thought leader yes chris i know. it was the advocate the people that we need today people that suffer for our cause and we lost the latest eye that we don't have there's also imprisoned in gulag and so on and suffered enormously being a jew and the rest in what i would ask but he's a man that made history in the previous century and that we have any one this one no not yet does he mean something mean something means everything i'm an advocate myself so for me it's who i look up to i do not in fact i'm bipolar just you know. see how differently people think who alexander solzhenitsyn was. were not as can russians who faulkner was. i guess we could have received many similar answers do you know russians know solzhenitsyn and his legacy how important is it to them. think it's an option hopeless and actually i'm not the right person to answer this question because i no longer consider myself a young person but i know to works by thoughts one day in the life of on denise rich and mature in this place they are now part of

i still think it could be an issue next year. chris: let's go to next year. will the president have a better year next year, michael? >> yes. >> i think so. >> i hope so, yes. >> hard to do worse. chris: before we break, after 25 years, the great man, larry king and "larry king live" will end their run, at least a run of that show on thursday of this week. larry made a lot of political news over the years. of course, he got ross perot to declare for president on his show? >> is there any scenario in which you would run for president? can yoe givu me a scenario in which you would say, ok, i'm in? >> number one, i don't want to. number two, if you're that serious, you, the people, are that serious, you register me in 50 states. chris: and it was larry that the clinton team itself chose to be in the critical debate in nafta. here is ross perot and al gore almost in caricature. >> you asked me and i'm trying to tell you. >>you brought your charge tonight. i want to know what specific changes you would make in the treaty. >> let him respond. >> how can i answer if you keept interrupting. chris: al's finest moment. he drove him

. >> chris: if i may -- >> spending that is due to double? yes? >> chris: let me ask another question went're almost out of time. some people say hey, look, republicans say if we're going to extent unemployment benefit for people out of work for months, the government has to cover that, but they don't have to find a way to make up for the difference when you are going to extend all the benefits which is -- rather, all the bush tax cuts which will cost more. i take your point that allowing people to keep their money is a cost -- or is not a cost but it does have an effect on the deficit. >> i agree, but again, the definite is the symptom and spending is the disease. we're talking about preventing tax increases, something keynesian economists would warn against. we need spending restraint, not tax increase. >> chris: final 15 seconds to senator conrad. go ahead. >> the disease is the disease. the disease is a run-away debt. spending is the highist it's been in 25 years as share of the economy, or 50 years. revenue is the lowest it's been as a share o

yes. however, i think i disagree with chris's analysis. i think that they will be ready to go against some of the afghan groups, particularly haqqani because the afghan groups are now intermingled with the local taliban. and even as we speak, pakistani soldiers have been attacked and killed by these groups. and so i believe that over time it's simply a question of waiting for the new year, there likely is going to be an operation in north waziristan. >> warner: what dow say to that? >> look there are components of groups that have been targeting the pakistan military for quite some time such at-- against him the pakistanies haven't acted and they haven't acted against that group because its futile at this time in fighting india. my experience is pakistani has been very good at taking a group prorx tect its core when it is useful but when they step out of line, mow them down. i expect to see more of that, sort of trying to keep guy --. >> warner: trying to have it both ways. >> trying to have it both ways, keep their core in research becaus

chris: well said. does anybody challenge that for the best of the year? >> yes, with a caveat. i thought the petraeus move was brilliant because he was going to the good into trouble from the right and from conservatives for firing mccrystal and putting petraeus in charge really tamped that down and showed he was still serious about the war and also petraeus has been doing a heck of a job. >> i would agree with joe. i'm attempted to say getting rid of mccrystal and moving petraeus in. it was how he handled it. it was fast. it was smooth. there was no second guessing. it was a nip and tuck and it was competent. chris: i think it was more strategic than tax cuts, it was done correctly. he had to get the troops off the beach like the brits did in world wari. i if he didn't cut that down, the republicans would come in, in january and cut the taxes and get all of the credits for it and woe look like a klutz. >> right. chris: that was the best of the year for the president. the next category, president's worst move this year, was it moving slowly on the big oil spill down in louisiana

i think that city was less bad than a lot of other places in mississippi in the early '60s. it's a pretty interesting profile. people should read the whole profile. >> chris: yes, sir. a great christmas gift. >> yeah! for the holiday season. >> i don't think they'll hold against him one sentence how he remembers things when he was 16 years old. he's a good governor. there are a lot of governors that are impressive, jindal, and dams and -- daniels and rick perry. >> chris: he says he is not going to run. let me mention some that we haven't and some we have. mike huckabee. tim pawlenty. newt gingrich, former speaker of the house. senator john thune of south dakota. mitch daniels, governor of indiana. let me ask and just throw this open. who jumps out among those? >> it's interesting when you throw them out like that. thune jumps out because he has the least baggage. newt gingrich has personal baggage. >> chris: because he's cute, right? >> he's very handsome. but he is -- newt gingrich has personal baggage that doesn't go, his marital history doesn't go over well with social conservatives. mike huckabee, we just discussed. i don't think mitch daniels is necessar

chris yes. as the rest of us a geisha was sparrow and that no further international inquiry. i looked at this issue since the accident and examined the cockpit voice recording transcripts and so on and i can't fault any of the conclusions that have been leaked by the russian authorities i don't believe personally that if we bring an international investigating team into be equation that the findings will be any different to what they are which seems to be the pressure was brought to bear in some way shape or form on the pilots and copilots of the aircraft to make an attempt to land at an airport where there were no conditions at all to land too much fog not enough visibility and a lot of pressure being brought on the pilots conspired to cause that accident. from some other international news for you this hour freezing temperatures and heavy snow are queuing to cause further massive disruption in the u.k. and a call so europe most of london's heathrow airport was leaving tens of thousands of people stranded forcing them to spend another night on terminal floors many flights were

chris. >> no, what do you believe? >> as far as i know, yes. okay? >> several other of the bill's sponsors say they believe president obama was born here. dan burton says it would spare presidents from conspiracy theories. louie gohmert says the same. mr. gohmert who's been on this program is pushing a conspiracy, what we call terror babies. here's what happened when we asked joe johns to take a camera crew and bring our questions to them. >> reporter: hey. joe johns with cnn. how are you all doing? >> i'm sorry, he's not here right now. he stepped out for lunch. >> reporter: can i leave him a message? >> yes. >> reporter: joe johns. is there carter or the press secretary around? >> they're in a meeting right now. >> reporter: can i leave a message? >> sure. >> reporter: joe johns with cnn. do you know what's happening to the amendment? >> i haven't heard talk about it once. >> reporter: you haven't really? he's a co-sponsor? >> i don't even know the answer to that question. >> congressman carter's office. >> reporter: it's joe johns with cnn. is joh

chris box. of course carry ravages there he joins us live from oracle arena in oakland. carried. >> pam can you hear me? >> yes. >> the tron didn't show what iem if you want to get across and he better be here but. live from didn't show what forget him. jerry and abbie doing their thing. no offense. and did you see that? >> i did, i'm impressed. >> there's two guys that actually do something in the media. that has a bad ankle and i'm too tired so neither of us will do that's but that's pretty good stuff. for getting ready for the ball came to light it's probably the biggest for your bed of the season. when your team that will go to the playoffs just to look for things to get up for. tonight live from james in company the most talked- about team in basketball, the arena will be rocking. hey fellas? one more. pam i'm telling the warriors have lost 10 of 111 of their bad year players is not what a play at about you but these guys are incredible he have a little digging machine here michael jackson. do one more thing for me, and tickets now fear scalper there talking about tickets up to $3,000 to get in for the good seats tonight. it's going to

i can? >> yes. >> don't go shopping until february. >> christmas on jan 4. >> okay. laurel pollock and -- we can get in touch with -- laurel, you are at the san francisco disaict attorneys office, 9507, and chris, you can reach or at diamond certified, follow at savvy consumer. >> shop smart! >> thank you, ladies. >> thank you. >> helgi tomasson can claim all these titles, san francisco ballet's artistic director. >> ♪ >> here with more, we welcome helgi tomasson, good to have you back. >> nice to be here. >> congratulations on 25 years. that celebration ed in january, not a party, it's a festival. what do you do, the nuts and bolts of your day? >> what do i do? i arrange the repertoire, decide on that, who dances what, what roles they dance. i make sure that the dancers i hire are all up to speed and up with what they have to dance, planning, touring. >> you decide it will be swan lake this year and -- >> yes. >> you pick a program, do you -- is there a big dilemma all the time because i guess you want to do the classics -- i can't imagine you are doing a christmas season without the nutcracker and getting out of town alive. >> nutcracker is christmas season. >> things like that beg to be per

i might think it. >> or as chris kristopherson said, to get you through the night. >> yes. but the religious sensibility is moving more and more into public affairs and politics and trying to determine the way in which an entire society should shape its exef what path it should follow and then i have a quarrel with it. in india where nobody thought of hinduism as extremist, there's a militant extremist hinduism and it can be true in parts of america there can be an extreme faction of christianity. >> how will this play itself out? is there an end game? >> well, i have always felt, in many of these ancient myths that i tried to use in luka and the fire of life, any situations suggest there's a moment when the human beings outgrow the gods. there's the nordic myth of the twilight of the gods. after that, there ain't no gods anymore. it's up to man to deal with their own lives. even in the greek and roman myths, there's that moment when the gods stop meddling in human affairs and they step back and say now it's over to you. i see that as being related in a human life to the pr

chris the christian population has diminished so much in palestine. it would say that the political and the current think i'm a gentleman but i to the shows found themselves in go ahead alex yes the economic and the political situation that the palestinian christians found him in is the main reason why they left the holy land and why they are leaving the. people leave the country and go to another country because they are not comfortable either politically or religiously but economically in the country that they leave and so they looking for a better life somewhere else ok alex if i can to stay with you you were born in jerusalem right yes i was born in jerusalem in one nine hundred forty six and the christian community in the holy land at that time was about one fifth of the population today it is less than two percent maybe one point two percent so the it has been a drastic decline in the christian population in the holy land since i was born ok so you're an israeli citizen correct. nor palestinian by birth i was born in jerusalem before the creation of the state of israel born in jerusalem but. i don't have citizenship in the state of israel i live here as an international

i don't get books for christmas! >> you don't get books for chris pl christmas? >> no, i hate it. >> you hate books for christmas? >> yesh. >> i don't know. let's see -- >> i don't think those are books. >> they better not be. michael is now 4. he's here along with his mom. good morning to both of you. >> how are you? >> i think it's something funny to share with your friends and family. you put it on youtube. did you ever imagine a million hits? >> absolutely not. i didn't think so. i e-mailed it to friends and family. and i didn't expect this. you know, obviously when they saw it, they obviously e-mailed it to a lot of their friends. and it was just unbelievable. i gave him a cookie before he went on the air. he's a little wired. >> i can see we have a little star here. michael, you said you didn't remember that video last year. but if you were to get books for christmas again this year, what would you think when you opened your present? what would you say? >> when books come inside the presents? >> yes. what will you say? >> i'll say i like books. >> that's a good, good response. what did ask you for from santa claus

actors, soonnafter they were announced, they took to the chris was nooinattd for outstanding suppoot bbing actor. oh, mgg, i can't believe it. yesyou will get tackled. >> exactly. globes when the winners are announced on january 16th. >>> knot world of usic you can buy the new michael jackson album called michael. here is a preview. ♪ ♪ >> come hold my hand and you're taking a look at the music video wwth it is duet. there'' a an official miihael jackson twitter account and thiú listen to the entire michael if oo're thinkknggtwice aboutt3 buying the albbm, then you can preview it through the twitter account. it's conveniently posted a lynching to our website. >> what do you think about it? there's a lot of controversy about it. is it the reallmichael jjckson, producers are slowly starting to speak, ww had to do a little bit with theesongs, but itts all. >> it's really him. ú%so anyway, i love it it's object sowsly lay little him. -p>> eether way it's going to d3 ú%ll. it's michael jackson. >> we all miss him that is for ssrr. we want to keep up-to-date on theenews. make sure to follow us on ttwtter. you are wwtching fox 45 morni

chris's bar in belmont it's just another friday night. people out having fun. they're partying and bartenders have to worry about whether they've had too much to drink. >> yes. yes. in. >> i would like to be able to set up locations throughout california. and possibly throughout the united states. >> and if you think you might be able to use sober driver goes to abc 7 news.com and we'll hook you up. you can use that link to become a sponsor. >> and coming up next the nut cracker. holiday classic being told in a new way. eek. the first from the new director is wasting no time making a statement. >> the nut cracker is a holiday classic this, version is new from the director telling the story his way. >> to try to create something freer he brought it out of victorian times to the turn of the last century. and there is a passion for dance since he was five years old performing with european dance companies now heading up oakland ballet. this is about a sense of community. >> this is been going into schools and performing educational pieces telling them about the history of ballet. each school giving 100 tickets. >> and this is his way of making it available to young st

chris: briefly, because i want to move to another subject. are you saying if there are no changes to the treaty itself, the preamble or the treaty, one, you'll vote against it? >> yes. this treaty needs to be fixed. we are not going to have the time to do that if the figfight in the trifurcated way with other issues parachuted in all the time. >> chris: do you disagree with durbin whether or not they have the 67 votes to ratify? >> whether they have the votes to ratify will depend how much the senate is jammed on the issue, not able to deal with the requisite number of amendments needed to be dealt with. >> chris: how long will it take? can it be done in the lame duck? >> not in the way we're doing. we keep parachuting other issue, dream act and 9/11. we have to fund the government. that's one thing we have to do with the lame duck and we haven't done that. we stopped the omnibus appropriation bill but that took up a lot of time and that was after the tax legislation. trying to do all of these things at once i predicted we wouldn't have time to do this adequately and i think my prediction is coming true. >> chris: finally, i want to ask you about the next congress,

i asked, do you want house democrats to keep fighting this tax compromise? 88% of you said yes. 12% of you said no. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. we'll see you tomorrow night from minneapolis. have a good one. >>> deadline. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening, i'm chris math use down in washington. leading off tonight the last harrumph. over the tax plan reluctant house democrats are roaring their disapproval one last time before taking a deep breath and then probably voting for the bill. now here's the irony. the closer this gets to passage, the more it's the republicans who are having second thoughts because politics again. they think it's too good for president obama. uh-oh he likes it. the president likes it, there must be trouble in there somewhere. that's the republican attitude now. and plus the reviews on afghanistan are in and they're not good. yes, we're making some progress in afghanistan, but it's slow-going and here's the killer, pakistan isn't helping enough. and that's not to mention the corrupt afghanistan government. so even if we had to go into afghanistan after 9/11, does the wa

i asked do you think the republicans owe president obama for compromising on tax cuts? 86% of you said yes. 14% of you said no. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "hardball" with chris matthews is next. have a great weekend. i'm going up north to shovel some snow. we'll see you monday. >>> just in time for christmas. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington, d.c. leading off tonight, the democrats. for two weeks, president obama was taking heat from the democratic left over the tax bill. now, that it's law today, the president sits atop the middle ground. can this give him an advantage as he begins his third year in the presidency? charles krauthammer, a man of the right, says it can and it does. also, the president may be about to chalk up another win that will convince some of those on the left there is now a very real chance that don't ask, don't tell will be repealed this year. the senate may now have the votes to join the house and toss out the law this weekend. was it obama's call on taxes that gave us this chance to end this law? >>> and every year contains a few political whoppers. in year is no different. five biggers accord

oh, chris clark, the third time they called me from cbs and wondering if i wanted to do this tv job. and mr. cox said i told them yesou are going to class, fool, so that cbs can call you, fool! >> reporter: oprah found a job at the anchor's desk, but not her passion. >> what i realized in all of those years of preparation in news is that wasn't the -- that wasn't what made my heart sing. what made my heart sing was being able to be myself. my interests and my energy flowed better from the time they got fired as a news person and was put on the local talk show in baltimore. that was freedom for me. >> welcome to the very first national oprah winfrey show. >> reporter: that freedom led to a phenomenon. >> i realized it was big. i always believed it would be successful. >> reporter: but, did you ever think it would get as big as it got? >> i feel like that, um, that show became bigger than me, it became and is as big as every audience member who ever decided that i'm going to go back to school. everyone whoever watch ad show about battering and said i will no longer allow myself to be beaten, every person who ever hit

yes, sir. >> maybe known outside of new orleans. i'm familiar with ruth chris steakhouse. were the other restaurants you took him too comparable to ruth chris? >> in some cases they were. >> did you -- >> i can't ever remember to go eat at a loose sandwich shop, but, you know, it's been a long time too. >> sure. did you enjoy these lunches? >> i did enjoy them. and then at some point i wasn't enjoying them anymore because i thought sending other people to go. >> could you take all afternoon off and do this kind of thing? was it a problem? >> in some cases i could, in some cases i couldn't, in come cases i can't to. >> okay. do you have any sense for when these lunches started? >> you know, it's been several years. it could -- you know, '94, '95. you know, again, it's been a long time. >> would it, could it have been earlier than that? >> it could have been earlier than that. >> do you recall when you, when you first met judge porteous? >> you know, again, sometimes in the '90s. >> okay. >> it might go to '89, you know, '88. but i don't think any earlier than that. >> sure. and -- >> but i could -- >> and did you start taking him to lunch not long after you, not long after you first met h