Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140805

The summit 11 00 a. M. Eastern time. Well begin with your thoughts on u. S. Russian relations. Are we in a new cold war . President obama was asked that question. He said no. But where do you think this is all headed . Join the conversation on twitter or facebook. Com cspan. You can email us also. A reporter last week after president barack obama made the announcement of another round of sanctions against russia had the question whether or not this is a new cold war. Heres what the president had to say. No, its not a new cold war. It is a very specific issue related to russias unwillingness to recognize that ukraine can chart its own path. And i think that if you listen to petro poroschenko, they have said they seek good relations with russia. What they cant accept is russia arming separatists who are carrying out terribly destructive activities inside of ukraine, thereby undermining the ability of ukraine to govern itself peacefully. Thats something that no country should have to accept. And the sooner that russians recognize that the best chance for them to have influence inside of ukraine is by being Good Neighbors and maintaining trade and commerce rather than trying to dictate what the ukrainian people can aspire to, rendering ukraine a baffle state to russia, the sooner that president putin recognizes, the sooner we can solve this crisis. President barack obama asked if this is a new cold war between the United States and russia. We want you to weigh in on that. Start calling in now. Heres a for bs article. Obama disagreed. But a politician said the u. S. Was fermenting a new cold war with the latest round of sanctions. A cold war has been declared which is today expressed by devicing sanctions. The Treasury Department sanctioned a number of russian companies, including the large v t b group, second only to stateowned burr bank. In addition, washington banned export of technologies for fracking. The sanctions, part of a series of economic punishment that is began in march after the annexation of crimea continue to pose a threat to the russians economy. Beyond the pain, a political standoff is in the works. One not seen since the days of the soviet union. What are your thought . Is it a new cold war between the United States and russia . Well go to the independent caller. Caller hello. Absolute not. I think that everyone should just allow the president in chief to do his job. War is just the first that comes to mind for mostly conservatives and some democrats. I think sanctions are doing well. They have always done well. We need to stop thinking war war war the first time any disagreement comes to play. Because we have wars that are People Killed over senseless wars. I love what the president is doing and how he is being cautious, especially Something Like going to war. Look at the oped pages on the New York Times. The risk of a new cold war. This being written by the they write that russian prospectives are bound to diverge. But the tragedy of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 should bring us together. The incident is a harbinger of the wider danger we are in. A profound concern is the possibility of an unintended escalation of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine to a direct natorussia military confrontation. To avoid such a development, policy makers need to relearn some important Crisis Management lessons from history. They say i just considered that even before the flight 17 disaster, we had seen a huge deterioration in trust between russia and the west. In addition, there is little contact or exchange of information on what our respective militaries are doing and the existing Crisis Management arrangements between nato and russia and the European Union and russia are inadequate. There are large numbers of Nuclear Weapons on both sides on high states of alert. Many potentially useful mechanisms for dialogue are also closed down. Todd, what are your thoughts . Caller it is what it is. These actions were started by the putin regime. He cant act with impunity. There have to be negative consequences to his actions. If it becomes a cold war, thats what its going to be until the price of oil goes down sufficiently to harm the russian economy to cause a regime change. Host do you think the sanctions the sanctions started in march and he has slowlied aed to them. Do you think that this slowly doing that has been a good strategy or should there be more forceful, the administration be more forceful on this in helping ukraine to show our strength . Caller ukrainians arent a perfect entity. The president has basically said territorial integrity is important for all countries. Theres a lot of business between the europeans and the russians, like the french selling them military equipment and natural gas being sold to europe. So the president is doing wheek to talk what he can to unify the European Union in sanctions. I think he is doing it the right way, going step by step saying these are your consequences. Were going to keep going. They could have missiles in all of the former eastern block countries. Putin is not stupid. I think the people around him that are rich are not stupid. I think they are looking at whats going on and saying we have to reevaluate this. I think its appropriate. Host todd, heres from cnn. Com. Things to know about russia and sanctions. This was put together on july 24th. Look at that number. 34 of the e us gas comes from russia. You can see on this map they show you how much goes to germany. 40 . 18 to france, 20 to italy. That from cnn. Com. You also talked about the military relationships between European Countries and russia. Here is a story in the world news section of the Financial Times this morning. Germany is canceling combat training deal with russia. They report that in russia the decision by germany yesterday to withdraw authorization for the threeyear contract is expected to accelerate moves to cut dependens on imported military technology which has been boosted by sectorwide sanctions. This could raise questions about frances 1. 2 billion euro billion euro contract with russia, the first helicopter delivery due in all the of 2015. Look at these contracts, the numbers. In euros, 1. 2 billion is the value of the deal between france and russia. 120 million euro is the value of this military deal between germany and russia, the one that was canceled yesterday. We feed your thoughts on whether or not its a new cold war between the u. S. And russia. That was todd in florida. In other news out of russia, here is the New York Times front page this morning. Buildup makes russia battleready for ukraine. Russia has roughly doubled the number of its ba tallions near the ukrainian border. They have 17 ba tallions. In a battle ready force of infantry, armor within a few miles of the border. It has increased fire power, deploying more than 30 artillery batteries. The kremlins intentions is in increasing its military abilities remain unclear. Vladimir putin and could be prer insures the ukraine and the United States to political settlement to increase eastern provinces of ukraine the prorussian separatists in ukraine on the verge of defeat. That is the latest out of ukraine and russia. Russian forces builting up forces along the border. Kirk, are we in a cold war . Caller i dont think so. Were just living in a complicated world. I think americans need to recognize this and realize that president , rather than using the army or getting involved in some kind of a military intervention, being strategic and making decisions with russia or any countries around the world is better off than getting into another war, losing thousands of american lives, spending money and then hated by people around the world. Its crazy for us to be impulsive and resorting to war every time something happens in a country. We are living in a complicated world and america is not able to solve every single problem everywhere. Its ludicrous. Host let me bounce off some tweets from republican members of the senate who have ideas of their own of what this administration should be doing. Heres the first one saying should designate prorussian groups as terrorist organizations to make putin pay a heavier price for violence. Caller i mean, this prorussian forces these guys are empowered by putin and action are being supported by him. However, america cant respond to the small group. These guys are thugs. We cant have an entire Foreign Policy designed around responding to these small groups of people. We have to think about the impact on all the surrounding countries. Europe is watching us. We have to be strategic and deliberate in what we do. We cant respond with war every time. Host this is from senator out of oklahoma. Hes the ranking republican on the Senate Armed Services committee. Senator john mccain saying putin continues escalate tensions in ukraine and the Obama Administration still refuses to provide ukrainians with defense weapons and intelligence. Should we help the ukraine government militarily . Caller i mean, i think there are consequences to all of these actions. The president and his advisers are aware of this. These countries, their own cultures every time we secure the comfort for who are in American Society where we have fullflejed democracy and make decisions thinking people will respond as we respond as a democratic society, i think we are being naive. Host independent caller, jay, what do you think . I think that russia, putin arent our enemy. Our enemies are liberal americans, the media, and the european alle guard. Host why do you think that . Because Vladimir Putin has never called me a tea bagger and ive only been disrespected by liberals. Host well go to thomas next, independent caller. Caller i dont think putin is that much of a danger to us. I think hes too smart of a man to really push anything that will start any kind of military confrontation over there. Im more concerned about israel and what they are doing to the palestinians, the brutality towards those people. They are causing every in the world to hate america for supporting israel. Host on that front page of the niels, u. S. Ties strained over diplomacy on gaza. A Public Opinion in both israel and the United States solidly behind the israeli militarys campaign against hamas, no outcry from israels arab neighbors and unstinting support on capitol, president obama has had few obvious levers to force mr. Netanyahu to stop targets on gaza until he was ready to do so. On monday, the israeli Prime Minister signalled that moment has come, amid signs it was prepared to wind down the conflict, israel announced it would accept a 72hour ceasefire effective tuesday and send a delegation to cairo to negotiate for a lasting end to the violence. It started at 8 00 a. M. Israel time. The Washington Post, the israelhamas agree to hold fire for 72 hours while negotiations happen in cairo. And the latest deal is being praised by david, who is a Foreign Policy writer for the Washington Post. In his clum he was very critical of secretary of state john kerry in his first attempt for a ceasefire. Now hes saying its time for netanyahu to make peace. Part of this deal, he says the thrust of kerrys new plan is the lefrnl sma hamass plan with as a first step to Palestinian Authority in its u. S. Trained Security Service would assume responsibility for policing from gaza into egypt, and into israel. Thats a big deal to give Abbas Security chief control over the most strategic ground in gaza. So david saying that the regions best hope is for israel to embrace moderate palestinian leaders under this latest ceasefire negotiated in cairo. Our topic this morning is u. S. Russia relations are we at a new cold war after rounds of sanctions levied on russia from the United States and from the European Union. Lin, youre up. Caller thank you for taking my call. I think that president obama has drawn the line in the sand and not backed up his world so many times, be it with syria, back in israel, backing the ukraine, that russia is just walking all over us. He told putins representative that after hes elected he will have more flexibility. For what . He never answered that question. Hes never been asked that question by the media, and we need that answer. Host okay. Youre referring to the man who was the president and now the Prime Minister during that conversation. Their mics were hot and president obama made the comments she is referencing. Janice, what do you think . Caller i dont think russia should be taking sides, nor do i think we should be taking sides in afghanistan and we need to get out of the middle east and russia needs to get out too. Thank you. Host michelle in minnesota, republican caller. Hi. Caller hi. My comment would be, i wonder how mitt romney feels today after he was mocked by obama during the debates when they asked him what country should we be worrying about and romney mentioned russia being a geopolitical power we should be concerned about. And obama and the talking heads mocked him. Guess what . Obama says, what do you do . Talking about the cold war . Are you crazy . Today we are talking about the cold war. People need to take a primer on what happened in world war ii. Hitler went to see what would happen and the europe excuse me france and britain were actually had tanks in the rye land and hitler just walked in and nothing happened. Thats what putin is doing. Hes putting his toes into all of the countries again to see what the world is going to do. Thank you. Host bob in nevada, independent caller. Caller that last comment was ridiculous. They lost the russians and the soviet union lost 28 million fighting nazis. They are antifascists since world war ii. The Monroe Doctrine goes back to president monroe. We had the fear in the western hemisphere. We told them they have no right to interfere in the western hemisphere. We have the government does not want us there. We are occupying it because we could. So, you know, theres a lot more to this. Host given what you said, are we in a cold war . Caller no. Of course not. The crimea they lost hundreds of thousands of people, russians and other soviet republic people to get the nazis out of crimea. A lot of these people in the the ukrainians can take their politics back to the people who support the nazis who da you shall the final solution actually really got under way in the ukraine with the help of fascist ukrainians. Host all right. Well keep taking your thoughts on whether or not this is a new cold war between the u. S. And russia. Other news on the front page of the Washington Post, this headline. Gun control advocate james brady died yesterday at the age of 73. It says james brady the irreverent president secretary to president Ronald Reagan who was shot in the head in 1981 and became an enduring symbol of the unfettered fight against guns died yesterday in his home. Remained an influential fight on gun control. He and his wife described as the first family of gun control. He did background checks for handguns bought from federally license dealers. The president said she a legends at the white house for the strength he brought to bear in recovering from the shooting that nearly killed him 33 years ago and for turning the events of that afternoon into a remarkable journey of service. Since 19 9d 32 law that bears his name has kept guns out of the hands of individuals. That was president obama yesterday on the passing of mr. Brady. Here is mr. Brady in 2011 when he was asked for his reaction on the assassination attempt on the former congresswoman gabby give fords. There are similarities to mine that it hurt a lot. The similarities . Yes. Jim, i think, suffered through that period because both of us realized how hard it is to go through a traumatic brain injury time yes it is. The first three days and then the long hours afterwards of recuperation. Host james and sarah bra di in 2011 reacting to the assassination attempt on gabby give ford. Here is the statement put out by the former first lady nancy reagan. She said in the short time, jim brought integrity. What a shame he was not able to serve longer than we hoped for. Were getting your thoughts on whether or not we are in a new cold war with russia. John. Caller we stood same the guys we still have nato. Nato should be a balance. We should get rid of nato, get rid we dont have that anymore. So we need to stop the cold war mentality in the west. Thank you. Host gilbert, independent caller, what do you think . Caller this socalled cold war is nothing but a camouflage to show that the most powerful country in the world controls the strongest country in the world. We are facing kerry is jumping up and down in front of the face of putin. Putin has more right to crimea than england does to canada. But more importantly, israel the s the most pourless country in the world. It is dictating what the rest of the world is doing. We ought to be ashamed. Host larry, democratic caller. I dont believe theres a cold war, but i think the president should put sanctions on this donothing congress. Host all right, well keep getting your thoughts on this. In other news, the front page of the Atlanta Journal constitution. Second ebola case on way to georgia. The Ebola Outbreak touched american shores on monday as atlanta waited for the arrival of a second ebola patient. A hospital announced it had isolated a man with possible symptoms who walked into the emergency room. And then this front page of the boston globe this morning. Their piece, few preparations in event of ebola in the United States, unclear how to allot drugs and equipment. The death toll nears 900 in west africa, there are warnings that hospitals in sates have few plans in place such as ventilators if such a deadly outbreak were to occur here. The Financial Times, the world bank is joining with the ebola fight with urgent funds. They have allocated 200 million in emergency funding as the death toll nears 900. The financial help comes from the World Bank Days a f the World Health Organization in the west african countries asked for immediate support. On the domestic front, here from the Washington Times this morning. Start your clock, look at your calendar. After president obama signed into laws that Veterans Affairs legislation this week, this is what needs to get done. In 45 days the Technology Task force must submit a report on how to modernize the va system. In 60 days they are required to set a dlesh hold forethe veteran Choice Card Program which will allow veterans to receive private care if a wait list at a va facility is too long. In 90 days the choice card should be up and running. 90 days to get this private option running out of the veteran affairs department. From page of the wall street journal the front page has this headline. Hospitals cash in on the newly insured. A rush of newly insured patients is using Health Service has boosted hospital operators future. Boosting income for the hospital operators. Uninsured inpatient admissions slid 22 . That is from a page of the wall street journal this morning. Were getting your thoughts on whether or not a there is a new cold war between russia and the United States. That was what russian Prime Minister had to say in may when he did an interview. He was asked about u. S. Russian relations after he was involved with this thensecretary of state Hillary Clinton on the resetting of russian relations. Heres what he said about president obamas leadership. Yes, i believe that president obama could be more political in some decisions taken by the u. S. Administration argue the point we have indeed done a lot for russianu. S. Relations. I believe doing so was right. Im very sorry that everything that has been achieved is now eliminated by the decisions. Basically we are slowly but surely approaching a second cold war that nobody needs. Im saying this because a competent politician knows how to make reserve, careful, wise and intelligent decisions, which i believe mr. Obama succeeded for a while. But what is being done now proves that the u. S. Administration has the United States is one of the parties to suffer from this. Host former president of russia, now the Prime Minister, in an interview back in may saying that the president through these sanctions has initiated another cold war. Democratic caller in tyler texas. I think president obama is doing what he needs to do. We cant afford another war with another country. I dont understand what is going on in russia with these planes that are being taken down, that those countries where these planes are from, why dont they step up to russia . Why does everybody expect for the United States to step up . We have our own problems here with economics, things the children coming in, which i feel sorry for, but we still have our own people in our country to think about. Host anthony, independent caller, what do you think . Caller im disagreeing with the thing with regard to us being part of a new cold war. I think if you take a step back and be objective of the whole aspect, putin is an old k. G. B. Guy. He sees theres a shift in america and the world, so hes taking advantage of that. By doing so, you do certain moves and it allows you and your military to do what america has been doing ever since world war ii. That is be a super power. We dont look at him as a super power in america. But unfortunately he is and hes going to grow. Host all right. Jill on twitter says talk of a new cold war with russia assumes the old one ended. I dont think it ever did. So is this a new cold war between the United States and russia . Were getting your thoughts on that this morning. Weve got 15 minutes left for that discussion. Things to watch today, that is seven primaries. Mississippi michigan, and missouri. Dr. Milton wolf a radiologist and president Barack Obamas second cousin once removed is trying to remove pat roberts. Graphic xray images of fatal gunshot wounds and other injury os an facebook page. He ran statewide Television Spots highlighting reports about the subsequent state medical board into wolfs conduct. Roberts was hit with a question about his residency. He owned a home in virginia but not one in kansas. He is expected to prevail over wolf, which would be a disappoint fortea Party Affiliated groups. Conservative brothers charles and david coke, former congressman todd tea heart who represented the district from 1995 to 2011 has faced attacks from the coke funded americans for prosperity and the club for growth which has been emailing highlights the wasteful earmark of the day. Well talk more about the primaries in the last hour of the washington journal. Caller what i see is theres more propaganda out here because of brazil, russia, india, china coming up with an alternative currency. That money from the Central Banks theyve got to pint the picture of the bad guy which is russia. As weve seen with cada fi and sadad hussein, this is causing major issues. We have to have a bad guy because thy cant go host lisa, democratic caller. Caller i do believe we are still in a cold war with russia. I believe we made a big mistake when we took our defense shield in poland and decided not to put them up. I think we should do that immediately. I think ever since russia was able to talk us talk ukraine out of giving up their Nuclear Weapons, he decided to move in and take control. Also, the virgin mary always told the children do not trust russia. Thats my comment. Host well keep getting your thoughts. But first, there is a report that intelligence the report coming out of the Senate Intelligence committee on the bouchard administrations torture policies, obama officials are sparring over deletions from the torture report. The Obama Administration and Senate Intelligence committee are sparring over the administrations deletions of fake names from the public version of a report on the cias use of harsh interrogation methods. It could impact clarity of the report. The products are the most intensive investigations since lawmakers examined the iran contra role in the reagan presidency. That report expected to come out any day. Were getting your thoughts on whether or not we are in a new cold war between the United States and russia. You can join the conversation on twitter or you can join the conversation on facebook. Com cspan. You can send an email. Well get to those thoughts in a second. Here the National Section of the New York Times. Governor said he had reached a deal to keep two antifracking measures off novembers ballot. The relies on its Energy Resources for jobs and tax revenues has become a headache for democratic leaders. Opening fibbures between the parts and environmental groups that want to impose tough limits on the oil and gas rigs sprouts up alongside subdivisions. Under the agreement, the democratic who has been a leading backer of the campaign to limit drilling said he would pull support for two measures that would have prohibited drilling within 2,000 feet of homes and given communities an a power now claimed by the state. President obama at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time kicks off the firstever african summit in washington. Lots of heads of states from all over africa have come to this area. So a little bit after 11 00. Tune into cspan. President obama will kick off this summit. It says in usa today that at an event monday, panelists spoke to africas need for infrastructure and energy. It goes below the fold. The need in order to thrive economically and how u. S. Businesses can play a critical role. Usa today reports that with a growing middle class thats wealthier and more educated than ever, a population thats younger than 35, the african continent is expected to be home to the Largest Global work force by 2040. Economic growth is expected to reach 5. 4 . Nearly 1 billion deals are expected to be announced today. The Washington Post Washington Post says firms are going to provide 7 billion to boost africa agriculture. So billions for infrastructure and 7 billion to boost africas agriculture. That in the Washington Post this morning. In north carolina, republican caller, ralph what are your thoughts on another cold war . Caller yes, maam. I would like to say i think that we are in another situation of a cold war because of the mouth of mitt romney doing the debates with president obama. He kept talking about russia and this is what we have today with snowden and all of that. I just seem to think that we are back in a cold war situation with russia because of the mouth of mitt romney and if you play the tapes of the debates, youll see where he kept prodding a stick at russia. Also, putin said himself through American Media that he was not going to get along with the Democratic Party that was newly i elected. Host all right. Randy, louisiana, independent caller. Caller well, obamas hands are tied. Hes just a puppet just like george w. Bush was. Rooten toothen putin knows their history. Hes going to walk over everything he can. Host are we in a cold war . Its a semicold war. But he knows their heart and hes going to do wa he wants to do what he wants to do. Thats their situation over there. Need to leave things alone like you should have left the myself alone and they went in there and tore up everything. Rooting, toouting putin knows what hes doing. Host the term surfaced in 1947 in the book titled the cold war. It was the phrase derived in 1930s. Ronald steel wrote Walter Lipman and the american century. Lipman argued that policies should be made in the spirit of pragmatism rather than global crew said against xunism. In the costliest maneuver, chess piece in korea and vietnam backfired. This is the New York Times recently in a piece about the history of the cold war. If youre interested in that, it was published march 1st of this year. Your thoughts. Are we in a cold war with russia . Tom in maryland, go ahead. Caller i believe we are. I believe after the war came down simply because after that happened, we went to the eastern block and brought all those people into nato. If youre still going to be surrounding russia, what is he supposed to do . They have to take a defensive posture against that. Even with the crimea and trying to get into ukraine, that was a natural part of russia at the time and historically russia has always sought warm wear ports. If you take that from them, thats interfering with their international sovereignty. Host do you think this new cold war that you think we are in do you think na that happened under this president . Caller he made it worse. I dont think it ever ended because even under the previous administrations the partnerships through peace where the oil is, just went in there it goes back to the containment policy. He said before we died, going into eastern nations was a bad thing because it was surrounding russia. Host in a related piece, heres the front page of the Washington Times. Heres a piece written by jim who reports that mrs. Clintons tenure gave her a voice she, like her predecessor, sent a delegate in her place to cast votes, squandering the chance for more influence. It says she told cnn she feared u. S. Broadcastings Public Diplomacy outrage has slipped if recent years. While u. S. Stopped the march of xun communism, it hasnt done a good job of telling the postcold war and how we intend to lead. She sounded in a similar note in her new book saying the b b g and the voice of america played an important part in u. S. Reach during the cold war, but we have not kept up with the changing tech logical it is unuphill struggle to make this priority. Kathleen, democratic caller. What do you think . Caller i mean, i dont know whether you should define it as a cold war. I do know that it is tough for the u. S. To be or u. S. Officials to be lecturing putin or anyone else about any other leaders or other countries about invading other countries or innocent people dying. Americans dont even arent concerned about Many Americans arent concerned about the iraqs who have died in an unneeded invasion by the u. S. And then also lecturing putin and telling him to man up, be about providing what they are calling terrorists in the ukraine with weapons, i mean, she needs to woman up and talk about her vote for the iraq war and the fact that the u. S. Has provided individuals that we dont know who they are with weapons in syria and libya. Its tough for the u. S. And officials because of what Bush Administration did. Its tough for us to lecture others because people have too much information today. I want to mention that yesterday you had tamara on and she talked about about the narrative that both sides in the Palestinian Conflict have. I think you should have someone on that can counter her argument. Like the going to teheran. You guys need to have other people on. Host i dont know if youve watched the journal over recent weeks. I encourage you to go to our website and you can type in the many different guests that weve had on this topic and the different viewpoints and look at cspan in general and our coverage and the different voices on that topic. Our topic, whether or not were in a cold war with russia. Back to the New York Times front page story. Border buildup leaves russia battle ready for the ukraine. It says adding to the concern, the buildup coincides with newly announced russian air force. They used a military exercise to mask its preparations. For president obama and the european leaders, the tool is calibrating economic sanctions. Russias longterm ability to build new deep sea and oil reserve. Doc, what do you think . Cold war . Caller yes. When a situation like just before world war ii where the gentleman from england met with hitler and said this guy is a great guy, we need to let him do what he wants to do. These fruit cakes that we have in the administration right now are if they were back in the heading up the United States in the days at the beginning of world war ii, we would be all be speaking german today. Host another tidbit from this New York Times piece about the escalating tensions between the United States and russia, they note that even as tensions have grown, mr. Obama has signalled his interest in a political solution in a call on friday to mr. Putin. Mr. Obama reinfus forced his preference to keep open channels for communication. There are still phone calls made between president obama and president putin. Coming up next, we are going to be looking at the politics of congresss august recess with Huffington Post Sabrina Siddiqui. Later, well talk to author Charles Lewis about his book 935 lies and his view about accountability and integrity in this country. Well be right back. Cspans book tv this weekend the books on marriage equality, the obamas versus the clintons. Saturday at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on after words, bob wood ward. Sunday, anthony marks, president and ceo of the New York Public Library sheds light on the librarys past, present, and future. For over 35 years cspan brings Public Affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, conferences, and offering coverage of the u. S. House as a Public Service of industry. We are cspan created by the cable industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Washington journal continues. Host we are back with Sabrina Siddiqui, political reporter with the Huffington Post, talking about the politics of the august recess. Congress has left washington. They are going back and talking to constituents. Town hall meetings. All 435 up for reelection in november. The border legislation, what are republicans going to need to say to constituents or explain to them when they go back home . Guest i think a lot of the republican strategy is to blame this on the president. The argument that they made prior to leaving for recess was that the crisis was the president s own making. They have to explain why they voted to try to strip funding from his Deferred Action Program, something that will be at odds with some of the messages of 2012 trying to reach out to latino voters. I think steve king faced an angry constituent. He is one of the hard liners on the issue of immigration. There are a number of republicans on the defensive. There was supposed to be a time to move toward Immigration Reform, not further from it. Host what do you expect the president to do on this border bill . Because the house passed their version, the senate didnt get it done. The president said, i think im going to act on my own here. Guest i think he has some authority to act on his own. In terms of funding, thatsing . The dhs said it needs. They said they would run out of funding by the time the Congress Comes back from recess. There has been talk about the president taking some potential executive action, looking into maybe september, what he might do at this point is unclear. But he has been looking for ways to even extend his Deferred Action Program which everyone knows was a temporary measure. I think they are exploring their options, but they have been cautious because a lot of democrats are facing reelection and a couple of them didnt even vote on the package. Host what can the president do that would satisfy hispanic groups but want him to take action, but not go too far to jeopardize some democrats . Guest i think he will try at least with respect to the border crisis to continue to figure out how to get these kids into facilities, how to aappoint the appropriate legal representation. That was part of the funding request that he had asked for so they could make their case for why they should stay in the country. In terms of the executive action, im not sure he will do something sweeping before november. The white house was angry that House Republicans are trying to undo even the little socalled executive action that he had taken in 2012 with respect to the deferred action policy. So i think they are increasingly convinced there wont be any Immigration Reform even coming at the start of the year as john boehner had promised. It will be hard to get that past this conference. I do see executive action around the corner. What it will look like, well find out in coming weeks. Host what happened with democratics on the deferred action policy . They seal to be for changing the law and then they switch. What is the fallout . Guest some were for changing the 2008 Human Trafficking law. Not ul were one of the issues that happened on the package that both Senate Democratics and House Republicans are trying to push separately, is the president and his administration embraced changes to the 2008 laws. Thy didnt say what that meant. Republicans jumped on that and pushed a proposal that changed the 2008 law in a way that immigration advocates thought would speed up deportation. Thats where democrats got hesitant. Now we have the humanitarian crisis and were potentially making changes to law that would deport more kids more quickly. Host what happens with this issue when they return in september . Guest this has to be resolved. They are running out of money because of the crisis is growing by the day. They have to deal with government funding. They do not want another government shutdown. John boehner has been clear there will no be another shutdown. Whether or not they address the issue of funding for the border crisis in the context of funding the government, providing thedhs with more funding or whether there continues to be thats something too thoo are remain to be seen. But they will here from their constituents that could prom some action. Host theres a lot of talk in the Republican Party about courting the hispanic vote and they need to broaden their tent and reach out to hispanic voters who are sometimes conservative socially. This is a piece by nat cone, why house deportation vote wont hurt the gop in november. If the vote is unlikely to deal a severe blow to the partys chances in november. They have far less sway over the composition of the house or the senate. He says the illustration of the extent the gop the party easily held the house 2342012 even though republicans want one only 30 of the vote for congress. Even though the hispanic turn out was higher, the reason is simple. Hispanics represent only 6. 7 of eligible voters. That guest that is why john boehner was comfortable at the end of the day bringing this bill to the floor that would have ended deferred action and angered immigration advocates because there is some leeway right now. This is an off year election where democrats suffer from a turnout problem. They will once again suffer from that problem. Hours are poised to keep their majority. Its not at stake for them to have a floor vote onning . That isnt going anywhere. This is a time where they can get away with something that is mostly a political stunt to keep conservatives pasified. Host what happens after the midterm elections on issues of immigration, other social issues that may or may not appeal to different voting sectors . Guest i think the implications are stronger, depending on what House Republicans do or dont do on Immigration Reform. They have to look at how to make those inroads with hispanic are their chances looking . People would comfortably say they will not take back the house. That shot really came in terms of turning the tables last year during the government shutdown. That did not sustain itself for too long. The government was reopened, people forgot about that fight, the obamacare rollout happened. That became a contentious issue for a lot of democrats. When it comes to democrats in congress, the focus is on the senate. They cannot afford to lose too many seats. There is a chance they could lose their Senate Majority. Majority of the money is really senate, on on the trying to retain that control. There were a couple of competitive house races where they might have a shot to pick up some seeds, but certainly they will not change the status quo of the house. Host there are six primaries this week people are keeping an ion. Going over to the senate, where are the most vulnerable democrats . It is interesting because there are always four names. Reasons they do not respect to be competitive. Doing a better job than people thought it would be. As for who is the most andetitive, it teeters back forth, but people believe mark is fairly safe in alaska. Hagan, thats to kay looks like it will be very difficult for democrats. Guest we are talking with sabrina of the Huffington Post. What are republicans talking about as they head home ahead of republican elections. I want to get your questions and comments here, so start dialing in now. Democrats, what is the issue that is hurting them . Part of the reason the president has been reluctant to immigration, all of these democrats voted for a comprehensive bill, but it is conversation over the president s use of executive authority, labeling him as someone not following the rule of law. In a concerted stay, you do not want to see him into much powerful is too much powerful. It is not to say the stumbles in the beginning had not impacted them. Unless there is any kind of wrote lock that comes up. It will not be about a president referendum on a on hownt, but it will be the favorability impacts democrats and how they have to answer for a lot potential failures of the administration, or areas where he may have taken the kind of actin kind of action. Republicans are hoping and say obamacare message will stick. Before, gripping for an antiobamacare message. Or 57 of them. Health care law is not likely to sway them. What about independence . Independents . It remains popular at a national level. ,ith respect to independents they are not oh well overwhelmingly antiobamacare. It depends on the experience the americans have had. It is a little difficult to see how the healthcare law might impact their vote. Aspects of theer administration over the last year might have more of an impact on how these races play out. There has been a lot of attention on these foreign crises coming up one after the other after the other. With respect to the nsa and Veterans Affairs, there is a controversy over the way time. At this point come the healthcare law is simply not in the news as much as it used to be as people have been able to sign up for access. Inshirley is up first tallahassee, florida. Good morning. Thank you to cspan. Guests to speak to the and the cspan audience and the thoughts on dynamics going on right now in our country that creates a last lack of government and stagnation of government. Congress is there to govern, as well as the president. I wanted to ask also it cspan that bring on a section would deal, particularly since i , we keep saying the president is somehow a factor in the dynamic of lack of governance in congress. As the president signs the bill, the congress and the house of representatives creates the bill to go to its debt. How is it we are saying his is somehow the influential impact, one we also have gerrymandering going on in the nation. Would, for, if they the audience guest there, too on the dynamic polarization and lack of government. Cspan would do a section for us where we get the impact of this lack of governance, this lack of creating structure in our society. We, the people, are the ones suffering with this. Host i will leave it there because we have more phone calls. We will have Sabrina Siddiqui respond. One of the issues she is talking about is blaming the president for not doing his job. We know House Republicans voted to authorize legislation to sue the president over executive too muchr taking executive action. They say they will focus on the healthcare law and the unilateral delay on the employer mandate. There is an argument the white house is trying to push to counter that message by saying if congress will not do their job, the president has little else to do than to take matters into his own hands. That is why he signed reason executive orders for federal contractors to increase the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, expand lgbt protections in the workplace. When it comes to the issue of governance, the white houses way of looking at it is, if congress will continue to refuse to work with the president , this is about his legacy, his agenda, what he wants to get done, it meant he will do it on his own when and where he can. Take a look at this gala. July 15. The congressional Approval Rating languishes one in five. We will go to gym in baltimore, maryland. Democratic caller. I would like to speak about the Republican Congress representatives, going back to the districts in trying to why they want to go after president obama as far as the Affordable Care act is oncerned, and then to speak the issue of not helping out people who are unemployed by extending the unemployment unemployment insurance. The trickledown theory i have thought of, first of all, the people who need that money really would put it back into the communities and the states they live in. What the congressman have to realize is these people who are unemployed are not looking for a handout. These people, some of them are professional people who have lost their jobs because of jobs shipped overseas. They would have to dip into before they even apply for unemployment security in the first place. Renewing unEmployment Benefits, that is something that underscores how quickly Congress Moves the issue. There was a time at least in the senate when they were working day in and day out to get to a compromise to reinstate an Employment Benefit and retroactively provide pay to those who lost their benefits when they expired last september. Paul ryan already had faced backlash from certain wentituents who really after him for implying that unEmployment Benefits prevent people for looking for work, that they lead to a culture of laziness. See is something i do not going away for a lot of republicans going home. Each one of them knows in their district, there will be people who are unemployed. When it comes to responding to the charges that this is their fault, i see republicans trying to turn the tables and saying the economy has not turned enough and that is a reflection of the president and not of of and not offense and not of themselves. They will have standard talking points to really fight back here issue that has longerterm implications when it comes to november. It will not have too much of an impact. To reaching out to a lot of demographics they knew they were supposed to reach out for, that will once again be a debate to be had. Complete opposition to a lot of governments facing that those programs. It will be an election issue. Thank you for taking my call. I want to give a different perspective here that sometimes we seem to ignore. The Republican Party is becoming wimp party. Ty from california, he wants to open up the borders. We have people from all around the world, from asia and south america, wanting to come to the country because of prosperity. Losing job after job. There is no employment and that is why were going for unemployment. Where there is no white caucus in congress, if they said, lets open the eastern borders to all of white europe, i wonder what the terms of racism would be cast upon the people who would call for that. I think the white liberals better wake up to what theyre doing to america. Your time. Or when it comes to Immigration Reform, part of the problem is it is a sensitive issue. Leastve to convince at one group of skeptics to help them understand why Immigration Reform is important and what economic benefits of Immigration Reform are, and drive home the point that these are not people taking away jobs. Theyre actually creating more job growth in the country. That is the line the white house has tried to push and it is a line democrats and some republicans have tried to put forward. Marco rubio said it would have economic benefits. That is what paul ryan said as well. Republicans are cognizant of that being the central message when it comes to advocating for Immigration Reform. The problem is it has not resonated with their base. At this current point in time, theainly liberals are not ones standing in the way of Immigration Reform. It really is a problem on the republican side that i think they will at least try to make some progress on prior to the 2016 president ial election. Joe, carolina, independent caller. Caller 2016 politics. We heard a great deal of talk about hillary went in clinton if she decides to run. Who would be on the short list of Vice President . What three names would you put forth on that list . Questionnaire getting right to it. There have been a lot of names thrown out. Martins like governor omalley of maryland would be one of the few to challenge her in a potential democratic primary. We have not confirmed but there are strong signals he would like to run for president. Whether or not he would be so is not sure just far, but it is something they know has been done previously with people both engaged in the primary. The other name that has been thrown out, of course, is julian castro. There have been a few rising stars, oneratic could call them, whose names have been floated. There is a lot more conversation on the republican side because they have a larger field of not only their nominee, but also who a potential running mate might be. One thing that has been concerning for the democratic side is outside of Hillary Clinton and joe biden, there is not a lot of name recognition when it comes to who will be at the top of the ticket or in the mix for both resident and Vice President. Martin omalley is seriously considering running for president. That is a quote from an interview he did on monday when he was asked if he would endorse former secretary of state Hillary Clinton as he did in her last residential bid. Here is here is how he responded. I am seriously considering running in 2016. The most important thing is to run truthfully. Glad the website is backing up what i just said. Each time he talks about running for president , his signals get stronger and stronger. Democrats, i think they would like to see at least a primary. Having said that, they do not to challengepeople hillary. They really believe she is the best shot for them. They continue to believe that despite some of the fumbles she had on her book tour. They want to have an ugly primary process where she has an opponent disparaging her in a way that would make it more difficult of course when we move toward a general election. Leslie will go to mike in arizona. Republican caller. How is the border issue playing out . Our connection with you is terrible. Made you can call in on a better line and we will come back to you. Tommy, independent caller, tennessee. Good morning. Good morning and good morning to the young lady sitting there. I enjoyed this common sense discussion about immigration. The question i have is, illegal immigrants, the question i have forwould it be better childless couples in this country to adopt some of these immigrant children . It is obvious we cannot send them back to their wartorn countries. I know a woman who goes to church with me. I think that would be a great idea. What are your thoughts on that . What will happen with these children who cross the border . What is happening . Guest the government is trying to have as many facilities as they can as they await trials. Of course, they have to make a case for why they should stay in the country. The reality is there will be children sent back. They will not be able to stay here. Part of the issue the caller is this is a point humanitarian issue, different , people areigration who are coming here in terms of economic prospects. They and their families have been threatened. They have been victims of violence. To beave been threatened killed, raped, forced into the drug trade. Hey are refugees they are not just illegal immigrants. I think that conversation and the messaging around that could aape how theyre treated by court of law when it comes to whether or not they can be deported. The number is over 50,000 unaccompanied minors. Some of them will be sent back. Those who are being housed in a facility now, they hope there will be enough funding to have New Hampshire candidate scott brown, the former senator from massachusetts, air television and radio at and tonch an online petition tell president obama that immigration policies are hurting this country. Issue at a this meeting but meet and greet. This issue coming into play in New Hampshire. Guest it is. Scott brown has been, for she seems to be and that isahead scott browns taxes have been to blame the Current Crisis on the border on the president and jeanne shaheen. Jeanne shaheen has not only support the president but voted for the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the senate. Whether that is effective in a state like New Hampshire is not entirely clear. Scott brown in massachusetts itself as a moderate. With thele at odds image he has created himself with handling the Immigration Reform, which most republicans have supported, including colleagues who have seen overwhelming support of the immigration bill he is now attacking. Host an update on the mississippi primary in the Washington Times this morning. Lawmaker n does he have the backing of the party . No. I believe that his bid, the most bizarre is looking at the way it played out, you wouldve a candidate and the controversy where a reporter photographed her in the nursing home, bizarre incidents that have come up. Evil in politics have gotten dirty, that takes the case. It has now dominated the headlines in mississippi over the last few weeks. , he spent morer time in mississippi that he had sat in the mississippi primary, and really put in the effort and a party put in the theo make sure Republican Party would like to see mcdaniels go away. They would not like to see this drag down any further. There is in some ways a this year,o the fact if youre going to compared with 2010, we started to have some losses in 2012 and that kind of continues in 2014. All eyes will be watching to see if the tea party can get a win today in kansas. Senator pat roberts has been in Congress Since 1980, facing a tea party back challenger, martin were wolf. Maybe these incumbents learned the lessons of cochran and others. They have. The lesson has been to go home, spend time in your district, and take the challenge seriously. Ericw what happened to cantor. That was depicted as a major win for the tea party, when it was of aeally a story challenger who was particularly strong. A lot of the Tea Party Groups did not even spend money on david rat, who defeated eric cantor. But he did not take the challenge seriously. Be owed a narrative to he never defend himself. In fact, he only further intensified that image by staying away and constantly being in washington or going around the country raising money sometimes around the world. That is something Mitch Mcconnell the very success in his own primary. People thought he was genuinely at risk and all he has to do is. Ut in the time and money the only thing that has been clear in the midst of these forcedges is they have incumbent republicans more and more to the right at it time they were shifting back in 2012. Means toanged what it be a moderate or conservative republican. That is what is probably troubling for them going not only into the last election but future elections to come. We will talk about primary day in our last hour, including the states that are holding primaries today. We will talk with two reporters to get a local feel of what is uppening for polls opening in states voting for primaries. We will go to chicago, illinois, democratic caller. We are talking with Sabrina Siddiqui of the Huffington Post. Caller yes, hi. Im calling about the republican and Democratic Party. Who havelot of people lost their unemployment insurance. They work for years and are getting laid off. Areas ind in very nice nice homes. When people are talking about, during the midterms, democrats are not going to come out, i disagree with that. I know a lot of people who are suffering and they know republicans have something to do with not working with democrats , they live inle the area. Democrats energized . Guest there will always be people who are energized. Int a lot of issues they did 2012, especially when they were very energized when people thought they may not be as supportive of the president s reelection, certainly maybe not asi just as gender energized as 2008. Some of it has to do with the gerrymandering and where the states are carved out. It might be difficult for them to have much impact in any of to house back in the democratic majority. When you look at what democratic strategies are trying to do, what a lot of incumbent democrats are transitive, it is , iised the war on women mentioned the Employment Benefits assigned to the idea republicans do not care about americans who need help, do not care about the poor. That their policies are geared toward the wealthy. They are hoping they can continue with that narrative. Bea senate level, it could very important. T could be a factor caller good morning. I am nature independent. I was a republican and a voted for Ronald Reagan. Term, i can see where he was going and i knew he was crooked. It is basically the fromtribution of wealth the middleclass to the upperclass. I cannot buy into that. So i went into the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has also bought into the free market system. They have free traders and everything. No one is representing what the American People and middleclass everybody has bought into government is that. Without a government, look to latin america. There is chaos. Think that when it comes to government assistance programs, the biggest challenge when it comes to not only continuing the program for providing more funding for less, it is the government, the idea that Big Government is bad, there is already too much government in place. That is why republicans have i am large continue to say we need to cut these programs and scale them back as opposed to expanding them. Because of that overwhelming , itt on the republican side becomes harder to achieve any expanding medicare, unEmployment Benefits. It is more of a battle to hold onto those programs and in the process then having to settle is less funding because that better than cutting funding. We saw a battle over food stamps and at the end of the day, foods asked for cut. They were not guided to the extent they could have been. If that the fact that they were cut slightly was considered a victory. I think income inequality, because we were talking about 2000 and in politics, will be a ther topic of discussion at economy continues to struggle despite some of the improvements in creating jobs. Income equality is continuing to hold back this country and preventing a full recovery. You can bet that would be part of the debate in the next election as low next few months. Call,one last quick phone republican caller. Caller i have a solution and a statement for the immigration problem. I would like to add, oil is your official position with the democrats on e verify, which would help the Unemployment Rate for americans deal with the Immigration Crisis we have. Also, the immigration debate, the most Effective Group in america is africanamericans as it relates to immigration. They say immigrants do the job most americans want to do appear those jobs, they are referring to africanamericans. Where is the black congressional ourus as it relates to needs . Will leave it there because we are running out of time. We have heard that call a couple of times from our viewers, africanamerican callers upset with the president , that he has not enough for black americans in the country, for the economic uation of last ear in blacks. Guest at the end of the day, both them and congress have a role to play. Unemployment among the Africanamerican Community is rest of theof the unemployed. This has been a major struggle. That is where issues like unEmployment Benefits are so important. Communitiesrtain disproportionately affected by these programs that have not been extended and have force forced people to drop. Ut of the work force programs that have been cut and disproportionately impacted, black americans are out of work and made it more and more difficult to find a job here the congressional black caucus, i think has not been able to really explain why they have not prioritized that part of the debate. When it comes to how the situation will improve, that again has to do with the fact congress has moved issue to issue, tossing a something for a few weeks and then does not solve the problem longterm and then moves onto the next crisis. Hopefully, the culture will change but it was like it will not until the president is actually out of office. I thank you for your time this morning. Coming up next, we will talk and journalist and author founder the Senate Republican integrity back in 1989. We will talk about his latest book, the future of truth and decline of americas moral integrity. We will later turned to primaries across the country today and get your phone calls on whether or not you would taxes november. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] although the meeting of the senate will likely be brief and uneventful, like sessions often held during recess, Senate Leaders purposefully scheduled toay policy Senate Meeting hold the offering by voice vote or unanimous consent. It seems the senate will hold off on legislative action until it is possible the body could pass measures today, such as california democrat barbaras proposal to strengthen the bond between israel and the u. S. Wrightn aid worker nancy bought is expected to arrive today in atlanta hospital, where she will be treated for the ebola virus. She and her colleagues contracted the virus while working in my. , one of four nations dealing the Worlds Largest outbreak. Dr. Brown is already at the hospital in atlanta. Finally, the Commerce Department released factory offers for june , and supply management will release his service index. The rising wealth gap in this country is making the economy more prone to boom bust cycles in holding back the recovery. As a result, s p cut its growth annual pace over the next decade. Some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. Click cspan2s booktv this weekend, friday night at 8 00 eastern, with marriage equality, the obama versus the clintons, and marion barry junior, said it had a 5 p. M. Eastern on at her words. And sunday afternoon at 5 00, anthony morris, president and ceo of the New York Public Library, sheds light on past and future. Television for serious readers. For over 35 years, cspan brings Public Affairs events from washington directly to you, put you in the remit congressional hearings, white house events, versions, and offering complete gavel to gavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a service of public and private industry. Created 35 years ago and brought few as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Washington journal continues. We are back with chuck lewis. is latest book is 935 lies the future of truth and the decline of americas moral integrity. A half aam telling century of misrepresentations by those in power, and the role of journalists. Did they find out the truth in it take yearsid and decades to find out . Is a fairly significant question. If we do not know the truth about any issue when it is happening and we only find it out later, decades later, that we actually have no idea what is going on, generally. That is deeply disturbing. How do you anticipate the problems of the 21st century and address them if you do not know the facts in realtime . That is how i got into it. I started with what had happened in the iraq war and statements made their. There. Most investigative reporters are somewhat tough and grizzled. But even i was amazed at the extent of the lies over the years. They are really deeply disturbing and you do wonder, with all the spin, how much is real anymore. We have four times more Public Relations today. A onetoone ratio in 1960 with john f. Kennedy and nixon running for president today. Problemsust one of the why we have this happening today. That is why i got in. 935 lies. Guest originally, we called it false and erroneous statements. I felt compelled to actually add , the alhe statements qaeda threat, that was pretty flatly declared was there in the post 9 11 time for four years. Who said theknow most statements and when were the statements made . Were they time for certain events . Yes, they were. In 2008 come in a five Year Anniversary of the beginning of the iraq war, it made news around the world. The white house announced it within hours, which was not surprising. That is how it started. And i thought, this is not the first time. What about vietnam and these other things . That is what led to the book. It has been a long journey, nine years. Ae Current Administration on number of issues. There are two ways to misrepresent. By omission and commission. If you dont discuss Something Like use of drones in a president ial campaign and then you quintuple the use of drones, and then you brag about al qaeda folks being killed but you will not a knology might have been killed along with hundreds of civilians along the way by the is that our machines, being honest and direct with not only the u. S. Public and the world but the world . Was, ifhe most cited you like your health care plan, you can keep it, which the president said 37 times. It was not true. You can call it a lie, you can call it it was he was wrong and he did not know, but you have an obligation as president to know the facts when you speak. Call it whatever you want. Year byhe lie of the politicized, which is very nonpartisan. I do believe that was a lie and misrepresentation. He kept saying it over and over for more than a year after people were pointing out otherwise. Host you are right about the you write about the ramifications of lies. So this is nothing new. Guest it is not new. In this democracy, we have had lies and all these kinds of shenanigans since the beginning of the republic. , we not want to sound like just discovered some wise here. But i do think with information to 140g, now were down characters with tweets, hundreds of millions of websites, and soundbites went from 40 seconds and now we are less than eight seconds with soundbites in commercial television and other places. When information is that short, short bursts of information, and it is handled and packaged, and you have folks like the white house and members of congress with press people packaging every single thing they do, it is not hard to mislead the andic or present your side youre part of the truth that youre very proud of, but somewhere in that, we lose the information we need to know. Host what is the fallout of this erosion of our values . Guest we are now in an Information Age in the 24 7 news cycle. With the advent of Cable Television and other things and the web. You do not really have to accomplish anything in washington. Dirt atjust throw everyone over and over, repeatedly, both sides. Whoever wins the soundbite wars in that day and the 24 7 news cycle, and whoever does the best soundbite that gets repeated and repeated and retweeted, no one keeps track of who actually cosponsored the bill, or told the truth or did not tell the truth, because there is such a information. Turns out a lot of it is actually not quite right. In fact, it is incorrect or just plain a lie. Host phone lines have lit up for you. Democratic caller, hi, lisa. Good morning, youre on the air. Is, with theestion children being not educated in studies orsocial public schools, as they were in thisast, dont you think nothat makes adults politically correct in making informed decisions about their candidates . And about what they listen to politically and what they do not listen to and make informed decisions . A great question. I think this is a significant problem. I have had three manuscripts over nine years and ive had an extensive section about this. I do allude to textbooks and learning and teaching. Our knowledge of history and civics is dreadful now. Certainthe polls about questions about our u. S. History and what is true and what is not, and also the efforts of some states to airbrush history and change things, we make fun of the japanese doing it about world war ii, but we have done it in a number of instances in our own textbooks. Civics andg about our government and most importantly our history is unbelievably bad. I think it is a very serious the serious problem. The answer is start teaching better and more history and make the textbooks a little more readable, frankly. As a person who has two Political Science degrees, i did not get enough of that when i was in school and i wanted more in the Public Education system. I actually think there are all kinds of issues here. Testr teaching for the that has happened in the last 10 these kinds of things about history and civic awareness ought to be. Citizenship requires participation. It is not a spectator sport democracy. If folks pick up your books, what history lessons are they learning . Fax their learning what really happened that maybe no one told us. The fact that we knew for 5070 years dating back to 1938 that cigarettes kill, and there were 15 studies by 1953, we could as aeasily ban cigarettes problem in the United States or the Surgeon General could have done what he did in 1964. It is today still a legal product. 100 Million People died in the 20th century. In this century, there will be one billion people dying because every representative from jimmy carter to barack obama, every u. S. Trade representative kirk out of the white house, has explored it and assisted insisted the industry support cigarettes all over the world to basically children and things like that. The complicity of the Tobacco Industry with those in power but also, the media here it i have a whole chapter about journalists from 19402000. They have had a difficult time trying to report on that single subject. The media was making tens of fromons of dollars advertising with tobacco and cigarettes. I have a section in the 90s where two or three networks had es with it and i was eugene inme go to alexandria, virginia, republican caller. Caller thank you for taking my call. The Tobacco Industry, as charles knows, tobacco is legal in virtually every country, except perhaps the fundamentalist islamist countries, where there was no industry and media and private corporations. My comment is, the title of the book is really dramatic but also ironic. Bush lieday george about wmd, that is in itself a lie. There was an International Consensus regarding Saddam Hussein and wmds. There was no different intelligent intelligence officials. The National Intelligence estimate in 2002 concluded that. The russian intelligence, the british intelligence, and the cia. He gets an the information was faulty and the intelligence was that. Specifically on the actual stockpiles. Is an untrue a lie statement. Guest ok. If you look at the history of alexandria, where i live as well, it was creative by the king of englund to export tobacco leaves to britain. Virginia was at the heart of tobacco production. Look, i understand. Whether it is legal or illegal, i am not a policy maker. The fact is, the industry did lie consistently for six years and no one can dispute that. I leave that there. Think that is overstating, what i just said. They did misrepresent their product. There is no question. Regarding the comments he made i just have to say, there was an injured cat International Consensus from 1992 on that Saddam Hussein had things like chemical weapons and was someone that he we were watching. There was no consensus to go to war with them, even after 9 11. A majority of the countries in the u n General Assembly did not support the work. It was not approved by the General Assembly. The secretarygeneral said it was an illegal invasion of iraq. That is not an overwhelming consensus. There was a coalition of folks who we asked wanted to join in with us. Later, when there were problems, the answers by the white house and others, there was a big consensus. The u. S. Troops that consensus. Group because there was a of folks in the white house in the first cabinet meeting, what do we do about iraq, and really having serious concerns about doing something not discussed in the 2000 campaign. There have been two or three dozen at least folks on iraq. Some of the best reporting was done after the fact. The first comments made by the president and others were, what about Saddam Hussein and what about iraq and everyone wanted to focus on that. It turns out they had nothing to do with 9 11. Michael, california, independent color. Caller good morning. Ok. If americas moral integrity, the theme of your book, you said you kept going back in time in history. I would like to go back in time. This pertains to civil rights. I just want to mention a great man, jesse owens. It is amazing that after jesse owens showed eight off, the racist, race off, jesse came home and could not sit in a diner and have a hamburger and he had in the basement of his hotel. What are your thoughts about civil rights in america . It is terrific you asked that question. I happen to have an entire chapter on race and i call it theamerican delusion 50,000 word study evidenced. I look at how the civil rights was reported. No major media outlet had a before 1947. South the New York Times opened its first bureau in the south. It was not United States. By most of thed National News media. Of course, as we all know, it masks substantial discrimination that is actually still with us today. Look at the inequality filters figures for africanamerican and spanish americans. We look at the incarceration rates. There are things that have improved over time and there have obviously been some gradual changes. The fact that we have a president of the United States that is in a white house built by slaves is incredible, incredibly ironic and interesting. The fact is, yes, we have lied to ourselves and the world about race and how we have handled that subject for the last century. For the last 50 or 70 years. Brooklandville, maryland. Rob come a republican caller. Go ahead. Are you there . To pennsylvania, democratic caller. Youre on the air. Think the biggest problem is that people believe what they want to believe. This is not the Information Age. This is the mint the ms. Information age. I have had people tell me some of the crazy stuff about where obama was born, about obama is going to change the constitution , when every 14yearold knows he cannot. This is a crazy time. The craziness is people believe what they want to believe. Host where do you think that comes from . Here i i dont know think about a lot. I am 66 and i have too much time to think. I think about a lot and i do not know. Guest i think it is pretty clear to me that this is absolutely correct. I have a significant problem do not know when exactly this happened. There is a gradual bifurcation of information in the country. It has always been around with the two parties in back probably a century. Got morehe two parties sophisticated with their messaging sometime around the 70s and 80s. The 60s with the Republican Party after goldwater. You can look at what happens with the Democratic Party in 1980, after the shellacking they got in the 1980 campaign. The messaging by the parties has gotten more sophisticated. But actually, the other thing is, i have to say, the media. Back in 1980, political ads were 80 million revenue for the Television Media industry. Today, it is more than 1 billion for every campaign. We should get some sort of that means what is often desolate has often paid for media lies that significant . Folks saying things and slamming each other. Tvause local media and local channels have no incentive to cover politics, you notice they cover weather and sports, but they do not cover politics less than one or two or three percent of news is politics. They do not want to cover politics because theyre selling ads for politicians. You went to a local tv station and say, hey i am running for this. Maybe should have me on one of your Public Affairs shows on sunday morning, where very few to watch just kidding. They say, no, you should just buy an ad. We have done this to ourselves over time. Humans also has a tendency to listen to things they agree with. I do think we have a significant problem. I think it is a great point to be made. We have got to start opening our minds up to other information. Every reporter needs more than one source. Needs more than one media source. Media literacy is valuable and not having anyone Single Source of information is very important, i would say. On our line for democrats, new york. Bill. Caller do you think the official version of 9 11 is a lie . I know there are folks who think that. Investigative reporter over the years, i have tried to shy away from things that have already been investigated at nausea him. The case of the kennedy assassination, when there were , at someore books point, i stop looking. 9 11 is not as far back, but i have not had time to look into that. I know there are folks who basically except what the 9 11 commission and others have said. I do not have any compelling reason to doubt it. I know others do doubt it. North carolina, republican. Caller i just had a comment and then a follow russian. Followup question. Bush saying we went to iraq war because of weapons of mass disruption mass destruction. Dvd witht a video clinton in the 90s, saying virtually the same thing. Then later in the 2000s, john kerry and Hillary Clinton, senator clinton, saying the same thing. I think the common denominator very poor intelligence from the cia for not knowing the truth about that. I agree the cia intelligence is a relevant factor. That is a whole other subject. If you recall, the Bush Administration wanted there to be more intelligence inside the cia. The point of the Vice President making personal trips to langley, a little unusual for the Vice President , and trying to create additional intelligence gatherings in the department of defense, that we had a problem with our intelligence is rather obvious. We were also trying to manipulate the intelligence to justify the war. Democrats who supported the war, many of them looked, if you look at many of the polls about us wanting to attack someone in the first 72 hours after 9 11, they were around 60 . Everyone america in america was very mad, myself included, and everybody wanted to get even with somebody, whoever it was. Our initial response was afghanistan, before the we dealt with that problem entirely. He was not known for his adventurism with Foreign Policy and kerry didnt get elected. Host many remember our investigative journalist, the author of 935 lies the future of truth and the decline of americas moral integrity. What about the impact or the role commercial journalism has played in the decline of americas moral integrity . Guest i do think i think the media has some major complicity here. I think that over time investigative reporting has slipped at the commercial networks. I was there there for 11 years. As sound bites have gotten shorter and the appetite for original investigative reporting has waned, theres we used to call quick and dirty stuff. Theres not a lot of original digging by people. Most newspapers and news organizes today have half as many reporters as they did years ago. Since 2000, weve lost about 30 of all professional journalists in america. Thats alarming. The problem is we have added 100 Million People and the budget is 18 times larger. So the need for indepth journalism is greater than ever. We have instances in my book where journalists were told by executives dont cover that story. I certainly have a number of personal stories also in that regard. Host why did you leave 60 minutes . Guest the short answer is the i was asked to take out the name of the founder of 60 minutes best friend, who was in one of my scripts of multiple drafts for a 60 minutes segment. I had no choice. I would lose the entire segment, which was later nominated for an emmy, if i did not compromise and take the name out of the script. Im still mad about it to this day. I had a fouryear contract. I was married with a daughter under 10 a majority mortgage and no savings. I quit the next day. I had no interest in meeting with them. They were shocked that i was doing it. That led to me starting the center for public integrity. I didnt want anybody to tell me what to report. That fundamentally was the problem there. Had it happened before, yes. Had it happened at 60 minutes before, yes. Had it happened at a newspaper i work at way back when, yes. Its called spiking stories. This goes back a century in journalism. There are famous journalists who had these problems too. I didnt like it one bit. Host how do you get your news . Guest i try to have different sources. I watch news broadcasts of various sorts, obviously cspan. But i do still watch 60 minutes and cbc sunday mornings. I think for morning shows and evening news, magazines those are the two best shows. I read the New York Times and Washington Post every day. And i try to look at other sources around the world because im involved in International Reporting as well. Ive traveled around the world and i created the the organization with journalists on 70 countries. Im interested in news around the world. You can only consume in enough to get in the time you have. But i try consolidate as much as i can. Host back to callers. Caller good morning. How are you . Sir, my name is Arnold Joseph white. I would like to invite you to read a book that i cowrote that i have online. Its entitled divine 9 11 intervention, a true story. And id like to have a statement about the book thats in the form of a question. You know host arnold, we talked the 9 11 investigation. Im going to move on to lee, independent caller. Caller good morning. You know, i like a good Conspiracy Theory as much as the next guy. I like politics. I can hang out with anybody else. The problem we have in this country is that we dont have enough jesus in this country. Thats our problem. We teach our children that home sexuality is okay. We murder our babies. We teach our children they come from monkeys and then were surprised that theres no morality. Host im going to leave it there. Well go on. Mary in california, democratic caller. Caller good morning. I think theres been quite a bit of news about what goes on in the ukraine, but i want to go back to last november when we had victoria newland and senator mccain over there handing out money to help the protesters. For the life of me, i dont understand why we want to pick a fight with russia. Do you have any insight on where i could look for more information . Host mr. Lewis, i dont know if you want to weigh in on that. Guest i mean, i would just we were just saying i would read a number of sources written sources about that. Media sources. Im actually more i think newspapers cover indepth things. Maybe i just read a lot. But i think thats very valuable. The economist is useful and the new yorker in terms of u. S. Magazines or british magazines. Exactly why, i dont know. I do have a degree in Foreign Policy, but i dont know that you want to hear my views on that. I think the u. S. Is part of an a coalition that involves nato. It has a ukraine interest in joining both the europe union and nato. So we have all kinds of military engagement relationships with countries. When you have a countritocountry relationship, including treaties, including with your allies, it makes it very complicated to not be interested and supportive and say things across the ocean to each other. This happens all the time. The rationale for vietnam was the see toe treaty that we had to go in because they were being attacked by the north. Thats what the main reason for us there was. Thats a long conversation. If you look deep at the treaties and the relationships and the military and diplomacy, thats how often these things work and there are folks like senator mccain and others who are interested in those things and they stand by them and have always believed in them. And they will interpret them in various ways. Both parties, people interpret that differently. Host jim wants to know what, in your opinion, is the most egregious lie in current history. Guest at the moment, the one that has killed the most people actually just in sheer deaths, more han the holocaust, more than either of the world wars is an industry saying for half a century their product was safe. And actually have doctors in white coats on tv saying, i urge you so if you want a single lie by an entity, by a person or a corporation, theres no lie that killed more people, a hundred million in the 20th century, a billion comes in this century, according to World Health Organization. There is no lie that is bigger in terms of humanity that i know of other than that. Im not making light of any of the genocides. If you study genocides closely, which i did, all the genocides of the last century involve lying and twisting information by the leaders in power or controlling, getting rid of the reporters. So information, manipulation of information is the first step to totalitarian states. All of those results in millions of people, all the horrific things weve seen happen, including rwanda. First journalist in the history of the world was convicted of war crimes from rwanda because of their role in inciting the violence that occurred there that killed close to a Million People. There are a lot of egregious cases, but in terms of sheer body count, theres no question which is the worst. Host you reference water gate. Why nixons exit matters 40 years later. Were coming up on the resignation. This man writes the memory coming as it in tandem final throes of the vietnam war guest i think thats right. We were lied to by two president s. Vietnam is relevant because the reason nixon did the things he did was because of the pentagon papers. He was livid that someone leaked that to the press. He wanted to get elseberg, thats why he created the plummers. Theres a direct connection. We were lied to by two president s and we are still living with that and we have that cynicism today. I think thats exactly right. I was working for a republican senator a few blocks from here in 1974, the most amazing period in history to live through almost and to be around all of that and see it and then five years later i was working for Carl Bernstein for abc. I was covering the trials where eight members of Congress Went to prison. How could you not be suspicious of those in power after you lived through that . I think its a good point hes made. Host the sound section has this piece from White House Council still sharing nixons secret t prolific author hasnt left water gate. The 40th anniversary of nixon resignation. Interested in reading . Guest ive been collecting books on water gate. I am impressed that john dean has gone through a thousand hours tapes. I cant wait to read the book. Im going to make time to read it host the Associated Press reporting this morning that starting today, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of nixons resignation, portions of the tapes will be published each day. The postings begin with nixon recalling the day he decided to resign and end saturday, his last day in office with the 37th president discussing his final day at the white house, gave a short speech and boarded a helicopter in california. Hi rich. Caller im 35. I first had recognition that maybe america may not be the most awesome country in social media going on youtube and twitter comments and reading this hate of america. I didnt understand why. That kind of sort of got me to try to open my mind a little bit that things are maybe a little bit different than how i was brought up. My question to the author is, you know, everything is relative. So what would the if you were in russia or brazil, are we par for the course . Whats going on here . Guest we wouldnt be writing a book like this in russia. I have known russian journalists who have been murdered, and in various countries that have been murdered. But how are we regarding other countries . I have a section on this about Foreign Policy, a whole chapter. We have overthrown or helped to overthrow 11 countries in the world in the last century. Many americans are shocked that people dont like us. We view the world as our playground and we have done a number of pretty terrible things. Weve killed thousands of people in the name of democracy, which often means opening their markets up to their companies and their products. I have a whole chapter on various examples with one explicit example which you can read about if youre interested. So how do we stack up . Do other superpowers have adventurism . Right mow the u. S. And china are vying for a strategic interest in china. China is buying up submineral rights to african countries. The u. S. Is beefing up its bases in africa. Is there any writing about this in media . No. Its not been noticed. Its actually interesting. So there are large, powerful countries that do things overseas and do similar things. I dont think we are as benevolent as we want our own people and the world to know. If you look at our record, its pretty substantial. I understand how people feel. If you travel a lot, you certainly get it because you hear it all the time. Host well go to arizona. Jim is there. Independent caller. Go ahead. Caller good morning. This is jenna. Im just wondering have you heard of the bill deberg group and have you been invited . Certainly president obama was invited to the last meeting. Host whats your point . Caller my point is that, actually, the billdeberg group is wanting a oneworld order and there are many highstanding cbs, abc host you think they are all behind this . Caller yes. Host lets move on to lejuan in georgia. Caller good morning. Host go ahead with your question or comment. Caller mr. Lewis, let me make this comment. The guy in virginia talking about smoking is legal, its also it may be legal, but im sitting right nowhere cant hoardly breathe on an oxygen machine. Just because its legal dont make it good. Im one of them democrats that like for a journalist to come on and tell the truth both for democrats and for republican. Call the truth how you see it. Just like this morning ms. Greta, you twice repeated something that was incorrect when the girl said something about the immigration, you said the past immigration bill they had passed the immigration bill. It may not have been the last four or five or six months, but they did pass the immigration bill. Host right. Comprehensive immigration. We were talking about the emergency funding for the border. Caller as a matter of fact, it had several billion dollars in it. Mr. Lewis, this is my question to you. You hear all these republicans coming on here host we lost him. My apologies. Sherry in arkansas, independent caller. Hi, sherry. Caller good morning. I just have a question. What is his definition of morality . Im a little confused. You guys shut down the caller who called four or five people ago, saying when he stated he said something about jesus not being enough. There is not enough christianity in this country. Anyway host thats a good question. How do you define morality for this book . Guest well, i dont want to sound like jack web in dragnet. Im just the facts kind of guy and i stick to documents and interviewing. Im not a philosopher. I believe that there are certain ascertainable facts, and i think they are useful to note. Thats what i do for a living. Im not that complicated beyond that. I do think there is such a thing as right and wrong. I grew up learning the 10 commandments. But i know we live in a Pluralistic Society with various codes to live of a spiritual nature thats not based entirely on u. S. Laws. I think we all have to be good citizens, we have to decide how we want to do that. We cant have a civilization or society we cant get along with each other. Beyond that, im not an expert. Host trooper, austin, texas. Democratic caller. Caller im so pleased with you. I just bought your book. Youre a truth seeker. So later on i want you to check out the catholic church. Thats the fullness of the church. Heres what i called about. Can you explain to these people how the propalestinians are being persecuted, they may even be in what we call a slowgripping siege and its been going on for some time . People another thing, i dont know whos really shooting those rockets. The math doesnt add up. Host mr. Lewis, im not an expert on the israelgaza conflict. Guest im not an expert on that conflict. We have a deepseeded problem that goes back centuries and decades. We have a group of palestinian folks who have not who have been unhappy and have lived in very poor conditions for decadesful the u. S. Helped to create the state of israel and there is a subsidize community that especially interested. Im not an expert on that conflict. Do i think that what has happened recently is outrageous and disturbing . Yes. Do i know what the answer is here . Im not an expert. It seems like at some point the israelis and the palestinians ought to work this out and the palestinians should have some land. Theoretically they have a settlement area that the israelis are very fast to settle themselves. If you talk to folks outside the u. S. , israel and the u. S. Are somewhat isolated in the logic of their position. Im not an expert in the middle east. I just know that its not being solved and its great that theres a temporary ceasefire. But there has been strife there for many, many years and its got to be resolved somehow. The u. S. Is in a terrible position in a way because we are trying to be neutral and objective as the worlds leading superpower. But we are not exactly impartial either. So how are we going to really solve it . Its really up to the u. N. , but the u. N. Is not probably Strong Enough to do that. And we have not allowed it to be Strong Enough. The u. S. Doesnt want to participant fully in an organization it helped to create in 1948. Thats a long story, very complicated mess. It goes way past those two people, frankly. Host the passing of reagans former press secretary james brady, dying at age 73 yesterday. Did you know him . Guest i met him once or twice. My sister worked there as well and she knew him very well. I was also at abc news when the shooting occurred and i was there within 10 minutes of the shooting because abc news was down the street from the hotel where it occurred. I was also sent to cover the arraignment of john hinkly and i was also in colorado investigating who hinkly was and what he did in the days before he came to washington. And i have followed with jim brady and his wife did with gun control just in general as a citizen and a journalist. Host what impact do you think the story of the attempted assassination had . Guest it didnt help al hague who said, im in control here, and he became a character figure, in a way. It made politics less direct and more security was instituted immediately. 9 11, everything increased. But the beginning of the bubble there was always some degree of bubbleful remember Harry Trueman walked do down the street and a someone tried to assassinate him. Back then there was almost no security. Peaceful street was open. We have gotten more security over time and made our leaders less accessible over time as a byproduct of that. I think jim bradys courage and his fight to survival and things he did after that is unbelievably special. He devoted his life to public work before he was shot and after. Im sure were all thinking of the family now. Its a rough time, im sure, for them. But they also know he has not been well for years. Host Charles Lewis, thank you for talking to our viewers this morning. The book 935 lies the future of truth and the decline of americas moral integrity. Coming up next, well open up the phone lines and get your pulse on the midterm elections. Do you plan to reelect your members of congress . A u. S. Official says about a dozen members was killed in the attack today. The details are still unclear and the numbers could change. A man dressed in an Afghanistan Army uniform opened fire on foreign troops at a base west of kabul. Officials say the shooter was killed. General motors has made progress in fixing its recall website so that it correctly lists the cars that need the repairs. The Company Expects the site to be fully corrected this year. They said last week g. M. s Identification Number lookup system has been incorrectly telling people their cars arent being recalled. A new poll says 6 in 10 of us think the economic benefits of good highways, railroad and airports outweigh the cost to taxpayers. There ises will scant support found for some of the most frequently discussed options for paying for construction of new roads or upkeep of existing ones. 58 of those surveyed oppose raising federal gas taxes. Americans find private companies for expansion in exchange for toll fees. Host we are back. It is primary day today in four states. On thursday in tennessee, saturday in hawaii. We thought it was a good time to take your temperature on whether or not you plan to reelect the incumbent in your state. Want to get your thoughts on that. You can call us or send us a tweet or join the conversation on facebook and send us an email. This is from the economist u gov poll that shows congressional Approval Rating do you approve of the way u. S. s congress is handling the job . 71 disapprove while 7 approve. Then we showed you the gallop poll from mid july. The congressional Approval Rating, more than 1 in five say replacing all members is the best way to fix it. You can see the Approval Rating at 15 in the latest poll in mid july. Do you plan to reelect your members of congress, come november . We want to get your thoughts coming up. First joining us on the phone to talk about the kansas primary is Tim Carpenter, the state house bureau chief for the topeka capital journal. Pat roberts has been in place since 1980 and is facing a tea party challenge. Who is challenging him . And whats the prediction . Guest this has been a slug fest. The pat roberts is defending against milton wolf. Its been a volatile interesting race. I would imagine that roberts will win this primary, but one interesting point to follow is whether or not that margin is thin. If its thin, it might suggest he is vulnerable. Host the role of the tea party in this race. I want to show our viewers this tea party Citizenship Fund that invested 75,000 to broadcast a kansas Cable Television link to senator pat roberts. Here is the ad. Get your take on senator Pat Robertses doesnt think he should have to live under the same laws. He takes an exemption from obamacare. He wants special treatment. When congress realized how bad obamacare was, they asked for a special exemption. Congress got it, roberts took it. Thats wrong. On august 5th vote dr. Milton wolf to send a message. Repeal obamacare. Tea Party Citizens responsible for the content of this message. Host Tim Carpenter, are the issu issues debated in washington and advertised in this race having an impact on voters . Guest i think so. If you did some polling, you would learn in kansas the Affordable Care act is highly unpoplar. One thing republicans can do in kansas is simply run against barack obama and the aca and they will get traction. Thats why this ad has come into the mix. I should add that factually their ad is challenged and perhaps misstates what pat roberts experience with the aca is. Host in what way is it incorrect . Guest it asserts roberts took an exemption to obamacare. Thats not true. Host this has been guest the ad is wrong. Host this race has been described by the Washington Post as one of the most colorful in the nation. Whats been happening . Guest yes. So roberts has been emphasizing that he wants to convince voters wolfs character can be defined by the fact he posted to facebook xray images of dead people accompanied by undignified remarks that were described by wolf as humor. There is now an on going state medical issues investigation of wolf. Wolf who is a distant cousin to president obama says that roberts 47 years in washington turned into a de facto senator from virginia. Roberts owned a home up there but hes a legal resident of dodge city kansas. Wolf thinks roberts is out of step with constituents. Host the voters going to the the poll today, it is looking right now that senator pat roberts could beat back this challenge from Tea Party Challenger martin wolf . Guest youve got to remember in kansas, republicans have won every u. S. Senate race since 1932 and its very difficult for challengers to, democrats or republicans or otherwise, to take on these incumbents. Host why is that . Guest i think congress generally is unpopular. But people like what they know, they like their guy, their person in the house or senate. So i would have to just you would have to lean from day one to the incumbent and senator roberts has been around a long time, has made a lot of friends and a few enemies. I would have to assume anything could happen today. The voters decide. Its the gratest greatest poll we have. I would assume that senator roberts would prevail. Host theres a couple of house primaries. The fourth district, whos running . Guest you have the incumbent mike pompano payio and hes being charged by todd tea heart. Both have experienced name recognition and deep pockets backing them up. So its become a vicious race. Whats been interesting is that its become a grudge match. Tee heart is funded by a wichita oil man who lost a previous Congressional Campaign to pompano payio. Guest what about the First District . U. S. Representative tim huls camp is the incumbent there. This year hes got a primary and general election. His camp was highlighted when the farm bureau declined to endorse him. There are outside groups upset with his views on farm policy. He was kicked off the House Agriculture Committee by speaker boehner. The opponents have aired uncomplimentary ads of him. This has given bounce to a Republican Campaign by a guy who moved to kansas a year ago from california where he taught school and dabbled in movies. Host so those are the races to watch out of kansas today. One of the fullest States Holding a primary today. Lets fast forward to the governors race in the fall. Whats the latest for Governor Brown back. Guest National Political writers have been drawn to this. No one would have predicted his reelection would be a struggle. Hell win the primary today, but whats interesting is how deeply Jennifer Wynne digs into his hide. This election will set st stage for the fall when brownback will go against a democratic nominee who is the House Democratic leader in kansas. The polling isnt very robust here, but i would say layman would suggest this as tossup three months out. Host Tim Carpenter with the topeka capital journal. Thank you for your time. The other States Holding primaries today, michigan, missouri, and washington. Well talk to a michigan report coming up. Want to get your thoughts on whether or not you plan to reelect your members in congress. Patrick, democratic caller, go ahead. Caller good morning. I voted against my congressman. It looks like ill probably vote against him in the general. My call is about the election in general thinking about the only two members who eric canter. How can we make races more competitive . Im befuddled by the frustration. We like our congressman, but we hate congress. Yet we elect the same people. So just expressing a little frustration at that. Host all right bill in florida guest i agree with the caller before me. Host i apologize. Our connection is terrible with you. I hope you can call back and we can try again. Well have to go to phil in pennsylvania. Democratic caller. Caller i currently have a republican representative, charlie dent. I will not be supporting him. I we do not have Anyone Running against him. The average american could not support him if they followed his votes . What vote in particular . Guest he voted 50 times to repeal the Affordable Care act and weve got 600,000 people here in pennsylvania with no healthcare. Thats one. And if people would follow their congressmans votes, that would tell them who to vote for. Ignorance is bliss. Host jim, north carolina, independent caller. Are you going to vote in november for the incumbent . Guest yes, i will be voting. No i wont vote for the incumbent mainly because hes been host are you talking about the senator . Yes haguen. Now shes running her jaws now that shes not too crazy about whats going on with the illegal aliens and all that. The only reason shes doing that is to try to get reelected because host youre calling on the independent line. Have you voted for democrats before . Guest yes. Host you wont vote did you vote for senator ka haguen the first time around . Guest no. I knew what she was the first time. I know what she has been for a long time. But, yeah. Host edward in connecticut, democratic caller. Guest yes. I think all of us as voters in america should march up to the top of our nations capitol and peacefully demand that we be the ones using the technology that steve jobs left us to vote on issues that hit the floor of our house that affect our lives and the directions that our nation goes in. And im trying very hard to get all these big groups together, including the tea party, to do just that. Host okay. Will in oregon, independent caller. Hi. Caller good morning. I support my member of congress, Peter Defazio. Im an independent, hes a democratic. But he is 99 of the time representing me and i believe my district very well which is in disagreement with the other members of the majority in congress. I also support senator mercury because if you watch him in the senate, hes a very competent senator. Host what issues do you think the democrats are better in tune with than the republican . Guest just about everything. From immigration to education to having sessions of congress, getting things done, working in a bipartisan way between the two houses of congress. The democrat leadership is doing the best it can, given the circumstances of the donothing republicans. Weve got a real problem with doing nothing. Are they lazy . Are they poor . Whats their problem . Host okay. Guest wait a second. I do have one more thing. The man who is running against Peter Defazio is named art robertson. Hes lost the last two elections. Hes oregons state Republican Party leader. He wants oregonians to send to him samples of urine. Maybe youve heard this. Its an incredible thing. He wants to get elected again. Host all right. The New York Times has this headline this morning. Democrats seize unsocial issues as attitudes shift on many of them. The story says that mark referring to the center whos up for reelection in colorado is running his entire campaign on social issues. The New York Times says so will many democrats. They use the same toveng topics to offset his vulnerability on the economy. That they would try while facing the older the social changes that began in the 60s supply ammunition for republicans. Bill clinton bill and a Congress Fear of crime has reseeded enough that members of both peters propose more lenient sentencingful american households have changed. Nearly half of adulls are unmarrieded. Acceptance of samesex marriage has expanded with astonishing speed. Will you reelect your member of congress . Michael in new jersey, an independent caller. What do you think . Caller i can tell you this. I certainly will not be voting for senator menendez or lance who is the representative in my area. I will not i highly recommend that the rest of the people in the country throw out every incumbent because the problem we have is that they represent the interests of an upper 5 or whoever provides the major Financial Campaign funds. They do not represent us. Anybody who has been watching on tv, the mass slaughter of the Palestinian People and can sit back and say that these Congress Falling all over themselves to support israel to get their Financial Support for their campaigns and to watch this exhibition tell you the quality of people host dale in new york. Caller i am enthusiastically working to reelect my congressman Shawn Patrick maloany. Im working in his campaign. Im so anxious and worried that he has to win. The woman that was in congress before him had only one term. A tea party lady. Im not even going to mention her name because it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Shes trying to get in again. Everybody dislikes her. She left over 600 requests in the office when he took office that he had to clean up. Requests that she never attended to, from veterans. You name it. Senior citizens. Am i still on the air . Host you are. Guest i hate to badmouth anybody. But that woman is so evil, that she only got one term. Now shes trying to get back in again. So a group of us, like 100, in warwick, new york. Host all right. Terry in new jersey. Democratic caller. Hi fred. Are you voting for your incumbent . Caller im not going to reelect my congressman because i cant. He resigned six months ago. Host okay. Guest and so the seat is vacant. Its going to be vacant for another three months. Governor christie could have scheduled a special election to fill the vacancy but chose not to. He said it was to save money. I think its because the First District has been a democratic district for the last 40 years. I think there should be a law that when theres a vacancy, it has to be filled within a reasonable amount of time, like 60 days or 90 days because weve been without a congressman for over six months now. Host all right. Well get back to a few more calls. First joining us is fritz klug. Hes the reporter for mlive. There are five races to watch according to to fritz klug. The republican primary in the third Congressional District. Guest good morning. Thank you for having me on. That race is very interesting. It has been for a while. A lot of the stories that we have heard in recent year about primaries have been incumbents challenged by Tea Party Challengers. This is kind the reverse where we have justin amash. Hes libertarian leaning as rand paul. Hes being challenged by brian ellis who says that justin amash isnt representing constituents when he votes on issues. Host then you have number two on the list. You have the race to replace representative dave camp who viewers will know republican from there and who chairs the ways and mean chaired the ways and Means Committee in the fourth Congressional District. He has been backed by both men who preceded him in the race hes running for. Dave camp has endorsed him and attorney general bill shooty has endorsed him. He was not Paul Mitchell has spent a lot of money, nearly 5 million of his own money into that race. Its an interesting dynamic of someone whos wellbacked by a lot of different organizations against someone whos relatively unknown, never run for state or federal office before. The poll has shown that mitchell had a large lead, but it seems that host the eighth Congressional District, an open seat there. Guest thats where another congressman viewers will know. Mike rogers announced he was not going to seek reelection and hes going to have a syndicated radio show. We have two wellknown republicans running for that. Former Senate Majority leader mike bishop they are running against each other in a republicanleaning district. But democrats will have a chance in november. Polls show they are both well liked. Bishop is leading, but you never know until people vote. Host and ny reports that in the 11th Congressional District youve got a race thats similar to the amashellis race as well. Guest this one is interesting. We have terry who has been called the accidental congressman. You remember when chad mccotter resigned over the scandal. Ben volio was the only one republican on the ballot. Hes been in office the last two years. Hes been charged by an area foreclosure attorney, dave trot. He has run a strong campaign. It appears that bent volio may lose. Polls have pointed to a large lead for trot. This will be the third incumbent to lose this cycle host finally the 14th Congressional District. Whos running there . Guest we have a wide range of candidates running in the 14th. That is the currently held by u. S. Secretary peters who is not running for reelection, but trying to replace carl levin in the u. S. Senate. We have four candidates, clark who was in congress four years but lost against peters. You have state rep rudy hobs who is well connected in the trade area. We have Brenda Lawrence who is well liked. Then you have foster. Between the three, clark, hobs and morris, they are pulling in their respective support. So its going to be a competitive primary. Since it is the city of detroit it appears whoever wins this primary is going to be the one to go on to represent the district in congress. Host what are the top issues impacting these issues in michigan guest four of them are republican primaries. A lot of them are in the third Congressional District, justin amash and ellis, its who best represents the constituents. Hes often one of the members of the gop delegation he has liberitarian leaning. Thats a big issue. Who better represents west michigan in that race . In terms of the bishop race, whos going to be the better conservative voice for the republicans . Who will better represent them . I think the candidates have attacked each other on the Affordable Care act. The votes they have taken in the state legislature and thing its not clear because in those races none of them were actually in washington to vote for those bills. Host fritz klug, news buzz reporter for mlive. If you want to learn more about the primary in michigan, you can follow their reports at mlive. Com. Lets go back to your phone calls. Are you planning to reelect your member of congress this fall . Rick a republican caller. Go ahead. Caller there should be no elections for any incumbents. Anybody thats been in for more than 20 years should probably be out. Probably 12 should be out. The difference between republicans and democrats, democrats support a collective rights. We support on the right support individual rights. On the left they support social justice. We support equal justice. What im sighing is that if you read the communist manifesto and listen to obama and the democrats, its similar. Do yourself a favor, read the communist manifesto and then listen to the democrats. Host pat in iowa, independent caller. Caller i will vote for local people. I will not vote for any member of congress because there is no independent for me to vote for. Host all right. Charlie in south carolina, independent caller. Caller hi. I just moved here from new york because it was just too high in tax and i come to south here and i find a lot of undereducation, so i will not be voting for the congressmen and senators. What makes a difference, simple things like infrastructure, building new schools, initiating new ways to teach our children for our future. Theres also a thing on the ballot this year to vote on medical marijuana. To me, thats a nobrainer. Im a veteran with ptsd. That would help me immensely. But the not so progressive self, i dont think that will happen. Host the Congress Passing the veteran affairs legislation before they left town. And the president expected to sign that into law on thursday this week. In the New York Times, nick cone has the headline why house deportation vote wont hurt the gop. It says the clearest illustration of the extent to which the house gop is insulated from his spannic voters is this. The party won the house in 2012. Even though hispanic turnout in that president ial year was higher on that in midterm election. The reason is in districts held by House Republicans his pan pan igs represent 6. 7 of voters. Catherine are you going to vote for the incumbent . Caller hes a friend of ours. Im a democrat and so is my husband. We went to a barbecue. My friend dawn and i went. We to a barbecue frank had. It was fun. There was all kinds of people there. It was free food. There was no beer. But thats beside the point. Host catherine, is that why youre going to vote to reelect him . Caller weve known him since 1988 and hes a good congressman. Proud of him. Host dan, democratic caller. Hi, greta. Thank you for taking my call. Im having more of a voice here at the moment thanly in the election because were so man dered out in tennessee that one congressional race we have scott basher lay and then two years later hes out of our district into the next district over wreck maintain his seat safely. In spite of his behavior that was atroe shous and very hypocritical. So, no, i wont be voting for ms. Black. Im just embarrassed by the ignorance and the ignorance of people that will not question their information. Host okay. That was dan. Our last call for this morning, thanks for watching todays washington journal. Well be back tomorrow morning, 7 00 a. M. Eastern time with more of your phone calls, tweets, and emails. Enjoy the rest of your tuesday. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] president barack obama is announce 14 million today at day two of the u. S. Africa forum. With 50 african heads of state. American Business Leaders are meeting with him to find ways to boost economic ties. At 11 o 5 eastern well have discussion with coke. Vice President Biden will address the africa forum. Well hear from president obama with Closing Remarks at 2 45 eastern. Former Alaska Governor sarah palin headlined this years western conservative summit in denver. She called on congress to impeach president obama. Heres a look at a portion of her