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Hudson Family Tragedy; GOP Insiders Slam Sarah Palin
Aired October 27, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Coming at you right now. Two murder mysteries. Who would have killed this beautiful anchorwoman, and why? We talk to her neighbor.
The body of Jennifer Hudson's nephew is found, away from the home. Who would do this?
Others reported it as fact. We told you it was a lie. Did John McCain's staff push this woman's made-up attack story?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Is this a joke?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Joe Biden gets angry at his questioner. But did he ask for it?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm back to wearing my old clothes for my favorite consignment shop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: We told you Friday about a rift between McCain and Palin. Now, there's more. Including one McCain aide who calls her a -- quote -- "diva."
And is the U.S. war in Iraq escalating into Syria? New details of what you want to know on Twitter, MySpace and more. We talk to you while you talk to us.
Your newscast begins now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
All right, stand by, because, within the hour, we're going to be getting a news conference. We expect that police will in fact be confirming what is appearing all too obvious and tragic at this point, that that the nephew of Jennifer Hudson, award -- an Academy Award- winning actress and singer, his body has apparently been found. All indications point to that right now.
Let's try and catch you up to the story. It was just days ago when somebody broke into the house. And what they did is, they killed the little boy's grandmother and his uncle. Suddenly, the little boy was nowhere to be found. That's how the story has progressed.
Here now, a look at how it's come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Strangers and residents alike scoured the area around the Hudson home this afternoon, looking for 7-year-old Julian King.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, officers, you will start here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chicago police are holding a roll call on Hallstead (ph) Street in Englewood, handing out fliers to businesses and residents in the area, looking for missing 7-year-old Julian King. Investigators now say 27-year-old William Balfour is out of the custody of Chicago police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Englewood community galvanized Sunday to find whomever killed Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and kidnapped her 7-year-old nephew.
While the Amber Alert for Julian continues with the description of the white Chevy suburban police are looking for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The FBI is assisting because we have a tender-age child. Also, we have a vehicle that may have crossed state lines.
JULIA BALFOUR, MOTHER OF JULIAN KING: All I ask, I don't care who you are, just let my baby go, please. If your beef is with me, then take it out with me. He's 7. Let my son go. Please, that's all I ask.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A white SUV with the body of a young black boy inside discovered on Chicago's west side this morning. The question, is it 7-year-old Julian King, the nephew of Oscar-winning actress and Chicago native Jennifer Hudson?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And now we understand that the FBI has put out a statement on this as well. I think we have that.
Dan, go ahead and play that for the viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN PISTOLE, FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: The body was recovered just shortly ago on the South Side of Chicago, a 7-year-old individual who we believe to be the missing victim in Chicago, the nephew of Jennifer Hudson. We are working with Chicago police to get a positive identity of the victim.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Mike Brooks is joining us now by phone.
Mike, hard to understand this story. I mean, one can understand, as horrible as it may be, the murders in the first place, but then taking the little boy out of the house. And now by all indications, he's been found dead in the suspect's car, several miles away, incidentally. It was on the South Side where it happened. He's apparently on the other side of town. How do you explain this?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: My deal -- right from the beginning, Rick, I have been saying to myself, who could do this to a young little -- a little 7-year-old boy?
But if you look at William Balfour, 27 years old, he was on parole already, Rick. In fact, I think he probably should have still been locked up. But he was on parole. He spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking, and possessing a stolen vehicle.
So, this isn't the first run-in with police that this guy has had. And, you know, they're calling him a suspect now, because apparently they decided to go ahead and take him into custody when he stopped cooperating with police in reference to this case and in reference to the missing 7-year-old boy.
So, right now, he's in custody of the Illinois State Corrections right now. And we don't know -- I have not heard from my sources whether or not he is now cooperating with police in reference to the car that was recovered this morning.
SANCHEZ: Well, listen, how long can they keep him if they haven't charged him with this crime?
BROOKS: They can -- well, since he -- apparently he has violated his parole by not cooperating. And, you know, and by federal law, they can keep him for a reasonable amount of time. And that to be deemed by the authorities on what a reasonable amount of time is.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BROOKS: But, right now, everything is pointing to Balfour as being involved in this. They said he was a suspect in the double homicide, but after we find out that this little boy probably is the body of Julian King...
SANCHEZ: Well, yes. If it was found -- if a boy's body was found in his car, and if -- we have now learned by the way, and I can confirm this, or CNN can confirm this, that they canceled the Amber Alert for him, you put the two and two together, and it looks pretty rock solid, doesn't it?
BROOKS: Right. Absolutely rock solid. And, you know, whether he's cooperating or not, I think they still have a pretty good case on him. And with the forensics and everything else, everything is pointing to this guy.
SANCHEZ: It looks like police are going to be giving a statement probably within the next couple of hours. Obviously, we here at CNN are going to be monitoring that and turn that around.
Mike, we will get back to you if we get any more information on this story.
Meanwhile, there's more information we're going to be sharing with you, the story of the anchorwoman. A beautiful young anchorwoman living by herself is attacked in the middle of the night. There are questions a'plenty, as we now learn that she, too, has passed away.
Also, a follow-up to our report on Friday, where we suggested that there may be a rift in the McCain camp in regards to Sarah Palin. Now there's new information confirmed by CNN, interviews with McCain staffers that actually call her a diva. More on that.
Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We have received so many of your comments and read so many blogs about our newscast last Friday.
One of the items in our newscast Friday involved the sudden occurrence of friction between McCain staffers and Sarah Palin. Now this report, confirmed by CNN, that, in fact, some McCain staffers are upset because Sarah Palin is going off-message.
Political insides say this is one of the first things they point to when they start to see that off-message communication.
Here is Sarah Palin talking about the McCain camp leaving the state of Michigan. Let's go to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: I read that this morning, also. I fired off a quick e- mail and said, oh, come on. Do we have to -- do we have to call it there? Todd and I, we would be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So, McCain says his campaign is leaving Michigan. Sarah Palin tells reporters she and Todd want to go there. The McCain camp then also starts those robocalls that have been in the news for quite some time -- by both sides, by the way.
Sarah Palin says they're irritating. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PALIN: If I called all the shots, and if I could wave a magic wand, I would be sitting at a kitchen table with more and more Americans, talking to them about our plan to get the economy back on track and winning the war, and not having to rely on the old conventional ways of campaigning, that includes those robocalls, that includes spending so much money on the television ads that I think it -- kind of draining out there in terms of Americans' attention span.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: A lot of people inside the McCain campaign are questioning whether she should have been saying things like that.
"Preston on Politics" now. Mark Preston is good enough to join us.
I'm going to read to you a quote from a story that was filed by John King, our own John King. It's quite a headliner, Mark. And then I want to get your reaction. Here we go. I think we can put it up on the screen, if we have got it, as well.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone. She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family, or anyone else. Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember, divas trust only unto themselves and they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."
Wow, Mark.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Tough quote, no question about that, Rick.
Here's the situation right now. By and large, Sarah Palin has stayed on message when it comes to criticizing Barack Obama. But just in the clip that we showed regarding the robocalls, when it comes to strategy, she is starting to diverge.
And I will tell you, I spoke to someone very close to the governor just a few hours ago. And here's where the rub is. They feel like she's not been managed correctly, that she hasn't been able to play to her strengths.
And, also, this whole clothes flap, the fact that the RNC went out and spent $150,000, what I have been told is that she knew nothing about that. And then, when the news broke, no one fell on the sword and it was laid at her doorstep. So, there is frustration from the Palin campaign just about what has happened in the past couple weeks.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting. She said she knew nothing about it, but she's wearing the clothes. How could she not know anything about it? I'm confused.
BROOKS: Well, Rick, what happens during -- when you campaign, and certainly in the situation of Sarah Palin when she was thrust onto the national scene, you tend to just do what your campaign handlers are telling you to do. And when you're working 16, 18 hours a day, they probably sized her up, figured out her wardrobe, and that was it, because when you're out there campaigning, you don't want to worry about necessarily what you're wearing the next day. And I know to the average person that seems a little bit silly. But the fact is there's such little time to campaign that that's what I think happened.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question. Is it possible that it's really more to do with a GOP rift, that there is this part of the GOP, and I have been reading an awful lot of stories on this on the last couple of days, that's very orthodox, tend to be Palin supporters, tend to be part of the religious right movement, and then there's the intellectual part of the GOP, which tend to like more of the John McCain types, not necessarily enamored by Sarah Palin? Could that be happening as well?
PRESTON: You're probably getting a little bit of that.
Certainly, let's look at John McCain and Sarah Palin. They both say that they're mavericks. But, look, Sarah Palin comes from Alaska. She's not a creature of Washington. She's not an insider. And what you're having with the McCain campaign right now, I think they're having difficulty really controlling her when it comes down to the minutia message.
And that's what I think you're having right now. I will tell you the McCain campaign, I talked to a source in the McCain campaign as well just in the last hour. And this is what they told me. Look, the governor and the senator get along very well. What you're having is some internal sniping among staffers. And what they need to do is just to put their head down and keep driving forward.
This source also told me that, in the last couple of days, that there had been some frustration that they thought they would lose. But they're seeing some internal polling right now and that they finally they are coalescing around. But there was an acknowledgment that in the past week or so that there had been frustration internally.
SANCHEZ: Mark Preston, "Preston on Politics," as usual, good stuff, Mark. Thanks so much. We will be looking forward to talking to you once again.
I want you to take a look at this video. It's a story that we told you about last Friday. Talk about a story that's received a lot of virtual ink, so many blogs about this story. This is the woman who made up the story about the -- quote -- "big black man," the Obama supporter who carved that B onto her.
What's the update on that? And who pushed the story? We're going to be looking about that, looking at that. Did it possibly come from a McCain staffer? That story is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN.
I'm going to get over to my keyboard, because I see some comments coming in as we speak.
Let's go to the Twitter board, Robert, if we can, please.
This is RealK58. She says: "Seems," referring to Sarah Palin, "she wants to be a diva. What happened to soccer mom and Joe whoever?"
Now let's go up here. This is an interesting one as well. Let me take you to this one.
This is referring to Joe Biden. This question comes in from Tchilipepper, who says: "He might get less crazy questions if he did agree to national media interviews. 'Is that a real question?' I laughed."
OK. This is interesting, because is something -- a theme that we're going to be picking up on just a little bit. So, stand by. The Joe Biden controversy, we're going to be telling you about it.
Now to this. We told you Friday about a bogus story that was carried by several news organization. This woman, I think you will see her face right about now, she's a McCain phone bank operator. She says that she was attacked by an Obama supporter, that he even carved the letter B, for Barack, on her face with a knife, and that her attacker was a black man. There she is.
The story seemed suspect, but it didn't stop several news organizations from reporting it, nonetheless, among them, FOX News and "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette."
But why was the story reported even before police had actually confirmed it? When have you heard of such a thing? Who was the actual source on this story? The answer may be found in this report early Friday on the Web site of a Pittsburgh TV station, KDKA, a report since removed.
We have highlighted the source in red, so you could see it. Here it is. We want you to look at this for yourself. This comes again from the Web site of a television station in Pittsburgh, just as the story was first breaking. "The McCain camp tells KDKA that the victim is a 20-year-old Republican from Texas. According to campaign spokespersons, after seeing her bumper sticker supporting McCain, the suspect said, 'Oh, you're with McCain. You're with the McCain campaign. I'm going to teach you a lesson.' After beating the woman, the McCain camp says the suspect carved a B in her cheek for Barack Obama.
"Police however" -- and this is key -- remember, this is when the story was first breaking and this is what the TV station said -- "Police, however, have not confirmed that."
So, who did it really come from? Today, I telephoned KDKA. A newsroom official did not dispute the accuracy of the station's quote, but elected not to discuss the story with me.
A McCain campaign spokesperson has been quoted at saying, KDKA and a second Pittsburgh station that also reported what I just read you each got the story wrong, that the information each station cited came from the Pittsburgh police and not from the campaign. Stay with us. And we will continue to follow this story and this story as well.
Why did Joe Biden get angry with an Orlando TV station? You're going to see that one for yourself.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
As aforementioned, one would think the last thing that McCain staffers would want Sarah Palin talking about this last weekend is her clothing, or anything having to do with the $150,000 wardrobe that was reported. Well, Sarah Palin this weekend talking about her clothes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: Those clothes, they are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging that everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me. I'm back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Elisabeth Hasselbeck of "The View" fame was actually stumping with Sarah Palin. She says this whole story is sexist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Instead of the issues, they are focused, fixated on her wardrobe.
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
HASSELBECK: Now -- now, with everything going on in the world, it seems a bit odd. But let me tell you, this is deliberately sexist.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: What's interesting is that there have been many politicians who have been spoken about in this way, it would seem.
Let's bring in Patricia Murphy from Citizen Jane.
I can think of Bill Clinton getting all kinds of grief for getting a haircut on a tarmac. I can think of John Edwards for his $400 haircut. I can think of Ronald Reagan, where the media was constantly talking about his dress, his manner, his look. Was this really sexist?
PATRICIA MURPHY, EDITOR, CITIZENJANEPOLITICS.COM: You know, I don't think that this was sexist.
I do think it's petty. I think it's a storyline that's not particularly important, kind of given the economic crisis that we have going on right now. But it's not sexist.
And, as you said, that we have John Edwards as a perfect example of somebody who had a populist message, but then was getting $400 haircuts. That's why that was a story for him. This is a story for the McCain campaign because they have a populist message. They're out there pushing Joe the plumber as the populist hero of America, and also buying Sarah Palin $150,000 worth of clothes.
I don't blame Sarah Palin for that. I think that's messy staff work by the campaign. But it's not sexist.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting, because Elisabeth Hasselbeck is on "The View." She stumped this weekend and then this morning, she was back on "The View."
And somebody on my staff, dagnabbit, decided that they would record a snippet of this, just so we could show it to you, Patricia. Here it is.
MURPHY: like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE VIEW")
JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST: Now, I want to know, who is the real Sarah Palin? Is she the Wal-Mart? Is she the hockey mom? Or is she this clotheshorse who enjoys Valentino and Dolce and Gabbana?
(CROSSTALK)
HASSELBECK: I will tell you, because I was actually on the bus with her. And we talked a lot about this. And this is my first rally. There was such support out there for this woman.
And being able to see her, she calls them Jimmy Choo's Johnny Choo's. This is not a fashionista, by any means. She's not a clotheshorse. these aren't even -- this isn't even her property.
(CROSSTALK)
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST: OK. Can I say something about her? Because you wear things -- all of you have clothes that are chosen for you.
(CROSSTALK)
WALTERS: Not that...
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: What do you make of that, Patricia?
MURPHY: I don't know what Joy was talking about.
But there's an old saying in politics that, if you're explaining, you're not gaining.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MURPHY: If you're explaining your decisions, if you're defending yourself, you're not getting your message out and you're not attacking your opponent and trying to push his negatives up.
This is all wasted time, very unfortunately. Again, I know where Sarah Palin is coming from, but right now eight days out from the election they need to be focused on their own message. They are losing independents badly. Now, they have had about a 20-point slide with independents. They need to be out there getting their own message out. You only get one news cycle. You get one message per news cycle, and this should not be the message for the McCain campaign.
SANCHEZ: Let me talk to you about something else, because we're a national television newscast.
And we have called the McCain campaign. And we have called Obama. And we have called Sarah Palin. And we have called Joe Biden. And they won't come on here. They won't let us interview them on this show. But, yet, boy, I'll tell you what. Turn on "Ellen," turn on "Oprah," turn on any show on TV, turn on local newscasts, like some station in Orlando, and lo and behold, there's Joe Biden.
In fact, here, let's look at it for ourselves.
MURPHY: OK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may recognize this famous quote: "from each according to his abilities to each according to his needs." That's from Karl Marx. How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?
BIDEN: Are you joking? Is this a joke?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
BIDEN: Is that a real question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That is a question.
BIDEN: He is not spreading the wealth around. He's talking about giving the middle class an opportunity to get back the tax breaks they used to have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Some people say, this is what you deserve. If those are the people that you go and talk to -- in fact, let's go to our Twitter board, if we can.
MURPHY: OK.
SANCHEZ: Have we got a shot on there?
This is Tchilipepper, who just wrote to us a little while ago and says: "He might get less crazy questions if he did agree to national media interviews. 'Is that a real question?' I laughed."
The point that the person is making is that these guys should step up to the plate and talk to us, and not Joe Schmoe from KDKA, whatever.
MURPHY: Yes.
Well, I would tell them to do both. I would tell them to do your show, of course, but then I would also tell them, you have got to do those local news hits. Those local voters want to see their Florida anchor next to the candidate of choice, so they can talk about some local issues.
Now, this was an example of Joe Biden -- you have got to give him credit here -- he really stayed focus in this instance. And, unlike Sarah Palin, he brought this back around to Barack Obama and used the whole Marxist line of attack to advocate for middle-class tax cuts. So, this was a good day for Joe Biden. That could have gone badly off-script for him, and he really kept it together.
SANCHEZ: I think it would be a better day if he took CNN or MSNBC and FOX's calls and did some interviews. Oh, well. Let me just leave it at that.
MURPHY: OK.
SANCHEZ: It's going to sound like I'm complaining, because I am. Patricia Murphy, thanks so much. I appreciate it. You're absolutely great.
MURPHY: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: All right. The guy who pushed for Sarah Palin as V.P., this guy had a Web site, he is a Sarah Palin superfan. What is he saying these days, given what we know about some of the poll results on Sarah Palin?
Also, the fix, more on Behar and "The View." And we're going to have some more for you on what is going on with "Saturday Night Live." You have to see robocall. If you haven't seen robocall, make sure you stay. If you have got to go somewhere, come back at the end of the show, when we have robocall. Also, did U.S. soldiers' -- quote -- "boots on the ground" enter into Syria? There is new information on this very serious story. We're going to be breaking it down for you.
Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Even "Saturday Night Live" picked up on a story that we told you about here last Friday. The situation in Pittsburgh, as well as robo call. This is what I wanted you to see. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This week the McCain campaign has been receiving criticism for making automated, or robo, calls in battleground states that link Barack Obama to William Ayers. Here to defend the calls, Robo Call.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Seth. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC. You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually he and Bill Ayers just served on an educational board together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All Robo call know is Obama is Facebook friend with Osama bin Laden.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can you say all these things when you know they aren't true? This is the same thing you did to John McCain in 2000. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Robo Call so sad. Next week Robo Call supposed to tell black people election canceled.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm very, very happy to know that five former secretaries of state, who I admire enormously, Henry Kissinger, Jim Baker, Larry Eagleburger, Al Haig - hump! Uh, and one other
TOM BROKAW, MEET THE PRESS: The "Des Moines Register" endorsed --
MCCAIN: George Schultz, George Schultz, is the other one.
(LAUGHTER)
MCCAIN: George, I'm sorry I left you out to start with.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: He's human. Sometimes the best stories in the news are the ones that make you chuckle.
All right, the guy who says Sarah Palin would be the perfect vice president started a website. He's a bit of a super fan. He's joining us when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Once again we're following developing news that is coming out of Chicago. The information about the nephew of actress Jennifer Hudson. It does appear, at this time, and the FBI seems to all be confirming that the body of that little boy has been found. And he's found in a car that the suspect in this case - there you see the vehicle - was alleged to have been driving. This car, incidentally, actually belongs to one of the victims, one of the family members who was killed in the house. But nonetheless it disappeared from the house leading police to believe the suspect left with this car.
Now they have found in the car. And also, sadly enough, they have found inside the car the seven-year-old boy's body. We are going to be continuing to follow this story. We're expecting a news conference from police within the next hour or so. And obviously, as we get that we're going to be sharing it with that with you.
A couple of quick Twitters that we're getting from you now, and a MySpace spot. Let's start with Twitter, real quick.
These are people who are responding to what they're watching on our newscast right now. First: "People will do anything to get on TV, and it's scary to see reporters stop fact checking the McCain supporter story." That's a sound off. Also, I'm going to take you down on this one a little bit. Let's see if we can work it over here. And down we go.
"Anchor asks questions out of McCain campaign stump speech." Referring to the anchor's questions to Joe Biden. "She took Obama's words out of context and didn't do her own research."
Now, let's flip it over and go to MySpace, if we can. This one came in just moments ago.
"If the GOP were smart, they would tuck Palin away for the remainder of the campaign." That's an interesting comment given our next guest. Let's be joined now by Adam Brickley, he is the original Palin supporter.
As a matter of fact, I understand, Adam, you were one of the first ones to start a website and kind of got the groundswell going for getting Sarah Palin considered as VP, right?
ADAM BRICKLEY, BLOGGER, PALIN SUPPORTER: Right, I started my website in back in February of 2007. So I've been on this for quite a while.
SANCHEZ: What would you say to this smart alec over here, saying that Sarah Palin needs to be put away and not let her campaign anymore?
BRICKLEY: I think that's a little silly. Right now, I think she is one of the best things McCain's campaign has going. People say she's getting off message. I think she's finally getting on message. This is the person we wanted on the ticket. The best thing we can do is show Sarah Palin's face as many times as we want right now.
SANCHEZ: Do you think that she's hurt the ticket at all?
BRICKLEY: No, I don't think she's hurt the ticket at all. We talk about these staffers who say she might be going rogue. I think they might have hurt it a little bit. But I think Sarah Palin, as you saw at the Republican National Convention and in the last couple of weeks has done great things for the ticket. So I'm not disappointed in her performance at all. And I think she's --
SANCHEZ: Well, let me show you some research on this. I'm going to share with you some polls. I think we can put it up. Let's put that poll up if we have it guys. This is the after the RNC convention, her unfavorable, how people saw her unfavorably, the CNN poll was at 29. Today her unfavorables are up to 51. That says to be as high as any vice presidential candidate ever, or at least as long as polls have been conducted like this.
BRICKLEY: Right, well, obviously the opinion isn't the same as right after the RNC. I mean, right after the RNC we were talking - you know, she was the most popular vice presidential candidate ever. But then we had, obviously, the Katie Couric interview and all these other things that were set up by the Bush people and I think she's getting back on message now --
SANCHEZ: The Bush people? Wait, what did you just say?
BRICKLEY: Well, all these, you know, I've been watching for the last hour and a half and we're talking about all these, you know, theses staffers that were brought in. Supposedly old Bush staffers to help run her.
SANCHEZ: Oh.
BRICKLEY: I don't think they did the campaign much good at all. I'm happy to see her get back on message and we can get back to where we were right after the RNC.
SANCHEZ: You think they've sabotaged her?
BRICKLEY: I don't think they've sabotaged her, but I mean, we're talking about a different kind of candidate now. We need to run a different type of campaign. You can't run these sorts of tightly controlled campaigns with Sarah Palin or John McCain, for that matter.
SANCHEZ: How would you have done it? I'm curious. If you were the strategist for the John McCain campaign, how would you have rolled Sarah Palin out, differently than the way it's happened?
BRICKLEY: If I were running the campaign, and I think they did a good job with the actual rollout, but I would have loved to have seen --a lot more of just of what we've been seeing, which is Sarah Palin being Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin saying whatever she wants to. I work at townhall.com. We're starting to finally see this is the Sarah Palin we like. That's - you know, what the conservatives are saying. This is who we like.
SANCHEZ: So, you're saying she wasn't managed right. That is interesting. Hey, thanks, Adam Brickley, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate you coming on and talking to us.
BRICKLEY: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Hey, let's do an Espanol check now, CNN En Espanol. Let's go talk to Glenda Umana. She is going to let us know what she's working on today -- Glenda, what you got?
GLENDA UMANA, CNN EN ESPANOL: Hey, Rick, how are you doing?
SANCHEZ: Fantastic.
UMANA: Como esta?
At least 30 agents from the federal attorney general's office in Mexico are accused, Rick, of working with drug cartels. Can you imagine? This is the worst known case of infiltration in 10 years in Mexico.
SANCHEZ: This is interesting. Because I've been reading a lot of reports lately that say this thing has gotten as dangerous and as severe now as it's ever been. What's going on down there?
UMANA: Well, the Mexican newspaper, "El Universal" (ph) reported one cartel informant said even he had infiltrated the U.S. embassy. No comment from U.S. officials there about that.
SANCHEZ: Wow.
UMANA: But according to authorities the officials received payments of up, Rick, to $400,000 per month for passing information. This capture is part of the battle led by the government.
SANCHEZ: The idea, the idea that members of a drug cartel can infiltrate any part of the U.S. government, and especially when it comes to law enforcement just seems absolutely crazy. But that seems to be the story that we're following for you.
Glenda Umana, good stuff.
UMANA: Ciao.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. We appreciate it.
UMANA: Hasta luego. SANCHEZ: Ciao.
Did the U.S. soldiers, or did the United States send soldiers, as in boots on the ground, as the story seems to be alleging, into Syria? And why now? Is what is being asked. We'll have that story for you.
And Obama begins his final arguments, as they're being called. Did he do any good with them. We've got them. We'll share. Stay with us we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Checking some of the comments that many of you have been sending to us. Let's follow up with this story now. As promised, some of the last campaign stump speech taking place this week, of course, it being Monday. Barack Obama about an hour ago gave this one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't believe for a second this election is over. Don't think for a minute that power concedes. We have a lot of work to do. We have to work like our future depends on it in this last week. Because it does depend on it this week.
In one week's time with can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom up. In one week we can choose to invest in health care for our families and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future. In one week, we can choose hope over fear and unity over division. The promise of change over the power of the status quo. In one week we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back, by the way. I want to catch you up now on some of the messages that we have been reading.
Let's go to one by Nicole Dawkins, over here. This is on Facebook. If we can. Just so many people reacting to this. "I am truly heartbroken over the tragedy that Jennifer Hudson and her sister are now facing. It's obvious the body found in the SUV is that of the missing nephew."
SANCHEZ: All right, when we come back, another tragic story that we've been following since last week. The story of the Little Rock, Arkansas, anchor woman who died this weekend. The investigation continues and tonight we talk to an insider. Stay with us, we're coming back with that.
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SANCHEZ: It is Twitter.com/RickSanchezCNN. We have a message coming in on our Twitter board, as a matter of fact. Let's go to it. This is interesting. Someone in defense of Sarah Palin. Just like the guest we interviewed says, "Palin got the base. What has McCain brought in? Zippo." Seems to be the message that they're doing.
Let's go over to Wolf Blitzer now. He's following politics for us on this day -- Wolf, what do you have coming up?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Rick. Lots coming up.
Only eight days until the presidential election. Both of the candidates ramping up their speeches. Barack Obama beginning what he's now calling his closing arguments. McCain talking about the economy. We have new polls from all those crucial battleground states.
Also, Sarah Palin, she is back on message one day after veering off the campaign script. We'll have the latest on the tension inside the McCain campaign.
Plus, we're closely monitoring the trial of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. He's the longest serving Republican in the Senate. He's on trial and only days before he's up for re-election. The verdict could be coming in, we're told, fairly soon. All that, and a lot more, Rick, coming up here in "The Situation Room."
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Wolf. We'll be looking forward to that.
Let's us bring in now, Joey Sabb, he is the neighbor of Anne Pressley. Anne Pressley is the Little Rock, Arkansas, anchor woman who died tragically. Attacked at 4 o'clock in the morning in her own home.
First of all, I'm sorry. I know she was your friend. I'm sorry for the loss.
JOEY SABB, ANNE PRESSLEY'S NEIGHBOR: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: What have you been hearing?
SABB: Just everyone is just saddened by this. They're looking for the murderer. They're trying to find him. People are coming by the house every day, putting flowers at her street, on the streets, saying prayers for her. So far the police are tight lipped. They're trying their best. They're working 24/7.
SANCHEZ: There is every reason to believe this was just a horrible, horrible crime. That whoever attacked her did so in a way that is even difficult to describe. Apparently, involving a baseball bat. Is that right?
SABB: I've heard several things, baseball bat being one of them. But this, by far, is the worst crime I've ever in my life seen, ever.
SANCHEZ: Why would do something so heinous to steal a purse? It still just doesn't seem to add up to anybody who looks at this. Does it to you?
SABB: That's a million dollar question, a million dollar question. It's a mystery. It's a puzzle. You know, in life you have puzzles, this is a puzzle, to me, that will never be solved for a long time. Only God knows, and this guy who did it.
SANCHEZ: I talked to somebody who also lives in your building, I believe they were described as a superintendent, just the other day. They told me she had a couple of dogs. And this person said they were curious why those dogs wouldn't make a whole lot of noise if there was some kind of person in the house that she didn't know. Do you agree with that assessment?
SABB: Right, but my theory is the guy knew the dogs were going to bark and he let the dogs out of the house and then did his work.
SANCHEZ: So the dogs were found outside the house?
SABB: Right, a friend of mine found the dogs about a mile from me, and brought them back the following morning. The dogs were like, there were no leaves. They looked like they had been kept all night long. They were in great shape.
SANCHEZ: Is there a - you know, usually when something like this happens, people in the community start to get a little worried because they start to think, oh, my goodness, maybe there's something else going on here. Maybe it's a random act and I could be next. Is there any of that kind of feel going around the community with your live?
SABB: There's a tremendous amount of fear in our neighborhood. Every porch light is now on. Every door is locked. They're getting pepper spray. They're buying guns. Every neighbor is petrified, yes.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Joey. We appreciate you taking time to join us.
SABB: My pleasure.
SANCHEZ: We'll keep following it. Our best to the family, by the way.
SABB: Thank you. Pray for them.
SANCHEZ: We've just now receive information that Ted Stevens has returned to the courtroom. I think we might have some pictures. There he is coming back. The Alaska senator, as you know, is on trial. There are, in fact, I have the statement here how many counts there are. There are seven counts from false statements to false statements on Senate financial disclosure forms, to scheming to several other counts in his case.
If in fact, there is a verdict in the case, and there's every indication that there is and it happens, we'll bring it to you live. We'll bring you the reaction as well. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We've got video coming in I want to share with you, right, lickety-split here. This is from Syria. Apparently, it's a website that has posted this video. This is the attack, apparently, by U.S. helicopters in Syria. In Syria's -- in Syrian territory, by the way, which is important to point out. I need to also add as a caveat that CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of this video, which a Syrian news web site said it obtained of Sunday's attack.
Syrian officials tell CNN that they are aware of the video, but it was not released by the government. Nonetheless, a lot of questions about this now. Including information as we look at this video, at least from Syrian officials, that there were not just, that, it wasn't just a helicopter attack but actually that U.S. troops were on the ground. In fact, the quote said, "boots on the ground".
Jim Clancy, who has years of experience as an international correspondent working at CNN International, and other networks I should add, is good enough to join us now to put some perspective on this.
How important -- or how much I suppose do we give credence to this suggestion that there could have actually been U.S. troops with boots on the ground in Syria?
JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know that that is likely a fact. You know, CNN has some U.S. military sources telling us, right now, that what happened here was they successfully - in their words - successfully targeted what's called a facilitator for Al Qaeda in Iraq. And this facilitator was supplying money, guns, and volunteers, to go into Iraq to carry out suicide bombings or to fight alongside Al Qaeda. That was the target that they went after. They say they hit him. The Syrians say it was a civilian family that was hit in that remote village.
SANCHEZ: I heard your discussion earlier today with a Syrian official who seems to suggest that this is politically motivated. What is his point?
CLANCY: Listen, the Syrians look at this and they say America you have had - George Bush, you have had years to carry out these attacks. It is known that the U.S. had intelligence that these fighters were coming across the boarder from Syria. They were from Libya, they were from Morocco, they were from Saudi Arabia, they were from the Gulf states. No so much from Syria, but they were coming through Syria and going to volunteer to either fight, or be suicide bombers inside Iraq.
But the situation has calmed down, Rick, dramatically. The Syrians say so why attack now? It must be politics on the eve of the election. George Bush wants to create a feeling of crisis among American voters that they believe would inspire them to cast their ballot for John McCain.
SANCHEZ: But part of the Bush Doctrine says if they're terrorists, if they have ties to Al Qaeda, the people who attacked us, then we're going to go after them. Is there a link? Are we looking at this organization that we hit having ties to an Al Qaeda, for example?
CLANCY: Well, absolutely. There's no doubt about it. We know - and I've seen it with my own eyes - some of the intelligence that have been gathered. They've gone into places on either side of the border, on the Iraqi side of the border, they found terra bytes of data that showed the vast Al Qaeda network, extremely well funded. These facilitators were on the outside, they had so much cash, Rick, they were sending it back. Fighters were coming in through there. This was their organization. The U.S. has known about it. They have had hard, solid evidence not just for months, but for well over a year.
SANCHEZ: Let's take a look at that video once again, Dan. If you could put that up. Let's talk about the effect of something like this. Because anybody who remembers the Vietnam war knows that when you escalate a war by going into the territory of other countries adjacent to the country where you're fighting, it can become, quickly, an international incident. How likely is it that this thing will escalate?
CLANCY: Well, I don't think it's very likely. I think, Iran is watching it very closely because they, too, have been blamed for planning attacks against American forces or Iraqi targets inside Iraq. These charges have been out there against the Syrians for some point in time. Militarily, the Syrians aren't in a position really to do much about it. They could withhold their cooperation. They're doing that with a security conference that is to be held in Damascus just next week.
So, there is going to be some short-term repercussions, but in the long-term, the Syrians are making it clear. They don't expect the Republicans to win come election day in the U.S. They'll clearly --
SANCHEZ: That's interesting. You're expecting that they know our politics and watch our newscasts, like yours, and mine -
CLANCY: Well, not only that -.
SANCHEZ: Well enough that they won't act because they don't want to interfere in the election?
CLANCY: No, they really can't do anything militarily.
SANCHEZ: Right.
CLANCY: But they're looking at this - they're saying the reason George Bush is doing that is that everybody is obsessed with this election.
SANCHEZ: We have a verdict. Pardon me for interrupting you, Jim.
CLANCY: Go ahead.
SANCHEZ: I'm being told now that now there is a verdict in the trial of Ted Stevens, the Alaska senator who's been on trial for some form of malfeasance. We don't know exactly what that verdict is, but expect that you will hear it in just a couple of moments. Because Kelli Arena has been all over that story, as well.
Our thanks to you, Jim, for bringing us some analysis on this story. Really important story.
We're also going to be letting you know that Wolf Blitzer is coming up in a little bit. He's going to be taking through, not just the politics of the day, but also everything having to do with the Ted Stevens' case. He'll have that for you, as it happens.
As a matter of fact, the closing bell on Wall Street is coming at us now, as well. And here it is. We were expecting today that it would be a pretty stale day on Wall Street. In other words, not too many ups, not too many downs. And when all is said, down again. Down 226, as we see.
(BELL CLANGING)
SANCHEZ: There's the bell. And with that, it's our cue, as well, to take you over to Wolf Blitzer. He's standing by in New York. -- Wolf, take it away.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Rick.
