process. since we regulate banks, it's really not something we view adversely. it's, so, i think where there's a judicial process for foreclosure, that's what banks need to follow. whether national or state charted banks. if they were rules not followed, that needs to be fully remediated before they move forward. sheila bair. thank you for being on "newsmakers". we will be right back with our guest reporters. we're become with our reporters deborah solomon. what do you hear? >> i think it was interesting her views on what's systemic. she's really seems to see interconnectedness as the linchpin. she's looking at, and another

folks seem to be looking, if the firm goes down, where do the tentacles expand to. that determines whether the company is systemic or if they have counter parties in europe and in asian. it's really how far do their tentacles spread into the financial sector. in today's world. isn't everything interconnected? >> that's a huge issue. so many firms are interconnected. a hedge fund that does a lot of swaps with participants around the county, they would have a bigger impact because people start calling their positions, they would be unable to make good on their decisions.

i can guarantee there's going to be a lot of lobbying. i think this needs to happen fairly quickly. the firms say they need to know if they're going to be designated as systemic. they put a request out for comment. get your comments in quickly because they plan to move fast >> tom, what did you hear from the chairman? >> i think it was interesting. she was quite frank in the problems of the neweraa -- new era of regulation. she is obviously has issues her partners. we haven't reached the holy grail.

given she's at the fdic, is she as equal partner? >> she perhaps would rank behind the treasury sector. unlike previous fdic chairman, she's right up there in the mix. tom and deborah, thank you for being on news makers. >> thank you. >> c-span's coverage of 2010 election. live coverage begins at seven pimm eastern and live at 10:00 p.m. that's here on c-span. >> q and a tonight. justice steven breyer.

>> it's sometimes hard to avoid your basic values, how you see the country. how you see the relationship, between law and the average person in this country. what you think law is about approximate. those basic fundament legal and political values, i think are part of you and they will sometimes influence an approach where the question is very open, and where it admits to that find of thing. >> supreme court steven breyer and his new book don't on c-span >> on friday. ben bernanke made a case to boost the economy. speaking on the monetary policy conference. mr. bernanke said there are

reasons to act. this is about 30 minutes. >> good morning. the topic of this conference, the formulation in a low inflation is timely indeed. brings inflation under control was the biggest issues. increased independence from short term political influences central banks have largely achieved that goal. in turn, the progress have increased the predict of the

economic environment and improvements in economic performance. in emerging markets that have suffered very high inflation. that credibility further supported stability ask confidence. retaining that credibility is of utmost importance. after a period of higher inflation was a landmark decision. in the 1980's-1990's, lower was always better. during those years, how quickly should inflation be reduced? some the center bank be proactive or opportunistic? as the average inflation levels

increased, it became more complex. following may 2003 meeting said it was a water shed. further this inflation would be "unwelcome". the risks to stability have become two sided. central banks for the first time in many decades had to take seriously inflation can be too low or too high. a second policy decision arising from the fact that low inflation generally implies low interest rates. because the short term policy enter rate cannot be reduced below 0, the federal serve and other banks have employed nonstandard policies that do not rely on reductions in the

interest rate. we are still learning with the efficacy and management of these alternative tools. in the remainder of my remarks, i will discuss these in the current policy and economic developments. i will comment on the activity and inflation namely,the longer judged most consistent with maxim maximum credibility. the committee must associate the costs and risks with the use of nonconventional stools when they see if it's likely to be beneficially unmet. in cambridge at the committee of

research made this determination. an congress recovery began in the united states in july 2009. following a serious of forceful action by center banks that helped stabilize the financial system and restore more functioning to markets. it reflected a number of factors by efforts by firms to better align with their sales. expansion of monetary continues and a pick up in export growth. however, factors such as fiscal policy can only provide a temporary impetus to recovery. sustained expansion must be driven by growth and final demand. including consumer spending. business and residential investment and net exports.

that hand off is currently under way. with having proved relatively modest, it's less vigorous than we would like. in particular, consumer spending has been inhibited by the painfully slow recovery in the labor market. and has raised uncertainty about job security and employment prospects. since june, private sectors have only added 80,000 workers to growth. it will depend on the pace of job creation, on household ability to improve their situation.

savings rates are up from pre-crisis levels. while debt and debt service payments have declined relative to increase. stronger balance sheets should provide the confidence and wherewithal to increase their spending. with that said, progress has been uneven as the process of balance sheet repairs remains impeded. household finances and attitudes have an important influence on the housing market. reduced house prices. the over hang of forclosed properties remains a significant

drag. in the business sector, business sentiment suggests that growth and spending on equipment and software has slowed relative to its rapid pace earlier this year. investment continues to contract reflecting stringent investing. the ability of credit to finance business operations remains quite uneven. generally speaking, large firms in good financial situations can obtain credit easily and large firms hold large balance sheets. bank-dependent firms reflecting in part weaker balance sheets.

as well as tight lending terms on the part of banks. the federal reserve and other regulators have made significant efforts to improve the environment for small business and we have seen positive signs. in particular, banks are reportedly becoming proactive in seeking out credit-worthy borrowers. although the pace of recovery has slowed in recent months and will be modest in the next term, the pick up of growth remain in place. stronger household finances, and pent up demand for consumer durable goods should contribute to a faster face household spending. driven by rising sales and need

to replace worn out software. in the public sector, they have started to recover which should allow their spending to increase gradually. the combination of fiscal stimulus is expected to decline. but no so quickly as to derail the recovery. continued solid expansion with our economies of trading partners should support foreign sales and growth in the united states. although out put growth should be stronger in 2011 than recently, growth next year seems unlikely to be above the long-term trend. if so, then net job creation may not exceed in the labor force and the unemployment really will

decline slowly. high rates of unemployment impose a heavy burden on the unemployed and their families. more broadly, prolonged high unemployment would hinder the sustainability of recover. let me turn now to inflation. they have been trending downward. for example, so called core personal consumption have declined from 2.5% annual rate to an annual rates of 1.1 % inn the first 8 months of this year. the overall pce price inflation

rate has been highly volatile because of fluctuations. the significant moderation in price increases has been widespread as is evident from various measures that exclude the consumer price index. . in a related measure. the median has increased slowly. by substantial slack in resources. the unemployment rate remains about five percentage points above the rate just before the

financial crisis. engaging the magnitude of prevailing, it's essential to consider the extent to which structural factors relate to unemployment. it may be arised such as barriers to worker mobility. or those that employers require are hindering unemployed individuals from finding new jobs. the recent behavior in unemployment vacancies given the number of people looking for work is suggestive of some increase in the level of structure unemployment. on the other hand, we see little evidence that the re-allocation of workers is particularly pronounced to other periods of

recession. suggesting the pace of structure change is not greater than normal moreover, many economists contribute to the flexibility of the u.s. labor market. overall, it's attributal to the sharp action in the economic climate and the short fall of aggregate demands. public's expectation also influences. it has been stable in the wake of financial crisis, for example, the median projection for personal consumption

expenditures over the next typeset- ten years show its stable. in the financial markets, measures of inflation compensation computed between yields and treasury securities have moved down on net this year but remain within their historical arranges. continuing to restain cost pressures, it seems likely they will remain subdued for come time. to evaluate policy choices to the public. it's essential not only to forecast the economy. but to compare that forecast to the objectives of policy. clear communication about the monetary policy is beneficial at all times but particularly

important in a time of low inflation such as the present. improving the public's understanding helps households and firms make more inform decisions. it can help bolster the banks ability to adverse shock. the to foster maximum employment. to explain these goals plays a crucial role on our monetary strategy. on the one hand, a central bank in the short run without regard to other considerations might

well generate unacceptable levels of unemployment. on the other hand, a single-minded notion without attention to other factors could lead to more frequent and deeper slumps and little benefit to inflation performance. recognizing the efforts. the fmoc has found it useful to frame this mandate in the longer term of sustainable inflation. the longer sustainable rate of unemployment is the rate the economy can maintain without -- as well as for movements are workers between jobs in and out of the labor force.

it's greater than than 0. similarly, the inflation rate is not necessarily 0 either. a modestly positive inflation rate is most consistent with our dual mandate. to reach for above 0 is shared by all banks. including upward biases with inflation. the rational, maintaining an inflation buffer greater than 0 allows and gives the federal reserve greater latitude to stimulate economic activity and

employment. a modestly positive inflation rate shows the economy could fall into inflation and lead to significant economic problems. although attaining the long rate of unemployment and the rate of inflation are key objectives in monetary policy. they are different in nature. whereas monetary policy makers can determine the rate of inflation. they have little or no control over-- over the inflation rate. while they can choose the number to target, the sustainable unemployment rate is subject to financial uncertainty.

moreover, the fundamental determinants change. generally implies it should remain constant. such as a change in the methods for measuring. since the fall of 2007, we have published the fcp. it provides summary statistic and a narrative for the growth rate of real domestic product, the unemployment rate over the next calendar years. they have always included

information about fomc participants longer run for the rates of economic growth and inflation to which the economy is expected to converge over time. because these projections are made in the absence of further shocks, by definition they respond to the federal reserve's objectives. and economic growth, unemployment and inflation corresponding to the potential growth rate and the mandate consistent rate of inflation. the most recent release was in june. i will refer to those here. noting that new projections will be released in early november. the longer run inflation show

they judged the inflation rate to be about 2% or a bit below. in contrast. recent readings have been approximately one %. thus in affect, inflation is running too low relative to the level that the committee judges it to be too low. the constraint is too tight. the short term interest rate is too high and the risk of deflation is high. in light of recent decline in inflation, the degree of slack in the economy and the relative stability of inflation

expectations. it's reasonable to forecast, setting aside the short run volatility will be less than mandated for some time. they are uncertain and must be regular regularly dated with new information. they had a central tendency 1/4 percentage point higher and otherions were higher. the diversity of the views reflects the characteristics i spoke of earlier. with the actual unemployment rate of 10%. it's too high relative to the

sustainable rate. with output rate modest. high unemployment is going to persist for some time. there would appear all else being equal, there to be a case for further action. however, as i indicated earlier, one of the implications of low inflation environment, policy is constrained. the federal reserve reduced this to a range of 0-25 basis points almost two years ago. it's certainly possible with with the over night rate at close to 0. but nonconventional policies must be take into account. for example, the means of

providing additional stimulus would be to expand the federal reserve's holdings. it was successful in bringing down longer term interest rates and thereby supporting the economic recovery. a similar program conducted by the bank of england has also appeared to have had such benefits. however possible costs must be weighed. one disadvantage relative to conventional monetary policy, we have much less experience in judging the economic effects. which makes it challenging to communicate the policy response to the public. these factors have dictated that the fmoc proceed with caution in deciding to engage in the purchase of long-term

securities. the further expansion of balance sheet could accommodate a smooth change at the appropriate time. such a reduction might lead to an undesired increase to a level above the committee's objective. to address such concerns and ensure to withdraw an accommodation, we have developed new tools. . .

>> at least without a more comprehensive framework in place it may be difficult to convey the committee's policy and intentions with sufficient decision and -- the committee will continue to actively review its strategy with the goal of providing as much clarity as possible about its outlook, its policy object he ises and

strategies. the f. 1 c -- if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation over time to levels consistent with our mandate. of course, in considering possible future actions, the f. 1 c will take account of the potential risks and costs of nonconventional policies and as always the committee's actions are contingent on incoming information about the economic outlook and financial conditions. thank you for your attention. i hope you have a great conference. [applause] >> c-spans' coverage of the 2010 continues today with debate for the senate seat in kentucky. live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. live at 10:00 p.m. eastern democrat patty murray faces republican dino rossi in the

washington senate debate. that's here on c-span. >> q and a tonight, justice stephen breyer. >> it's sometimes hard to avoid your basic values, how you see the country, how you see the relationship between law and the average person in this country, what you think law is about, your basic fundamental legal and political values i think are part of you and they will sometimes influence an approach where the question is very open and where it admits to that kind of thing. >> supreme court justice stephen breyer and his new book tonight on c-span. >> now former secretary of state condoleeza rice on her life growing up in the segregated south and beyond. she's the author of a new memoir entitled "extraordinary ordinary people" a memoir of family. this national press club

luncheon is just over a hour. >> we're the world's leading professional organization for journalists and are committed to our profession's future through our programming and by fostering a free press world wide. for more information about the press club please visit our web site at www.press.org. for more information on joining the national press club, please visit www.press.org/library. on behalf of our members worldwide, i'd like to welcome our speaker and attendees at today's event which include guests of our speaker as well as working journalists. i'd also like to welcome our c-span and public radio

audiences. after the speech concludes i will ask as many audience questions as time permits. i'd now like to introduce our head table guests. from your right, heather forskrin weaver, currently a journalist working on contract with the defendant department. jan king, recording secretary for the book and author committee of the national press club and author of 26 humor and wellness books. andrea stone, senior correspondent for aol news and politics daily and a member of the club speaker's committee, suzanne serglinsky national press secretary for the national resources defense council. die anne -- national reporter for u.s.a. today. jamila bay, freelance journalist and chair of the club's freelance committee. andrea snyder, associate editor for kiplinger washington editors and the chair of the national

press club speaker's committee. skipping or speaker for the moment, myron bellkind -- he's the member of the speaker's committee who organized today as luncheon. dorothy gilliam, director of the prime media mover's program at george washington school of media and republic affairs and a former columnist at the "washington post." he's she's this year's recipient of the lifetime achievement award. peggy simpson, a writer for the women's media center web site. earlier in her career she covered the women's movement -- al young of the boston globe. al is in town this weekend to atten the club's annual nonmember's club weekend and we're happy to have him here. and finally john clark, chair of the book and author committee and an attorney in washington, d.c. who specializes in historic preservation law. thank you.

[applause] the parents of today's speaker two early goals for her. in dr. rice's words "my mother was as determined to raise a musician as my father was to cultivate a sports fan. they succeeded on both counts. her mother bought her her first piano when she was three months old. she went on to be recognized as an accomplished pianist. she also lived up to her father's hopes. in fact she says for better or worse, the cleveland browns are my team. [laughter] >> today condoleezza rice is speaking to us and discussing her memoir, "extraordinary ordinary people, a memoir of family." her book tells the highly personal life story of someone who grew up in birmingham, alabama, which rice describes as the most segregated big city in america, where one of her childhood friend with whom she played dolls was among four young girls killed when a ku klux klan bomb exploded in a church in 1963.

she united states of how she went on to become the first black woman and the youngest to be provost at stanford university at age 38, how she was the first woman to be national security advisor to the u.s. president and the second woman and the first african-american woman to be secretary of state. throughout her book she pays tribute to her family, especially to her parents, john and angelina rice, for building a good learning environment for her, starting by reading stories to her every night until she was able to read herself. her book end with a presidential election of 2000 when she became president george w. bush's national security advisor and dr. rice, we look forward to your return here when you write the memoir of those years. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the national press club condoleezza rice. [applause] >> thank you very much. i'd like to thank allen for that wonderful introduction.

and thanks very much to the leadership of the national press club for inviting me here. i just have to say that myron is in large part responsible. we were neighbors at the watergate. and every time in the lobby he said you just have to come to the national press club. well, i've actually moved back to california but i'm glad to finally be here, myron. well, it is indeed a pleasure to be back in washington. i've now been out of office for quite a long time. and i have to say i'm getting very accustomed to reading the newspaper and being able to say, "oh, isn't that interesting" and not thinking that i have to do anything about what's in it. but i've been very busy as a professor at stanford university, will have been my home now for almost 30 years. next year it will be 30 years that i was at stanford university and teaching. and i've been writing. and the book that i have just finished is a memoir of family, "extraordinary ordinary people" and i thought i might spend just a few minutes talking to you about why i wrote that book and

what i hope it says about my own experiences and what i hope it says also about the united states of america. when you're coming to the end of eight years, fairly turbulent years, and you reflect on those years and you think about what you might like to say about them, it's natural to try to place one's own life in perspective in these big historical circumstances. and i will in fact write about those eight years. but i continued with each implausible vent during that period of time, whether it was negotiating with palestinians and israelis or stepping off a plane that simply said the united states of america or walking into the inner sang tum of the kremlin, long time soviet specialist and sitting with vladimir putin or others, as each implausible event unfolded, each implausible episode, i kept being drawn back to the question that people very often ask me: how in the world did a little girl from birmingham, alabama

end up here? and i always said to people in answer to that question, "in order to know the answer to that question you had to know john and angelina rice." and so this book is really their story -- my story wrapped in their story. you did have to know my parents. you had to know that they were in many ways ordinary people. my mother was a schoolteacher. in fact, she was first english teacher and later on a science teacher. as an english teacher one of her students was willie mace. i was talking to him not too long ago. he said oh, yes, i remember miss ray she was called in those days really well. she told me, son, you're going to be a ball player. and if you have to leave school a little early to practice you go right ahead. [laughter]

>> and he quite appreciated that. but my mother, this wonderful schoolteacher, was also such a lady, a southern belle, a southern lady who herself never picked up a ball or bat of any kind and rather found my tomboy tendencies a little bit unnerving. but she was a musician. and she was somebody who believed fundamentally that the acts belonged to everyone. and so throughout her extraordinary career as a teacher, she had her kids in the poorest of schools involved operettas, they put on music by lizst. one year they put on portiony and bess. she believed in the power of the arts and she passed that onto me. in fact my name condoleeza is because my mother wanted her child to have a musical name. now be sure had i been born a boy i was going to be named john after my father, but my mother found condoleeza, meaning "with sweetness" and gave her daughter a musical name.

she was a wonderful latex but in some ways quite an ordinary person. -- she was a wonderful lady. my father too was ordinary. he was a presbyterian minister who also was a high school guidance counselor at olman high school in birmingham, alabama, a school whose prince by the way, was the uncle of alma powell, colin powell's wife a man named george bell. he was a basketball player and football player and coached those sports as well. but he too was an ordinary person. he had ordinary profession as my mother did. and so these people who never between them made more than $60,000 in their life, somehow managed nonetheless to give me every educational opportunity. as a matter of fact, every opportunity that could be remotely called educational, they gave it to me. and in that way they were

extraordinary. they were extraordinary, too, in the context of birmingham, alabama. birmingham, alabama was indeed the most segregated big city in america. and when my parents were growing up there, of course the harsh racism of that place could have been racism that simply crippled them and kept them down. but they like their parents before them believed fundamentally that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you could control your response to your circumstances. there were no victims in their community and in mine. there were no excuses. yes, you had to be twice as good, but it was set not at a matter of debate, just as a matter of fact. and that armored them from the sense that they did not control their lives. now, they were bred to that, too, by their parents. and my mother's parents sent all

five of their kids to college. but the story of my grandfather on my father's side is one that still amazes. me. and it says a little bit about who the rices and the rays were. you see, john wesley rice sr. was a share cropper's son in utah, that would be eutaw, i'm not kidding, alabama. and when he was a young man of about 19 he decided that he wanted to get book learning in college. and he asked people how a colored man might go to college. and so they said, well, you see, there's this little presbyterian school called spellman college. it's about 30 miles from there. you could go there. so he saved up and went to spellman college. after he finished his first year they said to him, well, how are you going to pay for your second year? he said i'm out of cotton and out of money. they said you're out of luck. he said how are those boys going to college? they said to him, well you see, they have what's called a

scholarship. and if you wanted to be a presbyterian minister then you could have a scholarship, too. my grandfather said that's exactly what i had in mind. [laughter] >> and my family has been college-educated and presbyterian ever since. [laughter] >> john wesley rice sr. was an educational e advantagist. and -- vang it. and he -- evangelist. and he passed that spirit on to his son and his daughter-in-law who believed firmly in the importance of education. and perhaps what's especially important in birmingham, alabama, which had such a hard edge. many of the stories in this book try to recall for people the civil rights period, the period in which america finally came to terms with its racist past and birmingham came to terms with that. but i try to do it from the

perspective not of the great civil rights leaders that we know but from the perspective of a little family, three of them, living in the midst of it all in womenning ham, alabama. it could be a place where the middle class could control in many ways the messages that their kids got. we had our own ballet lessons, we had our own piano lessons, we even had a little club called tops and teens where we took etiquette lessons so we knew which is fork to use. you might think that wasn't actually very useful information but i was certainly glad at my first white house dinner that i had had that training. but birmingham was not just a place of tops and teens and ballet lessons, it was of course a very harsh place, too. my parents felt that in many ways my father in 1952 went with my mother -- they were not yet married -- to try and get register today vote. and my mother, who was very

fair-skinned and very beautiful, was asked by the pole tester if she knew who the first president of the united states was. and she said yes, george washington. he said fine. you go and register. and then he looked at my dark-skinned and somewhat intimidating father. my father was a big man. and he said, "how many beans are in that jar? hundreds of beans were in that jar and my father could not count them. and he was devastated. and he went back. and an old man in his church said to him, you know what, reverend, i know how to get you registered. he said there's a woman down there, a clerks he said and she's a republican. and she will register anybody who will say they're republican. [laughter] >> so my father went down. he registered as a republican. and he was a lifelong republican the rest of his life. [laughter] [applause] but as much as birmingham was a

place in which one occasionally met racism -- because one of the things i tried to do with this book is to show that from the per spect respective of a family it didn't intrude every day. we went to church. we had our lessons. people got married. it intruded -- racism and violence -- in a major way in birmingham in 1962 and 1963 when birmingham would come to be known as bombingham. bombs went off in neighborhoods all the time. i can't remember coming home one night with my parents. we'd visited my grand parents. and a bomb just as we were pulling up to the door. and in those days you knew what it was. so we got in the car and we started to drive away. my mother said to my father, where are you going? he said i'm going to go to the police. she said why are you going to do that? they probably set it off. that lets you know that for birmingham, for birmingham

citizens, black citizens, there was no law on their side. and in many ways they felt they had to take it into their own hands. we by the way drove to my grandparents house instead. but on a sunday morning in september of 1963 when we had just arrived at my father's church there was again a loud explosion. and this time we thought it might be in the community, but in ran a woman who was at the church and said that 16th street church had been bombed, baptist church had been bombed. and a little later word came that four little girls had been killed. and not long after that the names of those four little girls were known. and among them were girls that i knew, especially denise mcnair, who had gone to my father's kindergarten and with whom i played dolls. and there's a picture in the book of my father handing denise mcnair her kindergarten graduation certificate when she was six. it was a sad and terrifying day

for the children of birmingham and their parents. and i just remember my father sitting on the front porch that night, in the september heat, with a shotgun on his lap. later he would organize the men of community into what i think the founding fathers would have called a well-regulated militia so that they could patrol the neighborhood so that night riders could not come through. but birmingham did finally change. the civil rights act of 1964 passed. public accommodations were now open to black. for the first time you could go to a hotel or to a restaurant or to a theater. and i'll never forget the night that it passed. my family loved huntly brinkley. that's what we watched every night. and i remember chet huntly saying, today the civil rights act passed. president johnson has signed it into law. and then the channel 13 anchor, the local anchor came on and he

said, "the so-called civil rights act passed today." so a couple of days after my parents and i decided we were going to go and see if it had really made a difference. and so we went to a restaurant. and we entered the restaurant. and people literally dropped their forks and stopped eating. but somehow they knew that something had changed. they went back to eating. we entered. we were served. no incident. a couple of nights later, though, we went through a drive-in called jack's hamburger. i got my hamburger. i bit into it. i said, something tastes funny. my father turned on the car light. onions. just onions. but birmingham had changed, and birmingham, that birmingham that my family would soon leave it go to tuscaloosa and then denver is today a birmingham in which last several mayors have been black, in which one of the city council members was my friend carol with whom i played, lived across the

street, where eugene bull connor's successor would be successor many times removed would be a black woman, and where when i returned to birmingham as national security advisor and my aunt gave a party for me inviting my childhood friends and my teachers, everyone was black but the caterers were white. [laughter] >> and i said, i said for my aunt, "how did you choose the caterers?" she said "well, i have a little girl in my school whose mother was starting a catering service. i thought i'd give her a chance." a perfectly logical explanation for birmingham in 2003. but for the birmingham that i had known as a child, wholly and completely implausible. and so i hope that this story, as much as it is a story of loving parents, parents who gave me unconditional love and belief in myself, parents and the

community that believed in the transforming power of education, parents who were tireless in their pursuit of every opportunity for their child, and succeeded in giving me an unique and unbelievably wonderful life, i hope that this is also a story that resonates with others, not just about their parents but about what our country can become and has become. after all, i'm not that old to have experienced these things. and yet today we have had back-to-back black secretaries of state and we have a black president of the united states. that says that america is a country that is incredibly adaptable, incredibly able to overcome old and deep wounds and move forward. but it says, too, that it's always done it on a central premise, which is our great national myth, the log cabin.

and a myth isn't something that's necessarily untrue. it's just something that's a little outside. you know, you can come from humble circumstances and you can do great things. it doesn't matter where you came from. it matters where you're going. and then, too, i hope that this story contributes. because what my grandparents and my parents understood was that that is true in america, but only if you are well prepared. and that preparation comes for us mostly in the form of access to education. and there i'll end my story. because my greatest concern today for our country is that for so many of our kids, when i can look at your zip code and tell whether or not you're going to get a good education, that dream that my grandfather took hold of with both fists and delivered to the next generation and the next generation may seem

very, very distant and impossible to grasp. education for the least of our children is at the core of who we are as americans. because we are not united by blood or by ethnicity or by national at. we are not united by religion. we are muslims and jews and protestants and catholics and some of us nothing at all and we're still american. but we are united by that belief that it doesn't matter where you came from, it matters where you're going. if we ever lose the ability to make that true, we will have lost ourselves. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you very much for your time today, dr. rice. we have no shortage of questions for our audience. following your closing remarks, our first question is, education is the most or one of the most important gifts your parents shared with you. considering the cur role do you think parents and teachers should play in reforming and improving the school system? >> i think there is a role both for parents and for teachers. first of all, not every child is going to be as fortunate as i am or perhaps as some of you are to have had parents like mine. but there has to be some adult that advocates for and cares for that kid. maybe it's a teacher, maybe it's a minister, maybe it's a member of the community, but every child needs some adult who says, "you really can achieve that, and don't be held back." but the schools, i fear, have come to the place that we're warehousing too many kids. how can we look at ourselves when you can get to third grade and still not be able to read?

and we know that if you can't read in third grade you're probably not going to read. and so somebody's got to be accountable. i am myself a great defender of teachers. i know that they have the hardest jobs in the world. my mother was a teacher. but if you teach poorly, then learn to teach better or find another profession. because teachers have e normal -- enormous responsibility for the lives that they're shaping. and i hope that accountability for what's happening to our killed ren is going to be at the -- to our children is going to be at the core. because accountability for excellence is what gives children a chance. >> know question, what do you believe is necessary to rebuild the african-american family so that the family success structure you experienced can become the norm. >> i thought a lot about a paradox, which is that with the end of segregation the black community began to split in terms of experiences.

my community had a solid and strong middle class with men at the center of it. and that community then radiated out into poorer communities surrounding us. and now a lot of those middle class black families, even in birmingham, don't live -- live in other middle class and well-to-do enclaves in which there may be no other black. so in a sense those positive role models for kids in poor areas have left the community. and that's very sad. and so i think actually it is the responsibility of those of us first and foremost those of us who benefited from those family values, benefited from that education, to reach back and make sure that we're advocating on behalf of black kids, on behalf of black families, advocating for the proposition that children should not have children, and giving girls in particular a way to avoid what we know is going to

be a dead end. to the degree that a girl has already had a child, i have watched some remarkable programs around this country, particularly in places like community colleges, taking young mothers and giving them a chance to remake their lives. and so there's a lot being done out there that's good. and i think we have a special responsibility to make sure that they succeed. >> you discussed race relations significantly in this address and of course your book largely deals with issues of race. in your book you talk about how in your own case affirmative action helped you get to stanford, not just because you were a black woman but because it motivated the school to recruit someone who wasn't from an elite school. the university of denver. is more of that type of diversity greater cultivation of scholars from nonelite backgrounds needed, whether or not the beneficiaries of affirmative action is a racial or ethnic minority? >> i would hope that we, particularly when it comes to diversify populations, that we

recruit as broadly as possible. it is always a great frustration to me as secretary of state that i could go all day at the state department and never see another person who looked like me in a meeting. for the most ethnically diverse, the biggest ethnic democracy in the world that was a real problem. so i think you have to broaden where you look, broaden your channels, and that means sometimes recruiting in "nonelite places." it also means understanding that people come with different strengths. i'm a great believer for instance in college admissions that you can take a whole range of characteristics into consideration when you're recruiting a class. if you end up recruiting all 1600 s.a.t.'s with straight a's, which you'd could do at a lot of elite universities, you may miss

the great violinist who actually isn't so good in some other aspects. you may miss the great athlete who should be able to do the work but perhaps doesn't look like the profile. so i think we do ourselves a great disservice. diversity in an ethnic sense, diversity in a gender sense, but diversity in a sense of experiences. if we always look in the same place. and that's why i tend to think of affirmative action not as question as, we need 10% of that and 5% of that and 25% of that, but as a clarion call to make sure that you just aren't replicating the same group of people out of the same channels over and over again. it makes the world pretty dull place when you do that. >> our college campuses diverse enough today? compared to the stanford you saw when you were getting your ph.d. has affirmative action run its course? >> stanford is now a very diverse campus. and most of the so-called elite

universities are. and by the way, one challenge for all of these universities is that they are able to recruit on a quote need blind basis, meaning financial aid is available. but as the public schools in some places are not able to produce students who can do the work, we're losing that sense of diversity that is not just ethnic diversity but is class diversity. i always loved standing in front of a stanford class and saying, "that kid is a fourth generation stanford legatee. that child is the child of an itinerant farm worker. and they are pretty soon going to get out of here and the only thing that's going to matter is that they went to stanford. "and i fear that with the problems in the public schools, it's really class diversity that is suffering in our universities. and so yes, it's a much more diverse place. unfortunately, faculties are not that diverse. and that in part speaks to the

fact that many minorities do not go on to graduate school. i used to have to tell my students when they would say, "why aren't you hiring more black faculty or latino faculty?" i would say, "how many of you are going to get a phd? and no hands would go up. and i said i can't create them out of whole cloth. somebody's got to go to graduate school. >> this audience member asks, many among the african-american community viewed you negatively during the bush administration years what they perceived to be your participation in an administration that arguably appeared to be unconcerned about matters that were important to them. do you believe there's any way to repair that perception of the bush administration in the eyes of such critics? >> well, it's funny. someone asked me this a little while ago about the perception of the black community. and i don't know who that community is. because when i go out into whether it's campuses or churches or the grocery store for that matter, overwhelmingly black people thank me for my

service. and so i don't know how to speak for the black community. and that's maybe one line we ought to lose. because i think the black community is very diverse. but as to the record of the bush administration, i know that for reasons that i don't understand it was difficult for people of color to see the president that i knew and that i saw. this was a president who was incredibly proud of the fact that he had won large percentages of the black population and the hispanic population as governor of texas, whose signature achievement from his point of view was improving the achievement gap or narrowing the achievement gap between minority children and majority children, who was -- the reason i was initially attracted to him was not about foreign policy, it had to do with a phrase that i heard him up ter "the soft

bigotry of low expectations." if you're a minority you've felt that soft bigot triof low expectations that that child can't learn and so i'll stop trying. and so i recognized that there was a gap that we were never able to close. but i hope people would actually go back and look at the record. and also look at the fact that this republican president was the president for whom two black secretaries of state served. i know that there was a gap. i wish we could have filled it better. but i believe that record will in the long-term serve him well. [applause] >> have racial relations improved in the barack obama administration? >> well, racial relations im-- have improved over a long period of time. and sometimes they are tested by something that someone says.

one of the things i think we could do in terms of race relations is turn down the volume a little bit on race. there is no more sensitive and more difficult issue in the united states than race because we have the birth defect of slavery, we have the deep wounds of segregation and prejudice, and the worst thing that i think you can say about somebody is that person is a racist. and we throw that epidemic tet around way too -- epithet around way too easily. i would try to give people the benefit of the doubt. maybe they're looking at me and they just don't like me. it may have nothing to do with the fact that i'm black. but i do know that we as a country have come a very, very long way. but as i say in the book, we have come a long way. i no longer believe that race is dispositive in how far you can go. but i also know that this is not a color blind society. that when somebody walks in the door you do see color.

the good thing is, increasingly you don't define then what that person's role is going to be by his or her color. i would just like us -- like to see us recognize that we've come a very long way, recognize that we've got a lot of work to do, give each other a little bit of the benefit of the doubt, and really focus on the issue of race that i think is unresolved. and that's that terrible witch's brew of race and poverty. that's where our efforts ought to be. >> during the president obama's presidential campaign you would hear his ties to former weatherman william moyers. your dad was having stokely car michael over to dinner, and conversing with other black leaders. those issues were not things that seemed to have come up

during your time in the republican party. did it raise any particular eyebrows? and was the association with former weathermen justified in campaigns? >> in campaigns all kind of things get said. we're pretty rough in campaigns. it's kind of the nature of our politics. but i did say in the book that when that was being raised i wondered what people might have thought about some of the people who sat at our table. my father was a great fan -- fan and friend of stokely carmichael's. and in the book i tried to reconcile in some ways how this consecutive presbyterian minister republican who loved his country could possibly have been so attracted to stokely carmichael and some of the black radicals. i know that my father liked to city pot. he loved the contestation of ideas. whether it was in his sermons where he said really controversy things that made middle class congregation blush, or whether it was as an university administrator where he brought a lot of these voices.

but i think, too, there was something more. my dad was a very proud man. and i think he was often probably conflicted. he did a very good job of navigating his way in the white world, tremendous job of it. but there may have been in him -- should have been in him -- some rage or some anger that was attracted to people who took on racism more aggressively and not with a humbleness or with subjogation. when dr. king was marching in birmingham, and my dad lie onized him just like everybody else, but i remember standing in the hallway and he said, "i'm not going out there," he said, "because if somebody comes after me with a billy club" and he meant a policeman, he said "i'm going to try to kill him and then my daughter is going to be

an or fan. "my father was not very attracted to the nonviolent side of meeting violence with nonviolence. and i suspect that somewhere down deep inside he was interested in why others chose different courses. >> your father as mentioned loved to test the limits of intellectual tolerance speakers he invited to the university of denver. how did you test the levels of intellectual tolerance in the bush administration? [laughter] >> well it, might surprise you that there wasn't really intellectual intolerance in the bush administration. we talked about things extremely broadly. and i always felt that i could say anything that i wished to president bush and he wasn't going to hold it against me. and in fact, i tell the story in the book about the one time that i actually publicly went on the record to say that i had disagreed with something that had been done. i'm a believer, by the way, when you're an administration you say your pieced in and then with all

due respect you don't go to the press to say how you had disagreed. but in this case, the university of michigan case, you may remember, on affirmative action, had come up to the supreme court. the administration was going to write an amicus brief. and the question came of whether or not the president would take the side which said that bakki should be overturned, meaning that race could not be a factor in university admissions. and i said to the president that i didn't understand how given that we looked at everything else in the university admissions we would not look at race, which is one of the most important characteristics of americans. and he let me say my piece, and i think it had an effect on his thinking. but the next day in the "washington post" there was a story saying that i had told the president to overturn bakke and i felt i had to set the record straight on that. and i called the president. i said mr. president i need to do this publicly. he was understanding of that and

i did. >> you mentioned that when you're a member of the administration you don't go talk about airing out your disagreements with the press. are there anything you would like to talk about with the press now that you didn't feel you could then? [laughter] >> not particularly. [laughter] >> in your book, because of the time frame in which it is written, there are a lot of topics that people have an interest in that you do not discuss directly in your book, an understanding that you'll be explaining things in more detail later. but one contrast is that this question would like to explore, you speak warmly of your relationship with george h.w. bush in the book. because of where your memoir ends you don't speak as much of george w. bush. could you contrast the two men? >> well, they were of course father and son. and if you contrast yourself to your parent you might just think about that as a straight point, different racials. george h.w. bush, i always felt,

really loved texas but was of the northeast. george bush both loved texas and was of texas. and that says something. but i think more than any particular personal characteristics that were different, they were presidents at very different points in time. and i think if you recognize -- remember, i was in the white house on 9/11, so i was in the white house -- in 1-9. there wasn't any greater thrill than to be the white house specialist at the end of the cold war. it didn't get any better than that. countries were changing their social systems overnight. germany collide completely on western terms. we were on the end of a big historical era. sometimes i would have to remind my that had actually been taken in 1946 and 1947 and 1948 and 1949, and that if anybody had told you in any of those years

when the italian communists won 48% of the vote and french communists 46% of the vote in 1946 or when the soviet union exploded a nuclear weapon five years ahead of schedule, if anybody had told you that on december 25, 1991 the hammer and single was going to com down from the kremlin for the last time, 71 years of communism, never mind, if you'd said that they would have had you committed. so we were at the end of a big historical era where good decisions that over time led to the victory in the cold war. that was the world that george h.w. bush inherited. and his skill and his ability to bring people together and to gently lay the soviet union to rest was a tremendous, tremendous achievement. but george w. bush was of course president in a very different world. and i was also in the white house on 9/11. and 9/11 was the beginning of a

big historical epic, a period in which an enemy that we did not know well, an enemy that had done something unthinkable, attacked the united states with its own planes 3,000 people dead, people jumping out of a 80 story window to try to avoid the inevitable, shadowy networks, a place called afghanistan where they were hiding the thought of a 9/11 with weapons of mass destruction, that was a very different world and a new historical epic. and it took a different kind of leadership, not ending that epic on our terms but beginning it on our terms. and i know that many of the things that we did were yal, and i know that history will judge the degree to which some of them worked. but when i think now about where i was on 11-9 and where i was on

9/11, i can tell you that it's easier, frankly, to be at the end of a historical epic than at the beginning of one. and we're still playing this one out. but i've always thought that differences in the leadership of those two men had more to do with when they were president than who they were. >> defense secretary robert gates, someone who you've known for a long time and worked with and talk add little bit in the book has talked about the iraq war and said accomplishments have come forth from iraq will always be tainted by the reasons for which we went to war and the circumstances under which. is that an opinion that you share? >> well, i haven't exactly seen that quote from bob so i'm not going to comment on a quote that i haven't seen. but i will tell you this. when we went to war in iraq, it was because saddam hussein his a cancer in the region, he had brought the united states into war twice, first in 1990 and

then when president clinton bombed iraq in 1998. every intelligence service in the world thought that he had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. he of course had an infrastructure for them. he had invaded his neighbors. he'd used weapons of mass destruction. he'd put 400,000 of his people in mass graves. he was shooting at our aircraft that were patrolling his aircraft. he was a danger. now, you can argue about whether he was a danger that needed to be dealt with then or later. we decided that he was a danger that needed to be dealt with then. and once you have done that, you need to have a view of what the future is going to look like for the people of iraq. we didn't go to war in iraq to democrat advertise iraq. that's a -- democratize iraq. any more than people went to war

with hitler germany to democrat advertise germ hi. once the war was over you had to have a view of what should follow. and we hoped to help the iraqi people build the first multiprofessional democracy in the arab world the and while they're struggling -- let me tell you we could have done many many things much much better. i don't have any doubt about that. maybe i'll talk about that in the next book and come back and tell you what those were. and i will never be able, any of us, to forget the many, many lives that were lost. but if the iraqis do take the opportunity to build the first multiconfessional arab democracy, where they settle their differences within democratic institutions rather than either by violence or somebody oppressing somebody else, then the middle east is going to be a very different place. because iraq is an important country in the middle east.

and while we are frustrated with them as they wrangle for who's going to be prime minister and who's going to get that post and who's going to get that post, just think about it. what is the conversation we're having about iraq today? it's not about weapons of mass destruction. it's not about invading kuwait. it's not about shooting at american aircraft. it's not about the potential for a nuclear race between mahmoud ahmadinejad and saddam hussein, it's about whether they can find a way to form a government. >> on cold war and security threats, earlier in your book you mention your early memories of the cuban missile crisis and how later you were surprised by the rawness of a later comment you made that fidel castro should pay for it until he dies. cuba seems to be taking some steps toward liberalization. and castro is still much, much older, still very much alive. is it time for castro and by extension the cuban people to stop paying for the cuban missile crisis in. >> well, it's time for the

people of cuba to stop paying for the castro regime. that's what it's time. and i don't see, frankly, that raul castro is going to be the answer to liberalization ultimately in cuba. i would hope that when fidel does die, eventually, that there will be some international support for the beginning of a process for the cuban people to express themselves in a democratic fashion. it was always quite extraordinary to me to go to the organization of american states meetings. and the only country that couldn't take its seat there was cuba because it didn't have an elected president. even hugo chavez was an elected president. and it shouldn't be that in the western hemisphere in the 21st century there is a place where people have no say in who's going to govern them. and so i know it will take time.

i'm not saying that the day after castro -- fidel castro dies there has to be an election. but the international community ought to take an interest in advocating for democratic elections in cuba so that cubans can choose their own leadership. it's high time that that happens. >> another topic you discuss in your book is your faith. give than you are a woman of faith, what part did this play in handling disputes between israel and muslim countries? >> well, it's always hard to know if you're a person as i am of deep faith how to separate out what is faith and what is reason. they work together in ways that are pretty much imperceptible. but i always assumed that role of my faith was to give me a kind of grounding, to help me to be able to ask for guidance, to steady myself in difficult times, and to remember that i'm a part of something larger than

myself. and that's how i saw my faith. when it came to the middle east peace process, i felt that one of the problems in the middle east peace process was to get it to the place that we could deal with it as a split cal problem and a -- political problem and a territorial problem. and to begin to understand that if you deal with it as a religious problem you're not going to solve. it and that for me was most vividly seen when i went to jerusalem for the first time. and you see that jerusalem isn't where the world's great religions come together, it's where the world's great religions clash. and somehow a solution is going to have to understand that jerusalem is a place for all of the children of abraham and then come to a political solution that allows people to govern

themselves. so to the degree that i understood how powerful faith and religion can be in one's life and in one's sense of one's self, i think i understood the intensity of the middle east problem between the israelis and palestinians. but i think the good news is that as a political conflict, and as a territorial conflict, there are a number of possible solutions on the table. and i believe they're going to get there. >> some questions on current events. first dealing with your expertise on russia. what do you think about the reset with russia? and does it pay adequate attentions to issues of democracy and human rates? >> the relationship with russia is always complicated. i think for us relations with russia were actually pretty good. i actually think the russians were extremely helpful in the middle east, extremely helpful on north korea, very helpful on

tir anism. -- terrorism, even helpful on iran. i think they got a bit of a bad rap on iran. because the russians were willing to sign on security council resolutions. they i know sent the right messages to the iranians. so relations were actually pretty good except when it came to issues surrounding the periphery of the former soviet union. if it's about georgia or ukraine or the centrallation states or even poland and the czech republic which are after all in nato now but were in the warsaw pact, that's when it got hard with russia. i think, too, that russia's internal development started to go in a direction that was hard to fathom given that there was hope that russia would become more democratic. but i think to a certain extent we in the west made a mistake, and that goes all the way back into the 90s. you know, for us the 1990's were for russia a period, the golden

age. it was boris yeltsin and democracy and the flourishing of capitalism. and everything in sight was being sold off and auctioned off and privatized. and that's how we sought it. but i went to russia a lot in the early 1990's. and it was a period for most russians of humiliation and deprivation and chaos. and you could go to the old arbot and see an old lady selling half a tea cup because her pension had collapsed. and you could walk down and see mobs of men with machine guns and know that there were drive-by shootings on the main drags. and so when vladimir putin came to power he said the russians will give you respect, will give you prosperity and we will give you order. and unfortunately, what started out i think to build order swung through toward totalitarianism. now i think russia is beginning to see, and you see it in the speeches of dmitri -- that for

russia to be an industry -- author tearian, they have some of the world's greatest software engineers all working in israel and the united states, that russia has to do some things differently. and perhaps given the impact on russia of the most recent global economic and financial crisis which has not been good, perhaps there'll be an opening again for a softening of the politics and for a coming to terms with what should be an european state given to democracy. >> this questioner asks, how do you assess the tea party and its impact on the g.o.p.? >> well, i've been saying to a number of people, the tea party is a grassroots movement. it is. and i also think it reflects people in the country who don't know what's happening and why it's happening to them. and they're people who thought that they'd done all of the right things in raising their

families and buying their homes an, and they see the deficit and they see an america that they aren't sure they recognize. and i think most importantly they're saying that conversation in washington and the conversation in the rest of the country isn't the same conversation. and i think that's the major message here. so while i may not certainly associate myself with everything that is said on behalf of the tea party, and i'm a free trader, i'm very pro immigration, so forth and so on, i do understand the impetus that brought it into being. and rather than be fareful of grassroots -- fearful of grassroots movements, it be hooves us in a democracy to understand them. it behooves us in a democracy not to mock them the and it behooves us in a democracy how to figure out how to answer the

anxiety and also to answer the hard questions that they're asking about where we're we're going. [applause] >> in light of the recent debate in the senate ant court rulings, what are your thoughts on don'ts ask don't tell? do you feel it will be repealed? >> i do believe it will be repealed. i believe in the hands of bob gates and the joint chiefs of staff, it's absolutely the case that military effectiveness and military efficiency has to be the first concern of the secretary of defense and of the military leadership. i believe that if given time to work through this particular issue they will be able to achieve the repeal without damage to military effectiveness and military efficiency. but again, this is something that i have very strong faith in the people because i know them who are charged with trying to

get this done. and let's give them time to get it done. >> what do you have to say to president obama? [laughter] >> it's not all that unusual that the president of the united states might invite back a former cabinet official, particularly somebody in the foreign policy side, just to talk. and so we're just going to talk about foreign policy. we'll talk about whatever the president wants to talk about. but i'm very much looking forward to that conversation. .. got to be secretary of state.

that's quite enough. >> we are almost out of time, before asking the final question, we have a couple matters to take advantage of. to remind future speakers on monday, we will discuss is islam a religion of tolerance? and jeff bridges for the share our strength no kid hungry campaign, we will speak about childhood hunger. we will have the chairman and

c.e.o. of coca-cola. i would like to present our guest. this is always a member with the traditional national press club mug. >> you better believe it. thank you. [applause] >> now for our final question, we turn to the topic of your memoire, the influence of your parents. i know many of us have special parents in the audience, my own in the audience today. none of us would be here today if we didn't have parents. of course, your memoire ends with the passing of your father just as you were coming to washington. this is in light of your own faith. you're parents are clearly very important to you. how do they guide you today? >> first my parents guide me by reminding me to be enormously

grateful to god that he gave me the parents he did. i always start my prayers every night. you could not thank you enough. my parents also guide me to try to look beyond myself as they did. to try to be for others a mentor and a friend the way my parents were to their students. even to this day, they come back and say, without your parents i wouldn't be blank. you go into that classroom, you have a chance to open up world withs to young people they otherwise would not have seen. most importantly, my parents guide my because i feel their presence are. i say in the book, when i left to come to washington a few days

after my father decide. i ached for having to sit on that mall and have george bush . more than anything, i felt their presence because they had a phrase an always here, "you are well prepared and your god's child, now go do it" [applause] . >> thank you for coming do, dr. rice. we would also like to thank the national press club staff including the broadcast center operation for organized today's event. go to www.press.org.

thank you for coming today. this meeting is adjourned. >> mid-term elections are november 2nd and c-span is

showing key races. next the nevada state and then we will hear from the governor of california and later, missouri senate. in january, the supreme court struck down corporate spending in elections. tomorrow, lawyers, political sciences and journalists will discuss citizen the united. coverage gains at noon eastern on c-span. in the final weeks of campaign 2010, the c-span library is a great place. all free. online any time. nevada democratic senator harry

reid and republican candidate sharron angle. the our long debate was organized by the nevada broadcasters association. >> good easterning and welcome to the 2010 nevada debate sponsored by the nevada broadcasters association. i am mitch fox from vegas pbs. i will serve as moderator. joining me is sharron angle.

and the democratic candidate. senate majority leader. harry reid. become to both of you. we want to thank each of the 60 nevada television and radio stations who provide this important, one hour block of time as a public service to our communities. the broadcasters feed the obligation to engage the electorate and inform the voters. the format has been accepted and agreed to by both candidates. they will then be asked a series of questions, some of which were submitted by youtube and tv and radio listeners in the state of nevada. each candidate will be given one minute. the program includes with one minute closing remarks.

the first opens statement will be offered by senator harry reid. >> mitch, thank you and thank to the nevada broadcasters for aranging this. growing up in searchlight, i had interesting times. my dad was a big man. much bigger than i am. broad shoulders, weight lifter arms. times were tough. the mines weren't doing well. when he worked sometimes he didn't get paid. checked bounced my mom took in with brothels. i know hait's like to struggle. we were in the top of economic food chain in nevada. when wall street collapsed, we were greatly affected. we struggled.

i believe my number one job is to create jobs as a u.s. senator. that's why i worked very, very hard to do just that. taxes. we reduce taxes for 95% of nevadans and all americans. we did tax reform for small businesses. we reduced taxes eight times. wall street reform, they will never ever be able to do what they did to us. mortgages, i understand homes are under water. i have through boys that have homes. actually four. i have a home in nevada. that's why i worked hard to get $200 million to the state of nevada to help homeowners.

renewable energy. the economy, everything we talk about is related to the economy. everything. social security, energy, the whole works. i want you to look at my facebook and twitter -- >> thank you. >> to fact check them. >> thank you. senator reid >> now, ms. angle. >> good evening. thank you nevada broadcasters and pbs for sponse ouring this event. tonight, we're going to see a contrast between me, sharron angle, and senator harry reid. the contrast will be what you make when you vote. i am a mother and grandmother. senator reid has been in a senator for years. senator reid lives in the ritz

carleton. i have voted over 100 times for poor public policy and unconstitutional law. senator reid voted for poor public policy like stimulus and bail out and unconstitutional bills like obama care. these are just policies, these are policies that have hurt nevada. we have the highest rate of unemployment in the nation. the highest rate of bankruptcy in the nation. these aren't just numbers, these are real people. when i call my grown children and say, how are you doing? i am really saying do you still

have your job. our founding fathers knew the cannot was for the people, by the people. you will see the big difference harry reid and sharron angle and limited constitutional government >> thank you very much. the next series of questions will focus on immigration. your policies have allowed thousands of illegal immigrants to stream across the border because you have not made border security a priority. why is it you have only talked about it this year when it's been going on for years, if not decades? >> immigration is a problem. we have a system in america that needs to be fixed. that's why in august of this year, i introduced legislation that was finally passed to do

something about our borders. we now have on our borders, predators. we have national guard there. and we have fence that's being built. i am frustrated like everything else is frustrated. but i believe we have to look at the issue and do comprehensive immigration reform. we cannot ignore it. that's the reason we have to do something about the people that are here that are undocumented. have them pay taxes, fining and of course, by doing that, we will be able to not demagogue the issue. but work together on the issue >> thank you, senator reid. >> ms. angle. your response. >> what we have here is an illegal alien problem. i think every state should have a sheriff joe arpaio.

they allowed other countries to join in that. senator reid, you let 11 countries dictate our immigration law. that's just nuts. we need to get back to simple solutions, once we secured the borders, then deal with the internal problems we have left. we have to stop incentiveizing those folks coming here for job for medical and for education. also for social security benefits. those are for citizens not illegal aliens. >> senator reid, you can respond. >> thank you. mitch. we have to do something to solve the issue. we can't keep talking about it. that's why i worked to work with

john mccain. it's the same legislation we're working on now. stop talking about it. >> our next question, ms. angle is on immigration. in a television ad, said. senate reid gave illegal aliens benefits. most have found that to not be true. would you like to denounce the ad or give the voters to see the truth? >> harry reid has voted to give it to them before they were

citizens, but he voted for them the benefits of social security. our social security system is one that needs to be addressed. we're not addressing it. in fact, what we need to do is make sure we keep our promise to our senior citizens and make sure our younger folks have the opportunity to have a personalized social security retirement account similar to the thrift plan that senator reid has. if it's good enough for harry reid, it should be good enough for the rest of us. >> mitch, she didn't answer the question. everything she said was false. i never voted for tax breaks for people that are illegal. never voted for social security benefits. that is not the law. she knows it. she should stop saying it. that's why she moved over to the

question. >> i think the question has everything to do with social security and what's gone wrong in our system. we haven't secured the borders. senator reid talking about comprehensive immigration law, but really, what he's talking about is something that didn't work in 1986. i was a great fan of ronald reagan. >> okay. on this next question. i'm going to ask for a simple yes or no. mrs. angle. you will go first. would you be in favor of a constitutional amendment establishing english as the first language. >> yes. >> language is already the official language. >> this has to do with providing issues for the candidates. so far, there has been 50,000

hits on the youtube website and the biggest issue is our next one, which is healthcare. >> senator reid, you will get this question. according to the medicare's actuary. why didn't you and president obama focus on jobs knowing how nevada has suffered more than any other state? >> for a long time in this country, insurance companies have dominated the healthcare system. you pay your premiums, you get sick or hurt, they walk away from you. we passed healthcare reform because we had no choice.

we have been told that we will reduce the debt by $1.3 trillion. we allow people where pre-existing conditions no longer be denied insurance. it's something we had to do including extend medicare. the facts you gave, mitch, were simply wrong. we had to do it to maintain competitive in the world economy. it creates jobs. why didn't you and president obama focus on jobs and the foreclosure crisis first knowing how nevada has been hit?

>> we did. people took advantage of folks that had trouble with their homes. we had indictments in nevada, remember what i said earlier, health insurance brings new jobs. we now have 2000 pharmacists. >> okay. ms. angle. >> obama care cut a trillion dollars right at the point where senior citizens need to have that medicare advantage. it all costs us half a trillion dollars in new taxes. the solutions to the healthcare-insurance costs problem are simple. they reside within the free market. we need to get the government out to go across state lines to choose insurance companies.

we need to get government out to take off the mandated coverage, to have tort reform and expand the pools. the solution to healthcare cost of insurance are free markets. >> senator reid. >> the facts are wrong. i read to the medicare to the medical people here today, an all right, medicare recipients will pay less. we opponent doesn't like any insurance company to have to do something. she's against mammograms. and covering kids with autism. >> we will go to the next question. i will rephrase it. you have said on various occasions and voted in the

assembly to do away with mammograms and colon screens. you have come out against autism and maternity leave. is there anything you think the insurance companies should be forceed to cover? >> america is a country of choices. not forcing people to buy what they don't need. what we need is a basic policy to add the coverages we need. i taught autistic children. i know this is a really bio-medical disorder and needs to have its own insurance code so families can get the right treatment and be covered. but the insurance mandate only cares for 25% out of one out of

100 children that have autism. we need to look at real solutions. forcing someone to buy something they don't need is not the way to solve a problem. >> okay. let me rephrase that question again, is there anything at all that you think the insurance companies should be mandated to cover? anything? >> anything at all? i think what we have here is a choice between the free market and americanism. it's about choices. we need to allow people to have those choices. the free market will weed out those companies that don't have a cost affective system. let them decide where they want to buy insurance. you don't have to force them to buy a product they don't want. >> okay. no insurance mandates.

>> senator reid >> mitch, insurance companies don't do things out of good know of their hearts. they do it out of profit motive and almost destroyed our economy. 20% of our costs was because of healthcare. it would go up in less than 15 years to $0.36 of every dollar. it will break us. we need them to force to be mammograms. you see the baseball players wearing pink shoes. people dread breast cancer. you detect it. colonoscopy. colan cancer doesn't come. they snip it off. no more.

we need the insurance companies to do this. >> mrs. angle. there seconds? >> well pink ribbons aren't going to make people have a better insurance plans. makes them have a good plan is more competition. we need them to cover more because that's the things we want to buy. that's how the free market works. our solutions reside there and when we talk about what destroyed this economy, obama care is enjoying our economy. i know a company -- >> thank you. >> that laid off five people. >> this is a straight up yes-or-no question. do you think the healthcare reform act should include coverage for abortions? >> no >> that would be a yes or no? >> under the law that exists

today, the hyde amendment is still there. >> let's move on to the economy. this is for you, senator reid, nevada has the highest foreclosure rate. at who point will you stop blaming president bush and start blaming the current president, barack obama. >> i have worked hard to do something to help beleaguered nevada residents. 48,0 48,000 people have homes now. as a result of my pressure on bank of america, now have no more foreclosure by them. we have to do more, of course.

but we have to understand that they won't be able to do to us what they did to us before. we pass wall street reform that will stop these greedy bankers from taking advantage of homeowners. >> do you think president obama shares as much as president bush? >> of course not? mitch, when president bush took office. he had a surplus of $7 trillion. we were paying down the debt during the clinton years. we're in this hole, we're trying to dig out of it. we lost 8 million jobs during the bush years. we have created 3-1/2 million of them. let's realize where we were and how far we have come. that's no solice to someone that

lost a job >> the housing bubble was way before this recession. it has to deal with thing we refuse to deal with. senator harry reid refused to deal with over the years. the first one is we have a problem with the federal reserve. we need a true audit of the federal reserve. fannie mae and freddie mac still haven't been dealt with. they said no. it's too big of a problem. we need to look at solutions. first we have to investigate what caused the problem in the first place. certainly, this problem has been going on since senator reid has been in leadership.

that was before the obama administration. >> thank you senator reid. 30 seconds. >> we do have a commission. to find out what happens in the collapse. we're on top of that. i called for a federal reserve audit in 1985. '87. i'm sorry. i agree with my opponent on this. we have made progress in some regards. fannie mae and freddie mac, all exerts say, it needs reform. but you can't do away with them. we would have no way to sustaining the housing mart. >> you recorded a saying "you can make more on unemployment than going down there and getting a job. we have put in so much

entitlement in our government we have spoiled our citizenry". do you think the unemployed are spoiled? and then hugh from carson city wants to know. what you plan to do to fix the unemployment problem especially if you believe getting a job for nevadan system not your job >> first of all. no i don't think our unemployed are spoiled. that was totally mischaracterized by my opponent. he did want to know what the answers are. selfish children. we need to get nevada back to work and the way we do that is by encouraging the private sector to do what they do best. by policies to give them confidence to go forward. they are in a cloud of uncertainty and holding back $2 trillion they would like to visit in jobs for nevadans and

americans. but they are holding back because of more taxation from senator reid's administrative policies. >> okay. let me ask a follow up. do you believe getting a job for nevadans is not your job? >> i believe my job is to create the policies that will encourage the private sector to do what they do best and that is to create job. >> that would be a no. senator reid, your response. >> yesterday. we had a company from china come here to bring jobs. they are going to build led lighting. that's as a result of tax policy i put in. we have $2 billion with renewable energy. that's as a result of tax policy and incentives to do that.

makaren airport, my opponent is against that. my job is to create jobs. she's talking about is an extreme. we have to do this. we have been doing this since boulder dam was created. we started the construction. >> once again. harry reid, it's not your job to create jobs. and they have lost confidence because of things like obama care. there's a business in reno where he wanted to hire 24 more employees, but laid off five because of the obama care. we are seeing these policies crush our economy over the last

24 months. >> next question to senator rd., has to do with the supreme court. one the most important duties given by the constitution is the approval of an individual to a lifetime appointment of the supreme court. name a current or former supreme court justice you admire and why. and name one that should never have been approved by the senate. >> this may surprise everyone. i don't agree with justice --

scalia. we can go back to the early days. i want to say, my opponent keeps talking about obama care. they can get a reduction up to 35%. i would be happy to sit down and talk to them and explain that's not necessary. they should be able to do much better because of healthcare. they aren't doing better because they don't understand the law. >> you have the supreme court question now. >> i admire clarence thomas because he understands his constitutional boundaries as a judge in the supreme court. we need justices that will do their duty. i would will not have confirmed

kagan or sotomayor because they don't understand the constitution. they said they would vote against our second amendment rights. though are things that are dear to us as americans. we know our founding fathers wanted supreme court judges to stand up for we the people to be free. >> i think we should stop running down the supreme court. take for example, gore vs. bush. i believe in our constitution which i have in my pocket here. when they ruled immediately george bush became my president. that's what our country is about. we should pick the best lawyers to go to court.

we will talk about "don't ask, don't tell". >> the federal judges's halt of "don't ask, don't tell" was held as a landmark decision. don't you think it's time to end discrimination of gays and lesbians in our military? or how do you feel about dick cheney and laura bush coming out against gays. >> these policies are under review. we should wait for the review of the military to make those decisions. as senator reid tried to do when he put that provision in the defense bill. we have been careful to define a marriage through a man and a

woman. over 70% of our population defines marriage as between a man and woman. i support what nevada has done and will represent our constituents on that basis. >> what do you think about former vice president dick cheney and former president's wife laura bush coming out in support. >> they have the freedom of speech and to have an opinion >> senator reid. >> mitch, i respectfully respect she doesn't understand what went on in washington. the bill that came up said it could only do that after the report was issued by the pentagon. so it was the right thing to do. the legislation on the senate floor doesn't say we were going

to get rid of "don't ask, don't tell." the republican secretary of defense, would have to certify that it would do no harm to our troops only after the report came down. >> i submit to you. that's the wrong way to do legislation. just like when nancy pelosi said. pass the bill and then read it. so the review needs to come out first and then the bill. i submit to you, senator, i do know the process. read the bill first and then pass it. >> earlier in the year, it was announced the social security will pay out more in benefit than it it receives back. it was not expected to cross until at least 2016.

your opponent blames you for the shortfall. what is your response? >> social security is a promise we have to keep. takes care of seniors in their golden years. i feel so strongly about this. i took on the president of the united states when he tried to privatize it and we won that battle. also, the cbo has said that social security will pay out 100% of its benefits for the next 35 to 40 years. that's important. all understand. even after that, there would be a shortfal of 20%. we can do that with some minor undertaking. don't frighten people about social security. it was made by president reagan and tip o 'neil is holding

strong. >> man up, harry reid, you need to understand we have a problem with social security. that problem was created because of government taking that money out of social security trust fund. you said it was silly to use social security for anything except social security. then you voted to take that to the general funds. i ou's that were kept in parkersburg, west virginia. we need our works to have the option of a social security retirement plan that becomes an

asset. >> during the clinton years did not use the trust funds. her facts are wrong. >> okay. ms. angle. you have another question on social security. you said during a primary election debate, i quote" we need to phase social security and medicare out in favor of something privatized". before the primary you used privatized and now you say personalized. why did you change your

language? >> because personal covers both private and personal. that's call the thrift savings plan. as i said. if it's good enough for harry reid. it should be good enough for the rest of us. when we talk about social security, remembers. cbo said we would be in the red. $41 billion more is going out than coming in. if we don't do something to fix this. another under 47 years offage -- of age would not receive it.

>> it was made by president reagan and the speaker of the house, tip o 'neil. then, as time went on, you would have to pay out more. she has talked about getting red the social security. this isn't just during the primary. i heard her say, why don't we have a program like in chile? you can't put the money into the stock market. this was an extreme idea, it's not good. >> i will say, there you go again. trying to hedge on this idea, what is going on is that our social security system has $25 trillion.

$2.5 trillion in it and now it has iou's. we need to keep our promise to our senior citizens to put that back. >> our next question is on yucca mountain. this was it was cheered by yucca mountain opponents. this is what ms. angle said about you," harry reid has demonized this industry. we have potential for job creation and diversification". did we miss an opportunity for funds? >> mitch, we tried for 30 years to get money. yucca mountain is not bad near

nevada. a few miles outside of las vegas. it will no longer live. my opponent suggests using it for a nuclear reactor. there isn't enough water in the state of nevada to build a nuclear reactor. the only nuclear generation, more water, i'm sorry. than coal is nuclear. there's not enough water to do anything about it. i'm not against nuclear power. just totally opposed from bringing the garbage from it to nevada. >> always voted again making nevada the nuclear waste dump. but the science has outpaced the needs for a dum here in nevada. we we need to quit demonizing the nuclear energy industry.

they use liquid metal to cool. it isn't always that's required for nuclear energy. we should develop all owner resources and allow coal-fired plants to be built in nevada. we have to stop this, with this extreme environmental outlook, catch up to the technology of the day, and use those things to create jobs here in nevada. >> thank you. senator reid. >> i heard my opponent talk about these coal-powered plants. we have from the north to the south all using renewable energy. except one in mesquite that's

going to use natural gas. 40% less polluting and going to be solar. we have made great progress. i admire backing off those coal plants which they recognize hasn't >> thank you. >> thank you. >> next topic is education and you have the question. you said on multiple questions, ms. angle. including an interview with cbn, you wanted to eliminate the department of education, which means, you favor with low income students. you favor implement pell grant ares and head start for lower income children and want to 0 out funding for three year old children with disabilities? that is correct? >> totally incorrect. i would a teacher for 25 years.

i also served on a school board? nie county. what i know of the department of education at the federal level. it's an agency that makes one size policy that fits no one. like no child life behind. we spend our money to be skimmed off by 6000 bureaucrats. skimmed off in the form of un r underfunded mandates. they should make the policy that's our 10th amendment right. >> senator reid. >> mitch, the department of energy does wonderful things for the state. we reduced the amount of

interest that parents have to pay for their children's loans. we have been able to bring 4 $400 million to the state this is initiated from the department of education. when ronald reagan left office, he knew that was not the right thing to do. >> the department of education has been around since the early '80s, late ' 70s. we would be so much better taking the 10th amendment rights

to take our rights, put that as close to the local level where parents and teachers make the policies. >> our next question is on iraq. that's for you, senator reid," the war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing as indicated by the violence". do you believe your state demoralized the troops? >> mitch, i first met general petraea in iraq. i made my statement and he made his statement, we did the surge therein, not later. it worked because we brought in

the economy working with the sunnis. so they started fighting the people that were causing the trouble. general petraeus has done a great job. he's my friend. i have been to afghanistan and iraq. >> i don't have the access to special security briefings like the senator does. i doesn't get to vote for either wars. but i know this, we need to support our military with all our resources. with those veterans and their families as well. that's one of those priorities in the enumerated powers of our

constitution. we should be setting our priorities on our military. when you said this war is lost and said general petraeus was dishonest. that emboldened our enemies. demoralized our troupes and endangered them. you need to apologize, senator. >> i worked hard. we had veteran's hospital that's being constructed. that's a prototype for all others. it's a beauty. i am glad i worked on that and helped pass the gi bill of rights. appreciate the work of the

military. >> thank you. on saturday, you were at a political rally and referred to" favor of buying pork" refer to go senator reid. people want to know if you engaged in favor buying when you promises political juice to scott ashton if we were to drop out of race. >> what i offered was access to the government to all people when they have a representative in the u.s. senate. they want to know when they come to washington d.c., they will be heard. when they request the town hall meeting, they will be already. i would like to go back, though, to the veteran's administration. my father is a veteran of world war ii and the korean war. he has social security and the va. yet pays $800 a month for

prescription drugs. we could do better. we need to do better for our military and their families. >> senator reid, i suggest her dad come to my office and look at casework. i want to comment, the political juice, that's her question. let me say this. my friend, i have berated healthcare. i have health insurance. like 6 million other federal employees. i want others to have this. that's the reason we worked so hard. my opponent, her husband has a pension from the federal government. i want to help others who don't have what i don't have. have the same insurance i have.

that's where setting up the exchanges so in 3-1/2 years they will have that >> ms. angle. 30 seconds. >> certainly, obama care is not like the insurance policy. every year, there's a window and we get to make a choice. it's not at all like what senator reid has. what we really need is something like what senator reid has, which is, we should have the choices that we can pick our own insurance companies and insurance policies rather than having the government dictate and mandate the coverages we buy. >> next question. senator reid. >> they are set to expire at year's end. the taxes americans pay on income and differents will rise returning to late 1990's level.

why don't to race taxes on the wealthy? >> mitch, we don't agree everything. we have to wait until after the election to see what the economy is going to be. i guarantee there will be no tax increase for middle class america. we have to see what we are told by the experts. what we should do with the people that make more than that. i am not in favor of tax cuts right now. i also want to say this, my time is not up. my friend keeps talking about the fact that exchanges. exchanges, we have them every year just like people who will have it under healthcare insurance we passed. i repeat, i want everyone to have the same choices i have. she doesn't. she can pick and choose.

i want 50 million people to be able to do that. >> ms. angle. >> could you repeat the question? >> the bush tax cuts will diminish and capital gains will rise. i asked senator reid why he wanted to raise taxes. >> the tax cuts need to be made permanent. if they are not, we will experience the largest tax increase. with voting for over 300 tax nexts, senator, we can't trust you with our taxes. not only that, you came from search light to the senate with very little. now you're one of the richest men in the u.s. senate. on behalf of nevada taxpayers, i would like to know, we would like to know, how did you become so wealthy on a government payroll? >> senator reid,

>> mitch, that's really a low blow. i was a very successful lawyer. i have been on a fixed income since i went to washington. i lived out what i made in the private sector. i put my five kids through a hundred semesters of schools and i paid for every penny. he suggestion is simply false. i am really disappointed. i further will say. we have a deficit problem to worry about also. $4 trillion to have these tax extended in the future. that's quite a load, 4 trillion. >> let's continue along those lines. we talk about the bush tax cuts. it would double the deficit. are you concerned these tax cuts place an