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President Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize; Homegrown Terror Threat

Aired December 10, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, SENIOR CONSULTANT, GERARD GROUP INTERNATIONAL: This is a bad group, and it's a group that is known to be a bad group.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Why would men from Virginia leave the U.S. to meet with that group? Terrorism? Against who? And they left a goodbye video.

NIHAD AWAD, SPOKESPERSON, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: I have seen the video and I was disturbed by the content of it.

SANCHEZ: We are drilling down.

Did you catch the pomp and circumstance at the Nobel ceremony? And the winner is?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility.

Roman Polanski sexually abused a little girl and has never done time for it. Today, his lawyers are in an L.A. courtroom trying to keep their client in a Swiss chalet.

And we are on it during your national conversation, as we reach out to newsmakers to make my access your access for Thursday, December 10, 2009.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news. This is a conversation. It is not a speech. And ,as always, it is your turn to get involved.

It is tough to imagine and to get your head around the fact that American citizens are even capable of planning terror attacks against the United States or against U.S. troops abroad. This arrest in Pakistan that we have been following today looks like it may be another case though of exactly that.

First, let me show you where we are talking about on a Google map. Rog, if you have got that, put it up. It is there. It's south of Islamabad. There it is right there, at least five men arrested, and we are told all of them are American citizens. So, what are they doing there? Well, the FBI is there right now, we understand. They have arrived. They're trying to figure it out. And just a few minutes ago, they did confirm that all five of them are the same men who were reported missing from the area around Washington, D.C., not long ago. That is significant.

Well, here is the thinking on this. They are there to join a radical Islamic holy war against the west. Our reporter in the region, in Pakistan, is Arwa Damon. She has spoken personally and exclusively with the mother of one of those men.

But, first, I want to show you a well-prepared, detailed report on who these men are and how they got from here to there.

Our correspondent is CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pakistani officials there tell CNN it appears the men tried unsuccessfully to hook with two terrorist groups, including Jaish-e-Mohammad, the group believed to be responsible for the murder of journalist Daniel Pearl.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross studies homegrown terrorism and radicalization.

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, SENIOR CONSULTANT, GERARD GROUP INTERNATIONAL: This is a bad group. And it is a group that is known to be a bad group. It raises the red flag of perhaps them undertaking training or in some other way preparing themselves for battle.

KAYE: If it's true and the missing men did make their way to Pakistan, their motive is still unclear, though Pakistan police say they are -- quote -- "confident" they were planning terrorist acts.

If so, U.S. law enforcement believes their intent was to wage jihad overseas, not at home. Of great concern to authorities, a videotape left behind by one of the missing men that is described as a farewell tape.

NIHAD AWAD, SPOKESPERSON, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: I have seen the video and I was disturbed by the content.

KAYE (on camera): According to CAIR, the Council on American- Islamic Relations, the video is about 11 minutes long and shows just one of the missing men talking about conflict in the world and referring to the Koran. The council's executive director says the man's parents found it and got it to authorities.

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: He could have filmed the video intending to return to the United States and carry out a martyrdom operation or a suicide bombing here.

KAYE (voice-over): The man on the tape and four others, who all apparently knew each other, disappeared last month. CAIR says all of the missing men are from Virginia. A U.S. law enforcement source says one of those missing is Ramy Zamzam. We have learned he is a dental student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. This photo is from his Facebook page.

(on camera): We have learned, at least one of the men, maybe more, worshipped at the Islamic Circle of North America, which has a chapter in Alexandria, Virginia. The men range in age from 19 to 25. Pakistani police say two are Pakistani Americans, two Yemeni Americans, and one Egyptian-American.

(voice-over): A Pakistani official says the men arrived in Karachi on November 30, then went on to Lahore, and then Sargodha, an area well-known for militant activity. That's where they were arrested during a police raid yesterday.

CAIR says the missing men had never shown any outwardly radical or suspicious behavior. If that's the case, and they are in Pakistan, what were they doing there, and why was it such a big secret?

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Now let's go to Islamabad, Pakistan.

Arwa Damon has gotten the exclusive interview with one of the these guys' moms. Arwa found this woman by traveling to the village where these guys are from.

Arwa, does she refute what the Pakistani police are saying about her son's alleged ties to a terrorist group there, and, if so, then how does she explain his being there? Why does she say he was there?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rick, his mother does absolutely refute everything that Pakistani authorities are accusing her son and his friends of.

This is her side of the story. Now, she says that she traveled to Pakistan some two months ago with the intent of looking for a bride for her son. And then, around 10 days ago, while she was in Pakistan, she received and became aware of the fact that her son was missing in the United States.

She and the families of the other young men then were the ones who contacted the authorities, quite simply to file a missing-persons report. She says they believed that their sons had been kidnapped in the United States.

And, then, all of the sudden, a few days ago, they all show up in Pakistan. She was saying that it was as a surprise that her son was coming here, finally agreeing to marry one of the young women that she had found for him -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: So, has she been in contact with the authorities there? Because it is the authorities in Pakistan who are giving us the information and cooperating with our FBI and saying that he was in fact dealing with one of these terrorist organizations over there. DAMON: Yes, she very much has been in contact with the authorities here. She has been questioned by them herself. She says she was questioned by the FBI as well.

She says that last night she was able to talk to her son whilst in prison. He said that he was doing quite well. And she is adamant that her family is just being made a scapegoat in this complex web of Pakistani/U.S. relations, but then when you talk to the Pakistani police, they are convinced that these men had some sort of a terror plot in mind, that that was their end state.

They said that their motivation was not Islam itself, but that the young men had said that it was the atrocities committed against Muslims, that they wanted to come and fight back against that.

SANCHEZ: Well, he is -- she is his mother, and one would expect that she certainly would not be selling him out.

We thank you, Arwa, for going there and getting that side of the story for us. That is important.

Meanwhile, Tom Fuentes is retired FBI, in fact a former assistant FBI director, and he's also a CNN contributor.

Tom, thanks so much for being with us.

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, Rick.

SANCHEZ: Would I be wrong to pressure that we had absolutely, on our end, the FBI, the United States, the folks who are supposed to be protecting us, that we have absolutely no beat on these guys to begin with, like -- almost like we were caught off guard as this information is coming in now?

FUENTES: Yes, that is true. There was no advanced information about this group. There were no investigations in progress concerning them, until the families and the community group came forward to report them missing.

SANCHEZ: Are you as surprised by that as I am, and maybe even I will throw in the word disappointed?

FUENTES: Well, I mean, this wouldn't be the first case where these individuals don't tell their parents what they are doing or tell the leaders of the community organization what they are doing. That is why the FBI is extensively contacting friends, fellow students, associates, as many people as possible.

SANCHEZ: But even before that, though, let me take you back a little bit.

FUENTES: OK.

SANCHEZ: Don't we have a system in place where we keep an eye on guys like this who might be making contact with folks overseas, especially in countries that we deem as associated with terrorism? FUENTES: Well, when you talk about the system in place, first of all, the FBI is not the thought police, so the FBI is not in a position, nor would it be, even if it had the resources, to monitor every e-mail between every American and, you know, tens of millions of people around the world expressing attitudes that are either anti- U.S., anti-Western or of any other political nature.

So, no one is in a position to do that kind of tracking, until they contact a terrorist organization in advance or contact someone who is a known militant or insurgent and hit one of the trip wires for investigation.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: I get that. And you say it -- maybe those are the right words -- they cannot be the thought police and our Constitution is not set up for anyone to be into anyone else's head, so to speak.

But let me ask you, now that we know all about this, I imagine there is a whole lot of agents spinning around trying to play catchup here, right? What are they doing?

FUENTES: Absolutely.

Well, they will doing everything possible to find out what their motivations were, go to, as I mentioned, fellow students, friends, associates, neighbors, anybody they have been in contact with, go through their telephone records, their e-mail records.

And the families have been very cooperative with the FBI here in the United States, and as well as CAIR being very cooperative in trying to determine what caused them to want to travel to Pakistan. Did they intend to commit jihad? Was that truly the purpose there, or, as the mother said, were they in search of a bride?

SANCHEZ: Tom Fuentes, my thanks to you, as usual. You are always so good at explaining things to us from a perspective that many of don't -- or are not familiar with.

FUENTES: Thank you, Rick.

(CROSSTALK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The president of the United States accepts the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first thing he does is to address those who say, you don't deserve it, Mr. President.

Also, Tiger Woods addresses nothing while more information about an honor is out that he won't be getting. I will put that together for you.

Also, don't forget the other way to participate in this national conversation. You can call us here in the United States. The number is 877-742 -- that's 877-742-5751.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Hey, Rick. This is Bob from Norwalk, Connecticut.

About President Obama's receiving the Nobel Prize, it seems to me that at least they are giving him credit for trying and for having good intentions, which very rarely happens in the world. Maybe we should believe our own president and try and act decently.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: As you can see, we try to include you in the national conversation.

Welcome back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez. What we also do is, we key in on relevant people who are Twittering on any given day and then we show you what they are saying.

Let's do that. We go to Rick's List we go. To the Rick's List we go. And there you see the Rick's -- the list that we have put together today. It is a list essentially on climate change, and those are all the people who are there. You see Sarah Palin's name. You see Al Gore's name. If they tweet something, you are going to hear about it on this show on any given day.

Let's go to the very first one, which is going to be from Russell Simmons. UncleRUSH is the name he goes by on there. He tweeted this to me. "It is important that we live in a peaceful world of compassion and respect for all humanity. President Obama walks the walk. Congratulations," referring to, of course, the president's receiving the Nobel Peace Prize today.

Let's go to Sarah Palin. What we have? Sarah Palin is coming up next. This is Sarah Palin tweeting today. "Glad 'Washington Post' ran my op-ed on global warming climategate scandal. Amazing to see Al Gore" -- taking a shot at Al Gore here, she says: "Amazing to see Al Gore's denial of the controversy. It is like denying gravity."

And who else did we key in on today of all the folks who are tweeting? Ricky Martin, like in "Livin' La Vida Loca"? That is living the crazy life for those of you who don't speak the Spanish.

He says after watching the president today and on this Human Rights Day: "My thoughts in English, peace for all. My thoughts in Espanol" (SPEAKING SPANISH)." It means the same thing, by the way.

We thank all three of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) QUESTION: What is it about John Galliano's show that you like?

ROMAN POLANSKI, DIRECTOR: I like what he does. It is always a surprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That is Roman Polanski answering questions. He has never served a day in prison for drugging and having sex with a teenaged girl, never. Now, right now, as we -- as I sit here, his attorneys are trying to keep him from returning back to the United States, where he would be forced to go back to jail and/or prison. We are all over that.

Also ahead, the president answers his critics amid a whole lot of Nobel pomp and circumstance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We have got a comment coming in from Newt Gingrich I'm going to share with you in just a little bit.

But first, this. I want you to take a look at this. See that? Looks cozy, doesn't it? That is a Swiss chalet, where Roman Polanski, who sexually abused a 13-year-old girl after getting her all drugged up, by the way, is under house arrest. While Polanski has got its feet and the electronic tracking bracelet around his ankle propped up by a comfortable fire, his lawyers are in a Los Angeles courtroom today. They're trying to set him free.

Polanski's lawyers say that his case should be thrown out because of misconduct by a judge and prosecutors back in the 1970s. They took that argument to the Los Angeles judge who has agreed there is plenty of evidence that the case was in fact in some ways mishandled. That was back in February.

The judge said that he couldn't do anything about the old law, though. He says that Polanski has to show up in person in Los Angeles. But Polanski has been on the lam and wasn't about to go back to L.A.

Today, his lawyers are telling a California appeals court that the misconduct of a judge and a prosecutor was so bad, it should outweigh the old law and whatever decisions those judges made.

These are some of the pictures that are coming in now. These are pictures that we have been getting today. This is the case as it is being heard right now in Los Angeles. There you see the wide shot. They want the court to let Polanski fight the case from his chalet a continent away.

All right. Once again, those are the live pictures of this proceeding as it is going on now. If there is any news out of this courthouse, out of that courtroom, I will let you know and I will bring it to you right away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I support this effort, especially since it is aimed at increasing choice and competition and lowering costs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: He supports it now, but wasn't he once all for the public option? And after all the wrangling and all the arguing and a lot of the misinformation, the public option in the Senate at least is all but dead, and now some liberal Democrats are saying, fine, then I'm not going to vote for anything. That is ahead.

Also, this is not really a gator on somebody's front porch. Wow. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Since the inception of this show, we have gotten a whole lot of followers, and we have also gotten a lot of attention on both television and in print, which is cool.

But I have got to share with you now an opportunity that we happen to think is really cool, because I am a huge fan of NPR, as I know that many of you are. Tonight, NPR's award-winning show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" is going to be in Atlanta, and they are honoring me with a chance to be on the show as a celebrity guest.

Usually, I am only considered a celebrity when my kids are really hungry and it is dinner time at my home. So, it is different anyway. The show will air this weekend on NPR. Hope you watch. Tune in, as they say.

All right. Let's go to board, if we possibly can. I want to go to the Twitter board. I don't want to exclude all of you, but let me just see if I can get back over to this side. And I want to be able to go in on some of these that I have highlighted right there.

"Just want you to know," Joel Randall says, "that apparently uncle Rush has put our tweet about him on President Obama walking the walk on the air. They say keep influencing."

There's two more here that I want to show you. You see these two right there, Robert, with the little yellow stars next to them? Those are the ones I want to show.

"If you have fame and money, you can get away with anything. Polanski is going to walk. No justice. Maybe he will even make a movie about it."

The other one says right under that: "This Polanski case makes me mad. He needs to go to jail for what he did. Throw the book at him and put him in jail."

And that, by the way, seems to be the prevailing sentiment out there in social media. My thanks to all of you. A wartime president honored as the world's preeminent peacemaker. Some are calling it folly, others irony, others perfectly normal. That is right after the break.

And while President Obama was in Norway, a mysterious phenomena lights up the sky. That is coming up in "Fotos."

And you can join me for the national conversation whenever you visit Atlanta. just call 1-877-4CNN-TOUR, and you could be right here with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

President Obama picks up his Nobel Peace Prize, but the controversy about it has not died down. I want you the take a look at this CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. I'm going to break it down for you.

We called more than 1,000 people to ask whether the president has done enough to deserve this Peace Prize. These are the numbers as they break down. Nineteen percent said, yes, he does -- 35 percent say, not yet, but he will. And 43 percent, which is the biggest number of all, says, nope, and he probably won't do enough to deserve it either.

Well, that public opinion poll is not lost on President Obama. In fact, he confronted it head on right at the top of his speech. Kind of surprising, actually, that he would mention this first while he was in Oslo this morning accepting the award.

I want you to listen to this. We will listen to it together. He admits that he gets -- he understands why people say that he doesn't deserve it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics.

I cannot argue with those who find these men and women -- some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, this is very interesting. Mr. Obama uses the opportunity to also defend war. That's irony. He says that, sometimes, it is necessary, even morally justified. And then he also goes on to point out that, even in the most justifiable of wars, like WWII, civilians were killed en masses (sic).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The concept of a just war emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when certain conditions were met. If it is waged as a last resort, or in self- defense, if the force used is proportional, and if whenever possible civilians are spared from violence.

Of course, we know that for most of history this concept of just war was rarely observed. The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible, as did our capacity to exempt from mercy those who look different or pray to a different god.

Wars between armies gave way to wars between nations, total wars in which the distinction between combatant and civilian became blurred. In the span of 30 years such carnage would twice engulf this continent. And while it is hard to conceive of a war more just than the defeat of the Third Reich and the Axis Powers, World War II was a conflict in which the total number of civilians who died exceeded the number of soldiers who perished.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And finally he addressed the war on terror itself. The president makes it clear that he will not back away from a fight, any fight. The strong defense crowd will probably find this encouraging, what the president is about to say. The anti-war crowd surely won't. Here, again, the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake, evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go to "Rick's List" now and get some of the reactions that have been coming in. First of all, this one is somewhat surprising, it comes in from Newt Gingrich reacting to what the president said today. He says: "Credit where credit is due. The president forcefully defended the necessity of strength to preserve peace in a dangerous world." Once again, that is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

This is Barack Obama himself tweeting this, back when he received the award, one word that he used, we thought we'd show it to you, "humbled." Let's go on to the next one now. And this one comes in from the editor-in-chief of redstate.com, this is a very conservative blog and we want to see how they reacted to the president's speech. They write: "i was surprised by Obama's speech, parts sounded like full-throated support for the Bush doctrine."

And those are the things that we are collecting for you. Obviously, we wanted to see if we could key in on some of the conservative reaction coming in from those -- from that side of the aisle and on what the president had to say, and we will continue to look for it.

It is something everyone seems to be talking about, Tiger Woods. So will we with what Jack Nicklaus is saying about it. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CALLER: Hey, Rick, this is Brian (ph) from New York City. I think President Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize is a little ridiculous because it diminishes the value of the prize itself. It is like giving the Large Hadron Collider guys the Nobel Prize in physics when they haven't actually discovered anything yet. They just built the thing. They haven't actually done anything yet. It makes a mockery of the whole system.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN.

Here is where the rubber hits the road for Tiger Woods, the world's highest-earning athlete. Behind the often tabloid reports of text messages and mistresses and all of the stuff I'm sure you have been reading at the supermarket checkout counters, there is this, which is probably more important. The business of, well, Tiger's business.

And here is what we have learned according to Nielsen, the last time one of his sponsors ran a commercial on television with Tiger Woods in it was 11 days ago, two days after the infamous car crash. Meanwhile, Congressman Joe Baca, who was sponsoring legislation to honor Tigers Woods with a Congressional Gold Medal, has pulled it back. Baca has issued a statement saying that he has decided to withdraw the legislation, quote, in light of recent developments," stop quote.

Sponsors all wonder what everybody else is wondering right now, will the public ever forgive Tiger Woods. Here is what Jack Nicklaus says. An enterprising reporter chased Nicklaus down today, and here's what he said about it. "Our public is pretty forgiving at times, time usually heals all wounds. I think that the hardest thing is obviously his family. That is a private matter for him and for his family. He is a great athlete, he will figure it out." Jack Nicklaus on Tiger Woods.

Woods would seem to need all of the help from the fellow golfers like Nicklaus that he can get these days, the money he makes on endorsements is more than $100 million.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I support this effort, especially since it is aimed at increasing choice in competition and lowering costs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: What happened though to the public option that he so pushed for? We are going to examine that, and what is left in the bill. Also, we are going to have a live report on how the health care bill affects immigrants in this country, illegal or otherwise. That is ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. A whole new nationwide health care policy is definitely on the way, we just don't know exactly what kind of form it is going to take, well, at this point. The House version of the bill, the Senate version of the bill, yes, they are different, but there are major, major differences when we are talking about how immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants, are going to be cared for in this country when our health care, when our health care system is finally reformed.

It is what we are talking about today in our segment that we call "Conexion." CNN's Lisa Desjardins is joining us now, focused on that today, up in Washington. Let's start with this question, Lisa, which of the plans, either the House or the Senate plan, is going to be more favorable, I suppose, for undocumented immigrants?

LISA DESJARDINS, CNN CORRESPONDNENT: There is no question about it, that is the House plan, Rick. Both of these plans we have so say right off of the top, and I know that every Democrat listening to this is yelling at their TV screen saying this, both plans say no subsidies for undocumented workers, but here is the deal, in the House plan we broke it down like this, in the House plan, illegal immigrants could participate in a public option, in the Senate, no, they could not.

Could they buy private insurance with their own money in the main market? In the House bill, yes, they could buy private insurance on the exchange. In the Senate, no, they could not buy private insurance on state exchanges. Now here is another big difference that a lot of people don't know, Rick. In the House bill, illegal immigrants or undocumented workers would be mandated to have health insurance in the Senate. They would be exempt from that mandate.

So overall, Rick, you can kind of see where this goes. The House is leaning more towards helping illegal immigrants buy their own private coverage, the Senate makes it a lot tougher for those illegal immigrants to buy coverage on their own.

SANCHEZ: And of course, that is presuming there even is a public option. But let me ask you this one question...

DESJARDINS: Right.

SANCHEZ: ... just to make sure that people understand. We are talking about getting insurance, the paperwork itself. We're not talking about people being turned down at hospitals, because every doctor and every administrator I have ever talked to at a hospital says, you know, they take an oath that essentially says they will do no harm.

So if someone shows up sick or bleeding or you take your child to a hospital, they are not going to ask you for ID to prove you are a citizen, they are going to take care of you?

DESJARDINS: And of course, every hospital has its own policy on how they identify and deal with the people coming into their hospital, but you are right, in the health care plans overall, there is nothing about requiring identification when someone goes to a hospital or an emergency room, but there is very different enforcement in these two bills for when someone tries to get a subsidy to buy health care.

For instance, in the House plan, they basically leave the details up to the health secretary. They would check Social Security numbers, probably one form of ID, the Senate has a much more detailed enforcement plan in here, the Social Security numbers would go through Treasury and Homeland Security and Social Security. Also though some details left unsaid with the Senate as well on enforcement.

SANCHEZ: And that is the difference between getting coverage as we were just talking about and actually getting care, which is somewhat different from what it is now.

DESJARDINS: And getting taxpayer help to get -- right, and getting...

SANCHEZ: Exactly.

DESJARDINS: Supposedly you get taxpayer help, yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes. All right. Lisa, my thanks to you. Good report. Thanks for taking us through that.

DESJARDINS: Thanks. Thanks for looking inside of the bill.

He is the piano man, take a look, talk about loving your job. This man falls in love, makes love to his piano. Some call him China's Liberace, he is making international headlines, and when we saw the video, we decided we had to bring it to you. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: I want to check my list for you now to see what they continue to say about the president's speech. What is the right saying about the president's speech after they heard it? Well, surprisingly, it has all been very positive so far. Here is the Heritage Foundation, a conservative watchdog organization. The Heritage Foundation says: "Good speech, defended fight for liberty, but is accepting prize money constitutional? Emoluments ban applies." All right-y. We will go along with that.

Now this, speaking of left wing and right wing, the right wing hates it when left-wing supporters of President Obama swoon over him. So, you can imagine how they are going to feel when they see this in "Fotos."

A day before President Obama shows up in Norway, and guess what happens? Look at the skies open up to reveal the signs from above that the chosen one has bestowed upon us his blessings. Is that any of that true? No. Not at all. Just actually a Russian rocket launch that went awry and left us with this amazing scene which has absolutely nothing to do with President Obama. Sorry, there, Obama swooners.

Talk about loving your job. That is Lang Lang, but some call him "China's Liberace," he is the classical pianist who played today at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Norway. He said he was so excited to play for President Obama. Well, that is easy to see, Lang Lang is passionate, very passionate about his piano, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Oh, my goodness! Florida is known for the gators, but imagine coming home to find a real one like that parked on your doorstep? The huge gator is about 10 feet long and what do you ask for on somebody's front porch in the South? Sweet tea, of course. Did he get it? No, he did not. Instead a trapper struggled with the creature for about an hour before getting him tied up, hauled away, and turned into an expensive pair of boots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: I am not happy with the possibility that there would not be a public option.

SEN. KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: What is the effect on Medicare and Medicare solvency, since Medicare is already headed for insolvency?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Will the health care deal have it out in secret stick (ph). The public option takes center stage. But negotiators say this is far from a done deal still. We've got that for you in less than two minutes. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. If you've watched us this week, you were among the first to learn about the deal being hatched by Senate Democrats. We told you about it before it happened, a deal to drop the public option from the health care bill. Drop the public option even though it is a bottom-line demand of the Democratic left. This is a huge story. We have covered it as such. And I will drill down on it in just a moment. But first, CNN's Dana Bash has broken the deal down with all of the information that we have been able to put together for you, including some pretty cool graphics. All right. Let's go to her report.

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DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anxious to move forward on his top priority, the president praised a tentative deal to drop a public option from the Senate health care bill.

OBAMA: I support this effort, especially since it's aimed at increasing choice and competition and lowering costs.

BASH: That's the goal of the preliminary agreement, hammered out in secret by 10 Democrats -- five moderates and five liberals. Whether it will hold remains to be seen.

One negotiator is already openly reluctant.

FEINGOLD: I am not happy with the possibility that there would not be a public option.

BASH: Instead of a government-run insurance option, a government agency, the Office of Personnel Management, would oversee not-for- profit private insurance plans. That appeals to moderates.

Democrat sources tell CNN if that plan doesn't work, it would trigger a public option, but that could scare away Joe Lieberman, whose vote Democrats likely need. He issued this statement, underscoring his "opposition to a government-run insurance option, including any option with a trigger..."

To appeal to liberals eager to expand government-run insurance, Democratic negotiators included a huge change in Medicare, allowing uninsured Americans ages 55 to 64 to buy into the program. One estimate says 4 million people could be eligible. Data on how much it would cost to buy into Medicare under this plan is not yet available, but a recent Congressional Budget Office study on 62- to 64-year-olds put premiums at a whopping $7,600 a year, $634 a month.

Democrats say out-of-pocket costs under the plan wouldn't be that high because many people would be eligible for government subsidies starting in 2014. Still, moderate Democrats are wary of adding more strain to already stretched Medicare.

CONRAD: The national concern is, what is the effect on Medicare and Medicare solvency, since Medicare is already headed for insolvency?

BASH (on camera): Democratic leaders were clearly eager to show momentum, but several negotiators, both liberals and moderates, say there's no deal yet. They're waiting to hear from Congressional Budget Office to determine how much it will cost and other very important factors. We won't hear from the CBO, according to the Democratic sources, for nearly a week.

Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: By the way, as we move on with this story, from time to time you might see some video of the president of the United States because he is still there in Norway. And I understand, as we -- oh, there's the picture now. Is that a cup of wine he has in his hands? He is proposing a toast. There you go. Let's go ahead and take a listen in.

OBAMA: Cheers. Cheers. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Cheers and thank you from the president of the United States.

OBAMA: Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: This is the reception dinner. The president obviously being the toast of the town there in Oslo. And best drink them if you've got them, boys, right? It is a lot of information we just shared with you, by the way, about what's going on with the health care debate.

So let me kind of bring it back...

(INAUDIBLE DUE TO SOUND EFFECT)

SANCHEZ: The sense that we are getting is that details of this deal, this crucial deal on health care reform, there's still a mystery even among Senate Democrats, even after a briefing by their leader, Harry Reid. Now take a look at some of these quotes I want to bring...

(INAUDIBLE DUE TO SOUND EFFECT)

SANCHEZ: First of all, Dianne Feinstein. She says there was no explanation. "It was sort of go team, go." OK. Now this from Nebraska's Ben Nelson: "General concepts but nothing at all specific. This is the health care bill that they have come up with? And this is how they are explaining it?" That's Ben Nelson. I mean, he was part of the gang of 10 that put this deal together, right?

Here's Pennsylvania's Bob Casey, just as perplexing. "Any big agreement is progress, even if we don't know any of the details." Even if we do not know any of the details, what? A.B. Stoddard is associate editor of the...

(INAUDIBLE DUE TO SOUND EFFECT)

SANCHEZ: ... publication that covers Capitol Hill. I am confused when I start hearing people say we don't know exactly what is in it but you know what, generally, we are happy with it. I mean, I don't know, it just doesn't seem like this is in keeping with this very important debate that we have been having in this country for almost a year now.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, THE HILL: I understand your reaction, Rick. But there -- it all hangs on this score from the Congressional Budget Office. And the leadership would like the CBO to keep their confidence. What happens is, if something leaks out as -- as too expensive, basically, and the details emerge -- they had to scramble to redo it. They like to do this behind closed doors. You know that Senator...

SANCHEZ: So this is about negotiating. Essentially you've got to hide your cards.

STODDARD: This whole thing has taken place in the privacy of the leadership's suite, as you know. The original bill was written and then passed off to the CBO before anyone knew what was in it. I think we are not certain that all of the details we are hearing now will hold. We will hear what the CBO has to say. But I don't think it sounds like the public option is going to come back.

SANCHEZ: Well, but why aren't -- why aren't the liberal Democrats livid? Shouldn't they be? I mean, you would think that they would be livid. And yet, I mean, I heard Feingold say that maybe he wouldn't vote for it. But then on the other hand, I'm hearing Anthony Weiner, for example, was interviewed.

STODDARD: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: He has been the biggest talker on all of this. And a very studious guy who usually is very easy to follow. He has maybe been the best at explaining the public option, as a proponent of it. But he is coming out now and saying, you know, it is OK because I think what we are going to be left with may be better. Again, I'm confused.

STODDARD: Absolutely. Rick, the public option government health care plan is in the eye of the beholder, it turns out. Because you MoveOn and a bunch of liberal special interest groups applying pressure to senators like Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bernie Sanders from Vermont, Roland Burris from Illinois who have said that they would filibuster the bill if it had no robust public option.

At the same time, you have Congressman Weiner, who you just cited, saying this is a step to single-payer health care, this is exactly what we want. Expand Medicare and Medicaid, push everyone to existing government programs that already work, and we'll be set.

And so it really is -- it is in the eye of the liberal beholder at this point.

SANCHEZ: Well, but if that were the case, then the Republicans have been bamboozled. I mean, all the time, I mean -- I'm obviously saying that if with a caveat, if Weiner is right, the Republicans have been making sure that that doesn't happen and this may be a back door way of making sure it does? That is what Weiner is saying. And that would be the opposite of what Republicans want, right? STODDARD: If they had a real government plan, a new program, the Republicans would say it was government takeover of health care and now if they allow new eligibility and expand Medicare and Medicaid, the Republicans are going to say that that is the road to single- payer. You can rest assured those will be the arguments no matter what the Democrats come up with.

SANCHEZ: How close are we to actually having this thing even happen? And will it happen, for example, before I sit down to eat a roasted pig in my backyard the day before Christmas, as we often do?

STODDARD: I have been wrong in thinking that Congress is going to meet their deadlines on health care before they -- they have blown all of them. But, Rick, I sense a real turn from the Senate Democrats in days of late. I think the majority leader has done a really incredible job of pushing them into some sort of, you know, feeling of a sense of urgency about this.

I think that they want to address the economy and unemployment and I think they all want now to get this out of the way. I have a feeling that the CBO's score will come in faster, I have a feeling this will be done by Christmas. I think that you just sense from all of the different factions they want this to end.

SANCHEZ: A.B. Stoddard, my thanks to you.

Wolf Blitzer is standing by now. He's in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Rick, thanks very much.