>> coming up next on booktv, took notes from january 2000, arthur herman discusses his book, joseph mccarthy. reassesses mr. mccarthy's legacies and supports the senator from wisconsin was justified in arguing that there was a real communist threat inside the u.s. government. this is about an hour. .. and to understand where that came from and maybe to resort every think just what we really do and how we assess joe mccarthy now, with almost 50 years of distance between ourselves and him. c-span: if you were there at his most visible time, where would you find him? >> guest: there at his most visible time? c-span: in history. >> guest: that would be 1950 to 1954. it's a very sharply defined career, meteoric. it starts in february of 1950, when he makes his famous speech at wheeling, west virginia, accusing the state department of harving--harboring communists and communist superfized -- sympathizers. and then it really comes to a crashing conclusion in december of 1954 when the senate censures him, and that really is the end of joe mccarthy as a--as a public figure, although not as a senator.

arthur lavor piece? >> yeah. >> he is behind herman cain's whole flat tax idea. >> of course.wo ways of reading it. the simplify indication of the code as a starting point for the debate is not a bad place to have, is it? >> no, and it resonates with the american public that's absolutely fed up with the idea of so many loopholes, deductions and the idea ta ge and other large corporations pay no taxes while you and i are looking at the bill and screaming bloody murder. the american people want simfully indication. the thing that's going to hurt cain and this comes from his pierce, wait a second, how come this is such a regressive tax. this is making people pay more taxes. how do you justify this? tea party people, especially the older folks so concerned about health care and having to pay more taxes in order to generate coverage for those uncovered, they're not going to want to pay more taxes to satisfy and say we have a flat tax. >> would you like to see barack obama unmudsalled himself? do you feel like he's allowed himself to be muzzled. >> love it. this is what i think has

arthur lavor piece? >> yeah. >> he is behind herman cain's whole flat tax idea. >> of course.of reading it. the simplify indication of the code as a starting point for the debate is not a bad place to have, is it? >> no, and it resonates with the american public that's absolutely fed up with the idea of so many loopholes, deductions and the idea ta ge and other large corporations pay no taxes while you and i are looking at the bill and screaming bloody murder. the american people want simfully indication. the thing that's going to hurt cain and this comes from his pierce, wait a second, how come this is such a regressive tax. this is making people pay more taxes. how do you justify this? tea party people, especially the older folks so concerned about health care and having to pay more taxes in order to generate coverage for those uncovered, they're not going to want to pay more taxes to satisfy and say we have a flat tax. >> would you like to see barack obama unmudsalled himself? do you feel like he's allowed himself to be muzzled. >> love it. this is what i think has been mis

herman cain is perfectly well qualified to be president of the united states, as are all of the other candidates, to be very honest. they fit very well into a presidential structure. >> arthur truth about how the iraq war was sold to the american people. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. plus veggie nutrition. so if i didn't know better i'd say you're having some sort of big tire sale. yes we are. yeah. how many tires does ford buy every year? over 3 million. you say you can beat any advertised price on tires? correct. anywhere? yes. like this price? yes. riously? yes what about this one? i'll beat it. this one? s we will. right, i only have one more question for you...this one? (laughing) yeah. get $100 rebate when you buy four tires. 100 bucks! only at your ford dealer. 3 million tires. 11 major brands, fiona's kind-of-nice. i don't know why you're not here. [ male announcer ] it has an hd webcam, killer audio, and lids that switch to start every semester fresh. but mostly it helps me try new moves on and off the court. ♪ [ male announcer ] powered by the 2nd gen intel core process