>> this is is the chris matthews show. >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> tear down this wall. >> i can hear you. >> the time for change has come. chris: 11 great years, have been with you since before the iraq war from the early george w. bush days to the early rise of barack obama. we're looking back at the biggest. we're showing the fascinating characters of the past 11 great years. insights and predictions on this show, things we discovered together thanks to our top flight correspondents. you'll love seeing what we thought would happen to those 11 characters before the biggest events at elections of the past decades.

here comes the funny stuff, some of the favorite bits ofiester year. >> highlights of the show's 11 great years. chris: hi, i'm chris matthews. and welcome to the highlight edition of the show. we're looking back how this show reflects the history especially the politics of our 11 years on the air. we're doing it by highlighting some of the most fascinating characters of those 11 years. it was the fall of 2002 and all the talk was about george w. bush's drive to take america to war in iraq. here's part of our discussion the-week before the invasion. after the united nations had failed to back president bush. chris: the president's done a great job of sawing the country -- selling this country on the war. the "new york times"' poll was like 2/3 of the people. how come he can't sell the world and should he have tried? >> i think he should have gone to the united nations in the first place.

do you believe in the words in your own resolution? immediate disarmment. everybody knows saddam didn't immediately disarm. they failed the test. >> i would think that the white house has realized that now. i think you get the sense that they've come around to that position that this is over. they're not going to get what they want. chris: not going to get what they want from the u.n. chris: that was campbell brown. the initial fighting was one-sided. i was amazed by the military and the torture chambers. >> with that the rest of our government was as utterly competent, brilliantly competent as the military is. i think that, you know, the interest thing as peggy said is humanitarian case for this war turns out to have been stronger than the strategic case for the war. before this we were told because of destruction because of the alliance with terrorism.

but when you see the torture chamber and when you see the reaction of the iraqi people and when you see them dancing in the streets you know the humanitarian part about it -- >> do you think the american people are going to be convinced by these smiling faces? they're not fake. >> i think the welcoming faces are going to last an awful long time. >> katty had it right. that was her first time on this show. tony blair was losing popularity. the people thought he was far too supportive of george w. bush. and when he left office, we played this. >> i miss those red ties. don't count him out. let me tell you that way. i know a man of resolve and vision and courage. and my attitude is, i want him to be here so long as i'm the president. >> take a look at this piece of fun we picked up on the internet. there's only you in my life

the only thing that's right my first love your every breath that i take ♪ ♪ [laughter] ♪ you're every step i make and i witht to share all my love you o one else will do and your eyes your eyes your eyes they tell me how much you care ♪ chris: well, that was an early viral video on the video.

that was bad lip reading sound bite today. prince ideo was abdullah. it inspired us to create one of our favorite bits. ♪ see the pyramids along the night ♪ chris: is this presidential p.d.a. the price for cheaper gas? ♪ but just remember darling all the while ou belong to me ♪ chris: our second fascinating character was john kerry. here he is talking about his struggles in the campaign. norah o'donnell. >> kerry kicked off his fall campaign saying iraq was the wrong decision. a year ago he said it was the wrong decision. which one is it?

that's why kerry is having problems and the president has bng mocking him. the crowd know about it. chris: it seems to me that the big question is this the year the democrats could have won with the right democrat and even with kerry but he doesn't know how to win it or is hit the year that bush was going to win because of the economy and the war is off of people's come passes? >> b, chris, the b choice. [laughter] >> i think he could have done better but he had a couple of stumbles. remember kerry did the same thing before. we all chuckle over him that he was toast. he came back in those caucuses. he's known for being a closer. chris: one of the big issues for the democrats was how much bill and hillary clinton was pulling for kerry because she was getting her ducks in a row to run the next time if kerry lost to bush. here's campbell brown.

katty kay, bill brown. does he want kerry to win? >> doesn't he want to have his cake and eat it too? >> what do you think? >> i think that deep in his heart, the clintons think that the best thing for the country is a hillary clinton presidency. i think there is also the possibility that that means waiting. >> i think that's too cynical. i think the clintons move in democratic waters. the party is unified and angry at george bush. if both of them don't give this their best shot, it will be noticed. >> hillary is am bive louse about the victory. >> she's doing everything she possibly can. chris: kerry didn't make it, of course. it wasn't about substance. but it was also about style.

let's take a look at casual moments in coffee shops in last year's campaign. >> what an honor to say hello to everybody. there are three sisters, four sisters and one little dude. >> go to johnkerry.com and you'll see my plan, cut the deficit in half. people, grow jobs. >> 53-93. you think it's not fair but it is. >> when we come back how this show looked a the second bush term and our third most fascinating character, dick cheney. be right back. cheney. be right back. >> "this chris matthews vo: i've always thought the best part about this country is that we get to create our future. you get to take ownership of the choices you make.

the person you become. i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved and staying engaged. they're not sitting by as their life unfolds. and they're not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is "how did i end up here?" i started schwab for those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives.

chris: welcome back. as we continue our highlight reel, the 111 years we've been on the air. we're looking at the 11 most fascinating characters. we're putting dick cheney and condy rice. take a look how they both stacked up in the second bush term starting with david brooks. >> everything was now, now, now. we're in a crisis. we've got to address this. we've got to solve this now. now when you talk to them it's all long-term. chris: in the old days, the president had his smartest guy next to him, dick cheney. he says let's go ahead and get into baghdad. has he still got that voice? >> i think in the end when the big cards are on the table cheney's voice carries more than any other with the possible exception of condoleeza rice. chris: you think she's a challenger in terms of advice? >> i do. yeah, because i travel with her and i cover this day in and day out. chris: is she a big dog with the president? >> absolutely. i agree entirely within -- i

wouldn't call the secretary of state a big dog. she is so close to him. she really has his ears. in the first she deferred more to dick cheney -- >> talk about changings in personality, her personality has changed. when she was on the n.s.e. she was very formal, very controlled, discipline. spoke in full paragraphs. now she's much more confident, fully relaxed. she's the number advisor for the president. chris: dick cheney drew our recent attention. and drew sullivan advocated an aggressive investigation of cheney and his staff. >> forget the lawyers. at about bush, cheney, avington? >> i think they'll be forced to look at the role of the white

house. the lesson for me is right and wrong in the end it's not a matter for lawyers. it's a matter for moral people to decide. >> i don't see it going beyond e john hugh-brad bury -- chris: you think they'll get to cheney? >> that is a war crime under -- under any -- in my definition under every nation. he says the law does not apply to me. that's why this is fundamental. making the rule of law real again. chris: i love andrew's passion. there's one thing about cheney that struck me. we did a comic take on how he differed from bush. on a lighter note, one thing's clear about dick cheney, he's redefining what it means to be a foreman vice president. when cheney left his office the world was his oyster. he could have gone the corporate

route like al gore. he could have played golf or in mclean, virginia hosting republican soirees. on his way out cheney gave no clue that he had a brand-new view of life after the vice presidency. that he was not taking his 19% approval rating and going home. now he keeps making it very clear he ain't getting off the stage. >> if i don't speak out, then where do we find ourselves, bob? then the critics have free run and there isn't anybody there on the other side to tell the truth. >> well, some say cheney's refusal of move on reminds them of groundhog day. but you could see it's that frightenly relentless glenn close in "fatal attraction." like cheney, she was not going to be ignored. >> i don't know what you're up to, but i'm going to tell you it's going to stop right now. >> no, it's not going to stop,

but it's going to go on and on until you face your responsibilities. >> what responsibilities? >> this is the way you do it, show up at my apartment. >> what am i supposed to do? i'm not going to be ignored, dan. chris: what do you think? cheney fatal attraction, will not be ignored? >> i don't think he's going to boil the rabbit. chris: when we come back, our list of the 1

chris: this week hillary clinton's nod for the democratic nomination for the presidency seems all by inevitable but there's a big el vant in the room. can you imagine first gentleman bill clinton roaming around the east wing that domain like nancy reagan and laura bush, well, imagine no longer. ♪ my boyfriend's back he is coming better cut it on the double hey la hey la, my boyfriend's back ♪ [laughter] chris: welcome back. bill clinton's first husband, that's one of our favorite comic takes on the clintons. that aired back in the spring of 2005 when hillary clinton was the only serious candidate for the 2008 nomination and

considered inevitable. a year later we were analyzing our main challenges, style and the pluses and minuses of being bill clinton's wife. here is howard fineman, darryl brooks and norah o'donnell. >> she has no seem that she's not carrying a podium wherever she goes. all the pronouncements are ex- cathedra. it's the fact that she's dictating people. >> a know it all people. >> another problem she's got is old news vs. new news. there has been a bush and a clinton on the ticket. i think the notion that the country might want to get past this double helix of bushes may be out there. it's a term from genetics, ok? >> she can win. first because the rest of our ives the white house will be

bush-clinton, bush-clinton. but the reason she can win is a large chunk of the electorate are white women. they voted for bush both times. they really like hillary. those people can move right over. chris: and they are the -- >> if you're a waitress making $30,000 in ohio. chris: a year from now will hillary be stronger than she is right now? and the panel, eight say no. four say yes, she will be. norah, you're with the eight. she's going down a little. >> that's the only way she can go, is down a little. chris: what do you think will be the seeds of her -- >> people will take a look at who else is in the field and so those people will rise and hillary will come down. chris: very prescient, norah. when we come back, the first part of our two-part reveal of our 11 years on the air. we're

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chris: welcome back,. when talk about the possibility of hillary clinton winning in 2008, we often focused on her support for the iraq war. here is the discussion in the summer of 2006 with andrew sullivan, kelly o'donnell and joe cline and starting with elizabeth of the "new york times." >> she has not waivered from her position. >> i think hillary is a fantastic icon og fi. warrior weans always do well. margaret thatcher, queen elizabeth i. there's a very deep mythology. the warm to that figure. if hillary could pull it off, it's the one way she could win the hearts of the people. >> it's essential. she's going to be the first female nominee of a major party because there is concern that a woman would not be perceived as strong figure at a time of war.

so she's got to be very careful protecting our options. she has time about getting out of iraq. chris: led by a pro war woman and what do you call her? >> a warrior queen. chris: anti-war democrats unite an alternative to hillary? seven say yes will unite against some nonhillary. very close, andrew. you say there will be the unhillary candidate. >> of course. the forces are so great and the loathing -- and some of the loathing and the criticism is legitimate. what's happened over the last month or two is the period of hillary as the inevidentable candidate has ended. chris: it has? >> it hasened. now there's a real serious discussion in the democratic party about who they might choose as an alternative. chris: even though the iraq war posed trouble for hillary clinton back then, bill clinton and george w. bush developed a

friendship. they're both baby boomers and displaying the worst characteristics of the boomers. chris: the boomer generation has its strength. the last two presidents showed the worse, like self-indulgence, self-absorption. the rules don't apply for me. ill clinton ran as a boomer. ♪ chris: and then there was this during the campaign. >> when i was in england, i experimented with marijuana a time or two. and i didn't like i. and didn't inhale. chris: and when he was president he honored this ridiculous question with a serious answer. >> mr. president, the world is dying to know is it boxers or briefs? [applause]

>> usually briefs. chris: george w. bush has had his own boomer obnoxiousness even when his dad was in office ms > it's the annual george herbert bush. >> to everybody in horseshoe and, i accept the award. >> michael moore had fun with this one. >> i hit every shot. people said it didn't work. chris: and we had fun with this.

i don't know. this is not a campaign ad. this is like a reel from hell. we hate these guys. any thoughts, kathleen? you still like boomers after that appearance? >> i never did like us. >> and that was kathleen parker. chris: that's tall highlights we have for today. but we're back next week with part two. we'll pick up with the clintons and look at the most fascinating characters of the last 11 years. that's the show. thanks for watching. we'll see you

good even, i'm terry mcsweeney. win fin with the worsening condition of nelson mandela. he is in critical condition tonight. doctors are doing everything they can for him, but in the past 24 hours, he has taken a turn for the worst. he has had respiratory problems. he spent three decades in prison. a former government contractor charged with revealing u.s. secrets is now a man without a country looking for asylum.