[laughter] the 30th annual Miami Book FairInternational Closing author is Chris Matthews of msnbcs hardball, and the Chris Matthews show, as carter said, thoughtful criticism and close scrutiny of all government officials by the press and the public are an important part of our democratic society. Chris matthews has fully em embraced the notion through his work in the media, political commentary, and several best selling books. As a speech writer for president carter and receiverring as serving as chief of staff, Chris Matthews has been on the front lines of politics for several decades with a look into the personalities of the worlds most influential power players. Newest book chronicles the spirit of cooperation with classes of conflict that was the relationship of tip and ronald reagan. It is before six oclock, and as tip advised reagan, after six oclock, we can be friends, but before six, its politics. Without further adieu, ladies and gentlemen, lets talk politics, and lets welcome Chris Matthews. [applause] mathews. [applause] [cheers and applause] must be women. [laughter] whose frowning at me . One guy. Looking around for the france. Its great to be down here. I love this place. I love the weather. When your kid, summers are warming to get high. For some reason, summers are always warming your kids. Anyway, i wanted to read a book about something i knew about. I have three books inside. This is the first of three im going to. The other ones about the 60s, what i was really like. Every time i meet a kid come everybody here knows what im talking about. The 60s are just exciting. You could hear the music right now. Im a walrus. You can hear it, right . I heard it at chapel hill when i said that gore. Its great. Even if you wanted to drugs or crazy stuff, it was great entertainment. Because it was all around you and i was always a show on campus. It was a free time. And so, i want to write about that going into the peace corps in 68. [applause] sure was. Peace corps. And on the peace corps knows exactly what it was right. Even if we got things done for nothing compared to what it did for us. Changed our lives absolutely. I want to talk about that because were the only white guy guy like i said never been. Telling people not to keep their books and run businesses. I knew a little. I didnt know a whole lot. All the other guys for mbas. I was convinced of is equivalent to an mba. Didnt hurt anybody. The whole idea, but will part with the mamba snake it tried to jump in my window when i drove by it and its a sixfoot long snake. The garlic this. They galloped vertically. The attacker nervous with them and theyre going youve got 15 minutes. They keep coming at you until they get you. So this was over my when i was driving one day. You can see the heat waves coming up the dirt road. So i wasnt talking about that. This one guy said i never thought in my life id be driving a motorcycle in africa over a snake stone. [laughter] i never predicted that happen in his life. The other book i read about growing up. Anybody catholic here in the early 50s catholic . Stuart mary. It was like growing up in dublin 200 years ago. The rulers at the edges on them, but will hang. She just died, so im almost free. I cannot muster a top web. They all had to be goodlooking. The girls i got to class the racers had to be goodlooking and the way the nuns made their decisions totally autocratically. Blackandwhite milkshakes or chocolate. Blackandwhite mint b. Nielsen. To remember this stuff . Been in love with Regina Thomas from eighth grade to grade school and she never met. Ive got to write that without my wife getting mad. It was a long time ago. He went around grade school. So thats what i wanted to write about. The funnest job, the funnest job i ever had besides what i do come which obviously you can tell i get a kick out of a lot, especially monday to went they have exhausted by thursday and friday i am iraq. But i still love it. Bill loves everything. [laughter] he likes you, girl. Go, girl, girl. Anyway, theres no doubt what a job it was. It was the greatest job. In your early 30s you bop around. Your writing speeches as the plane takes off at 45 degrees and youre taping the the next and it was just unbelievable. I read about in the book about what it was like to lose. Got lost in seattle after election day. Total drama have been on the plane. Its kind of like a james bond opening. A boutique scene and the rest is about something else. Insert it gets you into it. Eventually life is like that with schwarzenegger, which is an opening scene. So i wanted to get the action going. Its a great action writing. The greatest action writing never . Henry melville, the last chapter about the hunt. I read about the kennedy book. I love to do that and get that rate. So your rep to. And then i write about being with the toughest job ever in my life, which is working with tip oneill. I lucked into the biggest job in politics for me. The topic i fighting reagan come a great communicator. The great irony is that grew up liking reagan. Without likes him. He of course is the gipper. Speaking of Catholic School, one thing they did in Catholic School in third grade they prevent a movie projector to show you the allamerican said they can begin the indoctrination. This is your orientation as a catholic. You got to know the importance of notre dame. Its all about the team. Theyre never changing the name, by the way. Its always going to be the fighting irish. Some people say it makes us look bad. Well, we do fight. I was going to call this book donnybrook. I thought two irish guys fighting wasnt very newsy. Two guys want to fight . Thats interesting. No its not. They always fight. But they did fight a lot. I thought that was the story. Then i realized when i began to study it, i looked back on it. They thought, but the only ended up making a deal. Today they just buy it. Its like they got down to the Car Dealerships to hacker without any intent of buying a car. Imagine if you were like hey we got some time. Lets go argue with the guy. No attention. Go around and argue with him. I got a better deal at the ford guy over there. Can she do Something Better for me . Thats what its like in politics. They dont disagree. They agree to disagree because they fight. Now they dont even need a reason. The democrats passed the Republican Health care bill and republicans attack them for it. This is Heritage Foundation stuff. Individual mandates, selfreliance, good republican values. The wrong guy did it. Obama did it. Obamacare was a smart move by the president. Dont put your name on it. This is an product placement. This isnt going to help anybody. I told my producers, obama on television. Its been hit so hard. Call them the president. Get the name of rest for a while. Just call the president talked to bill. I slip into it, too once in a while. Its better that way. The way i write a book and everybody here whos had an idea, i will now maybe change your life. [laughter] i try not to be sarcastic it doesnt work. Im trying to be nice now. You can write one part of readiness that rating. If you decide what you want to do is get a thought across, a story across from a series of stories, the feeling, a sentiment. You can do it in the following ways. First of all, their size tips to writing. I wouldnt be teaching it. The only time i break this rule is when i knock the staffer tv every night. Its called io name do i Say Something like what we start with this. And then i write, let me end with this and finish with this depending on my mood. If you watched me, it will tell me something. The word and disarray. Sometimes they think the word finishes right. Im not sure why. I write that stuff. I read that stuff at 4 00. We do it at 5 00 bhajan on the air at 7 00. I just really write fast here generally when im writing some in for the ages like a book or newspaper article, i follow these four or five steps. The first step is simply collect your thoughts. I do little scraps of paper. In fact, im getting attention from San Francisco papers. I just put on the table but will have index cards scribbled ideas. Just collect the quote, fax, thoughts, whatever. Just put them on the table. At 17 when added to a column. And then i would arrange them. That was called organization. Collect is the first step. Dont start writing the first sentence. Dont try to write while youre collecting. Collect can only collect your material. A second staff and only this step. Dont do anything else. Organize. But this stuff in the chronological, logical, whatever. If you stick to the stage and dont get drawn into another state, if youre just collect them, its easy, fun. You can do it drunk. Its easy. Late at night and thinking of things. Throw it on the table. Organization you should be sober for. Id be clearheaded, cup of coffee, maybe. Have fun with that. So far breaking the spine. The third stage and just as much fun, keep your heart light in your headlights. Now its time to wrap it. Youve got it all organized. Just start roughing it. Play the music. Knock it out, splash it out there. Regurgitated, but following that organization, ray . And then you get to the underfund power. Put it away somewhere, go watch a movie. Go live. And then come back and polish it. As long as you stick to those for stages, collect, organize, rough and polished you will have something done that you wanted to get done all of your life, but now its done within a week. You will have it done. Is everybody going to thank me now . [applause] it will be done. It wont be talked about. By the way, you can use the process to write supposed. And then youre locked in. You got to climb over the wall to get the cat. So when i wrote this book hen it tip and the gipper, i basically had four tools, elements. I had reagans diary, which is amazing. Im too busy to keep a diary. Reagan was president of the United States feared he would go home every night and write this very long diary entry. He would describe, you have to buy the thing to get the whole thing. Douglas brinkley and nancy reagan agreed to do all this. You basically go through it and its got weather, like a farmers almanac. Everything about the weather. Reagans god at all they are. All the social life. In other words, thats what men do. You basically go out with the west has been sent her friends, ray . You dont pick your friends. You your wife takes her friends and their husbands. Hes hanging out with people that bloombergs and justin dohertys are cool guys im sure. And hangs out with the rich crowd. They were nancys husbands friend. Hes a weird guy. Check that one out in google. So he also did this family. Hes a family is an important. See ron showing up in patti showing up in marine when they were showing up. They bring their husband or spouse. Who is bringing who is all in there. Also with this political news. What happened at the meanings . Donnie brooks, all the description. He can really like you, but knock your head off. The strange relationship, the conflict did nature of it. Its all in there. The other thing with typical male is the press conference. Every morning i got up in the congress is in session may begin reading the papers. Sometimes id be scared to death because ibm to make a something wrong. I still have this problem of saying things i wish i hadnt said. Is my life. And i get up and read the paper. I rush in and try to write a statement i think you estimate that they sometimes. He would come in, talk to the press coming in outside. This big guy showed up. There was three of us. Ari weiss, genius, very orthodox guy. It cites a professor of hebrew. Curt odonnell is a boston irish guy. And myself. The three of us with reach them on the world. Thibodeau is that these questions that were always the same. Pick a big vacuum cleaner. What do you hear . Anything special . The idea that was we better tell them everything. Whos dropping a dime on them . Hes up to something . You want us to watch them. What are the republicans up to . I want to know at all. Our job was to make sure we did know everything. They would say where we are clerks he was about 25 at the time. Ari has a beard, very religious looking guy. He would just somehow know of it going on on the hill. I knew was going on in the media world and politics in the anglos he wanted to play. He would go over and say some dantoni, like do you have something for me . I may have missed event format day. Are you going to get something for me . Out of federally based out of my office next to the ceremonial office and i would not have a statement for the day before he could get there. Then i would put it on the desk as he sat down. I let doing this. He was put down and that would be his statement for the day. Derby tip oneills opinion that day. [laughter] but i knew what to write and he knew what he wanted me to write. If he was thinking about it, hed be thinking this. If he wanted to type it up, he typed it up. I knew what he wanted me to stay. So i did that for six years and absolutely required nothing go on. Never get in trouble, never say the wrong thing. Tepid stuff of my life. All the time were up against the toughest. He was the best there was. In fact, he watch the challenger speech down here and he and i watched them while emotional about it. I said peggy arafat speech. I can tell. The next day he called a in an end to congratulate her and thank her for the country. We had good relations with the reagan people like jim baker and Kenny Duberstein and we would work deals on the site. There is a homeless guy i was on a Hunger Strike as theyre going to name a Nuclear Submarine a warship to be. It is very cat that, and he said, why are becoming a warship the body of christ . Which seem to be a reasonable thing. So i said, when it should call mike deaver because hes playing the piano. Maybe we can kind of deal with him. So i call them up and he called me back. I said this guy is on its 56th day of his Hunger Strike. He saw me eating bread has he doesnt want to be called the corpus christi. He was definitely drinking in those days. Seems like a reason to kill yourself. [laughter] but that monday, he went to reagan and the secretary of defense change the ships named to the city of corpus christi, which is what he was supposed to be anyway. Good helmet started eating again. Later on he would recognize these incredible rallies against the white house that had nothing to do with except you wouldnt believe what theyre doing now. He would organize an incredible rallies. The steelworkers at 4 00 in the morning. My greatest glory await us went to put common space is one of yours . I loved that more than anything because it meant i could cause wonder and hit the nail had been around for 100 years. And so, it was fun. Organizing stuff behind the scenes. It is a great job, a touch of her wanted to write about because they think we need that tonic. The sense of politics is fun and positive and people dont hate each other and they get done. They did it. When reagan got in trouble and 82, tip back to math. The Social Security deal really works. It really does work. On tax reform they got the race under 20 , but they also equalized regular income with cap gains income, Equity Income which is much more progressive. Tipper a letter to reagan and saddam never tell anybody this, that you got to get to thatchers second that this thing. Now we dont have work anymore. It really did stand up behind reagan when he went to moscow. He met gorbachev first. Tip came back and said he reminds me of a new york lawyer. I said dont hold me to that one. In new york lawyer, whatever that meant. It was new york lawyer, which we thought the younger guys thought that was funny. He didnt think he was the smartest reagan. Turned out he was. He told gorbachev tremendous guy is the only president weve got appeared in a separate deals for us. By the way, he really does want to reduce nuclear weapons. Reagan, like most sane president hate mutual assured destruction. He said one time, why should all the russians die because we screwed things up . He was very human about not ever wanted to have it work. Kennedy spent the last part of their jeers turned to reduce the number and get that off our back you were still making sure that one now. So it was a Good Relationship about fighting, disagreeing, but caring more about our country then the fight. Now today we have a situation where it never seems to end. We have deadlines after deadlines at work. December 13 is going to get ignored. Were going to fight right through january 15 for another shutdown. Im not a fan of the Tea Party People. You will know that. But its their type accent dont like. They have a case. The debt is now as large as gdp. If they were all crazy and attacked ex, people would listen. Shutting down the government and calling people communists like this guy, ted cruz does, calling haeckel economy. Once i saw my city cant do that. You cant talk like that in this country. Weve been through all that before. But you know, saying the debt thing doesnt matter, Everybody Knows that matters. We had a near miss and love him and another near miss this time. It like what, are you guys crazy . Politics shouldnt be a problem. It should be a solution and now its become a problem. Because in the end they dont deal. I was talking to a group of people and make it as little work for raising money to get hit by sandy. It said the country doesnt aim or democrats. They need more republicans, in a complicated. What is a grownup . Charles schulz was obviously brilliant. What he saidcharles schulz wasy brilliant. What he said, in fact, hes one of the guys that said dont expect to be inspired every day. Get up and work. Something comes to me. I dont say i dont have an idea, i think ill take it off. He said the difference between a grownup dedicated this. Kids are great. The kid gets to sit in the back seat and complain. This is how important kids. Shes on my site or she just touched me or he just touched me. Or when are we getting our . Im hungry. Whine, whine, whine. Thats it kids do. Thats their prerogative, their entitlement. The purpose to drive the car, pay for the gas and know what theyre going. They have to get there. They have to have a plan. Politics today is a bunch of kids in the back room in the backseat of the the car complaining. Its like kid, hes on my site. I dont care what side. I want a grownup. Thats the problem today