he certainly did not think it was going to be jimmy carter. no one thought it was going to be jimmy carter and he preferred scoop jackson or maybe humphrey or muskie, pretty much anyone over carter but he looked past that as chairman of the dnc and he really saw it as his mission to keep his electors together. he didn't care who the nominee. he didn't care what they stood for and there was criticism leveled at him. his career that he was not an ideologue but all he cared about was getting a democrat in the white house and he really did not care who it was. when it turned out to be jimmy carter, they turned out to be great friends. jimmy carter who isn't necessarily known for his sense of humor really loved bob and i interviewed him. he said that they grew as close as two brothers. bob could make him laugh and love would always insult him when he introduced him because that is how you knew bob love you. he would make fun of him for being too short. there was a lot of ways above made fun of jimmy carter and he used all of them. and then carter a

no one thought it was gown to be jimmy carter. you know, he preferred scoop jackson or hum free or musky, anyone over carter. but he looked past that as chairman of the dnc, and he really saw it as his mission to keep his electorate together, and he didn't care who the nominee was, and he didn't care what they stood for, and that was a criticism leveled at him throughout his career, that he was not an idealogue. but all he cared about was getting a democrat in the white house and, um, and he really did not care who it was. and it turned out to be jimmy carter, and they went on to become great friends. jimmy carter who i don't think is necessarily known for his sense of humor, um, really loved, grew to love bob. and i interviewed him, and he said that they grew as close as two brothers. and bob could make him laugh, and, you know, bob would always insult him when he introduced him because that's how you knew bob loved you, and you would make fun of him for his pants being too short. there's a lot of ways bob could make fun of jimmy

carter and jimmy carter in many ways was the alternative traditions last stand it's speech he gave in annapolis in one thousand nine hundred seventy nine basically said you know you've got to find something deeper in your life than just accumulating consumer goods of course the american public was interested in that they voted him out of office and they voted in a a buffoon i mean really a buffoon who basically said you can have it all and you should this is what life is about accumulating goods and so from nine hundred eighty one we've been doing what we've been doing since the last sixteenth century but sixty century but we've been doing it with a vengeance and the result is first nine. than we're other countries finally don't like the fact that we manipulate their lives you know for our own political economic purposes that was a reactive event and then the crash of two thousand and eight of course because if you have this degree of a speculative bubble which is hustling to the max i mean the nth power sooner or later it's going to crash as a result my own analysis of the united sta

jimmy carter was 40% and rising. he got a spike in popularity when americans were taken hostage in iran. his rating was back in the 30s after that and lost re-election. nixson was 49%. he won re-election. what do you see there? >> not only is his approval rating closest to jimmy carter, which republicans are good at pointing out, carter was a one-term president. one of the most telling things, you mentioned an episode which greatly affected his re-election chances, the taking of hostages in iran. we have no idea who is going to happen with the euro and european union. >> nothing good. a wonderful saren dipty going on there. >> it will greatly affect the economy here in the united states. it could have a big effect on obama's re-election chances and bring his approval numbers back down again. >> should he say we found the real bin laden? john heilemann, looking at you, you write historical books now like teddy white did. look at the pattern, mid-40s. kind of gaining. it's not fair to say obama is getting better off. h

sam was right, in october, jimmy carter was still slightly ahead. and of course, the president went on to win that race. i remember the republican convention and the likelihood that ronald reagan would get the nomination, the getting is among democrats that they had chosen this -- the giddyness among democrats that they have chosen this actor. how wrong they were. this in the know last eight or nine months in filmg back over reagan's and television crear and becoming more familiar than i ever was. this was the person who was elected seven times to be the president of sag. and popular, standing ovations ahman sag members -- among sag members when he was leaving. his ability to run a comprehensive, large organization with a lot of conflict and it gave him a high degree of confidence, he plans, to get elected as governor and run something that was as complex and confusing as the screen actors guild was. i did not have many personal stories. i was a very junior member of the congress of the time. but i recall a bill signing after the 1984 debate, which

>> no, no. >> it went from jimmy carter to ronald reagan? >> that's right. 180 degrees difference overnights. >> you were born in iowa? >> yes. >> i lived here until 12 years of age. my dad was in manufacturing and he got a job with honeywell in the twin cities and we moved up there probably in about 1968. >> in about 2000 your family was going to a wedding and you decided to go to -- >> oh, dear. >> oh, dear. first of all, where were you going? where did you end up going? you didn't go to the wedding, right? >> mow in, my husband went up to brainerd and took three of our girls up to brainerd with some friends of ours. that morning was the republican convention and i decided out of a sense of duty should go to our republican convention. i asked my husband would you mind taking the girls and going to the wedding if i go to the convention? >> you were not in office at that time? >> no. >> how were you dressed. >> i was a mess. you would do that of this to me. i hadn't taken a shower, my hair as a mess, i had a pair of jeans on and white shoes

carter. >> and obama is doing worse than jimmy carter. you don't want to be compared to jimmy carter. new numbers show that obama has the lowest rating of any president in the history of gallup ratings. it goes back a while. nixon 50%. reagan 54%. obama is at 43%. by the way, truman 54%. and remember he's patterning his campaign after harry truman. i thought i was obama's worst critic. >> truman, you said 54%? >> at this stage in his presidency. >> you're thinking of "the truman show," which was a terrible movie. >> all cute when he says, i'm my own worst enemy, i have to own up to my mistakes, except that he's put $5 trillion on to the national debt in three years. if you extrapolate that over -- >> how many times do i have to explain it? >> explain it, bob. >> if there had been a president obama, there had been a president mccain, it would have been $3 trillion in increases in entitlements and the national debt. >> however you're wrong with your numbers once again. president mccain or president conservative may have stopped adding to th

yes. >> in 1978, president jimmy carter signed the civil service reform act. the result of that was to make federal sector collective bargaining statutory. and so my question is, what if any impact that event had on that direction that patco was to go? >> that's a wonderful question and i alluded earlier to the fact that collective bargaining rights first came to the federal government through an executive order by john kennedy. nixon then issued one that widened it somewhat but it wasn't until 1978 as the questioner said, that this was written into a law passed by congress that federal workers have certain rights. i tell the story of the 1978th civil service reform act of my book and i explained that it deeply disappointed air traffic comptrollers, and some others in the federal government, the treasury employees union for example. and both patco in the treasury employees union's were two of the unions pushing hardest for one thing to be included in that bill. they wanted the right to negotiate over -- and that bill did not give federal workers that right. th

it took place at the jimmy carter presidential library and museum in atlanta, georgia. >> hey, everybody, thank you for coming tonight. before i introduce joseph mccartin i would like to say a few words about what led to the collaboration between the two libraries on this event. some of them you may know that they are guys which is part of the special collection at georgia state university library houses the records of the professional air traffic controllers organization. doctor mccartney is the collection before it was ever even opened, process and open for research. when barbara peterson's who was alive or digital projects and grants library and i began writing the grant in hope of getting portions of the patco records digitized we contacted doctor mccartney to see the could write a letter of recommendation. when i made this context he told me about he was what you would be written in the next year or so. at december 2010. we receive notification from national historic publications and records commission that our grant proposal was accepted and that we would receive funding to digitiz

jimmy carter's approval rating in november of 1979 was 40% and rising although he got a spike in popularity when americans were taken hostage in iran. by november of 1980, his approval rating was back in the 30s and he, of course, lost re-election. richard nixon's approval rating was 49% and rising, he won re-election. so, cynthia, read the tea leaves. what do you see there? >> not only is obama's approval rating closest to jimmy carter's which republicans are ever fond of pointing out because they want him to repeat that trajectory. carter, of course, was a one-term president. but i think one of the most telling things was that you mentioned an episode far outside of carter's control which greatly affected his re-election chances, and that was the taking of hostages in iran. we have no idea what is going to happen with the euro and the european union. >> nothing good, though. >> exactly. >> it's a wonderful serendipity going on there. >> and that will greatly affect the economy here in the united states that is something outside forces that could have a big effect on obama's re-election ch

>> well, if i heard him right he said we're going to have what jimmy carter calls zero- base budgeting and everybody will have to justify every year what they get. i don't think... he talked about the special relationship we have with israel. i don't think there's any way in the world that a republican president or a republican congress would have a zero balance for israel at the end of the day. but the idea of zero-base budgeting, starting every account out at zero is not new or partisan. a lot of people think it's a good idea. >> schieffer: governor o'malley, you're a democrat. i must say after those comments last night, boy, the twitter lines and all the internet lines began to light up. what's he talking about? what's your take on that? >> i think what has happened in the course of these republican presidential debates is a lot of sort of erratic statements, a lot of behavior that is not really in keeping with some of the longer traditions of the party of lincoln. so you see a real pandering to extremists. you see a pandering to the tea party extremes of the republican party. so th

. >> host: today you put jimmy carter if you possess in the book you put jimmy carter on the spot in an interview of some sort. >> guest: its rigorous to get into the navy that he would interview the people and have to chair so people feel uncomfortable and the sun would come in their eyes and so she's interviewing young james earl carter and carter said i can 57 did my class at annapolis and he says to him why not the best? why didn't you do better than that because he was sort of bragging about it and that became the title of the campaign autobiography. it's very interesting after the three mile lilacs' event in pennsylvania in 1979, carter appointed him to evaluate and i concluded and the look the letter that rickover wrote to carter lacks after the accident and i was struck that sort of he could apply it to many accidents -- >> host: wrote in the margin i wrote in the margin this is like you've cut and pasted it or the joint investigation and the offshore -- >> guest: you have cascading effect as if one of them hadn't happened you wouldn't have the disaster and do whatever other

he said, it was the only chance i had to gain ground on jimmy carter. because otherwise going the regular way wasn't going the work. so he challenged carter to the debate which was unheard of. and carter agreed. and he, they came within three points. i mean, it worked from -- then ford, of course, had a problem in one of the debates where he said the soviet union didn't dominate eastern europe. that hurt him. but, basically, the debates helped him gain ground big time on, on carter. and, but more importantly, it established the fact of presidential debates. there were, you know, and no candidate now could ever, ever say, no, no, no, i'm not, i'm not going to do presidential debates. you've got to run. you've got to participate. >> host: and jim lehrer writes about all of these stories that he's telling us in "tension city." his newest book. how many books have you written? >> guest: 23. >> host: how many nonfiction, how many fiction? >> guest: three nonfiction, 20 fiction. >> host: why? >> guest: gotta stay busy, man. [laughter] no, it's just what i do.

jimmy carter got a spike when popularity were taken hostage in iran. by november his approval ratings were in the 30s and he lost reelection. richard nixon, his approval rating was 49% and rising, he won reelection. >> what do you see there in. >> they want him to repeat at that trajectory because jimmy carter was a one-term president. you mentioned an episode outside of carter's control which affected his reelection chances and that was the tabing king of hostages in riran. we have no idea what's going to happen with europe and the euro. that will greatly affect the economy here in the united states. that's outside forces that could have a big effect on obama's reelection chances. >> should he say we found the real binladen? we killed the wrong guy, we got him again. >> when you look at the pattern, mid 40s, sort of gaining but fairly minimally. it's not fair to say obama is getting better off, the economy is not substantially improving but he's sort of inching up a little. how do you read that in terms of history? >> kikt presidents get what their ap

carter. >> he is jimmy carter, in several different measurements. right direction, wrong track, worst in the country in decades. but more importantly, if you look at his job approval, being upside down, by 8 percentage points, at this same period of time jimmy carter was upside down by 7 points. they are the only two presidents at this stage of the campaign that were upside down in terms of their job approval. so there's a comparison there. in terms of the country being divided, it's divided, but one of the things that i think she does mention in her analysis that certainly is something to look at very closely, is we have seen another spike in the direction of republicans on intensity. we were running about 7, 8 points, we're now back up into the double digit that we were leading into the 2010 campaign. >> that has to scare you a bit. >> it does. >> 2006-2008, democratic intensity. 2008, tea party conservative caused a wave. you're essentially asking do you want to keep the car, do you like the car, do you want to keep it. i want to show the wrong-t

jimmy carter came in and was going to make energy is cornerstone, and then it was part of what destroyed his presidency. just go president after, there aren't that many levers to pull. and what has happened is that in a way our influence over energy as a country as a lesson because we used to be the name of the game, the biggest energy consumer. china now consumes more energy than the united states and would talk about the chapter, aggregate destruction, then i have one on the demand shock. try to answer the question pointed to. how did we go into thousand four, interview with oil than $20 a barrel and it might collapse, four years later its $147.27. how did that happen? one of the factors was in the growth of demand sort of almost unexpectedly in emerging markets, and it had just burst on the scene in 2004, 2005 and kind of woke up. it was hard for americans to realize that what they were seeing at the pump was partly affected of what happened in provinces in china whose name they didn't even know because energy demand. so i think it was this kind of, this global market and the center o

but habitat is much older i guess than jimmy carter's involvement. it really is about bringing people into helping others have decent affordable housing. >> very much so, thanks, mike. habitat put it into action by bringing people together to bring homes communities and hope and bring that 5,000 times around the world and core has made habitat goes to what the most common misperception that we give away houses and we talk about a handout versus an onnedout, and the families put hours of sweat equity with the volunteers. >> mike: they have to work on the home themselves. >> yes, they do and pay back the affordable mortgage and they stay in the community and helps other families with their dream of a home. >> it's not a give away, turn over the keys and hope you enjoy it, whether he they take care of it or not. they have to take care of it because they're paying on it. >> they do. by the time they close on their loan, they've put in hundreds of hours of sweat equity and gone through financial training as well as home management training so they're full

you can see that jimmy carter was at 51% at an equal period in his presidency. then we all remember iranian hostage crisis at the end of carter presidency which many ways color the people how they remember that presidency. let's get this cooking. alan colmes, host of the alan colmes radio show and tucker carlson, fox news contributor. alan, not concerned about that approval number. >> i should be concerned about it if you're a supporter of the president. i don't think the metrics apply to jimmy carter. you had the hostage crisis, 144 days. it involves britain and not the united states. the president has done very well with foreign policy got bin laden. killed more al qaeda than previous administration in the same time frame. frankly there is no ronald reagan about to emerge in the republican party to capture the imagination of the american public. republicans are not happy with their field. anybody but romney and can't seem to get anything going with anybody. i don't see those metrics applying as they did back then and some other presidents with low approval rat

the unemployment rate under jimmy carter was 5.9% a year out and rising, he lost reelection. the unemployment rate under president nixon was 6.0% and dropping, he won reelection. there you see it, cynthia, things getting better or aren't they? it's so simple, the voters like it getting better. they keep the guy. >> well, even if obama is trending down, 8.7% is still historically a very high unemployment rate. so, yes, he can argue things are getting better, but -- >> what do you think? he needs to get down to convince us he's on a downward, blue skies perspective? >> well, heaven knows something under 8% would help him a lot, but that's not going to happen. >> you're right. it's about the future. >> 8.2% would look good right now. >> 8% would look great. voters have to have confidence that he's moving the country in the right direction so they don't want to change -- >> his policies are working, not just good luck, that we've survived this recession or depression, but his policies are working because they want those policies to continue. >> exactly. >> i'm selling too much he

you can see that jimmy carter was at 51% at an equal period in his presidency. then we all remember iranian hostage crisis at the end of carter presidency which many ways color the people how they remember that presidency. let's get this cooking. alan colmes, host of the alan colmes radio show and tucker carlson, fox news contributor. alan, not concerned about that approval number. >> i should be concerned about it if you're a supporter of the president. i don't think the metrics apply to jimmy carter. you had the hostage crisis, 144 days. it involves britain and not the united states. the president has done very well with foreign policy got bin laden. killed more al qaeda than previous administration in the same time frame. frankly there is no ronald reagan about to emerge in the republican party to capture the imagination of the american public. republicans are not happy with their field. anybody but romney and can't seem get anything going with anybody. i don't see those metrics applying as they did back then and some other presidents with low approval rating

we are running against jimmy carter, wrecks the economy like jimmy carter had. we just need to get the most right wing candidate in there. and then there are those of us like me and apparently governor christie who think this guy is going to be tough to beat. the idea we're going to pick the most right ping candidate without any concern about who is going to win is suicidal for the republican party. >> eric: ann, i love you. you are a good friend of mine. a brilliant, conservative commentator. but romney? how about a true conservative, one that believes in smaller government, limited taxation and this big one, ann, repealing obamacare? >> bob: let me just -- in honor of -- >> eric: hard to repeal obamacare. [ overtalk ] >> bob: it's not that, this is in honor of our missing partner greg. this is one of the stupid similes. taking political advice from ann coulter is taking weight control advice from me and chris christie. she knows as much about politics as my retired senile aunt. first of all, i'm not arguing your case. the most conservative. i notice how -- you

habilate at is older than jimmy carter's involvement and it is about bringing people into helping others have decent affordable housing. >> very much so, thank you, mike. habitat tries to put god's love in action by building people together to build hope. and we have done that over 500,000 . the core of what makes habitat successful is the perception that we give away houses. we talk about a hand up versus a handute. the families put hundreds of hours of sweat equalitiy. >> they have to work on the homes themselves. and they have to pay back a mortgage and they help other families am have a chance. >> it is not just a give away program. you don't just turn it over and say hope you enjoy it. they have to take care of it because they are paying on it. >> by the time they close on the loan. they go through financial training and home management training and they are fully prepared. habitat heme owners foreclosure at less than two percent even when foreclosure rates were high as 30 percent. >> maybe habitat ought to take over freddie mac and fanet. >> janet a. i life with you and so i know a

habilate at is older than jimmy carter's involvement and it is about bringing people into helping others have decent affordable housing. >> very much so, thank you, mike. habitat tries to put god's love in action by building people together to build hope. and we have done that over 500,000 . the core of what makes habitat successful is the perception that we give away houses. we talk about a hand up versus a handute. the families put hundreds of hours of sweat equalitiy. >> they have to work on the homes themselves. and they have to pay back a mortgage and they help other families am have a chance. >> it is not just a give away program. you don't just turn it over and say hope you enjoy it. they have to take care of it because they are paying on it. >> by the time they close on the loan. they go through financial training and home management training and they are fully prepared. habitat heme owners foreclosure at less than two percent even when foreclosure rates were high as 30 percent. >> maybe habitat ought to take over freddie mac and fanet. >> janet a. i life with you and so i know a

habilate at is older than jimmy carter's involvement and it is about bringing people into helping others have decent affordable housing. >> very much so, thank you, mike. habitat tries to put god's love in action by building people together to build hope. and we have done that over 500,000 . the core of what makes habitat successful is the perception that we give away houses. we talk about a hand up versus a handute. the families put hundreds of hours of sweat equalitiy. >> they have to work on the homes themselves. and they have to pay back a mortgage and they help other families am have a chance. >> it is not just a give away program. you don't just turn it over and say hope you enjoy it. they have to take care of it because they are paying on it. >> by the tim they close on the loan. they go through financial training and home management training and they are fully prepared. habitat heme owners foreclosure at less than two percent even when foreclosure rates were high as 30 percent. >> maybe habitat ought to take over freddie mac and fanet. >> janet a. i life with you and so i know ab

>> i am. >> what impact the jimmy carter at the caucus? >> that became the blue print for other people to follow. lots of folks since then have said if i could own iowa i could leverage that into being a major player. >> which is why frontrunners ignore the caucuses at their peril. ronald reagan discovered that in 1980. >> the campaign staff con fined him he didn't have to spend as much time in iowa as maybe he should. >> reagan's son michael campaigned for him. >> i went to iowa and i called my father i told him george bush is going to beat you. >> george h. w. bush did win with 32 percent of the vote. he beat reagan by 2 percentage points. >> reagan took iowa for granted in 1980. he simply assumed his reputation alone would secure the nomination. if anything iowa voters don't like to feel slighted. >> reagan eventually managed to turn things around and take the nomination. he picked bush as his vice president. >> if reagan had won iowa you don't think there was a reason bush would have emerged. it is responsible for bush being vice presi

we're running against jimmy carter. obama has wrecked the economy like jimmy carter had. we need to get the most right wing candidate in there, and then there are those of us like me and apparently governor christie who think this guy is tough to to çbeat. the idea to pick the most right wing candidate without any concern who will win is suicidal for the republican party. the strongest to beat obama is mitt romney, and i'm tired of these johnny-come-lately purists, where were they when we were running mccain. mitt romney is a million times better than mccain. who can you send in in debates against obama? hands down that is romney. >> there's ann coulter getting behind mitt romney. finally the little piece of tape at the beginning of that was ann saying months ago it would be a disaster if they nominate romney because he will obviously lose. john harwood, this seems to be now a virtual unification around the idea of romney. somehow they have to talk republican primary voters into that. >> they do. now, richard and i are both in new orleans where there's a bipartisan poli

. >> what impact did jimmy carter have on the caucuses? >> that became the blueprint to follow. lots of folks since then have said, if kiown iowa, i can leverage that into being a major player. >> which is why frontrunners ignore the caucuses at their peril. ronald reagan discovered that in 1980. >> campaign staff convinced him that he didn't have to spend as much time in iowa as maybe he should. >> his son. >> caller: mookal, campaigned for him. >> i went to iowa and i called my father. and i told him, george bush is going to beat you here. >> george h.w. bush did win with 32% of the vote, beating reagan by 2 percentage points. >> racingan took iowa for granted. he assumed his reputation alone would secure the nomination. if anything, iowa voters don't like to feel sleighted. >> reagan managed to turn things around and take the nomination. he picked bush as his vice-president. >> reagan won iowa, there is no reason bush would emerge. i think you can say that it's responsible for joacialg bush being vice-president, later being president. >> just to follow through on that logic,