i didn't take a conservative can't rent site would be debating the son of george mcgovern always wanted calling us to come home america. but here we are. some history less. the problem with world war i was that he left europe after world war i as my debate partner suggested dominique in the world safe for the tick teachers. secondly, the reason we had to rely on the soviet union during the second world war was the gophers of the policy of appeasement, which squandered material advantage to such a degree that by the time we woke up late at the two-day gathering of danger, with no choice but to make a devil's bargain in the state in europe in the first place and had something akin to nato during the cold war we would not do not position. people who advocate intervention or at least we are not callous to human life on the contrary. look at iraq before the american intervention. saddam hussein had killed half a million of his own people. he has launched a war against iran that resulted in the death of 1 million people. he used poison gas against his own population, against iranians. he had

was the only state and i think it was the sixty eight primary that where the democrats went for george mcgovern urged wallace rather and the reason why is because we had open primaries in michigan and the republicans said to their own people go vote in the demagogues that the republican primary was solid they said go vote the democratic primary for george wallace to embarrass the democrats and waltz actually won the state so are you concerned that the republicans might actually get enough of their own people out to vote for these republicans who are masquerading you know in drag as democrats that they might actually be the ones who are running against the republicans who are being recalled . repel it is not beyond the realm of possibility i don't think it will happen because democrats and and a lot of independents are very very passionate about what is happening some of these districts turnout is actually pretty good at a substantially higher level than you would expect for a july election summertime is when we usually vote was nonsense but i do have that fear i have that concern and remember i

>> we've had plenty of movements come to washington before, think of barry goldwater or george mcgovern. but once in washington the system encouraged compromise and governance. but over the last few decades, what has changed are the rules organizing american politics. and they now encourage small interest groups, including ideologically charged once, to cap toour major political parties as well as congress itself. call it political narrow casting. here are some examples. redistricting has created safe seats so that for most house members, their only concern is a challenge from the right for republicans and the left for democrats. the incentive is to pander to the base, not the center. party primaries have been taken over by small groups of activists who push even popular senators to extreme positions. in utah, for example, 3,500 conservative activists managed to take the well-regarded senator robert bennett off the ballot. gop senators like match and mccain have moved farther to the right hoping to stave off similar assaults. changes in congressional rules have made it far more difficul

which is running the george mcgovern presidential campaign in texas. [laughter] and he was codirect during the other codirect it was bill clinton. so another strand in his career has been the clinton strand and he just for a book about a long series of very searching and private interview that he had with president clinton why he was president, probably the most real-time access any president has ever given a journalist, with the possible exception of admin morris and taylor is still hearing in one piece. so you'll be seeing him in a minute. i am going to this word is presented to a book signing work it exemplifies the literary grace, commitment to serious research that characterize the distinguished work of the word namesake. it is awarded this year to a lactic result for the 10th parallel dispatches from the fall line from christianity and islam. the publisher is for our stress. otherwise -- let me read the citation and then i'll tell you why she is here. eliza griswold examines the conflict between christianity and islam on the geographical line. 70

and his gender days he had a thankless political organizing assignments, which is running the george mcgovern presidential campaign in texas. [laughter] he was co-director, and the other co-director was bill clinton. so another strand in his career has been the clinton strand. and he just wrote a book about a long series of very searching and private interviews that he had with president clinton while he was president, probably the most, you know, real-time access any president has ever given a journalist with the possible exception of edmund morrison, and it drove him mad. still here and in one piece. so you'll be seeing him in a minute. before exiting the stage i'm going to present the j. anthony lukas book award, presented to a book-length work of american nonfiction on an american topic that exemplifies the literary grace cannot commit serious research, and the social concern that characterized the distinguished work of the award's namesake. it is awarded this year to eliza griswold for "the tenth parallel." the publisher is. [inaudible] let me read the citation. i'll tell you why she isn

the anti-war wing got fired up and nominated george mcgovern when the president wasn't really popular, people weren't crazy about nixon, yet the public decided the democratic party went too far in one direction and the danger of the republican party. you were at both of those conventions in '72 in miami. do you see it? >> i think it is possible -- and tom has good insight there -- the republican party has move too far. you have the "wall street journal," david brooks, you've got a number of voices in different areas of the republican party saying wait a second, enough already. the headline that came out of john mccain was repeated "the hobbit" repeated by the jau"wal street journal" in its headline. the republican party has to rethink is it in favor of big spending cuts? yes. and balancing the budget down the sfrood yes. but you have to look at revenues in some fashion. you cannot be that ideological. >> they have to show the ability to govern. at the end of the day it doesn't matter if they can win a political policy argument. >> we're debating their argument. we're debating how much

here's bill clinton with george mcgovern. no few, again, granted, that is bill clinton. 2000 it plays out again. you've got the frat boy aristocrat, george w. bush, running against an actual vietnam war veteran, and be it becomes this. he turns himself into this, he citessal gore's '60s-seeming interest in the environment to turn al gore into, basically, a '60s grown-up yuppie. so this continues to play out. all right, now, a little bit of trivia. just, we're going to break this up with some trivia questions just to make this a little fun. all right. and we're going to give you the answers at the end. what was the name of the song that patrick swayze performed on the "dirty dancing" soundtrack? so if you want to write them down, a, i've had the time of my life, b, she's like the wind, c baby in the corner, d, hungry eyes. i've got three sections just to quiz you. what famous actor played the corpse in "the big chill"? christopher reeve, harrison ford, alec baldwin or kevin costner? no yelling out. and here's the third question there this section. what city is the outsider

i would let theserve a maximum of 12 years and have them go home could to keep remembering george mcgovern's tter to "the walltreet journal," where he went bankrupt trying to run a bed-and-breakfast, he wrote a letter of apogy that appeared in "the wall strt journal," saying "when i voted for these regulations and ordinances that put a burden on small businesses, i had no idea what i was doing, and i apologize." if they could only serve for 12 years, they would not have these retirement programs. they would be in the same retirement programs as everybody else. this would make for a far more responsive congress than at the one we have now. i have been a strong supporter of term limits and will remain a supporter of term limits. in terms of your social security, the money is there to pay your social security, ma'am. if you don't get a social security check, y can blame the secretary of the treury geithner and president obama, because they will may -- will love me as it tries not to prioritize it sending social security checks -- will have made a choice to not privatize sending social security

i would let them serve a maximum of 12 years and have them go home could to keep remembering george mcgovern'sto "the wall street journal," where he went bankrupt trying to run a bed-and-breakfast, he wrote a letter of apology that appeared in "the wall street journal," saying "when i voted for these regulations and ordinances that put a burden on small businesses, i had no idea what i was doing, and i apologize." if they could only serve for 12 years, they would not have these retirement programs. they would be in the same retirement programs as everybody else. this would make for a far more responsive congress than at the one we have now. i have been a strong supporter of term limits and will remain a supporter of term limits. in terms of your social security, the money is there to pay your social security, ma'am. if you don't get a social security check, you can blame the secretary of the treasury geithner and president obama, because they will may -- will love me as it tries not to prioritize it sending social security checks -- will have made a choice to not privatize sending social secur