for a massacre ronald noonan discusses the cost of diplomatic security. live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c- span. >> the first lady's i am drawn to are the ones on the ground floor, the modern-day perce ladies are the ones i can identify with more, eleanor roosevelt, jacqui kennedy -- jackie kennedy. those are the woman's -- women whose stories to a close enough to connect with. many of the women in the higher floors, on the state floor, they seem like characters from a wonderful story because it was such a long time ago. it is history. you read about it in books. to be in their presence seems little bit disconnecting. the first lady's on the ground floor, the ones i remember, i remember there are real stories. i can picture their lives. in this incredible way that makes me think about their challenges and struggles and how they used the space. >> the first ladies, their private and public lives. c-span is teaming up with the white house historical association. "first ladies: influence and image." this begins on president's day, at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span. >> j

host: we are talking with a ronald noonan -- neumann, the current president of the american academy ofmacy. up next, just in kentucky on the democratic line. caller: i do not understand if we are having so many problems trying to keep our people protected, i do not understand why we do not pull out and put our industry -- our embassy someplace safe from on the close by. it does not make sense to keep going the way we are going and throwing money away with these contractors and stuff that are just taking it and not providing the services that we are paying for. guest: i will not try to say that every decision is a good decision. let me bring this into two parts. one is a question of contractors. there are many places i think we have paid too much money for contractors. we had several hundred, i do not know the exact number, of civilian contractors that have been killed in afghanistan and iraq. the blanket charge that they have not given anything in return is perhaps a bit more than is correct. the second question, the first question that he raised about why the embassy is there, this is

what noonan wants is a party like ronald reagan.eal on social security, deals with democrats on taxes. but today's republicans, these folks in the house, the people you just talked about, they're regaenites in the real party. they're not guilty going to give an inch. i think we're going to see self inflicted crisis after self-inflicts crisis. it's good for the democrats, but bad for america. >> very bad for america. you look at a web site called days without a gop rape mentioned dot com. that's the name of it. it's inspired by steven kobert. they had to reset their clock to zero after this new legitimate rape comment i mean, why are republicans still talking about rape, cynthia. >> you know, rev, a few months ago, i told my mother who still lives in alabama in a tiny little town that i grew up in. i said mother, you know what? alabama no longer has the craziest members of congress. georgia has that distinction now. so phil gets up there when the gop was hoping we finally got all of that madness about rape behind us. what disease he

look, what noonan wants is a party that is more like ronald reagan, who made a deal on immigration withdy, a deal on social security with tip o'neill and deals with democrats on taxes. but today's republicans, the folks in the house, the people you just talked about. they're reaganites in name only, the real rhinos in the republican party. they won't give an inch and it will be very difficult to get anything done. we'll see self-inflicted crisis after another. it is bad for america. >> very bad for america. cindy, when you look at -- there is a website called "days without a gop rape mention.com count, inspired by steven colbert, they had to reset their clock to zero after this new leadership rape comment from congressman gingrey. i mean, why are they still talking about rape? >> you know, i still talked to mother, who lives in a town in alabama. i said mother, you know what, alabama no longer has the most crazy members of congress, georgia has that distinction now. we have the craziest members of comment. so phil gingrey gets up there when the gop was hoping we finally got all of that

plus two former white house staffers, peggy noonan, now with the "wall street journal." he wrote speeches for ronalding a awas a member, also helped george it's first george bush on some of his things. and dee dee myers, now with "vanity fair," but press secretary to bill which the. dr. rice, let me just start. you were there for both of george bush's inauguration. what's the difference between the first one and the second one? >> frankly, the first one is a lot more exciting than the second one. by the second one i thought i need to get to work. it's not really let-down, but you are in the middle of your agenda now. and in foreign policy, very often, the actions you have taken, the consequences are now clear whether good or bad. and you either have to make a corrective course for some of the bad consequences or try to solidify some of the gains that you've made. and because you really don't have four years now. it will start to slip away very quickly. you've got to set some priorities, because the president's time, the secretary of state's time, secretary of defense's time is pretty limited. you bette