. >> maureen dowd, thank you. >> thank you. and congratulations, you guys. >> thank you. we appreciate it. >> congratulations to me,

maureen dowd, what did youtake away today? >> well, judy, it was heartwarming to see w.'ible emotion toward his father. but it was also kiof heartbreaking because, you know, i've spent decades covering the family, and the ther, you know, constantly worried that dick cheney and donald rumsfeld were leading w.positive astray on the iraq w, and the neocons were leang him astray, and i think w. did not want to seek his father's advictor hear wha he had to say about the invasion of iraq. and then it tooyears andars before he came around and realized his father was right and distanced himself from but by that time, it was too late. it was the worst mistake in icy.ican foreign pol so, you know, to see all that emotion, you just wish that, you know, they had been more mentor and protegeg dure time they needed it. >> woodruff: a lot of complex strands run thriewg tha a relationsh his relationship with others in hisi . margaret warner, you also covered him as a candidate. you've covered-- you've known the bush family. did they capre the complexity i george bush. today. hink it's ve

i was reading maureen dowd. i love maureen dowd. >> laura: this rank revisionism is stunning and they regularly spewed vile against george h.w. bush. boyden, you worked at the white house. i was here as a young reagan staffer. they were trashing himp. maureen dowd who is lionizing him today. i love her writing. it's very fun. she used to belittle the bushes like what they watched. what they listened to for music. i was reading a column from may 1st, 1990, she called them the gracious cruise director of international politics, lampooned him for patting barbara on the derrier during the dukakis campaign. that's the nice stuff she said about him. as for the relationship with the press as we alluded to earlier look at this 1987 "newsweek" cover, bush considered it the cheapest shot of his career. referring to him as the wimp factor. how about this relationship with dan rather during a 1988 interview. >> well, dan, let's be careful here -- >> i want you to be careful, mr. vice president. how do you explain -- you can

i think those simple qualities that made him somebody that maureen dowd could tell funny stories about, i mean, that's what we all sense about him, that's what we love and we miss as we think about his passing. >> richard haass, you worked for president bush, bush 41, and obviously during very momentous times, so momentous that you didn't even have time to cut your hair or even comb it at times. >> my goodness. >> he was a very busy man. >> scraggly. >> he called that his neo einstein cut. richard, i'm just curious, looking at pictures of this past weekend, vladimir putin high-fiving the crown prince of saudi arabia when other world leaders didn't want to be even seen shaking his hand, it just reminds me of how -- what a deft touch george h.w. bush had, that he was a realist, but at the same time would never allow something like that to stand without calling it out. what are we missing with the leadership of donald trump? >> george h.w. bush was a realist, but he was a realist who also had values and standards and principles. he always tried to balance it. one of the first tests of his

maureen dowd described thousands of arena seats being covered up in toronto due to poor sales.s began in the hundreds of dollars, felt to single digits by the end because nobody wanted to buy them. is america finally mercifully getting over the clintons? author and columnist mark steyn joins us tonight. to assess. before we assess what's obvious, which is, their time is over, the deeper question is why don't they know that and what is speaking to her about? >> i would have thought that if you didn't know before, looking out -- maureen dowd overestimated the number of seats. it a was actually 83.4% empty, e arena in toronto. 83.4% empty. i believe actually the last time i guess toasted for you it was 83.4% empty. >> tucker: i saw the numbers, that's not true. >> when you're president -- you should always listen very carefully when the public is telling you goodbye. and that's what the 16.6% seating capacity was telling the clintons. >> tucker: but i wonder what -- it's not surprising either, and i have to say in their defense, they played this out a lot longer than i ever though

. >> now i have to start liking maureen dowd. [laughter] >>host: but it is true when your father got to washington as a junior member of the house there was a bond that a lot of those people have because they served in world war i to together - - world war ii together that was a bigger connection than the party did he view himself as part of the greatest generation quick. >> they are great because they did not talk about it. i was reading one of the books i did not realize, i knew he was shot down in the pacific i did not realize had they got to him before the submarine he could have been cannibalized because that garrison commander was convicted and executed for war crimes of cannibalism. in our world or generation about how great i was they put that away and moved on with theiriv life. he did not talk about it but the bond was powerful there t were others as well from washington's reflection if you were a rotarian how many people here are? if you are and ashamed to raise their hand. [laughter] twenty-five years ago if i asked t

i was reading maureen dowd. i love maureen dowd. apparently he did, too. be difficult on republicans, she always got a letter back from him. he always returned the letter. he took the time to write. to keep up with people. and did not end the ability to keep talking. an old friend of mine once said always be able to talk. george bush never closed the bridge. never shut it down, despite politics. and he stuck with people long after they were in favor. i thought that was something. when rostenkowsky went to prison, he stuck with him and that's the measure any of person. john mclaughlin, always great. why do we meet like this? but anyway, it's great. thank you so much. general mccaffrey, thank you for your service. joe watkins, i'm learning more about you. and giancarlo, thank you, sir, for your kind remembrance. kasie hunt, my colleague, of course, robert costa of "the washington post," i want to thank you. nicolle wallace is going to pick up our special coverage right now. >> thank you, chris. the body of president george h.w. bush arriving at joint base an

. >> i work for maureen dowd. >>. >> thank you. okay. i haven't seen. >>. >>. >>. >> i don't want to get drunk my own party. thank you. [inaudible] club soda with no ice with just a dashof white wine . >> club soda with a dash of white wine but mostly club soda . mostly club soda. then came up with a signature drink for you . guess what i have for you? i'm going to tell you when i stole it. >> permanently? i love you. >>. >> my personal nothing andi brought it for you, i'm not a fee . >> where do we go? >> are going to follow me. >> you know i'm like? for c-span. hold on, 17. i have to do an interview because i have an important book out . hi, will's reaper. >>. >> we will walk fast together. i'm so happy to see you. >> we're going to walk in front.>> i know. you don't mind, do you? >> fantastic. >>. >> just be careful. >>. >> i'm done, let's go. >> for the sake. >> i really wanted to get my party. >> this is going to create buzz. >> okay. fine. hey jeremy, you could probably get a drink. we are right over the bar. what do they call the

crossing -- [laughter] [applause] >> but, you know finish -- >> and now i've got to start liking maureen dowd. this is going to be really hard, but i'm going to do my best. [laughter] >> you know, it's also true that when your father got to washington, junior member of the house, there was a bond that a lot of those people had which is they'd served in world war ii together. >> yeah. >> i mean, people like john dingell have told me that was a more important connection than where you came from or which part you were from. did he view himself as part of the greatest generation? >> you know, as part of the greatest generation, the reason why they're great, they didn't talk about it. the weirdest thing in the world was i was reading one of the books about -- i didn't realize my dad -- i knew my dad was shot down in the pacific. i didn't realize that had the japanese garrison got there before a submarine that randomly showed up, a u.s. submarine, he could have been cannibalized because the garrison commander on the island was convicted and executed for war crimes for cannibalism to maintain the mo

maureen dowd described him at wooster, the british character of the comic novels by p.g. woodhouse. this was after he managed the collapse of the soviet union and mounted the coalition that won the gulf war. he achieved quite a lot, but nonetheless it resisted. it's that reverse snobbism about class that permeates the media. now, you see the media exactlyifying it against donald trump. howie: what was it like to deal with george bush personally? brit: he knew us all because he had been around forever. he was exceedingly friendly to us as he was to everyone. he had a blessing in a way because he has a forgiving spirit. he endured the slings and arrows. he was forgiving about it. he didn't stay mad at people for very long. his press relations weren't bad. his news conferences were fairly frequent and orderly. he basically did fine. it was during the run-up to the gulf war, he had a lot of meetings with the press, and he became in that moment extraordinarily articulate and precise in his discourse. we had not seen that in him before. it was a remarkable display of what he could do when

and it was a real friendship and in the same way that maureen dowd wrote about covering him and becomingem but they also knew him as a human being, as meacham certainly did. >> andy card is standing by to talk to us after the service. obviously, former chief of staff to george w. bush 43. andy, what did you make of what we just witnessed? >> well, first of all, this was a wonderful thing for the world to witness. it showed the decency of a true citizen of the united states who's a citizen of the world and this is a demonstration on how to live a life and how to invite people to be part of the solutions in america. and solutions to problems around the world. so this is a remarkable experience. this is a celebration. it's not a mourning. it is not a sad thing. this is really a compliment to a life well lived, an example given for us all and i just think it's been a remarkable day. you know, this was a remarkable man who was so unselfish and it was never about him. he didn't practice brogueadocia. he would have said today was too much. it was a wonderful service. >> andy, what did you think

like, maureen dowd did this, judy woodruff did that, sam donaldson did this. i was beginning to worry as president, the man who won the cold war had watched tv all day. what i realized, somewhat in consultation with tim, part of what happened is he had everything in his briefcase. so he had the white house news summary in the tape recorder. so he would be on marine i or air force i and pull everything out and start looking at this and be reading this great transcript of everyone who had been attacking him all the time. so he would just react to it that way. that's the reality. how many of you all love being criticized? maybe you're better than i am, but, you know, it's just -- and that -- to me that's the importance of the work you all do. it's that you all humanize people who are at risk of becoming monumental and therefore less accessible and character's destiny. the greeks were right. you all are custodians of the means by which we can access a usable past. >> and -- and picking up on that, jon, there was one vision of this early on, thomas jefferson's perc

and i think you've seen that in some of the -- maureen dowd wrote an unbelievable piece about her timeank bruni had a great column out about how he was imperfect, no one is trying to whitewash the bush years, but there were points of light. >> have you all seen the news real of franklin roosevelt's body making that turn at 15th street, with arthur godfrey of all people narrating it for the newsre newsreel? there was a president, in office from '33 to '45, my dad only new one president growing up. >> this is the view. >> this is different. >> on your right is lafayette park. on your left is the white house and the old executive office building. hard to believe that as recently as the clinton administration, this was a public thoroughfare with two-way traffic. you could get in and out of cabs right there at the northwest gate. but it was the timothy macveigh bombing in oklahoma city that led the secret service to make a presentation to president and mrs. clinton to prove to them that that structure which has survived fire and earthquakes and changes in administrations, they said that a d

turning political access into hard cold cash, according to longtime "new york times" columnist, maureen dowd. a recent joint speech by bill and hillary clinton was pretty disappointing at best. she writes "their pathological need to be relevant in america is belied by a canadian arena where stretches of empty seats bear witness to the passing of their relevance. even if you are showing up or getting a discount, according to a new report. tickets to see bill and hillary were as low as $11 in some locations. the medias passing, you will not believe how one teacher decided to ruin christmas for five and six years old. but first we remember the legacy of service. president george h.w. bush, we go back through 2004 and, i had the opportunity to visit a head of that year's presidential election. take a look. it's got to be harder to watch your son. >> it is far worse when they go after your son, and i would say unfairly, and they use to when i was in the cross hairs and would get condemned and criticized. it hurts much more when it's your own son. and it's not even a close call. >> tucker: i think

there was an extraordinary piece of writing today from maureen dowd.nd if you worked in the bush family, you knew the relationship between them was something of a legend. and really wasn't much anyone could do about it. she would write what she would write. but you don't see that. and if there are warm spots and warm relationships between politicians and members of the media, most politicians are pretty careful not to let anyone find out. >> yes. and it was a tendentious relationship. a lot of the opinion columnists were incredibly hard on george herbert walker bush. so as you might recall, there were buttons and bumper stickers during the 1992 campaign that said annoy the media. vote for bush. and i think, you know, again, it was not like it was a smooth relationship all the time. but there was a certain kind of grace to it and a certain respect. i think on both sides. the responsibilities that come with the job. and it's, i think, really -- as i was writing the obituary for our newspaper, it occurred to me that when you write these obitua obituaries,

. >> ability to pull in his critics, maureen dowd has great examples they brought dana carvey to the white house. the examples are wonderful we watch the motorcade we talked about the various roles he played as a congressman, as an envoy to china, cia, vice was there one he talked about more than the other? naturally you would think it would be the presidency, but there were so many >> you would really have to really force his hand to talk about himself. he wanted to talk more to you about examples of lessons he learned about how to conduct yourself, how to be respectful of other people in life, how to treat people with kindness, how to carry yourself with humility. those were the lessons he was most interested in impacting one of my earliest memories is going fishing with him the day after ronald reagan asked him to be vice president i had no idea at the time. we came back to the break water shall the coast was lined with reagan, bush signs saying we love you, george, and thank you. and i had no idea what was going on he turned to me and said public service is a noble calling you're

the elder bush once called trump an ass during a 2011 interview with the "new york times" maureen dowdtrump had equally harsh words for almost all members of the bush dynasty, including jeb bush, who ran against him. but inside the cathedral today, those feelings went unsaid as trump played a rare role, silent and respectful spectator, watching an emotional goodbye from one president bush to another. >> and we're going to miss you. your decency, sincerity and kind soul will stay with us forever. so through our tears, let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you, a great and noble man. the best father a son or daughter could have. and in our grief, i just smile knowing that dad is hugging robin and holding mom's hand again. >> rare day of reprieve in washington as trump lent the bush family air force one to fly the late president home to texas. as trump returned to a white house still under a deepening cloud from the russia investigation. and that cloud does continue here at the white house. the cloud of uncertainty with the former national security adviser, michael flynn, of cou

they were trashing him and maureen dowd by the way who is line thighsing him today, i love her writing it's fun. she used to belittle the bushes, what they watched, what they listened to for music. i was reading a column from may 1st, 1990. she called them the gracious cruise director. they lampooned him for patting barbara on the derriere during the campaign. as for his relationship with the press, look at this 1987 newsweek cover. bush considered it the cheapest shot of his political career. check it out. you can read it, referring to him as the wimp factor. how about this great relationship with dan rather during a 1988 interview? >> well, dan let's be careful here, because you're -- >> i want you to be careful mr. vice-president. how do you explain that you can't remember. >> because i wasn't there at that point. >> you weren't in the meeting. >> i'm just saying i don't remember it. >> i don't want to be argumentative mr. vice-president. >> dan [laughter]. these -- it's not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on iran. how would you like it if i judge your career by those seve

we're going to introduce you to the panel here, we have george will, maureen dowd, former white housef staff andy card and "washington post" national politics columnist karen tumulty. you were at that introduction of that blibrary, maureen? >> yes. >> why did he pick college station? andy, do you remember? >> i do. he picked college station -- he had no connection to it except he had been invited to speak there. >> okay. >> and every time he went to speak there, he did when he was president and he gave a major speech there, they treated him well, he loved the underlying -- i'm going to say spirit and the core values of texas a&m, and he just fell in love with the place. and he also was being wooed by yale and andover and he said no, i'm going to go to college station. and university of houston really wanted the library, too. >> i bet they did. >> he liked college station because of the core values and the cadets -- there are about 2,400 core cadet members in a campus of 65,000 students. it's the core cadets that give that place the core values that make texas a&m special. and it is a

maureen dowd, "new york times" columnist, used to write these pieces mocking the cultural and culinaryastes of bush 41 and barbara. he ate pork rinds in the two of them watched things like "america's funniest home videos" on tv on sunday nights. the subject was always, look at the bushes. ivy league blue bloods but still unsophisticated, and frankly, not all that smart. but here's a news flash for everybody. no one who becomes president is dumb. especially not trump, who managed to beat not one, but two political dynasties to enact the white house. remember all the dire predictions made by the political and business savants about a trump presidency? >> if the unlikely event happens and trump wins, you will see a market crash of historic proportions. >> in the event donald wins, i have no doubt in my mind, the market tanks. >> donald trump is moving us toward world war iii. >> the lack of diplomatic and serious engagement strategy, in my view, has us sliding toward war by next summer. >> laura: [laughs] we could do this all night long. that is really entertaining. democrats and their al

turning political access into hard, cold cash, according to longtime "newti york times" columnist, maureen dowda recent joint speech by bill and hillary clinton was pretty disappointing at best. she writes, "their pathological need to be relevant in america is belied by a canadian arena where stretches of empty seats bear witness to the passing of their relevance." even the few showing up or getting a discount, according to a new report. tickets to see bill and hillary were as low as $11 in some locations. if you ask me, that is still over overpriced. a lot more to get to. the latest on the caravan, the medias latest flow as it relates to the passing of president 41, george herbert walker bush, and you will not believe how one teacher decided to ruin christmas for five w and 6-year-olds. but tonight, we first remember the legacy of service, president george h.w. bush. we are going to go backk to to. i had the opportunity to sit down with a former president ahead of that year's presidential election. let's watch that. >> sean: it's got to be harder to watch your son. >> it is far worse when they

. >> i work for maureen dowd. >>

who else would say that. >> maureen dowd, thank you. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> congratulations to me, condolences to me. >> we had a moment that we -- >> look at that. that is so cute and he wouldn't let it go. so lovely. >> you know talking about it, i remember the first time we went out it was 2011 and he so wanted his son jeb to run for president in 2012. that really did mean an awful lot to him and did not care for donald trump even then. >> no, i mean maureen dressed it up, you know, his comments about donald trump. but when you would speak to him about donald trump, maureen was absolutely right, he was trying to talk about something he just couldn't comprehend. the whole trump effect, the whole trump emergence, and because he was such a polite man and civilized man the language that was being employed by candidate trump on the stump shocked him. and he couldn't grasp the fact that so many members of your former party would be lining up like this. >> talked about how jerry went up, and i remember jerry telling us a story of him going up th

because it did used to be a human thing and today's "new york times" columnist maureen dowd reflects president bush in 2011 and she covered him critically in the white house. she writes he spoke fondly of bill clinton and respectfully of president obama then i asked him about donald trump who is leading the birther charge against obama. neither of us could have imagined then that trump would d dispatch his son's running of low energy. trump 41 pamade a phase. he's a -- he stopped. i can but i won't. when trump began plowing his way. h.w. is known to throw his shoe at the television seat. the narcissistic, amoral, vulgar, reality tv president and the modest principled, classy, old-world president could not be more different. you have principles and how you conduct yourself should matter. >> service to country should matter. the first act he did was sneak away to join the navy to become a naval aviator in world war ii and he kept every step of the way as c.i.a. director and to beijing and vice president, every step of the way serving his country first it's why the insults against peopl

. >> maureen is going to join us tomorrow, maureen dowd. een was a woman, as is ann and many other people in the press that went after george h.w. bush every day. i saw some of my conservative friends come out yesterday saying how hypocritical. bush hated the media and the media hated bush. yeah. it was like ronald reagan and tip o'neill had a deal that they fought like hell every day. and then at 6:00, they put it to the side. because they could do that, willie. and this morning, a dowd quote that i read yesterday from her column, a note that george h.w. bush sent to her after the work that she did loathing the "new york times" for such a lock, long time. george h.w. bush says this, i reserve the right to whine, to noe not read, to use profanity. but if you ever get ready hurt or if you have are really down and need a shoulder to cry on or just need a friend, give me a call. i will be there for you. i'll not let you down. that is the whole point. you can have a contentious relationship with people professionally and still save your humanity

particularly fond of george will who ridiculed him at times, nor do i think he was particularly fond of maureen dowdenvy on her part. but nonetheless, he was -- and, you know, he got along with us. he was okay with us, and he knew us all. he'd been around washington forever. he knew all of us who were covering him, knew us by name, called us by name and so forth. and, you know, he basically, he could handle it. dana: this is franklin graham. he was talking this morning about that moment, that big decision that was decisive in his presidency. watch this. >> that was a very difficult night for him, and i remember he called my father and asked that my father would be with him that night at the white house. because the president knew the cost in american lives, in iraqi lives. he knew what war was about. so the two of them stayed up all night together, and they had not just with one prayer, but they had a number of prayers together as that war began. dana: of course, that was the first gulf war, brit. what do you remember from that time and learning from -- observing president bush 41? >> oh, i remember

maureen dowd wrote a lot of columns about him and ridiculing him. class envy i think his presidency stands grace and courage and character. and i think that he sort of overcame all of that criticism. he was born a blue blooded new england aristocrat made his way to texas basically on his own and became a texan and that's where he ran from. ran from office from. and, of course, that's where w. grew up. w. is much more of a texan because he was born down there than his tear was. that was really who he became. todd: brit, as somebody who knows d.c. as well as you do what is george bush's legacy in the nation's capital when it comes to party politics? >> well, he was -- he had no antipathy to members of the other party. i remember one of his buddies was in the years when he served in the house of representatives was dan democrat from illinois power house figure chairman of the house ways and means committee, the tax writing committee. they were great friends, close friends it was very like bush that he would develop a friendship across the i'll. ross co