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Reid's Apology to Obama; Mark McGwire Admits Steroids Use; Navy Court-Martial Over Prisoner Abuse; McCain Aides' Anxieties Over Palin Exposed

Aired January 11, 2010 - 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): Making news right now on your national conversation -- Harry Reid and his poor choice of words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Those words were offensive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Offensive enough to cost him the leadership or just fodder for more Washington bickering?

Why did Sarah Palin do this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, can I call you Joe?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, we know why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Senator O'Biden...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: O'Biden?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a little bit rough, but the show of support is phenomenal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Navy SEALs accused of beating up an Iraqi insurgent and these protesters are defending them -- because they are being court- martialed for it. And did Bill Clinton really tell Ted Kennedy, "You're endorsing Obama because he's black"?

Smart talk as we count down to January 18th and the premier of "Rick's List" -- where my access to newsmakers becomes your access.

The national conversation starts right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And hello, again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez with the next generation of news.

This is an important national conversation that we're having specifically today. This is not a speech and, as always, it's your turn to get involved. We welcome you.

OK. We've heard from Harry Reid. Within the past half hour, Reid appeared in Nevada, in Apex, Nevada, apologized again for his comments, talked about his relationship with Barack Obama, talked about his civil rights record.

In fact, let's play some of these Harry Reid stuff again. In case you haven't heard, here's the majority leader speaking just a little -- just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: I have apologized to the president. I have apologized to everyone that -- within the sound of my voice -- that I could have used a better choice of words. And I'll continue to do my work for the African-American community. As a very young man in the state of Nevada, I was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement in Nevada. And it had a lot of moving to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. Let me take you through this.

That's Harry Reid, Senate majority leader -- he's speaking at an event at his home state of Nevada. That was about a half hour ago when we're monitoring it, right?

And let me do a reset of what this is really all about, why he's apologizing. Here's what caused this problem: remarks that Reid back in 2008 only reported now in a book about the election. Reid reportedly said -- and he hasn't denied that he said it -- that Barack Obama was electable because even though he was an African-American, he was light-skinned and didn't have a, quote, "a Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one."

Reid called the president on Saturday and said he's sorry. The president said he accepted the apology without question, even though he called Reid's phrasing unfortunate.

Well, that controlled criticism in a nutshell is the Democratic response, including black Democrats. Among them, the attorney general, Eric Holder, who's spoken Reid's defense today. Also, Barbara Lee, head of the Congressional Black Caucus, D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton, former Congressman Harold Ford, activist Al Sharpton who, by the way, has been sending me a ton of tweets that I'm going to share with you in just a little bit. He goes through this whole thing because he got a phone call from Reid, too.

Bottom line: Reid doesn't have a problem with the Democrats and his job as majority leader is not in jeopardy at this time. The criticizing that's taking place right now, it's coming from Republicans.

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, for example, he says Reid should step down as majority leader. He says Democrats enjoy the forgiving side of the double-standard when it comes to questions of race.

Two of Reid's Senate colleagues, John Cornyn of Texas, Jon Kyl of Arizona -- they're two of the Senate's most conservative voices, both Republicans, both are invoking this double-standard. And both are recalling the beating that their former colleague, Trent Lott, took when a remark that he had made about the nation might have been better off had it followed the lead of segregationist Strom Thurmond. All right, that's what Lott said.

Let's jump into this conversation now. Lani Guinier joins me from Cambridge, Massachusetts. She's a Harvard law school professor. Former nominee to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under Bill Clinton and in Washington, we have Republican strategist Tony Blankley.

Lani, let me start with you. Did you find the comment offensive?

LANI GUINIER, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR: I found the comments unfortunately truthful. They were poorly phrased, but, in many ways, they are an accurate portrayal of the state of politics in the United States.

SANCHEZ: What -- you say it's fairly accurate -- what about it is accurate?

GUINIER: That if you go back to something that Charles Blow, a columnist for "The New York Times" wrote several weeks ago, basically whites in the United States were willing to vote for a black candidate who was, quote/unquote, "racially ambiguous." That's what Charles Blow said. And that puts blacks in a quandary in terms of how do you talk about race in you can't talk about it directly, because when you talk about it directly, as Reid did, then you find yourself thrown in the briar patch. So...

SANCHEZ: Tony, what about the use of the word "Negro"? A term that my parents might use, but, usually, people of our generation don't; and the fact that he went on to say, "when he wants to," almost saying that when he wants to, Barack Obama can maybe talk jive.

TONY BLANKLEY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look -- I mean, let me start by saying I don't think people generally should have their careers ended because they say something that is dumb or seems to be dumb. Whether you're a Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, I think -- I don't like what we've been doing over the last years.

But I think the lesson that we learn is not that the senator said anything particularly remarkable, but that the -- when conservatives say something equally unremarkable, that the feigned outrage drives them out of office, whether it's Rush Limbaugh saying that a black quarterback got better press that if he'd been white, or whether it was Senator Allen who used the word "macaca," whatever that means.

SANCHEZ: How about that...

BLANKLEY: That got six stories in the front page of "The Washington Post." The point is, they don't -- they're not sincere when they're outraged. They're just trying to drive out a political opponent.

SANCHEZ: Well, is that fair? Is there -- Lani, let me go back to you -- is there a double-standard here? If a Republican had said something like this, would he have been treated differently?

GUINIER: I don't think there's a double-standard. I think there's an inappropriate standard. And an inappropriate standard is that we go after what people say rather than what they are doing. And the fact of the matter is, in my opinion, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party is doing enough to address the real problems affecting not only people of color but poor and working-class whites.

SANCHEZ: Let me let you hear what John Cornyn had to say about this.

You got that John Cornyn sound? Let's put that up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: This is about his hypocrisy and hypocrisy of folks on the other side -- when Trent Lott said something that was far more innocuous than the racially tense comments that Senator Reid made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering if Trent Lott's comments were actually analogous.

Let's listen to Trent Lott's comments and let's have a conversation about whether what he said is analogous to what Reid said. Let's do it, go ahead.

Did you got it, Dan?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: If the rest of the country had followed the lead of a segregationist, we wouldn't have all the problems we've had over all those years. That's what he said.

Tony, is it worse, better or the same?

BLANKLEY: First of all, he didn't use the word segregationist. It was pretty obvious...

SANCHEZ: What was he talking about, Tony?

BLANKLEY: I know -- I know the record of him. All I'm saying is, all he was doing, it seemed to me, was that he was trying to say something nice to an old man at his 100th birthday, not that he was endorsing the entire Dixiecrat schedule, you know? So, I mean, I think there's -- that's an example of what I was saying that when he makes an ambiguous statement at an event like that, that everybody jumped down his throat. He was driven out of office -- not because of what he said, because it was no worse or better than other number of statements that are made by people, but he was a political opponent. So, it was an opportune moment, that's all.

SANCHEZ: But who drove him out of office? Was he really driven out of office for that or was he driven out of office because there were folks in the Republican Party who weren't all that fond of him...

BLANKLEY: Well, let me...

SANCHEZ: ... anymore and would have liked another guy from Tennessee to get his job?

BLANKLEY: In the case of Trent Lott, it was both sides. Conservatives were concerned that they didn't want to be tainted with that image anymore, so they opposed him, I opposed him.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

BLANKLEY: And then liberals got him out because they wanted to get a powerful Republican out of office. So, he had sort of a conspiracy of both sides going at him, actually.

SANCHEZ: Yes. I think that's an honest response. I think you're absolutely right. I admire you for that.

Lani, go ahead.

GUINIER: Well, I was just going to say that -- what you just said, that you don't want to be tainted by the image -- I think it was a different image that Trent Lott was projecting than the one that Harry Reid was projecting. Trent Lott was expressing nostalgia for a time when blacks were treated as second class citizens and were treated that way by the government, not just by their fellow citizens.

BLANKLEY: I -- honestly, I don't think he was expressing nostalgia. My concern was that the liberals in the country and in the media were going to characterize him that way and it was a battle not worth having. But I should say that if we are in grievance mode -- and I'm not -- but if we were in grievance mode, the statement what the senator said was true is, in fact, a nasty and I think largely unjustifiable accusation against white voters, because I can speak as one out of millions that I'd for -- I was for Clarence Thomas who is also of color and it's on a basis of I didn't look at the tincture of his skin but the content of his character and his political judgment.

SANCHEZ: I'm still -- I'm still wondering, though, if the guy who took the most abuse on this from this quote from Harry Reid is actually the president of the United States. I'm wondering if he's not saying -- and maybe that's the way I'm misreading it -- if he's not saying when the president wants to, he can switch into that Negro dialect and when he switches to that Negro dialect, he's being fake. I'm wondering if people may not look at that and see it that way. I know the president was quick to apologize.

Mark Preston is going to be, in fact...

GUINIER: But the president didn't apologize.

SANCHEZ: Hold on. Well -- I know, I know. And we're going to come back to this conversation in a minute. I just want that out there. I want viewers to consider that as well. I know it's a caveat. It's last line of what he says but it seemed to be the one -- and, Lani, you may agree or disagree with me, the one that caught my interest the most, because he seemed to be really taking -- taking issue with the president.

Now, let me share something else with you I have here. Check this out. This is from Mark Preston. "In '98, Reid only won by 428 votes. But he won. He's a boxer and will fight to the end. GOP has a good shot, but no guarantee."

All right. This is interesting because this takes us into the politics of this as well. In fact, let's do this -- let's get Mark Preston on the phone. I want him to join in this conversation as well so we can talk about the politics of this and all three of my guests are going to be coming back in just a moment.

Also this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Barack Obama and Senator O'Biden, you've said no to everything in trying to find a domestic solution to energy crisis that we're in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Did you catch that? I've never even knew she said that. She actually called him "O'Biden." Now, new details behind that slip-up Sarah Palin was unprepared for her debate against Joe Biden, so say staff members. Very unprepared? I'm going to take you through the details.

Also, more on this conversation on Senator Reid and the fallout with my guests: Lani Guinier, Tony Blankley and Mark Preston is going to be joining me in just a little bit as well.

Also, don't forget, you can also participate in this national conversation by calling us here. Of course, you got to be in the U.S. Say, "Hey Rick," after dialing this number, 877-742-5751.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

New information coming in to us right now, I want to share it with you. It has to do with Mark McGwire, baseball slugger Mark McGwire, who, as we all know, was embroiled in that fight to the finish with Sammy Sosa for the season homerun record. This may not come as a shock to many of you, the fact that he's admitting to it may. The fact that he may have done it may not. Here we go.

Mark McGwire, according to the "Associated Press," has come clean. For the first time, he's admitting that he used steroids when he broke baseball's homerun record in 1998. McGwire is saying in a statement to the "Associated Press" that he used steroids on and off for nearly a decade and that he is apologizing for his actions.

McGwire, who stayed pretty much out of the limelight since this revelation, he goes on to say, "I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."

Wow. "I wish I had never played during the steroid era." Of course, there are many of those, sports writers among them, book authors as well, who say the only reason he was able to break that homerun record was because he was on steroids, as is the case with some many other baseball players who've been involved or associated with steroids. It's certainly part of a story that baseball's going to have to deal with for some time.

Here's what we're going to for you. This story, again, just coming in. In case you just heard me say this, Mark McGwire, according to the "Associated Press," is admitting that he took steroids. We are right now trying to create a list on this. So, we're going to check through social media to see what some of those authors and "Sports Illustrated" writers are saying, as well as inside baseball.

There we are now on Major League Baseball to see what they're going to release. There's "Rick's List." We're going to be on top of this as we get the information. And we're also going to be trying to book someone who can join us live to take us through this new information.

For those of you who haven't heard, Mark McGwire admitting for the first time that he took steroids and saying he wished he hadn't.

Now, I'm also going to be keeping a list on several other things for you. Among those, newsmakers who are tweeting about what you've been hearing about in my discussion with Lani Guinier and Tony Blankley, and now, Mark Preston is going to join us. Stay right there. We're going to finish that discussion when I come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Mark Preston is going to be joining us now in this conversation.

So, let me tell you who we got. We're going to have Mark Preston and we got Mark up already? Mark is joining us. He's been tweeting me as well.

And then we got Lani Guinier and we got Tony Blankley.

Lani, I understand we might be losing you quickly. So, let me just ask you flat-out, do you agree with the assessment we shared just moments ago about the fact that the real victim in all of this is the president of the United States? Because you can read what Reid said and make it -- make it...

GUINIER: No.

SANCHEZ: ... get out of it. The fact that he's saying this president can become fake when he wants to and act like he's...

GUINIER: No.

SANCHEZ: No?

GUINIER: No. The real victim are the people of the United States, that we are having a conversation about what Harry Reid said rather than what Reid or the Republican Party is doing to alleviate the real problems confronting Americans of all colors. And the fact that we get so exorcised about a particular statement that somebody made, speaking to reporters writing a book without looking fundamentally at the state of race relations in this country -- to me, that's the real problem, is that we have our eye on the wrong ball.

SANCHEZ: Well, I'll tell you, that's a good point. And as -- I think it's one that's being shared on social media as well. Lani, I know we're about to lose your window. So, we'll let you go.

We'll picking up with Tony Blankley.

Tony, you agree with her. Should we even be having this discussion?

BLANKLEY: Oh, look, I don't think it harms us to have honest conversation about almost anything. It's usually better to have honest conversations than not. Regarding that last charge that the president adjusts his language to the audience...

SANCHEZ: Yes, it reminds me -- it reminds me, remember the movie -- was it "Airplane"? "Airplane," right?

BLANKLEY: "Airplane," yes.

SANCHEZ: Where I think was "Leave it to Beaver's" mom comes up and says...

BLANKLEY: Yes, she's talking, she's spoken jive.

SANCHEZ: I think jive. Yes, right.

BLANKLEY: Yes, she's spoken jive.

But, you know, the thing is, many politicians do that irrespective of race. So, white politicians who went -- go into rural areas drop that last G's to sound like that more plain folk. So, it's not an unusual -- I don't think it's a racial thing so much as a sort of cultural effort on the part of a politician to ingratiate themselves, and many do it.

SANCHEZ: What about the use of the word "Negro"? What about the use of the word "Negro"? Something you wouldn't use but maybe your dad would.

BLANKLEY: No. Actually, my father -- my late father would not have done that. But I think it's an anachronism. I don't think it's anything more than an anachronism.

So, I -- you know, as I said, I don't want him to be fired for that. I don't -- I didn't -- you know, I don't want a lot of people to be fired for saying stuff that some people claim to take offense at. And I think the word "claim" is got to be the key. This is politics. And so much of what people say, so much of pretend outrage is just that -- is just for political advantage.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about the politics. Let me bring Mark Preston into this and keep you here, Tony.

Here's the reality of this, it seems to me: this speaker -- pardon me -- this Leader Reid, he's a very important part of the Democrats' strategy. He's not what the former speaker was when he was canned, Trent Lott. I mean, this guy is health care. This guy is important to this president.

So, those who may consider, Mark, that the president's going to get rid of him in any way, shape or fashion, probably don't understand the politics of today, do they?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: No. They don't understand the politics if that's their belief. Look, Harry Reid is arguably President Obama's top field general right now, certainly in Congress. You know, we talk a lot about this 60-vote majority and how President Obama can get whatever he wants through Congress as easily as he wants. What we've seen with health care, that is not true. But what he does need is he needs someone like Harry Reid to try to get those 60 votes that can overcome any Republican filibuster. That is Harry Reid's job and Harry Reid has delivered for President Obama in the past year at least when it comes to policy issues.

SANCHEZ: But Harry Reid is not looking real good right now in Nevada, is he? I mean, not looking good at all.

PRESTON: No. You know, and, Rick, this is an interesting conversation. I have been captivated by it all weekend ever since it came up -- but, look, this is not a fatal blow to Harry Reid what he said in this conversation and what he said about President Obama. What's a fatal blow right now for Reid is the fact that he is looking for very bad in public polling right now out in the state. We've seen a poll out this past weekend that shows he is at 52 percent unfavorable rating. That's unbelievable given the fact that he is the Senate majority leader and he can deliver for the state.

Now, Rick, they're going to spend $25 million to try to get Harry Reid re-elected. So, look, he's not going down fighting. That's for sure. Or he will go down fighting.

SANCHEZ: Good luck, as I'm sure my friend Tony Blankley would say -- given the way the polls are looking right now. My thanks to both of you. We got to go.

Tony, as usual, enjoyed your company. Let's do it again.

BLANKLEY: I enjoy it.

SANCHEZ: Mark, thanks for -- thanks for plugging in to "Rick's List."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe? Thanks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Those are memorable words from Sarah Palin in her debate with Joe Biden. Now we're hearing it wasn't just some folksy strategy. She couldn't get his name right.

And the man beaten, burned and cattle-prodded. Why did the sheik who was taped doing this walk while Americans are being court- martialed? I'll explain it to you.

Also, I'm going to have a special report on this thing for you. So, stay right there. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Two things here -- I want to remind you of a sickening piece of video that we showed you several months ago. Here's the thing, there is a brand new development on the story. Here is a sheik, a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates caught on tape -- watch.

(VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: His name is Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. He's on this videotape with his body guards. He's beating a man with a board, burning his privates with a lighter, shocking him with a cattle prod, shooting bullets near his head, even driving a vehicle over his body in the sand. Amazingly, the man survives. He's a Saudi citizen who allegedly had a business disagreement with the sheik.

Now, everyone on the tape went to trial -- and guess who got off scot-free? That's right. The sheikh. Listen to what his lawyer says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HABIB AL-MULLA, LAWYER FOR SHEIKH ISSA BIN ZAYED AL-NAHYAN: No one can prove that this videotape has not been tampered with. No one can confirm things that have been shown on that videotape are a true account of what happened that night -- not even the only person who could have said so and that is (INAUDIBLE) for himself. We deny the incident as it was shown on that videotape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You heard what he said, right? He said you can't prove all of this alleged torture. And I know what you're thinking, unless, of course, you look at the videotape, right?

Well, the lawyer goes on to say that his client was taking medication to stop smoking and that's what made him act so aggressively. Is this another example of why we are criticized in the Arab world from time to time and seen as corrupt ourselves?

Now, again, this guy is part of a royal family in the United Arab Emirates. But it did get us to thinking about an e-mail I received this afternoon from military analyst Ken Allard, who I've had on the show, who we respect. He's talking about another U.S. friend on the Arabian peninsula, the UAE's neighbor, Saudi Arabia.

He writes to me: "The Saudis are fundamentally corrupt and we can criticize their lack of human rights, but if all falls on deaf ears as many Arabs are convinced, we will never back up the rhetoric as long as we need them to keep pumping cheap oil."

Or as our parents have often told all us -- all of us -- we're only as good as the company we keep.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been a little bit rough but it's definitely very good to know that -- I mean, all these people -- the show of support is phenomenal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Protesters turning out to support a Navy SEAL accused of beating up an alleged terrorist. The alleged terrorist we're talking about is the man who may be responsible for the Fallujah massacre of four Americans. Remember that?

By the way, if you want to be a part of our show in person, in studio? Just call this number. I'd love to have you here, 1-877- 4CNN-TOUR -- 4CNN-TOUR.

I'd be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We have been telling you about this mark McGwire story. He has finally come clean and admitted that he took steroids. I want to read to you now part of what we have. There he is telling Congress he did not take steroids.

"Now that I have become the hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals, I have the chance to do something I wish I was able to do five years ago." "Wish I was able to do," he writes.

"I never knew when but I always knew this day would come. It's time to talk about the past and confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989-90 off season. And then when I was injured in 1993 I used steroids again.

I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season."

Let me skip down here now, because I think this is perhaps as interesting as anything else.

As you know, there have been many questions as to whether steroid is a performance enhancement, as to whether in baseball the reason some of these athletes suddenly started hitting homeruns out of the park like it had never been done before coincided with steroid use.

Well, for the first time it seems Mark McGwire tries to answer that charge, or if nothing else fuzzy it up. Let me read what he says about that.

"I'm sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those homeruns had I never taken steroids. I had good years when I didn't take any, and I had bad years when I didn't take any. I had good years when I took steroids and I had bad years when I took steroids.

But no matter what, I shouldn't have done it. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

He says "Baseball is really different now. It's been cleaned up. The commissioner and the Players' Association cracked down, instituted testing, and I am glad they did. After all this time, I want to come clean."

So there you have it, a remarkable statement that's just been put out by Mark McGwire admitting to taking steroids, sounding almost defensive about the possibility that he may have broken records and hit so many homeruns bauds he took steroids, and announcing he's going to be now a hitting instructor with the St. Louis Cardinals, the team with which he was playing when he broke those records.

We're going to be all over this story. We're trying to see if we can get a booking on it, and we'll be checking to see what's going on with "Rick's List" to see if we can hear from Major League Baseball and other players as well as authors and sports writers who will be all over the story as well.

I want to tell you about three American men. They are special ops, in fact, Navy SEALs, and they are being court-martialed right now. It's about how they handled an Iraqi insurgent that they were holding prisoner at the time.

This man right here who is in uniform, that's petty officer Matthew McCabe. Take a good look at him, because I'm about to talk to his lawyer. He and two others petty officers, all Navy SEALs back in September, captured the man believed to have planned and led the killing, mutilation, and public display of four American contractors in Fallujah -- you remember that.

The accused terrorist says one of those Navy SEALs hit him in the stomach. The terrorist said the Navy SEAL hit him in the stomach. Here's the story. An Iraqi insurgent who may have overseen the death and mutilation of four Blackwater civilians who were burned and hanged off the bridge in Fallujah said he was punched in the stomach by a Navy SEAL who captured him. And that accusation could be sending these U.S. military men to a prison.

Today we hear the court martial is going on the road. The testimony will be heard in Baghdad. Neal Puckett is the lawyer for Petty Officer Matthew McCabe. Counselor, thanks for being with us, sir.

NEAL PUCKETT, ATTORNEY FOR NAVY SEAL: You're welcome, Rick, thanks.

SANCHEZ: Did he punch him in the gut?

PUCKETT: That will be determined by a court martial. I want to correct something you said. We're not sure if the courts martial will be going to Baghdad or not.

The government wants a 60-day delay in order to depose the witness in Iraq. And the judge said if he's available to be deposed he's available for court martial, so you may want to consider moving it to Iraq.

SANCHEZ: What do we know about the facts of this case? I don't know if in the military they have to file discovery, but usually by now you would know if this guy had a bleeding wound, was he hurt? What is the proof that he was severely punched in the stomach, if he was?

PUCKETT: Well, the proof, as we understand it, is his word. I'm not at liberty to discuss the evidence in a case. There are ethical constraints against that, but suffice it to say the evidence is scant. But the point here -- and I think the important news today for your purposes is if the trials are moved to Baghdad that means about 60 people will have to be flown at government expense so that this terrorist, this mass murderer, can have his day in court. And I think that's just incredible.

SANCHEZ: Well, that's the point. There are probably a whole bunch of people watching, and I'm a cop beat reporter. I have spent a lot of time on the streets with police officers in some of the meanest places in the country.

And I know that sometimes, for example, after a chase or when someone is shot at or when someone is spat on, there is a little adrenaline that gets going and sometimes you might act out. And I think there is a certain amount of leeway you are allowed to give.

But there is a line you don't cross. A shove occasionally, something like that, usually is dismissed. I don't know what this guy did, but I think most people watching now would understand why a U.S. soldier would be angry at someone who massacred and burned four people, right?

PUCKETT: I think people would understand that. But remember, all three of the SEALs are pleading not guilty in their trials, and it's incumbent upon the government to prove their guilt, if they can, beyond a reasonable doubt.

SANCHEZ: Would you use that -- let's suppose there is enough evidence to prove something was done to this guy. Would you use as your defense or consider using as your defense -- I'm asking you to share something now you may not want to share but I will ask anyway -- would you consider saying, you know what, yes, he was mad because he saw four people he knew burned and hanging from a bridge and he acted out and maybe gave the guy a shove or a push. He didn't mean to do anything beyond that. Would you use that as a defense?

PUCKETT: That's a useable thing, but, remember, I want to simply go back to all of the SEALs have entered pleas of not guilty. They are denying this occurred -- essentially legally denying. And so I would not be prepared to use something like that unless and until my client was convicted by a jury.

SANCHEZ: It's an interesting case. I'm glad we're following it. My appreciation to you. Check back with us. Let's keep in touch on this thing, all right?

PUCKETT: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Counselor, I appreciate it. Now this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R) FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Barack Obama and Senator O-Biden, you have said no to everything in trying to find a domestic solution to the energy crisis that we are in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "Senator O-Biden." And there is also this on the story. McCain staffers were actually going to go to Senator McCain to tell him Sarah Palin wasn't fit to be vice president. That's what we learned yesterday. New details from this behind-the-scenes book on just how, quote, "unprepared she was"?

And then don't forget the other way to participate in this national conversation, you can call us here in the United States at 877-742-5751.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: All right, it's time to check "Rick's List."

I try to gather all the folks who are relevant or newsworthy who might be saying something about the stories of the day. We make lists of them and then we monitor, check those lists. They say something relevant, I share it with you. Thereby my access becomes your access.

We have just added a new list. It's about Mark McGwire and baseball. In case you're just now joining us and getting home from work, Mark McGwire just admitted he did, in fact, take steroids.

So here's what a we're getting from Major League Baseball, MLB.com, McGwire, the number one trending topic right now on Twitter. And this is from owner Bill DeWitt. He says, "I am glad that Mark has gone public." Owner Bill DeWitt who, as you may know, is one of the owners of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Let's do this now. Let's talk about Reverend Al Sharpton. We have been telling you about what's been going on with Harry Reid. Interestingly enough, Al Sharpton has been weighing in on this. He was one of the first, we learned today, because he's been tweeting me, to get involved in this thing.

Listen to what he writes to me. He says, "Senator Reid call me on Saturday after he spoke with the president. He repeated his apology and his regrets for his statements." I didn't know that.

Sharpton goes on to tweet, "He said he would be calling others as well. I told him I was offended by the term "negro dialect" and felt his choice of words were not good. I however am more outraged that they be compared to Senator Trent Lott's statement."

There's the take from Reverend Al Sharpton, new information about the phone call Harry Reid made, all of this coming to us on Rick's List. I'm glad I'm able to share this new information with you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Why was it important for her to ask him that? What we are hearing now about this memorable moment during the vice presidential debate.

Caught on camera, a man throwing a Molotov cocktail at a gas station cashier. You will see this one play out. That's just ahead. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. There's twitter. There is "Hey, Rick." There is "Rick's List." And there are Rick's guests. And there they are. I told you we invite you to join us here, and from time to time we let a bunch of folks come into the studio, as many as we can seat comfortably, and they get to play along in this newscast.

Glad to have you folks. Wave so they don't think you're mannequins. Thank you very much.

I want you to pay attention to this story. This is one folks have been talking now ever since the "60 Minutes" interview and the new book that's come out.

A line that we all thought was perfectly sublime, maybe even just good public relations, turns out to be something different. Let me take you back. Remember Sarah Palin walked out on stage during the vice presidential debates and she greeted Senator Joe Biden as thus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?

JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: You can call me Joe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "Hey, can I call you Joe?" At the time most of us thought, hey, that's a good debate strategy. I thought it was cool, very different.

But Former McCain aide Steve Schmidt says there was more to it than met the eye. Here he is on "60 Minutes" talking about how they simply couldn't get Sarah Palin to stop saying "O-Biden."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SCHMIDT, FORMER MCCAIN CAMPAIGN AIDE: It was a verbal tic, and it was subconscious. But when you had gone through the Tina Fey parodies, you certainly cannot be in a position to walk out on stage and refer to him repeatedly on national television as "Senator O'Biden." It would have been devastating beyond words.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: How did you get around it?

SCHMIDT: Multiple people, and I wasn't one of them, all said at the same time, just say, "Can I call you Joe?" Which she did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Despite that precaution, look at what happened interestingly enough, during the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Barack Obama and Senator O'Biden, you have said no to everything in trying to find a domestic solution to the energy crisis that we're in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Hmm. "O'Biden." She said it.

The interview was based on "Game Change," that new book about the 2008 presidential campaign. The authors of that book say that many McCain staffers were so worried about Palin's inexperience that they became terrified about what would happen if their guy won and Palin actually became vice president. Here's how they explain it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HALPERIN, COAUTHOR, "GAME CHANGE": These are political operatives that love John McCain. They are throwing their heart and soul into trying to get him elected. But they are, in a way, glad that he probably isn't going to win based on the polling data because of the thought to them of Sarah Palin being vice president some of then found it terrifying and unfathomable.

They didn't believe she was up to the job of being vice president in any way like Al Gore or Dick Cheney. If McCain looked like he had a chance, some of them thought they would have to go to him and say, she cannot serve in the office the way it's been done in the last four years. She would have to be kind of a ceremonial vice president, because they felt from what they observed that she was mentally limited and attitudinally limited in such a way that she simply couldn't do the job the way it had been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, we should tell you that a spokesperson for Sarah Palin is disputing those assertions raised on "60 Minutes" interviews, saying her descriptions are accurate. She was there. These reporters were not. Stop quote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: What the heck this is.

(LAUGHTER)

Can you believe this? It's a suitcase, folks, a new way of combining a suitcase into your bathing suit. Laugh all you want, it's the real deal. I'm going to share it when we come back. Stay right there. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Well, we've got more news on Mark McGwire, I'm going to share that with you in just a little bit. He's coming clean about using steroids, and we're going to be talking to a writer with "Sports Illustrated." So stay right there.

But first, I showed this video to my wife last night. We were sitting in bed, getting ready to go to sleep, and we both laughed out loud like two silly little school kids. By the way, a late-night laugh, you know, good for a relationship. I want to share it with you. Here's "Fotos del Dia."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of innovations in luggage over the years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But today inventors were testing a new suitcase that's been 90 years in the making. They tested it in Lake Ontario, of all places.

The suitcase converts into a waterproof flotation device intended to help victims of sinking ships stay afloat. The device was first devised in 1950 by a former sailor from Alberto.

(LAUGHTER)

Oh, this is not looking good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Can you believe this? This is the clip from the 2007 Canadian newscast that has just resurfaced on the blogs. Yes, just turn your suitcase into a diving float. I get you, buddy.

To Wisconsin now, what would make anyone want to do something like that? That masked man was caught on tape hurling a Molatov cocktail at a gas station clerk. The fireball barely missed the man trying to pay for his gas. No one was hurt, but the store was damaged. They are still trying to find this guy. No suitcase there.

To California, this story happening just hours ago -- a man cheats death after a ten-story free fall off of a cliff. His car was so mangled it took rescuers an hour to free him from that wreckage. He's in the hospital now. He's good, but he's still recovering from this crash.

Dios mio, Mark McGwire has admitted that he took steroids. Alas, we'll tell you what he's saying, what it means. "Sports Illustrated" baseball editor Steve Cannella joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You can be a part of our tour, just like these folks here. I have to ask you guys a question. Put the camera on these folks. Raise your hand if you guys are shocked by this admission by Mark McGwire. You can't believe this fact that this guy may have taken steroids? OK.

Raise your hands if you're not shocked. I had a feeling it might be that way.

Let's go now to "Sports Illustrated's" Steve Cannella. He's joining us to talk about this admission. In case you haven't heard, Mark McGwire has come clean and said, yep, I took them, I took steroids. Steven, your take?

STEPHEN CANNELLA, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Well, Rick, this is the least surprising bombshell I think I've ever heard, probably. I think McGwire himself got it right in his statement that he released when he said he knew this day would come eventually, he just didn't know when.

And since 2005 since he testified and basically said nothing before Congress, I think we've all been in the same boat, waiting for this to happen, not knowing when it would, but know this day was coming.

SANCHEZ: Does this make him a liar?

CANNELLA: Well, you know, I guess it does, but we sort of knew that, too. And if he's a liar, you know, in the game of baseball he has a lot of company in that boat.

SANCHEZ: Is he doing this, because he wants to get into the hall of fame one day and that's what's most important to him?

CANNELLA: I suspect he has more immediate concerns. He was hired to be the Cardinals' hitting coach this year, and --

SANCHEZ: He doesn't need money, does he?

CANNELLA: No, he doesn't, but I think he wants to be part of the game. And I think he's had a four year, going on five-year underground life right now in which he's been out of the public eye.

I think he wanted to get back into the game and get into coaching, and I think he knew he would be asked about this every single day. So he's trying to head things off at the pass before spring training starts.

SANCHEZ: What about that quote I read just a little while ago from him, saying that he had good years on steroids and bad years on steroids and vice versa, almost making it sound like steroids had nothing to do with his unbelievable statistics. What do you make of that?

CANNELLA: Well, you know, I mean in some sways he has some scientific backing on that. It's impossible to say whether steroids will definitely make you or me hit a homerun in a major league game.

SANCHEZ: But it's also impossible to say that baseball statistics weren't inflated during the steroids era. CANNELLA: That is definitely true, and I think McGwire is hedging his bets when he says that, not warranting to cast his entire career as a sham, which a lot of people are going to think it was, and certainly what he did in 1998, when he broke Roger Maris' homerun record, he admitted he used steroids that year, so a lot of people already assumed those numbers were a sham.

So it's hard for McGwire or any of us to say how much of what he did on the field was due to his natural talent and how much was due to steroids, but there is no denying that steroids helps, otherwise people wouldn't be using them as often as they did.

SANCHEZ: You're good, Steven. My thanks for you getting to us and being able to take us through this story. And I think what convinces most people, including our guests here when we were talking just a little while ago, is you look at the pictures of the guy, right?