a very conservative speech, a lot of it taken almost wholesale out of newt gingrich's contract with america, it seemed. not much of that last night. barack obama tried to reframe his presidency, remind people that he was not just this lefty big government man but in terms of substance there was very little change. and i think that really says a lot about obama very different from bill clinton. >> woodruff: cynthia tucker, not a different president? >> by no means. this is the president that we saw in the campaign in 2008. he reiterate misdemeanor of the things that he ran on. he was... he projected an aura of confidence and resolve, determination, and i think he accomplished what he needed to accomplish. he reminded americans that he understands their economic anguish. he needed to, as ronald reagan did, remind americans how we got in the mess that we were in. and he needed as well to raledly base, to tell them he wasn't running away from the promises he'd made in 2008. and so i thought he did all of those things. the speech was a little long, but i think it was a good speech under the circ

newt gingrich and breaking it down further it is not about profile discriminating against grandma's gettingflights this is what newt had to say explaining it. >> if someone is actively going to a training camp they shouldn't get a visa or on the airplane or work for any government, federal, state or local and shouldn't be allowed to serve in the military. we have to be tougher and more direct. >> what he is talking about is behaviorial profiling. clearly some of the ethnic profiling techniques would miss a lot of the terrorist that we are talking about. who is really argue that and saying no. aclu in >> don't do it we never have done that. what the airlines does in israel and they haven't had a incident for 30 years. many people would like israel to be wiped off of the. they look every passenger. they have unmarked plain clothes people going through the lines and see if someone seems nervous. >> we have joel malborough. i have flown out of israel. it is feel the presence of security all around you at all times. you know they are there watching . they look for behaviorial discrimination or p

with republicans led by newt gingrich seizing both the house and senate in landslides. republicans are the preferred choice in 2010 polls. more importantly, polls also say that the gop is the more popular choice of independent voters. a big deal. democrats are a wash in three. >> it's a tough time for democrats, frankly. our voters are less enthusiastic than republicans and independents. >> hold on, is a linda, it's not over until it's over. today's democrats have one saving grace. 14 republicans have bowed out of the 2010 races, which may be the reason r a victory lap. question. will republicans take over congress this year? >> no. they will -- i think they will gain three, four, maybe five seats in the senate, which means that the democrats will not be able to get to end filibusters, but i don't see the republicans winning the majority in either house. >> the dodd thing helps the democrats. throw the blumenthals up in connecticut much stronger than dodd. democrats will probably retain that seat. north dakota is a problem. i think the republican governor will wind up w

like newt gingrich has been talking about, knocking down the corporate tax lois and the other country in the world. eliminating capital gains taxes and at least eliminating for a while the payroll taxes so that businesses would be moved back into the country who have laughed and that of a chorus of lloyd won the upcoming -- avoided the upcoming capt. training and which was really making it kind of staten for businesses. what you think about that as an alternative to stimulating in getting jobs back? >> guest: i don't think any of those proposals will work because i think the basic problem we have in our economy today is in the costs are rising but rather that there is no demand. what most companies were a great many companies anywhere are losing money, tax cuts might not do them any good. what they really need is an increase in people buying their products and i don't see how tax cuts on business are going to do any good, i don't see how any tax cuts will do any good under current economic circumstances. keep in mind that in the fiscal year that just ended fiscal year 2009 federal rev

former speaker newt gingrich, quote, we believe it's going to wither on the vine." speaking of medicare. you would think my friends on the other side of the aisle were the biggest supporters of medicare when they opposed it from the very beginning. now we hear all of the stuff about medicare advantage. medicare advantage. well, they like to tell you that if, in fact, we're going to be cutting a little bit out of medicare advantage, that somehow this is going to ruin -- this is going to ruin medicare. well, if that were true, why would the national committee to preserve social security and medicare, aarp, the alliance for retired americans, groups that represent tens of billions of seniors, why would they stand with us in support of our bill and not with the republicans who want to gut the very provisions that we have in there that will strengthen and preserve medicare? do people really believe that our republican colleagues care more about seniors and these groups that actually represent seniors? well, the truth is when we talk about medicare advantage, we're talkin

newt gingrich was quoted of saying, some old timers in the party are uncomfortable with you because youome from a different background. i'm paraphrasing quite a bit there. but i just wanted to get your response from that. guest: i do come from a different background. i come from this background. i grew up here in washington, d.c. i'm an urban kid. i cut my teeth on the politics of this city with the likes of david clark and john ray and marion berry and eleanor holmes norton watching them maneuver and fight for this city. and so my experience is very different that most state chairman and certainly national chairman. but with respect to, you know, our major donors, you know, ralphie boyd doesn't know how this works. i don't know who he's talking to. in typical fashion, you know, a lot of things are gotten wrong. if you have a major donor for the republicans or democrats, those individuals run businesses that got socked by a recession that was one of the worse in 20 or 30 years. so they didn't have the resources, the extra cash, if you will, to play politics. and there was a lot of slowd

heard it from vice president -- former vice president district cheney and former house speaker newt gingrichcurrent members of congress. they are say thing administration is not that strong. too weak. when it comes to fighting terrorism and say this president isn't admitting we are involved, country involved in the war on terror. take a listen to jim demint. he was on our own state of the union. >> i was concerned about before i heard him talk and i think i'm a little more alarmed because he seems to have a hard time saying that this is an act of terror, that ft. hood was an act of terror. that the christmas day bomber was an act of terror. unless we are willing to recognize this as a global war in many cases against the united states, i'm afraid we are going to fail to take the actions that we need to. >> the president yesterday in his weekly internet radio address said listen, i have been talking about a war on terror, this country has been facing since my inauguration address a year ago. also, you heard from congress am democrats accusing the republicans of trying to play politics with te

a very conservative sech, a lot of it taken almost wholesale out of newt gingrich's contract with amera, it seemed. not much of thatlast nig. bark obama tried to reframe his psidency, remind people th he was not jst this lefty big government man but in rms of subsnce there was very little chang and i thk that reallyays a lot abo obama veryifferent from bill clinton. >> woodruff:ynthia tucker, not a different president? >> by no mean this ithe president that we saw in the campaign in 2008. he reiterate misdemear of the things that he ran on. he w... heprojected an aura of confidence and resolve, deteination, and i think he accomplished what he neede to accomplish. he reminde americans at he understands eir economic anish. he needed to, as ronald reagan d, remind americans how w got in the mes that we were in. and heneeded as well to raledly base, tell them he wasn't running away from the promises he'd made in 28. anso i thought he d all of those things. the speech w a lite long, b ithink it was a goodpeech under the circumstances. >> warr: reihan salam,e ccomplished all that heeeded to d

lot of those republican candidates who had endorsed and signed the contract with america made by newt gingrich and other republicans, that government and that mission seemed to be, "we are going to reduce the power of government." yes? we are going to reduce the power of government -- >> over our individual live in a cold war, which we have lived through for 40 years, or in a hot war as we lived through under world war ii, or, say, world war i, the government has to be a central focus of authority and responsibility in spending, but in peacetime, i think it's important to shift back to normalcy and to shift power back to people, to -- excuse the expression -- empower the individual. expand incentives for work, and savings, and entrepreneurial risk-taking, so i think it is natural that the republican party offering that contract to the american people to provide that type of a shift in authority from the central government back to people would come to power overwhelmingly against what was perceived to be the clinton democratic party, which wanted to nationalize or iraqatize health care, welfare

c-span: but you've written major pieces on hillary clinton and newt gingrich, a book on steve ross, who was head of warner. >> guest: right. c-span: and in what years were all those done? >> guest: well, the book on ross, i guess -- i mean, that was "master of the game," which came out in 1994. and i had written pieces about time warner at "the new yorker. that was how i got interested in ross. and at the same time -- and then in the early '90s, i wrote the piece about hillary and then about gingrich. and then after that, i wrote about the middle east. so tina was the one who let me sort of just have a broader ambit. c-span: when did you marry congressman -- is it mel levine? >> guest: it's mel levine. c-span: levine. >> guest: just two years ago. and -- but i had been living in california with him more or less sort of the last five years. so -- and it was in that period of time that i was working on this book. c-span: the mob, the gangsters, all that, it pops up in your book all the way through this. any evidence that any of these people, like lew wasserman or jules stein or any of the

newt gingrich was quoted of saying, some old timers in the party are uncomfortable with you because you come from a different background. i'm paraphrasing quite a bit there. but i just wanted to get your response from that. guest: i do come from a different background. i come from this background. i grew up here in washington, d.c. i'm an urban kid. i cut my teeth on the politics of this city with the likes of david clark and john ray and marion berry and eleanor holmes norton watching them maneuver and fight for this city. and so my experience is very different that most state chairman and certainly national chairman. but with respect to, you know, our major donors, you know, ralphie boyd doesn't know how this works. i don't know who he's talking to. in typical fashion, you know, a lot of things are gotten wrong. if you have a major donor for the republicans or democrats, those individuals run businesses that got socked by a recession that was one of the worse in 20 or 30 years. so they didn't have the resources, the extra cash, if you will, to play politics. and there was a lot of slo

there is a letter to majority leader dole from 1995 and another to speaker newt gingrich from 1994 and995. it asked for having public access to all sorts of process upon cattle. commerce, texas, diane, on the republican line. caller: i don't know what the last caller is talking about with republicans having control of the house and senate. host: she was saying that they did have control. caller: but the republicans do not. the democrats and do and have had for the past two years. not only that, the republicans have been blocked from participating in negotiations since april. they have submitted alternatives to the healthcare bill and nothing has been considered. they have not -- they have only been allowed to submit fewer than 10 amendments to of 2000 page bill. i want to applaud brian lamb. he must be going down the middle. i have heard all these callers say they perceive a twist to the right. i as someone on the right perceive a twist to the left. there must be aligned straight down the middle -- a line street down the middle. president obama ran on a platform of transparency and con

newt gingrich and i were talking about this. he is such a phenomenal understanding of of, you know, not just history but where we need to go. and he was talking about how in 1994 they were able -- henned dick were able to bring the contract with america to america why september of that year. a lot of people think it was long. no, it was very short period of time in which it was part of the political discourse. now we are at a point where something like that is relevant. people looking. and they are hungry for what direction they are going to go and what the leadership is going to be doing and where the stakes are. this is a very much accelerated process this time. people are much more energized as we've seen over the past summer between town halls and the 9/12 event that took place last september. there's a level of activism, a year out and two years out, certainly a year out from this fall's election that we haven't seen before. that's why i've been very direct with elected officials around the country. don't look past this. do

the difference is that they had newt gingrich who organized candidates. there a leader who is organizing candidates around a message for republicans this year? guest: not yet. michael steele suggested the other day that there will be some type of document -- not a contract with america, but some type of document to define the republican party. is it him or john boehner or mitch mcconnell? is it john mccain who has a record number of twitter followers? is it sarah palin? they do not have one clear leader. for 2005 after senator tom-0 and senator kerry lost, then the democrats did not have a face either. it did not hurt them for 2006. host: daytona beach. caller: good morning. host: you have a big senate race coming up in florida. caller: yes, we do. independent intellectuals understand with regards to the history --the senate of the country began under the rule of law that no one is above the law. over the past 200 years society has evolved into different groups of people. the senate reflects them. when the majority get into power the bring forth their age

the difference is that they had newt gingrich who organized candidates. is there a leader who is organizing candidates around a message for republicans this year? guest: not yet. michael steele suggested the other day that there will be some type of document -- not a contract with america, but some type of document to define the republican party. is it him or john boehner or mitch mcconnell? is it john mccain who has a record number of twitter followers? is it sarah palin? they do not have one clear leader. for 2005 after senator tom-0 and senator kerry lost, then the democrats did not have a face either. it did not hurt them for 2006. host: daytona beach. caller: good morning. host: you have a big senate race coming up in florida. caller: yes, we do. independent intellectuals understand with regards to the history --the senate of the country began under the rule of law that no one is above the law. over the past 200 years society has evolved into different groups of people. the senate reflects them. when the majority get into power the bring forth their

yuval came to the committee on social thought from a staff position on capitol hill working for newt gingrich, a job he landed fresh from completing his undergraduate studies in political science at american university. his bachelor's thesis, a youthfully ambitious account of the world of recent and social thought from antiquity to modern times-- [laughter] was published in 2000 under the title, the tyranny of reason. although distinguished himself in graduate school, yuval fortunately for us was drawn more to public affairs than to the professory awe anti-joined my staff on the president's council on bioethics, serving in several capacities and rising to become its executive director. he then served as associate director of the white house domestic policy council in the george w. bush administration were his portfolio included health care, bioethics and culture of life issues before taking up residence at the ethics of public policy center in 2006. there he has been senior editor of the new plant is, become a contributing editor of national review and is written many important essays and rev

in 1994, newt gingrich was able to channel the ross perot movement from 1992 into an an outsider antipoliticiannd work within the republican party to help republicans win back control of the house for the first time in 40 years. if the tea party basic movement brings people into the republican diseffected people into the republican party and they stay in the republican party it could be a powerful force for the republican party. on the other hand if it starts splitting off creating tea party candidates in siphoning support away from the republican party, then that could minimize the republican opportunities for gains in the general elections so there's going to be a fork in the road for the tee party movement and that's important in what happens in this election. ho host ohio a toss up according to charlie and close eye on delaware. there will be abide energy and mike castle. guest: we're waiting on bo biden. he hasn't officially announced. they say, no he's decided he's going to run and i have no reason to dispute that but i do note he has not entered raise and until he does, he's not in the r

newt gingrich said that we have to start restricting people. i see that this is coming. i am 68 years old. my generation had a lot of freedom. we were enjoying those freedoms. somewhere along those lines, there will have to be more restrictions and when this does, the constitution will just be another piece of paper. thank you for c-span. have a great new year. host: stockton, california. what are the issues for 2010? caller: good morning, and thank you for the show. i do not mean to be facetious. i like to -- i would like to have c-span be less right-wing over the next year. beyond that, i would like to see -- this is just based on the tweets that you will read. and the editorial pages that they come from. so often this comes from the "wall street journal." or the new york post or the "washington examiner." these are right-wing editorial- page sources. and another change i would like to see in america is i would love to see president obama, who was about 50-50 so far. i would like to see him work on the economy and end the tax breaks for the corporations that are shippi

remember 1996 when newt gingrich took over congress and controlled spending? that is what made clinton look good. i do not believe he was a good president, i think we had a good congress. host: let's go to joe in south carolina. caller: your republican callers are constantly blaming the democrats, but one of the court purposes of the republicans was expanding housing to low-income people, causing the meltdown and fannie mae and freddie mac to go under. low-quality standards with taxpayers bailing out. for them to stand up there and act like they had no fall in the meltdown, it blows my mind. for democrats to forget so easily, chris dodd, barney frank, it was republicans as well, but do not just put it all on the gop. i get tired of hearing that. host: what was your take away from the meeting between the republicans on friday and the president. do you think it brought them closer together? caller: i think that it is nice to see them talking, but obama cannot make deals with them. 25% of the population got him elected. he cannot do tort reform because of his all

newt gingrich's proposal was silent -- five separate legislation that would target the stuff you areggesting, this and that. why not divided into five separate and pass it and claim victory? guest: thank you for calling. first of all, nobody jamming anything through. we have been debating the measure for about six months. this has obviously been a conversation we have been having in this country, health care reform, over a much longer period than that. we had hundreds of hearings, lots of input, nobody is jamming anything through. with respect to dealing with this as one bill, perhaps a dozen interrelate. let me give you an example. when the president was last before congress to give the address on health care reform, every member of congress -- democrat and republican alike -- got up and cheered when the president said we want to make sure people are not denied health insurance coverage if they have pre-existing conditions, if they have some health element, they should not be barred from getting health insurance. everybody clapped their hands. if you want to get rid of pre- existing

nancy pelosi is more unpopular than newt gingrich ever was. don't mistake the shift in republican fortunes for a newly enlightened and electric that falls back on the republican party. we are not there yet. americans are simply losing faith in the democrats. they will not fall in love with the republican party again but they have fallen out of love with the democrats. if i am a democrat, in this political environment the last two elections, i know these talking points pretty well. let me walk you through them. we have a long way to go. ten months, multiple political life times, ten months before the next election. a long way to go yet. the political environment will change several times between now and then. that is absolutely true. you know what is going to happen. the environment will change dramatically. republicans don't stand for anything. nothing more than naysayers will retain the advantage. they will run the campaign against republicans. you can say bad things about us but republicans don't have an idea of standing for anything. voters

yuval came to the committee on social thought from a staff position on capitol hill working for newt gingrich, a job he landed fresh from completing his undergraduate studies in political science at american university. his bachelor's thesis, a youthfully ambitious account of the world of recent and social thought from antiquity to modern times-- [laughter] was published in 2000 under the title, the tyranny of reason. although distinguished himself in graduate school, yuval fortunately for us was drawn more to public affairs than to the professory awe anti-joined my staff on the president's council on bioethics, serving in several capacities and rising to become its executive director. he then served as associate director of the white house domestic policy council in the george w. bush administration were his portfolio included health care, bioethics and culture of life issues before taking up residence at the ethics of public policy center in 2006. there he has been senior editor of the new plant is, become a contributing editor of national review and is written many important essays and rev

writing in opposition is former house speaker newt gingrich, who rofoundly wrong policy and t izing president >> host: you can read more about that in usa's today editorial section. eric lipton, homeland security reporter for the "new york times," thank you so much for your time. >> guest: thank you so much. >> host: we appreciate it. >> in fed we trust, from "wall street journal" economics editor on ben bernanke and the economic role he played and he discuss with the first director of the congressional budget office. "after words" part of this weekend's book tv on book tv. >> i'm always concerned about the potential unforeseen consequences, unintended consequences of new regulations. new regulations, regulations of any kind act as a tax. and when you tax or regulate something, you tend to get less of it. you tend to diminish it. >> this weekend on the communicators, republican fcc commissioner robert mcdowell on an efforts to create broadband, newtrality on c-span. >> in just a moment, the state of the state address from new york governor david paterson. that speech today expected to focus o

had come to the committee on social thought from a staff position on capitol hill working for newt gingricha job he landed fresh from completing his undergraduate studies in political science at american university. his bachelor's thesis, a youthfully ambitious account of the role of reason and social thought from antiquity to modern times [laughter] was published in 2000 under the title, the tyranny of reason. although distinguishing himself in graduate school, yuval fortunately for us was drawn to more public affairs than professorat te. joined president's task on bio ethics serving splendidly in several capacities and rising to become the executive direct are to. he served associate director of the white house policy council in the george w. bush administration where his portfolio included health care, bioethics and culture of life issues before taking up residence at ethics and public policy center in 2006. there he has been senior editor of the new atlantis, become a contributing editor to "national review" and written many important essays for review and commentary, "the weekly standa

this morning leading off with columns from newt gingrich and peter r. and also from former un ambassador john bolton, who writes this morning global threats lacks 2009, rough 20 did. and he writes that a critical question there is whether the president has learned anything during his first year, or whether he will continue pursuing national security policies that leave us at greater risk. the outlook is not promising. too often, mr. obama seems either uninterested in the global threats we face, i'm persuaded that they constitute dangerous to the country, or content simply to blame his predecessor's. the thoughts of john bolton this morning in the "washington times." gary, your thoughts on ben bernanke and the issue of financial regulation, particularly on the part of the fed. go ahead. >> caller: thank you very much that i really appreciate you taking my call. i had to use every little grey cells that i had to try to understand that mr. bunning d. last night, i listened to him on the radio, talking about that. regulation. and i agreed with them. and it

newt gingrich and dick army gave us a contract with america and they understood what america was looking for at that moment and they were willing to put their names on the line for the party because of those principals. what happened is since then we've strayed a way from the things we said we would do, and that's about coming back and doing something. host: if you'd like to talk with the chairman of the national republican committee marilyn geewax. iraqi want to show you a chance to articles. this article is about you. about the republican national committee. don't know whether or not you consider him a friend of yours. host: says fire him or shut up. guest: little bit of a hot head. i'm very passionate about this job. i'm very passionate about this party. i gr grew up in this town and me a decision to become a republican because i heard a man talk about in america that recognized my potential and recognized what i could do as a black man in this city. surrounded by democrats talking about a whole lot of other things i couldn't connect to. programs and institutions. no one was talking t