that's a very important lesson in precedent from bill buckley. [applause] >> thank you, linda, bill. thank you, rich. i donated my knees to the yale lacrosse team a couple of centuries ago. i am acutely aware that i stand between you and the bar, so let me make a few brief comments. three things about bill. then i will plunge recklessly into the territory both of these wiser men refuse to travel and that is what bill would think today about things? three things about bill. one, extraordinary personal courage in both the moral and physical forms of courage. as one example, one measure of the correlation of the ideological forces, i think back to my class at yale. , we approached graduation that glorious june day when john kennedy got off the great line. i know have the best of all worlds, a harvard education and a yale degree. we sought to show support for our are merging champion barry goldwater. and from a class of 1000 young men, all men in those days, we have five supporters. not included in our number, i would note, was our hard- drinking clas

bill buckley wrote or edited for the nonfiction books at last count. cancel your own gut-subscription was the last to be published during his lifetime. to appeared posthumously, flying high, remembering mary goldwater and finally, the reagan then i knew. as his son, christopher, said, he published more votes than he will bestead and mini deal with their lives. but gunmen -- "god & man at yale" was the first. as of many of his later books, this one remains in print 60 years after publication. our panel this afternoon will discuss why, as a publishing matter, but as an intellectual one. this should be the case. what is living in what is dead in the thought of "god & man at yale." why and to what extent does it remain relevant to man and even to yale, trusting god and the author to settle the third matter between themselves. the peculiarity of the book, as was noted in the first panel is that bill buckley does not describe himself, certainly not consistently, as a conservative in this book. he calls himself a christian individualist. the only thing he rep

bill buckley wrote or edited 40 nonfiction books at last count. cancel your own god damn subscription was the last to be published -- [laughter] during his lifetime. and two appeared posthumously, flying high: remembering barry goldwater and, finally, "the reagan i knew." as his son christopher said, bill buckley published more books when he was dead than many authors do alive. [laughter] but "god and man at yale" was the first. this one remains in print 60 years after its publication. our panel this afternoon will discuss why not as a publishing matter, but as an intellectual one this should be the case. what is living and what is dead in the thought of "god and man at yale"? why and to what extent does it remain relevant to god and even yale? trusting god and the author to settle the third matter between themselves now. a peculiarity of the book as was noted in the first panel is that bill buckley doesn't describe himself, certainly not consistently, as a conservative in this book. he calls himself a christian individualist. the only thing he re

bill buckley would be proud of that line. >> what about newt gingrich? former speaker of the house, a man who's been around washington a long time, is now kissing the ring of donald trump, accepting the promotional value of doing a debate with him. doesn't this lower the standards of the republican party? this man has no journalistic credentials. he's a showboat. and how can this not help them -- how can it not hurt them in the general election as really when you peel it back, this is who the republican party really is. >> you realize, ed, this may be the first time you ever agreed with karl rove because that's what karl rove -- >> i mentioned that today on the radio and i got tweeted galore on this one. you know what, i know there may be a power struggle going in, but common sense has got to get in the building at some day. this has now turned into a reality tv show and here you have a guy who was surging in the polls like newt gingrich is up 18% since last october. since late october. in iowa. i mean, he really has a serious run and now is this going t

but you know, beginning with bill buckley, he was the man who sort of saved conservative movement.ted it. he did it in part by saying that the john burkes society and extremist had been in the movement were out. would not be allowed in. he drew a line. it's what helped make the movement respectable, national and in control of the presidency in the 1980s. i ei'm not sure he wouldn't meet the buckley test. buckley ran out patrick buchanan this an article he wrote where he said the. stays were at the edge of antisemitism and u unsemiacceptable. i think the standards have to be applied. it may not impact him in iowa but it makes him someone who can't win the nomination. >> bret: steve, his supporters are very loyal. as you mention in iowa, it may not move the needle because it's so late. what about the other candidates in iowa that seem to make moves? rick santorum has a new statewide ad out today. a pop-up ad. it doesn't say much. it emphasizes as he has done, his family. his history. what about rick santorum in iowa? >> any of the bottom three candidates, michele bachmann, rick santo

bill buckley was a romantic conservative. >> yes. >> he wanted to win. he loved the game.anted to win. and as we've said around here, the buckley test, the william f. buckley test finish choosing a candidate was to choose the most conservative candidate who could win. not the most conservative candidate to make you feel good about hating the other side or to create some conservative catharsis, but it was about winning with buckley. >> or to be angry. buckley was against the perpetuation of anger as an organizing principle in politics. he was for a form of american greatness. and believed that you had to believe in the country and you had to be a happy warrior to do it. >> all right. speaking of happy warriors, willie is standing by in los angeles with news you can't use. it's next. >> at 3:52 in the morning. >> oh, willie. ♪ [ male announcer ] it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dolla

if he wins, it would be like bill buckley. he would demand a recount. the world willnds, change.rns will be eating out of our hands. host: -- from massachusetts -- richie. caller: i think ron paul is the best of the candidates from the republican side. as far as being obama, this country has totally dependent on government. it is getting bigger by the year. people cannot work and make their own -- they have to work two or three jobs. i am 67 years old and still go to work at noon. i have worked all my life. as long as these people think government should take care of them, we will not beat obama. every time i listen to c-span, there is a segment -- a day that does not apply that a black person does not call white people to racist. just cut them off because i'm not a racist. i am a true american. guest: one of the things that is a fascinating -- people like ron paul. the major transfers from the government to individuals in america is going to generally wealthy and middle class and upper middle class, older americans through social security and medicare. these are the programs tha

santorum as being really the only three conservative candidates but among those there's no doubt the bill buckley test as we've said all along, mark halperin, which is you nominate the most conservative candidate who is electable, i think consistently, that's jon huntsman. the question is, does he connect now with these ads that just lay it out? it's not huntsman talking about huntsman but a super pac bringing the conservative stalwarts in american politics all in line with huntsman. does that move the needle? >> tv advertising still matters a lot in presidential politics. even though we have internet age and a lot of ways to communicate with voters, a lot of earned media, television news coverage of the candidates, television advertising matters and huntsman amazingly, a lot of amazing unexpected things have happened in his campaign since it started. he has not run a single television commercial on his own behalf. >> and now the number though, mike, of events that he's had in new hampshire, easily out paces everybody else. and this is -- i saw it in a very small case in my first campaign. i was

i'm reminded when bill buckley -- one of the things i talked to him about was his days as a college newspaper editor. and he said that he never felt as is on fulfilled in life when he was the editor a lot of small publications for that reason because those publications are providing in many ways a much more intimate and valuable service than those of us who do the national stuff. i was trying to make the big papers by circulation and once with less circulation among mid city dailies. either a qualitative or moral or any kind of high or low status position. >> host: looking at your favorite books and those with the greatest influence on you and i want to ask about two individuals. hubert humphrey and milton friedman. >> guest: i grew up a democrat and had a poster on my wall as a high school student which is my yearbook photo which is a picture of hubert humphrey and it says some cause change and others brought it. i want to be talking change. so humphrey was a big figure in my life. i really admired the way he conducted himself in public life. and i will say even if you look at people who sup

i'm reminded when bill buckley -- one of the things i talked to him about was his days as a college newspaper editor. and he said that he never felt as is on fulfilled in life when he was the editor those publications are providing in many ways much more intimate and eligible surface than those of us who do the national stuff and so i was trying to make a difference between the paper's circulation and of the once with less circulation but they certainly would never act times either qualitative or when moral or in the high or low status. >> host: at this moment we're going to get your favorite books and also those that had the greatest influence on you and i see about two individuals, hubert humphrey and milton friedman. >> guest: humphrey i grew up a democrat and i haven't a poster on my wall as a high school student is in lifo witches of hubert humphrey and says some of talk change and others cause it and i knew i wanted to be tal talking change i didn't want to do it and so he was a big figure in m my life. i really admired the way hee who conducted himself in public life and people support

i'm reminded when bill buckley -- one of the things i talked to him about was his days as a college newspapereditor. and he said that he never felt as is on fulfilled in life when he was the editor humphrey. and it says some talk cause change and others -- and so humphrey was a big figure in my life. i really admired the way he conducted himself in public life. and i will say even if you look at some of the people who supported him, those humphrey democrats -- a lot of them are republicans. those are the working class white democrats. >> host: would he have been a good president? >> guest: i think so. i think he was a great leader in minnesota. very brave leader, fought mafia. hold on those issues and i think he would have been quite a good president because he had a real feel for people and a real feel for what america is all about. i think -- i would have preferred him to lyndon johnson. even though johnson pros and cons. but i think he was a generally good man. >> host: and milton friedman? >> guest: milton friedman was another mentor to me. i was in chicago and milton friedman was doing a

buckley folded today. he's the co-founder of online poker site absolute poker. in federal court, he admitted his company did wrong by accepting credit cards from internet gamblers. absolute poker billedcustomers, charging their gambling losses to fictitious companies as phony merchandise, violating a 2006 federal law. buckley's plea deal means he'll face 12 to 18 months in jail when sentenced in april. >> suzanne: when it comes to creating jobs and the next generation of workers, tonight's commentator says it all starts with making college education a national priority. here's jamie merisotis president and c.e.o. of the lumina foundation. >> as the year draws to a close, it's a perfect time to look ahead and ask what it will take to make america's economy stronger in 2012. most experts say that the education levels of our workforce will be critical to the nation's long-term economic prosperity. already, the majority of the new jobs being created require some form of post-secondary education. but with college costs so high and with so few prospects for significant new investment, we need to start taking seriously the redesign of our higher education system. in that new system, we'll n

buckley folded today. he's the co-founder of online poker site absolute poker. in federal court, he admitted his company did wrong by accepting credit cards from internet gamblers. absolute poker billedcustomers, charging their gambling losses to fictitious companies as phony merchandise, violating a 2006 federal law. buckley's plea deal means he'll face 12 to 18 months in jail when sentenced in april. >> suzanne: when it comes to creating jobs and the next generation of workers, tonight's commentator says it all starts with making college education a national priority. here's jamie merisotis, president and c.e.o. of the lumina foundation. >> as the year draws to a close, it's a perfect time to look ahead and ask what it will take to make america's economy stronger in 2012. most experts say that the education levels of our workforce will be critical to the nation's long-term economic prosperity. already, the majority of the new jobs being created require some form of post-secondary education. but with college costs so high, and with so few prospects for significant new investment, we need to start taking seriously the redesign of our higher education system. in that new system, we'll

buckley folded today. he's the co-founder of online poker site absolute poker. in federal court, he admitted his company did wrong by accepting credit cards from internet gamblers. absolute poker billedcustomers, charging their gambling losses to fictitious companies as phony merchandise, violating a 2006 federal law. buckley's plea deal means he'll face 12 to 18 months in jail when sentenced in april. >> suzanne: when it comes to creating jobs and the next generation of workers, tonight's commentator says it all starts with making college education a national priority. here's jamie merisotis, president and c.e.o. of the lumina foundation. >> as the year draws to a close, it's a perfect time to look ahead and ask what it will take to make america's economy stronger in 2012. most experts say that the education levels of our workforce will be critical to the nation's long-term economic prosperity. already, the majority of the new jobs being created require some form of post-secondary education. but with college costs so high, and with so few prospects for significant new investment, we need to start taking seriously the redesign of our higher education system. in that new system, we'll