honored tonight to have senator george mitchell, convoy in middle east peace. he knows about disney and baseball and knows a lot about a very complicated region. these are meant to be informal. we will get rid of the neckties and jackets eventually, because this really gets hot. this is a cool space. take off your jacket and enjoy. we will have a wonderful senatore after centra mitchell offers remarks. danny abraham, a 1 to recognize him. waved to the crowd. it is an honor to have him with us. my colleague james bennett is behind the c-span camera. it is great to have c-span with us as well. and my colleague john gould, he basically runs the show. and bob gets a lot of credit. that's not true. both of them are fantastic. it was john's idea, he came to me that we should have the four- part series, that we would like to have something. a great team with robert wexler and others put together tonight's event. thank you all very much for this. let me say a few words about robert wexler. former seven-term congressman from florida, deeply involved in questions about m

then, an interview with george mitchell.epublican presidential candidate mitt romney will meet with veterans' tomorrow in south carolina. he will be joined by former republican presidential nominee john mccain in the south carolina governor. you can watch live coverage at just after 5:00 eastern. at 6:20 eastern, on the other side of the state, local republicans will hold a forum. so far, newt gingrich and rick santorum has said it will be attending. we will have live coverage. -- have said they will be attending. we will have live coverage. >> in this episode, we will look at a surprising comments on climate change and the scientists behind the research. >> there are scientists who have manipulated data. >> irate different comments from politicians on a one to four scale. if you say something completely of riches, you of going to get four pinocchio's -- you are going to get four pinocchios. >> the evaluates and rates the truthfulness of politicians and others. >> if a politician says the same thing over and over again, even

unfortunately but we don't want to miss a single opportunity we've never negotiated with israel even with george mitchell as the u.s. envoy we continued an exchange of opinions at the meetings held within exploratory or indirect talks we have never. be honest we've never broken off negotiations with israel. there were no grounds for negotiations because of israel the basis for negotiations is the acceptance of the nine hundred sixty seven borders or any other positions agreed by both parties it's not a unilateral it's the position of the international community of course it's closely linked with the issue of security which is a huge problem for us. we don't accept the israeli concept of security it will be forty years of occupation of our legitimate territory this concept name is further occupation. there's no. pressure from the u.s. and israel however you have repeatedly. saying that there is no alternative. there is no alternative to peace talks at the moment we are assessing and testing the ground for future talks to comply with the quartet's demands. the negotiations are just a way to gain time. as t

i co-chaired a reform task force with former democratic senate majority leader george mitchell -- mitchell several years ago and the u.n. is a mess and all too often it's general assembly is dominated by an anti-american majority and i would work hard to turn that around. i would also be prepared to start building an alternative this -- and bringing in the other democracies instead of being surrounded by dictatorships. but i wouldn't just walk off from it. >> what is your biggest weakness? >> what do i think is my biggest weakness? [laughter] >> trying to do too much? >> probably that i'm too reasonable and i should have sponleded to the negative ads two weeks earlier. yes, ma'am in >> can you explain why you did the commercial with miss pelosi and what changed? you say it's one of your biggest mistakes. what changed because of it? >> there are two parts to this. i was just looking at the commercial which fox is playing once again without explaining it. the question i was trying to reach was can conservatives be in the middle of an environmental debate and represent a conservative solution

without further ado, let me invite senator george mitchell. [applause] >> thank you very much.hank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your presence. my thanks to the atlantic and to dan abraham and bob wexler for organizing this event. danny has been a friend for many, many years. he is one of the most ardent and persistent advocates for peace in the middle east. and i commend him for that encourage him to continue. i was pleased with some reservations, which will explain in a moment, to accept his invitation to speak here this evening. he served with great distinction in the house of representatives for many years. i know that danny is like to have them as we all are. i was, at first, reluctant to accept danny's invitation to come here. i thought the atlantic, the abraham center for middle east, people who spend their lives studying this issue -- and i have always been somewhat intimidated being asked to speak an audience in which all or most of the members know about the subject and i do. >> but then i reflected on my first days in the u.s. senate. i entered the senate under unus

george mitchell created a calm demeanor in terms of dealing with you was a cagey character in terms of dealing with some of the political issues and the combination of him and dick gephardt made it difficult for us. fortunately bob dole was around which was an anchor for us at that period of time. this was going on. this distraction was going on with the nomination of john tower as secretary of defense. the bottom issue was a question that sam and others reached the conclusion that we will answer this question for you, mr. president. who will control national security and national defense? we will. we will not confirm john tower who was involved in the armed services committee for a number of years. that leadership disarray. then we created leadership disarray in the house of representatives because when senator tower's nomination was defeated by the senate, the president chose dick cheney. he became secretary of defense. then newt gingrich beat a guy named ed madigan from illinois. there was a changing in the guard of the house of representatives. that had significant impact on how we

so without further adieu let me invite and introduce to you senator george mitchell.ause] >> thank you very much. steve, thank you. thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your presence. my thanks to the atlantic. and to danny abraham and bob weather conditionsler for organizing this event. danny has been a friend for many, many areas. and one of the most ardent and persistent advocates for peace in the middle east. and i commend him for that. and i encourage him to continue and was pleased with some reservations when i'll describe in a moment to accept his invitation to join you here this evening, and bob weather conditionsler from whom you've already heard, a great distinction of the member of the house of representatives for many years and i know danny is glad to have him as we all are. i was at first reluctant to accept danny's invitation to come here. i thought the atlantic abraham center for middle east peace, people who spend their lives and swho all or most of the members know more about the subject when i do. but then i reflected on my firth days with the u.s. s

. >> i co chaired with the center george mitchell. we reviewed it intensely. it is amazingly bureaucratic. it is very correct. the assembly is dominated by tiny dictatorships. we tolerate it. if i were to become your president, every ambassador will have as one of their top three or four items getting the vote of the country they are assigned to. we will start developing a relationship of on democracies to have an alternative system. i will cut out a substantial amount of american money. it is such a corrupt system. it is important for us to understand how much it is a vehicle of anti-america and anti-israeli propaganda. we do not need to tolerate it. there are 2300 counties. you could suggest the odd to get a vote because they mostly have larger populations. we currently have the united states outvoted by fiji. what it leads to is that the most cynical nation's absolutely operate with no moral compass. this is a very serious problem. you have to take it seriously. i am for very aggressively taking on the system corruption and the anti-american ideology and in

our former colleague george mitchell used as a man that he didn't lead a caucus.7 and dependent contractors. a majority leader it seems to me has four primary rolls. first, he must set the agenda and consultation with the other leadership as well as the caucus. he must manage the legislative body again and consultation with at least the other leader. he must be the central person in the senate and speaker work. and he must provide leadership to his caucus. those four rules are very, very critical regardless of circumstance, regardless of the makeup of the senate at any one time and regardless of roles they think a leader must first in four must always remember the state of japan and to reflect the concerns, interests, values of his stay. every senator brings his own experiences and personalities to the role of leadership. and i believe that it is always a function of the time within which a leader ascends to the majority leadership role that take tape to a certain extent what that agenda is. in my case when i was elected leader in 1994 there was a sentence within

our former colleague george mitchell used as a man that he didn't lead a caucus.he negotiated with 57 and dependent contractors. a majority leader it seems to me has four primary rolls. first, he must set the agenda and consultation with the other leadership as well as the caucus. he must manage the legislative body again and consultation with at least the other leader. he must be the central person in the senate and speaker work. and he must provide leadership to his caucus. those four rules are very, very critical regardless of circumstance, regardless of the makeup of the senate at any one time and regardless of roles they think a leader must first in four must always remember the state of japan and to reflect the concerns, interests, values of his stay. every senator brings his own experiences and personalities to the role of leadership. and i believe that it is always a function of the time within which a leader ascends to the majority leadership role that take tape to a certain extent what that agenda is. in my case when i was elected leader in 1994, there w

democratic senate which is a democratic senate at the beginning of the bush administration under george mitchelly blocked bush's appointments to subcabinet agencies. >> so you don't buy the idea that the white house is saying this is a unprecedented level of obstruction by this gop? you don't fwhi? >> bhaz what i mean. all white house is whine and moan about. that we all have numbers we can show them what our numbers of blockages are. we had huge numbers blocked by the senate. but what it also shows at its core and this is the big issue is that president obama is not a reformer. he came to preserve his own brand. you go back to the original campaign. he would take public financing. he didn't take it. he let lobbyists into the white house. he said no signing statements because it's an abuse of presidential power. he issued signing statements. now this. the president's words are wind. they don't have any value. his actions are very expensive and putting us into debt. but the president's words are meaning lgs. the man is not a reformer. >> for starters, ar iflt, the president never said he wouldn't

i co-chaired a reform task force with former democratic senate majority leader george mitchell several years ago and the u.n. is a mess and all too often, the general aassembly is dominated by an anti-american majority. i would very hard to turn that around. i would also be prepared to start building up an alternative and bringing the other democracies to operate without being surrounded by dictatorships. i think there is a lot to be reformed in the u.n., but i wouldn't just walk off from it. yes. >> what do you think is your biggest weakness? >> what do you think is my biggest weakness? >> yes. [laughter] >> don't look at her. >> probably that i'm too reasonable and i should have responded to the negative ads two weeks earlier. em. >> can you explain why you did the commercial with miss pelosi and then what changed, because you say it's one of your biggest mistakes. what changed because of it? >> there are two parts of this. i was just looking at the commercial which fox is replaying once again without explaining it. the question i was trying to reach was can conservatives be in the m

our former colleague george mitchell used as a man that he didn't lead a caucus.with 57 and dependent contractors. a majority leader it seems to me has four primary rolls. first, he must set the agenda and consultation with the other leadership as well as the caucus. he must manage the legislative body again and consultation with at least the other leader. he must be the central person in the senate and speaker work. and he must provide leadership to his caucus. those four rules are very, very critical regardless of circumstance, regardless of the makeup of the senate at any one time and regardless of roles they think a leader must first in four must always remember the state of japan and to reflect the concerns, interests, values of his stay. every senator brings his own experiences and personalities to the role of leadership. and i believe that it is always a function of the time within which a leader ascends to the majority leadership role that take tape to a certain extent what that agenda is. in my case when i was elected leader in 1994, there was a sentence

i cochaired with george mitchell in number of years ago. the u.n. is a mess, and too often its general assembly is dominated by a anti-american sentiment. i would bring in other democracies to operate without being surrounded by dictatorships. there's a lot to be reformed in the u.s., but i would just not walk off from it. >> what do you think is your biggest weakness? >> what do i think is my biggest weakness? [laughter] >> do not look at her. >> probably that i am to reasonable and i should have responded to the negative and two weeks earlier. yes, ma'am? >> can you explain why you did the commercial with ms. pelosi, and what changed? you said it is one of your biggest mistakes, so what changed because of that? >> there are two parts of it. i was just looking at the commercial, which fox is playing once again without explaining it. the question i was trying to reach was, and conservatives be in the middle of an environmental debate and represent a conservative solution to the environment? i taught environmental studies. i think the environment doe

when i left the speakership, i left the co-chair with george mitchell.ask force. however bad you think the un is, it is worse. this is a corrupt, bureaucratic, anti-american collection of people from all around the world who have come to find ways to undermine us at their own advantage. it needs to be overhauled. if i were president, i would send every ambassador i appointed, one of your top three assignments is to gather votes for the fundamental overhaul of the united nations. the state department, your assignment is to begin building a democratic alliance outside the united nations so we can make clear that a general assembly, which has country's smaller than our counties, should not be taken seriously because it is increasingly an anti-american assembly and it has been growing more and more so for the last 30 years. our state department, far from standing up to it, we recently held a conference with the organization of islamic countries in order to talk about how to sensor americans from criticizing islam in a way which i regard as the most fundament

our former colleague george mitchell used to lament that he did not lead a caucus. he negotiated with 57 independent contractors. a majority leader, it seems to me, has four primary roles. first, he must set the agenda in consultation with the other leadership as well as his caucus. he must manage the legislative body, again in consultation with at least the other leader. he must be the central person with whom the president and speaker work. and he certainly must provide leadership to his caucus. those four roles are very, very critical, regardless of circumstance, regardless of the makeup of the senate at any one time. regardless of roles, a think a leader must first and foremost always remember the state that elected him and reflect the concerns, the interests, the values of his state. every senator brings his own experiences and personality to the role of leadership. always a that it's function of a time in which a leader this sends to a majority leadership role that dictates to a certain extent was that role is. when i was elected leader in 1994, there was a se

when i left the speakership i agreed to cochair with former senate majority leader george mitchell. undermine us often at their own vanl. the united nations needs to be thoroughly overhauled. if i were president i would say to every ambassador i appointed one of your top three assignments is to gather votes for the fundamental overhaul of the united and i would say to the state department one of your primary assignments is to begin building a democratic alliance outside the united nations so we can make clear that the general assembly which has countries often smaller than our counties should not be taken overly seriously because it is now increasingly an anti-american assembly and has been growing more and more so for the last 30 years. and our state department far from standing up to it under obama, our state department recently held a conference with the organization of islamic countries in order to talk about how to sensor americans from criticizing islam in a way which i regard as the most fundamental betrayal of the american system you can imagine. we have to stand up for our

mitchell, bbc news. >> this is gmt from "bbc world news." i am george alagiah. the headlines -- as aung san suu kyi's party gets approval to participate in elections, the pro-democracy leader said she trust political reform will continue. in iraq, bomb blasts have killed dozens of people and left many more injured. he made a grave mistake, but he will not resign. that is the position of the german president, christian wolff, who has admitted his error. in an interview on german television, he said he has not broken hill law and the situation had to be seen in human terms -- broken the law and the situation had to be seen and human terms. >> [speaking foreign language] >> you have to stand in front of your family and explain how intimate details -- how private things -- when that gets dragged into the public eye, one has defense mechanisms. you feel helpless. i asked the publication to be postponed by one day so that we could talk about it, so that the publication would be factually correct. >> our correspondent in berlin says it is unclear to what extent his rep

. >> he was chris cristened george stanley mcgovern. he grew up in mitchell started school there. but the more important lessons were learned at home. from his mother, a gentle spirit. and from his father, cristian principles and hard work. his father was from the illinois coal country where he earned 10 cents a bucket, but he found time to read the scriptures and abandoned the mines to the pulpit. 1899, he was ordained a minister. as a boy, george had his fat's love of history, but would not be spared the troubles of his own time. the memory would remain with him all his life. >> scott, back in mitchell, south dakota at the mcgovern museum. tell us, what influenced him, defined him? >> first of all, it is important to recall his father was a minister in the methodist denomination which is a strict religion and discouraged dancing, drinking and going to movies. he was accused of not being amoral or moral as particular. he got that from his father and this notion between right and wrong and the notion of doing good. he read a lot about the social gospel, how y

george mason loses 60-53. their first conference lost since january 8th of last year. what a good streak they had going. duke picked this up in the final minute. evans misses the layup but mitchell with the follow-up dunk. virginia within two. cavs have a chance to win the game but they miss both their last second three pointers. virginia falls short 51-58. time now to reveal the winner. you chose a girl's basketball matchup between glenn park and largo. highlights will be the coverage tomorrow night. we have double coverage coming up right after the break. >>> welcome back to 9 sports. double coverage time. once again david and mitchell here with me this week. the redskins in the news this week. they hire former tampa bay head coach. david, your thoughts are bringing morrison. >> well, he's friend with kyle shanahan. he knows bruce allen from tampa. it's a good news move. i think the two negatives, jim is going to be looking over his shoulder to have this guy on his staff and, two, i heard what he did in tampa. the defense collapsed. it's worth a shot, i guess. >> until you know. the redskins also got rid of wide receiver coach. you're friends with him. it didn't really see it

george mason loses 60-53. it's their first conference loss since january 8th of last year. good streak going there. >>> all right, 17th ranked virginia visiting 6th ranked duke. evans misses the layup but mitchell with the follow-up. virginia within two. cavs miss both of the last second three pointers. virginia falls short of a comeback with a 61-58 loss to duke. >>> that's going to do it for your morning sports, i'm kristen berset. have a great friday. >>> could a letter from d. c.'s major lead to the eviction of the occupy protestors? that story is coming up. >>> plus, looks like there's going to be more fallout from the harry thomas political corruption scandal later today. quick check of the commute now, monika? >>> well, if you're planning to head over into springfield on the northbound side of 95 an accident on the ramp to the inner loop of the beltway. only the left shoulder is getting by. more on this accident and other virginia roadways coming up in my next report, at 5:49. you're watching 9news now. we'll be right back. >>> happy friday morning, i'm jessica doyle in for andrea roane. we have a smile on our face weekend the weekend is almost upon us -- because the weekend is almost up