Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On When Men Betray 20140803

A few people have read and if you havent. The character in the book swears he will never come back to little rock ever again. Thats one of the mysteries in the book that you hopefully will learn why he never came back, swore he would never come back and thats why he never came back. But he is forced to come back to little rock to defend his best friend from high school who has just murdered by u. S. Senator in the capitol rotunda, that you probably can see from here. So thats what when men betray is about. Its i think a fun book, and its a fun but because id so much fun writing it. I want to give you a little bit of background of why i wrote it, how i got into this. It really is another story of what i say in the book is that you cant plan life. You just run into it. And in my case, about four years ago i had a liver transplant. It was very traumatic, didnt think i was going to make it. And when i did i told my kids and my wife agreed with me, that we would do something i really wanted to do. So we moved to charlotte, able to live close to one of my kids and our three grandchildren. And i started writing fiction books. I have written a nonfiction before, and i learned why nonfiction versus fiction. Fiction, you can use your imagination and nobody gets offended when you write about it. When i wrote nonfiction, you could call somebody a gorgeous brunette, dont be offended saying im a blonde, you know, or worse. So i learned very quickly how much fun i had in writing the book. I believe that probably everybody in this room has got a novel in them, maybe more than one. At least in my case, i hope so. Inviting those novels, i guess every author writes it differently. Some people ask me, that i have outlined . The answer is no. I never wrote, i didnt do an outline. In fact, i had no idea how its going to end when i started writing. I always had in my mind i wanted to write a story about four boys in high school been good friends, and then much later in their life finding themselves in a situation where they were pitted against each other, and how did the friendship, the old friendship they had, how did that how could they handle that if they were pitted against each other in a later series of circumstance. And believe me, somebody on trial ultimately facing the Death Penalty is a pretty serious circumstance. And so those four boys all play a role in the book. I hope you will all read. So i begin to write this book. I was having a good time writing the book. Ultimately, by the way, the book if you go by, is about half of what i wrote. Because the editors took it all, you know, killed a lot of little babies that were in the first version. But when i started to write it, the characters started writing themselves. After i got about halfway through the book, they took over the story. And one of the principal characters as you can see from the cover, so not revealing too much, its kind of hard to talk about the book when most of you havent read it. Its a thriller and its a michigan i dont want to give away the end. So but, Jack Patterson who is the lawyer who swore he would never come back to little rock, he started telling me thats not in keeping with the personality im supposed to have. And so everyday i would start writing, the way i would survive is i would go over about the last six to 10 pages and make a little change. Then i felt like i was getting into the flow of the book and started writing again. At a certain point in the book jack says, youve got me flirting with the wrong girl last night on 10 and when men betray again and when men betray youve got me flirting with the wrong girl. At least i a getting to know my own characters better and better, and was enjoying the characters more. I felt like i was being more honest with the characters, and they were being more honest with me. Ultimately, i had to get to the end. And as my wife knows, she hates books that dont have a good ending. And such is going to be my toughest critic. So i had to figure out how i was going to end it that would satisfy her. If i could satisfy her, i felt like i would have a good book, you know . So ultimately the characters themselves started to develop on their own, and i hope when you read it you will find that, you may not agree with the ending, if there i isnt ending. I wont even tell you that. But the process itself for everyone of us who write is different. But i would recommend it to everyone. If you can have as much fun writing a book as i did, then its all worthwhile. I can tell you ive had for the last three years after this transplant some of the best time of my life. Writing this book, and what several people have asked me, what is your daily schedule . I get up because of the transplant i workout in the morning, and then i write several blogs. I write those in the morning. Unlike the character in the book that has to get rid of all the gnats and flies before it gets down to writing the principal book, and so after lunch everyday i would sit down and start to write a book like i said. Some people do it differently. They do the biggest project first everyday. I do the exact opposite. I get rid of the littlest stuff because they bug me. Just the way i am. A lot of you will recognize some personalities in this book. Now, i wont say you will recognize the people because most of them are not just one person. And thats the beauty of fiction. Is you get a chance to create characters that are a merger of personalities of people you need. I think every author who writes, its partially biography. Partially your life youre putting on paper, but in the duty of fiction is that you get to expand on that. How did you an example without giving away the story, is i talk a lot about barbecues. One of my favorite things, obviously. I love coming back to little rock because i can go all over the country. The best barbecue is right here, Central Arkansas. Some of my Favorite Places were the shack, the old shack, huds is still here trenches is still there. I was telling him and car they have the best pie in america. I dont know if you all remember them but they also have great barbecue. He also got to go to the place where elvis used to stop in every came to town. And then there was an item if you all remember sims. Thats the difference. Some barbecue places have it on bonds and some places have it on white bread and some have a little more. My barbecue is the best of the best in the book, and its in a place called sims. I think youll enjoy the character. But one of the reasons theres barbecue in the book is because i love it so much. One of the reasons theres barbecue in the book is because Central Arkansas to me has the best barbecue. When it comes to people, there have to be some bad guys in this book. You cant have industry or thriller. So none of those were anybody i know. [laughter] but theres a few personnel is that your from people i knew that are part of the book and are real and are characters, and the same for little rock. I did, obviously the book is set in little rock. It didnt start out that way. I wrote a whole 780 pages with a fictional city and a fictional state. That was a mistake. It was really, i mean, i wrote based on my own experiences so it clearly came from little rock, came from arkansas, came from Central Arkansas. And the publisher, the first thing he said when he got the vote is you can have fictionalized places, but youve got to have a real city. Youve got to have a real state. So that was an easy shift to me, and im glad i did. I think its a better book because of this. Although i left in some fictionalized places in it. I refer to the hotel called the arbitrage. And you might recognize the hotel a little bit because i call it a place that used to be a former house of ill refute thats not a famous hotel in little rock, but most of you wouldnt know that. That it might have a little bit of analogy to a current hotel. But against the characters, and we will talk about this more because at some point i have to stop this and do what i enjoy most, and thats how the conversation with you. Thats the way this whole thing is built, a conversation with webb hubbell. And right now its only a one way conversation. It is pure fiction though. One of the other things you may ask or be interested in, as you read, the school that the boys went to is at least a college is called stafford state, and there is the stafford state in little rock, no stafford state in arkansas. So i did that for a lot of good reasons. One being several of the church in the book are not so nice and anybody who went to arkansas with me is perfect. It was great. So i want to make sure that nobody thought i was talking about them. One of the things i hope you get out of the book, and then well get on to questions, is that i wanted to talk about growing up in the south. I think thats important, because, and especially i wanted to talk about some issues that were important to me. One of those issues is pray. As my wife says, you cant judge people based on current values. You cant base their actions along time ago on current values. When we grew up in the south, or at least when i grew up in the south, certain words were said, some things were done that we would be appalled at today. Should have been appalled at back then, but we dont judge people at least i dont believe we judge people based on current values for things they did back then. So thats one of the things i talk about. I talk about also, as you can imagine, because a document for boys growing up, friendship and how friendships to me or something that you can, i have friends today. I saw them over the last two days. Havent seen in years, and you can all of us would walk into a room with them and this lady was only a moment ago. Thats what friendship is about. Its about knowing people and having a relationship with people. Youd need to talk to them everyday for them to be friends. You can have friendships that last a lifetime, but you can be separated for years and decades but still be friends. I talk a lot about loyalty, issues of loyalty. And in this book theres a big issue about an ability cross over that line from real loyalty and blind loyalty. Loyalty that shouldnt exist. I talk of course about the thing thats a very personal to me, thats forgiveness, how important forgiveness is. And i hope you get these out of this. You might just enjoy the story, and thats fine with me, because i like the story, too, but i think its a plot of the book is about forgiveness, a lot. How can a man who has just murdered a u. S. Senator, how can society ever forget him . Is that possible . Im not going to give away the plot, maybe they can. Its certainly a question that we need to evaluate. And then, clearly because of involved in politics a lot, although every time i was ever involved in politics it was like running into that wall. Didnt plan it. It just showed up. I was in the right place at the right time, or sometimes the wrong place at the wrong time. But politics a lot of times is influenced by money. We talk about that all of it in the book. Its got a lot of plot, a lot of things. But most of all it was fun. I hope that everyone of you who reads it will think its fun, will enjoy the story. It moves pretty quick. When you got it from 780 pages down to the midthree hundreds, it moves a little quicker. They were right about that, the editors were right about that. So with that, why dont we start with questions . Dan has a microphone because we are filming this. So if you want to be on tv, or if you dont want to be on tv will figure out another way to do this. But im going to come down so i feel like its more of a conversation, if thats okay with yall. Is that okay with yall . Have a little bit of water by pressuring somebody ask a question. Whos going to be first . Come on. How did you find a publisher . Thats a very good question. Because it wasnt easy. I had a book in 1997 that was a semiautobiographer over it was about my life in politics up until that point. And i had an agent. I was very fortunate to get just an agent. So i went back to the agent and he worked with me in getting the book ready to go to a publisher. He couldnt sell it. We went from Publishing House to Publishing House, and they all said, either webb is too controversial, or they might say this is his first fiction, we dont do first fiction, or they might say we already have a legal thriller author so were not going to take a psycho and. They have great excuses. All made me feel good in the rejection, but i was rejected each time. So after three months, four months, my agent said, webb, i cant sell it. So im going to recommend that you publish it yourself. So i spent about a month learning the selfpublishing business, which is a really complex field, if youve ever tried to do it your talked to a lot of friends about whats involved, and was about ready to go when a friend of mine, just out of good luck, said you ought to talk to eric who is the publisher of my book. Because he owns a day shooting company that distributes books for other publishers. And so i called eric, and eric said, webb, i know who you are. I find hard to believe they wouldnt buy your book, but i will walk you through selfpublishing, and so i started a conversation with him. And when did he said, why dont you send me your book . So i can better advice you. And i sent him coming two days later, he said i finished the book and the want to publish it. [applause] so one of the true heroes is eric kaufman, my publisher, whos taking the risk, you know, of this process. And admittedly ive learned a lot about this. Those of you all who are interested in publishing, their world is upside down. Publishers, ebooks has gotten confused. Because over 40 of the books now are sold, are sold on the internet, kindle and nook and things of that sort. You can also instant print. You dont take the gamble like we used to of all do a first run of 5000, and if we dont sell them we just take the loss. Instead, they can print lower runs and then if people are interested they can just keep renting. I havent figured out yet, maybe someone can tell me, was a true First Edition if you can instantly print . But thats a question for another day. Im not worried yet if someone wanted you to know a thing i want a First Edition of webb hubbell and will pay 10,000 for it. But if you get one, get one from the bookstore, and i signed it, it will be a First Edition webb hubbell, and one day your grandchildren or greatgrandchildren may have something, i dont know. I dont know. Thank you for your question. Questions . Jack patterson is my favorite character in the book, and i would like to know if, when men betray becomes a movie, who would you want to play Jack Patterson . One of the problems with that question is that i dont know if the names of these young movie stars that are out there. [laughter] mine are communism our heroes were Robert Redford and harrison ford, and they are too old to play Jack Patterson, so who would you like to see . [inaudible] i really dont, i would be so lucky as to have that problem, and i would be glad to have it. [inaudible] you said that youd written a nonfiction, and i know that you have, but you have always thought about writing fiction . Because i find that fiction is just as hard to write as nonfiction. It is more fun, but it is a difficult to write. So which do you prefer, and had you thought about writing fiction earlier in your life . Well, i was a lawyer so we wrote fiction all the time. [laughter] but every brief filed was pure fiction, you know, but yes, i guess, i mean one thing about nonfiction is you know the facts, you do your research, usually you can follow a timeline. So that part is easy. I always felt like i wanted to tell a story. I dont know why, and thats why i felt like it was so much more fun. And now that ive started it, i wouldnt do it. The other part was when i mentioned is that when you write nonfiction and you write about any individual, i found that most people dont like what people say about them coming even if you say they are great. Theres just something of people dont like to read it, except in washington, d. C. As you know, in washington, d. C. , i dont know if you know about this, every book thats published on the back of the book is a glossary of who is mentioned in the book. And so as soon as the book comes out in washington, d. C. , and nonfiction, theres a mad rush to the bookstores and they go to the back. They dont read the book. They dont read the cover. They look to see where their name is, and its got a page number and then hell go to the page number. If theyre not in the book, they leave. Theres a bunch that might bite, maybe not. We had a good good friend, a wonderful friend, and in my nonfiction i wrote about him. Bob was the funniest guy ive ever met in my life. He was a hoot, and i wrote about bob in the book. Some reason he got left out of the glossary, and he was so broken hearted, but he was the only one who was broken hearted. Thats the trade off i think in fiction versus nonfiction. Theres some Great Stories that are nonfiction. I mean fiction. Nonfiction, yeah. [inaudible] not yet. Like i said im on tv right now, and if any of you guys are interested, let me know. Anybody watching, let me know. I think its a great story. I loved the story, but partly because its about my home. Partly because its about arkansas. Arkansas has a wealth of stories and theres a wealth of storytellers in arkansas. And i think if i were a movie producer, i would come to this part of the land because its so unique and theres so much beauty here, so many personalities. It really is america. I would welcome interest from, you know, a movie guy. But at the same time i think they should come here, whether its my book or somewhere else. I think arkansas is a great place. Webb, you served the city of little rock as mayor and the state as chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Most of the publicity about you was with the clinton administration, but im wondering have you reflected on what you are really pleased with and accomplishments as mayor or as chief justice . And as any of that come into play in the book . Thank you, roger. It does and i think a lot of the stories are really more from that time period. Ill give you a couple examples i can without revealing, and then i want to make one other comment. One is we are seeing it today. When i was mayor was when we first started developing the publicprivate, whatever, partnership on the river, started developing the river. We opened when i was mayor the first Riverfront Park over in little rock. And look what it is today. One of the great things i like about coming back, look at what both cities have done with their river and how it has developed on i mean this, i am so proud of north little rock, what theyve done, and so proud of little rock and what theyve done. In my last lawsuit before it went to washington i represented the Audubon Society in trying to keep riverfront drive from becoming a thorough way. And instead its not got the big bridge. So that was something im very proud of. It was the first, that was a First Development of the river, and i love it. I love what both cities have done, they county, a county judge, but he was an assistant city manager when i went on the city board. That shows how old both of us are. But we were talking about that even back then. Thats one of those. The best time i ever had, until i started writing books, was that time on the Supreme Court. I love being on the Supreme Court. I went from, i was on the cd were at the time and i would average about 150, 200 phone calls a day of people having zoning issues or whatever, and its a nonpaying job back then. I think it probably still doesnt pay very much. I went from that to the Supreme Court or even my lawyer friends it was like i went on, went into a monastery with seven other guys, six other guys, some of them were a little strange. [laughter] and all of a sudden i was doing nothing but reading and writing, and it was and i think it did help me write this book. It trained me a little bit. And i hope i didnt write fiction when i was a judge. I hope it was a little better than fiction. May be nonfiction than. More questions please. What writers influenced you, what do you like to read . I went to a scifi thing last weekend and the author said his Favorite Book of all time zones lonesome dove, and i never wouldve expected that. Growing up, i think like a lot of us growing up, to kill a mockingbird was a major influence on my life. Still is. Still think robert penn warrens book about louisiana politics is still one of the great political novels of all time. But now i enjoy theres a great mystery writer from canada, she is wonderful. I recommend her to anybody. Youve usually on an airplane or beach i read really trashy novels. And if those gained from those anything every now and then i read some nonfiction that i like a lot. I read a lot about the Supreme Court. I would say you can hermaphrodite the. Almost more than i would say you need to write every day. I adore check paper said. He reminds me enough a lot of views. And i will leave that alone for this call gingers maps. Jack patterson is not me. But theres always a little bit in every character. Jack patterson moved to little rock in high school. I moved to little rock in high school. From memphis, like Jack Patterson. Of those per searcher. The first day of school for africanamericans came to school. That is all i can tell you about that. That was based on truth. I think every book, every care to, you know somebody like that and they think when you are writing your hero or in this case he is the narrator of the story, theres got to be a little bit of truth in that. But i know i may camelot. And i am. So anyway. Talk about writing thats a relief to loving to write verses writing to make money and visit either or, has to be both or can only be one. Do you understand the question . Yeah, yeah. You know there is a way to write that is going be more sellable whether it makes money or not i am on this book tour to try and make money not that its been published. But if wishes were fishes, i would love to just write intended out to the publishers note a book tour, although that is not fair to the people who read my book because they want to know why you came up with the scared tears. I am learning more about books two and three on this book tour already been doing anything at done in a long time. Im ready to write gingersnaps based on things that this book is out. Some people say i really like that but i wish he would do this. I dont want to please them, but i want to learn from it and listen to people and that this kind of why were having this conversation is to find out what did you like, what did you not like . Its like playing football. I always come back to football, but i peered you can win the game where you can lose the game, but you always learn from the game and that is what i am trying to do here. Listen, the other thing is we dont have to always talk about the work. If you want to talk to everything else, we certainly can. [inaudible] well, im interested in some of the writing projects you are doing currently because i know you are doing a few different things, right . Im also thinking about how they are starting to overlapping your mind is starting to crisscross a little bit. When that is definitely starting to crisscross as i write his daily meditation five days a week call up the kempe . It was not my son. It he can during lent i wanted to do some positive beside giving up cookies. So i started writing a meditation every day during lent. And i told my sister whos here and some other people about it and out to be kind of a family thing. And then in 2004, my uncreated leblanc. So after my transplant i started writing and its just a great list or morning. And it cometh some of the things they try to develop in book one and looked to, certainly in this book about forgiveness, other themes in the vote kind of creep into what i write in the book. The same thing with the clouds its report on which i write twice a month, which is actually witness the nexus between parts and politics. I am not politics guy. And theres a lot of great, great writers go to the claude fayette street port. Com. Some of the best writers ive ever read around the world. Not me. Some of the others. I write about a law and politics in some of the themes about politics have now started creeping in to the books i write. So i think part of it is that you are learning to express yourself on paper. You know, as a lawyer i express myself on the wall, but it was very tight and pull a nonlearn to express myself better the more i write. Wrote two books read in a little bit in book one and hopefully put 10. I really hope so. That is a great question. Thank you. Other questions . Come on. Fitch. Clyde fitch report. Com. Its really got some great writing. Yes. [inaudible] it gives me something to do. In writing youve got to think about who you are and who your carrier is sorry and how they should behave or shouldnt behave. How they should react to certain situations. And it causes you to think about how you would be and maybe become a better person. It is hard work. I dont want to say that its not just because i am having a ball doing it. I am exhausted at the end of the day when im doing it here but i feel like everyday i am becoming a little bit better person. Maybe putting forth some of these tests because most fiction, including when men betray. I think thats one of the reasons we love to read so much. People love to read because they put themselves in the same place these characters are unmasked themselves, how would you react if you were Jack Patterson in your best friend just murdered somebody. Would you leave . Would you go down and help him or would you shake your head and say i cant believe it. Did you just see you just delete it . Humor alert russell. And when his part is telling him, we dont want you to go down there. Youre right. Im not going to get close. Or would she be put to test and go down. Everyone put their cells and no shoes. That is the beauty of fiction and the beauty of reading. What would you do if you faced these dilemmas that i put the characters and quiet so that is the work and the fun. Quick question. At her book tour, tell us a little bit about the prices of what thats all about. I will say it is a little different. When i get the nonfiction in this case the publisher took the boat. They told you where to go, where to show up, what youre doing. This one is to some extent self design because i have a son in dallas and two daughters in new orleans and all my friends here at work. So next week i am going to new york with a big book expo is. Ive never been and i am looking forward to it he could they understand they give out free books. So im going to get the free books in the next week will be in charlotte or new home in a good friend of ours is having a signing enemy. In the library just say this, which by the way, i love libraries. I love the fact, by the way, let me digress for a minute. In charlotte they are talking about shutting down libraries. North carolina is a progressive state court used to be. You should be proud of it. You really should be proud of it because libraries are a vital part of the community. They really are. What you are doing is really great. So i was doing a there as well, one of few that is still open. And then im going to washington d. C. Were still have a few friends. Ill put on some body armor. And kind of sneak and sneak out. Im going to also see my doc is for my annual physical. But a good friend is having a book signing and then im going to dallas to see my son, do a couple they are. And then im going to do nor relents the next weekend to see my daughter in both places arrange for sightings of the bookstores there. At least we get to see our kids. I was telling the guys that cspan want to try to get a little bookstore. I dont know if you know its history. Some of you will do. For those of you who dont know that, there is a little bookstore in arkansas, deal to bookstore that had a book signing for john gracia won his first book came out. And so he comes back to it for every book, even though married they sold it, and sure he still coming back to honor that little bookstore in arkansas. So i hope that answers your question. Im having a lot of fun traveling. It is a little tiring, especially when they put you on booktv especially at seven in the morning. You already get to sleep income is sided die. I dont understand whats going on nowadays. There is a little bit of a mystery in your book about why you had little rock and when it came out, it is very disturbing to me. Was that the only option . As a writer, did you come up with different scenarios as you are of a kidnap plot . Without telling the story, i dont want you to know. I can say that that was the right option and a know it is disturbing, but that was the right story to tell them thats all it can really say. So you all read the book and figure out what it is. Of washington politics, what we are there in the 90s, we had differences with trent lott and top dole and others, but things got worked out. Do you have any comments about how things worked then, versus how they are working now . Ive got a lot to say about that, but im not sure we would have to turn off the cameras they think. Yeah. I mean, i dont understand it. I do understand why we cant get along as human beings. As lawyers, when i used to practice law, we battled each other in that we would all go have a drink together. I understand in congress that is what used to happen. Ted kennedy and leading republicans would at least get together after hours and work things out. I think we are in big trouble if we are no longer civil with each other. I have seen year after year after year, less ability. And i think moneys got a lot to do with it. I think money has creeped in to our politics to the extent that that is the only voice thats been heard. Its going to be up to us as citizens to somehow take that to either speak out with a vote, speak out with the voices and say we are not going to pick up the slack of civility and were not going to elect people. Either party will not be civil with the other side. But i have diverting a little bit. My personal opinion is civility is gone. I dont see it. I dont see it in the campaign. I think i wrote about this recently. We just dont get along anymore. In the campaigns ive gotten so ugly that i dont know how to put it, but we just dont seem to get along anymore. And these ads are so ugly a roadside. I will say and i said this if you listen to a negative ad, theres always someone truth in it. It is never totally true. There is always deception from either side. I would like to see somebody run and get elected who said this is why you should vote for me, not why you should vote against the other person. Go ahead. I have one question. You just talked about john gracia going up to the bookstore there. We will call that the christian agreement. Coming out with depend on you coming back to Lehman Library every time you release about . [applause] im happy to say you now have a Lehman Library agreement. [applause] webb, you said you dont start your day without the hubble po and i cant start my day without the hubble po. So those of you who have not started it, i highly recommend it. It is a spiritual way to get your day started. It is spiritual. It is not religious. Believe me. I would like for you to think it is more spiritual. I think everyone should begin a day, whether its meditation, or some kind of quiet to start their day. That is the whole point of it to begin your day in a little bit of quiet. We dont have a lot of quiet free time anymore. The internet has taken that away from us and i am as guilty as the next. I find myself turning on the computer way too much. [inaudible] youve got to finance your campaign julie seward dots on the status of cant even find the thing. Im having the diminishing faith and elected officials because they are mostly political prostitutes. I dont think there is a quick fix and i dont think those who believe we are going to overturn some of the Supreme Court decisions in the near future is going to happen. Its not going to happen. One thing that can be done if the next day and age, we can know who is giving the money in a matter of seconds. But for some reason, we still have antiquated laws where you file a brief word 60 days after the money is received. So when youre elect people a lot of times, you dont know who is giving them. So one quick fix with b2 have 24 hour disclosure. The campaign get money. Within 24 hours its got to be disclosed in its got to be full disclosure. If its a nonprofit, who belongs, who owns a . Who is funding it . What does he really stand for . In this day of 24 hour 24 hour media, the press can put you up there in 25 seconds. We had to be able to at least know who is buying this and who is not. That would be my first fix. The second one would be a much more of a longterm process, and i dont know if we are ever going to put in it under the current state of the law. So i would say its got to be almost a Grassroot Movement to say we are not going to vote for you if you take this kind of money. I know it is hard to do. Listen, this is not an easy problem and im not the one to fix it. But i would say the first thing to do would be to at least disclose who is buying it. That is the best i can do. I understand your frustration. I have been on capitol hill and instead of meeting with, instead of working out those with everybody else, when congress is out of session i go to a private room and start buying 4. Thats the only way they can stay in office. And im sure if it is in wash 10 its creeped its way into state politics as well. Im sure it has. That was the beauty. Reminiscing ,com,com ma when i ran for city board, i raised 5000 they spent 2000 they gave back 3000. So if you gave me 100, i gave you back 50 , whatever i didnt spent. I have several people who donated to me say what is this . I said i didnt need the money. I didnt spend it. They said no politician ever gives money back. So that is an old story that i enjoy telling that doesnt happen very not. I noticed in your book you not only dedicated to the deer family, but you also dedicated to george. For those of us who dont know about george. Who is george . I dedicate my book to george . I thank god for george every day in george is my liver. When i was waiting to get a transplant, the only thing they will tell you is the circumstance under which the person who died, under what circumstance they died. They dont tell you their name. And so i didnt know the name of the person who gave me this liver. So the morning i woke up from the surgery, my wife said how are you doing . I said im doing fine. George and i are doing great. And she said george . You ready major new liver . I said i guess so. And she thought and i thought and my family thought that made sense or weirdly i just came up with the name george. So after the surgery, after i knew i was going to recover, you can write a note to the family, which i did and you send it to the National Organ center and they forward the letter on. There is no contact allowed. And they can write you back. I got a letter back about three minutes later. She said youve got to sit down. The woman said thank you. Its been very difficult and im not sure i can carry on a correspondence with you, but i know george would be glad to know who got the letter. So that is who george is. [applause] said thank you, george. Thank you. [inaudible] yes, it is. I never knew jack when he was a highpowered lobbyist. But i admit george i mean jack one day when a friend of mine said he was third in the paper. He had darty pled guilty and was in the paper he was going to come to a federal prison. One of the things i have done smiles circumstances is a Council People for free who are about to go to prison about what to expect, what to go through. And so this friend put this together. So jack was naturally nervous as most people are facing going to prison. He had an interesting problem in that he is an orthodox jew and he wanted to stay kosher, which is really difficult to do in prison. I helped him. We had four or five conversation just repairing. Its easier to deal with the devil you know than the devil you dont know. I do that for a lot of people. Jack was one of them. He was appreciative. I kept writing havent prison and given him some of caisson speared when the book was about to come out, jack was on national tv. So my publisher said, who do you know who would endorse your boat . I went down the list and i said i know jack abramoff, hes from cnn. How in the world do you know him quite i told her the story. Though he read the book and read a blurb in the publisher thought that would be a good way to create some interest in the boat. So thats how i know. [inaudible] grave. That was the purpose. I think everyone in this room probably has a special bond with you and its why we are here today. I figured out you and i have been friends for almost 51 years now. I dont think ive ever heard you speak before and youre doing a great job. But when we moved our families independently moved from montgomery, alabama to little rock 51 years ago when i think it was the best thing that ever happened to us. I agree, too. But back to the book, im only halfway through. I am on one day, but i was glad to see youve been a mother in the book and its made me think of your parents and i wondered if he would comment on any influence your parents have on the boat. I miss some of them so much. Thank you, john robert. I asked elliott there is a model unlike all of the care nurse, it is a compilation of various mothers. The mother in this book is the mother of the murderer who calls jack says you owe me, come home. And he says yes, maam, which we all have probably someone in our lives who have been made that call you at showa. I think thats one of the truisms of the book is we all have somebody in our life as just got a special place in our heart we could not say no to. And if you read the book, youll see him keep saying stuff to him and he keeps saying yes, maam. But it was a compilation. After everyone has read the book, i would give you a hint as to who are the models for that care there. That character i could probably plays because shes older and i could put her in the movie and know who it was, but i could not put Jack Patterson. Younger people have to help me with that. A few more at the end. Are we doing okay timewise . Lets talk about Hillary Clinton [inaudible] well, what future . She is alive and i hope she runs and i believe that she runs she will be the next president of the united states. Webb, in your own mind have you upgraded to performance Obama Administration . We are getting a little off the book here. But i have been disappointed. First of all, he is up against a stone wall and the congress and on his legislative agenda, i blame congress a lot more than i blame him. I have been disappointed personally. This is my own personal politics in his spying on american citizens and its use of drugs to kill. That has been very disturbing to me. But that is a personal assessment. His attorney general, eric holder, as attorney general and to some of the other things he has done i have been. Bcs take about is trying to eliminate mandatory minimum and has not prosecuting lowlevel drug offenses states to legalize it. Thats very progressive. So, Foreign Policy i have a lot of problems with. Some of the things hes done in the area of spying and ive been very disappointed in. I dont know that any other president will do the same thing. I think that is one of the things that we as citizens have got to take charge because you use the Word National security and, you know, you say youre responsible for the next 9 11 if you dont do this. Congress and politicians will all run. Youve got to find a way around it. Idea back my goal, millions of copies. That sounds great to me. I promise you, my goal and i think i left in the back of the room, was just to have the boat can hold in my hand. I cant tell you what an emotional high that is to work and struggle and add it as easy as it did every of this book so she gets as much credit or more credit than i do and to actually hold in your hands. That is the emotional high you get. If it sells, thats a reinforcement on a good story, but the emotional high comes from just holding it in the hands. Yeah. [inaudible] yeah, i will sign anybodys book. [inaudible] i didnt bring any to sell. We are at a Public Library and we talked about that and they didnt want to do that. You can buy my book and now personalized and signed by going by going to their website. If you go to webb hubbell. Com, you can order it and i will send it to your personalized autographed. I cant sell them here. I understand that the library. But if you go to Webb Hubbell Buchanan out personalize it and tell me. But its also available at wordsworth, barnes and noble. They are running a low because we had a couple good days, but they are both reordering. The only reason i dont have any is i love people i wordsworth with the books i brought in the car that i brought over because they had run out. So that is where they are. But i can personalize them if you go to my website. If theres not any more questions i want to first thank mr. Hubbell for making his way to the Lehman Library. We appreciate it and were so excited excited you are here today. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] up next, Joshua Muravchik discusses why israel has gone down since the name and 57 war. He says that oil and geopolitics were to blame early on. Now the leftists and intellectual activist signed with the palestinians. This is about an hour. [applause] thank you, john. In recent days, israel has been attacked and has been compelled to take action to defend it self from attacks from gaza. This is the third time in six years. Once again, voices have been raised criticizing military operations in demonizing israel for acts of selfdefense that will be nobrainers for just about any other country in the world. This is a sad and tragic time, especially for the more than 1. 7 alien palestinians who essentially have been taken hostage by hamas and its efforts to expand its radical agenda. Were fortunate to have with us today, Joshua Muravchik, who spoke, making david into goliath how the world turned against israel seems particularly relevant to current events. Dr. Muravchik has written hundreds of major articles in u. S. Newspapers and intellectual journals on a wide array of your Foreign Policy, political and ideological topics. The author of nine previous books, including heaven on earth the rise and fall of socialism, exporting democracy, for filling american destiny and trailblazers of the arab spring, voices of democracy in the middle east. He is currently a fellow at the Foreign Policy institute at Johns Hopkins University School of advanced international studies. For many years he was at the American Enterprise institute. From 2011 to 2013, he was also a fellow at the george w. Bush and to two. He was a fellow in residence at the Washington Institute for near east policy and before that in the 1970s he was a congressional aide to representative james ohara and patrick moynihan. Joshua. [applause] thank you for coming here to hear what i have to say. I am grateful for