the guy who threw a shoe at bush in iraq. don't know what could have been in those and in country of georgia somebody threw a grenade that landed pretty close to bush so they have done a good job at keeping people and threats away, but in this era in this open society a very difficult job to have. i found it interesting, you know, this day played such a key role in reagan's ultimate success, you know. what's amazing to me is that in mid-march, you know, two weeks before the shooting that showed reagan had the lowest approval rating of any president of any time in the first time. 59% approval rating very low for a president. crushed reagan in a landslide. questionable policies about el salvador coming, wanted to cut spending and lower taxes and those were controversial things at that time and increase defense spending and people one sure about him. well, he got shot. he performs amazingly this day. people begin to separate the man they admire from the politics as a leader, and he gets a lot accomplished after this moment in the

the guy who threw a shoe at bush in iraq. don't know what could have been in those and in country of georgia somebody threw a grenade that landed pretty close to bush so they have done a good job at keeping people and threats away, but in this era in this open society a very difficult job to have. i found it interesting, you know, this day played such a key role in reagan's ultimate

they didn' have weapons, but what if he had been a jujitsu master, and the guy threw his shoes at bush in iraqwe don't know what could have been in those. and in georgia there was a grenade that landed pretty close to bush. and they've done a good job at

political liars are into two groups of people gave both groups the bush administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction in iraq and they gave just one group of people evidence proving that the bush administration was lying about the w m d claims here's what the scientists found out when told about the bush claims of w m d's thirty four percent of conservatives believed iraq had nukes but in the second group which had heard the refuting evidence the proof that it was a lie the number of people who believed the lie actually jumped up to sixty four percent of conservatives who believe that iraq had w m d's basically the live became more effective when it was debunked scientists call this the backfire effect and they noticed the same results when they gave conservatives claims from the bush administration it's. because for the rich will increase government revenues the number of people believing bush nearly doubled when they also heard evidence from real a crowd of musts refuting bush's arguments that tax cuts increase rather the washington post sums up the conclusions of the experiments writing republicans might

bush's agenda seem to take pride in this. leave aside a moment the fact that the bush administration arrived in iraq with remarkably and democratic plans for the country and was thwarted only by the unwavering assistance of the shiite cleric in a 1-person 1-vote election. in all of this there are staggering levels of hypocrisy. in the fact that we were for said dom before we were against him and the u.s. government had in instances after instances regularly fostered and supported strong men and dictators and democracies not to our taste. the democracy we have in the united states, offering an apology for invading other countries is subjected to analysis in the context of the urge to support the same. let's stop and think about the like terrorism democracy really welcome deliver power more important for those people who take positions themselves. and that by its nature is hard to import to great distances especially when the delivery system is being exported seem to be strikingly deficient. keep in mind that the people exporting that system to iraq were largely incapable of seeing the iraqi disasters in their own democratic drama.

prospect -- project in iraq: former president george w. bush's gut instinct that this region craved and needed democracy was always right. like afghanistan before it, iraq is now largely the forgotten war -- here, that is -- and here's a little of what's been forgotten in the process of what friedman suggests he'd prefer to leave to future historians to sort out; that the american invasion led to possibly hundreds of thousands of iraqi deaths, that literally millions of iraqis had to flee into exile abroad and millions more were turned into refugees in their own country, that the capital, baghdad, was ethnically cleanse inside a brutal conflict, that the country was littered with new killing fields, that a devastating insurgency roiled the land and still brings enough death and terror to baghdad to make it one of the more dangerous places on the planet, that a soaring unemployment rate and the lack of delivery of the most basic services -- including reliable electricity and potable water -- created nightmarish conditions for a vast class of impov

success will take care of itself. >> come to this statement you make in this book and i'll ask you why did you say that the -- george bush iraq war doomed to and donald rumsfeld due to resignation in disgrace because of his fervid war in iraq. >> because it had gone on all these years without any resolution whatsoever. we've spent god knows how much money involved in the process. we've lost a hell of a lot of life. we've inflicted terrible pain on the population of iraq and killed a hell of a lot of iraqi people for no good end. there still is no resolution to it. and no one has any idea of what's going to happen in the future except there might well be more chaos. if george bush had really been involved in the war in vietnam which he wasn't, he escaped it by joining the texas national guard which his father got him into, and cheney got five draft deferments, rumsfeld was not involved in the war, wolfowitz got several draft deferments, these men were not involved in vietnam, if they had been, you might have known that you don't fight an unnecessary war. you don't go off and fight a war of choice which is what it was because o

iraq in lebanon. there was a dialogue to tried to get us beyond that in iraq. it seems to me the united states again continuing the bush administration's policy and still stuck, if we just say this or do this, rather than looking at iraq in the way i think most arab iraqis want to think of it. not as she yet iraq and sunni iraq. i still don't understand why we can't get past that dynamic when i believe and we could talk about this in the question and answer period. most iraqis want to get beyond that. iraqis and the united states ought to promote the existence of institutions. if you create national institutions -- recognize tensions are there but only what is the prime minister of iraq to lessen those tensions? what has he done to promote national reconciliation. he has been prime minister for six years. what has he done? we can't even agree on what the name of the conference to which he alluded in his statement. the head of the shia coalition calls it sort of a gathering. we will not use the word conference to described it. really? as my teenage daughter would say. the goal ought to be and i will end with this, i am

in iraq. the non-fox media cared about the war in iraq. he turned on bush because he started pushing amnesty for illegals. very unpopular. to be sucking up to minority is a minority within the ethnic group and nearly 70% live in new york and california which republicans never win anyway is utterly fool hearty. separate whether mark rubio would take a presidential candidate. florida is important though i think romney is going to win florida with or without a florida candidate. >> bill: you say it should be christie or jon kyl. >> those are two of my favs. i think the template is more george bush picking cheney. someone who can step in that office. kyl has strong foreign policy experience. >> bill: who is kyl going to get you. >> other than dick cheney. republic never loses wyoming. cheney could step into the office. kyl is very appealing. he is not scary on tv. fourth most conservative senator. there is chris christie which could possibly put new jersey in play. >> bill: i say that christie is being considered but christie is going to punch somebody out. he

in iraq. the non-fox media cared about the war in iraq. he turned on bush because he started pushing amnesty for illegals. very unpopular. to be sucking up to minority is a minority within the ethnic group and nearly 70% live in new york and california which republicans never win anyway is utterly fool hearty. separate whether mark rubio would take a presidential candidate. florida is important though i think romney is going to win florida with or without a florida candidate. >> bill: you say it should be christie or jon kyl. >> those are two of my favs. i think the template is more george bush picking cheney. someone who can step in that office. kyl has strong foreign policy experience. >> bill: who is kyl going to get you. >> other than dick cheney. republic never loses wyoming. cheney could step into the office. kyl is very appealing. he is not scary on tv. fourth most conservative senator. there is chris christie which could possibly put new jersey in play. >> bill: i say that christie is being considered but christie is going to punch somebody out. he

i don't blame bush for the war in iraq. i blame this guy. >> greg: on that note, take a break. having cash open the doors to the white house? if i said no, we wouldn't doing this story, would we? iif you leave now, i won't finish fur taxes. ♪ ♪ [♪...] >> announcer: bank robbery certainly is a frightening crime. after all, bank robbers stole $43 million in one year. but identity thieves? try 18 billion! and guess how identity thieves are getting some of that money. by taking over our bank accounts. they may not even need your social security number anymore. all an identity thief may need are a couple of simple pieces of information, like your mother's maiden name or the city you were born in, and they could add their name onto your bank accounts in order to make your money their money. you need help. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock-- the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock is the proactive identity theft protection company, with an early warning alert system that is state of the art. when we detect any suspected b

i don't blame bush for the war in iraq. i blame this guy. >> greg: on that note, take a break.does having cash open the doors to the white house? if i said no, we wouldn't doing this story, would we? iif you leave now, i won't finish fur taxes. ♪ ♪ [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first wee.. i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be li

amongst the romney people themselves forward to the iraq war the bush administration had a choice to make do you get rid of what is called camp ashraf in iraq where it's currently based or do you maintain it and you utilize that as a pressure point for the iranian regime most of the bush administration thought that you should go with your approach of a terrorist or the terrorist and and discard these individuals but there were some prominent neoconservative officials that thought it would be useful to use of a pressure point and that's where psychosis story comes in and so but this is right this kind of vicious cycle and a trend and a pattern that we've seen you know many times over the u.s. i guess you could say it was you know. funding that was a hit here when it was trying to get them weapons so they could fight the soviets because the soviets were on the side of america time and then who are fighting right now in afghanistan or if you want to talk about saddam hussein that was our friend that was our enemy at some point and you know so doesn't that make it you know why don't we learn do you think that arming training funding the en

in the idea of justice. well, we need to have an idea of justice for people who did what president bush and vice president cheney did. if you look at this war in iraq it took us into on the basis of lies in d.c., on the basis of a parent criminal misconduct, what did it cost us? i saw a recent estimate, $3 trillion, 3 trillion. can you imagine what we could do with $3 trillion today? not to mention the tens of thousands of americans injured, not to mention the thousands of americans killed, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of iraqis killed, not to mention the people -- up evil and chaos that was a result of our misconduct. the terrible consequences of this. and if people understood that, and almost more people have the awareness have the power to make a difference, then i think you'll see some change. they did have the power. maybe it was occupy wall street, that created the feeling that something had to be done about the banks. maybe we need a occupy wall street or the equivalent to give the american people the sense that we have to have people, people and top book physicians who engage in criminal misconduct to be held accountable. that i

in office and should be held accountable. the author contends the bush and administration lie to the american public in the lead-up to the war in iraq and from practices in opposition to international agreement. this is a little over an hour. [inaudible] [inaudible] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] by thinking first president jeremy travis for the invitation to come here, to professor king for her hard work and reading my book and you'll be questioning me later, interrogating me, enhanced interrogation. and to dan feltman, professor dan feltman who has been a dear friend and a wonderful scholar and distinguished public servant and of course the indefatigable moran's travis who made this wonderful event possible this evening. thanks to all of you for coming to talk about a subject that is not really a pleasant subject and most people don't want to hear about but that is really vital to our democracy. that is the subject of accountability for everyone, for the high and the mighty as well as the low and the vulnerable, the poor and the powerless. we just heard the president of the united states respond to the concern that th

iraq war, but i don't think he had a lot of influence. and i think there's two reasons for that. they think first the bush administration is not particularly interested in congressional and tied into iraq. if you read them of the memoir is coming up now for the bush administration, it is very clear the congressional reaction to the impending war was not a particularly great concern to the administration. but i think the second factor is the senator up to two voices can earn in reservations in private, quiet way rather than to force the public, rotation. and this gets to one of the sword or the dilemmas of the lawmaker because recent history played with examples of lawmakers trying to struggle to find the best way to shape administration's view on a controversial issue. in the mid-60s, william fulbright story chairman of the committee disagreed with the johnson ministrations combat and try to persuade the administration to change the course privately. didn't work. he held public hearings in 1966, which really galvanize the public debate on vietnam. .. the best interviews i had in the book project was with chuck hegel, former senator from nebraska who was

wars in iraq and afghanistan unpaid for. bush era tax cuts unpaid for. medicare part d drug plan unpaid for. and then the deregulation of the mortgage sectors. result predatory loans surged. bogus aaa securities proliferated. a multitrillion dollar insurance industry going by the fancy name of swaps and derivatives. sprang up from nothing with $50 trillion business in a short period of time. and did so without the oversight, the diversity of the reserves that are essential. all these things creating the biggest bubble and meltdown since the great depression based on decisions made here. that members around this table many of whom participated in. how do we rebuild? do we do so on the backs of the people that are repressed by the high interest loans, who are oppressed by the collapse of home prices. who are oppressed by loss of jobs. are these the folks that deregulated the home mortgage? are these the folks who failed to pay attention to the unregulated swaps and derivatives? are these the folks involved in is the securities industry? i don't think so. s

on the battlefield he is credited with turning things around in iraq following president bush's decision the end of 2006 to surge u.s. forces there. and he faced a similar challenge in afghanistan during a year of command there between the middle of 2010 and the middle of 2011. the traces time in afghanistan is the focus of policy book. although the book has a broader sweep. pollitt incorporates lots of biographical information about petraeus, in an effort to examines what has made him so effective and influential a leader. the book grew out of paula's pursued a ph.d in public policy which involved a case study of petraeus as an example of transformational leadership and organizational innovation. as a graduate of west point and army reserve officer, paula knows the army from the inside. in her book, she takes readers into briefing rooms and command posts onto training sites and battlefields. and she was granted a number of opportunities to travel with petraeus, and even to jog with him, which as anyone who has tried that knows that probably deserves a medal in itself. petraeus is notori

bush was in office. leadership counts. president bush rose to the occasion. one example under scores president bush's ability to rise to the occasion. by 2006, the war in iraq was going very badly. against criticism, president bush forced a fundamental shift in strategy. the change worked. the war in iraq was won when he left office. he was right on the big ones. ladies and salomon, the 43rd president of the united states -- ladies and gentlemen. >> thank you very much. [applause] thank you very much, steve. overly generous in your comments. i appreciate it. i appreciate you coming and i appreciate our sponsors. want to thank steve and the media and the u.s. chamber. i appreciate our governors being near. pretty cool job. i am looking forward to hearing you. i want to thank my old friend harry kissinger. i appreciate those who serve on our board. i want to thank mark and jim for getting this conference going. [applause] we're proud to host the conference. it is a part of our mission to enlighten and to achieve results. these are for the supporters per alan to the facility the other day and it is in austin building and a great campus. the architect has done

wars in iraq and afghanistan unpaid for. bush era tax cuts, unpaid for. medicare part "d" drug plan, unpaid for. and then on top of all that, the deregulation of the humble home mortgage and associated financial sectors. result? predatory loans surged. bogus aaa securities proliferated. a multitrillion dollar insurance industry going by the fancy name of swaps and derivatives sprang up from nothing to a $50 trillion business in a short period of time. and tid so without the oversight, the diversity, the reserves that are essential in insurance. all these things creating the biggest bubble and the biggest meltdown since the great depression. based on decisions that were made here. that members around this table, many of whom participated in. so how do we rebuild from here? that's the question of a budget. do we do so on the backs of working people? the very same folks who are pressed by the high interest predatory loans. who are pressed by the collapse of their home prices. who are pressed by the loss of living wage jobs. who are pressed by the destruction

in our history? >> 9 dick cheney and george bush? >> i think george biden -- i think joe biden has had more. whether it was what we did in iraq or what we are doing in afghanistan, the portfolio has been an enormous amount of responsibility. >> i think we have to deal with the scandals of the time. you wrote an interesting column where you conflated the scandals of the moment. how would you rate them? >> we have lost our sense of outrage. a grievous things are going on, and nobody seems to be outraged. maybe a because everyone wants things sewn up in 140 characters. >> are you having problems with technology? >> i'm having problems with a once-over society. >> you have the secret service sex scandal, then all of these issues with military troops in afghanistan, of those, the ones that are most concerned on capitol hill is the gsa scandal. >> no one is talking about leon panetta. >> there is that as well. >> remind our viewers. >> when he was in the cia, he would leave thursday evening, come back monday afternoon. nobody knew about this. it became public because the media covered the pentagon. he continued his long weekends in

in iraq. it seems to me the united states -- again, continuing the bush administration's policy -- is still stuck in the mode of thinking, well, if we just say this to the shia, do this with the sunni, with the kurds, rather than looking at iraq and the way at least i think most iraqis want to think of it, not a shia or sunni iraq, i still don't understand why we can't get past that dynamic, when i believe, and we can talk about this in the question and answer period, most iraqis want to get beyond that. iraqis and the united states ought to promote the existence of institutions. if you create national institutions, that's how you will lessen tensions between the communities, and i recognize the tensions are there, but tell me what is the prime minister done to lessen those dimensions. what has he done to promote national reconciliation? he's been prime minister for six years now. what has he done? we can't even agree in iraq on what the name of the conference to which ambassador feldman alluded to in his statement. the head of the shia coalition calls it sort of a gathering, will not use the wor

in this. thissloganeering. when you look at his foreign policy advisors, let me give you some examples. black, hayden, designed bush's spying programs from the nsa. kagan rallied conservatives for the iraqvasion. these are specific, clear persons who played key roles in the foreign policy of bush administration. >> i think if you ask americans if the foreign policy for the bush administration was a success -- what did bush you about north korea and iran, the things that the romneyç clam complains about now about president obama. so it is exactly the same crowd, but more importantly if you look at the various foreign policy speeches, and i hesitate to call them that, that romney has offered over the last year, you don't see anything of substance or consistency. do you remember when he was asked about what he would do in libya? he ran away from repore. the romney doctrine was to run away and not talk about what options were. so i think if you talk about his inability to talk foreign policy, and you look at the record of the people around him that blew the biggest foreign policy of the last few decades with iraq, and it was not just invading iraq, but it was what to do when they got there

bush was in office. leadership counts. president bush rose to the occasion. one example under scores president bush's ability to rise to the occasion. by 2006, the war in iraqsh forced a fundamental shift in strategy. the change worked. the war in iraq was won when he left office. left office. he was right on the big ones. ladies and salomon, the 43rd president of the united states -- ladies and gentlemen. >> thank you very much. [applause] thank you very much, steve. overly generous in your comments. i appreciate it. i appreciate you coming and i appreciate our sponsors. want to thank steve and the media and the u.s. chamber. i appreciate our governors being near. pretty cool job. i am looking forward to hearing you. i want to thank my old friend harry kissinger. i appreciate those who serve on our board. i want to thank mark and jim for getting this conference going. [applause] we're proud to host the conference. it is a part of our mission to enlighten and to achieve results. these are for the supporters per alan to the facility the other day and it is in austin building and a great campus. the architect has done a fantastic job. the gardens are going to

iran states in the middle east some people are saying that ahmadinejad's a huge admirer of karl rove and a big supporter of the republican party after all george w. bush decided to bomb sunni iraq not shia iran giving shia ahmadinejad a lot more influence in the middle east and taking out sunni saddam hussein iran's biggest enemy against whom they fought a multi year war it cost them both billions of dollars and killed over a million people so some people are saying the potential in dollars if the road is payback from shia iran for all the great things rove and bush did for them against the sunni muslims in addition some people are saying that the ten million dollar donation of karl rove has strings attached if romney wins the republicans take the senate then all those sanctions president obama put on shia iran would have immediately be lifted and we might even go after another sunni run country that iran doesn't like just like bush took out sunni run a rack and flipped it over to shia rule and some people are saying that all the aggressive talk coming from mitt romney. it's just a show and the behind closed doors and mahmud are best friends not only that i heard some people in

bush held his second annual wounded warrior ride. this was him. we have a -- this is him dancing with the first woman to be injured in iraq. bush at the event afterwards. her name is melissa stockwell. our own dr. seigel got to go riding with president bush on that ride. did a piece about physical fitness. here is president bush talking about e ride from friday night. >> really cool. it's really cool. to mow ten tum, how inspiring and motivating it is. >> this is a huge celebration. celebration of fitness. >> dana: i love that. great ride. great american -- >>ric: great americans and great patriots. check it out. freem tower today became the tallest structure in new york city. probably tallest for hundreds of miles. it's proof americans, you can attack us but we will prevail. in the long r, patriotic. 1776 feet up. that's it for "the five." i'm headinto my computer now to answer your questions on facebook. 15 minutes. go to facebook.com/thefivefnc. see you online in a minute. see you tomorrow. >> bob: don't miss that. ♪ ♪ >> bret: the predent plays the usama bin laden card from the east room. this is "special report." ♪ ♪

bush held his second annual wounded warrior ride. this was him. we have a -- this is him dancing with the first woman to be injured in iraq. at the event afterwards. her name is melissa stockwell. our own dr. seigel got to go riding with president bush on that ride. did a piece about physical fitness. here is president bush talking about the ride from friday night. >> really cool. it's really cool. to mow ten tum, how inspiring and motivating it is. >> this is a huge celebration. celebration of fitness. >> dana: i love that. great ride. great american -- >> eric: great americans and great patriots. check it out. freedom tower today became the tallest structure in new york city. probably tallest for hundreds of miles. it's proof americans, you can attack us but we will prevail. in the long run, patriotic. 1776 feet up. that's it for "the five." m

the point is that vengeance in this the left in the democratic party united states that went to war for saddam and against george bush when he went into iraq we should have settled their hands we should not have you know we should have occupied them for things that they have in this is a happening across the credit which i should have this is not going to syria and that we should have stuck into iran but bush came under such a talent. from the from the democrat there's never been such as seditious movement by a major american party they all supported the war not all of them but the leadership supported them or they voted in their majority in the senate and the or and then they turned against it and they lied saying that bush lied bush couldn't have lied to. about the intelligence because kerry and rockefeller and feinstein all the democrats sat on the intelligence committees they had their intelligence then julian in in the work that we do the work that wiki leaks does we are. pushing forward the boundaries of a certain type of liberty that is we say protected by the first amendment that is the liberty to to reveal the truth about the worl

bush rose to the occasion and set back some better controversy. one example underscores the president's ability to rise to the equation. by 2006, people were counseling to get out of the war in iraq. against fears of the rigid opposition and skepticism, president bush forced a fundamental shift in strategy. it worked. the war in iraq was 1 when he left office. as was said of harry truman and the cold war, so it must always be said about george w. bush and his war against terror. he was right on the big ones. ladies and gentlemen, the 43rd president of these united states. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very much, steve. overly generous in your comments. i appreciate it. i appreciate you all coming. i appreciate our sponsors. i appreciate the u.s. chamber. i appreciate our governors being here. pretty cool job, is it not? [laughter] i am looking forward to hearing it. i am looking forward to seeing my old friend, dr. kissinger. and amity, for helping to get this conference strong. we are proud to host the conference. it is a part of our mission to enlighten and achieve results. i toured the facility. these are for the supporters. the facility is an awesome building o

in december. they are sending the items to a crime lab. bush kicking off his warrior 100 k. the bike ride honoring troops injured while serving in iraq and afghanistan. the president kicked things off yesterday along with 70 other riders and our own dr. mark siegel. he will join us live with all of the highlights next hour on fox and friends. >>> federal agencies battle it out in federal court today over the age of which young girls can get new jersey contraception. this after the white house blocking the fda letting girls under the age 17 from buying the morning after pill. >> federal judge has ordered the fda to explain by today why the agency will not allow the plan b morning after pill to be dispensed to young women under the age of 17. though the fda did originally decide the plan b should be available to all females of childbearing age health and human services secretary kathleen seb lis stepped in to limit it to only those 17 ammed older. that sparked a backlash from the pro choice community. they brought the original suit against them saying the secretary took an oath to improve america's health. she is not living up to it on

in iraq. it seems to be the united states again continuing the bush administration's policy is still stuck in he mode of thinking if we just say this to the shia and the kurd, rather than look in on iraq in the way at least i think most arab iraqis want to think of it, just to see if iraq cannot shia iraqi sunni iraq, i still don't understand why we can't get past that dynamic when i believe we can talk about this in a question-and-answer period, most iraqis want to get beyond that. we must promote -- we together, iraq is in the united states ought to promote the existence of institution. if you create national institution, that's how you lessen tensions between the communities. some of what is the prime minister of iraq done to sms tensions? what is he going to promote national reconciliation? who's been prime minister for six years now. what has he done? we can't even agree in iraq, to name to which ambassador feltman alluded in a statement, the head of the shia coalition calls at sort of a gathering. when not used the conference to describe it. really as my teenage daughter would say. the p

and according to many historians, it is the bush-cheney regime, not the president as he recently asserted. having led this country into an unnecessary war in iraq prisoners and the unprecedented wiretapping of millions of american citizens. unlike richard nixon and his lies, neither president bush nor his vice president cheney have ever been held accountable for theirs. however, a new book called "cheating justice" says the evidence exists and it is not too late to bring both to stand up for their actions. i'm pleased to say the book's author joins us now. welcome. >> thank you. great to be here. >> now, being the worst president and vice president in history isn't necessarily a crime but which specific laws do you believe they broke? >> well, as a former prosecutor and as a former member of the house judiciary committee during watergate, i spend a lot of time taking a look at the statutes. i saw big abuses of power. that's one thing to abuse power and one thing not to do the right thing. it is another thing it appears these criminal statutes may well have been violated by president bush and vice president cheney. >> you're talking about them d

in the republican party since iraq. >> the people who emerged from the george bush administration as full of regret or truth tellers orstle-blowers, while i think they were rehabilitated in the eyes of liberals looking for truth tellers, those people did not end up taking leadership jobs in republican politics. >> no. they were essentially cast out. in the wake of iraq, the democratic policy was iraq. the reason president obama is president of the united states, he got up and said this is a dumb war. that was indisputeable. that was litigated on the left, never litigated on the right. no one ever had to face up to what happened the magnitude of the error is completely erased by history, like the old stalin books. they think it's a good idea to have dan senor on this lined the mouthpiece of the coalition authority during what someone on the obama campaign said was the worst period of foreign policy in 100 years quite plausibly when the country was descending into chaos. >> doing the ticktock of what happened on the campaign trail today is not always my favorite thing. the fact we have vice president biden making a spee

and in the 2004 election, the backdrop was the iraq war, it was george w. bush basically saying, hey, i'm the firm, steady, decisive leader. i'm the guy you want there making the decision, because i'm not going to blink when the enemy's coming. all that kind of stuff. so what they were really trying to tag john kerry with there was being week. in 2012, you've got a totally different dynamic, where you've got this sort of rapidly conservative republican party base, who has absolutely insisted that mitt romney meet all their litmus tests and is intent on holding him to that through the general election campaign and more importantly if he becomes president. in romney, the flip-flopping that he sort of practiced is basically he knows he's vulnerable to the charge that he's not really a conservative, so he's had to just embrace that as hard and as firmly as he could in the primary, and so the challenge there and the trick there for the obama campaign is to make sure to really stress and make him stick to that in the fall campaign as well, and that opens up different