former president george h.w. bush the former soviet president, mikhail gorbachev and former german chancellor helmet coal attended this ceremony. president bush said the wall's collapse had more to do with the determination of everyday people than the power of governments. >> the historic events we are gathered to celebrate were set in motion not in bonn or moscow or in washington but rather in the hearts and minds of people who had too long been deprooiched their god-given rights. and the wall could confine them from loved ones and lock them in a failing economic system, but in the end it could not extinguish the embers of their undying hope or harness their human desire for freedom. >> kohl called the fall of the berlin wall his proudest moment as chancellor. >>> two men accused in a terrorism investigation face an

former president george h.w. bushe last soviet leader and former german chancellor were honored in berlin. bush said the wall's collapse had more to do with the determination of everyday people than the power of big governments. >> the historic events we are gathered to celebrate were set the in motion not in moscow or washington but rather in the hearts and minds of people who had too long been deprived their god-given of rights. and the wall could confine them from loved ones and lock them in a failing economic system, but in the end it could not extinguish the embers of their undying hope or harness their human desire for freedom. >> germany's former chancellor said the fall of the berlin wall was his proudest moment. >>> the suspect in a deadly iraq bombing managed to kill someone during a police interrogation. the iraq's interior ministry says he grabbed a gun from a guard and shot an investigator. the investigator wrestled the gun back and shot the suspect. both died from their injuries. the suspect also wounded

former president george h.w. bush gorbachev and helmut cole were there. bush said the collapse had more to do with the power of everyday people than the power of big governments. >> the historic events we were gathered to celebrate were set in motion not in bond moscow or washington, but rather in the hearts and minds of people who had too long been deprived their god-given rights. and the world could confine them from loved ones, lock them in a failing economic system, but in the end it could not extinguish the embers of their undying hope or harness their human desire for freedom. >> helm kohl said the fall of the wall was his proudest moment. >>> an iraqi immigrant accused of running down his daughter because she was too westernized has been extradited. he was arrested in the atlanta airport on thursday. he tried to fly to the united kingdom but was denied entrance and returned to the united states. he's accuse of running over his daughter withes i h car because he didn't think she was living according to tradition

in 1964, george h.w. bush called medicare socialized medicine.ewt gingrich, when he was speaker of the house, said he wanted to see medicare -- quote -- "wither on the vine." in 1995, while seeking the republican nomination for president, senator bob dole bragged that he voted against creating medicare in 1965. he bragged about it. he said, "i was there fighting the fight, voting against medicare because we knew it wouldn't work in 1965." so the republicans are saying that the democrats want to destroy medicare in this bill that. is beyond ridiculous. the american people know who's on their side when it comes to protecting medicare. you know, we didn't just wake up this morning. we know who brought us medicare. this bill expands medicaid. that's medicaid, for the poor, to ensure that the poorest and sickest among us can get into the program. and we're going to get into the program those with incomes below 133% of the poverty level. now, that means that more than 1.5 million of my californians who are now uninsured or struggling with the cost of h

he served in the state department's latin american bureau during the reagan and george h.w. bush administration. he has reported on cuban economic topics and analyzed u.s. policy towards cuba for more than a decade and rights the blogged, the cuban triangle. thank you all very much for being with us and general mccaffrey why don't you start. >> mr. chairman thank you and congressman ros-lehtinen for the opportunity to be here to join this distinguished panel. i think it is inappropriate time to address this issue. let me if i may add, i provided most of you with a copy of some of the work i've done particularly an op-ed i submitted to the "miami herald" a few months back dealing with this issue. a couple of thoughts. in january i will be back in cuba again to, as an adjunct professor in international affairs to listen to the situation on the ground to try to learn how we can move forward in the coming years to bring back into the community of nations the cuban people from which they have been isolated while under the control of the totalitarian regime for the better part of 50 ye

george h.w. bush and -- william jefferson clinton. [applause] and what they did together, aside from freaking everyone out, they raised awareness and the funds for the victims of tsunamis and hurricane katrina and struck back against the unnatural toll that natural disasters take on the least fortunate members of society. ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor, my pleasure, i really, really like this man. please welcome past liberty member awardee, the chairman of the national constitution center and the 42nd president of the united states of america, william jefferson clinton. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very much, governor, mayor, superintendent mcleod, the officers and the board members of the constitutional center and my colleagues and everyone who made this night possible. i would like to thank wonderful musicians who played the theme from ask the schindler's list." and my friend whoopi goldberg. mostly i think all of you for being here tonight and i'm grateful for the opportunity to actually present the liberty me

george w. bush was trying to react or maybe be different from his own father, george h.w. bush pieno and i think when you look at bill in senator clinton, they are all sorts of interactions there. one of the reasons they became so famous and so well-known was their family problems. they marched on the scene really talking about the problems in their marriage and in some ways the problems in their marriage dominated president clinton's to terms, so personal issues are huge when you talk about presidential decision-making so when you share the presidency and immediate families that really brings in a lot of personal baggage that the prime-- country probably doesn't need and if hugo back in look at the history of a lot of our presidents even though they may not have shared president among-- presidency among the immediate families except the addams family, again family issues are huge. a lot of their decision-making and a lot of their issues. so with hubering family issues and multiply it with the fact that a son is trying to follow a father or a wife is trying to follow a husb

he served under the george h.w. bushdministration and along with condoleezza rice co-authored one of the studies of the falls of the wall and the its aftermath. later he had a hand on drafting the final -- producing arguably the most influential report in history and undo itedly the most readable. he was with the council of state. i'm jeff a professor here at uva and a fellow here at the miller center and try to ride herd on the heels of these gentlemen which will be no easy task. please turn off your cell phones. feen they are on vibrate they disrupt room. i'll make a few comments and then we'll open it up for q and a and discussion. >> first i'm going to lead by example by turning off my blackberry. >> thank you. >> jeff, thank you and to mel and stevens and family for the responsibility for organizing this conference and giving me an opportunity to take a subject and exercise a part of my brain that i thought i'd left behind when hi left the academy and joined the foreign as far as as the first foreign service officer

in 1964, george h.w. bush called medicare socialized medicine. newt gingrich, when he was speaker of the house, said he wanted to see medicare -- quote -- "wither on the vine." in 1995, while seeking the republican nomination for president, senator bob dole bragged that he voted against creating medicare in 1965. he bragged about it. he said, "i was there fighting the fight, voting against medicare because we knew it wouldn't work in 1965." so the republicans are saying that the democrats want to destroy medicare in this bill that. is beyond ridiculous. the american people know who's on their side when it comes to protecting medicare. you know, we didn't just wake up this morning. we know who brought us medicare. this bill expands medicaid. that's medicaid, for the poor, to ensure that the poorest and sickest among us can get into the program. and we're going to get into the program those with incomes below 133% of the poverty level. now, that means that more than 1.5 million of my californians who are now uninsured or struggling with the cost of

and -- george h.w. bush. and john mccain and alongside you steve schmitt who was the manager of the mccain company and the george w. bush 2004 election campaign. i have some of that slightly wrong but is in the bio right. hillary rosen was for a long time chair of the recording industry of america. also a founder of rock to vote, a democratic strategist. teddy vine who i saw on the moon walk this morning getting his coffee and do nuts in front of jackson square. think you've had 17 winning independence campaigns and you work for kerry and gore, helping the senior strategist on their campaigns. and kiki mclean senior advisor to hillary clinton. and you were the advicer for d.n.c. president cow went asked me to -- off our lunch, said, i've got one question. if a political consultant really feels strongly about something for the good of both the campaign and the government or whatever, what influence do they have on what the candidate will say are you really just a hired gun who's not there to provide the advice,

senior elder statesman of the field, having been a senior political advisor to ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, and for the john mccain campaign. there is steve schmidt, the day- to-day manager of the mccain campaign and the george w. bush 2004 election campaign. i have some of that slightly wrong, but it is right in the biography, right? right. hilary rosen was in the recording industry association of america. she is also a member of rock the vote. ted devine, i saw him on the moon walk this morning. he was getting done its on jackson square. i think you have 17 winning democratic campaigns. you worked for kerry and gorda. -- gore. we have kiki mclean. president callan nasa may -- president how one asked mcowen t influence do they have on what the candidates will say or are you just a hired gun who is not there to provide the device? -- provide the advice? >> the fact is that sometimes we work for candidates. i think we believe in all of the candidates, even if they are people we just met and have not known long time before we work for them. but, in some cases, we do work with somebody we hav

he served in the state department's latin american bureau during the reagan and george h.w. bush administration. he has reported on cuban economic topics and analyzed u.s. policy towards cuba for more than a decade and rights the blogged, the cuban triangle. thank you all very much for being with us and general mccaffrey why don't you start. >> mr. chairman thank you and congressman ros-lehtinen for the opportunity to be here to join this distinguished panel. i think it is inappropriate time to address this issue. let me if i may add, i provided most of you with a copy of some of the work i've done particularly an op-ed i submitted to the "miami herald" a few months back dealing with this issue. a couple of thoughts. in january i will be back in cuba again to, as an adjunct professor in international affairs to listen to the situation on the ground to try to learn how we can move forward in the coming years to bring back into the community of nations the cuban people from which they have been isolated while under the control of the totalitarian regime for the better part of 50 ye

he served in the state department's latin american bureau during the reagan and george h.w. bushministration. he has reported on cuban economic topics and analyzed u.s. policy towards cuba for more than a decade and rights the blogged, the cuban triangle. thank you all very much for being with us and general mccaffrey why don't you start. >> mr. chairman thank you and congressman ros-lehtinen for the opportunity to be here to join this distinguished panel. i think it is inappropriate time to address this issue. let me if i may add, i provided most of you with a copy of some of the work i've done particularly an op-ed i submitted to the "miami herald" a few months back dealing with this issue. a couple of thoughts. in january i will be back in cuba again to, as an adjunct professor in international affairs to listen to the situation on the ground to try to learn how we can move forward in the coming years to bring back into the community of nations the cuban people from which they have been isolated while under the control of the totalitarian regime for the better part of 50 years