no but i was very happy in the white house. very happy. we had grandchildren, it was great, you could hear them swimming and hear them outside and riding bikes and we were lucky because we had laura and george very often there and we had marvin's children and i never forget little walker. practically brand new sleeping in the lincoln bedroom, little thing. it was a wonderful happy time for me. i'm not half as cerbral as laura is but i'm as nice. >> for us, for barbara and jenna, they also got to be there as children. you know, as the grandchildren of the president, so when they showed sash aa skand, malia, th could show them all the things to do because they were there when their grandfather was president. like the high bed that the usher puts the step out for someone stay engine that room. if known is staying in the room, the step is not there, so barbara and jenna showed them how to make a running dash and jump on to the bed or the ramp that has a wooden floor that every little kid that comes to the white house finally learns to slide do

white developed an early allergy to stardom. when asked at retirement what his legacy would be, he replied i don't have a doctrinal legacy. i shouldn't. as one former clerk observed, being nonit logical and nondoctrinondock drink -- very important to white just as being higgs own person and not worrying about his place in history was. he recognized that being a justice who believes in a more limited constitution is not the way to gain historical notoriety. if we look with clear eyes at white's three-decade career, what emerges is a record less of ambiguity or inconsistency than one of constant questioning, not of first principles but of their application to new situations in light of new experiences and with new consequences. as the last connective tissue to john f. kennedy, the new frontier and optimism about the capacity of government that so energized the 1960s, white seemed to be a paradox, dissenting from progressive decisions, declining to be a full throated member of the white's revolution and voicing skepticism about jud

what had to be white. dealing with both african-americans and native americans andrew jackson at his southern supporters practiced a form of the belief in the permanent inferiority of all nonwhites black and indian. most looked the other way or agreed with their brethren. boudinot and john ridge discovered this painful reality during their wrenching experience in cornwall. as the trail of tears demonstrates race remained a key social divide. making much of america a white man's country. thank you. [applause] i will be glad to take questions and commentary, whatever you like. [inaudible] >> then it states it took them to -- [inaudible] >> that is a very -- the forbid be digital anecdote to make a point. most persuasive one. i don't know what the writer had in mind. his adopted son. it is fair to say that he protected him and treated him kindly but if you look at the way he was treated in the house it is like a pet. a loved and honored pet but apec nonetheless. people would look at him. probably suggests get

great whites. >> rutzen: this is the hotspot in the world for great whites. >> cooper: a perfect hotspot because it's an ideal feeding ground for great whites. it's not far from the southern tip of africa, where the atlantic and indian oceans meet. the water is rich in nutrients, which attract whales, huge shoals of fish, and seals, some 60,000 of them. seals are a prime target for great whites. early one morning, rutzen takes us to an area called "shark alley." the seals pass through here searching for food. there are plenty of fish in the sea. why... why are sharks so interested in the seal? >> rutzen: the reason for that is the blubber. marine mammals have a blubber layer, and their blubber... whoa! big shark. their blubber layer is extremely energy-rich. >> cooper: oh, my god. whoa! >> rutzen: that's what i'm talking about. >> cooper: the sharks leap straight out of the water, stunning the seals before devouring them. seals are mammals-- they're quick, agile, and smart. but as rutzen has learne

not only to white people. not only to white people. but for the last 135 years every medium of communication outside the media we control, lincoln was the great savior, the great liberator, he freed you on january 1st out of the goodness of his heart. so, large numbers of black people just worship lincoln, i mean, he -- because they believe that he did what people say he did. and it's painful to say to them and to my community and other communities, he didn't do it. he didn't want to do it. he was a completely different man. >> reaction. >> the first people to revere lincoln were the former slaves. because they did recognize the significance of the proclamation. they didn't have benefit of all that we know today about other people who were involved in pushing emancipation as well. but they remained very much committed to lincoln's memory for a long, long period of time. by the time of the depression, however, things started changing, even before that, because african-americans in reveerir revering lincoln, they believed that he had pro

the white house continues to reflect the times. and the people who dwell within its walls. >> osgood: coming up, wait to go, homer. ,,,,,,,,,,,, >> osgood: it happens tonight. a milestone for the nation's most dysfunctional family. >> i'll show you a big, dumb falling ape. >> osgood: the 500th episode of the simpsons. the animated series that's been pushing the envelope for more than 22 years. >> nothing you say can upset us. we're the mtv generation. >> osgood: its characters haven't seemed to age a day. >> this town has voted.... >> osgood: in tonight's episode the patient townspeople of springfield finally have had their fill of the simpsons' and ticks. >> the monsters are here. >> reporter: they vote to kick the entire family out of town. >> are you sure this is a good idea? >> ideas aren't good or bad. they're just free. >> i'm dolly parton. >> reporter: in keeping with the show's tradition of celebrity cameos. wicky leaks founder julian assange of all people will be making an appearance. all par for the course says simpson cr

west, the white house chief usher, mr. west, the president tells me that jack mcnally, who was against selling guidebooks in the beginning, now says lots more could be sold on the way out. but he says this is your providence and doesn't want to mention it, which is rather sweet of him. i agree we can use the money. every penny is needed. not long after, her commitment to history led her to support my father to save temples. she wrote a long memo to jfk, which you can see downstairs, laying out the importance of the temples and suggested that this would be a nice gesture to nassar, as he promised not to interfere with them in yemen and south arabia. she demonstrates an understanding of diplomacy writing. the russians are building the dam as strictly an economic enterprise. by saving the temple, the u.s. could show that they care about the spiritual side and realize the importance of saving the cultural patrimony of egypt. ming fath i think my father rolled over on this one, too. the temple was a gift to the people of the un

when they came to the white house it was part of their vow. it is not easy because normal in the white house doesn't exist. three weeks after the inauguration they tried to go to chicago and thought they could step back in their regular lives every couple of weeks. the trip almost a disaster. it turns out going home for them is like the invasion of normandy. >> why? because people want to be with them? >> they are city people. they live in an urban environment. it's hard for the secret service to protect their house. the secret service dropped two black curtains down the sides of their house to prevent snipers. even the question of what the obamas would eat that weekend was confusing because the secret service says it caused huge traffic in chicago. there's no such thing as a quiet restful weekend at home for them. >> they were not wealthy prior to the election to the senate. let's talk about that. much has been made about their consumer choices, interior decorators, clothes, vacations, michelle's dresses. tell me about the relationship betwee

teh white -- the white section was empty, and the colored section was full, so i sat in the middle, the seat on the left, the last one in the middle. i was not thinking about anything in particular. i had a chocolate candy bar, and i was looking out the window. an older girl sat next to me. i continued looking out the window. more people got on the bus, and some more color and some were white, and soon, no more seats were available. colored folks started getting up, and white folks started taking their seats. i just stared straight ahead. "make light on your feet." other people got up, but i told myself that i would just stay seated. folks started staring at me. you know why -- you know, white folks. [laughter] "she knows where she belongs." open " i hope she is not one of them troublemakers --"i hope she is not one of the troublemakers." me? a troublemaker? just because of how i was born? my daddy that -- got a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. board rogers was coming to town -- roy rogers was coming to town. it was for white kids only. why? they think we are troublemakers? i do not want to

so i decided to find that guy's name and i called him up and i called the white house up and the white house was giving me all this rage ma role and wouldn't talk to me. and i talked to her, the secretary of this guy and she said that the book would get there, i still have to mail it in, i said i was really concerned if people like, sean hannity and everybody, maybe i was being grandiose because i don't think they were paying much attention to this book but if they were could make hay of it got a hold of it would be a bad thing and he should know about it. look, it will get here in timely manner. so send it in. i said i've been living in washington too long, what do you mean timely manner? [laughter] and she said, well, a week, two weeks. i said, i don'tÑi know what timely is to you or timely to me but what do you mean. finally i got so fed up i'm going to go to the phone book and look up the guy's address and just give him the book. he was director of communications at the white house. so, i hung up and about 10 minutes later the white house called me and they said this is the white

a white nationalist hate website. he was one of the panelists at cpac's panel on the failure of multi culturalism. congressman steve king of iowa was also on that panel. he said multi-culturalism is a tool of the left to sub divide our civilization. brimelow says they have given up on winning the white working class vote so they use bilingualism, the real issue is treason. what is a white nationalist doing there at that conference at all? these three guys were also at cpac today. i wonder if these presidential candidates think they can grow the party with a gathering like cpac when they invite known racists? let's turn to goldie taylor, managing editor of the goldie taylor project and mike papantonio, host of the "ring of fire" radio show heard on weekends. mike, let me ask you first, why is someone like this invited to a panel discussion at cpac? >> because it's what the republican -- what they have become, ed. you can't judge them any other way. they know who this guy is. this is the new david duke. he makes david d

an internship in the white house press office. just finished your freshman year at wheaton college and you're going to be an intern at the white house. tell me who that 19-year-old girl was. >> she was serious, but she was also very enthusiastic and she was sheltered a little bit. i had been in a boarding school but i was excited about this job. it seemed like a miracle. and i was a little bit wide-eyed, i think. >> reporter: in the press secretary's office, "meet the press minute," a former depp tant who hailed from a socially prominent new jersey family, was assigned to answer phones, rip news wires and file press photos. parts of her story are impossible to confirm because the people involve reasonable doubt no longer alive. but mimi says it all began on her fourth day on the job when she got a call from dave powers an aide so close to the president, he was known as the first friend. >> he said a group of us are going to have a swim at lunchtime. would you like to join us? and i thought, well sort of a little bit odd to be swim

the white people uto

the black press as well as the white press for the most famous black man in the world married a white woman. his own children were not comfortable with it. it was 1884, not 1984 or 2012. his response was generally, thank you very much. i will love and marry whom i wish. which is very modern notion in a time where racial ideas, oh, god, were so fraught. what he was called to get to your question was a colored man egro. the term "black" was not used that often. he was also called the "n" word lots and lots of times in his life, even onand were fred to a, meet at such and such a street corner. mobs werenized, sometimes to try to attack him at public speeches by that kind of phrasing on alternative posters to the abolitionism posters. this is an deeply american problem of racial identity. he never tried to stop to figure out who his father he knew his father was white. a lot depended on that. who his half brothers and sisters werethat. he remembered them on the eastern shore. and in fact, when thomas his de 1880s, douglass, by then, a famous man, he went back to the eastern shore, this ti

in an explosive interview, a former white house intern who claims she had an affair with jfk. speaking out the first time with meredith vieira. >>> halftime in america. the super bowl ad that had people talking today. an american icon in an ad for cars that covered a lot more than that. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. the united states has decided to close its embassy and pull its people out of syria because it's increasingly clear the syrian government of president assad has decided to escalate the crackdown on the citizens' uprising there. the u.n. security council tried to do something about it this past weekend, but they were blocked by two no votes from syria's friends russia and china. now the world tries to figure out what to do while it's increasingly clear what's going on inside syria. we begin our coverage with our own ayman mohyeldin who just emerged from syria. >> reporter: mortars raining down on the city of homs with rocket and artillery fire. recovering dead bodies has become too dangerous for residents,

at the time, bedford was 95% white. there were very few asians, very few african-americans, no latinos. so to go to ucla, which was extremely diverse, was an incredible experience. i was very shy and high-school. then at ucla, i started getting involved in student government for my first elected office, vice-president of the student policbody at ucla. when i first got there, it was a cultural shock. but i acclimatized very quickly. the first campaign that i worked on was the dukakis campaign in 1988. that was my first semester at ucla. i first campaign job, i was a volunteer at the ucla debates in 1980 a8. dukakis was asked about what would happen if kitty dukakis was murdered, which he answered very poorly. but remember i was actually at ucla when that happened, backstage. i had a bunch of great experiences and lots of opportunities because ucla is such a great school and a large school and in a central urban city. >> when do you define your political views? >> inouye, it is funny. when i was 11 -- you know, it is funn

privilege and white supremesy. that term makes people go, that is not the case anymore. you don't think that is around my more, do you? frankly, i do. and i've learned a lot about it since doing the film, traces of the trade. but these are topics for dialogue that i feel are strongly needed that is one of the many reasons why i'm involved in this group. whether it's my and says try -- and ancestry or not -- >> i remember the old history classes, was it race or economics they called slavery? it seems like it was a combination of both. >> absolutely. >> you can't ignore that. >> -- we'll come back with our next segment and wrap it up. please join us. >>> welcome back to the table again. we've been talking to holly and tony. tell us about the national organization coming to the table that is going to have a national meeting in march. >> yes, in richmond, virginia. there will be 60 of us for a national gathering. and we'll be coming from all over the country and having different breakout sessions and workshops. the lis

up at the white house today. that is what happens when you get behind with the rent. the landlord shows up and starts looking around, hey, hey, hey. what is going on? >>

but white kept his own counsel. one of his first opinions in fact was a dissent from a decision invalidating criminal punishment for habitual use of drugs which the majority of the court thought penalized a status, not an act. in violation of the due process clause of the 14th amendment. the case was called robinson versus california. and white wrote that the majority in the case was writing into the constitution its own abstract notions of how to best handle the narcotics problem, displacing the expert understanding of either the states or the congress. the early dissent was an overture to his first famous opinion, another dissent, in a case now known to every american with access to a television set -- miranda versus arizona. white viewed the majority opinion as inconsistent with text, precedent and sound policy. his opinion closed on a raw note widely quoted at the time. in some unknown number of cases the court's rule will overreturn a killer, rapest or other criminal to the streets and the environment which pro

did the white house pick this fight? risky business. the wildest play in political history, picking sarah palin. why did grim john mccain make such a wild pass? was he rejection of mitt as running made a sign of mitt's problems today? i am chris matthews. with us, "new york magazine's" john heileman, gloria borger, kathleen parker and clarence page. first up, two huge political explosions this week. mitt romney's enormous losses to rick santorum in three significant states, and that revolt by many catholics over the white house decision on birth control. first, romney's troubles. conservatives can't stanton barack obama, but when will they learn to stand romney prom? even after the white house handed them that huge contraceptives issue, republican voters stayed home in the three primary states this week. turn out was way down from 2008. but conservatives are the big prize. there are many more than before. they have gone from 29% of total voters in 2000 to 34% in 2004 and 2008. look at this. they now represent 39% of the people in the po

how often did they connect with the white house and how are they the white house and how are they still a tax weight loss programs can be expensive. so to save some money, i just got the popular girls from the local middle school to follow me around. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. for febreze fabric refresher. they agreed. [ experimenter 1 ] relax, take some nice deep breaths. [ experimenter 2 ] what do you smell? lilac. clean. there's something that's really fresh. a little bit beach-y. like children's blankets. smells like home. [ experimenter 1 ] okay. take your blindfolds off. ♪ hello? [ male announcer ] and now new and improved febreze fabric refresher with up to two times the odor elimination so you can breathe happy, guaranteed. >> sean: finally tonight media matters has been exposed by the daily caller and it's none other than the fox news channel. one memo in 2009 reads simply put the progress

byron raymond white was born in ft. collins, colorado, but he grew up 11 miles away in wilmington, population 500 at the time. his father managed a lumberyard. wellington's economy was dominated by sugar beets, a crop demanding attention constantly and back breaking work. both white and his older brother clayton worked beet fields after school and during the summer from the time they could wield a hoe. winters were harsh. spring brought strong winds off the front range. summers were hot and dry. character was shaped in the relentless competition between the land and the elements. self-reliance was not an abstraction. by graduating first in his class from the tiny local high school, like his brother before him, byron white earned a full tuition scholarship to the university of colorado. there, he was a star in three sports. football, basketball, and baseball. president of the student body ify bait -- phi beta kappa and a rhodes scholar. his performance during his senior year is still statistically one of the most impress

i want to ride a white horse. all we have is white ones. i remember him saying that. i have one i think you might like to ride. she said you see that one over there? hitler bought that for hirohito, but it never got there. that was his happy day, he got to ride that one horse. i stayed there a day with him. bradley came and got me and he brought me back. i went back to germany, and he stayed there and i had to get all his stuff ready because -- out of his van and get all the papers and the matches and roll it up because he was going to leave. the war was over, i stayed there until november to get him squared away. okay. so i got everything squared away. he told me i should take -- it needs to be done. so they sent me back to a little camp, german camp. i stayed there for three weeks. and then november i got him all squared away. he had two guards, two bodyguards. every place we went, he had bodyguards either ahead of or behind me. in france, his bodyguards weren't with him, but i know if they're with him, for a while, enjoy the victory. but the big story, fascination.

white catholics and white mainline prot stants. what is interesting, white catholics have been a democratic voting bloc but they have now moved over time to being a swing contingency. and now they have also moved into being kind of a swing contingency and has leaned republican in the last few elections. >> one more chart before we take -- move on to calls and tweets. >> sure. >> this is views of president obama's religious beliefs and this is a little confusing so we want to focus on this chart for a minute and we will walk everybody through it. among the general population, 12% of people feel that their religious beliefs are similar to president obama's. 35% very different and 9% don't know. you can see broken down among whites over here. very different comes in at 38%. somewhat different, 18%. so you're talking 56% right there in the different category. >> right. >> did you find out why this is? >> well, this is a little surprising. for one thing, president obama comes from one of the oldest denominations in the country, the unit

the white house was pulling from the media matters playbook. now, employees swear there was no coordination at that time, at least to their knowledge. but as it stands, they chose the same line of attack going after fox news at that time. megyn: and you talk about how the media matters, you know, pushing its message which is very far left, that they have a lot of willing recipients in the press. now, there's been some pushback today. your article came out, and there's already been some pushback, in particular from ben smith saying you don't have your facts right on that. can you speak to that? >> absolutely, we have immediate matters -- media matters insiders with these claims, they said, hey, look, we can rely on ben smith to be able to publish the things that we had, and we could rely on greg sargent of "the washington post." and one of the, one of the sources that we had actually said, yeah, greg sargent's always game if there's nowhere else to place us it. so they had allies in the media -- megyn: you're not just talking about left-leaning,

many ways the debate in the white house mirrors the debate in congress now. one in four voters is catholic. of course. there are catholics who support -- who use contraception, catholics who don't, older catholics, younger catholics, different levels of do you attend mass and do you take your queues from the bishop? all this plays into this. this is a policy debate and to some extent a political debate. the argument for the policy debate was largely put forth by this group of women advisors inside the white house, everyone from valerie jarrett, the president's adviser to melody barnes to tina chen who is mrs. obama's chief of staff. making the case again behind the scenes according to people familiar with these discussions that the president really didn't have any choice but to stand by secretary sebelius. these are policies he believes in and the whole health care law falls apart if you don't -- if you create broad exemptions beyond sort of churches and houses of worship. the concern on the other side, and it would be simplistic to say it was like girls agai

normal in the white house doesn't really exist. for example three weeks after inauguration they tried to go home to chicago. they thought they could step back into their regular lives every couple of weeks. the trip almost a disaster. it turned out that going home for them is like the invasion of normandy. >> why? people want to talk with them and be with them? >> they're city people. they live in an urban environment. it's hard for the secret service to protect their house. the secret service dropped black kour tans by the house to prevent snipers. even the question of what they would eat was confusing because the secret service has to vet everything. caused huge traffic in chicago. there is no such thing as a quiet restful weekend at home for them. >> makes sense. they were not wealthy prior to the election to senate. let's talk about that. much has been made of their consumer choices, interior decorators, clothes, vacations, michelle's dresses. tell me about the relationship between them and the average middle class family? the

joey beat the device that was a science affairer at the white house. he did ask members of the press to get out of line of fire before he pulled the trigger. surprising? then mrs. obama took on jimmy fallon on tug of war and other activities. no members of the media during that program. [ laughter ] >> i'm sure the president would have liked to have the press line of up

the white powder or the white sugar, powdered sugar, when the

white house is using them as a propaganda man. representatives from white house and media matters and liberal organizations, and they strategize. i don't think that is 3501 organization. they are not a nonprofit. they are hiring trackers who are going to events at fox news staffers and contributors and to try to discredit people. >> sean: they want to is a silent opposition voices. >> exactly. >> they want to align groups they can fund and support. they want to go attack the advertise can base when they can and they want to end opposition in this country. what does it tell you about, first of all.... >> george soros finances this. here is the problem, what you are saying, you silent dissent. david block years ago when i was on another network, after he switched from extreme right wing and left wing in one day. you know leopards don't change their spots. he was liar then, he is liar now. character is a character. but he is going after people like us, but me, you want to come after me. this is really ticks me off. >> sean: they can

churchill drank husband way through the white house. he was a -- his way through the white house. he was a very popular guest though. he was there with advisers to try to guide the american military or and industrial forces into war. we weren't nearly prepared. we didn't have enough planes, we didn't have enough tanks, we didn't have enough of anything. and we weren't even prepared to gear up our industry for more. churchill brought with him lord beaverbrook, a former canadian who was a feisty guy who was good on talking straight to the americans and told them do you know that the russians lost 3,000 tanks in one battle against the germans and the germans lost nearly as many? how long will it take you to build 3,000 tanks? well, this boggle led the minds of the americans, but they stopped production of cars, they stopped production of any kind of leisure equipment like refrigerators and air conditioners and began building tanks and planes. and the british were losing so many ships to german submarines that churchill pointed out that we had to build more than one ship a day to repl

everyone faced, black or white, north or south, two profound ideas here. one is healing. and the other was justice. both had to happen somehow. but, given the potency of racial assumptions and power in 19th century america, those two great aims of healing and justice never developed with any historical bounds. now, we know that as kind of an outcome. but we haven't always known why. we might conclude that this imbalance between sectional healing and racial justice was simply a kind of inevitable historical condition after such a bloody transformative war and just celebrate the swiftness of the national reunion and be done with it. but theories of inevitability, whether that's about irrepressible conflicts or irrepressible reconciliations, are never very satisfying at least to historians. we don't like inevitability because if things are inevitable, you don't really need us. but, anyway, human reconciliation is, of course, a wonderful thing. when tragically divided people can unify somehow around ideas or aspirations or around nationalism or patriotism, whatever binds peop

the white house is bragging about a broken promise. deficit reduction may be besides the point, and he is laying out a document paid for with tax increases on the rich against the deep-spending cuts that will be the heart of the republican parties program, rebuilding versus austerity. why should not the austerity be a centerpiece of what the united states government is about these days, given how high the budget deficit is, and how much economic uncertainty that fiscal insanity contributes? >> david, i think that there's pretty broad agreements that the time for austerity is not today. we need to be on the path where over the next several years we bring the deficit under control. right now if we were to put in austerity measures right now it would take america in the wrong way. "the new york times" for example argued that 2012, 2013 is not the time for austerity. the challenge is how do you do two things at the same time? how do you put money forward for things like getting a jump-start on infrastructure and building schools and make t

and the truth is the white house itself is so well organized. it's pretty hard to make too many mistakes other than just my mouth. [ laughter ] >> well, i, of course, was prepared because i had a mother-in-law who i watched. [ laughter ] and i visited the white house. i had an advantage that no other first lady except louisa adams had because i had stayed at the white house a lot when president bush and barb were -- lived there. i had been to that inauguration when president bush was sworn in and then came in. i'd been to state dinners and then gone upstairs to sleep in the queen's bedroom when george and i were invited to events at the white house when they lived there. but really, of course, what i learned from barb was that it is a home. that it really is a home. where the family lives and where family times happen. where you laugh and you watch football on television and you have wild dinners and funny people -- especially all the bushes who try to be funny the whole time. especially one that i was married to. so i knew that it really was a

next in the grapevine, no super bowl party at the white house. plus this. ♪ for the land of the free >> bret: would you vote for her for president >> bret: fresh speaking from the political grapevine of the president obama is keeping it low key for this year's super bowl. white house officials say he plans to watch the big game with just his family. that's a break from years past when the obamas had hosted gatherings with big name politicians and celebrities, like jennifer lopez and then husband mark anthony. even global warping skeptics have to concede human activity is definitely to blame for glacial loss in the renal of chile. -- region of chile. police charge add man with stealing five tons of ice. the idea was hawk it to bars for diaper ice cubes. police say the man's refrigerated truck was filled with an estimated $6,000 worth of illicit ice from the glaciers. >>> those wishing for a new entry into the presidential race will get their wish. actress and comedian roseann barr is throwing her hat in, running for the green party nomination. s

trust between the white house and the pentagon. a few months ago, he said we are only halfway there in afghanistan, which is a direct slap in the face to the white house. the white house has said over and over we are making progress and leaving in 2014. you have a general saying we are only halfway there. what does that say about general mcchrystal? what i have always thought. he is like general macarthur or general tang. the quality that brought him to great heights will be his undoing. tavis: it could be a slap in the face to the white house. it could also be loaded with truth, to the point you have made about the spin the white house is giving. who is right on afghanistan? how far along are we are not in this war? >> that is a great point. an interesting thing you hit on which was not remarked on at the time and was valid -- were general mcchrystal's criticism is valid? to a certain point, they were. one of general mcchrystal's great flaws -- it makes him a great interview, but it is difficult to stay at that level. he does have

trust between the white house and the pentagon. a few months are only halfway there in afghanistan, which is a direct slap in the face to the white house. the white house has said over and over we are making progress and leaving in 2014. you have a general saying we are only halfway there. what does that say about general mcchrystal? what i have always thought. he is like general macarthur or general tang. the quality that brought him to great heights will be his undoing. tavis: it could be a slap in the face to the white house. it could also be loaded with truth, to the point you have made about the spin the white house is giving. who is right on afghanistan? how far along are we are not in this war? >> that is a great point. an interesting thing you hit on which was not remarked on at the time and was valid -- were general mcchrystal's criticism is valid? to a certain point, they were. one of general mcchrystal's great flaws -- it makes him a great interview, but it is difficult to stay at that level. he does have the capacity to

it belongs to the white house. i'm the one who covered it in the tiger velvet, which my mother-in-law said, i can't believe you're doing that. but i love the way it looks. >> why -- you were so emphatic about, i'm the one who covered it! >> because she didn't want me to, i could tell. >> when you look back at this experience after eight years, what do you want to be remembered for what you did in the white house? >> i hope the lincoln bedroom, because it's so beautifully refurbished, and then the green room downstairs, and then the acquisition of paintings like the jacob lawrence we just acquired for the green room. and i think the white house is historical, we want old things in it. we love the very major collection of american furniture that the white house owns. furniture both that either belonged to other presidents or it represents the very best of american furniture makers. the seymores, duncan fife, bellter, all of those names, early furniture makers. but, of course, the white house goes on. and history cont

and it made the white house, particularly the kennedy white house very in and very chic. we've never had the word "chic" applied to the white house until this interesting tour. >> what's interesting to me is we've had some of the audiotapes of interviews with her, and she comes through with a much stronger personality with opinions about politics that she said she got from her husband but opinions of other people as well. she was not in any way a shrinking violet. >> no. this white house tour, what this new release is showing, just how she orchestrated this. she won an emmy statuette for this performance, really. they had a hollywood director watching it. callingwood would interview her and interview her on the side and have her talking. she purposely picked out which objects -- you know, the white house was. treated as a national monument before jacqueline kennedy. it was a place with furniture. she pulled in things for the white house. the recent document came out. you can see she saw how things were done in monticello or jefferson's house or mt. vernon's home. >> you c

white house says it's reviewing the request. but decries what it calls political motivations in the investigation. vice president joe biden said today on a cincinnati radio station the white house will make a significant attempt to work out a dispute with catholics and others over the contraception coverage mandate in president obama's healthcare law. chief white house correspondent ed henry tells us, other than that, there has been a noticeable lack of communication on the subject. >> president obama spent the day talking about housing and education. >> this will be a big help. >> anything but the controversial controversy, as two more senate democrats including former presidential nominee john kerry broke with the the white house to demand changes. while republicans continue to fan the flames. >> you may not agree with him about religious beliefs. that is not the point. the point is the first amendment still allies. >> in a rare move, jay carney decided not have a daily briefing after facing barrage of question yesterday. the

the white house probably called me a lot of things. >> so if you should get to the white house, would you entertain raising the minimum wage? would you continue to protect and raise funds for amtrak? >> well, on the issue of the minimum wage, if you go back and look at my record, i voted against the minimum wage increase many, many times. but when the minimum wage gets to the point where it truly needs to be raised because it's now -- you know, i think the number historically is below 7% of the work force is now being paid the minimum wage. i do support a minimum wage. i do not support what governor romney has suggested, which is indexing the minimum wage. that is a very bad idea. that will lead to wage inflation. but when the minimum wage drops, as the economy improves and inflation eventually creeps up, to set a basic minimum wage at the federal level i have supported throughout my political career, yes. but i don't support anything in the minimum wage that would be an inflater of wages. and that's the real difference between the two. as far as amtrak funding, look, i represented pe

i can remember sam lablonde as a little boy with wonderful white house trees in the foyer with white lights and snow on them and invited the children to come down and had a snow fight with all that stuff. sam lablonde was buried. >> he loved it. what the florist really looks at protocol for when she is working on what flowers you're going to use for a state dinner, and there's also another story, i don't know who this was, but the big faux pas of having the flowers of the state dinner to be the colors of their enemy's flag. there are a lot of things you have to pay attention to. >> one year when george was president, they brought out for the mexicans sort of an adobe house dessert, and it was perfectly beautiful, unfortunately, they had little figures on the side of mexicans taking siestas with the big cowboy hat, which they thought would be very insulting, so, therefore, as the waiters walked out, someone stood and plucked the people off. [ laughter ] crazy. >> there's a famous story of the ford white house at the height of the bicentennial and quin elizabeth and prince philip were

white strategy worked in 2010. tavis: i hear the argument, convoluted that it might be, it is possible, but it is not persuasive. you think that i could be terribly politically nike or stock on stupid to somehow blame -- this is in defense of mr. obama. watchers of this program every night know that i'm not defending president obama. you cannot make any connection end to wall street. to the rich and the lucky and the greedy. obamacare just started and has not kicked in yet. how do you make the argument that it is obamacare and not the greedy wall street banksters. republicans and democrats bail them out. you want to blame obama for this? >> i cannot explain the rationality or the lack of it in the political system. the tea party has not been an anti-wall street movement. they are not calling for tougher regulation. they are not calling for ending too big to fail. it is all cut the budget, cut spending, cut the programs that serve what they see as the undeserving poor. i agree with you that wall street ripped off th

i think the white house is looking for that. whether or not -- put that aside. what we think about that, put it aside. look at the votes that came in for rick santorum who is very clear and far to the right on social issues. this is an opening, this issue, is it not for republicans and the right to get a voice? >> i think this is so stunning for romney, though. basically there is no enthusiasm out there for him. and i think the national polls that pair him and the white house and obama really show that his chances of winning are really low and falling in the fall. it's stunning. >> every time he wins -- >> the big news is, this is not the white house, it will find a way to make a compromise. i think joe's right on that. but for romney, absolutely shattering that in the mainstream when now he was supposed to romp to the nomination loses three in a row. and that collapses his vote compared to four years ago is remarkable. >> tina brown? >> yeah, well, i think romney has been increasingly with the negative campaigning et cetera rea

yes, this is a great political issue for the white house if they play it right. say i bought my house, i played by the rules and paid by the rules, but you're my next door neighbor, you didn't. i'm middle class, you're not. i didn't phrase it correctly. you're jealous of me. >> i'm envious of you, robert. >> thank you, alex. i don't like the fact you did not play by the rules. i stood in line, you did not. you got in front of the line. to richard's point, that's the problem with this. >> this exacerbates the deserved and undeserved, the makers, the takers. we'll have more on this. thank you, kristen for the intell live from the white house. >>> president obama faces division within his own ranks on the birth control policy. will he reverse his decision and should he? [ female announcer ] investing for yourself is a necessity. i find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists and use pre-defined screeners to work smarter. not harder. i depend on myself to take charge of my financial future. [ bell dinging ] but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fa