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Conservatives Parents Say President Obama's Trying to Brainwash Kids; Battle Over Health Care Reform; Liquids Restricted on Planes; Corndogs and the Economy; Anger Over Health Care Reform; Raw Politics and Rhetoric; Longer Commute, Better Economy; Whistleblower Goes Home

Aired September 07, 2009 - 11:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Work hard, earn good grades, stay in school. The gist of President Obama's message to schoolchildren. We expect to get the entire text of tomorrow's speech anytime now. While we're waiting for the White House to post it on its Web site, CNN's Tom Foreman examines the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it a fast lesson in public pushback. The president's plan to speak to school kids on Tuesday has some conservative parents saying he's trying to brainwash their kids into buying his politics.

SHANNEEN BARRON, PARENT: Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that, it just really upsets me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politics is up to the family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So will I send my child, I don't know. Right now I would say no, I'll keep them home.

FOREMAN: Across the country many school districts are encouraging students to watch. In New Orleans, it will be required, but that's an exception.

In virtually every state, at least some states schools have decided to either not show the speech, review it first or make viewing optional. Some cite schedule conflicts and technical difficulties, but this was not what the White House expected. The president's speech will focus on keeping kids in school, a subject he's promoted before.

BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfortunately, nearly 30 percent of U.S. high school students aren't making it to graduation.

FOREMAN: But the core complaint seems to be with supplementary teaching materials from the Department of Education. Originally, they called for students to write "... what they can do to help the president."

(on camera): The White House has since changed that, suggesting the children now write about their own educational goals. Furthermore, the text of the president's speech will now be put online Monday, so any teacher, parent or politician can preview what's going to be said.

(voice-over): Plenty seemed fine with that, including the national president of the PTA.

CHARLES SAYLORS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL PTA: We have an opportunity here in the United States for parents, teachers and students to take part in a tremendous civics lesson.

FOREMAN: Still, just like the crowds at all of those town hall meetings, others are far from satisfied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My rights as a parent are being circumvented so that this president can speak to my children.

FOREMAN: And they clearly resent the notion that they are unfairly questioning the president's motives.

GEORGE H. W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Education matters, and what you do today and what you don't do can change your future.

FOREMAN: After all, they point out, when the first President Bush spoke to school kids on TV in 1991, top Democrats called that just political advertising on the taxpayer's dime.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: So, our Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry is standing by waiting for the administration to post the text of the president's speech. Ed joins us live.

And Ed, honestly here, we are planning live team coverage and analysis of the president's address the moment it hits the White House Web site. Now, I'm having a little fun with this, but I've got to tell you, with all this controversy, we really do now have to analyze this text, don't we?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, sure. We need to figure out, and exactly what is the president going to say? There's been so much controversy in the pre-game, let's what he's actually going to say. And I think that may be perhaps one lesson, not just for students, but some grownups out there in the political debate.

You know, there's sort of this mentality now of, shoot first, ask questions later, before anyone has really seen what the president is actually going to say. And when you look at those images that Tom Foreman used from the first President Bush in 1991, I mean, all the guidance we've gotten so far from current White House officials is that the president's speech tomorrow is expected to be pretty similar to what the first President Bush said in 1991 -- you know, study hard. The former president also talked about not using drugs. That was obviously an important message throughout the '80s and early '90s, as it still is today. And so, my understanding, based on what I'm hearing from White House aides here, is that once we do get this and go through it with a fine-tooth comb, and analyze it, the sense I'm getting is that we're going to perhaps think this was much ado about nothing.

HARRIS: OK, Ed. Give us a heads up when the text hits the Web site.

All right. Thanks, Ed.

HENRY: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: You know, you don't have to be in school to see President Obama's speech to the young people. Just tune in to CNN. We will carry it live at noon Eastern tomorrow.

The backlash over the back-to-school message, the often angry reaction at health care town halls, the fear factor, seems to be driving a lot of the political debate. Or is there something more at play here? A civil discussion of the raw politics ahead this hour.

The conversation about President Obama's school address is heating up our blog. What do you think?

Just go to CNN.com/Tony and leave us a comment, if you would. We will share some of them on the air a little later in the hour.

Lawmakers return to Washington tomorrow after some robust and contentious town hall meetings on health care reform.

Our Brianna Keilar is in Washington.

Brianna, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has a proposal. He is circulating that proposal. I've got to ask you, is the much discussed public option part of that proposal?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not, as expected, Tony. This, instead, includes a nonprofit health care cooperative. This is a proposal put out by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus. And the big tax that would pay for part of this overhaul is a tax on those Cadillac health insurance plans that you and I have talked so much about, those high-end insurance plans that some say encourage consumers to overuse health care. This is a tax that insurance companies, not individuals, would pay, although critics say it will be passed on to individuals.

Now, the price tag, less than $900 billion. Significant, because that's about $100 billion less than the other bills before Congress. And we should say, Tony, this is a proposal that's based on the negotiations of this key bipartisan group, the so-called Gang of 6. But Senator Baucus is the one who put this together.

He wants to see if this group, that's really been seen as the best hope for a bipartisan compromise, can actually reach one. And no coincidence, he put this down ahead of the president's address to Congress on Wednesday. Obviously, Baucus wants to ensure that his committee has an opportunity to put its stamp on the health care debate before the president starts laying out some of his boundaries on Wednesday night -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Brianna, you know, there's another possible compromise path here, the public option with a trigger. What is it? And is there bipartisan support for it?

KEILAR: So, it would work like this -- the government-run insurance plan would kick in only if private health insurance companies don't provide affordable coverage to enough Americans within a certain period of time. So, if they missed a goal that Congress sets with them, it would trigger the so-called public option, it wouldn't be in effect from the get-go.

Now, a key Republican in this Gang of 6, Maine's Olympia Snowe, has been talking about this idea for some time. She's been in discussions with the White House about this trigger. And Senator Ben Nelson, a key conservative Democrat in the Senate, said this is something the president should consider.

Also consider this, Tony -- Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a left-of-center Democrat, indicates that she's open to this idea. So, we're kind of seeing perhaps some common ground, some consensus here in the Senate. Keep in mind, of course, liberal Democrats, particularly in the House of Representatives, are opposed to this idea. They say that it basically takes the teeth out of a public option and it's just a public option in name that may never go into effect.

HARRIS: I cannot wait for tomorrow and the rest of this week. I can't wait to hear and see what happens, what unfolds. And you're going to be there for us, Brianna, right?

KEILAR: Yes. All week long.

HARRIS: We're counting on you.

KEILAR: All week long -- Tony.

HARRIS: We're counting -- all right. Brianna Keilar in Washington for us.

You can watch President Obama's address on health care reform before a joint session of Congress right here on CNN -- also get analysis from the best political team on television -- 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday night, on CNN.

A jury in London today convicted three men of the plot to blow up eight planes on flights across the Atlantic. Prosecutors say the group planned to carry liquid explosives aboard the flights by disguising the bomb material in soft drink bottles. The jury did not convict five other defendants. The trio found guilty today could be sentenced as early as Thursday.

This terror plot led to those notorious restrictions on liquids that you could carry aboard your flight, everything from sun block to shampoo. Remember the chaos?

Richard Quest does. We all do.

He is joining us live from London.

And Richard, this case really changed the way we all fly.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, in many ways. 9/11 started the process of really reinforcing the potential of aircraft being dangerous, or a potential target for hijackers and terrorists. So, the August (ph) attacks, reinforced that idea, Tony.

What it basically did was add in the unthinkable. To some extent, the experts had always thought that liquids, gels could be used, but they never had any real concrete evidence of somebody trying to do that. What this lot did, of course, was reinforce the idea. Thus, we end up with these extraordinary, very harsh rules about liquids, gels, pastes, all those sort of things.

And Tony, those are still in force, of course, in airports around the world today.

HARRIS: Hey, Richard, I remember the initial run of restrictions. We backed off from those initial day, haven't we?

QUEST: You have to a certain extent. In those first days after the rules came in, there was just basically a paralysis around the world, particularly in airports in the U.K., which seemed similarly incapable of dealing with these new rules

Thereafter, we've now transformed it. So, you have a sandwich bag that could take up to, in metric terms, 100 milliliters, but no more than a liter in total. And the totality of that means -- look, for instance, a passenger coming out of the United States with a bottle of duty-free brought on board would have difficulties when coming through a European airport because, of course, they would have more than a liter upon them. And that's why it's still very confusing if you're traveling overseas.

Don't underestimate what took place when those alleged -- or now convicted -- bombers actually did their deeds.

HARRIS: Yes. That's a good reminder.

All right. Richard Quest for us in London.

Good to see you, Richard. Thank you.

After innocent civilians are killed in a NATO airstrike, a U.S. commander has sent the message to the Afghan people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: All right. Let's get to our top stories now. An off-the-field battle for San Diego Chargers super linebacker Shawne Merriman. He was arrested for allegedly choking and restraining a reality show star.

Do you know Tila Tequila? Merriman's attorney says the woman was drunk and the NFL star was trying to help her get a ride home.

Several prisoners are hospitalized after a van transporting them crashed around Hattiesburg, Mississippi, yesterday. Nine inmates and three guards were aboard the van when it veered off the interstate, hit an embankment, and flipped over, killing the driver. A guard and two prisoners are in critical condition.

There's a crack in the bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland. There -- oh, we've got a little picture, OK, from Oakland.

The bridge was closed Thursday for retrofitting. It is supposed to reopen early tomorrow.

OK, not live pictures. But it looks more like that could be pushed back to Wednesday. Crews are scrambling to repair what's called a significant crack.

We will get another update of our top stories in about 20 minutes.

Firefighters are making progress battling that massive California wildfire north of Los Angeles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. As we just mentioned a short time ago, the text for the president's speech to students on the first day back to school for so many kids around the country is up on the White House Web site. I guess I should explain how you do this.

What you do is you go to WhiteHouse.gov, and then you click on the number "1," and there you can read the remarks.

Our Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry has done just that. He has the text of the president's remarks tomorrow, and he joins us.

You k now, I'm a little concerned. I've clicked on it a couple of times now. I'm a little concerned that the site might actually crash a bit. I'm sure they will boot it back up.

But you have the text. What can you share with us, Ed?

HENRY: Well, Tony, I can report that the president is going to urge students to study hard and stay in school.

HARRIS: No?

HENRY: Yes. We have that. I guess it's no longer exclusive because it's there on WhiteHouse.gov. But I think the bottom line here is that, for all of the chatter about what was going to be here, whether it would be indoctrination, I think throughout this speech the president is talking mostly about a theme he's hit on before with education reform, and that is personal responsibility.

In fact, he talks about his own personal story a little bit at the top, you'll see, talking about how he remembers that probably a lot of students now, first day of school, don't like getting up real early. He rembers getting up real early himself, especially when he was living in Indonesia with his mom.

He notes that his mother was a single mom, that his dad had left the family. But here's sort of one of the -- very high up, one of the things he says that really kind of sums up the rest of it, because he repeats this theme as, "At the end of the day, we could have the most dedicated teachers and most supportive parents and the best schools in the world, and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, pay attention to those teachers, listen to your parents, grandparents, and other adults, and put in the hard work it takes to succeed." The president later adds, "You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it."

And he talks about innovation, he talks about how young people learning about math and science may be the people in the future who discover a vaccine for AIDS. He talks about innovation and technology, the founding of Google, Twitter, that it all stems back from education.

So, again, I think if you go back historically, this is similar to what we saw from Republican presidents like the first President Bush, and it's very much a theme of, don't cut class, don't drop out of school, study hard, listen to your parents. But ultimately, he again talks about his own personal story and how, with his father leaving at an early age, he could have easily sort of used that to walk away from school, blame others, et cetera. And he says look, later in the speech, a lot of you may have difficult circumstances that makes it hard to come to school every day, hard to focus on your schoolwork, but ultimately it's your personal responsibility regardless of your background. You've got to step up now and study and learn.

So, that's the message we're going to hear from the president. He'll be at a school in northern Virginia tomorrow. And I think after all this controversy, people are probably going to see, it's not that controversial.

HARRIS: I tread lightly here, because I know there are real concerns out there. And we'll get to that in just a moment. But no mention of health care? No mention of...

HENRY: I have not seen any mention of health care. I'm just about down to the bottom here.

HARRIS: Tax policy? Anything on tax policy?

HENRY: Not seeing anything on tax policy.

HARRIS: Bailouts? Anything on bailouts?

HENRY: I'm not seeing anything on TARP. Maybe the kids wouldn't get that acronym. It's sort of an inside Washington bureaucratic thing. But I'm not seeing anything like, "Go lobby your congressman for health care reform."

HARRIS: But as I sort of try to paraphrase what the concern has been among some parents, it's with the lesson plans, correct, that went out ahead of the speech? And you can explain that better than I can.

HENRY: Sure. The middle of last week, there were some lesson plans that were floating around that were distributed by the Obama Department of Education that was encouraging teachers across the country that, look, if your class does see this speech by the president, maybe you can have an exercise where you have the students write an essay or something like that about how they could help the president, maybe write an essay about what they admire about the president.

It's still arguable whether that's even "political," saying I admire the president for X, Y, and Z. People -- young people in school admire presidents of either party, and oftentimes it has nothing to do with politics. It's because of the position of power that they hold. Nevertheless, some people read into that, that maybe there was going to be, in the words of the critics, some sort of indoctrination, some way for the president in this speech to sort of influence kids in some nefarious way.

I think from the outset, the White House has, number one, acknowledged that maybe the lesson plans were inartfully worded, is the way they put it. But secondly, if there's any indoctrination, it's just trying to send a message to kids about staying in school, studying hard, et cetera.

Again, this is something that previous presidents in both parties have done. And it's pretty clear that this president is going to move forward despite the controversy to send that signal, that message of personal responsibility to kids.

HARRIS: Well, I will tell you this -- I grew up in a city, as you know, in Baltimore, where three-quarters of the kids who enter high school don't graduate. They can't hear this stay in school, persevere message enough.

One other quick one here. Does the president in the text acknowledge the controversy at all?

HENRY: You know, I have not seen that, to be quite honest with you.

HARRIS: OK.

HENRY: I'll take a closer look. It's about four pages, so I was kind of rushing out to give you the headlines here. But I'm not seeing anything. This president's way, he tends to kind of, when there's a controversy like that, just try to speak directly to his audience and not necessarily speak to the controversy, because then it just gives more life, more oxygen to what he sees as kind of a silly controversy.

HARRIS: All right. Good stuff. Appreciate it, Ed. Thank you so much.

HENRY: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: We're back in a moment. More CNN NEWSROOM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our Ali Velshi is talking corn dogs and the economy. CNN's chief business correspondent made a stop at the Missouri State Fair during his travels in the CNN Express. Here's what he is hearing from the nation's heartland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That sounds perfect. When do you guys open up? We're looking for corn dogs.

It's a little early yet, day one of the Missouri State Fair. And I read somewhere that it's $1 corn dog days. You get a lot of things for $1 here, including admission.

VELSHI (on camera): Wow, unbelievable.

Have you seen any change because of the economy in things like attendance or participation? Does it look different than it did maybe last year before we had gone through the financial crisis?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, I think what's happened is, people are maybe staying a little closer to home and they're looking for a value package for end of the summer vacation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We come every year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fun -- time to spend with family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My daughter's first visit to the state fair. We're having a great time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so much to do and so many things to buy, you know, if we had the money for it.

VELSHI: I was looking through the program, actually saw a lot that had to do with the economy. You have sort of tips for people on coupon clipping or saving money. Is that something that typically happens at the fair?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, well, it is and we just took advantage of something that's kind of new out there. A new term called rural lifestyles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We come because my family has showed cattle here for many years and my dad sells John Deere tractors and so it's a business opportunity for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We traditionally come and show our hogs for the last 22 years in the swine barn and my kids and my grandkids are now showing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you want to learn how to do gardening or container garden, we're going to show you how. You want to learn how to can what you grow, we're going to show you how. If you want to learn how to coupon and cut your grocery cost, we're going to show you how.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right, Ali, joining us now on the phone. He's on the road in Wisconsin.

And, Ali, look, in your travels, what are people saying to you about how they are adjusting their lives in this recession?

VELSHI (via telephone): Tony, I'm kind of fascinated by what that fair director was telling me in Missouri because I've really heard it in parts (ph) in different places. Some people call it "rural living," which is what he called it. Some people call it "the new frugality." Some people call it a "caveman mentality." But the idea that you can't control housing prices, you can't control all that much about you job, you can't control the stock market, so do the things you can control.

That means growing a garden. I heard somewhere that $4 worth of tomato seed will give you the equivalent of buying $1,000 worth of tomatoes. I don't think that's not literally what all Americans are going to be doing, but it's that sense of being a little more frugal, controlling your spending, maybe saving money where you can, adjusting to the fact that this recession is a reality.

Even if it's ending right now, Tony, the reality is that we're not all getting our wages back. Some people are not getting their jobs back. The home prices are not back. And even if the stock market's gaining, it's certainly nowhere where it was at the top in October of 2007. So control what you can and don't worry about what you can't.

HARRIS: Very good. I -- you know, I can't keep track of your travels. I hope we've got a GPS on you. Where's your next stop?

VELSHI: We're (INAUDIBLE) a lot, actually. We're on our way to Naperville, Illinois, one of the western suburbs of Illinois. We're going to talk to some people there. That's a bit of a bedroom community for Chicago. So there will be some people who work in an urban setting but it's far out enough that there are some people who work in manufacturing and lost some jobs there. So we're going to get there this evening and we're going to talk to people there about how they're feeling about the economy and health care.

HARRIS: Be safe. Travel well, my friend. Ali Velshi on the road with the CNN Express.

You know, big government opponents on a cross-country roll these days. The Tea Party Express stops in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan today. CNN all platform journalist Jim Spellman is along for the ride the rhetoric.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ready for a Tea Party?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the things that the Obama administration, the Democratic Congress is doing is really threatening the future of this country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he's trouncing the Constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Question everything our government is doing.

JIM SPELLMAN, ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: There is something happening. We don't know quite what it is, but it's happening and people who ordinary wouldn't turn out into the streets to protest are turning out to the streets to protest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're the sleeping giant that has been awakened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Afro-liberalism (ph) coming to you on a silver platter, Barack Hussein Obama. He ain't my president, people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How dare they give tens and trillions of dollars to banks and the people who caused the trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels very grassroots to me. And I love that quality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some are feeling that they're losing control of the government. That the government's taking over control. That we're headed towards socialism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I don't want this to be a communist, socialist nation. That's what our troops died for, is so we would not be enslaved by the Nazis or the communists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the right for the government not to control my health care and my life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I have the right -- and I have the right to disagree with you, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm like the person they're going to say, take a pill and go die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, Mr. Reid, Ms. Pelosi, support our troops in the United States Military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I sing it all night long, "you ain't nothing but a hound dog, Obama, telling us all these lies."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: OK. So some of the nation's political debate has turned pretty raw.

Is beer driving the over the top rhetoric or is it something more? To quote the singer Marvin Gay, what's going on here? Joining us to tackle that question, Joe Hicks, a commentator for Pajamas Television and vice president of Community Advocates Incorporated.

Joe, it's good to see you. We haven't talked in a long time. He's joining us from Los Angeles.

JOE HICKS, VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNITY ADVOCATES, INC.: How you doing? Good to see you.

HARRIS: And in Nashville, Tim Wise, activist and noted writer on issues of race in America. He is author of "Between Barack and a Hard Place."

Tim, thanks for your time.

TIM WISE, AUTHOR, "BETWEEN BARACK AND A HARD PLACE": You bet.

HARRIS: And, Tim, let me start with you. I have wanted -- my instinct here, even as I know that at the end of this segment I'll get all kinds of e-mails from everyone.

WISE: Right.

HARRIS: I have wanted to play down the scenes from some of these town hall, even as I have been stunned, frankly, by what I've heard and what I've seen.

WISE: Right.

HARRIS: Is this -- is this serious? Is this what the next three and a half years will look like, sound like in this country?

WISE: Well, I mean, I certainly hope not. I think it's important to differentiate. Obviously not all of the opposition to the president or the opposition to him speaking to the school kids, for example, is about racism, the area that I focus on. But it is part of a larger pattern that we're seeing.

From the birthers (ph), who refuse to believe that this man, with an African daddy, could be an American. To some of the folks at the Tea Party protests who bring signs comparing Obama to a monkey or saying that his plan is "white slavery," or Glenn Beck saying a month ago that the health care bill is really about reparations for black people or Rush Limbaugh in late April saying the only way you can get a job with this administration is if you hate white people. Now they're saying he's going to indoctrinate the kids, brain wash them and turn them into the Hitler youth. I mean it's not all about racism. Some of it is because a few people have stayed on the train to crazy town for three or four stops to many. But the fact is, there is a racial rhetoric that underlies an awful lot of this. And I think it's dangerous for us to not explore that aspect.

HARRIS: Joe, give me your take on this. You've heard the comments from the Tea Party that our Jim Spellman captured. And you've watched the town halls. What do you make of it?

HICKS: Well, you know, it would be interesting, I wonder if Tim was (INAUDIBLE) in his opposition to the kind of things coming out of the code (ph) pink elements (ph) and the ultra left in this country who were calling Bush on almost a daily basis Hitler. Now same derangement syndrom, by the way, is now applied to some on the right.

There's some crazy stuff going on but, you know, this isn't new. This has been going on a long time. It took place for eight years under George Bush. We're seeing some of the same -- with the flip of that same coin now in some of the shots that you played earlier. Not good stuff, but you can find a craziness at the extremes of political activity in this country and certainly it's exemplified in some of the shots you saw. But it's been going on for eight years. This is not new.

WISE: We didn't say things like George W. Bush is going to set up detention camps for his political opponents. We didn't say that Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, when they spoke to school children, were trying to brainwash them. And many of us, myself included, most definitely did condemn our own allies and colleagues on the left when they compare Bush to Hitler because it's not an appropriate comparison. I would love to see . . .

HICKS: But you have room for your -- but you have room . . .

WISE: I would love to see even . . .

HARRIS: Tim, let him respond. Tim, Tim, Tim, let Joe respond.

HICKS: But you had Rosie O'Donnell, you had a bunch of the Hollywood crazies talking about they were going to move out to this country to Canada when George Bush got elected.

WISE: That's not the left (ph).

HICKS: You had people saying the most insane things. You had people say, yes, now you're seeing the Laruchites (ph) with pictures of Obama as Hitler. Crazy stuff. You had pictures of George Bush being depicted at Hitler for eight years. I think it's wrong. All I'm saying is, a little even handedness is here in order.

WISE: And it was wrong and condemned it. I was at those rallies and I condemned it, as did most of the people that I saw.

HICKS: I'm good to hear it. Good to hear. HARRIS: Well, OK. All right. All right. So what am I to do with this? I'm seeing this stuff and, you know, it is news. You get these people -- what am I to do with it? Am I to ignore it? Am I try to -- am I to try to put it in some kind of context? Joe, what am I to do when I see this stuff that is, you know, our president, whether it's George Bush or whether it's Barack Obama, in signs (ph) say Hitler? What are we supposed to do with this stuff?

HICKS: You report on it, just as you guys have been doing and as the major media has been doing, report on it. Show it. But all I guess I'm arguing here for is a little even handedness here in terms of the way some of this gets depicted. Now we hear that from Van Jones, to people opposing Obama tomorrow in a speech, to the Tea Party in the town hall, that there's some racism element. This is really a bit over the edge here.

HARRIS: Well, it's not.

HICKS: It's not. It's got nothing to do with racism. It's got to do with -- you know, the case of the town hall stuff, you've got a lot -- yes, you've got cracy (ph). You've got limb to the roof organizing people to come to these town hall meetings to call Obama Hitler. That's outrageous. But, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty on the part of the American middle class out here.

WISE: Hold on. You have Rush Limbaugh going on the air . . .

HICKS: And Obama is having a hard time identifying what his health care plan really (ph) is.

HARRIS: All right. Let Tim respond.

WISE: You have Rush Limbaugh going on the air, drawing connects between Obama and Hitler, making comparisons with his health care logo and calling it a Nazi symbol. It's not Lyndon Laruge (ph), it's the key spokespersons in the party to which you are connected, Joe.

HICKS: What's that got to do with racism?

WISE: Let me finish. Let me finish. Let me finish. And then finally, if people like Glenn Beck suggesting that this president wants to lock up his political advocacies, that he is essentially creating a Hitler youth with some civilian national defense core, or mandatory core, which doesn't even exist, I want you to condemn that and not one conservative has.

HARRIS: All right, Tim, stop just a second. Tim, stop for just -- good point. But, Tim, let me stop you for a second and ask one more question of your, Joe. Is cultural or racial anxiety, some bending of both, fueling any of this?

HICKS: No, I don't -- I really don't think so. And understand what I'm saying here. Nobody's right mind is saying there's no such thing as racism in America, that we've eliminated all (INAUDIBLE) racism in this country. That simply doesn't make sense. My argument though is, we're living in a country today that just elected it first black president with an attorney general who is black, with a Latina on the Supreme Court . . .

WISE: All of them moral (ph) acts.

HICKS: We have all indicators in pollings show that this country is probably the most beghin (ph) it has ever been in its racial attitudes and we've got Tim Wise and others saying that racism behind the kind of -- the kind of political globalization we're seeing taking place in the country. Let's not use Glenn Beck as kind of some barometer for where this country is in terms of its racial attitude.

WISE: These folks are showing up at . . .

HARRIS: And, Joe, let's give -- let's give . . .

HICKS: That's not necessary to do.

WISE: These folks are showing up at the town hall meetings saying that Glenn Beck sent them. That's what happened in Tampa Bay, they were there to protect his politics. He has the number four ranked, I think, radio program in this country.

HARRIS: I don't want to -- hey, hey, Tim, I don't want to talk about Glenn Beck. I really don't. I understand -- I understand . . .

WISE: That's how we gauge -- but that's how we gauge what the rhetoric says. I mean, look, if you're going to say, as he and others have said . . .

HICKS: Not so.

WISE: Just let me finish. If you're going to say that Van Jones, for example, was involved in the L.A. riots when he was not, I want to know, what is the purpose of saying that.

HICKS: I didn't say that.

WISE: What?

HICKS: You never heard me say that.

WISE: No, but Glenn Beck did and many of the radio talk show hosts say -- been putting that out there.

HICKS: You're not talking to Glenn Beck. Hello, you're talking to.

HARRIS: All right. And, Tim . . .

WISE: Because they won't come on.

HARRIS: Tim, Tim, what I want to do in the future here is I just want to find out -- I get what's fueling a lot of this and I get what's happening in radio in many corridors (ph) . . .

WISE: Well, tell, Joe, because he doesn't get it.

HARRIS: Well, Joe does get it. But what I want to understand is what we do with this.

HICKS: That's not fair, Tim. Come on. You're better than that.

HARRIS: How much of this -- how much of this is real and what we do with it and does information ultimately win the day? Let's focus on that.

Joe, appreciate it. Tim, as always, good to talk to you. Gentlemen, thank you.

All right. Let's get to some top stories now.

The head football coach at a high school in Kentucky is in hot water after taking about 20 players to church to get baptized. According to the "Louisville Courier Journal," at least one parent says she's angry her 16-year-old son was baptized without her knowledge or consent. The school's superintendent said she thought the trip was proper because attendance was not required.

A jury in Britain today found three men guilty of plotting to blow up transatlantic flights. Their plan to use liquid explosives hidden in soft drink bottles, according to prosecutors. The men could be sentenced as early as Thursday. Five other men were found not guilty in the bomb plot.

A passenger on a ferry that capsized is the Philippines has been rescued after being in the water for more than 24 hours. Officials say almost 1,000 people have been rescued from yesterday's ferry incident. Nine people confirmed dead.

It is a holiday, but it is back to work tomorrow and you may find it's going to take you a little bit longer to get there. The good and bad news about traffic.

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HARRIS: Americans heading back to work tomorrow may find it's taking them a little bit longer to get where they're going. But the long commute may be a sign of economic recovery. Stephanie Elam has "The Breakdown" from New York.

Good to see you, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too, Stephanie.

Yes, get excited about sticking around in traffic.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

ELAM: I'm sorry, I know it doesn't really work that way. But after a year and a half of decreased congestion, it's getting a little more crowded on America's roads. That's according to Inrix (ph), a company that monitors traffic patterns nationwide using over a million GPS enabled cars and trucks.

Now the average American will spend about 30 hours stuck in traffic this year. That's a slight increase from 2008, but it's still well off the 41 hour average American spent in traffic in 2001 back before the recession began. Now Inrix says the increase is due to lower fuel prices and increased economic activities.

In some cities, that means more people going to work. Washington, D.C., for example, saw one of the biggest increases in travel times, a result of more government workers. But it's not just jobs. Inrix says its numbers take into account several factors, including more shipping and freight activity as well.

Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Stephanie, what about the federal stimulus packages? A lot of that money went to fund road project. So is that also contributing to the increase in traffic? I bet it is.

ELAM: Yes, you can bet your bottom dollar it definitely is. The Department of Transportation received $27.5 billion dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. So far, that's funded over 6,000 road projects nationwide, which Inrix says has lead to a 40 percent increase in delays during off peak construction hours from the first half of 2008 through the first half of this year. This map shows where some of the biggest relative delays are.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, their I-40 project is a dozy. In St. Louis, multiple interstate projects are in the works. I've witnessed those. They are definitely there. The Massachusetts accelerated bridge program has Boston, Worcester, and Springfield all in the top 10 to terms -- in terms of increased overnight delays.

Now, the number one on that list, Portland, Maine. There are plans to redesign I-295 and that's one of the area's main arteries. Of course, you can follow the recovery from every angle at cnnmoney.com, including a related story about some of the more unusual stimulus projects.

And, Tony, I have to thank all of my New England friends here at work who've taught me how to say Worcester.

HARRIS: Say -- what was that again?

ELAM: Worcester. It's spelled very differently. It looks like a very different city name, but it's said like that.

HARRIS: Worcester. OK.

ELAM: Yes.

HARRIS: Two seasons in America, Stephanie, you know this, there is winter and then there is road construction season. Thank you very much. See you tomorrow.

ELAM: Bye.

HARRIS: He is speaking out. We talk with the whistle blower who exposed shocking being behavior at the U.S. embassy in Kabul. That's a CNN exclusive.

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HARRIS: You know, he talked about naked orgies, hazing parties and other humiliating activities. The man who blew the whistle on lewd conduct at the U.S. embassy in Kabul is back home and he sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's Paula Newton.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fresh off a plane from Afghanistan, Terry Pearson says he's back home in Britain much sooner than he wanted to be after blowing the whistle on behavior he says was shocking and undignified.

TERRY PEARSON, FORMER CONTRACT WORKER IN AFGHANISTAN: It was just downright stupid some of the things they were doing and insensitive.

NEWTON: Pearson was a contractor working as an operations supervisor at Camp Sullivan in Afghanistan, housing quarters for U.S. embassy guards on contract. The camp is now under a U.S. State Department investigation for inappropriate conduct stemming from charges and explicit photographs involving U.S. embassy guards. Images of nudity, alcohol abuse and what appears to be sexual hazing. Pearson says he saw it for himself a couple of months ago, was disgusted and said no one should have tolerated it.

PEARSON: You would not try to enforce a sexual deviant way of thinking on someone. You may have a laugh and a joke and do something, drop your trousers just for a laugh, but when you start encouraging people drink alcohol running off someone's body parts, to -- a bit over the top.

NEWTON: Pearson says he wrote e-mails to his employer, R.A. International, and complained to supervisors of Armor Group, the contractor that shared the camp and employed the guard featured in the pictures.

PEARSON: And his answer to it was, they're just letting off steam. And I think that's what the -- the way they looked at some of the incidents that happened.

NEWTON: But the incidents were investigated by the watch dog group Project on Government Oversight and reported to the State Department. Several guards have now been fired or resigned. Management is being replaced. But as a whistle blower, Pearson says he wasn't after mass firing, just a change in behavior. He says back at Camp Sullivan, he was made to feel he had done something wrong and so he resigned a few days ago only to ask for his job back just hours later. It was too late. He was on a plane home within hours. His employer, R.A. International, says Pearson resigned of his own free will and, "although we are now aware of the alleged events at Camp Sullivan, the employee's resignation was not associated with this matter."

NEWTON (on camera): How much does it bother you right now? You're the whistleblower. You're the person who said, this is not right. And now you're out of a job.

PEARSON: If I could turn my report and have the chance to do something different, I don't think I would. I think I'd still end up doing exactly the same thing because I think people's dignity, dignity at work and respect at work is more important as having a job youself.

NEWTON (voice-over): Pearson says he will continue to help with the State Department investigation, but he's still stunned that doing the right thing would have such dire consequences on his own life.

Paula Newton, CNN, Liverpool, England.

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HARRIS: We are pushing forward with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips right after this.

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