Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Obama vs. Nation's Governors; Stocks Continue Slide
Aired February 23, 2009 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rick Sanchez. Welcome. The president wants to slash the deficit, and he's also talking today about, well, making peace with some Republican governors. Here's what's up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This is what is making the news right now. Obama versus Jindal.
GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R), LOUISIANA: We'll have to review each program, each new dollar, to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings.
SANCHEZ: The GOP is using newer faces to counter the president.
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: There's got to be some other way better than what we're doing. Not the socialist way.
SANCHEZ: But then there's the older face of the GOP. Alabama's Richard Shelby, quoted by one newspaper questioning the president's legal right to be president. But is Shelby now denying he said it?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GABRIELLE WARREN, NEEDS HOUSING ASSISTANCE: This is the most savage thing that I have ever seen.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Fights break out, as thousands line up in Fort Lauderdale for government housing, hundreds in need of shelter turned away. You will see it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you had a million dollars, and you just bought and bought and bought, sure, this could be one person's stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And another lotto millionaire goes broke. We will take you to the gaudy auction and we will ask, how do sudden millions end up ruining so many people's lives?
This show, as quoted in today's "Washington Post," "cutting-edge, the next generation of news," your national conversation begins right here, right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Hi, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Let's get right to that national conversation.
And what a lot of people are talking is what's going on between the president and many of the governors that he's been meeting with today. We are going to be joined by one of those governors in just a little bit. Jon Huntsman, the governor of Utah, is going to be joining us.
But, first, let's get to Patricia Murphy.
What some are saying is, look, we don't want your money. We don't want your stinking money, Mr. President. We're not interested in the stimulus funds. That's what some of the governors are saying, South Carolina's governor, Louisiana's governor, just to mention a few, although of course, Bobby Jindal's not saying he doesn't want all of the money, just I think about $100 million of it.
What's going on?
PATRICIA MURPHY, EDITOR, CITIZENJANEPOLITICS.COM: Well, you're exactly right.
A couple of these governors, in particular Southern Republican governors, have gone through the stimulus package and the money that would be coming to their states, and they have narrowed it down specifically to unemployment relief benefits that would be coming to their states. That money does come with some strings attached.
There are some expansions to unemployment benefits that those states would have to promise to continue after the federal money runs out. Those governors are saying, we don't want those strings, so we don't want the money that's coming with it.
SANCHEZ: You know, what's interesting about this is, the president seems to be accusing some folks of playing politics. And if I heard him right today, and we are going to play this piece of sound, so the folks at home can hear it as well -- if I'm hearing him right, what he's saying is, some of you are looking at parts of my stimulus package and blowing that up as if it's the entire thing.
Let's take a listen to what he says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we agree on 90 percent of this stuff, and we're spending all our time on television arguing about 1, 2, 3 percent of the spending in this thing, and somehow it's being characterized in broad brush as wasteful spending, that starts sounding more like politics. And that's what right now we don't have time to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You know, it's almost like you could have co-opted the word politics for B.S. here. This is as firm as I have heard him sound when referring to people who have been criticizing his policy.
MURPHY: Yes.
And you can hear the frustration in his voice right there. And in fairness to President Obama, what these governors are talking about amounts to about 2 percent of the bill that they said they don't like and they won't accept. They will take those transition funds. They will take the transportation funds. They will take a lot of the other money that's coming their way.
But he's very angry and he is also trying to isolate these governors, and prove -- or trying to say to them that this stimulus package is going to help people in their states, so they shouldn't play politics with the futures of the people in their states.
So, he was trying to put them back on the defense. So, they have been very critical of this bill. He's just pushing back right there.
SANCHEZ: There were so many conspicuously absent today. We have gotten a lot of buzz today about this on the Twitter board.
The governor from the great state of Alaska was not at this conference. Is that right?
MURPHY: That's right. She wasn't.
There is a statement that she has released that says that she's traveling in the western part of Alaska and doesn't have time to get to the national governors meeting. That is due probably to the fact that her own popularity in Alaska has taken a bit of a hit in the last several months.
She has really had a rough ride in the press. The Alaska legislature is in session right now. They have their own set of budget problems coming forward, so she has made the decision that she needs to take care of politics at home before she takes care of politics in Washington.
SANCHEZ: Murph, let me ask a question that a lot of people might be thinking about as they consider this situation. Suddenly, we're seeing, you know, guys like Steele, who is chairman of the GOP. We see Jindal, who is going to be giving the big speech tomorrow for the Republicans.
And we're going to get into this in a little bit in our next segment, but is the Republican Party choosing to put a different face up front, as opposed to the faces we were used to over the last seven -- what -- is there something going on here? And is that the real reason that Sarah Palin's not as prevalent these days as she was let's say a couple months ago?
MURPHY: Well, I don't think it's a coordinated effort. There is not a large group of Republicans pulling the strings here and putting forward people like Bobby Jindal and pulling away Sarah Palin.
I think that's just a coincidence. But there was a great deal of criticism within Republican ranks after the last election that the Republican Party was too old, too white and too male, and they knew that they needed to change the face of the Republican Party to start to appeal more to the demographics in the United States which are growing.
And so, there was a lot of soul-searching afterward, and I think some of the people coming forward, particularly Michael Steele, is an answer to that.
SANCHEZ: Too old, too white and too male. Got it. All three, check, check, check. All right, thanks so much. Murph, we appreciate the information.
Let's do this right now. It seems like every day on Wall Street is a record day these days, because, once you go below a number, if you continue going down, even if you only go down one point, you're at another record.
Let's go to Susan Lisovicz. She is standing by to let us know what's going on with the Dow.
Down, down, down, right?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, down, down, down, but unfortunately this comes with a special caveat, Rick.
We're looking now at the Dow reaching yet another low. Right now, it's May of 1997, where the Dow is, if it closed at that level. And the S&P 500, which is a broader gauge, and, frankly, something that's watched more closely by many market pros, is below its low of this bear market.
We have talked about it before. We're not only looking at substantial losses in a bear market, in a long bear market and a big bear market, but we're starting to go to these levels where we haven't seen in a decade.
So, I think the math is pretty clear that, if you have been investing for the last decade, as we have been trained to do, investing over the long term, you have just -- you're seeing it wiped out.
Now, over time, of course, bull markets come back and more than recover that, but, clearly, it will take some time to recoup that.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Let me just ask you real quick, because I think there are some folks who are probably watching us right now, and they're starting to get a little jittery.
These thresholds that you speak of -- well, today we reached 1997, May of 1997 I just think I heard you say -- and last week we were talking about another threshold that was reached.
LISOVICZ: 2002.
SANCHEZ: 2002. Does it matter... LISOVICZ: We're going the wrong direction.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Right. For the average investor, is that a big deal? Is it reason enough to spook the big guys to get out of the market, thereby making this thing go further down, or are they just numbers?
LISOVICZ: Well, you know, it's an interesting -- it's a very good, valid observation, Rick.
The fact is, is that you want to buy low, right?
SANCHEZ: Yes.
LISOVICZ: But we just don't know how much lower the market's going to go, so it does spook a lot of people. A lot of people bail.
And Wall Street's the only place where you can have this complete fire sale, and nobody comes. Having said that, the reason why we're selling off so viciously is because we're living in an extraordinary time. We have a credit crisis. We have a housing crisis the likes that we haven't seen in decades.
And we also have a global recession. So, these are complex situations. We're not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. That's what basically the market is telling us, and that's why people are getting out, institutional investors, small investors.
But the bottom line is, if you have a long-term horizon, historically, the stock market is where you want to be. But it's tough. And it really tests, really tests your resolve on days and weeks and months like this.
SANCHEZ: And it's the uncertainty. It's kind of like the parents in the front seat of the car who keep getting asked by the kids, when are we going to get there, when are we going to get there? And, you know, we will get there when we get there.
LISOVICZ: Wish we had an answer, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Exactly.
Hey, thanks so much, Susan. We appreciate the update.
LISOVICZ: Pleasure.
SANCHEZ: Maybe, if we get a chance to get back to you later -- well, let's just see what this thing does. Hopefully, it will go back up, and we won't need to, right.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: An African-American leads the Republican Party. An Indian-American is going to deliver that party's biggest speech of the year. These two gentlemen that we referred to moments just ago when we were talking to Murph, is this -- think about this -- is this a new day for Republicans, or -- other side now -- is it just window dressing?
Also, is a U.S. senator questioning the president's legal status to be president of the United States? Did he say that? Did he do that?
Also, another lottery winner goes broke. How does this happen? Wait until you see the pictures in this case.
That is ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Are you like me; because of the recession, you have no money? At first, it was kind of funny, right? But now it's not funny.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: Knock it off. We're tired of kidding around. We would like our money back.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
You know what I want to do right now? I want to split the screen. I want to show you two faces, OK, one on the left, one on the right. Let's do that, if we can, Dan. Ready? Take a look at these two guys. They're emerging faces in the Republican Party. On the left, that's Michael Steele, chairman of the RNC, newly appointed, might I say.
On the right is the guy we now learn will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's big speech tomorrow. That's Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
By the way, his real name is Piyush -- Piyush -- Jindal.
Let's bring in Mark Preston.
You know what? Mark, as you look at these two guys, you can't help but say to yourself, hey, this is not your granddad's Republican Party here, just like the old Oldsmobile commercial, at least up front. What's really going on here?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Rick, really, it comes down to some very hard facts right now.
The Republican Party is really examining where it's going, what its future is. And these are two numbers that we really should keep in mind when we think about the Republican Party broadening its base. Exit polls Rick, back in 2008 showed that Barack Obama won 95 percent of the African-American vote, 67 percent of the Hispanic vote.
And as one strategist said to me earlier today, Rick, the fact is, we are becoming an irrelevant party. We need to grow ourselves. So, that's what you're seeing going on here.
SANCHEZ: The -- let's -- only because I wasn't planning to go here, but since I heard you mention Hispanics and since my last name ends with the letters E and Z, let me go there.
What the Republican Party did by buying into certain nativist agendas during the immigration arguments that we so heard so loud in this country -- and that's not to say one side was right and the other side was wrong, just the tone that was used -- had -- did that set the Republican Party back for many years?
PRESTON: Well, I don't know how far it set it back, but it certainly set it back in this election.
And if you talk to Hispanic Republicans, they say that even when you had someone like John McCain, who was one of the co-sponsors of the immigration bill with Senator Kennedy, he was pushing it for President Bush, it didn't matter. Just the fact that the Hispanic community looked at the Republican Party as being anti-immigrant certainly hurt them and really devastatingly hurt them this past election.
SANCHEZ: Let me let you hear something, because there's another part of this, too, because, look, let's face it. You and I listen to the Rush Limbaughs and their diatribes are very stern, very strong. They have a very set position, same as Sean Hannity, for example, who has been calling the president of the United States a socialist.
And then you have Bobby Jindal. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JINDAL: We absolutely -- Republicans or Democratic governors, we want our president to succeed. When we disagree with him, we will certainly offer alternative ideas and solutions.
But we face serious challenges as a country, economic challenges, international challenges. We are going to look for every opportunity to reach across the party line to work with him. We absolutely want to see him succeed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We want the president to succeed," those words, "want the president to succeed," transpose those with Rush Limbaugh's words: "I want the Obama to fail."
Was that calculated?
PRESTON: It was very smart. And it was politically calculated, I think, on the governor's part.
Let me say this, though, Rick. The fact is, Republicans don't want the country to fail, but they certainly don't want the Democratic Party to succeed or for it to appear that the Democratic Party has all the answers, because, if that is the perception, then the Republicans are going to remain in the wilderness for many, many years.
SANCHEZ: Well, I asked this question just a little while ago. So, let me throw it to you. But, before I do that, let's check the board. Let's go to the Twitter board and go to the MySpace board.
I have been reading this. As I have been having this conversation with you, I was reading what people were sending in.
Is it really a new Oldsmobile? Is it a new party, or is it window dressing?
Sindia says: "It's window dressing. Let's be honest." That's on our Twitter board.
Now let's go over to MySpace, if we can, Robert. Another one. "Window dressing? The GOP? Nah."
And we will just leave it at that, but back to you.
Do you think that enough people will see these moves as a real, cogent, coherent message, change in the Republican Party, or it will be seen as, I'm not going to use the term about lipstick, because we will get in trouble, but let's use the term window dressing?
PRESTON: Rick, I don't think you are going to see any long-term -- rather, any short-term, real fast fixes. This has got to be a long-term strategy by the Republican Party.
We know that Michael Steele is going to go out and his strategists were telling me today that he really is going to go out and talk to blacks and Hispanics on their turfs. Expect him to appear on Black and Hispanic radio programs, programs that they wouldn't normally appear on.
And, Rick, just this weekend, this coming weekend, he is going to go out to this gathering in Los Angeles called the Black State of the Union put on by Tavis Smiley, and he's really going to try to perhaps turn the tide a little. It won't be something that will happen quickly, though.
SANCHEZ: Well, let me show you something. This is Michael Steele. I want to show you some things of that he has said. Now, this is a very different guy from Bobby Jindal. OK? And that doesn't mean that everybody. My mother always said, son, that's why there's colors in the world, because people have different tastes.
Bobby Jindal is like this prepster from the top schools in the East, and Steele's a little different. Let's put a couple of the quotes up. We made some full screens, show you some of the things he's been saying lately. Here's one from "The Washington Times." "We need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets."
He goes on to say this. "We missed the mark in the past, we, the party, which is why we are in the crapper now."
This guy's a little different, huh? And you know what he's trying to do? He's trying to reach, he says, a hip-hop audience.
PRESTON: He is.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: What are the chances that's going to happen?
PRESTON: Again, nothing in the short term, but perhaps longer term.
I mean, some people would say that what Michael Steele was saying right there is straight talk. The fact of the matter is, is that the Republican Party is not in good standing with the minority community. And I think Michael Steele feels, given the fact that he himself is black, that he can go into these communities and he can reach out to a segment of the voting bloc that has not been in the Democratic column in many, many, many years.
SANCHEZ: The last convention, when we think of the last convention in Minnesota, right? Minnesota? Denver? No, Minnesota.
The Republicans were in Minnesota, right?
PRESTON: They were in Minnesota.
SANCHEZ: And I remember looking out at that convention floor, and a lot of people did, and you didn't see -- you saw an awful lot of white faces in the crowd. And a lot of people thought, wow, what's going on in this country? How do you change that?
PRESTON: Well, look, when you get the likes of Bobby Jindal, who is going to follow President Obama tomorrow night, he's going to give the Republican response, that's one way you change it.
When you elect somebody like Michael Steele to head your national party, that's another step you are going to change. But, Rick, I will tell you, we saw Bobby Jindal just at the White House today. He had some very tough words. You know, the betting odds on Bobby Jindal to be the Republican nominee in 2012, pretty good odds.
SANCHEZ: And then you wonder about some of the other senators, though, the guys down South, for example, that may not take kindly to taking the back seat right now and whether they're just waiting for their turn as well.
Let's leave it at that. Mark Preston, always great talking to you. You're a smart guy.
PRESTON: Thanks, Rick.
SANCHEZ: How do you end up with your vehicle parked inside a convenience store? I don't know. Maybe she thought that they had a drive-through that they just opened up.
That's next. We will take you through it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: It's great to be talking, among other things, politics with you. I'm Rick Sanchez here from the venerable world headquarters of CNN.
We had to take a little detour at the beginning of the show. We are going to bring you some of the news that was going on today through the eyes of a governor who's been meeting with the president of the United States today. But there's a problem so he far hooking up with him. So, as soon as we get him, we will be going to Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah. And he is a really smart guy and quite a character, as well.
By the way, a lot of comments that have been coming in from you, I want to share those with you, if we can.
Let's go to DigitalBilly. He makes a comment, as a matter of fact, about Michael Steele, where he says: "Michael Steele, a hip-hop Forrest Gump."
And here's this one. This is interesting, because we were talking about Republicans not changing, some people saying it's just window dressing.
Dano here is watching. He and says: "Wait a minute. How much has the Democratic leadership changed? Pelosi? Reid? Bipartisan?"
And then on MySpace, we got a comment, too, that kind of counters that one. "The Republicans never learn. It's not the messenger. It is the message."
So, there you go. There's a sampling of some of the comments that we're getting from social media. We combine this show with what is going on in the news with what you are saying at home and what people are thinking about.
Now take a look at this. When this lady pulled into an Indianapolis convenience store, she really, really pulled into the Indianapolis convenience store. Wow. She says that her brakes failed while she was pulling in. But police say that she was parked before her SUV actually lurched forward. Well, which is it?
Police now say she had just broken up with her boyfriend, which means that she was thinking about something other than that, other than driving, anyway. We wish her well.
When we come back, fights break out in South Florida, as thousands show up for government help. And does a U.S. senator have the goods on the president's citizenship controversy?
Also, guess who's back for another season on HBO.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MAHER, HOST, "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": I tried to withdraw $60 yesterday, and my ATM said, you know what? I have got to move some things around.
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: Oh, these banks are hurting. I opened a new account and the lady asked me for a toaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
By the way, we got a really nice write-up in "The Washington Post" today about what we do, combining the old model of media with the new model of media and social media.
In fact, Robert, show them that comment coming in right now. This is from Paul Segrato on our Twitter board. He says, "The daily national conversation with Rick Sanchez is definite proof that social media works."
Well, we will keep trying to make it work, one way or another. And, by the way, you can go to CNN.com/ricksanchez. We are going to post that "Washington Post" article there, so you can peruse it.
Five thousand people in South Florida show up when the government tries to do Section 8 housing, trying to help people out. It was supposed to open at 7:00 a.m. Instead, people showed up earlier, so hundreds were then left out. Fights broke out. The scene got downright ugly and there were a lot of tears shed from desperate people.
I want you to watch this report now. That's what it shows you, what I I just described.
It's from WPLG in Miami. The reporter is Elena Echarri.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENA ECHARRI, WPLG REPORTER (voice-over): In a dramatic sign of the times, police had to surround this crowd of 5,000 people at the Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority office. Many had slept here overnight for a chance to get a Section 8 application.
(on camera): What did you see overnight in that line? People...
(CROSSTALK)
SHEILA PELZER, WAITED FOR APPLICATION: Fighting, spraying mace, spraying the people out there. One lady just had a C-section, bleeding.
ECHARRI (voice-over): Sheila Pelzer, a disabled woman, told us she joined the line at 6:00 last evening. With her rheumatoid arthritis flaring up, her legs were swollen from standing all night. She's desperate for housing assistance.
Police say the crowds got out of control, pushing and trampling the elderly, the disabled and children, to get closer to the front of the line, when the office would not even open until 7:00 a.m.
(on camera): Even though a notice tells people not to arrive before 7:00 a.m., at least 5,000 people actually showed up here, formed a line, hoping for a chance to get on the waiting list, when only 2,500 of them will actually make the housing assistance waiting list.
(voice-over): Those who followed the time rules and did not line up earlier were told they were out of luck. And the problems only grew from there.
ALESIA WADE-BRYANT, NEEDS HOUSING ASSISTANCE: I really need assistance. And, right about now, it's gotten to the point where I don't know what to do. I don't know who to turn to.
TAM ENGLISH, HOUSING AUTHORITY OF FORT LAUDERDALE: We worked with the police department to try and find a plan that would keep the crowd as small as possible before we opened the gates.
GABRIELLE WARREN, NEEDS HOUSING ASSISTANCE: This is the most savage thing that I have ever seen in my whole entire life for assistance. I need a bailout, OK?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: It's one of the most savage things she says she has ever seen.
Tough to watch. And as you watch this, you begin to get an idea why Charlie Crist, the governor of the Sunshine State down there in Florida, has decided that he's going to embrace Barack Obama's stimulus package.
However, there are many other Republicans, Charlie Crist being a Republican, who are saying, look, I don't want the money. I don't think it's going to work.
I want to bring in a Republican governor now. Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah is good enough to join us once again.
We have talked in the past. This guy is generally cooler than cool.
Let me ask you, are you taking the money?
GOV. JON HUNTSMAN JR. (R), UTAH: Hi, Rick. How are you?
SANCHEZ: I'm doing great. Thanks.
HUNTSMAN: Yes, we are taking the money. The debate has been had. The vote has been concluded. The money has been packaged, is being sent to the states now.
So far as I know, so far as I can tell, this is already an issue that's been dealt with.
What lies ahead now is how we, as governors, take the money, backfill against our budget holes in key areas, like public ed, higher ed, health care, the housing situation, and how we circumnavigate the challenges going forward, which are many.
SANCHEZ: Well, what do you tell -- what do you tell a guy like Governor Sanford from South Carolina, who says I don't want -- I don't want the $8 billion?
I mean, he may have a perfectly good explanation for it. Heck, I think I heard Bobby Jindal -- Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana say the reason it doesn't work for me is because I'm going to have to increase taxes. It's kind of like spending a dollar to save a nickel. That's what he said.
HUNTSMAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Do they have a point?
HUNTSMAN: Well, this is the beauty of our political system, Rick. Everybody gets an opportunity to speak out and everybody takes a position on the issues. And it's pretty simple, in my mind -- if you don't want the money, don't take the money.
But we've got a lot of situations in America right now where budgets are atrophying. They are collapsing -- where revenue flows this year and next -- and maybe even for fiscal year 2011 -- are looking pretty bleak.
And, initially, we thought this was going to be a six month storm. And then they said it was going to be one year.
And now, based on the best economic guesstimates that we access to, this could well go into 2011 and we may not see full employment recovery -- being five percent on average -- until 2013, from what some of the best are saying.
So we've got to take a step back, look at this dispassionately and begin to put people first -- what is right for the people in our states and how do we maintain schools and basic health care and housing, which is the most important human need that any individual has, as we kind of circumnavigate the shoals over the next two to three years.
SANCHEZ: Governor, I've always described you and seen you as -- in fact, I referred to you this way earlier -- as a straight shooter.
Do you believe -- and I think I can show you some sound from President Obama earlier today where he seemed to be implying -- I don't know if we can cue that up again, Dan -- where he seems to be implying that some people are playing politics with this.
Let's listen to him and then I want to get your reaction on the back side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: If we agree on 90 percent of the stuff and we're spending all our time on television arguing about one, two, three percent of the spending in this thing and somehow it's being characterized in broad brush as wasteful spending, that starts sounding more like politics. And that's what, right now, we don't have time to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Is he right, governor?
HUNTSMAN: Well, let me -- let me just shoot straight with you on this. We live in a political world, where politicians are going to take sides on issues. And we live in a world where the media are going to take these differences and they're going to enhance them from time to time and make them the story of the day. So here we are. You've got one side talking about 1 percent of the bailout package and our friends in the media who are basically making this a cause celeb day after day.
And in actual fact, we have real people out there who are expecting governors to lead and solve some of these problems. And we're doing our best to do that.
SANCHEZ: You're a tough guy, let me ask you a tough question.
You ready?
HUNTSMAN: Go ahead.
SANCHEZ: Can you get out of the hole that we're in without raising taxes?
I know, as a politician, you never want to use those words.
HUNTSMAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: But is it possible to do that?
The president seems set on making some kind of announcement in this vein very soon.
HUNTSMAN: Well, it depends what the hole is. I'm not sure that we have been able to quantify exactly what the hole is.
If this economic storm is going to last longer than we think and you continue to put money on top of money to bail out a bank or a manufacturing company or housing program, we're going to be looking at a large percentage of our GDP -- certainly larger than we've seen in years past -- that we begin to tally up. In which case, we're all going to have a collective conversation.
We're certainly doing this in our individual states -- you know, do we tax the cigarettes, which is usually a pretty simple thing to do...
SANCHEZ: Right.
HUNTSMAN: ...is there maybe a voter auto registration fee increase to help on the highway side. In other words, we're having, Rick, a lot of conversations in every state in America that we have never had in recent times. And it's all being driven by the reality of the budgets that we face. And the chances are very good that in the next couple years, we're going to continue having these conversations in an attempt to balance our budgets. And where that takes us, I'm not sure.
SANCHEZ: Republican governor Jon Huntsman of the most -- one of the most beautiful states in the country, Utah.
HUNTSMAN: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: We thank you, sir.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to us.
HUNTSMAN: Thank you, Rick.
It's a pleasure.
SANCHEZ: Did this U.S. Senator imply that President Obama may not be a U.S. citizen?
Well, that's a controversy between Senator Richard Shelby and an Alabama newspaper. And we're going to get to the bottom of it for you.
Also, congratulations -- you just won the lottery.
What are the odds that you're going to be broke within just a couple short years?
It turns out those odds are pretty darned good.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: It's a phenomenon that we've been seeing in this country for quite some time -- the idea that somebody could actually get what they've always wanted -- winning the lottery, winning millions and millions of dollars.
And you know what it does to their life?
In all too many cases, it destroys their lives. You want to see some proof?
We've got some examples we've put together for you. Here we go. I've got some graphics I want to show you. Take a look at this one. This is Janite Lee. She won $18 million in 1993, filed for bankruptcy two years later -- bankruptcy.
William Post -- they call him "Bud" -- he won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery, filed for bankruptcy. He now lives on Social Security.
Here's another one. Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery twice -- twice. $5.4 million. Broke after having a gambling problem. She reportedly lives in a trailer. And it continues to happen.
Here's the latest case.
What you're about to see is an auction -- an auction that just took place in Indiana. It's an auction of someone who had won the lottery and decided to spend and spend and spend.
The reporter, by the way, is Kris Kirschner of WTHR in Indianapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(VIDEO CLIP)
KRIS KIRSCHNER, WTHR-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Faster than they can set a price...
(VIDEO CLIP)
KIRSCHNER: Merchandise is moving.
(on camera): Anything unusual?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of this. This is very eclectic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming on the cashmere rug there marked on the (INAUDIBLE).
KIRSCHNER (voice-over): From rugs to dishes...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got all this, I think, for like $1 or $2.
KIRSCHNER: ...hundreds hope to get their hands on a warehouse full of bargains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's actually $45, believe it or not, you know, and probably the retail is around $800.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have china cabinets, tables, lots of stuff.
KIRSCHNER: Unique stuff -- and a lot of it -- for sale to the highest bidder.
But whose stuff is it anyway?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it was something to do with a lottery winner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was a lottery winner. And I truly don't know what happened.
KIRSCHNER: According to those running the auction, everything belonged to a Hoosier lottery winner forced to sell it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, have you seen how many bedroom sets there are?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no way it could have came from one home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you had a million dollars and you just bought and bought and bought, sure, this could be one person's stuff.
KIRSCHNER (on camera): More than the story behind it is the unusual collection in this auction that has people curious -- like this high back chair with elephants carved into the arms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No comment. A lot of Asian stuff here. You have some of your fine porcelain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking at roosters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the table. Just the table.
KIRSCHNER (voice-over): In an instant, one person's treasure is a bounty for the masses.
(VIDEO CLIP)
KIRSCHNER: A reversal of fortune that turned out to be their lucky day.
Chris Kirschner, Channel 13, Eyewitness News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: After watching that report by Kris, we wanted to get to the auctioneer -- the guy you actually saw in her report. So we've him on now. His name is Ted Pollard. He's the auctioneer who was handling that sale.
Ted, you with us?
TED POLLARD, COMMERCIAL LIQUIDATORS OF AMERICA: Yes, I am.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much. We appreciate it. I'm curious, what was your reaction to this collection?
POLLARD: Well, I need -- one small clarification on it. I was not the auctioneer.
I'm the gentleman who owns the company that ran the auction, but I was not the auctioneer.
SANCHEZ: All right. So you're the guy who was in charge of the auction. We appreciate you clearing that up for us.
POLLARD: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: So, when you were first told about this particular auction, what was your reaction?
POLLARD: We figured it was a normal, you know, run of the mill, you know, a secured creditor having to exercise on a judgment that, when we actually got involved in it and got farther into it, it was something that you -- you only see once in a lifetime.
SANCHEZ: How much did this guy have?
POLLARD: Well, unfortunately, I have constraints on me. I cannot disclose any information that allows you to identify the person.
SANCHEZ: Oh, we don't want that. That's all right.
POLLARD: (INAUDIBLE).
SANCHEZ: That's all right. We don't want to identify them.
POLLARD: OK.
SANCHEZ: We want to know them by their -- by their spending habits, not by name.
POLLARD: Sure. I mean it's -- it was millions, OK. They won millions.
SANCHEZ: And spent millions on stuff. Sometimes, if my eyes don't deceive me, as I was looking at that video, gaudy stuff, right?
POLLARD: It was the whole gamut. It was all the way from, you know, beautiful collectible, you know, etched glass -- Bavarian etched glass to Indonesian carved art to high end European German buffets. It was -- it was anything and everything, the whole gamut.
SANCHEZ: Does it -- by the way, what would make someone -- here's the why question. I know you're not a psychologist and neither am I. But you happen to be tied to the story directly, so I'll take a chance.
What would make someone win millions of dollars and then decide to go out and spend it on things like this?
Why would they lose their money within a matter of years when most of us envy them for being in that situation?
POLLARD: I think it's a situation to where, you know, the normal person has constraints. And, you know, they can't always go out. And the buzzword is immediate gratification. And, you know, when you have unlimited funds available, that's not a problem anymore. And I think what was represented in this sale was, you know, individuals who -- you know, if they saw it and they thought it was pretty and they liked it, they bought it. And it was...
SANCHEZ: There was a lack of restraint...
POLLARD: (INAUDIBLE).
SANCHEZ: It sounds like a lack of restraint, my friend.
Ted Pollard, an auctioneer with an interesting story to tell. And we thank you for sharing it with us.
POLLARD: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: All right.
Governor Sarah Palin has asked the media to stay away from her kids which they have, for the most part, done. So guess who's being critical of her daughter Bristol?
Hint -- it's not the media.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
I'm Rick Sanchez.
Let's start the conversation with Facebook, if we can, over here to the right. Zondra is watching. Zondra says: "Life in America is supposed to be better than this.
How dare governors make decisions on whether or not the people should get funding on programs like housing and unemployment?"
And Tony -- just above her -- writes: "Sanchez, if I win the Texas lotto, I will give you three percent and then promptly spend until I go broke. Go, America."
We thank all of you for those comments.
By the way, here's something else worth noting on this day. This show has, for the most part, stayed clear of Bristol Plain's pregnancy. We just don't think it's relevant. In fact, generally speaking, media outlets in print and broadcast, with the exception of some of the blogs I know, have stayed away from that issue -- Why?
Well, it's for the same reason that we chose not to show you Rihanna's beat up face last week. Some things -- even if it's a public official or a public person -- some things in their life are still private and should stay private. So along comes Fox News.
And they do what?
Well, they do an interview with Bristol Palin, who tells them this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "ON THE RECORD," COURTESY FOX NEWS)
BRISTOL PALIN, DAUGHTER OF SARAH PALIN: I think abstinence is like -- what the -- I don't know how to put it -- like the main -- everyone should be abstinent or whatever, but it's not realistic at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Not realistic at all.
Governor Palin is expected to ride the Evangelical wave of support into political viability in 2012. There's one problem. Evangelical groups saw this interview, heard what Palin had to say and are not amused by it.
Here's what one pro-abstinence group is saying: "While Bristol's story makes for an interesting human interest story, her comments should not be the basis to form any public policy."
Now, the real irony here is the governor, who asked the media to stay away from her kids, has her daughter do an interview with Fox News and ends up getting heat about her daughter's comments, not from the left, but from her own base. And so it goes.
Tell us what you think about this at CNN.com/ricksanchez.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
A couple of quick comments as we go first to MySpace, if we can, Robert. (INAUDIBLE) the one on the right: "Well, there's one thing Palin got it right on -- it's not realistic" referring to Bristol Plain's comment.
Let's flip it over to the Twitter board if we can: "When will they learn? You cannot legislate morality" on the Twitter board.
And this -- what did Richard Shelby say about President Obama's citizenship?
Now, that's at the heart of a controversy between this Senator and an Alabama newspaper.
Is he resurrecting a campaign slur or does he know something the rest of us don't know about the president?
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
I'm Rick Sanchez.
Is Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama questioning Barack Obama's legitimacy as the president of the United States?
Well, there's Mr. Shelby just recently. I want to show you something else now. Let's put this graphic up. This is from "The Cullman Times." It is a newspaper in Alabama.
The Senator was asked at a town hall meeting about the president's citizenship -- a controversy that we heard of long ago.
He said this: "Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven't seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president."
The Senator's office was asked about this today. And they have now issued a statement which clears this up somewhat.
Let me share that with you, to be fair. It says: "At the town hall meeting in Cullman, Senator Shelby laid out the Constitutional qualifications for the presidency and said that while he hasn't personally seen the president's birth certificate, he is confident that the matter has been thoroughly examined."
I would like to bring in Patricia Murphy now to talk about this, because it's a curious situation. Now, the paper, by the way, is sticking to its story. They're saying the story is correct. They're not backing down and they're walking away from the information. Had they been, we obviously wouldn't be having this discussion right now.
Why would the Senator say these words?
And these are the ones that I find particularly interesting: "I haven't seen his birth certificate?"
Isn't that curious?
MURPHY: Well, it's a little curious. But I've been in a lot of these kinds of constituent meetings when you go back home with your senator and all sorts of things come up. A lot of times you're thinking on your feet, sometimes you're not thinking on your feet.
His office says this was just a throwaway line and that they don't have any doubt about President Obama's citizenship. But it definitely resurrects what was one of the largest controversies -- one of the conspiracy theories, really, about the 2008 campaign.
SANCHEZ: Especially when you use words like that -- I mean, look, I haven't seen his birth certificate.
I mean, don't you have to be real careful if you're a public official when you're talking about something like this?
And it's not some schmo. I mean this is the president of the United States, whose legitimacy he's casting in doubt with -- with that line. And, by the way, on his retraction, he's not saying I didn't say that. He's only saying I went on to say it's probably over by now, right?
MURPHY: Right. Have he says that it's an incomplete account by the paper. And the paper is standing by it. But what we see here, this article appeared in "The Cullman Times" this morning. It was actually an article about the stimulus package. That comment got picked up by the Huffington Post and this has blown up on the blogosphere.
So certainly Shelby's office is trying to tamp this down very quickly and trying to erase any controversy that's coming with it. But it was one of the most explosive issues in the campaign, so it's not surprising that it's taken off today.
SANCHEZ: Well, and you've got to be careful with what you say.
MURPHY: You have to be.
SANCHEZ: And let me show you how easy it is to do it. I mean, look at this.
Robert, can you shoot this?
You want to see the president's birth certificate?
Here it is.
You know how we got this?
One of my producers, Dexter, just went in, Googled it and got it from the "Los Angeles Times".
MURPHY: Yes.
SANCHEZ: The story was all over the place when it was out there. You would think couldn't he do that before you say something that could be construed this way?
We've got to let you go.
MURPHY: OK.
SANCHEZ: Wolf Blitzer is standing by. Thanks so much, Murph.
MURPHY: Sure.
SANCHEZ: We always appreciate the conversation.
As aforementioned, Wolf Blitzer is standing by with more on what's coming up in THE SITUATION ROOM -- Wolf, what you got?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Rick. Straight ahead, President Obama trying to confront an issue of major concern to all of us -- the federal deficit. He's holding a Fiscal Responsibility Summit over at the White House. He's expected to come out and speak any moment now. We'll have it for you live.
Also, the last Democratic president together again with the last Democratic vice president -- Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Wait until you hear their warnings about energy and the economy.
And an intense manhunt for two very dangerous men. They're wanted after boldly breaking out of prison. Now, you might not believe the details of their clever caper.
All that and a lot more, Rick, coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM".
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Wolf. And I'm sure you'll be following this, too -- another threshold, another low for the Dow. We'll have it for you, the exact numbers, as it closes, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Susan Lisovicz, close us out.
What's going on with the Dow?
LISOVICZ: Well, we've got new lows for this bear market. In fact, we're going to close at levels that we really haven't seen, Rick, since 1997.
SANCHEZ: Wow!
LISOVICZ: One of the things that really unhinged investor confidence today, reports -- not confirmed, CNBC -- that AIG is going to need more capital from the U.S. government to prop it up. AIG has no comment.
See you tomorrow, Rick.
SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks so much.
We'll keep following it.
Let's go to "THE SITUATION ROOM".
Wolf Blitzer is standing by.
