bush. george w. bush was so taken with the gifted winston churchill bronze bust that he put it right in the oval office. he put it on top of a small chest of drawers located right next to the famous resolute desk. see it over president obama's head there. presidents do not all keep the same things in the oval office that their predecessors put there. if they did, a lot of them would have accumulated by now. it would be cluttered. nixon, for example, was notorious for his knickknacks. that's not true. when president obama was sworn in and the oval office was redecorated, the churchill bust went back to the british embassy. it was replaced by some other thing. now, is that a crisis? no, that is not really a crisis. that's only because you are not thinking like john boehner. right now, we are in the midst of yet another congressional crisis. a real and really bad thing urgently needs congressional action to prevent it from happening. the bad thing this time is taxes going up on 160 million americans in

president bush got on the phone with dr.ondoleezza rice, the national security advisor that did not make the trip. i did not hear that conversation. we were then in a classroom that had been converted into a white house command center. standing by the door of another classroom. in the other classroom were very young elementary school opportunities, 2nd graders and a press pool. and we're standing at the door. the principal's with me and the president. >> yep. >> and the director of the white house situation room comes up to the president and says, sir, it appears a small twin engine prop plane crashed into a tower at the new york trade center. our collective response was what a horrible accident at pilot must have had a heard attack. the principal hit the door to the classroom. when the door shut, i was standing there, the director came up and said sir, it appears it was not a small twin engine prop plane, it was a commercial jetliner. my mind flashed to the fear of that experienced by the passengers on the plane. that is wh

book. >> i read president bush's book, "decision" by president bush. i read "decision points" by bush. >> if anyone knew how to get a grip on his golf club, it was "w." >> i call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. thank you. now watch this drive. >> of course, mitt romney is no stranger to tropical vacations either. he took his own family to hawaii for christmas last year. although when you're an unemployed 1%er, i guess you can take as many trips as you want, right? but for mitt romney to criticize president obama's trip home for the holidays really is bush league "psycho talk." >>> newt gingrich already said he's showing up to donald trump's debate. now it's mitt romney's turn. we'll tell you whether he's in or out. >>> he served his country, he now faces possible eviction from his family home. one of the newest faces of the 99% movement. vietnam veteran bobby hull will join me. stay with us. [ male announcer ] you never know when a moment might turn into something more. and when it does men with erectile dysf

bush. >> how did ross perot fare in the debates in the eyes of the public? >> well, i thought, you know, i agree with doug that he probably won the debates. and when george bush looked at his watch, it sort of reinforced the idea that people had that he was not really engaged in the campaign. the debates were critical for perot. and when the debates were over, he had risen back up to maybe 21%. in 1996, he was not in the debates. and it made a big difference. i think he only got maybe 8% in 1996. so i think going back to the question, could anybody else do it today? the problem might be getting on the debates. because now the commission on presidential debates has such stringent requirements. somebody would have to meet a 15% threshold in i think maybe five different polls before they would be allowed to be in the general election deekts. so the debates were very critical for perot, the success that he had. at getting his message out. >> carolyn joining us from dallas who wrote a book about

why have there been no hearings on the so-called bush doctrine? why is the presidency gotten away with this power grab? >> that is a great point. one of the problems is -- all three branches of the federal government have been lining up behind this dragnet. you can imagine the president saying, why would i give up these powers when i trust myself to use them? congress is not doing much oversight. they have been letting the president and executive branch to what they want. to me, the surprising part of the story is tt the courts have been letting the president did away with it. it is not for various reasons. we're not going to hear weather or not that program is unconstitutional because there is a state secret privilege or standing document. they keep throwing out cases. therefore, what is happening is that no political actors are getting pushed back from their constituents. tavis: how do constituents push back? how did they use their agency is under republican administration, they get this kind of attack on liberties? under a democratic administra

newt gingrich who posed bush's move to raise taxes while he was president isn't getting bush's support either. bush senior said i'm not his biggest advocate. the former speaker of the house is busy playing catch-up in virginia. because of his late start into the race, he needs signatures from 10,000 voters to get on the march ballot there. >> we've had folks from the state coming together as volunteers and we're going to file thousands of petitions this afternoon. i think this is democracy in action. >> reporter: gingrich is calling on romney to end negative campaigning but romney said by law he has no control over negative ads paid for by political action committees. romney has also rejected gingrich's challenge to a one- on-one debate, saying it is not a two-man race. begad, seanan, wjz. >>> mitt romney and ron paul are hoping to oust gingrich. they are both running anti- gingrich ads in iowa. >>> new damage for the washington monu: engineers say the cracks and chips make the 127-year-old structure vulnerable to rain. the experts who inspected the damage caused by the summer's earthq

>> i do not think he accused bush of doing it. he thought the republicans were playing dirty tricks. his daughter was getting married. it was one of the reasons he did get out. i should have mentioned it before. i do not know what the story was that they were going to put her head on somebody else's body in a photograph and sell it -- get the tabloids to use it. he was very concerned about his family. his family was really special. the thought of that happening was too much for him. it was another reason he did get out. >> the last question for both of you is, is there anyone on a national stage today who would be an error to ross perot? >> --an heir to ross perot? >> there have been other third- party movements. in 1948, strom thurmond and the dixiecrats, 1968 with george wallace and the american party. he was really trying to create a centrist movement. that is why he hired ed rollins to working as campaign. he was trying to play down the middle. i do not think we have somebody willing to get in the game like that. you hear some

geoff: i would love to light the bush. craig: you can illuminate the christmas bush.tmas time. why do we always fight at christmas time? geoff: because you're a bad person! craig: this is the beginning of the e-mail christmas spectacular! yeah! [applause] >>♪ it's hard to stay up it's been a long, long day and you've got the sandman at the door but hang on leave the tv on and let's do it anyway it's ok you can always sleep through work tomorrow ok hey, hey tomorrow's just your future yesterday ♪ [captioning made possible by worldwide pants, inc., and the cbs television network] [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people are choosing advil. i'm keith baraka and i'm a firefighter. and it's very physically demanding. if i'm sore i'm not at my best. advil is my go-to. it's my number one pain reliever. [ male announcer ] make the switch. take action. take advil. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ children laughing ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] it all starts with a windows 7 pc. ♪ [ jennifer ] no matter where you're from... ♪ ...elegance... ♪ ...is hard work. ♪ it's taking style... ♪ whatever you w

bush foreign policy inheriter. ron paul is the only one who doesn't want the iraq war, say, to go on for longer. and ron paul is officially leading the pack in the first republican nominating state as of the day that the iraq war officially ends. now, if you think that might mean that republican candidates are finally competing to put into practice their party's long popular rhetoric about living within our means and a humble foreign policy and the limited reach of government, that would not be the case. here with the previous iowa republican front-runner, newt gingrich, to disabuse us of that notion. >> one of the things you say is that if you don't like what a court has done that congress should subpoena the judge and bring him before congress and hold a congressional hearing. some people say that's unconstitutional, but i'll let that go for a minute. i just want to ask you from a practical standpoint, how would you enforce that? would you send the capitol police down to arrest him? >> if you had to. the u.s. mar

bush. and i watched him as a president clearly asked penetrating questions. he worked his way with foreign leaders in a skillful and engaging manner that developed relationships that were construct do for our country. and yet, he was -- people make fun of it, all of this president. and i don't know quite what it is about our society that does that, but i must say i've watched a lot of presidents and i would say that george w. bush -- i mean, you think what he did with the surge in iraq -- >> is that something you would've supported had you stayed on quite >> indeed. what he did was interesting. a lot of things combine to make it work. the anbar awakening to place. the training and equipping of the iraqis military had come to a very advanced point, where we had hundreds of thousands of iraqis trained and ready to participate. .. of the so-called army which was sent an army it's a group of people that can get out in the street and make demonstrations the event quote because they didn't know what would happen. but the center of gravity shifted from iraq to the u

bush, president clinton, a george w. bush. their commutations have negative impact on their standing. host: jim, you are on the "washington journal." caller: what were the pardons that george walker bush gave to his father, george herbert bush, before he left office? guest: i am not sure there were any pardons between them. the only party that has gone to a u.s. president was the ford pardoned -- the only pardon that has gone to u.s. president was of nixon.ardoned of u.s host: john, go ahead. i think we lost john. let's go to our line for independents. caller: i would like to make a comment. i just wonder who obama is going to pardon. also just like to make a comment -- where is the country had eaded to? host: how far in advance of the public find out about someone being considered for pardon? guest: we really have no way of knowing. there are probably several hundred applications pending. when the president is ready to issue some pardons, there will be a press release from the department of justice that will say, "this list o

bush. simon and schuster publishers and professor i.m. destler is the co-author along with daalder. >> it was created with eisenhower and 53 because we wanted personal policy aide to manage the lubber ret paul will you. but it was created semi into the accidentally when he brought the bundy to the white house and the administration was a of a job available called assistance to the national security affairs. would you like it? kennedy knew exactly what he didn't want. he didn't want an eisenhower process that only involved the rest of the people. what he would want was a person close at him who would be sure he got brain development and that's connected him to officials of various levels of government that didn't undercut the secretary of the st. but. spearman what was the eisenhower then created? >> you wanted to have a glow were and despite what are the basic policy approach to the major issues and major parts of the world. as we put it in much more basic defense posture, policy towards committees by the department get together and draft

bush went to the cia in 1975. you want to tell us briefly the story in which you feel the real story was? >> what do you mean what i feel there will story was? >> what the real story was. total whole story and in god's truth. >> gods truth. now you're talking. george herbert walker bush came to congress in 1966. i've been elected in 62. he came in with a wonderful group of people and i knew him and served in the congress with him. he at some point ended up running for the senate and losing. and then he went over to china as a representative. and he wanted to come back. and he told president ford that he wants come back and serve in an executive position. and i was chief of staff of the white house and periodically i would be asked by the president to send in a group of names to be attorney general or director of cia and bill colby said he wanted to leave or some other cabinet officer, department of housing and urban development or what have you. as of the staff in the white house would produce these documents if y

then, of course, newt landed on george bush.i think there is some bad blood but i think it's part and parcel of food fed for the republican party. >> eric: first, i'd like to take exception to nikki haley considered establishment. she is as tea party as they come. in fact, she caught a lot of grief for that early endorsement of mitt romney. there is plenty of time to do that after mitt, if mitt romney was the nominee. h.w. and 41 and 43 could have endorsed the other texas governor, not missed a beat and it could have been rick perry. why would it be a wasted endorsement if it's rick perry? we haven't even had one caucus or primary yet. >> dana: there are some people who think rick perry could actually do better, and i don't think any of us could with a straight face say his campaign has taken off. it stumbled out of the gate and never picked up momentum. what about you on the endorsement? >> greg: for mitt, this bush endorsement has to be a real come-down following the huge christine o'donnell endorsement. once you get that, evi

and you spoke with bush 41 : george h. w. bush to said that the debates are ugly. why? >> he felt, he feels very strongly that -- in other words, one debate, ross perot, when he looked at his watch, okay. i looked at my watch. they're all over me. it doesn't have anything to do with issues. whenever. but then he said in an interview with me, well, i said, why were you looking at your watch? and he said, well, i looked at my watch because this thing is boring me coming out. i was looking to see when this thing was going to be over. those kinds of things to the audience, it leaves an impression. it's a language, language impression, but it's a body language rather than a spoken word impression. so from george is w. bush, heat to six is ridiculous to have so much riding on this 390 minute exchanges in a presidential debate. >> his son as you point out in the book, feels effective the opposite. >> she thinks it's great. he thinks that @booktv p.m. open cities is same thing in different words, that they feel it makes them better, not only better candidates, but better presen

bush went to the cia in 1975. you want to tell us briefly the story in which you feel the real story was? >> what do you mean what i feel there will story was? >> what the real story was. total whole story and in god's truth. >> gods truth. now you're talking. george herbert walker bush came to congress in 1966. i've been elected in 62. he came in with a wonderful group of people and i knew him and served in the congress with him. he at some point ended up running for the senate and losing. and then he went over to china as a representative. and he wanted to come back. and he told president ford that he wants come back and serve in an executive position. and i was chief of staff of the white house and periodically i would be asked by the president to send in a group of names to be attorney general or director of cia and bill colby said he wanted to leave or some other cabinet officer, department of housing and urban development or what have you. as of the staff in the white house would produce these documents if y

bush went to the cia in 1975. you want to tell us briefly the story in which you feel the real story was? >> what do you mean what i feel there will story was? >> what the real story was. total whole story and in god's truth. >> gods truth. now you're talking. george herbert walker bush came to congress in 1966. i've been elected in 62. he came in with a wonderful group of people and i knew him and served in the congress with him. he at some point ended up running for the senate and losing. and then he went over to china as a representative. and he wanted to come back. and he told president ford that he wants come back and serve in an executive position. and i was chief of staff of the white house and periodically i would be asked by the president to send in a group of names to be attorney general or director of cia and bill colby said he wanted to leave or some other cabinet officer, department of housing and urban development or what have you. as of the staff in the white house would produce these documents if y

bush under prosperity tax cuts under bush more money flowed into the federal government. irskin bowls comes back and says cut. what does obama say, the president say? no. >> if you look at what the bottles simpson commission recommended i think there were a lot of great things in that report. >> bill: why didn't the president take them. >> well, i don't know the answer to that but i think the -- what bowls -- bottles simpson did is what should be done. they said this long-term debt is going to kill us. we have to deal with it adopt some short-term strategies to get growth going and then have a long-term debt reduction package. that's what i think we should do and i think it will work. >> bill: i was surprised the president didn't embrace it because it gave him a pathway out of the mess and that's where we are right now. one more question about the class warfare, are you really convinced this democrats aren't playing this card? that's all we hear is tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich. i don't mind paying 40% and that was the high under you. bush cut it back down. but

bush in all this? >> he's having a good time at his place in dallas on his ranch in crawford. >> charlie: building his library and all that. >> doingall that andgiving eeches. i think he likes being o of this. >> charlie: does he care about this. >> i think he cares about the country obviously. >> charlie: i'm not talking about the country do he care about republican politics. is it something to be marched in order to be the nominee as his father might have felt too. >> he's never been a guy that's involved in the republican party. i've got to make sure this congressman win, i got to make sure had had senator wins. i think he would like a republican-elected president but i don't think he'll lose sleep at night. >> charlie: does he care about having influence? >> i don't think he does care about having influence. i actually think he can have as much influence with a democrat as he can with a republican. because as clinton did with his father, when you ve a pairing of a republican and democrat and you do

bush administration the average person saw their income decrease at the same time. the wealthiest one percent among us have had it actually better than ever so it makes it very obvious sam the right wingers would say well it's because nine eleven nine eleven changed everything you know george bush didn't ask for nine eleven to let it happen and well this isn't anything new here i mean we saw the same thing happen in play out in the one nine hundred twenty s. and roosevelt then called these people economic royalists and what he what he did is he. he redefined the purpose of government and he said government isn't isn't here to make sure the capitalist can make as much money as they want or as he called them economic royalists government is here to create a middle class to create a good prosperous life for the majority of people in the way you do that is through progressive tax where you do that is through empowering labor unions. you know the right wants to call that redistribution of wealth well if you don't have those things then wealth is redistributed but just to

a few weeks later president bush landed on an aircraft carrier and declared mission accomplished in the battle of iraq. the united states and our allies have prevailed . it was a short lived victory speech that withered in the shadows of reality that the short war that was promised became one of america's longest with more than four thousand american deaths and nearly a million iraqi civilians estimated killed as well along the way america's reputation increasingly soiled by images of americans humiliating iraqi prisoners. or helicopter pilots shooting unarmed iraqis video game style still many stick to the story line they hope will show up in the history books going into iraq was the roads and progress in iraq has allowed us to continue our policy of return on success i don't. think that it damaged our reputation around the world i just don't believe that i think it was sound policy that dealt with a very serious problem and that the limited saddam hussein this image another graphic and memorable one iraq's former leader being hanged on december thirtieth two thousand and six even pres

who colluded with the bush administration violated the law.nd there was some telecom companies like qwest, who refused to do it. they knew it was against the law. those who violated the law hired their lobbyist, spent $1 million and three months on their lobbyist and they get congress, including then-senator obama to vote for retroactive immunity for these people. by the way, senator obama promised before he got the democratic nomination for president that he would join in a filibuster against that immunity. so this two-tiered system of justice that we have in this country, where the courts are taken out of the equation as checks on abuses of executive power, we are seeing the undermining of the very core of our republic and it has got to change. and i think the american people want to see those changes. they want an end to wars of aggression. they want an end to the human rights abuses. they want an end to this enormous disparity economically in this country and they want to see jobs. there's so much better -- so much more that we can do for

bush republicans. and that's why it is so remarkable that the republican politics of the ending of the iraq war now are that the iraq war ought not end. that the real problem is that the troops are coming home in time for christmas. republicans, people running for president, elected officials, all of the conservative leading voices on issues like this, they are all against the war ending. >> unfortunately, unfortunately, it is clear that this decision of a complete pullout of the united states troops from iraq was dictated by politics and not our national security interests. i believe that history will judge this president's leadership with a scorn and disdain that it deserves. >> this was a failure by the obama administration to close the deal. at a time when we need troops in iraq to secure the place against intervention by iran and the bad actors in the region, we're going to go into 2012 with none. >> the administration was not interested in having 10,000, 20,000 troops there. that's a decision the