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President Obama Makes Statement About Mining Disaster; Picking a Supreme Court Replacement; Big-hearted Bookworm

Aired April 09, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: What's your sense? It sounds very much like what she's been saying in the last few days. She's really ramping up her rhetoric, words that have appeared before, but very strong, very targeted words against the current administration.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. It was interesting to me, particularly on foreign policy, Ali. You know, talking about us coddling our enemies and alienating our allies, which is, I think, you're going to see as a Republican theme heading into the 2010 elections, saying, you know, very strong things in support of Israel and against the Obama administration's criticism of Israel and the settlements there.

Also, on energy, which is, of course, Sarah Palin's issue, and the issue she feels the most comfortable with, having been the governor of Alaska, saying, you know, we don't need more studies. It's very clear that she thinks that the administration's decision to do more drilling is not enough. She also made the point that, don't retreat, just reload.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Which she made a point of saying wasn't a call to violence, but it's a --

BORGER: Right. Right.

VELSHI: -- a tough one to misinterpret.

BORGER: Yes. Right. Right. But she sort of felt the need to kind of say that.

Don't forget, it's sort of interesting, too. We didn't hear her talk about the nuclear issues. You remember in an interview with ABC when the president was asked about her critique of his nuclear plan, he said, "Last time I checked, Sarah Palin isn't much of an expert on nuclear issues."

VELSHI: And you're speaking about the president right now, and here he is.

Let's listen in to the president of the United States.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon, everybody.

I want to say a few words about the tragedy that took place this week in West Virginia. But before I do, I'd first like to comment on the news that Justice John Paul Stevens will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of his current term.

And when President Ford was faced with a Supreme Court vacancy shortly after the nation was still recovering from the Watergate scandal, he wanted a nominee who was brilliant, non-ideological, pragmatic, and committed, above all, to justice, integrity and the rule of law. He found that nominee in John Paul Stevens.

Justice Stevens has courageously served his country from the moment since he enlisted, the day before Pearl Harbor, to his long and distinguished tenure on the Supreme Court. During that tenure, he has stood as an impartial guardian of the law.

He's worn the judicial robe with honor and humility. He has applied the Constitution and the laws of the land with fidelity and restraint.

He will soon turn 90 this month, but he leaves his position at the top of his game. His leadership will be sorely missed, and I just had an opportunity to speak with him and told him on behalf of a grateful nation that I thanked him for his service.

Now, as Justice Stevens expressed to me in a letter announcing his retirement, it is in the best interest of the Supreme Court to have a successor appointed and confirmed before the next term begins. And so I will move quickly to name a nominee, as I did with Justice Sotomayor.

Once again, I view the process of selecting a Supreme Court nominee as among my most serious responsibilities as president, and while we cannot replace Justice Stevens' experience or wisdom, I will seek someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities -- an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law, and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people. It will also be someone who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.

Much like they did with Justice Sotomayor, I hope the Senate will move quickly in the coming weeks to debate and then confirm my nominee so that the new justice is seated in time for the fall term.

Now, let me say a few words about what has happened in West Virginia.

This has been an unimaginably difficult week for the people who live near Montcoal. Thirty-one workers were inside the Upper Big Branch mine when an explosion ripped through its walls on Monday afternoon. Two were saved, 25 were lost. And for the four who remain missing, we are praying for a miracle. I want to offer my deepest condolences to the friends and the families of the fathers and the husbands and the brothers, nephews and sons who were killed in this accident. I'm also in awe of the courage and selflessness shown by the rescue teams who have risked their lives over and over and over this week for the chance to save another. They have worked around the clock with little sleep over the past few days, and this nation owes them a debt of gratitude.

Now, mining has a long and proud history in West Virginia. And for many families and communities, it's not just a way to make a living, it's a way of life. And the jobs they do in these mines help bring heat and electricity to millions of Americans. It's a profession that's not without risks and danger, and the workers and their families know that, but their government and their employer know that they owe it to these families to do everything possible to ensure their safety when they go to work each day.

When I was in the Senate, I supported the efforts of Senator Byrd and Rockefeller to try to improve mine safety, but it's clear that more needs to be done. And that's why I've asked my secretary of labor, as well as the head of Mine Safety and Health Administration, to give me a preliminary report next week on what went wrong, and why it went wrong so badly, so that we can take the steps necessary to prevent such accidents in the future.

Because mining is a tradition that's often passed down through generations, it's not uncommon to see an entire family choose this line of work. And, sadly, when a tragedy like this occurs, it's also not uncommon to lose almost an entire family all at once.

I spoke to some surviving members of one such family on Wednesday. This week, Tim Davis and two of his nephews, Josh, age 25, and Cory (ph), age 20, were killed in the explosion in the Upper Big Branch mine.

Rescuers have reported that Tim and his two nephews were all found together. Two other members of their families that worked in the mine were able to escape unharmed.

And before he left for the mine on Monday, Josh wrote a letter for his girlfriend and young daughter. And in it he said, "If anything happens to me, I'll be looking down from heaven at you all."

"I love you. Take care of my baby. Tell her that daddy loves her. She's beautiful. She's funny. Just take care of my baby girl."

Reflecting on that letter and the losses she endured in just one week, Josh's mother, Pam, simply said, "It is just West Virginia. When something bad happens, we come together. When something bad happens, we come together."

Through tragedy and heartache, that's the spirit that has sustained this community and this country for over 200 years. And as we pray for the souls of those that we have lost and the safe return of those who are missing, we are also sustained by the words of the Psalm that are particularly poignant right now. And those words read, "You, oh, Lord, keep my lamp burning. My God turns my darkness into light."

Thank you very much.

VELSHI: President Obama at the White House. He's just arrived there about half an hour ago, speaking both about the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, something that was expected. But Justice John Paul Stevens did just announce that he will be retiring this summer. He made that announcement this morning.

Also now ending his comments with references to the search for the remaining miners at the Big Branch mine in West Virginia. Four miners remain unaccounted for, 25 miners did die in last Monday's explosion, which is the worst explosion in 25 years in U.S. history, in mines in the United States.

We're going to take a quick break. We are following a number of stories, including the likely replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens, as well as a conference that's going on in New Orleans right now, the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

Gloria Borger and Candy Crowley are there. We'll be talking to them in a moment about the presidential race that the Republicans are already kicking off.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. With the official announcement about the retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, everybody's wondering who President Obama is going to choose as his replacement. The replacement process itself can take months.

Let's break this down.

Usually, the presidential nomination doesn't take too long. The last time President Obama took 25 days to announce Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Justice David Souter.

President George W. Bush named Samuel Alito four days after the withdrawal of Harriet Miers and 122 days after Justice O'Connor announced her retirement.

The fastest announcement of a Supreme Court nominee in recent history was in 1986, when President Ronald Reagan named Justice William Rehnquist as his choice to replace Chief Justice Warren Burger. That was the same day Burger announced his retirement.

President Bill Clinton took 87 days to announce Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993.

But remember, the time it takes a president to announce the nominee is not the time between when that nominee is announced and when that nominee is put into office. That is a remarkable complex process.

Joining us now from New York, CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Political Analyst Gloria Borger. Both of them join us now.

Let's just talk about the politics of this for a second, Gloria.

Is there anything -- there's everything, I guess, about this. When the president names his nominee, what is the political process that he has to watch out for?

BORGER: Well, you know, first of all, this is about politics. But more than anything else for a president, it's really about his legacy, because this person is going to be on the court long after Barack Obama is gone. So that's sort of -- you have to set that aside and understand that when a president interviews Supreme Court nominees, he wants somebody who thinks the way he does, but he also has to keep in mind the politics.

Personally, after talking to some Republicans in the Senate this morning, I don't think it's likely, unless this is a nominee that's far, far, far to the left, that they would -- that they're inclined to mount a filibuster, because they're not sure they could get a filibuster together, because they might lose some Republicans on that, in which case they'd have to go looking for Democrats. And they don't think they would get them.

There are conservatives, however, I spoke to this morning, outside the Senate, who are looking for a fight, because they believe that this would unite the base. They believe that Sonia Sotomayor was "not what she was marketed as," i.e., more liberal. And they feel that they have an opportunity here because Democrats cast some tough votes on health care, and they want to put them on the spot again.

VELSHI: Well, let's ask Jeff about this.

So, Justice Stevens, sort of the dean of the liberal side of the court, still had a reputation as a leader, as sort of an elder statesman there, as something of a consensus builder. In fact, he often influenced Justice Kennedy, who was sort of the swing vote on the court.

So, should the president be looking for somebody like that? And let's just cut to the chase. Who's he really going to be looking at?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think the consensus builder role is going to be enormously important because the court is so polarized, like the rest of the nation. There are four very conservative justices now -- Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito, Justice Thomas and Justice Scalia. There are four pretty liberal justices -- Justice Stevens, who is leaving; Justice Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor.

Anthony Kennedy is enormously powerful on this court. Who gets Kennedy's vote wins the case. So, if you can appoint a justice, President Obama must be thinking, who can get Kennedy's vote occasionally, or more often than not, that is a winning combination. So you want someone who has legal skill, obviously integrity, obviously, but also someone who knows how to work with others.

Now, who might it be? It's my view that the leading candidate is Elena Kagan, the solicitor general of the United States. She is someone who used to be dean of Harvard Law School, where she won a reputation for dealing with a very fractured faculty very successfully, dealing with conservatives, dealing with the conservative Federalist Society very successfully.

That's something that President Obama really looks for, consensus building. I think she's the most likely choice. She's also the youngest of the people on the short list at 49 years old. And that is a very good thing for a president who wants to leave his mark on the Supreme Court.

VELSHI: That is like being an infant on the Supreme Court.

TOOBIN: You know what? I love that 49-year-olds are being called young and spry and healthy. So I'm all for it.

BORGER: Right.

VELSHI: So let me ask you this, Gloria. You said that there are some conservatives who are saying Sonia Sotomayor is not as she was advertised, she's more liberal. But Roland Martin was on the show a little while ago, and he was saying Democrats want to play the table on this. They've got their opportunity to put in maybe even a young justice who would be there for a long time.

Why would they want that consensus builder who may turn out to be a Kennedy, an Anthony Kennedy, might turn out to be someone who doesn't solidly vote liberal all the time?

BORGER: You know, I don't pretend to be a Supreme Court expert. That's Jeffrey. But I think if you look at justices over the years, including Justice Stevens, they evolve on the court.

We don't know what Justice Sotomayor is going to do 10 years from now. We might have a good idea. Certainly, Barack Obama, when he interviews these folks, has a good idea. He is a constitutional scholar himself. You don't know the definite issues that are going to come before the court, so you have to learn the way that they think.

VELSHI: Right.

BORGER: Because they're certainly not going to tell you any secrets about how they're going to vote, right?

VELSHI: And that's what the nomination process is about.

BORGER: And so -- exactly. Exactly. And that's why it's sort of confounding sometimes, because I remember sitting with Jeffrey as we were covering the Sotomayor hearings, and it got kind of frustrating for us because they would ask her direct questions, which, of course, she wouldn't answer.

VELSHI: All right. Thanks to both of you. We'll be breaking this down.

You brought up an interesting point, Gloria, that we have to look at issues that are actually before the court now just to see how they might be influenced, because obviously Supreme Court decisions affect all of us.

Jeff, good to see you. And thank you for continuing to be with us.

We'll continue this discussion.

Jeffrey Toobin is our senior legal analyst and Gloria Borger is our senior political analyst.

All right. A teenager eases the pain for herself and many others simply by turning pages. You're going to want to meet our CNN Hero of the Week coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Get ready to meet an incredible young woman.

Mackenzie Bearup lives with an agonizing and incurable disease, yet she spends her time easing the pain of other children by sharing her secret for relief, and it is reading.

It warms my soul. She's only 16 years old, and she's our CNN Hero of the Week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MACKENZIE BEARUP, CNN HERO: I was in the fifth grade when I hurt my knee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready?

BEARUP: Yes, I'm ready.

The doctor diagnosed me with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. When something touches it, it's like a bomb goes off in my knee. Even though I've tried many different treatments, the only thing able to get my mind off the pain was reading.

Do you guys like to read?

My pediatrician told me about a home for abused children. Any child being in horrible pain like this, they need something, and something that I knew that helped me was books.

OK. This is called "Screamin' Millie." But the people in these shelters are just like you and me. They need things to get their mind off of whatever they're going through. I put flyers in mailboxes and I set up a Web site.

Thank you so much for donating.

My original goal was to get 300 books. Before I knew it, I had 3,000 books. My total right now is 38,000 books. And I've delivered books to libraries and reading rooms and 27 different shelters in six states.

And take as many books as you want.

If one child finds a love of reading through books I've given them, then that will help them in school and just turn their life around entirely. I really think that reading can do that for someone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: So far, Mackenzie Bearup has donated almost 40,000 books to shelters in six states.

Now, to nominate someone you think is changing the world, it's real easy. Go to CNN.com/heroes.

It's springtime, the beauty of the blooming trees. Those are the ones on your left. The beauty on the right is Chad Myers.

There's a downside to springtime. We're going to tell you about the season's bloom and gloom. It's got something to do with rubbing those itchy, watery eyes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: Hey, listen. One of the things we've been talking about a lot is what is going on with the conservative movement in this country. There are actually some interesting developments you'll want to hear about from the Tea Party. I'm going to be talking to the founder of the Memphis Tea Party in just a couple of moments about what they are doing and what they're thinking about as the elections come up.

That's Mark Skoda. We're talking to him in just a moment.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Yesterday I talked to Michele Bachmann, representative from Minnesota, just now we heard from Sarah Palin at the Republican leadership, Southern Leadership Conference. And now I'm talking to Mark Skoda, there are some of you who are getting crazy on my Twitter and Facebook, thinking I'm having some kind of a conservative love fest. How could you not like Mark Skoda? Where is he? Let's bring him up. He's the founder of the Memphis Tea Party. And for those of you who think that my talking to the Tea Party or talking about the Tea Party in some way rewards people who have been spreading hateful messages, and exclusionary messages, and nasty signs and racist things, Mark and I have talked many times about the fact that that's not the sort of thing he welcomes.

And, in fact, the Tea Party Movements across the country have done something in the last week, Mark, to underscore that. Tell me a bit about it.

MARK SKODA, FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, MEMPHIS TEA PARTY: That's right. We're really pleased. Yesterday we announced the formation of the National Tea Party Federation, and really it was about developing, if you will, a messaging hub, so that people could come together, coordinate both the response to some of these allegations that have occurred in the news media, indeed. And also to place before our membership the kinds of ideas that we want to communicate to the market at large, the news media, and to our own respective organizations. It's a great idea and a great support.

VELSHI: At the risk of yet more people telling me that I'm doing your bidding, I'm going to-let me tell my audience a little bit about what is going on here. Twenty-one groups have joined it so far; 30 more have applied to join this National Tea Party Federation. And here's what they're concentrating on-they're trying to deal wish issues of fiscal responsibility, government spending, and how the government spends, taxation, things like that. They're dealing with free enterprise and constitutionally limited government.

I worry, Mark, on some level this looks like organization, and on the another level the business guy in me thinks is this like Microsoft, or is this it like Starbucks where it was a grassroots, loose movement with a lot of energy, and now you are becoming a the big machine. What do you gain and lose by joining in this federation?

SKODA: Those are good questions. Because, indeed, first of all, it's not an organization, in the true sense; we haven't created a 501c4, we haven't created a board. There is no structure in terms of strict leadership. It is really a coalition in that sense.

What we're really trying to do is provide a couple of great volunteers, who are in PR and media, in social media, indeed, who can begin to facilitate the upload of content, images, associated information, and synthesize that for the group, that is the federation as a whole, to say yea or nay on it. And essentially then publish that out so the various organizations can distribute it their membership and, of course, to you, the media. It's a very sophisticated way in which you can sue both the social media, the network media and, of course, our own distribution capabilities through the individual organizations.

VELSHI: Let's talk a little about this fringe that you and I have talked about. The people who get you a lot of attention in media that you otherwise wouldn't like. Is this going to help you sort of get rid of some of that?

SKODA: Well, indeed. Jamie Radke (ph), who is a leader out of the Virginia Tea Party Federation, she's been a fantastic leader there. And, in fact, they have-we're adopting some of her techniques to the federation in Virginia to essentially establish, you know, have you led a rally before? Have you been in a leadership position for a year? Indeed, questions around do you reject the notion of the birthers and truthers? The idea is really to bring an assembly of people who are interested in protecting the brand of the Tea Party Movement which indeed has extraordinary favorability ratings right now.

VELSHI: At the moment, yeah, remarkable favorability ratings. The Republicans are busy meeting in New Orleans so they are busy getting their feet in the water. Let's talk about presidential candidates. Do you think there's a Tea Party candidate for the 2012 presidential election?

SKODA: Boy, a very loaded question. Indeed, I don't know that. You know, on a personal basis, I'm interested to see sort of some of the outsiders that might come in. It's certainly been interesting to watch the hubbub about General Petraeus, as he seems to be testing the waters. I think at the end of the day this is going to be local decisions that are taken. And I think each leader will take a view. I think 2012 is a bit away, and I hate to sort of hedge, but the truth of the matter is we're not trying to coordinate candidates, or recommendations, or indeed endorsement, we're really focused on protecting the brand integrity so when 2010 and 2012 comes the Tea Party activists, the grassroots people have an extraordinary opportunity to get the vote out.

VELSHI: Mark, hold on right there, I just have to go to West Virginia. The governor, Joe Manchin is speaking -- Kevin Stricklin, I think is speaking right now.

(BEGIN LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)

KEVIN STRICKLIN, U.S. MINE SAFETY & HEALTH ADMIN: -seen in the mines. And at that time I believe the last news conference we talked about on trying to inert the area with nitrogen by shutting off the fan at bore hole number one, and using nitrogen to inert the area. Well, that's been done. There's a lot of nitrogen. I believe five truckloads of nitrogen has been put into the mine. To the extent that so much nitrogen is put in that it's forced the air that has been located in here, the carbon monoxide, to ventilate the entire way up through this Bandytown (ph) fan.

We had carbon monoxide coming out of the fan typically about 6:00 o'clock this morning, at 50 parts per million. We saw a rise in that carbon monoxide up to about 230 parts per million, and now it's started dropping. And we think the whole reason for those high concentrations of CO. was the nitrogen that was forcing the air out of the 22 long-wall sections.

That's the good news. The not-so-good news was the borehole that was put in at the refuse chamber did not hit a void. It hit a solid pillar. So, basically that hole that was drilled from the surface does no use to us at all. And we will not be able to put a camera down in it. Well, we can put a camera down in it, but basically they'll be nothing to see.

So, we had another meeting, and based on the nitrogen inerting the 22 long-wall area, a decision, again, has been made to send rescue teams underground. They're gearing up for going underground basically as we speak. And what they're going to do is, again, travel into the mine. Instead of going up across here to the long-wall face, they're basically going to take the angle up, and they're going to make sure that the smoke and the CO that we saw in this area is not coming from this area.

So, they're going to make a run by this area, if the concentrations of CO showed that it's normal, and there's no smoke, we know that we've flushed this area out with nitrogen, and we should not have any smoke or fire, and we will have the ability to get up to that refuse chamber and evaluate if it had been deployed or not.

So, that basically will take care of hopefully accounting for the unaccounted people. We also think that if this was clear on our way up, we've inerted this already. We will have the ability to start the removal of the miners' bodies in the long-wall area shortly thereafter. So, not a whole lot has really gone our way. This nitrogen injection seems to have helped and has gone our way. And, you know, we're basically in a point of going back in again.

QUESTION: How many rescuers are going back in?

STRICKLIN: We're sending two mine rescue teams, for a total of 16 people.

QUESTION: There was a rumor that one more body was found. Is that true?

STRICKLINN: No. No additional -- there are still four miners unaccounted for.

QUESTION: What's the possibility of sending a robot?

STRICKLIN: Right now, we don't think that's -- there's not a possibility right now, because it's -- it's with an umbilical cord. It's not a remote control that we can operate from the surface, so we have to put a person in harm's way to run a robot. And instead we're going to send rescue teams in to basically advance instead of using a robot.

QUESTION: The nitrogen that you sent down, take care of the fire and the smoke that forced out the teams prior?

STRICKLIN: Yes. The nitrogen would have taken the oxygen content below 10 percent, and once we're below 10 percent there's no chance of a fire, an explosion. But I got to tell you, that's in the 22 long-wall area. This is the area that's been inerted. We do not have a borehole that's down in this area yet. If the fire or smoke is in this area, by inerting this, it does not help us up in this area, and we caution the families about that. We're hoping that the heating or the fire was in 22 long wall. We'll be okay. If it was in that other area, we're going to have to take a step back again.

(CROSS TALK)

STRICKLIN: Could you-someone-

QUESTION: Are you bringing the crews back out, again, then?

STRICKLIN: We'd have to bring the crews back out and find a way to inert it. The one thing that we did, what we asked the company to do, there's a borehole in this area called the glory hole. The borehole connects this coal seam to another coal seam above it about 150 feet. We've made arrangements for a plastic Tygon (ph) tubing to be dropped into this mine from the mine above, and the mine -- the mine rescue team is going to connect up underground to the tubing that's laying there, run the tubing up to this area here, and set up a sampling location. So, we're going to get the same result without having to drill a hole from the surface to determine when an area's clear or not. If we had to put nitrogen in this borehole back here, which is only 100 feet from going through into the mine.

QUESTION: Is there any hope that they will find any miners, if they are in that area, are still alive?

STRICKLIN: There's always hope. I mean, we talked earlier if they had gotten into it, we talked 96 hours of oxygen with 15 people at-we're right now at 95 hours. So, we're confident that if they got in there and they were alive, that we would be able to still rescue them. We're probably somewhere in the vicinity right now, hopefully, of getting in there within three and a half to four hours to that refuge chamber.

QUESTION: Is it my understanding that these refuge chambers impart communications up to the surface. What kind of (OFF MIC) do they have and (OFF MIC)./

STRICKLIN: After an explosion, it totally has wiped out any type of wiring or communication that we would have had with that refuge chamber.

QUESTION: Is it cleared of debris or will they be able to use the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) vehicle to get back there?

STRICKLIN: They'll have to do what they've done, they'll travel into a certain point and go by foot. It has not been cleared of debris yet.

QUESTION: Were you able to find out if they have any other miners who have already been (OFF MIC)

STRICKLIN: On this next trip they will not pass any of the miners, except they will pass the six miners that are on the man trip, in the 22 long-wall section to get to the refuge chamber.

QUESTION: I'm sorry, I was asking, you said at the last conference you weren't certain whether or not they had seen any on the last time. Do you know if they did?

STRICKLIN: I'm not sure if they passed anybody on the last trip or not.

QUESTION: Do you know anything about the quality of the debris?

STRICKLIN: No, it's rescue. But right on the heels of rescue, if things look good, will be the start of the recovery. We're still in a rescue mode until we're confident -- until we find out what's going on at that refuge chamber that we have not visited.

QUESTION: Are these upper guys, the rescue crews, from the mine or are they outside help?

STRICKLIN: They're upper -- they're from the mine, but the backup teams, I believe, are from surrounding mines. And if we get into a recovery operation, we'll have a number of teams from outside of this mine, because we're going to try to put a number of teams in there to try to -

QUESTION: (OFF MIC)

STRICKLIN: That is correct.

QUESTION: Sir, once you move to recovery, how long does that take?

(AUDIO GAP)

STRICKLIN: a-idea or a timetable. I mean, that's going to be a slow process, and it depends how quickly we're able to clear the debris, to have vehicles that would move the bodies from the face area out to where we can load the big-the miners bodies onto vehicles to bring them outside.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: Now, how are the families doing?

QUESTION: Are you splitting up? Will those two teams be splitting up once again, one team checking on the one miner, and the other one will be checking on the other three?

STRICKLIN: They will not be splitting up. One team will be kept-will be referred to as the fresh-air base, as a backup team. And one team will be advancing into long wall 22.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: (OFF MIC)

STRICKLIN: We had not found him. We know that he would have had to made it to a refuge chamber to survive, in a-I guess in a perfect world we would have hoped, for whatever reason, he would be with the other three miners. There's no way with the atmospheres that we've seen that anybody could have survived outside of that chamber. QUESTION: Do you go look for him after the rescue chamber is checked out?

STRICKLIN: Ultimately he would be part, if there-if we didn't find anybody in the refuge chamber, we're still going to be trying to find where the four miners would have been located. But we're very confident that if they didn't make it to-if they didn't make it to this refuge chamber, there's no way they could have survived.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: Kevin, can you talk about the man trip? I'm really not going to stop asking you. Can we talk about the man trip with the six on it. Were they in a position to be leaving the mine? Meaning that there were three others, who were not leaving the mine at that time? Or could those three others have been -- I feel like this is important.

STRICKLIN: OK. This was a preliminary, I guess, possibility, I'll call it. And the feeling was that there were six miners getting ready to come out of the mine, and there was an individual that was giving orders to two miners to stay in the mine in between shifts, which is typical of this mine, maybe to continue roof bolting, to do some maintenance work before the other crew got up there. And then that -- two miners would stay in, the third miner would come, and he would drive that man trip out of that 22 long-wall section; it's the preliminary thought process right now.

(END LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)

VELSHI: All right, you're listening to Kevin Stricklin, he's with the U.S. Mine & Safety Health Administration, saying that if those four miners that they're looking for did not make it to the a rescue chamber, there's no chance they would have survived.

However, they are still holding out hope that they are in a remaining rescue chamber. They made it to the rescue chamber and they say within three and a half to four hours they'll be able to get back in the mine and resume the rescue operation.

Governor Joe Manchin saying this remains a rescue operation, it's not a recovery operation yet, for those four miners. And they're holding out hope that those four miners may be alive.

We'll take a quick break. I'm going to continue my conversation with Mark Skoda, the founding Memphis Tea Party. He's standing by. I want to talk to him about some of their very key policies and ideals, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I want to continue my conversation with Mark Skoda, founder of the Memphis Tea Party; he's joining me now. Hey, Mark we talked a lot of politics. I want to get down to nitty-gritty, Tea Party principles. Fiscal responsibility is at the top of the list. I want to talk about that. I'm a business guy. Experts on both the Right and the Left say that we have an out-of-control debt and deficit and, frankly, spending cuts alone cannot make it work. There are not a lot of economists who believe that can work. In other words, you got to cut spending and you have to raise taxes. Can you get your head around that and can the Tea Party get their head around that?

SKODA: Well, look, I think that-and this is something I talk a lot about even on the discussions I have. The truth of the matter is, arithmetically, we can't get our way out of this. We can't cut government enough with the entitlements.

VELSHI: Right.

SKODA: And the debt financing. And so the ugly truth is that while our legislators have promised us nirvana, they are delivering us to the bottom of abyss.

VELSHI: But who is going to get elected? Even the Tea Party says we need lower taxes. The reality is nobody gets elected by saying we need higher taxes, but we kind of do.

SKODA: Indeed, I would suggest to you, first of all, stop expanding government. We just put in one of the largest entitlements in the history of the nation. We're talking about expanding a new bureaucracy for the financial management. We continue to expand existing bureaucracies by over 20 percent in the Obama budget, stop that first.

And then I think people will say. we'll take a realistic look at the realities of what we're dealing with, and make informed judgments. I think that the truth of the matter is that for so long we've been promised this idea that by expanding government, and growing the economy that we'll be able to pay for this all. But we, indeed, cannot.

And people are unwilling to trust our government to suggest that, well, if you only raise taxes to pay this debt off, we'll do that. When, indeed, we see this constant expansion of government. I think that's the fundamental disconnect.

VELSHI: All right, we'll have to talk more about that. Maybe we can sit and do some math together and see sort of how -- what it has to be. Because if we can at least give our viewers a realistic view of what their future looks like in terms of finance and this government, how much they'll owe. I think we'll have achieved something.

More to talk about. We're out of time, Mark, thanks very much for sticking by through that breaking news. Mark Skoda is the founder of the Memphis Tea Party -founder and chairman of the Memphis Tea Party.

All right. We'll take a break. When we come back-there he is. Talk about dedication. He doesn't even have a real TV camera in front of him and he's still with us. Ed Henry on Skype, joining us in just a moment. Stay with us.

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VELSHI: Ed Henry, every day we have him here as our senior White House correspondent. He's so dedicated, this guy, everybody has left Prague, from the press corps. Even clearly our cameraman and he's taken the camera with him. So, Ed kept his computer and he's joining us from Prague via Skype, all by himself.

I feel bad for you.

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Dedication or maybe desperation? I don't know. Although myself, had to be on TV, no matter what, and also desperation because I miss you, Ali.

VELSHI: I miss you, too, Ed. And do you know who we're going to miss?

HENRY: I'll be home soon.

VELSHI: We will be missing John Paul Stevens, Justice John Paul Stevens, who has announced his retirement. I don't know if you got the news over there. From the Supreme Court, he says he's going to be retiring this summer.

HENRY: I've got the Internet.

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Yes, we've got the Internet over here, believe it or not, and we did get the news.

I think it's fascinating on a number of levels. Just yesterday Robert Gibbs was saying in terms of the Senate and the atmosphere in Washington right now, that even if you tried to rename a post office right now, you'd start a fight. So, now you bring in a supreme court nomination, no matter who this president picks, there's going to be a fight about it. It's just a question of how big of a fight.

I think one thing to watch is that the wide assumption is always, you know, there's a list. And a certain number of names on it, and it's often a lot of federal judges on that list. And the assumption is that's who it's going to be, one of those federal judges. But a lot of people close to the president say that he-the first time around, when he picked Justice Sotomayor, who was a federal judge, he was toying with the idea of picking somebody who was outside the box, not a federal judge. Maybe a senator, maybe somebody who is just outside politics, but in his words, his thoughts privately, somebody who can sort of connect with average Americans.

Now, Conservatives hear that and they worry that it might be a sort of liberal activist of some kind. But I can tell you, that's something to look for, is that it may not be sort of one of the people we are expecting at the top of that sort of short list. It may be somebody outside the box who is not a federal judge, maybe somebody a little bit different.

VELSHI: That's going to be interesting to follow, because I know one of the people is Elena Kagan, who has been suggested. Jeff Toobin's been talking about her, she's 49 years old, solicitor general, but not -- not a judge. So that will be interesting to watch.

Ed, got to ask you a question. There are people walking. Where are you? Are you on a park bench or something? Like where are you doing this from?

HENRY: Yes, I'm at like a restaurant table, OK? This is Old Town Square, I'd move it around, but it would probably shake too much. Old Town Square, in Prague.

VELSHI: Try it, try it. Show us. It's a beautiful square.

HENRY: All right, maybe I'll move it around a little bit. I don't know if you can see people sort of walking around here?

VELSHI: Oh, yeah, I can totally see it.

HENRY: This is kind of where people gather. There's a big bell tower behind me and at the top of every hour, basically, people gather around. And they hear the bells toll. And it's kind of cool they do a little show for a couple of minutes. Everybody gathers around and they hoop and holler, and, in fact, I've got a dinner reservation in about three minutes, so if we can wrap this up.

VELSHI: In fact, I'll give it to you in less than that, because we've got to go. Thanks for sticking around in Prague. We look forward to having you back stateside. But that is a beautiful square.

Ed Henry, all by himself, just to make sure he finished out the week with "The Ed Henry Segment." We'll leave with a tribute to Ed Henry.

HENRY: Thanks, guys. See you later.

VELSHI: "RICK'S LIST" is coming up next, with Don Lemon who sitting in for Rick Sanchez, right after this break.