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there's more to cholesterol. get the picture. here's what's happening. at least one american and three british service members were killed in afghanistan, as allied forces continue their assault on a strategic town in the southern part of that country. more than 2,000 people have been evacuated as a wildfire rages through the santa cruz mountains in california. a man suspected of making

threats against president obama is in a standoff with police outside the federal building in west los angeles. so far police are refusing to give out any details about the suspects or his intentions. legendary guitar innovator les paul died today. he invented the solid body get tear. a late rally and an encouraging inventory reports helped push stocks into positive territory today. back to "hard back." "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." former vice president dick cheney is writing his memoirs, and "the washington post" reports that the one-time master of secrecy will reveal his

grievances with his boss, former president george w. bush, and detail their heated arguments in full. someone who attended a recent cheney gathering described cheney's disappoint with bush and said -- tom defrank is the washington bureau chief of "the new york daily news" and pat buchanan is an msnbc analyst. tom defrank, what do we make of this? is dick cheney ready to violate his blood oath of science? >> i think he is up to a point. i guess i think he's going to show a little leg. he's certainly going to deal

with the differences between himself and president bush, especially in the second term, but i suspect that cheney is not going to be particularly personal about his view of president bush. i was in contact this afternoon with somebody who is very familiar with both the book and cheney's view, and i'm told that "the washington post" story in this view distorts both cheney's view of president bush and what he intends to do in the book. we'll just have to see. >> pat buchanan, you're a veteran of the nixon white house where a lot of books came in the aftermath of that administration with a lot of backstabbing in those books. does this surprise you, that cheney might join that crowd of backstabbers who write memoirs revealing all the secrets after he leaves the white house? >> i don't believe dick cheney will engage in backstabbing. i do believe this, lawrence, cheney does feel, i think, that the bush administration or the president himself had sort of a lapse of faith in his earlier axis of evil policies, that he

put rumsfeld over the side who was dick cheney's mentor and friend in a way that was really reduced rumsfeld to a level that cheney felt was insulting. i think he felt that the president did not move against north korea and iran as toughly as he should have in those final two years, and, of course, you have the scooter libby pardon that did not happen. but i agree with tom that cheney's not going to get personal and small here. i think he's going to defend his record as the most powerful, influential vice president in history. going to say we did the right thing. we should have been stronger at the end, and he's going to establish a separate identity from george w. bush and i think probably he's doing the right thing for himself. >> let's consider this excerpt from "the washington post" story. pat buchanan, doesn't he actually still have a reason not to express those views?

>> i disagree. i think george w. bush is being fatalistic. hoe talks about, in 50 years history will decide what his presidency will be like. cheney sees this as being put in ice as a failed presidency. let me give you an example. i don't know what cheney's position was, but my guess is he would have liked to have unleashed the israelis on iran or have gone himself, you know, had the united states take out those nuclear facilities. if he has a strong position and he felt that was the right position, and he was vetoed by the president, you follow the president when you were in there, but when you leave and write your memoirs i it's fair to say this is what i thought should be done, and here's what i said? >> tom, doesn't the loyalty extend to history, doesn't it extend to the time after office? >> well, up to a point i would say, lawrence. of course, i think the bush clan would say that. i mean, the bush --

>> how is the bush clan going to react to this? >> bush clan as you well know prides loyalty over every other factor, over competence and everything else, so unless this is a big distortion of where cheney really is going to be, i think the bush people will think this is an act of disloyalty. on the other hand, one thing that resonated with me about this story was something that happened to me that is very similar to an incident in this story where cheney years ago, maybe 25 years ago, said to me he would never write a book because you've got to be willing -- there's got to be one guy around a president who shuts up and keeps his mouth shut. why has he changed his mind? i suspect it's because he believes very strongly in certain things and he clearly was overruled a fair amount in the second term, and i think he has decided for his own sake and history's sake that he's going to lay out some of that, but i don't believe he's going to beat up the president, president bush. that would probably -- as nixon said, it would be wrong. >> pat buchanan, you've crossed the bush family. you had the audacity to run against the first president bush for president.

how did that feel? you're still alive. you seem okay. >> well, it was -- we had a pretty rough going over but when you take on the president of the united states as i have often said, people say you can't fight city hall. try overthrowing the government of the united states. so you expect that, but let me say on a personal level as tom did, i'm very loyal. i like richard nixon, he was like a father to me, but if i wrote my memoirs, which i intend to do, i would have no hesitancy in saying i urged him to do the bombing on north vietnam in 1969. i thought he should have vetoed this bill and he didn't do it. i think you can do that and be respectful and say, you know, the president of the united states, you serve him loyally, but you got a right to write your memoirs and say where you stood on all these issues. after the presidency is over. >> pat, why didn't you write your nixon memoir in the '70s when it was hot? if you do a nixon memoir, it will come out over 40 years later, after the president is dead.

it seems there's a big difference between that and what cheney is doing. >> you're right, but, look, i was not 68 years old. i was 34, 35 when i left the administration. cheney, let's face it, he's had a heart condition. he's got a tremendous reputation in history as the most controversial vice president, most powerful, influential. i almost think, lawrence, he's got an obligation to lay out why he did what he did. he's been out front on the torture issue as they call it. he confronted the president of the united states, obama, on that, and i think what he's saying is if mr. bush wants to go out there and, you know, let history be the judge, i'm not going to do that. i'm going to make the case for what i said and did because i believe it was right and i believe it is still the right thing to do in the interests of the national security, and truth be told, cheney has -- if you talk national security, i think dick cheney still has great credibility with tens of millions of americans on that issue. >> all right. i think i smell book hype here. i'm not -- i have a feeling there's going to be less than we

want in this book. thank you, tom defrank. thank you, pat buchanan. up next, did secretary of state hillary clinton imply jeb bush helped steer the 2000 election at a town hall meeting in nigeria? should hillary put politics aside as secretary of state? that's in "the politics fix." this is "hardball" only on msnbc.

coming up, will the rage of town hall meetings hurt democrats or backfire on republicans? is there a political price to pay? when "hardball" returns. special interest groups are trying to block progress on health care reform, derailing the debate with myths and scare tactics. desperately trying to stop you from discovering that reform won't force you to give up your current coverage. you'll still be able to choose your doctor and insurance plan. tell congress not to let myths get in the way of fixing what's broken with health care. learn the facts at healthactionnow.org. all around the world, men with erectile dysfunction have asked

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we are back. time for "the politics fix" with

politico's roger simon and "the new yorker's" ryan lizza. here is secretary hillary clinton yesterday. she made a comment about the 2000 election here in the united states in africa. let's listen to what she said. >> our democracy is still evolving. we had all kinds of problems in some of our past elections, as you might remember. in 2000 our presidential election came down to one state where the brother of the man running for president was the governor of the state. so we have our problems, too. >> now, there were some people here in this country who didn't like the sound of that, including our own king of the morning, joe scarborough. let's listen to what he had to say. >> hillary clinton, the secretary of state of the united states of america, is overseas and she suggested that the governor of florida, jeb bush, rigged the election for george w. bush. i was there. that is an unfair, slanderous assessment. >> roger simon, referee this one. unfair slanderous assessment?

>> this is kingsley law. you get attacked when you speak the truth. the only criticism you can make is jeb bush didn't steal it very effectively. he should have done it by a lot more votes than he ended up doing it. i really don't see the problem with this. what went on in florida is historic fact. you can make the case that it went beyond jeb bush to one vote at the supreme court. he might as well people in foreign country it is truth about democracy. doesn't always work perfectly. >> do we really have evidence that jeb bush stole an election and is that what hillary clinton should be telling people in africa? >> we don't have evidence that hillary clinton told people in africa jeb bush stole the election. >> what do you think -- >> you protest too much on this. >> interpret for me what she wanted her audience to understand by what she said. >> look, she stated a fact that the guy running for president and the guy running the state, the president the election hinged on, were brothers.

>> was there something wrong with that? >> the suggestion is there is an inherent conflict of interest in that relationship. i think that's as far as she was going. >> was she then telling people around the world that governors of the 50 states control the outcomes of the election in their states? roger simon, is that what she instanted people to think? there no. i don't think that's what she wanted people to think. i think she was trying to be lighthearted, perhaps at a time -- you know, we are at an era every political reporter -- the performer has to be on his or her game delivering a flawless performance 100% of the time. and that means no light moments and no moments that could possibly be disinterpreted. hillary is like cats. >> if we think of this as a light moment, talking about the democracy in parts of the world where democracy is barely understood, where it is in its juvenile stages at best, is this the way to describe the american

democracy? which is actually the most successful democratic experiment in the world. >> that being said, i agree with you there, but i don't think that the florida election of 2000, anyone would hold up to the rest of the world as a model of how a democracy should be run. i think that's all she was getting at. even in this country, we have our own problems. maybe she could have talked about the butterfly ballot or about other things that went on in this irregularities. the point she pointed to, conflict of interest in the governor of the state and the guy running being brothers, yoyng that's a controversial fact, though. >> do you think -- do you think that's an inherent conflict of interest? if there is a governor of the state that's related to a candidate, that is a conflict of interest? >> it is an inherent conflict of interest. jeb bush, look at the record at the time, he probably recognized that and said he would recuse himself from certain decisions. it does not follow -- >> i don't get it. i don't know what governor -- i don't know how governors control

the outcomes of elections in their state. how do they do that? >> well, they appoint the election officials. there's all kinds of machinery -- >> oh, okay. >> the governor is in charge with. >> we won't relitigate that one. we will be right back with more of "the politics fix." ecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. it sticks to your teeth so well... you can even drink water with it on. crest whitestrips advanced seal. get a dramatically whiter smile... while you do just about anything.

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i think i have by sticking my finger in the dook i had an

opportunity to give the grassroots of america an opportunity to speak up as you are seeing every day on television and i think -- and i think that -- i think that's a good thing. >> we are back for more of "the politics fix." forget about what grassley said about the obama death panels. what you just heard is the most important thing he said yesterday. that's what the obama white house should be worried about. he didn't say i have delayed this bill and i have delayed this process in order to make it a better bill. he simply said i put my finger in the dike. if that's all he's doing, doesn't the white house