now, thomas jefferson is seen here in the most famous portrait of him but in addition to that, if you go down to the jefferson memorial, you'll see that jefferson is also portrayed wearing this fur coat. now, it was not just blacks, jews and peasants that kosciuszko stood up for. he also stood up for the native americans when he saw that the founding fathers began murdering them and pushing them west. well, this is chief little turtle who showed up kosciuszko's room with a present. he gave kosciuszko this peace pipe and he said i hear you're this righteous white man who's standing up for everybody. so we wanted to show you that we appreciate this. well, kosciuszko saw that chief little turtle was squinting so he gave him his glasses and chief little turtle put on these glasses and said, my god you gave me new eyes and he gave him pistols these i have fought in defense of the oppressed, the week weak, the wronged of my own race and i'll present them to you with the injunction you shoot dead the first man to subject gait you or despoil of your country. eventually in this room kosciuszko

one person who i always read on a regular basis is thomas jefferson. frankly, a day doesn't go by i don't read something he has written. i will continue to work my way through his letters, in particular, mr. jefferson wrote so much that although i probably spent the last -- my gosh -- 30 years reading through this works i've only made it maybe about halfway through. so i will continue to work on reading thomas jefferson's letters. i always had a particular fascination with history so i will continue to read works by a number of different authors. one i'm working through right now is james mcpherson's book on lincoln's role as commander in chief during the civil war, which i have found particularly relevant to the debate going on today with the outrage by liberal about george w. bush's use of interrogation of these killers at guantanamo, which has saved lives in fact. dropping a cat pillar in a box with a terrorist is not any idea of torture and frank live its a choice of diking a guy's head in water and saving the lives of americans, i would dip the guy

now thomas jefferson is seen here in the most famous portrait of him in addition to that if you go down to the jefferson memorial you will see jefferson is also portrayed wearing this fur coat. now it wasn't just blacks, jews and peasants that kosciuszko stood up for but he also stood up for the native americans when he saw the founding fathers began murdering them and pushing them west. well this is chief little turtle who showed up in kosciuszko's room in philadelphia with a present. a combination tomahawk and peace pipe and he gave kosciuszko this peace pipe and said i hear the your a righteous white man standing up for everybody so we want to show you that we appreciate this. well, kosciuszko saw chief little turtle was squinting so he gave him his glasses and chief little turtle put on the glasses and said my got to have given me new highs. and kosciuszko also gave him his jacket and then he gave to pistols and said these pistols i've carried and used on many hard fought battle fields in defense of the oppressed, the week, the rahm of my own race. i now present them to you with the

-- the same holy koran that one of our founding fathers, thomas jefferson, had in his library. [applause] i have known isislam on three continents. that experience? my conviction that a partnership between america and islam must be based on what it is not what it is not. i consider part of my responsibility as president of the united states to fight against negative stereotypes of islam wherever they appear. [applause] but that same principle must apply to muslim perceptions of america. [applause] just as muslims do not fit a stereotype, america is not the crude stereotype of a self interested empire. the united states has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. we were born out of revolution against an empire. we were founded upon the idea that all are created equal. we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words. within our borders and around the world, we are shaped and drawn from every culture and end from the earth. we are dedicated to a simple concept. out of many, one. much has been made of the fact that

i love writing about thomas jefferson, and he had a very special relationship with meriwether lewis. they were neighbors. lewis' father died when lewis was very young, but he had been a friend of jefferson's. then lewis was jefferson's secretary for two years, living with him in the white house, just the two of them. you know, jack kennedy had that great line, when he had the nobel prize winners for dinner at the white house. he said, "there has never been such a gathering of brains and talent in this house since thomas jefferson dined alone." the only thing wrong with that line is, thomas jefferson never dined alone. he dined with meriwether lewis. c-span: our guest has been stephen ambrose. you can find him at the university of new orleans, and a lot of other places, and this is what his newest book looks like, "d-day, june 6, 1944: the climactic battle of world war ii." we thank you for joining us. >> guest: thanks for having me. stephen ambrose pass delay in 2002. tiananmen number of books including undone encouraging comrades, brothers, fathers, heroes, sons, the house. he was an

thomas jefferson and alexander hamilton and abraham lincoln would compulsively identify. founding fathers debated what america was to become. the possibilities of america. america was founded as an act of separation from the misdemeanors and errors of the miserable old world, it would be a new thing in the world, a place in which you could become an american irrespective of fraud or origin port nation or class, simply by virtue of subscribing to the great democratic ideal of freedom, unless you were black, something that is now at last, that disingenuous hypocrisy has been exercised. there's a sense in which history matters in america. out of the crushing tyranny, the social studies curriculum text book. part ii of our campaign, there are subscription envelops, we all just abolished social studies, we are moving on to abolish a textbook, i hope no one from mcgraw-hill is here, you are out of a job. this sense, past and present, i said, rashly, when obama was beginning campaign, and not doing very well, long before the iowa caucus which you had just seen. the person who wo

[applause] indeed, we can recall the words of thomas jefferson who said, "i hope that our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power, the greater it will be." today america has a huge responsibility to help iraq forge a better future and to lead iraq to iraqis. i made clear to the iraqi people -- [applause] i have made it clear to the iraqi people that we pursue no bases and no claim on their territory or resources. iraq's sovereignty is its own. that is why i ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next august. that is why we will honor our agreement with iraq s democratically elected government to remove troops from iraqi cities by july and to remove all our troops from iraq by 2012. [applause] we will help iraq train its security forces and develop its economy, but we will support a secure and united iraq as a partner and never as a patron. finally, just as america can never tolerate violence, we must never alter or forget our principles. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. the fear and anger that was provoked was understandable, but i

i was reminded of the words of thomas jefferson when he wrote that all men are created equal, and guard in doubt by their creator -- and are in doubt by their creator -- endowed by their creator, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. it is important that the world understands that america is that shining light of liberty and freedom that patrick henry and thomas jefferson spoke about. we support the iranian people. we condemn the violence. >> the time has expired. >> i am pleased to yield two minutes to my good friend from california, the ranking member on the subcommittee of international organizations, of human rights, and oversights. >> i rise in strong support of this resolution which ratchets up to a degree, america's willingness to express its heartfelt support to the iranian people. it has been said you cannot champion the oppressed unless you're willing to take on the oppressor. america should not intervene in every struggle taking place. but we should be on a pot -- unapologetically on the side of those who are in desperate battle for their own freedom. tempered rhetoric

it was a big mistake to tell thomas jefferson, a man you must admire is julius caesar, which hamilton did once, joanne freeman argues he was pulling jefferson's leg and i think he was right, big mistake. thomas jefferson had no humor and he thought the plot is real. this is something, i just got an e-mail from a friend of mine who is considering a political biography of bill. the parallel he came up with, this was fascinating, was frederick douglass. frederick douglass was also a private man, in a voice held office but he was a journalist, an eloquent organizer, and that worker, he was obviously an outsider for obvious reasons. i am eager to see how he worked this out. it is interesting. there are people you can find some resemblance to, we just have -- we can't produce the next one, we'd just have to be sure the opportunities are there and when they knock on the door, the doors will open. >> at the moment that we speak, we have 2 book very much on hand, chris buckley's book has been on the best-seller list for weeks. >> i haven't looked. >> seriously, in each case, we have 2 brillian

i wrote a chapter on the correspondence between abigail adams and thomas jefferson that focused on the way women and men at use language differently. eroded topic of the conversation of abigail and james lovell who was a member of the first continental congress and that chapter focused on gossip because win talk a lot. what this chapter did was rescue that topic of gossip to say it is important and that is how we form communities and no ourselves to be part of a community. i have written 30 years about abigail adams and along came the clinton candidacy and i thought now is the time i should start writing about the marriage and focus on the marriage of "abigail & john" which i did do. of course, history changed in three years and hillary instead became secretary of state. but that was my starting point* for this book. nevertheless when i started i was left with the same challenge that i had faced when i wrote chronologically about abigail, that is how to write a double biography and keep the focus on abigail and not let it move over onto john? the way i did that and decided to do that w

i remember being moved by discovering thomas jefferson in order to the own indignation about the tyrannyrcise by george free used to go to a local library in williamsburg and would read deeply in the debate of the english civil war of the 1640 is that in the up cutting off the head of the king and he imagined him looking at the debates and the discourse is and the string parliamentary debate and think that could happen in the land of tepid tea and early, anything could happen in the american library. [laughter] so, the free library of philadelphia, fantastic ghosts of franklin. and i did want to come to philadelphia partly because one of the programs was called american fervor which is about religion, and it was particularly about a black african american religion. and we had to make a choice between here in the spirit of operation between savannah and philadelphia, and somehow, you know, savannah had won over the cheese steak. don't ask me why i know, lousy taste, i know, exactly right. so this project both book and television, i would be happy to answer questions after about how the wr

thomas jefferson burned his correspondence with his wife. so we don't even know anything about his wife. traces of these women have been lost, but not only did they erase their wives from history, but they erased their own emotions in a way that john adams didn't. he left these documents for historians to work with, and it makes it wonderful, because he was a person who becomes very human if all of his own writings about himself. he was brilliant. he was an amazingly creative man, and it's fun to be around creative people, so that it's fun to read the ideas that he had. and john adams never used -- he was a wonderful writer, he never used two adjectives when he could use 12 and he did use 12. he just had this amazing capacity to invent and play out ideas in just wonderful prose, so that reading him is reading a very fun person. he was courageous. he was courageous in two senses. he was courageous in a intellectual sense, in that he defended the unpopular members, the british soldiers who participated in the boston massacre, with many other l

and so i wrote a chapter on the correspondence between abigail adams and thomas jefferson that focused on the way that women and men who use language differently. i wrote a topic about the correspondence between abigail and james lovell, a member of the first continental congress, and that chapter focused on gossip because women talk a lot and with this chapter did is rescue the topic of gossip and say it is important in our lives. gossip is how we form communities and we know ourselves to be part of the community. anyway, i wrote these -- i've written 30 years about abigail adams and along came the clinton candidacy, and i thought wow, now is the time i should start writing about the marriage and focus on the marriage of abigail and john, which i did do. of course history changed in three years and hillary has become instead secretary of state. but that was my starting point for this book. nevertheless, when i started i was left with the same challenge that i had faced when i wrote chronologically about abigail. that was how to write a double biography and keep the focus on abigail an

i was reminded of the words of thomas jefferson when he wrote that all men are created equal and are denied -- it in doubt by their creator with certain inalienable rights. among those, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that is what we stand for. so it is important that we put this resolution forward and it is important that the world understand that america is indeed that shining light of liberty and freedom that patrick henry and thomas jefferson spoke so eloquently about. we are proud and support the iranian people and we condemn the violence. >> the gentleman from florida. >> pleased to yield two minutes to my good friend from california, the ranking member on the subcommittee on international organizations, human rights, and oversights. >> today i rise in strong support of this resolution which ratchets up to a degree america's willingness to express its heartfelt support for the iranian people and their struggle against the mullah dictatorship that oppresses them. it has been said you cannot championship the oppress unless you are willing to take on the oppressor. am

i mean, it was a big mistake to tell thomas jefferson that the man you most admire is julius caesar which hamilton did as a leg-pull. joann freeman said she was pulling jefferson's leg. big mistake because thomas jefferson nod humor and he thought the plot is revealed. [laughter] >> federalism tipped its hand. i just got an email from a friend of mine, a historian named al felzenberg and he's considering a political biography of bill and the parallel he came up with -- and this was fascinating was frederick douglass. and frederick douglass was also a private man. he never held office. but he was a journalist. he was an eloquent orator. he was an organizer. he was a networker. he was a wire-puller. he was, obviously, an outsider for the obvious reason that he was, you know, a black man in pre-bellum america. i'm excited to see al work this out 'cause i thought, gee, this is interesting. there are people that you can find some resemblances to and we just have to -- you know, we can't produce the next one. we just have to be sure that the opportunities are there and that when they knock on t

thomas jefferson, the man that wrote all men are created equal on slaves. and kosciuszko thought he was a hypocrite. kosciuszko end of serving the rest of the war in the carolinas where he developed the report with slaves and the sovereign states. he brought grippy and the friendship helped him out and kosciuszko was drawn to other continental soldiers were also abolitionists. one of them was colonel lawrence, outspoken opponent of slavery but when he was killed the other men started taking off his clothes and kosciuszko wrote to general green who was the commanding officer that this was mean and low thinking and the two negro's belonging to lawrence r. naked and wash shirts, jackets, breeches and their skin can bear as well as ours good things. kosciuszko was in charge now of south carolina and basically surrounding and putting the stranglehold on charleston. and the way he kept track was going on in charleston was he had black spies of going to charleston and come back and tell which people were loyalists and which people work with the rebels. even shible

as american history, civics and government teachers will probably know that, of course, thomas jefferson and john adams both died within hours of each other on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence. the other interesting back to about that i think is that you could ask how long was jefferson and adams and american citizen? there were no american citizens on july 3rd, 1776 cell mr. jefferson and mr. adams were both citizens for precisely to the day 50 years to the day. well, another one is now we talk about the top five founders in this case which was my interest because i am specifically attractive as an historian without the camera to the 1770 and 79 days' time because that is one of paradigm shifted. that is on the world changed. the other one that changed and died on july 4th was james monroe. he not only died on july 4th, no one talks about poor mr. munro, they just want jefferson and adams -- it is like red meat for the founders. [laughter] so mr. monroe died on the 50th anniversary of the signing. it's almost as if the wheels of their death. then le

a continental nation was the one certain that president thomas jefferson had deemed it optional, whether we remain in one confederacy or form into midlantic and mississippi and in paris are believe not important to the happy the part. the coming of a steamboat in 1807 gave hope for a connectedness but illustrated the lack of it, there were boats on the hudson and mississippi rivers but no to navigation between them. the war of 1812 approved over its three-year course of the u.s. remained a shaky nation, britain burned washington, president james madison escape of course, but separate from his dolly, they also burn buffalo and neighboring black rock. the pioneers of western new york pledge east in terror, there is no different in the state's western flank and effective transportation of arms and supplies. the few roads were so abominable that the federal government spend a staggering $60 million on wartime transport including a dollar a pound for cannonballs the acosta fraction of that to produce. the cost of moving all telerate to the major naval or fan on lake erie was more than double

, -- a latter- day thomas jefferson, he should look at the existing constitution, as almost anyone in the country would ask him to do, use that traditional constitution to ask her magazine to dissolve this parliament so that they can elect a new one? >> mr. speaker, i am grateful for is his 300-your perspective on these issues. it is right that christopher ke lly's committee report -- it is also right that we take further action. it is not right that there emerges a conflict of interest between public interest and the mp's' interest, and that is why it is greater benefit to us. >> joan ryan. >> thank you, mr. speaker. my right honorable friend will be aware of the valiant campaign led by the british war allegiance to of council tax benefit we branded as a rebate, which would increase to take up and with thousands of pensioners out of poverty, including 20,000 veterans. this saturday marks the 65th anniversary of d-day. does my right honorable friend agree with me that this would be an appropriate time to announce such a change so that all pensioners, especially our veterans, who have

and here kosciuszko met thomas jefferson for the first time.thomas jefferson, the man who wrote "all men are created equal" owned slaves and kosciuszko thought he was a hypocrite. kosciuszko ended up serving the rest of the war in the carolinas where he developed a rapport with slaves in the southern states and he brought grippy with him. and it helped to other continental soldiers who were abolitionists. one of they say colonel lawrence who was an outspoken opponent of slavery but when the colonel was killed, the other men started taking off his clothes and kosciuszko wrote to general green who was commanding officer that this was mean and low-thinking. the two negroes belonging to are naked and their skin can bear as well as ours good things. kosciuszko was in charge now of south carolina and basically surrounding and putting a stranglehold on charleston. and the way he kept track of what was going on in charleston was he had black spies that would go into charleston and then come back and tell him which ones -- which people were loyalists an

a continental nation was so uncertain that president thomas jefferson had deemed it optional quote whether we remain in one confederacy or formed into atlantic and mississippi confederacies i believe not very important to the happiness of either part. the coming of the steamboat in 1807 gave hope for a connectedness but illustrated the lack of it. soon there were both on the hudson and mississippi rivers but no true navigation between them. the war of 1812 proved over its sultry three-year course of the united states remain a shaky nation. the british burned washington. president james madison escaped on horseback separated from his dolly. the british also burned buffalo, and neighboring blackrock are the pioneers of western new york fled east in terror. there was no defending the state's western flank by the effective transportation of arms and supplies. the few roads were so abominable that the federal government spent a site staggering $60 million on wartime transport including a dollar a pound for cannonballs that cost a fraction of that to produce. the cost of moving artillery from al

so i'll continue to work on reading thomas jefferson's letters.'ve always had a particular fascination with history so i'll continue to read works by a number of different authors, one i'm working through right now is james mcpherson's book on lincoln's role as commander in chief during the civil war, which i have found particularly relevant to the debate going on today with the outrage by liberals about george w. bush's use of interrogation of these killers at guantanamo, which has saved lives in fact, dropping a caterpillar in a box with a terrorist is no idea of torture and frankly if it's a choice between dipping the guy's head in water or saving thousands of americans i would assume dip his head in war. if you hear what lincoln did during the civil war lincoln as commander in chief as james mcpherson points out exercised incredible power in his authority as commander in chief, which is what frankly george bush has done. president bush just as abraham lincoln did, took his role as commander in chief very seriously. and used the very broad gran

but john left the capital city before the inauguration of thomas jefferson. he left at six in the morning, at daybreak, and didn't stay for the inoculation of jefferson. he was so hurt. not only by losing office, but his son, his second son had just died. his son died the day -- he learned that his son died the same day that he learned that jefferson won the presidency. he was not a happy camper that day so he didn't stick around. other questions?

something that i believe would lead as the republican leader, john boehner, said earlier today, thomas jefferson would be spinning in his grave. it would leave james madison to be horrified. the notion of casting aside democracy and debate because we have to maintain our schedules. and i will say again on this scheduling notion, madam speaker, last week, rather than 127 amendments i believe we would have had 30 amendments. and before we had gotten to consideration of the legislative branch bill i'm sure that hours and hours and hours ahead of that we would have been completed with the work of the commerce justice, science appropriations bill. i urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to stand up for the rights of democratic members of this institution who are being denied this, reject this rule, let's come back with what has been the case for 220 years under both politicalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

what jefferson did was first of all, wrote a letter to thomas paine who had written a book about the french revolution, extolling the french revolution and jefferson's letter of sympathy for thomas paine got appended to the introduction of that book when it was published in america, and everyone knew it was the criticism of that dems. the person who really knew it was the criticism of adams was adams said that made him very angry, this man of great passion. and then, jefferson did write a couple of letters that got published in this-- in the journals of the time which were critical of adams and adam saw that as a betrayal. and, he did things that we expect politicians to do in our age, but which we don't think our founding fathers and mothers engaged in that kind of politics. the second component to your question was, what was abigail's role? in campaigning for the presidency. abigail was not happy that john either took the vice presidency or the presidency but like everything else she went along with it because he had a duty to serve and she had a duty to serve as well. so it was tha

i have a great deal of respect for thomas jefferson, who i think would be rolling over in his grave if he saw what was happening today. one of the things that i notice this one was tom's reaction, with his final statements, good luck. i also have a master's in economics. guest: i wish you good luck at this point. we will see what comes out of the health-care plan. when you start having the government take care of everybody with a problem, these are not simple solutions, we just continue to borrow money. it is an inefficient way of doing things number one. i think i am progress of in my views as well. i the government as a very tough business. i don't know that you can call on washington to solve this. she will be eligible for medicare in three years. at that point, she can probably get some of will -- some relief on these issues. she wanted to retire at 62. i am not sure government can guarantee that people can just retire at 62, or that we should be doing those kind of things. >> let me conclude with one final point from mike murphy. he says that saving the gop is not about the liftin

including in the declaration of independence, and the litany of grievances, is the assertion, when thomas jefferson wrote about the complaints, he said that the king had made all judges depending on his will, for their offices. that was a complaint, one thing that we objected to. in the way that he was handling the people in the colonies. this was part of the declaration. in order to shield the courts from the threat of political pressure or retribution, article 3 grants a lifetime appointment. the only federal office in america, we have to answer to the public. this also prohibits congress from diminishing judicial payment, or removing judges during times of good behavior. we cannot remove a judge. hamilton says this is one of the most valuable improvements in the practice of government, and he said that this was -- he saw this as the best step available to secure an impartial administration of a law. he was hoping that the courts, set apart from the shifting tide of public opinion, would be faithful guardians of the constitution, to change against -- to defend against dangerous innovations of gov

let's look at the job of a vice-president -- is heat harry truman, al gore, thomas jefferson? i think not. i think that joe biden needs to think before he speaks. if he needs to run, what he will say through the president's office, but so he does not have to -- so that president obama does not have to say it oh, my gosh, what did joe biden say? he needs to be that if something were to happen to president obama, he needs to step in immediately. whether we like it or not, he needs to be seen as a credible man -- and he is not. he needs to be seen as a person who is helping the white house when he speaks -- and he is not. i know that during the campaign there was a lot of ridicule of governor sarah palin -- well, having this person as vice president, they should be ready to become president. when i compare governor sarah palin to vice president joe biden -- i do not think he is a much better -- he is not harry truman or roosevelt. host: let me get you to respond to what this historian, robert writes. "despite his reputation for occasional gaffes, he has been an effective point ma

for decades washington, george washington and thomas jefferson who owned land in the ohio river valley, speculate as a plant had desperately tried to find a way to get to the potomac river, to improve the potomac river and get it to go over the mountains and off to the other side and then to tributaries. but the potomac, unfortunately, was not up to the task. not the way new york's mohawk river makes a relatively easy pass through a break in the appalachian mountain chain. and interestingly in 1817 just before new york decided to go ahead with the canal a bill goes through to create the bonus which would have provided federal money for state infrastructure projects. and james madison on his last day in office. congress had been working toward this bill thinking that madison wanted this kind of thing because he had spoken about it in and inaugural address the previous year. madison vetoes the bill on his last day in office. arguably, he says, on constitutional grounds. the federal government has no business using the federal treasury to support state projects. obviously things have chan

i would like to talk to john adams and thomas jefferson and ask, did you really think it would happen? because they did not. they thought there was a good chance that they would all behanged and they made jokes about the one guy who signed the declaration of independence who was very heavy. they said he was lucky to be so fat. those are the ones i would like to talk to, and also of course, abraham lincoln and franklin roosevelt who had a remarkable sense of pols.

nation under god was unconstitutional, grounds for my thought we should abolish the court and -- thomas jefferson eliminated 18 out of 35 federal judges, over one half of all federal judges. i am merely proposing one court of appeals. i am a moderate on this issue. [applause] >> but the core of this is a very historic straightforward debate. it's not a theological debate, it's not a religious debate despite every effort of the elite media and every effort of the left to distort it. it's a fundamental debate of history. if you go to the national archives you will find the declaration of independence, a political document. it says, "we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights which among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." it is fundamental to the nature of americans. we are the only country in history which says "your personal rights come from god directly to you, and you loan the government sovereignty. but the center of sovereignty in america is inevitably and inex otherrably with the citizen because it is@@@@@@@@ [applause] that is why " is the are wrong and

one person who i always read on a regular basis is my hero, thomas jefferson's writings. nodded day goes by that i haven't read something that he has written, continuing to work my way through his letters in particular. mr. jefferson wrote so much that although i have spent the last almost 30 years reading through his works, i only made it may be halfway through. i will continue to work on reading, stephenson's letters. i always had a particular fascination with history so i will continue to read birks by a number of different authors, one of them i am working through right now is james mcpherson's bullet on lincoln's role as commander-in-chiefook on lincol commander-in-chief during the civil war. the outrage by liberals about george w. bush's interrogation of these killers in guantanamo which has saved lives, dropping a caterpillar and a box with a terrorist is not my idea of torture. the choice between giving a guy's head in water and saving thousands of americans, i would it is head and water. if you read about what clinton did during a civil war, lincoln as commander-

thomas jefferson observed that, quote, the only security of all is in a free press. the agitation it produces must be submitted to, it is necessary to keep the waters pure, unquote. were he alive today, jefferson would not take too kindly to liable tourists. the subject of h.r. 276 5 -- 2765. oh, it seems true that some u.s. media more recently have become fan clubs rather than objective pursuers of truth, there's still some very dedicated journalists in the united states who should be free from harassment from inappropriate liable suits in overseas courts. in the wake of 9/11, the american media have been -- become increasingly alarmed over a phenomenal called liable tourism. the term refers to a subject of critical -- of a critical news story suing an american author or reporter of an article, story or book for defamation in a, quote, plaintiff-friendly, unquote, overseas or foreign forum. these suits are filed mostly in great britain as its liable and slander laws provide journalists with less protection than those under the u.s. system that honors a first amendme

ways to deal with differences not only of opinion but a principle, to make a distinction that thomas jefferson made in his first inaugural. so, i think what is incumbent on all of us is to try to argue about these things with civility and a measure of grace and hope that we can translate come as you say, translate the wisdom of the founders into our own day. host: our guest is editor of open "newsweek" and also sold a reflex on history often. he is the author of books including "american lion, " "american gospel," and "franklin and winston." "american lion" recently won the 2010 pulitzer prize for biography. since we mentioned your historical writings, looking back at past presidents, does it help influence you've as you look at, for example, president obama and his work. does it help you put it in political perspectives as events unfold? guest: it does -- trying to underhand -- understand history, is at once a liberating and pressing if you do what i do for a living. it is liberating because you realize that we have faced enormous seemingly intractable crises before and we have overcome them

i would like to talk to john adams and thomas jefferson and ask, did you really think it would happen? because they did not. they thought there was a good chance that they would all behanged and they made jokes about the one guy who signed the declaration of independence who was very heavy. they said he was lucky to be so fat. those are the ones i would like to talk to, and also of course, abraham lincoln and franklin roosevelt who had a remarkable sense of politics. host: what would you ask them? guest: where would you start? with roosevelt -- you know, how did you have the political field to know you could not move and do it all at once? franklin roosevelt understood that america was not really ready to go to war. he took its step-by-step into the second world war. when did you sense it was the right moment? just the politics of it. i would like to talk with him about some of the stories, these great political stores. lyndon johnson, you know. the stories about lyndon johnson are just remarkable. it is like something mark twain would read. those are the kinds of t thingsi would like

indeed, my favorite joke is we have been over lawyers since thomas jefferson. we do need teachers. you are going. but first let me explore a little bit more about this campaign. i was intrigued to. i have always felt that judges can hardly prove to themselves entirely of there political instincts. their souls. i wish you would talk about this advice. apparently the only real adviser of the than the students. >> right. >> wow, i don't know that i should use his name. >> i'm not asking his name. >> you know, the judges carbide's the elected. there are political animals. he has been involved deeply with the democratic party. of course had to step away from that one to become a jet. i know he kept his eye on that. his wife was of middle school teacher. of course he had heard about me. he wanted to meet with me to see how. he said he needed to let me in the eye to see if i really was willing to take on what it was going to muster out of myself and if i was prepared for that. and so he was really trying to assure me up and see what i was made of, i suppose. but he was just really a great

it is the basic views of thomas jefferson and ben franklin who called for us to give decent respect to the opinions of mankind. and most importantly, it is necessary and unavoidable that we be able to understand and manage the relationship between our law and other law." mr. president, those aren't the words of an ideologue. they aren't the words of a radical. it is the broad perspective of a deeply knowledgeable and pragmatic and committed advocate for our nation's interests. it reflects how we represent our interests. it reflects our real challenge, which is how we best use international law and institutions to advance national security interest and promote our core values. that is exactly what dean koh has spent his career working on and is one of the world's leading experts on international law. there is nobody better qualified to meet this challenge. yesterday my colleague from texas suggested that dean koh somehow created a moral equivalence between the united states and iran's brutal and deadly crackdown after the recent election. this is what our colleague said "koh appears to

because the only reason, the only reason thomas jefferson and the boys gave the media constitutional protections with no checks and balances is because they were supposed to keep an eye on a very powerful government to protect all of us and that gets back to my early point, that is why liberals and democrats should care as much as anybody in this room tonight. but if nobody trusts the media and remember that you research statistics i gave you -- 90 percent of republicans don't believe the media played here this time and 62 percent of democrats and independents don't think they played for either, so what happens when the media watchdog parks? nobody is going to pay attention and then we are all in trouble and when i say all i want you to understand what i mean -- i mean all, i mean democrats as well as republicans, liberals as well as conservatives. let me read if i might, the very end of my book about the in -- about this very point. the grim reaper is knocking on the mainstream media store and they remain gloriously oblivious. they have reached a tipping point but refuse to believe

you know, thomas jefferson said the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. and that's what we're seeing in this bill. the dramatic gains of the government's right to control your life in this bill are just extraordinary. and i do want to make a couple of quick points, i think we have about seven or eight minutes left. for one thing, mr. conaway mentioned earlier that it will likely cost the average family across america an extra $3,300 and i know there will be some people out there who have seen some in the mainstream media say, oh, well, we saw where that guy from m.i.t. said that it won't cost that much. it may be $300 or $500 or $6 hub but it won't be $3 -- 6 -- $600 but it won't be $3,100. they didn't check to see why it was that they're saying it won't cost over $3,000. and from what i've read, apparently they're saying it won't cost over $3,000 because even though the average family will pay more than $3,000 additionally because of this bill, they're saying, what you'll get back from the government in the way of services and benefits wi