you were just mentioning lyndon johnson. i always kind of had a little pet theory that we got -- one of the reasons we got into vietnam is because we could. we were prepared in those days to fight two and a half wars at the same time. and, you know, lbj never even had to raise the reserves during the war, and i guess we had over half a million troops there. and then we went on, and we put in a half million in the first iraq war and etc. so maybe we are not able to manage that now. but we had a speaker here, james bradley, who wrote "the imperial cruise," and he made the point that theodore roosevelt had a high regard -- had a low regard for china, later fdr had a high regard, thought it was one of the five major powers, going to be, after the war. but he had a high regard for japan and even had a secret treaty with japan not approved by the senate, but had entered into negotiations, and there was a secret treaty. do you know anything about that? >> i'm not sure exactly what secret treaty you're referring to. there were a cou

but i do think the big turning point was lyndon johnson and the vietnam war. and in a sense, that's the most tragic chapter in the book. >> host: you see johnson as a tragic figure? >> guest: absolutely. he was a man who raised in the south in texas who hadn't shown any particular enthusiasm for civil rights, but who then took up that mantle of civil rights reform. and basically rammed it down the throats of congress and certainly southern politicians. and who knew that it might be fatal from the chances of democratic candidates in the future. and i think he showed enormous courage in that sense. in 1964, when he was still an unelected president, in goldwater. people are concerned about the republican right he was pressed into service. >> host: he didn't have that in mind? >> guest: yes, he had it in mind. it's interesting, in a way if he had stood aside, he would be the 5th great president. what he achieved as civil rights really is extraordinary. and he inherited kennedy's involvement in vietnam. it wasn't a war in that stage. and the -- and i think in many

and the second thing he said was lyndon johnson is totally in the pocket of the pentagon. now he believes everything they tell him and he will have 500,000 troops in vietnam by the end of the year. and i thought to myself what clare boothe luce said about his right, he's crazy. it sounded really unbalanced to me. wasn't on balanced. >> can you talk further on the different dynamics let's say in my generation, your generation where it didn't make any difference whether you read to harvard or slippery rock state or whether you live on the hill or self boston, your draft wanted you or if you had a low number, you were in the. a great job. like $73 a month for anyone unless of course you had a more important things to do. and at that time there was this give peace a chance because it was across the population of the socio-economic -- >> for the last 30 years, we have had a professional army, not a bad job, and what their job is to kill, that's their job and that's what they get paid for. when i was in, we were itching for a fight, and we would treen for fight, okay? but now we

they had agreed photographs of gerry with lyndon johnson and eisenhower and kennedy and i was always fascinated by that, but being 12-years-old at that time or 16-years-old, i didn't ever feel comfortable asking about it, so working on this book i feel like i got a window into history like no one else has. >> is this your first book? i know you've been a journalist much of your professional life. >> guest: >> this is my first published book. >> as i read through the book, i could tell where you were leaving me and sometimes when you read books like that you don't -- it's kind of annoying. but with your book i enjoy getting there. the i knew what you were leading to at an emotional moment and it was enjoyable to follow along with how that the trail went aground. how did you decide to write the book the way you did? >> as gerry said he spent many years putting stories together and he had contacted a lot of the agents already, so i had a lot of material to work with in terms of all of the various idea together of how to put the story together to me what was really fascinating and was im

down in their basement, they are the great photographs with jerry with lyndon johnson and eisenhower, and kennedy. i was fascinated. being 12 years old, or 16 years old, i didn't feel comfortable asking him about it. working on this book, i feel like i got a rare window into history like no one else has. >> was this your first book? i know i've been a journalist for much of your professional life. was this your first one? >> yes, this was my first published book. >> as i read through the book, i could tell where you are leading me. and sometimes when you read books like that, you don't -- it's kind of annoying. but with your book, i was enjoying getting there. i knew what you were leading to, an emotional moment. it was enjoyable to follow along with how that -- with how that trail wound around. how did you decide to write the book in the way you did? >> well, as jerry said, he had spent many years putting stories together. and he had conducted -- he had contacted a lot of agents already. i had a lot of material to work with in terms of their various stories. we came up with the idea

a story i like to tell of lyndon johnson.hen a store udall's phone rang with johnson on the other line. he had just heard reports of how bad things were getting at lake erie and how bad the great lakes were. he said, "stewart, i hear the great lakes have these problems. i would be to clean of the great lakes. that is an order." and he said, "i am in the department of the interior. we do not control the great lakes." and johnson said, "goddammit, stewart. when i think of dirty water i think of you. clean them up." [laughter] stewart just said "yes, sir" and went forward. we could rattle off all of these great places. they are like trophies. ever-present has a last -- every president has a list. hastert udall was the beginning of the thinking of urban wilderness which i know secretary salazar is very involved with and the great american actors are for going on. places like the chicago wilderness, houston wilderness. how do we bring young people in america, minorities, people that are not visiting parks and how do we get nature

significant initial campaign to close lyndon johnson to drop out of the race. was also another coat plaintiff, new york civil liberties union, new york conservative party, stewart mosque had contributed $220,000 to the eugene mccarthy campaign. what was the common element of these groups? they were outside the normal. they were outside the norm of the political establishment. it was our concern that this lot was kept intact. it would squeeze out the ability of challengers to come in and confront the political establishment. we won on one side and other limitations on what could be spent in any campaign. we lost the individual contributions because the supreme court said that the appearance or fact of corruption supported this restraint but the effect has been to consolidate the power of the establishment, especially incumbents who have extraordinary advantages over challengers to elevates into important factors in the election and far more likely to corrupt individuals. and to discourage individual spontaneous action because of the walls and regulations that ha

had sufficiently significant initial campaign to cause lyndon johnson to drop out of the race. he was also another co-plaintiff was the new york civil liberties union, the new york conservative party, stewart mott who contributed $220,000 to the eugene mccarty campaign. what was the common element in these groups? they were outside the norm. they were outside the norm of establishment. it was are concerned that if this law was kept intact, it would squeeze out the ability of challengers to come in and confront their political establishment. we won on the one side and that is the limitations on individuat in any campaign. we lost on the individual contributions, because the supreme court said that the appearance or facts of corruption supported this restraint, but the effect has been to consolidate the power of the establishment, especially incumbents who have extraordinary advantages over the challenges. to elevate packs into important factors in elections and likely to corrupt individuals. and to discourage individual spontaneous action because of the rules and regulations tha

but for nixon, he and lyndon johnson met several times. and he said, "we had so much to talk about. we had the war in vietnam, we had the russians and nuclear disarmament, all of these great issues to talk about." and he said, "but the first time i got to the white house, one of the first things lyndon johnson did was take me up to the family residence. and he took me into the president's bedroom, and he got down on all fours. he was on his hands and knees." this was the outgoing president of the united states showing the incoming president of the united states underneath the bed. he said johnson lifted the bedspread and he swished his hand underneath the bed, and he was referring to the listening devices that kennedy had installed under the beds. and he said, "dick, they're voice-activated." and i said to him, "my god, that must have been an unbelievable scene." and he said, "you know, it really was." c-span: we've got another quote. we're running out of time. guest: he respected david gergen in terms of his abilities as a political operative and in dealing with the media, and sort

it will be we who i don't work there anymore but the people that are still in that lyndon building are the primary tenders. they will pick up trash and replace plants that get stolen or vandalizeded. whether it's tree pruning or paving repair that might need to be done by an ouder a outsider for. there will be a fund established. like in a homeowner's association. >> but that's a very complicated project. there are much smaller projects. what come to mind is a project i worked on at caesar chavez and gererroro. this house was delomolished. it was concrete and now it's a dumping ground. because in the absence of any plantings it as a freeway connecter came tire land and encampment and the cattate a rat and -- it built. so we pulled it down and planted it. getting resources in the neighborhood. there was a little old lady across the street that lived there forever. when she sees anybody out there doing something she yells at them. we passed the plate around and got a hose and sprayer. she waters and when she's on vacation she talks to her neighbors on either side. it's not rocket science

you read lyndon johnson's speech. i'm saying the one where he says he's given the commencement address. he says you can't take a person who's been in slavery and say we are going to put them at the same position of the starting line. you can't do that. that is unfair. even this white southern man from texas, and yet there are people who can't give it. now i do think and i have come to my own conclusion that race-based affirmative action may longer be inappropriate -- may be an anachronism for this time to the extent there is going to be affirmative action it's got to be economics based. in other words, but i am saying to you is that the poor white person from appalachia, okay, maybe entitled to affirmative action. remember these, just as a poor african-american or hispanic person. culbert based race-based i think is an anachronism. >> host: what about people understand about the speech and make a beautiful an elegy in terms of metaphor of catching lightning in a bottle with your speech now in the riverdale he comes up

in fact, he even educated lyndon johnson. if you read lyndon johnson speech. the one where he says he is giving the commencement address. >> host: know, yes. >> guest: you can't take a person has been in slavery and say we will put them at the same position. he can't do that. it's unfair. even a white southern man from texas can get it. yet there are people who can't get it. now, i do think and i have come to my own conclusions that race-based affirmative action and no longer be an appropriate remedy. it may be an anachronism for this time. to the extent that there is going to be affirmative action, it has got to be economic based. in other words, what i'm saying to you is that the poor white person from appalachian may be entitled to affirmative action remedies just as a poor african-american or hispanic person. >> host: he put it an economic speech to a think it is an anachronism. >> host: one of the things that people understand the, i think it would make a beautiful analogy in terms of -- or metaphor, catching lightning in a bottle. now, in riverdale body

lyndon johnson attended the funeral service not far from here at arlington cemetery, two of the families were so furious at the negligence that caused the deaths of their family members that they barely spoke to johnson but no speech. this is really a recent phenomenon. >> lehrer: and you think it began with ronald reagan and the "challenger"? >> because he did it so well. jimmy carter tried to do it in 1981 when "desert 1" the helicopter that crashed near tehran killed some american soldiers. he gave a speech at the time of the burial, i think that was in arlington, too, but it was not carter's forte. it was reagan's and because reagan was so good at this, we expected that of later presidents. >> lehrer: do you agree with that, ellen, that was the ronald reagan who began this in a major way that continues to this day? >> i think it's true in the sense of various kinds of national tragedies like the explosion of the challenger. one example, of course, an obvious one. but in acts of political violence there's an interesting history to this. in the 1935 when senator huey long was assassina

think back to, you know, when you had some very powerful speakers, and people like senate leader lyndon johnson, say speaker sam rayburn when he was in the house, from texas, i mean one can imagine what would have happened if some upstart, as it were, announced that they were going to make their own response. i mean, that just doesn't happen around here very much. and i think it shows that there's some real challenges facing house speaker john boehner. maybe he has a greater challenge dealing with his own party now, and kind of the split there than he does in dealing with the white house. >>> the house chamber was packed for the president's speech, except for arizona representative gabrielle giffords' empty seat. but there's good news about her this morning. she's been upgraded to good condition and doctors plan to transfer her today from intensive care to rehabilitation. they continue to be amazed at her steady improvement from what's often a fatal head wound. >> well over 90%, 95% of people with this kind of injury don't do well. and for her to progress every day really is remarkable.

and lyndon johnson with vietnam. the way that overtook hiscy presidency was something he didn't expect in '63 and '64. so that's what being a president is about, and in some way that's one of the things we look for, how do they respond when those shifts take place? >> host: and, tevy troy, you ari nodding your head.d. >> yeah. this question is of politicalqu savvy and the question of ofs whether there's aa checklist. showed his savvy by being elected twice, but also he had an agenda going boo thatin first term, and he really accomplished the things he saids he h was going to accomplish. te he had the no child left behind, he had the tax cuts and the medicare part d.ree those were three things that hen pushed for, and he got them allm the second term was clearly not as successful from a domestic perspective, but he said he wass going to do that, and he did that, and i think that shows a o lot of political savvy. >> host: let me respond to this one thing about why iraq because it struck me in the context of the wikilea

called president kennedy's new frontier, helping to found the peace corps and later spear-heading lyndonohnson's war on poverty. his dedication to social causes continued throughout his life. he served in leadership roles in head start, job corps, upward bound, among others. he may be best known as champion of the special olympics created by eunice in 1984. in 1972, shriver stepped in as george mcgovern's running mate after news that thomas eagleton had been treated for depression and was forced off the ticket. for his lifetime of public service, shriver received the presidential medal of freedom in 1994. a father of five, one of those children, california's former first lady, maria shriver. he slipped into the shadows of alzheimer's disease and was diagnosed in 2003. >> at the age of 93, he still goes to mass every day, and believe it or not, he still remembers the hail mary. but he doesn't remember me, maria. >> reporter: it is a cause maria shriver is still fighting. she spoke to diane sawyer not long ago. >> your dad doesn't know that you're his daughter. but he still uses expression

after president kennedy was assassinated in 1963, shriver stayed on to serve in lyndon johnson's administration. johnson asked shriver to head up his declared war on poverty. shriver resisted at first but johnson was insistent. >> i am gonna make it clear to diminish poverty at home and abroad it ought to be. i don't care who you have on the peace corps, if you can run it, awesome. >> i can't get anybody, the only guy that could possibly do it, mr. president, is bill. >> you can write your ticket on anything you want to do there. i want to get rid of poverty, though. >> questio>> i think so, too, p that was 1963 or '64 and moyers was very close to johnson. he came back after the assassination. >> if that is the era of idealism, a decade of idealism, the '60s, how far removed or how far connected are we to that same night geist if that's the right word. >> there are different issues now. it's wonderful to hear linden john subpoena get rid of poverty. johnson was focused on poverty. today, people are focused on education. you have someone like wendy cobb in teach for america. there are over 1 mil

on all this let's talk to political activist and founder of executive intelligence review magazine lyndon larouche many thanks for joining us here on asking us some of egypt's opposition members have their headquarters in london why they're particularly well you're not dealing with a crowd which is caused in a few countries. if there are many middle. of the british particular. mentally situation but that's not what the cause of the problem is we're at the tail end of it general breakdown crisis of the current international monetary so much of the loss of the physical economic system as a result. drugs coming from british who are controlling a good but seventy percent of the world's mary kay and what it is coming out of the united states under the current president is not doing anything to solve this problem but making it worse now there are all parties stop claiming the situation but will saying that gets out in the press is not the story of what's coming out of the press are the shadows cast by the story as in egypt egypt is not the deal we got here the situation is desperate to out of t

but the good thing was that shortly thereafter, the president, who was lyndon baines johnson at the time, did ask me to dance. and what kind of a dancer was l.b.j.? he was a terrific dancer. you mentioned that you had to fight down the temptation to share your views on the vietnam war. you bet. i was marching against the war and playing in a wonderful play called, oh, what a lovely war-- very anti-war sentiment-- at arena stage at the time. l.b.j. was pariah to those of us who were against the war, and there i was dancing with him. and i thought, "now's my chance to tell him." and then i thought, "it's not the time." this poor man needs a little relaxation. besides, he fox-trots very well. [laughing] if he'd been a poor dancer, you would have let him know your view? [laughs] you bet. i-i was-- on the other topic of courage, another early example in your career came in a scene from the great white hope, where--by today's standards would not be shocking or offend most people, i think-- but a scene in which you and james earl jones are in a bed together-- interracial couple, fully clothed.

. >> couric: six months after king was assassinated, president lyndon johnson signed the gun controlof 1968, making it illegal for criminals, drug addicts, and those with psychiatric problems to purchase guns. >> mr. president! ( gunshots ) >> couric: 12 years after john hinckley tried to kill president reagan, the brady bill became law in 1993 and added a national database for criminal background checks. >> there are federal gun laws that say you can't sell guns to minors, you can't sell guns to deranged people, you can't sell guns to drug dealers, you can't sell guns to criminals. there is also a requirement that a background check is done before you sell a gun. the trouble is, there's no money to enforce it and there are loopholes. >> couric: so you think the laws that currently exist are enough or do new laws need to be passed? >> you can always have more laws but if you don't enforce the ones on the books, there's no reason to go and have an additional law so that everybody feels good, everybody beats their chest and says "see, i did something." we had somebody at fort hood who

after the assassination of president kennedy, shriver surprised many by going to work for president lyndon the war on poverty. it was a time when the country was torn by the issues of vietnam and race. >> we only have one war. we have a war for the freedom of people and for opportunity for all people, regardless of race, color, or creed. >> reporter: in 1972, shriver did run for office as the vice presidential candidate and running mate of george mcgovern. he made his own bid to become the democratic presidential nominee in 1976 and embraced the kennedy family tradition. >> the cure will come from honest, truthful leadership that summons the best in us as we remember john kennedy once did. >> reporter: in subsequent years he worked with his wife, eunice, to expand the special olympics. eunice died in 2009. in 1994, he received the presidential medal of freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, from president bill clinton. in 2003, he was diagnosed with alzheimer's disease. in one of his last public appearances, he demonstrated his unending belief in the power of public service. born ye

king had in the white house with lyndon johnson, lyndon johnson told him about the voting rights act. a. basically went al and staged the selma -- he basically went out and staged the selma march and then we had the voting rights act. instead of constantly looking for the leaders in washington -- they are not there. [applause] >> to invoke john mccain for a moment on this stage, the straight talk here is the president has invested in political capital. you cannot just at an event. we had the beard summit. that was pretty much the media highlight in the first two years. it did not address anything as it relates to the african- american community. unless the president is going to invest political capital -- what happened to the responsible fatherhood initiative? that could have brought evangelicals from the moderate and conservative standpoint and the african-american community together on something like that. it was pushed to the side. >> if you say that the highlight for black votes was the beer summit -- >> i am talking about the media perspectives. >> black folks celebrate the healt

church and announced to the imam war and called america the greatest purveyor of violence in the world lyndon johnson took away the four plainclothes fbi agents that had been assigned to protect king commanded both king and johnson knew what that meant. there's a beautiful moment, remember king what malcolm became a pariah. he would be booed by the black power movement, sanctioned within his own ranks, southern christian leadership was disintegrated as an organization, and the king stood up two months before he was assassinated in front of his staff and said i take non-violence to be my lawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health until death do us part. that is only by going back and standing for these morrill in paris that we have any hope of protecting what is left of our anemic democracy. and we have to stop asking whether it's practical or even rational. we have to believe has these great figures before us understood that the good attracts the good. we have to do so with nonviolence because if we do not come and if we do not do it now, in the opposition to this corporate state and thes

shown to have newborns go into convulsions and a nursery was closed again and soak down and new lyndon'sctant discontinued. case closed. two months later august 29eat another baby at the st. louis hospital began to sweat profusely and the hospital immediately called of the cdc. randy had graduated from the eis so officer robert armstrong prepared to investigate using brandy's nosed used -- notice a chemical analysis found traces of the finale hydrocarbon after a quick search he discovered that $0.10 chlorophenol used primarily as a wood preservative had caused exactly the same symptoms with other outbreaks. when he arrived at the small hospital armstrongi began in the attic. i found every box, a bag, a container and took them way apart. by the afternoon he had worked his way down to the basement laundry room where and a store room he found a large cardboard barrel and turned it around whitening agen. among its ingredients were the chemical. and the label warned not to be used in hospitals. a laundry lady told me they put it in the washer for the terminal rinse for diapers and other hospi

. >> guest: in fact, i think he educated lyndon johnson. you read his speech that he gave at howard university. >> host: we shall overcome? >> guest: the one with the commencement address. he says you can't take a person that's been in the slavery and put them at the same position in the starting line. that's unfair. even this white southern man from texas can get it, and yet there are people who can't get it. now i do think, and i've come to my own conclusion that race-based affirmative action may no longer be an appropriate remedy. maybe anachronism for this time. to the extent there is going to be affirmative action, it has to be economic based. >> host: okay. >> guest: in other words. what i'm saying to you is the poor white person from appalachia, maybe entitle the to affirmative action just as a poor african-american or hispanic person. >> host: yes. you put it in economic framework. >> guest: color of race-based affirmative action is not good enough. >> host: one the people that people understand about the speech, and i think you mak

but lyndon johnson did not bound by himself. -- did not allow it to buy himself. -- own it by himself. 25 years ago, when i got into politics, i did it because i had an agenda. i still do. i got in it because i was competitive. the reason i do today is for my two kids. our job is to see their future. after today, i know we will see their future. i know i can count on you to go home and make a difference in a way that is going to help me. we cannot do it alone. it will take all of us. i am so proud to be part of a movement that is going to make a better life for my kids. thank you for being here. it said travels to your homes. -- safe travels to your homes. [applause] >> one thick we have learn -- thing we have learned over the last 30 years is economists are not good at predicting what will happen. >> robert samuelson has written about politics and the economy for over 30 years. he'll join us sunday night on c-span's "q & a." this morning toby harnden and

and in the course of that time, from the president's inauguration and then with president lyndon jo agson but with people like john lieus and our distinguished assistant leader, jim clyburn, many who are present working hard to teach america what our country was about. in the civil rights movement. and that the cause of what they did. what are we now, 42? 43 strong here. we want more, of course. but 43 strong from the original nd i. i really, it is an honor again, thank you craig, for your introduction of one title or another, emanual, barbara lee, congressman donald pane, thank k tou for your leadership as chair of the foundation. and evet jones, congratulations on receiving the foundation performing arts scholarship. it's very i beortant to recry.nize the talent among us in many different ways and what a great honor to receca e that togom the cbc. but get back to john f. keidenedhn Ãi e said at the time, this nation was founded by men -- men -- of ma20 nations and backgrounds. it was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and the rights of every man are diminished when

he understood the need, in fact she i think even indicated lyndon johnson's speech at the university. the one where he's getting to the commencement address and says you can't take a person who's been in slavery and say we are going to put them at the same position on the starting line. you can't do that. that's not fair. this white southern man from texas can get it, and yet there are people who can't. now, i do think, and i come to my own conclusion that race-based affirmative action may no longer be an appropriate remedy from may be an anachronism for this kind to the extent there is going to be a reduction it's got to be economic based. in other words, what i am saying to you is the poor white person from malaysia may be entitled to and from the action remedies just as a poor african-american or hispanic person >> host: one of the things people understand about the speech and a beautiful analogy in terms of, or a before of catching lightning in a bottle with this speech. now and riverdale he comes up there and you've already gotten this beach together but part of the time, not all

lyndon johnson said it. i don't think it is that big a threat. you do want them in the government. this is a group that when they were marginalized there were pushed to violence but they want to be part of the system. it is and a strong ideology. in the 50s and 60s, back to communists. there were people -- and the establishment, you have the occupation is more or less gone. you are part of the establishment since 2005. anybody -- the movement which doesn't have any strong wind in the sales of the popularity declined because they are associated with the civil war but it is a movement -- credo feel marginalized. the americans really fear them almost irrationally but in iraq this is only a social movement. the only grass-roots movement. there was a little sympathy for them as a result. sort of saying to the occupation of the attack in that direction. it is a welcome development have long as we don't get the army or some kind of security force which everyone knows is a horrible idea. >> you talk about the modification of the middle east. and the spillover affect of iraq and afghanistan

clinton and bush, the speech i remember most, bringing the country together in the toughest times was lyndon johnson after president kennedy was killed. and of course there you're playing not only to the country and to the mourning of the country and of the family, but to the international community. and yet, the words were so similar about how this should not be a time of hate, this should be a time of coming together. it really tells you that the country has to keep going through these spasms and takes a president to get us through them. >> matthew, what do you think is the length of this spasm we're in? he chastised the finger pointing. getting decent reviews from conservative quarters on twitter and facebook. what do you think this will do to the diagnose log we've seen in the last five days? well, this interesting, very different about this tragedy and this dark moment is immediately aftermath it became a political football. and normally, in tragedies in the past, presidential assassination, as cokie talked about, or 9/11 or oklahoma city, there wasn't sort of this polarized affect wher

dwight eisenhower, and lyndon johnson got a lot of things dpn in foreign policy that these republicans wouldn't do. same with ronald reagan. >> jim: and norm, if you have divided government, you have to have compromise and nothing gets done, and the public won't stand for that? >> it may work like that, jim, but it will be harder. and to follow up on michael point, one much the ironclad pledges of boehner and the republicans in their pledge for america is that they were going to cut $100 billion out of discretionary spending when they got there. already they're saying it may be closer to 50 or maybe less, and of course, right after the election, boehner told incoming members, we're going to have to be grown-ups here with the debt ceiling reached. and most of them say no way are we going to do that. so we've got interesting dynamics ahead. >> the other pointeds that the incoming republicans have said is that they want to undo a lot of what the democratic congress and the democratic president have enacted. what does the record show them dog? >> it doesn't happen often. dwight eisenhower

on 1942 i think it was -- 62 i think it was, '63, lyndon johnson proclaimed a law of -- i'm forgetting the -- which madt it possible for the cubans to stay here if they arrived to the united states, and the law had not been repealed or anything. it was just a mandate by thee clinton administration to return them which has made, so far, the return of the cuban refugees possible. back to the island.en w >> host: mr. basulto, tell us your history. where were you born in cuba, how did you get to the states?at's what's been your involvement in, essentially, fighting the current cuban government. >> i was born in cuba, and as a young man i was recruited by th cia, if you may, because we were working at the time with an organization in cuba called the mrr. and the cia promised to us that they were going to give us all the help we needed to change the government of cuba into a democratic goth. those were only words.ow that ended up in what was latery called bay of pigs. >> host: you were involved in that? >> guest: yes. i was sent back into cuba as a radio operator to send back information, in

this was a good plan either but he had to take care of our state, and so he was sort of a mentor to lyndon johnson and head of the armed services committee, headed the defense appropriation committee, so he really if you needed one person on your side this was the person that you would want. when president johnson came to actually announce the award he said there's plenty of places we want to have this, but nobody else had the georgia delegation and so that's why this was the and to have been carried down the other side from south carolina they are offering to put the factoring of district the subcontractors in the district was a bust of him and should come into town lockheed martin helps pay for the statute, so really every possible way of trying to influence this guy and this was a standard operating institution for him. his campaign, you know, slogan was rivers to rivers. >> host: its still standard. lockheed is doing the same with the georgia delegation now. nothing has changed. >> guest: so the sort of job argument where you place your factories in some ways i think it has more influe

lot of the fiscal policy issues we are dealing with today have their roots in the presidencies of lyndon johnson and richard nixon accept fiscal policy spending on an unsustainable level and people have been voting for four decades for some kind of at least kennedy who promised fiscally conservative policies and all of this is more powerful it think it is just an expansion of that same frustration that's been going on for a lot longer now. >> host: can you get to it really briefly you have a left-leaning strand to your populism or maybe tea party or not i'm not quite clear and you have a more of right -- what are those to strands and are the left wing in the tea party or the different kind -- >> guest: they are in what they call the coffee party and had you really about two weeks ago in washington people would agree with the critique in the tea party movement. they say that washington is corrupt and is serving the business and what we need is more regulation, more government, probably more redistribution away from the wealthy and the powerful to the ordinary people and they would argue t

care reform under watched congress and the passing of more landmark legislation than any era since lyndon johnson's great society. >> we have no regrets this house has over and over again sent to the senate legislation for the job creation. it deficit reduction has been a high priority for us, it is our mantra. to pay as you go. unfortunately that will be changed now. >> the lawmakers been targeted by national tv show the daily showed job store. known for turning politicians. last night featured a flustered san francisco supervisor or a car champion of the happy meal band. christine conley caught up with a supervisor to get his reaction. >> we had no idea the way would turn out but we do feel it allowed us to get our message out. >> he said that's what the he allowed the daily show to spend two hours and as office interviewing him about the controversial happy meal legislation which he authored. the pieces up on comedy central the daily show with john store website. it's got over 40,000 u.s.. here you could see the piece on the daily show the most brutal part of the interview came when mi

on 1962 i think it was, '63,63 lyndon johnson, the president then, proclaimed the law of -- i'm forgetting the -- which made it for the cubans possible to stay here if they arrived to the united states, and the law had not been repealed or anything. it w was just a mandate by themi clintonni administration to retc them which has made, so far, the return of the cuban refugees possible back to the island. >> host: you know, mr. basulto, tell us your history.when when did, when were you porn in cuba -- born in cuba, what's been your involvement in,nvol essentially, fighting the current cuban government? >> >> i was born in cuba, and as a young man or i was recruited by, by the cia, if you may, because we were working at the time with a, the, an internal organization in cuba called the mrr. and the cia promised to us that they t were going to give us all the help we needed to change the government of cuba into a democratic government.ose those were only words. that ended up and was known later as bay of pigs. >> host: you were involved in that. >> guest: yes. i am number 22 of the bay of pigs

impression that reality was sort of what we were about in the late 60s and it wasn't as easy to have -- lyndonjohnson thought and it wasn't easy but the social engineering experiment is other people thought though i think if he read the essays what is striking to me right away my father and true about you conservatives to beyond the simple critiques to programs and saw as he said about the welfare states a financial crisis of the welfare state that we are seeing now in europe and california and new york and the u.s. government and he discusses that quite appreciably i would say in his essay and 96 or 97 which begins obvious with a huge financial crisis here but he says is also more spiritual and philosophical crisis in the modern welfare state. but i think he went beyond the kind of just chico i don't like what is happened in the last 30 years and it caused him to rethink all kinds of issues of 200 years ago and to think about the founders and really go back even to political philosophy and religious thought. so i do think in that respect he actually did such a good job he couldn't resist it i