i spent a lot of time with the likes of olympia snowe, tom daschle, trent lott, and it's amazing trentwould be considered a centrist. they wouldn't think he's conservative enough. what's happened in congress, things have gotten so polarized at this point seeing the likes of olympia snowe say i'm leaving. we saw that from a democrat from indiana that left congress. what's going on on capitol hill bipartisan is not a bad word, it's a good word. what's a bad word is punting and that's what you see from the leaders on capitol hill. keep punting the ball down. we'll deal with it later. and that's where we stand right now, ali. >> mark, norm, will, great to have a great conversation with all three of you. thanks so much. >> thanks. >> coming up next, intense partisanship and the my way or highway ideology in congress has left one of its strongest serving senators so frustrated she decided not to seek another term as promised, olympia snowe when we return. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing th

well, let's hear what trent lott who had voted with the president on the house judiciary committee, what he -- how he reacts to the transcript of the conversation we were just listening to, what became known as the smoking gun conversation. >> i remember, you know, i got a call, i'll never forget now, from a mississippian working at the white house. i was in destin, florida, on vacation with my family. he said, there's something i think you should read. and i think he may have even described it as -- as the smoking gun. and so i flew back in. he met me at the baltimore airport, only way i could get in late at night. and i actually read it by car light on the way back to washington. it's obvious to me now at that point that, you know, one article of impeachment for obstruction of just was going to be -- of justice was going to be unavoidable. >> so when the smoking gun transcript is released to the public on august 5, 1974, the last line of defense for the president crumbles. and the leadership, the republican leadership in the house and the senate come to the president and say to the pre

when i was negotiating with trent lott and working for bill clinton on the final version of the welfare reform bill, trent said i want an absolute lead guarantee, cinch guarantee that the health and human services administration cannot redefine the word work to include sleeping late or going to school or going to a truck driver school from the back of a match book, and we wrote language that was air tight about that. now obama's administration is totally disregarding the statute. no question it will be thrown out by the courts, but it will take a while, and they are defining work as including study or training. in the past they've even defined bed rest, training to become a hula dancer as work. it completely guts the purpose of the law. >> yeah. you've got to state the purpose was basically the federal government told the states listen, you've gotta keep track of anybody getting well far money to -- welfare money to see that they're actively trying to find work, or they get cut off, and now it seems -- >> no, it's not that. you have to keep track of them. they actually have to be doing

. >> trent lott's remark s set of a fire storm. >>> then led to his resignation as senate majority leader>>> and -- >> more than 15 million phoned in to choose 20-year-old kelly clarkson. >> american idol's first season took the nation by storm. ♪ a moment like this >> was it 2001, 2002 or 2003? we'll be right back with the answer. >>> now, we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. this week the pentagon released the names of 11 service members killed in afghanistan. >>> what year was it? when did congress authorize the use of force in iraq and was kelly clarkson crowned the first american idol? ten years ago. 2002. that's all for us today. thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "world news" with david muir tonight. george stephanopoulos will see you back here next week.

i suggested that the only way we know the president would be truly of trent lott than an average would be to pick him or her randomly come only from the subset who show no interest in the job. [laughter] interestingly, i look at that and i think that is kind of absurd. all right, only a few weeks ago, you have mitt romney, who went out into the world and he was in vegas. he was with donald trump. and he said they businessmen looked at me and i think it was a pretty good idea. let's consider for a moment. we have certain requirements, eligibility requirements. certainly age, nation of birth, citizenship. but this businessman businessmen said we should have a provision in the constitution -- we should add one a provision that all should have been required to have at least three years of experience. and i looked at him and i thought, that is kind of crazy, but kind of great too. mitt romney is starting to reduce the number of people eligible. why not? of course, it would also make ineligible many great presidents we have had. he also said that the executives that he might forgo a salary a

. >> trent lott's remarks set off a firestorm. >> he apologized on four different occasions. >> then to his resignation as senate majority leader. >>> and -- >> more than 15 million phoned in to choose 20-year-old kelly clarkson. >> "american idol's" first season took the nation by storm. ♪ a moment like this >> was it 2001, 2002 or 2003? we'll be right back with the answer. >>> now, we honor our fellow americans who serve and sacrifice. this week, the pentagon released the names of 11 service members killed in afghanistan. >>> and what year was it? when did congress authorize the use of force in iraq and when was kelly clarkson crowned the first american idol? ten years ago. 2002. >>> that's all for us today. thanks for sharing part of your sunday with us. check out "world news" with david muir tonight. george stephanopoulos will see you back here next week. >>> developing news. a pit bull attacks a 2-year-old boy. >>> thousands of runners race through the streets of san francisco for the annual marathonthon. >> starting off cloudy, a warm-up is on the way, -- especially midweek. i'

i spent a lot of time with the likes of olympia snow, tom dach -- tom daschle and trent lott. what is happening is congress is so polarized at this point. you're seeing olympia snow say enough is enough. i'm leaving. we saw that with evan bayh. a democrat from indiana. he left congress. what is going on is bipartisanship is not a bad word. it's actually a very good word. what is a bad word is punting. that's what you see from leaders on capitol hill. keep punting the ball down. we'll deal with it later. that's where we stand now. >> mark, will, norm, great to have a conversation with all three of you. thanks so much. coming up next, partisanship and the may way or the highway ideology in congress has left one of its strongest serving senators so frustrated, she's decided not to seek another term. as promised, olympia snow when we return. [ male announcer ] count the number of buttons in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts. the simplicity of a tablet has come to your car. ♪