>> what doouthink ofhen you see tree? the treatment for ncer? alternative fuel for our cars? to you think of hope for the vironment, or food, clothing, shelter? we do weyerhaeuser, owing ideas. >>ust say no! >> this week on "inside washington t health-care bate heats u are the mobcenes or demoacy at work? >> this tion of a grass-roots

campaign is totally phony. >> we were ken to a location, and when we walkedthrough the doors, we saw, standing befor us,president bill clinton. >> bl clion's north korea as commission draws mixedeviews. >> ts is a propaganda success for kim jong il and the nor korean regime and enhances their prestige. >> as excted, the senate apoves sonia sotomayor for the supremcourt with the help of few repuicans. >>i do not believe that the constitutionells me i should refuse to pporter merely because i disagreewith her on some ces. >> congress comes up with another $2 blion to buy your cocker, but why sp there? >> why not a increase demand for boats, or how about rv's, or how aut refrigerators? captioned the nationalaptioning institute

--www.ncicap.org-- happening a around the untry, congressional democra at town etings trying to sell the presint's health pla findinghemselves being shouted down. on the internet, there is docted video of the presidt appearing say that he will eliminate pvate health surance. the white house isighting back that. >> the people alws try to scar people when you bng them health insurce reform aret it again, and they a taking sentences and phrases out of context and cobing them together to lead a very false impression. >> linda dougls, the communications director ofhe white use office of health reform. e white house says its of vital isper cpaign under way to kill health care rerm, but its not all whispers. how to the disrupts know about

the conessional town meetings? they can go to web tesike thisne, whi this to these meetings state-by-ste. there is a memo out there telling you how to be disruptive. the goal is to rattl t speaker d get him off the prepared script and agen. jeanne, how much of this is gog on and howffective is ? >> pretty efftive so far, d it amas me that the democrats and white house re not ready r it. this ithe opponents' best opportunity water down the bill or kill it, and the are seizing the moment and they are affectedt it so far. these have gone a viral on the internet and everybody is awe of them. as conservaves charged up and ready to go. there is a risk of a backlash. there are people with real concerns abo the health care plan tt want to go toown hall meetings and ask hard questions but not want to yell at the congressmen, either. those conveations are being disrupted. >> mark, none of this is

illegal. >> no, b jeanne put your fier on it. the downside of the protest is it appears the thuggh, that they are shuing down so that other people, citizens, especially those who are residents of the district, don't get a chance, and they are bussing people in. that does not maskhe fact that there are real concerns. i thk the resistance is at strongest among thos who he health iurance. i think that is the challge right now, not ly for congress, t the adminiration. >> charles? >> well, if you are protestg ainst the bush administratio like code pink, that is patriotic dissent. you are protestin again the messiah,hen is a mob. ithought, here we are, the administtion attacking ordinary citizens who go out and

express their citizenship by speaking their minds and protting government policies. it is ironic that this attack on them comes from the administrationed by a man whe first job, as i remember, was community organizer, which, if i underand correctly, is a guy o goes out to oinary citizens, ganizes them to go out and speak their minds and protest agait authoty. i do find it rath curious. >> evan? >> momand paranoia are not new, theresomething about american culture right now tt gives y -- it encouragesou to be as angry as you want all the time. incivility is nd of limitless. michael steele says that to say that this is some sort of iscabal is baloney.

leme read "washington post" columnist even pearlstein. "the efforts are so cynical and disingenuous thathey are only an effort to gain partisan it an edge. they have given up any pretense of being yal opposition and have become political terrosts willing say or do anything to prevent t country from rehing a consensus on one of s most serus domestic problems." >> i think that is too broad a brush. ther is an ement of that. i appreciate what charles is saying. i think codeink does not have a great reputation. these people wilnot be there -- this segmenof them -- swastikas,urning iffigy, horn on people's faces on posters. those of the people taking it too far, the people steven pearlstein isalking about. beneath that, thgh, there are real concerns amg peoplebout what thimeans for them, and the democrats have not done a

good job o tryg to make that case. only now getting their act together, and you'll see if we can sh back against this tide. -- we will see if they can push back against thitide. >> codepink is no compable. it is clever on charlesbut it is accurate. codeink is very much a splinter group, never been endorsed mainstream docrats or mainstream congressial lders -- if iould finish while you are interrupting -- that is the first poi. the second poinis that there is an awful lot o misinformation being circulad there aredvertisements saying "why will they cover abortion," which is not in the bil "but they will not cover an emergency appendectomy? hy is there euthanasipart of it?" there is aruth squad work to be done. >> thedea that the republin establishment ornybody in any official capacity for authoty isndorsing t wonder two

idiots who carra swastika or who paihorns is absurd. the mainstream of thes people, if you look of the town halls, it is oinary, usually middle- aged peoe, and they do not look like tourists to me, who are expssing themselves, sometimes rudely, andhey shld not. but the polls on thebamacare haveone south ever since july 22when hheld his press conference, long bore any of the revival stu for the tow hall. it is because thesubstance of this stuff is not hold up. but till that wathe objective numbers -- what killed it was th objective numbers out thcongressional budget office. it was not republicansr the blue dogs. it is the fact that the numbers do not add up. >> the administration has not been able todefine what it is. most people caot tell you what it is all about. its an extreme confusing

subject. i am regularly cfused by it. obama -- maybe 's too late, but if there's er aime for the president to show leadership, is now, not just with thepublic, but with congress. >> he even self and hour in prime time in the press conference inwhich he deted almo exclusively to health care,nd he cannot elaint, as youaid. nobody understands exact what he is doing and ho-- the how >> there is no bi. they held the press conferenc with the thought that ere would be a bil they thoht that t senators were closer to comprome than they we. jus evan evan -- just on wt evan said, it is a time to be ronalreagan in making the case forcefully an simply, and lyndon johnson, in dealing with meers of congress one on one. thatis a test that he will either meet or fail.

>> he isneither. he is certainly not ayndon johnsoarm twister. nobody calls them back >> he es not have a case because he does n have a plan. > charles krauthammer, n.d., has a plan. includes tort reform. t also includes the heth care benets tax. >> i believ in universal health insurance , but it is expense. the money is in two places. malpractice insanity iour untry, defensive medicine, useless treatmenas a way to defend against lawsuits. that isabout $200 billion a year. the other places are crazynd efficien of having a heth care linked to our employnt, -- crazy inefficicy of having

heed jetlink to our employme. if youax benefit, and you alw people to o their insurance, and the money could be used to subsidize people who doot have health insuran. >> the british and french insurce are built on what happened outf world war ii as well. >> the politicians are dancing they simply doot want to go to the plic and say that things are gng to be different for you. all they say is nothing will change. th cannot -- that will t fix it. til people realize that medical care inot free, and they actlly did pay sometng for it, then you cannot get from here to there. >> the world health organizion right thfrench system the best in the worldthe united stas 37. >> loo if y have a fall in

th street, you want to go to a french hospitalor american spital? i can assure you want to go t american hospital, and even a suburban hospital is superr. it could b that inerms of the social cost, how much iwill cost as aatter of national income, is less in france. but our system is inefficient, but the highest quality in the world by far. >> don't the french have highe life expectancy d the worst fant mortality? --lower infant mortality? >> that s to do th hats, smokg, what you eat. that is not a medical iss, that is cultural issue. >> both evan and charle' comments raise something we're not talking about, th if we areoing to bend the cost o the health care system, people have to step up and start living healthier lifestyles. ultimately, its in our own fate. i am not sure ere the evidence

is that w will do that as the -- politicians will not say that. they never say that you have to do something differe here. >> i think the problem the political leaderip in the country faces right no begiing with the white house, is that ts has always been sold lik everything else, like the bushlan on prescription drugs -- painls, not going to co you anything. people are dying for somebody to say this is what is going to st all of us, this is what i am asking for everybo, it will beniversal coverage, what we're shootg for, and it will require individual sacrifices on everybody'sart. >> we have had afree lunch a ciety for a long time. you can get something for nothing. th was at th root of the financial crisis. it is also part of the heah crisis. you just cannoget -- you need to pay more when you could see the doctor.

its going to be different or it will not solve thproblem. >> whoever steps up willay a price potically. i think pple are dying for canor. >> peoplare dying. [laughter] >> candidly or not. you do n want a counselo talking aboudying cheaply. >> the past 140 da have been the most diffilt, hea wrenching time of r lives. we are very grateful that we re granted amnesty by the governmentf north korea. >> look this --ill clton and al gore, palsgain. the unpleasantness o the 2000 campaign aarently forgotten. the two women wk for al gore's current tv neork. we havnot hear mh from bill clinton since his wife became

cretary of state. but look what he pulled f this week. utized his network of siness and pitical interests and food in both. to secure the release of these captured -- and flew to noh korea to securehe release of his capture jonalists. wh youmake of it, charles? >> lk, i commend the president, t it is not his doing. stuff like this isired complete in advance. was the white hou negotiating thugh i think it was that the swedes, and was that kim jong il wanted to have the highesraing american outse of the administratn in a oto opo show thate is not a vegetable, and tha he is actuallycted. if you are in a cntry like that, in whh all power is wit one man d they worry about the stroke you ha, and they worry if you are all the, showing up with president clint and speakingnd having a dinner

with him is extremely importan he wanted it, he got it, and it cost him two hosges. >> john mccain says is aig propaganda success for the north koreans. >>it certainly is ey did well by ts, and as arles said, but wanted respect and they g their respect. but it also is a win-win for us. we got two hostas back alive and well, annot oy that, we dropped into north korea if four or five real smart people who can at least t a look at the place, get a lookt the leaders d get some sen of it. we had no intelligee outf nort korea. maybe we do't have a lot now, but we have a little more than we had a week ago. >> and w found something for bill clinton to do. that is important. >> the criticism of this transaction just kd of beddlede, i have toe honest wit you. there seems to be a lking point, many the conservative side that any negiations are a

reward to the country y are negoating with, ispite of the fa that ronaldeagan and to nixon and a the other republicans except geoe w. bush negotiated withall our sworn enemies. i do not know at the payoff is for this. kim jong ilanted somebody he could look up , and bill clinton met that test by being up a have taller than he was -- a foot and a half talr than he was. ihink it is a positive, it is good, and to some people, good news is jt intolerable. >> wait a minute, it is not all good news. thisas a hosta situation. had to be done, i wouldave done it, and you a right, ronaldreagan did it, nixonid it. everybody does it. when hostages ar held, you have pay a ransom. butet us not prend it was not a ranm. you do it as a moral obligatn to citizenwho are spped, but there is a price. it gives legitacy ta governme like that, and they're also hidden prices.

it will haen in the futurend we will noknow aboutt if it happs. first of all,arack obama showed a certain sense of self by agreeg that bill clinton, a giant figure, would go d do th. that see, it waslmost reaganesque i remember when jesse jackson repatriad in t fire, ronal reag welcomed them to the -- white house t repatriated the tenant goodman, ronald reagan weomed them to the right house, rather than saying that they violated federal law. evan, hepent summer in pakistan, loly this time of year. what did you find? >> food was pretty good, bu electricy does not work half the time. the capital feel like at the capitaital the day before it

foows. every ti we had to go somewher they cleared the streets with soldiers s that we would not get kied. it justeels like a country on the brink. >> there are reports that the cia may have kill the commande ofhe pakistan can be done, baitullah mehsud. he is a real bad guy, and that would bgood news. t internal problems of pakistan, a feudal cotry that is just in terrible shape, focusing on ina when ty ought toe focused on jihadists -- >> where do you e it headed? >> i see the united states desperately keeping it afloat fromust imploding into civil war. >> very reassuring, evan. thanyou. >> have a nice day. >> yeas are8, nays are 31.

>>he world's greatest lov took body gives its consent to the rst hispanic to serve on the naon's -- greatest deliberative body ves its const to the fir hispac to ser on the nation's hiest court. >> judging with uncertainty and instability in t law, and t result is an activist judicial philosophythat i cannot supportnd at the american people reject. >> if you vote r her, at e national rie association threatens to get you. if you votegainst her, you uld set yourself ufor trouble with hispanic voters. >> johnmccain was the biggest rprise for me, when lindsey graham, the senat closest to m on the judiciary committee, came out f her. there were only nine republica who came outor justice sotomayor. fo of them are retiring. i think tt is in ielf

revealin it remai a concern f republicans o stillhave a gaping problem with women vors, which they lost in the st five electio, lato voters, and young voters. >> i would think you would an bair person whooes against his interest on a matter of principle -- you wod adme a person w goes agait his politil interest on a mter of principle. there are rublicans who are conservative who decided at the democratic standard ought to be appli to the democratic standard used bbarack obama as a senator, work he opposed john roberts, as gh level a minee ase have ever had, on the grounds of idlogy. he belies his understanding of thlaw is one we oughto not have on the supreme court. it will hurt the with spanics and women, but i commend the for actingn principle. >> but idon't tnk they were

acting principle. think theyere being in a partisan way, and bot sides have done it now now we seehat this will be the paern for dicial nominatis going forward. the was aime not long ago when the nomees would be measured basedn their quifications, and you would see a much more bipartisan vote. the democrats set the ste -- >> wh bork. >> it started there, but wi roberts and alito-- roberts in particular, because he was very wellualified. the democrats set the stage, and the republicans have now copied that behavior,nd this will be set for some time now, we're able be basically a paisan ote when it comes to judicial nominees. >> the repubcans' best pe is that peoe were t paying atteion this august. >> but the hispanics were ying attentio too late

the african-ameran " is now se the hispanic vote,he largestrowing voting populationn the country. they have a problem with women. they are shrinking tohe white ma vote, which, if y look at allemographics, votg demographics, is reall not a long-term plan for them. >> i want to make comment on the clip that ened this seent. who announced her aent to the cot. havi the first spanic on the court is historic, but what is reallyistoric is having a commite preside over the senate. that has never happene before. or maybe ihappens every day. >> charlesever meant george murphy, one of the giants of the senate tap danced with shirley temple and represented california for o happy te. dd gregg, retiringrom new

hampire, has voted forevery nomie sincee has been there. charles grassley and orrin hah wentagainst the records by voting againsher. >> first they destrod the gines, and then they drag it to yard, rip out the parts they can sell, and then stack them high. americans haveturned in at least50,000 vehicle they ran o of mey. congre has come up with another billion. whh isine, a great program if you have job but ifou do not hav a job, u cannot buy a car. >> you a right, you cannot do that and a whole loof other things. but this is clearly a government program run amok with success. it is amazing that they had to t more money into it. but the deerships are porting profits. they are staying open. this is one of the bt little stilus plans they have going on right now. it ihard to tell whether it is relate to the better-tha expected uneloyment numbers

this month, but it is at least ehere they are having - the government i having a real fect on the economy. >> it is nice to see a stimulus plan work when the stimus stimulus pn -- embarrassingly smallumbers have gotten into eeconomy. it is moly just moneyhat goes tthe states. ere is a lot of stirring in washingn to produce not much. th economy is sti not in greashape. >> it wor, it is popular, it gets gas guzzling cars off the streets, it makes greener hicles available to the public. the thing tt hits me most of l, talkingo dealers, is that itets people into showrooms. at is the greatest complaint they add, that nobody is coming in showrooms. this has worked in geany. it started last winter. it is just a successful government program.

i know that bothersome people. >> chars? [laughte where do i start? i have half a minute le, so much eve so little time. i wouldust do one aspect of this. the environmentalists insisted th the cs be destroyed. why? these are uelievably wohwhile assets. you can sel them, and iyou destroy the you will have a lo of supplyfsed cars and parts, increase in price. if y are a poor person or immigrant or studt who wants a new car, a second-hand car, an these par, the pce will se. that is the sacrifice t the eth god by the liberal environmentalist >> s you next week. for a transcript of this broadcast, log oto insidewashgton.tv.