Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20131226

Could result and Mary Landrieu taking over the Energy Committee in the senate. That would set up a game of musical chairs. A likely is seen as successor to mr. Baucus as head of the finance committee. And Mary Landrieu could then take mr. Wydens spot. She comes from a state where oil and Gas Companies are asian employers. She voted for the keystone Xl Pipeline Oil and gas employers. Re major she voted for the keystone xl pipeline in a symbolic decision. President obama does not want to make a decision on the massive keystone xl pipeline. Not have to. He may House Democrats and other critics of the project, which has put traditional allies such as labor unions and vists arental acti hinting that the state might have to restart its environmental review. Ed bywould be motivat suspected conflicts of interests and could push a decision down the road for another few years, possibly until mr. Obama leaves office in 2017. That is the story in the Washington Times. Here is usa today, many cannot afford coverage, law lets them opt out of Health System that needs them. More than half of the counties in 34 states using the federal exchange like a plan that is affordable for 40 year old couples who make too much for financial assistance. Do not offer an affordable plan for people 50 and older buying individual plans and just missed qualifying for subsidies. Based on the governments definition of affordability, these people would not have to buy insurance under the Affordable Care act. A couple more stories before we get to our question and our conversation that we will kick off this morning. Here is the wall street journal, egypt rants brotherhood egypt brands brotherhood a terror group. Saying it was a response to a bombing officials blamed on the group. The once powerful brotherhood denied involvement in the apparent suicide car bombing early tuesday that targeted a Police Headquarters in the city of mansoura. The New York Times, iraqsends armed aid to fight with extremists. The u. S. Is quietly sending missiles and drones to help forces combat violence by an Al Qaeda Backed insurgency that is gaining territory in both western iraq and neighboring syria. Helpfollows an appeal for in battling the Extremist Group the iraqi Prime Minister who met with obama in washington last month. Some experts questioned whether the response will be sufficient to reverse the sharp downturn in security that led to the death of more than 8000 iraqis this year. Were Security Force members. The highest level of violence since 2008. I want to show you this story from the washington post. 1984, worse than in snowden tells britain. Edward snowden invoked George Orwell and warned of it dangers of unchecked government surveillance in a christmas message to the british people. Speaking directly into the camera from moscow, where he has taken refuge after leaking information on nsa spying, snowden said government surveillance methods far surpass those described in orwells novel 1984. The types of collection in the book are nothing compared to what we have available today. Video marked snowdens First Television appearance since he fled the u. S. And arrived in moscow in june. Publishedngton post an account of his comments. Here he is on wednesday. [video clip] createdovernments have a system of worldwide mass surveillance. Great britains George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information. In theypes of collection book microphones and video cameras, tvs, are nothing compared to what we have available. We have sensors in our pockets that tracked us everywhere. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person. A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They will never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves. An unrecorded thought. That is a problem because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be. The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place, both in the technology around us and the government that regulates it. We can find a better balance and end mass surveillance. And remind the government that if it wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying. Host that is a part of what we want to talk to you about this morning in the first section of washington journal. Question isn the u. S. Becoming a police state . 202 is the area code. For republicans, 202 5853881. For democrats, 202 5853880. For independents, 202 5853882. If you live outside the u. S. , 202 5855883. You can make a comment via social media. Handle. Is our twitter you can go on facebook where a conversation is already going on, facebook. Com cspan. Or send us an email. Angle is partwden of what we want to talk about. There are other aspects to this. Frisk, localp and Police Departments, etc. You can include these as well. This article appeared in mother jones on december 9. Chase matter. Is a hammer,ve got everything starts to look like a nail. If police and prosecutors are your only tool, everyone will be treated as criminals. This path involves social involves solving social problems by throwing cops at them. Encroaches on everyday life as police power is applied in ways that would have been unthinkable a generation ago. The military station the militarization of the police has the war to a point that on crimes and the war on drugs are no longer metaphors. Heavily armed swat teams in small towns, shock and awe tactics to bust bookies. Recover trace amounts of drugs that result in the killing of family dogs or family members. In communities where jet treatment programs where drug treatment programs were key, a counterinsurgency war. This is reported in the book the rise of the warrior cop. More thanves farther your local precinct. It is the way police power has entered the dna of social policy. Turning every sphere of American Life into a police matter. It starts in our schools, where discipline is increasingly outsourced to police personnel. Ago lot what not long would have been seen as misbehavior doodling on a can leave a kid in handcuffs or even booked at a local precinct. Such criminals can be as young as sevenyearold wilson, a new under who was handcuffed suspicion of stealing five dollars from a classmate. It turned out he did not do it. It is a national phenomenon. Mississippi leads the way in turning School Behavior into a police issue. That is a little bit from the beginning of his article. We will go through a little bit more as we go this morning. We want to hear from you, whether or not you think the u. S. Is becoming a police state. We will begin with a democrat in pennsylvania, patrick. Caller how are you . Husband fine. Caller not only is the host hfine. U. S. R not only is the becoming a police state, the acquisition of bullets and Armored Vehicles by homeland security. It is the modern version of the gestapo. The American People are looking form of totalitarianism that is compartmentalized. That is corporatized. In order to make it blameless to say that one arm does not know what the other arm is doing. And yet, the concentration camps are being built at the American People are going to be placed in choreograph yet another false flag operation on this country. I can tell you that the es the game and end with the state of israel. Host that is patrick in pennsylvania. We are talking about the police state in america. William, alabama, independent line. Caller yes, we are in a police state. I live in alabama. Next to the gulf of mexico. We are the only county in the statehis year, one of our senators passed a law that no one in the county its eligible is eligible to run for sheriff. That you haveates to be the sheriff or the sheriffs deputy. Currentlyot to be eligible to run for sheriff. You can run for senator or congressman, but we are living in a dictatorship already. Law inomeone changes the montgomery, alabama. Host mississippi, republican line. Hi, bubba. Caller how are you doing . I think we are becoming a police state. The way the government is now, we are becoming a communist state, too. No president , no government is going to tell me that i have got to buy insurance through them. And if i do not, i get penalized, fined, or whatever. Obama he and just dont care. Know. Puts i dont two things that is going on, like the nsa spy and. Spying. Host thank you for calling. Senator ron wyden talks about this issue in july at the center for american progress. [video clip] tom a win 3000 of our fellow citizens were murdered by terrorists ourr 9 11, when 3000 of fellow citizens were murdered by terrorists. At a time of panic, Congress Gave the government surveillance authority. They attached an Expiration Date to these authorities so that they could be deliberated more efully once the emergency the immediate emergency had passed. Yet, in the decades since, the law has been extended several discussionno public about how the law has actually been interpreted. The result the creation of an always expanding, on the present onmipresent surveillance state that is chipping away at the freedoms our Founding Fathers established. It is all done without the benefit of actually making us safer. Quinnipiacis a quick h university poll, is the government restricting Civil Liberties . Yes. Ay yes. F independents say here is part of the conversation on our facebook page. Is can take part in a poll, the u. S. A police state . You can see the yess are more. Here are some comments. Yes, especially for blacks and browns. Daniel says if you think the u. S. Is a police state, you have not been outside north america. Comments. Ore know your rights. No, unless you are paranoid or a criminal. Patrick says it is not getting better. We are no north korea, but the level of surveillance and laws are not steps in the right direction. Says, ispower, mike not an isolated incident. Those are some of the comments. If you want to continue that conversation, facebook. Com cspan. A democrat going from chicago. Caller hi. I am concerned about the intrusive the creation of intrusive databases on children k12 grades. There is one that is funded by bill gates, developed by rupert murdoch, and managed by jeff company. It can collect as many as 400 different data points on a child. It will include information on their mental and physical health issues,discipline social issues like divorce or homelessness. As well as academic issues including test results and k12. G has exploded in it is not the only database like this, nine states signed up and seven have dropped out. New york still seems to be involved. The person i read on these she is andrey waters, excellent analyst of the development. Host thank you for sharing that information. West virginia, republican line. Is the u. S. Becoming a police state . Caller in a way it is. When the administration used the irs to silence the tea party, that is getting pretty scary. Even senators like Chuck Schumer and some of those senators over there wrote a letter to the irs demanding that they silence the tea party before the election. That is pretty scary. That is my opinion. Host daniel, vancouver, washington. You are on the washington journal. Caller yes, we are becoming a police state. Lets take a walk backwards to see how this happened. 9 11 was the trigger that set us on this path. 9 11 it is interesting that thetor wyden was discussing fact that there has been no intossion of public input the state of affairs that we are faced with today. Happened because israel host what does this have to do with israel . Caller we were attacked by israel on 9 11. Truther,iel is a 9 11 that is not what we are talking about. Back to the article, do we live in a police state . The term was once brushed off as a hyperbole. Even inuch anymore, precincts, the intrusion is remarked upon. You are probably a criminal is the title of a widely read article. A republican thatntee, surveys the laws make virtually every american a target. Entirel bookn written about how an american could commit three felonies in a day without knowing it. As one law professor has argued, habits arey penal being exported. The growth of domestic powers is the result of our distant foreign wars seeping back into the homeland. The imperial boomerang that Hannah Ahrendt warned against. Guardianom the earlier this fall. Americas Police Looking more and more like the military. Americas streets are looking more and more like a war zone. In a small county in upstate new york with a correlation of 120 thousand people with a 0,000 people, 12 aunty legislators approved vehicle donated by the Defense Department to the county sheriff. The tween the armored personnel tween the armored personnel carriers that mimic , thes in afghanistan militarization of our domestic policing will make over america. Happened. W it a Pentagon Program has been highly militarizing American Police forces for years. Ofotal of 4. 2 billion worth equipment has been distributed by the Defense Department to Municipal Law Enforcement agencies with a record 546 million in 2012 alone. That is just the beginning of this article from the guardian. Alex on our republican line from miami. Caller good morning. As far as the police state issue, it is only for the citizens of this country. As far as immigrants in miami it is 59 of the population they get to roam free. When i tell them how it works, they are in total shock. Yes, it is a police state. Only for u. S. Citizens. As far as immigrants are concerned, they get to go wherever they want. I have been challenged by police and they let the immigrant go away freely. It is not pretty at all. That is my take on it. Host that is alex. Diane is in georgia, democrat. Caller yes. The answer to your question about is it becoming a police state no. I think we need all of the surveillance that we can get. Going back to 9 11, that is what kicked it off. We have people who are here that are living crazy. If they are listening into a conversation, i am not a criminal, i dont care. Other than watching me on my tv, i would probably have some opposition to that. Other than that, i am perfect with it. Aowden, we are talking about topic that he is introducing. If there is so much surveillance, how did they miss him . All thisup with information. If we have such high tech observations, how did he go under the radar . If he was going to do such a good job, why is he not here . , tell want to let us know us here. Host thank you for calling in. Ins is Walter Pincus caller the washington post. He has been covering intelligence for 40 years or so. Rule tocedented consider Public Opinion on intelligence gathering. The prime reason for secrecy is that you do not want the targets to know what you are doing. Notn in democracies, you do what youre citizens to know what your government is doing on their behalf to keep them secure, as long as it is within law. Accountability and secrecy are two watchwords an official said ided operations during his career, not whether the public would approve. That is not what obamas review group said last week after its study of intelligence gathering in the wake of disclosures generated high former nsa contractor Edward Snowdens of nsa documents. The president s panel called for reinstituting the front page precept. D informal it said such activity should not be undertaken if the public could not support them if exposed. And some 40 years of covering intelligence, Walter Pincus writes, i have never heard of such a rule. Nor have several intelligence officials with whom i have talked. The closest we recall is the role of plausible deniability, out of the cia in the 1950s when president eisenhower backtracked in having knowledge. This allowed a president to deny knowledge of intelligence operation that went bad to say he knew nothing about it. Leaving those carrying out the activity to take the blame for failure or exposure. That and the washington post. Maryland, independent line. You are on the washington journal. Caller i believe this country is becoming a police state. You are kind of like a prime example of that, sir. I noticed while listening that thatike to cut callers off have an opinion about why it is becoming a police state when it comes to the issue of 9 11 and israel. You give them half a second on 9 11, no time if they mention israel. It is a shame. Terrorism is a business, folks. That is just the way it is. It is a never ending war. A lot of companies are making money off of terrorism, especially the Defense Department. It is a lifestyle for the rich and famous. Some die with a name, some die nameless. Maryland. Is tony in this is lynn in maryland on our republican line. Caller i do believe we live in a police state. I was shopping on Christmas Eve night. I dont know if people know this, they actually had a man drones in the air that track your movement. That is one aspect. They are not only they are collecting data, emails and phone calls. They are reading your email and listening to your phone calls in realtime. This is really getting completely crazy. They are actually spying on people. Several hours i just had a virus in my computer. It is really crazy, the government and Congress Host you saw a drone . Caller oh, yeah. Caller in maryland host in maryland . Caller i am a member of the stop spying group. If you look at the website about innes, they have them maryland. Most people do not look in the air. If you look in the air, you see these little lights flying around. It is all credited with group . Hat stop watching us, the Electronic Frontier foundation. Most people are not aware of the surveillance programs going on because most people do not websites. People have to get informed. Especially africanamericans. Most of these programs are within urban areas and target minorities. I know a lot of africanAmerican People want to support the president. They need to wake up, this has nothing to do with president obama. It is about these programs being curtailed. That is lynn in maryland. Here is several twitter comments. I remember when a domestic disturbance in my neighborhood brought out the swat team. We are not becoming a police state, we are becoming a technostate. They may be listening to us, but i do not see anyone being arrested. Says why does a town of 20,000 need an armored miners as a truck . Would look good in orange, he fancies himself as the next really and assange mnext julian assange. Next, we have been a police state since the patriot act. Bob, ohio, what do you think . Caller thank you for taking my call. I have been waiting to speak to someone for years about the situation. I definitely think it is a police state. If you let me finish my statement before you cut me off. Here in ohio, cleveland, ohio, two innocent people who did not have no weapons or whatever. Bullets. Ired 15 they shot inside the car. Rippings of bullets, those two innocent people to death. In ohio. R it up here no one has said anything about it. They found out that people did not have guns or drugs. Was ay who was jogging religious person. Drivingr how who was with a religious person. No matter how they talk about you. The whole country does not know anything about this, this happened years ago. Those people died because the police set up their. Sit up there. They loaded the automatic weapon and reloaded it again. Merry christmas and thank you for letting me express this on cspan. Independent line. Zarif caller hi. I think there are two problems. With thea federal side nsa and that type of thing. Unfortunately, people like the caller about five minutes ago who think i am not doing anything wrong so it is not that big of a deal that is going to end up hurting america when these laws get set into place. It is laying a framework that could really destroy america if a bad person came into power. There is a local side, in terms of Police Officers who i believe are educated to not have any discretion or common sense at all. We saw kids getting arrested for running lemonade stands and that type of thing. I think that they are taught that way so that the higherups on a local level can have control over how they act. It is not going to get any better, it is going to get a lot worse. Thank you. Ray kelly, the nypd commissioner did an interview. Frisk can never be eliminated. Ray kelly insisted that controversial stop and frisk policies can never be eliminated despite bill de blasios questioning of the program. It will not be eliminated, it will continue. We will see what changes or amendments can be done to it, kelly said monday on morning joe. He called the policy april Police Officers have a tool Police Officers have. s ruling injudge august that it is being used as waynd effect an indirect profiling. L the kelly did attributed the following murder rate in new york city to work by the Police Department. Iran from tennessee, republican line. Do you think the u. S. Is becoming a police state . Caller yes. Inhave a lot of Progressives Congress and the senate. You just have one on who was a progressive. Are you there . Host we are listening. You have one of the progressives. Nobody ever questions what progressives really are. Progressives are socialists and communists. You can get a lot of this information from the webpage. People need to educate themselves. The difference between a communist and a socialist socialists use the back door approach. That directly affects our country. Communists are more militants. There is a big difference in the way they act. Their objectives are the same. Host this is an article on the front page of the New York Times. It may be related. It is thengeles Los Angeles Police ursus pedestrians. The l. A. Police department these days is training its sights on jaywalkers. Dragnet, but the Police Department has issued tickets to those illegally crossing the streets. The crackdown is raising questions on whether the authorities are taking sides with the auto material at the very time with the automobile at the time when pedestrian inture is taking off downtown los angeles. The enforcement has struck many of the pedestrians. As more than a little one sided and strict. When a bartender stepped off the curb a few blinks after the dont walk countdown, he was issued a ticket for 197. I did not even know what was against the law, i was like you are the police and this is what you are doing . Jeff, 49 years old, a bankruptcy lawyer who works downtown. He said he crossed the street on the way to court when there was not a car in sight. He was stopped and given a ticket. Onestly, i cuss them out and told him it was a waste of time. That is just a little bit from the New York Times this morning. John and maryland, democrat. What do you think . Caller i cannot believe youre even asking the question at this point. It has been a police state committee whole country, for a very long time. Write down from Bumper Stickers right down from Bumper Stickers being probable cause to pull some of the over for no reason to the i smell marijuana from your vehicle. Three police cars pulling up and pulling guns. You take the example of Fruitvale Station and the fbis shooting of a person in florida that they say was connected to the boston bombing. It is just incredible. Even the boston bombing, when i they had a full on military vehicles patrolling the streets. That was horrible, i understand caution. I am talking about my personal, everyday life. For having a grateful dead Bumper Sticker and being pulled over for that, basically. I said and maypol why and i pulled over . Can you get out of the car and having a couple different Police Officers pull up. I really i am appalled. I cannot believe that our country has come to this at this point. Itt we are going to leave there, john and maryland. A couple more twitter comments. D what law do you want to get rid of what law do you want to get rid of . Says the first step is conditioning the population to become dependence of the state. Deaux, keep out of new york. Are not mygovernment friends and corporations are our oppressors. Adam says and research, te sa used to search is map your behavior. Snowden needs to shut up. Comment. Jean deaux has been since fdr. How can the simple, vast Collection Program compare it with the Data Collected by private companies . Careful what you say. They are watching our tweets. David, ohio, independent line. Ourer i do believe that country is turning into a police state. I agree with what tony from d. C. Said. And speaking of the shooting in East Cleveland 1. 5 years ago. Cspan is supposed to be funded by cable to express opinions. It seems to me like it is more funded by the council on Foreign Relations and the cia. As far as the police are concerned, anything you say or do will be used against you and the court of law. They are sitting the precedent that they are there to arrest you and to invite you. Collies are freemasons. Our country is turning into lice are freemasons. Our country is turning into it seems to be run by freemasons. Knightsnd bones, templar. A lot of these cults are at the top of the food chain and they are driving the agenda. Except for convenient locations such as the tucson shooting, it took 12 minutes for the first police to involve in tucson. Why would it take 12 minutes for the first police to arrive when there was a gathering on a saturday morning . They should be protecting that poor little congressman who got shot and the judge who got killed. Host edward, new jersey, republican line. To thank 9 out s to say this a police state. They are criminalizing the poor with the drug war. Maybe we would not have the effect of crime and these issues. Thank you. Host tomorrow on the washington journal, talking about the war on drugs. Dan, alabama, democrat. Caller i do not think these people even know what a police state is. You still have your freedom to say what you want to. To go where you want to, carry your guns. If it was a police state, you would not even be here in this talk on tv. Thank you. Host thank you. Coming up on the, washington journal coming up on the washington journal, two authors. The gopis author of civil war. And the, al from new democrats and the return to power. We now have secular norms our acceptance or rejection of the way a god or s can speak to people. For example, the branch esh saying david kor he has special insight into the bible. This helps the community understand the bible, the book of revelations, understanding that they are living in the end times in a way most americans do not accept. That by itself does not seem to be a problem. When it leads to other elements that trigger both Law Enforcement concerns as well as the popular press concerns, suddenly this idea of somebody listening to god and having his followers do things that seem to errant to national norms. Religious that persecution in america has been prevalent since the eating hundreds. Sunday night at 9 00 on afterwards, booktv on cspan2. Public affairss events from washington directly to you. Putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences. And offering complete coverage of the u. S. House. All as a Public Service of private industry. Cspan, created by the cable tv industry 34 years ago and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. Now, you can watch us in hd. Washington journal continues. Host we want to introduce you to eric ham, who has written a new book called the gop civil war. Give us your background so people know where youre coming with. Guest i started out on the hill working for senator bill nelson. I was a National Security adviser for his Armed Services subcommittee. A think tanknt to in washington, the center forced her to jake and international studies, i was director of congressional relations. Working with members of congress. Center for strategic and international studies, i was director of congressional relations. Some issues involved iraq, china. I moved on to do work for a leading a project called the 3d security initiative. Working on peace building issues and how to incorporate peace Building Measures into u. S. Foreign policy. Still working very closely with members of congress and members of the administration and staff on a number of issues. Host how did you get into that line of work . At thei started university of michigan where i studied economics and political science. I moved onto the university of chicago and got a masters from the Public Policy program there. I came to washington and found a spot right here in our nations capital, working on the hill. It all moved from there. Host some people are going to say you work for a democrat, bill nelson, guest a centrist democrat. Host now you are writing about the gop civil war. Aest this is not controversial book. Although the title might indicate that. It is a book that looks at the party as a comprehensive analysis of what is going on in the party. Keep in mind, we are in a twoparty system. No one can deny the fact that the party is going through an internal struggle right now. But we are doing is just basically highlighting what many pundits and many writers around town have been talking about. Host who is in the civil war and what are the sides . Guest there are the moderates, the political establishment. Of course, the tea Party Activism that is taking place. There is a battle drawn out. We have seen it come to fruition during the Government Shutdown a few weeks ago. Situationwhole finally ended, you had what i would consider a tea party alin, say thath p they will be looking at key races in 2014 where they are looking to take on manning established many conservatives. Namely Mitch Mcconnell. Up, we ratcheting are going to see major damage in 2014 within the party. Host our topic is based on the book the gop civil war. We want to talk to republicans only during this segment. 202 is the area code. 53880 in the east or central time zone. If you live out west, mountain pacific time zones and hawaii. 202 5853881. Republicans only. We want to talk to you about how you view the future of your party. What do and colder and john boehner have in common coulter and john boehner have in common . Guest they both care about the partya, that is where their similarities end. They both care about the party. That is where their similar days and. John boehner has to actually governmen. To an activistl based and think about the. Ountry at large we are dealing with major issues. We are grappling with high unemployment. There are issues coming to truition, namely the deb ceiling debate that will be taking place in six weeks or seven weeks. These are issues he has to think about. Sheone like ann coulter, resides firmly in the activism within the party. Kind of like selling red meat to tea party types. Host is there Common Ground . Do they share ideals . Guest i think they want to see the party become more successful than it has been, particularly in winning elections. Is they actually get there open to discussion. The Government Shutdown. Was that harmful to the republican brand . The tea party favored it. Guest absolutely. That was hugely detrimental to the party. If you look at the polling, the majority of americans firmly waseve that the shutdown the fault of the Republican Party. It did not help that leading up to the shutdown you had the fall filibuster by senator ted cruz. For Many Americans, that gave the impression that this was owned by the tea party. Was submitt it did for Many Americans that the gop had a very difficult time trying to govern. And then, when you had the actual shutdown and you had Many Americans, particularly working not going, checks out, veterans having difficulty receiving benefits. I think that did not play very well for the Republican Party. On the flip side, when the shutdown and it, of course there was this a media this immediate pivot to allow my care. Many of the losses that this obamacare. Ivot to ony of the losses inflicted the party seemed to go away and there was a transfer to what happened to democrats in the midst of obamacare rollout that was bungled. Still, Many Americans thought that shutdown as firmly in the category of the gop. Host what is on the Positive Side of the ledger for republicans right now . Guest that is a good question. Republicans are in good shape in that they do have control of the majority of the government and legislatures throughout the country. There is no shortage of Great Potential candidates in 2016. In fact, i would say that they have a much deeper bench than the Democratic Party, beginning with Chris Christie, who we saw win in a landslide in a blue state. His issue is going to be can he bring the Party Together . The activism and the establishment wings of the party. Winning the way he did in a blue state goes a long way in inuring him Going Forward 2016. You have a potential candidate like governor bobby jindal, former governor jeb bush. A dark horse like Susana Martinez in new mexico. She has not talked about running, she has avoided the limelight. Still, i think you have a number of candidates with the maternal editorial with the gubenatorial experience. Host in your book, you write has become tone deaf. A hurdle for the gop is young voters. Voters,hey lost young among a number of democrats they will need in 2012. Young voters not just young voters, women and people of color. If the Republican Party wants to be seen as a National Force Going Forward, they are going to need to find a way to promote policy, promote ideas that resonate. Not only with young voters, but with women, with minorities. Many republicans thought that barack obama was running a campaign geared towards 2020. And maybe 2016. Ranwe saw the race that he and the demographics that he was able to bring along. I think we saw that we are much further along to in 2013 and in 2016then we would be in and 2020. I think Going Forward the Republican Party needs to create ntra of bringing all people into the party. The first thing they need to do is figure out how do we speak to these voters and where are the issues they care about. You look at one demographic that i think was largely overlooked in 2012, that is the asianamerican population. Which barack obama won. The 2000 a race, the 2008 1 of thewere electorate. In 2012, they were 3 . That is a 128 difference between 2008 and 2012. Barack obama won that group overwhelmingly. One other point about the asianamerican population they are now beginning to move democratic, blue leaning states like new jersey, new york, hawaii. Asianamericanhe population move into areas like north carolina, alabama. Places where democrats are now maybe at one point they were not able to compete. But because you have this demographic moving into these red states and possibly turning them blue or purple, i think it makes it more competitive for democrats to be able to compete. The gop needs to figure out how do we begin to speak to these voters and develop a message that will resonate with them . Host another trend in your book. Hispanic voting trends. We talk a lot about this during election periods. Your book. S chart in percentage of voters that were hispanic in 2000, 6 . 10 in 2012. Percentage of that vote has increased, except for the outlying year of 2004. It has been increasing. The hispanic vote for democrats. has beenrepublicans decreasing. Guest this has been discussed the 2012 race. Er i do not think we can talk about this enough. The importance of the latino population. It is a rapidly growing population. I think what is important if you look at issues, particularly that this population cares about, namely the immigration issue. The is actually room for Republican Party to really make gains. President obama has not really moved the ball forward on this immigration debate. We are still not seeing movement. We are not seeing much take we are not seeing movement. We are not saying much take place in the house or the senate. This is an issue the latino population really cares about, and we have not Seen Movement from this president. There was a headline a few days ago that talked about the historic rate of deportations under this administration, and that is room for the gop to make inroads in terms of how they address a policy that will move this debate forward, and possibly bring the latino population into this geo t t, but the issue remains, is this something they can talk about . This is an issue where candidates in 2016 could play a martinez mainly susana and possibly marco rubio. They have the candidates. They have to develop the policy to begin to move the latino population into this tent. Host what percentage of the electorate are africanamerican, and why are the democrats been able to capture over 90 of their votes consistently . Guest well, i think you have to look no further than president obama and what he means symbolically to the africanamerican population. There are many africanamericans who thought they would never see an africanamerican president in thinklifetime, and i while democrats have historically been able to woo the africanamerican vote, the gains this president has made has been unprecedented. The last democratic president was very popular among African Americans, bill clinton, and it oni morrison that called him the first africanamerican president , but seeing this president , the symbolism, it is huge. As long as he is able to project that, africanamericans will always be supportive of this president , even if, perhaps, his policies do not necessarily meet their needs policywise. Host so, how do the republicans make inroads . Guest that is an interesting question. What they need to do is begin to speak to the issues, and i talk about this in the book the autopsy at the Republican National committee put together. Platform 10 million suggesting that we need to begin having a more aggressive dialogue and debate about reaching out to various communities, namely the African American community. They recently opened an office in detroit, i largely African American city, and that is a largely africanamerican city, and that is one way to try to reach out and meet voters where they are. Step for thest party, and now we need to see both rhetoric and policy matching these activities. Is thehe gop civil war book. Eric ham is the author. Only. Egment, republicans the next segment will be democrats only. Charles krauthammer had an opinion about the socalled civil war. We want to show you that and get a response. [video clip] my argument is that is much than some people pretend and the left wing media would like us to believe. They love running stories on the great civil war among republicans. The great civil war is on the democratic side where there is a massive debate between obama, the liberalse and that shoved it down their throat. Host mr. Eric ham . Guest i do not disagree with him that there is a looming crisis within the Democratic Party, and im sure that is a discussion you will have later, and i do believe it is coming, but i disagree with him on his analysis of the rate can party and the civil war of the in thear that Republican Party. We have seen it take place and we have seen it take place prior mainstays liketh richardo lost out to murdoch. We see Mitch Mcconnell now grappling with a challenge from. Is right flank senator Lindsey Graham is now being challenged on the right, and many more races. Before i came on i was reading where Washington Times senator Pat Robertson from kansas is being challenged from the right. This is a huge fight within the party. In the book, we talked about what is going on within this fight within the party, and it is real. I think until the party can grapple with its direction, i think they are going to struggle to win the white house for quite some time to come. There are a number of issues where the party is fighting, and there is a chapter in a book ,lled going out of power where i talk about the National Security implications of the civil war within the party. 2012 therest time in was no discussion on National Security as we would normally expect to see from the Republican Party, and this has been an issue that the party has owned since vietnam. This is one of the mainstays of the Republican Party. It is surprising that barack obama has successfully been able to move this issue from the gop. Amp into the democratic camp that is not to say that it will remain there, because i do believe that the american public, while they trust barack obama more than they trusted mitt romney on National Security, that is not necessarily a permanent fixture for the Democratic Party. It is an issue where i think the gop has room to grow, but i think that is actually one of the casualties of this civil war in the party. Host lets take calls for eric ham on his book the gop civil war. Karen. Caller im a little nervous. There is a big difference between conservative republicans. Nd republicans i am a conservative and i happened to be black. Is a republican but not a conservative. Host whose ideas do you like . Like me a lot of, ve, ted cruz, allen west. Host why . They areecause conservatives and conservatives need to take over this party. Host thank you. She illustrates the point of the book. There is a huge battle. When people think of republicans they think of the establishment candidates, the people running washington, and when you look at the budget battle taking place right now, conservatives, as she astutely pointed out, were very unhappy with this budget deal and i think we will see us play out more in six or seven weeks when we have the debt ceiling standoff that takes place in congress, and i think many republicans, particularly in the house and senate that are up for election will be looking over their shoulder in terms of how they should vote because the conservatives, as she puts it, will be looking for them not to advance the debt ceiling debate, and i think what we are going to see is a longer, protracted fight within the gop. Oft here is the front page the wall street journal this morning. Inens my head just exploded washington state. [laughter] guest that is a great point because i wrote an article right after the shutdown ended saying there are consequences and it only exposes a rift between the part within the party. You saw largely conservative organizations like the u. S. Chamber of commerce actually begin to enter into this fray, and there standing with establishment candidates in states like michigan and idaho against many of these tea party weivists who are now saying want our party back, we want to take our country back, and for the first time we are beginning theee, i guess, establishment fight back against many of these activist candidates. Host there is a conversation going on on our twitter feed about your credentials and whether you should be allowed to gop civil war given your background and credentials. What i would say to that is a may not be a conservative,a but i have been in washington and i have been a part of these fights that have taken place, and ease policy debates on a number of these issues, and i coursebout them, and, of people are able to reject them. Host could you see yourself supporting a Chris Christie if you lived in kentucky . Guest absolutely. I think what Chris Christie is doing in new jersey is outstanding. He has reigned he in the budget. Let me say there is no shortage of candidates that i think are great for this country and that are doing a phenomenal job across the country. What Susana Martinez is doing in the state of new mexico is fantastic. Love was a great congressional candidate and a rising star in the party. At this point, i believe Chris Christie is the candidate to beat, and i think he could give Hillary Clinton a tough room ron if he can get out of a primary. Host still an individual on twitter i am a ron paul follower who went the gop at the grassroots. Old countya 28year chair and a scary noninterventionist. Affect . , what was his was in a town doing the a little town,in unit gymnasium, and there was so excitement, so much for ron paul, and i was actually surprised when he came out in that caucus because there was so much excitement and energy for ron paul. It was not just older people. There were a lot of young people really excited about ron paul. I think ron paul it will be interesting if that excitement could translate to his son rand in kentucky. I do believe he will be running it will bed i think interesting to see if that fervor, that excitement that was on display in iowa for him will translate to his son, and if he could move those followers. Then, what is his next step in what role will he play in 2016 . Will he try to be a gop rainmaker Going Forward king maker Going Forward . Guest the next call for eric ham host the next call for fromham calls comes beaver, pennsylvania. Ryan. Caller i am disappointed because once they get into office, it is all the same. Host what you mean by that . Can you give an example . Caller you have a well, you have obama saying he will stop with the surveillance stuff, and he continues it even more than bush. I am not saying bush was right, he was wrong, too, and i do not trust democrats or republicans anymore. Host you think it is something that happens once they get to washington . Caller i think it is the bankers that get to them. Host ryan in beaver, pennsylvania. Guest that is a good comment. In my book there is a section where i discussed how republicans will have a very difficult time moving forward on National Security until they can move away from the spain the the debacle in iraq and afghanistan. Until there is a new phase in the party, new ideas that get beyond iraq and afghanistan, particularly on National Security, i think the party will have a difficult time being able to regain the trust of americans, and that is just one symptom of a larger issue. What does the party do to begin to get voters to see them as trustworthy and effectively being able to govern . We have seen, so far, a Government Shutdown, a u. S. Credit rating diminish, and largely, americans believe that is the result of republican incompetence. Until the gop can begin to issues, i think americans will largely be disappointed in the republican brandand not see the gop as an effective tool for leading the country forward. Host naomi. Oklahoma. Republicans only. Caller mr. Eric ham, we do not care what color you are, and that should be put to rest. I am tired of this race issue being a problem. Next, i agree with mr. Charles krauthammer. The media is out stirring the pot because they know obamacare is in trouble and likely to lose a lot of seats in 2014. Democrats, them, media, they are stirring the pot to cause problems within the divide so that they do not lose seats. Host naomi, who do you like who is a republican that you like and you would like to see stay in office and what is an issue you are concerned about . Caller i like a lot of them in the house. Trey gowdy is a brave soul from South Carolina. There are people from georgia. I cannot recall their names. Host are you a member of the tea party or do you support their efforts . Caller i am not in the tea party, but i support what they do because all they are after is for both parties to get back to the constitution and stop trying to tear it down. Oklahoma,i in norman, thank you for your time this morning. Me address the media stirring the pot and what she said about obamacare because i think it will be a huge issue in the midterm elections this year. She talked about South Carolina as well. I want to tackle all of this. I do believe that given that you have democrats that have about 23 seats they have to defend, i believe it is going to be a competitive race. I think republicans have a great chance of taking control of the senate, and i do believe they are going to be able to use this obamacare issue as a huge, huge, block to hit democrats over the head with, and i think you democrats now that are running scare as a result of result of theas a problems with obamacare. In South Carolina, there are no shortage of fireworks that will fly. It is interesting because both senators are up for reelection, and interestingly enough, senator scott has not come out and endorsed his colleague, senator Lindsey Graham. That will be intriguing. And of course, nikki haley, who i list as a potential 2016 candidate if she can win reelection in South Carolina. I think South Carolina has a number of different issues that think, will provide, i additional fodder for what might be to come in 2016. Host the next call for eric ham comes from rose in worse had, new york. Washington on the journal. Caller this is rose. Are listening. Caller that is a change because i have been disconnected three times. Not have phone lines if you are going to hang up on people who identify themselves as conservative republicans. We like to know what i think what would you like to hang up on me again . Host we are all ears. Caller i am a physician. The first thing i was hung up state, buthe police im a physician. I am concerned about health care. About patients. Who is aovider patient. I am a handicapped physician. My Favorite Book is the wounded healer. Healer. On was a wounded host what issue would you like eric ham to talk to, as we are talking about his book the gop civil war . He is completely and totally unqualified to speak on the subject. Host if there is anything you would like to add on what dr. Rose had to say . I agree on health care. It will be a huge debate in the with her onagree health care. It will be a huge debate in 2016 and in the midterms and regardless of what they are able to do to get obamacare working effectively, it will be an integral part of the discussion Going Forward. Paul from twitter, ron attracted young independence and democrats but the gop shun them. Big mistake. Guest i was on the ground and i witnessed the fervor of the ron paul crowd, and i thought he really had something there and was able to tap into people who by thesaffected government. It was similar to what we saw in 2008 with thensenator barack obama, and i thought if there was a way for him to take that fervor and turn it into votes, this could be something. We were all waiting for the moment where we would see ron paul eventually win a primary, but it never came to fruition. I think that is a big question for him Going Forward, and how does that translate into votes for his son in a 2016 president ial race. Host steve is a republican in jackson, mississippi. Mobile, visiting my brother. I want you to comment on the is aof bradley burns, who armer state legislator, reasonable, smart republican. This happen in mississippi . Caller no, this happened in alabama. Elected arns was congressman in mobile, alabama, he beat the Tea Party Candidate, and then beat the legal liberal democrat. Host what do think about that . Caller that is where the republicans need to go in the future, nominate bradley burns, to i would like to write get this writer to comment on bradley burns. Host are you familiar with this race . Guest it was part of the ,ticle i wrote for the hill and dictated a Tea Party Candidate against an establishment candidate, and i think we will see a slew of these races in 2014 where organizations, like the chamber of commerce, which is considered an establishment organization will begin to stand up to these more activist, far right candidates. This was a huge test for the tea in 2013, and it is a harbinger of what is to come in 2014. I think what this race does is solidify the thesis that there is a civil war within the party. When you mention Haley Barbour, i speak extensively about Haley Barbour, and i call him one of the grownups in the Republican Party. I think we are going to see people like Haley Barbour and some of the other grownups or elder statesman within the party begin to stand up and speak out and become more forceful in supporting and backing establishment candidate in 2014 and Going Forward. Ham, the gop civil book . Just any why . Guest i have been traveling the country during the 2012 race, and i thought i could get this out to the masses, take advantage of new technology, and people could quickly downloaded wantedr tablet, and i something people could read and easily follow while on the train anditting in a waiting room get a pulse on what is going on within our political system, particularly in one party, and how that relates to the rest of the country. Host what was that process like for you . Guest it was the first book that i have ever written. It was an arduous process. It took a lot of time. It was well over one year. Of course, there was no shortage of storylines to write about, mainly given that it was written in the backdrop of the 2012 president ial election. It was a stimulating exercise. I would like to eventually write another book examining the party. Behink there is going to major changes within the party, and i think voters and the American People would like to see how this process plays out, and i want to be able to provide this kind of information to them. Host available at amazon. Com . Guest yes. Host here are more statistics. 52 mencomes to gender, for romney. Women, 55 for obama. When it comes to race, African American, latino, asian, they all went to obama with big numbers. I want to go back to the daddy party versus the mommy party, a tagline that we heard. What about women in the gop . Guest we start the book talking about demographics because that was a huge interment issue, and not only do i talk about the importance of women as a demographic, but also looking at candidates, what is taking place in congress, and the role of women, when you look at a state like New Hampshire as an all woman delegation. I think 2012 could be the year of the woman and i think 2016 could be the year of the woman. We are seeing women flex their political power in terms of voting, and women overwhelmingly outnumbered men going to the polls and barack obama was able to take advantage of that. Misstepshere were some by the Republican Party from a number of its candidates, and it appears they have not been able to write that ship on how to talk to women about womens issues Going Forward, and unless and until they can do that it will be a problem for them. One of the bright spots at the Republican Party has his there are a number of wellqualified could possibly run for president in 2016, and that would help, immensely, the party Going Forward. People like susanna martinez, potentially nikki haley, e. Ssibly callie kelly ayot i think there are a number of and between now and 2016, when these women may or may not declare, the party still needs to figure out how to address these issues or talk to women. Host david. You are on washington journal. Caller thank you for having me. Listen. Democrat socialist dare claiming that we who to oppose the bringing of a socialist police they a cut state because we dared to stand up for the constitution like that tea party does, that we have allowed, screaming baby breast. Brats. You say you when stand up for the constitution, ofcan you give an example what you mean . Caller i hate to have Voting Rights curtailed by people who try to commit voting fraud and when you try to correct it with voter id laws you have people screaming that you are discriminated against them and they also have to have the same id to get their Social Security benefits and other benefits from the government and the state, but that is all right. You have to identify that you are who you say you are to vote well, that is bad. And out toe assault, destroy the second amendment, which has been launched by your guests side, which i have years. For for 40 host david, i think we have the point. Eric ham, your comments for the caller . Guest thank you, david. I do not think that either party is trying to unite the way in anye is trying to way infringe on the constitution, and with regards to voter id fraud, it has been proven, highlighted, studied at nausea and that there nausea that there is so little voter id so little as to not make a dent. Not even in the bushgore election was that an issue. It is not an issue Going Forward, and i think it is something that not only democrats, but independents are actively looking at because we see more people come into the political process, which is what we want to see happen. Anyway we can continue to get more people engaged in the process, i think it is a good thing, and we want to do whatever we can to ensure that takes place. Host a viewer that tweets 30 or 40 times says folks smart enough to earn 100,000 voted for mitt romney. I missed this because i do not have my glasses on. 54 voted for mitt romney. Chase. Arkansas. We are listening. Say that would like to mr. Eric ham is nothing but a tactician. That is what democrats do. They banned people together to and band people together to get votes. For instance, immigrants get all of these benefits so they vote for democrats. Republicans in knock at the same benefits. It is not fair. Taxation without representation. Have the advantage because they are a bigger force than the working people. Host chase, thank you for calling in. You, chase, for that comment. I think the government is there to work for you whether you are a democrat, republican, or independent, and i do not think there is a cabal of immigrants democrats that are seeking to infringe upon any one particular , and i thinkters it is here to try to work for everyone within this country. Thank you. Host joe on twitter says i disagree with you, but youve shown yourself to be reasonable. I could work with you over policy. Jake is calling in. Caller my comment is we are allowing the Democratic Party to describe what a conservative republican is. These democrats conservative. They allow the question of illegals to interfere with legal immigrants. Our country is based on legal immigrants. I do not think we need to let the Democratic Party describe, in a lot of fields, what we are as republicans. Another thing, as long as we are in a world economy, and since we have been on top of the world all of this time, we are going to hurt evening out because our industry is going out of the country, middleclass jobs are gone, and i think we all have to not the bullet if we do advance our economy through the entitlement group. Oor people do not make jobs we need support to get jobs back into this country that was the balance, or part of our middle class, which we do not have any more. Host thank you. Guest he makes a good point. I talk about this in the book, and i do not want people to think that the book is just a book where i am bashing republicans or the gop, because that is not the case at all. Of solutionsumber i offer, a number of candidates that i think will be great candidates in 2016, and one of the issues that i address is the issue of the Global Economy and a space where republicans can begin to advance the debate Going Forward. The president has been wanting for a while to make the. Ot to asia, and we are seeing growth in emerging markets in places like indonesia and korea, and i think these are places, and this is an issue, where republicans can begin to be seen as a party that is willing and able to govern if they can begin to look at some of these big picture issues and advance policies and ideas on how the country should begin to address a number of these emerging markets. Host we have been talking to eric ham. ,ere is the cover of the book the gop civil war and said the battle for the soul of the Republican Party. It is an ebook available at amazon. Com. To someonetalking very familiar to viewers, al the new has a book on democrats and the return to power. Ons is washington journal cspan radio. While vacationing in hawaii, the obamas visited the Marine Corps Base to wish the troops a Merry Christmas and say thank you for their service. An American Development worker abducted in pakistan by al qaeda two years ago says he feels totally abandoned and forgotten. A new video of 72yearold Lauren Weinstein has been appeals to which he president obama to negotiate his release. There are four trading days left in 2013, an historic year. Going into today, there have been five Straight Days of market gains, and an large increase joint drove the markets higher on Christmas Eve. The market will do today will be the jobless claims report. Those are the latest headlines from cspan radio. I think radio is the longest and the best form of media that is left. What we are doing now, an hour long conversation, is unprecedented. U. N. Charlie rose are the only you and charlie rose are the only ones that read books the way i read books, who know what they are talking about. I get a great deal of satisfaction when an author says that is the best interview that i had on this book tour. I just got it from charles, Meyer Charles krog meyer. Charles krohn hummer. I like video. More with great more with radio talk host, hugh. Witt sunday on q a washington journal continues. Host joining us is a longtime politico and another of a new book the new democrats and the return to power. When did you come to town and how did you get started . Guest i came a long time ago. Back andposed to go work at the Chicago Daily news, but i ran into a friend of mine who became a key confidant to Sargent Shriver in the war on poverty and i was recruited, and i have been here ever since. My first job, actually, was the most incredible job and a Young Journalist could have because Sargent Shriver did not trust bureaucrats to tell him what was going on in the poverty program, so he hired a bunch of young to gos journalist like me around the country and write in depth reports on what was going on. I was assigned to the deep south. Much of my political philosophy was really shaped during those years. Where was your trajectory . What did you work for over the years until you got to the Clinton White house and the Democratic Leadership Council . Guest well, i spent two and a half years with the war on poverty. On capitol to work hill for senator joe tidings of maryland, who was chairman of committee,district we passed a home rule, built the subway, rebuilt the courts, and started the first narcotics Treatment Centers citywide in the country. Then, after the people of maryland decided that senator tidings spent too much time in the district or not enough time in maryland, i went to work for. Enator ted muskie of maine i then spent two years in the carter white house. Adviser toy president carter on a patient, and for those that on inflation, and for those that say he cannot get anything done, we got the inflation rate higher than the president in his polls. That is what we started the new democrat movement. In 1980 four, really the beginning of 1985, after the Walter Mondale landslide loss, a congressmen including al gore for the Democratic Leadership Council. That became the insurgent vehicle for changing the Democratic Party and ending what was a long losing streak in president ial elections. Host what you mean when you say the new democrats . Democratsl, the new tagline for the Political Movement that we started if , theecall, in the 1980s democrats suffer the three worst defeat in Electoral College votes in the history of american politics. Highery had never lost a percentage of electoral votes in three consecutive elections than the democrats had since the beginning of parties in 1828. Essentially, the great new deal andition had split us under we were losing overwhelmingly, so our Reform Movement was called the new democrats, and what we try to do was reconnect the Democratic Party with its First Principles opportunity for all, Andrew Jacksons credo, it was opportunity for all, no special privilege special privilege for non. During the clinton years, we created 22. 5 million jobs. We got the economy roaring. The toughminded internationalism of roosevelt and truman. The sense of social justice of johnson. Very important as we look ahead, roosevelts first renovation, the constant effort to reform government because democrats believe government is an important agent for our collective wills and to help people help themselves and each other. We have always been for reforming government, reinventing government and it was absolutely essential to our agenda. Host as we go along we want your participation in this conversation with al from. The new democrats and the return to power is the name of the book. For this section, democrats only. The dlc is no longer, is that correct . Is dormant. It is part of the clinton foundation. This is fair, if but it was cast as the conservative democrat. Is that a fair description . Not think that is a fair description. What we really did was return the party to the First Principles. In a sense, progressive government was in deep jeopardy, not only in the United States, but all over the world. All over the world conservative parties were dominant, and we try to modernize liberalism in a way that people would support it again. Because we supported ideas like welfare reform, people said you are conservative, but the idea of moving people out of poverty, from welfare to work, it is a liberal idea, and we change the incentives of the welfareto work system. Problemon the crime with an idea called Community Policing, putting police back in the neighborhood. We actually picked that up from an africanamerican julius Jewish Police chief. That change the Police System all over the country and ahead of remarkable impact on preventing crime and reducing crime. Ideas like Charter Schools, national service, john kennedy asking people to give Something Back to the Country National service became americorps. I do not believe those ideas are conservative ideas. I believe they are, sort of, an extension of the great liberal principles that were so important in this country in the middle of the 20th century. The wordn you hear progressive, what does that mean to you . Guest it is somebody that looks ahead. It has a lot of meanings to a lot of different people. For me, it is someone that wants to have progress in our society, who wants to make our society constantly better. For me, that can be done with government playing a role, but it also has to involve individual responsibility in a private role. The key for progressive government to me is actually private sector Economic Growth. When i was a young man a long time ago, paul tsongas, the late senator, told me the problem with the Democratic Party is we spend so much time passing of the golden eggs we do not worry about the health of the goose. You have to grow the economy. If you create more wealth for everyone, you have the ability to deal with incoming inequality by redistributing some of it. Mid1990s, the when bill clinton was president , we had the third way, which you are part of. What was that, and is an effective way to govern . Guest i think it is the only way to govern, the most effective. , in United States was called the new democrats. In Great Britain it was called new labour. In germany, it was called the great middle. The blair actually gave best definition. He said it is not a compromise between liberalism and conservatism, but a modernization of liberalism. It goes to the points that i talked about had what bill clinton always talked about were three words opportunity, responsibility, community. Those were the underlying themes, but the ideas included americorps, welfare reform, fiscal discipline, trade increasing trade reinventing government, Charter Schools, Community Policing basically, ideas that dealt with concerns people had in their everyday lives. Guest. L from is our here is the cover of the book, the new democrats and the , what are some of the dangers democrats face today . Democratics have a guest democrats have a demographic advantage. , Michael Barone used to call the democrats the stupid party. Republicans in recent elections have not acted very smartly. In the 2012 election, for example, they basically told hispanic voters and activists women we do not want your vote. As long as they continue on that path, the democrats will have a demographic advantage, but in the republicans have a demographic advantage, so those things change. For democrats, the challenge is to have a solid Economic Growth agenda so that we can create the wealth that we need to do the things that we want to do, and to constantly reform government. The most important thing that president obama can do in the next year is continue the economic recovery. We had the best growth quarter in years. 4. 1 . If we continue that rate, things will be a lot better for a lot of people in this country. The second thing is we have to fix obamacare. Obamacare is a good program. It is the right structure. It is a private insurance program. I do not understand conservatives that are so angry about obamacare. Either you have a system where,f you want to cover everyone either you have a system that allows them to get private insurance, and for some people they would have to be government subsidies, or you have socialized medicine. We chose the private system. Tricky. Is you have to organize the market in the best way that you have to get a lot of people in the pool because the Way Insurance works peoplet of healthy basically pay to treat sick people so that later in their lives when they get sick other Healthy People will pay for them. That is what insurance is. That is how Auto Insurance works. If you are going to have a private system, and that is what we chose, that is why you need this individual mandate because if everybody does not participate, the Healthy People do not participate, premiums will be out of sight, and who is going to pay for the cost . It would not be an insurance system, but a subsidy system. Host this article appeared in obama al from hasnt given direction to his isy, guest i think the president has an Important Role in the country to set the tone of the debate, and in too many cases this president has not done that. I hope he does it more. I agree with most of the things he has tried to do, the one of the things the president has to do he is the only person in this country that speaks for the whole country. I just wish he would speak out more. Host a lot of talk a lot of talk there has been some conversation going on about Elizabeth Warren and a populist approach and a progressive approach to politics and policy. What do you think about Elizabeth Warren . Guest i do not follow everything Elizabeth Warren says or does. I am sure she has been a good senator for massachusetts. One of the things that i have politics, from what i hate to say is almost 50 years in politics, it is a lot easier to have rhetoric and promise things and promise things than it is to actually deliver. In the end, for the Democratic Party but since we are the party and power, it is how you deliver. President obama delivers a 4. 1 growth rate for the rest of 2014, his approval rate will go up. He does not have to promise you will get this done or that done. You get judged on your performance. Bill de blasio, who will be the mayor of new york as of january 1, ran against stop and frisk, and a lot of things like that, and the first appointment he made was bill bradley as Police Commissioner who created that system. I do not get excited about rhetoric. Everyone in the Democratic Party has progressive goals. Everybody wants to see, you. Now, people do better Everyone Wants to deal with income inequality. It turns out in the end, how you do it. There is a big debate on the minimum wage right now. The minimum wage needs to be raised because it has not been raised in a long time, but, to me, that is not enough because for the liberal position what i would call the liberal or progressive position, it ought to be that nobody who works fulltime yearround to support a family ought to be poor. What liberals ought to be doing is looking for the most effective way to do that, and to me that is raising the minimum wage somewhat, probably around the level president obama is talking about, 10. 50range, but then expanding the earned income tax credit, which is the best targeted, best way to help working poor people. In 1993, when we had the big expansion vote, the earned income tax credit, it was the most Effective Program in the history of the country, and we probably need to do that again. The question is not goals. The question often in the debate in the Democratic Party may be means, and they are really debates that country ought to have. Books, the new democrats and the return to power. The foreword was written by bill clinton. Danny, tulsa, oklahoma. Democrats only. Caller i notice the taxes were extremely high. I have done some research. The city of detroit was controlled by democrats. They went bankrupt. I am a democrat. I support the unions and i supported obama. This is really sad that you pass a bill and do not read it. The insurance for my friends, my family and people i am associated with, it is just not there. I noticed the younger people are pretty much less responsible than my generation when i was younger. I was born in 1953. They are not going to sign up. This is going to chaos. Host i think we got your point. Guest that is exactly why we need the individual mandate. It is just like Auto Insurance. If you drive a car, it in most states you have to have Auto Insurance. We have a mandate that says everybody has to have Health Insurance or you face a fine. Fairly shortly. If you do not have health you have by march 31, to pay a fine. That will encourage the young buyle, Healthy People to Health Insurance. I think what we have to do is see how it works. Everybody wants to cover people with preexisting conditions and people who are sick. And so we have to have a system that requires Healthy People to buy Health Insurance. Then wedo not do it, have to figure out how to pay for it. Lets give obamacare the opportunity to go into force and see how it works with medicare and Prescription Drug program. We had a few months of a shaky start. Then it turned out to be very popular. It is important we do not rush to judgment. It is unfortunate that hhs and the white house screwed up the website to start. Failings of on the part of the program that i think probably should have been done right. Lets wait and see how this program works. When the mandate kicks in, people will be fined if they do not buy. Host bill is next. Caller good morning. M is pronounced squi washington. Im starting a movement in my community. A lot of people are registered in this. Would you donate 10, 20, to clean up politics in this country . My idea is to get our representatives to commit and sign a pledge that they wont take more than 100 in contributions from any one person or anyone thing. They would be amazed by how much money they would get by doing this. Then we could have a clean government again. I sent a letter to the editor. Can you imagine politicians not taking orders from mr. Big . Can you imagine your representatives spending two thirds of the time working for us instead of fund raising . Debating with somebody that was i would send them out that room looking like they are a real crook. I am only interested in taking care of my constituents. Host we will get a response to your question. Why are you a democrat . Caller i have generally been for the working guy. Republicans are always fighting against the working guy and busting their union. When the last the union they are eliminating the middle class. Host mr. From . Guest there was a former raven or and senator from florida who was elected to the senate in 1990s was the early a twoterm governor and he had a limit on what he would take. First it was 10 in contributions and then it was 100. I always like that because i can max out to him. I love to see money reduce in politics. The Supreme Court ruled that money is free speech. It is probably not going to happen. We need to have congressional nowstricting because right most aggression oh seats are party safe. If youre in a republican seat, you are going to win that district almost every time. The only way youll be challenged this is if you are challenged in the primary. Election, democrats won a million more votes than the republicans but because of the way the district were drawn, republicans have a majority of seats in the house and probably will keep them this year again because of the way the district are drawn. Host didi tweets in i do not believe that is the case. I will admit i am not an economist. Incomes tend to grow when the economy grows and when more people are working and we produce higherquality products and higher cost five x. But in the 1990s when we had nafta and the trade agreements, incomes went up because the economy was growing rapidly. The challenge is to grow the economy and to create more wealth. Than governments role is to help temper the market so that everybody has a chance to wealth, thatthat increased growth and wealth. Up, weant to get incomes have to fix the Education System, particularly in the inner cities. The gentleman mentioned detroit. Detroit graduates so few young africanamerican males every year from high school that there is no way they can grow the economy and get incomes up. We have to fix the Education System so people have the skills to get higher paid jobs. Host who do you see as some of the new democrats who could take on the mantle of leadership . Guest i think there are a lot of them. There are new democrats all over the country. People talk about Hillary Clinton who was a big part of that story in my book. You have governors, and you cuomo, martin omalley. Delaware, aof young, billion governor from delaware. People like mark warner in the senate. A lot of people talk about senator joe manchin. Even more than that, all over the country in Joe Corey Booker is another, a great disciple of this politics. All over the country at the state and local level, you have these emerging leaders. 2000, we in the dlc did a 100 rising stars and we looked at people who were not yet at statewide office. Out of those people we pick, i think eight or nine had been governors. A number of them senators, including chris coons, from delaware. Governor of, the connecticut. One of the great things that happens because of the clinton years is a whole generation of leaders adopted this politics. Is not always obvious on the congressional level. Country where people have to deliver services, you have this breed of young elected officials that i think bodes well for the country, and i hope that holds well on the republican side. Host the new democrats and the return to power is the name of the book. Al from is the author. Susan from herndon, virginia. Caller i am a conservative, fiscal person as a democrat. I would like to see more of our party focus on the emerging minorities in this country that do not have a voice, especially at the local elections where they are not being heard from. We need to have the voice of women. The names you just listed, i did not hear any women except Hillary Clinton. We have a huge talent pool of women and minorities, male and female. In our transparency government finances. I do not care what party it is. People are starving for that. Host are you a long time democrat . Caller yes. I have been very active in local politics. Host Hillary Clinton in 2016 . Caller i think we need new faces, new voices. 3. H 1, bush 2, bush it is getting to be loyalty. Host what is a new face you would like to see right now . Caller i like the way that Elizabeth Warren talks about finance and money and having everything out in the open. I would say my husband who got elected in a local election, mr. Sing. He has been a long time from india. He speaks openly about the numbers and local elections and county budgets. We have to start there so that people can see whether tax dollars go. Host thank you for your time this morning. Guest i should have mentioned a number of women including senator jill brand of new york as a real rising star. There is a woman running for governor of pennsylvania named allyson schwartz, congresswoman from Philadelphia Running for governor who would be a terrific leader for our party and the country. Women all over our political system and hopefully there will be more of them are dissipating participating. You started by talking about fiscal discipline. I think fiscal discipline is important. The goal of a fiscal policy is to create a Firm Foundation for growing the economy. Which we the budget, did in the 1990s, is only important as a means to try to have a Firm Foundation for Economic Growth. Believe we do need to get our country on a sound fiscal course. This recent agreement that really not much of an agreement for deficit i t it a or four r tough. We have to address the tax reform question. We have to look at entitlements now we modernize them. It is easy to say we are never going to touch medicare or Social Security. If you want to say then and want them to be for future generations, you have to modernize and fix them so we can pay for them in future generations. These are very important questions. In my book i have an idea that probably a lot of people think would be crazy. I will like to get rid of the payroll tax and replace it with the green tax. If the green tax isnt enough, then i would use the reform income tax. We have been borrowing from the Social Security trust come for bank. S as a piggy the payroll tax is a large impediment for work. Who somebodyke me might want to hire as a consultant, they are willing to pay both sides of my payroll tax. They compete for people at the high end. If youre a low income worker, employers tend to keep salaries down so in effect you are paying both sides of the payroll tax. I think we would increase employment significantly in this country. Those are some of the interesting new ideas. Im sure they would be subject to real debate that i propose in my book. Host we always here in primaries, the republicans run to the right and democrats run to the left and meet in the middle during the general. Democrats have to run to the left to get elected in primaries . Just like the republicans do to the right . Guest i think the answer is no. The democratic artie has always thana more Diverse Party the Republican Party. The dirty little secret of the new Democratic Movement in 1992 was about two thirds of the democrats self identified democrats were also self identified as moderate or conservative. The liberals made the noise and were most active in the primaries. They got in the press all the time. We knew if we ran a sensible, smart campaign, we would have broad appeal. The republicans, a little different. 60 areblicans about hard conservatives. Bill clinton and one primaries that included welfare reform and Charter Schools and reinventing government, mitt romney is forced to talk about cell deportation of immigrants. I do not know mitt romney very well but i watched him in massachusetts. That doesnt seem to me to be the same person. He was forced by his primary to move to the right and that hurt him very much in the general. And go through my book follow the course of the new Democratic Movement and the clinton campaign, i think you will see nobody is completely 100 consistent on anything. We were able to run the same campaign through the primaries and the general election. Four im going to read quick tweets. I will call them progressive democrats come all across the same line. Guest i just think they are wrong. I think the record of the Clinton Administration belies all of that. 23. 5 million jobs and income is going up. Crime is going down. 8 Million People move from welfare to work. The best environmental record since teddy roosevelt. The idea of the new democrats is not abandoned democratic principles but to make sure we can further them. You have to further them with new ideas. The candidates in 2016 are going to have to have a new version, a new set of ideas. The basic principles is a core regressive democratic value. The idea that people have a responsibility to take advantage of that opportunity and to give Something Back to the commonwealth is a core democratic value. And a lot of socalled progressives like to ignore this. Criticalvernment is a liberal value. , part of thebook intellectual roots of our movement came from Franklin Roosevelt avenue from senator ed muskie. He did a speech at the liberal party in new york where he said that Efficient Government is not an abandonment of liberal goals because ifal to them government is the vehicle that progressive want to use to achieve big important social end s, and people need to have faith in government. People lost faith in government and we had to come in and the Clinton Administration restored americas faith in government. It is essential all the rhetoric aside on both sides, that in the end of him a carrot works, the ghost people have to have faith that Big Government programs work. Theney do not have faith, democrats will have a hard time using government to do the good things we want it to do. Host is Hillary Clinton going to run for president . And if she does, will you support her . Guest if she runs, i will be right there. Is she going to run . I have no idea. Host Hillary Clinton, elizabeth tweet. 2016 from this and we have this tweet. Is different than clinton and carter. He is a transformational politician. He has change this country in ways that we can never go back. Has i think in 2012 at the convention, president clinton made the argument for president obama that publicly in clintonian terms. But at the end of the eight years, we will look back and say if we haveve three more years of similar Economic Growth, i think people will think very highly of president obama. Host this book, the new democrats and the return to power, is al froms autobiography and the history of the Democratic Party. Al from has been our guest. Thank you for being on our show. We have one more segment coming up this morning. A chance to go through the newspapers and for you to talk about whatever issue is on your mind. You can see host we will be back to take your calls and go through some more newspapers after this news update from cspan radio. Benefits dropped by 42,000 last week. 330,000. That is the biggest drop since november of 2012. Economists caution the figures from late november and december are warped by seasonal volatility around the thanksgiving, christmas, and new years holidays. Hiring has been healthy for the past four months. The economy added 2004000 jobs every month from august through november. An improvement from earlier this year. Americans who answered a new new years eve poll rate their own experience in 2013 more positively than negatively. 32 said 2013 was the better your for them than 2012. 20 say it was worse. 46 say they were really about the same. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. Whats going on today comes down to two words, and theyre not my two words. Fundamental transformation. Those are obamas words. And i ask a couple of questions. When you look at the constitution and the power of the president , does the president have the power to fundamentally transform america . Of course not. Why would you want to fundamentally transform america . That means you dont like america very much, do you . That means you dont like capitalism, private Property Rights very much. That means you dont like our constitutional system very much. When you keep hearing this fundamental transformation, change is hard, we need more time for change, you need to understand this is a direct attack on our constitutional system. Thats what hes talking about. Thats what he means. Next sunday, bestselling author, lawyer, Reagan Administration official, and radio personality mark levin will take your calls and questions in depth, live for three hours starting at noon eastern. Book tvs in depth, the first sunday of every month on cspan2. If youre a middle or high school student, cspans student cam video competition wants to know what is the most important Issue Congress should address next year. Make a five to sevenminute video and be sure to include cspan programming for your chance to win the grand prize of 5000, with 100,000 in total prizes. The deadline is january 20. Get more info at studentcam. Org. Washington journal continues. 2025853881 for republicans. 2025853880 for democrats. 2025853882 for independents. Utside the area, 2025853883 we will be talking about policy issues. From the front page of the wall street journal. Republican leaders and their corporate allies have launched an array of efforts host that is one front page story in the wall street journal. And here is one more. This is out of switzerland. Host they cannot do their jobs effectively. That is just a few paragraphs of a much longer article. Today thisusa morning. Host open phones. We want to hear what you are thinking and what is on your mind these days. Sally from fort lauderdale. Hi, sally. Caller Elizabeth Warren was mentioned. For me to move over an a new change my voting if she ran, i would vote for her. She is a breath of fresh air. Shes the only one who seems to care about wall street and about the mischief that goes on there day in and day out. I wanted to speak on behalf of the small obese they go public. The government is talking about how they love Small Business and they support Small Business. But it stops at the door of the publicly traded companies. They allow them to be shorted and allow the Big Companies to not lend to them. The banks do not help them. Years ago the banks would lend to them and now they do not. It is seems they do not want new wcooperation ne competition. Host you are calling on the republican line and youre advocating Elizabeth Warren. Caller i am advocating that the Republican Party do something about the mischief on wall street. Host ok. Are you a Small Business owner . Caller no, but i am an investor. The investing public has diminished. There is only about a fifth of us left who will invest in Small Companies. These Small Companies create jobs and lower the trade deficit. The republicans and democrats do not care about the subject. This is what i am talking about it. She is on the Banking Committee and she is very concerned about Small Businesses. The point is to go on and gush about how we protect Small Business. But neither do it one of them care about the ones, these bio text to go public that have died. I could tell you stories about companies that had things scientifically that have been killed by having to get loans from hedge funds who were toxic lenders and who ended up shorting the stocks to get more shares. We need the sec to take some responsibility for not allowing host thank you for calling and. This is karen from st. Petersburg, democrat. Caller hi. Host we are listening. Caller i am calling about the cuts that have been made to food stamps. I had read that obama had said he was willing in dealing with the republicans and willing to cut Social Security to compromise the deal with the republicans in passing certain bills. How are they able to sit up there and make cuts to food stamps, Social Security, from the people that are the poorest of the poor people . And yet they are giving money to corporations, corporate welfare. , i had read they had given away millions of dollars to five different corporations. They are already filthy rich. I do not understand. Why are they giving millions of dollars to them . Why dont they start giving that money way instead of cutting programs for the people that are already poor . That is what i want to know. Host this is alicia from maryland on our independent line. Caller good morning. Peter, right . Nice to talk to you again. Listeners. Cspan this has been boiling in my head for some time now. Doingent obama is not what is right with this obamacare, what he calls obamacare. This is what he has done. Lived in areas where there is hardly any medical care that they can get. So therefore they have to contract to other city areas or town areas where the doctors are. In now what president obama has done is he does not to pay for those contracts that the people do, like the doctors and so forth. And so that went to the Supreme Court and the indians won and said that you have to pay the contractors for the services they do on the indian, with the indians. Host can you bring this to a conclusion . Caller i am sorry i am taking too long. Ok, youeme court said have to pay the contractors for the service they rendered to the indians. However, president obama says we will pay but we will not pay all of it. How do like that . Ont next call is from utah a republican line and this is peter. Caller hello. I am concerned about the tea party and the lobbyists influence on the Republican Party. With the newing tax policy and i was concerned with the 62 billion dollars that was taken from the sequester. It seems like the republican oney and the tea partiersr us to go over the cliff. It is terrible. Cspan, theythat matchingng to stop the of corporations with our Social Security. Policy ise tax purposely directed to have the cuts from Social Security and medicare. I think it is important for everybody to get rid of these iers and not let the republicans have the house or senate. The majority should come out and i think they have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to vote for this new bill. They have guided the sequester gutted the sequester and a bit irresponsible. Host frank in orlando. What is on your mind . Caller good morning. I am listening to all these people knocking down the tea party. Mainstream media does that a lot. They are once trying to protect our constitution. The democrats sure aint doing it. I am a democrat. These guys here are making government so big with all their agencies. They talk about helping the economy. But yet they have that website for obamacare and they spent the money in canada. How does that help us . You do any work in orlando . Caller i am retired. Host from what . Caller i was a meat cutter. I have lived here since 1953. Host thank you for calling in. Times thisshington morning. Host marked the scalia from clemens, ohio, independent line m aric is calling in. Caller thank you for taking my call. I believe there will not be a change until we reform immigration. You will see an entire staff of immigrants. No americans. Entire staff of immigrants. I know some people who work with these people. Most of them say their documents are not legal. They pay a certain amount of money and somebody fakes these documents for them. I would like to agree with a couple of ladies who called in about we need a breath of fresh air. Hillary clinton is not what we need. The Democratic Party is brainwashing us presently saying Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton. Another person who i feel she is entitled to be our president. Host who would you like to see run . Caller i do not know. I did not vote for either one of the candidates in the previous election. Host did you not vote . Caller i voted for the support systems, senators and policies and things like that. None of them said anything that i liked. Host tell us a bit about yourself. What should we know about you . Caller i am and black american. I am not africanamerican. I was born here. I have never been to africa. I am a black american. I am a marine corps veteran. Worked all my life in ohio. Public servant. I do not know what else you on the to say. Host tell us about yourself politically. Who have you voted for in the past . Caller i voted for reagan, clinton. I voted all over. I vote for who i feel will best represent the United States of america. Ok . I called independent because i feel i am independent. I do not listen to the rhetoric that a lot of people have to say about this person or that person. I will make my own mind. I will continue to vote. Host what do you think of your governor, john kasich . Caller i didnt vote for him either. He is pretty much messing that up, too. He is no track record of where the money that has been allocated to this program is going. Everybody who was joined or tried to get services have failed. This country right now is only for rich folks, in my opinion. That is by president obama raising the tax base to 400,000. I dont know anybody who makes 400,000. That is what he is going to make when he gets out of office. I basically do not trust anybody in power. We need some new people up there. I do not know who they are going to be. It seems everybody is full of rhetoric. I do not know. Host thank you for your time. George is calling from florida on our republican line. Caller hi. Good morning. We have major problems which have not been addressed. The massive debt we have and the unemployment. Charlie rose interviewed the outgoing president of chile a few weeks ago on bloomberg and asked him why his country was so successful in attracting business and creating jobs. Basically they take their Social Security money and invest it. Everybody has a financial advisor. We have state licensed independent Financial Advisers and we have people who sell funds. The Senate Finance committee, subcommittee on Social Security and pensions was on cspan i think last week. They talked about this issue. Came to some conclusions. We need to educate these people more on how to invest their money. We do have auto involvement or some other function to continue to put money in, starting very early in peoples career. And stand equities but take care of the people who fall through the crocs. Cracks. Host thank you, george. 620,000 trees to honor every casualty of the civil war, is the headline. Host that is in usa today this morning. Kathy is calling from buffalo, new york. What is the policy issued on your mind . Caller good morning. I would like to make three brief statements in a solution to poverty. Wages. Rid of minimum a lot of them are of lower level education. If they were to be paid over one or dollars for our from jobs, the need for government subsidies would be decreased. The National Budget deficit will become balance and it would not be on the backs of our children when they become adults. Host randy from louisiana. What is on your mind . Caller yes, sir. There was a lady who called on the republican line talking about wall street. She nailed it on the head. The independent black man from ohio or chicago, that is a real lack american right there. He nailed it on the head, too. He told just like it was. Give those for people that might make this country better. What you have here, you have democrat Republican Party that does not want a third party in there. They are a bunch of communists. Out. Got their hand it is a shadow government. Eisenhower nailed it on the head. If you can stay away from the military industrial complex, youll be doing good. This place is being run by the military industrial complexes after eisenhower got out. That is one reason they killed kennedy. It is terrible. The people are being had by this government. Host randy from shreveport. This is duke from South Carolina, republican line. Hi, duke. Caller i appreciate hearing from the comments from some of the callers. Everybody seems to be right on time. I have a few objectives i would like to share. And of course i am writing a book. I am fed up with a lot of things. I wanted people to know that i am part native american import africanamerican, part caucasian american. I feel that america today, we need term limits because the gentleman before me, he spoke about washington is out of control. The plutocrats are controlling washington, not the American Peoples. The elected people go to watched and they become triplets characters instead of public servants. We need a National Health care plan that is affordable to all americans. We need a national lottery. We do put restrictions on the lottery might that goes out to other countries, around the world. America has a 17 trillion deficit right now and it is outrageous. We need a unification party. I would like to see mitt romney get one more thing at this get one more chance at this thing. The speech about Martin Luther king. It was someplace at the religious university in virginia. I love that speech that he made. He is a genuine man. No man is perfect. Everyone has an opportunity to make their money. Host tell us about yourself. Caller i am a vietnamera vet. I was drafted out of mississippi to go to the cotton fields in vietnam. I was fortunate enough not to go to the arena. I feel we need to bring back the military draft. I worked with radio and sales before. True dedicatedm a america. South carolina host what do you think about your governor . Caller i believe in term limits. I do not believe that a democrat will have a chance at it. I think too much time and money is being wasted on the reelection process. Host what do you think of Lindsay Graham . Caller Lindsey Graham is a good man. I do believe possibly the conservative republicans in theh carolina as well as tea party will unite around him to make sure he keeps his position. Tim scott is the first africanamerican u. S. Senator ever and from the state of South Carolina. The tea party helped put an end there. They got nikki haley to governor. Party through nikki haley, put tim scott u. S. Senator, first u. S. Senator in office. Are you still with me . Host we are still here. Caller in the last 100 years, tim scott was elected congressmen, congressman from charleston, South Carolina. I have been trying to figure out where the tea party is coming from. I am African American, native american and caucasian american. Host thank you for spending some time with us this morning. Detroit and here is tina. You are on the washington journal. Caller good morning. How are you . I have been listening to the Republican Party. They have been talking about thisbig they are doing to gain africanamericans and latinos to the party. I would like to know what makes them think we are coming . I would like to know that. Host what is it about the republicans that does not attract you . Their whole message. Is not inclusive for me. And as a woman, i really feel that they are just outside the norms. They havent caught up to the millennium or something. Party that isve a so out of touch that they are itng women to literally is in their party platform. We all know that what is written down matters. They state we should have those f incestuous behavior. Some of these things they suggest are not inclusive to women, to africanamericans, or latinos. What i need a republican to tell me, what message are they bringing that includes me in their america . Host how long have you been in detroit and how is life like in detroit . Caller i have been in detroit a majority of my life. Detroit is a city that is rebuilding. We have had some good, strong people here. We recently elected a new mayor. Him . Host did you vote for a white guy. Is that a big deal . Does that matter . Caller no. Host why did you vote for him . Change in myt a city. I want a change for our never hurts. I do not care too much about all of the downtown ventures. Are nottown ventures what held us together. In was our neighborhood. The good people in our neighborhood. We rallied on our own. Had run dave bing again, would you vote for him . Caller i did not vote for him in the first place. There were a lot of us that did not vote for dave bing. A lot of us did not vote for kilpatrick. Not likelywho are illiterate and we do have our facts straight. We believe in math and science. Host what do you do in detroit . Caller i am a scale house operator where are way in big trucks and i drive a school bus. Host do you drive for the detroit Public Schools . Caller no. I drive for a contractor, a vendor. We service those schools and other districts also. Host youre a largescale what is that . Caller they are called gravel trains. Lers with about 150k on them. They are big trucks. I work with all types of guys, republicans, democrats, independents. They are all good guys. They stand by each other. They know what it is to make a dollar. They are some strong, good men. Host thank you for your time this morning. I have to get to another call. I appreciate hearing your story. Linda in South Carolina, myrtle beach. Caller hi. I just wanted to say, this Democratic Party is not my fathers Democratic Party. I was 18 and registered as a democrat because he was a democrat. I am 70 years old now. I mostly have voted republican. I have voted for some democrats but mostly republicans. These democrats, this day and rudest he crudest, i cannot even describe them. And another thing that ticks me off is i believe in what the tea party believes. I am not a member of the tea party. In Tea Party Just believes Smaller Government and lower taxes. Host with senator graham coming up for reelection in facing a primary, are you going to support senator graham or his opponent . Caller there are some things i liked about senator graham. But recently there are some things he has done that i am not happy about. Sometimes i wonder if he is a republican or democrat. So i am not sure what i am going to do about that. Jump and getto this last call in. Mike from arizona, republican. You are the last word. Caller good morning. I would like to talk about the black american. I like what he had to say. My advice, he doesnt vote for a particular person. He doesnt have a complaint and he should make a choice. So he does have an opinion. His stand. Ud him for host you got 20 seconds. Caller the Affordable Care act. I which people would stop using theacare and using Affordable Care act. everybody uses latino, i think the Republican Party and the democrats need to figure that out because we are all the same, but we are different. Host all right, mike, we will have to leave that as the last word. Thank you to everybody who participated in our conversation today. We will see you tomorrow. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]