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American Morning
Dick Cheney's Surprise Iraq Visit; John McCain in Iraq; Bear Stearns Woes; NYC Crane Collapse; Tornado Hits Home; Obama Pastor: Impact on Campaign Trail; Hospital Mistake: Quaid Twins Overdosed
Aired March 17, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Inside Iraq. Vice president Cheney drops in. John McCain speaks out on the issue that could make or break his campaign.
Risk and reward, yet another rare move by the Fed overnight on the heels of a billion dollar bailout paid for by you.
Plus, up to here?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so high, it actually is laughable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Pushing six bucks a gallon and coming to a gas pump near you. How much for your morning commute? The economy is issue number one on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. Glad you're with us this morning. 7:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. I'm Kiran Chetry, along with Alina Cho and Ali Velshi this morning. John Roberts has the week off. And we have certainly a busy news days to talk about this morning, including more signs of trouble in the financial markets.
Overseas markets are down. How all of that will affect your bottom line. We're taking that apart this morning. JPMorgan making a move to buy investment bank Bear Stearns. This is after a weekend of financial panic. Ali is on that.
There's also some news out of China and Tibet this morning after days of violent protest. Some calls by the Dalai Lama for the international committee to take notice and to do more. And also, some calls from our White House for China to perhaps talk to the Dalai Lama.
Alina is watching developments and the possible impact also on the Olympic Games in Beijing. Plus, you've been watching live pictures all morning long from midtown Manhattan where they are still calling it a search effort this morning. The hunt for survivors after a deadly crane collapse this weekend. Three people still believed trapped, and the rescuers working night and day, not giving up hope that they may be able to pull these people out alive.
And also, it's back to work in Atlanta, after a deadly and chaotic weekend of extreme weather. Our own CNN headquarters in the path of a tornado that ripped through the downtown area. Rob Marciano is near Centennial Olympic Park. We're going to check in with him in just a few moments as well. A look at the aftermath, and also what's ahead for the weekend weather.
We begin with Ali. The dollar at a new record low. Oil at a new record high. And last night, the Federal Reserve making the call to cut a key interest rate. JPMorgan also moving to buy Bear Stearns at a rock-bottom price, signs of the jitters that have continued to grow when it comes to investment banks, especially those that were heavy in the loan business, especially those subprime markets.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Bear Stearns is one of those. You know, underneath those it says run on the bank and why we'd be careful about things like that. But this one is very deliberate because this is what happened at Bear Stearns. It's a classic run on the bank.
We've been talking for months, for over a year about mortgage- backed securities. Well, of the Wall Street investment firms, Bear Stearns was the biggest in that game. The ticker for Bear Stearns is BSC. Let me just run down what has happened in just one week with Bear Stearns.
One week ago, Bear Stearns was trading for $70 a share. On Tuesday, Carlyle Capital, which is a hedge fund, Bear Stearns owns 15 percent of Carlyle Capital, rumors started to swirl that Carlyle was about to go under, that it was not able to meet its obligations.
On Wednesday, Bear Stearns' CEO came out and said this Carlyle problem -- and, by the way, Carlyle did, in fact, fail on those funds. Bear Stearns said there's no liquidity problems at the company on Wednesday.
Guess what? By Thursday, a run on the bank. The money had left Bear Stearns. People were taking their money out. The company was in big, big trouble.
On Friday the Federal Reserve working through its New York outpost, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and JPMorgan, organized a bailout of Bear Stearns, a big loan of Bear Stearns. Still, that stock which was $70 on Monday closed at $30 on Friday.
The Dow dropped 195 points, all of those, those financial stocks doing really poorly in the end on Sunday. We then heard from Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary, speaking to Wolf Blitzer on "LATE EDITION" about why the government was involving itself in bailouts of banks. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: There are going to be bumps in the road. There are going to be unpleasant surprises. You're going to find that an institution or so has problems and when they do have problems, you work to deal with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: A lot of folks think that this is rewarding bad and risky behavior. Bottom line is it was not over. After Henry Paulson spoke to Wolf Blitzer, the Fed was still at it, on a tear about the things that they're doing.
By Sunday night, JPMorgan had come to an agreement with the Feds' help to buy Bear Stearns. Now remember, $70 on Monday, $30 on Friday. $2 a share, valuing the company at $250 million.
The 83-year-old firm will no longer be Bear Stearns. It's going to be bought out by JPMorgan for its trading accounts and for its good properties in Manhattan. And that's where that story is.
Expect the futures to be -- futures in trading way lower this morning. Expect a rough day on markets after a rough night in Asia and a rough morning in Europe, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We'll be following that all morning with you, Ali.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Thank you so much. A lot to digest.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: But we're going to try to break it down for everyone.
Meanwhile, breaking news from Iraq on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion. That's a surprise visit from the vice president. Dick Cheney is in Baghdad right now. Here are some pictures coming out.
He flew in unannounced overnight, and he is expected to meet with Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, as well as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. He's also going to be visiting some of the troops there, part of a 10-day tour of the Middle East.
Also the presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain touring Iraq today as well, as part of a congressional delegation. Senator McCain strongly backs the troop build-up strategy.
And early this morning, he sat down with CNN's John King. McCain says that he wants troops to stay at their current level in Iraq. He also explains why he thinks the Democrats' plan to pull troops out would backfire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The surge is working. So I just think what that means is al-Qaeda wins. It tells the world -- they tell the world that and we fight here again and around the Middle East. And their dedication is to follow us home. All I can say is that this will be a big issue in the election. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. Well, after Iraq, McCain heads to Jordan, Israel, Britain as well as France. And as for the Democratic candidates, Barack Obama is going to be in Pennsylvania today campaigning. And Hillary Clinton is prepared to give what's being built as a major speech about Iraq. That's going to be in Washington today.
Former President Clinton was in New Orleans as well. He's helping break ground with actor Brad Pitt on the Lower Ninth Ward for Pitt's Make it Right foundation. CNN's Sean Callebs sat down with the president and the conversation turned to politics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Has your role in the campaign changed at all from South Carolina? Has it evolved?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No. No. First of all, what happened there is a total myth and a mugging, and I think it's been pretty well established. Charlie Rangel, the most important African-American official today, the chairman of the House, Ways and Means Committee, said in unequivocal terms in South Carolina, that no one in our campaign played any race card. That we had some played against us, but we didn't play any.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Former President Clinton also said that it is critical for Democrats to resolve the lingering delegate questions in Florida and in Michigan.
Our Alina Cho is here now with other stories new this morning, including a story that is continuing this morning as it did all night. And that is the continued search here in New York for survivors of that crane collapse over the weekend.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So far, officially still a rescue operation. Of course, the big question is when it's going to turn to a recovery operation.
Good morning, guys, and we are watching that story. Good morning, everybody.
New this morning. Rescue crews in New York at this moment are working around the clock there searching for three people believed to be trapped in the rubble of a townhouse crushed by a fallen crane. Four construction workers were killed. You're looking live there at the scene in New York courtesy of our affiliate WABC.
Rescue crews are actually using search dogs, they're using heat- sensing cameras, even sensitive microphones. They're listening, of course, for any signs of life. But so far, the city's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, says they've heard nothing. Three people are believed to be buried under crushed brick and twisted metal. That crane which towered 20 stories collapsed on Saturday afternoon damaging at least three buildings, leveling a fourth. You can see the collapsed crane actually peeled away the outside wall of a nearby apartment building. You can imagine when this happened in New York, people, of course, immediately feared the worst. Mayor Bloomberg says investigators are still trying to figure out why the crane fell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: This is a very tragic, but also a very rare occurrence. Whether it was mechanical fault or human error, we don't know. We think our procedures are adequate, but nobody knows what happened here. It may have been one of those things that no matter what your procedures were, somebody made a mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: At least 24 people were injured. There were more than a dozen violations apparently reported at this very site, the most recent, a stop work order filed on the day of the accident regarding plans to pour concrete.
History today in New York State. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson will take over as governor. He succeeds Eliot Spitzer who resigned in disgrace last week. Paterson spent the weekend in New York City meeting with emergency crews at the scene of that deadly crane accident. He's going to be New York's 55th governor, the state's first ever African-American governor and the nation's first visually impaired governor.
We're watching news coming in this morning from Tibet. Chinese soldiers are patrolling the streets in Tibet's capital city as violence there spreads to neighboring provinces. All of this just months from the start of the Beijing Olympics and weeks from the arrival of the Olympic torch in Tibet.
As you can see, the scene there is quite disturbing. There were cars overturned. Buildings on fire for a second day. "The Associated Press" is reporting at least 16 people have died in the violence, but some reports say more than a hundred are dead. The Chinese have demanded Tibetans surrender to the Chinese military by midnight. That would be noon Eastern time.
Later tonight, there will be another walk in space. The shuttle Endeavour's astronauts' last spacewalk was a grueling seven-hour event that ended early Sunday morning. They actually attached the arms to the International Space Station's new robot named Dexter. And tonight, they're going to continue to work on Dexter's arm. It's the third of five scheduled spacewalks during this 16-day mission.
And if you're spending your time filling out your bracket this morning, you're costing your employer money. We're talking about office polls, of course. We're not involved in them here at CNN, of course. Companies could lose $1.7 billion in productivity over the next couple of weeks as workers focus on March Madness, according to employment research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Ali is shaking his head there.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHO: Why I'm not sure. $1.7 billion is staggering. The calculation, by the way, includes time spent on basketball-related activities. But, of course, on other days people find other things to do to waste their time here at work. And so --
VELSHI: That's why I'm nodding my head.
CHO: Yes, exactly.
VELSHI: Because you know what, in Challenger -- the folks at Challenger in Chicago, they're wasting time doing these reports, because the bottom line is what about the people who don't smoke. What about the fact that we're so much more efficient because of e- mail, because we all carry our Blackberries around. Give people a little bit of a break. Let them sit around and do their office --
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: Hey, mention that to --
CHETRY: I haven't gotten a bracket this year. Are you guys all --
VELSHI: No, I haven't done it yet.
CHETRY: Did you guys all get it?
CHO: You guys have it, don't you? No.
CHETRY: I feel like this year, it's --
VELSHI: What?
CHETRY: I don't know what happened. What are you guys more concerned about than college basketball?
VELSHI: Yes. I mean, that's where we should be. We shouldn't be worrying about all this market nonsense. We should -- give yourself a break. Enjoy yourself a little bit with the March Madness pool.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Well, I mean, everyone --
VELSHI: The bosses in America are not happy with me right now.
CHETRY: Obviously have been kicked out...
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: ... the way before the sweet sixteen. No one here cares.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Alina.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, driving to work in a war zone. A major effort going on right now to try to get some semblance of order in downtown Atlanta. They still have a ton of debris to clean up after powerful line of storms over the weekend tornadoes, and 130-mile-an-hour winds shattering glass and skyscrapers, businesses, all of them affected, including CNN's own home office.
And so now, the question is as we roll around to Monday morning, what is it going to be like as people try to get in there? Rob Marciano live in downtown Atlanta near Centennial Park where two of the park's gigantic Olympic torches were toppled over in all of this as well.
I guess people just have to brace for it, right? There's a lot of streets shut down. There's still a lot to try to get cleaned up before it's back to normal.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Almost definitely. And the cleanup efforts is ongoing. I just don't know where. The traffic really is already starting to pile up here. It was 9:38 in the evening Friday night when this tornado touched down just a few blocks from where I'm standing and tore right through this area. This is where the center of the vortex was, come around quarter to 10 on Friday night.
Still, two days later, the shock may be waning, but the cleanup is certainly well underway.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO (voice-over): From chainsaws to cranes to this guy dangling from a rope, a stunned city went about cleaning up from the first tornado ever to hit downtown. Damage is estimated to be at least $100 million. Much of it done right here around the CNN Center.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I can't believe that it happened here.
MARCIANO: The destruction is everywhere. Windows blown out, roofs collapsed, bricks and rubble on sidewalks. Even this, someone's suitcase sucked out of a hotel room and dropped on to the street. The city's convention center and surrounding hotels took direct hits. So did the Georgia Dome where thousands were watching a basketball tournament.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building is rocking a bit.
MARCIANO: In nearby Cabbagetown, more destruction. An apartment building and 30 to 40 homes destroyed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of those trees were just uprooted. It was there when I was a child. I'm 69 years old now.
MARCIANO: Back in Atlanta, city officials are trying to keep out the gawkers and are encouraging people to stay away unless they're needed to be here. They're also hoping the crowds come back soon. The convention center is losing money by the day and has two big events coming up. For now, as bad as it looks, they're happy more people weren't hurt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It could have been much, much, much worse.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: It certainly could have been a lot worse. We are very lucky that there were no fatalities with this storm. Take a look at this car. There are tens of cars like this, maybe 100 cars like this around the city that have been pulverized by brick and debris. This is an area of town -- many of the buildings here, you know, built a hundred years ago. And now, nothing but brick and rubble, accurately describing some spots of this city as a war zone.
A four-mile-square area here in downtown Atlanta, cities don't repel tornadoes. That's an urban myth. But they are such a speck on the map, it's just a very small probability that a city will get hit with a tornado. Certainly over the weekend, Atlanta's time at least, Kiran, was up. Really a surreal scene here in my hometown or at least where I live right now. Back up to you, Kiran.
CHETRY: It is. The backdrop just looks completely unlike what we're used to seeing for downtown Atlanta. We're going to be following that morning commute as well with Ed Lavandera to see what it's like for people that have to head in to one of the largest cities in the country. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: OK.
CHETRY: Also ahead, a warning coming from actor Dennis Quaid and his wife. They nearly lost their newborn twins after a medical error in the hospital, and they're speaking out about it. We're going to hear why they think that a medical error could easily happen to anyone.
Also, more fallout after videos of Reverend Wright's sermons surface last week. Barack Obama condemning the statements.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. DR. JEREMIAH A. WRIGHT, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: They want us to sing "God Bless America". No, no, no. Not "God Bless America." God damn America. That's in the bible for killing innocent people, God damn America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, now the church claims that Reverend Jeremiah Wright was unfairly attacked. We're going to see what the impact will have, if any, on the campaign trail, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. DR. JEREMIAH A. WRIGHT, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: It just came to me within the past few weeks, y'all, why so many folks are hating on Barack Obama. He doesn't fit the model. He ain't white. He ain't rich. And he ain't privileged. Hillary fits the mold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, those were explosive sermons given in December of 2007, and they're still reverberating on the campaign trail. Barack Obama distancing himself from his long time pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, after those sermons made their way on to YouTube in the past week.
Reverend Wright, who led the influential Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's church for nearly 20 years, officiated at the wedding of Michelle and Barack Obama and even baptized their children.
Joining us now from Washington, Jonathan Capehart, an editorial writer for "The Washington Post." You know, Barack Obama tried to get out ahead of this after these sermons or excerpts of them made their way on to YouTube.
JONATHAN CAPEHART, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I strongly condemn the statements that have been shown on the tape. I have to confess that those are not statements that I ever heard when I was sitting in the pews at this church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Barack Obama's connection to Reverend Wright continue to haunt his campaign, or is it pretty much over?
CAPEHART: Oh, it's not over, and it will haunt the campaign, especially if he's the Democratic nominee. I mean, look. This is a person who is his spiritual adviser, the person, as you reported earlier, officiated at his wedding, baptized his two children. He's been a member of that church for 20 years. To say that he wasn't a political adviser but just a spiritual adviser is sort of what people call Clintonian parsing to the doctor at level.
You can't say that you weren't sitting in the pews when those particular statements that were heard on the tape were made. There are going to be other tapes that could possibly come out and, in fact, in one column I read today, someone has reported about a sermon in July where certain things were said and Senator Obama apparently was in the pew.
CHETRY: So, and as we know, Reverend Wright has stepped down from Barack Obama's African-American religious leadership committee.
CAPEHART: Right.
CHETRY: You know, Barack Obama has also tried to run a campaign that doesn't focus on race. Is this going to make it harder for him to do that?
CAPEHART: I think it's going to make it harder. I mean, that was one of the really admirable things about Senator Obama's campaign, personally speaking. This was someone who clearly knows he's black, clearly understands what that means in the United States, but didn't let that be, you know, the sort of ball and chain that would hinder him from achieving what he wanted to achieve.
And I think by looking at that tape and hearing the fiery words, I think will send a lot of people scurrying back and wondering, OK, exactly who is he? And who is this guy? And how could he be associated with him for 20 years and not hear something remotely like these things that we're seeing on the tape?
CHETRY: Obama's church also yesterday issued a statement defending Wright. It reads in part, "Being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel" -- this is talking about Wright -- "on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe." Does that put Barack Obama in a tough situation?
CAPEHART: It puts him in a tough situation only in that it looks like he's in conflict with his church. Look, churches, no matter what denomination, all do terrific things for people who are oppressed, people who are in desperate need for hope and for faith. But there are people in -- within those denominations that say and do things that really go against what people have considered the mainstream. And I think that's what we're seeing here.
CHETRY: Let's switch gears a little bit and talk about John McCain because he's had the opportunity while this, you know, fight continues among the two top Democratic candidates for president, he's had an opportunity to look quite presidential including this visit to Iraq where he's going to be meeting with world leaders.
CAPEHART: Yes.
CHETRY: He's going to talking about Iraq. He's going to be trumping the fact that he believes the surge strategy that he advocated from the start is working. And he's also using it as a chance to be able to thump the Democratic candidates saying, look, if they want to pull out now, this would spell probably a pretty big disaster. How is this playing on the campaign trail?
CAPEHART: I think this play's to Senator McCain's strengths. I mean, everyone knows that Senator McCain is very strong on foreign policy. He was and continues to be a backer of the Iraq war. He's someone who says that he doesn't -- he does not and hasn't liked the execution of the war, and has even said he could envision the United States being there a hundred years, not necessarily fighting, but being there as a part of the security situation.
But you know, he's overseas, looking presidential on the foreign stage. But meanwhile at home, things are happening that play to some of his weaknesses. And that's particularly what you've been talking about since the top of the show, the economy.
CHETRY: I'm glad you've been watching. Thank you. I appreciate it. You know, the other thing is that the risky situation, because it's still not popular, the fact that we're five years, you know, we're celebrating the fifth, not celebrating...
CAPEHART: Right.
CHETRY: ... commemorating, being a part of this five years in Iraq, and it doesn't look like there's any end in site soon. That's not a popular position.
CAPEHART: Right.
CHETRY: So how is McCain sort of getting ahead of that?
CAPEHART: Well, I think what he's trying to say is, you know, we're in there and we're going to have to safeguard this country, and it's not the American way to just pull out completely and tell others to fend for themselves. I think he has been quoted as saying that maybe the insurgents will try to affect the campaign and that may be. But I think that there is a vigorous debate that will happen.
I mean, while Iraq has faded a little bit compared to the economy, it will come back because it's something that the American people feel very strongly about. A lot of people want our troops to come home. They want them to get out of harm's way. But at the same time, how do you leave a country that's in dire straits?
CHETRY: All right. Jonathan Capehart from "The Washington Post," thanks for being with us.
CAPEHART: Thank you.
CHETRY: And you get to leave without getting pinched because I noticed you got the green tie on for St. Patrick's Day. Take care. Thanks for being with us.
CAPEHART: Thank you. So long.
CHETRY: Routine treatment in the hospital turns into a life- threatening crisis. It happened to Dennis Quaid's infant twins, a medication error. And now, he's speaking out about what his children went through and also the shocking number of hospital mistakes that take place across the country. Is there a way to safeguard against them? We're going to talk about it coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: How about this? Some news just into us, celebrity baby news. Everyone loves to hear it, right? It's a baby girl for Halle Berry. The 41-year-old actress and her boyfriend Gabriel Aubry welcomed a little girl into the world this weekend. It's Berry's first child. According to her publicist, every one is doing great.
No word on a name. Don't know how much she weighed. Halle or the baby. But we'll find out later. Congratulations. And you're going to make a great mom. Congratulations. I think.
Well, actor Dennis Quaid is speaking out this morning. He nearly lost his babies, newborn twins, because of a mistake that was made at the hospital. Last night, he spoke to "60 Minutes" about what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS QUAID, ACTOR: It was 10 units that our kids were supposed to get. They got 10,000, and what it did is basically turned their blood to the consistency of water where they had a complete inability to clot. And they were basically bleeding out at that point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, if it happened to him, could it happen to you? And how unusual is this case? CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now with more on this. And in the days after that, they showed us, Elizabeth, the two vials of heparin, the one that was the 10 and the one that was much, much higher. They looked so much alike. You wonder, this seems like it could easily have happened.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: And they've actually changed the labeling since then. But it did usually happen. It actually killed some children. And unfortunately, these medication errors happen way too often. Kiran asked, could it happen to you?
Well, if you're in the hospital, chances are actually that it will happen to you. The average when someone is in the hospital, one error per patient per day. And that adds up to 100,000 deaths in the United States every year from medication errors in hospitals. Here's more from Dennis Quaid who was on "60 Minutes" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS QUAID, ACTOR: It's bigger than AIDS. It's bigger than breast cancer. It's bigger than automobile accidents. And yet no one seems to be -- really be aware of the problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: One of the frustrating things is that actually hospitals and safety experts are aware of the problem. They've been aware of the problem for years. For example, Kiran, they're aware in the Quaid's case what happened is you've got two dosages of a medication where the labels look so similar. Human error is going to happen. And for years, safety experts have said we need to have some precautions in place so to double check humans. Humans are going to make mistakes. It's going to happen.
CHETRY: Everyone knows, this is something that is inevitable, especially when you're dealing with long shifts, shift changes, people are exhausted. What are they doing to try to stop it?
COHEN: Well, they're trying to do several things. But unfortunately not everybody is trying to do everything. For example, some hospital, many hospitals have put into effect systems that would have helped the Quaid twins and these are bar coding systems. It's very simple. I mea, you can't buy a piece of chewing gum these days without having a bar code on it. Put a bar code on the drugs. You scan the bracelet of the patient, you scan the bar code of the drug and then you know if you're giving the right medication at the right dosage. That probably would have helped these twins and would have saved the children who died from this issue. So simple, but it's expensive.
CHETRY: Right. And also there was a lot of talk about having to type in medication and the amount because of handwriting mistakes, can also lead down the road to that. But a lot of -- there also is a lot of resistance. People say it's going to cost a lot of money and may take up more time.
COHEN: It's money. Money is really the reason I hear over and over again why these things don't happen. Money.
CHETRY: By the way, an update on Thomas and Zoe? They're doing OK now.
COHEN: That's right. They are doing OK. They don't seem to have any ill effects from what happened to them in the hospital.
CHETRY: Beautiful babies. Well, thank goodness because there were some other infants in the same time frame that weren't so lucky.
COHEN: Right. Who passed away.
CHETRY: From the same exact thing that happened, the heparin overdose. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. We'll see you throughout the show.
And we have some breaking news overnight, Vice President Dick Cheney in Baghdad right now. He flew in unannounced today, two days before the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion. The vice president expects to meet with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki. He's also going to sit down with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus. All of them will be meeting with the troops as well. He's at the beginning of a ten-day tour of the Middle East that will take him to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israeli, the West Bank and Turkey.
Also in Iraq, Senator John McCain, the election lays out a clear choice between sides in the war. John McCain says we need to stay for now. And both Democrats say they want to start bringing troops out as soon as possible. Chief national correspondent John King is traveling with Senator McCain in Baghdad with more on what the senator is saying this morning. Hi, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Kiran. A fascinating time. Both the Vice President and Senator McCain here to get a sense from the generals on the ground and the U.S. diplomats here of progress so far in the so-called surge policy because General Petraeus, the commanding general of U.S. troops and Ambassador Ryan Crocker will be coming back to Washington next month to testify before Congress. Both the Vice President and Senator McCain also trying to nudge the Iraqi government to move more quickly and more boldly in implementing the political reforms that everyone here says is necessary to take the security advances that had been made in the several months since the surge began and turn that into political reconciliation and progress. That has been the biggest frustration here in Iraq.
Now, Senator McCain is here in his day job, if you will, as a member of the United States Senate Armed Services Committee. But he also is the Republican nominee for president, the presumptive nominee, still has to wait for the convention but he has the delegate votes and he knows, the defining debate in the Congress and the campaign trail between now and November should be, will be what comes next in Iraq.
The 30,000 troops who came here as part of the surge, they're rotating home now. And in July, the U.S. will be back to about 140, 145,000 troops here. The Pentagon has plans to bring home more troops, but more and more the generals are saying let's wait, let's keep those troops here for now, try to secure the security gains that have been made in the past year. The Democrats say no, bring more troops home as soon as possible. Senator McCain sat down with us this morning on the balcony of what was once Saddam Hussein's presidential palace and he says he agrees with the generals, not so fast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We probably should hold with 15 brigades for a while and see how the progress goes. There's a big fight going on up in Mosul right now. And although it's progressing, I think it's Al Qaeda's -- if not Al Qaeda's last stand, it's Al Qaeda's place where they feel that they need to keep Mosul in order to survive.
KING: This is your eighth visit to Iraq. Based on what you've seen on the ground as you travel to Mosul, to Rahmadi, Alanbar, your conversations with General Petraeus and others, do you see an end in sight?
MCCAIN: A lot of progress has been made. When Harry Reid and the Democrats said the war was lost last April, they were dead wrong. They were dead wrong. Now, the question is will we be able to continue that progress to the point where the Iraqis take up more and more of those responsibilities and we withdraw. We're not there yet, at least in my assessment.
KING: Well, today back home one of those Democrats, Senator Clinton, who could be your opponent in the fall election, is giving a speech in which she's saying if she is elected president of the United States, she will start bringing home the troops within 60 days.
MCCAIN: Well, all I can say is that she obviously does not understand nor appreciate the progress that's been made on the ground. The surge is working. So I just think what that means is Al Qaeda wins, they tell the world that and we fight here again and around the Middle East, and their dedication is to follow us home. All I can say is that this will be a big issue in the election as we approach November because at least a growing number of Americans, though still frustrated, and understandably so, believe that this strategy is succeeding.
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KING: An optimistic assessment from Senator McCain on the security front here in Iraq. Very tough words for the Democrats back home including his two principal rivals Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. Kiran, Senator McCain was more candid and sober in discussing political reforms saying the Iraqi government must do more to root out corruption, to implement a working and trustworthy judicial system. He acknowledged that it's quite frustrating, not only to the politicians in the United States but to the U.S. generals and commanders on the ground here in Iraq that the pace of political progress has not been fast enough but he says he does believe that he's prepared to lose the election if he has to, making the case that the U.S. troops must stay here longer to help secure the security situation. So he says those political reforms can finally come. And de says he's reasonably optimistic they will finally come. Kiran.
CHETRY: John King for us in Baghdad this morning. Thank you.
Also an Ohio church is using a local gas station to reach out to members of the congregation and community. Hey, they know gas is high. They know people are getting tired of paying for it. And so they're trying to help out. We're going to have that story in today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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CHETRY: 39 minutes past 7:00 here on the east coast. Ali Velshi "Minding your Business" and following not only a very fluid situation but a lot going on in the business world today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: There is a lot going on right now. The first one you have to worry about, at the moment, all of the effects of everything that has happened in the last few days is having an effect on the futures trading of U.S. markets. We're looking at a Dow that is likely to open 200 points lower at this point after Asian markets had a very rough night and European markets are having a rough morning.
Let's start with the dollar. We know a number of things have happened. First of all, this J.P. Morgan deal to buy Bear Stearns is behind all of the activity that we're seeing. The Federal Reserve has made some moves to help finance that deal. It's also making money available to investment banks but fundamentally, the rest of the world, investors here and elsewhere are thinking that this is more of a problem. There has been a run out of bank, a major bank and that's causing problems.
Take a look at the dollar. We are hitting new lows against the euro. Earlier today it was $1.59 to buy a euro. The dollar is actually strengthening up a little bit about a buck 58 to buy a euro, 2.02 to buy a pound, 1.01 to buy a Canadian dollar. Like me, maybe your summer vacation will be is going to be in the United States.
Oil hitting a new high overseas in electronic trading overnight. And that is typical, when the dollar goes down, oil goes higher. $111.80 is where it hit this morning. It seems like it's paired back just a little bit. But as the dollar goes lower, oil goes higher, gasoline prices go higher. This weekend, we hit a new high for gasoline, a new record, $3.28 for a gallon of self-serve unleaded across the country. That is a new high. As I mentioned, overseas markets are much lower, the Dow now trading about 209 points lower, that is futures trading. We have a deal to buy Bear Stearns and it's going to be another rough morning on markets. That's just part of what we're covering today.
Obviously the economy matters having to do with your money, is issue number one on the minds of voters. So we are going to be continuing with this sort of coverage all through the day, all week and any time there's something to bring to you.
CHETRY: And in fact, we've been watching these overseas markets trading down this morning. And investment bank J.P. Morgan, as Ali said, has moved in to buy competitor Bear Stearns with the help of this $30 billion credit line from the Federal Reserve. It's a move and now has been talking about design to try to avoid further chaos on Wall Street after Bear Stearns' near collapse last week.
But some market watchers say Bear Stearns is a victim of its own risky lending practices. Several opinion pages echoing that this morning. So, we wanted to ask your opinion, the Bear Stearns bailout, what do you think? Right now only 5% of you saying you think that it was the right thing to do. 64% say you think it's rewarding bad behavior. And 31% think it probably won't help the credit crisis at all. You still have time to weigh in. Cast your vote, cnn.com/am. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning and we'll certainly see where our viewers are falling in terms of opinion about this.
VELSHI: Yes. Because we haven't seen this on the individual level. We're concerned about that on the individual level. If Bear Stearns had risky behavior, what about all of us who may have had risky behavior. Are we getting some sort of a bailout, too? So, we saw the same response with the mortgage help that people were getting.
CHETRY: Right. A lot of people were not for that either. You know, the prevailing opinion seems to be --
VELSHI: You guys are a tough crowd.
CHETRY: Exactly. We'll continue to follow that this morning. Again, still time to weigh in.
Meanwhile, a lot of star power down in New Orleans drawing attention to the lower ninth ward, Brad Pitt as well as former President Bill Clinton rebuilding homes in the lower ninth ward. The former president also sat down with our own Sean Callebs saying he's not concerned about race polarizing Democratic voters.
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FORMER PRES. BILL Clinton, UNITED STATES: Most of the Democrats like both these candidates. And they're trying to figure out who would be the best president, who is likely to do things or be what I need most in a president, and who is most likely to win.
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CHETRY: We'll have more of Sean's one-on-one with former President Clinton when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. These are some shots from downtown Atlanta right now. We talked about the big mess there over the weekend when a tornado accompanying 130-mile-per-hour winds blew through the area, knocking glasses out of big buildings and causing a lot of problems. Damage still continues to be a problem this morning as the commuters get ready to make their way in.
In fact, about an hour ago we checked in with our own Ed Lavandera. He's making the commute from Marietta, Georgia, to downtown Atlanta, going slow and probably going to be made even worse by sights like this. How do they get people in and out of the city when many of the streets are closed down because of the damage aftermath. We're also going to be checking in with Rob Marciano in just a of couple minutes, what we can expect today weather-wise for that region.
Meantime, the presidential candidates are returning to the trail today, Barack Obama stumping in Pennsylvania. And Hillary Clinton is going to be in Washington delivering what's been described as a major speech on Iraq. Bill Clinton is speaking out again on the presidential race. He talked with CNN's Sean Callebs one-on-one in New Orleans. Sean joins us now with more of that conversation with the former president. Good morning, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. We're in the lower ninth ward. And behind me you can see some live oak silhouetted in the distance. Well, President Clinton was here this weekend, part of his philanthropic organization, the Clinton Global Initiative, trying to bring hundreds of college students together, trying to get commitments from these kids to give back to communities, to try and foster that spirit of giving.
That's the reason he and Brad Pitt were in the lower ninth ward this weekend. We also sat down and talked about politics a bit. At times very contentious, a Democratic showdown. Over the past year, Hillary Clinton has seen her support among African-Americans drop dramatically? So, what does the former president have to say about that? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Are you concerned that this is becoming more polarized --
BILL CLINTON: No. No. That was going to happen -- Iowa did that. People that really understand politics know that. Once African-Americans understood that they had a candidate with a serious chance to win the nomination and perhaps the presidency, then it was going to be a question of somewhere between 80 to 90% were going to support him except in areas where she had a particularly strong profile. Like she got I think about 30% of the African-American vote in Florida.
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CALLEBS: And one unknown during this campaign season, how will delegates be counted in Michigan and Florida? There are efforts by Democrats underway trying to find a way to involve these delegates in the process. Here is what the former president had to say about that?
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BILL CLINTON: I'm not involved in the negotiations. The only thing I'm going to say, however they work it out is all right with me as long as it doesn't look like we're dissing the people. The Democrats shouldn't do anything to put at risk our commanding the allegiance of a majority of voters in Michigan and Florida because we probably can't win without Michigan and we probably can't lose if we win Florida.
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CALLEBS: And since the South Carolina primary a month or so back, the former president has had a lower profile, out on the campaign trail. Does that, Kiran, mean that his role has changed in his wife's campaign. He says absolutely not. Things are still moving ahead exactly as they were. He says the plan is for Hillary Clinton to go into the larger metropolitan areas while he continues to work the outskirts. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Tireless fighter for his wife. That's for sure. Sean Callebs, great to see you. Thanks.
Well, in Ohio, a church going the extra mile for its congregation. We're going to be talking with the church pastor and find out how he had his church help those in need of a fill-upcoming up.
Also, here's a live look, Fifth Avenue in New York and the big St. Patrick's day parade, just a few hours away. We leave you with some sounds of St. Patrick's day right here in our studio.
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CHETRY: Well, he's certainly feeling his congregation's pain at the pump. So, over two hours this past weekend, Pastor Wesley Miller and members of Zenia Ohio Baptist Church helps the faithful fill up. What they did is they paid 25 cents of the price per gallon of gasoline. Pastor Miller joins us now from Ohio this morning, right at that gas station where it all took place.. Thanks for being with us, Pastor Miller.
PASTOR WESLEY MILLER, XENIA CHRISTIAN CENTER: Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Did you ever think you would be giving people a bargain for $3.00 a gallon gas. Because that you knocked off that quarter, that you guys were helping with. That's what the national average is right now. What are people saying about the impact that high gas prices has been having on their everyday life?
MILLER: Well, it just affects everything. It affects people being able to get to work and you know, being able to do the things they need to do to be able to live. And so we're finding it's definitely a buzzword, a hot thing right now that people are trying to make ends meet.
CHETRY: So, how did you come up with the idea that you would give this gas-give away?
MILLER: Well, we were looking for an idea in the spring time to be able to reach people and communicate to them, you know, god's love for them. We do so many other outreaches where we buy food and give it away. We buy coats and give it away. We buy backpacks and give it away. So, this is just another thing that we can buy and give it away. And it seemed to be the thing that people need the most and can make the most difference right now.
CHETRY: You guys do a lot with the outreach. How was it received? What was the turnout like?
MILLER: It was incredible. We just had cars everywhere. Had long lines. But you know, the attitude was great that day. You could tell that people were needing to get that bargain and were willing to wait in line and do whatever it took. Our congregation was able to come out and kind of give full service, the old full service mentality at that time with the gas pumps. It was a good day.
CHETRY: So, at the same time you're doing this, you're also inviting people to Easter services, right, as part of your outreach?
MILLER: That's right. We were able to give out invite cards, We're kind of going with the dress-down, casual clothes look for Easter this Sunday because we want everybody to be able to attend no matter what they're able to wear. That would be a good place to be able to have a platform, to be able to invite people to Easter Sunday service.
CHETRY: Very nice, getting a temporary reprieve to people that face sticker shock every time they fill up their car. Pastor Wesley Miller, thank you for being with us this morning.
MILLER: Hey, we're thankful for it. Thank you very much.
CHETRY: And still ahead, many were warned to sit home this morning. Commute if you live in Atlanta. Would you be able to get to work if a tornado hit? Well, a lot of people are deciding maybe the best thing to do is work at home or take the day off. There's a look at some of the streets in downtown Atlanta. Our Ed Lavandera is one who is trying to make his way into the city in the aftermath of that tornado. We're going to get a look at the damage and a long road back, next of AMERICAN MORNING.
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