george w bush and the invasion of iraq. so the book was published to coincide with the anniversary of the war. but you've been working on this book a quite a while. you seemed reluctant, as you stated in your preface, to take on this project to begin with. why? well, i was reluctant for two reasons. first, i was trying to finish up work that i was doing on the evolution of the cold war topic of which i've written a great deal about. and secondly, and most importantly, i was reluctant to take it on because it was really contemporary history and the availability of primary source documents would be very limited. i'm a historian who has spent his career in the archives with hundreds and hundreds of archival boxes of documents. and i knew for certain that i would never have access to such documents. in writing this type of a book. and so i was very reluctant to undertake it until i met a former member of the bush administration who talked to me about the possible kitty of setting up interviews. and i can discuss that further, i

[cheering] - in texas, george w. bush was known as a bipartisan governor.the time, the state house was run by democrats, and he had a very good working relationship with them. - we poured our hearts and souls in this campaign and organization, and the people are gonna decide. - indiana and kentucky, the polls now have closed in those two states. our projected winner is governor george w. bush, as expected. - bush wins south carolina. vermont, up in the green mountain state, they're for al gore. - a big call to make. cnn announces that we call florida in the al gore column. - about roughly 8:45, we and all the other networks call florida for gore. i remember saying, "how is bush possibly gonna," you know-- "what's the path he could possibly take?" because he's lost michigan, he's gonna lose pennsylvania. if anybody wins all three, it's over. - you can bet that governor bush will be madder than a rained-on rooster that his brother, the governor, wasn't able to carry the state for him. - mr. bush says he is not yet ready to concede florida. so that only compli

bush project, the george w. bush project and barack obama project. in addition to having pulled together and completed the edward kennedy oral history project and helping launch the hillary clinton oral history project. we don't just do presidents. we do other senior officials. and with that, it's a great opportunity to introduce our special guest, who's joining us by zoom today, robert gates. as you all know, robert gates served as u.s. secretary of defense from december 2006 in the bush 43 administration. and he continued his service through july 2011 into the obama administration. he's been awarded the national security medal, the presidential citizen's, and has twice received the national distinguished service medal. secretary gates also completed three miller center oral history interviews. and for that, we are so grateful the one person who is not here today is other coeditor of this book. this book is co-edited by barbara perry russell riley and mike nelson. mike is a professor at college in tennessee. he had planned to be with us today, but a

director of the clinton campaign 2016, and former advisor to resident words w bush -- george w. - president george w. bush. who knows he may face more charges before the trial is done in the summer. but this is more severe for american democracy. >> that is right it brings in seven states and conversations with political leaders who have engagements in -- have engaged in this for a long time. people are now combing through the 45 pages of where they might have had a conversation. this is different. it is different because it is at a high level talking about the seriousness our democracy. edit hits differently across the board for elected leaders that are in place today and also thinking about the future of america in terms of the presidential campaign going on this happens in the background. christian: this is clearly in patients on the special counsel to get on with this and maybe takes precedence over the other cases. what are you hearing about timing? >> you can see there is a push to get this done. i think exactly where trump's team will go is start talking about process. the

w. bush's term, the u.s. support in bosnia, 9/11 of course, the capture -- the killing of osama bin laden during the obama administration. each of those you see a spike in public confidence in the military. guest: this is the single highest driver. if americans feel they are at war, they will rally to the flag. part of rallying to the flag is rallying to support the troops. particularly after a dramatic event like 9/11 when suddenly all of the danger that used to be over there is now over here, that caused a big drive-up in public confidence across-the-board. we are leaving that war frame, and more and more americans are not considering themselves to be at war. yes, they see a future threat in china, but it did not feel the same as it did in the weeks and months after 9/11. that opens the door for americans to return to a more traditional view about the military, which is ambivalence. host: how long has gallup been tracking this? guest: it has been going on mostly since the vietnam war. there has been a stead

w. bush's role in that. do you mind sharing some of the points you said and validate the october surprise is something. [inaudible] >> i don't mind sharing it and thank you for that question. but this one of things i researched and put in the book. it is still controversy (controversy generates discussion and questions. i think i can sum it up quickly. there are still 52 american hostage and carter was trying desperately to get them out. nothing seems to be working. clearly the democrats this is one of things i learned about in great detail the make sure carter did not get the hostages out there's a good chance reagan would not have won theel electi. but for the carter side recent biography on reagan. in think we will see it full-blown. so what they did is they set the republican campaign they went to paris to meet with representatives of the ayatollah. would hold the hostages until after the election and then bring it of course was going to give what they needed. that was against iraq. not to be simplistic

w. bush. we have never written it for him. reagan, and reagan alone, would have insisted on delivering the speech, once he had seen it, over other objections. george bush, vice president bush, and every foreign policy speech, the first question he would always ask me when i drafted a foreign policy speech is, did the state approve of? this that was his first question. so jamie, you listen to this story. all three of you, but jamie next. we will stay with ronald reagan here for a moment. this is a story, i think it's a famous story. it was told me by -- who was your predecessor, who was ronald reagan's first national security adviser. so, the year's 1977. reagan is now a former governor, he has just lost the republican presidential nomination to gerald ford. and so far, there is no inkling that he is going to run for president. still, he is playing close attention to world affairs. and -- stopped by himself, and reach sin on world affairs. and then, reagan says, would you like to hear my theory of the cold war? and allen said, o

yeah george w bush. both of them did a lot of preparatory work and biden's case obviously to get to 206 people in in the white house. it was a lot of personnel work than a decision to focus on presidential appointees who did not require senate confirmation. he also worked on a developing information and strategies on issues that may came up. such as the date went under a heading of unconventional challenges what an unconventional challenges. could they possibly face and then assigning people to work on those challenges flesh them out and then develop mitigating strategies. so the preparatory work early is not just mandated by the government. it's also good practice by the candidates. that's tremendously helpful. i mean my read on your really interesting paper martha, is that the candidates and the government have put so much more? resources and attention into transitions in this 21st century and yet the transitions have for the most part been less smooth. which i think is a paradox that is worth explorin

well, look george w. bush from scolding george w. bush .he proved that in america the president can be a daddy's son and a drunk, and the election of barack obama proved, uh, in america of america, that the president in america can be a person who came from nowhere with an extremely muddy biography, yes, who was caught and who was in pre -trial detention in some countries of the world, including the russian federation, he had such an episode and who did not show himself as a politician. and the election of trump proved that in america the president, maybe, uh, the man who fought wrestlers cut in wrestling like that, and biden's presidency proved the worst thing, that in america there may not be a president at all, because i look at petrovna and the main question he has unspoken ivan so uh, his face is unspoken. and what is the federal agency did you even read? what typhoon huh? this is actually a very interesting situation, how step by step over the past twenty years, not just the balance of power in the american political system has been c

debate, and i'm looking on c-span on debate from 423 to 1980, and ronald reagan is next to george w bush. at april 23, 1980. houston. stop making excuses. don't make excuses. i am very busy as a teacher, and i can make time to be in these debates if i needed to. so i just think trump is hiding like a kid. he needs to step out of the race. that is absolutely despicable. >> who are you supporting on the republican side? ask i wish they would pick one person to focus on. the split up is causing the percentages to look lower than they really are. i think the polls are seriously questionable. they are showing donald trump support when i talk to people. no one supports him. not much. >> who do you want that person to be if you could choose? >> i like nikki haley. she has good background. as a woman president, that be a great change for america. a great and symbolic change. i see tim scott is excellent. i think that there is -- there are a lot of people. anyways. i just think trump needs to step down. he is not helping. thank you. >> let's go to montana. independent. >> hello. good morning. i w

. ♪ adam: quick, what do kung fu panda, subprime mortgages, george w. bushnd today's bond market have in common? i will give you a few seconds. let me know when you have an answer. kung fu panda, subprime mortgages, george w. bush, today's bond market. we are out of time. actually, three of those four items i just mentioned occurred in summer of 2008. the last one is occurring right now. the bond market is doing something we have not seen since 2,008. the yield on on the 10 year note is back to what it was 15 summers ago when kung fu panda was number one movie in this country, george w. bush was president of this country, and subprime mortgages were roiling the markets, the economy went beyond this country, the good old days. maybe not. we all know how that worked out. for certain financial meltdown. flash to today and made the melt up, talking about interest rates climbing as we speak about not showing any signs of petering out anytime soon, north of the 4.3% the tenure rate is still climbing, so is the 30-year and so are mortgage rates, close to 7.5% more

for years when people would say to me, well this is for you when you hear the rhetoric from george w bush and, and all of them. and dick cheney and others, this is making us safer. that by going into a rack, you know, tie a yellow ribbon around a tree and in america, and this is making us the safer. i mean, my brother was in baghdad. so during the gulf war, and i mean how, how we saved for was our security improved here in the united states by invading and destabilizing the middle east. like please explain that to me. i'd love to hear how that works, how our american troops in syria stealing syrian oil, providing security for the united states, and then shipping it to a rack. how i was sending hundreds of billions of dollars into ukraine, making people in iowa safer. please explain. i would love to hear how these things right now could even go further. how is it actually helping ukraine, george? i mean, it needs a, you know, i've done my program. you know, you, oh well, um we, they, us should stay in a rack and i've always, it didn't, we help them enough. you know, maybe we should stop he

this divide, al gore and george w bush down the middle. the florida recount, hillary clinton won the popular vote but trump came president. we have not been able to get out of that feud. i think the republicans are winning in the sense that they were able to get recent supreme court justices in. that has fueled an unraveling of the programs, roe v. wade, clean air and clean water act. we are now in an aero where americans think less government is more. libertarianism is going on right now. on the other hand, if biden wins, we may be living in the age of biden. trump is eating all of the media up, but trump -- but biden might be a two timer. >> what does that mean? does this 50-50 have to break? >> it is not inevitable, but because we have been so defined as red and blue states, we know which will be red and blue in the next election. it is the same handful, arizona, georgia, virginia. there are others. there will be five or six states that will determine things. the electoral college as it is now structured helps of the republican party. d

but it's just the distorted the many, you know, obviously go back to one of the george w bush's was, and this is really the legacy of nature. and even even going beyond what was, i mean, the impact that he's had in this been your old of divisiveness and you know, they, they, he's the area that's over well many countries easier, but you don't basically have had quite a peaceful life. it wasn't, there wasn't many of the ethnic conflicts. the, the, the are terrible political been this with us now emerged in a country out in bulk area and romania molto. but all of that is effect the is an effect of a us and they do expansion. know, you know, the, george dave who are really good, literally a menu of failed of foreign policy, became changed the claim where we, where they have one minute left here. but the different, there's a big difference. this time you go to the, the u. s. is leading the collective west against a new killer power called brush it, it's been different. don't you think one minute? absolutely. it is. and i think you're, you're witnessing why they're continuing to push for,

he served under president george w. bush. mister attorney general, thank you so much for taking the time this afternoon. you have been outspoken on how the department of justice is not biased against republicans. what should people understand about the judicial process, and the protections that are in, to prevent that political bias? maybe those who haven't worked in government at a higher, or even lower, level. >> i think that people need to understand that just because the facts of one case look similar to another case, that does not mean that there is going to be a prosecution. people need to understand that the difference are based upon facts, treatment of cases are based upon the facts. upon the judgment and experience of the prosecutors. you may have one case a prosecutor very aggressive. they are willing to take a chance on being aggressive in the prosecution. and another case with similar facts in a have a prosecutor who's less experienced. perhaps a bit more conservative. the fact that you may have a prosecution in m

w. bush and bill clinton. in 1991, 12 days after leaving forces against iraq, george bush went before congress to talk about the hard work of freedom. in 1995 at the university of texas in austin, bill clinton talked about race relations and the opportunity to improve them. here's president bush and president clinton. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> members of the congress, i have the high privilege and the distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the united states. [applause] [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. [applause] mister president, mister speaker. and members of the united states congress, i come to this house of the people to speak to you and all americans. certain as we stand at a defining our. halfway around the world, we are engaged in a great struggle in the skies and on the seas and send. we know why were there. we are americans. part of something larger than ourselves. for two centuries, we've done the hard work of freedom. tonight, we lead the world in faci

charles: the george w. bush administration. peter: and is currently with the heritage foundation. in farmington, ohio. diane. caller: i am a 70-year-old white woman and i see prejudice every day still. even as you were saying in the legal field. it is prominent still. in the state of ohio, we have a lots of white supremacists and no one is working on that. they are working more on the carjackings. yes, that is not good. but this white supremacy is even worse. thank you. peter: what is your response? charles: i agree that white supremacy or any ethics supremacy is despicable. but it is fortunately a very small minority of people. my point throughout the book is if you look at the criminal rules and procedures and look at the supreme court and state supreme court decisions, which have eradicated the illegal use of race and past practices that were despicable, especially in the software they punished black people often times for no reason, that is not still exist around the country. that is why i said there are racists. but fortunately, it is not big into the criminal justice system.

we have election of 2000, al gore, and george w. bushcame down to florida, a couple hundred red votes, al gore brings first lawsuit it is then litigation hell, different districts in the state, and trying to find judges that would up hold this part of law the that part of the law, the radical left wing democrat control florida supreme court steps and changes the law, to try to get gore over the finish line, u.s. supreme court says that is enough. that is enough. the voting has to stop. the supreme court of florida can't keep changing the rules, they are destroying one person, one vote. the entire concept. and so george w. bush is the winner. and he wins the electoral college by 5 votes. he lost the popular vote by over half a million votes. that was a very consensus election we -- 1 de con den shocontentious election we know it and this january 6 was said to be a an insurgents. we have a commission -- insurrection, we had a set up by nancy pelosi. she rejected republicans that leader mccart he chosen, that was never done before, they do

if this was george w. bushthat ended basically that president's presidency with george w. bush and what we're seeing here as far as the complete noncoverage of joe biden and the way he acted towards maui and the fact that he is now back on vacation again after spending a couple hours there, that's a whole bowl of wrong. meanwhile the coverage has been almost entirely negative towards not just the frontrunner and donald trump on the republican side but all the candidates, every interview you see on other networks it's like watching a democratic activist or politician debate the person they are interviewing instead of asking solid, germane, relevant questions around the economy, crime, border, energy independence, monetary policy, foreign policy. and that's the thing here. one side is going to get almost completely negative coverage. the other side won't get almost any coverage when they screw up or coverage that basically is very hospitable instead of hostile. >> todd: you and carley mentioned what joe biden sai

he was the assistant attorney general under president george h w bush.was later appointed to the united states court of appeals. he was twice considered for nomination to the supreme court. >> i felt i had a profound obligation to the country to speak and to explain all of what had happened. >> well known in republican legal circles, on january 50 advised vice president mike pence to defy former president trump's plea not to certify the 2020 election results. >> judge, thank you for being with us here today. >> he spoke about it in dramatic testimony more than a year later before the house january 6 committee. >> donald trump and his allies and supporters are a and present danger to american democracy. >> challenging trump so publicly thrust them into the hot heights of american politics where he has been ever since. you have been saying for months that americans of lost their moral compass. what brought you to that conclusion? >> for almost 250 years, judy, there was all but a consensus among the american public on the fundamental values and principles

and let's think about like to invert this, because, you know, george w bush has has talked about it, too. he's actually taken the more symbolic route of doing this of laura bush. can speak out on it. and george w bush writes pics and paints pictures, and then they go on display around the country. just think about sort of like it's the soft sell, right? you'll take the hard sell from the first former first lady, right. because you don't view her as political when. the former president wants to make a political statement and be mindful and respectful of norms. he does it by painting pictures of immigrants and then, you know, using his platform to be able to, you know, mount exhibits around the country. yes. you know, that said, i don't think that barack obama is going to sort of withdraw, you know, from the stage of politics. as you mentioned earlier, clyde, and you've written about and spoken about obama's optimism and his incremental approach to social change and some i wonder if his optima. might be misplaced at this moment of danger for democracy and in this moment of crisis. how d

w. bush and we never in it for hair -- him. reagan and raegan lowe would've insisted on delivering the speech. george bush, vice president bush and every foreign policy speech the first question always ask when i drafted a foreign policy speech is -- has he approved this? that's the first question. all three of you, but jamie. next we'll stay with ronald reagan here for a moment. this is the story. quite a famous. story told to me by allen, who is ronald reagan's first national security adviser. the years 1997 and raegan is now a former governor has just lost their are public and presidential nomination zero for. there is no inkling that he's gonna run for. president still he is paying close attention to world affairs. and allen stops by his house in the palisades, and brief him on world affairs. and then arrogance as we like to hear my theory on the cold war? and -- of course. governor than ronald, reagan up with a stand and writing for. me quoting from this. this is reagan. speaking some people think i'm simplistic but there i

joining now to talk about it is former adviser george w. bush and john mccain, mark mckinnon, and cnn's political commentator van jones. i saw you tip your hat. i love you. let me start with you because you were the most gentlemanly of the bunch just now. you heard ramaswamy, the lavish praise for trump. his hand practically flew off the hinges when he was asked the question whether he would pardon him if convicted. in a place where everyone is wondering where everyone is vying to be the v.p. except mike pence, what do you think is his strategy? is he looking for that or a cabinet position, or is he really trying to be the president? >> well, anything and all of the above. i mean one thing we know about president trump that vivek, i'm sure, shares is he knows that running for president is the brightest spot in the world. he never intended to be president. he was an accidental president. but he ran because it was the hottest stage in the world. vivek ramaswamy, it was no surprise that he exceeded expectations because nobody knew him. he has supre

so the republican party failed to transform itself demographically, as george w bush wanted it back in the day. and instead they're betting on a whole set of new voters and those are ultimately fully in the trunk camp. 54 percent of republican supporters still think this is a man for the white house. rhonda santa is trails him at only 17 percent. so the republican party needs to hold on to that trump space and has such as such, become ultimately beholden to donald trump in the military when to in the jazz said it's ending military agreements with france. it's full colonial rule. the frances responded saying, a need the legitimate, the j a golf but can make such a decision the closely that it will say bored people to launch out full far anomalies and spies amazon to the west african block eco westward. it could result in village reaction and coming days. if the shows democracy is not still, negotiations have ended in deadlock, can members, site synagogue has already said it's ready to send troops. qu, they did say they would meet forth with force, ugly as you would contact the bowl, agg