tom? suffer no more because carter easter houseen is swinging his way into one of the most impressive cribs. this place is nuts. watch. >> a mansion of massive proportions. 14 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms spread out over 19,000 square feet. he is giving us a tour of the incredible bridge hampton home known as the sand cass. right now we're in the foyer which is about 100 square feet. the gorgeous chandelier. and it comes down so they can clean it. >> again, you can see how expansive this space is. tall furniture, high end. >> it's surprisingly cozy even with all the uber-expensive decor. >> you can see the floor right away. now, this was flown in from italy. it's all hand-crafted. all custom-made. the closet is a whopping 1,000 square feet. >> all custom-made cabinetry. >> it's almost like a library. >> they found enough to cover the bathroom, too. >> all of the flooring in here is onyx. and all the onyx in here is about $150,000 to $200,000. this is the finest marble. >> another impressive room in the house featured on hgtv is all about having fun. >> they have two bowling lanes. you have a whol

there was a nieman fellow up there named tom karsell, who came from hodding carter's paper in greenville, mississippi. and you have to understand, in the south in those days, there were a number of papers which became, in effect, like an oasis. and there was only a handful. we now should not glorify american journalism and southern journalism by thinking of all these wonderful, feisty independent newspapers. most of them operated along the line of the prevailing values. tom was a nieman, as john was later, and one day he hired me. he was going to be the new editor of a new liberal paper in jackson, mississippi, the state times. so i graduated. i wanted to do an apprenticeship. and i thought if you were going to do an apprenticeship, why not do it in the south and why not in mississippi, which was the most contested, most recalcitrant state? and i got down there, and he was not the editor of the new liberal state times. he was the assistant to the editor, to the famously racist fred sullens, editor of the famously, viciously racist jackson daily news. so i had come 1,100, 1,200 miles and

you cannot understand jimmy carter unless you read a book on that. tom dufrank's work on ford was essential spirit but was there an agreement it would not be published until he was dead? >> kennedy and johnson, richard reeves on kennedy. >> another one i saw was monica crowley. explain why she would be interesting. >> she was richard nixon cox and research assistants in the final years of his life. she has written two books about her time with richard nixon. who did richard nixon's research assistant in the final years of his life. some of them were dictated on the same days. not everyone who was around nixon believes he possibly could have said all those things, but we tried to quote monica where she was arguing against nixon's pinterest -- interest. we felt so dependent upon other historians to understand that we felt that footwork it -- footnoting the work was not enough. there is the canon about reagan. we may have gone overboard, but we wanted to give credit where credit was due. >> who did you rely on for harry truman? >> there is a great biography

carter to the a.e.i. [applause] >> thank you, tom, for that introduction. and i didn't see the thing in politico. i don't know -- i do appreciate the introduction. i appreciate the opportunity to be here. at a.e.i. it was almost exactly a year ago today that my former boss, secretary gates, spoke to you on the eve of his departure as secretary of defense. in looking back on his tenure as secretary, he chose to highlight two major themes. the first was his effort to turn the tide in iraq and afghanistan. he spoke to you about his laser-like focus on delivering urgent battlefield needs to the war fighter in iraq and afghanistan. when secretary gates first hired me in 2009, he told me that the country's at war, ash, but the pentagon is not. my job, he explained, was to help him get the pentagon on to war footing, especially in the part acquisition technology and logistics part i was about to take over. that has been my focus as well as his, under his leadership we set up a fast lane to get urgent requirements on to the battlefield unhindered by the bureaucracy. we needed better persistent i.s.r., he

carter to the a.e.i. [applause] >> thank you, tom, for that introduction. and i didn't see the thing in politico. i don't know -- i do appreciate the introduction. i appreciate the opportunity to be here. at a.e.i. it was almost exactly a year ago today that my former boss, secretary gates, spoke to you on the eve of his departure as secretary of defense. in looking back on his tenure as secretary, he chose to highlight two major themes. the first was his effort to turn the tide in iraq and afghanistan. he spoke to you about his laser-like focus on delivering urgent battlefield needs to the war fighter in iraq and afghanistan. when secretary gates first hired me in 2009, he told me that the country's at war, ash, but the pentagon is not. my job, he explained, was to help him get the pentagon on to war footing, especially in the part acquisition technology and logistics part i was about to take over. that has been my focus as well as his, under his leadership we set up a fast lane to get urgent requirements on to the battlefield unhindered by the bureaucracy. we needed better persistent i.s.r., he

tom. >> hi. just a couple of quick comments one it is amazing that romney could make a nasty mark about jimmy carterush giving iraq and afghanistan universal healthcare in their constitutions. >> yeah. >> and the third thing everybody blames obama for the gas prices and bush had a reporter tell him that gas prices were going up to $4 a gallon at a news conference. >> yeah. we were talking about the tepid endorsements of romney. also they were saying mittens apparently not inspiring the fear he needs to. of course people are unafraid. romney is like a freshman knocking 6th graders off of the hill. here is another endorsement, ready? former governor pitacki. it's hard for economic conservatives and families like mine to connect with him. he is struggling with latinos -- >> but other than that. >> he is not a strong swimmer. >> he is not a strong candidate. >> hi, carol. >> hi, i'll try to be succinct. first of all about osama bin laden, he was saudy, and we have to remember that the saudys were the ones that backed bush. >> uh-huh. >> and the other thing is isn't it funny how bush looks a little bit l