Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

McCain & Palin in Iowa; Global Financial Fallout; Terrorists Target Americans

Aired September 18, 2008 - 12:30   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now, and it is Thursday, September 18th, I'm Don Lemon.
Here are this hour's headlines right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Bush and central banks around the globe take steps to settle the markets. CNN i-Reporters face to face with Hurricane Ike. You will hear their terrifying accounts.

And the freedom riders. Civil rights protests got them kicked out of school. Today they get honorary degrees. Congratulations to them. I will talk to one of the men coming up this hour.

Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And we are on the money today. The market's up most of the day briefly slipping into negative territory in just the last few minutes. This comes after another big loss yesterday, the Dow up 11 points. Wall Street struggling to rebound from its week that has seen a 900 point drop in the Dow. The Federal Reserve is joining forces with the world's other top central banks, they're pumping billions of dollars into the global banking system to shore up confidence. Insurance giant AIG is being kicked off the Dow Jones Industrial Average following the government's $85 billion bailout of the company this week.

From Washington to Wall Street, we're all over this story. Our Brianna Keilar standing by at the White House and our Susan Lisovicz live at the New York Stock Exchange.

First to the White House as President Bush tries to reassure the country, let's get right to CNN's Brianna Keilar -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what he was trying to do, Don, reassuring Americans that he is on top of this. He spoke outside of the oval office this morning. This was his first on- camera address about the economy since the government bailed out AIG on Tuesday night to the tune of $85 billion. And we were told ahead of time, don't expect the president to come out with any sweeping policy changes, any major solutions to this overall problem, and he didn't, Don.

What he did instead was really take the opportunity to play the role of a cheerleader. He was touting government involvement in stabilizing this crisis, stabilizing that's a word we've been hearing a lot from the White House. He touted the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as the move by the fed to buy out AIG on Tuesday night as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission tightening some rules. Listen to some of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These actions are necessary, and they are important, and the markets are adjusting to them. The financial markets continue to deal with serious challenges, as our recent actions demonstrate my administration is focused on meeting these challenges. The American people can be sure we will continue to act to strengthen and stabilize our financial markets and improve investor confidence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: President Bush also mentioned that he is in constant contact with his economic advisers. In fact, President Bush was supposed to be in Alabama and Florida today for official business and for a fundraiser. He canceled those events so that he could stay here in Washington and focus on this issue with his economic advisers that's what the White House says. And he's also stressing that he's in contact with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson this morning. That he's meeting with Paulson later tonight.

Analysts, of course, saying that this week the worst week since the great depression. But you really wouldn't know that to listen to President Bush and to other White House officials. President Bush saying adjustments are taking place in the financial markets. Dana Perino, White House press secretary, a short time ago saying these are market corrections. The White House trying to play a calming influence on Wall Street during these volatile times -- Don.

LEMON: All right, CNN's Brianna Keilar at the White House.

We appreciate that Brianna.

Congressional Democrats are blaming the Bush administration for the crisis. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking shortly after the president's remarks this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: We don't need to take regulation and supervision off the field, because when we do, we end up where we are now. And that's how we've going to go forward in a very serious way, because this is deadly serious. To middle-class families who are concerned about their jobs, their homes, the education of their children, how they pay for college.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now, a quick check of the markets. Live our Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange.

How's it going, Susan? SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know, I mean, well, we have a tale of two markets, essentially. You know everything that's happening out of Washington is an effort to restore confidence, and after the two biggest selloffs of the year this week you would think there would be a little bit of a bounce back. There was a bounce back. A lot of traders are talking about the Fed's move overnight in conjunction with central banks around the world to try to free up the paralyzed credit market. Indeed we did have triple digit gains for a while. The Dow at times over 200 points.

But a different story now. The big boards held the story, and we're seeing more stress in the financial markets. Very quickly, we're looking at Morgan Stanley shares down another 21 percent after it hit a low yesterday we hadn't seen in decades for one of the last two remaining independent investment banks on Wall Street.

We're also looking at shares of Washington Mutual, reports that it's put itself up for sale. Its shares are up 13 percent but we're still seeing the financial phase under pressure and it really speaks to the concerns that we're not out of the woods yet -- Don.

LEMON: All right, Susan, thank you very much.

You can follow the crisis on Wall Street, the buyouts, the bailouts, falling oil prices, rising gas prices, all of it at CNNMoney.com. Get all the day's market news and numbers, plus expert analysis, log on now and check that out.

Let's go to the campaign trail now today. John McCain and Sarah Palin are addressing a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Live pictures of that rally now. And McCain is walking towards the stage. You see him shaking hands there in the middle of your screen. Also Sarah Palin shaking hands at this rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You see the crowd there holding signs saying, country first. John McCain, Sarah Palin and also you see Sarah Palin's husband there to the right of your screen as well, just behind her. The McCain campaign drawing much bigger crowds than it had just a few weeks ago before Sarah Palin was put on the ticket.

Meantime, Democrat Barack Obama was in Las Vegas yesterday and this afternoon he will be stumping in Espanola, New Mexico.

Sarah Palin and John McCain campaigned in Michigan Wednesday where tight economic times are squeezing the auto industry.

CNN's Dana Bash has more from Cedar Rapids.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain visited the heart of Michigan's long suffering economy, the auto industry, to try to erase any perception he's out of touch.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going to leave the workers here in Michigan hung out to dry while we give millions of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street. We're going to take care of the workers.

BASH: Yet a day after rejecting using taxpayer money to bailout AIG he now supports it.

MCCAIN: I don't think anybody I know wanted to do that, but there were literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investments, whose insurance were at risk here.

How are you? Pleasure to meet you.

BASH: At a diner in Cleveland, the $85 billion AIG bailout was important enough that Sarah Palin answered traveling reporters' questions for the first time in nearly three weeks. She struck a harsher tone than her running mate.

GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The shock that has been called by the Fed, it's understandable but very, very disappointing that taxpayers are called upon for another one.

BASH: The mixed signals from camp McCain on the AIG rescue befuddling since McCain aides are well aware that bad economic news is crushing political news for the candidate whose party is in the White House. Undecided voters in hard-hit Michigan who usually vote Republican say this.

DEB BRYCE, USUALLY VOTES REPUBLICAN: When Clinton was in office I had a little jingle in my pocket, everybody could live on their own and do their own thing. Once Bush took over, everything went downhill.

BASH: That's why McCain is hitting his reformer message harder than ever as he feels voters' pain.

MCCAIN: It's not your problem. I'll tell you whose fault it is. Corruption in Washington and corruption on Wall Street, when I'm president I'm going to clean it up and I'm going to fix it.

BASH (on camera): McCain aides are trying to explain why 24 hours before the AIG bailout he rejected it but now he supports it. He insist he still doesn't like the idea but the protection of the American worker is the most important thing at stake and they didn't realize that important safety nets like workers' compensation would be in jeopardy without the federal rescue.

Dana Bash, CNN, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, we told you we'd get back to Cedar Rapids when that event started. There is Sarah Palin at the mike.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

PALIN: ... And it is beautiful. And as we were coming down the tarmac Todd pointed out to me the beautiful flag and all the people here, just such a great representation of what America is. Hard working, unpretentious, good Iowa folks who are wanting government to be on your side, and that's why John McCain and I are here today.

And I understand that you have a new hockey team around here, too the Iowa Chops, and I love that name -- the Chops. That's cool. You guys have your first hockey game here. I think its next month. The inaugural season kicks off. Perhaps I'll get to come back and visit with more hockey moms for McCain!

May I introduce to you my husband Todd Palin? He is Alaska's first guy. Alaska's first dude. He's the commercial fisherman and he's also a production operator up in the oil fields on Alaska's north slopes, and he's a part-time winner of the iron dog race. The longest snow dog race in the world. He's a proud member of the United Steelworkers Union and he is a great dad. Yes, he is.

OK, Iowa, in the next 47 days it's going to be a hard fought contest here. But John McCain and I, we are ready and with your help, we are going to win. We're going to D.C. to shake things up! John McCain is all about putting government back on the side of the people, and we're taking our case for reform to voters of every background, in every party, or no party at all, and with your vote, join us in this, let us get to Washington, D.C. to shake things up! Here is how I look at the choice that we face in the election.

CROWD: We want Sarah! We want Sarah! We want Sarah! We want Sarah! We want Sarah! We want Sarah! We want Sarah!

PALIN: So here's how I look at the choice that we face in this election. In politics, there are candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are real leaders, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. For Iowa and for all of America, this is a moment when principles and political independence mean a heck of a lot more than just a party line.

Americans are tired of the old politics as usual. Americans are tired of those who just want to run with the Washington herd, and that's why we need to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House! John McCain, he's going to get our economy and he's going to put it back on track.

And the people of Iowa know, it's our small businesses, like in my family, our commercial fishing business, or my sister's new gas station business, or Todd's folks, they own a hardware store. It is the small businesses all across America that actually create most of the jobs in this great country. Our family knows -- our family knows that the best way to help small business is to take less from them and leave more for them so that they can expand and jobs can then be created. That's exactly what we're going to do in a Palin and McCain administration.

Now, our opponents, they have some strange ideas about raising taxes. To them, raising taxes and Joe Biden said it again today, raising taxes is about patriotism. To the rest of America, that's not patriotism. Raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses, and making things worse. This isn't about anyone's patriotism. It's about Barack Obama's poor judgment.

He wants to raise income taxes and raise payroll taxes and raise investment income taxes, and raise the death tax, and raise business taxes. He wants to raise taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars, and at a time like this, that will make today's bad economy seem like the good old days. To grow our economy, to bring new jobs to Iowa, and to save the jobs that you have today, John McCain and I will bring tax relief to hard working taxpayers and small businesses all across America.

Now, what we need is serious reform on Wall Street. Huge financial institutions are going under because of their own bad practices, and now they're asking the public to bail them out. And federal agencies are not defending the public interest in this. Reckless CEOs, this is what's happening. Reckless CEOs are walking off with multimillion dollar severance bills through all of this. If you look at the record Iowa, you're going to see two years ago there was one man who stood up and warned us about the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and in this race, there is one man of action. One proven reformer who will clean up Wall Street and fix our economy, and that man is John McCain.

Now, as a mayor and a governor, I always knew that I was accountable to the people who hired me. That was the people of Alaska, and in a McCain/Palin administration, we will never forget. We are there to work for you, the people of America. And that means -- that means always, always and only putting country first, serving your neighbor. Tell me about serving you and your neighbors well. John and I have talked about the great flood of 2008 in these parts. We're going over to look today at some of the damage there.

You know -- it is a testament to the American people that our citizens pull together in a crisis to help their neighbor in need. The response from our government should be just as swift and complete, and Congress has not done enough to help this region recover. So this is our pledge. In a McCain/Palin administration, we will not forget the victims of this tragedy, and we're going to get government back on the side of the people. Country will come first. Now, as we anticipate change, and we are so blessed and privileged to be able to serve you in a new administration, John and I, we're discussing some new responsibilities that I'm going to have as your vice president.

First, I'll help lead the mission of energy security, and here in Iowa -- high gas prices -- they're making a full tank of gas seem like it's a luxury nowadays. The cost of living is going up. The cost of groceries is going up. Everything is going up but the value of your paycheck is going down. All because of energy costs. People blame Washington on this one for doing next to nothing, and they've got that right.

As governor, what I do now is oversee a very, very large portion of our domestic production of oil coming up there from Alaska. Recently, through negotiations and compromise, and through a heck of a lot of competition being allowed, we've got agreements to build a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to bring Alaska's clean, green natural gas to you to very hungry markets down here. And as your vice president, I'll help John McCain expand our use f alternative fuels, and we're going to drill now to make this nation energy independent. Folks, it is a matter of national security, and future prosperity. We need American resources brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers, and we can do this.

Second, I'll help lead the mission of reforming government, and we're going to make government more transparent and more accountable and more accessible for those who want to serve. We're going to recruit the best people to run our agencies, regardless of party affiliation even. Regardless of whether they have that Washington experience, and we're going to do a few new things, also. For instance, as Alaska's governor, I put the government's checkbook online so the people can see where their money's going.

We're going to bring that kind of transparency -- that kind. We'll bring that kind of transparency that responsibility and accountability back. We're going to bring that to D.C., and third, I've told Senator McCain about a few things that I've learned as a governor and as mom. Ever since I took the chief executive job up north, I've fought for more funding for students with special needs. And it's an issue that has touched my heart beginning about 13 years ago with the addition to our extended family of a nephew with autism and now we have been so blessed in our family with a special added perspective with the birth of our beautiful baby boy Trig, about four months ago.

We've joined so many American families that know that some of life's greatest joys sometimes come with so many challenges. We're going to make sure that government is on their side. Thank you.

When it comes to the big issues in our campaign, back to our opponent, he likes to point the finger of blame, but has he ever really lifted a finger to help? Has he ever reached out a reformer's hand to the other side of the aisle? Has he ever told his own party no, so he could work well with others to get others to say yes? When it comes to reform, has he ever once said, we did, instead of, I will?

John McCain and I, we are optimistic about solving the big problems. And why? It's because we've gotten results. We have the track record, a consistent track record of being committed to reform and putting government on the side of the people. We've brought about change and reform, and joining the ticket with John McCain, I know that it is a great privilege to serve beside him as vice president of the United States will be the highest but also the most humbling of honors.

You know, our opponents have been going on lately about how they always fight for you, they say. But since my running mate won't say this on his own behalf, I'm going to say it for him. There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you. He is the only great man in the race, the only one ready for service as our 44th president.

I am honored to get to introduce to you my running mate, my friend, the next president of the United States of America, John McCain. MCCAIN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, my friends, and thank you for coming out on this beautiful Iowa day, and I'm very pleased and great to have the opportunity to be back in the heartland of America. And I mean that with all sincerity.

I've spent a lot of time here over the years, and one of the great experiences, frankly, that I will never forget is my visits to the Iowa state fair. It's one of the great experiences -- that anyone can have, and I look forward to having another pork chop on a stick. Not to mention those deep fried Twinkies. But it's a wonderful experience, it's a wonderful experience to be where family values, homes, jobs, a great educational system, the future of America lies here, and I and my great running mate, Governor Sarah Palin, are going to compete and we're going to win the state of Iowa, and we're going to win the presidency of the United States with your help. We're very grateful.

And before I go much further, I always as Governor Palin just did, as Sarah just did, recognize our veterans, but there's another group, and I see them here, I'd love to honor them also. And that's our blue star moms and dads who have sons and daughters serving in the military. Thank you. I see that right? Three -- three in the service?

Well, thank you. It's above and beyond.

So I want to say to you, I'm very grateful to be here. We intend to campaign hard across the state of Iowa again, and we know we need to earn every vote, but you can help us by getting out the vote, by making the phone calls, getting your neighbors out. I think we're going to be up late on election night, my friends. And we're going to need your help. And, you know, I am convinced -- I am convinced that the people of Iowa will make the right decision but we've got 47 more days, and I need you to work, I need you to go out there every day and get the support of your friends and neighbors, because times are tough in America and as you know, we need reform in Washington and Wall Street.

And I'm happy to be introduced by Governor Sarah Palin. But I'm going to be happier -- but I'm going to be happier and I can't wait until I introduce her to Washington, D.C. And let me offer a little advance warning to the big spending do nothing me-first, country second crowd in Washington, and on Wall Street. Change is coming. Change is coming. And, frankly, you're not going to like it.

I'd like to give you a little straight talk, a couple minutes of straight talk. We need reform in Washington and Wall Street. The financial markets are in crisis. Times are tough. Enormous strain is being put on American families and individuals in this country. I know that the events unfolding can be difficult to understand for many Americans. The dominoes we've seen fall this week began with the corruption and manipulation of our home loan system.

The reason this crisis started was the abuses that took place within our home loan agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and within our home loan system. Two years ago I warned this administration and Congress regulations for our home loan agencies, that you know of and barely heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed to be fixed but I'm sorry to stand before you and tell you that nothing was done.

You know, Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets, but the facts tell a very different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any senator, except the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates it. He put -- he put the cheap executive officer of Fannie Mae -- excuse me -- yes -- of Fannie Mae who helped create this disaster, he put that Democratic chair of the, in charge of the selection process for who he was going to select for vice president of the United States. You know what Fannie's former general counsel is a senior adviser to his campaign? Whose side do you think he's on?

When I push legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn't lift a finger to overt this crisis. While the leaders of Fannie and Freddie were lining the pockets of his campaign, they were sewing the seeds of a financial crisis we see today, and they also enriched themselves with millions of dollars in payments. That's not change. That's what's broken in Washington today, my friends. My friends, I've got to give you a little more straight talk. There was no transparency in the books of the Wall Street banks. Banks and brokers took on huge amounts of debt and they hid the riskiest of all investments. Mismanagement and greed became the operating standard while regulators were asleep at the switch. The regulators were asleep, my friends. They were not working for you.

The primary regulator of Wall Street is the Securities and Exchange Commission, we call the SEC, kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino. They allowed naked short selling, which simply means you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year an important rule called the uptick rule that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground.

The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and, in my view, has betrayed the public trust. If I were president today, I would fire him.

We can't wait any longer for more failures in our financial system. Structures like the Resolution Trust Corporation that dealt with the failed savings and loan industry were designed to clean up the system and work. Today, we need a plan that doesn't wait until the system fails.

I'm calling for the creation of the Mortgage and Financial Institution's Trust, the MFI. The priorities of this trust will be to work with the private sector and regulators to identify institutions that are weak and take remedies to strengthen them before they become insolvent. For troubled institutions, this will provide an orderly process through which to identify bad loans and eventually sell them. This will get the Treasury and other financial regulatory authorities in a proactive position instead of reacting in a crisis mode to one situation after the other. The MFI will enhance investor and market confidence, benefit sound financial institutions, assist troubled institutions and protect our financial system while minimizing taxpayer exposure.

Tomorrow, I'll be talking in greater detail about the crisis facing our markets and what I'll do as president to fix this crisis and get our economy moving again. We have to do it for you and for America.

Senator Obama has never made the kind of tough reform we need today. His idea of reform is what his party leaders in Congress order him to do. You know, we tried for bipartisan ethics reform and he walked away from it because his bosses didn't want real change. I know how to make the change that Senator Obama and this Congress is afraid of. And I fought both parties. I fought both parties to shake up Washington and I'm going to do it as president.

CROWD: John McCain! John McCain! John McCain! John McCain!

MCCAIN: You know, my friends, those same congressional leaders, who give Senator Obama his marching orders, are now saying, incredibly, that this mess isn't their fault and they aren't going to take any action on this crisis until after the election. Senator Obama's own advisers are saying that the crisis will benefit him politically. My friends, that's the kind of me first, country second politics that are broke in Washington.

My opponent sees an economic crisis as a political opportunity instead of a time to lead. Senator Obama isn't change. He's part of the problem in Washington.

When AIG was bailed out, I didn't like it, but I understood it need to be done to protect hard-working Americans with insurance policies and annuities. Senator Obama didn't take a position. On the biggest issue of the day, he didn't know what to think. He may not realize it, but you don't get to vote present as president of the United States.

While Senator Obama and congressional leaders don't know what to think about the current crisis, we know what their plans are for the economy. Today, Senator Obama's running mate said that raising taxes is patriotic. Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic. It's not a badge of honor. It's just plain dumb.

The billions in tax increases that Senator Obama is proposing would kill even more jobs during tough economic times. I'm not going to let that happen. I've seen tough times before and I know how to shake up Wall Street and Washington and I'll get this economy moving. I'll lead through this crisis by fighting for you. And when I'm president, we'll be stronger than ever before.

And if anybody has concerns about America and the strength of America, come to the state of Iowa. Meet the hard working, dedicated, wonderful people and families who reside in the great state of Iowa. And some people have said that I inspire them. You inspire me, my friends, because right now, right now you are hurting and it's not your fault.

It started at the top. And it started in Washington. And it started on Wall Street. And we're going to fix it because we owe that to you and the future of America. And I want to be president because I want to inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their self-interest.

I've had the great honor and privilege of serving this country for a long time. And we may disagree on a specific issue, my friends, and that's honest, but I want to tell you again that I will always put my country first.

Please. Please.

See, my friends, you know, see, my friends -- listen. My friends, you know, you know the one thing -- thank you. Thank you. You know what, my friends, the one thing that Americans want us to do is to stop yelling at each other, don't they?

You know, I've had hundreds of town hall meetings. In fact, Sarah and I had a great one last night. And we'll continue to have town hall meeting all over this nation.

And I invite them to come. Come to the town hall meetings. But you know what? You know who has refused to go to a single town hall meet with me any place in America?

People talk a lot about the tenor of this campaign. I have asked Senator Obama to come any where, any time, any place, and we'll do town hall meetings together. Why is it, do you think, that Senator Obama wouldn't come here and stand on a stage with me and stand before the people of Iowa and America and respond to your hopes and dreams and aspirations? Urge him to. Urge him to. The next time one of those people start yelling, tell them to yell at him to come and stand together. I'd be glad to. I'll look forward to it.

So, my friends, look, we've got tough times, but we're the greatest nation on earth. I love this country. I love you. Get out to vote.

Thank you. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you.

LEMON: All right. John McCain, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, along with Sarah Palin, in what shaped up to be a very interesting rally. I just want to recap some of it.

The last part of that, we showed you a protester live in the audience yelling at John McCain. Couldn't quite hear exactly what she was saying. I want to show you just a little bit of video before I recap this of a little bit earlier, of protesters there at that same rally.

These women, a group of protesters, seriously disrupted Sarah Palin's speech at this rally. They were planted right in the middle of the crowd. It lasted for a couple of minutes. And there were conflicting chants between the protesters. They were saying, you know, USA.

It was drowned out several minutes of Palin's speech there. And you can see that they were removed. They are an anti-war group from the University of Iowa. And according to local papers there, newspapers, they reported that members of the University of Iowa Anti- war Committee would be here today.

OK. Now back live to that rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Very interesting because John McCain laid out some thing that he thought were wrong about the economy and what he planned to do. I just want to tell you, in case you didn't see all of it.

First of all, he said, he couldn't wait to introduce Sarah Palin to Washington. He talked about the abuses within our home loan mortgage system that he told Congress about years ago, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and they did nothing to fix it, he said. He also talked about Obama's record on Fannie Mae and appointing someone from that company to look for a presidential candidate for him. He said that has no change. That's what is broken in Washington today.

Also went on to say there was no transparency in the books on Wall Street banks. That they were mismanaged and there was greed while regulators were asleep there. Speculators, he said, pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground. And if he were president today, he would fire the person in charge of those companies.

He is calling for -- and this is very interesting -- calling for what he calls MFI, Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust, in order to fix what's broken in the economy here. He said he's going to lay out that plan much more tomorrow.

Again, those protesters.

Sarah Palin also making news here, saying that she and John McCain have been talking about some new responsibilities for her as vice president, which would include energy security. Her heading energy security. She said, drill now is what they want to do to make energy independence here in the U.S., a matter of national security, she says, and she want to make everything American. Bought here, made here, all of that.

OK. So also she went after Barack Obama as well. So it was a very interesting town hall meeting here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. If you missed it, you missed a very interesting one here on CNN.

Meantime, for all the latest campaign news, check out our political ticker. Just log on to CNN.com/politics, your source for all things political.

Let's get back to our other news here.

Desperate to see what's left of their homes. Residents of Galveston getting strong warning from local authorities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Italy's flagship airline in dire financial trouble. A short time ago, a group of investors withdrew its $1.5 billion plan to save Alitalia. The collapse of the deal doesn't necessarily mean Alitalia will stop flying. Another buyer could come forward or the government could step in. If not, the company may be forced into liquidation. The airline has enough cash on hand to fly a few more days at the most.

Riots at a prison in Mexico leave 19 inmates dead. It happened in Tijuana at the infamous La Mesa State Penitentiary. At least 12 people have been injured. Soldiers and federal police now have control of the facility. Some inmates complained they haven't had any food or water since the riot on Sunday. That melee left three inmates dead. A public safety official blames the riots on rivalries among the prisoners. Several prison officials have been suspended and are under investigation now.

Hurricane damaged Galveston, still closed. Residents and business owners have been told they could take a quick look. But after traffic backed up 20 miles, state and city officials changed their minds. They're now trying to get residents who stayed through Hurricane Ike to leave. People caught in that long traffic jam showing frustration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrible, man. I just drove five hours on the highway just to find out I got to go all the way back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And some people say they're getting used to it. But how can you get used to this? But we're blessed. People are not dead, you know, and stuff like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The big concern now, the spread of diseases. The island has no power and no services with debris still littering the area.

Uncle Sam has been taking over a lot of companies these days. What does this mean for our free enterprise system?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Let's take a look now at big board. You see the Dow in the negative territory by at least 100 points. It started positively this morning but then late this afternoon, about I think 11:00, it started to slip into negative territory. Our Susan Lisovicz, as well as the rest of our money team, following all the very latest on Wall Street when it concerns your money.

Wall Street staggers, as you can see there. There's the evidence. Are recent government rescue, the effort, enough to get the markets back on solid ground?

Our Mary Snow checks into it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Uncle Sam may have come to the rescue of American International Group, but it did little to soothe market anxiety.

ART HOGAN, JEFFRIES & CO. CHIEF MARKET ANALYST: Well, it's as bad as it's ever been on Wall Street, I think, you know, for several reasons, not the least of which is we seem to be bouncing from disaster to disaster.

SNOW: To overt three disasters, the government bailed out Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae and now AIG with an $85 billion loan, giving the government an 80 percent stake in the company.

JEFFREY SACHS, ECONOMIST, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: The government is now the main shareholder. This is a naturalization. It's extraordinary that this happens from one day to the next.

SNOW: Many are asking the question, what is the next shoe to drop?

SEN. HARRY REID, (D) MAJORITY LEADER: We are in new territory here. This is a different game.

REP. JEB HENSARLING, (R) TEXAS: I'm somewhat loathe to let the federal government run our financial system, our automakers and who knows what's next, perhaps our airlines.

SNOW: Congress has already promised a loan program for automakers of at least $25 billion. The question is, where is the line drawn? One law professor who's been following bailout issues says there are no clear rules.

CHERYL BLOCK, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: All of these things, it seems to me, we need to have some guidelines ahead of time so we're not just doing this on an ad hoc basis.

SNOW: The government, so far, has come to the aid of companies it said were too big to fail. It did not rescue Lehman Brothers but felt it had to help AIG because of it's vast reach. Some on Wall Street are skeptical the government would have to bail out an automaker.

HOGAN: Just because General Motors has difficulty competing with Toyota, doesn't mean they're to important to the U.S. economy to, you know, continue to exist.

SNOW: With the government as rescuer, economists expect more companies to line up asking for help. And one thing that seems certain is that some tough choices may lie ahead for the government in deciding where to throw the life line.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, this just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. This is new video. Remember back on August 20th, when that jet crashed taking off from Madrid, Barajas Airport, killing 154 people? Eighteen people survived this crash. This is surveillance video from the airport. It shows, as you can see there, the explosion resulting from this plane on takeoff. Of course, there is a huge investigation going on to find out exactly what it was, if it was pilot error, or what have you. But the 18 people who did survive had very severe injuries. But it was amazing that they would even survive if you look at the explosion from this.

Again, 154 people died. August 20th. An MD-82 jet, Spanair jet, attempting to take off from Madrid's Barajas Airport. And there is a look at the video, surveillance video, from the airport.

Obviously, this video will be part of the investigation. This just now being released. I would match than investigators have already looked at this. And if they haven't, they will be looking at this to find out exactly what happened.

It's not many cases when you -- do we see this with plane crashes and what have you. They usually have to rely on data recorders. But now they have this and it appears to be from a couple of different angles here.

Again, there is that jet. You see it trying to take off. Then it can't. And then, here, you see the explosion.

We're just getting that video into the CNN NEWSROOM. We're going to analyze it further and try to make more sense of it for you. But we want to get it to you on air so that you could see it just as soon as possible. This is from August 20th, that MD-82 jet, Spanair, crashing on takeoff in Spain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A young American woman is among the dead in Yemen. Nine other people and six attackers died in the explosions and gunfire outside the U.S. embassy in Sanaa. Yemeni security forces have rounded up a number of suspects and our Ben Wedeman reports on it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in front of the main entrance of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, which on Wednesday morning at 9:15 was hit by a very coordinated and sophisticated attack that U.S. and Yemeni officials believe was in some way connected to al Qaeda. The attack left 16 people dead. Six Yemeni security guards, six of the attackers and four people who apparently were lining up to receive visas.

Now it was a sophisticated attack involving two car bombs. It appears that there was one suicide bomber. You can see the size of it on the wall. It appears the black is where the blast occurred and above it is blood stain. Also there are also body parts still on the ground in that area.

Now, U.S. embassy officials apparently were not aware that we were coming here to shoot. We got the permission from the Yemeni security officials. So we have to do this very quickly and clear out because I suspect the embassy security people want us to leave as soon as possible.

Now they're still looking for clues in the area, collecting some of the debris. They told us they don't want us to disturb any of the evidence that might be in this area.

Now today is Thursday. It's the day off. It's the weekend for the U.S. embassy. It's also Ramadan, so things are very slow here at the moment. But, obviously, there's a lot of concern here in the Yemeni capital, after this, the worst out of the four attacks that have taken place on U.S. facilities in the Yemeni capital since 2003.

I'm Ben Wedeman reporting from Sanaa in Yemen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Ben, thank you for that report.

That's going to do it for me. I'm Don Lemon, everyone.

Fredricka Whitfield is here, because the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.