>> dickerson: welcome back to "face the nation" i'm john dickerson. here is more of our interview with stephen colbert. have you learned how to interview differently now than when you did in the past? >> absolutely. i used to live by the joe scarborough rule which was, if someone on your show talks for more than seven seconds you've lost control of your show. now i let back see what they will say. >> dickerson: what about the questions you ask? >> it's based more on curiosity, i was always in attack mode before. people want me to tea tack people still. people are very upset, liberals got so mad at me. somebody called me like a craven sell out for not 'talking donald trump. like what do you want. there's no pleasing some people. >> dickerson: looking back at

this year, what i was struck by after san bernadino you started one segment i'm trying to manage the tonal shift. that's what strikes me, politics was crazy. but also we've had shooting charleston, san bernadino, attacks in paris, we're ending the year in kind of a fragile walking on egg shells kind of time. i have responsibility to do a comedy show. like water cooler conversation. and that's why it's not always political or even new just what people are talking about. i feel like dishonest if i don't attempt to do that. especially if there's absolute tsunami or something that eclipses any other thought. >> dickerson: seems to me difference between question and answer answer you get. and a moment you have. >> i love learning new things. we had michelle dunn on who is genius, award winner for tap dance. she said, would you like to

learn something? i said, absolutely. i've always wanted to learn to tap dance i've had chance. she just taught me like, half of a shim-sham. i don't know if i'm saying that right. >> dickerson: i like that with a little orange. >> so refreshing. a summer shim-sham. incredible. that was an amazing joy. it was a moment. >> dickerson: it wasn't you posed a great question. i started off at improviser in chicago. to me i learned, this is what i really enjoy, is i like discovery more than invention. any discovery i can make is always going to be superior to an invention. because discovery you don't know what you're going to find. where as invention you are just presenting to the audience something you've already made. discovery is always superior to invention. >> dickerson: was the moment -- carving this stuff down in stone, by the way. i feel like i'm comedy moses on the mountain top right now. this is good stuff.

>> dickerson: this is high quality. >> you know what i charge to teach this at the learning -- >> dickerson: your interview with joe biden was a discovery? >> that nice man just gave me my show. because i had to be myself in order to receive it. i had no other choice. it was only my third show. it was such an honor, i was completely moved by his willingness to share that with the audience. >> guy in the back yells, "lone star, sir, serve in iraq" all of a sudden, i lost it. >> one of the -- i almost said the word happy it's not a happy subject but in some ways one of the most sublime moments i've ever had on stage was to be there to have ability or to have the responsibility and purpose to receive that from him. >> dickerson: pretty deep, human connection. out of no where. >> created a moment.

dickerson: what would you have asked the pope if. >> i would have asked him about joy, you know, we call the show the joy machine. because unless you do it with joy it's just a machine. it will grind you up spit you out there have been nights. but i would have asked him about joy. where he finds his joy, like how did he become st. peter? how did he get into the shoes of the fishermen without becoming dogmatically so rigid that there's no joy left in him. because i'm sure he was a nice guy but didn't get real hit of joy. no contact high with pope benedict. but frances exudes a sense that the spirit of the gospel is in him as opposed to the abstract interpretation that gets activated into dogma which is really law. >> dickerson: what is next year going to be like? >> it's hard for me to remember when we're not in election year

what an election year is like. it's the greatest story you could possibly talk about because everybody cares and nobody gets hurt. nobody dies. it's not tragedy just super important that's why i love the election year. don't have to explain anything to your audience go straight to the joke because they understand. you don't have to educate them in any way. what's next year going to be like. i don't know. if this is year any indication, i hope it gets better. this was sad year, dark, really a dark year. >> dickerson: we need somewhere to go for joy. >> star wars. dickerson: whatever your feeling about that? >> i'm thrilled. i love -- i think there's something so hopeful about reawakening, idea of the force. because the force is the idea that it all -- it binds us together, it doesn't divide us. you know who the good guys are, you know who the bad guys are. and isn't that nice in a world where sometimes hard to tell. some ways feels like great time for movie like that the same

after 9/11 great time to have lord of the rings movies. there was clarity in our culture. there was a cultural artifact that had moral clarity. i do comedy for a living, though. just want to be clear. i do comedy for a living. this is like the most serious interview i have done in years. >> dickerson: i'm a downer. >> you're not a downer. dickerson: the interesting thing about comedy we need to acknowledge this horrible thing that happened, we also need catharsis of the comedy to get us back on the road to controlling what seems like a time of total chaos. >> you can't laugh be afraid at the same time. it's like physiologically impossible to laugh and be afraid at the same time. i'm very grateful for my job, because we think about things like things we're talking about at the end of the day we have to end up find some way to laugh about that it is not disrespectful of people's experience of it.

it's an odd balance to walk. hopefully we do it some time. >> dickerson: we'll be right back with our panel.

>> dickerson: joining us now is the president and editor in bennett. ben domenech is the publisher of "the federalist." jeanne cummings in the editor of the "wall street journal" and david rohde writes for reuters. i want to start with we'll look back at 2015 we're going to go on to 2016 so ben i want to

start with you. what in 2015 surprised you the most or did you find the most interesting. >> i was surprised the most by how quickly we saw the arguments about free speech become essentially a machine know partisan affair. civil liberties in america, the conversation has been bipartisan one historically. but in the conversation that we saw took place on america's campuses in our political fray, i think political correctness now something that moved over entirely into a conversation on the right, that surprised me to a great thing. most interesting was something that stephen colbert made reference to, which was the surprise of the trump phenomenon. a significant one, i think it's politically significant in way that lot of people didn't expect. expected celebrity campaign. i think actually something to be said for finding the good in the trump phenomenon. he does express to a certain degree a degree of populism that is always part of american politics that i think represents

group of disaffected americans who are standing up saying, the status quo is not acceptable but they want change. >> dickerson: what surprised to you, jeanne? >> what surprised me was the collapse of the republican party establishment class. and it's not just the rise of trump because they have had candidates like trump, the outsiders come and go. they can't coalesce in the establishment and it's not just in the presidential campaign, it's the entire house leadership collapsed during this past year because of the push from the outside. and that really surprised me because they have been top down for decades. >> dickerson: the other side of what -- >> we keep talking about a grass roots lane and establishment lane, i'm starting to think that the establishment is like a bike lane. very small. the other lane is a lot bigger. james, what's your feeling about

2015? >> i would go with nasa finding running waters on mars after that donald trump and this class warfare with the republican party. the base against the donor class. on the core issues, that have stood for republican party have stood for cycle after cycle, tax cuts, budget cuts, deregulations, free trade. donald trump is challenging party orthodox it's working. >> dickerson: it's not just, you have a kind of shiny object candidate easel ruminating something big blocks that are moving. david, what about you? >> to the less positive it is trump related but the breadth of the fear of muslims in this country and sort of acceptance of open bigotry, it would have been completely unacceptable for someone to say in 2012 a mormon cannot be the president of the united states. to have major candidates saying muslim can't be the president and really isn't that much of

uproar. if he had said radical muslim or extremist, but it's fine. it's the demagoguery and attacks against muslims i didn't expect it to get so powerful so quickly this many years after 9/11. >> i feel like that does speak a little bit to when it comes to trump's character his ability to know how to manipulate. he knows how to manipulate a crowd. he knows how to respond to it but i also think speaks to something more significant in the sense that we see this broad base populous revolt in europe that comes from both right and left i think you see that echoed in america to degree that we've not seen historically. that's something that i think should concern both parties. you saw bernie sanders saying that he feels he can appeal to trump voters. >> it was striking in your conversation with bernie sanders, how many times he repeated the word anger or angry that's surreal. that's where the diagram really overlaps for him.

on issues like populism and so forth, in one's counter stephen colbert just said he thinks americans are tired of divisiveness. >> i was hardened by the very strong pushback by leadership in both parties to the muslim ban. to have paul ryan, mitch mock continental, hillary clinton, there was very strong pushback on that. i think for the muslim community that had to have been at least somewhat heartening. >> dickerson: although still see in the polls that there's support within republican party and donald trump didn't seem to fall from that. let's switch now to 2016 although playing with all the same teams, basically. david, to you, is there a big question in 2016 that you hope will get resolved or at least question we should keep in mind as we're looking at the issues in the next year? >> it's who wins what's an

election about inequality. is it the trump sort of rhetoric which is just playing on the division and getting people to blame mexicans and others maybe for what's happening. or can the likely democratic nominee, hillary clinton, come with solutions to in'quality. i think that is the issue of the coming year is the issue of the election and it's so visceral. >> i don't think it's about inequality i think it's about change. what we really are seeing is a group of disaffected americans who are responding to these outsider candidates in way that they have not historically, real estate question whether they're going to show up and vote. but it's coming at time when there is an opportunity i think for dramatic change. we saw the change in leadership in the republican party that came into congress, we'll see additional generational change in both parties over the course of the coming several years. and i think the real questions whether there is one party that is able to translate this anger, this demand for dramatic change

into something healthy or whether it turns into a kind of stray voltage affect within the election that isn't actually translated into either party. >> dickerson: jeanne, what did you learn about money? we're talking about a situation where the grass roots overwhelms the elite. elites are the ones that there is lot of talk before this campaign how candidates with fundraising prowess scott walker gone from the race. jeb bush, not doing well in the polls. did we learn anything about the power of this populous movement with respect to movement? >> we learned that you can't buy an election. and that is very heartening. the small donors can still have a big influence. we also were reminded of a lesson that we knew before but forgot in all of the super pac moments. that is that donating to a candidate is the first vote. so the candidates that can draw

small donors can survive because that's real support and the funny thing with trump that people overlook, he talks about, i don't want your money, i'm financing my own campaign. he's not. if you go back look, because he's not buying tv ads, he's not spending big, he actually has enough small donations unsolicited coming into his campaign so he's financing it with their money. we have been reminded that primary does matter and that is in the small donor not necessarily the big donor. >> part of the interesting paradox of trim than this billionaire would serve as the most effective vehicle for the populous -- something we've heard going back several psych tolls pat buchanan. the trump is able to call out the donor class the way he has because he's been a member of it is remarkable. put another question on the table i'd love to answer, too, in the year ahead is the problem with syria, i doubt we'll get

that answer. but the stress on europe, the greater middle east making some progress, what's the solution there seems to me -- >> i don't see any candidate really -- there's talk on republican side about being more tough but i don't think anyone going to send in large number of american troops, that's only way you quickly change stabilize sear california i think you see more of the same awful, the deaths, refugee flows a stronger isis, they're losing ground in iraq but their message is -- >> dickerson: the two-prong question. assad and isis. >> most interesting thing i think for both parties right now what did you learn from the last 15 years. what are the lessons you took from these experiences when it comes to foreign and domestic policy. i think what you see on the republican side is number of candidates who have taken away certain things, no accident ted cruz and donald trump the two people who are most critical of the iraq policy under the bush administration are leading in the polls currently on

republican side. that says something significant. it's also a question of whether hillary clinton learned in the last 15 years, what are we going to find out. >> dickerson: thanks to all of you. happy new year. we'll be right back.

>> dickerson: we're back with a very long distance remote, astronaut scott kelly joins us from the international space station. commander kelly, first went into space in 1999, what's different now? >> well, my first flight was on the space shuttle, it was to the hubble space telescope that was before we had the international space station. it wasn't few years later before we launched the first people to the space station, first human presence in space which we've had last 15 years. it's a much different experience now with this international space station all the research we have that go with it and what we were doing back in 1909s and previously. >> dickerson: for you personally, though, being in space now relative to that f first time? >> flying in space is a privilege whether it's the first time or the fourth time.

but obviously back then it was my first flight, it was seven days long and since then i've flown three times previous -- or subsequently durations, 13 days, 159 days now this next -- this flight will be close a year they have been getting larger and larger reach time. if i fly fifth time it will have to be mars get that duration that will be required to keep up the trend. >> dickerson: before we go any further what room are you in there? >> i am in the u.s. destiny laboratory module which is like the main module for the u.s. side of the space station, it's combination of laboratory and sort of like the bridge of a ship. i guess you could describe with it a lot of systems that are required to operate the space station are in here. as well as experiments. j in case there are any conspiracy theorists out there how would you prove to us that you're in veer row gravity?

in zero gravity. >> i would just do this for awhile. unless i was falling it would be kind of hard to do. >> dickerson: nasa put call out to those that might want to be an astronaut. what would you look for? >> i was on the hiring committee we picked a great group. what we look for are people that are technically competent. you need background in scientific field whether it's as a scientist, engineer, medical doctor or person that's in the military with some kind of technical background. and we want those people to have proven themselves in their current profession being very high performers but also people that get along well as part of a team. because this is a huge team effort, not just your crew members here on board but also with all the folks you have to work with on the ground. just really diverse group of

people with skills that are very broad. we have a lot of systems lear on board the space station we can't call repairman when one of them breaks. we have to be generalists in a lot of ways. >> dickerson: have you noticed any of the effects on space that you're there to look at and discover in yourself? >> you know, lot of the data we collect is stuff that has to be analyzed on the ground. trips, we can't see bone loss ourselves. that's something that we'll have to notice with imaging technology when i get back. but there are certain things we can see with regards to muscle mass like amount of muscle i've lost in my calf muscle because we don't walkup here is pretty significant. some affects on my vision initially although those are leveled off have been consistent with what i had on my last flight. but we're also looking at the affects of this environment, microgravity environment and radiation environment on myself,

on a genetic level how my d.n.a. is affected that's using my brother as a control subject on the ground. >> dickerson: is it still thrill to look out the window? >> yeah. the earth is a very beautiful place. it's thrilling to look at. but like a lot of things if you see it often it's not as thrilling as the first time you've seen it. but it's still never fails to impress. >> dickerson: have you been following the news from up there, have you watched -- what did you think of the president sham campaign that is going on down here on earth? >> we have the news on pretty much all the time unless we're watching something specific. we have coverage about 50 minutes every hour, i do follow it very closely. i have to say it's been very interesting. >> dickerson: commander scott kelly thanks so much. we'll be back in a moment. it's the story of america- land of the doers. doin' it. did it. done.

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>> dickerson: that's it for us for 2015. we'll leave with you a look back at some of the big stories this year.

captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

goodrich. we begin tonight with breaking news.. a plane diverted to oakland international airport. good evening. >> we begin tonight with breaking news. a plane diverted to oakland international airport. maria medina is in the newsroom with more on that. >> reporter: the southwest airlines plane just landed about 30 minutes ago after taking off from sacramento for denver. our sister station in sacramento says a passenger called in and said the plane experienced some sort of mechanical problem just after taking off at 3:00 p.m. this is from the website flight aware which flights tracks planes from take off to landing. you can see it suddenly head north. circle several times around yuba city and finally head south