without nancy ronald reagan never would have been elected to anything. she was the one with the driving ambition, not ron. another misunderstood aspect of the reagan story is his conversion from new deal democrat to eisenhower republican. that was not just an instantaneous flash. occurred over a decade. during the early 40s while fighting communist infiltration into the screen actors guild reagan was threatened over the phone with an asset acid in the face of taghavi persisted in blocking the communist penetration of the union. in response the burbank police department offered protection and they also offered a concealed weapon permit. not well understood the three years he was head of the screen actors guild he was also packing heat. reagan came to understand the lofty ideals of communism simply could not be enforced without terror. that was part of his conversion. further political movement came in the early 50's with the korean war. reagan's enthusiasm for roosevelt transferred to harry truman. he believed in harry truman but as the korean war dragged

it is also a sort of biography of ronald reagan. he had been a sullen little kid from a chaotic, alcoholic home whose mother's passion for saving fallen souls could never save her own husband. it also seemed to have kept her out of the house almost constantly. and by the time of ronald reagan's adolescence, the boy who told his friends to call him dutch had cultivated an extraordinary gift in the act of rescuing himself. the ability to radiate blithe optimism in the face of chaos. to reimagine the morass in front of him as a tableau of simple moral clarity. he did the same thing decades later as a politician. skillfully reframing situations that those of a more critical temper saw asker resolvable muddles as chris line black and white melodramas. others witnessing precisely this quality saw him as a tony and a hustler -- phony and a hustler. in this book ronald reagan is not a uniter, he is fundamentally a divider. and understanding the precise ways about him that divided americans better helps us understand our political order of b

sympathetic toward richard nixon and what tortured richard nixon more than you're sympathetic toward ronald reagan. >> people told me they came away from the book more sympathetic from reagan. i don't know. i didn't go in with that agenda. it seems like reagan books are divided in two. they are literally treated as put on earth to defeat the evil empire. you have read them. or they hate him. >> come on i'm in that group. let's bring in doug brinkley right now. it's fascinating. ronald reagan is still, you know, people are still trying to get their arms around this man. you talk about like churchill would have said that he's still a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma. i remember even nancy reagan saying there are parts of reagan that i didn't even know. >> absolutely. he's become a beloved figure. i'm here in washington. you have reagan national and all of the rest. his presidential library is the most visited. the big reason why everyone talks about reagan and he generates such interest is because we may be living in the age of ronald reagan still. fdr told america that the federal g

ronald reagan was not ronald reagan until he became ronald reagan. >> anthony conventional which is doy big particularly raising soft money will go with the bushes which he has obviously a family connect with. melissa: right. >> i heard that is not necessarily the case. he doesn't have the same relationship he had with the other bushes. he likes romney. is that a real, good analysis? >> i think karl, i know karl very well. he has been to the salt conference many times as you know charlie. i think karl wants to win. average republican wants to win. >> this is a headline he is not necessarily in the bush camp here? >> i don't see him as in either camp at this point. melissa: got to go. >> that is the headline right there. melissa: thanks, guys. no yelling in football. how one coaching staff is trying to change the game even when the championship is on the line. >>> plus, falling gas prices putting extra money in your pocket but that relief could be short-lived. new calls in d.c. to take that money right out of your pocket. "piles of money" coming up. ♪ i've been called a control freak...

>> his relationship with ronald reagan was really quite interesting. both irishmen. after hours, they would have a drink together. they were twos and nail against one another. by 1985, tip o'neil had survived the reagan revolution. of course, the senate went to republican in 81. it was very hard for the speaker to stop reagan politics. he simply said, i do not have the votes. in the early years, the reagan agenda of cutting taxes and other programs went through without trouble. even though tip

there was a fire behind ronald reagan at the fireplace. i said, wow, that's the most fire i've ever seen. well, i have people to do that, joe. nancy rolls in. locks in my eyes. not saying a word. i got it. she said -- i could see it in her eyes. frank sinatra asked if you get here. you mind yourself because i'm in charge. nancy was smart enough to reach out to the guy making fun of her president. i never made fun of him. i'm a huge reagan fan. now i'm a huge conservative. you won't see that today. neil: i think a lot of them bring -- the guys that do impressions of them, like richard nixon rich little. >> dana carvy. that got to be a great relationship. they don't like it, i don't think (?) but they better embrace it. >> yeah, keep it close like that. reagan was genuinely funny. neil: but you left out of that story, shoot him on the way out. [laughter] >> sinatra. had to be the old man -- ronald reagan -- neil: sinatra loved you. >> he used to call me the vice chairman of the board. neil: no one was better doing it. >> we still go out on t

ronald reagan -- >> because when ronald reagan put it at 28% he had lowered the top rate from 50% to 28%. okay? for personal incomes. now, it's 39.6% under obama. >> you know, paul, the other thing -- the other thing is he wants to now remove the tax benefits that people have for saving for education. and basically, the message there is that if you have enough money, if you make enough money to be able to save for the future, you are one of the elites in this country and therefore, you -- that right or that privilege should be taken away from you. >> let's tease out some of the details that mary referenced. 529 plans, the -- >> 11.8 million accounts. >> those are accounts that people put in and they can raise money -- they put in after-tax money, but then it raises tax free and you can withdraw as long as it's for education without paying a tax penalty. >> that's right. and -- >> he wants to limit -- >> they're popular and what he's saying now is let's start taxing as income if -- the withdraw on earnings on those contributions. in the future. >> right. >> you could argue if we have

so reagan went out and raised the money and aired the speech himself. >> ronald reagan: and this ideahas no other source of power, except the sovereign people -- is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. this is the issue of this election -- whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the american revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. >> mann: the speech was called "a time for choosing," which may be ronald reagan's best speech ever, and that's saying a lot for ronald reagan, 'cause he gave a lot of great speeches. but this speech was a masterpiece. and it probably made the best case for barry goldwater that anybody, including barry goldwater, had made for himself. >> our democratic opponents seem unwilling to debate these issues. they want to make you and i believe that this is a contest between two men -- that we're to choose just between two personalities. well, what of this man that they w

did i forget ronald reagan? >> i don't think so. how can you forget him? i think he is emerging. >> that is his hair, anyway. >> i interviewed reagan in the white house very soon after he was shot. i thought it was wonderful that he would be willing to do an interview so soon. when i went in to sit down with him, i was studying him to see if there was any sign of the stress or the trauma or the loss of weight, the scar on his head, anything, any sign. nothing. i was within 3-4 feet of him. absolutely incredible. he looked not like an older feller who has been carefully done up and touched up, not a bit. he was just as natural and as calm, as cordial as if we were old friends. in no hurry, very likable. obviously with a good sense of humor and a good sense of the fact that he had a job and he better do it. >> he liked the story, didn't he? >> he loved the story. >> he loved to laugh, love to smile. >> largest year. -- ear. i don't know if that is a sign of anything. >> utterly amazing. mi blocking your view -- am i blocking your view? [laughter] >> locale th

ronald reagan did ultimately sign the legislation that created the martin luther king holiday. it is often forgotten now how reluctant he was at the time to do it. >> it's official now, the dream of his family, friends, and followers when president reagan, not an enthusiastic supporter of the bill, signed the bill to make it a holiday to remember martin luther king jr. >> there was a under lying tension in the white house. today, mr. reagan did not repeat his recent statements that raised the possibility that he was a communist sympathizer. >> traces of bigotry still mar america. so each year on martin king day, let's recall dr. king and rededicate ourselves to the commandments that he sought to live every day. they discussed the king holiday and his role in it. >> weird stuff happens in the political arena. i'm just glad we got that bill signed. >> maybe that's what today was all pabt, that blacks now have the power to make politicians do things. as the president left today's ceremony, many in the crowd stayed and they sang. chris wallace, nbc news at the white house. >> the b

>> did i forget ronald reagan? >> how could you forget him. i think he's emerging. >> i think i might have forgotten him. >> it's in the stars as they say. >> there's his hair anyway. >> i interviewed reagan in the white house before soon after he was shot. and i thought it was wonderful that he would be willing to do an interview so soon after. but when i went in to sit down with him, i was studying to see if there was any sign of the stress or the trauma or the loss of weight or scar on his head or anything, any sign whatever. nothing. and i was within three or four feet of him. absolutely incredible. he looked not like an older fellow who has carefully been done up and touched up a little bit. not at all. he was intelligent and calm and as cordial as if we were old friends. and in no hurry and very, were likable. obviously a good sense of humor and a good sense of the fact that he had the job and he better do it. >> he liked the story, didn't he? >> he loved the story. >> yeah. >> i don't know if that's a sign of anything. >> utterly amazing

let me also point out here that ronald reagan didn't run insecutive cycles.t republican nomination. mitt romney was, the republican nominee in 2012. he was already presented to the entire american public in the general election. and also in 1976 when ronald reagan ran that second time there was no social media, there was no internet there was no cable news. so there wasn't this echo chamber that mitt romney has been dealing with. and right now people are talking about bush fatigue and clinton fatigue. but can you imagine romney fatigue in three consecutive cycles? this may not be something he's considered. >> republicans didn't really i mean warmly embrace him right away. it took some time. and then he became, you know the nominee. so now this time potentially. would he be embraced by the party or is the party saying we want something new and something different? >> well, i think you've already seen a lot of ambivalence by not just gop lawmakers but in the wider conservative universe. erin mentioned the "wall street journal." there was a lacerating op-ed this

it was done in 1986 with tip o'neill and ronald reagan. they had an understanding that it was to be revenue neutral to the government. another words -- in other words it was about making america more competitive and growing the economy, not making the government larger. the president, at least at this point, has said he is willing to do corporate tax reform only revenue neutral. the problem with that is you leave out most of american business, which pays taxes. llc's. if we can agree why we are doing this, then i think it would be the perfect time to tackle it, and those discussions are underway between the speaker and the president and myself to see if we can come to a common agreement about why we're doing this. if we can do that, it is worth pursuing. >> senator mcconnell on immigration reform, what does your senate intend to do with it, and are the 60 votes there? if not, do you have another plan? we are going to try to pass it. that will be our first choice. and if we are unable to do it, we will see what happens.

it is what the former speechwriter for ronald reagan called civility.t is not only politeness but the capacity to respect appreciate, and listen to what someone else is saying. we do not have that in our argue culture and polarized politics. i am at a loss frankly, to no since i am charged these days with just talking about the world's problems, not fixing them, i don't know and don't have an answer. the conversation has to start. that is why i wrote the book. >> you make the assessment we we will not have another great president. you are counting on that the aliens are not going to invade or there won't be another great war and the crisis will not present itself. do we deserve to have a great pres.? given all you have just said, do they deserve it? >> that gets into the issue of making moral judgments. i love this country. i find it remarkable. the answer is, yes, because with a great president deserve sure. we could do so much better and be so much smarter and more effective in the way we deal with the rest of the world. i am simply arguing that in on

since then, ronald reagan came in and point blake drop those taxes. this is not me speaking, this is on record in washington. in washington, you have access to this. it almost seems like this is by design. look, 16 presidents from wilson to now. out of the 16, you got 12 that knew what they are doing and for that ruin this country. you cannot walk away from it. it is point_blank. i can set every one of you this chart to understand how we got $18 trillion into debt. host: thanks, david. some other news out there this sunday morning. the miami herald has a big story on cuba __ waves of change __ is the front page story. that is the miami herald. lots of folks are reporting this morning on the congressional delegation that has gone to cuba. here is a picture from the bbc website. this is a shot of senator leahy. he is accompanied by senator durbin, sheldon whitehouse, congressman chris van hollen. you can see them all their. coming into the meeting place, van hollen on the left, senator leahy on the screen. they are meeting for a three_day visit to discu

. >> a thoughtful address by ronald reagan. >> thank you.tly have seen fit to follow another course. >> ronald reagan was an actor, but it was in 1964 that suddenly he explodes on to the national scene as a political figure because he gives the speech. >> in this vote harvesting time they use terms like "the great society," or as we were told a few days ago by the president, we must accept a greater government activity in the affairs of the people. barry goldwater has faith that you and i have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions. >> the campaign was always run optimistically. and when ronald reagan hit it out of the ballpark with his speech, we just knew we were going to win. >> according to a cbs vote profile analysis, lyndon baines johnson has been elected president of the united states. and the landslide has carried him in. >> we're going to devote our days and the years ahead to strengthening the republican party. >> after goldwater loses, all it did was to make the conservatives more determined than ever.

. >> i say that ronald reagan is a coward and i challenge him to a duel. >> eldridge at the ability to step into the heart of the enemy. was he insane? [bleep] yeah. that boy was crazy. >> they were trying to change government as we know it to terrorist activity. >> in the midst of heated debate when army grows armed shot, marched into the capital. >> what is the answer? >> vigorous law enforcement. >> how about justice? >> justice is merely incidental to law and order. >> the fbi saw the panthers as these very, very threatening and violent revolutionary movement. the absolutely wanted this organization to be destroyed. >> i felt absolutely free. i was a free negro. and that little space i had, i was the king. that is what i felt. >> the great strength of the black panther party was its ideals and youthful vigor and enthusiasm. the great weakness of the party was its ideals and its youthful vigor and enthusiasm. that sometimes can be very dangerous, especially when you are up against the united states government. >> that's the trailer for "the black panthers: vanguard of the revolution

ronald reagan and george bush both. it was not controversial back then. senate voted on some measures that did not pass __ reagan did it through executive action. i think this has more to do about obama, and republicans not liking that he is taking it initiatives. i think he is on firm constitutional footing. host: before we continue __ i want to ask you to join the conversation. if you're here in the u. s. illegally, aand want to make her thoughts known on this topic __ call in. you have 20 state suing against him __ is that out of the ordinary. guest: it is. at some point, we imagine there would be bipartisan legislation __ because republicans blocked reform __ the energy to try and fix our broken immigration system has gone elsewhere. you have states taken action. the federal government taking action through executive. because of the gridlock in congress, the desire to modernize our immigration system, it is not perfect to do in this piecemill way. host: one of the arguments is whether states can have the right to argue against the president. guest: tha

. >> this is ronald reagan. he was wonderful.g that comes to your mind when you hear ronald reagan? >> wasn't he an actor. designee cared about this country. >> what's his most famous line >> the broccoli. no that's george bush. >> i do not like broccoli. >> nixon. >> is she right? >> oh, my god that is so embarrassing. my parents if they see this. >> off with her head! >> ever watch "the o'reilly factor." >> all the time. >> anything you want to say to bill. >> keep on trucking. >> keep speaking the truth. >> i love o'reilly. >> gave you a speaking part, nobody cares. >> what is o'reilly lying about. >> not that he lies but he holds back on truth. >> our ran paul guy? >> i like rand paul. >> i knew it. >> bill o'reilly is very charming. >> ever watch water's world >> no. >> ever watch o'reilly factor? >> your going back to time. >> i need to get back to 1985. >> how are you doing? >> i'm a patriot. >> this young man is a fine patriot. >> there's actually a poll taken about who was the best american president. who took it and how

his words aimed at president ronald reagan. >> there is despair, mr. president, in the faces that you don't see, in the places that you don't visit, in your shining city. >> reporter: the speech won him an instant following. many a democrat yearn for a cuomo presidential run. >> he's kind of the italian stallion of democratic party politics at the moment. >> reporter: his reluctance to run earned him an unfortunate moniker, hamlet on the hudson. seeking another four-year term as governor cuomo lost topy pataki pataki. after public office, governor cuomo joined a law firm and remained a visible force in new york politics including the support for his son, andrew who followed in his father's foot steps to become governor as well. cuomo leaves behind his beloved wife of more than 50 years, matilda matilda, and children chris, madeline, margaret, maria and andrew. >> joining me now is chris smith, contributing editor at "new york" magazine. you wrote an obituary of governor cuomo and another article up at newyork magazine. one of the quotes you pulled was

it will just repeat since. 20% with the capital gains tax rate under ronald reagan. >> ronald reaganowering tax rates. >> but he had to increase the capital gains tax rate in 1986. >> we are looking at a doubling since the president took office. you go up to 20%, i think it will have a real damping effect on investing in a things area the reality, all this stuff republicans just look at it. it's not a serious basel. while i agree that they will try to move this these by piece, the president is marketing this as a package and it's difficult to make the sale. >> let me ask you to other things will quick. one is energy, the other is infrastructure. on energy, can you imagine -- in some world there is a possibility the president would sign the keystone deal and do broader energy climate --do you think that could happen? >> i think that is difficult when the president signaled he would veto any keystone bill. >> if he were to drop the veto threat, do you think -- >> it is possible. but you have a lot of skepticism among republicans. >> swirling around all of this, the question of 2016. si

progressive trail blaze wears cat tulted to ed tocatapulted to the national stage, criticizing ronald reagan over economic inequities. david ushery has more on the incredible political legacy he left behind. >> reporter: mario cuomo was born in queens the son of italian immigrants who came to ellis island with the dream of starting a new life for themselves in america. he attended ps 50 while his parents ran a grocery store. he started his career as a legal assistant for the new york state court of appeals. cuomo entered private practice in 1958. in 1977 he ran for mayor of new york city but lost to ed koch in the primary. he declared his candidacy for governor in 1982 upon news that kerry would not seek re-election. he once between faced ed koch in a primary, but walked away victorious. with the help of his son andrew, he went on to defeat and win in the general election. >> we won because people people and the passion are still more important than money. >> reporter: cuomo was catapulted into the nation at spotlight two years into his first term delivering an electrifying keynote speech to

we need that guy to run against ronald reagan. that recreated the buzz. >> picking up on the point, a lot of people wanted him to run and he never ran. why did he not run when he had momentum going in his favor? >> wow. we did a documentary for the history channel called so you want to be president. asked a lot of people all those questions including mario cuomo, did you want to be president? it was impossible for him to answer. you saw this dissidence inside of him. something about the idea of the ego that was necessary to do this. the sort of idea that i'm really better than the other guy. i'm not sure that he thought he was called to be governor of new york. i'm not sure he felt like he was call to be president of the united states and he never did it. >>. >> so many of the issues he championed resonate today 30 years after the fact. some of them on the national agenda. what was his impact on national politics and the democratic party. >> his politics come from his own personal moral core. think about where this kid grew up. th

the day that i became commandant ronald wilson reagan officiated at the marine barracks, washington, d.c. and it was one of the most memorable days of my entire life. and as time went on, i became, believe it or not very close to the president. very close in a number of ways. but that particular night i remember so well because as the baritone that we have, some of you have been there, the baritone sang god bless america, and i was sitting next to president reagan, he said to me, wow. he said, after that i'm not sure i can be -- i can make it. and i said, well, thank you, mr. president. i am the first speaker. and he said, well, we'll see about that. so then as the night progressed he gave me my first order. and i still have the memory of that order. let me share it with you because it kind of brought out a lot of the things which later melded into the what i think very close reputation tsh-not reputation but friendship that i had with ronald wilson reagan. probably number one because he and i had a common love, and at that was common love of a horse. so believe it or not, at his sug

much greater dialogue and respect for the institution from president clinton and both bushes and ronald reagan. reagan and cheney were very assertive on international authority. so a little different but the one thing chris manchin to read at the very end of president bush's term was near the crisis. i remember being there and i was never one to have the government or the fed or the treasury secretary but i was sorry to if the bank could cash the checks. the bank across the street. it was a scary time so anyway that was 2009 after i already retired but i do remember being frightened about that it did no secretary paulsen said i wanted this authority. congress did derided but he had a lot of authority. that was a scary time. nasdaq went for 5,000 down at 1,000. there was a lot of things happening in a very short period of time and people were worried of a financial collapse we had not seen in our lifetime. its was scary. >> we will have to wrap it up. thank you to the panel for a fascinating discussion in. [applause] and with the coming of the new congress is in jail jury not just to pass new l

ronald reagan did it, tom dewey did it. once this bug grabs hold it never lets go.iously the opinions have been from people who voted for him last time. i was thinking he could run these great political ads where the slogan is mitt romney for president. he'll stand up for the 47%. it would be really interesting. >> well you know david, he has kind of built a political career on not worrying about what he has said in the past about giving political issues including changing his position on abortion over the years as a political candidate. and so his career seems to be based on the idea that four years is plenty of time to completely change what you're saying about any given subject. >> you know an old friend of mine who was an observer of american politics said the key to understanding american politics is that americans love underdogs but hate losers. so the moment you've lost the bombay is open and the whole barrage of ridicule falls on you. here's the thing to keep in mind about romney's candidacy. again, i'm not encouraging him to make a decision one way or the o

i was there when ronald reagan -- i worked on that bill with ronald reagan and former senator alan simpsone greatest achievement since dwight eisenhower was the interstate system. that's in need of repair and extension and the right wingers that now control the republican party don't want to continue that. they say, let it go to the states. there's been this rightward move of the republican party. ironically, i think the major reason is public anger over the financial crisis and here's the problem that we democrats had. the financial crisis happened because of the deregulation under the republicans. president obama came in and had to deal with it. people complained about bailouts. everything that's called a bailout in recent american history was initiated by george bush, whether it was t.a.r.p. orphan knee orphan or fannie mae or freddie mac. by going and saying you know what, let's undo literally everything, that's what the chairman of the bank committee said shelby, let's repeal it. by undoing every safeguard, every protection and every rule that we put in to make sure they did them in a

well, ronald reagan proved the well, ronald reagan proved the experts wrong, and his coattails gave republicans a senate majority for the first time in a quarter century. i can still hear the excitement in howard baker's voice when he called me in topeka at 2 o'clock in the morning to tell me i was going to be the new chairman of the senate finance committee. i said: "howard, that's great, but who's going to tell russell long?" we haven't told russell yet. it didn't take me long to realize the vast difference between serving in the minority and serving in the majority. it is more than just changing titles from "ranking member" to "chairman" or learning how to use a gavel, little things like that. it is a change of mind-set as well as offices. it is the sobering realization that leadership entails responsibility; above all, the responsibility to be responsible. if you don't deliver, you will have your feet held to the fire. i still marvel at how howard baker convinced a party caucus that had been out of power and out in the cold for 24 years that we could make history as well as make headlines.

that's how ronald reagan could win with a very conservative agenda.irit of the individual who is the candidate, and very few people that can actually have that impact on a society. >> so interesting, the democratic party in a way has circled back toment so of the politics of mario couomo. >> i'm saying the democratic party, like the republican party, has different viewpoints that perhaps the consultants tried to lay out, each presidential race but in that quadrennial referendum what seems to be more important to the people is the image and the spirit and the courage of the individual who is running. >> spirit was something that mario cuomo had in abundance. former governor david paterson great to have you here with us on n nd. thanks for on "new day." thanks for joining us. >> thank you very much, john. >>> ahead we'll remember somebody else who had tremendous influence on our world, our culture, roger ebert. see a new cnn film called "life itself" set to air sunday night. ebert's grandmother is going to join us live. we'll talk more about the legacy

and then as i look at this -- ronald reagan laid this out for us.scribed a shining city on the hill. it was strong and had pillars that went down into the granite. it's never was a destination that we could arrive, bring ourselves into that shining city, wash our hands and put our feet up. it was always a struggle to continue beyond. that ascending destiny for america is going to be determined by who emerges as president of the united states and how the culture here in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, and across this great country, how we support the planks, the policies and the presidential candidates we nominate. the destiny of america is in our hands. let's get to work and do this together. [applause] and i will ask you to do what i do. on a daily basis i would ask you to do this, to identify that individual who he will use to restore the soul of america. will you stand with me on that? let's stand together. we will stand together and we will ask god. i'm going to inject this prayer right now. our gracious and merciful heavenly father, you've

ronald reagan?ay ford. >> ford for $1,000. >> ford for $1,000. >> ronald reagan. >> ronald reagan. >> his boyhood home was in your district. >> yes, in dixon, illinois. >> for the answer let's go back to 1983 and our old friend, peter jennings. >> president reagan signed into law a bill today creating a national holiday honoring martin luther king. sam donaldson was at the white house. >> reporter: the white house staged an impressive ceremony today. the president and dr. king's widow walking into the rose garden together. in an effort to spruce up mr. reagan's tattered civil rights image. the president signed the bill, which he so strongly opposed, making martin luther king's birthday a national holiday. >> you're going to study up. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. daughter: do you and mom still have money with that broker? dad: yeah, 20 something years now. thinking about what you want to do with your money? daughter: looking at options. what do you guys pay in fees? dad: i don't know exa

it was given as ronald reagan was winning 49 states. ntext to me that always juchl jumps reagan himself a former new dealer. ronald reagan sort of symbolized how the old new deal coalition had been split off and moved to the republicans for all sorts of different reasons and there was mario cuomo saying basically, you know, hey, don't forget where you came from. >> i think one of the reasons ronald reagan was so successful is he never forgot the lessons he learned as an fdr democrat. i always like to say that fdr stole optimism from fdr and bill clinton stole it back from ronald reagan. but i think one of the things that cuomo oddly was the anti-image image politician. if you listened to that speech he gave in 1984 it is very reagan-esque not in its politics but in the very concrete down-to-earth imagery he used. the example you showed earlier talking about his father's feet bleeding. that was a rhetoric and a set of stories that could reach a lot of people who weren't liberal ideologues and i think the power of that speech it was a case

now, ronald reagan was able to make that sell. he came into the speech with a 50% approval rating, as well. but he was able to lock in gains for republicans for generation by convincing them that his program worked. that's president obama's job tonight. >> all right, perhaps revisiting an old play book. george stephanopoulos, thank you. george will be leading the way tonight, our entire political team. the president's state of the union address begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern, right here, our coverage on abc. >>> in the meantime, we move on now to the other developing story at this hour. one of the nation's most prestigious hospitals in lockdown for a time. brigham and women's hospital in boston. the chaos from above, inside, a gunman opening fire, targeting a surgeon. tonight, officials warning it could have been much worse, saying that hospital, those medical workers, had trained for this. here's abc's david wright. >> reporter: 11:07 this morning. boston police receive the 911 call. a doctor shot and injured at one the city's most

henry kissinger and ronald reagan to name few. during the 2008 presidential election was the chief foreign policy adviser to candidate rudy giuliani. author of the books "grand strategies" he teaches in the brady johnson program in grand strategy that handles questions of leadership statecraft and diplomacy, and also teaches in directed studies. blows join me in welcoming our mott rater, professor charles hill. >> thank you and good afternoon. my first job before getting to the panel is to wave this in front of you, "suicide of the west." just out available on amazon and it is for the handful of you that haven't read this, it is eary uncanny how relevant this work is to what we're talking about here today. so i recommend you go and get it online. today is the panel on the drift in u.s. foreign policy. we have three remarkable public intellectuals of wide ranging influence on the panel today. i'll introduce them in the order in which they will speak for ten minutes or so, then leaving us time for questions. katy mcfarland with fox

the day that i became kmen dant, ronald wilson reagan, officiated in washington, d.c. it was one of the most memorable days of my entire life. and as time went on i became, believe it or not, very close to the president. very close in a number of ways. but that particular night i remember so well because as the bare tone that we have for some of you have wlo have been there the bare tone singing "god bless america." and i was sitting next to president reagan. he said, wow. after that, i'm not sure if i can make it. i said thank you, mr. president. i am the first speaker. and he said, well we'll see about that. so then as the night progressed, he gave me my first order. and i still have the memory of that order. and let me share it with you. because it kind of brought out a lot of the things which later meld into -- what i think are very close reputation, not reputation, but friendship that i had with ronald wilson reagan. probably number one because he and i had a common love and that was common love of horse. so believe it or not, at his suggestion, the park police wh

there was nothing great about ronald reagan. probably t -- ronald reagan was the start of this great recession we had. trickle-down economics, 1% can get all the money and rest of us are struggling. thank god for obama and people like cuomo right compassion where it counts. when you do for the least of your brothers, you do to me and thank god for obama for getting us out of this mess, and they will never give us credit. and i think cuomo would not have been like the other democrats that have been running -- they were too scared to say all the accomplishments that he had achieved because of propaganda from the republicans, who said they were likely always in the playground -- like the police in the playground and they won because people became very nonchalant in getting them to vote. host: we will leave it there. edwin christian tweets in -- "he asked of the right questions but the same problems are still here 20 years later. unfortunately, no one listened." back to "the new york times" -- a man of contradictions who enjoyed soc

he served as senior advisor to george shultz, henry kissinger and ronald reagan just to name a few. professor hill is a research fellow at stanford's hoover institute and served as chief foreign policy adviser to candidate rudy giuliani. author of the books grand strategy and trial of a thousand years, he teaches in the strategy programs. professor hill also teaches and directed study, western solution freshman year program. without further ado please join me in welcoming our moderator who will now introduce our panel is, professor charles hill. [applause] >> thank you, and good afternoon. my first job the forgetting to the panel is to wave this in front of you, "suicide of thewest," james burnham. it's just out, available from amazon and it is for the handful of you who haven't read this, it is eerie uncanny how relevant this work is to what we're talking about here today. i recommend you go out and get it online. today is the panel on the drift in u.s. foreign policy. we have three remarkable public intellectuals of wide-ranging influence on the panel today. i will introduce them

the first that did that was ronald reagan. let's listen in to the challenge of ronald reagan in 1987 of coming to a democratic house and senate. >> next, the budget process is a sorry spectacle. [applause] the missing of deadlines and the nightmare of monstrous continuing resolutions backing hundreds of billions of dollars of spending into one bill must be stopped. [applause] we ask the congress once again -- give us the same tools that 43 governors have. a line-item veto so we can carve out the things that are important. [applause] those items that would never survive on their own. i would send the congress broad recommendations on the budget but first i would like to see yours. let's go to work and get this done together. [applause] >> does the congress ever want to give the president the power of the line-item veto? >> they did. bill clinton was the first to use it, even though it was hotly debated. it did pass and was declared unconstitutional eventually. that is one of those things which senator byrd, we have his papers.

>> his relationship with ronald reagan was really quite interesting. both irishmen. after hours, they would have a drink together. they were twos and nail against one another. by 1985, tip o'neil had survived the reagan revolution. of course, the senate went to republican in 81. it was very hard for the speaker to stop reagan politics. he simply said, i do not have the votes. in the early years, the reagan agenda of cutting taxes and other programs went through without trouble. even though tip had a majority of democrats in the house, there were always 40 or 50, sometimes 60 members, who were conservatives and would side with the minority. >> now, here is tip o'neil from 1985 on the opening day of the 99th congress. [applause] >> mr. speaker. my colleagues and guest of the house. it has been traditional, with a few notable exceptions, since the founding of this institution, for the victor to be presented to the house. before doing so, may i make a few observations of my own. first, may i process my profound thanks and appreciation to our republican congress for again

i'm sorry, they're always telling us ronald reagan is a saint. it is ideologically difficult to make the argument that we should have a 28% tax rate, particularly when surveys are showing two very important things about the disconnect between republican congressional leaders and republicans. more than half of republicans and one poll and around 40% and others favor higher taxes on people with million dollar plus incomes. 53% of republicans said the tax rate should be 50% on the year income above one lane dollars and three out of four republicans want to increase social security benefits while congressional republican leaders are focused on trying to dismantle those benefits. >> on tuesday, senator orrin hatch, chair of the finance committee, said president obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy americans in order to help the middle class amount class warfare. in remarks prepared for a speech to the u.s. chamber of commerce he wrote -- "this plan... appears to be more about redistribution, with added complexity, and class warfare, directed at

ronald reagan cut taxes in 1981 and the economy went right up. let me tell you about a personal experience i had. and i ran for governor of virginia and was elected, i thought turbotax in virginia called the car tax. it's meant that we were sending bills every year for people for the privilege of owning an automobile and it it was a burden on people taking care of their families and trying to get to and from work, people of modest means to don't have much except cars. it was a terrible attacks and i said we were going to cut the car tax and when i became governor of virginia, we cut the tax and kept good on the promise and did what we said we were going to do. that is why believe in the ability of individual people to have more of their money and do something with it, advanced quality of their lives. to ask ago, i gave a speech in virginia and talented legislation to finish the car tax cut. i say to you, it is a crusade we need to take nationally to cut taxes and restore our economy and now i'm going to tell you, this is what we should do. the fi