the obama's administration's claims of openness and transparency. congressman joseph sestak -- efforts of the white house to mislead. the clinton white house offered a job in return for dropping his challenge against arlen specter. the white house denied it. the white house finally conceded that some conversations happened but their message was "trust us. it was not inappropriate. move on -- nothing to see here." this did not pass the test. it is not up to the white house to judge the ethics of their behavior. that right is reserved to the american people once all the tasks are on the table. demand for these fact continues. after three months of intense political pressure, we were served with a memo from the president's larger admitting that contrary to previous denials the white house did in list former president bill clinton to offer an allegedly unhedged -- allegedly unpaid position. the memo raises more questions than answers. the law does not prohibit a offers of only paid positions. offering an unpaid position does nothing to exonerate bill clinton or white house chief of staff rahm emanuel. sestak would not be able to ac

kagan's work in the clinton white house, reveals a woman committed to advancing a political agenda. a woman less concerned about the objectivity -- about objectively analyzing the war than the ways that the -- the law than the ways that the law could be used to advance a goal. these memos an notes reveal a woman whose notes to the law is a political advocate, the opposite of what people expect in a judge. this is the kind of thinking behind the current democrat ef the for the to pass the so-called disclose act. a bill designed to respond to the supreme court's decision. in citizens united they think puts them at a political disadvantage in the fall. that's why the bill was written by the chairman of their campaign committee. and this is also the kind of thinking that seems to have motivated the clinton white house to seek a simillr legislative response the last time the supreme court issued a decision in this area that democrats thought put them at a political disadvantage. i'm referring here to the case of colorado republican federal campaign committee vs. the f.e.c. this was a case

you said earlier she was too political in the clinton white house of the that was her job. e job in the clinton white house was a political job. had to make decisions not only based on the law. politics also. i mean that's given. also, actually, was said that only 19 percent of the ammrican people are aware of who she is and who the president has nominated for the supreme court but i bet even less people are aware of other supreme court justices that did a good job for many years had no courtroom experience. could you please name a couple of those supreme court justices that had absolutely no courtroom experience? guest: to take the last question, first. i don't know that there were many justices at all that had no courtroom experience. now, way back in the 50's, warren had been governor of california, but i think - i think he had significant courtroom experience before that as well. again, she is, kagan has never once until solicitor general had never argueed a case at the appellate level. to talk about your question on poles, i wasn't saying whether the polls should or sho

her skills and intellect very quickly came to the attention of the clinton white house. which is when i first got to know her. i had been asked by the chairman of the commerce committee, senator hollings, our old friend, to help break through a stalemate on a bipartisan tobacco bill. it was a difficult issue for both caucuses. elena became the administration's point person. and when we started out no, one gave us any hope of being close to or getting close toes passage. but elaine nap camped out in the vice presideent's office off th senate floor, shuttling back and forth to the white house. she worked day and night equally with both sides of the aisle working every angle thinking through every single approach. and on the eve of the commerce committee's markup, things appeared to be falling apart. something we're all too familiar with here. but elena simply wasn't going to let that happen. that was an unacceptable outcome. she got together with the republican senators and staff and she listened carefully and she helped all of us to meet the last-minute objections. it was

we heard a lot about memos she wrote when she was an aide in the clinton white house. why would you say the republicans were not more able to turn those-- and other things that she's done-- into negatives? >> well, judy, i don't think there was just a whole lot for them to latch on to. we heard an awful lot from the republicans about the recruiting of military at harvard law school and the law school's nondiscrimination policy. and i think senator sessions and senator graham came closest to actually questioning her honesty when she said that she was trying to juggle the solman amendment, which required equal access for military recruiting at the law school, and the law school's nondiscrimination policy . they felt that she was making a political statement when she did not allow the military to use the office of career services at the law school. so at that point, it's just who do you believe? the other things they had to look at, for example, they questioned memos she wrote when she was a law clerk. this was back when she was in her early 20s and was clerking for justic

on issues of abortion and gun rights, which are the most hot-button issues she worked on in the clinton white house. you will likely see her respond that she was answering the questions that her boss, president clinton, wanted her to answer. democrats will praise her work as a legal scholar and the solicitor general. >> what else can we expect from the hearing this week? >> you have questions and answers going on for a few days. it should be pretty clear how things stand. republicans will try to poke holes at her nomination as much as possible, but there is not hope that there can -- that they can be real for confirmation. the hearings will last the rest of the week and then the democrats will press for a vote. >> what is the timetable for getting this to the senate and getting a full foot? >> a good question. they want to move before the supreme court's term starts in october. they had a full platter of financial relations. it is up in the air now when this vote will happen. a lot will depend on how smoothly the committee hearings are and how many points the republicans feel like they have s

relying primarily on her years in the clinton white house which is really in terms of documentation all they have to go on to learn about her. so i think she wanted to lay to rest as much as she could before the questions began. that she also has a reputation honed in her years in academia for open mindedness and an ability to bring together differing views and fine commonality. so it was a very deliberate statement. it didn't have any of her usual spark and punchyness that she brings when she's an advocate before the supreme court. i think she was sounding almost judicious. >> woodruff: she spoke slowly. she spoke very deliberately as you said. we do anticipate they're going to talk about her years at the white house. a couple of years and her time as dean at the harvard law school. to what extent, marcia, though is this criticism that she's inexperienced likely to stick? because as several of the senators pointed out a third of the justices who have ever sat on the supreme court had no judicial background? >> well, i think it will stick to a certain degree. i mean she is a very differ

i did respect him but i did lose respect for him during the bill clinton white house sexual affair. he came out very strongly condemning at first, and i kind of felt light -- felt like he bowed toward partisan pressure again. host: what do you think the governor will do? any word on west virginia media -- has the governor made a statement? caller: no, i heard earlier may be on your program or another newscast, they had a meeting in the past year or two. senator byrd was not doing very well. maybe came up with some kind of plan. if you ask mr. public in west virginia, they really believe governor mansion -- mancin may appoint himself. host: what do you think of that? caller: par for the courts. the governor -- we are a liberal state of our politics, but i believe he is maybe a little more toward the middle. i would probably be ok with it. host: republican, shelby township, michigan. you are on the air. caller: i just have a question for you this morning. did we have this type of -- sense i am a long time listener and watching person of c-span program -- i'm wondering, did we have a st

clinton won over the first president bush, two years after they electeded bill clinton for chan change, they threw the democrats out of congress and elected republicans. republicans thought they would use that to capture the white house, bill clinton made a comeback in 1996. you have seen that in the last couple of years with the swings. first, the people outraged by president bush, put the democrats in control of congress and white house within months after president obama takes office and the democrats have complete control of the federal government. there is this wave back. so you have a base party about a third of the electorate each then the group in the middle called independents not affiliated with either party but within that group there are a number who are either mainly republican voters or mainly democratic voters and once in a while they will split the tickets. then you have a constituency it is hard to gauge but 10% to 15% that is truly unaffiliated and they basically don't like either party. they don't think either party is working in their personal interests. and they have been swinging back and forth opposing whoever is in power. whether ross perot or bill clinton or newt gingrich or barack obam

work i working in the clinton white house, doing as she described it, mostly policy work. licy is quite difference than intense legal work. for example, in the office of legal council or some of the divisions in the department of justice. during her white house years the nominee was the central figure in the clinton-gore effort to restrict gun rights and as a dramatic 5-4 decision today in the mcdonald case shows the personal right of every american who own a gun hangs by a single vote on the supreme court. miss kagan was also the point person for the clinton administration's effort to bl k block -- abortions. perhaps she was the key person who convinced president obama to cha who convinced president clinton to change his mind on that precedure.clinton to change his mind on that precedure. her actions punished the military and defeened our soldiers as they fought in two wars over seas. as someone who feels the burden of sending young men and women into harm's way, to ensure military resucruiters were tread fairly, i can't take this issue lightly. dean kagan also joined with

that her resume as a law clerk for a more liberal lion, thurgood marshall, an official in the clinton white house, and the of the harvard law school -- all those things make her ill suited for life on the law bench. they have revealed her in the local eyes as being a good political hack. the democrats will say that she is the first potential justice a judge is a wonderful thing. but the court could use more non-judges. these types of people can do some of the best negotiating and to understand the real world kinds of cases the government is party to. host: the headlines from many papers here and from cq.com -- the word modest used by elena kagan in her opening statement is getting a lot of attention. what is the significance of that word? guest: it is the what attitude she used in which she tried to encapsulate the she is not the opposite word which has been the word used to describe so many supreme court justices -- activist. modest is someone who would show restraint, not be out to make new law at every opportunity, but who would take a judicious approach to writing opinions. for many yea

you said earlier she was too political in the clinton wte house of the that was her job. the job in the clinton white house was a political job. had to make decisions not only based on the law. politics also. i mean that's given. also, actually, was said that only 19 percent of the ammrican people are aware of who she is and who the president has nominated for the supreme court but i bet even less people are aware of other supreme cou justices that did a good job for %-nyears had no courtroom experience. could you please nam a couple of those supreme court justices that had absolutely no courtroom experience? guest: to take the last question, first. i don't know that there were many justices at all tt had no courtroom experience. now, way back in the 50's, warren had been governor of california, but i think - i think he had significant courtroom experience before that as well. again, she is, kagan has never once until solicitor general had never argueed a case at the appellate level. to talk about your question on poles, i wasn't saying whether the polls should or should not influence i was talking a

the job the white house offered. third, the memo claims multiple conversations between president clinton and mr. sestak during june and july of 2009. but congressman sestak insisted four times, just on tuesday, that there was only one brief conversation. so who's lying? fourth, the memo alleges that president obama knew nothing of all of these conversations. now, why would the white house enlist the help of such a high- profile surrogate like former president bill clinton -- on "multiple" occasions, without the knowledge of president obama -- for months-long negotiations over such a low- profile, unpaid position, and all with a congressman who couldn't even accept the job anyway? and now we know that this is only part of a larger pattern of backroom, chicago-style politics. andrew romanoff, who's challenging democrat incumbent michael bennet for the colorado senate democrat nomination, was offered a choice of one of three jobs by rahm emanuel's deputy jim messina if he would drop out of the primary. again, the white house first denied the allegations when they came from anonymous administration

she worked for the clinton white house. it is clear what her politics work. no one would have expected president obama to nominate someone who does not share his agenda and his world view, but whether or not she is extremist is in the i of the beholder. there might be something in the next document that will tell us something about that. host: thank you for being here. a couple of program notes, 11:40 president obama's troubles to maryland for a health care -- travels to maryland to speak to senior citizens on health care issue. they have a big sell job, trying to make things clear for folks who are not clear about those laws themselves. in the meantime, we are going to send you over to the headquarters of the department of homeland security where admiral thad allen will be briefing reporters. he has been doing this just about every day from various locations. today, he is in washington, d.c. he will give this media briefing, and we will briefing beenlive for you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satel

appears a lot of the call for her to step down as coming from both former white house officials, also coming from people who have worked with her. here is lanny davis is served in the clinton white house. back to his comments in politico. of course, helen has the right as a private citizen to speaker mind, even as an anti-jewish bigot -- and will be interesting to see if she is in the usual position, front row center. we will take you to the white house for a briefing with robert gibbs and an update on the gulf. detroit, next up. caller: good morning. it is unusual to me but it is not surprising. any time anyone says anything regarding israel, no matter who or where it is, about israel, watch out. it has been that way until -- since 1948. i am not sure who is really running this country because helen thomas has been saying things for years and nobody has ever made any comment about it. host: de thing she has made similar statements for years? caller: often on, sure. she speaks her piece. i know she is what the press car -- press corps. it has nothing to do about helen thomas. you don't say anything about them. host: here is cq politics credit crawford -- craig crawford. th

work i working in the clinton white house, doing as she described it, mostly policy work. policy is quite difference than intense legal work. for example, in the office of legal council or some of the divisions in the department of justice. during her white house years the nominee w the central figure in the clinton-gore effort to restrict gun rights and as a dramatic 5-4 decision today in the mcdonald case shows the personal right of every american who own a gun hangs by a single vote on the supreme court. miss kagan was also the point person for the clinton administration's effort to bl k block -- abortions. perhaps she was the key person who convinced president obama to c who convinced president clinton to change his mind on that precedure.clinton to change his mind on that pcedure. her actions punished the military and defeened our soldiers as they fought in two wars over seas. as someone w feels the burden of sending young men and women into harm's way, to ensure military resucruiters were tread fairly, i can't take this issue lightly. dean kagan also joined with three

and from the lead coming from of the clinton people the white house, i'm a liberal democrat and i feel just like a moderate democrats did before, the democratic party has no room for an african-american liberal democrat. have to look at other options like the green party. i voted for two green party candidates in the primary and one of them won. host: corporate money and blanche lincoln donations. guest: i think your caller makes an interesting point. she was backed strongly by a lot of corporate interest in washington, but if you look at bill halter's campaign reports, he also received corporate might as well. despite the fact that he was running with the strong backing of organized labor, the issue of corporate interests and where they were focused on that race is a little bit muddy. host: tim on the republican line. your read of the election results. caller: i am from tennessee. i am a real big republican conservative and we have a big governor's in action coming up in august, the primary. they will be replacing the governor. i like -- in the primary. i'm a real conservative and are

the clinton administration. there are quite a bit of documents detailing her service as white house counsel. what if anything have you learned about what kind of legal approach she might take? >> i think it is hard to say what kind of justice she might be from reading it. we do have far more material, and i compliment the administration, but the clinton library and archives -- we have far more material is then presented by the senate judiciary committee then we have ever had for any nominee, and i think you look at it and say, was she acting as good counsel in the clinton administration? did she give advice, which she would be expected just as she was given advice when she served as a clerk for justice marshall. it gives you some idea of their legal ability, but it does not tell you what type of justice they are going to be. hugo black was a member of the coup coquelin. he was the united states senator. -- the kkk. he was the united states senator. he helped put together brown vs. board of education. john paul stevens today is not what i thought he might be as a justice when i voted for him

clinton won over the first president bush, two years after they electeded bill clinton for chan change, they threw the democrats out of congress and elected publicans. republicans thought they would use that to capture the white house, bill clinton made a comeback in 1996. you have seen that in the last couple of years with the swings. first, the people outraged by president bush, put the democrats in control of congress and white house within months after presidt obama takes office and the democrats have complete control of the federal government. there is this wave back. so you have a base party about a third of the electorate each then the group in the middle called independents not affiliated with either party but within that group there are a number who are either mainly republican voters or mainly democratic voters and once in a while they will split the tickets. then you have a constituency it is hard to gauge but 10% to 15% that is truly unaffiliated and they basically don't like either party. they don't think either party is working in their personal interests. and they have been swinging back and forth opposing whoever is in power. whethe ross perot or bill clinton or newt gingrich or barack obama o

he said the next largest field was in 1992 when bill clinton, george h. w. bush and ross perot battle for the whiteouse. stronger numbers now? guest: we thought it was interesting, particularly the 1994 election. you thought there would have been a surge then. but there was not. but there was not. the next highest total was in 1992, when you had that memorable presidential race between clinton and george stage h.w. bush and ross perot. the record 100 candidates that year. -- there were 2100 candidates that year. host: tell us about what you are watching. with the runoff and arkansas, battles and nevada, california. guest: there are 12 states with primaries. it should give another indication of just where the electorate is, just how angry voters are. there are two races were incumbents seem to be on the ropes. in arkansas, blanche lincoln, a two-term democratic senator is being challenged from the left by the lieutenant governor. she was forced into a runoff in the primary and their runoff is tuesday. it is never good for an incumbent when you are forced into a runoff. so she has her work cut out fo

right about the same time, white house spokesman robert gibbs will be briefing reporters. that is scheduled to start at 1:30 eastern. secretary of state clinton is meeting with her counterpart from india today. the two leaders will discuss u.s.-india relations. we will have live coverage of those remarks starting at 1:15 eastern on our companion network, c-span2. join us later for more campaign 2010 information and events. south carolina is one of the state's looking to elect a new governor. earlier this week, we brought you a debate among the republicans are vying for the seat. today is the democrats' turn. that gets under way at 7:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. this said, oh, my god, t president is going to be in each. -- impeached. woodward said we can never use that word around this news and, lest anyone think we have some kind of agenda. but the all of that moment stays with me -- awe of that moment stays with me. >> watch woodward and bernstein from earlier in the year and see what other key players say about the cover-up. export c-span video free online. >> a discussion on how the state department is utilizing new technologies to improve d

spent quite a bit of time in the clinton administration, as you know has gotten tens of thousands of pages of documents detailing her service as a domestic policy advisor and white house counsel. what if anything have you learned about what kind of justice she would be or what kind of legal approach she would take? >> i think it's hard to say what kind of justice she is going to be. we do have far, far more material, and i've complimented all of the administration. but the clinton library and the archives in giving up this material. we have far more material that's been presented to the senate judiciary committee than we have ever had for any nominee. and i think if you look at it and you say was she acting as a good counsel in the clinton administration? did she give advice? just as she would give advice to justice marshall when she served as a clerk for justice marshall. it gives you some idea of the legal ability but not what kind of justice they are going to be. this hugo black was a member of the cluclusm clan. he was a united states senator. he helped put together the decision that ended segregation, brown versus board of education. so you still have to ma

thugs were deployed elsewhere not only in november, 2008 but during the democratic primaries where they targeted white hillary clinton supporters. others have falsely claimed that no votes were affected, not only did the evidence rebut this claim but the law does not require a successful effort to intimidate and punishes even the attempt to intimidate. most disturbing, the dismissal is part of a lawlessness in our institutions. americans should be shocked to bringing civil rights cases against non-white defendants on behalf of white victims. equal enforcement of justice is not part of this administration. some of my co-workers argued that the law should not be used against black wrongdoers because of the long history of slavery. other individuals called it payback time and that is in quotes. incredibly after the case was dismissed, instructions were given that no cases like the black panther case, would be brought by the voting section. refusing to enforce the law equally means that some citizens are protected while others are victimized depending on their race. principles of equality before the law and freedom from

the clinton administration. what have you heard? guest: she was exposed to a huge variety of issues that face the country, that the white house has itsfingers on almost anything that goes on, issues on american indian reservations, to the big tobacco lawsuit that was filed then and actually still some action for the supreme court now. tax policy, patents, almost everything that goes on in the country at some level influences the white house, and on the domestic policy staff she had a role in it. we heard that she was quite hard sometimes in her vocabulary. she was very businesslike to her approach to issues, very politically savvy. everything, in fact, that we would have expected. host: where would you see, knowing what you do about elena kagan, where the you see the lines of questioning going? guest: the democrats will ask for to explain how wonderful she is and how all of her preparation to this moment really inevitably lead to her nomination and how she would be extremely concerned with the impact of longer on ordinary, everyday people, and how she will make sure she will balance of the necessary factors that come before the supre

at the same time, white house spokesperson robert gibbs will be briefing reporters. at 1:30 eastern. secretary of state hillary clinton is meeting with her counterpart from india today. the two leaders will discuss u.s.-india relations. live coverage begins on our companion network, c-span to -- c-span2. carolina is one of the state's looking to elect a new governor in 2010. earlier this week, we have a debate among republicans vying for the seat. live coverage of the democratic debate gets underway at 7:00 here on c-span. >> c-span -- our public affairs content is available on television, radio, and online. and you can connect with us on twitter, facebook, and youtube. signup for our females are at c- span.org. >> the discussion now on the future of education in the united states. " continues. host: let me introduce you to the president of the national education association, dennis van roekel. he began his teaching career as a high school math teacher at paradise valley high schl in phoenix, arizona. welcome to the program. guest: thank you. host: let me start with your retion to the governors and state school chiefs

the board, greater personnel, greater budget clintons would be useful. -- budget functions would be useful. host: who would recommend to the president the new head of the cia? guest: he has a personnel group in the white house. host: kentucky on the independent line. caller: i want to know why are there is soomuch negativity and -pcorruption in america. would you believe that we have freedom in america?+ if we do, what is the privilege? guest: iidid not know -- in fact, i do not agree with your proposition. i think this is a very free country. i think the proof of the pudding is the incredible number of people around the world who want to come here to live. host: peter on our democrat caller: good morning. i have two quick questions. the fiist concernssautonomy and how this agency operates in independence wittout not influence from any pdministration. secondly, i know the agency has a different ways of gathering information. my question is, lately different politicians have been throwing around racial profiling. my question is, how is this effective -- and not effective, but how does this hinder -- what is its role? that is my basic question. thank you. with regards to your first point -- guest: with

the white house, it was that we had stronger, more vibrant social movements on the outside. whether president obama turns into a transformative the leader, or a disappointing leader like bill clinton or jimmy carter is only partly about how you response to the crisis our country faces. it is mostly about what we do. let me pick up the first point about what we have achieved. i confessed to feeling somewhat puzzled about how much we have collectively accomplish in the progressive movement and how badly many of us feel about it. if you think back, what is the policy scorecard during the last 18 months? we have achieved legislation to cover 4 million additional kids with health insurance, including 400,000 legal immigrants. the economic recovery package, bill is in sufficient -- bill insufficient and lot large enough. we achieve health care reform that extends coverage to more than a 4 million people and provides basic protections against insurance company abuses. this has been a progressive dream for over a century, and we finally have won it. it also represents a major step against inequality in our country, and will make a huge difference in the lives of the poorest people in the

the white house, it s that we had stronger, more vibrant social movements on the outside. whether president obama turns into a transformative the leader, or a disappointing leader like bill clintonmmy carter is only partly about how you response to t crisis our country faces. it is mostly about what we do. let me pick up the first point about what we have achieved. i confessed to feeling somewhat puzzled about how much we have collectively accomplish in the progressive movement and how badly many of us feel about it. if you think back, what is the policy scorecard during the last 18 months? we have achieved legislation to cover 4 million additional kids with health insurance, including 400,000 legal immigrants. the economic recovery package, bill is in sufficient -- bill insufficient and lot large enough. achieve health care reform that extends coverage to more than a 4 million people and provides basic protections against insurance company abuses. this has been a progressive dream for over a century, and we finally have won it. it also represents a major step against inequality in our country, and will make a huge difference in the lives of the poorest people in the country. we

the white house, it was that we had stronger, more vibrant social movements on the outside. whether president obama turns into a transformative the leader, or a disappointing leader like bill clintoncarter is only partly about how you response to the crisis our country faces. it is mostly about what we do. let me pick up the first point about what we have achieved. i confessed to feeling somewhat puzzled about how much we have collectively accomplish in the progressive movement and how badly many of us feel about it. if you think back, what is the policy scorecard during the last 18 months? we have achieved legislation to cover million additional kids with health insurance, including 400,000 legal immigrants. the economic recovery package, bill is in sufficient -- bill insufficient and lot large enough. we achieve health care reform that extends coverage to more than a 4 million people and proves basic protections against insurance company abuses. this has been a progressive dream for over a century, and we finally have won it. it also represents a major step against inequality in our country, and will make a huge difference in the lives of the poorest people in the country. we se