the programs you are watching. call us, e-mail us, or send us a tweet. joined the c-span conversation. -- click senator rand paul attended the american spectator magazine gala. the potential republican candidate defended the government shutdown and criticize former secretary of state hillary clinton for the benghazi attack. this is almost half an hour. >> i go to a lot of barbecues. i need to alter my jackets. they are getting tight. i was in kentucky, and the guy in front of me had a plate of barbecue. he loading up another plate of barbecue. i said, you are not going to live long eating like that. he said my

grandfather lived to be 105 years old. he lived to be 105 years old by minding his own business. [laughter] when we talk about the leave me alone coalition, we are talking about people who say to the government, leave me alone, mind your own damn business. [applause] if you want a u.s. unifying same, talk about leaving people alone. you can give that speech at sea pack and at berkeley. it is received. people want to be left alone. what unites us isn't big government, it is a small government that wants us to leave it alone. it is less expensive to have a

smaller government that leaves people alone. it is expensive to pride your way into people's lives. we had a shutdown of the government a year ago. you may remember. everybody squawked, everybody in washington said we cannot shut the government down. i go back to kentucky and they say why did you open it back up? [laughter] when i first came to washington i introduced a bill to cut $500 billion at one time. people said no way, that's crazy. you can't do that. i get home and they say what about the $18 trillion debt? people have wildly different expectations at home. nobody in the city knows anything about america. [applause] i will give you an example. i'm on the foreign relations

committee. i put forward an amendment that said that we should not send taxpayer money to countries that persecute christians. the countries that would have the death penalty, or life imprisonment for blasphemy apostasy, or god for bid interfaith marriage. there are 25 countries that will put you in prison for the rest of your life or execute you. i propose an amendment and asked people at home. i'm still trying to find someone at home would not be in favor of this amendment. on the foreign relations committee you have two votes. 18 votes said no. we have to give them money. you don't project power from bankruptcy court. [applause] the government shutdown, you may

remember. the president was concerned. he was worried that in flyover country where i live they may not notice the government was shut down. do you remember it? the first thing you need to know is two thirds of your government is on autopilot. it never shuts down. it would take an extraordinary act to slow down. we were talking about one third of government. we were only talking about half of one third because we did but we should do and we supply the money for national defense. we are talking about a sixth of the government. president was like they may not notice. it was in a terrible message to the country if they did not notice. he close down the overpass from mount rushmore. he had to send people out to put the cones to close the overpass

where you pull on the side of the road. he decided he would wrap the world war ii monument, that has no entrance. he has no exit. the only way you can close it, it has no attendant. the only way you can close it is by wrapping it. hundreds of workers getting over time, they are unionized. the first work they had done in years, they had to close the world war ii monument. they proceeded to rapid hours and hours, chain-link fences. i tell people who don't understand america, don't understand we need to shut the damn thing down, the image you need to remember, of closing the government down, when the world war ii veterans got off their bus, to the -- took the wire cutters, and threw it on the lawn of the white house. [applause]

it would be a useful exercise if we actually did close down government. after government was closed for a week or two we got a notice. it said you must list your essential and nonessential employees. i said this sounds like a learning experience. maybe we can figure out what is wrong with government if we actually went from top to bottom and decided what is a sensual and what is unessential? i said call the irs and see what their numbers are. 95%, unessential. call the epa. 98% unessential. i thought we are going to learn something here. until i figured out this is washington. nothing is as it seems. it turns out, if you are unessential during a government shutdown you don't have to work. you still get paid.

everybody wanted to be unessential. they are going down the role, at the epa, and they get to these workers. they were perplexed. they found one guide would not been to work in mom. they did something extraordinary. they went to his boss and said this guy had not been to work in months. why is he getting promoted, why is he getting raises? he was the second-highest paid person of the epa. he created every regulation for the last 20 years. this guy is a big deal. why isn't yet work? he also works for the cia. really? the epa and the cia. they did something really extraordinary read the government has never done this and never will again. they asked somebody at the cia. have you heard of jonathan veale? they said who?

here is what they discovered. he does not work for the cia. he had been going on for 11 years. do you know what his specialty is? global warming. he has been doing this for 11 years. they finally fired him. is going to prison, if he is not already. on the way out they could not do it in the proper way. anybody would have fired him. he would not be eligible for pensions. even on the way out they could not do the right thing. i'm imagining what this guy's life must've been like. is boss calls him, jonathan, we have not seen you. are you coming in? i imagine him at his house. i imagine he has a swimming pulled. he makes $150,000 a year. 100,000 people make under that a

year. i imagine he is drinking a beer he is in his lounge. the boss calls him. here is his response. no, i'm in istanbul on a secret assignment. [laughter] they get to the point where they are going to fire him. the north they do? he says he will resign. gina mccarthy says considering the regulations you've written that will be fine. we will let you resign. seven months later they discovered he is still working there. nobody noticed for seven months that they paid him. he's like i changed my mind. they finally put him in jail. eo's you about $1 million that he stole over time. good luck getting it back. the president says he is not sure where we would cut. they have cut to the bone.

they don't know where they would cut. i've sent the president a couple of letters giving him suggestions. i have not got any answers. i suggested a few things. for example, remember when we were talking about ebola russian mark -- ebola? the republicans did not spend enough that the nih. it turns out, the budget had been going up for years and years. do you know how much they spent on ebola? one 40th of the budget. we did discover they spent $1 million trying to determine whether male fruit flies like younger female fruit flies. i think we could have pulled the audience and said $1 million. -- i think we could've pulled the audience and saved $1

million. i like beef jerky as much as anyone else but why is the government developing beef jerky? we spent money on origami condoms. i'm in the leave you alone coalition. i don't buy whether you buy condoms. does the government have to buy for by origami condoms? we developed a menu for mars. if you have a 26-year-old kid in your basement, it is a great job. $5,000. develop a menu for mars. it looks just like the moon. it looks like a planet. they went to hawaii. a bunch of college kids. they were there for two weeks. what did they come up with? pizza.

[laughter] when we get to mars, and we are going to have pizza, do you know how it will be made? we spent $125,000 developing a 3-d printer for pizza. i guess he will cart it there to make your pizza. everything in washington is broken. nothing works here. we can't run the post office. we are not to be trusted with money. congress is not good with money. we shouldn't he trusted with almost any responsibility. most of government should be shut down and sent back to the states. [applause] people ask me, what is the worst thing the president has done? that could take me a while. we don't have all night.

what is the worst thing? obamacare, dodd frank, this regulation or that regulation? no, it is the usurpation of power. it is the collapse of the separation of powers. it is the ending of the equilibrium. the equilibrium between congress and the presidency has been shifting, lifting the wrong direction for a long time. it is the collapse of the checks and balances. montesquieu wrote that when the executive begins to legislate then a form of tyranny will ensue. there is a great danger. i tell people, it isn't just about how bad this president is. it is how bad the next one might be. i'll willnever forget, the only thing good that came out of the kilo decision, or you can take people's property.

you can take it for private use. the worst decision in supreme court history. there are a lot of bad ones. i go to the mayor of my town. it spawned these votes. in my town we are not going to do that. my mayor's answer was but i'm a good person. i would never take anyone's land. government is not about whether we are good or bad. madison said if government were comprised of angels we would not need these rules. frankly open your newspaper. turn on your television. it is not comprised of angels never has and never will be. we have to have rules. the constitution is about restraining government. [applause] when i think of the scandals of this president, which is the

worst? i think of old mcdonald's farm. everywhere scandal. when i think of the scandals, when i think hurts me to worse and angers me the most, it has to be benghazi. at this point, is it ok, you took the gloves off. can i say something about the clintons? i wasn't sure if this was a moderate cloud. -- moderate crowd. things have turned around for them. i know it's not much but $200,000 an hour, someone has to be able to live on that. i did worry about them for a while. they seem to bounced back. they know the right people. with benghazi, there is an important lesson.

they said republicans didn't provide enough money. not true. if you look at the sequence of benghazi from the beginning of that year, it was one thing after another. first there were six special forces guys that were dismissed. brought home. why? we didn't want to offend the libyans. we didn't want them to see guns. we wanted to make sure we knew that we trusted them. we have to be very careful about our presence there. the soldiers were told not to wear their boots, military boots. to keep their weapons hidden. not to show weapons. this one on for months and months. one team was sent home. another was sent home. we get to march of that year. the did a lot of commission saying, we feel vulnerable. we are not sure about sending these people away. we're not sure about

relinquishing security. in march and april of that year they asked for a d.c. three to ferry them around in case they needed to get from one place to the other. after they rejected the plane the ambassador indiana requested and got $100,000 for an electrical charge in station for a chevy volt. he wants to show off how green we are. you don't have to -- half of the meetings are about how global warming is the biggest threat to our existence. it is an existential threat. they are worried about global warming. we get these charging stations. we cannot give them a d.c. 3. we have an electrical charging station for the ambassador of the and a who is -- ambassador of vienna.

not enough money for security, they say. we spent $5 million in the state department, hillary clinton. $5 million, but we did not have enough money for security and benghazi. hillary clinton state department spent $650,000 on ads to get more facebook friends for the state department facebook. all along, letting people go. security after security. there is a 16 person security detail led by colonel wood. he said we ought to stay. the ambassador thinks we ought to stay. the cables become more frantic. they are sent home saying we think that we are at risk for an all-out assault. 9/11 comes. the attack said nothing to do

with the anniversary. the ambassador says -- he sends more cables home. the attack happens. being killing of the ambassador happens. we have hillary clinton and i asked her, did you read the cables? she brushed me off as a, i'm too important to have read those cables. maybe you didn't read the cable asking for more glassware in bulgaria. this is a cable saying we have a life and death problem here. you didn't read the cables. i looked at her, and said to her, by your actions, by your dereliction of duty, by not providing security for americans , you have absolutely precluded yourself from ever being

considered for higher office. [applause] to get bigger, bolder, to win elections, we have to reach it out. we have a bigger party. the party has to look like america. with tattoos, without long hair, with hearings, you name it. we have to look like america. black, white, rich, poor. lincoln wrote, he said i find mercy to bear richer fruit than strict justice. i like the quote. when i think of a quote, i think of how do you find justice russian mark many believe in redemption, in second chances. many believe justice is a balancing act between punishment

and rehabilitation. many believe violent criminals sometimes do have to be separated and should be separated for a long time or maybe forever. many of us believe that if you have been convicted of a nonviolent crime, maybe you deserve a second chance. i think there is room in the concept of justice for discernment. we have had a lot of bad stories out there, a lot of unrest. there is an undercurrent of unease. something is going on in our country. we often need to remember that every day there are stories going on that are more heartwarming, and don't get reported. the media's all about bad stuff not good stuff. for christmas this year, helen johnson has two daughters, for kids at home. she is the one in charge. the kids have not eaten for two days. i don't know their circumstances.

she has not a for two days. she goes to the grocery store with a dollar 25 -- $1.25. she decides she is going to steal eggs three she puts in her pocket. it wasn't to be her day. the eggs broken her pocket. she is then caught by the police. when you talk about justice, and discernment, the story of william stacy, the local police officer who came in, it is an amazing story and should teach us about who we are and how we want to present our message of conservativism. he did not put her in handcuffs. he scolded her. he told her you cannot steal. he bought the eggs for her. i'm not saying we don't -- that we don't have punishment for crime. i'm saying that there are times when we say you know what putting people in jail for

selling marijuana may not be the best thing. people may deserve a second chance. i went to ferguson. not to make a comment about the shooting. everybody knows it was a messy affair with no real clear cut conclusions that people want to make on this. when i got there, i found an undercurrent of unease. martin luther king talked about there being two americas. an america where people felt they were treated justly, and where they did not like they were. you are not part of that. imagine what it is like to get a $100 fine, to have interest out of that, it to be getting people in jail for that. the of figure out what justices. civil forfeiture has put justice on its head. [applause] >> a month ago in philadelphia a teenage boy sold $40 of

illegal drugs. the government took the drugs. and evicted the family. these are poor, black, brown families that are disadvantage and don't see justice. in ferguson there were 31,000 arrest warrants for 21,000 people. mostly just petty stuff. people's lives can spin out of control because of this. i think if we show compassion and understand that the government can't run the post office. be government screws everything up, the government screwed up the justice system. we are going to show compassion for those who have been left behind and incarcerated unfairly. i think you're going to find that our message will resonate and is going to resonate beyond the bounds of where it is. when we show that when the other side has tried to do for poverty for 40 years has not worked. when we show that we have the ability, the compassion, the

land to make things better, when we can be judged on whether we care, but on whether our policies work, i think that we have always had the intellectual arguments. i think we win the emotional argument. we become a dominant force. america grows by leaps and bounds. we have a we have all been working for. that is once again a great america. thank you very much. [applause] >> next, former texas governor rick perry speaks to republican women in new hampshire. then i policy discussion with u.s. ambassador john bolton. after that, discussing politics and new hampshire. >> this presidents' day, on c-span starting at 10:00 a.m., -- >> today i proudly announce my

candidacy for president of the united states of america. >> a special presentation on presidential campaign announced from ronald reagan in 1979 to barack obama in 2007. we will re-air these announcements later in the evening. finalist for the national book critics circle award starting at noon eastern. david brian davis on his third and final volume on the history of slavery focusing on emancipation. at 1:30, arguing that we're undergoing a sixth mass six extinction. french economists along with senator elizabeth warren talk about wealth and economic and wallaby. -- economic inequality. and 10 presidential caricatures

as david mcculloch discusses presidents. and a 1960 nbc interview with herbert hoover discussing his life beyond the presidency. our conversation with james steele and mary bacon about the ford theater production of the widow lincoln. find our complete television schedule at c-span.org. let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. e-mail us at comments at c-span.org. send us a tweet at c-span #comments. join the conversation. like us on facebook. >> former governor rick perry spoke to a meeting of the seacoast republican women in new hampshire on wednesday. he discussed a range of issues

including energy immigration and the economy. governor perry ran for president in the 2012 primary. he is considering another campaign in 2016. this is just under one hour. [inaudible chatter] >> civilian contractor. that is a great facility. i go down there pretty often. the burn center, i have a lot of kids there. >> they used to bring them in their. -- there. >> wilford hall was outside of kelly.

>> we were there when it was second army. it was such a great place. >> there have been changes. >> we were back a few years ago. it was so different. >> when i got out of pilot training, they had a unit there. [indiscernible] i think there was for some reason i think that they had a unit there. i was there. [indiscernible]

they still use them. they have been around for 60 years now. last year he was 60 years. a great airplane. i flew out of kuwait city into baghdad in 2007 in a model that belongs to the state guard units. looking back at old records, i'd flown it in the 70's. they just put new things on. [indiscernible chatter]

>> they still fly in and out of their don't they? [indiscernible]

>> and i go shopping for three weeks i have been driving it. my wife say you are a better driver now than you were. [indiscernible]

>> we are going to wait. i'm going to say hello to folk. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible]

>> we have been able to find ways. we made a decision in early 2000 we wanted to expand. we wanted a broad energy portfolio.

we put some programs into place. we had to move to where the people are. we were able to do it. and keep most of it in the public right away -- right of way. i think we can always do better. we have innovators working on storage. 10 years ago, on the fracturing side. [indiscernible]

nitrous and oxide levels were down. total carbon footprint. i'm going to keep telling them that. it is important for us to talk about if you can have economic surplus and address things like the environment.

[indiscernible]

>> what is your name? >> jackie. >> lovely to meet you. >> we had met several times. [indiscernible] >> today was a pretty day. i could not complain about today. [indiscernible]

>> we get snow. nothing like this. with that said in 1985, i was a young legislator in austin. it snowed 8-9 inches in san antonio, so much so. we don't build our buildings to have that much weight. it shut down the city. nobody knows how to drive. if you get to inches of snow in austin, it is a hill town. they all slide down. very rarely does that happen.

we call it west texas. the eastern panhandle. north central texas. we all call a west texas. it is cold in the winter time. we have a lot of wind. >> my wife's son is stationed at fort hood. i used to go to houston. [indiscernible] >> i hope you do run. [indiscernible]

>> i'm not going to go there. i will stay away from that. [indiscernible]

[inaudible]

>> i have a question for you. i know where you stand on immigration. can we weed out the bureaucracy of the agencies. [indiscernible] >> it is a fascinating read about corruption and is in our justice system. you look at the irs, the v.a. it is a two-term presidency to

get it headed in the right direction. the first is by hiring good people that have experience, and that you can trust and do that making these agencies. we spent the last 14 years making it effective. that's not to say it is perfect. [inaudible]

>> now we are working. thank you very much. we got that out of the way. it is good to be back here. it is a little chilly. this is spring? anyway. it is a beautiful day today. let's leave it at that. i got up this morning and turned on my app to see what the weather was. one degree in concord.

i took a screenshot gave and send it to my wife so we can have a chuckle about the difference in temperature between austin and here. anyway, to all of you that are here today, thank you for coming out. the seacoast republican women, thank you for coming out on a chilly february evening. i was sitting and sharing with this table, the election in november was pretty awesome. the election results were stunning across the country. i belong to the texas house of representatives back when i was a boy. in the 1980's. seeing new hampshire have both their house and senate in republican hands is pretty awesome. it sends a powerful message across the state that

conservative thoughtful leadership is what will drive the state to where that point in time -- you talk about the economic model. i want to talk about a couple of things, want to share the vision for not just new hampshire, but for this country from economic standpoint. i want to leave you with some views and visions about foreign policy. why that economic side is very them or into that foreign policies. why that our country and the world is in jeopardy from a lack of foreign policy standard. our allies are not sure where we will be on any given day

unfortunately. those who are not supportive of american policies and western values, they don't fear the united states. they don't respect the united states. why all of that is tied together , and reviving the dream for the american middle last -- middle-class, why it is important for the policies to go into place, can be so powerful as we go forward. we look and see these numbers in america, the participation rate has been as low as it has been since 1978. how many of you remember 1978? i had just gotten out of the air force and move back home in that rule community -- rural community in.

everybody had their own tomcat. i know i am a rule community when someone chuckles at that. we lived a long way from our neighbors, i assure you. being able to live that american dream, my father came home from world war ii as a 20-year-old young man who had spent a year in east anglia on a b-17 crew. he came back to that rulerural area to live in peace. he knew his country had sacrificed greatly to bring peace and liberty and freedom to places all around the world.

that is exactly what he did. today, i'm not sure people have the faith that american dream is attainable. it can be. i happen to think the best years are in front of this country. i know for a fact that we can put policies into effect that will get america on track again. the idea, the opportunity and security has been replaced with anxiety and with worry in this country. it does not have to be that way. we know that there are places in this country where freedom still reigns. where economic opportunity is -- and people are optimistic. i come from one of those places. for the last 14 years we have in the job creation in my home state. one point 4 million new jobs were created from the end of

2007 32014. unfortunately if you back those job creation numbers out of the total u.s. job creation, american would be a quarter of a million jobs below the line. the president talks about economic recovery. i kept listening for him to say i want to say governor perry thank you for creating these jobs and making this possible. i may have missed that. there are places where those policies have made a real difference. it is not rocket science. the leadership in the house and senate here can implement tax policy, regulatory policy, legal policy, that basically make accountable public schools

which means you have a skilled workforce. as each ride to laura businesses to come to new hampshire organically grow in the state. that is going to send a message. that you want those type of technology companies to come here. facebook and ebay google, every macbook made in austin texas today. -- austin, texas. they're not coming because we have great weather in august. they know they are coming to a place where opportunity reigns. it is tax policy, legal policy, education policy. those are the town foundations of an economy. it is pretty simple. the hard part is finding men and

women who have the courage to implement those policies. over the course of that decade that i had the privilege to be the governor of texas, we put tax policies, regulatory policies. let me share with the results of those policies are. let me put it into terms where people can understand. this is what the result of good policy. we talk about that tort reform. we codified in our constitution so that those future generations would know that the stability and predictability was going to be there on the tort side and regulatory side. today there are more than 35,000 licensed physicians, more than in 2003.

35,000 more licensed physicians in the state of texas. that is due to tort reform. they knew they would not sued frivolously. the result is that access to health care has exploded across the state. if you are pregnant fema on the rio grande, you had to leave your county to find prenatal care. but no longer. if you lived in the rio grande valley and your child fell off a bicycle, you probably had to take that child hundreds of miles to find the narrow surgeon. no longer. those specialists have come back to those places where health care was rationed. no longer. he gaza policies they put in place in austin, -- because of policies they put in place in austin, texas.

the population is exploded in my home state. from 2001-2014. 5.6 million people were added to the population in that state. i share the jobs that were created. during the same time that we added that many people in jobs there are those out there that said you cannot have job creation population growth and address environmental issues at the same time. that is funny. during that same time, we saw emissions in the state of texas drop. nitrogen oxide limits went down. sulfur dioxide levels went down 50%. ozone levels went down 23%.

the total carbon footprint regardless of where you are on the debate of global warming, in the state of >> the carbon footprint was reduced white 9%. isn't that what we were shooting for? to have economic growth? to have a place where the air is cleaner? isn't that what were looking for in this country? it happened in ninth place that has the 13th largest economy in the world. it can happen anywhere. we can even have it in california. we can. we wanted to. we need it to. it is an important part of this country. to give examples, that is the reason that i happen to think that the leadership in this

country need to respect our constitution. they need to understand what our founding fathers were talking about, and their intention when they got around to writing the 10th amendment and the concept that the federal government has to do a few things. things like secure our border that is a constitutional requirement that our federal government for years has failed to do. i am critical of this president for his lack of engagement. i came to dallas, i asked him to helicopter down and take a look at the rio grande valley to see what was going on with those unaccompanied minors and other individuals who were coming into the border. he needed to see that city could understand it. he turned me down. he was on a very important mission in dallas to raise money for needy democrats. [laughter]

interesting, he turned me down because he said that he doesn't do photo ops. [laughter] i know that gaggle of photographers within found that interesting. he chose not to count. at that time, i knew that i was not going to get any assistance from the federal government. that was when i made the decision working with my legislature that we were going to deploy the texas national guard. that national guard, working with our law enforcement, parks and wildlife wardens, not just at the border, but in the river they started making a real difference. that visual presence, this is like in a community. if you have an issue, a crime or an issue of an individual breaking the law, you put a law

enforcement presence there, it has a powerful impact. you know it will work. i knew it would work. in may and june, we were having 10,000 plus apprehensions of week and that 150 plus region of the southern part of the border. 10,000 plus a week? in november, after we put those individuals on the border, we saw apprehensions drop i-74 percent. you knew it would work. i knew it would work. my instinct is the president knew it would work. they have aggregated there responsibility to do what the constitution actually tells us to do. the 10th amendment says that after those clearly defined duties, everything else is

reserved for the states. or to the individual. it makes so much sense. we are a diverse country. we are a diverse state. what will work in new hampshire, maine at work in oklahoma. what is in the best interest of people in california, may not be in the best interest of people in taxes, or what they want to do. i respect that. washington doesn't. washington has this one-size-fits-all mentality. a want to tell you how to educate your children. here is the curriculum that you are going to use to teach her children. i don't believe that. i think that the governor of new hampshire and the legislature in new hampshire, working with the school administrators and teachers and the parents, will come up with the right curriculum to make the students in new hampshire as competitive as they need to be, not a one-size-fits-all curriculum that comes out of washington d.c.

common core is bad public policy. [applause] i think the same thing can be said about health care, transfer station -- transportation infrastructure. if the epa were that be all end all, we would see an externally impact. well we are seeing externally impact, jobs are getting killed. they want to see how to make a difference? come to texas. it is the incentive programs and we have put into place to move these diesel engines out of our fleet. shutting down old, inefficient power plants, replacing them with natural gas. someone said one time on a debate stage, it is easy to be the governor of texas. that's like drawing four aces and thinking you are good at

playing poker. it was a good line, but it was not true. they were making reference to oil and gas. the fact is we are a very diverse state. the texas of 1985 is not the taxes of 2015. the jobs that have been created over the course -- over the last 15 years -- has been extraordinary. when you look at that diversification, whether it's manufacturing every toyota pickup truck in the united states -- we recruited those companies. we created tax and regulatory policies that were incentivizing to a company like that. technology companies have grown in come to the state of texas to the point that today the number one high-tech exporting state in the nation is in texas, passing up california last year. what are the results of these policies question mark we talked

about the environment results. we talk about what happens on the exporting side, the creation of wealth, the manufacturing side. we share with you one more thing that i happen to think is a really powerful result of policy that let people like you keep more of what you work for. that is the explosion in the cultural arts. in the last 14 years, we have seen texas become -- well, let me go city by city. ft. worth as the home of a new museum of modern art, one of the finest symphony halls in the world, one of the great museums in the campbell. fort worth and dallas both have world-class zoo's. dallas is home to two performing arts facilities.

the perot's finished one of the finest natural science resumes in this country. there is a cultural arts district and dallas, texas that is the largest in america geographically speaking. 60 a acres. austin, a little government and university town that i call home , has a new museum, new performing arts facility, the sxsw music festival, the largest in the world. the only formula one race in the united states, the united states grand prix is an austin, texas in november. you go to san antonio they have a new performing arts facility that they completed in the last 12 months. tonight, in houston texas, there are more your seats available in that city than any other city in america outside of new york city. i make the argument that there

reason is because the government did it. policies that were made in austin texas, tax policy regulatory policy that is predictable and smart, legal policies that don't allow for over suing, public school policies that make those schools accountable so there is a skilled workforce. when those were put into place men and women new they could risked their capital, and they did that. they can happen all across this country. we need to allow these states the freedom to be able to compete against each other. not an exact concern is stored louis brandeis was on the united states supreme court, he said the states of the laboratories of democracy. allow the states to compete against each other. from time to time, they will make a mistake. he said they may pay a price for that.

that is the beauty of that concept of allowing this country -- the federal government needs to do those few things and do them well, like a strong military, foreign policy that is cogent, that is stable, that sends a clear message to our allies. when i look at the foreign policy that is going on for the last years, i am greatly concerned for the future. as an individual who had multiple deployments of our national guard to iraq and afghanistan traveling to those places from time to time with those your men and women, seeing the extraordinary costs, talking to the mothers and the father's, the spouses, the children of texans who had lost their lives in the war on terror, having foreign policy that matters

seeing isis come back into the cities that are young men and women died to defend and to free through extraordinary and powerful impact. we look at libya egypt and how we treated israel, iran, syria we see what's going on in ukraine in crimea, and the lack of clear policies to send a powerful message that america is going to be there for our allies, were not. just watching this kerfuffle between prime minister netanyahu , who does need to come and have this conversation about what's going on between the united states and iran with israel in between. it is appropriate for him to come. we need to have this conversation. we need to hear him out. this is our longest serving ally

in that region, the longest democracy in a part of the world . there should not be any space between united states and israel. if this administration is feckless with her foreign policy , it puts us relationships in jeopardy. i think the world's safety is in jeopardy as well. we need foreign policy that clearly states america's intentions and role. our allies should that question where we are going to be. isis is on everyone's mind right now. there will be another crisis, but isis today is rightfully on everyone's mind. when we see an allyies young

pilot incinerated. when we find young american aid workers lost their lives. when we see the tragic events of people being beheaded in front of cameras, we know he -- we are looking into the face of evil, and it must be stopped, must be eradicated, and we cannot do it halfway. we have to the time and effort with our allies, with the jordanians come with the saudi's, whether other allies in that region to stamp out this absolute plague on western values. this is what this is about. as i started this conversation with you tonight, i want to in

with that, that is the best days of america are ahead of us. our great and amazing faith in the resiliency of this country when you think about what we have the potential to do, i'm proud to be an american. i am proud of american industry and what it has brought to the world. i'm proud to avoid the universe -- uniform of the united states air force. i'm proud of what america can do when we are pulling together. i know for a fact that with the right leadership in this country, we can make washington functional again, i know that. the idea that we can't work together on issues that are important to both of us, democrat or republican, when i look at all the big issues that we have dealt with over the 14 years that i was the governor of texas, whether it was a reform, education policy economic whether it was issues like ebola

. when ebola came on the shores of america, it came to texas. we show the rest of the country how the state would deal with that. when the space shuttle fell out of the sky in the early 2000's in east texas, when katrina moved hundreds of thousands of people out of neighboring louisiana into my home state when tens of thousands of unaccompanied minor showed up on our border, americans got to see that leadership does matter, and that there are very functional places in this country. it wasn't just republicans that did those things. we worked with our friends on the other side of the aisle. not one of those big issues that we dealt with in the legislative did we do alone. we reached across the aisle. i happen to think that is what

we need to be doing in washington d.c., find those areas of commonality where we can work together, spending time in the effort. i had to spend time asking my democratic colleagues to come help us on these issues. that is what we are about as a country. the best days are ahead for a spirit when i think about the opportunity for us and the renaissance that can occur here economically, when we think about opening up, think about what can happen on the energy front. i'm a big believer that all the above as an energy policy is what we need to be working on in this country. just as we get back in my home state, we happen to be the number one wind energy producing state in the nation. again, people think texas is just oil and gas, but were not. we have a vast portfolio of energy.

we produce more when than all five other countries. we have a gas industry that is strong the policies and place to give incentive for people to use those natural resources and to thoughtfully and safely partisan so that we can continue to drive down the costs of energy. from 2001-2013, electricity prices went down 14% in my home state. that did not happen here, bruce. but it can, a can with the right policies, to be able to bring this abundant north american energy resources we have. that's the reason why opening the xl pipeline is important for america's future. that's the reason our friends in mexico and the changes they have made. i would rather be buying my energy from canada and the united states than from

venezuela or middle eastern countries that don't have our best interest in mind. when we are able to do that, you drive down the cost of energy, you continue to put policies and place, whether its corporate tax policy that actually gives incentives for companies to come back into america and invest in this country and create the jobs , that's the revival that can happen in america. i am bullish about the future of this country. we are only a couple of decisions away from being able to see this extraordinary thing happened. ivc, a change in leadership in washington dc, but i think ready for that. i think this country is ready for that. i think we saw that in the november elections. i don't think it's going to be a little change. i think we took a chance with the young articulate united states senator who did not have any record. i happen to think we are paying

a price for it. i think america is going to make a substantial shift. they are going to be looking for a test it, results-oriented leader who has a record. america is only a few decisions away from having the greatest, most exciting economically harmful years that we have ever had in this country's history. starting today, let's make that happen. god bless you. thank you for being here today. linda, thank you. thank you for letting us come be a part of this today. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] >> thank you. very small token of thanks. >> these are more important. >> they were all out. they sold out. thank you so much. welcome to the hampshire. >> thank you, thank you.

[applause] >> next, a foreign-policy discussion with former u.s. ambassador john bolton. after that, former hewlett-packard ceo carly fiorina discusses politics in new hampshire. then kentucky senator rand paul with remarks at the american spec cater magazine gala. -- spectator magazine gala. >> transportation secretary anthony foxx will discuss a transportation funding bill the nation's infrastructure, and the new transportation department report called the on traffic that looks at transportation needs in 30 years. newsmakers, sunday 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on c-span.

>> this sunday on q&a,, allen harris explores however can have been portrayed in photographic images from the time of slavery up there to today. >> the film is based on the work of deborah willis, reflections and black, her ground breaking book about black photographers. there is this other narrative that was going on as well in which black people were constructed proslavery and even before the end of slavery, as something other than human. it was part of the marketing of photographs, memorabilia stereotypes that would now be considered passé, but in many ways, they are still there as we might see ourselves, in terms of the way we might see others.

quick sunday night at it :00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span q&a. >> former u.s. ambassador to the united nations, john bolton, discusses national security threats. he criticizes president obama's foreign-policy strategies and says that national security will be the center of debate during the next election cycle. he has been mentioned as a potential 2016 presidential candidate. the defense form foundation hosted this event. it is just under an hour. >> good afternoon. chairman of the defense form foundation. i had the great honor of organizing this wonderful group. we are so grateful you came.

organizing this wonderful group many years ago back in the 1980's. we were established with the specific purpose of giving congressional staff the opportunity to hear from our expert speakers on critical national security issues. primarily to deal with our national security and defense of our country. over the years, a leadership -- under the leadership of susan we focus on programs for freedom, democracy, human rights. she has been one of the greatest ways of measuring her greatness is is she now on a list of those to be exterminated by the north koreans. [laughter] she's done so much work for human rights there. she said threats on her life. we are very proud of our tradition of nonpartisanship

because the very issues we draft are of concern to all americans. today we focus on urgent national security issues that the new congress will be addressing. before introduce are dissing her speaker, i would like to acknowledged one of our great living american leaders serving on the armed services committee and during the subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities, an extremely knowledgeable person on the chinese threat with their missiles and satellite capabilities, several were capabilities, the mp threat and in every sense a growing threat to the free world. unrecognized because the chinese, the russians are waiting threads around about

taking europe in today's and what have you, but the chinese are the ones that we have to be concerned about, in my opinion for the long run. we had a section on this last session. at the defense forum foundation cover that issue with bill gertz and i thought it was very successful. so i would like to introduce to you a great american congressmen would you stand up, please? , [applause] >> he sends his apologies yes -- because he has to go to important meetings. stacy from the office of congressman rob wittman's office who helped make arrangements for the use of this room. stacy, thank you so much. i appreciate it. a great south korean leader whose successful efforts getting congress to pass the resolution on comfort women, professor.

if you could stand up. thank you. [applause] wonderful work. also on the list of the north koreans. and counselor mohammad from embassy of algeria. [applause] and also the ambassador of the western sahara. glad to have you here. [applause] i had the privilege of years ago of riding around a camel in that place. what you need is a few more water wells i think. i've never seen such desert. they must go on for 800, 500 miles. but any rate, we are so honored to have you here. our speaker, also one of our board members, chad, one of the

founders of the organization. chad is one of our truly rate -- great patriots. chat, so honored to have you. also a board member, i'm sure is known to all of you. we are so honored to have you. [applause] our friend, john bolton, serves as ambassador to the united states is an under secretary of state for arms control and international security. during his you and tenure, he was a tenacious and outspoken advocate of u.s. efforts to prevent iran from developing nuclear weapons. that is current today, of course, and let's hope his legacy continues, but i have great doubts from what i see from this administration. it is not the strongest.

to push syria out of lebanon and to bring african peacemakers into somalia. he worked vigorously against north korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, moving very strong sanctions -- resolutions through the u.n., u.s., u.n. security council. working with the french ambassador he led the security , council's efforts to approve a unanimous resolution to end the summer 2006 hezbollah war on israel. to authorize u.n. peacekeepers and to create an arms embargo against hezbollah. he also assembled an international coalition that bid -- block to the bid of hugo chavez to join the security council. he also advocated for human rights while serving at the u.n., arranging for the security council's first deliberations on burmese human rights abuses.

and getting security council approval to send peacekeepers to darfur. we're honored to have him with us today. and before i have him come forward i would like to point , out in today's issue, he is prominently mentioned as potential presidential candidate. for very good reason i can say from many years experience with john. john, a great honor to have you with us. [applause] >> bill, thank you very much for those kind words and thanks to you and suzanne and defense forum foundation for invitings me. it is always a pleasure to be here. i've worked with bill over the years in many capacities and with suzanne, beginning when we started on the western sahara problem, an issue i have worked on for close to 25 years now still without a satisfactory solution. one of those things that really i think it's an obligation of

the united states to help resolve, to give the people of the territory of the western sahara the opportunity to vote in a referendum on their own future. how is that for a startling proposition? [applause] >> something the united nations failed to do in the last 23 years unfortunately. but thank you all for coming today. and i appreciate the opportunity to be here. i want to talk about some of the issues that congress new incoming congress will face on the national security front but i think it is important to start before we survey the situation internationally to talk a little bit about the new congress and how they got here and what it means for the future. i think there is a very important domestic american political issue here that is important in the 2014 cycle and will be more important in the 2016 cycle and that is that a lot of the freshmen house and senate members in my view owe

their election in substantial part to their strong advocacy of american national security. i think a number of factors in the external world helped propel national security back into the public attention. isis beheading americans, caught a lot of people's attention. but i think also the people in the country are ahead of their would-be leaders here in washington. i think they have a deep sense of the importance of protecting the country, of the rusks that we face -- of the risks this we face around the world of the dangers of the weak and ineffective american leadership. and i think it is continuing reputation of the political conventional wisdom in washington. juyou know if you listen to the political operatives and the media they say nobody cares about national security it doesn't affect their daily lives

and they don't vote on the basis of foreign policy they vote on the basis of any of a dozen other issues. turns out i think that conventionial wisdom is wrong. it would be disasterous for the country if it were true to believe that the american people don't understand that the protection of our way of life depends on a strong american presence in the world. in any event as i say the people who have more common sense than many of their leaders and i think it is going to be evident in the 2016 cycle that national security will be at the center of of the debate for. so reasons i will explain. the international environment is going to get more perilous the next two years and i think if candidates for the republican nomination or nominee of of the democratic party i think we know who that is going to be at the moment but if we are not prepared to have a debate on america's grand strategy is

going to place the nation in even graver danger and i think the fact is right now our situation has deteriorated around the world and confronts congress with some very, very difficult policy decisions because we have an administration and a president who don't give national security the kind of priority it deserves. it may sound counter intuitive but i think president obama plays less attention to foreign policy issues than any american president since pearl harbor. i don't think he wakes up and has as his first thought what threats does the united states face around the world? i think that is eastbound dent in a whole series -- evident in a whole series of his policies and in the implementation of those policies and the consequence has been diminished american influence and a diminished american ability to protect our interests, our citizens and friends and allies around the world.

the president has revealed this lack of interest in a lot of different ways. some of the things that he said about america's role in the world i think reflect i'm being polite here a deep ambivalence about american power. he said in the state of the union last year that long-term deployments of american forces around the world risk in citing extremism which is the word he uses because he doesn't use the word "terrorism" if he can avoid it. to think that the deploy-of american fosses is the problem. tell that to germany and japan and south korea where the long-term deployment has not only been critical to our national security but helped create a democratic climate in those countries. and a climate that is respectle and civilian control over the military, something that is extraordinarily important. we haven't foster the extremism

in germany japan and south korea and yet the president said that and nobody in the media commented on it. he said very early in his term of office when asked if he believed in american exceptionalism, can you imagine, the first person who has to be asked this question. but he said yes, i believe in american exceptionalism just as the britts believe in theirs and the greeks believe in greek exceptio says in the first third he takes away in the second two thirds. there are 193 countries in the u.n. he could have gone on. just as they believe inionceptionallism and the ecuadorians. you get the point. if everybody is exceptional nobody is. and yet our president doesn't have confidence in the american role in the world and to see that you can't have a strong and

sustain the american economy without a sustained and strong american presence. you can't have the strong international presence if you don't have a strong domestic economy and just as predicted today we have a weak economy and a weak presence in the world and every risk in the next two years our adversaries who can read calendars just as well as we can will try and take advantage of that. they don't know who will be elected in 2016, none of us do but they know that obama has two mores. so just looking at the array of issues that we face in a short survey, i think you can see unfortunately the grave consequences that the united states and its friends and allies face because of the president's policy of weakness, inattention, lack of involvement, lack of resolve lack of resources for the military. let's just start in eastern and

central europe with when is happening in ukraine and the threats that other nations in the region face. you know, in 1945, we thought we had resolved the question after two deadly world wars that military force was no longer going to be used on the continent to change international boundaries. and in fact, we went on to a third world war and the world warcold warto prevent that from happening as well. at the end of the third world war of the 20th century when the soviet union collapsed many people said peace is at hand, the end of history, we don't have anything else to worry about. what we are seeing in ukraine is that history never end o are if it did it has certainry runed with a vengeance. the crimea are in the process of of increasing military control over

provinces of ukraine. i don't know where this will end. i don't believe that the agreement that was signed a few days ago will o hold for a long period of time. it is not that much different from the agreement announced in september which brokedown. in three or four months we will see if this one doesn't break down as the territory that moscow effectively controls in ukraine continues to exist. and it is not just what is happening in ukraine that is a problem. i know there is some people who say you know, it as struggle and a country far away among people of whom we know little. some of you in the room will know that phrase. that is what chamberlain said about the land in september of 1938. goes well beyond ukraine. when has happened here is that putin has driven a wedge into the nato alliance. i think he sees the prospect for an scout come outcome for russia far

beyond territorial at the expense of ukraine. he sees the possibility unthinkable a few years ago of shattering the nato alliance because it may well be that his next targets could be the baltic republics. we know the russians have in years gone by already engaged in cyber warfare against those countries. they have large ethnic russian populations and i think if putin believes that at relatively low cost he can talk aggressive action against one or more of those countries and nato fails to respond for the first time ever when a nato country was in peril that the alliance itself could collapse. because there is no american leadership. this deal just signed is notable by the absence of the president of the united states. we are the leaders of the any tow alliance.

the -- mayo nato alliance. he is not going to tell us that that would be impolitic. and if there is one thing that is consistent in the president's foreign policy it is his concern for the domestic political implications of what he does. make no mistake about it i think the europeans and i mean specifically chancellor merkel of germany have looked at the situation and said we are not going to see american leadership for the next two years. in germany they have their own problems, economic dependence on russian oil and gas and crisis in the euro zone, a general disinclination to use german power for good and sufficient historical reasons and they rely on american shed leadership and i think chancellor mostly cloudile decided she will look out for german interests and cut a deal that even she may consider unsatisfactory in order to try and stablize the situation in ukraine until such

time as america gets a president who is prepared to try and prevent the use of military force in europe to change boundaries. there is nobody watching what happens in ukraine i think more carefully than the leadership in beijing. because they are seeing the world's preeminent political military alliance responding ineffectively in ukraine. and there is who no comparable aligned structure in east and see the asia. in china today although the conventional wisdom in the united states is that china is undergoing a peaceful rise and it will be a responsible stakeholder in world affairs that is only one potential a scenario. it may be the post desirable but it is certainly not the most likely. as well as its economic strength china is engaged in a massive buildup of its ballistic and nuclear forces. it is building a blue water navy

for the first time literally in 600 years as bill mittendorf said has advanced cyber warfare capabilities and antiaccess weapon systems, it is modernizing the people's liberation army ground components and it is essentially now making assertive almost belligerent territorial claims in the east china sea and the south china sea. once again, many people in the united states may say that is to far away all of the islands islands that are three inches above water on a good day, what possible interest can they be to us? the interest to us i think is palpable because not only are there potentially important mineral reserves in and around the east and south china sea but what the chinese are doing and they have said it publicly, is they intend to make at least the south china sea into a chinese

lake. they claimed the borders that go back. the claim goes back some time and now established a provincial companyprovincialcapital on one the islands that is three inches bob the water and confronting the philippines and vietnamese and our response is to call on all sides to negotiate the competing territorial claims peacefully. that is a little bit like praying that the claim is are resolved peacefully. it is not the going to guarantee an outcome that we or the others see as satisfactory. what difference does it make if china asserts and can maintain sovereignty over the south china sea? every barrel of oil that goes to japan, south korea and taiwan from the middle east passes through the south china sea. a huge amount of international commerce generally goes through that and the straits.

if the chinese can turn the south china sea into territorial waters they will have their hands around the throats of key economies in east asia, key trading partners and friends of the united states, result in a huge strategic shift in the region. and yet we have a president who despite a much trumpeted pivot toward asia has done essentially nothing in response to these potential chinese threats. nobody is looking for a hostile relationship with china, quite contrary. but the way to avoid a difficult trout relationship or even more perilous one is to have the united states in a position of strength. and instead, we are in a position of weakness. it was an issue during the 2012 campaign where governor romney for example pointed out that at that time about 287 ships at sea

the united states navy was at its lowest level since 1916. one nine one six. goes along with president obama's budget for the army where for this fiscal year we are projected to have a groundforce level equal to the force level of our army in 1938. another good year. this is a reduction in american capability that will not be made up overnight even with the right kind of president-elected in 2016 and there is every prospect that the downward trend of our capabilities will increase unless congress steps up and does what some consider a politically unpopular thing of defending and expanding the military budget in a time of tight fiscal constraints. i think it is critical that we do that. and i think we should do it unashamedly and fully defending the reason why we need to get

the military budget up just as ronald reagan did when he took office after the carter administration in a time of economic difficulty, he said to weinberger the expenditures for defense are are not the just a budget line item and this is exactly the attitude we have to follow. i mentioned that president obama had bragged about his pivot from the middle east toward asia and i suppose that is because he thought things were going so well for us in the middle east that we could afford to turn our attention away. in fact, they weren't at the time and things are in even worse shape now. in country after country, across the middle east and north africa, what has been a crisis here and a crisis there and a crisis in next country has merged together. and we have the entire region slipping into chaos. you can see it in the

disintegration of national governments around the region, began certainly before the obama administration but i think it has accelerated dramatically since the arab spring which the president badly misread to the detriment of many american american allies in the region. allies who were concededly not jefferson crap democrats but who ian democrats. but hosni mubarak with the peace treaty between egypt and israel and others and instead we have a region where terrorists and where lords are increasingly taking root, threatening neighbors, tee destroying existing governments and ripping up boundary lines that have been in place since the end of world war i. really began in somalia back in the early 1990's.

but we see this problem continuing in the sudan and across north africa, libya being the prime example of a country that has just disintegrated since the overthrow of ghadaffi. and bokod.haran attacking across region. we have seen terrorists nearly topple the got of mali. we have seen terrorists attacks against oil and gas facilities in algeria. got little attention in this country, but one the worst terrorist incidents there. in egypt we have seen the muslim brotherhood come to power and nearly snuff out the opposition. had there not been a military coupe against it today no one is in control of the peninsula and

it is a highway for extremists and terrorists and traffickers and drugs and human beings. nobody has control over it. just been reading in the news pape hes recently yemen has collapsed as a state. allies of iran and ohouthis now control the capital. another capital where our embassy officials had to flee because we can't protect them. in what used to be yemen you have al-qaeda in the a arabian peninsula as a base and the surrogate for iran in the backdoor of the oil producing monarchies of the peninsula. this country that the president called an example of a success story of the counter terrorism policies. and to thing for, isis literally creating new sit out of the remains of what used to be syria and iraq. i think we are at the point

where realistically you have to say that the country of iraq as we have known it since the brokeup of the ottoman pappier doesn't exist anymore. i don't see the kurds going back that a country that looks like what iraq used to. they are de facto independent and only force would change that which they would resist to the end. the sunni arabs are not going to go back into a country dominated by political forces that operate under the will of the ayatollahs in iran. syria has come apart. the kingdom of jordan is threatened and only there because of the latest attack by isis we have seen the king step up and act like a real leader to the embarrassment of many people in the united states who wished that oh had a leader of that kind of strength. with you the fact is that isis -- but the forecast is that isis continues to develop support all around the world. it is a threat in the region.

a threat to jordan obviously. again, it, too is a threat to the oil-producing monarchies. we have in activities tan pakistan taliban waiting for the ultimate american withdrawal. many probably heard the famous saying referring to us saying you have the watches we have the time. this are right. at least under this administration. and if afghanistan falls to the taliban again it will not simply put that country back to where it was before 9/11 but it will be a major threat to the stabilitystability of the government of pakistan and if that government were to fall to the radicals not only would it also be a base for international terrorism but with its is supply of nuclear weapons it would be an iran on steroids right now. a grave threat not only on the sub continent but for terrorist attack around the world. and then, of course, i have saved the best for last.

iran. which is a state experience of terrorism. it has been since 1979 the largest source of financial support pore terrorists around the -- for terrorists around the world and it is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. of course, the obama administration is working to reach an agreement with them on their nuclear weapons program abandoning the basic premises of an acceptable agreement that the europeans have pressed for for over a decade that iran would have to give up uranium enrichment. their uranium enrichment capability will be legit mizeed by the deal and the substance of the deal when we finally see it announced is simply a deal that will try and maximize the amount of time that we have to find out when iran violates the agreement. that is what this boils down to. and i think it will be a destablizing event all over the region. i think other countries will accept that iran is on an

inevitable track toward nuclear went. they will try and get nuclear weapons as well and this already volatile region will be even more dramatically at risk. we do have allies in the region. we have israel. its prime minister is coming here to this congress in less than a month to speak about the threat of iran's nuclear weapons. the president of our country will not receive this leader of one of our closest allies. what signal does that send to the terrorists, the state experiences of terrorism to nuclear proliferaters? what signal does it send to our friends who say if this is the way the united states now treats its closest allies how will it treat us when our time of trouble comes? it really is a low point i think

in recent american history. although i'm sad to say there is a lot of competition for that dubious honor. and i think the low point to date to come back to libya has been the evens before, during and after the attack on our consultate in benghaz on september 11th 2012. obviously we weren't ready for it. whether we were able to or not we didn't do anything on the date of the attack to save those four americans. or to do anything else to protect other americans in the region who were at risk and potentially enn. in danger for days thereafter. you with worst of wall -- but worst of all from the point of view of american national security look at how little we have done since that attack in benghazi. the administration has arrested

one person, brought them to united states after some unknown amount of interrogation and will now try them in a full due process criminal trial in u.s. courts. no retaliation. no retribution to the terrorists. a criminal trial in the united states for one person. the lesson i think that being sends and the administration's prosecutor formance is that -- performance is that an ambassador is the president's personal representative in the country to which they are accredited, the lesson is under barack obama you can kill the personal representative of the president of the united states and do it with impugnity. and that really is the low point. the president doesn't seem to understand that. soion that is why -- so, that is why i think it is important to have this broad national debate on what america's role in the

world is. to you believe -- do you believe as i think the overwhelming percentage of americans do that we are a strong a and positive and benign force in the world? or do you think america is too pushy? too successful? too assertive? and that a more withdrawn america will mix a peaceful world? i think that is the way the president looks at that time. i think it is like looking through the wrong end of the telescope but this is debate we are going to have. i think we will have that debate in 2016 and i think the candidates who are likely to win are the candidates who can explain why supporting a strong american presence in the world is critical to our liberty here at home. thank you very much. [applause] >> suzanne, we have time for questions? is that right? >> yes, sir. >> could you touch briefly on turkey with their proximity to

the mayhem in northern iraq? it seems very tempting for them to -- >> well, i think turkey has been increasingly a problem for the western alliance over this past 10 or 15 years. i think we first saw it back in the runup to second gulf war when we couldn't get the requisite parliament are authority to allow the transit of american military units across the country into northern iraq. turkey was then and still is a nato ally and this conflict was on their border. but i think it certainly has gotten worse under prime minister now president. i think he has made a very clear decision to move turkey away from the vision of turkey as a secular westernizing country. he has done this in a whole variety of ways. purging the military and courts. suppressing domestic dissent.

and i'm very worried about the direction turkey is takingion moving further away from the west. i don't know whether he has ottoman style ideas or whether some think you do or whether it is more focused on turkey but i do know that when he was mayor of istanbul he said the following "democracy is like a street car. you ride it to the stop you want and then you get off ." i find that a pretty chilling proposition. and i just worry when i read that he is considered to be obama's best friend among foreign leaders. i think we should be red shirtingvigorous inour diplomacy with turkey. do what we can which is limited but try to bring them back toward the west and maintain them as a strong member of the that i tow alliance. im-- nato alliance.

i'm very much afraid they are slipping away. yes, ma'am? >> yes on the peace process. there have been statements from the right sector saying they won't even observe the cease fire. is this something that is in control of of the government of kiev? and then the secretary general of the osce who is overseeing the process said while there were some russian soldiers identified in eastern ukraine they could find no evidence of the russian military. how do you parse -- i'm sorry. that was silly. they could find no evidence of heavy military equipment in there. >> yes, well they didn't look very hard, did they? i think this deal is very shaky. i think the odds of it being sustained are small and i think

putin obviously has been pursuing a strategy of fight and talk. and i honestly don't know what his ultimate objective is. certainly the conflict and even the annexation of of the crimea represent only a small percentage of the total territory in aah you ukraine you mightion peck russia to wan to carve out of the country. i don't know whether it is because putin doesen feel he is capable of going as far as he might. but i think that because of the price of oil in international marks russia has been badly harmed and putin may feel that he needs a respid from the fighting in the the short-term for the russian economy to recover, maybe get some of the sanctions lifted but that is why i don't have any confidence it going to be