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Campbell Brown
Swine Flu Spreading; Recession Ending Soon?
Aired April 30, 2009 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, folks, we are starting with the newest update on swine flu, or, as the government is now calling it, the H1N1 virus.
Now, whatever you call it, I have got smart folks here, as always, to cut through the fear and get you the real story.
We have also got a lot of other things to talk about tonight with chief business correspondent Ali Velshi, national political correspondent Jessica Yellin, and from "Issues" on HLN, Jane Velez- Mitchell.
But let's start with the flu and CNN correspondent Erica Hill -- Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And let's get you the latest numbers on this, Roland.
So, when we look at the numbers worldwide right now, we have 257 confirmed cases. And if that sounds like it's grown a lot, that's because it has, up more than 100 since yesterday. Moving to the U.S. there are 11 states -- you see them highlighted here -- confirming a total of 109 cases in the U.S. There are no additional deaths, though, that have been reported beyond the toddler who died in Texas earlier this week.
The entire school district in Fort Worth, Texas, though has been shut down through May 11. We are talking 80,000 kids affected here. That's almost half of all the schools that are closed nationwide -- 298 right now schools closed, nationwide, though not all through May 11.
This afternoon the White House confirmed an unidentified member of the U.S. delegation that was in Mexico with President Obama was actually -- possibly came down with flu-like symptoms. Now, it's not known if the man who was part of the energy secretary security detail actually developed the H1N1 flu virus, but we can tell you three of his relatives likely did. All of them, though, have since recovered.
Here is how it may have happened. The aide was at a dinner with the president. But we can tell you that the good news there, he never came within six feet of the president. He also did not fly on Air Force One.
And some more encouraging news for you today coming from Mexico, the country's top health official says the number of new flu cases there is actually stabilizing -- Roland. MARTIN: All right, good news, certainly.
Now, folks, you heard it and I heard it, the official declaration of an imminent pandemic. But is it really a panic time just because the flu outbreak has been given such an ominous-sounding title?
So, what does it really mean?
Let's turn to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who has just returned from several days of reporting on the outbreak in Mexico. He joins us from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
Now, Sanjay, this word pandemic, we are hearing it all around the place. But still not a single American has died from swine flu. Of course every year, 36,000 folks die from the flu. So what is the fear with this particular flu?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, pandemic really refers to the entire world. And that is sort of the concern here, Roland, that when you say it's an imminent pandemic, the World Health Organization is concerned that there is evidence that this virus is transmitting itself human-to-human in different regions around the world.
And if it starts actually doing it in several countries in different regions, that's when it becomes a full-on pandemic. This scaling system or grading system, Roland, incidentally, is only about five years old. So, it really hasn't been used for anything except for avian flu and now this.
More than anything, when they have these pandemic preparedness plans, it's sort of a call to action to remind people that you have got this virus. It is spreading. There are things that can be done. But you have to sort of instill some urgency in things.
One thing I want to make clear, Roland, and I find this very important as I talk to some of the officials down in Mexico City, when we are talking about pandemic and we're talking about all this lingo, we are really referring to scope, scope of infections, meaning how widespread this might become. And we're talking less about severity.
And that is to your last point, Roland. It could be a lot of minor illnesses in the end, maybe not serious illnesses, but a lot of people get them and that could be the pandemic that they are talking about.
MARTIN: Gotcha.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sanjay, you -- they may be minor illnesses, but you have spent a lot of time in Mexico since this outbreak. And I'm curious. You have a newborn at home. Do you have any fears about your own family's health?
GUPTA: Well, good question. I have thought a lot about that. I thought about it before I went. I thought about it now. I just got back a couple of hours ago.
So, what I have decided to -- I do have fears. I think about this. I have not been sick. I have been completely without any kind of symptoms. And we were very careful, very cautious down in Mexico and all around Mexico. I have a 5-week-old at home. So, usually babies, children under six months are a little bit elevated risk for things.
So I decided to do something which is sort of self-isolation over the next couple of days. I'm just going to stay away from my family until I'm sure that I'm not going to come down with any symptoms. But that is just a plan that I came up with my own doctors.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHORS: Sanjay, I loved the report where you went to La Gloria, you tracked down this young boy who is believe to possibly be patient zero.
And his mother complained that she felt she was getting sick, the family was getting sick from the nearby pig farm. Other residents complained as well. You went to the pig farm, but you were not allowed in.
GUPTA: That's right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did that concern you, because it certainly concerned me, when you simply said, they will not allow us in?
This is the swine flu. I don't care what anybody says. That's what it is. It is a swine influenza. What should the United States government do to investigate that pig farm -- it is a U.S. corporation -- to find out what's going on in there? And were you suspicious that they wouldn't let you in?
GUPTA: Yes, it was concerning, no question. And given that there is a component of swine flu in this H1N1, that was a big concern for a lot of local health investigators as well.
So what the company said to us, to be clear, is that they say they test their pigs regularly, they inoculate them regularly and there is no cause for concern.
But, like you, I think it is worth investigating further. Part of the reason that we went to this area and identified patient zero was because when you start to look at the origins, where this all started, you might get some clues and learn some lessons. And given that that's now been identified, my guess is, it might not be necessarily the U.S. government, but a World Health Organization or a World Health Organization type organization which is going to go in there and really start to drill down on these particular pigs and figure out whether or not the swine flu or H1N1 could have arisen there.
MARTIN: Right.
GUPTA: It was a little bit frustrating, I think, for us in many ways. HILL: Sanjay, real quickly, we talk about all the precautions that have been taken. You mentioned what you are doing, your own personal decision to isolate yourself from your family.
But when you look at masks being sold out -- one of our producers was offered a mask for $1 on the subway today -- all these precautions that are being taken, some 300,000 pigs slaughtered in Egypt, is this overreaction or is this well-placed caution?
GUPTA: Well, the pigs being slaughtered in Egypt is overreaction. That's absolutely overreaction, because there is no reason to slaughter pigs. You can't get this H1N1 from eating pigs or eating that kind of meat.
As far as masks and hand-washing, and all that, I do believe the hand-washing does make a difference. This is a virus that can live on inanimate surfaces. It can live on your hands. It can live on money. So, as much as you can wash your hands, you really, as almost silly as that sounds to say over and over again, it's probably never been more important than it is now.
With regards to masks, there are some masks that people are wearing -- we saw it in Mexico -- I have seen it here -- which are really going to do nothing for the person. The only thing it really does is sort of remind other people that that person is wearing a mask and you should stay away a little bit. Maybe they are concerned about maybe they're sick. You don't want to go up and give them a kiss on the cheek like they do in Mexico. Kind of keep your distance.
So, I think it's more of a reminder probably than a real health preventative.
MARTIN: So, I guess this mask here does nothing.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: All right, Sanjay, hold tight.
Folks, lots more on the flu coming up. Plus, Ali says there are a group of folks that has never been wrong when it comes to your money. What are they predicting now when it comes to the recession? You don't want to miss that.
And, later, royals attack. We have got dramatic video of a deadly assault in Europe.
And talk about speaking truth to power. What if the wives of elected officials told them no sex until you do something about immigration reform -- stop smiling, Jane -- health care, and energy policy? How long would it take to get results? The power of sex, that is coming up later.
But don't wait to let me know how you feel. Give me a call, folks, 1-877-NO-BULL-0. That's 1-877-662-8550. You can e-mail me Roland@CNN.com and hit me up on Twitter and Facebook.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARTIN: All right, folks, we are back getting to the bottom of what is really going on with the -- I'm going to get this name -- H1N1 flu outbreak, also known as swine flu.
This morning on NBC's "Today Show," Vice President Joe Biden probably woke a few people up with this advice on flying. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TODAY SHOW")
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would tell members of my family -- and I have -- I would not go anywhere in confined places now. It is not that it's going to Mexico. It's, you are in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.
That's me. I would not be at this point, if I -- if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN: In the words of Sarah Palin, say it ain't so, Joe.
That's not exactly the official message the government has been putting out. And his words send the White House scrambling to make clear it is safe to fly in general.
Authorities are only discouraging non-essential travel to Mexico.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back with me, along with our panel, of course, Erica, Ali, Jessica, as well as Jane.
And so we talked about in the last segment about this whole idea of a hysteria. And don't understand the Fort Worth school district. I worked in Fort Worth. To shut down the entire school district, 80,000 students, that sounds to me like overkill.
YELLIN: And they are not allowed to leave home. They are supposed to stay isolated in some way.
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: But it's also really tough on their parents. You have to take that into account, too.
(CROSSTALK)
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I heard the vice president was backpedaling a little later today, because he was trying to get back on message.
MARTIN: That's called cleaning it up.
(CROSSTALK) VELSHI: I think you have more chance of getting sick if you are on a plane or on a subway than you do if you're isolated at home and you're...
YELLIN: So you are going to stop your life because you are worried about what could possibly maybe happen...
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I think the vice president was saying he might tell somebody to do that.
I got on a plane yesterday and I have to say I never give a second thought to flying. I gave a second thought to the idea that I'm going to expose myself. I think, when I do get sick, touch wood, which isn't very often, it's either from a plane or from the subway.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, for me, I knew this was serious when I walked into my favorite salad bar and there was no salad bar.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Wow.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We are so worried about how the food is made that we eat. But we're not so worried about how the food is made at the factory.
VELSHI: Right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The Pew Commission did a two-year study of factory farms and determined that the intensive confinement of animals was actually posing a threat to human health, potentially, and yet nobody goes back there and takes a look at the conditions of the animals that we eat to see maybe there is a link between the conditions of the animals and this flu.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Hey, Sanjay, like this whole deal about the school district, is that overkill?, shutting the entire school district down for two weeks, not individual schools, the whole district?
GUPTA: Yes, it's a little bit hard to tell. It did seem somewhat arbitrary, both in terms of the scope of it and in terms of the length.
The social isolation is sort of one of the mainstays that you have been hearing preached. But it's hard to figure out what the trigger was for that exactly.
HILL: So, bottom line then, because it is so long, they're closed through May 11, Sanjay, when are we actually going to know when we can stop worrying so much? I know we should keep washing our hands, but when will this fear and concern and mass hysteria subside? What is going to be the trigger? GUPTA: Well, I think we're going to see the numbers start to go the other direction.
So, you are going to see fewer cases. Obviously in the United States there really has -- there's been one death, possibly another death. But I think you are going to see that those numbers really start to trickle down. And I think that is going to happen over the summer. Summer, these viruses just don't spread.
We have got to be vigilant when fall and winter returns. But I think they're just tracking these things and looking for...
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: According to the WHO today, they're saying today, look, it's already kind of leveling.
YELLIN: Sanjay, it reminds me a little of the way we talked about the Y2K virus.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Oh, yes, we all remember that.
YELLIN: But there was this mass hysteria and it's going to be so bad and then it was nothing.
What are the chances that -- this woman said yesterday all of humanity is under threat. That was from the World Health Organization. What are the chances that this is actually overblown?
GUPTA: Well, it kind of depends how you define overblown.
There is an infection going around. It's probably going to make its way into many countries around the world. Based on everything that I have seen, doctors that I have talked to, I think there's a good chance a lot of people are going to be affected by the swine flu in some way, but I think it is going to be relatively mild illness in most places. It is going to be like the flu. People are going to have a couple of miserable days and then the swine flu will have gone. That is a prediction.
I could be wrong. But based on what we're seeing so far, I think that that is probably going to be what happens.
MARTIN: All right, well, folks, thanks a bunch. We certainly appreciate it.
Folks, over the past week, we have been flooded with questions about swine flu on Facebook, Twitter and of course on our blogs, not to mention my e-mail, Ali's, too, and I'm sure Erica, Jessica, and Jane's.
So, this week at CNN.com/Campbell, we will link you to CNNHealth.com, where our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen took on the 15 most common questions asked. She will empower you with information about swine flu, how to protect yourself, all the information you will need to keep you informed. That's at CNN.com/Campbell.
Now, a group said to never be wrong about recessions says it knows when this recession is going to end. When we come back, we will tell you when.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: There we go.
MARTIN: Oh, look at you.
HILL: Your (INAUDIBLE) music is go.
MARTIN: Yes. Yes. We had to get rid of that.
MARTIN: OK, folks, health care reform, a new energy policy. What about immigration? No matter who is in charge, Congress can't seem to get it done. Could sex be the answer? Could these measures get passed if women just stopped having sex? Would you or could you withhold sex for an important cause?
Mac0705 on says on Twitter -- quote -- "If that what it takes for me to be heard, yes, I would."
YELLIN: I really don't want to hear about sex and Congress in the same sentence.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: OK. We will give you that one. I'm sure -- well, I won't mention some senators who got busted for stuff like that.
HILL: Oh, I think we can all think of those on our own.
MARTIN: There you go.
Folks, sound off on sex as a political weapon. Call 1-877-NO- BULL-0. That's 1-877-662-8550. Also, e-mail me or hit me on Twitter and Facebook.
Also, check out tonight's rundown on the board. We will be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARTIN: Our house veejay, Jessica Yellin, likes that.
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: Folks, one of Detroit's Big Three ran out of gas today. Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That's right, Chrysler, the same company that got $4 billion of taxpayer money in January just to keep in -- to stay in business. And they still might need $8 billion more.
So, exactly what are you getting for your money?
Our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, is here to walk us through it all.
Ali...
VELSHI: Walk over to the wall.
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: ... the wall.
MARTIN: ... forget Wall Street. Forget Wall Street.
VELSHI: Yes.
MARTIN: What the heck does Chrysler's bankruptcy mean for Main Street?
VELSHI: All right.
Remember that, in this country, bankruptcy doesn't necessarily mean you go out of business. It means you are protected from your creditors. And in this case it's in a very organized way. So the idea is that Chrysler will continue to do business, but things are going to change.
First of all, after this whole restructuring is done, Chrysler and Fiat will be partners in a new company. Fiat will be actually controlling that company for the time being. There will be members of the board from the Treasury. There will be a member from the United Auto Workers. There will be member from the Canadian government, because the Canadian government has been a big contributor to keeping this business alive.
And there will be board members from Fiat. In fact, the chairperson will probably be from Fiat as well. Now, what does that mean for jobs and factories? At the moment, it doesn't mean that there aren't any more jobs being lost, but it's to expected that Chrysler is going to emerge or this new company is going to be smaller when it emerges.
Already, a number of Chrysler factories are shut down. They were going to shut down on Monday, until this matter is resolved, but some parts-makers are not sending parts over. So, we have already heard of a couple factories being shut down.
And, ultimately, what does it mean for you, the consumer? Well, first of all, if you have got a Chrysler vehicle, don't worry. The government has already said that your warranty will be honored. There will still be a Chrysler around. There will be fewer dealers, however, as a result of it. And you are going to be able to buy Fiats in the United States, although that might be a couple of years away. So, ultimately, the president described it, and he is probably not inaccurate by saying Chrysler does actually get to live -- to fight another day. It's just not the Chrysler you knew.
MARTIN: OK. I'm trying to understand, though. The folks who are the smart people who are the investors in Chrysler, they said no to the idea.
VELSHI: Yes. That's why actually this bankruptcy happened, because there were some investors, some hedge funds, some big-money investors, they were minority investors, they were asked to take a smaller share of the money they were owed. They said no to the government. President Obama was very, very definite about that today. He blamed them in some cases for not having this deal go through.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But, Ali, what absolutely astounds me is that I read that Fiat gets its stake in Chrysler by giving its access to clean-air technology. So, we are going to an Italian company as an American industry and begging, please, give us your technology. Isn't that pathetic?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes, well, it is. But that is where many American automakers had missed the boat on this one. They did not take the lead in being fuel-efficient carmakers.
HILL: So, this is one way to pay catchup.
But going back just real quickly, this is something we talked about. But just refresh everybody's memory. When you look at this as a taxpayer, billions of dollars of your money, would it have been better to just let Chrysler go?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: We are in for $6 billion into Chrysler already. It will be another four by the government's estimate by the time they get out of this. Now, theoretically, this is supposed to come back to us.
Unknown. We did it in many cases to save the jobs more than we did to save the brand. We don't know what's going to happen with it, but it's expensive.
MARTIN: Now, speaking of we don't know what's going to happen, we have been sitting in this recession since really December '07. But there is word it could fairly soon?
VELSHI: Sooner than some people think.
There is an organization called the Economic Cycle Research Institute, ECRI. And they are pretty much the only research organization in the world devoted to tracking economic cycles. And the head of that organization, a guy named Lakshman Achuthan, who we have talked to before, said this recession is going to end this year and most likely by the end summer. Here's the interesting part. Lakshman was one of the first prominent people to actually say that the recession had started. He told us about it in March. The actual people who decide on recessions didn't tell us until December. So, when Lakshman says he thinks it's going to end earlier than later, that's an interesting point.
YELLIN: He is kind of the oracle, so we should believe him in the sense that he's been good before.
VELSHI: Yes.
YELLIN: But, Ali, when all this started, we were told it was all about these toxic assets, these subprime loans that were bad that were on the books. They had to be moved out. They're still in those banks.
VELSHI: Yes.
YELLIN: So, how can we be getting out of the recession if they haven't fixed that problem?
VELSHI: Ultimately, a recession is -- this recession started before the credit crisis started. A recession in America because we are so dependent on consumer spending is when consumers decide they don't want to spend.
So, the question out of this recession is, are people going to reengage in the economy and spend more? Are they going to start to invest? Because look at the number of people who have bailed out of the stock market. Now we have seen some recovery in the stock market a little bit.
Are people getting back in? And here's the big one. Is it going to be a jobless recovery? One of the things Lakshman talks about is that when we go into recessions, we become more efficient, we become productive. That means you can start to grow...
MARTIN: Doing more with less.
VELSHI: Doing more with less. So, can we bring those people back who were left out of jobs? Because, if we can't, that is going to be a big problem. If there are 15 million people out there who lost their jobs who aren't going to be included in the recovery, what does that mean?
HILL: And then who is going to spend, too, on top of it? Because even the people who do have their jobs, we have learned to live with less. So, how do you start that spending to push the recovery?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: That's the big question.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And, Ali, should we even start that spending? Part of our problem in our society is that we are overconsuming. We're destroying the environment with all of our overconsumption. And a lot of us don't really need any more stuff, where there are people around the world that need toothbrushes and cell phones.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Why can't we shift our economy, so that we are providing things that people actually need?
VELSHI: Well, I think -- "TIME" magazine a couple weeks ago had a front cover called "The New Frugality."
And I think that's -- it's making people think about this, that do we want to go back to what we were that got us into this in the first place? Because it's a little bit ugly to be overconsumers. I think we can be healthy consumers and keep the economy going without being overconsumers and getting back into this mess again.
HILL: And don't we have to? Because I know you have said this before, but this is one thing that is sort of special about the American economy, is, it's so reliant about consumers. It is a two- thirds consumer economy.
VELSHI: Yes, absolutely. We are more reliant on consumer spending than any economy in the entire world. Consumers can still spend, but we can spend more efficiently, we can spend more effectively. And we can save a little bit more money.
And as, Jane says, we can do more for the rest of the world, because the rest of the world are our clients, too. They're our partners. They're our producers and our customers. So, I think we need to all come out of this together. This is a worldwide recession. We all need to sort of emerge from it together.
MARTIN: Well, we're saying we all, it is certainly money in Main Street. And Main Street I really believe drives this and not Wall Street.
VELSHI: Right.
MARTIN: So, I think we have got it confused sometimes.
All right, Ali, thanks a bunch.
Folks, check out our money and Main Street Web page for some great tools and more stories, including how to recession-proof your career. Oh, yes, you need to do that. Go to CNN.com/money&mainstreet.
Now, folks, take a look at this. It looks like an accident. But it was actually an attack on European royals during a parade today. Who was behind it and how could it happen? We will have the full story in three minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MARTIN: All right, folks, tonight, we are talking about women who use sex as the ultimate political weapon. It is a true story. Trust me. And the question we are asking, would you withhold sex for a cause, men or women? You can take your pick -- 1-877-NO-BULL-0. That's 1-877-662-8550.
But, right now, we turn to Erica Hill with the briefing.
HILL: And we start, Roland, in Europe, where police say a man actually tried to attack the Dutch royal family with a car.
Now, it happened during the Queen's Day Parade in the Netherlands. Here it is for you. Queen Beatrix was riding in that uncovered bus. Suddenly, a car plowed through a crowd of people. It just missed the bus as you could see right there. It actually smashed into a monument.
Five people were killed. More than a dozen including the car's driver are injured. The queen and her family are unhurt, but obviously a lot of people upset and concerned tonight there.
Police in Los Angeles say a 72-year-old insurance claims adjuster is that city's most prolific serial killer ever. John Floyd Thomas Jr. arrested earlier this month. DNA evidence has linked him to five crimes so far, but now police believe he may have raped and strangled as many as 30 women in the 1970s and 1980s.
Captain Richard Phillips knows a thing or two about pirates, it's safe to say, and less than three weeks after his rescue off the coast of Somalia, he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee how he would combat piracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPTAIN RICHARD PHILLIPS, MAERSK ALABAMA: There is no silver bullet. There's no one (INAUDIBLE), but I would say a forced protection. And I don't mean a security cop. I don't mean them all caught.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: What he means is arming retired special forces or Secret Service agents and then putting them on ships.
Miss California, you knew she wouldn't stay away long, she's back with us. Her comments about same-sex marriage may have cost her the crown as she said, but really opened up plenty of doors for her. Carrie Prejean is the new star of an ad campaign against gay marriage called "No Offense," which, remember those words are part of her answer. The ad is funded by the National Organization for Marriage.
In a statement, pageant officials said they were deeply saddened by Prejean's "opportunistic agenda," Roland.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN ANCHOR: They also paid for something for her as well, but we'll just move on to that.
HILL: Which really gave her an opportunity, didn't it?
MARTIN: Yes, yes, a little augmentation there.
All right, folks, tonight, we'll tell you about a movement to ban sex. No, politicians are not behind this. They are the targets. Tonight's topic for the ladies as well as Ali.
Would you withhold sex for a cause? Lisa on Facebook says, "Men have been controlling women for years. They controlled our salaries, controlled the jobs we have, our healthcare, our schools."
We should leave it there. But she certainly has a point. Let's hear from some men, too. 1-877-662-8550. You can hit me on e-mail, Twitter, as well as Facebook.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARTIN: Is that OK, Jessica? I mean, you know, we're just checking.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: A little old.
MARTIN: A little old. Jessica said we heard it before. You know, we keep going with the music.
YELLIN: I got to bring some hair music in.
HILL: '80s hair band.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Why is everybody so big on hair?
Folks, the Republican Party has decided it's time for a makeover, Ali. So who are the fresh new faces re-inventing the GOP?
Let's see. There's a young man named John McCain, and a couple more guys you probably never heard of, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush. Is this any way to launch GOP version 2.0? National political correspondent Jessica Yellin is here with that.
So, Jessica, what's the deal?
YELLIN: Well, you know, Roland, the bad news for the Republican Party lately has just been piling on. First, obviously, the Democratic president is hugely popular. And a group of new polls now shows that only one in five Americans actually call themselves a Republican. That's down even since last November's election.
One of the problem they're facing is that promising new Republican leaders like, remember Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and RNC Chair Michael Steele, they keep fumbling their debuts. So there's really no national face for the future of the party.
And another problem -- the press keeps focusing on polarizing leaders like Governor Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. So, there's the big development.
Now a group of congressional Republicans is trying to turn things around with a road show. And guess who they picked as the salesman for the new Republican Party? Some not so new faces. Senator John McCain, former Governors Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, and the one newcomer, Governor Bobby Jindal.
Now, they plan to hold town halls and get conversation going with independents, with folks who are independents and interested Democrats. And, you know, Roland, there's really nothing Washington thinks cannot be solved without a good town hall meeting.
MARTIN: All right. So you got this big town hall meetings. How is that going to solve their problem?
YELLIN: You nailed it. There is a huge battle right now for the soul of the Republican Party. On the one side are purists. They say look, the party will only win if it gets back to conservative roots, doubling down on social issues like gay marriage, making sure the party has a consistent national message.
On the other side are folks you could call pragmatists. They really want to reach out to new groups and say, look, the way to do that is to focus on economic issues that hit home for more people instead of social issues. And they also argue the party should be willing to support candidates in local races who might not be conservative on all issues, but can win. That is how the Democrats came back from the wilderness, and they want to take a page from the Democratic Party.
MARTIN: All right. Jessica, thanks so much.
Let's bring back Erica, Jane and Ali. Also, Stephen Moore, the founder and former president of the conservative leaning Club for Growth, he's now a senior economic writer and editorial board member for the "Wall Street Journal." Also, folks, Amanda Carpenter. She's a columnist for "The Washington Times."
All right. Now here's the question. How can this "new group of old party hands," Stephen, somehow revive the GOP?
STEPHEN MOORE, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Well, unfortunately, there are a lot of old faces there. And I agree that the party needs new faces.
I would remind you of one thing, Roland, three or four years ago, nobody even knew who Barack Obama was. And today, he's the president. So I think new faces are going to emerge on the party front. There's people like Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and Mike Pence of Indiana, and many others who are kind of young conservatives in the House of Representatives.
And I really believe, Roland, if the Republicans are going to return to a Senate seat and right now their brand is very badly damaged. I hate to say that I'm a Republican myself. They have to put back together the Reagan coalition. And that when they did, the Democrats could not beat them.
That Reagan coalition is social conservatives, economic free market types and people believe in a strong military and strong national defense. Republicans have seen all of those three coalitions withered away. That's why only 20 percent of Americans call themselves Republicans today.
MARTIN: So, Amanda, Steve wants to go back to the future. He talks about those young conservatives.
Here's what's interesting. In 2000, Al Gore won the youth vote by two percent over George W. Bush. President Barack Obama, he won that same age group by 34 percent. Even when Reagan was leading the Reagan revolution, he allowed young Republicans, Republicans backing him. What's the GOP's issue in targeting those young voters?
AMANDA CARPENTER, "WASHINGTON TIMES": Well, I will say there's nothing coming from the GOP establishment, so to speak, that's going to recruit those young voters. But where I think anybody can see a lot of movement is that people that were organizing those tax seat protests on April 15th.
There's a lot of young people very motivated on fiscal issues. I think that's a good center right issue the base can come home on. You'll see guys like Mitt Romney, neocon, the GOP establishment, Bobby Jindal, who are younger faces for the party who can communicate to those people, the same people that were organizing the grassroots action for the Ron Paul campaign. I think you're going to see that kind of constitutional bench that focuses on smaller government, really energize the party.
MARTIN: I didn't hear much social issues there, Jane. It's pretty interesting.
MOORE: You know what, hold on. Let me defend --
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN HOST, "ISSUES": This is lame. Road trip is lame. It's not changing, it's rearranging.
I hate to say it but think the Republican Party is hitting bottom. And that means it's morally bankrupt and it has to do some house cleaning. It has to look at the mirror and say, you know what, we messed up over the course of eight years, a war based on false premises, a debacle at Katrina, a policy that sets the stage for an economic collapse.
MOORE: But Jane -- Jane --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Americans want an apology.
MOORE: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Come clean, give us an apology, and then maybe we'll consider.
MOORE: But Jane -- but Jane, you're exactly right about that. That the American people have not forgiven the Republicans for many of their mistake in policies over the last eight years. But I think that a lot of the people that I talk who have abandoned the party, they don't think the party believes in what it's supposed to believe in, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes. All the earmarks that took place when Republicans ran it. I think they do have to get back to the basics.
But Amanda is right. They also -- you know, right now it's not cool to be a Republican. It's cool to be an Obama Democrat. And the key for Republicans is to make it cool again to be a Republican because as you said, Roland, you know what, Roland Reagan got a huge percentage of the young vote.
MARTIN: Yes, he did. Yes, he did.
HILL: But to make it cool again, you have to have a message. And that's what this keeps coming back to.
MARTIN: And it's not from your head like a wild thing, Michael Steele said.
HILL: And it's not.
MOORE: Yes.
HILL: And that message may not be an apology either. There has to be a firm message to recruit young folks and folks of all ages, frankly, to be a Republican.
Amanda, I'll give a little time on this one. What is that message going to be from the Republican Party where they can win people over who say, you know what, I think I do want to be a Republican?
CARPENTER: Yes. Here's why I think they have to draw a line in the sand, so to speak, coming up for younger voters who are worried about being saddled with a huge tax burden. It's going to come to that stimulus vote.
I think the stimulus vote could be for the Republicans like the Iraq war vote was for the Democrats. And it propelled Barack Obama to action.
There's going to be a point in time that says were you for it or were you against it? And you look at guys like Pat Toomey who rode hard against Arlen Specter. Got him to, you know, leave the Republican Party essentially because he didn't want to talk about this primary. Then look what Arlen Specter said in his announcement why he left. The stimulus vote was a clear line in the sand. And you know, I think people are going to have fights over that.
YELLIN: Steve, yes or no answer? In order to expand the Republican Party, should you allow in some candidates who are pro- choice and who support gay marriage?
MOORE: Yes, but I think both those issues you just mentioned are winners for Republicans. The American people are very much against gay marriage, and they're also -- it is a pro-life country.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That's not true. The polls show that things are changing very rapidly.
MOORE: Look at what happened in California. Look at California, the most liberal state, they voted against gay marriage, for goodness sake.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Forty-eight percent of the voters in California were against the marriage ban.
MARTIN: It was 52 percent obviously before and then the CNN/Opinion Research poll was 55.
YELLIN: But it's about big Ted (ph) versus small Ted (ph).
MARTIN: Right. Absolutely, absolutely.
MOORE: I agree with that.
MARTIN: Stephen Moore, Amanda Carpenter, great conversation. We're obviously following this because the road trip has started. Maybe we'll take the show to the road as well. Thanks so much.
Folks, we now know how Elizabeth Edwards reacted to her husband's affair. She's known for her honesty. And in her new book, she tells what she really thought about John Edwards' presidential campaign.
And with healthcare reform, our new energy policy and immigration get passed with lawmakers, wives just said, no sex for you, buddy. That's tonight's question. We're going to deal with it later.
Sound off on this. 1-877-662-8550. Jane is going to be kicked out. We'll hear what she had to say. E-mail us or hit us on Twitter and Facebook.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
YELLIN: That was the time.
HILL: Jessica Yellin --
MARTIN: I have 5,000 songs in my iPod. Trust me, I go old school, new school as well.
Hey, we got a Twitter war going on. Ed here is kicking Ali Velshi's butt.
HILL: No, no, no.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. I'm back up. I'm back up.
MARTIN: You passed him?
VELSHI: I passed him. HILL: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: That's Ali Velshi. Join me.
Erica and Roland hooked me up on this one.
HILL: Ed Henry, if you can make us a better deal than Ali did, we are open to bribes.
MARTIN: Yes, we'll take care of you too.
All right. Speaking of better deals, time for the "PDB" with Jessica Yellin -- Jessica.
YELLIN: Yes. Roland, topping tonight's "PDB," mounting outrage leads to a congresswoman to backtrack from what she said yesterday. She hasn't fully apologized but North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx now says she made a poor choice of words on the House floor.
Fox was arguing against a new hate crimes bill. The bill is named after murder victim Matthew Shepard and Foxx called it a hoax to describe Shepard's murder as an anti-gay attack. Here are the comments that made so many people angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. VIRGINIA FOXX (R), NORTH CAROLINA: That young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. The bill was named for him. The hates crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: Well, Foxx has now backed off her robbery theory saying she based it on two media reports. The bill expands hate crimes to include attacks on gays and lesbians. It has passed the House and would now head to the Senate.
Also tonight, Elizabeth Edwards is revealing new details about her husband's affair. In a new book, Mrs. Edwards says when her husband told her about his relationship with Rielle Hunter, she promptly threw up. And she says he told her just days after he announced his candidacy for president in 2006. Remember, that's a full year before the public found out about it. Mrs. Edwards who now has terminal cancer also said when she found out about the affair, she wanted her husband to drop out of the race to spare her family.
And finally a happier story, "People" magazine's best issue of the year is out. It's my favorite. It's the most beautiful people list.
Quite a few members of President Obama's inner circle have made the cut. And here's no big surprise, Mrs. Obama made it. Oh, great picture. Look at that.
MARTIN: Work it.
YELLIN: OK, can you ask you guys? Can you guess who else is in it?
VELSHI: Rahm Emanuel?
HILL: Badly, they gave it away.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You gave it away with the photos.
HILL: Tim Geithner, Ricky Love (ph).
MARTIN: Is that man Ricky Love (ph)?
YELLIN: Yes.
HILL: Sam Kass.
YELLIN: And who's that?
HILL: That's Sam Kass.
YELLIN: The White House chef.
MARTIN: Well, OK.
YELLIN: One of the White House chefs.
MARTIN: Tim Geithner made it.
HILL: So your favorite issue isn't "sexiest man alive?"
YELLIN: No, it's actually the most beautiful people. They're always wrong about the sexiest man, I think.
VELSHI: It's not me and Anderson on that one.
HILL: I mean, Ali Velshi has never been on the cover.
MARTIN: All right. Jessica, thanks so much.
All right, folks, "LARRY KING LIVE" in a few moments.
Larry, you're talking about the first lady and her 100 days.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Yes, but why didn't I make that issue?
HILL: Excellent question, Larry.
MARTIN: I agree. You are the man.
KING: I don't need that.
MARTIN: There you go.
KING: Barack Obama's approval ratings are pretty high. Is his wife Michelle making even more of an impact? We'll talk about the first lady's first few months on her new job with Patty Davis, who knows a thing or two about living under the microscope. And "Vogue's" Andre Leon Talley is here to tell us why it isn't just the clothes that make Mrs. Obama stand out.
And we'll give you an update on swine flu, too. All next on "LARRY KING LIVE." I didn't make it.
MARTIN: Forget Justin Timberlake, you are bringing sexy back.
HILL: Yes. Very nice. Very nice.
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: Poor Larry. It gets better every night for Larry. You see him in suspenders. You're bringing sexy back.
MARTIN: All right. Larry, thanks so much.
Folks, we're getting dozens of comments on Facebook about the women holding out on sex with a normally powerful man.
Leteshia writes, "Oh, they are really down for the cause. I mean, American women withhold sex just to get the lawn cut."
(LAUGHTER)
Is she right? In other words (ph), who's really in power? Give as a shout 1-877-662-8550. Or e-mail me Roland@cnn.com. Also, check me out on Twitter on Facebook and go visit Ali on Twitter as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARTIN: OK. I want your sex, but it's all -- so stop it, Jessica.
MARTIN: All right, folks.
YELLIN: It's a classic.
MARTIN: All right, here's an idea. If you want to fix Washington, forget banning lobbyists, banning earmarks. Just have women ban sex. No sex for senators, congressmen, or even the president, until we see some changes.
The idea comes from the East African nation of Kenya. Two factions are fighting for control of the government there. Over a thousand people have been killed because of it.
Now, women's groups in Kenya are calling for a seven-day sex strike in the name of peace. They're saying to the man, if we don't get what we want, you don't get what you want. Joining me to talk about this is Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. His book "The Kosher Sutra: Eight Sacred Secrets for Reigniting Desire and Restoring Passion for Your Life." Compliments to everybody when we leave.
All right. Now, you say that it's interesting that sex is a taboo in Kenya, but you think this is a good idea?
RABBI SHMULEY BOTEACH, AUTHOR, "THE KOSHER SUTRA": I think it's a great idea. I mean, so many of our politicians are actually disgraced by sex. Why not be ennobled by it? Wives telling husbands make love not war, it's very simple.
Women have always withheld sex, usually for a good cause like themselves, for example, you know. Like honey, if you think that foreplay is like a golf iron, no sex.
(LAUGHTER)
So, the fact is that men have these egos and they've been slaughtering each other for centuries and these goes back to the Peloponnesian war. Let's just (INAUDIBLE) this says that they're not going to have any sex unless you end this thing. So just the problem is it won't work in America.
YELLIN: Why?
VELSHI: Why?
BOTEACH: Because there's no sex in America.
(LAUGHTER)
HILL: So it's already being withheld is the problem.
BOTEACH: Exactly.
HILL: Nobody's getting anything out of that.
BOTEACH: We watch 35 hours of television a week and we get seven minutes of sex, how much less can you get?
YELLIN: Is that just for married people?
BOTEACH: Yes, that's just married people.
(CROSSTALK)
MARTIN: Seven minutes?
BOTEACH: Seven minutes. And one of three American couples are entire sexless. But the fact is, look, sex is a powerful commodity. And if women can actually use their attractiveness for something which is a noble cause, I mean, I don't see anything more noble than saving lives. So, why not? At least somebody cares about the violence.
VELSHI: Yes.
YELLIN: But is this something only women would do because the breakdown seems to be women are for the idea, men said they could never withhold sex?
BOTEACH: Well, I'll tell you something. The problem in America is the women are going to withhold sex, we need to then withhold porn. One of out four American husbands is a porn addict to find he's downloading about an hour a day.
VELSHI: Wait a minute. We watch 35 hours of TV, an hour of porn, and seven minutes of sex?
I'm a money guy. The numbers don't add up on this one. That's crazy.
BOTEACH: That is why we're broke. Don't you get it?
HILL: But on a serious note, yes, this has been going on for centuries, thousands of years even. But does it ever backfire on a woman that we can go back to sex and always have this as our bargaining tool. I mean, should there be something else that we use?
BOTEACH: On the contrary, I think the problems is that women give sex so freely that they don't have a bargaining tool. The fact is that men today don't make a real effort to make women happy because sexuality is so readily available. It's readily available.
Can you imagine if 16-year-old girls decided to withhold sex for boys that are not worthy of them? We would cure the teen sex phenomenon tomorrow.
MARTIN: Great point.
BOTEACH: And a lot of these girls are getting their hearts broken by boys who just are not worthy of them.
HILL: And boys are watching too much porn and who don't understand what a relationship is really about, which, you know, brings us back to the point issue, that that's also a problem.
MARTIN: We go to the phone lines. Virginia Beach, Natasha, what say you?
NATASHA, VIRGINIA BEACH (via telephone): Hello?
MARTIN: Hi, you're on the air. Go right ahead.
NATASHA: Yes. I was just saying that I feel like the concept of withholding sex is senseless. I feel like it diminishes from all the progress that women have made over the course of decades to just walking that authority over men. And I'm totally speaking from the view point of marriage, the institute of marriage.
MARTIN: OK. NATASHA: I feel like the number two primary reasons for divorce is sex and finances. And I just feel like withholding it impinges on that sanctity between a man and a woman in marriage.
MARTIN: OK. But first of all, we certainly thank you for your comment there.
What's interesting though that in Kenya, the whole point I think boils down to power. These women are saying, well, we are going to get your attention. So they're trying to say it's a greater issue here than just the issue of sex.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right. I would like to have more matriarchal values all over the world. And maybe that would bring more peace and more kindness and more forgiveness. I mean, the guys are creating most of the problems in Kenya and elsewhere. And so let's take a look at giving women more power in general.
BOTEACH: Absolutely. Ninety percent of all violent crimes in the United States are committed by men. And many studies have been shown that in countries where women have a political voice, those countries not only have peace stakes for peace. Look at the Scandinavian countries with Norway, Sweden, et cetera.
MARTIN: Wonderful. Folks, it gives a whole new meaning. Would you withhold sex for a worthy cause?
Here's what Jenny on Facebook says. "I would withhold sex to improve my country. I think what they are doing is worth it. Not too many other reasons I could think of to do that."
That's what her saying. Giving her just a salute or something.
All right. Perez (ph) writes on 13 (ph) on Twitter. Trust me, it wouldn't be for politics but I'll withhold for sure.
Folks, more of your comments when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARTIN: Hey, folks, welcome back. We're talking about sex and power and withholding, all that good stuff. Not taxes but sex.
And so, this whole issue of what's happening in Kenya, frankly, I hope they're successful because they're actually calling for political reform in the country. So maybe the guys will get it.
Not get it to get it. Maybe they're not going to get but they'll get it.
BOTEACH: Roland, the maternal instinct in politics is actually very important. The fact is women are the ones who are having these children. They're the ones who nurse these children at their breast. The last thing they want to see is see them pick up a sword and start disemboweling each other. I think men, we can be a bit too testosterone-driven and -- HILL: What?
MARTIN: That's why we are pigs.
BOTEACH: Come on, come on. I'm not going to ask what else you're wearing. But look, the caller before who said that you should not withhold sex in marriage -- and I really disagree. Marriage is not about sex on tap. Even in marriage, sexuality is an act of intimacy. It needs to be earned.
YELLIN: This could get you to talk about sex too. If you're withholding and you're angry?
HILL: That's a great point. Communication as we know.
MARTIN: All right. Folks, we certainly appreciate it. We are absolutely out of time. Thanks for all of the phone calls and the e- mails, your voice, as well as you name it.
A great, great conversation. "Kosher Sutra," work it out.
All right, folks, "LARRY KING LIVE" is coming up now. What do we say when we're done?
ALL: Holler (ph).
