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Legally Insane Killer Escapes; Grim Prediction from Taliban; Afghan Denies Al-Qaeda Tie; Bill Richardson on President Carter's Racism Charge; Politico Weighs in on the Racism Debate; Mental Institution Escapee Deemed Dangerous; How to Grow a Recession Garden

Aired September 19, 2009 - 17:00   ET

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


DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: As we go on the air, a killer is on the loose. A manhunt is under way. We'll tell you how a trip to the county fair is involved in this. The president talks race, Tea Parties and opposition to health care. Congressional yeller, Joe Wilson, weighs in, too, saying he's misunderstood.

Ranking Republicans out today also taking potshots at the president and slamming his health care and economic plans. A twist in an alleged terror plot on US soil. At the same time, a Taliban leader reportedly releases a new message.

Also, a deadly subway shooting caught on tape. A police officer loses his life in the chaos. And parts of the country under water, and it's getting deeper. When will it let up? Here's a hint: no time soon.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon in Atlanta. We begin with the developing - the story tonight of the Pacific Northwest where a massive manhunt is under way for an escaped mental patient with a history of deadly violence. Thirty one adult patients had gone to the Spokane County Fair on Thursday morning as part of their ongoing therapy, but only 30 came back. Missing is 47-year-old Phillip Paul, a paranoid schizophrenic.

Twenty one years ago Paul was declared innocent by reason of insanity in the brutal murder of an elderly woman. He admitted killing the woman, saying he believed she was a witch. Annie Bishop of our affiliate KXLY says state officials are scrambling to figure out how this happened and especially anxious to find Phillip Paul.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ANNIE BISHOP, KXLY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More questions...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whose decision was it, specifically?

BISHOP: .... than answers during a news conference with the Department of Social and Health Services.

SUSAN DREYFUS, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES: I think the questions that are being raised are absolutely appropriate, and the governor and I - this morning when we spoke - some of the most serious questions I have about this are the policies and the procedures that led to the outing, the choice of the outing... BISHOP: Forty-seven year old Phillip Paul, a criminally insane patient from eastern state Hospital, disappeared while on a field trip to the fair. Field trips are not uncommon. Secretary Susan Dreyfus says they're part of a patient's rehabilitation. But why was Paul, a schizophrenic who admitted to strangling an elderly woman, allowed to go?

DR. ROBERT HENRY, EASTERN STATE HOSPITAL: He was under the care of a physician. In fact, his physician was at the outing, and he was receiving treatment and it was felt that he was stable.

BISHOP: But it's clear he is not stable, especially when his medication wears off in a few days. And now police, the public and Eastern State Hospital hope Paul is found soon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How concerned should we be and how concerned are you that he could become violent, given his past?

HENRY: I think that all - all caution should be used. If - if there's anyone in contact with this gentleman, I - I personally am concerned about him not being under the care of our hospital right now.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON: All right. Annie Bishop joins us now from Spokane to fill you with the very latest on the search for Phillip Paul. We are hearing that authorities possibly may possibly know where he is. Is that true?

BISHOP: They - as of this moment, they do not where he is at. It has been 48 hours since Paul went missing. They are intensifying the search by the air and on the ground. Everyone in Washington is looking for Phillip Paul. We're told this morning that US Marshals are being brought in, including a Special Inmate Recovery unit from the Department of Corrections - Don.

LEMON: OK. This man apparently had a backpack, and is it true he had done this before, and if so, weren't the signs all there? I would imagine that officials are under an incredible amount of pressure now to answer questions about this.

BISHOP: Well - and certainly they are. As you heard in - in the package, they are definitely under a lot of scrutiny. The first question, how did this happen? How is it that a criminally insane killer with a history of escape was able to go on a - a field trip to the interstate fair? We do know he had a backpack with him.

Investigators are working on a theory today that perhaps he planned this escape. They say he could have had a change of clothes, perhaps some supplies that would keep him under the radar for so long - Don.

LEMON: All right. Annie Bishop with the very latest in Spokane. KXLY is our affiliate there. We appreciate it. I want to talk now about health - health care, at least the uproar that seems to be overshadowing issues specific to the debate. We're talking about racism and how much, if at all, does racism factor into opposition over the president's plan. The president and the congressman accused of harboring a racist attitude towards him are both speaking out in an attempt to tamp down the firestorm.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In recent weeks people have raised some pretty serious questions: the big rally in town; signs talking about Afro Socialism, swastikas with your name and your picture on them; you lie shouted at you during a nationally televised address; and Former President Carter says he sees racism in some of this. Do you?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know, as I've said in the past, you know, are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are. That's not the overriding issue here. I think there are people who are anti-government. I think that there are - there's been a long-standing debate in this country that is usually that much more fierce during times of transition or when presidents are trying to bring about big changes. I mean the things that were said about FDR are pretty similar to the things that were said about me, that he was a communist, he was a socialist - things that were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the new deal programs. They were - were pretty vicious as well.

REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I appreciate very much President Barack Obama has indicated this is not correct. And so - and I - I'm pleased, too, that even before other people could answer, Democrats legitimately hurt not - hurt their standing. But Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Jim Webb, Congressman Chet Edwards of Texas - a number of people have all indicated that this truly - we need to be discussing the issues and enter the level of name calling.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LEMON: All right. The president and Joe Wilson. Meantime, some high-ranking Republicans adding their two cents today at a summit of Conservative voters saying it's about values. Paul Steinhauser, our Deputy Political Director, was there.

But first we want to go to the White House where our Dan Lothian - he's our White House Correspondent - standing by with reactions to President Obama's remarks and Joe Wilson's comments. Clearly, though, Dan, the president wants to move on and he wants to talk about the issues.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He does. I mean, as you heard, the president did admit that for some people race does remain a factor, but he wants to keep race out of the debate, instead focusing on getting health care reform, and he's really ramped things up. We saw him Thursday at a rally at the University of Maryland speaking to a mostly younger audience and a very loud audience, the president sounding very much in campaign mode trying to get them fired up and show them how health care reform can not only help them, but also their family members. I mean, this is what the administration really wants to put the spotlight on. They do believe that there's still a lot of people out there, whether it be a younger audience, whether it be women, who still have a lot of concerns about what this health care reform will mean to them, and they believe that the president - by getting out there - can help clear things up, Don.

LEMON: I want to bring in Paul Steinhauser now because, Paul, you know, you heard from Joe Wilson, you heard from the president, but those two are not the only ones out talking today. A summit of value voters out and some high-ranking Republicans speaking. Let's listen now first to John Boehner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: And now the administration, Speaker Pelosi and others are wondering why Americans are showing up at Tea Parties, why so many Americans are showing up at our town hall meetings.

Well, I can tell you why. We're in the midst of a political rebellion in America.

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER MASSACHUSSETS GOVERNOR: Thanks to millions of Americans who stepped up in town halls and Tea Parties across this country, he is not going to get his way.

The democrats call those folks a mob, crazies, trash - even worse. I call them patriots. Thanks for their voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. So, Paul, Mitt Romney there as well as John Boehner trying to get at least from their side the train back on the tracks and to get this talk away from racism and away from the issues that seem to be distracting the American people and this debate about health care.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Exactly. This is - this conference is going on for four years - this value voters summit. It's a - a gathering of Social Conservatives, Don, from across the country here in Washington, and organizers told me that they - they see the crowds are larger this and more passionate this year than last year when we're right in the middle of a presidential campaign. And I - I guess you could say that the right has kind of woken up over the last couple months - Don.

LEMON: And Paul, when you see - you - you heard from the people on the stage, but the people who were there in the crowd, what are they saying and what are their opinions about what's going on, not only about health care, but also about the bailouts and the president's economic policies? STEINHAUSER: They're very upset with what they see, and it was a similar message that we saw last week on that taxpayer march on Washington. They - they feel like the federal government is becoming too intrusive in their lives and that the federal budget deficit is spiraling out of control.

And, as you mentioned, health care as well, they see that as another - what the president and the Democrats are proposing is another way of government taking over our daily lives and they don't like that. We heard it from the rank and file at the taxpayer march last week and we heard it from Social Conservatives this week as well, Don.

LEMON: And Dan, the president also speaking out on "STATE OF THE UNION" tomorrow with John King. You can see the entire interview, by the way.

But also talking about - some people are saying maybe he's biting off more than he can chew. Health care is clearly important but also the economy as well, and there are some concerns from the American public about that. He is well aware of that.

LOTHIAN: Oh, obviously he's very well aware of that, and from the beginning, from the onset when he was taking on the economy, taking on education, immigration - all these other issues, he's often been criticized for juggling too much. And what the president will say time and time again and others in this administration is that the president did not ask for any of these things, and they're all critically important so he needs to address them now.

But you're right. I mean, it's pretty heavy lifting for this president because it's not like one issue is smaller than the next. I mean, they're all really big issues. The economy - although they'll point that because of what they've been able to do through their stimulus plan and some other tools, as well as some of their financial experts who have been helping them to guide this along, they've been able to pull the economy back from the brink of disaster or from a second depression. So they do see progress there, believe that's coming along, still a long way to go, but clearly this president has that - that difficult task of - of balancing all of these issues and trying to get health care reform done.

LEMON: And Dan and Paul, the big question is can he get it all done and can he win over some of those value voters to support his economic policies and health care policy or at least the reform as well.

Thanks to both of you. We appreciate it.

LOTHIAN: OK.

LEMON: And we have a reminder for you. You can see John King's entire interview with President Barack Obama tomorrow on "STATE OF THE UNION". That's 9:00 A.M. Eastern, only here on CNN.

And later this hour, New Mexico's governor Bill Richardson speaks out about President Obama, Joe Wilson and the allegations on racism. Specifically, he talks about President Carter's remarks. You'll hear that in just a bit.

More questions about a 24-year-old Afghan national being questioned in Colorado. Does he have ties to a terrorist group? Also, Taliban leader Mullah Omar purportedly releases a new message to the United States. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson joins us to break it all down for you.

And check this out - a bank robber gets more than he bargained for when he tried to hold up a Wisconsin bank. Also join us on Twitter, follows us - Facebook, MySpace, iReport.com. Tell us what you're thinking. We'll get your comments on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. So we have talked health care and we've talked the economy. Let's talk about terrorism now. A confident prediction today purportedly from the Afghan Taliban's shadowy leader, (INAUDIBLE) Mullah Omar. He says in a message on a website used by the Taliban that US and NATO troops face certain defeat and Afghanistan as a graveyard for foreign soldiers.

He says history repeats itself, pointing to a centuries-long losing streak for invaders. CNN has not yet confirmed the message if it is real, and our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is on the phone in Rome and he joins us to tell us about this. Nic, first of all, thanks for joining us. But what is exactly on this tape?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's a message that comes out and it's timed for the end of Ramadan eve and it's a message to Taliban fighters. And we're - in the last few minutes we have been able to talk to a CNN source who has verified that - that this is a legitimate statement coming from the Taliban.

What it is is a message from Mullah Omar to the Taliban saying that they're approaching the edge of victory. They feel because of the current rate of attacks on US and on NATO troops that they're doing well. He outlines things that we've heard before from the Taliban, that NATO troops and US troops are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

What we're seeing here is the Taliban getting more sophisticated. This is an internet message written in English. What they're doing is getting their message out. This is a message that they're open and they say this, that they're open to all ways to solve the problems of the country, only, however, when international troops have left. They talked about wanting to develop the country.

So it's a sophisticated message, but it's a message coming because it seems that the Taliban feel pretty strong right now.

LEMON: Yes. And just last week I was sitting here reporting that we had heard on an auto tape from Osama Bin Laden. Really, the question here is, Nic, what does this all mean?

ROBERTSON: I think what it means is the Taliban are getting more sophisticated at getting their message out. They want to be political players, not just military players, that they recognize that part of the solution has to come through talking. But on - you know, they're saying we can only talk when international troops pull out.

Well, we've heard all this before in other conflicts. It comes down to sequencing. It comes down to the language. But what - what we're seeing here is a degree of sophistication that we haven't seen before. So it's not just about fighting. What they're saying is it's about something else. It's about letting us participate in government. It's about discussing with us how we see the future of the country.

The door is creaking open here on other methods to solve the problem in Afghanistan other than fighting it out, which, as they say, history says it's not going to look good for the - the foreign forces there.

LEMON: All right. Our Senior International Correspondent, Nic Robertson, joining us from Rome. Nic, thank you very much.

Meantime, conflicting information tonight about whether a 24- year-old Afghan man in Denver has ties to al Qaeda. CNN Homeland Security Correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, joins us now from Denver to sort out what we know in this terrorism investigation.

There are some twists and turns here. First he said he did have a connection, and now he's recanting that and also his attorneys as well - right, Jeanne?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, he never said it, Don. Let me clarify this. His name is Najibullah Zazi. He's a 24-year-old Afghan national. He's the one who authorities have been talking to for three days in the FBI building behind me, but today talks were canceled and Zazi's attorney said no more talks are canceled - or scheduled, rather.

Meanwhile, Zazi and his attorney are contesting assertions made to CNN and other media outlets by government officials who said that Zazi had admitted ties to al Qaeda. Zazi and his lawyer are both saying that is not true. In an interview with "The Denver Post" Zazi reportedly said, "It's not true. I have nothing to hide. It's all media publications reporting whatever they want. They have been reporting all this nonsense."

Meanwhile, a new development in this investigation in New York. According to a former counterterrorism official who is familiar with this investigation, investigators are looking at a U-Haul rental facility in Queens, New York. According to this source, a group of Afghan men went to this outlet on September 9th - that is two days before the anniversary of September 11th, of course. It is also the day Zazi was traveling from Denver to New York. According to sources, he had with him instructions on how to build a bomb and video of Grand Central Station. Now, according to this former counterterrorism official, these individuals were not successful in renting a truck, but the U-Haul employees have looked at photographs provided by the FBI and have identified two individuals. One of them, Naiz Khan. He is the man who housed Zazi while he was in New York. He has been questioned by the FBI. His apartment has been searched and today he told CNN he had nothing to do with any attempt to rent a U-Haul truck and nothing to do with terrorism. Here is a bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAIZ KHAN, TERROR SUSPECT'S ACQUAINTANCE: I am not involved in this and - and the story comes - every story not true, such as me having the U-Haul story, and I've never been to there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: According to the former counterterrorism official, the other individual identified by the U-Haul employees was Imam Afzali, who runs a Moslem burial service in Queens. According to the source, he too has denied involvement in this although his burial service has been searched.

Meanwhile, this investigation very much ongoing. Atty. General Eric Holder saying it's taking place in Colorado, in New York, and elsewhere. Don, back to you.

LEMON: I have to ask you this, after listening to your reports on both these places - do authorities believe or do they know at this point if they have disrupted a - a major terror plot? Are they talking about that at all, Jeanne?

MESERVE: Well, the assertion by law enforcement over the last week has been that, yes, they think this is the real deal. They think this is a terror plot. But no arrests have been made yet. We are still waiting for this all to unfold before us - Don.

LEMON: Our Homeland Security Correspondent, Jeanne Meserve. Jeanne, thank you very much.

More police are patrolling Mexico City's subway system today. Two people were shot to death and eight people hurt yesterday in the middle of evening rush hour. Look at that video: a police officer was the first to die when he attempted to stop a man allegedly writing graffiti on the subway wall. Another man was killed when he attempted to tackle the gunman before police finally captured him. Frightening video.

A guy pulls a gun on a bank teller. Check out what happens next. And is there any break in the weather for the soggy Southeast? We're wondering that down here at CNN World Headquarters. Our Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is on top of it in the CNN Severe Weather Center.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In Baltimore County, Maryland hundreds of people are feeling the impact of a major water main break. The six-foot wide water main broke yesterday, washing away cars and part of a road and flooding about 100 basements. Hundreds of homes also lost power and the floodwaters were chest deep in some places. Imagine that.

And torrential downpours across much of the South again today and flooding. There's a threat and it is getting more serious. Our Jacqui Jeras in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Jacqui, do we have a live look outside?

I love the rain - by the way. I love the rain - oh, my gosh! I love it! I love watching home movies and sleeping when it's raining. But today I was texting all my friends, going what gives? I can't even go outside. Look at that! I mean, it's been nonstop for what seems like days!

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's been like a week, actually. And, you know, in the Atlanta metro in particular we've had like 6 to 12 inches of rain in just the last two to three days, so...

LEMON: And it's stalled, right? It's not going anywhere for - for a bit.

JERAS: That's right. It's called a cutoff low, is the meteorological term, and basically what's going on is the - when the upper levels of the atmosphere, we've got the jet stream which dry storm systems generally from west to east?

Well, our low here is cutoff from the main jet stream, so there's nothing to push it out. So it's just sitting there and spinning and bringing in all this moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, and until some big high pressure system comes in here and pushes it on out, unfortunately, we're stuck with it. And what's the result? Well, take a look at these pictures. They're from the Atlanta metro area.

What you see there on your left, that is the Flint River, and that has been rising out of its banks. Several homes, the water is coming up to their backyards. At least two homes had to be evacuated because of this. The other pictures we want to show you from Southwestern Atlanta where 26 people had to be rescued by firefighters from their apartment building as the waters continue to rise there.

So, you know, it's a very serious situation and this is unfortunately going to be ongoing. Believe it or not, you've got rain across the southeast for about a week now. Some of this rain is starting to stream a little farther up to the north, so we're going to watch this spread in parts of the Ohio River Valley. And, you know, it's not just Atlanta. We're seeing that in areas like Alabama, on up into Nashville. Memphis, you're finally out of the watches, but we're going to continue to see some occasional wet weather.

Here is our weather pattern - the big picture for today. There's our low with all that moisture streaming in. High pressure in the northeast - I hope you're enjoying your Weekend, because it's fantastic. And the rain should hold off for the northeast we think through the weekend. Much of the rest of the country is relatively quiet, Don. We're going to be kind of stuck like this at least midweek before it shakes up at least a little bit.

LEMON: OK, and this is a little tease, but what does it mean for, you know, our gardens and especially your garden? Are you going to tell us a little bit?

JERAS: It's starting to float away.

LEMON: OK. Just don't give it away. It could be good. We don't know.

JERAS: Yes!

LEMON: All right, Jacqui. Appreciate it. We'll check back with you.

JERAS: OK.

LEMON: Caught on tape, a fearless customer takes down a suspected bank robber near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This is the first video we've seen of the tackle. Obviously the suspect didn't make it out with the cash after the man jumped on the robber. Some others helped hold him - hold him until police could get there. If convicted, that brazen suspect who was taken down could face up to 40 years in prison, and it looks like those guys were ready to pounce on him as well. So you've got that.

From the town halls to the Tea Parties, there's been a lot of angry words and disturbing images, but what is really behind it and why doesn't President Obama believe it's racism? Also, the manhunt for an escaped killer continues in Washington State. This man is legally insane. He was deemed that. Why was he allowed to go to a county fair? We're asking the authorities, coming up in a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We talked earlier at this hour about President Obama and Congressman Joe Wilson and the allegations of racism against some of the president's harshest critics. I spent some time this week with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. We talked about the overall tone of the current political debate.

Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: As a minority, do you feel that part of this is -- has a racial element to it?

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: I don't believe it's racist, but I think the degree of disrespect towards a head of state like President Obama has increased dramatically. I don't remember President Bush facing those signs or those accusations. I thought what happened in Congress was -- I served there in Congress. That Congressman calling literally the president a liar I thought was so out of bounds. I was angry. I can't go into the motivation of people, but I think this president is -- deserves the respect that -- he got a massive mandate from the American people, and I don't think it's innate racism. I disagree with President Carter. What I do think is because I think we're in a new technological age with cell phones and Internet and so many different ways people communicate, that that ugliness of people comes to the surface a lot more readily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: This young man has been writing about that. He writes about the president -- are you laughing that I said young man?

EAMON JAVERS, POLITICO.COM: Exactly. I've got gray hair.

LEMON: You're still young. He writes about the president for politico.com. Joining us tonight from politico.com, Eamon Javers.

Eamon, you heard what New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had to say, we heard what the president had to say about it. As you're writing your article and you hear the president speaking out, what's your opinion about this?

JAVERS: Well, clearly the president is doing the five-fecta of Sunday shows. In some of the transcripts that have been released so far, what we can see is that the president says almost word-for-word the same thing to each of the interviewers. Basically what he says is, look, there are clearly some racists in this country, but he doesn't think that the overwhelming majority of his opposition is driven by race at all. In fact, he thinks that those people just simply disagree with him on the merits of the issue and the size of the government, which has been a long-term debate in this country. So he does not chalk it up to race.

That said, it would be very difficult for him to chalk it up to race because it puts anyone who disagrees with him on health care as being in the camp of being a racist. That would be a very difficult argument for the White House to make. That's clearly something they want to stay away from. And it's one they did want to stay away from this weekend.

LEMON: It really does put him in a tough position because, remember during the campaign, he had to give a speech about race and racism. This is the last thing the White House wants.

We saw some of the signs there. I think most people, even the commentators who have been talking, have been asking people is race a factor? Not that it's the overwhelming or overarching theme here, but is it a factor. I think many people deny it's a factor because it's a factor to everything in American society would be disingenuous when you look at a lot of the signs here.

But also, one of your colleagues, who writes for politico, caught my attention, Ben Smith. It sort of summing up what you said. Talking about President Carter in an article and he said, you know, talking about President Carter now making the nation's central conversation, talking about race. He says, "It is hard to overstate that bad politics -- that this is bad politics for the White House," he says. "There's a reason that candidate Obama virtually never cried racism and it wasn't because he doesn't believe it exists." What do you think he means by that.

JAVERS: Ben is a very astute observer of the political scene. I think what he's getting at there is for the White House to play the race card would be a very tricky and politically dangerous thing for them to do. They're in a tough spot. What they can't do is delegitimize all opposition to Obama. Clearly, there are people who do disagree with him on the merits. There are people who disagree with him about health care and about the bailouts and all these other things we've seen this year. He has to allow rhetorically for people to have a legitimate beef with the president of the United States, and by playing the race card because it is so fraught with angst in this country and based on the history of race in this country, which has been so terrible, it ratchets the argument up to an entirely different level. And the White House doesn't want to put more steam into that machine. They want to let a little steam out.

LEMON: I want to ask you this, when you saw playing the race card, every time you speak out about race, it doesn't necessarily mean playing the race card. That's also one of those buzz terms. If you mention racism or mention something has a racial factor, doesn't necessarily mean playing the race card unless you're trying to get something out of it. If someone who is a critic of the people who are carrying these signs or the people who appear in some ways to have racial overtones, it doesn't mean they're playing a race card. It's just an observation.

RICHARDSON: Well, that's a fair point. But clearly, from the White House's perspective, they're looking at a sort of toxic stew here in the country. There's a very angry moment here politically, and what you see out there is you see a lot of economic angst going on, people losing their jobs, people losing their life savings, people's home values that are under water and perhaps all of the savings they built up in their home is gone, wiped out. There's change politically from conservative administration to a more liberal administration.

There are a lot of changes going on right now in the country and they're all happening on sort of some of the key social fault lines in this country. That makes a lot of people very nervous and a certain segment of the population very angry. So there's a lot in that stew. And I think what the White House wants to do is avoid painting it all with a racial brush and saying all of this is racism. They don't want to over generalize at all. In fact, they probably want to under generalize because they don't want to be confrontational on the race issue. It's not a winning hand for the president.

LEMON: There's nothing you gain from it unless there is a discussion and a discussion where people aren't fired up on both ends and you actually get something done.

JAVERS: And we have this much anger out there, it becomes very tricky to have sort of a thoughtful discussion about it. LEMON: Eamon, thank you. We appreciate it.

JAVERS: Thanks a lot.

LEMON: In other news tonight, a massive manhunt is under way right now in Washington State for a legally insane killer. A man doctors believe could respond to his delusions and voices. Phillip Paul escaped while hospital patients were visiting a county fair. A psychiatrist documented Paul as the most frightening patient he had ever seen. Now the mental hospital is under scrutiny over their policies on public safety.

Sergeant Dave Reagan is with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. He joins us on the phone.

First of all, any leads on where this man might be?

SGT. DAVE REAGAN, SPOKAN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: You know, we've developed some new information now that it's day three about contacts he may have had here in Spokane County. So those are places that our detectives are scrutinizing very closely. We're attempting to locate anybody who may have ever visited him at the hospital and determine if they've had any contact with him. There's a variety of things we're doing that I can't go into a great bit of detail, but I can say that this investigation remains very active even though it's on the weekend. We've pulled in some additional resources from the state today. They have an inmate recovery team we were made aware of yesterday. They were brought in this morning, briefed, and they're out doing their thing as well. Very active pursuit at this point. We just still don't have him in hand.

LEMON: Sergeant, from all the reporting we have been seeing on this, it appears that you may believe this man may have planned this because of a backpack and his strategy on this. Most sane people would probably try to get out of the area, go as far away as they can. Is there any reason you believe the people in Spokane should be -- obviously, this is a crazy person -- but do you believe they should be concerned or do you think this guy has moved on and is somewhere else?

REAGAN: Day one, we would have said he was headed for Sunnydale where his parents live. But now day three, the more we learn about his social contacts here in Spokane County, he may very well be in Spokane County. Do we consider him a risk? Absolutely. The man was committed for one murder. He's committed assault against our deputy. We believe he's a danger to the community and we want him in hand as quickly as possible.

LEMON: The question would be, why would he be allowed to go on this trip?

REAGAN: There again those are policies that are set by the state hospital. That's a question that we want answered. However, still, our focus is on catching him rather than finding fault in why he's at large.

LEMON: Sergeant Dave Reagan is with the Spokane County Sheriff's Department. We appreciate it.

REAGAN: You're welcome.

LEMON: New Haven police continue to collect evidence in the murder investigation of Yale graduate student, Annie Le. Last night, they towed a car from the motel where suspect Raymond Clark was arrested. Clark was a technician in the lab where Le worked. The Associated Press quotes authorities as saying "Clark tried to hide evidence in the lab even as investigators worked around him." That evidence reportedly included blood-spattered cleaning equipment.

Bones in the backyard of Phillip Garrido's home have investigators wondering what dark secrets they may have uncovered. Searchers and cadaver dogs have spent days combing the property where Jaycee Dugard was held captive for 18 years. It is too soon to know if bones are crime related, those bones are crime related or even if they are human. The police want to know if Garrido can be linked to two other girls kidnapped in the late 1980s.

Greasing the wheels of success by helping the working poor get to their jobs. Our "CNN Hero" has made it her mission in Florida. You will be impressed definitely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It's time now for our hero of the week. You can't hold down a job if you can't get there. Nobody knows that better than Susan Jacobs, who had to hitchhike to work when she lost her car. Now she's putting low-income workers in Florida on the road to independence.

This is "CNN Heroes."

(CNN HEROES)

LEMON: If you want to find out more about Susan Jacobs' work, and I'm sure you do, or that of any of our heroes, go to our web site at CNN.com/heroes. And get ready, October 1st, we'll be announcing the top ten "CNN Heroes" of 2009.

"The Situation Room" is straight ahead.

Wolf Blitzer, what do you have for us?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Don, thanks very much.

We've got lots of important stuff coming up right at the top of the hour right here in "The Situation Room." My exclusive interview with the president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai.

Also ACORN under fire, the liberal activist group. We'll speak with the CEO of ACORN, Bertha Lewis.

And Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican Party, responds to Jimmy Carter's explosive charge that a lot of the criticism of President Obama is based on racism. All that and more coming up at the top of the hour.

Back to you.

LEMON: All right, Wolf, thank you very much.

Can you save money by gardening in this recession? We'll show you how our meteorologist, Jacqui Jeras -- that should be meteorologist/gardener extraordinaire -- how she made out with her garden.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, it's been five months. Has it been that long?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can you believe it? Yeah.

LEMON: Can we call it your victory garden?

JERAS: Recession garden. We call it the recession garden, right? The whole point was to invest only a little money. It ended up being $150.

LEMON: Are you done yet?

JERAS: I'm done. Yeah.

LEMON: Can I eat these?

JERAS: Yeah.

LEMON: I ate strawberries last time.

JERAS: You did. I don't remember. One or the other

LEMON: By the way, they are drowning. Your tomatoes.

JERAS: They are starting to. But I still have some of them out there. The whole point was, a little investment, I'm one of seven million new Americans this year who are planting their own gardens though.

LEMON: (INAUDIBLE). No?

JERAS: I don't know.

LEMON: If it doesn't kill me will make me fat. Go ahead.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

JERAS: Check it out. Let's see how we did.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JERAS: Walter, we're back at the garden. It's September. It's fall. It's about time to wrap things up for the season. Still have some tomatoes going and you can see my garden being taken over a little bit. Overall, I feel good about how we did. What's your impression?

WALTER REEVES, MASTER GARDENER: Yeah, but it's being taken over by strawberries. You're fabulous with strawberries. Look at this, Jacqui, they are climbing up the tomato vines. The strawberries are really fabulous here.

JERAS (voice-over): But not everything turned out so well. In addition to pests on my peas, powdery mildew kept my zucchini plant from producing fruit. Reeves says next time, spray with an organic fungicide before the mildew appears.

(on camera): So they are blueberries.

REEVES: Yes.

JERAS: If you remember the history with the blueberries, this would put us out of the budget range.

REEVES: It helped a lot.

JERAS: It did. I was hoping it would make up for it. The middle bush produced a ton of blueberries but the two outside ones did not.

REEVES: Well, it takes a while for fruiting plants to get the energy to make the fruit. So many times, you can't expect them to produce heavily the first year. I'm proud that you got a lot of this one right here. But next year, as its root system gets more mature, and as it gets to be a bigger, more leafy plant, it'll produce more flowers and more fruit.

JERAS: I'm hoping so.

Overall, I think our harvest was successful. I loved everything that I picked. Here you can see I wrote down the dates. I wrote down how many of each item. Some things I even weighed because that's how you would compare it in the grocery store.

So the big question that everybody wants to know, did we make money, did we lose money or did we break even. Let's find out.

(voice-over): Here's what we grew, 48 roma tomatoes, 2.5 half of better boys, 31 strawberries, 14 bunches of herbs, 2 red peppers, two pints of blueberries, 17 pea pods, 128 green beans, ten cucumbers and zero zucchini.

(on camera): So here we are at the grocery store looking at some of the prices. You can see cilantro and parsley that we grew, really cheap, less than a dollar for a bunch of those. Some higher priced items are the red bell peppers. These are pretty expensive, $4.99 a pound, so we got some good savings there. Cucumbers are relatively cheap. Those are under a dollar. But you're going to spend a lot more money if you tend to buy organic.

(voice-over): We invested $125.65 for supplies, seeds and plants, another $17 for chicken wire and bird netting. So our costs was just under $150. How much did I save? The estimated grocery cost? 168.22. Whoa. That was close. Plus we had the added benefit that used no chemicals.

(on camera): Walter, I really want to thank you for helping us through this project this summer. I think a lot of people hopefully got something out of it. I certainly learned a lot. And hopefully we can count on you for expertise in the future as well.

REEVES: If you need expertise, I'm a phone call or a web site away, sure.

JERAS: All right.

REEVES: But the one thing that I would like for payment, I want to taste your tomatoes over here.

JERAS: You can have more than a taste, my friend.

REEVES: I want that big red roma right there.

JERAS: Take two.

REEVES: That big one. Boy that is great. It's so sweet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JERAS: They are good and sweet. And Walter says, if I want to, I could now, if only you live in the south, by the way, you can do some winter season crops like lettuce or that kind of stuff. Otherwise, he says to prep your garden for next year. Take out all of the dead things, my leftover green bean plants and what not.

LEMON: It's a time out.

You didn't get zucchini, which I like.

JERAS: No a single zucchini.

LEMON: I like brussel sprouts. I like beets, I'm weird, and artichokes. You didn't do any of that?

JERAS: I didn't do any of those.

LEMON: How am I going to come hang out with you?

JERAS: Sorry. I have tomatoes, green beans.

LEMON: I'm just messing with you. You did good. You did well.

JERAS: Thank you.

LEMON: Using correct English. Thank you, Jacqui Jeras, very proud of you.

Fighting to fit into your skinny jeans. You can do that with Jacqui Jeras's garden, all those vegetables. Your secret weapon could be the right song. One entrepreneur is amping (ph) up the weight-loss routine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Skinny songs, music to lose weight by, that's what a California woman was looking for and it has paid off, as our Dr. Sanjay Gupta found out.

(FIT NATION)

LEMON: Crank up the volume, right?

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. We'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer begins right now.