against the middle of the political spectrum the moderates and against the middle class that's in themiddle from top to bottom in the economy so in the thirty seconds we have left would you support a constitutional amendment to roll back lewis paul's suggestion that the first amendment actually protects money previously money was regulated as behavior spending money was regulated and yes i would i did not believe this a year ago but i believe particularly with that and now the mccutcheon decision does come down that there we simply have got to re empower congress with the authority to regulate political spending the court has just made mincemeat out of any effort to try to regulate spending so that the voice and the involvement even the small donations of average people can't they just have been washed away yeah i think we're going to have to do something big hedrick smith thank you so much sir for being with us tonight my pleasure tom thank you for having me up here. it's a great book you've written i hope a lot of people read it to see this and other conversations with grapevines go

c-span: you'd be right in the middle, then. >> guest: correct. right in the middle. c-span: and so -- did you fight in the '67 war? >> guest: no, i was a kid. c-span: you were a kid then. >> guest: i was... c-span: did you fight in any war in israel? >> guest: i fought in a couple of them, yes. c-span: which ones? >> guest: well, i fought in the lebanon war. i was quite involved in the lebanon war. i served in the israel paratroopers. at that point, i was in israeli special forces and... c-span: what year? >> guest: this was in 1982, in june, 1982. for some reason, wars in the middle east occur in june, almost to the day. it's probably good war-fighting weather. and i was among the first forces to -- of israeli forces to enter the city of beirut in june, 1982. and my actual unit was decimated in an ambush, and we ended up being attached to all sorts of other units for the duration of the war. later on, i became one of the few israelis to be a veteran of the gulf war. in a period just before the outbreak of the gulf war, i was assigned as a strategic liaison between t

now, how is any of that going to help strengthen middle class opportunity and middle class families in iowa? she even wants to roll back the clean water act and eliminate the department of education. how much less schooling do you think would be good for power kids, joni? can you imagine someone with those sorts of extreme views holding the seat that tom harkin so ably filled on your behalf all of these years? look, from education to agriculture, to his unflagging commitment to the sick, to the poor, to the voiceless, senator hearken's success can be measured by the millions of american lives that he has touched and that he has made better. and iowa and indeed the entire country will be forever blessed because of tom harkin's great service. [applause] and i know tom and ruth would join me when i say -- you want to know what sort of lasting tribute you can give to tom harkin? you want to know what sort of tribute you can give to him and to ruth after the thank you parties and the thank you dinners are done? the best tribute you can give to tom harkin's work is to elect bruce braley your

what puts me in the mushy middle is that i think the impediments to democracy in the middle east are more deeply rooted than some of my neoconservative friends have suggested at times. it isn't just a matter of -- it is not as simple as removing this or that tyrant and then democracy and human rights will bloom. as you can see, i think if you look at what is going on on the ground, there is a fundamental problem in these countries a political community. you can't have a limited government unless everybody -- or the most clinically significant elements in that society have a sense that they have a shared fate and that they are a part of the single community and the greater good of the community will be served by limited government. when the major groups in the society have a sense of winner take all -- every middle eastern has a movie in their head. it is what they're going to do to me when they take power. you can see what is going on in syria right now. they are doing to the opposition what it fears the opposition would do to it if it got in power. these are powerful forces. i don't

true in the is very middle east. i started asking myself, where did the picture that the americans had admitted century of the middle east come from? this inquiry led me to a really surprising lace. when you think about it it is not that surprising. it came from religion. eastxperts on the middle were all missionaries. the firstambassadors, people who worked in the cia who established our expertise, they were all either the descendents of missionaries are people who .re trained by missionaries i think the missionary worldview had an enormous influence on int we thought we were doing the middle east. i'm not the first one to point this out, but i don't know of anybody else who has honed in on the kind of specific inclinations that the missionaries had. when you go back a little bit to the 1930's and 1940's, john foster dulles in the eisenhower administration first became theinent on international/diplomatic stage by his work in the churches. he worked in the federal council of churches in the late 30's and early 40's

fingers or build their fences in the shape of middle fingers let's keep everything in middle fingers and then point them all at the white house or the stock exchange or any other building where the people inside are screwing us we should let the establishment know that we know they are screwing us and what's a better way to do that with a little finger salute.

it's not true. >> look at the middle class, the middle class and emerging markets is amazing, the growtha lot of countries, income inequality in the united states, it was enormous in china's emerging market. now you have a middle class that's forming. what are they doing with the money? they're spending it. that's a great investment opportunity. >> the middle class here versus india or china is not comparable. >> i was saying they're growing. charles: listen, they do buy louis vuitton product, they buy harley-davidson's, they go mcdonald's. we are doing so much. apple does 66% of its business outside of this country. >> i wanted to mention too, in terms of growth, what we need to do in the united states is focus on education. i know there's a big push for that, where is the tech education? where are -- what are we doing when we need to educate our young people on the technology side. charles: you talk about it a lot and i don't think we can hammer away at it. we are not developing the right skill set for the jobs that are out there. we're arguing over higher minimum wage and waste our en

to be in the middle of. little. today's top stories a review of the week's headlines ukrainian military and government fighters accuse each other at ignoring undeclared ceasefire as more civilian lives are lost in attacks. billions behind on payments ukraine has its gas cut off this week making europe anxious kiev could turn back the clock and siphon from transit pipeline. geodes sees three more iraqi cities and several border checkpoints as they continue a deadly offensive across the north and west of iraq. israel's troops raid media offices in the west bank including r.t.c. easing hard drives and destroying equipment amid a crackdown aimed at the palestinian authorities.

it is a way for people to reach the middle class, for families to stay in the middle class. and right now the middle class is squeezed in every direction by so many different economic factors and pressures, and the cost of a college education is one of the most pressing of them. so we have the opportunity tomorrow to enable countless people to take advantage of the american dream in a very hardheaded, practical way by enabling all college graduates or others who have student loans to reduce the charges, the interest rates on those loans, to a lower rate; that is, the lowest rate acceptable. and i want to thank the presiding officer for her leadership in championing this cause before it reached the senate floor, way before it became the fashionable and popular issue that it has become today. and i want to thank also the president of the united states who, by executive action, has helped to ease the burden of those college loans to thousands of current student debt holders. he has recognized the importance of reducing that burden by expanding a program that was passed by congr

on oil from the middle east because the middle east has the largest oil reserves. that is likely to continue for many years to come. that did not happen. it did not happen because of what we see in civil conflict and the need for foreign investment. the oil has become part of the problem in iraq. this is driven by national security for us. it has consequences not just for iraq, but the relationship with iran. with saudi arabia, which is unhappy with foreign policy there. with syria because of what may happen if the islamic state is empowered. those are really the issues, not so much the oil. the oil itself is become part of the internal. who are increasingly able to useave been some of the oil under their control and sell it independently even though the president of iraq is occurred. the government his act we asked and they have used that leverage and their relationship with needs that. and they are trying to get a hold of some of the oil resources and refinery because that income is going to fund the operations both domestically and internationally. different kin

won't admit iran is one of the most stable countries in the middle east plus amid accusations of human rights violations in american prisons we find russian jails are far from just your in the now. president putin has asked lawmakers to withdraw permission to use the russian military forces in ukraine this will certainly make it harder for washington to hold its tail of a big bad russian ob the use of military was force was granted as an option unanimously in march ahead of the referendum in crimea but it's more outrage in the west which suspected russia planning an invasion not much news about it in the west though i guess it just doesn't fit into this cold war cold war cold war i see in relations with the west we tend to help support a cease fire in ukraine is of course important news whether it will work is still unclear but there are some who think this is the wrong move marks the bow to lecture at moscow state university joins us tonight in the studio thanks again mark for being here what's wrong with taking a step back trying to perhaps hell. that's the escalation in ukraine ok s

the first thing that a middle class person says, and, of course, trade is now conflated with the middle class economic challenge. the first thing a middle class person on the trade issue is liable to say is why are you talking about new agreements if you aren't enforcing the laws on the books today? so with respect to enforcement, with respect to digital goods, human rights, transparency, a labor and environmental protections, i think there is an opportunity to build a new bipartisan coalition. somebody the other day was talking about fast track. i said maybe we'll tall -- call it smart track -- that in effect ensures that we can tap these markets. my part of the world is very interested in asia, a big growth market. northeast, maybe european markets. it's called t-tip, the agreement with europe. but the reality is this is a prime opportunity for us to create more good-paying jobs. the trailed jobs often pay better than do the non-trade jobs and i'm determined to find a way to a new bipartisan coalition for trailed policy. >> but you are swimming upstream against a populist current in t

so much so that he had to reassure the middle east. >> who said we are weak in the middle east?he saudis. with upset the saudis. -- we upset the saudis. they want us to bomb iran for them. i don't want to bomb iran for them. president did was get a lot of leverage in terms of sanctions on iran, and got them to the table. it is not as satisfying as a bombing run, until after you do the bombing run and discover you miss the target. people have such short memories. down, he took it off the -- he took qadhafi down. with over libya is today. look at where libby is today. which of the two arab spring's that are doing the best? sia and kurdistan tan. the countries we have nothing to do with in their current form. when people wanted -- they have a balance. when people take ownership and they find what is to be the key of these springs, no victor, no vanquished, inclusive politics, where that exists the countries are going to go forward. that is what happened. after a lot of struggling and say no i'm going to have it all, islam is, secularists, they finally said let's share. you get a li

. >> who said we're weak in the middle east?udis said we're weak. we've upset the saudis. they want us to go bomb iran for them. i don't really want to bomb iran for them. i would like to see if i can negotiate them into a appropriate and i think what the president did was get a lot of leverage in terms of sanctions on iran and he's gotten them to the table. it's not as satisfying as bombing run until after the morning after the bombing run you missed the target and then everyone starts to wonder why did wepeople had such short mem. he took it down. people said you don't have to havecslook what's happening to a today. >> rose: they have boots on the ground in iraq. they'd boots on the ground in afghanistan. >> and by the way which are the two air you been -- arab sprins doing the best. the t countries that had nothing to do with it basically in their current evolutionary form. so when people want it -- >> rose: in fact they have islamist democracy. >> they have a balance, surely. when people take ownership and they find what is

east and we've seen the russian point of view very skeptical about this they believe that the middle east is not ripe for democracy and in general russians have support support the view that only strongmen can bring order to very divided society well i i think i would like to disagree with you on the characterization of their russian policy i think roger put in and they said that it is up to the syrians or up to the iraqis to decide who they want to be in charge and there seems to be a pattern among those arab societies to really look. for a strong man perhaps because they're really tired of war and cares but if i can bring you back to that issue of dimona ization i don't think westerners or western media western pundits can afford to demonize all molecules to quiet the same extent that they demonized assad even though i think there is a time to a doing that but speaking about assad do you think the west has gone too far in trying to diligently minds him can it really sort of go back and try to at least assad in its fight against terror groups and would that be in the best interest o

all love the intrigue of the middle east so much? >> as the israelis constantly tell us, and they live in a dangerous neighborhood all stop -- neighborhood. and it is true. but it is a complicated and intriguing neighborhood filled with a complex mosaic of cultures and religions. it is fascinating. mostly fascinating. ames fell in love with the middle east, even though it is a difficult case to work. >> he wanted to learn. he studied the language. >> he could joke in the language. he could read the literature, read a newspaper, and carry on political conversation. this is very rare, i have to say, for an intelligence officer. even today, there are very few cia officers who can do what he did back in the 1980's. >> the book is called "the goods by kaithe good spy" bird. stay with us. jessye norman is here, and we can be happy about that. she makes us all sing. the famed opera singer has written a book on "stand up straight and sing." up inmoirs of growing augusta, georgia, performing in the world's greatest opera houses. i am pleased

to discuss that i'm now joined by joshua landis director of the university of oklahoma center for middle east studies professor landis thank you very much for being here well thank you for inviting me on oksana now the isis offense if it is a very significant game changer on the ground but the question is can it really change anything in the minds of decision makers in washington and london can't force them to reconsider its some of the. assumptions and perhaps even some of their objectives in syria and in iraq i believe it will already there is a lively debate in washington about whether the u.s. should start to work. iran and the policy makers and pundits in washington are separating to two camps and they're fighting bitterly about this some do not of course want the united states to begin cooperating with iran they are fearful that this will have a very bad effect on israel and saudi arabia others believe that counterterrorism is of the utmost importance and that iran can help the united states beat back isis and al qaeda in the region professor landis i would have to discuss that ira

continuing movement of the wahhabi religion in not only the middle east but in southeast asia and in parts of pakistan and afghanistan. which is quite extraordinary and it's been. been able to exist beyond all the conflicts that have been going on it seems to me if we look at saudi arabia and you know hobby islam guys come from saudi arabia but they have to be you know the government they're the regime they're probably has to be a bit worried they could come back and bite them i mean this could be the ultimate nightmare for the gulf because you know we've seen you can empower these jihadism these extremists and terrorists and whatnot but it's homo some possible to turn them off and that's exactly right and it's happened i think already in saudi arabia i think that there have been attacks inside saudi arabia they were attributed to al-qaeda or similar organizations. and you know the they also are creating a situation of instability in the region. that. can come back and bite them in ways that they can't anticipate it's not just a soured relationship with iran which after all in the ne

nothing for the middle. nothing to help people afford college. deregulation. repeal reform. >> i have a request for you now, isn't this whole thing a little bit ludacris? the entire political class is sort of attached to wall street like a tick. just sucking as much money as it can. now we are going, oh, any god. hillary clinton, she is rich and -- isn't at the end of the day a big part of the problem that the whole political class way off. >> wasn't the whole middle class -- >> that had nothing do. >> now we give hillary a pass, right? >> this is not his connection to wall street. it was his claiming what was it a hup thousand jobs he created. when he bankrupted companies and laid people off. >> how many jobs have the clintons created, other than the clinton foundation? >> 20 million. >> 1 million? >> 20 million. >> you mean with the republican congress -- >> oh, too busy doing other things that had nothing to do with jobs. >> nice try. >> okay. we spent all this time talking about the clintons. they are fun. and they may be important in 2016. but they are ir

it is the middle east. it is an opportunity to work with the iranians to solve the larger strategic threat, which is, right now, the jihadis threatening both syria and iraq. you cannot just solve the problem in baghdad. >> what happened to the effort we poured into training the iraqi army? >> this happens time and again. we were all that effort into training, arming, and equipping the south vietnamese. and when we left and the north vietnamese attacked, the south vietnamese army folded. we have done 10 years worth of training, equipping, and fighting outside the afghan army. we do have to worry that when we pull out, they are going to collapse as well, and the taliban will do there what the jihadis are doing in iraq today. it is not the united states that can solve these problems. as long as we are there fighting their war, they are going to rely on us, and never develop the resilience to deal with the problems on their own when we leave. >> no motivation. thank you. we will be back. stay with us. ♪ >> kai

and it isn't just iraq and syria it's the middle east.t's an opportunity to work with the iranians to solve the larger strategic threat, which is right now the jihadis threatening both syria and iraq. and we've got to put this whole bag together for it to work. you can't just solve the problem in baghdad. >> rose: what happened to all the effort that we poured into training the iraqi army. >> charlie, this happens time and again. we poured all that effort into training, arming and equipping the south vietnamese army. when we left, the north vietnamese attacked, the south vietnamese army folded. we've done ten years worth of training, equipping and fightig alongside the afghan army and we do have to hurry when we pull out they're going to collapse as well and the taliban will do there what the jihadis are doing in iraq today. so it isn't the united states that can solve these problems. as long as we're there, fighting their war, they're always going to rely on us and never develop the resilience to deal with the problems on their own when

we are independent of middle east oil. not only approving the keystone pipeline does something else for us, too. it helps our jobs situation. it creates an enormous number of jobs. it provides us an ongoing source of oil from canada. there are a lot of things that are good about that. we talk about russia, germany gets about 40% of the energy from russia. we need to correct that. you keep saying that the only thing we need to do is this and this. we will the nazis have left us alone if we stopped buying german sausage? >> are we not talking about terror? as prices go up, things are not getting better economically. so the middle class and the lower class is getting squeezed the worst. >> that's not what we're talking about. we're talking about prices, not terror. >> what video are we showing? what's going on in iraq has the potential to make prices go up. we are talking about domestic oil and energy prices. >> value has been going down for three years. now it's down to 23%. time to approve all of the permits because they do

a thriving economy, a thriving economy, a growing economy is built from the middle out and the middle up. prosperity doesn't trickle down. and it never has. a stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth. a stronger middle class is the ause of all economic growth. [applause] and the proof is in the results. the proof is in the results. maryland's creating jobs at the second fastest rate of any state in our region. about 9,000 over just the last two months. not only do our people now earn the highest median income in the nation, but we're also rated one of the top states for upward economic mobility. and just last week, the united states' chamber of commerce hardly a mouthpiece for the maryland democratic party, for the third year in a row, named us the number one state in america for innovation and ntrepreneurship. but progress is also about creating a more just and a more inclusive and a more secure future for power kids, isn't it? with the belief in the dignity of every individual, we expanded and protected collective bargaining rights in aryland. and we don't bel

how did tiananmen change china's middle class? >> well, we have to also remember what happened then in the context of what was going on, and then what happened elsewhere around the world. we also know that the tv yet union had collapsed. they had wanted to have political freedoms before they had true economic growth in the institutions that developed before. so china clearly was worried about that situation, and china was going through high inflation at the time. china policymakers really needed to get a handle on changing a country that was completely communist economy. this was a major transition. a lot of these leaders come from the cultural institution where they know that chaos would be destruction for the country. the narrative that they have told the chinese, and lots of the chinese have bought into it is that largely, hey, if we just had too many changes at once, we couldn't have implemented the reforms that we've had, and that allowed you to enjoy all the freedoms that you have now economically like going abroad. >> the f

there are those in the middle east, not governments but there are those in the middle east who believe bin laden's message who believe in the fight who send checks. >> rose: does this include the foundations in saudi arabia and the places it supported. >> so i say rich gulf arabs who don't think about the world the right way. >> rose: is it religious for them. >> it's religious for them and ideological for them. it's people walking outside of a mosque and putting money inside the basket. >> rose: tell me about the leader of isis. >> we don't know much about him. there aren't great pictures of him. he is reclusive. he practices high quality, i wouldn't say extraordinary but high quality operational security. the iraqi as far as -- >> rose: what does that mean, high quality operational security. >> doesn't, communicates in ways that doesn't let somebody find his location. doesn't showl20q up on tv a lot. you know, give messages largely through audio rather than video. >> rose: but it is said at the same time that he and theyo are laying outis and what they . >> right. >> rose: they want

a thriving economy, a thriving economy, a growing economy is built from the middle out and the middle up. prosperity doesn't trickle down. and it never has. a stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth. a stronger middle class is the cause of all economic growth. [applause] and the proof is in the results. the proof is in the results. maryland's creating jobs at the second fastest rate of any state in our region. about 9,000 over just the last two months. not only do our people now earn the highest median income in the nation, but we're also rated one of the top states for upward economic mobility. and just last week, the united states' chamber of commerce hardly a mouthpiece for the maryland democratic party, for the third year in a row, named us the number one state in america for innovation and entrepreneurship. [applause] but progress is also about creating a more just and a more inclusive and a more secure future for power kids, isn't it? with the belief in the dignity of every individual, we expanded and protected collective bargaining rights in maryland. [a

middle ages. it uses light and dark stone built into the structure will stop the structure pops out of the environment like a rock outcropping. instead of being a neoclassical building, it was an organic structure. besides the fact that it separated pedestrians from carriages overhead, the underpass was a shelter, if you wanted your kid to be out of the sun or to read a book. most of them had benches on both way ornd it acted as a reading area. the other thing it did was act as a living frame. for thee frame landscape to calm. -- come. on the other side, a different landscape opens up slowly, framed by the underpass. brilliant. who sees this today? people without their cell phone and look at their cell phone. they will not get this. i do not know if they ever will again. we will see what happens. they were also built with iron. they were among the first architects to show that iron could be beautiful. most people thought that it was all about heavy machinery and all of that. there is the bethesda

a thriving economy, a thriving economy, a growing economy is built from the middle out and the middle prosperity doesn't trickle down. and it never has. a stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth. a stronger middle class is the cause of all economic growth. \[applause] and the proof is in the results. the proof is in the results. maryland's creating jobs at the second fastest rate of any state in our region. about 9,000 over just the last two months. not only do our people now earn the highest median income in the nation, but we're also rated one of the top states for upward economic mobility. and just last week, the united states' chamber of commerce hardly a mouthpiece for the maryland democratic party, for the third year in a row, named us the number one state in america for innovation and entrepreneurship. but progress is also about creating a more just and a more inclusive and a more secure future for power kids, isn't it? -- our kids, isn't it? with the belief in the dignity of every individual, we expanded and protected collective bargaining rights in mar

class in a presidency that has made a theme of the middle class. >> but he made a theme in the middle class despite taking a lot of money from wall street. you can advocate policies good for the middle class even if you take money from the banks. >> having people on the left, though, been critical he hasn't been tough enough on wall street? >> absolutely. >> they have. >> okay. >> i'm saying is mika is pointing out president obama have been pursuing policies in favor of the middle class. >> who is saying that? >> mika just said that. >> she said the opposite. >> mika said president obama has pursued policies in favor of the middle class, right? >> he has tried to. >> he pursued those policies having taken money from wall street banks. >> my point taken it's hard to get done and hillary clinton would only double down on those problems having a mixed relationship with wall street, one in which she has received money for working for them and then she is going to try to take them on ian make things fairer for the american people? i don't think it's possible. >> i think it is. >> really? >

this is a middle class issue and an american issue. bipartisan effort with ideas coming from the private sector and from republicans and from democrats and you know, from non-profits and faith community about how we make sure that we're supporting families and reducing their stress. that's what's this monday summit's all about. >> so kate, what are the chances that the president will find that kind of bipartisan support in congress for any major change on then important issue? >> you've got a couple things. everyone has a family and wants them to be able to balance their life and work. but you also know the environment on capitol hill. there have been some proposals floating around, some support for paid family leave. three states alone have been taking it on themselves to see if it will work. some support for a tax break for child care. some push for tax breaks for home offices. but it comes down to an ideological divide at the end of the day. the question is, how much should the federal government be intervening in these matters and

christians are persecuted throughout the middle east. most understand that it is a beacon of civilization and moderation. i would suggest to the organizations to fly to the middle east, come see israel for the embattled democracy that it is and then take a bus tour. go to libya, go to syria, go to iraq and see the difference. and i would give them two pieces of advice. one is make sure it's an armor plated bus. and second, don't -- don't say you're christians. >> prime minister netanyahu. as always, we thank you for your views and joining us this morning. >> thank you. >>> i spoke with republican senator rand paul from kentucky who has been a strong voice against military intervention in iraq. he refused criticize president obama's current stance on iraq, but did have strong words for what benghazi will mean for hillary clinton's political future. >> senator paul, welcome back to "meet the press." >> good morning. glad to be here. >> let's get to the debate of the day. that is over the future of iraq. last year on this program, we were t

how has obama's plan for the middle east failed? >> i think eliot hit on it, we just don't have any leadership now. so there's a lot of talk about what we should do militarily, but i really have been focused on what we should do diplomatically. we don't even have a diplomatic strategy. certainly, we have arab allies in the region that want to see a plan. they would like the united states to come forward. we used to be, many years ago, worried about state-sponsored terrorism, right now we're worried about a terrorist-sponsored state. we literally could have a region where the terrorists own it called al qaedastan, in the first place. it is really getting to the point where we can't just ignore what's going on. our number one strategic reason for looking at the middle east right now has got to be to stop iran. >> that to be the top priority. >> absolutely. i think that's our number one priority for everyone involved. and we do have allies there. you know who doesn't want iran to get very far? it's turkey and saudi arabia. we have arab

i am just talking about getting an even middle-class and staying there. that shouldn't be as hard as it is now. and what is more, and almost equal percentage of kids who are born into the most affluent families they there for life no matter what their effort. that is the opposite of the mobility we think of as a hallmark of america. and here is a particularly troubling fact. the majority of african-american children whose families fought their way into the middle class decades ago now have lower incomes than their parent stood and many are falling out of a middle-class altogether. to understand what is going on here, we have to take a good look at what is happening in both the economy and society. in the economy since 2000, part tv is increased by more than 25%, yet wages for most americans have vaccinated, further depressing demand as slowing growth. media, real, hourly wages for americans in the middle have been flat over the past decade. for lower income americans have actually fallen and even for many higher wage earners below the very top, they've ba