screen. . >> michelle easton, you say in a little note on your web site that when you founded the clare

boothe luce policy institute in 1993, you received permission from mrs. luce's family to use her name. who's her family? >> well, i went and spoke with her stepson, henry luce, the son of the famous henry luce who did time magazine. and i did it because our corporate attorney, bill olson, said, "you don't have to ask the family for permission, but it's a good idea." so i went up and met with him. he was in the luce foundation offices in manhattan. and he was a nice fellow, quite gruff, and he heard me out. and he said, "well, i don't agree with what you're doing, but she'd like it." so, i could use the name. >> why didn't he agree with what you were doing? >> because he was something of a rino, to put it kindly. >> and that is - what's that mean? >> a republican in name only. he really was not conservative on most issues. he didn't really get this notion that, you know, women's groups - the so-called women's groups - don't represent most women in america.

they certainly don't represent the kind of women that we work with at the clare boothe luce policy institute. but he had enough of a sense of what mrs. luce would have thought to say, you may use her name, even though i don't agree with a lot of your policy positions. >> who was she? >> she was a remarkable woman who was way, way, way ahead of her time. died in 1987 after a long, long life. she was a congresswoman. she was a writer. she wrote a play, "the women," which is still being produced today. she was the editor of vanity fair back when that was really an important magazine. she was a devoted mother, a devoted wife. she had deep faith. and when it came time to form this organization and find someone to name it after, there was really no contest. there was no other woman in modern times who had an incredible professional life, who had an incredible family life, who had the deep faith and who was truly a role model that modern young women could look to

for inspiration. >> all right. here's some video. >> ok. >> this goes back between 1951 and 1955. people my age - i won't even include you in that - will remember the longines-wittnauer watch - they called it the longines chronoscope. anyway, let's watch this to show what she looked like and what she sounded like. >> ok. >> diplomacy has been a male preserve for the most part of the time. and a lot of women are looking in at you tonight. do you think there is a career in diplomacy for most women? or for -- >> oh, i think there's a career in diplomacy for all able people who want to try to become diplomats, become foreign service officers. it isn't a question of whether they're men or women. it's a question of they're willing to work and if they're able. >> well, you actually don't feel that there is a question of whether they're men or women. in other words, you feel that a woman can negotiate, can maneuver with european

politicians, as well as a man can? >> well, you want to know whether a woman can negotiate and maneuver? [laughter] >> do ask mrs. lesueur about that. >> that's wonderful. and you know, she was the first woman ever named to a major ambassadorial post. president eisenhower, i think probably shortly after this, named her ambassador to italy. and there were all kinds of skeptics, but she did a fabulous job. and mr. luce came over to be with her most of the time. and the first thing she had to do as an ambassador was, she said, to hire a wife, because the ambassador's wife is such a critical part of the operation. she hired letitia baldridge, who many people know, who was a young woman just out of college. and that's a whole other story. letitia's written a lot about mrs. luce, as well. >> and she went on to work for john kennedy. >> yes, she did. she did both sides. a wonderful, gracious lady here in washington, i don't keep in touch with as much as i should. >> did you ever meet mrs. luce? >> yes, i did.

i did at a conservative function in the '80s. and a lovely, gracious lady. i've actually gotten quite close to a granddaughter of hers, who is out in san francisco, clare luce, and then her married name was abbey. and i've learned a lot about mrs. luce from her granddaughter. in her older years when mr. luce had passed away, she would have young people travel with her. and clare was one of her favorite travel companions and got to know her very, very well. and clare has been a great friend and shared so many good stories with us about her grandmother, who she loved so dearly and was named after. >> you came out of working for 12 years in politics for both ronald reagan and -- >> the first president bush, yes. >> the first president bush. but in 1993, when you founded this institute, that was the first year of bill clinton's presidency. >> it was. it was. >> why did you do this? and what did you want to accomplish? >> well, you know, i'd been here in washington almost 20 years. i came straight out of college in '73.

and what do you do after working for president reagan and president bush? and i'd finished my law school in '80. i went through at night. well, you could go and practice law and probably make a lot of money, or you could go work for another organization. but as i looked around the conservative movement, which is my heart and soul, it seemed to me there were two areas that i really cared the most about. one was the issue of school choice, and i still do, but there were a lot of groups working on that. the other area where it seemed to me there was a need was with women. let's face it, the left figured out long ago how important women are to advancing their agenda. in fact, they misuse women. they call things "women's issues," when they're not at all. they're just left-wing liberal advocacy. but as conservatives, we were a little weak, not that we didn't have the women leaders, but in recognizing them and promoting them and acknowledging and celebrating them - and focusing on that next generation of women leaders. so, that was what we decided was needed - start an organization. and it's an entrepreneur.

you know, there are so many organizations here in washington. seventeen years ago there were a few less. but the first thing i did was i wrote a letter, and i poured my heart out. and i put some pictures of me with important people, like you have to do. and i said who i was and what i wanted to do. and a very different - my husband gave me this in-kind gift of, i don't know, maybe 5,000 of his supporters. and i paid somebody, and they put the letter together and sent it out - and it raised $30,000. and two of those were $5,000 gifts from prominent people who said to me, thank you so much for what you're doing. so, that was the sign that this was meant to be. people wanted to support an organization that was going to promote our conservative women leaders and work with the next generation of women conservative leaders, to give them the confidence and courage they needed. >> there's a name on your board that connects with a name on your husband's board -- >> yes. >> secretary-treasurer of both

organizations -- >> yes. >> frank donatelli. >> yes. when i -- >> explain that connection. >> oh, he's a wonderful friend. he and his wife becky, we've been friends for a long, long time. when i came to washington, i knew two people. i knew frank donatelli, and i knew my husband. i married ron. and frank has just been a dear, close friend ever since. now, he's the only man on the board. he's not a token. he's very well qualified for that position. and he loves being on the board with a lot of women leaders. he does a great job. he has a really good knowledge, not only of policy, but of the mechanics of non-profit governance, which in this day and age with all the government agencies squeezing down on non- profits, he's a wonderful, wonderful person to have on our board - and as i said, my oldest friend here in washington, d.c., longest friend. >> go back to the beginning, though. i noticed that you met ron robinson, your husband, after - well, at the time you were young americans for freedom. >> yes. >> and your husband now runs

american - young america's -- >> foundation. >> foundation. >> right. >> explain all that. what was this - where did you meet? where did you meet ron robinson? >> he was going to fordham grad school. i was in my last year of college. and we both were members of young americans for freedom, which sort of morphed into young america's foundation, because of changes in the law, and all that. there is still some young americans for freedom chapters, but it's not the national organization that it once was. and so, it was '72, and young conservatives had kind of had it with nixon. it was too much big government, you know, selling out to the commie chinese. so, we had an organization, at yaf, called youth against mcgovern. you have to do something in the election. and i went down there one saturday, and we were stuffing and mailing. and there was this cute-looking fellow there from buffalo going to school at fordham, and we got to know each other. he didn't ask me out for almost three months, which puzzled me until i learned that he had no money. and he came into some around christmas time.

he had some extra money, and then he took me out. and we just clicked. and almost 36 years later, we're doing well. >> but frank donatelli ran yaf at the time. >> he was in law school. he came to washington to become the executive director. ron worked for him, and i worked for him. and then, when ron and i married, i left, because ron had just gotten the top job, and it doesn't work well for me to work for my husband. >> now, where did you get your strong conservative views? >> i think it's genetic for me. for my husband, you know, he evolved. his whole family was democrat - although by the time of reagan, they were all voting for reagan. but my family was just conservative. my father was hard-working. he always complained about the taxes. there were four children. and government was way too big, way back in the '50s and '60s. and i just heard it all those years and just soaked it in. in 1964 i was 14 when goldwater

ran for president. that was the first time i got involved. and there were some liberal kids, and they would mouth off at me all the time at school, and they would rip my goldwater bumper sticker off my notebook. and that was my introduction, really, as an activist, in high school. and senior year i was voted the girl - class politician, just because i was willing to speak about policy and political things, and a lot of others weren't. >> where was this? >> port chester high school, a good, government-run public school in new york, a suburb of new york city, where you could get a good education. but it was right before so much of the disintegration in government schools, because it was a school where there were a lot of traditions. most of the parents shared similar values, and the school was responsive to the parents. a lot of that has changed now, and it's one of the reasons why

i'm such a big advocate of school choice, where you can select a school that shares your values, that meets your child's needs. but back in the '50s and '60s, when i was in - i went through all government schools - i was well educated. and we had a new york regents exam back then. and if you got an a on a regents exam in high school - i remember i got a 90 in my english exam, and they put it up on the board, all of those 90 and above scores. i was so proud, because that was really something. that meant you really knew - it was 11th grade - you really knew your english. so, there was rigor. there was academics. there were shared values. schools were a safe place. sure, there were hoods. they were called the hoods, the ones that wear the leather jackets. but even they were civil and courteous. you didn't hear the vulgarity and the attacks on teachers, and things like that. so, i got a good education in government schools. >> what makes you the maddest about liberal? >> well, i'm thinking of president obama at that health care center - summit - that they just had.

and he sat up there, and everything on his face and his body language said to me, he's thinking, "i am really smarter than most of you people here. and i really know what's best for you and the american people. and even though 75 percent of americans don't want this health care proposal, i really know what's best." to me, perhaps that's what it is, brian. it's that arrogance. it's that "we really know what's best for you, american people," instead of trusting in the faith and the good common sense that the american people have. fellow. a lot of people wanted to give him a chance. they wanted to show that in america anybody can become president. and that certainly has turned around now. >> i want to read you back something you said in october of 2008, and get you to expand on it. you said, "katie couric is a master sneerer. she's never done a fair interview with a conservative

woman ever. it's hard to imagine why campaign strategists waste palin's time preparing for and sitting through couric's brand of liberal 'gotcha' journalism." >> absolutely. still true. she never has done a fair interview with a conservative woman. she comes from a different area of policy. you know, she's a leftist. she does sneer. she sneers at ann coulter. she sneers at sarah palin. i don't know if she knows that she sneers, but she does. she's incredibly condescending. and if i were a national leader, i just wouldn't have her interview me. but i certainly wouldn't allow her to do what sarah did, which was edit the tape. you can interview me, katie, but we're going to go live, because they edit it to be most disadvantageous to sarah palin. >> well, but just for a moment, doesn't ann coulter sneer at everybody? >> she sneers back. >> but, i mean, her demeanor, that's part of her thing. >> she has a thing, it's true. ann does. ann has a sense of humor that a

lot of times liberals don't get. i wouldn't call it sneering, though. i would call it pointing out the inconsistencies in a humorous way. >> you said in this same article, "couric's half-lidded eyes and unbearable condescension toward a woman whose achievements, personal and professional, are so superior to her own were excruciating to watch. but we could have predicted couric's disparaging questions and snide looks before the interview aired." but you go on to say, "palin should stop wasting time on main-line media interviews." this is back before the election. >> that's right. >> do you think that's still the case? >> i think that now she's gone main-line, and she seems to xl more comfortable with it. but, yes, i think during the election, if she had spent the time with broadcast outlets that were fair and balanced - and i don't mean just fox, i mean, there are ones all over the country - she would have been better off. i mean, i think they were gunning for her. they were disparaging her. they were so brutally personal, even attacking her children. i think her time spent with

katie couric and some of the others was not time well spent. >> just another item. "if press interviews are granted, the criterion should be, has the interviewer ever done a fair interview with a conservative woman?" do you track that kind of stuff? >> i do it personally. >> who does? >> i don't know. i don't know. but i've just seen so many hatchet jobs by liberal people in the media on conservative women, that i don't talk to people who i don't think can be fair. >> do you feel better - it's almost a leading question - today about what media is doing than you did, say, when you got into this business back in the '70s? >> well, what's different is that we have more outlets. the hard-cores - or the "drive- bys," as rush calls them - are just as liberal and left-wing. i think they're worse in some cases, so incredibly biased. you know, you pick up the "washington post" every morning, and can this be? no wonder nobody's reading this. but the difference is, now, we have more talk radio. we have a major cable network

that's fair and balanced. we have internet. you know, the kids don't even read the paper. even my own three sons, who are well educated, they'll look at the sports, maybe look at the front page. they go to the internet. they go to drudge. they get their news from the internet. so, it's as bad as it was, but we have all this alternative media, which is one reason why the left's trying to shut some of that down. >> we have some before-and-after video. actually, we have a still shot of after. but here are your sons in 1997 on c-span. at that - can you remember at that time how old they were -- >> i'd say maybe -- >> 13 years ago? >> yes, you know, probably nine, 12 and 14, something like that. r.j., the oldest, was at gonzaga. daniel was at a middle school, and tommy was in elementary school. and it was take your daughters to work day, and we used to do - it's now take your sons and daughters.

but we used to do a little press on that every year and say, well, what about the sons, you know? boys need encouragement as much as girls. and we would have a press conference, and bay buchanan would bring her three sons, and i would bring my three sons, and we had a lot of fun with it. and c-span asked us to come on. tommy here, who was so little, when we all reviewed it, we decided he did the best, because he was young enough not to be nervous about what his friends would think. >> by the way, why is their name robinson, and yours is easton?

>> well, except for that we're very traditional. but when we were going to marry, i had been here in washington for a couple of years, worked really hard, started to establish a professional presence. i just didn't want to change my name. and i felt very strongly. and so, my husband said, "well, that's ok with me." and then, the second important man in my life, i had talked with my dad. now, he was very traditional, very old-fashioned, and i thought, oh. but i had to tell him, so i said, "daddy, we decided when we get married we're going to keep our own names, easton and robinson." there was this long pause. and then he said, "well, that's great." i says, "what?" he said, "that's great. you know i've always wanted more sons. and we'll carry the name on." and i said, "but what if mother had wanted to keep her own name?" he said, "well, that's different. she's my wife. you're my daughter."

so, i cleared it with the two guys that i care the most about in life. and back then in '74, i took a lot of criticism from fellow conservatives who just couldn't understand it. and i never really felt i had to explain it in great detail. it was just something that ron and i were good with. and so, what's it to you? [laughter] people say, oh, well, coo-coo cachoo, mrs. robinson. that was the time of that movie, and all that. that was not a major factor, i can assure you, mrs. robinson. >> here's a picture of your family today. >> oh, yes. the boys have grown up. my oldest son is engaged to a lovely young woman, alexandra. my dad - my husband, rather - with the glasses, and i'm the short one. >> and what are those three boys doing now? >> they're all working. they're all bright. they're well educated. they're well read. they go to church, mostly. as i said, the one is engaged. they're on track for great, successful lives, and we're truly blessed to have them. >> are they all conservative? >> yes!

one of them strayed once on a vote, but we'll never let him forget it. and i think he acknowledges his wrongdoing now. >> we have more video. this is of you thanking contributors. let's watch that and get your take on that. >> yes. >> i'm michelle easton, president of the luce policy institute. i am so grateful to you for making our work possible. your support allows us to promote conservative leaders and use their success to inspire the next generation of luce ladies. a gift to the institute of any amount is a gift of hope to our nation. by giving $100, you share your principles with students through an advertisement in their school paper. by giving $1,000, you help send conservative speakers to campuses across the nation. and by giving $10,000, you send a young woman to washington, d.c. for a semester internship. thank you for believing in our young women and for helping them stand strong.

god bless you for your friendship and your generosity. >> what does the institute do? >> well, we have more than 20,000 supporters around the country who support our work, to promote and celebrate conservative women leaders and use them as role models to help train up the next generation of women leaders. >> how much money do you raise a year? >> our budget is a little over $2 million right now. and most of it comes in very small gifts. we have maybe 300 who give more than $1,000 a year. most give smaller amounts. >> who's your biggest contributor? >> you know, they don't like us to give their names for the most part. but we have some wonderful people in chicago and in connecticut, who give $100,000 a year. i just don't feel free to give their names. but they're people who, if they

could, they would go out and do what we do - support and affirm young women who are in a tough environment on college campuses. but they can't do it. they have businesses. they have other things to do. so they give us gifts - the $50 ones and the $10,000 ones - to go out and do the kind of things they would do. they would talk to a niece. they would talk to a next-door neighbor. that's what the - that's what the giving to the institute is about, people that have a heart for what we're doing. >> i noticed that there's a western women's summit on march 26th and 27th. >> yes. >> and it's out in santa barbara at the reagan ranch center. >> yes. >> and ron robinson has something to do with that. >> well, you know, ron robinson and his west coast office, the reagan ranch center, they will let many conservative groups use it for conferences. and we're just one of probably hundreds that use it for a conference. it's a beautiful setting there, you know, two blocks from the ocean in santa barbara. but about three years ago, we wanted to expand our activity more on the west coast, so we started having this summit.

and this one's going to be great, with ann coulter and kate obenshain and bay buchanan. this is one conference that is a mix of students and women. we found so often with our student events, which was always our focus, that older women wanted to come. they were just hungry for opportunity to network, to hear from, you know, six or seven great conservative women speakers. and so, to the extent that we can, we do open them up. >> what does the young america's foundation do? i know they own the ranch. >> they own the ranch, and they use it as a way to promote the ideas of ronald reagan. it's great. parents are happy to have their kids come out to the reagan ranch to learn about conservative ideas. they also preserve - that ranch would have been gone, you know. it was on the chopping block. it was up for sale. and nancy reagan, at the time, was very grateful that a conservative group wanted to take it, wanted to preserve it. the fellow who was going to buy it was going to chop down the

ranch house and build another house, so its history. clinton was president. he didn't want to save it. the california legislature was democrat. they didn't care. so, ron robinson and young america's foundation stepped up and saved that for the future and for history. it's a wonderful thing they did. and they also work on college campuses. ijñand, i mean, we're groups tht promote conservative ideas. we do it through women. we're not a women's group. we're a conservative group that promotes conservative ideas through conservative women leaders. >> give me some other conservative principles of yours or of your groups, things that really matter to you. >> well, we believe in our hearts that when a man or woman earns money at their job, they should decide how most of it is spent. we have incredibly high taxation rates in this country, and now going higher with president obama. how many days of the five-day week should you have to work to pay the government? monday? ok. well, that would be 20 percent. tuesday going into wednesday? our taxation rates are too high. people should be able to decide how to spend their own money, not sending it all to

washington, dribbling it through the bureaucrats and then getting tiny little bits of it back for things that you don't want. so, taxation is certainly an incredibly important issue. allowing businesses to prosper. the government is huge and overbearing, and comes in on the smallest little business and the biggest businesses. the big businesses tend to make their peace with it, give their contributions, have their lobbyists. let americans who have businesses prosper and run them. get these regulators out of the way. even as a non-profit, we are - i've got auditors all over my office this week, because this is required. and i'm fine with having people check our finances and all, but there's so many requirements. all these states now force us to write checks and to file as a non-profit in their state. what do they do with those? they probably put it in the round file, but they make a lot of money off of it. you know, environmental regulations - all kinds of regulations that suppress the natural growth that businesses

would have. so, let's let businesses flourish. >> let me ask you about religion, because you hear both left and right say god bless america. and depending, you know, on the politician, they make an issue out of that. how important is - can you be - let me be direct. can you be an atheist and be a conservative? >> well, you know, it's interesting, because s.e. cupp has written a book, "losing our religion." in it - i've read an early proof copy of it - she says she's not a believer. but i've never heard such a wonderful defense and critique of those who would attack christianity. so, yes, she proves it in her book. most conservatives consider faith a central part of their belief in policy, their belief in freedom. our freedoms come from our creator. they don't come from government. so, most conservatives are religious, do believe in it, but s.e. proves the rule doesn't always - it doesn't always stay. >> what about on a personal

basis? what are some of the other things that just bug you about - either bug you about the liberals, or you feel strongly about as a conservative, values in the society? >> well, you know, i'm very big on life. we are aborting more than a million babies a year. it's not a central issue for the institute. again, like with the education issue, there's so many groups working on it. but most of the speakers that we have, the women that we promote, are very big on life. i think, down the road one day, people will look on the pro- abortionists - the anytime, anywhere, any place, pro- abortionists - the way people look on slave owners, with just disbelief that people could have supported so many babies being killed before they were born. that's a pretty black-and-white issue. i will tell you, in college i didn't get it. i didn't understand it. you know when i understood it? when i got pregnant. i didn't - i knew intellectually about life, but, you know, when does life begin. but i didn't feel a passion

about it until i got pregnant with my first baby. and it was like, how could you dispose of this child? you feel it within you. but, you know, some people are slow learners, and i sure was on that issue. so, one of the things we do on that - bay buchanan speaks a lot on that for us - is to be understanding of people who don't quite get it, and try to move them along on that. you know, there's a lot of girls in college these days who have had abortions, so you can't condemn everybody who's had an abortion, because you can behave badly and then change your behavior, change your way of life. so, reaching out to people. i know women who have had abortions and have changed on it, and so much regret their abortions. but that's a huge issue. that is a huge issue in our country today, and it comes up over and over with the candidates. that's not to say everybody's has to be 100 percent in order to be accepted, but it's an issue where it's hard to give on it, if you believe it's a human life. >> where is your institute

located? >> we are in herndon, virginia, which is about eight miles from - maybe five miles from dulles airport out in northern virginia. >> or about 25 miles from here. >> yes. >> and how many people work at the institute? >> when we're fully staffed, we have about a dozen. we have tens of thousands of volunteers all over the country. these are the - there's the young woman at harvard who puts on a lecture and brings out one of our speakers. but paid staff is about a dozen. >> what do you think of the education people are getting in college and universities? >> well, i'll tell you. my third son, tommy, who was little in that tape you showed, went to hillsdale college in michigan. if i had it to do over with my three sons, by the time they got to be juniors in high school i would say, boys, you have two choices. you can go to work or go to hillsdale. what i'm saying is that we spent huge amounts of money on the other two in colleges that were totally biased, totally dominated by liberal, socialist thinking. in order to get a grade on the paper, they would have to write a socialist or feminist point of

view to get the a. >> where was it? where did they go? >> different places. canisius college in buffalo,náv. >> those are both catholic. >> yes, they are. is that unbelievable? one of the things that sticks in my mind the most was my son up at canisius in an english class. they were reading - i don't know if i should tell this - they were reading poetry. and this is a jesuit school. and there was a poem disparaging the pope's - forgive me - penis. the pope. and so, he went to his teacher and said, "do you think this is appropriate to be mocking in such a personal way the pope when we're a catholic school?" and she said, "oh, danny. i just think it was very courageous of the author to do that." so, then he went to the chapel and met with the priests and said, "can't we do something about this?" and the fellow said, "oh, yeah, yeah. we'll look into it." it's beyond belief the kind of disrespect shown to religious

figures, shown by feminists in women's studies to traditional mothers who choose to stay home, and shown to conservatives, who, for the most part - with a few wonderful exceptions like hillsdale and grove city - you can't be a professor and be an outspoken conservative until you get your tenure, because they're so dominated by the left. >> here is a video that you have that talks about this -- >> ok. >> and the colleges and the liberal. >> welcome to the clare boothe luce policy institute, home of the luce ladies. my name is brooke rainen. and i'm allyson black. >> here at the luce policy institute, we promote strong, conservative women leaders and use their success to prepare and inspire future luce ladies. >> the clare boothe luce policy institute touches the lives of the young women we work with in so many ways when they attend our activism seminars, our conferences, our leadership training, when they take a semester and they intern with us.

these young women tell us that their lives are changed forever. they have confidence. they feel encouraged. they have depth of knowledge in many more issues. we're very proud of the work we're doing here. >> there's been a tremendous lack of intellectual diversity on our college campuses for an awful long time. so it's about time that we counter the left and we bring forth new thought and some real ideals, not just for the campuses, but for our society as a whole. >> while women's studies departments praise the work of radical feminists, they somehow consistently overlook history- making achievements of leaders like u.n. ambassador jeane kirkpatrick, or british prime minister margaret thatcher, or even u.s. ambassador clare boothe luce. >> we work with college students. we help them to try to bring a balanced perspective to their college campus. it's often the case that throughout four years of college, many students never hear a conservative position articulated. and so, we work with those students to help them bring that to their college campus. >> when women are in college and

they try to get involved with politics, they have no idea what to expect once they start becoming vocal. they can get a lot of offensive language, things written on the internet. and i think it's important for them to reach out to other people who have been through it and kind of get a support system. >> who were you aiming at with that? >> it's on our web site to let people know what we do. what do you really do at clare boothe luce, and why? and god bless those wonderful supporters all over the country who send us their $50 checks, who allow us to do that. one of my favorite programs is our intern program, where we bring some girls in - three, four or five, whatever we have money for - for three months in the summer, or sometimes in semesters. i met up with one of our interns recently in san francisco, elizabeth moyer. she had gone to the university of san francisco, she said, "only because i had a full scholarship." it's such a left- wing school - jesuit again, i think. and i said, "what did you get out of your summer with us?" and she looked at me82 said, "it made me brave," she said, "not just one time, but 1,000 different times.

when i went back to school, and i would stand up, and i would speak out with a professor, with my friends, in other situations, it gave me the courage." well, what is it? what is it that gives them courage? we surround them with strong, conservative women, wonderful role models. we give them opportunities to write. we try to have them published. we let them introduce people. sometimes they're on c-span, on national tv, introducing speakers at our events. it gives them confidence. it gives them courage. it's so lonely on a college campus. people don't understand how different it is now from what it was back in the '50s, maybe, when they were there. what a hostile environment most college campuses are for young conservative women, with everything from these radical women's studies departments that hate men and america, to these disgusting "vagina monologues" play they put on in so many campuses - totally inappropriate, totally grotesque to so many young women. it's a hostile environment.

and to the extend that we can come in and affirm their conservative and traditional views occasionally with speakers, bring them in as interns, bring them to our events, we change their lives. >> from your web site, v-day unveiled -- >> yes. >> i'm going to read. "with shock value as its main tactic, the production has effectively captured the attention of college students around the country. and with the purported message of ending violence against women, the "monologues'" parent movement, v-day, has earned praise from leftist groups, celebrities and politicians across america, and even the world. but others - perhaps more than you think - are quietly left wondering how embracing vulgarity is going to make the world a safer place for a woman." it's all about the "vagina monologues." >> right. what they've done is taken one day in the year when men and women usually get along, you know, some flowers or chocolates - valentine's day - they've taken the v to talk about the intimate part of a woman'stp'at. it's a play. it's on hundreds and hundreds of

campuses all over the country. there's not one man in the play whose not a rapist, an abuser, just a horrible person or a down-and-out weirdo. the men are all wicked. it has graphic sex. it has a rape scene of an under-aged girl. in a later production they made her of age. and this somehow is supposed to empower women to talk about their private parts in the most vulgar and graphic ways. and students are subjected to this. "oh, well, they don't have to go to the play." well, sometimes they do for a class. "oh, well, they don't have to look at it." there was one campus that had a 40-foot high blow-up, plastic, of a woman's vagina in the middle of the quad. well, that was kind of hard to miss. and then you're supposed to sit, and this with the fellas, and then go out and behave properly? >> where's this coming from? what's the motive? >> it's the edge of the radical feminist, who some of them just really despise men.

when you go to now, and you look at the table where they have their literature, most of it is about abortion and aids and lesbianism. and yet, now still gets covered as, you know, a "woman's group," as if it were some kind of a mainstream. feminism started out with the suffragettes, and it was more of an equality, equal treatment under the law, which most of us agree with. there were actually two strains back then. and we have a paper on our web site, a policy express about this, christina sommers just did, talking about how the second strain, which was, yes, we're for suffragette and we're for equality, but women are nurturing and families are important to us also. well, they've kind of taken that off of the history books or tried to mischaracterize them. but that was clare boothe luce's deal, as well. and we saw a little bit in the tape. but, of course, women can do just about anything. but the fact that they don't want to do things doesn't mean there's discrimination. oh, there's not as many women climbing telephone poles and, you know, fixing wires. so what. that means they don't want to. the opportunities are there.

but these radical feminists are seeking absolute equality. and the "vagina monologues" - i mean, it's a mystery to me. i've spoken with a number of them, brian, and said, "how does this empower women, when it is so embarrassing, when it is so vulgar?" "well, because women need to be proud of their anatomy." well, you know, i'm proud of it, but i don't have to talk about it on a stage in the most vulgar, grotesque terms. >> as you know, back in the '30s, clare boothe luce wrote not only a broadway play, but it turned into a movie. and it was called "the woman." >> yes. >> or "the women," excuse me. here's an excerpt. this goes back to 1939. >> right. >> ha, ha! i've had two years to grow claws, mother. jungle red! >> say, who are you to laugh, my pet? i've made good with my husband. >> a fancy way to talk to me after all i've done for you. >> oh, ho. done what? >> you didn't know a soul when you married steven. after all, it wasn't easy to

put you over. >> steven's fed up with you, crystal. in your heart you know it. >> take my advice. you should put your mind on your alimony. >> alimony! with what steven can get, i knew he won't have to give you a dime. >> you know --

>> h that movie? >> h >> oh, yes, many times. it's been redone, but it's not - it doesn't have the impact now, and i'll tell you why in a reason - but tell you why in a minute. but she got the idea for the play, she was in a ladies' room - a stall - and the women were gossiping outside. and she got the idea of doing a play that was all women, no men, although the play is all about men, but they're just not in the movie. now, there was a redo of it recently with some very fine actresses. but the core of this movie is divorce, and the scandal of divorce. well, it's not a scandal anymore. so, to redo it in modern terms - i mean, there's so many divorces. we still don't, you know, encourage divorces. but it's so different from when this was done, you know, 60 years ago that -- >> well, let's watch the trailer for the 2008 version. >> ok. >> i heard what happened. i ordered you a gimlet. i know. you don't drink in the

afternoon. but you will eventually, so why not start now? >> steven, what if i cooked us a romantic dinner tonight? >> the big, white square thing with the fire coming out of it is the stove. >> she's here, in a dressing room across the hall. >> what? >> now, i'm giving you permission to behave badly. you go in there and kick her ass. >> mary is a friend of ours, so you'd better stop it. stop it! >> i am so sorry that i won't be able to stay longer, but my water just broke. >> i know they must have tried hard, but it just didn't have

the original movie's themes and lessons. and yet, people are drawn to this movie - men and women - because it's all about women and interactions between women. and there's good women in there, and not so good women. and mrs. luce really understood dynamics like that, personal dynamics. and that's why the play is still being done in community theaters, and keep trying to redo the movie. the original was the best. she was a remarkably insightful woman into people. and she had a marvelous sense of humor. and that play was just - that was a remarkable play, all women. >> now, how do you know what the other side thinks? where do you - what do you watch to stay on -- >> well, i get on the mailing lists. i look at their web sites. i watch abc, nbc, cbs. and, you know, the liberal, left-wing, feminist women are everywhere in the popular culture and the mass media.

it's not hard to miss them. it's the conservative women you've got to search out, most times. so, it's not hard to be a liberal. you know, you can almost be a liberal by osmosis just sitting still, because it's all around us. >> how are you treated? i mean, have you had examples of where you've been treated badly when you would go on one of these shows? >> you know, primarily, i promote the other women. i'm delighted to be here and so honored you would ask me. but i don't do that much tv, except to the extent that it's our events. we promote these great1 women speakers that we have - ann coulter, michelle malkin, bay buchanan. and we get them out as much as we can. and all of them can certainly hold their own. but there's definitely a bias against conservative women. we find this with the girls we work with at school. jenny lehman from rutgers university, a wonderful intern we had. she went in for her senior thesis and said, "i want to write about great conservative women." and her professor at rutgers - probably the most feminist college in the u.s. - said, "there are no conservative women leaders." this is a fact.

well, we helped her. she fought. she wrote her thesis. she got an honors grade. but there's this prevailing view that you can't really be a successful woman and be a conservative. and that is all over colleges and universities all over this country. >> let me go back to, though, your just recent example. you said she fought and she then wrote it, and got an honors grade in it. >> she did. >> but was that by the same professor? >> it was. and the lesson there is that you can stand up if - you can just cave. it's easier. it's easier just to cave, get through school, get you're a's. but if you choose - and a lot of the young women we work with choose to do it, to stand up and fight the fight. you have to pick your battles, because some professor is going to give you an f. but in this case, she assessed that, if she stood up and fought, she might win, and she would feel so empowered by doing that. and she did. and she went on to go to law school and to do great things. and sometimes one little thing in your life - for me, when i was a senior in college, i put on a lecture at my school. i had not really done an event

before. it was not tremendously well attended. i brought in this conservative. it was the youth against mcgovern group. and it was tremendously empowering just to do one little thing like that. we had monica crowley last week. we have a woman of the year award. we gave it to her. she talked about how much - she was in college. she wrote one letter to president nixon. she liked a book that he had done. and that one letter - we're going to have her speech up on our web site, too - but changed her whole life. sometimes just one small thing - standing up, speaking out, writing something, disagreeing - it gives you a sense of empowerment when you're an isolated, young conservative. and that's what we encourage women to do. not everybody's meant to stand at the podium and give a speech. but there are things that every woman can do and in some capacity to promote conservative ideas. >> you wrote this - it's on your web site - back in 2002. it may have been a speech, but it's - i'll read it. "for a total of seven years straddling the '80s and the

'90s, i was an "ed fed," starting with work for president reagan at the federal department of education in 1981. in an attempt to carry out his campaign pledge to abolish the department - which was justified then and now - even the washington post, by no means a reagan ally, acknowledged in the 1994 editorial, there is a lot of right about considering whether certain cabinet departments deserve to be abolished. america's schools are not noticeably better because the department of education was created." do you remember the budget for the department of education the first year you were there? >> you know, a few billion. and what is it now? >> seventy-one. >> yes. >> but at least that's the call for the next - this year. >> ronald reagan had it right. you don't cut things, you abolish them. he tried to abolish education and energy. he said, the closest thing to eternal life on earth is a federal program - a federal agency in this case. they just grow and grow and grow. and under president obama - lord help us, lord help us - it's probably grown by 50 percent under president obama. education - the education of our children, k to 12 - and in colleges - is a function, k to

12, of state and local government. some people would argue only government. these folks in washington at the federal department of education - i had good friends, i know them, they try to do well - they don't have a clue about what somebody out in topeka needs. and so, the money all comes into the federal government. it goes through thousands and thousands of many well- intentioned, but bureaucrats, who don't have a clue. and then, in little drips and drabs goes back, directed the way washington wants it to. that's crazy. that's a crazy way to run our schools. it's a small amount of the money, tremendous control over what goes on. >> ok, $71 billion. george bush has probably, other than barack obama, increased it the most. >> yes. >> significantly. from my memory, it was something like $7 billion to $36 billion. >> right. >> he was a conservative. or was he? >> not on that he wasn't. i think -- >> but why, if so many people in the republican conservative movement want to shut down the education department, why didn't

they do it when they had a chance? >> well, i'd say that most of bush's education department was not staffed with conservatives. and many of his advisors were, but some were not. i know with president reagan, you know, why didn't we abolish it like you wanted? well, there's - a president can only do so many things. and president reagan's number one thing was defeating the soviet union. and so, you picked your battles. he cut taxes, he defeated the soviet union, he did a couple things. but it wasn't something that bush worked well on, and he was wrong on it. his no child left behind was a disaster as far as i'm concerned. they meant well. it's like, you ought to have effective reading. yes, but we don't want the federal government telling schools what their reading program ought to be. of course they ought to do better with reading. but it was a disappointment. and president bush did a lot of good things, like i said. he kept the country safe. but his spending and his failure to make any changes in this federal growth in education were a bitter disappointment to many people. >> on the web site of the

department of education there are funding highlights for this next fiscal year. and i just want to read maybe a couple, but ask you what's wrong with this. provides $1.35 billion to expand race to the top for school districts, as well as states, to carry out systemic reform; and $500 million to continue the investing and innovation program to test, validate and scales up effective approaches to student learning. what's wrong with that? >> well, it's not the federal government's role to be doing that in schools. a lot of money - if you talk to good teachers in schools and they're honest with you, they'll say, well, we do this, because we got a federal grant to do that. but i'd rather be spending money on this, this and this. they can't possibly know in washington what's good for children in all the individual schools all over the country. and a lot of the money goes to pay salaries of state department of education workers. obama's done a tremendous amount of that, using money to retain jobs of government employees at all different levels, who were great

contributors to his campaign, instead of forcing the states to cut back, like every business, like every family has had to do, during this recession, which has got so much worse under obama. the states were fat and happy for the last year on the - nobody was getting laid off, even though all over the country things were tightening. so, a lot of that money from the department goes for salaries of people who run the federal programs in education, that the people in the local schools really would rather not have. they'd rather spend money - their own money - doing other things. >> let's go back to what we were talking about in the beginning, about your board and your husband's board for the young america's foundation, and the connection with frank donatelli. this is not - it's going to sound like it's negative about frank donatelli. it has nothing to do with him, other than we see this so often in this town. he is a lobbyist. and he represents a lot of big corporations, including health care groups. but he straddles all these

different non-profit 501c3 groups. and we see it on the left and on the right, where people are involved and making lots of money off this town. is there anything wrong with this? >> well, he's not making any money off of us, that's for sure. >> i know. but that's not my point. he gets connections, though, through you. >> right now he's running gopac, and he's an attorney. frank is a good conservative. and he's on my board, because he's an old friend who is loyal, and who will always tell me the truth. and because he has extensive knowledge of policy and non- profit governance. >> yes. take his name out of it. i just mentioned him, because he's on your board, he's on your husband's board. he was there in the early days. all through his life he's been involved in politics. but people outside of this town look into it and say, there's just too much of this going on. >> right, right. reagan named frank as his political director at the white house. he's a good, solid person. you know, the lobbying question is an interesting one. when the government controls so much of what goes on in washington, people are going to have lobbyists.

the answer is not to attack the lobbyists. the answer is to cut the government, cut the programs. let people keep their own money. let businesses do what they want. the government grows and grows and grows, and oh, well, we'll just let whatever goes on in washington happen. no. you're going to hire people who are going to represent your interests. the problem is the size of government, not the lobbyists. >> how do you know you're gaining on it? in the whole - i mean, how do you let a contributor - say one of those $100,000 contributors - how do you make them happy, and so they'll come back next year? >> well, we use stories of students that we've spent time with, we've worked with, how they've changed, how their lives have changed, how they've made a huge impact on their campus or later in their life. i think we can say, generally, the campuses have become more conservative on issues like life. they're certainly turning it on president obama, from what i've seen. i think we're having great success. i think we're having success with women. when you look at - look at our calendar, great american conservative women.

and the conservative women are being highlighted and celebrated now. when you look on the television, when you look on talk radio, there are more conservative women leaders out there than there used to be, and they're acknowledged. so, we talk about our successes. and then we say, we've got a long way to go, especially when it comes to college campuses and the bias that young women, the young conservatives face there. >> why did you pick - was it briarcliff? >> yes. >> where is it located? >> it's a women's college that went out of business. it's embarrassing to say. but it was in the '70s when less and less women were wanting to go to women's colleges. and i always say it was a victim of federal government, because they had these big federal grants. and briarcliff took them, and it built some new dorms and buildings and was saddled with these huge mortgages. and then when the number of girls that wanted to go to girls' colleges went down, they couldn't cut it. if they hadn't taken the federal money, they probably could have survived.

but it was a good little college. i graduated in '72, before the radical feminists had really become strong. but to me, i always - i remember watching them at college burning their underclothes. i don't know if you remember, back in the '70s that was a symbol of their empowerment. and i always thought, what a silly bunch of people. but actually, the truth is, my dad chose briarcliff. i probably would have gone to some co-ed school somewhere. but he thought it was a good environment for me, and somewhat protected, good academics. and you know what? he was right. it was good for me. >> did you get a master's? >> i got a b.a. and then, when i came to washington, i went to law school and got a j.d. i did that at night. >> what law school? >> american university. graduated in '80. one conservative professor in my four years of night law school. what a tremendous disservice to students, to have all the legal issues and the legal policy discussed from a left-wing point of view. it's outrageous.

the money they collect from students to have such lack of intellectual diversity. >> but let me ask you this. you've never changed your views about being a conservative. >> no. i think i've become stronger in ways through experience and -- >> but in front of all the left- wing media that you say is abc, nbc and cbs. and then, in spite of going to american university, in spite of living in washington, d.c., you're still a conservative. what makes you think that the rest of the people can't hang in there and keep their own views? >> well, i think that when i was younger, i had some special encouragement. it wasn't from a group like clare boothe luce, but it was from some people that really cared about me and encouraged me to be outspoken, to step up, to speak out. what young people need is encouragement. and actually, ever since i met my husband, to be honest, he's always been my biggest fan. our first date we went out in new york to see "young winston." it was a movie with simon ward. i remember he said, i want lots and lots of medals. he was going down to south

africa to the boer war. and we came out, and we went to dinner. and i said, you know, what a great movie. he said, "why don't you write a review?" i said, "i've never written a review." but i wrote a review, and it was published. and it's wonderful to have somebody who is always pushing you to do what you can do. and i had some of that with my husband. i had a couple of other people that helped me when i was younger. that's what we do at clare boothe luce. people need encouragement, because all the dynamics are just to sit quiet and to go along. that's easy to do. >> how long are you going to do this? >> well, i'm 60 this year, but i feel good. and there's so much work to be done. and we've had such a wonderful response from our supporters. i have a wonderful board, a strong, supportive board that comes up with great ideas. we meet a couple of times a year. we've got a great staff. you know, there's been tough times. these are good times. we're growing. i mean, obama and his socialistic ideas of, you know, the government running the car

companies and the banks, and deciding salaries. this is a life lesson in congress right now for conservatives. so, i want to do this as long as i can. but the one thing i'm going to be absolutely sure is, when the time comes to step aside, i'm going to have a number of wonderful replacements for my board to select from. >> michelle easton, president of clare boothe luce policy institute, we're out of time. and we thank you very much. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> coming up next, your calls and comments on today's "washington journal." we will bring you coverage of the u.s. house with general speeches after that. >> sees bed, our public affairs content is available on television, radio, and online and you can connect with this on twitter, facebook, and youtube and sign up for our scheduled alerts e-mails @ c-span.org. >> this morning, we will talk about the week ahead in congress.