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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Obama's Offense; McCain Questions Obama's Readiness; Voter Fraud; Port Security Gear for China
Aired October 29, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Wolf. Tonight, a desperate fight to the finish on the presidential campaign trail, some polls showing this race too close to call tonight. Will Senator McCain defy the pundits and the liberal national media and win? We'll have complete coverage.
And tonight, an issue every voter should be concerned about, communist China's rising influence in one of our most strategic ports. We'll have that story.
And tonight, more positive news about our economy, new evidence that the fear mongers who predicted depression are simply plain wrong. Three of the nation's best economic thinkers join us, all of that, all the day's news and much more from an independent perspective straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT; news, debate, and opinion for Wednesday, October 29th. Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody. Senator Obama today launched an all-out offensive against Senator McCain six days before the election, Obama accusing McCain of using dirty tactics, Senator Obama also using his considerable financial advantage to pay for primetime 30-minute television commercials tonight.
Senator McCain ridiculing Senator Obama saying he's making his first address to the nation before the election. McCain and Governor Palin also hammered Obama for his friendship with a Palestinian professor who's an outspoken critic of Israel and friend of Palestine. We have extensive coverage, beginning with Jessica Yellin who's with the Obama campaign near Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barack Obama is playing offense, today mocking McCain's closing message.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the end of the week he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: And in a snarky (ph) new ad accusing the Republican ticket of incompetence on economic issues... (MUSIC)
YELLIN: His aggressive posture is also clear in his schedule. Beginning the day in Raleigh, North Carolina, which went for Bush twice, then swinging through Sunrise, Florida, a Democratic stronghold in a county that was one of the epicenters of the Florida recount. Al Gore lost here by just 537 votes.
And tonight, Obama will pull out the big guns, making his first joint campaign appearance with none other than Bill Clinton, who is still adored in Florida and interrupting primetime TV for millions of Americans with a 30-minute ad directed by the same man who brought you Obama's convention biography.
OBAMA: We have been talking about the same problems for decades and nothing is ever done to solve them.
YELLIN: Expect the ad to make this point.
OBAMA: I'll also lay out in specific detail what I'll do as president to restore the long term health of our economy and our middle class and how I'll make the decisions to get us there.
YELLIN: It's designed to energize supporters and persuade late deciders like these voters in Virginia, to give Obama what he wants.
OBAMA: If you want it as bad as I want it, then I promise you, we will not just win Virginia. We'll will this general election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: Lou, as part of that 30-minute ad, Barack Obama will speak live to viewers and he'll do it from right here in this arena in Sunrise, Florida. After that, he will head to Kissimmee, a town outside Orlando, Florida for that sure to be memorable event with Bill Clinton -- Lou.
DOBBS: Something to look forward -- Jessica, thank you very much -- Jessica Yellin reporting.
Senator Obama's primetime television commercial tonight could cost the campaign as much as $5 million. It's another example of Obama's huge spending power. And he is outspending Senator McCain on television advertising by a margin of more than four to one.
Obama raised more than $150 million last month, breaking all fund-raising records. Governor Palin mocking the Obama campaign's huge ad spending budget. She said combined, the Obama/Biden television advertising budget is larger than that of McDonald's and diet Coke.
Senator McCain today accused Senator Obama of being unready to lead this country. McCain saying one reason is Obama's friendship with a Palestinian professor who's a harsh critic of Israel and U.S. policy in the Middle East. McCain and Governor Palin accusing the pro Obama "Los Angeles Times" of trying to shield Senator Obama from controversy. Dana Bash with the McCain campaign reporting now from just outside Toledo, Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain knows he can't compete with Barack Obama's blockbuster bank account that bought 30 minutes of prime time TV, but he can mock it.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's giving his first address to the nation, an infomercial, and by the way, I will never delay the start of the World Series for an infomercial.
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: And McCain's advisors admit he can't match the enormous Florida crowds Obama will draw, so he didn't try, instead, small targeted events, a modest Miami rally with a message for the critical Cuban community.
MCCAIN: I'll sit down and talk with one of the Castro brothers. I'll sit down with him right after they empty the political prison, right after they have free elections.
BASH: A national security meeting in veteran-rich Tampa with a warning.
MCCAIN: The question is whether this is a man who has what it takes to protect America from Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and other grave threats in the world. And he has given you no reason to answer in the affirmative.
BASH: But McCain's big push for attention was suddenly bringing up a six-month-old article, describing a 2003 dinner Obama attended with friend and Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi (ph). McCain says 1960's radical William Ayers was there, too. The "LA Times" has a tape of the dinner but says releasing it would violate a source agreement. Calling Khalidi a PLO spokesman, McCain went on Miami radio to demand the tape be made public.
MCCAIN: I guarantee you if there was a tape with me and Sarah Palin and some neo Nazi or one of those, you think that that tape wouldn't be made public?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
BASH: And in Ohio, Palin joined in saying guests at that dinner were critical of Israel.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Israel was described there as the perpetrator of terrorism instead of the victim.
(BOOS)
PALIN: What we don't know -- what we don't know is how Barack Obama responded to these slurs on a country that he now professes to support. BASH: At an event with Jewish voters in May, Obama was asked about his relationship with Khalidi, he called him a friend, but not an advisor.
OBAMA: To pluck out one person who I know and who I have had a conversation with who has very different views than nine other of my friends, and then to suggest that that somehow shows that maybe I'm not sufficiently pro-Israel I think is a very problematic stance to take.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now, Khalidi has said that he has never been a PLO spokesman, and as for the Obama campaign, Lou, they say that this is nothing more than a recycled manufactured controversy -- Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you very much, that controversy in which the "LA Times" is adding its impetus by refusing to release that videotape of the banquet, well thank you very much -- Dana Bash.
Well as Dana just reported, the "LA Times" says it won't release that videotape because it promised a source the tape wouldn't be made public. The "LA Times" editor, Russ Stanton (ph), said "The Times" keeps its promises. And Jamie Gold (ph), the reader's representative of the "Times" said, "The Times" is not suppressing anything. Just the opposite, the "LA Times" brought the matter to light.
Well Senator McCain himself has indirect ties with Rashid Khalidi. McCain is the chairman of the International Republican Institute. That's an organization that once gave money to the Center for Palestinian Research and Studies back in the 1990s.
Rashid Khalidi is one of the founders of that center. Therefore, there could be described as a relationship somewhat remote, but nonetheless, a relationship. McCain's organization gave Khalidi's group in fact hundreds of thousands of dollars to conduct opinion polls in Gaza and the West Bank.
Well speaking of polls, some national opinion polls in this country suggest the race between Obama and McCain is tightening. Two of those polls giving Obama a lead of just three points, but CNN/TIME/Opinion Research Corporation polls in five key states show Obama could be in fact gaining new momentum. John King joins me now to sort all of this out. John, what's happening in these five states? What does it mean?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, what it means is that we have updated our electoral map because of our new polling to take Colorado out of the toss-up column and to make it leaning blue for Barack Obama and with those nine electoral votes, look at where we have the race, which is five full days of campaigning left after tonight.
Barack Obama right now leading in states with a combined 286 electoral votes, more than enough to win the White House, so you can look at it this way, if Barack Obama simply protects his leads in the states he has, he would be the next president of the United States. The six toss-up states on our map, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and out of Nevada, all Bush states four years ago, that shows you the challenge for John McCain.
Because even if he won them all, let's take off the telestrator (ph), even if we give him every one of these toss-up states, John McCain would still be short, which is why you're seeing so much emphasis on the state of Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes. McCain would have to win all of the toss-ups left and switch the state of Pennsylvania and then he could win the race.
But Lou, if you look more closely, underneath the top lines in our polls, you do see problems for Obama. Let's go back to the 2004 map and look at Colorado. The reason we were switching this state from toss-up to leaning Obama, huge support, Denver, Boulder, in the suburbs here. That is happening across the country as well. Barack Obama support, where the people live, in urban centers and in the populated suburbs around them is changing the dynamics of this race. That's what's happening in Colorado.
It's also happening in the state of Virginia, which we now have leaning Obama. Of course our new poll shows down here in southeast Virginia, but most especially up here in the Washington suburbs where the population growth has been so profound in the state of Virginia, a huge Obama advantage. Let's look at one more state down here, the state of Florida. This is why George W. Bush won the election in 2000, his narrow win here.
If you come down here to what they call Miami and the Gulf Coast, Barack Obama is winning by a two to one margin down here. Democrats traditionally win. You see the blue from four years ago. They traditionally win down here. But if John McCain loses by that margin, Lou, it is impossible to imagine winning the state.
One other number I want to leave you with on the state of Florida, that is 70 to 29. Barack Obama is winning 70 percent to 29 percent over John McCain, Lou, among non-white voters in the state of Florida. African Americans and Latinos, a significant swing population there, so John McCain needs to change that number and he needs to improve his standing down here if he is to hold on to Florida and as we discussed at the top, even if he holds onto Florida, it's not enough. The map heading (ph) into the final days lopsided in favor of Barack Obama, it's not over, Lou, but it's a very steep hill.
DOBBS: A very steep hill, indeed, is the way you lay it out there. In Pennsylvania, where Senator McCain and Governor Palin have been campaigning vigorously, as I took a look at all the polls as of this afternoon, I haven't seen one for days now that has Obama with less than a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania. Is there something there that we're all missing?
KING: No, and the McCain campaign acknowledges it. They say their internal polls are a little tighter, that they have it in single digits. The public polls have it 10 points, some as many as 12 points. You're not missing anything at all. But the McCain campaign believes if you look again, this is 2004 where John Kerry won this state by three points, but if you look at all the red out here, what the McCain campaign sees is a state that in its core is conservative all up in here, and they expect to do very well there.
The problem for the McCain campaign is that most of the people live here, where this blue is, from 2004. And so what John McCain has to do is do well in these blue-collar areas and do well in Philadelphia and the suburbs. He's not doing what he needs to do there right now. The reason they have some hope, Lou, is this.
I want to switch us back to the Democratic primaries. Those areas I outlined as critical to John McCain, that lighter blue, that's Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, she trounced (ph) Barack Obama in these blue-collar areas up there. That is McCain's hope, but if you look through the polling data now and we pour through it every day, you don't see it in the numbers right now.
DOBBS: All right, John, thank you very much -- as always, John King.
Well more on our exciting finish to this presidential campaign ahead, also startling new evidence of communist China's rising influence in one of this nation's strategic ports. We'll have that story.
And the radical left-wing group ACORN ignoring the truth as it tries to rebut charges that it is involved in voter registration fraud in 13 states. We'll have that story as well and a great deal more up next. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The left wing activist group ACORN tonight still claiming to be nonpartisan, that in spite of the fact that ACORN today launched a new advertising campaign accusing the McCain campaign and Republicans of voter suppression. In point of fact, ACORN is now under investigation by the federal government and at least 13 states for widespread voter registration fraud. Lisa Sylvester has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The group ACORN prides itself in helping build a better community, affordable housing, better schools, rebuilding the Gulf Coast, but it's currently under investigation in about a dozen states for alleged voter registration fraud. Bogus names, bogus addresses or the same name registered multiple times. And critics like the conservative National Legal and Policy Center say ACORN has a history of bending the rules.
CARL HOROWITZ, NATIONAL LEGAL AND POLICY CENTER: Going back as far as 2004 and again in 2006 and again this year, they have been involved in what is -- overwhelmingly points to voter registration fraud. SYLVESTER: the group was founded by union organizer Wade Rafky (ph). Rafky was forced to step down in June after it was revealed his brother had allegedly embezzled nearly $1 million of the group's money eight years ago. ACORN's highest officials allowed him to quietly pay back some of the money before the story broke.
ACORN has also been under fire for its policies. The group fights for workers' rights, but when its own workers tried to form a union, ACORN's leaders blocked it. According to records obtained by CNN, in 2003, the National Labor Relations Board ruled the group violated the law by threatening employees and interrogating them about union activities.
In 1995, ACORN tried to sue the state of California to avoid paying its own workers the minimum wage, saying it couldn't afford it. That suit was tossed out. The Employment Policies Institute is a pro- business group.
RICK BERMAN, EMPLOYMENT POLICIES INSTITUTE: There's embezzlement from ACORN. There is voter registration fraud, under investigation by the FBI all across the country. Theirs is an organization that won't pay minimum wage to its own employees. They've been guilty of that.
SYLVESTER: ACORN says the criticism is being generated by business groups on the right and the GOP trying to stop ACORN's community voter registration drives.
HUGH ALLEYNE, DELAWARE ACORN BOARD MEMBER: These are the folks, these Republican campaign surrogates. These are the folks who are tampering with the fabric of our democracy. Not ACORN in its efforts to get people to register to vote.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: ACORN acknowledges some of its canvassers submitted false registrations, but says it's confident that any investigation will clear it of wrongdoing. And in a statement to CNN, ACORN's chief organizer said, "Accusations against it were blatantly partisan attacks on the hundreds of thousands of working families that ACORN represents across the United States."
Quote, "We are proud of the work we have done on behalf of America's working families to increase minimum wage, to fight for better access to health care, to improve public education, and to empower millions of voters to take part of the electoral process" -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well "The New York Times" amongst those reporting, I mean and ACORN, its claims for registration, in point of fact, they have delivered about a third of what they had claimed they had in the way of voter registration numbers. They're investigated in 13 states. This has been going on for years. Why are people taking seriously these enunciations from this organization?
SYLVESTER: Yes, this organization that if you take a look back, you know this voter registration, the fraud and so forth that we're seeing now, that this actually was going on in 2004, in 2006, this organization has been under fire for other things like you said, about claims that they had registered about a million voters.
Well then they came back and said it was more like 400,000, so there's a lot of things about this group that people are really only now taking a good long, hard look. And we should say that this group, also, even though they say they have not received any government money, their affiliates certainly have received money over the years, Lou.
DOBBS: Yes, the housing arm, in point of fact, receiving 40 percent, just about 40 percent of its funding from the federal government, to tell you how screwed up things are right now in this government and the way in which not for profits, nonprofits and NGOs (ph) are being used as sort of a shadow government -- Lisa, as always, a great job of reporting. Thank you -- Lisa Sylvester from Washington.
In Mississippi tonight, more evidence of widespread problems with voter registration. According to the Mississippi Secretary of State's Office, more than a third of Mississippi counties have now registered more voters than they have adults eligible to vote. Twenty-nine of Mississippi's 82 counties had more registered voters than people of voting age.
Mississippi tonight also saying it can't verify the eligibility of 34,000 new voters registered since January. A spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office tells this broadcast that neither of these problems can be fixed by Election Day, now only six days away.
Well if you notice any trouble at your polling place on or before Election Day, we want to hear about it. Please give us a call on the voter hotline, 1-877-462-6608. And you can find that number on our Web site at loudobbs.com.
Up next, more good news on the economy, news you won't hear anywhere but here. New evidence that this country is not headed for a depression. You heard it first here. No depression -- I'll be talking with three of the smartest economic thinkers in the country.
And why a major American port is now relying on communist China for critical national security. We'll have a troubling report on the gaping holes that remain in this country's port security next, a great deal more straight ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well, another threat to security at this nation's ports, the threat from communist China, the Port of Los Angeles is now testing -- you're going to love this. They're testing an x-ray cargo scanner made by a Chinese company that has some familial ties to the head of the communist party and communist government in China. The purchase made even though an American company just down the road from the port makes exactly the same type of equipment. But this is after all America 2008. Casey Wian has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China is the Port of Los Angeles' largest customer, $112 billion worth of Chinese cargo passed through here last year alone, more than every other nation combined. The port handles 8.5 million cargo containers a year, the security risk is undeniable.
Now the port is testing a new mobile X-ray scanning system similar to this one purchased with U.S. taxpayer money last year from a Chinese company called NUCTECH. NUCTECH's president is Hu Haifeng (ph), the son of the Hu Jin Tau (ph), president of the People's Republic of China. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher's district includes the Port of Los Angeles.
REP. DANA ROHRABACHER (R), CALIFORNIA: You can't depend on the communist Chinese to provide America the emergency equipment we need for our own defense.
WIAN: NUCTECH submitted its bid through Duly Research (ph), a small American company headquartered in this wealthy residential neighborhood overlooking the port. The nearly $1.9 million bid was almost a million dollars lower than two competing proposals, one from a British company with manufacturing facilities in the United States and one from Rapiscan, an American company headquartered just minutes from the port. Rapiscan alleges NUCTECH offered the X-ray scanner to the Port of LA at an usually low price to secure its first contract in the United States.
ANDREW GOLDSMITH, V.P., RAPISCAN: I can tell you this was way out of that ballpark in terms of what we would normally see from them. And it is very -- it's just very puzzling, very suspicious to us that they were able to come in with a bid so, so significantly lower than what they have done in the past and what they did relative to other competitors.
WIAN: Duly Research did not respond to repeated requests for comment about its deal with NUCTECH. We couldn't reach NUCTECH's Hu Haifeng (ph) either. The Department of Homeland Security did not object to the port's decision to buy a scanner from NUCTECH, even though 90 percent of the money came from a federal port security grant.
In August, congressional Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson complained in a letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff about recent waivers of buy America requirements, saying "I am troubled that a department charged with assuring the safety and security of America's ports would act in a way that may bring about potential security vulnerabilities."
ROHRABACHER: This contract should be declared null and void and we should then have the federal government do its job and set the standards so that the Port of Los Angeles or any other port will know exactly what kind of equipment they're permitted to use from a potential enemy of the United States.
WIAN: The Port of Los Angeles would not agree to an interview for this report. It released a statement that misspelled NUCTECH's name as NuTech (ph). The port claims the x-ray scanner will be used quote, "in scanning shore-side provisions and supplies for cruise ships at the Port."
However, the port's contract approval documents says the x-ray scanner is being purchased so it can also be used to support other security operations throughout the port. It may even be loaned to the city of Los Angeles for citywide security needs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: A Department of Homeland Security spokesman blames Congress for passing the law that allows port security grants to be used to buy foreign-made equipment. He also says the Chinese made x- ray scanner is still being tested here at the Port of Los Angeles and will not be used unless it passes all DHS security requirements -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well the Department of Homeland Security and the administrator of the Port of Los Angeles, they ought to be -- I mean they ought to be ashamed of themselves. They continually demonstrate their incompetence and their indifference to the national interest. I don't even understand why they don't just pack their bags, go home, move out of the job, unless it's of course the only job they could get. What is going on?
WIAN: The only requirement that the Port of Los Angeles said it looked at, or the main requirement, I should say, that it looked at in this case was the fact that the Chinese-made scanner was about $1 million cheaper than the other two bids it received. It hasn't even completed testing to make sure that it meets all the requirements it's going to need to meet to actually operate the thing, so there's a lot of questions here; unfortunately, they're not answering those questions right now, Lou.
DOBBS: Well and because of the way the port is set up there, it doesn't have to answer to anyone except perhaps the Department of Homeland Security, which is at best indifferent to national security and port security for the past seven years. Thank you very much, Casey -- Casey Wian, a troubling report from the Port of Los Angeles.
Well that brings us to the subject of our poll tonight. The question is: Are you outraged that the Port of Los Angeles is using your taxpayer dollars to buy sensitive security equipment from a Chinese technology company with family ties to the head of the Chinese communist government? I love this question. I don't know if we're going to like your answers, but that doesn't -- that isn't the point at all.
It's just fascinating that the question could even be posed this way. We'd like to hear from you. Yes or no. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results here later.
Up next, some polls suggesting the race between Obama and McCain narrowing. We'll assess what's happening on the campaign trail. Three top political analysts join me. And scathing new evidence that the Food and Drug Administration is again utterly failing the American consumer, and fear mongers who declared our economy and markets were a disaster area, that our economy was headed for a depression, well they're being proved just plain wrong. And by the way, you heard it here first. No depression. Three of the best economic thinkers join me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Welcome back. The Federal Reserve this afternoon cut a key interest rate by half a percentage point, but even with that move, the Dow Jones Industrial still closed lower on the day.
Joining me now, three of the country's top economic analysts. Pat Choate, Dr. Choate is director of the manufacturing policy project and the author of "Dangerous Business," Pat great to have you with us. Peter Morici, professor at the Robert H. Smick School of Business at the University of Maryland, good to have you with us. David Smick, author of "The World is Curved, Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy," David, thanks for being here.
Gentlemen, we have a half-point move in the benchmark fed rate. Peter, what's going to be the impact?
PROF. PETER MORICI, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: I don't know it's going to be a huge impact, but hopefully credit markets will continue to free up because that's exactly what we need. We need to get the banks lending again and businesses have to get access to capital. If we get that and the markets see that happening, we can expect more good days. Maybe not another 900 points, but we can start to see more good days over a period of two weeks and get back to where we need to be.
DOBBS: Pat, I don't know about you, but I don't know what degree it will help, but I feel better they cut the percentage mark by half a point. What is your judgment?
PAT CHOATE, AUTHOR, "DANGEROUS BUSINESS": They're being very aggressive to get liquidity going. Now they have to push the banks to engage in loans. The banks aren't stepping up to the line, the ones taking the federal money the way they should, so now is the time for the treasury to push them. If the treasury doesn't do it, at some point, congress has to step in and turn the control over to the FDIC. The FDIC, an independent agency, can go in, exercise control, fire people, do what's necessary. That public money was put out to stimulate the economy, not allow the banks to go out and buy other banks.
DOBBS: Let's take a look at what is to this point, what we know of the money that has been put out there, that $700 billion bailout that has been pumped into major financial institutions, if we could put that up, I would like everybody to be able see that, the banks that have received the money.
Look at this. Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street Corporation. My god, that's a lot of money going to a lot of friends of Hank Paulson. Are you kidding me, David Smick?
DAVID SMICK, AUTHOR, "THE WORLD IS CURVED": I agree with Pat. You know, you can pump money into the banks. And you can, you know, take some of the toxic waste off the balance sheets, but you can lead the bank to water, but you can't make it lend.
DOBBS: We're not even talking about lending here, David. This is just talking about the banks, these are the biggest banks in the country, to keep them solvent for crying out loud. And their executives are taking down billions of dollars in bonuses while 4 million homes are facing foreclosure in this country over the next two years. This is nuts.
SMICK: What's even crazier is they're not lending. And I have real doubts about the way it's going. I have mentioned it before. The Japanese had a similar experience. They pumped 10 percent of their GDP into the banks. The banks didn't lend. They just sat their and clipped coupons. They borrowed from the low rates from the central banks and bought long-term securities, but they didn't lend. As outrageous as this is, what makes it doubly insulting is if the banks don't step forward. I'm troubled as much as anyone.
I think this is a test. I don't know if we can go beyond March or April without there being an actual call in Congress for the at least temporary nationalization of the banks where they actually come in and do a workout with the operations.
DOBBS: What can we do? As we go through the numbers again, we're talking again here, David, as you know, Peter, I mean, nationalization of banks, and the privatization of bonuses for the executives who couldn't run the institutions, including Bob Reuben at Citigroup. You go down the list, it is absolutely ridiculous what the American taxpayer is being called upon to do.
SMICK: You're right.
CHOATE: The problem I think is Hank Paulson is not being aggressive enough. Think of it as a vegetarian running a meat-packing plant. I mean he quite literally ideologically is against it. He's drug his feet at each step of the way. We need to turn it to FDIC or someone in control who basically says we'll replace the management of these banks if you don't get out and do the loan. And to otherwise say, we will limit the bonuses. We're not going to tolerate this sort of a rip-off of the American taxpayer.
MORICI: At the very least, we have to reform the compensation structure so they're adequately incentivized to make loans. Right now, they can't earn the bonuses they're accustomed to getting.
DOBBS: The Democratic leadership of this Congress is blowing smoke. They're bs'ing the American people. They told everybody they were going to take control of executive compensation. They're bs'ing everybody in the country.
CHOATE: They sure did.
MORICI: It's absolute nonsense. They're only going in and controlling the top five executives. They're going to be paying just as much in bonuses this January as last January. Some are going to pay more. I expect to see some hearings in the New Year. The question is whether that's enough soon enough.
DOBBS: Well let me ask you this. Do you think you could run a business for Uncle Sam spitting $25 billion on your balance sheet?
SMICK: They should. One of the disturbing things the banks are scared rabbits hiding under the bed. They're not going to take any risks, at least not in this environment. They're going to lend money only to people who don't need it.
DOBBS: The issue remains too what we need is leadership, both political and economic and business and banking leadership. That's one of the big issues, as you gentlemen have all stated, facing us in this crisis. Thank you very much Pat Choate. Thank you for being here Peter Morici. Thank you David Smick. We appreciate it.
Up next, Senator Obama going primetime on three major networks. The election six days away. We'll talk about the final push and just how important all that money might be that Senator Obama has. We'll talk with the top political analysts in the country.
New accusations tonight the FDA has again ignored warnings about a common product, putting our children at risk. The American consumer be dammed says the FDA.
We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Startling new evidence again of the Food and Drug Administration's failure to protect American consumers from dangerous products. For months now, the FDA has insisted that a chemical found in plastic items, BPA, is safe. Now, a scathing new report reveals that the FDA ignored important, critical evidence of BPA's dangers. Louise Schiavone has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At risk, society's most vulnerable. That conclusion from a government commission panel of independent scientists which finds flaws in the Food and Drug Administration's recommendations on common plastics compound bisphenol A, BPA, stating "the margins of safety defined by the FDA as adequate are in fact inadequate."
GARRETT FITZGERALD, MEMBER, FDA SCIENCE BOARD: There are some questions as to whether that might be conveyed to infants from BPA, and that the original concentrations that the FDA felt were safe were an estimate that we felt was not conservative enough.
SCHIAVONE: BPA is the chemical that makes plastic food and liquid containers durable and lines food cans to prevent corrosion. This summer the FDA asserted "the science the FDA reviewed does not justify recommending that anyone discontinue using these products." But the independent panel found a number of studies dismissed by the FDA provides substantial reason to be concerned about BPA's potential link to hormone disruption and brain development in infants and youngsters as well as the incidents of diabetes and heart disease in adults.
The FDA has responded "additional research would be valuable." And they say they're moving forward with it. The American Chemistry Counsel says the industry will work with the FDA pending the agency's final determination, but why wait?
TONY CORBO, FOOD AND WATER WATCH: The industry can take steps right now to assuage the steps of the consumers and not wait for the FDA, because it seems like the FDA is in complete paralysis right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHIAVONE: BPA is a core building block in closed to seven billion pounds of plastic on the market today. The Centers for Disease Control have found traces of BPA in roughly 93 percent of Americans that it's tested.
DOBBS: And other nations have banned BPA at these levels, have they not?
SCHIAVONE: That's right, Canada. Europe has been very aggressive, and there are various states that are considering legislation to take this into their own hands.
DOBBS: Yet the fools at the FDA's top executive levels can't understand what is happening, again, serving the American people so well. Thank you very much Louise Schiavone.
A reminder now to vote in our poll. Are you outraged that the Port of Los Angeles is using your tax dollars to buy sensitive security equipment from a Chinese technology company with family ties to the head of the communist Chinese government? Yes or no, cast your vote at LouDobbs.com. Did I mention that all of that coming in on Chinese made containers on Chinese owned ships, as well? We'll have the results of the poll here in just a few minutes.
At the top of the hour, Campbell Brown, "No Bias No Bull." Campbell, what are you working on?
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks Lou. Instead of running Barack Obama's infomercial at the top of the hour, we're going to take a no bias no bull look at all of the day's political news. There's a ton of it. John McCain spends the whole day defending a must-win state. Tonight, the first time Obama and Joe Biden have campaigned together in more than a month. And some are raising the question as to whether Biden is being muzzled right now.
Plus, Tom Foreman put Sarah Palin's new attack on Obama and the press to our no-bull test. See you in a few minutes Lou. DOBBS: Thank you very much, Campbell. And a reminder to join me on the radio for the Lou Dobbs show. Tomorrow my guests include Jerome Corsi author of the "Obama Nation." Go to loudobbsradio.com to find listings on the Lou Dobbs Show on the radio.
Up next, Barack Obama and John McCain battling for votes in the key battleground state of Florida. Governor Sarah Palin says it's time to make a clean break from President Bush. We'll tell you what she means when I'm joined by three of the best political analysts in the country.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Joining me now, three of the best political analysts, all CNN contributors, Republican strategist, Ed Rollins, White House political director under Ronald Reagan. Ed also served as Mike Huckabee's campaign chairman, good to have you here. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist "New York Daily News" columnist Michael Goodwin, good to have you here. And Democratic strategist, Democratic National Committeeman, Robert Zimmerman.
Robert your candidate has only been able to muster enough money to dominate for half the airwaves tonight on television nationwide. Do you think television tonight nationwide? Do you think it's a tremendous disadvantage?
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: With an average contribution of $86 per contributor and no lobbyist money in his entire campaign --
DOBBS: Where did all that money come from do we know what nation? Was it Slovenia? Where was it?
ZIMMERMAN: United States of America, every dime of it. And when anyone didn't, it was returned.
DOBBS: The fact is that that message tonight is going to be pretty hard to escape, isn't it?
ZIMMERMAN: More than that. I think the strategy speaks to the boldness of the campaign because Certainly it's -- John McCain had that type of resources, he'd with on the air for half an hour --
DOBBS: Oh, I don't think so at all. I think that's so unfair. If John McCain had $600 million, you think he'd spend it too?
ZIMMERMAN: I think he'd buy a network.
MICHAEL GOODWIN, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: I think if Barack Obama wants to spread the wealth, he could start by giving John McCain some of his money.
DOBBS: That would be very socialistic, wouldn't it?
GOODWIN: Well, it would be generous.
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Played with his toys with his neighbors.
DOBBS: Oh, my gosh. We saw today a narrowing in this race on the national polls, the battleground poll, three points. The Gallup likely voter poll, three points. Rasmussen tracking (ph), three points. Are we seeing a serious closing or is this something else, Ed?
ROLLINS: It's something else. What always happens is it's a science, it is not an art. What happens is they get closer to the polls, they play with the numbers in the sense of the formulas on who is going to turn out. One of the dilemmas they have is there's a whole new group of voters are going to vote this time. They don't know where to put them or how to put them. Equally as important you have cell phones. So when you call land lines and then you try to basically take a formula and say who are the cell phones, it's all about covering your tail. I think everything in the state shows momentum to Obama. In the end of the day, that's what matters.
DOBBS: All right. Senator McCain accusing "The Los Angeles Times" of withholding that videotape, 2003 event attended by Senator Obama, he was then a state senator from Illinois, Bill Ayers and apparently Bernadine Dorin, his wife, also there to honor a Palestinian activist, Rashid Khalidi. What do you think? Do you think "The L.A. Times" should release that videotape? Are you concerned about it?
ZIMMERMAN: It's not the videotape. It's, of course, the attempt to go after his birth certificate or it's another personal charge at Barack Obama. The bottom line is, these tactics are coming up in the last week out of complete desperation. That's all they represent.
DOBBS: Do you agree?
GOODWIN: Well, no, not entirely. I do think "The L.A. Times" -- if it promised a source it wouldn't release it, then that's their rule. On the other hand, there's got to be more than one copy of this video. There's got to be other people who were there.
DOBBS: This is silly on the part of "The L.A. Times" in my opinion. I will tell you, first of all, who knows what's on it? The delicious part of it would be that there's absolutely some sort of benign nonsense on it and all this clam her about it. They turned it over. And it's a joke. The reality is that "The L.A. Times," this is a paper losing circulation, losing advertising revenue, losing readership, losing staff. They can't run -- I don't know how many editors they've had. They're sitting there talking like they would not turn this over. Unfortunately for them as they talk about principle, they're sitting there as a paper that has endorsed Barack Obama. It looks terrible.
GOODWIN: That way McCain is on solid ground, if there's a tape showing McCain doing something untoward - "The L.A. Times" is one of the most liberal papers in America. DOBBS: We're talking about politics here.
ZIMMERMAN: Just speaking strategically, let's put this in perspective. A couple days ago we were discussing an interview from 2001, a partial tape. Every day there will be a new personal attack against Obama. That's the game being played out. The truth of the matter is, you reported this individual's organization was supported by a foundation that McCain also served on and chaired.
DOBBS: What in the heck -- going back to that, as we reported, the Republican international -- I can't even remember what it was. They're given hundreds of thousands of dollars for polling in Gaza and the West Bank. What in the dickens are these people thinking about?
ROLLINS: Having been one of the founding members of the board, what the original intent was to basically help countries who were going to evolve to democracies, get the unique skills that we American consultants can provide. That's how it started off.
DOBBS: You heard it here first.
ROLLINS: What happened in the last several years --
DOBBS: How long have you had a personal relationship with Rashid?
ROLLINS: Not in ten years. The reality is that all of this stuff is so late in the campaign that you don't know enough about Barack Obama. If you're going to lay this stuff out, Hillary Clinton should have done it. You've got to tie it to something more meaningful than an association at a dinner.
DOBBS: Then we've got to talk about who is -- who is John McCain. That's next. We'll be right back. We'll have the results of our poll.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We're back with Ed Rollins, Michael Goodwin and Robert Zimmerman.
I'm looking down at my note because I just can't believe this. Kay Hagan running against Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina and there is actually something called godless. And Kay Hagan is associated with it in the minds at least of those who pit together a commercial for Senator Dole. Help me out on this mess.
ZIMMERMAN: Kay Hagan is a Sunday school teacher.
DOBBS: There's your problem right there.
ZIMMERMAN: She's a church-going woman, a weekly church-going woman, almost weekly.
DOBBS: Don't say weekly.
ZIMMERMAN: She said weekly. The bottom line is Kay Hagan is going to be the next senator from North Carolina.
DOBBS: Not if she's godless.
ZIMMERMAN: I think Elizabeth Dole better consult her pastor.
DOBBS: What do you make of this? To me I didn't know there was such a thing as godless Americans.
GOODWIN: Apparently there are in North Carolina according to the Republican Party. It harkens back, it's desperate times and Elizabeth Dole is losing a race she should have won. This is a shock tactic at the end.
ROLLINS: There has been a long history of despicable ads run by Republicans led by Jesse Helms and his whole congressional club which I'm sure is now running Elizabeth Dole's campaign.
DOBBS: You think there's a genealogy to this?
ROLLINS: There's a real genealogy to this. Charlie Black who is very involved in the McCain campaign has always been the guiding force behind both Doles. My sense is she got desperate. They came down and they did something desperate which is so despicable and unlike Elizabeth Dole that she should be ashamed of herself.
DOBBS: And I was just making fun of the idea of this godlessness. I have to say it is crazy -- the campaign has been I think rather benign, the presidential campaign, even though Barack Obama says he's been called every name in the book. He's been called two names I can think of and they were pretty mild.
ROLLINS: Socialist and communist.
DOBBS: The communist part I didn't hear. I heart redistributor and socialist.
ROLLINS: He said himself he called me a communist because I played with my toys with my neighbor --
DOBBS: That was in a bad way to blunt that. As always, Robert Zimmerman has blunted all the charges of the Democratic Party. As always, Robert thank you very much. Thank you very much Michael. Ed thank you, appreciate it.
Tonight's poll numbers: Only 92 percent of you are outraged that the Port of Los Angeles would use your taxpayer dollars to buy sensitive security equipment from a Chinese technology company that would be scanning Chinese goods on Chinese ships headed for the Port of Los Angeles, that company owned by the son of the head of the Chinese government.
We thank you for being with us. Join us tomorrow. Thanks for watching us. Good night from New York.
Campbell Brown - "No Bias, No Bull" starts right now - Campbell?
BROWN: Thanks, Lou.
