if i could paraphrase james carville and conclude right here, it is the culture, stupid. thank you and i will take some questions if you would like. [applause] who wants to be a star? >> would you comment on the unfunded obligations of social security and medicare? >> it is overrated, it is overestimated. we can guarantee that until the year 2030 it will be able to at least get 76 cents back on your dollar. i said i don't think that was part of my contract. that is where we are headed. that is what will happen. that will be the compromise. there is not enough money but they have already figured that out. that was the first time i had heard that and it intrigued me because we thought all along, this was another idea, social security, that we would have whatever we put in, but we have

. >>> also tonight, on our radar, james carville and mary matlin join me. among our topics, dick cheney's latest political move. >>> the big banks and investment firms are making big money again. many of you are not. and that disconnect between wall street and main street was a big part of the president's focus today in a big speech in new york. but if you were expecting red-hot in your face rhetoric, you are disappointed tonight. for starter it isn't the president's style. he would be the first to tell you he is not a natural-born populist. plus, he thinks the political debate is trending his waned the speech was more about gaining momentum, not about making enemies. >> i'm here today specifically when i speak to the titans of industry here, 'cause i want to urge you to join us instead of fighting muus in this effort. i am here because i believe that these reforms are, in the end, not only in the best interest of our country but in the best interest of the financial sector. >> the details are complicated, but the goal is fairly simple, new rules to prevent

republican thing going on but on a cnn a couple of nights ago we were talking about the chart and james carville was on the show and he picked out nascar and pro bull riding as one of his favorite sports. he is a democrat. we are just looking at tendencies. not saying all fans of nascar or the nfl are democrats. host: should republicans then advertise on pro wrestling? guest: no. in fact, democrats should not advertise on pro wrestling. the audience for pro wrestling skews democratic, but the thing about pro wrestling is it is a very low turnout fan base. so, you are not likely -- no actual voters on crow rate -- wrestling. host: major league soccer? guest: major league soccer has a large hispanic fan base as hispanics historically have a very low turnout rate. so, like wrestling, pro soccer is very low turnout. host: men's and women's tennis has the same size circle as a monster trucks and extreme action. guest: as republican i am dismayed that tennis skews democratic. the fan base in tennis has been fairly stagnant for the last several years because there haven't -- with the exception of seren

joining me now, democratic contributor james carville and political contributor and republican strategist, ed rollins, who worked for ronald reagan for years. so, james, sarah palin says that no administration in history would have ever considered such a step on nuclear arms. ronald reagan though talked about it many times, a world without nuclear weapons. >> well, rako vick and ed, i'm sure can attest to this. he wanted to get rid of all of them. was getting i received a third of them. obama is quite to the right of reagan when it comes to nuclear weapon. i don't know many people that like them, they are not the most popular things in the world, it may be necessary but not particularly popular, not sure where she is coming from there. >> ed, factually, what she is saying is not correct, right? >> it's not correct. what james is saying is not totally correct either. we weren't throwing out all of our nuclear weapons. it was a very important meeting, the first time the soviets really sat down in a very serious way. the equivalent would be if india and pakistan sat down today and said how d

light ken -- like ken, he enjoys the sports that have largely republican audience just like james carville on cnn the other night. host: brownsville, texas. democrat, howard. talking about sports fans and party identity. caller: my name is albert. yes, i'm a fan of professional baseball, football, basketball, college sports as well, and a professional boxing. tennis at times. one thing that has bothered me in the past several years -- increasing commercialization of professional sports. the fact that professional sports stadiums are being named after corporations. the most notable being enron stadium -- the one that i can think of. was my favorite baseball team. as i have seen the trend it affected my allegiance to sports in some way and maybe that was taken into account in the polling. guest: i really have no information on the caller's concerns about the commercialization of sports. but it is a business. and the salaries are high and owners of the team have to be able to pay their players and overhead and still make a little money. host: two closing questions. number one, looking at the

and of course it is james carville who invented the phrase "it's the economy, stupid." knows whack happen in afghanistan, in russia, in north korea. i'll bet you we're not going to be talking about health care and the health care reform bill and its impact on the democrats' fortunes by november. so, but, yeah, if the economy isn't palpably, meaningfully on the uptick by the fall, the democrats are in huge trouble in congress. >> you can bet in moderate states republicans will be talking about health care come the fall and the growth of government. that's -- >> right. and we'll see what kind of -- you know, now that the thing has passed and it is the law of the land, beyond the angry base, we'll see how much traction they're talking about because it's not a federal takeover. and i think people are going to see their lives and the way they do health care is different and they're not going to a federal doctor or whatever. >> they may make those discoveries, but if the economy doesn't turn around in -- >> yeah. i agree. that's everything. >> by the time the elections are he

james carville says that republicans peaked in massachusetts.y are not gonna have the success in november that they think they will. i don't think they are reading the country well. i don't think they understand the anger, fear and anxiety that is being created. do you think the republican party needs to put together a new contract with america so that people that are running for office, like yourself, you put your name, your signature on a piece of paper and you promise to keep certain -- make certain promises when you run? >> i would be happy to sign that we don't have to wait for the leaders of the republican party to do that if you went around the room you can get everyone here to sign on. we were talking in the green room about the new freshman class in congress to sign on to new agreed set of principles. we can do it from the ground up. >> sean: if you were to grade barack obama, what would your grade be? in two categories, economics, national security? >> i have to say he gets an "f" on both counts, unfortunately. [ applause ] >> sean: be

i have to immediately remind my dad of something, that does not mean that he has to think of james carvilleas his son-in-law. i am sure that he would be willing to do that because he loves marry as much as the rest of us do. she is one of the great ones. the first time that i really worked with her was during the 2000 campaign and i will never forget on election night in 2000 , watching as the networks called florida for al gore. mary matalin was the very first person i saw on television saying this is not right. it was about three weeks later, we were still in the transition period, my dad was looking for a communications director. he said why don't you call mary matalin and see if he is interested? he said make the call. i got her out of the beauty salon. she agreed to come on board and the rest is history. mary matalin is the kind of person that i want my daughters to grow up to be. she is strong, tough, kind, caring, compassionate, and she loves her family and her country and her community. she fights very hard for the causes she knows are right. all of that is wrapped up in a fabulous

like to see tim negative and also to the traps wrote a book on the life span of the fox company, james carvilleelson, the remains of company b, and one sort of a sad chapter called after the bike of a british historian called mcdonald and bill shimon darkest summer. i enjoy when you have your historical and military people speak. >> welcome as you know, i appreciate your meeting of those. we did cover tim eagens most recent book, quote koza big bird." what to introduce you to one of the producers of booktv. he's one of the producers who looks at the titles coming in. he's on the phone right now working, but he looks at all the titles coming in andecommend this coverage of them. what is an upcoming title that you would like to tell about that's coming up that you have seen coming for your desk? >> well, peter, we are excited about being your the l.a. times book festival and there's one thing we are talking about and we are not sure if we are going with it or not, but i'm actually reading a book by carvel called matter horn, it is an account of the vietnam war back and i am getting a notice that