tom brokaw, this christmas day plot, this was the 3:00 a.m.that hillary clinton talked about in the campaign. >> i think they have been more responsive. it demonstrates the vulnerability of great powers like the united states against an enemy that really is very nimble, cunning, and suicidal. and for all of the technology that we have in the world, all of the coordination that goes on with security apparatus in europe and the rest of the world one piece is not in place, somebody can slip through and have a devastating effect as that bomber might have had on that northwest flight that day. the administration certainly has now been responding in a much more robust fashion since then. >> we don't do a lot, david brooks, to celebrate successes in our security wall but the breaches get huge attention. how does the administration do? >> not so well but the country didn't do so well. we have people after the fact they are brilliant at diagnosing. we seem to be in a position where like teenagers we expect perfection of our parents but then throw a tan

media and many remember the controversy over american flag lapel pins not only on this network, tom brokawn nbc had to defend himself not wearing the american flag pin and got to be incredibly silly. the job of the press, yes, is to sing the praises of america when america does well, but it's also to question authority and to the extent that it gets on the rah, rah band wagon it's not fulfilling its obligation. >> jon: let's talk about 2003, space shuttle columbia breaks apart on reentry, killing everyone aboard and scattering debris across texas and louisiana. and elizabeth smart found in utah, abducted from her bedroom. martha stewart, jail was in her future. and california elected arnold schwarzenegger as governor. and the story of the year, shock and awe as president bush declares war on iraq. jim, your thoughts about that, you know, momentous-- >> again, just to make that list is a reminder how much the media can get lost on stories and frankly aren't that important. elizabeth smart was a tragedy to her father and some americans, but iraq war was more on that and the media picked up o

maybe tom brokaw should have said that. no one has ever taken on the media as far as i'm concerned.i'm not a member of the media, and if i work for cnn i doubt i would've written about cnn. i wrote about everyone. from the l.a. times writing an article that said, headline that said stars flock to see sarah palin. i opened up the l.a. times and i saw who went to see sarah palin? there was a jon voight and two others i did know. three people in an l.a. times article. and the headline is stars flock to see sarah palin. when is three people a flaw? that's misleading, the headline itself to i don't write about the stuff that fox news had that much because it's kind of easy to do. sean hannity is not a hard target. let's be honest that i would love to go on his show and talk to him, so that was my self-publishing process that was very fun. i would say if there's anyone out there who wants to self publish, just be ready to do a lot of work because i've gained a lot of respect for publishers. if you can find any mistakes in my book, please let me know. it was probably six or seven editing p

came from, what we do and what we don't do and i think that is what was tapped in the american of tom brokaw's america the greatest generation and he talks about considering it not the first battle of the cold war but the last battle, last year battle of world war ii. but so in the and if i represent the american people in my heart, these are the people i want to be. >> is a marvelous story and we've just scratched the surface tonight. but i think we have time for questions and what we would like to ask you to do is if you would come to the come is there a microphone on this site? , here and queue up as the british say. i'm sure richard would be happy to take your questions. >> [inaudible] as i was listening to the reading of the book i realized how much of a hero truman, again, was for doing the right thing. of the three presidents, let's just let's not include ford just for the spirit of the three presidents you have written about -- >> four -- >> let's exclude -- sprick i meant kennedy, nixon, riggins -- >> of kennedy, nixon and reagan could either of them have done what truman did? would e

we don't do and they think that that was the way, that was what was tapped in the the america, tom brokaw'smerica, the greatest generation. he talks about considering it not the first battle of the cold war but the last air battle of world war ii. but, so in the end if i am representing the american people, in my heart these are the people i want to to be. >> it is a marvelous story and we have just scratched the surface with it tonight. but, i think we have time for questions and what we would like to ask you to do is if you would come to the microphone on the side, come here and queue up as the british say. i am sure richard would be happy to take your questions. >> as i was listening to you in reading a little bit of the book i realized how much of a hero truman again was for doing the right thing. of the three presidents, let's not include ford just for this, of the three presidents you have written about-- >> for. i meant kennedy, nixon-- >> kennedy nixonland reagan could either of them have done what truman did? with either of them have had the will to overcome the opposition of their