mr. woodward. guest: i ask the president about this two months ago. he said the proposals by the simpson-bowles commission included in eliminating some of the tax deductions are cutting back on the charitable deductions, health insurance deductions, and the mortgage insurance deduction, the president told me that those would be "wildly unpopular." they would never pass congress. i think he's right. you need some sort of serious tax reform negotiation that would take months, maybe a year, maybe longer. reagan did it in his presidency in 1986. they were able to lower the rates and are virtually get more money for the federal government. it's harder now, but it's possible. this expression of confidence, erskine bowles and al simpson deserve a medal of honor for survival in pushing on the issues here. the problem is politics. this book is called "the price of politics" because when it comes to political calculations, they say we should not do something painful or, to use the president's expression, "wi

mr. woodward. guest: as i pointed out in the book, there is scene after scene where the republicans show that they will not budge on some of these things. in their view, they are adhering to the constitution. in their view, they're doing what is necessary. but the key point is that speaker boehner is at least a nominal leader of the republicans in the house and open these negotiations last year with the president. they're all kinds of offers and discusons going back and forth on this. you can see the detail and you -- you may blameahaw obama or you may blame the republicans or you may blame me for writing this. but this is, if you will, the performance review. this is what we used to always call the best obtainable version of the truth. host: 1 last phone call for you. south carolina. caller: please let me stay few facts and don't cut me off. host: we don't have time for a few facts. caller: first, i want to compliment mr. woodward on his book. i know he is a very intelligent man. he wrote a nice b

mr. woodward.uest: i ask the president about this two months ago. he said the proposals by the simpson-bowles commission included in eliminating some of the tax deductions are cutting back on the charitable deductions, health insurance deductions, and the mortgage insurance deduction, the president told me that those would be "wildly unpopular." they would never pass congress. i think he's right. you need some sort of serious tax reform negotiation that would take months, maybe a year, maybe longer. reagan did it in his presidency in 1986. they were able to lower the rates and are virtually get more money for the federal government. it's harder now, but it's possible. this expression of confidence, erskine bowles and al simpson deserve a medal of honor for survival in pushing on the issues here. the problem is politics. this book is called "the price of politics" because when it comes to political calculations, they say we should not do something painful or, to use the president's expression, "wild

mr. woodward. guest: i ask the president about this two months ago. he said the proposals by the simpson-bowles commission included in eliminating some of the tax deductions are cutting back on the charitable deductions, health insurance deductions, and the mortgage insurance deduction, the president told me that those would be "wildly unpopular." they would never pass congress. i think he's right. you need some sort of serious tax reform negotiation that would take months, maybe a year, maybe longer. reagan did it in his presidency in 1986. they were able to lower the rates and are virtually get more money for the federal government. it's harder now, but it's possible. this expression of confidence, erskine bowles and al simpson deserve a medal of honor for survival in pushing on the issues here. the problem is politics. this book is called "the price of politics" because when it comes to political calculations, they say we should not do something painful or, to use the president's expression, "wi

mr. woodward, it is who pays for the campaign and i think you know that. since the tea party republicans took over the house in 2010, congress has the lowest approval rating ever. and after four years of obama, he is going up in the polls. secondly, i am sure that, since -- if the republicans control everything in november, they will -- they will not raise taxes on the rich one penny. that is who pays for their elections. >guest: if the republicans take over everything, it will be on their back to come up with some plan. you make some good points. there is a way. simpson and bowls, on the road to some of that. where we are now is in trouble and be in peril. what i have tried to do -- in the way, in the end, for a reporter, it is not about the politics of it. it is not about partisan positions. it is trying to find out exactly what happened. and there are things in this book that democrats the like, things that republicans delight. it is what happened. -- what republicans don't like. it is what happened. you can look at it and determine for yourself. on our

mr. woodward wrote a whole book about it. >> some questions are even too difficult for the sage of capitolr, for your time. >> be well. >> coming up, state of the unions, the chicago teachers strike pits education reformers against labor unions. we are going to look at how the battle could reverberate into november, that's ahead. welcome aboard! [ chuckles ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ honk! ] ♪ [ male announcer ] now you'll know when to stop. [ honk! ] the all-new nissan altima with easy fill tire alert. [ honk! ] it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ nissan. innovation that excites. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm. great grains. search great grains and see for yourself. how mbefore you do constipation do yosomething different?... when you feel your first signs, try miralax. unlike other laxatives, miralax empowers the water you drink to do more. drawing water in

mr. woodward, it is about who pays for the campaigns.all since the tea party republicans took over the house in 2010, congress has had its lowest approval rating ever. obama is going up in the polls. republicans controlling everything in november? they will make a voucher system out of everything. they are not going to raise the taxes on the rich one penny. guest: if the republicans take over everything, it will be on their back to come up with some plan. you make some good points there. there is a way, and some symbols is on the road to some of that. and where we are now is in trouble and in peril. what i am trying to do the, in a way, in the end, for a reporter is not about the politics of it. it is not about the partisan decisions. it is trying to find out exactly what happened. there are things that the democrats do not like and things that the republicans do not like, but it is what happened. you can look at it and reach your own conclusion, and that is kind of the truth. that is of reporting tradition i come from. host: from the fa

mr. president, bob woodward's book, it says that you ordered your economic team not to put housing into the stem luss plan. you've had no housing problems since and one of the chronic problems in the economy, what are you going to do and when is it going to be? chris: the toughest questions for mitt romney. thanks to david ignatius, katty kay, helene cooper and major garrett. and that's the show. thanks. we'll see you back here next week as we celebrate believe it we'll see you back here next week as we celebrate believe it or not our 10th anniversary.

. >> woodward also details how the proposed agreement fell through when mr. obama asked mr. boehner for more tax increases. woodward reveals more on "world news" and "nightline." it's an abc news exclusive. >> a fly on the wall, man. all right. >>> it is a guilty verdict for drew peterson. the chicago area police sergeant charged with killing his third wife. a jury convicted peterson largely on hearsay evidence from friends and relatives of kathleen savio and stacy peterson, wife number four who vanished in 2007. he sat still as the verdict was read. but savio's family could not hold back their emotions. >> finally, somebody heard kathleen's cry. 12 people did the right thing. >> i'll never have my sister again. i'll see her in the cemetery. but at least i know she got justice. >> there is no death penalty in illinois. but peterson could spend the rest of his life in prison. he's not been charged in stacy peterson's disappearance. >>> in other news this morning the catholic bishop of kansas city, missouri, has been found guilty of shielding an abusive priest. he waited six mo

mr. meredith. bob woodward her. his 19th book, the press and politics. he will be talking in the tent this afternoon. then pulitzer prize winner daniel juergen will be joining us here on our book tv set here on the mall to talk about his newest book, the quest, energy use in america. then christopher brown will join us for our call -in segment. eminent outlaws. gay writers in america. and then finally in the history and biography tend sally smith who has written a biography of the queen of england. she will be talking about her book. and then book tv will be joining her on set, on stage for a live national call in. so stick with us all day long for our live coverage here on book tv on c-span2. however, if that is not what you are looking for and you are looking for different authors, you can go to booktv.org. there are 16 tense down here at the national book festival, and we are able to cover two of them. the other is a contemporary

mr. woodward's book that came out this morning, page 326.quester came from. we've had a discussion over a trigger, but the president didn't want his re-election inconvenienced by another fight over a $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. >> now, mitt romney, wolf, is clearly trying to take a page from bill clinton's playbook by trying to triangulate between democrats and m arepublicans he on capitol hill. the problem, both kate and wolf, is that the problem, paul ryan, his running mate, voted for those automatic cuts. >> that's a problem he's going to have to face, especially if he heads back to capitol hill at some point this week, which we do expect. it's so interesting that boehner had that page number, right on hand when he needed to use it. but another big issue that came up today, dana, is s&p down -- the potential downgrade. s&p last year downgraded the u.s. credit rating when congress failed to reach a deal. now moody's is threatening another downgrade if there's no deal. boehner as well as senate leaders were asked about it an

mr. woodward -- >> i don't think you have to chase it. you can probably buy it. i am sure he wants you to buy it. >> he asserts that the idea for a sequestration came out of the white house, if not from the president himself. can you confirm that? >> i love this, too. the president pushed as hard as he could for a grand bargain to be balanced to include revenues, and then for a sequester to include revenues. why doesn't it include revenues? i'll ask you. why do you think it doesn't include revenues? because john boehner, eric cantor, mitch mcconnell, paul ryan adamantly refuse to ask oil and gas companies, billionaires, millionaires to contribute a dime to the cause of getting our fiscal house in order. so the sequester, as it exists, reflects not the president's principles, but the insistence by republicans that no revenue be included in it -- which again, goes back to the fundamental conflict that they would rather have deep cuts in the military budget, they would rather have deep cuts in education, in border patrol, in innovation, in infrastructure, and we kno

mr. woodward. big fan of your work. who just came before me, i still haven't had a chance to read your book, but i look forward to. it seems like a theme throughout this book is the sort of both sides do it, color purple, bipartisan thing. now, of course, politics is very much about having two different sides with admittedly, you know, different views of america and different policy solutions, going out into the public, presenting their views and then having the public decide through elections or through civil discourse what policy direction they want to take. so i'm interested in terms of the sort of access you've gotten to the democratic and republican leadership in your view of the debt ceiling debacle whether you found that one side or another side was more intransigent or much more stubborn to negotiation or concession than the other side. >> that's a great question, and i do put responsibilities on both sides, but i do say at the end that if you look at presidents reagan, presidents clinton, criticize them as you

mr. woodward and others, on the path to fun ds rate. it is not convincing or provide the kind of confidence that you referred to. on this latest treatment, you have removed some of that conditionality. it will remain a prepared for a considerable time until the economy strengthens. i assume that was done to make your guidance more credible. but the question remains -- as the economy picks up steam, will you keep rates low? or will you do what the fed has always done and begin to raise the funds rate? >> well, that is an important question. former would odward is a colleague and friend. i know his work quite well. the communication about future policies is the most powerful to that central banks have with the interest rate is close to zero. he advocates policy that would essentially require your credibility -- that would require credibility lasting several years. so, his own perspective is that credibility is the key tool that central banks have in order to get traction. whether we have the credibility to persuade markets that we will fo

woodward stepped in. >> he goes to mr. waite and offers him $450 for the exclusive rights to jello. woodward dispatched salesmen who handed out jello recipe books and free samples to teach housewives what to do with the stuff. before jello in europe and the united states, molded salads and desserts were for the rich with servants who spent hours and hours boiling colonel general out of bones and other animal parts. >> that's basically what jello is. >> reporter: lynn is curator of the jello museum. >> the collagen today is extracted from animal hides. it's the part of the animal hide they can't use for making leather sofas. >> reporter: it's not made out of hooves. >> it's never been made out of hooves. the jello company from the very beginning said no horse's hooves, no cattle hooves, no. >> reporter: from the very beginning, the jello company understood advertising. a jello girl was introduced in 1904. the company hired major artists, people like norman rockwell and maxfield parish. the trick for them was to get the jello to look transparent. >> each decade of jello advertising re

mr. mayor. thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >>> up next, bob woodward on the bloodshed in libya and his controversial new bookout president obama. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. and get outstanding deals with the travelocity fall hotel sale. you can save up to 40% on select hotels. so book your hotel now and save up to 40%. hurry, offer ends soon. book now at travelocity. on december 21st polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space. which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd, and you still need to retire. td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? >>> wi

mr. mayor. thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >>> up next, bob woodward on the bloodshed in libya and his controversial new bookut president obama. ♪ why should saturday night have all the fun? get two times the points on dining in restaurants, with chase sapphire preferred. oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. why not use all your vacation days this year? get points you can easily redeem for your vacations, with chase sapphire preferred. >>> with the white house and the romney campaign sparring in the wake of the deadly attacks on this country's diplomats in benghazi and the storming of the u.s. embassy in cairo, american foreign policy, at

mr. mayor. thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. >>> up next, bob woodward on the bloodshed in libya and his controversial new book about president obama. research suggeh plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. flo: every driver is different. we've got great news for them all. you can try snapshot from progr

honor of your number oneness, i never thought of bob woodward as partisan anything, certainly partisan conservative but he gives a damning indictment of mrdling of the debt deal last year. what's your take on this? >> there are two ways to read obama's behavior, neither one is flattering to obama. obama is a bunkler, habitually pushes for tax increases, doesn't know how to close a deal. that's an obvious interpretation. does obama-care that much if he got a deal? does debt help him in some way because obama has been so promiscuous and reckless about spending, running up the debt, 5 trillion in the first term, if he ran another 5 trillion in the second term, the national debt would be 20 trillion dollars and he would be responsible for half of that. i almost wonder if debt serves a purpose for obama. >> let me come back to that. woodward says at one point there is no adult supervision in the white house. very interesting. do you agree with denesh at the end of the day, president obama doesn't really care, run up the debt and spend more. is that his strategy, deliberate ly sabotage the debt deal last year? >> let's look at the evidence. th

mr. obama succeeded squandering any good will and the chance to cooperate with republicans. jon? jenna: always interesting nuggets in a bob woodward. jenna: campaign leaders are telling our very own james rosen that tonights speech will not be about magic but mr. obama vision to move the america forward. we're your election headquarters and we'll be right back ven 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. jenna: a traffic cop in charlotte having some fun with passerbiers, even though he's working. during a temporary gig directing traffic for the dnc, this officer a member of the clayton county sheriff's office s.w.a.t. team entertains drivers and pedestrians with all these dance moves. no wonder -- did the s.w.a.t. team learn that during training. jon: you do a lot of exercises. he's doing biceps work right there.

in that new bob woodward book, he quotes an interview that he had with mr.ma in which the president said, yeah, you know, maybe if i had it to do over, i shouldn't have been so tough on paul ryan when i gave a speech about him, well, about him and the house budget committee, and he was sitting there right in the room back in i think it was april of 2011. >> right. and that was an interesting moment in this book. there are a number of different nuggets that, if true and if quoted accurately, do shed some light on behind the scenes what's going on inside that white house. you'll remember that was when congressman ryan had put forward his budget, and the president essentially invited him to that speech that lambasted that budget. and it was an interesting moment to see the cutaway of congressman ryan in the front row. also bringing that up is the simpson-bowles commission. this is the deficit/debt commission that the president created -- jon: the president created and then didn't take the advice of. >> exactly. he did not -- the commission report came out in de

mr. president, but i don't think you've answered those questions. >> sean: i love the book. good to see you. congratulations. another huge "new york times" bestseller. bob woodward, thank you very much. for weeks we've been saying the white house has been lying to you, the american people, about what information they had about the attack in banghazi that killed four americans. tonight there is more proof that this was all part of an elaborate cover-up by the adminiration. now according to the daily beast, who reportedly spoke with three intelligent officials, american intelligence agencies, they knew within 24 hours that al-qaeda affiliates were in fact involved in this attack, and finally hillary clinton admits al-qaeda was involved in the attack that killed four americans. that's what she said earlier today at a u.n. meeting. >> for some time al-qaeda and the islamic magrab and other groups have launched attacks and kidnappings from northern mali into northern countries. now with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver terrorists are extending to extend their reach and networks in multiple directions. they are working with other violent extremist

mr. obama. you can take the speech and spin it not much and it is a condemnation of the fact that obama learned nothing. bob woodward's new book indicates that he learned nothing out of the 2010 election. >> can bill clinton move votes for president obama? >> well, he can temporarily move votes. i would say that the bounce that obama is getting coming out of the convention is 80% bill clinton. he is a popular figure for a practical reason, the economy worked. people had jobs. we reduced children in poverty by 25% through the welfare reform and balanced the budget for four years and you look back and say, i think that what it does is shrink obama, and then you have a real president and then you have this guy who is a pretender. >> you talked about the unemployment figures coming out and the worst recovery since the great depression. why isn't romney running away with this? >> this is slightly better than where reagan was than at this point in 1980. people find it very hard to fire a president. the president is in the home every night and this particular president has a nice family and a sense of gee -- >> but none of t

woodward book. it details the failed debt talks between the president and speaker john boehner. it details that there was tension between you and mrr that, you did not agree with the direction he was going with the president, which was a deal that included tax increases. does the book paint an accurate picture? >> you know, john boehner and i saw eye to eye on the fact that we don't think increasing taxes, especially in an economy like this, helps job creation. somehow it helps our economy and the confidence level. we never differed on that point at all. it was the president who continued to insist that the only way to go forward was to raise taxes. again, i think that, you know, the budgeteers will tell you, you can't tax your way out of the problem, as i said earlier. the real focus should be on curing the spending problem in washington. that means we've got to deal with the entitlement situation. we have to deal with health care entitlements in order to manage down the debt. that is the first and foremost we've got to do, otherwise you're throwing money into a hole asking people to pay more taxes. >> so is that the biggest area

mr. romney will bring that jerusalem thing up. >> you may be right. >>> "washington post" journalist bob woodward has a revealing new book chronicling last year's fight last year over the debt ceiling. it's based on interviews with president obama, house speaker boehner, and other lawmakers who were at the negotiating table. woodward says the white house seemed unprepared to negotiate. "the washington post" also quotes the book as saying, he was spewing coals, boehner told woodward, in what is described as a borderline presidential tirade. he writes, quote, it was increasingly clear that no one was running washington. that was trouble for everyone, but especially for obama. the timing of the book is being questioned because romney is not part of the story. >>> bill clinton took to the stage at the democratic national convention, and he's getting some rave reviews. so what exactly does that mean for barack obama? talk back, next. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about y

woodward who describes president obama and then-o.m.b. director jack lieu when they were going through this process on insisting on defense cuts when going through the debt ceiling negotiations. it's clear, mr president, they wanted to use these defense cuts as leverage to get tax increases. in fact, if the fiscal cliff -- if we breach the fiscal cliff, if we go over the fiscal cliff, it's now being predicted by the congressional budget office that that will drive unemployment above 9% next year and plunge the country into yet another recession. in fact, they project, the c.b.o. does, that the g.d.p. will contract by 2.9% during the first half of next year and by 5% over the entire year. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke has also said the estimates, and i quote, do not incorporate the additional negative effects likely to result from public uncertainty about how these matters will be resolved, end quote. mr. president, we're heading toward a train wreck. we are heading toward a disaster for america's national security interests. it all started with the fact that this chamber has not produced a budget for now three years in a row. this is what you end up with when you don't have a budget