the white house today is the nixon white house and the state grants.y brought the white house to that state. >> outside the gates, it is a home whose history and documents are still under siege for most of his presidency. from the vietnam protesters to the watergate scandal at the end, the white house becomes an insular place for president nixon and a place where he finds solace in one particular room. >> richard nixon was a man who cherishes solitude. his intellectual privacy. he loved a fire in the fireplace and it was his habit to turn the air conditioning up as high as it would go and start a fire. it is important for every president to have a time when he can think. for nixon, that is what the lincoln sitting room was all about trade in the end, it turned out to be a place of security and memories. sooner or later, every president bonds with lincoln. he famously compared himself to lincoln and the sense that he justified actions of that others sol as abuse of power. -- others saw as abuse of power. just about every president gets very close to lin

they had towards the white house. >> it is one of the most dramatic moments of the white house. the smoke from the battle and soldiers approaching. she was terrified. no one thought they would burn the building. there is last one we know ever saw the white house. they said danner said 440 people. dolley madison was an the table -- the dinner was set for 40 people. they left and locked the doors befor the -- before the british came and they finished the dinner. they had 22 javelins all lit and threw into the open windows. it burned and burned until the rain storm put the fire out. it was a big stone box with ashes. it was a jolt to the american people. it was the angriest moment of the war. >> sheet famously helped to save the portrait of washington, her reputation in the immediate aftermath could not be haven -- saved. >> they were considered terrible cards for running. -- cowards for running. >> the war comes to aclose on a triumphant note and helps restore the madison's reputation. >> it will be rebuilt as it was. >> you can see the original burn marks left from the inferno. t

the message was in the historic white house. >> just below the south portico is the entrance to the whiteerved for presidents, first ladies, and their guests. leading into the first home they see. the diplomatic reception room. centrally located on the ground floor, it is beyond the bounds of public tours and it is made famous by fdr. >> never before since plymouth rock -- >> fdr made the first of many fireside chats to the nation during his presidency. >> i will tell you what has been done and why and what the next steps are going to be. >> mainly through radio but sometimes allowing the newsreel cameras in for portions of his jobs. like so many of the rooms here, and has had uses over the years and its connections between different presidents and first ladies are many. originally, in 1902 -- 1902, his cousin turned it into the diplomatic reception room as part of his work on the white house. as you look at it today, its visual features are a legacy of first lady jacqueline kennedy as part of a restoration of the home. >> this is the broom that people see first. everyone who comes to it

what the white house has done is it's tried to boil its message down. today the president came out with a statement -- it wasn't on camera. it was a written statement. there is a little less than the constant talk during egypt where there was a little criticism of the president being overexposed and given a daily report. a very restrained statement, one paragraph. it said there are universal rights in every country including bahrain our friend and libya, not so much our friend and it's important for the governments to show restraints. the white house has come to a minimal message to try to fit all of these different circumstances. >> jim, you're back from cairo. i wonder as the white house struggles to figure its way out whether it's possible -- is there a one size fits all u.s. response, or is there any leverage that the u.s. can apply for all of these different -- >> absolutely not. as i was listening to you talk, the one place this message is not getting through to and frankly not being listened to, is that part of the world. i was in tahrir square th

disappointment from the white house? >> absolutely. the earlier in the day, we heard president obama making a speech out in michigan and appearing to expect great news, exciting news from cairo. his whole tone that seemed to be that he expected president mubarak to step down. that is also what we heard from people like the cia chief here, who was expecting president mubarak to go. but it was a completely different script that president mubarak was reading from. the white house appeared to have been caught off guard. it said nothing to buy time. then, this strong statement came out of the white house. he says, with quite a skeptical tone, the egyptian people had been told there was a transition of authority, but it is not clear this transition is immediate, meaningful, or sufficient. egyptians remain unconvinced the government is serious about a transition to democracy. he calls on the egyptian government to seize the opportunity. he says the have to spell out in clear and unambiguous language a step by step process that will lead to dem

and the attitude of white people. when i was growing up, my father did not mind people calling him by his first named. his first name was qp. in the court case, they ask, what does that stand for? it stood for quinnith paul. the white people use to just call him jordy and they would call his son, boy. even the teachers and the faculty members of my school said they never called him buy anything other than his first name. and he was a professor of alabama state. so i have seen all of that change. it is an attitude change. and as my sister called it, a cosmetic change. they say, dixie had a cosmetic change. they have the same mental attitude haas racists, but they cannot call you girl and gal anymore. to me, they are over-polite. in my experience in the hotel -- ms. colvin, how can i help you? it is a little over-polite, and i get tired of it sometimes. [laughter] now, you remember i live in new york, the big apple. help me to stay the word -- say the word -- i do not want to sound like sarah palin -- [laughter] what is

hundreds of thousands of protesters in cairo, along with this news organization, the white house, people around the world were expecting to see an aircraft, something, departing cairo by the close of business today with hosni mubarak on board. instead, this man's photo pretty much sums up the reaction of an entire country. when it came time for his speech to the nation on television, mubarak seemed defiant instead. he said all regimes make mistakes, and he said he's cheated death before. so even while the protesters were chanting "get out, get out, mubarak," even though the egyptian army had started the transfer of power, mubarak is still calling himself the president of egypt. though he has passed most of his powers, apparently, to his vice president. there are now predictions tomorrow's protest will be the largest in egyptian history. it is a fluid and highly confusing situation tonight, volatile in fact. we begin in cairo, once again with our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. so, richard, how is it? again, this news organization, others, the white house, people in america, p

we cover the white house. it's not entirely the job of the agents to do what the principal asked them. why didn't president obama, why didn't tom donovan, why didn't the people around the president say what's going on in egypt? that guy is 83. what will happen next? >> in fairness, they were getting warning signals. he had the egypt working group ahead for some time. there were instabilities. be prepared for this. what he was going to do about it to prepare, what were they going to do? press harder, talk about it more? there were signs the precise timing, the catalysts for it they didn't know. you're right, they didn't upset. the hill is upset. chris: we have all of these groups out there at the national democratic convention, soft groups to encourage democracy, teach people how to win elections and all, didn't they know about the social media going on over there with facebook and organizing? >> i think maybe there's a false premise here that if you know what's going on, we can do something about it. >>y. >> wh

the white house today is the nixon white house and the state grants. could use it for a set for a nixon movie and it would be authentic. they brought the white house to that state. >> outside the gates, it is a home whose history and documents are still under siege for most of his presidency. from the vietnam protesters to the watergate scandal at the end, the white house becomes an insular place for president nixon and a place where he finds solace in one particular room. it adjoins the lincoln bedroom. >> richard nixon was a man who cherishes solitude. his intellectual privacy. it was his habit to hole up in his favor room in the white house. he loved a fire in the fireplace and it was his habit to turn the air conditioning up as high as it would go and start a fire. it is important for every president to have a time when he can think. for nixon, that is what the lincoln sitting room was all about trade in the end, it turned out to be a place of security and memories. and the link in connection. sooner or later, every president bonds with lincoln. he

when i covered the reagan white house and the bush white house, some of it was disarray. it a little easier to take the story to the public. >> each was fighting for his own turf. that is what did it. >> you are not going to stop turf battles between heavyweights in the administration. >> they seldom leaked in the bush administration. >> there is a myth that the republicans did not have message problems. if you look at the social security debate of 2005, that is not a cohesive message. >> is that the same problem that obama had at reelection time? that is debatable. when you take on these big issues, it is not necessarily -- you will not have a cohesive message. >> lightning round. i want to go to a few questions. with regard to the television series the west wing, how realistic was that? >> one of the funny things about that, the creator of the show had been in washington. he read a script for the movie american president. he asked me if i would read his pilot and consult on the show. all of my friends in washington started calling me. hollywood never gets washington righ

the ashanti kingdom. some were born to white fathers. nature french german spanish west african and anglo-american. the politics of the slave quarters was complex in atlanta. there is no single leader to define the insurgents or their agenda. rather the slaves counted in the ranks men from such revolutionary chavez is congo haiti and the louisiana moran colonies in the swamps. but amidst this chaos and complexity the planters deemed only to assign descriptor guilty the german coast uprising had raised serious questions and they new orleans territory but the strength of american power, the expanse of the spanish threat, the possibility of the haitian side of revolution on american soil and about the character of america's newly acquired french citizen. the planters realized the urgency of these questions and answer them with 100 dismembered corpses and a set of show trials intended to speak to the local slave population. in letters and letters and newspaper accounts, william claiborne the governor of the new orleans territory in the plant

the white house to unveil its plan for fixing lending giants fannie mae and freddie mac. and countdown to 2012. conservatives mulled their and countdown to 2012. conservatives mulled their choices for the coming election. captioning funded by cbs >>> good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. this morning egypt appears to be a country on the brink of revolt. enraged anti-government protesters planned a massive rally today following yesterday's defiant stand by president hosni mubarak. the military says it is securing the country and will have an important statement today. terry mccarthy is in cairo. good morning, terry. give us the latest there. >> reporter: good morning, betty. and the crowds here behind me are still digesting that speech by president mubarak last night. if he thought he was going to pacify them, in fact the opposite has happened. it's 11:00 in the morning here and the crowds are bigger than we've ever seen them at this time. now everybody yesterday was expecting president mubarak to step down. the rumors were going around the s

the program, live from the white house -- making and shaping the news -- is hosted by former cnn white house correspondent and washington bureau chief and emmy award winning journalist, frank sesno, who serves as the director of the george washington school of media and public affairs. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming frank sesno. [applause] >> thank you very much. what a great crowd and a great pleasure to be here with you tonight. i think you'll hear a conversation this evening he will long remember. i want to thank the president and board of the university for helping make this conversation series possible. i would like to thank our council members who are here with us this evening and the great faculty and students of the school a media and public affairs. also, a word of thanks in recognition of the graduate school of political management to help us put together a wonderful reception. this event is produced by the center for innovative media at the school of media and public affairs. periodically with these public sessions we meet with people in this public sphere

understand the white house. and creating enemies and things of that nature. the governance of the country they didn't understand. >> host: good afternoon and welcome to booktv's index. this is a monthly program with one author and his or her body of work. this month, r. emmett tyrrell jr. is our guest, editor and chief and founder of the american spectator magazine as well as the author of nine books and editor of a couple more. here are r. emmett tyrrell's nine books. 1977, "public nuisances" came out. the liberal crack out in 1984. the conservative crackup in 1992. "boy clinton: the political biography" 1996. you're best seller. the impeachment came out in 1997. >> guest: that was close to a best seller. >> host: at 4 "madame hillary: the dark road to the white house" in 2004, "the clinton crackup" in 2007, the best of the american spectator and continuing crisis in 2009, and his most recent book "after the hangover: the conservatives' road to recovery". mr. tyrrell, why so many books about the clintons? >> gu

very sensitive from the white house. i'm reminded in your story of a situation we encountered at cnn. after 9/11, we put together guidance and it was as a result partly of the conversation that we talked about you and i had, but we understood we could end up being used as a vehicle for nepharious means. osama bin laden, when he touched his left hand, is that a signal? where do we get guidance on that? we said we were going to be sensitive to issues that might imperil issues of national security. we'll try to tune it in and we took lots of calls from people. there was a time when we first deployed u.s. troops to uzbekistan uzbekistan for the staging? >> several places. >> we were approached and asked not to report that because it might jeopardize security. we chose not to report that. then what happens? it leaked some other place. a pakistani news organization puts it up, goes online and another network reported on it in the united states. so, a, what is your guidance to news organizations today and how can you say i'm not

he was the son of a white planter and he served as a driver on his plantation. slave drivers were at the top of the hierarchy. beneath a master was the overseer and beneath the overseer was the driver and beneath the driver were the slaves. charles salon they administer the punishment for the other slaves. he held the keys to all of the doors on the plantation. when slaves escape he would help chase them down. drivers like charles were often regarded as betrayers of their race and by the white planters they were regarded as close accomplices, as trusted advisers. charles would convene with his master every morning to discuss when the sugar would be planted and how the work was going. but charles was doing something else with the liberties granted to him as a driver. on the weekends he would visit his wife a few plantations down and as he traveled he would meet up with two men, kook and quamana. quaku was over 6 feet tall which a time when the average height was 5 feet 4 inches was a looming figure. hugh was recently brought from africa in 1806. the ashanti kingdo

when i covered the reagan white housand the bush white house some of it was disarray. it made it a little easier to take the story to the public. >> each was fighting for his own turf. that is what did it. >> you are not going to stop turf battles between heavyweights in the adnistration. >> they seldom leaked in the bush administration. >> there is a myth that the republicans did not have message problems. if you look at the social security debate of 2005, that is not a cohesive message. >> is thathe same problem that obama had at reelection time? that is debatable. when you take on these big issues, it is not necessarily -- you will not have a cohesive message. >> lightning round. i want to go to a few questions. with regard to the television series the west wing, how realistic was that? >> one of the funny things about that, the creator of the show had been in washington. he read a script for the movie american president. he asked me if i would read his pilot and consult on the show. all of my friends in washington started calling me. hollywood never gets washington

because they didn't understand the white house. they understood shaking hands and creating enemies and things of that nature, but the governance of the country they didn't understand. >> host: good afternoon and welcome to booktv's "in depth" program. this is our monthly program with one author and his or her body of work. this month r. 'em -- r. emmett tyrrell junior, he is the founder of the american spectator magazine as well as author of nine books plus the editor of a couple more. very quickly, here are r. emmett tyrrell's nine books. in 1977, "public nuisances" came out. "the liberal crack-up" in 1994. boy clinton, 1996. your bestseller? >> guest: yeah. >> host: the impeachment came out in 1997 -- >> guest: that was pretty close to bestseller. >> host: madam hillary in 2004, the clinton crack-up in 2007, the best of the american spectators: the continuing crisis in 2009, and his most recent book last year, "after the hangover." mr. tyrrell, why four books about the clintons? >> guest: well, they weren't solely about the clinto

the white house says the $3.7 trillion plan would cut the federal deficit over the next ten years. >>his is a big day for the nervous owners of nearly 2600 champion show dogs. the annual westminster kennel club dog show is under way here in new york and tonight one dog will be named best in show. manuel gallegus has more. >> reporter: it's down to the wire to get this standard poodle perfectly puffy and fluffy for his big moment in the ring. >> sorry, crunched for time. >> reporter: 2500 dogs are competing at the westminster dog show in new york, including elvis, the bearded collie, brutus the blue pomeranian and fergie, the bichon. what makes her special? >> she has a beautiful face. real pretty movement. and she loves to do it. >> reporter: this is the granddaddy of them all, a fierce competition whether you walk on four legs or two. greg larsen admits he uses the same hairspray as chase. >> you have similar hair color. >> yeah. >> reporter: there are six new breeds and this is one of them. red bone coonhounlds. these two are brothers. >> i'm very overwhelmed at this moment. >> repo

has the white house viewed any of these regulations? i do not know if there is an update on what our op-ed was a couple of weeks ago. i can certainly check. the president -- and i think he mentioned it again today -- a review process that goes through and looks as outdated or unnecessary regulations. at the same time, we have to balance that with, as the president said today, sensible standards to ensure safe and clean drinking water and safe and clean -- the safety and cleanliness of the air that we breathe in order to create, again, some sensible standards to protect our families. let me see if there is an update on what the president wrote about. >> a couple of weeks ago, we were told the president had been confronting mubarak directly over human rights and reforms. that was the strongest words you guys had used today to describe the conversations. usually, it was just a readout. can you elaborate a little bit more on how confrontation with the president has been with mubarak -- how confrontational the president has been with mubarak

i use the yellow pages and the white pages. it is very official. i would continue to keep my phone book, but the legislation does not stop me from getting a phone book, so i am going to support this theory -- this. commissioner riley: i do not want people to think officthis a ban. the only saying they are asking for is you do not leave it on the street and create waste. it is time to see how we can eliminate the waste and the environmentally friendly. and the -- and the environmentally friendly -- be environmentally friendly. i read this, and it said, we urge you to oppose this legislation, so maybe you can address that. >> are want to thank the members of the public. all we heard was opposition from the yellow pages industry, and i want to thank the small business folks who support this. i want to address the argument we are cutting jobs at risk. i did not hear anyone who said jobs would be lost. i would prefer to code $1 million by into the economy that would otherwise have to be spent recycling. we have also heard it would be denying people of co

chip reid is at the white house tonight. chip, it's been a very long week and the president seems to be very happy to see it end and end this way. >> reporter: oh, yes, katie. after the dangerously unpredictable events of yesterday, today the president sounded deeply relieved as he praised the egyptian people for their courage. >> the people of egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard and egypt will never be the same. >> reporter: but while the euphoria continued in egypt, president obama had a warning that there will be difficult days ahead. >> this is not the end of egypt's transition. it's a beginning. >> reporter: the beginning of a long, arduous path to democracy. with the first stage of that path now controlled by egypt's military leaders. the president had a message for them: that they are only a temporary caretaker. >> that means protecting the rights of egypt's citizens, lifting the emergency law, revising the constitution and other laws to make this change irreversible. >> reporter: on this day, the president

i severely doubt the free black militia would have fought on the side of the white planters. o the impact on the slaves, the impact in the slave corridors, i think the oral history still survive today on the german coast and i met earlier today with some of the descendents of the rebel slaves who have kept the story alive for hundreds of years. if that story is alive on the german coast how much powerful powerful -- how much more powerful that story would have been in 1820 oregon 60 when the slaves in new orleans fought for and won their freedom even though the emancipation proclamation specifically excluded these perishes from emancipation. so i think this story and the martyr dumb served as an inspiration and a powerful story that resonated throughout the slave quarters. in this immediate aftermath those 100 heads on pikes spread 40 miles outside of the city served as a tremendous message. i can imagine the fear, the feelings and emotions that must have been cited on both sides as people sat around nervously wondering what would happen next. >> the native guard as you know,

at the white house, president obama decided to close the u.s. embassy in tripoli, suspend limited military cooperation, freeze arm sales and the treasury department sent this advisory to banks, to be on the lookout for any movement of gadhafi's money. this as they prepare to freeze his assets, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. the british and swiss already have. >> it's clear that colonel gadhafi has lost the confidence of his people. >> reporter: the white house still stopped short of calling for gadhafi's ouster. france's president sarkozy was tougher. he said mr. gadhafi must leave. >> we shouldn't kid ourselves. sanctions, asset freezing, travel limits and the rest are not the sort of tools that are going to turn a situation like this around. >> until the money runs out, until the mercenaries run out, until those family members who control security units around gadhafi decide that he has to go and that may well not happen, there's not a whole lot we're going to do. >> reporter: still in washington today at their residence, libyan diplomats, raise

assert their new power, pushing their leaders for deeper spending cuts as the gop prepares to battle the white house over the president's new budget coming out tomorrow. this morning, an exclusive conversation with the republican speaker of the house, john boehner. >>> also this sunday, the race for the white house 2012. >> we need to win the triple crown of 2012. which is holding onto the house of representatives, winning a conservative senate and, oh, yeah, baby, winning the white house in 2012. the triple crown. >> conservatives gather for the annual cpac conference. and some presidential contenders make their debuts and test the waters. >>> and the mayor of atlanta, representative bobby schilling of illinois. former clinton white house press secretary, dee dee myers. >>> columnist for "the new york times," david brooks. >>> and "time" magazine's mark h alprin. >>> after 18 days, president mubarak of egypt is gone, in a revolution that sent shock waves around the world as they partied in the streets. we'll get the latest this morning from cairo with nbc's richard engel. plus insights in was

in the white house, the senate or the house. and now they do have a major part of the political responsibility. it is how they run the house of representatives. so i see in in the future maybe when there are serious disagreements that obama will make his proposal, it'll go to the house of representatives, they will vote it down or amend it, and then it'll go the senate. maybe it will be a stalemate because of the very frequent filibuster rules as you know. and then obama can take his position the public of the united states and say this is specifically what i advocate in the field of welfare, health or education or budgets or military, whatever, and this is what i think is right, and this is what the majority of senators say is right, and this is a specific position that the republicans in the house take. so let the public make a choice, do you approve -- do you agree with me or agree with them? it'll be a new era in the obama administration in presenting two opposing views where both sides have some responsibility. i don't know

the white people in this country on. one thing about the national socialist movement is that they are very specialized kind of outrage tactics they go up to lead oh hi oh and they march sure they try to march into a black neighborhood and what happens is they're stopped by the cops but there's riot. or not it's proven that. it's you know he said there was no city center it wasn't ok. we marched streets and against our rights that i will say was from the national socialist movements point of view and untrammeled victory you never had to march at all and so you know there are a. home and watch on t.v. as the network television of all three major network shows you know black people rioting in toledo and assam sits back and says see that's how they are. thank. you. you will be. tell you. no matter what cause it's happening there's always infighting and in any struggle now admittedly. so much of it in the right wing is so silly and my cat fights all the time i've always said even though we don't like it it's a sign of some why

to the white house he was seen as the beacon of stability. within egypt his whole regime had become associated with corruption and a brutal suppression of dissent. the secret police had a fearful reputation. this fear fueled hatred towards him. >> president mubarak leaves behind broken institutions -- >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe and click-to-play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. new man's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its global expertise to work for a wide range of companies, from small business to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was brought to you by kcet, los angeles. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening. i'm jim lehrer. egyptian president mubarak stepped down today and

all of the white planters were fleeing in terror. the accounts are secret very surprised when correspondent. fear and panic made it not possible to estimate the force of the bergen. the residents of new orleans were utterly terrified because they too were the stories of hating him as a beacon of liberty or as a testament to political ideals, but rather as a warning about what would happen if the last control because the slave rebels that haiti had defeated 80%. they've got 80% at one of the great generals of europe had sent to fight them in france -- from france to fight them. just think about that one more time. slave rebels bringing to their knees the enemies of one of the great generals of your. tell us what they feared. they feed the two would be brought to their knees and executed. now you might be wondering what chance do the slave rebels have of success? how close do they really come to conquering new orleans? i want to take you back to the primary sources to give you an idea what commodore john shaw content admiral in control

chris: the white house thinks huckabee is the nominee. >> the white house is nervous about huckabee but he's making too much scratch to give that up. in florida. chris: you are even -- gloria. >> let's talk about the senate. you talked about the president and let's talk about the senate. john kyl retiring. in arizona. chris: why? >> talk about the scratch. i don't know. and obviously gabby giffords is somebody who had wanted that seat and still could perhaps run for it. if that doesn't occur, democratic leaders really would like janet napolitano. chris: a lot of udalls around. anne kornblut. >> the white house was -- the white house has to figure out what to do about china and some would like to see gary locke leave the commerce department and he speaks chinese. chris: so his background is chinese. >> yeah. he could do that job. not sure if he would do it. moved his name once but he's in the mix. chris: david david. -- david ignatius. >> c.i.a. officers are worried about the implications of the pack substance -- pakistanis holding someone with diplomatic credentials in jail in lahor whe

white balls and the white will spot the red balls but then you have to take away a white ball. was getting seriously behind and obviously with my level of skill it had to be the full tape. why why would you create a game where the pockets are obviously too small for the boards. and then with horrible inevitability as over. time. i think i just got hostiles. with my ego severely bruised i slunk out of the club and back to my rant on. i needed cheering up any one place where it wouldn't matter if i drove like a plane it. never really got used to in rush was driving conditions like me on the road just snowy and icy it makes it really difficult to control the car. to get a little extreme condition fresh. you know if this is your school yes this is a safety driving school. most of them so gay is a professional race and founder of kansas safety driving school and if you want to know how to handle your car in winter. games now i'm going to show you how you can stop your car from. getting it for you there's a technique to it. you need to learn to use the handbrake as well as the steerin

this is signature for the white house. wait until the last minute and like to come in and be the closer when they think a deal is close just like on the tax cuts. but what do you have guys think about where the white house is or is not on this? seems like they're not weighing in with a lot of specifics. maybe behind the scenes but certainly not publicly. tom, what do you think? have you heard much from the white house or they're waiting on the sidelines until closer to a deal. >> far be it from me to speak for the white house. i think they have concerns about the cr and the spending cuts, the $60 billion. and some of the specifics in particular. some of the cuts are just somewhat mindsless. for example eliminating a program to help homeless veterans, cutting border security at a time when that's so critically important. homeland security, cutting head start. those are all not only really bad policy but they are cuts that the hurt the economy. for example, a construction revolving fund for state water. that's deeply cut as w

when i covered the reagan white house and the bush white house, some of it was disarray. it made it a little easier to take the story to the public. >> each was fighting for his own turf. that is what did it. >> you are not going to stop turf battles between heavyweights in the administration. >> they seldom leaked in the bush administration. >> there is a myth that the republicans did not have message problems. if you look at the social security debate of 2005, that is not a cohesive message. >> is that the same problem that obama had at reelection time? that is debatable. when you take on these big issues, it is not necessarily -- you will not have a cohesive message. >> lightning round. i want to go to a few questions. with regard to the television series the west wing, how realistic was that? >> one of the funny things about that, the creator of the show had been in washington. he read a script for the movie american president. he asked me if i would read his pilot and consult on the show. all of my friends in washington started calling me. hollywood never gets washing