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Hollywood Rallies Around Polanski; Health Care Public Option Dead?
Aired September 30, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): She shoots straight on her abortion, her rights, and how grateful she is to miscarriage?
PENELOPE TRUNK, CEO, BRAZENCAREERIST.COM: One way to face the difficulty to insist on talking about it.
SANCHEZ: A rare, revealing and highly personal interview.
It happened more than 30 years ago, but he's still a child rapist. So, why is Hollywood defending him? And, Whoopi, you too? Say it ain't so. But you will hear it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They could give me money. They could give me anything, but they can't take back time.
SANCHEZ: A judge ignored his plea: "She will take my kids to Japan." She did. And now he's in jail, and the law is on his side.
Democrats say the public option is not dead. I will tell you who was for, who was against, and, maybe more importantly, who got money and how much. Isn't it about time somebody did this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very simply, it's a very simple plan.
SANCHEZ: Now it's a Democrat accusing Republicans of wanting sick Americans to die. Didn't we establish this is wrong, no matter who does it? You tell me during this, your national conversation, for Wednesday, September 30, 2009.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is the next generation of news. This is a conversation. This is not a speech and it's your turn to get involved.
All right, before we do anything else, let's do this. That's the White House. There it is, same old shot of the White House we always show you, except something is happening in there right now as we speak that could impact American history.
President Obama, the defense secretary, the secretary of state, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commanding generals that run the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan are right now there, trying to make major decisions. They are deciding the direction and the timelines for both wars. They are deciding troop numbers. And we are all over it.
We will report what we learn as we learn it. So, stay tuned.
Now to the video of the story that, well, we broke for you yesterday, right about this exact time. These people are running outside, terrified. Why? Well, this is an earthquake, but an earthquake in Indonesia. It is a big earthquake. A lot of people are dead, so far less than 100. But get this.
One health official in Indonesia says he believes that number could soar past 1,000. Now, don't forget, just yesterday, same hemisphere, different ocean. Another massive earthquake shook the South Pacific and did this. Let's show the pictures. In fact, let's scroll through them.
This is American Samoa right in the middle of the earthquake headquarters, that Ring of Fire we often talk about. The quake shot a tsunami across the island that wiped out an entire villages, threw vehicles around, and washed away entire chunks of coastline. We are seeing similar scenes now from Tonga. That's not too far away.
And on the phone right now live from the tiny island of Samoa is CNN's Hugh Williams, who has been following this for us.
What do things look like right there as you -- as you look around for us?
HUGH WILLIAMS, CNN PRODUCER: Well, basically, Rick, the emergency search-and-rescue teams have been working all night long.
You know, it's -- it's morning now. And the recovery efforts are -- are still continuing. They're finding bodies still buried in the sand along the coastline and also some bodies that are trapped under debris. But they're still looking for survivors.
You know, basically, the toll so far is more than 110, as you said, in the Samoan islands, with deaths also reported in Tonga. But officials here really are saying that that number could soar into the hundreds as well. There's a lot of missing family members. There are calls out on the radio for all off-duty police, fire and ambulance workers to come in and help out, as well as hospital staff.
There's been urgent appeals for volunteers to help them in the search efforts, as well as people to donate blood and food and also provide housing for the more than 1,000 people that have lost their houses.
SANCHEZ: Hey, Hugh, could you do us a favor? I want you to do two things. First of all, I want you if you can to tell us what you have seen or what you're seeing now as you look around.
I also want you to describe for us who have never witnessed or seen anything like this in our country what actually happens. What is a tsunami? What happens when this supposed wave actually hits the shoreline. What does it do? What does it look like? WILLIAMS: Well, Rick, I was talking to a group of school kids at the airport today as they were leaving. They had a firsthand experience yesterday, a brush with the tsunami when it came in.
And, essentially what happens is, after this earthquake, which was an 8 -- on the scale of 8, a huge earthquake that shook everyone around this time yesterday -- people were running outdoors, and not sure what to do, but, at the very last minute, they were warned by a fire truck screaming through town, yelling at everybody go to higher ground. There's a tsunami coming. There's a tsunami coming.
And that created an instant panic basically and everyone trying to find a way to get to higher ground. And the first sign of a tsunami approaching usually happens when the ocean retreats out to sea and exposes the coral reefs. And this group of school kids was standing at a wharf, ready to catch a ferry boat, when they noticed this happening. This was about 20 minutes or 25 minutes after the first initial quake.
And very soon after that, the surge in water comes into -- into land. Instead of like a large arcing wave, it's more like an extremely fast and high moving tide. They described it as being a couple of meters tall, you know, quite a big mass of water that has a lot of water built up behind it. And this is what creates the destructive damage that shifts all the buildings and cars and -- and people get trapped in it.
SANCHEZ: Wow. Hugh Williams, good description. My thanks to you for bringing us up to date on what's exactly going on there.
I want to bring in my colleague, my friend our meteorologist Chad Myers, who has been watching this as well.
What an interesting description he just gave us. These kids are sitting on a pier. They're looking down at the ocean and all of a sudden all the water rushes out of the ocean before this whole thing -- I guess that is the warning, right?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. And this is what happened incorrectly back in 2004. When the water went out, there were fish on the ground. People actually went out there to pick up the fish, because they thought, wow, jubilee, here it is. Here's -- let's just go get them. And then, all of a sudden, the water had to come back in at some point in time.
SANCHEZ: Wallop.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, what is it? What is this, Chad? Give me a layman's explanation of what the hell a tsunami is, what causes it and how suddenly the water rises and overtakes islands like this?
MYERS: This is the ocean floor getting pushed up by an earthquake, by two plates coming together, one releasing its energy. I will show you pictures of that and I have got graphics for that. SANCHEZ: Cool.
MYERS: And, all of a sudden, above that, because the dirt moved, now the water has to move. And when the water moves, then it goes out. It has to go one way or the other. So, let's just get right to it. I will get away from this Google Earth and we will get to this video.
Here's the graphic. Here's a plate. It's the subducting plate. It's going down, the subduction zone.
SANCHEZ: That is the bottom of the ocean?
MYERS: This is the bottom of the ocean.
SANCHEZ: Right.
MYERS: Here's the top of the ocean. And here is the subduction zone. Put it into play. This subduction zone tries to bend this top plate here. As it starts to bend, it has all this energy. Now, watch it. It just pops and it releases. And when that release comes up, that release takes all that energy, pushes it up.
SANCHEZ: Oh.
MYERS: And, all of a sudden, now you have a bubble of water. Now you have actually a series of waves, one, two, three, four. From what I heard yesterday, there were five, five separate waves as the water went out. It's almost the inverse of throwing a stone in the water, but you get the same effect. You get those ripples coming in from one side and ripples coming in from the other side.
So, we will take you back here to Google Earth. And what happened here -- what happened, Rick, was that there is a plate. There is -- right here, there's a fraction right there. See that line? Two plates collect -- collide here. One is going this way. That's the one that's going down, and, then, here -- here -- and this is called the Tonga Trench.
Go on the graphic. Go to look at it. You can go on to Google Earth and look at. Go Google Water. Get on down below. This is a very deep trench. But below this is the subduction zone is where that energy took place. And so that's where all the water popped up because the earth popped up and that wave went that way and that way and that way and in fact spread out. But because of the way it actually -- the way the line goes through here, the fault goes through, most of the energy went down toward the southeast...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: It's the bottom of the ocean literally just going boom and popping up and knocking the...
MYERS: Yes. Yes.
SANCHEZ: How much -- how much -- how big is that fault line or whatever it is you meteorologists call that, that thing that pops up? Are we talking about miles and miles of the bottom of the ocean, or what?
MYERS: Oh, sure, all the way around the ring, all the way around the Pacific Ocean, there are faults like this. So, there are faults all the way through here, all the way through the Mariana Trench. We know epic -- obviously epic earthquakes all the way through this dark -- see these dark lines and that white line there? That's a fault line there.
There's Japan right there. We know about obviously epic events that happened in Japan along that area there, and then the one that happened in Sumatra. That's the other side of this plate right here. The same earthquake that happened here, this is the Sumatra quake 2004.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: Only a couple hundred miles away was the one that happened today. The one that happened today, Rick, didn't happen in deep enough water to make a tsunami, but it happened too close to land. And there are people living on that land and then all their houses are squashed.
SANCHEZ: Wow. Yes, not the effect as the one you and I were covering in Banda Aceh about two or three years ago.
Great stuff. Your explanations are always perfect, man. We appreciate it, Chad.
MYERS: Thanks, Rick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Call the roll.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Rockefeller.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: Aye.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Rockefeller, aye.
Mr. Conrad.
SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Conrad, no.
Mr. Bingaman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: How much did the health care industry pay to the senators who voted down the public option yesterday? This isn't the way this story is usually reported, but I decided that you should know. So, I looked into it. And I'm going to tell you exactly how much they paid whom, those who voted yea and those who voted nay. Guess what? One of them got more than the other. Are you surprised?
Also, Whoopi Goldberg actually defending Roman Polanski. Should he be defended? I'm going to let you decide after you watch it.
And, Whoopi, I hope you're watching as well. Love to take your call. Watch today.
We will be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Why does the voice got to get so deep when he says "Latino in America"?
Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez, a Latino in America.
There is a disturbing, yet growing defense of Roman Polanski in this country -- or Roman Polanski. And it's coming, somewhat understandably, I suppose, from Hollywood. Still, let's consider the facts and look who's talking here.
I told you Monday that he was arrested in Switzerland when he went out there to achieve a lifetime achievement award last weekend. Authorities have been wanting to nab this guy since the 1970s for raping a 13-year-old. Look at the list of high-profile people who are defending this superstar director, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Debra Winger, Peter Fonda, Jonathan Demme. Look at the list. Also, there's powerhouse executive producer Harvey Weinstein.
And listen to this. listen to this from Whoopi Goldberg on "The View."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": What I'm saying is he did not rape her because she was aware and the family apparently was aware.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it consensual? I mean, what is rape? What is the definition of rape?
GOLDBERG: Well, I don't know if it was consensual.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait a second.
When you have to give somebody drugs, I don't know.
GOLDBERG: He was not charged -- I guess I'm saying he was not charged with rape, is all I'm trying to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Oh, my goodness. I didn't want to do this because we already did this earlier in the week. There you're looking at the famous director.
This is tough to even talk about without feeling like you need to take a shower afterward. But Whoopi, you are very smart and we love your show and we use clips from time to time. And we have spoken in the past. And you have called into my show.
And, listen, you're welcome to do it again, if you're watching me right now, Whoopi. I know you want to get the legal language right. But some might suggest you sound like you're defending this guy.
I mean, here are the facts of what you say was not a "rape rape." She was 13. He was 43. He drove her over to take nude pictures of her. He had her naked in a hot tub. He gave her champagne and a quaalude. She said no. And he still went ahead and had unlawful sexual intercourse with her many different ways.
Now, whatever deal he worked out with a lawyer or a judge or whatever anybody wants to call it is their prerogative. But should we be mitigating this as to whether it's statutory or something else like "rape rape"? Really?
I mean, evidence shows that he lied to a little girl. He drove to a little girl to a house. He got a little girl drunk. He gave a little girl drugs. He sodomized a little girl. This is not about how the rest of the world sees this, as opposed to how we Americans see things, because we tend to be very puritanical or whatever is often said.
There is in fact only one way to see this story. A 43-year-old man once raped a 13-year-old girl who repeatedly told him, no, no, no. And he just needs to face justice.
Come back to me, will you? Here's the irony. Polanski would be the first to tell you that the Nazis who killed his mother in a concentration once should pay, even if decades had passed since they did what they did to his mother. How can the same justice using time as an excuse not now apply to him?
Car out of control on a highway with the accelerator stuck and it reaches a speed of 120 miles an hour, and a man and his family are inside that car. It is like a movie, except it's real, it's tragic, and you're going to hear it, because it's a 911 call that he makes to authorities as he starts to lose control of his vehicle as it speeds even more and more.
Stay with us. I will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. A couple of quick tweets.
Let's go to Twitter board, if we can, because just about everybody wants to get in on this conversation we just had about Whoopi Goldberg and what she said.
"I agree with you, Rick. Whoopi is in the wrong for defending Polanski. He's a rapist, no matter how you slice it."
And the next one says: "What the hell is 'rape rape'? There's only one kind of rape, and that is when no is ignored."
And well said.
All right, I want you to listen to a tragedy. There are horror movies that are less chilling than this. A man gets in a loaned Lexus car with his family and suddenly finds that the accelerator is stuck, 60 miles an hour, 70 miles an hour, 80 miles an hour, 90, all the way up to 120 miles an hour. He is freaking out.
He doesn't know what's going on. Apparently, the floor mat is defective. And some Lexus models are now recalling it because of this. But here's the tough part. As you listen to this man's 911 call, you start realize for him this recall is just way too late, not to mention for his kids.
You put your foot on the gas, something feels wrong. Here it is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OPERATOR: 911 Emergency. What are you reporting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're in a Lexus.
911 OPERATOR: I'm sorry. Your cell phone is cutting out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going North 125. And our accelerator is stuck.
911 OPERATOR: I'm sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our accelerator is stuck. We're on 125. And we're (INAUDIBLE)
911 OPERATOR: Okay, Northbound 125. Where are you passing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are passing -- where are we passing, George (ph)? We're going 120 Mission Gorge. We're -- we're in trouble. We can't -- there's no brakes.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: End freeway half-mile.
911 OPERATOR: OK. And you don't have the ability to like turn the vehicle off or anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're approaching the intersection. We're approaching the intersection.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're approaching the intersection. Hold on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pray.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pray.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, shoot. Oh. Oh!
911 OPERATOR: OK. Hello?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That's how it ends. All four people are dead. And after that happened, Lexus dealers were told to inspect all driver's- side floor mats.
Now it's been decided that it wasn't enough, because, yesterday, parent company Toyota issued a recall of 3.8 million Toyotas and Lexuses due to concerns over sudden acceleration. The company told owners to get out there now and remove those floor mats. Everybody in that car died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUNK: You can't take three weeks off of your life to bleed through a miscarriage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Is a miscarriage better than an abortion? And should I even let the fact that I'm a Christian enter the conversation as a journalist when I'm having a conversation with a woman who defends her right to have an abortion and talk about it?
All right, look, this one's kind of weird. It was kind of weird for me. It's going to be kind of weird for you. That's the interview I did that I'm going to be sharing with you in full, or at least in fuller part than yesterday.
And then, later, if you're married with children or considering either, I want you to watch this story, because issues of custody are emotional. A judge in Tennessee says these kids belong with him, but guess what? Mom took off for Japan with the kids. He got desperate, went after his kids, and now he's in jail because of it, even though the law is on his side.
We're going to be doing something in the after-show with a fellow named Roland Martin. You know him? That's at 4:00.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Boy, a lot of you guys are reacting to what I showed you a moment ago. That was sad.
Look at this one. Go ahead, if you could, to the Twitter board.
I know. You know, that's the first time I had heard it, to be honest with you. Let me just be real transparent. One of my producers put that together, and I hadn't heard that. So, I was kind of freaked out by it as well.
"That was sad. Just turn off the ignition switch to kill the engine! Nine-one-one was useless. Should know that."
SANCHEZ: I guess it was. Calling the operator didn't exactly help.
All right, something happened right here on this program yesterday. It shocked me a little bit, to be honest with you. It shocked my team a little bit. And when I told you about it on Twitter and on MySpace and on Facebook, it lit you up like a Christmas tree.
This is a woman in Wisconsin, a very honest woman, very transparent, as I always like to say. She's an author. She's a businesswoman, and she's also a big-time blogger. Thousands and thousands of people follow her.
She makes a post on her Twitter account, describing a real-time experience that she was having. She was having a miscarriage. And she said she's very grateful for having that miscarriage. She also defends having an abortion. And she talks about it freely with me, which took me aback a little bit, because of, you know, my background.
This is not the type of stuff you usually hear on the news or on television. But this is also very real. And I want to share it with you.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PENELOPE TRUNK, CEO, BRAZENCAREERIST.COM: I personally believe in being your real self at work.
And I had to tell my board that I had to get an abortion because I had to miss two days of work to go to Chicago. So, in general, we know what when you're managing your career, the best thing to do in a personal crisis is tell your boss that you're having a personal crisis and why and go handle it.
And a miscarriage isn't any different than any other personal health crisis people have. Abortion isn't any different.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: How about -- you know, I'm a Catholic, so I guess I have a different rearing, a different perspective on this. And something like this is just ingrained in me to be very sensitive. It's a very difficult thing that you would ever even want to talk about.
Did you have to get over some of this yourself before you were able to be so transparent that you could just share with the entire world the fact that you are actually getting ready to have an abortion, but actually just had a miscarriage?
TRUNK: Well, which is the part that is so sensitive that people shouldn't talk about it, the miscarriage or the abortion? Which are you talking about?
SANCHEZ: Both.
TRUNK: Well, 75 percent of women are having miscarriages. So, it's just a natural part of women being women. I mean, if women can't talk about that, they're not really talking about the female experience.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: When you wrote this, Penelope, you were literally in a board room meeting. Did you literally just have it or did you excuse yourself or was there any kind of physical reaction?
TRUNK: Well, this is a great example of why women should Twitter about miscarriages, because you are under the impression that a miscarriage is a moment.
But it's not. It's like bleeding over weeks. And it's not pain over weeks. There's some parts that are painful, physically painful, but, in general, women just go keep doing their lives. I mean, you can't take three weeks off of your life to bleed through a miscarriage. It's the same as -- it feels the same as having your period. So, we're doing a public service announcement now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes.
And, by the way, this is the kind of stuff we do in the after- show every day. That was yesterday's after-show. And we thought we would bring a piece to it -- to our show today. We do this every day after our newscast. We switch over to CNN.com/live, and we continue the conversation.
And that's part of the continued conversation we had yesterday. Sometimes, it's a little more raw, a little more earthy even you usually get on cable news, we think that's good. And the entire conversation, which I think it was about seven minutes, we put it on our blog now in case you want to go and see it. I think it's interesting especially from a guy perspective. Maybe it's just me. Go to cnn.com/ricksanchez. Did I get that right? I think so. All right, this man right there. That American dad, he's in jail in Japan. He's at the center of a bizarre and twisted international child custody story. And when I come back, let me tell you how it looks like he's getting hosed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: I've got some breaking news to share with you, which we have just received. Put his picture up. This is a fellow named John Evander Couey. You're going remember him probably when you see him. Remember him now? Yes that's the guy, that's the guy who molested, convicted of abducting, raping, killing a little 9-year-old girl. Her name was Jessica Lundsford, by the way, man this may be the worst part of this. A video that can even be worse. Look at that little girl. I'll tell you when you have a daughter like I do and I'm sure many of you do as well, and you hear stories about this, it just makes you crazy. He apparently buried her alive so police wouldn't find her and convict him. But they did. Here's the news, he's dead. He died moments ago in jail. John Evander Couey died moments ago in jail.
Ashleigh Banfield's scheduled to talk to me about something else and we are going to talk about that something else because it's a fascinating story, but I also know that she followed this story because I watched her night in and night out. Reaction, what do you think of this.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, "OPEN COURT": Well, you know I'm astounded for one because we were facing all of us in America probably a couple of decades of litigation in the appeals of his death penalty that came down only a couple of years ago. So in one instance, I don't think there are going to be a lot of tears for John Evander Couey. I have got to be honest with you, if you remember the details of this case, he admitted to doing everything, he led police to the shallow grave in which he buried Jessica Lundsford alive after putting her in a garbage bag and told the authorities and then if you see him here in court Rick, he came to court every day during his death penalty trial and many times was coloring in a coloring book with crayons. I don't want anyone to shed any tears because of the crime that he committed. But I do want people to know that he was an extraordinarily sick man, horrifically abused as a child, his head was bashed repeatedly by a boyfriend of his mother into a wall. He suffered terrible brain injuries. He was troubled from the get go much of it because of the abused he suffered on the regular basis of the pattern as a child.
SANCHEZ: Somebody said, one of my guests said the other day on this show that there are certain people in this world who are not salvageable and our viewers just pick up on that and are still blogging about it. And somehow I think when I look at this guy that may apply. Switching stories now, are you ready? The man who predicted his wife would break the law, abduct his children, take them to Japan. He's in jail tonight because of judge didn't listen to him. I think, that's what I think is fascinating about the story. Christopher Savoie married a Japanese woman. They divorced, she got custody, but he was still in the picture, he loved his kids. Against the law, she took off for Japan with his kids, her kids too but she never came back. She never told him she was doing it. He told the judge she was going to do that but the judge didn't believe him and she went and did it. Guess what, he went to Japan recently because he was so desperate to see his kids, now he's in jail in Japan. He could face possibly up to five years of his convicted and get this the father became a naturalized Japanese citizen four years ago and has a permanent address in Tokyo. I don't know what that has to do with the story but anyway, talk about a tangled mess. Ashley, how do you define this? Is there a right or a wrong party here?
BANFIELD: There are a couple of wrongs and a couple of rights. Let's start with the wrongs. Number one, the woman in this case is now on the lam from America, there is an arrest warrant for her for abducting her children and going to Japan. He also has been granted full custody now here in America. The problem is Japan does not recognize under an international convention these kinds of laws. So we're not looking at a country that gives a whole hoot about the protections that the father has here in America. Now the other wrong, he was so worried about never seeing his kids again because of that convention and the lack thereof of the protections, he went to Japan, Rick, and he abducted them while they were walking to school with their mother.
SANCHEZ: So what the mother did violate our laws in the United States, what he did over there violated their laws in Japan. But here's the problem for him, here's the problem for him. He's there, the kids are there, and she's there and right now, those are the only laws that matter.
BANFIELD: The only laws that matter is when you are in Rome, and I hate to say this, while we in America think he would have every right to go over there and steal those kids because she was breaking the law. He went to a country and broke the law. And I'll tell you something that fascinating, Rick, he was hightailing it to the consulate and he was almost there. Had he made it through the consulate doors, you and I would probably be talking about an international incidence and a diplomatic issue. Right now it's not a diplomatic issue because they're just not signatories to the Hague Convention. So he's sitting in a jail cell, it's got to have 10 days before they actually decide effectively what charges are going to be.
SANCHEZ: He's probably going to get 5 years, he's not going to -- they're going say, hey, get out of here stupid.
BANFIELD: But he's a citizen of Japan now too, so it's not like they can just say out you go. He deserves their protections, too. I'm hoping that because there's been a lot of pressure from other countries too, France, Canada, England, United States on other countries, to get Japan on board to diplomatically come to the table and deal with these things, because Japan has had a lot of these cases, they're sitting on the books right now, parents who aren't seeing their kids and they're starting to come to the table and realize they do need to play ball.
SANCHEZ: Did you do something different? You look really good?
BANFIELD: I have long hair.
SANCHEZ: OK.
BANFIELD: But thank you and I'm aging.
SANCHEZ: Well, we might add.
BANFIELD: God bless you.
SANCHEZ: Thanks Ashley, we appreciate it.
BANFIELD: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Bye.
The republican health care plan is this. Die quickly, that's right, the republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.
SANCHEZ: Oh, come on, that's not right, is it? If republicans were wrong when they used absurd and reckless talk of death panels to blog democrats Sarah Palin, then should the democrats do the same thing to republicans, look wrong is wrong in it? Yes, show after comes on, we look forward to seeing you then, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: You guys are really getting into this. Welcome back, I'm Rick Sanchez, this is the world headquarters of cnn in Astlanta. Let's start over here on my space. This is a story about John Couey, talked about a moment ago, he's dead. He was a sick and evil man, according to this person writing to me.
Good riddance, divine justice always works better than the legal system. Let's go over and flip it to the twitter board if we can, and there you see, public option isn't done, but Baucus is. How can he expect to be reelected? Someone new will have his seat. We talked about Baucus and another day. Glad to hear public option he's dead. Here's another opinion, here's another one Rick, you're exposing both by senators on health care and where the money comes from is most important journalism you can do in America. And finally my friend Mike Bates, let's get Mike in there. Democrats take in much more special interest money than republicans plus they get "in kind" contributions from unions. What? This is not a republican, democrats Mike. This is about politicians and the question needs to be asked, do they care more about what we need or about the people who are greasing them. Let's look at the numbers. That's all I'm saying. Let's look at the numbers. Ant that's exactly what we're going to do here in just a little bit. Dan (ph), lefty, rightly, whatever.
All right, coming up next, I've got an elephant on a rampage in India. I've got a democrat telling you that republicans want you to die. Democrats telling republicans want you to die and I've got a tragic sky diving accident that's amazing to watch. Once in a while you've got to just sit back and look at the pictures, or as we call them, fotos.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back, when Sarah Palin said that democrats want to set up death panels, she was incredibly wrong, especially considering the concept originated with a republican congressman, not democrat. But most Americans now know that Palin's looks are not exactly matched by her intellect. But when somebody else does this and now something else is playing the Palin game. What we want to know is what is his excuse? Here's fotos.
All right this is Allan Grayson, he's a democrat from my home state, by the way, he's from Florida. And he's decided to use the same type of colorful but not insulting language that Palin did. And again, most of you have been telling me today on twitter, my space and face book that it's just wrong, you don't need to do that kind of disclose. When any politician does what this guy's about to do, whether you're a democrat or a rightly, most of you say, ahhh.
REP. ALAN GRAYSON, FLORIDA: It's my duty and pride tonight to be able to announce exactly what the republicans plan to do for health care in America. It's this, very simply, it's a very simple plan, here it is. The republican health care plan for America, don't get sick. That's right, don't get sick. If you have insurance, don't get sick, if you don't have insurance, don't get sick, if you're sick don't get sick, just don't get sick. That's what the republicans have in mind for you, America, that's the republicans' health care plan, but I think the republicans understand that that plan is not always going to work, it's not a foolproof plan, so republicans have a backup plan in case you do get sick. If you get sick in America, that is what the republicans want you to do. If you get sick, America, the republican health care plan is this, die quickly. That's right, the republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.
SANCHEZ: Brazil, a couple of sky divers about to touch down when it all goes wrong. One person gets tangled in the other's parachute, they spin out of control and they hit the ground. One of the sky divers died, the other one, we are told, was very seriously injured. And then the last foto seems funny when I said the elephant gone wild but this was serious business again folks when this animal went berserk. This happens so often. Too often during a temple ceremony in India, the young elephant attacked the crowd as if to say, can I just go back to the jungle, please? You could see there, there's really nowhere for these people to go, their trapped between the massive animals and some sort of gate there. So, six people were injured seriously before the elephant could finally be brought under control.
I told you I was going to do this yesterday, you saw me when I had the idea, I had this crazy idea yesterday that we should find out much money, stay with me here, how much money health care companies gave to the senators, lefty, rightly, whatever, who voted against the public option yesterday. How much did the health care companies pay to the people who voted in their favor, who voted against the public option? I've got the numbers. It's next, I'm going to share with you.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
When Sarah Palin said that Democrats want to set up death panels, it seemed incredibly wrong, especially considering the concept originated with a Republican congressman, not a Democrat. So -- but, you know, most Americans now know that Palin's looks are not exactly matched by her intellect.
But, when somebody else does this, now somebody else is playing the Palin game, what we want to know is, what is his excuse? Here's "Fotos."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ay, dios mio.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Yes, dios mio.
All right this is Alan Grayson. He's a Democrat from my home state, by the way. He's from Florida. And he's decided to use the same type of colorful, if not insulting, language that Palin did. And, again, most of you have been telling me today on Twitter and Facebook that it's just wrong. We don't need to that kind of discourse.
When my politician does what this guy's about to do, whether you're a Democrat or a righty, most of you say, ehhh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ALAN GRAYSON (D), FLORIDA: It's my duty and pride tonight to be able to announce exactly what the Republicans plan to do for health care in America. It's this.
Very simply -- it's a very simple plan -- here it is, the Republicans' health care plan for America: Don't get sick. That's right. Don't get sick. If you have insurance, don't get sick. If you don't have insurance, don't get sick. If you're sick, don't get sick. Just don't get sick.
That's what the Republicans have in mind for you, America. That's the Republicans' health care plan.
But I think the Republicans understand that that plan is not always going to work. It's not a foolproof plan. So, the Republicans have a backup plan, in case you do get sick. If you get sick in America, this is what the Republicans want you to do.
If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Brazil. A couple of skydivers about to touch down, when it all goes wrong. One person gets tangled in the other's parachute. They spin out of control to the ground, and they hit the ground. One of the skydivers died. The other one, we are told, was very seriously injured.
And then the last "Foto" seems funny when I say elephant gone wild, but this was serious business again, folks, when this animal went berserk. This happens so often, too often. During a temple ceremony in India, the young elephant went crazy and attacked the crowd, as if to say, can I just go back to the jungle, please?
You can see there he's -- there's really nowhere for those people to go. They're trapped between the massive animal and some sort of gate there. So, six people were injured, seriously, before the elephant could finally be brought under control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ay, dios mio.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Here's another "Ay, dios mio."
I told you I was going to do this yesterday, remember? You saw when I had the idea. I had this crazy idea yesterday that we should find out much money -- stay with me here -- how much money health companies gave to the senators, lefty, righty, Democrat, Republican, whatever, who voted against the public option yesterday.
How much money did the health care companies pay to the people who voted in their favor, who voted against the public option? I have got the numbers. It's next. I'm going to share it with you.
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SANCHEZ: All right. This may be something very important. It may not turn out to be all that important, but it is a security measure that's being taken right now.
You're looking at pictures of Boston's Logan Airport. That is all the luggage that was on that plane. Those are bomb-sniffing dogs that are now walking around all the luggage that was on board that plane. And the reason all the luggage is on board -- on the outside of the plane is that they have found a suspicious note on that American Airlines flight or something regarding that American Airlines flight that has piqued enough of their curiosity for them to call the feds and the dogs and put all the luggage out, delay the flight, until they can get to the bottom as to whether or not there is actually something there.
If there is, we're obviously watching it. And if anything happens or there is anything new to report, we will bring it to you right away.
Now, about this time yesterday, I was on the air with a breaking story of the Senate Finance Committee voting down the public option as part of its package of health care reform. Remember that story? We were all over this story. We broke it, in fact, when we showed it to you live.
Some may have told you this was the death of the public option. We didn't, because, you know what? It's not. But as you heard me say before, the public option is target number one of the health care behemoths.
And, according to one count, big health care is spending $1.4 million a day, $1.4 million a day, every day, to make sure that the public option doesn't pass, because it will lower their profits, even if it does make health insurance more affordable for many Americans -- if it does.
Now, let -- let me do what most newscasts don't do for you, but maybe they should, hey. Let me start with this, America. Wow, I just had a Colbert moment.
It should come as no surprise that some of the money that they are spending is going directly to the members of that Senate Finance Committee who voted down the public option. That doesn't surprise you, right?
I told you yesterday I would look into this for you. And we have, so let's do it. Even if every one of those guys hates me for calling them out, let's do it. Here we go.
Since 2005, members of that committee, Senate Finance, have received, on average, $590,000 from the health care folks, more than half of $1 million on average to every single member of that committee. All right. Stay with me. Now let's break it down.
Remember the vote yesterday. OK. Fifteen members voted no, right, to the public option. You know how much they got from health care companies? On average, each one of them got $670,000. Those are the guys who voted against the public option, $670,000. The guys who voted for it, well, they took about 50 percent less.
They got $440,000 which still seems like a lot, but did you notice how one voted, how the other voted, who got a lot of money, who got less money? Is there a correlation? Look, you decide.
By the way, let's -- let's look at the totals now. Stay with me. The guys who voted for the public option, collectively, they got $3.5 million in health care dollars, OK, $3.5 million. Those are the guys who went against the insurance companies -- $3.5 million for the guys who voted against. Yes, they were mostly Democrats.
OK. How much did the guys who voted against the public option get? All right, these are the guys who basically voted with the insurance companies. You ready. Three times more, more than $10 million.
Did they get what they paid for? Folks, that's for you to decide. I'm sharing numbers with you.
Roland Martin is going to be joining me in just a moment. And this is what he and I are going to be talking about, breaking down numbers that, look, you don't -- you don't get that in a lot of places, do you?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, you don't.
I thought -- Rick, I thought you were going a little casual today, so I tried to break out the little...
(LAUGHTER)
MARTIN: ... the softer side.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Casual or not, important stuff when we come back.
MARTIN: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: "R&R," folks, we will be right here.
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SANCHEZ: Roland Martin, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now.
Roland, how are you?
MARTIN: All good.
SANCHEZ: My friend, my colleague, I got a number for you.
You know Gary on my staff? Gary is a smart guy, loves politics.
MARTIN: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: He's passionate about this stuff. He just fed me this. Latest numbers. You ready? Sixty-five percent of Americans are for the public option. Twenty-six percent are against the public option.
Wait. It gets better. According to the "New York Times" poll, Republicans -- Republicans, not Dems, not lefties, Republicans -- 47 percent for, 42 percent against.
You see a disconnect here? What's going on?
MARTIN: Well, the -- the problem here is that you have senators who, frankly, are of the position that the country is not for a public option.
You also have folks who are on the right who have been quite vocal against this as well. Progressive and liberals in the House, they have made it clear they want the public option. But you have people...
SANCHEZ: Or is it the money? Or is it -- hey, look, I just showed you...
MARTIN: Oh. Oh, there is -- there is no -- you -- there is no doubt the amount of money that you are seeing spent is having an adverse impact on this. There is no doubt. And so -- but -- but they are also saying, well, the government should not be running this. Every time the government runs something, look what happens.
But Medicaid is a government program. That's what it is. So, it's not like it's a -- it's a -- it's a shocking idea.
SANCHEZ: Yes. You could you make a...
MARTIN: And, so...
SANCHEZ: Hey, by the way, the -- by the way, these guys arguing, they have a public option.
MARTIN: Yes...
SANCHEZ: And they -- and our soldiers...
MARTIN: ... paid for by the government.
SANCHEZ: And our soldiers, who are fighting in Iraq, they have a public option.
MARTIN: Yes, absolutely.
And I -- also, I think, again, though, this also -- the people who are supporting the public option also have not done a good job of truly explaining what that means. Even though, according to the "New York Times" poll, 65 percent support it, I still believe that -- that they should do a much better job of explaining, what does that actually mean? What does it look like? What does it mean for the average person?
This has been too much of a Washington, D.C., conversation. We have been hearing from too many senators on this issue.
SANCHEZ: But...
MARTIN: We should be hearing more from regular people on this issue.
SANCHEZ: But I'm bothered -- I'm bothered as an American and as a journalist that that conversation in Washington, D.C., is controlled by money...
MARTIN: Well, yes.
SANCHEZ: ... that, oftentimes -- and I don't care. If you -- look, I will take these guys at their word. If they really believe the public option is bad and that the -- that the CEOs of these companies deserve to get the $300,000 -- $300 million, and all the -- if that's what they really believe, that's fine, and I respect them.
But you can't help but wonder, when they are getting all that money...
MARTIN: Right.
SANCHEZ: ... whether that's what they really believe.
MARTIN: And, Rick, the -- the pressure now...
SANCHEZ: Ten seconds.
MARTIN: The pressure now is going on the president. The House says public option. Senate says no. He is going to have to decide. Some believe that he says that he's going to move forward without it.
Watch progressives put some serious...
SANCHEZ: That's...
MARTIN: ... pressure on him to get it done.
SANCHEZ: That -- that's -- and you know what? You and I are going to in a moment here on CNN.com/live.
But you know what? What's interesting is, they are saying the public option is not dead.
Wolf is going to be talking about this, too.
Here's "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER."
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Rick, thank you.
