thomas mann and norman ornstein. we'll be righ

thomas mann and norman ornstein. hello. ( applause ) >> jon: you know, our audience loves their think-tankers. you two represent... this is remarkable. you work with the brookings institute, yes? >> that's correct jon: you work with the american enterprise institute. these are the hatfields and mccoys of think tanks. yet look at this. look. look what's happening here. i don't know what's going on under the table but look at this. a book. how did you two, you know, you're both very well respecked observers of the political scene. how did you two start working together? >> we actually started a graduate school together at the university of michigan 45 years ago. we came to washington. we worked on the hill for a year as fellows. basically formed a partnership that we've been doing now for more than 40 years. writing and doing projects. >> jon: this is a follow-up to your previous best seller about congress and how it... again i'm pair phrasing with my political analyst socks. why do you feel like congressional dysfunct

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norman ornstein was joined by his colleague steven hayward. this is about an hour. >> good afternoon. good afternoon. my name is carly bowman and a senior fellow here at aei. i would like to welcome all of you to this american enterprise debate, is the republican party too extreme? one of the first things i learned in coming to aei many, many years ago was the institute's mission statement. 10 simple word. the competition of ideas is fundamental to a free society. with this slogan aei's president, william j. brodie did not mean we simply value competition among various institutions in washington though of course we do. he was equally at home with and championed as his successors have done, spirited debates within the aei family. within the halls of aei we've had many such debates. to name just a few, our scholars have differed strongly over antitrust policy and particularly the wisdom of the microsoft case. those of a more conservative bent have disagreed with libertarians over many issues including abortion, gay marriage and even euthanasia.

norman ornstein is a resident scholar and a longtime observer of politics.is columns and roll call on the streets on capitol hill. steve favre is the fk white house fellow, an important presidential biographer, and a regular blogger for power line on politics. we are fortunate to have stuart rothenberg as our moderator, editor and publisher of the political report and invaluable newsletter covering house, senate, and presidential campaigns and political development. he writes about this twice a week for a roll-call, always with an even-handed tone, perfect for our moderator. stew. [applause] >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be here for this interesting debate. i feel like i am the jack of common of intellectuals. if you don't know who that is, you will have to look it up. try would be a. i am here to give you the rules and then i will leave the stage to the gentleman and be back for q&a. it's pretty simple. we will begin with in eight minute opening statement by each of our combatants followed by five minutes rebuttals by each, a 27 minute, i don't know who