Assemble foreignpolicy to my extreme right, max boot, i should say he used to be to my extreme right. [laughter] only on this stage in my twoyear extreme right. Not so much anymore. He is known to all of you as a prolific writer of columns for the Washington Post in the commentator on cnn, distinguished author of biographies and books on the military, i have a personal note to add, max was my first of the wall street journal and he was the best boss i have ever had and who was a good model for me on a personal basis for that reason for many years. You will notice he will get all the easy questions today. [laughter] jim fallows, well known to all of you as a distinguished writer for the atlantic, previous incarnation he was president carters chief speechwriter for a couple of years before winning a National Book award for his book on national defense, his career has taken him all over the world, he lived and traveled extensively in china and more recently traveled extensively here in th
Wave saudi arabia, iran and the fortyyear rivalry that unleashed collective memory in the middle east. I have to say i spent the weekend reading it. I didnt quite get through but i couldnt put it down it was so interesting. If you havent read it after this evening you can get the book if you havent already but i would urge you to read it to be at its fascinating and very wellwritten and very well researched. There was a narrative thats very troubling. I would like to announce that our event with ambassador dennis ross is another expert in the middle east is unable to come to college station. Hcollege station. He had a family emergency and so kim ghattas is an awardwinning journalist and writer covered the middle east for 20 years for bbc and the financial times. She reported from iraq, saudi arabia, syria, and covered the war between israel and hezbollah earning an emmy for International News coverage. On the state department and on american politics regularly traveling with secretarie
Please welcome, james fallow, karl rove, jeff flake and bret stephens. [applause] hi there and welcome. I am and i run the political at usc. I used to be at strategist with political campaigns where i made some acquaintance with karl rove. Let me introduce this panel starting at the other end. James fallow, a longtime writer at the atlantic. He and his wife just traveled across america and produced a Remarkable Book called our towns. 1000 mile journey into the heart of america. Senator jeff flake. Author of the conscience of a conservative who didnt run for reelection in 2018 amid the trump storm in the gop. Karl rove, chief strategist for george w. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Served in the white house. Writes a column for the wall street journal and has written a fascinating book about the 1996 president ial campaign between William Mckinley and 1896. Did i say 1996 . Bret stephens, columnist for the New York Times. His book, entitled america in retreat. Which now seems quite prophetic. He
Carville, jeff flake, karl rove and Bret Stephens with your moderator bob shrum. [applause] to my right is James Carville, he led the Clinton Campaign and many campaigns before that. Next is senator jeff flake. [applause] who i now feel on becoming best friends with, the author of the conservative arrear Senate Republican to disagree with trump. Third is karl rove, the strategist for the 2000 2004 Bush Campaign and a powerful voice in the public arena in the gop and finally Bret Stephens, the New York Times columnist who recently wrote an oped entitled can anyone save the gop. Now, james has asked me if he can start this off by presenting a gift to carl go ahead. Carl writes the urine column making predictions for 2020 and his first prediction was James Carville would be happy to win the national temperature. So you are oneforone on the year and i bought you a gift, do you know who that is. That is general sherman who is the first president of l. A. Shoe and assist kicking ass from the
November. Super excited about that and i cannot tell you everything we have coming up because i want to leave room for the people we have invited to speak tonight but i want to put one thing on your radar, which is our annual radical book fair pavilion at the baltimore book festival coming up november 1 through november 3 and its an incredible lineup of people both from baltimore and from outside of the city who are coming to present their work and talk about their book and be in conversation together somberly incredible folks some really incredible folks plus a whole bunch of really awesome critical engaged scholar activists from baltimore. We will do two panels on the book baltimore revisited which is amazing contribution contribution to Baltimore City so i definitely encourage you to come down to the inner harbor even if you dont normally do come check us out in a big tent all weekend. Tonight, im excited to be introducing stuart schrader. Someone who has been a relatively recent tr