finally, dan balz to my left, chief correspondent for the "washington post" author of "battle for america: 2008." will the author for the battle for america: 2012? a different title? still working on a title. the idea is the same. covered campaigns for many years for the "post," but also the white house and congress. so is a veteran washington journalist, winner of many awards from various places like the american political science association and appears regul regularly on shows like pbs's washington week and msnbc's washington rundown. as i start, jeff, ask you a very broad question. not fair to summarize your boom in fi -- book in five to seven minutes. that's what i'm going to do. what wab the emphasis behind the republican movement, why the decline and why is that bad for america? >> i'm reminded of the summarized proof, 100 words or yes contest. [ laughter ] the impetus for the moderate republican is a, might be said to be the impetus for the republican party generally. the republican party when it started as wan anti-slavery party, which in many ways was a reform party. that lineag

he says "it's the special advisers like the damian o'brieens, charlie wheelers, and ed balzes, not -- who specialize in character assassination through the pages of the newspapers. what always surprised me was that the assassins managed to persuade the press to keep quiet about their activities. however many incriminating e-mails or texts they sent." >> that's a very good point. in other words -- >> is all of that correct? >> well, no, not all of it because -- did you if you ask me to single out then i would single out charlie wheeland. i was always clear about that. and i was always clear with gordon brown that i thought it damaged him to have him there. likewise damian mcbride. the point i'm make -- i can remember, for example, one briefing where at the end of, yes, another frenzy and journalists accusing me of lying and politicians then getting roped in to say i should resign and blah, blah, blah. i can remember saying to all the journalists there in the room, right, come on. just say what the lie is and then provide any evidence whatsoever. and they never could. so just -- and tha

viewpoint of moderate finally, dan balz. author for "washington post." chief correspondent for the he is the author of the battle for america, 2008. he is working on the title. title, but the idea is the same. he has covered campaigns for many years. also, the white house and congress. he is a veteran washington. has won many awards in various places. and he appears regularly on shows like washington week in the daily rundown. let me begin. i'm going to come down the road this way. again, as i introduce them, jeff kabaservice. let's start with geoffrey it's not fair for me to ask you to summarize your book in five sentences, but that is basically what i'm going to do. my question is, what was the impetus behind the moderate republican movement? why do you think that decline was a bad thing for america? >> i'm going to go with the monty python summarizing 100 words or less idea. [laughter] the impetus is the same for the republican party generally. it started as an anti-slavery party. that lineage continued to last in the for the next hundred development.

i want to read a quote from the dan balz in the "washington post" who gave fairly strong kudos. gave his kudos to the president saying rarely has a president blended the role of commander in chief with chief. quite as vividly as president obama has done in the days surrounding the first industry of osama bin laden's death. maggie, what do you make of that? >> i think it's true. i actually don't read that paragraph as praise. i do think that this was a pretty remarkable thing that we were seeing yesterday. we have not seen this type of address from a war zone before if memory serves. i think that in terms of the specifics as you were talking about, there are some very vague outlines there. it does leave room for a predecessor to change things and commits the u.s. to a longer term goal than i think a lot of people want, certainly than republicans have expressed an interest in, and there has been a lack of clarity on the side of the republicans without getting into the politics what they would do differently. i think against that backdrop, i think obama had a very strong moment, bu

i read something by dan balz in the "washington post." when i go around the country this is what i get. can washington govern? the reality is lawmakers have kicked the can down the road on very big issues that will have to be addressed by the end of this year. let me put on the screen what the stakes are. at the end of the year the bush tax cuts expire. payroll tax holiday expires. you also have by january of next year $110 billion in the across the board spending cuts that automatically take effect unless there can be an agreement to avoid that. now, speaker boehner spoke this week on the question of raising the debt ceiling. it had to be done last summer. it's going to have to be done again here before the end of the year. and he said we're going to look at this fiscal cliff again and he's going to have some stern demand. this is what he said this week. >> when the time comes, i will again insist. my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase. >> senator, how do you react to that? >> i was surprised. i'll

. >> dan balz, you were in columbus, it is interesting to -- it's basically fight over the recovery.question, i thought the way governor romney put it a couple of weeks ago, was smart. which was, this was the best that barack obama could do. it's not the best america can do. if he can make that stick. if he can convince people that obama has tried heay ied hard, whatever reason doesn't have what it takes to get the job done, then that's a real opening. the president is coming back hard on that aspect. >> it's funny you bring up the likability. one other thing that caught my eye, celinda, both the president and vice president, before they went into attacks on mitt romney this weekend, said, this is a patriotic america. you hear mitt romney going, the president's a great guy. it's the old ricky bobby, "i said with all due respect." >> that's right! >> but it's interesting, it's like they're both mindful. it's this independent voter who's a little turned off by harsh politics, so they want an attempt at least to be nice. >> i think it's women voters that they are fighting for and who ar

he says "it's the special advisers like the damian o'brieens, charlie wheelers, and ed balzes, not -- who specialize in character assassination through the pages of the newspapers. what always surprised me was that the assassins managed to persuade the press to keep quiet about their activities. however many incriminating e-mails or texts they sent." >> that's a very good point. in other words -- >> is all of that correct? >> well, no, not all of it because -- did you if you ask me to single out then i would single out charlie wheeland. i was always clear about that. and i was always clear with gordon brown that i thought it damaged him to have him there. likewise damian mcbride. the point i'm make -- i can remember, for example, one briefing where at the end of, yes, another frenzy and journalists accusing me of lying and politicians then getting roped in to say i should resign and blah, blah, blah. i can remember saying to all the journalists there in the room, right, come on. just say what the lie is and then provide any evidence whatsoever. and they never could. so just -- and tha

he says "it's the special advisers like the damian o'brieens, charlie wheelers, and ed balzes, not -- who specialize in character assassination through the pages of the newspapers. what always surprised me was that the assassins managed to persuade the press to keep quiet about their activities. however many incriminating e-mails or texts they sent." >> that's a very good point. in other words -- >> is all of that correct? >> well, no, not all of it because -- did you if you ask me to single out then i would single out charlie wheeland. i was always clear about that. and i was always clear with gordon brown that i thought it damaged him to have him there. likewise damian mcbride. the point i'm make -- i can remember, for example, one briefing where at the end of, yes, another frenzy and journalists accusing me of lying and politicians then getting roped in to say i should resign and blah, blah, blah. i can remember saying to all the journalists there in the room, right, come on. just say what the lie is and then provide any evidence whatsoever. and they never could. so just -- and tha

finally, dan balz. chief correspondent for the "washington post." he is the author of the battle for america, 2008. he is working on the title, but the idea is the same. he has covered campaigns for many years. also, the white house and congress. he is a veteran washington. he has won many awards in various places. and he appears regularly on shows like washington week in the daily rundown. let me begin. i'm going to come down the road this way. again, as i introduce them, let's start with geoffrey kabaservice. it's not fair for me to ask you to summarize your book in five sentences, but that is basically what i'm going to do. my question is, what was the impetus behind the moderate republican movement? why did it decline in what he think that decline was a bad thing for america? >> i'm going to go with the monty python summarizing 100 words or less idea. [laughter] [laughter] >> the impetus is the same for the republican party generally. that lineage continued to last in the for the next hundred years of the party's development. by 1960, which is t

he says "it's the special advisers like the damian o'brieens, charlie wheelers, and ed balzes, not -- who specialize in character assassination rough the pages of the newspapers. what always surprised me was that the assassins managed to persuade the press to keep quiet about their activities. however many incriminating e-mails or texts they sent." >> that's a vryood point. in other words -- >> is all of that correct? >> well, no, not all of it because -- did you if you ask me to single out then i would single out charlie wheeland. i was always clear about that. and i was always clear with gordon brown that i thought it damaged him to have him there. likewise damian mcbride. the point i'm make -- i can remember, for example, one briefing where at the end of, yes, another frenzy and journalists accusing me of lying and politicians then getting roped in to say i should resign and blah, blah, blah. i can remember saying to all the journalists there in the room, right, come on. just say what the lie is and then provide any evidence whatsoever. and they never could. so just -- and that in