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Lou Dobbs This Week
Border Security Gaps in Texas; GAO States Most Iraq Benchmarks not Met
Aired September 02, 2007 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST: Tonight, the Bush administration says it is tightening security along our border with Mexico, but despite those efforts, portions of that border remain wide open.
Protecting American children from unsafe toys made in communist China. Senator Richard Durbin will be here to discuss his measures to keep dangerous toys out of the hands of children.
All that and much more straight ahead tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK, news, debate and opinion for Sunday, September 2nd. Here now sitting in for Lou Dobbs, Christine Romans.
ROMANS: Good evening, everybody. Congressional auditors find the Iraqi government has failed to meet most of the benchmarks laid out by Congress to assess progress in Iraq. The Government Accountability Office will reportedly say 15 of 18 goals have not been met. The White House says success in Iraq can't be measured by benchmarks alone. We turn now to Elaine Quijano at the White House for more -- Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Christine, the White House response is that it's about more than just benchmarks in Iraq. Officials here say that it is not news that there has been a lack of political progress at the top levels in Baghdad. Officials here say that their own interim report found much of the same. What the White House is arguing is that progress in Iraq cannot be measured by benchmarks alone.
Here's White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: If you take a look at what Congress has mandated for this report, it says, have you met these? Have you met them at full? Well, if the answer is, you're going to find a lot of cases, of course they haven't met them. Now, the real question is, do you have progress in the right direction?"
The other thing I would suggest is that it would be a mistake to limit one's view of what goes on in Iraq to the benchmarks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: The White House insists what the benchmarks do not reflect is progress since the surge, including Sunnis turning against al Qaeda, and so-called bottom-up reconciliation.
But Democrats counter that when it comes to the top leadership in Baghdad, they have not taken significant steps towards political reconciliation. And Democrats question why American troops must continue to sacrifice to give the Iraqis political breathing space when the Iraqis, so far, have not been able to come together and reconcile -- Christine.
ROMANS: Elaine Quijano at the White House.
Democratic leaders in Congress say the GAO report shows the Bush administration policy in Iraq is a failure. They say it is vital that the American public see the report and they emphasize the report was prepared by independent analysts.
Jessica Yellin has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: When calling upon the president...
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats are going out of their way to trumpet the fact that the GAO report was written by investigators outside White House control. Nancy Pelosi calls it nonpartisan, saying, it concludes: "The Iraqi government has failed to achieve required reforms."
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid emphasizes it was conducted by "objective experts" who make it clear "a new direction in Iraq must begin immediately."
The reactions are infuriating Republicans, who point out the report has not yet been released. Says one Republican Senate leadership aide: "It would be nice if Democrats would wait to read the reports before offering their analysis." But at least one Republican on Capitol Hill says if the final report does conclude that only three of 18 benchmarks have been met...
REP. PETER HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: It's disappointment. I believe that this threat is very real and we need to be successful, and would be hopeful that we would be meeting some of the milestones and objectives that we had set out there.
YELLIN (on camera): In fact, the Bush administration is taking issue with some of GAO's draft report. The Pentagon says the GAO got it wrong on some issues, and they're asking them change some of the findings.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The Pentagon says it will give President Bush five separate opinions about what to do next in Iraq. The goal, to give him a wide range of views as he decides whether to continue the surge or start bringing U.S. troops home. The president will take opinions from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, General David Petraeus, Admiral William Fallon, outgoing Joints Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace, and the new chairman, Mike Mullen.
Washington and the rest of the nation captivated this week by the Senator Larry Craig sex scandal. Senator Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after he was arrested in June at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Dana Bash has our report.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was an abrupt end to a week of tabloid-like drama that rocked the political world, and a stunning fall from grace for a Republican senator little known nationally until now.
Now a contrite Republican senator, Larry Craig, stood with his family and announced that he could no longer effectively represent the people of Idaho, he has represented in Washington for a quarter century.
SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: It is with sadness and deep regret that I announce that it is my intent to resign from the Senate effective September 30th. In doing so...
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
CRAIG: In doing so...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you, Larry!
CRAIG: In doing so, I hope to have a smooth and orderly transition of my loyal staff and for the person appointed to take my place at William E. Borah's desk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Craig said he "apologized" for what he caused and he spoke to a crowd of about 300 of his constituents that was decidedly mixed. Some saying that this was tragic story, but it was the right thing for Senator Craig to be resigning. Others said that he was being unfairly pushed out by Republicans in the national party.
Senator Craig thanked his fellow Republicans who were standing behind him, notably so. Idaho Republicans like the governor and party chairman. And the senator made clear that he understood how hard it was for them to do, because it was the swift and nearly unprecedented pressure from Senator Craig's fellow Republicans in Washington, especially in the Senate that gave him no choice but to resign.
In the span of just a couple of days, his Republican colleagues stripped him of the power that he had in key committees, called for an ethics investigation and made it abundantly clear that they think of him as a political liability.
Now even as the senator was exiting the political stage here in Idaho, the stage he has been on his entire adult life nearly, he vowed to take this fight on legally. He still denies that he did anything wrong in that public men's bathroom in the Minneapolis Airport, and that he only made a mistake in pleading guilty.
He says he's going to continue to fight that charge, to clear his name. Most experts in the legal and political communities say that it is going to be very hard to do.
Dana Bash, CNN, Boise, Idaho.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Coming up, despite recent promises to increase security, our border with Mexico remains wide open. We will have a special report.
Congressman Steve King in Mexico to talk about the crisis in this country caused by illegal immigration. He will join us.
And stopping the flood of deadly imports. Senator Dick Durbin has a plan. He will tell us about it later in the broadcast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A twice-supported illegal alien turned activist is looking for a new role and a new way to stay in the United States. This time, as an ambassador for peace and justice. Elvira Arellano took sanctuary in a Chicago church for a year. When she left the church to take part in a Los Angeles rally, she was arrested and deported back to Mexico for the second time. Now she has asked Mexican President Felipe Calderon for a diplomatic visa to be an ambassador for peace and justice to the United States.
The Bush administration says it is improving security at the Mexican border, but along the Rio Grande in Texas, mile after mile the border remains open and unguarded. It is easily accessible and an open invitation to anyone who wants to enter this country illegally.
Casey Wian reports from El Paso, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We accompanied Texas Congressman Ted Poe on a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border east of El Paso. Local sheriffs arranged the visit and purposely did not notify the Border Patrol, saying they wanted the congressman and CNN to see the unsanitized state of border security.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) a port of entry here. Being told that they fully inspect one out of every 10 vehicles come across.
REP. TED POE (R), TEXAS: It's 10 percent. It's worth the odds to try to come in the legal port of entry, bringing in something he shouldn't be bringing in, whether it's people or drugs or something else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. That means you have a 90 percent of getting by without being detected.
WIAN: What we saw farther east was even more troubling. We traveled a dirt road next to the Rio Grande. For 24 miles and more than two hours, we did not encounter a single Border Patrol agent.
POE: How many men would it take for you as the sheriff to shut the border down?
SHERIFF ARVIN WEST, HUDSPETH COUNTY, TEXAS: I believe we could do it with 25 men.
POE: And what would you do different then?
WEST: I'd put them on the border.
WIAN: A Border Patrol spokesman says we don't need to stand shoulder to shoulder on the border. The agency tries to manage its resources in a way that's most effective. He added that the Border Patrol has sensors that detect illegal crossings. And agents positioned farther north of the Rio Grande to intercept illegal traffic.
Still, there are no fences here. Nothing but the river to stop an illegal alien, a drug smuggler or a potential terrorist from entering the United States. In fact, there are two places like this, a footbridge across the water that seemed to invite anyone in.
POE: There's no one around here watching or guarding this bridge. And obviously, it is used for people to come into the United States illegally. And it is very disturbing that it is even here. I don't know why we don't tear it down.
WIAN: A Border Patrol spokesman says agents are well aware of the footbridges and they "don't impact our enforcement." Sooner or later, they are going to run into us. Despite the apparent gaps in border security, the Border Patrol says it is doing a better job, pointing to illegal alien apprehensions, one indicator of illegal crossings. This year they are down 41 percent and 29 percent in the two Border Patrol sectors we visited.
Still sheriffs want Congress to provide more money for more agents and more resources to local law enforcement to help secure the border.
(on camera): Sheriffs say illegal immigration breeds crime in their communities. In 2004, 45,000 suspects were booked into the El Paso County Jail, 16,000 of them or more than a third were illegal aliens previously convicted of other state crimes.
Casey Wian, CNN, El Paso.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa went to Mexico City this week to find ways to stop the flood of people entering the United States illegally. Congressman King met with Mexican government officials in an attempt to discuss border security.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOU DOBBS, HOST, "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": Congressman King joins us tonight from Mexico City.
Congressman, good to have you here. I know you're there with Congressman Berman of California, Congressman Capps, Congresswoman Lofgren -- Zoe Lofgren. It's an interesting group. What are you all trying to accomplish?
REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: Well, we're down here on a Woodrow Wilson International Scholarship study. And the idea is to expand our relations with Mexico. And we're talking directly about -- the terminology they use here is migration policy, our international relations between the United States and Mexico, what the long-term prospects are and the economics of this country here.
There's just a wealth of information to be exchanged and a lot of intractable problems that need to be addressed.
DOBBS: Well, that group, you seem to be the most -- amongst that group, the most concerned about border security. Any discussion at all of concern on the part of the Mexican government about border security? Let's start there.
KING: Well, generally the theme that comes out of the Mexican government and their representatives that we've spoken to so far is the United States of America, you need to understand that you need to pass a comprehensive immigration plan.
DOBBS: Yes. Yes.
KING: What's good for Mexico is good for the United States.
DOBBS: Well, do they -- let me ask you about this, Congressman.
KING: I mean, that's pretty much the White House line.
DOBBS: Are representatives of the Mexican government open to the idea that it's probably irresponsible and, I would think, embarrassing for them to be exporting their poverty and as many as 20 million of their citizens to this country because they are leaving impoverished half of their population.
Their government has been so corrupt over these decades and so ineffective. And we're exporting billions of dollars in capital to Mexico.
KING: Well, we have discussed those numbers. And I did give a presentation -- I guess I would say it was impromptu, while the undersecretary for foreign relations for the North American continent ate his dessert about those points, about the dollars that flow from the United States into Mexico, $25 billion to $30 billion in transfer payments and wages; $65 billion in illegal drugs coming into the United States, of which somewhere between $13 billion and $48 billion of that finds its way back to Mexico.
The incentives in Mexico for them to help us with this really aren't there. And when you compare it to the billions of dollars of incentives that they have to let this happen, plus the export of the vitality of their nation...
DOBBS: Have you detected any appetite on the part of the Mexican government to cooperate and meaningfully secure that northern border and to end illegal and just shameless immigration of its people to this country?
KING: There were a few words that were spoken about working in partnership and cooperation. But I can tell you that in the room, I'm the only one that wants to build a fence and a wall. And they seem to think that that's counter-productive and offensive to them. So you've heard this all before.
DOBBS: Yes. But it's not offensive...
KING: But it's the same mantra over and over again.
DOBBS: But it's not offensive to export poverty and 20 percent of their population to the United States. My God, what a sense of shame.
KING: Well, and...
DOBBS: Congressman, we thank you...
KING: And it's no way to run a country.
DOBBS: Indeed. Well, either there or here, for that matter.
KING: Yes. Yes.
DOBBS: Congressman Steve King, we thank you very much. Appreciate it.
KING: Thank you, Lou.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Coming up, after months of criticism and pressure, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally quits. We'll have a special report. And with that resignation, the president's Texas posse has split up and gone its separate ways. We'll look at the end of an era.
And more dangerous products are recalled from, you guessed it, communist china. All that and more when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned earlier this week. Gonzales came under intense criticism and pressure to resign over what critics said were politically motivated firings of federal prosecutors. He's currently being investigated by the Justice Department. Gonzales is among about a dozen senior administration officials who have resigned amid a congressional investigation into firings. His resignation is effective September 17th.
Solicitor General Paul Clement, the administration's top courtroom lawyer, will take over on a temporary basis until the Senate confirms a permanent replacement.
The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales marks the end of a dynasty in Washington. With the departure of his longtime friend, Alberto Gonzales, the last of influential Texans President Bush brought to him to the White House is now gone.
John King reports on the latest changes in the Bush administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the second time in two weeks, a good-bye that hit home.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the long course of our work together, this trusted adviser became a close friend.
KING: Alberto Gonzales is stepping down. Like Karl Rove, he has been at this president's side dating back to his days as Texas governor. And like Rove, he had become a political pinata for an administration whose days are numbered.
BRUCE BUCHANAN, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: Well, there's a time when, you know, the train is almost past your station.
KING: Seventeen months left and lame duck is a term that makes him bristle. But Mr. Bush as a president, defined by an unpopular war, and lacks the political muscle to sell his big ticket domestic priorities.
BUSH: With enough good sense and good will, you and I can fix Medicare and Medicaid and save Social Security.
KING (on camera): The State of the Union ideas went nowhere. And Mr. Bush failed to make his 2001 tax cuts permanent or pass major immigration reforms. Now the departures of old friends magnify this president's increasingly lonely place.
(voice-over): His approval ratings are in the dumps. Republican candidates barely mention him as they compete for control of the party, and the opposition Democrats run the Congress.
NEIL NEWHOUSE, GOP POLLSTER: The one saving grace is that the only group that's rated lower than the president right now is Congress. That doesn't bode well for Democrats in Congress, truthfully, but, you know, their numbers are even lower than the president's. KING: Even most Republicans are dubious. But those close to Mr. Bush see a small window of opportunity. And to that end, a house cleaning makes sense. Say good-bye to political liabilities, even if it stings a bit, and move quickly to change the subject.
For the president, that means fresh pressure on the Democrats to give his Iraq strategy more time.
BUSH: I congratulate Iraq's leaders on the agreement reached yesterday in Baghdad.
KING: Placing confidence that Iraq's brawling political factions might finally find a path to reconciliation is a huge gamble, yet trademark Bush.
BUCHANAN: His hair is grayer, his wrinkles are deeper, but he still smiles. He still sustains the impression of being at peace with himself and confident in the decisions he has made.
KING: Trademark too, were the departures of Rove and the Gonzales after months of defiant White House promises they would not bow to pressure from Democrats.
BUCHANAN: At least a couple of occasions, he has stuck by people longer than it was in his interest to do, thinking of Secretary Rumsfeld and to agree Attorney General Gonzales. And yet that has been his modus operandi and he's going to stick to it.
KING: His way, even if the job gets increasingly lonely.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The sudden resignation of the attorney general opens up another vacancy at the top of the Bush administration. As Lisa Sylvester reports, there's a long list of empty job slots in our government.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alberto Gonzales' departure from the Justice Department leaves a vacuum at the top. The top three positions are now vacant.
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty stepped down in late July. The number three spot, associate attorney general, is also unfilled.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: There is no attorney general, no deputy attorney general, no associate attorney general. The lack of leadership has taken its toll on this department, whose mission is a sacred one.
SYLVESTER: The Bush administration has peppered its highest ranks with people who are fill-ins in an acting capacity. Other vacancies include the head of U.S. Agency for International Development. Randall Tobias resigned this spring after he was linked to a call girl agency.
The U.S. Surgeon General's position has been vacant for more than a year, since Richard Carmona's term expired. And the deputy head of the National Security Council recently announced his resignation.
And there are more exits on the way, including Veterans Affairs chief, Jim Nicholson, this fall. Professor Cal Jillson says finding replacements takes longer for administrations looking for more than just talent.
CAL JILLSON, SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY: They look for expertise, but more importantly, they look for political dependability, someone who will provide protection for the president while delivering the substance of his position. And those are difficult, sometimes, to find. So it leads to a lot of empty positions.
SYLVESTER: Jillson says the public suffers when it's unclear exactly who is in charge. The Consumer Products Safety Commission has been operating without a chair for more than a year. Without a quorum, the agency has been unable to set new standards and rules.
TONY AREND, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Perhaps the signal which the public should be getting from these vacancies is that, to some degree, the administration is falling apart. The administration is in its last legs.
SYLVESTER: The vacancies can lead to lower morale among federal workers and a wobbly government signals a lame duck presidency.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Lisa Sylvester reporting. Coming up, we'll have more on the Senator Larry Craig sex scandal. We will talk to three of the best political analysts in the country about that and all the week's political news.
And later, an award-winning teacher brings his groundbreaking techniques to the classroom.
And we will have the latest recalls of dangerous products from communist China. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris. LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK is back after a quick check of the headlines. Bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans in the wake of his men's room sex sting, Idaho Senator Larry Craig is resigning. He is stepping down at the end of this month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRAIG: To Idahoans I represent, to my staff, my Senate colleagues, but most importantly, to my wife and my family, I apologize for what I have caused. I'm deeply sorry. I have little control over what people choose to believe. But clearly, my name is important to me and my family is so very important also.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A white house spokesman said Craig got a call from President Bush who said he knew giving up was difficult, but he wished the senator well. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell had been critical of Craig's conduct, calling it unforgivable. Today he said Craig had made a difficult decision but the right one.
Stay tuned to CNN tonight for a special edition of "LARRY KING LIVE." Larry and his guests will discuss the Larry Craig situation. Who will replace him in the Senate. And what it means for the GOP. That is tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Who is running Iraq? Is the troop buildup working? Tom Foreman hosts "THIS WEEK AT WAR," coming up in 30 minutes. But now back to LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK.
ROMANS: Another round of recalls this week for toys made in communist China. Jo-Ann Stores recalled 6,000 Robbie Ducky Watering Cans because they contained lead paint. The watering cans were sold nationwide this year. Separately Toys 'R' Us is recalling 27,000 crayon and paint sets made in China. The paint sets, which were sold from October 2006 through August, contain excessive levels of lead in the paints and lead in the ink on the packaging.
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is among those in Congress calling for comprehensive safety standards for all products. The senator recently spoke with the CEOs of Mattel, Toys 'R' Us, Walgreens, as well as the head of Wal-Mart's toy division about the dangerous toy imports. I asked him earlier this week about those meetings.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I think they understand the severity of this problem. We're about to launch the holiday season, the purchase of toys by families all across America. And there's some real misgivings, as I've said over and over. Families don't want to play Chinese roulette when they go into a toy department.
And I think that you're going to find more and more retailers and manufacturers that are going to be inspecting their products, they're going to be demanding higher standards in production. They're going to try to restore confidence in a very short period of time.
ROMANS: Well, one of the problems with demanding higher standards and restoring confidence is, I am assuming that's going to cost money. And one of the reasons why you've had manufacturing go overseas is because that's where the labor savings are.
Do you think that the American people are going to say, we'll pay more, but these companies have got to make sure that labor standards, environmental standards and the like, and safety standards, are followed? DURBIN: I think American families, understandably, are willing to pay whatever it takes to have a safe product, a safe toy. And they're worried. Let's put it in perspective. It isn't because lead paint is cheaper in China that they're using it. It's because the workers are paid about $80 a month.
They don't know where these toys are headed. They don't know the families and their expectations and their safety standards and their health standards. They're really looking for a much higher level of equality.
ROMANS: Let's talk a little bit about our safeguards in this country, because we do have safeguards for food safety, for product safety. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for some 15,000 different products. And you have been corresponding with this agency, trying to sort of find out what's going on here and whether this agency is doing its job and has enough resources and a big enough budget.
You've now written two letters to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In response to the first letter, suggesting that the agency test for lead in children's products, the acting chairwoman, Nancy Nord, responded, saying that they "could not replicate a program of this magnitude within its current resources and statutory authority."
What does that mean and what's your reaction?
DURBIN: I'm very disappointed. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has an important responsibility. They'd better wake up to the reality. American consumers expect when they find a product on the shelf, that it's going to be safe.
And when I say to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, take this seriously, get aggressive, let's have a risk analysis of children's jewelries and toys, and if we have to detain these products before they come into the United States, let's do it, I get some sort of half serious approach from the commission.
They're not sure if they have the authority. They want to look at it. We're lean and mean. I don't buy it. I want to see a much more aggressive approach from this commission.
ROMANS: A commission spokesman recently told me that a bigger government does not necessarily mean better government. And they do a good job with the resources that they have.
DURBIN: Well, you know, that statement doesn't reflect reality. In the last 20 years, the inspectors and workers at this commission have been cut in half. At the same time, exports in the United States -- to the United States, have grown exponentially.
It's obvious that inspecting one out of every 100 shipments is not good enough. And this commission has to wake up to reality. Either they should do the job or get out of town. ROMANS: So what can Congress do about it? I mean my question is, so many of these toys have already been designed, manufactured, ordered and are on ships coming here for the holiday shopping season.
You know, what can Congress do to make sure that our agencies are doing their jobs, our retailers and importers are doing their jobs, and that, you know, we're just not relying on a fly-by-night supplier of a supplier of a supplier somewhere in China that could make a mistake?
DURBIN: Well, I'm the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee for this commission. They're going to have more resources, more availability for inspectors and testing laboratories and the kind of computers they need to follow these shipments.
But they have to have a much more aggressive attitude when it comes to dealing with these products. And I don't like the responses that I've heard out of this commission over the last several weeks. It is the kind of weak approach which really doesn't give confidence to consumers across America, who count on their government to make sure that products are safe.
ROMANS: Senator, this whole thing started with imported food safety, with the pet foot scandal. And you've looked at this, as well. You've continued to work on improving the standards for food imports. Last month, you introduced the Imported Foods Security Act of 2007. You want to have import user fees.
DURBIN: You bet.
ROMANS: You want to require food safety research and food import certification. Quickly, tell me about what this would do to make our imported food more safe.
DURBIN: A modest fee of $20 or $50 will gather enough resources to put more inspectors on the job, so we look at more shipments of food and products coming into this country to make them safe. It's not going to increase the overall cost of individual units, but it's really going to give consumers more confidence.
Look at this pet food scandal. Innocent dogs and cats across America dying because the Chinese sent us some chemically tainted shipment. That's unacceptable. Toothpaste with anti-freeze in it from China; lead toys that are dangerous; magnets that kids swallow and die, now lead paint on vehicle -- on these little cars that these kids use. All of that's unacceptable.
We've got to have the resources to have the cops on the beat so that American consumers are protected.
ROMANS: All right. Senator Richard Durbin, thank you so much for joining us.
DURBIN: Glad to be with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: We have provided much more information about all of the recalled products. It is on our Web site, loudobbs.com.
Just ahead, an award winning teacher brings his groundbreaking techniques to the classroom with astonishing results.
Also, assessing the progress in Iraq and measuring the success or failure of the Iraqi government. Those topics and more with our political roundtable. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: This country's school systems are often accused of failing to properly educate our children. But they are educators around the country trying innovative new approaches to teaching students. One of those educators is Rafe Esquith of Los Angeles. The award-winning teacher is the also best-selling author of a very important new book, "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire."
I spoke with Rafe earlier this week and asked him to clarify the title of that book.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFE ESQUITH, "TEACH LIKE YOUR HAIR'S ON FIRE": One time many years ago I actually set my hair on fire in a science experiment and was so busy teaching I didn't even know it. But I thought that was probably a good moment for me because it became a metaphor for ignoring all the craziness teachers have to face and just stay with your students and teach them to the best of your ability.
ROMANS: You teach in Los Angeles. You teach in Room 56. We talk about all of the things that are going wrong, with graduation rates, with teacher pay, with the education system.
What's going right in your classroom?
ESQUITH: Well, basically I've ignored a lot of the bureaucracy of the Los Angeles Unified School District. I mean, as an example, Christine, right now, my class, which does an unabridged production of Shakespeare every year, and they're fifth graders who don't speak English. And yet I, as their teacher, am being forced to take four classes to show that I can properly teach English. So this is what disheartens teachers, that kind of bureaucracy.
What goes right in my classroom is that we've removed fear from the classroom and high stakes testing. Even though I test my students, my students know that I'm preparing them for real life, not just the test at the end of the year. And that's why teachers love this book, because it's making teaching relevant again.
ROMANS: How do you handle those challenges, though? I mean, you have folks who talk about what's happening in our high poverty schools, our inner city schools, people who talk about the ramifications of unfettered illegal immigration and the children that that puts into our schools, straining already strained resources. ESQUITH: That's a great question.
ROMANS: I mean, these are really big socioeconomic problems, yet you have to face it on a 30 by -- or 50 person-at-a-time -- how do you do it?
ESQUITH: Well, here's the key. The key is that many of our children -- we have a vision for what we want them to be, but they don't have that vision. They're growing up in a horrible neighborhood in a culture which is not conducive to education.
My former students, who are all graduates at the top universities in the country, are in my classroom all the time, mentoring my younger students. So my younger students have a vision of what their life could be one day. It's all about exposure and making sure they understand why they're doing the work.
It can't simply be to please the teacher or because it's a rule or because there's a test at the end of the week. These kids are working for their life and they know it. And that's why my students work so incredibly hard and have so much fun doing it.
ROMANS: And the bottom line, everyone knows if you're going to make the country better, I mean, is -- education is the great equalizer. Education is what we can give all students in this country to -- you know, to make the country stronger and greater.
But my question is, with so many teachers leaving -- Baby Boomer teachers who are retiring, young teachers who are saying you know what, forget it, this is too tough for me, I'm going to go into another field, low pay, how do you motivate teachers and how do you keep good teachers?
ESQUITH: Well, that's a great point. The average teacher in my school now is lasting only two or three years. And nobody is a great teacher in two or three years. I try to motivate teachers by explaining to them, number one, I'm a very ordinary person.
Even though presidents honor me and the queen of England has honored me, I'm nothing special. But because I've tried to learn from my mistakes, the beauty of teaching is that you can get better at it.
And the motivation is teachers have to understand the only reward you're going to get is to create opportunities to help your children have better lives. It's not like "It's A Wonderful Life" when Uncle Billy comes to the door at the end with a basket full of money or society is going to give you a pat on the back.
ROMANS: Right.
ESQUITH: So I've understood from a very early time in my teaching career, the reward has to be within your own head and your own heart, and not wait for society to pat you on the back.
ROMANS: Your methods are untraditional. In the book, you write: "To help young people become remarkable, we need to challenge them with lessons they will use for the rest of their lives."
And then I've done all this reporting about graduation rates in some of these -- you know, some of these cities, it's just remarkable when you have so few of these kids who are able to move on in their lives. I mean how do we fix -- I know it's not easy. How do we fix it? Do we fix it one teacher and one classroom at a time?
ESQUITH: Well, I hope not. I think what we have to do is use my classroom as an example of what's possible. But one thing we have to do is we have to break the bureaucracies, which believe that one size fits all.
Teachers have taken any creative control they have out of their classrooms by huge testing services and publishing companies, which believe that all children should reading at the same pace at the same time in the same book.
That's absurd. And all the teachers on the front lines know it. I think the reason teachers listen to me is many teacher books are written by people that used to be teachers. I'm still classroom teacher, Christine. That's what I'm very proud of. And I'm in the classroom every day.
ROMANS: All right. Rafe Esquith, the book is "Tech Like Your Hair's on Fire." Thank you so much for joining us. Really insightful, as we head back to school. Thank you so much, sir.
ESQUITH: Thank you so much, Christine. Have fun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Coming up next, three of the best political minds in the country will be with us. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Joining me now for a look at all the week's political stories are three of the top journalists in the business: Errol Louis, New York Daily News; syndicated columnist Miguel Perez; and Diana West with The Washington Times.
Thank you all for joining me here. Diana, I want to start with you, first, in Washington. The Larry Craig scandal, is it simply salacious, a detour to talk about for the Republican Party? Or does it have a broader implication for the GOP?
DIANA WEST, THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Well, I think that these scandals involving morality, comedy, good behavior, always resonate more when they happen to Republicans. And so, yes, I think that this is one of the instances. I think that the scandal can be forgotten at some point in the future. But I think it is a big story this week.
ROMANS: It certainly is a big story, Miguel, and it's a story that people have been following and each turn gets more disturbing than the last. I mean, there's something about hearing a sitting United States senator getting read his rights over a bathroom sex sting. It is just -- it is really unusual.
MIGUEL PEREZ, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Absolutely unusual. And -- but you know, it is the Republican Party that has claimed that they have the moral high ground and definitely this hurts them. There's no way they can avoid that. Who replaces him, probably another conservative Republican because that's a pretty Republican state. So you know, they don't have much to lose there.
ERROL LOUIS, THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: I hope the party does remember something from this scandal, which is, you know, I have never met or interviewed Larry Craig, but he's obviously a guy who is at war with himself. His values and his lifestyle, his job, just didn't match up.
And I certainly hope he can get that in-line at some point. But really what happens is the Republican Party has got to, I think, learn from this in the sense that they don't want to set themselves up for these kind of falls. You should not, even in conservative Idaho, I think, lose your job or be worried about losing your job, even a public job, because of your sexual orientation.
It just shouldn't be that way. And maybe they will take something of that with them and maybe campaign a little differently next year.
WEST: There is one other point. I think it is not so much that the Republicans claim the moral high ground. I think it's that they are hoping urge people to reach for the moral high ground. And so in these cases, it is always disappointing when a Republican candidate is -- fails in that.
Whereas on the Democratic side, there's much more looseness on these different kinds of behavioral issues. So it doesn't really resonate.
ROMANS: It is interesting, no matter which party, if there is a scandal, if you claim that with, you know, indignance that you were wronged, it is one thing. If you walk out with your wife and say, you know, I'm really sorry, I made a mistake, I'm human, there seems to be more forgiveness.
PEREZ: Well, he did not seem very upset at the accusation in that recording that we have all heard now. I mean, that -- I would have -- if he was really, really innocent, and this happened to me, I would be screaming at the officer. What do you mean? What are you accusing me of?
ROMANS: And the guilty plea is -- I mean, he pleaded guilty to this.
LOUIS: And it sounded more like a bargaining session, his actual conversation shortly after the bust. And of course, he ended up blaming the whole thing on the press which, you know, I guess -- you can expect the Idaho Statesman, he said in the end, had driven him, I guess, crazy with some investigation of his personal behavior which led him to accidentally plead guilty, which was a ridiculous sort of conclusion. It really wasn't plausible.
I think that what you said, though, is true. The Americans will forgive a lot, they will not forgive hypocrisy. You know, there are lots of guys, I mean, Edwards, the politician from Louisiana, ran a campaign saying, vote for the crook. You know, saying that he was a rascal but he was better than the other guy running who, in that time, was David Duke.
I mean, it is up to the voters to decide in the end, you know, what they will or won't put up with. But I think everybody should know by now, no hypocrites.
ROMANS: Diana, I'm going to give you the last word on Larry Craig and then we are going to put him to rest for a while. Because there are some really important things happening. Congress comes back next week. But you get the last word on the senator.
WEST: Well, I think it is like a leadership question when someone seems to be not in control of themselves enough, so that he is actually soliciting sex in a bathroom. And that sort of does cut across -- that cuts across party lines.
ROMANS: Indeed. Let's talk a little bit about something that also cuts across party lines. And that's the preoccupation with what's happening next in Iraq. And with all of the benchmarks and all of these reports, we are going to have Congress back next week. And this is going to be front and center again. September is an important month. We know that many -- most of the benchmarks have not been met. The GAO -- you know, an independent analysis of this is pretty negative.
What does it mean?
PEREZ: They have made three out of 18 benchmarks, the Iraqi government. But you know, what I see here that is so -- you know, it surprises me really, is that we all expect General Petraeus to come back in the middle of September and make one single report. And based on that one report, we were going to decide whether the surge was working or not.
Now the president has five or six reports going at once, five or six people who are going to advise him. And he can pick and choose what he needs and he can spin this. The White House will spin this now.
ROMANS: Robert Gates said that you want to have a lot of different opinions because if you get a consensus, that means it has been sort of bureaucratically massaged. They wanted all of these different opinions for the president.
LOUIS: Well, I think there will be a lot of different opinions on how bad the failure is. There's one report saying that the problem is the Iraqi police, that they are completely unreliable and have in some cases even collaborated with insurgents and so forth.
You've got another report, the GAO report that says most of the surge benchmarks have not been met. Then you have got Petraeus' report itself which is going to interestingly bookend September 11th. Apparently he is going to testify on September 10th and September 12th.
It will be a very highly charged emotional situation where he goes in to add his version of why we haven't achieved what we were supposed to have achieved.
ROMANS: Diana, about 15 seconds before the break. Can you wrap it up for us?
WEST: Sure. I think that what I hope people look at is the faulty premise behind the whole notion of benchmarks. What I mean by that is, this was never going to be a government we could create out of the sand. And I think that the failures here just go to show that.
ROMANS: All right. Everyone stick with me. Diana West, Errol Louis, Miguel Perez. We will be right back with much more of our political roundtable. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: We are back now with our political panel: Errol Louis, New York Daily News; syndicated columnist Miguel Perez; and Diana West with The Washington Times.
The president in a speech this week to the American Legion says the surge is working in Iraq but it needs more time. Here's some of what the president said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I want our fellow citizens to consider what would happen if these forces of radicalism and extremism are allowed to drive us out of the Middle East. The region would be dramatically transformed in a way that could imperil the civilized world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president is expected to ask for a lot more money, $50 billion in additional funding for the war in Iraq. Can he fend off pressure from Congress to start an immediate troop withdrawal?
LOUIS: I think he can in the short term. But the long term is what he's talking about. So in the long term I don't know that he can. And I think what would be really helpful would be if he were to think back to, say, the Reagan administration.
Nobody thought Reagan was soft on anything related to foreign affairs. But when 282 Marines were killed in Lebanon, he did a withdrawal. I mean, there are times where you do a strategic withdrawal. And that's really what the discussion ought to be at this point.
PEREZ: In the spring they told us to wait until the fall. In the fall they are going to tell us to wait until the spring. In the meantime, Americans keep dying in Iraq. They say the numbers are lower. But 70-something per month is still unacceptable. One is unacceptable at this point.
ROMANS: Diana?
WEST: Well, I would say that Ronald Reagan's withdrawal from Lebanon that Errol is talking about actually was a strategic blunder and maybe brought along a number of these problems we are getting out of the jihadist world at this point.
I think another problem is the president is hunting for forces of radicalism in the wrong place. It is not in the Iraqi parliament. We have problems in Iran. We have problems with Saudi Arabia. We have problems with Hezbollah, Syria. It is not a withdrawal that I would counsel at this point.
It is a redirection of -- against national security threats that are still in the region. But the president and his men don't seem to want to pay attention.
PEREZ: But the president has to stand behind his threats. He keeps saying there will be consequences and then we don't see the consequences.
WEST: That's terrible, I agree.
PEREZ: He threaten the Iraqi government and he threatens Iran constantly, and nothing happens.
WEST: Terrible.
LOUIS: And would you agree, Diana, that in order to focus more on some of these other countries you are talking about, you would need to draw down some of the troops from Iraq?
WEST: I -- yes, I would. I would think they would need to certainly withdraw from the cities, which is where you find the booby- trapped houses and the terrible battle conditions. Yes, I do agree with that.
There's a big remixing of forces that needs to be done. But it has to start with a reconsideration of our strategy, which isn't happening on the Democratic side or the Republican side.
ROMANS: I want to get all of your thoughts on the president's sort of shrinking inner circle. Gonzales, Rove, Tony Snow setting the date that he is going to leave, the president's spokesman. What does this mean for the rest of the president's tenure in the White House, with so many sort of the original Texas posse now gone?
LOUIS: Well, I mean, it certainly means there will be no more major domestic policy initiatives. There won't be another attempt to reform Social Security or anything like that. They will be lucky if they can get No Child Left Behind reauthorized.
And I think it also means that there is going to be an immense amount of burrowing in where political cronies, second- and third- tier, are going to dig into federal bureaucracy so that they can survive into the next administration.
It is not a small thing. I mean, it was over just such considerations, sort of political patronage, that the Gonzales scandal broke.
ROMANS: Isn't this what it is always like, though, in this part of second-term president? I mean, you have got people who have to be looking to pay for their kids for college. They have suffered the partisan battle wounds over the past few years. I mean...
PEREZ: Maybe, but it still reflects lack of leadership. People are bailing out from an administration that's obviously, you know, very unpopular at this point. So you know, it is the B team taking over, unfortunately.
WEST: Yes. It is unfortunate given the fact that there are so many troops in battlefields around the world that so many of these men for different reasons are leaving. I mean, it is difficult to continue with the B team or with a new team, anyway.
ROMANS: Let me ask you quickly, John Warner, he announced Friday that he's not going to seek another term. You have got this scandal in Idaho. Those are two seats, I guess, that may be up for grabs. What is happening to the party in Congress?
LOUIS: Idaho stays Republican. There's no scenario where a Democrat could possibly win. Virginia lost a seat just in the last round. So that is going to be a hotly contested state going into 2008.
ROMANS: Miguel?
PEREZ: Good opportunity for Democrats. Warner has been more and more against the war. Democrats are against the war. It's a good opportunity in that state.
ROMANS: Diana, you get the very last word.
WEST: Well, I think my colleagues have said it all on that tone. It will be very interesting to see what happens with Virginia, a key state, especially looking forward to the next election.
ROMANS: Errol Louis, Diana West, Miguel Perez. Thank you all for joining me.
Thanks for being with us tonight. Join us tomorrow. For all of here, thanks for watching. Have a great week. Good night from New York.
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