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Reaction to Limbaugh CPAC Speech

Aired February 28, 2009 - 18:12   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Randi Kaye at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Don Lemon is off. You just heard Rush Limbaugh fire up a room full of political conservatives. They are out of power in Washington, but they are not out of enthusiasm for their beliefs as you just saw.

It is their first major gathering since the November elections. Conservatives are searching for their voice and looking for a leader. And for the last hour and a half, at least, Rush Limbaugh certainly filled that bill.

It's called the Conservative Political Action Conference. They held a straw poll last hour, picking their early favorites for the 2012 White House race. It is the voice of the grassroots. And everyone from Sarah Palin, to Mike Huckabee, to Newt Gingrich, to Bobby Jindal was on the ballot.

So the question is, of course, who is on top? Well, we're going to break it all down right now for you. Joining me from CPAC is CNN political editor Mark Preston and senior political analyst Bill Schneider, plus Ron Christy. Ron is a former domestic policy adviser to President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Good to see all of you, gentlemen. Mark, let's start with you. You were inside that room. We just listened to Rush Limbaugh speak for about an hour and a half. He failed to mention, of course, that his address was being carried on CNN. Obviously, not aware of that, but we'll let that go. People on their feet, fist bumps, pounding his chest. What do you make of all this?

MARK PRESTON: Well, I'll tell you what. There's no question that he was certainly capping off what has been three days of conservative Republicans coming here, trying to talk about rebuilding the party. Randi, he gave really a fire brand speech. Many times, standing ovations. Rush Limbaugh telling conservatives to stick to their guns right now. Behind us right now, he is getting an award. But I'll tell you, these are the grassroots activists as you said. They are heading back home after this weekend. They really are gunning for 2012.

So they did do a straw poll today as well. And that will give us a little bit of an indication about who they think will be the presidential nominee in 2012.

KAYE: All right, Mark, we want to play one sound bite from Rush Limbaugh, one of the things that he happened to say about Barack Obama and then we'll get your reaction. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIMBAUGH: He can wipe out the Republican party if he would inspire this country to be the best it could be, but we don't have to worry about that because that's not what he wants. He wants people in fear, angst, and crisis, fearing the worst each and every day because that clears the decks for President Obama and his pals to come in with the answers, which are abject failures, historically shown and demonstrated. Doesn't matter. They'll have control of it when it's all over. And that's what they want, because they think they can do it better. They see these inequalities, these inequities that capitalism produces. How do they try to fix it? Do they try to evaluate those at the bottom? No, they try to tear down the people at the top. It's not fair you're up there, so they whack you. That's not what made the country great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Mark, how were those swipes at the president received in that room?

PRESTON: Well, I'll tell you what, no question, that was one of the red meat lines, Randi, behind the very, very loud still in this room, but that was one of the red meat lines that Rush Limbaugh delivered. You know, he was only supposed to speak for 20 minutes. He talked about his oversized ego many times. He talked about his national address to the nation, mentioned some of our competitors, didn't mention us.

But look, he played to his crowd here, Randi. There's no question about that. He played to his crowd. And this crowd is now energized, something we haven't seen from Republicans, certainly not from conservatives after the November election.

KAYE: And Mark, quickly, if you can, give us the results of that straw poll that we've been waiting for.

PRESTON: Very quickly, the CPAC straw poll, and of course let me just reference by saying that this is not scientific, but it does give us a little bit of the case of the mood of conservatives certainly here at this conference. The winner was Mitt Romney with 20% of the vote, Randi, followed by Bobby Jindal at 14. Ron Paul, Sarah Palin both came in at 13%. Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker from Georgia came in at 10% and Mike Huckabee who did run for president in 2008 came in at 7%.

KAYE: All right, Mark, stand by. We want to get to Bill Schneider.

Bill, what do you think of those poll results? There you saw Mitt Romney with just 20%. Anything definitive there?

BILL SCHNEIDER: What's definitive is they're all over the place. There's no single hero. The conservatives do have a message. The message was just articulated by Rush Limbaugh. They know exactly what they believe and what they want to say. I remember back in 1994 when Republicans won a great victory, Rush Limbaugh was the hero of that election. And they called that the year of the angry white men. Well, the angry white men are still there. Rush Limbaugh still speaks for them. They're not all white, they're not all men, but there are a lot of angry voters out there. And they're still around. That was a very angry message we heard from Rush Limbaugh.

And what that poll shows is that there is no single conservative who has yet swept them off their feet, at least not one running for president. Limbaugh, as far as we know, isn't running for president, but none of those candidates could get even 20 - more than 20% of the vote. So they're really all over the place.

KAYE: All right. We are going to continue this discussion. But for now, we want to let you know, we are getting a huge response to Rush Limbaugh's speech on Twitter. And this is what some of you are saying.

One person wrote in for cjustice2K says "I literally had to stop watching it. I have one word about Rush's speech. Hitler.

PinkissoPretty5 writes "When Rush Limbaugh is clearly the spokesperson for the GOP, the party is in worse shape than I thought."

KLDavis08, "At least in all of his absurdness he's entertaining. Limbaugh 2012?

Rusty Campbell writes, "Rush Limbaugh is describing how mean spirited and small minded his brand of conservatism is.

And WhateverDanny writes, "I hope the voice of the GOP is Romney. It will further help the Democrats."

Another one from Apicasso, "Rush contradicting himself in the same sentence over and over. Nice that the audience doesn't care if what he says is factual."

And of course, we want you to be part of our show. Tell us what you're thinking tonight. Log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or ireport.com. Let us know what you think.

Don is out tonight, but we are still monitoring your feedback. And more with our panel and a hard look at the GOP after a very quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: If you've been watching CNN, you just saw Rush Limbaugh fire up the faithful live right here on CNN. He spoke for more than an hour at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The activist heard from a boisterous and fired up Rush Limbaugh. His speech brought the crowd to its feet, repeatedly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LIMBAUGH: Liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We conservatives think all three are under assault.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And we are going to dig much deeper on that speech for you in just a moment.

But first, this just into CNN. Two administration sources tell us tonight that President Obama is nominating Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Health Secretary. Our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry brought us this news. And he's on the phone right now.

Ed, she was a very early supporter of then-candidate Barack Obama.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, good evening, Randi. In fact, she was up for many jobs. She had been looked at for about three or four different cabinet spots. She's the governor of Kansas, so she was looked at for Agriculture Secretary, Labor Secretary, all kinds of different posts, and even for the potential vice presidential pick.

She obviously didn't get that, but now that Tom Daschle stepped aside a few weeks ago as Health Secretary because of those tax problems, Kathleen Sebelius has been rumored for the last couple weeks to be the leading contender. And those administration officials are confirming that today, the president officially reached out to the Kansas governor, asked her to take the job. And she did accept during this conversation with the president. The official announcement we're told by administration officials will come Monday afternoon by the president at the White House.

What's significant about this, of course, is just in the last few days, the president has really laid out some specifics on one of the most critical issues facing the nation, which is health care reform. In his budget, he wants to put aside $634 billion in what he calls a reserve fund to sort of be put aside for health care reform. And then he wants to leave the details of exactly what's going to be in the reform package for Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill to work out.

So this is going to be a monumental challenge for Kathleen Sibelius. If she's confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as you know, more than 46 million people do not have health insurance in America right now. Health care costs spiraling out of control. And with a lot of people losing their jobs, they're also losing their health care. The president put a little downpayment on reform in his stimulus package, as you know, by putting in some more of that so-called Cobra money so that people who lose their job or change jobs can keep their existing health insurance for a longer period, to sort of deal with that gap between jobs.

And he also has signed into law just in the last few weeks an expansion of children's health insurance coverage. A few more million children will be covered. But obviously, a lot more needs to be done. And he wants to lay out this plan. And as we saw in his budget just in the last few days, there's going to be a big battle ahead about the specifics, Randi.

KAYE: All right, Ed Henry for us with that news out of Washington, that developing news. Ed, thank you.

Now back to Rush Limbaugh on the future on the Republican party. Let's continue to break down his hour-long speech. Joining me from CPAC CNN political editor Mark Preston, senior political analyst Bill Schneider, plus Ron Christy, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Bill, let's continue with you. We left you there at the break. We want to play one sound bite from Rush Limbaugh's speech and get your reaction to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIMBAUGH: We got out of the 1980s recession with tax cuts. Do you know that President Obama in six weeks of his administration has proposed more spending than from the founding of the country to his inauguration? Now, this is not prosperity. It is not going to engender prosperity. It's not going to create prosperity. And it is also not going to advance or promote freedom. It's going to be just the opposite. There are going to be more controls over what you can and can't do, how you can and can't do it, what you can and can't drive, what you can and can't say, where you can and can't say it. All of these things are coming down the pike, because it's not about revenue generation to them, it's about control.

They do believe that they have compassion. They do believe they care. But, see, we never are allowed to look at the results of their plans. We are told we must only look at their good intentions, their big hearts. The fact that they have destroyed poor families by breaking up those families, by offering welfare checks to women to keep having babies, no more father needed, he's out doing something, the government's the father, they destroy the family. We're not supposed to analyze that, we're not supposed to talk about that, we're supposed to talk about their good intentions. They destroy people's futures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Bill, there you have it. Some very strong words from a man with a lot of influence among conservatives.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, those are indeed strong words. And he may have crossed the line in that and some other comments he made, which were critical, of course, of Barack Obama's policies. A lot of people are critical of those policies. That's fair game. This is politics. One can have that debate.

But he also, on many occasions, you just heard one, cast aspersions on President Obama's motives. At various places, he said he wants to punish achievement and success. He's trying to foment and create anger, which of course was a lot of the tone of Mr. Limbaugh's own speech. And at one point, I believe I heard him say, he wants to destroy the country. These are very, very divisive comments. A lot of the speech's tone was one of mockery, bullying, contempt.

But when he crosses the line and talks about casting aspersions on what the president's motives are, that there's some sinister motivation, then I think a lot of people will be offended.

KAYE: Let's get Ron Christie's reaction to that. Ron, did Rush Limbaugh cross the line here today?

RON CHRISTIE: I don't think he did, Randi. Good evening. First of all, I slightly disagree with what Bill had to say. I think when you look at for fundamentally, from a policy standpoint, I agree with what Rush Limbaugh had to say. When you look at the welfare system, when you look at the trillions of dollars that we've spent since the Great Societies from the 1960s and what just happened in the stimulus bill.

In the stimulus bill, a cap was removed that allowed people previously, that said you only had a certain amount of time to stay on welfare. Now that cap has been lifted. And if you look at what Rush Limbaugh had to say about the president's motivations for those who are very successful, I agree with that. I don't think that was bullying. I don't think it was across the line.

If you say to people who are in the top 2% of the American tax bracket who generate 63% of the wealth in this country that if you continue to do well and you're successful, that we're going to tax you higher, I think that is a tax on people who are succeeding. I think that's a disincentive for people to do well. So rather than characterizing that as an aspersion, I think he's right. We need to call this what it is. The president wants to tax people who are doing well because they're doing well. Everybody has to have a little bit of skin in the game, as the president says. Let's let other people in other demographic brackets pick up some of the slack.

KAYE: Ron, I know Mitt Romney won the straw poll today, but is Rush Limbaugh the new face of the conservative movement? Is this the direction that the Republicans want to go in?

CHRISTIE: I think he is one of many leaders, one of many voices for the conservative movement. But as Rush Limbaugh always says, he's not a Republican. He's a conservative. And I think there are many in the media who would like to cast him as being the voice of the Republicans or he speaks for the Republicans. He is one of many strong voices who speak for conservatives, but certainly Governor Romney is one of the people, given what we're dealing with the economic crisis in this country, who speaks for many Republicans who says we need to have an honest debate about economic packages. We need to have an honest discussion about economic stimulus. How can we make sure this country is revitalized and moved forward in the best way possible?

Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, those are some of the voices that I expect that we'll hear from in the next year or two.

KAYE: Mark Preston, you were in that room there at CPAC. Did it sound to you as though Rush Limbaugh is the new face of the party?

PRESTON: Well, I can tell you, Randi, he's certainly an influential voice. There's no question about that. I'll tell you, before Rush Limbaugh took the stage, I spent some time talking to some of the participants here, some of the attendees. And really by and large they really enjoy Rush Limbaugh. They enjoy listening to him and they think that he can reach out to the masses and touch people beyond the Washington beltway.

But I will tell you this as well. There is some criticism of Rush Limbaugh. Some people think that he is a reactionary. And if you were to look at the cover of this magazine right here, "The American Conservative," this magazine was being distributed here at the conference, Randi. What it says is the radio - the TV - excuse me, how radio wrecks the right here.

Basically, what this article is saying, among other things, is that for the past eight years, conservatives, for the most part, conservatives on the radio have really been cheerleaders for the Bush administration and how that was a bad, bad policy. So there is some criticism. I will say, by and large, though, as we heard from the applause, people were very happy with what they heard from Limbaugh today.

KAYE: Yeah, it certainly sounded that way. Mark, Bill, and Ron, you're all going to stick around. We're going to continue this discussion.

In the meantime, we want to share some more viewer thoughts. You've been Twittering with us all evening.

One more from HNzosank. "Limbaugh says that Democrats are scheming to mislead and control the country?"

Bobotm, "Limbaugh proves so many analysts right, they don't realize why they lost."

XenoVarvel writes, "That's why they're pumping the economy full of money. Deflation is a much bigger threat."

NiquiRenew writes, "The audience reaction to Rush terrified me. The feeling of downright wrongness left me cold. Many ignorant misguided Dittoheads."

We, of course, want you to be part of our show. Don is off tonight, I'm here, but we're still taking your feedback, of course. Log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or ireport.com and tell me what you're thinking.

Well, it was a rousing speech you saw live on CNN. Rush Limbaugh preaching to the choir at the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference. Did he reenergize conservatives? Can the GOP be a party of inclusion with someone like Rush Limbaugh taking the lead? We'll continue to dig deeper straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIMBAUGH: But seriously, the people who have achieved great things, most of it is not inherited. Most wealth in this country is the result of entrepreneurial, just plain old hard work. There's no reason to punish it. There's no reason to raise taxes on these people. Barack Obama, the Democrat party, have one responsibility. And that's to respect the oath they gave to protect, defend, and follow the U.S. Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Rush Limbaugh giving the keynote address. Some 9,000 people are attending CPAC this year. As I mentioned, CPAC stands for Conservative Political Action Conference. Its website says it is the largest annual gathering of conservative students, activists, and policymakers. CPAC is largely organized by the American Conservative Union. The union says CPAC trains Americans for conservative political action. Past speakers include former President Reagan and former Vice President Cheney.

Over the last three days, the CPAC gathering has heard from a who's who of the conservative movement. And here are just some of the highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen and fellow conservatives, I'm here today to tell you that the reports of the demise of the conservative movement are greatly exaggerated.

MITT ROMNEY: I'm afraid I know where the liberal Democrats want to take us. And as they try to pull us in the direction of government- dominated Europe, we're going to have to fight as never before to make sure that America stays America.

ANN COULTER: The big mantra of the Obama campaign was change, change. If he thinks people wanted change in 2008, wait until 2012.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: To win in 2010, we've got to be the party of new solutions. There are issues that Americans care about. But we have to build solutions on the principles in which we believe in. We need to explore new ways of connecting with the grassroots and our potential supporters. And we must be prepared to compete everywhere in America.

GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: The only thing that's growing faster than our national deficit is Chris Matthew's man crush on Barack Obama.

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I've listened carefully to the president's speech that night. I think it is the boldest effort to create a European socialist model we have seen. I think it's quite clear what his values and his attitude is. But what I was truly struck by was, if his attorney general thinks we're a nation of cowards, his administration thinks we're just plain dumb. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Now back to Rush Limbaugh and the future of the Republican party. Let's continue to break this down.

Joing me from CPAC is CNN political editor Mark Preston and senior political analyst Bill Schneider, plus Ron Christie, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Bill, let's take you back to that poll, if you don't mind, that straw poll which is supposed to signify who will be the next leader of the party. There you see it, Mitt Romney taking the lead there by -- with just 20%. Let's talk about some of the names, though. If you see there, Bobby Jindal, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich. Any fresh faces there to you? Or what does this party need?

SCHNEIDER: Well, several of them, of course, are familiar because they've run for president. Huckabee, Palin, well, she ran for vice president. Mitt Romney ran for president. Ron Paul ran for president. Bobby Jindal was -- met a lot of criticism when he responded to President Obama's speech the other night, but it looks like he has a following in this group. Ron Paul, of course, a libertarian conservative. He has a very avid, activist following.

Romney is interesting. He did come out first by a small margin. A lot of conservatives have been critical because Romney has changed his views on a lot of issues in the past, from when he was governor of Massachusetts, but it looks like he has kept a following in this constituency.

But again, notice, that those numbers are kind of all over the place. There's really no figure, no leading or heroic figure that dominates the conservative movement at this point. They're longing for another Ronald Reagan. But at this point, they're really divided all over the place.

KAYE: And Ron Christie, let's turn to you now. The GOP has said that it wants to be the party of inclusion, but then you heard some very divisive comments from Rush Limbaugh. We also heard from Ann Coulter and many others. So what is really the message here?

CHRISTIE: I think the message is conservatives recognize that we've lost the last two elections. And we've lost because we've lost more voters than we've gained. We need to be winning by addition rather than subtraction, Randi. And I think that when you heard Republican House Minority leader, John Boehner say, we need to get a new constituency, we need to articulate what we're for, we need to say what we believe, and we need to make sure that we're as inclusive as possible.

CPAC was a very important form for Republicans to articulate their beliefs, where they believe the direction of the country should go. But at the same time, with the elevation of Michael Steele to be the chairman of the party, John Boehner, others in the Republican party recognized we have got to do a better job of reaching out to the far northeast, out to my home state of California, to get as many Republicans, as many conservatives who articulate and believe in our beliefs as possible to join the party. Otherwise, we'll be a sizable minority in a place that Republicans don't want to be in.

KAYE: And Mark, what do you think there at CPAC? What do you think the party needs to do to reenergize itself and reach out to others?

PRESTON: Well, I'll tell you what, Randi. I mean, certainly, that these past three days has been a shot in the arm for the Republican party. Certainly a shot in the arm for the conservative movement.

Again, going back to the November elections, they were very, very depressed. They lost the White House. Democrats gained more seats in the House, they gained more seats in the Senate. They were really trying to find their message.

I think that, arguably, this is one of the beginning of Republicans finding their message. You know, it really did begin a couple of weeks ago, when we saw Republicans really rally around their opposition to the stimulus package. And of course, that was in part from Rush Limbaugh's urging. So I think they're kind of on their way. We'll see what leaders emerge.

KAYE: All right. Mark Preston, Bill Schneider, Ron Christie, thank you so much. I enjoyed our discussion.

CHRISTIE: Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: And to the White House next and to one of President Obama's priorities. He's talking education and so are we.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. Turning to the White House now. Stimulus package aside, there's another major priority for the Obama administration and it is education. The president used his weekly address to remind people of that. Our Kate Bolduan is at the White House.

And Kate, what did the president have to say?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Randi. Well, the president used the radio address to defend his budget. And he said he would fight the lobbyists and the special interests. He said he will fight for his spending priorities. One of those priorities, we see now, is education. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I promise an education system that will prepare every American to compete so Americans can win in a global economy. This budget will help us meet that goal. With new incentives for teacher performance and pathways for advancement, new tax credits that will make college more affordable for all who want to go, and new support to ensure that those who do go finish their degree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So how will that all happen? Well, that is up to a former Chicago public school chief, now Secretary of Education. We sat down earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: It will be the goal of this administration to ensure...

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Obama wants an innovative approach to education.

OBAMA: By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

BOLDUAN: Ambitious goals. We sat down with the man in charge of making them a reality, Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

What right now, can you say, is your number one priority as the Secretary of Education?

ARNE DUNCAN: We want to dramatically improve the lives of our children. And I'm just convinced education can get a lot better in this country, at every level. Early childhood, K-12, higher ed. And we have this remarkable, once in a lifetime historic opportunity to do that.

BOLDUAN: Duncan's shy on specifics of how he's going to spend all the new money, but he does have a strategy.

DUNCAN: I think I have a reputation for really being data-driven. I'm going to take the same methodology here is we're going to look at the data, program by program, district by district. And we'll be able to tell pretty quickly what's working and what's not.

BOLDUAN: Two ideas measured by international standards and try a longer school day or year.

DUNCAN: We have a significantly shorter school year, 20, 25, 30 days versus India, versus China, other places. Our students are at a competitive disadvantage.

BOLDUAN: Duncan's now working in the shadows of one of the country's worst school systems. D.C. Public Schools had been ranked last in reading and math scores. Unfortunately, that's not his only battle.

DUNCAN: There are 50 states. There are 14,000 school districts, 90,000 schools. But they all have their own ideas, their own funding sources, their own local leadership. So the challenge to, from Washington, D.C., implement broad national policies is immense.

BOLDUAN: And with a high school dropout rate at 30% and squeezed state budgets threatening teachers and classrooms nationwide, Duncan's challenges are mounting.

DUNCAN: None of this is going to be an overnight success, but we can and we must get dramatically better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: And while he's just getting started, I asked Duncan what his measure of success will be. He said, improving high school and college graduation rates. And while we're still waiting to see what kinds of changes could be demanded to meet those goals, we are now seeing through the stimulus and through this budget proposal, there are moves for increasing funding for public education, from early childhood all the way through college. Randi?

KAYE: All right, Kate Bolduan for us tonight, live at the White House. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sure.

KAYE: More on President Obama's priorities at the top of the hour. "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer coming your way at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Next, feeding a family on food stamps, it's a reality for millions of Americans and for our Sean Callebs. 28 days after he began an experiment to see what it would be like for him to live the entire month on food stamps, we're going to check in with him and see how it went.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: In the face of this recession, one of our own did an experiment. Sean Callebs spent a month living on food stamps. And Sean joins us live now from New Orleans. Sean, first question, how tough was this?

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it was not -- it was hard. I mean, that's the simple answer. I had $176 for the entire month. That breaks down to about $6.28 a day. What I did was went down to Louisiana Department of Social Services. And they figured out what the maximum amount one person could get. And that's what I ended up with.

Now here's what people use for food stamps. This is actually a Louisiana purchase card. Obviously, I did not get a real one, because that would have been fraud, but I'm down to this, Randi. This is about all I have left. The stuff I didn't want to eat. Some prepackaged instant mashed potatoes, mac and cheese. This can of soup I paid $1 for. And it has 76% of the sodium that I would have in one day. So you see what can happen to people who are on these diets. Some pasta, some instant mashed potatoes.

This is what I was going to make for dinner, an omelet. I have three eggs left, which is I think is pretty good. I had the pan heated up over there for just a little bit. But Randi, this is what I guess people have to deal with day in and day out. I mean, if I did it for 28 days, I think I lost some weight, I think it was, you know, it was hard, it was very humbling. But you know, I can't imagine having to do this day in and day out for months and months on end. I mean, my life goes back to normal tomorrow, but to think about all those legions of people out there that have to do what they can to make ends meet to put food on the table. 31 million Americans are on food stamps in the United States. Here in Louisiana, one out of six. So that's the reason, Randi, I got involved in that project.

KAYE: What would you say, Sean, is really going to stick with you from this experience? I'm sure you've learned plenty, but is there something that stands out? CALLEBS: Yeah, I think how -- I don't want to say wasteful, but how much food people buy without thinking about it. I went in a convenience store one time this month, and that was when I just went in to pick up a tube of toothpaste. I obviously didn't buy soda or anything like that.

But think about the time people stop for lunch, grab something, maybe not finish the entire meal. I've learned that you can shop on a bargain. I think I'm going to stick with this diet. Maybe not $6.28 a day, but I am going to stick -- my green beans are getting burnt here. But I am going to stick with it for as long as we can.

I mean, it's very humbling. And we have a blog up on CNN.com under the living section. And we've had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of responses from people, people who are college administrators, who worked in the high-tech field, who worked on Wall Street. These people are out of work. They never thought they'd have to turn to the government for assistance. And that is what the new face of people on food stamps is.

KAYE: And you mentioned that you did lose weight. Should I press you and ask you how much?

CALLEBS: Man, I mean, check it out. I mean, I was kind of a porker when I, you know, started running a few months ago. And I've been running. I probably ran about 40 miles this month. And I got to tell you, the last couple of weeks, it was hard. I didn't have as much energy. I talked to a nurse who's a friend of mine and she said, look, carbohydrates will give you that instant bump. And that's what I'm getting from the rice and the pasta, but I really - I didn't eat nearly as much meat, chicken, or fish. And that stuck with me.

KAYE: Too expensive.

CALLEBS: I'd say I probably lost seven, eight pounds. Yeah.

KAYE: Yeah. All right, Sean Callebs for us. Thank you.

"The Situation Room" is straight ahead. Wolf Blitzer, what do you have for us?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Randi, lots coming up right here in "The Situation Room" at the top of the hour. The president's budget director, Peter Orszag, he defends the president's new agenda. We'll get a very different perspective, though, from Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. And we're also going inside the White House. The First Lady Michelle Obama, a new interview on what it's like. All that and a lot more coming up right here in "The Situation Room."

Randi, back to you.

KAYE: All right, thanks very much, Wolf.

It was must-see TV. Rush Limbaugh getting a rock star's welcome from the Conservative Political Action Conference this hour. And you at home had plenty to say about his speech. Your comments, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Wolf Blitzer is in "The Situation Room" straight ahead. But first, your feedback to Rush Limbaugh's rousing speech. Here's one. "Arne Duncan, he didn't do a damned thing to improve Chicago's schools, so what should we expect for the nation? Nothing. I'm from Chicago."

Osmondgolfer writes, "It's funny that CNN hates conservatives." Hmm, interesting. "There is not one person on CNN who could hold a debate with Limbaugh and not look stupid." I beg to differ.

Boonisland writes, "Rush Limbaugh leading one side and Nancy Pelosi on the other side, democracy gone amuck."

And sweetcop95, "The states are supposed to handle education, but what are they doing nothing. Where is the money that is allocated for school?"

That's just some. We want you to be a part of our show. Log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or ireport.com. And of course, tell me what you're thinking.

Blazing gun battles, vicious kidnappings, decapitation. We're not talking about faraway third world conflicts. We're talking about the drug wars just south of the border, in some cases, just minutes away from you.

Tonight at 11:00 Eastern, CNN's Michael Ware takes a closer look at the Mexican war on drugs and how the battle is moving into the United States. It is a story that could hit where you live.

I'm Randi Kaye at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 11:00 Eastern tonight. "The Situation Room" begins right now.