Shiites and master saudi arabia with all sorts of horrible things are happening. I dont think so. And so there we are. You ask about the president not getting involved in syria. He just put 200 special forces troops into syria. As far as i know, recognized by the u. N. After reigning power and the russians are there with approval by the theory of government. The iranians are there with approval. Hezbollah, the shia group from lebanon, they are there with approval. The precedent for 250 special forces into israel without that casualty . Its a point of view. The world sees what he does. Ill tell you something else. If you think the number of american troops into iraq is three or 4000, im telling you this for a fact times that amount and maybe even more if you count the pilots and crews that are doing the bombing in the ocean. Thats telling the truth to the people about some basic stuff. And that is that he had on the other hand, i also think its going to be the greatest president will have over the next 50 years. Host that is the low bar. Thanks so much for your time today. I really enjoyed the discussion. Guest thank you, robert. Is everyone ready . Does everyone have a chair mostly . I dont think its fine. Do we have microphones . Do we have seats . Nd his welcome, everyone. Chris goodwin with the Mississippi Department of archives. You will begin the final panel here in the Old Supreme Court chamber. Think the state legislature for letting us use once again this beautiful state capital for this book festival. And we think tiger rhymes and graham who are the sponsors for this panel in a president ial year coming here to say a few words about the panel is andyy taggart of that term and alsoshh coauthor along with organizer jerry nash of the mississippi politics. Its considerably dated. Its really a privilege for my partners and i too have an opportunity to participate in this way. I thank you all for participating. This is an extraordinary gift that the board in the paid staff of the book festival have contributed to our state and the sponsors are thrilled to have a chance to be a part of it. T [applause] also welcome to the great treasure that a state capital represents to all of us. If we were playing what is my line, among the three gentlemen to my lab, one of them would be able to delete to save a pulitzer prizewinningen president ial biographer. One would be able to say im a former majority leader of the United States senate. But only one of these threean gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen comic sans good conscience that he was either about this paper boy. [applause] Stuart Stevens has been a friend of mine for a long time. He will be the moderator for our panel. His father was an ivory first a law partners and professional mentors. I hold this man an extremelyn ie high esteem that or the fact hes not yet learned to play a musical instrument, stuart is the dictionary definition of a renaissance man. It truly he is good he was the first person to complete all 10 of the Cross Country skiingr. Equivalent of a marathon in the same years. Some famous saying people dont do. Hes coordinated everyone in at the political up to and including the white house, currently working in a varietyt of dairy cows, competitive United States senate and governors races around the city. The actors themselves, seven books, the two most recent would be the once familiar to this crowd. His ultimate published last fall at is the very cool last season, which is the story of making all boat one in entire season with his 95yearold father travelino around the country. His most recent book has just been published an extraordinary late and precious i suppose is the story of a strongman who sort of muscles his way into the republican nomination at a brokered convention. Go figure. I give to you my friend, Stuart Stevens. Lause] [applause] so what we are going to do, we are going to have questions for about 20 minutes, still is plenty of time for that. Before that, we will dive into this. Let me just introduce these twoo gentlemen quickly. Ive known trent lott he doesnt know this, but he was chief of staff for then Democratic Congressman. Most of us in mississippi politics of that era, we all work for democrats. I worked in all of his losing campaigns and they were to win. I was just asking about this and he can earn hes never lost an election in his life, so she maintained that he lost the student body president at university of mississippi. He now, that is no small thing for anybody. He elected to the house eight times come to the u. S. Senate or times, he was minority whip and then maturity but. The majority leader in the house and then went over to the senate and did the same thing, which in politics is pretty much as good as you can get for getting through the cycle in leadership. Hes written two books that youve got to read. One is really a memoir of policy, which i read when it came out that absolutely delightful. If you came across some country thinking about starting aou democracy, i would recommend this. This look crisis point that he wrote with senator daschle, which i send is the only book written by two former majority leader is. Now this came out last summer and talked about the crisis in our politics and where we areea headed and clearly the president ial year has proved them all wrong. But we will get into that. And john mica. If you are a writer like most o us, because john has had extorted mary career as a writer and as a public figure. Hes written seven books, won a pulitzer. A biography of andrew jackson, which is just an amazing book. I recently saw some discussiontg comparing donald trump to andrew jackson. I thought clearly he has not read johns book. Connec is he making that connection. He just finished a biography of president bush, a man that so many dead by her and love. Its really an extraordinary book that captures not only a man, but in era. Writes that was an intimidating that so john sort of rice on the sidee with the editor of newsweek. But for many of us, his most significant achievement is hes married to this wonderful, brilliant women from mississippi delta so we can claim had. If you ever have a chance to hang around both of them, you realize john jackson family. But the subject here is president ial year. I wanted to start out with you, senator. I just have to ask, how many times this year have you said to yourself after you wrote this book, that everything he talked about has only gotten worse . Thank you very much for the introduction. I want to thank everybody thats involved with putting together a mississippi but passable. This is really fantastic. I have no idea thered be such a tremendous crowd today. Even the rain didnt dampen anybodys fears. A s. Thank you to all of those. Thank you to your law firm for sponsoring this panel. What an honor it is to hear what stuart and john. He really is a mississippi guy now that he married a mississippi girl. And there is proof. There is clear proof of that because hes sitting up here with no socks on. Haley barbour would say hes aa mississippi boy with khakis and no socks on. Its a great honor to be sitting next to john. I reserve the balance of my time. Dance for the introduction, stuart. You know me and you know ivean said many times. This he thought of ever seen. Everything i thought i knew about Party Politics in american politics has been blown out of the water this year. The democratic side, too. I know bernie. Us i used to know how we could clear the senate chamber. Let him get up to speed. Everybody would leave. So i mean, its been on both sides. Im trained to analyze, where are we here . What we are seeing now is what tom daschle and i foresaw that a year and a half ago. We went through a lot of tough . Times. 9 11, the anthrax attack was in his office. We had the 50 50 senate. 100 senators, 99 of whom are 98 they should be president. I dont know who the other would have been when i was there. Trying to manage a 50 50 senate and the impeachment trial of William Jefferson clinton. We went through a lot of tough things together. In the process we developed a friendship. We develop a chemistry. I like him. I could talk honestly to it and i knew he wouldnt betray my confidence. The only thing i promised in the psilocybin ever surprise you and i would mess up and id go to his office and apologize so we became friends. A year and half ago were sitting at his place in South Carolina. Trish and i went to see tom and linda to teach them how to behe southerners. He said hey, south dakota. I said that it cannot work. So we took him some mosquito spray, tick remover, so we were sitting out at his back porch,h, tom and i am linda in trish and i were inside lamenting what had happened to the senatedownhi beginning. It started deteriorating in going downhill in 2006 anotherdb gridlock be thought of ever seen on a sleigh. Tom finally said we have to do something unusual to get a republican or democrat. Another southern conservative. E. See if we can put a boat together. So we did. We called a crisis point. At how pathetic at the time it was thinking about the gridlocko in the congress. Between both bush and obama and the congress and what we think could be done about it. We needed even more. To answer your question and not make this a filibuster, many times i said yes, this is a crisis point. The question is now, what are we going to do about it . We think we have some ideas in here. One of the things im pledged to do, even though i have a real job these days, i retired because my wife said dont you think its time to get a real job before it is too late . My goal in washington is to find anybody that will listen to me on both sides of the aisle, both sides of the capitol and if i could possibly talk to the next president , whomever that may be and say weve got to do better. Weve got to find a way to makea this place work. [applause] john, let me ask you. One of the wonderful things in this book is how you have a man who really sort of, president bush should really sort of embodies a certain area, the greatest generation. War hero at 20, had been a congressman, head of cia, ambassador to china. And i was really struck reading mass, capturing what it was forl him to then lose to billpass clinton. This theme that you have passing from greatest generation to the baby boom generation. And now we have the republican nominee who is a reality tv star. Do you think what do you think that means . Do you think this is an aberration or sort of are wha continuation where what you have done in the past Commuter Service to the country will mean less to voters . Well, i hope not. Donald trump makes bolton works name. [laughter] there are by the way no bush states for bush but is available commercially, so i apologize foe that. Trump appears in the 88 race briefly. He told lee atwater, who then told Vice President bush that trump was willing to serve as Vice President. The old man and his audio diary said strange, unbelievable, which is kind of the headline of the past 14, 15 month. I think in many ways, you know, George Herbert asher book is the antithesis of what we are seeing right now without any argument. He was someone who spent his life in Public Service as you say on his 18th earth day, june 12, 1942, 3 thingse to happened. He drove to boston and took an oath this day, later becoming the youngest flying officer in the navy. Numbers that can connect in four, he shot down and loses his crew made. He plunges into the ocean, the liferaft was near him. He almost was decapitated on the way out. If you bail out of a plane, the plane doesnt stop. So another six or eight inchestd would have been the end of thew, story. And the island in which he was shot down with the scene of her graphic japanese war crimes including cannibalism. So at various points and mrs. Bush would be upset with george h. W. Bush, he would say at least it wasnt an orator. [laughter] which is a pretty strong domestic cards to play. And im married to a mississippi and massive herd and ive never had the courage to do that. And then he gave his life toto business, gave his life toemul Public Service, in many ways emulated his father was a senator in connecticut for 10 years. But a couple of things happened while he was president and i think that we are seeing those forces manifesting themselves ever more here. Senator lott was there and i offered this for your editorial comment. One is the rise of reflexiveisef partisanship. While this man was walking out in october of 1992 the rose garden with george h. W. Bush to announce the compromise that the Democratic Congress on taxes while we were in the midst of building up 500,000 troops in the gulf, Newt Gingrich went out the front door and bob walker from pennsylvania cc is what the white house. He survived against thee president of his own party. He goes up to capitol hill and they made him at the House Republicans rally. So the president of the United States preparing for war, trying to impose some fiscal discipline on the country has his own house leadership roles on it. So this rise of reflexive freeagent partisanship was taking form there. The other, which i dont think we can minimize any mention the reality tv. Before reality tv, there wasascl cable tv. Mark twain once said history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. Trump and corrode dont rhyme, but they should give the bush family has been to this movie before. Bi theres been a populist alien or who took advantage of the new Media Techniques that the era in order to go around the Party Establishment and the pressen establishment to whip up popular sentiment that was ross perot on larry king and Cable Television in his way with the twittering the internet to the early 1990s. So i think that was going on and president bush didnt really fully understand it. There is also when i is also an acting president clinton gets a lot of the blame and or credit depending where you stand. His ability clintons ability to use Popular Culture to be a figure in the life of the country with significant. Bill clinton went on arsenio hall. He sat arsenio hall was a building at andover. [laughter] no idea. I took spanish there. He had no clue. Maybe it was the building that you know, theres certainly ao building somewhere. So these tectonic plates are shifting under this mans feet and one of the things that i think is wonderful and what is great about the culture of books and hats off to all of you all for being here in testimony to the power of god is that history tends to get right with journalists and may not always fully appreciate. K i think what has been great for george h. W. Bush as he has lived to see the shift. Many of the things he did that but are to 7 of the country to support had in 1992, the country has come to see as statesmanlike. I asked him about this a couple years ago. I said can you believe all the that are coming in. He said no, its kinder and gentler all over the place. Nt the important thing about the arsenio hall was wet. When she saw bill clinton played the saxophone, it is over. Because you know, that was something that appealed the showmanship thing we see now. Bush just didnt and i think you can say this as well to some extent, to this year. It was not his reality. This is a man, they lost a daughter to leukemia in 1953. This is a man who in 1987 goes into childrens leukemia ward in poland and the press behind him. He realizes where he is. He did not quite know what he was going into and he immediately begins to cry because his children remind them of his own daughter who died 46 years before. But he wont turn around because if he turns around, the story becomes about him and not about them. I submit to you there are not Many American politicians who would not have turned around and taken out moment and attracted the attention. George h. W. Bush, that was beyond his reality and to some extent one of the reasons governor bush didnt do well. Y senator, let me ask you. Theres a lot of debate about congress and the role of the president and the lack ofation. Cooperation. Theres good reason to believe that either Hillary Clinton or donald trump will be the next president. Do you think this is a trend that is just irreversible or do you think that you will be able to somehow get more of a balance of power back as it once was . May be just the way i am, but i dont believe anything isnt k irreversible. I think the trend has been clearly in the wrong direction on both sides. The congress has not been assuming its responsibility is, which has forced at least this president to do more things by executive order. There is no question that theyld should have come together and pass Immigration Reform legislation. [applause] and they werent that far apart. And yet, the president and the congress would not take down and talk it through. So when the book, i emphasize it doesnt take but one thing, one person that is willing to be a a leader and step up. E potent whether its congressman or senator paul ryan has the potential to do that kind of thing as a speaker. Doker. I have a lot of faith in him. Or a president to say, you know, i worked all the time with bill clinton. Op you know, we didnt agreeed. Philosophically feared he was a character, but we talked. A lot of times i didnt want to talk. He called one night at 2 00 in the morning. The phone is on trishs side of the bed. She picks up the phone and says that the president , hands it over to me. I start saying yes, sir, mr. President. We will look into that. I hung up the guide handed the phone back. She said what did he want . I said i dont know. Something about central america. But here is the point. We talked all the time. We worked through all kinds of things did budget issues, tax issues, defense issues, safe drinking water, you name it. Did we agree . No. A lot of times we press each other to the point we would get mad, but we communicated. That was true with reagan. We met with president reagan just about every Tuesday Morning that congress was in session at 9 00. Sometimes it was a person can sometimes just republicans. So this trend of not communicating is a recent phenomenon. They started developing with george w. Bush on it even