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Haiti's Storm Misery; MTV Stirs Controversy Over Anti-Bush Remarks; Palin Touts McCain's Strengths; Policeman Investigated for Tackling Football Fan
Aired September 09, 2008 - 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: Coming at you now: Obama rips a page from an old playbook. See if this sounds familiar to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, OBAMA CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: She was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: A tiff over who is really for change.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You can't just reinvent yourself.
SANCHEZ: Even pundits are getting angry. Check out Begala.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: But, see, this is the problem. We have this false debate, when we ought to have at least agreed-upon facts.
SANCHEZ: Americans furious this guy.
RUSSELL BRAND, ACTOR: Would you let that retarded cowboy fellow be president for eight years?
SANCHEZ: Was this really necessary?
And just in time for Christmas, a Sarah Palin action figure. Can you say red-hot?
The news starts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez, day two.
I'm alive and well right here in Atlanta with what is the first interactive newscast on cable.
Now, alive and well is not a term that we can use when referring to somebody else, talking about the mystery man who single-handedly runs a mystery country, talking about North Korea. There he is, the dear leader. This is news, folks, Kim Jong Il, whose threats to develop nukes has had the world on edge. There are plenty of questions right now and there are rumors and there's speculation about whether he is even alive.
Now, here is the reason for this. Forget the guessing that people have been doing for several months and months about the alleged failing health of Kim Jong Il. There is nothing about that that we can actually check, but, today, there was a massive parade in Pyongyang. There it is. It is a million people you are looking at on the streets. Where was the dear leader? A no-show. That is confirmed.
This is a country that is so mysterious, few Westerners have even been allowed to cross its borders.
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour was there a just couple of months ago.
Christiane, do you buy the reports and, if so, given our less than amicable relations with them, never mind the nuclear issue, do you fear this could lead to worsening relations with the United States or perhaps a diplomatic opportunity?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I think that you raised the appropriate concern at the beginning. This is a mystery.
Kim Jong Il is perhaps the most mysterious leader of the most opaque, closed state in the world. And what has been happening is that everybody has been wondering about his state of health over the last several weeks. And people were looking very closely at today's expected massive celebration for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean state.
And what transpired was a less impressive parade, none of the military hardware that is normally associated with it, some civilian or paramilitary troops goose-stepping, as you can see, but none of the usual huge army, air force columns of artillery and other such equipment, but most important, nor was Kim Jong Il, the leader of North Korea, present.
Now, he has been present at other parades, five years ago and five years before that. And he was expected to be there today. Now, why is this important? Because North Korea is involved in very delicate negotiations over disarmament of its nuclear power plant and also to try and get any kind of nuclear weapons cast and put aside.
The U.S. is involved in these. It's been spearheading them, along with China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia. And over the last month or so, there's been no sign in public of Kim Jong Il.
And what creates uncertainty is, well, then, in whose hands are the negotiations? What does this mean for the future of trying to get the disarmament under way and completed, a process that has started and that is moving in positive direction -- Rick. SANCHEZ: Chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, nobody covers the international beat better. Thanks so much, Christiane. Let us know if anything changes on this story.
Meanwhile, I want you to know -- and, Robert, go ahead and get a shot -- we're going to get that in just a minute. Let's go ahead with this now. America votes. Let's do the campaign. Yesterday, we showed you how the Republican ticket appears to have gotten a bounce from last week's convention, in particular from Sarah Palin's presence as McCain's running mate.
Today, the Democrats are swinging back. The new Obama ad pulls no punches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, AD)
OBAMA: I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message.
NARRATOR: They call themselves mavericks. Whoa. Truth is, they are anything but. John McCain is hardly a maverick when seven of his top campaign advisers are Washington lobbyists. He's no maverick when he votes with Bush 90 percent of the time. And Sarah Palin is no maverick either. She was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it.
Politicians lying about their records, you don't call that maverick. You call it more of the same.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right, I want to show you something now. As we move on, we are going to continue to do this as an interactive newscast. That means what you say to me will also be reported, just like what I am sharing with you is taken in by you.
Robert, go ahead. Do that over--shoulder shot. Show them that big plasma that we're looking at in front me right there. There you see it. That is where I am going to be checking on twitter.com/ricksanchezCNN. So, throughout this newscast, I am going to check to see what you are saying to me. Also, you can get to me through MySpace and Facebook, by the way.
Moving on with politics, among some hard-core Democrats, there seems to be almost a whiff of frustration that is sinking in. We are going to talk about that in just a couple of seconds. First, let's talk about the so-called bridge to nowhere that Obama slammed in that ad that you saw just moments ago.
Governor Palin says she axed it, but the evidence suggests otherwise. The federally funded project in southeast Alaska would have connected the town of Ketchikan to an island with fewer than 100 residents, to the tune of $400 million.
Here's Governor Palin speaking yesterday. Listen to this. This is in Missouri.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I told Congress, thanks but no thanks to the bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted to build a bridge, we would build it ourselves.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This has been a consistent part of the speech. In fact, she said -- we checked -- she said the exact same thing today.
Here is the rub. Independent fact checks now strongly suggest it is not true. Here is the headline just from today. The McCain friendly "Wall Street Journal" reads, "Record Contradicts Palin's Bridge Claims." That is "The Wall Street Journal," tend to lean more to the right, as most would agree.
Associated Press says this. AP reports that Palin abandoned the project only after it had become an embarrassment to her state and after federal dollars for the project were pulled back and diverted to other issues and other uses in Alaska. That is significant.
"Newsweek" has taken apart the bridge claim itself. So has "The Washington Post," but Democratic bigwig Paul Begala says the media is letting Palin off the hook in general. I want you to watch something here. We saw this, this morning and we thought we should share it with you.
Check out Begala's frustration level at what he says are flat-out lies this morning on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEGALA: This is the problem. We have this false debate, when we ought to have at least agreed-upon facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There you see it. He is shaking his head. He's upset. Begala was sparring with GOP consultant Alex Castellanos. Go ahead. Take off your microphone. He's obviously not a happy camper. This is interesting.
Time for Preston on politics now. CNN political editor Mark Preston is joining us.
All right, let's put Paul Begala aside for just a moment and let's start with the bridge to nowhere. What was being reported on blogs now appears to be actually vetted and reportable. It's taken a while. It is true that she really was for it in the beginning and then changed. Is this part of the media vetting of her that we are likely going to be seeing more of now?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, no question, Rick. Look, the McCain campaign has done its vet and now it is the media's turn. Right now, there are teams of reporters crawling all over Alaska right now, trying to find out everything about Sarah Palin. We don't know that much about her.
And I will tell you, if you even look at the front page of "The Washington Post" today, they have a story that talks about how much per diem, how much official state money she took as governor while she was at home in her home in Wasilla.
So, look, this is part of the game. She knew what she was getting into. And if you are going to run for president, you're going to run for vice president, then you have to expect every stone is going to be turned over.
SANCHEZ: Well, let's talk about this Begala thing, because it really caught our eye here as we were watching it this morning. We had one of our meetings and we paid particular attention.
In fact, Dan, if you can, show that again. You can almost see. Begala gets stern sometimes and he's kind of a visual creature to begin with, but when he gets mad, look at him. Is this because Obama's polls are slipping and he is a Dem or does he have a point about issues getting lost in these campaigns?
PRESTON: Let me issue that in two different ways, Rick.
First of all, the issues have been put aside at least for the time being. We are fascinated by this new storyline. We want to find out who this vice presidential candidate is. We don't know much about her.
But having said -- and I cannot speak for Paul Begala -- I will tell you, just got off the phone shortly, a short time ago with a Democratic strategist who told me this. He said, look, I am getting worried right now. I'm not in panic mode at this point, but the fact is, if we keep slipping and McCain is able to keep gaining ground on us, I am afraid we won't be able to make it up.
Now, I cannot say that is that what everyone across the Democratic spectrum is thinking. I can't say that's what the Obama campaign is thinking, but, look, Sarah Palin has worked for Obama. She is the one who is taking the flak, Rick. She is the one that is going toe-to-toe right now with Barack Obama. And John McCain is not going toe-to-toe with Obama.
SANCHEZ: Well, that is important perspective. Let's try and decipher it even a little more.
I want the folks at home a popularity poll, because that is essentially what it is. Put it up if you can, Dan. Let's see if we can parse this thing even further.
Look, when you look at this poll, which is really an indication of who is most popular among the vice presidents, is it Biden or is it Sarah Palin, she is kicking it. She's kicking it. This woman has her own action figure up. Do we have the action figure?
Because that is something I would for folks to able to see as well. Let's go to the poll first. All right. There's the poll. Sarah Palin -- is Sarah Palin -- no, this is the wrong poll. This is the qualified poll.
All right. Do you have the action figure? All right. There you go. The Sarah Palin action figure. Now, you know that somebody is very popular when they have their own action figure. And you can take my word that I have looked at the poll and she is pretty much handing it to Biden when it comes to who is a more politician right now in the United States.
You say what?
PRESTON: Let me say this, Rick. Look, right now, Sarah Palin has a high favorability rating. We don't know much about her. The story we are hearing, people like.
But when the question is asked in the same poll, who is more qualified to be president, Joe Biden blows out the doors at 70 percent. That is what people are saying, 50 percent for Palin.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Let me just interrupt you for a moment to give the direction to the guys here in the control room. Go ahead and put the qualified up one now, if you have that one, so we can see that one. You can take our word for it that the popularity one was won by Sarah Palin.
But then when you ask the question this way, who is more qualified, now look at how it comes out. Take it away, Mark.
PRESTON: Yes, and that is what it comes down to. Good news for Democrats on that front.
But, look, Joe Biden is not necessarily running for president, Rick. It is Barack Obama vs. John McCain. I will tell you this. We know a lot about Joe Biden. The Republicans would like us, much to the chagrin of perhaps Democratic strategists, Begala, what not, to really try to dig in deeper into Joe Biden's past.
But I will tell you this. We are going to dig into deeper to Biden's past and we're going to deep in deeper to Sarah Palin's past -- 56 more days left to this election. It is going to be a very fast ride.
SANCHEZ: I will tell you, we're already getting a lot of reaction from this. Mark, thanks so much, Preston on politics, love having you on.
Let's go over to the Twitter board. Already, people are writing to us.
Look at this: "They are holding Palin back from the press to build sympathy and time. She will be fully rehearsed for interviews."
All right, "By some accounts, she flip-flopped on the bridge decision and many more that are coming in."
We are going to be reading them, parsing them and sharing with you as we go.
Oh, and this, this, calling President Bush a retarded cowboy, and it is worse. This has a lot of Americans fired up, probably in some of your own communities. Why? Because it was seen and it was heard, that retarded cowboy comment, by millions and millions of Americans. That is why. We are going to share it with you, let you hear.
And then we're bringing it from to screen to here, your comments on the Twitter board.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez, here in the world headquarters of CNN. We are trying something different here. We are going to be doing this everyday at 3:00 p.m., talking to you while we are also hearing you talk to us. That is right. Through twitter.com/ricksanchezCNN, also through Facebook and MySpace.
For example, look at one that we collected moments ago. You were hearing the conversation I was having with Mark Preston. Well, people have been writing in.
This is what people come away with right here. Listen to this: "No matter what you say about Sarah Palin, this is what Americans are still engaged by."
This is Thunderclap (ph), who writes in and says: "I am more amazed by her approval rating as governor than -- that 80 percent. That is huge."
Yes, it is huge -- 80 percent approval rating as a governor is huge and a lot of people are certainly recognizing that as she gets talked about suddenly in the media.
There's something else we want to do. Let's talk about Hurricane Ike. now. I want to show it to you on the Telestrator, because this is a pretty amazing picture. In fact, let's take it down here. I'm going to draw something up for you. All right?
This is Ike that you are looking at right there. It has literally come, as our own Chad Myers will tell you in a little bit, that way through Cuba. Now, remember, this is the line on Cuba. What that means is it went into Cuba, came out the other side of Cuba and now is going back through Cuba again. That is the kind of storm that can do an awful lot of damage.
Oh, and one more thing. Let me go back to this thing. Remember, as it is going like this, where is Havana? Havana is right there, where I just made that point. So, what it means is it is getting these winds, the most powerful winds on that right quadrant right there, which is important to recognize.
We are going to be following that story about what is going on in Cuba by looking at it from several different vantage points. Really they have not been able to get a break, at least not from this hurricane or even from this hurricane season.
Let's go to another story now.
This is in Haiti, because this is another country where villages and towns have been under water for large parts of the day. There you go -- 73 people have died in Haiti we understand from Hurricane Ike alone and remember they were hit by other storms. So, their death toll is really going to be much higher.
In fact, even the death toll from the previous storms, which was over 170, and now this one, they expect all of those will probably rise over the next couple of days.
CNN's John Zarrella has been following things there in the island of the Turks and Caicos, just above where Haiti is. He filed this report for us just moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Everywhere on Grand Turk Island, you hear the sounds of hammers. You see people pulling together. Already, they are trying to get the holes in their roofs fixed, trying to pick up the debris and get some sense of their lives back together.
Off the coast, two British warships helping out in the recovery effort. We talked to the premier today, who says that is going to be $200 million, maybe $300 million in damage here on Grand Turk Island alone.
It could take a year or maybe more before everything is picked up.
Lea, you lost just about everything, but...
LEA ASTWOOD, HURRICANE VICTIM: Everything. But we came out alive, my wife and my family, my children and my grandchildren, so thank God.
ZARRELLA: You start over?
ASTWOOD: We start all over again. This is my house for temporary. I am rebuilding my permanent house from another hurricane that passed a couple of years ago. And I was out here on a temporary basis, but you see what happened.
ZARRELLA: But many people, as Lee was telling us, are in worse shape than he is. One of the good things is that Providenciales, is the main tourist island, survived. It is intact. And the government says that they should be up and running within a couple of weeks, inviting tourists back, which is the key trade, what they need to start getting their lives back together and to bring the income back into the islands.
John Zarrella, CNN, on Grand Turk Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Hey, Dan, let's do this if we can. Let's show those pictures of Haiti again. I think we need to underscore they have been four times now. There it is, standing water, rivers of muds, homes destroyed, and people there needed help and getting, well, some relief as you can see in those pictures.
I think we get a chance to go CNN's Karl Penhaul now. He is on the phone with us.
Karl, we are looking at pictures of people trying to get some of the supplies in to help them make due. It is enough? How is the relief effort?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Getting this relief aid in is a very slow process, because Gonaives, the city that has been hardest hit by this slate of storm, is cut off by road. The only way in is by sea or by air.
So that means it is a slow process getting that aid in for a city of 300,000 people just by air. That said, traveling around the city this morning, I have seen that people have managed to save some supplies and even some of the small stores and people who are selling at the roadside are selling are open for business once again today.
That does not mean that people have enough to eat or drink, though. Drinking water, clean drinking water, is still in very short supply. People are telling me everywhere where we go, they are saying, hey, have you got some water? Can you give us some water?
But the real problem as well when you look at it is the cleanup operation here. I mean, there's two, three, three feet in some cases of thick mud inside people's homes. They just don't know what to do. They say it is going to take a week to get the mud out. And the worst thing is they turn around and say, we really didn't have anything to lose in the first place, and now we have lost everything that really we didn't have.
SANCHEZ: Karl Penhaul reporting to us there from Haiti. I am glad you're there. I'm glad we are able to report on a part of the world that too often gets ignored. And it is a difficult situation for those folks there.
Let's go over to Chad Myers now. He is in our CNN hurricane headquarters.
Boy, you have got your hands full today, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I do, Rick. And I could use your hand as well on this one, a brand-new warning for southern Miami-Dade County. And you know the area very well there, Homestead Miami Speedway in the way, also Florida City, Redland, Homestead, General Airport and also Shark Valley. We will talk about this and what is going on here.
This is the storm itself. There is the eye of what is Ike still on land in Cuba, but these outer bands are now coming onshore into Miami into the north Keys, upper Keys here, from Islamorada on up to about -- oh, that was Card Sound Road had a tornado warning for a while, and now we will stop it and you see that this is the local Miami radar. That cell right there is spinning.
And that is going to take itself over some populated areas, Rick, right?
SANCHEZ: Which one is that? I'm sorry.
MYERS: This is one here that is going to go near Homestead, near the Miami...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You know what is interesting about what you are showing right now? Think back to Andrew.
MYERS: I know.
SANCHEZ: That is the exact line that Andrew took almost. Those cities you named are ones that were hit the hardest.
MYERS: Absolutely.
And we haven't had any confirmation that these tornadoes are on the ground, but these storms are spinning in a way that is sufficient to put down a small waterspout-like storm, tornado, on the ground. And you have to watch that, anywhere from almost about -- I don't know, not quite to Melbourne, but certainly South Florida and all the way through the Keys.
There goes the storm into some very warm water, Rick, 75 miles per hour right now down from a Category 3 hurricane. When it slammed over here, and when this hits this side of Cuba, there were some waves that were five stories tall from some of these cameras that we saw there.
Ibara (ph) really got hit hard. And then we're going to rebuild this storm into a Category 3 and drive either at Texas or northern Mexico, probably at 115 or so miles per hour -- Rick.
MYERS: Great job. We will be watching that.
I guess, look, if there is anything good out of this is that, as we look at it, and we are certainly not lessening the effect that this could have on Texas, but at least NOLA is kind of out of the woods on this thing, right?
MYERS: It is. And also something else. On Cuba, you were talking about this, how hard Cuba got hit? Is it Comigue (ph)?
SANCHEZ: Yes, it is.
MYERS: Is that right? This storm went right over the top of that city, a populated city. We are not talking farmland here, 100 miles per hour right over that very large city, and very little communication coming out of there as well. It is really hit hard, a lot of power lines and such down, and homes are damaged there, too.
SANCHEZ: Chad, thanks so much for following that for us.
MYERS: Sure,Rick.
SANCHEZ: Boy, we are moving fast here, aren't we?
I will tell you what else we need to do. There was a comment made on that MTV show the other day that I know that a lot of Americans are talking about it. I know because look at our Twitter board. See those right there? Put those up, if you could, Robert. Look at those. Those are all people complaining about what they saw on MTV when the host used terms like "retarded cowboy," referring to the president of the United States. And he also talked about Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter.
This is comedian Russell Brand that we're talking on the MTV Awards. Have you heard about this? We are going to be talking to you, obviously, because we have got your reaction. We will read a couple of those. But we're also going to be talking to somebody who worked for MTV and is now a mother of five. She's a blogger and she ain't happy about this. All right?
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez and we are interactive.
Did you see the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night? If not, well, you missed Britney and you missed Christina and you missed Kanye West, but there is something else that people are talking about.
Take them over there, Robert. Let's go to the big board. Ready? Look at this. This is what this one writes: "The MTV and VMA host was an embarrassment to the MTV generation and that says a lot right there."
Let's go to the next one: "Venue was an odd choice. Crowd seemed tiny, was basically in a warehouse. It was almost as if the awards themselves were an afterthought."
One more: "It is inappropriate for Russell to say that what he said on U.S. TV. If I went to the U.K. and said things about the queen, I would be stoned."
What are they talking about? Let me tell you what they're talking about. Get me back on camera there, Dan. This is a comedian, a British comedian who was hosting the show and what some consider his cheap shots at some people in the news.
Watch this. And then we are going to talk about it some more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAND: Could I please ask of you people of America to please elect Barack Obama, please, on behalf of the world?
Some people, some people -- I think they're called racists -- say America is not ready for a black president. But I know America to be a forward-thinking country, right, because otherwise, you know, would you have let that retarded cowboy fellow be president for eight years?
I feel most sorry for that poor teenaged father. Boy, one minute, he's just a teenage lad in Alaska having joyful, unprotected sex. The next minute: Get to the Republican Convention! I think that is the best safe-sex message of all time: Use a condom, or become Republican.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: There's a lot of questions about appropriateness here. Joining me now by phone is Rachel Campos-Duffy. She's a former cast member on "The Real World" on MTV. Some of you may have. And now she blogs on ParentDish.com. Did I tell you she has five kids?
All right. Are you there? Rachel, you there?
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, PARENTDISH.COM: Yes, I am. I am right here. I am right here.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you this. What did you think of Mr. Russell Brand's performance overall?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Well, as an American, obviously, I don't like to see a British guy coming over here and insulting my commander in chief.
But what I think is actually really interesting about this is how badly MTV has miscalculated this audience. This is a network that is supposed to have the pulse on youth culture. And, you know, they put this sort of aged, you know, comedian on who probably belongs on VH-1, instead of MTV.
And then you have Jordin Sparks, you know, fresh-faced star, saying, "Hey, not everyone wants to be a slut. Your little jokes about Sarah Palin are inappropriate."
I mean, I think it's -- I think it's very interesting, and regarding his comments on the election, I mean, these kids are paying attention to this election. They are tuned in, and they are a heck more sophisticated than MTV has given them credit.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you -- let me ask you a question about the venue.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Sure.
SANCHEZ: Because that that's important, as well. Because look, if he would have done this act at a club, you know, in Atlanta or in New York and say, well, people pay to go listen to that. It's their right, and he has a right to say anything he does.
By the way, I should also tell you we reached out to him, Russell Brand, all day long today. We must have put in at least ten calls, and no -- no calls returned. But we tried to get him on the air so he can give us his perspective. We'll keep trying tomorrow, by the way.
This is the question. The fact that he was on cable television, a little different than, like, public access television, for example, or the regular channels, do you give him a little more wiggle room then?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: No. First of all, the teens themselves said, "Come on, we want to be entertained. We don't want to be lectured to." It's just like -- I mean, I don't care where -- what side of the aisle the lecture is coming from, they're too smart for that.
But as a parent, here's what I don't like about cable. And I don't know what the deal is. I don't have great information on how this can happen, but I wish as a parent that I could just pick which channel I want. I hate that that comes into my house, that in order to get CNN, I have to get a package that also includes that garbage. That channel has degenerated to a point that, I mean, I don't even to channel surf because I'm afraid of what I might find.
SANCHEZ: Spoken as, I guess, a former employee, so-to-speak, right, somebody who used to be on MTV?
CAMPOS-DUFFY: It's not the same network. And that's what's so scary, is that this is what's happened in, you know, the 13 years since I was on. I wonder where is it going to go 10 years from now.
SANCHEZ: Senora Campos, thanks so much for being with us.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: You got it. Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Hey, are you going to be here tomorrow? But we're not going to just...
CAMPOS-DUFFY: I sure am.
SANCHEZ: ... see a picture of you, right? We're actually going to be able to see you.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much. CAMPOS-DUFFY: See you tomorrow.
SANCHEZ: We obviously have been getting a lot of responses on this, as well. We're going to share some of those with you as we move forward, because I've been checking over there, and I saw about, oh, a good 30 or so that had come in just on that.
But there's something else I want to show you now. I want to show you something that's going on in Iraq, and this is significant and something we should know about it. Let's go ahead and put that picture up. I want to telestrate over it, if we can.
See this? This is a report. That's Arwa Damon, for those of you who recognize her, perhaps. Look right here, what this -- "Safer on Ground." Exactly what does that mean? We'll tell you. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: This is one of the first times we've been able to do this, but we're going to be able to go into Joe Biden. He's speaking right now. We're monitoring it, and we'll be dipping in soon. And we want your reaction. There you see John McCain. He's going to be entering the floor, as well. He's with Sarah Palin. They're going to be speaking jointly.
So yes, that picture is kind of going in and out a little bit. I was told by the producer just a little while ago.
Here's what we're going to do, though. We're going to put them on the screen and let you listen to what they have to say, live, as it's happening. You're going to comment to us on what you're hearing from them and whether or not you're sold on their argument as to how the nation -- which direction the nation should take. This is going to be interesting. Stay with us. We're going to do that in just a little bit.
But first, let's talk about this. President Bush, he says 8,000 American troops can now leave Iraq by early next year, because things there are so much better. How much better?
Well, sometimes the best way to gauge how good things are is by looking at the people there on the ground.
Arwa Damon, our reporter, has been there now for about 5 1/2 years. And this is significant, because we were watching this report. And she, Arwa Damon, is now going and doing live shots like what we're looking at right there from places where she couldn't do it in the past. That's what we mean by safer on the ground. She literally can go to places where in the past she couldn't. Military officials would say no go, or she would probably lose her life, like all too many reporters have.
So let me show you a chunk of her tonight as she was going into some of these areas. Go ahead and play that, Dan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see the religious paraphernalia hanging on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. So I guess here's the question as we watch the video. If things are so much safer in Iraq, so that she can drive in a car in some of these areas that before were deemed too dangerous for any westerner, no less a reporter, why is it, then, that only 8,000 troops are going to be taken out of there over five months? Reasonable question.
Is the real problem in Afghanistan now, and should troops should be moving in that direction? One problem solved; go after the next one.
Let's ask senior correspondent Jamie McIntyre.
How about it, Jamie? Is it true a troop shift even in the works?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the progress in Iraq is undeniable, as you see there in that Arwa Damon is able to travel around in places she couldn't go.
But here's the bottom line. Just do the math with me here. U.S. commanders in Afghanistan need 10,000 more troops. They want them right now. What are they going to get under this plan? They're going to get 3, 500 more troops next February. That's a big gap there.
If the demand in Afghanistan is so desperate, why can't they cut more troops in Iraq, sooner? Well, it's because, even though things are much better, U.S. commanders just don't have that confidence that it's going to stay that way if they pull out the troops too fast.
And the other thing that means is that whoever the next president is, they're going to be dealing with two commanders, General Odierno and General Petraeus, who are very wary and very worried about pulling out troops out of Iraq too fast. And that's the kind of advice they're going to get. We're going to have to see whether they're going to follow the advice of their commanders or whether they're going to overrule their commanders.
SANCHEZ: Yes. So it's one thing to be stable now. It's quite another to be able to maintain that stability, and it sounds like a question that really hasn't been answered.
Jamie McIntyre, thanks so much for that report.
I understand we've got Joe Biden now. He is in St. Louis, Missouri. He's talking about health care. This is his pitch on this. I want you to listen in, and then go ahead and Twitter us or go to Facebook or MySpace on what your thoughts are on what he's saying. Here we go.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS) SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: ... And the health care is worth 12, you will now have to file taxes and pay taxes on $62,000. So that's a change. That's one change I can think of that John has in mind.
You know, he's got another change in health care. The other change in health care is going to give everybody a $5,000 tax credit. Well, that's a good idea. But your health care plan is worth $12,000. As soon as he gives you 5, a lot of employers are going to say, "Hey, I don't have to provide it anymore." And then you've got to make up 7. That is a Bridge to Nowhere, $7,000.
So, folks -- so, folks, we learned just a couple of days ago the unemployment rate is now the highest it's been in five years, 6.1 percent. We also learned that not only the unemployment rate for last month went up 84,000 more jobs lost, but this year 604,000 lost.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, notwithstanding John's former economic adviser said we're all a bunch of whiners, in my neighborhood, like yours, in St. Paul's parish, like yours, and my parish, guess what? We don't expect the government to solve our problems. We don't -- my dad used to say, "I don't expect the government to solve my problems, but at least, Joey, I expect them to understand my problem. Just understand my problem."
And let me tell you: I don't treat 84,000 people losing their job as a statistic. That's 84,000 individuals who have had their dignity stripped from them, whose own sense of self-worth has been diminished because they've been left out there.
Almost all of them lost their jobs through no fault of their own. They did everything by the numbers. They worked hard. They showed up at work. They punched the clock. They showed up in the office. They got the degree they needed, and one day they walked in and they said, "Guess what? Your job's gone."
Ladies and gentlemen, this is about the dignity of work, not just the ability to take care of your family. And look at what's left behind. We talk about this like it's a statistic. These are people. These are individuals whose whole notion of the American dream has been put on hold. And the worst part is, unlike other economic turn- down -- downturns, they look around and they see, like you saw...
SANCHEZ: As we listen to Joe Biden's speech, we're actually taking your comments. You saw -- go ahead, Dan. Do that split thing you did moments ago, again. Let's keep him on one side of the screen. Now, let's put the Twitter board here on the other side of the screen.
No, the other -- the Twitter board, if we can.
Listen to this: "Taxing our health care is not the way to fix the way to fix health care in America. Bad for economy." Interesting how we continue to get comments.
All right. Now, let's do the other thing with the other side. Now let's flip the screen and put John McCain and Palin on the other side while we're watching him. And now let's take Palin and John McCain full, and we're also going to take comments from you on what they're saying. So we'll continue this from the left and the right. Let's go to it.
PALIN: ... and the challenges and for the job of leading our country, he's the only man in this race who's got what it takes.
Remember, it was a year ago when the war in Iraq looked very bad and the consequences of failure would have been terrible for our country, for our troops. Defeat at the hands of al Qaeda in Iraq would have left millions to a violent future and would have left our own nation much less secure.
Some in Washington at the time said that all was lost. All was lost in the war, they presumed. They assumed. There was no hope for victory. And, they said, there was no hope for the candidate who had said he would rather lose an election than see our country lose the war.
But the pollsters and the pundits, they forgot one thing when they wrote him off. They forgot the caliber of the man himself, the determination and the resolve and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain.
But you all knew better. You all knew better, Americans. The American people understand that there is a time for politics and a time for leadership. A time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Country first! Country first! Country first!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Country first! Country first! Country first!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Country first! Country first! Country first!
PALIN: John McCain is a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years. He refused to break faith with the troops who have now brought victory within sight. And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.
Now, for his part, our opponent, he still can't bring himself to acknowledge the coming victory in Iraq. He couldn't just the other day in an interview. He says he's for change, but look there in Iraq. Change happened, and that's a great thing for America, Senator.
Here's how I look at the choice that we have in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
Americans, this is a moment when principle and political independence and those things that this man will bring to the office, those things that are going to matter a heck of a lot more than just a party line. He doesn't run with the Washington herd. He's willing to shake things up in Washington, and that is only one more reason to bring the maverick of the Senate and put him into the White House.
Senator McCain has called the two of us a team of mavericks, and he knows that we've done some shaking up, up there in Alaska. As mayor, I shook up the system and took on the good old boys. I reminded people that government is not always the answer. In fact, too often, government is the problem. So, we got back to basics, and we put government back on the side of the people. What I did was eliminate taxes on personal property. And...
SANCHEZ: All right. Let's get out of that, and as you can see, we're going to continue to do that here. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to get instant reaction from you -- not from us, not from pundits; from you -- to what we're seeing.
I'm reading your comments as I'm watching her speak. You know, it's quite interesting that we can go through those and actually read what you're saying. The majority of them were people who are -- were not crazy about Sarah Palin. So conservatives, come on, where are you? I'd like to hear what you have to say, as well. We found a few but not as many as the other side.
All right. Fans rushing the field at a football college game. Look at this. OK. Watch the cop. Bang. That's a student. No, he's not a member of al Qaeda. He's not a member of al Qaeda. He's a college student who's happy. That cop, he's in trouble. We're going to break this down for you. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. This is great, doing this together. It mean, it doesn't even feel like a newscast. It feels like we're having, really, a national conversation.
I appreciate all of you who have been -- hey, as a matter of fact, Robert, can you get this shot? I want to show them something. I want to get this down right now. Let's go down here to our Twitter page. I just thought of this. Look at this -- look at that number right there, that one, the 10,777. That's how many people are following us now as we have this conversation. Is that crazy?
All right. Now, to this. Take a look at this video. Now watch that police officer. Down, he goes. East Carolina fans are celebrating. They have one of the hottest football teams in the country. Second straight upset win. They beat, what, West Virginia, and then they beat Virginia Tech.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Two really great schools. Police officers are now coming in and investigating that police officer right there for what he did. They're saying it's excessive force. This isn't -- this isn't us saying this. That's the police chief saying it.
In fact, the police chief was quoted as saying after he looked at this, "This is sickening."
Let's bring in Mike Brooks. You are our what?
BROOKS: Law enforcement analyst.
SANCHEZ: All right. Not a security analyst?
BROOKS: Whatever. We do it all.
SANCHEZ: All right. When you look at that, you get mad. Because you know, it's one thing to be a police officer. Man, my brother's a police officer.
BROOKS: Great.
SANCHEZ: I appreciate them.
BROOKS: Sure.
SANCHEZ: I know what you've done over your life as a cop. What is that guy thinking?
BROOKS: You know, I'm thinking to myself, look, the fans are coming out. What are you going to do? You know, there are about 60 cops. There are 60 cops on the field.
SANCHEZ: Sixty thousand fans.
BROOKS: Right. What are you going to have, 600? Come on. That was -- I mean, you look at this, and Scott Shelton, chief of police of East Carolina University campus police, he was saying it sickens him.
There were five different departments that were on there.
SANCHEZ: There it is again. Let's watch this.
BROOKS: That's not even the worst of it, Rick. If you let it run, I've looked all day at the different video. You see one officer there throwing punches. Not necessary. Then you see other cops standing on the side in blue uniforms. You see ones just standing around. So what were they told?
SANCHEZ: You were a cop.
BROOKS: Right.
SANCHEZ: Isn't there a certain -- isn't there a certain training that teaches police officers -- and I know, look, everybody can have a bad day.
BROOKS: Right, sure.
SANCHEZ: It's not like you and I haven't screwed up.
BROOKS: Absolutely. SANCHEZ: So it's not to pick on him. But is there something that maybe we should be looking for training as to what's appropriate and what isn't, when?
BROOKS: Preplanning. Now, if they were expecting East Carolina to possibly win this, and everybody was saying that was a good possibility, they needed to express to the officers exactly what they were expected to do.
SANCHEZ: That's a great -- that's a great point.
BROOKS: That's what -- and I think there probably was a miscommunication. They said, OK, be a visible presence there. Try to be a presence there. Keep them in the stands if you can. But if not, just stand aside and monitor the crowd for any kind of violence. And you know, what -- we don't know.
Now, this is going to be a big investigation. I think it could have been a breakdown in communication between the five departments. And I guarantee you right now, besides the investigation, that Chief Shelton is looking at the policies and procedures of how the other departments work together on special events such as this.
SANCHEZ: Because this is going to be looked at and looked at and looked at again in the media.
BROOKS: Oh, absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Thanks for coming.
BROOKS: Rick, always good to be with you.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.
All right. We're not finished with your comments. We're going to be talking now on Twitter and MySpace and Facebook. That's Twitter.com/RickSanchezCNN, by the way.
Chris, I got it right. Your views, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Well, welcome back. Let's go to our Twitter board. I want to show you exactly what people are saying about that police case at ECU. "Breakdown? There isn't a 'breakdown in communication.' That's just plain, old police brutality."
Now switch gears. I want you to tell me what you think of John McCain's speech? Here he is, live.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: ... don't like us very much. (INAUDIBLE) We will stop this. We will stop this. Some of that money ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations, my friends. And it's going to stop. And it's going to be all of the above. It's going to be wind and tide and solar and natural gas. And it's also going to be nuclear power. Nuclear power has got to be part of that solution.
And, yes, in the meantime, yes, we're going to drill offshore, and we're going to drill now. We're going to drill.
And we'll fight for energy independence. We're going to get our economy moving again. And it will create millions of jobs, millions of new jobs in America. And it'll be clean coal technology, which will help so much here in the state of Pennsylvania. We will develop it, and we will invest in it.
So we can do it, my friends. And nuclear power has to be part of it. Senator Obama opposes nuclear power. He opposes offshore drilling. My friends, we can't get there from here.
Let me talk to you just for a minute about spending. It's out of control, my friends. It's become evil, and it is corrupted. It is corrupted, Washington, D.C. My friends, I've got an old ink pen, and I'm going to take that ink pen, and I'm going to veto every single pork barrel...
SANCHEZ: There you go.
MCCAIN: ... big spending bill that comes across my desk.
SANCHEZ: As we listen to John McCain and hear some of the comments that you have while we're watching John McCain, I take it now to my colleague in Washington, the best in the biz, Wolf Blitzer.
