The cloud was something you watched in the sky. But we had a vision a vision of what could be if we kept this material not knowing how it would be used and we are creating the future of american democracy the history of american democracy. Before i turn this over to Mitch Daniels for some words, we will look at a video because that is what we do. Look at kind of a fun some of our panelists tonight. Just give you a warning. [video clip] we have a resolution that we put forward. Roses are red. Violets are blue. If we are not home by 7 00, we are in deep we encourage the gentleman to give us some definitive time on tuesday night. I appreciate the sentiment. How would you define your ideology . Is it more liberal, moderate, or conservative . I appreciate that. I am fiscally conservative but on social issues, i am moderate. I guess what you could say what that means is i have great reverence for the past and the sacrifices of many but i also have a piece of liberal in me. What a piece of liberal means as i have the compassion and sincerity to challenge new ideas for the betterment of our country. Are differences have been frequent and they sometimes have been deep. We are involved in a common enterprise. If we sometimes we cannot live with each other, it is beyond argument we cannot live without each other. So much of that time that they should have been doing the peoples business, working on the peoples problems water in flint, job and Infrastructure Projects addressing the issues , of affordability in higher education. They are not doing those things. There is a political reality. Someone is going to be facing the attack i wanted to bring it to your attention. Of course. We appreciate you doing it. The judge was going to be a nice guy. Dont think you are going to get to go. We have already been here what . It was the day the olympics decision was coming out. Chicago was electric. There were bands, grandstands, there were people running around with tshirts and balloons. Were going to win. Midmorning comes out, not only did we not win they did not make , it out of the first round of voting. Some guy was asking me and i dont know why he was asking me what was your reaction to the olympics . I said what is this world coming to when chicago cannot fix an election . I used to have this event in indiana called a garbage can turkey roast, in a little town, we would have people who would have voluntary contributions. They would show up on sunday morning in a garage and we would have 300 people and put turkeys in new garbage cans serve food , to everybody and that was one of the ways we raised our money. Today, the highest award in basketball honors the best players in college basketball. John wooden coached and taught with honor. He was a very special human being. I am janice wooden. Areou actually know who we question mark who we are . No i dont. When some of my old friends asked if they could come along with us and later, if they could make a show, i thought it was the craziest idea i had heard. I think you know my husband . I dont know. What is your last name . Daniels. [laughter] i turn it over to what is your name . [laughter] [applause] before we came out, robert reminded me his tenure protects him in the matter of Academic Freedom against reprisal. [laughter] now i know why he brought it up. That was a lot of fun. A lot of memories. The two people i am about to introduce did not get any older but some of us did. Greetings, everyone. This is a special occasion in the life of Purdue University but for citizens of this country everywhere. We celebrate tonight the 30th anniversary of the cspan archives. As we do that, were celebrating the fantastic innovation that cspan was and also the innovator who gave the nation and the world that priceless resource. He will protest this should never be about him but in the pantheon of innovators, that is what we are known for. This is one of the great ones. He created a better mouse trap that no one else had thought of. What a valuable resource it has been. These days, there is a lot of filtering of information. Some people think it is becoming a problem. People find it far too easy to take in information and receive news that confirms their biases and is consistent with their view. They are right to worry about that. From its beginning, cspan has defined nonfiltration. The viewer sees through the unblinking eye, as someone said. The workings of our government. What an invaluable thing that has been to citizens for all these years. And now through the genius of another great innovator, Robert Browning, who, for 30 years has made this resource available to the world at the touch of a button. Through some of the most marvelous technology. Incidentally, my vhs at home has been acting up and i thought maybe you could come over and take a look . To celebrate this occasion, robert has arranged for two ideal guests, people who were featured as we just saw in a small slice of their careers, each a long serving member of congress, tim roemer for 12 and steve for 18 and have served our nation in other capacities, military service and ambassador to india. I was mentioning to tim that we have on this campus more Indian Students than any other campus in america. His service there did so much to strengthen ties between our countries and contributed to the success we enjoy there now. We thank them both for their service and to join them in the program that is about to ensue, americas premier interviewer and most humble innovator, brian lamb. [applause] brian good evening. Good evening. [laughter] brian you guys served in congress for a long time. You came in about the same time. When you look back the reason we asked you to come, is to talk about the impact of television on politics. It has changed a great deal since we all started. What were your experiences . Congressman, do you want to go first . Im not sure i like that reference, given my age. I will try to go first. I have been on campus all day today at this university and what an honor it is to be here and to have the president of the university introduce the panel. The questions i got teaching a class very insightful questions , about current politics, a very impressive student body. I am excited to be here with my friend on the other side of the aisle. We worked together and played basketball together and hopefully, made Congress Work a little bit better. I just want to say congratulations for making america a better place. A town hall for all of us to be able to pry the top of the capital open and look inside and see what is going on. In the committees, the house floor, the senate floor. What members are showing up in doing work. This transparency and this opportunity for americans to see their government is something that should not just be celebrated at this university, but everywhere in america. Congratulations to you both for the service you bring. One more thing looking at those film clips when we were so much younger, when i first ran for congress, i gave a speech in indiana on the steps of the county courthouse and my dad was driving me to the next county courthouse. My dad was always honest. I said what did you think . He looked at me and said you will get better. [laughter] cspan has gotten better through the years. Just dont show any more of my clips. I will pay you to burn the clips. [laughter] let me echo what tim shared. It is good to be back here on the campus. I told my wife i needed to go to the bookstore. Before we got here, she went to the chocolate shop. She wanted to buy a tshirt, for our daughter. She got one for herself. True confessions. While i was at the citadel and she went to school here, we were high school sweethearts. She was living with her sister. I would call and i would say is jody there . She would say no, she is at the chocolate shop. I knew she loved chocolate. [laughter] not until the last few years did i learn what the chocolate shop was. [laughter] fascinating. She has not let go of that. To your question, for me, i went to congress and i was a young man. I was 32 years old when i was elected. A couple of things i had learned early on. I had learned that even though i was young the reason i could be elected was the principles i felt had been in me from my parents and my mentors were principles that were ageless. They did not belong to me. Just so long as i held those principles, the age did not matter. I think that was why i was elected at such a young age. With regards to my experience, i had just come out of the first gulf war. I had been a former federal prosecutor. I had been a Deputy Attorney general and i had worked in the attorney generals office. As a young lawyer, the thought of having a camera in the courtroom was something we would never have considered. To come out of that environment and to walk into congress, where everything is on television for me, it was stunning. I was used to the conduct of professionals in the courtroom and all of a sudden, i am now in a theater. It was how do we decipher the difference between theater and when do we get to work on substance . I think cspan played a tremendous benefit to our society by allowing people to see the functional requirements of congress. They had never seen this before. There had been some bumps over the years. I know about the demands you placed on speakers over the years trying to get the movements of cameras i recall the controversy when you struck an agreement with Newt Gingrich and you started showing people around the floor and some were paying attention, reading, sleeping. Do you remember this . It only lasted for four or five days. Brian those are not our cameras. I understand that. The roaming of they cameras ended. That is your agreement, right . Brian we dont have an agreement with the congress. The Congress Says here is what we have. You take what we have. Not in the hearing rooms. Those are our cameras. There have been a lot of bumps with tipl started oneill when Newt Gingrich called him on some things. He wanted the cameras to come back. Which was not our decision. To you can see there were not many people in the chamber. I think it is fascinating when you think how many things are left that can be shaped. How many things can be done with a shake of a hand. There are not many. When you think you have been able to achieve what you have done through the years, it says a lot about you. Brian lets get back to [laughter] let me tell you about the other things i dont like about you. Brian you know everything about television in the house has not been great. Not the negative, so much, but what is the downside from the standpoint of a member of congress of having television on you everywhere you go . One of the challenges you face and that Congress Faces and that we face with our colleagues is certain members of congress treat the one minute and five minute special order not as an opportunity to communicate with constituents or talk about policy, but to make themselves a celebrity. Ultimately, it is the members of their constituency or their state that will reelect them or send them home. You have to remember this. We had colleagues from ohio that did one minute every single day. He would end every one minute with beat me up, scotty. Many of your students will not get that reference to star trek. 45 seconds was not much better. [laughter] rep. Roemer he played to one issue and would rarely attended his Committee Assignments and do work. That one minute defined him. On the other hand, i thought Newt Gingrich said something fascinating he said cspan was the twitter of the 90s for him and his agenda. He strategically thought through how would they use the one minute time. And the special orders to talk about policy, to talk about the strategy, to convince People Welfare reform was going to be one of their key issues and to do it through a combination of tv and entering into the record. Speaker gingrich said that know how, how they used cspan, helped them get back in the majority. That is neither a good nor bad thing but that is one of the ways people can use the media to their ends. Brian do you have any stories you can remember where you were affected by being on the floor and a constituent back home reacted in a certain way that impacted you . No. [laughter] i cant. Brian i asked the both of you can you remember where you might have been back in the district and you sensed people might have a better idea of what the house of representatives and congress did . Let me go back. Obviously, go prosecute the president of the United States and see what happens to your life. Being named the house impeachment manager was life altering. I learned quickly i remember the Judiciary Committee we were just organized and were moving into consideration the articles of impeachment. I am walking out of the building and cameras were set up and an arm reaches out. Very seldom does someone touch you or grab you. This reporter says congressman and you get consumed. There were so many cameras. They were asking so many questions and foolishly, i answered. I then left. Reaction the reaction not only by my constituency and across the country was so emotionally charged. I realized when i walked away and back at my office, telephones are going off and my chief of staff saying what did you say . It was such an emotionally charged issue. Me to say, wait a minute, if i am about to operate i wouldsecutorial mode, no longer speak with the media. It was not until the impeachment trial ended with a vote that we walked over to the hall and it was the first time i spoke and the following day, i resigned from the Judiciary Committee. It was a very powerful brian why did you do that . Because i had made a personal decision i would not serve one more day with members of that committee that had dishonored themselves. The reason i said that was we were charged to spend this time in the building and members of that committee would not even view evidence and they argued it politically and they never assumed their role and took it in a serious matter. I did not want to be part of that body. Brian you were there at that same time. You have been close to the clintons, if i remember right. That was a tough time for everybody. My constituents, if they saw me, that was one of the first times i remember throughout my six elections where people would talk to you with veins in their neck, the pulsating of their eyeballs, the people would be so angry on both sides. Republicans that wanted you to vote to get rid of this guy because they thought he had shamed the office. And maybe possibly, impeachment standard. Democrats telling you this guy did something terrible but it is not an impeachment you should vote for. I voted to go forward with the investigation because i thought as steve said, we should look at the facts. That caused me a great deal of heartburn at the white house. The white house thought, here he is off the reservation, if he is going to vote to investigate this, he might vote for impeachment. What i have always told my constituents is i will look at the facts no matter what the Party Alignment and my and what my leadership tells me, im going to do what i think is right. Whether it is a democrat or republican president. I openly voted against the impeachment standard. Those were tough, difficult days for everybody. One more thing i think is important for the audience and the subject we are on today, is i think it was also i was looking for something other than impeachment. I went to republicans to talk about censure which i thought was the right attitude and action to take against president clinton. What happened was republicans ultimately were against it but initially said we agree with you but i will get a primary if i vote for censure. I have to go all the way and vote for impeachment. One of the problems we have in america is big money and politics in politics and gerrymandering. We have groups across the country that are either very republican and can only be challenged in a primary or vice versa. Very democratic, and only a democrat can challenge you. There are fewer seats in the middle that represent where most americans are somewhere in the moderate between the two parties. We have only about 5560 competitive elections. We do not have a great republican democracy in the house of representatives anymore there are too few contested elections. People are playing to their primary base and not to their constituents. In 2011. U both left both serving about the same number of years. During those times you were in congress, in each case, you were in the minority and a couple of years in the majority. What impact did television have if you are in the minority or majority . Did you use it differently . Did you think about it differently . Yes. You do. When youre in the majority, you have the responsibility to govern and you are moving an agenda that is constantly under attack. Youre trying to figure out how i protect that as i move it through the legislative process. The minoritys job is to be that loyal opposition. They will do everything they can to grab attention because they are like, i might not get the votes and i need to grab as much attention to my issue as i can, so they begin to act differently. I would say there is a difference in the decorum. When youre in the majority versus the minority. I would basically agree with a slight variation in the minority. When you are in the minority, it is not only no against some of the government proposals by the majority, although i would often reach across the aisle and vote with these guys. It is also grabbing that microphone and explaining what your no vote means. What is the option . What is the option to the no . I dont think either party is doing that well these days. I think the democrats, we cant just be the no to trump party. Ok, we disagree with the president. Here is what we would do differently. You use that minority position to articulate the differences with not just fire the other guy, but why do you want to hire me . Rep. Buyer what i have a witnessed over the years is there is a loss of the art of debate. Members will come in with the prepared statement. All drafted. I have come in with those before. But when it comes to the Committee Work you know, youve , got to be able to think on your feet. Youve got to be able to have the dialogue to move something forward. It cant be when i talk about good pieces of legislation it is , one that gets molded by both parties. Right now, there is this division where it is my way or the highway. It shouldnt be like that. Brian how much of that is televisions fault . We have been accused of being the problem. Rep. Buyer when i became a full committee