michael dukakis will never, never, never forget it.o remember -- i want you to remember -- it is wicked odd for a democratic governor to get booed at a democratic convention. but he managed to do it, not because of the content of his speech, but because it was so horribly boring and more importantly, so unbearably long. the delegates were actually trying to boo him off the stage because they couldn't take it anymore. bill clinton wisely figured out exactly what he had to do next. he had to publicly confess his sin and beg the king of the popular culture side of american politics for forgiveness. and so he did that on johnny carson's "tonight show." >> i wanted so badly to make michael dukakis look great and i succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. >> there was bill clinton doing the most important thing you could possibly do on "the tonight show" making johnny laugh. how boring could bill clinton be if he could make johnny laugh? when bill clip ton made johnny laugh, that was the moment that democrats and republicans should have bee

exit polls, in 19 8, 88% of the people who disapproved of reagan on his way out the door voted for dukakis0% of people who disapproved of clinton on his way out voted for george w. bush. in '08 it was roughly 2/3 of ,ez of clinton voted for obama. the next democrat nominee has to figure out a more compelling way to talk about what has and has not been achieved over the last eight years because the big lesson of 2014 is this will not go away by ignoring it. if voters do not think that the direction that the president has pursued is generally beneficial for the country, look, the next republican is going to be less continuity with obama than hillary clinton no matter what she does. >> yeah. obviously given our conversation tonight with the ruchairman, i don't mindñ-[ talking on the satellite feed. you see why at the top of this conversation i was almost giddy that ron brownstein is back in l.a. after a few years of being on the east coast. >> yeah. >> good to have you here. good to see you. that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. and as always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more inform

. >> remember the time when you were preparing for the 1988 debates with michael dukakis and the dayr than be quiet little girl and go to your room leads the search for spiky, the stuffed dog. >> it was pretty remarkable that you were baby-sitting us the night before the debate anyway. where were you? out to dinner? >> preparing for the debate. i don't know where i was. good news is they found spiky. >> my dad is bias and i am as well, but my dad learned a lot about his dad writing this book and in turn, i got to learn a lot about my dear grandfather. back to you. >> jenna bush haeger, thank you so much. a special family look. since we are on a family theme, we had to show you this theme from the white house in honor of veterans day. first late michelle obama invited young children over for a playdate. some got impatient and they were running around the old executive office building. who was able to calm them down? >> everyone, isn't this exciting? >> yes, the big treat for the kids is dock mcstuff ins, a popular character from a disney show. for lotus f1 team, the competitive edge i

bush won against mike dukakis, not the strongest candidate in the world.hat 2016 could be more of an uphill climb? >> i think it is going to be an uphill climb. the republicans clobbered us in an election. we clobbered ourselves everyone thought it would be a good message to rubble without a message other than i don't like president obama either. kay hagan ran a great campaign and deserved to win. it is a more conservative state and a low turnout. but you have to take this seriously. hillary clinton won't have a problem getting the nomination but this is going to be a tough election in 2016 for president and nobody should think that anybody is going to walk into the white house. we have to see who they nominate. they have the wing nut wing of their party if they nominate one of them, hillary is steady and a known quantity. they nominate a sent resist person we have a race on our hands. but i do disagree with peter who is like molly, a very good reporter but i think he is wrong about excitement among young people, young women are incredibly excited about th

approval ratings back in 1980 were very good coming democrats in their infinite wisdom nominated michael dukakis and sort of the rest is history. for 2016, the are a couple things we don't know. obviously, history argues that republicans ought to win the presidency in 2016, but the question is will they have repaired their brand? have they repaired some of the problems with minority voters, young voters, women voters, self-described moderate voters? and beyond this, with this year maybe a little bit but i would argue that some of those groups just safely schedule. it will be very interesting to watch, for example, to see whether latino turnout dropped disproportionately, for example, with being upset that immigration has gone through and all that. so have republicans addressed their brand of challenges? will obviously make a difference on top of this obviously whoever the republican nominee is going to be. and on the other hand, what kind of shape is the democratic brand? that's where i would love to know what president obama's job approval ratings in the summer and fall of 2016, how is the affo

mike dukakis was the best shot they had. they didn't make a mistake. republicans had. that was the problem. they didn't have someone who could beat bill clinton who was running and this is what you're looking at in those numbers is because we don't have anyone, mitt romney looks pretty good in a comparative sense. that's about not having anyone. >> i don't know about that, lawrence. i think he's been proven right on a number of issues over the long haul and secondly things have been so sort of -- people are so fed up with things not functioning, they want someone who is competent. >> why after john kerry lost and ran a pretty great campaign came that close with an incumbent president, why did democrats say we're done with him? they had someone better at that time. >> who do republicans have better than mitt romney right now? >> i don't know. it's a rationale outcome to a bad situation. >> we could all say 1976 wasn't ronald reagan's time. ronald reagan was a joke in 1976. i remember watching "all in the family" and one of my favorite moments was when a

democrats in their infinite wisdom nominated michael dukakis, and the rest is history. for 2016, there are couple of things we don't know. history argues that republicans ought to win the presidency in 2016. but the big question is, will they have repaired their plan -- their brand? will they have repaired some their problems with minority voters, young voters, women voters, self-described moderate voters? that some of those groups just basically stayed home. it will be interesting to watch to see whether latino turnout dropped disproportionally, for , being upset that immigration hasn't gone through and all that. so if republicans address their brand challenges, it will obviously make a difference. obviously also whoever the republican nominee will be. on the other hand, what kind of shape is the democratic brand in? with president obama's job approval ratings in the summer and fall of 2016, how is the affordable care act, is it up rather than upside down where it has been? what is the economy looking like? not just that, but how do people feel the economy is doing? te

if the caller would like to go back to the days of walter mondale and dukakis, he can do that. i would like to return to the record of bill clinton. his economic record is stunning. there is not a person in the white house who had clinton's economic record. on the politics and the substance, i would welcome the day we returned to bill clinton's politics and substance. that would be great for the country, great for the democratic party, and fantastic for the middle class. host: cap is up next in michigan. how optimistic are you? caller: is the democratic party starts acting like democrats, it might help. the republicans have walked the ideas in this country farther and farther and farther to the right. they define what is going on. there is a lot of common ground out there already. there is the minimum wage. the common sense gun control -- the senate immigration bill, low-interest loans for students -- i mean, all of those things, in the general country of this been united states has approved by over a majority of 60% of americans, and the republicans that won pretended to be mo

infiniterats, in their wisdom, nominated michael dukakis, and sort of the rest is history. for 2006, there are a couple of things we don't know. obviously the history argues that republicans ought to win the presidency in 2016. is, willig question they have repaired their brand? they have repaired some of problems with minority voters, young voters, women voters, self-described moderate voters? to be honest, with this year, maybe a little bit. but i would argue that some of just basically stayed home. it will be very interesting to seeh, for example, to whether latino turnout dropped disproportionately, for example, that immigration hasn't gone through and all that. republicans addressed their brand challenges? that will obviously make a difference, on top of obviously whoever the republican nominee is going to be. on the other hand, though, what kind of shape is the democrat brand in? that's where i'd love to know, is president obama's approval ratings in the summer and fall of 2016? the affordable care act -- you know, is it closer to even up, rather than upside down wher

managed the neat trick of getting appointed by two governors who shared little else in common, michael dukakis and mitt romney. she moved slightly south in 2004 to become head of connecticut's epa. president obama nominated her to be assistant administrator of the epa's office of air and radiation in 2009 where she earned the nickname as the president's green quarterback. she was appointed to epa in 2013 after a lengthy confirmation battle. they have three grown children. she's reported to relax in the evening by reading government documents with barefoot con tessa playing in the background. my kind of woman. thus the buy graphical portion of the program. now on to this morning's mechanics. anga is sponsoring a number of monitor breakfasts today. our thanks to marty durban and colleagues frank merpiolla and dan whitten, sitting in the back at the tablg helping spare me from the pain of premature retirement. we're on the record here. no live blogging or tweeting. in short, no filing at any kind while the breakfast is under way to give us a chance to listen to what our guest says. to help you re

to get more people out of prison, or are these stories in the news like willie horton during the dukakis campaign, so he commits a really gruesome crime and it's hard for us to put the guys because his more memorable than the thousands of people who came and did really well. i think you're right. we have to think about how to tell the stories of people succeeding better and get them in the news more. >> create a counter narrative to all the negativity that's constantly pushed is so vital to the success. we can change all the policies we won't. we can realize more resources to different places, but until the narrative is changed to what it is for someone who has committed a crime, because i can say through and through when i was 16 i committed a crime but it wasn't a criminal. and i think that that's a dialogue that we have to begin to have with the public. so when a person commits the crime, they are not for ever wearing a scarlet letter in society, and actually have an opportunity to succeed. and an opportunity to go back to the kennedys and make it a lot more successful. i think we jus

. >> you remember the time you were preparing for the 1998 debate debates with dukakis and barbara couldn'tand go to your room, leads a search for spiky, the stuffed dog. >> reporter: it was pretty remarkable as you were debating the night before, anyway. where were you? out to dinner? >> i was preparing for the debate. i don't know where i was. thank goodness they found spiky. >> reporter: during all the years on the campaign trail he was simply gampy to us. >> i don't know if you remember in 1994, in texas, jenna came to the stage and kept lifting up her skirt in front of the child and drew attention to herself. >> i was 4. >> you did put on quite a show and dad was very talent. >> reporter: you were a great grandfather, you are a great-grandfathe great-grandfather. >> you're so sweet. >> reporter: my grandfather considers serving his country his greatest privilege and his family is ultimate gift. now a loving tribute to my grandfather. >> people ask me who's the most influential president? >> no contest, george h.w. bush. >> reporter: would you say the same thing about him? >> unconditio

not on ideology, just that michael dukakis word, confidence. >> here comes the test for the presidently. it's a repudiation of his policies. so if he wakes up this morning and this is the great leadership test in my view of his presidency. how does he begin to try to restore some level of trust and confidence in the american people with regard to our systems of governance in this country? because you look at the totality of all the polls what they come back and say they have little faith in our political leaders across the country to actually govern the country. >> republicans and democrats alike. if the republicans numbers are low, the republican's numbers lower. >> mitch mcconnell had head winds going against him of anger at congress, anger at incumbents and a 52% negative in the early exits. and at the same time, he won and he won because first of all i don't think his opponent ran a good campaign but also obama was a drag. about what presidents can accomplish in their second -- after this kind of setback in their second term. bill clinton facing every bit of scandal and after loss

if the caller would like to go back to the days of walter mondale and dukakis, he can do that. i would like to return to the record of bill clinton. his economic record is stunning. there is not a person in the white house who had clinton's economic record. on the politics and the substance, i would welcome the day we returned to bill clinton's politics and substance. that would be great for the country, great for the democratic party, and fantastic for the middle class. host: cap is up next in michigan. how optimistic are you? caller: is the democratic party starts acting like democrats, it might help. the republicans have walked the ideas in this country farther and farther and farther to the right. they define what is going on. there is a lot of common ground out there already. there is the minimum wage. the common sense gun control -- the senate immigration bill, low-interest loans for students -- i mean, all of those things, in the general country of this been united states has approved by over a majority of 60% of americans, and the republicans that won pretended to be mo

. >> do you remember the time when you were preparing for the 1988 debates with michael dukakis, and't find spiky, the dog? >> oh, yeah. >> so, gampy, rather than, be quiet, little girl, and go to your room, leads the search for spiky, the stuffed dog. >> it was pretty remarkable that you were babysitting us the night before the debate anyway. >> yeah. >> where were you? out to dinner? >> i was preparing for the debate. no, i don't know where i was. good news was they found spiky. >> even during his busiest days in the white house or on the campaign trail, he was always simply gampy to us. >> i don't know if you remember in 1984 when you came to midland, texas, and jenna came on the stage and kept lifting up her skirt in front of the crowd, drawing attention to yourself. >> i was trying to get arrested. that was 4. >> she did put on a show, and dad, of course, was very tolerate. >> you were tolerant. you were a great grandfather. you are a great grandfather. >> you're so sweet. >> my grandfather considers serving his country his greatest privilege. his family the ultimate gift. and n

managed the neat trick of getting appointed by two governors who shared little else in common, michael dukakis and mitt romney. she moved slightly south to head the connecticut epa. in 2009 she earned the nickname of the president's green quarterback. she was confirmed as epa administrator in july 2013 after lengthy confirmation battle. the administrator and her husband have three grown children. she is reported to relax in the evening by reading government documents with the barefoot contests are playing in the background. my kind of woman. that is the biographical portion of the program. now to this morning's mechanics. america's natural gas alliance is sponsoring a number of monitored breakfast today, my thanks to colleagues who are sitting at the table, helping spare me from the pain of premature retirement. as always we are on the record here. please no live blogging are tweeting or filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway. let's listen to what our guest says. to help you resist that relentless urge, we will e-mail several pictures of the session to our reporters here as soon as

there she went on to other positions first massachusetts rashid shared a little else in common with dukakis and mayor romney then moved slightly south for the connecticut it epa and obama us nominated her in 2009 where she earned the nickname the president's brief quarterback. and after a lengthy confirmation battle the administrator and her husband have three grown children she relaxes by reading government documents thence a biographical portion of the program fell onto the mechanics. the natural gas alliance sponsors the breakfast today and our thanks to the ceo and the colleagues aware sitting in the back at the table to save me from the pain of premature retirement. we're always on the record no live plucking or tweeting or no fighting while the breakfast is under way to listen to our guest. there is no embargo after the breakfast. we will e-mail pitchers to all reporters as soon as a breakfast and. as regular attendees no to ask a question please send me a nonthreatening signal that i will call when you and the time we have available. we will start with the opening comments and thank