sanford was having an affair. the whiff of adultery had not followed him, reporters remained skeptical. last thursday the governor to take an interview with sean hannity for fox news in which mr. sanford criticize the federal stimulus plan and said that he had not thought of running for president. later he left the governor's mansion without security and rumors about his absence percolated in law-enforcement circles, according to some officials. other politicians and government officials got wind of his accent -- of his absence and tick off reporters. thomas joining us on the phone from lafayette, louisiana. -- tom is joining us on the phone from lafayette, louisiana. caller: thank you for taking my call. thank you for c-span. i wanted to comment that we had a problem here with our senator, david vitner, who had some kind of a thing with prostitutes, and it seems like the republicans in louisiana overlooked that, maybe because of his politically conservative positions. but i am tired of these sanctimonious politic

caller: i was just calling about the subject this morning about governor's sanford -- gov. sanford. the lady two or three calls earlier comparing the democrats and republicans and the response from the news media and the difference and the contrast. as a female, i believe that the marriage is between the two people and what happens is between the two people and i think these two people are trying to work out their problems. i do believe, like the lady before me, that if you are a conservative, you are going to be treated almost -- different than the democrats are treated. and that is through the media. but you have people out here who know and see through this, as i as a black female, i am not from south carolina but i'm from a for giving family. i do know this man is really neat and humble -- meek and humbled did i think the white already know about. trying to work it out. somebody in that state's hate his guts, he stands up and is a maverick and stands up for what he believes in. yes, he felt -- please, don't cut me off. but all of us fall, but we should not be utterly cast down.

sanford was somebody not doing a particularly good jobs for his constituents. south carolina's record unemployment numbers are in now. he was at the forefront of rejecting stimulus funds of the obama administration had been pushing. the and women rate amongst minority populations in south carolina -- the unemployment rate amongst minority populations in south carolina is extremely high. what we saw from gov. sanford, both on the affair issue and on the stimulus issue, is that he was politically grandstanded. he was simply taking positions that reflected a moral code that he wanted to use to sell as political gamesmanship. it is not something he actually believed. that is the problem

sanford was not doing a project a good job for his constituents. south carolina has record unemployment numbers right now. he rejected stimulus funds. the unemployment rate and a minority population in south carolina is extremely high, 20%, 30%. what we saw from the governor both on the affair issue and stimulus issue is that he was politically grandstanding. he was taking positions that reflected a moral code that he wanted to sell as political gamesmanship. it wasn't he sought -- it wasn't something he believed in. the moral code was something he was trying to push on to others. host: what about political fall out, for the party in general? guest: i wrote last week that i think it the one person to help the most was mitt romney. he is a presidential hopeful that falls off the map here. i thing -- think there are some arguments about how successful he would have been. i think this pushes mitt romney to the forefront. >> he is waiting in the wings. host: illinois on the independent line. caller: i am all for personal responsibility, but more people

it says sanford a wall -- who is in charge? john o'connor said south carolina gov. staff said the governor is taking on appellation trout, ending four days in which the staff and state officials say they have not heard from him. night in his office or the state law enforcement division that provides security had been able to reach him since he left the mansion thursday in a black suburban as uv assigned to his security detail, according to three people according to the -- familiar with the situation. the government spokesman did not disclose the trailer was hiking nor revealed whether he was hiking alone. his last known location was near atlanta late last week. a mobile telephone tower picked

governor sanford was railing against president clinton in the 90's. one of the things that bothers me that is often lost as the governor sanford was someone who was not doing a particularly good job for his constituents. they've record unemployment south carolina. he was at the forefront of rejecting stimulus funds that the obama administration had pushed. the unemployment rate among the minority populations and south carolina is extremely high, 20%- 30%. what we saw from him on the affair issue and the stimulus issue is that he was politically grandstanding. he was taking positions that reflected a moral code that he wanted to use himself as political gamesmanship. moral code was something he was trying to put on to others. it is not something he chose to live by. host: what about fallout from him but the party in general? guest: the one person who helps the most is britain -- is mitt romney. he is in the 2012 presidential hopeful who pulls off the map. john ensign is another one who happened -- whose scandal happened a week earlier. there's an argum

they would just be for real and stop trying to always dictate to other how they ought to be living -- sanford was fighting for everything going to be here for south carolina. on the one hand you are not taking stimulus money and unemployment money for your people and on the other hand you are taking our state taxpayer money and running off on junkets with your mistress and everything, and it is just the hypocrisy of it and everything. so if you are going to take this moral road and claim that you are at the party of moral the use of and everything else -- values and everything else, this is part of humanity, but the start to always be the purveyor of righteousness and then you turn around in the spotlight

i am very concerned for governor sanford. it seems that he has lost everything, and he obviously loves that woman. i wish the papers and the people would leave him alone for a little while. guest: interesting, yes. there is a perpetual debate, and we come on it from time to time about what is the public's business and what is not. for instance, the doings of governance and so on, those obviously valid. but then, i mean, obviously with the stories of children about 15 or something, they are not running for office. a politician has not cashed in on them. there is no reason why that intrusion should take place, i think. i think it is a question of where you draw the line. there is a case of an mp in england, he had not cashed in on his marriage when it was already over. he had never done that. you look back to the three years in the marriage ended had not been in existence properly, and he had never used a photograph of his wife or his children. he had never falsely done that. in the press therefore treated him very leniently be

mark sanford is not seeking reelection. the question is what impact it will have on his 2012 ambitions. today, the state also noted that "some conservatives think the move has put him among the republicans who should seek to challenge president obama in 2012." at this point, republican legislators are the one who came out -- the ones who came out the winners. in other news of a new york, the battle for the new york senate seat just got a little bit smaller. the democratic field just got a little bit smaller. carolyn mccarthy announced that she would not challenge new york appointed senator kirsten gillibrand. and she is saying in a statement from her office that this was for personal reasons. she decided not to run. her spokesman would not elaborate on what those personal reasons were. the spokesman did say that she was not called by anybody to get out of the race. in recent weeks, we have learned that president obama called on other democratic challenger, urging him not to run. we learned that vice president joe biden call

i'm really very concerned for governor sanford. he seems he has lost everything and obviously love that woman. i wish that the papers and the people would leave him alone for a little while. >> guest: interesting. there is a perpetual debates, we come upon from time to time about what is the public's business and what isn't. i think that's for instance the doings of someone like the governors and so on, those are obviously valid, but then obviously valid and stories about children who are lifting or something and what they have done, they're not running for office and a politician hasn't cashed in on them in there is a reason why that interest and should take place so it is a question of where you draw the line. it's an interesting case of an mp in england who have not done as people have done here, he had not cashed in on his marriage when it was already over so he had never done that. a look back the three years and had not been in existence properly and never used a photograph of his wife or children. he never had falsely done t

i loved mark sanford, and there is jeb and sterlihenserling. mark sanford, when he was a congressman, never took a penny of living expenses. he basically lived in his office during his three terms. host: going back to this peace in "the help" newspaper -- this article in "the hill" newspaper. host: caller from charlottesville, va.. who speaks for the gop caller: i do not think anybody speaks for the gop right now. nobody is really speaking for them. it is just a bunch of negativity. it is a lot of things that are kind of disturbing. rush limbaugh being a leader of the party is a sign of political suicide. host: the front page of "the washington post." host: michael is joining us from mobile, alabama. who speaks for your party? caller: dr. ron paul. host: randy is next from california. caller: it is yet to be determined. there's not a clear standout voice for the republicans. of course, for the conservatives, rush limbaugh is doing a pretty good job. dick cheney is making his will alone. as far as sarah palin, first of all, she motivated me to b

sanford and maria in argentina, his mistress. caller: good morning, i did not think we're going into iraq to win anything. i do not think relieving because it is a democracy or a place where people will no longer be a press. i think the obama administration realized it was pretty much a lost cause. we just wanted to conquer it and make it of an extended part of the american empire. i have the uncomfortable feeling that obama will just move troops into parts of iraq and afghanistan. what worries me is the way that obama soft-pedaled ahmadinejad's election. i have the uncomfortable feeling that these two will be big buddies after we leave and our influence is removed from iraq. what is obama's foreign-policy banks now we have iran and iraq which could easily become hostile to us again. there would be a formidable alliance. i am confused. i think obama should have taken a stand and come out against ahmadinejad. i think he should offer really strong support for the freedom fighters. it is good that he is pulling troops out because we

. >> one of the biggest stories this week was mark sanford of south carolina. he is under a lot of pressure to step down over the admission he had an affair and was traveling out of the country to visit his mistress? should he resign or not and if so why? >> i was in south carolina a year ago speaking to a large republican gathering there. i know the governor as a friend and i know a great number of people there. i am sure that he and leadership in the state legislature will do the right thing at the right time. >> you have been known to say you not be alone with a female staff member just for propriety sake. has this damaged the republican party along with the admission from senator ensign? >> the old book tells us that righteousnesses exults a nation so the opposite is probably true when we see disappointments by people in either political party in local office or national. been agreed to the heart of the nation. america is about family. we are a nation of devoted has been some lives. we hold up the ideal of the american family and any time we see that ruptur

the wilmington and sanford stations. we broke ground about two weeks after the last hearing and ranking member micah joined us to complete the completion of the southern terminal of our successful and popular auto train service. projects that can be advanced with our own workforce are another area we're making real progress. we've added the 22 employees to our engineering force to deal with the related expansion and right-of-way work on the northeast corridor that begins next month. this will include improvements such as ditch and train j improvements, retaining wall upgrades and improvements to design improffering the integrity of the road bed along 230 miles of the new york, mid-atlantic and new england divisions. similarly, we're making good progress in our $100 million equipment plan. we do most of the work in-house with an amtrak workforce. we've also have existing agreements in inventory levels for parts. in some cases progress is still subject to the ability of suppliers to get us needed components but we're movin

finally, south carolina governor mark sanford is telling the newspaper that he was in argentina during his unexplained five-day absence, not hiking along the absent -- not hiking along the appalachian trail. he told a state newspaper that he arrived at the airport today. he said the last minute decision was because he wanted to do something exotic. governor sanford said he returned after a five-day absence because the trip turned into more of a fuss than he ever expected. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: our guest is "wall street journal" reporter sudeep reddy. thank you for joining what is today's meeting expected to do? guest: the fed releases a statement at 2:15 today after its meeting, and it will be the typical statement outlining its views on the economy, but also its prediction on what it expects to do with policy. this has been a very long paulist -- this has been a very long process for the fed from the beginning of this financial crisis in the beginning of the summer of 2007 when it struck home mortgages, mortgag

from the state newspaper in south carolina, governor mark sanford tried to get back to work yesterday in what they called an anything but normal cabinet meeting. sanford admitted -- continued his admittance with the affair with the woman from argentina and apologizeed to his cabinet. also this morning from the associated press, the united states has announced a new drug policy for open yum rich afghanistan saying it was phasing out funding for eradication efforts and using it for drug interdiction and alternate crop programs instead. good morning, and welcome to the washington journal. we begin this morning's program talking about the latest developments on iran with sir richard dalton, former united kingdom ambassador to iran. he was at that post from 2002 to 2006, and he will be talking with us in just a few seconds. the numbers, if you want to get involved in the conversation... you can send us an e-mail, and you can also send us a message via twitter. that address is c-span wj. >> first we want to look at a couple of headlines from the brittish newspapers. "the telegraph" has this

do you think that governor sanford should resign? >> as i said, i have every confidence that both the governor and the republican leadership in south carolina will do the right thing. if that means governor sanford can continue his duties as governor, then so be it. but if it is apparent that it would be more appropriate for the people of south carolina to do otherwise, i just have every confidence knowing mark sanfrd and knowing the republican leadership in south carolina that people will do the right thing at the right time. >> take you to another topic. earlier this month the senate voted to apologize for slavery. the house took a similar vote last year, voice vote. do you agree, should government apologize for slavery? should there be reparations? >> well, i don't believe there should be reparations. i say with a heavy heart as a student of american history that reparations were paid as lincoln said, in the lives of 600,000 americans who fell on both sides in the civil war. lincoln's stirring words, that if the horrors of war had

sanford address that, he apologized. but i just have my thoughts and fears focused on his family right now. host: finally, if you were to run for president in 2012, what would you take into account, and have you thought? if he were to run for president? guest: not sure about the question there, i am not intending to run for president, -- host: your name has been mentioned. guest: of this country is facing -- whoever is the candid it on our side of the aisle -- and, you know, we as a party i think have now sort of position ourselves

. >> governor sanford, i wonder if the president has ben following the results the past week to politically or personally? >> i am sure he has read it in the paper but he has not given me any particular reaction. >> the president talked about. [laughter] >> i apologize to the. >> we can see how the people in the front are cutting up. >> the president talks about how he would like to see more political progress and i am wondering if you could talk about some of the things the president is hoping for and what is he hoping to do? >> obviously he has met continually with ambassador hills, obviously the meetings we made during the stop in baghdad i guess in late march/early april, without getting specific there continues to be progress with reconciliation with oil and hydrocarbons. that as we move their route a very important year of the elections and iraq again proving it will take the steps necessary to govern its country. >> [inaudible] they had a very clear message now will he come before the g20 or is there a new road map for u.s. relations? >> i have no news when a visit might happen. >> f

we broke ground at sanford about two weeks after the last hearing. projects of that can be advanced with our own work force are another area we are making real progress in. we have added 222 employees to deal with related extension and right of way work. this will include improvements such as a bit and danish -- such as a ditch and drainage improvements. we are making good progress on $100 million equipment plan. we do most of this work in house with an amtrak work force. we have also existing agreements and inventory levels for parts. sometimes it is contingent on the ability of suppliers to get its components. but we are moving ahead. there are 108 employees in indiana, and i expect the work force at least two facilities for returning the first of the amtrak fleet cars on the first of july. at the end of july, we intend to award the contract for a team of regional project managers who will manage a slate of three in 94 projects for the total dollar value -- slate of 394 projects for the total dollar value of -- they will be excellent candidates for

host: sanford, n.c. on the democrats' plan. go ahead, you're on with peter. caller: good morning. have you read -- read a book called "fools of gold," written by julian tett? guest: no, i have not. could you give me its basic thesis, briefly? caller: starts back when tim geithner was the head of the treasury in new york. j.p. morgan -- jamie diamond and a bunch of the regulators, they concocted this entire mess. guest: there are many theories. some people don't have to look for a far off to place the blame. i can see that the congress is spending too much money without asking how we will pay for it. but the 19 center banks did a lot to create the mess. it went unnoticed and unregulated by mr. geithner while he was president of the new york federal reserve. people as far as him repulse and did not see it coming. i think there is a search and promiscuity in nor, the notion of too big to fail means they can do anything they like. host: here is a question by the twister. will you offer any words of wisdom for younger folks? guest: let's start with i have an 18 year-old who is going of

it says sanford awol, who is in charge? the south carolina staff saying the governor is hiking, ending four days in which officials say they had not heard from him. neither his office nor the state law enforcement staff had been able to reach him since he left thursday in a black suburban s tv -- a black suburban suv. that is according to one staff official. he would not reveal whether he was hiking alone. his last known location was near a lanham late last week. -- he was near atlanta late last week. more details on available from the state newspaper. scott is on the phone from long island. are there mixed signals in the economy? if so, where are we heading? caller: i don't know where we are heading. thanks for c-span. i am baffled sometimes that the american people, how long has it taken us to get into this position and people are talking like it should be fixed in six months. this will take years to fix. people talk about private companies, they are the ones that should make all the jobs and the government should not be

sanford refused citizenship to black people, these opinions stripped the poor of meaningful citizenship turned fundamental law. in their vaw of the equal protection clause of the united states prohibited restriction on federal or our state provisions of funding borgses. i think this is an intwinsable position. we don't know how much judge sotomayor had to do with developing the funds and certainly she was an officer of it and involved in the litigation committee during most of this time but we -- because we don't have the information we requested. we do know that the fund and judge sotomayor opposed reinstatement of the death penalty in new york based not on the law but on what they found to be the inhuman psychlogical burden that pleases it own criminals, based on evident racism. what does this mean on how judge sotomayor would approach death penalty cases? i think she has affirmed death penalty cases but on the supreme court there is a different ability to redefine cases and these peripheral views of hers should affect that. recently five justices of the supreme court decided based on

governor sanford ordered to accept the money. from the atlanta journal constitution, "obama in egypt: a new beginning." from "the boston globe," "a fresh start." we also want to share with you headlines from overseas. in great britain, a lot of focus on prime minister gordon brown. "a smooth assassin," as one of gordon brown's cabinet members says we need to save labor as the focus continues on whether or not court and brown will step down. according to news reports this morning, he will -- whether or not gordon brown will step down. according to news reports this morning, he says, no, he will not step down. next caller, good morning. caller: well, i guess i will have to say that cheney was proved wrong again. evidently deficits do matter, and after, you know, eight years of the bush administration basically wrecking our economy, the minute a democrat gets elected, we are now told that these deficits and this debt are very, very important, and we have to immediately start taking action to get this reduced. i do agree long term th

sanford refused citizensship to black people, these stripped citizenship under the fundamental law. close quote. in their view the equal protection clause prohibited restrictions on either federal or state government provisions of funding abortions. so i think this is an indefensible position. we just do not know how much judge sotomayor had to do with the -- with developing these positions of the fund, but, certainly, she was an officer of it and involved in the litigation committee during most of this time. but because we don't have the information -- because we don't have the information we requested. we do know that the fund and judge sotomayor opposed reinstatement of the death penalty in new york based not on the law, but on what they found to be the inhuman psychological burden it places on criminals based on world opinion and based on evident racism in our society. what does this mean about our judge sotomayor would approach death penalty cases? i think she has a firm death -- affirmed death penalty cases, but on the supreme court that's different ability to redefine cases,

1947 plrks lose earned a bachelor's degree in finance from georgia state university and a graduate at sanford university. arriving at ntnb in 1969, he served more than 30 years within the bank and in 2001 attained his current position as c.e.o. of bank of america. throughout his career with bank of america, he secured millions of new customers and paved the way for future expansion. he was named in 2007 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by time magazine, has been twice named banker of the year by the american bankers association. he has been the former chairman of the national urban league, and has been involved in every possible community cause in charlotte. large and small. and for that we do thank you for your leadership for our community. bank of america's presence is certainly felt in western north carolina in my district and across north carolina generally. the tenth district has become particularly hard hit in this chick recession and bank of america employs about 17,000 north carolinaance many of whom are my constituents and are proud to work for a strong institut

. >>> now, governor mark sanford of south carolina holds a news conference at the state capital. from columbia, south carolina, this is about 20 minutes. >> how are we going to do this? do you want to hold it? >> i have my own. >> somebody want to help me here? how are we going to move this around? okay. ready? everybody ready? and won't begin in any particular spot. let me just start with -- where is gina smith? not here? okay. i had a conversation with jean smith this morning when i arrived in atlanta and i told her about my love of the appalachian trail and i use to organize hiking trips when i was in high school i did get a soccer coach or football coach to act as the chaperone and then i would get folks to pay me $60 each or whenever it was to take the trip and then off we would go and have these great adventures on the appellation trip, and i told her of adventure trips both in college, it was a campus representative from the eastern airlines and you could fly from free, get myself a job, carry emergency money and either find a job that were locals could come back or come h

certain i was at the announcement week we announced the sanford project and the wilmington project, and i think i came to a total of 25 million. and today, we have announced a total of 41 million. i guess my question is, we have another 16 million that pot and then we're looking at another 190 projects. you know, amtrak has needed or eight years, we struggled with zero funding and now we finally got the funds and in no you've got to handle it in a proper manner, but can you give us a status report as to how amtrak has been able to use those additional stimulus dollars? >> certainly. congresswoman, i appreciate your support and your kind comments. one of the things that we are doing right now is a lot of the work and house, and i reported a little while ago how many additional jobs we applied to our facility, art facility in beech grove indiana. and we expect to start producing the cars out of their mid-july. and so many of those dollars are actually, and the chairman talk about is a little bit earlier, some of them are now not charged back yet so there's actually more dollars out there

it says sanford a wall -- who is in charge? john o'connor said south carolina gov. staff said the governor is taking on appellation trout, ending four days in which the staff and state officials say they have not heard from him. night in his office or the state law enforcement division that provides security had been able to reach him since he left the mansion thursday in a black suburban as uv assigned to his security detail, according to three people according to the -- familiar with the situation. the government spokesman did not disclose the trailer was hiking nor revealed whether he was hiking alone. his last known location was near atlanta late last week. a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his own, according to a source familiar with the situation. again, more details available at the state newspaper from south carolina. stock is on the phone from long island. the economy, are the mixed signals? if so, where are we heading? caller: i don't know where we are heading. but thank you for c-span. i am baffled sometimes at the american people that -- h

. >> and sanford bishop? >> by the national journal. [laughter] >> we don't always fun to happen there but we know that in tennessee and we always had a similar centrist black democrat who when he ran for a senate in 2006 barely lost but most interesting was happen in their worldwide tennessee where in county is that for years before had voted for george wallace or voted a very strongly for wallace. he carried many of those, he outran john kerry as a matter a percentage and when you compare his boat to barack obama not only did obama do as it has been no significant worse on percentage basis, he got fewer votes despite a massive increase in turn out so you can see in rural tennessee white democrats because there are no blacks in these places, voting for a black democrat in 2006 and against another different black democrat in 2008. even the girl south has changed so the question is back to the professor, how you view that? do you view that with as long as there is one iota of racism protection is still required? do you view that the way