brian lamb: -- christopher hitchens. brian lamb: you have been a pundit all your life?ndrew ferguson: i would hate to think i was a pundit. it was interesting to think about that, 30 years ago because it is an obsession of mine in washington journalism, as that guy said on there there is a class of people that make themselves experts on everything by which i mean they become experts on nothing so they can talk about the intricacies of centrifuges in iran and the minutia of the religious freedom act in indiana. it is just implausible. people really do not know enough about that many things to arrive at a real, plausible conclusion that they can articulate to people. it is one of the fictions we all live by here. brian lamb: we are in the political season. how much time have you spent with politicians in the last six months? andrew ferguson: i have not spent that much time with them. i have written a fair amount. it is in odd thing when you go on the campaign from our -- campaign trail now, it is so crowded. at this port in the cycle the actual election will be held next

brian lamb: your reaction?ndrew ferguson: every time i see him, even when he is making kind of an inoffensive comment like that, he has a way of turning it into kind of an accusatory thing. you people do not get it. let me explain it to you. you are not supposed to agree with him 100% of the time. it just reminds me of this tremendous truth that all of my friends from new york and new jersey do not understand which is that the rest of the country does not like people from new york and new jersey. i saw the same thing with giuliani. all of my friends in new york and jersey, when he ran for president last time, and of course he did not make it into the presidential year, were saying that he was a shoo-in and he is so popular. i was not going to like him, indiana is not going to like him, he is a new yorker and they do not like new yorkers. i think that is christie's problem as well. it is a harsh, in-your-face, unpleasant. brian lamb: you wrote in your column "history records no case in which a republican hurt hi

brian lamb: why?essica stern: i think the presence of western troops could really assist isis with its recruitment. isis has a narrative about a battle between the west and islam. we really don't want to feed into that narrative. brian lamb: from what you have observed, do merit -- many americans want to send true? -- troops? jessica stern: the polls suggest that more than half of americans would like to send in ground forces. brian lamb: as you watched that video, first of all isis produced that. it is hard to even describe the fact that the production values are pretty good. the music. and you look at the faces of both sides. there is nothing unusual looking about either side. you wonder what is going through a man's mind to pick up a knife and do a mass beheading. you studied terrorists, how did they do it? jessica stern: i can speak in general terms. they train. they learn to dehumanize the " enemy" whether the enemy is anyone who doesn't go along with their interpretation of islam, shiites, also

you and i are good pals and i admire your work and remember that interview that you did with brian lamb on q-and-a. that is a credit to both of you and you did that with a great sincerity and honesty. >> host: brian lamb is an amazing person and i love the interviews that he does. c-span is such a gift and as an educator -- >> guest: via the grade school program. he was here and have been here for a great time. it was in the mid-1980s and another student that year was jim nick governed who became a member of congress as an antiwar liberal. he helped end the war in el salvador. i had him in class and i was kind of worried about him. you've got to get out. you are missing out on things. what do you suggest? he said there there's a wonderful shelter in dc. we go down and volunteer. he was working for a congressman said he went to town and met women from el salvador and said what's going on down there so we started taking the members of congress to el salvador and i think that he knew a lot -- i don't think that he knew where it was, but he had a good heart. finally, joe persuaded congress

you like to -- only brian lamb reads everything. but we like to read certain kinds of books. so these boys are no different. there are all kinds of issues that were raised in that special for the betterment of the school system and for the betterment of these boys who are stuck in this public education system that in many ways is not working for them. that's, again, one of my passion projects. i still do a lot of work with black boys. and i just, i have seven younger brothers. so this is something that comes natural for me. it's not just something i do because i'm on tv. i have seven younger brothers and now thanks to those seven brothers and two sisters, i have 31 nieces and nephews, many of whom are black boys. so this is something i live every day even in my own family. >> host: neville is in cleveland. you're on booktv with tavis smiley. >> caller: um, mr. smiley, i would like to ask you to make a comment on the contribution of people from the caribbean to american society. i think of the fact that people like colin powell and eric holder have backgrounds from the caribbe

brian lamb: andrew ferguson of "the weekly standard." we call this our odds and ends with andrew.t to go over some of the columns you have written and get your embellishment. let's start with showing an appearance of years,

brian lamb: andrew ferguson of "the weekly standard." we call this our odds and ends with andrew. want to go over some of the columns you have

one thing i love about c-span i say it all the time and always grateful to brian lamb, because it isinformation which i believe is power, knowledge is power. but it's always civil. and the world we live today there is so. of that. when you get that on c-span and also on pbs you will never here screaming and yelling and shouting on my pbs program. you don't hear that on my public radio program. very few places left in our society where you can have that kind of civil discourse, where people can be heard where folk can agree disagree without being disagreeable. if i wanted to, i've had opportunities, been there before and had opportunities to go back if i wanted to, to be in commercial media. but i am so comfortable being in a space, not because i have the most viewers not because i make the most money. ain't never going to get rich on pbs or public radio. not about the money or the most viewers. it's below having a conversation that has meaning and purpose and value, where people behave in a civil way. and i love it, and i sense at least -- unless there's something i don't know about

go interview everyone from george bush and romney to deborah norval, it jim cramer your friend brian lamb, and it was just fun and in the process i exposed this talk of spousal abuse and there was a story on that. also the reason that david petraeus had to resign the was that there was an fbi investigation going on in the involvement with his mistress and so i practiced real journalism while i was there. >> host: ron kessler is the author of 20 books. here's the most recent one in 2002 "the bureau: the secret history of the fbi; a matter of character: inside the white house of george w. bush" came out. "inside the cia: revealing the secrets of the world's most powerful spy agency" came out in 2003. "a matter of character inside the white house of george w. bush" came out. and then the terrorist watch came out in 2007 and the president secret service behind the scenes and the secrets of the fbi, and the most recent is the "the first family detail: secret service agents reveal the hidden lives of the presidents", revealing the hidden lives of the presidents. why two books on essentially the

brian lamb: what is your sense of why these people run? andrew ferguson: a lot of them -- one thing i have noticed about this field, and i think it is different on the republican side than it was before. how many of them are pure politicians. that is, they really haven't done anything in their life since they started their campaign for hall monitor in seventh grade and have been

it gave me the opportunities to serve because what i did is go to jim cramer, brian lamb. one of which there was a third intruder who went to stay to dinner and also exposed the fact that the reason he was the cia director had to redesign there was an fbi investigation going on and the involvement with his mistress that had come out before. >> host: in 2002 the bureau the secret history of the fbi cannot. the cia at war inside the secret campaign against terror came out in 03. a matter of character inside the white house with george w. bush 2004 and laura bush and intimate portrait of the first lady 2006. the terrorist watch came out in 2007 come in the presidents secret service behind the scenes with agents in the line of fire but presidents protect 2009, the secrets of the fbi 2011 and his most recent book is the first family detail. they revealed a hidden life of the president. >> guest: the second book focuses on first families so i would say almost a dozen in the press release. i mentioned the fact that he was a shock because of his own white house staff. there was a

the last time i got a question answered was brian lamb.the other times i'm hearing the potomac two step. i want to ask the congressman i read through the lobbying bills. now instead of getting into all of the things that your rules for lobbying, let's talk about two real quick. all lobbying, my suggestion is all lobbying has to be done in the representative's office or in the place of business where you're being lobbied from. you have to log in and log out. you don't have to state your business but log in and log out just as any admiral would when he visits a ship and an admiral is more powerful than any congressman. they have to log in and log out and the second thing is very simple. anyone including yourself or your staff members, white house staff members, anyone in 535 represent and all the staff members can never be or work for a lobbyist. i'm asking the moderator keep this man on point. don't suggest anything else. just these two points, please. >> i don't agree with either point. thank you for the call. that's pretty clear. i respec

i wish brian lamb would do a program on that. thank you for taking my call. have a great day.ost: sheridan in columbus, ohio. some of the issues he brings up. they were addressed in a poll from the conference of mayors. they put out april after one of their meetings earlier this year. one of the questions asked of several thousand americans was how would you rate your police force protecting the safety and rights of people? 62% said positively. 32% said negative. that was one of the polling questions in a large list of questions from the conference of mayors. it's go to kyle in new carlisle, indiana. good morning. caller: how's your morning going, sir? host: all right. go ahead. caller: i've been having a lot of problems with my local police department. i have tried to call the state police and talk to them, and have them investigate. they refused to come investigate. it's like, a small town, a good old boy system. the cops and politicians can do pretty much whatever they want. nobody checks them. i'm having some problems with my police department and some other agencies. i'm

go interview everyone from george bush and romney to deborah norval, it jim cramer your friend brian lamb, and it was just fun and in the process i exposed this talk of spousal abuse and there was a story on that. also the reason that david petraeus had to resign the was that there was an fbi investigation going on in the involvement with his mistress and so i practiced real journalism while i was there. >> host: ron kessler is the author of 20 books. here's the most recent one in 2002 "the bureau: the secret history of the fbi; a matter of character: inside the white house of george w. bush" came out. "inside the cia: revealing the secrets of the world's most powerful spy agency" came out in 2003. "a matter of character inside the white house of george w. bush" came out. and then the terrorist watch came out in 2007 and the president secret service behind the scenes and the secrets of the fbi, and the most recent is the "the first family detail: secret service agents reveal the hidden lives of the presidents", revealing the hidden lives of the presidents. why two books on essentially the

i would go in the view, everybody from george bush and rodney to nor ville jim cramer brian lamb and i loved it. it was fun and in the process i exposed various of the abuses, one that there was the third intruder at the white house along with the state dinner also exposed the fact that the reason the cia director had to resign was there was an fbi investigation going on through his involvement with his mistress. so i practiced real journalism while i was there. >> host: ronald kessler is the author of 20 books. here are his most recent ones. in 2002 "the bureau: the secret history of the fbi" came out. the cia at war, "a matter of character: inside the white house of george w. bush" in 2004, laura bush in 2006, the terrorist watch in terrorist watch in president's secret service: behind the scenes with agents in the line of fire and the presidents they protect" in 2009, the secrets of the fbi and "the first family detail: secret service agents reveal the hidden lives of the presidents". why two books on the secret service about the same topic? >> guest: the second book focuses on ne