bill clinton moving to work his nomination of a new democrat and the incumbent president george bush probably wondering what was happening with this challenge from ross perot. two texans going against each other. can you tell us more about the relationship? >> first off, bush 41 is really a houston figure. it is about international companies at the oil industry. ross perot is working with ibm and with his own data services company. there are different texas industries and a different geography. they got into a terrible feud over the pow and mia issues. he really accused bush and the cia and general of being part of a drug trade and southeast asia. there were actually going slush fund monies by selling heroin and other opiates. >> we should interject, george bush was head of the cia. >> exactly. became pretty nasty. there is no love lost between george herbert walker bush and ross perot. that is politics. the bigger question in 1992 as we are talking about this, which just heard about this populist campaign. he put somewhere around $12 million or $30 million of his own money into the g

times if a republican's elected, george w. bush is the guy that was old and he's done and there's no point in ping attention to them. if back obama wins the last republican to win was george w. bush i think he would raft see - rather see a reblican win, i don't think i cares that much. >> charlie:what about carl. >> he's the less investigate vee republicans. my sense is he would like to see mitt romney nominated. i get the sense by what he said. >> charlie: there's only two choices essentially for people like that today. today. >> right, today. absolutely true. i think carl cares about winning borrow he mainly cares about it for winning and that's some ideological sense. i mean carl -- >> charlie: was it always that way. >> i think it's probably always been that way. >> charlie: you were part of this idea. you bought into it big time. >> yes, i did. >> charlie: you bought into it big time. >> the democrat is the -- . >> charlie: compassionate conservativism and george bush could change the world. >> absolutely and change washington

george w. bush hasn't been seen or heard from, safe from a book tour and recent charity trip to africa for the past three years. the george w. bush era in the republican party everybody agrees is over at least for now. that's why republicans are having a hard time picking a presidential nominee. there are no inheritors of the george w. bush era in republican politics. at least they don't want to be seen that way. they're all saying they're reagan republicans or teddy roosevelt republicans. they may now want to be seen as calvin coolidge republicans or herbert hoover republicans? they'll be anything but none of these guys call themselves george w. bush republicans. and that's why it is so remarkable that the republican politics of the ending of the iraq war now are that the iraq war ought not end. that the real problem is that the troops are coming home in time for christmas. republicans, people running for president, elected officials, all of the conservative leading voices on issues like this, they

george w. bush, what you think would be the shortcomings that one achieves? >> well, i am 78 years old. i have lived a third of our country's history and almost every republican president was considered not very swift. dwight eisenhower played to much cause they say. he had a poor syntax. my goodness, gerald ford they said they too much football without a helmet. [laughter] didn't matter that he gone to yale law school. didn't matter as one of the leading experts on the u.s. budget having served on the appropriations committee. >> not to mention the best athlete in the white house. and they contended he was a stumblebum. i mean come you go from one to another. ronald reagan was characterized by clark clifford as an amiable dunce. and then people read his letters and saw that this man was thoughtful, knowledgeable. and while not a micromanager, a strategic leader. and a superb and highly successful strategic leader. george w. bush was described as not curious, not knowledgeable and he had gone to har

i remember a dinner during the george w. bush administration in southern california. it was norman lear and his wife, larry david, bob scheer. they were sitting around w eeping in their expensive soup about the fact that we were living in hell. rupert murdoch on the media. george bush was president. norman lear had his pulse on american culture for 30 years. why cannot figure out how to deal -- deliver a message that is important and happening? >> that is important. we can find messages that speak to people where they are. they can also have some satire like stewart or colbert. there is the idea of exposing with satire. it opens people's eyes to the hypocrisy and corruption of our politics. the problem is you want the captivating stories and images and vocabulary, but a lot of the colbert-stewart stuff is so absurd and over the top that people do not want to get engaged. >> that is where a large number of people get their news. >> i think the obama campaign was a pivotal point, bringing people in. now they leave. there is the possibility that people will come back in.

george w. bush hit a record.ore his reelection campaign, he had the valerie plane outing, secretary tom wight and enron, the energy task force, the coalition for provisional authority losing hundreds of billions in cash. the national guard awol scandal about his duty. when you think of that, though there is still time for barack obama to be hit, he will be going into this reelection as the first president without a scandal if that fast and furious does not take off for something. all of these won reelection are sizable enough margin that it is really hard to argue that the scandal had much of a difference, but this election, which prognosticators are likely to say will be very close, if someone like newt gingrich is his opponent and barack obama winds up still unscathed by the scandal, it could be something that matters. we think it is an important subject and we are glad to hear. let me introduce the panel. jonathan alter, a contributing editor for "washington monthly," "bloomberg view," and an author of "the pr

we now know that this was an illegal war it was a war that george w. bush was hell bent on starting well before he was even elected president as he told his biographer mickey herskowitz in one thousand nine hundred nine he was going to invade iraq to become a wartime president so he could get enough political capital to privatized social security same way reagan got a bump from the grenada invasion george w. bush got his war and it exacted an incredible toll on our nation's soldiers our treasure and our reputation around the world in a ceremony from baghdad secretary of defense leon panetta said we do not forget the lessons of war let's hope not and let's never again let a war criminal president drive us into a war just to up his approval numbers and now let's remember that we are still fighting a full fledged war in afghanistan we are still fighting a slew of covert wars in far off place far off places around the world from pakistan to somalia to yemen and we still have an empire of nine hundred military bases all over the planet we still have a long way t

president george w. bush made a decision when he first came into office that he was concerned about the fact that iraq was firing regularly at the united states and united kingdom aircraft that were supporting the united nations no flies on them patrolling in the northern and southern portion of iraq. those plans are being shot at almost every day. the only country in the world they were shooting at american and british aircraft over 2000 times they were fired on. the joint chiefs of staff advise me in the president they were concerned about the fact that eventually one of our planes in a british plane or planes would be shut down and the crews would be killed or taken hostage. third, the united states department of state had listed iraq is one of the countries on the terrorist list. so there were a series of things like that by way of background. next come in the united states intelligence agencies spend a great deal of time and determined that they were convinced that the iraqi government had weapons of mas

this time as the scope but even when he said i was the obvious for the next president even though george bush and you never got along, he wasn't an effective state because people knew the president. bush relied on her very much and when she replaced the secretary of state even by most measures she was less qualified by experience to turn out to be a stronger and more effective secretary of state because she had the presidential relationship which of course she had built in the procession of the national security adviser. >> how did james jones to for president obama and tom donnelly? the ann jones appointment is a puzzle. i'm sure if you could get inside the president's mind he would explain why he voted james jones and there's a whole the reason. a senior retired marine general which secretary by refusing to be considered as the joint chiefs under donald rumsfeld because he thought correctly if donald rumsfeld who was charged w. bush's defense secretary with people down and not showing strength in terms of their own positions. rumsfeld is one of these people that gained power but everybody e

former president george h.w. bushling "houston chronicle" he thinks mitt romney is the best candidate for the republican nomination. here is romney's reactio reactit a short while ago. >> i had a chance to chat with the president this afternoon and wished him merry christmas. he did the same for me. i thanked him for his support. his leadership. his heroic life and his friendship. it means a great deal to me. i must admit this is much more important to me personally than especially politically. he is a real hero to me. and in my family. i appreciate his support. >> dana: so this stirred up the 2012 debate a little bit today. andrea, were you surprised at the timing of it or you think right about now when people send out endorsements? >> andrea: the g.o.p. establishment is lining up behind mitt romney. we saw nikki haley. we saw -- >> dana: is she establishment? >> eric: no. >> andrea: look, she is a sitting governor. i would say yes, she is very, very credible. i think it's a huge sign; particularly, in south carolina

the incumbent president, george bush, probably what was happening in this challenge from ross perot. can you tell us about the relationship? >> bush 41 is really a houston figure. about international companies, oil trading and international industry. ross perot was working with ibm and his fund data service company. different texas industries and different texas geographies, but they got into a terrible feud over the pows and mias issue. he accused the cia of being part of a drug trade in southeast asia, that they were doing/fund money by selling heroin and other opiates. >> we should interject that george bush was head of the cia. >> exactly. there was no love lost between church -- between george herbert walker bush and ross perot. but that's politics. the bigger question in 1992 is we just heard about this populist campaign approach but remember, he put somewhere around $12 million into its own money into the game. -- $12 million of his own money into the game and was able to buy these half an hour tv commercials. in one of them, he garnered about 10.5 million viewers. following no

george w. bush made a decision when he first came into office that he was concerned about the fact that iraq was firing regularly at the united states and united kingdom aircraft that were supporting the united nations no flies on them patrolling in the northern and southern portion of iraq. those plans are being shot at almost every day. the only country in the world they were shooting at american and british aircraft over 2000 times they were fired on. the joint chiefs of staff advise me in the president they were concerned about the fact that eventually one of our planes in a british plane or planes would be shut down and the crews would be killed or taken hostage. third, the united states department of state had listed iraq is one of the countries on the terrorist list. so there were a series of things like that by way of background. next come in the united states intelligence agencies spend a great deal of time and determined that they were convinced that the iraqi government had weapons of mas

in 1980, iowa republicans picked republican george h.w. bushnald reagan who eventually won the nomination and the presidency. in 1998 they picked bob dole over george h.w. bush and mr. bush went onto become the b8 republican nominee and win the presidency. iowa's track picking the nominee is at best joining me now is steve kornacki, news editor. we pay a lot of attention to the election. we must. it's our duty. it's the first. i want to look at a caucusgoer and the kind of questions they are getting now.ç here is someone who will be at the caucus asking newt gingrich a question about president obama. >> according to the constitution, those that are running for office must be a citizen of the united states. why is mr. obama not have to prove his citizenship as he's going to all these other countries besides leading our country? let me answer this. i thought you were going to ask if donald trump had citizenship. >> no. no chance. no chance. >> all i can report is the state of hawaii has certified that he was born there. this is one of the issue

george bush senior says i'm not the biggest advocate. gop presidential hopeful ron paul is bristling at reporters out on the campaign trail. gloria borzer in iowa. she kept asking him about controversial newsletter published in his name. those containing racially charged comments. [ no audio ] >> talk to people like you. >> and then he kind of just walks away. we don't have the sound for some reason. in any case, another controversial comment included in this statement from 1992 in which ron paul said order was only restored in la when it came time for blacks to pick up their welfare checks. so what do you think about all of this? even though we didn't have the sound, should ron paul be held accountable for the things said a long time ago in his name and were his questions out of line. he said he didn't even know what was in the newsletter until a decade after they were released. he doesn't believe it anymore. send your comments to mail bag at wusa9.com. >>> rising from the ashes, students will be going back to their former school after

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

. >> karl rove gave us george bush and george bush crashed and burned. because of that we have obama. >> reporter: like other frontrunners this year, gingrich has problems in his own party, even with fellow conservatives like tom coburn who gingrich helped sweep into congress in 1994. >> there are all types of leaders. leaders that instill confidence, leaders that are abrupt and brisk. leaders with one standard for the people they are leading and a different standard for themselves. >> reporter: brian, keep an eye on the class of 94. 70-plus republicans elected that year. so far none of the current members from that class in the house or senate have endorsed. it appears just one endorsed newt gingrich. brian? >> interesting to see how it collides with the money and organization of the romney campaign. chuck todd in our washington newsroom tonight. chuck, we'll stay at it. thanks. >>> president obama for his part threw down with congressional republicans today over extending the payroll tax cut for another year. nbc's kristen welker with us tonight was th

george w. bush made a decision when he first came into office that he was concerned about the fact that iraq was firing regularly at the united states and united kingdom aircraft that were supporting the united nations no flies on them patrolling in the northern and southern portion of iraq. those plans are being shot at almost every day. the only country in the world they were shooting at american and british aircraft over 2000 times they were fired on. the joint chiefs of staff advise me in the president they were concerned about the fact that eventually one of our planes in a british plane or planes would be shut down and the crews would be killed or taken hostage. third, the united states department of state had listed iraq is one of the countries on the terrorist list. so there were a series of things like that by way of background. next come in the united states intelligence agencies spend a great deal of time and determined that they were convinced that the iraqi government had weapons of mas

both george bush -- george w. bush and bill clinton. >> you wrote that, and i'm going to "your book year. each participant remembers the debate performance to the prison, emotional as low as political. is there any debate performance, either there's or yours that sort of sticks out in your mind? >> sure. sure. here's one of the problems. sitting so close. remember, it's all about television. this was where the millions of people watching on television. it is in the studio program. this is not a pep rally for the opposing candidates or any of that. it's not even an interview program, it's not -- the purpose of the debate is not to show how terrific the moderator is. >> how much i know. exactly, how quickie or she is in responding and all that. abcafor instance, to answer your question specifically, the one i remember more than any other was first outdoor, george w. bush debate. and i was sitting right where i am now. bush was to my right. gore was to my left. very close. in fact, i was the closest person to them obv

more than double the rate under george bush.ning us to analyze from washington, john, the director of communications for the american cross roads a republican group. and in studio, bernard whitman, a democratic strategist. jonathan, let me start with you. mr. obama was very quick when he was running for president to point the finger at george bush talk being $4 trillion added over an eight-year span. in three years, obama added more than that number on to the debt. go ahead. >> yeah. it's kind of reminiscent of when the president, when avenues senator from illinois, he had voted against extending the debt ceiling. multiple votes in congress when he was a senator and then he came back to congress when he was president and asked them to extend the debt ceiling. i don't think the president wants a fight over this. i mean, i think that since the stimulus passed in 2009, there has really been an absence of coherent economics and jobs policy coming out of the white house. what we've seen, especially recently, is we're not even seeing

george w. bush and i became the secretary of state. so focus but the most important starts right now, your passion. [applause] >> let's talk a little but the organization of decision making in your role in the national security council. that role was almost painful for me to read. if you were to advise them after your experience in that job in particular as president of the united states, would you suggest to them that one characteristic of the members of that team with a secretary defense, treasury, even the vice president gets along well with others? >> that might eliminate a fair number of people in washington so i would be careful about that. there's no doubt we had very strong personalities, but i felt i give the impression in the book that they were debates about substance, these were not personal issues. nonetheless, we got along just fine until the most stressful time it the most stressful times were read the war and tear her into iraq. and so perhaps the lesson is in the so-called normal ti

this compares to president george bush, back in 2007. our debt for the entire year was $160 billion. when we topped that -- >> congresswoman, that misstates the record. the bush presidency -- >> there's no comparison. david, wait a minute. >> no, i just want to stop you for accuracy, congresswoman. >> we're talking ten times -- >> the debt exploded under the bush administration. >> for accuracy -- david. then let me finish. do a comparison. i agre with you that there was too much money that was spent under george bush. but for the year 2007, the debt for the year was $160 billion. the debt for this last year about $1.5 trillion. that's almost ten times more in debt than george bush, and just for the month of -- for the month of i think it's november of this year, it was more than the entire year for t2007. so there's no question that the debt has just skyrocketed under president obama, in comparison to george bush. >> let me just point out, i don't want to appear to be cutting you off. sometimes the satellite delay can exacerbate that. s