Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150101

And also, they criticized al sharpton and Jesse Jackson when Rush Limbaugh and sarah palin have said some terrible things. Those are my comments. Happy new year to everybody. Thank you. Host your take . Guest happy new year to you and everyone else in illinois. Mitch mcconnell, i think, is the senator you are referring to who said he wanted to thwart president obama at every turn and did a decent job of it. I think he did that for policy reasons. President obama is the only person that gets elected by the whole country. Im not a supporter of president obama, but you have to give him some credit. He is proving he is president , knows he is president , not giving up just because he lost the midterm. He is doing some things i do not think you should do constitutionally, but pushing his agenda at home and abroad. We cover the congress a lot in the weekly standard, but the president matters a lot. There are people saying foolish things on both sides. I think it is a legitimate question for republicans to ask, and for democrats to ask whether al sharpton is a constructive force in america or not. He has a history, statements that are all public records. It is a legitimate question. I do not think anyone is saying he can make his case. Host charlotte, North Carolina. Bernard is on the line, and he is an independent. Caller how are you doing . This is an example of a big distraction, this whole thing. The guy in congress, the white supremacist, that is typical of the system we live in. A system of white supremacy. That is the way it is. But it is the president s fault. The problem is you all think that al sharpton is in charge of the movement. He is not in charge of any movement. He is one of you all, really. So lets be real about that. That is my comment. Host i do not think it a white supremacist country. I think it is a country that elected barack obama twice. It is a country that has made amazing strides in Race Relations in the past 50 or 60 years. Im not making al sharpton leader of anything. I would be happy if he were not treated as a leader of the africanamerican unity. I think has dubious claims to both. There are more africanamericans who have done impressive things of the past 30 or 40 years. More who contributed to equality under law. People who have achieved more. I am happy to recognize them. They are in both parties. One of the distressing things, i have to say, in the last year, looking back on new years eve, i did not vote for barack obama either time. I disagree with his policies. I worry his foreign policies are getting us in deep trouble. I did think he would help further improve Race Relations in this country. I thought that would be an upside to his election. For the first two or three years, i think that was a reasonable judgment. But he has been pretty responsible and tried not to play the race card too much. I have to say, the last few months have been distressing if you really like to have it healthy, civil relations between races in this country. 99 of the time, they are healthy. And much different than they would have been half a century ago. But the degree of racial tension i think has been some of it has just happened because of incidents we could not have predicted. But some of the reactions have been unhelpful. I do worry i just wish that were not the case. It would be a shame if, after eight years of barack obama, whatever we think about his policies, those sorts of things, it would be nice to say this was a milestone for Race Relations in this country. They are better than they were before he was elected. It is a question whether one can say that now. Host lets go to riverside, where hannah is on the line. A democrat. Caller happy new year everybody. I would like to know what mr. Kristol thinks about the republicans repealing the dodd frank act. The banks gambling with citizens money. And what does he think about the u. S. Defending nazis in the russiau. N. Resolution, where they wanted to condemn the nazis, but the United States for some reason did not go along with it . Guest very different questions. On dodd frank, the real problems in wall street and washington from in 2006, 2007, 2008, i do not think dodd frank was a good solution to those problems. I wish republicans would replace dodd frank. I think this is something that congress could do in the shortterm. They might have the votes to repeal it, but they are not going to get president obama to repeal it. But why not exempt Community Banks . This is something the chairman of the Financial Services committee has talked about. They have not moved this legislation. It is a good example of republicans in congress needing to find things they can do that are not tiny, not just symbolic. Would actually help the country. That are not so unrealistic they cannot get them signed by the president. Or perhaps even get 51 votes in the senate. Im not against passing things the president will veto. But there are middle sized things republicans can do. They have been concerned with doing little symbolic things and, on the other hand, grand things. Dodd frank applies to the meltdown of 2008. A lot of regulatory burdens that they are not set up to bear. Citibank and bank of america they paid a lot of lawyers to fill out forms. Little banks in different states have trouble doing that. It is a burden on them. Why not exempt them . Theyre still covered by regulations, as they always have been. It is an example of something republicans can make progress on over the next few years. Maybe get president obama to sign some legislation, show the voters they are serious, and lay the groundwork for a bigger conservative agenda in 2017. On the ukraine point, that nazis are taking over ukraine, it is a very decent government now. Not everyone has nazi background or proclivity. I think it is an unfair charge. We have had real setbacks. Putin got away with things you would not think he could get away with. Russia is suffering because of dropping oil prices, which is good. Largely due to our own energy explanation. But the occupation of crimea and ukraine is very bad. Host you started talking about this earlier, but looking through the lens of congress what are your expectations going into this congress . What are the areas of compromise and conflict . Guest i have modest expectations. Which i think is sensible. There has been such a talking point since republicans took the house. This is the congress that does not get anything done. They get a little more done than they get credit for. The main reason they didnt get anything done is that harry reid would not bring anything for a vote to the senate. The house passed many pieces of legislation. I think the house will repass an awful lot of legislation, some of it too ambitious for the president to accept. Some of it he could sign. Some of it he could sign reluctantly. I think those pieces of legislation will come to a vote. Some of them will die in the senate. Some of them will pass the senate. I think the key attitude for Republican Leaders to take is lets just do what we can. Do not overthink it. They hate to go to the floor with any bill that will fail. They think it is a repudiation. Let the committees to their work. Let them write out legislation. Let the floor vote on legislation. They do get a fair amount of legislation passed and signed. There is not a great sense of urgency in the house. The economy is growing. Not as fast as it was, but deficit is down. Issues like immigration, i think doing nothing is better than bad legislation. They should not get spooked by the notion of, if they do not get signs up every week, they are a donothing congress. They will pass pieces of legislation like the repeal of obamacare. At the end of the day, i think they will have a reasonablys vessel year and a half. Everything depends on the president ial election in terms of you drove the country. Im as we have a sort of revival after a couple of bad setbacks in 2010 and 2014. By winning the president of vertro time, that would be a big moment for liberals. But the republicans could say ok , obama was pretty unique. It was a moment. Now we can go ahead and legislate a conservative agenda. I think 2016 is the big election. A lot of republicans in congress are going to be spending some time worrying about not messing up 2016. Which is reasonable, but they should not do that either. They can overthink these things. You were there. Terrible government shutdown. Republicans would never recover. You could go back and find headlines after headline including conservative publications. Pulling their hair out about how much damage has been done a year before the election. So, i think they should be a little more relaxed in congress. Let committees do their work. Hope the president signs them. And not over plan and overthink and over strategized, which they do sometimes. Host president obama spoke my npr calling. I want to get your take. [video clip] s there anything you intend to do differently in your approach for congress in order to get results . I can always do better. In every aspect of my job. Congressional relations is not exempt from that. I think the circumstances will have changed. I am frustrated with the results of the midterm election. I think we had a great record. For members of congress to run on. I do not think we, myself and the Democratic Party, made as good a case as we should have. Is a cousin once, we had low voter turnout, and the results were back. On the other hand, you have republicans in a position where it is not enough for them to grind the wheels of congress to a halt and then blame me. They are going to be in a position where they have to show that they can responsibly govern, given that they have significant majorities in both chambers. What i have said repeatedly is that i want to work with them, i want to get things done. I do not have another election to run. Host what do you think . Guest it is nice he things he has a great record for democrats to run on. I think the record was pretty highly well highlighted by both parties. I think the public did not like that democratic record much. At least in a lot of states that are moderately conservative, states like iowa and colorado, swing states where republicans one big victories. A little bit of denial there but i guess he is entitled to that. Honestly, the person i agree with barack obama and that he is frustrated. He is getting blamed for the midterm election. But one person who really should be claimed more than he has been his harry reid, the democratic majority leader. I find that kind of amazing he is running for reelection. Is he really the person they want leading them in the minority. He had the strategy, incredibly determined by not let letting anything to come up for a vote in the senate. Nothing came up in the senate. You had the ridiculous positions of the senator of alaska who had never had anything voted on in the senate because harry reid was so nervous that they had a vote, the republicans would offer an amendment and support. In the short term, he did well the democratic conference was loyal to him. But it was pretty much a disaster in 2014. We watch president obama whatever you think of the House Republicans subsequently, they passed a ton of stuff. And Mitch Mcconnell cap saying, whether it is the beginning of the individual mandate of obamacare, there were many pieces of legislation passed by the house. But they never came up in the senate and so it is just not credible for the president to say republicans were responsible for gridlock. There will be some of that gridlock. But in terms of the actual mechanics it was harry reid that show down. Im amazed they are not looking to someone else as minority leader in the senate. It is not my problem. Internal senate and house the liberations is one thing ive learned, and im sure you learned, you look from the outside and cannot understand that sometimes but it is like high school. People are popular with their colleagues. Some people are doing a good job behindthescenes. So theres loyalty to different members. But rub barack obama was a great candidate. A fresh face. It gave democrats this whole image of new, young, change, different. Now look at the Democratic Party. Harry reid, leader of the senate. Nancy pelosi, mid70s. California, which was the cutting edge, as always, progressive politics in america or has been for the last 20 or 30 years, totally democratic state. Governor of california, jerry brown, 76. Two senators, Diane Feinstein and barbara boxer, 89 and 74. House leaders is 74. That is one of the forward thinking Democratic Party. When you take away Barack Obama Hillary clinton will be in her late 60s. For me as a republican, the most encouraging thing about the election in november was not just the results. Not just the numbers but of all your candidates and youth of republican candidates. You have tom cotton, dan sullivan, cory gardner. All coming into the Senate People in their late 30s, early 50s. Diverse backgrounds. Impressive people. They were all younger than the people they beat in each of those races. The Republican Congress in both houses will be younger than the democratic caucus. Suddenly, the image one had and i had too, which was depressing as a conservative in 2008 and 2012, of the republicans as the party of backward looking, older, hanging on desperately. Democrats are cuttingedge. I think that is going to look different in the next year or two. That could affect the 2016 election. Hillary clinton will be the nominee, who has been around quite a long time. The republican nominee is much more likely to be someone who may be in his or her 40s or 50s. Jeb bush will be a little older. He is a little younger than Hillary Clinton. It is an argument against jeb bush, incidentally. Host you are talking with bill kristol. Stephen on the republican line in texas. Caller good morning. A fairly simple question. I do not understand why the Republican Party and conservatives have not been able to ring the concept and educate the American People of the concept that you simply do not have a nation if you cannot fundamentally defined, secure and control your borders. It does not mean your physical border in mexico. That means immigration as a whole. You do not have a nation. You do not have a country if you cannot do that. Why the immigration debate ends up degrading into titfortat as opposed to the fundamental need to define your borders as a nation. Which every nation in the world does and has that right and obligation to do. And we know the census, to some degree will work. Or we would be able to take down the fence around the white house to identify where people should and should not go. And yet, fences are poohpoohed as something that will work. Lets take down the fence around the white house and see if that will work. Host i agree with your sentiments. Border security is important to any nation. Important to our nation. But president obama does not really want to enforce it i dont think. And people overstay their visas, which i think is most of the people here illegal illegally. Some of the nonenforcement is understandable. You have debates about some of these children, that might be citizens. There are a lot of side debates which are important in the immigration issue. But i agree you need to have control of your border. You need to have citizens securing their own country. Not people overstaying visas. You cant have millions of people overstaying visas. Not all of them, with good intentions. The good news is that the american public, i think, agrees with the collar and republicans on this aspect of immigration. Look back one year. The big conventional wisdom of the year ago was republicans better pass an immigration bill. They will be finished if they do not pay cave and given to the immigration bill. The Business Community was hammering Republican Leadership of the house. Newspapers, wall street journal even. I have been fairly liberal on immigration. But i thought it was a bad bill. Ive think politically rebellions would pay for doing nothing on immigration. Ticket price in the election. Indeed, they got more latino votes than ronnie got in 2012. Romney got in 2012. Is the immigration system broken . Yes. The republicans have to have an agenda for what should be fixed how much immigration there should be, how we verify all these things. These are collocated issues. I am not sure what i think about some of them. Some people say it is depressing american wages. It is an argument that is reasonable for one to have. But i agree. Being serious on border security, internal security, is the right place to be. I think it is a good place to be politically. Host Fort Lauderdale florida. Frank is an independent. Caller hello. I enjoyed watching you on the brinkley show. Your knowledge of washington is good, so i will have to ask you a question. Steve scalise, you might know something about. You might have some ideas on what direction we could go in. One of the things that happened with the Steve Scalise scandal if he keeps getting bigger and bigger, the fact that he had a powerful position as majority whip, if that is correct i saw a film on the Washington Examiner online where he was questioning al gore a while ago. I think it had to do with oil if i remember correctly. Louisiana is a big oil state. Among other things, al gore had some pretty bad connections with people for a man who was an environmentalist. He was connected to armand hammer, who brought as best as mines in the soviet union back in the 1920s. Im not blaming al gore for that. But the fact that al gore never, you know, expressed any kind of regret for that or anything else, you know, we have a problem with tort reform with asbestos also. Steve scalise, i do not know if he is involved in anything like that, but it makes me wonder where this could be derailed or maybe some of the elves, if Steve Scalise got in enough trouble, if somebody else could move into that particular area. Thank you for your reply ahead of time. Host guest thank you for the question. As you said, if the scandal is bigger, he will be in more trouble. Some of the scandals that look really big on the first day or two, go away. Two weeks later, no one can remember with her about three years later, no one can remember what they were about. Then more stuff comes out. What happened in this case, he participated in a david duke organization, a fellow traveler of david duke. I do not think his colleagues would want him in the leadership of the Republican Party in the house. But politics is a tough business. Speaker weiner is capable of making a hardheaded decision on what is best for the party. I think he will say he may have made a mistake in going to a meeting he did not fully understand. But if in fact it was there was a murkiness as to what actually happened. I think he is personally popular and respected. This comes down to what he believes, what did he say, did he give money to the group. Is he a member of a group like this . Trent lott, not a personally bigoted men, but he said something it was attributed to thurmond. Host i remember. Guest it was a little unfair, but he said the country would be better off if it was like it was my team 48 if it was like it was in 1948. It was weird to say that whenever it was. 2002 or Something Like that. He was held to account for that. People had grudges against trent lott. So they used that to ease him off the stage as leader. But Steve Scalise, the claim is guilt by association. Which most of us think is not a good way to judge people. In the 50s, hominis parties communist parties. People gave a talk and were being used by people much less reputable. That is probably the case with Steve Scalise. Charges of guilt by association typically do not go very far. Different if he said or did certain things. Host for what we are talking about is the fact that congressman Steve Scalise was there, not that he said something objectionable. Or anything that was getting him in hot water with the congress and others. Just being there. Guest if you are stateguest legislator as he was at the time, you get invited to something. You are talking to constituents. A little murky what the group is. But im going to give my pitch about taxes and leave. You do not think to yourself, exactly who is sponsoring this . David duke is a reprehensible figure, but 48 of louisiana voted for him for governor. You cannot say anyone that voted for david duke where is vaguely associated with them that is a little out of bounds. I would be pretty strict myself about ruling out abounds anyone who is david duke. But so far at this point, what we know, Steve Scalise is probably fine. Again, the history of these things could come out and people could make decisions. Trent lott is a decent man. I do not think he is a racist at all. I think steves coolies could and up in a situation where his colleagues say he is a decent man, just not the right person to be the leader in the house of the republican conference. It could happen. Host i want to make sure we havehost time for our 2015 parlor game. You have said that age could be a reason that jeb bush should not be the nominee. You get he has been around a little bit . Guest the way i said it was on tv, Hillary Clinton can at least say she was the first woman president. Not nothing. Kind of a first. Gives her a certain way of overcoming the fact she has been around a long time. Jeb bush would be the third bush president. It could happen. It has never happened in American History. The same family to be president in a 25 year stretch. Im a little bit of a skeptic. I respect him. I think he would be a good president. It is just an analytical matter as an analytical matter, is he a strong going into the primaries a little dubious. The cnn poll, its very early. Is that his High Water Mark . That will be the thing to follow over the next two or three months. I think one of the younger fresher faces. Rubio or scott walker or mike pence. Bobby jindal, there are others. There is a lot of young talent. You had romney and mccain the last two cycles. The younger candidate has won the popular vote in the last president ial elections. Bush and gore were about the same age. You would be better off being the younger candidate. That is the mood of the country nowadays. Rubio is center right. Those are all the normal things they did debated in the primaries. I think its a pretty good president ial field and George Jeb Bush will be formidable. Its like obama beating Hillary Clinton in 2008. I think rubio is the interesting person right now. You should find out what he is going to do. The former governor of florida was kind of a mentor to rubio. He had a cat fabulous campaign in 2010 upsetting charlie crist. He respects and likes jeb bush and he is not yielding to the over the older guy. Its sort of impressive, rubio thinks he can do the job and jeb bush has more donors than rubio. It will be more of an uphill climb for rubio. Clinton in 1992, obama in 2008. In this respect, if or republican beats jeb bush, it could help in the general election in the way Hillary Clinton help barack obama in 2008. They have Chris Christie at 13 . Ben carson at 7 and with 6 , Mike Huckabee and rand paul of kentucky. What is your read on the rest of those . Huckabee is a good politician. Newer and younger is that her. Other people who have run before, Mike Huckabee is a good candidate and has a strong message. Is the narrative that he speaks to middle america. He criticize wall street in 2007 in 2008 and it made him somewhat unpopular interpublic and primary. I think he is right, though. Huckabee had a populist tone and a sense that were worried about their wages and not just wall street. I think that is a very important part of the message. I would expect huckabee to influence the rhetoric and the policies. Then ben carson was a very retinal man. These people who had never been elected run in both parties and then they do not win. They are symbolic candidates and they get the vote taken a lot of votes. Mccain, pat buchanan in the past. I kind of assume that is what happens with ben carson, that he does not actually when the nomination, but an offense back in august of last year, our readers and mostly republicans and primary voters, i would not expect. We did a formal poll, very formal, so it does not prove anything but jeb bush, marco rubio, ted cruz, a lot of them loved and respected and liked in person. He is an impressive man. It is such an unusual moment. So many people are so sick of washington. I would not be totally surprised if someone gets up there and gives terrific speeches and people say, you know what, if you are a fantastic neurosurgeon who has saved a lot of lives and has lived an exemplary life and is come up with a tough background, maybe it is not the craziest thing in the world. Ultimately it does not happen. History would suggest it is not usual. Eisenhower was the commander of allied forces, world war ii, kind of a big job. Ben carson should not be underestimated, either. Host new jersey, maria is on the line, a democrat. Caller yes. Host go ahead. Youre on the line with bill kristol of the weekly standard. Caller i wanted to inform you i noticed you said 40 something times, that has been quoted by other politicians and it is not true. These people have the same name as reverend al sharpton. It just so happens i was listening to Rachel Maddow the other day and she quoted this, that these evil have the same names as famous people we have heard about for years. But they are not the original people. They just happened to have the same names and they just signed the book. If i went there, i would sign the book. It is just a name. I think you need to stop saying that al sharpton has been there so many times. It is not the al sharpton we all know and love. I will double check on that and i have not seen that challenge. People have confusion sometimes and say some of their names. Certainly al sharpton has been there several times and there are photos of president obama with him. The mayor of new york embrace sharpton, with sharpton at city hall after the incident with mr. Garner. It is fair i think to say that he has been given a lot of credibility by Democratic Leaders. He is a major talk show host, i guess. He claims to be a big leader of civil rights, but people in that movement, but i think it is fair for people to say that sharpton has been legitimized and some of his past bad behavior overlooked by some Democratic Leaders. Host our last call for bill kristol is a steward on the independent line. Caller thank you for taking my call. When john boehner was ushered in, i remember him crying and telling his story about how he worked at his fathers tavern and relates to the joe american, and i am a disenfranchise republican. I do not have a reason to vote for your party. I want to do it again and i did it for years and years, but there is a major problem with optics. There is so much internal strife and the party. I do not know what they stand for anymore. If you look back in the summer, we are confronted with isis, which i heard described as a threat to world wide security. What does congress do . They leave the president dangling to deal with it. They were more concerned about campaigns. So they are captured giving their comments and criticizing what obama did singlehandedly to help secure the country. If this is the way they will continue to operate, what chance do you have of taking the white house in 2016 . I think a good chance honestly. Congressional parties are usually a bit of a mess. It is hard to govern in congress, especially when you only control one branch. You can criticize speaker banner and it was held i harry reid in this in the senate, but we lay out a coherent agenda. If you look at democrats on the hill in the old days republicans on the hill, pay off and a lot of fighting. One persons fighting is another prisons healthy debate. House members, when i visited with them and spoke with them sometimes, there are a lot of interesting issues about how do you help workingclass americans and how do you reduce the tax on labor. They should have more proposals and not fewer. You write articles and say, this and that, would you be correct . Marco rubio has a different view about how to reform the tax code, but that is fine in my view. The limit to what republicans can achieve then the president ial candidate jeb bush or marco rubio or anyone else, ted cruz, one of the nonpoliticians, will have to lay out a coherent agenda. I think romney in 2012, i agree with the caller in this in this respect, the economys not working, obama bad elect me, i do not think that is enough certainly in 2016, when no one who is in office is on the that on the ballot. Both parties would have to lay out the agendas. Hillary clinton is a democrat. Obama has been in power for six years. Democrats controlled the senate and the last four years. What is their agenda to help workingclass and middleclass americans . It is as much a challenge for hillard is in as a republican nominee, but it is in a way healthy, both of them would have to explain domestic ill see Foreign Policy has been covered a lot. Everyone else will win that debate, which is good. Hawkish Foreign Policy and one of the things they will be able to say is they would not have let isis grub as they had. Anyway, that is why we have primaries and a lot of people running. It is lysander is said, do not narrow the field immaturely. Lets have a lot of candidates and a healthy debate. We do not quite know which would be a better president ial candidate, and let them lay out their ideas. That is why i think the next years will be interesting. Host a look at the factors that could determine Economic Growth in 2015 including job creation trends. Then a discussion of global conflict spots that could threaten International Stability in 2015. Washington journal is live every morning at 7 a. M. Eastern. Join the conversation on facebook and twitter. In 2006, cspan aired a documentary entitled the capitalol. We took a tour and learned about some of the famous symbols in the room. The symbols are very important. They are supporting the clock. There are stars, the neustar in the firmament, the United States. There are lots of other things. All these little rods were bound together in ancient rome. Put them all together and they are awfully strong. They are a traditional symbol of the roman republic, a republican government in which the people ruled. So those are there too. You are in the chamber and you raise your eyes up to the silhouette of the eagle with his wings spread, up in the sky. It is rather like a skylight, although it is covered from behind. It is not open to the heavens. What i like most about it is the sense that it is rating its wings over the day to day work of the congress, a great aspiration. When the congress is in session the mace is also there. It is a bundle of ebony rods with an eagle standing on top of it. I think traditions are important because when you forget about the traditions, you forget about the flavor of this place. The mace is an interesting thing. Every time i see the speaker of the british house of commons when the british burned the capital down, they also stole our mace. If you read the stories of former speakers, when people got out of hand or there was a fight on the floor, you had to present the mace, so it is a symbol of what the country has invested in the congress. The power of the congress the power of people coming together and getting things done. The 114th congress cavils then on tuesday at noon eastern. We will see the election for house speaker. Watch the house live on cspan and the senate live on cspan2. He had the most extensive coverage everywhere. Have your say as events unfold on tv thomas radio, and on the web. On the next washington journal a look at the factors that could determine Economic Growth in 2015 including job creation trends. Were weeks away from the start of the 114th congress. The congress and republicans have one of the largest house majorities as well as control of the senate. Here to talk about how democrats talk about reality, a special correspondent for the daily beast. Thank you for being with us this morning. When we look to see what is a reasonable Progressive Agenda given how huge the gop majority is, what does it look like to you . Pretty much nothing to me. Democrats will be in substantial majorities. Republicans now have a nine seat advantage. What position does that put them in . They cannot realistically pass anything. They can filibuster and play the role the republicans played in the early years of the obama administration, so the republicans will be in a position where they have all the things the house was able to pass that Mitch Mcconnell now bring to the floor, but i do not inc. They will get any farther than that. If a few of them do, there is a likelihood in many cases that the president will veto them. We will see republican legislation, is that it . I think that is about the size of it. I did a piece in the summer interviewing 15 to 20 people, republicans and democrats on what they thought might happen when republicans took over, and there was not much optimism from people on either side about what could get done. If you people talked about the possibility of Corporate Tax reform. There are trade deals and the Transpacific Partnership obama is interested in that republicans like and liberal democrats do not. It is something that may happen there. If you google made mention of some form of immigration, but i do not think that is likely. We can all agree this is not the position the white house loves to be in. Guest he changes his focus to Foreign Policy, tries to make sure his isis policy works, so to speak. He tries to get his nuclear deal with iran. And in terms of domestic policy there is just not much for him to do anymore, just hoping the economy gets better and the wage numbers get better so people feel we really are in a recovery. Host our guest is Michael Tomasky of the daily beast. The number we will start off our calls this morning with ronald in george on the democrats find. Democrats line. Caller you were a big proponent of the iraq war . Guest no, i was an opponent of the iraq war. Caller my call was for mr. Bill kristol earlier. I was wondering if he was willing to accept any blame or can you name one out of the iraq war. Guest well, i will pass it along to him. Host he is no longer with the spirit on ohio, the republican slime. Caller republican line. Caller yes, do you republican line. Caller yes, do you think actually born in canada . Guest i think he is right, but his mother was american. So he is eligible. As for john boehner, a lot of speculation was whipping around some months ago about whether he would throw in the towel and whether he would outlast the obama presidency. That speculation seems to have died down. I think he is probably in there for a little while. The conventional wisdom is maybe he is not interested in being the speaker and being in congress for the rest of his life, but there are not any real serious challenges to him right now. Given the wide republican margins we have talked about right now, how relevant are Democratic Leaders in the house and senate now . They are leaders so they are relevant, but their relevance has been diminished. Control what goes to the floor you control what senators do and do not vote on. U. S. Considerable but not total control over the number and kind of amendments that can be attached to legislation. Harry reids power is diminished. He is up for reelection. People might remember in 2010 he faced the challenge, a serious challenge for a little while. And he pulled away at the end. That is six years ago. He will be up in 2016. Theres already a little speculation about what might happen if he did not seek reelection. Host i want to talk about democratic leader pelosi a little bit as well. There were a lot of questions from members of the press. Should she step aside . Do they need an infusion of fresh blood given they are older and have been around for a little bit . What about her power now . Guest i think she has got a pretty good handle on the democratic caucus. Well respected. A good manager of the caucus from everything that i hear. I do not think she is going anywhere in the immediate future. If we Start Talking longterm and get to after the next redistricting in 2020 and the democrats looking at a serious shot of recapturing the house, i think it would be time at that point for the democrats. Carol is on the line for democrats. My concern was the election that caused us the senate, but my thing as well is republicans always talked about what the democrats are doing and what president obama has done, they do not get any credit for things that are going on good in the United States right now. Everybody can see that everything this man tried to do with everybody, it was not just for the blacks or browns. It was for everybody. The republicans, they all said no. Even though we lost the senate, this is going to be a two teller right here. Do you know that everything they put up against president obama look at how things are going. Dont you know they have done everything really, they are treasonous, what they have done to the United States. It is like they wanted the United States to go down just for him to look that. It is the people that is really hurting. The thing is, you have got to hold the truth to the power. The republicans did not do anything there they keep talking about jobs, jobs, the health care, they talk about everything but they have not done anything there at they got the senate. Lets see what they do with the senate. I think there have been times when republicans have pretty much intentionally obstructed economic progress in the country in order to hurt obama and tried to make him a one term president. I think that is true. Certain democratic all decisions said that publicly from time to time. There are more who would say it privately. You know, they have been uniquely obstructionist. The number of filibusters and closure votes, the voting studies of political scientists who study the votes as scientists do, all members show both parties do it but republicans do a lot more than democrats. So i think there is something to what the caller says. At the same time, there are a lot by this administration that yes, republicans will not give them credit for but i think a good chunk of americans do. He go to washington where elaine is on the independence line. The reason im calling is there are a couple of things i want to ask you about. The gdp, it went up quite a bit. I wanted to know if one of the reasons there was such a jump in it is that now, because people have to buy health care, that all that purchasing went in to estimating the gdp which, if you force a person to buy something, then it is not really something theyre doing willingly, which would affect the gdp quite a bit. The other thing i wanted to know is how you think the democrats would respond to Lindsey Graham ryan for president. Guest i do not really study the correlation between these things. I would be surprised if that were true because at the end of the day, not many people really have had to buy Health Insurance , given the said and surprise of the country. I would doubt that would affect gdp that much. Lindsey graham is an interesting subject. Largely for Foreign Policy, and largely rand paul of course is a quasination, guess youd say. Lindsay graham is a neoconservative foreignpolicy hawk. He is genuinely concerned. I think his party is going in the paul direction. He wants to be a counterweight to that. I do not necessarily see him as a first tier candidate. But, you know, ive been wrong about these things many times. Host brandon from North Carolina on our lines for democrats this morning. Caller happy new year to both of you. My question is, in 2016, in 2012, president obama he was willing to get the hispanic and africanamerican vote and the womens vote, so do you think the same thing could happen in 2015 with democrats . Guest i take it he means because the candidate will presumably not the africanamerican, will there be that intensity of support. Not quite, but i think pretty close. If the candidate is Hillary Clinton, the clintons have a long record of support for and from the black community, civil rights causes, and things like that. I do not think they will lose much of that support their the latino vote is arguably a little more up in the air depending on who the republicans nominate and what kinds of positions the republicans take her jeb bush talks more proimmigration game than others. But i do not see the party at all in congress over the next two years. Then throw in the cuba move that obama made. You know that is very broadly support among latinos and even cubanamericans below the age of 65 are very broadly supportive of this. I would expect, if you asked me to put my marker on one spot or the others, i would guess today that the support for the team for democrats for latinos would be high as well. It is worth pointing out that democrats win the womens vote and they lose the weight womens vote and they win among africanamericans and latinos women substantially. I think clinton can come closer and maybe win. Host if Hillary Clinton wins she is the first female president of the second clinton. Talk about what her advantages are and realistically, when do you think she would go for it, if in fact she does . Guest i think she probably will, sometime early next year she even i think she will start sending the stronger is the most. Her advantage is, 18 of the last 21 years, she is the most admired woman in america. She has got her detractors, a diva a decent Approval Rating but, you know, a lot of people in the country do not like her, but more do. She can make inroads into the independent vote. And she did as a candidate in new york. On the downside, you know, as bill was saying, i watched him on the segment before me, the younger candidate usually does when. She will have to come up with ways to compensate for that. She will need to come out with some policies and ideas that appeal to younger voters. Suggest maybe she comes out early. My question is, by waiting so long and everyone is watching her every move, though she heard her party by not going ahead and saying look, i am running, this is what i guess this is what is happening, or at least saying, she is exploring a run . Guest i do not think so. It is still pretty early. We keep pushing these things forward, we journalists, but we are still two years away. There is time. If she decided not to run for it every in, that really throws the party because as much debate as there is about her, and people in the Elizabeth Warren wing are not crazy about her and so forth, almost everyone is counting on her to run because when you get past her, the democratic is pretty thin. Host lets go to tom in ohio independent. Caller my thought, and im pretty sure this will be right in the 2006 election, it will be about 19. That is about food, the availability of food, the cost of food, quality, and ricky. As you already know, it is either the 37 or 38 month in a row, we have had less food in the pipe line than we have had in the month previous. We are producing food in the same rate we did in the 1950s, when the population was a lot less and were probably double that now. A few reasons why. East of the mississippi the 2012 and 13 of 14 seasons were mainly due to cold and wet weather in the spring, we just never could get cross out of the ground, and with greatly temperatures running 79 degrees colder than normal we are still in serious problems. My question to you is, what is any president ial candidate going to do to provide food for the people in the United States . Guest i do not know. I did not know some of the statistics you cite here it in general, you know, while i am sure youre right in all the facts that you cite, i do not think this shortages in the front consciousness of the average voter right now. Maybe by 2016. Who could predict what the issue will be in 2016. It could be part of the country a could be a country 5 of americans have not even heard about today. Host it is inevitable on both sides of the aisle, and yet you have written a piece and your answer is not Hillary Clinton. Talk to us about that hes a little bit. Guest i said Elizabeth Warren because of the intensity and the passion she inspires among her followers are millions of americans would walk through a brick wall with her. Clinton has had my moments of inspiring that passion but i think at this moment, warren is our arguably more powerful. I read the column after the recent weekend in the senate where she voted against what a my forgetting . You know this better than i do. Host i think financial regulations. Guest right. She really made a stand and there is a wine wing of the party. People are passionate about her. I do not think she will run for president. Host if she does not run to do you think people will, and i use this will people be able to suck it up and vote for Hillary Clinton, if they are so passionate and motivated by the idea of president Elizabeth Warren . Guest it is not just her as a person their passionate about. They are passionate about the issues she emphasizes and the way she is able to talk about them. To answer your question, i think Hillary Clinton will have to make serious overtures to those voters and it will have to be more than a few sentences and speeches. Will have to be real policies she will have to adopt to show the voters that she hears them and that she can change and that her views are a little bit different than they were in the 1990s, and that she is responding to this very real desire among the democratic electorate. If she does that, they will vote for her happily. Host are there other democrats we should be watching as we are going ahead to 2000 seen . Keep pushing further and further ahead . Guest that is a good question. Among the democratic residential contenders i do not quite know and i do not think anybody quite knows where he will be to Hillary Clintons left and right. He is to the left a bit on sentencing reform questions where he took a leadership role where he is in senate it he will probably be a little bit to the right on certain cultural political questions. Depending on how he purports himself on the debate stages, he has the ability not to win the nomination but to influence her and influence some directions she takes. Bernie sanders is likely to run as a democrat. He is still thinking whether democrat or independent. He will maximize influence if you runs as a democrat. He runs as a democrat. He will get that spotlight and be able to highlight those issues. Martin omalley has been a successful governor of maryland but he is dinged here lately by the bad rollout of obamacare in the state and the loss of his those are the main ones where looking at in terms of host our caller is robert in atlanta, georgia on the democrats line. Caller good morning. It has occurred to me for a long time that the most progressive thing these progressives could do is do whatever they can to preserve social programs for those who actually need it. There has been a lot of middleclass into those programs, people who dont need them but get them nonetheless. Im annoyed when i see organizations like aarp whenever a suggestion to do anything to preserve or protect Social Security, raise taxes are raised the aid, the entire liberal organization freaks out. That is highly inappropriate productive and economics dont work. If you take a clearheaded look at the economics of those programs, the amount of the budget they are consuming now they will fall flat on their face and harm the people who need it while those who should not necessarily be fully benefiting from it keeps sucking it. I would like your comments on that. Guest entitlements are a big fight within the Democratic Party. Especially Social Security and medicare. A centrist wing of the Democratic Party wants to deal with republicans come a mice with republicans on these issues compromise with republicans on these issues. The liberal wing is dead set against those things. This is a big fight within the Democratic Party and something to watch if clinton does run where she comes down on Social Security and how to deal with it. Social Security Trust fund is in a lot less trouble than the Medicare Trust fund. Problems loom in the near future. Social security, that is not true. My own policy preference is that i think the payroll tax cap should be raised. We stopped paying taxes at 115,000. If that were raised, a lot of fiscal problems would go away. I have seen many polls were people preferred that, when given the option majority choose raise the payroll tax cap. That is in theory. Once it gets that to that building, its a tax increase. Eventually, our political system will come around to considering an increase or a change in the payroll tax. Host flat rock, North Carolina. Republicanrobert is on the republican line. Caller i was just wondering if he thinks any of the Democratic Senators might support the republican agenda in congress. It takes 60 to override. Is there anything that will move forward . Guest there are a handful of democrats from red states who feel that pressure from home. There are a few others. This election wiped out a lot of democrats from red states. The pickings are pretty slim there in terms of the number of democrats who have a clear home state benefit from voting with republicans. Its a voting issue. There may be some issues where the 54 republicans will get together with a handful of democrats and hit that 60 mark. I dont think it will happen very often. Host a particular policy issue health care. The Republican Congress will focus on chipping away some parts of the Affordable Care act. What did democrats do what should they do when that happens . Guest there is not much they can do. They should defend it and defend every element of it. The one thing, there will be some come from i saw on the medical device tax. Compromise on the medical device tax. There are democrats from states where they manufacture medical devices. They have talked about looking at that. That will probably be changed without a huge fight. Other stuff, i expect a big fight. I dont expect anything much to happen. Barack obama is going to be tell anything veto anything. The biggest danger is from the Supreme Court which may decide by june that its done. Host something ive heard a lot of liberals are scared of what the Supreme Court could roll back in 2015. Guest i think of the Supreme Court and longer terms. Even in terms of the next president. It looks like, there is speculation about ruth ruth bader ginsburg. She says she is not going anywhere. The next president , they will have a lot of appointments. I dont want to wish ill on anyone but look up their ages and so on. There could be 234 appointments to the Supreme Court under the next president. That could really reshape the court. Potentially, president clinton could create a liberal Supreme Court majority. That is going to be a huge fight going forward. In the short term, the biggest deal is this obamacare case that the Supreme Court decided to hear and only decided to hear so they could take a whack at the bill. Host could take up cases that deal with samesex marriage, freedom of speech, political conservation limits. In those cases come back in 2015, what can that do for progressives . Guest it will galvanize progressives to some extent. If the Supreme Court somehow decides against samesex marriage, that will galvanize liberals to a great degree. I would be surprised to see the court do that, but it might. On Campaign Finance issues, we have a clear signal from this court that they are going to wipe away as much of those as they possibly can. That will galvanize liberals but that is not a big voting issue for a lot of people. The main thing it will do is permit many more millions of untraceable dollars into the campaign system, which republicans are better at taking advantage of the democrats. Host priscilla in texas on the independent line. Caller hello . Host you are on. Caller my question was on immigration and the way it is being handled now. I dont agree with it. Because the president has two years left, so he is doing this to get the country in an uproar. I dont think he should be making any decisions at this time. He should have made them when he first came in our when acorn helped him get in. I feel that he had very little experience on what he is doing now. Guest he would say that he tried to do immigration leverages lately many years legislatively for many years. The republicans in the Senate Passed an immigration bill that had a path to citizenship, but it passed with substantial republican support. Ever since, it has been at the house. The truth is, john boehner could have brought that bill to the floor any day and it almost certainly would have passed the house with 180 democratic votes. A lot of republican power groups wherefore it. United States Chamber of commerce was for it. It could have passed any day that john boehner would have let it come to the floor but he would not let it come to the floor because he was afraid of the rightwing base out there and his Tea Party Caucus inside the house and how they would react. Obama was patient on this issue. Now, we can debate whether he overstepped the bounds of executive authority or not by making these announcements that he recently made. But he waited a long time and he gave the republicans a chance to do compromise legislation which some of them in the senate did. Host chris is on a republicans line in florida. Our republicans line in florida. Caller i think it is going to be interesting to see if Hillary Clinton does run, how progressives will try to rally around her. She is the darling of Goldman Sachs. She has not served herself well charging 200,000 plus to College Students for one hour and say it is going to the clinton fund. The New York Times did an expose on that clinton fund and there was a lot of black holes and sloppy accounting practices. She has criticized president obama. She is more of a foreignpolicy hawk. Guest he raises a fair point. On the foreignpolicy question i dont think she is a neoconservative. I have written about this. She is a more hawkish liberal interventionist than barack obama is. I dont think she is a neoconservative. I think she can finesse that one. On the Goldman Sachs question this relates back to what i was saying earlier about the signals that she will have to send, not just symbolic signals, but real policy signals she is going to have to send to progressives in the Democratic Party to show that that is not what she is. Host i want to ask you about one of the biggest stories of 2014. The outrage over the killings of eric gardner and michael brown. Does this become an issue in 2015 . Guest hard to say whether it becomes a president ial campaign issue. If there is another incident in the heat of the campaign, it certainly would. These are understood to be mostly municipal and local jurisdictional issues come although president ial candidates are probably going to have to talk in general terms about the relationship between the Police Forces and african community. And the africanamerican community. Host lets go to the york any that is on outline for independent anita is on outline for independents. Caller you mentioned the ted cruz could run for president. You dont acquire citizenship to run for president. You may acquire it to become a citizen but in order to be able to run for president , you have to be born on the soil. You have to be born on the soil. Canada has not been taken over yet. Guest this latin is above my pay grade. I have read many places that cruise is eligible to run for president could people should look it. People should look it up. Host a couple of tweets on the topic of Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren. Another tweet from laura guest they do and the bench has been filled they are down. That is where you get your president ial candidates, from the governors. They need to rebuild in a big way. Host austin, texas where alex is on the line for democrats. Caller earlier, he mentioned rand paul as a noninterventionalists. It was too vague a term to throw out there. Can he explain why he is against noninterventionalistsm . It is a heavyhanded and very loaded thing to say. I would like him to explain that thing for me, please. Guest he has given speeches on this subject here to a major one pretty recently that i recommend you google and find and look up and read. He is certainly not a neoconservative interventionist. He has spoken of how we need to have a much larger footprint in the world, military footprint in the world. He is very skeptical of military intervention. Too much u. S. Engagement in global hotspots. He said this many times and in many ways. I can tell you, i think paul is a shrewd politician. A very serious candidate to win the republican nomination. He will have a big fight on his hands with the republican establishment which does not support his approach to foreignpolicy and they will be trying to stop him because of it. Host clark in new jersey. Independent line. Caller im listening to you speak about Elizabeth Warren. She is coming out of nowhere. A law professor. Somebody is propping her up. She is a farce, a big phony. I know when i get off the line you are going to you will say whatever you want to twisted around to be. Twist it around to be. I will give everyone a website. Google frontline the episode called the warning. She was the head of the committee to find out who was responsible for the economic collapse of 2008. I dont know how she got appointed because she was not an elected official. She never mentioned who was responsible for it. Never said that. She covered it up. The people responsible for it was the Clinton Administration and this happened way back in 1998 and you can go right back and see the hearings and you will see she never mentioned that. You have to know that she was ahead of this Committee First the head of this Committee First. You as a reporter should be saying this. Guest i dont need to be told what my job is. Elizabeth warren got appointed by democrats in the senate to have that committee. It is not unusual thing. A often applicable from the private sector to head these probes. She got appointed because she earned it and started out the rp and worked her way up very poor in life and worked her way up. That is her curriculum, hurt qualifications curriculum vitae, hurter qualifications. She did say who was responsible. She talks about the deregulation of the banks under clinton and places partial blame on that but lismore blame on more recent characters lays more blame on more recent characters. Host rod in florida on outline for republicans. Caller i would like your guest to explain for me what social justice in america would look like. How would i recognize it when it arrives . Guest its not going to. Morme t there are a lot of forces at work that contribute to the problem. It is much, much worse than it was. I would argue that in this countrys golden era of growth and prosperity at the end of the second world war, until the 1970s, one of the reasons for that prosperity is that we had a lot more economic inequality and equality helped growth, helped prosperous middle class which was able to go out and buy refrigerators and cars and washing machines and keep this bridge was cycle of production and consumption going Virtuous Cycle of production and consumption going. That would be my main thing. That is something i want to see our political system do more to address. Host our last call is no in Jacksonville Florida on the democrats line noah. Caller you wont believe what just happened. I heard something that made me say wow. I was born and raised in florida , a segregated community for almost for most of my life until i served my country proudly and i have no regrets. With that said, i was going to ask you about something you wrote about. Elizabeth warren. I have been circumvented, ambushed. If you read the constitution i want you to correct me on this if im wrong because you are a learned person. If im wrong, you tell me. The constitution itself, the way its preamble is a pledge of social justice. I will let you answer me there is so much more i could have an wanted to ask. Would you think i was right in thinking the preamble is an instrument for social justice . Guest it is. Thanks, by the way for your kind words and reading my prose. It is and that is the idea of this union. Of course, the constitution endorsed slavery and counted slaves as the bits of human beings so the legacy is obligated. As 3 5 of human beings. As we have overcome this legacy, we have come to understand that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is supposed to reach all citizens of all colors and backgrounds and economic stations and so forth. That is the point of this whole enterprise. That is why we do what we do. There are many of us who think we are still come as much progress as weve made, quite a long way away from that ideal. Host we will leave it there. On the next washington journal, a look at job creation trends, wages and legislative action. Robert graboyes and elise gould. Then we will global conflict spots that could effect 2015 stability. Washington journal is live evans thursday morning at 7 00 eastern. Coming up on cspan, our inmemoriam special featuring celebrities who died this year. First, actor and comedian Robin Williams performs at a 2,000 democratic fundraiser. Then poet maya angelou speaks at an inauguration. Then actress ruby dee honors act vistas from the civil rights movement. In 2006, cspan aired a documentary called the capital. We took a tour of the Senate Chamber and learned about the history of some of the desks still in use today. The earliest air conditioning system was used here. Cold ice brought in underground to cool the chamber. They put the greats on the bottom of the feet of the chamber to allow the air to come through slits in the floor. As cure eightors we try to preserve that history. We try to recognize that every senator who sits in that desk adds another layer to the history that have desk. Members at about 1900 started signing their deskses. Not every member, but we have signatures with a pen or carve night the draw. The 114th congress gaffe ems in on tuesday. We will see the swearingin and the election of house speaker. That is live on cspan and use. You have the best access and most extensive coverage anywhere. Check the g. O. P. On capital hill and have your say. New years day on the cspan networks. Here are some of our featured programs. 10 00 a. M. Eastern, washington ideas forum, at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, the Brooklyn Historical Society Holds a conversation on race. Then at 1c0e eastern apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham on the first manned space flight. Noon eastern on use, author hector tobar on the 33 men buried in a mine. Then Richard Norton smith on the life of nelson rockefeller. Then Cheryl Atkinson on her experiences reporting on the obama administration. New years day on American History tv on cspan 3. At 10 00 a. M. Eastern, want take and nathanny on her experiences and the role of women in the civil rights movement. At 4 00 p. M. , benjamin carp on the link between alcohol and politics in prerevolutionary new york city. Then at 8 00 p. M. Cartoonist Patrick Oliphant draws memorable president s. For our complete schedule go to cspan. Org. Tonight on cspan we remember a few of the celebrities who died in 2014. We begin with actor and comedian Robin Williams, who died in august at the ainge of 63. In july of 2000, mr. Williams did a standup comedy routine at a fundraiser honoring bill clinton this. Is almost 20 minutes. Thank you, thank you very much. Yes it does. Bill opened up a can of whoopass, yes, sir, he did. You saw right there he was tighter than a hot pant in a power dive. Al, you were possessed. People throwing down things saying i believe. People walking forward going yeah sweet power. So much for that charisma bullshit huh . Even Stevie Wonder is back stage going i hear good things. [laughter] things are going well. Here we are. We got everybody moving. Even the people in the 500,000 seats are going oh, yeah, got to move now. Whoa. Thank god for that barbecue. Let it out. Whoo. Works through you quick. That is an econtingent. Come on through, barbecue. Designed to turn your lower tract into a fun ride. Folks down here had that special barbecue. Foul raised chicken. That quarterbackian chicken took its own life. You know what i am saying. People up there in the deep seats, god bless you. People up there, good luck to you. [cheers and applause] whoo here at m. C. I. , you see the people here with the head sets on they are not on a mobile phone. They are secret service. As dan quayle said who is the cute little deaf girl . Sorry sir, she is secret service. Mobile phones president they are all over. You see people Walking Around the excretes of new york and washington good yeah, fine. They have a head set in. It makes them look like they are out of their mind. Go to one. Ok ok. Homeless guy going that is my ass pretty soon they will be implanting them internally. I got the call. One second. Hold on, i got call waiting. Yeah. Wait a minute, i am getting a fax. Ok. That is why we are here. You are here at m. C. I. That is already. Little mobile phones go off and they have little symphonies. I won that goes bu prnch its mine. Used to have the bullets. Kind of a rough name for a team. Unless you are going to be sponsored by smith and wes on, not a good name for a time. Welcome to smith and wes on stadium. It is kevlar night. Come on down. Instead you of the wizards. No one has ever walked into a 711 saying give me the money or she gets turned into a frog. No one has ever done that. But here in washington he mentioned the n. R. A. , recently even had a shooting at the washington zoo. Even the bears are going bull, man i thought i was safe and then all of a sudden you have the dyslexic wing of the n. R. A. We have to arm bears. The right to arm bears. What is charlton hess ton going to do then . Here is poor chandler ton heston going guns dont kill people. Ans with gun apes with guns kill people. And the n. R. A. Is opening a wonderful cafe in downtown manhattan, where they call it indirect firearm experience. Every place else in the country it is called driveby. Your waiter will be going i would like to take you to your table, get down here are the special. 38,. 48, an uzi for the kids. Good luck. Basically it allows in that time they wrote it, it was passed by guys who has muskets who was basically this. And this still continues. I dont know how. How does that happen . At one point they were asking to sanction and say that armor piercing bullets are ok for hunting. Why . Is there some kickass booth out there in kevlar going bring it on, baby. I dont care. Bring it on. Take your chance. After that you are mcbride. Come on, pretty boy, take off the orange coat and lets talk. They came up with a recent statement that said guns save lives. I guess the other part of that argued, condoms kill. Ok. What . Thats all right. We are here tonight, dear friends. We are here tonight. Got a power in the feeling. We have to continue. I just want to say Newt Gingrich rich is getting married. And if you want to buy him a gift, he is registered at krispy kreme. Dont be afraid. Get on down there. I sent him a box of viagra. He took it and he just got taller. I dont know what happened. Damn this is a big place. Dear speed power this is huge. It is the type of place where Martha Stewart could do gladiator. Look at this. Hail maximus. Maximus sounds like feminine protection. Maximus, all day. If you look closely at the movie gladiator, in some of the scenes of the roman senate, you can actually see strom arthur man. He is back there. Looking like a baby bird. Somebody take me up, and i am going to talk to people right now. I am going to tell people right now. I aint afried. Every time i see strom and jesse helms i feel like the little kid in the sixth sense. I dont know why. [cheers and applause] i see dead people oh, man you have to be careful with those old boys. They hang in there a long time. And then you got Pat Buchanan Tillman and the Christian Reich right. You know what i mean. Pat, i loved his book, but i liked it better in the original german. It was so much better. It is so hard not to go out there and say pat we got it. I guess the bottom line is we are here tonight because of the shrub. You know who i am talking about. George w. Bush jr. The w. Stands for where the hell is it . You look at george w. , and you realize some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some get it as a graduation gift. [cheers and applause] i just want to ask the secret service, is it true that his secret Service Code Name is gilligan . Is that really true . Gilligan is on the move, little buddy. Keep going. It is always frightening to me. I hate to see him in a debate. He kept asking if he could use his life line. No. You cant call your dad. Not going to do it, cant help you in and out. Cant see it. Good good, good one. Get after it. Run for office. Not the brightos bulb on the tree. Just go. Frightening. I dont want to see him in charge of the economy. Basically it is like giving o. J. A benihana. No no i am afraid of the cut. You know what i am saying . It is a frightening combination. The poor boy may ask mr. Bush, have you ever done cocaine . Well 15, no. 25 27, yeah, thats it. What is that about . You will be in the white house . White house . I am sorry. Its all right. You have to realize that he is a frightening man. I just want somebody in charge of Foreign Policy who actually knows the country he is talking about. That is basically it. Today was a big day. They passed a lot of heavy duty legislation. Also i just want to hillary or the artist formerly known as the first lady i just want you to know dan quayle is running for the new york senate. The problem is he moved to new jersey. [laughter] i dont know. He was hoping for the commuter vote. Dammit boy. This is mine. I am going to mix them up. Come on now son. Every so often you look at those guys and go darwin was wrong i dont believe you. Work with me. Today a big Foreign Policy day. They basically passed through the house the Chinese Foreign relations bill. I know it was very difficult. Pretty soon there will be a disneyland in shanghai. There will be catches like mickey mouse. And you will swim up the river and hear its a third world after all. Its a land of need compensate with greed. Wait, hold on. You are scaring me. Gandy once said they asked him what do you think of western civilization . He replied i think it is a wonderful idea. And basically from that many years later india has dotel natured seven nuclear devices. Pakistan has debt nighted five luke larry devices and the c. I. A. Found out by reading the newspapers. This is not a good sign. You must be very careful now. Dont make me angry no more mr. Nice ghandi. I am pissed off. Put it out there homie. I am strapped and going to do something. But you see the one thing i worry, but i dont worry about it is jamaicas Atomic Energy program. I am not war are worried that jamaica cans are developing atomic bomb. No man. Jamaica cans would make the atomic bong. I tell you that goes off there is all sorts of devastation. The atomic bong goes off, the smoke clears, everybody is hungry and dancing. That is the one. But you will be safe because you got a president who dont inhale. [laughter] oh, man. Put it out that way. We are going to get busy now. How much you give me if i dive off the stage right there . Right into the posh pit. Whoo be picking jewelry off me for days. There are people down there wearing jeans, but they are wearing them damn expensive tony lama boots made from alligator foreskin. If you can get that close you have yourself some good eating, i will tell you boy. Be careful. Hello. There is a child in the front row. We have learned some new words havent we . Whoa. I guess uncle robin wont be talking about the colonoscope tonight. It is a dangerous thing. A video camera on the end of a roto rooter. Dont do it. I am 48 years old now. Whoa. What is that . It was the hamburger you had in 1985. Then they blow air, which is so nice, too. I am sure there are fartz going incoming my photographer friends down here. How are you . Oh leaving . Wait, dont be afraid. Hey. Oh, so iy sorry. Secret service, they are not allowed to move. Well, thank you for letting me come up here today and do a few minutes. Initially i cano work it out in my schedule, but when janet reno showed up with the i. N. S. People, i worked it out. [cheers and applause] it is amazing what happens when they kick down your door and yell move it i am coming i will dance for the man [laughter] damn this is one hugeass place. Whoo i know. This is like hang gliding in the grand canyon. Al, do you actually have a palm pilot there . That is nice. Al gore has his palm pilot saying i have to keep working. You know i invented the internet . Come on. I did. I invented it, and i tell you i made the first phone. No, come on. The first phone message. Hi this is Alexander Graham bell, i cant get to the phone right now because i am on the other end. You have to be careful. The internet is out there. It is an amazing thing. Good night sir. At 500,000 he is going i am out of here. Oh my god, i have pissed off henry kinninger. I know where you live. The palm pilot is an amazing thing. You see people by the freeways going will work for website. Then you see some homeless guy going i got a palm pilot here here. Look, i got mail. It is an expandable file, too, i will tell you. I know that is the shot they used in the washington post. There it is. Whoa. Sorry. The pope is blessing you. Every time i see the pope in the popemobile i want to put a few bingo ball tpwhs there with him. That would be a great idea. Are they ready for me. We are going off stage. What does this mean . Go on . You are in good shape . Have i got more time . Oh, sure. Thank you dear [cheers and applause] this is amazing. If you do get heckled, is sundays like it sounds like [inaudible] welcome to custers, a casino that cares. Well, i think you are ready to bring out missy. Is it read now . I have been like a sorbet. I have kind of cleaned their palats. I am going out now. You take care of the Martha Stewart stuff. She is hanging out with puff daddy. I would like to bring out a woman right now who is going to carry on the tradition of this season because we are having a damn good time. [cheers and applause] yes. Yes, sir you are raising some cash because uncle al, you have to beat the shrubs. There is no bad thing about it. Come on now, son. If you keep what you have going tonight, you have the power. You have the spirit. You have the power tonight. Al gore, you are going to move on now. Ladies and gentlemen leanne rhymes. A our special in memoriam programming continues with maya angelou. She died this year at the age of 86. In 1993 she cited her poem at the inauguration ceremony of bill clinton. It was the poem recitation at an inauguration since 1961. [applause] mr. President and mrs. Clinton, mr. Vice president and mrs. Gore, and americans everywhere. A rock, a river, a tree. Hosts to species long since departed, marked the masterson do not, the dinosaur, who left tried tokens of their so adjourn here on our plan oat floor. Any broad alarm of their hastening doom is lost in the gloom of dust and ages. But today the rock cries out to us clearly forcefully. Come you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny. But seek no haven in my shadow. I will give you no hiding place down here. You created only a little lower than the angels, have crouched too long in the bruising darkness. Have lane too long facedown in ignorance, your mouths spilling words armed for slaughter. The rock cries out to us today you may stand upon me but do not hide your face. Across the wall of the world a river sings a beautiful song. It says come, rest here by my side. Each of yo