well, mitch, i asked what do you want me to do about it? mr. president, he said, bring some troops home from iraq. bring some troops home from iraq. that, of course, because this is george w. bush's own book, this is what he quotes himself as having said back to senator mcconnell after that rather astonishing exchange. mitchell, i said, i believe our presence in iraq is necessary to protect america and i will not withdraw troops unless military conditions warrant. i made it clear i would set troop levels to achieve victory in iraq, not victory at the polls. which is sort of really as much of the taste as you need about how george w. bush portrays himself in his new book. but what is important here is not get bush's own incredibly healthy view of his own ethic, his sharp memory and perfect electrocution and ending the sentence with the word warrant but what is important is what he says. what this book says about the man who is now head of the republican party in the senate, according to president bush mitch mcconnell told him to bring some troop

mitch mcconnell is calling it cutting and running. that's what he was saying publicly while lobbying president bush privately to pull the troops out. mitch mcconnell has not denied this new revelation. mcconnell's hometown paper denounced the senator for "contemptiblehypocrisy" because of this story. we reported this on friday night. we asked senator mcconnell to appear on the show to discuss this. his office has declined the request. with that skeleton in the closet now revealed, republicans have a problem on their hands. the debate in this country is about to return to questions of whether and when and how to draw down u.s. troops in wartime. what's their leader in the senate going to say about it? and why won't anyone believe him that that's what he means? and why will anybody believe him that he's lobbying for the same thing in public as he is in private? and what's his explanation for saying he wanted to change the strategy in the other war to help republicans win the '06 midterms? he's the republican leader in the senate. and th

eric, this has been one of your criticisms of mitch mccobble for a long time.tablishment would not give in, would not listen to the conservative base and ban these ir marks. maybe it's not a lot of money, but it is symbolically important. i want you to listen quickly to mitch mcconnell today on the floor. >> banning ear marks is another small but important symbolic step that we can take to show that we're serious, another step on the way to serious and sustained cuts in spending, and to debt. >> is eric aircraftson going to sign up for the mitch mcconnell fan club? >> no, but this is a step in the right direction. i'm impressed and however much it pains me to say something nice about mitch mcconnell tonight,ly do so. he had his pulse on where the tea party was, when i suspect he knew the inevitable outcome and decided to be with the majority, but, john, would i say it's a mischaracterization to say this is a small drop in the bucket. yes, earmarks are very small, but what they lead to, as tom coburn is they're a gateway drug to larger government, larger pieces

even he post election press conference was mitch mcconnell, john boehner and haley barbour. that must mean something. >> that means he's seriously thinking about running. gwen: and who else? >> yeah, on the republican side? >> sarah palin, mike huckabee. tim pawlenti. mike pence. >> we've not had a sitting member of the house elected president in this country since jamed garfield in 1880. but mike pence announced he was stepping down from the republican leadership to consider his options. gwen: and he might run for governor of indiana. there is so much going on. it's been is much fun. -- so much fun but we're going to have to leave it here and pick it up in the web cast. because before we go tonight i'd like to take a moment to salute charlie mcdowell. the richmond dispatch reporter and columnist who spent nearly 20 years at this table passed away today, suitably on a friday. he was a treasure not only to us but to those who recognized his brilliance like ken burns who used his voice for "the civil war" and "baseball." his voice just stuck in our heads. in 1991 when washingt

when mitch was referencing -- it is interesting. i was elected mayor and one of the first stops i had was, literally, within 7 feet of where i am standing here today, but it was just dirt. that was the groundbreaking for this. here we are seven years later at the ribbon cutting. despite the delays, we are here. we are here as well in reference to what mitch was saying. a lot of it was not easy. the private commitments did not come in as expected. the money did not all materialize exactly as expected. but we call on someone who at the time could lead the way in terms of reconciling some of the concerns counties like san francisco had around their acute care facilities. we went to her many times to help us with san francisco general and to help us with laguna honda hospital. one of the big reasons we are here was the ingenious legislation that she appropriately and wisely introduced on behalf of not just this city but cities and counties large and small up and down the state, and allowed us to leverage federal dollars. it is appropria

troops rescuing mitch the eagle after he was shot in the wing. now the giant bird landed in upstate new york. peter doocy is live in our new york news room with the latest on mitch. >> yeah. this is a story that goes to show you how committed our men overseas are to preserving innocent life and not just human life, you see, this eagle was shot out of the sky in afghanistan by an afghan soldier working with the u.s. he was hurt badly and even though he ended up needing to have part of his wing amputated, this eagle was very lucky because an american contractor with a background in environmental science was nearby, along with a few navy sales. that contractor, scott hickman, named the injured bird, mitch, after a snake in the movie, "road trip." he built a cage and kept mitch fed with whole chickens at great personal expense. hickman really didn't want mitch to end up in the kabul zoo because apparently the conditions there are not great. and he wanted to send the bird to the u.s., but that's really hard to do because of bird flu concerns and accor

but mitch pulled the plug. he said, "you are all of this bill before obama is notgurated, bubecause we are negotiating on health care. even if returned it to a bill more to our liking, obama and the democrats would get credit and we would not have the kind of political success we want." there is less principal and more partisanship in my view. the final point is that many provisions of the health care have begun to enroll, and almost all of them are very popular. it is just that the broad public does not know much about it, including by the way tax credits for small businesses which have led to a marked increase in the amount of insurance among small businesses. but all the other insurance provisions are quite popular. i predict the senate, because it is controlled by the majority, will hold hearings in which various people come forward to talk about the favorable elements of the health care bill now. that is going to begin to get away from the rhetoric of government takeover of health care, socialized medicine

but first senate republican leader mitch mcconnell on "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs "face the nation" with cbs news chief washington correspondent bob schieffer. and now from cbs news in washington, bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning again. well, the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell joins us today from louisville kentucky. senator, i want to start by giving you a chance to make some news here. you want to extend the bush tax cuts for all income levels that expire this year. you want to extend them permanently. the president's opposed extending those cuts for the richest americans. but in an interview to be broadcast on "60 minutes" tonight, steve kroft asked the president if he'd be interested in extending the bush tax cuts for those upper-income americans temporarily, say, two years? presumably, in order to extend the tax cuts that he wants for lower-income americans. let's just first listen to what president obama said. >> hopefully, we can agree on a set of facts that leads to a compromise. but my number one priority comi

john boehner and mitch mcconnell, they want 100%.n't want to compromise. >> caller: been ready to lead and being able toledo two different things. i think he can do it. >> we've got to find a way because this polarization -- is taxing. >> host: it is, billy. i agree. i agree, but i'm telling you the message from bain and mcconnell is my way or the highway. listen to the statement. they are not saying let's see and take a look at this health care reform bill and see many parts of it we have to modify, or, no, no, no. they are saying the whole damn thing out. that's not what the american people want. it's not what barack obama is going to you, or should even try to do. should he try to compromise with these naysayers? 866-55-press. >> okay. i love those c-span callers. not the one in their cars. is it safe to assume that the ones calling from their cars are not watching c-span? >> you never know. >> i hope it is. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> these are the shots of c-span lives for, as eating -- us eating. >> i

well, mitch, i asked, what do you want me to do about it? mr.sident, he said, bring some troops home from iraq. bring some troops home. that is clearly much different message that what mcconnell was saying on tv months earlier and even that same month and now at the time he spoke with president bush privately he reportedly did not know mr. bush was considering the surge. a little more context about the debate, as you may recall, the surge was january 2007. that afounsment came four months after this talk with president bush. later, the former president talks about a confession of sorts from the kentucky republican, mr. bush writes, ledmy senate minority leader mitch mcconnell who supported the surge and graciously later admitted to me he had been wrong to suggest a withdrawal. we reached out to mcconnell to see if he would be on the program, he declined. he goes on to say, quote, but the public record is clear on his unwavering support for ensuring our troops in the field were fully funded and general petraeus was able to execute our counterinsu

he did not meet with mitch mcconnell for 18 months after he took office one-on-one. how do you not call the republican leader in and have a dink, have a merlot, as john boehner says. chris: yeah, red wine for red states. >> how do you not have those kinds of connections. now he has no base because he never has them over. chris: this is so fundamental. you talk about it being calm and almost opaque, everybody's using that word. does that mean he would have to say, i hear you like merlot. does he have to fake it? >> he has to start somewhere. his problem is, he said, famously to one interviewer, i'm lebron. i've got game. valerie jarrett was quoted by david remnick saying that he's never been intellectually challenged or equaled. they believe his publicity and one suspects he views himself sort of in the third person context and he believes his own publicity. >> and he's not faking it because faking it won't work. people understand -- chris: getting along with the opposition requires charm. >> right. and you've got to decide actually maybe it's genuine and they have a

mitch mcconnell decided it was better this week for earmarks it than to fight. a veteran democratic congressman and charlie arango got his comeuppance from the house committee -- a veteran democratic congressman charlie rangel got his comeuppance from the house committee. where do we stand on tax cuts? >> the house democrats stand with the president and on cutting them off and at $250,000, but senate democrats have settled off the reservation by flirting with the idea of extending them for everybody. >> if the tax cuts are expected, the richest americans -- we are all the deficit hawks now. >> in the end, the only way to solve the problem is with entitlements and growth and raising income taxes, marginal taxes, by at least 13%, on what will amount to half of the small business income in america. it is not exactly a wise way to promote employment and growth in the middle of a bad recession. as the best solution which peter orszag himself has suggested is extend them temporarily, and when the economy improves, then you terminate them. >> although most people do no

mitch mcconnell decided to be on the other side of this.e sponsors that demint lined up, you have to chuckle. every freshman and everybody wanting to make peace to demint and freshman signing on the bill. president is for this, boehner is for this. this is just something coming down to pike and hard to stop. >> bret: rand paul is ib coming member -- incoming member and he was talking to the "wall street journal." this is what they wrote about it -- paul tel >> bret: thatis according to the "wall street journal." is that disspiriting for tea party folks? >> it is dispirating and i hope that rand paul doesn't go around doing too much earmarking. i think steve hit on the problem. as we catholics would say, occasion of sin. puts you in a situation where you're beholden to, as a senator you're beholden to mitch mcconnell or the other leaders, appropriators to bring home the bacon. >> bret: if it is in the light of day and committee level, it's where you steer the money and everybody sees it. >> not an earmark. >> the citizens of government waste

mitch the earring sell named after a bit in the movie "road trip.y have very high regard for innocent life, because when they found out that this helpless eagle was shot out of the sky by afghan soldier's bullet. mitch ed need the part of his wing amputated he's lucky that scott hickman was nearby. scott is an american contractor with the background in environmental science, who told me in an e-mail this week that he used his unique skills to care for mitch, make sure his life improved. big part that have involved keeping him out of the kabul zoo where conditions are not so good. with a few nearby navy seals hickman built a cage fed mitch whole chickens that he paid for with a lot of his own money, something he says was negatively by his colleagues who felt this money would be better spent elsewhere. all this happened while he was waiting to hear back from u.s. agencies who he hoped could assist in caring for his feathered friend. but nobody got back to him for months. scott says that because bird flu concerns make it tough to bring foreign birds in

mitch mcconnell decides to back the tea party on earmarks. the senate vote may happen as early as tomorrow. charles rangel reconvenes with or without him local. news from the uk that prince william and kate middleton are engaged. the royal wedding planned for next year. it's tuesday, november 16, 2010. president obama awards the medal of honor to the first living recipient since 1976. apple promises an itunes update you will never forget. is it another beatles invasion in let's get to the rundown. we begin with deliberations begin today. rangel walked out of day one after his pleadings for a lawyer and more time was rejected. >> 50 years of public service is on the line. i truly believe that i'm not being treated fairly and that history will dictate that not with standing the political calendar, i am entitled to a lawyer during this proceeding. >> kelli o'donnell joins us to fill us in. what can we expect today? >> deliberations are going to get going again. four democrats and four republicans are looking at 13 counts against charlie rangel.

mitch mcconnell said he's on board and basically he's caved.t's a big win for this party, for the activists within their own party. >> i think just for the sake of everyone watching and listening if we can all be on the same page, what exactly is an earmark? >> reporter: i'm so glad you asked. this is what's so interesting. an earmark just the basics is when a member of congress puts into a bill spending that is specifically for a hometown project. now, we always focus -- you always hear about the bad stuff. some silly bridge to nowhere or studying how monkeys mate. but this can be stuff residents and business owners like. for example if you live in a small town and you're growing and need a new runway at your airport or another lane on your bridge, bigger bridge, those are the sorts of spending sometimes you send members to washington to bring home. so they're not always bad but right now they're seen as bad because too often we hear about the time it seems corrupt and silly. bottom line, it's only 0.3% of the bunt. so eliminating earmarks is

mitch mcconnell's already counting four out of the 10 for a majority. he holding -- he is holding them. your calling that race. >> i think tumey's going to win that race. for a long time pennsylvania's is a blue state. always been fool's gold for republican to suggest that game. polls suggest that he's going to win but this is part of that big wave. >> the democrats are going to try to win, michele obama is going to rally women voters and young voters. >> i think it still goes republican. out on a ng depo go limb and say it's possible for siesta. trying to come to the center. he's pretty far to the right. you have to realize that most pennsylvania voters are in the middle. >> so right now tumey? >> no. . now sestak. chris: let's go to west virginia with you, howd?ar the governor is not a popular governor. tough race for him? this is one that the democrats can hold on too. i know west virginia, i spent a lot of time there i think racy is a big businessman. gave them the money but not the lift he needs in west virginia. >> the underliing popularity of man

mcconnell mitch mcconnell met are there and she gave a speech about start she was good friends with mitch mcconnell and that could be the ace in the hole that could be were clinton can use to see national security arguments and her personal relationships to get this treaty on the floor tell me this very quickly because obviously. the russian side is getting frustrated saying what's taking so long so if you know if this doesn't happen then well they have to renegotiate the entire treaty is america going to look like someone who you know isn't a good partner that's exactly why people say in the national security united states is at stake here you lose confidence in the ability of the president of united states negotiate any new agreement washoe would lose confidence in the partnership they have with united states russia wouldn't have inspectors in the u.s. inspecting our weapons we don't have them there it's been almost two years since inspectors have been there as senator lugar pointed out today you may have forgotten about those thousands of missiles that each side has but they're s

he called steny hoyer, john boehner, nancy pelosi, mitch mcconnell. in these calls with representatives in a near and mitch mcconnell, he said that he was looking forward to working with republicans to find common ground and to get things done for the american people. the president was campaigning sunday in ohio and making regular calls today to a number of urban radio stations. live coverage tomorrow. we will also hear from congressman to john boehner and we will have coverage beginning tomorrow starting with "washington journal." we are waiting jon casey to will be speaking shortly. >> hello. thank you for taking my calls. i would like to say that i was really worried today, but i am a democrat and i did get my kids out to vote. our country should removing any better direction. in our country, there is a separation of church and state. everyone has a right to their opinion and i don't think that he is being disrespectful to the country. there were many years of chaos before the president. >> you have a new republican governor and a familiar face to

. >> reason mitch mcconnell came out and said he was going to support a moratorium on earmarks, because of pressure from the house. republicans are pushing for this strongly. in his post election news conference he very quickly embraced the republican leadership to do that. this is why mitch mcconnell has been opposed to this sfrep the beginning that that makes a trivial contribution to the deficit problem we've got. one of the challenges for lawmakers in trying to reconcile the desire for austerity with the popularity of programs is that in the mind map of many voters, they don't -- they see the amount of waste in the government associated with things like earmarks as much bigger than it actually is. pollsters have found you this when they do focus groups. vast amounts of the federal can be resolved by waste. we know with these commissions, you can't. >> let me ask you about taxes because this is part of the game that everybody's going be focused on between now and tend of the year. one theory is kick the can down the road. extend the bush tax cuts. make it the big issue of the preside

like mitt romney, governor haley barbour or governor mitch daniels? then because obama's clearly vulnerable on big spending, g.o.p. deficit hawks like newt gingrich, tim pawlenty and john thune. but there's another path to the nomination. this way of thinking goes, don't try to be unobama. assume -- play strongly to the christian conservatives who are vying for values voters and might be the thinking of mike schneider huckabee, mike pence, tim pawlenty and sarah palin. and exploit those early primaries on the map. it starts in heavily evangelical iowa and then after new hampshire, quickly goes to baptist south carolina. howard, this is the season. we're not jumping the gun. isn't this the season this fall when all those names we mentioned are decided where they go or not? >> no question. both here in washington and in other places where there's money to be had, the race is on. not to collect the money right now. but to sign up the key fundraisers one of the things you have to decide at the beginning is you're running -- if you're running, who's going

under pressure from the conservative insurgents, senate republican leader mitch mcconnell is bowing to the new reality. whit johnson is in washington with more on that. good morning, whit. >> reporter: betty, good morning to you. well, top republicans appear to be falling in line with the tea party when it comes to earmarks. the longtime washington practice that has held countless lawmakers, both win and lose elections, may be on its way out. senator mitch mcconnell's longtime support for pork barrel spending has suddenly ended. >> and what i've concluded is that on the issue of congressional earmarks, as the leader of my party in the senate, i have to lead first by example. >> reporter: mcconnell's change of attitude sets off a battle with gop conservatives. >> he's under a lot of pressure. a lot of attacks from the right wing of his party. he realized, you know what, it's better to join them, rather than keep fighting with them. >> reporter: a flurry of tea party-backed candidates rolled to victory earlier this month, with many campaigning against the practice of tacking pet projects

[applause] >> thank you, mitch. every time i stand out and talk about san francisco general, i feel humble and proud. i feel humble because what goes on is in a public arena, the most remarkable consensus of all kinds of groups all across the city working to make this hospital something that not only can we be proud of, but that is recognized all around the country as the very best of the best. our programs go nationwide. our research goes nationwide. every time i bring somebody here who has never been to the hospital before, they all go away just filled with energy and enthusiasm, thinking that this is the best place they have ever seen. that is why i feel humble. it is also why i feel proud. it is a remarkable thing to be able to stand up and say what goes on here because of the work of every single person involved here, and now, because of the work of 84.5% of the people in the city, is just unheard of. i know we are going to have a fabulous new hospital. i know webcor is going to do a wonderful job. i think the

like mitt romney governor haley barbour or governor mitch daniels? then because obama's clearly vulnerable on big spending, g.o.p. deficit hawks like newt gingrich tim pawlenty and john thune. but there's another path to the nomination. this way of thinking goes, don't try to be unobama. assume -- play strongly to the christian conservatives who are vying for values voters and might be the thinking of mike schneider huckabee mike pence, tim pawlenty and sarah palin. and exploit those early primaries on the map. it starts in heavily evangelical iowa and then after new hampshire quickly goes to baptist south carolina. howard this is the season. we're not jumping the gun. isn't this the season this fall when all those names we mentioned are decided where they go or not? >> no question. both here in washington and in other places where there's money to be had, the race is on. not to collect the money right now. but to sign up the key fundraisers one of the things you have to decide at the beginning is you're running -- if you're running, who's going to r

he has a good relationship with mitch mcconnell. relationshipell's with chuck schumer was not very strong. but harry reid and mcconnell our friends. they have a good relationship. she has a lot of grassroots support. she is a regular on the cable news shows patrick whether she has the support remains to be seen. a lot of these things come down to popularity contest. michele bachmann is well liked. kevin mccarthy was in charge of recruitment and did a lot of work. michele bachmann surly could launch a bid. -- certainly could launch a bid. host: jason from tennessee. caller: good morning. i have a question. it seems like the biggest senate battle was in arkansas, and it just kind of died down there in the last couple of months and never heard anything on that. i was wondering that maybe senator clinquant could have lost because of the health care bill or she was just in the southern state -- senator quentin -- senator lincoln. guest: she survived a tough primary early this year and ran a good campaign. she was in a red state. what hap

mitch mcconnell was seeing the footprints behind him. he's been a historic supporter of the earmarks in the belief they make only a trivial contribution to the budget deficit. some of them are legitimate projects. the public doesn't feel that way. especially the tea party. president obama wands to respond to this that lesson. mitch mcconnell did. that's how they present some element of bipartisanship cooperation. not because they want to get along, but they feel they need to get along. >> so this is just the beginning, right? they said in their own caucus we want to ban these. but when do we find out if it's real? and how do we find out? what do they do where we say okay, now we give them credit. >> on this subject we'll find out next year they pass legislation and see if the earmarks are added. president obama in his campaign as candidate obama promised to go after earmarks, and then he found himself when he came into office signing bills that contain ad lot of earmarks and saying, well i don't have the opportunity to end that practice