senator danforth offered me a job. so i came here. i was only going to stay a couple of years, and then i was going to savannah. one thing led to another and i wound up on the court. [laughter] [applause] honestly, people come up with all of these things. i love people with bad intent who write these things, how you did this or how you did that. it was like totally forrest gump. [laughter] i did my job and i showed up in pictures. one day, i showed up in the supreme court. i wish i could give you a better story than that. >> there must have been people you turn to. >> well, my wife. i met her in 1986 and that was the beginning of me going back to things that were most important in my life. and we prayed about everything that happened. good people who believed in me, like president bush. i did not know president bush when he nominated me to the d.c. circuit. my good friend, ricky silverman, insisted that i think about it. [applause] larry silverman counseled me about it. at every turn -- and it will probably be boring to you all becaus

after a brief stint in corporate law, he followed the then senator danforth to washington dc, just in time for the reagan revolution. over the next dozen years, terrence thomas served in all three branches of government as a legislative aide to senator danforth, as chairman of the equal opportunity employment commission, and circuit judge on the united states court of appeals for the d c circuit. along the way, he met and married virginia, his soulmate. [applause] in 1991, he was appointed to this agreement court by president george h.w. bush. by this time, he had emerged as an outspoken conservative. so the confirmation process exacted a personal toll. by following the example of his grandfather, he persevered. and our nation is very fortunate that he did. on the court, justice thomas has been a steady and committed originalist, playing a pivotal role in the recovery and restoration of the original method of constitutional interpretation. he has made substantial and

i learned things from jack danforth. learned that you do not judge people or use labels, a republican versus this or that. i also learned that you can treat people fairly and be decent and honest with everybody. he was always absolutely honest and ethical. watching him be that way, you learn how to be that way with others. he was a compassionate man also. he was very good to me. day, i thank god that along the way -- again, remember, i had absolutely no one to give me guidance. i thank god that i met so many good people. elc, being protected by people) hatch and strom thurmond. i did not know strom thurmond. hearings andr 60 some of those were pretty brutal. every time, the people i could count on in the senate were orrin hatch and strom thurmond. [applause] in any case, that job meant everything to me because it was a model for how i would conduct myself and what to expect in the future. >> let's talk about your decision to come to d.c. in 1979. at that point, a major political shift was underway. what is now called the

. >> i shouldn't have gotten hammered down at the danforth.rinks, you stay at home and that's it. you don't make a public spectacle of yourself. [ laughter ] >> one, i would very much like to know what happened down at the danforth. and two, you realize from now on, i'm just going to get [ bleep ] up at home? it may not be the answer to either your substance abuse problems or your job as the guy who runs toronto. >> you've got to love that guy. he promises it will probably never happen again. >>> now, it's all fun and games until someone loses a llama. that's right. at least that's one circus operator saying in france this morning. five young men in france were looking to taking out a zebra for a little joy ride from their local circus. when plan "a" didn't work out, they did the next best thing, they stole a llama. they took the animal around the town using the city's tram system. they posted this on twitter to show their exploits. all five thieves are facing misdemeanor charges. they were eventually caught by the train operator. that is some

because she lost, because not enough people in missouri and not enough women voted, danforth had onceired a young man named clarence thomas who had left his studies as a catholic priest to go to law school, sharing danforth's idea of nation of church and state. elevated to the u.s. senate, danforth sought out this rare black conservative, took him out of his job as a corporate lawyer for monsanto, made him a legislative ad, and championed him every step of the way. he became chairman of the equal opportunity commission. he made everyone watch "the fountainhead" because he was a devotee of ayn rand. you can't make this stuff up. [laughter] he served in the d.c. court of appeals and so on. we all know what happened. so, i just want to say to you that when we think about our individual votes and our activism, we need to remember the parable about for want of a nail, the horseshoe was lost and for want of a horse, the battle was lost. because of clarence thomas' vote if danforth had not been a senator, he would not have taken clarence thomas. if he had not had those credentials he would n

john danforth became the senator from missouri. that was a long time before, right? it was less than 2000 votes that made the difference. it was so clearly about money and about last-minute money -- her race was the inspiration for starting emily's list, which means early money is like yeast. it was clear that she should and ould have won. because she lost, because not enough people in missouri and not enough women voted, danforth had once hired in his attorney general's office a young man named clarence thomas, who had left his studies at -- as a catholic priest to go to law chool. danforth sought out this rare black conservative, took him out of his job as a corporate lawyer for monsanto -- [laughter] made him a legislative aide and championed his career every step of the way. thomas became chair of the equal employment opportunities commission where he dismantled class-action suits and so on, here he made every member of his staff watch the fountain head because he was a dweetee. you can't make this stuff up -- devotee. you can't make this stuff up. he served on t

i learned things from jack danforth. i learned that you do not judge people or use labels, a republican versus this or that. i also learned that you can treat people fairly and be decent and honest with everybody. he was always absolutely honest and ethical. watching him be that way, you learn how to be that way with others. he was a compassionate man also. he was very good to me. every day, i thank god that along the way -- again, remember, i had absolutely no one to give me guidance. i thank god that i met so many good people. my years at elc, being protected by people) hatch and strom thurmond. i did not know strom thurmond. but i had over 60 hearings and some of those were pretty brutal. every time, the people i could count on in the senate were orrin hatch and strom thurmond. [applause] in any case, that job meant everything to me because it was a model for how i would conduct myself and what to expect in the future. >> let's talk about your decision to come to d.c. in 1979. at that point, a major political shift wa

is there a danforth there? >> no. he's in st.nforth. >> sure. wow. julie pace in washington. >> one meechum in tennessee. one danforth in missouri. >> joining the table former mccain senior campaign strategist and nbc political analyst steve schmidt. >> we're going to talk about races in second. it will be an important race. same thing with new jersey for presidential politics. also in alabama, extraordinarily important race. john, i want to go back. let's talk about what we touched on for a minute or two. >> yeah. we had mike allen saying democrats are quietly starting to say to the white house, do yourself a favor. back up. let's delay this six months. get the launch right. clean up the mess. red state governors know it will blow up in their campaigns. they know it. so shouldn't the president -- historically looking at all of this, does it make sense for the president to back up, delay this for six months and go back and do it right? this launch has been catastrophic. it keeps getting worse every day for them politically. it's

notuse she lost, because enough people in missouri and not enough women voted, danforth had once hired young man named clarence thomas who had left his studies as a catholic priest to go to law school, sharing his unusual, nation of church and state. elevated to the u.s. senate, rarerth sought out this black conservative, took him out of his job as a corporate lawyer for monsanto, made him a legislative ed, and championed him every step of the way. he became chairman of the cooperative and he -- equal opportunity commission. he made everyone watch "the fou ntainhead" because he was a devotee of ayn rand. he served in the d.c. court of appeals and so on. we all know what happened. youi just want to say to that when we think about our individual votes and our activism, we need to remember for want of aout, nail, the horseshoe was lost and for want of a horse, the battle was lost. clarencethomas's -- thomas's votece -- if danforth had not been a senator, he would not have taken clarence thomas. woul -- if he had not had those credentials he would not have been nominated by the same presid

. >> i shouldn't have got hammered down at the danforth.oing to have a couple of drinks you stay at home. st. patrick's day, another incident. it got a little out of control. i can't change the past. to sit here and say, you know, i'm going to lose 100 pounds and i'm going to be a brand-new person in six months or a year, i'm not going to mislead people. i'm going to do my very best to make sure these mistakes don't happen again. >> for the record ford's chief of staff said the mayor should take a leave of absence and get his life together. we'll have a word from mayors from other cities who probably don't smoke crack coming up after the break. uce and cheese, fold it all up and boom! delicious unsloppy joes perfect for a school night. pillsbury grands biscuits. make dinner pop. pillsbury grands biscuits. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart

one being he showed up drunk to a street festival in the east end of toronto called taste of the danforthsthere, apologized for text messaging while driving. he apologized for an incident in st. patrick's day two years ago where he was walking around the main floor of city hall with a half bottle of brandy, slurring, rambling. it was a security incident report that the star recently obtained. >> could he be forced out? >> there's nothing that city council can do to force out the mayor. there's not sort of any impeachment legislation. the only way that he can be removed is if he misses three consecutive council meetings, presumably if he's in jail. even if he's charged, they can't force him to leave. the one thing that is key, though, is in toronto, unlike, say, a city like new york, the mayor does not have a lot of power. there's not the strong mayor system, they call it. the mayor doesn't have veto power. he really is just one vote in a council of 45. >> all right. an amazingly, there was a poll that showed his approval rating going up five points over the last week. thank you so much. we

the danforth dan carver reports and there is still time to get a deal. >> if you have not book your fightle to find a decent pair appeared >> people should use a flexible de search and travel on capp banks given day and come back the saturday after thanksgiving and for christmas the saturday before christmas and the saturday after christmas, are pretty cheap travel times estates the person at. >> bay area travelers may find affordable flies to certain destinations the best deal are all those wounds that have the most competition like chicago and new york for what they'll loss' biggest denver plays for a lot of airlines are vying for your business. >> the more competition the lore the fares will be paired >> in addition to decide he recommends kayak for its export base search and if you are open to travel to any location of the holiday he suggests global flight explorer which will write the fares by rate. >> if you are looking for holiday air fares you should look several times a day because of their flight fares fluctuate throughout the day. it >> travel experts say that there are a way a