eliminate a lot of these ongoing health-care problems like diabetes and some of the other ones that are controllable. they are controlled by environment. all they talk about is how much it will cost and they do not talk about the structure of it and how some costs will be eliminated. we really need a health care program. my son had open heart surgery when he was a baby. we were on cobra, thank god. even on cobra, paying $356 per month in the 1980's, which was one week's pay, that only covered my son. we're still ended up paying about $10,000. host: how about that?

guest: that is something you hear president obama talk about. there is a much cheaper way, a health program, to keep people out of these emergency rooms. on the tobacco bill, they want to stop kids from smoking now. that will either be lower cost in the future. guest: one thing that is lost in the debate is there used to be personal responsibility and health care system. if you're watching your weight and walking and taking measures to make sure your help remains on the upside, the costs will be borne by all of sprint people need to take a certain responsibility. it is important that we have care. what has happened is that the people need the care most have

been neglected by the system. one thing that needs to be part of reform is ensuring that we have people visiting physicians but do not get to a point where they're probably come so devastating that they take on huge costs and require such care that the costs are taken on by all boss. host: both of you right in blogs online for there's an article this morning in the new york times, journalism rules are benton news coverage from iran. they're talking about unverified video in the coverage of the street demonstrations in tirana. with these rules changing, how does that change what you do as a reporter or journalist for

politics? guest: the huffington post as the following this very carefully. a lot of that is using twitter beats, something which we did not have a few years ago. it is reliance on people from the inside who perhaps are not sources you would normally go to. host:neko pitney came into quite a bit of criticism. guest: he used to be my deputy but i think what you say is a little anxious over the fact that journalism is shifting and we have new players at the table who represent a huge audience.

by virtue of that, they have a seat of the table because of demanding information from the administration to convey to its readers. many in the elite society of journalism woodfield at the table should be small enough to accommodate only them and they are feeling that the rules of the game are changing to hinder their efforts. they do not feel very good about it. host: some of that act was on display at the press conference the day after and robert gibbs' response. >> i have a procedural question -- what led to your decision to plant a designated hitter to ask the president a question and what kind of message do you think that sends to the american people and to the world about the kind of free flow enter questioning that has been expected at a presidential news

conference? >> i think it did nothing more than _ the free flow. that was a question from an iranian in iran. he was using the same type of manner and method to get that information as many of you in virtually every one of your outlets has done. in this country, we enjoy the freedom of the press. and i ran, -- and i ran, your colleagues have been dismissed or kicked out. some of them have been rounded up. there are not journalists who can speak for the iranian people. the president did. he took a question for my iranian. that is a very powerful message that sent -- that that was sent yesterday. >> what about you escorted him

through here and planting them in the room? >> it is this going to become a regular feature of president obama's news conferences that will bring people in here that you select to ask questions? >> let's be clear -- there was no guarantee that the question would be picked. there was no idea of what the exact question would be. a number of questions that we went through in preparation, you already asked. i ran dominated the news conference, not surprising. i think it was important and the president thought it was important to take a question,

using the very same method that many of you all use to report information on the ground. i will not make any apologies for that. host: the planted questioner was referred to as a designated hitter. guest: they call them the night before and said it might be interested in a question from an iranian. he got a great question. they sent an e-mail out and sought questions from people from iran. americans come to watch a press conference and they expect a spontaneous exchange. the white house pre arranged this thing. many journalists were upset. even though it was a well- intentioned thing on both sides, it is not the right venue

for that. host: we also sued the president reading of names of people. guest: the white house and the ap often know what their questions are in advance. host: how did they know this? guest: because of the news that particular day. the press just gravitates to the daily news coverage and will ask the president on a particular item in the news. that -- i ran -- iran was the top news item that day. neko did not ask a softball question. host: the iranian who posted as to the tough question. guest: that's right.

he asked a very difficult question. he asked a unique kind of question that much of the mainstream journalism was not in a position to ask. host: do you think we will see more of that? guest: no, i think the white house learned a lesson from this. host: frederick, michigan, good morning. caller: i am calling to point out how fragile our economy is. this congress, this administration has done nothing to better it. the passing of this bill and the ramifications of what it will have on corporations, we will see a terrible economy until this goes for. this is something that is not proven yet. it is like the old fable where if you tell lie enough times it becomes true.

we are ready to hand over responsibility and the responsibility of our health care to the government which has succeeded at nothing for the last 50 years, thank you. guest: we are in difficult economic times. the president said he expected the unemployment rate to rise over 10%. that put the nation in a difficult spot. the one thing i would disagree with is that if you look at the polls, you need a government role in health care, cap and trade, and the stimulus was about asserting a government role and addressing some of these critical problems. the private market has fill that for many years host host: 4 lauderdale, fla. -- caller: my main concern about

america itself is that right now with the bill that was just passed -- americans said they wanted be energy-efficient and go green -- why don't we just improve or invest in more solar power, wind, and that will create more jobs? this bill that will pass will does limit more jobs, even like myself. it may end up putting me out of work. host: what kind of work you do? guest: i find unsecured working capital. caller: i do not see myself with the job for the next two years because they may put my doctors out of business. guest: economic concerns on the energy bill? guest: absolutely. we are not only losing jobs but we are shipping and overseas to china and india. i think the democrats would

counter that argument by saying we will actually be creating so many new jobs and the transition needs to happen that it might as well happen now. host: when it comes to the passage of a critical bill, the issue of lobbying springs up. many are taught to believe that lobbying is not helping. americans can see that lobbying is playing a major role in blocking these legislations being discussed. what is your view on this? has the role of law being changed since the bush administration? guest: it has not changed, it has continued to grow. it is not obama vs republican, is obama vs. lobbyists. they are trying to influence republicans and democrats. on health care, the health insurers are largely against that are they have been trying to persuade members of the republican and democratic party to oppose president obama's agenda because the threat of a

public auction is something they are afraid of. this is true uncap and trade. -- this is true on a cap and trade. many lobbyists are fighting vigorously to oppose the measures pushed by democrats and obama. they are the main obstacle. host: saint louis, on our democrats line. caller: the argument with the pitney thing is that the hideous thing i have ever heard. he is a journalist, right? he asked a question that a journalist last. secondly, i want to go back to the missions question, with global warming. we know that many republicans do not believe in the size. -- science. what do they believe happens to the emissions?

do they go up in the air and disappear and have no effect on the planet whatsoever? i would like to hear from the conservative to after that, thank you. host: i know we have a conservative. guest: guest: what they are pushing is something they call and all of the above strategy. they want to push for a clean and healthy environment. the man then -- the main thing they're arguing for is the cost, the size of the bill, all the intricate details that many of the congress members did not even read. also, the fact that a number of these jobs that a number -- that people are in will shift over to china and india. host: another capitol hill story

happening in detroit, the wife of john conyers pled guilty to bribery in detroit on friday. other any political ramifications to this for congressman john conyers, the chair of the judiciary committee? guest: much of it will depend on how involved in all these efforts john conyers was. we do not know the answer to that. the article seems to suggest he didn't know very much. guest: if she has her own political career and there is a possibility that those were intermingled, we do not know that yet. he is in a pretty safe district. i am not sure how much this could hurt him unless he was severely tied up in this. host: you post to the story over

the weekend about emigration varian -- you posted a story over the weekend about immigration. what is the timetable for working on immigration legislation? guest: it is probably at the height of the possibility of getting reform done. many republicans have learned not to oppose immigration critic cost them a great deal with the hispanic community. as you look at the demographics, this is not a community kennedy -- a community they can afford to ostracize. immigration reform needs to be accomplished because you cannot continue to allow 12 million all undocumented immigrants to work on the ground and impact our economy without forcing them to become legal immigrants poured legalize them in some fashion or another. as we look at economic reform coming down the pike, it will be

important to have this immigration community who conserve in many of the roles that we will need, the low- income labor rolls that the economy will need to move on and get stronger in the next year or so. host: let's go to redding, pa., on the democrat line. caller: you opened the show with "don't ask don't tell." it simply does not work. the gay community does not do itself justice when it comes to getting equal rights. the gay community, especially during world war two, tens of thousands were marched to concentration camps and used for target practice and medical experiments. the breast were gassed.

-- the rest were gassed. it was illegal in the '60s for two people the same sex to dance together in clubs or walking together down the street holding hands. going into the aids crisis, their mates could not have the ability to be involved in their mates'' medical care. guesthost: gay-rights activistse stepped up their protest for the president's failure to act on " don't ask, don't tell yo cupl." guest: paul numbers are in a different spot than where congress and the a ministration are. the poll numbers on this issue, people are supportive of it. people see no reason for a continued discrimination in the military, particularly when they

say in their daily lives that they do not experience that kind of discrimination. the one thing that seems to be a hurdle is the administration and congress do not want to engage in social/cultural issues that would open them up to ammunition to be attacked. it is a miscalculation to suggest that we shouldn't move forward on the spirit security arguments on -- are involved. host: let's go to sugar land, texas, on our democratic line. caller: in the last two years on c-span, it was brought out that the oil companies, the republicans say we need to build these refineries. the oil companies -- congress had the five top oil company

executives come in and they said they did not want to build any new refineries. in india or some other country, they are building some type of super-super refinery that would provide gas to many different countries. maybe some of your people know about that. remember, on the prescription drug benefit bill, congress was forbidden to get the best prices for air medicare para thank you very much. host: drilling and refining domestically? guest: they want to produce more energy within our borders. i do not think drilling for more oil is the key component in that energy legislation. republicans want to explore that

as well as offshore drilling. that is because of what she said -- they are worried about other countries doing just that. host: governor mark sanford last week it was the revelation of the affair of his woman -- of a woman from south america. they called his wife the hero of this story. they say this is evidence that there needs to be -- they need to be electing more women. what are some of the political fallout for the republicans and politicians in general. guest: it is hard to get past the hypocrisy. governor sanford was railing against president clinton in the 90's. one of the things that bothers

me that is often lost as the governor sanford was someone who was not doing a particularly good job for his constituents. they've record unemployment south carolina. he was at the forefront of rejecting stimulus funds that the obama administration had pushed. the unemployment rate among the minority populations and south carolina is extremely high, 20%- 30%. what we saw from him on the affair issue and the stimulus issue is that he was politically grandstanding. he was taking positions that reflected a moral code that he wanted to use himself as political gamesmanship. moral code was something he was trying to put on to others. it is not something he chose to live by. host: what about fallout from him but the party in general? guest: the one person who helps

the most is britain -- is mitt romney. he is in the 2012 presidential hopeful who pulls off the map. john ensign is another one who happened -- whose scandal happened a week earlier. there's an argument as to how successful he would have been. there have been some other governors who have not had a great year. this pushes and mitt romney to the forefront guest: guest: jeb bush is another one. he is waiting in the wings. host: peoria, ill., independent line. caller: it took me a long time to get through. i wanted to comment that i am for personal responsibility and more people should embrace that. i find it amazing that congress

and reporters think that people who did not need to take responsibility for their mortgage will now take responsibility for their health. i don't know how you can possibly think they can do that. host: special interest lobbyists are the fourth branch of government. big bang score of stimulus, big oil cap and trade, the drugs- health care. calnext caller, jim? let's try that again. are you there? caller: yes. cap and trade is a fraud. co2 has nothing to do with the temperature of the earth and the people who are proposing it know it.

i have five books that say it is a fraud. if you have time to read instead of going over the speeches, look at "american thinker." half of the co2 produced goes into the ocean. a whole bunch goes into the plants. co2 is 1.5 times heavier than air. it sinks into the ground. that bill is a one-party bel pre republican states will pay more -- that allows a one-party bill. it is corrupt and crooked. nancy pelosi's father was crooked and so is she. guest: my view on this from a political perspective is that

this is an area where republicans can either choose to lead or they can cater to their worst instincts. if they choose to lead, they would tell people like this caller and others in the united states to do not believe in global warming that they are wrong. they could assert a very important role for themselves in this debate by telling people that if you do not believe in global warming, you are wrong. instead, they have catered to their worst intentions and that is to tell people who believe global warming is a hoax that those people are right. that is detrimental to their own party. host: congress is two weeks away from the hearing for tsongas of the maya are --sonia sotomayor for the supreme court. guest: congress wanted more time.

i think she will eventually get confirmed. i think republicans will give her a tough time. host: you talked about the aesthetics of immigration legislation. how will this be in terms of the spanish or latino constituents? guest: i think to kill her nomination will give them political suicide. she is a qualified judge. we have not learned anything to diminish her record at all. her record still stands as impeccable. to oppose her for reasons of general ideological or some other kind of bigotry, would be wrong. when i think of the gop being in

the super-minority, i think of them squeezed into a few southern states. they need to expand beyond that. they need a new approach that brings in more latino oriented people. host: this is st. cloud, minn., good morning, tom. this is the democrats' line. are you there? that should about do it. thank you both for being with us. caller>> a live look at the unid states supreme court in washington, d.c., where the court is handing down decisions on several important cases that it had heard over the 2008-2009

term. they're wrapping up that term right now. today, the supreme court ruled that white firefighters in new haven, conn. were unfairly denied promotions because of their race. it reversed a decision that high court sonia sotomayor had as an appeals court judge. no african americans and only two hispanic firms were likely to make captain based on a result. the court said monday, in a 5-4 decision, the city said it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities. that is one of the rulings coming down from the supreme court today. it is a 5-4 ruling in favor of white firefighters who say they were denied promotions because of race. that report came from the associated press.