possibility of a second recession there caused by europe, and so i think foreign policy is going to merge into the economy and be a big issue next year. >> brown: interestingly enough, mark, that did not come up at the debate. >> it was fascinating to me that the euro zone and the crisis in europe, whether it-- i mean, what began as greece and italy and now is basically a threat to the entire region and to the entire unit i, never did come up. but that's why i think-- they were singing an awful lot of the old songs -- we're tough. we're hard. we're from the military and the other side isn't. i think it's increasingly less relevant. >> brown: you brought up newt gingrich. the biggest sort of aftermath issue, i guess, on this was newt gingrich on immigration when he suggest the the possibility that some illegal immigrants could be allowed to stay in the country. opponents pounced. will that have some last, impact? >> he had a very select group.

if you've been here for 25 years, paid taxes, had children and grandchildren and belong dod a local church eye don't know if you weren't an active church member-- let's be frank. we're not going to round up 11 million americans or 11 million people here in this country working, the estimate is, and deport them. it would be absolutely suicidal to our economy, nothing else beyond the humane elements of it, the legal questions. but newt gingrich showed himself to be a recklessly compassionate or a bleeding heart liberal or something-- >> brown: "recklessly compassionate." >> you saw what happened to rick perry when he defended his state law which allows the children of undocumented immigrants who do work here and who graduate from a texas high school with the grades to get them into university granted in-state tuition. who's interesting is 42% of iowa

caucus goers, told the bloomberg news that rick perry's position on tuition break or opportunity for children of immigrants, would be a deal break,. they would not vote for him. at the same time, in iowa in 2008, mike huckabee, who had that same position-- the former governor of arkansas-- won the iowa caucuses. so i'm not sure that beginning rich's position is totally politically reckless. but it shows a vulnerability. given the position of the republican party in 2012, ronald reagan, george w. bush, and george herbert walker bush, the last through republican candidate, based on their positions could not be nominated by these republican voters given their positions on immigration. >> brown: david, does that sound right to you? and what of gingrich? >> i'm not sure huckabee could win the caucus.

it's the position he has always held. it showed he was brave enough to say it. in the past, otherring have said we're not going to send home 11 million people who have been here for decades as mark said. to me it's a character test for mom. mom knows in his heart of hearts we're not going to send thee pease home. is he going to say the truth he believes or willing to say anything to be elected? i think gingrich is probably not going to be hurt all that much because i think a lot of people who want to restrict immigration rights basically know this reality as long as they can get the border enforced and controls on illegals as long as there can be enforcement on employeres, they understand the reality. but will mitt romney demonstrate that he understands the reality? will romney show that he's willing to say the honest truth, even if it may not be politically opportune at the moment? to me gingrich survives this, but it will show us a little

more about romney in the weeks ahead. >> brown: speaking of romney, mark, he put out an ad this week that got a lot of push-back from democrats, sort of crying foul over it, right? >> yeah, i mean, mitt romney-- nobody has any doubts about mitt romney's abilities. his education congressionals -- a graduate of harvard business school and harvard law school, his business, is exemplary family life, first-rate intellect-- these aren't the questions. the questions about mitt romney are his character and what the core of the man is, what he really believes, and in his introductory commercial he basically takes words not simply out of context, he takes words barack obama was quoting a mccain campaign person in 2008 and attributes them to obama in 2011. >> brown: soy the words, "if we keep-- balm is saying, "if we keep talk about the economy, we're anything to lose." >> yes. this is the same as if i were to say to you, "hitler said the

aryan race is the greatest gift to mankind and all other groups who aren't blond haired and blue eyed ought to be eliminate from the earth." and you said, "shields say the aryan race is supreme to all other races and all other groups ought to be eliminated." it raises character questions about him. i don't know why he did it. there are all kinds of ways to run against barack obama on his record, but to me it just-- the idea that it start a buzz about the economy, which is what the romney defense is, it raises questions about mitt romney and who he is and what he would do and what he believe he believest exactly what david said about immigration. what's at the core of the man? >> brown: david, what's your theoro that? >> well, first on the merites, i agree with mark. if any of us did that in a journalistic enterprise, we'd be in big trouble. as for the political reason, they did it completely aware of what the reaction. they wanted the reaction. they want to show republican primary voters that they can get in a big, furious fight with the

obama campaign and so they did it, knowing and predicting and hoping that the obama people would react as they did. so what's interesting to me is you're in a world sort of post-morality where you think we'll do whatever it takes to show we can be tough against obama and somehow the line maybe we shouldn't say something that's not quite accurate. somehow that line never really appeared to them. so they're off in an alternate universe. they did it for political reasons, because they want to show republican voters how tough and nanly they are. >> brown: now coming to, passion expected and as predicted by you two last week, david, the super committee failed to come up with a deal before the deadline this week. does anyone come out of this looking good? >> no. i mean, we talked last week about the low reaction of the american people toward congress, american's incredibly low faith in government. there's one thing we know that builds faith in government. it's whether the two parties

coming it and hammer out a deal. it's not that people want some mushy centrism. they want constructive competition where they fight and figure out where the lay of the land is and they get the best deal they can. people understand that this country will go into decline if we don't have a better growth-producing tax code, if we don't take care of our ket, and they want some kind of deal. to me it will create what i think is already burgeoning in this election which was an anti-both party mood. both parties have become minority parties and they're shrinking minorities both of them. >> going in there wasn't great confidence. understand this-- there were four memberes of congress who had served on the bowles-simpson commission who voted for that bowles-simpson. tom coburn of oklahoma, mike crapo, kent conrad of northica dota and dick durbin.

none of the four was put on the super committee. there were four who voted against simpson bowles. all four of them were put on the super committee. so there was a certain orthodoxy. any deviation from what had been the party of orthodoxy was not encouraged and was discouraged. i think the democrats came out with a slight tactical rhetorical advantage, the sense they moved more, that the president tried harder, that the republicans were more obstinate, the sense that the republicans were more wed to protecting the wealthy. i think in the long run, however, it helps the republicans and the reason i say that is this-- that it discredits government. the democrats are, whether they choose to be or not, by historical mandate, the party of government. they believe that government can be an instrument of social justice and economic justice and

whether it's eliminating polio, putting a man on the moon, ending racial seg gation, rebuilding europe-- that's what democrats were about. republicans have said no, government is not the answer. it's the problem. and i think this further erodes public confidence in government and public trust in government, and in that sense it helps the republicans. >> brown: this is too depressing for a holiday weekend. 30 secondes, david, anything you're thankful for in either american government or politics you'd like to put out there? >> well, you know, this is still a fundamentally strong country. we have an amazing culture of resilience and entrepreneurialism. all those who think they are in decline they're wrong. go to the king of prussia mall today and there are a lot of happy, full bags. >> brown: mark, you can top that? >> no, i echo that. i am fundamentally an incurable optimist, but it gets-- it get tested from time to time, and black friday is the time not to

restore one's confidence in human nature with pepper spray being used at the wal-mart in san fernando valley. >> brown: happy thanksgiving. mark shields and david brooks, thanks a lot. lawyer >> warner: now, a japanese fishing port struggles to come back after the march tsunami devastated the town and its fleet. independent television news correspondent alex thomson reports from kesennuma on the northeastern coast of japan, the center of the destruction. just a moment by con, cast off. dawn and the fishing boat is being made ready to work. fishing, the life blood of the tsunami coast, is slowly going back to business.

harvesting the rich markeral and salmon shoals off the coast at this time of year. is here, perhaps more than anywhere else on the planet, the ocean gives but the ocean takes away. they're once again the provider of a rich living, the salmon being landed at dawn here, just a few months after the saw naw nawmy-- tsunami destroyed the towns the fishermen come from. at least they can get back to work, unlike so many people with land-based jobs in towns obliterated by the sea. >> ( translated ): everyone is in the same situation. just because we get back on the water, that doesn't make me happy because otherring are still suffering. so we all need to help protect each other and get over all this

by some going fishing and others farming see we'd. >> reporter: the generations used to life at sea, preparing seaweed for propagation, that's all there is here. >> ( translated ): right now the boat yard has been destroyed so they can't build or fix as many boats as we need so it's just first come, first serve. people are on waiting lists so i don't know when my turn is. >> reporter: the fishing at kesennuma, one of japan's premiere fishing ports, ald but deserted. this place did reopen in june but it's not what it was. >> ( translated ): unless the processing factories get rebuilt, the amount of fish landed here won't be asking like before. that's the first priority, and unless that's achieved, kesennuma won't recover. >> reporter: though some

outside japan may shed no attacks, are are environmentalists targeted kesennuma for years on shark fishing. these days there's talk of a new beginning. the town speaks of respecting nature, not plundering. ( sirens ) are march 11, the tsunami slams into the sound. arsound. we found the vessels a few days later high and dry. yet, three months later on june 18, the cranes moved in and the lift back to the water was under way. it all leaves kesennuma a rather different place eight months on from the tsunami.

not that kesennuma is anything like back to normal. the town is crippled, liable to flooding because the coastline has slipped by about a meter, but this is japan. at the town hall, the paintings speak of a way of life, waving off the boats for months end with their flags and streamers for good luck. they thought they'd never see this happen again here. and yet, decks with bunting and flags, they left port to hunt for tuna. fu >> brown: finally tonight, what some recently released audio recordings tell us about former president richard nixon and the events of one surreal night more than four decades ago. ray suarez has that story. >> it's hard to imagine an

american president if this intensely security conscious age leaving the white house in the middle of the night to meet protesters on their turf. it happened in may 1970. president richard nixon was under intense criticism for widening the vietnam war to cambodia. four kent state university students had been killed by national guardsmen just days before. thousands of yuck protesters quickly mobilized and headed to washington, d.c. around 4:00 a.m. on may 9, mr. nixon abruptly decided to surprise a group gathered at the lincoln memorial. the nixon presidential library and museum has released a series of recordings, including dictation from president nixon to his chief staff, h.r. haldeman, describing his version of that night's events. for more on the recordings we're joined by melvin small, distinguished professor of history emeritus at wayne state university. he's author of "the presidency of richard nixon," and "covering dissent-- the media and

anti-vietnam war movement." professor, isn't it priceless to have a president's reminiscences from right after an event like this? >> it certainly was. and he was reacting-- he wrote it three or four days after and he was reacting to the terribly negative press that he received, which he thought was unfair. of course, richard nixon always thought the press was unfair. >> let's listen as president nixon describes a conversation with his valet and asking him if he'd ever been down to the lincoln memorial. >> i said get your clothes on and we'll go down to the lincoln memorial. i got dressed and approximately 4:35, we left the white house and drove to the lincolnmerial. >> "i had never seen the secret service quite so petrified with apprehension." did richard nixon do these

things often? >> that was not that unusual. he had done this when he was campaigning and the following year in san jose, california, he got out of his car, hoping-- literally hoping that stones would be thrown at him, much to the horror of the secret service. he was both fearless and some might say irresponsible and not just on this occasion. >> it signals a kind of interesting relationship with his valet. >> yes, menolo sanchez was his valet. he was a cuban emigre. >> and they're discussing this at 4:00 in the morning after a turned down offer of hot chocolate but asked him if he had ever been to the lincoln memorial at night and what, pals along with him to go down there? >> it was a little odd because nixon had been on the phone. he made about 50 phone calls from 9:00 to 3:30. he called henry kissinger eight times. he was in a very odd situation mentally, i think.

the country was falling apart, from his perspective. he later said this was the darkest period of his presidency. henry kissinger said washington and the white house was besieged. there were district buses lined up around the white house for who knows what. the 82nd airwas in the basement of the executive office building right across the street. this was a very tense and from his professional a dangerous period and he said let's head over to the lincoln memorial. >> he went over, no entrage and no press. how was he received. >> there were seven or eight students who were in sleeping bags rubbing their eyes and there was the president standing there beginning to talk to them and many of them were absolutely astonished. by this time some of the secret services caught scup one of his aids, bud crow. >> let's listen to the president describe his interaction with the protesters at the lincoln memory pam l.

>> this seems like a very revealing statement from an american president during a very tense time. do we have any confirmations of these conversations from the

other side of the exchange? >> well, here's the problem. the media the next day, the newspaperes, went and talked to some of the students. and most of the comment they got-- almost all of them said that the president was speaking flippantly, irrelevantly, and in fact he did-- he tried to engage them on vietnam, evidently. they didn't listen very much to what he had to say. he said he suppliesed with their interest in peace, and when that didn't work he said, "where do you go to college?" if it was syracuse, "oh, you have a good football team." if it was california, he talked about surfing to them and foreign travel. the next day the media only had those kinds of comments, which is kind of the reason why nixon a couple of days later decided to put down his memories will of the visit for the historic half record. >> at some point he days to end the conversations. he sees that daybreak is beginning. and he takes his leave of the lincoln memorial. let's listen to the president's description of that moment.

>> a restless richard nixon doesn't return toot white house, does he? >> no, he then takes menolo off to the house of representatives. i guess menoleo had never been there. they get the house open-- there are only a couple of creeping people in it. he takes his seat in his old representative seat and asks menoleo to go to the speaker's platform and deliver a short speech. then they go off to breakfast. he said they hadn't had hash

since he was president. he tried a famous hash diner and that was closed and went to the mayflower hotel and had breakfast and only after that he went back to the white house after this amazing evening, early morning. >> as someone who intimately knows the ins and outs of richard nixon's life story, what does this little vignette tell you? >> well, i think he really was sincere when he went over to the kids and said, "i share your interest in making peace." they disagreed about the way he was going about it. i think he was trying to cool the incredible passions of may 9, 1970. and he was-- he was an awkward man. he was awkward physically. he was awkward verbally. he used to ask his aides to give him little three by five cards in order to make small talk. so this is a kind of an unusual situation for him. he's making small talk without his three by five cards. >> professor small, an

interesting story. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> warner: again, the major developments of the day: more than 100,000 protesters gathered in egypt's tahrir square to demand a change from military to civilian rule. parliamentary elections are set for next week. and three american students who were arrested during a protest in cairo last sunday were released tonight, and are said to be headed back to the u.s., according to one of their mothers. they'd been accused of throwing firebombs at egyptian security forces fighting with protesters. and to kwame holman for what's on the newshour online. kwame. >> holman: the newest mars rover, "curiosity," is scheduled to begin its 350-million-mile journey to the red planet saturday. hari sreenivasan gets a peek at "curiosity's" innovative capabilities from a mission manager. that's on our "science" page. why does healthcare in the united states cost so much, and how do the outcomes compare to other nations'? we look at a 34-nation study.

that's on our "health" page. on "making sense," paul solman takes on 30-year mortgage rates and why the rate changes over time. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> brown: and again to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the iraq and afghanistan conflicts. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are eight more.

>> warner: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll talk to the head of the european commission as wall street and washington watch the widening financial crisis in the euro-zone. i'm margaret warner. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again enre monday evening. joy the rest of your holiday weekend. thank you and good night.

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