[applause] >>> our special presentation of book tv continues "after words" featuring joe scarborough,host of msnbc morning show on his thoughts of the bush administration in his book, "the last best hope: restoring conservatism and america's promise." this is an hour. >> host: >> coming up next book tv presents "after words" an hour-long interview program where we invite a guest host to interview the author of the book. this book from expo america joe scarborough on his book, "the last best hope: restoring conservatism and america's promise." the former republican congressman and current host of msnbc's morning show, presents his thoughts on the bush administration, the current state of the republican party and the obama presidency. joe scarborough discusses his book with peggy noonan called columnist for the "wall street journal." >> host: joe scarborough, anchor of the morning cable news show "morning joe" on msnbc with you cohost. you are a former congressman. you represented florida's first district. >> guest: first district. >> host: in the house from 1995 to 2001. you were elect

we have joe scarborough who will be hosting the event this morning with crown publishers.e have richard russo. guyot collins with little brown and pete dexter from grand central publishing. please join me in thanking their publishers for making this event possible this morning. [applause] >> and so with literally no further ado please enjoy the delicious breakfast and teacher body but more importantly feed your mind dirk leas welcome joe scarborough to the platform upon the. >> thank so much for having me here. i'm very, very excited. i was told you are a very, very conservative group. [laughter] >> so i'm trying to remember my favorite dick cheney an antidot. just to tell you a little about myself. i ran for office for the first time in 1994, and i am from northwest florida. which is also known in our parts as the redneck riviera. la, lower alabama. americas albania. i mean, the names go on and on and on. but a republican had not been elected their since 1872, and i think they own the last one that they sent up to washington. so when i ran, i couldn't run as a republican.

and joe scarborough, the last best hope and travel writer with the opened right -- opened road. >> washington journal continues. host: peter brooks is a national security fellow at the heritage foundation, there is a report looking at the commission of prevention of weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism. this commission was put together in 2008. guest: i am not a member of this commission. it is -- headed by bob graham. in the standard commission has been extended. they have been extended for a few more months. host: they deliver their report to president bush last -- late last year and testify before congress early this year. what is the focus today? guest: they are doing a great job. the commission has been extended, both senators will join us today to talk about their finding. they will also talk about their recommendations that they made to the president and congress last year. what is interesting is that there really want to get involved in public our reach. -- public of reach. utreach. they said, by 2013 that the u.s. would experience a terrorist wmd attack. they had o

gail collins author of "when everything changed" joe scarborough author of "the last best hope" pete dexter author of "spooner" book expo is a trade industry that includes educational panels and information on soon-to-be published books. for more information visit book expo america.com. >> i am the co-owner of politics and prose bookstore and washington d.c. and i got into the business because i love to read more than anything. you can see i do not get too much exercise instead they'll lay on myself but and read and so i want to tell you this is such an incredible year for reading and four books. i am happy to have a chance to talk about this on the c-span because it does not bring enough action to you and i think fiction can also be more true than books about policy were history. my two themes and this year our immigration and south asia. i will not talk about three paper books that are so popular on their own they really do not need me to support them but i will tell you what they are, one is motherland which has received all kinds of awards by joseph o'neill, he is part dutch and

and former congressman joe scarborough. restoring conservative wisdom and america's promise.nd the travel writer with a global journey of the 14th dalai lama. "washington journal" continues. host: faiz shakir is the editor in chief of the progress. here is the associate editor of real clear politics. we're here to talk about congress wrapping up in the influence of media on politics. there is a front-page story this morning in roll-call about the gop in their plants over the recess. they planned to blast away over the fourth of july recess. they get these breaks in congress. how affected our party is getting a message through to the public, particularly in the stretch but this holiday? guest: it requires a lot of grassroots work. unique coalition-building out in the states, districts to amplify your message. if you are focused on a message in washington, d.c., advertising and places like "roll-call" or "the washington post," it has a limited effect. you have to go back home and attend fourth of july parades. you have to hook their messages are bombarding in getting across to

joe scarborough this morning on msnbc said that he has seen nothing but unbridled glee on the part of democrats to the governor. it was like they are communicating, this is payback for what happened to bill clinton. no matter what happened in the past to president clinton, this is now how we respond to it is important. i think i a also have witnessed this unbridled glee -- bill press, i heard him on, i think it was cnn the other day, and he said that he was giggling over this whole affair because he was delighted to see that something like this was happening now to republicans. so i would like to say to the media, what the governor did is certainly an example which is very poor character and the way you are responding to it is not any better. " but the question we're asking is, the private lives of public officials -- host: of the question we're asking is the private lives of public officials. senator john ensign, republican from nevada who admitted to an affair last week and senator john edwards spoke on abc's light 9 -- nightline program last summer and former governor of new york s

bush and joe scarborough. i think george bush have more concerns that you're then me and sure enough republicans lost, lost control and at that point george w. bush had his road to damascus moment or he did what i was suggesting and send more troops. and then he started criticize same big government spending. but it was too late. i think we have to tell the truth. and i personally like george w. bush and i always have. but he read to the conservative movement. if anybody can dispute that i love to hear their arguments. >> host: we are going to talk more about a comeback of the republican party and what mr. obama is up to but we are going to break for just a moment, we will be back. and part two of our interview, are we a center-right country? >> guest: we are and we have always been a center-right country. always americans -- and there is this great line and i never forgot it in david stockman spoke about the triumph of politics when he was complaining about how the reagan revolution when off-track. i have nev

bill clinton, joe scarborough and the rabid right to gather soda the genius of james madison this is what washington is supposed to be. this is how we are supposed to work and i found out that when the president and congress hated each other it actually works better because all of his garbage projects, struck out of the bills all of our pork barrel projects, he struck out of the bill and is this creating friction that madison and our founding fathers understood would make good. >> host: barack obama is a fortunate man and but if he were more fortunate he would have a republican congress to work with. it would temper him domestically, it would be reasonable and foreign-policy and good things would follow. >> guest: george w. bush would have been a much better present with a democratic congress over eight years bouncing him to as mackey was i would say. the that is a great interview, thanks very much. >> is a book talks about the dalai lama's philosophy and status as an iconic figure throughout the world. this is an hour in 10 minutes. >> when i was told that would be introducing pico