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New Day

New CNN Poll: Politics of Fear And Anger; CDC Unveils New Ebola Guidelines; Alleged ISIS Members Speak Out

Aired October 28, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: How about, speaking of limitations, politics? "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King. Help us make some sense of the situation, my friend.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hats off to that dad. My little Spider-Man is getting ready for Halloween, as well.

Yes, let's make sense of politics. Good luck with that.

One week from today, election day. Folks, I'm getting excited. Let's go "Inside Politics" this morning. With me to share their reporting and their insights, the dynamic duo from the "Washington Post," Jackie Kucinich and Ed O'Keefe.

Let's first look at some brand new CNN polling, now a week from tonight, this will fill in, these are the House races across the country, I'm going to go to where we are now. This is America today, when it comes to the House, look at all that red.

That's why you have a House majority. Brand new CNN polling, the president's job approval rating at 45 percent, 53 percent disapprove. As we head into the six-year inch mid-term of the Obama presidency.

That's not a great number, but if you remember earlier in the year, he was down around 42, not as bad as it could be. Let's look at this number too, this one is also very important, how do people plan to vote.

You're going to vote Democrat or Republican? Right now, Democrats have a one-point edge. That's a statistical tie, 47-46, again, nationally not as bleak as some Democrats had hoped.

But I would remind you that it's a national number and this is the country. Not only do you have so many House districts already Republican, but a lot of the big Senate battlegrounds are out here, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, Arkansas, down in here in red America.

One last poll number to look at before we begin the discussion, you're in bad mood as you prepare to vote, 68 percent of the American people say they're very or somewhat angry.

A lot of that anger is directed at Washington and the dysfunction. Sixty percent say they're very or somewhat scared, all the talk about ISIS and Ebola clearly putting the electorate in a sour mood as we get ready to vote.

Jackie Kucinich, that begs the question -- president's numbers aren't as bad as some people thought they might be if you go back a few months, but they're also not so great.

JACKIE KUCINICH, "THE WASHINGTON POST": They aren't so great. I think that's what's hurting Democrats particularly in those red states where the Senate campaign for the Senate races really matter. That's why they're not talking about Obama. That's why they're running away from him.

We're seeing it reflected in the polls. I also think it's interesting while a lot of conservatives are angry, liberals are meh, they are not really happy with their candidates. They are not really happy with him so getting to them to the polls is going to be a high priority for Democrats.

KING: And if you look at the intensity gap. Republicans enjoying an advantage there, not as big as they enjoyed in 2010, it tells me, if you look at the president's numbers, which are OK, not great, the generic bailout, which Democrats can be happy with nationally.

But then if you look out where the battlegrounds are is that what we're likely to have is modest Republican gains in the House and probable Republican take the Senate, is that the prognosis a week out?

ED O'KEEFE, "THE WASHINGTON POST": But barely take it at least if you look at the current forecasting and you're right. It's because both parties pretty displeased with how things are going and displeased with their own parties.

You're looking at maybe single-digit gains for Republicans in the House after both parties were crowing about the possibility of taking 25 seats, even just few months ago.

And in the Senate, it will be a slim majority for Republicans and it may have to wait even a few more weeks depending how things go in Louisiana and Georgia.

KING: Louisiana and Georgia could have runoffs, December and January. That's right. We might not be done a week from today. If you want one race that tells you something about the mood in the country, look at the Senate race in Kentucky, Mitch McConnell is the Republican leader.

Remember the president is the issue, right, in the midterm election. President Obama won four counties in Kentucky in 2012. You would think if he's the issue, Mitch McConnell would be winning in a walk.

But this one is very close, Mitch McConnell trying to go back to the future, if you will. Here is a closing campaign ad, Mitch McConnell not known as the funniest guy in Washington, this is cute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: A lot of people try to tell me how to do my commercials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We see you between two trucks.

MCCONNELL: That sounds dangerous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll end with you and bloodhounds.

MCCONNELL: That's not going to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe it's enough to say Mitch fights for Kentucky.

MCCONNELL: You know maybe this isn't such a bad idea, I'm Mitch McConnell and I approved this message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Now that's a little fun there. If you got gray hair like me, you might remember when Mitch McConnell was first elected to Congress, he used the bloodhounds, too. The tone was a little different. Let's have a peek.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: My job was to find Dee Huddleson and get him back to work. He was missing big votes. Maybe we ought to let him make speeches and switch to Mitch for senator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I'm one who believes Democrat or Republican, a little bit of humor sometimes helps, especially after a bloody, bruising, nasty campaign like you've had in Kentucky.

KUCINICH: I also think this shows that the McConnell campaign is confident going into Election Day. I don't think you run a light- hearted ad like this if you're worried.

O'KEEFE: We've all covered Congress. We can probably count on one hand the number of times we've seen Mitch McConnell smile. So to get him laughing in an ad, again, it shows confidence, a great way to close, it's all positive, all about him and yes, if you are a certain age, you might remember that first ad.

KING: I'm going to head down to Kentucky today just to get a feel for that one just in case.

Speaker John Boehner also out campaigning out for some of his candidates, and let's just say Speaker Boehner maybe needs to go back to school. Not that recent history. First, listen to this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: And when you look at the chaos that's going on. Does anybody think that Vladimir Putin would have gone into Crimea, have George W. Bush been president of the United States? No. Even Putin is smart enough to know that Bush would have punched him in the nose in 10 seconds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Bush would have punched him in the nose except -- back in the Bush administration Vladimir Putin did pretty much the same thing, maybe not as big a scale as Ukraine, but he took a bit of territory and George Bush did nothing, nothing. George Bush's team after the fact saying they should have done sanctions.

KUCINICH: We don't remember the fisticuffs for a reason, it didn't happen.

O'KEEFE: I mean, he's looking for an applause line and he's hoping nobody remembers, but you're right. I think the most confrontation he got was the closing or opening ceremonies of the Olympics when they sat next to each other and had a conversation. But there was no punch thrown.

KING: I think it was Ronald Reagan and he was probably borrowing it for someone else. They said facts are stubborn things. Little name- calling in South Carolina as well, you have a governor's race there. Nikki Haley is the governor. She's comfortably ahead in this race.

I want you to listen to Vincent Sheheen. He is the Democrat at a rally here. A bit of a slip of the tongue and then instead of fixing it, right away, he decides to enjoy it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VINCENT SHEHEEN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: She vetoed our public school teachers' pay raises. The same year she gave her own staff 25 percent pay increases. That is the worst kind of politics and we are going to escort whore out the door. We're going to escort her out the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: This is the test of a candidate. He realizes he has slipped his tongue. He fix it is right away and says "her" and when the crowd is loving it, he laughs and smiles too. He's losing, but a good candidate says whoa right there, right?

KUCINICH: Yes. I think that's what happened there. I think he could have handled that better and he just didn't. But I also think there's a little bit of jumping on this for the sake of jumping because we're in the final throes of that campaign.

KING: And jumping on it because some Republicans say if a Republican had done this, you would have women's organizations jumping up all over the place, the National Organization of Women and listen to Ann Romney.

She told CNN's Peter Hamby, "When I first heard about it, it hit me right in my gut. My nerve endings went haywire. It's so upsetting when you know someone can say something like that about a woman and not have any kind of reaction. It's so unacceptable. Nikki is a great girl and has been a great governor."

An honest reaction from Ann Romney there, I believe, but also there's this conservative's thinking if a Republican had done that and used that word in the final week of a campaign --

O'KEEFE: They're sensitive to it because these types of things have been said about her before by members of both parties and they've been rightly called out for saying them and the fact that this is on video.

The fact that he is so clearly didn't do anything to reverse himself and say, that's not, that's not how my campaign is being run, we're not going to behave that way. He's losing and this might not help.

KING: He's losing. When you're losing, also your future can depend on this run once, run twice. It makes people think not ready for primetime one week out. Ed, Jackie. Thanks for coming in.

Alisyn, as we get back to New York, since it is one week out, when you do travel the country a lot of people say it doesn't matter, I'll give my very brief speech. It does matter. If you're thinking of not voting, how about it, you got one week, pay attention. Let's vote.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I like your daily affirmation, Stewart Smiley. That's a great message for America and I will go and vote, John King, because of you.

KING: Amen, thank you. I got one.

CAMEROTA: That's fantastic. Thanks, John. Well, the CDC has released new Ebola guidelines that are now four categories of risk. But when does the bureaucracy become too much and how many sets of guidelines will it take to calm the public's fears? We'll break it down with a disaster preparedness expert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. The second nurse to contract Ebola at a Dallas hospital, she is set to be released from the hospital this afternoon, this, after the CDC unveiled four new risk categories for travelers entering the U.S. from the so-called Ebola hot zone in West Africa.

They say it will make it safer with each level triggering its own tailored response. So with these new categories and stipulations, how exactly will medical professionals know when to test someone?

Let's ask Dr. Irwin Redlener, he is the director of Columbia University's Center for Disaster Preparedness. They make an action. We get you in here to chat about it.

So these new guidelines coming from the CDC, do you think these revisions are going to help clear up some of the confusion? Because some will say all of this back and forth could just further confuse the issue.

DR. IRVIN REDLENER, DIRECTOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL CENTER FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS: You've got to feel a little sympathy for people trying to make firm national guideline because we do learn more information.

We try to modulate that and end up with something that works. I think people should be anticipating this is going to be an organic work in progress over time.

PEREIRA: Fine-tuning.

REDLENER: Fine tuning as we learn more, see more, see the way people behave after they've been either diagnosed or they're in potentially in the pre-symptomatic stage. We have to keep being able to adjust that we have to do it credibly.

I happen to like the new guidelines. It's very -- it's four distinct categories with specific guidance for each category. I think it will help clear up the confusion. The problem is that we have governors and local officials also weighing in, because the CDC --

PEREIRA: On the state level, yes.

REDLENER: The CDC has does not have the authority to order a state or city to do anything. They produce guidelines based on the best scientific knowledge.

PEREIRA: They're not an enforcing body.

REDLENER: They're not an enforcement body. It happens at the local and state level.

PEREIRA: I want to talk to you about the testing because I think that's something that mystifies many of us. Why not just test for it immediately. If you're at all suspicious, why not test instead of -- quarantining and going to all of these other kind of extreme measures?

REDLENER: It would be ideal to be able to just test somebody who had been in a risk situation. The problem is, there's not enough virus in the blood before you get symptoms to show up. So even our most sensitive tests, the PCR test for example, will not yield a positive result even if you're carrying the virus at very low level.

PEREIRA: The body masks it, correct, does that what happens or is it just that it's such low level?

REDLENER: It's such a low level. They can't magnify or amplify the virus particles enough to be able to show up in a blood test. This is I mean, if we had that, it would be ideal.

PEREIRA: That's why we see people being repeated, having their testing repeated for several days.

REDLENER: Exactly.

PEREIRA: Another thing I want to talk about, and speaking of testing for several days. We saw this 5-year-old present at Bellevue Hospital in New York. He was tested, negative. They tested a couple other times subsequently. Is there a particular challenge when dealing with kiddos? With the little ones, a 5-year-old is not going to react or be treated the same way, I imagine as say a man of your age.

REDLENER: Right, you know what they say is a child is not just a little adult when it comes to treating. There are very specific things we would have to be worried about.

So a small child with Ebola who has severe diarrhea and vomiting, let's say, would be much more susceptible to developing dehydration much more rapidly.

And dehydration, the loss of fluids, is one of the things that is related to serious fatality rates in anybody so the ability to very actively and aggressively treat dehydration because children more fragile is there.

Secondly, we have no idea what the doses are for some of the medications that we might use for children. They're barely tested in adults, it's even worse in children. There's never been a study of children and these anti-viral medications.

PEREIRA: All of this, all of this, just points me to fact that we still don't know very much about it. Is that a fair assessment? To say we don't know much about this Ebola virus.

REDLENER: Ebola has been around since the mid-1970s. We kept seeing these recurrent episodes of outbreak of Ebola in various villages and communities in Africa. But they all have been easy to control. We've compiled a lot of experience in Africa in those settings.

We've had virtually zero experience with Ebola or those types of illnesses here in the United States or other western countries. So we're kind of, this is a, a work in progress here, which we're still trying to figure out.

PEREIRA: Again, why some people get sick, why others, why some recover, some others don't. Dr. Redlener, always a pleasure to sit down with you and sort of go through all of this new data we get. We appreciate it.

REDLENER: Thanks, Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Michaela, thanks so much.

Alleged members of ISIS speaking out about the torture that they've inflicted and endured. CNN spoke to them one-on-one inside a prison in northern Syria. Stick around for this interview that will leave you shocked.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. So there are alleged members of ISIS now behind bars and speaking out. Three are actually trembling with fear as they do so with cameras rolling inside a Northern Syria prison.

CNN senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, brings us this dramatic interview. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prisoners are brought in blindfolded and we quickly begin to wonder whether they're being forced to speak to us. During our visit here, the guards, who asked not to be shown do not us allow us to see the cells where the prisoners are being held.

This man trembles with fear as a prison guard removes his blindfold. I introduce myself as an American journalist and he begins to relax a little.

He tells me he's a Syrian named Suleiman. He confesses to be part of an ISIS cell that planted and detonated a remote control car bomb outside a Kurdish base and says he received around $3,600 for completing the job.

(on camera): What is the idea that ISIS is fighting for?

SULEIMAN, CAPTURED ISIS MILITANT (through translator): They said they were fighting for Islam and justice. They were lying to us. They took advantage of our minds and our poverty.

WATSON (voice-over): One of the prisoners the guards bring out is barely a man.

(on camera): Your name is Kadim. How old are you?

(voice-over): I'm 19 years old" he says. But Karim tells me he fought alongside ISIS across Syria for more than a year.

(on camera): Where were you injured?

(voice-over): He has the battle scars to prove it. The final prisoner is Jabber, a former school teacher and father of two who also confesses to a car bombing.

(on camera): What would have happened to me if, when you were with ISIS, if you guys had found me, an American journalist?

(voice-over): "With ISIS" he tells me, "your fate would be death, and there are different kinds of death. They would torture you for sure. They might decapitate you or cut off your hands. They will not simply shoot a bullet in your head."

It's impossible for CNN to confirm whether anything the prisoners tell us was true or whether these men were coached by their captors. The Kurdish prison guards say, if set free every likely one of these men would go back and rejoin ISIS. Ivan Watson in Kurdish-controlled Northern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CAMEROTA: What a window into that. Ivan Watson's reporting all along has brought, has made this entire battle so much more understandable for those of us at home.

CUOMO: He is like the personal affirmation of go there. He goes to the hardest situations and truth, we're both new to CNN, they have a lot of people like here, Ivan's always been a standout because of what he understands about the situations and what he's willing to do, to let you understand what's being talked about around you and it's a dangerous job, but he's got incredible passion and commitment.

CAMEROTA: Just to see the battle scars of one of those guys and that they would go back to the battle if they were freed they'd go back to ISIS.

CUOMO: Therein is the real battle. This scar is ugly. What is scarred inside is far more ugly. How do you fix it?

Anyway, quick programming note for you. To mark the upcoming 35th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis, CNN brings you a special report tonight on the 52 Americans who were beaten, tortured, and humiliated after being captured at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

So please, join us for "Witnessed: The Iran Hostage Crisis." Tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific.

We also want to talk to you about a Dallas nurse, she has completed the fight of her life, that's Amber Vinson, and she's set to leave the hospital today.

Now, there are four risk levels being laid out by the CDC for people who have had any kind of exposure to Ebola victims, and what does that mean in terms of dealing with our concern? We'll have Dr. Sanjay Gupta break it down for us live.

CAMEROTA: With the chaos over Ebola you may think people are not thrilled with the government's response. Our new poll might surprise you. We'll show you all of that straight ahead.

CUOMO: I like to be surprised.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Taking charge. The CDC issues new guidelines as the government hopes to quell the national debate on how to treat people in contact with Ebola patients as the nurse controversially quarantined in New Jersey gets to return home. Will the new policy be enough?

CAMEROTA: And deadly setup, shocking new details about Friday's high school shooting in Washington State. We'll tell you how police say the gunman lured his victims to the cafeteria before opening fire.

PEREIRA: Tough love? Charles Barkley sparking controversy after saying, that uneducated blacks in America are brain washed into putting street cred ahead of success. Did the NBA hall of famer's candid comments resonate with all black Americans?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.