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President Bush Holds Final Press Conference; Anger Rising in American Cities
Aired January 12, 2009 - 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): Making news right now: a test for breast cancer every woman should know about.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If there's a long family history, this seems to be a reasonable use for the technology.
SANCHEZ: A genetic guarantee. But would you want to know?
President Bush's final news briefing.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Why me? Oh, the burdens. Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch? It's just pathetic, isn't it, self-pity?
SANCHEZ: Defensive, opinionated -- what you say about him and about them.
QUESTION: What concerns you the most about what he may attempt to do?
SANCHEZ: Did they do their jobs well, or did they enable?
SANCHEZ: Prince Harry, royal, crude and on tape.
PRINCE HARRY, UNITED KINGDOM: Our little Paki friend, Ahmed. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) me. You look like a raghead. Look at me. Look at me. Look away.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: More embarrassment for the Windsors.
Obama's Senate replacement. Is Burris in or out? New developments.
GOV. ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), ILLINOIS: I'm confident that, at the end of the day, I will be properly exonerated.
SANCHEZ: And Blagojevich mischief.
Anger and frustration growing in American cities, as our economy and crime worsen, a national problem, also being felt at the local level. If cities and states go broke, then what? We're looking into it. With your input, on Twitter and on the air, it's lunchtime in San Diego, 3:00 p. in Philly. This is your national conversation.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
And here we go from the world headquarters of CNN in Atlanta.
This is not just a breaking story that we're about to tell you about. This may be one of the most bizarre stories that you have heard about in a long time. As we begin this newscast right now, there is a manhunt in Alabama for a pilot who called in an aviation emergency last night.
He said that his plane was in trouble, that the windshield had been destroyed in flight, and that he was bleeding badly. Then, this plane crashes. In fact, military fighter jets are escorting it and watch it crash. But, when they get to the wreck -- and I think we have some video that we can show you here now of the actual search area -- when they get to the wreck -- this is a swamp near Milton, Florida -- guess what they don't find? They don't find the pilot, the guy who called in, the guy who said he was bleeding profusely, that his windshield had been broken.
And it gets better. The military guys who were escorting the plane are now saying the door on the plane was open before it hit the ground. Could the pilot have jumped, possibly even parachuted, before the crash? Well, guess what?
Police believe that the pilot is, in fact, alive. He's been spotted in Alabama. In fact, he was seen walking into a hotel, and he may be on the run now somewhere in the woods.
Oh, and one more thing. The pilot, we now learn, is an executive from a big-time financial management firm.
Now, here's what we want you to do. Stay with us, because I'm being told that we are going to be going to a news conference any moment now. This news conference is going to be coming in from Alabama, where we're going to hear some of the details of this case. The FBI has now been called in to try and investigate.
It's taking place in Santa Rosa. That's the county sheriff's office that's now investigating the story. The man's name is Marcus Schrenker. And the firm, by the way -- imagine the people that have their money invested in this firm -- it's Heritage Wealth Management. We will go to it in just a moment.
And we're also going to try and make contact with the actual sheriff from the town. Stay with us, all of this coming together in the next couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. What a story. This sounds like one of those that we're going to be hearing about for quite some time. It is a plane that has gone down. It's done so in a swamp in Florida. We have got some maps I want to show you now that we can help perhaps illustrate this story for you.
The plane had left from Anderson, Indiana. You see where it was going, all the way there to Destin. Instead, the plane has crashed. Let's show you that layover on this map. All right, you see there where the plane crashed, just before Destin? It's in a swamp. That's in Milton, Georgia.
And the pilot, we are now told, has been spotted alive and possibly well in that area there just about 35 miles south of Montgomery, Alabama. So, there's the case. It goes from Anderson to Destin, Florida, or was supposed to. Instead, it crashes there in Milton, Florida in a swamp. And now apparently the man has been spotted.
Joining us on the line is -- from the Santa Rosa sheriff's, Sergeant -- Sergeant Scott Haines.
Sergeant, are you with us?
SGT. SCOTT HAINES, SANTA ROSA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: Yes, I am.
SANCHEZ: What a story. What leads you to believe this man is still alive?
HAINES: Once he arrived on scene last night, when we got to the plane wreckage, he stated that he was bleeding profusely.
There was no blood located inside the cockpit of the plane. And the windshield appeared to be intact, which was not consistent with his story. A short time later, actually, very early this morning, we got a call from a police department in Alabama, the Childersburg Police Department.
They weren't aware of the plane crash at the time, but one of their officers was actually approached early this morning by a subject who was identified as Schrenker by an Indiana driver's license. He was wet from the knees down. And he had goggles which were consistent with flight goggles. And he told that officer that he was in some type of canoe accident.
And the officer checked him out at that time and was not aware of the plane crash, and took him to a local hotel, where Schrenker checked in under a false I.D. And when they heard about the plane crash, they put two and two together and contacted us. And we did confirm that Schrenker, which is the subject he was out with, was the registered pilot on this flight plan.
SANCHEZ: So, what we're left with, then, is the possibility -- or, in actuality, the probability at this point that he crashed that plane, that somehow he got out? And how would he have done that? Would he have parachuted?
HAINES: And that's the thing. They -- after he made this emergency distress call, the plane was put into an autopilot mode. Everything is consistent with that. And they were unable to contact him.
They thought that he was unresponsive, but, more than likely, he put it into autopilot at around 4,000 feet, and had some type of parachute, and parachuted out of the plane over Alabama.
SANCHEZ: Well, that -- that's a dangerous scenario. Aren't you threatening the lives of hundreds, if not possibly thousands, of people when you do that?
HAINES: Absolutely.
This was an approximately $1.5 to $2 million aircraft. And it did come in very close proximity of some very nice homes on the water. It actually crashed a few hundred feet away from a home.
SANCHEZ: But you have not found a parachute as of now? I imagine you're still searching the area and you're searching for him as well, right?
HAINES: The parachute if located would be up in Alabama by Childersburg, which is -- there's a river up in that area that they believe that's where he came down at.
SANCHEZ: We're looking at a picture, by the way. I am just going to interrupt you for a second.
I'm being told now we have got a picture coming in just now.
Chris, is that right? This is the picture we have of the pilot. He is Marcus Schrenker, Marcus Schrenker. And he ran a corporation called the Heritage Wealth Management Group, apparently handled people's money.
This is, I'm being told now, something else. This is motel surveillance video that was, I imagine, taken today at the motel where he was spotted in Alabama. Harpersville is what I'm being told. It's Harpersville, Alabama.
Is that right, Sergeant?
HAINES: Yes, he was dropped off -- he was taken from Childersburg to nearby Harpersville to a hotel there.
And as soon as they confirmed that that's who they were looking for, they went back and set up a perimeter around that hotel. And when they went into his room, they found out that he had left and the key was left in the room. That is the last time I believe they have had contact with him.
SANCHEZ: Well, that's the irony of the story. He comes to the police as you say and he says I have been in some kind of canoeing accident or something. His pants are wet. Police don't make the connection that there's been a plane crash in the area. And now when they go back to look for him, he's gone.
Well, what are you doing to look for him? What is the process right now?
HAINES: That's something that the Alabama authorities, as well as I believe they are receiving assistance from federal agencies in efforts to locate him.
Down here, our primary thing is dealing with the plane crash. We're assisting the NTSB and the FAA in this crash site.
SANCHEZ: So, what we're left with is someone who, it appears, has tried to fake their own death. Or am I overstating it?
HAINES: That sounds fairly accurate.
At least he was trying to flee from some type of prosecution. I have heard that he is facing different type of fraud charges up in Indiana. So, that's probably a very fair statement to say.
SANCHEZ: You say he's facing fraud charges in Indiana? Did you just put -- did you just say that on the record?
HAINES: Yes, I did.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting. We have not been able to get that information yet.
So, really, what we have here, we have three scenes. We have the scene in Indiana, where his company is based, a Heritage Wealth Management Group, that we have been telling you about. We will be working to try and find out whatever we can on that. We have got Josh Levs working on that. If he gets information, he will share that with us.
Then we have the scene in Florida of where the wreck actually took place. And now we have his being spotted in Alabama, where we will be talking to authorities as well.
As information comes in on this story, we will parse it for you and try and break it down. And we will stay on this story throughout the course of this newscast.
Sergeant Scott Haines, we thank you, sir, for taking time to join us and take us through this.
HAINES: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: The latest on what you would want to do if, by chance, you had the possibility of finding out whether your daughter was going to have breast cancer. Would you want to know?
And, also, George Bush uses some words today that he possibly would like to take back. It's about the soldiers and the mood at the White House at the time. Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez here in the world headquarters of CNN, a lot of news to get to.
President Bush says that, while soldiers were dying, there was still a -- quote -- that's the word he used -- "lighthearted" mood in the White House. And he scoffs at those who say he took too many vacations while he was president. This is Mr. Bush's final news conference -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
Getting a lot of comments. We are going to get to those in just a little bit. We are going to get on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook as well.
But, first, we told you we were going to be getting to the George Bush news conference, his final news conference, and what some very important people in Washington have to say about it, including Dana Milbank with "The Washington Post." The problem is, we're having problems them getting them miked up and ready to go.
So, let's put that on hold for just a moment and let me tell you about this story.
He is third in line for the throne in England, but, again, he has gotten himself in trouble, not just with something he said this time, but something that was tape-recorded, tape-recorded by him. We're talking about Prince Harry once again embarrassing the royals.
The reporter is Phil Black.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Prince Harry's public relations blunder was caught on a camera he was operating, and the video leaked to British tabloid "News of the World."
This is the prince's description of a fellow trainee officer three years ago.
PRINCE HARRY: Our little Paki friend, Ahmed.
BLACK: That soldier marched with the prince at their graduation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ahmed Raza Khan of Pakistan.
BLACK: Prince Harry apologized in a statement and tried to offer some context. "Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a friend, a highly popular member of his platoon. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend."
(on camera): That may be, but there is nothing affectionate in the word's origin. It comes from a time when Pakistani, Indiana, and Bangladeshi migrants frequently experienced verbal and physical abuse in many British communities. It is a word historically loaded with racism and hate.
(voice-over): The prince's critics say he should have known better, and that's what makes his behavior offensive and stupid.
MASSOUD SHADJAREH, ISLAMIC HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION: I think to many people who are abused by those terms on a daily life, either at the schools or a place of work, it's actually extremely sensitive, and he's right to be sensitive. I think even Prince Harry now understands that use of this term is racist, is provocative and is unacceptable.
BLACK: It's not the first time Harry has offended. In 2005, the prince with a playboy reputation thought it was a good idea to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party.
He has since tried to rehabilitate his public image with charity work and, most famously, while serving in Afghanistan last year. The prince's defenders say, Harry is now a changed man.
DICKIE ARBITER, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: He shouldn't have said it, but he did say it. He said it three years ago. It's interesting how it's taken three years to come out. And the man that Harry was three years ago, he is not the same person today.
BLACK: The video also features the prince using the term "raghead."
PRINCE HARRY: You look like a raghead. Look at me.
BLACK: No apology for that one, just an explanation. The prince's statement said he used the term to mean Taliban or Iraqi insurgent.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: When we come back, the president of the United States has his final news briefing with reporters. It lasts 45 minutes. A lot of topics are covered, some of it somewhat sensitive. We are going to let you know what the president said, what the reaction was.
And we have two guests lined up who are going to be joining for this conversation. They're ready to go. They're in place. They will be live when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And I welcome you back.
I'm Rick Sanchez from the world headquarters of CNN. President Bush said bon voyage to the reporters today in Washington, D.C., who have covered him for many years now. It was interesting to watch, even emotional at times. It lasted 45 minutes.
Let me let you listen to at least one clip that many have been talking about since this ended. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I believe the phrase "burdens of the office" is overstated. You know, it's, kind of, like, "Why me?"
(LAUGHTER)
BUSH: "Oh, the burdens," you know."Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch?"
It's just pathetic, isn't it, self-pity?
And I don't believe that President-elect Obama will be full of self-pity.
He will find, you know, the people that don't like you, the critics, they're pretty predictable. Sometimes the biggest disappointments will come from your so-called friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Did all these things happen on his watch? Or did he contribute in some measure to the things that happened during his watch? It's obviously an argument that many Americans will have.
Let's bring in two who might have that very same argument here on the air and defend their positions, I imagine, very respectably.
Dana Milbank is a "Washington Post" reporter. He has covered the president. In fact, he was there today. And I understand he told one of our producers he felt so bad for the president, would have wanted to give him a hug when he was done today, after 45 minutes. More on that in a moment. Thomas Donnelly writes for American Enterprise Institute. And he's good enough to join us as well.
Gentlemen, how about that question? When the president's telling reporters, look, all these things happened on my watch, could some make an argument that he may have brought some of those things on?
Dana, we will start with you, then Mr. Donnelly.
DANA MILBANK, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he didn't just say they happened on his watch. In some cases, he said that he inherited them. He suggested that the economic problems began before he came into office eight years ago.
SANCHEZ: Is that genuine? Is that true?
MILBANK: Well, he did inherit a recession. It just happens to be a different recession from the one that we're in right now.
But he did cop pleas to sort of misdemeanors, you know. Well, maybe we should have landed Air Force One in New Orleans during Katrina. Maybe we shouldn't have had the "Mission Accomplished" banner.
When it came to the big-picture issues, the fundamental things about the economy and the war, he was basically, well, look, I'm just an innocent bystander here.
SANCHEZ: Thomas Donnelly?
THOMAS DONNELLY, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Look, I'm less interested in the mental state of George Bush than the facts of the case, and particularly the questions of the war. And I think it will probably take some time to sort of separate out the problems of George Bush from the problems of his time.
But it was pretty remarkable to see the president, who's a pretty never-look-back kind of guy, sort of go through some sort of reflection today.
SANCHEZ: Do you think he really believes that Iraq was the right thing to do and that it was handled properly? Or do you think he's just saying that because he has to convince himself of it when he talks about, well, history will see this thing as a great success?
DONNELLY: Well, those are two separate questions.
I'm sure That he thinks it was the right thing to do, but certainly he must have, in his own mind, at least, certainly when he got rid of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and approved the surge for Iraq, must have also come to a conclusion that the way That the war was being conducted was misguided.
So, how the president squares that in his own mind, I can't begin to tell you. But, again, I think the facts of the case are that he pursued HAS a pretty different course over the last couple years.
SANCHEZ: I want you to hear something else. This is another piece of sound.
He talks, interestingly enough, about something that a lot of people have been complaining about in the Republican Party. And that is that it's not inclusive enough. And he seems to be making a suggestion to the Republican Party that they better not continue in this direction, or they are going to lose their base and they're going to lose everyone who's followed them and they're not going to be able to win an election.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: This party will come back. And -- but the party's message has got to be that different points of view are included in the party. And, take, for example, the immigration debate. That's a -- obviously, a highly contentious issue.
And the problem with the outcome of the initial round of the debate was that some people said, "Well, Republicans don't like immigrants." Now, that may be fair or unfair, but that's the image that came out.
And, you know, if the image is "We don't like immigrants," then there's probably somebody else out there saying, "Well, if they don't like immigrants, they probably don't like me, as well."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You know, I'm thinking of the Southern strategy here and thinking that if that was the effort that was being put out by some Republicans in the last two or three years in this country, Dana Milbank, that, guess what, he's saying that won't work anymore.
MILBANK: Yes, I mean, this has been a longtime battle between the president and the base of his party.
Now, I mean, politically, I suppose it's convenient the election was lost not really primarily because of immigration, but that's something that takes it away from Bush saying, if they had only listened to me, things would have turned out differently.
But I think, as a political analyst, he is spot on. If you look at the demographic trends and where they're going, he's absolutely right...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: The Hispanic vote.
MILBANK: Well, the Hispanic vote, sure.
And call it the Southern strategy or by any other name, but the very fact is, this won't play anymore.
SANCHEZ: What do you think of that, Mr. Donnelly?
DONNELLY: No, I would certainly agree with that.
Even looking back to the McCain campaign, the sponsor of the immigration reform law trying to sort of get the toothpaste back in the tube, apologized for passing a liberalization and a path to citizenship piece of legislation, it certainly suggests that the attempts by the president and even the hated Karl Rove, who was a party to trying to reach out to Hispanics -- obviously they were sort of -- they lost the battle internally in the Republican Party over the last couple years.
SANCHEZ: It's an interesting statement for him to make today. But he also made another statement. And I want you guys to hang tight there, because he delineates his mistakes. And we're going to let you see those in just a little bit. But then he goes on to do something else. He makes a comment -- as a matter of fact, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Abu Ghraib, obviously, was a huge disappointment during the presidency. Not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: He goes on to mention that when some of the soldiers were dying and things were extremely bleak in Iraq, that there was still a "lighthearted" -- "lighthearted mood" at the White House.
Should he have said that?
I'll ask my guests.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: The president getting a lot of supporters today here on the Twitter board. As a matter of fact, Robert, let's go to the Twitter board and listen to some of the people -- what they're saying.
This is interesting: "Why don't we focus on the good things that Bush did?
He got us through 9/11 and we haven't been attacked since. History will judge the Bush era for what it is -- the Bush error."
There's a negative one.
But here's another positive one: "Leave President Bush alone. Do you think you could have done a better job with the past eight years? No. So shut up."
And finally, this one: "We need to focus on more positive and less negative. Sure, lots of bad things happened on his watch. But what about the good?"
Well, here's the president himself talking about some of the things not so good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: I'm not trying to play gotcha, but I wonder, when you look back over the long arc of your presidency, do you think, in retrospect, that you have made any mistakes. And if so, what is the single biggest mistake that you may have made?
BUSH: Clearly, putting a "mission accomplished" on an aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message. We were trying to say something differently, but nevertheless, it conveyed a different message.
Obviously, some of my rhetoric has been a mistake.
I thought long and hard about Katrina -- you know, could I have done something differently like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge?
I believe that running the Social Security idea right after the '04 elections was a mistake. I should have -- I should have argued for immigration reform.
There have been disappointments. Abu Ghraib, obviously, was a huge disappointment during the presidency. Not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment. I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were -- things didn't go, according to plan, let's put it that way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Not finding weapons of mass destruction. I guess the important -- the question I would ask both of you gentlemen here is, do you think he understands the impact of those things?
I mean, it's one thing to state them -- list them. It's quite another to understand their impact. Either one of you.
Mr. Donnelly, I'll begin with you.
DONNELLY: Yes, I do think he understands the impact. But what struck me about those quotes is that it was all about the impact rather than about the substance -- you know, it was a mistake to put the "mission accomplished" banner up; you know, it was a mistake sort of as a political tactic to not land the airplane in Katrina.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
DONNELLY: I'd be more worried about the substance. And this...
SANCHEZ: Well, what more substance can you get than 5,000 soldiers and possibly 100,000 Iraqis being dead and then saying oops, apparently there weren't any weapons of mass destruction. The people who sent their kids over there to die sent them on the premise that there were weapons of mass destruction.
It's not just a mistake.
DONNELLY: Well, no, it's not. But it's not a tactical political mistake, either. Anybody who studies the history of warfare understands that people going into warfare with false assumptions about what's going to happen. And that -- that's just something that happens repeatedly in history.
The question to me, in my mind, was did the president understand what the real situation was fast enough and adjust to it?
And I think that's a...
SANCHEZ: Did he? DONNELLY: Well, no. I say no...
SANCHEZ: Right.
DONNELLY: But at the end of the day, he did make that adjustment and he stuck with it in order to see that the last two years of the conduct of the war in Iraq were quite different than the -- than the first four. But you have to understand that it's not a question of sort of inside the Beltway political tactics...
SANCHEZ: Oh, no, no, I...
DONNELLY: ...but rather substance.
SANCHEZ: I get that. And I think that's a darned good point that you make -- Dana Milbank, your take on that.
Does he understand the impact of those things?
DANA MILBANK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR "WASHINGTON POST": Well, I think he does understand the impact, but he's unable to get out there and say it. You can be a -- you can imagine what the reaction would be if he came out there and said, you know, look, I am at 24 percent approval and that's because I've been a real disaster as president and pretty much everything has gone wrong and all my decisions have turned out to be bad ones.
He can't get up there and do that. So he sort of says these silly things, you know, admitting to rather minor mistakes or saying, yes, we were lighthearted in the White House at this...
SANCHEZ: Well, let...
MILBANK: (INAUDIBLE)...
SANCHEZ: Let me let the viewers listen to that one. That -- it's funny you mentioned that one.
He talks about how bad things were in Iraq, actually mentions soldiers dying. And then he says we were still lighthearted in the White House.
Some might -- some might construe that as being possibly a little tone deaf.
Let the viewer decide. Then I want you guys to have your take on this.
Let's watch it together.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I tell people that, you know, some days happy, some days not so happy. Every day has been joyous. And people think -- you know, they say, I just don't believe it to be the case. Well, it is the case. Even in the darkest moments of Iraq, you know, there was -- and, you know, every day when I was reading reports about soldiers losing their lives, no question there was a lot of emotion. But, also, there was times where we could be lighthearted and support each other. And, you know, I built a team of really capable people who were there not to serve me or there to serve the Republicans, they were there to serve the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: I'm -- I'm just thinking that if the parents were watching him say that -- who lost a loved one over there -- I'm just thinking that lighthearted comment may not have gone over so well.
I'm not sure. That's why I have you guys here -- Dana, you start.
MILBANK: Yes, I mean -- yes. The danger is you picture sort of Karl Rove putting whoopee cushions on the chairs or Dick Cheney slipping on a banana peel.
I think, to give him the benefit of the doubt there, that's probably in the Bushism category. And he was not exactly intending to say it the way he was. Another time in the press conference, he did something similar. He was really meant to be talking about Obama. He said there's an enemy out there that lurks and he's trying to kill us and I wish him all the best.
So sometimes the words are correct, they just get put -- assembled in the wrong order.
SANCHEZ: You -- yes. No, and you've got to give people passes.
Look, like we don't make mistakes when we talk from time to time?
Mr. Donnelly, your take on that?
DONNELLY: Look, I hate to correct Dana, who's a very close student of President Bush, but I think this is actually -- you have to understand what kind of rhetoric he's using, which is profoundly Christian rhetoric.
So when he's talking about a light heart in difficult times, he's talking about actually matters of faith and his obligation to lift people up and soldier on through difficult times.
And, actually, I think soldiers' families and soldiers probably understand this rhetoric a lot better than those of us inside the Beltway do.
SANCHEZ: What would you guys -- a final question.
What would you guys would have liked to have seen the reporters do?
Do you think -- and maybe not just today, but in general, over the last eight years, were these reporters too easy on the president? Did they enable him?
Or were they too hard?
MILBANK: I don't think so. I mean it's -- this has been the sort of longest running rap against the press is we -- I covered the White House during the first term and we were never tough enough on the president and it's our fault about the weapons...
SANCHEZ: Do you think you were, Dana?
MILBANK: I think the questions were asked. There were many times when they could have been asked more forcefully. I mean, at this point, we sort of know what the answers are. So this was just a nostalgia session.
I think the one thing they should have done is unleashed Helen Thomas and let her -- let her have at that guy.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: She was looking down throughout the whole news conference.
We're out of time, gentlemen.
My thanks.
Interesting conversation. Great, smart comments from both of you.
Appreciate it.
It really was fun to watch that today. I think all of us here at CNN were kind of glued to the TV during those 45 minutes.
Again, we'll do this again.
My thanks.
Let's bring in Glenda Umana now at CNN Espanol, covering a story for us also having to do with President Bush.
He was meeting with Senor Calderon today, right?
Felipe.
GLENDA UMANA, CNN EN ESPANOL: Well, Bush...
SANCHEZ: Actually, the...
UMANA: ...did...
SANCHEZ: ...the future president, not the present president, Obama.
UMANA: Exactly. Bush is going to meet with Calderon tomorrow. But today -- this is a tradition, Rick. Since 1980, the Mexico leader has been the first head of state to hold talks with an incoming U.S. president. Although the Mexican president came to Washington, it is Obama who visited Calderon at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington.
Rick, tortilla soup was part of the lunch menu.
SANCHEZ: Oh, great.
UMANA: Both emphasized on the extraordinary relations, they say, between the two countries and also mentioned they hope to make their relations even stronger.
SANCHEZ: Glenda Umana, my thank you to you...
UMANA: Como estas?
Chiao.
SANCHEZ: And, hopefully, we'll be able to take care of some of the drug cartel problems that are going on on the border down there, which seems to be the highest interest for those people living down on that border.
UMANA: A lot of topics to discuss -- immigration, drug trafficking and, of course, the U.S.-Mexican economy.
SANCHEZ: And we'll do just that.
My thanks.
UMANA: Chiao.
SANCHEZ: By the way, back on Twitter: "I agree with the benefit of the doubt argument."
That's the comment I made awhile ago when we were talking about the president. "Bush is not exactly an eloquent guy. Not everyone is."
Let's do one more: "It takes Bush this long to realize his errors? Almost six years in Iraq and he finds out soldiers have been dying? Sad."
I'm not sure that's exactly what he said, but nonetheless, we appreciate your comments and we expect many more, -- thousands, perhaps.
Also, if you could know whether your daughter is going to have breast cancer, would you want to?
Think about this for a moment. If there was a test -- think about this during the next couple of minutes, because we're going to run a commercial and we're going to talk about it when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
I'm Rick Sanchez.
We're going to talk about this test now that we've been telling you about. It's just been used in a breakthrough way in England.
And here's the question -- if you could figure out a way of having your daughter take a test to make sure -- before she's born -- that she's not going to have breast cancer, would you be interested in doing that?
Would you be interested in using technology in that way?
It gets complicated, so we brought in an expert, as they say -- Elizabeth, thanks so much for being here.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: My pleasure.
SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting about this is that some people would look at this and wonder whether it is something we should be doing.
Before we do that, tell us how the procedure works.
What is it, actually?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. You've got egg and sperm sitting in a lab.
SANCHEZ: Right.
COHEN: You join them together and you make a bunch of embryos. And let's say you have a family where they have the breast cancer gene in the family. Then what you do is you test the embryos. And if it has the breast cancer gene, you don't use it. If it doesn't have the gene, you put it inside the mother's uterus to grow a baby.
SANCHEZ: So I'm a woman...
COHEN: Uh-huh.
SANCHEZ: Ba-da-ba.
COHEN: Oh, that would be scary. Yes, OK.
SANCHEZ: If I'm a woman and I decide that I am going to be getting pregnant in the next couple of years...
COHEN: Uh-huh.
SANCHEZ: ...I literally could go to a doctor and say, would you please check these out -- tell me which one has -- is more safe. Tell me which one is less apt of having breast cancer.
COHEN: If you have a reason to worry. If you have breast cancer in your family or your wife has breast cancer in her family and you know that someone's carrying this dreaded breast cancer gene, yes, you can ask doctors to do that.
SANCHEZ: And that's what they actually will do.
COHEN: They will do that.
SANCHEZ: They will remove...
COHEN: Sure.
SANCHEZ: They will remove what?
They will remove...
COHEN: They will remove some of the DNA from the -- from the embryo and they will test it. And you can do this for breast cancer, you can do this for other diseases, like Tasax Disease. You can do this for hemophilia -- for a variety of diseases.
SANCHEZ: And the embryo that they choose not to do it with, you just say hey, you know what, I'm not going to have that baby?
COHEN: Don't want it. Just leave it there. Don't do anything with it.
SANCHEZ: So I'll choose three, but not one?
COHEN: Correct.
SANCHEZ: That's fascinating.
COHEN: It is fascinating.
SANCHEZ: And it also makes people wonder whether we're playing God in this case.
COHEN: Sure. Sure.
SANCHEZ: But what -- what are people saying about that?
Is there an ethical problem here?
COHEN: You know, some people have an ethical problem with all of this. They say babies ought to be conceived in the natural way and if you can't do it naturally, you shouldn't monkey around with Mother Nature at all.
But other people say, look, who wants a baby who's going to get Huntington's Disease?
That is not a desirable thing.
If you can test an embryo beforehand, why not do it?
SANCHEZ: This is a fascinating thing, because it also leads to this -- if you can test an embryo before as to whether or not it's going to have breast cancer, why not find out if it's going to have any other disease?
Why not find out if it's going to have my wife's beautiful green eyes?
COHEN: That's...
SANCHEZ: Why not find out if it's going to have a deep voice and to be an operatic singer?
COHEN: Right. That is the slippery slope argument. And let me tell you why the doctors I talked to think that this argument is kind of silly. They say, look, we can't test an embryo to see if it's going to have Mrs. Sanchez's beautiful green eyes. We can't do it. We don't have the technology. So don't worry about it.
And I said to them, well, maybe next year we'll have the technology. And they said, well, you know what, no one's really looking into that. And even if we did one day have it, ethical doctors would never do it -- no ethical doctor would say, sure, let's take an embryo and not use it just because it doesn't -- it isn't going to yield the green eyes we want.
SANCHEZ: It's fascinating to watch, as the technology develops...
COHEN: Right.
SANCHEZ: ...how suddenly we all have to develop around it and kind of get used to it.
COHEN: The ethics always come after the technology.
SANCHEZ: Right.
COHEN: The technology comes and then we figure out the rules.
SANCHEZ: It's an amazing...
COHEN: It is.
SANCHEZ: It's an amazing story.
COHEN: It is.
SANCHEZ: And it's amazing what they're doing in England with this. And a child was actually born.
COHEN: And many children in this country have been born after this kind of testing, as well -- many of them.
SANCHEZ: And the woman chose the one she wanted?
COHEN: Right.
SANCHEZ: The embryo that was going to be...
COHEN: Right. The mom and dad say... SANCHEZ: ...healthier.
COHEN: Well, the mom and dad say I want the one without the breast cancer gene.
SANCHEZ: Amazing.
COHEN: It is.
SANCHEZ: All right.
When we come back -- thanks so much, by the way.
COHEN: Thanks.
SANCHEZ: Interesting story.
When we come back, we're going to be talking about a couple of things.
First of all, we're going to recap the story we told you about at the beginning of the newscast. We are told that they are still looking for the pilot who apparently went down with his -- went down without his plane, I should say -- in Florida. He's now been spotted alive in Alabama.
And the very latest on the president of the United States, as well.
Stay with us.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
I'm Rick Sanchez.
Let's go -- Johnny, if you could, let's go to the Twitter board real quick. Here's a comment that we got just moments ago. This is Cynthia. She's watching our newscast right now and she sent us this note: "That pilot that may have tried to fake his own death did not do a very good job. Add him to the Stupid Criminal of 2009 list."
Well, stupid or not, criminal or not, we do understand that we've got some video now that we've brought in. This is YouTube video that shows what he looks like. This is, by the way, Marcus Schrenker. There he is on some video that we have gotten a hold of.
He ran a company called Heritage Wealth Management. And for those of you who are now joining us late, we broke this story at the beginning of this newscast, that police are now saying he probably faked his own death, because he is alive, has been spotted in Alabama, though the plane crashed in Florida without him. They found on the plane no windshield, no blood and the door -- the pilot's door -- was open to the plane. So say military jet fighters who were escorting it when it went down.
So, obviously, as we get more information on this story, we are going to be passing it along to you.
And here is, by the way, something else to take note of. More than 2.5 million American jobs were wiped out last year. That's the highest yearly job loss since 1945. It's also another indicator of how tough and far-reaching it is going to be for Barack Obama to try and fix this economy.
Just last week -- you saw it right here on our show, his first major policy speech, where he talked about the problems of cities and communities all over the country.
Obama said that we must put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests. That's what he said.
OK, but now look at this. As a result of the police officer shooting and killing a man in Oakland, California, protestors take to the streets. More than 100 people are arrested. Fires are set. Cars are overturned. Businesses are attacked. Even now, tensions are so high there, that when last we checked, police were meeting with community leaders to try and prevent even more violence in Oakland.
I can tell you this as a police beat reporter in Miami for more than a decade, I can tell you flat out -- and I guarantee that most police will agree with me on this -- that as the economy worsens in this country, incidents like this will become more frequent.
And just how bad is the economy where those disturbances were taking place?
Well, consider this. Just a few miles from those clashes in Oakland is Viejo. Viejo has declared bankruptcy. It's the first city in the state to succumb to a long-term recession in this country.
California as a whole is facing a $15 billion deficit. And could be $40 billion the following year. That means they may not be able to pay the bills in that state.
So, Mr. Almost President, you say this is a national problem and you're right. But the impact of this is very local. And it's being felt by people just like you and me. And somehow, your solution has to reach there, too, Mr. President -- which is why mayors all over the country are writing in and asking this question -- where's our plan?
CNN.com/ricksanchez is the place to go to continue this conversation.
By the way, Wolf Blitzer is checking in now to let us know what's coming up on his show today, as they call him the dancing machine -- Wolf, what you got coming up in five?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Thanks very much, Rick.
The balance of power -- it's shifting already to Barack Obama. Today, the president-elect takes dramatic action on a dire economic situation, talking to President Bush, then sending a letter to Congress.
And the president himself unflagged in his last news conference -- he opens up like never before, talking about the economy, his mistakes and a warning for Barack Obama. You're going to hear it all right there.
And a may day call, a plane crash and a pilot vanished.
What happened?
Police in three states right now are trying to find out. We're live in Alabama with the story -- Rick, a lot coming up at the top of the hour right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
SANCHEZ: What a story, that pilot story.
BLITZER: I know.
SANCHEZ: OK, Wolf.
we'll look forward to it.
By the way, what in the world did the ladies of "The View" have to say today?
Well, it's our job to find out for you because you've got to work and you can't see it, right?
It's about the White House and it's a riot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We just asked the question moments ago, what is the federal department -- the federal government's role in the local issues with the economy and the crime?
Just handed this moments ago by Mike, my producer.
The Justice Department has just sent mediators to Oakland, California to help resolve the tensions arising from the fatal New Year's Day shooting of an unarmed black man by white transit police officers. Interesting. Ask and you shall receive.
Here now, today's Fix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE VIEW," COURTESY ABC)
SHERRI SHEPHERD, CO-HOST: I want to let President-Elect Obama know I don't steal. So you can invite me the White House any time you want.
Barbara steals.
BARBARA WALTERS, CO-HOST: I do not steal.
(CROSSTALK)
ELISABETH HASSELBECK, CO-HOST: Sherri, if she steals, we benefit from it because she always brings stuff back to us.
SHEPHERD: Yes, she does bring it back.
WALTERS: That's right.
(CROSSTALK)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST: Well, you see, now you've just implicated all of in this (INAUDIBLE)...
WALTERS: What's not nailed down, I take.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
GOLDBERG: That visual just messed me up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "D.L. HUGHLEY BREAKS THE NEWS")
D.L. HUGHLEY, HOST: I was watching TV. And I don't know if you know, Anderson Cooper has a series called "Peril" -- "Planet In Peril," where he goes all over the world. And he was swimming with sharks.
Did you see this?
He actually swam with sharks. I'm not talking about in a cage and got out and swam with sharks. Let me tell you something, I want my children to do well. I hope that he continues to and I hope the ratings keep doing well. But if I've got to swim with sharks, I'm going back to BET...
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW, COURTESY TELEPICTURES PRODUCTIONS)
SANCHEZ: Most of the people -- (LAUGHTER).
I just can't watch that enough -- Wolf -- Mr. Dancing Machine.
Most of the people who have responded to our show today, and especially to the George Bush news conference, have been willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt. Some saying they feel bad for him.
Not RobReese 77, who's on our Twitter board right now: "Finally," he says, "no more Bush press conferences. Where is a shoe when you need one?"
I guess that says it all.
We'll be back tomorrow at the same time. We'll be looking for you.
In the meantime, let's take you back to Washington, D.C. now and the dancing machine himself -- Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
