goldstein. then, we will talk about the logistics of withdrawing u.s. equipment from afghanistan. "washington durnell" is next. >> it is my honor to announce my running mate in the next by president of the united states, paul ryan. >> good morning. welcome to the sunday edition of "washington journal." we're going to be talking about the romney-ryan ticket for 2012. we want to get your thoughts on the announcement made by

governor romney yesterday in virginia. the numbers are on your screen. you can also reach out to us on social media. @cspanwj. facebook.com/cspan. and email -- journal@c-span.org. it is the lead story in the major newspapers across north america. here is "the oshkosh north western." >> the leader telegram in wisconsin -- "the leader-

telelgram. "the baltimore sun." a strong voice for fiscal restraint. have other hand lens to look at as well from "the new york times," "the washington post." getting your comments and thoughts about the choice and the announcement made yesterday morning that representative paul ryan from wisconsin would be his running mate. our first call is coming from sioux falls, s.d., on our line for democrats. tom, your honor "washington journal." what did you think about governor romney's choice of paul ryan?

asler: i'm tickled to death a democrat. he could not have picked a better democrat. as soon as the older people and upnorities and stuff study o be for. ryan's cuts will social security and medicare, they will be less enthusiastic to support him. host: david in iowa on our line for republicans. caller: i would just like to comment. i'm very excited about paul ryan's for vice president. i think kim and romney will do a great job in the white house. host: whitey think he is a good pick? -- why do you think he is a good pick? caller: honest, level headed,

intelligent with numbers. i think he will do a good job. host: years of the story is playing this morning in "the baltimore sun."

if you are in janesville, we would love to hear from you about the paul ryan that you know. next call comes from louisville, kentucky, on our independent line. what do you think about his pick? caller: frankly, i do not have a good feeling about him. this young man, he seems like he's a nice person, but there is just something about him. i do not think he's very experienced. i was not going to vote this year, but i'm leaning towards obama. one reason why is simply because of romney's stance with israel. at least with mr obama's toinistration, he's trying stay very even-handed with the arabs and jews, seeing them all

as good and bad. it seems like mr. ronny wants to revert back to some of mr. obama's predecessors and i think that's wrong. it sends a message being pro- israel that they're trying to use the juice to get their vote and i think that's wrong. -- use the jews to get the vote. i did not know much about mr. romney and i have watched some of his interviews. he was board game marriage in massachusetts and now he is against it. at least with mr. obama he was courageous enough to come out in favor. if they are going to talk about in ideological issues like this young man on the ticket, these are going to be just as important as the economy. i do not think romney or obama understand what is going on

economically. i do agree on the one hand that mr. obama has not done much to fix the economy but mr. ronny will not do much either. host: on our live republicans from pittsburg, good morning. caller: i'm thrilled. i have been watching paul bryant for a long time. -- paul ryan. host: what is it about him that thrills you? caller: i'm on medicare. my mother is on it. it's a mess. something has to be done. my kids cannot afford what's going on. we have a $16 trillion debt and at least he's trying to do something. i think he's smart. i've watched and now three years and i really like his speeches. but something has to be done. we cannot afford the government we have. host: this is the lead item in

"the new york times." as was an effort to reset the raised with president obama after a withering assault by the democrats. your thoughts? caller: a cannot make me happier than when he picked paul ryan. if he loses, then i think he would make an excellent

president. he will do something about the debt we have, which is scary to me. it does make me think that he will help from me a lot, at least with me. host: moving on to manchester, new hampshire, on our line for independents. caller: i think it's great that he picked ryan because it will come down to the independence. they really do not care for the tea party. this is almost as big a screw up as john mccain picking sarah palin. host: in chicago on our line for democrats. caller: how are you doing this morning, rob? when the last caller, it is like these zero pailin -- sarah palin days. i see this move out of

desperation. there are new numbers that the president may be up by nine or 10 points. romney has abandoned going after the independent vote. part of what is going to happen is we're going to get a really nasty campaign. they're going to throw every piece of garbage out there to keep people from going out to vote. i'm not going to vote. host: the headline in the sunday morning "examiner." is romney-ryan a winning ticket? in bethesda, md., does this energize the party? caller: i think it does. i attended one of the events in manassas. i think it's a great choice.

i think paul ryan is a great speaker which will be very helpful in the next three months. clearly, the whole idea of our current government not being sustainable will be addressed. is viewed by both parties as a bright and someone being able to look at the big issues. i think it was a great choice. i know some democrats and independents feel that selecting him plays into their hand and i do not see that. i do not. so many people are concerned about our economy and our over- spending. they bring of medicare as a possible issue. the medicare system needs to be reviewed, so whether it be obama or the next president, it will need to be reviewed any way. >> we will leave it there. thanks for the call.

host: you will surely parts of the speech made by representative brian yesterday in accepting the pick from governor romney. in this particular portion of his speech, he talks about his commitment and the commitment of governor romney to the american people. this is what he had to say in north pole. [video clip] >> the commitment we make to you is this. we we will not duff the tough issues. we will lead. [applause] we will not blame others. we will take responsibility. [applause] and we won't replace our

founding principles. we will reapply them. [applause] we will honor you. our fellow citizens, by giving you the right and opportunity to make the choice. [applause] what kind of country do we want to have? what kind of people do we want to be? we can turn this thing around. we can. we can turn this thing around. real solutions can be delivered, but it will take leadership. it will take the courage to tell

you the truth. [applause] mitt romney is this kind of leader. i'm excited for what lies ahead. i'm thrilled to be a part of america's comeback fame. together, we will unite america and get this done. thank you. host: from our fall, virginia, where the announcement was made yesterday in "the richmond times-dispatch." republican chooses virginia for the setting of the announcement of the ticket number two. back to the phones, new jersey, on our line for independents. caller: good morning. i would like to hear why he did not pick rubio.

rubio, a catholic, was conned into becoming a mormon. when whe woke up, he went back to catholocism. they will never bring up mormonism. romney saved the salt lake city olympics. mormons own utah. then this contrast between o'neill and romney. is in thelike o'neill nursing home. host: who is o'neill? caller: i'm sorry. congressman ryan. host: you bring religion.

congressman ryan is catholic. you think that will play a part in this election? caller: i do not. the thing out to like about what is going on here is that it has really brought to the forefront what is going on. it is whether we are going to have medicare anymore or if they're going to reduce the payments to the doctors and destroy medicare going back. i'm glad it will not be a belt that but what they're going to do to medicare, medicaid and what they will do to the veterans. -- i'm glad it will not be about that but what they will do to medicare. host: as a veteran, what did you think about the announcement being made on the deck of a destroyer? caller: none of these guys were

even a boy scout. the idea that this guy could be the commander in chief of the armed forces of the united states when he was not, like me come on a ship? he left for europe. he went to france to go knocking on doors to get christians to change religion to more monism. host: we will leave it there and move on to louisiana. tyler, your thoughts about the pick of representative paul ryan to be the number two? caller: good morning. i'm very excited. i think he did an excellent choice in picking him. i think representative brian will excite voters in the republicans and independents. obama is causing nothing but

division. i think romney-ryan will unite the people. host: what is it about the candidacy of these two men together that you think will ignite people coming in the republicans come independent come or conservative democrats? -- the nine people, republicans, independent, or democrats? caller: by picking up paul ryan, who has released a budget, they are serious in getting the country back on track. host: we have a tweet here. she writes -- your thoughts? caller: i believe people are smart enough to make their own decisions. i do not believe the government should be in control of our

money. we're smart enough to put our money where we want and put the best for us. if government takes our money and does what they want, we have no say so. the government will drain our lives. host: ruling brought, ill., you are on "washington journal." caller: this is just recycling the same people into government. ryan is a several term congressman. he has voted for every bill that is the cause of the problems that we have today. he voted to repeal glass- steagall. he voted for the bush tax cuts. he voted for medicaid part d. now he wants to fix the problem that he created. why would you want but the same people in there that cause the problem? i just do not understand that.

i also want to touch on religion. there are conservatives and republicans talk about the middle least and how they fight about religion and all of that. the american people need to look in the mirror because the same thing is happening in this country. host: we will leave it there. we have two items from facebook. this one is from say it out loud. tiffany metzig writes --

back to the phones. on balance democrats who are on "washington journal." caller: i think romney-ryan are not serious about our country. they do not care about the little guy. they're talking about the gangs that have been done.

they took that election from mr. gore because of the voting in florida. they destroyed the vote so they could win. that is un-american. i did not fight for that. thank you for taking my call. host: the lead editorial in "the ."w york daily news caller

ogden, kansas. norma. your thoughts about the choice of mr. ryan to be the vice- presidential nominee. caller: i cannot figure run romney or obama. neither of them talk about government. they're too busy slinging mud at each other. i stopped watching. also, my husband was a u.s. army retired vietnam veteran. i get medicare and tricare for life. my doing well with insurance, but they change it, i cannot afford to pay.

congress should quit fighting between themselves. they should get together and do what we put them in there for and listen to the president. they do not necessarily have to do what he wants, but patients are doing what is best for our country. what's wrong is mainly congress. host: dorothy on our line for democrats calling from cleveland, ohio. in "the new york daily news." caller: i think it is a very bad choice. i cannot see us voting romney to be the president's when he has a pick that will do away with medicare and medicaid. he is going to give the tax break to the rich. i realize we are in debt, but

you cannot cut the deficit without revenue. you also cannot give all of the cuts to the middle and lower class and asked the upper class to pay nothing. then you want to take the rest of the money after you have slashed everything and put billions in the military? you cannot have it both ways. one thing about president obama, he fights for the metal -- the little man in the middle class. year after have revenue to take the deficit down. as americans, we have to realize that we have to have any and playing field to slash the budget and bring the middle class of. i just really do not like his pick.

why african-americans do not vote republican, they do not have our interest. i would never vote for a party tried to suppress my vote went to many died to give me this right. have a blessed day. oklahoma host: city, oklahoma on our line for independence. lisa? moving on to broken arrow, okla. are you there? caller: yes. can you hear me? host: i can. caller: a few years ago, i watched the rules committee hearing where paul ryan discussed the vouchers.

he admitted that they would increase in cost. if you are on medicare and you go to his program, the cost is going to be about $6,000 more per person. when it comes to social security, they want people to choose to put that in the stock market. they did that in chile and everybody lost their money. i just wanted to point that out. i'm sure people can go on c-span and see paul ryan in that rules committee meeting. host: we want to let our viewers listen in to an advertisement that is already out, obama for america regarding paul ryan as the republican choice to be the vice- presidential nominee.

[video clip] >> we're putting in a comprehensive plan rewriting the system. medicare, social security, our entire tax system. >> i think it would be marvelous if the senate would pick up paul ryan's budget to adopt it. >> the paul ryan's medicare plan turns medicare into a voucher system. >> the paul ryan budget which cuts aid to the disabled, aid to immigrants and cold -- children, aid to the elderly. >> it would cut health grants and cut off 1 million students over the next decade. the cuts here are so dramatic. they are so painful. >> it gives a $4.30 trillion to the wealthiest in the country. >> of romney became president,

you are convinced he would follow through with a lot of the reductions you made? >> yes. >> it's an excellent piece of work and very much needed. "new in this morning's york post."

we're talking about the pick of governor romney to choose congressman paul ryan of wisconsin and his running mate. our next call from massachusetts on our line for independents. are on "washington journal." caller: good morning, america. i have a question and a statement. when i was watching c-span all day yesterday, i kept wondering how many tax returns did ryan have to turn in for romney to check over before he nominated him? besides that, i would like to tell everyone from massachusetts that our governor did not raise taxes, that's true. what he did do is he doubled the commission license, doubled the hunting license, doubled dog

registration licenses and marriage licenses. so, you know. host: are you still there? in the business section of "the washington post," they have this headline -- what this tells us about how he would run america. it says, among other things -- host: is that how you see he handled the situation in massachusetts? caller: he wasted a lot of money in that big hole in the ground with other people's money. it was taxpayer money.

host: that was robert from massachusetts talking about the governor and his perception on how he took care of the big dig , also known as the boston ted williams tunnel. you can read more about that in "the washington post business" section. next on our call from republicans, you are on the "washington journal." caller: i have two comments to make to you. i think the ticket romney-ryan is very simple. they want to bring back "we, the people." to wondering if you're going be the new permanent replacement on sunday. host: i do not think that will happen. people like to see steve on sundays. we like to mix it up. caller: i notice every now and

again he takes off. host: we like to mix it up to keep things interesting and keep viewers on their toes. caller: i'm and all the caribbean of that and i know all about that. host: next up is memphis, tenn., on our line for democrats. go ahead. caller: first, among like to talk about the religious portion there were talking about this morning. me, being young, i do not know a lot about politics, but i know people overseas dream about coming to america on because of the religious freedom, but it is the same thing here. we are the most religiously prejudiced people there are. romney is mormon, but that should not be an issue because mormons are christian, but

because people have this thought about them, all they see is the label. ryan has already been proven to not allow a chance. he has not helped us yet, so why would he be a perfect candidate? why would we want to go through another two people when we have obama right now. why would we do that? host: here is the front page of "the washington post." the wisconsin congressman joining the republican ticket. this is likely to steer the race toward fiscal issues and the running mate risk, praising the choice and democrats seeing a window. talking about about this morning and what ever else you want but

in the conversation regarding the choice by governor romney to take congressman paul ryan as his running mate on the republican ticket. huntington beach, calif., on our one for republicans. thanks for waiting. caller: i think it is a great pick, but it's not enough to change my mind. after he made the choice yesterday goes back to saying -- romney goes back to saying that. i listen to the source events. i do not listen to the pundits. i think his campaign is lower than the president. he stands in front of the vfw and provides no evidence other than he disagrees on israel. he says he is opposed to the president's signing the welfare bill, yet when he was governor he signed a letter asking for the freedom to do exactly what the new bill does. he says he is opposed to

government health care, yet he was the first governor to implemented. i think he's completely hypocritical. my mind is not changed at all. he reminds me of richard nixon. he's going to have to release his tax returns and prove to me that he's not a cheap. host: off of twitter -- she's talking about her perception of the congressmen and the governor having no foreign policy experience. will that be a factor when you go to the polls? caller: 5 party made my decision. from new releases his tax returns and starts talking about these ideas and prove he's not a hypocrite and talks about

giving, being generous to other people and so forth, he stands a chance of me even looking at it. as far as i'm concerned, why make a change in foreign policy when you have a team right now that seems to be doing a pretty good job? we certainly do not need to accelerate the israel-arab conflict by overly leaning towards israel. i do not think that romney has an adequate foreign-policy resume out all. neither did the president when he came in and i will admit that. host: governor romney made the announcement yesterday in north pulte, va., and talked about right and being a leader in the republican party. here is what the governor had to say. [video clip] >> with energy and vision, paul ryan has become a leader of the republican party. he understands the physical

challenges facing america, crushing debt coming in the fiscal catastrophe that awaits us as we do not change course. he combines a profound sense of responsibility for what we of the next generation with an unbounded optimism in america's future and an understanding of all the things the american people can do. he also combines firmer principles with a practical concern for getting things done. he's never been content to simply curse the darkness. he would rather light a candle. throughout his legislative career, he has shown the ability to work with members of both parties to find common ground on some of the hardest issues confronting the american people. paul and i are beginning on a journey of will take us to every corner of america. we are offering a positive agenda leading to economic growth, widespread and shared

prosperity, and improve the lives of our fellow citizens. host: talking about the choice by governor romney to pick congressman paul ryan as his running mate in the 2012 republican ticket. lisa from oklahoma city, okla. caller: good morning. paul ryan voted for part d, tarp, the auto bailout. he claims he is fiscally responsible? as far as leadership and character, neither him nor romney has spoken out against anything the republicans have said about president obama. there are people demonizing him for being "kenyan born." where the leadership there? there is no honest your courage. it will be these same thing we

have had for the last 10 years. you all have a good day. clay host: charles, louisiana, on our line for democrats. are you there? victor? caller: hello? host: yses? caller: barbara from missouri. host: what you think about the choice made by governor romney? caller: it will be bad for america as they become president and vice-president. romney shows he is a wealthy man who believes that only wealthy people count and brian has made a budget that shows he agrees with that. host: in the madison, wisconsin, largest reporting team, the

headline -- "ryan, romney offto ." to the races www.madison.com. next on airline for republicans, you are on the "washington journal." caller: i do not know how the choice of ryan will work out. at last -- about his budget, at least the has a point to start somewhere. if the senate would negotiate with demand, with a budget. i'm amazed at the hypocrisy of these democrats when they talk about experience. obama never had a job in his life. on a more monism, i noticed that obama on friday celebrated ramadan with the muslims. does that make him a muslim?

i don't know. i just do not understand these people when they complain all the time. you do they think is paying for all of the free gifts that obama is handing out? thank you. host: we have an editorial from this morning's "new york daily news." this is by a democratic strategist. you cannot borrow like ability on that front. he ultimately stands alone. he also goes on to say -- i gained real inside when working for john silber the democratic nominee for governor

in massachusetts. he was a unique candidate, and non-politician who ran for office for the first time as the sitting president of boston university. atlanta, georgia, michael on our line for independents. caller: who was talking about hypocrisy? this is big for his father social security benefits when his father passed that an early age. i do not hold that against him,

but when you look at the family business which started in 1884 to look at some of the contracts they had with the federal government to the fbi building to a probation center. this guy is pretty much insane. his mandatory reason when he started off in politics was ayn rand, an atheist. when you look at this guy's mentality he and his family benefited from this. it's complete hypocrisy. people need to be careful. now he says thomas aquinas is his idol as opposed to the atheist ayn rand. have a good day. host: michael in atlanta, georgia bringing up ayn rand.

have two messages on facebook also bringing that up. cynthia writes -- response from leaders in congress include this statement from some majority leader harry reid. he says, "by picking representative paul ryan, romney has doubled down on his commitment to gut social security and end medicare as we know it. this choice demonstrates that catering to the tea party and the far right is more important

to him than standing up for the middle-class. in springfield, mass., on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. host: your thoughts about your former governor? caller: i think it's a good match. you'll probably find more honesty in this election brian than you will find out from romney. we're still trying to repair the conditions in terms of safety issues from the big dig that started when ronny was governor of massachusetts. it includes more than the tunnel, by the way. the other thing the gentleman talk about is that the negative

aspects of government. ryan has been in government all his adult life. he has voted for two wars that the american people had to put on a credit card that we're still paying for with a lot of the debt that comes up feature in our budget having to do with indebtedness that we are obligated to pay. it is a result of borrowing money to pay for the war in iraq, an illegal war. and the wars in iran and afghanistan. they talk about the president being a welfare president. most of the population of the united states on welfare are white people. it was not created for black people it was created for the white fall. about thee talking

presumptive republican nominee's pick of paul ryan to be his running mate. reaction from capitol hill. this is from representative john boehner, the speaker of the house. "paul ryan is a reformer and a proven leader who will be a great partner to governor romney in his efforts to get our country and our economy back on track. paul ryan and mitt romney will focus on common sense solutions to stop washington from spending money it does not have and get the federal government out of the way of small business job creators." that is the response from speaker of the house john boehner. kissimmee, fla., you are on "washington journal." turn your television set down? caller: good morning.

how were you? host: what are your thoughts on romney's picked up paul ryan? caller: i'm over the moon. i love both of those guys, but ryan has the skills the country needs as far as putting a budget together which obama has not done in four years. i think his confidence in himself and his abilities match from a. -- romney. people are calling in saying he is going to steal welfare and medicare, i'm 62 and day disabled veteran on medicare. they said yesterday that they

will not touch anybody's medicare or welfare 65 or over. they need to listen to what they're saying. host: let me get your response to this tweet. what are our thoughts on that? crock. i think it's a i do not think he is going to finance medicare and social security through wall street. try and installing a voucher system, but what he's trying to do, and what you will do with romney, is instill in our youngsters to stay off welfare and go to work, go to school, get a good job, and put an end to social security through a private savings

account giving them a choice. if we do not do something, what this country will go over the proverbial financial cliff. host: jacksonville, fla., good morning. caller: good morning. it's my understanding that there is a cap on social security of $110,000 and that if everyone who draws a paycheck would pay from january 1st until december 31st, it seems to me that social security would be very stable for years to come. this in my first time calling in and i'm a little nervous. c-span foratching many, many years. it's the only sensible television that you can get any

sense regarding politicians. host: we appreciate your urge your show. in the leader-telegram, they have been serving wisconsin since 1881. there leave the story, "ryan's meteoric rise fueled by passion and hard worked."

during his speech yesterday, ryan talked about his record of getting things done and how he hopes that will work together with governor romney's time at bain capital. [video clip] >> i believe my record of getting things done in congress will be a complement to his executive and private sector success outside washington. [applause] i've worked closely with republicans as well as democrats to an advance an agenda of economic growth, fiscal default -- fiscal discipline and job creation. i'm proud to stand with a man who understands what it takes to foster job creation, someone who knows from experience that if you have a small business, you did build it. [applause]

at bain capital, he launched new businesses and he turned around failing ones. staples, bright horizons, sports authority to name a few. he created jobs and he shows he knows how a free economy works. at the olympics, it took a failing enterprise and manage the pride of our nation. [applause] as governor of massachusetts, and he worked with democrats and republicans to balance the budget without increasing taxes, lower unemployment, increase in come, and improve people's lives. [applause]

in all these things, romney has shown himself to be a man of achievement, excellence, and integrity. host: representative paul ryan making his first address as the presumptive vice-presidential nominee for the republican ticket yesterday in north pole, va. -- norfolk. caller: i'm very sick, i'm sorry. i'm so ecstatic, as a democrat, that he picked ryan. if romney does not win, he does not get to go back to the house which is a good thing. as far as his religion is concerned, i called the church of latter day saints because i was curious being a jewish woman. they think they're going to be the god of a planet. why would you settle for being president of the united states?

that's all i've got to say. host: other items in the news this morning, the president seeking coordination on syria. clinton's seeking to broaden contact with syrian presidents al-assad. also in the news this morning, the u.s. and turkey will tighten coordination on syria. that is the headline in "the new york times." the agreed on saturday to a accelerate preparations.

one more item we want to take a look at, from "the washington post," data shows voter impersonation a rarity. a nationwide analysis of more than 2000 cases of allegedly election abroad. in newport news, va., our next caller. go ahead. what did you think about the

announcement yesterday? caller: i kind of looked at it as a slap in the face as a veteran. north of virginia right there, they want to compete to be president and vice president when romney would take us to war in iran. he has 5 sons who have not served. ryan talks about the experience of president of obama. i'm a republican but i will be voting for obama because i think he's done a great job.

look at the experience ryan has. i hate to say this. it's a class race. look at the class of people there supporting romney. host: we will leave it there. we want to let our viewers and listeners know that they can keep up-to-date with what is going on on the campaign trail by going to our campaign 2012 web site. that's for you can find all the information about what's going on in the campaign as well as c- span coverage of what's going on in campaign 2012 on the democratic and republican sides. coming up, we're going to be talking with veteran republican strategist frank donatelli will

be here to share his take on the paul ryan announcement. later on, joe gold's team will join us to talk about the history of vice-presidential running mates -- joe goldstein will join us. .

>> listen to them all on c span radio, wcsbn washington on 91-point -- 90.1 financial

in the washington, d.c. arrest, next on satellite radio, channel 119, listen on your blackberry, android on iphone or go online to c span radio.org. >> it is the idea that we're in this together. that regardless of who we are or where we come from or how much money we have, each of us counts. and that by working together to create opportunity and opportunity for all, all of us are enriched not just in economic terms but as citizens and human beings. >> my opponent won't rule out raising taxes but i will and congress will push me and they'll push and say no, and they'll push and i'll say to them, read my lips. no new taxes.

>> c span has aired every minute of every party convention since 1984 and this year, watch the conventions live on c span starting monday, august 27th. "washington journal" continues. >> frank donatelli is head of gopac and is here to talk to us about the running mate paul ryan and what message this sends to the republican party, the gop. >> guest guest thank you very much. host: what was going through your mind when you heard about the announcement? >> my reaction is first, the campaign, which should be about the future of america will be focused on the issues that are supposed to matter and that we should be discussing. we have a trillion dollars deficit, we've had $4 trillion deficits in a row

, we've had virtually no unemployment growth over the last years, what does this k-bt president want to talk -- incunbant president want to talk about. i think this selection of paul ryan will require the president of the united states to talk about the real issues for the next 90 days that are important to the american people. host: michael goodwin had this in his oped, it says mitt was on the ropes, he said until yesterday nobody acowsed mitt romney of being bold, romney leaped outside the box for the most important decisionly make as a candidate. by picking the youthful and brainy paul ryan as his running mate ryan passed -- romney passed up controversial options, he went for bold instead of

safe. >> again, if old means we're going to force these important issues to the top of the agenda in this campaign to discuss. then it was a bold chase. -- choice. we have a fiscal cliff that the next president faces after he is elected, even before he's inaugurated. we have so many fiscal issues to deal with and i think it's a very good thing that both candidates are forced to put out their positions on these issues and let the american public make a decision. host: why do you suppose it was going to be bringing ryan on the ticket to bring the issues to the fore there has been more discussion in the last 24 hours than in the prior weeks and months of the campaign. why did it take the ryan decision to bring all this out? guest i think that's a question you right -- guest guest i think that's a

question you might have a represent -- ask a representative of the obama campaign. you wouldn't know he's been president for the last three years. these issues are the most important things that rur country has faced in three decades, so whatever the rope, we're finally at point now where the critical fiscal issues are going to be discussed. we have two very, very different choices and whether you agree with romney or ryan or not, every voter should demand that both candidates put out their position on how they're going to solve these issues. host: we are talking with frank donatelli, head of gopac, talking about the selection of ryan to be governor romney's running mate and the republican message ahead and convention coming up at the end of this month. if you want to get involved in the conversation: you can

also get in touch with us by a social media twitter, facebook, and e-mail. so as a democratic strategist, what are your thoughts about -- >> a republican strategist. >> republican strategist. guest: no one made that mistake before. host: and i will try not to make that mistake again. as a rap strategist what is the most important thing the romney-ryan team has to do in the next 24-78 hours to get this campaign up and running? guest: i think that the public has decided this president isn't up to the job. they're prepared to make a change. so that's normally the toughest part, is deciding

that you're going to be looking elsewhere. so the public is in that posture. i think the next critical step that the republican ticket has to hammer home is what specific alternatives, why could we do a better job than the guys in there right now. and i think that what ryan does is really give a lot of heft to this ticket, he's been very, very specific, he's talked about lower taxes, he's talked about reforming big parts of our federal budget, he's talked about tax reform. i mean, all of the -- regulatory reform. all of these big elements, paul ryan has been in the forefront of talking about, and as i say, we really haven't had a lot from the other side. so if we can put together a coherent message that contrasts our position on key issues with what we have now i think that's the number one challenge that this ticket has to address. host: our first call for

frank donatelli, republican strategist and chairman of gopac comes from baltimore, maryland from walter on our line from independents. caller: good morning. i don't think the public has decided anything, sir. but ryan, in your first question to him, the first one i heard from you, what is he going to do for the average american? paul ryan's budget does nothing for the average american but cut, cut, cut. i want to know what is your strategy. not lies. but strategy. to help the middle class. you can't help the middle class by cutting pell grants, by cutting the safety net that even your candidate has admitted has holes in it. but my question to you, sir, i'm tired of this us versus them, when poor whites are no better than this poor black guy you're talking to right now and i have better sense than most of them because i know romney nor ryan cares

about me. the we to -- the question to you, sir, please answer, what are you going to do for the middle. and i don't mean cut everything for the rich, which the ryan budget does. the ryan budget adds $4 trillion to the deficit. the romney tax breaks add over $5 trillion to the deficit. what are you going to do for the middle, sir? guest: frank donatelli, go ahead. guest: thanks for the question, i'll be specific. the middle cannot improve unless we have jobs and economic growth. in the last three years, this president and this administration have the most miserable record on job creation and on economic growth of any president since the great depression. look it up. you can't -- the middle class cannot move forward unless we have job creation. the middle class doesn't move forward with government programs. i agree, government has a role, but if we're going to grow the middle class and we're going to have a bigger pie for everyone, we don't do

that by taking away from one group and giving to another. we do it by growing the pie so that everyone can move forward. and that's why a free market, which the republicans favor, as opposed to the crony capitalism, which is the obama campaign -- which is the obama administration's view, is much better for the middle class, and i predict that if romney and ryan are elected you will see, just because we're going to have some certainty in tax policy and regulation, we're going to see an explosion of job growth in the first couple of years of the new administration. host: our next call comes from renee from hugheson, texas this morning. i am 61 years old, a republican, very proud to say so and i work in the medical field and what the people

don't understand, obamacare, it will be medicaid for all. doctors are leaving daily because of all the restrictions, because they won't be getting paid, and me, because i fall into a certain income bracket, i'll be forced to buy my own health care, which i won't be able to afford. so i'm very angry about it. i understand that people rely on entitlements but another thing we don't understand is only one in two people have a job and they're working these days and personally i'm offended to support entitlements. we never said we need transportation or shelter, let's get signed up for the programs to get it on our -- we get it on our own. host: renee in houston, texas. mr. donatelli. guest: unfortunately we're not able to keep the promises

with entitlements so far. medicaid is probably one of the worst run programs ever and as the lady points out, provider costs keep going up and the payments keep going down, so doctors are opting not to treat medicaid patients. unfortunately, that's bleeding into medicare right now, which leads to the crisis which i think paul ryan is trying to address. so the important thing here is that we've made promises to many, many people. we have to fix these programs so that they can be available for those people and for the next generation. if we continue to close our eyes and do nothing and say there is no problem, that's when we're going to have the difficulty. we have it within our power to make these changes and that's what paul ryan has been talking about his entire career. guest: next up, lingston -- livingston, new jersey, you're on the phone with frank donatelli of gopac.

caller: i want to ask mr. donatelli how he accuses the obama administration of crony capitalism, when the whole lost decade was nothing but crony cap tap -- capital im with tom delay and the defense contracts and halliburton not providing for the troops overcharging the government. also, why doesn't this president, obama, get credit for killing usama bin laden? and he secured this country. he obliterated al qaeda. so i don't understand where they're coming from. and as far as a woman was concerned, well, there's a stalemate you pay for your medicare, how the middle class is security dollars -- supported by privatizing social security after what went through with the financial crisis that we see that they admit wrongdoing, pay big fines and continue to rip off the american people. host: diane, we'll leave it

there. guest: there's a lot of questions. let me pick a couple. first off, president obama deserved enormous credit for capturing and killing usama bin laden, and i think every one of a fair mind would have to give him fair credit for that. i think there's a lot of questions about whether he's tried to exploit that for political purposes, but on the underlying act, he was in charge and he deserves credit for that. as far as the scandals are concerned, the lady lumps together a lot of different incident that is she says were, quote, bush scandals. i don't know quite know how she gets to that. the criticism with solyndra is that barack obama is apparently very free and willing to criticize mitt romney for using private sector money to try to acquire and change companies. but when he's the public sector venture capitalist like solyndra, he doesn't want to take any responsibility for that.

the whole point about solyndra is the government cannot pick winners and losers. government makes distinctions like that based on political factors, not economic factors at least the private sector will based decisions -- make decisions based on economic factors and if there are losses the investors will bear those losses. unfortunately when the government tries to play venture capitalist the taxpayers loses and that's the scandal of solyndra. >> host: we want to discuss the choice by governor romney to choose mr. ryan to be his running mate but also expand the conversation more to republican politics overall as we head towards november. in politico last week, you wrote about candidates must advance the debate. you write in wisconsin, governor scott walker, a republican, set out to restructure the wall of state government, he faced a huge and growing deficit and

electorate unwilling to pay higher taxes to fund government, he chose to meet it head on, he addressed part of that budget -- addressed part of the budget that was rapidly increasing, state workers, pensions and health care. you went on to say the contest was hard fought, walker was candid in discussing and defending his record, everyone knew what was at stake, the continuation of the reforms he instituted to shrink the government. in the end, walker prevailed with a solid 53 percent of the massive turnout in the state that leans democratic. this struggle that governor walker had to go through during the spring and early part of the summer, is this more or less a blueprint or a plan that other governors, other legislators, other republicans, and in fact, the romney-ryan campaign, can use going forward and moving into november? guest: my old boss ronald reagan used to say let's do

what's right and the politics will take care of themselves and that is the advice we would give to any governor or president, for that matter, that comes in under very difficult circumstances. chris krisie -- christie followed that, do what's right, explain to the people why you're doing it, whatever short term pain might be involved, tell them there will be a better day ahead and that's what happened in wisconsin, some very, very tough times at first, but once people understood that the reforms were not going to result in massive firings or layoffs, and that the schools and the government would continue to function, and at the same time, we could get expenditures down and balance our budget, they understood what governor walker was trying to do. that's what elections are supposed to be about. that's the point of the piece i wrote, that your government is supposed to do things and to explain to the public why they've done that.

then the next election, the people will have a chance to decide whether they liked the reforms or not. my criticism of this addings, i i don't agree with -- this administration, they've refused to discuss the issues. you've been president for four years so talk about why you think obamacare is good for our country, why do you think the stimulus, your $800 billion stimulus bill, created the jobs you think they will create. talk about those things. the republicans will probably take the other position. and then the american people can make the decision. i think the point about ryan is now both parties will be forced to address the fiscal issues our country faces so it's a good thing. host: frank donatelli is chair of gopac, previously chairman of the republican national committee during the 2008 presidential elections and assistant to president ronald reagan for political and intergovernmental affairs. back to the phone, shellby

township, sue on the line for the independents. you're on the line for the washington journal. caller: good morning. i think ryan is an excellent choice. i like him a lot better than i do romney. i called in january and said i didn't care for romney and i still haven't changed my mind about him, but my question, i've got two here, how much influence is he going to have on polices in the romney administration and what will his role be. i don't see vice presidents doing much. i think they follow the lead of the president, and i'm not an obama fan at all but i'm not thrilled with romney. i like ryan a lot better than i do romney. my other question is why won't romney show husband tax returns for the other years? why can't he be open about it so the democrats don't have a son spir es-- have a conspiracy about what he's

hiding. host: sue, before he answers your question, you talked two times about how you liked congressman ryan more than governor romney. had the governor picked someone else to be his running mate, would you still be supporting the governor for election in november? caller: i want to hear the debates first. i'm undecided. i'm going to hear what they have to say. romney hasn't given any actual what he's going to do. it's all generalize dollars. so i'm going to -- generalize d, so i'm going to hear what he has to say and make up my mind then. guest: it's refreshing to hear from an undecided voter. it means the dollars spent in these coming days will have an impact on some of the voters out there. sue, i'm glad you're listening. i don't know that i can add on the tax issue. he's the candidate and he says he's complied with the

legal requirements and he's addressed the issue again. i don't know that i can add a lot to that. as far as ryan and his role in a romney administration, i think it would be substantial. the age of vice presidents just sitting in the executive office building and never meeting with the president have gone away. in recent years the vice president has come to play a far more integral role in the administration, and i have no reason to believe that paul ryan, when it comes to tax and budget polices will not play a major, major role in a new administration. i might also mention he's going to be unfairly caricatureed. paul ryan is a very likable person, he's very kurtious, he works with democrats, he introduces bills bipartisan with democrats, he works across the aisle, so when you

hear these terrible things about been, listen to him first before you might believe some of that. host: alaska d.j. sends us this tweet and says it's critical that the obama campaign and democrats quickly define romney-ryan by the extremist agenda that is the ryan budget. guest: so everything is extremist. everything that -- everybody that disagrees with obama is an extremist or right winger as if he's not on the extreme left. the interesting piece of the amendment is medicare reform and essentially, that same plan that ryan has adopted was proposed by a deficit reduction commission that president bill clinton set up in the late 1990s. i think former senator john

breaux and a former congressman were chairs of that. this is not radical. it's just a way of delivering important services to our seniors. again, i repeat, medicare, as currently stud, is unsustainable. everybody agrees with that. so if you don't like what ryan is proposing, don't call it extremist. tell us what you would do. that's what this administration resolutely has not done so far. host: paul ryan in his speech yesterday in norfolk, virginia talked about going after the president, and particularly having to deal with issues on the economy. this is what mr. ryan had to say and then we'll get a response from frank donatelli >> let me say a word about the man mitt romney is about to replace. no one disputes that president obama inherited a difficult situation. and in his first two years, with his party in complete

control of washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda. but that didn't make things better. in fact, we find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt, and despair. this is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. unemployment has been above 8 percent for three years, the longest run since the great depression. families are hurting. we have the largest deficits and the biggest federal government since world war ii nearly one out of six americans are in poverty. the worst rate in a generation. moments and dads are struggling to make ends meet. household incomes have dropped more than $4000 over the past four years. whatever the explanation, whatever the excuses, this is a record of failure.

host: mr. donatelli. guest: he said it very well. i think that's why he's on the ticket. paul ryan can explain economic issues very well. i think the only thing i would underline and -- in what paul had to say there, this administration itself has said that the recession that he inherited, he inherited a recession, ended in the summer of 2009. now, i didn't major in math, but that's three years ago now. three years, we're into an economic recovery, and we still have unemployment over 8 percent. we have virtually no economic growth. somebody has to take responsibility for this. barack obama has been president for the last four years. why have his polices not produced more economic growth? i think it's because he relies too much on

government, he's never been in the private sector, really, doesn't understand the private sector, and believes that government is the engine of growth, and that's what he's tried to do for three years. government is not the engine. government can help. but it's the private sector, and especially small business, that creates jobs. and it's been his polices that are smothering business and small business, especially. host: the lead item in this morning's miami herald is an analysis talking about how ryan could hurt romney in florida is the headline, the subhead reads paul ryan's plans to retool medicare pose challenges in florida, as does his one time opposition to the cuban embargo, a stance amathema to -- anathema to many americans. guest: when marco rubio, senator from florida, was running two years ago, his primary opponent tried to tag

him as being antimedicare and antisocial security because he has advocated some changes also to the program, and then his democratic opponent in the general election and also , his primary opponent later became an independent and ran against him again, and it didn't work. marco rubio won by an overwhelming majority. come back, rob, to what we were talking about earlier. do the right thing, and the politics will take care of themselves. i believe we're finally at the point now where americans really want to hear straight talk from politicians. they're tired of politicians giving them double talk. and so i think it's a strength. my thought would be go directly down to florida and say i have the only program out there that's going to preserve this critical program of medicare. the other guy won't tell you what he's going to do. i'm going to tell you how i would preserve this important program. host: back to the phones.

phoenix, arizona, on our line for republicans. we've got mark. mark you're on the "washington journal" with frank donatelli, chairman of gopac. caller: thank you sir. host: go ahead. caller: i've been a republican for a while, and i have to say that i am really disappointed in romney. first of all, you can't pin him down on anything. i mean, he's for something one day and against it today. that's why they calmle old ethch a sketch. americans are required at one point or another to reveal their tax returns, as many years as that requirement suggests. romney must, as a candidate for the republicans disclose at least five years of tax returns. he can't hide this. he's going for the highest office in the land. he should not hide his tax

returns. he must disclose them to be president of the united states. host: frank donatelli. guest: there's a lot of people that would agree with that statement, mark. i guess the only point i would make is in the hierarchy of things important in this election and the terrible consequences that our country faces, i think a far more important set of issues is what will the candidates do about the fiscal cliff that our country is facing. and so you have two candidates, you're not going to agree with them on everything. i think as voters, we make the best decision we have in terms of trying to line up behind that ticket, that best expresses our views as to what we should do as a country for the next four years. so my thought would be that's probably hopefully where you will look in terms of looking at that candidate and that ticket that's going to be proposing things that are going to really get our country moving again.

host: suessan had this piece in the "new york times" last week with a headline young in the gop, erasing the lines on social issues, she writes matt hoblin, leader of a group of north carolina republicans is busy trying to ramp up enthusiasm for myth romney at the grassroots level so there are a few things he avoids mention to go prospective young voters he wants to woo including hot button issues like abortion, same sex marriage which have dominated campaigns in the past, she goes on, a break from the generation's past and with an eye towards the future, many of the youngest leaders of the republican party are embracing views on some social issues that are at odds with traditional conservative ideology. if they mention such issues at all, according to interviews, experts and some polling, quote, when it comes to what you do in your bedroom, or where you go to church, or where you want to put a tattoo, we just couldn't care less,

mr. hoblin said at a meeting last month of young republicans in charlotte. it sounds like, you know, as far as expanding the tent or bringing more people into the republican party, that some of the young folks out there who claim to be republicans just might not be buying what this team is selling. guest: i sure agree with him on tattoos. i don't know that the government has any business there. a lot of these issues, so-called social issues, really tend to be state issues, abortion is a decision -- should be, we think, a decision at the state level, and the definition of marriage and so forth and so on. so those are mostly state issues. i think in terms of how they become part of the national dialogue is somewhat limited. and again, that's why i'm so enthusiastic about paul ryan, because you said it at the very beginning, rob. he brings fiscal issues directly front and center in this campaign. and as important as those

issues are, and i have my own views on it and i know that republicans and democrats for that matter disagree on a lot of this stuff, but the issue that is most critical, that the country is going to have to face in the next 90 days, is which party can get this economy moving again, get people back to work -- i'm all the way back to the first question that the gentleman asked, what are you going to do for the middle class -- we've got to get growth moving again, jobs created again. that's how we help the middle class. that's the issue that should be dominant in the campaign this year, and i think if it is, i think that our party has a very, very good chance to win. why else would the president spend $100 million a month, trivializing this campaign and trying to talk about everything under the sun, rather than these issues? host: back to the phones, meridian, mississippi, rose on the lines for democrats, rose, you're on the "washington journal" with

frank donatelli of gopac. caller: thank you good morning. i want to state that, since you keep talking about jobs, i want to remind people that ryan was -- one of them that voted against three different job bills sitting there in congress and this congress has signed on the side of the republicans their pledge to the lobbyists. nor quist is stopping taxes from being raised and romney himself in the state of massachusetts out of all the states was 47 in job creation, and as far as the ryan bill with the medicare and all, privatizing medicare, where seniors would have to pay up to $6000 more on medicare and people don't recognize to get a voucher like that in the private industry, they probably won't even be able to find insurance and not because of the money issue but because of preexisting conditions, and maybe they need to take the cap then off of this

medicare issue and the tax cuts that bush gave. host: sorry to cet you -- to cut you off, rose. i thought you were finished. guest: two points. ma'am, you don't want to get into a discussion of job creation because obama is dead last when it comes to creating jobs of all the presidents in the post world war ii era. as a matter of fact, i think we still have less jobs now than we did when obama took office. it's pretty close. and that's extraordinary over a four year period that our country hasn't been able to create any jobs at all. second, as far as medicare is concerned, again, number one, medicare as currently constituted is unsustainable. if you don't like romney and ryan, you have the obligation to ask obama what he wants to do on the issue. medicare doesn't cover anything now anyway. i just saw an ad on television the other night from aarp, who loves

medicare, for a supplemental medicare program, and the lead is, as you know, medicare doesn't pay for everything. so it's much, much better, i think, to take an overall look at the program and see how can we strength ten and how we can -- can we preserve it to make sure it's not just for old people like me but for the generations to come. host: we've got a tweet from newt gingrich, a fan of the program, who writes paul ryan is the largest step the republican party has taken towards solving the -- u.s. a.'s problem since reagan and kemp. is there a concern or a possibility that paul ryan could actually overshadow mitt romney on the ticket? guest: first of all, kudos to newt gingrich, he was one of the first chairs of gopac and led this fine oganization for about nine years and has done a lot for our country. rob, i don't really think so. you know, obviously, in the

first hours after the selection, the vice presidential candidate will get a lot of ink, but looking through the years at presidents and vice presidents, the choice normally almost always comes down to the top of the ticket, and i would expect once we get the convention and then we get into the fall with the debates, that that will continue to be the case. i think what ryan's continuing relevance will be, will be to have an important policy role in this campaign so that he will inform the speeches of not just -- of all of the surrogates and the position papers and so forth of the republican party to make sure that growth and job creation are front and center. host: the campaign already has an ad out featuring congressman ryan. this is what the ad shows the american people: >> [video clip] >> over the years, i have seen and heard from a lot of

families, from those running small businesses and people who are in need. but what i've heard lately, that's what troubles me the most. there's something different in their voice, in their words. what i hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures. i hear some people say this is just the new normal. higher unemployment, declining income, that is not the new normal. >> next january, our economy will get a comeback for a romney plan for a stronger middle class, that will lead to more jobs and take home pay for working americans. i'll proud to stand with a man who understand what it takes to cause job creation in our economy, someone who knows from experience that if you have a small business, you did build that. mitt romney is this kind of leader, and together, we will unite america and get this done.

>> frank donatelli,ie, your -- donatelli, your thoughts about the ad. guest: this administration would like you to believe that right now it's the best we can do, that he inherited this terrible situation and we should be satisfied with 8.3% unemployment and no growth over the last three years and unfortunately a lot of the mainstream media has bought into that. what paul ryan would say to that is nuts. balderdash. we can do a lot better than that. we have done better than that. ronald reagan, 30 years ago, took over an economy that was in worst -- worse shape than what obama inherited and he was able to turn that around, we were creating jobs, we created 10 million jobs once the recovery began. we have it within our power, with the right economic polices, to triple or

quadruple the number of private sector jobs her month that this administration is creating. americans have traditionally and historically been an optimistic people and i think if we allow our optimism to come through and to understand that there can be -- we can do better than where we are right now, i think that our party will begin to gain at that point. host: your thoughts about this announcement yesterday coming on the deck of a battleship after the bush administration had so much problems when they came on board an aircraft carrier with that sign behind the president, saying mission accomplished during the iraq war. guest: well, i think there, the message was the problem, and frankly, was a little misunderstood. i think here, with the u.s.s. wisconsin, paul ryan is from wisconsin, so you should look at the -- at that a little more just from the atmospherics viewpoint. i think what paul ryan had to

say yesterday stands on its own, a very, very strong endorsement of america as an exceptional country and the idea that we can do better than what we're doing right now. host: next up, ellie on our line from independents, calling from saoeur could you see -- from syracuse, go ahead ellie. caller: good morning, i'm sitting here, listening to this gentleman, and i'm angry. this is unbelievable. the republicans -- did anyone ever read from -- >> host: i think ellie is gone. let's go to bud in tallahassee, florida.

caller: the american people are fortunate to have two guys like mitt romney and paul ryan in the driver's seat. hopefully they'll be elected and we'll start moving forward. i think if you look at the past four years, we haven't done very much in the best sense for our country and i think that's the most important thing to think about is what is best for this country, not necessarily what is best for me, but what is the best course of action for our country. as far as the medicare goes, if it's broke, we need to fix it. and now paul ryan didn't say we're going to eliminate it. he said we're going to modify it or do what we have to do to make it sustainable. i just believe that we're on the right track, these guys have proven experience, both of them, and you know, when you look at the past group,

no experience. i mean, they came here with no experience, they grabbed these so called czars as advisers. that won't work. you got to have people that understand the problem. and i think that these guys are moving in the right direction. and i believe, i believe, that smart democrats will vote for republicans. host: bud in tallahassee, florida. what is it going to take, as bud described them, smart democrats to vote for this republican ticket? guest: i think the thing is we've got to explain to smart democrats and independents and republicans that we can do better than where we are right now, that the problem with the economy has been uncertainty and has been the idea of this administration that more government can make -- can grow the economy. i think the republicans have a very separate and distinct

message which is in this situation, not in all cases, but in this situation, government is the problem. it interferes with excessive regulations, there's uncertainty as far as tax policy is concerned, entrepreneurs don't know which way the government is going to go because this administration keeps changing its mind. with some certainty and government working with the private sector, not against the private sector, to create jobs, i think that's the essential message that republicans want to deliver this fall. host: in the front page of the oshkosh northwestern, jamesville, proud of ryan's lies to the gop ticket, read about that in the oshko -- rise in the gop ticket, you can read that, and ryan, they spoke to a high school prom date but never spoke anyone

from obama's past when he ran. jim, you're on the phone with "washington journal". caller: hitch hiking on the gentleman who asked about polices best for america, according to my understanding, republicans, since the year 2000, have created 12 1/2 million jobs in china. granting china most favored nation trading status, and i've read that 52,000 american manufacturing operations have relocated to china, along with 6 1/2 million hard core manufacturing jobs and an equal number of collateral supporting type of jobs. how do we know that if you grant all these tax breaks to the so called job creators that we're going to create jobs? host: sorry to interrupt you, we're running out of time.

guest: i'm sure that ryan was a total gentleman at his prom with the girl they interviewed. as far as china is concerned -- i don't know where that statistic came from. what i can tell the gentleman is that because obama has run up our national debt $5 trillion in his first four years, a lot of that was borrowed from china so if you're upset about china benefiting at the expense of the united states, you ought to blame the current president for his deficit and inability to control his spending. look, obviously, we want a tax code that enhances job growth here in america and lower taxes and less regulation and make -- getting the government out of the way. i would argue is a far more, preferable way to do that than we have currently by this administration, which is for the government to try to do everything. host: frank donatelli is chairman of gopac. you want to find out more about their organization, go

to the web, gopac.org is where you find the de taeurblgs thank you very much for being on the program. tpweft guest thank you for having me. host: coming up next on the "washington journal", noted scholar joel goldstein will be here to talk about the history of vice presidential running mates and how the office of the vice presidency has evolved and later, we'll be talking about graham bowley of the "new york times" and looking at the logistical efforts and cost of the u.s. government withdrawing gear and equipment from afghanistan. it's sunday, august 12th, we'll be right back after this break. this weekend on american history tv -- >>y selling george washington's personal copy of the acts of congress. we will starting the bidding, ladies and gentlemen, at

1 million, $300,000. later today at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific from american artifacts, christie's auction of george washington's 116 pages of the act of congress, along with the constitution, a draft of the bill of rights. it includes washington's own handwritten notes. also this weekend, more from the contenders, our series that looks at key political figures that ran for president and lost but changed political history. as it has been said, in the worst of times, a great people must do the best of things. and let us do it. >> this week former senator and lbj's vice president, hubert humphrey, later today at 7:30, american history tv, this weekend on c span three. tonight, look for our q & a

interview with andrew nogorsky, his new release "hitlerland". >> i had no idea about the experiences of the people in the century, my correspondents -- my predecessors in berlin. the time i had to spend in germany, i spent time as what would it have been like to have an correspondent in the 1920s and 1930s, how would you have operated, what would you noticed, not noticed, much less, how would you have acted. >> andrew nogorski on c span's f an. >> joel goldstein joins us from st. louis to talk about the role of the presidency. professor goldstein is author of "modern america vice presidency, the transformation of a political institution" also a vice presidential scholar and law professor at the st. louis university school of law. welcome to the program sir.

guest: well thank you for having me. host: how would you describe the selection of presidential ryan by governor romney to be his running mate? guest: i think it's both a conventional but also a surprising ticket. it's conventional in the sense that people, like governor romney, who are identified as being more part of the moderate part of the republican party, invariably choose somebody from the conservative part of the republican party. george h. w. bush chose dan kwa*eul, bob dole chose jack camp, john mccain chose sarah palein. it's also conventional in the sense that governors running for president invariably choose washington insiders. every governor since 1952 has chosen someone from washington as his running mate.

it's surprising in the sense that it identifies governor romney with congressman ryan's budget plan. governor romney, i think, now owns it. it also is the first time in memory where a ticket hasn't had somebody with the national security credential on it, it's unusual to choose someone from the house of representatives. 1962, william willer -- miller, jerald een ferraro, 1984 are the only recent examples. so i think -- i think it's both a conventional choice but also a somewhat surprising choice. host: in yesterday's edition of the "kansas city star" from kansas city star.com we get this, romney taps ryan as running mate, written by william douglas and david lightman, ryan is aaccording by fiscal conservatives, however, who in recent weeks

had pushed for his inclusion on the romney ticket. romney had endorsed ryan's budget proposal late in the primary season and the plan which would sharply cut taxes and cap medicare benefits is certain to be front and center in his campaign. you are quoted, professor goldstein, as saying governor romney would seem to own that plan and need to defend it, which may be difficult in places like florida, where seniors may be concerned regarding aspects like the overhaul of medicare. talktous a little more about what kind of difficulties the ryan pick may cause the romney-ryan ticket in places like florida where people are concerned about social security and medicare. guest: sure. well, i'm not an expert on the ryan plan but some of the notable features include the overhaul of medicare and

possibly privatizing part of social security. and those are issues that are of concern to seniors. florida, of course, is a key undecided state, with 29 electoral votes and a lot of seniors who vote in florida. i think congressman ryan's plan doesn't impact medicare and social security, as i understand it, for some years, and yet, one would think that it would still be an issue that would be of concern to seniors. host: we're talking with joel goldstein, awe thour of " modern american vice presidency, the transformation of a political institution", also the vice presidential scholar and law professor at st. louis university school of law. if you'd like to get involved in the conversation, the numbers,:

>> our first call comes from westminster, maryland, robert on our line for republicans, you're on the "washington journal", go ahead. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i am a republican and i am currently unemployed, however, i do receive food stamp benefits at the moment, i'm a combat war veteran and on a fixed income through my g.i. bill. what i'd like to know is what is their plan to help out low income families. that's my main concern. >> host: professor goldstein? guest: that's really not a subject that i'm an expert on

and that i've studied in great detail. my knowledge is about the vice presidency and history of the office and the impact of the office. so i think the caller, somebody else could better answer that. host: let me ask you this, then: with the inclusion of representative ryan on the ticket, there has been an increase, as we discussed in the previous segment, regarding the budget, social security, and medicare. is this going to be his primary job, do you think, to go out there and discuss these issues and leave it for the person at the top of the ticket, the governor, to talk about other issues, or was he -- was representative ryan chosen as a one issue or one topic running mate and is this something that is typically done in presidential campaigns? guest: well, i think it's

difficult in a presidential campaign to exclusively talk about one issue. i think that representative ryan was chosen in part to appeal to the right wing conservative base of the republican party, and also, i think, i suspect to bring energy to the ticket. the choice, i think, really puts his plan front and center, and i suspect that both governor romney and representative ryan will be talking about his plan in great detail. the democrats will try to identify governor romney with the unpopular aspects of representative ryan's plan, and presumably part of the thinking of the romney ticket is that representative ryan is the best advocate for his plan to the extent that it's going to be an issue, anyhow. it's good to have him on the

ticket and make a case for it. so i think he certainly will be discussing it in great detail, as will governor romney, but i think they'll both have to focus on other issues as well. host: we've got a graphic here, a chart from this morning's "new york times", under the headline "paths to the vice presidency" and it shows george bush, dan quayle, al gore, dick cheney, joe biden and now paul ryan and sort of outlines their different experiences in terms of college, military, private sector, public sector or politics, federal government for those who have already been in office, their time as vice president, and ultimately, whether or not they went on to, in the case of george bush, to become president. and looking at this, you will

see the -- folks who can see this on television will note that with the inclusion of joseph biden and paul ryan, this would be the first time that neither member of either ticket has served in the military. is this something that we're going to be seeing more often, or is this more of an anomaly in your opinion? guest: well, i think as we move further from the world war ii generation and the korean war generation, the vietnam generation, i think it's certainly likely or possible that fewer people will on national tickets will have served. i mean, there are some other distinctive aspects. it's the first time i believe that both running mates have been roman catholics. so it's distinctive in that respect as well. and actually, both representative ryan and

senator biden primarily their experience has been largely in the national government, and primarily in congress. representative ryan has served in the house of representatives since 1999, previously, he was a congressional aide, or otherwise working in washington. a speech writer for jack kemp, and of course, senator biden had served in the senate for 36 years, ever since he was 30 years old. host: back to the phones and our conversation with joel goldstein, coming to us live from news, missouri this morning on the role of the presidency. our next call comes from slim on our line from independents calling from harlem, new york. go ahead, slim. caller: how you doing, rob, long time c span junkie. listen, rob --

>> host: we're here. slim, go ahead. caller: okay. i like to know why -- speaking of the military first, romney has five sons, not one have even served in the reserve and he keeps talking about how he loves the military and loves this country, stphobg and second me, ryan was part of this mess, that got us in this whole deficit and financial crisis in the first place, ryan voted for every budget that came through with bush bush, and $2 trillion forwick -- for iraq t. wasn't paid for and as well as medicare part two, wasn't paid for. obama put all those on the books and they still came up saying he put this in this deficit. anyone in the world with any sense knows three years, you cannot get out of the hole these guys put us in. that's what i have to say,

rob. thanks a lot buddy. host: joel goldstein, how much of these folks looking at the ryan-romney team are going to be focused in on ryan's tenure as a congressman? you mentioned that it's not that often that someone is chosen from the house of representatives to be the vice presidential running mate. guest: well, i think that his votes in the house of representatives over the past 12 years, in addition to his leadership role with respect to the ryan plan, i think will be fair game, and will come under discussion. i mean, typically, when vice presidential candidates come from the senate or less often from the house, there are those that are controversial or discussed. dick cheney, of course, had risen to house position of leadership before he became secretary of defense, and --

but when he was chosen, his as george w. bush's running mate in 2000, instantly there was discussion of some of the controversial votes that he had taken when he was a member of the house of representatives more than a dozen years earlier. so i would think that the caller's suggestion that representative ryan's votes in the house are fair game, and think they will be discussed -- and i think they will be discussed, just like senator biden's record in the senate was something that was an issue or was discussed in the 2008 campaign. host: back to the phones, louisville, kentucky, dom nick is on our line for democrats. guest: good morning, your thoughts or comments regarding the vice presidency. go ahead. caller: my thoughts are, first of all, what i think about the president, i really don't look at the vice

president as much, because i think it all goes back to the top of the ticket, and for me, you know, i think something that hasn't been reported a lot is, first of all, that he's a mormon, which if you look at the religion, he doesn't believe in jesus christ. even if i wanted to vote for him, i wouldn't, because of that. secondly, the only way you can get out of an economic recession is spend your way out. i mean, during president roost velt's term, you know, we had to spend our way out, infrastructure, and that's something that the congress has not allowed president obama to do. so i think that we could be in better shape but ryan is tied to the congress and part of the problem with mitt romney. so i think it's an easy decision to vote for president obama. host: professor goldstein, the caller brought up the religion again, governor

romney being a mormon. how much back and forth discussion have you seen historically regarding the pairing of religion on the republican tickets, either republican or democratic? guest: of course, in the 1928 campaign, al smith was first catholic to be on the national ticket and that was certainly an issue, and in 1960 john kennedy addressed the issue directly in his september 1960 speech to the houston ministers, and basically said that somebody's religion should not be a reason in america for voting for or against him, and said that he believed in the absolute separation of church and state, and that the united states should be a country where somebody should be judged by his or her ideas and devotion to the constitution and not by

religion. so i think occasionally we've had instances where somebody from a group that hasn't been previously on a national ticket has risen to the national ticket, and i think generally, that has been viewed as an accomplishment for the united states. when geraldine ferrari was the -- ferraro was the first woman to be on the national ticket, that was really a trailblazing sort of event, joe lieberman was the first jewish candidate to be on the national ticket, that was an event of similar importance. and when barack obama was the first african-american to be on the ticket, i think that was an affirmation of american ideals, whether they

were voting for mr. obama or not. host: grace is on the line, grace, thank you for waiting. caller: i'm glad the call -- i think it's time to stop the name calling and i -- and i think he can get us back on the issues that we need to focus on to get our country on track. host: when you say the name calling what are you talking about? caller: i'm talking about mitt romney killed a woman. that is just nonsense, the tax returns, that's nonsense. i want to hear about what's going to save our country. i don't want to hear about that. i want to hear about what is going to save my country and put it back in focus. host hoe joel goldstein, she talked about the end of name calling, but typically, isn't the person who's chosen to be vice president chosen in part because he will be sent out to say things that the person

at the top of the ticket either doesn't want to say or the party apparatus doesn't want the presidential candidate to say? guest: that's absolutely correct, rob. i mean, historically, one of the roles of the vice presidential candidate has been to go on the path, to make the case against the other side so that the presidential candidate can stay somewhat above the fray. the classic example of that really was in the 1952 presidential campaign where the formulation was that general eisenhower took the my road and then-senator richard nixon took the low road, and a number of vice presidential candidates have taken the role of making the case against the opposition. of course, the fact that somebody has that role, of making the case against the other side, doesn't mean that

they have to perform that role in an uncivil way. and one would hope that the discussion of -- i guess as the caller suggests, in this campaign, was the one that focuses on ideas and issues relating to the character and qualifications of all the candidates, but that it's done in a civil way and not one that people would regard as being gutter politics. >> host: belton, missouri, hobert on the tphraoeupb independents. robert, you're on the washington journal. caller: thank you. mr. gold stein, i was thinking about mr. ryan in the debates with the current vice president, and both of them having served in the congress during the george bush presidency when all of

the tax cuts, $800 million, the budgets, all of those things were voted for by the man that is hoping to be the vice presidential. how is he going to justify now that all of those things that were wrong, that the ditch inherited by the current president has -- how is ryan going to defend himself against joe biden who obviously knows all that information and will bring it up during the debates? thank you. guest: well, i think certainly vice president biden will be well versed on representative ryan's record and so will the moderators, and i don't recall whether this year's vice presidential debate will have a panel of reporters, as is sometimes done, or a single moderator. but they will be well versed as well on the records of

both candidates. i think the vice presidential debate is really -- will be the singular issue where the vice presidential candidates will take center stage for 90 minutes, and that really will be an opportunity to -- for the american people to get a sense of both vice presidential candidates, for representative ryan, who is newer and i -- i think at this point, more than 50 percent of the people indicate that they don't really know enough about him to have an opinion. the stakes in some sense are higher because it will be more of his introduction to the people than it will be for vice president biden. one would think, in 2008, the pressure on then-senator biden i think was somewhat intense because the expectations were that he

would easily overmatch governor palein. -- palen. to some extent i think he'll approach this debate with pressure, too, because of the fact that representative ryan is a new face and perhaps will benefit by lesser expectation than the vice president will. >> you mentioned governor palin and she along with some other women were a focus in the capitol living section of the hill newspaper last month. not this time is the headline, untested female veeps unlikely in sarah palin's wake, and they she governor palin, nickie haley, martinez, kelly ayote of new hampshire, kathy mcmorris of

washington and condoleeza rice. talk to us about the choice, whether or not to go with a female candidate, and how much was it really affected either in the republican party or the democratic party by the experience of the republicans with governor palin? guest: >> well, i think on the democratic side, the choice was easy. i think it was apparent from an early stage that notwithstanding some of the spepllation -- of the speculation that vice president biden would be on the ticket. on the republican side, i think the challenge in a sense was that whenever you're picking a running mate, you're picking from the available pool of vice presidential possibilities, and most of the women who were discussed as possible running mates for governor romney are people relatively

new to high national office. governor haley, governor martinez, senator ayote, have been governors or senators for about two years. and generally speaking, people who have been chosen as running mates have had substantially more experience than. i mean, if you look at the people chosen as vice presidential candidates since 1976, the average is that they've served about 14 years as either senator, governor, member of the cab thet or cabinet level position or in the house of representatives at the time they were chose phone vice president the first time. so virtually all of the women who governor romney might have chosen had sort of an experience deficit. the only exception to that really was secretary of state condoleeza rice, and i think there, the problem, besides

the fact that she has pretty much indicated that she wasn't interested, is that she's been identified in the past as taking a prochoice stance on abortion, a pro affirmative action stance and those typically have been deal breakers for the republican party. people who have been prochoice in recent times have in effect been deemed ineligible to be on a ticket as a running mate for a republican candidate, particularly one who's identified as more of a republican moderate like governor romney. host: in the statement from the former secretary of state, condoleeza rice, regarding paul ryan's being picked to run with governor romney, paul ryan is a bold and inspiring choice as governor romney's running mate. congressman ryan shares the belief that american leadership is vital to a more peaceful and prosperous world. he will help to restore america at home, show that we

can lead again because he understands that america is an exceptional and indispensable nation on the world stage. back to the phones, auburndale, massachusetts, becky is on the line for democrats. caller: i am dismayed by the choice of congressman ryan as vice president. i'm a senior citizen and i think his voucher plan for medicare would be the end of medicare as a government organized health plan, as we have in massachusetts for other people besides me. and i think that we have fought very hard since the time of teddy roosevelt to go towards universal health care, and i think that's what we should be looking towards, medicare for everyone. and even if we have to pay

higher taxes. and that's the reason i am against congressman ryan. host: beckny in auburndale, massachusetts. your thoughts, professor goldstein, on perhaps the balance. representative rian seems to be a lightning rod, especially with the democrats, regarding social security and medicare. what do you suppose the thinking was with regard to if he's going to be a lightning rod on this issue, what do we get in -- as a balance for having ryan on the ticket? guest: i think to some extent representative ryan, in some ways like governor palin, seems likely to mobilize both bases. very popular with the republican base, particularly the economic conservatives in the republican party. but i think, as becky's call

indicates, also -- he may mobilize the democratic base in opposition. i think that governor romney -- i would guess if governor romney in looking at the electoral map thought that he needs help in terms of both mobilizing the conservative base of his party and also introducing more energy and excitement to his campaign. the electoral map tends to favor president obama a bit, and it may involve a calculation in part that if representative ryan can help in wisconsin and perhaps some other midwestern states where governor romney needs to do well, really almost needs to run the table in order to achieve 270 electoral votes. hose host kenneth is our next caller from queens, new york, he's on our line for

republicans. go ahead kenneth. caller: hi. i was calling in regards to ryan being named vice president. the idea is they got romney in there for two years, and then stale start with the tkra* conan -- draconian cuts and they'll see the jobs are coming back from overseas because they're able to bring the money back without paying the taxes and then we'll see a big prosperous america and all the time we'll be getting our feet knocked out from under us and ryan will become president and then everything falls apart where there's no more uons, no one is making a good salary, everyone is making minimum wage. thank you. host: talk to us about the role of the vice presidency in terms of the ryan decision

the ryan choice. because he is so associated with associated with -- so associated with budget issues, how his pick goes along with the growth of the role of the vice presidency over the last three or four decades. >> okay. it's an interesting choice in the sense that i don't recall a prior campaign where the vice presidential choice has been so identified with a central issue in the campaign that his or her presence on the ticket seems likely to sort of be the identifying issue that will be discussed during the campaign. but focusing on the role of the presidency, you know, for much of our history, the office has been something of a national joke, of john

adams, the first vice president, said my country has given me the most insignificant office that ever the imagination of man conceived. i can do neither good nor evil. and really, up until the 20th century, the vice presidency had nothing to do with the vice presidency of richard nixon, the office began to move towards the executive branch but it was still a very frustrating and to a great extent empty office for much of that time. and it was really the vice presidency of walter mondale that really transformed the office. vice president mondale came up with a new vision of the office as sort of a central across the board presidential adviser and somebody available to take on high level trouble-shooting visions at the president's request. vice president mondale was given access to president carter, he could enter the

oval office whenever he wanted, join any meetings that he wanted, had a weekly private lunch with president carter, got all of the paper that went to the oval office, so he knew what was going on, his staff worked closely with the president's staff, and with -- to varying degrees, the subsequent vice presidents have all followed the mandoyle -- don detailo zero manhattan detail model. there have been variations but they've had these basic prerogatives and they've been advisers, troubleshooters. some have taken on specific responsibilities with the executive branch on an ongoing basis so that vice presidents like vice president gore, cheney, biden have all been involved with really major parts of the administration, both as advisers and also handling really important responsibilities. it gives the president greater capacity to deal with the enormous problems that we

expect a president to handle today, both domestically and internationally. one would think that given representative ryan's focus on budgetary issues in the past, that he might play a principal role in a romney administration with respect to some of these issues. in part, that will depend upon how governor romney would structure his administration. one has the sense of two of them have a good relationship, and that all goes well for a vice presidential role as well. host: we're talking about joel goldstein, author of "modern american vice presidency", the transformation of a political institution. and he is also vice presidential scholar and law professor at st. louis university school of law. he taught a seminar on the presidency and the constitution which he taught with the late thomas eagleton

remind our listeners and viewers who may not be old enough to remember who thomas eagleton was and his sigma to the vice presidential process. >> tom eagleton was a senator from missouri for three terms he became united states senator in 1968, he left the senate voluntarily at the age of 57, and in 1987, because he didn't want to continue to raise the sort of money that people had to raise to stay in government. he really was a remarkable public servant. he was very much involved as a participant in working with senator edmund musky to conceive the clean air act, clean water act, he was involved with the war powers resolution, helped create the inspector general law that

provides sort of for some accountability in the various departments of department, was involved in the eagleton amendment, which helped in the war in vietnam. in 1972 he was chosen as george mcgovern's running mate. prior to being chosen, he was never asked about his prior health history. in fact, he had been hospitalized on prior occasions for depression. when the story broke after his election, senator mcgovern initially was supportive but over time retreated from his support and ultimately dropped senator eagleton from the ticket. senator mcgovern subsequently said that was a mistake and if he had to do it again he wished he had kept senator eagleton on the senate. when the senate celebrated its bicentennial in 1989, the senators decided to invite

back two former senators to speak to them and the two they selected were former majority leader and reagan chief of staff howard baker and thomas egenton and i've always thought that that honor that was given to senator eagleton by the people who had served with him really indicated what they thought of him and was consistent with the sort of public service that he rendered to missouri and to the united states during his three terms in the senate. host: do you think that the episode with senator eagleton in the '72 campaign helped to ramp up the amount of vetting that goes on in terms of picking the candidate for vice president? guest: i think it plays a role -- it played a role, along with other factors. one of the other factors was that in 1973, of course the

following year, vice president agnew resigned really under threat of indictment for having allegedly having accepted kick backs while governor of maryland but also while he was vice president. vice president agnew had gone through two presidential campaigns, as richard nixon's running mate, without that ever having been discovered, and first jerald ford and nelson rock feller were chosen through the 25th amendment which involved extensive vetting, fbi investigations and so forth of their background and congressional hearings devoted to it. so i think that those together were one factor. the other factor that happened is that as we moved from a system where the party bosses -- or where the vice presidential candidate was largely chosen at the convention after the presidential nominee was decided, and we moved to a

system of presidential primaries and caucuses, the presidential nomination tend to get solved sooner and it created this period of time we now have where there's anywhere from four or five months to five or six weeks where the presidential nomination has been resolved in effect and the biggest story is who's going to be the running mate and it really affords better opportunity for this sort of process that took place this year, where there's a vetting by governor romney's team of the prospective running mates, where they turn in records regarding their health, their tax returns, their financial records, their past speeches and so forth, and the presidential candidate can consider this over a long period of time. and senator eagleton's case, he was never taken aside for a private meeting with senator mcgovern or any of senator mcgovern's people and asked about matters relating to his past or his health or

anything like that. i think had such a meeting occurred i think there would have an full discussion and senator mcgovern would have made a decision based upon the information as to whether or not to choose senator eagleton. host: professor goldstein's first -- or doctoral dissertation, rather, grew out of the first book "the modern american vice presidency, transformation of a political institution", he is currently working on a new book on the vice presidency. our last call for professor goldstein comes from fort mill, south carolina. tphro*eud is on our line for democrats. go ahead, tphro*eud. caller: yeah, i -- i think we sometimes forget about what our priorities are. number one is security. leaving that up to our president is a lie. number two, neither of the candidates is qualified, have never been to the service or

experience that. i don't think the -- i think the vice president will overshadow the president and i think he was right when he first said hey, i'll introducing the president. i think he will be the president. i'm afraid of that. so i don't think it's a big choice. i hope that the democrats will win. host: professor goldstein, you get the last word, sir. guest: well, i think it is unusual in the sense that neither governor romney or representative ryan has a distinctive national security credential. i mean, when governor george w. bush was running, he chose dick cheney who had extensive national security credentials, governor reagan chose george h. w. bush who had been a diplomat and been director of the cia. senator obama chose senator biden, who had been chair of the foreign relations

committee. this choice is distinctive in the sense that there really is no clear national security expert on the republican ticket. the focus really is on the budgetary issues and presumably that's what governor romney wants to emphasize. host: joel goldstein has been our guest, talking to us about the role of the vice presidency. he's been coming to us live from st. louis, missouri, where he is vice presidential scholar and law professor at the st. louis university school of law and author of "modern american vice presidency, the transformation of a political institution". sir, thank you very much for being on the "washington journal". guest: well, thank you for having me, i envoid it. -- enjoyed it. host: in a recent edition of the "new york times", graham bowley had this headline, u.s. begins packing its afghan war gear for the movers, it has taken the united states years to amass the mountains of gear piled up at huge bases like camp

leatherneck in south afghanistan. it is the job of logistics experts like first lieutenant rachel oppermann, 23, to bring it home as the war draws to a close and american military begins to reduce its forces. it also has to send back most of its equipment, an immense logistics effort already underway and spanning half the globe. after this break, we're going to be talking about graham bowley about the logistical efforts and the costs to the u.s. government of withdrawing gear and equipment from afghanistan. .

but she first -- ' >> the sunday network talk shows rearing on c-span radio are

brought to you as a public service by the networks and c- span. they begin and noon eastern with nbc's "meet the press." at 2:00 p.m., fox news sunday. at 3:00 p.m., the state of the union, and at 4:00 p.m., it is "face the nation." listen to them all on c-span radio at 90.1 fm or 119 on xm. listen on your phone or go online to c-spanradio that b.org. >> 80 -- executives talk about the impact and future of american technology around the world. >> one of the fascinating things about the olympics has been that -- it will be a really interesting for media people to

understand this change we are going through from a filtered outside in view of the event where there is a broadcaster and the interview michael phelps and you get a linear progression delivered to you in a certain way. now, before, during, and after the event, you have this unfiltered inside out view of the event from the participants and people who are at the event >> i am feeling sorry for the nbc folks. they spend all this money to do something which is featured and narrated. there is an alternative narrative which is watched the olympics via twitter. it is just a different choice.

>> you can watch this discussion monday night starting at 8:30 p.m. eastern on c-span 202-737- 0001 >> "washington journal" continues. c-span3 graham bowley c-span3 host: graham bowley joins us. one of the plant to the article we talked about before the break from last saturday was a headline u.s. begins packing its afghan war gear. give us an idea of how big a project this is and how long it will take. >guest: every day i write about

the war in the fight that is going on. isry -- already, nhnato withdrawing troops. there is a parallel effort underway, which is the troops are gone by 2014. military planners are working on how to get the material out. i traveled to the south of afghanistan where the marines are. very hot. i spent a couple of days with them watching them and hearing their thinking about it. it is a huge effort.

already, they are beginning to wind down these bases. troops are leaving this year. i was at a camp that is receiving materials from the surrounding areas. i went out to another base, which is now almost a shell. it is being shrunk and handed over to the afghans. in this one place, you see the publications. host: talk to us about the complications. this is not like taking a take into a giant container and putting it on a ship in bringing it back to the u.s. >> it is in afghanistan.

it has to be riz -- retrieve from different bases and then taken out of the country. everybody can pierce it with iraq. this is a landlocked country. our twisteroute t pakistan. -- out was through pakistan. they were flying stuff out. or taking it out by sea from ports. another route is through central asia. that is very complicated. it will be important for the european allies in the u.s. troops for the northern afghanistan, but less so for the marines. they were relying on the cap --

pakistan root out. has to be cleared again. it is locked down from trucks. we have cleared it. it will start to stream out with a lot of stuff. what was really interesting to stuff,t is humvee's and which have lots of technology. i stood in one of these big dusty yards where someone was monitoring what was coming in. it was not just the big stuff. it was the shells, weapons, vehicles. it was the fact paper, dog tags, everything that goes towards the effort. host: i understand you want to get the weapons out and things like that, but why waste your

time with fax paper and dog tags? guest: a lot of stuff was being burned. at one base, you saw the shell of the headquarters building. there were some army engineers there working in the heat. they were burning mattresses. some things are important, apparently. i think there are two issues. one is cost. they were very aware of monetary constraints. they want to use it. but times are hard in washington. they're thinking in those terms. a lot of stuff will be taken back. the second thing is a broader point which is they're very mindful of the soviet retreat.

it is still there. people live in tanks. they are a reminder of what happened. several military planners that i spoke to said we do not want to be leaving behind rusting hulks of tanks for the image. host: we are talking with graham bowley, and "in new york times" reporter. he is talking about withdrawing u.s. equipment from afghanistan. we want to take your calls, as well as hits from a social media. the number si 202-737-0002 for republicans -- is 202-737-0002 for republicans. 202-737-0001 for democrats.

202-628-0205 for independents. on twitter, facebook, or e-mail. our first call comes from delaware. stanley is on our ally for democrats. go ahead. >caller: good morning. paul ryan has to show his income taxes, too. host: do you have anything to say about the withdrawal of u.s. equipment from afghanistan? i guess not. graham bowley, in your article, you write the troops are already departing and military planners are carefully calculated how you extricate the equipment. officials estimate they will have to travel 100,000 shipping containers of material and 45,000 to 50,000 vehicles like tanks -- host: is it going to be funneled

into one central area and moved out from there? will they go from base to base and take out the equipment and close it down? guest: they're looking at afghanistan. i was in the southwest. they're looking at the southwest with the afghan government and deciding which bases they wanted to leave. which bases the military could ran after america left. to either transfer the bases or close them down. many are being closed in trombka. as they do that, on the material is being shipped by helicopter or airplane to a couple of main bases. h. area will have these

collecting -- each area will have these collecting basis. they will remain after everybody else is left. there is a decision about what america will leave in afghanistan after they get out in 2014, but there are going to be central collecting bases. where i was, there was another base nearby that had a big airfield. they were then used to take the stuff out directly to the u.s. or to intermediate ports around asia. in the case of the marines come back to japan. or toe coming to the u.s. a depot where they are updated in cleaned. technology modernized, even

there. there were big winds of new communication technologies. they would be in part flown directly out or overland. there was issue of safety. they were going to go through pakistan. the technology would be stripped off all lot of the big mine- resistant vehicles and the technology was being flown back separately while the vehicles were being shipped through pakistan. host: let us take this call from silver spring, maryland. you are on. caller: good morning. i feel anything they can take that is any use to take and anything else should be burned. the president is doing a very good job at trying to fix what has been broken for so long in this country. host: graham bowley, is there

any back and forth as far as what they would like us to leave? >> kreuk -- guest: great question. in the story, i tried to talk to afghans who were watching this happening. the bases are being taken down. they have been the fabric of their lives for the past several years. it is very important. more broadly, what will america leave behind? what is its request? there is a lot of trepidation about that. some do not believe america is leaving. the two big areas are the economy and these military bases the money being pumped into this country has had a big

supporter of affect on the economy. then there is a security angle, which is the most important. will these two things hold? we had a recent conference in chicago about keeping this alive after america leaves. the afghans are very aware of what is real. they are very much part of this process. they're willing to train their troops. >host: our next call comes from prescott, arizona. go ahead. >caller: good morning. it sounds like a logistical nightmare. it would take a long time. after 911, we were in a full- blown land war 7,000 miles away

in a landlocked country within six weeks. the logistics of pulling that off would be devastating is it possible that the debt war may have been planned months in advance? it takes so long to pull off something like this. thank you. guest: i think there was a sudden the arrival in afghanistan of troops. that was very, very difficult. the things i am seeing them writing about are the things that have been accumulating over the years. that has gone on in after 9/11. it was very hard to get troops and the material they've fought with. it is even harder now because

there has been healed -- years of buildup. you are able to see that in many places around the country where the marines and army are. host: you write about bringing things back and also taking things down. a group of army engineers from florida were busy dismantling the headquarter buildings -- host: on the base, there was one firetruck left. -- guest: right. beyond the fence, you are able

to see the town. i was in a place where you can see the town. you know the afghans were watching. it is a dangerous area. there are good and bad people watching. host: but it is good to detroit, michigan. your honor. -- you are on. caller: i do not think the whole scale of everything is being completely scene right now. everything there is politically charged. if we bring stuff back, if it came time, stuff will be liquidated by a someone who owns the plot of land.

guest: the marines were careful to tell me they were trying to save money. they are very aware of that. that is funny. this is not happening in a vacuum. the afghans lived there before and they will live there after. the afghan army will inherit a lot of stuff. these bases and military equipment. it is still not decided what that will be but they get great training at the moment. they are getting lots of equipment. they will protect the state and army. i got some great stories about -- one of the great marines i was traveling with, his job was to oversee the bborder and talk to the afghans to try to

find the people who own the land before the coalition swept in and built the bases. that is difficult. once he found them, he had to compensate them, agree on a price, and make payments. in at least one case, somebody had come forward, a local landlord, and he has paid them and it turned out the guy was not the real owner but he disappeared with the money. the government took over the piece of land. at the camp i was at, the army had it temporarily. then the local governor was going to take over what was remaining at the camp and use it for mass. it is a complicated situation. afghans are there. they will be there after we are long gone. host: new jersey. bruce is on our line for

democrats. you are on. go ahead. caller: a woman just called in -- was the war plan ahead of time? yes, it was. in 1998, the pentagon in clinton's second administration planned to go into afghanistan at the end of 2001, beginning in 2002. if you would listen to c-span in the last 10 years, someone talked-about being friends with a northern leader to pay the taliban. host: graham bowley, talk to us about -- it seems like it is

easier to get the equipment in the senate is to bring it out. why is it is a difficult to get it out? guest: i'm not sure that it is. i cannot speak for that. getting it in net speed is difficult. now, they are planning melo ahead -- well ahead. i am not sure they're finding a -- fighting a war there. supply routes are vulnerable and they're trying to work out what they still need here. we are in the middle of a fighting season right now. that is different from previous seasons. they are trying to work out with the taliban is doing and other networks are doing. host: talk to us about the

actual cleaning of the tanks. about getting off all but cr ud. do they have to pass an inspection before they come back into the u.s.? >> the border inspector in. -- border inspection. i was at three sorting yards. there was the small stuff, which were being packed in boxes, and a big yard where you could see the big tanks. the central yard was really attracting middle range stuff. these were mortars and in this glaring sun, of five marines were cleaning this humvee.

then, there was an inspector from the department of agriculture there who was walking around with them and approving everything so they could get back into the u.s. and pass regulations. host: next up is minnesota. alex's on our line for democrats. are you there? caller: yes. host: your question or comment for graham bowley? caller: in comparison to what the war cost us, what does something like this cost? host: what does it cost to move out versus what it costs to move in? guest: the military there was hesitant about talking about cost i have to press quite a

bit to get this information. it was hard to hide that the bases were being drawn down. they are still there and they are still fighting. they did not really wanted to talk about the drawdown, although it is happening. they would not talk about the cost. host: our next call is from net from california. go ahead. caller: one of your earlier callers mentioned it, too. i was in the navy in when we went out to see the training, they would bring out their equipment and we would be held there 40 weeks -- two weeks. when we came back in, they unloaded. whether then unloaded, they would throw it overboard.

the military is doing what it always has been. when they are done with it, they do not bother saving it. they just get rid of it. host: graham bowley, how much did you see being destroyed? guest: i saw what the impact. -- i saw a lot been packed. steff he did not think -- stuff you would not think. i can see a lot of value in the stuff that was being packed. it made sense to me. these things have worth and the process of cleaning and storing and shipping is very costly. it has been decided these things have a net worth and they are being taken back. they do not want to leave it

because they do not know who will use it if they left. they also do not want to leave this great image of rusting tanks. there are lots of helicopters and airplanes there. i keep talking about these minor resistance vehicles, which were developed in iraq and afghanistan. very few outside of these two areas. there are special vehicles and the me -- the military wants to take those back because they will be needed. host: we will have to leave it there. graham bowley, afghanistan reporter from "the new york times." thank you for being on the og