the american people look at all of the taxes they pay in terms of fuel at the state level. tolls that they pay. >> this is a -- a tax like this would be very regressive, right? >> it's very regressive so it hurts poor americans more than -- >> people get offended when they find out the government, federal and local governments make more money from gasoline than opec does. >> 90% of the road construction and transportation costs come from the gas tax. so the vast majority of -- >> all i know, this is -- no, this is in new jersey, when i first got married, living in the state, now the grandparents of the kids who were first working on those repairs, the grandkids are continuing that work. it's unfinished. >> but you know what i have to say, if you don't believe in paying your way in terms of the gas tax, you don't have the right to bitch about potholes and stuff going wrong -- >> what about -- >> i'm talking about the national gas tax. >> i'm not going to get angry but i disagree. meanwhile, if o is th loneliest mber, the health care law might need some attention, right now.

. >> the american people look at the president and they think, he's no dummy. really smart guy. and because he is a smart guy, they think, well, that means he deliberately misled us to get his program through. people don't like that. that is another reputation changer, and i think that's problematic for the president going forward. >> so the lz, is peggy noonan right? >> you know, peggy noonan made a living scrubbing clean atrocities -- >> what does that have to do with this? >> what i'm saying is she is pretending that if once an era happened, it'll forever trail a president. that's not true. she is living proof of that with scrubbing clean president reagan's reputation. now now, president obama should have been forthright with how this would affect americans. now, time and time again americans have said we can deal with the lies that president obama tells us because we believe in hi heart he has the best interest for the american people. every president is going it lie to you. every politician is going to lie to you. the question is, which lies can you live w

the american people. i think that's part of the problem with the american people. they lookfunctional now. no budget deal for several years. they go about their lives. they go about their business. they go about their jobs. they have responsibilities. they look at the government and they are saying, why is nobody doing their work down there? i think the speaker by making this statement while he is probably raising a lot of flames in certain quarters, hopefully others will come with him and say, you know, speaker boehner, we hear you. these are our values. these are what we want to see out of government. this is what we want to see out of republican-led congress. let's work together and, by the way, we should work together with the administration when and where possible as well. >> let me ask you this. there was compromise. it is bipartisan. was this a flash in the pan, or do you believe that this could be a promising sign of life to come? >> you know, it's very, very difficult to say. you know, the one thing i will say is that this essentially is the congress that the people

for the president to think he knows better than the people he game of baseballs for what plan they have shows what content the president has for the american people. if you look at the choices, they are going down because insurers are -- you know, the mayo clinic for example, david, most plans don't include that. one of the best hospitals in the country. why? obamare is restricting costs so insurers are dropping some of the better hospitals and some of the better doctors are being dropped. this whole thing really is being sold by someone who lied to the american people for years about what this plan entails. >> sabrina, the fact is when you put the protesters' complaints together and so many of their complaints turned out to be right, one thing that sticks out is individual choice. that is what really bugs people. when it's concerning their own healthcare, they think their choices should trump the government, right? >> yeah, because the american people know what is best. they have taken -- rose-colored glasses have come out. people realize the only way to truly improve our healthcare system in america is make sure that more individuals own and control their h

that has turned out in the past two months as americans have interfaced with this program to be untrue. and the american people look at the president and they think, he's no dummy. he's a really smart guy, and because he's a smart guy, they think, well, that means he deliberately misled us to get his program through. people don't like that. that is another reputation changer. and i think that's problematic for the president going forward. >> i think he spoke directly to this. i think people accepted what he said. i think people trust this president. i'm confidenin a few years from now, the trust numbers will come up and his approval number will come up. and more than anything else, as we begin to focus hopefully on what really matters to people. >> let me bring that to congressman cole, you saw the president go out to visit some protesters on the mall this week he hasn't given up on speaker boehner. >> they're disappointed on in one another. >> on the issues particularly on immigration, any hope for that this year? >> not until we get the budget done. literally, i think the most important thing right now is that we

what the president has got to do is make the american people look at their republican representativesnd say if you don't start standing with the struggling working families of this country, you're not going to be back in congress next year. >> senator, the president's speech tuesday effectively hit the reset button on his promotion of the aca as we've been covering the website steadily improving and former president bill clinton back tracking about his earlier remarks about the law which did so much damage. i want to play how the president is getting in line with president obama now. >> how difficult it is for you to suggest something to a sitting president. do you take credit for president barack obama honoring his word on obama care? >> first of all, i think it's important to point out he actually has tried to go beyond what he promised now. and in many places, he will be able to do that. >> you don't take credit for that? >> no. i waited for him to say that he felt badly about it. but the truth is the law that he signed did grandfather in the policies that were in existence when he

the medical field. we have a problem after problem that is not even being looked at by the american people because theyo focused on a website. i think congressman brown, congressman fleming in paris all see that this thing needs to be torn down and start over. all of us agree that health care is an important issue, and their need to be fixes made, but not by tearing the entire thing down. >> absolutely. let me tell you, the employer provided health insurance issue will fall very shortly because we alreadyee -- see from geora employers that i talked to are going to stop providing heth insurance for therein pleased because they cannot afford the increased premiums. in fact, just in georgia it is estimated that insurance premiums are going to go up by 92%. it has been said that 400,000 georgians could lose their individual policy. people will not be able to keep their doctor. in fact, we are already seeing doctors thrown off of the panels that are there. lou: finly -- >> people and not going to be a will to keep their doctor, private insurance, not going to be able to afford to pay for the insurance that

need be more transparency to give the american people confidence in their espionage services, that they are acting consistent with the values of the american people. now lookot kid anyone that will shave points off of operational effectiveness. there is no way to give the american people deeper knowledge without giving our adversaries deeper knowledge too. but i any that line has moved and we will have to become more transparent. now i should add though, all right, that he just mentioned the church commission and what it suggested. and it put in place oversight. the oversight the church commission put in place is the oversight that has been watching the nsa these past several years. the fisa court, and the two intelligence committees, that's correct. >> but the problem was the fisa court was weakened a few years ago in the fisa amendment act, they took a lot of the powers away from the fisa court and we see from the court's reports that they were chastising the nsa constantly about abusing their authorities. >> woodruff: just very quickly dmitri alperovitch, general hayden we heard him say that if these changes take place, if the relationship between the t

people back on their plans after they changed? is it a good concept? when you're actually threatening medicare and medicaid? i don't understand why the democrats don't simply say, what the american people want, lookublic straight in the eye and say, we had the right idea and we did it wrong, we're sorry, we are apologize. without the apology the public feels there is no accountability, which former speaker pelosi refuses to accept responsibility for the legislation. no account ability and no common sense, why people are angry in washington. >> the administration has been arguing as much, as bill clinton said -- a lot of the kinks worked out or -- i frankly -- the tsunami to come with corporate bosses when they have to kick in and decide if they kick a lot of people out. they hope and trust that more ultimately are proven to benefit and not, and that does decide this thing's fate. how many more benefit than don't. >> we have been paying for this for the last few years. we're paying higher taxes as a result and we have seen nothing in response. you're telling young people, they can still on their parents' plan, guaranteeing no limits for preexisting conditions. that costs money. and this administra

but this fix is not a fix that is working for the american people. if you lookt polling because people have seen its rollout and the cost to them -- they do not like it. it is an opportunity to fix it or roll it back and go with a more conservative or a more bipartisan approach to health- care reform. host: congressman sean duffy, republican, wisconsin. if you want to follow him on twitter, @repseanduffy. thank you. we want to give you any action on the senator and we've had live coverage around the clock since 2:00 p.m. eastern time yesterday when the senate began in protest over changing senate rules over judicial nominations and other denominations. the senate right now on c-span nomination ofe l to serve asl the equal opportunity employment commission appeared that is over on c-span2. here on c-span, we are going to talk about the impact of the affordable care act on small businesses before the house comes in at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. we will be right back after this news update from c-span radio. sayse commerce department retail sales rose .7% last month.

people watching t.v. in china is battleships and destroyers and airplanes and you know we have the american pivot to the pacific some people look at it is kind of a strategic retreat but for china and again it's all going back to what martin have to say about middle class middle class values they like a strong country they want their country to be respected and that's translated very often in military hardware you know you want to be able to see on t.v. that you know we're protecting our borders and we're not going to be held back we're not you know maybe they don't i don't know if they see it on chinese television but you know position all the way to hawaii ok that really does speak to a middle class and middle class nationalism but you've got to have the fleet so my question is is that some people say critics will say the pivot actually militarized the pacific even more. well you know the pivot is again as i said in some sense a recognition of the u.s. weakness in the region for instance its inability to build another marine air force base in okinawa i mean there's been such political opposition in okinawa and it's essentiall

the certainty that american people want is wrong and i don't believe that will happen again next year either. >> you ruled it out and won't support anything that is basically or negotiation over the debt ceiling. >> look, the american people don't want individual members of congress or small groups to say my way or the highway or the economy will collapse over an issue that could be something they care about and tomorrow something i care about. it is our responsibility to ask them to pay the bills that we have required this country to pay. to find a way to do that. that's whats raising the debt ceiling is about. >> this is a two-year agreement. there is talk of trying to actually go to a two-year budgeting process and make that a permanent way that is governed. where are you on that issue? i'm focused on getting the deal done. it is a two-year budget that allows them to function without the threat of shut down. i have not looked at legislation that changes the process, but the american people want to manage the country wisely and be proud of a country that can do that. that's what we are trying to accomplish today. >> explain how the budget process is and the president unveils something in february an

people watching t.v. in china it's battleships and destroyers and airplanes and you know we have the american pivot to the pacific some people look at it is kind of a strategic retreat but for china and again it's all going back to what martin have to say about middle class middle class values they like a strong country they want their country to be respected and that's translated very often in military hardware you know you want to be able to see on t.v. that you know we're protecting our borders and we're not going to be held back we're not you know maybe we don't. i don't know if they see it on chinese television but you know pacific all the way to hawaii ok that really does speak to a middle class and middle class nationalism but you've got to have the fleet so my question is is that some people say critics will say the pivot actually militarized is the pacific even more. well you know the pivot is again as i said in some sense a recognition of the u.s. weakness in the region for instance its inability to build another marine air force base in okinawa i mean there's been such political opposition in okinawa and it's essential

that's in nobody's best interest, especially the american people. >> when you look at agriculture appropriation. there was a balance of terror, large committees, districts from the farm belt, they all had interests at stake and the appropriation would get passed because they all had interest at stake. right now we're at an 11th hour moment. why is this happening? >> i think it's reflective of the area, a lot of games being played. there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to get a farm bill done. the two sticking issues are the amount of dollars and cuts to the food stamp program or snap program, and my guess that could be worked out and i saw a senator from the agriculture communicate committee who told me that that would be worked out. and farm bill benefits, insurance, granted acres base acres, it's implica complicated stuff. but they can get done. they could get done today. i know the leaders of the two congressional committees are working as hard as they can. i don't think the white house has been engaged in these two issues for the reasons you talked about before. but my prediction is

the american people. whether it is the economy, jobs, or protecting the american people from obamacare, we have done our work. lookf the bills passed by the house and by the senate and you can see the problem. >> you can see him pointing the finger at democrats not getting done. and there are studies showing the republicans have gotten little down and it is one of the least successful congresses. >> here we have with more on this. chris is here, host of power play. we have been listening to what ed henry said. he has talked about everybody getting their fair share and that translates into giving more fair share away and those getting a shake. are the middle class more security under these paoliciepo? >> this isn't a separate piece. he is not pivoting away from anything. he is talking about income redistribution. his health care law is red redistribution and the power to take from those who have insurance to give to those who don't. it is redistributive policy. he is talking to the base of the base. his message is i am keeping the law and going to take from others to make it more fair. the president has managed a c

knew the problems that were coming, but he didn't have to tell the american people that he knew the problems. he could have just said, looknship, we need to delay this a year. and i think the american people would have said, wow, republicans and democrats work together. but the truth is, this has become an issue about, you know, we're going to ram this through. eventually, it's going to work out. and the hope on the administration and the democrats' side is that eventually, people are going to look back and say we had some troubles but it all worked out. but keep in mind, too, they testified to our committee that everything was on track, that the website was on track, the exchanges were on track. >> yeah. >> and it's just not the case. and you know, look, again, tell the american people the truth. that's all they want to hear and they'll take whatever news comes. >> there's another interesting revelation i want to get i here in the last minute we have left because there are e-mails that go back and forth, and cgi promised it was going to be ready. this is the small business exchange part of the whole thing. and they said

clear from the get-go, it's far from a reliability indicator, far from reliable of what the american people will be looking for, but these early numbers, fun for some holiday political conversations, and they could impact how some of the potential candidates look and act in the weeks and months ahead. the early democratic favorite, hillary clinton versus nine republican 2016 prospects, and with just one exception, secretary clinton comes out on top, in most cases in a landside. she beats former governor jeb bush by 20 points, 18 points is the clinton edge over ted cruz, and up 17 over texas governor and 2012 candidates rick perry. another contender, former rick santorum is behind clinton by 19 points. two newcomers run behind clinton by 13 points and 19 points respectivelily. paul ryan, well, he comes closer. the new poll shows clinton with an eight-point edge. who is the one exception? new jersey governor chris christie, over, he edges 48 to 46%. that's a statistical dead heat, but nonetheless early bragging rights for christie, as he begins a very busy schedule crossing the country. what makes him strong

election reform or you know changing the system at its very core that is what we're fighting against because they they don't they don't look to the american people anymore for answers they look to their donors they look to their you know the people who get them elected year after year that's why you have career politicians who can shorten up the elections to shorten up how long they can serve in office that's a big start you know because and then they're not making a life out of it right right it's a huge hurdle and it's kind of like where do you even start because how do you you know tell these people who are executives in all these businesses just stop taking bribes are about the people care about you know we don't have that you know i think the amount of corruption in washington is probably at its worst you know since we've seen i mean we saw back in the days of you know. you know back in the seventy's hundreds you can kind of it's a little harder to you can see it first hand little bit here it's so intricate into the system that it's almost impossible to get out of it is let's talk of a show that you were on with your dad conspiracy theory w

the american people. question go through these periods where aur politics gets all bollucks up. the truth is when you lookt our history, there's been a lot of times where congress gets stuck. but the reason we get through it is the american people have good instincts. if over and over again they see we're not addressing the core problems we have, eventually they will put in place folks who are serious about getting the work done. >> let's talk about the problem with the legislative branch. the other day speaker boehner said that we can't get anything done because we have a divided country, a divided congress. but that's the nature of america. they have an aisle down the middle of the senate. an aisle down the middle of the house. they've always been there. we've rarely had one party in power for more than a year or two. so we stuck with this as long as we have two parties running our government, they can't compromise. they used to compromise. my argument is in the old days they would compromise and then blame the other party for the parts they didn't like. today they don't compromise and blame the other p

the nsa and to initiate some reforms that can give people more confidence. but i want everybody to be clear, the people of the nsa generally are looking out for the safety of the americanple. they are not interested in reading your e-mails. they are not interested in reading your text messages and that's not something that's done and we've got a big system of checks and balances, including the courts and congress who have the capacity to prevent that from happening. >> mr. president, let's look at the question of confidence. 50 years in john f. kennedy spoke here at the american university. let's listen to something that he said that i think we're now in this country politically. >> our problems are manmade. therefore, they can be solved by man and man can be as big as he wants. no problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable and we believe they can do it again. >> how do we get back to that confidence that we can solve our manmade problems and other problems? >> well, you know, i have that confidence. we've gone over a tough time in the last five years and most of the young people who are here toda

election reform or you know changing the system at its very core that is what we're fighting against because they they don't they don't look to the american people anymore for answers they look to their donors they look to their you know the people who get them elected year after year that's why you have career politicians who can shorten up the elections shorten up how long they can serve in office that's a big start you know because and then they're not making a life out of it right right it's a huge hurdle and it's kind of like where do you start because how do you you know tell these people who are executives in all these businesses just stop taking bribes. well character you know we don't have that you know i think the amount of corruption in washington is probably at its worst you know since we've seen i mean we saw back in the days of you know. you know back in the seventy's hundreds you can kind of it's a little harder to you can see it first hand a little bit here it's so intricate into the system that it's almost impossible to get out of it is let's talk of the show that you were on with your dad conspiracy theory jesse ventura on tru

no wonder the american people look at the senate as a dysfunctional body. a couple weeks ago, we voted to make it a functional body so that nominations can be confirmed for any president. the president is -- deserves to have his team. we have been wasting days, weeks and months on nominations. we have scores of people, positions that need to be filled. we're only dealing here with a handful. but -- so people understand the rules. we have changed a few of the rules the last couple of congresses. very little, but we have changed them. but under -- if you have a supreme court justice or you have a cabinet officer or someone of that level, they get 30 hours of time following the cloture vote. now, what are they supposed to do during that 30 hours? come and explain their position, why they oppose a person. now, mr. president, for virtually every one of these nominations, there hasn't been a single, single complaint about any of them. now, this culminated by virtue of the republicans in the senate making a decision that people who serve in the prestigious d.c. ci

looking at the botched roll out and its effect on taxpayers. >> no one has been held accountable for spending on a website that didn't serve the american people. >> reporter: the other, looking at how patients will be effected. >> this is an enact science here and it will involve billions. >> reporter: 1 million people visited healthcare.gov since the upgrade. supporters say it is following a path to medicare and social security. >> early set backs were resolved. critics were proved incorrect and these programs are popular with the american people. >> reporter: another worry, is the website security. a report said it may be vulinable to fraud. >>> a christmastime preddant. the man accuse -- predator. the man accused of killing a man for a playstation 4. how the victim tried to make a bargen for his life. >> they are one in a million. why these three babies are a rare sight. plus. >> chilling video showing a kidnapping in progress in the south bay. police try to determine if a kidnapping was actually committed. ♪ at kaiser permanente we've reduced serious heart attacks by 62%, which makes days with grandpa jack 100% more possible. join us at k

ready. >> we spent the last year trying to protect the american people from the consequences of this health care law. we are going to continue to look ways to protect the american people from what is happening out there. they believe they are going to be ready on january 1st. >> now a 19-year-old college student dead after his frat's hazing activity involving blindfolds and getting tackled. this after the marching band charged and bleeding ipleading could go to prison in that beating. i get in trouble for calling you that. d dug doug, doug burns. it was barock college. what do you think? >> it is interesting. one of the things is whether or not the college is liable. if the have been is involved in regulating hazing. >> which they are. >> then it is easier to show. >> back to your question, i think the law should move towards criminal assault liability. >> if they took them off the ground and brought him in the home. he probably was passed out on the lawn. suffering from some blunt trauma to the head. he is inside and no one else can help him. >> against whom? the other kids? >> sure anybody that participated. >> there is accomplice

house has become a totally dysfunctional place when it comes to doing the business of the american people. just lookt's coming out of the senate that would pass if we were able to vote on it. number one comprehensive bill, huge need for the country. number two, a bipartisan farm bill but the house decided to go with a conference for a bill that cut $40 billion from food and nutrition programs. third, there's legislation to make sure we end discrimination in the workplace with respect to people who are gay. those are three measures that are sitting here in the house, all of which would pass if we were allowed to vote on them. that doesn't go to the issues of the budget if we were allowed to come up with a solution onif we were allowed to vote by december 13. >> you're supposed to be meeting, there is a conference committee, you're on it, what progress has there been over the holidays? >> not near enough, an drachlt i've been here in washington ready to get to work with my colleagues. there has been very little progress during the break. we will narrow the scope. creating a drag on the economy. trying

the climate, but many people are unaware. it was important within the context of climate change to let people know the regions are fundamental to our identity. >> there's more next weekend as booktv and american history tv look at the history and literary life of washington. on c-span2 and 3. we're taking with gang at the national press club and the new book on "due possibility circle." it is about young people. 20s and 30 who came to washington on the eve of world war i. they all live around dew point circle. they were friends and in and out of each other's live frpts next 50 years. and they were franklin roosevelt, el eleanor roosevelt, felix of the supreme court justice, the brothers, alan and john foster. and most people don't make the connection between all of these people. yet they were friends and they were very much involved in the league of nations for the collapse and ultimately in the creation of the united nations. it all began right here. >> did the social interaction kind of start their political relationship? or was it the other way around? >> they were all very -- [inaudible] not what we call progressive. these were though door roosevelt progressives. and it came to washington to help him. bu

the american people to 6 million insurance cancellations and climating. we were trying to stop that. and not use the pain and suffering of the american people as a political gain. when you look longterm, outside of the fourth entitlement program that haven't been addressed by this deal. spending is -- excuse me thing a question gait debt is now at $17.3 trillion. we can't sustain this. i can't stand having the future generations and having their future mortgaged in the name of bipartisan puppet shows. >> shows that tea party conservatives are losing support, 30% view the movement favorably, and 51% dislike it. that's the worse it has been since they started polling about this, we saw tea party conservative representative attack the budget deal, invoking hillary clinton, let's listen to that. the debt is that somewhere down the road, eight years from now, we will cut spending. so yeah, raise spending now, but trust us congress will cut spending possibly in hillary clinton's second term that's silly, and i juan the speakser getting upset, but the truth is, this mr. speaker and others this is a spinning increase in the next few years which is why they have signed on to it? >> y

the -- back in 1964, we looked it up you. pew study. 76% of the american peopleelieved that most of the time, almost always, the federal government did the right thing. now it's down to less than 20%. the trust question. the commitments you made before the rollout with health care. what is it? what is it that's just -- it's a serial decline, mr. president. it keeps going down. i know we had watergate, the vietnam war, of course all that together. but what's going to stop and arrest that decline of faith in you doing the right thing, you being honest? anybody who is president, this skepticism out there? >> the cynicism and skepticism is deep. and i distinguish between, you know, just management of government, and the basic blocking and tackling of getting stuff done to help the american people. and then the ability to move big policy changes that are going to help more oh americans. when it comes to the management of government, part of the reason people are so skeptical is that when we do things right, they don't get a lot of attention. if we do something that is

the things we found was the majority of women being charged were african-american. 79% of the people on the sex offender registry were african- american women. that didn't look right to us. us wehough people told weren't going to be able to fight it, they had tried this , you are not going to be of the to do it because one, y'all are small. two, y'all are all black and you are from the south. that didn't work for me. the one thing we are all very clear on and that we try to instill in people is that we are born with a power. we should have that. all we do is try to help women find their power. what won was their stories. we wouldn't have been able to do that if the community wouldn't have stood with us. led how that campaign was going to look and what we wanted the outcome to the. i am extremely proud not only for all of us at women with a itself.ut the community those trans women and women who said, enough is enough. small, black women, changed louisiana. exists and women were taken off the registry and should no longer be placed on. thank you. [applause] >> i am glad to be here. arrested for the last time. i haven't gone back since. , but thisle violation

american. when you say japanese, you think you were captured by the japanese. we were american citizens, mother born in sack ra mmento, father a san francisco. we were american citizens, because we looked like the peoplehat bombed pearl harbour, president roosevelt signed executive order 9066 ordering japanese americans on the west coast to be rounded up prisons. >> howl were you? >> i was five years owl. happening? >> i didn't understand a thing. my parents were tense. there was one morning that i remember. they got us - my siblings and me - my younger brother and baby sister up, got us dressed. my brother and i were in the living room. i saw two soldiers march up the driveway, bayonne et cetera up the rifle and saw it flashing. stomped up the porch, banged on the door. my father answered it and they ordered us out of our home. >> when you got older, what did your parents tell you about what had happened? >> i initiated that. i started as a teenager reading history and civics books and i didn't find anything about what i knew to be my childhood imprisonment. after dinner i engaged my father in long and sometimes intense heated conversations about our incarceration. what i remember from those conversa

the american people? if you like your plan you can keep it? you look the american people in the eyes and said we have the right balance and then six months later you are saying maybe not? >> hold on a second. when it comes to the right balance on surveillance. these are a series of judgement calls that we are making every day. and that is a hard job. because if something slips the question that is coming from you the next day is mr. president, why didn't you catch that? isn't there a way that we could have found out about that? >> so the point is ed, not that it has changed in terms of how it works. given the debate that has taken place over the next several months, this is only going to work if the american people have confidence and trust. part of the challenge is the manner in which this has taken place and that trust has been diminished. what is going to be important is how to build that back up. i take that into account in weighing how we structure these programs. it is possible for example, that some of the same information that the intelligence

money is that again it's the white house dealing directly behind the american people's back, going to the insurance companies and saying, look, if you have losses don't worry about it, we'll take care of that. just don't tell anyone. >> well, i have a problem with that, too, eric. i think your viewers are smart because they understand that you can't have this president be a socialist and then he's a mmunist as wayne said but he's bailing out the insurance companies and obama care in and of itself is a bailout. this is not a government takeover of health care as so many of your guests say on a weekly basis. you can't have it both ways. this program brings 31 million new customers into their bank accounts. >> let's be honest, john. >> what part of this isn't controlled by government. it hits the nail on the head. this isn't capitalist, liberty, this isn't america. this is fascism, an economy that's supposedly privately owned but in reality, completely controlled, manipulated and as michelle said subsidized by government. we have billions of taxpayer dollars going tohose -- i thought they were evil. they were supposedly evil. >

so i think what we can do is have some confidence builders for the american people to look at this anderstand, ah, one person can't run off and listen your phone call or read your e-mail. none of that is happening. >> warner: so are you saying the president needs to maybe bring more transparency, do exactly what's being done, who is doing it, and what the safeguards are? >> i think that would be incredibly helpful to do that. >> warner: but isn't there then tension between that and how much you want to divulge, he wants to divulge? >> absolutely. i do think we can talk about some of the oversight we have on certain aspects of the program. certainly the business records portion, mehtadata on business record, phone records. that certainly, i think-- . >> warner: that is the sort of bulk collection of phone records, who were called, when you call and the length of the call. >> with the exception we don't know who you are or where you live. it's just a bunch of phone numbers that we use as a foreign nexus to terrorism. so a foreigner in afghanistan or pakistan that we assume is a-- and has

getting at, was this question of credibility with the american people, just like health care, you like your plan you can keep it. on surveillance you looked the american people in the eye six months ago and said we've got the right balance. six months later you're saying maybe not. >> hold on a second. i think it's important to note that when it comes to the right balance on surveillance, these are a series of judgment calls we are making every single day because we have a whole bunch of folks whose job it is to make sure that the american people are protected. and that's a hard job. because if something slips then the question that's coming from you the next day at the press conference, mr. president, why didn't you catch that? why the intelligence people allow that to slip? isn't there a we could have found out -- that this is only going to work if the american people have confidence and trust. now, part of the challenge is is that because of the manner in which these disclosures took place in dribs and drabs, oftentimes shaded in a particular way, and because some of the constraints that we have had in terms of declassifying informatio