representative barbara lee has been democratic member of the u.s. congress since 1998, representing california's wind the district, and she is the chair of the congressional black caucus. congresswoman lee graduated from mills college and received a master's of social work from the university of california at berkeley. she is perhaps best known as the only member of congress to vote against the authorization for the use of military force against terrorist act. she voted no -- [applause] she voted no because she believed that the legislation granted overly broad powers to the president at a time when the facts were just not yet clear. her book, which she will be discussing with us today is entitled renegade for peace and justice converse woman barbara lee speaks for me charlie savage is a pulitzer prize-winning journalist. he's the washington correspondent for "the new york times" and the author of "takeover" the return of the imperial presidency and subversion of american democracy. and we have a copy of that here, and it's a wonderful book and you c

congresswoman barbara lee who chairs the congressional black caucus had this reaction, quote. "recent comments by obama administration officials regarding health reform and public options are deeply troubling. any bill without a public health insurance line like medicare is not health reform. on the senate side, pushback was will also swiflt. senator russ feingold said, quote, "without a public option, i don't see how we will bring real change to a system that has made good healthcare a privilege for those who can afford it," but one of feingold's democratic colleagues, kent conrad who sits on the finance committee and has been negotiating as a member of the bipartisan gang of six, warned that the democrats intent on the public option are in for a reality check. >> the fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the united states senate for the public option. there never have been, so to continue to chase that rabbit, i think, is just a wasted effort. >> but not all public option proponents are convinced the battle is over. >> in the end, the republicans are not going to

i want to thank ben wittes, congresswoman barbara lee and charlie savage their books will be on sale i assume you will sign for a short time? thank you for being with us. [applause] >> good afternoon. it's nice to see you all here today. >> are we on? >> i am. it's great to see you all here today. good afternoon. here at key school. i'm not surprised to see so many people in attendance for this conversation about migration and borders and policy and about the experience of the people who have dealt with the arduous journey to enter the united states, particularly from the countries to the south. this is, obviously, an issue of great national importance, and i suppose it's what the president has been concentrating on most these last couple of days down in trinidad and tobago. i know the secretary of state has just been in mexico to talk about migration policy, and the president has just announced that after 50 years, to some degree at least, migration policy from cuba will be somewhat alleviated or revised, reformed. it was an irony i'm sure wasn't lost on many of the cubans that he m

barbara lee says that if you have reform without a public auction, it is not reform at all. shepard: shannon bream, thank you. the white house is forced to explain why and how it mailed unsolicited email about its health-care plan to a large number of people across the country. here is the back story. major garrett asked robert gibbs about this e-mails last week. it is still a mystery to us. last night, the administration seemed to suggest third parties were responsible for it all. in a written statement, the white house said "individual received the e-mail because someone else or groups sign them up or forward the e-mail, we hope they were not too inconvenienced." case closed? not merelreally. is it really possible for this to happen? >> is. we talked to some professionals on this. they say not only is it possible for e-mail address to be put in one at a time, it is also possible to go to the comments section of the white house website in league and e-mail, a small tiny program in that comment section and you can drop your entire list onto the website for the website. what

barbara lee is one of the most courageous people on the planet because she is our representative from, and she was the only person in congress to vote against giving bush permission to -- not that he would have listened, but to bomb and to spend all the money on war. she was very much against it and said so. >> host: one more item before we take the next call. the pair of shoes that you have on the altar. >> guest: i travel with these shoes because, especially after 9/11 and all of the sabre rattling, and we're going to go and get the terrorists, i would go to audiences and i would talk about the terrorists and i would have them hold the little shoes so that they could see just how the feet of the terrorists looked. [8<; it just as, i'm going to write about that. i would be very interested to see what white women writers who have african-american children -- i would like to see what they have to write about this experience. i'm sure it's very interesting. and, in fact, there is a woman whose name has just not shown itself, who has written about her life with her african-american sons,

. >> representative barbara lee says if you have a reform without a public option, it's not reform at all. >> i'm not ready to put the name nail if the coffin of the public option. >> will the president bend to the public? the white house insists the public option is still the best way to achieve their health care goals. all you word watchers know that's anything but a real answer. how hard is the left willing to fight? we're going to tackle that question coming up tonight. >>> now, the white house may be under the gun on health care, they are sounding pretty upbeat about the economy these days. if you think we're out of the woods, check out what happened today in the president's hometown. >> chicago, a bit quieter today than usual. that's because many nonessential city services are shut down for the day, to save money. >> many people showing up at city hall today were surprised to find out the city that works is taking an unpaid day off. >> garbage is getting collected today. senior centers are closed. medical and health clinics run by the city are not open and city hall is shut down

and one of them who has signed it is congresswoman barbara lee and she joins us tonight here on "the ed show." congresswoman lee, i appreciate your time here. do you believe that the white house has got a problem with their messaging? >> well, let me say i believe that the white house fully supports a public health option. when i heard the secretary's comments i immediately called the white house to clarify what the position was, because of course there are many of us who are insisting that there be not only a strong public health option but a robust public health option very similar to medicare in any legislation that leaves the house. and so i'm confident that the white house is on board, that they're supportive of a public health option. and of course, the dynamic of negotiations are continuing. but i believe -- >> wait a minute now. now, congresswoman, how's this for negotiations. you've got kent conrad saying you don't have the votes in the senate for the public option so that means no public option. i mean, that's basically what that is. >> let me just say as a member of the ho

representative barbara lee stating that recent comments about the obama administration officials are deeply troubling. any deal without a public health care insurance plan like medicare is not health care reform. at monday night town hall meetings in colorado and california, democratic professionals discussed the option. >> we don't have some special wonderful plan that is better than others. it is a good plan. if the public option is a choice for me, i would consider. >> i'm not willing to write off the public option because there are some people that are discouraged about it. >> reporter: but bl dog democrats and republicans believe a co-op plan is the best option for moving forward. so could a fight be brewing for when members return in september? indeed it is a possibility. one offers one suggestion from florida, saying it would be an excellent idea to start all over. he cannot support the bill at its current rsion. saying congress can make the bill better. anthony wiener of new york says the president could lose 100 votes in the house if the public option is not included. in was

barbara lee said recent comments by the obama administration officials regarding the public option andreform are deeply troubling. any bill without a public health insurance plan like medicare not health reform. i spoke to the congresswoman a short while ago and she said she was a little bit of a sense of what's going on behind the scenes. she was kate waiting for a call back from the secretary of hhs, kathleen sebelius, about what she said on cnn's "state of the union" for clarification because from her perspective, there is no health care reform without a public insurance option. >> nancy pelosi says she's fully behind that so-called public option. >> and the big issue is that the next step is house vote in september when they come back. >> the full house. >> which has not happened yet. so, she had to, because of the white house statements, reaffirm her commitment to a public option, which is now the plan for that particular vote. here's what she said. there is strong support in the house for a public option. a public option is the best option to lower costs, improve the quality of h

in barbara lee's district, which is oakland, 60% voted no. 88% voted for obama. howard we are ma's district in los angeles, 69% voted no. in maxine water's district, 68% voted no. 84% voted for obama. 63% swing if maxine water's district. now the point i want to make is very simple and straightforward. there's a huge disconnect between the popular will as expressed in the referendum, and the power structure in strength. -- if sacramento and one of the reasons for that disconnect is the failure of the republican party as an instrument of expressing the popular will. so that you have districts that have 68% against spending, they'll probably have 12% republican vote. and so they elect somebody who is for spending, even though they're against spending, because they can't figure out how to nominate somebody who is anti-spending, because the party that is anti-spending is unthinkable to the people who want to spend, so they have to spend, even though they don't want to spend. now this is a very deep political problem in this country and it expresses it's sein the dead

lee. >> oh, please. >> your mother's giving up the secrets. >> she needs to be like antonio. >>> i'm barbara harrison.n rescue caught on tape. hear from a park police officer how they pulled it off. we're seeing cooler temperatures. tom will let you know how long these temperatures will stick around. join us in a little over a half ♪ the art of getting dirty. the art of getting clean. new powerfully formulated wisk®... is better on tough mud stains than tide total care. wisk®. powerfully clean. perfectly priced. oh yea, well for 6 months, customers get all three: fios tv, internet and phone for just $79.99 a month. oh, all right, see... you're just moving your fingers, aren't you? i gotta cut my nails. (announcer) now get three amazing fios services for the price of two. tv, internet, and phone for only... for the first 6 months. it all adds up to one incredible deal from fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800.974.6006 tty/v unlike cable, fios brings 100% fiber optics straight to your home, for razor sharp tv, america's top rated internet-- now even faster, and crystal cl