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Former White House Press Secretary Criticizes Bush Administration; Florida Delegate Lawsuit Tossed Out of Court; Therapists Volunteer to Help Troops; Chinese Government Evicts Flood Zone

Aired May 28, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: When you speak for the president, you keep your opinions to yourself. but when you're no longer White House press secretary, anything goes. Wait until you hear what Scott McClellan is saying about his former boss and colleagues and what they're saying about him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad? Not good. Fire it up. Go forward. We don't want to trap our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, how fast could you leave your home and possessions if a wildfire was closing in? Would you remember to hit record as well? Well, this family barely got out of the Santa Cruz Mountains with their lives. The man behind the wheel will be joining us live this hour. Can't wait to hear from him.

But hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes at the CNN Center in Atlanta, George .

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Well, we have been following this big commuter disruption in Chicago, where a train has jumped its elevated tracks. It did not fall over the edge here, as you see. You see where it ended up resting.

This happened on the South Side of Chicago around 10:00 local time. According to the fire department, 14 people were taken to hospitals for treatment. The derailment involved two cars of a four- car train -- investigators still focusing on a possible signal problem that might have been responsible for this whole mess. Service in the area has been suspended. Shuttle buses are running.

A short time ago, we got more detail from the Chicago Fire Department about what happened there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY LANGFORD, CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT: We brought in tower ladders that are elevators that go right up to the doors. We triage people, bring them right out the doors and take them down gently to the ground, where the ambulance crews treat them there. So, nothing traumatic in the way of rescues on this, in all, very, very much run- of-the-mill.

HOLMES: Well, do you have an idea or can you explain to us as best you can about the incident itself? We understand that two actual vehicles were involved. But then we got these four train cars involved as well. Just how this all happened in the first place?

LANGFORD: Well, all I can tell you is that this is a junction between the east and west leg of what we call the Green Line. It goes down to East 63rd and West 63rd and somewhere in the switch mechanism one of the cars left the rails.

The accident involves nothing but CTA trains. There are no passenger vehicles or any other type of vehicles. This is an elevated structure, not a crossing. So, somewhere in the switch, something happened and one of the cars left the tracks, and took another car with it. But at no time was any the cars involved over the end hanging over or tipped over. They remained very stable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: This was the Green Line involved in this incident, but just last month some train cars derailed on Chicago's Red Line as well, and a Blue Line stalled, left passengers stuck underground.

KEILAR: It is the talk of the town in Washington, a book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. It slams the Bush administration, including the president himself.

McClellan is especially critical of the run-up to war in Iraq, McClellan writing of the president, "He and his advisers confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war."

He said, "In this regard, he was terribly ill-served by his top advisers, especially those involved directly in national security."

So, what is the reaction from the Bush administration?

Let's bring in our White House correspondent Ed Henry for that. He's traveling with the president in Colorado.

Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Brianna.

It's basically bitterly cold, sort of like the weather here in Colorado Springs -- the president delivering the commencement at the Air Force Academy. As you know, last night, the White House initially not commenting on this book, and former White House officials were somewhat muted in their responses, but they're not holding back any longer, and it's getting ugly fast.

Dana Perino, the current White House press secretary, saying the former spokesman is disgruntled and she said -- quote -- "For those of us who fully supported him before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew."

And, also, former White House counselor Dan Bartlett even harsher. He was telling CNN that he believes it's -- quote -- "total crap" that Scott McClellan is saying the media was soft on the Bush administration in run-up to the war. He says that it was in fact the flawed intelligence that led to mistakes in the run-up to the war.

And he's also charging that Scott McClellan really was not on the inside for a lot of those meetings in the run-up to the war, so he does not know, doesn't speak with authority, a theme picked up also by a former White House aide, Fran Townsend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCES TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: I think we have got to understand the role of the press secretary. He doesn't sit in every policy meeting, not the most sensitive briefings with the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, nor the meetings with the national security adviser and the president. And, so, Scott probably doesn't have all the facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, that will obviously come as somewhat of a surprise, perhaps, to Scott McClellan, who stood at that podium in the White House Briefing Room for so long as the spokesman for the president of the United States. But now former officials saying that he wasn't really in the know, even though he was speaking for the president.

I spoke briefly last night by telephone with Scott McClellan, and he stood behind his account. As for the president, aides say that he has had the book described to him, but they do not expect him to comment any time soon. They say he has far more important things to deal with right now, rather than a book from a former aide -- Brianna.

KEILAR: It seems, Ed, that some of these responses from the White House, as well as from former White House officials, they seem to be very personal. People are -- they seem to be viscerally upset.

And it makes me wonder, back shortly after the Iraq war, when Richard Clarke, White House counterterrorism adviser, came out with his own book, his own scathing judgment of the Bush administration, did we see something similar there, or is this different in this personal degree of response?

HENRY: Well, we did see some of that. In fact, it's been pointed out to me today by people like Fran Townsend, frankly, that Scott McClellan himself at the White House podium and elsewhere, when Dick Clarke, the former White House official came out with that book that was critical of the administration about the run-up to 9/11, that Scott McClellan himself said that Dick Clarke should have spoken out sooner and that perhaps he should have left if he really had those strong feelings. Obviously, now that's being turned around on Scott McClellan. I think it's more personal now than it was with other officials, like Dick Clarke, because, frankly, Scott McClellan was around longer than Dick Clarke. He went back to the days of Texas, something Dick Clarke did not do. He worked for George W. Bush as governor of Texas.

So, it's more personal for people like Dan Bartlett, who were also there in the Texas days. And in fact Dan Bartlett told me that it's almost like an out-of-body experience right now for some people like him, because they're hearing Scott McClellan talk out, publicly speak out in a way they have never heard him say so publicly. So, obviously, Scott McClellan, when he starts doing television interviews tomorrow and for the rest of the week, we are going to hear his side, why didn't he speak out sooner -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Ed Henry with the president at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado, thanks so much.

I want to tell that, this Friday, Scott McClellan will be speaking out about his book, the man himself, why he decided to publish now and what the White House is saying about him. That is Friday at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. It's going to be in "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER."

HOLMES: A federal judge in Florida has thrown out a Democratic strategist's lawsuit aimed at seating Florida's delegates at the party convention.

CNN's Susan Candiotti has been following this case for us in Tampa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The attorney for Democratic activist Richard Lazzara survived a withering legal beating, but lost big in the end.

The judge ruled in favor of the Democratic National Committee, saying the party has a right to make its own rules and to punish states like Florida for breaking them by holding an early primary back in January.

The judge also ruled that the DNC did not discriminate against Florida by allowing the states of Nevada and South Carolina to stage early contests before Super Tuesday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The right forum for resolving this dispute is not the federal courts, but within the Democratic Party itself. And in just a few days, we hope and expect that the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting in Washington will bring this situation to a resolution.

CANDIOTTI: The losing side said it's not giving up, adding, the Florida voters are being mistreated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a slippery slope. It's opening a door for discrimination based on race and national origin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The point here is that Florida still does not count as a whole state. And if they decide on Saturday to seat half the delegates of Florida, then we're going to be counted as half a state, and that's ludicrous. That's stupid.

CANDIOTTI: Victor DiMaio says he plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. Of course, on Saturday, the Rules Committee of the Democratic National Committee will meet in Washington to try to settle the battle over the Florida and Michigan primaries.

In the end, the judge said this was really a battle about the pride of being first, not prejudice.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Tampa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: They do not agree on much, but Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain do agree that the violence in Darfur has to stop. All three presidential candidates signed an ad today in today's "New York Times," where they pledged to work toward peace and security for Sudan, regardless of who takes office next January.

President Bush is on the road. He's raising cash for John McCain. Mr. Bush will be the star attraction at two fund-raisers today in Utah. One of them is in Salt Lake City. The other is in Park City. And, actually, McCain won't be there, but he did attend a private fund-raiser with the president last night in Phoenix.

And Hillary Clinton is running out of time and opportunities to catch Barack Obama, but, in a speech last night in Montana, the Democratic hopeful claimed that Obama is more likely to lose to John McCain in November than she is. In her words, she said, "We have not gone through this exciting, unprecedented, historic election, only to lose."

(WEATHER UPDATE)

KEILAR: You know that wildfire that is burning in the Santa Cruz Mountains? Well, good news. It is now surrounded. But before firefighters got a hold on it, it consumed more than 4,200 acres. It destroyed at least three dozen homes, all of that six days.

And now folks who fled are coming back to see what if anything is left. It is not clear at this point how this so-called Summit Fire started. Here is how one family narrowly made it out of this alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is right next to our Ormsby (ph) home. People...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK, Joey. Now, get in. Get in. There's -- I don't know, man.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a phone.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK. I don't have a phone. Dad, not good. Fire it up. Go forward. We don't want to trap our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: They did make it out alive. Their home did not survive, but the father, Kenny Rich, will be joining us a little later in the NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Well, don't go in the water. More residents and tourists are heeding that warning in the Mexican resort area of Zihuatanejo, after three shark attacks in the last month. Two of those attacks proved to be fatal. One Florida native though, Bruce Grimes, counting his blessings after his near miss with a hungry shark while surfing this past weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE GRIMES, SHARK ATTACK SURVIVOR (through translator): The shark attacked and bit me. I lifted up my arm to see and there was lots of blood and I said, oh, this is bad. And I tried to get to the beach quickly, and then I heard, "Shark attack. shark attack," and I said, "Let's go."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yes, let's go. And he went, and he made it, made it back to shore, with a few gashes. Otherwise, he's OK. Today, a shark specialist from the University of Florida is there, trying to figure out why there have been so many shark attacks in an area that's hardly seen any. Well, not surprisingly, the incidents are hurting local tourist trade.

KEILAR: Combat stress -- troops and their families struggling. Military health care providers are overwhelmed, but now there's a new place to turn for help.

HOLMES: And America is in an energy mess. So, we have got an "Energy Fix"? We will kick our new daily segment on how to cope with rising fuel prices. Today, car sales that are bucking the national trend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Yes, we could all use an "Energy Fix" right about now, giving the state of those surging gas prices right now. We're starting a new daily feature. And, yes, we're calling it the "Energy Fix."

Today's focus, a bright spot for the automotive industry, small cars.

CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow joins us now from the energy desk. We have an energy desk now.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

HOLMES: We have got a dot-com desk. We have got a breaking news desk. We need an energy desk. And it's yours now.

Hello there, Poppy.

HARLOW: Hey there, T.J.

Yes, we have an energy desk. I'm so glad that we're doing this. We really just wanted to help you, the viewer, the consumer, out there. So, we're talking about cars today. We all know that soaring gasoline prices have really led to a head-on collision for car sales. For the industry as a whole, car sales are down 7.6 percent this year, when you compare it to the beginning of last year.

But industry tracker Power Information Network says that small energy-efficient cars are really bucking that trend in a big way. Sales of the smallest compact cars, vehicles like the Honda Fit and the Toyota Yaris, they are up 37 percent this year. Sales of slightly larger compact models, like the Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla, are up as well, and as are sales in a fairly new segment of the market, the compact crossover SUV.

So, here's a look at some of the models showing the best year- over-year sales gains, cars you may want to check out if you're thinking about trading in for something that sips gas, instead of guzzling it.

Let's take a look at the first one here that our car experts at CNNMoney.com went out and researched.

Topping that list is the Kia Rondo. Now, its sales have nearly tripled since last year, with more than 12,000 sold so far this year.

No one is going to confuse this, really, with a Jaguar or a luxury model, but for a small car, it does has a fair amount of space. Next on that list is the Honda Fit. That is a hatchback. It offers a lot of versatility. There you go. Our car experts here say it is fun to drive and that is also very important.

After that comes the Mazda 5. That's kind of like a minivan. It has a third row of seats, some sliding doors. So, the American, though, brand on that top-10 list is the Ford Focus. And Power tells us that buyers love the high-tech accessories. The sync Bluetooth system allows drivers to easily talk on their cell phone, play music through a USB thumb drive, using voice commands, so you can keep your hands on that steering wheel. Pretty cool stuff. So, T.J. and Brianna, you guys can read more about these cars on our Web site. The whole list on CNNMoney.com. We hope it helps people out there.

HOLMES: Yes, I think you hit it right on. Nobody is ever going to confuse those with a Benz or Bentley, but that's not the point.

HARLOW: Right.

HOLMES: But, still, everybody -- the price of gas is high, so some people just think, well, all right, these hybrids get great gas mileage. Let's just go out and get one, but does it always pay off; is it always worth your money to go out and buy one?

HARLOW: Yes, of course, you don't want to trade in and then end up spending more money, especially when you're paying more at the pump.

You really have to sit down, do the math. Sit down with the sales person. Check it out. Let's say you choose a hybrid Camry. That costs a few thousand more right now than the regular model of a Camry. Now, last year, when gas was below $3 a gallon, it might not have made sense. It might have taken a bit more time to make up the difference in cost.

But right now, with gas averaging near $4 a gallon, you could make up that difference of cost in just about a year-and-a-half, depending on how far you drive. So, T.J., it's very important that you do the math. But, if you do it, you could save some money.

HOLMES: Just take some time and do the math.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: And help the environment.

HOLMES: And help the -- there's that as well. All right.

At the energy desk, our Poppy Harlow. Good to see you, Poppy.

And you all can follow your fortunes at CNNMoney.com. We have got all the day's market news and numbers, expert analysis and a whole lot more.

KEILAR: The flames were racing through the Santa Cruz mountains and straight for their house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad, not good. Fire it up. Go forward. We don't want to trap our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: One family escapes in the nick of time, their house not so lucky. Kenny Rich is standing by. He's going to talk to us about his family's life-saving dash.

HOLMES: Also, Dell loses a big lawsuit. The computer giant was accused of deceiving customers to increase sales. Now Dell might have to pay up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, coming up next here, where have all the people gone? Thousands of families who survived China's earthquake now facing another potential natural disaster.

KEILAR: Red means stop, especially for a busload of kids on their way to school, but you're not going to believe the driver's explanation for this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello, everyone. I'm T.J. Holmes, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: Well, bottom of the hour here, and here are three of the stories we're working on in the NEWSROOM.

Some dazed and shaken passengers in Chicago after this transit authority train derailed on some elevated tracks. At least 14 people taken to hospitals, where their injuries are described at non-life- threatening. Investigators focusing on a possible signal problem that caused all this. The cars did not, however, go over the edge.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says his nation plans to take all its cluster bombs out of service. This is part of an effort to get other nations to ban the explosives, which break apart into hundreds of smaller bombs in flight. The Red Cross says civilians end up getting caught in those blasts.

And the White House is blasting away right now, calling the work of a disgruntled former employee. That former employee, ex-Press Secretary Scott McClellan. He's out with a new book in which he says the Bush White House was full of propaganda and spin.

KEILAR: Roadside bombs, sniper fire, multiple deployments -- the toll that they are taking on U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is certainly not just physical. Numbers released by the military show Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder cases increased almost 50 percent in 2007. Since 2003, about 40,000 PTSD cases have been diagnosed. Only about 1,400 military mental health care providers are available for more than a million active duty personnel.

Now, thousands of private counselors are volunteering their time to help returning service members and their families.

And clinical psychologist Barbara Romberg founded one of these volunteer groups. It's called "Give An Hour". She's joining me now from Washington.

Barbara, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

This is a great program. How did you come up with this idea?

BARBARA ROMBERG, FOUNDER, "GIVE AN HOUR," CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, about nearly three years ago, it became clear to me that even though the government is doing more than they've ever done before to respond to the need, that there weren't going to be enough mental health professionals available. And I grew up in the shadow of Vietnam. I saw my brothers' friends go off to war. Some of them didn't come back. Some came back very damaged. And it concerned me that we would have another generation coming home and not enough services for them.

KEILAR: So you have coordinated this group. It's 1,200 mental health professionals. And basically you donate an hour per week to help out with a soldier who may be struggling.

Was it hard to get people, to get professionals -- obviously, they're very busy -- to commit to this amount?

ROMBERG: Well, actually even in the last week, since the information started to come out about our organization, we now have nearly 1,400 mental health professionals, which shows that no, it's not at all difficult. People in my profession want to help. And they were looking for a way to give and this makes it very easy for them. They sign on to "Give An Hour," as you said, a week, to provide mental health care to the troops and their family members.

It's very important that we attend to the needs of the family, as well. And they sign on for a year. And people are delighted that they have this opportunity. And we now have psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, substance abuse counselors, marriage and family therapies. The full range of mental health professionals are joining us.

KEILAR: And, Barbara, when you look at this program, I think one of the coolest things about it is that you encourage veterans to actually go out and, as a form of therapy, help out in their communities.

What's the basis for this?

ROMBERG: Well, as you know, and as we all know, these are very, very hardworking folks in the military. These are honorable people. They're very proud people. So it's therapeutic for all of us to give, to do for others. So the idea is really the notion of this is what we have to give in the mental health profession. We know how to help. We know how to listen. We know how to assess and treat these kinds of issues. And so when someone feels that they've received something of use to them, we give them the option to go out in their community and give back in whatever way makes sense for them.

KEILAR: So you're in the D.C. area. Is this all over the country? Is this just the D.C. area?

ROMBERG: No it's a national effort. And we now, as I said, have nearly 1,400 mental health professionals.

KEILAR: Yes.

And how many more do you need, Barbara? What is the need here?

ROMBERG: Well, our goal is to reach 40,000. There are 400,000 mental health professionals in our country. We feel that we can easily get 10 percent. And so far, we're showing that, in fact, we can.

KEILAR: Clinical psychologist Barbara Romberg, founder of this amazing group, "Give An Hour".

We wish you luck in reaching that goal, again, of getting 40,000 mental health professionals to help you out there.

Thanks for being with us.

ROMBERG: Thank you.

HOLMES: To Central China now we go. And the number of earthquake deaths tough to comprehend. By the government's count, over 68,000 have been killed. More than two weeks now after the quake, almost 160,000 survivors have fled their homes and villages, while troops and engineers are scrambling to head off another disaster.

CNN's Wolf Dinnick is in the quake zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILF DINNICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Loading the last of their crops, farmers defy local government orders to get out, returning home to collect what's left to be harvested. They risk being swept up in what could be China's next disaster. "Of course, it's frightening. But in the last few weeks," says farmer Lian Oshin (ph), "I've been getting used to frightening things."

Concerned that farmers not leave because it's harvest season, the military has taken up work on many of the farms. The Chinese government is worried that this massive pool of water, which was formed by landslides blocking rivers, could burst -- slamming into areas already hard-hit by the quake.

We tried to take a closer look, but officials turned us back as we approached the lake, where military engineers now try to ease out the water. For now, more than 150,000 people downstream have been ordered to evacuate.

(on camera): Many of these evacuation plans are not all that sophisticated. They're just asking people who live near the rivers and in the low lands to move to higher ground.

(voice-over): In many of those low lying areas, ghost towns. This used to be a city of 10,000. Even those made homeless by the quake had to flee again. Yiuan (ph) came back town for one last look. "I don't think the water will actually come," he says, "but if the government tells me to go, I'll leave." The people are being told to stay away for nine more days.

If the water keeps rising, the Chinese government says it's going to evacuate at least another 1.5 million people.

Wolf Dinnick, CNN, Jiuling, China.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HOLMES: All right. Let's give you a look here. And this look is from space. It's the reason the Chinese authorities are a bit nervous. It's a mountain stream and two villages in the center of the hardest hit region -- a picture taken two days after the quake. It looks normal. But this is the next day, the same spot. A bridge on the far right there -- and some roads nearby -- they're all under water. Those villages certainly in trouble right now. This is seven days after the quake, May 19. You can see the difference. The village is now completely flooded. These lakes, more than 20 of them in number, getting deeper and wider every single day.

KEILAR: Israel's former prime minister says the current prime minister should go. Ehud Barak, who now serves as defense minister, says Ehud Olmert needs to step down or face new elections. A corruption scandal is swirling around Olmert, the subject of several investigations over the years, all alleging shady business or political deals. Olmert has long said he'll resign only if he is indicted. No comment on the call from Barak.

Meantime, Israeli police are trying to find out who burned a couple hundred copies of the New Testament. This happened near Tel Aviv and it came to light this month in photographs and verdicts. A local deputy mayor told reporters he collected Christian material to keep it from being distributed in his town, but never meant for it to be burned. He said three teens did the burning while he wasn't around. And Israelis are sensitive to book burning since the Nazis burned Jewish texts in the time of the Holocaust.

HOLMES: A Mom's outraged and a teacher is now being investigated over the alleged emotional abuse of a kindergartner. You are not going to believe this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Well, it is no secret that kids can be cruel. Most teachers try to police that bad behavior. But a mom in Florida says her son's teacher was the ringleader of some mean and abusive punishment.

We get the story now from Eric English of CNN affiliate, WPTV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC ENGLISH, WPTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Five-year-old Alex Barton will be starting his summer vacation early. His mother doesn't want him to return to school after what allegedly happened in class at Morningside Elementary Wednesday afternoon.

MELISSA BARTON, ALEX'S MOTHER: I will never be able to send him to school again without first worrying is something going to happen?

ENGLISH: Alex's mom admits he's had behavioral problems and can be difficult at times. She says he's undergoing tests to determine if he suffers from autism or other disorders. But she claims a Wednesday incident pushed the lines of discipline into the realm of abuse.

BARTON: Took him stood him in front of all of his classmates this week. Asked every single child in the class who was present to tell Alex why we don't like him. And his words was, "Tell Alex why we hate him."

ENGLISH: After having each child individually ridicule the boy, she says the teacher continued belittling him.

BARTON: Then they had a vote on if he deserved to stay in the class or not.

ENGLISH: Like a twisted reality show, Barton says in a 14-2 vote, his classmates voted the 5-year-old out of the classroom.

BARTON: I never thought that she would subject my child to such mental abuse.

ENGLISH: Barton filed complaints with DCF and police. She says the teacher overstepped her bounds. After conferring with the state attorney's office, police found in grounds for charges. But the school district is investigating the incident. Barton suspects other students may have suffered, as well.

BARTON: If other parents are out there who have had this teacher or currently have this teacher, come forward. Talk to your kids. Find out what she's been doing, because this is wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And that, again, was Eric English from CNN affiliate WPTV, reporting. In an update from the St. Lucie County School District, the kindergarten teacher there has been removed from the classroom pending the results of that internal investigation.

HOLMES: All right. We do have an update here on a story we talked about a little earlier in THE NEWSROOM. An alert for a baby girl has been canceled after Atlanta police determined that she wasn't missing after all. Their investigation, however, into the death of the child's mother continues. This is Precious Spencer, the child you're seeing. A realtor found the woman's body, the mother, dead on Monday. She had been shot in the neck and in the head.

Once she was identified, police identified she had a 6-month-old.

When they couldn't locate the baby, they issued the alert. Then, just this afternoon, they found out the mother had dropped Precious off with a friend. So some good news there.

KEILAR: Why are some voters still questioning Barack Obama's patriotism?

We'll take a look.

HOLMES: Also, there's trouble a brewing. In Pennsylvania.

Plus, this is the second day in a row we have seen this.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Why more?

People...

KEILAR: Bear in a tree.

HOLMES: ...in the Keystone State are sounding the bear alert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The latest CNN nationwide poll of polls suggests that both Democratic hopefuls would narrowly beat presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Barack Obama leads McCain by 2 percent percentage points, at 46 percent to 44 percent there. And in a hypothetical match-up with Hillary Clinton, McCain trails by the same margin.

Now, when the two Democrats are matched head-to-head, Obama leads Clinton by 13 points. Two weeks ago, Obama's lead was just 7 points.

HOLMES: Well, the man has been running for president coming up on a year-and-a-half now. But still, Barack Obama is facing questions about his patriotism.

CNN's Joe Johns takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Barack Obama doing what you would expect a guy running for president to do on Memorial Day. He's honoring those who sacrificed everything.

OBAMA: On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

JOHNS: So take a look at this. October of last year, Obama stopped wearing an American flag lapel pin. But after months of buzz about the issue, the lapel pin was back.

OBAMA: I started wearing it again at that veterans event because, once again, I had been handed a flag pin by a veteran who said it was important.

JOHNS: There's more to this than meets the eye. Obama's got a polling problem on patriotism, and he's trying to fix it. Pollsters say it's partly his name. Barack Obama is not exactly John Smith. It's also his unusual childhood -- raised in Indonesia and Hawaii. There was also that comment by his wife Michelle that didn't help.

MICHELLE OBAMA, WIFE OF SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Let me tell you something, for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.

JOHNS: Throw in a bunch of whacko e-mails still making the rounds questioning whether Obama is a Muslim -- he's not, he's Christian. Whether he puts his hand over his heart for the national anthem -- he does, though hasn't always. You get the picture.

Democratic pollster Peter Hart did a focus group in Charlottesville, Virginia a couple of weeks ago with a handful of independent voters who are just now tuning in to the presidential race.

PETER HART, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: What it really comes down to is voters don't know Barack Obama. Patriotism was linked with John McCain. There was no doubt about it. But for Barack Obama, much more uncertainty because his narrative is something they don't understand.

JOHNS: But he's also a different kind of candidate because he's biracial, which brings up the suspicion that his patriotism is being attacked because he's, well, not white. No easy answer to that one.

Or is there?

STUART ROTHENBERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: If this was Colin Powell, nobody would raise questions about patriotism. It's the package, the name, the biography and being a liberal Democrat. He has to deal with all of that rolled up in one ball.

JOHNS: Some analysts who think this could be a problem for Obama are saying he has to fully reintroduce himself and his patriotic values to the voters who don't know him.

Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Caught on Camera school bus driver in Massachusetts making a dangerous decision, trying to beat this railroad crossing. And when confronted, the driver allegedly said the crossing gate came down without warning and that a crossing guard motioned her forward. Well, the driver was ticketed for -- what else -- failure to stop at a railway crossing.

And lawmen in Los Angeles say they captured one of the area's most wanted graffiti artists. Deputies put the cuffs on this man here, 24-year-old Cyrus Yazdani, as he showed up yesterday at his probation office. He has been a big hit on YouTube for spray painting this Hollywood freeway overpass. Police say he's done $150,000 worth of property damage. Yazdani, who has an art degree and a job, is on probation for -- you guessed it, felony vandalism. And then here we have your bear du jour video. This coming to us have Carbon County, Pennsylvania where bruin sightings are becoming more common. This little guy here, he could not be coaxed from the tree that he was in, meaning that wildfire agents had to come in with a tranquilizing gun. And then, of course, mission accomplished. You see there.

HOLMES: Oh, boy.

KEILAR: And in nearby in Scranton, P.A. -- Pennsylvania. Officials there say that another bear caught and released a few weeks back has turned up again downtown. Some people find the whole idea...

HOLMES: Don't say it. Don't say it.

KEILAR: Unbearable. Unbearable, T.J.

HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.

KEILAR: And you'll remember -- OK, we've talked so much about bears in trees. That's our...

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: This bear was OK. But this by far...

HOLMES: Are you sure?

KEILAR: This is the apex of -- oh, that looks like it hurts, though.

HOLMES: The bear was OK.

KEILAR: This is the apex of bear in tree video.

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE).

KEILAR: And I know this, T.J. , because I've seen many a bear in tree story.

HOLMES: OK. I like it, Mort (ph). Do it one more time. I like it in fast motion. I like it in regular speed. No, not the slo-mo.

KEILAR: It looks like it hurts more in slo-mo.

HOLMES: Yes.

KEILAR: Oh, gosh. It's just not...

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: It's not fun getting a bear out of a tree, mostly for the bear.

HOLMES: Oh my goodness.

KEILAR: But they are OK.

HOLMES: They are OK, we're told.

All right. Well, let's talk about Kenny Rich. He's OK, too. He knows how this all ended. His house was one of those burned to the ground. But he, his wife and son are OK. But their narrow escape from their home was actually caught on home video. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got to go. Go, go, go, go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pull off the road. Pull off the road. OK. Now it's on fire. Oh, now it's on fire. Oh my God. (INAUDIBLE). We are not stopping here. Jesus (INAUDIBLE). Oh my god. OK, we've got to get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here. Out. He is panicking.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I put it down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is panicking. This is not good. Oh. OK. It's all right. Dad! Now!

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stay. Stay. Dad, now! Kenny. (INAUDIBLE).

Where is he?

Stay.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Where is he?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is right next to our Ormsby (ph) home, people.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's OK, Joey. Now. Get in. Get in. (INAUDIBLE) there's -- I don't know man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no one there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call 911.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a phone.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I don't have a phone. Dad, not good. Fire it up. Go forward. We don't want to trap our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Well, as the story goes there, the family actually was awakened by someone driving by their home. They were asleep at 6:30 in the morning and woke up and saw the flames coming toward their home. So they had to grab what they could and book it.

Now she wasn't, according to the story, necessarily picking up the camera and trying to do a report while the family was trying to flee. She actually was collecting things in a laundry basket, throwing all kinds of stuff in there. She actually picked up the camera and just hit record and threw it in there. And that's why a lot of this stuff was captured.

Now, Kenny Rich, the dad you heard getting yelled at there to step on it, well, he was scheduled, as we've been telling you, to be with us live right now. However, he canceled on us. He called a few minutes ago, saying that he's being asked by his neighbor's lawyer not to do anymore media interviews about that home video. So, sorry, we will not be able to get the story firsthand from him.

KEILAR: And it is time now to check in with Wolf Blitzer.

HOLMES: Yes. He's standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up in just a few minutes at the top of the hour.

Hello there, kind sir.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, guys.

Coming up, President Bush's former press secretary, Scott McClellan's, bridge burning book has D.C. in an uproar. Today right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM," we'll talk to McClellan's former boss. We'll also get other reaction from the White House.

Pat Buchanan says the U.S. might be making the same mistakes Britain made in the events leading up to World War II and the Holocaust. My one-on-one interview with Pat Buchanan. That's coming up.

And troubled times for prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert. How an American businessman's testimony could be the final straw against him. We'll have a full report.

All that and a lot more coming up in right here "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- back to you guys.

HOLMES: All right, Wolf.

We'll see you here shortly.

KEILAR: And we've the closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The closing bell is about to ring on Wall Street.

HOLMES: So, let's get this answer to this cookie question Susan Lisovicz is standing by for.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys.

Well, it is the original sandwich cream cookie, the Hydrox, coming back on store shelves for a limited edition this summer. It's the 100th anniversary of the Hydrox cookie -- actually older -- older than the Oreo cookie. Nabisco bringing it back because there were so many phone inquiries and signatures and e-mails.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LISOVICZ: See you guys tomorrrow.

HOLMES: All right. Susan, thank you so much dear lady.

Hydrox -- never heard of it.

KEILAR: I have, but --

Well, let's check in now with Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."