you and we are adjourned. >> the supreme court is available as a stand ebook. 11 original c-span interview with -- interviews with current and previous supreme court justices. the can add to your experience by watching multimedia clips. c-span, the supreme court's available now or >> minnesota congressman keith ellison at the net routes blocker convention. then political commentators breitbart.andrew writer ar an awards ceremony honored immigration activists. netroots nation is a gathering of on-line activists and

politicians who news new media to communicate with constituents. this is just over two hours. >> i am going to introduce a couple of people throughout the night. we have a great guest coming up for you next to is a bit of a surprise. he is one of the good guys in congress. i want to talk a little bit about what we have seen at net grew so far. two themes are really like and want to emphasize. we have been talking about campaign finance reform. i could not be happier about that. senator feingold and great speech on that. i could not agree more with him. what he said about winning, it is not everything, it is everything. we must win on finance reform. corporate money has bought or politics wholesale.

i want you to understand because i think this is really important. the talking points that go around, and a lot of us believe liberals are harder to organize, it is like herding cats is the famous old comment. there is a sense that liberals are weaker because of that, and that we are supposed to give in to republicans and that is the way it has always been. i want to explain to you right now that that is nonsense. that is a lie. liberals in this country have had a history of enormous strength. first of all, our founding fathers were liberals. they were the most liberal people in the world at that time. they put together a secular country and they said that we will have all the rights enumerated in the bill of rights

and the constitution. it was the most liberal document the world had ever seen. george washington, thomas jefferson, and the list goes on and on. fdr made an enormous difference in the way we have run this country. we had the new deal, and it does not get any stronger than fdr. were big business interests attacking fdr at the time? you better believe it. they plotted a coup against him. he said i welcome their hatred, but i am coming. he came and did a new deal for this country and the middle- class. we created a middle-class between 1947 and 1977, the income of the bottom fifth group at a higher rate than the top fifth. that seems unimaginable now. look what happened.

when you care about the middle- class, and democrats cared about the middle class, they fought for the middle class. fdr did that, and even up to the 1970's, liberals were so strong, they got richard nixon to pass that dpj, to start the epa. can you imagine? you had ralph nader running roughshod in the 1970's. seat belts, osha, the list goes on and on. of all the regulations we did to help real america, why did it change? people say ronald reagan. it was before reagan. supreme court -- two supreme court decisions made all the difference. political speech was a first amendment right. the disaster began there.

in 1978, first national bank of boston said that corporations could spend money on politics, and it was their first amendment right. which is nonsense. corporations are not human beings. they are so less two jsoulless machines, and they are destroying our country. it is time to fight back. since that decision, corporations have been taking over slowly. the way they took over is they bought almost all of our politicians. washington at this point is nearly hopeless. you look at the republicans, a wholly-owned subsidiary of america. they do not have a single principle. it is not about that. i can show you case by case, issue by issue, when you go down the list, it is based on

corporate principles. what does the guy who signs my paycheck want me to do, because he is my boss. they do not believe in the pre- market for a second. look at the oil companies. $45 billion at a minimum. i thought they cared about balanced budgets. they want to give $45 billion of our money to the biggest oil companies. republicans hate balanced budgets because they like to take all of our money and give it to their corporate donors. we are talking freemarket with the republicans? republicans take a free market. what they love is saying it halliburton, what do you need? do you want me to start a war for you? you will make a lot of money. lockheed martin, what do you need? you sign the paychecks and i will do your bidding for you. that is 90% of the republican

party. when it comes to the democratic party, it is not much better. there are a couple of good guys, there is no question about it. you will hear from a couple of the good guys tonight. and there are some fighters who are neither democrats nor republicans, obviously the best shining example of that is bernie sanders. [applause] but i have bad news for you if you are relying on politicians, either republicans or democrats in washington, to do the right thing. they work for the people who sign their paychecks. they get elected based on money. that money comes from corporations. there is only one issue in this country, campaign finance reform. [applause] until we take that money out of politics, we are going to lose on all those issues, because they have more money than we do.

for example, social security. are you seeing what is going on with this? they are saying it is okay to raise the retirement age? they are supposed to represent senior citizens, and they are selling them out. do not let anybody tell you different. it is a wholesale sellout of senior citizens. if you raise the retirement age to 70, it costs every single american over $63,000. they are coming to rob you. why are they robbing you? there is a class war going on, and is on you. there have redistributed the welt to the very top. the rich pay less, the corporations pay less. do you know who pays more? the number one tax that has gone up as a percentage over the last few years is the payroll tax.

they love it when you pay the bills. they hate it when corporations pay the bill. if republican comes and says we have to raise the retirement age, you fight it. if a democrat comes to you and says we are going to raise the retirement age and rob you of tens of thousands of dollars, you fight them. [applause] if aarp, the so saul -- so- called representative of senior citizen says they are wrong to raise the retirement age, should you fight them? hell yeah, you should buy them. i love what is going on at net routes. there is a recognition that you have to take the fight to the local and state levels. there is a shining example of what has gone right in this country. it is called wisconsin. [applause] i am discouraged by at least 90%

of what happens in washington, but i am greatly encouraged by what happened in wisconsin. coke industries etc., give money to scott walker, he comes in and says what you need me to do? do you need me to hurt workers, take away from the employees? but the need to do, i am here for you. scott walker says yes, sir, how can i help you, sir? he was talking to his boss. but what happened? people fought back and said not this time. not on our watch. that is what i need all of you to do, wherever you are, whatever city you are in, whatever state you are in, whatever issue is, i need you to stand up and say i do not care if it is coming from the guy who promises change.

i don't care if nobody is coming, i am going. [applause] here are the only people who are going to stand up for you. all of us together. all the people in this room. we have great organizing ability now, weatherproof net routes, blogs, the internet. they did it in egypt, they did it in russia, they did it in wisconsin. we can do that everywhere. don't wait on anybody. one of the good guys in washington d.c. is with us tonight. he came in and replace the republican. it was a critical vote at that time. he has been fighting a good fight. senator sheldon whitehouse from ryland. -- from rhode island [applause] . >> thank you.

i have a very have a job here this evening. it is my great honor and my great pleasure to announce that netroots nation is coming to ryland, the ocean state, in 2012 -- netroots nation is coming to rhode island. [applause] i hope the cameras are getting all this applause, because it feels good up here. providence is a beautiful city. it is as blue as the waters of narragansett bay. for those of you who like caribou coffee here in minnesota, i think you will love dunkin donuts in rhode island. we know providence will love having you there. providence, r.c., brazilian, ethnically diverse providence,

filled with great universities, amazing restaurants, and unique history, may just steal your heart away, too. many of you may not know that the organizers of netroots nation were considering holding this year's meeting in ryland -- in rhode island, but hotel workers at the westin and providence were locked in a contract dispute. workers had been fired and unilateral terms, including a pay cut, imposed. your decision supported the hotel workers call for a boycott. the boycott succeeded at bringing a resolution. a resolution after nearly a year of fighting was a happy ending. those workers were able to ratify a new contract that he raised the pay cut and brought some of those who were laid off back to work immediately. we will meet some of them when we gather in providence in 2012.

i mentioned it that story because it is the story of workers across the country. the republican party, with the help of its corporate allies, is pursuing an agenda openly and relentlessly hostile to working americans. whether it is republican governors across the country balancing their states' budgets on the backs of the middle-class and using budget crises as excuses to take away basic rights from workers, or it is a republican house of representatives threatening social security and medicare, cornerstones of security for the american middle class, or republicans protecting powerful corporations from paying their fair share to support this country, in some cases pay nothing at all. all while corporate influence over our judicial system continues to grow. as i said on a panel this morning, our supreme court is making it harder and harder for ordinary working people to

challenge corporate actions in court. winston churchill once noted that great quarrels or rise from small occasions, but seldom from small causes. a budget fight in one state or a labor dispute in providence may seem to those faraway a small occasion. but they are part of a great cause that unites us here today , the cause of rescuing our middle class life from a recession that threatens its existence and an alliance of republicans and corporate interests that seek to destroy its very foundations. affordable health care, good public schools, a clean and healthy environment, the security of a dignified retirement -- these are the foundations of prosperity for those who work hard and play by the rules. just as our community came

together to fight for workers in wisconsin, let us come together to fight with the same vigor for those same values across the country. let that be our great quarrel, to save the america we know from a radical experiment in economic division, and let it be one we win. [applause] and let us celebrate our victory, america's victories, when we meet again next year in providence. thank you very, very much. [applause] >> thank you, senator. hello, everybody. >> you can do better than that. hello, everybody.

i think that site is louder than this side. did you hear that? >> can i ask you guys, how are you all doing? that is a lot of energy, but how about you guys? i want to introduce a very good friend of mine. dorothy in her spare time runs an amazing outfit called progressive congress. she is a member of the board of directors -- board of directors of netroots nation. >> i want to introduce one of my very good friends, arshad hasan. he runs an organization called democracy for america. when he is not running it, he is

doing a really important work of being on the board of netroots nation. [applause] >> we are here to tell you a little bit about how much netroots nation seems to me and how it got started, and why we play so much value in netroots nation. we were there in 2006. i want to know how many people -- please stand up. how many people here are at their third netroots nation? give yourselves a hand. how about your fourth netroots nation? how many are here for the fifth

netroots nation? [applause] who are our perfect attendance people? [cheers and applause] i loved it. >> i did not get to go to that first netroots nation. i only made it starting at the second one. i got to come to the second one as a candidate for the united states congress. i apologize to all of you for not winning. it has meant a tremendous amount tiki to be able to come to these events and talk to all of you about the step that you are working on and the things that you really care about. this event is incredibly important, not only to the future of the progressive movement, but to the future of our country. >> i agree. there is so much all of us can learn from each other.

we can build off each other, just getting to know each other. some of us will start talking to each other over e-mail or read about each other's work. many of us are meeting each other for the first time, but that energy and dedication really mean something and we can really build off of that. every year i come out of this conference energize, educated, and really ready to do the real work a i am inspired by each and every one of you because you do all of the work that it takes to take back your country, your town, your community, your school board. it is really inspirational to meet and it makes a big impact. >> here is the thing that is not necessarily obvious. what you paid to get into this conference covers about one- third of the cost of holding it. the rest of the funding that is needed to put this on and make it possible for us to get

together is money they get paid forward by the people who come -- who have come in the years before. every year from the first one, there have been people willing to make the investment and pay it forward so that we could no that next year would be the biggest conference ever. this year is the biggest conference we have ever had. [applause] >> like dorothy -- like d'arcy said, that is entirely because of people like you paying it forward. take a look at the community of around you. now take a look at people at other tables. there are thousands of you coming to this conference. we have projects like net groups for the troops. who got here because of a scholarship program?

please stand up or raise your arms and make a little bit more noise for us. you guys are amazing. that is really the culture of our community here, that we step up and pay it forward and really invest in our cells. it is because we make that extra effort, we put our time, energy, and money into these efforts, that we can make the big changes that we need to make how many here are excited about wisconsin? [applause] we have real work to do in wisconsin. we need to rely on each other to make that stuff happen. this is something that you guys have really invested in. heat from this conference you can go right to wisconsin. you can put in even more time

and effort and resources into how we build up -- that is how we build up our movement, our culture, our community. >> here is what we need from all of you. we are here today because people hated forward in the years that came before this one. we know we are going to providence, rhode island next year to get together again. are any of you from providence? i want to ask you to make an investment in paying it forward for providence. we want to make sure that we have the kind of conference that the progressive movement deserves when we go to providence, and we want to make sure we can bring people on scholarships to would not otherwise be able to make it, but to enrich this conference in ways that are incredibly important to the future of this country. >> so let me ask you this

question. is this conference, the time he's been here, the connections you may, is this conference were that? i was kind of expecting that maybe would be energetic and enthusiastic about it. let me ask you, is this conference worth it? [cheering] take a look at what is on your table. you will see some envelopes. i am going to have some special .elpers you can see that have their big

.ackgs you will see these board members and volunteers coming around and collecting these checks. i cannot emphasize this enough. we are only here because of your generosity. marcos's writing to you to get your check. >> i am going to count how many checks each of these people get and we are going to determine their status in the ecosystem based by not only the amount but the number of checks to give to them. marcos has a lot at risk here. >> everyone who has taken bag is going to come around to you. we will take that right here the

that we are ready to start planning for next year. in order to do that, we have a little check writing music for you, so we are going to spend a few minutes doing that. on it did that, i want to introduce our ban who is playing out the check writing music. they are releasing a free ep. they are and active ban. i want to introduce them and their music. in the meantime, in the next few minutes, i would like you to take a look at those envelopes,

write them out for any amount that you can. thank you, everyone. give yourselves a round of applause. >> netroots nation, hello. we are our national from new york city. --outer national from new york city. ♪ ♪

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[applause] >> this song we are going to sing for you right now is dedicated to a new generation, some of those of you who have been overseas, fighting, dying, and killing, and to those soldiers who have been speaking out against the injustices. this is called "sir, no, sir." ["taps"] [mid-tempo melody]

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♪ samlove working for uncle let me know just who i am i love working for uncle sam let's me know just who i am sir, no, sir sir, no, sir sir, no sir

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[applause] >> from the board of directors from the netroots foundation, jennifer francona. >> that was awesome. hi, everyone. i am so thrilled and honored to kickoff our program tonight. i want to start by sharing a story that is my own journey netroots nation. i first came and i was such an exciting new progressive activists. i gave up mike whereas a journalist at "the new york times -- "the l.a. times."

i was excited to work with howard dean. these tools could be a new engine for reinvigorating our democracy. when i came here, i was so amazed and impressed. the whole political establishment would talk to us. you had every presidential candidate taking questions. you have ever major news outlet wanting to know what we had to say. it was incredible and amazing. at the same time, i thought it was a little bit of a missed opportunity. when i looked around, it was pretty homogenous. there were women and people of color, but there were not that many of them. it was still segregated. the feminism panel, all the women would go to that. there was a diversity panel and the people of color would go to that. i was concerned about that

because it seemed like what we wanted to do was something new and different, and that we were in danger of reenforcing the same power structure we were trying to fight against. so, i spoke out about this as a blogger. it wasn't easy. i got a lot of push back. we also have a good conversation. it was a heart conversation. it was an important conversation. what that meant for me was when reagan took over netroots nation, he asked me and a bunch of others to join him in helping to make this different. so, how do you do that? how do you work on a problem that seems so intractable and in trent? the first step is to admit that you have a problem. that is what raven and the staff

really did. they committed themselves not to diversity, but to true inclusion. they really are two different things. too often when we think about diversity, it is like a box we are checking. it is like, planning this conference, we have the to do list. set up the tables. fix the audio. order lunches. five latinos who will come. it is deeper than that. you cannot just open the door and say, come in. you have to go outside of the door and go to the community, and ask them to come. and bite them. it takes work. [applause] so, that is what we did. the staff to that. there was not reach program that was voluntary that became part of the institution. we raise money that was specific to, you know, making connections

with leaders in these communities. the staff would go to conferences that have online activists of color and women and talk to those people come and ask them to share their work. and so, we also wanted to make sure not only were we bringing people here, we were including them in programming. we needed a criteria on the panel selection to include diverse voices. we made sure the issues these communities were speaking to was reflected in the program. partially, we believe what was said today. we are better off on the united front and as these different groups. how can we do that work if we are not embody in those principles ourselves? when you look around today, it really is so much different than it was four years ago. it is not that there were fewer people that were here before.

there is more people. that is what we want. it makes our community stronger. it makes our movement from the. i want to share the story for two reasons. it is a success story. it is important for us to acknowledge and celebrate that we have made progress in something that is really hard. two, context for this program tonight. when we did not have the inclusion of diverse voices, issues like immigration were not on the top of the list for this community. through the efforts of so many dedicated activists who tried to bridge the divide, we can say that this is an issue we are committed to solving. we are committed as a community to make sure everybody who works in this country has a chance to participate in our society. [applause] so, if -- in that we are able to

stand here and honor individuals who have seen the face of fear and hate and risked their lives, risked their lives to make the world better. it is that energy of being in the presence of that energy that makes us better. really building a truly inclusive movement for progressive change and social justice is an ongoing journey. tonight is another step on that journey. i am really happy to welcome you all. it will be a very inspiring and moving program. thank you. [applause] >> all right. i'm back. all right. as the emcee, i am here to introduce the people who will introduce the freedom from fear awards. i love these awards.

it goes to -- they can explain it better than i can. to every citizen that fought, they stood a post, with or without back up, some of the most here -- courageous stories you will never hear. they asked me to speak about my own immigrant experience. i am from turkey originally. i came over when i was eight. i do not have a birth certificate from the united states. when i run for president, they will have this on tape and they will go crazy, slash i won't run for president. we were talking about what it means to be an american. i want to say two quick things. i have talked about this before. you all remember peter king has been doing his muslim hearings, totally agreed on that. he did one recently again. it goes to the heart of what it

means to be an american. do you know what percentage american i am? exactly. i am 100% american. [applause] i am naturalized. you know what that means? that means i chose this country. that means i believe in this country so much, i said, i want to be a citizen of that country, not come i was born here and it was an accident. i love this place. i came here. if peter king made the mistake of inviting me to his hearings about muslim americans, given that i am of a muslim background, though i am agnostic now, i would have said in the immortal words of george galloway, i don't come as the accused. i come as the accuser. you know who is not an american?

someone who doesn't understand that we don't do religious tests in this country. that is in the constitution, if they ever bothered to read it. peter king is a despicable demagogue. also support for terrorists. he is a supporter of the ira. a judge threw him out of the court room saying he was a collaborator with terrorists. it is one of the most ironic hearings you will hear. about the turkish immigrant experience, the kid grew up in a southeastern village in turkey, near the syrian border, and it was old-school, right? they didn't have electricity in his house. his dad died when he was three months old. they were in debt because they tried to do operations on the

dad and it did not work. they have the bills. since he didn't have electricity, this sounds like a cliche, but it is true, they would have to wake up in the middle of the night and go into farming, ok? he had to study under a light in the street. that is the only lamp he had. somehow, that kid believed that if he worked hard enough, he could make it out, and that he wouldn't have to farm the land for the rest of his life, and one day he would have a family, and even back then, he thought, i will bring my family to america and give them opportunity to do anything they can imagine. he wound up applying for college in turkey, and they said, you are crazy. only the smartest kids with the best education, the rich kids, they're the ones who get into those colleges. you were studying under a lamp in the street. you're not going to make it.

for some reason, that kid believe. he really believed he was going to make it. lo and behold, he took the test and passed. later, he went to graduate school in america, and later, he brought his family to america, and his son would wind up going to wharton business school at columbia law school and would end up having a national television show. that person was my dad. [applause] if they told that kit under the lamp, one day your son will be interviewing presidents and challenging congressmen and senators from the united states of america come and ask him, are you doing your job? are you standing up for the? -- for the people? people would have said, you're crazy. that is the kind of courage and hard work it takes to make it. immigrant know that. immigrants know how hard it is

and how hard they had two -- had to work to get there. what was the magic bullet that allowed my dad to make it? a free education. [applause] if he didn't get a free education, none of this would have been possible. right now, i would literally be picking olives in southeastern turkey if my dad did not get a free education. all we are asking for is that same, fair chance for all of us and all of our kids. [applause] so, i want to bring up the great people who have put this together. they are going to present the freedom from fear awards. they are great people who are going to talk about some really great things in this country. let's give them a hand.

[applause] >> thank you. i feel like, after hearing that, i don't have to say anything. i did prepare to tell you a little bit of my story and the story of the awards. i'm going to do that. i want to take off from something he said. the definition of who is an american affects so many other issues. it cuts to my core. my mother and her family were among the 110,000 americans put into camps by the u.s. government during world war ii solely because of their japanese heritage, an experience that has colored my life and shaped who i am. it made me passionate about supporting people who are excluded from the definition of who is an american, and has brought me to the cause of

immigrant rights. today, we honor the people who are on some heroes and heroines in the struggle. this started with an honor we received in 2009 for creating a collaborative to support immigrant rights and integration. it came with a $10,000 prize and we realized that we had an unusual opportunity to increase it and paid for work. we tapped into the generosity of friends, family, and colleagues to increase the amount and create the freedom from fear of war, so people who take a courageous stand for immigrants and human rights who never expected recognized for what they're doing and whose examples to others bring action and awareness. we received 380 nominations from 42 states and we were so inspired reading them. with the help of a terrific selection committee, we may

agree to narrow them down to a group of 16, four of whom you will meet tonight. they represent the diversity and how people are contributing to humanity and inclusion in america today, like the four trail of dreams students come gabbie, juan, carlos, and felipe, will you please stand up? [applause] woo hoo! it seems like you have met them. they walked from miami to washington, d.c., to dramatize the barriers that undocumented immigrants face, like the police chief who was vilified for speaking out against local law- enforcement federal immigration laws. the african american legislator

from mississippi led his city in passing an ordinance to prohibit the racial profiling of immigrants by police. four asian high school students were both victims and campaigners against violence in the schools, and lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgendered youth steering others to come out of the shadows and claim their whole selves. these are only a handful of the many unbelievable leaders around the country. some of them are unlikely. all of them demonstrate by their actions their love of humanity and remind us that at its heart, this debate about immigration is not only about policy. it is about human beings. [applause] now, i am delighted to turn these mic over to another source

of inspiration to me, my dear friend and colleague. [applause] >> thank you. i just have to say i would not be here without karen. we have been very good colleagues and friends. together we founded the four freedoms fund, but with a lot of other wonderful colleagues and a great staff that the public interest project. we thank them for their work on this. like karen, woo hoo, my parents actually chose come to the united states. there were immigrants from ireland to came with their two little girls about 50 years ago and settled first in pittsburgh, and then in the bronx. like the immigrants of today, our families came to pursue their american dream and experience opportunity and hardship. karen and i represent their

dreams, their ambitions, and their legacies. it is their example the spurs us to work to ensure that the dream remains attainable for today's immigrants. from our work in philanthropy, we know that immigrants renew democracy, and that by upholding their rights, we strengthen human-rights for all americans. [applause] immigrants are here legally or not, they are all at risk each and every day of being separated from their families, and detained without due process, or forced to live in the shadows of our society. today's fight for immigration reform is not just a struggle for immigrant rights and for integration. it is a struggle for the soul of our nation. we ask that all of you join us in working on behalf of immigrants as our wonderful and

fearless awardees do each and every day. not all of us can win awards, but we can all commit acts of courage. in doing so, we will ensure our nation lives up to its promise. now i will turn it back to karen to introduce our first awardee, the immigrant youth justice league. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i now have the honor of introducing tanya, rico, and raina. woo! [applause] these are three brave people from chicago who joined the immigrant youth the justice league after they campaigned to stop the deportation of one of

them. drawing inspiration for marylandlgbtq and immigrant rights movement, they galvanized students from around the country to declare a themselvesun -- themselves un documented and unafraid. they and the other award winners will receive a $5,000 prize and this beautiful fine arts print designed by a brilliant artist and activist. [applause] you can see it up close outside of this main hall at her? . i now want to give it to these three with our deepest thanks and respect. [applause]

>> i am undocumented. my name is rico. >> might raina and i am undocumented and queer. >> thank you. i want to tell you about why it is so crucial for us to say out loud the word "undocumented" and "queer." harvey milk said, you must come out for your parents. i know that it is hard and it will hurt them. think about how they will help you in the voting booth. come out for your friends and your neighbors. here i am today, coming out to all of you, with all of my friends behind me. my coming out is about being an undocumented immigrant. i live in chicago since i was 10

years old. it is where i grew up, learned about community, french, and where i have learned what freedom and in justice feels like, and the lengths to which people of gone to defend them. i have learnt to organize and to tweet. i love this country and i consider it my home, but it is hard to live in a country where you are called a criminal, and to know that i don't have the same rights as my peers, to live in a place where i have to live in fear under constant threat of deportation, and where i have seen my friends and family disappear for the same reasons. when i was 17 years old, i was advised to go to mexico to get an international student visa. i took it, feeling i would not just let my status or laws to stop my plans for an education. while i was there, i learned that every year, 65,000

undocumented immigrants graduate from a u.s. high school, like i had. i felt like i was not alone in my experiences were valid. my frustrations reflected inequalities that needed to be addressed because i was not the only one facing them. i was able to come back. i was able to experience what it meant to speak about my own experiences. i began to understand that every time i told my story, it was one of those stories that needed to be set out loud. when i came back, i was on my way to testify in front of the senate as i watched two planes crashed in new york city. the government's response was to turn everything around immigration into a conversation of national security and terrorism. i decided to dedicate more quietly, go to school, and try to live my life. i went to college. that is the time when i started liking girls.

i had to go through the experience of coming out to my family, who was not happy about it. this experience led me to understand what it meant to be able to come out as undocumented and be able to have our own lives and control our own stores. i want to say thank you to our parents, who we saw, i am sorry, i am nervous, when we began coming out -- [applause] thank you. we began coming out in meetings and it felt really good. we wanted to be able to share that feeling with others, to be able to have control over our own stories and to be able to know -- to use the strategies of past movements. we were inspired and we ask other people to come out of the shadows and declare themselves undocumented. we co-founded the immigrant youth justice leak.

we organized the first national coming out. undocumented young people have made that message their own. we have heard of people who have come out to their friends, and we know the power that has to change minds. we have also been part of an organized -- and participated in civil disobedience as. all of this has been part of trying to live our lives, coming out and living our lives as documented and unafraid. to our parents, the first people who we saw, we are part of you. thank you for bringing us to the united states. to those undocumented youth who

despite tangible risk, take actions that move us forward. to our friends at the immigrant youth allowance, and to you who are listening to my story, i ask you to stand with us, to help us create sex basis for yana undocumented people, whether that means interclass room, i being inclusive in your community and your state and our country. we are all human beings and we deserve to be happy, and i ask you to help us create that country. thank you. [cheers and applause]

>> i have a great honor and privilege of introducing some one of whom i am a big fan. this is somebody who made me both want to be a super model and made me seriously consider kissing a girl. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce one of the -- >> they asked me to write a song for this day and this is what i came up with. i am a little nervous, but here goes. ♪ they say we want our america back when they say they want our america back,

what the fuck do they mean ♪ ♪ before eve hung out with that snake? you could walk down the street not worrying about the best like those germans in 1790 and the irish survived the potato blight the neighborhood started changing. life has paler shade of white when they say we want our america back we want our america back ♪

♪ before there was ellis island and that statue we got from the french inviting them into our bed the days and the terrorists and who let in that woman who looks after my kids and the one who is cleaning my mess live was righteous, life was cleaned send them back, including me

when they say we want our america back what the fuck does it mean ♪ before the gays at the agenda before the slaves were free before that man from kenya we want our america back our america back, our america back when they say we want our america back what the fuck does that mean ♪

[cheers and applause] >> i did not expect that. thank you. saree for cussing s --orry for cussing. here is a song that i wrote a while ago, and i will just play it. ♪ if i had a jet pack, the first thing that i would do is fly

across the gridlock and come to you i would begin to the windows on fifth avenue to see how the other side lives and if i had a jet pack, i would strap it on. i would get out of this one room and i would be gone to where there are houses with big front yards if i had a jet pack, i would take you up with me ♪ at last we both be free past the statue of liberty in my jet pack if i had a jet pack, i would like above the bridge

i would wait to all my friends who thought i would never rise again i'd fly above the stadium to watch my team whein if i had a jet pack, i would bust into your store underneath the moonlight you would want me even more because i'd have a jet pack i'd take you up so high if i drop to you would die but i want you by my side in mind jet pack ♪ i don't have a jet pack

i don't even have a car i just have a head full of stars i don't have pack ♪on't have a jet [applause] >> thank you, i am so honored to be here and i want to bring on my new favre band, but -- my new favorite band, outernational. >> we are going to sing our favorite woody guthrie song to you folks this evening.

last year they passed a law called sb-70 in arizona. this is a song that woody guthrie wrote in 1948. ♪ ♪ ♪ they are flying you back to the mexican border ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ you won't have a name when you ride the big airplane all they will call you is deportees ♪

♪ ♪ [applause]

>> some woody guthrie rock-and- roll. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome arizona state senator kirsten cinema. >> good evening. join me in giving another round of applause to outernational. just a reminder for all of you who are enjoying the music this evening, you can purchase cds and t-shirts here in the area of the doorway to the hall. you can also get posters of tonight's historic awards ceremony on your way out of the building. make sure you check that out on your way out this evening. it is my incredible honor and privilege to be a member of the committee that helped select

this evening's freedom from fear awardees and an even greater privilege to be able to present one of this evening's awards to someone i consider personal friend and hero. i hailed from phoenix, arizona. i was born and raised in arizona. while all of you know my state because of sb-1070, it was not always like that. for years, arizona has been an independent, feisty state. only in recent years have the powers of extremism (the voice of reason in our state to pass bills like sb-1070. while many here only about the voice of extremism and rigid ideology and anti-immigrant rhetoric, it often do not hear about the profiles of courage of individuals who staked their reputation, their career, and sometimes even risking their livelihood in order to stand up for what is right in the face of

overpowering strength and even hatred. one of tonight's awardees is former chief of police jack harris. jack harris is almost an arizona native. his family moved to phoenix when he was just two years old. after growing up in the great metropolis of phoenix, jack harris started a 39-year career in public service. for the last seven years he served as the chief of police for the city of phoenix, the fifth largest city in the country. during that time, jack harris presided over an unprecedented reduction in crime and increase safety in our community. unfortunately, in the last five to seven years, he also presided over the police team during a time of unprecedented pressure from elected officials and extremists to crack down on

innocent, law-abiding individuals in this city of phoenix. long before the passage of sb- 1070, public pressure was growing by ideological extremist at the arizona state legislature to force officers to engage in racial profiling and to endanger the safety and the trust of its citizens. chief harris led the effort in fighting back against those pressures, refusing to engage in racial profiling, and staying committed to committed -- community policing. where officers had in formal and informal relationships with individuals in those communities, to keep those communities safe and healthy. with the passage of sb-1070, arizona solidified its position as ground zero in the national struggle for immigration reform. very few people in arizona had the courage or the will to stand up against it.

police chief jack harris is one of those who stood strong, early, and consistent set -- consistently against this misguided policy that does nothing to keep our committee state and injects words, makes it more difficult for individuals to report either instances of criminal activity or individuals who are victims are witnesses of crimes to cooperate with police. chief jack harris was a stalwart and strong voice against the passage sb-1070, and for this, many elected an unelected officials and the state of arizona sought to endanger his position and his livelihood. this summer, chief harris retired, after 39 years of public service in arizona and seven years as the chief of police in phoenix. while he has retired, his legacy will continue to live on as a strong, brave, and unafraid

voice in the face of extremist ideology. he continues to stand strong for the right of individuals in our state to live safely and peacefully, free from harassment because of immigration ideology. please join me in welcoming and banking chief jack harris. -- and thanking chief jack harris. [applause] >> good evening. thank you for those very kind words . i very much appreciated. a wise man once said, it is not hard to do the right thing. it is hard to know what the right thing is. once you know what the right thing is, it is hard not to do

it. four police officers, the right thing is -- has always been to make our communities safe. community safety and helping people should be law-enforcement number one priority. community safety is in part accomplished by putting those who prey on victims in jail. as the former police chief of the fifth largest city and our country, i directed my 3500 police officers to go after murderers, rapists, and thieves. i also asked them to help people, and ultimately to make our communities safe. recently in this country, it has become politically popular to blame immigrants for all of the

ills that people perceive to be happening in our country and to attempt to force local law enforcement officers to divert their precious resources away from traditional crime-fighting strategies and concentrate instead on routine immigration enforcement. individual state legislatures are attempting to do this by passing laws like arizona's 1070. i refuse to to do it. [applause] simply because it was not the right thing to do. over the last several years, phoenix police officers arrested on average over 46,000 people a

year that commit serious crimes. it is not prudent to divert those officers away from protecting their communities to chase immigrants back and forth across the border. the answer to the emigration issue lies in washington d.c., in the form of national immigration reform. i believe congress will resolve the emigration issue at some points, but until then, i told my officers to treat people fairly and humanely. in the end, the issue will be resolved, but people will always remember, above all else, how they were treated by you.

martin luther king said, "the ultimate measure of the man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." i am honored tonight to stand here with my fellow recipients, who i believe in all of their efforts have lived up to dr. king's words. thank you. [applause] >> let's welcome the congressman.

>> thank you very much. it is an honor to present one of these acknowledgment and awards. before i do that, i want to take the time for many of you to thank you. this last time around, my campaign needed help, and with this last election, we needed it badly. we received it from any of you, and i want to thank you and extend to you my sincere appreciation. i don't know if we learned any lessons, but we did learn that having a progressive message is not necessarily the death knell for politicians, and we should not be afraid to take positions, be up front, and draw the line on occasion. this has been a great conference, as it was last year. i learned a lot, met a lot of

good people, and want to extend to all the organizers and all of you my congratulations for it. a lot has been said throughout the last two or three months about what we are up against, wheat being anybody who thinks the country is going to hell in a handbasket. there are plenty of us in the country, not just us. what are we up against? corporate money, all those things. let me tell you, we are in a great position to motivate, organized, and energize the american public, and you are a critical part of that process. we are not in bad shape, we are in great shape. we should be optimistic and we should be really ready for a really good fight, a fight that not only we can win, but we are going to win. so thank you for that. you know, immigration is a touchstone issue, and i am glad

for the theme today. an issue that touches on what is american, what our traditions are, our values, our rule of law. in doing so, immigration has been used as a very ugly, divisive wedge issue by the extremists, the extreme right in this country, to make people afraid of, to use it as a motivator, to try to win their elections, and in some cases, winning those elections. but immigration is not an issue to run away from. it is a complex, delicate, but you cannot ignore it. it is part and parcel of how we are evolving in this country. i want to take time today, and coming from a state that is unabashedly ahead of its time, arizona, i want to take the time

to acknowledge the next recipient. councilman, jackson mississippi. following his recommendation, that council voted 6 to 1 to approve an immigration ordinance to discourage racial profiling. [applause] the measure was proposed by the congressman to prevent law enforcement from asking to see someone's proof of citizenship, based on his or her race. the councilman said that his action was based on the draconian emigration law in my home state of arizona, and it was the inspiration behind his ordnance. all the federal government's and to some extent this administration shies away from and is afraid to deal with this

issue, while other people use this issue to exploit the political and vantage, while other people use this issue to marginalized people, it is so good to see a local elected official with the foresight and courage to say no, we are much different than that, and we are much better than that. this award is about political courage in the face of, and about being a head, because now the nation is catching up to jackson, mississippi, and questioning communities and questioning mass deportation, and questioning why we cannot have something intelligent and rational to reform our immigration law, and we are

going to do that. we are going to do it because local communities like the councilman represents are ahead of the rest of us. they are promoting an american ideal about inclusion, about integration, and about face in our american system to say for many, there is one. with that, let me on this occasion recognize the great work being done to make our country a more united nation, a country reflective of its history and reflective of its diversity, and the freedom from fear award to this gentleman is not only deserved, but says a lot about where this nation is and what it can be. with that, let me introduce the freedom from fear award winner,

the councilman from jackson, mississippi. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> good evening. on may 19, 2009, which happens to be the work day of malcolm x, i was elected to the city council of jackson, mississippi. jackson, mississippi is a city which is predominantly black in a county which is predominantly black, in a state which has a very infamous racial history.

i was elected to the council seat, and immediately upon being elected, it became apparent to many of us, myself included, that there was a growing hatred and animosity toward immigrant brothers and sisters who were coming into jackson and who were coming into the state. the tea party ideas were growing. as they were beginning to contemplate the passage of very bad legislation, which would victimize immigrant people, we understood that the history of

immigrants and the history of black people and the history of oppressed white people were tied together in this country. [applause] we understood, just like we understood our history, that immigrant people largely were coming to an crossing borders to the united states of america because in their own countries, companies and corporations were taking over their economy, paying them pennies for hours worth of work, and then as they would come across the border looking for work, they would find ice raids or government raids, the tension, other forms of credit conditions and pay below minimum wage. we also understood that these

were our brothers and our sisters and our allies. so what we set out to do was to move quicker than the opposition. to take the anti-profiling ordinance which would stop discrimination against immigrants and take it before a predominantly black city council of jackson, mississippi, before the predominantly racist legislator of the state of mississippi could get to the immigrants. [applause] we took it before the city council commack and as little babies and children appear before that city council and talked about how the attacks on their mothers and fathers had cost of them fear and cause them hunker and how they -- caused

them honker and how they wanted and were afraid. we saw them city council members shed some tears and they overwhelmingly supported the anti-racial profiling ordinance. [applause] of course, the state of mississippi tried to strike back. they began to plan to pass many forms of legislation which were worse even than the arizona legislation. but we did not quit. we showed up in the chambers of the legislature and outside on the steps, and we began to remind people that we are approaching the 50th anniversary of the freedom riders who had come to free the state of mississippi, and that we were approaching the anniversary of many significant

mississippi martyrs like emmitt till and medgar evers and others. and that we could not stand by as people were planning to visit these harms of other people like that had once visited on us. [applause] and the voices, both black voices and white voices of resistance, were raised in the state legislature of mississippi, and they outmaneuvered the opposition, so in 2011, we were able to defeat all of the arizona type legislation in this date of mississippi. -- in the state of mississippi. [applause] but the struggle continues,

right? because not only is there 2011, there is 2012, and years since then, but some things we do know, that people's movement does work, and as we combine people in coalitions in order to fight against injustice, it does work. as we pass on the legacy to stand for justice and not to surrender to to fear to our children that it will work. so we plan to do all of this. in a closing comment, i want to say that i want to accept this award, this wonderful ward, on behalf of all those allies who worked in mississippi in order to prevent these ordinances and present this legislation like arizonas from being passed. [applause] i also want to accept it on

behalf of my family. i have to tell you about my grandmother. my grandmother had 15 children. her mother was a cherokee. her daddy was a descendant from nigeria. her 15 children were an interesting 15 children, because she first married a very, very dark skinned brother. those of us in the black community will know what i mean when they say they used to call him blue period of very dark skinned brother. she had her first five or six children by that man, and when he died, she married my grandfather, who was not only black, he was also irish. so she had a constellation of children that looked like the rainbow, from the very darkest to the very brightest.

in fact, sometimes when my aunts would go out, both in alabama and then detroit, michigan, been arrested for a black man being with a white woman. but she taught us, we cannot tolerate racial injustice. we cannot tolerate discrimination between colors. she made me the type of person that would step into the fight in mississippi in 2009 and 2010. and it just as some refused to change, we do have the right kind of training and conditioning and understanding will refuse to say no to justice. we must stand to justice and never surrendered to fear. that great brother, martin jr. also said this.

he said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. and so understanding that we are all part of the same family, we will win in mississippi, as we woolwich and everywhere else, globe, where immigrants or any other people are being abused. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> i am back we are doing two things here, one is to talk about volunteers.

i know about volunteers, because that is how we built the young turks, when the mainstream media did not believe our listeners and viewers believed, and they would chip in. we literally could not have done the show without them. let me help in building the website, let me help in this way or that way. that made the young turks happen, and now we are about to hit a half billion views on line. that is a small intro to the volunteers here at netroots nation. again, we literally could not have done this without them. we don't have the big corporate money. we have people power. i want you guys to help me in thanking all the great, great volunteers here at netroots nation. [cheers and applause]

that is what we have, people power. as i was saying before, we need people to stand opposed, and they stood opposed. i want to introduce someone else who has done likewise. i have talked to him for a long time, well before i was on msnbc. she believed and we believed, and at the time, at conventions like this we would taught, and she was thinking of running for congress. at the time they told her as an established democrat, we already have that seat in your district. we will do the right thing, and they never did. she said i am going to go ahead and make a run for it because we need to fight for progressive values. that is the kind of democrat that i love.

at the time we were a small show and no one believed in that, either. we decided we are going to believe, and ask the people around us to believe we thought, and now donna edwards is our congressman from maryland's fourth district. i told in the beginning that there are some good guys in congress, and she is definitely one of the good guys. it is a great pleasure to introduce our real progressive who fights for progressive values in the united states congress, donna edwards. [applause] >> i came to the united states three years ago from china. i did not know what to expect, but i found out very soon that my high school in south

philadelphia was one of the most violent schools in the city. one by one, all my friends were getting beaten up. many of them dropped out soon after. in the lunchroom, asian students got foodborne on them every day. the cafeteria manager made fun of our accent's when we ordered food. i did not go to the lunch room for two years. we were beaten in hallways and bathrooms. i heard racial slurs all the time, and we told administrators at the school. sometimes they laughed at us or told us to speak english. sometimes they yelled at us as if it were our fault, or shrugged their shoulders and walk away. in october 2008, five of my chinese friends were beaten by 30 other students. but instead of protecting them and trying to understand what was happening, the school suspended the chinese victims for fighting. it was enough.

i knew i could not be silent anymore and let this happen again and again to me or my classmates. from that day on, i began to organize students to stand up for ourselves. we began to document what was happening to us. we reached out to community leaders and other adults for help. on december 3, 2009, 30 asian immigrant students got beat up inside and outside school during a whole school day. 13 asian kids had to go to the emergency room. the principal and district leaders denied that anything had happened at school and said no one was hurt. our principal told the staff that we had an asian agenda. i knew martin luther king had led boycotts, so i convinced 50 of my classmates to stage a boycott.

our parents were very against it. we 50 students met every day, shared our stories, and made a list of our demands. the boycott lasted for eight days and got national media attention. we filed a complaint with the department of justice, and they agreed that our civil rights had been violated. [applause] the principal resigned and we got a much better one. over the past two years, i have learned a lot about what racial justice means, and that immigrant youth can take leadership. we felt like the school was failing both the asian students and the african-american students who were attacking us. we did not want them to start a life in jail, so we focused our demands on the school's responsibility. we wanted to make a school that would work for all the students.

today, self philadelphia high school is a much safer and better schools because of our work. we are working now in a citywide campaign for nonviolent schools. please join me in celebrating and welcoming and challenging our civil rights, the freedom from fear award winners tonight. they are 17 years old and 19 years old. they are fearless, from south philadelphia high school. [applause] >> we are both from the asian

student association from philadelphia. we know there are many high schools with the same issues and the same struggles like us, in a different place. our members came from different backgrounds and different languages. with issues such as the language barrier, we realize we must work together to fight for our rights. it can result in teacher layoffs and cutting of the bilingual staff.

there is a network for use organizations and community organizations working together to address this issue. as part of this campaign, we are working with other youth organizations to fight for our rights. we believe that the young people deserve to be in schools, not in prisons. [applause] in the future, we will continue to work with immigrant youth, to empower the youth to become the leaders of their communities. we have the power to make the change, the power to help the people and not to hurt people.

if we use the power to hurt people, one day we will lose the power. thank you. [applause] >> how are you guys doing? let me hear from you. make some noise, netroots nation. welcome to minneapolis. welcome to the city where it hubert h. humphrey in 1947 told the democratic convention that we have to leave the dark night

of segregation and walk into the bright light of integration. strom thurmond did not appreciate that none too much and they walked out and created the dixiecrats. he did not care, and that is the city that i come from. this is where paul wellstone said, we all do better when we all do better. that is what he said right here in this town. welcome to minneapolis. i want you to know that i feel so inspired by you. i am just so impressed with what you are doing. this is the best, largest, most butt-kicking gathering of wired progressives in america. i am telling you right now. i am sure you have not heard anything about this, but they

have some sorry little gathering over there at the hilton. it is that they, really, and quite unfortunate. but we are on fire all around here. the fact is, the reason i am so honored to be able to address you for just a few minutes is because you all have the capacity to do what very few people in america can do. you can go around the corporate media. you can get a message to the american people. you can send a message in a bottle to the american people that does not count on whether or abc or cbs or nbc or cnn or fox likes it or not. you can just go writer around and tell them -- go right around and tell them, there is something i want you to ask them, i want you to tell the american people that every body counts, and everybody matters. i want you to tell the american people that we are one america,

and it says "and liberty and justice paul." for all." it is liberty and justice for all, for the muslims, christians, the jews, the hindus, people who do not go in for religion at all. it is freedom and justice for all of us. it is liberty and justice for all. we have to be fierce in defense of this idea of one america. we have to be fierce in defense of this idea, because this country went through a bloody civil war to fight for the simple idea that no person should be able to own another one. this country went through a

momentous women's rights movement that says more than one-half of all humanity deserves respect and equality and to control their own life and their own destiny. this country went through labor movement. they used to say it was the restraint of trade and a labor union should have no rights. we won the right to organize on the job, and a union is a good thing. the right to organize, and basic human rights. we need you to tell the american people this, because there are some guys who want to control the message. they do not like the internet because they cannot control the message. they want to get us arguing among each other. liberty and justice for all is fine, but not so much those

muslim people. not so much those gay people. not so much those labor union people. not so much those liberal, trade union people. not so much those people who want an america where all are included, where all or embraced and respected for who they are. you and i have to say no. the message is going to get through to the american people that we are not going to let this divide us or break us apart. we are not afraid of those fictitious sharia laws that they want to invent. it is nonsense. nobody is asking for this, but they have created this straw man because they want to create your between me and you. that is what it is all about. i am telling you, once they pick

out one, they are going to pick out another one. so we have to hang together, folks. each one of us has got to be a soldier and say liberty and justice for all. that is right. if your whole political philosophy is the elevation of greed to an ideology, that only serves 1% or less of the american people, then how are you going to get 50% of the american people to vote for that program? first you have to suppress the vote. you have to tell them they need estate issued identification card even to vote, even though the constitution says nothing of the sort. you have to make them scared of each other, suspicious of each other. you have to make them not want to hang together, to get some of

them to think they are more moral than others. while you have no paycheck and your houses foreclosed and you have no health care, your thinking or better than somebody else. we have to be fierce in our defense of liberty and justice for all. i am asking you to first, break the fear. we have to have freedom from fear. we have to have freedom from fear. i am telling you, in egypt, everybody just knew, they just knew that you could not stand up against mubarak, he was just too strong. there is nothing we can do. we just have to take it. but somebody said you know what? i am just going to try something. you know who tried something? folks who are in the netroots nation in egypt.

et.started with a tweake it started with twitter. it is of a coincidence. you guys are the key to changing the whole narrative. it is making people feel courageous and connected so that we can claim our own destiny. i am telling you right now, and america today, the biggest problem is the american dream is slipping out of our fingers. the simple notion that anybody of any color, any race, a background, can be able to go to a job and earn a decent pay, that they can raise a family on and have a decent retirement, and maybe even go to the doctor if they are sick -- if this is an idea that is growing less and less possible for the average american, this is an idea that

has to be fought for. back during the civil rights movement, the african-americans who were out there protesting used to have allies. in the women's rights movement, there were men who cared about equality, and they were allies. those of us who are straight, are gay friends call us allies. in this fight for the middle class, there are no allies. we are all in this. this is all our business. whether you are a student who does not want to go to college for four years and then pay for it for 40 years, or whether you are a senior and they have these guys over here literally talking about cutting medicare, or whether you are a new american and you have to listen to these politicians act like every problem in america is your fault, there are no allies.

we are all in this, and we have to find that solidarity and fiercely defended. it is within our hands. we can do this. we have done it before. the netroots nation will lead the way. you will lead the way because you have been leading the way. the people in this room, people who feel like you feel, you have been at it for a long time. i am not going to go back to the civil rights movement or the women's movement. i am going to go back to the year 2000. in the year 2000, many of us thought, we got involved, and we got engaged. and yet in florida, we saw direct and clear racial discrimination which ended up stealing an election and the presidency. back before twitter, we used to think tweets were something that

little birds did. we had fax machines. we used technology to get the word out to talk about hell in florida, they used a scrub list " -- house in florida, they deny people the vote in that state. people got riled up about it. then 9/11 came, that horrible tragedy, and yet we saw very quickly, the goodwill we had gotten from the world because of the suffering we endured. american squandered it with things like the patriot act and guantanamo bay. with iraq, we were out there and marching. who participated in an anti-war match in iraq? who got up here and stood up and put their feet in the street and said we have to get out now? this movement, this anti-war

movement, this worker movement, this was the movement we could feel. we began to employ it. we began to employ technology. blocking became something we used to communicate. -- blogging became something we used to communicate. our brothers and sisters fighting for immigration justice began to organize. they had a slogan they used to use, "si se puede." say it. others of us took a cue from our brothers and sisters fighting for emigration rights. we put it in english because that is the language we understand. we started saying what? "yes we can." where saying in the streets. we were saying it at barbershops and beauty shops. we were organizing with this strategy. we got out there and began to march. and then a talented, brilliant,

inspiring state senator from illinois joined that movement that already was going on. he got inspiration from that movement. he got jazz from that movement. he thought about the opportunity to deliver leadership to that movement. he became the most tech savvy candidates. he gave this amazing speech in boston which inspired us. i was there. i had tears in my eyes and was standing on my feet. i never thought he started the movement or owned the movement. i never thought the movement was his, that he should guide it. he should have input into it. but i know the movement existed before. the movement set up leaders. the leaders did not call the leaders into existence. we got out there in the campaign and said yes we can, yes we can. we used music and art and twitter and text.

we used all these things to get the people behind nothing short of the democracy movement, all built around the idea that in america anybody can be president. everybody can be president. it does not matter, color. it does not matter, your background. it does not matter if you came from a single mom and did not grow up with a dead in your household. it did not matter if you had a passion to serve. you would serve. based on this freedom agenda, we got him into office. and we were so happy. but after we were saying yes we can, we kind of started saying yes he can. we kind of said yes you can. go out there and solve our problems. i am telling you that when we can walk with the president we should walk with him. when we can't, we have to walk ahead of him. the movement has to inspire politicians. [applause]

the movement must inspire politicians. martin luther king never, never called on johnson and said, "i am thinking about having a march against segregation. what do you think, linden? i am thinking about getting active, giving back. martin luther king was out there in 1955. only a few years before, humphrey was out there. he was out there knocking on doors. he was organizing. young people were sitting there, black and white, getting ketchup and cigarettes and coffee burned out on them. what happened? politicians had to do what the movement demanded they do. even after we got a bad precedent in richard nixon, he had to bow to the wave that was progressing in health care and civil rights legislation, even though he did not want to do it.

not with that progressive president and an ally of progressive movement that understands we have to make a moral call have a moral beacon that will guide us based on principles, not personality. what will we do when the president wants to do the things we want to do? we need to liberate our president. we need to free him. we need to make it easy for him to do what he wants to do. let me tell you -- the dream act needs to be the law. comprehensive immigration reform needs to be the law. in america, every good american workers should have a good american jobs with benefits and good wages. in america, the unemployment rate should never be 9%. it should be 1% or 2%. full employment for the american people. that is what we need to have. [applause] but the key to it is us hanging

together and following the authentic, jest up, and passionate leadership of the netroots nation, which wants america to fulfill a dream that is a little more than liberty and justice for all. [applause] go back out across america. banks -- me and my partners are going out, talking about economic justice. we are here in minneapolis today. thank you for coming. was it a good one? we are going to milwaukee. we are going to houston. we are going to boston. we are going to your town. do not speak out just to speak out. speak out in the barbershop and the hare shop. go to republican town hall forums and speak out there. we are not like them.

we are not going to be uncivil like they do. but it is your right to ask the tough questions. why don't you want america to have the best high-speed rail in the world? why don't you want every community wired up so people can communicate no matter where they live? why don't you believe all americans should be one? why are you trying to divide us. inspire america again and drag these politicians to do the right thing. if they will not, do it yourself. i love you so much. you are the best. peace. [applause] >> next, the right online conference hears from john fund and andrew breitbart.

after that, another chance to see keith ellison at the netroots convention. tomorrow, the latest appointments in congress, including the debt ceiling debate and tax and fiscal policy. an assistant georgetown university professor talks about post best revolution -- post-revolution in egypt and the arabs from in the middle east. and the book "next generation, young officials and their impact on american politics" >> if he had decided several days before mckinley arrive that he was going to kill him. he got a pistol and followed mckinley's whereabouts in the newspaper, which reported in great detail where the president would be. he began tracking him throughout

the fair. >> on september 6, 1901, a self- proclaimed anarchist fired the fatal shots at president william mckinley. sunday, scott miller looks of the president and his assassin and the changing era in which they lived. monday on c-span, the dali lama and martin luther king jr.'s speech writer talk about non- violence. they spoke at the university of arkansas, discussing osama bin laden's death, the nuremberg trials, the execution of saddam hussein, and the death penalty. >> in the 20th century, the number of people who were killed through violence -- over 200 million. but the problem is not solved. i think it is that kind of action and exploitation, also,

that laid down the seed of hatred between the arabs and here. >> watch this discussion monday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. monday night on c-span, a look back at president nixon's foreign policy. members of his administration and the president's son-in-law discuss topics including communism in china, invading north vietnam, and the 1967 war in the middle east. >> the discussion then in the newspapers was nixon's secret plan for peace. what was it? he never talk about it. that was rockefeller pushing nixon to say something, to expose what his plan was. rockefeller did not think nixon had a plan. i happen to be in the library, which in for trisha to change

her clothes to go out. he came in after a a hard day of campaigning, relaxing. so i ask him. mr. nixon, what is your plan? to peking andgo moscow and that is how we are going to bring the end of vietnam and peace to the world." watch this discussion monday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c- span. >> the americans for prosperity foundation held its annual online conference for conservatives this year in minneapolis. speakers included wall street journal columnist john fund on the legacy of ronald reagan and former congressman andrew bride art -- breitbart on andrew winner. this is an hour and 15 minutes.

>> and now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of americans for prosperity foundation. ladies and gentlemen, tim phillips. ♪ ["beautiful day," u2] >> thank you. thank you. welcome. welcome to americans for fourthrity foundation's annual right online conference. years ago, the staff came to our leadership and said, "candidly, the left is killing us on line. they are beating us. we have a solution. we are going to start

conferences across the country. we are going to start training literally tens of thousands of grass-roots activists to go up and become better online insurgents using social media and social networking." americans for prosperity foundation write online was going. we do not just hold conferences quietly. we decided to go where the left was. we found out where netroots nation was and decided to go to the same city, weekend, if we can, the same hotel. so welcome to the revolution. three years ago, it was austin, texas. we have a bunch of good texans here tonight, i know. two years ago, it was pittsburg. as a dallas cowboys fan, that was a very tough year in pittsburgh. last year was las vegas, nevada. this year, it is minneapolis, minnesota. [applause]

end these conferences are working. three years ago at our first right online conference in austin, texas, a young lady was there named melissa. she went out and learn about blogging. she is here tonight. three years later, she is not just one of the biggest blunders on the conservative side in texas. she is one of the biggest conservative bloggers on the planet. she is here tonight. thank you for all your doing. two years ago, eric came to me and said, "we are going to have a training session at the pittsburgh conference called facebook 101." i said that is a stupid idea and no one is good to come to that. he did it anyway. we have a brick that section. i walk been expecting to go, "i told you. we will work through this together." over 150 activists were in the room.

they had spilled out into the hallway. earlier in the day, i had met this little lady. she was about 5 feet tall, 82 years old. she said, "i am going to learn to become a better facebook activist." she was two seats to my right, furiously taking notes the entire brick that section -- session, scribbling notes and working on it. i thought nothing was going to come of that. a week later, i get a friend request from this little lady. [laughter] she already had 500 facebook friends. [applause] she probably runs pennsylvania at this point for all i know, with that kind of passion. but these conferences are working. tomorrow morning, netroots nation will kick off their conference with minnesota is on al franken. [booing]

you know it is a tough time to be a liberal when you have to go with al franken on a saturday morning. so in the morning when you roll out of bed and come back to hear, we're going to kick off with another minnesota member of congress, a lady named michele bachman. [applause] i thought we won that one. i did. later tonight after dinner, you are going to hear from a quiet, shy, unassuming guy. he is every liberals nightmare, the guy who broke the andrew weaner scandal. he is andrew breotba -- bre itbart. john fund, the smart as writer in the country, is here tonight. the governor is here.

said michele bachman is gonna be talking tomorrow. i want to thank all of the sponsors of right online. they are allies in the movement across this great country. we are a free-market organization at americans for prosperity. we want to give you incentives to go out and patronize these great sponsors. our team came up with something called "exhibit booth window." here is how it works. throughout tomorrow, if you simply go to 10 of the exhibit booths, 10 -- am i getting this right? 10 of the exhibit booths. they will give you a bingo card. after you look around, they will stamp it. when you get 10 of those, you go into a drawing for either a free ipad or an all expenses paid trip to our defending the american dream summit in washington, d.c. this november. [applause] take a look at that. we also have a really exciting

new partnership at the americans for prosperity foundation with our good friends at the leadership institute. the president is here tonight. thank you for all you are doing. it is a partnership. you are going to be seeing a lot more about that. we are doing a lot more training of conservative and free-market activists in coming years. you can be part of that as well. anyone hear from the great state of wisconsin? [applause] right over here. you guys have had such a quiet year, haven't you? i knew it was you because a couple of you were chaining yourselves with by clocks to the table tonight. that is the -- bike locks to the table tonight. that is the other side. i'm sorry. they have a governor we admire and americans for prosperity. his name is tom walker. [applause] i thought so.

our sister organization, americans for prosperity, our organization's sister is hosting a phone centers throughout tomorrow. i would urge you, if you care about what is going on in wisconsin and want to help educate some of the good folks in that state about what is happening there this summer, and you know what is going on this summer from the left -- it is right across the hall. all day tomorrow, you can log in. it is easy to do. you can make some phone calls to the good folks in wisconsin and educate them on what is going on. tell them what is at stake. would some of you do that tomorrow? would you go to that phone center tomorrow? it is a big deal. i hope you will. tonight, we gather for a summit dedicated to taking our nation in a different direction. we have seen the direction of the policies of president obama. when it comes to deficits and debt, this president and his

policies are the biggest failure in america's history. [applause] and we know that. and i do not know if you know this or not, but it is the one- year anniversary of something that i am sure has changed every life in this room. think back for just a moment to june 17, 2010. what do you think happened a year ago today? it has changed all of your lives. it has changed the entire country. the summer of recovery. that is right. president obama, vice president joe biden -- they went out this day one year ago and announced it was a summer of recovery. how is the recovery working out for you? [booing] ask al franken? i thought so. this is a tough time to be a liberal. you know it is tough when they spend all that money from the

stimulus. they pronounced it a summer of recovery. today, unemployment stands at 9.1%. that is the message we want to make sure everyone -- every american knows. their policies, their regulations, their big spending, their taxation, their health care, is taking us further away from recovery. so happy first-year anniversary. i want to wrap up with this. the two questions i get on the road the most are, "are we making a difference with all of our grassroots activities?" no. 2, "are we winning?" i want to answer the first question by asking you for a moment to go back to january 2009. think about where we stood as a movement in january 2009. the president was enjoying one of the best political honeymoons in modern american history.

then, senate leader harry reid had 60 votes in the senate on the democrat side. and truth be known about half a dozen squishy republicans. then-speaker at nancy pelosi, and isn't it nice to say then- speaker nancy pelosi? i thought so. she had a 50 plus seat majority in the house. they pronounced three domestic priorities they were going to slam through. you probably remember. they were a done deal, according to the mainstream media and all the opinion leaders. one was cap and trade, the energy tax of all time in the united states. that was a done deal, al gore's fondest dream. where is al gore? he has disappeared. we may need him back for hot air. secondly, taking away the right to the secret ballot from american workers when they decided whether or not to join a union. that was big labor's payoff. third was the health-care

takeover. that was a done deal. it is easy to think differently, but go back to january 2009. today, i want you to think about those three. this is a technical term i learned at virginia tech, so bear with me. but cap and trade today is better than a doornail. -- deader than a doornail. it is done. did al gore suddenly say he was just kidding about that? you know what happened to cap and trade? you happen to cap and trade. this grass-roots ruble rose up and kill the legislation. payoff,ck, big labor's it has not even come up for a vote. it is on the ash heap of history in this country because of you. [applause] and health care -- there is no way around it. we have some victories. we stopped the public option,

but it was a defeat most bitter, was it not? we lost that one. in defeat, you worked so hard at educating your fellow americans that in the and that catapulted our movement to ascendancy in this country in november 2010. even in defeat, that ended up being a victory. you are the reason for those results. if you wonder whether we are making a difference, we are. if you wonder whether we are winning, we are. it is one thing to say no and to stop bad things from happening. but now we have to go out and train and work and fight and educate our fellow citizens to push forward good things, to push forward good ideas. that is going to be a challenge for us, but i know we are going to do it. thank you all for being here tonight. thank you for joining us for this conference. just know we are winning. thank you all very much. [applause]

["beautiful day" u2] >> please welcome americans for prosperity texas a direction -- director peggy calendazenabo. >> this is so much fun. look at this room. i am so excited to be with you tonight. i want to give a big shot up to the texas contingency, wherever you are, folks. we are proud and our state and we have good reason. texas is number one in job creation. we are number one in business relocation. we are number one in fortune 500 companies. and we just passed a budget that cuts $15 billion without raising taxes, without raising the -- raiding the rainy day fund. we are pretty proud of that.

[applause] i am also proud of our governor. governor rick perry is getting the boot up texas award tonight. although he could not be here with us, you will see a message from him later. but tonight is not all about texas. darn. i am just delighted to be here and so proud of what acr -- aft and eric have built. thank you so much for participating and all you do across the country. it makes such a difference. tonight is my real pleasure to introduce john fund, who really requires no introduction in this room. you know him as a columnist for "the wall street journal," as a fox news commentator. he is the author of several books, the latest "stealing elections." folks across the hall know about that, i am sure. he will have a book signing

tomorrow at 11:15 so you can have a copy signed by him. anyone who knows me knows that i am a reagan night -- reganite. i am old enough that i worked in the administration and am proud of ronald reagan. john grew up in california when ronald reagan was governor. i think you will hear some interesting stories you may not have heard before, some stories about the great communicator. ladies and gentlemen, another great communicator. i am so pleased to introduce john fund. ♪ >> thank you. i suddenly realized that i and the -- and the only thing standing between you and finishing your dinner. on this one issue, i will be a

compassionate conservative tonight and not keep you too long. first of all, a question. how many of you out there read or subscribe to "the wall street journal"? how many our viewers of fox news? i think we have covered just about the whole room. thank you for helping to pay my salary. which you do. you know, i went and did a nice little visit to our netroots nation france tonight, and at nut root -- i am sorry, netroots -- they are very confused. there panel discussion is all the fence, not offense. as one panel leader told me, "what happened last november?" they have still not figured it out. you are the people responsible for that. [applause] as peggy mentioned, i grew up in

california when ronald reagan was governor. he made a great impression on me. one of the things i have learned is we figured out that ronald reagan was the great leader of the free world and we won the cold war. we know he reinvigorated the economy. we know he restored america's pride in itself. but we take for granted that he was a great communicator. we just presume that because he was an actor he knew how to communicate. not the case. he learned. he worked very hard at it. i am going to share with you a couple of ronald reagan anecdotes' i think will explain exactly why he was the great communicator and how we can learn from him to this day, and how you can learn in your communication skills. ronald reagan was hired by general electric when it was a conservative company in 1954. one of the things he had to do for 13 weeks of the year when the show was not being produced

was to talk to all the employees at their 234 plants. at the plants, he gave a little talk about hollywood and how things were in show business. he got questions not just about hollywood, but about government regulation and high taxation, and why government was strangling the economy. he would turn to his advance man after the speeches and say, "where do these people get these questions? they are so well informed." he said general electric had a book club and they were encouraged to read things like "road to serfdom." ronald reagan said, "if i am going to address these people 13 years with a lot -- if i'm going to address these people, i need to read these books." he got those books and they helped convert him to free- market economics. ronald reagan, everywhere he went, to prepare for his speeches, would take a little

note cards every time he read a particular anecdote that was interesting, heard a joke that was good, and economic statistic. he would write them down on these note cards and keep them in a special briefcase he had with all kinds of pockets. these note cards were color- coded. green was for financial issues. red was for commies. yellowwoods for politicians without courage. that was a thick stack. ronald reagan would keep them in his briefcase. before he would land on a plan for a speech, he would open his briefcase and take those parts out, take brabants of them, spread them out and say, "i am speaking to a firefighters' convention." i will tell a joke about a firefighter. then we will have to have an anecdote about the city i am in. he took that out. then you have to go to the economy. he would do that. every group he spoke to, he had a set of cards he thought would

be interesting and fresh for them and in direct relation to their interests. he would take these cards and he would put the rubber band around them and slip them in his coat pocket. when he was introduced, he would always have a podium a little higher than this one. what you never saw unless you watched very closely -- if you watched him be introduced, he would strive to the podium and you would see the shoulder hunch up a little bit as he takes out the cards, it takes off the narrow rubber band, and spreads them out. that was his speech. reagan was near sighted. he wore contact lenses. he was able to train his eyes. he took out one contact lens before he would give a speech and put it in his case. with the bad guy, he looked out into the audience and saw a blur. during most of his speeches, he never saw the audience. with the other eye, he was able to look down and glance at his

notes every once in awhile and not read from them, but figure out what his place was and if necessary read from a ". this system was seamless, like a barbecue -- rubix cube. you could mix and match the material. it would be a completely different speech even know it was material that was friendly to you. to this day, it is the method i use to present my speeches. when i was a teenager, a high- school student in sacramento, california, i was called up by my civics teacher to participate in a program reagan did for students. i went down there and did several take things with ronald reagan. after one of those taping, at the end of the season, he said, "i am going to show you how to give a speech because i know you are in debate club." the secret is now out. the reagan library has now published a new set of these cards, reagan's note cards.

it is a book that reproduces the cards and tells the whole story of how ronald reagan used them to craft his speeches and become the great communicator. the system worked wonders for him. i will give you one example of how it worked. 1977 was one of the worst years for the conservative movement in history. jimmy carter had just won the presidency. the democrats had 2-1 majorities in congress. watergate had destroyed the republican party. ronald reagan was 65 years old. everything -- everyone thought he was too old to run for president in four years. but he had a reunion with his former aides in the spring of 77. he said, "i know you are depressed, but we should be of good cheer. there is a great opportunity ahead of us puzzle first of all -- ahead of us." he picked out a card and said,

"we are beaten, but we are not slain. we shall lay down and leave a while, then rise and start again." conservatives lose when two things happen at the same time, when the people we elect disappoint us and go in a direction we did not elect them to go in. that just happened with richard nixon. the second and that happens is the liberals are smart enough to run someone as a moderate even though they are liberal. jimmy carter, a southern governor, evangelical christian. they run someone who claims to be a moderate. but even if jimmy carter wants to be moderate, he can't be moderate as president because his congressional leadership and the bills at the democratic party will not let him. reagan says he will govern from the left. if he gathers -- if he governs from the left, he will fail. when no liberalism -- liberalism fails. that is why we believe in the

constitution. he will fail. people will notice. if they notice, they will get upset and concerned. if they get concerned, they may get angry and farm groups and protest in the streets. ronald reagan said this a few months before prop. 13 got going in california and started the tax revolt that spread across the country. regan said when they get upset and when they get angry and when they get concerned, you will be able to have another conversation with them. you will be able to reopen the dialogue and say, "we made mistakes, but we are going to renew ourselves." we will not retreat from principle. we will deliver the promises we made to the american people. i do not guarantee you will win, but you will have a chance to make another case to the american people. was he right? within two years, jimmy carter brought as 21% interest, "% inflation, 9% unemployment --

12% inflation, 9% unemployment, hostages in iran. does anyone remember gas lines? an enormous spike in gasoline prices. ronald reagan was able to go around the country with one of the best lines i have ever heard. a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. a depression is when you lose your job. the recovery is when jimmy carter loses his job. you know what? i bet we hear a variation of that line in the coming campaign. but the story is not over yet. ronald reagan of course defeated jimmy carter 44 states to six. he changed the country and the world. but 16 years after that fateful speech came 1993. things have happened all over again. a republican president had violated basic principles. you remember "read my lips, no new taxes"?

it split the conservative movement. ross perot ran as an independent, taking many fiscal conservatives. that was before people figured out ross patrol -- ross perot's trace table was not in full upright position. ronald reagan reminded another audience he addressed in the spring of 1993, before the alzheimer's had taken hold. he give one final reunion four former aides and staffers and said, "here we go again. we elected a president who violated basic principles and had a liberal masquerading as a moderate, bill clinton." people who live by the rules should live better than those who do not live by the rules. he campaigned as a moderate but will govern as a liberal. what will happen? he will fail. sure enough, within two years, bill clinton had brought us the botched attempt to have hillary takeover the natural -- national

health-care system, the largest tax increase in american history, a btu tax similar to cap and trade, and social experimentation. all kinds of problems. the 1994 republican revolution changed all that. bill clinton, of course, was not jimmy carter. he knew he was in trouble. he hired an unscrupulous political consultant. of course i repeat myself. he hired an unscrupulous political consultant named dick morris who said, "come to the light side of the force. become a moderate." son welfare reform and capital gains tax cuts. it was just enough to win reelection in 1996. ronald reagan is not with us today, but history repeats itself. 16 years from 77 to 93 -- take 16 years from 93. what do you get? 09. barack obama. did we have a republican

president who violated some principles of the party? did he violate conservative principles at times? yes. did barack obama campaign as a moderate but not really mean it? yes. here we are. did barack obama govern from the left? you bet. what has happened? 9.1% unemployment, $1.90 trillion in capital sitting on the sidelines, and unfocused foreign-policy in which we apologize more than we lead. our strategy is to lead from behind. that is not america. 16 years, it seems. every 16 years, we have a generation of americans who forget what happened before and we elect a liberal president and liberal congress at the same time. the american people have woken up. and i believe that we can take back this country and can stop them just as they were stopped under jimmy carter and bill

clinton. after all, you have one knows rounds. you, your parents, or your grandparents won those two rounds. we are in a third round. i say let's go 3 for three. and if ronald reagan were here today, he would say you can do this. all you have to do is return to the grass roots. tell the truth. so you learn from your mistakes and move forward. we started that in 2010. the house fell. the senate will fall in 2012. all of the predictions are for that. i will predict that if you do have the job that i think you will do, barack obama will inevitably be a one-term president. [applause] and if you do that, someday you will be sitting with your children and grandchildren. they will ask you what you did

in 2011 and 2012. you will be able to say, "i played a strong but real role in stopping the slide toward socialism and centralized control of the economy, stopping the slide in our moral standing, stopping the slide in america's respect around the world. we took this country back." if you do that, i think you will be able to stand tall and proud as representatives of a generation that fought back and retained our freedoms. about every three generations in this country, a generation is called upon to do extraordinary things. america is all about ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things, rising to that occasion. the first generation was our american revolution. we fought the greatest empire in the world and won our independence. about 75, 80 years later, the civil war came. we had to end the scourge of slavery and reunite the country.

that was a civil war generation. three generations after that came the great depression and world war two and the foundations for the cold war. that was 75 years ago. once again like clockwork, we have another generation. that is your generation being called upon to do this service, to be ordinary people called upon to do extraordinary things. you are doing it. i am not saying the challenge before us is the equal of the great depression or world war ii, but it could be. the great recession can turn into the great depression if we don't act. i believe you will be the generation that can say that we rose to the occasion. we kept this country free. [applause] and if you do that, you will not only have the thanks of your

children and grandchildren. you will have histories thanks. you will have proven once again that america is the greatest and most exceptional nation on earth. thank you very much. [applause] thank you. ♪ >> once again, please welcome the president of americans for prosperity foundation, tim phillips. ["beautiful day," u2] >> i hope you enjoyed dinner. by the way, senator mike lee, who is one of the rising freshmen in the senate, was scheduled to be with us. you know the work he is doing. his plane -- he was on the runway in new york after meetings and events there. they had weather back east, the thunderstorms we get all the time there. they finally got them in new york. he could not be with us.

he will be with us at a future event and i want you to hear from him. i want to introduce you to a lady who, about six years ago, we met. she came to us and said, "i want to start and americans for prosperity chapter in my home state." where is it? new jersey. that is not going to be easy. but she did it. she brought the state director with her. this was in january 2006. you may know steve lawn again. that was january 2006. they are still at it today. they have literally helped change that state. i would like you to give a warm greeting to one of our board members. ♪ >> good evening. i am going to introduce our next

speaker by saying the name of a former congressman. you know what? why don't we all sit together. former congressman anthony wiener. [applause] wasn't that fun? and i guess you know who our next guest is. it is andrew breitbart. [applause] interestingly, i actually introduced andrew at another conference three months ago. at the time, i said, "andrew is not quite a household name, but he will soon be two new media what rush limbaugh is to talk radio." [applause]

i think that moment has come. andrew actually began his career on the left, so he knows them well, and their ways. he helped carry on a huffington launchana huffington "the huntington post -- huffington post." he watched those policies and converted to a fighter for liberty. he worked for a short time for "the drug report -- drudge report to." -- report." he reports on the big spending and hypocrisy of the left. one of his essays that gave me and my friends a weekend of celebrating was the perfectly executed release of the acorn videos. [applause]

and in fact, andrew breitbart is so skilled at allowing the left that a leftist organization called media matters for america -- another boo? called "new yorker" magazine. the guy said this as if he was making a horrible accusation against andrew. he said, "andrew brietbart in gauges in daily twitter warfare against the left." [applause] to which andrew was like, "i sure do." and his following soared on twitter. at that point, media matters'

was even angrier. they launched the brietbart blogging parody contest. you can imagine how much that added to his twitter following again. i do not know what andrew is going to talk about. but i think we are all in for a fun time. thank you. [applause] ["friday," rebecca black] >> that is right. and thank you. thank you. who wants to see the photo? who wants to see the codex -- p hoto? what a large, large, large room.

oh my. how much mischief can i start this evening? i see james o'keefe in the front row. my adrenaline starts flowing when i see that young gentleman. [laughter] what do you have up your sleeve? i am so happy i did not go through the traditional conservative movement. i am so glad that i did not go through washington, d.c. i am so glad nobody gets to tell me what i can or cannot do. i think that is why so many of us now find ourselves in the tea party. the republicans screwed up everything. if you cannot sell freedom and liberty, you suck. [applause] and buy suck i mean you suck. profoundly. irrationally. i never understood that.

i just don't understand that. it is the lifeblood of humanity, freedom and liberty. and the republicans make it so boring. i am transferring my allegiance. i started off kind of as a liberal. not really. i was from los angeles, a super shallow liberal. i admit it. i am from l.a. i am still shallow. do not anyone think otherwise. it is part of the experience out there. i have transferred my allegiances. i remember. everybody probably knows this, but i listened to the clarence thomas hearings. i'd juxtaposed that he was the worst man in the history of the world and i believe anita. a year later, the same people said bill clinton was a feminist without peer. huh? that epiphany was like bam.

something is wrong here. i have to figure it out. ok, fine. maybe i am a libertarian. [laughter] i did not even know what that meant. but i just was like i do not want to be in the crowd of people that had i believe anita bumper stickers while they were defending that james carville was dragging $50 bills to a trailer park. you never know what you're going to get. what is going on? pubic hair on makeup and having state troopers go up to sorority houses and having a cavalcade? i do not get this position. -- this juxtaposition. it is weird that those events turned me into this freak. i literally say to my wife, "you remember when i was a waiter and was light-hearted and youths to go to movies -- used to go to

movies?" i don't do that anymore. my goal is to take down the institutions. [applause] i thought -- i really did think that i was an idealist when i thought i was liberal. i would wake up in the morning. i would go, "i am for the children." at that point in my life, the morning was about three in the afternoon. i would go, "i am for the environment." i am against war. i am inherently good. that was it. i told you i was shallow. i was so unbelievably and blissfully shallow. then i started to have these epiphanies that awakened me. it was the media that became my

obsession. they are the ones. i grew up and watched every episode of "alice" four times. it is not even that good of the show. how did i become such a flaming defacto liberal? it was because all i did was watch tv at mtv. they told me you are from the environment and the women, and the children, and the minorities. i do not even have to wake up until three in the afternoon. you do show up. i do not have to lift a finger to make humanity better. all i have to do is run around and say i am a liberal. that is all hollywood is. i figured that out. boy am i smart. i figured that one out. [applause]

and i had this thing happened to me. the seeds were planted. i remember. i am from los angeles. i went to a fancy private school and used to remember everybody saying that people in flyover states for stupid. the movies and television i saw reflected that, that they had a contempt for middle america. i remember coming back to my friend kristin's great thanksgiving and christmas parties. there were hollywood actors and actresses. you go to school in new orleans. what is it like with all those freaky people? i met them. they are from alabama. nice families. my roommate is from georgia. totally awesome. the american people are being maligned by not just hollywood, but by katie couric and peter jennings and his lovely former girlfriend, whatever her name

was, the palestinian girl. i started to go, "it is the media." it is the media that is the problem. i am not worried about former congressman jim wright and his book scandal. i am not worried about nancy pelosi and stanley hoyer -- stenny hoyer. it is the natural lines of the mainstream media, liberal interest groups, and the democratic party. it is just a natural force of life that is center-right nation, a 2-1 ratio of conservatives to liberals according to gallup, has to do with every day. i met this drudge guy in 1995 and had nothing better to do then latched on for dear life.

i started to watch and become part of what we now know to be the new media. that was 1995. every single story that was broken, every single story, had to withstand the absolute weight of abc, cbs, nbc, cnn, and all the newspapers. we were guilty until proven innocent. the republicans and conservatives are bad guys. the democrats are for the environment and the children. i remember when i was on that team, the benefits i got from it. i was waking up at three in the afternoon. i was not really contributing to society in any appreciable way. now that i am starting to see it the other way, it is like constantly swimming upstream. so i remember watching when drudge broke the lewinsky story.

that was a slam dunk. he caught the president of the united states. wienergate was salacious, but i am talking about cigars and an intern. we are all smarting this week because of a wiener and a weiner. cigars and an intern is the bermuda triangle. that is pornography. so i just remember watching that matt had the slam dunk to end all slam dunks. but then the president of the united states decided to live. he lied. he lied to the country and his cabinet. he lied to the mainstream media. i remember an important moment in that. my new buddy, matt lauer, was on

the today show a week and a half. we're totally close now. we're going to hang out, right? we're going to go to sag harbor together. i remember matt lauer did his job. i'd like to be mostly stick, but i do have a few carrots in my back pocket. matt lauer did do his job in january of 1998. he said to hillary clinton, "there are these crazy accusations out here about your husband and the intern and lying under oath. is it true?" harrison said it is not true. he offered a hypothetical. if it were true, what do you think? she said it is not true. i understand where you are coming from. but if it were true. but it is not true. but if it were true. i heard