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Edwards Book Allegations; Law and Order in Haiti; Drama at the Capitol; Toyota's P.R. Debacle; Kibera Film School; 'Pants on the Ground', Enough Already
Aired January 30, 2010 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: This hour, a presidential wannabe, a mistress, a love child and the man behind a new tell-all book uncovering the John Edwards story.
Brace yourselves. If the weather isn't bad where you are, give it some time, it soon could be.
And how the president ended up an accidental sportscaster today, calling the basketball game play-by-play and then answering some very tough questions, again.
Good evening, everyone.
We start tonight with new revelations about a man who could have been your president and Washington insiders say could have put the Democratic Party in jeopardy, in political jeopardy. Now, this week, former Senator John Edwards, a former Democratic presidential contender, admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock with his videographer Rielle Hunter, after lying to everyone about it.
And the lurid details all released today in the book called "The Politician," authored by Edwards' longtime confidant, Andrew Young. Young spoke to ABC News last night about how a plan was devised for Young to claim he was the baby's father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW YOUNG, FORMER AIDE TO JOHN EDWARDS: There wasn't a lot of time to sit back and contemplate, hey, is this logical? Was it logical? No. Was it stupid? Yes. Did we do the right thing morally? No. Absolutely not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And a really stunning turn of events here. Andrew Young also writes that he has a videotape that shows John Edwards having sex with a woman who appears to be Rielle Hunter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: There was one tape that was marked special and we're just aghast. It's a sex tape of Rielle and John Edwards, made just a couple of months before the Iowa caucuses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you absolutely sure that this is -- this is John Edwards and Rielle Hunter?
YOUNG: It's definitely him. You never see her face. It's a visibly pregnant woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So earlier I spoke to CNN's Mark Preston about the explosive allegations in this book and I asked Mark what the fallout would be like if John Edwards had been elected or appointed to national office by now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: It would be huge fallout. And, you know, something Andrew Young acknowledges that, in fact, he is motivated in part by money. He writes that in the book. He said that John Edwards was going to take care of him financially, that John Edwards' rich friends were going to take care of him financially for taking the fall for saying that he was the father of Rielle Hunter's daughter, as well as everything else he had done as John Edwards was pursuing the presidential campaign. However, he says that John Edwards pulled back and really left him hanging.
So, in part, he said he's writing the book for financial gain, but also he said he's trying to write the book to try to spell it out to his children, explain exactly what happened.
LEMON: But here's the interesting thing too, also in the ABC interview and in the book you hear about Elizabeth Edwards who had cancer at the time during this alleged affair, which I guess John Edwards has admitted to now, that she, in some way, knew about this and may have known about it more than the American public would have thought or more than they led on to at the time.
PRESTON: And that's a sticking point, because Elizabeth Edwards, you know, contends that she did not know all about what was going on with John Edwards and Rielle Hunter during the time he was seeing her in this extramarital affair. However, in this book, Andrew Young says that, in fact, she did know and that he was the point person that set up these liaisons along the campaign trail while John Edwards was out trying to gain support for that presidential campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And John Edwards' attorneys are weighing in on release of this book. And here's what they're saying tonight: "While we have not had any opportunity to view the interview or read the book, we urge extreme caution by everyone involved. From media reports, it is obvious that there are many allegations which are simply false. It appears that Andrew Young is primarily motivated by financial gain and media attention."
Coming up in just a few minutes, our political roundtable will weigh in on the John Edwards scandal, the story in this book.
Plus this -- did you catch the State of the Union address? The Supreme Court justice not taking too kindly to some finger-wagging from President Obama. We'll get into the case of Obama versus Alito.
And many earthquake victims are still in desperate need of care. So, why has the U.S. military reportedly halted medical flights out of Haiti?
Also, we want you to weigh in. A lot of you are weighing in on this story, on the Edwards story and the story happening in New Orleans. Who owns the right to "Who dat?" Go to our Web site, or go to MySpace or iReport, or Facebook or Twitter, and we'll get your comments on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Hey, listen, you got to be careful out there. And this evening, you may want to stay home, spend the evening inside, especially if you're in the eastern part of the country. Yesterday it was the Midwest, the west and the Midwest. An icy blast is slamming much of the region right now. Virginia seeing some of the worst of it with a foot of snow expected.
D.C. officials are telling everyone to stay off the roads.
The Carolinas under an ice storm warning until midnight. Governor Beverly Purdue declared a state of emergency.
The storm moved east from areas like this in southeast Missouri. It left quite a bit of a mess behind. Some parts of Missouri got more than nine inches of snow. And farther to the west, Oklahoma City got a coating of ice, very dangerous. It's so bad the airport had to shut down for a while.
So pay attention because our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is going to tell you what you need to know right now about the weather.
It's bad out there, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, it sure is, Don. And the problem is, it's not over yet because we still have winter storm warnings that actually persist straight into the really early hours of Sunday morning and it does include Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. What that means is you'll see at least another two inches of snow overnight right here in this region.
And then back out you can see towards Hagerstown, Maryland, we still have winter weather advisories. The good news back there is that those advisories will expire earlier on, around 11:00 tonight. But still, the roads aren't going to be great for traveling.
And here's the reason why, the snow keeps coming as far back out to the west as West Virginia, and even into Tennessee. And there's the heavier snow up through Washington, just halfway past there into New Jersey towards Trenton. And we're getting some snow showers working their way up the south shore of Long Island as well. So, it's really extending far north.
But most of the heavier snow is to the south and eventually will push off shore. Now, on the brighter side of all this snow, a lot of southern cities that don't normally see snow saw tremendous amounts, six inches, seven inches of snow. That delighted the children there.
And I want to show you this iReport. Jennifer Bruce sent it and it is of her little son Logan, who is enjoying the snow, six inches of snow and he managed to build this igloo.
Congratulations. That is quite an achievement. And thank you, Jennifer, for sending that great report of your son. We really enjoyed seeing that.
Temperatures tonight are going to be quite frigid. So, watch out for ice on the roads tonight. And tomorrow morning, I'm not expecting a warm-up. For all the cities you see here, the temperatures will stay below freezing tomorrow. So, that's very important to note.
Now, for those of you that are traveling, just to let you know, the advisories don't include the Philadelphia area, but we do have hour and 15 minute delays where all flights in and out of Philadelphia at this time. That's the only airport delay at least. So, it could have been -- it could be worse when you look at the map here, Don, you see the advisories posted.
LEMON: You know what? It's affecting us here as well. I mean, it's not as serious as some people without electricity and slipping and sliding, but some of our guests, our political roundtable that we're going to have at the top of the show, they can't get in because of the snow in D.C. and...
SCHNEIDER: Yes, one affects the other, you're right.
LEMON: Yes. OK. So, Bonnie, thank you.
And, again, Bonnie has some good information. We're going to get back to her because that weather is a big story today.
Right now, we want to tell you about the situation in Haiti. There aren't any medical flights out of Haiti to the U.S. and we're hearing from the White House about why that stopped, why they stopped.
And Toyota has a fix it says for the millions of cars that are recalled. We have some new information for you from the company.
You want to stay tuned. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This is a developing story when it comes to Haiti. There's a bit of back-and-forth over whether the U.S. military is suspending medevac flights out of Haiti. The White House releases a statement saying, in part, "There has been no policy decision by anyone to suspend evacuee flights. This situation arose as we started to run out of room. Agencies across the U.S. are working on solutions."
Now, the state of Florida has incurred a lot of expense for these flights. Governor Charlie Crist asked the federal government to help, to chip in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST (R), FLORIDA: They're not stop in coming into Florida. I wrote a letter to Secretary Sebelius expressing saying federal assistance would be helpful to us. And if we could share that with some of our sister states, it would make a big difference. Obviously, because of Florida's proximity to Haiti, we've really born the brunt of it, but we're happy to continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. This is according to the White House, a representative there, there had been 435 medevac flights from Haiti to the U.S. so far and they said it's not an official policy. We're digging deeper on that one.
Meantime, Haiti's president is talking. We really haven't seen or heard much from him since the earthquake.
CNN international correspondent Karl Penhaul is in Port-au-Prince for us tonight.
Karl, good to see you. We really haven't seen much from the president. Why is that? To some, it feels like the government -- Haiti's own government is not taking the lead. But you saw him today.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. We did see him today. We saw him in both the press conference and surprisingly down at the ruins of the presidential palace. He appeared there towards late afternoon and crowd, a mob really, I would describe it, quickly gathered as they got wind that he was actually in that location.
And I think it's fair to describe it as an angry mob. They also feel that the Haitian government has not shown any crisis leadership after that earthquake. People in the crowd were chanting for the president, Rene Preval, to resign. Others in the crowd were chanting for a return of the priest-turned-president, Bertrand Aristide, the man is deposed twice in military coups and other sections of the crowd were chanting for the U.S. President Barack Obama to declare Haiti a protectorate and take over a government here indirectly.
In that press conference, I believe we brought some sound from that, this is really all that President Preval had to say about the earthquake and the way he's been handling it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. RENE PREVAL, HAITI: An earthquake is not a planned event. This happened in one minute. We have 1 million people in the streets (INAUDIBLE). We have to remove more than 150,000 bodies from the street.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: So, Karl, we're hearing from Rene Preval, the president from Haiti, but what about the food and water distribution? How is that going?
PENHAUL: The United Nations, as of tomorrow, is planning to try and set up fixed food distribution points around the city. And they will dictate who comes each day to receive food with a different colored coupon.
Now, initially, they're giving those coupons to women only, hoping that this will now not be a question of survival of the fittest and the fastest when men typically have been racing to the front of lines and pushing their way.
LEMON: Yes, we saw the men, you know, they are able to carry the big sacks of rice or whatever it is and the women can't do it. Listen, we're getting some reports, I don't know if they're true or not, about looting. What do you know?
PENHAUL: Well, again, the Haitian people, a lot of the Haitian people are sick and tired of waiting for NGOs, for aid organizations to give them food and water. They're doing it for themselves. And this is another mood change that I sense on the street, desperation is growing, frustration is growing.
Actually, we've seen bands of looters, sometimes organized by criminal gangs. And so, they will go into the remains of warehouses, ruined warehouses, and pull out anything they can find -- sometimes food, sometimes items that they can sell to get money to go and buy food. That's creating a problem on the streets because you get the Haitian police coming along...
LEMON: Yes.
PENHAUL: ... sometimes shots are fired, private security are there. We know they've killed people.
You also got American soldiers on the street, and the lieutenant to me today said, "It is a difficult mission. It's the one we have been given," he says, "But I don't really know what we're supposed to be doing."
LEMON: It's a struggle to survive. Karl Penhaul on the ground in Port-au-Prince, thank you, sir.
Time now for our top stories coming up on CNN. We'll bring it to you after the break. Plus more news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Time now for some of your top stories right here on CNN. If you're just joining us, here is a quick look at them.
The winter storm continues, plowing across the Mid-Atlantic tonight. Right now, the Carolinas under an ice storm warning and that's happening until midnight. Up to a half inch of ice is expected. The storm left nearly a foot of snow in Asheville, breaking an 80-year-old record.
Time for the latest too on your news about Toyota. Lots of people are dealing with that. Toyota owners with recalled vehicles can expect to hear from the company in the near future. A Toyota spokesman tells CNN it has met with federal safety officials and is, quote, "finalizing a plan -- finalizing a plan to replace gas pedals that could stick." Toyota did not offer a specific timetable on when the problem will be fixed, except to say that it should be fixed soon.
We're talking it our political roundtable about the John Edwards story and the revelations on that. Are they true? Are they not?
We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, let's return now to our top story here and talk about the state of our nation. We're talking about the John Edwards story and the new book that was just released today. It is called "The Politician." It was written by a longtime confidant of John Edwards. His name is Andrew Young. He gave an interview to ABC News last night that was explosive.
Let's talk about this.
Lenny McAllister battled the snow and the ice and is finally here. He's in Charlotte tonight. He's a political blogger and he writes for the TheRoot.com. And in Los Angeles, Erin Kotecki Vest, is the director of BlogHer.com.
Good evening.
Lenny, glad you got there safe, you know? Erin, California, sunny, so we know.
LENNY MCALLISTER, THEROOT.COM: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: All right. Let's talk about this. You heard -- we heard the interview. I was actually riveted by the interview. And there were some salacious details, but not just about that, but about the gall and people talk about someone running for office and you're running for president and what type of morals you should have. And if you can trust someone, imagine if this person had been in political office now as a president or as a nominee or an appointee or something.
Erin, I'll start with you.
ERIN KOTECKI VEST, POLITICAL DIR., BLOGHER.COM: I'd like to say I'm shocked, but frankly, I'm not. We have had the bathroom stalls, we had the hiking the Appalachian Trail, why is this any different at this point? I don't know, maybe because it's a Democrat, and we all thought we loved and knew the Edwards so much. But either way, not shocked, rather disgusted, but not a whole lot to say.
LEMON: Erin, you know, I understand what you're saying. I am not shocked that someone has an affair. And sometimes, it's a little too close for home, for people and they go, oh, you know, why are you doing this or -- I'm not particularly keen on this story. And many times, it's a little too close to home.
But here's the thing, those people that you mentioned, you mentioned the bathroom and the Appalachian Trail or whatever, those people were not running for office. They were not running for the highest office in the land. Their wives did not have cancer. It was a whole different set of circumstances. Lenny?
MCALLISTER: Yes, but -- I mean, if you look throughout American history, you have JFK, you have President Clinton. If you go back even around the Andrew Jackson presidency, you have a controversy about his wife, she ended up dying before he gets into office and that kind of set him off for his presidency.
We're still talking about the human condition and that's one of the wonderful and sometimes tragic things about the American presidency, is that we're dealing with people. Sometimes, they're fallible, of course, as we all are. And it all gets intermingled.
Unfortunately, for these families, it gets played out on the largest stage of the world. So, it makes it that much more of a big deal.
LEMON: Let's talk about the political fallout, the possible political fallout. I see you shaking your head, Erin, because had this happened, let's just say for a moment, this supposedly happened after Mr. Edwards ran for vice presidency with Kerry, right, John Kerry. So, it happened after that.
KOTECKI VEST: Sure.
LEMON: Let's just say he had become, you know, a presidential nominee or if President Barack Obama had accepted him as a vice president, or in some other capacity, this would have -- could have done huge damage to the party. And that's the question here about why -- while it was happening, he wasn't being honest with his own party and could have taken down the party in many ways.
KOTECKI VEST: Here's what gets me even more about it, though -- not that he wasn't being honest with his own party, but that he wasn't being honest with me, the voter. And, frankly, his wife supposedly knew by then, if the stories are true, and we believe what we're hearing, that means they made the conscious decision, the Edwards family made the conscious decision, knowing this was tucked away in the closet to go ahead and put themselves out there. So, my sympathy for them at this point is wearing a little thin.
LEMON: Wearing a little thin. Do you agree with that?
MCALLISTER: Yes and no. I mean, again, I'm not that shocked. We're talking about...
LEMON: Well, I understand you're not that shocked. But she says that lying to her as someone who was going to have trust with him as a voter -- listen, people have been -- have had infidelities forever, since the beginning of time, we understand that. But we're talking about the political process where people put pressure on each other to talk about morals and whether or not you're honest or telling the truth. This is what that's about, not whether -- oh, are you surprised that someone is having an affair? It's really about truth and honesty here.
MCALLISTER: True, but at the same time, political parties bounce back all the time. You mentioned the possibility of really hurting the Democratic Party, I would say that people didn't trust George Bush with the war in the second half of his term. You would think that the Republican Party, we sat here a year ago saying the Republican Party was gone for a generation. Now we're talking about them coming back after Scott Brown, just one year after Obama took office.
Political parties are full of people and because of that, there's going to be ebbs and flows and it would have damaged a party, it would have been something that would have been handled, or would have been on the headlines. If he were vice president and this came out, it would have been damaging, but they would have dealt with it, just as they did with President Clinton.
LEMON: OK. What do you see next for John Edwards, if anything? And that he and his wife are separated, we got word of that -- what do you see, Lenny?
MCALLISTER: I don't see him being able to do much else. I know here in the Tar Heel State, the level of respect they have for him is dwindling down. People are more interested in Rielle Hunter who is -- apparently, is living in the Charlotte area than they are about John Edwards' future political endeavors. As far as I'm concerned, he's a lame duck politician. It's a good thing he was a career politician that made a lot of money. I think his career is done.
LEMON: All right. So, Erin, listen, I don't know if you saw the interview last night, if you had a chance to read any of the transcripts. Apparently, Elizabeth Edwards, who is suffering from cancer at the time, there are voice mails, apparently her calling Andrew Young and saying, you know, stay away from my family. There was some indication that she may have known about this earlier on than was led to believe, knew more about it than they led to believe.
KOTECKI VEST: Sure. I think a lot of wives know a lot of things before they'd like to believe. And that's her business. That's their business. The question now is: did they know when he decided to run? Was this something that they knew could potentially come out and harm the Democratic Party? That's what I'm more interested in than what their business was, frankly.
LEMON: So, what's the lesson, Erin? You tell the truth.
(LAUGHTER)
KOTECKI VEST: The lesson that's the same lesson for any man and/or woman in power, keep your pants on.
LEMON: All right. Thank you.
We're going to get back to you guys because we have much, much more to talk about. To Lenny and Erin, I want to know if they caught the presidential -- the president's State of the Union address and the viewer as well. The Supreme Court justice not taking too kindly to some verbal finger-wagging from President Barack Obama. We'll get into this case. The case is Obama versus Alito -- in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know what? The last time the president addressed Congress in person, we ended up with accusations of lying and a formal apology. This week, the president returned to Capitol Hill and the drama continued.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured.
LEMON (voice-over): This is what happened the last time President Obama spoke in this chamber in September of 2009.
REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You lie.
LEMON: That outburst over health care reform thrust South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, into a political hornet nest. Not even an apology could block a formal rebuke from the House floor from his Congressional colleague including seven members of his own party.
So this past Wednesday, standing there again, flanked by the Vice President and the House Speaker to deliver his State of the Union address, the only outburst was a silent one.
OBAMA: With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests.
LEMON: A much quieter reaction from a fully robed Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Alito with a head nod and seeming to mouth the words, "that's not true", a similar sentiment but it's all in the presentation.
And remember how some lawmakers appear to have better things to do than listen to the president in September? Not this time. They tucked away the Blackberries, no twittering, no texting, no need for apologies. It was a night for business; the business of politics.
MARY MATALIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It does not sound presidential to me. It didn't feel presidential.
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think the guy is a remarkable speaker. I thought it was a much better speech than I anticipated.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. So the business of politics. Depending on where your lens is, it's how you saw this speech. So Lenny McAllister joins us now, he is blogger in Charlotte tonight and also Erin Kotecki Vest with BlogHer.com.
So listen, that was on Wednesday. Just two days later I want to show you this. The president faced some really tough critics, guys in Baltimore, speaking at a Republican Congressional Retreat, taking some questions really head on. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm using this as a specific example, so let me answer your question. You asked a question, I want to answer it.
There has got to be some test of realism in any of these proposals, mine included. I've got to hold myself accountable and I've guaranteed the American people will hold themselves -- will hold me accountable if what I'm selling doesn't actually deliver.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So that's the president talking about tone there. And as we saw in the story, it appears someone talked to, you know, the people in Congress and they weren't -- they were paying attention to the president, no rude outbursts.
But then, yesterday it was interesting about tone. So Erin, where does this go from here, the president making his remarks? Will anybody listen and do you think anything will change because of that speech?
ERIN KOTECKI VEST, POLITICAL DIRECTOR BLOGHER.COM: I sure hope so and I sure hope that they take him up on his offer to come in with real solutions, not the rhetoric and non-meaty solutions that they keep putting on his desk.
Will they actually do it? Probably not, because they've been the "party of no" and they've been the party of "We don't really care what he says or does; we want him to fail." I hope he got through to them, but I'm already hearing that all they're saying is he lectured them and he scolded them and you know, they want to take their ball and run away. We'll see.
LEMON: Well, that's what I was going to say as a blogger and you should be hearing from people, because you know, as soon as I've mentioned something or a story runs here, we hear about it from the social networking sights.
I'm going to get to you Lenny but Erin, what are your readers saying about this?
VEST: We're hearing a lot of different things. From our conservative editors, we're hearing a lot of he lectured and he didn't need to take that tone with us, he tells us all of these things but we want to see it in action. We haven't actually seen it in action.
From our liberal bloggers like myself, they're standing and applauding and they're still a little bit giddy from yesterday.
LEMON: Ok. Lenny, I want you to weigh in on this one. And we're going to talk about the man that sort of changed really the political landscape in Washington if you will; we're talking about Scott Brown. He was elected in a special election just a couple of weeks ago.
He is holding a three-day tour it's in his home state greeting voters, thanking them for his support. And he spoke to them about health care, taking their questions. Let's listen real quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR-ELECT: Right now there's a whole new feel in Washington. And what do I mean by that? It means that most recently -- and yesterday the president actually met with the Republicans, there's finally some dialogue that's happening; bringing good conversation back to the equation to make sure that we can really address the very real problems that are affecting our country right now. And -- you know -- taxes, spending, dealing with terrorism and the terrorist issues that are affecting our country and obviously...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BROWN: ...obviously the most important thing is jobs and job creations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Ok so Lenny, there you go, you saw the president yesterday really in an unprecedented way, speaking -- call it transparency, maybe it's a more transparent way, because it's usually that is usually not a formal -- I mean, it's usually more formal and it's usually private.
The White House asset -- they opened it up to questions and then you see Scott Brown taking questions here. My prediction and I don't know if I'm right, that it's going to be Scott Brown and President Barack Obama in the next presidential election. That's what I'm seeing. That's what I'm seeing. What do you think?
LENNY MCALLISTER, THEROOT.COM: I don't know about that. I have to comment on what Erin said, though, I mean, to quote a famous Republican from the not too distant past, all I have to say about this party and those stuff is here we go again. And you know, the bottom line is I think that President Obama at least is looking to talk to the Republicans.
What would I have liked to have seen is actually like the tone that he had, he was being very direct, it was a very blunt and honest conversation between both sides. But let's see if he's like that with the Democratic Congressional leadership that kind of took the train and ran it amok in 2009.
Those are the ones he also has to come to the table with and say look, if we're going to be bipartisan, if we're going to move America forward, we need to be able to do this in a bipartisan way and do it together. He needs to rein them in as well.
Now, Scott Brown, because of his victory, has been able to allow President Obama to say, look, ok, being a super majority, being the numbers folks in Washington doesn't work. Leadership is not a mathematical equation, it's something that comes together with people working together. And the Scott Brown election and victory is forcing him to go back to both sides. And he did that yesterday as well. And remind folks, hey, "We have to work together on these solutions."
LEMON: So Erin, I'm wondering if Washington or the people in politics have picked up on something when you see Scott Brown out doing that, you see the president doing what he did yesterday and then even today President Obama went, you know, took in one of his favorite past times, he went to the college basketball game, Georgetown and Duke.
(CROSSTALK)
VEST: yes.
LEMON: Yes and then you know, he went down with the broadcasters, the TV broadcasters, started calling the game. There you -- started calling the game and there is the Vice President coming to see him there. And then they took questions from him -- or he took questions from them as well talking about the GOP retreat.
Are they picking up on something about transparency or being out and accountable to the people that maybe is catching on here or is it just you think coincidence?
VEST: Absolutely. No. I think it's -- they are picking up on it. They know that in the age of blogging and like we do at BlogHer, people want to connect with you. They want to know that you're real and they want to be able to ask you that question.
They want to know that you go to basketball games or you drive a truck. And they want to have one-on-one conversations with you and feel part of it. And I think that's a lot of what the Internet and blogging has done with these candidates. It's the age of transparency and it's the age of true discussions.
LEMON: Well, we shall see. Erin Kotecki Vest and Lenny McAllister, thank you, guys. I really appreciate it. Best of luck getting home too Lenny all right.
MCALLISTER: Thanks. I will get there.
LEMON: All right, it is snowy up there ...
VEST: Stay safe.
LEMON: ...where Lenny is -- all right. Thank you both.
Toyota's president apologizing for its massive recall but the company has a lot more to fix than those faulty gas pedals. A car expert weighs in on how Toyota can win customers back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Toyota tells CNN it's putting the final touches on a plan to replace sticking gas pedals in millions of cars causing some big, big problems. But when it comes to the company's image, there may be no quick fix.
Our Deborah Feyerick has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As soon as he got word of the recall from Toyota headquarters, Maryland Toyota dealer Ben Messier and his sales team went into high gear figuring out which cars might have the faulty gas pedal.
BEN MESSIER, TOYOTA DEALER: The CTS pedals, which are the affected pedals, will have one inch by one inch silver tab on the top left-hand side of the accelerator arm.
Look all the way down on top of this accelerator arm, right here is a little silver plaque. That little silver plaque right there says CTS on it.
FEYERICK: CTS disputes any problem with its accelerators saying they were built to Toyota's design specifications. Messier meantime says the message from above was clear, "Protect Toyota's reputation".
MESSIER: Toyota mentioned to me right now our first concern is safeguarding the brand and making sure Toyota gets in front of this, takes care of their customers, we'll worry about selling cars tomorrow.
FEYERICK: But now with millions of cars affected, dealers in New York and New Jersey appear to have closed rank.
(on camera): We called more than a dozen Toyota dealerships, even went to visit several in person. All of them told us they were not authorized to speak about Toyota's problems and instead referred us to a central information number out of California.
(voice-over): When we called, a Toyota spokesman who handles quality design described the latest recalls as a customer satisfaction problem, telling CNN, Toyota's strategy has been to be transparent and truthful about an accelerator problem they don't know yet know how to fix but which they say is caused by an environmental condition.
But Toyota has not been as open as they claim, says marketing specialist Richard Laermer.
RICHARD LAERMER, BRANDING EXPERT: Well, one of the real problems with crisis communication is that if you don't act fast in clearing up the mess, the mess just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And with this, they knew something was going on and they didn't handle it as rapidly as they could have.
FEYERICK (on camera): A Toyota spokesman says the company is close to having a new pedal design. They've not said how long it will take to manufacture the pedals or how they plan to go about installing them in millions of vehicles.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: As we've been telling you, the president of Toyota has told customers he is sorry but it may take a lot more than apology and some replacement parts to earn back their trust, especially when you consider how enormous this problem is.
Lou Ann Hammond is a CEO and editor-in-chief of Carlist.com -- Carlist.com -- and she's joining us live from Sacramento, California. Good to see you.
LOU ANN HAMMOND, CEO, CARLIST.COM: Thanks.
LEMON: So listen, how will this affect -- this recall affect Toyota and the dealerships?
HAMMOND: Oh, it's going to be huge, all the way around. It's a very serious concern. You're talking about almost five million recalls.
Toyota is not allowed to sell eight of its most popular products and they have a Congressional hearing on February 25th, plus Consumer Reports has just come out and said that they are not recommending any of those eight products.
So then we have the dealerships we have to look at as well, because you have over 1,200 car dealerships in northern -- in the United States. Bloomberg said that if the -- if these dealerships are down for a month, it will cost $2.47 billion in funds for the dealerships alone.
LEMON: Oh my God.
And I have to tell you this Ms. Hammond, I was doing some research on this story and in some communities, some cities, like eight out of ten car dealerships are closing its doors because of the economy. And then when you have something like this, this is sort of -- this just piles it on for Toyota.
HAMMOND: That's...
LEMON: I don't know if you can answer, do you think that the company can survive this in these times?
HAMMOND: I do think the company can survive it if they play it right. Right now we're talking damage control and that will be the issue. Remember Ford with their Firestone problem.
LEMON: Yes.
HAMMOND: Now Ford - Ford just last year had a profit and they're gaining market share.
Tylenol back in '82 had a cyanide problem. They had to clear off all of their products off the shelf, but they now have 35 percent of the market.
Toyota has to now come out and start showing a lot more transparency and they have to do something to keep the customers that they have. They have to reward them somehow. And maybe even incentivize them for the future customers.
LEMON: I'm so glad you brought that up because that's very appropriate. And then there was also one and I'm not sure which automaker I'm going to -- I don't want to name it, but it was a problem with getting hit in the rear and you know, the gas tank.
HAMMOND: The Ford Pinto.
LEMON: ...getting hit and the gas tank exploding so and then they recovered after that. The car may not still be on the market, but they recovered.
So what about the impact to the overall economy here?
HAMMOND: Well, think about this, last year those eight cars sold almost a million units and if you took it away, that was less than 10 million unit sales.
LEMON: Yes.
HAMMOND: So that means for your city's budget, a decrease in sales tax and registration for your vehicle. For your -- all your communities, it means less people employed for your car dealerships. There are seven plants and engine plants that are being idled right now, so those people are of concern. It's huge for the economy.
So we all need to work together and find out what the problem is, bring -- make sure Toyota has all the transparency that they do need, have -- approve it as quickly as possible. You need to make sure that the customer knows they won't be paying for this recall product. It will be the -- you will take it into a car dealership, the car dealership will repair it, they will bill Toyota Motor Corporation. There will be no problem with getting it fixed once they can fix it.
LEMON: Yes and it's all about how it's handled and reputation because I'm reading really some horror stories, I've read about a woman in -- right here in Atlanta who has children, she didn't want to drive her kids around in the car and she took it back and said, "Take this car, I don't want it and she left it with the dealer."
But it's -- I mean, it's causing a lot of frustration for a whole lot of people. Thank you, Lou Ann Hammond, the CEO and editor-in-chief of Carlist.com.
HAMMOND: Thank you.
LEMON: You know, it is probably the absolute last place you would expect to find a thriving film school, the Kibera slums at Nairobi, Kenya. They have plenty of fodder for content and talent to capture it all on film. We'll take you there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Inspired by American filmmaker, students in Nairobi wanted to make their own films, telling their own stories, and now they are.
Here's CNN's David McKenzie.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By now American film director Nathan Colette is used to shooting in Kenya's giant Kibera slum. But for his film students, this location is also their home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Action.
MCKENZIE: These are the students of Kibera Film School. It is the first of its kind, dedicated to teaching the art of cinema to the youth of Kibera.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cut.
MCKENZIE: For this USC film school grad, it all started with a short film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to show him who...
MCKENZIE: "Kibera Kid" tells of the hardscrabble experience of Kibera's youth. Nathan shot with actors and crew from the slum. The film won prestigious awards and kick started the director's career. But for Nathan, it brought Kibera's talented and needs into sharp focus.
NATHAN COLLETT, FOUNDER, KIBERA FILM SCHOOL: After the film was over, people appreciated the opportunity but then they also said, "How are we going to make our own films? We want to make our own films, tell our own stories. How can you help us do that?"
MCKENZIE: So he started Kibera Film School last year with a little seed money and a lot of sacrifice. Most of the students have little formal schooling so the focus is on the practical art of movie making and collaboration.
COLLETT: That's why being a director you have to be gracious. You have to be like, "Well, thank you. Good job. Thank you. Thank you." JOSPHAT KEYA, STUDENT, KIBERA FILM SCHOOL: I believe in film industry. First of all you must have -- ok, if you have the talent to do, you must have again the passion. So if you are passion driven with that talent then you're going to come up with very, very good stories that are inspiring.
MCKENZIE: And the canvass is Kibera in Nairobi, one of Africa's largest slums. A place racked by poverty and crime but not without hope.
COLLETT: I mean there is so much that is going on here. It's kind of like a complete maximum 360 experience, you know. Everything is happening all the time. Everything good, everything bad is happening here.
MCKENZIE: Very intense?
COLLETT: It's very intense.
MCKENZIE: Nathan brings that intensity to his first feature film "Togetherness Supreme". It releases later this year and Kibera again provided the setting and the talent.
COLLETT: Do what you do and you see what happens, you know. It's kind of like an act of faith basically.
MCKENZIE: An act of faith that helped start Kibera Film School and could provide the first generation of Kibera film makers a chance to tell their own story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cut.
MCKENZIE: David McKenzie, CNN, Kibera, Kenya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Very nice story.
You know it took only 30 seconds to become a pop culture phenomena. But is "Pants on the Ground" getting worn into the ground? Our Jeanne Moos will get to the bottom of it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We told you about the severe weather that is hitting parts of the country. We want to get back now to our Bonnie Schneider for an update -- Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Don, we are still watching the advisories that are going to continue overnight in the D.C. area. Snow is falling right now and look for at least another two inches to accumulate overnight. These advisories will actually extend until 4:00 in the morning on Sunday.
Then back out further to the west you can see other advisories, that's for parts of for western Maryland. We're expecting those to expire in just the next few hours.
Now even though the advisories are going to expire, we are still dealing with the threat of everything staying frozen because temperatures are so cold. It is 18 only degrees in Washington, 19 in Richmond. And down in the Carolinas where they have had up to eight inches of snow in some areas, 26 degrees in charlotte.
Well, I mentioned the snow and the ice in the Carolinas in here in the east but remember this storm originated back out to the west in Oklahoma.
And I want to show you this iReport from Katy Hopkins (ph) for just a couple of reasons. First off you see the parking lot. Look at that the UPS man in the distance is wearing shorts; they really do wear those shorts in winter storms.
Well, Katy says she took these pictures from outside her window. She couldn't get out because her car was in that parking lot so she decided to take the pictures and send them to ireport.com. We appreciate those pictures.
Well, one storm, Don, 17 states and it is still not done yet.
LEMON: Ok. Well, best of luck with that.
I want to ask you. Have you seen the "Pants on the Ground thing that everybody has been going nuts about?
SCHNEIDER: No, I haven't.
LEMON: You haven't? Well, you are about to see it and you're going to become a fan because Bonnie, "Pants on the Ground", "Pants on the Ground". You all have heard about it for some way at least at some point but some people say it may be way too much.
From politicians to NFL star quarterbacks our Jeanne Moos has had enough of it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a song that has taken America by the seat of its soggy pants four little words, "Pants...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground.
MOOS: ... on...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground.
MOOS: ... the ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground.
MOOS: ... ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking like a fool with your pants on the ground.
MOOS: It started as an audition for "American Idol" sung by a man calling himself General Larry Platt (ph).
SIMON COWELL, JUDGE, "AMERICAN IDOL": I have a horrible feeling that could be a hit.
MOOS: Soon, we were getting hit over the head with it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pants on the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look like a fool with pants on the ground.
MOOS: Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre rallied his victorious teammates with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground.
MOOS: The Vikings then lost their next game.
Jimmy Fallon performed it in the guise of Neil Young.
JIMMY FALLON, NBC HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground.
MOOS: It's become a T-shirt, a Facebook page, a game -- try keeping the pants from hitting the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see people singing "Pants on the Ground" all day long. You know what they were, kids with their freaking pants on the ground. And they're (INAUDIBLE).
Don't you understand? Larry Platt is calling you an idiot.
MOOS: Keep your shirt on even if they don't keep their pants on right. Pants became a prop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pull them up.
MOOS: But you know for sure that "Pants on the Ground" has been run into the ground when politicians start singing it. A Canadian politician T.J. Burke, a member of the legislative assembly of News Brunswick used "Pants" to attack an opponent.
T.J. BURKE, NEW BRUNSWICK LEGISLATOR: The leader of the conservative party was very clearly caught on CBC with his pants on the ground. Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, looking like a fool with his pants on the ground.
MOOS: From a commandeered PA system in Wal-Mart to a kid dropping his pants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground.
MOOS: To a poodle... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking like a fool with your pants on the ground
MOOS: Just wear a belt and quit belting out this song.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: I have to be honest. I told my executive producer Lisa, I said, "Let's do the 'Pants on the Ground' story; it's a cultural phenomenon, a pop phenomenon. She goes, "What are you talking about? I'm going to kill you."
All right Lisa. Sorry for calling you out.
Hey I asked some of you on Twitter. I said what do you think of "Pants on the Ground"?
Do you like them? Yes. I thought it was amusing when I saw it on "American Idol" the first time.
Do you like it? Yes, I do. I think it's interesting. I think it is interesting that many of the people on "American Idol" who don't win end up being more successful and more famous than the people who do win.
I have the ring tone, ha, ha.
Then someone else responded, "John Edwards turned out to be a real sleaze ball.
Then someone says, "Who dat says we should not allow any corporation to control a word, verbiage that they had probably nothing to do with.
Thank you. Our Louisiana girl here applauding -- get her she's applauding. Say who dat.
We are back in two hours with our top stories and a closer look tonight at the infidelity story involving John Edwards.
Thank you for watching us.
I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you back here at 10:00 p.m.
"ANDERSON COOPER 360: Heroes Saving Haiti" begins right now.
