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John McCain Will Debate; Rescuing the Rescue Plan; Acting on Instinct: McCain's Decision-Making

Aired September 26, 2008 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. Here are the headlines for this Friday, September 26th.
What a ride so far. Back to the bargains table today after House Republicans revolt against the bailout plan. John McCain will be at the University of Mississippi tonight for the first presidential debate.

And Tropical Storm Kyle swirls in the Atlantic, threatening to blow up into a hurricane.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

The country sinking deeper into a financial crisis. Washington gridlocked over a rescue package.

Congressional negotiators are back at it this hour. Democrats trying to save the $700 billion bailout deal that was shot down by House Republicans.

Investors are taking note of the poisonous atmosphere in Washington. Stocks have been down all day.

And the first presidential debate is tonight in Mississippi. John McCain says he will take part.

You know at one point he said, no deal, no debate. Now John McCain says he will take part in tonight's face-off with Barack Obama.

CNN's Dana Bash, live from Capitol Hill with more on McCain's decision.

And just to be clear here, John McCain is heading to Mississippi, is at the airport right now. Is that correct, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. He is on his way.

He is heading to Mississippi, he is going to the debate. So all of the suspense about whether that's going to happen is now off the table, but there is still a lot of suspense, still, about what's going to happen here on Capitol Hill.

What McCain advisers are saying is that because he feels comfortable that there is sufficient progress with talks here, that is why he is going. What does that mean? Well, you see a picture of John McCain there this morning. We ran around after him all morning as he went to talk to the Senate Republican leader.

He went and met with the House Republican leadership. He was on the phone with Henry Paulson and others. He and some of his associates here trying to sort of take what they did yesterday a step further.

Yesterday, we had been reporting he did a lot of listening, didn't talk very much at that White House meeting at all. Today, what he was trying to do was figure out whether or not there was a way around some of the concerns, the very vocal concerns that House Republicans have with this particular piece of -- with this bailout. So what they think is that there's been enough progress for him to go.

Having said that, as we speak, at this hour, the House Republicans are going to meet and go over the framework of what McCain and those leaders were talking about all morning. It is really unclear, Tony, really unclear whether or not the House Republicans are going to accept it, although the leadership is telling our Georgia Walsh (ph), our producer over there, that it is something that perhaps is workable. But the bigger question is whether or not it is going to sell with the Democrats. So...

HARRIS: Hey, Dana, just a quick question for you. John McCain has positioned himself as a man who is willing to work with members of the other party to get work done. A lot of pictures of John McCain on Capitol Hill over the last day.

Were there any moments when he reached out to either Senate Democrats or House Democrats?

BASH: You know, at this point, it doesn't sound like it. He talked to a lot of Republicans, but we have to set the stage for the kind of atmosphere with which it's going on here.

It is incredibly politically divided and poisonous. Very.

HARRIS: Wow.

BASH: And part of the subplot -- really, actually the plot itself that's been going on, is Democrats saying what are you doing here? You're just here to parachute in, to get credit, and in fact you're going to hinder and scuttle the talks which they planned for yesterday, rather than help.

So the McCain campaign, they're very, very cautious about saying that this is something that is his idea. In fact, the house Republicans now are trying to take credit for this potential compromise that is on the table, because they understand the political dynamite, really, for McCain in potentially saying, oh, this is my idea. But the reality is that what the McCain campaign insists, this is what they say, is that yesterday about this time, Democrats and a couple of Senate Republicans came out of those Banking Committee negotiations and said, we have a deal, but they say the reason why McCain came back is because the House Republicans were never on board with this, and this is the kind of thing he wanted to talk to House Republicans about, see if there's a way around this. HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: At the end of the day, they say they feel comfortable, they say there's sufficient progress. We don't know at all if there's going to be anything that's going to get to the point where something can be voted on anytime soon. But yet he's off, because politically, Tony, they felt inside the McCain campaign, it was absolutely essential, essential, for him to get to that debate.

They need a game-changer. They understand despite him being up here, the economy is not a winner for John McCain right now at all. And it's a welcome thing for him to actually at this point go and talk about foreign policy tonight. But I will tell you, he's planning on coming right back here, according to aides, after that debate and getting himself back into these talks.

HARRIS: Dana Bash on Capitol Hill for us.

Dana, appreciate it. Thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

HARRIS: You know, President Bush appeared in front of cameras briefly today, pressing House Republicans to work with Democrats to get a rescue deal both sides can live with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE. W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are disagreements over aspects of the rescue plan, but there is no disagreement that something substantial must be done. The legislative process is sometimes not very pretty, but we are going to get a package passed. We will rise to the occasion. Republicans and Democrats will come together and pass a substantial rescue plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Boy. Democrats find themselves in the unusual position of salvaging a Republican president's unprecedented financial bailout. Negotiators are back at work this hour.

CNN's Kate Bolduan is on Capitol Hill for us.

And Kate, I have to ask you, do -- well, I know the answer to this, but I'll ask it anyway. Do we have a deal? Do we even have the framework for a deal?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do not have a deal. I don't think anyone can question that.

I think what we can say is there is some framework that they were working off yesterday, and they're hoping to pick up negotiations to see where everyone at the negotiating table stands on that framework. And I have just found out -- just found out from our producer Lisa Jansen (ph), who's working out here, from an aide to the Republican leadership that says that the four designated negotiators -- which we do have four now, Tony -- that would be Senator Chris Dodd, Senator Judd Gregg, as well as Congressman Barney Frank and Republican Congressman Lloyd Blunt, they're going to be sitting down shortly on Capitol Hill, and we can only hope that they're going to kick-start these negotiations which have been described as, "The train has gotten off the tracks and they're trying to get it back on the tracks."

And when we're talking about that, Tony, we talked it about it last hour. What happened? Well, the issue here is, House Republicans yesterday came out with very strong opposition to the proposal that the Treasury secretary had proposed and that they were working on, and that there was a sense that they were nearing agreement. Well, not so much anymore.

And we're hearing from Republicans that they disagree with the fundamental basis of the Treasury plan, which is how to finance the bailout. And we can clearly sense there's been a lot of back and forth on that now. Listen here to a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Senate Democrats, House Democrats and Senate Republicans agree those principles laid out by Senator Obama are the ones that must be in any plan for addressing the issue. They're what we call the principles of fairness. If we're asked to look at Wall Street and see -- look at their problems, we are also, because of what's been going on with the American public for these many months, have to recognize they also have some problems, and this legislation has to address those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), VIRGINIA: Most House Republicans do not want to go home and face their constituents saying that we have stuck you with a $700 billion bill, and a bailout bill, when you can do it by allowing the folks on Wall Street to pay premiums and to fund this bailout.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So you hear right there from Congressman Eric Cantor. He says, have the folks on Wall Street fund the bailout. That's the difference there, is that what the House Republicans are looking for is a plan that's more of a government-backed insurance plan that would require private funds for this rescue. Democrats describe this as not workable and they think that there continues to need to be a broad- based bailout that can help, that would use taxpayer dollars to buy up these bad mortgages, to help Wall Street get back on its feet, and then that will trickle down to Main Street.

HARRIS: Hey, Kate, I'm just getting and indication that House GOP leaders are going to hold -- is it senators? OK. That senators will hold a news conference scheduled for 12:30, and that's happening shortly, about 22 minutes from right now. I think one of the take-aways here is the news that you're reporting, that the key members of the negotiating teams are working right now. So I'm anticipating that we'll get an update on the negotiations at 12:30. Does that make sense to you?

BOLDUAN: We could definitely see that. It looked like you saw many members walking into the meeting right now.

HARRIS: That's right.

BOLDUAN: So, you know, we could see. And I have to say, just from our standpoint here, that could be a sign of progress for the fact there is some sitting down and talking. And hopefully maybe we'll see at least where both parties stand, and hopefully that can lead to a negotiation and agreement, and let's start with some legislature.

HARRIS: Yes. Are you kidding me? We were talking about staff members sitting down an hour ago. Now at least we're talking about the key people working this thing out.

Kate Bolduan on Capitol Hill for us.

Kate, appreciate it. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: You know, stocks took a triple-digit hit to start the trading day, and they're hovering near that territory again. Investors are nervous that the bailout deal has unraveled.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HARRIS: Mississippi bound. Both presidential candidates heading south for tonight's presidential debate. As we reported in breaking news last hour, John McCain has decided to take part in the debate. At last check, he was preparing to leave for Oxford, Mississippi.

Barack Obama is already en route. His plane headed to Mississippi right now.

Let's go live to the site of tonight's debate. Our Suzanne Malveaux live from Oxford, Mississippi, where the show will go on.

Suzanne, all smiles in Oxford?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There's a sense of relief in Oxford, I'll tell you that much.

This community has really been turned upside down the last 24 hours. We've spoken to a lot of people who have gone through kind of an emotional roller-coast -- anger, resentment, to a sense of disappointment, and now a sense of relief.

I just spoke to the chancellor of the university, Robert Khayat, and he told me that, no, he doesn't feel resentment towards McCain. He has no idea what these candidates are going through. He's simply happy that both of them are going to show up tonight.

It is not a surprise to him, he said. He was briefed within the last hour or so. He said it was simply a matter of getting these guys' flight plans, getting it confirmed, to know that both of them were coming. And they finally got that confirmation. Those Debate Commission officials confirming that both of them, in fact, would be here.

Now, what is next? I want to take you to the stage behind me. This is where -- we're at the hall where the debate is going to be taking place. We've seen a lot of different sound checks, mike checks, and that kind of thing.

But we will see Barack Obama at 2:30 Eastern Time. He's going to be on the stage. He's going to walk through, check out at the podium the kinds of technical things that you want to check out beforehand, just kind of get used to the set.

John McCain is going to be doing the same thing about 4:00 Eastern Time. And then 5:00 is when the host, the moderator of the debate, Jim Lehrer, will take his position at the table that is between those two podiums to do the final checks, those technical checks with his own production team.

All of this expected to come together. The hall's going to be closed for about four hours or so while they do this. So it will be private. We'll see if we'll be able to get any kind of pictures of any of this.

HARRIS: Yes.

MALVEAUX: But clearly, 8:00 local, 9:00 Eastern, is when this debate will kick off. A lot of folks here, Tony, really just relieved. This university is spending the tune of $5.5 million to make this thing happen, and it is actually going to happen.

HARRIS: I'm thinking about the people at home watching all of this unfold. If you were interested in this debate before all of the events of this week, boy, aren't you interested now?

Suzanne Malveaux in Oxford, Mississippi, the site of the first presidential debate.

Suzanne, thank you.

Barack Obama says he is ready for the showdown. John McCain on his way.

Join the best political team on television for your front row seats to the first presidential debate, CNN tonight.

OK. The financial crisis coming to your neighborhood. Washington Mutual, one of the largest banks in the country, has collapsed. The feds seizing WaMu last night, then selling its assets to JPMorgan Chase. It is by far the biggest bank failure in U.S. history. It includes more than $300 billion in assets and $188 billion in deposits. If you bank at WaMu, your money is safe. The FDIC and JPMorgan Chase are backing deposits, but shareholders and some bondholders, wiped out.

Bailout backlash. People across the country taking to the streets to show outrage over the $700 billion plan. Protests held yesterday in cities and towns from coast to coast.

You are looking at demonstrations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Organizers planned 220 demonstrations in more than 30 states.

You can follow the crisis on Wall Street, the buyouts, the bailouts, the political negotiations, all of it at CNNMoney.com. Get all of the day's markets news and numbers, plus expert analysis. Log on now.

John McCain is known for his gut reactions. How has that impacted his political career?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

Two men right now on the move. Destination, Mississippi and tonight's presidential debate.

The breaking news this morning, John McCain will take part in the debate. He is heading to Oxford, Mississippi, anytime now. Barack Obama already in the air, on the way to the debate site.

Acting on instinct. First John McCain said he wouldn't debate. Now he says he will. Our Brian Todd with an inside look at McCain's decision-making.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John McCain says he's just tapping into his training.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm an old Navy pilot, and I know when a crisis calls for all hands on deck.

TODD: McCain's aides say the move to suspend his campaign was made with deliberation, after constant talks with experts and party leaders. Others believe this was also bare-knuckle instinct.

We spoke to a man who's been in the room when McCain's made decisions like this. He's Roy Fletcher, deputy campaign manager for McCain in 2000. Fletcher wasn't there on Wednesday, but suspects it played out like this...

ROY FLETCHER, FMR. MCCAIN DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Walked into a room and said, Gentlemen, we're going to suspend the campaign and we're also going to -- we're going to suspend the debate. And we're going to Washington and we're going to get this business done, and you guys figure out how to handle it.

TODD: Fletcher and other former aides say if there was dissent in the room, McCain probably listened to it then pressed ahead anyway.

(on camera): They describe him as a man who does his research and gathers consensus, but then, they say, he goes purely on his gut, willing to gamble, but not recklessly.

(voice-over): The selection of Sarah Palin, part of that pattern.

TERRY NELSON, FMR. MCCAIN CAMPAIGN MANAGER: He is somebody who does have a tendency to kind of want to shake things up a little bit. And the Palin decision, you know, shook things up, because she was an unconventional choice in some respects, and she was, you know, not a choice that, you know, a lot of people had talked about.

TODD: Former aides say in making his boldest decisions, McCain is genuinely motivated by moral conviction, putting country before self.

CNN analyst David Gergen agrees, but says this move on the financial crisis was not without political calculation.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: He's doing this in part also to rescue his campaign, because this -- you know, a financial meltdown was driving him down in the polls and allowing Barack Obama to go up.

TODD: If this move backfires, don't expect a lot of naval gazing from John McCain. His former aides back him up on quote from his 2002 book, "Worth the Fighting for." "I don't torture myself over decisions. I make them as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often, my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."

Consequences John McCain may have to deal with in the coming days.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: You know, high fuel costs have a lot of people wondering how they're going to heat their homes this winter. We'll have some solutions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: We are following two big stories this hour. The presidential debate, it is on, but congressional leaders are still at odds over a financial bailout plan. We are chasing down the details.

You can see the picture there of Capitol Hill on the right. We are anticipating a hearing from GOP senators any moment now. When they step up to the microphones we'll of course take you to Capitol Hill for their comments and hopefully an update on the progress they're making in pulling together all of the elements of this financial bailout package.

A terror suspect's arrested at an airport in Cologne, Germany. Police say officers boarded the flight shortly before takeoff to Amsterdam and too, two suspects into custody.

They're identified at a 23-year-old Somali man and a 24-year-old German man born in Somalia. Investigators say the men are suspected of wanting to take part in holy war and possible terror attacks.

Back here at home, you'll want to hear this. Gas prices down for the ninth day in a row. The average price for a gallon of unleaded today, about $3.69. So fill up, if you can get it.

Here in Atlanta, lots of drivers can't. Cities in the Southeast still seeing gas shortages. Retailers in Florida, Tennessee and Virginia report that supplies are still below normal, but they say things are starting to get a bit better.

As the temperature drops, you heating -- do you want to go to Capitol Hill now? OK. Mitch McConnell, right now, Capitol Hill. Let's get an update on Republicans efforts to bring together this financial package.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) MINORITY LEADER: To continue to go forward. I think we've made a good deal of progress since yesterday. I've had several conversations with Senator McCain this morning. Indications are that House Republicans are also interested in being a part of the process.

As you probably know, my suggestion to Senator Reid was that we each of the principals designate one person to represent them in these negotiations in order to facilitate getting closure. I designated Senator Gregg on behalf of the Senate Republicans. I'm going stick with one representative for Senate Republicans. He will have the total authority of me and the majority of my conference to try to bring this package to closure.

We think it is extremely important not only to get the substance of the package right, but also to do it quickly. And I think everybody is trying to go forward in good faith to meet pretty early deadlines so that we can restore confidence in the markets and, beyond that, the confidence of the American people that their financial system is going to be all right.

With that, let me call on my friend and colleague, Senator Gregg.

SEN. JUDD GREGG, (R) NEW HAMPSHIRE: Thank you, Mr. Leader.

Let me just follow on to what the leader said. First off, you can't understate the significance of this problem. And the problem really goes directly to main street. Although it may have started on Wall Street, the water flows very quickly to main street. Jobs, people's ability to borrow in order to make payroll, people's ability to borrow to buy a car, send their kids to school, are all at risk here. And we need to act. We need to act promptly. Quickly. And we need to stay here until we've gotten something done.

The progress that's been made so far has been significant, in my opinion, but there's still a lot of very knotty and difficult -- that's knotty, n-o-t-t-y -- and difficult issues to deal with. I guess that k-n-o-t-t-y. And we're going work through them. It's that simple. I've gotten the direction from the leader to negotiate and work until we get this thing, you know, formed, that makes it possible for the government to step in and settle out the credit markets in a way that will benefit main street America so that we don't have this type of threat hanging over our head.

QUESTION: I seems like something changed over the last couple hours to give this renewed momentum? Was it the opening of the market? What seemed to bring Republicans back to . . .

GREGG: Well, first off, I think there's been some slight -- you know, it's inevitable. There's a lot of different views on how things happened yesterday. But my view yesterday was that John McCain -- Senator McCain and Senator Obama coming back to the city, coming back to Washington significantly moved the process along because, first, it got us focused. But, secondly, more importantly, it got the American people focused on the seriousness of the issue. The fact that the two presidential candidates would suspend their campaigns, come back here and make an effort to try to get us to work together and make progress. So I think that was constructive.

Yesterday there was not, in my humble of an opinion, an agreement. What there was, there was an agreement that -- there was this, that nothing would be agreed to until everything was agreed to and everything was not agreed to. We did make significant progress and we're working off of much of what we did yesterday in these meetings.

What's happened today to move things along with even more energy? Well, the fact that the House is going to engage aggressively, the House Republicans, by sending Congressman Blount (ph), who has a major portfolio in the House, over here to be the negotiator. That's really good news and very positive. And, secondly, people are, of any sophistication, are looking at the markets and saying, they're telling us we better do something and they're telling it to us in pretty stark terms.

QUESTION: Senator McConnell, aside from politics, what is -- can you describe Senator McCain's role in terms of policy, in terms of the structure? What is he contributing in terms of policy right now?

MCCONNELL: Look, I think he's been a very constructive part of this. I agree with Senator Gregg, that both presidential candidates coming back was actually helpful. It underscored the significance of moving forward and moving forward on a bipartisan basis and doing it quickly. So I think Senator McCain's role has been entirely constructive.

QUESTION: But his policy? (INAUDIBLE) policy?

MCCONNELL: As I indicated, I think it's been entirely constructive. He's had suggestions. We're taking those into account and we're going forward. And I think his goal is that we get it resolved.

QUESTION: One suggestion (INAUDIBLE), sir?

QUESTION: One suggestion . . .

MCCONNELL: If I had any advice for him, I wouldn't announce it out here.

I think the important thing to underscore here is that both the presidential candidates believe that we ought to get it resolved, we ought to do it on a bipartisan basis and do it quickly. And I think both of them being there yesterday underscored that. And was helpful and we're going to make great progress.

And I have total confidence in Senator Gregg to represent the vast majority of my conference. And he will continue to be our representative in these negotiations.

Thanks a lot.

HARRIS: There you have Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell giving us a bit of an update on what's going to happen moving forward in terms of the teams that are going to getting together to continues to work on this bailout, this rescue plan. Let's get some perspective on today's fast-moving debate developments. Really we're talking about two debates here. Senior political analyst, Gloria Borger live from New York.

Gloria, boy, oh, boy. I think it's really an open question now. You just heard Senator Gregg say that the presidential candidates back in Washington helped "focus" the attention on the serious nature of this crisis. Did we really need that? The president is saying that there was a crisis here. You've got Chairman Bernanke. You've got Secretary Paulson talking about this in really dire terms. What is -- give me your take on what we've been watching here, this theater of the last couple of days.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the theater you've been watching is legislation being made, which is always ugly. I'm telling you. It's not a wonderful process.

And it becomes more complicated because we have this national microscope on it. You've got two presidential candidates swooping in at a meeting with a lame duck president. And so it's very tense and it's very contentious.

The Democrats, of course, are saying, we did not need John McCain here, but Obama had to fly back in because the president requested him there for a meeting. And now these folks are saying, OK, they're both gone. They're both on their way to Mississippi for this debate. Let's get this done.

I would tell you, there are more problems with this on the Republican side than on the Democratic side. But unless these guys hold their noses and vote for this together, a half of each caucus, it's not going to get done because nobody wants to go out on the ledge and jump alone.

HARRIS: All right. Let's pivot to the presidential debates. I think the country is probably relieved to hear that this is actually going to take place. I can't imagine that the American people wouldn't want to the hear from both of these candidates on these important issues. John McCain says, no deal on the bailout package, no debate. And now, as we know, he is on his way to Mississippi. What do you think is behind sort of the change of the heart here, because we're not close to a deal, at least right now?

BORGER: Well, I think McCain realized that he just wasn't going to get a deal in a day, and that the best thing for him to do politically would be to get to that debate. That he didn't want Barack Obama standing down there alone, taking over a town hall. And that the American people really could benefit in hearing from both of these candidates on these economic issues.

And I guarantee you that Jim Lehrer, the moderator of that debate, will start out this debate, which is supposed to be about foreign policy, talking about the financial crisis. And so it's going to be very interesting for the American public to see where these two fellows are coming from.

They have agreed on basic principles, by the way, on this financial crisis. They have agreed on much of the substance. I think what John McCain has on his hands is a revolve among conservative House Republicans that he wants to the try and figure out how to deal with. And, by the way, these people have never been big fans of John McCain.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

BORGER: So it's a tough, political situation for him. For all of them.

HARRIS: How fascinating is this? The last 24, 48 hours of this debate on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign as well. Our senior political analyst Gloria Borger with us.

Gloria, great to see you. Thanks for your time.

BORGER: Sure.

HARRIS: And on the phone with us right now is Jessica Yellin.

Jessica, can you give us -- I know you've been doing some work on this and reporting on this. What have you found out about the process, the give and take, the back and forth that is going on within the GOP caucus?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is being hashed out right now, Tony. I'm standing outside a meeting of the Republican conference. The House Republicans on the Capitol.

And I'll tell you, to give you a sense of just how divided that conference remains, we spoke to one member of leadership as he was walking into this meeting. The leadership in there trying to sort of sell their members on this idea of a high-bridge (ph) sort of bailout package that we've all been talking about. House leadership says, look, progress is being made and we are working toward what we hope will be a final product by the open of the markets on Monday.

So the leadership thinks this will be done by Monday. We spoke to one of those fiscal conservative, one of those strong holdouts, Mike Pence, and he said, no, it's fine with everyone if this is not done by Monday. We have enough time to get something done right. As long as the markets know we're making progress, we can take our time.

They are very far apart right now. And a number of members we talked to say they just don't like this idea that's being floated out there because they think the Treasury secretary has already basically rejected several of the components. So it's just going to be another way to get into the same bailout deal that they didn't like to begin with. And the parts that the conservative support will never be enacted.

HARRIS: Boy. Hey, Jessica, can I jump in a second? I'm just sort of curious about part of what you just mentioned there. I'm wondering, this idea that there is time to get it done right. I think we all would like a deal that's done expeditiously, but done correctly. Much of the country doesn't want to deal at all.

But I'm wondering, who is leading this charge or at least a push back that there is time? Are we talking about John Boehner? Are we talking about Peter King? Who's leading the effort to slow the process down a bit, let's take our time and let's get something done correctly?

YELLIN: There are a group of fiscal conservatives within the House Republican conference that includes Representative Eric Cantor, a Virginia representative, Mike Pence, the man I just quoted. A number of people who are just very concerned about spending taxpayer money. They say they're getting calls 50 to one and some 90 to one against this bailout deal.

HARRIS: Wow. Wow. OK. Jessica Yellin for us from Capitol Hill. So much still to cover on this story. A quick break and we're back in just a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: What else can we put in this mix today? What a day. We're following these two big stories and we have been throughout the day. The presidential debate is on. But congressional leaders are still very much at odds over a financial bailout plan. We are chasing down all the details for you. Our i-Reporters have also been voicing their concern about the issue -- the bailout plan. Veronica De La Cruz joins us now with what she is seeing online.

Veronica, good to see you.

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good to see you.

You know, there has been complete outrage over this bailout. It's been sweeping the web, Tony. And, you know, it's no different when it comes to our i-Reporters. Let's go ahead and get to Robert Davis. He calls this plan, Tony, no child left a dime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DAVIS, IREPORTER: On April 2, 2004, and my father, rest in peace, dad, left me an inheritance of $24,000. Now thanks to the George Bush administration, my $24,000 investment is only worth $6,000, which has been invested in renewable energy, by the way. I would like to know if the $7 billion bailout is going to rescue my small inheritance that my loving mother and father worked hard to leave for me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: So, there you go. That was Robert Davis. Obviously with some questions there.

And Jason Jewett, Tony, has this hypothetical to offer. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON JEWETT, IREPORTER: If I have a son and he takes my credit card and goes out and spends way more than my limit, comes close to bankrupting me, what did I do? Take away the credit card and he learns his lesson. No, no, no. I'll do what the government does and give him more money and buy his debt and take that under my own wing. The American taxpayers are paying for the mistakes of these corporation. Why should we allow that to happen without, a, increased oversight and regulation, which is what the Democrats have been fighting for, as well as not allowing Henry Paulson to make decisions that were not reviewable by any court or any government body, which is a provision within the original bailout that Republicans had wanted and fought for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DE LA CRUZ: All right. That was Jason Jewett there.

DJ Jester actually believed that he has the solution to the problem. He says, "instead of bailing these companies out, bail out the people. How much of this country could live well on their incomes if their debts were paid off? Will some companies fail because of this? Sure, but new ones would arise to take their place."

So like I just said, Tony, lots of people very vocal on this issue. We're still asking, though, what do you think about this bailout? Go ahead, send us your thoughts, throw yourself on tape and log on to ireport.com. It's very simple.

HARRIS: America is finding its voice on this issue to be sure. I'm just happy they're coming to us and we're getting it on the air.

Veronica, good to see you. Have a great weekend.

You know, the bailout debate is sure to come up in tonight's McCain/Obama debate. Join the best political team on television for your front row seat to the first presidential debate, CNN tonight.

You know, what really happens, when you think about it, if Congress can't come up with a bailout plan?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Stay with us as we continue to cover our two big stories at this hour. The president's debate is on. Suzanne Malveaux, Bill Schneider in Oxford, Mississippi, for us. As for congressional leaders, they are still very much at odds over a financial bailout plan. Kate Bolduan, Gloria Borger, Jessica Yellin all over that story for us.

So with the financial bailout package at an impasse, the question now, just how critical is a rescue plan? Our Mary Snow take as look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The what ifs of not having a bailout package have been dire.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The government's top economic experts warn that without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold.

SNOW: What could that financial panic look like? Banks freeze up, companies can't access money, employees don't get paychecks. The exact scenarios are difficult to predict. But one senior editor at "Fortune" says, right now, this isn't Armageddon.

GEOFF COLVIN, "FORTUNE" SENIOR EDITOR-AT-LARGE: A lot of what you're hearing suggests that, well, you know, something like this is what led to the Great Depression and so it's happening now, so we're going to have another Great Depression. No, it's not true at all.

SNOW: One key difference, economists say, when the stock market crashed in 1929, the Federal Reserve tightened credit instead of loosening it. Other policies were put in place to prevent history from being repeated. Economist Maria Fiorini Ramirez says the situation today may be different, but it's serious enough to require prompt government action.

MARIA FIORINI RAMIREZ, GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONSULTANT: If we don't have something like this package or maybe something even bigger that we might need down the road, then I think the whole economy comes to a screeching halt.

SNOW: Some economists say the risks of doing nothing could mean the worst economic experience since World War II. That means unemployment rising, people earning less money, some having to take two or three jobs to make ends meet. With the bailout, the best case scenario means losses will be stemmed. And this package is just making a dent.

RAMIREZ: It's one step getting closer to a resolve. It took us a long time to get here and it's going to take us maybe a couple of years to come out of it.

SNOW: And as one economists put it, think of this financial crisis as a hurricane, with the goal of this bailout package to prevent it from going from a category three to a category five.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: So, really, when you get down to it, what do you call this financial thing, thang, that we're in? Just don't use the "p" word.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Remember George Carlin's routine about the seven words you can't say on television? Well, what about the words you can't say on Wall Street. Our Jeanne Moos dares to say them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): We know we're in it, even if we don't know what to call it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A downward spiral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Financial peril.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The current dire circumstances.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Off the cliff.

MOOS: To avoid causing a stampede off the cliff, most politicians are biting their tongues.

The word most frequently used to describe a financial crisis has been . . .

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Crisis. The crisis of our own. We know this is a crisis.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our economy is in crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now we have a financial crisis. GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are getting into crisis mode.

MOOS: And what comes after a crisis?

MCCAIN: Could turn crisis into a far-reaching disaster.

MOOS: Just think, only a week earlier, Jon Stewart was mocking President Bush for downplaying the situation.

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": How bad can it really be?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Americans are concerned about the adjustments that are taking place in our financial markets.

MOOS: Who's scared of an adjustment?

STEWART: Something you get at your chiropractor.

MOOS: It prompted Bill Maher it declare a new rule.

BILL MAHER, "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": Stop calling what's happening to the financial markets an adjustment. An adjustment is something you do in your sweat pants when your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) falls out of your underwear.

MOOS: These guys aren't laughing. The higher up the totem pole, the more circumspect. So the Treasury secretary and the head of the Fed say things like . . .

BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Such dire straits.

HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: This difficult period.

MOOS: These guys know the market is hanging on their every word. Every escalation in word choice is noted.

BERNANKE: The grave threats to financial stability.

MOOS: Doesn't quite have a same ring as . . .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A financial Pearl Harbor.

MOOS: But there is one word that practically everybody goes out of their way not to say publicly. The "p" word. And who should finally say it? But the president who started out referring to adjustments. What a difference a week makes.

BUSH: America could slip into a financial panic.

MOOS: He uttered the "p" word. But so far no panic's ensued.

PHILLIP WILBURN, FUNNYORDIE.COM: I'm Wolf Blitzer and this is "The Situation Room." MOOS: Maybe this mock "Situation Room" bests sum up the financial situation.

WILBURN: How is the economy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's bad!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, Wolf, that's how you know you're a living, breathing superstar, right? Come on.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf has much -- let's be fair. Wolf has much better hair than that.

HARRIS: Yes, he does. Indeed he does.

PHILLIPS: He uses a lot more products in his hair.

HARRIS: Oh, my goodness. Can't wait to see Wolf tonight.

Hey, I've got to ask you, are you going to follow up on that terrific segment you did yesterday that had the whole NEWSROOM buzzing with the state representative from Louisiana, correct?

PHILLIPS: That's right. He wants to pay poor women $1,000 to get their tubes tied.

HARRIS: Promise me you're going to follow-up on it. Promise me.

PHILLIPS: Hey, Tony, if I give you $2,000, will you get a vasectomy?

HARRIS: No.

PHILLIPS: OK. Well, you can imagine the e-mails that we got after this interview. We're going to re-air it and we're going to read a lot of those e-mails.

HARRIS: You kill me every day. The NEWSROOM continues now with Kyra Phillips. Great weekend, great show.

PHILLIPS: Same to you.