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Wildfires Strike Florida, Los Angeles; Rivers Overflow in Midwest; Dick Cheney Visits Iraq; Al Sharpton Under Fire; Racy Divorce Billboards
Aired May 09, 2007 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Flames are spreading, waters are rising, storms are coming. It is a battle against the elements on both coasts and in between. A western landmark is scorched and Midwest levies busted and two eastern states facing fires on the ground. And the first named storm this season is on the horizon. It is certainly a lot.
Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: And I'm Kyra Phillips.
We want to get straight to the NEWSROOM right now, though. Fredricka Whitfield with details on one of those fires out of Florida.
Fred, there are some major road closures right now?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. And if you're familiar with south Florida, you have likely driven Alligator Alley, if not as a tourist, to see the Everglades and perhaps to get from one point to the other, Ft. Lauderdale to Naples.
Well, not today, because a 20-mile stretch is closed. Because what you will see if you get anywhere near Alligator Alley, you'll see a lot of smoke. You'll see a lot of flames. Already, that wild fire has burned 15,000 acres. It's destroyed three home, killed two horses. It's a mess.
You're looking at new pictures we're getting in now. Somewhat grainy pictures of some of the traffic you'll typically -- you typically will see on Alligator Alley. And some ways pretty snarled because of those road closures or that stretch, I should mention, that is closed between State Route 29 and County Road 951.
So this wildfire is 35 percent contained, but because it's very dry and it is very hot, this is a bear to battle. So we're going to continue to watch this wildfire still raging there. There in south Florida. We're getting more information for you, Kyra. We'll be able to bring that to you.
PHILLIPS: All right, Fred. Sounds good.
And of course, we're watching those wild fires in Los Angeles, California, specifically Griffith Park. It was featured in the movie, "The Terminator". Now it's facing a real-life villain that's just as merciless.
Wildfires scorching hundreds of acres right now, but in this drama, the good guys seem to be winning. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is right there in the thick of it.
Hi, Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.
Well, I can give you some good news to report. The firefighters tell us that this fire is now 40 percent contained, and they are very happy about that.
They've also been watching the weather. They've been keeping an eye on the winds. They say if the winds pick up, that could change the scenario just a little bit. But right now, those winds are holding. The temperatures, however, are rising. They're expected to hit 97 today.
You take a look right behind me, you can see that the mop-up crews are here. And they've had a very frustrating day, because firefighters in the past nine hours had to try to put out the hot spots in the area. And they get these little flare-ups. The wind comes and you have these little gusts, and then the whole hillside flares up.
Right now, you can see this person is going to go up into the area and try to dig underneath the pine needles, the very dense pine needles, to try to hit up all of those areas, make sure they get them.
Now, they were letting the undergrowth burn earlier. They're keeping a close eye on some of the trees. They didn't want those trees to torch.
Now there were several times within the past hour that the choppers flew over this area. And they hit those areas that were flaring up. Again, very concerned about the fire going up into the pine trees and perhaps crossing over the road. We're right near the 5 Freeway right now.
One of the fire chiefs told me that the situation here yesterday was very dicey. You almost had these little tornadoes of fire springing up all over the canyon out here. And the big fear today is whether or not those winds pick up a little bit later. And if they do, that could be potentially dangerous, because then you have embers spreading around this area. It's tinder dry.
And they want to make sure to knock this -- these flames out. And that's exactly why they sent the choppers in. That when they have these flare-ups, they wanted to make sure and put it out, the fire retardant and water, and it was very aggressive on that attack -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And Thelma, just quickly to put it in perspective, you know, so people understand. And there are million-dollar homes that line up against Griffith Park. There's a beautiful observatory there. I mean, we're talking about acres and acres of parks and horses. And there's a lot at stake here, not just trees and brush.
GUTIERREZ: Yes, you know, you're absolutely right, Kyra. You know, you have this area of multimillion-dollar homes up here. Not only that, you have the Greek amphitheater. You have the observatory. You also have a zoo out here at Griffith Park.
This is one of the largest parks in the world. It's 4,000 acres. And as of today, now, 600 acres are completely charred. In fact, Kyra, you know, as we were pulling up, one of our producers was telling us that some of the wildlife in the area, the coyotes -- we saw also small rodents, that kind of thing -- trying to get out of the area that was burning.
So, I can say, though, that none of the landmarks are in danger right now. There are no homes in danger. And, in fact, the zoo they thought they might have to evacuate yesterday, was not evacuated. That is, the animals were not evacuated.
And, in terms of the residents who live out here, there were 300 homes that were evacuated. Those residents are allowed to go back in today -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Thelma Gutierrez, we'll be catching up with you throughout the afternoon. Thanks.
LEMON: Jackie Jeras is tracking those fires and our first named storm of the year, even though hurricane season is still three weeks away.
Jacqui Jeras, definitely a very busy weather day today for us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: Yes. And Jacqui, that water in Savannah looks inviting. But it can be very dangerous when you have winds like that.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Can't always see the rip currents.
LEMON: Yes. We'll be checking back with you. Thank you so much.
People who live near rivers in Missouri and Kansas may be wishing they didn't. Heavy rains have pushed several rivers over their banks, forcing evacuations and causing Missouri's governor to declare a state of emergency.
Northwest Missouri has taken some of the hardest hits so far. But Kansans are worried too. And our Susan Roesgen is standing by for us in Leavenworth, Kansas.
First, the tornadoes, and now the flooding, Susan?
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a little bit of everything, Don. You never know what you're going to get weather-wise here in the Midwest. And these red flags really sort of tell the story here in Leavenworth. The first one went up at 10 a.m. yesterday morning. That's the last one behind me there. And then with each new flag that the city put up, you can see how much higher the Missouri River has risen.
Just really a few inches in this area. And that's not too bad. Certainly not too bad at all. But about an hour north of here, Don, there's a town called Big Lake. And apparently in that town, 200 homes there have water.
I mean, they call this the wide Missouri, because the river is wide in a lot of places, but, Don, just too wide today, really swallowing up entire towns in some places.
LEMON: I've got a question for you. It's always a concern about cresting. When the river crests, there could be more flooding. Do you know when that's going to happen, when the river's going to crest?
ROESGEN: Well, you know, in this area, city officials told me that they thought that the river had crested last night. But then they came out today and saw that it gone up a few more inches. So they're really not sure here.
And Don, if you look behind me, that used to be a boat launch that the river just sort of swallowed up and then came right in over the banks here.
So they have brought in sandbags in this area. They have a portable dam that they even shipped up from Texas, a long portable dam that's about 400 feet long and seven feet tall. But they don't think they're going to have to use it, because the river in this area is just not going that far inland.
LEMON: And I'm sure not a day goes by that people in the Midwest don't think about that flood in 1993, comparable to this one -- not -- this is not comparable to the '93 flood. That was horrendous.
ROESGEN: Well, they say it's close. The National Weather Service in this area says this is going to be one of the top three floods for the century.
But that big flood of 1993, that was really caused by a heavy winter snowfall. And as all the snow started to melt, that pushed all the little creeks into the rivers. And then that was even a flood threat on the Mississippi River.
So this one has not been caused for the same reason. And they don't think it's going to be as bad, except in some areas, some smaller towns around this area, they are seeing a lot of water.
And, Don, as you know, even just a few inches of water means your carpets are ruined. You probably need new sheet rock. You can have six feet of mold for six inches of water. So it's a big problem for a lot of people.
LEMON: Yes. Very little compares to that water damage. It just goes everywhere. You can't stop it.
Susan Roesgen, thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: And we want to take you to Iraq now. Vice President Cheney is in Baghdad today, talking security and national unity. But as is often the case, the insurgents found a way to put their mark on the day.
CNN's Hugh Riminton is in Baghdad. Hugh, not surprising that the extremists once again showing a sign of force there, that they will go after any U.S. presence.
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. It's hardly a surprise.
It's not entirely clear whether the mortar round that was fired into the Green Zone here in central Baghdad was connected to the visit of Mr. Cheney. These things are happening at fairly regular intervals but certainly it's a reminder as if he need one this remains a dangerous and volatile place.
He's really here with a very strong political purpose. Frustrations have built to such a point, not just in Washington but also here across Iraq, as you know, Kyra, that the Maliki government seems to be falling into paralysis, with things simply not getting done.
And that was what Dick Cheney's message was, that it is just time now to just get on with it. There can be no more mucking around. He says that the messages that he was getting back in the course of his meetings with, not just Mr. Maliki but other senior leaders, political and military, was a promising one from his perspective.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So I can't speak from personal experience in terms of what's going on all across Iraq. I can say that, based on the conversations I've had today, and most of those conversations were with Iraqis, and Iraqi leaders, some of them in the government, some of them not, that they believed the situation has gotten better.
They said specifically the statistics on sectarian violence: Sunni on Shia and Shia on Sunni violence, that they think is down fairly dramatically. I think everybody recognizes there are still serious security problems, security threats. No question about it.
But the impression that I got from talking with them, and this includes their military as well as political leadership is that they do believe we are making progress. But we've got a long way to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIMINTON: Progress, there, as you can see. Mr. Cheney saying on the security element is political progress he's looking for now. But he says the message he's received is that he believes the politicians here know they have to make progress, that there is not a lot of time up their sleeve, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And Hugh, it's sort of ironic. Here you are talking about the vice president. He's talking about security.
Meanwhile, these mortar attacks happen in the Green Zone, something that you know happens quite often. We saw it with the U.N. secretary-general. We the vest bomber in the Iraqi parliament. It is dangerous in the Green Zone, no matter what type of security that you have.
Do you know anything about a security detail? Was there air support? Were they outside the walls, inside the walls?
RIMINTON: We do know under the conditions of Mr. Cheney's visit, we've been asked and we are respecting an embargo in information about where he might have been at the time of this mortar -- of this one mortar blast.
It should also be stressed that, while the Green Zone has been receiving incoming fire and also suicide bombers and so on, that it probably remains the safest place in Baghdad. The violence outside the Green Zone is a good deal more prevalent.
And in fact, right across the country, we've seen an enormous bomb in the north of the country killing 14 people, injuring nearly 100 or so. The death of four journalists pulled from their car towards the north of the country and just shot at the side of the road. Five journalists killed here in the last week, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: That's definitely a constant threat. Hugh Riminton from Baghdad, thanks.
LEMON: You've been busy.
PHILLIPS: To say the least.
LEMON: How are you doing?
PHILLIPS: I'm doing well.
LEMON: Welcome back. You look great. I'm so excited. I'm so happy that you're back and that you're safe. But you really did just a bang-up job there. Just an amazing job.
PHILLIPS: Well, you know, you learn a lot about -- even more so the Iraqi people. You know, we talk a lot about the military, U.S. military and what's happening with regard to security and politics.
But very rarely do we get an inside view of the Iraqi people and how they try to just live within the chaos and the violence. And so I really try to do that and hopefully be able to bring home some of those stories throughout the newscast today.
LEMON: We're going to talk about that today.
PHILLIPS: Good. LEMON: And hopefully for quite sometime now. Because again, I do -- I think you did amazing stories, and you really brought it home for us as far as personalizing it.
PHILLIPS: And we've got to do that. We've got to continue to humanize the war. People forget, you know, why there's a U.S. presence and why so many people there want democracy and want a new way of life.
LEMON: Kyra Phillips, glad you're back, baby.
PHILLIPS: Good to be back.
LEMON: It's good to be with you again.
Well, he keeps a sharp eye on what other people say, but now his own remark is being questioned. Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, Al Sharpton is accused of bigotry after a comment on Mitt Romney's religion.
PHILLIPS: And first it was contaminated pet food, then animal feed, now fish. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, a closer look at melamine and it's effects on the body.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Devastating wildfires across Florida. We want to hear from the governor now, Charlie Crist, as he addresses reporters.
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: Charlie?
CHARLES H. BRONSON, COMMISSIONER, FLORIDA DIVISION OF FORESTRY: Thank you, Mike.
We're extremely proud of our Division of Forestry firefighters and all of those in the Division of Forestry that helped out in this emergency, as the governor mentioned earlier.
Yesterday, I gave him a report at 5:30 that said we had 210 fires in 43,000 acres. Overnight, that went to 220 fires and 80,000 acres.
We've had over 200,000 acres of Florida burned already. They're doing their best right now to stay around the fire to keep it from -- away from homes, schools, businesses, and those types of buildings. We've been very fortunate.
They've been working overtime. We've had at least one that I know is -- has gone through some heat stroke or heat problems and -- but is back on the job. A little bit of recuperation and is back on the job. We're very proud of them.
This gives us an opportunity to work with all of our partners: our local county firefighters, as well as the National Guard. That's why Florida does stand out in these types of disasters, as the governor is aware, because we practiced these things. We do it all the time. We work together. And we accomplish what we set out to do. And I think that's a tribute to every person that's working on these fires and any other hurricanes or any other storms that we may have, is because they all work together very well.
CRIST: Thank you, Commissioner. Appreciate you.
We are practiced at it. And there's good and bad to that. The good news is that Florida is prepared. And we -- we have had a lot of practice. And one of the main elements of being prepared is our National Guard. And we've got the best.
General Burnett, if you could give us an update on what the Guard is doing, we'd sure appreciate it. And thank you for all you do.
GEN. DOUGLAS BURNETT, FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD: Thank you, Governor.
As your commander in chief, Governor Crist, has called out the National Guard early. And that's a critical success factor to any natural disaster recovery operations.
Let me address the issue of personnel and equipment, because that seems to be getting a lot of questions these days. Personnel of Florida National Guard has people home from Iraq and Afghanistan than since 9/11: almost 11,000 ready to do our state's mission, respond to the needs of our citizens. So we're in good shape there, more so than 2004 and 2005. And we responded effectively during that time.
Equipment: we have over 500 -- 500 high-wheel vehicle trucks ready to move out. We have six Black Hawk helicopters on the ground. More are on the way. They're fully engaged today in airborne firefighting operations. We'll have more available tomorrow.
We get some of those resources from adjoining states. We would thank, certainly, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania for responding to that need.
Tomorrow we'll see Chinooks, those big heavy lift helicopters which we have in the Florida National Guard, but yet we'll have more capability on the ground with their 2,000-gallon water buckets.
So your National Guard is ready to move out. We have less than 100 on state active duty today but almost 300 ready on high alert to move forward as we ramp up operations in the coming days. And we're very comfortable with where we are, working with the state's best emergency management -- the nation's best emergency management, Craig Fugate and the Division of Forestry.
Thank you again. We're ready.
CRIST: Thank you very much, General.
And here on the ground, we've got the mayor with us today -- the mayor of Keystone Heights, Florida, Mayor Hildreth. And Mayor, why don't you stay a few words to your local people? MAYOR MARY LOU HILDRETH, KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, FLORIDA: I'd just like to thank the governor for coming down to check on our situation, as well as Commissioner Bronson, the National Guard. But most importantly, I want to thank our local firefighters and the firefighters from the surrounding cities that have come to help us.
I know that for the past few days they've been working tirelessly. And even though we're a small city, our city employees have been out here all day and all night.
And once again, I'd just like to thank the governor for coming down.
CRIST: Thank you. Appreciate it.
Sheriff, you want to say anything? Sheriff.
SHERIFF BOB MILNER, BRADFORD COUNTY, FLORIDA: Thank you, Governor.
Sheriff from Bradford County. I thank the governor and Commissioner Bronson and the general for all of their resources. We continue to get more from Craig Fugate, the Division of Emergency Management, a lot of apparatuses.
I think what we need to point out is the first 48 hours of these fires, it's critical. The men and women that are both volunteer and career fighters, as well as the Division of Forestry, have done an absolute Herculean effort, in my opinion, having being here amongst them.
Everyone grabs the hose and whatever it takes. They have the knowledge, the background and experience. And we must absolutely acknowledge the assistance from the many counties and cities that are contributed up to this point, even though we will continue to receive even more state help. And we do appreciate that.
So my hat's off, as always, to the local folks to all the local folks from each of the cities and the counties. And thanks again to the governor and the -- Craig and his staff for the rest of the fire suppression equipment we're getting now. Thank you, sir.
CRIST: Thank you, sir. Appreciate you.
If you have any questions, we'll do our best to answer them. Yes, ma'am?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know in the '98 fire, one of the things the firefighters told me when they were fighting the Waldo fire was that we didn't have big enough tractors back then to have the right kind of fire lines to keep the fires from jumping. What's different since '98 now with the kind of equipment, the tractors on the ground?
CRIST: Well, you know, I wasn't the governor in '98, so I don't know what the equipment was then. But I can tell you that we've got the right equipment here now. And it's not just tractors, but it's helicopters.
Most importantly, it's the heart of the people that work here and our great team. And I could not be more proud of them. And they're working hard. And, like the commissioner said, some of them even get a little hurt, and they keep coming back in.
And Commissioner, you might want to address some of the equipment issues.
BRONSON: Well, we have -- we have upgraded the equipment a pretty good bit since '98. I'm in the process of working with the legislature and the governor to finally do away with all of our open cab tractors, our bulldozers that have to pull those plows, for safety reasons; trying to get closed cabs so, if there is a blow back or a burn back, that our workers don't get severely injured in those. And that does happen from time to time.
The helicopters, we're trying to keep them upgraded. We're working with a bill (ph) right now to try to make sure we can keep our helicopters up. Every bit of equipment that we're able to get to fight fires, we've got available to us.
And the good part is, as we go out west and go to our other states to help them fight fires during the year when we're not having them, they're coming in here to help us. We've got Georgia, South Carolina, all the way from West Virginia, and we'll have some others coming in. But we also have to remember they've been in the same drought conditions we are, and they also are having some problems.
But our people are used to -- our firefighters have been used to this for years and years, and they do a great job for us. They know exactly what they need. They ask us; we try to deliver.
And that's why our forestry -- head of our forestry division said the other day -- we need to go ahead and get the governor to -- to declare this thing, because it's going to get away, with the winds coming up. And sure enough, by the time we declared, the governor was able to get the National Guard mobilized for this, the winds picked up over a three-day period. And here we are with 80,000 acres burning right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor, have you...
PHILLIPS: That's the head of the forestry there in Florida. Also you can see the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist. You also heard from the general right next to him, the head of the National Guard. Working 220 fires right now throughout the state of Florida. Eighty thousand acres. Being told more than 2,000 of the acres burned to a crisp right now.
However, firefighters working overtime, only one dealing with heat stroke. He's back on the job. They're trying to keep the fires away from homes and schools. So far, it's looking good. We'll continue to follow it and bring you the latest.
LEMON: And cities and towns in the Midwest, we've been seeing scenes like that: people at the podium, city officials talking. But the president, President Bush, is seeing for himself today what remains of Greensburg, Kansas. Now as we've reported, more than 90 percent of that town was wiped out by last Friday's monster tornado.
Mr. Bush says the federal government will do what it takes -- whatever it takes, to help Greensburg rebuild. The courthouse and a grain elevator are the only large structures still standing there. It is an amazing sight to see.
On to business now. Here's an unusual angle to a housing story. Some good news. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange to tell us about some select markets that are actually doing just fine.
Hi, Susan. Good to see you.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. Welcome back. Some great reporting out in the heartland.
LEMON: Thank you.
LISOVICZ: Well, in some cities, home prices are hot right now. "The Wall Street Journal" points out several where prices are actually climbing, some with double-digit increases.
Home values rose much greater than the national average in Portland, Oregon; Boise, Idaho; Seattle and Salt Lake City, as well as Houston and Austin, Texas; and Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Why are these markets bucking the national downtrend? Well, there's no single explanation. But many of them missed the housing boom of the past five years, so they're playing catch-up. Most of them also have some strong industries that drive their economies. For example, colleges and technology in Raleigh and energy in Houston -- Don.
LEMON: So if you own a home or you're in the market for one, you're selling one, does that mean the housing market has hit bottom?
LISOVICZ: I think that would be a little premature, and we have some data just today, Don, to refute that. One prominent home builder says things are not getting any better.
Luxury home builder Toll Brothers today cutting its earnings forecast for the year. The company's CEO says the turnaround on the housing market may not be as close as we originally thought.
The reasons: tighter lending standards and a drop in confidence among potential home buyers. Those factors are especially hurting sales of the company's lower-priced homes, which still cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The overall turmoil in the nation's housing market, just one of the factors that will be considered by the Federal Reserve, policy makers considering at a meeting that is taking place at the moment. They're also balancing signs of weak economic growth against record high gas prices, which could fuel inflation worries. The Fed widely expected to hold its key rate steady at 5.25 percent. Investors looking for clues about future rate decisions. We'll get an announcement from the Fed in the next hour, and we'll bring it to you live.
(STOCK REPORT)
LISOVICZ: And, of course, we will bring that Fed decision when it happens in the next hour of NEWSROOM.
Don and Kyra, it's great to have the A-team back together, at last. Kyra, I can tell you, Don was dancing with a lot of partners in your absence.
LEMON: I was cheating on her, over and over and over again.
PHILLIPS: Were they good two-steppers?
LEMON: They were pretty good.
PHILLIPS: They were all right?
LEMON: Not like us, we swing.
PHILLIPS: Yes. They don't swing like we do.
LISOVICZ: You did -- you did a great job, Don, dancing with the stars.
LEMON: Yes. They were all fantastic.
LISOVICZ: They were.
PHILLIPS: ... compete.
LEMON: But it's good to have her back and safe, don't you think, Susan?
LISOVICZ: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: Nice to be all together again.
LISOVICZ: What a reunion.
LEMON: We will be checking back with you for that big Fed announcement, coming up in the hour. Next hour, I should say.
PHILLIPS: Keeps a sharp eye -- right? -- on what other people say, all the time. But now his own remark is being questioned. Straight ahead in the NEWSROOM, Al Sharpton is accused of bigotry after a comment on Mitt Romney's religion.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.
Melamine has turned up in pet food, in chicken feed, hog chow and now fish food. Where else can it turn up and what risks does it pose to you and your family? Our Elizabeth Cohen has the facts for us right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: First, though, let's get back to Fredricka Whitfield with an update on that situation in alligator alley. What do we know, Fred?
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, remember a while ago, I told you that a 20-mile stretch on alligator alley which connecting Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Naples, Florida was closed because of the heavy smoke and flames in that area because of this wildfire that has already charred 15,000 acres plus.
Now, we understand from the Florida state highway patrol that they have reopened that 20-mile stretch between state road 29 and county road 951. That doesn't necessarily mean that the wild fire is out. It's still only 35 percent contained. But, for now, they feel it's safe for people to travel that span. It's still possible, though, throughout later on today as the winds shift and the smoke continues to kind of cross that roadway that possibly they may have to close that pass again. But for now, alligator alley has reopened.
PHILLIPS: All right, keep checking in. Thanks, Fred.
LEMON: Let's talk now about politics and religion. Al Sharpton and Mitt Romney -- you do the math. Romney is trying to become the first Mormon ever elected to the White House. Monday night in a debate with outspoken author and atheist Christopher Hitchens (ph), Sharpton appeared to question Romney's faith --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON: As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway so don't worry about that. That's a temporary, that's a temporary situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The Romney campaign has issued a statement saying, "Bigotry toward anyone because of their beliefs is unacceptable." But Sharpton calls Romney's reaction a blatant effort to fabricate a controversy. In his words, in no way did I attack Mormons or the Mormon church when I responded that other believers, not atheists, would vote against Mr. Romney for purely political reasons.
Now just last month, we asked voters in New Hampshire whether Mitt Romney's religion would sway their decisions. Here's how they answered in the first primary state. Four percent said they would be more likely to vote for Romney, 10 percent more likely to vote against him, 86 percent said it would have no affect on their vote.
And last year in our CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll, we asked Americans whether they considered Mormons Christians, 34 percent said yes, 35 percent said no. The rest were unsure.
I'm looking at your face right now in the monitor. Let's bring contributor and radio talk show host Roland Martin. OK, Roland. You're going to chastise people for saying things that are maybe perceived as wrong. Should you watch your mouth, maybe? Be more careful about what you say?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean you should always be careful about what you say because you should base it upon facts. The problem with this story is we don't have the proper context.
First and foremost, this was the religious debate that took place between Sharpton and Christopher Hitchens. I called Reverend Al Sharpton this morning because I said I want to know what were you talking about? He said the previous question came from Hitchens and he was saying that -- don't worry about it, people who believe in God, like you just said in your open, people who actually believers, not atheists, are not going to vote for Mitt Romney. That's what he said he was talking about.
Now I've heard the audio piece. I would love for somebody to produce the actual audio so we can hear what he said before that statement so we can have the right context to have this discussion.
LEMON: It's all about context.
MARTIN: Of course, it is.
LEMON: But I have to go back to my original question. Even if it's context, even if it's context, here's what people are saying - And I printed this just so you can see it. This is from "The New York Times." Look at this -- this is the responses from the blog on "The New York Times" about what the Reverend Al Sharpton said. If you're going to be the purveyor of truth about everyone, what people say, shouldn't you be a little bit more careful even if it's in the context of a conversation or a debate about what you say?
MARTIN: But again Don, the problem is, people are responding to a snippet as opposed to what was the full context. We don't know. Now, Sharpton has come back and said, you know, this is what I meant. Have we heard the actual set up to that comment? That's like me saying Paris Hilton's a nice young lady but then I follow it up by saying she should take her butt to jail for what she did. If you only play the first half and not the second half, you may say, wow, he likes Paris Hilton. No, it's all about context. Now you're right. We should watch what we say.
But here's what's interesting Don. Faith is going to be a part of this debate. We even have "The New York Times" doing various stories about Senator Barack Obama's church in Chicago. We've had people questioning Rudy Giuliani about being a real Catholic because he's been married three times. He also had an affair and he's pro choice. Then we've also had people questioning the faith of Fred Thompson. James Dobson said, I don't think he's even a Christian, when he actually is. So, faith is a part of the political discourse, whether we like it or not. LEMON: Yeah, and in fairness, there's a full statement here, a full long statement that we have from the Reverend Al Sharpton. It does mention what you said about Barack Obama. He goes into quite some detail about that. But his claim though -- this is his main claim. The first thing off of his statement says that by the Mitt Romney campaign, it is a blatant misstatement by the Mitt Romney campaign, is a blatant effort to fabricate a controversy to help their lagging campaign. He goes on to say in response to him, I predicted that believers, not atheists, would vote against this candidate and in this case, Mr. Romney, for political, not religious reasons. Do you think it's a blatant attempt to help a lagging campaign here?
MARTIN: No. I think what it is is the Mitt Romney campaign saw a comment and is responding to a comment. You're right, the natural perception -- the natural thing to do when you see that comment is to say, oh, he's questioning whether Romney actually believes in God. But what's the set up to the statement. Again, if you don't have the set up to what he had to say, you really don't know what he was saying.. That's why the first thing I did as a reporter, I said, what is he talking about? I got a call this morning, Sharpton made the comment. When I saw it, the first thing I said was what did he say before that to elicit that response? I would hope the people who recorded the speech would at least release that so we could hear that.
So, again, so Romney, I would have responded the exact same way as the Romney campaign did because I'm taking just that comment at face value. And, also, Don, the difference with the Don Imus situation, we had the full context of his comment from beginning to end. We don't have it here.
LEMON: Because we heard the whole thing. At least we heard a bigger snippet of what Imus said.
MARTIN: This is 19 seconds. Now, if you want to say al Sharpton is criticizing atheists versus those believers, that's the whole different debate.
LEMON: Yeah.
MARTIN: But, again, we're taking phrases -- he criticized Romney, but did he really criticize Romney? Let's get the full context. Then we can have a discussion.
LEMON: OK, Roland, get out your crystal ball. We've dealt with situations similar to this before. So we sort of knew that there was going to be fallout from the Imus situation. I don't think anyone could have predicted which way it was going to go.
MARTIN: Right.
LEMON: In this, do you have any idea where you think this story is going? More fallout here? Is the Reverend Al Sharpton going to have to apologize more and more, go to rehab or anything like that?
MARTIN: I think first and foremost, what's going to happen here is that this was a religious debate that took place. We'll see what happens if Christopher Hitchins decides to come out, maybe they'll actually release the entire audio. If you want to say this is a brush fire that started with a spark, I would say this is more like a smoke coming off of a kettle on top of the stove. Again, once we get a better idea of really what the context was, then we're going to have a different debate. Now, the context -- he was actually talking about Romney and his faith and the tape shows that, then it's going to be a different conversation and Sharpton will have something to answer for. But until then, take it at face value.
LEMON: And Roland, you know, where there's fire, there's smoke. But where there's smoke, there's not always fire. Right?
MARTIN: Absolutely.
LEMON: Roland Martin, always a pleasure. Thank you, we'll see you soon.
MARTIN: Thanks a lot Don.
LEMON: A quick reminder for you, be sure to catch CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. The Reverend al Sharpton will be a guest right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: Rising gas prices got you over a barrel? Well, there are ways to save a few dollars that makes sense. Advice straight up in the NEWSROOM and that leads to our e-mail question of the day. When it comes to high gas prices, what are you doing differently if anything? Send us your comments. The address is cnnnewsroom@cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Food safety and the government's attempt to maintain it, kitchen table talk around the nation lately, now a subject of a hearing by the House committee on agriculture. The panel quizzed officials from the FDA and elsewhere about the tainted Chinese wheat flour found in pet food, pig and fish feed and now the human food supply. The hearing comes months after the Government Accountability Office dubbed food safety as a high-risk program, according to the fact that 15 agencies oversee 30 different food safety laws. All those food sources I've just mentioned have shown traces of the chemical, melamine. So is there are a real danger to what you're feeding your family. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now to tell us what you need to know. So I guess first of all, do we need to worry about the fish that we eat?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a word, the Food and Drug Administration says no and I'll explain why. Farm-fed fish in the United States, some of them did indeed eat foot contaminated with melamine, the chemical we've all heard so much about. However, the FDA's not saying how many fish ate the contaminated feed nor are they saying the location of the farms. But they say that the fish never went to market. So they're say that people who eat fish do not have to worry.
PHILLIPS: Also, hogs and chicken, are those in danger? COHEN: They're in danger, we're not in danger if we eat them. At least that's what the USDA and the FDA say, but for a different reason. They say that some of these animals did go to market. Let's look at these numbers for hogs and poultry because it's pretty huge. More than 6,000 hogs are believed to have eaten melamine and more than 20 million chickens. Most of these animals, however, did not get into the food chain. Some of them did, though. Millions of chickens made it into the food chain, several hundred hogs. But experts at the FDA and the USDA say that the amounts that humans would have eaten of the melamine, were so tiny that it wouldn't be a threat to human health, such tiny numbers.
PHILLIPS: It definitely gets us thinking about the food supply and that it's vulnerable.
COHEN: This is an interesting case because while it appears that no humans have gotten sick or died, it definitely shows you what could happen. We're talking three different animals that humans eat have eaten melamine and it makes you wonder what goes on here? What it points to really is the international nature of our food supply. This is feed that was contaminated in China that was fed to animals who were being raised in the United States. And there is -- there are issues in China and other countries. They don't have the same standards that we have for food safety. And then when that food crosses borders, there simply aren't enough border inspectors. There have been budget cuts. There just aren't as many border inspectors as there used to be.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll stay on top of it then. Thanks so much Lizzie.
LEMON: Soaring gas prices? What can you do to ease your pain at the pump besides not driving. We have some consumer tips for you straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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LEMON: Wow. That's serious. $3 a gallon used to be a shocking price for gas. Now you're likely to see lots of 3s at your corner station. Could 4s be next? Most Americans think so. A CNN Opinion Research poll reveals 79 percent believe it's likely gas prices will hit $4 a gallon this year. 20 percent disagree. If it's any consolation, $5 a gallon still seems improbable to most Americans. Only 28 percent say it's likely gas prices will reach that level this year; 71 percent think they won't.
PHILLIPS: Well, there are ways to make a gallon of gas go further. CNN consumer reporter Greg Hunter has some advice for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can't give you one tip that will save you big bucks, but I can give you a lot of little ones that can really add up. First of all, put regular gas in your car, not premium. Ninety percent of vehicles only need regular gas. You don't help yourself out buying the premium. You don't help yourself out buying the mid grade if all your car needs is regular gas. Also the check engine light, if it's on, you're definitely using more fuel. That's according to triple A. Another good one is, gas up when it's cool. That's because when it's cool, gas is denser. You get more bang for your buck. Also, slow down. You can save up to 10 percent, the difference between 55 and 65. If you're idling more than a minute, turn your engine off, you'll save money. Less than a minute, leave it run.
Tire pressure -- big, especially if you have an SUV, the bigger the vehicle, the more critical tire pressure. You can save 10 percent especially on that SUV. Also if you have roof racks or weight in your trunk, get rid of that. And check gaspricewatch.com if you want to get the lowest price. All you have to do is put your zip code in and you'll get the lowest price. Back to you guys in the studio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, thank you, sir. We all talk about gas prices. But what are we doing about them? We all talk about them. What do we do about them? That's our e-mail question of the day for you. Tell us what you're doing to conserve? That address you can send that to us cnnnewsroom@cnn.com and we'll read your comments throughout the afternoon right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
PHILLIPS: Life's short, get a divorce. A controversial ad sparks lots of talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Your slogan would be life's short, stick together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life's short, fix it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Wait until you hear what happened to the billboard. Oh, my goodness -- straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. I know what that means.
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PHILLIPS: Exactly 30 years after the Supreme Court decision allowing law firms to advertise, well, a firm in Chicago is learning there are limits, at least in the court of public opinion. CNN's Jeanne Moos is on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You know how they say --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You may now kiss the bride.
MOOS: Kiss her good-bye if you believe this billboard -- life's short. Get a divorce. Bosom some galore and wash board abs await you. The all-female Chicago law firm that put out the ad described it this way.
CORRI FETMAN, DIVORCE ATTORNEY: Gutsy, unique, outcome oriented.
MOOS: Passers-by chose somewhat different words.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Disgusting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's ludicrous.
MOOS: And no one seemed more irritated than other attorneys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks like they're advertising for an escort service. Doesn't look like for a law firm.
MOOS: The eye casting cleavage graced an area known as the Viagra triangle for its trendy upscale singles bars.
FETMAN: Typically law firm advertising is lawyers in suits. We wanted something that was going to provide hope and fantasy. Hope gets you through the darkest times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's saying give up on your marriage. You can find something a little more exciting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's encouraging divorce.
FETMAN: We don't cause divorce, people cause divorce, lawyers don't.
MOOS: Just as guns don't kill people. As for the killer abs...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These machos I like. They're very handsome.
MOOS: The abs belong to the personal trainer of the lawyer behind the billboard. Life's short, get a divorce.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, life's too short to waste your time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like a Victoria Secret ad.
MOOS: This from a divorce attorney who surrounds himself with slogans. Don't you hand out pens? Do you have them now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a joke. Sue someone you love. It's a joke. But I don't have a pen with one of the things of a nude person on it where you turn it upside down and the clothes fall off.
MOOS: A few years back, a British divorce lawyer put up these ads in London restrooms. They got tons of publicity which is exactly what we're giving this. These two aren't ditching anybody. They've been married going on 47 years. Your slogan would be, life's short, stick together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life's short, fix it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take this ring. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take this ring, I thee wed.
MOOS: That's wed, not shed. But what with all of the controversy, the offending ad was shed Tuesday afternoon. Life really is short, especially the life of this billboard. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: By the way, they took the billboard down. The next hour of the NEWSROOM starts right now.
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