, and i don't know what to tell him. i'm a print head.

as you say, you come out of journalism and people say, pat seems so pleasant on tv, but i read these columns and they're so different. and i said, go down to the basement and the beast comes out. they were all different. every political figure has different strengths and different weaknesses, and some folks are -- but nowadays because of this television, i wonder ike ever could have gotten elected. i think he's a fine president for this country, but i wonder if a man like that who was inarticulate, and robert taft certainly couldn't. robert taft and dwight eisenhower, i think if you got some younger -- that's jack kennedy. jack kennedy was tailor-made for the new age he came into.

handsome, charming. he had all those skills. let me tell you when i was a journalism student, we had field observation week, and it was a week that john glenn went around the world. they took us over -- marvin aerosmith took me to the state department where kennedy had his press conferences in that room. this guy gets up from the washington daily news. he said, washington daily news, mr. president. when john glenn comes to town, they urged there be a holiday for all the school kids in d.c. kennedy looked down and said, this administration has always followed the policy of the washington daily news. it was just that spon taneity ad humor that even if you disagreed with him, which i did, made me think, the democrats really have something here. >> later we'll be talking about debates. richard nixon did not debate in 1968, nor did he in 1972. why?

>> i think all of us didn't think he ought to debate. and neither did he. and we used the statement that we were not going to get into a debate with governor wallace. so we're not going to debate. you didn't see lyndon johnson debate, did you? why should he debate goldwater, he's beating him by 20, 30, 40 points. why would you debate somebody you're beating by 40 points? humphrey -- let me tell you a short story. we took al smith to dinner -- >> explain the al smith dinner. >> the al smith dinner is a political dinner in new york. it's hosted by the archbishop of new york and all the cardinals come and the candidates come, and kennedy did a great job in 1960. he stole the show. nixon. nixon gave a speech, and it was

okay. i would give it a b. but he wasn't really, and humphrey got up and he was the funniest thing you have ever seen. he went up for seven minutes and he never sat down. and he went on and on and on. lost thet his humor was terrifi. that's what they like. and kennedy was wonderful at that. my father told me not to buyd s great at that, and he was much better than nixon was, and humphrey did a great job but he lost the night because of that. this is the gentleman -- let me give you some -- you mentioned on speeches. i'll say this. jack kennedy said if you've talked for 20 minutes and you haven't convinced the audience, you're not going to, and you start losing them after 20 minutes. make it brief if you'-- if you'g to speak to an audience, make understandable language, and

also use anecdo eecdotes and st to the degree you can. in close, make it uplifting, make it positive. go for the 20 minutes. that's what i think is best. and if you want to have q and a with a friendly audience, that's fine, but do not talk with an audience for 45 minutes. even when i'm speaking now, they say, pat, can you speak for 45 minutes and take questions? yeah, i'll do that. after 25 minutes, you close it down for questions, but they don't want it to go that long. the attention span goes. >> let's bring it back to where we began, 1968. for those of you now looking through history books, you lived through that year. why is it important in american politics? >> i think the 1960s, and '68 is the crowning year, but the '60s were the decades that changed america forever. you had the civil rights

revolution, you had the anti-war movement, you had the feminist movement, you had all of the -- even the drug culture, all these things came in. i think the baby boomer generation is huge, it's probably twice as big as any generation we ever had, and i think the country went through a real social, moral, cultural revolution that divided it, i think, forever. now, let me say this. i see where santorum mentioned the french revolution. it wasn't quite as violent. we don't have the guillotine yet, but politically, morally, there was division in this country which never closed. frankly, in my new book which was very pessimistic, i don't think they're going to close. i think that western civilization has really -- western civilization, i think it's an indian summer western civilization. if you take a look not only at

the economic crisis, everybody is into the economic crisis, but socially, morally, politically, i don't see how we ever really come together the way we were in 1960 as one nation and one people under both -- if you take that period, eisenhower, from '52 -- the truman period was horrible in a lot of ways, everybody was at each other's throats over communism. you take eisenhower and kennedy, those two presidents put together was an era of good feeling and unity and strength in this country that i don't think we're ever going to see again. we had something of that in the reagan decade, i think, and maybe along with clinton following that. but since then, i'm a deeply pessimistic individual about the future of the civilization country. >> author, columnist, campaign

strategist, pat buchanan. on behalf of the students at the washington sector and george mason university, we end with a round of applause to thank you for participating in this class. >> thank you. [ applause ] live, saturday, on american history tv on cspan-3. five civil war historians make their case for 1862's person of the year. the all-day forum from the museum of the confederacy and the library in richmond ends the day with an audio vote. cspan-3 can join the discussion with tweets. starting at 9:30 a.m. eastern on cspan-3. >> we got started because there are a lot of conservatives thinking that work across issues. but the forecast had been no single progressive organization, progressive thinking that works on economic policy, domestic policy, national security. >> neera tanden, at the center

for american progress, on the mission of the washington-based think tank. >> we think there is often an idealogy behind particular arguments made in washington with very little facts behind them, and part of our job is to, you know, make the arguments and the factual arguments and the evidence-based arguments behind our own views. i do think that sometimes when the facts don't argue for our position, we reexamine those positions because we fundamentally believe the most important thing is to be right about what your views are. >> a look at the center for american progress sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on cspan's q and a. coming up this afternoon on cspan-3. state of the state address is the live coverage this weekend on the governor association winter meeting. up next, california governor jerry brown. at 6:40, wisconsin governor scott walker is followed by

illinois governor pat quinn. that's ahead here on cspan-3. this weekend watch our live coverage of the national governors association 2012 winter meeting being held here in washington, d.c. our coverage gets under way at 10:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow with an opening news conference. later in the day, a couple of breakout sessions looking at state economies. and our coverage continues on sunday with a look at education and childhood hunger as well as homeland security and the role of the national guard. live coverage of the annual national governors association winter meeting this weekend on cspan. >> california governor jerry brown recently delivered his state of the state address outlining his goals for education. he previously served as the governor of california from 1975 to 1983. his speech runs about 20

minutes. [ applause ] >> fellow dignitaries and fellow citizens. as required by the state constitution, i'm reporting to you this morning on the condition of our state. before i do, i just want to make one notation. i notice that connie and mr. huff put out their critique of my speech 24 hours ago. now, i'll let you in on a little secret. my speech wasn't finished 24 hours ago. and i do want to say i didn't know that you were psychics and that you possessed the powers of pre-cognition and clairvoyance. after the speech, i want to check with you on some stock

tips. [ applause ] >> we could use them, especially in this state. put as simply as i can, california is on the mend. last year we were looking at a structural deficit of 20 billion. it was a real mess. but you rose to the occasion, and together we shrunk state government, reduced our borrowing costs and transferred key functions to local government closer to the people. the result is a problem one-fourth of what we confronted last year. [ applause ] >> my goal then was to balance budget cuts with a temporary extension of existing taxes if the voters approved. you made the reductions and some very difficult decisions. but the four republican votes needed to put the tax measure on the ballot were not there, so

we're left with unfinished business, closing the remaining gap. again, i propose cuts and temporary taxes. neither is popular but both must be done. in a world still reeling from the collapse of the financial system, it makes no sense to spend more than we have. the financial downgrading of the united states as well as its several governments in europe should be warning enough. it is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and digging ourselves into a deep financial hole to do good is a bad idea. in this time of uncertainty, prudence and paying down debt is the best policy. for my part, i'm determined to press ahead with substantial budget cuts and my tax initiative. the cuts are not ones i like, but the situation demands them. as for the initiative, it's fair, it's temporary, and it's half of what people were paying

in 2010. and it will protect our schools and guarantee in the constitution funding for the public safety programs we transferred to local government. with enough time, we can and should devise more permanent tax reform. but for now, we should finish the job with bringing spending in line with revenues. putting our fiscal house in order is good stewardship and helps regain the trust of the people and also builds confidence in california as a place to invest and to realize one's dreams. contrary to those critics who fantasize that california is a failed state, i see unspent potential, an incredible opportunity. every decade since the '60s, the journalists write stories of impending decline on our economy, our culture and our politics. yes, it's fair to say that california is turbulent, less

predictable, and, well, different. yet look at the facts. after the mortgage bubble burst in 2007, california lost a million jobs, much of it driven by the overleveraged construction industry and its financial partners in the underregulated mortgage industry. the result is a recovery far slower than after the previous six national recessions. but now we're coming back. in 2011, california personal income grew by almost 100 billion and 230,000 jobs were created, a rate much higher than the nation as a whole. contrary to those decliners who sit in texas and bemoan our woes, california is still the land of dreams and the dream act. [ applause ]

>> california is a place where apple, intel, hewlett-packard, oracle, qualcomm, twitter, facebook and countless other companies all began. it has more nobel laureates and capital investors than any other state. in the first three months of last year, it rose to 52%. there is more than -- that is more than four times greater than massachusetts. as for new patents, california invent ors were awarded four times as many as the inventors from the next state, new york. california has problems, but rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated. [ applause ] >> the year 2012 presents plenty