donahue joanne says to discuss his film "body of war." we focus on americans to do not have -- not have health coverage. >> good morning on this friday, march 23. it's the second anniversary of "the affordable care act. the democratic-led health care law that president obama of signed two years ago. next week defaces challenges in the u.s. supreme court starting monday over three days. we will look dedicates beginning monday morning at 7:00 and oral arguments will be broadcast on c-span3 and c-spanradio.org once the court pleases them on the afternoon of the arguments. tonight president obama hipsters

south korea for a summit on keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. vice-president joe biden is in florida today for a campaign event and on the republican campaign trail for president, the race is in louisiana. they go to the polls on saturday. the report came out looking at the education system and whether a week education system in america could be a threat to national security. here's our question this morning, could weak schools be a national security threat? here are the numbers to call -- you can also e-mail us. or join the conversation on twitter. you can also weigh in on facebook and join the conversation there. here's a story in the washington times this week --

let's hear what condoleezza rice had to say about this report. >> if we are not one nation, then we cannot defend one nation and we don't have the continents and the unity and optimism to do what we have done, which is to go out into the world and to advocate for free markets and free peoples. to have that leadership role.

there are, also, some much more technical aspects to this or tangible aspects. first, we are not educating enough people in science, math, engineering, and in basic reading skills, to take on the jobs that are available in the 21st century so that we have the competitiveness and innovativeness to continue to lead. host: condoleezza rice speaking about a report. cochaired a task force that looked at the school system and whether all week school system could be a threat to national security. " --'s the "washington times

looking at and couple other stores that covered this -- let's hear from kevin joining us in florida on our independent line. first call this morning. caller:. thanks for having: i am an educator and a special educator. as an independent with no party affiliation i think there's a very big problem. our government right now is using education as a political tug-of-war. one of the biggest problems that i see is that we give so many

"writes" to students, when they fail to understand that we live in the republic and not a democracy. those rights are afforded to us by our parents. our don't know how government works. they have the internet at the tip of their fingers, but they don't research any credibility behind any of the expounding fax to the teacher, faculty and staff. they don't want to follow the rules. there's no money to support the discipline situation in the classroom and in the hallways. host: what would you do as an educator, what would you see that should change? caller: as an independent, i get it a lot of comments and some

people say i am conservative and others say i'm a liberal. one thing i would like to see is the pledge of allegiance back in the classroom. people don't have to say it, but it would be respectful for them to a knowledge of the fact they live in a country that grants them rights. the students here are so quick to jump on everything because they think they live in a free country. don't live in a free country. we live in a country of rights as long as our behavior does not impact somebody else and their rights. they don't understand the boundary is you get live however you want. you get to live however you want as long as it does not affect the rights of someone else. there's no respect anymore. host: let's leave it there and

listen to a tweet -- our next caller is larry, democrats in mississippi. caller: good morning. rick santorum called the president a snob wanting the country to be educated. yes, it is a threat. the republicans don't believe the country should be really educated. i think santorum is the biggest hypocrite i have ever seen. host: let's go to kansas city, missouri, luke on the democrat'' line. caller: good morning. the issue of schools and a security threat, there's a definite link between the two. if you have weak schools, you don't have children being educated. when children are not educated, they are not brought up correctly in a culture that

prioritizes freedom and democracy. you have more people that are more likely to return to radicalism to solve problems. there's a link to education and property and property to radical behavior. there's a clear connection between schooling. and american schooling host: joseph ri. joseph writes -- let's listen to more of what condoleezza rice had to say on this panel report that has come out which cites a week education system has a potential national security risk. >> we know that we have difficulties in recruiting in the military across socio- economic strata because of the failure to educate and to the levels the military needs. not to mention in foreign languages or culture, so we have

a ready group of people for the foreign service or intelligence agencies. and the computer literacy that it takes to contribute to cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection. across the board, human potential is what makes a nation great today. it's not what you can dig out of the ground, which was in the 19th century. is not what you can manufacture along an assembly line as it was in the 20th century. it is human capital. the key to human capital is education. that is why we believe that national security is affected by the difficulties that our educational system is experiencing. host: condoleezza rice. here is a tweet -- lewis, a republican in philadelphia, pennsylvania. we are talking about the education system, a new report showing a weak education system could threaten national security.

what do you think? turn down your tv for us. caller: my position is we need to go back to the three-tier program. country is looking to push the kids directly into college when someone picks don't intend to go that far -- some of the kids don't intend to go that far. in my day we had free curriculum and we could choose which career path. today they don't have that. as a result, if we don't have entry-level anything unless you go to college. and then the colleges are to generalizeo -- if they make it that far. the high-school dropout rate is high and bullying is high.

my position is that we should go to a three-tier program for the schools and allow kids when they get the middle school and high school to be able to choose a career path and then have the curriculum meet the career paths of the kids can come out and go to work instead of figuring out what they can do next. that's my position. i have spoken with a lot of school people and all they do is advocate college. every kid does not want to go to college. host: let's hear from jay in louisville, ky of independent mind. caller: good morning. one of the big problems that seems never to be addressed is there's an idea in our culture and it goes across all ethnic groups that being cool, especially with young males, is that you cannot be educated. turn away from education because they want to be cool.

seems it's been like that about 40 years now. that's all i have to say. host: house in that attitude be changed? caller: i don't know. but somehow or another they need to be opened up to the fact that being cool will not get you anywhere in life. host: did you have good male role models when you're growing up that promoted education? caller: yes, i just had my interest in stocks. unlike some of my friends, i stayed with the books. host: sounds like we hear birds chirping in the background in louisville. caller: i am standing on the front porch. host: now a call from georgia, independent line, todd. caller: how are you? i am a former high school educator and i believe in georgia we don't teach enough

students about how the government works. that most kids take that's called, but there's something different in georgia. only social studies is u.s. history and economics. a lot of the kids are just coming into high school and the seniors forget all about how it works in the house, the senate, the judicial system and exactly what the president does. that is real important. that is more important to our national security than math and science and other things. at a globallook

scorecard in washington journal looking at cribs u.s. stance compared with other countries in educating its students. this is ranking the performance of 15-year-old every three years. we are talking about the american school system, a new report that has come out. council on foreign relations is looking at u.s. education and national security. there's a tweet from john in north carolina -- york.go to new york, new on our democrat line.

caller: hello. if we are a nation that is failing to teach critical thinking skills and we have become a service nation now as opposed to one that is performing at and inventing and developing other skills other than a service nation. for example, in addition, verizon has been giving instructions from their company on the telephone in english and in spanish, yet our youngsters are not being taught foreign language until they are in seventh grade. by age 12 the brain no longer is able to take on a foreign language to be able to be fluent

in it. why other nations teach their children foreign languages from the time that they are born. i think that we have to have a revision of what our country is doing in terms of teaching the critical thinking skills. the gap between private schools and public schools is getting much, much wider. host: let's look at the wall street journal story that says -- that's touching on something our last caller said. wayne is in fort wayne, indiana, republican line.

caller: thanks for taking my call. i have an 11-year-old child attending public school. my history was i was born and raised in new york city and went to catholic school and always got a's and the last two years i had to go to public school. i came home with tears in my eyes telling my mom, they are morons. what it comes down to is the government should never be involved in the education of our children. it is a failure. in the 1950's, the u.s. have the number one educational system in the world. we have gone backwards. i remember watching my buddies that live in the inner city. we would go into the schools and they would have to have police officers escorting them out. the inner city is in destruction. the kids act like savages. the teachers are afraid to teach. it's imploding on them. if the only way is to allow each individual state their own right

to govern and mandates and teach their children. corporal punishment should be in the schools. until we go to that, we will always have failure. these kids don't even know w ho the president is or how the congress works. in sixth grade they eliminated my daughter from writing cursive writing. it is a complete failure. until the government steps away and realizes the failure, we will never have this problem fixed. -- they don't even know who the president is. the: there's a story that education secretary defends the increase in school funding --

we will hear more about the ryan budget plan later on with congressman tom cole, republican of oklahoma, walking us through that plan. pierce education secretary arne duncan advocating for education funding. in's hear from jackie atwater, new jersey, on our independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. its edge water park. i want to call an agreement with the agreementwho spoke earlier about the three-tier school system. i am a retired special-education high school teacher. before you can teach students, you have to have --

the lack of technical clauses in the schools, most of the students may be to is not to go to college but would rather take a shop class. if students are allowed to have the subject they want to pursue, this would allow the teachers and schools and other educators to possibly persuade them to be interested in some of the other subjects that our country is lacking in having student participation. if you don't have parental involvement and the parents involved in exactly what the students are doing, there's nothing but the teachers can do. we don't have corporal punishment, of course. we don't have anything that seems to deter the students from not participating or even attending class. that's all i have to set. laura on twitter agrees

with some of what you have to say -- we are talking about a new report from the council on foreign relations, looking at the american education system. the report says a week education system could be a threat to national security. the former new york city schools chancellor had this to say about the length of the u.s. school day. >> it used to be we've went to school 9:00 until 3:00 and 180 days in the year. the thought was the kids would go out and work on the farm for nine claude gueant over the summer. the idea that we could accomplish all things that secretary rice is talking about and have a short school day and as short school year seems if not to make sense. schools that are starting to crack the code, extend the day and extended year. i am pleased to see the chicago mayor now pushing this. we just need more time on task to accomplish some things.

the secretary is things. host: that was about the length of the school day and the school year. victor, a democrat in california, good morning. caller: good morning. i am happy to be here. if we put the kids in all the countries that are doing better than us in our school system, they would still do better than us. we know that our teachers spend $400 of their own money every year for supplies. of black kids and hispanic kids drop out of high school. the problem is us. i thought. and my knees teaches in new york schools. i taught in catholic schools in brooklyn. you have to have a meeting with the parent. every single kid in the class tells you the parents know.

the apparent comes and says my kids would not do that. we need parents to know how critical education is. my mother would drag me out of bed when i did not want to go, like every other kid. but my parents impressed upon me i was going to school whether i like it or not. i would get an education. i am a lawyer now. the problem is -- the kids don't realize at their age, they don't understand how important it will be to their future. [unintelligible] i tell the kids if they don't finish high school, that's where they are going to be, at the burger king window. two hispanic parents and african-american parents, if you are wearing about your children, you have to get into their heads how important it is and take every step to get it through to them. if we want to improve our

scores, if the parents agree to their kids want our -- you can spend 10 billion per kit and it won't change a thing. host: does this come down to race or class? caller: no. i think it's worse -- and when i say that i mean the percentage of kids not finishing school, it's worse for hispanic and black kids. i taught in catholic schools. my niece teach in public schools in new york. it is all kids in the whole society. is us and it is the parents. we want to say it is the teachers. ing teachers are work an hard and try to do the job. some parents don't want to admit. their children are admit

-- that their children are wrong. how can we spend twice as much as other countries and get bad results? it is that we don't value education. host: let's look at a response from the head of the teachers unit and. -- union -- robert, a republican in maryland.

good morning. caller: good morning. it is the responsibility of parents to educate their children. our public education system is dismal because it is based on the communist manifesto. the idea is to socialize children. the longer children spend in school, the less their values are held intact. they are taught a godless ideology. they are homosexualized. they're taught insensitivity to abstinence and ideas like abortion are accessible. i am offended that someone like secretary rice would push this agenda at this time, when she knows that education is not the responsibility of the federal government. e cfr also pushes a

global list agenda. we should stop forcing ourselves to forced servitude where obama can force us into community service and building a supreme army. obama is a snob and this agenda is pushing us in that direction. host: a comment on twitter -- here are three recommendations that the panel made about boosting education performance. it says -- the on the new report that has

come out from the council on foreign relations. chicago, illinois, cynthia is on the independent line joining us. caller: hi. i believe this is a political ploy. 1% of the school population serbs in the military. usually, the military is comprised of those that cannot find jobs, at least the army. 50% of the military is african- americans. those accepted at college are kept at record low numbers. second, education is not the responsibility of the government. here's another thing, foreigners who are not even fluent in english and did not go to our school systems, those are the ones that have jobs. especially, hispanic immigration, those are the ones

that have jobs. speaking of universal language where english is a security threat. . that's my host: milwaukee, wisconsin, vi, democratic caller. caller: hi. the collapse of public schools has a lot to do with the -- program. they took money out of state programs. $800 million was taken from our schools this year. that's a big deal. the kids are expected to get a primary education. it will not happen. another thing, poverty is at an all-time high and there are not any jobs for the people. and so, all this mixture of just

poor living, no jobs, this has taken a toll on the education system. you cannot expect the teacher to be able to be the mother, be the social worker, do everything and still sustain the level of education that you are supposed to be providing to the child. host: do you see it as a threat to national security, having a big ramifications for the united states, going? caller: not just globally in th . at this rate you will see a revolution in the streets. people were not built to sustain themselves. you cannot keep giving them pennies when it costs more than that to live. that's where the frustration level will go high and there will be some type of resistance.

host: let's look at some comments on facebook -- you can join the facebook dialogue by looking for c-span and weighing in there. and we are reading your and tweets. jan says on twitter -- we are talking about national security and whether a week education system threatens that. condoleezza rice and joel klein co-chair task force that looked at the issue for the council on foreign relations. let's hear more on what secretary rice said. >> it can be too easy to say i can send my kids to a good

school. eager private school or i will move to an area where they will be in a good public school, but it really is a threat to all of us. if a child in east oakland is not educated or the kid in south central los angeles or anacostia. that means we have a collective national interest in the education of all of our children. host: condoleezza rice. let's hear from kathleen in dayton, ohio, independent caller. welcome. caller: thanks for getting on this topic. until we look at the education system as the response ability of teachers, parents, and the community, it is not going to improve. i want to talk about funding in ohio to the schools. our supreme court in the state has determined three times that the way we fund our schools in ohio, which is unfair based on taxes, because in oakwood, ohio,

if the kids have a 11th thousand dollars spent on them. in an urban area. in apalachicola, it might be 6000. when the kids start on an even playing field as far as funding and in regard to a teacher pay, how do we expect them to get ahead? but i want to talk about national security. i think it's a greater national security issue when our country uses people like condoleezza rice for such an issue, because she was part of the team that got us into iraq. in regard to national security, i would not trust or base anything in our country based on the individuals who lead our nation into war. i don't know why the mainstream media keeps recycling these iraq warmongers. host: what you think about the rest of the folks on that panel, joel klein from the new york city public school system, and

the head of the american association of teachers? do you respect what they have to say more? caller: i do respect brandywine garden. part of her agenda is unions and i think teachers should make a good salary. i would have a greater respect for a lot of teachers being on the panel. i know that condoleezza rice is teaching at stanford, but i don't trust people who already lied. i don't know joel klein. parents are struggling. i had a friend that was teaching in new orleans 40 years ago. they used to do after-school programs for parents. they would find that a lot of parents were embarrassed in regard to their own skills and embarrassed in working with their kids, so they would not admit they were struggling. so they did a program for parents who were behind on certain issues. i thought that was wonderful and

it made a lot of sense. help educate the parents who might feel frustrated about trying to help their own children. host: adams writes on twitter -- couple other a stories in the news. u.s. jobless claims hit four- year lows -- green jobs accounted for 2.4% of the nation posted total employment in 2010. the labor department reported on

thursday. this was from the washington post. ben bernanke says lower rates did not fuel the bubble. the fed chairman said it was several reasons -- looking at the campaign trail, the financial times has a piece that says the tea party

patriarch gives romney support. the race move to louisiana, which folks there go to the polls on saturday. louisiana stays cool on romney -- "usa today" says the louisiana

gop actually matters this time. let's hear from our next caller. it's from missouri, and independent caller. len. good morning, sir. caller: what i want to talk about is a lack of prayer in schools and the lack of the pledge of allegiance and the lack of the teacher being able to control the kids. host: how do you think that is feeding into a national security? caller: if you cannot control the kids, make them mind and learn, then they are not going to know what to do when they get older.

i am 83 years old and i was in the second grade and there were seven boys that got whipped about every other day by art teachers. then we went home and got whipped by one of the parents. the parents all got together and decided that us seven the should stay in school until we learned to mind, in the second grade. so we spent the second year in the second grade and we were perfect angel the second year. nowadays the parents cannot even punish their kids and home, even though they don't hurt them. host: you think that helped you? caller: that helps kids learn respect, responsibility, and makes better citizens out of them. host:len talked about wanting to see god in the schools more. but here's a different viewpoint

from twitter -- dallas, texas, fred, republican joining us now caller. caller: good morning. i have two children in education. i'm 70 years old. i live in texas, grew up in california. with the failing of the families, the school started going down. mostly blacks and mexicans. if you look at the white or asian populations, most of them are doing fine. but when you have an 80% illegitimacy factor for blacks and now mexicans are 80%, of which 80% of those go on welfare, those kids do not learn to self-contained on anything.

their parents feel entitled, the kids feel entitled. i have won the child who is a principle. the two children that are teachers, one of them is a history teacher and the other is an art teacher in san jose, california. they have problems with these kids. the main problem is the parents. kids all start off equal. i don't believe black kids or mexican kids all white kids -- everybody is born with the same facilities. but the failure of the family. white people are at 28% illegitimacy. that is where the blacks started in the 1960's. they were at 28% illegitimacy. when they started welfare, it destroyed these families. when i was young, mexicans in southern california, there were no problems with illegitimacy.

the families were tight. people came here and learned to speak english and stuff like that. they don't even do that now. host: let's look at a piece in "the huffington post" that gives information -- charleston, south carolina, john is on our democrats line. caller: hello. i am so glad you gave the information to the last caller in reference to to welfare rates. it is a big misconception that blacks don't educate our kids, we don't care, we are a bunch of welfare recipients. that is not true.

we do educate our kids, we do care. there are more whites that create violent acts in schools like shootings. basically, we have to get together. i am in south carolina where the policies, basically, cut off opportunities for blacks. there are more schools that zone blacks into white areas to educate when they could use the funding to build up the black primary schools and high schools. we see that allied. -- a lot. the black schools are being diminished and black students are forced into areas where they are uncomfortable. that causes some type of

inferiority complex with these black students. it is a lot that goes on. host: can i ask you something? do you see this as being a national security threat? how do you see the u.s. performing globally? caller: well, we have to work together as a country. this is a melting pot. if our kids are being discriminated against, not receiving the same, then we are not going to be able to come together as a country to fight any kind of global threat, because we are too separated. host: thanks for your comment. bill on twitter -- our last call for this segment comes to us from norman, oklahoma, karen, a republican.

caller: good morning. i am not going to go with black, white, mexican, because it is happening to everybody. but the government is teaching our kids that if you have a baby when you are a teenager or get a girl pregnant, you can have free housing, food, everything you needed, cell phone. so they don't really care about education when they have kids. they don't have any incentive for kids either, when they have kids. how it is threatening our security is we are sending so much money on teenagers and their babies and it takes away from our military. at least the military gets up and goes to work every day. for the lady that says they cannot sustain themselves and they will go to the streets, don't have nine children if you cannot get by on what the taxpayer gives you.

host: one of our listeners wrote on twitter -- let's look at a couple stories before we head to our next segment. 17 murder charges in the afghan killing spree. robert bales will be charged with 17 counts of murder -- looking at a couple other stores related to that. the suspect owes $1.5 million in stock fraud according to the baltimore sun and reuters. and a look in afghanistan in the aftermath of that shooting. an afghan father copes with it. he was having breakfast with his

brother in the town when he received a phone call from his village three hours away saying all your family members were murdered, a neighbor told him. he lost 11 family members in the attack in his village. one of his sons did survive who was traveling with him. looking at a couple final stories. a florida case cost the florida police chief. you can see an image here of al sharpton, speaking at the podium that was set up at a microphone surrounded by parents of the slain teenager to his right hand to his left. coming next, we will talk to congressman tom cole, republican

from oklahoma and. we will be joined later in the program with former talk-show host and activision phil donahue. we will look at the uninsured americans. we will be right back. >> on monday, the supreme court starts three days of hearings on the constitutionality of the new health care law. court will release audio at 1:00 p.m. eastern each day with coverage on c-span3 and c- span radio and at c-span/org you can listen and add your comments. our coverage continues with washington journal and through the day, on the supreme court and then the oral argument on c- span3. >> this weekend on the presidency on american history tv --

>> think of the fdr memorial, it was three plus designs before they got to a final plan. and so, i think that we should not be afraid of looking at this issue, because we are building something for the centuries. we want to get it right. >> with the eisenhower memorial design opposed by the family, a house subcommittee and discussed the planned memorial to our 34 president. if what sunday a 7:30 p.m. eastern and pacific this weekend on c-span3. >> the genetic scientists who finally nailed down ever of date for when the hiv epidemic started, described w tinderboxes auntet moss. in some places there is a ton of hiv and it is incredibly disruptive. understanding that these two categories exist and allows you

to think, ok, what are the factors to keep this virus moving and what can we do as a world to end it? >> the author tracks the history of aids. sunday night at 9:00, part of a "book tv weekend on c-span t2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: congressman tom cole represents the fourth district in oklahoma. guest: good morning. host: your colleague paul ryan released a budget plan this week. guest: he's one of the few people in the country that is serious about dealing with a long-term structural deficits that we are facing and it is the crux of our economic problems. i am very proud of what he is recommending on medicare, very proud that he's dealing with the sequestered in his budget so we won't have devastating across- the-board cuts to domestic and military programs next year, and very proud that he has laid out

a framework for long-term tax reform. it makes quite a contrast with the senate, which has not produced a budget in three years, or with the president's budget, which is largely silent on critical issues. host: is it symbolic or is there more meet here -- meat? guest: we will operate within the house along the lines that paul ryan has laid out, but there's no question this is a document that helps frame the great national debate that i think will occur in the context of the presidential campaign this year. so it has a practical impact. it puts us on record as a party. you will know what we will do if we are fortunate to win the senate and fortunate to have a republican president. so i think it's a good place for us to be. host: let's listen to the senate budget committee chairman, a democrat from north dakota

responding to the republican charged that senate democrats have not come up with your own plant. >> we do have a budget. it is the law of the land. it was passed last year. it is in place. those who say we do not have a budget have either failed to pay attention to what they voted on or they are deliberately trying to mislead the public. the budget control act was passed by the house of representatives. it was passed by the united states senate on an overwhelming bipartisan. . it was signed into. law by. it is now law of the land. host: congressman cole, what is your response? guest: we don't have a budget, we have a number. a number that would appropriate discretionary spending. the real budget would tell you what we are going to do over the

next 10 years in times of dealing with the long-term deficit, what you are going to do on medicare and medicaid, if what is your plan to deal with a $1.30 billion deficit that's not going away anytime soon. the democrats in the senate and not produced a budget in three years. if they only need 51 of their own people to vote for one. democrats, when they were in the majority in the house last year, did not present a budget. we are told they are going to present one next week. it's very embarrassing situation. to not try the budgets as we are not willing to be open and honest with the american people. host: the washington post as

this article -- guest: simply not true. we all know the drivers of the deficit are not a lack of revenue but frankly the failure to deal with long-term entitlements and the retirement of the baby boom generation. it all takes on -- in terms of revenue, all the bush tax cuts come to an end at the end of this year near the payroll tax deduction comes to an end at the end of this year. sequester begins the first day of next year. revenue situation will be dealt with. that's by the end of the year. it will probably depend on who wins the election. if you gave the president and the democrats ever tax increase they asked for, you are still talking about trillions of dollars in shortfall over the

next decade. given the entitlement issue is the main pinkberrry that's what brian budget does. host: congressman, what did you learn from paul ryan's plan last year? the concern over medicare, there's been attention paid even on the campaign trail, newt gingrich going back and forth on what is take on this is. what did you learn from that and what has congressman ryan done differently? guest: you learn that you can test the third rail of politics and survive. and that big problems take bold solutions. you are better off laying out your case. if you look over the course of the special elections, we know that we can win this argument. i think the american people know we have very serious problems and they're looking for people to be honest with them. if they don't expect magic solutions that will be absolutely painless. they want politicians to lay them out. that's the number-one thing, to

be bold. second, so far the other side is not been willing to engage in the debate. the president appointed the simpson-bowles commission. 60% of the members, including some republicans, voted for it. the president never if embrace his own commission's proposal. we still don't know what he's willing to do long term. the failure to lay that out is a failure of leadership. host: if you would like to join the conversation with tom cole, a republican from oklahoma, here are the numbers -- first up is anthony, independent line from the augusta, georgia. good morning. caller: good morning. i thought it very appropriate representative is on discussing the budget after we talked about education. my question for him is, why don't we use the tax code to

incentivize everything else but parental involvement in their children's education? one not use the child tax deduction to incentivize? parent incentivize have that aside for the performance of the children in school. i will listen for the representative's response. guest: that's a good idea. it is done quite often at the state level. many states will have special deductions for money spent on a child's education. , college savings plans. a variety of ways this can be done. federally, is worth looking at something like that. if i suspect next year we will be in a major debate over if long-term tax reform. but broadly speaking, what we need to do is to try to remove a lot of the exemptions, credits, what have you, at least have a debate about which ones to keep, and try to flatten out and lower

the tax base. i expect there will be some discussion about this next year. so far it has been a state idea as opposed to federal. host: next call is jan, a republican, good morning. caller: i have two questions. first, i would like to know if this congressman, how many years has he served or is he with the tea party? number two, my second question is, we have passed a budget last year. the senate has passed a budget. everything has been passed, but we have a party in the congress that is a party of no. their main goal is to destroy this president's. they cannot back this president. then they are worried about the

one precentors. they need to pay their fair share instead of getting a tax break. i have a candidate running for president and he only pays 15%. you just take every people that are normal, getting paid $12 an hour, they are paying 30% at least. i know he is republican and he wants to destroy our country. host: let's get a response from the congressman. anybody don't think democrat or republican wants to destroy the country. i think they want to try to make it better. they have competing ideas about how to do that. i was elected in 2002 in congress and began serving in january 2003.

i'm not a member of any party other than the republican party? although i appreciate what the tea party has done. it has energized the debates and got us focused on issues that were clearly integral in the republicans retaking the house in 2010. it will be important component in the republican coalition going forward in 2012. in terms of we passed i will disagree with the caller. we did not pass a budget. the president submitted a budget and it had 0 votes. it failed 97-0. even the democrats would not vote. the ryan budget got 32 votes in the senate. it is the only viable option. if we pass a budget next week, i hope our democratic friends who did not submit 1 last year for consideration will do one next week. then we will have a clear

contrast. i hope that answers your question. host: from twitter -- whose budget proposal goes further toward balancing the budget and paying down the debt, paul ryan, or ron paul? guest: ron paul. it is quicker, faster, pretty dramatic. both of them balance, which the president's never does. it is the best original document. it also has to have votes. the good thing about ryan budget is it is a set of ideas that demonstrates it can attract something like 238 in the house of representatives, and almost make it in the senate. it is a real document. i will probably vote for a budget that is more

conservative. i think it is good that it is up there. it helps to shape the debate. there are a variety of democratic budgets as well. the black caucus submits one. the progressive caucus submits one. at the end of the day, you have to push one that has a chance to pass. i think the ryan budget could ultimately become the blueprint to achieve balance. host: congressman tom cole is serving his fifth term, representing the fifth district of oklahoma and serves as the party what other republican conference -- deputy whip of the republican conference. mitt romney got support yesterday from senator jim demint. it was not a flat out

endorsement, but the senator seemed enthusiastic. guest: that was a big symbol. he has emerged as a significant national leader. he is associated with the tea party movement. the fact he is speaking favorably suggests that the republican party is beginning to come together. it does not mean the primary process is over. it is not. the process has been helpful and it has sharpened some of the candidate's skills. we will see what happens. rick santorum is still viable. newt gingrich is still viable. ron paul has a devoted following. it will end when it ends, but clearly romney has the upper hand right now. host: are you supporting him? guest: i will not endorse anyone -- i have not endorsed anyone.

why would you want someone from washington, d.c. to endorse you? there is advertising, media -- you tend to know more about the people running for president than you do state representative. i do not think americans pay a lot of attention to political endorsements. i'm pretty comfortable with the field we have in supporting what emerges. host: colorado. democrat. good morning. caller: i have been a republican for a long time, and the tea party element has driven me away. i am an accountant by trade. we need to have revenue. as long as we have a congress controlled by republicans, we will never get a fair tax system

in this country. the tea party was really a koch brother construct. obama-care is important to a lot of people. they have to have something to get people were up about. i have to say that i am very sorry the republican party has gone the way it has, you know, with the religious right and all of that. i cannot go along with that. host: when was the last time you voted republican? guest: -- caller: i voted for obama because i could not vote with anyone who would put sarah palin of the ticket. guest: thank you for calling in. in terms of your concern about

the tea party being a koch brother construct, that is not the case. this is a legitimate, grass- roots revolt against the president, and when this started, nobody thought the republican party would be taking the house of representatives anytime soon. we go back to the analysts at the time, and the view was the republican party would be a permanent majority. what a difference what election which won election will take -- 1 election will make. to dismiss this as an artificial construct as opposed to general opposition to massive government overreaching is a mistake. whether you are sympathetic or not -- fair enough, but i would tell you it is not the calculus.

it is a real movement. there is less concerned about the overreach. in terms of the tax -- there is best concerned about the overreach. in terms of the tax question in, if you want taxes to -- question, if you want taxes to go up, reelect the president. the president has basically accepted 85% of the bush tax cuts for 90 percent of the american public. -- 90% of the american public. the president could have ended all of the tax cuts two years ago. they all ran out in december, 2010, and he had the option at that point. there is no way the republicans cut them over written the veto. i think he chose wisely. the country was still in a downturn. he did not want to raise taxes then, but it was not politically courageous. while he has been quick to

propose revenue increases, it has been pretty near all. it is never been broad-based and it has never been of significant magnitude to deal with the budget crisis. he is never couple that with reform that would get us to balance. the ryan budget does that. there are other ways to do that. we ought to have a debate. so far, the president has been absent from that defeat the debate. that lack of leadership led -- that debate. that lack of leadership led to the republican recovery after the 2008 election. host: there is an opinion piece in "the washington post co- cultivate written by four former senators -- post" written by four former senators --

they go on to say that the goal was control of the senate -- host: what is your response? how do you think coalitions are succeeding or failing between moderate and conservative republicans? guest: i know all four of these guys. i served with all of them are them senator brought in. -- brought in. we have a majority. we have the largest republican majority since 1947 in the house of representatives. we picked up six seats in the united states senate. if all seats had been on the

line, we probably would have gone the united states senate, too. politics is a contentious business by nature. i am not sympathetic to the idea that we live in a uniquely contentious time. i grew up in the 1960's. i saw it president assassinated. his brother assassinated. the greatest civil rights leader in american history was assassinated. rides in the street. richard nixon run out of office. do not tell me some how politics is more difficult today than it was then. this country got through that time. we will work through this time, too. when people tell me it is a tough business, and look around the world, i have never had to worry about disappearing in the middle of the night. my family has never been threatened. american politics is remarkably

civil. we had a presidential election in 2000 where the guy that got the fewest votes one of the the system we had, and for 36 days we did not know who the president was. with their tanks on the streets? now. people were joking about hanging chads. six years later the guy who lost the election was honored in the house for winning the nobel prize. it is an amazing place. we are not in a unique crisis. we are going to write contentious time. the economy is tough. people have competing visions. the system is strong. host: congressman tom cole, a member of the appropriations and budget committees. let's go to bill, a republican in troy new york -- troy, n.y..

caller: i have been trying to get on your program since the first gulf war, and i have not had any luck. [laughter] host: we are glad you finally got through. caller: i missed. i know you are all up there trying to do a job, all parties involved, but you have a retirement plan that even if you served one term, you'll get your full salary. guest: actually, that is not the case. you never get your full salary, and we have the same retirement plan that all federal workers do. it will take you 20 years to get sued 80% of your salary, which is the -- to get to 80% of your salary, which is the cap. host: does that make you feel

better, though? caller: they should take that off of the internet. there is a united states website that says you get free medical in your salary as retirement. guest: let me quickly response. you hear this a lot at town hall meetings. there are things on the internet that are not true. there is an official website. i do not know where you got your information. if you type in congressional retirement, there are plenty of websites that will pop up automatically. you will find out what it is. i'm glad you raised the question. host: neal, an independent scholar in cleveland, ohio. -- caller in cleveland, ohio.

caller: i'm a little nervous. guest: me, too. caller: my question is about disability benefits. you say you want to cut disability examples. -- benefits. let me give you an example. i'm 53 years old. i have been a diabetic for 35 years. they took money out of my paycheck for 28 years. i am 53. i have been disabled for the last eight years. the amputated might some because of diabetes. they amputated my right leg. they have amputated four toes. i am legally blind. i see a little bit out of my right eye. next year, in 2013, and i going to be homeless and put on the street because i am not 55 years

old? guest: no one has talked about cutting disability. johnson waseek, smam holding hearings on how to speed up and make the disability portion of social security, which is what i suspect you are receiving, work better. i do not noaa congressional office in america that does not -- i do not know a congressional budget -- office in america that does not spend time trying to cut through this maze. we have a judge-based system that takes a long time for people who legitimately earned benefits. there is nothing in the ryan budget on social security. i do think we need to reform it. it is more a retirement-end. it is a good component to make sure the people who run into the

situations you deal with have the means of support. it is not just a retirement system. it is a social insurance system as well. hopefully you're getting the service you need. if not, i recommend you call your congressman or senator. they have professional people. they are non-partisan. if you have a problem, i would not worry about your benefits being cut. i do not know any proposal that would cut disability benefits associated with social security. host: this from twitter -- guest: that is what the budget committee does. it lays out the broad goals. what you want is real legislation enacted by the ways and means committee. that is where tax legislation

is done. he will start seeing some of that. they will produce some of this in april. we will vote on it to deal with the sequestered. i suspect that committee will continue to work through and try to do those type of things. one person's loophole is another person's incentive. these are always very contentious. the way you do it is worked through committees. the budget sets the overall goals. the committee's write the legislation. host: here is up paul ryan budget plan at a glance from " the wall street journal."

host: 10% and 25%. favorite parts of the plan? guest: like every budget it has some things -- if i were king of the world, i would write things differently, it is a remarkable document and it is brave. paul ryan is doing what no one else has been willing to do -- pour ideas down, and run on them. it's called two other elements -- the proposed spent -- host: to do all other elements -- -- two other elements.

host: mobile, alabama. dmitri. independent line. caller: good morning. i want to s q a very important question. -- i want to ask you a very important question. i want to know about this keystone pipeline. why won't the united states congress bring to a -- bring a bill to the floor that says we will keep every drop of that oil here? those are jobs. the people that have to run the refineries -- those are jobs. and, you make us energy independent. and, you let the middle east now that america is getting their stuff together, and we can deal with that.

why are you not letting the president -- why are you letting the president dictate to you, when you control the country? guest: said lee, the president does have a veto. we voted on at the keystone repeatedly. there is also a process the president controls. you make the case very well. a chalet, the president was in my home state, -- actually, the president was in my home state, the district next to mine. we have the keystone pipeline from oklahoma to louisiana, and we really need the northern end, which reaches up into canada. a lot of jobs here are not unique. we have been exporting oil and gas to the rest of the country for over 100 years. we do not think this is done --

an unusual technology. we need to get about doing it. i could not agree more. sadly, the president has chosen to wait until after the election of the northern end. that is costing us jobs, time, and is sending the wrong message that we are not serious about producing all the energy we can for ourselves. host: republican line. roy, boulder, colorado. caller: in good morning, -- good morning, congressman. thank you for exposing yourself to the public. [laughter] guest: only rhetorically. caller: the former republican that called in is a low-level a operative. she calls him often as a former

republican. it is irritating. my question is is there any chance ever of us having a tax program that is equitable so let everyone pays? it is an absurd that the poor, as we hear so often, pay no taxes, receive all of the benefits, and i mean all the benefits, right down to their cell phone, if they are clever. they pay nothing. guest: yes, there is a chance. there is a variety of proposals. i am a flat tax component. the fair tax is essentially a consumption-based tax. you eliminate the income tax and have a consumption tax on everything. there are ways to get the money back to people that are very low

income, but nobody would escape taxes under that. a lot of the public does not pay income taxes, but most everyone pays payroll taxes, and most people pay taxes in sales or gasoline. we have a variety of ways to get it, but the current system is not fair, does not work well, as too many exemptions, and ought to be more broadly based. host: an e-mail agrees -- it cuts programs and does not meet the needs of american citizens. guest: when you say we cut programs, where we usually do is eliminate growth programs or slow things down.

we're not going to be spending less money next year, but we are running a $1.3 trillion budget. so, at some point, you go beyond what you can afford. i disagree about the middle class being heard. i think what hurts them is a tax system that is complex. most people that get tax breaks are in the upper-income brackets. the caller or the twitter is exactly right about that, but the republican plan removes those. it is the upper-income people that use more deductions. we need is a more flat, more fair system? but its growth and distributes investment and income across -- system that limits growth

industries investment and income across. host: illinois. good morning. caller: i am wondering why your committee does not do more about that or, and the trillions of dollars in debt they use speak about, you fail to tell the american people that we spend on average of $12 trillion, $13 trillion every 365 as a country. why don't you get all the ceo's of the oil companies together and say lower your guest to $1.99 for one year? i know you're in an oil state. the heavy oil stocks and how many republicans have oil stocks? guest: if you want to know what i have come and go online.

-owned oil stocks in one company. -- i own oil stocks in one company. if you have a mutual fund, you probably own multiple stocks. whale is a global commodity. the biggest problem we have is production is controlled outside of the united states by companies that do not operate in the free market system and set the oil price. the more oil is a of the market, the better off we are. americans do not like to hear this in a time of raising gasoline prices, but we still have the cheapest in the world -- much cheaper than france, england, and england is essentially self-sufficient. those companies bring us the product more cheaply than almost everyone in the world except the huge exporters of oil in the

middle east. they also, by the way, pay an enormous amount in taxes. that is ok, but like any other corporation, when they are taxed, it is added to the price. i'm amazed at the call from the president to get rid of oil tax breaks. their profitability rate is lower than apple or microsoft and their investment requirements are much higher. at the end of the day, when you raise the price of production, you are raising the price of the product at the pump. i think this administration has not been helpful. you let the market work. we ought to look and natural gas portion of this. it cost about one-quarter of what it cost three or four years ago because there has been declaration discovery here. we are very proud of the energy component of our economy in

oklahoma. we find it. we producers. we live with it. we love the men and women that do it. host: you brought up investments. this is from "the washington post." host: jumping down in the story, eric cantor argued -- host: does this go far enough? guest: i think it does. frankly, it was already illegal.

this is media-created legislation. what you own, what you trade, what you do, is already required on an annual basis and is reported. this makes a monthly, essentially. that is fine. having been in congress for nine years, i was a lot of meetings, and i never saw anything that remotely was helpful in picking stocks. this kind of knowledge does not exist, and most members do not have the time nor inclination to do anything like that. i voted for the legislation. if someone has done something wrong, believe me, congress is subject to the same laws, more scrutiny, that most people, and it ought to be. people will pay the consequences, but as far as i know no one has been charged with anything, no one has done anything. host: one last call.

richard, republican here, in washington, d.c. caller: i am grateful for your public service. you could do well without all the scrutiny and aggravation, but i applaud you and hope to continue for many years. i want to ask about foreign aid, whereas foreign aid for friends like israel than needed for defense and to bring in danger jinju's home from around the world as we see from the terrible incident in frigidj -- jews hall as the sea with a terrible incident in france. the $64 billion question it is, if it continues to be military aid, and not humanitarian aid, are we not in danger of arming a

potential enemy of israel, and that goes also for lebanon. host: let's leave it there and get a response. guest: great question. thank you for the kind words. we do send foreign aid to egypt. that is done with the consent of israel in the sense that they see this as helpful to them. it has been helpful. egypt has been a good friend and ally of the united states, and honest broker since 1973, helping to maintain peace in the middle east. that is good for the united states. we have cut the foreign aid budget in the house by 21% last year. some of that was restored in negotiations with the senate. we recognize there needs to be trimming. these are tools the united states uses. they give us leverage quite often. egypt is going through

extraordinary transition and change. it is genuinely something like the french revolution or the fall of the berlin wall. it is tremendously important. one of the best relationships we have is with the egyptian military. what has happened has happened peacefully. maintaining stability has been something we are proud to be associated with. it is easy to demagogue. it is a small part of the budget. it is a lot of money, but in a $3.50 trillion budget, it is pretty minor. it is spent usually with the american interest in mind. it is interesting. as the administration's come and go, the basic thrust of policy does not change a lot. in the case of egypt, it has been a good investment and one we ought to maintain. host: tom cole, a republican who

serves on the appropriations and budget -- budget committee. coming up next, we will talk with former television host and activist phil donahue. first, a bit of testimony from john l. and who had an exchange with senator john mccain about the number of troops in afghanistan. [video clip] >> i am also interested in the fact that you can not make a decision on force levels in the year of 2013 until the end of 2012. is that what you are telling this committee? >> i am telling you, senator, after withdrawing 20,000 troops, the drawdown, after conducting operations through the fighting season, in the aftermath of that, and i need to be able to evaluate whether that force structure as 68,000 will be the

kinds of combinations of forces cost the progress that has been made with the assf. . >> basically, you have no opinion on what the presence will be in 2013? >> my opinion is we will need significant combat power in 2013. >> like 68,000? >> it is a good number, by all the presidents of analysis are back. >> you supported the past reductions in forces. did you not also say that it increased the risk? >> i did, sir. >> so, does it surprise you when president hamid karzai starts looking at a situation

where the united states leaves the neighborhood -- does it surprise you when the isi continues the support of the atoll of non- and killing americans when we are -- of the taliban and killing americans when we are sounding an uncertain trumpet? >> i am very clear that i believe we will be successful in this campaign. >> "washington journal continues. host: phil donahue is a former television host and an activist. thank you for coming in. tell us about your film "body of war." >> i met the subject of this war at walter reed. thomas young was in iraq for two days. the bullet came through the back

of a truck. fish in a barrel. the bullet exited between the shoulder blades. he was paralyzed from the nipple, down. thomas cannot talk. he sustains urinary tract infection. what is the sacrifice to us? i saw this young man lying in bed at walter reed. he was not more thing. his mother explained his injuries and i said people should see this. i nominated myself. this was almost five years of work. it was an experience that all of us will never forget. we have never been this close to what is truly a catastrophic injury that turns the whole family upside down.

our point that we wanted to make is there are thousands in the country just like this, and we never saw the pain. we do not know about them. if you are going to send your young people to work, show the pain. the president said you cannot take pictures of the coffins, and the press corps said ok. there was no push back. sanitizing the war makes it easier to conduct it. people do not know the sacrifice people are making -- if that happens, we will not know -- we will have another war. host: "body of war" premiered of the toronto international film festival and was nominated for best documentary from the producers guild of america. you were taken to task when the iraq war started. do you think you have been proven right? guest: if i am proven right, i

would rather have somebody else say that. we have over 4000 young men and women dead because of this message blunder, and who was right or wrong does not make any difference now. i do not think much as ever -- no good thing "i told you sell." i'm keeping my mouth shut. i have made no sacrifice at all. is the people fighting the war that made the sacrifice. host: steve, democratic caller in illinois. caller: good morning. first of all, the second superpower in the world, russia, went into afghanistan, and left with their tails between their legs in the 1980's. the united states should have

taken a look at russia and seen how many lives they lost in a useless war. the tribal companies -- countries have religious rights stating back thousands of years, and we as a nation are killing our use -- youth. we have so many naval bases, air force bases in our whole world, and we are invading massive countries, and destroying lives. guest: you speak for me i have nothing that could be added to what you say. i admire your wisdom. it is another testament to c- span. this is the voice from the people and we do not hear it often enough.

host: yesterday, john allen testified. let's listen to what he had to say about the relationship between the united states and the president of afghanistan, hamid karzai. [video clip] >> what can you tell us about where we stand with regard to the president of afghanistan? >> senator, you have put your finger on the issue that there is frustration with these events. these events, in many respects, have struck a blow at the core of the relationship. this president, president karzai, has to be able to speak to the afghan people, about putting our relationship in the context of a long-term relationship with afghanistan. i understand his frustration. higher understand it -- if it was just one event, he would have a particular view, we have

had several events. the urination video. the burning of religious materials, including the koran. the shootings. in the aggregate, those are significant events, but i believe he is committed to a relationship with the united states. he was very clear in a video teleconference in which i was in attendance recently. he was clear in his commitment to a strategic partnership with the united states, but these incidents can not be ignored host: -- cannot be ignored. host: afghanistan war general john allen testified yesterday. what is our responsibility as americans to the people of a afghanistan -- not the leadership, but the women that could be educated, the children -- is there a risk of getting out and having things fall apart

worse? guest: if we do not get out, we will have more dead americans. it is america's choice. you can have any kind of country you want. you can have a country that puts people in cages for five, six years, no red cross, secret, water-boarding. you could have this kind of country. we have so much to offer. this is a great country. instead of sharing, instead of reaching out, we are lashing out, and we are never, ever reaching we have become the thing we hate. we are -- we have become the thing we hate. we are dropping bombs and cities at night were old people and children are sleeping and we think we will get on with the rest of our lives. imagine someone coming in with and on manned aerial vehicle.

where is the valor here? we have a man in nevada city with a joystick, of looking at it television monitor, there they are -- and we are killing children. this is done obama's watch. the drones will be banned. sooner or later it will happen and i want my president to make the first call on this. host: republican caller. virginia. good morning. caller: i spent 20 years in the marine corps, and the business of us sending the poor to war. i was a death casualty officer, and on four this occasions i told people their child was dead. i come from that background.

the problem that i have is that, again, we have one person said, the poor and the lower-middle class, -- 1%, the poor, the lower middle class, doing the dirty work. i am a republican. we have a presidential candidate, mr. romney, who has five sons. not one of them has joined the service. we have to get away from this business of letting the people who are looking for a jobs, looking for a trade, looking for a way out into something better for their life to do all the dirty work for us. we have these reality television shows. why do we not have a reality television show that shows what these young people are doing and what their families are going through that are doing this bad stuff for us. so, mr. donahue, keep doing what

you are doing. c-span, maybe you could have a show on about the draft. include some congress people and the military generals because the military generals say they do not want the draft, but they are part and parcel to the rest of us, and i think that needs to be addressed and we would see a lot less young kids going off to die. guest: thank you. you have got me to my fellow. this is the harm in harm's way. it is available at netflix. no profit is a crude to meet. we won a lot of prizes. -- is approved to me. we won a lot of prizes. we sold no popcorn. this is not a take your barrel to the movie movie. it is -- "take your girl to the movie, called moldy.

-- movie" mosiac. i had charlie peters of the show. he said we should draft the rich, and the audience went -- you know, it is what everybody thinks, but nobody says it. obviously, it is not current, because we have no draft right now. he is absolutely correct. wars are fought by people who are jobless. i heard a guy say we did not go to vietnam because we love america, we went to vietnam because we wanted to get out of town. these are realities. we seem to be talking to ourselves in many ways. democracy -- less than half of this note. wealthy people here in the states are comfortable in their

air-conditioned homes telling us how wonderful the troops are, and after a while, it does not have any meaning. the troops come home, and the the veterans administration does not call them back. we are awash in pretense. we think it fit is said, it is true. host: from twitter -- do you think the media is avoiding discussing ron paul's foreign policy. guest: i need this point and an appearance on pierce morgan. the truth is ron paul, who i could not vote for. he looks like a nice check to me. i look -- i would love to taken to dinner, but i could not vote for him. he has a distracting history, but he is the only candidate

speaking out on this issue. we are killing people. they are killing us. we are bogged down in afghanistan and no one on this presidential campaign trail will talk about it except ron paul. ron paul is saying why we going to all of these countries? can you imagine mitt romney saying that? they do not say that because they believed to make the point is to be politically fatal, you cannot survive not supporting a war. this is another reason that war is so easy to get into. six minutes to get in, 60 years to get out. that is why i am on the trail, stumping for norman solomon, who was running for congress from california, and i am pleased to have the opportunity to say that i think norman solomon is right on all the issues. host: you have been involved in a lot of viciously -- issues,

but you have not taken the time to campaign for a lot of candidates. in part it was due to your television career. you have not weighed in too much. host: i was on a ralph nader -- guest: i was on the ralph nader bus in 2000, and got off to save my marriage. my wife was certain we would elect another bush. she has a heck of the -- of a website, by the way. i speak to her doll through her agent. -- to her now through her agent. i think ron paul is a fascinating study of our

political reality right now. these people cannot even talk about what is right in front of our eyes. so, how long with the -- will this go on? i do not know. host: norman solomon is running for congress in california, one of 11 candidates seeking to represent a new coastal district. it is a wide open race triggered by a retirement for congresswoman woolsey. tell me why you are supporting. guest: he is the son my mother wanted to have. he is very educated. he brings more foreign policy experience than any rookie possibly could have. he has been to afghanistan. he has been to iraq more than once. he is also taking no corporate

tax money. imagine that. that is tough. they have to worry about paying for lawn signs, and i admire him for this grass-roots effort. he has scores of volunteers. if the volunteers were bid determining factor he would be elected immediately. i am taken by his grassroots campaign. a man who would never allow the country to go to war without the consent of congress has mandated by the constitution. up until now, the congress have said here, mr. president, and if he does, they are able to stay well, he said, i thought, he did not -- it is a maneuver. congress has been spineless on this issue.

they do not want the job of calling a war, and it is their job. as robert byrd says in this film, do not give one man the power to declare war. it is too much of a temptation. he was right. the framers were right. here we have people claiming to be proud americans, and turning their back on the vision of the framers. even free speech is a quaint idea. now that we are in this world of nuclear weapons, we really cannot be bothered with a bill of rights. host: phil donahue was a groundbreaking television tacos -- talk-show host for decades. let's hear from the next caller. dog, saint louis, --dog, saint louis missouri. caller: mr. donahue, have you

been to afghanistan or iraq? guest: noaa i have not. caller: i am a former marine. when they went into afghanistan, they sent out feelers to not have a war start. they were going to give the bin laden. they needed a reason to do it. the bush administration refused to do that, the same way they refused to make peace with iran. from what i hear from these candidates is that we are marching towards another war with iran, and to me, it blows my mind. we do not have the troops. we have used them way too much. multiple deployments are terrible. i set screaming at the television. we could head bin laden new torah bora. we were given excuse after excuse after the previous

administration basically dropped the ball on it. they dropped it again in iraq. that happened after dick cheney's oil summit, dividing up the country for their oil bodies. i do not know how we can trade life for corporations. guest: what was your rank next host: i'm sorry, i disconnected. -- rank? host: i am sorry. i disconnected. guest: we are all talking, and he did it. these wars -- by the way, they are not wars. occupations, what you want to call them -- these military actions in iraq and iran are not fair to the american troops, and america is waking up to that.

now, most of us are very anxious to bring them home. host: danny, an independent scholar in louisiana. -- caller in louisiana. caller: i called in often and i watch it often, and i see diverse attitudes towards everything. being an independent thinker, i seek the truth, and i see on one hand, this media that represents the money interest in this country, the hard right wing that basically lead us into this -- in fact, people who watch fox news state if you are not for us, you are against us. i decorated combat veteran from

vietnam. when people would tell me things like that -- where do people get such ideas? the truth does not sought any more in the media. this format that you are on right now is one of them that could do a great service to the american people by seeking the truth instead of seeking ratings for a morally bankrupt network. gee, i'm not sure what he meant about c-span. -- guest: i am not sure what he meant about c-span. i cannot believe c-span when i first saw it -- actually see the house and senate next remember when you head the squares, the bill goes -- senate? remember in high school when you have the squares, and the bill goes to the senate -- to sit and watch this happen live -- then i

got involved in all of those conventions where they hang the banner on the wall. i am crazy about this. this is the best reality show in town and i said that in the early 1980's of my own program. to the gentlemans call, i do not know. we spend $2 billion a day on things that go boom. if you add in the nuclear program, the va, the supplemental -- add it up. two billion dollars a day. norman solomon taught me that. that is why i am campaigning with him. solomonforcongress.org. who called the last caller,

it -- host: the last caller, who said he supports c-span, but has issues with television shows, what role do you have in creating the discussion? has it turned into what you envisioned? guest: i used to sit there all my illegitimate children and i love them equally, but that is kind of cute. we did our naughty shows, too. we had male strippers. it was not my idea. i said where you're going to put the microphone? you have to entertain the people. this has to be understood. the realm of our business is the size of the audience. if you do not get an audience you will be parking cars next week. male strippers will get a larger audience than dick

gephardt. he was a guest for the whole show. bob dole was a guest for the whole show. you will let's see that anymore. i've already made the point. this documentary fell off of the marquee in six minutes. this has a wheelchair. the delta region of the daytime talk shows were not interested -- the daytime talk shows were not interested. host: the documentary phil donahue is talking about is called "body of war," a feature about thomas young, a 25-year- old paralyzed from a bullet. he was serving in iraq for less than a week before he was shot. kenny, mobile, alabama, democrats line. are you with us? guest: i know this fng