administration and bush. because i know he's working on it, i've talked to people who are working with him and, you know, that's a hope. i think it's really important that presidents write good memoirs. we've had lots of presidents who have not written good memoirs. reagan's memoir was a nothing burger. and i've... really argued to people who were involved in that process for bush, "you've got to go out and talk to people, you've got to interview people, you've got to list the key unanswered questions and try to address them." it's not just a kind of stream of consciousness of my thoughts from the ranch in crawford. it really should be.... >> rose: you have said, in fact, that al gore said that the public only knows 1% of what goes on at the white house. >> yeah. that's... he did say that. i think he said... he wrote his memoir, gore, he put his memoir then they'd know 2% of what went on in the clinton white house. >> rose: meaning what? >> meaning that the truth doesn't come out. let me just give you an exam

that was important to bush. bush did an own investigating. he did an own investigating. decided that he lied to the grand jury. he felt that was completely unacceptable. and they laid that on there on purpose. and finally as this source suggested, i think there was some concern that perhaps whatever they question they would probe, they really weren't sure if they were protecting each other. chris: they were both part of the coverup. >> this is maybe the most important partnership. this is the only time we've been able to get inside of it and listen to them fight. and they fought really right down to the end -- chris: and this is almost a physical confrontation. you reported that there was almost a point where cheney was about to crossed the line. literally the relationship was supposed to fall apart. >> when he told him i'm not going to give him a pardon. they were astonished with how stunned -- stricken i guess un-- cheney made it very clear he wasn't going to accept that decision. it pops back up on the agenda. bush makes a de addition -- chris: the only motivation of

bush. what is that about and what is the position of george bush with the comeback of the republican party? how does the republican party get away from the bush? >> guest: i don't know. i wrote a book five years ago predicting that george w. bush spending would iraq the republican majority and was going to cripple the u.s. economy. >> host: did they get mad at you? >> guest: omega- i.d.'s. i can't writing about in 2006 and expanded it to iraq "the washington post" asked me to ride the op-ed to give suggestions to republican congressman how do stay in power? you have to tell the truth about your president that he is spending and it will cause a meltdown economically and then he has done everything wrong in iraq and we need to send more troops and narrow the mission. they got so angry with me that the white house when the governor asked me to go speak at an event the white house said if they let me speak they would pull all support for this governor if the state was not big enough for both ge

bush. the same thing goes for the issue of torture. despite mr. cheney's insistence that enhanced interrogation techniques kept us safe for eight years, the program was called off halfway through the bush administration. according to a "new york times" examination of the program, the consensus of top administration officials about the cia interrogation program, which they had approved without debate or dissent in 2002 began to fall apart the next year. cia officials began to curb its practices much earlier than most americans know. no one was waterboarded after march of 2003 and coercive interrogation methods were shelved all together in 2005. the program ceased to exist in 2005. cheney lost the battle to keep it going years ago. and, yet, after leaving office, he's railing against the decision not just of the obama administration, but of his own administration. >> i think to the extent that those policies were responsible for saving lives that the administration is now trying to cancel tho

bush and he says george w. bush is no conservative. he said conservatives whether we like it or not we conservatives are chained to reality, which that is why you help me out on on edmund burke. if you want to wheel the message down it is that we are part of our time. we are chained to reality. we can't get inaugural address is -- >> host: go ahead. >> guest: you respect reali. you don't, as bulkeley said of bush you don't go into iraq and say we are going to bring democracy to these people and they're going to throw flowers and everything is going to be okay. you don't give inaugural addresses where you say we are going to and tyranny on the globe, the president's words. that is utopian, that's wilsonian. so "last best hope" -- >> host: it was odd, we really aggressive. >> guest: as you said mission inebriation also. but here's the deal. one of the reasons republicans are having such a hard time right now is they are being told and some republicans are thinking we've lost power because we haven't been conservative enough. that's not t

bush and he says george w. bush is no conservative. he said conservatives, whether we like it or not, we, conservatives, are chained to reality. which, that's what you help me out on edmund burke. if you want to belittle that message down, it is that we are part of our time. we are chained to reality. we can't give inaugural addresses. >> host: respecting reali. go ahead. >> guest: you respect reali. you don't, as buckley said of bush, going to iraq and say we are going to bring democracy to these people and they are going to throw flowers at us and everything is going to be okay. you don't give inaugural address is where you say we are going to and tyranny on the globe. the president's words, not mine. that is utopian, that is wilsonian. it is -- so, the last best hope -- >> host: struck me as aggressive also. oddly, weirdly aggressive. >> guest: as you said, mission inebriation also. [laughter] but here's the deal. one of the reasons republicans are having such a hard time right now is that they are being told, and some republicans a

bush retreated from the meeting to make his decision.ey and he refused to accept the decision. over the final weekend before inauguration, libby himself made a plea to white house lawyers and on the day before inauguration, bush again told cheney he wouldn't pardon libby. >> i'm curious overall, do these men have respect for each other during those final days in office? >> there was an effort on all sides, between the two men and among the top staffers, to try and preserve the relationship. by all accounts, that was successful. they're friends now and have respect for each other and remained respectful of each other then. >> one part of the story, the president's passing boxes while sharing a cigar. quote, if the presidential staff were polled, the result would be 100-1 against the pardon, bush joked. then turned to sharpe, what's the bottom line here. did this guy lie or not? the lawyer replied, affirmati affirmatively. bush indicated he had already come to that conclusion, too. okay, bush said. 100-1 against the vice president's decisi

bush legacy project at word? >> it's two. the cheney legacy project versus the bush legacy project.an extraordinary thing to watch. it's like the ali-frazier fight. it's going on as long as cheney keeps it going. >> cheney is fighting his own battles, bush has unnamed senior bush officials fighting in his name. >> what happened here was a deniability strategy. they talk tlud all the key issues and bush unleashed his cheney. i don't want to know the details, i want to know the top line. then bush becomes deniable if there is an emergency of transparency. that is the model here. to sever basic issues of accountability that the president is supposed to be constrained by. >> but to have dick cheney explicitly attacking the president for not pardoning scooter libby, closing guantanamo, torture regime, why is cheney overtly attacking bush now? >> cheney thinks he was right and that bush peeled back the extra legal stuff and cheney says, i'm right, you are wrong. the legacy of this period, the war on terror era, it's my legacy. i was driving the ship. my idea, mr. president, that's cheney'

bush said no. and the third reason is -- this is a little tougher one -- scooter libby fell on the swords for cheney. cheney knows that. cheney knew it at the time, and cheney could have stopped it. >> now, i want to talk to you about that. because we all covered and lived through and tried to understand what was going on in the valerie plame case. at the end of that case, the prosecutor said -- that's the case from which scooter libby was convicted. the prosecutor said at the end of that case, there's a cloud over the vice president. we know that libby was convicted of obstructing the investigation of a crime. bush administration officials are now telling reporters that they think that libby obstructed that investigation because cheney is the one who committed the crime. libby was protecting cheney, that's why cheney took up the ball for him. does that all seem evident to you, that it was cheney who was the one who should have been indicted in that case? >> well, let's parse this carefully. scoote

if athing captures what happened in the bush administration it's that sne.t iis important legally is th it shows to anybody in that administration that the legal basis fothis program was never established, that ey had to essentially change the authorization process to g the sembnce of legality so when people like my neighbor, genal michael hayden and others, claimed they had clear a obvious legal authority r all of this they kneth wasn't true ey knew that they had to go to traordinary measures and, in fact, very high rankg, very conservative peoe in justice departmentefused to gn onto this because it was blatantly unconstitutional. >>s there anything to be done about this legallyow? >> well, there is. you see, the problem, keith, i that the law has never been unclear. the law is perfectly car. there are so many crimes here at have been alleged and supported by facts in the la couple of years it almost hard to step arndhem. what is not clear is the intestinal fortitude of the democratic party to tually stigate. they like toisclose crimes because they have obv

bush. he did not need to. i want to pick up for a second on something you said about the issues that are not part of the campaign, and how important that is pierre for the -- for us, that is immigration. in 2000, something close to bush's heart, as incendiary as that is now, it was a sleeping dog of them. pete wilson had gone through his sort of thing in california, learn from it, we did the total opposite in texas. we never had this english only schools issues. we began to work on it very early in the of ministration. it is one of the most complicated policies. every agency is implicated. net -- and then at 9/11 came, and we stopped. in 2000 and 2004, we did not talk about it much on the campaign trail. then to try to build a constituency around and then a rush limbaugh was impossible. >> mr. reed, the clinton white house very skilled in terms of what house operation, very capable folks in the press room. the press secretary, people who are well respected to this day. was there tension between the energetic e

bush one said no. clinton said no, and bush two said no. obama is wavering on this, and i think it could be a real catastrophe if he concedes. he already is wavering on the missile shield in eastern europe. dimitry medvedev said we agreed on linkage, and obama himself said it would be the subject of extensive negotiations. why negotiations? with the russians over a shield in the czech republic of poland. >> they're going to negotiate with them over the shield because president obama said it doesn't matter at this point. the russians have so much nuclear power at this point that it would overwhelm us. we are talking about stopping a stray missile coming from a third source. it is all about the fact that the russians felt they were not properly respected by the bush administration over the last eight years or so. the bush administration properly said the russians aren't the players they used to be in the midst. cold war in terms of being our antagonists or a separate sphere of influence in the world. they diminished as a military foe and econ

bush admitted to. gets three things wrong in the first sentence.clear after september 11, 2001 that our security agencies knew little about al qaeda's inner works, could not detect its operative entstry into the country nor blictwhere it might strike next. new little about al qaeda's inner workings? in 1996 jamal spent six months debriefing the cia about all kind of network company, farms and port operations and told the "new yorker" magazine. for instance could, not detect al qaeda's entry into the country. on august 6, 2001, president bush was ex-press is it warned al qaeda had members in the u.s. in march of 1999, german intel gave the u.s. information about al sheehy and asked thousand track him down. the u.s. famed to do so and next picked up his trail after he piloted united flight 175 into the south tower. the cia began investigating the others in january 2000, but did not put them on the watch list until august 23, 2001, after they were in the united states. and couldn't predict where al qaeda would strike. a year before the africa embassy

bush and the republicans in charge in the congress really didn't work.t didn't work big time in the last many years of the bush presidency, and so that gives barack obama some room to maneuver. he's got to be careful, however, i think, david, because if he piles up too much spending and too many programs, that not everybody is in favor of, the additional taxes he's proposing could become politically perilous for him. i don't think it's happened yet but i can assure even though democrats aren't going to listen to karl rove they're going to be careful on the tax front as they move forward especially on health care. >> the key question, of course, the public patience. the were plenty of republican governors to complain about stimulus money to their political detriment, and now the public is somewhat less patient, and that it was when mr. obama first took office, but are republicans mistaken in thinking the public is already at that tipping point ready to jettison president obama's approach? >> well, the white house is fully aware of that, in talking to them

>> i mean, george bush -- ronald reagan didn't endorse george heer walker bush until the year of the election. i mean, is just way too early. i'm confident she would make a fine president. the question is what's the whole political scenario >> do you think she's run? >> i don't know. i know she will play a major role. i know sheas the ability to ignite our party and to galvanize us and get us going again an give us a strong, positive message. >> one more on this. your trusted advisor mike murphy wrote this week something very pointed. he wrote that governor sarah palin ishe political train wreck that keeps on giving. first she was an awful choice for last year's john mccain's are an mate. an inexperienced governor of a small state, she lacked experience and brought nothing to the ticket. it w a centrality eejically awful choice. knowing everything you know now, would you pick her again? >> absolutely. in all due respect tohose who like to kind of examine the entrails and look back washed, the fact is we were three points ahead on september 15th, and the stock market crashed, and we w

. >>> coming up, cheney versus bush. "time" magazine reports today that in the last days of the bush presidency, former vice president dick cheney got in president bush's face pushing him hard for a pardon for his long-time chief of staff scooter libby. the white house staff thinks he may have been part a cover-up, talking about the vice president who wanted the cover-up to continue by getting his guy a pardon. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. (announcer) roundup extended control does two jobs... at once. one: kills weeds to the root. two: forms a barrier, preventing new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. >>> coming up, why did the so-called birthers continue to ignore the facts about president obama's citizenship? radio talk show host gordon liddy will join us ahead on "hardball." where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models. you'll find low, straightforward pricing. it's simple. now get an '09 silverado xfe with an epa

and george bush went along with it whenever he got in there. seemed like the rest of the media forgot about that. and i do appreciate his comment on that to remind the people of the united states who actually started derg -- deregulation. i am not saying that bush made mistakes but bill clinton did. ncaa. host: thank you. greg from indiana. independent line. go ahead, sir. caller: i am an independent and i like to say i appreciate your views on the government. i have a question about those bond rating agencies. they racesed the most need than anyone on that whole process of $2 trillion going down the tubes. it seems to be there is going to be some suggestions made about that but there seems to be a seller-buyer relationship and what the rate is. without doing due diligence, geez. so is that too constrictive? are these, you know, guys that are slicker than mules and a barrel of hogs' head here? how do you write? how do you make a bonding agency tell the truth? and one more question. i was watching c-span -- i was watching c-span last night and t

bush?for civil libertarians this is like darth vader saying take my helmet off, son. i'm with you. whether he, you know, there is some question of why george bush did this, whether he views this as politically too unpredictable or whether he did it truly out of constitutional concerns or traditional concerns or whether he simply didn't want to override the fbi. what's clear from his history is that george bush had very little understanding of the limitations of the constitution. what understanding he did have he had a very antagonistic relationship to it. i think maybe george bush the politician realized that all this stuff was ramping up so fast that he was risking a serious back lash. i mean, consider the fact that in his office at that time he already knew about these other unlawful programs. and now you have dick cheney coming in and saying, why don't we start sending soldiers into cities rolling down the streets? i think that perhaps george bush realized that could be a bridge too far.

if anything capapreres at happened i in ee bush adninisttion it's that scene. what it iss important l legly i at ithows toto anybody in that administration that t th legal basis forhhis program was never establblisd,d, tt they had to esesseially change the authorization n ococes toet the mbmbnce of legality so when people likike myneighbor, generl michael hayden an others claimed theyey h clear anand obvious lelegaauauority for all of this they kw that wasn't tr.. they knew thh tey had togo to extraordrdiny y asures and, in fact, , ryry hh ranking,veve conserervaveve people in the juicice partment refused sign ontoto thisbebecae it was blblattltlununcotitituonal. >> i i t the anything to be d ababou this legallyy now? >>>>elell,here isis. you u sesee, the prprblem, keit that the wasas ner been unear. the lalaisis perfectctly ccle. ththe e ar so manany cririme he that h hav been alleged and supported d byacacts in t t lt couple of yearss itit almost had to step aund themem.. what is not clear ishehe inteststin f ftitude of the democratic party t to a auauall inv

. >>> coming up, cheney versus bush. "time" reports that former vice president dick cheney got in president bush's face pushing him for a pardon for his longtime chief of staff, scooter libby and not give it up. that's next, only on "hardball" on msnbc. whether you consider it a cruiser or a clunker, you could turn it into cash. get to your dodge, chrysler, and jeep dealer, and get up to double the government's cash for your old car. now get up to $4,500 for your old car... plus, up to an additional $4,500 cash allowance. no turn-in? no problem. your dodge, chrysler, and jeep dealer guarantees everyone up to $4,500 cash allowance... on virtually every model. get to your dodge, chrysler and jeep dealer on the double, and get double cash for your old car! nd love on the internet? skeptical! oh, my gosh. (woman) find your perfect place at remax.com. (doorbell rings) you had me at "ding-dong." where do you want to be? >>> why did the so-called birthers fin to ignored facts? radio talk show host gordon liddy will join us, ahe

and president bush was committed to turning this around. that is why the surge happened, that is why they changed strategy, because they realized things were not working. so i think the critical coverage leading up to that was important. i think the coverage when

bush. friday at 8:00, relations with the chief executive, saturday at 10:00 a.m., support for presidential agendas, and lesson learned from serving the president at 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. eastern now a conversation from mort zuckerman, editor in chief and followed by a chief foreign correspondent by abc news from this mornings "washington journal." host: pieces written out of the freedom of information request about saddam hussein's last interviews before he met his death sentence. the headline on this version by eli lake at "the washington times, " said rahm denied bin laden ties. he told his fbi captives in 2004 that his government had condemned the september 11 attacks and had no connection with the sum of the modern, according to scram the transcripts. the interviews, obtained by george washington university's national security archives, quoted the now deceased directly as saying that he would reach out in a crisis to china or north korea rather than bin laden, whom he called a zealot. what

bush by nancy pelosi. so we think there are a number of reasons why it is unwise to have congressional leaders and the line of succession, and i would say those two plus the in migration center are big recommendations. you can read the others in our report. for those of you reading to read it on line is continuity government.org. and with that, with those facts on the table, what i would like to do is then do a more general discussion of the issue of presidential succession. our panelist will say something about the report, their reaction to it. but mostly they have come to this issue by thinking about it for a long time regarding the 25th amendment, regarding the question of congressional leaders in the line of succession. in the case of jim may and looking at the planning for continuity of government operations that surround these issues. so let me introduce our panelist. i will start with our panelist in absentia and i want to make sure he is year. is akhil amar here. >> good morning, john. >> thank you

rap during the bush years. that's why you have noeps saying she didn't understand or was not told about... was not told about waterboarding. you've had senator white house from rhode island saying that they lied and said that torture was necessary and only done as a last resort and in fact they jumped to it right away and it didn't work. there have been many allegations from the hill, belatedly, that they weren't truly informed. and, of course, there are many people who think that at the same time the hill... some of these people in congress really didn't want to hear too much about this because it makes them complicit in some way. >> rose: and there are now reports coming out that the waterboarding was not as described. it was much more severe and longer. >> exactly, right. it was done over and over and over again, not ju twice as it's done in u.s. training. the people in the hill were told we're just going to do with the detainee what is we do with our own people in training. we have a training program where

it was a complete obliteration of the policies of george bush.wiped the slate -- he wiped the slate clean. particularly on torture. tavis: and there are those who argue that president obama has not gone far enough on the torture issue. your thoughts? >> i think it is a slippery slope. it is interesting, if anybody understands this, it is barack obama. he taught constitutional law. in dealing with the prisoners in guantanamo, they are really talking about possibly keeping an open, holding them forever, detention indefinitely without trial. and if barack obama does that, i think he will start to make some of the same mistakes bush had. tavis: for those who have not been following this case like you have, what is the status now with specific regard to guantanamo? >> torture has been abolished by obama. we are now observing the loss, the geneva convention. -- we are now observing the law is, at the geneva convention. that has been done. the problem is, obama got left with this population of prisoners in guantanamo whose rights were so violated by the

, and they will end up with a version of the bush policy. bret: politically does it pay off for republicans? >> the politics of this are fascinating. people didn't love guantanomo bay, but they like releasing terrorists a lot less. you know who had the politics right from the beginning was mitch mcconnell. i interviewed him two days before barack obama was inaugurated and he said to me, he can't close gitmo, and people understand you can't close gitmo. it turns out he was right on the policy and also on the politics of this. bret: mara, last word. how does it end? >> i think guantanomo has to close, but some other facility will be set up to keep them indefinitely detained. >> it won't close in january, are that's for sure. >> i'm with charles on that. bret: that's it for the panel. stay tuned for a new idea to solve a big potential problem. . Ñ Ñ fair, straight-forward pricing. that's what td ameritrade stands for. think about it. why pay investing fees you shouldn't have to? or account fees that aren't clear? like inactivity fees? or main

, bush xxxxi. > -- bush 41. >> i think that's normal in american politics and government after all the obama administration inherited the problems with which the bush administration was wrestling and the bush administration was wrestling with problems such as afghanistan and north korea and iran because they're important and difficult. there are no easy solutions because if they were we would have thought of them and applied them so there is more continuity in foreign policy than the administration likes to advertise and that's the nature of foreign policy. the administration has much greater scope to make a break with the previous administration on domestic issues than on foreign policy issues and indeed domestic issues are more important to the country at this point. >> charlie: what do we know from the white house coverage of how this president has been changed by the reality of the world and he thought he might find/expect? >> i think that's an interesting question and i don't think -- i'll go back to north korea. i think that's one of those things the obama administration has reac

did it take a bush to give as you obama? jerry. >> well, every new president is the antithesis of the failed president that he either defeated or that his party defeated. and it took a jimmy carter to come in after nixon and watergate and the scandals of the cia and the vietnam war and people looked outside of washington for somebody who would tell the truth. >> right. >> the truth became a very important thing to tell. and one of the things that we had with carter, whether you like it or not, he always wanted to tell the truth. >> i know he did. >> when you start talking about the problems that a president faces, he owns those problems. >> right. rick what, do you think about obama coming in, sophisticated obama coming in after an incurious president like bush. >> there's no question that it really requires a comprehensive disaster on every level really of the bush administration to make americans ready to take this extraordinary and wonderful leap of faith that they took in electing this remarkable president that we have n

bush.has a fascinating cover story on how vice president cheney tried and failed to get president bush to pardon cheney's former chief of staff, scooter libby. the story says cheney, who some white house staff thought might be engaging in a cover-up, came close to crossing the line with mr. bush. we'll dig into the details in a moment. >>> plus, more on those republicans, the so-called birthers who insist in the face of all the evidence that barack obama isn't an american. one of the most prominent of them g. gordon liddy of watergate and radio talk show fame joins us later to explain what's behind this fringe unit and why he's a part of it. >>> sticking with birthers for a moment, jon stewart had the best take on why this movement is insanity, and we'll have it in the "sideshow." >>> back to last night, why did the president call a primetime news conference about health care if he had nothing new to say on the matter? we'll ask chuck todd whether last night was a lost

bush's problems? >> you certainly c can u und titima the ability of lilicians of both parties s to cover their fannnns s wh they need to.o. but i get the sense frfrom panetta's actitis s anremember panetta ththou h hserved under billll cntnt and now under back obama he used to bebe republican. is a relatively conseservivive guy. i dodon'ththinhe's carrying water here.. he was upset at the dedegr t t which congress was left inin t dadarkbobo an important program, obviously, there's a a lomomore to leaea a abo this. dodon'think the obama administrationon wtsts b heariningsutut iope we have themem. >> lastly,y, iththe any way to sort of reverse engigine w wt di cheney might have been responsible for basesed t thi sudden switch by his daughghteto this claim of, you k kw,w, is just going to o a a fht over national s secitity d the democrats will lose thatat o.. do t tt tell us anything of f what he might be guiuiy y ofn this? >> no, but i thihi a as ne popoind out, you know, his fingerprints are on alall t

bush. this won't appease the left. this adds to his problems in exponential ways. >> there is one other thing. this is a time he wants to focus on healthcare and convince the public that his economic stimulus plan is working. he does not want to go and revisit all these intelligence controversies. bret: when we come back, the panel talks about the sotomayor hearings as they continue this week. gecko vo: geico's the third-largest car insurance company in the nation. but, it's not like we're kicking back, now, havin' a cuppa tea. gecko vo: takes lots of sweat to become that big. gecko vo: 'course, geckos don't literally sweat... it's just not our thing... gecko vo: ...but i do work hard, mind you. gecko vo: first rule of "hard work equals success." gecko vo: that's why geico is consistently rated excellent or better in terms of financial strength. gecko vo: second rule: "don't steal a coworker's egg salad, 'specially if it's marked "the gecko." come on people. just don't feel like they used to. are you one of them? remem

bush himself said publicly of b laden, quote, i try am not that concern about him. tonight's story . chen now reduced to defen their toughness by sending h dahter out to defend them spinning tha"wall street journal" story to est it somehow reveals democratic weakness on national security. cheney forced to pladefense now with t weekend's revelation that it we who ordered the cia not to comply with the laws requiring fu inl briefings for congressional leaders, fwed qukly by today's "wall street journal" story that what mr. cheney conceal from congress were the failed attets to come up with cia plans for getting al qaeda, a story tt raises a host oquestions. considerg the congressional leaders had already been brief about the president's 2001 directive ordering capture ankilling of al qaeda members. on june 23rd of this year ci officials concerned about misleading congress still told thnew director leon panetta about the al qaeda effor what detas abouit no one has yet said. panetta then told congress essentially confirng to the diay of the right wing speaker pelosi's p

should there be accountabity for leged torture your honor the bush adminisation? i read whaholder is thinking about doing, it's - well, poting someone to investigate ople who acted outside of the guidelines set by the justice department lawyers i think if that is actua wh'some to light, he doesn't have much choice b to do that cause what's been defended is the proposition that inside thosguidelines we're not going to go after peop. >> i want to button this uth both of you on one topic, a think a key point from this discuson, is how will we know whether the president vulnerablehis overall agenda in terms of going intohis midterm race? roger, i'll start with you. quickly from both of you. >> how will we know ife is vulnerab? >> or succeeding. >> wll see his poll numbers for one. we'll see how the party does. he's -- this i--e's just comingack from a trip. just for a secd. i think makes a point. th is the first trip he de that wasn't triumpha, that the americaneople saw pictures of him in ghana. they were very warm and emotional and good, but also people were saying

. >>> coming up, cheney versus bush. "time" reports that former vice president dick cheney got in president bush's face pushing him for a pardon for his longtime chief of staff, scooter libby and not give it up. that's next, only on "hardball" on msnbc. (announcer) this is nine generations of the world's most revered luxury sedan. this is a history of over 50,000 crash-tested cars... this is the world record for longevity and endurance. and one of the most technologically advanced automobiles on the planet. this is the 9th generation e-class. this is mercedes-benz. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthris pain all day. >>> why did the so-called birthers fin to ignored facts? radio talk show host gordon liddy will join us, ahead on "hardball." ppuccinos, you're ready for the mid-morning rush thanks to a good breakfast. one coffee with roo