like to see accomplished from the incoming republican led 114th congress. 8:30 am eastern today, clarence page talks about his book on race, politics, and social change. the day after christmas in 2014, so i guess it is not too early to talk about presidential politics in 2016. who would you like in 2016? for this first y segment. again, republicans only. we all do the democrats later

on in the show. send us an email. from "the hill" newspaper this morning, romney tops candidates. romney, the 2016 -- some would be the parties best candidate -- gets 14% in the new poll released llate wednesday. better than points jeb bush, a favorite of the gop establishment who announced exploring that he is a possible campaign. rand paul bush comes 10% -- chris christie, 10%. scott walker gets 5%. rick barry gets 4%. and bobby jindal, 3%. again, republicans only. who would you like in 2016?

party or tico -- tea braces for primary challenge from the establishment. four years ago when he knocked off the sitting senator, now the establishment might strike back. as the 43-year-old lee plotz's 2016 reelection bid, he is leaders under ess the radar hoping to head off a primary challenge backed by and other eaders establishment figures in his home state. billionaire john huntsman senior, and a former gop party chairman. some party establishment are tired s in utah of lee's hard-line positions.

he stood with ted cruz of texas when the government closed, and again this month on n they tried to take obama on immigration. majority up giving leader harry reid of nevada leverage to confirm controversial nominations. -- has ffectively turned effectively turned the republican intraparty war on its head. . a little bit from the article. and one more from politico, is on jeb bush. jeb bush is trying to show he a modern-day un presidential campaign, when he declared last week that he is actively exploring presidential run. former florida governor went to facebook and twitter instead of the more traditional route of his speech a news release.

but bush will have to do a lot more work than just showing off a social media proficiency to prove he's not full of cobwebs. it has been 12 years since he and ran for anything, while gop donors are excited making a ther bush presidential run surrounding by top-notch not a high-tech gadgets can buy, it is another in the o campaign real-time web where a delayed reaction or thin-skinned dominate a n quickly new cycle. hours after bush made hhis announcement, he was marco nked by senator rubio on the cuba debate. to the d paul beat him space -- controlling the of google space results for his name. the hink this is one of biggest challenges -- the fact that he hasn't run for office since 2002, said craig stevens.

the former george w. bush administration spokesman. that is why i wouldn't be didn't decide e to run because it is such a different game. there is almost nothing in common between the campaign averment of years ago and the campaign environment today. so much has changed. a new entrant like this is adjust to that.o a little bit from the article. now we want to hear from you. again, republicans only for this first segment. would you like in 2016? the numbers are up on the screen. joe in florida, who do like in 2016' caller: i think there are plenty of we should be supporting for president. the democrats are probably going to put up a woman. need to sit down --

we have good governors, such as those in south carolina and new mexico. and in the private sector. host: thank you. dave in atlanta, good morning. caller: good morning. democrats are at. trying to climb -- this is the reason why a lot of african-americans are locked up today because of these democrats. bill clinton basically government on the far right.

you put in place -- he cut welfare programs, he cut everything. did everything to basically disarm. see there are issues, wwhen there's actually is no middle. he is talking about nothing but the is going on in african-american community now with all this racism and stuff. she is wrong. she is not going to do anything. host: dave, before you leave. do mean ron paul, the father, or the sun? caller: i mean rand paul. regardless of who has been the a democrat or

republican, i have always been in the african-american community. there was a comment about the affordable care act. i turned my back on the democrats. host: this is sandra in sofia, west virginia. caller: hi. host: go ahead and make a comment, we are listening. caller: yes, i think a good choice would be mitt romney. host: why? caller: i think we need a statesman and a good leader. and i think our country is just of the bush name and the clinton name. representation for our country -- the whole not just s a whole, west virginia -- but the country as a whole. host: thank you, ma'am. and she talked about the bush, clinton dynamic. here is a yahoo! news article. again, really? none of this bush clinton in 2016.

and this is nancy -- again, really? there are more than 300 people the same to yet families keep popping up when it comes to picking a president, she writes. while hillary clinton has not revealed her intentions, she seems is the favorite. the two potential rivals have three presidents and a u.s. senator in the branches of their family trees. and three governors, as well. why are these two family so dominant in modern politics? outthat even though americans tend to reject dynasties, they are quite familiar with these familiar names. a familiar name can bring a instant recognition and funds, and a ready network of political contacts. they also suggest competence at of dysfunction, like now.

power begets power -- dynasties can self perpetuate. have its al degree can negatives, though. primitive surname sometimes carriesunsavory association and the risk of a fatigue factor. both of those sides were evident after bush, 61 years old, made his announcement. said the bush s name would help job get early money, talent, and support around the country. george w, brother, was usually unpopular at the end of his presidency six years ago. while people seem to think more of him now, the recent release bush era te report on torture practices was a ready reminder of pass controversies. clinton, 67, a former secretary senator, and first lady will face the same of puting dynamics familiarity versus fatigue if

she enters the race. now and nton is popular would be sure to campaign for his wife, as he did in 2008. but there is still lingering, unwanted baggage from his white house years. as bush edged closer to run last week, the group quickly set up a no clinton or bush website. began to collect signatures on a declaration of independence that pledges to reject future domination of by bush's and clinton's. david is online. cairo, illinois. go ahead.

caller: yes, most people have the understanding of understanding of rights when it comes to equalization of a united states citizen. there have been ttons of people going to fcc problems. and also problems of picking candidacy through other -- host: david, what is the theme here of what you're trying to say? under : the theme is that real -- realizing basis is that a person who works towards high taxation will terms and when it comes to print on p or financers -- this man has a basis us -- host: aare you saying that you like rand paul?

caller: yes. host: okay, we got it. joe is in mansfield, pennsylvania. joe -- would you like? caller: i think i'm the first republican to call, the way it sounds to me. host: who is your first choice? caller: spence. governor of indiana. host: oh, mike pence. what is it about him that you like? caller: because he has cut at the nd cut spending same time. host: go ahead, joe. caller: i was going to say that he is also good on the social issues. if you put another moderate republican in there, they're going to get pounded.

host: as we continue to hear from republicans only, this is melissa in new york. hi, melissa. caller: hi. good morning. i would vote for chris christie if he runs, because i think he has a bigger chance between all the candidates in the republican party to win by getting both the republican vote and the democratic vote. including moderates, as well. because it does cover, you know, all ground. an equal say he is opportunity president candidate. host: why do you call him an equal opportunity candidate? caller: well, when i mean by goes across the board on all the issues. he is not just conservative, is not just liberal on certain issues. he really can reach everybody. because the thing that people

has to stand is in order for somebody to win the presidency, they cannot just get votes from one party. they have to get enough to cover the electoral college and get elected. so our last caller said that it is not a good idea to have another moderate republican. oh, our friend melissa is all gone. robert is in arlington heights, illinois. hi, robert. caller: hi, how are you doing? host: go ahead, sir. he is : the problem is -- not and established republican like george bush, mitt romney, what have you. big money decides everything. so you have the democrats on the bushes and romney's on the other side.

host: okay. thank you, sir. a couple of tweets -- america is virtue to the. donna says -- that would suck if it were a bush or clinton in 2016. the the report -- is a palin was cheney field of -- caller: i believe that if the republicans don't get together, will have serious problems

fighting obama side. continuing use in to fight over funding the government and every little fight that comes up. we need to show the people that with a move forward republican senate and a republican congress. the nation that rolls around, the country will see that the republicans have the best answer. host: who did you say was your choice again? caller: doctor ben carson. host: thank you, sir.

caller: other callers -- i of either other these two families and up in the white house, regardless of whether it is republican or democrat. it is either rand paul, or the country will be finished. host: thank you, sir. back to this article from yahoo! news. what if it is bush, clinton in 2016? u.s. has had 26 president.

he points to a 2010 study in "legislative studies quarterly" that found two over the previous centuries, nearly 9% of members of congress were closely related to someone who had served in the previous congress. they concluded that such politicians enjoy brand name advantages. eric down in naples, florida. good morning to you, sir. eric. naples. last chance. we are going to have to move on. barbara and laurel, maryland. barbara, are you with us? all right. i am not sure if we're having a problem here or not, but we'll get that figured out.

is from "usa today" -- the cost of running congress down 11%. congress has not gotten any more productive for popular over the last years, but at least it has gotten cheaper. the omnibus spending bill lacks budget for the operations of the house and the senate at more than $2 billion 11% less than the $2.3 billion for 2010. none of these productions comes at the expense of lawmakers paychecks. those are still frozen at $174,000 for most members of congress. the savings have come mostly from slashing staff on committees in the house and and by applying deep cuts to support operations, such as the senate services. it is a dramatic reversal for

congressional budgets, which stand up in the four previous years. two 2010, the budgets rose 22%. from $1.9 billion to $2.3 billion. the cuts begin in 2011 with the gop takeover of the house. speaker boehner said he would a priority, tting and pushed through to cuts. through 2015, office budgets will be 16% lower than they were in 2010. throughout the chamber, costs are down 14%. our next caller is paul in tennessee. paul, we are talking to republicans only this for segment. would you like in 2016? caller: yes, sir. thank you for taking my call. i just have a couple things to say, and i think you need to give me the chance to set. this country right here is coming apart at the seams. we need someone like her cane

and allen west on the ticket. somebody who can win. not a libertarian like rand paul. these colors do not have a clue of what these fellows stand for. we need somebody who will stand to these other countries. we need somebody that will call it like this it. race bull crap -- if hillary clinton gets on the ticket, that is a sure thing. she has got blood on her hands. obama has blood on his hands. john boehner, he needs to step down and get out of the way. john mccain, he needs to just quit and start talking. he is just boring the country every time he opens his mouth. herman cain will do this.

up on ld put a fence read the border, and when the mexicans touch it, put a sign up there that says this will kill you if you touch it. when they touch it, it will kill their hind ends. we need someone in this office this here that will stop pickle and bull crap race that is going on in this country. every time these white thugs we l one of our officers, did the president of the united states sending everybody in the back somebody other than the officers that are defending themselves. you look right here in -- the christian family. cut k people killed them, them into pieces, and stuff them into a garbage can. black people. we don't see noel sharpton down here saying one word about that.

are killed, white people -- we don't see nobody protesting in the streets. just like outside of ferguson, the guy pulled a gun on the officer. the officer did what he or i or anybody else would have done. he shot his hind end. host: and this is lori in california. hi, lori. caller: hi. i have to agree with the guy from tennessee. i think condoleezza rice should run. host: why? caller: i think she actually might be one that knows what she is doing. that is basically all i want to say. that and i really agree with that guy from tennessee. he really got me this morning. host: that is lori. jay in wisconsin.

where is partyville, wisconsin? ccaller: that is in central wisconsin. host: near eau claire. caller: yes, a little bit. i would like to make the observation that the republican quite to the ng right. in other words, libertarian antiestablishment. if the gop installs an established candidate such as the ones you have been the popular t -- ones -- it is really going to drive a wedge. it is going to drive more and more the right, people towards, yyou know, a small government. more libertarian, originalists. the same time, the democrat party seems to be going off the cliff on the left.

so it is going to be an epic battle here coming into the next number of years. host: so, who would you like? ccaller: pence is a good one. host: what about your governor walker? caller: he is something else. i would not vote for him in the elections for president, but i would vote for him in the general. host: why would you not vote him in the primary? caller: well, i think there are some better people other. plus, i would rather have him here in the state for a few more years. host: wwhat you do up there in wisconsin? caller: ice fish. host: really? caller: well, sure. you fish through the ice. not just imes it is for fish. sometimes it is for hours.

host: okay, we will move on to in michigan. caller: good morning. ben carson is the right decision. i think ben carson can, indeed, give us the leadership we require in the country. host: thank you, sir. is this tweet -- doctor rand paul and doctor ben carson would be an inspiring and hopeful to get. campaign slogan -- time to heal. from "usa today" -- fans wanting more. for a little more than an hour last week, more than 1000 the university of mississippi got a rare glimpse into the most private of government institutions -- the supreme court's.

the appearance of justices on the same stage where barack obama and john mccain held their first debate in 2008 was as fascinating as it was fleeting. even as their colleagues in handed on to tthe duo swapped stories. then they were gone. under their rules, nno video recordings, audio broadcast, or media interviews were permitted. for most americans, seeing a supreme court justice in the flange is a rarity. that is partly because the nine jurists don't get out as much and heir executive legislative branch colleagues. justices except a limited number of invitations to speak -- as well as before conservative and liberal interest groups. the subjects often are of

limited interest. the magna carta has been a frequent topic, as it approaches its 800 anniversary. scalia, 78 ative years

that's "usa today" this morning writing about the justices present at www.c-span.org we try to cover them whenever possible. you can go to www.c-span.org and type in the name of the justice at the top on the search bar and you can find several speeches and appearances by all the justices. showed a speech by justice alito prior to this program and when that in the last couple of months, justices scalia and ginsburg were at the national press club. we covered it and you can watch it online at www.c-span.org.

mississippi, thanks for holding, who do you like in 2016? caller: first of all, i would like to agree with a gentle man from tennessee. hello? host: we are listening. caller: he was spot on. i would also like to say that i like dr. ben cardin but i don't think he has a strong and a personality to be the president. i think maybe he would be a great vice president. i really think we need someone who has a strong personality and who has the guts to speak the truth. i would also like to say that i think -- that i hope the republicans do not destroy each beginning when they start having debates like they did the last time. the republicans really need to stick together. thank you. host: jerry is calling in now

from sturgis, south dakota. caller: good morning, i can really agree with what the lady just said. and rand marco rubio paul and then card and art great voices but they are in the minor leagues and not ready for the big leagues. speaking of truth, america is starved for straight talk. i think we deserve it and i need it and we are ready for the truth. we can handle it. i think chris christie is the only one that could probably stand up to the political correctness machine that the hillary clinton campaign will produce. disagreement will be attacked viciously. we need someone that can stand up to it and, quite frankly, look her in the eye and tell her the truth and all of america. right now, i think he is the

gentle man that could give, with what we are living with now, this political incorrect is that we are practicing. let's push it aside to get america back to work working on the truth with race relations, the environment, the economy. chosen i thinkof chris christie would be the one to give it to us, thank you. chuck,arthage, new york, you are on the air. caller: thank you for letting me get my two cents in. ishink we need somebody who a governor and knows how to manage a budget and i think jeb bush could be a good candidate. a bush is going to be a problem. probably run against a clinton so that should not be a problem. he is conservative enough

financially which is what we need but i think he is more moderate and the republican party needs to be more moderate socially. i think he would be a good candidate, good for lorna -- good for florida and i think he could do good for our country. host: what is an issue you care about? caller: i think cutting taxes. a governor has to manage of legit and can only spend what taxes they have coming in our federal government will never do that. republicans are the democrats, people in the senate and house of representatives, they just completely go along with the people who have been there forever. the new guys who come and have to go along with the people who have been in there forever and nothing will ever change. host: an op-ed in "the wall street journal"

a caller from atlanta mentioned this earlier. for the more than six and a thousand people who leave prison and reenter society every year, finding employment can be a severe challenge. prison time care is a social statement which makes finding any job, let alone a good job, all too difficult. the labor department of does not track the unappointed rate for people with prison records. research shows that children with fathers who have been incarcerated are more than six times likely to be expelled or suspended from school.

rachel a huntsville, alabama, who is your choice now for 2016? teder: i like someone like cruz, rick perry, even my cut to be. theye not decided but should shutdown the border. that is a huge issue for me. i want someone who will repeal obamacare. i am sick and tired up all of it. i'm sick and tired of people lying to me. it boils down to who i can trust. that's what it boils down to. i want someone like a strong person like a combination of andld trump and trey goudy mike huckabee all next into one. we have been warned about china and now they are surpassing us. i want some and like that but someone who is logical. someone i can look in their eyes and say that guys telling the truth.

worriedever been more about my country since the obama presidency. i freak out and i cannot sleep at night. i'm sick of all of this. i want someone with common sense. i'm about to drop my health care and i cannot afford it. i'm sick of people crossing the border. host: what is it about the border the concerns you? caller: that people are coming over and i cannot afford my health care. i thought the point was that now we have the affordable care act that everyone will be covered. it goes back to not everybody is covered and they are still going to emergency rooms and my health care is going up and i feel i am paying for other people who either cross the border illegally, the whole nine yards. it's been going on forever. it seems to never get solved. i am sick of it. i feel helpless. host: what do you do in huntsville? business,have a pool i claims winning pools. host: how is business?

caller: i started from scratch. have the time, i hire people and they last for about three weeks and he want to collect unemployment off me. i feel like no one has any work ethic. i don't know. it's hard. i pay 35% tax. that does not help. i cannot afford my health care. me, but still, i want someone who goes back to the basics. cruze mitt romney and ted and who will do what they say? it's so basic. that's my comment. is glenn inp waukesha, wisconsin. caller: good morning, happy holidays to you.

uh- -- jebstie, jeb brush bush and romney, those of the only three that would beat hillary clinton or any democrat. in 2016. there will be more than 4 million [indiscernible] staying at home. that's what i have to say. host: that said, who do you like? caller: annie constitutionalist. i no one walker is good mk sick and gentle -- i know walker is good j andindal. host: you are looking at governors? caller: yes, what they have been doing the last 16 years with ,heir states and improving them they have the skills to be president. , they out of washington

are just going to do the same thing. host: thank you, sir. james in newburgh, indiana, hi james. caller: hi, i would like rand paul and condoleezza rice because they are both knowledgeable and i think they're both honest. i think they can beat any democrat out there. host: is there a republican you would not support? caller: maybe, i don't know. i just know we have to get his government straightened out. close the borders and start getting all these race riots which are ridiculous and the press is pushing that as fast as they can. i want somebody like rand paul and condoleezza rice who are both knowledgeable about how the country runs. host: what about your governor, mike pence? caller: he is good and i also like a flat fair tax. -- i think you pay 10%

and under a certain amount come he would not pay anything. that would bring our government host: contract. host:thank you. creek, texas. we are talking about 2016 because it's not too early. i agree with you, tennessee and alabama 100%. close the border, i will take donald trump and then carson and that should make us an equal right there. the suits have ruined our country. then i'll live where we live or how we live. elated that just call from alabama, right on, lady. i am for you. it's about time those people woke up. we are being inundated. you are sitting up there telling us the economy is bad and 6 million jobs went overseas but we're going to bring in 25

million more. ande people are uneducated they do not pick cotton. get over it. hitting dollars per hour for mcdonald's? -- $15 per hour from o'donnell's? my kids used to work there and now they don't have jobs. the rest of the country, pull your pants up and go to work. host: what about your governor, rick perry? hello? she is gone. from "the wall street journal" -

rod is in northville, new york, go ahead. i would favor a governor, either governor pantsp

--ence or governor mike huckabee in arkansas. i think the incumbent shows this. who canfolks demonstrate a track record of being capable administration, folks who know how to rodent -- run agencies. we need folks who are solitude -- solid conservatives. if someone is a social liberal that wants to cut taxes on the rich or the relatively well off, the still makes him a liberal. that does not make them a moderate. a conservative is someone who is profamily and who also favors economic patriotism. and does not allow folks to come in over the border unchecked and it does not allow citizenship to people who are illegally here and who does not drive down the wages of workers in america by allowing such folks in. host: thank you.

randy, from fort worth, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i would like to see governor alker and a ben carson ticket because these guys are proven winners. the establishment is trying to give us this jeb bush/mitt romney -- he already lost and cannot win. and ron paul who is for the borders. we need someone who can get up there and believe in the constitution. i am afro-american. i think these big government , the people calling in the to do their research because these people this jeb bush is for open borders. he is for big government and so is mitt romney. ron paul is for big government or isolationism. when he to have somebody --

we need to go ahead and pick somebody that can win and that's all i have. host: what do you do in fort worth? caller: i am a city truck driver and i am out there talking to the people. the people want somebody who can win, a proven winner. i talked to a lot of people and i drive trucks reliving. host: thank you, sir. happy holidays to you. a couple of last tweets --

we will hear from the democrats a little bit later in "washington journal" later this morning. we will ask are you like for 2016. get ready for that. first, we will talk with terry jeffrey, the head of cns news, the editor in chief there. he is also a columnist and rights for town hall and will be out here and we will chat with him and then clarence page, a longtime "chicago tribune" columnist and his latest book is and he"culture worrier" will be joining us. if you are watching the senate in its last couple of weeks, it was giving tribute to some of the retiring members. it was a tribute that was given to retiring georgia senator saxby chambliss. [video clip] >> saxby chambliss and i both arrived in the united states senate at the same time after the 2002 elections.

at the time, the war on terrorism, as you know and as we all know, was barely a year old. it was by far and away the biggest issue on the minds of americans across the country and in the halls of congress. immediatelybliss established himself as one of the senate's most important leaders on national security issues which came as no surprise to anyone who has watched his career in the house of representatives. indeed, his capacity as chairman of the house intelligence subcommittee on terrorism and homeland security, he oversaw the first official investigation of the 9/11 attacks. it's hard to believe it has now been more than 13 years since that fateful day. senator chambliss is never lost sight of the continuing threat posed by radical islamic terror groups and he is never stopped working to pull bipartisan

support for strong, national security policies. he has been a consistent leader on important pieces of legislation like the patriot act and on the detention facilities at guantanamo bay. also been a leader on the armed services committee on the annual defense authorization bill which we will be taking up later this week. on controversial important topics like the foreign intelligence surveillance act. recently, on the campaign to destroy the islamic state in iraq and syria, senator chambliss has again been another one of the leading voices, helping us find our way to the right strategy and the right policy. in short, name and a high profile national security issue and there is a good chance that saxby chambliss has been driving the debate and working to move the u.s. in the right direction. on your screen is terry

jeffrey, editor and chief of cns news,com. it is the day after christmas, are you feeling charitable? guest: yes. host: in what way? guest: i had a great day with my family yesterday. seensome family i had not a long time and christmas is one of the great days of the year. for my family, 2014 was a good year. it to politics, are you feeling charitable toward president obama? guest: no. host: why not? i disagree with obama and the direction he is taking the country. that theppointed republican congress, the republican house of representatives has elected in 20 10 basically oppose obama care and has not done so. i basically think the washington establishment has not done

anything to reverse the course the country has been on for quite some time. down the road, it will lead us to great difficulty. host: how charitable are we feeling toward mitch mcconnell and john boehner? guest: they are the republican leaders who did not redress president obama. the last thing we so when congress left out as they pass that massive 1603 page omnibus bill that funds the government. permitted full funding of obamacare and did not do anything to prohibit the president for meaning -- using an us to come every other thing on the obama agenda is fully funded. you have the republican leadership in congress complicit in president obama's policies because they refused to use the power of the purse to reel him back. host: you had a column in november -- here's the headline --

what's the answer to that column? guest: the answer is yes. host: this was in this morning's newspaper -- interesting, we don't know whether mitt romney will run. key data is coming up a week from now. people will start raising money for the 2016 presidential cycle. as early as december, you will have the republican party struggle in ames, iowa. those people who are serious about winning the republican are workingn 2016 to get ready and they will be moving after the first of the year. if mitt romney runs again, he will be one of the people bidding for the establishment vote. i suspect he will be challenged and that regard by jeb bush and chris christie of new jersey. then there is a question of how many conservatives did on this.

there will be a great many candidates this time around vying for the conservative vote. host: why is january 1 year before the date the date to start raising money question mark guest: federal election cycles in the united states are two-year cycles. the 2016 cycle starts next week. people can start raising funds and reporting to the federal election commission for a presidential campaign. muchaws that control how you can get from contributors work on that two-year election cycle. host: if you are able to pull the lever today, -- anyt: i'm not endorsing candidate. i am a conservative and i would like to see a conservative elected president of the united states. i'm interested in seeing what the candidates say and do and they get out there. i think you will have a very broad field of conservatives.

thing people want to see is a conservative elected president. they should be concerned whether there are too many conservatives that stay in the field too long and allow an establishment candidate like mitt romney or jeb bush to have a plurality vote. if you look at the last republican primary cycle, you had rick santorum win the iowa caucus and then you had nude gingrich emerge and they were both vying for the conservative vote. net romney e -- emerged as the establishment candidate and rick santorum and newt gingrich divided the conservative vote and mitt romney had the establishment vote to himself. it might have been a different race had their only been one conservative. ishink the conservative vote the majority of the republican primary vote. i think that will be a big question -- is there a conservative back in emerge quickly enough with enough velocity to have other

conservatives rally behind him? there would be a one-on-one race. host: do you think rick santorum will run? guest: i don't know, i suspect he may well. he did extremely well the last time i thought he was an excellent candidate. thing i think rick santorum showed in the last campaign as he can go out there and say what he thinks as a conservative and people will be inspired by that. before rick santorum one out there, people would not have predicted he had the campaign he did. i think he connected so well on the conservative grassroots with people he met one-on-one in small rooms. i think that is why he won the iowa caucus. about the great things american presidential politics is we have an iowa caucus and is

a new hampshire primary. those are small states where candidates that do not have a ton of money and is not backed by the establishment or wall street or people who run major corporations can go out and meet people personally, people who are very schooled at studying presidential candidates because they do it every four years. i personally believe that iowa and new hampshire did a good job presidential candidates and they are good part of the system. host: here's a tweet -- guest: they were symbolic votes and meaningless. mitch mcconnell and john boehner knew that. after the 2010 election when the republicans had john boehner as the speaker, conservative members like steve king of iowa and michele bachmann of minnesota who said

that what the republicans needed cr do was to put language that was coming up, it was funding the government through the beginning of the year. they were saying put language cr that prohibits implementation of obamacare. there were great many republicans in congress were fort and john boehner was not. republican leadership cut a deal of president obama, the first of many spending deals that started the implementation of obamacare but continued running up massive debt for the u.s. government. if you look at the spending bills, anybody can pull up a pdf of these massive cr's, you will see language like none of the money appropriated in this act or any other act or no funds appropriated -- there are dozens of sentences in there that use the power of the purse to prohibit the administration from doing certain things. one of the ones that republicans passed in the last few years prohibited the president -- the

administration from buying any foreign-made ball bearings. another one prevented the epa from imposing a regulation on methane emissions from my newer, from cattle. they would not use it against obamacare. host: here's another tweet -- guest: the last 14 years? as conservative, if you want a model of a good conservative president, go back and look at president reagan. a democraticl with house of representatives the entire time he was in office. he nevertheless was able to win the cold war and you look at more recent times since 2000, we and arepublican resident republican congress on the give

us the no child left behind act. theot an increase -- we get medicare perception drug plan, the biggest expansion of welfare. benefiteral government program since lbj prior to obamacare. i don't think you can do a lot of bragging about what the republicans have done host: terry jeffrey is our guest. he is now head of cns news, editor in chief over there, and he is also a columnist. one more tweet -- guest: it is a capitalist enterprise, and excellent organization. i have been writing a column for them for about a dozen years now. they have a great many columnists. you can go to their website. they have liberal and conservative columnists. they write about politics and

culture. a lot of good products. host: what do you think about a return just a called regular order on capital hill where the appropriations committees are marking up bills and creating spending bills? guest: no confidence that they will do it. one of the things that led the republicans in the campaign was the "read the bill promise." with president obama, there was the stimulus bill. it was about 100 pages long, and i believe it was released late on a tuesday night. they voted on it on a thursday. news, one of our reporters was asking members of congress whether they had read the whole bill. the bill was not printed and released until it was -- it was actually 24 hours less than when they voted for it. a late senator told as he did not believe anybody would read the bill. matt drudge picked that up on

his website to her john boehner, on the friday when they voted on the bill, which down to the floor the house with the entire bill printed out, put it up on the podium, and started talking about what an outrage it was. -- johnn boehner boehner said that if he became speaker and the republicans had the majority, the first order of business would be to give the american people at least 72 hours to read every bill before they voted on it. i believe that was it, at least 72 hours or then he came out and endorsed a piece of legislation that specifically would have changed the house rules to say they had to post the bills online at least 72 hours before they voted on them. they then had a pledge to america that they released in september of 2010 before the a congressman was standing at the podium talking about that pledged to of barrett

-- to america with john boehner standing behind him saying we are going to give you at least 72 hours to read the bill. lunch to kevin mccarthy, republican majority leader, went on national television and said they would give at least 72 hours for the people to read the bill. in, john boehner was elected on january 5, 2011, as house bigger. that same day, they changed the rules. the rules they wrote said until the third calendar day. what is the difference? that means they can do what they did with that 1603-page bill aich they put up at 8:17 on tuesday night on the rules committee website. they voted on it on thursday evening at 9:37, so people had 49 hours to read this bill. so, are they going to get back and do regular order and have

systematic bills that are asked by the entire congress? i do not believe it. i do not believe they intended to fulfill the pledge of at least 72 hours per that would challenge the republican leadership to do this -- when 2010,ere elected back in they said they would give the american people at least 72 hours. but they passed a rule saying the third calendar day. when they come back in just over a week, why don't they actually actually, change the rules and not auite verbatim, that single bill can be brought to the floor of either house for vote until the entirety of the bill verbatim has been posted hours?for at least 72 that is what was promised. they can do that. make that happen. host: terry jeffrey served as national campaign manager for and 1996.an in 1985

lawrence, st. paul, minnesota, democrat. .aller: good morning i am just so sick of hearing republicans lie. under, i went in the army reagan in 1980, and i have not seen from that time to this where republican leadership has helped the majority of the country. every time i hear them talk about the american people, i think they are only talking about themselves, not talking about everybody. they want to continue this idea andaking all the money having it go up to the top. i am just tired -- and i give credit where credit is due. republicans are best at propaganda than anybody i have ever seen. however, this idea that the country ate heart, i cannot believe it. if you look a george bush's

administration, they did more harm than anybody, but you do not see anybody talk about that. you do not hear anybody talk about cheney bringing in halliburton and giving them money. right.ll terry jeffrey, response? about the one remark allowing money to go to the top, i do not think it is the job of the government to decide who makes what money and how. provided it is legal activity, i believe in free enterprise, and i do not believe in using the tax system to redistribute wealth. i would note that republicans would follow that principle. the only legitimate purpose of federal taxation is to bring in net revenue that the government needs to conduct legitimate constitutional activities. much of what the government does now is not part of the legitimate constitutional functions. so they are taxing more money away van they need to be her there's spending more money than they need to. there's putting more money than

they tax. we continue to increase our debt. a call from oregon, republican line. for taking myyou call. i am very upset with john boehner. i would like to see him fired. he has lied to the american people. he caved. i would like to see the governor of arizona run for president. she has the courage to stand up for her convictions. i will not -- i repeat -- i will not vote for another bush. i do not believe in the dynasty. i am a republican. i have called boehner. i have called the only republican in oregon. but i will not vote for him. , the not need a dynasty same way with the clintons. i am almost ready to go independent. republicans get mad at me when i say this -- if bush wanted to

close the border come he had eight years to do it or no different with the democrats. they do not want to do it. it is all a set up will. obama.t feel safe under i do not feel he works for the american people or anybody other than himself. he will come out a very, very rich man because of what he has done to america and against the american people. i think we got, your point. thank you. terry jeffrey? guest: people can watch this happen in a couple weeks to it when congress comes back, they have to elect the speaker. i strongly suspect that john boehner will be reelected as speaker and mitch mcconnell will be the senate majority leader. i do not think you will see a change in the leadership of the republican party in congress. host: she will not vote for jeb bush. guest: i think that is probably the way most conservatives feel. jeb bush will not be the , but hetive candidate

has potential to be the establishment candidate. last time around, we saw mitt romney get that establishment vote and conservatives split. he became the nominee but not an effective one, i believe. you have trouble pulling a lever for jeb bush? guest: i am a conservative. i am not endorsing any candidate. i'd like someone who really believes in small government, really believes in traditional values, and has a realistic impression of foreign policy. i think the bush family has had problems in foreign policy. they have been for big government. jeb bush is for limited government. i will say, he was a governor and you can look at his record as a governor. that on the conservative

side, the candidates that are going to get traction, especially the folks in iowa and new hampshire, the early races, will be solid on social issues. if the candidate is not pro-life, they will not get anywhere with conservatives. if they do not believe in limited government, i think they will have a hard time getting through that again -- beginning. i suspect there will be some candidates who are not as high profile in terms of the press they are getting, like rick santorum last time. but after a couple of the early talks in primaries, people will say, hey, wait a minute, look at this person. the "washington times" this morning -- can republicans shatter the powerful obama coalition? how do they break through to 270 in electoral votes? guest: it is the key question for republicans. i do not know how they describe the republican coalition -- or

the obama coalition, but i do think that there is -- there are certain demographics in the united states that drive politics. the presidential politics. for the republicans in recent history, and i do not think it ,as changed now, it is that particularly in those northern swing states, states like ohio and iowa and wisconsin were scott walker is the governor, that people who have ancestors that are democrats, culturally conservative and become republican over the years, and a lot of them are catholic, they can be the swing vote. the republicans need to get that states like iowa, ohio, wisconsin, but they also need to win florida. we know that. republicans need a candidate that can win ohio and florida.

if they get a candidate that can win all the other southern states they cannot get florida and ohio, they will not be president. host: is it important for republicans to attract hispanic and african-american votes? how do they do that? i think the republican party -- anybody running for president of the united states -- the president has to be president of all the people to do you do not need a president that polarizes the country. you want a prison that appeals to the true values of the united states of america. republicanhould a as many people have the african-american community and hispanic communities as you can, yes. let me give you an example of how george bush was reelected in 2004, which involved the state of ohio to her that year, the state of ohio had on its ballot and marriage initiative.

i believe that, nationwide, got about 11% of the african-american vote. but in ohio, if i remember correctly, he had 18% of the african-american vote. ideally, you would want a lot more than that. why is the president able to do so much better in ohio? who would argue it is because the marriage amendment was on the ballot. a lot of culturally traditional african americans who opposed same-sex marriage went out and voted for the marriage amendment and voted for george bush, and then john kerry was on the other side of that issue. republicans better not underestimate the importance for our country and to their political coalition of social and cultural issues. host: larry, winthrop, massachusetts, independent line. is a great this

discussion. i would like to introduce myself. i used to be a democrat. i have been an independent for many years. i am from massachusetts, and i am a gay conservative. i would like to say this about boehner and mcconnell -- i think they are both acting like the democrats have been acting for the last eight to 10 years, and i am sick of it. i wish they would get rid of both of them. i think they both have a big problem with the truth, and they are starting to act in awful lot like harry reid. i think harry reid should be run right out of washington. that is all i have to say. host: larry, why was it important to identify yourself as a gay conservative? caller: because there are a lot of us out here, and i do not like being bashed by the right or the left or the middle. i think we need to be recognized and just because we had to have been born gay does not necessarily mean that we do not

think right. i would not vote for a democrat if my life depended on it. and i worked really, really hard to elect michael dukakis, and then i learned my lesson right after that. i have no confidence in democrats, and i think anyone who does vote for a democrat is but that does, not mean that i am going to get the republicans a free ride in the future. that is all i have to say. thank you very much. host: terry jeffrey? obviously, here is a person in massachusetts who votes conservative and good for him. host: what about the gay issue? guest: what about the gay issue? marriage, where people support it than not. guest: i think it is a problem that united states of america -- one of the problems with same-sex marriage is that when

the state says we are going to recognize a marriage between two up, it automatically follows saying we're going to approve, and they do approve, adoption of couples by same-sex which i believe is a violation of the god-given right of the child. i believe every child has a god-given right to a mother and father. it also raises questions about the moral justifications of the law and where it comes from. the declaration of independence says "all men are endowed by the creator certain inalienable rights." if you embrace the argument that there is a right of two men to marry each other that the state thatrecognize, where does right come from? is there a god-given right for two men to marry one another? i would say no. i do not think people are

arguing that there is a god-given right for two men to marry each other. you can create a structure where we have these rights that are not god-given, so where do they come from? they come from the government. i think that is a major shift in what is happening in america. the cause we want to sanction things like two men marrying each other or like killing an unborn child, did god it give us the right to kill an unborn child? we celebrated christmas yesterday. mary had the unborn child of jesus christ in her women goes eet elizabeth, and the child was in her womb. the christmas story recognizes human life from conception. if the united states says we have the right to kill a baby or the right for two men to marry each other, they are not saying those rights come from god.

so they come from government. if the government can give us rights, the government can take our rights away. right now, we're very profound and real rights are being taken away. for example, the free exercise of religion. one of the things john boehner' is congress were not do his bit language in a bill that told the obama administration it cannot implement its contraception mandate, the regulation under obamacare come at us as every health care plan in the united states must cover sterilization, contraception, and abortion drugs. the administration is being sued for violating free exercise of religion by saying we have to be complicit in taking innocent, unborn lives. ae politicians, that is not major issue. i would say the little sisters of the poor have a god-given right not to be forced by the obama administration to be implicit in the taking of the life of it unborn child. i would say that two men do not

have a god-given right to marry one another. for me, that is a fundamental divide in america. if we go down the road with same-sex marriage where we divorce our country from the fromthat our rights come god, not the state, we're heading down the road to tyranny . they may think it is libertarian or increases freedom, saying there is a right for two men to marry, i say it is heading us down the road to tyranny. host: next call is from dixon, illinois, democrat. caller: good morning. i hear this guy talking, and i heard him talking in the 1980's and 1990's and stuff. you know, we had a concert of it -- we have had conservative leadership in the house since 1984, and only four years was run by democrats. yet, in 1984 am a we had $4.8 trillion geared where are we

now, $18 trillion? excuse me, i do not think conservatives are working for us, especially with $14 trillion in the hole. come on. you talk about big government liberals. are you talking about big government when you tell some of the they cannot marry somebody. are you going to tell a woman she cannot do which he wants with their bodies question mark that is big government to me. come on. remember what george w. bush and the conservative republicans and senators did from 2000 to 2008 when george bush left? what was our country doing? we were contracting by 8% to gdp was minus eight. all right, we got the point. let's get a response. guest: i agree on the debt.

john boehner was desk 3.8 years had transpired since the 2011 cr that he agreed with obama on. during that time, according to the treasury, $3.8 trillion of new debt had been added to the u.s. national debt. the united states was on the road to financial disaster cause of the debt running up. the debt is being run up by expanding welfare state republicans do not want to contract the welfare state. unless there is a significant shift on that, we will have it come up. host: little rock, republican line. good morning. i have been watching and have been really impressed with principles ofis our creator.

than 79here are more people watching right now. this connection with the constitution and how the constitution connects with the declaration of independence, ,hese principles, our creator and mentions god four times. it is carried over into the bill of rights. the first thing they write is "congress shall not establish religion nor impose on the free exercise thereof." speech, press, a simply, petition. i encourage everybody to look at that. my point was to speak to this issue of taxation. again, i consider myself more a conservative than a political being, but this whole issue of terryon thatterr -- that

talked about is connected with the federal reserve. up until two years ago, i do not understand that whole institution either. i hear people talk about it again and again and again. elites,political everybody in washington, understands what it is all about, which is a vehicle to tax us without us voting on it. you look at what they do. terry just complained about how we are in debt, and that caller complained about the debt. the debt is coming from the federal reserve. the congress understand that they have to tax, they have to get a vote to tax us. they understand we're not going to vote for all these taxes, so they create the federal reserve as a way to print money and force us to repay it. host: can you bring this to a conclusion? caller: sure, you bet. if they want to deal with these debt issues, people need to get focused on the simplicity of the

federal reserve. it is a taxing vehicle on this country. we need to address that. if they are serious, they need to look at that right away. make them vote. host: all right, we got the point. terry jeffrey? guest: he makes an interesting point. i will say this, we have this $18 trillion of debt. aretrillion of that treasury bonds, notes, and bills that you and me, the chinese and japanese, and the federal reserve can buy. the rest is money they borrowed of itself out of trust funds, like the social security trust fund. social security trustees, that will be exhausted before the end of the next congress. this congress will be asked to al out the disability program --

asked to bail out the disability program. the largest holder of u.s. debt right now is the federal reserve. more than the entities in china or the entities in japan. those entities are almost tied for being the next holders of u.s. marketable debt. i believe there is $6 trillion, so half of it is owned by foreign entities. i forget the exact amount owned by the federal reserve, which they ran up during quantitative easing. the majority of the marketable debt is owned by foreign entities in the federal reserve. because the federal reserve is buying so much debt, they were artificially suppressing interest rates. the interest rate right now is very low. with the fed easing off, it will become more dependent on foreign entities buying our debt. as we continue to run up the debt, the interest rate is going to go up. the amount of money that the

government needs to have an caps on interest on the debt will increase dramatically in the coming years. host: you talked about this issue, and this is another recent column of yours. 65% of children in american households are on federal aid programs. how do you identify that? guest: this is actually the census bureau here they came out with a report on this a few weeks ago. one of the programs they list on their which helps makes the figure that big is the school lunch programs. there is a significant amount of children getting free or subsidized lunches as schools. and schoolood stamps lunches and medicaid. there is a huge number of kids now on medicaid, and that number will be expanding with obamacare. bureau'she census number. 65% of the kids in the united eighth of america are living in

a household against one or more federal aid programs. this is a stunning statistic. this in with some other statistics that come from the city see and census bureau. the last five years in a row, 40% of the babies born in the united states, 40%, have been mothers.nmarried that makes them more inclined to go on welfare. they tend to be in the lower income brackets. another statistic from the census bureau is, i believe, 109 million people overall in the united states are in a household means-testedore government program, which means welfare. 109 million, and add in social security and medicare, 100 50 million, this is as of the end of 2011, and that is 49% at the

population. when you have 109 million people federalal where fair -- welfare programs, there are only about 86 million people who are full-time private sector workers in the united states. folks get up every morning and go to work and work in the private sector, and their significantly outnumbered by the people getting federal welfare benefits. i think it is a little over 16 million people who worked for the government full-time. it is that 103 million people working full-time year-round. government workers added in, they're more people in households on welfare in the united states than people working full-time year-round. that is one of the statistics that is adding to our debt. 46 million people on food stamps in the united states. with obamacare, more and more people will be going on medicaid. so if anybody under 400% of the federal poverty level is going to qualify for a subsidy to buy their insurance if they buy it

in the exchange, if the supreme court says they can get the subsidies in the federal exchange, so we are headed towards a country where we are just about at a point where a super majority of children are getting some kind of federal aid. we're headed toward a country where a super majority of the people are going to be on federal aid. i do not see how that differs from a socialist regime. -- i much different believe the spirit in america is a pioneering spirit. the people who first settled the united states, they landed here and had to take care of themselves. people who moved west, they had to take care of themselves. that made america. self-sufficiency, family, and personal responsibility. we are destroying that ethic in america today, and that statistic is a reflection. host: many of terry jeffrey's columns can be seen at townhall.com. akron, ohio, democrat.

caller: good morning. you know, i am amazed at republicans. why would anyone want to vote and have republicans in charge? -- what is the last thing you or plan on doing? let's talk about obama care. i assume that everything is bad, if that is what the republican say. why are they trying to do to make it better? saying, hey, mister president,this is the thing that you want to be remembered for. we want to destroy to take it away and make sure that no one remembers you as president. why not try to fix whatever the issue is? and try to make it better for all americans, instead of wanting to be against the president. work with the president and try to make things better for all americans.