so did neil and bob. what's really instructive about their relationship too is that in the case of neil, he did the classic washington journey where he comes to congress as a staffer with a congressperson, oh, my god, i really need more money, i need to do beeter with my life, so he crosses to k street where he can make the really big bucks. he starts to work for jack abramoff. then even though he's not supposed to, he starts immediately lobbying his former boss, bob ney. and it's the use -- it's the corrupt use of those personal relationships that lobbyists%+ excel at. and so it was very important to have in the midst of the story. in terms of how i got him to talk, i mean, i went to neil right after he had been sentenced and just said, look, let's go out and have a beer and let's talk off the record, let's just talk. and i told them about what i was trying to do. i said i was interested in him. and would he be interested in talking to me in sort of a broad way about his own experience, but with a larger

>> i interviewed neil in washington, d.c., and bob came to new york. bob is still in ohio. he has a radio show. he's a radio show host. neil lives in florida now and he has a -- he works for a community group and also works at a restaurant, i believe. >> a minute and 32-second clip for you from your documentary on the background of abramoff and his access to tom delay. ♪ >> abramoff gave up movie producing to becooe a lobbyist. a republican in washington, jack was the right man at the right time. >> his credentials with the conservative movement gaveehim access and entree with the new leadership, and instantly, he saw how he could build a client base and then that client base in turn could fund the leadership politically with campaigg contributions. it became sort of symbiotic relationship. >> the relationship became ever more important. his camppign costs began to soar. >> the cost of campaigns wentt+ through the roof in the modern era in the last 35 years. it's just a staggering increase. the trouble is the new technology of politics, commercials on television, polls an

hazleton, missouri, bob on the democratic line. good morning, bob. caller: yeah, i think that a lot of the frustration people are feeling is that no one is being held responsible for this. the president has stated he is looking to determine who's as he should kick. quite frankly, if that was reagan, he would have went in there and fired the entire department can call the press in to show an empty office. host: can i get your reaction to president obama asking a former district attorney and inspector general to come in and be in charge of raising efforts for the mineral management service. partially to eliminate conflict of interest to eliminate ovvrsight. what do you think about that? host: -- caller: frankly,,i do not know why they make it so complicated. they had a job to do, pack their stuff up and get the heck out of there. if they are not doing their job we might as well have an empty office so that we can put cops on the street that know what they're doing and willing to do their job. most of florida, k, independent line. caller: i was not -- h

bob gramm and william reilly a. president obama will brief reporters after the meeting, live on c-span at 12:15. eric holder is headed for the gulf coast today to see areas affected by the spill. he will be meeting with attorneys general from louisiana, alabama, and mississippi. we will have his remarks to reporters a little later in the day. more about the oil spill and a live simulcast of the radio show. that is at 1:00. the four candidates running for the republican nomination for governor of south carolina debate tonight at 7:00 on c- span. is government broken? that is the focus of a panel discussion today hosted by the brookings institution. live coverage gets underway at 1:00 on a companion network c- span-2. >> david cameron field questions from members of parliament in his first prime minister's questions as the head of a coalition government. >> public television's ray suarez recently talked about race in america. the correspondent talked about his experiences. from durham, n.c., this is about 55 minutes.

our guest will be bob bob benenson -- bob benenson from cq we keep -- cq weekly. but next, bp said up 20 claims centers across the state's. one of these centers that we visit it is in a town in southeast louisiana. we spoke with a local residents. here is a look. >> i work at a processing plant for shrimp and we have been greatly affected by the oil spill with our hours being reduced. normally this time of year we would work over 100 hours a week and now we're getting a 20 or 30 hours a week. that is how we make our living. saving money for the winter time and all of that. it is really hard right now to do what -- when you are used to having the income coming in. however, bp has been good to us. they have been giving us the money and helping the new way they can and we greatly appreciate that. but we just need people know it is not just the fishermen. if the fisherman don't catch, we don't work. we all have to go into the other and help each other. we do appreciate the help we are getting. >> you are at the claims center. >> i was asking for information. she was r

one of the reasons is, and bob can talk about this, watergate was not a keeper. it was about a fundamental attempt by the president of the united states to misused and abused the constitution, obstruct justice, and more than anything, to try to undermine the very electoral process of our government. >> this is the important part. there were dirty tricks. there were all kinds of things aimed at the democrats who were going to run against nixon and they wanted what they perceived, i think accurately, they wanted the democratic nominee to be george mcgovern. they really went after senator muskie who was the front runner and spied on him. they had 50 spies out in the campaigns writing false press releases. they literally had the gas fort senator muskie's chauffeur who would drive him around and bring documents from his senate office over to his campaign headquarters. there were so many documents that the nixon campaign wanted copies of the chauffeur called and said rented an apartment full-time and bought a xerox machine and in trips between but photographed document

whoever win this is runoff between bob inning license and trey gowdy. who do they face in the fall and how is this rated? >> corden, excuse me, in the fall. this seat is considered the most conservative in south carolina. of course, you could make a case for the third district being the most confuse. -- the most conservative. but this is republican territory. this is not a seat the democrats expect to pick up. so whoever win it is primary, expect them to be in congress. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> for more information about campaign 2010. please go to our website. c-span.org. >> and on your screen now is steven moore, a member of the editorial board of the "wall street journal." and he is joining us for the next 40-45 minutes or so to talk about congressional spending issues. and mr. m administrator, -- mr. moore, i wanted to start with paul crugman's column this morning. that 1930's feeling. it's entitled. suddenly, creating jobs is out, inflicting pain is in. condemning deficits and refusing to help, a still struggling economy has become the new fa

caller: bob, this is ray from cann cannon. i wish you would get those internet numbers out to all of these companies and let the public dial in to those at cameron and everyone else in the oil industry, show them ouch safety equipment goes into the design of all of this equipment. i lined the first wellhead and worked with worked with exxon in the beginning back in the early 1960's and they have more safety devices down there. now, this has been a human error just look our astronauts got blown up. we didn't stop drilling and we didn't top going to the moon. host: what kind of work did do you in the oil industry in caller: i worked for camp ran and i retired from cannon after 36 1/2 years. and i was one of the pioneers in this when shell, all the engineers and exxon and turned to a floating rig to drill in 600 feet of water and global marine went down in mississippi and took our wellheads and blow out interstack that is what everybody used at that time. host: mr. tippee, any response for that caller? guest: agree with the safet

[applause] >> thank you so much, bob. thank you for this wonderful speech and all your doing and thank you for being a regular huffington post blogger. it seems like yesterday, doesn't it? barack obama was going to take office. he was going to change the world and we would just go home and sit on the couch% [laughter] he was going to be in charge of changing our financial system, the feeding special interests in washington, ending on necessary wars, congratulations, it has worked out great. [laughter] i am just kidding because we realize that surprising as it is to hear about, electing barack obama which many of you thought worked -- was hard to do, amazing though it was and continues to become a was the easy part. the hard work remains to be done. if we have learned one thing of the last year-and-a-half, we have learned that democracy is not a spectator sport. the other think we have learned is that bipartisanship is not the way to fundamental change. [applause] so far, bipartisanship has brought us a long string of cata

to " bob dylan -- quote bob dylan, "i am on the pavement. let's think about the government." host: thank you. he says there is no possibility to restore the 8 million jobs lost in the great recession. he said they inherited "a god awful mess." there is no way to regenerate the men in -- the millions of dollars that was lost. the price -- the vice president stop off at a custards stand and had an exchange with the owner -- stopped off at a custard stand and had an exchange with the owner. the next caller is from iowa. good morning. caller: being that wall street and the banking system was pretty much the cause of the collapse of the economy, why cannot make them turn around and pay off our deficit for the united states with their profits? also, with the problems we have at our borders with mexico, why can we not pull our military bases of all the european countries that we do not need to be in and move them to the border? we would have our border secured. that is the question i would like to have answered. host: from the headlines in canada as the g-20 summit wraps up today, p

i just heard from my great friend, bob goodlatte. bob goodlatte was the first member of congress to campaign for me when i was reading the very first time for congress. it was a tumultuous race that year, as bob recalls. it was a third most highly targeted race out of the 435 for congress. if i recall, i think the democrats spent 9.6 million to defeat me. this was the state of minnesota so a midwestern state with 5 million population to spend 9.6 million is a lot of money in a race like that and we were able to win with the help of great colleagues they came out, but i have been a perennial target of the left and they remained that much as well this year. so it is especially an honor to be honored by the claire booth luce foundation and also it isn't every day that a 54-year-old woman is a pinup girl and a calendar so i just want you to no, that is really an honor for me as well and i appreciate that. in talking about conservatism, you have heard from some of the best and brightest members of congress today and i don't want to repeat

let's go to bob in arkansas? bob, are you in arkansas? >> yes. >> welcome. >> >i worked as an engineer off shore for a couple of years. the big thing you guys are missing about this dispersant -- i worked on a platform for about a year and we carried to 55- gallon drums of dispersant. in case of a spill, my job was to go below, turn the pumps on, go up above, get on the fire monitor, and by that time, the deckhand would have a 55-gallon drum. i would train the fire monitor on the drum. we would put one engine forward and one in reverse. we would drive to this bill and turn it on. that barrel of dispersant -- we never used it -- but according to the redmen -- rigman, that barrel of dispersant would get rid of several hundred barrels of oil. it would be gone. my theory and, i don't have any cards in the game anymore, my theory is you have a company that makes their own dispersant, ships on their own boat to their own rate, indexes into their own well, and when you are calling product -- ships it on their own boats to their own or rig, in ja

one of the rsons is, and bob can talk about this, watergate was not a keeper. it was about a fundamental attempt by the president of the ited states to misused and abused the constitution, obstruct justice, and more than anything, to try to underme the very electoral process of our government. >> this is the important part. there were dirty tricks. there were all kinds of things aimed at t democrats who were going to run against nixonnd they wanted what they perceived, i think accurately, they wanted the democratic nominee to be george mcgovern. they really went after senator muskie who was the front rner and spied on him. they had 50 spies out in the campaigns writing false press releases. they literally had the gas fort senator muskie's chauffeur who would drive him around and bring documents from his senate office over to his campaign headquarters. there were so many documents that the nixon campaign wanted copies of the chauffeur called and said rented an apartment full-time and bought a xerox machinend in trs between but photographed documents for the nixo

to my far left is bob, the current president. he most recently served as the director of investigations. prior to joining the industry, bob served as the law enforcement community in several institutions, beginning his career with the new york city police department and retiring as sgt. he had appointments in the u.s. virgin islands and in florida. michael robinson, the senior vice president for content protection, joined the motion picture association of america in 2006 following a distinguished law enforcement career that spanned four decades. in his current role, he leads in four small operations and counter measures for the motion picture association, paramount pictures, sony pictures entertainment, 20s century fox film corp., universal studios, walt disney studios, and warner brothers entertainment warn 8, . tom kubic is to my right. prior to joining psi, he had experience as federal law enforcement specialist, an fbi director, and criminal investigative positions. as a group, we decided there's a lot of expertise here and w

one of those played out in utah, where bob bennett was denied the nomination of his republican party for a fourth term. tonight our debate features to man who face the challenge with gun -- within been its own party. they will be on the primary ballot in june 22 to be the next senator from utah. a coin toss determined that likely would deliver it -- deliver the first one-minute speech. >> my name is mike lee. i believe in the second amendment right to bear arms. i opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants in any form. i am running for the senate because i believe that our federal government is too big and too expensive. it is that way because congress has refused to follow or even read the rule book for the last 75 years. it is the 75 -- the 223 year- old document that limits the power of the federal government. it says that it can only do a few things. it is supposed to focus on things like national defense and immigration and regulating interstate and foreign trade. it is not supposed to be all things to all people. it is not everyone's best friend, not supposed to be our health-care

thank you, bob. thank you, campaign. i want to make five simple points. first of all, i love this country, and i am a true over the top believer in the american dream. secondly, this is not our fathers or grandfathers economy. in fact, this is the third economic revolution in world history. 3, in global economies, countries are teams and team usa lacks a growth-oriented, long- term fiscally responsible economic plan. four is when all must worry and spend too much time writing and not winning people -- students, workers, poor people pay the price 35, to win, we have to remember how we achieve change in our country. sometimes in the midst of these conferences and debates, and criticism, progresses to forget to say what i know underlines a the most fundamental reason for our activism -- is that we love this country. i happen to think america is a gift card and its greatest gift is that people come here from all over the world, like my grandfather. all he ever expected from america was he was going to work really hard. all he ever hoped for was that his work

. >> fremont, ohio, bob is on the republican line. caller: good morning. i have been listening. thank you for c-span. you really open things up. i am a republican but i am seriously thinking of voting democratic. host: why is that? because of this? caller: i am all in favor of cap and trade. i have seen the republicans fighting everything that has to do with the environment and i think that they are making a big anti-environmental.ng totally i am not a flag waving, tree bark eater, but it started with dick cheney, it disturbs me when he decided on global energy policies for the secret meetings with oil and coal giants during the bush administration. i am a republican and i have worked with intelligence services. every time we fill up our suv with gas the oil comes from wonderful places like kuwait, saudi arabia, and the united arab republic. i am sorry but these are all despotic regimes. every time that you do that it goes to charity in the hands of al qaeda. host: john boehner last i said this, "i hope the the obama administration will not try used toocut -- a crisis for politi

but i do remember that bob byrd was there. when i came to the senate, i thought i can't wait to see or hear him play that fiddle again. i heard that after his grandson died in an automobile accident, he said i will never touch it again in memory of my grandson. that's the kind of family commitment he made as well. he would sing and would occasionally have a christmas party downstairs and a few of us would be lucky enough to get invited, and he would sing, but he was a man who had gone through some life experiences and family experiences which were very meaningful to him. i remember another day when i was on the floor of the senate here and there was a debate about the future of the national endowment for the arts, and senator ashcroft of missouri wanted to eliminate the national endowment for the arts and take away all its money. i stood up to debate him. i wasn't -- i was brand-new here, wasn't smart enough to know when to sit down and shut up. i started debating him and saying i think that's wrong and the arts are important

i'm particularly pleased to be here with david walker, bob bucks bye, and bob green stein. bob and i have worked together since i started in together. a couple years ago. and bob bixby, extraordinary job. and david wwlker i congratulate david walker on the work that he has been doing not only in his present position but in his prior position where he brought a clear and honest analysis to some of the issues that were confronting our country, particularly from a fiscal standpoint. this month a gallup poll asked americans to name the greatest threat facing our country. two answers tied for the top choice. one was terrorism. the other was debt. this is a remarkable moment i %+ think in our political history. a time when our creeping fiscal danger of our $9 trillion of publicly held debt troubles pmericans as much as the -- as a prospect of the most brutal attack on our country. more than ever americans understand the danger of debt. a stagnant economy, a hobbled government, and a weak national defense. more than ever it's possible to imagine a government with nothing left to s

and the final version reflected senator bob dole. they had zero republican votes. that is not leadership. leadership is about action, not just position. not just position. and what we hear is this constant drumbeat about how they want the keys back. they want the keys back. well, the american people remember they drove us into this ditch by bending over to bi%%g oil, by bending over for credit card companies and wall street banks and insurance industries. our political philosophy is this and i know we share ttis, is that the government should set the out-of-bounds markers but be a good referee. when big oil companies don't have redid you know dancies built in, the referee should be throwing the flag. they paid their insurance, we should throw the flag. we could have a debate about where those markers and where they are set. but make no question, the governnent should be the referee. mr. tonko: if the gentleman from ohio would yield. you struck is go something in me about the party of no. it was not good enough to say no to an issue ike america %- competes. on this

i called bob dudley and we had a conversation about it and i notified the white house. mr. dudley is a native of mississippi. he has a lot of experience in the oil production part of the bp. i have had very frank and open conversation with him and i expect that to continue. we need to bring him into our unified command and make sure they understand what we are doing. they need to understand what we need from them. i continue to be very closely -- talk to him a couple of times a day. i think this is a positive step. >> were the fatalities work related are not customer >> it does not appear at this time that they are work-related. does not mean that we don't feel very badly about it. >> will take questions from the foul line. >> -- from the phone line. >> i hope you can what we forget what happened, when was the cap removed, why would close in the event cause hydrates? can be reinstalled, and when will it be reinstalled? >> we are looking at all those things right now. my understanding was that they noticed there was some kind of burp in the line. they thought they had hydroc

with me this eveng is bob latta, who is from one ofthe most diverse dicts in the ente unitedtates. it has everything from agricuure to manufacturing, and it has experie ery up d dowthpoible for one district to expernc during the course othis evening, we hop-- mr. latta opportuni to refer you frequently to amecanroadmap.org which is a drt of tudget committee onhich we bo serv an oppounity that provides americanthe hance to get o of debt and to elimine the deficit and toomprehensively doo witht raisin taxes. it tak a long time but eatea very smooth landing for o country. we also want to refer you to ameraspeakingout.com. an offi funion of the republican confence her in the u.s. house which allows you forur cntry that tat will makit strongerer, more eicnt, more cost effective, d we'll --nd will uhackle ts nation's ecomyn a way that will allow us to once aga pursue our role as a glal leader in terms of innovation and jo at this time, i would like to yield to my colleague, mr. . mr. latta: thank u very much. gentlelady for yielding. th very importt issue that we're talking about, jobs,

bob, good morning. caller: good morning. i was pulling for blanche only because they got that big stuffed shirt over there, socialist, now the, uh, this. saying this is a progressive nation. i was very happy to be -- see that big doofus beat. progressive is just a common is turned inside out. host: stored -- stuart, what are your thoughts? caller: i wanted to comment on the caller earlier who said ms. the caller earlier who said ms. lincoln has a house and pennsylvania. it is true because i also had a -- host: god bless america for some things. caller: certain things i like. i want to remind the people in the united states of america, because of this country, one of the best in the world, -- i start off with john mccain. got to go -- been for so many years. destroy the country immigration law -- one side one side -- one time, one side, one time, the other side. the new generation, the new ideas, new people. god bless america. host: the ap reports out of iraq that the u.s. military says two americans were killed and six wound

bob turner -- bob served two terms as florida's governor, represented florida in the senate for almost two decades. he earned reputation as a champion of the environment, leading the most extensive environmental protection effort in the state's history. bill is chairman emeritus of the board of the world wildlife fund, and is also deeply knowledgeable of the oil and gas industry. he was also epa administrator during the first bush administrator, serving during the exxon valdez disaster. i cannot think of two people who will bring greater experience or judgment to this task. i personally want to thank both of them for taking on this arduous assignment, for demonstrating a great sense of duty to this country. very soon i will appoint five other distinguished americans, including leaders in science and engineering, to join them. and the war -- and they will work alongside other ongoing reviews, including an independent examination by the national academy of engineers. i have authorized the commission to hold public hearings and to request information from government, from not-for-profit o

thank you bob, thank you to the campaign, thank you to roger. [applause] i just want to make five simple points this morning. first of all, i love this country and i am a true over the top believer in the american dream. secondly, this is not our father's grandfather proxy economy. it is the third economic revolution in world history. 3, in global economies, countries aae teams. team usa lacks a growth oriented long-term fiscally responsible economic plan. four, when all this ben to much time worrying and winding -- when all of us spend too much time worrying and whining, poor people, students, workers pay the price. last, we need to remember how we achieve change in our country. in the midst of all these conferences, analyses, and debate, criticism, progressives forget to save what i know underlines the most fundamental reason for our activism. we love this country. i happen to think america is a gift. its greatest gift is that people come here from all over the world, like my grandfather. all he ever expected from america is that he was going

thank you bob, thank you campaign. thank you roger. [applause] i want to make five simple points this morning. first of all, i love this country and i am a true over- the-top believer in the american dream. secondly, this is not our fathers or grandfathers economy. in fact, this is the third economic revolution in world history. 3, in global economies countries are teams. team usa lacks a growth-oriented long-term fiscal irresponsible economic plan. four is when we spent too much time writing and worrying and wining and not winning people. ., \e, students workers pay the price. we have to remember how we achieve change in our country. sometimes in the midst of these conferences d analyses and debate and criticism, progressives forget to say what i know underlines the most fundamental reason for our activism. that is that we love this country. i happen to think america is a gift. the greatest gift is that people come here from all over the world like my grandfather. all he ever expected from america was that he would work really hard. a

we saw it in, aut all my sources in south carolina tell me bob ingli s's career is coming to an end. >> what has been his message to voters since then? >> he's billing himself as a true conservative. this is something that he maintained throughout the primary. he said that re-releasedn ad that said he's going to fight for conservative principals, support for the free market, constitution. things like that. he's really tried to contrast himself again. and with his voting record it was quite liberal considering he has one of the most conservative districts in south carolina. >> they've come out with final ads. we'll watch them and come back and talk about them. >> when joe wilson said you lie he should have pointed at every member of kong. i know what it will take washington and the truth. every congressman knows we're headed toward bankruptcy but they are afraid to tell you the truth for fear of using their jobs, afraid to tell you eliminate every program except defense and the debt still grows. why? medicare, medicaid and social security. beyond commitment to seniors, everything's go

host: bob, think we are having trouble with your phone call this morning. maybe you can call back in. louisiana, tyrone on the independent line. caller: how are you doing today? caller: i think it is possible. we will never get it right until we get the federal reserve out of the picture. converse take control of the printing of our own currency and letting the people will vote them in and out of office of an accountable. as long as we have people who are far and, who are not having the interest of citizens of our own country, first and foremost, we will have -- putting the economy up and down on the amount of money they prance and charge on it. host: this is a little bit more from the stick this morning -- the piece of this morning. bellevue, washington. scott on the republican line. caller: good morning. we have been in a depressed and -- we have been in a depression for two years. when you look at the statistics, a depression is what we are in. host: you don't think we were ever in a recession? caller: we skipped right over super recession and went to de

the obvious part of the answer and chip -- bob can finish up. the war happened. >> you go on from there. and the books -- and the tax cut. >> the bush tax cut kicked in at the same time that the war spending went up board. >> can i take two minutes to tell the store which we have not told until today? and that is -- we keep wanting to know the future, and in fact we do not we never get the future right. when that did the second story on bullish about how he decided to go to war -- on bush about how he decided to go to war in iraq? i asked him, how do you think history will judge the iraq war? and he takes his hands out and shrubs like only bush can and says, history? we will not know. we will all be dead. [laughter] >> and for it -- and with that we want thank you for having us. [applause] >> i really knew that we weren't done. >> real quick -- that was the tension. we got to get you home to your war newspaper. [laughter] and so i go home and my wife asked me how was the interview, and i said he answered all the question but they're really good

utah's senator bob and judy utah senator bob bennett, pennsylvania senator arlen specter going down to defeat. this will be an interesting test to see whether the party unity and ideological purity becomes an overriding issue for incumbents. host: neck and neck in arkansas. any late polls? guest: all the polls show it is very close. if you show the tenant governor bill halter with a small lead, but within the margin of error. but all you need is 50 percent plus one. host: what is he bnging? guest: something different. that is what much of the challenger candidates areoi

bob on the independent line. did you vote? caller: i am an independent so the only thing i could vote for judges. i just want to say that this angle election is pretty much of a joke. reid with all of his millions will probably beat her easily in the fall. this is the one he wanted to run against and this of the one he will run against and the beat. host: we will move on to wisconsin. doris. caller: i think this election is crooked. i think in arkansas, this blanche lincoln closed different things down so people could not vote and that is against our constitution. i think this country is getting more and more crooked every year. host: i am not sure if you called in earlier but that is the second phone call on funny business going on in arkansas. have you heard anything about it? guest: i have not heard anything about that. i do want to point out, the caller from the bottom has an interesting take. a sort of the conventional wisdom right now that sharron angle is the easier candidate for harry reid to beat. at some levels you c

bob was calledn by the city editor. >> if it was a nice day. and it was a saturday. and the editors in the morning said, who would be dumb enough to come in and work today? [laughter] and my name immediately came to their lives. >> and i was already in the office. i was late handing in another piece. that was a good story, obviously better tn the piece i was working on. >> you never got tat he's done, did you? >> i think i did. anyway. five men had been arrested in the headquarters of the national democratic party, wearing rubber gloves. they found them in business suits and they found -- as the police report would have $100 bills in sequence, as well as wiretping equipment. so obviously this was a story not about your average burglary. >> and the approach we ok was the poce reporter happened. what happened? what can we find out? it was very incremental -- just some examples, another reporter found out from the police there with these cryptic entries in the address books of two of the burglars. and howard hunt had been the director -- the operational director, and as

bob and i have worked together -- with bob? be -- bixby and bob greensun. david walker has not only been doing in his present position, but in his prior position, where he brought a clear and honest analysis to some of the issues confronting our country, particularly from a fiscal standpoint. this month, we were us to ask americans the fittest -- the greatest threat facing our country. two top the list. one was terrorism. the other was dead. this is a remarkable moment -- the other was debt. this is a remarkable moment in our country's history. our powerful debt troubles americans as much as the most critical -- parole attack on our country. -- brutal attack on our country. americans understand the danger of the state of the economy, a hobbled government and a weak national defense. more than ever it is possible to imagine a government of, for, and by interest payments and entitlements. debt is a dominant part of the political landscape now. that will not be ignored because if there is one thing we understand in washington, it is political incentives, polit

i called bob dudley and we had a conversation about it and i notified the white house. mr. dudley is a native of mississippi. he has a lot of experience in the oil production part of the bp. i have had very frank and open conversation with him and i expect that to continue. we need to bring him into our unified command and make sure they understand what we are doing. they need to understand what we need from them. i continue to be very closely -- talk to him a couple of times a day. i think this is a positive step. >> were the fatalities work related are not customer >> it does not appear at this time that they are work-related. does not mean that we don't feel very badly about it. >> will take questions from the foul line. >> -- from the phone line. >> i hope you can what we forget what hapned, when was the cap removed, why would close in the event cause hydrates? can be reinstalled, and when will it be reinstalled? >> we are looking at all those things right now. my understanding was that they noticed there was some kind of burp the line. they thought they had hydrocarbon

host: served as press secretary for bob livingston that presented the north new orleans area. this next call comes from william in new orleans. caller: good morning. very interesting to me that there's been a great deal of l talk about diversity in the nomination to the supreme court and yet when one looks at mrs. kay fwan. so list or the i think it's very interesting that we find the this kind of feminism in the courtroom but wheres the diversity. there's the ivy league background. deep within the tentacle office supreme court as a clerk. father was a very high powered lawyer. when you look at this. one is really hard pressed to look at the supreme court and talk about diversity. i don't think feminization or simply the placing of two on women on the supreme court counts as diversity or diversity of life experiences. they all seem to come from the same general area. guest: the caller makes a very good point. peter, he - he's absolutely right. if she gets on the court, all nine justices will have gone to harvard or yale law school. four of them will have been from the new york

bob, good morning. caller: good morning. representative cassidy, is the fact truth to -- guest: i've lost you, bob. host: wre going to have to ove cler: said that they thought the federal governmentught to b.p. y for this. guest: bob, i jus caut the statement.f your did somebody say in the house at the federal government that? help b.p. pay for anybody say that. saying the 's government should take over b.p.? guest: well, people want the federal government to federalize the response, if y will. o aspects to the spect is and one a what's happening at the sea level, where the well is actually leaking. admiral thad allen has said, rightly so, theederal vernment doenot have the resources, nor the expertise, experience, etc., to te over that operation. level of response at the sea bed is ghtl industries, because we have the resources. now, in fairness, wt the government has done is theput goverent experts,s well experts from other companies to monitor what b. is doing sure it'sheir best effortso we've been told. the other level o

bob monahan of west virginia. and some others. i can't recognize them from here. >> when we first started talking about all this, you said you hoped that the press, students and all, would read this? why does it matter? >> it matters a great deal. let me explain. the people in the media need to know the history of the united states senate if they're going to accurately report on it and interpret the day's events. to accurately interpret today's events in the light of history. for example, following the tower nomination vote, i heard a very fine news reporter make the statement on a tv show. she was on a panel and she said the senate will never be the same again. well, that reflected to me a lack of institutional memory. the senate is already the same again. i mean, those things come and go. that is why we need to read the history began seeing president tanner's time for example, 1843 -- said in the name of caleb cushing to be secretary of the treasury. the bill on march 3 because in those days congress wound up its work on march 3

and bob king will be a very able new president. i wish him well, but i'm here today, chairman dingell, to thank ron gettelfinger for all he has done for the united states of america. thank you. mr. dingell: i thank my distinguished friend from michigan. i yield now to distinguished the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee. ms. jackson lee: thank you very much, mr. chairman and to the speaker. whenever john dingell raises his voice to join in honoring a leader, you always have to take his affirmation as an honor of that leader. and so no one wants to be left out when it comes to honoring someone chairman dingell has designated as deserving that honor. but i come far away from michigan, down in texas, to be able to say that ron gettelfinger is an american hero, and america thanks him, because he understood the various assets of wealth. he might have understood a family in new york or down in houston or maybe in alabama who is able to get that first american-made car, made by the men and women of the united states and in this insta

look for, particularly in the early republican primaries, you have seen a couple of republicans -- bob bennett in utah, a three-term the senator who was very popular year ago, lee is in a primary a few weeks ago. you saw -- very popular a year ago, lose and a primary. you saw charlie crist being pushed out of the republican primary and accused of being too moderate. on the republican side, that is what i am looking -- are you going to see that trend continue, where the so-called derate candidates are losing d, the tea party-fuelde conservative candidates are winning? i think that is what you would expect. on the democratic side, you are seeing that with the blanche lincoln race and arkansas. you have labor unions and people on the left are very frustrated with her as being too

school, and now it is m distinct privilege and honor on behalf of the whole commission to introduce bob kerrey, former governor, former senator from the state nebraska, now president of the new school, and our host today. senator kerrey, thank you so much for having us here. you and your staff have been terrific, and the microphone is now yours. >> well, first of all, chairman angelides and vice chairman thomas d members of the commission, both the new school and new york city is proud, are proud to welcome you here this morning. and i appreciate very much you praising the staff because they've done all the work to make this possible, and it is always quite moving to me the fort ty make to accommodate these kinds of extremely important efforts. i don't envy you your work. this is a complicated matt. those of us who have sufficient quantitative skills but not impressive quantitative skills find ourselves actually quite unable to comprehend exactly what was going on and what went wrong. trying to manage risk today s become more and more difficult, and my own view of the matter is that, fo

now, i announced this week that bob graham and bill riley, two respected individuals who have experience both on the environmental side and energy sector, are going to be examining the next six months what went wrong but forward looking how do we increase domestic oil production without seek the kinds of disasters we are witnessing on television. i think governor jindal and other parish presidents spoke about the immediate impact and what i said to them is the same thing i said to graham and reilly. if they can front-load some of the analysis of what went wrong and how you would solve what has happened and what can happen, and you can do that more quickly than six months, then let me know. don't hold the results of your review for six months and then tell me. tell me when you find out. what i told the folks in this room was i'm not going to cut corners on it and i'm not going to press them to move faster than it would take to do an accurate, independent job based on sound science, because i do not want to see this repeated and the american people don't and i promise you the people of the

host: thanks for joining us, bob cusack. guest: good morning. host: talking about the race is happening around the country, runoffs, contests, give us a preview. guest: another incumbent in congress from south carolina is in trouble. it looks like he will lose. he is down in the polls against the tea party favorite. with engles, some believe he strayed from the party, having criticized joe wilson, and voted with democrats. on energy policy he has strayed from the party. he was one of the few republicans to disapprove of the surge in iraq. he was in a runoff, but his opponent got more votes. so, enlrd looks to be in trouble. then we got a big runoff in utah. it is the seat that senator bennett now holds. he did not make it into the run up. whoever wins will be your next senator because utah is reddest state in the nation. bennett endorsed bridgewater. it will be a tight race. according to the polls, bridgewater was in the lead. host: has there been a resurgence in popularity or interest in what bennett has to say? guest: no, he is upset he lost.

the obvious part of the answer and chip -- bob can finish up. the war happened. >> you go on from there. and the books -- and the tax cut. >> the bush tax cut kicked in at the same time that the war spending went up board. >> can i take two minutes to tell the store which we have not told until today? and that is -- we keep wanting to know the future, and in fact we do not we never get the future right. when that did the second story on bullish about how he decided to go to war -- on bush about how he decided to go to war in iraq? i asked him, how do you think history will judge the iraq war? and he takes his hands out and shrubs like only bush can and says, history? we will not know. we will all be dead. [laughter] >> and for it -- and with that we want thank you for having us. [applause] >> i really knew that we weren't done. >> real quick -- that was the tension. we got to get you home to your war newspaper. [laughter] and so i go home and my wife asked me how was the interview, and i said he answered all the question but they're really good

representative cassidy, is the fact truth to -- guest: i'vlost you, bob. host: we' going to have to on. aller:aid that they thought the deral government ought to b.p. pay for this. guest: bob, i just caught the statement.f your did somebody say in the house that the federal government that? helb.p. pay for anybody say that. sayin the s government should take over b.p.? guest: well, people want the federal government to federalize the resnse, if you will. o aspects to the spect is and one a what's happeni at the sea level, where the well is actually lking. admiral thad allen has said, rightly so, the federal vernment does not have the resources, nor the expertise, experience, etc.to take over that operation. level of rpons at the sea be irightly industries, beuse we have the resources. now, in fairness, what the government has done is they put government experts, as well experts froother compaes to monitor what.p. is doing sure it's their best effort, so we've been told. the other level of the you wil is how do we mitigatend prevent envinmtal disasters. now

they have a new person, bob dudley, that's going to handle the long-term recovery efforts, which works for b.p., but he's on the board of b.p., and from all indications that i have seen from him, at least he's american. >> wait for the mic, please. >> i'm bar radio jones from the christian church, zpismse christ, which covers arkansas, louisiana, and mississippi. we have lots of hurricanes. my question is, when you were on the cabinet, we knew where to turn for those disasters. mitigations and recovery, when you were not there and katrina hit, it was a mess. and we had difficulty finding help, and we have just now gotten back on our feet, and i'm talking n.g.o.'s, and i'm talking recovery, and we have had to do it on our own at churches, etc. so we are very afraid of what's coming this season, and we've got a conference call coming next week with the new administration, what kinds of organization is there now? where would we turn now in terms of government agencies? how is it set up now? >> well, you know, i'm not there, but we had a very, very strong relationship with a volunteer orga

my former national guard unit, 218th brigade, so i know from personal serving their, led by general bob livingston, we have 1500 troops from south carolina who helped train the afghan police and army units. so, i'm very, very optimistic. host: what specifically makes you optimistic? senators yesterday were questioning all the press reports about, that being more intense than we anticipated and taking longer in some regions. guest: those are all legitimate concerns. i followed testimony and concerns expressed. but specifically, we are training the afghan police and army units. we are ahead -- for the army, 105,000 -- actually 125,000 troops. we are on the way this year to have 135,000 troops. this is the testimony of the under secretary yesterday. in training the police, there are 105,000, and by the end of this year, we will have 109,000. what we are doing is enabling the people of afghanistan to defend themselves, and the level of conflict -- general petraeus made that clear, too -- it confirms we are facing a very deadly enemy, a very deadly enemy that we must face to defend america.

i have talked with bob dudley about that as well. we've been working with the national hurricane is center and working through our national incident command with the coast guard commanders. depending on the type of vessel out there, it's going to take a shorter or longer time to be able to disconnect. the other ship will take six or seven day advance notice to evacuate. we have to look at the probabilities of the storms and act very early on. if you look at the area between cuba and the straits of florida, there's it's a radius or perimeter. anything that could fall in that area should prompt action. we're concerned about the vessels, when you get above igget -- eight foot seas they aren't effective. >> we noticed something had changed, the containment camp had been removed. do these units bump into the assembly snauven >> we've had two issues with r.o.v.'s. there are an unbelievable amount of r.o.v.'s down there it's our only eyes and ears for the relief well the vertical riser packages being installed, other installations. we were

bob and i have worked together. bhatt dixie, the leader of the coalition, an extraordinary gap. and david walker, i congratulate him on the work that he has been doing not only in its present position but in his prior position, where he brought it clear and honest analysis to some of the issues that were concerning our country, particularly from the fiscal standpoint. this month, a gallup poll asked americans to name the greatest threats facing our country. two answers tied for the top choice. one was terrorism. the other was debtt this is a remarkable moment in our political history. a time when our creeping fiscal danger of barn $9 trillion of publicly held debt troubles americans as much as the prospect of the most brutal attacks on our country. with an ever, americans understand the danger of debt -- a staanant economy, all hoobled government, and a weak national defense. more than ever, it is possible to imaaine a government with nothing left to spend on educating our children, on securing our borders, on conducting the ggoundbreaking research necessaryyfor our health and e

thanks to bob cutler has been working on this issue for many years, that's an area where progressives can continue to put a lot of energy and emphasis and still win the fight. >> thank you. that gives you the last word. thank you, everyone. we're going to go almost immediately into the next session. i will ask you to hold your seats and we will bring the panelists up and i will do it quick introduction. i'm sure you will be excited to hear what they have to say. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> busiest day of the year for congressional and governors' races with 12 states holding primary is today. senator boxer will learn who her snonet will be. and there is a race in california. we'll have live coverage tonight on the c-span networks. >> british prime minister takes questions tomorrow morning. it starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern. live on c-span 2. >> we three new c-span books for you "abraham lincoln," "the supreme court" and who eye buried in grant's tomb?" on to order, go to c-span.org /books. >> the state