until jack abramoff became involved. then they became ideologically conservative. >> in vermont -- abramoff. >> abramoff is a little older than i am, but i was a college republican in the early 1980's. when the college republicans took that sharp turn to the right, that's the same direction i was going in. a lot of the same heroes. i thought ronald reagan was the greatest man who ever lived. >> in thisspresent crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. government is the problem. >> where do you find things like that clip of karl rove or dan roorabacher? >> oh, man, we just dig and dig and dig. our eyes when we saw those things. that's one of the fun things3 you start looking and you start believing that stuff is out there that hasn't been seen something. you usually find >> how do you find it? if i were sitting in your shoes, who would you call to find something like that? >> well, the first place you start is you go to the networks and you say, you know, send me all your material that has stuff about either j

>> i am. >> jack abramoff was born in atlantic city in 1959. siness and then moved to beverly hills when abramoof was 10. surrounned by children of the movie industry, jack was a film buff at beverly hills high where he was also active in student polittcs. a tough competitor, jack was an all-conference lineman on tte football team, and a champponship weight lifter. he could power squat 510 pounds. >> that may be the biggest flaw in the film. it started for me with "taxi to the dark side," and, you know, we were going to get a ceeeerity narrator for that film, but then i included a short clip of my father at thh veey end of the film, a video of him just before he died, and that made that film very personal to me, so i decided to do the narration on that film myself. in fact, i often do the temp narration before the actor comes in. on this one, i worked on it a long time. i just decided to do it myself it may not be the world's greatest voice, but it has the virtue of being authentic, as to say it is truly my voice. >> and how long is this documen

go work for jack abramoff and kind of watch this operation get built, right? and jack was going from really big to the top. >> neil morphed from the original neil who wanted to be the press secretary to the guy who wanted to be part of the abramoff family. >> now, was it unusual to lose a staffer? >> i've had staffers come and go like a revolving door. >> i'm the poster child for the revolving door. >> the revolving door between government ann k street is an essential part of the washington game. >> there's a law that states you're not allowed to lobby your around the one-year ban and then i just flat out violated it. . signup for our scheduler e-mails @ c-span 2 or -- at c-span.org. >> white is interesting about what happened over the last 13 years is that elections used to be determined by a few officials in the home office. now they spend millions of pounds every yeer and employs dozens of people, hold huge and greg reviews, spends gobs of money on advertising. >> from london's, the prime minister's questioos from the british house of commons. this week, dav

. >> i've seen friends go over to go work for jack abramoff and kind of watch this operation get built, right? and jack was going from really big to the top. >> neil morphed from the original neil who wanted to be who wanted to be part of theuy abramoff family. >> now, was it unusual to lose a staffer? >> i've had staafers come and go like a revolving door. >> i'm the poster child for the revolving door. >> the revolving door betteen government and k street is an essential part of the washington game. you're not allowed to lobby your former bosses, and i tiptoed around the one-year ban and then i just flat out . ú? >> what's interesting about what happened over the last 30 years is elections used to be determined by a few. we now have the vast electoral commission spending billions of pounds every year, employing dozens of people on huge reviews, spends far too much on advertising, and then -- [cheers] >> now from london, prime minister's questions from the british house of commons. this week british prime minister david cameron fielded questions on election reform and the british miss

the life and times of convicted lobbyist jack abramoff," sunday on span span's "q&a." >> this morning we'll talk with the former reporter with the "anchorage daily news" during the exxon valdez oil spill about the federal response to the oil spill in the gulf. then reporter christopher rugaber discusses the survey of the nation's on

. >> this is the heart of the jack abramoff scandal. he was a big-time republican lobbyist back in the day, released about five years ago. he made a lot of money from clients telling them how influential he was with republicans on capitol hill, particularly with tom delay. in order to get in bed with the delay crowd, he hired a lot of people at delay's office. he brought staffers to football games, baseball games, concerts. he opened a sushi restaurant that became one of the most popular places for young republicans to go out at night. there is a rumor that if you were a capitol hill staffer, you got a nice discount when you went to his restaurant. he really used all the tools that he could to get in good with the delay staffers and other republican staffers who could really make things happen for him. when he started going really over the line, he started flying staffers overseas for luxurious golf trips in scotland. he had a gulfstream jet he would fly people around. >> he is currently in prison. >> he is getting out pretty soon. emil

at that time, jack abramoff, grover norquist and they are considered patton freaks and the or psychoticwhere communists were in the government. but now it has switched from russia to obama query have seen3 socialist marxist. you have beck on television calling him a marxist and a socialist. then i need to correct, is actually a fascist. maybe something else. but it is the end of the world as we know it. what it has led to part is coming joining what we call sore loser voters. conservatives who are upset because they lost the election. for the first time in history, you have a news outlets that helped make and opposition party to a newly elected president which i don't believe that that happened before. what proceeds that is in the '90s, we had all of the black helicopter groups which are white supremacists and your patriot movement, the militia movement. but what happens is they were more in the shadows. but because of fox news and the tea party, they're able to expose themseeves and they get transmitted into the mainstream. all the sudden, there is a wreck sanchez interweaving emission

hill in his new documentary, casino jack and the united states oo mooey, the life and times of jack abramoff >> now, remarks from actress ashley judd on the practice of mountaintop removal call money in the appalachian region, where she was raised as a child. this has an impact oo surrounding valleys and waterways. this is about an hour. >> good afternoon. i am the president of the national press club. welcome to the national press club. we are the world's leading national organization for journalists. future by fostering a free press world. for more information about the national press club, please visit our website at www.press.org. to donate to our programs, please visit www.press.org/library. on behalf of our members worldwide, we would like to welcome our speaker as well as our attendees at the day's event, which include guests of our speaker as well as working journalists. we would also like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. after the speech concludes, i will ask as many audience questions as time permits. i would now like to briefly introduce our head table guests. fro

new documentary, "casino jack and the united states of money: the life and times of convicted jack abramoff," sunday on c-span. >> we have three new c-span books. abraham lincoln, the supreme court, and who is buried in grant's tomb, each with the contemporary perspective and something new to you about lincoln, the nation's highest court, and a great lives of america's presidents. each is also a great good -- great gift idea for father's day. >> the second is to continue giving access to new supplies to the world. that is drilling wells into the deepwater gulf of mexico. that is beginning to explore under the ice in the arctic. >> the c.e.o. of bp on global energy policy this past january, before the gulf oil spill. thursday, you testified on capitol hill. see what other industry and officials have said about the spill with briefings and hearings and call-in programs on c-span's video library, washington your way. now remarks from actors ashley judd on mount top pull money removal and the abolition not. from the national press club, this is about one hour. >> good afternoon.3 national press

. >> alex gibney, what was your reaction when you heard that jack abramoff had just been released from to a halfway houseein baltimore this week? >> well, i knew it was going to happen. and frankly, you know, i thought he had spent enough time in a stir. there were some other people who might well have gone to prison but didn't. jack has paid the price. he's out in a halfway house. i think that's all right. >> when was the first time that you thought about doing your documentary, brand-new, called "casino jack and the united states of money"? >> well, i heard some of the stories in "the washington post," and i was astounded really by sorttof the audacity of the story and how colorful it was. so i thought it would make a good movie because i'm always interested in stories per se, and jackkis a fascinating character. very colorful, very outrageous. at the same time, the other thing about it that was really interesting to me was it was a story that seemed to me to point out the most fundamental problem in our democracy right now, which is the way that money rules our democracy. it's becom