harry truman. if he appeared ineffectual before election day that year he seemed outright repulsive after that. democrats faulted him and not the effect of 16 years of their rule for their debacle. they wanted him out and wanted him out now. >> guest: yes, they did. he was not -- we saw in this last presidential round of primaries, with the'mans, where everybody was saying i'm the next reagan, this guy -- no. there's not another reagan. and there wasn't another franklin roosevelt, and harry truman sure as hell to use his sort of language, wasn't franklin roosevelt. franklin roosevelt could make those words sing, and harry truman, da, da, da, da, dark did not have that gravitas. the persona. also, he was the fella, as we explained earlier -- you're coming off a war. you're coming off a war and people recoil from the party in power, and he is the man who gets the blame pinned on him. you get that similar outbreak of strikes in 1945, 1946. amazing. you get that similar outburst of inflation, and there

>> guest: eleanor roosevelt was, you know, the keeper of the flame and did not like harry truman. id not like what had happened to the administration that truman had inherited from her husband. a lot of the new dealers left. not only henry wallace who she had liked a lot and wanted to keep on the ticket in 1944 -- eventually he sort of wore out his welcome with her -- but her sons were very active in dumping truman. and if you take a look at the statement she makes in support of truman just before the election, they are, shall we say, very tend. >> host: this is booktv on c-span2. david pietrusza, historian and author, is our guest. we'll put the numbers up on the screen as we take this call from bob in raleigh, north carolina. hi, bob. >> caller: hi. david, um, if you could comment on the fact that i think president reagan when he was handling the air flight controllers' strike, didn't he cite the coolidge situation in boston as precedent? >> guest: well, if he didn't, he should have. although coolidge, that's a -- yes, he should have. because that is really what rallied the publi

and he had, in fact, written to harry truman in may of 1945 of that year that saw him voted out of powero warn truman that stalin was bringing down an iron curtain across europe. as russia morphed into the soviet union, the abuses of communism spread across eastern europe. british and american diplomats were followed, harassed and even expelled. no foreign journalists were allowed in. you can see where the modern dictators in syria, iran and north korea get their inspiration, the censorship of the o media and the lockdown or even a stranglehold on social media sites and the internet. in poland several thousand people were sent horrifyingly to the very concentration and prison camps that the allies and in some cases the red army had liberated. of course, soviet officials wanted to stop word of these abuses from leaking out and to keep those subjected to that paranoia and oppression in. now, stalin had promised re-election in poland -- free elections in poland, but in time the way moscow rewarded the heroic patriots of the polish underground movement who had fought the entire length of the

as we were lead by that great freedom, the man from independents, harry truman. but the gladness of this high occasion cannot mask the soro -- the sorrow that shares our hearts. let us hear tonight each of us, all of us, rededicate ourselves to keeping burning the golden torch of promise which john fitzgerald kennedy set aflame. [applause] and let none of us stop to rest until we have written into the law of the land all the suggestions and then let us continue to supplement the program with the kind of laws that he would have us write. [applause] tonight we offer ourselves on our record and by our platform as a party for all americans. and all american parties are all american. [applause] this land of reasonable men has no place for any partisanship or previous prejudice. [applause] the need of all can never be met by a party of the few. the needs of all cannot be met by a business party. for a labor party. -- or a labor party. not by a war party or a peace party. not by a southern party or another in -- or a northern party. our needs will meet our needs only if

they were different personalities that one can easily imagine harry truman in the abilene high school yearbook. you might've been wearing big losses and holding a violin or you might've been a piano player but he was a midwestern type in ike was a midwestern type. there was an episode and 52 campaign that i think is amusing and i'm not sure what to think of it but we are talking about an strange men between ike and truman and ike's bitterness towards truman and truman or less asked him to run for president. about september or so truman goes along the -- and i'm not sure stephenson won them on the hustings and he goes on the charge that he is a snarly costs are. starley guster is apparently a fighting warrior in the midwest and no one else would have any idea what it is but eisenhower and truman would have an i.d. and apparently this is a fighting word. and snarly guster means something like kind of a turncoat. is the idea that ike would work with democrats and now he's running as a republican and so forth. this, truman knew how to get under eisenhower skin and so he did in 1952 and i

he had in fact written to harry truman in may of 1945 of that year. m voted out of power, to warn truman that stalin was bringing down an iron curtain across europe. as russia morphed into the soviet union, the abuses of communism spread across eastern europe. british and american diplomats were followed, harassed and even expelled. no foreign journalists were allowed in. you can see where modern dictators in syria, iran and north korea get their inspiration, the censorship of the media and a lockdown or even a stranglehold on social media sites and the internet. in poland, several thousand people were sent horrifyingly to the very concentration and prison camps that the allies and in some cases the red army had liberated. of course soviet officials wanted to stop word of these abuses from leaking out and to keep those subjected to that paranoid and depression and. stalin promised free elections in poland by the governments he set up as anything but representative. and in time, the way moscow reported the heroic patriots, the polish underground movemen

harry truman was completely smitten, announcing that when everyone becomes acquainted with you, they immediately followed that with you. like those who followed him, truman was surprised that elizabeth was so much more approachable than she seemed in her public image. dwight eisenhower had known princess elizabeth during world war ii when he was in london, he had what he called was a devoted friendship with king george next, and he entertained the teenage princess at his london apartment where he served her prime ribs of beef according to instructions, nice and rare. in 1957, she was given a short trip by her biographers. according to a horrible research and in an interview ruth buchanan, who was the widoc of eisenhower's chief ofhe protocol, was with the royal couple throughout their six dayt in the united states which began in jamestown in williamsburg, ended in new york city andand included an impromptu visit to a supermarket in suburban sub maryland. ruth gave me an impromptu -- anu invaluable personal perspective on elizabeth's conduct as queen and her relationship with her husba

two exceptions, harry truman, and george bush holding it for the g.o.p. after president reagan. it could be easier if he loses in 2012 but she'd have to beat the incumbent mitt romney. tell me how secretary clinton should be thinking if she wants to win president? >> one thing i like about your show is that you make me feel like an idealist or even a nave because i honestly believe that the clintons don't ask the question that way. they think mitt romney and the republicans would be a disaster for the country. they want obama to win and aren't thinking that much about what it means for hillary in 2016. chris: be that as it may. be that as it may. let's assume she's thinking politically as well as in terms of policy and the country. is it better for her, if she wants to run, to have obama win or lose? >> i think it's better that obama wins. it's hard to beat an incumbent and she'll have the advantage of being in the administration, she'll be a democrat but she'll have been out of power for a full term. she won't be carrying whatever baggage exists in 2016. chris: one calculation

blame the other guys harry truman, 1948. he picked the middle path, i think he was looking straight at an undecided voter in ohio with modesty and tone, saying things haven't always been great, but we have a plan for the future. the question is, did it give that voter the confidence that he does have a plan? that's unknown. >> they know the path is harder, but better. >> and it's worth pointing out again, the early voting is already started. started right here in north carolina and heading on to other states as well. and then as one political philosopher said, three hours and a cloud of dust to the debate. they begin on october 3rd. >> thank you all for joining us for these conventions. stay tuned for "nightline." >> it has been great to be with you at the democratic national convention. goodnight. ♪ ♪ >> live and in hd, this is abc 7 breaking news. delegates,airwoman, forcept your nomination .resident of the united states [applause] >> the breaking news thousands saw firsthand. president obama accepted his party's nominatio

we will try to lead you as we were lead by that great freedom, the man from independents, harry trumanbut the gladness of this high occasion cannot mask the sorrow that shares our hearts. let us hear tonight each of us, all of us, rededicate ourselves to keeping burning the golden torch of promise which john fitzgerald kennedy set aflame. [applause] and let none of us stop to rest until we have written into the law of the land all the suggestions and then let us continue to supplement the program with the kind of laws that he would have us write. [applause] tonight we offer ourselves on our record and by our platform as a party for all americans. and all american parties are all american. [applause] this land of reasonable men has no place for any partisanship or previous prejudice. [applause] the need of all can never be met by a party of the few. the needs of all cannot be met by a business party. or a labor party. not by a war party or a peace party. not by a southern party or another in -- or a northern party. our needs will meet our needs only if we are served by a party that serv

cheers and applause] ♪ >> we go back to 1948 now to hear the nomination acceptance speech from harry trumanhe had taken office. he faced challenges from the left and the progressive party. and from conservative southern democrats concerned about his record on civil rights and labor unions. truman's speech is about half an hour. >> our leader and the next president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, thank you. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. i'm sorry the microphones are in your way, but they have to be where they are so i can see what i'm doing, as i always am able to see what i'm doing. [cheers and applause] i cannot tell you how much i appreciate the honor you have conferred upon me. i shall continue to try to deserve it. i accept the nomination -- [cheers and applause] -- and i want to thank this convention for its unanimous nomination of my good friend and colleague, senator barkley of kentucky. [cheers and applause] he's a great man in a great service. senator barkley and i will win this election and make these republicans like it. don't you forget that. we'l

blame the other guys harry truman, 1948. he picked the middle path, i think he was looking straight at an undecided voter in ohio with modesty and tone, saying things haven't always been great, but we have a plan for the future. the question is, did it give that voter the confidence that he does have a plan? that's unknown. >> they know the path is rder, but better. >> and it's worth pointing out again, the early voting is already started. started right here in north carolina and heading on to other states as well. and then as one political philosopher said, three hours and a cloud of dust to the debate. they begin on october 3rd. >> thank you all for joining us for these conventions. stay tuned for "nightline." >> it has been great to be with you at the democratic national convention. goodnight. ♪ ♪ . >>> baltimore county fighting west nile virus. >> maybe no showers for long. what part of the weekend we could see storms going forward. >> and the orioles are in the win column and so is the city of baltimore. we will explain

later, harry truman in 1948 from philadelphia. >> now, john f. kennedy accepting the nomination for president at the 1960 democratic convention. the massachusetts senator won the nomination on the first ballot, competing against the senate's majority leader, lyndon johnson, and former nominee, adlai

productive since one thousand nine hundred forty seven do nothing congress that served under president harry truman and this is something that hasn't gone unnoticed. god i have to tell your congress managed to get through last year without passing one single piece of significant legislation this congress and then it were do nothing congress do nothing to talk about republicans in fact the president effectively campaigning against a do nothing congress of republicans i think he should run against a do nothing congress why in the world would republicans be here today when there was so much other work that this congress has failed to do be here presenting what is really an anti-war resolution masquerading as pro-war work but it's more than that the nine hundred forty seven congress was able to pass some nine hundred sixty bills as of last month the one hundred twelfth congress has passed a mere one hundred seventy three but beyond the numbers the fact is that capitol hill is getting ready to close its doors without having found a solution to military funding taxes the farm bill cybersecurity and much

they were different personalities but one can easily imagine harry truman in the abilene high school yearbook, he might have been wearing thick glasses, might have been holding of violent or him i'd been a piano player but he was a midwestern type and ike was a midwestern site. there was an episode in the campaign that i think is amusing that would talk about the strangest between ike and truman and ike's bitterness towards truman, and truman asked him to run for president. about set 10 or so truman goes on, i'm not sure stephenson wanted him there but he goes there and he erupts with the charge that eisenhower is a -- [inaudible] a parent it's a fighting word in the midwest. no one else would have been a deal with it is that eisenhower and truman would have an idea. and apparently this is a fighting word. smaller gaster means something like kind of a turncoat, the idea that ike at work with democrats and now he's running as republican. truman and how to get under eisenhower's skin, and so he did in 1952. and i think that contributed to the very frosty relations between -- >> truman

of service and bravery that will find him an imperishable page of the of the democratic party, harry s. truman. [cheers and applause] and finally my friends in the staggering task that you have assigned me, i shall always try to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my god. [cheers and applause] >> watch gavel-to-gavel coverage of the democratic convention live here on c-span. next is the speech of george mcgovern in 1972. jimmy carter's 1976 acceptance speech scomprks barack obama from 2008. >> tomorrow on "washington journal" rob christian son from the "news news and political observer." the political dynamics in north carolina heading into the november election. that by susan roberts. and ryan butler discusses gay and lesbian issues. >> c-span's gavel-to-gavel coverage next week and online at c-span.org. featured speakers in >> we will build an american community again. the choice we offer is not conservative or liberal. in many ways, it is not even republican or democratic. it is different, it is new, and it will work. [cheers and applause] >> count your own opinion and connect

incomplete the republicans are you in the senate i guess well you know i'm sorry elect me president harry truman or no republican areas you're going to call out a do nothing congress and work we'll see of barack obama calling you know he congress work but one of the things that he did do is he's saved general motors and chrysler one point two million vehicles were sold last month by general motors chrysler and ford since bush's great you know this is the best numbers in the bushes great recession began in two thousand and seven big three automakers also saw huge sales increases year over year ronnie's criticize the president for this move we have just one minute your thoughts on saving the auto industry i hope one day the case is brought before the supreme court and the unconstitutional taking that this represents is undone by the supreme court it was outrageous what you wanted to see and hope a lot of down that it is not appropriate for a million people to say it's ok to still assets from other people who lawfully were allowed to keep those assets and the other museums very much also it was is

the 112th congress puts harry truman's do-nothing congress to shame. and at a time when our economy should come first that, mr. chairman, is shameful. i rise in strong support of the gentlelady's amendment to a bill that prevents us from actually accomplishing the real work the american people expect from us. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. >> i continue to reserve. the chair: the gentleman from ohio reserves. the gentlelady from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i thank the gentleman very much. mr. speaker, let me just clarify what is happening with this legislation. it eliminates the e.p.a.'s authority to apply minimum federal water quality standards sufficient to protect human and aquatic life and it is weaker than state standards in many plates. it strips the e.p.a.'s authority to to respect -- state discharge permits that fail to meet clean water act requirements. this is not about creating jobs, mr. speaker. and i ask on the names of our children, yet unborn, to be able to have

so to the last moment he was ambivalent. >> host: michael beschloss, the relationship between harry trumanthat was sad and maybe and eisenhower sent word in he budget getting out of his car -- he wasn't getting out of his car and the trumans should get in the two cars with ike and mamie and ride up to the capitol. and that was because eisenhower, who was pretty thin-skinned, he had not had a political background, felt that truman had said things against him in public that he should not have said. until the previous year, they'd had a terrific relationship. i mean, truman is the one who sent eisenhower back to europe, 1950. truman, his diary that was just discovered lately shows us that truman just after the war, just after he became president said to eisenhower, i think you should run as the democratic candidate, and i'll even run for vice president with you. truman later on denied that, and in the way that sometimes happens with history, his own diary entry that shows that he actually did say that turned up, was in a book that had been mislaid at the truman library just discovered a few y

the idea was this was actually very much of use to people like harry truman trying to arouse the american public thinking that the confrontation with the soviets was serious enough to get americans to pay for defense and perhaps surrender their sons and daughters quickly after world war ii.r so >> host: how much continuity was there between administrations when it came to soviet policy from fdr to johnson? >> guest: a lot more than people gave the sense of. dwight eisenhower campaigned in 1952 on something called roll back. had something called rollback. they said elect him because he will wipe the russians out of eastern europe. to some extent, he was serious to that effect. but the way that eisenhower handled this, he had it aide called andrew goodpaster. he was sort of a pullback supporter. they had this operation called operation solarium. the way he did it was he appointed three teams fred one was rollback, push eastern europe back even if it means war, and the other was isolationists, do nothing and let them take over the world, and of the center would be something akin to what we w

the idea was that this was actually very much of use to people like harry truman trying to arouse the american public snd get them to think that theta confrontation with the soviets r was serious enough to get americans to pay for defense an perhaps surrender their sons and daughters ..johnson? >> guest: a lot more than they give them credit for. dwight eisenhower had something called rollback. they said elect him because he will wipe the russians out of eastern europe. to some extent, he was serious to that effect. but the way that eisenhower handled this, he had it aide called andrew goodpaster. he was sort of a pullback supporter. they had this operation called operation solarium. the way he did it was he appointed three teams fred one was rollback, push eastern europe back even if it means war, and the other was isolationists, do nothing and let them take over the world, and of the center would be something akin to what we would call containment. although they didn't call it that. he put andrew goodpaster in charge of the containment team. because he knew that he'd make undreamt w

presidents to be selected with the idea that they would be future presidents, the first two or harry truman44 and there is an argument right now between roosevelt scholars and truman scholars over whether that is the case but based on stories that i've heard growing up, that is pretty true that truman was elected and 44 and the idea that roosevelt would not survive his term. the second was richard nixon in 1952. there is, and i have some personal insight into this, richard nixon in his memoir, recounts how in 1951 he had given an address in the presence of governor thomas thomas dewey and dewey came up to him at the end of the speech and he said, make me a promise senator, don't get overweight, stay in shape and someday you will be president. i believe governor dewey was the one who is behind brownell and the idea was that nixon would be the political arm of the eisenhower years and he was. nixon had taken on enormous responsibility for keeping the republican party in that period and the reason i think there is a lot to this is that when richard nixon was elected in 68 and julie and i spent

harry truman had, including desegregating of the army.e's humphrey giving this speech on civil rights, shaming that democrats wanted to keep jim crowe in place. you have all the delegates from mississippi and half from alabama that got in and walked out. humphrey started becoming a national figure out of that speech. of course, in 1968 he would gain the democratic nomination in chicago for himself. >> douglas, another moment that caused a big stir was in 1968. that, of course, was the year when martin luther king and senator kennedy were assassinated. violent confrontations in chicago and let's take a listen to abe rib cough. >> when gorge mcgovern isment of the united states, we wouldn't have to have gestapo tactics in the streets of chicago. >> what was the result of that speech, douglas? >> well, it tells mcgovern was gaining popularity, first off. that's '68. in 1972 mcgovern would be the nominee. look, chicago was a disaster for the democrats. mayor daley's police force beat journalists and protesters and used tier gas. alan beginsbu

. >> the first president recognized the state of israel was harry truman, a democrat. president said the democrat and republican, stood closely with israel. know what is going on here. in an effort to justify the money he is spending in standing up to israel. the democrats and the republicans are committed to israel future and security. >> bret: understand. no republican took the words out of the democratic platform. making the point. >> you say the two words coming out mean the relationship with israel is changed? >> bret: no, i'm asking the question why it was changed? why was it changed? i'm going to move on. >> i hope you will. how is the president going to make a case he deserves four more years? >> people are better off now than four years ago. people lost 30% of the value of their retirement savings in the recession. 750,000 people a month losing their jobs. the financial sector had to be bailed out. automobile industry flat on it ck. engaged in two wars. no end in sight. we're better off today than four years ago. we need cooperation to make it happen. >> bret:

he looked to me like you're too young to remember this, but when harry truman ran, there was the man on top of the wedding cake, the republican, smith, and he looked every bit like the president last night, and every bit like the man on the wedding cake. >> we want to get to something. there was another movie moment with dana. we were sitting with her when jeb busch spoke and what he said to say sticking up for his brother. >> mr. president, it is time to stop blaming your predecessor for your failed economic policies. you were dealt a tough hand, but your policies have not worked. if the fourth year of your presidency, a real leader would accept responsibility for his actions and you haven't done it. >> eric, a lot of people said the bushes have been statesmen, they've not hit below the back, they stand -- below the bell, they stand back, and is it time for somebody i to stand up for george w.? >> one of his issues is education. i would like to see him point out that for four years president obama has blamed his brother for all the bad economics, not the education stuff, but i would

. >> host: the relationship between harry truman and dwight eisenhower? >> it was sad.ugh the white house on inauguration day of 1953 determined to put on a spread, the new president comes in and they all had coffee and did things and eisenhower wasn't getting out of his car and the trumans will get to the capital and eisenhower was pretty thin skinned or have a political background and truman said things against him in public that he should thought have said. the previous year they had a terrific relationship. truman is the one who sent eisenhower back to europe, 1950. truman's diary that was just discovered lately shows us that truman just after the war just after he became president said to eisenhower you should run as a democratic candidate and run for vice president with you. from later on denied that and the way that sometimes happens with history his own diary entry shows he did say that turned out was a book that had been mislaid at the truman library discovered a few years later but the had the end eyewall this was after john kennedy's assassination at a funera

harry truman and henry wallace and strom thurmond and tom do we first election after the war. terry anderson, book about georgia bush and how he decided to go to war. my wife finish catherine the great. i have got to go back and get involved in that. i read a lot of magazine stuff. a lot of essays. i opened up a correspondence with donald hall as a result of something he wrote about growing old. we had a little exchange. i am in awe of great writers. i don't pretend to be a great writer. i am energetic and i am pretty good sometimes the great writers move me in ways nothing else in life does. >> more information on this and other summer reading lists visit booktv.org. >> your government and mine. it can be as powerful as these governments want to be. sometimes we talk about the un, distancing ourselves. by doing that we fared giving the governments to are ultimately responsible for action or inaction. an alibi. one of my predecessors used to say that we go to the second region for short. and a scapegoat. >> the world's they go in chief. >> exactly.

and harry truman used to say, "the buck stops here" talking about the presidency.should stop at the president's desk. he has created that climate. he has created the anti-american sentiment. and he was the one that was trying to sell us a bill of goods that al-qaeda no longer -- al-qaeda no longer had any strength, that terrorism had been defeated in the middle east. this president has failed to do what he was trying to convince us he had done. that's why i say that's a problem. the laziness part, in my opinion, comes from his failure to stay up to date on the intelligence briefings that he -- that people prepare for. the evidence is that he missed almost 60% of the face-to-face briefings with the cia and substituted for that a quick skimming of what -- what the summery piece of paper on his ipad. there's no substitute for that discussion for a president to be up to date. in my opinion, it's the most important half hour of the day. >> let me ask you, what's going on right now, from you've seen over the last 24 hours or so, do you feel this is all part of a big cove

harry truman is spinning in his grave over what went on in iraq. congressman akin not even go to require competitive contracts in iraq. i helped establish the war contacting commission when i got to washingto no one had paid much attention to this. we found $60 billion -- three years of the entire budget that almost went up in smoke in waste, fraud, a abuse. no one was minding the store. we have begun to clean that up. in afghanian, i support the mission of traing police and army, but what we are doing in turn up -- is wrong. we're doing the same thing in afghanistan that we did in iraq. investing in highways, power plants, water projects that they cannot maintain. they cannot afford to sustain, and they're getting blown up or not used because they did not have the expertise. we need to pull out -- pulled out and the structure money out and bring it back to the united states of america. we need a big bridge near washington, missouri. we need more highways and missouri. we need dam projects on the missouri river. i disagree with that. >> the center

. >> harry truman longed for a one armed economist so they couldn't say on the one hand and or the other melissa: exactly. you're picking one hand. >> i'm picking one hand. melissa: do you dare think this problem is getting fixed. >> no. i think that, there are big political issues. we've talked mostly about economics. after all this is fox business channel. >> of course. your program says money. there are big political problems as everybody watches that the u.s. financial system knows. the weaker european countries, greece obviously and also spain and italy and portugal, maybe others a well, that are being asked to cut back. they're moving into recession and there will be political push-back about that. on the other side, germany, denmark, some stronger countries are lending money and they want real security for their money. melissa: professor, i love you. thanks for coming on tonight. always good. >> thanks very much, melissa. melissa: banks looking to dive into california's booming carbon trading industry but could there be serious unintended consequences? there always are. we'll expl

. >> host: michael beschloss, the relationship between harry truman and dwight eisenhower. >> guest: that really shows it is that when dwight eisenhower came up to the front portico of the white house on inauguration day 1953, the trumans had put out on quite a spread, you know, the traditional thing. the new president comes in, and they all have coffee together and perhaps a few things to eat. and eisenhower sent word in he budget getting out of his car -- he wasn't getting out of his car and the trumans should get in the two cars with ike and mamie and ride up to the capitol. and that was because eisenhower, who was pretty thin-skinned, he had not had a political background, felt that truman had said things against him in public that he should not have said. until the previous year, they'd had a terrific relationship. i mean, truman is the one who sent eisenhower back to europe, 1950. truman, his diary that was just discovered lately shows us that truman just after the war, just after he became president said to eisenhower, i think you should run as the democratic candidate, and i'

the most famous example here, think of harry truman, 1948 railing against the do nothing congress.mething after swing voters in 1948. >> think about the humility that obama shows drirven to his knee many times. that says you can truce me. i get it. >> linda killian is here, she's also the author of "the swing vote: the untapped power of independents." i don't know if you heard that debate we were having, but what did you make of president obama's speech, more pitch to the base or middle? >> i think bill clinton was fantastic in the way that he talked to independent swing voters. he talked about the deficit. he talked about, gee, we want to get along. he quoted ronald reagan and turned it on the republicans. he teed it up for barack obama, and barack obama whiffed. when it comes to the independent swing voters. i think it was totally about exciting the base, but i don't understand why he couldn't do both. excite the base and talk about specific ways we're going to get out of this economic hole. bill clinton did that, i thought, very successfully. >> yeah. linda, i actually don't agr

/israel relationship in the same high regard as every other president going back to harry truman. so i think it's consistent with the administration's effort to distance itself from israel, which has been manifested so many other ways as well. >> greta: all right. well, it's a small point. may be bad manners. certainly pale in consideration to the more important issues of nuclear weapons. ambassador, thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> greta: straight ahead, is governor romney taking the lead? could that possibly be true? dick morris said there's more to the polls than meet the eyes. dick morris is here dick. also former secretary of state henry kissinger, does he think the u.s. should draw a red line to stop the nuclear build-up? you'll hear coming up. plus, sparks fly as ann coulter took on the ladies of "the view." whoopi wasn't taking it. do not move. "on the record" back in 60 seconds. >> greta: there's no doubt about it, the presidential race it tight, but the sizzling question who hats edge. polls in swing states showing president obama pulling ahead of governor mitt romney, b

you've watched harry truman and bill clinton in his primary.not over but he has to grab ahold of it now. >> joe, you mentioned something and joe watkins, i want to bring this to you now. mitt romney not the first presidential candidate to open mouth insert foot while on the trail. we dug up a few others. take a look and listen. >> i took the initiative in creating the internet. >> the fundamentals of our economy are strong. >> those are just two. there are lots more out there. you worked with bush 41 who infamously said, message, i care. all these men lived these gaffes down to some extent, some elected, some were not. how does mitt romney recover from his series of gaffes? >> i think the way you do it is by being steady and not too upset about mistakes made. he has to play offense not defense. as long as you're playing defense, you probably can't win. you have to score points and the way to do that is play offense by sharing your message. no matter what anybody says about words misspoken you have to consider the fact 12 million americans aren'

certainly all progressives, all of them including harry truman and kennedy and johnsens and going back to both roosevelts. it's something that's always been on the progressive agenda and never been realized. of course conservatives are opposed to it. they were opposed to social security and medicare and medicaid and unemployment composition and child labor laws and minimum wage. i was just reading this book about the young winston churchill in the early part of last century. the politics haven't changed. they haven't changed. it's the same old arguments. predictable opposition to social progress. >> indeed. >> it shouldn't be noteworthy at all and i think this convention, by the way, i want to say, i think i can do a better job than this administration in explaining what's been going on since 2009. in 2009, we were at the edge of a precipice facining an abis. we had an unemployment rate spiking past 10%. >> 800,000 jobs lost a month. >> right. and all of a sudden, we're back from that abyss. well beyond it and we have an unemployment rate way down. we're of course better off than we we

harry truman is spinning in his grave over what went on in iraq. congressman akin not even go to require competitive contracts in iraq. i helped establish the war contacting commission when i got to washington. no one had paid much attention to this. we found $60 billion -- three years of the entire budget that almost went up in smoke in waste, fraud, and abuse. no one was minding the store. we have begun to clean that up. in afghanistan, i support the mission of training police and army, but what we are doing is wrong. we're doing the same thing in afghanistan that we did in iraq. investing in highways, power plants, water projects that they cannot maintain. they cannot afford to sustain, and they're getting blown up or not used because they did not have the expertise. we need to pull out -- pull infrastructure money out and bring it back to the united states of america. we need a big bridge near washington, missouri. we need more highways and missouri. we need dam projects on the missouri river. i disagree with that. >> the senator mentioned some

at the end of 2016, is he too old, the vice president who was too old and never got to succeed harry truman, even though he wanted to, so biden may have an opportunity this week to get his name in the mix. that's the one i'm most interested in seeing this week. >> the one i'm most looking forward to for 2016 or 2020, harris, brilliant woman, was the attorney general of san francisco. we're looking at the governor's mansion one day, perhaps she could be a serious contender coming out of california. but i'm just excited by this massive crowd behind you. they made me think you could be a contender in 2016. >> guys, this has little to do with me and a lot to do with you and i think, like i said, i am picking up on a lot of optimism here this week. i know you'd probably get the same thing if you were going down to tampa for the republicans, but the crowd is in a good mood. >> steve's going to be our eyes and ears in charlotte all week. >>> next, imagine a test where the first question is obvious. then imagine failing that question face palm. we're going to talk about the obvious question that fl

getting it wrong unless you go back to 1948, when they predicted thomas dewey defeated president harry truman. cnn political contributor ari fleischer joins us. he's an occasional unpaid communications advisor for the romney campaign. also pollster 2012 cornell belcher and our own john king. so, ari, i do not hear republicans complaining, you know, a few months ago when mitt romney seemed up in these polls. >> well, anderson, here's what i think you have to do, and i don't think it's conspiracy, but i think you have to apply a commonsense test. here's what we know. the last time there was a major election in 2012, we had an exit poll in the state of wisconsin that was wrong. it showed the race was going to be neck and neck, the exit poll did, and of course governor walker won by seven percentage points. exit poll put together by the same consortium of many of these different groups that are doing the polls now. if you believe what the polls are saying right now, you've got to believe that there's something huge going on, and common sense would tell you there's a movement in america similar to