we know him, don't wait, as lincoln the lawyer, lincoln the great emancipator, lincoln the politician and president, lincoln the commander-in-chief. historians and lincoln scholars have written not only about lincoln and his different roles, but also about lincoln's personal life. his marriage, his sexual preferences, his religion, and his alleged medical and psychological problems. his greatest trial, the civil war, was the nation's greatest trial. and the race problem that caused it is still with us today. his death by murder gave his life a pointed and violent climax, and allows us to play the always fascinating game of what if. abraham lincoln did great things, greater than anything done by theodore roosevelt or franklin delano roosevelt. he freed the slaves and saved the union. and because he saved the union, he was able to free the slaves. beyond this, however, our extraordinary interest in him, and esteem for him, has to do with what he said and how he said it. and much of this had to do with the union, what it was and why it was worth the saving. he saved it by fighting and wi

lincoln, the latest of which is lincoln lesson, reflections on america's greatest leader.co-authored with william petersen and published by the southern illinois university press this year. judge williams is currently working on an annotated pickle out of the of all of the lincoln titles published since 1865. he should have that completed this weekend. [laughter] >> and at the same time, is writing a book

lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus. the suspension of the rate is actually located in article 1 but it doesn't say who can do it it just says the rich still not be suspended except in cases of -- >> host: it's in the legislative powers -- >> guest: is in the legislative powers of the constitution. >> host: lincoln says i'm going to do it any way and not come for you. but of course it gets to the supreme court. >> guest: bye chance chief justice tawney happens to be in baltimore when this is happening sitting as a circuit judge. the supreme court justice used to ride the circuit id decide lower court so a fellow named john merry men captured by the union army supply one averitt of habeas corpus. i am being held on constitutionally. i am an american citizen. >> host: for shorty didn't have jury trials but they could be detained without a commission with a written off in place. >> guest: that is lincoln's policy and to the and so marryman six averitt from tawney who issues and says to the general, to the general mchenry by

and we are now ready to talk about lincoln. 1861 you write washington founded the nation, lincoln saved it. what do you mean by that? >> we have the original sin of slavery was dividing the country and lincoln stepped into a situation, one of the most unprepared man for the presidency and he fainted by keeping the union together and freeing the slaves. and it's hard to imagine if they would've turned out so well a great cost that so often a country u.s., not just the point of character but his understanding of its constitutional powers, too. >> he was a trained lawyer. >> very good one. >> we have an interesting view of the supreme court and certainly before he took the presidency. what you think of the dred scott decision and that was the decision that is the most aligned possession of the supreme court throughout our history, which said slaves could be property. >> agenda was his reaction to that as a lawyer? >> if you think about the republican party of us comes to life in response to the drug that decision. talk about a political party founded on opposition to the decisions of the s

lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.he suspension of the right of the writ is actually located in article i, but it just says the rich shall not -- writ shall not be suspended except in cases of war. >> host: lincoln says, i'm going to do it anyway and not confer with you, and of course it gets to the supreme court. >> guest: well, then by chance, perhaps, the writer of dred scott happens to be in baltimore when this is happening. sitting as a circuit judge. the supreme court justice that used to ride a circuit to decide lower court opinions too. so a fellow named john merriman who's captured by the union army says i want a writ of habeas corpus, i'm being held unconstitutionally. i'm an american citizen. >> host: they could be detained even without a military commission with the writ not in place. >> guest: that's lincoln's policy u that's his theory. so merriman issues a writ to tawny to general fort mchenry, by the way, where the star-spank spangled banner was flying. he orders merriman to be released, not to release

but lincoln ahman the reason i think lincoln is for the independence out there.truly kept us together at a time that we needed to be kept together. i'm glad obama uses him as a template. but yeah, abraham lincoln. i wish i would have gotten to talk to the man. host: thanks, mike. we will take a look at facebook comments in a moment first, north carolina, terry, democratic call. caller: my favorite president is obama, and of course, clinton, and i liked nixon and eisenhower. host: what did you like most about nixon, terry? caller: i just think he was a very smart man who got caught up in the same thing everyone else was doing at the time. i think he would have done very well for this country had not gotten caught up in that. host: i think you are also the first caller in this segment to mention ike. unless i missed something. tell me why you have a favorite spot for eisenhower. caller: i was named after him. i am a dwight. if you looked at him, he was a man that you could stand up with. he was a military -- as far as i'm concerned -- genius. host: thanks for your

blanche lincoln down 23 points then tries to go after the president.e in your administration understands business. too little too late? >> no, gosh i don't think that fight started. i love the way you like to celebrate in february for a race taking place in november. >> sean: i to prepare. [ laughing ] >> you guys are on a roll you are happy, i'm happy for ya, wait until the democrats start to fight back. >> sean: i'm not celebrating and i agree. i think there's one thing to oppose the obama agenda. another thing, dan if you don't have better views that you articulate. they have views, have they articulated them? >> president keeps telling people he hasn't fully explained the health care bill and they have to do a better job. i has been on the table for a year if they can't slain it by now they will never be able to explain it. as far as blanche lincoln is 23 points behind the american tea party candidate. >> sean: she is done. >> one of the most interesting numbers president obama's approval rating there is 33%. there is no wonder she is running again

this is one of my favorite pictures of lincoln. it is the only photograph of lincoln wearing reading glasses. >> you can view booktv programs online? go to booktv.org, type the name of the author or subject into the search area in the upper left-hand corner of the page. select the watch link. you can view the entire program. you can explore the recently on booktv box with a featured programs box to find and view recent featured programs. >> your 1-stop shop for everything c-span is at c-span.org/store. you will find documentaries on the capital, supreme court and the white house. our series on presidential libraries and every c-span program plus a collection of books, coffee mugs and other c-span accessories. look for these and other gift-giving ideas at c-span.org/store. >> what are you reading? >> i am just finishing the lost symbol. which i have been reading on cd in the car. in terms of a book i am reading, holding in my hand, is a book about running that a japanese novelist wrote and the title is what i think about when i am r

so the argument in this book is that our greatest presidents and really lincoln in the civil war, lincoln is the hero of the book. when you look at what the presidents did in times of crisis, our greatest ones, lincoln, washington, f.d.r., are the ones who pressed the powers to the limits to try to address the challenges before us. we don't talk about our worst presidents, but those are the ones who faced sometimes with the same key seize shrank into a shell and defender and looked to the other branches, the congress and the supreme court for leadership. tavis: i'm trying to figure out what your position is on this given my reading of the text, whether or not you believe that process, that -- although it is of course inscribed in our constitution, whether or not you think at this point in history we ought to rethink that, particularly on this side of the bush doctrine which we discovered after iraq didn't hold up. >> well, i think one thing is that this power expands during crisis and it retracts. and so it is not like a one-way road that just presidential power keeps getting greater and

if you go to lincoln club of orange county and you find someone involved the maid was the president of the lincoln club of orange county who is the head of the gibson dunn and crutcher law firm. >> out there. >> yes. is there any connection? >> no. that is one of the premier and largest law firms. to think that there was a successful lawyer at gibson dunn in los angeles or in the orange county offices that would be involved, where ronald reagan got his start, i don't know who that is. >> and the lincoln club of orange county is one of the executive producers. were they paid? >> yes. they got a lot of their members to support the film. >> how much did they throw in the pot? >> approximately $100,000. the film had a budget of about $1.2 million for production. >> there's another guy who is connected to the claremont institute. >> that is right. he is a real-estate guy. he earned his education in the streets of new york. he was a golden gloves boxer when he was a teenager. he is one of these old school businessmen that you only read about these days. there are very few of them left. he is

lincoln would be my choice.could not afford porcelain tea so he got wooden teeth. the reason i picked lincoln is for the independence out there. the proof is in the pudding. there's a chance for a third party. like it was the first republican. i vote for the man who was a person or the platform. he truly kept us together in a time when we needed to be kept together. i am glad obama uses him as a format or a template. abraham lincoln -- i wish i could have talked to the man. host: we will take a look at facebook comments of a moment. carolina, democrats line. caller: my favorite president is obama and of course clinton. i liked nixon and eisenhower host: what did you like most about nixon? caller: i think he was a real smart men who got caught up in the same thing ever what everybe was doing. he would have done good for this country if he had not got caught up in that. host: think you are also the first caller in this segment to mention ike. tell us about why you like eisenhower. caller: i am a polite. -- i amdwi

people like blanch lincoln could oppose it, but they could still get it through. think the tougher vote would be in the house where the democrats did only pass their health care bill by a fairly small margin. i think that's why obama would love to be able to convince people that the public opinion is shifting, at least just a little bit in his favor. >>> thanks to both of you. six haitian children were delayed from leaving the country to join their new families. their american escorts were questioned for hours. the kids taken to an orphanage then moved again. gary tuckman has the latest next. es. chevy malibu stands behind theirs for up to 100,000 miles. which makes it pretty clear whose standing out front. a consumers digest "best buy" two years running. chevy malibu. compare it to anyone and may the best car win. now, get a low mileage lease on this 2010 malibu for around $199 a month for 39 months. call for details. see your local chevy dealer. once upon a time, mutual funds promised to simplify investing. what happened? i used to ask my broker for advice. funn

you have done on the founders of america and talk a little bit about how did washington, madison, lincoln see the role as commander in chief and how did it change since then? what about washington have done if he had the power? >> guest: its start with commander in chief, that's an interesting term. it's a historic term from the british usage and it meant when you had several ed models in the sumeria of the ocean and they have equal rank the government would say what will be commander in chief for this operation in the theater for that time. that is the commander in chief met and when washington went to boston their work militia generals and other competing authorities -- >> host: appointed by the states. >> guest: you will be commander in chief, so when the constitution was drawn up, they said the president shall be commander in chief of the military. they meant out war because they didn't think there'd be a standing army in peace time just in the war or of the state militia of when called into service by the nation, chris would call them into service. so he's not even commander in chief

i ran across something, abraham lincoln -- there was a very dr.use, and abraham lincoln would not eat his food because he is the same one that was supposed to have done the poisoning. is it true that abraham lincoln actually made an arrest warrant for the chief justice of the united states? guest: i do not think abraham lincoln ever tried to arrest the chief justice. although he was not wild about either one of them. it was his first term. he nominated his rival and cabinet. zachary taylor -- several years ago, more than that now, an academic in florida was writing a book which said that there was the poisoning. and descendants of taylor went along with exhuming our 12th president. once again, zachary was reintroduced to the american people. tests were conducted. they did not find arsenic. so the basic conspiracy theory. in some ways, almost 200 years old which i think as been effectively disproved. host: was talk about the story about the title behind the boat. guest: i used to tell brian that i wanted to call it "deadman talking, an underground

after lincoln had suspended habeas corpus, it was a war measure and understandable but unconstitutional and we recognize that. we did not return to the normal because the emergency continued if we went straight from world war ii and the cold war finally into the war on terrorism and the emergency powers assumed that war we're kept and expanded all of the things expanded that what the nsa does spying on others so that all state secrets and policies and protection of governmental power it did not slack off after world war ii or the end of the cold war and said there should had been a relaxation of classified documents. there was not. that has continued. the interesting thing is that the justification of secrecy is you cannot let your enemy no what you are doing. that is fine. if you attack europe you cannot say when or where but of curse after it is not a secret anymore. >> guest: but now we have a situation in where most of the time secrecy does not ruin ended me but one of my favorite doonesbury strips strips, i have the original haying being on my wall, the person going into cambodia t

buffalo picture of the lincoln memorial. no snow -- some lingering snow on the ground but not like what we're going to see coming our way. >> a number of closings and early dismissals in anticipation of this storm. first an important change involving the federal government. the federal government will now be operating under an unscheduled leave policy today with a four hour early dismissal in effect. d.c. public schools will close at noon today. >> let's take a look at virginia. many schools are closed already. alexandria city, arlington, fairfax, prince william and loudoun county schools all closed. clark, culpeper, fauquier, frederick and king george county in virginia closed. >> manassas city, manassas park city, orange county, rappahannock, warren, is closed. >> in maryland charles county closed. >> in west virginia, berkeley, harsh shier, hardy, jefferson and mineral county schools are closed. morgan county schools are also closed today. >> this heavy snow this weekend is expected to have a major effect on metro service

maybe no greater than abraham lincoln, but different than abraham lincoln. and i'm very, very happy to be introducing and moderating this conversation is such a story that we have here tonight. i'm going to introduce them for my far left, that's purely geographical. not politically. but in order of the presidents upon about to rather they have written. gary may is professor of history at the university of delaware. professor made specializes in diplomatic history since 1945. he is the author china scapegoat, the diplomatic ordeal of john carter vinson published in 1979, he was awarded the other networks. while researching his next work, titled un-american activities, the trials of william remington published in 1994, professor made successfully contested against ben rudolph giuliani for records thereby setting a precedent for the unveiling of records connected throughout his case and the rosenberg cases. he has made history as well as written about it here at in 2005, professor made published the informant, the fbi ku klux klan and the murder of viola minnes

. >> a key race where the scott brown affect is playing out is arkansas where lincoln is vulnerable. following the victory of brown, republican congressman decided the time was right to challenge lincoln. the mood is taking hold on the house side where former pennsylvania congressman who called brown's win inspiring announced he will enter the race to win back the seat from democratic congressman murphy. >> everyone believed this is looking like a good republican cycle, a political wave so you get republicans who were on the fence on running for the house or senate and they decide this is a good cycle to run. candidates who ruled outruns decide to take a second look. and some thought, well, i may in the get a better opportunity. >> democrats concede they will lose seats in both the house and senate but have no problems recruiting. former congressman frost who oversaw election efforts for democrats in the house believe his party holds a key advantage. it is president obama. and the fact he is personally popular. they have time. they have time to do something of the economy. and jobs.

on the other side was the secretary of war, robert todd lincoln, son of abraham lincoln. so that you had son of lee and the son of lincoln agreeing on something. and i would say that was the beginning of the some hope that we could reunite north and south again. it took a while, but that was the beginning of the reunion. >> so we're going to walk back here to the first tomb of the unknown soldiers? >> yes. one of the great traditions at arlington is honoring the unknown soldiers. lost in war. the first instance of that came just after the civil war when quartermaster general montgomery mags sen

lincoln county, oklahoma. what's next, new jersey? they're everywhere. >> in the united states we have to worry about the new madrid fault because over a century ago. >> geraldo: is that what this is, the missouri. >> no the new madrid fault could literally rip a huge chunk of our infrastructure. >> geraldo: i have been making the comparison between chile's admirable and haiti's incompetent response to the respective earthquakes that hit the two countries but u several points have to be made. haiti as michio said earlier had not experienced an earthquake in over 200 years. chile was as prepared as every nation could possibly be. everybody in that country alive today lived through at least one major earthquake. 13 in the last 40 years or so and ever since the awful quake that killed well over a thousand chileans in 1960 strong building codes were put in place. even i experienced an earthquake in chile in 1973. i was there covering the coup that overthrough the elected government when a strong earthquake hit and although that was also p

bush on the aircraft carrier abraham lincoln declaring mission accomplished. what i see in the commonality is that we all love this country, that we all want to make this a better world, that we all want our children to have more opportunity than we had and a better world. what -- and that is kind of the stepping off point for what the differences are between what i am doing and the fellow that you just described. you know he is working within the system and many people do and i applaud them, i am not constitutionally made for it. but being a politician, even a republican politician, i honor, that's a very tough job to do the people's work. and what i am doing is by and large trying to bring out the largest vision possible to give people an opportunity to hold a sense of the whole thing rather than the micro units for example, if i am talking about healthcare, i am ultimately always going to get back to is it a writer or a privilege. you know the kind of debates that the founders would be having, and in fact i would say that they had because during the george

this is an event i'm going to be doing at the lincoln memorial. august 28. learn how to help or volunteer or whatever at glennbeck.com. americans today i think they don't think this guy exists anymore. i think he does. i think he does. i think there are a few of the guys in washington. but evidence to look hard for them and they're alone right now. i know people think this guy doesn't exist and instead he listens to special interest. listens to share more done certain about the members of acorn or seiu. >> i welcome acorn's input. you don't have to ask me about that. i'm going to call that even if you didn't ask me. >> glenn: did he call you? did he call you? they won't even listen to you at, what do you call it a town hall meeting. he puts those concerns ahead of an average american. seiu president andy stern visits the white house now more than anyone else. 28 times we have on record. i'm not sure how andy stern is qualified for this but there are reports that the white house is considering this guy who wears a pinkie ring -- never trust a man who wears a

we're talking to her tomorrow on "happening now," senator blanche lincoln of arkansas.ight now we're also monitoring a hearing on capitol hill that could effect the future of the military and its don't ask, don't tell policy. secretary of defense gates announcing review of the boon gay military service, whether it could be lifted in wartime. we will continue to follow that for you on "happening now" as well. plus, a scary discovery in israel, two barrels filled with more than 80 pounds of explosion sieves wash ashore. where in the world might they have come from? quality and reliability... are more than words here. it'sersonal. i have diabetes. rodney's kid too. so we're so proud to manufacture... the accu-chek aviva meters and test strips... here in the u.s.a. plus, we've proven you'll waste 50% fewer strips... when you use our meter, which means greater savings... for people with diabetes, like me. now that's true american value. accu-chek aviva. born in the u.s.a. identity theft, a serious crime that strikes millions of americans. when identity theft strikes you, it

we have all been tutored by harry jaffa and stephen douglas and in the debate with lincoln.here are no natural rights. all men are created equal simply meant the rights of white men. whether slavery was right or wrong we will leave to people to vote it up. we don't care what they say as long as they do it in a democratic way. what is right or wrong is that that has the support of the majority and as lincoln quickly pointed out if that is the measure of right and wrong then we cut the ground out from under constitutional rights and the rights of the minority because sisson is the majority has spoken it has given us the exhaustive definition of what is right or wrong. we have no other source to which to appeal. james wilson said, one last thing, james wulsin said that america does begin with the revolution principle contained in its laws because america begins with the possibility that you can have an unjust law, that there things that are passed with all the trappings of legality but lack the substance of justice and that is possible only because agents the positive law we ca

abraham lincoln's tomb was broken into on election night 1876. a group of counterfeiters hoping to spring their boss from jail. they were in full treated. they got into the tomb and opened it to, and then they were arrested. from the best of my knowledge, it is interested when use a desecration, it is interesting, both washington and abraham lincoln had their caskets opened years after the president's died. ostensibly by groups of people who wanted to make sure that that was who was in the casket. that might be a form of desecration. in 1901, the last time abraham lincoln was moved, there was a grave robbing an effort. abraham lincoln now lies under 10 feet of concrete and steel out there in springfield, illinois, but they cannot help themselves. there is this group there that opened the casket. one of the members said to get on your bike and come up here. when the boy grew up and died in 1961, a man had the distinction of being the last team in being to gaze at the face of abraham lincoln. host: richard norton smith, we have run out of time. the

the debate with lincoln. there are no natural rights. all men are created equal.ther slavery is right or wrong, we will leave it to people. we don't care what they say. what is right or wrong has the support of the majority. ms. lincoln, could be pointed out, if that is the measure of right and wrong and then we cute very ground out from under the constitutional rights and the rights of the minority. as soon as the majority has spoken it has given us the exhaustive definition of what is what your wrong. we have no other source to which to appeal. james wilson said that american does begin with a revolution principle contained in its laws because america begins with the possibility that you can have an unjust law. there are things that are passed with all the trappings of legality but without the substance of justice. that is possible only because against the positive law we can appeal to the body of principles to measure the justice of what the law has done. [applauding] >> next question. >> hello. this question is for you. >> i just came in to read the meter, and

>> if i'm blanche lincoln i'm thinking about what ambassadorship -- >> it is over.rate democrats get together and say we've had it >> sean: who? >> ones you were mentioning. and they say they are not going to do it and speak out, create a counterweight, independent force in america that could have some credibility. >> sean: if the president goes on national tv in the state of the union and says i'm going to be fiscally responsibility, last wednesday and today, introduces the biggest bun -- budget ever in america history with the biggest budget deficit in history. >> he said he was going to be fiscally responsible next year. >> next year it is over a trillion. >> they don't believe that you create economic growth in in country through the private sector. they believe you create economic growth through government spending. when it comes to washington, d.c. they are right lowest unemployment in the country? washington, d.c.. >> another probably is with the interest payments on the debt we don't have the resources to fund our military. we are effectively the hugest debt

] as one commentator observed, the accomplishments maybe even more impressive when they know that lincoln was not familiar with the writings of aristotle and aquinas, but move naturally along the paths of these greater mines. i think that something similar happened with reagan. he read widely [unintelligible] the striking thing about him was that in his own curiosity, he moved along the paths of reflection followed by writers more accomplished than he. one of the most notable examples here occurred earlier in the ministration. it seemed to be losing traction and the winter of 1982, and the political predicament [unintelligible] reagan's future would depend on where interest rates would be in the fall. that led me to write a critical piece in 1982, "oh lovers lament for the reagan administration." how could be that the standards a prospect for the administration with could hinge on something as the level of interest rates? [unintelligible] abortion, suffocating taxes, regulation, i am voting for people were trying to protect unborn people from the killing of abortion. for people who are in

reagan do a riff on a striking example of natural law reasoning that lincoln gave us in that fragment he wrote for himself on slavery where he imagined himself to be engaged in a conversation with an owner of slaves, is it because he is less intelligent than you? ah, beware, you may be enslaved by the next black man who comes along because he's more intelligent than you. is it because he's darker than you? you may be enslaved by the next black man that comes along with a complexion even lighter than yours. at no point in the chain of reasoning was there an appeal to revelation of faith, this is simply a model of principled reasoning. it was accessible to people across the religious division, you didn't need a college education in order to understand it. it could be understood by catholics, baptists, even atheists. it was a model, then, of speaking in a manner that was commonly understood and in a manner that touched primary truth. now, i was applying that same mode of reasoning for the matter of abortion and running it this way. why was that child in the womb anything less than human?

after the civil war when lincoln suspended habeas corpus the court declared that unconstitutional. it was a war measure understandable but still unconstitutional and we recognized that. but after world war ii, we didn't return to the normal because the emergency continued and we went straight from world war ii to the cold war and then finally into the war on terrorism, and the emergency powers that were assumed in the war were kept, protected and expanded. all of the things leslie groves did or expanded into with the nsa and ns c. does, spawning on us and others. and secrecy especially was expanded. so that all of the state secret policies and the protection of governmental power by secrecy has just galloped ever since. it didn't slack off after world war ii. it did in slack off after the end of the cold war. patrick moynihan said there should have been a relaxation of classifying documents and there wasn't. there was acceleration, there was a gallup and that's continued. the interesting thing is the justification of secrecy is you can't let your enemy and know what you're doing. t

i mean, it brought out as lincoln said, the better angels of our nature and i'm not sure any other people in the world could have or would have done what those young... the daring young men, those young americans did when they got phone calls in the middle of the night saying they had to report within 48 hours to save the people who'd been trying to kill them. >> rose: peter orszag and richard reeves coming up. ♪ if you've had a coke in the last 20 years, ( screams ) you've had a hand in giving college scholarships... and support to thousands of our nation's... most promising students. ♪ ( coca-cola 5-note mnemonic ) captioning sponsored by rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. >> rose: peter orszag is here, he is director of the office of management and budget. it is the office that drafted federal government's budget for the president. he has served a prominent role in the ocean. he helped design the dlb 787 billion stimulus plan as well as the health care overhaul bill now before the congress. as the economy has stabilized, he's begun addressing t

on the other side with the secretary of war, robert todd lincoln, son of abraham lincoln, so that you had fun of lee and some of lincoln agreeing on something. and i would say that was the beginning of some hope that we could reunite north and south again. it took a wild but that was the beginning of the reunion we had >> so we're going to walk back here to the first term of

if, jim webb and blanche lincoln, apparently like his idea., steven? >> yes, i think he can be. in fact i would be surprised if he wasn't, precisely because you have democrats eager to join in now, what you have, basically is an effort to cut off the funding for the trials for 9/11 conspirators, like khalid sheikh mohammed and we have seen over the past week, the obama administration, basically backed down from the plans to hold civilian trials, in manhattan, and, you know, there has been talk of them trying to hold civilian trials elsewhere and this is an -- i think this aims to short of short-circuit that process. and eliminate the possibility -- >> the price is extraordinary, in new york, $200 million a year and the forecast was, okay, maybe the trial will go on for five years, and that is a billion dollars in safety and security and rerouting the city. if you don't have the money through congress, would the civilian trials even happen. >> no. no. the congress is in charge of appropriation, and they can determine, to that extend, whether th

florida's lincoln diaz-balart announced this week he will not run again in the midterm elections, just 24 hours after michigan's vernon ehlers said the same. and late last month, indiana's steve buyer also announced he won't seek another term. that means republicans will have 18 open house seats to defend in november to 14 for democrats, including this one. >> now, having spent two decades in politics, my life is taking a new direction, and i will not be a candidate for re-election this year. >> woodruff: representative patrick kennedy of rhode island announced his retirement today after eight terms. his father, senator edward kennedy, died last year, so come 2011, there will be no kennedy in congress for the first time in nearly half a century. in the meantime, it remains unclear what congress can or will do this year to change voters' opinions. there's been some progress on a financial re-regulation bill. but health care reform is in limbo, along with climate change. and now, there's a new dispute in the senate over a jobs bill. >> we have a bipartisan bill that will create jobs, acc

here's arkansas's blanche lincoln taking treasury secretary timothy geithner to task. >> i don't understand it, and i guess most arkansans don't understand the vision of the administration when it comes to putting in place economic policy that works for our nation in today's economy and the economic climate today. >> reporter: administration policy would work better, the secretary said, if congress actually passed it into law. >> it's important that we bring to earth a bunch of things we are still working on up here, like financial reform, health care reform, and elsewhere, so people can plan for a more certain future. >> reporter: but republicans like olympia snowe warned the administration's plan to raise taxes on upper income small business owners would not restore their confidence. >> there is no way that they are going to move forward to job creation. who would take the risk? depending on what they are hearing coming out of washington these days, would you take the risk? would you put your money on the line? >> reporter: to help get more loans to small business owners so they can hire

i'm doing a deal at the lincoln memorial this summer on 8/28 about restoring honor from culture warriorf i may quote: don't say stuff and then not do it. sloppiness of character. it can become habit-forming. it's very important for the t-warrior. >> bill: traditional warrior. >> it bothers me. to be a person of honor, a stand-up guy or gal. what does that mean? by being stand-up you tell the truth and defend your principles in public, even if they are unpopular. >> bill: right. that's what you did at the cpac convention? >> yes. even though it's unpopular. >> bill: it was because both the left mocked you and the right mocked you. >> here's the thing. my point at cpac was there is -- there is a disease. it set up to eat our constitution. that's the whole progressive movement. >> bill: i don't disagree with you. as you said, i wrote a whole book on it when you were just a whipper snapper. >> so how come you don't. >> bill: when you were throwing water balloons on dopey radio shows, i was writing that book. >> so then how come you don't see the evil insidiousness that is going on, especial

in florida, lincoln diaz-balart is announcing his retirement. "miamial has the headline.senate third ranking dem match up could be entertain being and caustic race of the year. he dismiss ad similar draft movement to run against christopher dodd in neighboring connecticut. we told you about patrick kennedy not seeking 9th term in the house. "providence journal", his hometown newspaper, that he created an emotion-laden advertisement released by his office thursday that will air in the home state on sunday night that is already on youtube. let's listen how he is positioning his decision not to run again. >> having spent two decades in politics my life is taking a new direction and i will not be a candidate for reelection this year. going forward, i will continue many of the fights we waged together particularly on behalf of those suffering from depression, addiction, autism and post-tramatic stress disorder. i'm so grateful to the people of rhode island. when i made missteps or suffered set backs you responded not with contempt but with compassion. those who stood by me lik

now he has a new piece on lincoln. always pushing boundaries, to be an original, to be real.broadway stretch. >> look at this space, look at these lights. i want you to believe that we're in nigeria, 1978. wow, how did that happen? >> reporter: one of the mottos or messages of this show is originality, not artificiality. you give the dancers a chance to let them be original in their own work. >> yes. if broadway could be that way. that we're actually saying to the world, take a solo. go for it. what you got? >> reporter: teaching a new dance for a new audience eager to see more. ann curry, nbc news, new york. >> great story. one more story before we go tonight from the entertainment world. we can show you a little bit what they've given us from the remaking of "we are the world," the new version of the video to aid haiti under production right now at jim henson studios out in l.a. the complete product will air for the first time anywhere on the planet during the olympic games' opening ceremonies from vancouver. just a few days away now. for us, for now, that is our broadcast

senator blanche lincoln is one of them. she's in a huge fight in her home state, down 23 points in the polls. only has a 27% approval rating. here's what she said to the president yesterday. one constituent fears there's no one in your administration that understands what it means to go to work on monday and make a payroll on friday. ouch! >> and then on her web site, she had a thing that says she's standing up for the people of the great state of arkansas. >> what does this mean for the president? let's find out. coming up next, dick morris is here to talk about some digging into president obama's budget. what he found out in those thousands of pages that were released earlier this week. he says the deficit numbers are not right. he'll explain. >> we're only three days away from the super bowl. time to check out some of the super ads we've been waiting all year for. we'll preview some straight ahead. when you're living with bipolar depression... ...it's easy to feel like you're fading into the background. that's because bi

both levi lincoln, his attorney general, and his secretary of the navy, robert smith. to deny the allegation of public however would have been to slander the reputations of his father-in-law, john wilson who was reportedly the father of sally hemingses. his beloved wife's memory and even his own brother, randolph or his two favorite nephews, the car brothers who admitted their paternity of sally's children to jefferson's great children's pieces grandson, jeff randolph. as a man of devotion and family honor, jefferson chose to suffer in silence. number 12, the hemingses true believers like professor annette gordon-reed have turned the debate into an obsessive agenda on the color of sally's skin and slave status. annette gordon-reed assessment the madison interview must be taken on face value because white historians had previously ignored its are not facts but racial canards and misinterpretations of the evidence itself. moreover, that is an intellectually dishonest argument. to paraphrase one historian, quote, i'm afraid professor gordon-reed despite her of murder will

host: lincoln nebraska -- lincoln, nebraska. doug on the republican line. it is both. financial the institution were deeply flawed in the way that they saw risk. clearly, the american people are somewhat to blame because we did not save enough. the u.s. government is partly to blame because there was not adequate supervision of these institutions. and because the government ran a deficit in good times, as opposed to having the balance the budget -- it is interesting to compare that to china. people say that at an extraordinarily high rate. . one of the risks with the chinese economy is that it has invested so much in productive capacity that they're just will not be enough market for that, either domestically or worldwide. they might have some time of the stagnation what people catch up to the capacity of the economy there. host: steven mufson is a reporter with the "washington post" and has written for the "wall street journal" and a number of other publications. you are talking about china for the next 15 minutes. here is new orleans, terrence, independen

abraham lincoln was the first president who understood the power of photography.ave to go quite a bit later run to find another person -- a bit later on to find another person who understood it. jfk knew that his family and image was a very attractive thing to photographers. he had a lot of outside photographers coming in. this was a campaign picture as the senator was widely published. you know the situation, but you probably have not seen this picture. i love the shot. you can see john kennedy jr.'s shoes. that is the picture you have all seen, a very famous picture. the kennedys had a remarkably good affinity with still photography, particularly. both the president and mrs. kennedy let these guys came in. the official duties of the white house photographer or for military people. this is lyndon johnson, kennedy, and some of you would know the other guy. i also showed a picture of marched off martha mitchell to a class to the other day and only three people knew who it was. [laughter] these are really beautiful photos. it is a very famous picture. this transitio

the accusation publicly, although he denied it in private writing to two cabinet members, both levi lincoln, his attorney general and his secretary of the navy, robert smith. to deny the allegations in public however, would've been to slander the reputation of his father-in-law, john wills, who purportedly was the father of sally hemings. his beloved wife's memory and either his own brother, randolph, or his two favorite nephews, the carr brothers, who admitted their fraternity of sally's children to jefferson's grandson, jeff randolph. as a man of devotion and family honor, jefferson chose to suffer in silence. twelve, the hemings true believers, like professor annette gordon reid has turned the debate into an obsessive agenda on the color of sally's skin and slave status. forums read, assessment of madison's interview must be taken on face value because white historians had previously ignored it are not facts, but racial canard and misinterpretations of the evidence itself. moreover, that is an intellectually dishonest arguments. to paraphrase, one historian quotes, i'm afraid that profes

>> i was doing a biography of lincoln. it was my first full-length biography -- of mencken.ft behind a very large cache of private papers that were sealed after his death. that is what stimulated me to write a book about him. >> how many hours did you spend in that room? >> i spent 10 years working on the book. during the main time friend that i was working on that, i would come down to baltimore and spend a three day weekend in that room. i bought my first laptop computer back when they were larger than they are now to work on that book. they tell me that it was the first laptop ever brought into that room. there was this little car roared back had been used so much that the panel had been rubbed off . >> i found i enough on googled books to find out about your book. the " i have is that the american politician is a man who has lied and assembled and a man who has crawled. he knows the taste of the boot polish. he has taken orders from his superiors in knavery and he has wooed and flattered his superiors in centsens." >> that was one of my favorite quotes. >> how much do th