Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Interview With New York Congressman Gregory Meeks and Florida Congressman Tom Feeney; Sarah Palin and the Women's Vote

Aired September 19, 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 (voice-over): Here we go. Should these people be allowed to rebuild here again, and make us pay for the repairs?

For years, oversight, regulation, uncool. Guess who thinks it is cool now? Him and him and her and him and him. But what do we have to do to fix this now, Mr. President?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The federal government's purchase of the illiquid assets such as troubled mortgages from banks and other financial institutions.

SANCHEZ: Government ownerships, some call it socialism, from a Republican administration?

Do these two hoodlums walk? The verdict is in.

An American soldier in Iraq accused of killing two of his own on purpose.

And Sarah Palin, the interview, you will see it unfiltered.

Oh, and check out this anchorwoman going for that Palin look on purpose.

Talk to me, America. We are direct to you now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Hi, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. We are in fact direct to you. In fact, I am reading right now some of the responses that you have been sending me. And I'm going to be sharing them with our audience throughout the hour. I will tell you how to do so.

Something strange happened, though, a couple of hours ago at the Obama speech. Look at this. We're going to be getting to bottom of this one as it happened.

But, first, on this show Tuesday, we were the first to report on what some called socialized capitalism. The idea that our government has created such a huge mess that now it has to use some kind of drastic measures to fix it, to get us out of it.

One outspoken Republican says what we have done to ourselves is as bad as what a foreign power would do if they wanted to try and destroy us. So, what exactly did our government feel like it had to do today?

Listen here to President Bush. This is a president now saying the federal government has to ride in to rescue in historic ways using our money.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Our system of free enterprise rests on the conviction that the federal government should interfere in the marketplace only when necessary. Given the precarious state of today's financial markets, and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people, government intervention is not only warranted; it is essential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: So, the government stepping in.

Now, before we do anything else, hold the teleprompter where it is. I want to go over to this comment I just got moments ago, because it kind of echoes what we have been hearing throughout the day.

We are going to Twitter.com/ricksanchezCNN. Take a look at this. This is a sentiment. This is Steve420, a sentiment being expressed by a lot of Americans today. They are angry about this. "The super rich got big breaks and now should pay the taxes for it." Pardon me for that. "Super rich got big breaks and now should pay the taxes they owe to support our great nation. That is the patriotic thing."

So, people feel like they are kind of getting hosed on this deal. Here are the nuts and bolts of what the government is proposing right now. Let me take you through it. The government buys up, buys up all the bad debt now held by financial institutions, all of it. The goal is, get the banks to be able to again lend money again money buyers might be able to use to start buying up all those millions of unsold homes.

The cost, hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars, I will say it again, using your tax money. And it better work. President Bush, himself, acknowledged today all things don't change, we are looking at massive job losses, devastated retirement savings accounts, and further erosion, he goes on to say, in the hopeless housing market.

Here is his treasury secretary now. This is Henry Paulson just a couple of hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY PAULSON, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative: a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: I want to play something for you now that is actually pretty provocative.

It is what one Republican member of Congress is saying. Now, remember, this whole deal has to be approved by Congress, so the fact that he is a congressman makes this especially important. Here is Florida Representative Tom Feeney talking yesterday about the Wall Street bailout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM FEENEY (R), FLORIDA: If a foreign power wanted to impose economic collapse on the United States, they would kill free trade. They would kill energy policy that is American-based. They would regulate to death and they would put the taxpayer on the hook for the behavior of people that run major corporations.

We are doing exactly what a foreign power that wanted to destroy America would do if they had attacked our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That was Congressman Feeney yesterday. We heard the comment. We wanted to get him on the show and see what he has to say.

He is live for us now from Orlando, Florida. Joining Congressman Feeney from Washington, Democrat Gregory Meeks. Both serve on the House Financial Services Committee. And they are going to have a lot to say about this.

Tom, you and I are both Floridians, grew up as young men in Florida. Always known you to say what you think, but are you on the record here saying that, with these policies and with this action, we may be destroying ourselves?

FEENEY: Well, Rick, hello to you and Gregory.

When I was saying that a foreign hostile enemy wanted to do our economy harm, I was not just referring to the bailouts. I was referring to the higher taxes proposed by Senator Obama and others, killing free trade agreements that the House has been sitting on for the better part of two years now, increasing regulations, of course, the easy money policy that the Federal Reserve had in pushing Fannie, Freddie, and lenders to make risky subprime loans to get more people into housing that could not afford.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: But was that Obama's fault, by the way? Because if you're going to start the conversation saying this is about Barack Obama, I and the viewers have got to be confused. I have seen an administration for the past seven years that was Republican. And now we are seeing these problems.

Whether you're from the right or from the left, you are going to look at this and say, something is broken in government. FEENEY: Rick, absolutely. This is a bipartisan problem. The easy money policies were under a Republican-appointed Federal Reserve chairman. There's no doubt about it. But it was Democrats pushing to make risky loans to people that couldn't afford the houses, knowing full well that eventually the chickens would come home to roost.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Let me stop you there. I want to bring Gregory Meeks into this.

You heard what he says. It was actually your party that was saying, no, we have got to make the money easy for people to get who may not be otherwise able to get it.

It turned out a lot of those people frankly should not have gotten these loans. Does he make a good point about your party?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: At no point did our party tell any institution to give somebody a loan that they could not afford.

And when you look at the subprime market, what we have found with a lot of it is that individuals were steered into mortgages they should have never had in the first place. It was unregulated mortgage brokers, for example, who put people into mortgages that they knew when they had them sign up for them that they could not afford them. And we should have been looking out at that and making the difference then.

In fact, I agree. I think that, when the House was in Republican hands, and Mike Oxley was the chair of the committee, he tried to do something to try to make a change within Fannie Mae...

(CROSSTALK)

MEEKS: But, based upon his own statement, the White House, the administration wanted to go in a different direction. They didn't listen.

SANCHEZ: Let me stop you there, because we could sit here all day talking, it was them. It was them. No, it was the GOP. No, it was the Dems.

Here is what Robert Reich was telling me the other day on this show. We had him on Tuesday. He said and it is true, because I have been reading his blogs he has been preaching and blogging and writing books about the government essentially looking the other way.

Today, you guys have both heard it. Everybody in Washington, everybody we had at the beginning of this newscast is talking about, we need more oversight. We need more oversight.

Guys, like, you wonder, why didn't we listen when guys like Reich were saying this?

Any one of you? (CROSSTALK)

FEENEY: Well, I will jump in right now.

Number one, to his credit, Gregory has joined me. We have lots of oversight and regulatory burden in Wall Street, like Sarbanes- Oxley. It didn't do one thing. We were regulating the wrong things, these hedge funds, the derivatives, all these loans that nobody understands.

The brightest minds in the global economy don't understand all of the risks. And I will tell you this, that I tried to get Fannie and Freddie privatized years ago, so that there would be no implied guarantee. It is simply wrong when you privatize all the profits for risk-taking, but you socialize all of the risks if they occur.

That is what we are doing in all too many instances right now. It is a bipartisan problem, in my view.

SANCHEZ: No, you're right. And the American people watching this newscast right now, they don't exactly get it. And to a certain extent, it is easy to talk over people's heads.

But I will tell you what they get. I think they get the feeling that they are getting hosed in this deal.

Gregory Meeks, take us out.

MEEKS: Well, I think we're getting they're getting hosed. And we have got to see what Secretary Paulson's plan ultimately is.

And it has to be a plan that no only helps save the financial markets, but also helps individuals stay in their homes. We have got to do both. And I think that is what is going to be talked about over the weekend.

SANCHEZ: Well...

MEEKS: I think that we're making a move in the right direction in that it is bipartisan talk. We're sitting down. Secretary Paulson said the meeting with the leadership of the House yesterday was the most nonpartisan meeting he has ever had.

So, I think that we're talking to one another. I heard Senator Obama say that he and Senator McCain has to just sit down and focus on this problem and argue later. I think...

(CROSSTALK)

MEEKS: ... trying to do the right things now.

SANCHEZ: No, you are absolutely right.

But I think what a lot of folks who are watching us right now would say is, boy, if you are going to talk, you better talk fast, because we need solutions. And as to whether or not the average American feels like the rich guy is going to end up doing OK on this, and they are going to end up hosed, you know, it is an interesting in fact, let's do this.

Let's ask the question. We have the Twitter board. Let's use it. And go ahead. Johnny, go over my shoulder.

"Do you feel like you're" sorry about that let's go "you're getting hosed on this deal?" Let's ask. Let's see what people say out there. And I am going to update this thing. And I bet you I will get several hundred responses within the next 15 or 20 minutes.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Go ahead. Close us out.

FEENEY: Hey, Rick, on behalf of people in Oviedo and Titusville and Daytona, I want to vote, yes, we are getting hosed. I think there have been way too many problems on both side of the aisle, but some of the things coming down the pike, no new drilling, higher taxes, more regulations...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: We got it.

FEENEY: ... no situation is so bad, Congress can't make it worse.

SANCHEZ: My producers are saying, leave time for the Twitterers, but I thank you guys for being with us.

Mr. Meeks, Tom Feeney, always great to see you guys. Hope you come back.

MEEKS: Good deal.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

Sarah Palin is interviewed by a loyal Republican. Her husband says that he won't cooperate with investigators. And why are not more women flocking to her cause? You don't want to miss what is going on with this, and what she says this hour.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Look at this already Right here on Twitter.com. "Yes, I feel like I'm getting hosed on the AIG deal."

And then we get another one Saying, "Yes, unless we can tax the top 20 OR 10 percent of wage earners to get it back."

They are coming in fast and furious. When did I ask the question? about 20 seconds ago? Bang. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Yes, they keep coming in. Thanks so much for joining us on Twitter.com/ricksanchezCNN, also on Facebook and MySpace. Easy to get to. We recommend Twitter, because it is easier to have a very pithy conversation. Again, that's why we recommend it.

But we will read your stuff no matter where you send it.

Let's go back to the nation's financial crisis now and the proposal government bailout of Wall Street. I told you a little while ago that there are people out there, like Robert Reich, who was the first one we called on because we happened to be reading his books over the last couple of years, who said someone needed to be minding the store. He was not alone.

We're going to be joined now by analyst and commentator Barry Ritholtz. He is the CEO and director of equity research for the firm Fusion I.Q. His Web site is thebigpicture.com. He is another one of these guys who called this. He had been saying, this is going to happen if we don't pay attention. Guess what? Here we are in the mess that we are.

BARRY RITHOLTZ, CEO, FUSION I.Q.: That's exactly right.

SANCHEZ: I guess, Barry, let's make a -- Americans would probably want to reach out to you and say, OK, this guy is an expert. He's kind of called it right. The question they would probably want to ask you first is, is this thing going to work?

RITHOLTZ: Well, how do you define work?

The world is not going to stop spinning on its axis. Whether or not AIG is rescued, whether or not we bail out banks that made very, very silly loans, we are going to keep going. The question is how much pain are we going the suffer? How long are we going to drag this out?

Unfortunately, Japan is a terrible example. They refused to do the difficult medicine. They basically kept carrying all of this stuff on their books and refused to take the big hits, and they had a 12-year recession.

SANCHEZ: So, wait, wait, wait. So, what I am hearing you say is maybe we don't need to come in and rescue this, these companies? Maybe we leave them alone, we bite the bullet, we get through some real tough times, but we get through the pain faster?

RITHOLTZ: Well, the hard part is drawing the line in the sand as to who you rescue and who you let die.

Lehman clearly was not a threat to the rest of the economy, so they were allowed the file bankruptcy. It is arguable as to whether or not Bear Stearns or Fannie and Freddie had to be rescued. Fannie and Freddie could have survived another year on their own. But it is an election season and all sorts of silly things happen. Bear Stearns was maybe a threat to J.P. Morgan, but not the rest of the financial system. (CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you a question based on what you are doing, because I know you are talking about very specific companies and some of our viewers may not relate to them as well, but they might relate to this.

I'm going to read them a quote that comes from you.

RITHOLTZ: OK.

SANCHEZ: I was reading it and I want to throw it back to you. Quote -- this is what you write -- "The conservative movement has utterly hated FDR and the New Deal for nearly 80 years. The grand era of deregulation has ended. The conservative movement has turned the U.S. into a massive socialist state, an appendage of Russia."

Now, I don't know if you're coming at this from a partisan standpoint. You're an indictment, right? You are not a Democrat or a...

(CROSSTALK)

RITHOLTZ: I a political independent. I throw rocks at both sides.

And, professionally, I don't vote in presidential elections, because I don't want to become a cheerleader. It leaves me free to criticize both sides.

Look, let's call a spade a spade. We essentially went from a system that had way too much regulation, very costly, very complex, very time-consuming in the '60s and '70s...

SANCHEZ: To not enough.

RITHOLTZ: That's right. And it started under Carter and really expanded under Reagan. We went from excessive regulation at one swing of the pendulum now to excessive deregulation.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Barry, we will have to leave it there. We get it.

And you know what? I am told we have got another guest coming up that we have got to get in as well.

Barry Ritholtz, hey, man, we will get you back. All right?

RITHOLTZ: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Interesting perspective, smart guy.

John McCain and Barack Obama both are weighing in on the financial crisis today and suggesting ways out. Obama reframed -- or, I should say, refrained from attacking McCain, but McCain did take aim at Obama. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we have heard a lot of words from Senator Obama over the course of this campaign, but maybe, just this once, he could spare us the lectures and admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems.

The crisis on Wall Street started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence-pedaling. And he was right square in the middle of it.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot only have a plan for Wall Street. We must also help Main Street. I am glad that our government is moving so quickly in addressing the crisis that threatens some of our biggest banks and corporations, but a similar crisis has threatened families, workers and homeowners for months and months. And Washington has done far too little to help.

For too long, this administration has been willing to hit the fast-forward button in helping distressed Wall Street firms, while pressing pause when it comes to saving jobs and keeping people in their homes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: By the way, you are going to join us next Monday and Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 Eastern. We're going to go through each of the candidates' economic plans point by point, something you will not want to miss.

All right. Let me show you something that is kind of shocking. Take a look at this. In the middle of a Barack Obama speech today, those are African-American protesters. Yes, it says KKK on those signs. Take a close look. You will see the big K's in the middle of them. They are accusing him of supporting the KKK. We will bring you the details on that. We have been digging into it.

Also, Sarah Palin in her own words, we have got it. This is something you don't want to miss.

And as we go back over here, you see that a lot of people are getting back to us on that question about whether Americans are actually getting hosed in the end on this, average Americans, not the big-time investors.

"Hi, Rick. I trade currencies professionally and this has dramatic effects on the currencies markets. Taxes will go up."

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We welcome you back to the world headquarters of CNN. I'm Rick Sanchez on a Friday. Sarah Palin, did she abuse her power as the governor of Alaska? Well, that remains to be seen. But, last night, we did learn that she will not have any testimony from her husband to help them in the state of Alaska trying to investigate her.

Todd Palin, subpoenaed along with 11 other people over the firing of Alaska's top safety official, refuses to testify. His lawyer is saying the probe is not legit. And Governor Palin says the hubbub is all about Americans -- or -- pardon me -- Republicans vs. Democrats. She talked about it in a TV interview this week. Here it is for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It had nothing to do with a former brother-in-law, a state trooper who happened to have been married to one of my sisters until about three years ago.

I asked the personnel board, even, in the state of Alaska, if they had questions about why it was that I exercised my responsibility in replacing our commissioner, I asked the personnel board, that appropriate board to oversee such actions, to come investigate, and that is where it is now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. Here is a question to you. What do you think about the investigation into Sarah Palin? Is this a legitimate issue or is it being exploited, as the Alaska governor suggests, for partisan purposes? You can let me know at Facebook, MySpace, and of course, Twitter.com/ricksanchezCNN.

By the way, let me stop real quick and share with you the onslaught of messages that you have been sending me since I asked you if you thought that as a result of what is going on with the financials that you, as normal, average Americans, like the rest of us, are getting hosed in this deal.

I read you this one a little while ago. "They get their million- dollar bonuses and I pay them to keep their doors open. Why do I have such a tired head?"

That is from the Other Logan.

Daryl T. says: "Lack of enforcement of accounting standards caused this, not lack of regulations against it."

Dputwinsfan says: "Rick, it feels like we are always getting hosed on something lately."

Let's go to this one here. Labaronesa says, "Of course, I am not even sure in what companies my pension is invested. The middle class is getting screwed again."

Let's do one more, Blackbird794: "They were not risky. They were being greedy by tricking millions. Now we bail them out, sending a message accepting greed."

There you go. Man, they have been coming in fast and furious. We thank you for that.

All right, the latest now on the investigation, but there is a new poll that says that Sarah Palin is not helping John McCain attract more women. Why? Wasn't that the point? We are going to get into that with CNN's political editor, Mark Preston. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. It is funny how when things are not so good, people are trying to see if the grass is greener on the other side of the hill, looking for options.

Look at this. This is from MySpace.com.

It says: "I am not a huge fan of the status quo." This is Ziggy Jagger (ph): "I know he lost the nomination, but the only person that has been a candidate in this election that has made any sense and continues to is Ron Paul. Too bad the media dismissed the guy as a cook."

Well, don't know if that is true, but we thank you for your response nonetheless.

Sarah -- Governor Sarah Palin is the first woman nominated as a vice president by the GOP. Many thought what the party was trying to do was steal female votes, Hillary votes, from Obama. Has it worked?

Not according to recent polls on both CNN and "The New York Times" where she does very well with the evangelicals, but not very well with average women, strangely enough.

Here is how she responds to criticism that she has been getting from some women's groups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Certainly, I would love to have their support, but I am not going to change my positions in order to get some of these groups and some in the media, to try to woo them over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: All right. Let's go now with Mark Preston with "Preston on Politics."

Mark, how are you?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Rick, how are you?

SANCHEZ: A "New York Times" poll seems to be saying that she is not doing as well among women as she might hope. Is this a trend? Is there a momentum shift going on here? And does it possibly have something to do with the investigation in Alaska?

PRESTON: Well, Rick, the "New York Times"' poll really does track a recent CNN poll that showed that women, by and large, a majority of women are backing the Barack Obama/Joe Biden ticket.

At the same time, men are backing the McCain/Palin ticket. Now, what Sarah Palin has done for the Republican Party, while she is not able to attract women, what she has done, she has activated their base. And past elections historically have shown that men tend to vote -- a majority of the men tend to vote Republican and a majority of women tend to vote Democrat.

What we did do, though, Rick, is that we really drilled down into the numbers and looked at certain types of women and their occupations and try to find out, based on their occupations why they supported Sarah Palin, or why not. And what we learned is that mothers, actually, Rick, overwhelmingly, the majority now do not support Sarah Palin.

At the same time if you look at fathers 65 percent of the fathers think that she is qualified to be president. So, you had this real difference of opinion on Sarah Palin's qualifications. And the reason being on that is the fact that fathers know how to be good parents, as someone has explained to me, but they don't know how to be mothers. And mothers might be looking at Sarah Palin and saying look, she has two jobs, Rick, two full-time jobs and many of them might not think that she could effectively run the country at the same time as raising five children.

SANCHEZ: Let me ask you another question, and I am interested in this one as well. What is the deal with this rally that both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin were supposed to attend together, but then apparently Hillary Clinton decided, I don't want to be a part of it, if Sarah Palin is going to be there. She got out and now apparently Sarah Palin is disinvited. Is that right?

PRESTON: Yes, talk about the invitations going out, please come to our party and then people drop off. Hillary Clinton did not know that Sarah Palin was going to be invited to the rally which is the "Stop Iran" rally held in New York City. So once she found out that Sarah Palin was there, she decided to get out. Politically, it was a very smart move. A lot of people have been comparing Sarah Palin to Hillary Clinton. And for Barack Obama, you certainly don't want the picture of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin together agreeing on one issue.

Having said that, the organizers in turn, disinvited Sarah Palin from this rally, which angered her, and angered the McCain campaign, because they said that the Democratic partisans really pressured them to do so. We don't know if that is true, but what it has done is cast a lot of light on this rally in New York that will be held the day before the president of Iran speaks. So politics certainly at play here.

SANCHEZ: Mark Preston, "Preston on Politics" and have a good weekend, my friend. PRESTON: Thanks, Rick.>

SANCHEZ: One week from tonight, Barack Obama and John McCain will face off on the issues and CNN's best political team in television will bring you everything that you want to know from the first presidential debate Friday September 26, right here on CNN. Where else?

Let me tell you now, about this brutal attack, because you are looking at it. And now there is finally a verdict in this beating of a homeless man. We're going to tell you what the jury decided and break it all down for you with our Security Analyst Mike Brooks.

Also, Hurricane Ike, destroyed whole stretches of homes along the Texas coast. Now authorities might not allow many of them to be rebuilt. Do you think that they should be rebuilt? When, after all, it is you and me that will be paying for them. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Couple of things to show you as we come back. First of all, there is the Big Board underneath, you see it at 3:37. And that is the countdown to the closing bell. How much time we do we have left before we end the week. Many will say, finally.

Also, let's go over to our board here. This is from MySpace. We got this one in just a little while ago. We asked the question about the Sarah Palin's investigation. And you can see it. This is Post 20, from Doug, right there. You see it? It says, "If she has nothing to hide, why not testify -- oh, yes, same with her husband."

Typical response that we have been getting from many Americans as we follow these investigations, although, we should add she is well within her constitutional right not to have to cooperate with a investigation against her. The burden is not on her, the burden is on the government. Just to be fair.

Welcome back. This time last week we were reporting to you live from La Porte, Texas. You might recall as the hurricane was roaring to shore, it did leave death and destruction and despair. But in and around the affected Texas Gulf coast, there is another by product of this, debate. Why should people be allowed to rebuild their homes where they know that the next hurricane could easily destroy that home again? Like it did this; look at how close they are to the Gulf.

Well, here is the news about this, some affected homeowners might not get a say, because there is now a 1959 Texas law that is being called up. It is called the Open Beaches Act. It may apply here and it may preclude some of them from rebuilding. Even this guy whose house is still standing, it may be abandoned. It depends upon how much shoreline actually eroded by the way, but some property may become public property after this. You can't go back. You can't rebuild. Even the last house standing could be condemned and knocked to the ground under this law.

So here is the question to you: Should people in these storm- prone areas be allowed to rebuild, knowing that you and me are going to be bearing the brunt of paying for the rebuilding?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAUNA HICKS, I-REPORTER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?

HICKS: Because that is their home. Some people were raised there and lived there all of their lives and they deserve to stay there if they want to.

ROBERT LAROSSA, I-REPORTER: I would say yes, but at their own risk, because they are approaching too close to the shorelines it looks like. It looks like a lot of the shoreline was eroded there. So if they, you know, so want to, let them rebuild, but it would be at their own risk.

KOREA COLVIN, I-REPORTER: Seriously, I think they should not rebuild. It's the simple fact of the area and nobody wants to keep going through that every other year or every year to keep losing their house, and keep rebuilding, and that's an expensive cost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We are going to be asking you that question on our "Twitter Board" and we will have what you have to say as we continue to go through what is a busy day today, interactively, with people connecting to us.

African-American protesters at an Barack Obama rally with signs accusing him of being backed by the KKK. That is a head scratcher for most people. As we were watching it, we were - scratching our own heads. But we made some phone calls and we found some things out about this group. We want to share it with you, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Boy, I have to tell you, welcome back, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez, here at the world headquarters of CNN in Atlanta.

We are getting a lot, a lot of responses, and a real ire-filled sentiment from people that don't like what is going on between the government and the financials. Take a look at this one. It kind of puts everything in perspective for us. This is a WiseShopper1": Yes, Hurricane Ike victims cannot get ice from FEMA, but Wall Street fat cats get a government bailout at the taxpayers' expense.

There was also one on MySpace moments ago that I was looking at that said, one word, "Pathetic."

Let's talk about the race for the White House now. It gets stranger and stranger by the minute. Check out what happened earlier today at a Barack Obama campaign stop. This is in Coral Gables, Florida. About a half dozen protesters show up. They are all African- American. They interrupt. They heckle Obama, as we have really never quite seen before. And the candidate looks kind of perturbed. I think we have a shot of him there. He does invite them, at one point, to talk, but then they start moving. In fact, they start to shouting, people start shouting at them. Let's hear it as it happened here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Hold on, hold on, hold on, everybody. Hey, young people out there, it is no problem for you to put your signs up, but let everybody -- let me finish what I had to say. All right. Come on, guys. All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Well, the security guards finally got to them when they started to try to be, when they started to interrupt the procedures, and they were walked out of the auditorium. There they are there with the signs that say KKK, or alluding to the fact that Obama is backed by the KKK, according to their charges.

We did some digging and we found out, our own Steve Ross (ph) made some phone calls and found out that this is an organization from Tampa, Florida. It is not the first time that they have had this kind of demonstration in the past. We are told that there were about 20 of them in fact, and that they have leveled these same charges in the past about Barack Obama.

Some that we talked to say that they are considered, by most who followed them, a fringe group. Take it as you will.

All right. Meanwhile, let's move on to some of the other stories that we're following. We have been playing parts of a TV interview with Governor Sarah Palin. Here in this next clip that we want you to see, she talks about her upcoming vice presidential debate with Senator Joe Biden. She is gracious, but she does take a jab at their age difference. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: Senator Biden has tremendous amounts of experience. You know, I think that he was first elected when I was like in second grade. He has been there a long, long, long time. So he has the experience. He probably has the sound bites and he has the rhetoric. You know, he knows what is expected of him. He is a great debater, also. And so, you know, yes, it is going to be quite a task in front of me.

SANCHEZ: Senator Joe Biden didn't mention his VP competition at an appearance in Virginia, today. Instead, he took aim right at the top of the ticket, John McCain.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D-DE) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John McCain proudly said not long ago on Wall Street and I quote, "I am always, I am always for less regulation." Well something happened to John on the road to Damascus. I watched him the last three days, and 10:00 a.m. , on Monday, and 9:00 a.m. on Monday literally he said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong and 11:00 a.m. He said we are in crisis.

By the way, Governor Palin and Senator Biden debate on October 2. CNN, the best political team on TV, will carry it for you live. You'll see it here.

Judgment day arrives for two hoodlums who fatally beat a homeless man with a baseball bat for no reason whatsoever. There is a verdict in this case, and reaction. We will bring you both.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If you are overweight in Alabama, you may soon pay the price. More than 30 percent of adults in Alabama are obese, making it the second fattest state in the country after Mississippi. But William Ashmore of the Alabama state employees insurance board has a plan to change that in the hopes of saving money and saving lives.

WILLIAM ASHMORE, ALABAMA STATE EMPLOYEES INSURANCE BD.: Over 10 percent of the people we screen are at risk for one of the factors that we are screening for, and the vast majority of the people have no idea that they were at risk. We screen for things just as cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose readings. We also have been monitoring the body mass index.

GUPTA: Under the plan doctors will screen more than 3,000 state employees next year. The ones found to be most at risk will pay an extra $25 a month for health insurance unless they take action.

ASHMORE: We give them the voucher, they go to the physician. As long as they go to their physician, they will get a $25 discount off of the premium.

GUPTA: Ashmore says that the plan is not to penalize, but to help the obese employees, but some state workers don't see it that way. University professor E.K. Dolphin (ph) feels the plan is more of a fat tax.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is penalizing people for being genetically who they are. And yet, I have a body mass index, a lovely, sexy, body mass index of more than 44 right now.

GUPTA: But Dr. David Roberts, am Emory University physician, who is not affiliated with the plan, says that getting the patients in the door is half the battle.

DR. DAVID ROBERTS, EMORY UNIVERSITY PHYSICIAN: All they're doing is incenting people to go to their physicians. And they're letting the physicians and trusting the physicians to do a good job. And we don't know how many people are out there until they come in. That is a key point.

GUPTA: Doctor Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: On a day when many Americans are upset about this bitter pill that they have been hearing about. We turn this it over to Wolf Blitzer, to find out what he's got. A guy who is real good at putting things in perspective for us.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We do the best we can, Rick. Coming up at the top of the hour, we're going to go deeper into the largest proposed financial market intervention, by the U.S. government since the Great Depression. Officials will huddle all weekend to try to flesh out a new plan. What will it cost taxpayers and what does the next president of the United States think about it? We'll get reactions from John McCain and Barack Obama.

And McCain's running mate takes a swipe at Democrats saying that some of them are putting politics over country. Is Sarah Palin, in the process also taking a swipe at Hillary Clinton? You're going to hear what Palin said today and then you decide.

We're making some significant changes to CNN's electoral college map. Between McCain and Obama you are going to find out who might benefit in these latest changes and who should be worried.

All that, Rick, and a lot more coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

SANCHEZ: Fantastic show. Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM".

All right. Take a look at this, and tell me now if you think that the punishment in this case fits the crime. Watch these kids. A jury in South Florida has found these two guys, that you see right here, going after that man, they're guilty. Guilty of beating the homeless man with a baseball bat for no explicable reason. This victim survived but another wasn't as lucky. They killed the guy. Prosecutors say the now-21 year old Brian Hooks and his 19-year-old friend Thomas Daugherty were drinking and smoking marijuana before arming themselves with baseball bats for their bum-bashing hunt, quote, stop quote.

A third suspect pleaded guilty to lesser charges and awaits sentencing. So many Americans will look at this and go, I just don't get it. CNN Security Analyst and retired Washington police detective Mike Brooks is joining us now.

You've probably dealt with this kind of stuff where it just looks like it doesn't make sense. By the way, if you're this guy, if you're these kids' lawyers, what is your defense? What do you say for them?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: There was a quote from Michael Gottlieb, who is the attorney for Thomas Daugherty, the 19- year-old, who was 17 years old at the time. He said that a sad upbringing played a role in his actions and that he is filled with remorse and confusion.

SANCHEZ: Is it tough?

BROOKS: How can you be filled with anything but remorse - confusion? I don't get that. I'm confused over his statement.

SANCHEZ: When you were a cop and you had to deal with stuff like this. How did you keep your own emotions in check? This is a combination of just absolute meanness and stupidity.

BROOKS: Yes, you wonder what goes through someone's mind to say let's go beat up some bums. Maybe a little bit of smoking marijuana and drinking a lot of vodka.

SANCHEZ: Yes, but still.

BROOKS: But still. They said the sad up bringing. Where do you get your values to go out and beat up some guy sleeping on the bench, a homeless man that you know nothing about? In fact, they even went to three locations, Rick. They beat up one guy before. Then the third one who actually took a plea, he even shot Mr. Gaynor, the one who was killed. Mr. Gaynor, he shot him with a paint ball gun as well as beating him with a bat.

SANCHEZ: Just for fun.

BROOKS: They broke his nose, ribs and they crushed his skull.

SANCHEZ: Mike, thanks.

BROOKS: Just unbelievable.

SANCHEZ: It's an incredible case. It kind of leads us to understand some of the things that go on that we've probably got to fix at a rudimentary level as well.

BROOKS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: Thanks for being with us. We've got to run.

BROOKS: Thank you, buddy.

SANCHEZ: Sarah Palin has become a major draw on the campaign trail. So much so, in fact, we're going to have you seeing and hearing - here we go again, double. Get it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: It's Friday. Time for a little fun from the lighter side of things. A lot of people just love Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression in the season opening "Saturday Night Live" skit. Most of you saw it. We showed it to you.

But up the coast, in Bangor, Maine, folks there point to one of their local news anchors as the spitting image of the GOP vice presidential nominee. This is WVII TV's Cindy Michaels, who does favor the Alaska governor, but why take my word.

There you go. Compare for it yourself. Governor Palin left there on the screen. Cindy Michaels, the newscaster, on the right. And by the way, we should add that she says that she, in fact, likes and is honored by the fact that she looks like her, and is now dressing the part.

Big news week, in news, dominated by a couple of overwhelming breaking stories. But plenty happened in the world that we did not get to show you. Big news, in case you missed it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Big stories that sometimes you don't get a chance to do when you have all the big news stories breaking like we did this week. So we decided, let's go back in, look at our own file and bring you the stuff that happened that you may not know about. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice over): We didn't show you this. New leadership in Iraq. General David Petraeus out, General Ray Odierno in. New job for the general, the challenges of command, though, the same.

Two days later a helicopter just like this one crashed west of Basra. Seven U.S. soldiers were on board, all killed. The Army says there was no hostile fire.

We also didn't tell you about this: A U.S. soldier taken into custody in Iraq in connection with the shooting deaths of two of his comrades there. That was Sunday, since then, few details have come out. The military says, it's investigating.

Opening statements began Monday in a robbery and kidnapping trial in Las Vegas. The news hook? The defendant is Orenthal James Simpson. He maintains his innocence. Didn't take long for the judge to set the tone though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE JACKIE GLASS, DISTRICT COURT, LAS VEGAS: The last thing you want me to do as the judge is to start losing my temper in front of the fine ladies and gentlemen of the jury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

We didn't tell you about the Independence Day Festival in Morelia, Mexico. Started happy, ended sadly. Somebody threw hand grenades into the crowd. Seven people killed.

And is this the new face of Israel's future? Maybe. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won leadership of the Kadima Party this week. That puts her in position to possibly become Israel's first prime minister since Golda Meir.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TZIPI LIVNI, FOREIGN MINISTER, ISRAEL: Come and vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: Let's go now to Susan Lisovicz; she is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. We are moments away from closing out what - there it is!

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A historic week on Wall Street Two of the best rallies of the year, preceded by two of the worst selloffs of the year. Ended on the plus side. Have a great weekend, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right, thanks so much, Susan.

And what a week it has been. Let's turn things over to Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. To close things out for us - Wolf.

BLITZER: Great weekend, Rick. Thanks very much.