but reagan was not interested. in many ways the more expensive, the more dangerous his busting of patco was, the more that act was bound to impress one audience that reagan was determined to impress; soviet leaders. and so it came to pass that jack maher, so came to pass the moment that jack maher and so many others thought would never come, the mass firing of more than 11,000 skilled specialists and their banishment not only from their jobs, but their careers. for there was no other employer for people of this training in the united states. in many ways, i think, we're still picking through the wreckage from that collision that occurred 30 years ago now. one of the lasting legacies of that fateful event, it turns out, was the rapid dissolution of all u.s. workers' ability to use strikes as leverage in dealing with their employers. what reagan -- when reagan came into the rose garden on that first morning at 11 to lay down his ultimatum, he was quick to distinguish the patco strike from strikes in the private secto

reagan. after that, remarks from anita hill on her 20th anniversary of her testimony to congress alleging that clarence thomas had sexually harassed her. and then another chance to see astronauts john glenn, neil armstrong, and buzz aldrin receive the congressional gold medal, the highest civilian award in the u.s. >> next, a look at the life and legacy of ronald reagan. the mpaa recently honored the life of the former president. we will hear remarks and out of a former white house chief of staff, who highlighted how reagan's pactiv to replace a life in his political career. this is a little more than an hour. >> welcome, all of you, and thank you for coming by the motion picture association of america to our screening room to participate in a daylong set of activities in which we recognize the contributions of rhatigan as the leader of our country, but also as someone -- of ronald reagan as the leader of our country, also a similar plan and iconic world in the film industry, including televi

they were disappointed by what reagan offered. and then they misread reagan as well. they sought his willingness to go that far as evidence that they pushed them a little further, they could get more from him. and they determined to do it. they would shut down the nation's air transit system. and so came to pass the moment that jack maher began to fully grasp that was left -- less than 24 hours left before reagan's deadline and the cold war context at that moment ensure that it would do maximum damage to these comptrollers. i think publicly set a 48 hour deadline on national television. ronald reagan was not inclined to waiver lest he sent signals he was not a resolute leader. for the same reason he later rejected all pleas for mercy and the rehiring of comptrollers even those coming from other republicans like jack kempe, then representative future vice presidential candidate for the republican party. jack campbell supported reagan's ultimatum on august 3, but after months passed it was clear that the strike had been broke in, kempe pleaded with reagan and said you k

islamic tuna president reagan very well.if he had been president, nm fair question if he had been president in late 2008, d think he would have gone along with the program to rescue the banks? >> i doubt a very much. i think that he would have taken a long view and worked with the fed to find a way to handle. he wouldn't have gone along with this so-called stimulus package and then attempt additional so-called stimulus. he actually faced this in 1987. if you remember the bottom dropped out of the stock market at that time and there was panic and people came and said they stopped trading the stock market a period of time people said you got to have massive expenditures and correct this. he said listen the market is going to settle itself you just have to be patient and make sure we don't do things that are selling or rash, and he was willing to bend to lead the country in holding forth during that period of time and what he had predicted happened. >> following up on that because i was the vice-chairman of the fed in the stock

reagan. then, anita hill testimony 20 years later. then, a profile on gerald ford. friday on c-span, supreme court justices stephen briar and antonin scalia on the role of supreme court justices. -- supreme court justices breyer and antonin scalia. then, a discussion on actors and activism. >> there was 8 flood in fort wayne. they were trying to keep the river. they could have a motorcade down to the flooded area. my memory is that he filled a three sandbags and said hello to everyone, got back on the plane. what was in the airways was not three sandbags, it was reagan filling sandbags with his shirt off. >> sam donaldson, andrea mitchell, and chris dodd talk about the legacy of ronald reagan. michael bloomberg and marianas huffington discuss opportunities in the u.s.. -- and arianna huffington discuss the opportunities in the u.s. >> the story of the civil rights movement cannot be told without birmingham, alabama. we look behind the scenes and literary life of the city. september 15th, 1963

ronald reagan was a wonderful president. he has really helped the republican party and meet in where i am going in the future. i usually do not prepare a speech but speak from my heart. i can go on and on about what is going wrong in washington. there are several apartments we want to get rid of. energy. [applause] there are so many departments in washington and the federal government that we have to disband. my personal background, i have been doing this for 30 years. and applying cost savings. i have travelled throughout all of iowa to bring back revenue to the bottom line. most of the rural hospitals in the state of iowa earn one of 3% profit margin. i save $330 they do not have to lose in income. i know what it takes to run a business. i know what it takes to get the job done. if i had the authority to go to washington, within one year i could erase $1 trillion in spending. i know where to look. i know how to find it. they talk about fraud constantly. mainly one congressman senator that is talking about eliminating fraud

that is one of the keys to ronald reagan. he would have the chance with the public many times going over the heads of congress and the news media going directly for the people and he was very effective in mobilizing the people behind these ideas and that is why he was able to assume many of them are not in agreement with his ideas, but they understood the people who were behind the president and what he wanted to do 1987. >> thank you for being here today. one component -- spank what is your name. i'm from notre dame. given that the time the unprecedented budget deficits, you know, and decrease in taxes and increasing the defense spending to you think that ronald reagan should be labeled a fiscal conservative? >> should he be labeled a fiscal conservative given the deficit -- >> i mean the deficit for themselves. 3% was unprecedented at the time i think postwar time. >> 3% was not unprecedented by any means to lead i certainly think he was a fiscal conservative. again, you know, it is all in perspective. the budget deficit wa

ronald reagan did it. that was the beginning of a reagan ending up as president was that speech which was written for barry goldwater. >> it also led another -- a number of california executives to coach according to governor in 1966. >> he had given similar speeches the early '60s. the people who had been in charge of basically handling the money for. cold water's television account for so fed up with the terrible commercials, that basically said if you let us spend it the whole way, will spend it the way we want to. we are going to basically sequester this money. they played hard ball. that is how they got ronald reagan on the air. after he gave that speech, telegrams poured into the campaign. money poured into the campaign. people started talking about ronald reagan as a gubernatorial possibility. david said it was the best political debut he had ever heard of since the speech by william jennings bryant. >> the relationship, was it a close relationship or was it more of an acquaintance? >> ronald reagan

actors that get residuals have one person on to thank for that, ronald reagan.had great pride in it. he loved to talk about his years in the film industry. i remember hearing bill clinton one time talking, and i won't quote them exactly, but it is an acting job in some ways. the notion of communicating to people what the role of the presidency is is not an unimportant point he made. >> people have said to me the thing about bill clinton is he can both capture what the problem is and then speak in a very high level about what the solution would be. now, how you evaluate that depends on on where you sit politically, of course. do you think this is a liability actually for president obama? do you think he lacks that same ability it to capture all that? >> i think he does. he's communicating different. i should have added bill clinton. i said roosevelt and kennedy and reagan. bill clinton qualifies as well. we stee it today. it's wonderfully persuasive and engaging and real to president. president obama, we're in it in the moment and because we're so preoccupied wit

ronald reagan did it.e beginning of a reagan ending up as president was that speech which was written for barry goldwater. >> it also led another -- a number of california executives to coach according to governor in 1966. >> he had given similar speeches the early '60s. the people who had been in charge of basically handling the money for. goldwater's television account were so fed up with the terrible commercials, that basically said if you let us spend it the whole way, will spend it the way we want to. we are going to basically sequester this money. they played hard ball. that is how they got ronald reagan on the air. after he gave that speech, telegrams poured into the campaign. money poured into the campaign. people started talking about ronald reagan as a gubernatorial possibility. david said it was the best political debut he had ever heard of since the speech by william jennings bryant. >> the relationship, was it a close relationship or was it more of an acquaintance? >> ronald reagan, his father

reagan tripled the the. bush added george w. bush another six trillion dollars. so the republicans are and are screaming that we need to balance the budget is pretty ironic but it's completely parker see which are so they consistently added to the so what so we can get rid of that argument that they want to but they suddenly care about that since one thing they have been consistent on since reagan is tax cuts for wealthy people and the thing about about this their balanced budget amendment is that to raise taxes on anyone it's going to require two thirds majority is so right that there is right now now the distinction between between that version of balanced budget and what we're likely to see on friday. based on points that were coming out today the amendment that will be voted on on friday will it have that two thirds vote in crime in other words. it's a somewhat softer version of the earth these earlier amendment which required a two thirds majority in both the house and the senate in order to raise any revenue from tax increases or do you think they're kind o

before that i tended to agree with ronald reagan. you've seen one redwood, you've seen them all.ñ [laughter] but the site and the sound ofñ that buzz saw biting into theñ bark of the great pine tree outside our house, and just wok me up and next thing i know i'm out there in my socks, 7:00 in the morning, hugging the tree.ç preventing its destruction. well of course, i did not succeed. the tree actually belong to the owner next door and they had every right to cut it down. so i had to retreat back into my house and listen to the rest of the destruction of that tree.ç feeling just about worse than i've ever felt in my life. and sort of astonished at the intensity of my own feelings.Ñ wrote an article about it for "the new york times," and so much later i happened to be talking about the incident toñ howard nemerov, the great american poet. and he said, you know, i onceñ wrote a poem about the destruction of a tree at theñ çttom of our driveway. and he said of all the thousands of poems i've written in my life, that was the

a statue of ronald reagan will be unveiled at reagan national airport.will commemorate what would have been his 100th year. it was created by sculptor chris fagin. >> still ahead here on "good morning washington," today we could learn if dr. conrad murray will take the stand at his involuntary manslaughter trial. and it was a crazy ordeal for a husband and wife in hawaii. how they were arrested and their daughter taken away from them all because of a sandwich. >> but first another check on your traffic and weather eve >> good morning, washington. i think everyone is coming off of a sugar high. >> time for a check of your traffic and weather. >> adam, you had a sugar high. what was your candy high? >> reeses peanut butter cups. when we made s'mores, i ditched the regular chabt and used a reeses peanut butter cup. you can see light sprinkles. pushing south and moving on out of here this morning. cloud cover east of 95 to start our day. for the most part, very sunny. 47 in the district. 2347 gaithersburg. martinsburg, 34. cull perer, 37. a lot of sunshine.

but when ronald reagan was shot at, mrs. reagan said to everyone, this will never happen again.y. >> i've been out to the training center. you guys do the

that president was ronald reagan. since when do we have republicans voting against ronald reagan's ideas? >> we can't simply wait for congress to do its job. if continue won't act, i will. >> tell them, don't be a grinch. don't vote to raise taxes on working americans during the holidays. congress has a very simple choice next week. do you want to cut taxes for the middle class and those who are trying to get into the middle class or do you want to protect massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, many of whom want to actually help. >>> but republicans are more interested in helping the rich. three times in the last three months they've been faced with a choice between creating jobs and protecting millionaires from paying their fair share. every single time they voted with the wealthy. but the president is keeping the pressure on. next week congress is expected to vote on the president's plan to extend the payroll tax cut that would save the average household $1,500, $1,500 to help folks pay the bills and

in 1980 the stuff theythrough at reagan didn't work. people are going to be really involved in this campaign. chris: the lethal ads? >> people who care like 1988, the stuff on due caucus, 2000, nobody cared. >> people were exercised about iraq and the national security of the country, the ads did work against john kerry. chris: they were terrible. ok, well, television tell us who will be the best president? we watch this between now and next november and we see mitt romney looking sharper and sharper. the president looks good on tv, debonair as hell, cool. the issue is whether he is too cool? the issue is how good romney gets at this gives him more confidence. people say he looks confident. >> romney, whoever the republican nominee conveys confidence and builds trust, in the false intimacy of television, that's the falsity of all this, you watch them over and over again, you feel you know them. you don't know them. because television creates that, if you can convey that level of trust, you can win. chris: you agree. he can play this rol

before that, i tended to agree with ronald reagan if you'd seen one redwood, you've seen them all. [laughter] the sights and the sound of that buzz saw biting into the bows of this great pipe tree outside our house just awoke something in me, and next thing i know i'm up there in my socks, seven o'clock in the morning hugging the tree preventing its destruction. well, of course, i am -- i did not succeed. the tree actually belonged to the building next door, and they had every right to cut it down, so i had to retreat back into my house and listen to the rest of the direction of that tree -- destruction of that tree feeling just about worse than i've ever felt in my life and astonished at the intensity of my own feelings. wrote an article about it for the new "new york times" and some months later i was talking about the incident about how the great american poet, and he said, you know, i once wrote a poem about the destruction of a tree, the bottom of our driveway, and he said of all the thousands of poems i've written in my life, that was the one that generated the most response.

i mean, two reagan terms. bush was reagan's vice president. the press particular were tired of us. they really were tired of us. and we were climbing a tough mountain. there was another major problem. that's reason number one. it's very hard to keep the white house for more than 8 years, for any party. we had kept it for 12. secondly, we had a jug-eared fellow named ross perot that you may or may not have heard of, and he took 19% of the vote. clinton got 43%. bush got 38% and perot got 19%. perot was taking two of three votes from us. dd toake 2/3 of 19 and a 38, we have 51. when people say, he did not cost as the election, i will say he thought he did. i thought he did for 20 years and i still think he did. the third thing was our fault, absolutely. that is, instead of going up to capitol hill in january, 1992, when president bush 41 was at 90% approval rating and saying, the desert storm was a great success. now we are going to do domestic storm. and i am going to focus on the domestic problems facing this country, and here is an economic program. if we had done that, i think we

and what would reagan do? >> problems facing our country are problems that don't bear a party label. >> bill ben yet tells us what the 40th president of the united states would do to take back the white house. all that have plus yes, bob beckel and our great american panel. we're on the road to 2012. "hannity" starts right here, right now. there are a number of breaking developments on the race for the white house. there is an accusation of an alleged inappropriate relationship involving herman cain. a georgia woman told fox 5 she'd had an exmarital relationship with cain more than 13 years. let's take a look. >> i'm not proud. i didn't want to come out with this. i did not. he made it very intriguing. it was fun. it was something that took me away from my sort of hum drum life at that time. and it was exciting. >> she says he gave her his book and he wrote miss g you've made a big difference. stay focused as you pursue your next destination. she says he would fly her to cities where he was speaking and lavish

>> metro is doing and track work at reagan national airport. >> metro is doing and track work at reagan national airport. this affect your at bank of america, we're lending and investing in the people and communities who call greater washington, d.c. home. from supporting an organization that helps new citizens find their way... to proudly supporting our washington redskins... and partneriring with a school that brings academic excellence to the anacostia community. because the more we do in greater washington, d.c., the more we help make opportunity possible. big, big. big big big big? big big big big big. big big...big. ♪ big big big -big. -big! [ cheers and applause ] ♪ big big big -big big. -big! -big -big! -♪ big -big. -big big big. big big big. big big big. small. big big big big. small! [ male announcer ] the space-saving, eco-friendly, totally unique smart. unbig. uncar. ♪ >>> you are watching abc7 news on your side. >>> police and prince george's searching for a killer after a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death. the identity of that victim has not been released. >>> an alert

you see that as well. >> ronald reagan won the cold war. >> i think ronald reagan played a vital part in winning the cold war. the way that he did it was to ramp up pressure across the board when he took over in 1981 militarily, economically, diplomatically, idealogically. and i think that was one of the factors that forced the soviet union to really rethink its approach under gorbachev, yes. >> did the end of the cold war change republican foreign policy? >> it did. as for all americans, republicans had to decide, you know, where do we go next? what should america's role in the world be? and for republicans especially prior to communism had been such a unifying force during the cold war, it left remins sort of confused and divided. there was the sort of pat buchanan wing, more isolationist in the 1990s, there was the henry kissinger type school of thought, there were american nationalists who believed in military strength but were more skeptical of humanitarian intervention, and i think george w. bush ended those disagreements for a while through the concept of the war on terror. but

future generations you know reagan i agree reagan ran up a three trillion dollar budget and handed off to the defense industry and then bush and clinton balanced it by raising taxes obama well he has been able to raise. actually i you know i would like to see him do that boulder colorado yesterday voted by a three to one margin to say corporations are not people money is not speech blowing it right back in the face of the supreme court this idea that corporations are people and money is speech has never ever been voted on by the house of representatives or the senate in history this country since george washington it's never even been advocated you have presidents in a grover cleveland read his inaugural address his state the union address rather eight hundred eighty eight we talked about the iron heel of capitalism of the capitalism the neck of the american people not talking about the rise of the robber barons. and this was you know two years after the citizens are not citizens united decision santa clara county decision this is entirely made up by the supreme court meanwhile house r

. >>> coming up, a news snafu at a reagan -- a new statue at reagan national airport will be welcoming strong reaction from parents after harmful chemicals are still being used in one brand of baby shampoo. >> at 6:00, finally moving in day for college students and will not live on that cruise ship. for a great vacation you can't beat mississippi. sure you can it's called louisiana. hang on, florida's where folk's want to be. that's only uy il they get a taste of alabama hospitality. we can't agree on which state's best but we can agree on one thing, wherev!y you vacation in the gulf, you'll have a great time. great seafood, beautiful beaches and fun for the whole family. we've got intimate bed and breakfast right on the water. cafe's with views of the gulf. go blue water fishing, ride a kayak or just enjoy the world's best weather and soak up the world'#best sun. we've gone all out to make this year the best ever. and we are 100% open for business. you mean 100% open for fun. here in the best part of the gulf. louisiana, florida, alabama, mississippi. this could go on for a while. >>>

ronald reagan did it. that was the beginning of a reagan ending up as president was that speech which was written for barry goldwater. >> it also led another -- a number of california executives to coach according to governor in 1966. >> he had given similar speeches the early '60s. the people who had been in charge of basically handling the money for. goldwater's television account were so fed up with the terrible commercials, that basically said if you let us spend it the whole way, will spend it the way we want to. we are going to basically sequester this money. they played hard ball. that is how they got ronald reagan on the air. after he gave that speech, telegrams poured into the campaign. money poured into the campaign. people started talking about ronald reagan as a gubernatorial possibility. david said it was the best political debut he had ever heard of since the speech by william jennings bryant. >> the relationship, was it a close relationship or was it more of an acquaintance? >> ronald reagan

that was it. >> it became the picture -- it became iconic of president reagan and nancy reagan at theive. what went through your mind after you give up the president to the doctors? are you thinking? >> i'm thinking he may die. i really did think that. one of the last things i did when i was -- when they took him for his major operation. they had him pretty well stabilized but he was still losing blood. i went up to him and looked him in the eye and i said hope -- god, i hope you preserve this presidency or you live. because i was around when president kennedy was killed. i wasn't there, but i was in the service. >> our business -- you mentioned you have to run and get on the phone. can you imagine in the days of twitter cell phones, someone streaming it on the internet. our business changed a lot since then. how would it have been different? >> well, if we had a live camera, everybody would have seen it happen. that's what happens today. i think people would have understood the president of the united states had been shot at. often, live stuff without editing and without someone to e

including reagan. even though he had been in the carter administration and rand carter's campaign against reagan, nancy reagan arranged for strauss and the former secretary of state, republican phil rodgers to speak into the white house when -- they went into the treasury building and went through the underground tunnel. bob had never been there before. it looked like a fallout shelter. he couldn't believe he was there. and wind up to the residents of the white house and advised the president on what to do about the iran-contra scandal. and he advised him -- said he needed to bring in someone like howard baker, someone who really had a lot of credibility in congress with both sides of the aisle, had relationships with the press and nancy reagan took this to heart and at the time strauss didn't think the president had been looking to him because the president disagreed and said i would never do that. i won't fire reagan. that is what he said when he got home that night and he got a call from nancy reaga

he was working in the white house the day reagan was shot. a handful hubbled in "the situation room" at the time trying to decide what to do next and what to do if the president died. david into some of the details of the day for a second. you tell me your personal feelings of seeing the man who shot president reagan possibly going free. >> reporter: i hope they keep him locked up. he tried to shoot the president of the united states, ronald regan. he came within an inch of killing him. he got off on an insanity defense. that does not mean he would not be a menace to society if he returned. i know there's room at heart for forgiveness, but in this case i have very, very little forgiveness. >> it sounds like in the way you said it he got off on an insanity defense. of course there are plenty of doctors who would disagree and say this man was a sick man who could be rehabilitated and many say he has been. you don't buy that. >> reporter: look, i think maybe there's evidence and maybe there are rules of law, but justice i think is well served by

>> the temperatures are starting to fall back at reagan national. it will be a cool, chilly day with high temperatures only about 50 or so and a bit of a breeze right now at reagan national as we switch gears if we can, it is 43 degrees. 43 at reagan national. our humidity, 76%. the forecast for today, straightforward, plenty of sunshine. we'll go partly sunny and we'll enjoy high temperatures right where they should be in the low 50s. so this will be a breeze and it will feel chilly. this is where we should be for this time of year. more details on the forecast in just a minute. back to you. >> thank you. >>> in our top stories this morning, the gaithersburg man suspected in the disappearance of a rockville woman in aruba is free this morning. gary giordano left a jail last night after almost four months in detention. a judge in aruba said prosecutors had failed to present enough evidence to hold him. giordano claims robyn gardner was swept out to sea after snorkeling. he could now cash in on an insurance policy for her disappearance. >>> a federal

reagan travel to st. george's hall for a farewell with general secretary and mrs. gorbachev. to the airport and the official departure ceremony. departure time will be 11:00 a.m., with air force one scheduled to arrive at london's heathrow airport early that afternoon. >> since london's not in the middle of the atlantic, hopefully the president was not relying on these videos for too much geographical intel. other cia videos were designed to prime president reagan on soviet politics, on soviet media portrayals of the united states. there was also this totally awesome one on this soviet space program. look at this one. >> as it has evolved over the years, the soviet space program might be described as something with a dual personality, a jekyll and hyde, so to speak. that is, it exists of two parts. one that is highly visible and acceptable to the public, while the other moves in a sort of shadow land and is cloaked in high secrecy. >> a dual personality, jekyll hyde, and one in the shadow land. reagan liked that particular video so much, he wrote in his diary, he wrote, "saw

current conditions being reported at reagan national airport, 47 degrees at reagan national. relative humidity, 80%. wind are out of the north at nine miles per hour. the forecast for today, increasing sunshine. in fact, plenty of sunshine today. temperatures a bit more mild. a little bit breezy but look for a high ranging from the mid- 50s to around 60. 57 in germantown. 52349 washington. 60 in fredericksburg. more details on the forecast coming up in just a little bit. >> let's get a check of our on- time traffic with julie. how it is looking out there? good morning to you. >> it is kind. busy right now. we had that earlier accident eastbound at 57. the delays are improving there. the big street is along m street. pennsylvania avenue is closed off here westbound at pennsylvania and 28th street. this is where the closure is. coleing eastbound, i do have some traffic able to make that turn onto pennsylvania avenue i do believe there. it is the week side of pennsylvania avenue that is closed off at this time. no incidents to report if you are traveling north of town between co

he beat reagan by 2%. >> reagan took iowa for granted in 1980 and he assumed that the reputation aloneld secure the nomination. if anything, iowa voters don't like to feel slighted. >> bret: reagan eventually managed to turn things around and take the nomination. he picked push as his vice president. >> reagan won iowa, no particular reason why bush would have emerged. i think you can say it's responsible for george bush being vice president later and being president. >> to follow through on that logic had he not been bush 41 would we see bush 43 today? >> bret: iowa steve kidd. >> it could be that the iowa caucus and the effort of bush 41 in 1980 turned the course of history in with the or three of the presidential races. >> after carter land slide defeat to reagan in 1980, the democratic establishment tried to temp down iowa influence, says pat goodell. >> i wanted to knock out the time necessary for an unknown to emerge in iowa and become well enough known to win contests. >> whatever the reason, the democrats shortened the time between iowa and new hampshire. from one month to one

high at reagan international.ight temperatures will fall 50's.he 58 degrees-60 degrees tomorrow. we may see upwards of wampum 5 moves -- the time it the time ithes by moves through. you can go to wjla.com and check forecast would get four hours a day. >>> if you are watching you can get the volume developing. so far so good. i will show you what i found. not much. we are not complaining about this. , that is in good shape. from thefor 95 to and american legion bridge. one more camera before we go pamela. there we are. all right. inside we go. >>> thank you. coming up, we could see some major developments. why he could be a free man this week. >> the pressure mounts for l.a. protesters. >> the pressure mounts for l.a. protesters. they have until midnight ♪ [ female announcer ] everybody loves that cushiony feeling. uh oh. i gotta go. [ female announcer ] and with charmin ultra soft, you can get that same cushiony feeling you love while still using less. charmin ultra soft has extra cushions that are soft and more a

look, i was an independent during the time of reagan/bush. i'm not trying to return to reagan/bush. which is to pursue the strategy that ronald reagan pursued. we do have tough gun laws in massachusetts. i support them. and i would protect our second amendment rights to bear arms. >> ron, it's impossible to miss the fact that this guy's made of political rubber. >> yeah, it's true. he's been on all sides of all issues, being all things to all people, i suppose. and it is going to come back and hurt him in the campaign. yet, he remains, i think, the inevitable nominee of the republican party. this guy, who is a very weak candidate for a lot of these reasons -- >> why, why is he inevitable? >> -- is the inevitable -- because everybody else is even weaker. everybody else is, frankly, just totally unacceptable. i mean, can you really think of president michele bachmann? or really, for that matter, president herman cain? no. you really can't imagine that. romney, i don't know, like i said, if you squint real hard, maybe you can see the haircut in the oval office or something. but that's

i mean, two reagan terms. bush was reagan's pose a vice president year we have been the two reagan terms and one bush term. the press, particularly, were tired of us. they really were tired of us. we were climbing a tough mountain. there was another major problem. that is reason number one. think a lot of people were tired of us. we have been there 12 years. it is very hard to keep the white house for more than eight years. if you go back for any part of history, there are not many times what it has happened, and we had kept it for 12. second, we had a little jug geared fellow in texas named ross perot that you may or may not have heard of, and he took -- ross perot took 19% of the vote. clinton got 43%. bush got 38%. perot got 19%. our polling showed us that perot was taking two of every three of his votes from a spirit take 2/3 of 19 and add it to 38, and we had 51 people and when people say he did not cross the election, i just said that i think he did. i will say it again. i thought he did for 20 years, an

reagan was thought not to be all that smart.e were -- you know, bill clinton's the exception to every rule. rule, right? >> klein: [chuckles] bill clinton breaks every last rule about what you can do as president, what you can get away with as president, you know. [ laughter ] >> smith: right. >> klein: the best politician i ever coveeed. >> smith: i get that. you mentioned iraq. i want to transition away from the campaign to what i thought was an extraordinnrily moving story that you wrote for time magazine recently and i gather it's a story line that you're going to potentially continue to. >> smith: .explore. and that is the notion of the next greatest generation. it's these young men and women who went over to iraq or afgganistan over the last 10 years and have come back home and the polarization of the war notwithstanding have really sacrificed an enormous amount on behalf of country. and are really coming back to do amazing, amazing things. >> klein: well, you know, for me this story starts 10 years ago, 9/11. >> smith: ye

. >>> there is a new statue that will greet travelers at ronald reagan airport. there will be a 9 foot tall iran statute of president ronald reagan at the airport. this stands in front of turmoil a. this is one of several rate in statues being released worldwide in celebrations of 100 years since ronald reagan's birth. >>> a beautiful day to have an outdoor ceremony. >> yes, i'm excited. finally have a nice stretch of lovely weather. the high-pressure is in place. clear, calm, pleasant. >> pleasant. finally. >> there is a caveat coming up and that is friday morning. a beautiful sky conditions. some patchy fair weather clouds. that is all we will see in the next couple of hours. we will see these dissipate because the daytime heat from the sun that causes those clouds to develop. 52 now in martinsburg, radian nacional, 57. -- reagan national, 57. even cooler is great falls montana which is that the freezing point. that is really cold air. not that bad across the country. wyoming is expecting anywhere from six to 14 inches of snow through tomorrow with the next far

michael reagan is the chairman of the reagan group, reagan.com and a political consultant.el, this is fascinating to me. the republicans keep looking for someone else, the other guy, the anti-romney, and whether it was rick perry who then sunk in the polls, herman cain who is in a downward trajectory. newt gingrich who is getting attacked for his personal issues and so one. they continue to look past mitt romney, why and should they? >> the thing is that everybody knows mitt romney. there is nothing knew about mitt romney. he's been running for president, what for six or seven years at this point in time. there is nothing really new. mitt romney, you know, really if he wants to move up i would suggest to him start reaching out to the conservatives within your own party. that's what he needs to do. so you have conservatives right now looking for that one person up against mitt romney because they've always had trouble with mitt romney since he was governor of massachusetts, romney care if you will, and the christian community has always had a problem with the fact that he is

this is a live look at reagan national.t tall, 900-pound likeness was funded by the ronald reagan presidential foundation, and it stands in front of terminal "a." there will be lane closures in front of the terminals for the unveiling. so get ready for some delays today. four lanes that carry traffic to the departures and arrivals areas will be narrowed down to just one lane between 11:00 a.m. and noon today. the airport suggests taking metro, taxis, or dropping off and picking up passengers at the hourly garages. >>> one airline is now charging you for printing your boarding pass. cnbc's bertha coombs joins us with more on this story. bertha, the charges keep adding up. we'll never be able to fly at this rate. >> i guess they must be getting bonuses for figuring out the wildest charges to come up with. next they're going to charge you for breathing. >>> airlines continue to look for new ways to squeeze just a little more cash out of passengers. starting today spirit airlines is going to charge a $5 fee if a gate agent has

that president was ronald reagan.licans voting against ronald reagan's ideas? >> well, there you have it, ron. the president out there building bridges, saying the smart thing for us with so many unemployed out there in the country is to begin working on our public sector, and working on things that are below safety code and need to be fixed. what's your counterargument? >> my counterargument is i'm glad he invoked ronald reagan. he was exactly right. i think what reagan said was exactly right. the truth of the matter is when president obama came into office in 2009, the highway bill needed to be reauthorized. it expired in 2009. that is a six-year multi-year effort to build our roads, bridges, et cetera, so while the president is attacking republicans for refusing to go along with part of his jobs bill, there are democrats and republicans in the congress alike who want a six-year reauthorization bill. we've had this thing punted several extensions, the most recent one will expire in march of next year. we need six ye