been. i cannot imagine covering a be any other way. >> people are anxious to hear about some of the other project she might be working on. can you talk about the project your now working on in louisiana and how that is coming along? >> we are filling -- filming a show about new orleans after the storm. it is really on the wire with a soundtrack. it is not a crime show. is about people trying to find their way home and reconstitute their lives in a city that was very ill treated in the wake of the storm. in all the years that have followed, the national response to what new orleans has gone through is an embarrassment. the first season will air in 2010. >> on h.b.o.? >> yeah, on h.b. o. potty mouth can't write for anything else but h.b. o.

[laughter] >> doesn't know how to write dialogue that his parents can listen to. >> it's going to be on a and e without the language. >> it may be. if you're on an airline flight and something come just turn in the headphones. it won't make any sense. >> especially with the children. did i read that one of the intentions of you working it that subject matter is youd to -- you wanted to use katrina as making analogy with the federal government's response in writing ahead a a financial crisis? >> that sounds so die deck tick as to be a room clearer. >> no, true or no? >> i think there's an analogy to be made. but if any character were to say anything that directly it would be cut out of the script. but it is true. new orleans was hit with a category 2, a high category 2, not even a category 3 hurricane. the hurricane, if you tell people from new orleans that

their city was drowned by a hurricane, they'll get very angry with you and rightly so. their city was drowned by the corps of engineers and by shoddy workmanship and stuff that wasn't built to code and bad decisions in terms of transportation policy. and the ineffectiveness of congress in terms of dealing with mississippi river issues. you know, this is our country. and you compare it to the dump who have managed to keep most of their country out of the north sea for generations, it's humiliating. and if you think about those canal walls, how badly they were built, how much corruption went into the poor maintenance of things the poor planning, and you think about the s.e.c. and all of the attendant regulation that wasn't there so that you couldn't sell crap and call it gold on wall street, you know,

selling crap and calling it gold eventually comes home. and it came home to new orleans about four years before it came home to the rest of the country in a very literal way. not in a metaphor cal, financial way. so in a way, new orleans, what i really admire about people there is they're trying to find their way home. because it is one of the great places in america culturally. and they're trying to find their way back. and they're doing it on their own. and there's been a real loss -- if you look at everything from the way the road home money was administered to the way fema behaved, you know, not just in the immediate aftermath but in the months and years since, and now in terms of the state and local government and what they're doing in terms of everything from zoning issues to the hospitals, that city is enduring and trying to find its way home on its own, and without illusion anymore about what the country is, how hollow america actually is when it comes to

certain things. and i find that to be interesting and admirable. it's kind of what i want to pay attention to now. because i think kind of all in that boat. a lot of the things that we thought -- we believed were -- a lot of the things that we believed were there to keep certain parameters and certain standards inherent in everything systemic in our lives really weren't there. and they have been eviscerated over the course of decades. and so now we're where we're at. and new orleans is looking at us now i think a little bit like, what did you expect? we've been there. >> if you'll just allow me for a moment. we're almost out of time. but before asking the last question, for those of you who have been here before, you know the routine. we have a couple of important marts to take care of. upcoming speakers, on

june 11th general james conway, the commandant of the u.s. marines corps will be here. on june 25th, stan cass ton, president of the washington nationals will be here. i don't know if they're going to put chicken wire in front but we'll see what happens. june 26th. robert herz chairman of the financial accounting standards board will address -- financial markets. secondly if you wouldn't mind just coming up here as is our tradition we'd like to present you with the traditional m.p.c. cough -- n.p.c. coffee mug. >> thank you very much. >> one final question. that is a simple one. to what newspapers do you currently subscribe? [laughter] >> i subscribe to the "new york times." and again, it's delivered in baltimore for about the same price as the "baltimore sun." but it still has some news in it. so what are you going to do? >> that's great. well, let's offer a great round of applause for david simon. thank you. [applause]

i'd like to thank you all for coming today or listening at home. i'd like to thank national press club members -- for helping to organize today's lunch and thanks to the n.p.c. library. the video archive of the luncheon is provided by the press club's broadcast operations center. our events are available for free download on itunes as well on the web site. and our members may purchase transcripts, audio and videotapes by calling 202--- 622-7598 or archives at press.org. for more information about the press club you can go to the web site, www.press.org. that's it for today. thank you so much. adjourned. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> tomorrow, michael ettlinger

and john lott discuss the obama administration spending policy on health care, car makers, and the financial system. nathan guttman looks at u.s.- israel relations, and the latest on the iranian elections. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. this week on "newsmakers," some of the issues on the senate's agenda, including health care and preparing for the confirmation hearings for a sonia sotomayor. >> there was a lot of reading involved, and i was reading troubling things about her views toward international law, saying you can interpret the united states constitution by looking to see what public opinion is in europe.

public opinion in europe has nothing whatsoever to do with what our constitution means. if that is really her point of view, that is very troubling. i could not vote for a judge who believed that. she set it on several occasions. i am going to have to ask for, what do you mean by that? when people talk about a filibuster, republicans probably can filibuster this nomination on our own. they are not enough of us. none of us are talking about a filibuster. it is all in response to questions from the media. we are not proposing this. as you point out, it would be very difficult for us to pull off unless the democrats joined in. >> sunday at 10:00 p.m. at 6:00 eastern on c-span. >> up next, list cheney, the daughter of vice-president dick cheney on the future of the republican party.

this portion is from a conference here in washington. it is a little over 30 minutes. >> each year at this seminar, we present our conservative leadership award to one woman who has shown exceptional leadership and commitment to promoting a conservative values. we are so honored this year to present the award to elizabeth cheney, who goes by liz. she is one of the very few leaders in this country who is not afraid to stand up to the obama administration on critical issues like a national security. mrs. cheney is an attorney and a specialist in u.s. release policy, and she recently served as principal deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs. in this capacity she was the second ranking state department official responsible for u.s. policy in the middle east.

she practiced law in the area of international project finance for three years and then served on assignment with the international finance corporation where she provided legal advisor on investments in the middle east and central asia. from 1989 to 1993, she served at the department of state at the agency for international development. during the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, she managed vice presidential debate preparations and served as a national service for the bush-cheney campaign. she is currently collaborating with the father, vice president cheney, on his memoirs, covering four years of his career in washington. she earned her law degree from the university of chicago and her bachelor's degree from colorado college. like our organizations namesake, clare boothe luce, ms. cheney is a very accomplished woman an expert in the area of foreign affairs and especially middle eastern affairs. she has one other important role

on a resume. she is also a wife and mother of five children, one of whom is with us today. liz cheney has all the qualities that make great conservative women. by standing so firmly, you inspire all conservatives to be more courageous and feisty and not to back off when we know we are right, but it might be easier to back down. many liberals do all they can to silence women like her. at the clare boothe luce policy institute, we are eager to honor leaders like liz chaney. so we want to recognize her today. she is a leader, like clare boothe luce, beautiful, persuasive, and principal. for standing up and defending all that makes our nation unique and special, we would like to give you this special award, the 2009 leadership award with are

grateful thanks. [applause] >> thank you very much, michelle. it is a real honor for me to be here and a thrill to see so many young people in the audience today. i did bring my daughter, elizabeth, with me. we believe in the cheyne family that you can never start politics or fly-fishing too early. i am proud to say that elizabeth is accomplished at both pursuits. she also is here today because she got to leave school early. it really is very special for me to be honored by the clare boothe luce policy in this to to -- policy institute.

there is nothing more important that any group can do than to mentor young people, and particularly focusing on young women. as michaud mentioned, i have worked for the past many years on issues relating to the middle east and have had a chance to spend time with young women in the middle east. i am not -- i always come away so inspired by their dedication and commitment to change their societies, to change the future, and to bring their nations into the 21st century. i think you all in this room today have the same potential to be the leaders of the future. i cannot tell you what an honor it is for me to be your review. i think it has become fashionable in some quarters to talk about the demise of conservatism. if you ask some votes, they would say the movement is near death. one of the things i wanted to do today with all of you is tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. you as a young conservative

leaders really are living in a moment of tremendous import for the movement and also for the nation. you will have the opportunity over the coming years to make a real difference, and i know the you will grab at that opportunity. in the first few months of president obama's presidency, we have learned much. many of us hope as he was elected and sworn in that he would be a moderate. we have learned in the past several months that he in fact will not govern from the center. we have also learned, as we have seen on his last two foreign trips, he is not a strong defender of american exception listen. he believe there is a moral equivalence in many areas of foreign policy including between the united states and iran. he wants to expand the federal government so that it permeates every nook and cranny of our daily lives. he will raise our taxes. he thinks bureaucrats ought to choose our doctors and prescribe our medical care.

i believe the american people will quickly grow weary of a set of policies that are, to paraphrase obama, so contrary to american ideals. i believe that we as conservatives have an obligation to make sure the administration is held accountable when it takes us down a dangerous path. i want to talk for just a moment about two areas in particular where we have seen some troubling developments. those are in the areas of foreign policy and national security. in his first days in office, as i know you all follow on the use, president obama announced that he would close the detention facility at guantanamo bay where we are holding hard and terrorists. he suggested a number of those terrorists will be brought to the united states. his director of national intelligence went so far as to say a number of them would have to be replaced -- released in the united states and we would have to use taxpayer dollars to put together a welfare program,

a terrorist reentry program. then president obama released documents over the objection of his own cia director and four former cia directors that detailed the specific techniques that we use in our enhanced interrogation program to get information from terrorists. next he suggested that he was open to the prosecution of bush administration officials who had been bought in the program. finally, he refused to release any information about the attacks that were prevent or the lives that were saved because of the program. he praised the effectiveness of the program and the fact that the terrorist attacks had been prevented, but his white house edited out that reference in the memo before the release it to the public. today, many weeks later, the president still will not let you, the american people, see the documents that show how

effective this program was. last week, in this very building, the house intelligence committee took up this issue. according to news reports, the hill newspaper was one example, following a detailed briefing on the enhanced interrogation program, republican members said they were brief that the program had worked and terrorist attacks were prevented because of it. democrats on the committee again moved to cover up the information and prevent the american people from hearing the truth. why don't want us to know the truth? while the release the memos? i think it is because they know the american people believe that enhanced interrogation is justified to save american lives. if the american people get to see the evidence that this program did save lives and prevent attacks, they will want to know how the president could have so cavalierly release the

details of the program publicly. they will ask how can he justify putting that information into the hands of terrorists? president obama says, and he said in his speech at the national archives, that he did not harm national security by releasing this information. he asserts that he will never again use these techniques. really, never? he needs to be asked directly, mr. president, in a ticking time bomb scenario with american lives at stake, are you really unwilling to subject a terrorist attack treatment if it would get information that would prevent an attack on our homeland? is it really a position that you would sacrifice american lives rather than use legal methods that we know work to get information that can save those lives? i think the american people deserve to know the answer to that question. instead, the president has taken to accusing us of abandoning our values, are as he said in egypt, the fear and anger that was caused by 9/11

lead us to act contrary to american ideals. it is a line that got him applause and cairo, but it was a betrayal, in my opinion, when he said it there and when he says it here. it is a betrayal of the brave men and women who have kept us save since 9/11. they deserve our gratitude and our thanks. they do not deserve to be libeled by the president of the united states on foreign soil. in the same speech, we saw the president's approach to foreign policy. this has become familiar in the opening months of his administration. faced with a difficult issue, rather than take a stand, president obama has attempted to set himself above the debate, to see merit in both sides of the argument, and to act as a moderator or mediator trying to find common ground. on the issue of iran, for example, the president apologized for america's role in supporting the coup over 50 years ago.

then he said iran has also done bad things, such as hostage- taking and violence against u.s. stroktroops. he described the horrors of the holocaust, the murder of 6 million jews, and then said, on the other hand, it is undeniable that the palestinians have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. all i fully understand there are two different narrative's involved in the peace process, there is no justification for suggesting an equivalence between genocide and dislocation. the president went on to say that america could never tolerate violence by extremists. but then he said we had altered our principles in response to that violence. suggesting in essence that our response was as great a problem for america as were the attacks. this is not just a study in rhetoric. these are not just words. this is a failure to understand the damage that is done to america when an american

president repeats the false charges of our critics. in a widely viewed video interview last week, and i recommend this if you have not seen it, evan thomas, senior "newsweek editor and renowned historian was talking about obama's world role vs. president reagan's world role. evan thomas said this. "reagan was all about america, and you talk about it. obama is, we are above that now. we are not just parochial, chauvinistic, or provincial. we stand for something. i mean, in a way, obama a standing above the country and above the world. he is sort of god." we will come back to the god part in just a minute. it is difficult to stead -- said it aside. let's look at the rest of what he said. he said president obama is standing above our country, above the world.

he is telling us the step that president reagan did to defend the country, no matter where he went, is provincial, parochial, and chauvinistic. we are better and more sophisticated than that, he seems to think. if this was just "newsweek" making this point, we get all ignore it. but listen to this line from obama's on speech last week. he said any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. in other words, if we want to succeed, we have to stop believing and acting as though america is in fact the best nation on earth. compromise is the new currency, including on issues that are critical to our national interest. president obama will stand above it all because he represents not just american interests but global interests. but here is the truth. effective diplomacy is not about triangulation. the president is not an

international arbitrator. the purpose of diplomacy is not to be liked, and the purpose of foreign policy is not to get applause in foreign capitals. the purpose of having a commander in chief and of pursuing america's national security policy is to defend america's interests aggressively, effectively, and unapologetically. if the american president does not do this, then who will? one man who did do this was ronald reagan. i want you to listen to this contrast, because it is interesting. listen to the language. in 1987, 22 years ago this week, president reagan went to berlin and challenged our adversary, the soviet union, to take a step that would demonstrate that they were serious about peace. he challenged them to do more than just talk. he stood in front of the berlin wall that separated the free world from the communist bloc, and president reagan said, "

general secretary gorbachev, if you seek peace, it d.c. prosperity for the soviet union and eastern europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. mr. gorbachev, open this gate. mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall." last week in france, president obama took a different approach. he demanded nothing of our current adversary, iran. he challenged them to do nothing, saying instead, "we are ready for direct negotiations with the iranian, a whole range of issues without preconditions in an atmosphere of mutual respect." ronald reagan demonstrated the power of an american president's standing firm for human freedom and liberty and against tyranny. president obama is pleading with a tyrannical, radical regime that sponsors terror and has killed americans to please talk to us. he is offering to convey a tremendous benefit to them in exchange for no cost from them. president reagan knew there was no moral equivalency in america

and our adversaries and he was not afraid to say so. he also knew that negotiating from a position of weakness could never secure america's national interests. after he left the middle east, president obama made an emotional and very important visit to the nazi death camp, buchenwald. evil cannot be compromised with. today, the gravest threat to the state of israel, possibly in existential threat, is a nuclear-armed iran. president obama seems committed to doing everything possible to compromise with the mullahs who run iran today. iran will not be disarmed because we talk them out of the weapons or because we repeat the stakes of the past, apologizing for our support of a coup 50 years ago at failing to hold them to account for their ongoing support of terror. there will not be disarmed

because we pretend we have mutual interests or because our president finds moral equivalence. will only be disarmed diplomatically if they know we are serious about using force. the challenges of iran and the middle east are just a few of the issues the president and the nation will face in the years to come. it is important for us to acknowledge that when president obama makes good decisions, he deserves our support. but when he gets it wrong, and any attempts to rewrite history, then we have an obligation to stand up and say so. saying so and being heard may seem to pose a challenge, given that "newsweek's"view is widespread. you will be special targets for criticism, but i know you are up to the challenge. the mainstream media controls a smaller and smaller portion of the information our public

consumes. you have increasing opportunities to get out there and let your voice be heard in public discourse. so let me leave you with this one admonition. to write, analyze, thing, challenge, and speak. when you see something that bothers you are something that inspires you, post about it on a blog. submit an op ed to your local paper. send an e-mail to publications that you like and respect. there are terrific conservative magazines out there like "the weekly standard" and "the american spectator," and they are always looking for talented, young contribute to it -- young contributors. there websites and radio shows. you have many opportunities to fight for what you believe in and make herself heard. you should challenger opponents with facts and evidence and truth and clarity. you'll find more often than not that you will prevail. you have an opportunity and an obligation to take a stand in the cause of our nation. at the end of the day, i am

really optimistic about how these debates are born to be resolved and what the future holds for america and conservatives. america is fundamentally a conservative nation. we know that our great is has been founded on strong national offense, limited government, lower taxes, the genius and ingenuity of the private sector, and a strong belief in individual freedom and responsibility. we know that government is more often the problem than the solution. we know that freedom is not free, that america's armed forces are the best fighting force the world has ever known, and finally, and most importantly, we believe strongly in american exception lissome. we know that america is the best nation on earth, the best that has ever existed. we believe in her business, her strength, her hope, and her example. for all who seek freedom in every corner of the world. those are conservative values, and those are american values. so thank you very much forhe