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RNC Chairman Michael Steele Addresses Republicans; Bush Administration's Use of Faith to Justify Middle East Wars; The Effect of Chrysler and GM on Local Car Dealerships
Aired May 19, 2009 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Pushing forward on kids who need special care and the teachers who abuse them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Derek (ph) was struggling as he was being held in a chair, so the teacher put him face down and sat on him. He struggled and said repeatedly, "I can't breathe."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Anguished parents call out for government help, and we're going to hear their stories.
And live this hour: onward and upward, especially upward. A rallying cry for Republicans delivered by the head of the RNC. We'll listen in.
Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And we begin this hour with a story of biblical proportions. Bible verses selected by the Pentagon to set up top-secret Iraq war briefings for President Bush. We told you yesterday about the bombshell revelations in "GQ" magazine, all about the so-called worldwide intelligence updates from the early days of the war.
The cover pages are made up of war photos and passages from scripture, such as this one from April 3, 2003: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
"GQ" reports that those memos stirred up controversy inside the Pentagon, but the general who wrote them insisted the president and then-secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, liked them.
The "GQ" writer appeared on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT DRAPER, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "GQ": Well, it's inarguable that the president is a religious man, that he quoted from the Bible frequently. As you say, Secretary Rumsfeld himself was not the kind of fellow who wore his religion on his sleeve. But for him to -- it's difficult to divine the motives of the secretary and why, given the sensitivity of this issue, he would allow these cover pages to be made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And we're actually going talk to David Kuo, who served as a special assistant to the president and also deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. He'll be joining us in just a minute to talk about this.
Meanwhile, true believers in the GOP are hearing a call to push forward. Republican Party chairman Michael Steele is telling a meeting of state party heads in Maryland, and I quote, "The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is officially over." We'll listen in momentarily.
And later this hour, CNN's Candy Crowley joins me with the battle for the soul of the grand old party.
Energy independence, it's one of President Obama's major goals, and today he's putting his words into action. Just a short time ago, the president unveiled new fuel and emission standards for cars and trucks.
The White House says that the plan will save billions of barrels of oil, but it will cost you more money when you buy a new car: an estimated extra $1,300 a vehicle when it's complete seven years from now.
Now, under the plan passenger cars would have to get 39 miles per gallon of gas by 2016. Light trucks, 30 miles per gallon. The overall average, 35.5. And unlike now, there would be a single national average for greenhouse gas emissions. They'd be cut 30 percent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... five years. We're seeking to raise fuel economy standards to an industry average of 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016, an increase of more than eight miles per gallon per vehicle. That's an unprecedented change. It's succeeding (ph) the demands of Congress and meeting the most stringent requirements sought by many of the environmental advocates represented here today.
As a result, we will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of a vehicle sold in the next five years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the White House says that President Obama's plan would be like taking 177 million cars off the road. Before it becomes law it still faces some hurdles at the EPA and Transportation Department. Cue the music.
So what will the president's plan actually mean for you and your wallet? In our next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, we'll go live to New York to hear what Peter Valdes-Dapena with CNNmoney.com has to say about that.
Well, which comes first: the money or the plan? When it comes to closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, House and Senate Democrats want to see the plan? Leadership sources in the Senate say that the White House can forget about the $80 million it wants to shut down Gitmo and transfer its inmates until it comes up with details, in particular where the terror suspects will go.
Democrats in the House came also -- in the House, rather, came to that same decision last week.
Three hundred and fifty miles above the Earth. We'll be talking about a reliable old friend off on a new adventure.
But first, let's go ahead and go to Richard -- sorry, to Michael Steele talking about the new face of the GOP.
MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN PARTY: The one thing we know that we can do well, and that's win elections and raise our money. So I really thank our treasurer for his leadership and our secretary, Sharon Day (ph). Thank you so much, as well. Your involvement across the board, whether it's working with the women's program, working with our grassroots and working with our coalitions, has been exemplary, and we're looking forward to great things from you. I thank you and salute you, as well.
And I just want to thank all of the leadership across the board for what you do every day. What you do every single day to make this party relevant, to take it one step further, to give it identity, to give it meaning in a very changing world. So I'm honored to be your chairman.
And once again, I want to, on behalf of the leadership of the party, welcome you to Maryland, welcome you to Prince George's County, which is a very special place. This is my birth place, the place where I raised my family, and the place of my first leadership position in the Republican Party. It was a tough job. They told me the pay was going to be great, and it wasn't. Most of the time was spent walking neighborhoods, licking envelopes and making phone calls for the county Republican Party.
You don't know lonely, folks, until you get on the phone and say, "Hi, I'm calling from the Prince George's County Republican Party. Hello? Hello?"
But I learned a great deal. It served as a foundation on my way to becoming county chairman, state chairman, and the first African- American to be elected statewide here in Maryland. You are where this incredible journey began, a place that is very special to me.
Many of you may know this story, so forgive me for retelling it, but it speaks to who I am and why I'm particularly honored that you have chosen me to serve as your chairman. I was actually born about 20 minutes from where we are at Andrew's Air Force base and raised in our nation's capital. I was adopted by my mother and father. A father who suffered from addictions and his temper, who died when I was 4 years old.
So my mother, May Belle, raised me on the salary of a laundry worker, having earned no more than $3.83 an hour on the day she retired, finally retired. But she had managed, by her perseverance and the help of her new husband, John, to send me to parochial schools, John Carroll High School in the district and the John Hopkins University. On $3.83 an hour.
I would go on to attend Georgetown University Law School, and while my sister Monica became the doctor in the family. So I think I know something about confronting the odds.
In 2002 I was approached by then Congressman Bob Ehrlich to run with him as his lieutenant governor. It was an uphill battle. No Republican had won the governorship of Maryland since Spiro Agnew. That's saying something.
More importantly, we ran against Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Uncle Teddy's little niece.
We ran an unconventional campaign that wooed a number of Democrats to our side. We built coalitions and met with a diverse community of civic, religious and political leaders in their neighborhoods and places of worship.
On election night when the votes were counted, we made history by becoming the first Republican ticket in 40 years and beating back the status quo thinking that it could not be done. So I know a little something about winning against the odds.
I wanted to begin this reflection -- with this reflection to create the context for what comes next. Lessons learned. Lessons that have shaped me as your chairman and that will shape us as a party.
Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, we are at a crucial juncture for our party and, more importantly, for our country. Simply put, America needs us now more than ever before. It's time -- it's time for us to rise to the occasion. It's time to make our voices heard. It's time to serve our country as the loyal opposition.
Now, we all realize that the Democrats want us to be silent. They want to diminish our voice. And they even want to try to suggest that, by being the loyal opposition, we are in some ways being less than patriotic. You've heard the suggestion that, if we oppose the president's policies, we are in some crazy way rooting against American success. But we also know nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact is, we would be abandoning our responsibility if we were to be silent while they spend our country into the abyss, while they borrow money we do not have, and while they usher in the most massive expansive -- expansion of federal government control in the history of the republic.
Well, today I have news for them. We are not going to be silent. We're going to speak out. And we're going to show that we have the courage of our convictions. We will not be afraid to agree with the president when we believe he is doing what is in the best interest of this country. And neither will we be afraid to disagree with the president when we believe his actions are hurting our country.
It is time to talk -- it is time to talk to you about some very important turning points for our party.
The first turning point is this. Today we are declaring an end to the era of Republicans looking backwards. We have just endured two successful elections where we were soundly defeated. As a result, many of us, me included, have done some soul searching. We have looked closely at the places we went wrong. We have talked openly and publicly about our mistakes and our deficiencies. If you don't learn from the past, you're doomed to repeat it. This has indeed been a difficult, yet I think healthy and necessary task for the party.
People are sick and tired of politicians and political parties who never own up to their mistakes. We have done so. We lost our way on spending, and we owned up to that. We came to Washington to change it, and in some ways, we let Washington change us. We owned up to that. We've taken some important steps to recover our values and our senses, and we can say we see the world with a clearer head and a sharper vision.
The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over. It is done. The time for trying to fix or focus on the past has ended. The era of Republican naval gazing, done. We have turned the corner on regret, self-pity and self-doubt. Now is the hour to focus all of our energies on winning the future.
The Republican Party is again going to emerge as the party of new ideas. It will take some time, for sure. There's no doubt about that. But it is beginning now. It is beginning with us. It is beginning with you. Our governors are emerging with fresh answers to old problems. Some of our brightest stars in Congress are emerging with new approaches. New groups and new entities are being transformed and developed across the country. Republicans are rising once again with the energy, the focus and the determination to turn our timeless principles into new solutions for the future. The introspection, ladies and gentlemen, is now over. The corner has been turned.
The second turning point for our party is this. We're going to take the president head-on. The honeymoon is over. The two-party system -- the two-party system is making a comeback, and that comeback begins today.
The Democrats are in power. They wanted it. And now we're going to make them own up to the results of their arrogance of power, policies that are hurting the long-term health of our country. We're going to give voice to the glowing chorus of Americans who realize that there is a difference between creating wealth and redistributing wealth. Simply put -- simply put, we're going to speak truth to power. There's been a great deal of talk in Republican circles about how we should deal with President Obama and the entire Obama phenomenon. Many have suggested that we need to be careful, that we need to tiptoe around President Obama, that we have to be careful not to take him on, at least not directly. This has led to some hand-wringing among some Republicans and, quite frankly, I think, some missed opportunities.
We've seen strategists writing memos and doing briefings, urging the Republicans avoid confronting the president, steer clear of any frontal assaults on his administration. They suggest that instead we should go after Nancy Pelosi, who nobody likes, or Harry Reid, who nobody knows, or this Tim Geithner fellow, whom nobody believes, or maybe even Barney Frank, who nobody understands.
In the same way that the Democrats target conservative talk show hosts and former vice presidents, we should also engage in some misdirection, just like they do. The argument goes that we should be careful here, because the polls suggest that President Obama is popular. Well, the president is personally popular. Pity the poor fool who paid money to get that poll.
I mean, I think that's pretty obvious. Folks like him. He's got an easy demeanor. He's a great orator. His campaign style is wonderful. His campaign was based on change and hope. He's young. He's cool. He's hip. He's got a good-looking family. What's not to like? He's got all of the qualities America likes in celebrity. So of course, he's going to be popular.
Only one problem. He's taking us in the wrong direction and bankrupting our country. That, I do not like.
This popular -- this popular politician, who is our president, is engaged in the most massive expansion of the old industrial-age model of government that our country has ever seen. This popular politician is spending America into debt of such mammoth proportions that none of us can even begin to fathom it's true cost. Nor can we understand fully why it's being done in the first place. The numbers are so big that they seem impossible.
If we have the courage of our convictions, and I believe we do, then we will and we must stand against this disastrous policy. Regardless of the president's personal popularity, this is not a game. This is not a popularity contest. This is not "American Idol." This is serious.
Families are hurting. Businesses are closing. Wealth is being diminished, opportunities lost. And this should not be the future of our country. But it is the reality of this moment.
The guy who campaigned in favor of bottom-up style of governing is presiding over the most massive top-down expansion of government bureaucracy and spending our country has seen. The candidate who campaigned as a moderate in his views now, as president, is governing farther left than we could ever imagine.
And let's not be mistaken here, folks. I know a left turn when I see one. And this is a left turn. No matter how they dress it up. No matter how they dress it up.
Candidate Obama talked about fiscal responsibility, about government living within its means, but President Obama is saddling our unborn grandchildren with mountains of debt.
Candidate Obama boasted about cutting taxes, but President Obama, trust me, will have to raise taxes to pay for his massive, top-down government explosion. Let's not have that lie stay out there any longer. Ninety-five percent of the people will not get a tax cut.
Candidate Obama was all about being bipartisan. This is a good one. But President Obama could not be more partisan, yielding his legislative agenda almost entirely to radicals like Nancy Pelosi.
So what's the loyal opposition to do with this popular president? Well, we're going to speak truth to power. We're going to speak directly, and we are going to take them on, every last one of them, on every street corner, and in every neighborhood.
This is not about personalities. This is about the very sizable gap emerging between America's opinion of the president, the man, and America's opinion of the president's policies. In fact, it is not a gap; it is a chasm.
In the end we are all about ideals, principles, policies and ideas. We have only one goal, and it's not power. It's not majorities. It's the success of our country.
So the honeymoon is over. The honeymoon is over. We're going to challenge those policies that we believe are wrong, and we're going to do so without apology and without a second thought.
But there's a very important distinction I want to make here. We're going to take this president on with class. We're going to take this president on with dignity. This will be a very sharp and, I think, marked contrast to the shabby and classless way that the Democrats on the far left spoke of and treated President Bush over the last eight years.
Now, we've just been witness to a bunch of news stories in the president's first 100 days in office. Predictably, most in the media were fawning all over the president. But I wouldn't break ground on the Mall for a monument just yet, as his policies are increasingly unpopular with the American people.
The American people aren't worried about polls. The American people are worried about jobs, foreclosures, bailouts, taxes, spending and debt. While the Obama administration is giving the banks a stress test, they are also giving the American people a tremendous amount of stress.
Now let's look at the first 100 days of President Obama's reign of error in a factual manner, not in terms of his speeches, but in terms of his actions. Because, as all of us Republicans appreciate, you can say whatever you want. It's what you do that matters. Under President Obama, the federal government is now in the banking business. Under President Obama, the government now makes cars. Under President Obama, our country has amassed debt that will take generations to repay. Under President Obama, America is increasingly in debt to foreign countries, from China to the Middle East.
President Obama now wants to cap and tax every single American into paying higher utility taxes. President Obama and his allies in Congress have now put their taxing eyes on soft drinks. President Obama and Democrat leaders want a new tax on our health-care benefits and are devising a plan to give federal government bureaucrats control over our health-care system.
President Obama is backing a plan to take away the basic right of every American worker to cast a private ballot. President Obama has, for the first time in our history, politicized the U.S. Census process by putting political appointees in his White House in charge, and wanting a corrupt, fraudulent organization to run it.
President Obama and his far-left allies are flirting with an attempt to squelch the basic freedom of speech on our nation's airwaves. President Obama's attorney general is trying to use Mexican drug gang wars as a reason to advocate a new gun ban in America.
President Obama's administration has disparaged our war heroes and veterans by suggesting that they are a threat to our safety, when the truth is they are the cause for our safety.
The president, who thinks that everybody should be able to go to college, is cutting much-needed funding for historically black colleges and universities, which Republican presidents have funded at unprecedented -- unprecedented levels in the past.
The president who pledged that he would create millions of jobs through federal public works projects now requires project labor agreements on such projects, which effectively denies small and minority-owned businesses access to those very jobs they claim they want to create.
And the one that galls me the most because it cuts the closest. While the president sends his kids to a private school, he is at the very same time taking away opportunity scholarships from poor Hispanic and African-American kids right here in our nation's capital, the majority of whom go to my former high school.
Those are the facts of the president's first 100 days. Speaking truth to power.
The last Democrat president who declared that the era of big government was over was Bill Clinton. Someone should that send memo to Barack Obama. Because this new Democrat president has ushered in a new era of left-wing, old-school, top-down, industrial-age, bureaucratic big government, the likes of which we've never seen.
It is all designed for short-term political payoff, with potentially catastrophic long-term effects on our nation's economy and our own personal prosperity.
Our nation's unemployment rate has climbed up to a 25-year high. The gross domestic product, the best indicator of economic health, was down 6.1 percent in the last quarter. Two and a half million Americans have lost their jobs this year alone. And just last month, when 530,000 Americans lost their jobs, this administration tried to spin this as progress.
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama are planning an America where there are more people moving down the ladder of opportunity than up. They are planning for an America that is more dependent, less industrious, and less ambitious than our nation's ideals. This is not the kind of America Republicans envisioned. Nor is this the kind of America we will allow this administration to build.
As the next 100 days of this administration unfolds, the president and Democrat Party would be wise to remember these timeless truths. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot establish security by borrowing money. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot build character, encourage, by taking away one's initiative and incentive. You cannot help individuals permanently by doing for them what they should do for themselves.
The honeymoon is over. And it's time for us to speak truth to power.
The third turning point is this. The Republican comeback has begun. It is under way, and it is not in Washington.
Now, I may not know much, but I do know that our comeback is well under way in all states across this great country, because Jan and I had the privilege to see a lot of it in your very states. I've had the opportunity, as has our co-chair, to meet with all of you in our five regional round tables in each part of the country.
We did those meetings behind the scenes, not out in front in the public, no fanfare, because we wanted to talk to each other and learn from each other and teach each other for the first time in recent memory. We wanted to spend time in the same room with each other, to understand what was important to the people that we represent. It gave us an important chance to review our strategies, our tactics, a chance to learn from each other, and a chance to be very direct in how we move forward.
I've also had the honor of speaking in 23 different states in the past 100 days: from Oregon to Idaho, from Wisconsin to Indiana, from Florida to Georgia. And I'm here to tell you folks, the energy of our base, the energy from our friends, it is strong. It is real. And it is hungry for success. And it's up to us now to make it happen.
Too bad the chattering classes inside the beltway, however, are too busy fretting over phony disputes and intra party intrigue to notice a change has come to America, but it's not the one the Obama administration wants aired on the nightly news.
Those of you who live outside of Washington know what I'm talking about. Those of you who actually attend Lincoln Day dinners and county party events, those of you who toil in the vineyard, spending time in communities, in diners, barber shops and coffee shops, where real, every-day, hard-working Americans can be found, you know it's real. You can see it, and you can feel it. This change, my friends, is being delivered in a tea bag, and that's a wonderful thing.
Our comeback -- our comeback will not begin in Washington. Our conversation with America will not focus on Washington. Our Republican National Committee will no longer rely on Washington. We will look to the rest of America instead, because that's where we are. That's where we belong. That's where people live and find success.
Finally, let me conclude today on a more personal note. As to where as your chairman, I want us to lead our party and our country where we're headed. For me the Republican Party owes its moorings Edmond Burke, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan. Those are the individuals that I traced my personal roots to the Republican cause. For each of them conservatism must always respect reality, effectively assess the times and become relevant to those times. This is our charge.
Ronald Reagan always insisted that our party must move aggressively to seize the moment. He insisted that our party recognize the truth of the times and establish our first principle in both word and deed. As conservatives we must stop acting like we don't really believe in our principles and start acting on those principles.
(APPLAUSE)
Too often we act as if we are scared to apply our Thomas principles today to today's problems and challenges. And you and I know that's no longer the case because we're moving forward together. Our path and our challenge is to apply our principles not to the past, but to the future. In this hour conservatives stand just a bit stronger, just a bit wiser. Ready to once again to think and act with a freshness and boldness that is uncompromising. For conservatism to take root in the next generation, we must offer genuine solutions that are relevant to this age. A Republican renaissance, my friends, has now begun.
We will conquer the challenges not of the last century but the challenges of our time. Our success will not be found in dusting off old campaign manuals from the 1970s and '80s. Our success will be found in speaking directly to the American people about a rebirth of the American Dream for this generation and generations to come.
We have been and must be once again the voice of the majority of Americans. It is up to us to expose the great Democrat fraud that is now being thrust upon this nation. Personal freedom, liberty, and a desire for self-governing are the timeless values that Americans hold dear, as do we. In our Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote that there are certain inalienable rights. Among them are the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those rights are not conferred upon us by the Federal government, but by a power greater than any government.
The Democrats act as if the government is the provider of the very liberties we enjoy. No fashionable politician or president, no matter how popular can give them to us, nor will we allow them to take them from us.
(APPLAUSE)
We will stand. We will stand up for countless Americans who worry about their bills, are defenseless in the face of foreclosures because we are with them. We are them. Now is the time to organize ourselves and to demand the limited government and freedom we deserve.
Over the coming months, Republicans will be bold in our approach. We will offer real solutions and we will do so aggressively and without apology. We will focus on freedom and the freedom of the individual. Odds as I told you before don't scare me. I'm used to working against the odds. I'm used to working against those odds imposed on us by our critics, pundits and the otherwise clueless class that exists.
I know how to develop a team, implement a plan and deliver a victory. I am confident in this journey because I'm taking it with you. I gain strength in this journey because I gain it from you. Our renaissance has begun. Our opportunities lie before us and our cause -- our cause, the cause of freedom, the cause of the individual, the cause of families, the cause of workers, the cause of teachers, the cause of those struggling to get an education, to run a business. That cause is as true today as it was when we first began this journey in 1854.
So in the best spirit of President Reagan, it's time to saddle up and ride. Our country needs us. Our country needs us. And we will be there for you, America. Republicans, proud, strong, free.
Thank you. God bless the Republican Party and our great country.
(APPLAUSE)
PHILLIPS: True believers in the GOP, hearing a call to push forward. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele, telling a meeting of state party heads in Maryland, and I quote, "The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is officially over. It's the battle for the soul of the grand old party. A new face, a new day, a new direction."
We'll going to talk to our Candy Crowley, in just a moment about that.
Meanwhile, something interesting -- Michael Steele also saying the area of Republican naval gazing is over. While still, folks gazing now at these Bible passages and war imagery. Bombshell information that paints a picture of the former Secretary of Defense in the new issue of "GQ." I'll talk to the man who served as one of President Bush's religious advisers during the era in question. An era that keeps coming back and haunting the Republican Party. We'll talk about it more right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Down but not out. The state of the GOP as you just heard from Republican Party Chair Michelle Steele. Steele told party bosses from all over the country that Republicans have turned the corner and should focus on winning the future. Steele himself bears the scars of a battle over party identity, strategy, philosophy. CNN's Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley joins me now from New York, with her insights.
Candy, Steele says not to look back. But, how do they do that? Do they have a central issue or person to rally around? I mean, at this point there's a lot of controversy about that.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And that's really the problem at least so far as the national view of the Republican Party.
We are less than 200 days into the Obama era. Less than several months away from the last election which was disastrous. It's pretty hard to now have a game plan as it always is for a party that's out of power. Because first, there's no centralized message. You've got this split in the party between social conservatives who say we have to return to our social conservative roots. That is the stem cell issue, the abortion issue, the gay marriage issue. We have more centrist Republicans saying, OK, but we have to at least expand the party enough to allow differing views to come in. So, that is a pretty fundamental point here for Republicans. What are you about? What will be your central issue? So, you have that problem going on.
You have a very popular president, which you saw Michael Steele address. It's tough to take him on. And you don't have a real messenger. Michael Steele is obviously is head of the RNC, but in general parties that are out of power, you really have to wait until the next election before they get someone who is actually seen as leading the party.
PHILLIPS: Well, boy he had no problem talking about the arrogance of power.
Let's take a listen to how he described the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEELE: We've seen strategists writing memos and doing briefing urging the Republicans avoid confronting the President. Steer clear of any frontal assaults on his administration. They suggest that instead, we should go after Nancy Pelosi, who nobody likes. Or Harry Reid, who nobody knows. Or this Tim Geithner fellow, who nobody believes. Or maybe even Barney Frank, who nobody understands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: He's so demure. (LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: He really never expresses how he feels, does he?
CROWLEY: Absolutely. I mean, and in a sense he is right and has in some ways framed the dilemma at least for the Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. And that is you are looking at a president who is very popular.
When you come out and criticize the president or you criticize a policy, what Republicans have found is a major blowback that ties them to the past. So, when they say good heavens, this deficit is too high, President Obama spending too much money, people look at them and say, well, excuse me, which president was it that took us from a surplus to a trillion dollar deficit? Or, if something comes up about the war in Iraq or in Afghanistan, it comes up well, who started this war? It was your president.
So, no one's really -- they have not been able to get up off the map. And again, it's early. But, they just haven't really found a rhythm yet that they can -- that they're all on board with that begins to define the Republican Party.
And we have seen in the first 150 days or so, an increasing willingness to criticize President Obama. But the Democrats have been really, really good at labeling Republicans as the party of no. They have pushed very hard on this. All do you ever do is criticize us. All you ever do is say no. So, they are really caught both from the past and with a president who remains pretty popular and a Democratic Party that's been pretty good at defining Republicans.
PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley, thanks a lot for the analysis.
Well, we're not finished yet. CNN Political Editor Mark Preston covering the Steele speech in Maryland. He'll join me live next hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Yucca Mountain, ring a bell? Well, it's that red, hot political potato in the Nevada desert. The one that's supposed to be the dumping ground for the nation's nuclear waste. That's now history according to President Obama's energy secretary. But guess what? Your tax dollars are still paying for it in a big way.
CNN's Special Investigations Unit Correspondent Drew Griffin, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Taxpayers have pumped $10 billion into this engineering marvel. A five-mile tunnel dug deep into a mountain. It's been studied endlessly by the scientists who have for decades come to the conclusion this mountain is the solution to the nation's nuclear waste problem. But with very little fanfare, President Obama has submitted a budget that basically eliminates it. Why? In a word, politics. Yucca Mountain is in Nevada. The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is from Nevada. And Harry Reid doesn't want your nuclear waste. And the group that calls itself America's number one taxpayer watchdog isn't happy.
TOM SCHATZ, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE: This decision is purely about politics. There's no practical reason to make this decision. Yucca Mountain has been studied. It's the safest place that there is in the United States to store this nuclear waste and there is no current alternative.
GRIFFIN: The president's alternative is to appoint a blue ribbon panel, basically starting from scratch after decades of work.
(on camera): Here's the problem. Two federal laws and billions in taxpayer dollars. Since 1982, it was federal law that the government would take over all of the nuclear waste from these nuclear power plants. Since 1987, it was federal law that the waste would go to Yucca Mountain. And all that time if you've been getting your energy from one of these, you've been paying taxes to support it. With one stroke of the pen, two federal laws and all those taxes are gone.
(voice-over): Carrie Phillips is public affairs manager at the Southern Company's Vogtle nuclear plant in eastern Georgia, where they have been storing waste that was supposed to go to Yucca Mountain temporarily now for 22 years.
CARRIE PHILLIPS, PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER, SOUTHERN CO.: I think it's discouraging and it's frustrating for the industry. We've been through eight administrations, five presidents as they've kind of shifted policy on Yucca.
GRIFFIN: One person who doesn't seem too concerned at all about the nation's nuclear waste is the man who has made sure it won't come to Nevada. Senator Harry Reid, in a brief session with reporters said the solution is simple. Instead of putting the nuclear waste in Nevada's backyard, states with nuclear power plants should keep it in theirs.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Leave it on site, where it is. You don't have to worry about transporting it. Saves the country billions and billions of dollars.
GRIFFIN: Not quite true says the nuclear power industry. Power companies are suing the government for billions in damages because the Department of Energy agreed to remove the waste back in 1998, and it did not. As for the nation's nuclear utilities, their chief spokesperson says all they want is consistency.
MARVIN FERTEL, CEO, NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE: It's just not good public policy to keep changing what we think we're going to do.
GRIFFIN: With nowhere to store their nuclear waste, the nation's power plants can do only one thing. Keep waiting. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Keep waiting? The plants, what do they do? They can't just keep waiting. They got to do something.
GRIFFIN: That is exactly right. They're storing it on site. So, instead of having a this well-researched $10 billion, you know, multi-decade plan in place to store this nuclear waste, the solution according to Harry Reid is we're going to have 104 ad hoc nuclear dumps next to your nuclear waste plant. That's how many plants there are in the country. He says just keep it right there.
PHILLIPS: Is there really though, a best place for nuclear waste?
GRIFFIN: This was the best place.
PHILLIPS: OK.
GRIFFIN: Through many administrations this was the best place.
Unfortunately now for the best place scenario according to new plans, is that it is now in a very powerful Senator's home state and that guy doesn't want it. So, we get rid of it. The president has a new Energy Secretary and he's got funding now to start a blue ribbon panel to look at --
PHILLIPS: Another panel.
GRIFFIN: -- the next best place to store --
PHILLIPS: And another $10 billion. Poof.
GRIFFIN: I wrote a blog. You know, this is my passion. Checking people's money -- the taxpayer's money. And if you think that anybody in Washington cares about your money, I'm telling you, they're hard to find. $10 billion. It's just a hole in the ground.
PHILLIPS: Gone.
All right, Drew. Looking forward to the follow-up as they wait and wait and we wait for an answer.
Well, abused and neglected by his birth parents. Punished and smothered by a teacher.
(VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else's child. It's an awful -- it was awful the way Cedric died. He was a good kid. This should never happen. The morning Cedric died he was boarding the bus. He turned around and got a beaming smile on his face and said to me, mom, you know I love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: He didn't have to die either. A grieving foster mom speaks up for other moms and kids at today's House hearing on the use of seclusion and restraint in schools.
We're pushing forward on this next hour with the CNN SIU report and that foster mom right there, Toni Price, joining us live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, he promised it and now he's delivering. President Obama out with his new fuel and emissions standards. Under the plan, passenger cars would have to get 39 miles per gallon of gas. Light trucks, 30 miles per gallon. The overall average, 35.5. Unlike now, there would be a single national average for greenhouse gas emissions. They'd be cut 30 percent. The president says that you'll save money at the pump and the country will save billions of barrels of oil. But when you buy a new car, you'll pay more, an estimated extra $1,300 a vehicle when the plan is complete seven years from now.
Well, a car of dealerships are fighting for their lives right now and some people are wondering if they're really need at all.
Here's CNN's Jim Acosta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Kyra, with GM and Chrysler planning to shut down hundreds of dealerships, some industry analysts are wondering if it's not only time for Detroit to build a better cars, but also to build a better customer experience for those buyers who want t click tires before they kick them.
(voice-over): Don't judge a car dealership by the sign on the side of the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a customer. That's a customer.
ACOSTA (on camera): And why would you put your customer pictures?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because they're family.
ACOSTA: Because they're like family?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're like family. They've helped us build this business.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Dealership owner Jack Fitzgerald and his sister Dottie say, judge them by the pictures lining the walls inside the showroom. Generations of satisfied customers. Chrysler is pulling out of Fitzgerald's dealership as part of the carmaker's plans to shut down the showrooms across the country. Fitzgerald's response -- good riddance.
JACK FITZGERALD, FITZGERALD AUTO MALLS: We are not like Detroit. We don't live in an insulated world all by ourselves, with the government taking care of us. We have to earn our way. The government doesn't give me any money. They're not going to do anything for me except it looks like they're trying to put me out of business with these insane people from Detroit.
ACOSTA: But some industry analysts wonder if the dealership model of doing business has become a lot like the cars out of Detroit -- outdated. Contrast that with the array of online auto buying prices.
PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNN MONEY AUTO INDUSTRY WRITER: You suggest a price and the salesman says, wait let me talk to the manager and he's gone for 20 minutes. You know, that whole haggling process, people hate it. And online interaction can be a very good way of getting around this.
CHIP PERRY, CEO, AUTOTRADER.COM: I'd say about half of the dealers in America are doing that pretty well and half are still kind of in the starting blocks really, with a lot of improvement yet to go ahead of them.
ACOSTA: Autotrader.com CEO Chip Perry says dealers have to gear themselves toward online shoppers and find their price before entering the showroom. Still, he believes most car sales are too complicated to handle solely online.
PERRY: We don't think that it's going to be a click here and buy now phenomenon any time soon.
FITZGERALD: People don't buy cars without seeing and touching them and feeling them and driving them and getting excited over them.
ACOSTA: After 43 years in the business, Jack Fitzgerald says it's about treating his customers right. A lesson he says Detroit hasn't learned.
(on camera): Three of the four brands that you sell at this dealership are foreign made.
FITZGERALD: Well, that's because that's what my customers want. I keep telling you that. I don't tell the customers what to do. The customers tell me what to do.
ACOSTA: Laws in most states still prevent buyers from purchasing cars directly from manufacturers online so dealers are still in the driver's seat if they can get out of reverse -- Kyra.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Bible verses selected by the Pentagon to set up top secret Iraq war briefings for President Bush. We told you yesterday about the bombshell revelations in "GQ" magazine, all about the so- called worldwide intelligence updates from the early days of the war. The cover pages are made up of war photos and passages from Scripture, such as this one from April 3rd, 2003:
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged that the lord, dear God will be with you wherever you go."
"GQ" reports that those memos stirred up controversy inside the Pentagon, but the general who wrote them insisted that the president and then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld liked them. One observer says and I quote, "This is a perfect example of a way that the Bush administration treated religion." And he should know.
From 2001 to 2003, David Kuo was special assistant to the president and deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. He joins me via web cam from Charlotte, North Carolina.
David, my first question, did you ever see these memos?
DAVID KUO, FMR, SPECIAL ASST. TO PRES. BUSH: No. I never saw these memos but I got to tell you, if their use of biblical language and spiritual ignorance is anything as bad as their military ignorance, it is clear why the Iraq war is a debacle. I mean, these quotes are so out of context and used in a way that are so frankly appalling to me, as a follower of Jesus.
PHILLIPS: So was there always a search for broad justification for what Bush was doing?
KUO: I think, you know, any time people use religion in politics, there's always a huge temptation and that is to use religion to justify your politics. You know, I think the challenge for anybody who tries to follow God is to sort of say, OK, am I going to try and follow God on his terms, or am I going to try to use God on my terms? And what these quotes show is that the administration when it came to the war and people in the Department of Defense were able to pull out biblical quotes to support the war that were completely and totally out of context.
PHILLIPS: Are you saying it's like a Machiavellian use of religion for political ends?
KUO: Oh, absolutely. I mean, you saw this throughout the Bush administration from beginning to end. The use of any means to justify the political ends. This isn't unique to the Bush Administration, obviously. President Obama uses faith to support his policies. Every president has used it. But, really when you look at this administration and its use of these biblical versions it's really quite shocking.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, let me ask you this, then. Do you think that this Iraq war constantly needed some type of justification, specifically for President Bush, let me ask you that.
KUO: Well, it was. It was always a war in search of justification.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, then let me ask you this. If you look at these memos - and let's take a look at another one. This soldier here on the ground and the Secretary of Defense, Worldwide Intelligence Update. He's got another verse there from Proverbs 16:3, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed." Are you saying that Rumsfeld wasn't necessarily a holy warrior, and he wasn't trying to say this was a religious crusade here against the Muslims, but rather he's just a marketing genius because he knew who he was handing these briefs to and that was a born-again Christian, aka the President of the United States.
KUO: Yes, I mean, Don Rumsfeld came to a certain amount of corporate fame by putting a packet of equal in every household in America, when they were first beginning to market the product. The guy knows how to market things and clearly he knew how to market things to his boss, to his audience, of one the President of the United States. And that was to use these biblical quotes.
But again, it really is sort of shocking and appalling the use of these particular quotes because they are so far out of context, as to be really stunning.
PHILLIPS: All right. Final thought. Because I want to push this forward somehow and move beyond the shock value. Frank Rich wrote this op-ed piece in the "New York Times." And he was talking about how because of all of these instances that are coming up that happen within the Bush administration, that basically President Obama cannot turn the page on Bush.
And he writes, "No matter how hard President Obama tries to turn the page on the previous administration, he can't. Until there's true accountability and true transparency, revelations of that unresolved eight year nightmare will keep raining down, drip by drip disrupting the administration's high ambitions."
How does America move on now when things like this keep surfacing?
KUO: I think that this conversation needs to go forward. I heard Michael Steele say the Republican Party has now turned its back on looking backwards. That's laughable. There's too much that needs to be answered and there are too many questions that are out there. There are too many revelations that keep coming forward that need to be asked and answered.
And nobody who was a part of it, if there's nothing to fear, should be afraid of that examination. So, we shouldn't give up on looking backwards and sort of say, oh, well forget it, he's gone. There are some serious issues that still need to be dealt with and they need to be examined.
PHILLIPS: I have a feeling we'll be talking again. David Kuo, served as special assistant to George W. Bush and deputy director of the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives.
David, thanks.
KUO: Thanks so much.
PHILLIPS: Just so you know, we did reach out to Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. We were told that he's not doing any media interviews until next year. That's when his memoirs come out. We also called Major Generals Schaffer (ph), the man who wrote those memos and we didn't receive a call back. And we also called every White House and Pentagon Press Secretary from the Bush administration and we got a no thanks or no responses. In all, we've invited more than a dozen people to comment on this story. Power players from the Bush-Rumsfeld years. Not one of them wanted to be interviewed.
