mr. james carville.i don't know where you got your views of women, until i hear some sort of retraction, i don't think that i'm interested in your book. >> guest: i guess you'll be one of the people not buy myook and good luck to ou. h leflou e a conflict untracked consensus that they have to pay more taxes to address the challenge and the rich have to pay a share because they can afford it and it is the right thing to d fer eiinerate de ie co sse. this goes back to the earlier point with grover norquist and americans for tax reform. >> guest: i'm justryg tell you wt e rey he a significant part of it as republicans. they have to raise taxes. they're the only ones who can afford it. you can listen to the people on these cal. 75% of those polled say that we should be raising taxes as part of this. >> host: and in today's wall street journal, you and stan greenberg right that he 2 isadf f truck hitting someone suffering from pneumonia. you he won the state in a post-world war ii america, we grew arica and t

mr. james carville joins us for the interview. thank you for being here. >> i'm glad to be here, rachel. >> you were saying when we were playing the clip that issues like the student loan thing resonate with people more than people think they do. you think the beltway doesn't think issues like that resonate? >> i don't think they do. they understand that romney would be letting the banks make more money. stekdly, when you talk about the middle class and how do you regrow the middle class and bring it back, education is at the forefront. they understand that. i grew up, that was the ticket to prosperity. if you got an education, you knew it was going to pay for itself. that was the best investment you could make. now, not so sure. we find out the kids have more dent than the education is worth and we have to change that, and this kind of thing, i think this is a good issue. a good political issue. i think it will resonate with people and i think they'll understand it. i really do. >> one of the things you write about in the new boo

mr. james carville, is there really a middle class? it looks like we have the rich and we have the port. i have not seen the middle class in existence for some time. i am not clear. guest: that is a great question. i will say a few yards and turn it over to my colleague. you do, but it is not what it used to be. stan, explain how we define middle class and what we say it means. guest: we go through defining it. you are asking the right question. we think it is an aspiration, and identity, what people believe about hard work being rewarded. that is what you are saying. if people are not -- hard work is not being rewarded. people are building up college debt. if we talk to people in the polling, 10 years ago 75% thought there was a decent chance for you to do well, given the hard work. that has dropped 50% now. there is a major drop in confidence that hard work is rewarded. if people believe they are on the edge and slipping. when they ask -- when they are asked are you middle-class, they say they used to be or their parents were. they a

mr. james carville is there really a middle-class? looks like we have the rich and poor. i don't remember the middle class being in existence for some time now. so i am not really clear. does he go i will say a few words and turn it over to -- guest: i will say a few words and turn it over to my colleague. we do, but it is not what it used to be. explain to our caller how we define middle-class and what we say it means. guest: we go through in this book defining it. you ask every question. and and we think it is an aspiration, and an identity, people believe in hard work being rewarded. but hard work is not being rewarded. people are building up -- if you talk to people now, not just talk to people in our focus groups, and the poles and -- 10 years ago, 75% thought there was a decent chance for you to do well given hard work. a major drop in confidence. people do believe they are on the edge and slipping. we ask the question, are you middle-class? they will say, i used to be, or my parents are, but there is a sense of slipping them. you are right. they talk about just the

mr. james carville, is there really a middle class? it looks like what we have now is we have the rich and then we have the poor. i don't remember the middle class being in existence for some time now. so i'm not really clear. guest: that's a good question. i'm going to say a few words and turn it over to my colleagues dr. greeneberg who's thought about this idea. we do. it's just not what it used to be. stan, why don't you tell our caller, help explain to our caller what -- how we define middle class and what we say it means. guest: and we go through in this book, defining it, but you're absolutely asking the right question, because in the end we think it's an aspiration, an identity that some people believe about hard work being rewarded. it's exactly what you're saying. hard work is not being rewarded, people are building up college debt. college used to be the way you moved from one generation to the next, get better and better, and if you talk to people now, not just talk to people in our focus groups, in the polls, you know, ten

mr. biden was at the convention in houston. after that, house leaders preview next week's agenda. >> tomorrow morning, our guests include james carvilletan greenberg to talk about their new book "it's the middle class, stupid." then challenging the constitutionality of the dodd- franc law. and then you can call in with your questions about the new report on children. our guests are edward and kristin more. washington journal is live on c- span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> this weekend, on book tv, growing up in the shadows and secrets of the weaponry facility, kristin iverson looks at the effects on the environment and the people saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. then peter collier on the life of jean kirkpatrick. >> carter, in her opinion, was mcgovern with a magnolia accent. and she saw the dominoes start to fall during this time. by 1979, she was in full-fledged opposition to carter and what she saw carterism, that appeasement. and in 1979, she saw the fall of the shock and the fall of nicaragua and some less reading experiences for her and people like her. >> sunday night at 9:00 p.m. and then at 10:00 p.m., anthony wofford --