. >> host: you left the white house after spiro agnew was forced out did that surprise you?did. in fact, we used to laugh and i saw him after the fact he was going on the up escalator i was going down in palm springs where he retired and we sat down he waved me to come back up and we sat down and reminisced over the last visit on one of the government small planes i think we were going to chicago they could not get the landing gear down. [laughter] we thought this might be our last flight. i was very surprised at what happened to him and of course, the awful was timing just another thing i will appreciate how quickly things disintegrated. that was part of the picture to seven why jerry ford? >> guest: near-record indicates he was the most strongly recommended by a broad spectrum of people and i think nixon also thought he was a pretty good insurance policy because there would not be a push while he was confident that they would not push nixon out because he had little experience in foreign affairs so if nixon did have to leave the and there was a confident man but they would

. >> host: you had left the white house after spiro agnew was forced out.have any interactions with the vice president? >> guest: i did. he and i used to laugh and i actually saw him after the fact. he was going on an up escalator and i was going on a down escalator in palm springs where he retired. he and i sat down -- he waved me come up and i did and we talked about our last visit which is on the government's small planes where we went -- i think we were going to chicago. they couldn't get the landing gear down. and we thought this might be our last flight. but i was -- i was fairly surprised that what happened to him. . >> guest: if nixon did have to leave or something happened to him, he was a competent man, but they wouldn't want to shove him out just to get ford in. >> host: tanya's joining us from virginia beach. go ahead, please. tanya, you with us? >> caller: oh, yes. >> host: please, go ahead. >> caller: oh, so wonderful to talk to you, mr. dean. >> guest: thank you. >> caller: you know, when i watched watergate, i was in my early 50s, but one th

. >> host: you had left the white house after spiro agnew was forced out. did that surprise you?dinner interaction with the vice president? >> guest: i did have interactions with him. i saw him after the fact, and he was going on an up as good and i was on a down as clear in palm springs, where he retired. and he and i sat down and had -- uab to come back up. i did. we sat down for a while and we reminisced over our last visit, which was on one of the government small planes where we went, i think we're going to chicago. they couldn't get the landing gear down. and we thought this might be our last flight, but i was -- i was very surprised that what happened to him. and, of course, the timing was awful. just another thing in that period. people today have understanding, can appreciate how things disintegrate with nixon. that was just part of the picture. >> host: why gerry ford, why was he elected? >> guest: the record indicates that he was the most strongly recommended by a broad spectrum of people. and i think nixon also thought he was a pretty good insurance policy. because th

some of them pretty seriously like spiro agnew but in that clip you just played of course obama was pokinghe floor of the house and said, if you pass this bill the world is going to end. armageddon. clearly over the top. and the president had fun with that. on the media i think the point he's making innet ettin jest is one. that is we did a pretty good job covering the squabbles of health care. i think we did a lousy job of covering the substance. >> you want the real targets of the media, i was trying to avoid this since as a member of the media i take it very personally when we get criticized. >> so do i. >> whether it's by the administration or by republicans but you want it, you got it. here it is. we're playing it. >> can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm? you planted some seeds and they came out the next day and they looked and, nothing's happened! there's no crop! we're going to starve! it's been a week, folks. >> but, mike, in this case maybe it puts reporters and republicans in the same boat waiting for things to happen really fast. >> yeah, i think it'