. >> jeff johnson, trent lott comparesons all over the place.hey fair? you heard tara give one a minute ago. >> let's be clear. i think this is where we start trying to make race a partisan issue, and i think we need to be able to assess each statement within the context that it is. i listen to the rnc chairman, and i think what's interesting is i would question if any republican -- i'm not a democrat here. but i question if any republican who made a racist remark has the legislative record in working with african-americans and for african-americans that harry reid has. while i don't condone the comments, i think they're inappropriate and should have been held accountable. as somebody that worked with the naacp i know that harry reid has worked to fight for issues that affect african-americans and not one or two but a plet ra hora o issues. >> so have a lot of republicans. >> i'm going to interrupt since you didn't let me talk before. i think what roland said is a bigger and more important a point of the fact that at least this gets black people

in the first place when trent lott had a somewhat similar situation, i saw no democrats jumping out there and condemning senator lott. i know senator lott. i happen to be very fond of him. he made a mistake. there was no question about that. he apologized for it. i know of no statement by any democratic senator criticizing senator lott. >> schieffer: congressman hoekstra you of course are a republican. when your party chairman says that, already some people are saying he probably should have just kept his mouth shut and let this play out because when you step in front of someone who is sort of in front of a firing squad that can be a tactical mistake. what do you think? >> i think clearly this will be an issue that the democrats are going to have to deal with internally as to whether these kinds of statements... they believe these kinds of statements are appropriate from their leader in the senate. then it becomes a personal issue for senator reed. does he believe that with this on his record he should still maintain his position as a leader in the senate. it is a democrat issue. it is a

>> there was huge pressure from president bush for trent lott to step down.s an apparent, maybe inadvertent commendation of senator thurmond activities in the '50s and '60s where he was a staunch opponent of civil rights legislation. that's a totally different context. harry reid made a misstatement. he owned up to it and apologized. i think he is mortified by the. stay he's made. i don't think he should step down. i think he is a valuable member of the senate and someone who will continue to lead. >> chris: all right. let's go back to the reason we invited you here, which is national security. let's go through the main reforms that the president imposed this week and is planning to implement. prioritize threat, beef up intelligence on yemen, review the visa and watch list system and enhance screening at airports. senator kyl, are you satisfied that this is the right response and sufficient to keep the country safe? >> it's part of the right response but you will see review, report, enhance and pursue. what is really needed is a renewed sense of urgency on de

there has to be a consequence here if the standard is the one that was set in 2002 with trent lott. >> is the consequence that senator reid should step down? >> i believe it is. whether he steps down today or i retire him in november either way he will not be the leader in 2011. >> governor kaine. >> well, first, the senator said i mean, chairman steel said earlier that the republicans were not going to win it back so leader reid is going to be the leader. anybody looking at trent lott's statements praising somebody who had been a pro segregation candidate for president will see that there is no comparison between those comments and those of senator reed's. the senator did make comments that were wrong and he apologized but made them in the context of promoting the candidacy of senator obama. >> you don't think he should resign. >> absolutely not. >> let me move on to the politics of the country and the mood of the country. chairman steale how is the mood around the country. >> the mood of the country is sour. people are angry, frustrated, scared. i think you see and have seen certain

trent lott has this thing on your wall in which he said, "now back in power," as in number two man inthe senate in which he id, "if they only knew." what did he mean? >> well, it's that there are people here -- trent lott, number of very fine republicans, colleagues as well that really want to make the institution work and find ways to try to work together -- i've tried that in the united states senate, i'm trying it now, i'm very fortunate to have a good colleague, senator incee is our chairman, we're hoping to get things done -- we'll be down just below the surface but we'll be getting things done and i think that's the way it will be. we'll be up at the top, too, to sound off, but in the meantime, hopefully, we'll get some things done. >> i'm still always fascinated by the rich and the powerful in the criminal situation because it's always different for them than it is for an ordinary person and there is that kind of a story in this based on a real story. >> charlie: that is fascinating for you, the notion of the rich and powerful getting their comeuppance especially when they've c

trent lott resigns as senate republican leader after praising retiring senator strom thurmon, but theop story of the year, the war on terror continued and u.s. and afghan troops continued the largest ground assault in the u.s. led military campaign since the war began in october of 2001. what did you think of the press coverage as the war began there? >> i think that the afghanistan war back then was very popular to cover. i think that was, as cal indicated, that's when the country was really united behind among other people president bush. we remember president bush's pitch in the yankees world series 2001, but that halo of goodwill ga goodwill carried over to 2002. >> jon: cal, your take there? >> well, i think that the unity was good and we all celebrated including the media and many remember the controversy over american flag lapel pins not only on this network, tom brokaw on 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 autho

look, when trent lott was in a similar situation back in 2002, he let this play out too long, and hen't quell it, he didn't cut it off. they felt by getting the president involved so quickly, i don't take any offense and i know what's in harry reid's heart, they think they can end it. part of the reason they want to move quickly as well, harry reid is sort of the mvp for barack obama in terms of trying to push health care through. they need him there. when you look at the senate picture and how much trouble harry reid is in, you add that to chris dodd this week, saying he's going to retire. democrats barely have a 60-seat majority right now, are barely getting health care and other things through, if someone like harry reid loses re-election at the end of this year, obviously his 60 seat majority good-bye, in getting the presidential agenda through in the days ahead is going to be that much harder. >> how would you say that's going to affect that. how much power does he have to push the obama agenda. >> i think people close to the white house are hoping this will be over after a few

has got the backing of the white house thinks that this is a much different situation than trent lott faced when he was ousted as majority leader because in part he dealt with what an adviser said was a very quick and forth right way. >> you mentioned health care which has certainly dominated the headlines in the fall and early winter and the attempted terror attack. but where do things stand right now? the senate approved, the house has aversion, what's the hold-up in the two sides reconciling. >> reporter: a lot comes down to taxes, who's going to get taxed and how much. there's competing priorities, the notion of a government plan, a public option that most believe will not be part of the final bill. so it's working through those very difficult issues in an accelerated way. the white house has really put the pressure on to get this done very quickly so they can get it before the state of the union. that's still the plan. >> i know some governors are not happy about what this plan means for them. one of them is governor schwarzenegger of california. you sat down with him for the pro

so, for example trent lott, the former senator from mississippi made sure that he retired from the senates seat in midterm in order to make sure that he only had a one-year ban on lobbying his colleagues ready or than a two-year ban that was about to kick in had he resigned a few weeks later. and now he's part of a lobbying firm, and he goes and lobbies his colleagues all the time. the key element of the inside game to make it work is two things. number one is direct access to the decision maker the senator representative or her senior staff, and second is some sort of relationship to the district or state that the person's from. now, the latter isn't always required, but it's very, very helpful. so, for example if you're the president of ford motor company it's relatively easy for you to go talk to one of the senators from michigan. ford's headquartered in michigan, it's easier to talk to the senators. say they wanted some tax break that's how they would make it happen. gesundheit. and so those are the things that make the inside game work well. for the outside game, it really relies on

for example, trent lott, the former senator from mississippi, make sure that he retired from the senatee actually resigned midterm -- in order to make sure that he only had a one-year ban on lobbying congress rather than dtw-year ban that was going to kick in. -- that two-year ban that was going to kick in. the key element of the inside game, to make it work, are two things. direct access to the decision maker -- the senator, representative, or the senior staff. and second, some sort of relationship to the district or state that the person is from. the latter is not always required but it is very helpful. for example, if you're the president of ford motor co., it is relatively easy for you to go talk to one of the senators from michigan. ford is headquartered in michigan did it easy to talk to senators to say that they want some tax break. that is the way to make it happen. and so those are the things that make the inside game work well. for the outside game, it really relies on using tools of public persuasion. it works best for macro, big picture issues. a good example is that of the

so, for example, trent lott, the former senator from mississippi, made sure that he retired from the senate, he actually resigned his seat in midterm in order to make sure that he only had a one-year ban on lobbying his colleagues ready or than a two-year ban that was about to kick in had he resigned a few weeks later. and now he's part of a lobbying firm, and he goes and lobbies his colleagues all the time. the key element of the inside game to make it work is two things. number one is direct access to the decision maker, the senator, representative or her senior staff, and second is some sort of relationship to the district or state that the person's from. now, the latter isn't always required, but it's very, very helpful. so, for example, if you're the president of ford motor company, it's relatively easy for you to go talk to one of the senators from michigan. ford's headquartered in michigan, it's easier to talk to the senators. say they wanted some tax break, that's how they would make it happen. gesundheit. and so those are the things that make the inside game work well. for t

republican calls for him to step down or ascertificating there is double-standard here vis-a-vis the trent lott situation? >> i mean, i think you need to go back and, i think it is helpful to go back see what was said in the previous instance. i don't, i don't, i appreciate that some are drawing a direct analogy. i don't understand exactly how one draws the analogy to, a former majority leader expressing his support for the defeat of harry truman in 1948 so that strom thurmond would be president running on a states rights ticket. i don't see how that is analogous to what senator reid was saying. i think, i mean i understand what people have to say on tv or to get themselves on tv i would suggest they spend about 20 seconds reading a little history and figuring out that, to draw that analogy strains, any intellectual enterprise or, any real reality in all sense of the word. >> on politics there are indications that massachusetts senate race is tightening up. dnc sent a top staffer there today. does the president have any intention to travel to massachusetts to campaign for martha coakley. >> the