and he's right here and he sees reagan right about there. >> where is reagan?> reagan is right about where you're standing right there. >> so, this far away. >> yeah. that's about 15 feet. they say it's 15 feet. they've measured it and reagan was 15 feet away when the shots were fired. if you go to any basketball court in the country and you get on the free-throw line and you look at it, you know, it's just the distance of a free throw, that's how close he was. that's 15 feet. the secret service did -- there are a lot of great reports they did on this. they interviewed all the agents there and witnesses. i foia'd those and i got those, so i was able to know what everyone said they did, and that usually kind of matched up with what the video and the pictures showed. that was helpful. it was also helpful to get into their heads of what was happening. i interviewed them all, too, and i also got some fbi reports, for example, there's a great fbi report no one has seen reagan's fbi interview shortly after the shooting, he gave an interview to the fbi agent. that was

he's right here and reagan is right about there. >> where is reagan? >> right about where you're standing. >> this far away. >> 15 feet. they say 15 feet, they have measured it, and reagan was 15 feet from hinckley when the shots were fired, but if you go to a basketball court, any basketball court in the country and get on the free-throw line and you look at it, you're -- you're -- you know, it's just the distance of a free throw. that's how close he was. that's 15 feet. i also got the secret service did -- there are a lot of great reports they did on this. interviewed all the agents that day and a lot of witnesses. i forwarded those and got those. i knew what everyone said they did, and that usually matched up with what the video and picture showed and that was helpful. helpful to get in their heads of what was happening. i interviewed them all, too, and i also got some fbi reports. for example, a great fbi report. no one has seen reagan's fbi interview shortly after the shooting. he gave an interview to the fbi agents. that was sealed and i got it u

he sees reagan about there. where is reagan? >> reagan is right about where you are standing right there. >> this far away. >> yeah, 15 feet. they say 15 feet. measured it. reagan was 15 feet from hinckley when the shots were fired. if you go to a basketball court. any basketball court in the country. get on the free-throw line. and you look at it. you are -- you know, just the distance of a free-throw. how close he was. that's 15 feet. he also got the secret service, did a -- there are a lot of great reports they did on this. they interviewed all the agents who were there that day. and a lot of witnesses. and i forwarded those and got those. i was able to know what everyone said they did. that usually kind of matched up with what the video and picture showed. that was helpful. it was also helpful to get in their head what was happening. i interviewed them all too. and i also got the, some fbi reports. there is great fbi report. no one has seen reagan's fbi interview, shortly after the shooting. gave an interview. fbi agents. th

but reagan says i don't know. but he is dabbing blood from the lips, and it is frothy, and he know from the training that is oxygen in the lungs. so jerry par has to make a call. this guy is struggling and a medical facility in the white house, and the most secure place in the white house, or he can go to the hospital. but if he goes to the hospital, and nothing is wrong this can set off a severe financial crisis. and so he said i have to go to the hospital. so there was no security there and there could have been other assassins in the city waiting for him. so they decide to go to the hospital, and they say we are going to george washington, the emergency room, and get there fast. >> par gets on the radio and says, let's hustle. let's hustle. >> roger, we want to go to the emergency room, george washington. >> that is a roger. going to george washington fast. >> roger. [ inaudible ]. >> in the ambulance. and get there. [ inaudible ]. >> directly, make the call. >> because he can't say on the radio that reagan is

he was buried in california at the reagan -- ronald reagan presidential library. on his gravestone were inscribed words from the speech of the dedication of the library. i know in my heart that man is dead. that what is right will eventually try him if there is purpose and worth to each and every life. during his political career, -- today they are still those who belittle his career and the ultimate failure of soviet communism. but there are many others who remember reagan fondly and greatly, mainly from his record of 34 television network addresses to the american people. what these people were called him and no matter what their politics or his, was a man of great means. of straight talk. good humor and good will. he was a [cheers] president no matter what came his way. there were times he could be angry. reagan had a clear sense of right and wrong, which infuriated many of the leading academics and established journalists. most of whom still remain convinced that applying such moral convictions to politics can be dangerous. in contrast, reagan believed he knew

he was citing something that reagan said and reagan did say the things. cutting taxes. he said one thing is wealthy should not get out from underneath the responsibility to pay taxes ala mitt romney. >> eric: romney wasn't coming up here. but the marginal tax rate from 50% to 28% to the top level. president obama wants to raise tax rates. ronald reagan oversaw massive drop in unemployment. 43% drop in unemployment from the beginning of reagan till the end. unemployment is up. median income under reagan went up $4,000 bucks per family. >> dana: i think it's important that when we make comparisons we have to take the whole quick conditions in to account. a lot of things are different from reagan days. the principal of tax reform is not what what president obama is talking about. take it from the "washington post," a fact check and said that it's misleading for obama to suggest that reagan was pushing for the same concept and label the buffett rule the reagan rule. two pinocchio. does he keep getting pinocchios over and over from the fact-check organization.

it could be the reagan rule. lower than what you pay under ronald reagan. ronald reagan, who as i recall, is not accused of being a tax and spend socialist. >> if congress passes it we would rename it the reagan rule tomorrow. >> okay. they don't call me the nerd for nothing i remember this well. i covered this at the time. i know my financial history. it is the white house taking the gipper out of context. we lay. you decide. >> we want to cut taxes. not opportunity. as you can see the percentage of income tax owed would come down, way down, for those earnings less than $15,000. down for earnings between $15,000 and $30,000. down for earnings between 30,000 and $50,000. and down for those earning more than $50,000. by lowering everyone's tax rates up to income scale each of us is a great incentive to climb higher, to excel, to help america grow. >>neil: lowering everyone's taxes so is this president taking liberty quoting that president? fact checking thinks so. awarding president obama two pinocchios indicating significantomicses or exaggerations. i am qu

in the carter white house, ford, reagan white house. there is now a greater separation between speechwriting, it's like a word factory, and the president, you know? carter's speechwriter at a meeting of the judson wellover society once told me "hey, the longest talk i ever had with carter was the day i left." i found that in the modern white houses they all don't see them that much. you read safire's memoir of life with nixon, before the fall, and he said -- as a speechwriter he said -- "i was spun into the vortex and then spun out again." spun in very close to the president, and then out again. and when i read that, i thought "gee, just like it was for me, except i never got in." it had changed, even in 20 years, or 12 years i guess. that is a trend to be discouraged. i think it ought to be like the old days, when judge harry rosenman, and robert sherwood were actually working with fdr, you know? one of the sub-themes of the book was to sort of quietly agitate to going back to the old ways, because there is too much separation. but, in

reagan won north carolina. big in the south and west, including texas, a state ford's team thought was a lock. now, ford triumphed in the northeast and midwest. familiar to anybody? ford saved his toughest attack for the california primary in june, after reagan stumbled, saying woe consider sending troops into rhodesia. >> the president of the united states can't play with words. when you vote tuesday, remember, governor reagan couldn't start a war. president reagan could. >> but reagan easily won his home state after the final primaries on june 8th and ford led reagan in the delegate count but neither candidate had, at the time, the magic number was 1130, the delegates they needed to win that left roughly 150 delegates uncommitted. reagan's delegate hunt was led by campaign manager george sears and ford, jim bakker. the presidency itself was offering perks to a select few delegates, meetings in the oval office to join the ford folks at the bicentennial celebration in new york, remember that was '76. as nbc's t

reagan goes to gettysburg right after ike wins the governorship. and in 1968, reagan did make his first effort to get the republican nomination. ike was there at the launching of reagan's presidential campaign. chris: ike is about to get a big comeback in history. let's talk about what is tricky and perhaps menacing. in 1968 during the height of the terrible vietnam war, johnson said i'm not running again. and just before the election of 1968 with humphrey running against nixon, he was negotiating with the north and south and at the last minute, south said we aren't going to do it. johnson found out nixon had a hand in the deal. >> that's right. the north and south were tapped and knew nixon was working behind the scenes to undercut the negotiations. he challenges him and nixon backs off. chris: 1966? >> 1968. five years later in 1973, nixon is paranoid about the senate investigation into wear gate and goes to johnson who has a month to live and back your friends in the senate or i'm go to go release the fact that you were bugging me. and he said i

he was buried in california at the reagan -- ronald reagan presidential library. reagan fondly and greatly, mainly from his record of 34 television network addresses to the american people. what these people were called him and no matter what their politics or his, was a man of great means. of straight talk. good humor and good will. he was a [cheers] president no matter what came his way. there were times he could be angry. reagan had a clear sense of right and wrong, which infuriated many of the leading academics and established journalists. most of whom still remain convinced that applying such moral convictions to politics can be dangerous. in contrast, reagan believed he knew what was right and wrong as he saw it. above all else, reagan was an american original. he had his heart rates and times and lived an important life and guide his own hat. he had come along way. a poor boy from illinois. he knew he was poor, a sportscaster, movie star, president of the screen actors guild award, governor, and president of the united states. and it was all because he did

himself worth a quarter billion dollars a little richer the lot richer than reagan is echoing reagan's idea that government will bring down billionaires and big corporations if we the people and elected government have our way. four years ago many americans trusted candidate barack obama when he promised to bring americans together but now we've learned that president obama's idea of bringing us together is not to lift us up but instead to use the invisible boot of government to bring us all down you know the question before all of us ultimately is willing to post when and really is that even a quote suppose it's the ghost of reagan who goes to reagan and democracy be replaced by a government owned and run by the plutocrats or will we the people with it and democracy be restored it's up to you and me the only thing that can overcome corporate power like we're seeing today is grassroots activism tag you're it. crazy alert aliens after atlantis official video of the latest nasa space shuttle mission appears to show what might be u.s. pows in space a segment from the live nasa feed shows

support the brady bill for gun control, which was a big deal for reagan to do that. and they named the emergency room the ronald reagan institute of emergency medicine. >> obviously they must have changed some procedures. what -- did they do anything wrong that day? >> what's interesting to me about that whole thing is that the '70s, the secret service is realizing that the world, there are a lot of political

reagan did it all the time. barack obama isn't even talking about that, which is obviously the primary issue in the center of the campaign. it's really kind of amazing that he doesn't somehow try to make a case for how this is going to improve the economy. >> kim, i think it's going to be voted on next week in the senate. how much democrat support will it get? >> well, they have brought this issue up several times in the senate before. it's never actually passed. i think you touch on another risk for democrats. senate majority leader leader harry reid is getting a reputation of overseeing a graveyard. there are growing complaints that the house republicans have passed dozens of pieces of legislation. there are even bills that president barack obama says he supports that senate democrats support, but harry reid has had no time to debate any of those or bring them to the floor, because they're holding show votes like this, legislation that's not going to pass, but all designed for the political campaign this fall.

i started writing for the reagan report and my video show. i was terrified in california, the role it played. after i saw you standing next to that sign that said in america saying stay out, is dangerous in our own country. when i saw you standing up to obama and did back down i kept thinking she can't keep going like this. she is going to give in and chicken out and you never did. all you wanted was to defend your own state. you are such an inspiration to me and i can shut up any more. i never will again. [applause] >> thank you so very much. the republican party needs -- i so much appreciate your comments. it is amazing when you think of our federal government coming in to my state and putting signs in my desert where we walk and i take saying travel at your own risk and if you see anything call 911. it is not a federal issue. who is answering those phone calls on 911? that is not protecting my state. that is flat out surrender. [applause] >> coming here and being with all of you tonight is like being in a state court in the storm. if we do

the reagan rule. >> that wild eyed socialist, tax-hiking class warrior was ronald reagan. he thought that in america the wealthiest should pay their fair share and he said so. bill: with that republicans pushing back and pushing back hard. rush limbaugh saying that the president has got this all wrong. >> so now we find out today that not only was ronald reagan for tax increases own on the rich, ronald reagan was pro-abortion. have you ever stopped to realize, this bunch of people, the democrat party, barack obama, they hate reagan. they have always hated reagan. they engage in revisionist history about the reagan years. bill: it went on from there and does not end there either. much more on this and from rush limbaugh coming up a little later in the hour. stay tuned for that. fox news alert. this is a big story. this is not good. moments ago a spike in jobless applications 380,000 americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits. that arrow is up. stuart varney fox business network. the highest level in almost three months. what did the report say, stewart? >> this i

i worked for ronald reagan, and you, my sir, are no ronald reagan. this is a back door capital gains tax hike that will damage growth and is chris christie right with this warning? >> we'll turn into a -- that will not just bankrupt us financially, it will bankrupt us more. then we'll have a bunch of people sitting on a couch waiting for the next government check. >> joining me tonight, herman cain and willie brown to debate the chris christie proposition. first up, stocks staged a comeback. the bulls are back in town. good ooesk, kayla. >> the markets did snap that five-day losing streak today. slight gains across the board. the dow adding 89 points, nasdaq faring a best. we saw pressure easing from europe as a bond sale in italy was met with more investors. the market looking past previous yields scares, not to mention more talk of potential ecb intervention. the euro gains against the dollar today closing up slightly off highs we hit mid-morning. the sentiment out of europe not surprisingly lifting. led by the big banks. you can see bank of americ

joining me now, chairman of the reagan group, michael reagan. have been talking about ronald reagan in this campaign and the president has invoked him many times. the numbers tell the story. it seems clear we were facing an economic recovery when he was running for reelection. there is a question mark, however, about whether we are right now. >> there is a big question mark about whether we are right now. most people in america outside the beltway feel we are not moving forward. i talk to people every day as you do. there is nobody feeling good about america right now. back in 1983, 1984 in that reelection campaign. morning in america, it was morning in america. people were feeling good again. but what was even better about it. ronald reagan, when he spoke, people listened, people trusted ronald reagan to do the right thing. they don't trust obama to do the right thing. he's devisive. ronald reagan was never devisive. it shows best with good friend of talk radio alec baldwin. i ran into alec one time at the gym and he said to me, tell your famil

tses not the america of ronald reagan. it is not the america that shiengs its light into the four corners of the world as an example to the rest of the wor world. that is not the america that we are here to serve. we must be vigilant in protecting the ideals that make this country what it is. i urge my colleagues, democrats and republicans alike, to heed president reagan's words and to support this legislation which will ensure that a favored segment of the highest-earning americans once again do something as simple as pay their fair share in taxes. let us show the american people that our nation really does stand apart as an exemplar of fairness and of equal opportunity and of equal responsibility under the law enforcement i thank the chair. irsee colleagues on the floorks and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, we stand here on tax day and we also stand here in the middle of the weakest economic recovery since the great depression. a time

he still led reagan. he still well ahead of reagan. but reagan basically got him in the debates. i think that's what happened. that reagan came across as much more confident. much more credible in the debates than carter and that's what turned it for him. >> certainly the debase -- debates helped. all of this, bill is, based on a fundamental misreading of what the situation was back then and what it is now. people are not reading these polls accurately. they are saying that right now it's very close and in most polls obama is somewhat ahead. totally untrue. obama is way behind. >> bill: let's -- fox news just put out a poll today and it says if the election were held today, how would you vote for? mitt romney 46%. barack obama 46%. but you say even though that's a statistical tie in the fox news poll, it is a -- it doesn't mean anything because the president is well behind. >> well, t means there are two defects in it. first of all and i hate to criticize fox news. >> bill: no, no, no. polling is polling. go ahead. >> it's surveying registered voters not likely voters. >> bill: c

michael reagan is a political consultant and the chairman of the reagan group. the president continues to push this. even though it did not get support in the democratically controlled senate but the president continues to maintain that we need more fairness in our tax code, michael, and he says if you don't want me to call it the buffet rule, warren buffett he claims pays a lower rate in taxes than his secretary, i'll call it the reagan rule, because he came out and said your dad pwurbd fo pushed for the exact same thing. >> you really want to hear me scream. you really want to hear me go -- [screaming] megyn: why are you doing that? >> i am so tired of barack obama lying about my father in trying to pass his piece of the legislation. he dresses newspaper a new set of clothes every week. he dressed up as warren buffett, went to the senate, they turned down the buffet rule. now he's going to dress himself up as ronald reagan and try to tell the people something about ronald reagan that just is not true. ronald reagan was talking about lowering the effective tax

and some of the reagan people hated me for that. because i was trying to say we're the chicago black socks. it's okay to come to me. life has gone on. a number of you have gone on to really good things. let's come back and have a closing of the circle. be my guest. i'm here working in the white house. and do that. but it -- and i think they liked it -- but i must tell you i think some of the reagan people hated it. there was no love lost between some of the reagan people and some of the nixon people. the reagan people when he had been governor felt the nixon people were terribly arrogant and it's important to remember that. they felt that they had been treated dismissively. so there was a lot of bad blood. you know, life is funny like that. but i will tell you, i tell some of these tales in a book i wrote, a reflective book i wrote on the -- "eyewitness to power" which has chapters where i try to treat richard nixon in a three dimensional way and be fair to him. it's been striking to me in people who read that book how many tell me

he still led reagan. he still well ahead of reagan. but reagan basically got him in the debates. i think that's what happened. that reagan came across as much more confident. much more credible in the debates than carter and that's what turned it for him. >> certainly the debase -- debates helped. all of this, bill is, based on a fundamental misreading of what the situation was back then and what it is now. people are not reading these polls accurately. they are saying that right now it's very close and in most polls obama is somewhat ahead. totally untrue. obama is way behind. >> bill: let's -- fox news just put out a poll today and it says if the election were held today, how would you vote for? mitt romney 46%. barack obama 46%. but you say even though that's a statistical tie in the fox news poll, it is a -- it doesn't mean anything because the president is well behind. >> well, t means there are two defects in it. first of all and i hate to criticize fox news. >> bill: no, no, no. polling is polling. go ahead. >> it's surveying registered voters not likely voters. >> bill: c

that was an old constructs that made -- reagan had a way of doing it. we still remember the shining city on the hill. the city on the hill comes from the new testament but in our country it comes from john blunt threat and was quoted by many presidents, including john kennedy, massachusetts man. but when reagan included shiny -- in that speech he actually defines it. windswept -- teaming with activity, if there have to be walls the walls have doors and the doors open to anybody who wants to come. >> another version of the sun -- >> from churchill. >> the one word can modify a very plebeian fought into a really great thought. >> and yet there are speech is that presidents can make that can just turn things upside down. but the speech that included the axis of evil. if ever things were turned upside down in our foreign policy it was due to the -- >> i think david frum wrote that and he was proud of it. i think it was a reach to far. one, axis -- a three part thing and three totally unrelated countries do not constitute an axis but it did stick and it chan

but he's not a ronald reagan figure. think at the end of this season we'll find he's hurt the republicans, and it's going to be a very tough general election for mitt romney. >> if mitt romney loses the general, robert, rick santorum says see, i told you so, he was too moderate. thank you to both. >>> up next, john mccain knows something about how not to pick a running mate. and he's got some advice for mitt romney. that's next in the "sideshow." you're watching "hardball." ♪ beth! hi! looking good. you've lost some weight. thanks. you noticed. these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right -- whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multi-grain cheerios -- 5 whole grains, 110 calories. creamy, dreamy peanut butter taste in a tempting new cereal. mmm! [ female announcer ] new multi-grain cheerios peanut butter. [ female announcer ] new multi-grain cheerios according to the signs, ford is having some sort of big tire event

there is no question but that it has done an enormous amount of good for people with president reagan at the helm we saw conservatism brought down the soviet union in large measure and communism. it helped spread freedom to places like eastern europe. the free market policies have been a major cause for the stunning economic growth in our country, and other countries as well, like chile, south korea, japan to mention a few. i remember the first time i met bill buckley. i was called back as ambassador to nato to washington when gerald ford became president to chair his transition, and he had never been elected president or vice president. no one knew him around the world. i had been ambassador and had contacts in europe and he said, look, there is a conference going on in turkey and i want you to go there and explain to people who gerald ford is and what our policies are going to be that and dr. kissinger will be continuing as secretary of state and be reassuring. and the name of the conference was just the opposite of the conservative tradition. supposedly it was the bilderberg confer

in ronald reagan went all the way to kansas city against ford, and ronald reagan ran again in 1980 and he was the conservative champion. he is partially right, but santorum and the people around the country have a right in may for kentucky, arkansas, or west virginia, there are still people in the process that still want to vote. we're not sure we are for romney, gingrich, or san tomorrow, and we have the right to vote. >> if santorum is successful, how does he go out after pennsylvania when there are a host of states where probably he would win. if you don't get out soon, it's another full month or two that this goes on. >> i think you're right about that. i think if you won pennsylvania, i don't think it would make that big of a deal because of the points you raised. and it is his home state, but i think he would be encouraged, and if he wanted to fight on for 2016, the longer he stays in the better he does. he is just not a ronald reagan figure. he is not on the cutting edge of change. i think at the end of this season we'll find that he continues to hurt the republicans and it's go

the gun and honest under ronald reagan. and it isn't just read again. there is actually a trajectory that you can see from the week the mayor to his protÉge, george murphy who eventually became california senator, to his protÉge, ronald reagan. and right and in turn help mentor charlton heston eventually wind up with governor arnold schwarzenegger could he have the slightest you can serve it as would've also transformed the way in which the relationship tree media and politics but read the mayor and brought radio into the republican party to grammar and said nsi said his protÉge george e. was really the first actor to train presidents. he tried to do it in 48 and didn't listen to them and then he did in 1952 and 56 was dwight eisenhower. it was to republicans again brought hollywood republicans throughout the party into the radio age and the hub of the democrats. he met we invite you to join a conversation. we'll put phone numbers for production on the screen here. you can also tweet a look tv or you can send an e-mail, booktv@c-span.org. this discussio

tses not the america of ronald reagan.it is not the america that shiengs its light into the four corners of the world as an example to the rest of the wor world. that is not the america that we are here to serve. we must be vigilant in protecting the ideals that make this country what it is. i urge my colleagues, democrats and republicans alike, to heed president reagan's words and to support this legislation which will ensure that a favored segment of the highest-earning americans once again do something as simple as pay their fair share in taxes. let us show the american people that our nation really does stand apart as an exemplar of fairness and of equal opportunity and of equal responsibility under the law enforcement i thank the chair. irsee colleagues on the floorks and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, we stand here on tax day and we also stand here in the middle of the weakest economic recovery since the great depression. a time w

i think what people are doing is reacting to the post presidential image of reagan.ght reagan was awful all the way to the end. >> oh, my lord. >> a nuclear cowboy to being -- >> the fact that you have people now that are democrats who say, oh, ronald reagan was reasonable, go back and read what anthony lewis and "the new york times" wrote about ronald reagan. go back and read what the editorial board of "the new york times" wrote about ronald reagan. go back and read what -- i mean, my god, seriously? if somebody decided to just write a book on slanderous quotes against ronald reagan throughout the 1980s by the people now who are saying, you know, he was a reasonable republican, that would be a fun book. >> but what a read. >> what do you think about that argument that ronald reagan wouldn't recognize his own party? >> very simple. and we go back to father pat buchanan, monsignor pat buchanan, and this is the way you should look at it. he always talked about political athletes, barack obama was a great political athlete, hillary clinton a great political athlete. in