but mark sanford.yi things about my book at least i think it's funny, i was a speechwriter almost four years and he used hardly anything i ever wrote. that was -- that was certainly an example of that. i think that was more of scribbled note cards before -- >> you didn't give him any advice for that moment? >> i wasn't asked for any, no. >> so let's talk about some of the things you were able to get a hand on his words. because i remember when i was starting out as a writer i read shrunken white and talk about omit needless words be clear. but your direction from your education politics was go the opposite direction. you say, use the maximum number of words with the maximum number of legitimate interpretations. how do you do that? what does it even mean? >> okay. what i meant in that passage was that i was just talking about the way politicians today are asked about so many things that they don't want to talk about, that they don't care about and they have no power over and usually in a situation like

i'm joined now by republican congressman and former south carolina governor mark sanford from washingtons good to see you. i do want to start here. i was told about an hour ago from the governor's office that governor hodges is going to be here governor beasley will be joining governor nikki haley, but not governor mark sanford. why are you not here sir? >> i would love to be there, but as you know i have a constitutional duty. that is to try to represent 750,000 people down the coast of south carolina and cast votes for them. we have votes today unfortunately here in washington. were it not for that i would absolutely be there with you in columbia. >> reasonable for that i would love to be there in south carolina. >> a reasonable explanation. your stance on the confederate battle flag changed over the weeks after the shooting? obviously today you support its removal. why was this an issue that you felt you needed to evolve on? >> i think everybody did. you have the governor herself saying just a short time ago to different business groups that the compromise had been reached, it is sett

we have congressman mark sanford with us. you know i think certainly, the bipartisan nature of this moved us forward. i wonder to what degree you think it was really important having a republican governor lead the charge on this. i couldn't say. i don't -- alex i don't know the answer to that question. i think the governor appropriately laid out a few moments ago. this thing was set in motion one way or the other by those nine families as a consequence of that tragedy, and whether it was a republican governor or democratic governor i think at the end of the day, would not have mattered much. i think it's nice that you acknowledge david beasley, many people argue he lost his election for the governorship his second term based on the flag issue. he was followed by jim hodges who was there in aten distance and i saw governor riley who was later secretary of education as well. there in the immediate forefront right behind the governor she signed the bill into law. i think it was a neat outpouring -- republican and democratic past

fictional to where i was going. >> well that was current congressman and then south carolina governor mark sanfordford's former speech writer paints a picture of a statehouse in disarray, claiming the governor's disappearance and extramarital affair were only the most public in a string of bizarre behaviors. joining me now barton swaem, author of "the speech writer" chronicling his four years of working for governor sanford. i want to make note you never mention the governor by name in this book. >> right. and the reason far was that i wanted the book to be about politics in general or to sort of general ralize or universalize the story to be about a lot of things that happen in politics and not just make it about one politician or one scandal. >> okay. kind of sounds like you signed up hopeing for the west wing experience and you got "veep." >> before i took the job, the job of speech writer had always sounded mysterious and romantic. like a writer but with power. i took the job and discovered it was having very much different. and the book is about my learning curve, downward curve in some ways.

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i want to bring in republican congressman mark sanford of south carolina. thank you very much for being with me. >> my pleasure. >> let me get your reaction first to the restoration of the full diplomatic relations between the u.s. and cuban government today. >> well you know some people are upset, some people not. you know i think it's long overdue. we have a neighbor that's 90 miles off our coast. and i think that the way you improve that relationship is through engagement. >> how can a relationship improve through engagement if one of the two parties doesn't change and has no intention of changing? gabe gutierrez was saying the leader of cuba took to the airwaves this past week saying there will be no change internally. >> well again, that's the nature of any outdated government. they're going to hang on to what they've got. i think the question is how do you empower people within that country to make change? government won't it's the people who will drive the change. what we have tried for 50 years is a process of isolation or attempted isolation that h