tv Washington Journal CSPAN May 7, 2012 7:00am-10:00am EDT
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activist art pope. north carolina's holding its "washington journal" is next. ♪ host: good morning. here are your headlines. in france, voters have ousted nicolas sarkozy. in u.s. politics, a new poll shows president obama and mitt romney essentially even in a dozen key battleground states. congress is back in session this week. today, a house committee will
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take up a bill that would replace the automatic cuts from the 2011 budget control act. we want to know how confident you are that congress will eventually make the cuts they have promised to lower the deficit. give us a call. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. you can also catch up with us on all social media platforms by sending us a tweet. or by sending us an e-mail, journal@c-span.org. a very good morning to you. we want to start with that story we were talking about from "the washington post." the headline, "u.s. freeze high
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the biggest test is still to come this year when congress and the president will have to grapple with the medicare cuts this set in place as a punishment for the supercommittee pose the failure. we want to know your confidence in whether congress will keep the spending cuts. you can give us a call in on this subject.
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we want to turn to "the hill" newspaper today. russell berman joins us now on the phone. good morning to you. guest: thank you for having me. host: tell us what is going on with sequester in this committee hearing today and what the plans for this week. guest: the house budget committee led by paul ryan will be taking up a large proposal from house republicans. it is a total of $260 billion that is the product of six house committees. the budget committee will
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eventually combined into one bill -- one or two bills. that includes a $70 billion for replacement in the sequestered. the republicans are taking the first bite out of that this year by replacing most of the defense cuts, which both republicans and at the pentagon have come out against and replacing that with cuts to things like food stamps and other programs to the port and some of the health-care law and the financial regulatory law. there are also adding on an additional $180 billion in these cuts for reducing the deficit. of course, democrats are
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expected to oppose this bill. host: we have the steps up now about what this proposal does. tell us again, what republicans want to push for these changes in the agreement that they came to back when the budget control act was being put together as a sort of a buffet to hang over congress. -- as a sort of a thing to hang over congress. guest: you are right. it has said it was intended to force action. democrats have said that, too. nobody wanted these cuts to take affect. because these cuts were across the board and not targeted to specific programs, there would
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be counterproductive. specifically, the defense cuts, and the republican's politically are using that. the pentagon has warned of these cuts come into effect as a way of making their argument replaced. democrats have a bit of a problem themselves because they had acknowledged they did not want the cuts to take affect. it is not clear yet whether the democrats are going to offer their own comprehensive proposal to replace them. they prefer their own proposals and the president's budget. it is not clear whether they will be competing proposals on the floor. >> it is no secret that either side has liked sequester from the beginning. what do you think is going to
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happen with the sequestered cuts? will they do what we eventually see or will there be some sort of deal? if so, when? guest: there is very little hope there'll be a deal anytime soon, and certainly before the nov. 0 election. and of them, of course, we have talked a lot about the lame duck session. >> before the november election. -- before the november election. this is wrapped up in a series of expiring provisions, most notably the bush tax cuts. of course, there will have to raise the debt ceiling again sometime likely after the election, but maybe before the end of the year. it is possible we will see a deal that encompasses all three of those things.
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host: russell berman, while we have you, what else is actually going on this week in capitol hill? congress was away last week, as we said. what will be leaving congress's debate this week despite -- other than these cuts? guest: they are expected to hold a vote, i believe, on tuesday for the student loan and protecting -- and preventing an increase. before they went on a recess, there were promoting this. the senate as a bill by democrats -- has a bill by democrats that closes tax loopholes by the wealthy. if republicans are expected to oppose it. it should be another partisan vote.
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uthorize.l to rea host: people watching the transportation debate, and the moving for funding? guest: we will see the first meeting between the senate and of the house on a two year extension. the house has only passed a short-term extension. they're going to start their committee this week. bihost: russell berman, thank yu for joining us. guest: thank you. host: today, you can watch that live at 2:00 p.m..
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i want to get thoughts from you all. we are going to go first to larry on the democratic line from her landau, mississippi. caller: good morning. nothing is going to get done. the republicans got together and came up with a plan to get the president out of office. nothing is going to get done. this is an election year. nothing will get done. the republicans have their own ideas. nothing is going to get done. host: do you think congress should stick with these $1.20 trillion that sequester would automatically kick in? or should they reworked it? caller: i think it should automatically kick in. like i said, this is an election year.
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politics is going to get in the way. they will not be able to work together. everybody knows that. host: thank you for the call. let's go to illinois. thomas is listed on the independent line. caller: good morning. first-time caller. my suggestion is that when members stand up, that you should flashed up a graph of who their top five of lobbyist groups are that support them. and also how they voted on bills associated with how they're voting with lobbyists that support them. host: appreciate your thought. what your thoughts and the sequester that is coming up at the $1.20 trillion in cuts that congress is now thinking about replacing and going in a different direction? caller: they agreed to an already. they should stick to what they agreed to.
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for these tests, we need term limits. real in the lobbyists. thank you for c-span. host: there are a few things that are exempt. social security, a veterans' benefits, unemployment insurance, per -- temporary assistance, and some other low- income programs as well as cuts to medicare. that is capped at 2%. we want to get a republican in on this. jerry is from ohio. good morning. caller: i am not a republican. i'm a democrat. spending cuts has a history of cutting jobs. when you cut jobs, you take money out of the economy. businesses that were growing with people spending money are
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starting to die. spending cuts equal tired deficits. the only way to fix the deficit is to get the jobs bill. in the reagan administration, reagan raised taxes very high and invested in infrastructure. they build of the freeways. when clinton was the president, they raised taxes on the rich and the jobs created. this republican congress has not invested in infrastructure. they just cut and put people out of work. they want to know, where is the money? it shows private-sector jobs went up in the in clinton -- in the clinton administration.
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host: do you think the sequester cuts go too far? you're against cutting, as you say. do the sequester cuts are too much? caller: way too much. one out of the money into a jobs bill? -- why not put the money into a jobs bill? put the money into infrastructure. build the roads, build of the bridges. put people to work. host: thank you for the call. jim on twitter rights congress and confidence are two words that do not belong together. on the issue of your confidence in congress keeping with the spending cuts, let's get a few more calls in. we will go right to gainesville, florida. steven is waiting an independent line. caller: i have to echo the guy
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from illinois. he hit it right on. it is a joke. [laughter] there was something set up to make this in terms for women's people to make congress work together -- for a layman's people. there did a spanking, like little children, and sequestration would happen. the children are running the house and saying the spanking is not going to happen. the best analogy is if it's like we're sitting around a high school dance you have the left and the right sitting in their shares and no one is dancing. that is the problem with congress today. and politics in general. we see everyone so far away from each other that absolutely nothing is going to get done. i would say that the funny thing about that, a funny thing about
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sequestration is you have regular people like myself, who will either joined the t party group or join the obama administration and the uprising was sought in 2008. -- what we saw in 2008. what it really is that the american people are sick and tired of nothing getting done. kind of like what i'm doing on the phone. a complete grand outstanding, rather than actually getting something done. we're just tired of it, regardless of if you are left or right. thank you. i want to read a little more about russell berman's article.
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i am tired of hearing about clinton and that the rich paid more in taxes. because if you really looked at the numbers, there was say little bit of lowering of taxes with the rich during the clinton, opposed to bush sr. before that. i believe even reagan before that, too. i have seen it cited other places also. host: talk to me about the sequester we have been talking about. to support keeping it in place? of these automatic cuts? caller: the federal government is way too huge. the spending is ridiculous. it is not with the founders had in mind at all. it really has to be scaled back. with the scaling back, the less
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pleasant to be done is elderly who need help -- the last place it should be done is the elderly who need help. the first place it should be done is an extravagant spending on -- you name it. or silly spending. people just need to start making decisions along those lines, instead of listening to lobbyists. instead of doing what is good for their on pockets and what will get them reelected. people are saying -- i hear a lot that, we're going too far to the right. actually, our country has been going to the left on a steady course. if we make a nice, strong right, we will get back to center. that will save things. right now, greece is the word.
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that again is from "usa today." going back your issue of confidence in congress and keeping with the spending cuts. peter has been waiting from west palm beach, fla. on the democratic line. good morning. caller: good morning. i am referring to these cuts we have been going through. it is happening in europe and the the changes like in today's paper. how many european presence and leaders have been changed because austerity became ridiculous. they cut some months that they cause the recession worse than we are ready have. the american people are doing the right thing. the obama administration is doing the right thing. not cutting too much the same time.
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all you do is create less work and less jobs. that is less taxes going to our nation. you cannot keep this country and all the work that has to be done by the government to keep cutting taxes and cutting jobs. my god, you have to have a balanced approach to this whole thing. this has to be balanced. the republican party wants to just cut, cut, cut. it will devastate this country and send us back into recession. i guarantee it. host: thank you for the call. peter brought up the changes that are happening in europe on the elections that are going on over there. leading the front page of "the new york times."
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on the independent live from st. louis, missouri. good morning. caller: i agree with the last two callers who called them about the spending cuts and everything. it is somewhat of a crucial thing with the american people and so forth. what i'm curious about, we are in such a debt, why is that they don't go to fort knox and try to get us out of debt? host: thank you for the independent -- thank you for the call on the independent line. good morning. how'd you feel in your confidence that congress will keep its promise to lower the debt? caller: i want to say, they keep taxing -- that keep bouncing taxing the rich. i'm not rich. i used to be a democrat, now i am a republican since the reagan administration. the thing about it is, when they
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tax the rich, the richer just going to lay off and pass those taxes on by raising the prices of stuff they sell. that will not help any. what obama is doing, they proved already. he spent as much in two years as bush did in eight years. he was criticizing the bush. obama is spending us into oblivion. i know what they're talking about. if this guy is spending us into oblivion. host: thank you for that call on the republican line. on the printer, why should u.s. people have austerity? we have billions for oil and jet subsidies. we will show you some of the other headlines that going out today from "usa today."
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the enthusiasm gap. it shows an october 20 of 2011, which romney had a distinct lead in the enthusiasm -- in the shift of enthusiasm that is going on with a 59% say they are very or extremely enthusiastic. it's essentially shifted to 57% for president obama. you can see all the results of the gallup poll in "usa today" this morning. over in "the wallstreet journal" the enthusiasm gap.
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from "the wallstreet journal" today. back to the phones. the issue of keeping with the promise. we will go to rhode island. good morning. caller: good morning. i think mainly be a fact is on which party is the strongest -- democrat or republican. we have a republican speaker of the house right now. we seem to have a lot of power in and try to get the spending cuts of the group. aside from that, i think this country has to start revamping.
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starting with the youth where they can get jobs that make sense. were there not just in social science our history. -- where a day are not judged tin social science or history. get jobs or they can contribute to the economy. with to work our way up that way. host: we'll be talking about this issue of jobs for graduates after college. do you think congress should be spending more now rather than looking for $1.20 trillion in automatic spending cuts that will come in through sequestered? caller: i'm glad they're not cutting social security. i think congress should leave it alone.
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spending on programs that not going anywhere, i think they probably can control it. depending which a body is the congress. if the democrats start to recover and get stronger, and they will be spending more. the republicans will be spending less. i would like to see both parties compromise and come to a reasonable agreement. host: thank you for the call. on twitter. we will go to the independent line. michael is waiting to talk. good morning. caller: yes. good morning. i agree with a few of your callers. this financial crisis has been going on for over a century now.
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babbitt be is is not going to be solved -- it is not going to be solved by what we feel like is bipartisan. the on the way we can get through this is true love. we have a lot of policies throughout history that have deprived many americans the true happiness of america. host: i hate to make you put lot into dollars, but does love means spending more or less? caller: love means to spend what we have to. we spend money on wars and the things of this nature that we not need to be involved in. yet we ignore the problems that going on in the ground in
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america. yeah of homeless individuals his sleep near the white house. yet we can send billions of dollars to other countries. we get nothing for that. we have problems at home, going back to slavery and more. until we looked into our hearts and understand we need to help each individual and not try to keep $100 million in the bank, for what? i do not know. host: thank you for the call. we will go to the republican line from taxes. good morning. caller: we need to stop this a democrat idiocy that obama's democrats are doing. spending like a bunch of a fool's. of course republicans are going
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to say no to stupid policies. what did you say? host: was the sequester a stupid policy and a stupid plan? caller: everything obama has done has been total idiocy. host: this agreement that congress came to to do -- came to to cut $1.20 trillion. giving they should keep it in place? republicans are trying to change it because they do not think the cuts are the smartest cuts possible. caller: we need to cut as much as we can. democrats are saying the republicans are the party of no. of course we say no. we're telling the truth about everything that obama and his democrats are lying about. they want to give away everything. we keep hearing the fake unemployment numbers.
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we know it is all a lie because they're cutting out the people blair coming back to work. the people are unemployed and not looking for employment because they cannot get any. host: thank you for the call from canyon lake, texas. caller: good morning and it thank you for taking my call. this is one place i agree with the republicans. i think it needs to be redone. simply because everything i saw where the cuts are going to be made are all made on the backs of the elderly and the poor. i feel the rich the to pay, too. they to pay their fair share of the debt to get out of this. i agree. anything the rich make over $1
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million a should be taxed. host: what about the bill the republicans are going to propose? in additional -- is contains an additional $180 billion in cuts. among those hit our food stamps, funding for the 2010 health-care law, and the refundable tax child credit. are you still supportive of chaining sequester and that way? caller: and that way, i am not. they are hurting us. they are hitting the elderly. if i remember correctly, there were something about such security and medicare the two had on the screen. that hurts the elderly. i have not seen any place for the rich have to pay their fair share.
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a few headlines but the republican primary campaign. as much as we talk about mitt romney being the presumptive nominee. we go to ohio where mike is awaiting an independent line. caller: good morning. i have a zero confidence that congress can agree on a date. congress did not pass a budget so they created a committee. the committee was set up so that it would not do anything. congress itself came up with sequestration. now, they realize that they cannot come to a conclusion. they do not want to have to do
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to what they agreed they would have to do and couldn't. host: is it all a selling a tactic? and did you believe in the beginning? caller: no. there is no way these people of our come to an agreement. it took 60 votes in the senate to agree on a date. this is may 7. there is no need for us to have a daily paul on who is leading who in the election that is happening in november. that is like on the first day of baseball season taking a poll every day of who will win the world series. it is absolutely meaningless and useless, just like congress. what we ought to do in congress is pass a resolution that has no ended. send those people home and let them try to find jobs in the real world. then we can probably save all kinds of money. these guys are absolutely
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we will get into that a little bit more and our last segment today on "washington journal" here when we talk about north carolina politics. north carolina is preparing to have a vote on a gay marriage bill in their primary that is happening. we can reach you a little bit from "of the washington times" story today.
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again, we will get into that a little bit more in our fourth segment today on "washington journal." that is all the time we have for this first segment. coming up next, armstrong williams. he will join us to discuss the campaign of 2012. later, we will take a look at college graduates and the work force with anthony carnevale.
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>> here is a look at some of the books that are being published this week. "screwed!" former senator bill bradley offers a solution for job creation in "we can all do better." in "and the road to freedom," arthur brooks offers that free enterprise is suffering due to the expanding size of government. will allen recounts his farm in milwaukee that produces enough
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food for thousands year-rounder. professor of princeton university, bernard lewis, recounts his career and transformation in the middle east from off world war ii two -- world war ii. "dial m for murdoch." in "yours in truth," the former washington post editor provides behind-the-scenes accounts on reporting of the watergate scandal. look for these titles this coming week and watch for the authors on booktv and booktv.org. >> "washington journal" continues.
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host: it is day five leading up to tuesday's democratic primary in at charlotte. just down the street from the state capital where art pope is going to talk to us a little bit later about his role in the upcoming campaign in the various conservative caucuses. first, talk about the presidential campaign, we're joined by armstrong williams to talk about his views on the campaign. i want to start with your column today in "the washington times." your headline is "mr. open a change." explain. guest: good morning. the president, several years ago, when he was campaigning, he talked about courage. he talked about leadership. he talked about hope being
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abundance and it is irrelevant if you do not have a leader with vision. he talked about these budgets, the deficit, unemployment. he talked about how minorities and the poor have been left out and how his bold ideas and leadership would not look back, but move forward to solve these problems. and here we are, almost four years later, and the economy is anemic at best. unemployment is still dismal. no matter what the labor statistics may report. it is not getting any better. everyone from the highest level to the lowest level's lifestyles has diminished. homeownership is no longer an asset but a liability. there are people being encouraged to rent because most homes today -- consumption.
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many americans are being consumed by it. while the president is out on the campaign trail and he makes these comments about mitt romney and his back to the days of bush, when he was running for the office, he said, i have a hope, the ideas, the vision, what is necessary to move this country forward. i think it is fair to illegitimately ask the president. instead of complaining about what bush did not do and romney was vying to be president, what has he done with america's trust? there can be no formal message if you do not have a message from the past or of hope. u.s. to many americans today, and i'm not talking about something you are emotional about. he lifted your way of life and the people in your neighborhood. are you better off today than you were before president obama
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became president of the united states. if you ask yourself honestly, did the hope and change take place as the president sobol leaf off declared in his campaign, and the answer is, but they to tory. -- the answer is, no. host: give us a call. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. mr. williams, i want to return to your column. you're talking about mr. romney's slogan. you say his belief in america slogan is also like on content. guest: is is light. in all fairness, these campaigns are about manipulation. it is about convincing people of an idea. they have never taken time to
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think the idea through to see if it will work. understand, both of these men's want to become ceo's of the united states. if you want to become ceo of the united states, you need to know about economics 0101. mr. romney was governor of massachusetts. the jury is still out on him in terms of what he accomplished. he gave rise to the affordable health care act. many people question his conservative message. rick santorum met with him. you would assume he would of thought and a commitment or endorsement, but that has not happened. michele bachmann waited months to make sure he was the nominee before she endorsed him. she gave him a very tacit endorsement. even speaker gingrich was still saying that mr. romney does not
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tell the truth. there is not much enthusiasm for this candid it because people do not know what he really believes. it is not about that from the running for president of the united states. personally, i cannot think any republican challenger can defeat president obama, despite his rhetoric and record. but i do believe that president obama can lose the election. in losing the election, romney would win by default. it is all but the president, as it was when bush left office. mccain did not win because people did not like the legacy bush left. they want to give someone a chance. they gave president obama the opportunity for his hope and change. host: we talk to them earlier segment about a new gallup poll with a double-digit gap enthusiasm with the obama supporters and romney supporter spirit does that surprise you in
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how you are looking at the race right now? guest: pres. obama is well- liked. he is a charismatic leader. people love the fact is a family man. committed to his family. they think he's a wonderful faceplate of the american people. he knows how to connect with people. whether he is at a basketball game or just with the kids. president obama has this feeling that americans really feel he is a part of their family. mitt romney is a sort of stale, cookie cutter approach. if you can tell he is not that comfortable with people. it is not about the substance in the present collection. people want to feel good about the president they are supporting. i think the time has come with the american people want to get away from the mentality of what feels good. they want to make sure they put a ceo in office who is committed to moving this country forward.
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if you look at what is going on in europe, it does not really matter in europe. you know why? it germany is still in europe's paymaster. when you are there paymaster, you have to abide by the principal and demands of president merkel. she has the leverage. they are funding europe oppose the dismal economy. many people do not understand why president obama -- if you see the way europe is collapsing, the people to not want to go through that. why would you want to make it at the united states of europe. if it does our there, socialism will not work here. host: before we leave, i want to get you to respond to market. he writes, why did that change take place? he says the answer is republicans.
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guest: no. is is leadership. the president said he would unite the congress. some say he is one of the most divisive presidents. you can blame on republicans or what ever. leadership knows how to work with both sides of the aisle. i do not think many americans believe that the republicans are going to support the affordable health care bill if did not think it is in the interest of the american people. that is why it is in the supreme court right now and it will make a decision in june. republicans are not going to embrace the president if he is now willing to reduce the deficit. it is almost unheard of in this country. at some point, we have to pay our debts. you cannot spend more than you earn. if the president put forth policies that the republicans could embrace and had the best interests of this economy long term in mind, they could support
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of this president. it is also about politics. the present -- the republicans want the white house. u.s. seen john boehner and mitch mcconnell walk across the aisle to try to support -- you have seen at john boehner and mitch mcconnell walked across the aisle to try to support this president. there are a lot of democrats to just have to hold their nose. he is on the campaign trail bashing congress. but we have nothing to make us believe. host: good morning. you're on with armstrong williams. caller: good morning. eric cantor said the main thing he wanted to do was a defeat president obama. he did not say he wants to
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create jobs or anything. they said, no. it is not leadership. if i was running a company and my workers said no to everything i did, i would get new workers. is that correct? guest: in fairness, when kantor put forth his business and jobs bill, democrats were not in support rent of the bill. he started with a good idea. when he got involved with the deficit reduction, the president and the leadership on the republican side crossed the aisle to support it. there have been instances where they have worked together. obviously, eric cantor believes they want to defeat the president and get the white
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house. in the end, we want to believe that they put the interests in what is best for the american people. even the president said sometimes you have to put politics aside and do what is best for this country. host: on twister, a question. guest: of course. they all say this. that is politics. it does not mean they do not work with the president in the best interest of this country. even though you may see what you see as rhetoric, behind closed doors they worked together on many projects. the president would be saying the same thing -- i mean, the president -- the democrats would be saying the same thing. this of the same thing about george bush. they wanted to defeat him.
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it does not mean they're not willing to work together on legislation and policy that is in the best interest of our nation. host: take us through this game . what is the strategy for the romney campaign to win. we of heard about the -- we have heard about the 3-2-1 strategy. there is a map from last week of "the washington post" talking about the battleground states that are implien play. guest: mitt romney has to win florida. votes.a has 11 patrol boat
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mitt romney pass to win the red votes that president bush won. mitt romney has been involved in very tough and revealing debates with his republican challengers. it was a tough campaign to fight for him. one day he is up, the next day he is down. rick santorum.eck santor somehow mitt romney was always one and two. people said he spent a lot of money. newt gingrich is angry with him because of the ads. some of the candidates can come
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on board fast because he is not made that commitment to newt gingrich. mitt romney has been battle tested. it would not serve the president well to underestimate mitt romney. people feel he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. everybody should have the opportunity. host: do you think ron paul will be a factor in the republican primary? "the new york times" said look for him to cause some problems. guest: ron paul and mitt romney are friends. they have a close relationship.
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their wives are very close. ron paul is a strategist for mitt romney. whatever happens going forward, ron paul is part of that. host: part of the strategy? guest: this campaign is not about ron paul. it is about his son rand paul. i think ron paul will be one of the most vociferous supporters of mayor romney. -- of mitt romney. host: steve is waiting on the independent line. caller: good morning. i would like to thank c-span for
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a great show. you forget how bad of a time we were in. some of the things barack obama has done has been amazing. .ow we're gaining 200,000 jobs that is a turnaround of about a million jobs. that is amazing. we were at zero economic growth. he did what he said he was going to do. his first priority was to do something about health care. he reached out to the republicans and they said no. they said no to everything.
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there is no evidence mitch mcconnell reached across the aisle. guest: listen, the affordable health care act and the individual mandate -- the individual mandate is similar to social security. it was a tax. if the president said the individual mandate was a tax and congress approved that, it would not be before the supreme court now. the president said that individuals' taxes would not be spent on the individual mandate. it was a tax. that is why it is before the supreme court. it is a tax on the american people.
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people can justify their position. the real issue for us as americans -- the united states is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. nobody talks about this. the united states is bankrupt. the united states can print money like a drunken sailor. that will catch up with them. we have to reduce the deficit and the debt. we have to make sacrifices. there must be shared sacrifices. we cannot continue on the path we are on.
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people don't want to talk about the sacred cows that we have -- social security, medicare, medicaid. nobody wants to cut those programs. we do not want to harm senior citizens. it is the only thing we can do to survive. people talk about the price of gold. we're losing the value of the dollar every day. at some point the dollar will not be the universal currency of the world. we're losing that. i'm not going to kick the can down thte road. host: your take on the
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sequestration cuts. guest: republicans are democrats -- and democrats will not do anything explosive. they are good about the rhetoric and the talk about making the proposal. they want to maintain the house and the senate. it is up and down whether they can oust president obama. host: we're talking with armstrong williams. he has is own program on sinclair broadcast. he worked under the white house under the first president bush. he will be with us for the next 20 minutes if you want to call or send in comments. host: wayne, good morning.
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caller: i have been listening for the past three or four years. obama was put in a deep hole. of thisep ourselves out deep hole. it takes time to dig ourselves out of a big hole. it took mitt romney a while to dig out. he destroyed the companyies. medtronic will destroy the country -- mitt romney will destroy the country. he is a good businessman. guest: thank you. look at the policies. the president should not have
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taken up health-care in his first term. he should not have used capital in the first term. maybe in the second term if he is reelected. even the stimulus package. it never created the jobs. the stimulus package did not do its job. you have to have policies in place. look at china. they do not have the bureaucracy that we have. they were able to put programs in place. japan has been a great recession for almost 20 years. nobody talks about that.
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i see what president obama has in his article that will turn this economy around. you cannot do it by punishing small business owners and by picking winners and losers. people advocate the bailout of the auto industry was a good thing. if our business is about to collapse, nobody is going to give us a check. the government has manipulated. the economy is too over regulated. the banks are not loaning money. they have these tough regulations they have to follow. host: tom in ohio.
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caller: i agree with you so much on a lot of the things you're saying. i do flea markets. in the last three years, it is almost backlight 9/11. democrats keep saying health care is about obama. democrats voted him and and the people said no. the gas and oil. they could lower the gas and oil. we have technology. he wants to give money to windmills and solar, all for him. host: how confident are you that
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mitt romney will be able to be at the president? caller: probably 95%. i would rather have gary huntsman. host: a question on twitter from boring file clerk. [laughter] guest: we hear that, don't we? romney isink mitt conservative at all. i think mitt romney and president obama have much in common. the most distinguishing fact is that mitt romney understands economies, markets, economics 101. i think he understands in order
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for an economy to heal itself, you have to leave it alone. stimulus packages always do more harm than good. you want to make people feel good in the short term. the issue about minimum wage. you have to do something in the long term. the economy will come back. the best thing the administration could have done would be to have left the economy alone. the economy would have come back quicker if they did not tinker. the best thing to do is to let the market turn itself around. host: james from mississippi. caller: good morning.
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i wanted to ask -- you seem like a reasonable person. i have been calling c-span for two or three years. we have been having problems with housing and the multi- living family. when president obama was running for president, there was a slumlord showing how he works with the president but they found out he was not. we still have slumlord problems in our community, like when you tried to get an apartment or things like that. you would be surprised how much money is wasted. host: we will have a show on
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that sometime down the road. talk to me about the election. who are you supporting? about them surprised president and the democratic party. but my point was, if this president would stand up and look at the people he has working in his cabinet, a lot of these problems probably would not have happened. but because of the views that you had -- that is one thing i wanted to ask him. do you believe the president's is intentionally calling these
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things that happened? guest: obviously, no, not intentionally. the president loves this country. he believes his ideology is what is best for this country. he has a huge resentment towards the wealthy class. if you don't go out and earn money -- the bible says demand should work by the sweat of his brow -- the bible says a man should work by the sweat of his brow. i do not need the government to tell me -- americans are the most generous in the world. host: talked me about the people
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you think mitt romney will surround himself with. scienceistia- siden monitor" talks about the veep stakes. guest: he comes from a state that mitt romney needs, rob portman. who would have thought that john mccain would have selected sarah palin? mitt romney wants to be president. he will make a business decision. host: who would be the best for that? guest: i do not know.
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ron portman has been vetted. i do not know. host: back to the phones. from florida. are you there? go ahead. caller: you asked a question -- are we better off now than we work four years ago. you dodged his answer. ok? you changed the subject. we are losing 800,000 jobs four years ago. now we're gaining 200,000. the credit markets are not frozen.
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chrysler is still in business. you tell me, are we better off four years ago? guest: overall, no. individuals who own their own business, who know how to reinvent themselves will always do well. but for the majority of people in this country -- look at food and the price of basic things we buy every day. host: jim from kentucky, good morning. caller: i am a moderate republican that is about ready to drop out. i am not bothering to ask a question because i do not respect the answer from mr. williams. he said mitch mcconnell and other leaders have been trying
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to work with the president's. . i suggest you watched c-span about what is happening in reality. issue two would be austerity. you can watch europe and you can see it does not work. cutting spending and raising revenue. guest: i think you make an excellent point if you look at the austerity issues in europe. i don't think it is fair you should raise taxes on the upper 2%. that is a joke. we need to make sure those who do not pay taxes paid taxes. they met pitted same taxes that john pays but they should pay
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the taxes according to their income level. host: ralph on the independent line, good morning. caller: yeah. host: go ahead, ralph. caller: you talked about sequestration and about obama's message. the congress and the senate and the president have not been able to work together. we had the bailout of the financial system. that had to happen. we could not let them fail. we would have dropped off a cliff. the simpson-bowles committee came together to come up with a
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recommendation. sequestration -- if it went into effect, our foreign aid and investment would all be cut by 10% and that would be a good thing if it was done across the board and across all programs, including the defense department. with the total lack of energy policy for north america and south america and our bond situation with china, the hope and change message is still valid. the hope is you have some change left in your pockets. thank you for taking my call. guest: i agree for the most part.
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people understand fairness. shared sacrifices. everybody should share. many of these institutions need to be cut. d you splitould use bloo it? guest: everything should be shared sacrifices. it needs to start quickly instead of this debate. we know what the problem is. we need someone to step up to the plate and say, this is what we will do. host: herman is waiting. caller: good morning. i have two questions.
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i am 80 years old. i remember the depression. there wasn't anything. starting.e were just guardin i was walking to the mill with my father. he said they will cut off social security. that is what they are to. return't wall street the money that we gave them? what happened to the money that was loaned? man and one more point -- may i
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add one more point? we paid for the real war when i started working. we built and paid for the space program with our taxes. we paid for vietnam. we had the two gulf wars. guest: i think he made some excellent observations. the government pays for nothing. americans are on their own to themselves.or we have a microwave mentality now. you do not want to create a society of people we depend more on the government that you depend on yourself. host: lower from erie,
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pennsylvania -- laura. caller: good morning. do you listen to rush limbaugh? guest: no. caller: you sound like a conservative. you sound like you want a balanced budget and for us not to pay china $800 billion a year on interest. it is in the best interest of all americans to make responsible choices and to choose not to engage in behavior that causes poverty or ills.locial it has to do with impact families. blacks have 70% out of wedlock births.
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i wish you would get to having black conservative caucus either in the senate to get some black conservatives to rally around these issues. the solution is kind of simple. getting back to conservative -- guest: people do not have babies out of wedlock -- i have a breakdown on families because they are black and white. these issues happen because of a culture. i grew up in a family with two parents. my father was a hero. we were taught physical responsibility. come in and my
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mother would pay the bill. i grew up with those values. earns taught you have to your way in life. a man will eat what they kill. i do not want to get into the issue of race. we are all americans. shirk mericans can assu responsibility. it is based on the choices that we have. host: don from orlando, florida. caller: good morning. i have a question for mr. williams. do you know the federal reserve
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is an investment banker? guest: it is not a government entity. the federal reserve -- this notion of printing money and manipulating interest rates is going to come back and backfire on the u.s. states and these homeowners. it is a matter of time before these interest rates trickle back to the true rate. you should go out -- you need to do everything you can to lock in these interest rates because this will not last. a problem in this country is congress. the american people -- when you have people stay in office for
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15 and 20 years, they become corrupt because they are in the pocket of lobbyists and special interest groups. they do the bidding of those who line their pockets. congress was banned from insider trading laws. there are so many loopholes you can run a tow truck through. we need people like farmers in day care workers to come in and serve. host: we will leave it there. thank you for joining us. we will continue our look at the used voting bloc with georgetown university's anthony carnevale. later we continue our trip through north carolina with art pope. but first a news update from c-
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span radio. re-electiont obama's campaign is releasing a new television ad today. the commercial says "we're not there yet," but president obama is called the right person to entrust the country with his future. president obama officially kicked off his campaign for reelection over the weekend. there was an inauguration in russia. vladimir putin has been sworn in for a third term. this comes one day after a protest drew more than 20,000 people to the kremlin. the crowds were beaten back by batons. trouble continues in syria.
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ballots were cast today. the opposition dismissing the vote as a sham. the situation in syria may be one issue discussed by general ban-ki moon. you could hear his remarks on c- span radio on 11:00 a.m. eastern. [video clip] >> saturdays this month -- more from the nixon tapes. hear conversations with alexander haig. >> very significant, this "the new york times" expose. >> oh, that. i see.
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i did not read the story. that was leaked out of the pentagon? >> they carried on after mcnamara left. >> this is a devastating security breach. >> at c-span radio.org. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we turn now to discussion for the job market for college graduates with georgetown university's anthony carnevale. jobs are hard to find for recent college grads. is colin still -- is college still worth it?
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guest: even in bad times, the unemployment rates for people who don't have any college or pushing towards 20% and those with college educations are somewhere between 7% and 6%. it is all relative. host: the director of the center on education and workforce for georgetown university. give us a call if you have no college experience and want to comment on the subject, 202-737- 0001. college students can call 202- 737-0002. college graduates can call 202- 628-0205 to talk about the subject.
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we want to get your thoughts to try to get a job after college. "hard times" is the title of the report you wrote. guest: we found that college- educated workers are suffering like everybody else, only less so. a finding that was stronger than we thought going in it was whether you working and what you make depends on what you take. it is and not just having the college degree that matters. what matters is what your major is. host: here are some of the stats on the and plummet rates for recent college grads -- the employmenthe
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rates. architecture and the arts have the highest unemployment rates. host: take us through those stats a little bit. guest: architecture is so high because architecture as a profession is directly connected to the financial collapse on wall street. when the money went away, the housing market stalled. architecture has taken a pretty hard hit in the financial crisis and will probably recover much more slowly than other jobs will.
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the arts are a different story. the unemployment rate is persistent. in good times, people with bachelor's degrees will have higher unemployment rates and lower earnings than people with engineering degrees and business degrees. host: health and education, 5.4% . agriculture, 7%. guest: there has been a surge in hiring in offshore drilling, and a variety of jobs that have to do with extracting things from the earth. unemployment rates are relatively low in those domains. the price of oil is an indication of how robust that sector it.
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people who work in earth sciences are doing pretty well and probably will continue to do pretty well. people who work in areas like engineering and business, much the same in, is true except for those who work in civil engineering which is connected to building because building is down. host: the average cost for college is about $119,000. host: the potential earnings for some of these degrees are important. your report looks at the
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different earning potential. the engineering field, about $100,000 a year. the other high one is computers and mathematics. the lower ones, back to the arts programs, and a few other programs that you can see it on the report on the georgetown university website. take us through the reasons w hy. guest: how much math you have to take. if you are in science or engineering, and health care because health care is now 17% of american gdp, 70% of the whole economy -- 17%.
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schoolteachers, a different story. a lot of school teachers have been laid off. retirement of school teacher is so high there are a lot of job openings. for every new job, there are another 3 or four that will be coming out because of the huge retirement of teachers who are the oldest -- one of the oldest work forces in america. host: we have been working to get folks -- to get answers to questions. tout is a social media platform. we asked voters what they thought about the upcoming presidential election and we want to run some during this
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segment as we go through some of these graduate and undergraduate issues. [video clip] >> i think young voters will be a huge part of this election. we're registering around campus to get the word out. host: you can see more of these touts, but we want to go back to the phones to get some of your reaction. kevin from san antonio, texas. caller: good morning. there is value in having a college degree, especially in the building world that i live. most colleagues of mine surround themselves with those that have a college education.
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a broad awareness of how to think and resolve problems in the business sense. there is a high value in that itself. a lot of the work that you obtain is on the job. a good college education does provide that. host: thank you for your call. what factors do you think future college students should consider when they are choosing their courses? guest: there is a tendency for people to see graduating from college as the goal. what you major in has huge implications for what you're going to do for the next 45 years after you eat breakfast. choosing a major is a big
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investment. i would be careful to find out what happened to the other people who have chosen my major when they went down to the labor market. that does to me to choose a major in terms of dollars and cents. host: benjamin is waiting from madison, wisconsin. caller: good morning. i wanted to touch base with you regarding online schools as opposed to state schools. i went into the workforce at about 18 or 19 years and now i'm 26, 27 years old and i'm choosing to go back to school. i don't feel like i have quite sure years to play with -- i do
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four years have two to play with. guest: find out what happened to the people who took courses or went to the program before you. that's the best indicator of what will happen to you. the variety of outcomes in online outcomes is huge. the differences are substantial. find out if it worked for the other people that went before you. host: marshall does not have college experience. you are on with anthony carnevale. caller: thank you for c-span. i get direct information by watching c-span.
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i hear it for myself. perhaps this is an oversimplification. immigration. you have one piece of pie then you encourage the rest of the world to get a slice. they are getting very well off, especially with mexican immigration. they come over here at and can work for $4 an hour. you see line at sending it back to mexico. i am not a racist. i have great respect for the bond that they have. the poor people have to bond tally because they do not have anything left. host: college education -- the
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guest: one of the sad realities is that we have been under producing college graduates of for a long time. since the end of the 1980-1981 recession, the demand for college graduates increased over time by about 3% a year. the supply to produce college graduates went up by one percentage. that is a difference of 2%. we have drawn down more in health care and technical areas and elsewhere on foreign labor by importing it by sending jobs offshore. the physical cause or bring in immigrants is largely because we have a difficult time producing
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college graduates here. host: john from flint, michigan. caller: good morning. nt, michigan, has been in a recession for over 15 years. when in the accounting field, when might that turnaround? what are the areas to look to? how can you help someone with a degree of for 10 years? if you don't get those years, why is it hard to apply in the economy today? you're told to be competitive.
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you have an obstacle to try to get past ideas of qualifying in terms of experience. where are we going with that? guest: it is crucial to turn a degree in to work experience. the date you gave it to plumb out what you have is a piece of diploma -- the date you get your diploma. over a career, you'll do it more and more learning and get more experience and that's where you make your money. it becomes crucial to get a job and to get a job in your field, which is where you will do best. people who come out of college in a recession have a disadvantage because they do not get the attraction that comes from my fast start. people in areas of the country
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where unemployment is high sulphur that for quite some time. the solution -- because ntt a mismatch -- because it is a mismatch -- is that you have to go to the jobs. host: we are speaking with anthony carnevale. talk about the center. guest: it is 8 research center. we're georgetown professors. our mission is to make the connection between college education and jobs. it was started by people who believed that in the united states, the principal mechanism by which we create upward mobility is increasingly education and that we prefer it that way.
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we're ok that somebody gets a good job and that they studied hard and took the tests. we reflect the change in the times. college is no longer just the preferred way to the middle class. it is become the most troubled traveled way. most host: we have a comment on twitter. talk about how the internet has changed what you have been studying. guest: we have been waiting for computers to revolutionize education. a computer is information technology. the penetration of computers and the internet into curriculum's has been relatively slow. i suspect major innovations in
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computers will allow us to afford the kind of reach in costa we do not have now -- reached in college we do not have now. some kind of learning after high school is going to cost us $200 billion and we simply do not have that. host: let's hear from a student who joined the c-span bus to do a tout hit for us. [video clip] >> i think young people will be a factor in the election. social media has gotten us with more involved. host: we have a call from a student on the subject of a job
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prospects. robert from virginia. caller: over the course of my time in college, i see that you are guaranteed a lot of job prospects. maybe 20, 30, 40 years ago, that was different. maybe it was simpler to get a job with any kind of major like literature. now you need specialization. tuition just goes up and financial aid goes down. if i could go back to high school, i would have went a different route. maybe in listed into the navy or air force to get experience and some money -- maybe enlisted. i will finish and looking at some prospects.
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i believe leading us out of this that obama is the right person for that job. guest: it is as the listener has said. you could get a degree in the 97's in english literature and go get a job at a bank or become a social worker with no further training or become a schoolteacher with no certification. the entry level requirements in jobs have gone up so much that you have to have specialized knowledge the first day on the job. we have seen a falling away from those softer liberal arts and humanities majors. they make up about 10% of college degrees now. the other 90% have some kind of
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an occupational focus. host: do you have children? guest: yes. host: what advice did you give them? guest: i begged them to stay in school. they did go to college. they did not major it hard science or business. they have made their way in the world largely because of learning on the job and promotions on the job over time. host: diana from georgia. thank you for calling in. caller: i called because it seems as if -- the fact that money is being poured into our cities and counties.
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they call -- they write in and ask for a grant or loan. once the money gets here, they are hiring illegal immigrants. i have 90 and half years -- i went to college in georgia. i stayed in college. i came in sixth place in a competition. i came in in the finalists. host: there is an article from today's "financial times."
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host: talk about this as you have seen it. guest: this is an unfortunate situation. i think the university'ies are right. you cannot get the prisoners to pay for their cells. you do not want to turn down the federal medicare money. you're not going to ask people to pay for their own health care treatment if they do not have money. labor unions make sure those institutions are funded. the slush fund is in higher
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education. higher education in america is taking a beating. host: we have a graduate student from new york. caller: good morning. i want to say hi. i spent time at the foundation workshop this weekend. you did not address one thing i wanted you to talk about. have you done comparisons with other educational systems around the world to try to see why they are moving ahead of us? have you looked at any of those? guest: the united states 20 years ago was number one in the world and producing college graduates. there were not many that were close behind. we have fallen off to number 15.
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other nations have dedicated more and more resources to college. kinds of budget crisis that we are right now. nonetheless, they have made a priority in college. in large measure, it is because they have much smaller defense budgets. we tend to spend, as they do, a great deal on health care for older americans. the difference between us and them, when you look at their national budgets, is a defense. to our c-s take it span bus. let's get a reaction from a student in north carolina. caller: i think a job prospects will be better under barack obama. he seems to talk about the price of a student debt and what young kids are facing in the world right now. host: can you talk to what the
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candidates are sank to college students of these days? host: there is -- guest: there is the hot-button issue at the moment. it is a $6 billion issue. the fact we are having difficulty with that, i think, is just to skirmish the long fight over college funding. it does not going well, whereas in say we're probably 100 to $200 billion short. the initial conflict is not going well. i think neither party in neither case, both parties realize they do not have the money. unless they make this a much higher priority than it is an american politics. on the other hand, they know
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that college rules of the boats. we have known since the clinton administration. we know because of service and a focus of groups that people will vote for you if you promise more college aid. it is hard to promise people money in this a fiscal environment. host: have you done a study of political involvement in college students? guest: college students tend to be more politically involved than previous students and other people their own age. they tend to be more well- informed and people who are not college students at their own age. in the end, one of the reasons college is so important is it is not just about dollars and cents. it is about creating independently minded citizenry that can continue to maintain our democratic system. we do not want to under fund
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political science or history or other kinds of subjects in at a favor of simply teaching people how to turn a vote. we have a double expends issue here, that is when the college to make people better citizens and let people live up fully in their times. host: we have about 10 minutes left. we will go to jose with no college experience. caller: good morning. i went to school in at 1958. in 1958, i was in school. i was very proud of the way they used to teach the students in 1958 compared to now. what is sad for me is that i am a vietnam of veteran. what is sad for me is everybody
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talks about immigrants. they take the money, the ticket to their country. people have to realize -- the american people have to realize that this country was all immigrants. italians, germans, jewish, this country has always been immigrants. they have to realize that. the real american people are the indians. that is my comment. host: another student from montgomery, alabama. good morning. caller: good morning at c-span. good morning, mr. anthony. i want to talk about what your children have done as they move towards a successful future. i think the idea of completing your education, in working up the ladder, is a good idea.
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as a student myself who is about to wrap up on two year program, my company is paying for the whole thing. it is better than $32,000. i am almost 60 years old. i'm trying to plan from the inside rather than try to go in and just try to negotiate a big bucks. host: what program are you studying for? caller: business and human- resources. guest: one of the booming industries is the community college. it is now -- it represents half our students. it has grown enormously. it has grown largely because the value of learning after high school for post secondary education has grown so much. community college has become a huge institutions in america, as
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have a for-profit schools. yourow you can't increase earnings financially -- substantially. it all depends on what you take. age and no longer means what it used to. it really is true that life-long learning is now required of all of us. unfortunately, it is just a line in every speech. did not find it very well. this gentleman is very lucky that his employer help sam with that. host: we will take you to another on the c-span bus. caller: i do not think the job process would be better or worse under either candidate. the president does not control the economy. that being said, i think the policies might be better under obama. host: when we are talking about job prospects, what advice would you give to a student who is
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getting ready to graduate or continue their education and go right into the workforce? guest: when you go into the labor market matters a great deal. we know with empirical the vigor that if you enter the labor market, the job market, when the economy is down, it will affect the trajectory of your career over the next 40 years. it is always better to comment when the economy is pop. my advice would be, to the extent that you are graduating a two year school, a college is a good place to stay and to continue to build your human capital. your values, until the moment is right to enter the labor market. this is the best alternative. more and more nowadays, the graduate degrees, the high degrees and the system, is more and more with the bachelor
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degree was 20 years ago. host: is a debt to potential earnings something you have studied? at what point does that become too high? guest: in truth, the debt is horrible because it keeps people from going. if you get in the wrong program, you will not be able to make a wage that allows you to pay it back. it will fall you and beyond. the people you leave behind will be chased for the money. in the end, most college degrees are worth the money. if you get a bachelor's degree, it is worth $2.4 million over a 45 year career. there are very few of bachelor's degrees that will cost you $2.4 million. you do not want to have $200,000 in debt. it will be worth it, but you will spend the rest of your life paying it back. that will prevent you from
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getting a car, buying a house, pay for your own child's education. the only get you can pay back within -- you want that you can pay back within 10 to 15 years at most. we have exceeded $1 trillion. we see no end in sight. one of the problems your listeners should be aware of, we have not seen nothing yet. in american colleges, especially public colleges, students are only paying about 60% of the actual cost of their education. we can expect to see, if there is no help, to see costs to rise at least another 30% or 40%. we are not done yet. host: bill on twitter rights -- let's go back to the phones.
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from michigan, good morning. are you there? caller: hello? in a graduate student from north carolina. i want to speak to the fact that along with the opportunities i've got towards getting a good job, change from being in a work study and in a work study i wound up working for the department chairman with some high prices. that gave me opportunities in places at my work. if i had just been hanging out like a regular college student i would have never gotten. host: are there studies about the number of students who work and a steady at the same time?
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hoguest: we have come to a point where almost 70% of these tunes are working. almost 40% of them are working full-time. the idea that you go to college and sit on the lawn and talk about philosophy with your professor and live in a dorm is not what college is anymore. it is an economics of it -- an economic necessity and most people cannot afford it. the truth is, what they need after high school is a job. if they do not get a job, they're not going to college. we have a problem in the sense that we're asking people to work off 20 to 40 hours a week. we know that after about 15 hours of work, your chances of graduating -- if you work more than 15 hours a week, it reduces your chance of graduating substantially. host: you are working too much. guest: that is right.
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host: no college experience from new york, good morning. caller: basically, in my experience, i feel that the gentleman's comments are slightly misleading. i did attend a some college and never graduated. not that monetary gain is a true measure of success, but i make six figures. i am a software engineer. what i find this most people do not really care. what they want is people with experience and proven track records. people are going to get the job done. i am not saying this in order to naysay college experience per
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cent. i do think it is valuable. i will send my children just for the experience, if nothing else. but, to say that you're going to go to college and have a future is completely untrue. you go to manhattan, you get to an unemployed mba's. host: i'll give you a chance to respond. guest: he is right. the employer does not care if you went to college. what they are looking for is talent, conscientiousness, and a variety of other work ethics. in the end, in fact, in the 1970's the value of college went down. but since 1983, employers have demanded that of you more and more. in some fields, computers are still more of those.
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they are insufficient to the employers' demand. basically, if you are somebody with any work history, you are very valuable. you are still a relatively valuable. the vast majority of people who work in computer fields now are people who have certificates, two year degrees, for your degrees, and graduate degrees. four year degrees, and graduate degrees. that field will get passed back to the college system and it will then buy them from the college. host: we are going to take one more town from the social media platform that we have been working with this week. caller: i think young people be a crucial factor in the election. we have taken a lot of cuts to
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financial aid. host: your report was entitled "hard times." when are they going to end, do you think? guest: all the projections agree with everybody else that we will see a strong recovery in another year and a half or so. this slow and a stumbling recovery will continue. there will be a fully fledged, robust college of labor market, we believe, by 2014. at which time, the data tends to say that the demand for college will be very robust and current college wage premium, the amount of money you make with college through your eyes the jury is now 74%. we expected to go to 84%. when we look at the economy and the recession, we see if it is
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the jobs that are gone and look like they are not coming back. host: we will leave it there. thank you. up next, businessmen and conservative activist, art pope joins us. but first, a news update from c- span radio. >> is 9:16 eastern time. more on the economy. reports that traders are warning of more turbulence after the elections in greece and france. there are more than 1% lower. the main stock exchange in athens is down 8%. the election of the socialist as france's new president was expected, but is adding to growing expectations of the backlash of europe's current austerity drive led by angela merkel. dow futures are down about 35 points. warren buffett says they have a
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tough road ahead due to their crisis. in remarks earlier he said that the structure of the european union and this weekend's the election results in solving europe's problems will not happen without a lot of pain. but, he says the turmoil in europe will not keep him from investing. change coming in israel, as well, where the prime minister announced that his party is going to propose september 4 as the date for early elections. the prime minister specified today at this week's cabinet meeting. it would come more than one year ahead of schedule. the office of a campaign that will lead to another term in office. turning to the war in afghanistan, the washington post reports that the united states, for several years, have been secretly releasing high-level detainee's from a prison there as part of a negotiation with insurgent groups. this is in an effort to end the
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violence, but some officials acknowledge, poses a substantial risks. meanwhile, nato says a bomb has killed service members in afghanistan. the three were killed today. no details provided about the attack nor the nationality of the service members killed. so far, this year, more than 42 coalition members have died in afghanistan. those are just some of the headlines on c-span video. >> when it comes to privacy for american citizens, corporate liability and the ability to share information, good enough just is not enough. >> what is the future for you as cyber security? tonight on "the communicator's." at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. "washington journal" continues. host: the c-span campaign 2012 a
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bus is currently traveling around universities. today on the bus index riley, north carolina, -- today on the bus in raleigh, north carolina. guest: it is an honor to be on c-span. host: you are described as a one man equalizer who is seeking to overcome years of democratic dominance when it comes to money raising. been described as the most dangerous man and north carolina. how would you explain your role in north carolina politics? guest: i certainly do not think i may very dangerous man whatsoever. in a north carolina, the democratic party controls the state government for almost 110
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years from 1900 to the 2012 election. the democratic party has always outspent the republican party. in the 2008 election the democratic party spend about $14.7 million compared to $7 million by the republicans. in the 2010 election, the democratic party spend $15.3 million compared to a $11.6 million by republican candidates. they have the advantage of millions of dollars and outspent by 25 percent. but in about 2010 devoted for the republicans. -- they add voted for the republicans. on the public policy debate, i supported growing government alternatives.
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i engaged in communications to educate voters on where the candidates stand on the issue. host: we want to tell our viewers, give them a sense of how much you have been involved ended baltics over the years on the financial side. you were also in the state legislature as well. they have their blog, open secrets about money and politics. they found that the pope family has contributed about $390,000 since 1990, with every cent going to republicans. that includes you and your wife. you drive have contributed about one under $65,000.
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do you think that estimate is about right? guest: since 1990 to 2010, that is 20 years. about $15,000 a year from five different adults, $15,000 a year to contribute to the candidate of your choice and our democracy is not an exceptional amount of money. of course, they ignore how much money is spent the democratic side. he is a good man, i support his proposals that we are studying. he spent $8 million on his campaign. john edwards, a democrat candidate for the u.s. senate and later presidential
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candidates spent $6 million. the amount of money i personally spent is very small compared to democrats. just this year, a bill in january gave his campaign $500,000 at the beginning of the year. that is more than a single contribution in one year that my family has given over 20 years. money in politics is not new. again, they have spent more money than republicans. the second part of your question, i think you call that the empire. it does give out millions of dollars of year -- a year in grants to homeless shelters, to medical care. it also gives millions of
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dollars to a social group said archconservative. -- social groups that are conservative. it gives more money to millions of dollars. the pope foundation. can we help equalize liberal spending? i hope so. help inform of the voters and make better choices. host: you seem to be the subject of a lot of interest. you're the subject of a lengthy piece in "the new yorker" last fall. that piece does that. in 2010 wass sweeping.
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-- pope's triumphs in 2010 was sweeping. i want to give you a chance to talk about your inputs in the 2010 election and why there is so much interest in who you are. guest: first of all, that article was inaccurate by several factors, i should say. a left wing progression of organization is a highly
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unbiased group. my company did not spend $2.2 million on the 2010 election. i am linked to the republican party. that $1.5 million are exaggerated. what they did not report is the democratic party and his candid it out spend the republican party in the 2010 election, i believe $1.7 million. that was about another $2 million. side,r, on the union's
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one of the group called real facts spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on progressive issues supporting democratic candidates. also in report it is an organization called blueprint north carolina. again, spent $2 million on voter engagement. they wrote after the election that they contacted voters. on an election of 2.5 million votes, they contacted one out of five of voters. in north carolina, the conservative groups, and i keep saying the democratic party spent more than the republican party. 59% of the state vote.
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host: we are talking to art pope, a conservative activist in north carolina. if you want to get into the conversation, give us a call. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. we are talking about north carolina politics with the primary coming up tomorrow. we want to take you to the c- span bus, talking about the issues and north carolina. caller: the biggest influence in my political opinion have been students and other class is here. they have been encouraged to think critically. host: mr. pope, we have been focusing on young people and students of this week. how do you think they will play
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in at north carolina politics tomorrow and later this fall? guest: north carolina is very much a battleground state. it is sometimes called a red state. i think it is more accurately called a purple stake. it is voted republican for most presidential elections until 2008. only a 14,000 martin carried the state for obama. for 110 years the democrats have controlled the state. there never controlled the senate until 2010. the saab 2008 and then swing all the way in 2010. that is not permanent. only about 60% of the voters in 2008 also voted in 2010. the trend is much higher in
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2012. the obama campaign and the democratic party, the democratic-the convention is here. they do not want to see the state go to obama again by a few thousand votes. they're trying very hard on both sides to turn out the boats. they did about the higher numbers. i think the republican party and its candidates -- if they do turnout, i think it will vote republican this time. host: i should mention we also have a special line set up for north carolina voters in this segment. we're actually going to go to one of those north carolina voters right now. you are on with art pope. caller: thank you very much. good morning. how are you?
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i have several questions. one of them is if republicans are doing such a good job, why is the unemployment rate the highest in the country here in my county? also, i would like to know why they're going to pass this gay amendment bill if they had to include some superficial things to instead of giving people the right to have unions. my wife and i were married at a court house 46 years ago. there are a lot of my friends who have unwed children because of either drugs are all kinds of other things. over the years, my daughter's friends. i do not understand how we can justify saying that these people have no rights to adoption or anything else. the bible does teach us -- they
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take apart the constitution and the use the parts they want. they do not use the parts that said the pursuit of happiness. my happiness is not his happiness. his happiness is not mine. host: will give him a chance to talk about the many issues you brought up. guest: well, the first question of unemployment, have to realize that republicans were ejected to a majority legislature in 2010. they did not take office until 2011. the most important budget was not until july 1. republican policies and republican budget have only been in place less than one year. it is hard to change the unemployment rate in that point and time. more importantly, you are right. the and a plethora has been 8.7% to nine. -- to 9%.
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the policies of the obama administration in the last three years is still in control. i do think republican policies will help alleviate unemployment gradually. what republicans do in their first year of office compared to the obama administration and the democratic congress is very small. i am sorry, go ahead. host: i want to give a little background that the amendment came up and "the washington times" today. the amended text is listed in the article. this is a subject that a lot of different groups in north carolina are spending money ahead of the vote tomorrow. about $2.3 million has been spent by those who opposed the amendment.
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about $1.2 million by those who support it. talk about this amendment. are some of the groups that you work with opposing this amendment? guest: first of all, it was a bipartisan through the general assembly. second, it will be decided by a vote of the people. the polls showed that many democrats will vote for the amendment. it is not a pure partisan issue. in answer to your immediate question, they're not taking a position on this issue. i am not on either side of this debate. the opponents are better funded and the proponents of it. most of the polls seem to
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indicate that the article will pass. it is a complicated issue. president obama has said he believes that marriages between a man of a woman. but there is also a provision in that amendment that says marriage shall be the only domestic policy for civil unions. there is a complex amendment. i think some of the rhetoric has been way overstated. host: vice president biden was talking about this issue. i want to play that ended your reaction. [video clip] >> in the vice president of united states of america. the president sets the policy. i am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men,
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women marrying women, and heterosexuals getting married are entitled the same exact rights, all the civil liberties, and quite frankly, i do not see much of a distinction beyond that. host: supporters of gay marriage were excited to hear his statement. what is your take on his statement? guest: well, i'll be glad to " a president obama when he stated, i do not support -- to quote president obama when he stated, i do not support a gay marriage. that was in his campaign in 2008. apparently, there is some division between president obama and vice president biden. back to thego
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phones. on the republican online. are you there? caller: are you speaking to me? i am, from malibu. -- i am tom from malibu. in a recovering democrat, a recovering republican. in a strong, conservative independent. but would you guys, please, not be distracted by social issues -- gay marriage, abortion. it has nothing to do with moving our country forward. don't let democrats be attainable -- do not let democrats paint conservatives at some kind of devil. i am sorry, but it is a distraction.
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if we could just stress conservative issues, hardware, decency, people would be a lot better off. i want to thank you for your time. host: should conservatives be involved in social issues like this? guest: well, the gentleman from malibu, i think he was referring to republicans. the republican party has been dealing with issues for all americans. how to create more jobs. the new republican majority spent most of its time on fiscal issues. it only spent one special session for the marriage amendment on the ballot in north carolina. that was a bipartisan vote. actually, the group i support,
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we are concerned with prosperity. and not leaving a huge debt of trillions of dollars to our children. social issues are very important to many people, including conservative democrats, conservative independents. it is part of the debate. i think mainly democratic party and the liberal pundits are trying to use social issues to drive a wedge and distract voters of republican proposals for job creation is about budgets. host: art pope is joining us live from our c-span bus. you brought up some of the organizations that you are involved in and that your foundation has given money to. one of those is americans for
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prosperity. you're on the board of directors for americans for prosperity. how did you come about that? guest: i believe in a public policy debate. you also need activism. whether you are a legislator or a congressman, you hear the special interests and lobbyists all the time. very rarely do they hear from their constituents. bring them together so they have a voice that will be heard. i think you need grass roots activism to offset the special interests that are there all the time.
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host: they have ties to the koch brothers. they have drawn the ire of the obama administration at times. talk about your relationship with the brothers. guest: i serve on the board of directors for americans for prosperity with david koch. he has been a generous supporter. i donate. we have many donors. more important, we have over 2 million grass roots combinations. these are real people who have taken actions to hold elected officials accountable. you have been polite. some say is just a front group for big oil. that is simply not true.
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go to our national summit where we have thousands and not paid one a dime to be there. they spend their own money to come to washington so their voice can be heard. host: paul on the republican line. caller: you have to get it right. in a ron paul supporter. i have a fire in the belly. i am a veteran. i am for bringing the troops back. here is the big question. slavery was written into our constitution. it took 100 years and 250,000 lives to settle the issue that it was morally wrong. how long do think it will take , which wasoe v. wade
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wrong, to change the situation of abortion? guest: if i understand your question correctly, first of all, slavery was the near-fatal defect in the constitution. unfortunately, it took the civil war to end of slavery. in regards to abortion, it was primarily a state issue. it has been recalled -- resolved on a state-by-a state issue. when roe v. wade was decided, it is decided and subject to the federal 4 -- federal courts. generation, it a
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may take a u.s. constitution amendment to change that and put it back to the states or a constitutional amendment at the federal level. unfortunately, it is a very controversial, very litigated issue. host: we'll go to our north carolina line for our voters in north carolina. david is waiting on the independent line. he wants to talk to our pope. caller: good morning. i am an independent thinker. long time resident of north carolina. you have not really mentioned the onslaught that conservatives had to withstand from the media. just a few years ago, we had our
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first republican governor in north carolina. now have a republican legislature. all we are trying to do is level the field of ideas. i think you have been instrumental in doing that. i wonder seeking comment about the other forces that are impacting, if you well, the media, the newspapers. people like that. i will hang up. thank you. guest: well, in north carolina, like in many states, at the national level, our main newspapers do strongly leaned liberal or democratic. for years, the only endorsed democratic candidates. occasionally, now they endorse republicans. the media is predominately for
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liberal policies and of the democratic party. we have had a situation where the left started attacking republicans. the democratic party in north carolina called for a boycott. because i support education reform in public schools, the teachers' union in north carolina also boycott. they are trying to shut down and silence the debate of conservatives. that is not healthy infant democracy. i am more than happy to debate the liberals, rather than attacking their character from false, malicious attacks. host: want to go to one of the students we have ready to join us at the c-span bus. caller: something abhorrent to
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me is environmental sustainability we have reached a pivotal and critical moment. host: mr. pope, talk about your group's influence on environmental issues. guest: more than that, i can talk about my own record. i serve on the north carolina general assembly for eight years. i got a 100% rating from the conservation council for my strong boats to protect the environment. republicans and conservatives agree in protecting the empowerment. primarily from the perspective of what helps benefit society and businesses. a critical energy portfolio.
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they criticized that policy, rather than lowering the amount in the air. although it is increase the utility bills for north carolina families. -- all it did is increase the utility bills for north carolina families. the environmental issue, like all issues, should have two sides of the debate. we may disagree about how best to achieve that clean environment. host: let's go to tyler on the democratic line. caller: good morning. mr. pope, you said you have a
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certain amount of funding that you have given per family. my brother always said it is not the individual of your character, but the friends you associate with. [unintelligible] guest: i have never supported that foundation. i was not a member of the american legislative changed counsel. they have done some good work. they have done some controversial work. this is controversial as well. i do not support alec. host: we spent a lot of time talking about your money and showed organizations you are involved in.
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i want to get your take on the controversial citizens united decision and the role of money and influence in politics. guest: well, first of all, and this is one of the errors that were delivered in the article. everything i was involved in was not under citizens united. they did not expressly advocate any candid. by the way, citizens united had a liberal support. individuals also have a first amendment rights. that is important. all media today is through corporations. if newspapers endorse a
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candidate, they have corporations. if they don't have first amendment rights, the government can shut them down. the have to expressly exempt news media, otherwise, there would be regulated. in a free, democratic society, we need freedom of speech. they to protect the rights of individuals and corporations to freedom of speech. one of the government lawyers try to defend regulation was asked, if you had a 500 page book on someone who was a candid it and said this is a good person, vote for him, would you ban that book? would the fcc ban that book? we cannot put book banning under our first amendment.
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host: npr sat down and did an interview with her after that article was published. it talked about the citizens united decision. i just wanted to read her comments. is justing you, m educating people. we will go down to north carolina. charles is on our north carolina line. good morning. be caller: about -- caller: i want to ask him -- i am against a gay marriage,. . -- against gay marriage, period.
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i think it is absolutely wrong. i think that people should vote it down. i am asking you, would you like to be in a church, serving god, and that pastor is married -- has married gay people. would you attend that church? guest: my personal take, i respect this -- respect the secret ballot. i have not stated what side i believe in. i believe and the freedom of religion. it is up to the church, whether they are gay or condoned gay marriage. that should be a private choice and those churches. however, when it comes to legal aspects of marriage, legal rights, that is what this amendment does.
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the courts cannot change with the lot is direct constitutional amendment. back to yourgo comment on the article. with regards to myself and my company, it did not happen. citizens united protect the rights of liberal corporations, such as pro-choice and groups to spend money and unions as well. host: a tweet i want to read for you. we will go back to the phones in louisville, ky. on the republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question about getting
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the conservative message out to college students. as everybody knows, the conservative message is apparently not ringing in the years of college students. i have a recent college grad and a daughter about to enter college. what can we do to educate our young people on campuses? they're going to be greatly impacted by this next election. what kind of plans you have to do a better job? how can we get our message across? thank you. guest: well, one year the republicans are leapfrogging. the republicans are leapfrogging democrats. the 2008 election, the obama campaign was cutting edge on using social networking, text messaging, e-mail, in order to reach out to the young voters, educate them on their position
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and they turned out and voted for president obama. the republican party was caught off guard in every form. the obama campaign in north carolina in 2000 it had about 83 months get out of the boat effort to identify, register, and turnout the voters. it is overwhelmed by the get out of the vote early voting of the democrats and liberals. they're doing many of the same techniques, both in the long term and reaching out to voters. though republicans are already involved. -- a young republicans are already involved. they were very omotivated by candid obama's rhetoric.
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the president's rhetoric as a candidate is far more divisive in 2012 opposed to 2008. at the it will be more divided this time. i am not sure who will get the majority vote, president obama or mitt romney. host: the c-span bus on its trip through north carolina. caller: i think president obama has already shown he has the ability to create jobs in america. whether the folks will admit it or not. host: mr. pope, your thoughts on the job prospects under -- for young people under the two candidates. guest: well, it is not really my thoughts. it is the facts. still of unemployment under the obama administration.
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we of more than we did under president reagan and -- after the recession of 1982. i do think that governor mitt romney, as a businessman, has more experience. i think obama's policy, we are facing huge tax increases. higher costs for everyone. harder to make ends meet and harder for businesses to create jobs. there has been some job creation under the obama administration. it is bailouts for companies that got favors from the obama administration and past contributors to the obama campaign, such as solyndra. that cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. it ended in bankruptcy and all those jobs are going away. host: i want to get one more comment here, one more call before the end of the show. the last is steve, from
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springfield, virginia. caller: good morning. mr. pope, it seems to me you have it all together. have you considered running for u.s. senate for north carolina? guest: no. i have done my share of public service. i ran for lieutenant governor. i won the primary, but lost of the election. i have too much to do, too many obligations for my family and my business. i enjoy being able to run the pope foundation. i am happy to engage in the public debates and let other people be candidates. i'm not planning to be a candidate for the u.s. senate or any other office at this time. it is nice of you to ask. host: mr. pope, we will ask you to end it right there. thank you for joining us from the c-span bus in north ca
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