the fact that we did not was due to bob dole. to his civility, his pragmatism, his quick wit and self-effacing humor, and to his love of his country and to this united states senate. his sense of fairness and decency is a standard for which everyone in public life should aim. senator dole loves his party. that was something very clear to me. but there is something even more important than party. that is principle. he showed that when he broke ranks with his party to support the civil rights act of 1964 and the voting rights act of 1965 and 1982. he showed it when he worked with someone i respected all of my public life, george mcgovern, on landmark nutrition legislation. i'll always remember his farewell speech in which senator dole recalled working with george mcgovern to try to ease hunger in america was one of his proudest achievements in his senate career. his commitment to principle was evident in 1991 when he and our colleague, tom harkin, arguably did more for the disabled than anyone in our nation's history. it was then,

you have been a great credit to your country, bob dole. you have set an example for so many of us to follow and to try to emulate. most of us will never be able to do it all. you started young, and you did some things that endured, some things that the rest of us will never have to endure, frankly, because you did. he didn't reach that top office he sought, the presidency. but in a way, i think there is higher position in the minds of american men and women. it is a role that only so few have achieved in our country. when you look back in history, of course, the adamses, john and john quincy, grover cleveland and jimmy carter were presidents, and then they achieved a role or a position in the minds and the hearts of the american people that exceeded the elective office they had sought. i think bob has reached that position. bob is loved and appreciated not so much for what he did, even though he truly is respected for that, but for who he is, the stands he is willing to take the positions he is willing to advocate, sometimes that are not p

bob dole at the world war ii memorial, he is like a mother hen. the word gets out that bob dole -- bob's here, that's all you have to say, and they all flock to him wherever he is. then the stories start. sometimes for the first time the veteran tells a story he has never told anybody before. and it becomes a very emotional thing. he's almost like the minister or the priest or something. people come up to him and want to tell him a story because they know he has been there, and they know he is responsible for that memorial. that is quite a thing to watch. very emotional. >> thank you for being with us on american history tv. >> you bet. thank you. [applause] >> my colleagues in the senate our special family former staff members, and guests, but especially our good friend senator bob dole, and his lovely bride elizabeth, welcome home. it seems quite natural seeing you here. [applause] i should have asked senator dole to come up and join us on the platform, but somehow or other i thought he should sit in the leader's seat right there with elizabeth.

dole, bob mitchell and robert byrd to. can you say a word about each man? >> after 1980, there was a big shock when the republicans took the majority and the senate for the first time in 26 years. it was only one senator who had been around the last time the republicans had been in the majority. everyone was a little bit stunned. no one anticipated a change of that magnitude. not even the republicans thought they would take charge. senator dole was in line to become chairman of the finance committee. he said the long-time chairman of that committee. and one of the things that made that transition so much easier in the senate than in the similar transition that happens in the house in 1994 was that howard baker was the majority leader. the incoming majority leader. he was what i called an institutionalist. he was the son-in-law of a former republican leader. he was the husband of a dirksen daughter, joy. he eventually married the second wife, who was a senator. so he's very much an institutionalist. he loved the senate. he

the main room is now known as the howard baker room. >> bob dole was a fighting partisan. he was the person who could debate ferociously. and in the senate, that's really fighting partisan turned into a wisecracking thing. the man who realized things didn't happen often in the senate because they were ramrodded through, they happened because they were negotiated through. and you had to find co-sponsors and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. senator dole was the kind of person who could sit in a chair with a yellow legal pad and with a bunch of senators standing around it working out the effects of the amendments, of the unanimous consent agreement that we get them through the hurdles that's going on. and i think he was leader on two occasions, first in 1985, and sixth in the majority leader for a number of years and he came back as a majority leader in 1995 and 1996. all of those occasions, he was the person to work out difficult situations. he had a great sense of humor. he liked the history of the senate. he would give the minutes and by the by centennial, he publish

senator bob dole came up from the house of representatives as a fighting partisan. he had been a chairman of his party. he was a kind of person who could debate ferociously, and in the senate, he turned into a wise pragmatist. he realize that things didn't happen often -- they were negotiated. senator dole was a of person who could sit in a chair with a yellow legal pad and work out the text of the consent agreement. he was leader on two occasions first in 1985 and 1980. then he became minority leader for number of years and came back as majority leader in 1995. on both those occasions he was the kind of person who worked out difficult arrangements. he had a terrific sense of humor. he was wonderful to listen to. he enjoyed the history of the senate. he used his give the minutes at the beginning of each day. by the by centennial, he published -- we published senator dole's historical almanac. he got a great chuckle out of that. so the office is always working closely with him on that. >> george mitchell? >> george mitchell, you know, if you watched him, he looked ve

>> bob dole came up as a fighting partisan. he was the he was the person who could debate ferociously. and in the senate, that's really fighting partisan turned into a wise pragmatist. he realized things didn't happen often in the senate because they were ramrodded through, they happened because they were negotiated through. and you had to find co-sponsors and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. senator dole was the kind of person who could sit in a chair with a yellow legal pad and with a bunch of senators standing around him, working out the text of the amendments. and i think he was leader on two occasions, first in 1985, and sixth in the majority leader for a number of years and he came back as a majority leader in 1995 and 1996. in all of those occasions, he was the person to work out difficult situations. he had a terrific sense of humor. he was wonderful to listen to, he liked the history of the senate. he would give the minutes and by the by centennial, he published -- we published senator dole's historical almanac.

dole, bob mitchell and robert byrd. can you say a word or two about each man and the kind of leader he was? >> after 1980, there was a big shock when the republicans took the majority and the senate for the first time in 26 years. there was only one senator who had been around the last time the republicans had been in the majority. everybody was a little bit stunned. no one anticipated a change in that magnitude. even the republicans had not anticipated they would take charge of the senate. senator dole was in line to become chairman of the finance committee. he said the long-time chairman of that committee. and one of the things that made that transition so much easier in the senate than in the similar transition that happens in the house in 1994 was that howard baker was the majority leader. the incoming majority leader. he was what i called an institutionalist. he was the son-in-law of a former republican leader. he was the husband of a dirksen daughter, joy. he eventually married the second wife. so he's very much a

three time losing presidential candidate with bob dole. i think his stay in the history books is there. so i think there's something to that. but i want to go back to something about jeb, this is sort of -- this gives christie a narrow opening to be relevant. i think that's a longer shot than others do. he had no shot at financial path if both jeb and romney were competing for big donors. it gives christie an opening. i am curious to see how many big donors go with walker. i think walker to lesser extent paul. but this big where you raise your billion dollars from a small group of people, the assumption is they're mostly with jeb. i will be curious. if they're not be jeb, then who? who wins the second sort of second amount of big donors. walker christie? i don't think it is a rand paul. i think he has to go another route in order to do this. i think he is a major player but needs to go another route on the money front. and that's something i will be watching the next six months. how can walker make end roads in the financial establishment

before bob dole went from wearing a tie, he went from robert to bob. that's something i watched in the '70s, '80s and '90s. no more formal first names. they were all gone. >> robert j. dole. >> all of them. susan page. steve kornacki. thank you so much. >>> is terrorism over there? those terror raids are continuing now across the continent. we're going to look at who's being rounded up right now and what the threat is coming from. >>> and what's the likelihood of an attack here at home? of course, that's always on our minds, we americans. >>> plus, mitt romney has strong republican backing for a third presidential run. that's the in numbers, by the way, on the republican side. ted cruz and his hard right crowd don't like it much. >>> and today after a tense hearing on the topic of race relations, president obama and his cabinet are commemorating martin luther king day as we all should be doing. while a majority of americans believe dr. king's mission for america has been achieved, not surprisingly, a majority of african-americans do not notice that. >>

before bob dole went from wearing a tie, he went from robert to bob. that's something i watched in the '70s, '80s and '90s. no more formal first names. they were all gone. >> robert j. dole. >> all of them. thank you so much. >>> is terrorism over there? those terror raids are continuing now across the continent. we're going to look at who's being rounded up right now and what the threat is coming from. >>> and what's the likelihood of an attack here at home? of course, that's always on our minds, we americans. >>> plus mitt romney has strong republican backing for a third presidential run. that's the in numbers, by the way, on the republican side. ted cruz and his hard right crowd don't like it much. >>> and today after a tense hearing on the topic of race relations, president obama and his cabinet are commemorating martin luther king day as we all should be doing. while a majority of americans believe dr. king's mission for america has been achieved, not surprisingly, a majority of african-americans do not notice that. >>> and finally, if you missed

>> senator bob dole came up from the house of representatives as a fighting partisan. he had been a chairman of his party. he was the kind of person who could really debate ferociously and in the senate there is really fighting, fighting partisans turned into a wise pragmatist. the man who realized that things didn't happen often because in the senate because they were ramrodded through. they happened because they were negotiated through. and that you had to find cosponsors and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. senator dole was the kind of person who could sit in a chair with a yellow legal pad and with a bunch of senators standing around him working out text of amendments or you unanimous consent agreement that would gut them through the hurdle that was going on. he was leader on two occasions. first in 1985 and '86. then he was minority leader for a number of years and came back as majority leader in 1995 and '96. and in all of those occasions in the majority and in the minority he was the kind of person who worked out difficulty arrangements. he also had a terr

the main room is now known as the howard baker room. >> bob dole. >> senator bob dole came up from the house back as a fighting party to give been chairman of his party. he was the kind of person who could really the date for russia's lay. and in the senate, really fighting parts and turned into a wise pragmatist. thatand then you realize that things didn't happen often because innocent because they were ramrodded through, they happen because they were negotiated through. and you would find cosponsors and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. senator dole was the kind of person who could sit in a chair with a double the capacity and with a bunch of senators standing around him working out the text of the amendments, the descent agreement that would get them through the hurdles that's going on. and i think he was a leader on two occasions. first in 1985 and 86 and then he became the minority leader for number of years and became back as majority leader in 1995-96. on those occasions the majority and in the minority he was the kind of person who worked out difficult arrangements. he als

[laughter] >> did he like bob dole? >> i think he had enormous respect for bob dole. dole was a lot of fun to be around, and had such a wry sense of humor. he did not take himself or the system to seriously. >> here's a question from the audience. given we are in the cradle of president clinton's political life, how do you think his 12 years as governor prepared him for presidential domestic policy leadership? i am not sure who ask this. bruce, would it be new -- you, because you work with him at the dlc? >> the best thing that happened to bill clinton's political career is he spent most of it here, but that made all the difference. he saw what was happening. when you are governor, you're responsible -- you have to get things done because you run into people at the grocery store who tell you whether you are screwing up or not. and you have to do a lot of the work yourself. he had a good staff down here, but he came up with a legislative agenda every two years down here that was as good as anything gave him once he was in the white house. i think it gave him an ability

[laughter] >> did he like bob dole? >> he had enormous respect for bob dole. dole was a lot of fun to be around, and had such a wry sense of humor i did not take himself or the system to seriously. >> given we are in the cradle of president clinton's political life how do you think his 12 years as governor prepared him for presidential domestic policy leadership? bruc would it be youe, because you work with him at the dlc? >> the best thing that happened to bill clinton's political career is he spent most of it here but that made all the difference. he saw what was happening. when you are governor, you're responsible -- you have to get things done because you run into people at the grocery store who tell you whether you are screwing up or not. and you have to do a lot of the work yourself. he had a good staff down here, but he came up with a legislative agenda every two years down here that was as good as anything gave him once he was in the white house. it gave him an ability -- arkansas was a nominally democratic state, but he had to persuade a very skeptica

we will hear from senate majority leader's byrd, howard baker, bob roll, and george -- bob dole and george mitchell. let us know about the programs you are watching. call us, e-mail us, or send us a tweet. join the c-span conversation. like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> all weekend american history tv is featuring austin texas the loans star state's capital and fourth-largest city. hosted by our time warner cable partners, c-span's city tour's staff recently visited sites showcasing austin's history. learn more about austin all weekend here on american history tv. >> the texas state library and archives commission is a state agency that was founded by the state with a very simple but powerful mission, and that is to make sure that texans have the information that they need to live informed, productive, and fulfilled lives, and we also provide and house the archives of the state of texas, which is the historical record of the state of texas going back to the republic of texas state and even earlier than that. what you will see today is a collection of some of the most iconic and

when i was majority leader, i was very privileged to work with bob dole. we disagreed on many issues, but i am proud to say that we never, not once, had a harsher disagreeable word in public or in private. i trusted him, and he trusted me. we began as colleagues, and we ended as good friends, and we are still working together. i made many other friends as well, on both sides of the aisle. many have left the senate. some remain. all will endure. i commend each of you for your willingness to seek and serve in public office. it is not easy. the skepticism on the part of many in the press and public the loss of privacy, the constant separation from family -- but the intangible rewards outweigh the cost. for you have the incomparable satisfaction of being, in theodore roosevelt's words, in the arena. as he wrote, it is not the critic who counts. not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood

you have had people like bob dole and john mccain who are not guys that get deep we immersed into policy. as i think of those guys as policy geeks of the highest order. >> they are all governors, not senators. those guys would take up a massive amount of space. people like ted cruz or rand paul, their lane becomes a little more open, but the establishment lane dominates. >> i will tell you who it is best for. >> hillary clinton. >> journalists. >> today's reason to be a reason -- to be mad at barack obama comes from france. no major surrogate from the of ministration went. today, josh ernest conceded the white house had made a mistake. >> some have asked whether or not the united states should have sent someone with a higher profile than the ambassador to france, and i think it fair to say we should have sent somebody with a higher profile will stop >> you don't normally see a white house admit error like that. now that josh earnest has punctured the balloon, is this story over? >> let's pause for a moment. you never see it. they go out of their way to try to deny it. i think it is over.

when i was majority leader, i was very privileged to work with bob dole. we disagreed on many issues, but i am proud to say that we never, not once, had a harsh or disagreeable word in public or in private. i trusted him, and he trusted me. we began as colleagues, and we ended as good friends, and we are still working together. i made many other friends as well, on both sides of the aisle. many have left the senate. some remain. all will endure. i commend each of you for your willingness to seek and serve in public office. it is not easy. the skepticism on the part of many in the press and public the loss of privacy, the constant separation from family -- but the intangible rewards outweigh the cost. for you have the incomparable satisfaction of being, in theodore roosevelt's words, in the arena. as he wrote, it is not the critic who counts. not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and bloo

when i was majority leader, i was very privileged to work with bob dole. we disagreed on many issues, but i am proud to say that we never not once, had a harsher disagreeable word in public or in private. i trusted him, and he trusted me. we began as colleagues, and we ended as good friends, and we are still working together. i made many other friends as well, on both sides of the aisle. many have left the senate. some remain. all will endure. i commend each of you for your willingness to seek and serve in public office. it is not easy. the skepticism on the part of many in the press and public, the loss of privacy, the constant separation from family -- but the intangible rewards outweigh the cost. for you have the incomparable satisfaction of being, in theodore roosevelt's words, in the arena. as he wrote, it is not the critic who counts. not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood

you have had people like bob dole and john mccain who are not guys that get deep we immersed into policy. as i think of those guys as policy geeks of the highest order. >> they are all governors, not senators. those guys would take up a massive amount of space. people like ted cruz or rand paul, their lane becomes a little more open, but the establishment lane dominates. i think it is bad news for those guys. >> i will tell you who it is best for. >> hillary clinton. >> journalists. >> today's reason to be mad at barack obama comes from france. no major surrogate from the of ministration went. -- the administration went. today, josh earnest conceded the white house had made a mistake. >> some have asked whether or not the united states should have sent someone with a higher profile than the ambassador to france, and i think it fair to say we should have sent somebody with a higher profile. >> you don't normally see a white house admit error like that. now that josh earnest has punctured the balloon, is this story over? >> let's pause for a moment. you never see it. they go out of their w

the main room is now known as the howard baker room. >> bob dole? >> senator bob dole came up from the house of representatives as a fighting partisan. he had been chairman of his party. he was the kind of person who could really debate ferociously. and in the senate this really fighting partisan turned into a wise pragmatist. a man who realized that things didn't have often because -- in the senate because they were ramrodded through, they happened because they were negotiated through. and that you had to find co-sponsors and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. senator dole was the kind of person who could sit in a chair with a yellow legal pad and a bunch of senators standing around him working out the text of the amendments that would get them through the hurdle that was going on. and i think he was leader on two occasions. first, in 1985 and '86, and then minority leader for a number of years, and then came back as majority leader in 1995 and '96. all of those occasions, the majority and then the minority, he was the kind of person who worked

bob dole was running for president. there was a sense, as you recall, president clinton vetoed the welfare reform bill twice. there was a sense, coming from former democrats who said, if you pass that by itself, you will sign welfare reform, which will split the party, but you need to do that politically. congressional republicans decided, that's what they need to do to show they could govern. and the type of policy they had been deliberating for a long time. >> do you want to say anything? >> i will be quick. i am not a fan of the term. i think it gives the wrong impression of the process. i think from the president's standpoint, the number he should care about is 60. i am operating from a substance standpoint. i will leave political calculations to everyone else. the number that matters are 30, four and 146. if the president focuses on that he has a disproportionate influence on the process. those are the numbers he needs to sustain a veto. if he doesn't like what they are doing substantively, he has the ability, assu

among our guests, barney frank, and then senate leader bob dole. that program, and all of our programming, on our website, c_span.org. some of the comments on her facebook page __ there's this from andy. saying they will not do anything while obama is office, they worry that he will get all of the credit. tony has this on our twitter page __ for the caller concerned about turnout in the midterm elections, do the math on the president obama winning with about 28% of votes. join in on the conversation. a couple more calls. first from thomas. caller: the question is not whether the republicans can lead, the question is what will they lead us to? host: where will they lead us to? caller: they cannot lead a horse to water, and the water is 6 feet away. not leading anything. host: john you get the last word. caller: i just wanted to make a comment about how the republicans __ i do not understand. i've always said that the common white man, it is the common man's problem. most white people unfortunately vote for republicans.

among our first guest, senate bob dole and barney frank, democrat from massachusetts. thank you for watching over the last 20 years. we will begin the conversation again tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. we will preview the new congress with bob kusack the executive elder of the hill newspaper. >> joining us from colorado is

. >> on the republican side at the same time because bob dole was running for president and so there was a sense that as you recall, president clinton has vetoed welfare reform bill twice because we linked medicaid block grant proposal to it. there was a sense particularly coming from some of the former democrats who have switched who said if you pass that by itself, delink those to come he was signed welfare reform which will split his party but he needs to do that politically. that was not in bob dole's interest and they were not eager, but the congressional republicans and i bicameral basis decided that's what they needed to do to show that they could govern. and they got the policy they've been advocating for a long time. >> a lot of deliberations. phil do you want to say anything? >> i'll be quick. i'm not a fan of the term triangulation. >> dick morris actually -- >> i think he gives the impression of the process that people go through. i think from the president's standpoint right now the number he should care about isn't 60. the number for the president i'm operating from a s

sheila batista beat bob dole's -- sheila burke used to be bob dole's chief of staff. she would quote gerald ford who was not the most qualified to comment on theiws, and he said the key to it all is four c 's -- communication cooperation, compromise, and conciliation. and i mention that because i think -- and maybe partly to paul's question -- what has changed over time and made it more difficult is people -- and i have made this point earlier -- people defining what they consider to be cooperation on their own terms. so again, using the example because it is what i lived through when the republicans won in 1994, we were more than willing to cooperate with the clinton white house if they were willing to capitulate. but that is the problem here,. we all the fine -- absolutely want to cooperate -- but going back to the time -- phil said before you have to understand what your political opponents need, but you need to hear them out on what they think they need rather than u.s. urging if we do this and this and this you should be fine. there are some of that goes on to of

republicans holding the house and senate with newt gingrich and bob dole and bill clinton in the white house. but i watched them come together this is a new opportunity with the new american congress that this president can work with us and looking at the bipartisan bills we have put on the floor, i'm hoping he puts people before politics >> congressman davis brought a bill forward to have americans have more opportunities and move forward with the 40-hour workweek bill and seen a shift from full-time jobs because of effects of obamacare that made it hard to find full-time employment and later this week on the keystone pipeline a bill that obama administration said it will create over 40,000 american jobs. i would encourage the president to create those jobs and

and the room the main roo is now known as the howard baker room. >> bob dole? >> senator bob dole came up from the house of representatives as a fighting partisan. he'd been chairman of his party, he was the kind of person who could really debate ferociously. and in the senate this really fighting biting partisan turned into a wise pragmatist. the man who realized that things didn't happen often because in the senate because they were ramrodded through, they happened because they were negotiated through. and you had to find cosponsors and colleagues on both sides offed the aisle -- on both sides of the aisle. senator dole was the kind of person who could sit in a chair with a yellow legal pad and with a bunch of senators standing around him working out the text of the unanimous consent agreement that would get them through the hurdle that was going on. and i think he was leader on two occasions, first in 1985 and '86, and then he was minority leader for a number of year, and he came back at majority leader in 1995 and '96. and in all of those occasions in the m

i recently heard from bob dole who told me is very proud of his institute of politics here. in the school of politics named for bob dole is one i would be proud of because he is a great kansan and a great american. it is good to be back in kansas. i have deep roots in kansas. as you know, my mom was born in wichita. her mom grew up in augusta. her father was from el dorado. i am a kansas guy. [applause] i am a kansas guy. now that helped me in the caucus here in 2008. it did not help me as much in the general election. coat self 110 straight. i lost two straight. but that is ok. i love you. i might have won sections of lawrence. [applause] that is a possibility. this is exactly why i've come back to kansas today. tuesday gave my state of the union address. and i just want you to know today i will be shorter. but i want to begin were finished on tuesday because i talked about the state of the union how over a decade ago at the democratic convention, i give a speech or said there is no liberal america or conservative america, there is a united states of america. we all suppose

dole, which seems so substantial back in the '90s wasn't really that great. what we are looking at now with the tea party phenomenon, i think, is a situation where we might be getting extremist tight partisan in to the system, and i have some fear that perhaps we are sort of breaking down into a multiparty system. historically our type of government has a function that has and function well in those systems and this might be the result of that and i don't know. on the other hand this is entirely responsible looking at something like deferred action for childhood arrival, by nature this is not the electorate the dreamers don't though, but the mobilization not just among themselves but also mobilizing individual members of congress to push the administration on their behalf, you could say that it was a failure and that the dream act and pass after many tries, but it's a huge success that they were able to mobilize and away to bring about this presidential policy and not just mobilize as a single contained protest movement but mobilize by pulling all kinds of in

if we nominate another candidate in the mold of a bob dole or a john mccain or a mitt romney the same people that stayed home in o 8 and 12 will stay home and the democrats will win again. michael morrell says yes. >> we have had radicalized ones on the attack. i have seen a paris style attack here we need to be prepared for that. the terrorists are usually caught because they communicate with one another but in a lone wolf style attack there is no communication which makes it very hard to track. overnight rebels surrounded palace a cease fire had been reached but gun fire is still ringing out. the fighting comes two-days after the president's chief of staff was kidnapped. the rebels upset over a new constitution they do not approve of. >> pope frances leaves the philippines after a record breaking 6 million people at a historic mass in manila. this as the proposed schedule for the pontiff's fall trip to the u.s. has been released. the call is for them to arrive at dc followed by a trip to the united nations in new york city with possible stops at the historic st. patrick's cathedral

bob dole is still around, dukakis is still around. do you think all those people are thinking i almost won this baby, maybe i should get back in? >> he's obviously doing the trial balloon, right? he's trying to figure out is if he will get smacked down. >> i think he's getting smacked down. >> the fundamentals, if we have this primary period for the next 13 nonts in new hampshire, south carolina, the only way to judge, is in three continues -- polling, money, which he has, and third is organization. and right now he's ahead in that. he still text messages with state senators in new hampshire. >> the fact that the money guys have told other candidates that they're holding back in terms of how much money they're willing to give them i think plays into this. >> rand paul managed to take a swipe on the both with these comments on romney. let's listen to rand paul. >> if he runs to the right of jeb bush, he'll still be to the left of the rest of the party, so it may be a different spot to occupy. >> and rand continued to discount a romney

we will hear from former majority leader's robert byrd, howard baker abdul, and -- bob dole, and george mitchell. find our programs on c-span.org and let us know what you are watching. call us, e-mail us, or send us a tweet. join the c-span conversation. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. the 114th congress gavels and tuesday at noon eastern. watch live coverage and track the gop-led congress and have your say as events unfold. new congress, best access on c-span. >> up next on american history tv, "project runway" cohost tim gunn hosts a discussion on white house holidays and traditions from the kennedy to the obama administrations. we will hear from lyndon johnson robb, daughter of president johnson and former white house chief usher gary walter. the white house archives hosted this event. it is about 90 minutes. [applause] >> wow, we have a packed house.

bob dole put out a piece of work. he actually calls two big tailwinds for consumers for 2015. now, the first is the fact that consumers have less service debt. and i have to say something. this has been a dirty little secret. look at this chart. a lot of people didn't talk about it a lot. i talked about it a lot. it seems heartless. yeah, we have less service debt. that's because a lot of people lost their homes. that's because a lot of people lost their credit cards. so, yeah, the service debt has come down dramatically. it was over 13% in 2007. less than 10% in the last quarter last year. millions of people lost their homes. and millions of people lost their jobs and security. so they went out and they did that. then there's, of course, the huge benefit of cheaper gas and food. that brings up this chart. right? yeah, you have more money in your pocket. now, you know what i have been calling it. i call it backward prosperity. i'm not saying it's bad. you have more money to spend somewhere else. right? but, at the end of the day, you don't have more cash to begin with. and i t

when doug mentioned that president clinton worked with newt gingrich and bob dole the result was they compromised and passed it. all of their ratings went up. the economy got better. they all got re-elected. everybody won by working together. there's a lesson there that both sides today don't want to pay attention to. i don't think the republicans want to -- the republican leadership doesn't really want to work on some of these things either. we will get to that in a might be minute. there's all sorts of stuff going on an i'm amazed how easy they retreat to promises made to the america people. >> i made this comment last week. it is like the boys club. where are the women? you have carly and that's it. now you have a woman giving rebuttal. >> i think that is great. she is an attractive, brand new freshman senator. it is not a big deal but i'm glad she is doing it. >> the bigger issue is turmoil in the house and senate that the media is not talking about as much. number one the leadership told the members we are not ge going to repeal obamacare. they told them that on thursday and frid

the argument would be bob dole was more establishment, middle of the road. same with senator john mccain. they didn't win. and conservatives are saying, maybe we need a guy like reagan who challenged the establishment in 1976, when he took on a sitting president gerald ford. can that case be made? do you think there will be a struggle? do you think it will be an intramural battle? will it be ugly? >> i hope it's not ugly. i'd say two things. remember, reagan in '76 lost. the optimistic reagan as the unify unifier who won. here's my point. reagan won in 1980. even though it was four years later, and he still had some antagonisms left over from '76. he did so by focusing thor wonderful years between '77 and '79 when he does those radios. there's a wonderful book by marty anderson who just passed who was reagan's domestic policy adviser who found the original script. what you see there is a very active mind who was focused on trying to define a positive image and a positive agenda for the future. what does he want to do when he runs for president a second time.

on sunday night at 8:00 we'll hear from former senate jorlse, rob byrd howard baker, bob dole, and. let us know what you think about the programs you're watching. call us at 20 -626-3400. email us at comments at c-span.org. or send us a tweet at c-span #commnts. join the c-span conversation, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. >> in november, military veterans gathered at the u.s. navy memorial for a conference about their service. marine corps comma can't t.s. kelly was one of the speakers at the conference. -- come can't t.s. kelly was one of the speakers at the conference. >> we thank the navy memorial for that film as you saw from their lone sailor award. i give to you general kelly. [applause] >> put that old cane away. it's tough getting old, let me tell you. but what happened was a few years back i had a really bad case of sciatica. so i went to the naval hospital and saw the doctor and he took an m.r.i. and said that's the worst good dam back i have ever seen in my life. what the hell have you been doing with yourself? i said, well i jumped out of an airplane a couple

steve forbes isn't that interesting, came in second. '88, bob dole, 37%. pat robertson was second. george h.w. bush, went on to become president. only 18.6%. let's look at your side. 2008, president obama, of course, stunning kind of knockout of hillary clinton there. hillary came in third past john edwards. everyone was saying what, a defeat for hillary. look at '92. tom harkin. bill clinton two-term president, 2.8%. richard gephardt won paul simon, the senator not the singer, in second place. and there is michael dukakis at 22.2% and he went on to be the nominee. what was that like? were you there in iowa as a top campaign official, how do you deal with that? >> hundreds of times i was there. the funny thing about '88, on the republican side i've been to iowa almost enough to register to vote. the funny thing about '88 was we knew iowa wasn't a state for a massachusetts -- we had no normal connections there. our goal was to finish third in iowa and as long as we finished third, we figured we could go to new hampshire and we'd have some -- we wouldn't be knocked out. so our only g

. >> if we nominate another candidate in the mold of a bob dole or a john mccain or a mitt romney, all of whom are good honorable, decent men, but if we nominate another candidate in that mold, the same people who stayed home in '08 and '12 will stay home in 2016 and the democrats will win again. >> quick comments from both of you on that. david? >> we have an exciting field with a lot of accomplished men and women who are going to be running. that's what's going to be exciting over the next couple of months. >> you didn't really get into it. >> that's what i call taking a pass. >> that sounded like a big threat to the republican party from ted cruz saying, if you don't nominate somebody like me my followers will stay home. i would hope his followers would support the nominee. but maybe his followers are crazy enough to go through with it. >> there's plenty of indications that conservatives did come out in both elections. we just didn't do a good job in getting our message out. that's going to be what we need to accomplish in '16. >> we'll see how it plays out. thank you both. >>> time

remember those commercials with bob dole? after he lost to bill clinton in 1996, he did some commercials. i just can't win. that's where mitt romney is right now. everybody likes mitt but wrong message, wrong candidate, wrong time. i find it interesting in a statement today he was talking about a lot of people are asking me if i'm going to get back into it. it's unlike. you're either in or out. it sounds at least today, that he's out. tonight's question -- are you sad mitt romney isn't running for president? text "a" for yes. text "b" for no. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. let me bring in bob shrum and jonathan alter. great to have you with us. bob, you first. what's your read on mitt romney saying no? >> i think if you listen to the tape that he clearly, desperately wanted to run, he tested the waters found out they were very chilly. new poll out in iowa today shows that he is unfavorable going up. i think he had a fundamental problem here. i think people are not only tired of him, but they are just too ma

joining us now is bob dole and bill stone of pnc asset management. bill, the ferocity and speed of this is quite astounding. >> yeah and i think that's what's probably scaring the markets as much as anything. i think we all worry about what cracks does it uncover, and with the speed, you know that may, in fact -- there may be a few things that happen. and are we missing something with the global demand falling faster than we think it is. >> you're raising some questions there. what are the answers to them? >> you know i don't think that it's -- i think a lot of it is the supply side. i don't know why it took so long to kind of hit everyone's radar. i don't know, at least the market's radar that we were producing so much oil here in the united states. so i think it's perhaps -- i think we'll overdo it here on the downside for oil. but in the end it will end up being a net positive. >> yeah let me pick up that point with you, bob. we have -- the u.s. equity strategy for goldman's, actually speaking today at a conference in london. on that broader quest

but she was a bob dole republican and they've now become dismissed. of course there's room for change in any complicated bill. i'd like to toughen in. it other cases we should clarify things. here's the problem. you can't go to war, you can't say, we're going to totally repeal this, no regulation is necessary. when the house voted on this bill the republicans didn't offer various amendments as their basic point. they offered a motion to kill all financial reform. so the answer is this. yeah, we should be working together to try and make improvements in anything. but you can't do that while you have people threatening to undo the whole thing. >> congressman, how do you assess this republican party today? i mean is it the same old, same old. $1.2 billion into lobbying and campaign spending in the last election cycle, $1.2 billion they poured in. how much influence does the industry have on capitol hill? >> well, they have a lot, the financial mint treeistry, if the public is not paying attention. that's what happened. these are complicated issues. for 3

. >> if we nominate another candidate in the mold of a bob dole, or a john mccain or mitt romney, all of whom are good honorable decent men but if we nominate another candidate in that mold, the same people who stayed home in '08 and '12 will stay home in 2016 and the democrats will win again. >> all righty. i'm assuming that the ted cruz twitter account is about to tweet me. [laughing] moderates to win. i know he is a man who does not like the mushy middle. i want to get on record are, no, it would not be a moderate. what does this tell you about the republican party? >> first of all why are we talking about the presidential -- >> really? you don't think -- >> we haven't done anything in the senate yet and these guys are all out there -- by the way to melissa and, follow the money and money is not going to move until next may or june. the major money is not going to move. some people will make indications. nominating someone we're sitting here splitting hairs, when we need to find is a leader who can go out there to win a national election. we're not talking about winning in texas or

i was in that room with pat moynihan bob dole and george mitchell when we made that deal. >> joining me now, senior editor for msnbc and host of the msnbc.com show. beth, that joe biden clip he really did make the most of it. i just believe lindsey graham is looking at that and saying, why don't i make that run for vice president? >> that's pretty interesting three dimensional chess. >> there's an element to that. there is such a thing coming in second for president, it's called vice president. >> but he came in fourth or fifth in iowa. there's another bit of drama here. lindsey graham cannot stand rand paul. as rand paul is emerging as a really force to be reckoned with in this field i think he wants to get on the debate stage and hand it to rand paul. >> so forget about the vice presidential nomination, just get his voice on that debate stage to rip up rand paul on foreign policy. >> that's a big piece of this. he feels like there's nobody representing that point of view that mccain-lindsey graham point of view and rand paul is emerging as somebody as a force to reckon with. he is

dole on the other.

i was in that room with pat moynihan, bob dole and george mitchell when we made that deal. >> joining me now, senior editor for msnbc and host of the msnbc.com show. beth, that joe biden clip, he really did make the most of it. i just believe lindsey graham is looking at that and saying, why don't i make that run for vice president? >> that's pretty interesting three dimensional chess. >> there's an element to that. there is such a thing coming in second for president, it's called vice president. >> but he came in fourth or fifth in iowa. there's another bit of drama here. lindsey graham cannot stand rand paul. as rand paul is emerging as a really force to be reckoned with in this field, i think he wants to get on the debate stage and hand it to rand paul. >> so forget about the vice presidential nomination, just get his voice on that debate stage to rip up rand paul on foreign policy. >> that's a big piece of this. he feels like there's nobody representing that point of view, that mccain-lindsey graham point of view and rand paul is emerging as somebody as a force to reckon with. he

bob dole is still around, dukakis is still around. do you think all those people are thinking i almost won this baby, maybe i should get back in? >> he's obviously doing the trial balloon, right? he's trying to figure out is if he will get smacked down. >> i think he's getting smacked down. >> the fundamentals if we have this primary period for the next 13 nonts in new hampshire, south carolina, the only way to judge, is in three continues -- polling, money, which he has, and third is organization. and right now he's ahead in that. he still text messages with state senators in new hampshire. >> the fact that the money guys have told other candidates that they're holding back in terms of how much money they're willing to give them i think plays into this. >> rand paul managed to take a swipe on the both with these comments on romney. let's listen to rand paul. >> if he runs to the right of jeb bush he'll still be to the left of the rest of the party, so it may be a different spot to occupy. >> and rand continued to discount a romney th