Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

River Rescue Under Way in Washington State; President Bush Speaks to Reporters in Argentina

Aired November 04, 2005 - 10:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our dramatic live pictures from Washington State from Snohomish (ph), Washington. This is north- northeast of Seattle. That SUV with the driver behind the wheel still in that raging river, and the rescue efforts still go under way. The water is just too swift for rescuers to go directly in the water. We received this update just a few minutes ago from our affiliate KING. The helicopter pilot's name is Eric Kirschner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC KIRSCHNER, KING REPORTER: We're still sitting here waiting for a dive team to show up. I guess that's their plan and strategy, to get the divers into the water and try to get to this individual. We know one person definitely in the car. We can see the driver very clearly, has his arms folded sitting here, and then the water, as we mentioned, Scott, would be cold.

With more light, you can see the brush on top of the car. This -- the tire tracks, if you're just tuning in for the first time, way up here about a good 600 yards or so. We saw the tire tracks go off the road here, through the bush area, and across this path and into the river, and then you can see how far he drifted down before the vehicle, either a SUV or van came to a halt. We've got emergency vehicles on both sides of the river, and they tried at one point in time to get down here and cut through the brush, but it's just too thick at this point in time.

So the strategy at this point divers will come in and get in off the wood side here. This is the west side here, the west bank, get back to this vehicle, try to get this driver who's right now very much stranded, and get him out to the shore, get him to safety, and probably some first aid as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And actually since that time, we've had an update from the sheriff's department. They're saying it might be that the river is moving too swiftly for divers to go directly into the water, and they might instead try to get a boat to get the driver, which as the hospital pilot was saying, you can see very clearly still sitting there in the driver's seat of that SUV. More on that as it becomes available.

Other news today, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona says the bitter partisanship that exists in Washington makes it difficult for the parties to work together. And McCain told CNN's Larry King the case against Vice President's Dick Cheney's former chief of staff Lewis Scooter Libby has become a major distraction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: As a Republican, are you in, for want of a better word, embarrassed by the Scooter Libby indictment?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: First of all, I think he has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

KING: I said by the indictment.

MCCAIN: And I say, I think he has the presumption of innocence.

KING: Of course.

MCCAIN: We ought to keep that in mind, and I think he deserves his day in court.

This whole thing is very distracting for the White House, for us in the Congress, for the American people, when we really should be getting on issues such as the price of gas, climate change, deficit spending, immigration reform. It's very distracting. I hope that -- I am confident that Mr. Libby will get a fair trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: You'll remember that Senator McCain made a run for president in 2000 before giving the way to George Bush. He told Larry King he'll decide whether to make another run in 2008 after he sees which way the winds blow in next year's midterm elections.

By the way, "LARRY KING LIVE" airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern.

Marines coming of age during the first Gulf War, star-studded "Jarhead" hits theaters today, and we'll go to Mr. Moviefone for a preview. That's ahead when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: From the thunder of Desert Storm to falling sky of Chicken Little, moviegoers can find a couple of very different choices opening on the big screen this weekend. Here with the preview is the voice of Mr. Moviefone, our pal Russ Leatherman. Hello.

RUSS LEATHERMAN, MR. MOVIEFONE: Hey, Daryn, long time no see.

KAGAN: I know, you look like this guy I used to see on CNN every Friday.

LEATHERMAN: I know, that really good-looking movie dude.

KAGAN: Something like that.

LEATHERMAN: Wait a second now.

KAGAN: Let's start with other fantasies. "Chicken Little." LEATHERMAN: "Chicken Little." Why did Chicken Little cross the road, Daryn?

KAGAN: To make a movie for Disney after Pixar?

LEATHERMAN: Well, that's a good one. But, I think it was to a theater playing "Wallace and Gromit.". Oh, that hurts, that stings. We all know the story of Chicken Little. It's the little chicken that has an acorn bonk him on the head. He announces to the town that the sky is falling, right? Well, nobody listens to him, so what ends up happening is when the sky actually does start to fall, nobody pays attention. And it does start to fall with aliens, Daryn.

KAGAN: Ooh! Has a little of everything.

LEATHERMAN: Do you remember aliens in the Chicken Little story when you were growing up?

KAGAN: No. But that was a very, very long time ago.

LEATHERMAN: Yes. Well, come on, not that long. Look, the kids might be amused by this movie, really, the four and 5-year-olds. But for the rest of us, they're going to find that "Chicken Little" is a turkey, Daryn. It doesn't fly. It's undercooked.

KAGAN: Let's move on...

LEATHERMAN: Want me to keep going?

KAGAN: ... to a totally different type of movie. "Jarhead," a war movie based on the first Gulf War.

LEATHERMAN: Well, it's interesting that you say it's a war movie, because it's based on the war, but it's than the much of a war movie and more of a character study. You've got great actors. You've got Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Saarsgard, Jamie Foxx. It's "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes. And this is an adaptation of book about the first Gulf War.

Gyllenhaal and Saarsgard play marines in Jamie Foxx's unit who spend a lot more energy killing time than killing Iraqis. Now, the interesting thing about this movie is it's about these guys who get sent off to theoretically be in this war, but days turn into weeks, turn into months in this 112-degree desert without them really see anything action. So it's more about how these guys deal with down time than it is an actual war movie.

So I would have to say at end of the movie, I was sort of saying to myself, OK, when does the movie actually start? But if you're OK with the character study and following Jake Gyllenhaal sort of through this process, you're going to be OK with this movie. I mean, a lot of beautiful visuals, and beautiful I mean stunning, amazing to look at. And you do have a great pedigree. I just didn't think it was that great of war movie.

KAGAN: All right, real quickly. George Clooney's new movie is called "Good Night and Good Luck." It's about Edward R. Murrow.

LEATHERMAN: Got to go see it. It's a great movie. Clooney directs it and he acts in it. He's terrific. David Strathain, I think you're going to see an Academy Award nomination from him for sure. And it's about what we do, Daryn, about broadcasting and what we can do today and can't do today and how we've sort of come full circle. I think even if you're not interested in broadcasting or whatever, this is a great movie. It's an adult movie. It's not in a ton of theaters, so you're going to have to look for it. But we're going to hear about this movie at Oscar time, no doubt about it.

KAGAN: All right, Russ Leatherman from Hollywood. Thank you, Mr. Moviefone.

LEATHERMAN: Always my pleasure. Bye, Daryn.

KAGAN: Good to see you. You can keep your eye on entertainment 24/7 by pointing your Internet browser to CNN.com/entertainment. Among the highlights you'll find there, controversy surrounding "Chicken Little" and other G-rated films and a look at the actor who played Edward R. Murrow in "Good Night and Good Luck."

The mayor of Las Vegas -- speaking of controversy -- apparently very serious about keeping his city clean. Ahead, his old world idea for punishing those who dirty up his town. Here's a hint. It involves chopping off body parts. Details on that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Well, here's a cool thing. We have a happy ending for you. That driver that we've been watching that was stuck in the SUV in the middle of the Pilchuck River in Washington state has just been rescued. And I believe he's standing next to that paramedic truck. If we can rerack the tape of what happened just moments ago during the commercial break, we can show you that rescuers were able to bring this boat right up alongside the SUV, reach in and pull out the driver.

He still seems to be very mobile. They pull him out there, they put a life vest on him, and then they head back over to the shore. We've been following this for the last 45 minutes or so. It's been some time since that SUV veered off the road and went into the Pilchuck River. And the SUV then flowing downhill -- downriver quite a bit.

Originally, they were talking about putting rescuers into the water, but it was just flowing too swiftly. They were able to get that boat, get the men out safely and he now, thankfully, is on dry ground. We'll have more on that as we put details together of how he ended up in the river in the first place.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Las Vegas has an idea about dealing with those who deface freeways with gravity. He suggests, cut off their thumbs. Mayor Oscar Goodman made the suggestion on a local television show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR OSCAR GOODMAN, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA: These punks, they come along and they deface it. And I'm saying that maybe you put them on TV and cut off their thumb. That may be the right thing to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to ask you your specifics on corporal punishment. I was thinking maybe a whipping or a caning, but...

GOODMAN: Maybe a whipping or caning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you serious?

GOODMAN: I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. The parents are supposed to take care of their children and government is in loco parentis. We take the place of a parent on occasion. And some of these people don't learn. You got to teach them a lesson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: That is the mayor of Las Vegas Oscar Goodman. Another guest on the show said that Goodman should, quote, "use his head for something other than a hat rack."

Let's check on the markets and see how they're doing. Not so hot on this Friday morning. They've been open about an hour and 20 minutes. You can see the Dow is down 40 points. The Nasdaq also negative territory, but less than a percentage. It is down .87 of 1 percent, or there it's down two points.

Checking the time around the country and around the world. It is 10:49 in Washington and 8:49 in Argentina, where President Bush is attending the Summit of the Americas. We have continuing coverage of his trip.

Plus, diaperless babies. It's a new controversial method that says you can potty-train your baby from the very beginning. But does it work? or just make a big mess? Look at that face. We'll take a look at that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: New parents may get fed up having to constantly change diapers, not to mention the cost of the disposable ones. But what's the alternative? Well, a number of parents are raising diaper-free babies.

Our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Zander (ph) lives the life of your average baby. Daddy takes him on airplane rides. Mommy feeds him and cleans him. But here's the one rather unusual part. When Zander has to poop or pee, he often uses the potty. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You still straining?

COHEN: That's right. Zander, 7-week-old Zander, uses the potty. And if you think that's odd, keep watching because it gets even odder. Frankly, Zander's parents, Corey Lynn Campbell (ph) and Eric Singer (ph), think American society is kind of odd for putting babies in diapers all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The idea of a baby sort of sitting in his own urine and feces is not -- you know, it is sort of -- you know, when you think about it, it's not very nice, so.

COHEN: They subscribe to a theory called the elimination communication. The elimination part, use diapers as little as possible and your baby will likely be toilet trained by his first birthday, rather than by his third like the average American baby. The communication part, it only works if parents keep a watchful eye on their baby, look for a squirm, a grimace, something that lets them know it's time to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The idea is to, you know, sort of get in touch with when your baby needs to go and then just hold him over a receptacle.

COHEN: This whole concept was so mind blowing that I joined Eric and Cory Lynn at an elimination communication meeting in New York City. It's part of diaperfreebaby.org and they say their Web site is booming, coordinating meetings in 37 states and around the world. This woman hasn't even had her baby. She's four months pregnant and wants to learn how to start elimination communication or EC, right at birth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have actually just housebroken my dog, and I know there's no comparison.

COHEN: The group leader's advice.

CHRISTINE GROSS LOH, DIAPERFREEBABY.ORG: Just plunging in and take your baby's diaper off and seeing where that takes you is a really important first step.

COHEN (on camera): Why does it matter when a child gets out of diapers?

LOH: It really does not matter when a child gets out of diapers. It's about communicating with your child about something that he is trying to tell you from the time he's born. They are born with that instinct not to soil themselves.

COHEN (voice-over): But this is where doctors think parents may be a little off base. Famed pediatrician Dr. T. Berry Brazelton says that this is more about the parents.

DR. T. BERRY BRAZELTON, PEDIATRICIAN: Why, as a culture, are we so uptight about when a child gets toilet trained? I keep wondering why parents feel under so much pressure. COHEN: Dr. Mark Wolraich is a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics and wrote their guide to potty training. He doesn't think EC is necessarily harmful, but he worries parents could get too pushy.

DR. MARK WOLRAICH, PEDIATRICIAN: I certainly sense some element of this is a parental achievement or achievement in their children as a reflection of how they are doing.

COHEN: Maybe so, but these parents point to some of the practical aspects of EC. Consider these statistics. In a year, a baby goes through roughly 2,500 disposable diapers. Multiply that by three and it's 7,500 at a cost of $3,000 before the baby is toilet trained. And every year, according to the "New York Times," 22 billion disposable diapers end up in U.S. landfills.

(on camera): So here's the big. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think why we do EC is we do it because we feel like it's good for our Nashama (ph).

COHEN: Lamell (ph) and Nashama Ryman (ph) are EC veterans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The current stats are something like 90 percent of poops and, I'd say, 75 percent of pees ...

COHEN: End up in the potty?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... in the potty.

COHEN (voice-over): Lamell watches for a sign that 9-month-old Nashama is ready to eliminate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that was a nose rub.

COHEN (on camera): That was a nose rub. So what do we do?

(voice-over): This nose rub was a false alarm. Lamell keeps watch. In the mornings when Nashama needs to go more frequently, she ends up on the potty every 20 minutes or so. That's right. Every 20 minutes. Many new, overwhelmed parents would find that daunting.

DR. MICHEL COHEN, AUTHOR, "THE NEW BASICS": You see a lot of parents are actually pretty stressed out with taking care of babies because of this performance-oriented way of doing things.

COHEN (on camera): But to do this, what happens if you are cooking something or you had to answer the phone or if you had another child. Could you really be paying attention to little signs like that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do the very best I can. And when I'm not able to catch it, like I can't even see her right now, so she could be making a puddle on the floor right now for all I know. So I just go wipe it up. It's not a big deal. COHEN: Why should she have to communicate her eliminations. She's nine months old. Why can't she just be sort of free and easy and use a diaper?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a great question. I mean, I think that really cuts to the core of why I bother with this altogether. I actually really feel like she's happier now as opposed to when she was wearing diapers, up until she was four months old.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job, kiddo.

COHEN (voice-over): And that's how Eric and Corey Lynn feel, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Usually he'll, you know, he'll sort of have a big poop and then, you know, look up at us in the mirror and just grin and smile, which was not the case when he -- before, when he was going in his diaper most of the time.

COHEN: Any place apparently is better than a diaper.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: We're going to get back to national news now, and that is our President Bush. He is in Argentina this week. He is at the Summit of the Americas. Earlier today, he came out with the president of Argentina, and we thought it was going to be a news conference. Instead each president only made statements. We're hearing that was at the request of the Argentine president, but later President Bush did meet up with some U.S. reporters and had a chance to answer some of the questions about some of the big hot-button controversial items that President Bush left behind when he left the U.S. I'm told on this tape that we're going see any minute here on CNN the president answers questions about his Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who remains under investigation also his nominee, Sam Alito and his poll numbers.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... answer a couple of questions in a second.

I do want to say how pleased I am to be here in Argentina advancing an agenda that is based upon my belief and our country's belief there are certain universal values.

One of those values is that free societies are important to the progress of men and women, but free societies also require institutions that are solid and sound: institutions such as the right to worship freely, the right to write and say what you want in the press freely, the right to campaign and express your opinions freely. It's very important that there be solid rule of law and independent judiciary.

And so I'm pleased to be down here. It's a good place to spend Laura's birthday, which is today. I knew you knew that.

I know you didn't. OK. But anyway. Don't bring it up when you see her.

I just had a meeting earlier with the Central American countries, young democracies struggling to succeed, making good progress toward making sure institutions are well rooted. I say Central America; plus the Dominican Republic.

BUSH: And we talked about how pleased we were that we got the Free Trade Agreement through, at least through the United States Congress and most of the countries have ratified it, and we're looking forward to implementing the trade agreement.

I had a good visit with President Kirchner.

You know, Argentina is an amazing country. It's a vast land with a lot of natural resources. And he's done a very good job of helping this economy of theirs and their financial picture improve. And I congratulate him on it.

We talked -- well, you heard me. I'm not going to repeat what we talked about. We talked about a lot of subjects. And it was a good, honest discussion.

Finally, I just met with our friends from the Andean nations. Good young democracies, again, struggling to fight narco-trafficking. And they were very interested in making sure that we didn't forget them and that we continue to pursue a free trade agreement.

BUSH: That was the main topic of discussion. All those countries recognize the importance of having a free trade agreement with the United States, and I assured them that our negotiators are negotiating in good faith and will continue to negotiate in good faith.

That's what I've done so far today.

QUESTION: Did Karl Rove tell you the truth about his role in the CIA leak case? And do you owe the American people an apology for your administration's assertions that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby weren't involved?

BUSH: We're going through a very serious investigation and I have told you before that I'm not going to discuss the investigation until it's completed.

BUSH: And my obligation is to set an agenda, and I've done that. And the agenda is fighting and winning the war on terror and keeping economic vitality and growth alive, dealing with the energy problem, nominating people to the Supreme Court that adhere to the philosophy that I campaigned on, Judge Alito being such a person.

I noticed today that they've got a date. I'm disappointed in the date, but happy they do have a firm date for his confirmation hearing.

We've got to recover from the hurricanes. So I've got a lot to do and will continue to focus on the people's business.

QUESTION: You've taken a beating in recent weeks. What are you going to do for a fresh start?

QUESTION: Are there going to be any staff changes? Would it help if the special prosecutor would wrap up his probe quickly?

BUSH: Well, again, you're trying to get me to comment on the investigation, which I'm not going to do. And I hope you understand this: It's a serious investigation. And it's an important investigation. But it's not yet over.

Again, I think it's important for the American people to know that I understand my job is to set clear goals and deal with the problems we face.

Now, we've got an ongoing war on terror. And my administration is working with friends and allies to find these terrorists and bring them to justice before they strike us again.

We're fighting the terrorists in Iraq.

BUSH: And, as you know, we've got a two-prong strategy, an important strategy, that one on the one hand has a political solution to it and on the other hand is a security solution to it. And we're working hard to achieve those objectives.

We're laying what I have called the foundation for peace. Because democratic nations don't war. Democratic nations will be allies with each other in fighting off an ideology that is dark and grim in its vision and is willing to use murder as its tool.

QUESTION: OK. This is not a question about the investigation. But it's about Karl.

BUSH: It sounds like one, though.

QUESTION: Are there discussions in the White House about whether or not Karl will remain in his job?

BUSH: The investigation on Karl, as you know, is not complete. And therefore, I will not comment about him and/or the investigation.

BUSH: Again, I understand the anxiety and angst by the press corps to talk about this. On the other hand, it is a serious investigation, and we take it seriously. And we're cooperating to the extent that the special prosecutor wants us to cooperate.

QUESTION: The American people, though, are beginning to question your honesty according to the polls -- 58 percent. And your approval rate something at an all-time low primarily because, it seems, of this investigation. They are wondering whether you can keep on track and whether to believe you, sir. BUSH: I know, I understand there's a preoccupation by polls by some. I think this may be the fourth or fifth consecutive press conference or semi-press conference that I've been asked about polls.

BUSH: The way you earn credibility with the American people is to set a clear agenda that everybody can understand, an agenda that relates to their lives, and get the job done. And the agenda that I'm working on now is one that is important to the American people.

First of all, it's to protect our country; it's to understand that we're at war with a radical ideology that wants to inflict harm on America and at the same time use that harm they inflict to achieve territorial ambition.

I've talked a lot recently about the Zawahiri letter to Zarqawi, which is a clear statement of purpose by these terrorists. It should be viewed for what it is: an open warning to the free world that this is a very vital war and we need to win it.

BUSH: So I spent a lot of time talking about that; and more than talking about it, acting on it.

Secondly, you know, our economy has shown amazing resilience in the face of natural disaster as well as rising energy prices. But we've got to have policies in place that make it possible for the economy to continue to grow.

You know, we're down here talking about trade. It's hard to trade with somebody if they're broke. And I've told our partners that we've got good economic growth now, but what we need to do is to work with Congress to make sure that we deal with the energy crisis.

What can we do to deal with the energy crisis? Well, we can expand refinery capacity in the United States. And it should be apparent to the members of Congress that when the Katrina hit, there was massive disruptions of our own capacity to make gasoline, which put us in a precarious position for the consumers, which would have affected the economy, by the way.

BUSH: And so we'll be talking to Congress about a further energy initiative to make sure we've got economic growth.

We've, obviously, got work to do with Katrina and Rita, the damage from those hurricanes.

And I mentioned the Supreme Court. This is a very vital issue for the United States Senate and for the country. Sam Alito Jr. is a incredibly intelligent, well-qualified person who should be on the court.

I told the leadership I thought it would be best to have the hearings before Christmas. They didn't feel like they could get the job done.

I talked to Chairman Specter. And the reason why, at least he explained to me, that he couldn't get the hearings done before Christmas was because Alito had written so many opinions and he wanted to make sure he had time to read them.

BUSH: And they made that decision. Fortunately there is a firm date and we look forward to working on that date.

And finally an issue that is of concern to the American people is border security. I signed an appropriations bill for border security, and during that signature ceremony talked about our strategy: to use technology and Border Patrol and wise policies to do our job, which is to prevent people from illegally -- not only people but, by the way, contraband, guns and drugs -- from coming into our country illegally.

BUSH: And so that's the agenda before us, and that's the agenda that I will continue to work on.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you're likely to cross paths with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at this summit.

How should Americans think about this president who's said many hostile things about you and your administration? Do you think of him as another Castro? And if you see him this afternoon, do you have any words for him?

BUSH: Well, I will, of course, be polite. That's what the American people expect their president to do, is to be a polite person. And if I run across him, I will do just that.

My attitude toward leaders -- and I judge leaders based upon their willingness to protect institutions that will -- for a viable democratic society.

BUSH: And to the extent that any leader undermines the free press, we will speak out. To the extent that any leader makes it difficult to worship freely, we'll make our positions known.

To the extent that the judiciary is not an independent organization -- in other words, to the extent that there's not proper checks and balances -- we will express our positions.

And there's ways to do so. We do so through our embassies. We can do so in forums; not necessarily singling out a particular country or person, but talking on the positive about how important it is to have checks and balances in society, about how important it is to have these institutions so that a single person cannot become the ruler of all people.

I will remind people today at this important summit that, as we talk about poverty and minority rights -- which of is of concern to many countries here -- that, one, such concerns are our concerns; and that if you're interested in minority rights, the best way to allow minorities to have rights is in a democratic society where the people actually make the decisions for government.

BUSH: And so I think this is a good forum and a good opportunity for me to express our country's values.

But they're not American values, I keep telling you. These are universal values that are true.

That's why my meeting with President Kirchner was -- one of the reasons it was so positive is because Argentina shares the same values that America shares.

They've been through some difficult experiences in making sure that those values are rooted in the society. Of course, I reminded others we went through difficult experiences in the past. And we had a Constitution that said everybody was free but they weren't.

And so what I've searched for in the world as I think about world leaders is that firm commitment to values and institutions that make democracy viable.

Thank you all very much. Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com