and lyndon johnson said "good." you have to do tngs like that. bluntly put, youeed balls to get mething like ts through. (laughter) and i thin obam will. where he'sot to demonstratehat is certainlwhen he gets t conference. are we on hbo, charlie? aughter) >> ias hesating to say lyndon would have done se nut cracki, butoe took caref th for me. (laughter) >> rose: beyd that, david, what else do the president have to do? where does t president g from this speech in t president? >> well, he's actually got get to getlegislation. ngressman weiner poted out, he kept talki about "my plan, my plan." there is no plan. but i ink it's pretty clear... >> rose: you don buy the argumenthat essentially his plan isthelan comingut of the sete finance... >> i thinke's shifted over esntially to the senateplan. so he's gotto do that. he's got to ttle the public option once d for all, which i ink.... >> rose: what els does he need do on settling it? >> well, i mean he's got to... he sort ofays... he say "i' li it, i understand it's going to go" but he didt explain how

only one has had success, lyndon johnson, who signed medicare into law in 1965. and lyndon johnson's success, the last major progress we have had on health care in this country, it isn't remembered for its soaring speeches. it's remembered for years of hard, legislative slogging, grabbing lapels, getting into the trenches, personally leaning on senators and recalcitrant house committee chairman until they squeaked. ultimately, one by one, wrangling the votes in congress that were needed. what we witnessed tonight is part of what it means to fight for health reform in this country. and right now is, as the president said, as close as we've been to getting something passed since lyndon johnson got medicare passed 40 years ago. as the president said, four of the five committees with jurisdictions here have passed something. the president's committed to reform. his party's got more than 70-seat majority in the house and 60 seats in the united states senate. we have not been in close to health care reform in decades. so the question tonight after this historic but not

folks like lyndon johnson and kennedy also fought hard. hope is that the obama administration will do that, and so far it looks good and looks encouraging. tavis: finally, i know they have talked about this is somewhat, but when you refer to the theodore roosevelt crusade for america, a great phrase, what you mean by that? >> he believed that if we did forest like a lot of europe, we would be in terrible trouble -- if we deforest it like a lot of europe, that we would be in terrible trouble. he put vast millions upon llions of acreage of land, safe places, ranging from the grand canyon which was voted to be mined for zinc and asbestos, and save crater lake and many places in california. i could go on all day. he give us a great dip -- great gift. the crusade was a darwinian crusade in this sense. the origin of species pot roosevelt and his mind that we had to take care of lesser creatures, and he believed that to lose an animal is like losing a masterpiece of old. least have a billion passenger pigeons -- we used to have a billion passenge

lyndon johnson got the... speaker mccormack to put three members on that committee that were for medicare. i mean, al is right. this is going to be a tough fight. but i think it is time for the president to really get his fingernails dirty and try and get something. try and get something, charlie, to make it a little easier... the conference is going to be tough. but he has the ability to shape a little... to shape to some extent what comes out of the house, just as he... i agree with what you said in washington. i heard that speech tonight as barack saying i'm with max baucus and the senate finance committee bill. >> but when medicare passed... i saw a poll the other day quoted that it was 6-0-20 in favor, public opinion polls. so you had... sure l.b.j.'s legislative management mattered but you also had the public very strongly behind a very large change in how government worked. there's there's an a.p. poll that shows 6 20% of people support either starting over entirely or nothing happening at all. so prior

said well, it has come under lyndon johnson, and it proceeds permanents. no one dares challenge it, the urts, the media, the people. all are at his command. at approximately s or eight months later, republicans made a majobig through in 1966, off year election began in 1968, of course, johnson withdrew, decided -- from the presidential election, decided not to seek presidential election. that was a key motorcade in ow in the primary by someone from the democratic party, antiwar wing, eugene mccarthy. the dump johnson movement. there is a misperception that mccarthy actually won that primary. he did not. he lost i think about five percentage points. 47-42. it was enough to persuade or to dissuade johnson from seeking reelection. and this might have been, i think in our climate, left and/or right. this would be a moment of triumph for the out party. because a very powerful president was now being taken down, but within his own party. and is almost. here did a victory for the republicans in this case but that's not what bill buckley said. buckley wrote a wond

that the southern whites who resisted civil rights legislation-- and as you know, lyndon johnson knewwhen he signed those bills into law, he might lose the solid south as it had been called, the democrats might lose them for a generation or more. and yes, the republicans moved right in, and they did it on the basis of a state's rights argument. now, however convincing or unconvincing that was, it's important to acknowledge that republicans never-- conservatives, i should say, northern republicans are different, but conservatives within the republican party, because the two were once not, you know, identical-- thought that a hierarchical society and a kind of racial difference, a sense of racial difference, established institutionally, was not so bad a thing. they were wrong. they were dead wrong. but that sense of animus is absolutely strong today. look who some of the great protestors are against barack obama. three of them come from south carolina, the state that led the secession. joe wilson and senator demint, mark sanford, who got in trouble. these are south carolinians. and ther

and lyndon johnson said "good." you have to do tngs like that. bluntly put, youeed balls to get mething like ts through. (laughter) and i thin obam will. where he'sot to demonstratehat is certainlwhen he gets t conference. are we on hbo, charlie? aughter) >> ias hesitating to say lyndonould have don some nut cracking, but joe tookcare of that for me. (laughter) rose: beyond that, david, at else does the presiden have to do? where es the prident go from thispeech in the president? >> well, he's actuall got get get legislation. congressman weiner pointed out, he kt talking about "my pn, my plan." there is nplan. but i ink it's pretty clear... >> rose: you don buy the argumenthat essentially his plan isthelan comingut of the sete finance... >> i thinke's shifted over esntially to the senateplan. so he's gotto do that. he's got to ttle the public option once d for all, which i ink.... >> rose: what els does he need do on settling it? >> well, i mean he's got to... he sort ofays... he say "i' li it, i understand it's going to go" but he didt explain h

-- hale boggs, he is clearly a more dependable supporter of the administration, very close to lyndon johnsonaw eye to eye with him on many issues. he represented a conservative district in louisiana. >> we will talk to you again a bit later. now, i call between president johnson and tennessee democrat al gore sr. >> you got to give people an excuse to do something that they want to do. he wants to vote with us. he wants us to accept a modified form this provision in the bill which he and six republicans introduced to provide an association of insurance companies to write policies for the specific purposes of this bill. now, the treasury department has some doubts about it, because it provides a tax exemption. justice has doubts about it because it provides exemptions from antitrust. but i think for the purposes of providing old age health care through private insurance, we could afford to do it if adequate supervision as to rates and benefits is provided. now, javits came to me yesterday afternoon and said he is going to support it anyway, whether it is accepted or not. he said he thought th

>> well, certainly the papers of lyndon johnson at the lbj library. papers of john stennis, at mississippi state university, margaret smith in maine, howard baker and bob dole have recently opened centers in their states. they're gradually opening up their papers. >> if some young person came to you and said that you were the senate historian for 48 -- 38 years. if they want the job, what would you recommend? >> it depends on how young the person was. i would ask them if they enjoyed reading biographies. >> but say they are into history and they are in college and they really want this. this is not just a pipe dream. what should they do? >> read, read, read. right, right, right. -- write, write, write. we like people who have an interest in civics and government. i remember, as a teenager, going to the meetings of the board of aldermen in my town of melrose, mass. and being fascinated with what was going on. that is the most elementary level. take it on up to the senate. >> so, was it a good job? >> it was a terrific job. it was the best possible job.

afghanistan loomed as a problem that could overtake his presidency as wars have in the past for lyndon johnsonnd others. and he told them he was mindful of those lessons of history. >> well, he may be mindful, susan, but the fact is he now has to face a real-life situation here, clarence. when your general that you trust points out that i need more troops to increase the counterinsurgency, as you laid out, not just counterterrorism, you need to control that country, you need more troops and the liberals don't like this. >> that's right. and republicans, conservatives, led by george will and his like are questioning our need to be there. since he made his initial statements about the -- this big war, conditions have changed over there considerably and maybe the tragedy mccrystal has in mind is not strategy we should be pursuing. i also don't know which way he's going to swing on this, chris, but does he run the risk as we we know historically about afghanistan being the place where empires go to die, he runs a big risk of a conundrum here. we don't have the troops right now, by the way, to meet

we know that obama is reading the placard of lyndon johnson, who broke his great presidency on the vietnam commitment. he said he would not declare troop numbers, but his boss is saying to do it now. >> interested in what you were saying about nato allies and the way that the president might view them. for all of these european countries, in the last few years in particular many of the big countries are reticent to put down troops. >> although there are a lot of german troops, germany will not call it a war. it is a peacekeeping operation. you are quite right. i think that there is a lack of focus from the obama presidency. one would think that having clinton and jim jones there, but they are not getting your route. what they have in, not hard power, but soft power and smart power, it is not only afghanistan. they want the president to put his shoulder to the wheel and put real oomph behind this concept. the summit is not coming forward. it is an obama achilles heel. >> we will have full market and financial analysis in 25 minutes. >> they have a new luxury business service between london

. >> an agonized lyndon johnson talking to richard russell in 1964. at that time, there were about 20,000 u.s. troops in vietnam. a year later, about 2,000 when lbj left office. more than 500,000 troops in vietnam. leads to the question, are there parallels between afghanistan and vietnam. we'll talk about it in the roundtable. i'm joined as always by george will, tom friedman, bob woodward of the washington post and our martha raddatz. george, you write about this week with a different parallel between afghanistan and vietnam. >> in 1966, the senate foreign relations committee in february held very important hearings about the national argument that was then raging. it's nation building. it's beyond our capacity and besides vietnam is peripheral to our national interest. at the same time, of the americans who died in vietnam, 55,000 of those deaths haven't occurred. i think that's why some people think we're in a similar inflection point. a slow bleed could be equally costly to the nation in terms of its morale, if you will, and particularly to the d

>> i think it is former president lyndon johnson, a master of dealing with congress and said congressh relentlessly and continuously and i think you have to apply that to the american public, as well. i think the white house learned the lesson of the summer where they lost the debate. they really didn't provide any counter point to all of the negative attacks that were out there. and i think he's now determined to blanket the air waves until he cuts a deal and he gave a great speech and he is a wonderful orator and better get a deal fast because the other recommendation of lyndon johnson is legislation that silts around starts to stink like a dead cat and time the not on this president's hand. he has to wrap this up quickly. >> okay, jonathan. i want the details. the white house now says that illegal immigrants barred from buying insurance through the exchanges that the government would set up under this health care reform plan. for all the flack that representative wilson got for shouting at the president in his speech, his outburst came when the president talked of immigrants but di

say that explicitly, but according to ted kennedy, it was obvious he would not be a rival to lyndon johnson1968 presidential race, which is something that presidential johnson was increasingly worried about. ultimately, president johnson did not take the offer at face value. there's obviously a long history of distrust between the kennedys and president johnson, particularly bobby. so that never got off the ground, but, again, history could have been completely different. >> indeed. lastly, a source close to the kennedy family that told nbc news today that your paper's coverage was based on a hasty read, has missed the core of the book and much of the news in it. what news might you have missed and what do you suggest that core is that you missed? >> i wouldn't presume to know. i would say that i certainly plead guilty and think my colleagues do in giving this a hasty read. we got a copy of the book late yesterday. we all took portions of it. we did the best we could and we wrote what we thought was as full a distillation as we could of the book in the time we had. i wouldn't presume to say

it's difficult to know because lyndon johnson right after the kennedy murder decided that there were certain things about the murder that the american peopleouldt know. lyndon johnson himself was a conspiracy theorist and he believed he told several people he fought fidel castro killed president kennedy and he believed casoid this in retaliation beause kennedy cia was plotting to kill castro so johnn himself believed in a conspiracy. he set up this commission to reassure the american public there wano conspiracy. why did he do that? becaus johnson faced his conspiracy theory not because he had a paranoid style but he had secret information. he knew about the plot against fidel castro so henew the cia had for its simple been cooperating with antcastro cubans and mobsters angry with castro because he kicked them out of havana. he knew castro had been targeted by the cia so he thought this opened up possibilities of all kind of conspiracies in the kennedy murder but johnson didn't want castro plo to come out because it wou have be embarrassing for the united states and he thought it cou

lyndon johnson himself was a conspira theorist an he believed and he told several people the thoughtidel castro probablyilled president kennedy and he believed castro did this in retaliation because kennedy cia was plotting to kill castro, so johnson himself believ in a conspiracy. yet, he t up this commission to reassure the american publi that there was no conspiracy. why did h do that? well, because johnson faced his conspiracy theory not because he had a paranoid style but because he had secret information. he knew about the plots against fidel castro, and so he knew that the cia had for example been cooperating with anti-castro cubans and with mobsters who were angry with castro because he kicked them ou of fama. he knew that castro had been targeted by the sea by-- seia so we thought this opened up the possibilities of all kinds of conspiracies in the kennddy murder but johnson did not want the castro plot to come out because this would have been very embarssing for the united states and also because he thought it could lead to nuclear war, that if it turned out the caro killed

he took on lyndon johnson.ohnson attacked him, they were on a par the way cheney was on a par with the president. this is what the president should do. act adds president of the united states. where is briden, where are his people to take on the opposition? those people should do the hatchet work. nixon in 72, we didn't mention mcgovern's name. we didn't. everybody else goes after him. that's the way to do it. >> you are assuming that this is a hatchet job that is being done on the president. no, it isn't a hatchet job being done on the president. and so hatchet people shouldn't be the person that's answering. he needs to say, i've got to put on the docket a vote on whether or not an insurance company can turn you down. that's one item. i'm going to put on the docket whether or not insurance companies can bounce your numbers up on the co-pay side. and i want a vote on each one of those. he should go one after another. >> you said earlier, he's got to say they're lying without using the words. in other words goi

famously it was lyndon johnson who side -- signed the civil rights act. somehow it became a racist statement to allies of barack obama. he allowed that to happen. he allowed it to fester, that they were animated by bigotry. he did nothing to clear the air. i do not want to be lecturedby him in this sanctimonious way that we are perpetuating a healthy raise talk. -- unhealthy race talk. greta: we have gotten more viewers by his attacking fox news. >> i do not pretend to understand what gets viewers. [laughter] not sucking up, i am proud to be affiliated with a network that is not afraid to say what it thinks. the greta: i am happy to be back working with you, as you know, tucker. thank you. president obama, last week's seven former directors of the central intelligence agency urged him to stop the investigation by eric holder into cia interrogation. the president says that the investigation will go forward, which has some people up in arms. a republican congressman joins us live, he says it is a witch hunt. congressman, the president is not backing down. h

they said the same thing about lyndon johnson when we tried to pass medicare.y are saying the same things now trying to use the same tactics. but we are going to get this done this year thanks to work all across the country. [applause] ted thanks to you at the grassroot level that will stand up and insist that we cannot afford to wait any longer. [applause] the key to progress for all americans is a well educated mind. [applause] we know that the african- american community will fall behind the united states. and the united states will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educated our sons and daughters and last week -- unless we close the achievement gap, unless we reach all of the students who are dropping out of school and giving up on their future. today, almost one-third of students drop out of high school. one-third. a disproportionate amount of them are african-american or hispanic. that is a loss for all americans not just those communities. it affects the work force of the 21st century when a good education

in a discussion on lyndon johnson and the politics of medicare. -- and then a discussion of lyndon johnson and the politics of medicare. then robert redford, on how he became involved with environmental policy. >> this is a look at the growing influence of hispanics in political issues. we will hear from two executives of intravision at this conference from the steamboat institute. this is one hour. >> the are both with intravision, from univision. they are true experts on the issues that we are about to talk about. carerra works for intravision. univision reaches 65% of all hispanics in the united states. he believes the main focus of this is to enhance the lives and well-being of the audience, through education information and entertainment, as it provides a maximum return on the investments to the shareholders. this is a great mission statement. doing well by doing good is what he believes, and he is living this in his life every day. he has served on the board of the boy scouts of america, the chamber of commerce, and other organizations. mario earned his bachelor's degree in sociology

guest: lyndon johnson had to can see that he lost public opinion. on the other hand, the conventional wisdom is that if we lost in vietnam, that would be to see in the cold war, and we would be engaged for many years to come. that turned out to be totally incorrect. we won the cold war and the soviet union -- half the states lost the cold war. al qaeda back in afghanistan automatically means there will be terrorism on all the places that he mentioned, europe and united states. host: there was an interesting piece of looking at -- comparing vietnam and afghanistan. it said there are important differences. aalso that the u.s. has spent so much of the gdp on military spending. the amount going to afghanistan is far less. guest: obviously we can afford it. we have been printing a lot of money. there is about a trillion dollars worth of infrastructure requirements in the united states, so dollars can always be printed. i think you do need public be rigid public opinion behind you. -- i think you do need public opinion behind you. host: we have a call on

they said the same thing about lyndon johnson when we try to pass medicare.y are saying the same things now, trying the same tactics, but we are going to get this done this year thanks to the members of the cbc and members of congress all across the country. and thanks to you at the grass roots level but are going to stand up and insist that we cannot afford to wait any longer. [applause] the key to progress for all americans is not just healthy bodies, it is also a well educated mind. [applause] we know that the african- american community will fall behind in the united states and the united states will fall behind in the world in lost be due -- and less we educate our sons and daughters. unless we close the achievement gap. unless we reach all the students that are dropping out of school and giving up on their future. today, almost one-third of students drop out of high school. a disproportionate number of them are african-american or hispanic. that is not just a loss to the african-american or hispanic community, that is a loss for all americans. a good ed

i was struck by what lyndon johnson said, i don't know what else to do. what else can they do is very limited. you got stanley mcchrystal there, who's the best man in counterinsurgency and intelligence and special operations and if he doesn't think that you can do it through drones and special forces on the ground, i don't know who you turn to. >> he take on the strategy they have given, counterinsurgency, protect the populations, get into the village, take care of the people. what the white house is now saying, we're going back and looking. maybe that's the wrong strategy. as george said, maybe we have to change our minds. but, there's a middle ground here. and people think, oh, no, there's never a middle ground. the middle ground has been presented by vice president biden. who says, have a strategy where you keep lots of troops there when al qaeda can't come back into afghanistan. we don't have to remake the government and take care of all of the people. our interest, what are our interests here? to prevent another attack on the united states. to keep a

well, it has come under lyndon johnson, and its permanent. no one dares challenge him. all are at his command. and approximately six o eight months later the public had a major breakthrough. brandt in 1968, of course, johnson was through. decided to drop from the presidential election. and that was a key momen he had been challenged in the newhampshire primary. and there was a misperception that he actually won. she did not. it was enough to persuade or to dissuade johnson. and this might have been, i think in our climate, left hand or right, this would be a moment of triumph. a very powerful president was now being takenown within his own party. this almost guaranteed a victory for the republicans. but that is not what buckley said. he said, you know, to the followerhere is something very unsettling about the thought of an elected president of the united states being essentially removed from office by carloads of college students driving across the border from massachusetts to new hampshire, many of whom don't even know. they just went there to vote and to punish the p

administration, his chief of staff, rahm emanuel, i'm told, is telling him, you should not be the lyndon johnson ear era. don't get your presidency mired down in a tough war. figure out a way to get out of. there i hope president obama goes with the generals and not the political advisors. he cannot lose in afghanistan to withdraw from the place in which 9/11 was launch, what that would do from afghanistan and pakistan, it would be a shot in the arm t would show weakness on the part of america. i think it would be terrible, but i've got to say, general mccrystal and petraeus and admiral mullen and gates want to fight and win. i'm not sure anyone else is telling p president obama that's that that's the right thing to do in his own administration. bret: nina, do you sense that the political winds are shifting up on capitol hill when it comes to afghanistan? >> i think there is different political winds. i'm going to take senator levin at his word and say that he is possibly not the nancy pelosi on this issue who clearly wants troops out as soon as possible. mccrystal himself has called for, in his

different concept, he is clearly a more dependable supporter of the administration, very close to lyndon johnsonthey sought aw eye to eye on ma issues. >> we will talk to you again a little later. now call between president johnson and senate finance committee member and tennessee democrat albert gore, sr., whose son would later become vice president of the united states. >> to do something they won't do. he must have talked 30 minutes. he wants us to accept a modified farm, provision in the bill with six republicans, association of inrance cpanies to write policies f specific purposes their bill. the treasury department has some doubts about it because it provides tax exemptions. justice has some doubt about it because it provides exemptions, but for the purposes of providing old age health-care, approved private insurance, we could afford to do it if adequate supervision, as the rates and benefits are provided. jarvis came to me yesterday afternoon and said he is going to support anyway, whether we accept it or not. if we would acpt this, i talk to like about it and he said would never we deci

the house, along with equal measures of patience, persistence, and above all, persuasion, which lyndon johnson once called the only real power available to the party leader. of course, it all the not happen right away. when he first moved to the upper chamber, he did not much care for it. he did not like glacial pace of action. he did not think he fits in. worst of all, for a guy who arranges his socks bicolor, he thought the place was completely disorganized. he started writing a list of things he would change if he ever got the chance. of course, a few years later, he did. he was elected by his colleagues to the senate leadership team, and quickly worked his way all the way to the top, culminating in 6.5 years of distinguished service as republican leader of the senate. throughout his years in the senate, trent was careful to note that some occasions where historic, not political. an example was his establishment of the leaders lecture series. bipartisan events like this, held in a non-partisan setting here in the old senate chamber were an important reminder that senators are stewards of a

you have to be lyndon johnson at some level and say, i need you on this.ith me on that. he needs to get tougher. it's two different crowds here. there's the crowd you saw today. that was for picture and that was for momentum. what you've got to have behind the scenes is a president who is willing to put his political capital on the line with his own party. >> and that, of course, is the big thing everybody is looking to see is whether or not he will do that. candy crowley, david gergen, joe hicks, good to have you with us tonight. thank you. >> thank you. >>> just ahead, more on the school speech flack. you'll hear from a principal and parents about why one school will not let its students listen to the president tomorrow. >>> also, looking for the formula for success. afghanistan possibly at a tipping point right now. >>> more on the growing allegations that the recent election was there rigged. >>> millions of school kids will head back to class tomorrow but not all classrooms will be full. some parents are choosing to keep their kids at home. and it has

. >> reporter: other presidents have faced similar charges, including lyndon johnson, grappling withhe vietnam war. >> i can still remember myself, when he opened almost every address saying, i come to you tonight with a heavy heart. after a while, people got tired of it. >> reporter: while president obama has given roughly the same number of official addresses as george w. bush and bill clinton, he has sat down for 124 interviews. his predecessor at this same point, had given 40. >> they have a real shortage of surrogates who can speak for the president on health care and other issues. >> reporter: michelle obama and vice president joe biden are starting to do more heavy lifting. but they won't replace barack obama on center stage. >> this white house has just decided that, in obama's first year, he must accomplish health care. they have no choice but to go all out. and that's exactly what they're doing. >> reporter: the president has said, he has to get health care reform right. and he still thinks he can get a bill passed by the end of the year. if he succeeds, he's likely to get

you're comparing the bush administration's building of the case to go to war with iraq with lyndon johnson'sincident, just to be clear. >> i am indeed. it's exactly the same in the performance not only by the president, but by all of the people who knew that it was a disaster and i could name names, if you want. >> let me -- we're short on time. let me take you back to this incredible period in american history when you were targeted by the nixon white house as i mentioned earlier. your psychiatrispsychiatrist's broke into to dig up dirt and on the white house tapes president neckson said just get everything out, leak it out, i want to destroy him in the press. is that clear? who would like to be on the receiving end of that kind of campaign from the president of the united states. >> of course, joe wilson and his wife valerie plame were in exactly the receiving end of the same kind of operation from rove and others in the administration of cheney, scooter libby and others. i felt very familiar with that one. get that guy, destroy his credibility because joe wilson, former ambassador had bee

bush after 9/11, or lyndon johnson after the assassination of president kennedy, no one in the obama administration could have anticipated briefly losing control of the debate to this false rumor of death panels and having to be here at this moment resorting to this. >> well, and this is an occasion that is used for a big push to try to rally the public. and this is not a speech to congress for the sake of congress. this is a president who is using this moment in primetime to speak directly to the american people. you know, brian, he does have a big hill to walk, as you suggested. he has got to reach out to the middle of the road americans, politically, who know a couple of things. they know health care is too expensive but also know the government is paying for a lot right now from bank bailouts to g.m. bailouts and now the idea of a trillion dollar price tag for health care reform. it has a lot of americans uneasy. some of the same americans who voted for this president and put him into office. that's why this is a speech, in a moment in time, when he needs to demonstrate leadershi

. >> i diinctlyremember lyndon johnson repeatedly sayingyou know, we just need. and wh general west more land we need a few more tros. was one of those troops. it taught me make sure you understand what the situation real is on the ground. these are t, you know, these are the pregnant questions we have to ask th. we do a disserviceboth to the country andhe president if don't ask them and lk at this very,ery carefuy. >> warner: president oba yesterday promis a full debate before mking any further decisions on afghan war sategy. on capitol hill, he is sur to get one. >>fill: now, a strongly worded u.n. report on t israeli campaigin gaza. the report focses on last december's 32-day air and ground campaignin gaza. the israeli milita offensi followed years of rocket attacks launcd into southern israelby hamas and other palestinian militants. separate account placed the number of palestinian casualty at or around 1400 includg an undetermined number of ciilians. the isrli govement reported 13 israelis killed during the three weeks of fighng. ten of them sdiers. reports

whether you're lyndon johnson negotiating health care or roosevelt negotiating social security, you don't did it. >> the democrats did draw a line in the sand on single payer. they threw it out the door and wouldn't allow it at the table. here's the point i want to make. we're at a point now where the people that voted for barack obama have clearly stated that they want a public option. four of the five bills are in saying that. what's wrong with the president telling the republicans, who have not been honest brokers, according to jay rockefeller on this show last night, they haven't negotiated in good faith, let's get it on. we have to get it going. >> i agree. it's time to cut the republicans loose. they're not negotiating in good faith and all these concessions in the baucus bill, they should get rid of all of them when they mark up this bill. but there still are a number of democrats in the senate who a

in 1965, lyndon johnson launched a war on poverty.ok was 25%, now 70%. we're encouraging people to behave irresponsibly. that has the kind of things i'm worried about, reverend sharpton. >> i'm worried about that as well. i'm also worried about continual racial despair tin this country. i do not see where the republicans did a lot about it. i do not think to distort president carter's word, he said it was a distinct minority is a responsible thing to do. he did not say all that opposed is racist. i think it's just as naive to say none of them are. having said that, we must move this debate forward to say the republicans that have had the white house, eight years under bush, four years under another bush. before that, president reagan failed to get us the health insurance we need guaranteed for all americans, fought it under clinton, fighting it under obama and blacks, whites, latinos and asian have to get it this time. we're not going for the bait, not be divided we will fight for all americans, we will be angry about it but we will b

later, lyndon b. johnsonitics of health care. >> the supreme court has a rare special session on wednesday hearing oral arguments on a campaign finance case. it also marks the first appearance on the bench for justice sonia sotomayor. tomorrow, her formal investiture ceremony takes place in the afternoon. here is chief justice roberts on what it is like for a new justice. >> to some extent, it is unsettling. you quickly get to view the court as composed of these members. it becomes hard to think of it as involving anyone else. i suspect it is the way that people with their families. this is the family, how could it be different? but you do get new arrivals in both of those situations. it is a tremendous sense of loss. justice white used to say that when the court gets a new member, it changes everything. it changes everybody. simple changes. we move the seats around the courtroom. the seats are in order of seniority. there may be a shift there. the same in the conference room. more fundamentally, it can cause

lyndon johnson on civil rights and on medicare. but i can't think of a contemporary time a president taking one issue and being so effective with that. i think he -- politically, he's going to get a big bump out of it but i think there are a lot of novice consuming news folks out there across the country that are saying, you know, that guy's talking sense to me tonight. i'm kind of going along with this. but the way he did it, what would we compare this to? >> you know, the only thing i can think of -- and it's kind of a stretch admittedly, is the george bush speech after 9/11 on september 20th where the country was in such a different state. i mean, that was just a real emotional and genuine crisis. but the reaction that he got, i mean, that was the finest moment of his presidency. i think we can all agree. he built real political capital there. this is a different situation, but obama was on the brink of a really profound loss of momentum for his young administration. and he came out and he both articulated a vision that he hadn'

if you go back to 1965 when lyndon johnson signed the civil rights act, he said we've lost the southeration. ever since then, republicans have had the southern strategy, which has been to appeal to the south to whites in the south using coded language -- states rights, even tough on crime. some of these things that are in code. we heard ronald reagan. he launched his campaign in mississippi in the county where black civil rights leaders were killed in 1980, go down there and say i believe in states rights. he talked about the welfare queen from chicago. we all know what that meant. we saw a willie horton add in 1988, the george h.w. bush campaign. these are all coded messages to southern whites specifically that we're on your side. now, that's what herbert's talking about in that column. the other thing he is saying is absolutely right. all these people, all the republican leaders who have come out and denounced jimmy carter, saying this is horrible, you can't say this, how come they don't denounce the people who carry the signs? it's very easy for dick armey at freedom works and the

. >> do you reflect on what happened to lyndon johnson and worry the same thing might happen to you. >> i think you have to learn lessons from history. on the other hand, each historical moment is different. he never stepped into the same river twice. so afghanistan is not vietnam, but the dangers of overreach and not having clear goals and not having strong support from the american people, those are all issue that i think about all the time. >> and that takes us right to our first topic on the caucus, our weekly roundup of the top stories with the "new york times" top journalists. joining us this week, mark land letter, the times correspondent, mark bly, political correspondent for the new york times and times white house reporter, jeff zellny. mark, let me start with you, the president said that afghanistan is not vietnam. are there many democrats or others in the congress, for that matter who think it is sort of like vietnam and if so, how much of a problem is that for had him? >> it is a significant problem and the answer is that there are some democrats that are beginning to dr

he suggested that we walk out into an adjoining room and he showed me the desk where president lyndon johnson had signed the original act on august 6, 1965. he had a photographer to take a picture of the two of us standing there at that desk and a few days later i received the most beautiful copy of that picture with an indescription from senator kennedy. it is hanging on the wall in my home in atlanta. i will cherish it as long as i live. i remember in 1977 senator kennedy came to atlanta, we hosted a section for him at my home. he met a few of our friends, my wife, lillian and our son, and he spent so much time playing and talking with my young son who was not quite a year old. senator ken tchi a heart full of grace -- kennedy had a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love and never forget the spark of the divinity, no matter whether you were his closest friend or his fierce adversary. a brilliant light has gone out that uplifted not just america but the entire world community. but during his life, senator kennedy pierced so many of us with his brilliant life. he touched members of