bill kristol of the weekly standard and juan williams from national public radio. let's review the numbers. unemployment stayed at 9.7%. 162,000 jobs created the most in three years but the hiring for the census bureau was greater, 48,000, than all of the hiring for the manufacturing sector in the country. so when you add all of pluses and minuses together where is this economy? >> first of all, happy easter to everyone. i think the president had it right when he said we are beginning to turn the corner. he didn't say we turned it, he didn't say we are turning it. he said we are beginning to turn the corner which seems about right to me. just as in the past so many of the jobs were the government jobs which have been saved as they like to say or created. this is in jobs term an f exceedingly feeble recovery. the unemployment rate is also the most sensitive political indicator and as long as it remains high republican prospects remain strong and the fact that the obama administration and congress led by the democrats spent so much time on the healthcare reform bill

host: kristol, what is your idea of diversity? you talk about your own perspectives in your film as well. guest: i do not think that one sector of the committee is necessarily better than the other. a lot of things were inspired by what my parents have told me. it is always coming back to the idea that -- where they grew up it was kind of a homogenous society, but coming to america the realize there were other issues contributing to the government, the education system. and now the sisterly that it is a bad thing that people want to be with -- not necessarily that it is a bad thing that people want to be with those people that they look like and have the same traditions, but at the same time, one coulter in america is always influenced -- one culture in america is always influenced by another one. host: to see her winning entry to the studentcam competition, you can go to studentcam.org. and students, there is a line that you can call if you would like to talk to them, 202-628- 0184. let's go to the democrats line. jim, good morni

bill kristol, editor of "the weekly standard." mara liasson, national political correspondent of national public radio. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. mara, the president heads to wall street to pitch it. there has been a lot of back and forth. republicans saying the bill does not do everything it needs to do. what about the policy and the politics? >> well, i think on the policy, tha they're closer thant sounds. even mitch mcconnell said that, said it isn't like healthcare where only the opposition was bipartisan. the bail-out fund that collins talked about and mcconnell talked about will go away. the white house doesn't want it and the republicans don't want it. i think as soon as that is gone, then you will see what the remaining differences are. they're not that many. i don't think republicans are drawing a line in the sand here and seeing it important to stop the piece of legislation. they're not saying that. they want a fix and they want negotiations over it. >> bret: it was head iing down that road. >> it's done

discussion of this 25th anniversary symposium, featuring two outside guests, tom friedman and bill kristol their own in-house talent. i hope you can join us then for what i am sure will be a fascinating discussion. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the washington institute, martin gross. [applause] >> thank you. good evening. i am martin gross, the president of the washington institute for it on behalf of the institute's board of directors and board of trustees, i welcome all of you to this gala reception to celebrate our 20th anniversary. this is a very important milestone in the life of this organization. at 25, we are no longer a startup. at 25, we are no longer the new kid on the block. at 25, we have a mile-long paper trail that the funds the excellence of our research and the credibility of our scholarship. at 25, with a record of ideas and recommendations that stands the test of time. at 25, with a growing group of institute alumni from young foreign service officers in their first overseas posts to seasoned veterans like ambassador dennis ross were doing their best to events a

hume, fox news senior political analyst and contributors mara liasson of national public radio, bill kristol of the weekly standards and juan williams also of public radio. brit, what do you make? >> he is talking about the fact it there are tax benefits that floated a lot of people from things in the stimulus people. it misses the point of what the people are worried about. they are worried about the levels of spending and see -- remember, what animated them in the first place is the $787 billion and now $862 billion worth of spending on stimulus, all of it borrowed money. they are worried about what they see as inevitable tax increases in the future and that is why they are worried about levels of taxation and they are preoccupied with the spending. i think it is gather to say they will not be amused by what he said and they will not be saying thank you for the comments by the president. >> chris: does the white house think it is good politics to mock the tea partyers or was this is mistake? >> i don't think that was the plan. i don't think you want to sound like you are mocking somebody.

host: kristol, what is your idea of diversity? you talk about your own perspectives in your film as well. guest: i do not think that one sector of the committee is necessarily better than the other. a lot of things were inspired by what my parents have told me. it is always coming back to the idea that -- where they grew up it was kind of a homogenous society, but coming to america the realize there were other issues contributing to the government, the education system. and now the sisterly that it is a bad thing that people want to be with -- not necessarily that it is a bad thing that people want to be with those people that they look like and have the same traditions, but at the same time, one coulter in america is always influenced -- one culture in america is always influenced by another one. host: to see her winning entry to the studentcam competition, you can go to studentcam.org. and students, there is a line that you can call if you would like to talk to them, 202-628- 0184. let's go to the democrats line. jim, good morni

hume, fox news senior political analyst and contributors mara liasson of national public radio, bill kristol"the weekly standard," and juan williams also from national public radio. brit, what do you make of the president's comments about the tea partiers? >> well, i guess he is talking about the fact that there is tax benefits that flow to a lot of these people from things in the stimulus bill. but it misses the point of what these people are really worried about. these people are worried about the levels of spending. they see -- remember, what animated them in the first place was the $787 billion, now $862 billion worth of spending on stimulus, all of it borrowed money. they're worried about what they see as inevitable tax increases in the future. that's why they are worried about levels of taxation. and they're preoccupied with the spending. i think it's fair to say that they will not be amused by what he said, and they will not be saying thank you for those comments by the president. >> chris: mara, does the white house think it's good politics to mock the tea partiers? or was this a mis

4000 lives like we did in iraq or go even though i was a skeptic of the 30,000 reinforcements that kristol asked for, i was a real skeptic. i think it is a good chance of working and it is because of what happened in iraq and the lessons we learned there. >> host: let's go back. the rest of your book, chapters two through five were awful. i think the first chapter alone that deals with, let's call it the missed opportunity of iraq, the fact that we probably could have saved it leaves the lives of 2000 american soldiers if this opportunity had been seized, so what was in your view, the first moment they fuse of opportunity was lit in iraq to say there is a way to seek a political solution here i talking to these people as opposed to a military solution by killing them? >> guest: ironically, i think that the military provided the political opening in al-qaim in july of 2005 at al-qaim is a small town, medium-size town on the iraqi syrian border. the iraqi insurgency had been engaged in a disagreement with al qaeda in al anbar and finally al qaeda went up against the insurgency and surrounded

hume, fox news senior political analyst and contributors mara liasson of national public radio, bill kristolhe weekly standard" and juan williams also of national public radio. let's take a look at what the new arizona law does. put it up on the screen. it makes it a state crime to be in the u.s. illegally. legal immigrants must carry paperwork proving their status. police are required to check anyone they have a reasonable suspicion is illegal. and people can sue local governments if they think immigration laws are not being enforced. brit, is it good policy and is the resident supreme court justice, tenth justice, do you think it will stand up to court challenge? >> i'm not sure it will stand up to court challenge. they see it as usurpation of federal law enforcement function; that is, protection of the border. i think it's emergency policy. i think it will be a trick to train the police officers in that state so that they can carry out this mandate to check anybody who they have a reasonable suspicion of being in the country illegal without engaging in profiling or violating their civil r

hume, fox news senior political analyst and contributors mara liasson of national public radio, bill kristol of the weekly standards and juan williams also of public radio. brit, what do you make? >> he is talking about the fact it there are tax benefits that floated a lot of people from things in the stimulus people. it misses the point of what the people are worried about. they are worried about the levels of spending and see -- remember, what animated them in the first place is the $787 billion and now $862 billion worth of spending on stimulus, all of it borrowed money. they are worried about what they see as inevitable tax increases in the future and that is why they are worried about levels of taxation and they are preoccupied with the spending. i think it is gather to say they will not be amused by what he said and they will not be saying thank you for the comments by the president. >> chris: does the white house think it is good politics to mock the tea partyers or was this is mistake? >> i don't think that was the plan. i don't think you want to sound like you are mocking somebody.

bill kristol of "the weekly standard." mara liasson of national public radio.r state department official liz cheney. and juan williams also from national public radio. that comment about standing up to powerful interests seemed to be a clear reference, bill, to the president's continuing battle with the supreme court ruling last january that citizens united case, which allowed corporations and unions to use unlimited funds to support or oppose candidates. is that a smarter way to sell this nominee than the empathy standard he used last time? and just generally, do you think he is going to make a nomination looking for a fight or looking to avoid a fight? >> i think it would be good to have a nominee that stood up against powerful interest like elite law schools, which are a powerful interest in the u.s. i believe if elena kagan is nominated, which i select, the solicitor general, every justice on the court went to ivy league law school. president obama went to harvard law school so he's not concerned about that. he wi will nominate someone who is well qualified

you probably do have bill kristol and someone else on your show today, or might start reading from the report on a weekly status. host: i will read from "the weekly standard" because i have it ready to go. here they talk about our country's battles. it says it is increasingly likely the republican party in league with the more conservative democrats will have a decisive say in the congress following november's elections. the primary focus of conservatives is to repeal the recently enacted health-care legislation. given the magnitude of the bill and its impact on both health care and the economy, this is perfectly reasonable. but health care's not the only matter that should come under review of the new working majority of conservatives results from the upcoming elections. equally important are the obama administration's plans for america's military. if the obama domestic agenda is implemented, discretionary funds available will shrink to a level at which maintaining the dominant military we have become accustomed to will almost certainly be a thing of the past. bruce joins us now from

discussion of this twenty fifth anniversary symposium featuring outside guests tom freedman and bill kristol, and our own in-house talent. i hope you can join us for what i'm sure will be a fascinating discussion.

we have created build buckley for glenn beck, irving kristol for ann coulter. >> there is a lot of truthto that diagnosis i think. conservatism has always been both an elite intellectual movement and popular movement. it became popular beginning in the 1960s and certainly with the election of ronald reagan and the aftermath of the. but you have to remember that will buck he himself was famous for saying he would rather be governed by the first 2000 names in the boston telephone directory than by the faculty of harvard university. that was not on his part and undiscriminating populace because he thought in those circumstances in the 1950s and 60s and 70s, and they think still true today probably that there is more common sense and more good sense into people than there are in the intellectual elite or at least in the academic version of the intellectual elite. >> charles kesler's i guess. if you would like to dial in and talk to him them you can now. 2025853885 and in the eastern central timezones (202)585-3886. go ahead and dial and. we are going to be talking about books in general. you