as to laura -- >> laura bush. >> laura bush. okay. let's see. i think that she's tried to have cordial relations with all of her children. i've been told from time to time that the two of them have a respectful but somewhat distant relationship. i cannot attest to that myself. there's a story -- and again, i don't know if it's apocryphal or if it's true, yeah, if it's apocryphal or not. that when laura bush was first brought up to kennebunkport to meet the extended family, she met george's grandmother, so dorothy bush, the first president bush's mother, and the first president bush's mother said to her, so what do you do? you know, what's your story. and supposedly laura bush was supposed to have responded, well, i read and i smoke. then there were questions of how well did that go down with barbara bush? no one ever said. i think it's probably fair to characterize it as maybe -- maybe distant, maybe more cordial. certainly, her -- barbara bush's relationship with her grandchildren is very warm. she sees them a lot, you know, st

bush. i started to work on the barbara bush book. it seems eons ago, probably at the beginning of the 2000's. the book was finally published in 2008. i was very, very fortunate. mrs. bush was kind enough to see me. she made access to every member of first half available, so i do feel that what i was able to share in the book is a pretty balanced interpretation of her time, both in the public eye and in the white house. our time is limited this afternoon. and what i would like to do is share with you some basic biographical information, just a little bit. if you have questions about that or anything else on more than happy to address them during our question and answer time. but we will have a quick look at her biography. then i'd like to share with you some thoughts about her advocacy of literacy, her great success as public communicator and finally for wrote and reactions to the campaign of 1992 which for her in many ways was a watershed. as i was preparing for this, i thought the other wi

president bush -- w. bush came to the white house and some of the same people who have served his dad were still their working as butlers, maids, cooks and other things like that. so big bush said -- h.w. said when his son came back, it was like having a reunion. >> guest: yes. >> host: little bush must have felt at some level, there was familiar territory. >> guest: that's interesting. sometimes people don't realize that they say. when president clinton came into office, he was not accustom to having servants or people on the household staff. he never had that -- some of that in arkansas as a governor, but nothing like a wealthy american would have. which president bush were. they didn't know how to deal with the household staff. hillary and bill clinton. they were wondering why are they here at night? are they spying on it? what's it all about? then they realized they had duties. >> host: they thought they were spying, things might have turned out differently; right? >> guest: yeah, looking back on it,

bush was or maybe i should aspire to something

the bush transition team and was busy accepting resumes from people who would serve in the bush white house as long as her husband stopped the recount in florida which he did. and more than a year after the election a consortium of newspapers including the washington post the new york times and usa today did their own recount in florida manually counting every vote in a process that took almost a year and concluded that al gore did indeed win the presidency in two thousand as the november twelfth two thousand and one article in the new york times read all the ballots have been reviewed under any of seven single standards and combined with the results of an examination of over votes mr gore would have won that little bit of info was slipped into the seventeenth paragraph of the times story on purpose so that it would attract as little attention as possible around the nation why because the nine eleven attacks it just happened and journalists a feared that the people with the plain truth that george w. bush actually lost the election would further hurt the nation that was already crisis

to get out of those broken promises if the white house is beating around the bush bush human rights watch torture screams heard elsewhere. the libyan people right now you go and we didn't hear it. and spaniards don't want to hear now either at least not at the expense of citizens at home and a country facing fiscal crisis so why haven't americans made this connection yet. there is very little journalism being done. you create some dangerous circumstances for citizenry for democracy itself and as the media field seems to be changing which team will win out in the end journalism or p.r. and what does this mean for the future of the media. it evening it's wednesday july thirteenth eight pm here in washington d.c. i'm lauren lyster and you are watching r.t. well the country you don't have to be a genius to notice that it's in tough economic times as witnessed by unemployment numbers the national debt to name a few examples in fact moody's ratings agency today but the u.s. ratings on review for a downgrade as a result of the failed debt ceiling negotiations president obama reportedly walked ou

you have a question for governor bush? >> yes, mr. bush you earlier stated that you were not considering running for office. would there be any circumstances that would change your idea of running? >> sean: thank you for going back to my topic. [ laughing ] >> sean: i'm only kidding. >> i don't anticipate that. you never say never this is a standard answer that i've learned how to give. you never say never. but, i'm never ruling out being on "dancing with the stars." the eight ball that i use to make big decisions, not so good. there are a lot of ways you can make a difference. bob weis and you are involved in education rereport. i'm involved in causes where my voice is heard and people that share my belief are excited about moving forward. i can play a role without being a candidate. >> sean: let me throw out a hypothetical. luke is a budding journalist. obviously, education is your passion. you go around the country. you have your 20 one point power plan, you -- 21 point power plan. you are getting states to follow. what if the gop

. -- and george bush. laura bush was unable to be there. you know why? guest: i do not, but i know george was there to represent their presence. host: first caller, go ahead. caller: mrs. ford was one of the first to come out and the outspoken on the breast cancer issue, as well as other issues. i feel that maybe she had something to do with the race for the cure that they usually have annually, which i'd donate to, and i have in the past. also, remember seeing her at the funeral for gerald ford. host: roger, are you old enough to remember her as first lady? caller: i certainly am. i am 66. host: was it different hearing her talk about issues such as alcoholism?er and oleso caller: certainly was. those for issues that you generally did not talk about. guest: i cannot _ enough how different it was 25 years ago when -- i cannot underscore enough how different it was 25 years ago. you did not talk about breast cancer. when betty ford dispelled all of that and talked about the disease, it really helped bring d

bush and other senior administration bush officials this is something human rights watch is asking him to do so is laura pitter counterterrorism adviser from human watch disappointed in obama well she was in our new york studio earlier and i asked her that but first i asked her you know bush haven't been in office for a while it's been over two years so what does human rights watch done recently aside from issue this latest report to promote the point of view that obama should investigate him. it calls on the criminal inquiry and investigation into the use of torture by senior level bush administration officials specifically george bush vice president dick cheney secretary of defense don rumsfeld and george tenet head of the cia and it documents a lot of the evidence that wasn't involved a lot of the things that the bush administration did in relation to its cia detention program and the rendition of suspects to other countries along with what happened to the detainees during the time that they were in both cia and military custody and human that this is one hundred seventy pages and i

walker bush talked about. was there any household staff members that george w. bush was close to? >> guest: i didn't find any particular staff members, no. but the staff that he knew when his dad was president, as you say, it was almost like a sort of a little reunion with the bush family when -- after the clinton period of bush the son came back and, of course, then the father would come back for a visit so that would enhance this whole notion to the bush family knows the household staff and the household staff like the bushes in some ways because so predictable. that's very important to have consideration for the household staff. some presidents were late. some presidents were -- like lyndon johnson say well, i'm going to have 50 people for dinner in two hours, take care of it. the bushes really were much more willing to give people notice and understand when some things couldn't be done because it was asking too much. and they also were careful in trying to let the staff take time off during holidays so the

a growth rate of under 3%. >> did the bush tax cuts yield anything? >> [unintelligible] >> republicans are still fighting to keep the bush tax cuts. >> the 1984 campaign of ronald reagan in his reelection. in every of the statement, he was running against the kaiser mondale policies. he did not hesitate to run a rerun. the campaign of 1980. you know, the idea that nobody should mention -- george bush has been the most circumspect for president in our history. he has taken away any target that the democrats might have, much to their regret and chagrin, but i think reality is that this was not the first time a president has mentioned his predecessor. >> we have about a 1-year or maybe two-year statute of limitations of you blaming everything on your predecessor. time is up. >> that is not written into law yet. is the giant collection of egos, the owners of the nfl teams, could make a deal, what with it be like? >> without football, there would have been a lot of miserable people run the country. >> there are any way. i began this broadcast by courting t

i.this bush debate was supposed to be at the bush doctrine saw give you information about what the bush doctrine is, how stipulates in how it is grimly into the best of the american tradition. the bush doctrine came out of the heinous attacks of 9/11. there were two premises to the dock turn. wonders in this day and age there are certain types of threats emanating in certain types of actors that can't be dealt with by conventional strategies that can emit or deterring. you need to respond preemptively because force and threat if you wait too long to fight cancer. that is premised on. the second premises in particular the root cause of this dangerous synergy between the spread of radicalism was the culture of tierney in the region. now let's be precise. the bush doctrine does not say that you go to war with somebody if there is tyranny. however our regime imposes a grave threat to you and you do get an award, the remedy for the audience to deal with the recounts of it and transform the nature of the regime. the second aspect of the push to train, regime change when someone has brought wo

bush gallatin into like reagan bush promised his billionaire funders and his family friends goods i ams so we cut taxes again for the rich and give him selfish and victory in two thousand for bush started two wars and he paid for all the stuff the same way reagan and herbert bush had paid for it by putting it on the national credit card it took bush only one year to turn bill clinton's budget surplus into a budget deficit so after eight years in the white house george w. bush took the five point seven trillion dollar debt that he had inherited mostly from reagan and his dad and turned it into a ten point four trillion dollars heap of debt they hand over to president obama along with a nice little bonus gift of a republican great depression. in total bush added over four point five trillion dollars to the national debt and republicans don't want to pay off bush's credit card bill either but while bush was piling on the debt republicans in congress had no problem raising the debt limit the credit limit basically seven different times in all by the time president obama took office in two t

bush adds another one and a half trillion dollars in debt clinton starts and down then bush george w. bush comes in and he throws in another for a half trillion dollars and republicans ran up this debt why are they now unwilling to pay for it oh republicans now that they did republicans now that they are just as guilty as others on this i don't think and republicans and democrats are both guilty on this why don't they pay for it they're trying to pay for now by with spending cuts and of course are killed him as bill clinton. as he had an. idea was to make sure he didn't drop the george w. bush and economy it was the entire one hundred percent of the debt of the us is was going to be paid off in ten years and the republicans agree it was an economic bust in two thousand now let's not forget that let's forget. the last cycle and be sure of that word bush took. that i've got to say i'm just saying this is about the republican and democrat problem you had nancy pelosi who was the leader of the house speaker of the house last year she had the majority in the city also the white house and i

extending the bush tax cuts, puts $700 billion on the table. democrats have said that should be part of the deal. we're also willing to discuss common sense spending cuts, but at the end of the day, michael, it's unfair to ask somebody in my district, in rhode island, to bear the brunt of this. they might want to send their kids to college. give up pell grants and don't send your kids to college. if you're making over $1 million, you get your tax cut. that's not a deal we could support. >> my question, couldn't the gop declare victory and go home if there were no revenue increases beyond allowing the bush tax cuts to expire? apparently giving a green light by grover norquist?

coming up tonight on the big picture nearly a decade ago democrats warned of the dangers of president bush's tax cuts today the gang of six is aiding in that disaster pushing our nation further into a hole we need not be able to get out of it was the u.k. is taking back control of its are saturated media america take a hint and reclaim democracy and real news in journalism. you need to know this yesterday the senate gang of six announced that it's reached a consensus on a framework to raise the debt ceiling and trim the debt by nearly four trillion dollars with both spending cuts and revenue raisers upon hearing the news president obama and mediately faced white house reporters to throw his weight behind the senate deal take a look. here's where we stand. we have a democratic president and administration that is prepared to sign a tough package we now have a bipartisan group of senators who agree with that balanced approach and we've got the american people who agree with that balanced approach. my hope and what i will be urging speaker boehner. nancy pelosi. as well as leader reid and mitch

now we are at the second bush administration of george will you bush where the world begins to change again you have one of the interesting perspectives i think on the bush administration at this time is the importance of expectations. secretary rumsfeld comes and assumes control of the defense department, but he had just been the chair of two other commissions in the latter portions of the clinton administration. those commissions one on missile defense and the ever concerned with space management organization set expectations for how the community at large of the space policy in certain defense policies as related to missile defense were going to leave off. the rumsfeld missile defense commission outlined a very aggressive, very aggressive set of programs including some elements of return to the strategic defense initiative used in space. the rumsfeld space commission talks in great detail about the failing of the organizational process, but the importance also of space to the national security mission and warns of space per harbor. the expectation on the part of the community that

bush where the world begins to change again. you have one of the interesting perspectives i think on the bush administration this time is the importance of expectations. secretary rumsfeld comes in and assumes control of the defense department, but he had just been share of two other commissions in the latter portions of the clinton administration. those commissions one on missile defense and other concerns in space management organizations. the expectations for how the community at large sought the defense policies related to missile defense were going to evolves. the rumsfeld missile defense commission outlined a very aggressive set of programs including some elements of the use of space. the rumsfeld space commission talks in great detail about the billing of the organizational process and the importance also of space to the national security missions and warns of a space pearl harbor. the expectation on the part of the community that was then observing the decision the rumsfeld defense department and the bush defense, bush n

well what's the compromise be look here's what happened is there at george bush when he was president from two thousand and one to two thousand and eight when i. wish he had a surplus given to me eighty six billion dollars a year by bill clinton turned that into a six hundred million dollars per year deficit adding three trillion dollars u.s. debt eric cantor voted for all those search for bush's wars in iraq or the weapons for the tax cuts now these guys don't want to pay the bill they're trying to go to. there the effort tax cuts for the pitch that wishes or is somehow a compromise means that these this should in dollars. will be paid for by eliminating the appearance or the working class we're going to change the law for social security because if you get caught before it's student needs or we're going to take money from. and pay off debt created i george bush gravely ask you this though let me ask a couple questions whether or not it was george bush's fault that we have these massive deficits and have this massive debt now and obama has done a very fair share of spending as well t

bush where the world begins to change again. you have one of the interesting perspectives i think on the bush administration this time is the importance of expectations. secretary rumsfeld comes in and assumes control of the defense department, but he had just been share of two other commissions in the latter portions of the clinton administration. those commissions one on missile defense and other concerns in space management organizations. the expectations for how the community at large sought the defense policies related to missile defense were going to evolves. the rumsfeld missile defense commission outlined a very aggressive set of programs including some elements of the use of space. the rumsfeld space commission talks in great detail about the billing of the organizational process and the importance also of space to the national security missions and warns of a space pearl harbor. the expectation on the part of the community that was then observing the decision the rumsfeld defense department and the bush defense, bush n

bush will spend a lot of time focused on it. but you're right, they tried to stop him before and it doesn't work. you know. george herbert walker bush backed kay belly hutchinson when she primaried. he won by double digits. so they tried to stop him before. i don't think they can stop him again. but there is no love lost there. >> dr. dyson, there is nothing nor exciting that fighting in the right. will we see them destroy each other if romney doesn't excite anybody. >> it is a true blood sport. people were earlier on announcing that sarah palin wouldn't really jum npt race. she would use the juice to throw it behind perry and perry will be the faf ritsz for the accolades. but i'm not sure if the boiling accolades for the bush party, so to speak, begins to interrupt some of the destein and structure of the perry candidacy. but i must say to you reverend al, it is a bit delirks delicious to see the in fighting and it makes the old heart go thund. >> sam, if pale lin comes in, says i'm not running, goes behind berry, helps get per

the last two years of the bush presidency, a democratic house and senate, so bush didn't have too much control over spending, but for four years, it really was a republican decision on taxes, spending, economic policy, with the understanding the democrats filibustered a number of challenges but bush allowed spending to go up too much. bush spent too much. that was a big problem. the challenge, of course, is that obama took that and put his foot on the accelerator and we got really much more significant problems, but, again, now, we're trying to fix these problems. i'm not interested in apportioning blame on a percentage basis but let's look forward. the republican house of representatives, if you want to look at the partisan side of that, they put forward a budget. they actually passed a budget. the democratic estimate hasn't even written or passed a budget for two years. two years. the president of the united states is only now showing up for discussions. he spent the last three months raising $86 million of political money, not spending time focused on this problem, and now he wants

bush handed it to mr. obama we were in a deficit with two wars that might have something to do with the debt that you are talking about the country's in? we did not get the debt mr. president obama. we inherited it from mr. bush and it was handed to president obama. >> if you're looking for a fan of obama or bush, the tea party did not doo it for president bush. that's why the republicans lost power in 2006. president bush added $4 trillion to the deficit in eight years and that's pitiful. terrible and we have kicked him out of office for that. president obama increased the deficit by $4.5 trillion in less than three years which is insanity from a fiscal stand oint. we are saying that the tea party -- >> you are saying that the tea party kicked president bush out of office? >> we certainly stopped voting for them, for the republicans and we stopped sending them money, absolutely. that's why president obama was -- >> i missed something. i thought president bush left because he couldn't run again any way and

the bush approach to it, the bush second inaugural address was flushed and president bush did not go forward with it, it was nonetheless there. the issue back then was -- the question asked in the halls of the state department for generations had been do the arab people want to be free? the answer that we got again and again was no, they don't. they have islam. we don't need that. the arab spring, the march of this year, the answer is, yes, they do. >> host: whoever doubted that didn't spend time in the arab world is my judgment. let me ask you about one of the provocative parts of the book where you really take on political correctness if you will, and you say that one of the ideas that people have wrong is when they will say as often is said by general petraeus among others that there's no military solution to conflicts that we're fighting today as in iraq, as in afghanistan, that in the end the resolution of this will be a political matter, and you say that's wrong. the first order of business in winning a war is to kill the enemy fighters. greg forthright's statement, but none go

is bush is crazy but anyway we're going to move away mr q. here so sorry the wall street journal is reporting general electric company is moving its x. ray business to china the headquarters are moving their headquarters to china jeffrey immelt is the head of president obama's jobs creation and he's moving. it's a quarter to china it's going to. look i'm from i realize i'm handing you i'm for free trade as in the words of harvard professor. gregory mankiw how about ninety percent of economists are so i mean if that's what he thinks is that's their first company i mean who are going to go over the american markets are be it for me to intervene here and say that how i tell them how to run his own economy but it is but of course it does make the president look totally silly that he's appointed him to be the chairman of the program with us on the job do you both agree that we shouldn't have any kind of domestic jobs policy that is tied to a trade policy no of course we should have domestic policies or trade that are tied to trade policy changes t

bush w. bush it is a past spending problem that's why i started the question spinning around already is not it is ok ok we are you saying that the fact that we're in a deficit is. i think what the hysterics here i mean let's let's just let's be real here. seventy six jude one is he laid out a memo that became the marching orders of the republican party to santa clause three it was all street journal he was very public about this and david stockman has come out and so this is what animated the republican way to right house he came out he said the republicans have been losing elections because we have always been scrooge the democrats have always been santa claus and he gave the they gave the american people medicare they gave the american people medicaid they give the american people a forty year. work week some social security unemployment benefits you know on and on and on the republican said no to every one of those things he said republicans have got to figure out the santa clause so what

bush are not allowed in he said. be afraid we've got to have a patriot act we've got to do away with civil liberties we got to start groping people here. are things right people for a watch the comparative comparison is ludicrous first we live in a very open society in the united states in a post not a world in america it's not that hard i do it all the time i'm going to do it tomorrow i'll do it the next week and a week after the radiation i'll be fine i'm not worried about that i was in japan recently for forty eight hours as much or more worried about my brief they had your hand than i once was getting on an airplane going back to the matter is that the let's do away with that nine eleven there was a group that cleared war on america an international network of people to make them a declared war on america he was he's a lone actor how many movies that have there been since that well this is these these guys were essentially these were these were state actors and what they're both as. as opposed to a while back you

extending the bush tax cuts, puts $700 billion on the table. democrats have said that should be part of the deal. we're also willing to discuss common sense spending cuts, but at the end of the day, michael, it's unfair to ask somebody in my district, in rhode island, to bear the brunt of this. they might want to send their kids to college. give up pell grants and don't send your kids to college. if you're making over $1 million, you get your tax cut. that's not a deal we could support. >> my question, couldn't the gop declare victory and go home if there were no revenue increases beyond allowing the bush tax cuts to expire? apparently giving a green light by grover norquist? >> he's back pedaled from what he said just this morning. a sense of how much disarray they're in. them tell us one thing and then do another. grover norquist said what you suggested and with hours he debated himself. grover norquist can't even agree with himself. how can these republicans come to an agreement with us? >> what i'm taking away from you is that the sell is a

bush proved a few years ago. so i think he immediately -- plus, you know, what do republicans think about the field they have right now? they're not thrilled. >> with the george w. bush reference you just made, i have to ask you, we talked a couple of nights on the show about douglas fife, famously denounced by lawrence wilkerson, i think he said seldom in my life have i met a dumber man. all these people who served in the bush administration blame douglas fife for everything. rick perry called douglas fife and had him advise him on foreign policy. he also has called donald rumsfeld, as well as the guy that was fired at guantanamo when he read the list of law firms. he sort of is scraping the bottom of the barrel of disgraced george w. bush former staffers to give him advice on foreign policy. what do you read into that? >> well, i think you can read something about, shall we say, rick perry's awareness of current affairs on the national scale. i mean, you know, he is the governor of texas. he's got his choice ba

i want you to forget george bush and forget george bush and move on. i think it is an issue for you guys and you just have to move on. >> i want to move on and by moving on, there has to be shared sacrifices and not just senior citizens and working people. >> congressman.

how many times talk about -- blaming bush. >> the entire speech blaming bush. he's been doing this for years. like you said repeat of the same speech from the beginning. we are talking about something different but he has nothing else to start on. >> sean: greenberg and carville say this isn't working any more. >> before you get too far down on the poll thing the first poll had the president beating boehner substantiallism >> sean: poll by who? >> -- i will promise you tomorrow, that the president will beat him in polls head-to-head. >> speaker boehner is not running for president. >> that's not the point. [ talking over each other ] >> wait a second. we do know, because i was asked to call some democrats over the weekend. the cuts -- the inflation in social security was real, serious. i'm not sure the president could have carry the democrats on it. and it medicare cuts were serious. >> sean: who came up with balanced approached? >> i'm not the one who came up with cut, stuck and balance. >> sean: you came close to cursing again. >> i did. i think boehner wante

i mean both presidents obama and bush made it clear this was not a war on islam, that as a matter of fact both have made statements to the fact that osama bin laden does not reflect the muslim faith but is an aberration, which is what he is or was. >> but i think it's also got to be said and you know, these are not moments when we should rush to engage in hard political analysis, but i do think that this demonstrated a quality about president obama, in effect he spoke or walked softly and he carried a big stick. this operation was in the planning stages for months and months and months, but at the end of the day, the person that had to make the decision to sign the order was barack obama, and so i want to certainly give the president credit for a great sense of determination, and the way indeed in by it was handled and i don't think that ought to dominate the discussion but it certainly has to be said because many people questioned whether the president had the determination to make these sort of calls. i think he demonstrated that not only he did but he succeeded. let's remember, ji

bush comes with a tremendous liability, even if george w. bush doesn't like him. and to come up and say i'm not compassionate, i don't care about education, i want to be a hardliner on immigration, i have no real economic make roe plan here will not win well, though he does look good in cowboy boots. >> that won't be his message. >> let me say about it him, i don't get him. it doesn't ring authentic. on the one hand it seems very fancy, big city, he dresses well and looks good, but there's a hee-haw far right-winger. >> with the best job creation record of any governor in the country. >> let's have some fun. newt gingrich, a million in debt, an off-camera event this morning, david plouffe had this to say. a contortionist for distorting the president's handling. no the surprising the spokesperson hit back saying, quote, we understand the difficulty of working for a president who who is challenging herbert hoover's place as the job terminator's place in history. if he'd like -- mitt romney will debate president obama anytime. talk about swagger, david corn. >> mitt

the read a statement he should have the highest approval ratings for bush and for the war and it's my home state so i think this is the best place to do it and marshall is of utah ease of the predominant faith she says she's he she looks like a normal utah nice not on the fringe she's not being mean. state of utah as a whole i think is extremely conservative and by that term i mean resistant to change the tone still really like george bush and like him as a guy they would mind having a glass of milk with them or if they're that kind of time i support president bush totally with sending all the people out to fight for our country because that's what it's all about our support bush. and others because there were purpose of. this is because if you ma'am up her him one of them one of the. command had one of the new now don't know whether it. an eight or sad eight here. bob don't know which one it is but one of them shady things liberality meant disease. and i've wanted to fight it out with a lot of the right kind of i disagree with him it's not just age isn't good net effect cut disease a