Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Southern California Hit With Storms; Five Year Old Boy Pulled Out of Haitian Rubble; Countdown to the State of the Union; Goldman Sachs, a Financial Meth Lab?; Bigger Government, Better and Effective?
Aired January 21, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Extreme weather hits the Pacific Coast, severe storms slamming into the Western U.S. right now; mudslides on the mountains, fierce winds in the valleys, and thousands without power, and California waking up wet, waterlogged, and quite weary this morning. This weather has continued for the past week, and it could get worse today. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Thursday, January 21st. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for joining us. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
Southern California getting slammed, the fourth Pacific storm of the week now pounding the coast. Hundreds of homes are threatened by floods, freeways are flooded out. For anyone close to Los Angeles this is shaping up to be a nerve wracking day.
CHETRY: Eight days after the earthquake in Haiti, another miracle, a five-year-old boy pulled out of rubble alive. He's weak, dehydrated, and hungry, but talking. Our Anderson Cooper has the remarkable story of this young boy beating the odds.
ROBERTS: An in depth look at one of the most powerful and feared banks on Wall Street. Goldman Sachs has made a lot of enemies, but its friends are in very high places. Can the firm simply get whatever it wants whenever it wants? Our Christine Romans is taking a serious look at the investment bank for us this morning.
CHETRY: A dangerous Pacific storm is pounding southern California. Hundreds of families now evacuated. They're hoping when it's all said and done they'll have a home to go back to. Mudslides, a very real threat today, flooding and power outages already a big problem.
In fact, check out the live radar right now. This system is packing 60-mile-an-hour winds along with hail, thunderstorms, and the potential to drop another half a foot of rain or more.
Our Rob Marciano is there right now in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains where there is a lot of -- there are a lot of homes in harm's way and there is a lot of concern this morning about whether or not this will hold. Good morning, Rob. ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kiran. Yes, concerns to say the least. As a matter of fact, residents and geologists are actually amazed that hillsides haven't come tumbling down already. They've evacuated nearly 1,000 homes in this general area. Behind me is one of the many hillsides where flames were lapping up the area about five months ago.
What they're doing is they've got these k-rails which are meant to basically divert the mud. And yesterday during the heavier rain, mud was oozing out of this hillside and flowing down here, but just oozing. If this hillside were to give way, these k-rails may not do the trick.
Be it mud, wind or waves, no matter how you slice it, California has been getting hammered all week long.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: The water is overwhelming. I-reports show streets that look more like lakes. And a path for golf carts turned into a raging river. The weight of the water, punching holes in roofs, uprooting trees, and stopping traffic dead in its tracks.
For all this the fear is the worst is still to come.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's best to get out of the way.
MARCIANO: The biggest concern is here in the foothills of L.A., the area devastated by last year's station fire, which scorched vegetation, leaving behind bare hills vulnerable to mudslides.
And so the goal Wednesday was to get people out, police swarming the area to enforce mandatory evacuations. Most people were listening, grabbing what they could and hoping that months of preparation would pay off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've had more geologists and fire people up here, and they're all really nervous about that hillside.
MARCIANO: The fear is small streams like this could turn into deadly debris floes. This neighborhood in Glendale is typical of a threat, with homes pressed right up against hillsides. Some have already gotten hit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It happened so quickly, within five minutes. So by the time I looked out the window, I ran out, started putting shifting sandbags, and then I realized that wasn't going to do the job.
MARCIANO: Debris basins like this are supposed to stop the floes, but many are filling up, and once floe gets going, the rushing water picks up soil and rock, destroying everything in its path.
SGT. TOM LORENZ, GLENDALE POLICE: If that debris starts coming down, this here is the floe, if you're up in these areas, there's no way the fire department or the police department is going to be able to get up here to help you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARCIANO: And that is the main reason they had mandatory evacuations yesterday. That could very well last through the weekend. This is one of many homes on this street that is threatened by this hillside where it does not look at all stable.
And here comes the rain again. Let's look at the radar and show you this last punch of moisture that's going to be coming through from San Francisco all the way to San Diego, same scenario. It will start to fill in from north to south, and I think the southern part of California will certainly take the brunt of this next batch.
And we're starting to see some of that moisture sneak up north from Long Beach into Los Angeles, anywhere from two to four, in some cases five to six inches possible with this next batch of moisture coming through.
And then once we get through tomorrow and tomorrow night, folks can start to relax a little bit, John and Kiran. But at this stage of the game, when geologists are telling you they're surprised that more things haven't come down, that makes you nervous.
CHETRY: It sure does. And also when officials say, listen, if you don't get out now and heed the evacuation orders, you're sort of on your own. Are most people listening?
MARCIANO: Well, about one in five people are staying behind. Not too bad for a mandatory evacuation. Folks in L.A. have seen natural disasters before. They've seen mudslides kill people, and most people aren't taking any chances.
CHETRY: All right, Rob, thanks so much. We'll keep watching.
ROBERTS: And here's what's new on the ground in Haiti this morning. CNN has obtained exclusive video of the earthquake the moment that it hit. It was shot from a balcony overlooking Port-au- Prince. You can see a cloud dust rising over the city as all the buildings came down, kicking up that concrete dust. There are booming explosions, clouds of smoke rising in the distance as well.
The man behind the camera says he thinks his house is going to fall.
CHETRY: One aid group is warning that as many as 20,000 people may be dying every day because of the lack of medicine and help in Haiti. Others are saying that number is a little overestimated but that there still is a great need to get medical supplies more quickly to people who need it.
A senior Obama administration official admitted that there isn't aid getting quickly enough to certain places, but that steps are being taken to try to fix those problems. He blamed poor communication as well as security issues. ROBERTS: Banks in Haiti could reopen Saturday and that could be huge. Banks say friends and family send home almost $2 billion in 2008. It's estimated that more than a third of Haitians rely on cash from the U.S. and overseas, most of them just to afford the very basics of life.
CHETRY: And with so little aid and money coming in, there is desperate scrambles out there to get out. Local radio is reporting as many as 20,000 people are on Port-au-Prince's beaches looking for boats to carry them down the coast.
Haiti's ambassador to Washington is warning people not to flee by boat to U.S. shores to avoid more deaths at sea or a refugee crisis.
ROBERTS: Miraculous signs of life in a country desperate for miracles. Eight days after Haiti's earthquake a five-year-old boy is pulled out alive from his collapsed home. Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper with the story of the young boy who survived against all odds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Outside general hospital, a little boy is brought through the crowd. He's covered in dust, limp, and weak. He appears barely alive.
His name is Monley Elize. Five years old, he appears to do what many thought impossible -- he survived in the rubble for nearly eight days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says he feels good. He feels good.
COOPER: Nurse Gabriella McAdoo, Dr. Colleen Buono, and their interpreter Ronald Joseph are volunteers with the International Medical Corps. They set up an IV and check for any internal bleeding or broken bones.
GABRIELLA MCADOO, REGISTERED NURSE, INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: We're giving fluids because he's dehydrated. And he's hungry, which is a very good sign.
COOPER (on camera): Does he have broken bones?
MCADOO: No broken bones, no apparent injuries whatsoever.
COOPER: What's he saying?
MCADOO: He wants to drink some juice. He wants to drink some juice.
DR. COLLEEN BUONO, INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: He's in something called starvation ketosis, and so you have to be very, very careful as you start rehydrating before you feed them again. So I'm sure he'd love food right now, but we can't give it.
COOPER: What is it?
BUONO: Starvation ketosis. It's when your body starts using alternative fuels basically when you don't have access to food.
COOPER: And that's what's happening to him?
BUONO: You can smell it on him. But if you start feeding them too early, they'll get sick, they'll vomit and can become quite...
COOPER: You can actually smell it on him? What do you mean?
BUONO: It smells a little bit like alcohol.
COOPER: And that's the body eating itself?
BUONO: Basically. It's using alternative energy, which includes muscle and fat.
MCADOO: You can tell that he's very dehydrated by his skin.
COOPER: Because his skin it doesn't bounce back?
MCADOO: Yes, it doesn't bounce back.
COOPER (voice-over): Three days is the average someone can survive without water, but clearly there's nothing average about this little boy.
"Incredible," he says, "it's a phenomenon. He's destined."
COOPER (on camera): How is this possible?
BUONO: I don't know. He's a survivor. He really is. But kids are very capable of surviving the worst.
COOPER (voice-over): His uncle says he found him while searching with friends through the rubble of Monley's home. He doesn't think he had any food or water. The boy's father and mother are believed dead.
COOPER (on camera): Can you show me the position he was in when you found him?
COOPER (voice-over): He says, "They shined the light, and the little man said, "They've given me light.""
BUONO: He's already looking better since he's gotten here. He might have some complications, but he's got a very good chance of survival.
COOPER: Anderson Cooper, CNN, Port-au-Prince.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And when asked how it was possible for someone to survive for eight days without food or water, doctors say it may be the fact that he is young and probably in very good health before the earthquake. But any way you cut it, simply an amazing story.
CHETRY: It sure is. Well, six days and 14 hours and one big address to the nation, Barack Obama's State of the Union next Wednesday night. We're live at the White House with the one word that will dominate the speech, "jobs."
ROBERTS: Plus, shaky decision. No building codes, no licenses. One Haitian woman on whether she will rebuild her home. We'll have that story for you coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 12 minutes after the hour, and that means it's time for a quick check of what's new this morning.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has given his final state of the state address. He praised his soon to be ex-wife for the way she handled his now famous affair with a woman in Argentina. Sanford was formerly rebuked by lawmakers last week. Jenny Sanford filed for divorce last month.
CHETRY: About 20 percent of Americans say they are not sure if they'll participate in this year's census. Pew Research conducted a poll and found the two biggest reasons are, one, the lack of interest, and number two, a distrust of the government.
Young adults and low-income Americans are most likely the groups to skip the census. It starts, by the way, in March.
ROBERTS: While facing questions from the House homeland security committee, White House party crashers Tareq and Michaela Salahi declined to give any answers. Instead they took the Fifth Amendment over and over and over again. One congressman called the whole thing a charade.
The Salahis slipped past security at President Obama's first state dinner back in November.
CHETRY: The countdown is on. In just six days President Obama will deliver his first state of the union address, a chance to refocus the administration's agenda in the wake of Tuesday's stunning Democratic loss in Massachusetts for that special election seat.
Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry is live at the White House. And Ed, so the president has to recalibrate his message especially after the big upset in Massachusetts. What a time to deliver the state of the union address.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, no doubt, Kiran. And I can tell you, when you talk to the president's inner circle, they say the chief lesson they take out of that election loss in Massachusetts is that basically the American people are very anxious and very concerned about lost wages and lost jobs, very concerned about the economy.
And so we're going to see really three things big picture that will be laid out in the state of the union, but also a real chief focus of the president in days ahead.
First of all, they're really talking about a scaled back health reform bill, nothing in the neighborhood of $1 trillion anymore. One idea floating around, just do some basic insurance reforms, prevent preexisting conditions, for example, and maybe expand a program like Medicaid so you can add more uninsured people to the rolls.
Secondly, a real hard pivot to jobs. The president always planned to do that this year, but I think he's going to go even faster, even harder, starting today with a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president works each and every day on making our economy stronger and putting us in a position to where we're creating jobs, businesses are hiring again. I could certainly assure the American people that that is the chief focus of the president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: And the other third key piece here is the president is going to be talking a lot in the days ahead, including starting today, on Wall Street regulatory reform. He's going to be out there later this morning with Paul Volcker, the former Fed chairman who runs an Economic Recovery Board for the president, an outside board.
One thing they'll be talking about is putting in some new tough regulations to crack down on the risk that banks take on. So you can see a focus on jobs, Wall Street regulatory reform, the kinds of things that some in the president's own party were urging him to do months ago. They may be making up for lost time now because there's been such a push for so long, get back to the jobs issue, get back to Wall Street regulatory reform. I think they finally got the message, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We'll wait and see. Ed Henry for us this morning. Thanks so much.
HENRY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Bailouts, bonuses, bitterness. Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs under a firestorm of criticism this morning over its books. Ahead, our Christine Romans asking how much more can America take?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it is now 19 minutes past the hour. It means we're "Minding Your Business" this morning.
While many Americans are waking up sometimes wondering whether or not they still have a job, Goldman Sachs employees are wondering just how big their bonuses are going to be. ROBERTS: The firm that you once bailed out could soon announce that 2009 was a banner year. That would probably be in the next hour when their earnings come out, and critics are saying the bank is just too well connected with people who can literally print money.
Our Christine Romans continues her in-depth look at the firm that many fear, and she's here with us this morning.
Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. The Wall Street bank, Goldman Sachs, has come under a firestorm of criticism lately for expected record earnings and record bonuses this year after the government bailout, after taxpayers bailed this company out late last year. Goldman, like other banks, sold those toxic assets that in part pulled the country into recession. Some are asking just how much of Goldman's profit comes on the backs of U.S. taxpayers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Goldman Sachs alumni have a tradition of public service like former Treasury Secretaries Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin. Goldman alumni often go on to become top players in government, and in the world's leading financial institutions. So when the financial industry almost collapsed 16 months ago...
HENRY PAULSON, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: We are acting with unprecedented speed, taking unprecedented measures that we never thought would be necessary.
ROMANS: It was a former Goldman Sachs CEO who, as treasury secretary, helped push through a $700 billion bank bailout known as TARP. $10 billion went to Goldman Sachs. But now that bailout money has become a thorn in Goldman's side.
LLOYD BLANKFEIN, CEO, GOLDMAN SACHS: Had I known it was as pregnant with this kind of potential for backlash, then of course I wouldn't -- I would really not have liked it.
ROMANS: The firm paid back the public's $10 billion with interest. But to some, the story doesn't end there. When the government rescued insurance giant AIG from the brink of failing last year, Goldman Sachs received a full payout of what it was owed, nearly $13 billion. Critics say Goldman and other banks should have taken a haircut.
ELIOT SPITZER (D), FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Goldman Sachs has figured out how to take advantage of the guarantee that we have given them to internalize the profit and hold on to it.
ROMANS: Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer faults Goldman Sachs and other banks for not passing along the benefits of billions in government-backed loans they received at nearly zero interest. For Goldman, it amounted to a $21 billion security blanket. Critics claim all of these taxpayer-financed programs allowed Goldman Sachs to reap bigger profit.
SPITZER: Those of us who save, go to the bank, get zero percent. The banks take that guaranteed money, invest it in treasury bills, and make money and keep it. Now, the real problem is the banks are not lending to the businesses that could create jobs.
ROMANS: After mounting public backlash, Goldman's CEO apologized and told the commission investigating the crisis...
BLANKFEIN: Anyone who says I wouldn't change a thing I think is crazy. Of course I'd go back and wished we had done whatever it took not to be in the position that we find ourselves.
ROMANS: CEO Lloyd Blankfein's mea culpa is not enough for Janet Tavakoli, a finance expert who wrote a book in 2003 about collateralized debt obligations, CDOs, complicated investments whose value fell with the housing market.
JANET TAVAKOLI, TAVAKOLI STRUCTURAL FINANCE: Goldman was creating securities, along with a lot of other people on Wall Street. These were bound to destroying securitizations spewing out of their financial meth labs. And today, they're trying to pretend that they weren't responsible for massive systemic risk.
ROMANS (on camera): Goldman Sachs disputes that, priding itself in being a top manager of risk. As far back as 2006, it saw trouble ahead and began selling off its mortgage-backed securities. The problem is, critics say, Goldman continued to sell those toxic assets to others while at the same time investing in bets that they were going to tank.
(voice-over): Goldman says it was just executing prudent risk management.
BLANKFEIN: We didn't know at any moment if asset prices would deteriorate further or had declined too much and would snap back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: To its critics, Goldman says every bank in the country benefited from the government's action and that they are grateful to the U.S. government and the taxpayers for the role they played in stabilizing the financial system.
Gratitude may be not enough for the Obama administration. The president says he's going to propose tough new limits, firewalls on how these businesses work. Also limits on how they use their own money to trade and limits almost depression era curbs again to make sure that one part of a company like Goldman Sachs isn't taking risk because of successes on another part of the company.
ROBERTS: Financial meth labs. What a classic way to put it.
ROMANS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine. CHETRY: Christine, thanks so much.
Well from Wall Street to Main Street, coast to coast, many Americans are fed up feeling powerless over what's going on in Washington. So is the answer smaller government? Is the answer bigger government? Our Carol Costello asks, what about effective government?
It's 24 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-five minutes past the hour now. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time for an "A.M. Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
More than a decade ago, President Bill Clinton declared the era of big government is over. But with two wars, tax hikes, bailouts and record deficits, the truth is Uncle Sam has never been bigger. So what does that mean for you?
Well, our Carol Costello is live in our D.C. bureau this morning with some answers.
Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. You know, over the last couple of days, we've been taking a look at President Obama's first year in office. Many Americans realize the president didn't exactly inherit a rosy economy, but they feel he's trying to solve the problem by growing government. They feel an already big government is becoming enormous.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2009.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small but whether it works.
COSTELLO: Inspiring words, but President Obama's detractors say they knew what he really meant. Bigger is better.
(on camera): When you were watching the inauguration, what were your thoughts on how he would lead?
REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: Same old stuff. Same -- I expected nothing to change, and nothing really has changed philosophically.
COSTELLO (voice-over): It's what you'd expect Congressman Ron Paul to say. A Republican who leans libertarian, he ran for president in '08 as an anti-war, small government candidate.
(on camera): Does government have its hand in every facet of our lives? PAUL: Everything we do. Everything we put in our mouths, every penny we spend, every contract we make, the federal government is involved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Government is the problem.
COSTELLO (voice-over): It's a charge that's fueling the Tea Party Movement. Claims of socialism aside, the federal government is getting fatter.
According to a George Mason University study, President George W. Bush presided over the largest dollar increase in regulatory spending in decades. And President Obama's piling on with the auto bailout and cash for clunkers.
Truth is, our government has been getting fatter for 60 years. These books list and explain every single federal regulation from education to transportation. In 2008, there were 222 volumes of government regulations, nearly 160,000 pages.
In 1951, there were just 46 volumes, and about 16,000 pages.
COSTELLO (on camera): Is there a point when government becomes so big that it can't possibly work well?
WILLIAM EGGERS, AUTHOR, "IF WE CAN PUT A MAN ON THE MOON": Oh, well, of course. Because think about yourself. If you're trying to do too many things, it's hard to do anything well.
COSTELLO (voice-over): William Eggers co-authored a book about effective government. And while he says he's nonpartisan when it comes to the size of government, he does say big government gets a bad rap.
EGGERS: We've had a lot of successes over the years.
COSTELLO (on camera): Oh, please name some.
EGGERS: Acid rain was a huge problem back in the 1970s. We don't hear anything about acid rain today, right?
COSTELLO: Right.
(voice-over): Thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency. Another example, the government's Marshall plan which helped rebuild Europe after World War II.
There were misses, too. Remember all those whip inflation now buttons? The government used them to push its inflation-busting program which failed miserably. That failing part is what many voters fear today.
SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: I am nobody's senator except yours.
COSTELLO: That's part of the reason Democrats lost a Senate seat and why Eggers says President Obama must convince Americans government can work, even if it's big.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: A tall order these days. So why does government keep on growing? Even Congressman Ron Paul acknowledges it's because people want government. You know, they complain about government, he says. They complain about taxes, but they want all the good stuff. They just don't want to pay for it.
Although, Kiran, you could certainly argue voters are tired of paying for government programs they fear won't work, especially at this particular time in history.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Carol, you bring up a lot of good points there. And people can read more about Carol's story online and also weigh in. What do you think about it? Has Uncle Sam gotten too big? Just head to our blog. The address, CNN.com/amfix. We love to hear from you.
And right now, it's 30 minutes past the hour. It means it's time for our top stories this morning.
President Obama trying to keep big banks on a short leash. The administration says that the president will call for new government powers to limit the size of financial institutions and the risks they take. He's expected to make the announcement today after meeting with former federal reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
ROBERTS: A major development out of Yemen today, the country now says it will stop granting entry visas to travelers at the country's international airports. Authorities say they made the move to try to stop the infiltration of terrorist elements. There's been pressure on Yemen to crack down on Al Qaeda after the failed airline bombing on Christmas day.
And they're going to have to truck in the snow for the winter games. Olympic organizers say there is none in the forecast and that it will not be cold enough to snow in time for the free style skiing and snowboarding event at Cyprus Mountain in Vancouver. They say they'll even air lift it in if they have to. They light the flame by the way on February 12th.
ROBERTS: Turning now to health care reform, now that they've lost their 60th vote filibuster proof, super majority in the Senate, Democrats are regrouping. They're trying to hatch a plan to deliver some level of reform. But what it might be at this point is anyone's guess. Congressman Anthony Weiner is a Democrat from New York and he's been critical of his own leadership throughout this process.
He joins us now from Washington. Congressman, great to have you this morning. Do you agree with the president that Congress should wait for Scott Brown to be seated before taking any action on health care?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: Oh, that I do. I think we should respect the results in Massachusetts but we also should acknowledge that it's a reflection to some degree that we haven't done this job very well. You know, we have the unholy trinity at this point. We have Republicans who say they don't want to do anything at all.
You have the independents who are genuinely confused about what it is we're doing, and then you have progressive supporters of President Obama like myself who feel that a lot of the best things that we have been talking about like the public option have been cast aside. So we have a little bit of a mess now, so we need to hit the reset button. There is no doubt about that.
ROBERTS: You suggested yesterday in somewhat colorful terms I might add that the Democrats have misread the citizenry, particularly on health care. That you just can't keep passing legislation with this idea that, OK, if we pass it enough, people are eventually going to get it. Let's listen to the way you put it yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEINER: They're talking as if like what our deal is, what our negotiators are at the White House. Yes, the last line is pig splat on my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) or something like that. You know, it's just we've got to recognize we have an entirely different scenario.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A new twist on parliamentary language there, I must say. The message you were trying to drive home was perhaps the Democratic party has been arrogant on some of these ideas.
WEINER: First of all, I want to publicly apologize to my mother for embarrassing her with that language. No, I think what I was trying to say is that it's not just enough for us here in Washington to circle around the sausage making factory and talk about what compromises we're going to make. We've got to talk in language the American people understand. You know, if you look at some of the popular things that have emerged in this debate, things like the public option, people actually kind of like that idea of choice and competition. We jettisoned it as part of a compromise to get a senator on board.
Well, what we've lost sight of here in Washington is that the American people understand that they need to get cost down. They want more choice. They want their insurance companies to treat them well. And somewhere in all the machinations here, with all of the insider deals, we lost sight of that and we also lost a seat in Massachusetts to boot.
ROBERTS: But wasn't it, congressman, ideas like the public option that really were worrisome to independents, fired up the conservative base and that's why Scott Brown took over Senator Ted Kennedy's seat?
WEINER: Well, if you look at the polling that was going on when - when you had a program like the public option which was modeled on something like Medicare, which people like and people think has been a success, we actually found we were having success with that in the polls at exactly the moment that it was jettisoned.
Look, there is a group out there and they're represented by the Republicans here in Washington who want no deal. Who think that everything is fine, having cost go up $1,000 every year for insurance policy is just fine. But if we put those folks aside and just put the focus on people that really think we have a problem to solve, which is the overwhelming number of Americans. You know, we've walked away from some of those popular things that we've been trying to do.
ROBERTS: Lanny Davis, former White House counsel in the Clinton administration in an article that he penned for "The Wall Street Journal" yesterday blamed the left for the defeat. He said it's not a defeat for the messenger, it's the message. And he says "The question is, will we stop listening to the strident, purist base of our party who seem to prefer defeat to winning elections and no change at all if they don't get the change they want." Have democrats particularly the left wing of the party really misread the mood of the country?
WEINER: Well, I have to tell you something. If you look at what is in this final package that passed through the Senate, none of the things that people like me wanted are actually in it. The idea that it was our effort, our initiatives that could somehow cause this problem, well frankly our agenda was jettisoned a long time ago.
I wanted a program like Medicare for all Americans - simple, understandable, maybe paid for with the TARP money. So we have a source of funding for it. I wanted that for months. I've been on your program talking about it. I think that was buried six months ago. So the fact of the matter is that we've lost sight of the fact that we've got to drive this debate in clear terms based on ideals for the American people to follow us.
ROBERTS: So the big question, congressman, is what happens to the health care bill now? Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, says that we're going to get the job done. The president is saying well I'd be open to paring it back some, opening it back up, saying if I can get bipartisan support. Where does it go from? And then there were some people in the party who still say, let's get the House to pass the Senate version. We'll fix it through reconciliation and will get it out there. What do you support doing?
WEINER: Well, look, I want to get the best possible health care that we can. My view is we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. All that being said, is we should go down with a little bit of a fight here. I think the American people - the president kind of acknowledged this yesterday. He said that he hasn't done a good enough job persuading people that he understand this part of the economy -
ROBERTS: OK.
WEINER: I don't know.
ROBERTS: What do you propose, though? Do you pare it back? Do you do it incrementally? WEINER: Here's what I think. I think that we should pare it back to some basic elements, and have the president go out and help us sell it. And those basic elements are we need to restore choice and competition with the public option. We need to close the doughnut hole for seniors who are paying too much money for prescription drugs.
We need to stop the abuse of the insurance companies by taking away their anti-trust exception. We go out with these basic things that we know are popular and get the president to give us some air cover or whatever metaphor you want to use by going out and talking about it, and maybe we do have to compromise but at least we go down with a fight.
ROBERTS: Congressman Anthony Weiner, always great to catch up with you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
WEINER: Thank you. I'm sorry about that whole pig thing.
ROBERTS: I think the correct phrase is monkeys anyway. So don't worry about it. Thanks.
WEINER: Forgive me.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, some bombshell news just coming in to us this morning from former presidential candidate John Edwards. John Edwards now admitting he is the father of the child born to campaign aide Reille Hunter. And in a statement he says "I am Quinn's father, I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support that she deserves. I have been able to spend time with her during the past year and trust that future efforts to show her the love and affection she deserves can be done privately and in peace."
He also went on to say in the statement which was pretty interesting that he hopes that some day she'll be able to forgive him for not at first acknowledging that he was indeed her father. So there you hear if from John Edwards.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, parts of Haiti waking up this morning rattled and in ruins. So how do you even begin rebuilding? No codes, no licenses, no money. Our Jason Carroll on the country's next big decision.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: Another sign of just how resilient the Haitian people are in the face of so much hardship and destruction and heartache, people who many would say have nothing to sing about, breaking out in song. Our Anderson Cooper's camera crew caught that yesterday, just one of the many moments of life in Haiti now. And even though the earthquake lasted only a few seconds, it left behind destruction that will take years to rebuild and repair. Our Jason Carroll is in Port-au-Prince with the uphill battle to rebuild Haiti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Port-au-Prince is about to face many questions about its future. How does the city rebuild when there's still so much destruction? Should damaged structures still standing be torn down?
Ava Michelle isn't waiting for answers. Her house, destroyed. She salvaged what she could and watched as workers started demolishing it. It's being torn down the same way it was built, by unlicensed workers. No codes to follow on tearing down or, Michelle says, to build.
AVA MICHELLE: No.
CARROLL (on camera): None?
MICHELLE: None. No.
CARROLL: No code?
MICHELLE: No.
CARROLL: No regulations?
MICHELLE: No.
CARROLL (voice-over): Haitians say that's the way it's done. Licenses, not required. Codes, where they even exist, not enforced. It's part of the reason so much was destroyed in the earthquake and why structural engineers like Kit Miyamoto from California are here now.
KIT MIYAMOTO, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Remove those things out, remove that and they can go into it.
CARROLL: This is Miyamoto's first full day on the ground with the non-profit called the Pan American Development Foundation. The goal? Rapid assessments, meaning quickly investigate the structural integrity of 10 buildings a day.
This was the Ministry of Finance. Its symbolic of what went wrong with many buildings, including the presidential palace.
MIYAMOTO: Re-enforced the ministry wall because it's that brick and without no rebar, that's dangerous.
CARROLL: Miyamoto says rebar can make a building more flexible when it shakes. But much of the city's businesses and homes use brick without the re-enforced steel bar.
(on camera): What do you do? Do you just demolish these buildings and then cart out all the debris and then start fresh? MIYAMOTO: Depends on, for example, this one. Probably not as solid, but there are many buildings that can be repaired.
CARROLL: Engineers tell us when Port-au-Prince does rebuild they have to use new building codes and make sure those code are enforced.
(voice-over): And engineers like Keith Martin with the Los Angeles County Fire Department say rebuilding or retrofitting is not something that can or should be rushed.
KEITH MARTIN, ENGINEER, L.A. COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: You're talking, to be done correctly, something that's going to take years to do.
CARROLL (on camera): Years?
MARTIN: Years. To do it correctly.
CARROLL (voice-over): Even Michelle says she doesn't have the money right now to rebuild, but if she does, she hopes there are guidelines to show her and the other people of Port-au-Prince a better way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And, Kiran, it may take a while for people here to change the old way of doing things, but at the very least the engineers that we spoke to say standards have to be in place for key buildings such as hospitals, government buildings, and schools.
I can't tell you how many nursery schools, grade schools that we saw that were collapsed. And the engineers say just imagine if at least the schools had standards, how different things would have been after the quake. Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, it's hard to - you know, you can't really necessarily focus on what could have been, but it does, it makes you wonder, when you take a look at all of that destruction and how much destruction and how quickly those buildings pancaked down and it really is a shame. Jason Carroll for us this morning, thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, this morning there are signs of progress off the coast of Haiti. A massive floating hospital has arrived to provide much-needed help treating earthquake survivors. Our Chris Lawrence has been aboard the U.S. Navy ship "Comfort" now anchored off the coast of Port-au-Prince and trying to live up to its name.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We followed the same route hundreds of patients are starting to follow. On board a Navy helicopter and in a quick couple of minutes out to sea where the big white ship is like a beacon for overwhelmed doctors in Port-au-Prince.
Besides the 40 beds in the E.R., the U.S.N.S. "Comfort" already has five operating rooms up and running. There's also a team of U.S. Navy translators to help doctors and patients communicate.
MMFN GILBERT LAGUERRE, US NAVY TRANSLATOR: And then they tell you something and you try to explain to the doctor what they're saying, and sometimes you can be frustrated.
LAWRENCE: Gilbert Laguerre grew up in Haiti and struggles to watch what's happened on shore.
LAGUERRE: I can't explain it. It's - I've never seen anything like this before. Never.
LAWRENCE: The military says the Haitian government is making the recommendations for which patients should come here. Doctors tell us they don't know if they'll see 3,000 patients or 30,000.
LAWRENCE (on camera): The Comfort has about 1,000 beds, nearly as many as Johns Hopkins. But, at some point soon, they'll all be filled.
CMDR. TIM DONAHUE, US NAVY: I know, at one point, soon, we're going to be filled to capacity.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Which raises the question, what happens when these doctors don't have any free beds and needy patients are still waiting to be air lifted on board?
DONAHUE: We're talking with folks that are - recognized completely what you've just said. You know, we have to be able to - to treat as many patients as we can. We've got to be able to move these folks on. You know, you're not going to be able to live on the ship indefinitely.
LAWRENCE: Commander Tim Donahue says there are roughly 20 facilities in the US that are willing to accept patients, and officials are talking with countries like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Peru about opening their hospitals as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: So I talked to one of the top surgeons there. He said the key is going to be people here on the ground making the right decision, sending the right patients out to the Comfort, because if they get somebody out there with, say, a broken finger, they've got to keep that patient on board until they get an airlift out.
Another thing to keep an eye on are these agreements with all these other hospitals in the United States and Latin America because the Comfort is going to have to have other places to push these patients on to - John.
ROBERTS: Yes. Tremendous relief that it's arrived there, Chris, but, as you said, even 1,000 beds, nowhere near enough for the need there in Haiti.
Chris Lawrence, in Port-au-Prince this morning. Chris, thanks.
And for information on how you can contribute to the relief effort in Haiti, go to our Impact Your World page. It's cnn.com/impact.
It's 13 minutes now to the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it's 49 minutes past the hour now, as we look at a beautiful shot of Nashville this morning. It's raining there, but it's 52 degrees. A little bit later it's going up to a high of 58 degrees, and it's still going to be raining.
We get a check of the weather right now from our Reynolds Wolf. He's in the Extreme Weather Center. So we showed a shot of Nashville but, really, you guys are focusing on the west part of the country today, including the Los Angeles area. They're dealing with a lot of wicked weather.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, have they ever. I mean, it has been tattooed by all kinds of weather elements. And, you know, the great thing about California, if you're a weather geek like me, is that usually in California you're going to find all kinds of weather phenomena. But on a day like today, you really are going to find a little bit of everything.
I mean, along the valleys, along the coast, some scattered showers. We've been dealing with (ph) flash flooding, we even had a tornado just a few days ago. High elevations is not tornadic activity, but rather snowfall in the great (INAUDIBLE) and parts of i- 5. Big Bear is going to see some snowfall this morning. There's going to be an issue there. We're going to have some problems with mudslides in the line of the fire-prone areas, places where we had a lot of fires, just, say, a few months ago, in Topanga Canyon. There's really some rough possibilities there.
And not only one part of the nation we're dealing with trouble. The other place, the southeast, where you'll notice this area shaded in red. That box is a tornado watch box that will be in effect until 10:00 local time. So there is going to be possibly tornadic activity in the southeast.
Meanwhile, we have of course the southeast, the West Coast that has a big bull's eye on it, but also some intense fog expected for part of the Corn Belt and the Northern Plains. We could see some snowfall there. Rain for parts of the Ohio Valley.
Now, what is all this going to mean to you and your travel plans for today? Well, it's going to be kind of frustrating for you if you happen to be in Atlanta and Memphis due to the possibility of thunderstorms (ph) that will stick around at least a good part of the day. Phoenix, not only rain but wind can keep you on the ground for about 30 minutes to an hour. And then San Francisco and LA, you have all kinds of issues - the rain, the low clouds, the wind, and, of course, you can't rule out a thunderstorm there also. It could be an interesting day, to say the very least.
But, please, be patient. It's really the fault of the pilots or the airlines, of course, with the problems we may have in terms of delays. It just happens, guys. It's part of travel.
Let's send it back to you guys.
CHETRY: More and more so these days, huh?
WOLF: Amen!
CHETRY: All right, Reynolds Wolf, thanks so much.
Right now it's 52 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Six minutes to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Your "AM House Call" this morning comes to us from Haiti. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is taking a closer look at the traumatic injuries that they're seeing most often in Haiti, and that is people being crushed under concrete or wood, their -- the muscles gets smashed, the bones gets smashed.
He joins us now live from Port-au-Prince this morning, and Doc, these - these are injuries that aren't necessarily life threatening in the beginning but can become so as the days wear on.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no question, and the whole - the whole decision (INAUDIBLE) what to do when you're - when you're confronted with this sort of injury is a difficult one, especially in a situation like this.
Haiti is - is becoming known for these types of injures, and I want to take a look at how doctors are handling them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: For such traumatic injuries a week out and these patients are so at risk. Look, they're on this blazing, hot sun, no IDs hanging, significant injuries and, remember, they have no home to go to either.
So you can really see what's - what's happening here. Just patient after patient, it's...
GUPTA (voice-over): If head injuries are the hallmark of the war in Afghanistan, the Haiti earthquake will be known for crush injuries.
Doctors amputated 17-year-old Isamine's (ph) arm three days after the quake. In her case, there was no question. There was such severe injuries over and over again, doctors are faced with a tough choice, to cut or not to cut.
Like this 10-year-old boy, Desgrave (ph). He is beaten down, looks awful, but his limbs still moves.
GUPTA (on camera): Well, the initial instinct for most people, try and save the leg. It would be too morbid not to. We also know now that's not always the right answer. Infection, gangrene, crush syndrome.
Crush syndrome is a simple name for a condition called rhabdomyolysis. After your muscle is crushed, it can start to break down, releasing these particles into the bloodstream, cause kidney failure, very high potassium levels, even cardiac arrest. So removing a limb could mean saving a life.
Here in Haiti, crush injuries are everywhere, and amputations at the scene to rescue somebody, or here in hospitals like this. But how do doctors decide whether to cut or not? Some clues, obviously dead skin, blisters like this, or a crush that simply lasted too long.
In the case of Desgrave (ph), he had all those things, and he was also severely dehydrated, that made his condition even worse. So, last night, Desgrave (ph) did lose his right arm, but remember, that is also probably what saved his life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Now, I want to get - make it clear, you know, these situations are by no means ideal, John, as you know. Performing an amputation, while it's relatively a straightforward procedure in most part of the world, down here, without proper equipments, doctors are telling me that they are often using hacksaws to perform these operations, using vodka to sterilize those hacksaws. And, as you know, as we've been talking about, hardly any anesthesia or post- operative care or blood to transfuse somebody.
So it's not an ideal situation, but still, John, it still may be the right answer in a lot of these cases.
ROBERTS: I saw a video of one woman having - having her foot amputated, and she was still very much awake. It's so tough down there.
Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Doc, thanks so much. And, again, amazing work you've been doing down there. We really appreciate it back here.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
All right, we're going to take a quick break.
It's now 58 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back, and your top stories are just 90 seconds away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
