that became "god and ronald reagan" and three years later, it was more generally about reagan and the cold war. at that time the crusader was also a surprise, i found out in the media archives that the soviets called him the crusader, because they new they wanted to crusade for freedom. and eisenhower used the word. i would say that was one of my favorite books. and the other one would be probably the one on ronald reagan's closest advisor, the judge, william p. clark, ronald reagan. here's somebody. he's still alive. he is 78 years old. he'll be 79 this year. lives in paso, california. he has parkinson's disease. he was really reagan's -- sounds dramatic, but secret weapon so to speak. he's the man who for all of 1982 and '83 worked at reagan national security council and laid out explicit directives with the intention of peaceically taking down the soviet union and bringing democracy or as they put it on the document, political pluralism to eastern europe and the soviet union. so that was a joy. because myself, my family, we spent a couple of summers staying at clark's ranch, interv

as ronald reagan did, i think he was a statesman.nd certainly fdr was a statesman, although i think what happened at the end of order to was a complete disaster, tehran and yalta. so i guess i would say that would be a statesman in our time. i think eisenhower. i think he was a great -- he was a good secretary of state. >> host: next call for pat buchanan, boulder, colorado,. >> caller: i would just like to play out your scenario, the containment of hitler. in fact, the complete opposite would have happened. hitler would most definitely have kept all the nuclear physicists and would have developed the atomic bomb much before the west or the soviets. and the fact that he was benign in nature and didn't have was a powermad but made events, i think it's a little far-fetched. >> guest: first, einstein, einstein who called nationalism, infantile disorder or something like that, einstein left in 1933. he left germany. hitler was not a benign figure. and you will not find that anywhere in my writings or in my book. i'm not saying that hitle

>> lagat and ronald reagan book started the trend i guess. my editor at harpercollins -- at time there hadn't been any books. stephen's book david aiken's book, both on bush's state. those hadn't come out yet so i did that and then a couple of years not long after that came out she came back to me and said would you like to do another god and bouck? i said i don't want to spend my whole career with the god and books by and intrigued by the face of the clinton bill and i sit here are two democrats, religious democrats, religious left and i would like to try to remind people that the only christians out there are not conservative christians, there are liberal christians and it would be really good to look at somebody from that point of view plus i felt that hillary clinton would be president frankly i really did. so that cannot commit donner and hillary clinton in 2007 and that was fascinating. i really enjoyed studying the that as well. >> what is your next project? >> i am working on a cold war look and it will be out this fall through isi bo

where are the ronald reagans of 2010. even john mccain who supported comprehensive immigration reform the mccain kennedy bill switched to the position in arizona. it flip flopped. >> my hero. broke my heart. >> geraldo, what he has been -- what he is talking about all he is talking about a amnesty. >> you are an attorney takes 8 years it makes you pay a fine makes you go through every kind of hoop in the world it's hardly immigration. i am out of time. we will have you back. we will have you both back. got to take a break. >> be glad to come back. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i work a lot, and so i wasn't sure that i should actually come tonight. biden talked me into it. he leaned over and he said, mr. president, this is no ordinary dinner. this is a big (bleep) deal.xlxlz

, ronald reagan, barack obama, or anyone else.s oil spill might be a good reminder of the limitations of government, of human beings. host: bill from louisville, ky. republican line. caller: i wanted to get your feelings on illegal immigration first of all. i am against it. i am a caretaker for about four elderly people. i had an occasion to pick one old man down to a family health clinic, here in little. -- louisville. i was sitting there when three hispanic data on men and a social worker had accompanied them. i speak spanish. i was talking to them and found out they were illegal and that they had come down to get their flu shot. this elderly gentleman was getting his flu shot all sell. the social worker, when she heard us talking, told us to keep quiet. he was able to get the ordinary flu shot but not this one flu because he was too old. those three hispanic john and went in there and they got there is one flu shot. -- swine flu shot. i find that to be disgusting. i called the clinic, and never received a response. guest: the f

it was about the same time that ronald reagan came on to the political scene. i met the congressman in january 1976. as i got older, are registered to vote for the first time and president reagan ran in 1980. i decided i wanted to be a republican because i liked what he had to say. i was impressed by his conviction and his belief in american exception was a map. i'm impressed by his willingness to confront the communist threat around the world. i was impressed by his sunny optimism, his belief that america's best days were ahead of us, his belief that you achieve peace through strength. all of the things he talked about where things that really struck a chord with me. that is how idec interested in politics, and more importantly republican -- that is how i got interested in politics. we were in really tough shape, but it was the principal the leadership that he brought at that time in history which i think brought america's spirit back to let us -- which led us to a whole new standing in the world. is that kind of leadership that i think america covets today. i

the time as unrealistic dreamers, this group persisted and stepped into the arena of power with ronald reagan's election in 1980. these people, the supply cid cider -- sideers and on the implementation of this policy mixed fully by 1983, the united states was off on a quarter century run of noninflationary growth at the old fabled rates of post-war prosperity of 3% -- 3.3% per year. it simply was one of the greatest challenges this nation ever faced in public policy and it was vanquished. but that's what the third part of the book was. i want to linger here and i want to talk about that right now. i want to say one thing about the 1970s. i'm done talking about it now so you can -- it's going to be a happy ending, okay? [laughter] >> i went easy on them. i mean, i did not tell you about bracket creep in the tax code and how there were automatic increases in the tax rate every year because the rate code was underindexed for inflation. i did not tell you about that. and the magnitudes of african-american unemployment in the 1970s because blacks were shut out of the unions and to get a real cost of

where are the ronald reagans of 2010.n john mccain who supported comprehensive immigration reform the mccain kennedy bill switched to the position in arizona. it flip flopped. >> my hero. broke my heart. >> geraldo, what he has been -- what he is talking about all he is talking about a amnesty. >> you are an attorney takes 8 years it makes you pay a fine makes you go through every kind of hoop in the world it's hardly immigration. i am out of time. we will have you back. we will have you both back. got to take a break. >> be glad to come back. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i work a lot, and so i wasn't sure that i should actually come tonight. biden talked me into it. he leaned over and he said, mr. president, this is no ordinary dinner. when you have diabetes like me, you have questions. like, why are my numbers too low? are you looking for answers? the accu-chek aviva system now has new tools to help you discover what your numbers mean and how the things you do are connected to your blood sugar patterns. [ sarah ] with

and if this generation loses man's freedom, according to ronald reagan, this generation will not seeagain. i just the other day read a letter between thomas jefferson and james -- or john adams. it was 1920 -- 1823, 1824. and they were going back and forth and they were talking about wow, this is going to fall apart at some point. and thomas jefferson said yes, yes. if they lose freedom -- he's speaking of us. future generations, if they lose freedom, there will be rivers of blood. i mean he talks about rivers of blood three or four times before we finally gain freedom back. boy, i hope that's not true. but i can tell you there will be rivers of blood if we don't have values and principles. second attempt, third attempt, fourth attempt. it will take a while to turn it back around. you must see yourself as guardian, to preserve what is true and pass it on. be a guardian. we don't need militants or revolutionaries. we need guardians, leaders. there are plenty of minute men. people willing to be minute men. where are the people that want to be george washington? where is benjamin frankl

those will be recognized by remember ronald reagan's brief 1968 campaign the more successful one of 1976 and the ultimate election of 1980. in each election i did my small. not all conservatives share my conference the old cowboy manifest talent denuded them and in the book reports that even bill buckley was not sure of ronald reagan's readiness in 1980 by yet how least during those early years three did not have to overcome problems that accumulated during the presidency of george w. bush. then as the famous longshoreman philosopher once anticipated come at a great cause a descended into a business and then into a rack it. the bush years with the arrival, sometimes the hustlers were crooks such as jack april moth but other times their the intellectual opportunist who thought they could finance by going up against established members of the movement such as the davidians. and the occasional many kind has i like to call him carl tucker sen and now for her eternal chiding of conservative is them kathleen parker. she is not found guilty of fabrication as so happen with the pulitzer prize wi

one of my students chaired the task force for ronald reagan. he had a thorough review and came out saying we needed only the six changes. all of those six and more were achieved in these fundamental reagan amendments. in addition to that, in 1983, ronald reagan later issued a very important order that we are still falling, the navy still follows, and the rest of the united states government, that all of the other traditional, that is the non-seabed aspects of this treaty, were things the that states would comply with and move forward. that is our living indication of some one objecting. do not take my word for it. let's look at the secretary of state for ronald reagan. here is what he has to say. o call it surprises me to learn that opponents of the treaty are invoking president reagan's name, arguing that he would have opposed. during his administration, with full support from president reagan, we made it clear that we would support ratification if our positions on the seaboard issues were accepted." my opponent argues that "american participat

people on the right to quickly say, ronald reagan said in the 1960's i don't need the democratic party, the democratic party left me. remember that one? and even the father of conservatism irving kristol said in the 60's it was easy for a little to become a neoconservative. all you had to do was stand still. the same idea. think of it. we've had tremendous -- every decade, the 1920's we see the end of women's suffrage, the woman's right to vote. the 30's and 40's we see the new deal reform. the 1950's desegregation, brown v. board of education of 1954. the 1960's, civil rights and the great society reform and the 70's affirmative action and the 80's and 90's. who would have imagined in the 60's this interesting debate about decriminalizing homosexuality and a very famous debate among scholars, the liberal and conservative on this. a big debate about it. who would have imagined that even 30 or 40 years later we would be having a national conversation about the marriage? isn't it interesting that ronald reagan a conservative president appointed political conservative justice kennedy who

that is the history of the night in 80 ronald reagan campaigned for president.lso had a book by matt spalding about restoring the principles of the constitution. and what you have coming up in 2010? >> we have a biography of william f. buckley called the founder. we also have a book called whittaker chambers as part of a library of modern thinkers series, and we have a book called seize freedom. basically about restoring the risk rules of conservatism in the coming years. and, finally, we have a book called the closing of modern mind by robert reilly. which is about the intellectual differences between muslims and western christians and how that needs to be resolved before we go further. >> do you have any office or signing books books are today? >> we do. matthew spalding, he will be signing books, and also craig shirley who wrote a rendezvous with destiny. >> can you tell us about about isi books in general? how long is the company been around? are the a part of another publisher? >> isi books has been around since 1993. we are part of the institute which does

colleagues, 25 years ago, almost to the day, president ronald reagan addressed this parliament on may 8, 1982 -- 1985. this was the last and so far only time that a u.s. president has spoken to this democratically elected body. your visit is a symbol of the renewal of that dialogue at the highest level between our two countries. this gives the possibility to act. in america, one year under president obama's leadership, a very new hope for the world. the timing for your address, mr. vice president, could not be at a better time. the floor is yours. >> thank you. [applause] mr. president, thank you for that welcome. it was a delight to have you in washington and at the white house, in it is a great honor, and i might add, -- and it is a great honor, and i might add a privilege. i served in parliament that had fewer members total. this is even a greater honor. i remember president reagan's speech here in 1985, and to quote an irish poet, he said, "all is changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty has been born." much has changed since 1985. much has changed, and a terrible beauty has be

it became popular beginning in the 1916s with the election of ronald reagan and the aftermath of that. bill buckley himself was famous for saying he would rather be gathered by the first two hundred thousand names in the boston telephone directories and the faculty of harvard university. that was not on his part and undiscriminating populism. in those circumstances in the 1950s and 60s and still true today there is more common sense and more good sense in the people than there are in the intellectual elites or academic version of the intellectual elite. >> if you would like to dialing you can. 202-585-3885. if you live in the east central time zones, 585-3886. if you live in the mountains or pacific time zone. go ahead and dial in. you have a flavor of what professor kessler talks about. it is about patrick's book the conservative ideas and personalities through all-american history. that book has the virtue of treating conservatism as an american phenomenon rather than a transplant or derivation of european flawed. >> guest: conservatism has been confused for most of its life in amer

ronald reagan -- [ applause ] -- understanding those western values too. those small town values and as an alaskan woman i'm proud to consered myself a frontier fp nis like the early women of the west. now, maybe my jumping on a national stage was a bit of a shock to some people. some people may not have considered what an independent pioneering spirit -- how i was brought up with, what that could look like. maybe there was a lot of shock out there jumping on that national stage, but i know that some left wg feminists, they sure didn't know what to make of an alaskan chick out there talking about the second amendment and talking abo raising family and kids, the more the merrier and, you know, well, some of them even refused to admit i was even a woman, geez. that's one of the reaso why i'm so grateful for the support of this organization. oh, my goodness. the hard work, the graciousness. even the diplomacy, how you're able to engage in the issues, in the debate with healthy debate, so diplomatically, so professionally with so much wisdom and intelligence a

guest: when i was a very junior congressman working with ronald reagan, the world looked bleak. the soviet union was on offense, our economy was collapsing under president carter. people had lost morale. then reagan came in and we had this extraordinary eight years and the soviet union disappeared, the economy took off. jobs were created. inflation was defeated. and i'm proud to be an american was a popular song and civic cultural rebuilt. by 1991 or 1992 i thought northeasterlily in retro -- naively in retrospect that we had won the big arguments. we had a series called the commanding heights which argued that hiayek and freedman and others had defended the keynesians and it turned out that we were wrong. that underneath all of this that the hard left and the universities and the government employee unions and bureaucracy and courts and among the labor union leadership and politicians that the hard left continued to grow basically ignoring every lesson. so, when the republicans failed in 2006 and 2008 and the country decided to repudiate them, the people that they elected were v

irc -- ronald reagan was perfect for his day and time. i don't see a ronald reagan out there right now quite frankly. he was the political leader with whom i agree most often on almost everything and i had the honor of working with him for two years. i don't see a leader out there who i agree with on all of those issues right now that i think are vitally important to us and so the answer is no there's a lot of good men out there with withdraw and good women out there that might agree on some things but not everything. >> host: ok. mitt romney is described for the front runner for 2012. >> guest: i think that is right. he is a good man, good family man. i know there's a lot of conservatives who are severely critical of him that he governed as a moderate republican or liberal republican of massachusetts. he seemed to be liberal on the social right to life and gay marriage and things or gay rights and that his more conservative now and they don't know if he is authentic. i agree that he's the frontrunner and i will also agree he may be the s

was followed by ronald reagan and bush. both of them used the same approach by cutting taxes and turned us out of a recession. you can see that on the first chart that we had. you can see that this recession that president bush inherited here, he had in 2001 -- you have lack delup luster job growth in 2002 and 2003 and then put policies of these tax cuts which he was able to get through the senate despite of the fact that we did not have 60 republican votes. we had tax cuts through the senate, capital gains, dividends and the death tax. when we got that through, you could see that the recovery followed. so that's the effective way. and i think it's not american even to be critical of a political party or somebody else's solution without proposing a better idea. and so certainly the better idea is cut taxes. that's what always works. it's worked in other economies and and other parts of the world as well. so here we have a little bit of a cartoon of what's going on. sometimes you have to laugh a little bit, even though it do

i can tell you that we did a movie called, ronald reagan destiny, that's a study of reagan's life. and i agree with you about his ability and the way he dealt with things and the power he had. but i think that the deeper point you are making, when you are in a period of great difficulties, it's like a boat at sea. and the storm is overwhelming. and you want a captain of the ship that is calm and confident and knows where they are going and knows how to survive the storms. and i think that president reagan had those characteristics. and as we watch the ship getting worse and understand how serious the threat is from the radical wing of islam. somewhere in that process your strength is right, and we will look for a leader with the strength and calmness and firmness of purpose that president reagan had. host: is there an overlay of morality in america? guest: there is an overlay of morality and faith in america. i want it drive this home, peter, our declaration of independence, our first document, says that we are en w endowed by our creator. and it meant wisdom and virtue. and i woul

ronald reagan was a pragmatist.1980, but as we all covered him in the years he raised taxes when he had to, the cement broke around his feet. what rand paul is saying if he is going to be true to his beliefs is very different. >> he declined to come on the show because he would be asked about that. he's a pragmatist, too. >> i want you to break them down a little bit. there were two kind of -- trying to find the meaning of tuesday. this is a cartoon we like. mike smith from the las vegas sun, in "usa today." a couple guys sitting at bar. one says, everyone's mad at me, my wife, my kids, my boss. the other says, hey, it could be worse. you could be an incumbent. and an old jim hightower quote said, there's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos. we see the breakdown of the political center and a real problem for incumbents tuesday? >> of course we saw both of them. president obama has governed so far to the left that i think he's driven republicans to the right. republicans said he s

you know, first of all let me say that i probably knew ronald reagan longer than anybody around here. because when i was a 19-year-old undergraduate at stanford university, he was the chairman of a somewhat quixotic drive to unseat liberal republican u.s. senator thomas kekle of california. and even though i came from wisconsin they couldn't find the northern california youth chairman for his conservative opponent lloyd wright, who happened to be then actor reagan lawyer during a lot of the screening actors guild fights that get the communists out of the screen actors guild. so once a month i went to southern california. reagan was an active committee chair. and shortly before the registration deadline before the 1962 california primary, i was there when ronald reagan changed his registration from democrat to republican. i had nothing to do with it. but i remember very vividly his comment as he was signing his reregistration form, i have already been converted so it is now time for me to join the church. [laughter] >> having said that, i'm one of the few republicans that had actually

president ronald reagan addressed this parliament on the 8th of may, 1985. this was the last, and so far the only time, that a u.s. president has spoken to the democratically-elected colleagues here. your presence is a symbol of the renewal of that dialogue at the highest levels between our two countries. cities in europe, we have a new treaty. it is so important for the european union, giving us in the european parliament, new possibilities to act. it is very important. in america, after one year after president obama's election, there is new hope for the world. the timing of your address, mr. vice president, could not be better. mr. vice president, it is a great pleasure to welcome you here this afternoon to europe's parliament. the floor is yours. >> thank you. [applause] >> mr. president, thank you for that welcome. it was a delight to have you in washington and at the white house. it is a great honor and privilege to be able to address such an esteemed body. i served in a parliament that only had 435 members total. this is an even greater honor. when pr

this persisted and stepped into the arena of power with the ronald reagan election in 1970. -- 1980. they undertook the solution, stable money, and tax cuts at the margin. on the scream nation of this policy -- implementation of the policy, the united states was off on a quarter-century run of noninflational growth at the old rates of postwar prosperity of 3.3% per year. is simply was one of the greatest challenges this nation was faced in public policy, and it was vanquished. that's the third part of the book. i want to say one thing about the 1970s. i'm done talking about it. it's going to be a happy ending. i went easy on them. i did not tell you about the tax code or automatic increases in tax rates because the rate code was on index for inflation. i did not tell you about the stunning magnitudes of african-american unemployment in the 1970s. because blacks were largely shut out of unions. the only way to get a cost of living increase was to be a member of the union. there had never been a budget in the great years of the great society in the vietnam war that exceeded 20% of gdp.

guest: when i was a very junior congressman working with ronald reagan, the world looked bleak. the soviet union was on offense, our economy was collapsing under president carter. people had lost morale. then reagan came in and we had this extraordinary eight years and t sovt union disappeared, the economy took off. jobs were created. inflation was defeated. and i'm proud to be an american was a popular song and civic cultural rebuilt. by 1991 or 1992 i thought northeasterlily in retro -- naively in retrospect that we had won the big arguments. we had a series called the commanding heights which argued that hiayek and freedman and others had defended the keynesians and it turned out that we were wrong. that underneath all of this that the hard left and the universities and the government employee unions and bureaucracy and courts and among the labor union leadership and politicians that the hard left continued to grow basical ignoring every lesson. so, when the republicans failed in 2006 a 2008 and the country decided to repudiate them, the people that they elected were very hard

i don't see a ronald reagan out there right now, quite frankly.i mean, he was the political leader with whom i agreed most often on almost everything. and i had the honor of working for him for two years. i don't see a leader out there whom i agree with on all those issues right now that i think are vitally important to us. and so the answer is no. but there are a lot of good men out there. good individuals. and good women out there. i agree on some things but not on everything. >> host: okay. mitt romney is described as the front runner for 2012. >> guest: i think that's correct. mitt is a good family man. i know there are a lot of conservatives that are severely conservative of him. he governed as a moderate republican. he seemed to be liberal on the -- on right to life and gay marriage and things up there or gay rights. and he's more conservative now and they don't know if he's authentic. i agree with you he's the front runner and i would also agree he may be the strongest candidate the republicans could nominate. in an election against barack

highlight -- out of fema, but it does highlight that there are some differences. >> as we wrap up, ronald reaganently called his 11th commandment. you shall speak no evil of a fellow republican. do you agree with president reagan, and how do you assess your opponents in how they are meeting the standards that your phrase? >> i agree with ronald reagan if they are fellow republicans. a republican is someone that stands for the constitution as written $3 you're saying these two gentleman do not? >> i am saying that they do not. >> ronald reagan also said trust but verify. are you giving these boys a little bit too much help? i told them that that they are -- i am telling the truth and they just think it is hell, just like harry truman said. >> on children's issues, what is the one idea that you would personally champion for the children in the united states? >> i think the biggest thing that affects our children's future it, the number one issue of the campaign, is the focus on the future of our kids. i think what we have destroyed our great country. our country has been spending beyond its means

it was for that -- a mistake the president ronald reagan made, that president jimmy carter made, and senator -- and a mistake that senator john mccain made. all oleaster use secure the border. i might use this occasion to respond to my good friend chuck devore. i never for amnesty. when you make the statement that you are the only one who is unequivocably opposed to that, i do not know the source r that. amnesty is a serious mistake. it takes the opportunity that is earned by those who obey the law, waited their time, and gives that to somebody who broke all. the first that is to get that border secure and notice how the democrats running the senate and house and the president had said, let's call it comprehensive and it is not comprehensive unless we have a pathway to citizenip, and because you will not secure the border, you will have more illegal aliens enter in and you will attract them by their reasons of the suggestions better in the bill. >> the federal government has twjobs here. it is the federal government's job to secure the border and create a temporary worker program tha

example, the former solicitor general who was appointed by the former president bush and also ronald reagan's s.g., they also supported her, among other republicans. host: and some of the conservatives voted for her during that s.g. confirmation? guest: yes, she won support from seven republicans. not a high number, but there were key votes in there, including senator hatch, a republican from utah. host: what happens next? the president is expected to make this announcement this morning, and then what happens? guest: a lot of activity over the next four or five weeks as more of her record comes out from the white house and is scrutinized from critics and supporters, and then the hearings will begin. it is up to senator leahy and the senior republican on that committee, jeff sessions. senator leahy is a democratic from vermont, jeff sessions is a republican from alabama, and they will schedule the hearings which could, at this point, come the last week in june or maybe early in july. they have to navigate among lots of different factors, including that there is a traditional recess that comes

president ronald reagan once said," this country was founded and filled with people with great dreamse courage to take great risk them." the great risk is that most of us is downplaying their careers. many times when an officer commits a heroic action, there is -- they are the last ones to talk about it and they almost always say they did what they had to do. there is usually -- they are used embarrassed by the accolades and did not understand what the big deal is. they did their jobs. my friends, the big deal is that as humans, we are supposed to flee danger, not run toward it. when a citizen here is about these actions, they know it takes a special breed to fight nature and run into trouble. it is our hope that all americans will rededicate themselves to keeping our country strong and that we will never forget those heroes that allow them to follow their dreams. god bless you, the families of our fallen brothers and sisters. may god bless our law enforcement community and by god bless our troops to fight every day for our freedom and protection overseas. thank you very much. [applau

. >> over 20 years of white house state dinner is from ronald reagan to barack obama at every programe 1987 at the cspan video library. it is washington your way. watch what you want when you want. >> here is a look at today's schedule. "washington journal" is next followed by our live coverage of the u.s. house and later, congress holds a joint meeting to hear a speech by visiting mexican president felipe calderon. live coverage here on c-span. and in about 45 minutes, for secretary of state madeleine albright who chairs the nation -- the nato strategic group which has made no recommendations about the future of the nato alliance. also on the program, the republican whip erick kanter and a look at the global econom

ronald reagan -- [ applause ] -- understanding those western values too. those small town values and as an alaskan woman i'm proud to considered myself a frontier fp nis like the early women of the west. now, maybe my jumping on a national stage was a bit of a shock to some people. some people may not have considered what an independent pioneering spirit -- how i was brought up with, what that could look like. maybe there was a lot of shock out there jumping on that national stage, but i know that some left wing feminists, they sure didn't know what to make of an alaskan chick out there talking about the second amendment and talking about raising family and kids, the more the merrier and, you know, well, some of them even refused to admit i was even a woman, geez. that's one of the reasons why i'm s grateful for the support of this organization. oh, my goodness. the rd work, the graciousness. even the diplomacy, how you're able to engage in the issues, in the debate with healthy debate, so diplomatically, so professionally with so much wisdom and intellige

you speak of barry goldwater and ronald reagan.ou do not speak of ron paul has the conservative credentials and has had them for 30 years. guest: by in a big fan of ron paul. in fact, my marketing and advertising company supported him in a major way when he first ran for congress in 1976. we did a great deal of fund- raising throughout the country to finance a mailing campaign and ron paul's special election when he ran in 1976. so i go back 35 years with ron paul. i am a big fan. host: i want to get your thoughts on joe the plumber who got a lot of attention in the 2008 campaign and was pictured -- then no washed tim "washington times." he was elected tuesday to oversee the republican party in his state. is he part of that new republican party you are talking about? guest: he is. he is a small businessman who saw the country moving in the wrong direction. he saw his business suffer. he saw a situation whereby he is working hard, sacrificing, taking risks so that other people can live comfortably off of his work. that is kind of wh

>> i agree with ronald reagan. if they are fellow republicans. a republican is somebody who stands for the constitution as written. >> you think these gentleman's do not. >> i am saying they did not. >> ronald reagan also said to trust and verify. somebody said aren't you giving these boys too much hell? carts on children's issues, what is the one idea you would personally champion for the children in the u.s. and kentucky? >> i think the biggest thing that affects our children's lives is the debt. it is the focus on the future of our kids. and we can destroy it our great country. it has been spending beyond its means for more than a generation and the penalty will be paid by the children. the best thing for the children is to rein in the spending and and the pork barrel projects. take a stand on their marks. -- on earmarks. we would be that booming capitalist engine that did defeat socialism. capitalism is a wonderful system. it is beyond compare. we have to believe in that and for our kids, let's do something with government to get it back away

all of the narrative -- one of the reasons -- ronald reagan had a tough enomy. he had an approval rating of 34%. people are hing discussions, particularly the people who supported him, online. let's talk about the reality of health care and economic progress. i would argue that one of the reasons -- if you ask a lot of people who are students of politics, with the economy the way it has been for as long as it has been, they would have predicted that his approval ratings would have been lower. a lot of the people who voted for him are communicating with each other. the truth is, there are a lotf good things that have happened. he has been true to himself and things that he said he would do, whether you like them or not. he said he would sign a health care plan. some people in our party did not like police and more troops to afghanistan. we talked about that for 720 days. that is one of the reasons that i think, despite the terrible economy, he has held up. there is no doubt that as we get into 2011 and 2012, that will be were much of the campaign is focused. the

where is margaret thatcher and ronald reagan. you know, margaret thatcher said the problem with socialism, you run out of aother people's cash. you need a strong leader and i don't see it on the horizon. on thursday, and that may influence the german legislatures to vote -- >> nobody is telling the truth to the british people. if you look at what the independent think tanks are saying maybe 10, 15% of the austerity has been detailed and whoever wins on thursday, actually, arguably, doesn't have a mandate to follow through. >> you could argue the same thing right here in the united states. that we should be implementing some kind of austerity program. >> think they are sending a message, i agree with you it's a vague message, but there have to be cutbacks in spending. >> provided they're elected, larry. the people of europe repeatedly say no. >> listen, if the people of europe vote against the bailout package, let's take germany. i can't blame them. i can't blame them. and i think that's a key factor. my point is -- >> one of the

. >> why didn't specter do what ronald reagan did in reverse? said i didn't leave them, they left me. >> he said both. >> can we play the tape against to cokie. what is the name of the town you're from again? new orleans? i pick up the paper the next day, "the new york times headline" i may not have it exact, voters are after imcouple bents. it wasn't the incumbents' failure. it was arlen specter's failure. >> he said that the republican party had become too conser conservati conservative. >> not in that clip. >> when he won for the senate the first time he was running against someone who lost more than he had. he had lost more campaigns than you can imagine but finally somebody had to win out of two losers running against each other. and he's gotten reelectroed as the incumbent. be with difficulty. it was hardly surprising to have him in a year of anti-incumbency, when it seems phony to have him switch, when he's 80 years old. the surprising part is that the white house backed him so strenuously in the first place and then pulled back in the en

he was nominated to the supreme court by president ronald reagan in 1986. prior to that appointment he was in private practice in cleveland, ohio, and served as professor of law at the university of virginia, georgetown and stanford. justice scalia served as general counsel to the office of telecommunications policy, and as assistant attorney general to the office of legal counsel. was a judge and the u.s. court of appeals in the district of columbia circuit in 1982. thank you for being here. please begin your testimony. >> thank you. i am very glad to be here. as you noted, justice breyer and i were here six years ago to the day. to tell you the truth, i was at best guardedly optimistic that on that occasion the committee would succeed in reinvigorating or reauthorize thing or refunding of the administrative conference. as i told you then, i thought it was a good idea. i am just delighted to see that it has come to fruition. i am probably happier than most people at the reemergence of the administrative conference, because i had three offices in the execut

i can tell you that we did a movie called "ronald reagan: rondo with destiny" which was as study of reagan's life and what he achieved. i agree about his ability and the way he dealt with things and a power that he hadppeared -- that he had. but i think the deeper points you are making, is when you are in a period of very great difficulty, sort olike a boat that is at sea and the storm is overwhelming, and you want a captain of the ship who is calm and confident and knows where they are going and who knows how to survive the storm. and i think president reagan had those characteristics. and i suspect as we watch t europeans it was in get worse, as we realize howeep our economic challenges are, as we understand how serious a threat is from the radical wing of islam, that somewhere in the process your instinct is right and we will go back to looking for a leader that has gone of the strength and calmness and firmness of purpose that president reagan had. host: is there an overlay of morality in "to save america?" guest: in a sense that there is an overlay and faith in america. i declare to dri

he is one of the preeminent solicitors general who served under ronald reagan. he describes, from his perspective, the unique and important role as steward of the office of s.g. i would like to hear your take on that description of what a good s.g. would be. >> if i may? one of your staff said you had an interest in that article. i did read it. i completely agree with you. i think it is a very thoughtful and powerful article about the s.g.'s role. i might have a quibble here and there, but i agree with all of the main points. >> it is a bit of a template for how a solicitor general approach is what cases to take and how to proceed. i would like to discuss that with you. thank you for that. i want to follow up on what senator coburn was saying about experience. i like to talk to my grandchildn about the difference between intelligence and wisdom,; for my part -- wisdom. from my perspective, wisdom is a combination of wisdom, learning, and experience, which also produces knowledge. i also encourage them to get out learning and experience. while it is true that bec

first woman to be named dean of harvard law school and conservatives like charles freed under ronald reaganabout her deanship. she was on the short list to be a president of harvard university. good for her she wasn't selected. she would have never made to the supreme court. she has outstanding credentials. every person on the supreme court beyond her came up through the court of appeals. we wanted somebody with different kind of experience. obama chosen someone like that. >> i want to get james back to respond to david. >> you say she is the dean of harvard law school. sure she was. you know what the dean does? she raises money. why does raising money make you qualified to nominated to the supreme court? if you're an academic and -- this is what i don't understand. where are the brightest left wing jurorists? we have scalia on the court. you would expect obama positive put the best and bright frest the left on there. people have written and have strong opinions and creative. it's not there. this is a throw away. >> james go, ahead. >> i hate to do this, but i utterly have to. you criticize

. >> richard clarke served in the white house for president ronald reagan and both george h. w. bush and george w. bush and president clinton as national coordinator for security infrastructure protection and counterterrorism. he teaches at harvard kennedy school of government, consults for abc news and is the chairman of a good harbour consulting. for more information, visit richardaclarke.net. >>> and now from the 2010 "los angeles times" festival of books roxana saberi, author of "between two worlds" my life and captivity in iran. this last half an hour. >> we are back live in the los angeles with our final segment of our live coverage from the "los angeles times" festival of books on the campus of ucla. now joining us is roxana saberi. you just saw her on a panel on the middle east and she's here to talk about her book, "between two worlds my life in captivity in iran." roxana saberi, how long did you live in iran before you were arrested? >> i lived there about six years ani was just getting ready to leave the country to move to the next chapter of my life when i was arrest