you know james carville?l rove james carville is probably the closest thing in this country to a political consultant who is a household name. mr. carville made his bones running bill clinton's campaign for president. he's gone on since to be a very successful campaign guy, a very successful media guy, and a guy who is a democrat who is very famously married to a republican who does the same job as him. well, now the new presidential campaign that james carville is working on is for a guy who's running for president of afghanistan. he's running for president of afghanistan against hamid karzai. james carville is the political consultant for the former finance minister of afghanistan. james carville has been doing things like saying in interviews that karzai is incompetent. meanwhile, hillary clinton is secretary of state. how's that for an awkward moment the next time secretary clinton is supposed to meet hamid karzai? madame secretary looking forward to these negotiations. perhaps you could first remove the

james carville and liz cheney. by the way, liz, you going to run for office?> no plans right away. i've got a lot on my plate right now, larry. >> larry: not right now. >> i'm going to call james when i make my decision. >> larry: yeah, hire him. >> lay off the va. they're a good bunch. >> larry: new developments in the murder of the florida couple. we go to break with more of the incredible solar eclipse. where the moon comes between the earth and the sun. look at that. you have questions. who can give you the financial advice you need? where will you find the stability and resources to keep you ahead of this rapidly evolving world? these are tough questions. that's why we brought together two of the most powerful names in the industry. introducing morgan stanley smith barney. here to rethink wealth management. here to answer... your questions. morgan stanley smith barney. a new wealth management firm with over 130 years of experience. >> larry: we go to pensacola, florida, susan candiotti, cnn national correspondent standing by along with sheriff david morga

>> larry: we'll be back and we'll get to other areas of discussion between carville and cheney. we ought to send them on the road. be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids, now it's time to take care of yourself. so metlife removed the guesswork. cop,ining two essential insurances, term life and disability in one surprisingly affordable package. strengthen your safety net and find out how affordable it can be at metlife.com. wouldn't it be great if it were easy to spot the good guys ? you know, the guys who do a super job. introducing the superguarantee. go to superpages.com to find a business with the superguarantee. we're so confident in these super businesses we stand behind their services. you'll get the job done right or we'll step in and help to make it right. sign up for free at superpages.com the new superguarantee making the good guys easy to find. >> larry: couple other things in the time we have remaining. governor mark sanford was supposed to discuss the proposed i.d. program at a media event

up to james carville to challenge her. and the key question is, can this possibly help our politics when you have a fringe like this one who believes this stuff and leaders like liz cheney and the fact of the matter, she is the leader. she's allowing this garbage to get out there. >> i don't know if she's a leader of any kind. i would tell you she's a prominent republican pause she's been made a prominent republican on tv and all. you want to talk about the decline of expertise. there's a book you should pick up. >> we're not going talk about books. we're talking about the book that dick cheney and daughter liz cheney are trying to write. again, char hooe, you acknowledge this is complete garbage. >> it is. complete nonsense. >> what's the political benefit for liz cheney. everybody is ridiculing the gop. >> everyone? >> everyone who has an independent thinking mind says this is crazy. >> and, of course, there's never been a political advantage taken by anyone who -- you do not underestimate it. you do not underestimate am

she knows it's up to james carville to challenge her where it is a political environment. and the key question is, can this possibly help our politics when you have a fringe like this one who believes this stuff and leaders like liz cheney and the fact of the matter, she is the / >> we're not going talk about books. we're talking about the book that dick cheney and daughter liz cheney are trying to write. again, you acknowledge this is complete garbage. >> of course it is. it's complete nonsense. >> what's the political benefit for liz cheney. everybody is ridiculing the gop. >> everyone? >> everyone who has an independent thinking mind says this is crazy. >> and, of course, there's never been a political advantage taken by anyone who -- you do not underestimate it. you do not underestimate american people. i'm telling you there's not a substantial political advantage but there is an advantage within the kind of festival of this stuff that is the moderate republican party. >> appealing to 10% of the public out there that's crazy enough to believe anything. charlie pierce,

. >>> james carville and mary matalin, they're both here together. they'll weigh in on the health care reform battle. >>> plus, news today that former vice president, dick cheney, ordered the cia to withhold information from congress. >>> also, president obama in africa. our own anderson cooper brings us an exclusive interview from someone who was at the castle of the slave trade. it is a remarkable interview with america's first african-american president. that's all ahead this hour on "state of the union." >>> the u.s. congress, where they're debating health care reform while president obama spent the past week overseas attending to global matters, his administration pressed ahead with its effort to revamp the u.s. health care system. the vice president joe biden announced a new agreement with the hospital industry to help pay for reform. but there are still major issues to resolve, including whether to tax health care benefits in order to finance a final reform plan. here is outline the obamaed ed a administrati administration's view is kathleen s

. >>> james carville and mary matalin, they're both here together. they'll weigh in on the health care reform battle. plus, news today that former vice president, dick cheney, ordered the cia to withhold information from congress. also, president obama in africa. our own anderson cooper brings us an exclusive interview from someone who was at the center of the slave trade. it is a remarkable interview with america's first african-american president. that's all ahead this hour on "stast the union." while president obama spent the past week overseas attending to global matters, his administration pressed ahead with its effort to revamp the health care system. the vice president joe biden announced a new agreement with the hospital industry to help pay for reform. there are still major issues to resolve, including whether to tax health care benefits in order to finance a final reform plan. here to outline the obama's view is kathleen sebelius. madam, secretary, thank you very much for joining us. >> president obama has outlined his preferred payment pla

the democratic strategist james carville and the republican strategist and cnn contributor mary madeline. guys, thanks very much for coming in. >> morning, wolf. >> your former boss, the former vice president of the united states, you saw that front page "new york times." let me put it up and show our viewers. cheney is linked to concealment of cia project and the current cia director said to have oversight panels to direct ord oers. how big of a problem, potentially, is this for the former vice president? >> it's a big problem for the administration. >> the obama administration. >> this is very suspect timing. the president's agenda is almost in shambles. his numbers are dropping. isn't it coincidental and they're accusing the vice president of telling, of ordering the cia to not tell the congress about a program that didn't exist. it wasn't operational, it was never operational. further, there's a reason, which he had every right to do, even if it was operational. there's a reason that executive branch withholds information, which they're entitled to do because when it leaks it renders

more on the raw politics reading left to right literally, james carville and bill bennett. james, as you know, many of the president's allies in washington say he's paying a price for deferring too much to congress and letting more liberal committee chairmen shape his margins. in "the new york times," columnist david brooks calls this the liberal suicide march. he said this -- machiavelli said a leader should be fear as well as loved. obama is loved by the democratic chairmen but he is not feared. on health care obama has emphasized cost control. the chairman flouted his priorities because they don't fear him. true? >> in this poker game, if you will, everybody is betting more than they can afford right now. we'll see how it works out. think it's something that's an observation that people want him to be more involved at this point in the legislative process. he and his chief of staff rahm emanuel who knows a lot about the hill, in particular the house, have chosen not to do that. we will know the wisdom of that decision this fall. >> bill, republicans are without a doubt,

reaction from both sides when we talk to bill bennett and james carville straight ahead. minutes until the top of the hour. fancy feast elegant mes tuscany entrÉes restaurant inspired dishes with long grain rice and garden greens is it love? or is it fancy feast? 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. >>> welcome back to the most news in the morning. he came to talk about health care but the biggest news coming out of president obama's press conference last night was his take on the arrest of a friend, harvard professor henry louis gates jr. >> police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. >> gates was hauled off by police after mistakenly being accused of trying to break into his own home. he claims he was a victim of racial profiling and wants an apology from cambridge pol

more on the raw politics reading left to right literally, james carville and bill bennett. many of the president's allies say he is paying a price for deferring too much to congress and letting the liberal committee chairmen shape his margins. machiavelli said a leader should be fear as well as loved. obama is loved by the democratic chairmen but he is not feared. >> everybody is betting more than they can afford right now. we'll see how it works out. i think it is something that is an observation that people want him to be more involved. he and his chief of staff rahm emanuel who knows a lot about the hill, in particular the house, have chosen not to do that. we will know the wisdom of that decision this fall. >> bill, republicans are without a doubt, enjoying this. senator demint talked about obama's waterloo. bill kristol says with the president weakened somewhat some republicans will see an opening to deal. bill kristol advised go for the kill. 60% of the personal bankruptcies in this country are because of health care costs. is there a risk for the republicans in sound

james carville and kevin madden are standing by. >>> and u.s.in afghanistan are deeply concerned about how things are going there right now. we'll talk with the award-winning journalist, bob woodward of "the washington post," he's just back from afghanistan. introducing the all new chevy equinox. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4 and even the ford escape hybrid. the all new chevy equinox. >>> you're in "the situation room," happening now, disturb ing of racism. some officers accused of posting bigoted rants on the website and the lawsuit alleges the department allows it to happen. >>> the house intelligence committee is set to investigate whether the cia broke the law. barbara starr has an in depth report on counterterrorism and how far the u.s. is willing to go. >>> and patients with incurable diseases getting better after traveling abroad for some highly controversial stem cell therapy. some doctors say it's

let's bring in our cnn political contributor, democratic strategist james carville and bill bennett,radio talk show "morning in america," a fellow at the claremont institute, as well. and i want to talk to you guys first about health care reform. it's reaching a decisive moment right now. james, first to you. if you go back to the barack obama campaign, and that was a long time ago, but there was a hard pledge he made there on the campaign website among other places saying this, and i'll read it to you -- no family will pay higher tax rates than they would have paid in the 1990s. that was during the clinton administration. >> right. >> but on the verge right now of nancy pelosi and democrats in the house get their way to have to break that pledge, isn't he? >> well, the democrats in the house get their way, but then you also have the senate and the president have not weighed in. it seems the strategy is to let this thing work through the legislative process. by the way, they're closer to getting health care reform than any time in history. this process has quite a ways to go in terms

cnn contributor alex castellanos lays out some advice, while cnn contributor james carville lays out a rebuttal. every day, transitions lenses are there to help care for my sight. announcer: transitions lenses adjust to changing light to reduce glare and help protect your eyes from uv damage so you can see better today... and tomorrow. live your vision. transitions. healthy sight in every light. to learn how transitions lenses can help protect your family's eyesight, go to our website or stop by a wal-mart vision center near you. last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and m

mary madeline and democratic strategist james carville will both be here in our studio. it's a faceoff you'll see right here on "state of the union." >>> first, howard kurtz and "reliable sources." you have a full hour of hot news. >> you're anchoring the sonia sotomayor confirmation hearings will it be a challenge to cover days of hearings if there are no fireworks? >> i don't know about fireworks, but on tuesday interesting discussion. 19 senators and each one, howie, will have 30 minutes uninterrupted to grill the supreme court nominee. can you imagine, 19, 30-minute interviews that she's going to have to go through in one or two days and i'm sure some of it will be fascinating. >> you'll need endurance like the nominees. >>> tsunami of coverage bidding farewell to michael jackson this week. overwhelmed everything in its path, even the presidential trip to russia, africa and the vatican, but also a journalistic earthquake that was heard above the endless jackson tributes. just as michael jackson became a cultural icon who transcending the world of music, sarah palin i

. >> i think she lacked a karl rove or a james carville, for that matter, somebody who's been on the national scene and understands national politics. making it to governor of alaska is impressive but it is quite different than being in the big leagues. i actually say i like sarah palin, i think she's a good person. i think she is a good conservative. but the notion that this was somehow a stroke of genius, which some people have actually said, that's essentially the theory that everything bad is good for you. could i actually make the argument that mark sanford had a brittial political move the other day because of this argentine affair, now he'll be seen as a great international hero and romantic. i think objectively speaking quitting your job after you've been governor for just 2 1/2 years, i think that objectively speaking we can say that's a very bad move, if you want to be president in 2012. that's the big question. >> matt, i think you just demonstrated that political journalists and political strategists can spin just about everything when it comes to governor sanford. govern

. >> let's bring in our cnn political contributor james carville in new orleans for us tonight, in washingtonsan, a republican congresswoman from new york, and our senior political correspondent candy crowley is live in washington tonight. candy, let's start with you. the administration showing a lot of concern about its signature issue. are they still confident they can get this done? >> they're certainly acting confidently. and we've heard the president say in recent days, well, if the august deadline for getting bills on to the floor slips like a couple of days a couple of weeks, then that's no big deal. that shows you they understand that the deadline self-imposed by the president probably will not be met at this point. but what democrats at this point are looking for is a little less of the political back and forth, the president has been out there, been very strong about his critics and a few more specifics from the president about what he actually wants. >> james, you know, today's remarks part of a week-long blitz by the president, includes a town hall meeting on thursday. can he use

i never have seen our friend james carville speechless. and he was. and then he got back in the game and said she and other people are using this lunatic fringe. they are playing to it the most dirty, disgusting elements of american politics for their own reason because they are trying to de la jit mize the president. i don't know what it's working but lately with lou dobbs, with liz cheney, with the crazy at the mike rally. >> and they certainly went through a road to damascus the other night. he finally got around saying he believes the president is in fact one of us. he is an american. >> he did better than liz cheney. in response to my blog post, politico got ahold of liz cheney and said today, not last night in front of a large national audience, i think he has the right to be president. mighty of you, liz. i think it's terrible the pandering going on. >> i thought the new low was trying to deamericanize michael dukakis. they are almost declaring this guy undocumented alien. >> that's what they are doing, chris. i have got to tell you, the republ

maria, former deputy chief of staff in the clinton white house with us, and james carville and bill bennettalso joining us. welcome to everybody. jeff, let me start with you at the bottom line this. out of all of the hours of questioning today, isn't the bottom line that senators want to know whether or not a white man who comes before judge sotomayor is going to get a fair hearing? >> well, this is a judge who's been on the bench for 17 years. in almost all cases, she has ruled with other judges, there is really no doubt that she is very much a mainstream judge. she said a thing she regrets. there's no doubt about it. she apologized, it was wrong, and i think the controversy is largely going to go away, but she had to fold her cards. she was wrong on what she said. >> james, did she do a good job of explaining what she meant by her comments? >> well, i think, look, i think she's just running out the clock. i think she's going to be confirmed, i think the strategy today is just don't do anything controversial, apologize for this and sit down and let these senators lecture. and i think that'

. >> host: there is mary matalin and carville so it could happen. it's very hard -- i think if you care deeply about these issues as i do do it is very hard to deal with someone. publicized, angry and as wide as the culture has been and as the gulf has been -- >> host: let me ask your book to some extent address is this. why are people who have everything they want, they want the candidate elected, they have senate, congress, why are they still angry? why are these people so angry when it would seem to be paradise has a right for them? >> guest: that's a very interesting question and, you know, it has been people have wondered why they keep hanging on to george bush and cheney. i think they need them. the need to be angry. i think liberalism is in large part motivated and driven by that anchor. they are not happy people by and large. they need something to complain about and in their mind and culture that is seriously flawed and they need people to blame. >> host: on the right i would say most people on the right believe the culture is seriously fla

here for today's strategy session, cnn political contributor democratic strategist james carville andadden. this story changes almost day by day, hour by hour. a new statement sfr jenny sanford, a state. a lot of people have been looking for, how she handles it. is it fair to say that she -- has she saved her job here? >> i don't know. the attorney general said it wasn't taxpayer money. i think you ought to make a deal, mrs. sanford. you quit talking about yourselves and we'll quit talking about you and let's move to something else. we've gotten all of the blood out of this turnip that we need, and hopefully they can repair things and he can go about his job. but this is enough. >> it does underscore the fact this has almost gone a little bit beyond politics and beyond the office. instead it's just a personal tragedy right now, and unfortunately it's playing out in the public square because governor sanford holds a public office. >> he talks to the press all the time. i mean, just like go down to florida for the weekend and, like, chill and we're ready to move to -- >> the reason we'r

let's talk about this and more with cnn political contributors, democratic strategist james carvilleand republican strategist alex castellanos. >> you'd certainly rather be talking about something else. his popularity ratings, even up to today, have been better than harry reid's and nancy pelosi's ratings. evidently the voters in that state think being promiscuous with our tax money and spending too much is a more serious offense than whatever senator ensign's doing. >> you're laughing, james? >> i'm always amused at republicans who worry about spending after their eight years. maybe hell hath no fury like a man scorned. the husband of this woman is going out there pretty good. i love the language of the law, the gifts to these people. you refer to them as gifts. i thought that was pretty amusing, too. i agree this is not going to have a lasting political effect. and i've said this before. it's not likely, it's almost a certainty democrats are going to get caught up in this kind of thing. we don't need to take morality lessons from politicians. that's the real lesson we're learning i

james carville and alex castolanos. the world without doubt one of the greatest risks for business is they are almost exclusively answerable to the investors thereby limited in their social value. >> he said it was a papal and cyclical and called to have a world governing body to deal with these economic issues. and of course, this is an issued right before the president came. i'm kind of -- when i read that this morning and the conservative catholics accuse the liberal catholics of being cafeteria catholics, we don't like the teaching on married priests or days, and to my conservative catholic friends i have a -- welcome to the cafeteria because something tells me that they're not going to be taking -- >> not going the like this latest ed dikt, if you will. >> a lot of catholics aren't. will the of republicans and conservatives aren't because, of course, what the pope i think missed is that if the greatest social program if you look at it, american business, if you looked at it as a social program and judged it that wa

bloomberg reports that james carville will act as an adviser to u.s.ducated, afghanistan's former finance minister in his bid to unseat hamid karzai in upcoming elections. he says he has not discussed his trip with secretary of state hillary clinton. he said he is going to afghanistan for an exploratory visit as a private consultant. united nations secretary general ban ki-moon said the world body may need more than $1 billion to fight the swine flu pandemic through the rest of this year but funds have not come in as expected. speaking to reporters today in geneva, he said the relative mildness of the pandemic so far should not be taken for granted. in economic news, stock futures are down this morning following falling stock markets around the world. investors are waiting for a key report on the u.s. service sector due out in an hour. dow jones industrial futures are down 86 at 8155 and a nasdaq is down 13. finally, new york congressman peter king is commenting on media coverage of michael jackson in a youtube video. he says, in part, that society is

joining us, democratic strategist and cnn political contributor, james carville.io talk show host and cnn political contributor, bill bennett. here is what david brooks writing in the "new york times" today, liberal suicide march the headline. i will go to you, james, first. "months ago it seemed as if obama would lead a center-left coalition. instead, he has deferred to the old bulls on capitol hill on issue after issue. machiavelli said a leader should be feared as well as loved. obama is loved by the democratic chairman but he is not feared." brooks is referring to the liberals, especially in the house. what do you think? >> well, i mean, look, what he is doing and we will see if it works it will be brilliant f it doesn't, we will all say how stupid it is, but letting the house put that bill up and now some kind of deal, the senate on the finance committee, considerably more moderate. you know, one of these games this is very early in the bidding, if you will. and it is a little too early to draw conclusions. the truth of the matter is if you win, everything yo

. >> the highlight of our final season was the new gingrich and james carville show on the outlook foronservatism in this country. this was right after the election. let's take a look at this discussion. >> the power of the media to carry messages from the party to the voter. >> i think the media, the traditional media is a fact. what came as a surprise, if you went back to the 40's and '50's and early '60s, this is an interesting phenomenon, there was this belief that you could go to journalism school, you would cover the news, the editorial page is over here, but you were somehow different. that all began to break down in the middle of the 1960's. younger reporters were anti- vietnam war. young reporters were pro- immigration. younger reporters were anti- watergate. you got a judgmental personality that began to replace the so- called objectivity of the edward r. murrow generation. you are really going back to a 19th century model. if you study abraham lincoln, every newspaper in america was partisan. if you were a democrat, you subscribe to your democrat newspaper. if you were a rep

we'll talk with james carville, ben bennett, rudy giuliani, see what they have to say about the president'smorrow morning starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern. >> we hope you join us. continue the conversation on any of the stories you saw today on our blog, cnn.com/am fix. you can also find us on twitter.com/am fix, twitter.com/kiran chetry or twitter.com/john roberts. >> how many followers do you have these days on twitter? >> 3,000. >> wow! i got to catch up. i've only got 2,000. let's go! >>> see you again tomorrow. right now the news continues with heidi collins in the "cnn newsroom." >>> the president makes a prime time pitch for his health care reform. tune in tonight for what could be must-sell tv. >>> a new twist in that killing of a florida couple k