you had naples down at the south ruled by the spanish born family and then you had the papal state which surrounded florence on the three sides. and was a precarious position for florence. and during machiavelli's youth, he was a very adept politician, very adept diplomat and he managed to keep all these balls sort of in the air, managing to keep italy at peace and more importantly the foreigners out. and with his death comes the calamity when the foreigners sort of sweep in and cause chaos and destruction. >> i notice you say he lived to be 88. >> no he lived to be 58. >> maybe it's a misprint that i read. >> could be. he died in 1527. >> i thought. >> michael anglo lived to be 88. >> but 58 for a man of that era is an average, perhaps above average. >> go through those 58 years and where was he and i know you write about the time 14 years he was a public servant and prison. >> well the first he spent the first 29 years exactly half of his life doing not much of anything. he was a son of an impoverished gentleman who didn't want to work. he had a small estate outside florence. and he ma

around naples. >> i know that area. there's no breeze down there. very waspy. >> i know it too. my 80-year-old uncle lives down there, not a w.a.s.p., but definitely a retiree. >> i was generalizing it for us. >> but he's surrounded by people down there who's turned against obama now. >> i think a lot of people look at these numbers about the market. and they're looking at what they have saved and how much they've saved, say, in the last ten years after their kids have all gone to school and if they're empty nesters, they've got enough money to save and they see it dwindling. let's talk about these issues affecting him down there. let's talk about the issue of the social security. you've got, tonight, rick perry coming on television, probably once again, having to defend his charge that it's a ponzi scheme. >> mm-hmm. >> it looks to me like mitt romney has a plan. bite on his ankle and don't let go. >> you can't blame him. rick perry is untested outside the texas. and what's the first thing that most of the country learned about him? that he thinks social security is a ponzi sch

naples, and eventually as navy chief. in these last four momentous years, he has overseen the iraq war brought to a peak and winding down. he's played a key role in exhaustive strategy reviews in afghanistan with a focus on a similar handover. perhaps he'll share with us his thoughts on the challenge we still face there. he has met exhaustively with pakistan's military leadership and presided over the tracking down of osama bin laden. he's overseen a major shift in doctrine with the escalating use of drones against islamic mill tabts. his time has been not limited to south asia. at home, he has helped to reconstitute the force after a decade of war and fought for clarity and intelligence to be brought to bear in future budget cuts. on this day, we re-- with the repeal of don't ask, don't tell becomes final, it is worth recall the quality of his personal leadership. anyone like myself who heard his testimony on don't ask, don't tell, will not soon forget the quiet power of his personal appearance. leadership is a cheap and overused concept in washington but anyone listening that day heard the real thing. one other aspect

naples as commander of u.s. naval services europe and eventually as a navy chief. in these last four momentous years admiral mullen has overseen the iraq war to the peak and then winding down. played a key role in exhaustive strategy roles in afghanistan. for the focus now of a similar focus of handled over to afghan political leaders. he will chair on the stiff challenge that we still face. he has met exhaustively with pakistan's military leadership and, of course, has presided over the tracking down of osama bin laden. he's overseen a major shift of doctrine and weaponry with the escalating use of drones with islamic militants and his attention has by no means been limited to south asia. deepening the engagement between the and you say chinese military, for example, has been a top priority. at home he has helped to reconstitute the force after a decade of war and has fought for clarity and intelligence to be brought to bear in future budget cuts. on this day when repeal of don't ask, don't tell becomes final, it is worth talking about the quality of his personal leadership. anyone like myself who heard his testimony before the senate on don't ask, don't tell will not soo