host: you can join the conversation on twitter, or go to facebook.com. and, journal c-span.org. we'll get your thoughts in just a minute, but, let me show you what the florida governor had to say, here's a little bit of his posting as a result of these conversations of family gathering that he had, and thoughtful consideration of the kind of strong leader ship that i think america needs, i have decided to actively explore the possibility of run fog for president of the united states, and this january i plan to establish a leadership pack, and, facilitate conversations with citizens across america, to discuss the most critical challenges. and joining us on the phone, is cameron joseph, with the hill, the political reporter for the hill newspaper, and, so, what exactly, did jeb bush announce yesterday. i mean he announced that he's doing what he has been doing, that, he's giving serious consideration to it. but it was a much more official formal way of doing this, i think, what it does, gives very clear signals to his potential supporters, that he is leaning towards a run, which some people had been doubting and, the field, especially, the more established leading folks, and the money folks, to give him a little more time to consider. and, it is not official, that he's a candidate but at the same time, it's the biggest clearest early stop, in the major candidates that he is going to give this real thought and, puts a lot of pressure on some of the offers, his friend, marco rube pea row and, chris christie, because, they're looking at the real juggernaut, and, a lot of the folks who might be willing to support them. so it was a move that i think, some folks were doubtful that he was going to run, and this is the way to make it fair that he was going to consider it, and, he really ran, the last couple of weeks, they were doubtful that he was going to make a move like this. what does it mean, some of the other contenders, what does it mean for lesser known possible candidates, other governors, like joh kay sick from ohio. and they wanted them to jump in. iit has an impact, on him, and scott walker, and some of these folks who had been very actively, walker, courting, the big donor clarification, and the business class and, some of these folks that can write very large checks, and back a super pack, and it is these type of folks that, would love to see jeb get in, and, go elsewhere, and they're open for the bidding, for competition. but, with gen giving this very serious consideration, that's why he did this. it frees the biggest fact, the money primary, and, i think, it it will make it very hard for some these second level candidates, who might otherwise have an opening, on the more establishment business side, wouldn't call it moderate, but the less hard line conservative types, to get into this race. now, the rational for with why they would run isn't there. q.what is his calculation about his chances? well, i think he sees a real opening and, i get the sense that, he is entrusted in being president, and i have never been convinced that he wanted to run for president, and, two very different calculations, and he is getting more serious. and, that he is giving serious thought to getting into this bid and, undertaking what is a two-year slog, and, you know, democrats are already jumping on this. that, american bridge, had a big research book, and they recirculated the jeb bush, if he gets in, it is going to ruin his name, and, democrats are worried about it, and i talked to ed rendell, and very close ali of clinton, and he was saying, he the one we're worried about, he doesn't think he can win the primary, but he is the one that he really could give us the toughest race in the general election. so that's something that it, i think democrats are very cognizant of, and see a lot of them, and they spent a lot of their heat, with romney, and, you will see them going after jeb bush early. let's take what your comments about not being able to run the primary. a lot of analysis, that he would be considered a noter rat candidate. but if he real amoderate, when you look at his governor ship, of florida? he was considered, very conservative. he was very conservative, and it shows that the issues have moved, and the party has moved, and, some of the issues, that he is kind of an econno class os that, and, are two issues, that, immigration has been something that he and his brother, and a lot of bushes break with, and, hard line conservatives and, he supports reform, which is different than a lot, and that's always been true, and, common core, and that's rile, the base and, that was something that was ridely embraced. education reforms, set by the governors, and the conservatives, and he has continued to defend it, and that's something that the tea party base hates. but on most other issues he's conservative. he cut taxes and, he cut spengd, and he did a hot of things, that conservatives loved, and, his reputation is very conservative governor. and, so, i think it's interesting, base i think he's not necessarily been emphasizing that, and him getting more active mode, and not the candidate level, and, gives him a bigger platform to talk about some of of what he has done, and i think he needs to spend some more time, talk about what made him conservative, and less time talking about immiphrasing, and education, to two of the issues, that he has been talking about. all right. cameron joseph, you can find his reporting on the hill, hill.com, and here is the headline, gen exploring 2016 run. is. host: so, what are your thoughts on this? exploring a 2016 presidential run. sandra, you're up first, republican. caller: yes, i am not for jeb bush, i loved his brother as a president, and, to me, gen is just too much for immigration, and, the common core, i don't like anything he stands for, they need to put someone in, like back tor carson or huckabee, or walker, and no jeb bush and, no -- i can't think of the name. the man from new jersey. he'll lose a lot of base vote tors. because, nobody likes them. host: sandra, it's chris christie. from new jersey. caller: yes. not him or jeb bush. host: sondes like you consider those two potential contenders as mother rats. caller: to me they're liberals. and that's their -- that's what they are. host: because of those two issues. caller: that's the two main ones for me. common core and immigration. i'm not against immigrants, because i have a sister inlaw who is spanish, and she came here right way. and they need the ones that came in the right way first, and you don't let somebody to break the law. not care about anything america stands for. host: let me ask you, who do you want to see run then? caller: doctor carson, huckabee, walker. perry, there's so many. that's there, that people would vote for. but they made us take mccain, and, they forced romney, and you don't get something that's forced on you. host: let's go to jim next. democratic caller. were you in florida when jeb bush was the governor. caller: yes. host: how do you remember his tenure? caller: i would have rather have had a democrat. which, jeb bush, i think he's better than all the offers out there. it's too bad that he decided to run, because he's going to make all the clowns stay home. host: would you vote for him as a democrat. caller: no. host: steve, independent. hi, steve. if morning. what do you think about jeb bush exploring a presidential bid in 2016? let me move onto maxine, in new york. caller: good morning. well, we'll digging out from the last bush we had, and, president -- host: we're listening. caller: and president barak obama has taken a beating, and he's doing our best and, i prefer a clinton over anybody. host: what do you think of a potential clinton-bush match-up. caller: i think she would beat him handleds down. i don't think we need, the republicans have boathouses and i don't think we need a republican president, too. q.okay. that's maxim. from the miami her regard, the hometown paper of jeb bush, the headline, they say the pressure is now is on marco rubio, the florida senator there, and there's. of the same political supporters, and donors, in florida, but, rube we o says, bush's decision, won't inflew reference his own plans of a possible run. also, the tallahassee democrat, bush name, a leg up and, a burden for gen, in 2016. that's the front-page. the former governor gives a formal signal yet, and, we're getting your thoughts. and the phone-lines are on your screen. and also, i want to show you some other front-page nips, "the star ledger," out of new jersey. how bush models christie's dc dream, and decision to explore a presidential run makes things far more complicated for the new jersey governor. and you heard why. and then also, out of texas, bush is 2016 hurts perry, and aid denies, governor would vie for the same financial support. and that's rick perry. we'll go to also this idea, we mentioned, this idea of another bush-clinton match-up, for our first lady's series. we talked with barbara bush, back in october are 2013 about a possible bush-clinton run and, here's what she had to say. guest: do you think there's room for another bush in the white house. i think this is a great american country. and if we can't find more than two or three families to run for high offers, that's silly. because there are great governors, and, great people to run. and, i think, that, kennedy's, and clintons and, bushes, there's just more families than that, and i'm not arrogant enough to think we alone are raising, but we're raising public servants, whether they're feeding the poor, like lauren is, who spent 68 million children or barbara, who is bringing global health to the world, and, pierce who is working for big brothers, big sisters, and there are a lot of ways to serve, and being president is not the only one, and i would hope, that someone else wouldç run. although, there's no question, that gen is the best qualified person to run for president. but i hope he won't. because i think he'll get all my end namies and, all his brothers, and, there are other families, i refuse to accept that this great country, isn't raising other wonderful people. host: former first lady, barbara bush, talking about a potential bid, but that was back in october, 2013, and, they say his mother has come around to the idea. and others have not. conservative here, tweeting this out. another bush versus another clinton, plit dal vomit and trump saying, the last thing this country needs is another bush. so that's some of the reaction, on twitter. mark. what do you think? caller: good morning, just enjoy your show here. wanted to call in, and say that, i think the bush family, is representing the country well, and in their past presidential. i'm not so sure i'm a big fan of gen i would like more people to would consider taking a look at doctor ben carson. q.why not jeb bush? caller: i think we need, to get outside the beltway. and, i think the time is right and i don't know if the gentleman is still on the air with you now, but, i was interested to see how he felt about how the press would handle some of the outsiders, and if they would give them a chance. and i'll be offline. host: it's interesting, you consider jeb bush inside the beltway, why do you say that? host: it's interesting that you consider florida governor jeb bush part of the beltway. caller: well, he's just, he's a politician and, he's born and bred politician, and i think it's time for a change. we need ben carson. but, you know, can bring some new ideas and, i think people take a look at him, and read up on his, and he's an interesting guy, and i think he can do well for us. host: here's some reaction from democrats,. debbie wassermann schultz, no thanks, is right. today jeb bush announced he's considering a run for president, and the picture there, of jeb bush's father, and, the former president, and, as we learned, from cameron joseph, democrats are starting to fundraise off of the idea of jeb bush starting to explore a bid. he announced that he would set up a committee, to raise money. what are your thoughts on it? bruce, democratic caller. caller: how are you doing? host: good morning. caller: if you want to know what type of person jeb bush is, he endorsed rick scott, for governor of florida, and rick scott is a thief, he should be in jail. that's the type of values, the republicans have, thank you. host: roger. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say that clearly, the best qualified person for the republicans to have run for president in 2016 is robert gates. he has the international experience, and he has worked, with numerous presidents, and, he would unite the congress, and get rid of this bipolar political situation we have. but, i know, i don't see his name ever mentioned. and that's a disservice to the american people. he would be the ideal presidential candidate. host: all right. randy, independent caller. what do you think about jeb bush? caller: thanks for taking my call. it's just another monarchy, i thought that's why we got out of england and, these people, this is all orchestrated, and he's been planning on this, daddy bush, go back and listen to daddy bush's speech, and his new world order. his daddy, was in bed with the nazis, and we need this, we got the clintons, and president barak obama, and they're just a pack of communists. host: edward, hi, good morning. listen through your phone. you're on. so, i think it's a bad idea for america to have another bush as president, i think that they would just rig the election, so it speak. or have a group of lawyers, sitting as judges -- have them, you know, put into office. host: edward. and daniele, here in dc. what do you think? caller: good morning, i think that, the what i can hear from the callers and, i think through the polls, and if you look at the attitude of the electorate, we're ready for campaign reform, election reform, and just the idea of taking another look about how we come up with these candidates, it is determined, on who can raise money. so these two families, historically, in the period, for politics have the most money, and bush is to the a surprise to people and, the american people expect it, and, all along the political spectrum, people are frustrated. hillary clinton, is not satisfactory to the more progressive side of the democratic party. i think it would be an opportunity for the american people to be heard, maybe in terms of the restructuring how we do elections. host: okay. the national review online, that is piece from charles c.w. cook, and jeb bush is the wrong name at the wrong time. jeb bush announcing on facebook, that he is looking at a presidential run, and in january, he will seth up a leadership pac which will allow him to start raising money. rand paul is, already running a ad against jeb bush, it's a google search ad, that rand paul set up, and, what it says, on there, is when you do it, it will pop up, and already putting this together and, it says, join in movement, working to slinch government, not grow, with the link to rand pac. and a page,ing and supporters to give their email address and, zip code, to stand with rand. bush announced he would form a similar pac. so you can see the reaction there, from senator paul rand. and also another potential contender. the former florida governor was in washington, for the wall street overnall annual meeting, and, he told the audience, that's thinking about running for president. i think 16 is like any other year. so i'm thinking about running for president and, i'll make up my mind, in short order, not that far out, i don't know the exact timeline. it's the same decision-making process, that i have always had, can i do it, do i have the skills to do it, that tries to lift people's spirits and not get sucked into the vortex. it's easy to say and hard to do. and i have to do a lot of soul-searching to really make that determination, and, prps more important, can i do it where the sacrifice for my family, is tolerable. and every person that runs for office, it's a big sacrifice, because it's a pretty ugly business, and, i'm not saying is, oh, wow, is me. but there's a level that i would never subjew gate my family. that's my life. and, i think people appreciate that. so i'm sorting that out. the former florida governor, in washington, talking about running for president, what goes into might go that decision, and he announced on facebook, that he is actively pursuing this, and he will start raising money in january. so we're getting your thoughts on this idea of jeb bush, exploring a presidential run. the phone-lines are open. start dialing in now, i want to get your thoughts. in other news, putin's financial reckoning, the price of oil dropping, and it is sending the russian current six in a downward spiral, 17%. that's the hike from 10.5, in a failed effort to halt the slide, 50% is what it has lost since the so muchchi olympics. and this having a devastating effect. also, the senate wrapped up its business late last night, and so there was, an ap brupt finish, for the least productive congress, in modern history, they write it, do you came it an abrupt close, as they extended, dozens of tax breaks, and, democrats controlling the senate, secured republican agreements to confirm 6 dozens of the nominees, and, to sit on boards, a last minute c.o.o. for the white house, and, it goes on to say, under the deal for these taxcuts millions of businesses and individual taxpayers will be able to claim long standing deductions and, credits worth billions, and the pension expire again, december 31. lawmakers will be forced to fight all over again next year. senate leaders failed to convince, tomko born, to lift his back, on legislation,. the walk post, saying, this morning, in the newspaper, that, in a closed dor meeting, on the final day, it included a apology, from ted cruz to his colleagues, he said he was sorry for travel plans, and he did not apologize for the decision to keep the senate in session to approve, the spending bill. the washington times, editorial board says that ready, fire, aim, senator ted cruz made a mistake, over that spending bill, because it cost the republican party the nominees. they say that knowing when to fight and, when to deal, is the hallmark of a smart poker player, and a leader with the skill, that the senator, brave, and or, has yet to master. also, another potential 2016 contender. and that's our question for all of you, what do you think of jeb bush, taking another step towards the presidential campaign? rosemary, hi? caller: hi, how are you? i think the best person to be president is -- i have a cold, is jeb bush. he's got the experience, and he's got his brother and, his father, and i don't know about you, but when i go to the doctor, i want one with the most experience, and the way our country is today, and the problems we have, and he ises and everything else, i can't think of anybody else but jeb bush. so i hope to god that he becomes our next president, and happy holidays to you. host: do you agree with him on immigration? caller: yes. i agree, on with him, on the color of shirt. i have all my confidence in him. if people are smart, they'll wake up, and put aside all their stupid grievances and think about the country and, how we're going to be safe. we're not going to last the last four years. host: you're a democrat, did you vote for president barak obama? caller: no, but i'm a life-long democrat, and i'm waiting for the day where i can vote for a good democrat, and i'm thinking of the country, rather than the party. host: would that be hillary clinton? caller: no. host: why not. caller: i think there's a lot of lies that she hasn't been caught on. i don't trust her. host: rose, republican caller. caller: hi. good morning. how are you? doing fine. what do you think? caller: i just want to say, if jeb bush gets the nominee, i'll vote for hillary clinton. his brother was bad, and i don't like his approach. and his view's immigration. host: okay. cheryl, independent. hi, cheryl. caller: yes, i believe, that a lot of people are overlooking one thing, back in the early 1970s, we had a lot of problems, with nixon. and, over the past 8 years here, we have had a lot of problems, with president barak obama, and i'm not saying, for or against, but time repeats itself, and a lot of older voters, maybe have gone through a lot of things, and the great depression and, not seen the true eyes of what is happening. their generation now, hit with all these healthcare problems, and also, the yank ger generation of what's going to happen. what we need to look back at, is the bigger picture, the older folks, and younger folks, what would they do? and i think the biggest thing that they need to look at, what has president barak obama done for me? has he created the jobs, and, job stability. no. because, i live down here in florida, and there is no one on the candidates vote, throughout the united states that have come down here and, help promote jobs. we have no factories and no jobs. and it's too political. host: okay. more analysis, this from the washington post, that was released, yesterday, from that bush, have a narrow edge over a crowded field of g. o.p. contenders, if romney were not in the race. 15% where senator rand paul, and, paul ryan, each netting 11%. support for all three, is what is in the poll. if romney ran again, he would enter with 20% support. survey found that the gop field, is the most fractured, field, without romney, support is smith, with no candidate having a clear base of support. allen gomez, who covers immigration, and is based in miami, a breath of fresh air, on immigration? he reports this, i decided to explore a run at the race, and, he has insured it will look a lot different than in 2012 when it comes to one of the most troubling issues, immigration, the result was clear, mitt romney garnered 27 of the -- 27% which helped to do his candidacy, and jeb bush will score point's his background alone, and his wife was born in mexico. and he speaks spanish, and having covered him, i remember seeing gen bumper stickers, and the affectstion was so deep, as the first hispanic governor of the state. so that's in "u.s.a. today," this morning. also, on potential other candidates running, the wall street jor nall, half say, they would back clinton, and 48% say they wouldn't. at the same time, mrs. clinton shows strengths, tha, allude su. and, asking whether they could support any of the nine gop republicans, none got more than one-third of voters. mitt romney, carries the strongest numbers. "a.b.c. news" poll, you can see the numbers there. it says, in new jersey governor chris christie, and, mark ruby oh, and perry, score between 35-40% support. ted cruz was at 34%, and, scott walker, 29%. stan, independent caller, what are your thoughts? caller: from what i heard, last night, he has a very moderating, and interesting sort of mainstream idea. but, i'm going to be a president, by putting my hat in the ring, that subverts the democratic process, and the people that control the money, and decide who is going to be in there, and the same thing goes for the whole first family drama, that goes on. it's almost, football game or super bowl for the masses. there's an excellent lecture, we the people, held an interesting thing, where these people are predetermined by the 144,000 of the alans, that have the money. it's a subverted process. host: john, democratic caller, hi john. caller: well, i pray to god there will never be another bush, because people remember how bad things get when the bush as president, and, lost jobs, and recession. and hello, that's what's going to happen again. you will lose your jobs and your homes. host: all right, james, next. hi, james. caller: i love your show, and thank you for having me on. yeah, bush wouldn't be a good candidate, i'm going for mitt romney and, hopefully, he'll throw his hat in the ring, to think that another bush, is going to be office, i liked senior, but i didn't like junior, and now we'll have another junior, and i don't i dt think he would do all that great of a job. host: john ellis bush, studied, latin american issues, and, met in wife in mexico. and they settled in florida, where he immers he had himself in real estate, and, hispanic culture, he lost his first run for governor, and he won in 1998 with the large share of the hispanic, and, whites, and he earned a reputation as a conservative, and, private school voucher program and, slashing taxes, and he is pro-life, drawing national attention for his earths to keep a brain dead issue, on terri schiavo, over objections of her husband. hi, bob. caller: i lived in florida for ten years and, my mother died in florida about five years ago and, about five years before that, which was when gen was in office, and i was down there. not going down there, i was really surprised at how he had settled down the state. florida, i don't know if you know anything about it, but it's just like any place else, there's as lost money involved in it. and i knew some of the big hitters, not in politics, in business, and, i don't care to talk about that, but jeb bush is a very bright guy. and he, the only thing that he did, that got under my skin, they had a hurricane that was coming. and i was in orlando and, they shut that town down, because they were afraid the hurricane was going to get down there, and it was fascinating, and all those stores were closed. and maybe that was a trial, i don't know. but everything else that he did, he was very good. host: okay. also in the washington times, this morning, they feature a new poll that shows, democrats want change from president barak obama policies and, vote tors seeking an alterna tough to clinton. and then, on a jeb bush candidacy, jeb bush and the right, his ideas aren't a problem, but is he ready to fight for the job? concerned, that he is not all in. and they write this, his name and experience are formidable enough, that his entry this the race would cause other candidates to stay out of the field, all the more reason, to be sure, he's in, for the rough and tumble. also want to share another story, on the front-page of the washington times. about immigration, and, the headline is, is that a judge has ruled amnesty violates the constitution, a federal judge ruled, parts of his amnesty to be unconstitutional, with a skating memo, dismantling it, and he tried to steal the law making powers, and he reports the ruling doesn't invalidate it, because it was as case over a single deportation and, it could serve as a roadmap, for other federal judges. ross, good morning. caller: hey, good morning. thank you for taking my call. we have a short memory, here in this country, bush senior, when he came in, we the savings, and loan crisis, and junior comes on, and, we have the wall street crisis, scan war and as i said before, we have a short memory here, whenever we have a bush, in office, we're going to have a financial crisis first, and then we're going to have a war. we're going to have a financial crisis, where a lot of wealthy guys will steal money, and anwar. we'll have the same thing. host: some other news to tell you about, washington post reporting, that the tsa leader will be stepping down, for a much quieter campus. president of anderson university, in indiana. and, also, we learned yesterday, that, the administration tor for international development, and the highest ranking india ann, is going to be leaving as well. and speculation, that he may run for congress some day. also, before leaving town, the senate, approved the nomination of the surgeon general, he becomes the youngest surgeon general, in more than a century, 37-years-old and, it was confirmed, more than a year after he was nominated. a delay, that said about as much about the political cycle as it did about his views. and his remarks, about guns, they are a health care issue, and, raids the n.r.a., and, frightens democrats. he was confirmed, last night. up on -- in washington, today, there's monetary policy, and economy meeting, and we'll hear from janet, the federal reserve chairman at 2:30 or c-span 2 we'll be covering that. hear what her thoughts are, on the economy, with the situation, with oil prices dropping. let's hear from al. democratic caller. caller: yes, good morning. jeb bush, should not run. all we're going to do, right back on welfare, and, we'll go into war. and they're not for the people. in florida, when i lived there in florida, he didn't do nothing for the blacks or the people, but turned us down, he's not for healthcare, and he's just telling you all this. we had jobs, and you got to the understand that. we had jobs and, now we got clinton, and, both came in, and stole another war and, now they want to do it all over again. host: okay, brenda, democratic caller. caller: hello. how are you? this is my first time calling, c-span, and i watch you everyday. i wanted to say, to me, i believe he would be a good president, because, you know, his wife, and, you know, she's -- she knows the situation, with the hispanic community. i'm african-american. but, i just, for my view, he would be a good president, because he may not be like his brother or his father, in office. that's all. host: that's brenda. let me show you front-page of some newspapers. after the taliban there, massacred, 131 school children, the principal, dead, an attack on an army public school, and the prime minister, announcing 3 day national morning, for the family of those that lost their loved ones and, it says that, there's big questions, on how this group of tal a ban, managed to bring such a big quantity of arms, and ammunition into the area. and also, another headline for you, on this, from the international news. it says, so, that, from another paper, in that country. and then the guardian, with this picture here, of the brutal attack yesterday on that school. in pakistan. we're getting your thoughts this morning or jeb bush exploring a 2016 presidential run. and what do you make of this? denver colorado, hi, goodçxd morning. caller: i think, there's no tradeoff, with president barak obama to jeb bush, as they're both related as that, third grader showed us a couple years back, when she traced the lineage. host: martin. caller: how are you doing? i was just saying, i think gen would be a good president, we had president barak obama and the clintons, and, you look at bill clinton, and, 21 million jobs, but, we lost way more than 21 million jobs that he got. and president barak obama, some of us democrats realize, they tell us a lot of things, but then, if you look at what they do, it's not that much. you know, i will vote for gen. host: all right. martin, are you still there? what do you think about clinton? caller: i think it would be much of bill clinton. hillary, don't act like she care about certain democrats and, i have been looking at these politics for awhile, and i would not vote for her, because i don't feel that they really going to do anything. they tell us, minority voters, that they're going to do this, and, that, and, then they don't do anything for us. and i'm just fed up with the democratic party. and i wanted them to hear that today and, this is a lot of us, we're fed up with it, and i want everybody to remember, lincoln was a republican and, he freed the slaves, and ask me the democrats have done. if more any norties look at the history, it doesn't look that bright and we voted for president barak obama he don't mention the name black. i'm just fed up with the party, and i hope a lot of democrats get fed up. host: that was martin. he said he would vet for jeb bush. host: phil. we will get it your thoughts and first, we showed some conservative reaction, to the idea of jeb bush running, in 2016, and, brent, who is a conservative writer and, activist, tweeting out, another bush versus another clinton, political vomit. there's other reaction, democrats fundraising on this idea of jeb bush exploring. debbie wassermann saying no thankç you. phil, a republican, what do you think? caller: the opinion, when did the executive branch before a family bus? we have bushes and clinton's, are there any other families out there? this is getting ridiculous. i really hate the idea that, the federal government is looking like north korea, where we have dynasties rubbing the country. host: we'll leave the discussion and, coming up, we'll talk about the american federer raising of teachers, randy, about the latest debate, the white house push for early education and, other education, and then later we'll return to the conversation, with matt lewis, and he will break down, what it means. and also, what it means for the republican party, and first, vice-president gee biden, attended the anniversary of the hanukkah party. we stand on the front lawn after nation, founded on the principal of the boo book mike , and 223 years ago. he wrote, may the children of the stock of abraham, who dwell in this land, continue toñr marist, and enjoy the good will of the other inhas been whattants, and everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine, and victory, and there shall be none to make him afraid. the central, the central jewish negotiations of religious freedom, the safety it, in your own land. of being treated with dig nitney and, respect, in your own community. not only led to the crow ation to the modern state of israel, but also formed the bedrock of the united states o of america. since our very founding. these values were captured in the words of a young jewish poet when she wrote, give me tired your poor, your masses, and years of age, to breathe free. these words captured forever in the statu statue of liberty are ingrained in your d.n.a. and become ingrained in d.n.a. of america. not only did millions of jew's scrape, see those words, but millions of all other faiths and cultures, saw them as well, and continue to see them. the truth is, that jewish heritage and, jewish culture, and jewish values, are such an essential part of who we are, that it is fair to say, that jewish heritage, is american heritage. that's who we are, as a people. and to me, that's part of the miracle, the miracle, we all celebrate together, as you celebrate with your families tonight. so, on behalf of my children, and, my wife jill, and the president of the united states, let me just say, happy hanukkah, to everyone. to see the entire national lighting ceremony go to our website. joining us now, on our journal set, i want to welcome back the president of the american federation of teachers. let's begin with some last minute business from the senate and, that is approving, of a new surgeon general. he will be the youngest, 37-years-old and, his nomination being held up for a year. what did this delay mean for the fight against ebola? we are 1.6 member union, and second largest nurse's union and, we've been very involved, with our nurses, in terms of being frontline in america, in the fight against ebola and also, spending a lot of time, with people, in africa, in terms of that fight, so, when you don't have a surgeon general, and you don't have the top policy maker, in terms of public health. and when that -- in the absence of that, you don't have the preparation that the united states needed had to have, when we started seeing that the -- ebola so, once -- it is remarkable how you see some hospitals throughout the country, working with their nurses and doing the kind of preparation and, in this spending bill, the president's piece about ebola preparation, got in there. because it is huge. the amount of money that's need said huge, if you're going to this right. and the trairning that's need said huge. you have to do screen, throughout the united states, in hospitals, and have real centers, and so, surgeon general is important on that, and what was said, this surgeon general, has taken positions about common sense gun safety. and the fact that he has taken those positions should not have disqualified him, and i'm glad that we overcame that. he's going to be a great addition. on that money for ebola, will this continue to be a priority? will the nurses get the training, that they were calling for? the nurses, we were calling for a 3 step plan. one was you need to have u-- real trairning for were, and real equipment for everyone, and you also need to have separate places, where there's willing people, who are stepping up, to equally do the kind of care that needs to happen and, what we have seen, in places where hospitals worked with our nurses, that was happening. and in places where people pretended that, they were all -- they were ready when they weren't, it created too much of a scare. it reminds me of the aids crisis. public health, needs to be taken seriously, and it takes an investment and, when you pull it out, you're not ready. so, places with people are working together, nurses and hospitals, which is part of what unions helhealth do, which is w. do you think, that money stay's that path and, doesn't get diverted. one hopes so, and that's why some people think we are annoying, and that's our job, to call it out, if it doesn't. that's what we do, in hospitals, and like in schools. we need the investment. higher education, a quarter of the money that states used to spend are gone because of this last you a stir aty, and it's part of the issue about fees and student loan debt is so much worse today than it was five years ago. so that's part of what our job is, to call that out and get that investment. we're talking about randy. lines are open. also, educators, we want to hear from you. another issue, that this congress dealt with, before they left town, and closed the books, was this 1.1 trillion dollar spending bill and, in it, included pension cuts, your union not impacted and, what did it do? number one, this was about trying to fix as opposed to what is happening, throughout the country, which is just closing private sector pensions, and so, frank licks the building trades were very, very much pushing this bill, because what they wanted, they wanted a ability, some tools, to be able to collect toughly bargain work together, to fix some of the private sector pension plans, that had been cut because a lot of two things, investment issues, and with the recession, and, it's so ironic, that the spending bill also, allowed, change, in tod frank which was needed to actually stop another recession caused by wall street crash. so, the building trades of somebodies lifetime, not when they are 60, 70 years old say oops, what are we going to do now? host: what are the prospects now when the republicans are coming back in control? guest: the reason they were affected so much as number one, a lot of governors, republican governors in particular took pension holidays instead of actually doing their contributions to pension funds, when the employees had to, they actually said no, we will just take a holiday, and then it was that plus the cut in wall street, but what you are seeing is a lot of them are more and more healthy, and if you look at this, the rate of return of investment is much better when you do a pension fund. host: are they healthy because more came back? guest: part of it is they are healthy because wall street came back and part of it as they are healthier because people are doing the contributions they need to do over the course of time. employees have put in their contributions in terms of the pensions come it was the government is that said no, we are not going to put ours in. host: you are not a fan of wall street, but if wall street is better, employees do better. guest: my opinion is you cannot have winners and losers in an economy. you cannot have an economy that has the greatest west -- wealth gap. everybody should be doing well, not just the 1%. we cannot have wage stagnation for everybody else and the 1% booming, what we know pensions form huge investments for wall street, which is why it is so ironic that wall street, some aspects of wall street actually fight against the very same thing that is feeding it. host: let's talk politics a little bit because the former florida governor jeb bush took one step for closer to running in 2016, deciding to start a funding committee in january. he has been very opal on common core. what do you make of a potential bid by him? guest: jeb bush is a very smart guy, and if he becomes the republican candidate, it will go be a very, very tough, contested election, but the bottom-line is look in terms of education. it is not what you say, it is what you do. you have to recant -- you have to reclaim the promise of public education and if you look at what jeb bush did in florida, he is a fantastic salesman, but the focus was on testing, testing, and grading, grading, and he created a system which virtually all of the scriptures are saying stop. we actually need to teach kids, we have to engage kids in terms of art am a music, physical education, critical thinking, not just measure, measure, measure, measure. if you want to do that, we have to invest, even in terms of the common core, it is about critical thinking. i actually agree with the promise of a common core because you have to help kids get to that critical thinking stage, but a lot of the common core adherence by jeb bush and others, they are more focused on the testing in the grading and the sorting went public education is about helping all kids. so you have to look at what he actually did about education, not what he says he did about education. host: in terms of education, who is formidable on the democratic side against him? guest: it is still really early, and there is no secret that my union and i, you know, we have always been very, very big hillary clinton fans. we have worked very hard for her . in 2008. she was my senator in new york state. you have to wait and see how -- who is ultimate going to run. let me say this -- public education is a public the good. it should not be a province of democrats and not a province of republicans. all throughout the country -- i was just a new town a couple of weeks ago. the board in newtown is five republicans, two or three democrats. they understand that it is something you have to help, that all hits have to be helped -- all caps have to be helped. -- all kids have to be helped, but it requires an investment, not thinking that a market theology is going to work. in fact, one of the big charter experts just admitted this week that market theology does not work in the education industry. host: you put out a statement very critical of this 1.1 trillion dollars spending bill that was passed by congress, and critical of it because they provision that would ease up on the dodd frank regulation over wall street. you wrote host: working people know that we can count on house minority leader nancy pelosi and senator elizabeth warren and others, all of those who stood up and said we will not vote for this legislation. is hillary clinton too close to wall street? guest: no. hillary clinton knows how to get things done. i watched that when she was secretary of state, i watched that when she was a senator from new york state, and i watch that when she was the first lady, so ultimately, you know, she has not announced yet, so it is premature to talk about all of this, and let me also say my union -- it does not matter what my personal edition is, my union has a whole endorsement process. when you look at the senate spending bill, the spending bill that was passed, there are two provisions in there. how do you derail dodd frank when i was the checks and balances? that is what nancy pelosi and elizabeth warren were saying, and they were right. how do you insert into that bill more of the opening to overspend in elections? there are good things in that bill. it is good that the ebola spending is there. it is good that there are all sorts of new tools to turn around low performing schools, but how do you do that when you have wage stagnation, when the middle class needs to reclaim the promise of the american dream, and what happens is wall street is preferred as opposed to everyone else? host: let's get to calls. we have a democratic caller, thank you for waiting, virgil, go ahead. caller: listen, guys. backup up to the part about education, to me, it is like obamacare. i think education should be free because other countries do it, and all countries should do it because that is one of the things we need is education. i just wonder what her issue is on the maybe being for this, they say there will be a shortage of doctors and nurses here pretty soon, and i think the scholarships are to be free, if anybody wants to get in that field. host: ok, all right, randi weingarten. guest: look, sir, you are totally right. one of the things that made america different than almost any other country was that we had -- sorry, i am an old social studies teacher, so i used to teach my high school students in 11th grade and 12 great about the lacking social compact, which meant that in exchange for giving up some freedoms, we had taxation, we had safety, community policing, and we had public education. and that we had that as part of our democracy. so public education is a public good. it is supposed to be paid for throughout the country by the taxpayers of the nation, but we have to use that money wisely, and we have to give it, as you just said, to the kids that are most in need. if someone wants to go to college, they should be able to go to college without having staggering debt because what is going to happen is that they will then be taken care of us when we are all in wheelchairs. but you are totally right, and we need to do more of that in terms of helping all teams succeed and get to their god-given potential. host: on our line for a look and, like in layton, utah. go ahead, mike. caller: i listen to this present only time, and he talks about politics instead of education. she covers everything that is possibly under the sun. everything is about money and taxing, nsa need more money, and a code word it investment, and it is goes on and on and on. how much is too much? i had a great public education, but when i was a kid going up, homeschoolers were thought of as strange people. now i see homeschooling is wonderful. if i had to raise my three sons again, i would be so happy to do it home and teach them the wonderful things about life and our country, and i am just so sick of this. always more money. always. guest: well, sir, look, i have a cut to propose, which is why don't we stop testing so much, and why don't we use some of that money into some of the other things that we need to spend it on? but i think two things -- number one, you are totally right about how there has to be a parent-school partnership. we cannot substitute for the home, and i'm sure you do a terrific job with your family, and that is fantastic. but what we do need to do is if you think about it, early childhood education, if we spent money on that right now, the rate of return on investment is for every dollar we spend right now, we will spend eight dollars less later on because of the kind of investment that it is. those are the investments i am talking about. career tech ed, if we are going to actually teach kids how to do welding, we need that equipment right now, and that equipment is different then the equipment 20 years or 30 years ago, and that costs money. the stuff i was talking about in terms of higher education, states ought to pay 25% more in terms of the investment in state colleges, and last, over 30 states spend less on public education right now than they did before the recession, so you are right -- we have got to use the money wisely, but we do need more of an investment. host: speaking of money, president obama has announced early education initiatives. it is called invest in u.s. partnership in a first five years finds a nonprofit advocacy organization. $750 million in new federal grants to states to expand pre-k programs for over 35's and -- over 35,000 infants and toddlers. an expanse high-quality preschool programs and excited to enroll in additional 33,000 in this. $333 million in private dollars. this is less than what he proposed in 2013. guest: it is good that one is trying to piece together a program on early childhood education when we know early childhood education is so important, but what happens is that if we don't actually make sure that three-year-olds and four-year-olds get full-day pre-k and that we are helping parents with the kind of skills that they need to help their kids, then we are not helping everyone, and that if the problem in terms of early childhood education. it is really important, but the quality is really important. think about it this way -- low income kids know about -- let me say it this way -- kids get about 13 million, 14 million, or 15 million words said or spoken to them when they are one year old, -- with their one years old, three years old, if parents are not reading to you, if you are not listening to that, then you are at a disadvantage, and that is what early childhood education does. it kind of levels kids up so that they are not at that disadvantage when i go to convert an and first grade. host: walter, south carolina, democratic caller. caller: good morning. all i wanted to say is if you want to look at the republican plan for education, all you have to do is look at chris christie, who cut a billion dollars out of education. i listened to elizabeth warren say that when she was coming up, she could pay $50 a semester to go to a community college. we have got to invest in our gor education. if we do not invest in our education -- look at where we are now. everything we buy now if you look at it says it is coming from china or japan. we are so far behind we need help. guest: kids want to succeed. i was just in ferguson yesterday, and we spent time with kids in st. louis and kids in ferguson, missouri. kids want to succeed. part of what both public universities ought to do and public case 12 does is that it creates a ladder of opportunity -- and public k-12 does is that it creates a letter of opportunity, and if we do not give in that latter when they are young, then we are not doing our job. part of it as it costs something to do. you're totally right, sir. host: mel, independent caller. caller: hello. i disagree with the premise that public education is for the public good. government-run education institutes a kind of secularist ic, humanistic worldview, which undermines and undercuts what the foundation of this country was established upon. i really feel like the money should follow the parents and the students, not the school district and the unions. and this monopolistic practice that currently runs american education needs to be replaced by a more free opportunity or parents to educate their children the way they want rather than the government telling them how it is to be telling them how it is to be done. guest: sir, let me just very respectfully disagree with you. i am a pretty observant jew who goes to shul pretty much every friday night. our country has a separation of church and state, and that is secular in the way this country has been founded. parents have that right, but our responsibility is to make sure that kids have great neighborhood public schools, and they do have to be secular. they do also have to be broad so that there is not one single point of view. frankly in math there is not a single point of view, and science come i cannot think there is a single point of view, and in social studies, i was a social studies teacher, we need to make sure that kids can make their own decisions. does it substitute for what parents do? absolutely not. we need to have parents engaged, but we need to make sure that kids have that right, and in the countries that have done what you suggested, like sweden, the school systems are actually in much worse shape, and the achievement levels are in worst shape. host: we are talking with randi weingarten, president of the american federation of teachers, and we have a line set aside for educators this morning, (202) 748-8003. we want to hear from you as well and the lines are up there. let me go to molly next in california, a republican. go ahead. caller: thank you. just a quick word here about indoctrination of our small children in government schools, and now they want to get their hands on the ones even before kindergarten because it is much easier to and doctrine it children into a social -- to indoctrinate children into a socialist point of view. as far as common core goes, that is another were for teachers not to teach. america, remember, when carter formed the teachers union, we were number two in the world. we are 34 now. try to talk to a high school who just graduated from high school -- he can not talk. he does not know geography if he attended a public school that is. let me tell you, common core is just another way for you teachers not to teach and spend more time indoctrinating our smart children into a godless, hopeless society where there will never be anything, any good to themselves or anyone else. host: ok, randi weingarten? guest: ok, ma'am, let me just say i hear your anger, but our job is to help kids be able to make their own decisions, and the reason that we talk about having early childhood is that nobody wants to adopt or any child to do anything. we want them to dream their dreams and achieve their dreams, but at the end of the day -- my parents and my parents' friends -- my parents were able to -- they had the money to put me into an early childhood education program, and frankly, kids -- we were read to and we had play and things like that, and that should be an option for all kids. and the research shows that that really helps in terms of what happens with the brain. what we need to do is we need to also make sure that people believe again in public education because that is something that the country gives to all of our kids. the last thing i will say is on common core, and there are a lot of teachers that actually agree with you that common core should be much more flexible. you would see a lot of support from a lot of teachers. but what common core is supposed to be about is critical thinking, and what has not happened is that teachers have had the time to actually do it the right way. instead, they have been told to test, test, test. host: educational standards k-12 in english language arts, an and math. guest: some of the teachers and social studies have said why are there not these kinds of standards and social studies? if you actually have them, you with the a lot less consternation about -- what are we teaching kids? host: shirley is a democrat watching us. hi, shirley. caller: good morning. thanks for c-span. i would like to engage miss weingarten in a colloquy if i could. we have a historical dislike, rather disconnected scenes, we have the man from utah, california, so here we have a distribution of a lack of understanding throughout nation as it relates to our public education. public education is a public good. if we did not have an educated workforce, we would not have good in society. when i think about how -- i am 60, and i came up through a segregated school system. there was a time where we did not educate all of our people. i think about how many of my family members were educated. could you speak to this content of now that we are rather than saying it is a public good as a nation, that it is founded on the principles of equality, justice for all, yet we are now in a modern world, 2014, saying that we do not value the public good of education, and we are in fact not respecting the education. we have a private structure that is now try to divert funds. the gentleman who states that tt the money should fall to the child -- my husband and i have no children. we are high educated people who pay high property taxes because of our location and value of property, and so what will happen to my money? will then it go to the private, religious school? jeb bush who you talked about earlier, talk about this actual, political funded, private lobby that is trying to divert our educational dollars, 135 million dollars on testing, which could go to improving the actual structure of education -- host: ok, surely, i have to jump in and have randi weingarten way eigh in. guest: you are totally right. in my judgment you're right. public education has a lot of purposes. we are preparing kids for life. we are preparing kids so that they can engage as citizens in this country. it is the anchor of democracy. we are also preparing kids so that they have the skills and knowledge that they need so that they can access and have opportunity for jobs and for a good life, so that is what we as americans give our children, and we to actually give the kids to have the least the most, which is what some of the federal intervention was supposed to be initially. it is also when we see inequity like what happened with brown versus board of education -- we have a response ability to help change that, to try to make sure that kids, regardless of race, for godless of sex, have no obstacles in front of them so that they can climb that ladder of opportunity, economic and educational. look, that is part of the reason that for my whole adult life i have been involved in the labor movement and i have been involved in education, but the anger that that you see is the polarizers and the people who basically have sold a bill of goods. what has happened is that the evidence shows that when you do these things, like charters or vouchers, that does not help all caps. we too have systems that have the responsibility to help all kids. that is what we are trying to do. host: june is an educator in wisconsin, an independent. hi, june. caller: hi. english has always been the love of my life. there is something so special about the english language, and the sad thing is -- it is not being taught properly throughout this public school system and perhaps not even throughout the private school system. i mean, just listen to -- even the commentators on television, you know, just destroy the english language. whatever happened to plurals, there are? you hear people say i seen this, i seen that. it is tragic. i have seen people who see one word in small letters, and when they turn the page, they do not recognize it as the same word. listen, testing is good, but we have to be taught how to take the test, how to properly understand the english-language is a science, and if -- that is why they are failing and social studies and everything else because they cannot properly read. they do not understand properly -- it is the basics of the english language, and it is very distressing to me. host: ok, randi weingarten. guest: i actually think testing is hurt this because when you fix it on bubble testing instead of actually having multiple, different measures of answering the question, the two questions, excuse me, did i teach it, and did my student learned? i think we should have much more project-based instructions was up we should have many more avenues for kids to excel. kids need to learn the love of writing, not just the love of reading, the love of discourse. as you know better than most, it is practice, practice, practice, and many of us, you have to edit, edit, edit in order to have a real, wonderful paper, which somebody could read from beginning to end and say and understand in a heartbeat. host: what do you make of that teacher saying that english is a science? guest: english, you know, as someone who is really proud -- and i do not know the lady, but somebody who is really proud of their science, science and math have a -- of their subject, science and math at such a premium now, people will say it is a science, but english is with a science and art. social studies is both a science and art because what we have to do is create that joy of learning. you want kids to want to -- and you know, i am sorry if sometimes i sound like i have rose-colored glasses on, but i have to be optimistic about kids. so you want there to be a joy, of kids wanting to go to school, and where schools actually meet them where they are and take them to where they want to be and you want them to be, so they are both, all of our subject, language, too, they are both arts and science in terms of there is a real basis to it in terms of literacy in english. there is a real basis to the teaching of english, but it is also an art because you help kids jury have joy and creativity. host: another topic -- a sexual assault on college campuses. you represent hundreds of workers on college campuses for stuff you wrote a piece -- rape is part of my truth and the truth of many other women. why did you decide to share your personal story? guest: i am not normally that -- you know, in this job, you feel like you have to actually represent a lot of people as opposed to representing yourself, but we represent a lot of college campuses. it is also the largest union in terms of college, university, adjuncts, professors, things like that. when you hear students who are on college campuses right now, one out of every four young women are sexually assaulted, you hear the pain, and you see the courage of them saying -- no, assault is the crime, i am not the criminal. we need to stop this. i thought then in terms of what happened with "rolling stone" and the issue about the case and i saw the curtain of silence, down and people starting to blame these very courageous young women, and i just said i needed to do deep in myself, and without wanting to relive the experience, just talk about the fact that i was sexually assaulted between my junior and senior year in college. what i did not expect was the amount of tremendous support that i have gotten since then in terms of when you can share that kind of pain in a very personal way and say i felt that it was my fault. people just all over are saying thank you for coming out and thank you for having the courage. i think the larger point is this -- our jobs of adults who work in public education, or who work in politics, we have to take the -- away so that kids can be whoever they want to be, so when you have a student on a college campus who has been that violated, that survivor, we have to help the survivor. we cannot say "boys will be boys." we have to find ways to help the survivor. host: you are not calling for policy changes. you say this is a cultural change. guest: look, there needs to be some policy changes. kiersten gillibrand and claire mccaskill have a great bill that should be passed that create transparency and more accountability, but this is a cultural issue. this is when someone is assaulted, when there is some racist incidents, when someone has something terrible that is happened based on the color of their skin or based upon their sex, we need to stand up and say "enough is enough," and that is part of, in some ways when you see both or all of the protests right now about black lives matter and all of the protests against sexual assaults come it is really talking about basic dignity and respect for all. host: let me get a couple more phone calls and here. we will build today the next in inglewood, new jersey, a republican. hi, david. caller: hi. i have two quick comments and then a question. my comments are that miss weingarten has a short memory because i lived in new jersey for 25 years, and it was not just one administration that did not make those pension payments. jon corzine was the worst governor in the 25 years i have been in new jersey, and he normally grievnor mcgreevey made payments. miss weingarten is a socialist. she should just come out and reveal that. she does not believe in capitalism, but what she does not really understand is that her rooting against wall street, without wall street being successful, there will not be any money, miss weingarten, to pay those big pensions that you and your members are going to be earning. look at what is happening in california where all of the big cats -- it is all going toward public pensions. guest: frankly, you are right, it was not just republican governors, and if i said that, my apologies. there have been democratic governors as well whom a those kinds of choices, but frankly, sir, what i said is we need shared prosperity. we cannot have the income gap we have right now. we need to actually have people -- people cannot have their wages flat when people on wall street have done so well, and frankly what happens is that these pensions are not, you know, 26,000 dollars a year, $50,000 a year after working your entire life and after paying into it for all of those years -- i think that is what people should earn, and frankly, i am a big believer in progressive capitalism. i think we should have a private enterprise system in the united states of america, but it has to be fair, and it has to work for all, like it did after world war ii as it was growing and growing and growing. we need a viable middle class, not just winners and losers, and we need everyone to be able to climb that ladder of economic opportunity. call it what you want to collect, but that is what i am pressing for, that is what the labor movement is about. host: this is a piece written today in the "wall street journal" by the ceo of youtube, who used to be at google, moved her way up and now google owns youtube. she is calling for paid maternity leave saying it is good for business. guest: absolutely. think about what is going on. when we were at the president's early childhood summits, we heard this over and over and over again. in other countries of the world, when a woman has a child, she is not automatically out of the labor movement. she is not automatically out of the ability to be part of getting ahead. in the united states, as soon as someone is pregnant and ops to have children, there is a secondary come in many times inferior, career path. if we ended up having paid maternity leave, if we did up attending to what the child care costs are, think about the brainpower that that brings back into the workforce in the labor force. so we end up having all of these amazing women who then become a viable part of leadership throughout the country. host: the ceo of youtube writing that paid maternity is not to say first world perk. the u.s. is one of only two countries of the 185 survey that does not offer it. guest: that is exactly right. we can actually learn from other countries in the world, and some of these say we are 34th or 35th in terms of the pisa results and the international comparisons, what does that really mean? if you look at the schools of kids who are either middle class or wealthy, we are number one in the world. 2/3 of the achievement gap is because of social economic issues, and we have a wider gap than most other countries, and we see the same thing in terms of the work world. we need to actually help people have that kind of economic opportunity, and if it is issue such as paid maternity leave or issue such as childcare, you cannot say to a parent -- you have to decide between your job and your kids. host: randi weingarten, we appreciate your time, thank you for being here. you can find the aft, you can find their information, read more about them on their website, afp.org. -- aft.org. randi weingarten, thank you very much. guest: thank you. have a great holiday, by the way. host: you, too. coming up, we will speak with mark lewis about the jeb bush primary, and later, we will look at the prevalence of brain tumors and brain cancer in the united states with david arons, he teaches public policy and advocacy. we will be right back. ♪ >> here are some of the programs you will find this week and on the c-span networks. saturday night at 9:30 on c-span, actor seth rogen discussing politics and humors with "daily show" cocreator lives when set at the harvard institute of politics. sunday evening at 8:00 on c-span's "q&a," author in town hall -- author katie tablets. on c-span2 saturday night at 10:00 on booktv's afterward "af" william deresiewicz. sunday morning just before 11:00, booktv visits lafayette, wes left yet, indiana, to interview several of the city's authors and tour its literary sites without and on american history tv on c-span3 saturday at 6 p.m. eastern on the civil war, historian dave damien shields talks about the life of irish soldier patrick cleburne and the battle of frequent, tennessee. and at 4:00 on "reel america," an investigative piece on the history of police brutality in neighboring oakland from kron-tv. find our schedule on c-span.org, and let us know about the programs you are watching. call us at 202-626-3400, e-mail us at comments@c-span.org, or send us a tweet @cspan, #comments. join the c-span conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we are welcoming back to our table mat lewis, a columnist at the "daily beast." jeb bush goes to facebook a strength has all right, i am actively thinking about this, i am going to set up a leadership packet raising money. guest: it seems like a smart move if he is raising money -- if he is going to run, with this executive, and the word on jeb bush is does he have the fire in the belly? he has not been any ballot for several years, so it has been a long time, and there is a question as to whetherquestion e has the fire in the belly. i think to be president, you really have to want to be president, which goes to that old saying that anybody who wants to be president should be disqualified because they are an egomaniac or something. but to go to these pancake breakfasts in davenport or whatever, you really have to be president, and i think the knock on jeb was really maybe he does not want it enough, so by doing this now, by doing this early, it is shown as being aggressive and signals that he is serious. the criticism has been though that he does not have a mechanism to capture the e-mail is dresses or the contact information for the people and maybe that speak to the day that he is a little rusty. host: that is interesting because rand paul responded with a google search ad where he did just that, and asking them to send e-mail addresses to his leadership pac. guest: exactly. rand paul very impressive -- very aggressive. you get an ad about common core, attacking jeb bush if you google jeb, and you can sign up for rand paul and his movement, and that is very shrewd, and maybe speaks to the fact that rand paul has been in the fight. host: it's exactly "wall street journal" editorial board is not sure that he has the fire in his belly, as you were saying, and they write that our own concerns with mr. bush or less of a policy than what he has been doing since he has been governor and how much he really wants to be president. mr. bush has sometimes seen dissident about running and a halfhearted campaign will not work against mr. paul, ted cruz, and scott walker, much less the clintons. host: absolutely, -- guest: absolutely, and they are saying we do not want to elect t someone who did not want to be president. ronald reagan did not need to be president. he had been a movie star. he had achieved a lot, been the governor of california, so he did not need the approval of everybody, he did not need to be elected president to feel like he was a worthwhile person. that sounds very good in theory, but in truth it seems like the people who win the president are very ambitious, love the job, and really wanted, somebody like a bill clinton, who is a political animal, who just thrives off of it, off of the games of politics, someone like newt gingrich with a voracious political appetite. host: bill clinton and newt gingrich also loved policy. guest: they did, and jeb bush also loved policy, mainly unlike his brother george w. bush, and conservatives as long as i cannot member has said if jeff had won that race in 1984, he would have been president, not george w. bush. he was supposed to be the smart, serious bush that was the heir apparent and maybe iraq would not have happened had that 1994 race gone differently, but i think jeff is still, he has the problem of the bush name, of the dynasty issue, and i think there is a problem of whether or not he really wants it. body language says a lot, and still in the interviews, despite the fact that he is obviously signaling by, you know, launching this exploratory effort, that he really wants the job, he does not sound like a guy who really wants the job. his temperament, his body language, we will see what happens on the trail, when you have -- you have to do a little pandering to be elected, like. host: he was in washington recently for "wall street journal's" annual ceo council meeting him and he talked about possibly running for president for stop i want to show you what he had to say about the primary -- [video clip] >> i do not know if i would be a good candidate or a bad one. i kind of know how it republican can win whether it is me or somebody else, and it has to be much more uplifting, much more positive, much more willing to, you know, be practical now, lose the primary to win the general without violating your principles for stop it is not an easy task. host: what was he talking about there? guest: i am working on a book right now about how conservatism started off as a very serious, thoughtful policy, and in recent years, his struggle with the dumbing down of politics and base pandering and i do believe that hopefully conservatism can be restored and have a renaissance and be once again a serious philosophy, and i think that it's why jeb bush is speaking to, speaking to the fact that in order to win a primary, sometimes you have to do this sort of pandering that is not terribly serious. so i think it is a fine line, i mean, you have to -- to win you cannot lecture people, number one. that is not work. you cannot be like i am right and you rubes do not get a, common core is terrific for such you cannot do that. you have to like people. the jerry maguire line, his mentor said unless you love everybody, you cannot sell anybody. he really have to care about people, and you have to like and respect the base if you want to win their votes. by the same token, i do think that it will be terrific for conservatism and for the republican party to elect somebody who is a leader, meaning rather than simply following the latest fad and what talk radio tells them to do and what the blogs tell them to do, we are actually staking out leadership positions, and then persuading the public and the base to come along with them. this is a very fine line, and it is fraught with danger. jeb bush come in the old days, people like william f ugly had the moral authority to write people out of the conservative movement of the john burks society or the ein rant -- ayn rand has gone too far, it is difficult to pull that off today, so jeb bush is going to have to walk a very fine line, and again, this is not sound like a guy who really, really wants to be president. he is like you can take me or leave me, and i do not know if that works. host: you wrote how jeb bush can drag the needle and win. does he model himself after a john mccain who is running, a jon huntsman who ran, or a mitt romney? how does he do it? guest: none of the above because none of them won. [laughter] again, it is fraught with danger . my theory is that politicians are good at one or two things. politicians do indignation really well. think of ted cruz. and then compassion and optimism, think of a marco rubio. the rare, great politician can do indignation. he can do compassion and optimism, he certainly did that right, but most politicians are one or the other. if you have some who is trying to sell a moderate or a center-right policy who naturally does compassion, that does not work because what happens is, i think all of us tend to deflate ideological purity -- in other words, if you tough really -- if you talk really tough, you say horrible things about barack obama, people will assume you are a conservative, whether you are or not. i am probably more deserving than an coulter, but everyone will tell you she is more conservative than me because of her tough rhetoric, and why jeb bush will have to be careful of is is he is trying to sell policies that are center-right or more moderate, he cannot be perceived as doing it as a weak person for some ps2 sick to his guns, he has to be tough. host: let's get to our calls. russ is up first. caller: i do not like this horse race discussion. i need to have a real discussion about what are the major issues of the campaign, and what our are jeb's five main issues, mainly goals that he would accomplish as president? what would he do in the middle east? what would he do with immigration? how would he fix the budget? would he cut taxes even more for the wealthy and let the middle class sent for themselves? in other words, i do not like the horse race talk, and hillary is already nominated, etc. host: all right, matt lewis, what do we know about jeb bush's policy? guest: we know he is a much more conservative governor than people nationally think. he was also a reformer, though, and education is very important to him. i think he was thought of, very well-liked and respected by those republicans and democrats in florida. he is seen as a largely successful governorship. he was also seen at the time as a cutting edge tech guy, although times have changed since he left office. i think a couple of things -- one, clearly education is going to be important for him. this is an issue that cuts against him in a republican primary because he supports the common core educational standards. i think you would see conservative reforms, him tackling issues like entitlement reform, which i think is very important. i suspect he would be very wall space, sort of like a paul ryan in the sense of actually very seriously tackle fundamental problems facing america going forward, social security, other entitlements, things like that. i think a real question, and the caller brought up, worth asking, is foreign policy because we saw his father's foreign policy was to radically different than his brother's foreign policy. i think he is going to be hesitant to criticize george w. bush's foreign policy, but i think it is very important that the american public and the public and primary voters understand -- does he believe in a sort of interventionist adventurism foreign policy, or will he have a more humble foreign policy as his brother promised prior to 9/11? that will be a very legitimate question. i do not think we know the answer to that yet. i do not think he did go very long without telling us the answer to that. host: the former foreign governor being very vocal on immigration, calling for a pathway to citizenship. he has on this issue, alan gomez who reports on immigration for "usa today" from miami wondering if this is a breath of fresh air for the republican party on immigration for stuff he knows that mitt romney only one tweet 7% of the hispanic vote -- only won 27% of the hispanic vote. he says guest: yeah, look, for me i think this is a big selling point for jeb bush. i am of the opinion that it is insanity for republicans and conservatives to essentially right off the has a vote. i think that someone like jeb bush can win the hispanic vote, and i think frankly the ability to speak spanish fluently is incredibly important, when you can go on spanish-language television shows and make a conservative case. marco i think similarly brings that to the table. the problem of course for jeb bush is that this is an incredibly divisive issue on the right. and so this is what he talks about you have to lose at the primary to win the general election i think. 3. it will be very good for the republican party to elect a president to can do outreach to the hispanic community, and i think he can. this is where his stubbornness and refusal to pander is a good thing because mitt romney i think was very disappointing the way mitt romney ran his presidential campaign, when he demagogued the issue, he attacked rick perry on immigration, he attacked newt gingrich, newt gingrich had said we will not deport 11 nine, we will not support grandmothers who had been here for 40 years -- we will not deport grandmothers who had been here for 40 years was up in order to win, he attacked mitt romney and newt gingrich, and that is not what mitt romney believes necessarily, but that is what he believed he had to do to win the election, so if there is some in good about jeb bush not going that direction and sort of being this is who i am, take it or leave it, i think it is that. host: all right, norwood, connecticut, 10 on our line for republicans. hi, tim. caller: i do not know where the skies is coming from. i read the "daily caller." you sound like you are coming from the "huffington post," man. first of all, i am republican. we would not vote for jeb bush, not another bush, no way. we would just stay home. i am tired of these toast, middle of the road guys who does not really say anything like romney. george bush, in his second -- george bush would not have gotten his second term if it was not for the war, and the foreign-policy issue and the immigration issue, they are one and the same. we have 3719 illegals in the country. 37 million. our parking lots are full, our schools are filled up with these people, the highways are filled up with these people -- they do not speak english. remember, there is a story in the bible, the tower of babel. my city of norwalk, we are overrun here. host: matt lewis, i want you to weigh in on what he said, i will just a home. can jeb bush expect a base? guest: first, i would love to delve into the immigration debate, but i will answer your question. i think that there is a sincere problem with jeb bush because of the dynasty problem. it is ridiculous that, you know, another clinton against another bush. i mean, luke russert the other day taking some self assessing -- and self-effacing fun at himself saying he would be moderating the chelsea clinton versus george c. busch race in 20 years. come on. enough. is that fair to jeb, though? in his own right, he is a two-term governor of florida and a very serious person, but i understand the urge to not want to elect another bush or another clinton, for that matter. i will say this -- i think there is a difference with jeb versus mccain and romney. first, i think you could make a pretty good argument that jeb was a more conservative governor than mccain or romney. and that is part of it. the other thing, frankly is, parties who become desperate to win are more likely to take their medicine, eat their vegetables, right? so when john mccain ran for president, the base could stay home or not really support him because they had the presidency for eight years. same thing when mitt romney ran in 2012, they had only had four years of broad obama, but now -- of barack obama. but now republicans have been out of public office for eight years. are they likely to stay home? i think they will do what they did in 2000 when they voted for a guy talking about compassionate conservativism. an exit more likely that they will suck it up and vote for bush. host: let's get to more calls. hi, loretta. caller: hi. thanks for taking my calls for sub i like jeb bush. i think he is the most intelligent of the bushs that we have had running. i recall his mother saying "don't mess with my boys," and i think she considers it, that the bush family runs the country. i do not like that. host: action, loretta, -- a ctually, loretta, she was on our first lady series, and she said there are other families i can run for the presidency. it is not have to be bush-clinton. she has recently come around. go ahead. caller: to what. -- thank you. guest: the nature of politics and the nepotism involved, like i was saying, how many political pundits are the sons or daughters of famous political pundits? how many of our politicians, you know, the cuomos, for example, these dynasties happen, and it is what it is. i think that it hurts jeb bush that, you know fair that jeb bush -- host: tom, an independent. go ahead. not er: the poor man does stand a chance. host: who do you want to run? caller: randall is probably the best man we have. host: what you say that? a est: rand paul -- he is doctor from texas, and this is a political dynasty, too. ted cruz, right. his wife works at goldman sachs. you know, he went to harvard law. is he the everyman? i guess my point is not to become either of them, but just i think marco rubio is the guy if you are really to pull for the guy yourself up, a self-made man. he is a son of immigrants who came here. his dad was a bartender. going for the populace abe lincoln born -- it is funny that those who cast themselves as the outsiders and the everyman of are sometimes on the side of congress. host: can two people run for florida if one of the mister bush? guest: i think this is damaging for marco rubio. fundraising base in florida are all going to go to jeb. marco was the second choice. he put out a statement yesterday -- his spokesperson put out a statement yesterday not hat said that this does influence his decision. that is political talk. this is going to affect their decision. it is going to be a big, big setback. host: anthony from south carolina. hi, anthony. a great you have comments there -- that would be only way to achieve a base of the republican vote. we listen to people like rand paul get soft on issues. they are all tougher now looking for the vote, but when it comes down to the issues, not interested in it. right now, mister cruz is the only person who is electable on the conservative base. the reality is -- without giving the conservative base, a b bush does not stand chance in heck. you vote for him? anthony, are you still there? caller: yes, i am. host: whoops, we hung up. guest: this gets me thinking about the conservative movement and the populist impulse that i have seen. and some of the trends that are bothersome to me . he mentioned three people. one is a u.s. senator who has been in office for a cup of coffee. just like barack obama, by the way. some people say, barack obama -- hardly ever in the senate. look at all the problems that have caused from a guy who is experienced. now they want a guy who has been in the senate for a cup of coffee -- senator ted cruz, right? my wife actually consulted his senate race a couple years ago. i think he is a great guy, i actually like him. this is a arson -- guy who has never been elected. no doubt nt surgeon, say t it -- i would even paying your dues, getting to know how things work. the notion that anyone would entertain electing this president -- maybe he should run for congress or the u.s. senate first. that seems to be a humble, conservative thing to do. then allen west, a one term be gressman who could elected again -- the notion that he would be mentioned to who are authentically value would think of electing someone who hasn't really been where i am you get going. host: experience, wisdom, and prudence. senator ted cruz apologized his fellow senate colleagues for messing up the holiday schedule by keeping in over the weekend, aand holding up the $1.1 trillion spending bill. did not apologize for his effort in that. now, the washington times editorial board has come out this morning with -- ready, aim, fire. ted cruz loses around to harry reid. knowing when to fight and went to deal is the hallmark of a smart poker player, and a that the th the skills senator braves -- has yet to master. does this sort of for tim? of chances for presidency? guest: i do not think it hurts them -- running for president because i think that a lot of the conservative grassroots who are his fans, are not fully following senate procedures -- host: by holding this omnibus bill up, he said he allow the lot of nt to get a nominees through. guest: right. i think they were attempting to run out the clock. to keep barack obama while this lame-duck session is going forward -- to keep him from getting all the nominees confirmed. what ted cruz did was make that impossible. they might comment on the way, them confirmed or not, but the republican plan was to do could to sort y of run out the clock -- to use a football metaphor. and i think it probably would have been able to prevent ssome liberal appointed from getting -- he probably gets confirmed either way. maybe mitch mcconnell can find a way to delay it, but i think what ted cruz did was several things. one, i think he probably got some liberals appointed that wouldn't have been. he infuriated his colleagues. for us, but if k you care about family values, it might be nice for a senator to spend some time with their family around the holiday season. and thirdly, i think you change the subject. it is very important to think about what we're talking about. we were talking about the liberals. we were talking about schumer saying that obama care was a bad idea. we were talking about elizabeth warren threatening to shut down the government. and what cruze did was entirely changing the subject -- change the subject. there were a lot of things i didn't like about it. cruze is incredibly smart. but tactics and strategies, wwe differ. host: the "washington post" notes this in the piece. mitch mcconnell engaged in a long conversation with cruze, but would not say whether they talked about the weekend session. rather just uld look forward and plans to hold a vote early next year on legislation of the keystone pipeline. go ahead, chuck. caller: yes, good morning. i would like a candidate to up and say, hey, i would like to be president of the united states. not of the united states of the world. how about the united states of america? do you want smaller government? bring it home. host: matt lewis. guest: well, i think that is an that it's bipartisan now. there is a lot of talk about nationbuilding at home. and this is the kind of thing i think the populace strain. cruz and rand paul probably fit in well with that attitude. like a jeb bush i think probably doesn't. you one ust give example -- newt gingrich, a few was running hen he for president talked about a space exploration. something that i think is a good idea. read u go back and reagan's challenger speech, he francis drake ir and explorers and how this is part of our spirit of exploration. we have totally gotten away from that. when newt gingrich space expedition, he was mocked. mitt romney made fun of him and idea, t was a horrible and i think that speaks to an that americans have now, which is not adventurous, which is not bold. care of our 's take own and fix our roads in our bridges. need to do rse, we that, but i worry about a loses the let's go we have never gone before conversation. it t: of you are saying that is interesting that they do not care about the conversations when it is president obama who is doing the same thing. caller: good morning, c-span. i would like to have an opinion about two points that i'm going to make. the point -- and i think mother of issues -- does going nation, it is about from state to state, and washington dc going throughout the nation. the right-wing media broadcasting, but the local channels for the minorities are suppressed by power. i think that is hurting our nation. is a good person -- not know the s right thing. know they don't have do with hillary clinton. [inaudible] we have police brutality in nation, and also abroad. host: okay, let's talk about could challenge jeb bush. -- that the ultimate matchup bush versus clinton? vu all talk about déjà over again. that would be a good race. i'm not saying she is going to be the democratic nominee -- i think elizabeth warren could give her a good run for her money. it is very important to nominate somebody who is capable of winning. i think that include somebody who can put together a campaign infrastructure and organization capable of raising money and winning. also somebody who are not easily cast as insane or out of the mainstream. you know that the media is trying to do that anyway, but let's not make it easy on them to do. could see i think you chris christie, marco rubio. some like rubio, or a ted cruz even a rand paul -- you can start to see the subtle age issue emerge. you hear something that hillary president, but e i am thinking about a picture and his young family walking on the beach or something. the suggestion might be there. look, i think you talk about to a new he torch generation. i think running against bob he talked about being a bridge to the future, and bob dole was a bridge to the past. i think some of it was a bit of a reference to bob dole's advanced age at the time. plus, you compare to bill in the baby boomer age. will the american public a backwards to a previous generation? or will they go forward to someone like a marco rubio? that would be a legitimate issue. host: by the way, we want to let our viewers know -- the -- cuba has s five years an after in prison. this was an exchange with the cuban government. it will be announced by the president shortly at the white house. the agreement was reached after a year of more than secret back channel talks at the highest levels of government. in poor id to be physical condition, and steps towards st rectifying relations with the neighbor just ninety minutes off the florida coast. let's go to dave in crockett, texas. an independent caller. caller: good morning. i think that, personally, republicans are in a serious political nightmare. favor ople voted in their this last election, and it looks like it is back to business as usual. the clinton-bush scenario how you i don't know can take from dead broke and a ey left the white house to new world order. have seen, the jeb bush was f indicted back in the 1950's or late 1940's for laundering nazi gold. you know, how do people elect people like that? the kennedys. all their money was made from bootlegging. guest: well, kennedys did make money from bootlegging. that is a two-story. former governor jeb bush is saying that he will release all the emails when he served as governor. guest: i think transparency is go a long and will lot of ut i think of a the calls we have gotten has to do with the american people being fed up. the prospect of and ting another clinton another bush just, you know, to everybody seems absurd it. in a country that is this big, are these two families. when does it end? at what point -- at what point does the sand? host: detroit, michigan. patricia. good morning to you. are you then? okay. so, matt lewis, what are you watching for next? he announced he is going to pac is this leadership to raise money. thing would be e -- does this for others to get into the race immediately? does this expedite chris getting into the race? mitt romney -- this is a game changer in the sense that it could keep mitt romney out. host: he has said he is not running again. multiple times. guest: yes, but who knows. think this is probably -- this probably speeds up decision to get an. have seen you might decisions in late spring. host: what about the influence party movement in 2016? paper s quoted in the saying, jeb bush does not necessarily speak tea. guest: i think they have done great things, i think, and they are obviously an important constituency and part of the conservative base. but you don't need them to win. mccain mney and john have been nominees. keep ther thing to really -- eye on is whether or not you know -- what happened in 2012 was essentially that we to ught rick perry was going be the man to step up and take on romney. but he fell apart. see you ended up having romney versus the field. when that happened, the conservative split each other's vote. so they can get the jock and not running. meanwhile, romney has the establishment money. what happens, though, if jeb bush and chris christie are running. then you get some governors like a scott walker. you have a very different dynamic shaping up. any -- any constituency, the tea parties -- do they go for cruze? do they go for rand paul? do they go for doctor carson? they are going to split their votes. host: matt, we appreciate your your this morning, and discussion. guest: thank you. host: coming up next, we are a look at the prevalence the of brain tumors in the u.s. right after to that this update. >> it is 9:21 am eastern time. federal officials say that a co-owner and a pharmacist at a 2012 acy blamed for a deadly meningitis outbreak have been charged with racketeering, allegedly causing the deaths. two were among fourteen charged in an indictment released today. ranging rs face charges from mail fraud to adult thing drugs. cofounders and twelve other for a ees were blamed meningitis outbreak that killed sixty-four people. agency for the u.s. international development . says he will step down from the post in february. in a statement released this he said he had mixed emotions, but gave no reason for his resignation. the agency has drawn criticism after the months press revealed it had established a twitter like to vice in the cuba undermine the government. mister shah has led that agency since 2010. more on cuba -- senior official say that cuba has released allen gross, as we heard a few minutes ago. he was serving a fifteen year banned e for taking technology into cuba. they say he has departed cuba on a u.s. plane bound for the united states. he was released on request of the united states, but official also said he was accompanied by an official spy swap. obama will speak publicly at noon. but he is also said to announce are calling the most sweeping change in cuba since 1961. you can hear this event live on c-span radio. also watch it on c-span. those are some of the latest headlines at c-span radio. and "q&a", katie she sees as n what the politicians war on women. >> it goes back to, like i idea came re this from -- the 2012 dnc convention were showing a tribute video -- portraying him a women rights champion, when he left the young woman to drown in his car. if he had not gone back for nine hours and had to save his own behind, she would have probably survived. video nnot do an entire at a convention claiming to be preaching and fighting the war glorify someone like that, while not including that part of his life in a video about his women's rights record. ten years of "q&a", we are airing one program from each year starting on december at 7:00 pm eastern. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us this morning massachusetts is david aarons, the chief officer at the national brain tumor society. mister aarons, we talked about this topic before break saying that it is prevalent in the united states. how prevalent is it? there is rrently, close to 700,000 americans living with a brain tumor. approximately 550,000 tumors -- a ople with brain tumors have benign brain tumor, or a noncancerous brain tumor. and close to 140,000 people living with a brain tumor have malignant, or a cancerous brain tumor. this is considered, in terms of cancer, a rare cancer. only about 1.4% of new cases of cancer our brain tumors. 15th-ranked's most common type of cancer, according to the national cancer institute. prostate, t, lung, and colon cancer being much more prevalent. unfortunately, brain tumors are deadly forms of cancer. only about a 33% five-year relative survival rate. it is, fortunately, rare; unfortunately, it is a very serious form of cancer. so, are you saying that brain tumors equal brain cancer? guest: no, we are not. like i said, the vast majority of people who are diagnosed with a brain tumor have a benign brain tumor. is a sense, it is a -- it cancer diagnosis, and if you think of a brain tumor as a mutation of cells. is an , of course, abnormality -- a mutation -- of cells. but it doesn't always mean that it becomes a malignant, or growing type of brain tumor. in sort of what we think is a growing cancer. brain tumors are -- to present to life-threatening situations. they can because they present a host of neurological issues. but at best, someone with a brain tumor could hopefully limit their brain tumor for a very long time. have it monitored. and that is sort of the best case scenario. the worst-case scenario is a very highly aggressive of brain tumors -- brain cancer. children, as you mentioned, brain tumors are the of cancer death the age of under ten, and the second leading of cancer death in those under twenty. very are those that are aggressive -- some have no cure and they are very aggressive forms of cancer, for which important research is being done. cause of t is the brain tumors? guest: that is a great question. unfortunately, where we have over the past few decades that smoking leads to there is no well established reason for why people get a brain tumor. and so, you ask -- what are some of the risk factors? a fortunately, there is not lot of published, established risk factors for brain tumors. an important research topic. are suspected risk factors, but they haven't been proven to really bear out. the example, according to institute, ncer ionizing radiation, x-rays are known to increase cancer risk. but there is no established a that says one thing causes brain tumors or another. and that is why we are all very hopeful that the national cancer institute, the national health board will find some of these answers to funded research. host: we are taking your questions, your comment about brain tumors, brain cancer. david ahrens, our guest from the national brain tumor society. the numbers are on your screen. the phone lines are open, so start calling in. david, what about the role of genetics? guest: jenna necks are extremely important. over the last twenty years, and 5 to 10 years, we enormous new p research possibilities for the study of brain tumors and bring cancer. key things that was a ed in 2010 congressionally funded project -- a project funded by the institute of health -- called the cancer genome atlas. to understand the brain tumors, of on a much greater scale. discovered for genetic subtypes of the most aggressive form of brain cancer. this has opened up enormous research possibilities because, of brain tumors as one of the worst cancers there it as d if you think of an enemy, then how do defeat an enemy? the first thing we have to do to understand that enemy. it has this project, given researchers a much greater understanding of the genetic makeup of brain tumors. we understand -- much more than last twenty he years -- what are specific that drive ations make brain ard, that tumors worse, and if those mutations are either stopped or way -- much some like gas pedals and breaks -- can put the brakes on tumors growing, then to therapy, we have a chance to slow down the growth of a brain tumor and extend survival. the goal here y -- extending the survival of people. of earch is really the heart brain tumor understanding. it is really important to understand at a genetic level what is going on inside a brain tumor. brain tumors are, arguably, one of the most and resistant to therapy. we really need genetic research to unlock the mysteries and complexity of brain tumors. host: how much is being spent on that? and on brain tumor, brain cancer research in general? how does that compare to money spent on other cancers? guest: sure. just in terms of federal government spending, brain been getting an increasing amount of government funding over the last three years. enough that it needs, but it has been in the nci, of -- between the which is funding at about $170 million or so a year in brain tumor research. then if you look at the nih overall, it is much more than that. but brain tumors doesn't nearly receive as much as research into, say, what goes breast cancer or calling cancer -- colon cancer, lung cancer. we really need to ask the divides his it research dollars across the cancer types, but part of that maybe that brain tumors are a rare cancer affecting few americans. but what we do know is that if you can make advancements in research on it is tumors -- because so complex, you can learn a lot about cancer in general. those lessons can be applied to other types of cancers, which national he -- the cancer institute started the genome atlas in 2010. we definitely need more brain by the esearch funded federal government, funded by philanthropy, funded through corporations. it is going to take all of us to increase the amount of going into this disease to make an even bigger difference. host: peter from ohio, you are up first. caller: i notice a difference between some types of -- the ultimate goal of renal carcinoma is to leave it in the kidney. it seems to metastasize all along the way. how many brain tumors are coming from outside the brain? host: okay, peter. sorry about that. i thought you were finished. guest: yes, that is a very good question. types ly, there are two of brain tumors in that sense. there are primary brain tumors start in the brain, and then there are malignant brain tumors that start in another travel to e body and the brain. just to help the viewers basis of your question. -- malignant brain tumors i'm sorry, metastatic brain tumors are very important to try and understand as well. like you said, it is really helpful when you have aa metastatic brain tumor situation to try and understand the -- it's origin, where it started in the body, and then what it is like when it shows up in the brain. so a lot of research is going in metastatic brain tumors, particularly because the of origin for tumors are brain breast, colon, melanoma. this is a very important issue. the national brain tumor very much cares about the primary brain tumor community, the metastatic brain tumor community because the brain tumor start, if it is ending up in the nervous system, it becomes a very complex, very life-threatening and difficult situation. you are quite right to put a on the importance of metastatic brain tumors, and the relationship to their body part of origin. host: the symptoms of her headache, seizures, personality changes, nausea or vomiting. what experts recommend if you have the symptoms? guest: greta, you need a lot of the leading symptoms of brain tumors. would also add that -- you said fatigue -- but i would also add that if patients have these types of symptoms, talk to their doctor. we want primary care doctors to learn about brain tumors, and to build a spot particularly s, headaches. seizures are one of the biggest symptoms that we see and tumor tors that a brain might be an issue. you have a seizure, it is definitely worth talking to your doctor. may recommend an type of ome neuroimaging. neurologists are also trained in understanding brain tumors. so the field of neurology is suited to s well answer questions and to address the symptoms. once someone is diagnosed with cancer or mor, from a noncancerous perspective, they may continue to have these types of symptoms. are treatments for them and a seizure medication, anti-seizure medication, anti-fatigue -- but it is important to have a great with a nship well-qualified physician who understands brain tumors and the symptoms. host: clint, go ahead. caller: hi, david. i hope you're doing well. have listened you before about frontline doctors being to recognize the symptoms of a brain iousness tumor, aand making the recommendation for patients to go to specialty centers. and how that makes a difference in treatment and outcomes. can you talk about that a little bit? see you. you for your question. your question is really terrific. it is so important for primary care physicians to learn more about brain tumors because brain tumor patients -- if they a e ultimately diagnosed with malignant brain tumor, depending on that brain tumor, they may have months or a few years to live. so recognizing a brain tumor is so critical to setting at the right treatments right time, and making sure that that patient gets from to qualified is cialty care -- whether it a neurosurgeon, neurology -- but it is so critical for become very to much educated on the symptoms of brain tumors and what to look out for. it is phenomenally important, and it is only going to benefit the patient population of primary care -- the front line -- is able to help not only spot the symptoms, but quickly refer patients to the right doctors for the right types of the right al exams, types of imaging tests, to be a little make sure you get the right diagnosis the first time. is really rs -- it the right o get diagnosis because the wrong diagnosis could set you up for the wrong type of care. depending on the type of care could be getting -- you could be getting different types of scams coming could be put on medication. make sure lly need to you're getting as a precise and accurate of diagnosis as possible. we often recommend that brain tumor patients -- even after they have been diagnosed and they are working with a doctor -- they go for a second opinion. doctor o slight to a because brain tumors are, like i said, one of the most complex forms of cancer. getting very much with a second opinion to find out -- the first o confirm opinion -- and maybe offer some it comes on whether to treatment or clinical trials. clint, appreciate your question. it is very much on point about the critical role that primary care place. the importance of educating primary care physicians and nurses as to what to look for. host: let's go to florida. go ahead. caller: good morning, dave. and i vietnam veteran who quite a few veterans have brain tumors. the veterans i know don't have one, but some of the children have on. some of the that's i know, they have one and the children have on. so i do not know what it stems from, but i would like to know. thank you. guest: you're asking a very good question. the issue of into -- is there a hereditary link getting a brain and then their heirs or their descendents getting a brain tumor. so far, not enough research has done on this topic. is some there brand-new research, which has but in n validated yet, rare gene mutation there is t1, preliminary evidence that a may make a small people develop f a glioma -- which is a particularly rare type of brain tumor. of , for -- we do not know any particular research that to a hereditary link and pituitary carcinoma, but the heard about u have have cases and you experienced these cases just underscores the point that we need to continue to do more research. and to understand the relationship of families. and to understand whether there is a hereditary link and brain cancer. just like they found her phalanx and other forms of cancer. so, i really appreciate your question, and the significance of your call. fact that ints to the we have a lot to learn in brain try and search to understand better these potential hereditary links. host: on twitter -- what is the long-term consequence of treatment on the brain? especially the growing brains of children. guest: it is a good question. right now, in the case of children, unfortunately the treatments are just not good enough. treatments aim to extend survival of children, call cularly with what we the high-grade gliomas -- these very aggressive, malignant forms of pediatric brain cancer. there are a few treatments. there is chemotherapy. they will do surgery. then there is some radiation approaches. to chemotherapy continues be a standard. it is not good enough. to drive research improve the treatments -- fforward to improve the treatments. can be the treatments highly toxic -- the issue is the treatment re is not leave the child with developmental delays. even if you survive the treatment -- even if you are a the brain tumor -- hardly make sure that the treatments do not leave you worse off? that is why the national brain society has been funding developmental neurobiology, which is trying to understand how we can develop new less toxic side effects. and if we can drive that ford, then we can reduce the developmental delays. that should be starting a new gray the next year, but because they are -- have been impaired in some way because of their brain tumor, but also the treatment, we can get them on track. this is about making sure that -- it is tough enough to itself, a brain tumor we should make survivorship also about increasing quality of life. so for the brain tumor community, they deserve better. they deserve to live longer. and also to live better. we want that for both adults and children, and we really drug some better development and discovery for kids. it is slow. we're making progress. but we need to do better. host: on twitter -- cannabis kills cancer cells and stops the spread of cancer in the body. abc news recently with the headline -- active ingredient in marijuana kills active cancer cells. this is a story about new that rch out of spain suggest that thc appears to prompt the death of brain cancer cells. david arons. guest: so, we do not have information about this research is a preliminary study or validated in any way. important ally research is for -- there is research that is published in a very preliminary, and validated stage. first and foremost, we would research ee published study on this. more study see much and validated studies to know this is an appropriate avenue for brain tumor patients. with regard to marijuana in is really important to, number one, abide by the law. first and foremost. we recommend patients abide by the law. talk to their , oncologist, talk to their doctor about what treatment for the tumor and what approaches to reduce suffering are right for them. this is very serious disease, in a en things come out preliminary way or an unproven way -- we have hope. we do get excited. that e also need to temper excitement with reality, and make sure that research a strong research. been well borne out before it becomes part of any kind of standard of care. we look forward to watching this issue very closely and hope that new therapies, line, as --ll host: amy, from texas. amy, you are on air. caller: my daughter has bioptic lateral nerve glioma. i know there are different things, but i was told that a -- you know -- you can't remove them because they are nerve cells that have gone rogue. done any se, have they studies that show at what point -- at what e cell point does that little cell decide to go off on its own? guest: that is a great question. to be honest with you, i don't know the answer to that. would recommend you call the neuro fibrosis center. patients with those and glioma patients, and are really on top of the research. you to seek urage out that center at john hopkins for that kind of answer to your very important question. host: keith, you are up next. caller: yes, hi, david. while you are talking about this -- i am fifty-seven years for a second year of stage iv glioblastomi. year out of surgery, and they discover that at stage four. am also going to treatments for chemo. have another treatment tomorrow. i just am really excited about treatments and the possibilities that they can manage this. i'm just enjoying what i'm seeing. thanks. wish you the best! like you said, there is research all the time, particularly in glioblastoma -- because the community looks at glioblastoma because it is the most aggressive. if you can beat glioblastoma, you can beat other forms of brain tumors. we encourage patients to push and ask their doctors aabout clinical trials. what types of investigational are available for you? emergence of a e vast, and over the last few helping some patients -- summit helps, some it doesn't help. think of each patient as a statistic of one. each individual has their own brain tumor journey. but we think for all brain is really ents, it worth being an aggressive self in a research context, and to ask your doctor what might be available. even if it is not fda approved. what is out there? what kind of clinical trials there be for me? number one, i wish you the best. know that you never have to go through this disease alone. if you want to talk to somebody or get connected with resources, the national brain tumor society is there for you. .we will help you get connected and get the information that you need number two, push the research field. those er doctors to ask types of questions. and i wish you the best. host: you can find more on the tumor society's website -- braintumor.org. we go to david next. go ahead, dave. wanted to s, i just i saw a neurologist who says that if you eat it breaks your -- down. is that true? guest: thanks, dave. i really don't know the answer to your question and what the would say between the relation of gluten and barrier breakdown. host: go ahead, leo. caller: yes, i would like to talk about -- host: we are listening. go ahead. caller: yes, i like to talk about brain tumors -- host: david, we able to hear that? guest: i wasn't sure what the question was. let's go to marilyn. caller: a study published talks about how the hemp plan -- and talking about marijuana -- how the hemp plant hhas had successful result in helping shrink brain tumors. it the perfect and nce of omega threes omega six -- better than any other food in the world except our mother's milk. studies e have been around the world that are proving that this is effective. when a baby even had it on the pacifiers, the doctor said is no hope that his brain tumor was so bad. but his brain tumor went away. host: david arons, you address this earlier. but what you make about the discussion of using marijuana and do you have concerned about it? we hope that new therapies are found all the time. what is really important here is for the marketing of with brain to people tumors -- we have a process in the united states where forward ts need to come and be tested and well-controlled, clinical trials. and then seek fda approval. with that said, people are going to try whatever -- whatever they here might be effective for them. they're going to try whatever they're going to try. and we definitely hope that something works for them. we wwhat we know is that need more research to really is going to hat work -- not just for a few on an anecdotal basis, but for the population. any therapeutic approach -- so as it is legal -- we want more research to be done, and research should be done in clinical trials. and the research to be brought to the research community can really get their it, no pun d intended, and go through an fda process so it can be determined to be safe and effective. and that is the role of the fda. the fda determines what therapies are both safe and effective for the treatment of disease, like brain tumors. that things move forward to be in that environment, that kind of environment to protect consumers -- in this brain tumor patients -- to make sure that they get effective and safe treatments for them. host: you talked about this earlier that brain cancer is often lethal. why is that? iis it because of the cancer itself? or is it the lack of therapy? guest: the cancer itself is very aggressive. it is very drug-resistant. it is very adaptive. it is extremely complex, and so we had a caller talk about having a recurrent glioblastoma. and now he is on a drug called avastin. glioblastoma has a high instance of reoccurrence. meaning that once the tumor was out in a resection by a neurosurgeon, than the patient was given treatment. there is a high incidence rate coming back, or recurring. tumor is of brain very aggressive and it adapts to different treatments. we have not foiled brain tumors yet. we need to come up with new foil a brain ich tumor. not just shrink it, but utterly destroyed. and the problem with brain are often that they of different shapes and volumes and sizes within the brain. it is not like you are just dealing with one goal ball inside your head, iit can be different shapes. may be surgeon may -- able to remove, say, 90% of the brain tumor, but there are often tiny specks that are still in side. we use why chemotherapy, radiation, and try to get all of it. is very difficult -- inside the brain -- to know whether you have gotten all of it out. that is why we try to

Related Keywords

Vietnam , Republic Of , Anderson University , Indiana , United States , California , Russia , Washington , District Of Columbia , Connecticut , Mexico , India , South Carolina , Massachusetts , Ireland , Cuba , Spain , Miami , Florida , New York , Japan , Texas , Oakland , Missouri , Wisconsin , Michigan , Denver , Colorado , Pakistan , Iraq , Tennessee , New Jersey , Israel , Sweden , North Korea , Ohio , Orlando , Town Hall , Utah , Americans , America , Russian , Spanish , Irish , American , Cuban , Terri Schiavo , Marco Rubio , Tod Frank , Ben Carson , Scott Walker , Elizabeth Warren , Jon Huntsman , Marco Rube , Nancy Pelosi , George C Busch , Ronald Reagan , John Ellis Bush , George Bush , Rick Perry , Dodd Frank , Google Jeb , Chris Christie , A Ted Cruz , John Burks , David Aarons , Chelsea Clinton , Mister Bush , Allen Gomez , Davey Damien , Newt Gingrich , David Ahrens , Rick Scott , John Mccain , Paul Ryan , John Kay , Debbie Wassermann Schultz , Gee Biden , Barbara Bush , Cameron Joseph , Jerry Maguire , Randi Weingarten , Francis Drake , Jon Corzine , Jeb Bush , Alan Gomez , Mister Aarons , Bob Dole , Katie Pavlovich , Seth Rogen , Harry Reid , Claire Mccaskill , Abe Lincoln , Barack Obama , George W Bush , Debbie Wassermann , Barak Obama , Mike Ka , Mitch Mcconnell , Mister Cruz , Mister Shah , Hillary Clinton , Ted Cruz , Luke Russert ,