successful we got lead out of gasoline with cap and trade which is still in place it was george herbert walker bush who brought cap and trade to get rid of sulfur dioxide in our air and that was successful and the clean air act and now you know our rivers are acidic any longer so why are the republicans filibustering an attempt by the democrats to pass a similar program to the one that reagan and bush put into place only this time to stop the planet from melting down similar superficially but you look at what actually would happen if a program like this were were in place and you're and you're sort of creating a false. false market to deal with the problem that increasingly scientists are looking at saying actually it's not that big of a probably haven't had that much global warming at all in fact in the past ten years or so hundred maybe one side to the i don't know if you want to talk about climate you do need to look where ok so so now we're saying that it's get taken it's a paycheck from coke and it's ok so now we're saying that that scientific consensus is what determines policy not scientific

that is actually former president george herbert walker bush. look at this photo op. mitt romney and an almost 90-year-old guy in what looks like formal yacht wear. look at the picture. who in it looks like the more relateable guy to hang out with? it ain't romney. romney is so bland in this picture he makes bush almost like ethnic. all right. let's get to the endorsement. >> barbara and i are very proud to fully and enthusiastically endorse and support our old friend mitt romney. he's a good man. he'll make a great president. and we just wish him well. >> jon: we do wish he'd stop sitting there staring at us. seriously does mitt romney really need to be staring at them? it looks like he's holding them hostage in some way. george, blink twice if you're really looking to endorse santorum. republican after republican have begun to line up behind mitt romney with one simple message. >> the more we drag it out the harder it is to win in november. it could become counterproductive if it drags on much longer. that's why we need to coalesce as conservatives around mitt romne

one that most people would not get, here is bill clinton, having been president, beating george herbert walker bush. after they are out of office, they become allies and partners across all kinds of projects. that is the kind of power to do this job, the power given to these men who basically have the rest of their lives to look forward to as not quite being president. >> even people in the white house did not know that this clubhouse was here. >> it is a 19th century town house that since 1969 has been the overnight retreat and office of everyone who has ever been a former president. this is a very exclusive club. only three people can get reservations right now. >> and it is still being used? >> yes. it is one of the ways that the united states are telling them that they're different from the rest, they will get a special after job privilege. there is no sign on the door saying what it is. >> it does not say ex- president's club. >> no. >> do you expect that this is more to protect the legacy of the president rather than the legacy of a single president? >> they all do it when they leave office.

people would not guess is that here is bill clinton, having been president, having beat george herbert walker bush, after all this, become not only friends but allies and partners in all kinds of projects across generations and across party. that is the kind of power of doing this job gives these men who otherwise of the rest of their lives not being president. there is the presidential clubhouse. hardly anybody knows it exists. even people did not know it in the white house. since 1969, this townhouse has been the overnight retreat and office of everyone here has ever been president. this is a very exclusive club. only three people right now can get reservations. it has just been renovated. it looks like a four seasons in side. they say you guys are different from the rest of us. and you will notice there is no sign on the door. it does not say that only ex- president's are welcome. >> more than protecting your own legacy? >> one of the things you get out of the club is you have a little bit of room to rewrite history. they all do it. it is a common thing they all do. they compare themselves to e

speaking of mail operations, george herbert walker bush in his memoirs mentioned in '73 when head of rnc, you wanted him to do some mail order or some mailings he refused to do. do you remember a clash with later president bush? >> '73? >> '73, just before he left. no, he wasn't there very long, was he? >> you didn't overlap long. he replaced dole as head of rnc. >> when i went to the white house, he was not head of the rnc, and i don't think i had any role after i left the white house. i would be surprised. >> let me ask -- >> could have been. >> i think you overlapped just a month or two. >> could be. >> let me ask you about where you were june 17th, 1972. where were you? >> i was at home, mclane, virginia, sitting at my swimming pool. this was saturday afternoon. and i had noticed in the paper an article about the break-in at the democratic national committee i think that morning. i am not sure now. what i remember vividly is a telephone call on the white house phone saying, and i was sitting outside at the time, with friends, and ehrlichman said where is your pal howard hunt thes

and president george herbert walker bush said the war was about oil. alan greenspan repeated it in his book. president nixon thought about invading saudi arabia after the first arab oil embargo. 10 this is -- you're talking about $15 billion over ten years to try to incent movement towards electrification. we at fed ex have also supported either vehicle mileage taxes or an increase in the fuel tax in order to fund the appropriate infrastructure in this country. we won't raise the tax. our infrastructure is going to the devil. the cost of congestion, i don't have to tell anybody that lives in the washington, d.c. area about this. we're being penny-wise and pound foolish. so you're not talking about a wholesale cavitation of the american military by providing these incentives which we recommended, and they can be funded in a lot of ways. but what they need to be looked at is part of the overall strategic issues that confront the united states, not a free market issue, not a picking winners and the losers, but in the overall context. >> let me turn it ove

most people wouldn't guess is that here's bill clinton having been president, having beat george herbert walker bush, after they're both out of office, they become not just sort of friends but allies, partners in all kinds of projects across generation, across party. that's the kind of power having done this job and sharing that with just a few people actual glivs to men who otherwise have the rest of their lives to look forward to not quite as interesting as being president. >> one of my favorite parts of the president ezz club is the presidential clubhouse. hardly anyone knows it exists. even people in the white house didn't know it was here. this is a 19th century town house that since 1969 has been the overnight retreat and office of everyone who's ever been a former president. this is a very exclusive club of the only three people right now can get reservations. >> still being used. just been renovated. looks like a four seasons inside. it's one of the ways the u.s. government and united states of american people say, you guys are different from the rest of us. we're going to give you a special

and president george herbert walker bush said the war was about oil. alan greenspan repeated it in his book. president nixon thought about invading saudi arabia after the first arab oil embargo. 10 this is -- you're talking about $15 billion over ten years to try to incent movement towards electrification. we at fed ex have also supported either vehicle mileage taxes or an increase in the fuel tax in order to fund the appropriate infrastructure in this country. we won't raisete x.

george w. bush. she previously had served as president bush's national security advisor and also before that on the staff of president george herbert walker bush's national security council. during both of these presidencies, america faced particularly grave threats from nuclear proliferation, terrorism, to rogue regimes in the middle east and elsewhere. in both presidencies, dr. rice helped shape policies that enabled america to help free thousands of people from tyranny and set them on the road to freedom and to prosperity. today dr. rice is teaching new generations about american values, about american interests. she's a professor of political economy and political science at stanford university and a thomas and barbara stevenson senior fellow on public policy at the hoover institution. i recall the words of the heritage president fulmer on occasion of one of dr. rice's visits to the heritage foundation. he called her, and i quote, a woman of many talents -- a musician, a writer, a teacher, a scholar, a leader, and as secretary of state a representative of american values and american interests here and abroad, and, frankly, the best a

response immediately jumping on whatever lie or half truth was thrown at clinton by george by george herbert walker bush and responding to in the media the same day thus stopping that lie dead in its tracks it worked clinton won the election that year anyone reelection four years later doing the exact same thing in two thousand and four john kerry tried something different and ignored the lies that were pushed about him by karl rove and organizations like this with friends from truth and what happened the lies imbedded themselves in the national dialogue they were picked up by the mainstream news and ended up costing kerry the election so they republicans are even trying to disguise their lies their openly and enthusiastically responding to truth with bald face not impacted so glade you might confuse the strategy with an actual mental illness as i mentioned earlier but it's not a mental illness unless you consider the sociopathic element of being a bald faced liar mental arguably it is thought is republicans lie because they can get away with it if you ever seen a republican challenge on a lot i in the

george herbert walker bush, sitting president, bill clinton and ross perot. >> this was an amazing year. and we did all four debates in eight days. a trick you should not try at home. mr. perot was someone who had been in the race in the spring, then had gotten out in the summer, then came back in and was not receiving federal funds but was using his very sizeable personal funds. so when he was in the race in the spring, actually had bought enough advertising and gotten his message out enough so that at one point he was leading the other two parties' supposed nominee or incumbent. that is quite an astonishing thing. along come the debates, and a lot of people had assumed mr. perot was basically a one-issue candidate. so they tuned in not only because it turned into a very compact week-long schedule and there were new formats, as you just mentioned, but people were curious as to whether or not he had informed opinions on other issues. and when they learned that he did, they kept coming back to keep watching. it was an amazing week. and the audiences were huge. >> let's turn to one moment

your reflections on it, but there's a photograph of the 1988 debate, michael dukakis and george herbert walker bush. you had been at the commission for all of a year with probably two of the most memorable moments took place in 1988. i want to share both of thome with the students. the first is the question from bernard shaw to michael dukakis. let's watch the moment, come back and get the full story. >> governor, if kitty dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? >> no, i don't. i oppose the death penalty during all of my life. i don't see any evidence that it is a deterrent. i think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime. we have done so in my own state, and it's 1 of the reasons we had the biggest drop in crime in any sdprael straight in america, why we have the lowest murder rate in tamerica. we have work to do to fight a real war, not a phony war against drugs. that's something i want to lead, something we haven't had over the past few years even though the vice president has been, at least allegedly, in control o

1988, michael dukakis was ahead in the polls going into the convention in new orleans, george herbert walker bush as vice president had a double-digit loss in the polls, 12% to 15%. he gave what many regard as one of the best speeches at a national convention in new orleans. let's watch. >> and there is another tradition, and that's the idea of community. beautiful word with a big meaning. the liberal democrats have an odd view of it. they see community as a limited cluster of interest groups locked in odd conformity. the country waits passive while washington sets the rules, but that's not what community means, not to me. for we're a nation of community, of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique. this is america, the knights of columbus, the grange, hadasa, the disabled american veterans, the order of the hepa, the business and professional women of america, the union hall, the bible study group, lulac, holy name, a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a t

but reagan benefited from the beauty contest four years later, when george herbert walker bush won thensylvania primary, but a majority of the state's delegates went with the gipper anyway. how can this happen? it's because those running for delegate to the convention are listed on the ballot in their home congressional district without any stated commitment nor tie to a particular candidate. i know because in 1984, i was an alternate delegate, elected to the gop convention in dallas. what usually happens is that the gop faithful are the ones that run for the slots. they include party loyalists who are involved in their local committee and they tend to be influenced by the establishment, which has been reluctant to support their former colleague, santorum. nevertheless, santorum has said he has every intention of winning the keystone state. and because the party has narrowed in its composition, he can certainly do that. but he and his campaign must surely know that winning pennsylvania's popular vote won't put him any closer to the delegate count needed to actually win the nomination,

relationship with the bushes and how we know he traveled to the tsunami relief back in 2005 with george herbert walker bushribute to the former president bush he ken at the kenity center and chin to is speaking. >> got so ridiculous, our odd couple partnership, that barbara began to refer to me as her black sheep son, you know, the one that strays, there's one in every family. >> the bushes hch-bush sons refer to clinton as brother from another mother. because he's become like a member of the family. he go escorted barbara bush at betty ford's funeral. we've looked for evidence of difficulty between clinton and the bushes. it's very hard to find. >> mike, duffy, congratulations. and nancy, it's great to see you and will this book is terrific. we we sha we shall y wish you all the luck in the world. and up next, one of the stars of the new show veep. to get people to try on these new depend silhouette briefs, and today we are rocking the red carpet. look it's lisa rinna! lisa hiii,i know you don't need one but will you try on these new depend silhouette briefs for charity and prove just how great the fit is

you ended up as soon as 1988 with that with george herbert walker bush having to say that he was born again. i've always thought that he thought they were talking about mulligans, but he had to say that. right now what you're seeing, i think, is a republican party that feels utterly unenthusiastic about its frontrunner and is looking for passion and the passion in this case is coming from a very, very conservative roman catholic. >> the passion is all in religion. >> i'm not sure i agree with this -- the country becoming less secular. i mean, i can't even think five years ago that people would actually admit that they were atheist, and now it's routine. people say, oh, i'm an atheist. it is. what i'm saying is that people are coming out as atheists and, you know, you have maybe 14% or 15% of the population basically saying that they are nonbelievers, and probably a lot more who are now moving away from the church. i mean, this whole move away from religion and towards spirituality, so i'm not sure that we are getting less secular. i think that what's happened is that the people who ar

. >> i think i would take george herbert walker bush. >> we're in the final phases of this nominatione's out of ideas, out of excuses and frankly in 2012 it's our job to makeure he is out of office. >> you will remind the world why it is that the university of america is the greatest nation on earth. >> this is not your father's republican party. they're t talking about compassionate conservatives. governor romney is a pretty flexible guy. >> tell him he is not going to michigan. because romney is a clown and i don't want him standing next to him. >> yesterday the vice president who is the gift that keep on giving. >> this has gotten the attention of the entire country. >> doing some bowling, good malted beverages, having our share of cheese curds. >> its like sarah you're 18 points down at halftime. give it up, it's over. i'm not about this anymore. >> the next president of the united states. >> they turned me into the april fool this morning. and mitt romney, the next president of the united states. this is going to look really bad on the evening news. >> he has the tradition of bea

pennsylvania hasn't voted for a republican presidential candidate since 1988 when it was george herbert walker bush. so i'm not saying that it is securitily in the obama column but i don't know that if i were dividing a list of those less than ten swing states, that the commonwealth would be on it. when i look at that map, what strikes me is how many states are apparently spoken for in the polarized world in which we live. so mark, why is pennsylvania on the list if what michael lists out is accurate here? >> well, we list it in our map that we have pennsylvania is a toss-up but it has an edge to obama, at the polls and certainly the historical nature of that state that michael was referring to. we're being a little liberal with our toss-up state. if the poll show essentially that race is about five points between obama and romney, that pretty much qualifies as the toss-up column and most of the polls we've seen show president obama with a three to five-point margin. i think he will probably win that come november. for now we're being pretty liberal in putting it in the toss-up column. >> i have to

a second term for george herbert walker bush. a first term for bob dole or john mccain. we need a discussion between one liberal and liberal-like. >> interesting you point out, some of these things such as the department of education and also perhaps eliminating the housing and urban development. that would appeal to his base. but here, given this opportunity, his campaign says, again, he was just out some ideas. nothing specific here. >> the idea of reaching out to independents, that's difficult to do. often what motivates and galvanize voters is beyond your control as a challenger. that is usually economic issues that has to do with what kind of job the current incumbent is doing. so romney needs to control what he can control. and right now what he can control is galvanizing his base. he can't worry about what galvanize voters that are going to be motivated by circumstances beyond his control. >> our first team points out in an interview with weekly standard earlier this year, romney said one of the things he found out in his short campaign against ted kennedy was tha

i just had the privilege of speaking at texas a&m at the invitation of president george herbert walker bush. >> rose: his library is there. >> his library is there. on president's day. i was honored to receive his invitation and we talked at that time about civility and how we've... we're at a different place on the spectrum on some issues and could find common ground. but the vitriol that was injected later into the process is just very harmful and i praised him. kinder gentler nation, thousand points of light. a gentleman and a statesman. but things had gotten different, as you know, later in the' 940s when the republicans took control of the congress. so, again, if we can reduce the role of money, that suffocation of money, increase the level of civility, that's what we have to do for our country. and i'll promise you one thing. >> rose: what's that? >> if we do, we'll have many more women, many more young people and in elective office. >> rose: 17% women? >> something like that. >> rose: that's really incredible. >> it is. >> rose: 2012. >> the incremental... >> rose: why do you think i

that's what happened to george herbert walker bush.st president bush when he was seeking re-election in 1992. the economy had improved. and it was better. but the perception had knot because there hadn't been three months passed. and i think that is where it is right now. there still is a sense that it's fragile but it's moving in the right direction. what you can't use is a couple more months of news of this nature. >> so still early, ramesh to make a difference? >> i think that's right, you know. and i think that part of what is going on with the public is there have been so many, sort of, false dawns in this economy that people i think are going to take a little bit long tore trust that there is a real economic recovery that they can feel. if there are some more months like this where you have disappointing jobs numbers, i think that is very bad news for president obama. if it picks up on the other hand then this is just going to be a memory. >> we also saw the president and governor romney get into a sparring contest, if you will,

it looks like george herbert walker bush in 1992. gerald ford in 1976. what do all those elections have in common? all those guys lost. >> let me get your thoughts on this. here we are again, and i don't want to belabor her reaction because she gave the reaction she felt. she said she is a straight shooter in her heart. i think she put it out there and it was not as michael pointed out, a resounding endorsement of him. she said more strongly, anybody but obama, rather than this is our guy and here's why. >> yeah, well, look, i would point out, i would disagree a little bit with what steve said. that she might not any longer be the choice of conservatives. i think many people were hoping that chris christy or jeb bush, even haley barbour. she is losing her grip on the party and on that conservative part of the party. she's been trying to pull newt gingrich through this and saying rick santorum needs to keep fighting the good fight. so she is really stirring the pot more than anything. and really likes the attention of doing that. and with romney shutting

ronald reagan, george herbert walker bush, bob dole and mitt romney and john mccain. so republicans have i think come together more quickly. the one thing republicans have going for them that the democrats had going for them in 2008, there is more enthusiasm among republicans by about a 10 point margin over democrats right now. that's the reverse, almost the reverse of where it was four years ago when president obama won. >> woodruff: so david, what do you look for in the months to come. we talked about the economy. we talked about the level of enthusiasm. what do you-- dow look at everything. >> yeah, a couple things have to be decided by the candidates. as mark mentioned in the polls especially "the wall street journal" nbc poll, romney has a slight edge on who you can handle the economy but huge deficits on can relate to people like you on the personal stuff so does romney try to build that up. i guess he does but i guess he is not going to win a popularity contest, an elegance contest with barack obama. so what he has to do is say it's not about me, first of all i