karen lee. we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. ♪ good morning. the august recess is now over. it is a back to work week for congress. with elections just two months away, the new york times reports this morning that lawmakers may have as few as seven legislative days before another recess in order to campaign for the november 4 midterm elections. the president defended his decision to delay executive action on immigration until after the november 4 elections. he made his comments yesterday in an nbc news interview. one of the issues that president obama dealt with last week in wales was getting commitments

from member nations to contribute more to military spending. this comes at the same time as congress under current u.s. law looks for ways to reduce america's defense at it. our focus for the first 45 minutes here on "washington journal." when in on the conversation. with growing threats, should the defense budget be increased? host: the u.s., launching a fresh series of airstrikes yesterday input defense department officials described as a mission to stop militants

from seizing an important game on the euphrates river and preventing the possibility of floodwaters being released words baghdad. towardscks were aimed military fighters in iraq and syria known as isis. according to officials the operation represented another expansion of the limited goals that president obama set out when he announced last month that he had authorized airstrikes in iraq. that story this morning online and on the front page of "the new york times." where are we at in terms of defense spending? you can see that we are on track for the lowest level of defense spending since 1940, just before world war ii. you can see the world war ii uptick and the reagan buildup with budget sequestration forcing additional budget cuts by congress. we want to get to your comments on all of this, but first a look at sunday morning programs that can be heard later today on c-span radio with nancy callow

in the studio. >> good morning. the topics on the sunday tv talk shows today include the situation with isis, syria, and iraq, russia and ukraine, and you can hear the broadcasts of the program beginning at noon eastern time with "meet the press year ago as you mentioned, president obama will be the first guest on the inaugural broadcast. on "this week," guests include , and on counterterrorism, representative peter king and armed services committee ranking member, adam smith, out of washington. at 2 p.m., "fox news sunday." in 2012, mitt romney. michael mccaul, and bob menendez.

following at 3 p.m., dianne feinstein and mike rogers. at 4 p.m. it is face the nation .ith henry kissinger marco rubio, republican, and dutch ruppersberger. brought to you as a public service by the networks and c-span. the rebroadcasts of these shows again begin at noon eastern with "meet the press," and that 1:00, "this week." 3:00e of the union" at hear, "face the need -- face the nation" at 4:00. you can catch them all nationwide on xm satellite radio, find us on channel 120. you can download our free app for your smart phone or listen online at c-span.org. host: thank you very much, nancy.

that got a lot of attention this week, along with this headline from "the washington post." mitt romney wrote about the need for a mighty u.s. military, saying that russia invade us, china belize, iran spins centrifuges, and the islamic state, a terror threat he on any we have seen, threatens, and washington cuts the military. "several arguments are there to a reduction of defense, but they are all wrong. a different set of principles based on common humanity. the old order says that america's disproportionate strength holds tyrants in check and is to be replaced. it is said that the first rule of wing walking is not to let go with one hand until the other has a firm grip. -- grip." that is from mitt romney.

we want your perspective on all of this as sequestration forces congress to cut defense spending. kevin barron is following all of these issues as the executive editor of "defense one." thank you for being with us. explain why these cuts are required. it is the budget control act. has to live up to that law. for theat does it mean pentagon, enlisted personnel, and u.s. defense? a couple of things. now the administration has something to .2. but when they say that there is a political battle over how much defense spending needs to be, out there they want major increases? the control act and sequestration penalty caps that

need to be removed if you want to have any type of significant increase in defense spending. the piece this morning published by "the new york times," regarding the threats we are facing in isis, north korea, the middle east and with vladimir putin. does this tie the hands of the president when dealing with these issues? the pentagon says no. that they have a couple of tools for 2014, that they have enough flexibility to meet what has been added to their plate. with sites in iraq, with whatever they need to do in the ukraine. calledey have what is the overseas contingency account on top of that.

then there is the counterterrorism budget on top that the administration has requested 42015. of course, fiscal 2015 is supposed to start on october 1, but it has been a couple of decades since congress passed a next general budget on time. they will be fighting for how much extra needs to be given to the pentagon between now and whenever those defense spending bills have impact. host: this was from "the washington post." defense spending declining in the next decade, much of that due to the winding down of the war in afghanistan and the lingering impact of sequestration. this would represent the lowest level of funding since before world war ii and it would have to be spread beyond the defense .ommissions of nato

the u.s. has obligations in asia and elsewhere and the fact is that the share of the gdp of the u.s. or any other country that defense budget is a symbolic indicator and indicates nothing about the use of the money." with not only europe and asia as part of the equation, what does this mean for the u.s.? this share of gdp, that is a throwaway metric. if you look at actual spending, the number has dropped from a high of fiscal 2010, where it was almost 700 billion. by now it is about 575. it creeps up over the next five years. every year the pentagon puts out a five-year budget plan. as it creeps upwards, the war spending account shrinks and the regular defense spending budget increases, so it is still incredibly high compared to world war ii, which was an

all-encompassing affair for the entire nation. this is today. them -- less than 1% of of americans in the military and these very specific wars and conflicts that the united states is getting itself into. when it comes to european allies, the gdp number is still important because there is a nato commitment, a pledge that they will spend at least 2% of their gdp on defense spending. only a few of the bigger countries have met that metric. but already in for some time now, the last few years, there has been discussion amongst nato critics and watchers that even pledge,ric is an empty an empty way to tell what goes on. from the perspective of the pentagon, they like to say that

one dollar today buys you something a lot different from what you had back then. same thing with the number of ships. there were many more ships after world war ii, but the ones today are a lot more capable. it is a little apples and oranges to make that comparison. one of those countries providing 2% is estonia, where the president was this past week just before you went on to wales for the summit. thank you so much for joining us, we will read your work online. appreciate your time this morning. host: have a good -- caller: have a good day. "the l.a. times," "the president announces that he will delay executive orders until after the midterm elections." this is the front page of "the detroit free press." stepping down at the end of this year, "beacons of change from d.c. to detroit." that is the front page story.

, "the ongoing debate over education issues." and more reaction from governor corker and governor bob mcdonald . "a new reform -- a whole new world regarding gifts to politicians." let's get more on the growing threats around the world. should the u.s. increased defense spending? the line forus on independent callers. good morning. if we are going to have a military buildup, which i am not sure about yet, this time we need a war tax to cover the increase. no more putting it on the credit cards, like we did with iraqi and afghanistan wars. if they want to build up, they

will have to give him the taxes. you think the american people would go along with the idea? caller: i don't know. they should if they have any common sense. we are already too strapped to maintain our own infrastructures. so. more spending on the military means more taxes. host: thank you for the call. gerald is on the phone this morning. good morning. caller: good morning. i think that mitt romney is wrong. just because you're spending more does not mean you are spending smart. that is what we need to look at. there are always going to be threats. that's a given. in the 1890's, the 1880's, the u.s. built up a navy and began to move around the world with

ships. i think that a strong maybe andld be able to move out project in a way that is important. having troops of 2 million men and arms, i don't believe that that is necessary. as i personally look around -- i am a vietnam veteran. there were 2 million south vietnamese troops. 500,000 of us in vietnam at the time. smart. got to spend nations are coming out of something. the reemergence after world war take an honest assessment of what we perceive a threats. perceive as we have to look at the world from the point of view of others. iraqnited states invaded

and they weren't there. nothing has been said. there were not sanctions against the united states for doing that. we have to look at the world from the point of view of others. use diplomacy, soft power, have a strongvy, marine corps. spend smart, not necessarily more. host: this point -- host: from columbia, south carolina, paul, good morning. good morning. i have one thing to say about for jackson, here in columbia. when you go through the gate we have civilians guarding the gate. base.s a basic training

we have plenty of soldiers out there that could be guarding the gates. wrong with theng armed forces nowadays, contract. it is so corrupt that it is not even funny. i understand that now they have turned these positions, not the contracts but the civil service they cost more than the military. you could train a private in a few minutes -- not minutes, but some time with them. at thatld stand guard gate and not let anyone in that wasn't authorized to come through. host: thank you for the call. this from "the washington examiner." "one month is left in fiscal year 2014, but congress is in no rush to pass it. it is one of the most important

items on the calendar as lawmakers return for the last few weeks of work he for the november elections. they are not likely to act on the house passed spending bill or the senate version that was approved. what is more likely as lawmakers passing the continuing resolution through mid-december after the november elections." andstory is online available there. bill, good morning. just want to agree with cutting military spending. --t i am really upset about i appreciate -- i want our young , like to protest more they did in the 1960's. if there were a draft, our young people would be more protesting.

i really disagree with what is going on in our country as far as continuous wars. thank you for the call. as a way of comparison, this is from "cnbc." 652 billion dollars for the leading nations around the world, $662 billion for the u.s. . you can see the breakdown. countriesly those make up the same amount that the u.s. spends on defense spending. that is from 2012. dennis is joining us from hillsboro, new hampshire. good morning. i would like to agree with the guy from montana. september 11 is a good time to do it.

i want to read something from a past president. a plot in this country to enslave every man, woman, and child. before i leave this high office, i intend to explode -- explode -- expose this plot. president john f. kennedy, days before he was assassinated. these peopleut down. they are a band of criminals creating war crimes. we've got to take care of them, we've got to shut them down. thank you for the call. this is the cover story of "the sunday times magazine." "i have a great idea, bill gates, smart enough to pull off the way history is taught -- should we let him"? book is out, christine gillibrand, senator once derided

as a lightweight marks off another item on the presidential checklist." the cover story of "the weekly standard." "the gaza war, who won and who lost? we are talking about growing threats around the world and if the u.s. should increase defense spending. yes or no? with more of your calls and comments, calling -- -- call in -- host: the president spoke about this at -- before returning from wales on friday. here's a portion of what he had to say. [video clip] >> we are working deliberately. if you look at what we have done over the last several months, we are doing this in stages. the first was to make sure we were encouraging iraqi government formation. the second stage was making sure that i building on the

intelligence assessments that we had done that we were in a position to conduct limited airstrikes to protect our personnel, critical infrastructure, and engage in humanitarian activities. the third phase will allow us to take the fight to isil, broaden the effort. urgency,is to act with but also to make sure we are doing it right. that we have the right targets. that there is support on the ground if we take an airstrike. that we have strong political coalition, diplomatic effort a strong strategic communications effort so that we are discouraging people from iso--- isomehow that sil represents a state, much less the caliphate.

it will not happen overnight, but we are steadily moving in the right direction and we will achieve the goal. the president outlining the latest strategy dealing with isis. we are asking you if whether or not because of these growing threats it is time to increase defense spending. about thea," writing raids on friday. "a mixture of an attack between fighters and remotely piloted , destroying four humvees, one armored personnel carrier, two trucks belonging to isis fighters." bringsway, this weekend the total to 143 strikes carried out in iraq since august 48 -- 28. richard, massachusetts, good morning.

how are you? caller: fine, how are you? ready for my comment? host: i'm ready. go ahead. caller: if we are going to spend more money on defense, we should get it from the people who own all the wealth in our country. ers at the top of our country. if i were them, i would be scared to death, two. we are going to get the money from them, not domestically. host: thank you for the call. willie is next from georgia. good morning. caller: how are we doing today? host: fine, thank you. caller: i just think we are doing too much. we are always at the issue of what is going on in the world, with the u.s. always coming to the rescue, i guess you could say. opinion, we are

going to be the enemy soon. i get that it is to protect ourselves, but it comes to a point where it is just too much. how do other countries feel about us personally, you know? host: thank you for that. this point from our twitter page from jen -- from tallahassee, florida, james, independent line, good morning. hey, how you doing? i think the spending should increase, but not on international affairs. the biggest threat to the united states is within the united states. there is so much going on with the morale of the people here. that is going to make it more difficult as we stretch ourselves out thinner.

if the morale is not up, you can't do anything. host: where should the money go? caller: the same thing is happening with the ba and the infrastructure there, there is enough going on internally to solve. our military is strong enough to fend off anybody coming in. doing strikes and other countries isn't -- is unnecessary. it is overstretching. you are overstretching, you are not protecting your gut punch. you are making yourself honorable, that is what i'm saying. from thank you very much -- thank you are much for the call. "a light reelection schedule matching legislative goals.

host: from los angeles, michael is on the phone. independent line. good morning. were talking about defense increases in defense spending? seems like we have plenty of money to spend. we have trillions. we could spend that much more effectively. host: kevin, richmond, your next. earlier caller, about the statement from president kennedy? evidence of anything like that ever from it -- except from president kennedy. i encourage all viewers to do their research.

for the call.u kenneth, dover, tennessee. good morning. i would like to give my comments on this. i think that our country is in bad shape. it has been in bad shape. obama don't know what he doing. he's a muslim. i think he is. he is doing everything in the world that he can for the muslims. it's like pulling teeth, trying to get him to do something that would help our country. the: you know that president is not a muslim? that he is christian? that'span.org -- caller: what he says. all of his actions show him to be a muslim. he has never done anything but be on their side on everything.

when he made this speech in egypt, when he first started , listen to president it and see what he has done since he has been in their. he is right on the muslim side. that if you want to watch speech from cairo, from 2009, it is available, as is all of our programming, on c-span.org. catherine, huntsville, good morning. caller: talking about your top 95%, there is a man that retired from the pentagon that wrote a book and he is telling what he can. you need to check with him about all of this top 95%. did they pay taxes and all that? you, catherine. another viewer saying that the army, air force, marine corps,

-- us fromch is joining binghamton, new york. glad that you're discussing this issue. it relates to my occupation. i am a farmer in upstate new york. sometimes i like to donate the corn and cucumbers. is joining us this morning. caller: i am nervous about getting back to the cold war. i think that we should be really focusing on the world, planet earth, and our own well-being. my father just passed away and i am turning 40. that's 30 years left on this earth. i have started to look at things in a different way. call thank you for the

from california. this is from "the christian science monitor." european nations for years, complex threats multiplying in the middle east and russia, but the pledge is nonbinding and experts say that simply, the benchmark should relate to better outcomes, more and cheaper collaboration focused on specific plans to show members where their money goes and why." that is this morning from "the ."ristian science monitor james, democratic line. eisenhower.ote from "every gun made, every warship launched, every rocket fired are hungryhose who but not fed, cold but not clothed.

sweat ofnding the laborers, the genius of scientists, the hopes of children. the cost of one heavy modern bomber is this. fully equipped hospitals. electric power plants. 50 miles of paved highway. fighter plane with half of a million bushels of wheat. a single destroyer with enough new homes to house 1000 people. life that they of world has been headed down and no way of life at all, under a cloud of threatening war. -- war." i think that eisenhower kind of knew that you could have runaway spending in the military. i come from a military family. speech justas his before leaving in 1961, correct?

believe it or not, i think it occurred in 52, but you'll have to look it up. i am only six miles from fort knox. i am from a military family and even i think it is getting out of hand. host: thank you for the call. a new book from henry kissinger this morning, along with the .eview from hillary clinton "the world according to ."ssinger "the analysis, despite differences over specific policies, largely fitting the broad strategy behind the obama administration's efforts over the last six years to build a global architecture of security and cooperation for the 21st ."ntury hillary clinton, along with bill clinton, will be in iowa one week from today and we will have ine coverage of the 37th

indianola state, iowa, as speculation continues on a potential 2016 bid. carl, northbound, pennsylvania. is it time to increase defense spending? listen, steve, the democrats love sympathy and love to go to places where there is a lot of room for sympathy. what they are pushing right now in the media, talking about ebola and isis, that is where they connect them. isis is in africa. so is ebola. that is where obama wants to go with our money and our military forces. problems inthese

africa and all will be well with the world. you for the call. two stories from "the new york times." a look at marvin nicholson, the white house travel director, having faced off with the ,resident on 140 occasions challenging the president on the fairways and greens. marvin nicholson travels with him to stonehenge before leaving wales following the nato summit. on the front page we have this story, "foreign powers by's think tanks." prominentone dozen research groups have received tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments in recent years while pushing u.s. government officials to policie that reflect donor priorities."

back to your calls. graph that you showed earlier that showed u.s. spending compared to the rest of the world? i would like to see that up on your screen continuously, like you show on c-span. just focusing people's attention on that. it will be beneficial to your viewers. some of the leading countries around the world, these are the figures you're talking about.

spent a fewdollars years ago. china, russia, saudi arabia, india, germany, brazil, collectively accounting for what we spend. host: i think that one of the reasons we are having so much trouble as we have cut the money that we have passed on to other countries to develop their own infrastructure with. if we were to spend money in that, where they could build their own infrastructure, then periods ofese hunger, disease, maybe there would be more medical care and theould not be threatening

medical, right now, the medical if people had general medical conditions and so on. thank you so much for the call. one of the stories driving the weekend, immigration delay infuriating latino activist -- activists. from the front page of this story, "obama will wait to act until after the november elections." steve, connecticut, good morning. i looked up that eisenhower thing. it was 1961. the budget was 9%. then it went from 8% to 7% and 6%. we are now hovering around 4%. eisenhower is right. now i think it is every four cents. i am calling about the wales conference. i foundthing that

interesting out of the wales conference was they were talking a lot about western jihadi's, people born in the west but went off to serious and direct to fight for grandma and granddad. a lot of them are coming back and they are like ernest hemingway. they are coming back and are really disillusioned with it. these guyse flipping and sending them back over to fight for our side. for the call.u following "washington journal," today's guest on out newsmakers," mary kay henry." -- henry. is the union working with republican governors on wage issues during this politically polarized election year? here is a preview. [video clip] >> there is no republican governor in office currently

that we are working with. they don't stand for the values we have been fighting for in discussing for the past 25 minutes. >> how about congress? with have worked republican senators. when elected officials align with the agenda, we will work with anybody. republican, democrat, independent. we want to raise made -- raise wages and make a democracy that works for anyone. >> i am not hearing any names. >> i can't think of any that come to mind at this moment. >> mary kay henry, the president of sei you -- seiu. at is our guest this morning 10 a.m.. just tuning in this morning, we are focusing on growing threats around the world.

is it time to increase overall the spent -- overall defense spending in the u.s.? this from mark -- host: you can share your thoughts online at facebook. connie, republican line, good morning. caller: the united states government wastes more money than anything. they should put them does in there and get this over with. the intelligent people knows where them terrorists are. get it over with. take the soldiers over there, get it over with. like in desert storm before it gets too bad. they are going to come here to the united states.

they are already in the united states walking the streets. host: where are they? .aller: mostly in new york california. anywhere. they are waiting for the main man to say give the word and it will get dad. revelations at the end of the bible will tell you what is happening. i appreciate the call. that's my comment. put the guns in the air and send the military to get this over with. why they show it on tv? they show those terrorists training? who years ago they showed one of .hose little kids with ak-47 they say -- what are you doing? he says he says he's being trained to kill. for the call,u tom a. "the new york times," writing european nations

specifically. they have been among the loudest and calling for assertive and ines from nato support for the separatist many ofn ukraine, but the same countries have been laggards in meeting the commitments that come with nato ."mbership roger, son very, good morning. graph over time that for this -- for defense spending. it looks like an abc move. a five-point move down. i countermove and then a zigzag. regardless of whether we should spend more on defense or not, looks like we are going to. host: this is what you're talking about here, correct? this one right here? roger? caller: i am waiting to see.

it looks to me like you have got a five-point move down the countermove to the korean war down to to zigzags vietnam and from the reagan buildup there in 2022, it looks like to zigzags. you would have in a move from world war ii down to 1948, of the move to the korean war, and then a see move that is a combination of to zigzags. war to thee korean end. host: your point is? if you follow the elliott wave analysis that we will have an increase in defense spending coming up, regardless of whether we should or shouldn't. host: ok. thank you for the call. nathan gonzales is going to join

us in a couple of minutes as we drill down deeply into the midterm elections and focus on some of the most closely watched house and senate races. and republican line, joe, good morning, time to increase defense spending? thank you forr: taking my call. certainly it is time. the u.s. navy is at its lowest sincee level spending 1912. i thought it was going to be another story like 9/11 with the country springing into action and not let isis push us around anymore. instead president obama went golfing and we did nothing. part of the reason we are not bombing them back into the stone age is we probably don't have the capability in the middle east, so we must increase the military. i will say this if you will give me one more comment. the reason why we can't or some people might think we can increase military spending is that our welfare pam and are at

a level where someone getting the full range of welfare benefits is making about $50,000 in heating assistance, food stamps, welfare payments, etc.. the last thing -- you had a caller a few minutes ago who said that president obama is a muslim. that is not correct, of course, you were very polite in correcting him. but president obama's father was a muslim and in the muslim world if your father is a muslim, they regard you as a muslim. you could become the bishop of boston, but you are still a muslim in the muslim world and president obama is no doubt very sympathetic to the muslim community. he will not even call islam asked extremists islamic extremists. he has a worldview that is different from every president we have had and it is causing a great disservice to our country. host: i will leave it there. this morning, george will from

"the washington post," focusing on vladimir putin, saying that his actions in russia and eastern europe is the wake-up all for nato. joe, independent line, good morning. caller: hey, how you doing? host: good morning. timer: this is my first calling in. i have been listening to your program for a long time. i want to ask a question -- what are we afraid of? we pretty much outspend the world in defense. we are pretty much everywhere doing the basics. who is listening? what is the united it's afraid of, you know? appreciate the call. a few more minutes of calls and then we turn our attention to election politics. when was the last time that the defense department was

audited? in any comprehensive way? your bar shows, we spend a lot of money. the second question is, how much longer does the real 1% or 2%, who shoulder defense responsibilities in this country, how much are they considered? thank you. mike, appreciate the call. here is what some of you are reading. this was featured on "afterwards." "onek by ben carson, nation." mind" is number two. "america" is number three. "in the kingdom of ice" is number four. six. choices" is number "first family detail close vote is number eight. eight.il" is number

ralph, you get the last word. good morning. caller: thank you. it looks to me that the biggest threat in this country, the biggest threat to the caucasian american comes from mexico. you just had a caller on their questioning this or that, seems like you have an issue there with america talking about that but spending money foolishly, throwing it over there in the middle east, it needs to be put down here for jobs in america. the threats for mexico over here, you might be asleep on it. might need to work on that there, brother. host: thank you for the call and comments. turning to the situation in syria, karen lee is going to be joining us. first, nathan gonzales, jessica taylor, looking at campaign

2014, the senate and house races determining the balance of power. you are watching and listening to "washington journal." "washington journal" for sunday morning, september 7. we are back in a moment. ♪ [video clip] turning ongress are monday, here is a message to congress from one of the student cam competition winners. >> water makes up 75% of our bodies. take water away and humanity would perish within a week.

water is the most vital substance to the human body, yet because of us humans nearly 50% of all streams, lakes, bays, and estuaries are unsuitable for use because of pollution. learned to we have take water for granted. bottled water, flush toilets reinforced the idea that water is an unlimited resource. step outside and the diminishing condition tells a different story. water pollution kills marine life and disrupts an already fragile food chain. animals are not the only ones that suffer the negative effect. must use in 2014 you of federal funding on the water treatment agencies around the country. it must stop here. on wednesday for the

theme of the 2015 c-span student cam documentary competition. >> monday night on "the robert cobb and michael mcdowell discuss merger proposals and other issues before the fcc. >> you have these huge companies not only in control of distribution, but also content. are controlling the news and information system that we rely on. , faster innes minority communities that it is in suburban communities. news.tic you are seeing the developing world adopting this technology rapidly. fantastic news for improving the human condition. for a lot of people to have the

benefit of new information, it will change their political and economic expectations in positive ways. >> that's monday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. we are 58 days before the midterm elections. joining us this morning, jessica taylor from "the hill." nathan gonzales, deputy editor of "the rock bird political report." -- thesident said tony president sat down yesterday and was asked about immigration and the delay on immigration. here's a portion of that interview. [video clip] news is we have bipartisan support for that. house republicans refuse to do it and i said to them that if

on something so common sense that you have got labor, business, evangelicals, folks across the board all ofing it, i will use the legal authority i have to act. laying the groundwork for that, jeh johnson from homeland security has presented me with inliminary, you know, ideas terms of how we can take executive action. i have determined that i want to make sure we get it right. >> it looks like election-year politics. >> i want to make sure that not only are the t's crossed and i's dotted, but i am being honest now, about the politics of it. this trouble with unaccompanied children that we saw a couple of weeks ago, from central america the surge of kids showing up at the border? it got a lot of attention.

a lot of americans started thinking that we have got this immigration crisis on our hands. the fact of the matter is that a number of people apprehended crossing the borders, the number has plummeted over the course of the decade. it is far lower than it was 10 years ago. in terms of these unaccompanied children, we have systematically worked with the problem so that in june it dropped, in july dropped and is now below where it was last year. but that's not the impression on the minds of people. what i want to do is when i take executive action, i want to make sure it's sustainable. host: those were comments from the president on "meet the press" with chuck todd. this is from "the new york times." this decision is a reversal of what the president said in the rose garden earlier this year,

that he would make a decision by the end of the summer." what is important to remember is that the fight for the senate and the most important house races in the republican in leaning districts. these are districts of voters already primed to have significant problems with what the president is doing overall, but also have significant concerns. in a midterm election where they can vote against the president, if he can't -- if he does something they don't like it, the only option is to vote against democratic candidates. i think the timing is part of that. this past week we began what would be more than 100 c-span networks. in each of them immigration came up. in north carolina with tom hillis, with kay hagan as well. it has been a bipartisan

failure. for years they have talked about sealing the border, not allowing amnesty. i don't know about senator hagan. amnesty is a colossal mistake. we are not filling the border. we have failed to fill the border dating back to the reagan era. we need to get serious about that. a strong nation needs a strong border. we have to fill the border. the result of inaction from kay hagan in 2008 was that she was going to work to solve it but all we got was a bill that went nowhere. >> your reply? >> i think the house speaker is complaining that he has no plan. this bill is a commonsense immigration reform bill. there will be 40,000 border security agents, 700 miles of and -- of fence.

making sure that these people leave the country when they are supposed to. this bill is not amnesty. as i said, it is bipartisan in nature. it is time for the house and congress to take up this legislation. >> that was the first debate between kay hagan and tom tillis . another debate scheduled for october, we will be carrying that one as well. jessica? exactly one of the democrats that did not want to see the president using this executive power to go ahead. she even said in this debate that she doesn't want to see this happen but what republicans are already pouncing on after the announcement yesterday is that this is election-year politics, pointing out that he will do this eventually. i don't know that this mitigates this as much as the my -- the white house would have hoped. will becutive overreach

a key theme for republicans. that debate clip kay hagan says she wants to pass the bill and that republicans are stymieing this. from the redthat state democrats that are part of the bill. let's take a look at the big picture. in north carolina it is currently listed as leaning democrat. you have two complete tossup democratic seats. tom harkin in iowa. mary landrieu in louisiana. on the republican side you pointed out that pat roberts is the most vulnerable senator right now in this cycle. explain. we saw vulnerabilities with pat roberts after the primary facing an independent candidate, but this past week there was a lot of back-and-forth with democrats trying to drop out. looks like he will not be campaigning but his name will be

on the ballot. i think that senator roberts is very vulnerable. part of the challenge is he has to get his campaign up and running the higher-level. strategists are working with him to do that. the math is a bit tricky for independents, but it is the race to watch particularly because senator mcconnell is showing that he has a small but significant lead in kentucky and roberts will be the one to watch. host: that was my next question. you have the mitch mcconnell but leaning republican, that is stronger than tilting. explain. mitch mcconnell has the benefit of running for reelection in kentucky. if you were in a more competitive or partisan state, he would be in trouble. his negatives are high. longtime incumbent, you don't want these things coming into 2014.

so far he has been able to alisoncantly couple rhymes with obama. she has been good on the attack, but i think she has to increase her own positives and i am not sure she is there yet. a very interesting situation. one that republicans -- this was not part of their calculus. this was the home state of jerry moran, making sure that robert has the good campaign that they are sending in. that roberts is taking this seriously and turning around. they had a debate yesterday where he did very well and maybe gorman didn't seem ready for prime time, maybe republicans are feeling better there, but i feel that for the first time this week you saw them hitting 50% in the poll.

it is still within the margin of error, and i think he is doing what he needs to do. , her biggests problem in the state is president obama. her ads try to distance herself from him, particularly on energy issues, but the campaign is very smart. they are political operators. there was also a governors debate in kansas. sam brownback as late as yesterday had the democratic candidates two or three points ahead in a solid republican state. is the republican governor impacting what is happening? guest: i think some of those polls are based on online polls. i think it comes under a couple of things. there has been a long-standing

war and the kansas republican party for years. he kindgot into office of fueled the fire a bit by challenging some of the more rotter -- moderate republicans to get the people that he wanted and there was that basis for that. tax planed an economic that has not played out as quickly as he had hoped. that just sets a foundation for part of roberts problems. part of it is what he is doing, part of it is a residency issues that he should have cleared up months ago. >> speaking of, mary landrieu? her republican opponents are making the case on registration reform. saying that she lives near the sea, claim her parents home.

was harder to show as out-of-state. she comes from a longtime political family. harder for them to do. host: there is a piece here from an advertisement we are still talking about 50 years later. lyndon johnson and his campaign released the daisy ad. it aired only once, but generated a new era in negative advertising. can i get your thoughts on that? guest: it is a good lesson. now we go through the cycles, it is part of the political game.

it started 50 years ago. an ad that aired over the weekend. guest: this was an incident where mark begich was running against and sullivan. mention the campaign. they actually murdered a couple and their granddaughter. you had a police detective standing outside pointing to this, insinuating that this was somehow the fault of dan indicating that infamous willie horton ad.

there was an immediate outcry from the victim's family, saying that they didn't want this out there. sullivan released a response that named the alleged murderers names. they pulled down the response. seen as awe had pretty well oiled campaign therefore mark begich, this was a significant misstep that they have continued to have to explain. why was this an issue? when you went back to the facts of this, this was a clerical error that was done even before sullivan took office. them rating this as a pants on fire ad. host: meaning ally. -- meaning ally. -- meaning a lie. guest: yes. this was very much out there in the news. the victim's attorney took it

out there before begich took it down much later. attempting to correct the ad. they pointed out in that letter that to be clear it was your ad that was the one they were unhappy with. they had put the community on edge, and away. into the race that we had not seen before. jessica taylor, her work is available online. here is how sullivan responded to it. [video clip] >> millions of dollars are flooding into alaska pet -- alaska, paid for by special interests. pretty soon you will want to do this to your television. i've proposed a plan to stop the mudslinging from outsiders to keep the selection focus on the issues. unfortunately, mark begich said

no. i am dan sullivan and i approved this message. he should tell his friends to stay out of alaska. it points out the fact that in these closely watched races where just a few thousand votes can make the difference, one misstep or another could determine the direction of the campaign. guest: republicans are trying to demonize mark begich as being too close to the president. but if you can choose a different opponent, if you don't like outside spending or intervention, there is another opponent that you can create and maybe try to create some momentum. from one of our viewers on the twitter page -- i think that kentucky is going to be one of the most

contentious. earlier we mentioned that there is no love lost between mitch mcconnell and allison lonergan grimes. there have been accusations back and forth. the campaign bus purchased by her father with controversy over the mitch mcconnell campaign manager. the ron paul campaign, he had to step down amidst questions. every race, we get closer and closer. what we have seen from the pushback is that this is going to be a closely fought battle. it will be highly negative, not just in kentucky, but in louisiana and north carolina. stake.s how much is at congress returns this

week. they will have as few as seven legislative days before another break to campaign for the midterm elections. the president will be sitting down with congressional leaders on tuesday. what is it going to get done? nothing major. it will be the bare necessities to keep it going. another government shutdown will be unlikely. a enough republicans learned lessons from the last one. but that is something to watch. the more times that they can get voters to the focus on republican obstructionism, i think that is better for democrats. they want to get in, do what is necessary, get out and get back on the campaign trail. we are dividing the phone lines between political parties.

you can also make comments online. connie, north bergen, new jersey. good morning. good morning. thank you for taking my call. i have a few comments. and discuss it. i believe that the issue will out. about the borders, they come to the borders for the recount. they come to the borders to pick them up.

the spanish people should get together. the one thing that i blame or is the humans. they come to this country like before. and then we have senators against it. i saw the father on television myself. i will say that he should go back to canada. where are you from? i am from spain, european, i have nothing to do with this. guest: one thing that she pointed out that i think you will have a lot of voters feeling is this frustration with negative advertisement.

seeing as much. cory booker in new jersey, should win pretty easily. the cell of an advertisement from earlier, lots of people may want to shoot their televisions by the time the election season is over. as nathan said there is no way to get away from these executive ads that get more and more prevalent. another thing that she mentioned is that mcconnell, she was afraid he was going to work against the president if he does become majority leader. it is true,, has laid out some of the things he'd could do in the republican house and senate, pushing a path to legislation that the republicans will not be happy with. this week we had an interview with paul ryan and one of the things was that if we win both houses of congress, get ready to veto. we are only going to see more gridlock if republicans take full control. that will set up an interactive

dynamic for 2016 the democrats. hillary clinton likely running on dysfunction. i don't know that the president doesn't want this, pointing to dysfunction in congress as he continues to do, i think it will be even more dysfunctional if we have more gridlock in congress. host: iowa is one of those states that is a tossup. speaking of, hillary clinton will be there today. i want to share with our viewers and with you one of the latest ads from the koch brothers organization. it is on the congressman's attendance record. [video clip] missed 79% of the veterans affairs committee meetings. veterans risked their lives for

our country. he didn't have the respect to show up and support them. joan harris is a true iowan who keeps her small-town roots. to care for troops. that is what you would expect. >> freedom partners action fund is responsible for the content of this advertising. example ofer negative advertisements and outside funding? guest: i think that this is a specific issue that we will see from now until election day. there are republicans believe that this is an effective way to tie him to service and why he should not have a promotion. the next caller comes from pennsylvania. frank, independent line. do you explain to me how someone would spend $50 million,

$100 million to get a job that only pays $178,000 per year? guest: they are not actually spending their own money. some will come you are right. we have seen the numbers grow astronomically. a lot of times the investment has not worked out. sometimes the return on the is -- return on the investment is not what you hope it would be. clearly they see their influence rising. it certainly brings up the stock for some of this. the prestige. a genuine call to service. a lot of these people are independently wealthy. they are not resting on that 170 $8,000 per year, certainly.

we are entering an age where you cannot just have anyone run. donors that are willing to back your campaign. to some people it takes out that citizen politician element. host: charles, good morning. -- caller: morning good morning. i am the veteran of two wars and a proud democrat. i can't understand why at this time we would ask anyone to vote for the republican party. i can only remember the big depression climbing out of this one. been horrifying. we are just now coming out of it. we will be back in the same place that we were in 2007, 2008, 2009. i hope you can convey this

message to the people and let them think about that. host: thank you. is the message that democrats across the country are trying to make. why go back to having more publicans and power and this is what happened? the president has been in office for six years now and enough people are dissatisfied, the president's job approval rating is in the low 40% nationally, but in the states and districts that are the most competitive, he is in the high 30's. there is an uneasiness, and unwillingness by some voters to keep blaming republicans and democrats are having to answer for more than they did. a lot of attention on new hampshire, where two former senators are on the ballot. as to whether scott brown will win the nomination? guest: that would be a major shocker if he was not the nominee.

there were some comments about it being a big surprise. i am not exactly sure what he has in store, but that is a race that we have had to read on jeanne shaheen being favored for, but there is evidence that this has closed some and it may be becoming more competitive than it was a few months ago. host: what is the track record senators, one current and one former, running against each other? i mean, it has happened in the past, but someone who has moved from massachusetts to new hampshire and tries to run as a favorite son? --host: guest: this is not scott brown moving to hampshire , a lot of people do go back and forth between the states.

of as made some kind little gaffes along the way. maybe a couple of times he has messed up and almost said massachusetts or something. that will continue to of course be a line of attack against him. as nathan said, there is an indication that this is certainly becoming a more and i thinkrisk that one thing that is is the numbers of jeanne shaheen have not moved much. the president has seen his approval ratings drop. if he is a drag on places like new hampshire, iowa, states that he carried twice, imagine how bad that will be for democrats in places like louisiana, arkansas. alaska. responding to the earlier

point about the job and how much it pays -- stanley, myrtle beach, california. hello. my name is stanley and i am from orlando, florida. i have worked for the citrus for 12 years. the people that hire the mexicans to pick citrus in florida. i think all of you people are theseception having about mexicans. these mexicans are making $700, $800 or we. years ago they got paid on what they picked. now i have seen them in the mountains of tennessee, doing the tobacco where white people used to work, my family used to work there. take people have come and over these things because we

have too many lazy americans, too many people on welfare that will not work. we need to change that. --host:hank you for thank you for the call. immigration is a complicated issue tied to the economy and other people's welfare. i hot issue now, it might be a hotter issue when the president untilhis initial decision there is a balance between border security and immigration reform in general. roger, good morning. were talking about negative ads earlier. who do they work on? they are a turnoff for me. negative on they are not better than their opponent.

what do your guests think about the turnout in the houses of the senate? is he going to go in the majority? one question is who they turn towards. parties are gearing this a lot towards their base. traditionally when you see more of the base voters turn out. ads are targeted towards giving those people more . you will see democrats the same way. they need their base to turn out in places. arkansas is especially a place where the president didn't have an infrastructure and democrats could rely on that osa model that the president had used. you saw the democratic senatorial campaign committee

going in there to essentially create something that had not been there before. the emphasis is really on democrats to turn out their voters in places they really need, but in both of these places they need to sort of anger these voters to get to the polls. turning they do risk off these independent voters in the middle who if they don't turn out the advantage still goes slightly more towards republicans. phone lines are open -- the: we are joined here at table by jessica taylor and nathan gonzales. have people walk through negative ads, media consultant do not just wake up in the morning and think about the worst ad they can make today. polling that goes on where they ask voters in each district what issues they care issues, if they

had certain information, changes their mind. the reason you see so many negative ads is because negative ads crafted in the right way work, influencing the person's opinion on how they will vote. most people are inclined to say they don't like negative ads, but then they see one and say -- i didn't know that. it starts to influence their vote. host: let's turn our attention to the house. with 435 members of congress, you point out there are 174 listed as safe. 200 10 republican seats. of the seats in play, 25 republican seats, 25 democratic seats. only seven complete tossup races. including arizona. the seat formerly held by gaby giffords. her former aide, ron barber,

facing a republican charger. this was an extremely close race in 2012. sally, one of the first woman to fly in combat. with somed advantages, like higher name identification. often a challenge to a candidate is getting known. negativestarted with because of being attacked. this is also a border district. if the president were to decide coulding here, that influence the race as well. it will be clay -- the close. another one, west virginia's three in what is becoming a pretty red state. ,> congressman rahal

representing one of the most republican districts. evan jenkins, the republicans really feel like -- they have always tried to go after rahal, but never had a good candidate against him. there was heavy republican spending earlier in the spring. the congressman's numbers started to crater. now it is kind of bouncing around a little bit. democrats have been emboldened by this race. they feel like they pushed back on specific elements of the affordable care act and they feel emboldened by it. can use thatey blueprint in districts across the country. tossup, whypublican is he in trouble? it is a competitive district.

the former democratic nominee and speaker of the house, a tremendous fundraiser, i think it will be a great race. what surprised me was that coming into the race, mike cotton, the congressman, his numbers are surprisingly strong. as romanoff starts to spend more money and make his case, we will see it tighten a little bit. very competitive gubernatorial election there. in the sixth district it is one of the battleground districts of a battleground state. this morning in "the new york times," the sunday review, this piece, "why democrats can't win." one of the points is pennsylvania, the state has been solidly democrat, but the democrats cannot win a majority .n the house districts >> they took a district in pennsylvania --guest: they did a

district where they try to defeat him for years, they said they were just going to pack democrats into this district. what it did isidore democrats from the neighboring districts and made that more republican, made a few of these members safer. that is an example of republicans using redistricting in order to hold the majority they already had. that is why 2010 was a difficult .eelection for democrats they lost control of the redistricting process in key states. myrtle beach, south carolina, good morning. caller: you had an advertisement in iowa there about a race, 79% of the meetings for veterans affairs. is that true? if it's true, why is it negative? what's your point?

--host: what's your point? caller: the press, rather than finding out whether it is a true ad, says it is a negative ad. negative, if you are informing the public, it depends on what those people are doing. guest: republicans would not see this as a negative ad, what campaigns call this is a contrast ad. you're giving more information that may be negative but contrasting it with the other person's record. anie is a veteran, she's running on her service. she had to leave the campaign trail for part of her reserve duty. so if you have a member of congress who has missed this many votes, then brailley certainly is coming under a lot of scrutiny for meetings that he has missed there.

contrasted with a female combat veteran. that's exactly the kind of contrast that they were wanting to make and one that is certainly contributing to why this race is so close host: another contrast can be made by this. in response to the koch brothers here are the coke sisters. >> i'm karen around i'm joyce and we are the coke sisters. we're not biological sisters but sisters in spirit. >> and we're not related to the koch brothers those right-wing billionaires. we're just two average women who raised families. we don't have billions to spend on political campaigns but we do have our convictions and voices. we think that's important. >> if you agree then join us with an all be a nation of coke sisters. host: we have been focused on outside money including the koch brothers but does this

resonate with the general public? guest: i don't think that it does but this ad is certainly designed for the democratic base. the koch brothers are democrats boogie torry reid's men. this brings in money if you know especially as we get close to the end of a month you are inundated with pleas for money, the coke brotters are going to take over this race and this is something that certainly people who may not know as much about these races, oh my goodness all this money and the coke brothers want to do this around democrats have painted them as the evil sort of funding machines and things too so they're trying to contrast this with these average everyday women who have worked really hard and their names happen to be koch. one thing that confused me they're not actually sisters. it's confuse bug this is more

so designed to try to continue to get money to sort of grow their email list and again going back to turnout. democrats need these people that are sort of frustrated and angry about this money and the millions that the coke brothers are spending through many different venues. >> if you're just tuning in or listening on c-span radio, our focus, the mid term elections less than 60 days before voters go to the polls and early voting in many parts of the country. ac from missouri. good morning. go ahead. caller: i've always considered myself a democrat. ok. i'm 56 years old. and a taxpayer. from a single man's point of view, missouri i've been

clearly, cleared for medicaid. but missouri being having opted having medicaid come through. since i'm legally by medicaid i am not eligible for obamacare. as a u.s. tax citizens, as single, a 56-year-old man, where should i swing my vote to get the most impact? i said this time i want to know should it go to a woman, should it go to -- i'm right now, i'm always considered myself democrat. ok, i'm at this point in my life where maybe i need to switch my way of thinking. host: thanks very u much for the call. nathan let me turn to you to

talk about the impact of health care and the affordable care act. but first to his point. guest: well, living in missouri, this cycle, there aren't a lot of hot races. so in terms of change being able to switch your senator, switch your member of congress, it's not one of the battleground states. but health care in general, the affordable care act there's been a lot of discussion. it's not a hot issue any more. but this is an issue, jessica was talking about things that rile the base. it still gets the republican base very excited and we're still seeing it trying to fuel some of the energy by the republicans get out the vote effort. and that's something one of the keys in this election is the result is one thing, but what lessons do both parties learn coming out of the election? and which party believes it's either a mandate to continue or a mandate to repeal obamacare?

i know the president is in office so it's unlikely but the lessons coming out of november is very important. host: let me ask about another race. montana, senator warble appointed expected to run a formidable campaign. he's now out of the race because of majorism charges. the republicans putting up another candidate. >> this is a huge break for republicans. i think this majorism scandal really shook up the race, certainly, there. and this is almost one of the three open seats that we really fully expect to flip to republican column along with south dakota and west virginia. open seats now retiring democrats in red states and they've put up a state senator there who if she doesn't have the time or the money certainly to make this a competitive race. democrats know this is off of their list.

and i think what more so it does, even before walsh dropped out dane had the edge there but now they don't have to spend resource there is. so you're seeing them move the money out. i think it certainly frees up money for other places. but this is a race where that certainly that was an absolute game changer and certainly hands this to republicans. guest: she's young, she is a woman. i don't think there's a lot of competition to jump into this, to be the one chosen to take over. and she already -- republicans were quick on the draw to find you tube videos, being of a younger generation she's been more active of social media so she has more opinions out there that might be attractive to one side that also gives more for her opponents to go after and to criticize. and i think this is one, this has even gone into the safer column where even south dakota where there's multiple candidates in the race and the

math is a bill bit challenging. montana looks like a safe republican takeover host: here on c-span will be your place to watch the debates in all of these races and you can follow us on social media. you can like us on twitter and you can get all the information 2014 pan.org/campaign also at facebook.com/c-span. bobby, texas. good morning. caller: good morning. i was a republican for years and years. hen george w. bush and his son messed it up so bad we all went in depression. ow i had a heart attack. the man before i could file my social security had filed bankruptcy. month to ave 1100 a

live on. it's hard for me to make it. and i think all this congress spends, [inaudible] the way we have to. they could trouble find getting food or shelter or anything like this. i worked hard all my life. i was a painter. i killed myself just to make six -- while they're making six figures a year. and hollering they don't make enough money. and i don't think they all to -- any of them, i don't think they ought to be able to run for congress being in there 30 years. i think they ought to have a limit on how many years they can run and then get a new one in there. host: he brings up two issues.

term limits, which has been talked about extensively over the last 20 or 30 years. and also, one of the issues we focused on friday in the "washington journal" really class in america and the divide between rich and poor. guest: well, term limits goes up and down in terms of we go through cycles becoming more of an issue. some candidates will bring it up now on their own, self--term limiting themselves. i think that's about as far as we're going to get. i don't think we're going to have a law. you're not going to have people that are directly impacting members of congress voting to kick themselves out after a set number of terms. i just for some reason don't think that's going to happen. >> and his point about class and wealth? guest: i think it's a concern for a lot of people. it's part of the democratic message more than the republican message. but i think it's really it resonates with a lot of people. and i think that's one of the

democratic things that they have. the republicans are just in it for the wealthy they have these wealthy donors, they have these wealthy outside groups spending money and that's part of the message. host: henry, good morning. caller: good morning. host: you're on the air. caller: i'm calling about they keep saying about the immigrants and the reason why you have to bring immigrants in to work, farmland, whatever business there is, is because local people don't want to do nothing but be on welfare. that's not a fact. the fact of it is not the idea you cannot get the local people to work. the reason with why they're having a problem with local people, let's say the man who is making the six figures goes to the gas station pay it is same thing for his gas as what the man pays for gas that's only making minimum wage. the man who is making in the six figures, he says he can't make it off minimum wage.

well, how do you figure a poor man can make it off minimum wage? then they keep saying about the immigrants. you've got to back this train up. it started a long time ago. and congress keeps doing the same thing over and over. leave those people where they are and try to do something with the people you have over here. try to help them. but to keep from paying the top wages, what they do is get immigrants. let's back the train up. a long time ago they went over in africa and got ault african americans from over there and brought them over here to do thimmings they didn't want to do. and we constantly keep doing the same thing over and over. you'll never get a change. right now we're talking about over here in isis. leave that alone. try to straighten your own people out you've got people here in the united states starving. they're on tv, they're starving. and we can take millions of dollars to go over to bomb people which doesn't make sense. and then you bring them here.

once you bring them here then you holler about immigrants. ost: we'll get a response. congressman cassidy, senator land rue among the top two candidates in what could end up being a runoff in early december but have you decided who you're going to vote for? caller: i don't see anybody capable to deserve my vote because they all lie. these lies that they're doing is deceit. so i wouldn't vote for either one of them. she lives in washington, d.c. and still wants to represent in louisiana and look what she's living in, look what i'm living in. and you take it for cassidy he gets up on tv and starts lying and saying what he is going to do for the people and knowing he's not going to do anything. it's time to change the whole system. guest: i think this gets back to the question of certainly class and things too and one of the things he mentioned is how

much he's liing on versus politicians. i think that's why you are seeing democrats push minimum wage initiatives, this is something that harry reid has said he still wants to bring up in the senate. and this certainly is a democratic base issue that they will do. but i think you see a lot of politicians trying to show how they are relating to these people and even going out, a lot of them have tried to live on minimum wage for a week showing how difficult it is. but i think as an earlier caller said, $178,000 to a lot of people is a lot of money. it can go very far in a lot of plastes. and for them seeing maybe we're not sending people up here that are doing a lot and still making that, and whereas their constituents are just barely getting by. so i think that's what you're going to hear democrats continue to push. but again, his concerns with immigration i think goes to what republicans are, the sort of fear that they're going to

be taking away people coming into the country, taking away these low-paying jobs. and people do need them and are wanting them. so i think that it really does sort of sound an independent in the true sense. and also he's very frustrated with both places. he doesn't like cassidy, doesn't like land rue, that sort of frustration with inaction and people is why we see congress' approval rating at an all-time low. host: and in the first and presumably only debate in the californiagoer nove's race, the republican candidate who had spent time with the homeless going after the slow recovery in california where jerry brown becoming one of the youngest governors ever and now the oldest elected governor in california history. at the end of the debate a call for another debate and jerry brown saying i think we've seen the differences here tonight. guest: and this is, we've gotten this far with cash cari and the republican nominee. there was concern that someone else would be the nominee in

california and that would totally submarine any republican efforts to take over some of the critical, the most competitive house districts down the ballot. but now there's at least a sense that it won't be a complete blowout and jerry brown won't completely cruise and there will be at least competitive enough of these republican opportunities in the 52nd district, maybe the 7th district, that those are at least possible because brown is not going to blow them out of the water. host: from texas. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i wanted to say that the reason r the jobs that the people are low-paying jobs, that the people do not have the training. some of these people aren't worth $2 an hour let alone $7.50 an hour. they need training. the infrastructure of america is dead. do you see our roads and our bridges? and everything out here?

instead of putting money into all these politician's pockets, we should be getting these people on welfare and disability and stuff that do not have jobs and cannot have jobs. and going on disability because of it. taking some of the pay out of the government and putting it into the infrastructure. get these people out there on these jobs so they can get experience in jobs and this president is turning the country into a pot hole. he's degrading our system. this is not america as we know it because of this president. the president is the problem. it's the democrats, too, because they allowed him to do it all these years. we need to clean house in every part of government it's 90% fraudulent. host: thank you for the call. guest: i think she's touching on something that i think is a vicious cycle that there is such a low view of government

right now that when the government tries to do something, i think democrats and the president would point to the stimulus bill saying hey this was where we were trying to inject spending into the economy. spend some money on infrastructure, spend money on roads. but because people have such a low view of government, there is an immediate, well, they're not spending it right or correctly. and it sort of becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy in this vicious cycle. until people view government, have a higher view of government, there's always going to be the skepticism that everything they do is wrong, fraudulent, corrupt, and that's i think a problem in general. host: kentucky, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, sir. host: before you make your point i want to get your sense of what is happening on the ground that showed mitch mcconnell at about 50% and alison grimes at 46%.

the plit report listing this as a lean republican race. you're calling on the republican line. what's your sense? caller: well, sir, to tell you u the truth i wouldn't vote for either one of them. but i have to vote for mitch mcconnell because alison grimes will put the commonwealth of kentucky back so far if she gets elected that we'll never get back to any kind of status in this country. mitch mcconnell's been there too long but the reason i called was because of the term limits that the other gentleman talked about. you've got to educate your public to tell them what a term limit is. that's their vote. and you can't complain if you don't vote. like i said, mitch mcconnell, he's not the best but he's the best we've got. host: ok. caller: we'll lose out education, job, if he goes.

that's just the way it is. that's the facts. and your other caller there mentioned the koch brothers and stuff. why don't you all mention george soros and all his organizations that put out money, the big money? he wants open borders and open drug laws. so let's be fair about this. i appreciate your call. caller: have a nice day. host: who would like to take that? guest: i think that he as a republican especially these are the type of voters mcconnell does have to get and he is going to be a reluctant voter. senator mcconnell's biggest stumbling block is he is certainly seen as a creature of washington, has very staggering approval ratings but sounds like the caller exactly is -- their message certainly is resonating that grimes is going to come here, be a vote for president obama, and as he

said, he's not the best but he's sort of the best we've got. and mcconnell isn't going to win overwhelmingly. he does need to continue to sort of drive home that message. and i think that is certainly what is happening. d but again, he also sort of hit on the message grimes has had in a lot of her ads that mcconnell has been here too long. but as you are sort of seeing this race, the poll this week, he is sort of starting to pull away. the republican lean of the state is starting to win out. >> new polls in a couple key races we'll have that coming up. but first tony from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: good morning. ok. i used to be a democrat. but the reason why i switched over to independent is because for mocrats i thought --

one thing they [inaudible] they're scared on the social security. if they backed they would be in a strong position on it. and talking about this race of mitch mcconnell. now, in history kentucky was one of the last states to join or get rid of the slavery. mitch mcconnell to black people represents one of the most racist views that anybody can put forward. o therefore when people come when mcconnell is running and the way he speaks and talks it is automatically a turnoff. but i want to emphasize that the democratic party, if they were to get behind president obama on a lot of the issues and the things that he put forward, they would be in a

much better position and they wouldn't be so timent and scared that they're going to lose the senate. host: direct contrast to what we heard a moment ago. guest: it sounds like he does want democrats to get behind president obama on a lot of these things but he said they're scared and timid. i think this shows again that everything that happens is going to be political especially when you are less days 0 days out -- 60 out. i think they're going to be in session for less than three weeks coming up here you're not going to see a lot of things get done but voters on both sides are going to be frustrated with the fact that congress has been out now for five weeks, they're coming back tomorrow but not a lot expected to get passed and things too. so that's why i think you're just going to continue to have this finger pointing with president obama saying congress isn't doing anything and congress saying well we've passed this president obama hasn't taken any of this up. guest: i think toni brings up

the democrats that aren't supporting the president enough. if we go back to the affordable care act when the president took off democrats in the house and the senate that they wished the president would have been more assertive on the affordable care act but he wanted to stay above the fray, tried to be nonpartisan and he punted it to the hill who kicked it around for over a year and it became a much more polarizing issue as it got further and further along down the trail. so i know that there's still those house and senate democrats wished if the president had dealt with this and not been as timid in the, the 2010 elections might have been different and we might not be in this position. >> there's lingering resentment between congress and the president. they don't think he has reached out to them even though he was in the senate he never really developed that sort of legislative skill making, certainly isn't johnson was sort of the master of the

senate and could go up there and certainly leverage things. but the president and the white house has taken a very hands off approach to congress. this is what we're going to do. we want you to get behind it. so they seemed kind of shocked sometimes when the senate and things don't do this and they haven't gone up there sort of lobbied them tried to ease tensions and things like that too. you mentioned earlier, i think that is why it's important to note that the president is going to meet with leaders on tuesday. certainly not enough to sort of ease the simmering tensions between them but i think it is a step that on these issues that he is going to have to have some backing from hill leaders. host: back to the house ratings and one of the results we'll be looking at tuesday in the massachusetts primary is congressman teerny who faced a tough reelection, narrowly winning two years ago, facing a primary challenge. you have this listed as a toss-up tilt democrat. what's happening?

guest: so two years ago congressman teerny faced with some ethical questions particularly about his wife and brothers inu law faced a very significant challenge from former state state senator. he's running again but now there's a democratic challenger who raised a considerable amount of money for a primary challenger. now he's been up on tv criticizing congressman teerny. teerny is now on tv calling him a republican trying to label him as a republican to democratic prismery voters. and on tuesday, there isn't a lot of date avementteerny started the race with a significant lead because no one had any idea who his challenger was. now that gap is starting to close. and republicans are -- republicans want to face teerny. they want to see him get beat up but they want to face him because of this baggage that they can continue to bring up. it will be interesting on tuesday and still a race in

november. guest: i don't know, if he wins i think this becomes a harder seat for republicans. that they need that baggage to sort of beat up on teerny. and we've seen him really go negative against moleten. i think this indicates that he is very much in trouble. there was at least one poll that showed this within the margin of error. but within that matchup, moleten had a much more comfortable lead over the others, the matchup was much closer. he isn't your typical challenger. he has some very well respected democratic strategists boo hind him. he's an iraq veteran and stanley ms crystal one of the made one of his first endorsements wading back into politics. and i talked to some democrats they said that was maybe a turning point certainly in the race. >> and the boston papers endorsing his opponent.

>> they've mixed words in those. >> let's go back to the phone calls. david from florida. we'll have the results from those primaries on tuesday here obc-span. and on line. caller: good morning. please don't cut me off. let's go back to the point where we were talking about the farm workers who were taking the jobs that the americans wouldn't take. the reason why americans won't take these jobs, gentlemen, ok, ladies, is because they are paying slave labor. none of the american people can actually make a living off of working any of these jobs. any of the jobs. none of these jobs will give anybody a liveable wage. we all know that. you keep saying this, you keep saying these are jobs americans won't do. but you keep leaving out the fact that these are jobs that will not pay enough money for anybody to live on or raise a

family on. so what's happening basically is you're bringing in slave labor. we all know it's slave labor. you won't admit that it's slave labor. but here's where we really stand as a public. now, americans will not do these jobs, ladies and gentlemen, and the people out here in the united states, because we all know one thing. you cannot make a living off these jobs. now, please address that part of it. the jobs that we will not do. we will not do because we're americans and we can't make a living doing that because these people will not pay enough. would you please give me a comment to that? i would love to hear what the answer is to that because that is the real truth here. the truth is they will not pay anybody enough money to have to be able to put your kids to schools or to eat. ok. so that's the real truth here. host: david thanks for the call. guest: i think the point he's

getting to is some of these jobs that are minimum wage even maybe a different hourly rate does make it very difficult. we've seen studies and certainly things on that. that's why you have seen democrats push the minimum wage they want to get it up to 10.10 or some type of living wage. that's certainly not going to go anywhere on a federal level this year. but some places i would look where it could have an impact, states that are trying to implement a minimum wage increase, arkansas had an interesting move this week where they got this on the ballot for a state-based increase. mark pryor in a very tough senate race there. pryor opposes a federal minimum wage but did -- has backed the state minimum wage increase. that certaintly could help him but also his opponent did come out backing it too. that sort of mitigated any attacks. but these concerns for wages, for jobs, also we had the friday jobs report that came out was the lowest of the year,

exactly not what democrats wanted to hear going into november. but i think for a lot of people with hids concerns, it's not just the number of jobs out there or the numbers of jobs that are being lost or fewer jobs being created but it is a lot of these low-paying jobs still it doesn't make for a lot of people to be able to feed their family to just have a base of living wage. host: another race in georgia where michelle nun, the daughter of former senator sam nun, a democrat, being challenged by the republican candidate david perdue and we covered this from david perdue not only going after michelle nun for her connections to the president but also to harry reid. >> this race is very simple. the decision in this race. if you like what's going on in washington, then vote for my opponent. because you know she will be nothing more than a proxy for harry reid and barack obama and nothing will change. but if you're as outraged as i am by the size and scope of this government, by the

airingen policies that are failing this administration, and by the sheer magnitude of the debt they're piling on the backs of our kids and grandkids, then stand with me. ndlet take our country back. to a position of strength and prosperity. guest: he was on message there. he is trying to -- he is on what voters to be focused on. georgia is one of three i think question marks that we could be asking after november and that's if no candidate gets the 50% in georgia there is a libertarian who might get a few percentage points. if no candidates gets 50% it moves to a january runoff.

>> and who is he going to caucus with? so there is some question marks that could leave the control of the senate in doubt after vember host: good morning. caller: good morning. my concern is this and the followup on comments that have already been made. nd that is american spending versus what we're spending at home. military spending versus what we are spending at home. we have one of the strongest miltriss in the world and -- militaries in the world and we have been in one of the longest wars we've been in. my question is this. when are we going to hold the republicans accountable for the

fact that they cannot give the working man a minimum wage and as much as the drabts have fought for this, as much as the president has fought for this, there's -- they're sending the message that we need to take all over our country and the things, attack isis because they are a threat. et we cannot focus on spending money right here where we've en spending billions host: thanks for the call. guest: i think that's a sentiment a lot of people have. why are we focusing so much overseas instead of fixing

what's going on at home. i think the white house is trying to make the balance between the threats that are overseas but focusing on the economy. and i think that's one of the challenges of the mid term election for the president's party. if there's a sentiment that things aren't going in the right direction, people aren't satisfied with the economy, that they -- the base democrats will blame republicans but the voters in the middle they city see the government. there are different branches but they're in charge. if they don't like what's going in, it's a natural thing to be disinclined to vote for a candidate who would be with the president's party. host: steve. caller: i just don't understand the american people because they go out and vote for these republicans. they vote for the millionaires

and billionaires who have all the money in the world. they don't have -- and you know they cut down the president and say he's not doing anything. it's the house of representatives has the purse strings. and they're the ones that aren't doing anything because the republican party is the ones that hold the purse strings. guest: he mentioned these millionaire candidates and going back to that georgia clip. that's one of his biggest weaknesses that he is going to have to address. a 2012

ad who was running, someone who was laid off from his company speaking veryforthwritely about the chal edges and thinks they faced similar to what we heard callers here today being very frustrated about wages and things. so, if they can successfully paint david perdue as this out-of-touch businessman, that is his biggest weakness host: one viewer said do you think you could afford a home in d.c. and back home?

guest: it would be very difficult. home prices are not what they are where i grew up in tennessee. and, you know, i think that it is certainly a concern that both -- numbers do have to face. >> that's why i think we see a lot of members of congress they sleep in their offices or you have seen them, you know, have these group homes almost of members of congress on the hill. it is absolutely not cheap living here. it's not cheap whether you live on the hill or the suburbs and commuting. do they move their whole family here? put their children in school here? you know, and that's what i think a lot of these members do have to realize. they can be hit for moving their families to washington you, but, you know, you want to go home and see your family. >> that's why we see a lot of members, you know, maybe have family problems and different things, too. i think they have a lot of concerns they have to balance, especially depending upon where they live and how much commuting they may have to do back and forth but this is not a cheap

town to live in and it is a concern certainly that they do have. >> host: raven from west virginia. bob, what's going to happen in your state? caller: there is. he specially the senate race. >> leads me to my question to the panelist. i would like to hear their insight on how candidates do receive endorsements, whether for trade unions, business groups, newspapers, and then just how effective that really is. guest: i will separate that out but in terms of interest groups, interest groups endorse candidates they think will be froenltd their cause or incumbents who have already voted, taken votes that are friendly to their cause. i think to varying degrees on whether they matter or not. if it's a democratic group,

organized labor endorses adan democratic candidate, i don't know if that changes things if a pro-business group endorses a republican. but if you start to get those crossover endorsements, for example, the chamber of commerce endorsing congressman scott peters in the san diego area district. >> that's a very competitive race. he is a democrat. >> could have voters in the middle saying, i will take a second look at him because he may not be the type of democrat in the my mind. so, i think the crossover endorsements are more important than kind of the typical party endorsement. host: something you said earlier, one of the points that mary landrieu, if she is re-elected, she is key to the louisiana energy issues. here is an ad now in the air in that state: >> i am mary landrieu, and i approve this message. >> my name is travis and i have

worked places like this. people in washington have no idea what service is about. come down here and see. after the spill, we had only 12 people on a rig going in to the gulf. she took it on to make it easier to drill. >> led to almost sixty rigs and thousands of jobs. now, the energy committee, i am rick paris. >> in the december run-off, the republicans have control room of the senate. what impact does this have? guest: that argument would seem to evaporate if she is not going to be the chair of that committee and her clout is taken away by being in the minority, i think that's significant. >> takes a significant chip off of the table for her. >> that's why i think louisiana is one of the most difficult races to handicap because it's more complicated if it all rests on louisiana in control or if democrats or -- or if republicans have fallen shorts,

then that argument she is making, i think, would resonate very well. people say, absolutely. we need her in that position. so there is a lot of uncertainty in the louisiana race host: steve is joining us from ocean shore in washington. good morning. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. host: certainly. caller: i just find it really ironic or obvious how the democrats and the republicans seem to disagree on about everything there is but yet they do end up compromising, and it ends up screwing the working class. everything except like syria, chemical weapons, the democrats and the republicans couldn't wait to go there. thank god, the american people stopped it. and now, the beheading of the journalists. oh, they are bar barribaric.

is it any less barberic to the cut heads off than to drone attack a wedding party and kill innocent people, children. host: thank you for the call. guest: it's easier for the two parties to come together when we are talking about a threat overseas or a foreign enemy because there can be agreement that well, we may not agree with each other on spending or the minimum wage, but we can agree that these people, something needs to be stopped. so, i think that's why you see the compromise over -- over international issues. i think that there, you know, most people would say there isn't enough compromise going on here in washington on domestic issues, and, you know, frankly, i see that even though voters say they want compromise, that they are not often rewarding compromise at the ballot box. if you are a republican or democratic member who compromises with the other side, you are probably going to be met with a primary challenger and you may not be coming back to

congress. i think it goes both ways on who is to blame for the lack of compromise compromise. >> some news on this sunday morning, courtesy of nbc and chuck todd, the political director releasing three new polls and the headlines from mark murray from nbc news as the republican senates open up leads in a couple of key races. let's look at arkansas where according to this cpnt cotton compared for 40% for mark pryor taking another term. mitch mcconnell at 47%. allison grimes at 39% and in colorado, senator udall at 48% over cory gardner at 42%. your reaction? guest: in arkansas, that lines up with what can the public, non-partisan polling and republican polling tends to show. democrats released an internal poll that had senator pryor up 47-45. but i think the majority of this lines up with the rest of the

polling. in kentucky, this is definitely the rosiest poll i have seen for mcconnell but it still plays into the trend of the senator starting to build a little bit of a lead. it will be interesting to see what his favorable ratings are and what grimes' ratings are. colorado is the most pessimistic poll i have seen in colorado. this race is still developing. but democrats have been on the attack trying to define congressman cory gardner specifically on the personhood and choice issues and if they can do that, they can then, you know, i think this is the kind of result. colorado is a much more difficult state structurally for republicans than in arkansas or kentucky. >> joe is joining us from augusta, west virginia. your reaction in a moment. good morning, joe. >> yes, i wouldn't to make a comment about what wern person was talking about. i hear this all the time. and being from west virginia, knowing rockefeller has been in

west virginia all of these years, at one point, david rockefeller was the wealthiest man in the world, and the fact that the democrats just viewed so much misinformation talking about the we think, not to mention what they get out of hollywood and i feel like they always are throwing lies and they know that they are going to stick with the public because they have the majority of the media in their pocket. and so they just rely on mis information and watching c-span lately, i just believe there is a whole lot of democrats that call in on the independent line and the republican line. and so i just, the main thing is their mis information about so many things, and it's just sickening. guest: okay. joe, we will get a response. guest: i think the theme we have heard through these calls is such frustration. i think that's what republicans are bank okay at the ballot box is that, as nathan mentioned and

i know stu always likes to say, one of the biggest hampering blocks for democrats is if you want to voice your dissatisfaction with a president in a presidential election, you can do that, vote against the president. >> that's why we saw heidi castro be able to win in north dakota and the win in montana. this year, if you want to vote against the president, you only can vote against the democratic incumbent. >> that's why we are seeing mark pryor now at just 40%, why udall still faces a challenge and why you are seeing landrieu insomuch trouble, but people, i think, are certainly pessimistic. with government, pessimistic of the media and i think they are just generally in a pessimistic view in d.c. but around the country. >> we have a minute less. one senate race you think will be a bellweather. >> i think you should look at north carolina, you know. we have talked about louisiana

before. i have to separate louisiana because louisiana, i don't think it's going to be decided until december. i think north carolina is a very critical fight. it's a very tough state to at this in because of multiple media markets but you have a first-term speaker, a speaker of the house who has taken on some water from the legislature, a polarizing legislature, i think north carolina is going to be a very critical state. >> jessica, the last word. guest: i think alaska where republicans were intain about. i know nathan have them in the top democratic category but this is interesting because this isn't a state where maybe culturally conservative. >> that's one reason why you have a leg up. i was interested early on. he is campaigning on the back that he is pro-choice, has planned parenthood out there with him. this is not what you would see, been doing in traditionally red states but i think we are seeing it cut into that.

i would be interested to see polling out of that. i think i was struck by, you know, that does seem to be tightening up and arkansas, we have seen conflicting poll numbers on this. you usually see a democrat poll with them up, republican poll with them slightly up but if you are going in to november, 40% is not where you want to be where you are an incumbent. i think mark pryor has run a good campaign and he is not going to be the blanche lincoln. he hasn't written it off as we did in 2010. i think this is maybe one where you could see a republican start to go away in the next couple of weeks. >> our listeners and viewers, if they want to follow you on twitter, how can they do so guest: @jessska can ataylor, very simple, and the hill.com, we are going to cover this thoroughly. the primary we will have a story up on that tomorrow morning. if you want to read more about that. and thet check us out host: for you? >> at nathanlgonzalez and role

call.com. host: thank you for a fascinating conversation. we appreciate it. you can follow us on twitter@c-span, and we hope you like us on facebook at facebook.com and remind you, you can follow our campaign coverage online, on our website at c-span.org t cheyenne, wyoming has the largest rodeo in the world. one of the things you will learn as we take you there this week in part of c-span book t.v. content vehicle tralling around the country. watch on c-span preview of what we are about to show you. . >> you've got the moniker of daddy of them all because it literally was the first big rodeo anywhere. it started in 1897 as a means to bring some economic vitality in to an otherwise depressed economy, and this was certainly not what was expected to happen.

but it soon became one of the premier rodeo events. it easily became known as the world championship rodeo, the plates to go for any cowboy or for anybody who wanted to experience western culture or western life as it was experienced by the cowboys, themselves. they would be able to come here to see it. >> for frontier days, it seemed like it was born under a rising star, and that first year was so successful, it brought 4,000 people up to cheyenne, but it was also so successful that a gentleman by the name of buffalo bill cody heard about its success and was determined to actually have his show come to cheyenne in correspondence with cheyenne frontier days rodeo. the next year, in 1898, he came, and i would say that was our tipping point because it brought even more people, and we went from 4,000 to an estimated 20,000 people in one year thanks to the fact that he came, and when he brought in the

established parades for us, he was also the inspiration of bringing indians to cheyenne for the first time. it was a marvelous affair. . >> a portion of what you can see later today on c-span 2's book t.v. and c. span 3s american history t.v. 689 follow our travels around the country at cspan.org/localcontent. karen lee is joining us, the managing area of what? >> an single issue platform that covers syria 24 hours a day as in depth as possible. >> you have been inside the country on a number of occasions. i want to begin not with the politics in the foreign policy of syria and the president but the people of the country. what have you seen? guest: a lot of hopelessness. over the last few years, the people of syria have gone from being revolutionaries, rebels. they have wanted change and they have seen that it's rably probably not going to half and they have watched their country

devolve into civil war and what we soo is hopelessness everywhere you go. host: how are they living and making a living? guest: half of the country, almost can has now been displaced either internally or across the border into turkey, lebanon and into iraq now and into jordan. people aren't eating very well. they are really struggling. they don't have access to medical care. they don't have access to humanitarian aid. a lot of their friends have died. everybody you know say i tried to reach my contact today and et cetera dead. i tried to reach my uncle. i don't know if he is dead. i tried to reach my mother. she is living in another country. peoples' lives have been destroyed. host: president asad, the son of the former president, he has ruled the country now for well over the last decaddecade, but political support. how is he is able to maintain that? guest: in provinces, the heartland, a member of the

allowhite sect, in damascus. i don't think damascus is going to fall for a long time if it does but a lot of other parts of the country, he is starting to gain support because people who supported the free syrian army or modern opposition have watched groups fail them and say we don't care it's as is sad. he seems like the best choice at this point. host: in terms of us policy toward syria, the president getting a lot of attention when he threatened to use u.s. military operations inside the country, did not do so, and now, syria says, well, they are dismantling the nuclear capacity. guest the u.s. said it might go into syria. syrians want them to go into syria at this point. they watched what happened every single syrian has e-mailed me with tears in their eyes saying, why not us? why them? and i don't really understand why we are not helping them. host: what the chemical weapons can assad have and what did he

destroy? guest: certainin gas, mustard gas, things that could kill a thousand people in an hour. he destroyed apparently all of it it. host: has that been verified guest: semi verified. people were saying all. the opcew said we think there is some left, about 4% left. host: in terms of his family and the support that he has, can you just describe the people around president assad, his wife, his mother? guest: al game russ, before the conflict that talked about this young glamorous couple redefining at a time middle east. >> has not been the case. a lot of people support them, again, because they are the alternative to what's happened. the alternative to isis, the alternative to al-qaeda and they have a fantastic propaganda machine that says look at what's happened when you take us out of power. you get this destruction.

bring us back. he's got a lot of his supporters, especially around him in government. host: what the about allies in the region? guest: he doesn't have a lot of alli allies. he has more in isis, more friends in isis. when you contrast him with isis, he looks like the better choice. >> that's what's going to keep him there a long type host: our guest is the sarah leigh. she sefrpz as the managingerred of syriadeeply.org. o our lines are: the program is carried life. richard is joining us from bristol, england. good afternoon to you, richard. caller: good morning to you in the united states. i hope you are all well. host: thank you. what's your comment? caller: my comment is it that i think that this whole issue about military, it's going to be probably in some sort of nato

sort of led intervention. obviously because we from the russians or chinese. but we are getting involved far too often with fire fights in the middle east. we are continuously putting out fires, not actually dealing with the root quiz of a lot of the problems in the middle east, especially in relation to syria. there are a lot of people who would say that we would actually need a u.n.-mandated 10-year plan that would deal with entire region and that would be number 1, 2-state solution, deal with that call to arms, jihadists. second of all, i think we also need to deal with the extremists amongst their own allies in saudi arabia. fortunately, that is something that means we are going to have to look at dealing with replace

being with a multi-cultural currency so we can, if necessary, limit finances to certain people and certain groups. host: uh-huh. caller: by alternative means. host: we will get a response. richard thanks for the call from england. guest: when we are looking at various countries going in to syria is that we need a solid partner on the ground in syria. we need allies. when you talk about allies, we don't have one who can help us clean up whatever we do. we don't have anybody on the ground in syria who can help. not the free syrian army, not the assad regime. when you look at forming a coalition, a 10-year plan, we need a solid syrian partner. we don't have that. so, it's very hard to come up any kind of coalition to reach out to allies who can't give a solid plan for what we should do on the ground. host: tom friedman, this mornings, in "the new york times" writes about leading from

within. he says the most difficult leadership abroad starts with respect earned from others, committing doing great things and difficult things at home that summon the entire of the whole country and not just our military families. he goes on to say that that is how america inspires others to action. how does the arab world view the u.s.? how does it view the president? leading from within or the other nations? guest: the obama administration has not gotten a lot of great press in the middle east. people are wondering why it's been so slow to come up with a plan in syria. people thought there should have been a plan three years ago and that now the obama administration is playing catch-up. they don't understand why there is this plan for iraq, why no plan tore syria, why the plan for iraq, blowing uh-huh vooes and small targets. if you are going to take a stand and say there is going to be military, why hasn't there been

more of a conferens with people in the arab world? why isn't there a coalition of arab leaders helping him? why does the u.s. seem to go almost alone in iraq and why aren't there coming up with a plan. the u.s. is seen as acting alone in this almost. >> john in new york city, republican line. caller: yes, my question has to do with the chemical weapons. your guest said that 96% of the chemical weapons have been destroyed. but those are declared chemical weapons that assad has declared. what about the undeclared chemical weapons? there is the suspicion that he didn't include all of the chemical weapons in his list of declared chemical weapons. also, he is -- he also used chlorine gas in attacks after the so-called chemical weapons have been destroyed. he is still using chemical

weapons even though it's prohibited by the chemical weapons convention. host: is that the case in the guest: that is the case. chemical weapons is very devicing in syria. it's unclear if he declared everything to begin with and if everything has been destroyed. it's why we suspect there is a small amount floating about and he might not have declared everything when the process started a year ago. chemical weapons become a polarizing issue. it seems the issue that's really kept the west at bay, kept the west from intervening in syria because the west says look, we are taking care of chemical weapons, this big issue and they turned their backs on everything else. everything you heard from the syria people over the last year was our people are still dying, still bombings, still sniper sho shootings, all of this stuff happening and you are obviously focusing on chemical weapons. then there is the issue of chlorine gas, other gases that are deadly being used, dropped now by isis, by the regime, by other opposition groups in

various areas across syria that weren't included in the original definition of what a chemical weapon is. they are deadly as well. host: in turkey, you are speaking and traveling in this area but how important is turkey to nato and the u.s. guest: extremely important. it's the jihad highway. the main outlet for isis for, for all of the other smaller groups. is it became the main portal over the last three years to smuggle until oil, smuggle in goods, fighters. a lot of people going through tleb non-as well but this has become the main way. erd. uan has gotten flack. i don't think it would have stopped it but sometimeied natural major way. >> what's your background? >> i started as an intern at "time" in london. >> triggered an interest in foreign news and when tarab spring happened, i started

streaming in bay rain and egypt and west africa. you see how the region inter connects. i don't think i ever intended to be a middle east person. it's worked out that way. host: where are you from? svrnlthsl hoecht santa barbara. hoecht. host: good morning. caller: i thought there might be a good idea for senators gram and mccain to take a trip over to iraq and syria and try to talk to this here mr. baghdadi and see if they can come to an agreement. i think two good ol' boys like that should should get their feet on the ground there and really settle things. thank you. host: from the democrats line. karen leigh. guest: i think that the u.s. senate ever speaking to isis is -- i don't see that

happening. host: let's go to anthon knee in north carolina. caller: my statementis simple: i think these countries who are not participating should foot the bill. i think things would change soon after that. thank you. guest i didn't hear host: other countries foot the bill if they are not involved in the fight. guest: there is no way for syria to financially combat isis beyond what assad is already doing host: can you envision the u.s. going alone guest: maybe in five years if this is still going, there might be something considered. the problem for the u.s. is two major options as a ground partner. if we go in and use airstrikes we need somebody to come in on the ground and help us clean up o the free syrian army and the assad regime. the free syrian army would be

the best political option but militarily, it's not feasible. the assad regime would be a disaster. there is no way obama would do it. it's too mess y for us to get in ourselves. i don't see it happening host: could the kurds be a partner guest: they could be. a year down the road, iraqi kurds, turkish pkk which is the militant terrorist group in southerntie and the syrian kurds. we don't no which kurdish group will take the lead. we don't know if the syrian kurds who want an autonomous state would want to take a lead on this. this is something they are interested in as long as they have kept their border clear so there are kurdish militant dynamics f host: the organization you work for, news deeply is a new concept in trying to drill down into some of these hot spots. paint the business model of news deep lee and what syria deeply is about.

guest: the founder said i think there is a black hole in news when it comes to syria because i am trying to find out what's going on. i have to use google news and go to wikipedia. what if we had one in depth website that aggreg gated everything from the west, new news items that really just told the story in depth weekly. and what if we had a series of these under the news umbrella and people could go to one portal portal. >> that's what we did. host: our guest is managing editor, brian joining us on the republican line. caller: good morning. yes, my question to your guest there was: secretary of state kerry was a senator under the bush administration, i think the last few months. he went to syria to have a closed meeting with president assad.

what was about that meeting? what was that about? and did it have anything leading up to all of the procetests, hi you know, demand he gave up power and stuff. do you know anything about that meeting, what took place? host: host: thank you. brian. guest: that was a friendly meeting between the two of them. it was not to discuss what was coming. i don't think anybody, including assad could have guessed this was coming in syria at that time. i think the kerries took the assads out for dinner in damascus. i don't think there was any foreshadowing. >> how do you sneak into certain i can't guest: it's harder. when i did it, we drove an hour and a half out of antakia in southern turkey and met a fixer on the border and walked over the mountains. >> that's what people do. now, it's become a lot harder. the turkish police are trying to stop people from going in and

out, shutting down the smuggling route. >> do you know either of the beheaded journalists. >> sotloff. >> what was your impression. >> he was an adventureous guy. he knew the risks andd took them anyway. he did things, the hard story where you saw, you know, there is a 50% chance something bad could happen, he would do it because he had this deep desire to tell it. both wanted to tell the story of the syrian people. it's a story that gets lost. people talk about isis, the fsa, us strikes but nobody focus on the syrian people and these two were two journalists focused on telling the story. host: what is the current population of syria. do you know? and how many have left the country and in neighboring countries? >> about 20 million before thisgan. from what i am hearing, something over 6 million have been displaced and another 3 million or so have fled to turkey, iraq, leb nominee,

jordan. there is refugee camp in jordan, the fourth largest city in jordan and they are being another camp because the overflow is too big host: how does a country like that try to recover? guest: it's a huge issue in the middle east. lebanon, jordan, these weren't countries that were wealthy and them tunnelled tree like turkey spent $3,000,000,000 housing sirians and no help from the international community. so the leaders of this country have come to obama, the international community and said, help us out. we don't have the resources. >> we don't have the capacity to handle all the of this. and the international donors aren't stepping up as much as they would like. it's a huge problem: how are you going to keep -- how are these syrians any current trees keep coming over the borders. host: here is what the president said realtime inside the country. >> what is true, though, is the violence that's been taking place in syria has obviously

given isil a safe haven there in ungoverned spaces. and in order for us to degrade isil over the long-term, we are going to have to build a regional strad strategy. we are not going to do that alone. we are going to have to do that with other partners. in particular, sun incomeny partners because part of the goal here is to make sure that sunnies both in syria and in iraq feel as if they have got an investment in a government that will actually functions, a government that can protect them, a government that makes sure that there families are safe from the barbaric act that we have seen in isil. right now, those structures are not in place. >> that's why the issue with respect to syria is not simply a military issue. it's also a political issue. it's an issue that involves all of the sunni states in the region and sunni leadership recognizing that this cancer

that has developed is one that they have to be just as invested in defeating as we are. host: that was the president last month, the military issue, as the president said, a political issue and a human rights issue. guest: a big human rights issue. host: your response? guest: it was forceful but the obama administration has been accused in the middle east of and here of not being -- he has said this is bad, slapped the hand numerous times and nothing has come of it. you think that's. same as a speech host: tj on the independent line. good morning. tj. are you with us? caller: yes, hi. host: you are on the air. go ahead. caller: i am not sure if you have studied it but perhaps you can confirm or deny whether syria's chemical stock piles came from iraq after the invasion in 203.

guest: i am not quite sure. i would guess not t host: debby from albuquerque, new mexico. caller: good morning. you are saying you know the history of what's going on syria. i watched pivot t.v. about the shortage of water and drought and what's happening in egypt and yemen and syria, and a lot of this happened because of no rain. the people are hungry. they riot. there is a void, and they stepped in and now talking about, well, here is this crazy group, isil, whatever they are being called who are stepping in because the people are mad. nobody seems to mention the fact that this is all because of the shortage of water. and i was kind of perplexed when i heard about it the first time because tom friedman was the one who was talking about it. host: thank you for the call. guest: there is a big drought in syria that's exacerbating a lot of the tension, exacerbating people's reliance on isis in a

lot of areas because they need water supplies and isis is providing it. it factors in. host: you have had the chance to meet a number of people. anyone stand out? guest: yeah, a lot of people who have stories about how everything they have had has been destroyed. i have a friend in istanbul who was from damascus who became an activist. he had to leave the country, he went to beirut, to istanbul. he settled in istanbul and now the government is threatening to send all of the refugees to camps on the border. he got married and his wife is an aman. they are trying to get her over. it's a great example of how people's lives have just been, you know, decimated by this. and when you talk to them, i mean the sirrias are so upset, saying, why aren't people helping us? why don't people understand that the people that you see on the street every day had houses, they had cars, they had a corner cafe. they had a life. they had a job. and now they've got nothing and there is absolutely no hope for them. they don't see it. host: as al journalist, if you had the chance to sit down with

president asad, what would be your first question? guest: why didn't you lead three years ago. there was no credible alternative who would filled the power vacuum some of the would we have ended up in this anyway? host: host: arlene, democrats line with karen leigh, the managing editor of syria deeply.org. good morning, arlene caller: thank you very much for taking my call. i am interested in how are the christians in malulu doing where they speak aremaic, the lang spoken by jesus and how are the nuns of saint the catherine's and have you had heard anything about father. osephas who has been missing host: you sound like you know a lot. what's your backgrond caller: i am a nurse, interested in studying the language, on studying arameci. and the language of jesus and

it's spokopened a lot of doors me intellectually. host: okay. thank you for the call. geflt guest malulu has become part of the battle ground and for a while, there were hold outs. i visited a christian village with the assad stronghold of the west and they started to get shells but and they thought everything was going to be fine. now, everything is not fine, neither is it in malulu next call from steven good morning. caller: good morning, karen. i appreciate your knowledge on this realm. why doesn't the u.n. just create very strong boundaries between all of these various groups and areas and then, let's say, 10 miles swaths of no man's land between them and if anyone ventures into these no-man land, then they could possibly be attacked or bombed and destroyed? it seems like there is a lot of

traveling back and forth between all of these various areas and something, there has to be a solution. i will wait for your answer host: part would include iraq which is facing its own internal infighting as well. steve hung up. did you want to respond? guest: i think et cetera saying why can't we go into syria with the u.n. and put peacekeepers in who will create barriers between various groups. militarily and on the ground is absolutely not feasible. it's an interesting solution. host: let's go back and let me ask you about iraq because a lot of uncertainty about its own political future. guest: a lot. iraq was, a couple of months ago, isis had a major offensenivmos mosul and into north earn iraq that has thrown iraq at a time when iraq is starting to disintegrate and the question is how closely will iraq and syria be tied in. host: another round of airstrikes this will weekend.

>> story is at nytimes.com. let's go to dawn from las cruces, new mexico. good morning. independent line. caller: good morning. host: good morning, don. caller: yes. we approach this question from what are we going to do? and i really have a problem with that because i think the real question is: what is iraq going to do? what is iran going to do? and after reading an essay by allister cook: what is saudi arabia going to do because of the connection of isis to wahabism. so my question to you is: what would be the effect if we just got out of the picture and what would be the effect on the country like saudi arabia because they have the most to lose here host: thank you guest: we haven't been in for very long so i think it would continue as it has been.

the thing to remember is that the arab world needs to come up with some kind of coalition or solution amongst themselves. they understand iraq and syria the best. a lot of isis fighters come from saudi arabia, northern africa and these are the countries that are going to be combatting it the best, not us. hoeflt. host: based on an earlier conversation, one viewer said in a tweet: how do you account for personal security during your reporting? and how have the foley soloff impacted future considerations. guest: there have been debates about freelance reporters without insurance and without a backer. things like this happen. at the same time, one who was fully backed by an operation was killed as well. so the question is: do you go in with the risk insurance am? the premiums have become so high, i think the lowest isis premium i have heard for the kidnapping in the last couple of months is $2 million.

how do you insure yourself for $2 million? people really aren't going in as much. >> that's why the syria story isn't being told. it's gotten too dangerous. there is such a hard target, whether you are an aid worker, journalist, anybody west only coming in. host: another 10 minutes left and our phone lines are open if you want to join in on the conversation, the numbers will be on the bottom of the screen 202 is the area code. 585-3880 for crats and 58-531 for the republicans. from columbia, maryland outside of washington, d.c., tom, good morning. democrats line. caller: good morning. i have a comment and a couple of questions. my first comment is: we can't get rid of assad. he is hold that country together. look what happened to libya. i mean libya is in worse shape than its ever been. all of these countries where we have had the arab spring have fallen apart. there is no government. there is nobody to talk to. they are just outlawed countries. in terms of syria, we have worked with assad before in the

past and he has been helpful. we have to say, we are going to team with you. welcome up with a transition plan. we will ask that we get rid of isis. we are going to have to take anybody we can work with to get rid of isis, if it's iran, if it's syria. >> that's where i think we have to move. guest: asad has become important to keeping the country together. at this point, he can't leave. >> that's what it's come to. i think at some point the u.s. would probably consider working with assad. it will be further down the road. it will depend upon whether isis is assessment move out and be a threat. in the last few weeks, they have been moving into aleppo province. if they are is able to capture the city and make a huge move, then the united states would need to consider all options and that does include assad. he is the best military option to the ground . host: mohammed on the phone, independent line. go ahead, please. caller: yes. good morning.

i would like for karen please to comment on the fact that some of what's going on syria and some of the influences on the american policies that the governments of the united states policies in syria and the middle east in general real, from the early days of the conflict in syria has made it clear it's in the best interest of israel and the west to keep the assad regime in place. so what karen has to say about that, please. thank you. guest: the israeli issue has not been a factor to what's happened in syria. they have been getting dragged a little further into it on their side of the border in the golan heights. it has been close to, a number of peacekeepers have been kidnapped but that's the extent offitsisi's involvement at this point. host: president assad, have we

seen him recently? guest: he goes to pray, to meet people, an instagram account. we haven't seen him recently no. host: susan from fort myers, florida. good morning caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. one of your earlier callers who mentioned or questioned about the christian community in the region, i am wondering: do you feel, looking back through history >> that these wars are happening over religion? because that's a sad situation if that still remains the reason because more people, millions have died for the greater honor and glory of some kind of diety. host: is that your assessment? caller: yes. host: karen leigh host. host: guest: this did not start over religion but wanting to renal against the assad regime. the recommending e-mail is

coming down hard on them. host: victor has thispointment. if assad goes, at this point, you get another disintgrated company guest: it happened in a lot of the country. syria, when you look at it now, depending upon what province you are in, disintgrated or life is continuing sorry eye normally. if you are in damascus, the four seasons is open. you can play tennis, have a semblance after normal life. you here mortar in the distance. if you are in aleppo. you don't have food. you are trying to get out. it depend where you are but a good chunk of the country has disintgrated. we are there. host: if you put syria in the u.s. geographically, how large is it guest: i am not quite sure. i think it would be maybe washington, oregon, smaller than that. host: 20 million people before the fighting began? guest: absolutely host: yvette from oxnard, california.

caller: hello. i would like to speak to you about israel and the palestines. the palestinians, what's going on palestine and israel's role in the middle east. what about that in regards to syria? iraq and whatnot? what about the pal stippians? why aren't we helping them? host: host: thank you. i know your expert teethes is more syria. durpt to touch on that guest: a little bit. there is a sizeable palestinian population in syria that was living in the refugee camp that looks a bit like a city outside of damask under the circumstances. then forced to flee as well. they have been besieged. the 358 stinlian population in syria is undergoing another thing that's, you know, another refugee situation host: kate airstrikes alone eliminate isis in syria? guest: no. you need an incredible ground force to clean up if you are going to bomb some kind of point, you need people to finish the job. the key consideration for the -- two considerations for obama in

going in: one is that lukka, the isis strong hold has 50 ol',000 syrians. if you are going to starting an isis strong hold you will hit civilians and that will create more u.s. sentiment and strengthen isis. there are a lot of factors but the number one factor is there is nobody who can help us on the ground. host: katrina on the frophone. caller: i don't understand everybody is mad at israel for bombing but they want, you know, for protecting themselves, but they want the united stateso united states to bomb syria? and yom get it. people, the united states is not the problem. it's everybody else. we need to take care and take notice. ho host: okay. we will go next to bruce in southaven, mississippi. good morning. caller: good morning.

yes. very great answers from our guest, shows all of her experience and we definitely appreciate the -- all of the situations she's gotten herself in so she can report this. guest: thank you. caller: sure. i have heard stories about how isis is growing and may want to become its own country or it's own statehood, whatever the word is. is there any seriousness, consideration about that? >> it. host: thanks for the call. guest: it declared a caliphate, want its own autonomous space in the middle east. host: are you and pizza keepers being held inside -- are un peacekeepers being held? guest: as far as i know, they are not. this is the first instance of peacekeepers taken but you never know. host: when were you last in the country

guest: the end of 2012. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i want to say something and please don't cut me off too early. but, you know, i don't think it's a military solution to none of this at all. we are trying over probably around about 400,000 people in iraq spent trillions of dollars for them to own their own country and then when the isis came in, it was only 7,000 of those guys. those guys ran. they dropped their guns. now, they got military weapons from the united states. if we go back over there, we are going to end up having to stay over there forever just to protect them. this is not a military solution. president obama, i like him. he should come out and tell the american people the real truth and tell them it's not a solution. these people don't have -- are going to find it out and come to some kind of consensus upon

theirselves. host: tim, thank you for the call. guest: there is no clear military solution which is why obama hasn't done anything in syria yet. i hold out hope there wering be something we can come up with. host: robert in napeles, florida. caller: what is russia's relationship with syria? they were the ones that put the chemical weapons at assad said he had. isn't it in russia's best interest to keep syria together and are they investing in the syrians future by maybe putting the army and fighting isis in the i am open to anybody trying to kill these people. host: thank you for the call. guest: russia has been a huge supporter of assad. they continue to provide financial support. i don't see any situation where russia would put boots on the ground. they have been a huge supporter of him militarily. they have been made in the soviet union in 1980. they are supplying a lot.

hoecht. host: we are a number of tweets and them summarizes the sentiment from viewers saying we can't allow isis to have a state in the middle east that won't sell oil for petro dollars and our currency will collapse put being an economic and oil ang toll this. guest: isis is thriving in eastern syria. they have taken over a lot of the oil fields in their strongholds at this point. they are operating a large black market into iraqi, kurdistan and turkey. the number that has been thrown around which i think is lower is a million dollars a day in oil profits on the black market. there is a lot of debate about how big that number is. there is really very little way to tell. but we know they are taking a huge amount of crude oil, selling it back to the regime. they are selling it in iraqi kurdistan and turkey and making a lot of money off of it. host: in a word or phrase describe life in syria. we talked about this but your own personal observation. guest: despair. absolute despair. any civilian you talk to has

lost everything. they are debating whether to leave. people want to stay as long as thing. they go from village to village to, city to city and they are forced to leave the country. host: karen leigh of syria deeply.org making her first television appearance. thanks for a terrific job. please come back again. guest: thank you so much. host: host: we are beginning our big 10 temperature. over the next couple of weeks, a chance to introduce to you a number of college and university presidents. tomorrow, the president of the university of minnesota, eric kaler will join is. on wednesday, we travel to lincoln, nebraska, the interim president, james linder is going to join us. on friday, the president of the university of iowa, sally mason. again, our big 10 tour starts this week and you can check out all of our scheduled information online at c-spanl.org. back tomorrow morning for "the washington journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern t to talk about the con

gretelal agenda now that lawmakers are coming back to town. our first interview with the president of the university of minnesota. all tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time, 4:00 o'clock for those of you on the west coast. thank you for joining us for this sunday edition of "washington journal." enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week ahead.