george h.w. bush, president clinton, and george w. bush. that is 33 years. 33 years. and all of a sudden my colleagues want to change our policy on federal funding of abortion. mr. president, we shouldn't be making this type of sweeping policy change in this health care legislation. and the nelson amendment is necessary -- is a necessary addition to the bill in order to protect our current policy and the unborn. i understand that not everyone in this country agrees with my position on abortion. and, again, i know that this issue deeply divides americans on ethical, moral, and religious grounds. while i have said that i don't agree with abortion and believe roe v. wade should be overturned, the nelson amendment -- and this is really important -- does not prevent anyone from seeking an abortion, it does not overturn roe v. wade and it does not place any new restrictions on access to

i said, if presidents are stocks, buy george w. bush. if it moves at all it is going to go up. it cannot go down. i said more seriously, look at grant. he was in the cellar for 100 years and he did not deserve to be there. he was put there by elite historians like henry adams to thought he used the wrong forks, he was put there by a completely converted racists who were the dunning school and they were southerners and it was "the birth of a nation" with footnotes. the insurgents one. i think bush, we will see. he made it possible for the insurgents to lose in his war. >> barack obama?

with the leadership of former president george w. bush members of both parties in congress and the american public including many in our audience today we have made america the world's leader in fighting the global hiv/aids pandemic. the pepfar program and other international efforts have given millions of people access to treatment services were done previously existed. and it may president obama announces the administration will build on the successes bedevilling pepfar funding over the second six years, expanding support for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases, ramping up assistance from internal chaliff khalfan importantly integrating these programs in order to better respond to the lives people live and the health challenges they face. holding the international aids conference in the united states in 2012 will give us an opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments in addressing hiv/aids but also give us an opportunity to learn from our global partners. the president is thrilled the international aids society will hold this

. >> george w. bush. >> i am going to say what i said at washington and lee shortly after -- just before he left office. i was giving a talk and there was a dinner with contributors. they were asking me not as a conservative but as a historian. what about this guy? very - group of people. i said, if presidents are stocks, buy george w. bush. if it moves at all it is going to go up. it cannot go down. i said more seriously, look at grant. he was in the cellar for 100 years and he did not deserve to be there. he was put there by elite historians like henry adams to thought he used the wrong forks, he was put there by a completely converted racists who were the dunning school and they were southerners and it was "the birth of a nation" with footnotes. the insurgents one. i think bush, we will see. he made it possible for the insurgents to lose in his war. >> barack obama? >> i went down to the inauguration. i was doing that for "the newshour." there was a historic quality to that which can never be taken aw

it was more of a rejection of republicans and george w. bush.these policy numbers. you have a tendency to overreach, people do. the over-interpret the results of an election and what it means to the next election. you have to ratchet it back a little bit and not push it to corporafar. >> since you have been through the 2006 and 2000 elections and to see the parallels between those previous elections and is one and the numbers look very similar now, what differences do you say? do you see this going down the same path as what happened to republicans will happen to democrats? >> i think it is different. it is different because you have 10 months before the election. we saw a lot going on in 1994. 2006 and 2008, we knew what would happen in 1994, we did not really know there was going to be that much of a sweep into the last couple of months of the election. there is much more time. democrats are in control of the government. things can happen that would make people believe the country is headed in the right direction. time is one thing, the amount

. >> george w. bush. >> i am going to say what i said at washington and lee shortly after -- just before he left office. i was giving a talk and there was a dinner with contributors. they were asking me not as a conservative but as a historian. what about this guy? very - group of people. i said, if presidents are stocks, buy george w. bush. if it moves at all it is going to go up. it cannot go down. i said more seriously, look at grant. he was in the cellar for 100 years and he did not deserve to be there. he was put there by elite historians like henry adams to thought he used the wrong forks, he was put there by a completely converted racists who were the dunning school and they were southerners and it was "the birth of a nation" with footnotes. the insurgents one. i think bush, we will see. he made it possible for the insurgents to lose in his war. >> barack obama? >> i went down to the inauguration. i was doing that for "the newshour." there was a historic quality to that which can never be taken aw

we will see how history plays out for george w. bush. en very vocal. guest: that is a different story altogether. in the last part of his last term when he took over his own future, took over his own presidency, did better. what he did was where lyndon johnson made the same mistake and that was not naming his own cabinet immediately. that led him into some very bad things. in this case, his daddy's people did not serve him well at times and he should have -- i am sure he was capable but knowing that would have helped them. i think maybe he will come out better than and that is frequently the case when history has a chance to ponder this a little bit. host: look at harry truman. guest: uc eisenhower come up in the polls. time will take its course for george w. bush. host: there is more conversation had twitter.com2wj. twitter.com/cspan.org. caller: the war in israel has cost over $1 million and obamas in japan during with the sanctions. guest: i don't have a crystal ball. i have no insight into that. i think it is a president who has tried

army lieutenant colonel who had some 800 soldiers in baghdad as part of george w. bush's search was still finding a reason every day to see it is all good. >> host: the topic until 10:00 eastern the best nonfiction book of 2009. ayn rand must the topic of a couple of books including jennifer burns, we covered and even and we offered back jennifer burns, goddess of the market is the name of the book, ayn rand and the american right. and any event that is coming up on c-span, booktv, rather, in depth, michelle malkin and her new book, culture of corruption. this is mazar arizonan. aaron, you are first of. you're favorite nonfiction book of the year. go ahead. >> it's so hard to pick just one. but i don't think of the city of hope can melt until 2000 and that's up there. marcus's book taking on the system was good but i think my favorite would have to be jeremy scales blackwater. when i read blackwater and just on topic of -- >> what do you learn out of the black water? >> ravee in depth -- the in depth that jeremy goes into, his investigative journalism is amazing. eric pri

he administered the oath to george w. bush on january 1, 2005, january 20.but he was taken in a wheelchair to the edge of the platform and he barely got out and got back. but my march, he went to the court and that's the only thing he did. you have to understand that this man had a tube -- many tubes in his throat at one time. by the time he went to the court that may have been down to one that came out of his neck. he never ate a meal through his mouth. from the day he operated on until the day he died. and he still came down to that court. he still met with his clerk and wrote opinions that his chief of staff, and that's a different job, that the woman who happened to -- who is his -- who takes care of his -- eased the ceo of the federal court system, at least i think. so the chief of staff doesn't deal with the supreme court in terms of decisions. but deals with his administrative details. he wanted to continue this. you have to understand he was 14 years an associate justice, and for only the second time, an associate justice became a chief justice. and

in attendance were former president jimmy carter, bill clinton, and george w. bushsons, edward and patrick. musical performances were provided by a tenor and soprano. this runs one hour 40 minutes. the family, your mother, a sister everyone in the world would love to have in eugene with your devotion. dr. larry in the great team of doctors and nurses and is so many helpers' at hyannis port these last weeks and months and most especially the youngest of ted's gang, gracie an dma, lkylie and teddy. the christian burial weave together memory and hope. the worship of the church locates us precisely between a past we really remember in the future in which we firmly believe. we gather today as a community drawn from across the nation to entrust the life of senator edward kennedy into the hands of god and to provide you consolation and support. we bring with those treasured memories of ted kennedy, a member is not only of a national leader and a master legislator, but of a beloved husband, a great father, a terrific grandfather, a sweet uncle, a dear friend, a trusted coll

view, and i think i have said this in the book, given the nature of the relationship between george w. bush and tony blair, we could have achieved more by playing a tou gher role. for example, and this is not the first time i had said it, if we had made it a condition of our participation that india inde -- indeed, we should have been detailed planning for what would happen if we were to remove saddam hussein, it could be a very different outcome. >> in the end, we were left with the choice to be able to ongoing with the state's, taking us into some uncomfortable areas, or should we part company with the united states with all the downside is that that would entail. -- all the down sides that that would entail? >> it would depend on when it was done. it did not necessarily mean parting company. if, for example, and i wasn't fair, but i am pretty sure it happened. if crawford had said, i want to help george on this, but we will not be allowed to take in any individual operations. we have absolute clarity about what happens in iraq if it comes to that, removing saddam hussein, it would have c

it gave us george w. bush twice with everything that entailed.eated enormous hatred and division. we don't know the end of it. one hopes over time the hatreds will beginç to diminish and supporters of al qaeda realize this not leading them anywhere and not helping their people and that the islamic faith will go through its own reformation and come out the other side as something that is more humane and doesn't encourage this kind of behavior. this has been a decade characterized byç war, hatred, division and economic dislocation and we are not out of it yet. host: alfred next from algiers, louisiana, good morning. caller: good morning. nice to here these two people dance around andç just spew thr propaganda.ç one -- host: why do you call it propaganda, caller? caller: because they don't report for us. they don't report about the people. they report for the system. theyçç report for the militar industrial complex. they don't getç to the root causes. they danced around 9/11. the -- let's look at the cause of 9/11. no one touches that taboo

caller: good morning, george w. bushma.ç host: çthere is a drop to low levels by banks, and the çóbank that once had home loans freely, and many are effectively locked out. and the scarsity has not only hurt homeowners but brought repercussions at a time for improvement hinting at recovery after a recession. thank you for your comments and this the be available in "time magazine" on thursday. next we will look at how insurance for those 65 to 74 how it would work. and first we look back at the past events of the week from cartoonists. >> political commentary, michael frau -- fauntroy, our guest tonight on c-span's "q & a." >> this week on the communicators, more on the wireless industry and a perspective from at&t mobility. "washington journal" continues. host: we want to welcome maria freese, he's a policy director to conserve social security and medicare. good morning. guest: thank you for inviting us. host: what is where you are reaction from senator reid, to allow those age 64 to buy into medicare, those could poten

george w. bush, in my view, it was a sanctimonious man. woodrow wilson was a a sanctimonious man. that level of politics tends to be a trait that causes problems. he was probably the most successful. people argue about woodrow while seilson. >> you talk about people that i wanted to expand on -- gadahjohn quincy adams approached. what did he do when james was inaugurated president? >> he had a chance to be in the inaugural procession, which she had no intention of doing because he was very upset about the election. he despised andrew jackson. now we had jackson's protege, who was not a giant of his time. it was a rainy day that day. quincy adams watched from a distance and then made comments in his diary. t coh>> he has the tiny writing. where did they keep the diary? >> at the library of congress. >> how did henry clay relate to him? the scene in the oval office or whatever office at the time where she came to visit him and why did he visit? >> i do not think i know. it is a touching scene to me. i think it is the most touching scene in the book. henry clay had been a great oppon

it is "how to prosecute george w. bush for murder." you can see extend the policies in this book and the prosecution to obama out because he is complicitous in continuing this illegal war in the host: i think that might have come out in 2008 or 2007. what are your reading? caller: hello. merry christmas. my favorite nonfiction book has been and always will be the bible. host: thank you. jim on our independent line. caller: good morning. is "american bloomsbury" based on the literary community they gathered in concord, massachusetts. hawthorne, you know, and amazoe merson. it was just a delight. i don't read much nonfiction. host: sandra, your favorite nonfiction book of the year. caller: the book of a late senator ted kennedy. host: harold evans and his book, here is some of his comments. >> this should be a celebration of reporting. that is what my book is about. it is about what newspapers can achieve. not what an editor can achieve. but what reporters on the ground cannot achieve patrick's host. host: that was harold evans. caller:

it does not spring from lloyd's of george w. bush.ricans went gung-ho with the treaty and started dismantling some of the kyoto peace accord, this could unravel the relationship with russia and have all kinds of repercussions. then there was the anxiety that in developing the european defense initiative with the french that we had been seduced in some way by an incredibly fronting -- incredibly cunning friend that would run into a trap of undermining nato. we came up with a joint draft declaration to put these anxieties to bed, and that was finalized at camp david by the foreign policy adviser and by a rice herself. this was the top of the treaty. one of the things i would say, if i remember correctly from one of the briefings, this is something we need it to do to diffuse -- to defuse this well in advance. otherwise, the kinds of things that we need to talk about are the middle east, the middle east much more than an iraq at the time. >> sanctions were on the agenda, but not something that -- >> no, it was not a huge item. it was a l

george w. bush, barack obama, newt gingrich, nancy pelosi, the republicans, the democrats, if the free contractors, the unions, michael more, rush limbaugh -- who's to blame? it is a natural question asked. but is it to the right question? all you need to do is visit a local bookstore and go into the current events section which is filled with them. -- filled with villains. i wanted us to appear on the cover of our book in short black many dresses. but my brother dave talk this out of it. there's always the paperback. instead of who is to win, we ask a different question. why do some issues fell and why do some succeed? we look for great successes and monumental failures. we wanted to look for patterns. we wanted to look at the success of the marshall plan to the integration reform and vietnam. we reviewed all of these initiatives. we realized that it would require a small army of individuals who understood the government and were willing to work for free. the answer was clear. we needed cred studen

this was just a little while after president george w. bushad declared mission accomplished in iraq. i went to the philippines and i realized, that was their first attempt at nation building. we invaded in 19-- 1898. president theodore roosevelt had declared mission accomplished. when i went to the philippines, i was in manila in a meeting and i told filipino officials that i was going to go down into the southern part of the philippines, and they said no. i said, yes i am and they said we can't guarantee your safety. and i said well, theodore roosevelt said mission accomplished 100 years ago. i am going to go give it a try. against my wishes, they forced and armed police guard on me because i was an american. at one point in a southern filipino city, we were driving by-- i was in the backseat with my armed guard, and we drove by the city hall. the city hall was built by the u.s. army. general blackjack pershing had ruled the area from that building. across the street from the city hall, right over there, it said pershing park. there was a big

stresses the movement's political failures and frustrations during their recent presidency of george w. bush. with the exception of its tax-cutting policies and judicial nominations, bush's administration at least on the home front, now seems to many conservative stalwarts who have been in considerable a degree in liberal republican administration more akin to rockefeller, nixon and reagan. the second cluster of explanations for conservatism's focus is not so much on the external political but on internal factors, that is the structure and dynamics of the conservative movement itself. perhaps the most important thing to understand about modern american conservatism is that it is not and has never been unit focal. it is a coalition which many points of origin and the first tendencies, not always easy to reconcile with one another. now, so long as the cold war continued this coalition held together reasonably well. anticommunism, a conviction shared by nearly everyone, supplied much of the essential unifying simmons. but with the end of the cold war and the early 1990's and the departure from

. >> george w. bush office. i was giving a talk and there was a dinner with contributors. they were asking me not as a conservative but as a historian. what about this guy? very - group of people. i said, if presidents are stocks, buy george w. bush. if it moves at all it is going to go up. it cannot go down. i said more seriously, look at grant. he was in the cellar for 100 years and he did not deserve to be there. he was put there by elite historians like henry adams to thought he used the wrong forks, he was put there by a completely converted racists who were the dunning school and they were southerners and it was "the birth of a nation" with footnotes. the insurgents one. i think bush, we will see. he made it possible for the insurgents to lose in his war. >> barack obama? >> i went down to the inauguration. i was doing that for "the newshour." there was a historic quality to that which can never be taken away. it is one thing but it is a very important thing. the quality became more real because he

written for the stalinist journal partisan review, and one of presidential medal of freedom form george w. bush is the one in this room. mr. podhoretz's resumes is sprinkled liberally, if i make use that word, with assembly seeming contradictions. contradictions. he edited the first new left journal, commentary, deadbolt of the democratic party when it nominated the new left's first political water carrier, george mcgovern, for the presidency. he's an intellectual who thinks that intellectuals have ruined the world. most fundamentally he was a key director of a great exodus from liberalism at the democratic party during the 1970s, as leader of a moment that he can no dismissively at neoconservatism. now, even during his best days on the left, mr. podhoretz was never a very politically correct liberal. among the first works that brought him widespread public attention was an essay called my negro problem and ours, which described how a childhood spent on brooklyn's mean streets getting beaten up by black kids had shaped his political thinking. but when he left liberalism, mr. podhoretz really le

overall, their views were much closer to those of margaret thatcher than those of helmut kohl and george w. bushas very dangerous for a variety of reasons. their theories predicted massive change are almost always associated with war. you saw this as a moment pregnant with the possibility of war. that is what motivated the back to the future arguments. the bipolarÑi divisionñr of eure has maintained peace. rapid unification of germany will in fact and bring that will d -- bring back multi-clarity that will bring war. that was his argument. -- it will bring that multi- polarityw3Ñiçó that will bring . there were a lot of reasons. the bottom line is that scholars were behind the curve and overestimated the risks involved with rapid unification. this is connected to the conduct of style but i am talking about. Ñialmost the clearest case we he is theçó expansion that began to hit the radar screen in the middle of 1990. we had a powerful scholarly consensus against the idea that nato was central to europe. i do recall a lot of historians were not at all shy about applying the historical knowledge to

george bush's watch, but he put it on place. it was thrilling to be in jack kemp's presence. he was soaked abelian and energetic -- energetic. >> george w bush. >> i'm going to see what i said at washington and lead just before he left. there was a dinner with contributors and i was giving a talk, and they were asking me as a historian, not a conservative, what about this guy? a very negative group of people. and i said if president our stocks, by george w. bush. if it moves at all, it is going to go up. he did not deserve to be there. he was put there by historians like henry adams, by in completely converted racists in the deming school at columbia here in new york city, reconstruction, all southerners, and it was "birth of a nation with footnotes." and we will see, but bush at least made it possible for insurgents to lose in his war. >> barack obama. >> i went down to the inauguration. i was doing that for the news hour, and i did that work the news hour, and there is an historic quality which never can be taken away. it is one thing, but it is a very important thing. the quality became more real because he was elected president. the

france ses town send, chief homeland security adviser for president george w. bush.c margalese, author of "american raj." here in los angeles harry humphreys, founder and president of the global studies group and former navy seal. peter bergen, what is the suspect's al qaeda connection? >> he received the device in yemen. the second most important place in the world for al qaeda. substantial al qaeda presence there. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is the name of the group. we have seen a connection to yemen in the ft. hood shooting with the cleric who went on al jazeera recently to explain that major hasan the lead suspect in the ft. hood shooting had asked him if it was okay to kill fellow soldiers. so we have seen yemen is sort of a hot bed of militancy. >> larry: frances, he is claiming ties to al qaeda and talking a lot. what do you make of that? >> that he is talking about is good. what investigators can corroborate. the terrorist ties back to yemen are extensive and long between al qaeda's affiliation with operatives there. our consulate in saudi arabia was a

the vulcans were a group of american advisors who advised george w. bushential candidate. and when i went down to texas in early 1999, which was shortly before he declared himself as a candidate, he said to me with much frankness, i don't know much about foreign policy, i'm going to have to learn pretty damn fast, and one of the things i'm going to do is surround myself with good people. and the good people turned out to be this group, called the vulcans, led condoleezza rice and paul wolfowitz, who has become deputy secretary for defense. so my team and i folk tussed on this group. and after 2000 went by, certain policies began to take shape. and i think the most definitive account that i had of where the bush administration was likely to go -- and always bear in mind before 9/11, was a conversation with condoleezza rice at the british assembly, if i remember right, december 6, 2000, followed by a conversation with karl rove, who was president bush's chief political strategist at that time. >> i already had instructions in london to put in a few fixes on

and he wasn't george w. bush. he had to change the policies.he believes in national company raise and he went in there and --. >> lehrer: what about the speech. >> i thought the speech was -- i thought the speech being remembered -- i thought the moment at which obama defined himself internationally, he answered problems that he had -- being apologetic about the united states. it was an aggressively unapologetic speech of being a world citizen it was an aggressively national speech in the true sense of the word. and you know, i am amazed that to this moment i can't find anybody who has criticized the speech. i have never heard anybody give a speech of that complexity on that big a stage and go uncriticized. >> lehrer: go ahead. >> i can't, i thought it was great. >> lehrer: okay. >> i thought it was eloquent, smart, subtle and deep. a couple of years ago i told this story a couple times. but a couple years ago i'm interviewing oa and i'm running out of questions. i'm get nothing where with the guy, he's cranky, it is the end of the day. and out

george w. bush, in my view, was a sanctimonious man. maybe we can debate that. woodrow wilson was sanctimonious. sanctimony at that level of politics tends to be a trade that causes problems -- a trait that causes problems. polk was probably the most successful of the sanctimonious presidents. people could argue about woodrow wilson. he interjected himself in the world wars i, but that is a huge historical debate that we get out on another show. >> you talk about a couple of people that i wanted to expand on. john quincy adams -- he was the president, and the one on into the house of representatives. what did he do when james polk was inaugurated president? >> he had a chance to be in the inaugural procession. he had no intention of doing, because it was very upset about the election. he despised and jackson, but jackson was a giant of the time. now we have jackson's protege who was not a giant, and it was a rainy day that day. it rained all day during the inauguration. quincy adams watched from a distance, and then put right comments, many of them quite pointed

. >> host: you used to write speeches for george w. bush. in obama's case to make, one of the things he says in the forum as the casualties increase, effective explanation of this strategy will matter more and more. >> i think it's always a requirement. and no one, we got the conditions right. and the three missions were there. we took not one hostile death casualty then, and not in 10 years. i think he has the conditions. i'm not as pessimistic as the article you just read it. i think we're going to have an opportunity here to create a situation in afghanistan that it cannot be used by terrorists again. and i'm more as i said, more optimistic. >> glen is joining us from connecticut. good morning. >> caller: good morning. steve, i have the presence to say this before i close my comment to the general. i watched the news media report on this war ever since it started. when the first troops went into afghanistan, i believe it was somewhat in the neighbor of tens of thousands. if we put in 68,000, i think the situation in afghanistan would be m

george of the bush. -- the torque bill, i believe that was passed under george w. bush. the deficit, it is like $148,000 per person now. host: thanks for the input this morning. it is christmas morning. here are some photos of the gathering at the church of the nativity in bethlehem. also, soldiers in afghanistan. the pope benedict yesterday's celebrating christmas eve services at the vatican. he was knocked down by a woman in the crowd. you have probably seen some video of this by news programs. he was ok and help back to his feet. that woman is the same woman who tried to reach him at midnight mass last year. favored political story of the year, omaha, neb., here is julie. caller: it is it snowing blizzard in ahman. host: how much snow you have this morning? caller: i think about 11 or 12 inches on my driveway. host: still snowing? caller: oh, yes. i am a true democrat but i am very disappointed -- i know kay bailey hutcheson and the other gop have challenged the constitutional right of this health along -- of this health bill. the what i'm ashamed of with my party is

the people allegedly involved in this plot supporting this guy were people let out of gitmo by george w. bush. the yemenis are not very good at dealing with these people when we send them back. it's going to make it that much more difficult for obama to deal with the guantanamo bay problem. >> they could end up in illinois though. >> some are supposed to go back to emeb veyemen very soon. >> or saudi arabia who has expressed interest in working more cooperatively. yemen is absolutely terrible at sustaining prisons. >> the saudis haven't done a good job either. >> no i agree but that might be another option. i think the real issue is will obama cave to the pressure of the right? whenever an issue like this happens he becomes more hawkish. with afghanistan he ends up sending more troops because of the allegation he was digterring. we will suddenly cave now and not close guantanamo out of some mass produced fear from the right which isn't legitimate. >> it is totally legitimate to keep these guys in prison forever. i don't care whether it's guantanamo or illinois or downtown manhattan as long as

and regarding our nato allies, yes, they do like him a lot better than george w. bush.ntil very recently they did not put a single combat troop in afghanistan. >> larry: what's your overall grade? >> overall grade on foreign policy, a b plus on afghanistan except for the fact that he has a deadline. i give him an a continuing the bush policies on iraq. the rest of it, iran is still building a nuke. north korea has not backed down and israelis and palestinians are upset with him because he told the israelis not to build any more settlements. not to expand them. >> larry: i asked a simple question, got an involved answer. >> a d. >> larry: a d, okay. sounded like it would be a c based on the a in there, but professor reich -- >> depends how much weight you give the a. >> larry: the only man who grades papers might have a thought. what would you give him? >> i've been doing it all day, larry. in terms of aspiration and goals and ideals i would give him an a. in terms of effort, just a sheer brute, getting in there and trying, the administration i give an a minus maybe an a

and a congressional candidate down in texas by the name of george w. bush running for congress and he had a conservative primary opponent u.s. the mayor of odessa texas. reagan endorsed reese over bush and contributed to his campaign. this did not set well with the bush family and ambassador bush than called governor reagan to complain about endorsing his sense opponent prepare you already have that situation then of course, bush's running in the primaries against reagan and that age issue as i cannot underestimate how big the issue was was shot to every story written or reported on radio or tv about ronald, was he too old? was he up to the task? and bush tries to exploit this as any other campaign would. he is jogging to the media and he goes to the ymca in new hampshire and does pushups and it is all to exacerbate that -- exacerbate the age issue then on top of that you have bush attacking his voodoo economics. this sent to people around reagan around the bend. by the time you get to day trait the man who made the most sense was george bush because he was

the country recognized your breakthrough achievements when, in 2004, president george w. bushfreedom which are the highest honors our country can give. the congress of the united states today gives you honor wherw you served. awards even to the least among us too often are characterized as a historic in the hyperbole of the moment today. but when senator ted kennedy asked the senate to vote overwhelmingly to award you the congressional gold medal, the senate and house together demonstrated that we know a historic figure when we see one. however, senator brooke, the highest awards our country can offer are not given for being historic. they are given for service. in your case, service to the united states of america and a service to the people of the state of massachusetts. and yes, senator, indescribably appreciated service to the people of your home town. the district of columbia. would you joined in singing "happy birthday"? >> happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday at a birthday to -- happy birthday to you ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the speake

it's been said bugliosi's book, how to prosecute george w. bush for murder. now you can extend the policies in this book and prosecution to obama casillas complicit in continuing this illegal war. post go i think that might've come out in 2008, 2007. santa rosa, california is next. what is your favorite nonfiction book of the year? >> caller: thanks a lot for c-span. i favorite nonfiction book has been and always will be the bible. post go thank you. jim on our independent line. >> caller: good morning. i'm not sure if this is 2009, but it's american bloomsbury by susan cheever, based on the literate community that gathered in massachusetts, hawthorne and emerson. and it was just a delight. and i don't read much nonfiction but it was certainly less fictional, less fictional than the bible. thank you. >> host: nextstep, palm desert, california. see under, your favorite book. >> caller: the late senator ted kennedy. post go thank you for your call. one of the events we cover this year harold evans in this book, my paperchase. here are some of the books on his r

but, you know, through the chain of political events ronald reagan, george w. bush's appointments of samuel roberts and alito has gone from this long active to center speaking only to his acolytes beyond the marble walls to someone who's now in the majority and is likely to stay in the majority for a while, since as you know the justices most likely to retire in upcoming years are the liberals. >> host: i congratulate you for a wonderful book and i encourage everybody to read it. i have i told you for copies of it. i hope to have a lot more. >> guest: thank you very much. >>> biographer harlow unger recounts the life of james monroe the fifth president of the united states. president monroe served two terms, was a decorative in the world war and held more public positions than anyone in history. harlow unger reclaimed says james mur's political career at marlowe's books in new york city. this is 50 minutes. [applause] >> thank you very much. i'm honored to be here tonight and one to thank my publisher and person is books. my thanks to c-span television and borders boo

it does not spring from lloyd's of george w. bush. we were very worried that if the americans went gung-ho with the treaty and started dismantling some of the kyoto peace accord, this could unravel the relationship with russia and have all kinds of repercussions. then there was the anxiety that in developing the european defense initiative with the french that we had been seduced in some way by an incredibly fronting -- incredibly cunning friend that would run into a trap of undermining nato. we came up with a joint draft declaration to put these anxieties to bed, and that was finalized at camp david by the foreign policy adviser and by a rice herself. this was the top of the treaty. one of the things i would say, if i remember correctly from one of the briefings, this is something we need it to do to diffuse -- to defuse this well in advance. otherwise, the kinds of things that we need to talk about are the middle east, the middle east much more than an iraq at the time. >> sanctions were on the agenda, but not something that -- >> n

there was a congressional candidate down in texas a young fellow by the name of george w. bush who was running for congress in 1978. and he had a conservative primary opponent named jimmy reese who was the mayor of odessa. reagan endorsed reese over bush and contributed to his campaign. and this did not set well with the bush family as you can imagine. and as a matter of fact, ambassador bush called then-governor reagan to complain about him endorsing his son's opponent. you already had that situation. and then, of course, bush is running in the primaries against reagan and the age issue again is i can't underestimate how big the age issue was in '79, to '80. it was shot through every story that was written or reported off radio or tv about ronald reagan, about was he too old. was he up to the task? all this. and bush is trying to exploit this, as any other campaign would, you know, he's jogging for the media and he goes to the ymca and does push-ups for the national media and it's all to exacerbate the age issue. so you had that and then on top of that, you have bush attacking

george w. bush declared a war on terrorism, lead us to a war in afghanistan, iraq, used very harsh measures against terrorism. in 2004 i think andy would agree with this, george bush was re-elected largely by people who may have been concerned about his other policies, but were worried about terrorism. 2080 t very unlikely that barack obama would have been nominated by the democrats if he were not so against the war in iraq, able to benefit from an anti-war sentiment. so if 2 2001, if those attacks had not happened, our decade would have been very different. >> andy, why not the economy, this is pocketbook, close to people's heart and we had an incredible crash at the end of the decade. >> yes, the economy t wasn't only 9/11, 9/11 was the defining moment. but this was a decade that started out bad, and then went to really worse in the 19 -- in 1999 64% said the country was -- the national economy was in good shape. by 2001 into was down to 36%. in 2009 it's down to 11%. we had a decade where the ame

it's exactly what george w. bush said. >> lehrer: do you agree with that, michael? well, he quoted john kennedy at american university in '63, a speech that was called a peace speech with an opening to the soviets, so i think that's right. but it also underscored for me this almost agonizing balancing act that barack obama is trying to carry off. because here he is on one side perhaps the dominant wing of his party always antiwar, they're rather unhappy about if fact that he's sending 30,000 more troops to afghanistan. and then on the other side perhaps led by dick cheney, a movement that is essentially saying barack obama is shutting down guantanamo and he's ending things that he calls torture, all this is going to make us weaker. and they will say if god forbid there's ever any kind of an attack on american interests that obama encouraged this. so here he is trying to do all these things at once and i think all those things were in the speech. >> lehrer: joe bottum, do you agree there's some politics at work here as well as morality and all these other things we'v

enterprise institute heerved on the white house council on environment quality for president george w. bush here. dan quelbecker to you fit. the presidensaid this is meaningful and unprecedeed breakthrough. how do you see it in. >> it's a jor disappoiment. to paraphrase a playbout a ince from denmark, a toughly binding treaty on climate is not to be. what we wereooking for was a tough treaty that was going to commit countries recing their emissions to levelshat would keep the clime at $2° cellsuous qarm warmer than it is tod, basically wherthe scientists have said iis a safe. we we looking for accountability, for certainty that the pdges would be kt. we were oking for some funding fothe least -- the most vulnerable people on earth whwill face real consequences due tthe pollution thate've emited from our cars antrucks and factories and power ants. inhe end though what happened was that the countries weren't willing do theirair share. they wen't willing to sign on to enough emissions reductions, ev president obama said this isn't up to the ta. and they weren't willi to age to the accountabili