what the you remember of ted stephens, that senator? and is jeremy rockefeller still in the senate? >> jerry rockefeller is still in the senate. what do i remember of ted stevens? that he was a terrific senator, an honest man. did a lot for his state alaska and did a lot for america. and when he was being persecuted, which is what was happening, not prosecuted, i urge the attorney general to take a look at the case because i followed it very closely. i got the documents, took a look at them, and thought the case was being handled improperly. and as i mentioned earlier, i used to be the district attorney of philadelphia. so i've obviously had a lot of experience in that field. when eric holder was up for confirmation and i was the

ranking republican, and i had some questions for eric holder about some of the things he had done when he was deputy attorney general and he came in to see me. and we had a long talk, and i ultimately supported him. i got an agreement from eric holder that he would take a fresh review of the ted stevens case. i couldn't get the republican attorney general to do that, but eric holder to review it and look at what has happened. they have found that there was terrible concealing of evidence that would have exculpated, would have exonerated, would have let stevens go. they hid the evidence. the result was he was convicted. he lost the election that he lost his life in a plane crash. now the investigation has come forward to show that you can

reenter the department of justice, and all the department of justice has done is to transfer those two people. and there is a demand being made that is in the morning newspaper so that that isn't sufficient. a number of senators are standing up and raising hell about it, and justifiably so. >> here is a tweet here, senator. mr. specter, you waited too late to tell what's happened in the gop with your book. what is the inner thinking of the gop special interest with norquist, grover norquist? are republicans scared? do you talk to your former colleagues about this? do you think republicans are scared? >> well, grover norquist has exerted a lot of influence because he has gotten pledges from many people not to raise taxes. and he is very weighty. and when you talk about raising taxes, that's very unpopular politically. so he's had a lot of influence with the congress. >> do you remember being scared of grover norquist when you were running for reelection?

>> no, i don't remember being scared of grover norquist or anybody. >> steve, an independent in gaston, florida. go. you're up next. >> caller: yes, hello, greta. >> morning. >> caller: and senator spector. >> hello. >> caller: a pleasure talking with you. mitt romney accused rick santorum in one of his debates of supporting you which led to the obamacare. that was one thing that i wanted you to address. but most importantly, ten years ago i probably would have been a tea partier, you know, because i was the independent in the republican party that didn't want all the spending, especially in iraq. and now i think it's hypocritical of tea partiers to come out because there is a democratic president and come out and all of the sudden play this hard line, this debt game. we're not going to raise the debt when the republicans did it all along. and i was just wondering what

you thought of that. and then the last thing was the word rhino, republican in name only. i've been called that for the last ten years. and now i'm just going to vote democrat. and if the republicans don't want me, you know where they can go. but thank you all, and have a great day. >> well, you have been called rino, republican in name only for ten years. it happened to me for 30 years. and i came pretty much the same conclusion you have if the republicans -- you say the republicans don't want you. well, the republicans and i developed as i call it irreconcilable differences. and my votes characteristically have been more independent than the party line. i think john kennedy was right when he said sometimes the party asks too much. >> do you regret switching parties and running as a

democrat? >> which time, greta? >> the most recent time. >> no, i don't regret it. let me give you just 30 seconds of background. i inherited my politics from my parents. both of them were immigrants. tough times in the depression. franklin roosevelt was the hero. i was an assistant d.a. in philadelphia, won some big cases. put some tough union racketeers in jail. some other big cases. and i wanted to run for district attorney. and i went to see the chairman of the democratic party, and he said we don't want a young tom dewey in the d.a.'s office. most probably don't remember tom dewey. he was a tough d.a. in the '30s. they didn't want a tough, honest d.a. >> and he ran for president as well? >> yeah, he was governor of new york and ran for president twice. the republicans came to me, and

they hadn't won an election in a very long time. and they offered me the nomination, which wasn't worth very much, but i accepted it and ran a vigorous campaign and pulled a big upset. i was elected. i kept my registration as a democrat, no strings attached. when i was elected as a republican, philadelphia is a one-party town, a lot of corruption in the democratic organization. so i became a republican in order to try to bring back a two-party system. and i've been comfortable as a republican. i agree with the republican philosophy on jobs, on low taxes, on strong national defense. i support the death penalty, for example. but on many items i do not. i led the fight for national institute of health funding. and these earmarks are not bad if the direction is for something which is useful.

so my role in the senate was pretty much independent. i opposed. the republicans got very mad at me. we're having a 25-year retrospective next month on bourque, and i'm going to be speaking there. so when i voted for the stimulus, and irreconcilable differences, i made the switch. and i have no regrets. >> all right. debbie, a democrat in kansas city, missouri. go ahead. >> caller: yes, senator specter. >> hello, debbie. >> caller: hi. i have a question. there is a bill in the republican house i believe that says that everybody should be paying taxes across the board. that means even people on welfare should be paying something. and i can't see why our country cannot allow every single person whether if it's small, you pay a tax. and if you're on relief, you would still pay a tax across the

board. everybody has a stake in the game. i'm on limited funds because i work part-time. but i still file income tax every single year. and i file on what i make. i don't see why people on relief can't do the same thing. if you're on some kind of assistance, at least you've got a stake in the game about your rights as a citizen of this country. if you don't file income tax, you do not have -- i believe, a stake in the game. >> okay, debbie. >> well, debbie, i don't agree with you. i think people should pay the fair amount of taxes, but if a person is on relief, the system, the government has made a decision that people will get a certain amount of money from the government on welfare. and it is not really very much

money. it's barely enough to survive on. and that's a very close question. so i would not make a decision to give people a certain amount of money to live on and then take part of it back. but your general principle about fairness i think is right. and i've addressed that earlier in the program with respect to taxing the 1%. my disagreement with president obama on extending the tax cuts for the very wealthy. >> richton, new jersey, walter, an independent. good morning. >> caller: good morning, senator specter. how you doing? >> good. >> caller: i want to ask you, what do you think can be done to make local people like yourself and colin powell and republicans that hold a more moderate view? >> the answer to have an aroused, informed electorate.

let me tell you some of the details as to what happened to senator lisa murkowski in alaska. she was challenged by the tea party, and they beat her in a primary. and she decided to run as a write-in candidate. now that is unprecedented. strom thurmond did it in 1954 under very different circumstances. but in an unprecedented way, lisa murkowski won a write-in. now, do you know how hard it is to spell murkowski? if you write murkowski and you have ay instead of a i, they throw out your ballot. if you have a o instead of a u, they throw out your ballot. and she beat the system. which means that if you have an electorate which is informed and motivated, and that's what i'm trying to do with the book i

wrote, "life among the cannibals" to describe exactly what is happening in washington. i've had the unique perspective to be in both caucuses, both republican and democratic caucuses. and i tell the inside story as to what goes on. now after she won the write-in, the cannibals challenged her in court. and senator demint, whom i identified earlier advertised for lisa murkowski's opponent on his website to raise money to fight her in court. and they lost. but the lesson is that an aroused, informed electorate can beat the rascals on both sides. >> randy, a republican in river falls, wisconsin. >> caller: yes, good morning. >> morning. >> caller: senator specter. >> morning. >> caller: i have read your book, your first book when you had cancer. i've been a follower of yours

ever since. >> well thank you. >> caller: i would like to comment about the lady called in about the senate stuff. if bernie madoff had been in the senate, he would still be walking the streets. and if all the senators and congressmen were with insider trading, they would be in jail. i admire you. you're very fair on your judicial confirmations. i really enjoy listening to you. you brought out the best in everybody, and it was great. your first book that i read, it was great. but for you coming out with this book here that you got, the reason why you lost or changed because of your -- when you went to a democrat, you knew you were going to get beat in the republican primary in pennsylvania. you went to the democrat, you still got beat. i think it was on account of your vote of the stimulus and the health care bill. and if your look you have coming out now, with your title of it, it is missing one thing.

it should have a big teardrop underneath your title, senator specter. i still regard you and you're great. i thank you for your service. >> by the way, i like your question. i thought it was a terrific comment. thank you. thank you very much. thank you for the endorsement of the book. you can order it now, amazon.com. order it and you'll get it on the next tuesday when it's the official release date. we're promoting it pretty hard. we may have to have a second printing. so order it now if you want to get it. amazon.com. >> march 27th is when the book comes out. woodbridge, democratic caller, good morning. >> caller: good morning, senator specter. >> good morning. >> caller: i want your opinion, because i'm in my 60s. and i watch sometimes your colleagues. i'm a democrat, but there are many republicans who i may have disagreed with, but i always respected them. with the state of the republican

party now and towing the party line, they're all talking the same talking points. they're all saying the same thing. i look at some of your colleagues who have been in congress, in the senate for years, and they look like empty suits. they no longer have any independence. they no longer have any clear thoughts of their own. it's all talking points. and they look like they went from great lions to nothing. >> senator? >> couldn't agree with you more. you said it all. they follow the party line. there is a lot of wisdom in the senate. if the senators would only speak their minds, it would be such -- so much of a better system. when i joined the senate, i'm frequently asked a question, how has it changed. well, it's changed tremendously. when i joined the senate, you had mark hatfield of oregon and mack mathias of maryland, and

john chafee of rhode island. the republican caucus was filled and we crossed the aisle and talked. it was so much better. that's why i wrote this book. i wrote the book to tell the american people what happens in the american caucus, what happens in the democratic caucus. and it's very similar. the conversations are very similar, except the democrats are way off to the left, and the republicans are way off to the right. and most of america is in the center. and if the electorate is informed and motivated, coming back to senator murkowski, we can turn this country around. >> part of the budget debate is do we cut spending and raise taxes at the same time. this is a tweet from rick who wants to know, senator specter, why didn't the economy tank after president clinton raised taxes? >> why didn't the economy --

>> tank, after president clinton raised taxes. >> well, because of the economic cycle was with him. the raising of taxes was one factor, but there were a lot of other factors, the cyclical on the economy. the economy is very hard to control by external forces. it has a cycle and it just worked through that we went through a very productive cycle and a very strong economy. >> i want to get your thoughts on bob kerrey, returning to nebraska to run for the senate seat. this is the ap reporting today. the judge has ruled that the former senator will appear on nebraska's primary ballot in may. what are your thoughts on him? >> he is an outstanding man. i work with him very closely in the senate when i chaired the senate intelligence committee in

1995 and 1996. bob was the vice-chairman. i saw him recently. he has been away from nebraska for a while. but he is independent. he is smart, and an outstanding senator. >> let me go back to campaign 2012. do you think rick santorum can win the april 24th primary in pennsylvania? >> it's an open question. the last time he ran in pennsylvania, he got beaten very badly, 59-41. the people who knew him handed down that verdict. that's what the jury said. in the presidential issue, there is a lot of local pride. my hunch is that it won't be sufficient, that he will not win. the republican establishment is against him, not that that's necessarily significant. but the elected officials would be worried if he was on the ticket, he would hurt the race

for state attorney general. and the people who are running for house of representatives. so my hunch is that he will not win. but the local pride could turn that around. >> all right, joan, an independent in california. good morning, joan. >> caller: good morning. good morning, senator. >> good morning. >> caller: i have to praise you for a second. i'm a member of the parkinson's committee. >> oh, take your time. you don't have to do it in a second. >> caller: okay, great. well, your leadership in increasing federal support for parkinson's research rescued us from the biomedical stone age, and i will be grateful to you every day for the rest of my life. but i also have a question. your leadership in trying to increase understanding of translational research is just as important, or maybe more so, because we can have all the money in the world, but if it's all just been for basic research and never gets to the research

that delivers cures, it won't get us anywhere. i'm wondering what the status of that is now. >> well, first of all, thank you for your kind words. on the issue of increasing funding for parkinson's, i did take the lead as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee to raise annual funding from 12 to $30 billion. and then in the stimulus package, i offered the amendment which carried for $10 billion more. so there have been enormous advances made in parkinson's. i've gotten to know michael j. fox, who is a leading spokesman. but also tremendous advances in combatting cancer, heart disease, autism, really on all of the ailments. when you mentioned transitional, you're on a subject that most people don't know a whole lot about. i introduced legislation on that which would carry it from the

bench to bedside, from the bench so to speak in the laboratory to bedside to the patient. and my legislation was included in the affordable health care act known as obamacare, and substantial funds were appropriated there. so that is catching on. the problem is there is no champion now in the united states congress for nih or that funding. it takes at least a billion dollars a year extra in order just to tread water to maintain the status quo. and last year, not only didn't they add enough to just tread water, but it was cut by $318 million. and it is necessary for the american people. there are 110 million americans who were affected directly or indirectly by these maladies to

endure political pressure and get congress to when i had the sharp pencil of the subcommittee. >> on another topic, stella tweets in this. ask about fast and furious, do you think holder should resign over that. the fast and furious gun program, the supposedly selling of the guns to drug cartels in mexico that ended up in the loss of life. >> well, that ended up in a scandal and a misdirected and lack of supervision. the issue is whether it goes all the way to the attorney general himself. but terrible mistakes which have to be corrected. >> if it did good all the way to the attorney general, do you think he should step down, eric holder? >> no. it would depend upon the details of the facts. if he made a judgment knowing better, yes. if he was lax in supervising

somebody, he's got a lot to supervise. you can't really sit in a chair at a distance and make a decision about having him step down without knowing much more than i know. >> all right. wilmington, indiana. daniel, republican. >> caller: how are we doing, senator specter? good morning. >> hello. good morning. vote for dick lugar. [ laughter ] >> caller: you know, actually, you raise a good point there. i actually got a call from his office up in indianapolis a few days ago. what were you going to say, greta? >> daniel, are you planning to vote for senator lugar? >> caller: i am. well, i'm still kind of treading, you know, on the party line as senator specter has done very well over his career. and i commend you very much for that, you know. you've proven that bipartisanship is possible in this nation. and it opens up the system for all people to meet their leaders in the center.

but -- excuse me, i'm a part of the parkinson's community as well. >> take your time. >> yeah. say i will vote for senator lugar. i can't say yes right now. but i will most likely vote for him. i also called to ask you do you think that the war in afghanistan, do you think that the people in afghanistan are still facing a critical threat from the taliban, and do you think if we pull out in 2014, that their people will be successful in the fight for protecting domestic -- domestic -- domestic, you know, their domestic future. >> i think they are facing a threat. but there have been negotiations between the karzai government and the taliban. i was part of a congressional delegation which visited in afghanistan less than two years ago and met with president

karzai. and i think they can work it out themselves. it may well be that their chances to work it out are improved if the united states is not there. when we're there, it gets the taliban's backup. when we're there, there are incidents which occur like the recent killing of so many afghanistan civilians by a sergeant who simply broke under the strain of being sent back there so often so that our leaving may actually improve the chances for their working it out. there is another factor, and that is that we cannot be everywhere. we cannot be everywhere where there are feuding factions. that is happening all over the world. you can't get through the morning press without saying what is going on in so many, many places. we have to be where we have a

national interest, a national interest for the united states. and time is long past to be out of afghanistan. >> sarasota, florida, gary, democratic caller. >> caller: thank you, senator specter. you have done fantastic work over the years. >> thank you. >> caller: i was watching since many, many years all this political events. what i'm worried about is the best, the center core like a dole and you and senator simpson. everybody are just giving up. i wish that all the best of from this republican party and the democratic party get together, centrist, which are the majority

of this country, come together and form a union and come up again for america. bring america back. because america is divided on both end between super conservative and super liberals. >> senator specter? >> i agree. >> sharon, vermont, richard, a republican. >> caller: good morning. >> morning. >> caller: it seems to me that the biggest single issue facing our nation is our debt. and piled on top of the debt are the 50 to $100 trillion worth of unfunded liabilities. senator specter, you were part of that problem. the informed, aroused electorate deposed you. then you changed parties and you got beat again. i find it difficult to understand how you qualify for the high road here. the debt is going to terminate our nation.

they're spending my grandson's money. they're not spending my money anymore. >> all right. let's get a response. >> well, three times i voted for a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget so that the federal government would have to live within its means, just like the cities and states, and just like ordinary citizens. and in the senate, i worked very hard to eliminate fraud from my work on the judiciary committee, where we lose tremendous sums of money by fraudulent practices in medicare and medicaid and on department of defense contracts. i did support funding for items like the national institute of health on scientific research. i think money well spent. i did support funding for amtrak

to have a major transportation system to get people to and from work. i did support the philadelphia navy yard to bring jobs there in the deepening of the port on what are called earmarks. if you take a look at the earmarks that i supported, they were very well-founded. so that i fought against the debt, the deficit and the national debt. and my record shows it. >> on foreign affairs, here is the baltimore sun this morning headline. the u.n. security council backs a peace plan for syria. you write in your book about syria and iran, and you write how many times you spoke one-on-one with president obama and encouraged him to talk to syria and iran. do you think if he had done so, the situation there today would be different? >> well, it's pretty hard to change what president obama bashar assad has done. but i think it would have been worth a try.

i took a special interest in the mid east. i first went there in the 1984. i made 20 trips to syria. knew bashar assad's father. the only member to attend his funeral. i met the current president there. i believe that dialogue would have had a chance to succeed. i think dialogue would have had -- still has a chance to succeed in iran. i think the beating of the war drums without exhausting all of the sanctions and all of the diplomatic avenues is not smart. i think you have the israelis, ehud barak used to be prime minister, now defense minister. i think he is engaging with tough psychological warfare with the iranians when they