he goes after jim wright on some ethics stuff, pushes wright out. democrats come back -- i mean, just sort of warfare develops. but i don't want the blame, put all the blame on democrats, but that's where, um, sooner or later maybe this would have happened, but i think that triggered it. and it was mostly in the house of representatives and where you had this bitter partisanship. and the senate really wasn't like that at all. but gradually, you started seeing house members, democrat and republican, coming over the senate. and, you know, in the house it's majority rules, you know? it's -- and if the minority doesn't like the how things are going, well, that's tough. but in the senate, you know, with filibusters, unanimous concept, all -- a lot more -- the senate can't really deal with that kind of partisanship and still function appropriately. and so as you saw these, some of these house members moving over to the senate, it was like a contagion coming into a new body and contaminating it. and so oneover the first signs -- one of the first signs was

he goes after jim wright on some ethics stuff, pushes wright out. democrats come back -- i mean, just sort of warfare develops. but i don't want the blame, put all the blame on democrats, but that's where, um, sooner or later maybe this would have happened, but i think that triggered it. and it was mostly in the house of representatives and where you had this bitter partisanship. and the senate really wasn't like that at all. but gradually, you started seeing house members, democrat and republican, coming over the senate. and, you know, in the house it's majority rules, you know? it's -- and if the minority doesn't like the how things are going, well, that's tough. but in the senate, you know, with filibusters, unanimous concept, all -- a lot more -- the senate can't really deal with that kind of partisanship and still function appropriately. and so as you saw these, some of these house members moving over to the senate, it was like a contagion coming into a new body and contaminating it. and so oneover the first signs -- one of the first signs was

jim wright becomes speaker. he goes on wright on ethics stuff. warfare develops. i do not want to put all the blame on democrats, but that is where sooner or later maybe this would have happened, but that triggered it. it was mostly in-house of representatives, where you had this bitter artisanship. ats senate was not like that all. gradually, you begin seeing house members, democrat and republican, coming over to the senate. in the house, it is majority rules. if the majority does not like how things are going, that is tough. filibusters,, with consent, the senate cannot deal with that kind of partisanship and still function appropriately. seeing these start house members moved to the senate, it was like a contagion and -- in to a new body a contagion coming into a new body. then the bork nomination. up to that point, if you were rejected it was one or two reasons. either you were not ethical or you were not qualify. the idea that you were rejected because people do not agree with you, that had never happened before. when democrats a sickly rejected the bork nomi

jim wright becomes speaker. he goes on wright on ethics stuff. warfare develops.o not want to put all the blame on democrats, but that is where sooner or later maybe this would have happened, but that triggered it. it was mostly in the house of representatives, where you had this bitter artisanship. the senate was not like that at all. gradually, you begin seeing house members, democrat and republican, coming over to the senate. in the house, it is majority rules. if the majority does not like how things are going, that is tough. in the senate, with filibusters, consent, the senate cannot deal with that kind of partisanship and still function appropriately. and so as you start seeing these house members move to the senate, it was like a contagion coming into a new body. then the bork nomination. up to that point, if you were rejected it was one or two reasons -- either you were not ethical or you were not qualified. the idea that you were rejected because people do not agree with you, that had never happened before. when democrats rejected the bork nomination, for

now, democrats held a 53-vote majority in the house, and speaker tip o'neill and majority leader jim wright were confident they could thwart the president's plans for massive reductions in income tax rates which they believed unfairly benefited the rich. finish reagan's job approval rating was 59%, the lowest of any president at such an early point in his presidency since such surveys had begun in the 1940s. and on the very day he was shot, roland evans and robert novak had a syndicated column published that was headlined the reagan honeymoon is truly over. but a month after ray taliban was shot by a deranged young man outside a washington, d.c. hotel, they conceded the democratic-controlled house would have no choice but to pass reagan's tax cut agenda. the shooting had made reagan too popular and too great a hero with the public to refuse his request. reagan had displayed what kennedy himself quoting hemingway had defined as courage. grace under pressure. most americans did not be realize and is still do not realize how close reagan came to dying. he lost more than half of his blood, and

democrats held a 53 vote majority in the house and speaker tip o'neill and majority leader jim wright were confident they could thwart the presence plans for massive reductions in income tax rates which they believed unfairly benefited the rich. reagan's job approval rating was 59%, the lowest of any president at such an early point in his presidency. and on the very day he was shot, rowland evans and robert novak had a syndicated column published that was headlined the reagan honeymoon is truly over. but one month after reagan was shot by a deranged young man outside of washington, d.c. hotel, they conceded the democrat controlled house would have no choice but to pass reagan's tax cut agenda. the shooting had made reagan to popular and too great a hero with the public to refuse his request. reagan displayed what kennedy himself quoting hemingway had defined as courage. grace under pressure. most americans did not realize and still do not realize how close reagan came to dying. he lost more than half of his blood, and the bullet entered his chest came within an inch of his 70 year ol

>> i remember jim wright asking me to do it, i think i was. >> a memorable feat. >> i didn't even remember. but i do think that there was a little bit of defiance in the president. when you go up and say, "i'm going to do executive orders if you don't do what i want", we haven't talked about energy or climate change, but he basically said, "i'm going to do something on that, and congress, you need to join me. he bragged about marijuanay. the energy component was the longest i have seen, talking about shale gas and renewables. we are better off energy wise, and he's taking credit for that. i do see in his speech he as upbeat, he was strong. other speeches he was a little more nuanced. this one was the most important year. you go into the last two years and get into the lame duck status. this is the year he either gets immigration reform, something on climate change, tax reform, on a budget. this is the year. my hope is that he focuses on immigration reform. if he has health care and immigration, it will be a good second term. >> i want to talk about health care, but before we'll go to libby

what reverend wright doesn't know, jim crowe laws, the ku klux klan, all those came from the democrat party. when you are trying to castigate, as he is the tea party as being somewhat anti-black, that is not the case. they stand for freedom and liberty, they stand for fiscal responsibility, government operating within its right roles and responsibilities. i understand why reverend wright would want to disagree with that. >> you know, i think the tea party are a bunch of big boys and big girls. i think the thing that's still stunning to me is that he poisoned martin luther king day, martin luther king day does not just belong to black americans, there are white americans who recognize all that he did. let me give you a contrast. this is what his tweet was and what a contrast to reverend wright. he tweeted, as we celebrate dr. martin luther king jr., let us pay more attention to the content of one's character than the color of one's skin. reverend wright seems to be throwing gasoline on a fire. >> that's the difference between having an adult in the room and trying to have a conversatio

. >> jim lehrer's most recent novel is "top down" a novel of the kennedy assassination. this is booktv on c-span2. >> now and look at scientology with lawrence wright this is about 40 minutes. [applause] >> well, good morning. larry let's begin with a word in the title of the book, "going clear" scientology, hollywood and the prison of belief. scientology devotes a lot of organizational energy to tap into the celebrity culture that is so prominent in the united states today. talk to us about that. talk to us about what you found and why he devoted so much attention to that aspect of the book. >> well scientology was really created as a religion. they would use celebrities. it was established in los angeles in 1954 and there was a reason for that. l. ron hubbard the founder of scientology realized that americans really do worship one thing for sure and that is celebrity. and where's the capital of celebrity? it's hollywood so scientology has become one of the major landlords in hollywood. early on, they set out to recruit celebrities. there was a church publication put out shortly after the founding of the church with a roster of respective celebrit

and kristin wright is out there to take a look at how folks are dealing with this snow day in the district. kristin? >> well, jimthe snow has not stopped falling here today. we are east of the river on morris road near mowten elementary school, and it is so quiet out here right now, but there is a lot off work to do tomorrow. snow blanketed southeast washington in a few short hours. it started to fall this morning, and it did not stop this after noon, and it keeps falling tonight. raymond lee tried in vain to get ahead of the storm, but it is not possible. >> the plan is get it early today or in the morning, but we are fighting a losing battle. >> reporter: and the main thoroughfares, and city trucks trying to keep up with the fast accumulation, and the blowing snow on alabama avenue. >> people are going to slide snow and slide all over the place, but it is going to be goep by the time you go to the grocery store, and get all of the winter goods and all that, and it will be gone. it won't last. >> reporter: and cars could have a difficult time getting through when it is all said and done, and this time, you may