president george w. bush begins his second term.ope john paul ii, the world' pope dies and 17 days later german cardinal rahsinger elected to the papacy and taking the name the 16th. and michael jackson found not guilty. and suicide bombers underground. hurricane katrina hits new orleans and the gulf coast, elliss we've got to start with you on that one you're a louisiana native. your memories of the coverage of it. >> two categories, in the early days, marvelous, early print and television that did ensure even though the government responded so ineptly to it that eventually americans would need to respond to it. of course, we have a short attention span in the media coverage and years later gosh, i wish we could get people interested in it again. >> jon: jim. >> i agree the initial story was compelling and astonishing to people things could go this wrong and a story line that was all george w. bush's fault and satisfied them completely for the years after that. >> jon: 2006, the sago mine disaster in west virginia, 13 miners trappe

americans for tax reform, ruthless the enforce this, even know it's obvious that the tax cuts of the george w. bush years were not especially successful, that economy's problems today are due to lack of demand and not supply. why did the bush administration, in you viewer, get it wrong, -- reaganolics. >> guest: the president's father raised taxes in 1990, and he was very widely criticized, and it led to his defeat in 1992. and i think that his son was never going to make that same mistake. i think he felt as long as he kept cutting taxes and cutting taxes and cutting taxes, that a largelet of the republican coalition would be with him, and no matter what else he did. and i think that as a political calculation, that worked. the problem was it was irresponsible, as was much of the policies of the george w. bush administration. i -- just for example, i'm incredulous, but so many republicans are complaining about the cost of the health care measure that is being considered, that at least is being paid for in one way or another. whereas they put forward a proposal to expand drug benefits for people on

they grew up in river oaks down the block from george w. bush. she went to saint john's, which is one of the finest private schools in america. george w. bush wanted to go to saint john's but they wouldn't let him in. so he went to kinkaid, which is not a bad school also. another very powerful ride school. but they were in the same area. they just live down the block from each other in river oaks area. they went to the same country clubs, they were in that the nexus of the high-energy and high political world in texas. senator john tower would drop by the house. john tower would. that's the kind of if i'm she grew a. she begin resisting, get back on track, she began looking at things -- i think she felt were seditious and he said. something that was just going to bug the crap out of her father, and she began reading a little publication that a friend of hers had had in her house that, you know, clearly was not welcome at the ivins house. although it was called "the texas observer." unit, 32nd sale pitch, support "the texas observer." if you believ

they grew up in river oaks down the block from george w. bush. she went to st. john's which is one of the finest private schools in america. george w. bush wanted to go to st. john's but they wouldn't let him and so he went to kincaid which isn't a bad school, another very prominent powerful school but they were in the same orbit. just down the block from each other in the river oaks area and they mingled with the country clubs and they were in the nexus of the high energy and political world in texas. senator john tower drop by the house. just the kind of environment, she grow extremely conservative and began resisting -- back on track should begin looking at things i think she felt were seditious, something the was going to bug the crap out of her father, and she began reading a little publication that a friend of hers had in her house that clearly was not welcome at the speed delete the ivins house also would was called the texas observer, 32nd sales pitch, if you believe molly ivins and fierce journalism by a copy of it, subscribe, go on line, told them you l

and george w. bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. so it's really quite a strong showing. >> and then you have the women's side, and you have hillary clinton, who for 17 years, unprecedented, has been either number one or number two as the most admired. but just barely beating sarah palin. someone about as politically different from her as you could possibly imagine. >> you know, it's so interesting. sarah palin came out of nowhere onto this list. she's never been named before to the most admired list. it's an open-ended question so the people we survey can say whoever they wish. you know, it's essentially a tie. hillary clinton at 16%, sarah palin at 15%. given the margin of error that is a tie. most of the people who named hillary clinton were democrats, but virtually everyone who named sarah palin was a republican. >> the other thing that i find really interesting is that we talk about our politicians. we complain about our politicians. we saw their numbers plummet as the economy plummeted. and yet, as someone who shall remain unna

i am pleased president george w. bush and president bill clinton had agreed to lead a major fund-raising effort for relief. the clinton-bush haiti fund. i went to thank both of you for returning to service and leading this urgent mission. this is a model that works. after the terrible tsunami in asia president bush turned to president clinton to lead a similar fund. that effort raced resources for the victims of that disaster -- that effort raised resources that helped rebuild communities. that is exactly what the people of haiti need right now. every day that goes by we learn more about the scope of this catastrophe any. the suffering that defies comprehension, families sleeping in the streets, injured and desperate for care. many thousands feared dead. that is why thousands of american personnel are on the scene working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine, and tons of emergency food supplies are arriving every day. it will be difficult, it is an enormous challenge to distribute this ate quickly and

i am pleased president george w. bush and president bill clinton had agreed to lead a major fund-raising effort for relief. the clinton-bush haiti fund. i went to thank both of you for returning to service and leading this urgent mission. this is a model that works. after the terrible tsunami in asia president bush turned to president clinton to lead a similar fund. that effort raced resources for the victims of that disaster -- that effort raised resources that helped rebuild communities. that is exactly what the people of haiti need right now. every day that goes by we learn more about the scope of this catastrophe any. the suffering that defies comprehension, families sleeping in the streets, injured and desperate for care. many thousands feared dead. that is why thousands of american personnel are on the scene working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine, and tons of emergency food supplies are arriving every day. it will be difficult, it is an enormous challenge to distribute this ate quickly and

president obama last evening spoke with president george w. bushat has happened in haiti. obviously the administrations of george h. w. bush, the administration of bill clinton, the administration of george w. bush, and now the obama administration have worked and we have seen a lot of resources go to haiti and the haitian people. t(we obviously have a vested interestç in the government and the people there. he asked them to come together in an effortq similar to the one to was done for the tsunami. we will have more details on that in the coming days. again, our focus right now is on ensuring that what resources and capabilities we have are gotten to the region and gotten to haiti as quickly as possible to affect that window of time for search and rescue. >> can you tell us if they have at least initially agreed to go >> i'm sorry. both of them have agreed to take part in this. i did not have details past that at this point but in the very, very near future we will as we focus and for the time being on the search and rescue. ç>>ç on banks and b

george w. bush said to the american people, we will not nation build. i am opposed to nation building. apparently president cheney sought a different view of the world of president bush did so you have to step back a little bit and that sort ahold era. that is why the think the 40 your timeframe is so important. and not to take something out of context, not to look at one event and think it is related to other events that preceded it so we looked at document after document, went through things that each side was saying and we tried our best to present them to you in a theory toned down clay savitt you can feel what it is to make your own judgment. it is very important that we use it as a history, our opinions, we try to keep them but we also try to tell the story the way it was. >> you talked earlier about the spy ring run by the chairman and the joint chiefs of staff. i'm not sure how many people who are in this room were watching this are familiar with that. it sounds kind of far out. tell us a little bit about that and when these tapes come of these w

the low point* came when george w. bush wrote a letter to aerial chevron and gave recognition of some of the israeli settlements and to go parts of israel and wrote in light of new realities on the ground including already existing major israeli population centers it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations would be full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. this is unfortunate for several reasons on the one hand it gave every incentive for the israelis to continue to change realities on the ground what incentive do have to preserve the status quo when the last remaining superpower says they would recognize the reality on the ground and it also lou took away her from the demesne of the critical question for america to agree on that position compromised america as an honest broker in any peace process. obama new america face day credibility problem of any revived peace process and to prove that he calls for a total freeze on all israeli settlement construction. the arab world took that

he was white house chief of staff to president george w. bush. he voted for brown. here in los angeles tanya acker. back in washington our man david gergen, cnn's senior political analyst and adviser to presidents nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. scott brown took a popular stance during his campaign, very much an it's against us big, bad washington theme. he sounded that theme in his victory speech. >> i will remember while the honor is mine, this senate seat belongs to no one person and political party. as i said before and you've heard it today and you'll hear it loud and clear, this is the people's seat! >> larry: andy card, do you think the republicans might not take credit for it if it's the people's seat? >> the republicans will take credit for it it, but scott brown skefshs the bulk was credit. he ran a very disciplined campaign and was not phony. he was the real thing. this is the people's seat. it belongs to the people of massachusetts and scott brown says that he'll take good care of it and make sure they're part of the process rather than being dictated t

anita mcbride served as an assistant to president george w. bush and chief of staff to laura bush.n washington. dan at the white house. laura schwartz in chicago served as director of events in the white house social office in the clinton administration. want to get us up to date on the new crash story? >> reporter: well, yeah. we got the statement from the secret service this morning. they were pointing out that now a third individual did manage to make the way into the white house here to that state dinner in november. this person according to the secret service went to a local hotel where the indian delegation was meeting and then hopped in a vehicle there and came into the white house. now the secret service says that they did go through -- that individual did go through a security screening and they don't believe at any time that individual got into the receiving line or had a chance to meet the president or the first lady. it's under investigation and clearly another embarrassing situation for this white house which we're talking about security issues, national security, and

obama is no better than george w. bush. rowland martin and donna brazil weigh in. >>> plus, another "the situation room" right here in washington as you know. we'll take you inside the president's command and control center. you're in "the situation room". let me take this. wait, there's no such thing as a projector phone. no, it's the lg phone and projector. there's no such thing as an lg phone and projector. ta-da. what ? the man said "ta-da" ! introducing the lg expo smartphone and lg projector. only at at&t. ( laughs, click ) when you hear a click, ( clicking ) you know it's closed and secure. that's why hefty food bags click closed. hefty! hefty! hefty! so you know you've helped lock in freshness and lock out air... to help prevent freezer burn. be sure it's secure with hefty food bags. just one click and you know it's closed. hefty! hefty! hefty! ( click, click, click ) my congestion is so bad right now i really am looking forward to getting relief. i've never used afrin before. relief! oh, it's like night and day. ca

coakley painted brown as a conservative in the mold of george w. bush. >> he wants to go back to the drawing board. he wants to go back to those bush/cheney policies that provide for the wealthiest. >> warner: brown painted coakley as a liberal rubber-stamp for president obama. >> you're in favor of cap and trade. it's a tax. >> it's not a tax. >> it's a tax. you're in favor of a bill that will cost a billion dollars... >> warner: moderator david gergen asked brown if he'd use "ted kennedy's seat" to block health care legislation that kennedy had championed. >> with all due respect, it's not the kennedys' seat, and it's not the democrats' seat-- it's the people's seat. >> warner: in the closing days, senior massachusetts senator john kerry has emailed supporters for donations to coakley's campaign. and president obama recorded an internet video on her behalf. >> as your attorney general, she has taken on wall street schemes, insurance company abuses, and big polluters on your behalf. she represents the best progressive values of massachusetts. >> warner

when george w. bush was elected, i invited him to, meet with the democrats. he came, and we have a good exchange. it was polite and respectful. i am pleased president obama decided to go and was invited at the republican caucus. i did not give the chance to see all of it, but it is the right thing to do. need to build bridges here. in this intense partisanship is not good for the political system, the way of governing. the american people see it and say, you know what? we pay your salary is three and we send you there to do good things. why cannot find a way to find common purpose? the only way the system works is to compromise -- through compromise. host: one of the things being discussed is more sessions like this, and the model of the british parliament. guest: 11 suggestion that there even be of question period in our government to date there have been suggestions that there even be a question period in our government. how would that be structured? more and more interaction with the president and the congress and more interactions with the joint caucuses,

when george w. bush was elected as chairman of the policy committee, i invited him to meet with the democrats. he came, and we had a good exchange, and it was polite and respectful. i did not get the chance to see all of it. this intense partisanship is not good for the system and the way of governing. why can we find areas of compromise? the only way this system works is to compromise. >> one topic discussed on the twister -- twitter is the model of british parliament. the you think that could work? >> i do not know. there have been suggestions there be a question time in our government. i do not know if that would happen with the president coming down for a session, but i think more and more interaction with the president and congress and more interaction with joint caucuses wary talked not just with democrats and republicans but talk about common purpose and what we need to get on with the country and how are we going to do that? >> turning to the issue of jobs, the president's live and die by the une

. $700 billion, more than george w. bush ever asked for. >> how do you handle the deficit reduction part of it which the president at the end of last year was talking about making it a priority for 2010? >> you do it the way congress often does it, smoke and mirrors. >> and you were up there for a long time helping with the smoke and mirrors. >> there are a number of ways that it can be manipulated. let us remember that some of this add-on is back-loaded in the palm and it may not yet materialize. the fact of the matter is that they have to find this money even in an environment on the hill where the deficit and deficit spending is becoming much more of an issue. the good news for defense is there's a lot of constituency for defense money, especially in congressional districts. so my bet is that they'll find the money. >> i suspect in an environment where in an afternoon, in five minutes, the house can pass a $50 billion stimulus measure i would bet that secretary gates would be able to walk into the white house and argue if

president george w. bushobviously after the tsunami struck several years ago enlisted the help of his dad and former president clinton in coordinating and raising -- helping to coordinate relief and raising money for the efforts in the area affected by the tsunami. president obama last evening spoke with president george w. bush and asked if he would take part in an effort similar to the good idea he had around what has happened in haiti. obviously, the administrations of george h.w. bush, the administration of bill clinton and president george w. bush lot of resources go to haiti and the haitian people. we obviously have a vested interest in the government and the people there. he asked them again to come together in an effort similar to the one that was done for the tsunami. we'll have more details on that in the coming days. again, our focus right now is on ensuring what resources and capabilities we have are gotten to the region and gotten to haiti as quickly as possible to affect that window of time for

in a way that george w. bush did not. so he does not want our response to this terror incident, this threat, and others, to discount the larger foreign policy appeal, the engagement that he is trying to pursue. at the same time, he needs to project domestically and internationally the strength, the firmness about our defenses. the problem that joe and david have outlined here is that al qaeda is outsmarting us. that's the real terror -- chris: we had we have the biggest defense arsenal. you cover at the pentagon. what do they see coming at unanimous >> they see an al qaeda that's developed -- that's decentralized. it's no longer only in pakistan. the leadership is in pakistan, they believe. but it's become a franchise. and the estimate from 200 to -- well, from several hundred to several thousand members of al qaeda. but right now, what they see is that the ideology is spreading. you don't have to be trained in pakistan anymore. you can be a smaller group that latches on to the ideology and be inspired by al qaeda through

a lot of people believe that george w. bush was not totally forthcoming withhe american people. lyndon johnson was not forthcoming about the gulf of tonkin incident, and james polk was not forthcoming. he maneuvered the country into war without telling america that his undlying aim was territorial expansion. when that became clear, it sapped his political standing significantly. >> was the unpopular when he left office? >> he was a president with a great deal of iron will and a great deal of determination to get what he wanted. he was willing to expend a great deal of political capital. as a result, i think he sacked his political stamina. >> in perusing your book, because it is a substantial volume -- in preparing for today, i was struck by the fact that he was not confrontational. he was not mendon johnson -- lyndon johnson. he endured buchanan, his secretary of state is terrible antics, and yet you say he was an iron will demand. these are not tolerances of iron-willed men, are they? >> he was a paradoxical. when it came to face-to-face confrontation, he was -- there is no be

during the administration of george w. bush again, many momentous events. just to mention one because time is running, i led the fight for embryonic stem cell research, the specter-harkin bill to use federal funds to use stem cells which had enormous potential for curing the maladies of the world. a veritable fountain of youth by injecting stem cells into diseased cells. president bush vetoed the specter-harkin bill, vetoed it twice, but now with president obama, there has been an executive order and senator harkin and i are continuing to push for legislation because legislation has more pharmacy than an executive order. an executive order can be changed by the next president. and then the obama administration -- administration of president obama. got to know senator barack obama, had his office down the corridor from mine on the seventh floor of the hart senate office building. and when he came forward with his proposal for a stimulus and i took a look at what was happening on the economy, i was concerned that we would slip back into a 1929 depression if w

host: this is a guy that was appointed by george w. bush.ot like? and who will replace them? guest: who is next if the ben bernanke? it is up to the president. we will take it one step at a time. i do not know who will be. i hope it would be someone who would not be a political figure, somebody committed to transparency and accountability for the federal reserve so the taxpayer can see how their money is being spent and be assured there are no winners and losers being picked based on political inclinations. is in every public officials, there are good things and bad the spirit i grant that he did a lot -- i grant that he did a lot. but just look at the troubled assets relief program. the latest report shows the 54 civil and criminal investigations under way into how tarp funds were being used for inappropriate purposes, fraud and the like. i worry because of lack of transparency and accountability that the public has simply lost confidence. when it comes to our economy, our fans -- financial markets, confidence is important. i think the good

owner jerry jones high fiving george w. bush. they were having a heck of a time in the new stadium. to cincinnati. bengals. joe gibbs the hall of famer and joe theisman calling the game. mark sanchez to sean green. goes 39 yards for the touchdown. does the rookie. a big day for him. rushing for 135 yards. then my favorite fans, check this out. sneaking in a drink. sanchez on the bootleg, rolls out by tight ends dustin keller wide-open. check out keller. stays inbounds. does the rest. gets in. 45 yards before the jets beat the bengals. this time 24-14. two catches, 28 yards. college hoops now. if you were watching the georgetown uconn game you said during the first half it's over. not so fast. down by 15 at halftime georgetown junior stepped up big time scoring 28 of his career-high 33 points in his second half. big bird and cookie monster at the game. first half huskies wearing blue. uconn feeds stanley robinson for the huge alley-oop. georgetown down 40-25 at the break. hoya alum knows a come back when he sees one. check out the nice moves. lays it up and in. hoyas down by two. the

you know, the george w. bush that i saw every single day in the white house, in the oval office, in the roosevelt room, talking to troops on airs force one, there was a gap between what i saw and what the public perception was. i think people will get a better sense of who this man is. host: question in the back, go ahead, please. caller: as counselor to the bush administration, you said that you helped oversee the surge in iraq. what advice would you have for president obama for afghanistan an possible future involvement in pakistan? guest: my point is that i was there at the time that the surge was taking effect and we were seeing the positive benefits of it, and so i was involved in, you know, how are we talking about it, how are we conveying the information about what is going on with the surge, but the president, as commander in chief, made the decision to oversee the surge in iraq along with, obviously, general petraeus and general odierno, and others who did a spectacular job in that regard. i think in ter

bill clinton, george w. bush, and barack obama? do you think they're examples should not be examples for the rest of us? >> i can't see into their hearts. [laughter] look, what we need to do is to take them at their word. not only the most recent presidents, but presidents, current political figures, but potential candidates for president. we need to take them at their word and see what they say. i, for one, am for taking them very seriously. bill clinton did not have much to say about serious principles in this way. he did have a very progressive bit about how he talked about america. he made a living on constitutional arguments. george bush rarely talked about the topic at all. indeed, if you look at recent presidents, and the study has been done. we have one on here at heritage. see how often presidents speak about the constitution and principles. recent presidents including president bush were very low in terms of those references. the current president actually talks a lot about these ideas and these principles, which is why i

. >> tonight, the history of executive power from george washington to george w. bush. book tv weekend on c-span2. >> in the nation's capital and across the country, listen to c-span radio in washington at 90.1 f.m. and on xm satellite radio. it is also a free ap for your iphone. covering washington like no other. >> next on c-span, today's "washington journal" live with your phone calls. that's followed by c.e.o. of lender freddie mac at the economic club, and secretary tim geithner testifies on capitol hill about the collapse of insurance giant a.i.g. >> in a moment we'll discuss the president's decision. at 7:45, art guzetti. at 8:30, kevin carey talking

that is up from 43% just after the election of george w. bush. to the degree that they could send a message out of massachusetts, it was not a message to obama, it was a message about what is going on in washington. the better answer lies in the culture of the capital, where every problem is seen less as an issue to be resolved and more as a tool for a political position, where every position is automatically a failed by the other side's 24/7 political attack machine. with lawmakers failing to meet a compromise, they are failing their own party activists. this culture makes a retreat to partisan corners the safest route in any controversy." we want to get your thoughts this morning. you can start dialing out. first we want to hear from paul west, "the baltimore sun" political reporter. let's talk of your peace. "president obama, meeting with republicans today in baltimore." what is he expected to say? caller: probably the same thing that he said in his state of the union speech. he did a fairly long statement on partisanship, calling out both par

provide for the leasing arrangement, and every president from theodore roosevelt, certainly to george w. bush and i would say president obama, has essentially affirms our right to be there. i think the actions that i mentioned just a few minutes ago are a kind of information that guantanamo can be useful in times of serious distress. shortly after i decided to consider this topic seriously, i read a brief historical essay, also by bradley reynolds, that lacked the unifying theme, it was published in a book called u.s. navy and record bases overseas. a rather dry old book. but it did sketch guantanamo's history from 1898 to the present. it told me that guantanamo had serve multiple functions over the 90 year period. and had been an ongoing prominent factor in u.s. cuba relations. so on the basis of this rather skimpy essay, i decided that if nothing else, i could use reynolds article to draft outline and i guide to the work that i would like. a major focus of my book is on the period 1934 to the present. for it was in 1934 that the united states government abrogated, but renewed the treaty con

then you have george w. bush. what do you think? [applause] not bad. not bad. let's get on to president barack obama. it is interesting watching him over the course of time. he had a very young taut face when he first ran for office. the the combination of gravity and gravitas have worked its toll on his face the way it does. you look on the picture of any present, over four years, their faces age at an exponential rate. -- of any president, over four years, their faces age at an exponential rate. you have a nice round top of the head. the years are a big portion of the balance of the head right now. but here is the important bit. he casts a heavy shadow in his eyes and you don't often see his eyes at a distance. you can see somebody at a distance, but they tend to be small, like this. his nose is quite small. he has a strong upper lip like this. you can see his face start to appear in front of you like this. drawing him and seeing the style of his portrait from the site, i am beginning to think that, the more i looked at him, i do not think he was born in hawa

we have bill clinton, george w. bush. >> this was condoleezza rice's swearing-in as our secretary of state. she lived in the building where my husband and i lived, and she is an accomplished musician. we were fortunate to attend one of her musical evenings, and she called me and asked if i would administer the oath of office. i thought that was a great thing to do. it showed a bipartisan spirit, and we are all proud to be servants of the u.s.a. it should not matter that i happened to have been appointed the bench monday jimmy carter and president clinton, both democrats. i thought that was a very nice gesture on her part. >> who else on this table do you want to talk about? >> this is my granddaughter, one of three granddaughters. it was taken in the fall of 1992, when president clinton was running for office and his wife, hillary clinton, happened to be visiting the nursery school attended by might then 3-year- old granddaughter. they are doing the toothbrush song together, and this picture was featured in "the new york

i spoke with ambassador john negroponte and a former director of national intelligence under george w. bush. and farwaz, a professor at the london school of economics. mr. ambassador, administration officials told us the american public would find this report shocking in its glory. what in it did you find most surprise something. >> first of all, you used in the leadup here that is system is broken. i don't think that's really true. i think in the statement the white house issued today they made clear there have been a lot of successes since the reforms took place in 9/11. so, frankly, as john brennan said, hindsight is 20/20 vision. we've had this terrorist now in custody for a couple of weeks' time. we've learned the narrative of what he was plotting to do. so, sure, it looks a bit shocking retrospectively. i didn't find it too surprising. i think it is fortunate we dodged this particular bullet. >> obviously we all feel that way. i want to clarify, given all the many, many warnings signs that were apparently there along the way, you don't find this to be concerning? >> well, concerning,

>>larry: this is between george w. bush and barack obama. >> we said he was a gut player, not a textbook player. he would go on his instinct and in reporting what he was doing, you had to find out what his instinct was and then almost always, it was okay, how are they going to carry that out? in obama's case, he's obviously much moran lit c-- analytical ad systematic. he's the law professor to a certain extent in all these dealings. you saw the law professor today sko scolding the class, the intelligence community and his national security team. >>larry: how about those who say that he appears to lack passion? do you see that? >> i don't think we saw any lack of passion today. i think david gurgin was on cnn earlier saying he was smolderring. i don't know whether he was smoldering. he knew he had to smile and present a real atmosphere of utter seriousness, which i suspect he did. but here's -- if you kind of try to get to 30,000 feet on this, the issue is al qaeda and their safe havens. and they have safe havens, particular

this week i spoke to a former director of intelligence under george w. bush. welcome to you both. mr. ambassador, administration officials had told us last night that the american public would find this report in its glory pretty shooking. what in it did you find most surprise something. >> well, first of all, you use the phrase in the leadup here that the system is broken, and i don't think that's really true, and i think in the statement the white house issued today they made clear there have been a lot of successes since the reforms took place after 9/11. as john brennen said, hindsight is 20/20 vision. we've had this terrorist now in custody for a couple weeks time, we've learned the narrative of what he was plotting to do. so sure it looks a bit shocking looking in retrospectively, but i didn't find it too surprising, and i think it's fortunate that we dodge this particular bullet. >> i just want to -- obviously, we all feel that way, i just want to clarify here, given all of the many many sort of warning signs that were apparently there along the way, you don't find this to

. >> since you brought up history, look at george w. bush, 2001 approval rating, 86%. >> around the same time. clinton '93, approval rating 54%. george h.w. bush, '89, 17%. reagan, back in '81, approval rating of 49%. all gallup polls i think. cnn "usa today" gallup polls. it's got to be causing some, some pand wringing in the wus? >> the only one that's relevant. because with george bush -- >> reagan number opinion 49%. >> yeah. dealing with, he's dealing with the fallout from the carter years. you have 18 1/2% interest rates. so that's a relevant number. clinton's number completely irrelevant. he inherited george bush's bull market. the economy's booming. the george bush number is completely irrelevant because of 9/11. none of the numbers vaguely comparable. the only one comparable, herbert hoover what obama's dealing with. obama dealt one of the worst hands in the history of the countries. go back and look at abraham lincoln's approval ratings which were terribly low and that's what's relevant. the other things are, those number, complete

the bush administration under george w. bush had from the time of the bse crisis at the end of 2003 until they left office to expand beef trade. they did but not to the degree that they would have liked. >>> in a separate dispute the russians are banning the import of moultrie. u.s. officials are crying foul noting the chlorine treatments have been used to destroy microbial problems with moultrie for over 25 years. they will meet late they are year to tackle the dispute. in a typical year the u.s. provides 1 sixth of russia's moultrie needs. >>> the outlook appears to be improving for the nation's cotton industry. meeting this week at the annual belt wide conference in new orleans there was talk of increased plantings in 2010. economists with the cotton council say with prices improving and input prices holding steady cotton is in its most competitive position since 2006. in 2009 u.s. growers planted less cotton than they did just three years ago. >>> that's it for the headlines. now back to al for crop watch. >>> crop watch is

momentous lean with the george w. bush and george h. w. sh to have a 9/11 and the fall of the berlin wall and a pattern that was not easy to identify. -- that was easy. we are searching for a pattern rather than reacting. that only the frame of the discussion today. i would take note that the lack of gender balance because i am sensitive to this issue. i would point out that the issue as a better performance than the random acceptances of our invitations. these two women could not make it even by telephone but their essays are in the magazine. some of you will note them quite well. immediately to my right, the henry a. kissinger senior fellow and a bed -- and a board member of the new american foundation. he is a distinguished fellow at yale. that is a big title. he writes regularly for "the new york times," "the l.a. times," and others. his most recent book is "god and gold." "american foreign policy and how it changed the world" receive the prize in 2002 and "god and gold" to him that last year or the year before. john is the albert milba

and i'm pleased that president george w. bushi fund. on behalf of the american people, i want to thank both of you for returning to service and leading this urgent mission. this is a model that works. after the terrible tsunami in asia, president bush turned to president clinton and the first president bush to lead a similar fund. that effort raised substantial resources for the victims of that disaster. money that helped save lives, deliver aid, and rebuild communities. that's exactly what the people of hati desperately need right now. every day that goes by we learn more about the horrifying scope of this catastrophe, destruction, and suffering that defies comprehensive. entire communities buried under mountains of concrete. families sleeping in the streets, injured, desperate fr care. many thousands feared dead. that's why thousands of american personnel, civilian and military, are on the scene working to distribute clean drinking water and food and medicine and thousands of tons of emergency food supplies are arriving every d

george bush's state of the union speeches? >> i must admit i had my moments with george w. bush's speeches. i found some things of commonality in george bush's speeches. i think the fact that you can argue with what ever you want to argue with what george bush but nobody attacked this country. he made us safe. i think he really responded to that and i think the history books are going to treat him, and on that. i think the tax cuts or something that strategically needed to be done. i think also we should have found a way to pay for those as we go far because they hurt us there but again there are some things i found very moving and george bush's administration and things i worked with him on. i am a democrat who's worked with republicans to it i think i can be one who can turn that around and get some republicans to work with us. we've got to do it together. >> david scott, democrat of georgia. >> thank you. >> we are here live in statuary hall and i will be the end of the live coverage following the president's state of the union speech. you can watch this online at some point in the evenin

now let's talk with anita who was an assistant to president george w. bush and laura who served as director of events. how could this happen? >> this is just unbelievable, and i'm sorry to hear that this has happened. again, we're talking about this, since november, another person that was able to breach the security at the white house. we all need to be concerned about this, about protecting the president, the first family, and protecting the white house. i think -- obviously, this was turned up in the investigation, that the secret service was doing, and identified that someone was able to get on a bus from the willard hotel with the indian delegation, and i think this is a question, too, for the state department and the office of protocol. was there a visits officer there going through the list, matching up the list from the white house with the protocol office to see that the people getting on that bus with the official delegation coming to the white house, which, by the way, go to another entrance, not the entrance where all the other guests were coming

the other problem with this is that you've seen former presidents, george w. bush father, choose to follow protocol which is not to criticize a sitting president when he's in office tackling all these problems. and so it's an interesting -- it's an open question about whether or not cheney's criticism is really unseemly. but you don't see his own party trying to rein him in because they are without a leader and he riles up the base and keeps a lot of base republicans maep hap happy when he comes out and criticizes this president. i think until he sort of is reined in by members of his own party he's going to keep at it. >> i wonder if that suggests that the republican party is still very frightened of its essentially far right. you hear a number of republicans, as you've heard, who suggest, yes, there is a strong intellectual argument that dick cheney may have been trying to make but that dick cheney, because of his sort of bombastic, aggressive in-your-face sort of language and the fact that he's the one making the argument, that that doesn't help republicans. >>

ari fleischer served as white house press secretary for president george w. bush. she's in stanford, connecticut. david was an adviser to nixon, ford, reagan and clinton. and katherine kennedy townsend, the lieutenant governor of maryland, the he wouoldest daugf the late senator edward kennedy. what do you make of this? >> it's staggering. it's unheard of for a republican to win in massachusetts anymore. 36 years ago you had a republican senator. all the senate has been democrats for more than a decade. i can't really see health care reform passing anymore in the congress. i think if the democrats tried to get it through, particularly in the house, it would fail. the next step? i think there is going to be a real grassroots rebellion in the house of representatives. they are in a very dicey spot right now. >> k >> larry: kathleen, all the polls say obama remains popular in the state of massachusetts. people who liked obama voted against the democratic candidate. how do you explain that? >> the best thing is to remember tip o'neal who said all politicians are local.

i am pleased that president george w. bushident bill clinton have agreed to lead a major fund-raising effort for relief. the clinton-bush haiti fund. i want to thank both of you for returning to service and leading the surge -- the urgent mission. after the tsunami in asia, president bush turned to president clinton and former president bush, money that helps save lives. that is exactly what the people of haiti desperately need right now. every day that goes by, we hear more about the horrifying scope of this catastrophe. the destruction and suffering that defies common -- comprehension. families sleeping in the streets. injured a desperate for care. many thousands their dead. that is why thousands of american personnel are working to distribute clean drinking water, food, and medicine. thousands of supplies are arriving every day. it will be difficult. it is an enormous challenge to distribute this aid quickly and safely. that is what we are focused on now. we're working closely with our partners, the haitian government, and

host: how much is your new book a followup to your previous book, how george w. bush bankrupted america and betrayed the reagan legacy? guest: that's a bit of a followup. that was more narrowly focused, but there was a lot in there that got me thinking about some of these issues, such as, you know, why is it that we had all these tax cuts during the 2000's and they didn't do any good at all? i think it's because they were misdesigned and because, for partisan reasons ark lot of people talked themselves into believing that tax credits, which were essential the same thing as government spending, were somehow or another different and it was ok to have tax credits and not have tax rate reductions, and they just talked themselves into believing that whatever the white house wanted was good for the economy and it was just all, you know, i'd say -- i'd use the b.s. word if we weren't on tv. host: one for email. pat writes in, isn't a v.a.t. a tax on manufacturing? didn't it also make more sense in the 1970's when we had a much larger manufacturing sector? guest: no, it's a t