a special election to fill the seat of the late senator ted kennedy. >> this is the people's seat! everywhere. people do not want the trillion dollar health care plan that is being forced on the american people. >> republicans suddenly inspired by the words senator-elect, scott brown. he won by five points. that has both parties saying, if it can happen here, what's next for the president and the party? >> with the election of a republican u.s. senator scott brown, it robbed the democrats of that super majority of the senate. >> scott brown was going to oppose health care reform. and it became clear the only path forward was for the house to pass the senate bill that had been on the senate floor for a month and take that without changes, which is house wasn't going to want to do. >> she could not pass the senate bill. those were pretty dark days. we were discussing how we would go forward, and it just became clear to me that he shouldn't go forward. without republican votes, it's going to hurt him politically, and that was more important to me than passing the bill. by then, all th

ted kennedy didn't resign when he was gravely ill.t seat went to a republican at a critical time for a health care debate. there is plenty of precedent. even though his health seems strong, he needs to think about the institution of the court and the balance and what is happening to the senate, which is politicized this court. it is his choice to make, but it is reckless to ignore the political dynamics in place. >> i mean, it's remarkable to think, right, you could delay again. we've seen so many delays by mcconnell and others, right, during the obama term. well, we have an election coming up. we won't do it again after trump's election. maybe in advance of the midterm. well, things could change there. it's amazing the gaming of the system. >> that's right. and that's why you can't simply act as if that's not happening in the senate. you cannot separate out the partisan power grabs even from the position on the supreme court. >> well, john avalon, thank you for walking us through it. >> thank you, guys. >> very real. on another topic

was working on ada, did not say exactly what you are still others here in spirit with us, like ted kennedynd countless other advocates. i was a normatively proud to be a cosponsor of the ada, as pat leahy was as well, if i am not mistaken, as a member of the united states senate. i am proud to be here today as president, alongside so many fearless champions, who represent the ongoing legacy of this law, from the foundations to its future. 31 years ago, after its passage, many americans have never lived in a world without the ada. generations have grown up not knowing a time before it existed. that many of us can still recall in america where a person with disabilities was denied service in restaurants and grocery stores, and could be. where a person using a wheelchair could not ride in a train or take a bus to work or school. or an employer could refuse to hire you because of a disability. an america that was not built for all americans. then we passed the ada and made a commitment to build a nation for all of us. all of us. we moved america closer to fulfilling that promise of liberty and

it was a good law, ted kennedy was on it, john mccain.this point in time the images on tv of people sneaking across the border. it doesn't take much to stir up american passion because americans want the border secure. it is a tough issue to secure the border. clinton started operation that i followed with more, president obama. the last four presidents spent a lot of time trying to secure the border. it's just not easy to do. but until things calm down on the border it will be hard to get a comprehensive plan past. i do think, in the book i have a daca kid who floated across the rio grande river with his mother, 6, maybe 4 years old. she wants to make a living and reunite with her husband and his father. she dies in the dallas area, he goes on to school, kind people help him, he is now an electrical engineer. when i hear people say send him home, he doesn't have a home. seems to me a logical issue to fix. may be daca can get 6, the first step toward additional immigration reform. most americans agree, whether you like it or not, their pa

sometime ago, ted kennedy made alignment and a celebration like this that i will use. he said, when chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell vote for the same bill, you know one thing. one of them has not read it. in fact, both of them have. both of them have better -- been very involved. we have let them know what is going on in this process. we are familiar with what was going on. our colleagues have and having worked together, it has been a thrill for me. people say, what is like from going to being a ceo or governor to senator? working with people like this who enjoy their time and find it a pleasure to work together has been a real highlight for me. i am delighted we made so much progress and look forward to this becoming law. there are plenty where people put aside the politics and get the work of the people done. it this is getting the work of the people done for america. i'm happy to have a small part in that process. >> thank you to everybody here. i wasn't part of the game as many know. here's what is cool. this presented a great opportunity to show the country what

ted kennedy might have become president of the united states. if he had a simple answer to the most obvious question. why do you want to be president? well, i'm after years at c, b. s news man roger mud, co anchored nbc nightly news and meet the press and went on to p. b. s. and the history channel. he won 5 emmy awards. we recently lost the 1st 2 voices day hit a pig in the early ninety's talk radio revolution. f b i agent turn chief operative among the next whitehouse plumbers during watergate, g, gordon, liddy. the g man was convicted of conspiracy, burglary and illegal wiretapping, and he was a natural on air, always in character. his email address was hoping to 357 at aol dot com, and after soldiering on during nearly a year long battle with advanced lung cancer rush. limbaugh died on ash wednesday at his spinal state of the union address problem presented. lynne barr the presidential medal of freedom. but rush did not rest. no error bring him there for. his syndicator kept re running old clips with what quickly became an awkward weekend at

even ted kennedy came out, said after dixon, guides of what, what grace next and showed in that election and accepting its results. and he had reasons for complaint because texas had no procedure for re re counting. and there's certainly questions about cook county under dick daily. so of all the family fathers just didn't put that in. they didn't. you must concede defeat, you can, but it's almost like he has broken the unwritten rule. american politics. i have love that glory didn't concession speak a stories? are you with our producers and abortions on cover? please make appoint to show as many concession spaces as you can. i'll actually because it's what makes elections of the sacraments because they're, they're absolutely faithful to the democratic will. and even the guy or woman who lose the said so that i last i let down my supporters. i accept the verdict, the majority i lost. he or she won. and hillary, don't everybody, john kerry john mccain. everybody has done that dutifully going back that certainly in my life and stevenson, when he said beautifully, i'm too old to cry. but to

relying on his 80% tool enabled mike enzi to work with ted kennedy to reauthorize head start programsor preschoolers and tuition assistance programs for college students. he loved his state. he loved the senate. he loved america. mike enzi and his wife, diana, were amazing -- were an amazing partnership too. for over 50 years, three children and many grandchildren. loretta and i send our condolences to diana. mike was a wonderful friend, colleague in the united states senate, and he will be missed. on an unrelated topic, over this past week the olympics has been an inspiring display of global unity and friendly competition. the champions representing america have taken tokyo by storm. we've won 25 medals, nine gold medals so far. but earlier today we received word that one of our great athletes simone ba les was taking a step back from today's competition. in announcing her decision, she cited the need to, quote, focus on my mental health and not jeopardize my health and well-being. there's no doubt that this is one of the hardest decisions miz b -- miss biles has had to make in her o

of the supreme court in the late 80s was the first time the democratic party engaged and i think ted kennedymay not agree with me and joe biden the chairman of the senate disciplinary committee may not agree with me but it's extremely contentious and an ugly period and it ended up in not being confirmed. the 90s were the beginning of this slippery slope. lucky me i came to congress in the 90s and i saw a lot of this up though some personal. newt gingrich i sat down in a conversation about the book but needs case was we just got the majority and to hold the majority we have to -- he admits that and that was very unhelpful. he said to me as we were talking about it the night before we certainly looked at you but we figured we couldn't take you out. is this because they wanted to take me out because i wasn't responsible wasn't bipartisan? know they wants to take the out because i thought i was one of the members of the democratic team and they were not the majority so that attitude of take out the other side you don't get enough power and you don't didn't reelect it is where we are today. hosts

and still more with us that are here in spirit like ted kennedy, major owen, and countless others. i was normally proud to be a cosponsor of the ada. as a member of the united states senate. i'm proud to be here today as president alongside so many other fearless champions. 31 years ago after it's passage, many americans have never lived in a world without the ada. generations have grown up not knowing a time before it existed. we can remember when people were denied service in restaurants and grocery stores. a person with a wheelchair could not ride a train or take a bus. an employer could refuse to hire you because of a disability. then we passed the ada and made a commitment to build a nation for all of us. all of us. and we moved america closer to fulfilling that promise of libber city and justice and maybe more importantly dignity and equality for all. you know, perhaps most importantly we did it together. this was a democratic bill signed by a republican president. a product of passion and compassion. not partisanship. progress, not political, but personal to millions of fami

bush signed in this compromise with ted kennedy to bring in millions of people unrestricted into ourion of this great bargain of cheap labor and cheap boats so both sides got a win out of that. 1994, bill clinton signed nafta because we decided it would be a good idea to be industrialized the backbone of our nation and the 1999, one that might surprise people as a conservative i think we should find disgusting was the repeal when bill clinton went out of his way to pander to the financial services lobby that lent cheap money on the blurring of lines to commercial banking and investment banking and finally trying to enter into the world trade organization in 2001 in all four of those things i believe was the conservative movement where the people in charge chasing momentary pleasure and not preserving the good with no commitment to permanence or trying to pass something that has worked that is moral and beautiful to my generation. >> tucker: ready think this is going? >> i try not to be solely in the predictive business. i can tell you where i think it's going. here's the question --

i think ted kennedy and great senator may notot agree with me and joe biden and chairman of the senatejudiciary committee running the hearings make not agree with me but is an extremely contentious and hearing. and it ended in not being confirmed so in the '90s, the beginning of this slippery slope to where we are pretty lucky me, i came to congress in the '90s pretty nice a lot of this up close and personal pretty gingrich in the book, i actually was in a conversation with him about the book. on his blog. but his theory of the case was we discussed the majority from the republicans in 1994, we have to be partisan he even said that in that was very helpful and he said to me, as we were talking about his blog, we certainly looked at you so we figured we could not take you out. so i mean, this is because they wanted to take me out because i was not responsible and not bipartisan that was my hope and he said no because i was one of the members of the democratic team. and they wanted so that attitude of take out the other side, you don't get enough power you don't get reelected, that's whe

1970s, are you ready for this, this is truth telling in the late 1970s it was democrats senator ted kennedyd the way to deregulate a large swaths of the american economy, a lot of it in the transportation sector trucking, airlines, autos, stockoo markets to let's not forget they were democrats, some good. then republican megan deregulated oil prices and financial services and 401ks and so forth and democratize the stock market, president biden today harped back to teddy roosevelt and the great progressive tradition, we love teddy roosevelt mostly in foreign policy and mostly because he was a fine human being but you know in truth and teddy roosevelt last decade he essentially became a socialist. then his cousin fdr was a big government central planning over regulating tax hiker, fdr got us through the war which we owe him great credit freedom wins but his economic policies made the depression longer before we get her next guest texas congressman brady, joe biden cannot hide behind the workti competition to mask his incredible regulatory assault on business.s. that is all this really is. now

rhetorically press conference after the vote, republican mick romney said this, >> sometime ago, ted kennedy made a line about the celebration like this, he said something of this nature, all applied in this way, when chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell vote for the same bill, you know one thing, one of them hasn't read it. but in fact, both of them have, both of them have been very involved, we let them know what's going on in this process -- >> mitt romney is a first time legislator. almost all the senators who negotiated this bipartisan bill had never really legislated before in the united states senate because the leadership of both parties in the senate have taken all the legislative powers away from most senators. none of the committee chairmen have the kind of power that they used to have, and so senators are not experienced legislators anymore. it is wrong to use the word legislator, only to mean the people who are elected to positions and legislative bodies. the reality is, the staffs in the senate in the house do most of the real legislating, and know ten times more about it than ele

absolutely when i was new in the senate he got recognition and started speaking so i talked to him and ted kennedyk so well together. and that they did a remarkable job working together he talked about the 80 / 20 rule. i wasn't sure what he was talking about. and he asked senator enzi to come talk to me. we agree 80 percent disagree on 20 percent. what we have decided to do was focus on the 80 percent that we agree and focus on the 20 percent another day and it works so with his passing and working through this discussion and the debate on infrastructure i think just a nod to him on the 8020 rule maybe that's something that we can put to use in the days to come. thank you very much now to my colleagues and mr. secretary thank you so much for your leadership and joining us today i don't normally ask yes or no questions but i will ask a couple today given the 14.6 billion-dollar budget request for cbp, do you believe the senate needs to go quickly on confirming the president's nominee? yes or no. >> yes. >> in order to curb the influx of migration we see every year on the border do believe we need

spring, summer, fall, finally winter, and eventually democrats lost their 60-vote majority when ted kennedypublicans won a special election to replace him. that ended up severely hampering their ability to pass legislation throughout the entire rest of the congress. right now democrats, their majority in the congress hangs by one vote. >> lee ann, how palpable a fear is that among folks you're talking to on capitol hill, that time is a finite resource in politics and democrats don't have a lot of it. >> people say, why don't they have time, it's july, there's five months left in the year. but this is very late in the calendar year for the legislative process. at the end of september you have all of the government funding that stops, so they have to fund the entire government. they have other things like the debt ceiling. and remember, they go away for most of august to speak to their constituents back home, to campaign for their next elections. there are not very many legislative days left until the end of the fiscal year, at the end of september. and schumer knows how long it takes legisla

celebraory bipartisan press conference after the vote republican mitt romney said this >> some time ago ted kennedy said something of this nature, i will apply it this way, when chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell agree on the same bill they haven't both read it but in fact they have and know what's going on in this process. >> mitt romney is first time negotiator almost all of them had never legislated in the senate because the leadership in both parties in the senate have taken all legislative powers away from most senators. none of the committee chairman have the kind of power they used to have. so senators are not experienced legislatures any more. it is wrong to use the word legislature only to mean the people elected to positions in legislative bodies. the reality is the staff, the senate and house do most of the real legislating and know ten times more about it than the elected officials, they are in every sense legislatures, the most experienced legislator is steve who advises joe biden who has been managing complex negotiation from the white house for democrats since the clinton presidency.

senate and providing in the senate and mike enzi got recognition and started speaking and how he and ted kennedy worked so well together. [inaudible] and health education and remarkable job working together and he said during his comments on the floor that day he talked about the 80/20 rule and i didn't know what he was talking about, discussing other context, but i wasn't sure what he was talking about. before i gave a note to one of the pe's to send a note what's the 80/20 rule and ted and i agree with 80% of the stuff before it's committee, and we focus on the 80% that we agree and talk about the other 20% the some other day and it works and as we mourn his loss and his passing and trying to work our way through this discussion, debate on infrastructure and others, a nod to mike on 80/20 rule, maybe something we could pull off the shelf and put to good use. i just wanted to say that. thank you very much. if i could now, mr. secretary, welcome, mr. secretary. thank you so much for your leadership today. i don't normally ask yes or no questions, but given the 14.6 billion-- do you believe that

farmworkers our partner in the senate was ted kennedy who helped us get that law, along with peter rodino from new jersey. rights have always been at the top and we are continuing that struggle now. because we have immigrants, right? legislation is going to the congress. i do not think the guest worker program should be implanted at all when we have high on appointment. in kern county we have -- high unemployment. in kern county we have 30% unemployment and yet employers continue to bring in people from other countries to do the work. they keep saying ordinary people will not do this work and that is not true at all. you look again at the grapes of wrath when that was going on, people came from other places. we have many people here in kern county who are individuals now in office and that hold different positions in government. they were once farmworkers. it is not that people will not do farm work, it is that the employers do not want to pan f. money for them to do farm work and they do not want -- employers do not want to pay money for them to do farm work. and they do not want to give

jim mentally, a 21 year veteran of the senate who served as an adviser to senators harry reid and ted kennedy, also john heroin an msnbc lash will affairs analyst and host of the hell and high-water podcast from the recount. and jim, at 21 years in the senate you have roughly three times my experience in the senate. so you are the senior senate voice tonight. so we deferred to you on all of this and so where do you think we are on this recognizing that whenever a bill is going to pass by just one boat it's always near death until it passes and it's always near death until it dies and so it's very hard to tell. it's actual health condition in the moment. >> here's my bat analogy, it seems to me like wearing kind of a place where we're on the airline flight from hell and weather pattern around the airport circling around around is planning the plane. here one of the problems we have is that we have too many pockets trying to have to figure out where this thing is going to land and i'm trying to figure out a way to say that this bill isn't dead, and it's not dead but it's got a lot of work to do

cannot answer that question through the lens of my experience as a staff person so having been ted kennedy's chief counsel and having been obama's domestic policy advisor, is much as happened in the room estimate happens in the fall. in written material can't capture that. but a memo looks like by the time it that it gets to a senator or a president, is often been edited and reedited lots of people put their opinions and and they said things back in scribbles and notes. it will tell you something but when you have the conversations, you get the nuance commute in the tone of voice and you get the humor and anger and things that you cannot necessarily interpret from the written word. now all of a sudden our very visible and certainly the oratory is available to you and it gives you a sense of the moment in a way that nothing else really can. and for the purpose of the podcast, i know those who listen to it, and came back to me said that oh my gosh, i kneel that lyndon b. johnson was a character but i never knew that and they never had a sense of that. and i also know from their experiences tha

and that was ted kennedy and john weiner co-author the legislation bush signed it was really a big part of what he wanted to accomplish. the president of course it fell far into the background. but we could never make them happy within education speech he simply knew too much of the granular level of detail it speechwriters could never get pretty go to the staffing process and every thing was fine then we get to the president said you don't get it you don't have it. [laughter] so one time it was in 2004 in the middle of the reelection complaint a lot is going on. i said to mike and matthew my colleagues, said the president did not like the last education speech we have another into do let's take the one he didn't use and look at the transcript of what he actually said and use that. and so we did we took that transcript of that last speech, we cleaned it up and put in some current local references and current facts and data to freshen it up. and i thought this is what he wanted to say and clearly it was the rare event he had a speech in front of him and did not use it. it was education h

and i said mike, how did you -- how did you get along with ted kennedy? he said it was easy, 80/20. we put the 20% aside where we knew we were going to differ and we worked on the 80% where we could. and if everybody applied that principle around here, we would get a lot more done. he was also a principled senator. indeed, he would have been on the floor today making a point of order about the budget -- supplemental budget that we just passed because he believed in the principle of the budget act, he believed in the principle of balancing budgets, he was an accountant, and he was as principled man. and he was also decent and kind, as i mentioned. but there's one story about him that i want to tell that has stuck with me -- and i've told it a hundred times, although i've never told it while he was with us. now that he's lost us to, i think he would be okay with me telling this story. i was having dinner with him one night early on when i was here in the senate. he mentioned that he was concerned about having a primary opponent in the republican primary in wyoming. i was incredulous.

and that was ted kennedy and john who co-authored the legislation that bush signed and it was really a big part of what he wanted to accomplish as president. of course, it fell far into the background, but we could never make him happy with an education speech draft because he simply knew too much about it, to a granular level of detail that speechwriters could never get. it would go through the staffing process and everything was find and it would then get to the president and he would say, you don't get it. you don't get it. you don't have it right. [laughter] so one time, it was in 2004, the middle of a reelection campaign, a lot going on. i said to mike and matthew, my colleagues, you know, the president like the last education speech we did. we have another one to do. let's take the one he did not use and look at the transcript of what he actually said and use that. so we did commit we took the transcript of the last speech, we cleaned it up, did some, you know, put in some current references, some facts and data to freshen it up. i thought, this is what he wanted to say, and cl

ted. >> hey kennedy i am always honored to be on with you. and you should know that. ort thank you ted you are my smoking gun. too much focus on guns. it is not just guns that is misplaced energy does this administration have a plan to reverse the awful crime trend? >> you are right it's too much focus on guns. that is a question about the proliferation of guns into these communities. but it are these thugs that are using these guns to kill people these communities. and to intimidate them. i will tell you are is encouraged by biden and the representation of our police officers in these various communities. and giving more money to these communities. also about community-based policing. one of the static commentaries and law enforcement, is good men and women have left the law enforcement agencies and departments in droves. we have got to get them back. got to get them out in the community. we've got to get rid of these thugs in the neighborhoods. kennedy: when you tell police you hate them, they feel like the mayor who is the boss and the city council who decides the b

pushing some rather anti-lgbtq policies and it was used -- use of the filibuster by senators like ted kennedyhat cap those lgbt that legislation from ever being passed. it seems like liberals have a very short memory with these things. and how the filibuster is a tool of the smaller, of the smaller party at the moment. that is all i wanted to say. thank you very much. host: barry in california. bellflower, california, republican line. caller: good morning. i would like to comment on last weeks, i believe it was the president's rankings. i would give you my top five would be teddy roosevelt, then donald trump, then george washington, then abe lincoln and then franklin delano was about. -- roosevelt. i think teddy roosevelt and donald trump have a lot in common. they have a good vision for america. i think they have the right idea on foreign policy. and i see a lot of similarities between teddy roosevelt and donald trump. host: did you have a chance to watch this segment with the advisors to this program? we did a two hour segment. caller: i did watch that. it was very good host: talking about

he worked for ted kennedy. he was chief counsel for the senate judiciary committee., now it was a different senate in those days, but he's not stupid so he certainly sees what the odds are, possibility if there is a -- one senator were to die, for example, or change parties. and so, this is not something that he doesn't know. they didn't do it yesterday. i guess we'll all be waiting today to see what he does. and i just think it's an unknowable thing about this point. i've seen a couple of times in in the last month at various events. he looked well. i didn't ask him this question because he probably would have just walked away. there's all this push to get him to retire, this very public push. there was some -- one of the liberal organizations organized a truck to go around the supreme court calling for his retirement. well, a, he wasn't there. but, b, some of this is itself sort of stupid, because he's hired clerks. i don't know what the answer is, but do you really want to make somebody -- how would you feel about that. if somebody had a truck that went around and

so a big thank you to ted, danny and kennedy for reminding us americans can have a hard time talking publicans like ted cruz have a hard time talking honestly about anything at all. encouraging america to live up to what it says it is, that is probably one of the most patriotic things you can do. and we'll be rooting with our fists in the air for gwen berry in tokyo. those of you watching at home, please continue to send your video questions. just open up that camera app and remember to tell us your name and where you're from. send it our way. you can send it via twitter or email at crossconnection and, together, we'll try to make these things make sense. next, another superstar athlete whose olympic dreams may have gone up in smoke. it's one of the hot topics i'll discuss with my panel when we come back. don't go anywhere. - had en ? - no... arthritis. here. new aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. i'm really nervous. don't thank them too soon. i don't know what i should wear. j

when the scandal came about, sorensen and kennedy both would refer to the acknowledgments and say that everything is above board in this book. we mentioned that ted a little bit of work but it is kennedy's book. but that credit only existed because sorensen had to remind kennedy, maybe you should give the person who actually wrote the book the credit. that is not the cuban missile crisis in terms of historical import, but it is a human choice. it is a human being that decided this is how he wanted to act. i think readers and voters, it is ok to think in those terms and think of presidents as humans and evaluate them as, did they do the right thing as a person? susan: there was a story much farther back in history where an author claims authorship. would you briefly tell the story of eliza hamilton and her claims that her husband wrote george washington's farewell address? craig: it's a crazy story and one of my favorite ones in the book. it deals with the farewell address that we talked about. the fact that it was washington's speech is what mattered. alexander hamilton famously died in a duel, and his reputation hit a low point. his wife, who wa

donald trump suggested that ted cruz's father assassinated john f. kennedy. donald trump said the ugliest things about ted cruz's wife. just shameful things. and ted cruz threw his family under the bus politically, and basically kept sucking up to a guy who insulted his family. it's just -- it's not something that we've really seen in washington where people can insult family members and you still have this big suck up that we just keep seeing. and it never pays off. it never pays off. that's just the thing i will never understand these people suck up to trump and it never pays off for them. >> it's a cult. 75 million people voted for a guy who was willingly letting people die from the coronavirus. hundreds of thousands of people. it's not even an exaggeration or a metaphor. it's a cult. you see that cult within the gop, and there's a split between those who are members of it and those who are not. and you can see it on full display as congress begins the investigation into the january 6th insurrection. kevin mccarthy, cult member, is now taking shots at membe

probably had the best set of speechwriters in the history of america with the exception of ted sorensen who was kennedychwriter. he had a marvelous set and it wasn't just order takers but many think tank inside the white house and come up with ideas and suggestions like tear down this wall and things like that. and sometimes reagan would accept them and t sometimeses he wouldn't but he was involved in every last one of them. and he was very involved with them and of course they were very appreciative and loved ronald reagan. host: here is an e-mail from margaret in dixon illinois. thank you mr. shirley for your extensive information on ronaldte reagan. i live in dixon illinois. the church he attended the still going, the school he attended his own museum. the public library has a large section on reagan i will check in there for your book. i once lived in his home before it became a historic site. >> isn't that aow wonderful story? i have been there many times and attended his church several times. there are two statues of ronald reagan in dixon one on horseback down when he was a lifeguard saving 77 l