department of justice that came after jack abramoff was during the -- was during the period of george w. bushadministration. >> we heard a lot of criticism of the justice department during george bush's adminnstration. have we heard any positive things about the fact that inside that justice department, jack bramoff and the rest of these people we'vv been talking about were prosecuted? and if so, if we haven't heard it, why not? >> i think to be honest, i have to say that it's a mixed bag in terms of the prosecution. there was an attempt to go after this influence pedaling, but i'm not sure they did the world's best job. i know alberto gonzalez of bob nay told me a very funny story they were broadcasting the hearings of alberto gonzalez bragging bought how he put bob nay in jail. it's trre, bob nay is a republican congressman and he's in jail, but i'm not sure that the department of justice really got to the bottom of the abramoff scandal. i should say got to the top of the abramoff scandal. of justice is a funny place. there are a lottof career people who are there. there are a lot of people

that disapproval rating is about the same of george w. bush after hurricane katrina. the overall approval rating stayed stable at 50%. the poll also indicates that the economy remains people's top concerns. 64% of respondents say their household budgets are sound. new figures out today on the economy. home construction plunged last month by 10% from april since the lowest level since december as builder scaled back without a federal tax credit to work by years. building permits also fell. wholesale prices fell for a second straight month in may. the first time that has happened in the year, reflecting big declines in the cost of energy and food. north korea is warninn that tension over the sinking of the south korean war ship could trigger a nuclear war unless the u.s. security council act impartially. the threat came just hours after the un ambassador told reporters that if military -- that military will respond if they condemn north korea over its the sinking of the south korean ship. those are some of the headlines on c-span radio. >> this weekend on "book tv" kai

an $11.5 trillion deficit under george w. bush. the numbers are stark. every solution they try to come up with is about giving more tax breaks to the wealthiest americans and taking the stripes off the referee. this is not theance. we need to come -- the answer. we need to come together as a country to address this, but the facts are presented there%%. that's why it is so important we have to invest in the greatest asset in our country, that's the people. by investing in the recovery act, retraining workerss because some of these trade dealsshave been good for the ports of galveston and california and port of new york but haven't been good for the midwest. congressman schultz and i understand that by reinvesting in our work force, helping those workers transitionnfrom manufacturing jobs that have left is very important to me. while i'm encouraged we have seen 10 consecutive months of manufacturing increase in our country, we have got to be the producers of wealth in this nation, not swrust the movers of wealth. i'm happy to report that small businesses i

when president reagan wanted his name before the year even began, president george w. bush did also. are there dramatic changes? yes. are we going back to the old days? no. she is replacing john paul stevens. i was in the senate when john paul stevens was nominated, nominated by a conservative republican president. it was overwhelmingly democratic senate, and he was confirmed in two and a half weeks. he made courtesy calls to a number of senators. that is not going to be the same for his successor. she has made courtesy calls. i think she has talked to practically every senator, but the questions will be significant. i am concerned with the trend becoming active in this court. we have seen a lot of long standing laws being overturned. you have basically saying men can be paid more than women. we had to rewrite the law. that was the first law president obama signed into law but we all feel women and men should get paid for the same kind of work. the turning back the award of the exxon valdez, i wonder if the supreme court would do that today after what has happened in the gu

president george w. bush did also. are there dramatic changes? yes. are we going back to the old days? no. probably the best example is she is replacing jean-paul stevens. i was in the senate when he was nominated. nominated by conservative republican president. it was an overwhelmingly democratic senate and he was confirmed in two and a half weeks. and he made courtesy calls on a number of senators. that's not going to be the same for his successor. she has made the courtesy calls. i think she has talked with practically er senator. and but thh questions will be significant. i'm concerned, for example, with the trend of the court, it's become a very activist court. we have seen a lot of long-standing law that has been overturned, for example with the led better case. you have basically saying men can be paid more than women. we had to rewrite the law. the first law that president obama signed into law saying we should all feel that women and men get paid the same for the same kind of work. so turning back the award in the exxon valdez, i wonder if th

>> a lot of the voters will blame president george w. bush for the policies and the warsaw, the deficit. republicans on capitol hill are laughing that off. they know that george w. bush will be mentioned on the campaign trail in a lot this year. it is questionable if that is going to work. some democrats say they will not use that message as much as they did before. host: this is from the hill. tell us more. guest: this is a bit of a split among republicans. among the right, you have so much pressure from conservatives to cut back spending in do things differently than when of republicans ran congrees and the white house when spending skyrocketed and they passed the medicare drug benefit. other things that did not please the base. in some republicans saying, let us stop these unemployment benefits beyond the 26 weeks, that are customary. congressional leaders, while using that as ammunition on the campaign trail are saying let's extend the benefits but offset them. democrats are paying for other parts of the extended bill, they're saying that

guest: the george bush school here at texas a and m is named after george h. w. , the 41st president and his library is here at texas a&m. the 43rd president with which i was privileged to serve is establishing hisibrary in dallas. two separate presidents, two different schools, two different libraries. half hosthost: democratic calle. caller: george bush started this by bombing the middle east and staging of us in saudi arabia. that is where we went wrong. ronald reagan created saddam hussein. he case - he gave him tens of millions of dollars in military aid and when the monster got out of control, papaw bush added to take them out.. that is what started al-qaida and the jihad movement and that has gotten us where we are. the fact that you can casually sit there and defend your ridiculous behavior. we have strength in iran and almost destroyed america and the process with thesezú" ridiculos illegal foreign wars that are against what this country was founded on we have no business interfering. we are using is real as our hezbollah over all these years. host: majo

can do is look in this rear-view mirror and wring their hands and moan and grown and say it's george w. bush's fault. i think the american public is just tired of that. i think the american public isn't persuaded by it. i offered an amendmenvery straightforwardly last night, it was offered by mr. sessions of texas, in the rules committee, that would have said a very simple thing. uld have said, if you are running fannie and freddie, if you are an employee of fannie and freddie, new rules. and the new rule is you are not going to make any more than you're going to make that we pay the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. not particularly controversial. not particularly groundeaking. but it makes a lot of sense. why in the world -- if the majority has now found its robust desire to truncate compensation, why in the world wouldn't we focus in -- i'll yield in a minute. why in the world wouldn't we focus in on this area that we tend to agree with? and frankly the argument -- these entities are no longer losing money, i think, is not persuading the citizens of the sixth district. i see the chairm

it's interesting to hear the stimulus is working because that's what george w. bush was doing and as i recall in 2006, the republicans lost the majority because democrats convinced them thaa t was the wrong thing to do and you know what? the democrats were right. they appropriately warned the majority because as they said, we should not be deficit spending. you're killing the country, killing the country, and they won the majority in 2006 because they were right. we should nnt have been deficit spending like that. but that went on. so it's interesting to hear just four short years later thattit turns out that what president bush was doing and was encouraging being done is actually the good thing, but i still tend to go back and think% that those of us on the republiccn side that agreed that we needed to get out from under the deficit spending, that we needed to get spending under control, the compassion and spending money to deficit level is not the same thing. it's -- the federal government, like a parent, just throwing money at their kids, thinking that's going to

we know him best as the 14 chairman of the federal reserve , first nominated by george w. bush in 2006, renominated by barack obama for a second four- year term last august. his scholarly expertise is the great depression and its causes and that prepared him for the historic task of responding to the second greatest financial crisis in our country's history. he has been at the center of the extraordinary efforts of this country, indeed the world, to rescue us from the frightening near-collapse at as the financial system in the fall of 2008, by making available trillions of dollars of officials bowens and helping us to understand better what happened and how to respond. for his work, we can only offer our appreciation, our support, and our fervent hope that he and his colleagues will succeed in enabling healthy and sustainable economic growth. the other day, i saw a picture of him standing on the great wall of china. he was much more than an ordinary tourist. for some reason, my thoughts turned to one of his predecessors, william martin, the chair of the federal reserve from 195

. >> michael gerson, you were working for george w. bush when he had to deliver these big kind of oval office speech moments. how did last night compare? how does the entire handling of this compare? >> well, i was a little bit concerned about last night. using the oval office as a setting as a high-rofile setting that spotlights the presidenciy. in the past you had john kennedy announcing a quarantine of cuba. and last night, the president seemed much more passive, much more input-oriented, he announced a czar. he announced a commission. when i was -- you know in the white house, we viewed these things as fairly weak policy inputs. you always want to push back, do something more active, more executive oriented as far as action are concerned. i thought proot had a pretty bad day yesterday, although actually a pretty good day today. i think the b.p. announcement was a good follow-up to the speech, but the speech itself was quite weak. >> when you were working for president bush you were the author of the speech delivered during katrina which

george bush will be a carter or a hoover. hoover was someone the democrats could continue to blame 40 years after he left office. if george wbush's presidency lingers as a bad smell for as long as hoover's did, then maybe you're right and maybe the barack obama administration should take your advice and blame george bush more. but i'm not sure that that's the strategy they need to be adopting right now. and finally, caller, your and finally, caller, your strategy is an optics suggestion. gloria, you can't get away from that. if that's what you're suggesting they should blame, that has an optical scommonent. host: what's the difference between a crisis that comes to play that unravels in secret versus one that happens in the public eye? guest: we have a lot fewer secret crises today. one of the great advantages that kennedy had is he had 13 days between when he found out about the russians missiles being built in cuband when the public was told about them. washington didn't leak as much. washington didn't leak as much. the media didn't have as many international sources. and things could be kept quiet. so those crises what y

he served as a state department official during the george w. bush administration where he focused on russia and eastern europe. anna vassilieva is head of the russian studies program. born in siberia she's an american citizen. david kramer, i'll start with you. what's your reaction to these arrests particularly the timing in the midst of this larger picture? >> there is no good timing for this kind of event. but certainly the juxtaposition of the pictures of president obama and president medvedev having hamburgers together and then seeing pictures of these arrests this isn't what the white house wanted. i think the indications from both moscow and washington are they don't want this upset relations. prime minister putin's comments i think were kaying that he didn't want to see this upset the relationship. i think from the white house as well, they don't want to see this upset the relationship. there's never a good time for this kind of thing. law enforcement officials have to carry out their duties. the timing wasn't great but there isn't much one c

from my support for the war in vietnam to my opposition to president george w. bush's war with iraq . i have served with so many fine senators in the congress , and i have loved every precious minute of it. >> ifill: robert byrd was 92 years old. >> brown: again, the major other developments of the day. the u.s. supreme court ruled the right to own a gun extends to states and localities nationwide. the decision will likely force scores of cities to revisit longstanding curbs on guns. senate confirmation hearings began for supreme court nominee elena kagan. she promised to be an impartial justice, if she's confirmed. the justice department announced ten people have been arrested and accused of acting as russian spies and the financial reform bill ran into new trouble. russ feingold said he won't support it. that means the measure is at least one vote short of the 60 needed to get past the filibuster. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari? >> sreenivasan: there's more on the life of senator byrd, including photos fr

george bush in 1964 s&p i think attending high school. what do you think, mr. gohmert. mr. gohmert: former george w. bush must have had an awful lot of activity to have that kind of effect on global warming back then. i find it interesting because i know my friend recalls seeing the articles as i did. in fact, i recall in college being told that we we were probably at the very beginning, some said we were at the early stages of a new ice age that would end the world and all people in the world with ice. well, i just didn't believe it, because as a christian, the bible doesn't teach with the world ending with an ice age. i knew that couldn't be right but people are saying, this is the beginning of an ice age. global cooling and ultimately going to have the whole planet frozen solid and who knows what forms will emerge after the ice age. i remember the discussions and discussing with classmates and things and i just could not buy back in the 1970's that we were at the beginning of a new ice age. so i come into this thing a bit skeptical and as i said many times, there is an addage here in washington, n

george h.w. bush and ronaldeagan before president bush and president george w. ush, president clinton and now president obama and one of the distinctions that he made early on was the fact that in the senate we serve with presidents. we do not serve under presidents. i think that was a calng card by senator byrd as a constitutionalist on the separation of power. and he was a fierce fighter for that separation of power. and when the le-item veto was passed, he took uphe battle to have it declared unconstitutional as an encroachment on article 1 powers in the united states congress on appropriations. and the bills which we present to the president have a great many provisions, and senator byrd was looking upon the factor of a president perhaps taking some provision he didn't like too well in order to take the whole bill. and i'm sure that on senator byrd's mind was the largess which came to the state of west virginia. the and that part of our federal system, part of our democracy, part of our constitution of the advantage of seniority, where senator byrd and then e

seems to somehow that whatever goes on in the united states, they can somehow track it back to george w. bush. and what i heard was that mr. bush had used a drilling rig at some point in his life and therefore it's bush's fault there was a failure or to some extent there was a failure on this b.p. drilling rig. it's getting a little old for the american public for them to hear constantly that no matter what goes wrong in the obama administration, it's george w. bush's fault. i think this is getting a little old and getting -- seems to be a fantasy that seems to be prevailing. we have got a great disaster in the gulf. and nobody's denying we have a great disaster in the gulf. today, i heard a man who actually knows something about drilling in the gulf. i haven't heard anyone stand up that has talked on the majority side tonight and said, by the way, i have drilled these -- and let me tell you what has happened in the gulf. but trent frank came to us today and showed us what is happening in the gulf and it's very interesting and why the cap failed that they first started and why the wells that

w. bussesident george the policies and the warsaw, the deficit. republicans on capitol hill are laughing that off. they know that george w. bush be mentioneddon the rail in a lot this year. it is questionable if that is going to work. some democrats say they will not message as much as they did before. host: this is from the hill. tell us more. of a split is a bit among republicans. among the right, you have o pressure from conservatives spending in do%- differently than when of congrees and the house when spending skyrocketed and they passed the benefit.drug things that did not please the base. in some republicans saying, let stop these unemployment benefits beyond the 26 weeks, that are customary. coogressional leaders, while using that as ammunition on the trail are saying let's benefits but offset them. democrats are paying for other parts of the extended bill, not're saying that does need to be paid for. an issue for%% republican leaders were they have admitted that. we should be fiscally conservative. of that ision different for different people. host: republican, new castle, pa.. caller: when i hear people in going on a

george h.w. bush and ronaldeagan before president bush and president george w. sh, president clinton and now president obama and one of the distinctions that he made early on was the fact that in the senate we serve with presidents. we do not serve under presidents. i think that was a calng card by senator byrd as a constitutionalist on the separation of power. and he was a fierce fighter for that separation of power. and when the le-item veto was passed, he took uphe battle to have it declared unconstitutional as an encroachment on article 1 powers in the united states congress on appropriations. and the bills which we present to the president have a great many provisions, and senator byrd was looking upon the factor of a president perhaps taking some provision he didn't like too well in order to take the whole bill. and i'm sure that on senator byrd's mind was the largess which came to the state of west virginia. the and that part of our federal system, part of our democracy, part of our constitution of the advantage of seniority, where senator byrd and then el

he said the next largest field was in 1992 when bill cnton, george h. w. bush ross perot battle for the white hse. stronger numbers now? guest: we thought it was interesting, particularly the 1994 election. you thought there would have been a surge then. but there was not. but there was not. the next highest total was in 1992, when you had that memorable presidential race between clinton and george stage h. bush and ross perot. the record 100 candidates that year. -- there were 2100 candidates that year. host: tell us about what you are watching. with the runoff and arkansas, battles and nevada, california. guest: therere 12 states with primaries. it should give another indication of just where the electorate is, just how angry voters are. there are two races were incumbents seem to be on the ropes. in arkansas, blanche lincoln, a two-term democratic senator is being challenged from the left by the lieutenant governor. she was forced into a runoff in the primary and their runoff is tuesday. it is never good for an incumbent when you are forced into a runoff. so

guest: the george bush school here at texas a and m is named after george h. w. h, the 41st president a his library is here at texas a&m. the 43rd president with which i was privileged to serve is establishing his library in dallas. o separate presidents, two different schools, two different libraries. half hosthost: mocratic caller,. caller: george bush started this by bombing the midd east and staging of us in saudi arabia. that is where we went wrong. ronaldeagan creed saddam hussein. he case - he gave him tens of millions of dollars in military aid and when the monster got out control, pap bush added to take them out.. that is what started al-qaida and the jihad movement and that has gotten us where we are. the fact that you can casually sit there and defend your ridiculous behavior. we have streth in iran and almost destroyed america and the process with thesezú" ridiculos illegal foreign wars that are against what this country was founded on we have no business interfering. we aresing is real as our hezbollah over all these years. host: majoroint, let's hea

huge partisan standoff in the senate where democrats were refusing to bring a collection of george w. bush's more conservative nominees to a vote. the republicans were threatening with a call the nuclear option, essentially a very aggressive parliamentary move to end the filibusters of judicial nominees. now the situation has the issue of your foot. it is the republicans now who would have the power to filibuster. the deal was it would be only an extraordinary circumstances that judges were out of the mainstream that a filibuster would be allowed. you did not even here is senator tom coburn, one of the more conservative, saying that yesterday. the odds of a filibuster nominee are small. host: as tributes continue for the passing of senator robert byrd who died yesterday morning and a hospital, the political equation is what impact it has on the financial regulatory overhaul bill. they moved through the conference process last week. will it come before the house and senate process this week? guest: it appears to be on course for the house towards the end of the week. when i left last night we

he is the 14th chairman of the national reserve, first nominated by george w. bushin 2006 and re nominated by barack obama for a second term last august. his scholarly expertise is the great depression and its causes and that, of course, prepared him for the historic task of responding to the second greatest financial crisis in our country's history. he has been at the center of the extraordinary efforts of this country, indeed the world, to rescue us from the frightening near collapse of the national system in the fall of 2008 by making available trillions of dollars in official funds and helping us to understand better what happened and how to respond. for his work, we can only offer our appreciation, our support, and our fervent hope that he and his colleagues will succeed in enabling healthy and sustainable economic growth. the other day, i saw a picture of him standing on the great wall of china. he was much more than an ordinary tourist. for some reason, my thoughts turned to one of his predecessors, william martin, who was chair of the federal reserve from 19

president george w. bush who they were strongly opposed to. they won all of these big victories in 2008. can they generate that same enthusiasm especially since a lot of liberal or progressive voters who great expectations from barack obama's hope and change campaign and then those expectations meet the gritty reality of the legislative process here in washington and they may feel like the president hasn't accomplished the kind of sweeping change in washington that they felt they were promised. and if that is the case, whatever the polls say, even if the support for the parties is relatively equivalent, it only would take a mall percentage of greater turnout on the other side to swing coif sees. host: to tuscaloosa, alabama, an independent voter. caller: you are talking about the power shift. first everybody was against the republicans, then everybody against the democrats and whoever has the most money wins but what i don't like the republica republicans, the democrats got in and they got the balance of power and you have seen it for the demo

even more suddenly -- substantively, there was president george w. bush's plan for the national forest and having more cutting. before that passed, you heard, if there is no wild fires, we cannot pass this bill. if the west like a bonfire, we will pass the bill. -- lights up on fire, we will pass the bill. they passed the bill. as far as the restructuring of mms, the agency formerly known as mms, on that battleground -- there will be a battle there. it is part of homeland security, saxby chambliss, max cleland. you do not redo an agency without some bitter battles over obscure topics. the battle lines have not been drawn. that goes back to one of those things about, how do you, taking into account all the information, how do you do it in one month? maybe they will pass it and we'll be fixing this for the next 10 years. >> we have talked about what should and should not be added. i do not agree that -- i agree completely that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign sources for energy. i do not necessarily agree that drilling deeper has been the mantra. t

. >> president george w. bush. politico op ed, bill, the tax extenders bill we talked about earlier sends the wrong message to our innovaters in the fine print of the $110 million tax the bill due to come before the senate is an obscure provision. it would do three things, turn face on the tax extenders and further stall the country's economic recovery and if passed it would single out more than 1.5 million business partnerships. mainly those who invest in realize for punitive and discriminatory tax treatment. >> he's talk about the private equity firms that basically provide the capital to grow businesses. i agree with professor hubard. i think this is a terrible idea. this really does it go after the sub chapteresque corporations and basically now they have to pay in addition to their business taxes, they have to pay income taxes. we, unlike any other country have an entrepreneurial culture. it's like in our d.n.a. that we go our economy by americans throughout the country starting businesses. you're not going to

my colleagues at the "post" i remember one of them said you sent george w. bush a 20-page memo? you are crazy. you don't you know from his biography all his years at yale, harvard business school there's no evidence he ever read anything that long? what makes you think he's going to start now? but he did. and i spent hours going over it with him and other people involved and again this empirical method. i want to find out what happened. i think another technique that works is to take people as seriously as they take themselves. to know who they are. if somebody's written a foreign affairs article 20 years ago, i'll read it and ask them about it. i'm working on a book on president obama now which will be out in the fall. which will have the exact kind of this is what happened, this is what people said. this is what's in the memos. and it's what carl says. just reporting, knocking on doors at night. i told this story, when i was working on one of the last bush book there was a general who would not talk to me. i sent emails. i left messages. nothing. so i found out where he lived.

president george w. bush came to us and said we would have a global crisis. i believe we were at a point where people were willing to reach in their back pocket and pull out their atm card and stick it in the slot and nothing would come out. i had to make a decision. i could not wait. did it divert a global crisis? i think it did. nobody has fought harder to make sure that in this never happens again. >> when we come back, we'll talk about education. >> welcome back, we are picking up with education. the next question is an important to the league of women voters. let's specifically address this issue. this took effect in 2007 and it exempts honor occupied homes from property taxes. people stopped spending and school districts say that it has cost them millions of dollars. or what used to be a very reliable and predictable source of income has become very volatile. and do you support repeal an act 388? >> i think that it needs to be studied with everything else. i think it is something that we need to look at. we have to look at everything on top of the way t

we know him best as the 14th chairman of the federal reserve nominated by george w. bushnd renominated by barack obama last august. his scholarly expertise is in the great depression and its causes, and that prepared him for the historic task in facing the second greatest financial crisis in our nation's history. he has been at the center of the extraordinary efforts of this country, indeed the world, to rescue us from the frightening near-collapse of the financial system in the fall of 2008 by making available literally trillions of dollars of official funds and helping us to understand better what happened and how to respond. for his work, we can only offer our appreciation, our support, and our fervent hope that he and his colleagues will succeed in enabling healthy and sustainable economic growth. the other day i saw a picture of him standing on the great wall of china. he was of course much more than an ordinary tourist. for some reason, my thoughts turn to one of his predecessors, william boardman, chairman from 1951 to 1970. and as i recollect it, his travel schedu

happened in the gulf coast politically, that is, as something that could have been prevented under george w. bush's watch, could that then help democrats running in november? guest: it is an interesting theory. i don't doubt that democrats may try to take that tack, but let's face it, for most voters, they are not really interested in renegotiating the past. they are really more interested, as president obama said, just plugging the dam hole. it really that is what they care about. they don't care how that happens, who does it, but somebody needs to step up and get this thing fixed. bottom line at think we are seeing across the board -- which talk about this being an anti- incumbent year, but it is really anti-establishment across the board. americans have been, quite frankly, let down by the establishment at every level -- whether business, or in this case, whether it is by the oil companies, wall street, and feel fundamentally that anybody who is out there right now trying to sort of defend themselves based on pointing fingers or blaming the past, they are not going to get cut any slack in this e

paul idea was under george w. bush. should they have been louder? yes.if you look back what we were doing at a.e.i., we were just as critical of the bush administration as under the obama administration. socialism for the rich and capitalism for the port -- i do not know. our problem in the country is we have tried to socialize losses and privatized gains. you cannot do that. history tells us that when you try to do that you wind up socializing but the gains and losses. host: what are your thoughts on spending, and how you get congress to not spend as much, whether democrat or republican? guest: a couple of different things. one is to see your belly and among taxpayers -- you see a rebellion among taxpayers, a wave of people from ideally both parties committed to more responsible behavior. they are committed to staying within their means. it requires political energy, then ideas and policies, finally leadership. host: are you seeing that from republican leaders on capitol hill? guest: it is hard to say. republicans feel bullish because they see numbers t

obama instead waived the jones act, as did president george w. bush did after hurricane katrina, that would have sum bled a global arm adda of mercy. who knows how many processing jobs this would have saved. instead, thousands of gulf coast workers still endure a long march from dormant docks to bustling unemployment lines. even now mr. obama could invite all tho help clean up the waters and potentially the carolinas and points north if this enters blue current, serves around key west, and slides up the eastern board. how do you react to that? >> one, admiral allen has been very clear that there have been no refuseles for any foreign assistance. the canadians are assisting, the norgeance are assisting. multiple countries are. host: but outside of that three-mile. guest: up until two days ago that was the case. up until two days ago there wasn't a reason they couldn't be allowed within that time zone. there's no jonet act limitation. it's waiverable on a specific basis. the u.s. merchant marine industry has never objected to a specific vessel waiver wh

this administration has taken actions that might have provoked criticism for his predecessor, george w. bush, who was often in public fights with the press. with that as a bit of context to our discussion today, we're to our discussion today, we're interested in finding out from you how much secrecy is in a democracy and to whaa extent should be done to protect that secrecy. again, three lines. 202-737-0001 for republicans. 202-737-0002 for democrats. and it's 628-0205 for independents. again, that area code is 202. and you can also follow us on twitter at cspanwj is the email. first up, independent line, go ahead. caller: hello. good morning, i'm a nervous first-time caller, so i just have a question about secrecy and security. and considering the "sportscenter" of our relationship with israel, i'm wondering what the american people would think and why is it that we haven't heard very much about alleged or the military base in israel paid for snths a rather large facility by the united states. i'll take my comments off the air. host: kenwood, louisiana. brittany, go ahead. caller: hi. how a

george w. bush came to us and said we are in a crisis, a global crisis. also vice-president cheney, many women across the state, big business, small business. i think we were at a point where people were going to reach into the back pocket, pulled out their atm card, stick it in, and nothing would come out. i had to make a decision based on the information i had because we cannot late -- we cannot wait. did it avert a major crisis, global meltdown? i believe it did. has been implemented the way it was supposed to be? absolutely not. nobody has fought harder to make sure every dollar is repaid to the american taxpayer. >> when we come back, we'll talk about education. we'll be right back to the gubernatorial debate. >> will come back to the gubernatorial gop debate. -- welcome back to the gubernatorial gop debate. we're coming back and talking about education in south carolina. let's specifically address hacked 388. it took effect in 2007, and an example owner occupied homes from property taxes that pay for schools that this bust replace the revenue, but t

this treaty continues the reduction started in the moscow treaty, which president george w. bush negotiated. i'd like the moscow treaty, however, this treaty is a verifiable treaty with inspections and other mechanisms that will ensure transparency in the nuclear arsenals of each side. this tribute will continue -- this tree will continue the means to allow both the united states and russia up to monitor each other's nuclear systems. this new treaty and the attention that president obama has brought to the threat from the proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials are critically important. the proliferation threat is real and includes the possibility that nuclear weapons and materials could fall into the hands of terrorists or others who wish to threaten the use of nuclear materials. through this treaty, these dangers will be reduced. fundamentally, this treaty is a treaty that limits strategic offensive nuclear arms. it does not lament anything else. some might want it to limit more, some might fear that it does limit more, but it does not. a unilateral statement mad

president george w. bush who they were strongly opposed to. they won all of these big victories in 2008. can they generate that same enthusiasm especially since a lot of liberal or progressive voters who great expectations from barack obama's hope and change campaign and then those expectations meet the gritty reality of the legislative process here in washington and they may feel like the president hasn't accomplished the kind of sweeping change in washington that they felt they were promised. and if that is the case, whatever the polls say, even if the support for the parties is relatively equivalent, it only would take a mall percentage of greater turnout on the other side to swing coif sees. host: to tuscaloosa, alabama, an independent voter. caller: you are talking about the pow shift. first everybody was against the republicans, then everybody against the democrats and whoever has the most money wins but what i don't like the republica republicans, the democrats got in and they got the balance of power and you have seen it for the democr

obama instead waived the jones act, as did president george w. bushfter hurricane katrina, that would have sum bled a global arm adda of mmrcy. knows how many processing jobs this would have saved. instead, thousands o gulf coast workers still endure a long march from dormant docks to bustling unemployment lines. even now mr. obama could invite clean up the waters tially the carinas and points north if this enters rent, serves around key west, and slides up the eastern board. how do you react to that? >> one, admiral allen has been very clear that there have been no refuseles for any foreign assistance. are assisting, the norgeance are assisting. multiple countries are. host: but outside of that three-mile. est: up until two days ago that was the case. ago there oays wasn't a reason they couldn't be within that time zone. there's no jonet act limitation. it's waiverable on a specific basis. merchant marine industry has never objected to a specific vessel waiver when u.s. need. let's take a look at the impacts of the waives waiving of the jones act in

this treaty continues the reductions started in the moscow treaty, which president george w. bush negotiated. unlike the moscow treaty, however, this treaty is a verifiable treaty with inspections and other mechanisms that will ensure transparency. in the nuclear arsenals of each side. this treaty will continue, although with different mechanisms than the start 1 treaty, the means to allow both of the u.s. and russia to monitor each other's nuclear systems. this new treaty and the attention that president obama has brought to the threat from the proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials are critically important. the proliferation threat is real and includes the possibility that nuclear weapons and materials could fall into the hands of terrorists or others who wish to threaten the use of or use of nuclear materials. through this treaty and the related efforts to secure weapons-grade fissile materials, these dangers will be reduced. fundamentally, this treaty is a treaty that limits its strategic offensive nuclear arms. it does not limit anything else. some might want

guest: just to clarify on the front end of that, the bush -pschool here at texas is named after george h. w. bush, the 41st president, and his library is here. -pthee43rd president is establishing his library up in dallas. two separate presidents, two different schools, two different libraries. host: ivan, good morning. caller: george "papa" bush started this madness by invading and bombing the middle east and by staging our american troops in saudi arabia which is mecca. that is where we went wrong.+ ronald reagan created saddam hussein and gave him tens of billions of dollars in military aid. papa bush staated to take him out. that is what started allocated and the jihaddist movement. that is what got us where we are. the fact you can casually sit there and defend your ridiculous behavior, we have strengthened iran and have lmost destroyed america in the process with these ridiculous illegal foreign wars that are against what this country was founded on. we have no business interfering. we are using israel as our hezbollah over all these years. host: you have made your point. >> we leave

data in the new survey was the highest in seven years with reactions to the failed presidency of george w. bush. some of the reasons were extraordinary changes by spring 2009 related to demographic changes. the only other time was in 1992. americans value choice, whether it was the decision to smoke or kill yourself, people always like choices. so some set up they would like to say a third party in american politics. others are very satisfied with both parties that delivered in 2004. john mccain and barack obama where the candidates. few noticed the democratic and republican views were more homogenous. the partisan gap also was considered. they hadn't overwhelmed lee white electorate -- had an overwhelmingly white electorate. there were a significant demographic gains. this is a poll of the gallup relief yesterday. democrats still lead republicans over all. this is a question if you have a fair global opinion or unfavorable opinion. -- favorable opinion or an unfavorable opinion. 42% a favorable opinion.+ we are in the midst of an ugly business cycle. but these images have a very significant im