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Obama's Health Care Pitch; GOP Congressman Heckles Obama; Madoff Caught on Tape; Hurricane Fred Fizzles; An Hour to Save Two Lives
Aired September 10, 2009 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama reaching out to Congress and to the rest of us on health care reform. Will it make a difference? This hour, what lawmakers and you are saying about his speech.
Snapshot of a Ponzi schemer in his prime. Bernie Madoff coaches colleagues on fooling regulators. You'll hear the just-released tape.
Yale University police looking for help in their search for a missing graduate student. She was last seen Tuesday. She's reportedly supposed to get married this weekend.
Plus, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta airborne with an elite MEDEVAC unit on a mission to save lives on the front lines.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins in New York today. It is Thursday, September 10th, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The president speaks, the nation listens. A snap poll shows the primetime address achieved its goal and boosted public support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie!
(CROWD BOOS)
OBAMA: It's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: An extraordinary outburst on Capitol Hill. A Republican congressman calls the president a liar and ignites a firestorm.
So, here's what we know at this hour. South Carolina congressman Joe Wilson has apologized for shouting, "You lie," to the president. In a statement, he said, "I let my emotions get the best of me."
Democrats and Republicans are denouncing the extraordinary outburst. Among the public, the reaction is a bit more mixed. Both critics and supporters flood the Internet, as you may imagine, in order to weigh in on their opinions.
So on this morning after the president's speech, how does he push ahead on his top domestic issue now?
CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House for us this morning with the very latest.
Elaine, what is on the president's agenda today? And I have to ask, what is the fallout now this morning after we know there's been an apology late night?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, we haven't heard anything more on the apology, Heidi. And it'll be interesting to hear what Robert Gibbs has to say later today at the White House briefing this afternoon. But the president today is actually going to be making more remarks on health care reform. That's coming up in the next hour.
He's also going to be meeting with members of his Cabinet, and reporters are going to be allowed in at the very end of that meeting. But what we're really going to be keeping a close eye on, what we're really going to be watching here, at some point today, the president is expected to sit down with a group of more than a dozen centrist Senate Democrats.
This was something that our Ed Henry reported last night, that senior officials say the president wants to get key fence sitters into the room together and try to start working them, basically.
Now chief of staff Rahm Emanuel apparently has already met with these senators who did that yesterday. Among them, Senator Evan Bayh and Senator Ben Nelson. But, Heidi, this is going to be really interesting to see what comes out of this meeting and how much the White House, how much these lawmakers will have to say coming out of it.
So we don't have a time on that, but we're trying to find out.
COLLINS: OK. Well, you keep us posted and let us know. In the meantime, he's also taking his sales pitch on the road again. Tell us a little bit more about that.
QUIJANO: That's right. The president is actually going to be heading to Minneapolis, Minnesota on Saturday. And that's where he's going to be holding a public rally to talk about health care reform.
This is going to be interesting. It could very well be a sizable crowd. We don't know exactly the capacity of the venue that he'll be holding this public rally, but it's going to be open to the public. Meaning, there won't be any tickets required.
And the White House says the president is really going to take this opportunity to talk about what is at stake for the American people when it comes to this health care debate. Heidi?
COLLINS: OK. Very good. We'll keep in touch. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much, from the White House this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
WILSON: You lie!
OBAMA: It's not true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A pretty stunning outburst and a swift backlash, too. Last night's heckling by a Republican congressman shows just how impassioned this debate has become.
Let's get the very latest now from Capitol Hill and CNN congressional correspondent, Brianna Keilar.
Brianna, good morning to you. I imagine this incident certainly had other members of Congress talking. What was the reaction from them?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They basically said it was bad manners -- from both sides of the aisle, we heard this. And Congressman Wilson called the White House shortly after putting out that paper statement saying that he was out of line.
He called the White House to apologize to President Obama. He talked to the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, to issue his apology. But as I said, there was a lot of criticism and it wasn't just coming from Democrats, it was coming from Republicans as well. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Totally disrespectful. No place for it in that setting or any other, and he should apologize immediately.
REP. JAMES CYBURN (D-SC), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Having a spirited debate is one thing. Exercising bad manners is another. That was beyond the pale.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: That was James Clyburn, the number three Democrat in the House. And we spoke with him off-camera last night. He told us there are rules about how you behave on the House floor and actually Democrats are looking into whether Congressman Wilson may have broken one of those rules. And if so, what type of sanctions there may be against him.
We don't know what the answer is to that question at this hour, Heidi. But what we do know is that this has been a windfall for Rob Miller, who you probably didn't know, really, who he was before, but he is the challenger to Congressman Joe Wilson, coming up here in the next election, 2010 midterm elections.
COLLINS: Aha.
KEILAR: And Miller's campaign manager, his last tweet on Twitter last night, which was, I think, about two and a half hours after this speech ended, said...
COLLINS: Right.
KEILAR: ... that since the end of the speech, Miller had raised $55,000, and a source today with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tells me that eight hours after the end of that speech, that number hit almost $100,000 in donations. So it's certainly been a windfall for Congressman Wilson's opponent.
COLLINS: Boy, oh, boy, how quickly things move in that direction of fundraising, huh? All right. Brianna Keilar, sure do appreciate that live from Capitol Hill this morning. Thank you.
So what did lawmakers from both sides of the aisle think of President Obama's health care pitch? Well, we'll hear from a Republican and a Democrat coming up at the bottom of the hour. So, make sure you stick around for that.
And it looks like President Obama's speech gave his health care reform plan a bump. A CNN/Opinion Research Poll of people who watched the speech found two-thirds favoring the plan. That compares with just over 50 percent before the speech.
Most of those watching the speech seemed confident Congress will support the president on health care. Three-quarters of those questioned said they think Congress will pass most of the president's proposals.
Now, once again, the poll just reflects the opinions of those who watched the speech and the audience for the speech appear to be more Democratic than the country as a whole.
Meanwhile, we want to know what you think, of course. Do you believe the president was successful in making his pitch for health care reform or not? Go to our blog, if you would, CNN.com/heidi and post your comments there. Or you can always call the "Hotline to Heidi," the number is 1-877-742-5760. Love to hear from you.
Convicted swindler Bernard Madoff caught on tape coaching a potential witness on how to outsmart federal regulators. Hear it for yourself coming up in the NEWSROOM.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Hurricane Fred last night became somewhat historical. We'll tell you where he is going. Plus, a slow-moving storm off the east coast means wet weather is coming. The CNN NEWSROOM is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Congress is reopening its investigation today into the SEC failure to detect Bernie Madoff's multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. Now this comes as an embarrassing audiotape and transcript are released.
We're going to have more on that from CNN's Christine Romans right now.
So, wow, this is pretty explosive.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is released by the Secretary of State's Office in Massachusetts. Essentially, this is part of their investigation into what went wrong here and they have this audiotape of Bernard Madoff.
It sounds like he's coaching someone who's about to sit down with the SEC and answer some questions about Mr. Madoff's, what we now know, is a big Ponzi scheme. And what we know here is that Bernard Madoff, at least in this 2005 phone call, did not hold SEC examiners to a very high regard.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BERNARD MADOFF, CONVICTED PONZI SCHEMER: You know, you don't have to be too brilliant with these guys, because you don't have to be, you're not supposed to have that knowledge. And, you know, you wind up saying something which is either wrong or -- you know, it's just not something you have to do.
You don't them to think that you are concerned about anything. With them you should -- you're best off you just be, you know, casual.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: You know, be casual, don't tell them anything that they're not asking about. You know these guys are just going to after five years turn around and go to work for a hedge fund or for proprietary trading debts, you know? So they're part-timers at the SEC, really. Don't worry about it.
And as we know, Bernard Madoff, Heidi, essentially, in 1992 was the very first time that there was a red flag about this guy at the SEC.
COLLINS: Yes.
ROMANS: And his scam went on until 2008.
COLLINS: Unbelievable. For such a big scheme, though, obviously, there have been few prosecutions.
ROMANS: That's right.
COLLINS: So what does all that mean?
ROMANS: A lot of people say this guy couldn't have done this alone, you know? I mean could there be more people? We know that his accountant has been arrested. We don't know if this is the end of the prosecution, you're absolutely right, but what these tapes tend to show us is that he was out there kind of, you know, coaching people along the way about what not to tell or how to deal with the SEC.
COLLINS: Yes, which is pretty good, you know, legal advice if you're not Bernie Madoff.
ROMANS: Yes, exactly.
COLLINS: Yes. Interesting. All right. So we will continue to follow that story.
ROMANS: Sure.
COLLINS: CNN's Christine Romans with me on the set. Thank you, Christine.
Later on this afternoon, we are expecting to hear the call to go out again for South Carolina governor Mark Sanford to resign. CNN has learned a group of state Republicans is expected to seek a party resolution during a conference call set up for 5:00 today.
Now the governor says he's staying. All of this follows Sanford's admission in June of an extramarital affair with an Argentinean woman.
Let's get you over to the hurricane headquarters now. Rob Marciano joining us to give us the very latest on what is going on, swirling and whirling.
What's the latest, Rob? Good morning.
MARCIANO: Let's talk Fred, Heidi. Hurricane Fred yesterday became a major storm, the second one of the season. And also became the first -- the strongest storm ever recorded that far east and that far south in the Atlantic basin. So, a historic storm.
You know, those kind of records kind of go back towards -- figure around 1960, because before that we didn't have satellites.
COLLINS: Wow. MARCIANO: All right. West of the Cape Verde is where this thing is. It has weakened to a Category 2 storm. You can kind of see its track is towards the northwest. It's expected to head north and then eventually just kind of hang out in this area. Probably dies running into colder waters and drier air. But what it does after that, we still don't know.
Can't completely write Fred off, but at the moment, you certainly don't have to worry about Fred anytime soon. So we'll keep you...
COLLINS: OK.
MARCIANO: ... up to date as to what that guy's doing.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Yes, no kidding. All right, Rob. We'll check back a little later on. Thank you.
MARCIANO: All right.
COLLINS: They're putting their lives on the line to save other lives. We go inside the 24/7 operations of an elite Medevac unit operating in Afghanistan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The search is on in New Haven, Connecticut for a missing Yale University graduate student. Campus police say 24-year- old Annie Lee disappeared Tuesday. Family, coworkers, and friends haven't seen or heard from her since then.
Lee is described as an Asian woman with brown hair, brown eyes, who stands 4'11" tall, weighs 90 pounds. She was last seen at a campus laboratory. The "Yale Daily News" reports Lee is planning to get married on Sunday.
A man authorities say hijacked an Aeromexico jet liner claims he did it because of the date 9/9/09. Officials say the 44-year-old man took the -- hijacked the plane in Mexico City because 9/9/9 held some significance for him.
The hijacker threatened to blow up the plane unless he was allowed to speak with Mexico's president. Police arrested the hijacker when the plane landed in Mexico City. No one was hurt.
A NATO commando operation to rescue a kidnapped "New York Times" reporter has angered some local journalists. Taliban militants kidnapped Steven Farrell in Kunduz Province last week, along with an Afghan reporter.
NATO forces rescued Farrell during a pre-dawn raid yesterday but the Afghan journalist was shot to death during the mission and his body left behind. The Media Club of Afghanistan called NATO's actions, quote, "reckless." CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been reporting from Afghanistan all week as part of our focus on the war going on there. In today's report, he flies with an elite medevac unit on a mission to save lives.
Here now is Sanjay from Helmand Province.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One hour, that's it. Minutes began ticking down when word came that two men, both civilians, about 40 miles from here, were critically wounded. Without help, they could bleed out and die.
SGT. NATE DABNEY, COMBAT FLIGHT MEDIC, U.S. ARMY: If they're an urgent patient, we have timelines where we need to be moving extremely fast. I mean, within minutes. We don't mess around. When that bell rings, we run and we get out here, we get all geared up and we take off.
GUPTA (on camera): Right now we're in a medevac Blackhawk helicopter (INAUDIBLE) traveling at least 1,200 feet off the ground. We know there are two patients who have been stabbed. That's all we know. We don't know how bad off they are. (INAUDIBLE).
(voice-over): It's what these guys do. I'm with an elite medical dust-off crew. The name goes back to Vietnam. It was the radio emergency call signal to chopper in the combat flight medics. They are a go team, 24/7, they steal moments of time to save lives.
DABNEY: Our job is to get people up and out of here in those seconds. Because each second counts.
GUPTA (voice-over): For Nate Dabney and his team, most missions are about rescuing American military.
DABNEY: They're leaving this gate every day on foot and vehicles, knowing what's out there. And if they can do that, then I'll do anything to make sure that they get out all right.
GUPTA: But today the call came to save Afghan locals. It's a critical part of the U.S. strategy to win the hearts and minds of Afghan civilians. We are now into the golden hour. Most trauma patients who die of blood loss die within an hour unless we can stabilize them.
So, we have 20 minutes to fly. Twenty minutes to get the patient on the chopper. 20 minutes to get the patient to a hospital.
It's one golden hour.
DABNEY: So when I got in the aircraft, my mindset is airway, oxygen, stabilization of the chest. Fine-tuning this down to the very last second is the most important thing.
GUPTA: But with the dust-off teams, the challenge is not just getting to the patients, but about getting out of there safely.
DABNEY: This is probably the most dangerous place in Afghanistan. Couldn't see any security out yet, and here we are coming into this area, you know, you can see it when we're going, there's six-foot-high cornfields and water and mud everywhere, not very many ways for us to get out of there real quick if we had to. So I was worried.
GUPTA: For so many reasons, that fear is always looming. Dabney surprised me when he pulled out these pictures. These are his three boys.
DABNEY: I've discussed it with my wife, written a letter for her to read to them. When it comes to that kind of thing, you hope that they're proud of you. One of those things you try not to think about.
GUPTA (on camera): It must have been a tough letter to write, though.
DABNEY: It was. It was a real -- it probably took me about -- being a dad is probably the most privileged and most important job you could ever have, no matter what you do. I mean, you know this. And -- but at the same time, showing them what being a man's really about, you know, fighting for your country, sacrificing for your country. Things that are more important than, you know, staying home and avoiding this kind of thing.
GUPTA (voice-over): As for today's mission, Dabney and his dust- off crew cheated the clock again. It's now clear the two men they flew in to save will survive their terrible wounds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And Nate Dabney is expected to be here until the beginning of next year. Incredible work. Often very busy as well. They can do up to nine to ten of those medevac missions in a single day.
Also, Heidi, I wanted to give you a quick update on the little boy Malik that we've been covering all week. It's been a bit of a roller coaster for him over the last couple of days. Taking a look at some video there where he had a fever, which can happen after an operation like this, but it really did slow him down a little bit, which made the next day all the more impressive.
There you see him walking, placing weight on that left leg, showing some strength. A lot of people were concerned he wouldn't be able to do that, but there he is walking with just a little bit of help from his father.
Heidi, we're going to have a really special report about Malik tomorrow, uncovering some details about him that we have not yet shared. So certainly stay tuned for that. Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: All right. Very good, Sanjay. Thanks so much. And you can see more of Sanjay's behind-the-scenes reports from Afghanistan all week long on "AC 360."
A critical moment for the region. Now the Afghanistan elections, Taliban resurgence, and mounting American casualties. Anderson Cooper takes you inside Afghanistan "Live from the Battle Zone" all this week coming your way 10:00 Eastern.
The president's primetime message to Congress. How did it play in Congress? We'll talk to a Republican and a Democrat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.
COLLINS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is riding a four- session winning streak and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 went up yesterday to their highest levels of the year. But we're expecting some caution today, as we hear the opening bell right now.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with details.
Good morning to you, Susan.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. And welcome to New York. We'd like to make it five in a row for you as you are from uptown.
COLLINS: Yes.
LISOVICZ: Downtown, we can tell you, investors were encouraged by a Federal Reserve report yesterday, showing the economy is stabilizing. That report said challenges remain, especially in the job market, and today we have a new report showing 550,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits. That's down from the previous week.
Meanwhile, just over six million Americans have been applied for benefits for one week or more. That's also a decline, but let's face it, it's still an awfully high number.
Monsanto, the latest company to announce job cuts. The world's biggest seed maker and the maker of roundup weed killer says it now plans to reduce its staff by 8 percent or about 1,700 jobs. That's double the number that was originally projected.
Nearly 50,000 General Motors workers in Europe will soon learn their fate. GM will recommend selling its German Opel brand to Canada's Magna International. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Opel workers support the Magna bid.
And checking the early numbers, the Dow Industrials, NASDAQ, S&P 500, each showing a little bit of red early in the day.
COLLINS: All right. It's early.
LISOVICZ: Early.
COLLINS: Very good. All right.
LISOVICZ: We'll be back.
COLLINS: Yes, we will.
Susan, we'll talk with you in just a little while.
LISOVICZ: You got it.
COLLINS: President Obama made his case for health care reform before a rare joint session of Congress last night. The president outlined his plan in a prime-time speech. He commended congressional leaders for their work to overhaul health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We've seen many in this chamber work tirelessly for the better part of this year to offer thoughtful ideas about how to achieve reform. Of the five committees asked to develop bills, four have completed their work and the Senate Finance Committee announced today that it will move forward next week. That has never happened before. Our overall efforts have been supported by an unprecedented coalition of doctors and nurses, hospitals, seniors groups, and even drug companies. Many of whom opposed reform in the past. And there is agreement in this chamber on about 80 percent of what needs to be done, putting us closer to the goal of reform than we have ever been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: All right. Let's go ahead and get some reaction to the president's speech now from two lawmakers who were there, listening to it.
Joining us from Capitol Hill, Republican Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona, and Democratic Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas.
Welcome to the both of you. Glad you can be with us today.
First off, we just want to know how you think the president did last night.
And I'll begin with you, Representative Johnson.
What did you think?
REP. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (D), TEXAS: Well, I thought the president did very well in explaining, and hopefully dismissed many misconceptions and misquotations and misunderstandings. I think it's very clear now where we are trying to go. I'm not sure that any of members or some other people might have been convinced, but I think that it's certainly clear enough for me. I really understand this.
COLLINS: OK. That being said, what would be your headline, then, for maybe some of the areas that were fuzzy before the speech?
What really stands out to you now, where you can say, here's what's going to happen on this particular issue in health care reform?
JOHNSON: Well, you know, I am a health professional, and I didn't have any real questions about what we're anticipating. There were a couple of phrases that I need a clearer definition for. That is, the exchanges, and I understood the public option primarily, because, these people that need an avenue of that sort are not being covered by insurance companies, and so if they don't cover them, then we must find another way for them to have -- pay their premiums so they can get health care.
COLLINS: OK.
Representative Shadegg, what about you? What did you think of the president's job last night, and what really stood out to you if you were to name a headline?
REP. JOHN SHADEGG (R), ARIZONA: Well, I think he was eloquent, as he always is, but I think the headline would be he fails to assuage the concerns of Americans who see this as the government standing between them and their doctor.
There are points of agreement, as I think congresswoman Johnson said. We do need to cover pre-existing conditions, and we agree with the president on that. We do need to cover every American, and we agree with the president on that.
But on the issue of controlling costs, he didn't address the concern at least of my constituents at my town halls who see this bill, because it is so massive and creates so many mandates and so many dictates and insinuates the federal government so deeply into the insurance industry, regulating everything, and not giving them anymore individual control, I don't think he addressed their concerns. And maybe that wasn't his goal.
COLLINS: In fact, let's go ahead and put on the screen, if we could, "The Wall Street Journal" this past Saturday. There was a quote in there, and it says this -- "The president and congressional Democrats say we should create a new government-run plan, outlaw the health coverage Americans enjoy today and let federal bureaucrats control the content and price of health plans. Their bill, H.R. 3200, is nothing short of a complete takeover of the entire health care system by Washington politicians."
So, you wrote that. Your feeling today has not changed?
SHADEGG: I don't think he's backed off of that at all. What I think Republicans want is let's empower individuals. I agree that the insurance industry is abusing us.
Now, why is it abusing us as individuals? It's because the system lets it abuse us. Our employer buys the plan, we don't get to pick the plan, and we don't have any say in it until after he's bought it, and then we have almost no say. The plan then picks your doctor. You're stuck with the doctor.
If you and I as individuals, and the president talked about people who have insurance, have insurance. We have it through our employer, and we have no control over it. We can't fire it, if it abuses us.
COLLINS: All right.
SHADEGG: We can't buy a new one if it charges us too much. Let's put people back in control. And as Congresswoman Johnson said, let's give them the financial assistance for those who can't afford their own coverage, so that every American pick a plan of their choosing, and they can be in charge of it.
COLLINS: OK, understood. I want to make sure I give equal time here.
Congressman Johnson, as you mentioned, you're a health care worker. You were a nurse, in fact.
You said you would not support this reform unless there was a public option, but we did not specifically hear those words from the president last night.
Does that concern you?
JOHNSON: It does not. It does not concern me, because I think that he covered that extremely well. It's so interesting that the things that my colleagues said need to be done, that's exactly what the bill is doing. It is putting it back in the hands of the people for choice, and giving them a choice.
Right now, the insurance companies are really in charge, and they are holding everyone hostage to their power. We have tried to change this system now 35 or 40 years, and we've not achieved that. I hope this is the time.
COLLINS: OK. So, Representative Shadegg, is there any truth to that? I mean, could there be any agreement whatsoever on whatever the president decides to call it? Maybe it won't be called the public option.
SHADEGG: Well, I don't think the issue is a public option. I think it is a very small part of the plan. The issue is, do we empower government and government bureaucrats, which is what this bill does, or do we empower people?
Now I agree with the congresswoman that we've been trying to reform this system. I got elected in 1995...
COLLINS: Sure.
SHADEGG: ... and I have written health care reform bills every year since I've been here. We need to take the power away from the insurance companies, but not give it to the government. We need to give it to individual people, which we can do.
We need to empower them to join a group of their choosing, and get a plan that they like, not have the government tell the insurance industry how to run.
COLLINS: All right. Very quickly, I would be remiss if I did not ask the both of you to react very quickly for me about the outburst from Joe Wilson.
Go ahead and tell me what you think.
Representative Johnson, you first.
JOHNSON: Well, I thought it was very inappropriate. You know, I hear lots of things that I don't agree, but I do have enough respect for my colleagues and, as most especially, for the president, not to act in that fashion.
COLLINS: OK.
JOHNSON: I'm not certain there is a place here for that kind of behavior.
COLLINS: OK.
SHADEGG: I couldn't agree more.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Well, we've...
SHADEGG: Couldn't agree more.
COLLINS: I'm sorry. We've heard the apology. The apology was accepted by Rahm Emanuel, but you agree, Representative Shadegg?
SHADEGG: Oh, absolutely. There is no place for that, and it's regrettable that it happened. It simply cannot be tolerated. We need to have a discussion and debate, and I compliment the president for bringing health care to the fore. I want health care reform desperately. We're arguing about details...
COLLINS: Yes.
SHADEGG: ... and I'm in favor of personal control, but I applaud him for bringing this issue to the American people.
COLLINS: All right.
SHADEGG: We need reform, and I think the comment of Mr. Wilson was inexcusable or regrettable.
COLLINS: Well, emotions are running high on all sides, obviously.
Hey, we really appreciate it.
A great discussion from the both of you Thanks so very much.
Representative John Shadegg of Arizona and Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas.
Thanks so much.
JOHNSON: Thank you very much.
SHADEGG: Thank you.
COLLINS: The president's speech, big claims and strong accusations. It sounds like a job for the "Truth Squad", right?
Good morning, Josh Levs.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you there, Heidi.
You know, we know all about that scream, "you lie," but who was telling the truth?
Well, the "Truth Squad" has the answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Checking our top stories now.
Firefighters taking advantage of better weather to help shore up the fire lines in Southern California. Today, they're clearing brush that's been fueling those flames in the Angeles National Forest. The arson-caused blaze has been burning for 15 days now, and it is more than 60 percent contained.
Still in California, a lawmaker's racy comments about sexual conquest has cost him his job. Republican State Assembly man Mike Duvall, a self-described family values politician resigned yesterday after he was caught on tape bragging about his spanking fetish, and his apparent ability to carry on two extramarital affairs at once. The comments were caught by an open mike in a state capital hearing room. In some of his comments, Duvall was apparently talking about a liaison with a lobbyist who works for a firm that represents a utility company.
To Afghanistan now. The U.N.-backed commission investigating fraud in last month's elections has issued orders to completely exclude some ballots from the final tally. The commission says all ballots from 83 polling stations in areas with strong support for President Hamid Karzai should be thrown out. Partial results released so far show President Karzai passing the 50 percent threshold needed in order to avoid a recount. But if the ballots are voided, it could change those final results.
Four bombings and more than two dozen people dead in Iraq today. Dozens of other people wounded.
CNN's Cal Perry is joining us now from the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Cal, if you can, tell us a little bit more about what we know on these attacks. CAL PERRY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, it's a little bit like going back in time, isn't it? Another tragic day in Baghdad. This day resembling what we saw in 2007 and 2008. Five bombs, a new one's just come into us here at CNN. At least 26 people are dead; over 80 others wounded. The biggest one, a suicide truck bombing just south of the northern city of Mosul.
Now what we're talking about here is at least 20 people killed, over 30 others wounded. Now this is of serious concern when you speak to U.S. military commanders here on the ground, because all this is doing is just inflaming tensions that already exist between the Arab community up in the north, and the Kurdish community in the north.
When you speak to commanders here on the ground, they'll tell you they believe al Qaeda is setting off these large-scale attacks to just try to re-inflame what are already existing tensions. They worry more about the situation in the north, to some of these commanders than they do about sectarian violence across the rest of the country.
Add to that attack, south of Baghdad in Mahmudiyah, two roadside bombs going off in quick succession to each other. At least four dead there. 29 other people wounded in Hilla. Also south of Baghdad, a roadside bomb has killed two people. And in central Baghdad, we had a roadside bomb wounding at least five civilians. All told, as I said, Heidi, 26 dead and over 80 people wounded today alone.
COLLINS: Wow. What is the main reason, at least, your best guess, on the uptick in violence?
Are we talking about Ramadan here?
PERRY: We're talking exactly about Ramadan. We know that the insurgency believes they will get more attention when they carry out these attacks on Ramadan, and we know that these religious extremists believe it's somehow a greater duty to carry out these suicide attacks during Ramadan.
And when you look at this week, you can see clearly what the insurgency is doing. On Monday, they targeted both security forces and pilgrims, Shia pilgrims in Ramadi, a security target. In Baqubah, it was Shia pilgrims as they left a mosque. On Tuesday, we had four U.S. soldiers killed in two separate incidents of roadside bombings. One in the north, one in the south. And on Wednesday, we had, basically, an entire family wiped out by a car bomb in Kirkuk. And again, today, 26 dead and 80 wounded. That brings the total to this week, at least 50 people killed and well over 100 wounded, Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow.
All right, Cal Perry, we're going to stay in touch with you, obviously. Let us know what more develops if you would.
Appreciate that.
Live from Baghdad this morning.
A teenager's amazing ride at the U.S. Open comes to an end last night. You'll hear what Melanie Oudin is saying this morning.
As you age, you may experience some hearing loss and many other things, but there are some things you can do while you're still young to keep your ears in their best possible shape.
Take a look at this now from CNN's Reggie Aqui.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gwen Robinson (ph) doesn't know the cause of the pressure in her right ear, or what's making it hard for her to hear.
GWEN ROBINSON, PATIENT: Sometimes I have to have people repeat what they say to me.
UNIDENTIFIED DOCTOR: I understand you've been having some trouble with your hearing.
ROBINSON: Yes.
AQUI: Robinson, who has suffered from allergies her entire life, suspected congestion may be part of the problem, but she also wondered if time was taking its toll on her hearing.
ROBINSON: I was a little concerned about, possibly, it might be aging related.
AQUI: And Robinson is not alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say the word "outside."
AQUI: Turns out, many of us gradually do experience hearing loss as we age. But like most things, the way you treat your hearing in your younger years affects its function in your golden years.
In your 30s and 40s, nerve hearing loss usually isn't an issue. But Dr. Paul Atwater suggests if things seem muted, get to the doctor to see if the problem is wax build up.
DR. PAUL ATWATER, OTOLARYNGOLOGIST: Routine preventative care for earwax build up is necessary for some people who tend to build up a lot of wax.
AQUI: And don't use a cotton swab to clean out your ears. It's dangerous, and only pushes the wax further inside. Don't smoke.
Also, turn down the volume.
ATWATER: Noise exposure is the most common cause of hearing loss in a younger person.
AQUI: And that noise, along with your family history, can contribute to hearing loss as you get older.
ATWATER: You may inherit the tendency towards losing your hearing as you get in your late 50s and beyond.
AQUI: What happens here is the tiny hairs inside your ear become damaged or die, most often because of changes in the inner ear that happen as you grow older. Along with family history and loud music, certain medical conditions can also play a role. If the symptoms are causing communication problems, as in Robinson's case, it's time to see a specialist.
ATWATER: Oftentimes, family members will bring the patient in when they get tired of having to have the patient say "what, I didn't hear you, please repeat."
AQUI: As for Robinson, it doesn't appear that she has hearing loss due to age. She is trying medications to see if the pressure and her hearing problem are symptoms of her allergies, hoping to find some relief.
For today's 30, 40, 50, I'm Reggie Aqui.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to get this breaking news out to you right now. We have just learned about the discovery of a stockpile of Iranian made weapons in Afghanistan. And they include roadside bombs.
CNN's Barbara Starr has been working the story for us, joining us now live from Washington on what this find could actually mean for the region.
Barbara, any idea how big of a stockpile we're talking about just yet?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, a senior U.S. military official says they don't know exactly how many, but that Afghan national police a few days ago did capture a stockpile of Iranian made weapons in western Afghanistan.
Let's go right to the map. And that will show everyone why this is so critical. The weapons were discovered in the city of Herat, and that's right up against the Iranian border. This could be a signal of additional Iranian involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
What did they find, Heidi? Well, as you say, they found rockets, they found explosively formed projector weapons. Those are those advanced IDS, roadside bombs if you will that are particularly made in Iran, particularly designed to destroy the kind of armored vehicles that U.S. troops use in the war zone, and they found C-4 plastic explosives made in Iran they say with Iranian markings, the types of explosives that could be used in future suicide bombs against U.S. troops - Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, in the past, obviously, there had been many other Iranian weapons found, but not quite a stockpile like this with such evidence that points towards Iran. Probably need to be talking about here these IEDs, and what a growing threat they're becoming in Afghanistan?
STARR: Exactly right. IEDs now the number one threat, of course, against U.S. troops. The number of IEDs of roadside bombs that the Taliban are putting out there is just skyrocketing week by week.
Now, the U.S. is having some success in finding them and getting to them, but the Taliban are still outpacing them laying hundreds of bombs out on the roads every month - Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. Our Pentagon correspondent watching the story for us closely, Barbara Starr.
Thank you, Barbara.
It's the outburst that has people talking today. A Republican congressman calls the president a liar. The reason, President Obama in his speech last night said health care reforms would not cover illegal immigrants.
We've talked about the issue on our show here. So who's right?
Let's call in the "Truth Squad," and CNN's Josh Levs.
Good morning, Josh.
LEVS: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Yes, it was interesting to see that happen last night. And what I want to do now is talk to you through some of the basics of what everyone is taking a look at today.
This is PolitiFact.com right here, a reality-checking Web site. They take a look at it. They say that Joe Wilson was quite out wrong. They give him a false on their ruling.
Now at the "Truth Squad," we have looked at this issue in the past as well. And what I need to do here is kind of dig in to the weeds with you. Keep in mind there is no final bill. I can't say that enough. But a lot of people concerned about this issue are pointing to this bill here in the house.
Now I want everyone to see something it says right here. It talks about subsidies to help people buy health insurance, and specifically says nothing here should allow federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals for not lawfully present in the United States.
So when it comes to those subsidies, it specifically says, you know what, no, illegal immigrants cannot get that. But here's something on the other side. Check this out.
The Congressional Research Service, which is non-partisan, they did their own study and they said, wait a second, this bill does not contain any restrictions on non-citizens participating in the exchange, whether they're here legally or illegally.
Now I want everyone to understand what I'm talking about here. So we have a simple graphic.
Let's go to it.
The health insurance exchange is part of what President Obama suggesting. It would be there for consumers to look at different plans and choose one. Illegal immigrants, the Congressional Research Service is saying, would be able to buy a plan under that exchange. However, millions already do. Millions of illegal immigrants are already buying plans out there, Heidi.
So what we're not talking about it is the government coming along and insuring them. So put all that together. You do have President Obama basically correct when he says the package of reforms that he is putting out there are not designed to apply to illegal immigrants - Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. Obviously, there's another hot button issue that the president touched on, too. You know what I'm talking about.
LEVS: I do.
COLLINS: He mentioned abortion.
LEVS: He mentioned abortion, yes.
I'll show you this one real quickly, because it's interesting what's going on here.
First, here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And, Heidi, I want to zoom in on the screen here, because there's something from FactCheck.org, I encouraged people to check out. It's on their main page right now. They said despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans. A lot of people talking about FactCheck.org. This came out before yesterday, but it's talking about the same issue.
And I have again for you something really simple here. Let's go to this graphic, because I want everyone to see the basic idea here. They are saying that the way these bills are written currently and they can change, there is no requirement that these plans have to pay for abortion, but they say that the way they're written, it ultimately could allow the public plan to cover them. In fact they say subsidies could help people purchase private plans, which in turn could ultimately help cover abortions. This is a wrinkle, Heidi. A lot of people out there on different sides of the debate pointing to FactCheck.org. It's something that we're keeping a close eye here at the "Truth Squad."
COLLINS: Yes. Some people calling it much larger than the wrinkle. It was the basis for some of those town halls that got really, really heated was on that very issue and that question.
LEVS: Complicated.
Absolutely.
COLLINS: All right, Josh, thanks so much for the breakdown. Appreciate that.
LEVS: You got it. Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Ahead, a fascinating look at health care. One doctor who is against the reforms, one is for them and one man who says the current system killed his father. Their viewpoints coming up next hour.
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