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Gov. Palin Steps Aside; Reaction to Biden's Comments on Russia; India Launches Nuclear Sub; Beer With the President; America's Issues With Race; Sophia Danenberg: On Top of the World; No Yellow Jersey for Armstrong
Aired July 26, 2009 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on CNN.
What happens next? Sarah Palin gives up her day job. A farewell speech full of folksy banner and fury over the media and critics. Our Candy Crowley is live to read between the lines for us.
Time is running out. Republicans are divided. Democrats are divided. President Obama is in the middle, and he hits the road again soon to sell health care reform. Will you buy it?
Plus, no holding back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have as white folks the privilege of what I called obliviousness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The discussion on race that everyone is talking about. We had it last night. It is back tonight by popular demand.
And -- we go one-on-one with Lance Armstrong tonight, right now in the news.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
Sarah Palin is out of a job, but she won't be unemployed for long. She left her post as Alaska governor today as planned. But it is a speculation about what she does next that has everyone talking. She has strong support among conservatives. And she's already been the vice presidential nominee on the Republican ticket. Still, she has her critics. And judging by her comments today, she is ready to take them on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: And first, some straight talk for some, just some in the media. Because another right protected for all of us is freedom of the press. And you have such important jobs, reporting facts and informing the electorate and exerting power to influence. You represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you. And that is why -- that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up.
Alaskans need to really stick together on this with new leadership, in this area especially, encouraging new leadership. Stiffen your spine to do what is right for Alaska when the pressure mounts, because you are going to see anti-hunting, anti-second amendment circuses from Hollywood.
And here's how they do it. They use these delicate, tiny, very talented celebrity starlets. They use Alaska as a fund-raising tool for their anti-second amend causes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: She had a lot more to say than that. And watching it all live today with me was our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. She joins us again tonight, Candy.
So still, in that speech, where she criticized her critics in the media and gave -- she gave very little clues as to what happens to her next.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: She didn't, except for it seems to me that citizen Sarah Palin sounds an awful lot like politician Sarah Palin. She's not going to get out of the fray. We know that much. We know, for instance, that one of her first appearances post-governorship will be in California at the Library of Ronald Reagan. That's a pretty -- pretty big signal at least that you're a stalwart Republican.
We know that she has said that she wants to help raise money for like-minded politicians. We know that she's going to write a book. Now we also hear, as I'm sure you've heard rumors everywhere that she might get a talk show somewhere. So all of these things, you can make money, you can keep your visibility up there, so there's a lot to be said for making money and making a living out of all that. But they also happen to be sort of mileposts along the road a presidential candidacy. So we call that keeping your options open.
LEMON: And she said, somewhat she said some people don't understand why I'm doing this. At one point, Candy, remember, someone yelled out in the audience, "Why do you do it?" And something like, "we love you," and "why are you doing it?" And she said, you don't need a title to make a difference. And she wanted to continue to make a difference, but she doesn't think she needs a title.
CROWLEY: True. I will tell you, however, that any number of Republicans who were supporters of hers who believe that she brought a lot of vitality, certainly, to the McCain ticket and to the party, were wildly disappointed in this decision.
They just feel like she gave it up after running for something and then you give it up. They found that to be quitting. Now, of course, her supporters say, no, no, she just couldn't get anything done. The fact of the matter is for a woman about whom the biggest criticism was she doesn't have enough experience, to quit that elected job to go serve in some other manner can be brought into question. Can she do without a title? Sometimes it doesn't help to be an elected politician to run for office. But, again, that's been seen as her vulnerability, not enough experience. So a lot of Republicans were disappointed by that. And many of them think that that's the reason some of her poll numbers have dropped, is her decision to resign.
LEMON: She certainly is a lightning rod, though. Thank you very much, Candy Crowley. Our senior political correspondent.
CROWLEY: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Thanks for helping me out with that today.
CNN all platform journalist Chris Welch was there in Alaska for Sarah Palin's speech. Chris joins me now from Fairbanks.
Chris, good to see you. You're on the phone all day with us, going through this. About 2,000 people show up, and these are ardent supporters of the former governor.
CHRIS WELCH, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Right. I mean, for the most part, these are all people who are basically in love with Sarah Palin. It was hard to find anyone who really disagrees with her. And there was one particular group that signs, you know, that said they'd rather see Sarah Palin go to Texas, quitting was her best move. These are the rare people. This is in her home turf, basically. This is not Wasilla, but it is Fairbanks, Alaska. Now these people are people who have, quite frankly, adored Sarah Palin for quite some time now, and a lot of them sad to see her go. Some of them even saying, you know, they wish she hadn't made this decision to quit.
Now I talk to one man who was leaving today who's a dissenter, not a person who exactly shares the views of Sarah Palin. He said that he basically like to see her move to Texas. The only time he'd like to see her back here is maybe when she comes back for a fishing trip in the summer. So for the most part, people who are leaving tonight saying we'd love to see her run for president in 2012. I'll get behind her for that. I'd love to see her do that. They just basically want to see a good future for her. They don't want to see her leave the limelight anytime soon. That's for sure.
LEMON: All right. Chris Welch, our all-platform journalist in Fairbanks. Thank you very much.
Much, much more on this with the Best Political Team on Television. Just a little bit here. What about her future? And what's behind this? We'll discuss it.
There's also some political fallout tonight from the outside-the- box comments Vice President Joe Biden made about the Russian government. In a developing story we first told you about, last night Biden told "The Wall Street Journal" in very blunt terms that Russia faces big problem in the future." He says their economy is, quote, "withering," and in his words they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable.
Today, the secretary of state was asked if the Obama administration is sending mixed signals on Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: No, I don't, as I just said, vice president was the first person to call for resetting our relationship with Russia, and that's what we're in the process of doing. Obviously, it's going to take time and effort. But the president's summit in Moscow a few weeks ago was a great start. And the president said, look, we want a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia. And we're going to work with Russia. And we're going to have areas of agreement and areas of disagreement as we do with any other country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the White House issued a statement pledging cooperation with Russia. A less than diplomatic tone, though, coming from the secretary of state when it comes to issues about waging a war of words on North Korea. She did that with officials this week.
At issue, North Korea's failure to honor previous agreements on nuclear power. Today, Secretary Clinton minced no words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: We still want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, to be part of an international effort that will lead to denuclearization. But we're not going to reward them for doing what they said they would do in 2005 and 2006. We're not going to reward them for half-measures. They now know what we in the world community expect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, according to the Associated Press tonight, North Korea says it's open to new talks about its disputed nuclear program, but the country didn't give specifics.
President Barack Obama is putting on a confident face and pushing ahead with health care reform, even though it's all but certain the plan won't make his August deadline. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they want to fix the system and provide care for almost 50 million Americans without insurance. But they remain deeply divided over how to do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president believes that we're making progress. And as long as we're making progress, that's a very good sign on an issue that we've been debating for 40 years. SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: The only thing bipartisan about the measures so far is the opposition to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Even some hard-line Democrats can see the president can't push his health care plan through Congress without GOP help.
Looking to the week ahead. The president will speak tomorrow when the U.S. kicks off economic talks with a high-level Chinese delegation. And on Tuesday, we'll take health care questions from AARP members during a tele-town hall meeting where people can dial in with their questions.
The president keeps the push going on Wednesday with health care events in North Carolina and also Virginia.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy is in the hospital after suddenly becoming ill this morning. The 54-year-old became faint while jogging near his official resident. Sarkozy did not lose consciousness. And initial tests showed nothing abnormal, but he will be under standard heart monitoring until tomorrow morning.
The U.S. is preparing for what is expected to be an increase in swine flu cases this fall. The Obama administration is spending $1 billion to develop a new H1N1 vaccine. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tells CNN the inoculation will likely be ready by October after extensive testing. More than 500 people in Missouri have already volunteered for clinical trials.
Turning now to the election fallout in Iran. This Thursday marks the 40th day since violence erupted after last month's disputed presidential election. Opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi has requested a commemoration ceremony on Thursday to remember the 20 people who reportedly died in weeks of street clashes with police. Now if the request is approved, it would have deep significance to Shiite Muslims. Periods of mourning last four 40 days in the Shiite religion.
A nuclear first for India today in the southeastern part of the country. The Indians launched the first locally built nuclear powered submarine. Only five other nations have the capability to build nuclear subs. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says there are no, quote, "aggressive designs." Still, it is likely to rattle India's next door nuclear rival, which is Pakistan.
Exiled Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya is hold up just steps away from his home turf. And he says he's not leaving. Hundreds of supporters have joined him in a sleepy Nicaraguan border town. Hundreds more have been turned away at military checkpoint. Zelaya is asking Washington to slap tough sanctions on the coup leaders who forced him into e exile last month. They accused him of trying to unlawfully extend his power.
Open, honest and no holding back. Issues of race rose to the fore this week in a stunning way. A discussion you won't want to miss.
And Sarah Palin, what motivated her to step down? And what will she do next? We will talk about that.
Also, it's time for you to become part of our show. There it is -- Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, iReport.com. We'll get your comments on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Now to the story that garnered a lot of attention this week. A white police officer and a black Harvard professor are keeping a low profile this weekend after the arrest that's sparked a racially-charged political torrent that even rattled the White House.
Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley and Professor Henry Louis Gates have been asked to sit down for a beer with the president. Sergeant Crowley who arrested the professor outside his home for disorderly conduct is still pondering the invitation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you satisfied with how the president handled this?
SGT. JAMES CROWLEY, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS POLICE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You are?
What about that beer on the -- what about the beer? Are you going to -- yes, are you going up to the vineyard?
CROWLEY: I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: But presidential invitation -- or intervention, I should say -- or not, pockets of anger still persist here. Someone posted signs in Professor Gates's lawn calling him a racist. And the professor is away from home this weekend, and the posters have all been removed now.
Joining me to discuss Professor Gates among other issues are CNN political editor Mark Preston, who joins us live from Washington tonight. And April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. She is live for us in Boston, in Baltimore, I should say. Because Boston, Cambridge on the mind here.
April, you were at both of those briefings. You know, the first comment, they acted stupidly comment, you know, got the president in hot water. And then the second comment that could have calibrated those words, better comment, is also drawing fire.
APRIL RYAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Yes. Historic, both occasions from President Obama to make those statements. But you have the black community, some the black community very, very upset. President Obama did get it right about the sensitivity issue in the black community on racial profiling. And some of the black ministers across the nation want to have a day of prayer and action, because they say what's being overshadowed is the issue of racial profiling. They're saying, look, something happened. And, you know, let's not deal with the president's words right now. Let's deal with the issue at hand, that Henry Gates was arrested for something.
And they're saying, you know, he was ultimately let go. So they're saying, you know, this racial profiling issue is real and we have to look at that and hit it on straight forward.
LEMON: And, Mark, you know, at the very least, you know, the administration has to admit, I think it threw them off their game this week, didn't it?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Don, you know, that news conference last week was supposed to be about health care, which is the president's, you know, top domestic priority. And, of course, it's something that is having a lot of problems here in Washington, D.C. So when the president goes out and really touches the third rail of everything in America, when you talk about race, and he's really trying to get out in front of health care, when he has people within his own party that are causing him problems on the issue, I think it's fair to say he was very much threw him off his game.
LEMON: OK. Let's talk now, Mark, about Sarah Palin, the former governor now. Everyone wants to know why. And the conventional wisdom is that she has amassed a lot of debt, and that it is in big part probably financial that she's doing this now.
PRESTON: Well, you know, there's no question that she has this sizable legal debt because of all these ethics complaints that had been lodged against her. But, you know, somebody said that Sarah Palin right now is trying to strike the iron while it's hot.
You know, of course, we're all focused on 2012. Will Sarah Palin seek the Republican nomination? But I think, Don, that let's say she doesn't seek it. I still think that she is going to be a leader in politics. And in fact, she could be the next face, you know, the next leader of the social conservative movement, which is a very powerful position, from really to enact policy and also to play politics.
LEMON: And April, meantime, back at the ranch, it's not Palin's really health care, and they have really have to hunker down the administration this week.
RYAN: Right. The administration says, look, now that we've kind of turned the water cooler conversation away from the Gates situation, we're putting it, putting -- re-focussing it back on health care. And this week, we're going to see the president on the road, Wednesday in Bristol, Virginia, as well as Raleigh, North Carolina. And he's also doing an event Tuesday as well with the AARP. So we're going to see him get back in the fold. And in the meantime, they're going to be working out deals behind the scenes and staff and what have you with the lawmakers.
LEMON: All right. April and Mark, thank you very much.
RYAN: Thank you.
LEMON: We really appreciate it.
A second Chicago area cemetery is under investigation after a human bone is found where it wasn't supposed to be.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Eight people are dead, four of them young cousins after a wrong way crash just north of New York City. The family's mini-van is scorched and twisted just off the Taconic State Parkway in Westchester County. One 5-year-old boy in the van survived, but he is in critical condition tonight. State police say his mother was driving north in the southbound lanes when she slammed into two cars. She and three other adults were killed. The kids who died, all girls, ranged in age from 2 to 9 years old.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No! No!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This is just a horrific story out of Philadelphia. Shock and disbelief in that city, where a parking lot just outside the Philly Stadium is now a crime scene. A man was beaten to death when a bar fight exploded. People filled the streets last night after the 22-year-old victim was reportedly beaten up in the closing innings of the Philly's Cardinals game. A 30-year-old man is hospitalized in stable condition. And officers say dozens of people may have been involved in that brawl. "The Philadelphia Inquirer" reports police plan to charge at least two people in connection with the fight.
Dug-up bodies, double-sold grave sites. Familiar allegations. Different Chicago area cemetery. An unearthed human bone was found Friday at the Mt. Glenwood Cemetery. The Cook County sheriff's office is investigating. And one family member has already filed a lawsuit alleging grave tampering. This comes as workers at Burr Oak Cemetery in the area face felony charges for digging up bodies and reselling the plots.
A candid conversation about race in America just ahead. You won't want to miss it, trust me.
And one-on-one with Lance Armstrong. For once, he didn't win the Tour de France, but he's happy about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Heavy rains and flooding on one coast. And heat on the other. Jacqui Jeras, tell us about that. And what's going on the middle as well. (WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: Oh, boy. Many, many hours. You heard it from Jacqui Jeras. She warned you.
Thank you, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sure.
LEMON: We've been asking what is next for Sarah Palin here. A lot of you have been responding.
Here's what Familytreegirl says, "I'm not a fan of hers, but she appeals to a lot of folks. She will be stronger outside the governor's office, can do and say more."
Headedforseven says, "I suspect Palin will go the Huckabee route and become a pundit."
Journalproject says, "I see why Palin didn't make it in your field, journalism. Her ability to articulate is awful. She's very bitter against the media. Sad.
And Brand5379 says, "It's tough to know what's next for Palin, but it will definitely involve politics and getting paid a pretty penny."
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or iReport.com. That's how you get on the air.
She's literally reached the top of the world. An African- American first. We'll meet Sophia Danenberg.
Plus, the controversy that swept the nation this week. A Harvard professor versus a Cambridge police officer. A candid conversation about race in America. We move it forward. And there is no holding back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. Last night, we took an in-depth look at the issue of race in America in light of the Professor Gates-Officer Crowley story this week. Something one of our panelists said really resonated with us. And before you listen, the first question we talked about was about Sergeant Crowley, whether or not he could have been racially profiling Mr. Gates because he had taught diversity or how not to racially profile at the police academy.
So, take a listen to our conversation. It's no holds barred.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: He taught diversity, so, therefore, get over it.
Andra, does that make a difference? ANDRA GILLESPIE, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, that certainly works in Sergeant Crowley's favor to suggest that he's in fact not a bigot and is more sensitive than perhaps we initially gave him credit for.
LEMON: And people say if he taught about diversity and about how not racially profile, and he lives in Cambridge, then he should have known Professor Gates.
GILLESPIE: Well, that's a potential issue. But the other part of it is you can teach diversity and you can be aware of diversity, but you still always have to be on your guard for your own self- conscious and implicit attitudes to come to the forefront.
I teach African-American politics. I study this for my living. But that doesn't mean I don't have to deal with my own prejudiced attitudes, and I have to check them. So you are quite capable of having a racist moment even when you are on the whole racially progressive.
LEMON: Go ahead, Tim.
TIM WISE, AUTHOR, "WHITE LIKE ME": Yes. If I could add to that. You know, five years ago, when I wrote my memoir "White Like Me," I tell a story in there about the fact that even though, even after 11 or 12 years of doing anti-racism work, not just diversity work which could mean anything and nothing, but anti-racism work, even after that experience of doing that for 12 years, I got an airplane to go to a conference that we're actually going to be discussing racism and white privilege at the conference, and I got on the plane and for the first time I had two black men at the pilot controls. And it never happened before.
Now I understand why racism is completely based on false thinking, but what was the first purely emotional thought that popped into my head? Unfortunately, it was not, free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we're free at last. It was, instead, oh, my God, can these guys actually fly the plane?
Now the good news is I caught myself and I stifled that belief, and I realized how absurd it was. But the point is, even I had it. If we're going to have an honest conversation about race in this country, those of us who are white are going to have to step up and admit that we have been conditioned to have those reactions just as men have been conditioned to have sexist reactions with regard to women. We can fight those reactions, but not if we do not acknowledge them.
LEMON: Why is it -- I want to ask you this, Tim. And I don't know if I ever asked this question.
What is -- why do white people get so upset when there's any insinuation of bias, prejudice or racism if you bring it up just to even sort of get it out there on the table to get it over with?
WISE: Well, I think we've come to think that racism is a personal, individual level thing so that if I say that a comment or an action or a joke or whatever was racist, the person thinks I'm calling them a bigot. This is not so much about bigotry. It's not about individual level biases except insofar as we're all conditioned to have them.
What racism is, is a social condition, a structural reality, and if you were raised in an environment in which that is everywhere, the odds of you somehow escaping it, not being affected by it, are infinitesimally small. It's not going to happen. If we would acknowledge that it isn't personal. As the old saying goes, this ain't personal, it's business. And understand that we must be about the business of undoing it, both at the individual and institutional level. We wouldn't have to get so incensed.
LEMON: But isn't it in a sense that sometimes people are not even aware of it. I've been -- you know, I've been saying, if you don't live it, you don't know it.
And sometimes I talk to people and they're not even aware that it is. Sometimes it's a culture. Sometimes it's something that you have been thought through media and the way a certain neighborhood works, or a company works, or an environment works that you're not even aware of it.
WISE: Well, we have as white folks the privileged of what I called obliviousness right. The privilege of obliviousness. I don't have to know black and brown truth because it's not going to be on the test, right? No matter what it is that I have to know to get into a school, to graduate from a school, civil service exam, to get any job. I don't have to know what people of color experience.
On the other hand, people of color better know what white America thinks is important, or they will never get through school at all. That is a privileged, but it also means that we are left, really, with a huge blind spot around this subject.
GILLESPIE: The other thing that I think is hard is that in a post civil rights America, it's a lot more complex than it used to be. If we go back 50 years and look at the Jim Crow era, it was pretty stark. It was very black and white. You know, if you want to play on words.
There were lines for blacks and whites. There were waiting rooms for blacks and whites. Street cars and schools for blacks and whites, and people openly said the "N" word. It is not socially acceptable to do those things anymore. And so most people think that as long as, I don't say that black people are monkeys, or...
LEMON: If you don't let...
GILLESPIE: ... that there are explicit segregation.
LEMON: Right. Don't use the "N" word.
GILLESPIE: I don't use the "N" word.
(CROSSTALK) LEMON: And there are certain things that are concrete.
But, you know, I always say, I'm not sure. Sometimes I don't have -- it's not, you know, concrete and tangible, but when the hair is on the back of your neck stand up, you know it. You know it when you see it, or you know it when you feel it.
GILLESPIE: And actually the sociological evidence suggests that blacks -- middle-class blacks in particular, will give people the benefit of the doubt and generally they will go to a friend, explain the incident. And the friend has to affirm that, that it was in fact a racial incident.
LEMON: It has happened to me. It has happened to me, or just ignorance.
Hey, James, I want to talk to you about this, because this story on social media was trending really highly in the beginning. But since the president, what has happened?
JAMES ANDREWS, CO-FOUNDER, EVERYWHERE: Well, it's really gone down. You know, interestingly enough, your "BLACK IN AMERICA" series has become the popular, what we call Internet mean. "BIA" on Twitter is a popular trending topic right now.
So those -- you know, we're talking about this right now. We're talking about it on CNN, and you're actually opening up a dialogue to allow us to talk about it. And "BIA" is becoming part of that trend. We have a lot more work to do. But I think that this is an open opportunity for the White House, for all of us, CNN involved, to really open up the dialogue and the conversation.
LEMON: Yes. And, you know, I can imagine being a journalist, you know. And I'm being objective, but just by sitting here and saying, you know, people white people asking the questions, I'm going to get criticized from people. So it's kind of tough. But I think that we all need to have this conversation. The country needs to have this conversation. It is obvious from what happened in Cambridge, we all were not there, but it certainly caused a huge ruckus.
Tim, you know your work is just so amazing. And I respected you for a long time. I'm going to give you the last word on this. What is that teachable moment here that we need to take away?
WISE: I think the moment is very simple. The reality is that when people have different experiences with the institutions of the society, they're going to have different perceptions about reality. If we're going to bridge the perception gap, we're going to have to bridge the experience gap. And until people of color are treated equitably in policing, in housing and education, in the job market, don't be surprised when folks of color think racism is prevalent. If you want to have the perception issue be closer together, you have to get the experiences closer together.
LEMON: Tim, James, Andra, you guys were amazing. Thank you.
I wish, you know, we could have voted an entire hour to this.
This is the "pre-BLACK IN AMERICA 2" that we're doing here.
Thank you. Thank you, guys, so much for joining us. And it was a pleasure meeting all of you.
ANDREWS: Thank you.
GILLESPIE: Thank you.
LEMON: I'll talk to you soon. James, talk to you soon as well. Tim, I appreciate it.
WISE: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And "BLACK IN AMERICA 2," I just want to tell you, airs right after this on CNN. If you want to hear the entire discussion, you can go to our blog, cnn.com/newsroom, and just click on Don. I think my face is up there.
All right. Let's talk more about this with our radio talk show hosts, Warren Ballentine, host of "THE WARREN BALLENTINE SHOW," and Michael Medved, host of "THE MICHAEL MEDVED SHOW."
Boy, oh, boy, this was the talk of the nation last week. So I know they were talking about this on radio. And I could -- while I was watching you guys face -- both of your faces as we were having that -- letting that conversation play.
Is that uncomfortable to watch? And is that uncomfortable for people to hear, Michael? What do you think?
MICHAEL MEDVED, HOST, "THE MICHAEL MEDVED SHOW": I don't think so at all. I think it's -- I think it's very useful. I think it's very constructive. And having people speak so reasonably about everybody else's experience is very, very constructive. And I think that's the way that we ought to be handling this Henry Louis Gates- Officer Crowley -- Sergeant Crowley kind of conversation.
What troubles me about it is it's become such a huge deal. And when you think about it for a moment, it really -- neither guy is accused of touching the other guy. The mistake that Officer Crowley made -- and it was a terrible mistake, it was a terrible thing to do, he should not have arrested him. I mean, as a cop, no matter how excited Professor Gates may have gotten, I mean, Officer Sergeant Crowley should have taken it.
And for Professor Gates, for him to have apparently reacted the way he did, what I think a lot of people are ignoring is that Sergeant Crowley came there because a neighbor reported a break-in. And what is a police officer supposed to do? If the neighbors reporting a break-in, he has to come in there and look at it.
LEMON: Michael, we talked about that and our experts last night said that is where the sort of unknown racism comes from or -- was from the neighbor who possibly saw...
MEDVED: Absolutely.
LEMON: ... not that the neighbor's racist, but who saw two black men breaking into a home in which he thought she might not have had the same reaction had she seen two white men. That was from our experts last night.
Warren, interestingly enough, listening to you as we were there, and the other radio hosts, you, even though urban listeners may think that it was racial profiling, you have been staunchly saying that you don't believe it was at all and firmly saying that.
WARREN BALLENTINE, HOST, "THE WARREN BALLENTINE SHOW": I don't believe it was racial profiling. In fact, what I think happened was simply this. I think the cop -- lawyers, we term it as contempt of cop. He charged him because he got mad. He got mad because this black professor, this black man, was challenging his authority.
And once he challenged his authority, he went there for the initial call, which every good cop would do, and I don't think he was there racially profiling them, but once he challenged his authority, he got mad and the arrogance and the superiority factored in him, kicked in.
I think Tim was right on the money when he said, look, the first thought with the airplane pilots was can they fly. While I think this cop's first thought, once Professor Gates challenged his authority, was how dare you challenge my authority, and I'm going to lock you up for doing it. I think that's what happened.
LEMON: OK.
MEDVED: Here's the one thing, Warren. I am -- I once was profiled. And my -- and I've only been arrested twice. And my...
LEMON: Only twice?
MEDVED: Only twice, yes. And my second arrest, when I was 22 years old, I got arrested and profiled because I had long hair, and it was the 1970s. And if I had reacted in that situation like Henry Louis Gates did, I think that you're right about the cop. He should not have reacted that way. But frankly, I think if a white man had challenged his authority, Sergeant Crowley might...
BALLENTINE: He would not have arrested him.
MEDVED: I'm not so sure.
LEMON: I've heard a lot of people say that. I've heard a lot of people saying, hey, if he had been a white professor...
BALLENTINE: He wouldn't have arrested him.
MEDVED: Wait, if a white professor had said talk to your mama on the porch, he said you're a racist cop, your a racist cop, and had been shouting at him and humiliating him in front of people. Look, as a cop, it's his job. He's wearing the uniform. He has to take it. He has to walk away. He made a mistake. And I think frankly I wish that Sergeant Crowley would apologize. But you know what?
LEMON: And Michael...
BALLENTINE: Exactly.
MEDEVED: It's also appropriate for Professor Gates to apologize.
LEMON: But I do have to say, someone sent me -- someone, a scholar, a very respected scholar says, since when has talking you know what been a cause for arrest...
BALLENTINE: Right, right.
LEMON: ... a basis for arrest in your own home?
BALLENTINE: It was a trumped-up charge, and that's why it was dropped so quickly.
MEDVED: That's right.
LEMON: Listen, we have very short time. I'll just let you guys go on in this, because I think it's constructive to get it out.
But I want to talk some of the deadlines that the administration has to reach pretty soon. We're talking about health care. And then also, we've got Guantanamo Bay, which is a year, Michael. And that part is something that's on your radar.
MEDVED: Well, I think what's striking here is President Obama did something that no other president has done before. He said, I'm going to get this done. I'm going to get it done here. And he gave deadlines, like I'm going to close Guantanamo Bay a year from now. Now it looks like that deadline is no longer applicable.
The same thing with health care. He cannot get a vote at the end of august. Now they've moved it. I think probably he should pull back on the deadlines.
LEMON: OK. I'm going to give Warren the last word here. Warren, he's going to be out selling -- selling it next week. So it may be back to the drawing board for the president.
BALLENTINE: Well, I think it's going to be. Lake I said before, I don't think this is going to go through until maybe 2010. They need to be focusing on keeping those seats.
And lastly, I just want to say this. To everybody who's been talking about is the president and the citizen, just remember this. Hillary Clinton fought tooth and nail for that White House position to be the president. If they had any doubt that he wasn't a citizen, the Clintons would have exposed this during that time.
MEDVED: He is no doubt a citizen and he's president of the United States.
BALLENTINE: That's exactly right.
LEMON: OK and I will leave it at that. I won't say any other word, except thank you both.
BALLENTINE: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: All right. It's a story that snowballed into a political avalanche. This week we saw that. Next, what Sergeant Crowley's partners had to say about the incident with Professor Gates.
And Lance Armstrong rolls into Paris, but not as a leader of the pack. How does he feel about that? It might surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: I spent time in Cambridge, Massachusetts talking to people on both sides of the Professor Gates/Officer Crowley issue. I also spoke to the black officer who assisted Sergeant Crowley on that call to Professor Gates' home. His name is Leon Lashley. He says his colleague did nothing wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And you know people, obviously, they're going to pay closer attention to you because you're an African-American man -- I'm just being honest, and you're supporting this white officer, that has been put out there by some that he was, you know, racially profiling Dr. Gates. They're going to pay attention to you.
SGT. LEON LASHLEY, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS POLICE: I hope they would. They called him -- I heard one of the comments, a rogue cop. There's nothing rogue about him. He was doing his job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, you can see more of what Sergeant Crowley's colleagues had to say about him and the situation with Professor Gates at our blog, cnn.com/newsroom. All you have to do is when you to the Newsroom page, click on Don and the story will be up.
I want you to meet Sophia Danenberg, who's climbing up from the past literally to reach the top of the world. She became an African- American first. You're going to meet here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The subject of our "UP FROM A PAST: AFRICAN-AMERICAN FIRST" is Sophia Danenberg. She did not set out to be a first of anything. She simply got into her head one day to climb Mt. Everest. And a short time later, she was on top of the world. But in that singular moment, she became the first African-American woman to scale the world's tallest peak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SOPHIA DANENBERG, CLIMBED MOUNT EVEREST: I think that my perspective on Everest was different from a lot of people's, because it wasn't something that I had as a long-term goal. I hadn't dreamed about it since I was, you know, a little girl. I hadn't even dreamed about it at all. I didn't grow up in an outdoorsy family. I grew up in a family that liked warm weather. We didn't ski. We didn't hike. We didn't camp. We didn't fish. We didn't do anything in the outdoors.
So in a sense, this is kind of unusual. I think my father thinks I'm a crazy person. But at the same time, I was -- I was really raised to believe that I could do anything. It was a very, very quick decision. And it probably took me two weeks to decide that I was going to go. This was already, I think at the end of January, beginning of February. And I needed to leave in the middle of March. So, I didn't have that much time to prepare.
We started up and we started up with a bunch of people. And at some point, we got to the balcony and it's just three of us. Me and PaNuru and his brother. And we looked down the mountain. We don't see any head lamps that it seems like we're there by ourselves.
But what we could see is that we looked below us and it was just a floor of clouds. And we could actually see lightning going down below us. And above us, it was absolutely clear. We could see the whole mountain. We could see every single, you know, star. We could see all the peaks popping up through the clouds. And it was clear on above me that we had climbed out of the storm.
In my head is that it's an interesting factoid that I'm the first black woman to have summited. But I really wasn't setting out to do that. I was just -- it was a natural progression of my climbing. And I think I was just climbing and that's what I do.
There really aren't a lot of female climbers. And I think one of the first things people ask me was that, did everyone sort of, you know, notice you? You're the only African-American there? And I said, I'm not sure if they really got beyond the fact that I was female. I mean, there's probably like maybe, you know, a dozen female climbers at the base camp.
And you have to imagine that there's, you know, 500, 700 people at base camp, including the Sherpas, and they're all men. So it's very noticeable if you're female. And I think, you know, the fact that I'm African-American is maybe a secondary thought in anyone's mind.
When I look at my life, except that -- and this is a big except, but except that I'm female and except that I'm African-American, I'm a very typical mountaineer. I'm very, you know, sort of my age when I climbed Everest being in my early 30s, college educated, professional, sort of middle-class upbringing. Everything about me is very, very typical as an Everest climber.
And I think that what's more interesting is that I became very typical. My father came from a very underprivileged background. He, you know, he went through medical school and his undergraduate in six years after he got out of the army. He had two kids. And so he was raising his kids and he, you know, finished medical school and he became a doctor. And he was able to, you know, overcome a lot in his life in order to be able to raise my sister and I in this typical middle-class suburban family.
There's other mountains I want to -- I would like to climb. I can give you a better climber to climb them. You know, pushing the boundaries a little bit on some unclimbed mountains. But it's, it's -- I don't know what -- I don't know why when it goes through my head, I don't know what -- why it doesn't sink in as -- you know, I'll have my moments where I'll go, wow, you know, you actually did that. You know, you're actually the first that did that. That's amazing. That you could be the first at anything.
But at other moments it just -- I just think it's all sort of funny. And that I'm sort of an average climber that's being given these extraordinary opportunities to do these other things, because I -- because I was sort of a black woman instead of being a more typical climber. And for that I'm just really sort of in awe and happy about that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Sophia Danenberg, African-American first. "UP FROM A PAST: AFRICAN-AMERICAN FIRST." It's every Sunday night, 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.
One on one, an exclusive chat with Lance Armstrong conducted by our very own Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He says it's good that he didn't win the Tour de France today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: He's won the yellow jersey seven times, talking about Tour de France, but not this time. Lance Armstrong came in third. His teammate, Alberto Contador of Spain, came in second. And Andy Schleck of Luxembourg was second overall. But if Armstrong was dejected about finishing third, he didn't show it. In fact, he said it was healthy for his kids to see him not win for a change.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, spoke exclusively with Armstrong immediately afterward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Coming in first, is that something you thought about? I mean, did you care -- you're right it's not about the bike. But do you care if you come in first or not?
LANCE ARMSTRONG, FINISHED 3RD IN TOUR DE FRANCE: Well, I wanted to come in first. But sometimes in sports, there's somebody that's better. And I was that guy for seven years. And I never understood what it felt like to get second or third. I'm 38 now, and you race guys that are 24, 25 or 26 and they're fast, they're strong. They have acceleration. They have all of the things that you had at that age. And you get third. That's what the great thing about the Tour is that the best man always wins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You can see are more of Dr. Sanjay Gupta's exclusive interview with Armstrong on "AMERICAN MORNING" tomorrow morning, 6 a.m.
Your feedback. Boy, it's crazy too. Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Let's read some of your comments right now coming in. These are on Twitter.
One person says -- I can't read that name. Sometimes your names are so goofy here. "Where I live, talking to police officer the way it appears Dr. Gates did will get you arrested every time, no matter your race."
And then Kita76 says, "What I got from her speech," talking about Sarah Palin, "what that she was doing it for her family. If that's her reason, then I can truly respect that."
Thank you, guys, so much for your comments. Thank you for watching. I'll see you back here next weekend. I'm Don Lemon. Have a great week.
