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Rick's List

Search for Earthquake Survivors Continues in Chile; President Obama's Physical Indicates He May Still Smoke Cigarettes

Aired March 01, 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): Here's what's making today's LIST.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The supermarket was destroyed.

SANCHEZ: I'm taking you to the heart of the earthquake to translate what the news is now.

Marie Osmond's son commits suicide. Tragedy for the iconic American family.

Do you have any idea what a hospital charges you for a toothbrush, alcohol swabs, a pair of latex gloves?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any bill that's under $100,000, they don't look at the detail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: One question -- why? And who tops the list you don't want to be on? Me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not necessarily nine meters of run-up in Hawaii.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ By the way nine meters in English is -- Hey, Ricardo the metric system is English. Um, yeah.

The lists you need to know about. Who's today's most intriguing? Who's making news on Twitter? It's why I keep a list. I'm airing tomorrow's cutting edge news right now.

Hey, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. We're going to be telling you about reconciliation, but we're going to be telling you about the president's cholesterol and I know that everybody out there is tweeting or having a conversation about what's going on with the fact that the president is still smoking. A lot of comments back and forth on that.

But the big story obviously we are following is what's new going on in Chile. Because I'm able to speak Spanish and English, I'm going to be able to translate what's going on in Chile for you. We've got a lot of different pictures that will be coming in. We're going to go into our feeds. CNN has a network inside Chile. So I'm going to show you what's going on there by actually taking you to our reporters live as they bring you the story.

Let me start with this though. The place where the situation is the worst is a place called Concepcion. It's just south of Santiago, Chile, which is obviously the capital city. The death toll as you know has already climbed.

No need to memorize it because it changes every half hour. Right now it's something around well into the 770s as far as the number of people that have died. This first report is a place in Concepcion where a reporter, I do believe, is now starting to describe what it's like to have bodies being pulled out some of this rubble. Let's take it if we've got it.

Here's the woman who is describing for you exactly what's happening. She's describing the scene of this building which has literally toppled on its side. She says emergency rescue officials have shown up on the scene. They heard two sounds, she says.

Someone is inside the building alive. They have just pulled a body out of there. Unfortunately they are not finding other bodies and as the day goes on, she says, hope for finding more is vanishing. I want to let you hear the mayor of Concepcion now because there is a real serious problem developing in that city and that is security. Let's take this one.

What is going on, mayor? The reporter is asking the mayor. They have sat and looted a supermarket. They have sat -- even the population -- people are looting peoples' homes. They're sacking or looting firefighters. So firefighters now don't even want to go to the scene to help people. They said, forget it. We're going to go back to our homes and protect our stuff. Firefighters.

So I'm telling the government, look, please, send me some help. We need security. We need troops. We've got five hours left of daylight. Please send us people. Send us people to help secure my city. You know, we are asking the people, she says, to protect themselves and to arm themselves. We could have serious problems here by nightfall. This is the mayor of Concepcion. This is part of the problem.

I think we've got some video of what she's talking about. We're going to have that for you in just a little bit. What do we have coming in here now? All right. We've got a mother and a toddler in Concepcion. This is a description coming in as well. This is video we have been getting either simultaneously or have been picking it up over the last hour or so. Let's roll it.

This is a mom with a child. She's describing what her situation is like right now. I'm living in a residential area across from a mall. And here we are protecting ourselves by screaming out and using speakers to announce to people when someone from outside the community has come into our community. Five hundred people from another town were coming here to loot our homes and to burn our homes. And were they able to confirm this, the reporter asks.

People are getting beaten. And I know that because I have been hearing the radio reports and they said the same thing was happening just the other day. This is the problem that they are having now. It's something that might be expected. The looting in different parts of Chile. These are pictures that we are monitoring for you as well.

Let me see if I can pick up what they are saying. As you can see, the folks actually go into the stores and then throw more stuff down. Some of this, as we discussed at length here in the United States after seeing some of our own disasters is understandable. If there is no electricity, if there's no water, if the people truly are hungry, some of this is questionable whether the word looting should be used.

Now obviously the description that was given to us a little while ago by both the mayor and that woman holding the child goes outside the bounds of what we would call equitable or necessary. As they were describing it, it was looting and I don't think there is an exception, especially when you have people from other towns coming into their towns and seeing what's going on. As we move through some of this video, I'm going to let you know because I have been watching these reports that some areas have been hit harder. It appears people from the areas that were hit harder are going into the areas that were not hit as difficult.

Now I'm going to shut up let you watch this. This is a grandfather being reunited with his grandchild and his son and daughter-in-law. Listen up.

You can only imagine that scenes like this are being played out all throughout Chile today. Families being reunited, families in some cases still looking for the missing and then in many cases the realization that the missing are perished, dead, 777 people so far. Roj (ph), is this a live picture by the way? OK.

This is that -- let me just catch you up on this. This is an interesting story because I'm going to be going back to this throughout the show. You see those firefighters that are coming out of that building? That's actually a 15-story building that has -- see my hand here? The building has gone like this. So what you're looking at this side of the building. The roof of the building is now the wall of the building, so to speak.

And they have made triangular holes in there to see if they can go in and somehow extricate the people who they believe are still in there. As I've been monitoring this throughout the day, it doesn't seem like there are as many people alive as they think because they have been removing bodies for the most part (INAUDIBLE) is the word you'll hear them describe. I'm going to keep going back to that from time to time and checking in to see what's going on.

Also Roger, give me CNN Chile, CNN Chile. Put that up full if you possibly can. Here's the reports coming in from CNN Chile. This is what the mayor of Concepcion has been asking for. They want the national guard, the want troops, they want police to come in and start securing some of these towns because the violence and the looting obviously is a serious problem.

As you can see, some of these folks are being saluted as they come in with their armored vehicles. We are monitoring this. Let me just see if I can pick up what they are saying. Turn it up for me a little bit.

They arrive here with the hope that they will be able to have security, control. That's what they are hoping to get. That's what we are seeing the first signs of now as the government mobilizes some of these troops. Remember, some of the roads are so messed up they can't get trooped in there. They can't get vehicles some of the main highways like 16 between Concepcion and the major part of Santiago.

So, my job here for you today in the next couple of hours obviously we're covering a lot of other stories -- but from time to time, I'm going to try and serve as a conduit for you by letting you know what's going on there, watching live feeds, translating the information and bringing you the very latest information and the very latest details of how Chile is trying to pick itself up from this catastrophe, this catastrophic earthquake that has hit them. But we're also, as you might expect, I'm going to be covering a lot of other news like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I feel that the House and the Senate bill have some major differences which we're hoping now to reconcile. And then when we have a bill -- as I say, you can bake the pie. You can sell the pie, but you have to have a pie to sell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: How many cooks can spoil the brew? Have Republicans now been involved enough or not enough? What's Congress's next move? We are drilling down on this, folks.

Also, some are saying the president shouldn't play poker any time soon. His expression gives him away. We have collected these expressions and we'll show you what we mean and a word or two on his smoking, which may have made his cholesterol either stay high or rise. We'll talk about that with you. Stay there. The list scrolls on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Boy, there is a lot of stuff going on and everybody seems to be involved in it. Already We're getting a lot of tweets from you expressing yourself about what's going on in the news. Let's take a couple of these if we possibly can. Starting from the very top, a lot of you are saying this. That little boy reunited with his family made me cry. Thank you for that special moment.

And then we got of course people talking about the president. Talking about the president, talking about the president smoking is a waste of airtime. Get real news. And then Alan Carr says the easy way to quit smoking, please someone tell him it works better than cessation product, whatever that is. Everybody seems to have advice now for the president.

And then the next says, maybe you should learn that the metric system is not a language first. That's a direct shot at me. That's something I did yesterday while I was bringing you coverage of what was going on with the potential damage in Hawaii. I was interviewing -- did you guys see this? Google it if you want. I was interviewing a scientist and I said to the scientist who was using meters to describe something, speak English or I think I asked him what is nine meters in English? Well, that was pretty stupid, wasn't it because if you think about it, meters, metric system is English. Hey, you make a mistake from time to time. And I did.

I want to show you something else now. This is a cool moment. By the way, I'm going to show you that moment later in this newscast, the one with me saying that that everybody's having fun with on the blogs. I want to show you something Candy Crowley did. Candy Crowley is doing a fabulous job. You've seen her on "STATE OF THE UNION" as the new host. Yesterday she took just some simple video, she took expressions of the president during his meeting with Republicans over health care reform and she tied them all together. Watch how she does it. This is interesting to see.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And people may very well lose the coverage they have because of this, because of the construct of this bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the first time in 30 years, allows for the taxpayer funding of abortions. What we have been saying for a long time is let's scrap the bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the consequence of that? We know there are consequences that small businesses will feel because of the impact on job creation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both bills hit small business with higher tax rates. The House bill by 33 percent, the Senate bill by 20 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here because we Republicans care about health care just as the Democrats in this room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Mr. President, don't play poker any time soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reconciliation. Your version of the bill, you can say that this process has been used before and that would be right, but it's never been used for anything like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Is that true? Who's used reconciliation? Who's used it the most. Who's used it the least? When has it been used? The Dems or the GOP? We're going to drill down on that for you because Americans should know. Jessica Yellin, she's primed. She's ready to go. Oh, my God, she has her arms crossed. That's a new pose.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh! Better?

SANCHEZ: Watch this as well. Do you know what this is? This is interesting. That's a snowboarder going down a mountain. He gets caught in an avalanche and he's got a camera on his goggles. So hHe's recording it as it is happening. We're going to show you a couple of different vantage points. This is amazing folks. It's one of those videos you just have never seen before. So I'm going to show you so you can see it and say you've seen it below. It's the list. We're scrolling on. Oh, yeah. Everything going on now right now in Chile, we have it covered for you. We'll take you there. In Spanglish. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back, I'm Rick Sanchez, a lot of stuff going on. This is where I normally have my conversation with Jessica Yellin, which I enjoy every day. It's one of my favorite conversations of the day. Before I do that, I think we've got some new information from Chile. Here we go. We've got this report. Let me translate what's going on.

The reporter is describing how people are getting out of there in pajamas. She's describing how there were people who were still stuck in buildings and she's reminding viewers that this happened at 3:00 a.m. in the morning on Saturday morning. So there are a lot of people who are still in their night clothes. She's describing the 15-story building which actually fell on its side which I talked to you about just moments ago.

Those of you joining us now, we're following and monitoring all the new information that's coming out of Chile, Concepcion, Chile to be a little more exact. There is a lot of detail coming out of the story which is rich with information and in some cases rich with drama as well. You feel for these folks; 777 is the death toll right now. As Angie or Pam, my producers in my ear, tell me that there is something going on they want me to take a look at and possibly translate. We'll just cut right into it. We'll just go right in and we'll do it as fluidly as we possibly can.

In the meantime, let's catch up on the politics of our own country in the good old USA. Jessica Yellin now, she joins me in Washington. Hey, Jess. How are you?

YELLIN: How are you, Rick? What an upsetting story in Chile.

SANCHEZ: It is, it is.

YELLIN: Glad you're following it.

SANCHEZ: This reconciliation thing, is the general American public buying into the notion that a simple majority vote, which is really what reconciliation is -- 50 plus one, right -- is less democratic somehow than one person getting up and bringing the Senate to a screeching halt with the use of filibuster? Do Americans get this?

YELLIN: No. We don't have polling on reconciliation per se, but just talking to folks you can tell people are just frustrated and confused with this and with the entire health care morass. The bottom line is that Democrats and Republicans have both used reconciliation and when Republicans controlled the House and the Senate, they have even used it more often than Democrats.

So, everybody plays this game and the other side only squawks hysterically that this is undemocratic, but in the end does anyone really pay attention to process? It's the product Americans care about and that's where the worry is still.

SANCHEZ: As I understand it, the so-called Bush tax cuts for the rich as the Americans, as the Democrats call it and the contract with America back in the 1990s, am I correct in saying that reconciliation was used on both occasions?

YELLIN: Yes. In elements of the contract with the so-called contract with America and the Bush tax cut, it's also been used to pass very popular things like COBRA. When you leave your job and you still get health care, that's COBRA, the R in COBRA stands for reconciliation. It's been used in a slew of important policy that's changed everyone's lives. It's really common. It's just part of the system.

SANCHEZ: Before they do this, and because the political aftermath of this will be vehement --

YELLIN: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Republicans will accuse them and if they try it and fail, the Democrats really going to look like losers. So there is a lot that's got to shake out here, but the first thing that's got to shake out is before it gets to the Senate, somehow the House has to do something and Nancy Pelosi seems to be in charge of that. Let's listen to what she has to say. Then I want your reaction on the other side of this Jessica.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: The point is that we have a responsibility here. And the Republicans have had a field day going out there and misrepresenting what's in the bill. But that's what they do.

QUESTION: You think people don't understand the bill?

PELOSI: There isn't a bill. When we have a bill, which we will in a matter of days, then that is the bill we can sell. Our bill, the House and the Senate bill had some major differences which we're hoping now to reconcile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, let me ask you this -- can the House just pass the Senate bill and then just be done with the whole thing?

YELLIN: Well, in theory, they could. But that's not acceptable to the members of the House who were supporting the health care reform package to begin with. There are three major things in the Senate bill that Democrats in the House object to. One, the way it's paid for, two, the language about abortion and three, how many people are given coverage, how many people get help paying for their coverage. They want to change those things in the Senate bill.

So, they are not willing to just swallow the Senate bill whole. They want changes. So they're going to have to do is a two-step process. First they have to pass the Senate version but then also pass the changes they want in that Senate version.

That second thing, that thing where they pass what the changes will be, those have to go back over to the Senate and that's where reconciliation comes in.

SANCHEZ: Oh, my goodness.

YELLIN: It's bureacrotese (ph).

SANCHEZ: Pardon me while I go --

YELLIN: Even in the House people have to call it the parliamentarian and they have to call up the historians. Even when you're inside working there to say how does aspects of this work? No one's ever --

SANCHEZ: You know, it's funny. And I can have fun with it because I'm a funny guy, but --

YELLIN: If you do say so yourself.

SANCHEZ: In actuality, it makes sense for things to sometimes be difficult because our founding fathers wanted us to have to really examine things upside down and sideways before we pulled the trigger.

YELLIN: And that's why the House has a simple majority vote. That's how most of us think things get passed. Whichever side has the majority wins. That's how it works in the House, but in the Senate, you actually often need 60 votes to pass it and one person can put a hold and stop something because they want things to move slowly so it's very deliberative and that's what makes us all frustrated but it's the way it was designed. SANCHEZ: And that's why both sides take advantage of that deliberativeness and then sometimes say, no, we're going to stop you. We're going to filibuster and in the old days filibustering was sitting there and reading a phone book. Do you remember?

YELLIN: Nobody does that anymore.

SANCHEZ: Nobody does that anymore.

YELLIN: I don't know if that's better or worse. It would be very boring to watch.

SANCHEZ: I would show a collection of my baseball cards.

YELLIN: Oh nice. (INAUDIBLE)

SANCHEZ: Tony Oliva, Tony Perez, Carl Yastremski (ph).

YELLIN: How long does that go on?

SANCHEZ: Oh, forever. Trust me. Thanks so much, appreciate it Jessica, interesting conversation.

Let's dip into CNN Espanol and Chile just to see what's going on. Folks, those of you getting home from work, I will try to get through this as fast as I can. It's 3:27 now. They have made a hole in the side of a building, a triangular hole to keep it from falling down. In that triangle you see they are sticking firefighters. These guys are like tunnel rats in Vietnam. Remember the tunnel rats in Vietnam? They're going in there and looking for people because they think people are trapped who are still alive. This is an amazing story. Let me see what I hear.

This is an interesting point he just made. He said, this building has fallen on its side, but when it fell on its side it also fell on top of another building which was standing up. So they don't know how much damage that actually caused just as it made that impact going into the building. This is fascinating stuff. We're going to take you through it as we go. Here's some more tape. This is from Concepcion. This is important. A little while ago I played something for you. I played the mayor of Concepcion. I was taken aback by her description of just how out of control her town was. We apologize for that. That's just the tape backing up.

But I was taken aback by her description of just how out of control the town was. She said people are coming into my town and looting and that means that I can't get my cops or my firefighters to go to work because they're going to be at home protecting their own families. So she's asking for the government to come in. We are just now starting to see some of the very first pictures of armed forces, military officials, national guardsmen coming to Concepcion which is about 45 minutes south of Santiago to try and bolster up the security there. We're going to take you through that as well.

Now this -- you go to the hospital, right and they charge you $1,000 for a toothbrush. I'm not kidding, folks, $1,000 for a toothbrush. It's on the bill. You probably didn't look at it because the insurance pays for it right. Wait until you hear what they charge for a Tylenol pill. You have to see this to understand just how screwed up our health care system really is. We've got this report. I'm going to share it with you in just a little bit as we go here.

What else we got? Mrs. President, you are intriguing. Who are you? Find out as we give you one of the most intriguing persons of the day in the news. This is our list and we scroll on and we do this for you every day. Thanks so much for being with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: -- creating this image, but Roger, widen out if you could. I want to take you to the explanation of what we're talking about. See this? Imagine this is a 15-story building and you have 15 stories, boom, boom, boom.

This building didn't crumble as we see often times when things implode. This is the building, right? The building literally has fallen over. So that means now as you look at it, right, this is the top, that's the bottom, this is the roof of the building out here in front.

That's where Karl Penhaul is following the situation. They are drilling holes in the roof to see if they can go in and get people out. Watch this piece of sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The good news is that at least two taps have been heard coming from apartment 602 on the sixth floor. Firefighters say it is a very difficult spot to get into, but they now do believe there is confirmed life there.

It may however take several hours to get to them. They have to now drill a inch diameter hole there to see if they can get a camera inside to see if they can get a visual, if they can get eyes on some of the people, some of the survivors in there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Wow. That's Karl setting this thing up for us. Since that report that we got a little while ago they have actually been able to drill through the wall and they got people in there. They've got dogs in there, and they are sending in cameras.

And the sad part of the story is as we have been watching you heard the term "bodies, bodies." They are taking bodies out through the hole. They are finding a lot o dead people in there and having to take them out. We'll try to keep that shot from you.

I know kids are home, et cetera. But we'll stay on the story and see if they are able to find anybody, and if it happens, you will see it on CNN or through our sister network, CNN Chile.

Let me tell you about somebody I want you to hear about -- she is a pediatrician, military expert and a president. Sounds intriguing, right? Her dad was an air force general who was tortured by Chile's Augusto Pinochet, one of the most notorious leaders in Latin American history.

Returning from her homeland from exile, she became its minister of defense, first ever woman in all of Latin America to hold that position. Four years later she was elected president of her country. Here is this mother of three, the president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, who is dealing with all of the turmoil with the massive earthquake and is because of that is today's most intriguing person in the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: By the way, nine meters in English is --

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR KURT FRANKEL, GEORGIA TECH: Oh, about 27 feet.

SANCHEZ: So we are seeing a 27-foot drop in that area right there? Sorry about that.

FRANKEL: That's right. This is recorded by a pressure sensor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I was just trying to understand what some scientist was trying to say. And my way of saying to him, what are you talking about? Can you get away from the scientific jargon and make us understand this? I said to him about the metric system "what is it in English"?

Oh, my goodness. OK. I get it. The metric system is English. Stupid me. I apologize. Everybody's been like all over me for this one. I was wrong.

Here's another piece of sound I want to share with you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what, we all deal with it. It's something that any woman out there right now, maybe not everything, but everybody has things they have to deal with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: OK. The iconic Osmond family is dealing with a very serious tragedy. And those of us in my generation, I know many of you are watching, when you think of the Osmonds you think of -- well, the iconic American family.

They are dealing with a real tragedy right now. Marie Osmond's teenaged son is dead. Why? We'll have answers and we'll have reaction for you on this fascinating story.

Also, please do remember you can join our national conversation. We want all many of you on board as possible on your computers, iPhones, Blackberries. Call us by phone if you want to. You can come and visit and hang out in the studio with me you can do that too. The telephone number is 877-4-CNNtour. It's called the "Inside the Conversation" tour with Rick Sanchez here on CNN. Love to have you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back to THE LIST. I'm Rick Sanchez. I have been telling you about what's going on inside Chile. One of the most interesting developments is the security issue. It appears that there are people who are taking advantage of the situation, or maybe they're desperate. I'm not going to try and judge them.

But they are attacking other towns, looting perhaps homes, according to some reports. And we've got some video now that I want to show you, which I think is fascinating. This is a report coming in from CNN Chile. Let's watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): I'm going to protect my house. I don't care what I have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Hector Corasco. There he is with his weapon. He's walking the streets, and he's protecting his property. And we are seeing a lot of this now. We have seen video of people going out there with everything from brooms to guns to knives.

Here's the question though. How much of this is fear and panic as a result of reports that are being said about this, or how much of this is verifiable information because there really are a lot of looters out there, or is the truth somewhere in the middle somewhere as it often is? Let's listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): They are preparing themselves because there is a gang from -- I think Marino -- and all of my neighbors are ready because there is not enough of a military presence. We saw one truck with a couple of military officials. That's it. No more. So we're going to do whatever we can. All of us neighbors are going to get together and protect our property.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "We are all prepared, disposed to do whatever it takes to protect our property."

That's the situation going on right now in the moment in Chile. That's what we'll do for you. We'll dip in from time to time and get feeds coming in from all the different networks. As we get the information we'll share it with you.

But do keep in mind, a lot of the information is raw. Just because people are saying the situation is out of control and security is bad doesn't means it really is. It means it sounds like the major concern. I just wanted to add that caveat. By the way, take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you still smoke cigarettes?

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I do not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you quit?

OBAMA: Nicorette. Do you want one?

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Everybody's giving the president a really tough time. Has he taken his doctor's advice and stopped smoking? The reason people are talking about this, the reason you're talking about it, tweeting about it more than anything else, by the way, is because his medical check-up came up and his cholesterol is higher than it should be.

How high? How big a problem is it? OK, we're going to get into this. Stay right there. That too is a part of RICK'S LIST.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Another piece of video we have to show you now. Let me set this up for you really quick. Someone on Saturday morning, 3:00 a.m., actually had a camera out at the time and was able to record the shaking from this earthquake in Santiago as it started.

Let's roll that, Roger.

There it is. There's a computer on a desk. You see the movement of the walls. That's inside the house. Now you start to hear voices in the background, fade to black. You hear people crying. It sounds like a child's voice. You heard, "mi papa" -- you know, "dad, dad, dad."

Let's look it through one more time and see if I can pick up what they are saying.

"Come here, come here." "Mi papa." Someone's crying. I couldn't make out exactly what they said at the very end there, but somebody was concerned about their father. Maybe they were in another room. We don't know obviously. It's all conjecture at this point.

But these videos that are coming in and as we get them, we'll certainly share them with you.

I don't usually work on Saturdays, but this Saturday I was awakened early by folks saying, get in here, Sanchez. You're one of the guys who speak Spanish at the network. So we need you to get in here and translate and see what's going on. So I came in to help out with this breaking news story.

Let me set up a situation for you. I was interviewing a scientist, Dr. Kaplan, who's an expert on tsunamis, among other things. And I was having a tough time -- I apologize. I said Kaplan -- It's Frankel, Dr. Frankel.

I was having a tough time understanding exactly what he was saying because he was speaking in the metric system and using a little bit of scientific jargon. So I pressed him a little bit, and as I pressed him I asked about the metric system.

And -- I will show it to you right now -- I have gotten a ton of response of people making fun of me on this and criticizing me. What's new? Let's watch together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEL: The pressure of the ocean changes as the wave comes through and sends a signal to the buoy, up to the satellite and down to NOAA.

SANCHEZ: Hold on a minute. Wouldn't it follow that if all of sudden a part of the ocean just dropped 27 feet the reaction to, you know, the yang of the yin is that it will also go up?

FRANKEL: It will go up, but that doesn't mean -- there's not going to be 27 --

SANCHEZ: No. I'm not asking you to do 27 to 27. I'm saying if there is a drop will there be an increase?

FRANKEL: There should be an increase.

SANCHEZ: So there will be some kind of wave activity there, but what you're saying we can't exactly measure --

FRANKEL: You can't extrapolate that to what's going to happen in Hawaii, OK. It's a function of the coastline topography, of the slope of the -- well, there is no continental shelf in Hawaii, but the slope of the land off the coast --

SANCHEZ: Right.

FRANKEL: -- and so forth. So a number of other factors play into this.

SANCHEZ: But what we can say is -- tell me if I'm wrong -- there is a tsunami there and it was just detected that it caused a 27-foot drop.

FRANKEL: Yes. We recorded the tsunami passing that buoy, yes.

SANCHEZ: That's important. Sorry. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: I'm getting a lot of grief about that. Yes, maybe I was a little over-passionate. Maybe I pressed him too much. That's who I am. It's the way I do things. I apologize for anybody who may have been offended by the way I pressed the good doctor.

On the question of people criticizing me because I said "What is nine meters in English?" Because I know a -- myself and most of the people I know don't know the metric system or can't do the conversions charts very well.

A lot of folks are saying that was a stupid thing to say, Sanchez, because after all, the metric system is English. Perhaps. But wait, someone's coming to my rescue. Look at the twitter board. Adrian Delagarza says, "The metric system is not English. It's French."

There you go. We just started another debate here. I thank you for taking me through it. By the way, Adrian, thanks for getting my back on that one. One guy believed in me.

Listen to this sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the store, how much does Tylenol cost? $10 for 100 pills. We know someone who, at the store, was charged $140 for one Tylenol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: $140 for one Tylenol at a hospital, and it's not uncommon. How does this happen? And better, why? That story is ahead. Stay right there.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still smoke cigarettes?

OBAMA: I do not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you quit, because I'm quitting now?

OBAMA: Nicorette. You want one?

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: There's the president of the United States, and he had his -- you know what's difficult about being the president of the United States. Everything you do is so public that even when you just go to the doctor to get a checkup and, you know, serious discussions I imagine go on between a doctor and a patient, the whole world has to find out. So today the whole world is talking about the fact that the president of the United States, a young man, has rather high cholesterol for his age. And now, of course, everyone's made the leap that he has high cholesterol and he's known to smoke cigarettes.

So Elizabeth Cohen is here, and she has, how should I put this -- you're fired up about this story. You've got a lot to stay about this story.

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I do, because I thought he had quit smoking. I didn't realize he was still --

SANCHEZ: And by golly you think he should?

COHEN: I think he should.

SANCHEZ: Let's leave it there, because I don't want to get you too excited, because we won't even be able to get this commercial in.

COHEN: OK, I'll behave myself.

SANCHEZ: OK, everybody stay right there. Also, this situation -- deadly storms in Europe, the videos coming in from that as well. We'll take you through and ask, just how bad did it get? We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: The president had his first physical. His cholesterol is a little bit high and everybody is talking about the fact that he has the tendency to want to smoke cigarettes.

Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here. I understand Robert Gibbs, the president's spokesperson, just had his briefing. Was he asked about it?

COHEN: Yes. Let's listen to what he had to say.

SANCHEZ: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: While he's quit smoking, he occasionally falls off the wagon when it comes to that, and, like many who have struggled with kicking that habit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Some viewers can't believe we're talking about this, but, you know, it is the president of the United States. My goodness, given what is going on in his life if this is his only vice, then I guess -- are we to judge?

COHEN: I don't look at it as a judgment thing. I look at it as, OK, this guy is still smoking. What kind of example does that make? And so we actually had a bunch --

SANCHEZ: That's a fair point.

COHEN: You think so? OK.

SANCHEZ: Well, but before you even get to that, I have a brother-in-law who just had a heart attack, and he didn't smoke, and is a tri-athlete. He ran four miles a day, and looked like he was in perfect condition, better shape than I am. He had a massive heart attack.

So can we say he's in bad health because he smokes and this guy because he eats too many goobers?

COHEN: I think the bottom line is, yes, that can happen to people like your brother in law, but the bottom line is that smoking increases your chances by having a heart attack by a lot. It increases your chances of having cancer by a lot. No question about that. A heart attack can happen to anyone, but it's way more likely to happen to someone who smokes.

So let me read you what these folks had to say, because I thought this was sort of interesting. Mike wrote -- "Why is Obama still smoking? He doesn't believe all the medical evidence? This is the message he's sending to the youth of America."

And then Justin wrote quite simply "Quit smoking, dude. It sets a terrible example."

(LAUGHTER)

SANCHEZ: Go, Justin.

COHEN: This is from someone who has a financially oriented mind. "Smokers increase health care costs for all of us. Obama, if you want to help health care, quitting smoking is a start." No question, smokers cost all of us more money.

And so you have to wonder, with all of the resources he has at his disposal, what is he still smoking. He's been try to go quit for years. Why is he still smoking?

SANCHEZ: Because it's addictive.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: It is. There's no question it's addictive, but you wonder, is what he's trying isn't work, or sort of what's going on here.

SANCHEZ: I know, I know, it's a difficult situation for anybody. The fact that he's the president of the United States makes his situation everyone's business.

COHEN: That's right, you've got it.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

COHEN: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Ahead, we're going to look at the primary challenge to John McCain in Arizona. It's getting nasty early. Wait until you see these. Folks, if you love political commercials as much as I do, you have to see the political commericals going back and forth between John McCain and J.D. Hayworth. It is political gold. We'll be right back.

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