Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Pardon of Scooter Libby Continues to Divide Politics; Boeing's New Dreamliner Promises More Routes

Aired July 08, 2007 - 23:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See, I've never seen a more evil, a more vicious enemy. And he doesn't care about killing a bunch of innocent Iraqis or coalition force members. And he's going to continue to want to have that one capability through that one horrific attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANCHEZ, HOST: Straight talk from a top general on the ground in Iraq. He says the Iraqis are still not ready.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just can't stop it. We get fire lines put in. Two heads will pinch together. Blow over our fire lines. And we're off running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Too many, too intense to stop. Raging brush fires, fueling the problems of the hot West. And now the heat is moving East.

President Bush keeps Scooter Libby out of jail. And Republicans say, well, Clinton did it. Comparing, no, debating the two president's action. She's out. Now she's back in. Cindy Sheehan versus Nancy Pelosi. Who would you choose?

The next generation of airplanes. It's big and lighter, but is it better? And more pleasing to Al Gore. Huh? You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

South Dakota, Utah, Oregon, there are 419 new fires burning across the country tonight. The majority are in the West, where choking smoke and the stench of burning wood is the norm. People in parts of California and Nevada have no idea if they're going to have a home tomorrow. Several mandatory evacuations are in place tonight.

The worst wildfire, though, is in Utah. That one is so intense, so powerful, it almost doubled in size over the past 18 hours. It is happening in the West, but there is concern elsewhere because staggering heat is blanketing the East, as well.

Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Let's get right to it. There's really a lot of spots on this map that we've been able to put together for you sent to us by members of the government. Take a look at it right there. You see all those dots? You see the accumulation of dots? That's the biggest concentration right there. Let's go ahead and circle that. In fact, let me do that for you. It's right there around Oregon, where it comes in around Idaho and parts of Nevada. That's the biggest concentration of the fires.

You notice in that circle that we drew, it doesn't include the big fire that we're going to be taking you to now. That's in southern parts of Utah. There has never been a fire that compares to this one, at least according to some of the officials there. They're saying it's easily the state's largest to date.

CNN's Kara Finnstrom is joining us now from Cove Fort to bring us up to date on what's going on there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, the smoke on the horizon behind me says it all. This massive wildfire, which as you just mentioned, already has a place in history, is continuing to burn.

(voice-over): A seemingly never ending fire line now stretching across Utah. It is hot, it is dry. And this fire is continuing to find unburned areas to flare up in, charring acre after acre.

Utah's veteran firefighters tell us they've never seen wildfires as intense and swift as the six burning their state right now. They say forests, parched by little rainfall and snow, the scorching summer sun, and violent wind gusts have created the perfect wildfire season.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we are witnessing here is just extreme fire conditions.

FINNSTROM: Evidence of that, the fire tornadoes popping up, spewing out, and scattering fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So those are a very bad omen for firefighters.

FINNSTROM: It's disheartening for Utah families like the Taylors, who took pictures just one week ago of a gift store, now nothing more than ash.

KENT TRAVELER, FIREFIGHTER: The fire came right over that hill with the wind blowing. And we had about 30 seconds to get out of here.

FINNSTROM: Not enough time to save anything from this ravaging fire.

TRAVELER: Nothing's going to be salvageable except for memories. And I had a lot of good memories.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FINNSTROM: And tomorrow, management of this fire will go from state to federal hands. And that's a good thing because it means more fire crews, more air tankers will be headed in. And hopefully, that will help them get control of this fire. Rick?

SANCHEZ: Kara, filling in. Listening to your report throughout the day, as a matter of fact, watching as this thing just doesn't seem to want to get any smaller. In fact, thanks so much, Kara.

We've got some video, I'm being told, now that's coming in. This is a dash camera that's being put in front of a trooper there in Utah. And you know, it's kind of hard to make out at times. But there you see.

Now remember, this is a camera that's in front of the hood. He's going into an area. Their job is to assess which roads should remain open, which roads should be closed.

I would venture to say this is not a road that they have chosen to open, because you can barely see past the hood of the car at times. And you can't really make out what's in front of them beyond that.

There it is. That's a road. He's going into part of the fire that Kara was describing. I think this is video that had come in to us from either earlier today or late yesterday. They just sent it to us to explain to us what they're trying to do in this area.

Again, this is not a firefighter's video. This is a state trooper who's in one of those roadways around the Utah area, where these firefighters are dealing with the fires.

Now to the rest of the Midwest. Lightning blamed for several wildfires across South Dakota. Just really a horrible situation in Hot Springs tonight. A homeowner is dead. 27 houses are nothing but ash. Dozens of other properties are being evacuated. Two firefighters are recovering from injuries. And part of the state highway is shut down.

Now take a look at this. One of the state's air tankers crashed, fighting a blaze on an Indian reservation. The pilot, amazingly enough, walked away. Same story different state. Lightning is being blamed for sparking several wildfires in Arizona, as well. This one is just two miles from the Kitt Peak Observatory. It houses all types of expensive telescopes I'm sure you know of. Thunderstorms and strong winds are helping to spread those flames.

And then in the East, it's the temperatures that are on fire. And brace yourself because the forecast indicates the next few days is going to be even worse. Baltimore is doing it. So are many other cities. They're opening so-called "cooling centers" to give the homeless and others a place to literally cool off it's that hot.

In the meantime, there's some common sense advice from people who are at the National Zoo today in Washington. Here's their take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get some water and stay in the shade. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring a fan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Light clothing. Don't wear long sleeves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does a hat help?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, definitely, definitely. A little bit of water along with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Drink a lot of water or I go to the pool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Here's where the high temperatures are taking their toll. Mercury rising. So does the demand for power and lots of it.

Some of the nation's biggest utility providers say they can handle it, though. PJM and Con Edison both insist their grids are safe from blackout this year. In 2003, they said something similar. And 40 million Americans were left in the dark.

That's something to think about, huh? Jacqui Jeras following this for us to give us a sense of what's going on around the country. How hot - you know, we got the heat, we got the fires, and we got the combination there. It really seems to be showing itself the worst out West, though, right?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it really has been. You know, the heat itself across the Southwest has peaked already. It's still extremely hot, but we topped out. So we're just going to kind of level off, I think, over the next couple of days.

And you know, the ground conditions, the vegetation here has just been very favorable for wildfires to spark. And now our weather pattern has just set up in just the right way that we've just had this explosion of fires over the last couple of days.

Hundreds of grass fires have developed. It's just been incredible. So the high pressure ridge is starting to weaken a little bit. We're still getting a lot of lightning activity here. And many of them are those dry thunderstorms, the kind that don't produce much rain at the surface, but produce lightning strikes. And that has been the culprit and the cause of many of the fires.

Now temperatures in the Southwest are still warm. It's 104 degrees in Phoenix. Yesterday morning, it was a record minimum high temperature of 91 degrees. So no recovery overnight. And those of you in the Northeast that have been dealing with very nice temperatures, well hello to upper 90s. Feeling like triple digits over the next two to three days. Rick?

SANCHEZ: Thanks for the warning, Jacqui. We'll be talking to you again in just a little bit.

We've got some pictures late this evening of something that we had told you about yesterday. Interesting to watch. Now let's go ahead and put this up. And again, this is a live website that was good enough to let us show this video.

You can see that's the helicopter. Imagine you're on a sightseeing tour of New York City and suddenly the helicopter that you are on goes down right there into the bay on the Hudson River. It was boaters, that's a private boat, by the way. That's not the Coast Guard, that comes to the rescue. You're going to see right now as the boaters are going to throw buoys. One and then two into the water. Now there we go. Tight on the folk whose are getting out of the helicopter. There were eight of them in total. And they were able to all get out safely as people in New York City watched in amazement.

We also have some Coast Guard video that came in just a little while ago that we'll share with you. Let's see if this one's a little different. I haven't seen this video. So I'm looking at it for the very first time with you.

And there you see the helicopter. It's smoking. Had to make I guess what we would consider a crash landing. Not a crash itself. Certainly not a good landing because the people had to get out of there. And that's the situation there on the Hudson River just yesterday.

All eight got out. We should let you know also our colleagues at "AMERICAN MORNING" are going to be talking to three of the folks who were inside that helicopter. And you'll see that exclusive interview right here on CNN tomorrow morning on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Across America now, proof that drinking and boating can be as deadly as drinking and driving. This is a lake - one of the finger lakes in upstate New York. It is a head-on boat collision that took place there that killed a policeman and his girlfriend. They were in one boat. Police say the man operating the other boat was drunk. He was arrested.

A town of Piedmont near Oklahoma City. Oohs and aahs suddenly turned into oh no's last night. During a fireworks display, one of the aerial bursts went off on the ground. It sent people scattering in all directions. Four people in all were hurt. Two of them critically.

SANCHEZ: Now let's take you back to Utah. This is a 70-year-old woman. She's charged tonight with not watering her lawn. There's her lawn. Ugly. Huh? Well, what about that cut across her nose? That doesn't look too good either. She says the arresting officer hit her in the face with a pair of handcuffs. He says she just fell. The officer says he was going to write out a ticket, but she went inside her house to call her son. Two stories or one. Two versions.

Great news from overseas now and a happy ending to a terrifying kidnap scenario in Nigeria. This cute little girl is three-year-old Margaret Hill. Three and with her very relieved parents tonight after four harrowing days being held hostage. An armed gang snatched the girl from a car taking her to school. Her dad is British. Her mom is Nigerian. This may be the first time a foreign child was taken in a region where kidnappings for ransom are very common.

Coming up right here in the CNN NEWSROOM from kidnappings, to car bombs, one U.S. commander talks about another possible enemy in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iran is talking problem's in my battle state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, what's the plan to stop the insurgents and deal with Iran? Details just ahead.

Then later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you're better looking than Barack Obama?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell you what, shirts off. We're going to count abs. Have an ab counting contest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You asking the hard questions to the presidential candidates? Jeanne Moos with a preview.

And take a look at this. How many of you husbands can or want to do this with your wives? It's part of our best picks tonight, video picks that is. We'll bring it to you in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. Time for our best video picks. Video number three, as we choose them. This is from Finland. This is a wife carrying festival. You got to be in pretty good shape to do this. Take a look at these guys. Got to be in pretty good shape to be the woman being carried here.

By the way, rules don't say that a woman has to be carried by a man. It could be the other way around. The winner this year was Motos Usorg (ph), who carried Inga Klaussen (ph) around the track for 61.7 seconds. A throwback to the Viking assaults, remember? They would pillage and rape villages. They would kill off the men. They would make off with the women. Not exactly a feminist retreat, something like this.

So video number two, running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. This is a Sun (INAUDIBLE) festival. 13 people have been killed in this thing over the years, but in the last 12 years, nobody has died. And this year, nobody died. But really, it's like watching a car wreck, waiting to see if something bad is going to happen.

Take a look at some of the bulls as they attempt to gore, and in some cases gorge some of the spectators. In fact, they even do play by play. Here it is.

You got to give a little distance to the bull, he says and other translation. The bull's a little confused.

Video number one. This is from Lewisville, Texas. Watch this guy. Because of the floods, he doesn't know it, but he's about to hit a big mobile there in the water and bang. He goes flying over the top. He apparently had a fractured pelvis, had to be taken to the hospital, a lot of folks have been checking this video out throughout the day. So we made it our number one.

You know who else is number one when it comes to passionate delivery? Richard Quest, one of our correspondents, talking about this plane. It's called the Dreamliner, brand new, very different. Here is Richard on what is coming up here during this newscast.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The date says it all. It's the birth of a new plane. And, boy, doesn't the baby look beautiful. I'm Richard Quest. I'll have what the Dreamliner means for Boeing in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, U.S. ARMY: We always get the timing question. Everything in combat is about timing. And everything takes longer than you think it's going to take.

I believe with the forces I have now, and the battle space to which I'm assigned, it's going to take me July, August and September to clear the enemy from those sanctuaries (INAUDIBLE) to build the bombs, to store munitions, and train to conduct attacks inside Baghdad. It's going to take me through the summer months, but that's just the clearing piece. The holding piece is going to take a lot of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's the holding piece that's the problem. That was Major General Rick Lynch. He's talking to CNN's Wolf Blitzer earlier today about the U.S. troop build-up in Iraq. Lynch and other U.S. commanders say one reason more U.S. forces are needed is because Iraqi troops are just not ready to take over their own country. He says they need at least four more battalions. CNN's correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is embedded and files this exclusive report on what's really going on in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hovering into the target area, U.S. troops on a nighttime air assault south of Baghdad. Their mission capturing suspected insurgents, people the soldiers say they know were involved in killing American military personnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, move it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White, one Romeo, black five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A-one Romeo. Bull about five Roger. Let me get those names again, over.

PLEITGEN: First Lieutenant Matt Sheftik is a squad leader, the key to fighting insurgent leaders he says is finding enough evidence to put them behind bars.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know these guys are like the mafia. They don't keep anything in their house for the most part. So we have to look real hard to find different components.

PLEITGEN: Searching the property, they find what they're looking for. Ladders, picket, and barbed wire from an American patrol base, a base insurgents blew up three months ago, killing two soldiers and that was later looted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tells a lot. This is good evidence here. I would say this is a big success. If we don't find anything else then, this here is enough to bust this guy.

PLEITGEN: A success the soldiers say is made possible by the U.S. troop increase in Iraq, the so-called surge. More boots on the ground means troops can increase the pressure on insurgents. This unit alone has conducted 14 operations in just three weeks. The soldiers detained 12 people in all. They say since the beginning of the troop surge, they've been able to conduct a lot more raids like this one, disrupting the insurgency and making it harder for them to plan attacks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The added troops are helping to focus the insurgents in different areas, where they previously had safe haven and were allowed to go and basically resupply, rearm. And now they're being followed there.

PLEITGEN: However, the soldiers say disrupting the insurgency is not enough. The question they tell us is whether the gains they're making now will last.

Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, Radwania (ph), Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And besides fighting insurgents in Iraq, U.S. commanders are also dealing with meddling from Iran. General Lynch says getting Iran to stop its backseat fight is for him at least a major priority.

LYNCH: I know Iran is causing problems in my battle space. I've had 32 EFP strikes. Those EFP munitions are -- we can trace those back to Iran, no doubt. Machinist capability, weapons manufacturing capability.

And those 32 EFP strikes have killed nine of my soldiers and wounded 45 others. And we got weapons cache we're finding with brand new Iranian munitions. Rockets, hand-grenades just yesterday. 12 brand new Iranian rockets. And those rockets are destined to kill some Iraqi people. And that all has to stop. We got to block the flow of those munitions into Iraq. You know, just recently, the multi-business national center became the owner of Wasset (ph) Province as well in terms of expanded battle space. And that's a piece of the Iranian-Iraqi boarder. And we're going to work operations to block the flow of munitions into Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well tonight, the vacation is over. Tomorrow, it's back to work for President Bush. He's going to return from Camp David to face an increasingly heated political battle over Iraq and increasing pressure from both parties, because of several issues, none of which -- including the Libby commutation.

CNN's Ed Henry details the week ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a weekend at Camp David, President Bush is facing a Senate showdown this week with Democrats planning a series of votes on an Iraq exit, just as a growing number of Republicans are urging Mr. Bush to pull out most U.S. troops.

SEN. RICHARD LUGAR (R), INDIANA: I would think the majority of our forces could redeploy by the midpoint of next year, probably before that time, but by then. And I advocated a majority to come out of Iraq.

HENRY: Music to the ears of Democrats facing pressure from liberals to end the war.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: It's time for you, you Iraqis to pull together and work your way out of this civil war.

HENRY: But there are worrisome new signs Iraqi leaders can't stand up on their own with Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki facing a possible vote of no confidence by the Iraqi parliament that could bring down his entire government.

MOWAFFAK AL-RUBAIE, IRAQI NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: I can tell you one thing that after Maliki, there's going to be the hurricane in Iraq. It will be extremely difficult if nearly impossible to form a new government after Maliki.

HENRY: U.S. military commanders continue to plead for patience on the security front.

MAJ. GEN. RICK LYNCH, MULTINATIONAL FORCE IRAQ: So people keep wanting to put a timeframe on this. It's just not possible. There are too many conditions that we don't control.

HENRY: But Republicans are divided on whether time has run out.

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: Political support for this war is gone. It's eroding. SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: All you hear is an onslaught against the war. But the question that has to be asked is what do you do if you pull out? What happens then?

HENRY (on camera): In fact, key Republicans like Senator Lugar are stopping short of embracing Democratic plans to set a firm timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops early next year, raising questions about whether they will backup their criticism with action and actually force a dramatic shift in U.S. policy.

Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Also coming up, one woman on a mission to make sure that U.S. soldiers get a little love from home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Knowing that the soldiers over there are having a little bit easier through the work we do. And it's really kept me alive. It's given me focus. It's given me a strong purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Her story and how you can help, it's coming up later.

Another war mom Cindy Sheehan storms back into the political arena tonight. This time, she wants to take on a Democrat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plane is also being constructed in a different way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A different way. He's lighter, cheaper, burns less gas. No, not Richard Quest, but the nitty-gritty on that Boeing new Dreamliner that was behind him.

But first, no jail time for Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a presidential decision that has everyone talking. It's our Sunday spotlight. It's a debate. And it's serious in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: She's out. Now, she's back in. Cindy Sheehan versus Nancy Pelosi; who would you choose?

The next generation of airplane; it's big and lighter. But is it better and more pleasing to Al Gore?

President Bush keeps Scooter Libby out of jail and Republicans say, well, Clinton did it. Comparing, no, debating the two president's actions. Here we go with our favorite Sunday spotlight segment. This week lots of hackles went up when President Bush commuted the prison sentence of Lewis Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, had been facing a 30-month prison term for lying to a federal investigation looking into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Famous case, right, Valerie Plame. A judge says Libby must go to jail. The president says, no, he doesn't. So, to our Sunday spotlight we go. Joining us from the left John Aravosis of AmericaBlog.com and from the right Jim Geraghty of the "National View" online. Thanks both of you for being with us tonight.

Jim, let's start with you. Why shouldn't American who believe -- or in some cases believed -- that all of us are equal under the law, why shouldn't those Americans be outraged by this decision by the president?

JIM GERAGHTY, "NATIONAL REVIEW" ONLINE: You know, I think I must be the one percent of America who actually thinks now the punishment fits the crime. It's one of those things where Scooter Libby had his day in court. The jury found him guilty. He had -- his account of things did not match those of Tim Russert and other journalists. And the jury determined that he had committed perjury.

Now, should he spend 30 months in jail? When your memory conflicts with somebody else's, to me that seems a little bit on the harsh side.

SANCHEZ: But hold on, you would, I would and anybody in the studio -- guys out there, raise your hands, camera guys, everybody -- they are all raising their hand, Jim. They are convinced they would go to jail. Nobody would pardon them. Nobody would commute their sentence.

GERAGHTY: It helps to have a friend in the White House. At the end of the day, when this is in front of the president's attention and he can look ate and say, I know Scooter Libby and he's a fine guy, then you end up paying a 250,000 dollar fine, which is one of those things where you said is this equal justice under the law? The president has this authority under constitution and he decided to intervene in this case.

SANCHEZ: Is it right? John, to you?

JOHN ARAVOSIS, AMERICABLOG.COM: I don't think it's right. I will be the first to admit let's get the elephant in the room out in the open. Marc Rich; Clinton did a number of pardons that weren't great either. I didn't support what Clinton did with Marc Rich. He was basically a friend that he got out of jail free, more or less.

SANCHEZ: More than a friendship. It was about campaign contributions, my friend. It was about follow the money.

ARAVOSIS: I think it was wrong. I'm not going to defend it.

SANCHEZ: OK.

ARAVOSIS: What worries me in this case is, look, you do have the Bush administration. They are helping a friend. The guy was the vice president's chief of staff. I do think it feeds into a perception, which I would agree with, that this administration doesn't really believe in accountability. I think there's a larger question too, which is Scooter apparently lied and some of us think he lied to try to cover up for Mr. Cheney and maybe even Mr. Bush. It looks a little weird that you're basically giving a benefit to this guy who might have lied to try to protect you.

SANCHEZ: Exactly. There in lies the difference, I think.

ARAVOSIS: But they don't care.

SANCHEZ: As many people see, it between this and Marc Rich. Jim, back to you. Does this smell of obstruction of justice, given that the people doing the commuting are actually tied to the case of the person whose sentence is being commuted.

GERAGHTY: If Bush was out to reward Libby for his loyalty and for some sort of hiding something that he didn't want to come out.

SANCHEZ: Forget reward, how about just making sure that the same guys who are putting him in jail don't come after him?

GERAGHTY: That's the thing. Why not pardon him. Why go halfway. This is a fairly raw deal, basically saying I'll protect you, Mr. President. At the end of the day, I still have to pay a 250,000 dollar fine.

ARAVOSIS: Actually, there's a legal reason why you wouldn't pardon. It was not my idea. I read it this last week. Because Scooter didn't get pardoned, he is still guilty of the crime, right. If Congress tries to make him testify, he can claim the fifth amendment and say, I'm sorry. I can't talk what about what Mr. Cheney or Mr. Bush did because it might incriminate me.

If he is pardoned, he's totally exonerated. He can't claim the fifth anymore because they can't come after him. Congress could compel him to speak or again throw him in jail.

SANCHEZ: It's convenient, isn't it.

GERAGHTY: If he already had faulty memory or lapses under oath in front of jury, is having the same thing in front of Congress really going to intimidate him?

ARAVOSIS: What worries me with this is you did have a jury reach the verdict and said the guy is guilty. And the judge, looking sentencing guidelines -- everyone is on all the wrong side on this issue. Mitt Romney, who's running for president on the right, says it's a good thing we commuted this guy's sentence, and he's bragging that he didn't commute anybody's sentence in Massachusetts.

Everyone is a little cock-eyed on this. But what worries me is it feeds into the perception that Washington isn't accountable.

SANCHEZ: Average Americans. People who I had here on this show when we have done a segment interviewing people, Republicans, lefties, righties, just good old Americans in the middle. Everybody I talked to said you shouldn't do this. You just shouldn't do this because it smacks of being above the law, of special favors.

The question to you, Jim, as a Republican, I figure, do you think this is going to hurt? Is this going to have a bite to it.

GERAGHTY: This administration has an approval rating of 29 percent. This is going to knock it down to 28 or 27. You've got a president who has nothing to lose at this point. At this point, you might as well just start issuing them out like lollipops. Sign a whole bunch of blank --

SANCHEZ: It's the fourth quarter. You might throwing hail Mary passes.

ARAVOSIS: I don't think they care if they lose. What scares me even more -- it's not that they're so far down in the polls that they don't care anymore. They've never cared. And what worries me is it's nice to not worry about public opinion to a degree. But at some point, when the country says, you're kind of a loser, Mr. President, please stop doing what you're doing on all these issues, and he says, no, I'm the decider. I'm going to do it any way; it gets kind of scary.

SANCHEZ: All right, thanks so much guys. Appreciate it. Great conversation. Jim, John, appreciate it. See you again.

Coming up, Boeing has unveiled its latest winged wonder. It's called the Dream Liner. The outside looks pretty normal. But it's what is inside that counts.

And meteorologist Jacqui Jeras; situation, you know about it. She is waiting in the wings with the 411 on your flight plans, as well and your forecast. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: America votes and CNN reports. It's a little segment we call dog bone politics, give you a little something to chew on. We show you the politicians that are making the headlines.

You may not recognize the hands, but you certainly do the music. Rock the Vote, classic rock style; Paul Simon is on the stump for Democratic candidate Chris Dodd. He spent all last week with the Dodd road show all through Iowa, performed for mostly small gathering and restaurants. There is Dodd to the left.

So much for dropping out of the public eye. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan is back, this time with her sights set on House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi. A spokesperson says Sheehan demands Pelosi begin the process of impeaching the president. Demands, or else she will run against Pelosi for her Congressional seat. Response from Pelosi's office, so far, no response.

If you're not sure where the candidates stand, wait until you see CNN's first ever Youtube debates. If your videotaped question on Youtube gets chosen, it may be your 15 seconds of fame. While many of you are sure to tape some brilliant questions about the future of America, our Jeanne Moos has already found some likely rejects.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Move over moderators, wait until you see who wants to grill the presidential candidates at the next debate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Greetings, I am Vyorn Svenson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is.

MOOS: They have questions, all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About aliens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question here is for old John Edwards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you're cute?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going for it.

MOOS: These Youtubers are whispering. They are leering.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Hillary.

MOOS: They are whining.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you answer my question.

MOOS: CNN and Youtube are asking you to submit videotaped questions, questions each candidate will watch on a monitor built into his or her podium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to know what you think is, I don't know, the greatest invention you have heard of.

MOOS: Toothpicks and visual aids are encouraged. This guy waved around a Social Security statement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing that Social Security is going to be extinct in the near future, why am I still getting these?

MOOS: That's the kind of serious questions CNN honchos probably will choose to include. The ones we're highlighting are the ones you probably won't see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN will never use that.

MOOS (on camera): There's no such thing as a dress code among those submitting questions for this debate. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I call myself the anonymous American. Will you, right then and there, sign an executive order beginning the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you plan to deal will legal immigration.

MOOS: This guy tried a little show and tell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Science.

MOOS: Demonstrating how little money goes to science compared to weapons research. Some are questions candidates don't normally get asked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have donated blood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In god we trust. What do those words mean to you.

MOOS: And then there was the do ask and do tell Teddy bear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to keep my name and hometown anonymous because I'm in the military and I am gay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a middle of the road duck. I am a registered duck. I'm a Democrat. Do you feel the terrorists will come here? Oh my god, there is one here now. Stop, please.

MOOS: My question to you candidates, do you regret agreeing to do this debate yet? Even a real cat submitted a question. How can you protect my food in the future, what with the contaminated pet food scare? A pair of comedians had a question for John Edwards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you're better looking than Barack Obama. Tell you what, shirts off. We're going to count abs. We're going to have an ab counting contest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want anybody taking off their shirt.

MOOS: Especially not any female candidates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take that, CNN.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Once again, CNN is -- we here at CNN are raising the bar on the presidential debates and you can take part. That's Monday, July 23rd. Democratic candidates square off on the CNN Youtube debate. Anderson Cooper will host the first of its type debate live and interactive on TV and online. The Republican candidates debate Monday, September 17th. You can submit your own questions right now. Just log on to CNN.com/AmericaVotes. We suggest you leave out the Viking helmets. CNN is your political headquarters. Speaking of politics, we just got this in from a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi. After we have reported that Nancy Sheehan is threatening that if Pelosi does not do enough to bring the troops home, she will run against her in her district. Here is what the spokesperson for Pelosi, random daily email does, "Speaker Pelosi has said repeatedly her focus on ending the war in Iraq is there. She believes the best way to support our troops in Iraq is to bring them home safely and soon."

So there you have it, a spokesman for Nancy Pelosi responding to the potential political threat from Sheehan.

Coming up, a jumbo jet that can make Al Gore smile.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The plane is also being constructed in a different way.

(END VIDEO CLIP

SANCHEZ: It's lighter. It's cheaper. And it burns less gas. Richard Quest joining us on the nitty-gritty behind Boeing's new Dream Liner. That's next right here on the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To make the world a smaller place, and in so doing, bringing all of us closer together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That is the premise behind Boeing's new Dream Liner plane. Our Richard Quest was there for the big debut today. He's good enough to join us, live. You're excited about this. It is a meaningful event, isn't it?

QUEST: No, Rick, the point about this is yes, there the plane is now. It's been towed a long way away while they're doing press publicity photos with it. The point about it is for anybody who travels extensively, especially overseas, Rick, this is going to be your new home, like the 767 was in the '80 and the '90s.

So the Dream Liner, with nearly 700 planes sold -- and the really exciting part is for large parts of the United States that don't already have international service, because it's a lot smaller, a lot more fuel efficient, it's a lot more cost effective. Let me give you an example, Denver to Madrid, Glasgow to Houston. I mean the list goes on and on. New York to pretty much anywhere.

Rick, what the Dream Liner does, Boeing claims, is open up all these new routes and that makes travel much more accessible. Rick, I'm sorry, but if you don't find that exciting I do. SANCHEZ: I'm thrilled. Are you kidding? I'm ready to jump up and down. Now, let me ask you something. Is it the material? Is it made of alloys or something that just makes it lighter, which allows it to use less fuel and be a little quicker?

QUEST: There are really three or four different things. The first is the wing. They have redesigned it. It's got a nice shape and it stands pretty much like that. The second is the engines. The Rolls-Royce 1,000 engines. GE will have an equivalent. They literally sip fuel, as opposed to gas guzzling that the old planes did.

Finally, those composites. In the past, maybe the empanage (ph), the back of the plane, bits of it were made of composites. More than 50 percent of that plane is made by composites. They are much, much lighter. When you put that together then, of course, you get the fuel efficiency.

There is one problem, one little cloud on the Boeing horizon. They have only given themselves eight months to flight test this before it goes into service with the ANA Airline of Japan. If they got their sums wrong and the regulatory authorities want them to take longer with testing or they are not happy with this, that or the other.

SANCHEZ: They won't be able to deliver.

QUEST: They won't be able to deliver. We'll be into an Airbus super-jumbo situation and the proverbial will hit the fan. The noise will go up and it will all be over.

SANCHEZ: The proverbial what will hit the fan, Richard? Don't answer that question. Don't answer that question. Thanks Richard. Good talking to you. Thanks so much for being with us.

This quick reminder, by the way, that we're going to be following this story and bringing you the very latest on it, as well. Jacqui Jeras is joining us now to let us know what she has been tracking. I hope you are as exuberant as Richard was as you deliver this report, Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: We told you yesterday about this and we got the pictures late in this evening. We want to show you this again. This is from the U.S. Coast Guard. That's that helicopter that crashed on the Hudson River. We should let you know something else. If you get up tomorrow morning, choose "AMERICAN MORNING," because they are going to have an interview with three of the people who were actually on board the helicopter. That is Kiran Chetry. She is going to do the interview there with John Roberts. You'll see that at 7:40 right here on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Still to come, a mother reaching out to U.S. soldiers. She lost her son in the war. Now she is making sure that other sons, brothers and fathers aren't forgotten. No, it's not Cindy Sheehan. It's our CNN hero next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez. Time for one of our favorite subjects here. We've all been homesick before, but if you're a soldier serving in a war zone overseas, that word takes on a whole new meaning, home sick. We want to introduce you to a woman who is doing all that she possibly can to bring a little bit of home to our troops. Doreen Kenny is tonight's CNN's hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dear Doreen, thank you for the care package you sent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have much over here and every little thing you send us makes us very happy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that we are your heroes, but it's people like you that are the real heroes.

DOREEN KENNY, CNN HERO. My name is Doreen Kenny and I'm the mother of Specialist Jacob Fletcher, who was a paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Iraq. Whenever I got a little nervous and anxious that he was there, I would get in my car and go shopping and try to be creative and think of silly things to send him to lift his spirits.

I sent Jacob boxes, sometimes twice a week. And I just never stopped sending boxes. I started a foundation in my son's memory. Our focus is to get soldiers, especially the soldiers without family support or support from home, boxes and letters of support. I feel like I'm fulfilling something that would please my son.

All of it is donated. Checks come in from all over the country. I go out and I do the shopping once we collect the money. And volunteers come and move it over to the American Legion. We set it up on the tables and then we pack boxes of toiletries and foods to support our military. In every box we'll be putting bug spray, q- tips, toothpaste, peanut butter and I take requests from them, whatever they want.

We want to make sure they are taken care of. The next day a volunteer comes and takes it to the Post Office and we mail them. Have to make sure that our letters get in there.

It's really kept me alive. It's given me focus. It's given me a strong purpose. I don't doubt he's there. I don't doubt that I'll see him again. And I will work hard and do what I can to make the world a better place until I do meet him again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: If you'd like to help Doreen send goods to American troops or nominate your hero for special recognition, you'll find more information on our website at CNN.com/Heroes. Oh my god, we're at the end of the show and there's no -- did you write a good-bye page? That's right, I told you, right. Here's why I didn't write a good-bye page. You're the good by page. Margy's our producer, and boy she does a great job. Smart, competent and leaving us for one of those high-fallutin positions. Go ahead, look at the camera, say bye.

Thanks Margy for being such a great producer. Thanks for being with us. We'll look for all of you next weekend.

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