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Elizabeth Edwards Gravely Ill; What's Next for Tax Cut Deal; WikiLeaks Founder Arrested, Denied Bail in London Court; Hot Off The Political Ticker; The Help Desk; Trending on the Internet

Aired December 07, 2010 - 12:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Tony is off today.

It is the top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where, of course, anything can happen.

Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.

President Obama's tax cut deal with Republicans. We expect to hear from the White House in a briefing this hour, and in a moment we are breaking down how much the tax cuts cost.

The media frenzy outside a London courtroom where Julian Assange, the man who released secret documents on the Internet, went to court to face sexual misconduct allegations. We're live in London for you.

And you're online right now, and we are, too. One of the interesting stories on CNN.com is about a billion bad new $100 bills. They add up to one big headache for the Treasury Department.

Let's get started with our lead story right now.

For much of this decade we have watched Elizabeth Edwards, wife of two-time presidential candidate John Edwards. We have watched her wage a courageous and very public battle with cancer. And now sad word today. She may have only a few weeks to live.

She is back at her North Carolina home. Her husband, her children, her brother and her sister by her side.

And the message on her Facebook page reads, in part -- here it is -- she says, "I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful."

We're joined now by our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

The Edwards family says her doctors have advised her against further treatment for her cancer, and they're saying it would be unproductive. So we kind of know what that means.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's sad. It's so sad to hear the story.

But, you know, I don't want to sound too clinical, but obviously they're talking about the risk/benefit equation that often takes place in medicine. Is the treatment sometimes worse than the disease itself? What is the best expected outcome?

It's probably not fair to say that she stopped treatment, Don. It's more that they're no longer talking about trying to control her cancer, as much as they're talking about treating the symptoms that are associated with this disease in its late stages. You know, the pain -- she says she's not in pain, but nausea and vomiting.

LEMON: But if she was, they would keep her out of pain, or do things to keep her from -- but things like radiation or chemotherapy.

GUPTA: Chemotherapy, that sort of stuff.

LEMON: Yes.

GUPTA: They're really not talking about that anymore. So it's talking about sort of keeping her comfortable over the next several weeks.

LEMON: Basically, just to be honest, they're saying enjoy your life without having to do all of this because we don't think that there's much more that can be done for you.

GUPTA: That modern medicine can offer. And even in the begin, at some point when someone is newly diagnosed, they talk about, can we cure this? And then if this cancer spreads to another organ, they say, well, can we control this? Maybe not so much cure, but at least control. And now they're saying, look, you know, we don't think we can, but let's make sure the remaining life is a good quality of life.

LEMON: Right.

So many people are affected by cancer. So is there anything medically after this? There's really nothing. So if someone is facing is similar situation, there's really nothing medically that can be done. Right?

GUPTA: Yes. I mean, I think it's safe to say we know that for the vast majority of women, cancer is not a one disease. It's a lot of different diseases, even within an individual.

So how someone may react is very different than how someone else will. And the 10-year survival rate for breast cancer is around 80 percent; the five-year survival rate, around 88 percent. Those are good numbers, Don, despite what we're talking about today.

And even Elizabeth Edwards will say, as far as lessons learned, I think a lot of women woke up this morning and said, maybe I should have gotten that mammogram last year. I know it's not a perfect screening test, but I probably should get it. But I've been putting it off. And Elizabeth Edwards even said, look, I put it off for a few years and wish I hadn't. LEMON: Yes. That was my next question to you. Like, what can we learn? Because she's the kind of person -- I don't know her personally, but in interviews -- who would want people to learn a lesson from this. And is that it?

GUPTA: I think safe to say. And since the beginning, since she was first diagnosed, she's been very open about this, she's been very forthright. But she also said, you know, who knows if it would have made a difference if she got those mammograms, but, you know, a lot of people who hear this story today -- and it's a sad one -- they say, I'm not going to put it off. I'm going to make sure I get this test. It's not perfect, but it can maybe catch something early.

LEMON: And that always happens. And she may save one, 100, a million people, you don't know.

GUPTA: You never know.

LEMON: But she probably will help someone.

Thank you, Dr. Gupta.

GUPTA: Thank you.

LEMON: Always good seeing you even under such bad circumstances.

I want to talk a little bit more about Elizabeth Edwards.

She is 61, born in Jacksonville, Florida. She met John Edwards at law school in North Carolina. They married in the summer of 1977 and had four children. The couple separated earlier this year after he admitted, John Edwards did, fathering a child with his one-time mistress, Rielle Hunter, during his 2008 run for the White House.

The Justice Department is looking into payments Hunter received from the Edwards campaign. And last Thursday, two of Edwards' former top aides testified before a grand jury that has been meeting since last year.

I hate to even bring that up when you're talking about Elizabeth Edwards and cancer, but it is part of the story. And we wish her and her family the very best.

OK. Let's move on now.

The deal is on the table but the devil is in the details. We begin with the main points of the deal between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders on the Bush tax cuts.

It calls for extending the tax cuts for everyone for two years. The president only wanted to keep them in place for the middle class.

It includes an extension of unemployment benefits for another 13 months. Also in the deal, a payroll tax holiday. Every worker gets a two percent cut in Social Security taxes next year.

If you make $60,000, that means an additional $1,200 in your paycheck. That's good news, more money.

Two big questions about the tax cut deal, though. What happens next? And can the U.S. afford it? Can we afford it?

Our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, crunching the numbers. Brianna Keilar is our congressional correspondent. She is covering the action on Capitol Hill.

We'll start with Brianna.

Brianna, what's going on? Have you seen any lawmakers? What's the reaction so far?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a hard sell, and talking now, we've been table to speak with some senators this morning. Democrats, you can see just how difficult it's going to be.

Senate Democrats meeting this hour. They're going to be mulling over this agreement between the White House and Republicans. And Vice President Joe Biden is going to be here to try and defend the deal, as one aide put it to us.

But talking with, for instance, Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, he told us that this has a "let them eat cake quality." There's a lot of Democrats who feel like the rich are getting a lot and middle class Americans, lower-income Americans aren't getting as much as they should.

Not only are the wealthy, Don, getting those -- in those lower- income rates extended, but there's also something else in this. It's an estate tax exemption.

So, for inheritances that people would get for $5 million or less, it would be tax-free. And that has a lot of Democratic senators going, wait just a second. You know, we don't like this.

So that's what Joe Biden is going to be dealing with when he comes to talk to senators. And we're also expecting House Democrats to be meeting this evening. They may be even tougher to sell on this than Senate Democrats.

LEMON: Yes, because essentially it is adding to the deficit. We're going to talk more to Ali Velshi about that. But is this going to fly on Capitol Hill, Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. And that's adding -- this is $600 billion to $800 billion, is the cost estimate. That is a whole lot of money. Right? It is.

It's deficit spending. And so now there's another open question about, are there going to be some moderate Democrats who in the past have said we have a big problem with these price tags that just add to the deficit. But not just them. What about some of those Republican who may also have an issue?

That's something that we're trying to figure out. It could be a sticking point.

LEMON: Ali Velshi, our chief business correspondent, can the country afford it right now? Because as Brianna said, this is $600 billion to $800 billion. It is roughly the cost of the president's enormous stimulus program last year, which was --

(CROSSTALK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Which, by the way Republicans didn't go anywhere near.

LEMON: Right.

VELSHI: So I'll tell you this, the short answer to your question is we can afford it if it does what all these Republicans are saying it's going to do, and that is stimulate growth and employ people. If it doesn't, there's a big difference.

If you put money into the hands of people who have no other money, like unemployment insurance benefits, they have to spend all that money. It's directly stimulative to the economy and returns about $1.60 or $1.90 to the economy.

When you put money in the hands of very wealthy people, one of two things can happen. They can save it or they can invest it.

And they might invest it in businesses that then expand and create jobs, but there's an "if" on that side. So, if this does what Republicans say it's going to do, then it will. But if it doesn't, take a look at what I've got on the wall over there.

I've got a picture of what will happen to -- that's the deficit. OK? And you see it getting bigger and bigger out to 2019.

The red part is the contribution that these Bush-era tax cuts make to the deficit. And as you can see, as we go further and further out, it becomes a bigger proportion. In fact, it becomes the lion's share of the deficit.

So, there had better be some good news along this. And from what Brianna just said, it does look like the Republicans won more than the Democrats did in this discussion.

LEMON: For the average guy sitting at home who is still going to get a tax cut, but not as much as the wealthy, they're going, "What?" Why would Republicans want to give tax cuts to the wealthy in this economy?

VELSHI: And what's very puzzling about this is our exit polls after the election indicated most Americans did want the tax cut for themselves, but didn't believe that it should be extended to families earning more than $250,000. So it is a little bit puzzling.

Now, I will tell you one thing, and let's be fair -- this is something that often gets left out of the discussion -- American is a land of small business. Many small business owners use a corporate structure, which means it's their own income. It goes through the business, but it's not a separate corporate income.

So there are a lot of people in this $250,000 or more category who are not what you think of as rich. They are small business owners.

LEMON: All right. I was just coming of age in the '80s, during the whole Reagan and --

VELSHI: But you were sort of born in '89, but OK.

LEMON: Yes, in '96. But you know what this reminds me of? Sort of trickle-down economics, supply side economics. A Democrat with supply side economics?

VELSHI: Well, look, the bottom line is you know we were at an impasse, and they had to make a deal. So from a political perspective, this is quite a compromise. I'll give everybody on Capitol Hill credit for that. But financially, this may not be ideal.

LEMON: Ali Velshi, our chief business correspondent.

Thank you. We'll see you back here in less than an hour, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

VELSHI: Right.

LEMON: OK. Thank you, sir.

All right. We'll move on to talk about the founder of WikiLeaks appearing in a London courtroom, but not for spilling diplomatic secrets. We'll tell you the outcome of his hearing related to sex crime allegations.

First, though, our "Random Moment" in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.

A judge denies bail for the founder of the Web site WikiLeaks. Julian Assange -- there you see him right there -- he appeared in court in London within the past two hours. He was arrested on a warrant from Swedish authorities who want to question him about sex crime allegations.

Let's take you now to London. And she was in the courtroom. Atika Shubert joins us now.

Atika, where is he, and do we even know the outcome of this court hearing?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know is he's basically spending the night in jail. The judge decided to deny him bail, and he has been remanded into custody for at least a week, until December 14th. In the hearing, Julian Assange very clearly stated that he did not give his consent to be sent back to Sweden. That certainly indicates that he will fight any extradition back to Sweden to face those allegations.

And he maintains that he is innocent. And he has denied all of these allegations of sex crimes.

We did hear very briefly from his lawyer, Mark Stephens, as he exited the courtroom. Here's what he said about the allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK STEPHENS, ATTORNEY: This is going to go viral. Many people will come forward to stand for Mr. Assange. Many people believe Mr. Assange to be innocent, myself included. And many people believe that this prosecution is politically motivated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now, you heard him say there that many people believe the prosecution is politically motivated. Well, Sweden's prosecutor has responded already, saying that there is no political pressure on the Swedish prosecutor's office to put this case forward, that it's simply according to Swedish law.

But clearly, that's not how Julian Assange's supporters feel. In fact, as he was taken away in the police van earlier, a number of supporters chased after the van, holding up signs saying that the truth will come out, and saying that he has effectively become a political prisoner.

LEMON: All right. Atika Shubert in London.

Atika, thank you very much. A very interesting story that we will be following.

Also, big news today. President Barack Obama announced a deal last night with the GOP that will result in an extension of the Bush tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of the year. Of course nothing's final yet, but Wall Street is already reacting as though it is a done deal.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LEMON: And this advice is not for Carter Evans, because he told me already he doesn't do it, but lying to your spouse is not advisable. But 80 percent of Americans admit to telling little green lies, hiding purchases from their spouse. Eighty percent of married couples hide that. Can you believe that?

Well, that's according to a new survey. The biggest hidden stash for both husbands and wives this year was clothes and accessories. And we'll tell you about some other hidden stashes that really surprised us in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. A new survey says 80 percent of married couples in the U.S. have hidden purchases from their spouse in the last year. Twenty-four percent of men hid clothing purchases from their spouse, 43 percent of women did it.

Check this out. Nineteen percent of men actually admit to hiding alcohol from their spouses. Well, the guys knew that. But you guys don't know that. And eight percent of women admitted to the same thing. That is not a good sign.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: You know, it is a painful irony of the foreclosure crisis, thousands of vacant homes. And at the same time, a growing number of American families are facing homelessness.

CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow joins us from New York now.

Poppy, good afternoon to you.

Some activists want to join these two issues. They want to put them together.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes. It's interesting.

I mean, we're coming to the end of the year, a year that's been just abysmal for anyone facing foreclosure. The pain continues, Don, into the new year.

But what we found is this activist group that's called Take Back the Land. They operate in about 15 cities across the country, and their belief is that housing is a human right, that it's wrong that we have all of these vacant, foreclosed homes and so many people in this country who are homeless.

So what they're doing is they're taking matters into their own hands. They're moving homeless families into some of these vacant properties.

And in just a minute we're going to introduce you to a couple in Rochester, New York, on their moving day. But as you'll notice, they are concealed, their identities, because they're actually committing an illegal activity by trespassing, but they think it's the right thing to do.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I haven't had work for, you know, almost a year and a half. My unemployment has run out. I've been looking for jobs. I go to temp agencies and I put in a lot of effort to do a job search. But I'm eventually at this point looking at homelessness. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me. The fact that we can't get employment that's paying us to help us keep a roof over our heads, I mean, it's a little bit sickening. It is getting worse every day.

Nobody cares about that? I have two children. They'll have (ph) to sleep in a park. And thank God that Take Back the Land is there.

RYAN ACUFF, TAKE BACK THE LAND, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: Take Back the Land Rochester is a community organization which is part of a larger movement, which is seeking to make housing a human right and to have community control over housing and land, and by means of taking direct action to provide directly for people. So, for instance, moving families into foreclosed homes to liberate them, to be used for people and not just for the banks, not just for profit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we're going to one of these places, and we're going to try to recover there. We're going to watch the place become a positive part of the community. And when it becomes time to go off independently, we'll do that.

ACUFF: Our primary concern is not what's legal and illegal, but what's moral and immoral. I think it's immoral for people to be out on the street when there's thousands of houses that are still in good condition that could be used for people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of goals and dreams are being destroyed, but there's one thing that I know. Today, I have hope. Today, I'm one step closer to becoming independent again. Today, I'm going to be warm. I'm going to be fed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And, Don, we also, you know, spoke with the founder of this group. He said, "Look, we know what we're doing is illegal." That's the point.

Their take, Don, and it's different than most, is that the law protects vacant homes. They say it protects bank profits. They call it immoral, and they're challenging it.

And he does admit to us, look, sometimes people that we move into these homes get evicted again because they're breaking the law. But he said it's about the larger goal of raising awareness and trying to change the system that exists in this country that he and this entire group across 15 cities disagrees with quite a bit.

You can see that full story. That was just a little snippet of it. You can see the full story, Don, here on CNN Money.

LEMON: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: You got it.

LEMON: We're going to take you now live to the White House, live pictures of the White House, where any minute now, President Obama will give a briefing on the tax cut bill compromise. He's gotten lots of criticism for what some are calling a caving in to the Republican pressure to extend tax cuts to the wealthy.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Let's take a look at your top stories right now.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange refused to waive extradition to Sweden in a London court today. He was denied bail and will now have to stay in police custody until a hearing on December 14th. Assange turned himself in on a rape investigation warrant, but he says allegations are a smear campaign in retaliation for his release of the secret U.S. documents.

Days after President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, well, he did the same thing. Gates stopped at a base in Kunar province to visit with troops there.

More than 1.1 billion $100 bills have been put into time-out, so to speak while the Fed and officials look for the printing problem that has -- been unusable, really. The bills were supposed to be released next year, and were the first of a high-tech note that included a 3-D security ribbon, but obviously there are some problems with it. Officials say they are combating a sporadic creasing of the paper that is causing small blank spaces. Back to the drawing board so, to speak.

Some Democrats are angry about the tax cut deal between President Obama and GOP leaders. They say the president gave in too much and got too little in return. Now, while he was running for president, of course candidate Obama's props was no tax cut extension for the wealthy. Remember?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: End the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

And it means letting the bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire.

And rolling back the Bush tax cuts to the top one percent.

We have to roll back.

I want to roll back -

We're going to roll back -

Roll back the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthiest Americans.

For the wealthiest Americans --

For the wealthiest Americans --

For the wealthiest Americans --

It is true that I want to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the very wealthiest Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

LEMON: You see Gloria Borger there. Gloria is our senior political analyst. Gloria, that has got to hurt for him to hear that. We've been talking about what the perception is --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

LEMON: We have to move forward, but that's got to hurt.

BORGER: Well, it does. It's funny. I just got off the phone with a senior White House adviser and was talking about this. He said, look, we relish the chance when these expire to refight and relitigate that argument in 2012 because of course the tax cuts for the wealthy are going to expire in 2012, and they've made a political decision that they're going to take it on again.

But he also said to me, look, there's a new political reality here. If the Democrats had wanted to do this so badly, they could have done it before the election and they decided not to take the votes before the election on the middle-class tax cut. And so now we're --

LEMON: Wait. Hold on, hang on. What's the reason -- why did they decide that? Do you think they thought -

BORGER: Well, because they didn't have the votes.

LEMON: -- the chances were better on this side?

BORGER: It's interesting because they didn't want to be embarrassed. I mean, there was a possibility in the house, for example, before the election when you had all those moderate Democrats fighting for their lives, many of whom lost, that they didn't want to take the vote before the election because they didn't want to raise taxes on anybody.

So, the Democrats punted before the election, which is again -- this is what the White House is saying. They could have done it. They didn't. Now they're in a new political reality, and the new political reality is that they probably wouldn't have had the votes this time, particularly in the Senate, to extend just the tax cuts for middle class.

So this White House adviser said to me, okay, look, we had a choice. You get nothing done and you let the tax cuts expire on the middle class, or you cut a deal and in return you get unemployment insurance and payroll tax holiday and all the rest.

However, my argument also is, though, who's paying for this stuff?

LEMON: We are.

BORGER: We are.

LEMON: As Americans.

BORGER: Yes. Right.

LEMON: So the Democrats prolonged the pain, which usually if you just get it over with, you know, it's easier.

All right. I don't want to continue to go on and on and on about it because people say it's a bad deal, the Republicans say, oh thank you very much --

BORGER: It is what it is.

LEMON: What happens now? That's the question.

BORGER: Well, you know, this is -- this is really an interesting moment because what we're watching is President Obama essentially redefine himself as he heads into the next two years. They believe over at the White House that the public really likes the post-partisan Obama. They know they have to recapture those independent voters if they're going to get back the White House.

I think there's a moment coming up, and that's going to be in the state of the union, when the president can kind of try and redefine the arguments and say, look, okay, we just - we've just -- we're allocating all this money for the tax cuts, unemployment insurance. We've just had a deficit commission report that we are in deep trouble.

Maybe we ought to have a budget summit, not write any of these fake budgets, write a budget together. And by the way, how about reforming the tax code at the same time, which is what the deficit commission suggested? And you had three Senate Republicans on that deficit commission say, you know what? We'll take some tax increases if it's a part of reforming this tax code that we have that really doesn't work for anyone in this country.

So, he could -- he could, you know, throw the long ball here and say, OK, folks, big things, not little things.

LEMON: It's just interesting to me that every single Democrat that I have seen or heard speak about this said the Bush tax cuts -- the wealthy, no way, no way, no way, then all of a sudden it's like, what happened? Everything you have been fighting for -- there's been so much compromise with this administration, it's sort of mind- boggling to listen to it.

BORGER: Well, you know, I mean that's what liberals are saying. They're very upset. They're saying they weren't consulted in any of these negotiations.

But the White House calculation is, look, were you going to say to the middle class, by the way, OK, we're not going to give you your tax -- extension of your tax cuts because we're going to make a political argument about the wealthy?

LEMON: No, I hear you. I got you. But I don't think it's just liberals saying that. I've heard Republicans say that, too. "Don't ask, don't tell." There was promise there. There was a promise there would be a public option with health care. There was a promise these tax cuts wouldn't be extended for people making more than $250,000.

BORGER: Right.

LEMON: None of that was kept. And that is being said by all.

But I have to run here, Gloria, because we're running out of time.

BORGER: Right. We could continue.

LEMON: Yes. Thank you, thank you, Gloria Borger.

And we expect to hear from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs in a briefing scheduled for 12:45, and we'll monitor that and bring that part to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Half a million bucks and once-silent celebs are talking once again -- virtually, that is. "Showbiz Tonight's" co- host Brooke Anderson is live in Los Angeles with the name that's got everyone talking in Hollywood. And who are they talking about and why is that?

BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: They are talking about Stuart Rahr (ph), Don, and for better or worse, that man is responsible for the fact that you will now once again know the minutiae of Kim Kardashian's every move.

LEMON: Oh, my gosh.

ANDERSON: Yes, Don, I know were just besides yourself with excitement about that. I can hear it in your voice.

Yes, after less than a week of being disconnected, all your favorite stars are going to be tweeting again, Facebooking, plugging back in online. Starting today, all of the celebrities who took part in what became nope as the Digital Death Campaign are resurrecting their online lives because they've already met their fund-raising goal of $1 million. So, it's pretty incredible.

"Showbiz Tonight" has confirmed that the public campaign raised half the goal, and this billionaire philanthropist, Stuart Rarh, stepped in to match the amount. Alicia Keys co-founded the campaign. It was targeted to World Aids Day to support children affected by HIV and AIDS.

Around two dozen stars, Don, died digitally in the effort, among them Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, the Kardashians, Ryan Seacrest, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, many others. LEMON: I saw Ryan Seacrest - there was a tweet or something or someone fowarded it to me about Ryan Seacrest. In his picture, his handle or whatever the picture on Twitter, he was, like, in a casket, like a dead guy. And I was like that is weird, what are you doing?

ANDERSON: The images, the words - the images, the words were pretty morbid and haunting, but they really wanted to get people's attention and obviously they did because they raised their goal of a million dollars.

And Don, it was a real challenge for some of these stars to stop communicating online because for some of them they live and breathe Twitter and Facebook. So, it was a sacrifice.

LEMON: They like directly talking to their fans and to people they want to influence. So yes, understandably so.

Someone who may wish he wasn't talking so much today is actor Ed O'Neill.

ANDERSON: Don, Ed may have said a little bit too much. The beloved sitcom star just slammed another. Ed O'Neill, as we know, stars in modern family. And he just launched a giant grenade at the zillions of "Glee" fans or Gleeks, as they like to call themselves. He has revealed very publicly that he doesn't think Jane Lynch, "Glee's" vicious Sue Sylvester, deserve to win the Emmy for her role in "Glee."

LEMON: Oh.

ANDERSON: Mm-hmm. Say it ain't so. O'Neill told "TV Guide Canada," quote - listen to this, " I love Jane, honestly, I do. I'm dying to star in one of Christopher Guest's movies alongside her" - here's the kicker - "but I don't think she should have gotten the Emmy for that part. Sue Sylvester is just a one-note character." Harsh.

Here's why he said this, Don. O'Neill was just being supportive of his co-star, Sophia Vergara, who was nominated against Lynch. He feels she should have won the Emmy instead. He said, "Sophia is just so, so funny. I don't think people realize how hilarious she is. She's so sharp with her wit, it's amazing."

Don, Sophia plays Ed's on-screen wife. So, he was just being a protective, supportive co-star.

LEMON: My only reaction is to that is, ooh, not a good move. You don't want to criticize a co-worker in public. So, that's not good. I don't watch "Glee," but I have to ask you this. Maybe you have some connections. You can help me get a walking part on the show.

"The Walking Dead" is amazing, smashing records for ratings. Unbelievable. Can you get me a job as a zombie?

ANDERSON: I'll do my best to work on that, get you a cameo in there. LEMON: It's a great show. Do you watch it?

ANDERSON: It is fantastic. I have. I have. I love it.

LEMON: Thank you, Brooke.

Want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? Brooke's got it in this evening's - got it this evening on "Showbiz Tonight." It's at 5:00 and 11:00 p.m., of course it's on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right, we have some developing news that concerns the president, Washington and you. We're being told that the president is going to make marks at 2:20 p.m. Eastern, 2:20 p.m. Eastern. Presumably it's going to be on that tax cut deal, extending the Bush era tax cuts that is drawing so much controversy from both Republicans and Democrats today. Again, the president will make remarks at 2:20 Eastern Time.

Usually the White House briefing starts right now, 12:45 Eastern. That has been moved back to 3:20 p.m. Eastern. So there is lots of wrangling going on in Washington behind the scenes actions to talk about how the president and the administration will react and deal with these tax cuts.

And here's the question, really, selling that tax deal to disappointed Democrats. Wolf Blitzer, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," live from the political desk in Washington.

He's going to have a tough time selling this. And at 2:20, him making remarks, that says about how big a deal this is, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I think it, Don, is going to be more than just making remarks. I think he's going to go into the White House Press Briefing Room and not only make a statement, but then start answering reporters' questions. Remember, last night at around 6:30 p.m. Eastern, when he came out and he made a statement announcing what he called the framework agreement for the tax rates, he said he wanted to engage with the American people, engage with Congress. He also said he wanted to engage with the media.

Well, this is going to be the start of his engaging with the media, going into the White House Briefing Room, making a statement, answering reporters' questions. Lots of questions, obviously, about the framework agreement. Is it a done deal? Is it not a done deal. Lots of criticism. And, ironically, he's getting more criticism from his own party, from the liberal base in the Democratic Party, than he is from the Republicans. A lot of Republicans say this is a good deal, they're grateful that the president has decided to keep the same tax rates, not just for the middle class, but for everyone, including as the president used to like to say, millionaires and billionaires.

LEMON: Hey, Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, Don.

LEMON: Can I ask you this? Just from listening to the reaction to this, I have been hearing people say, at least in the '90s, when this happened to President Clinton and President Clinton would just say no to everything that the Congress sent to him because they wanted -- he wanted them to know that he was in charge. President Obama is not doing that. So Republicans may be emboldened to try even more things because they think this president may be a pushover. What are people saying about that?

BLITZER: Well, that's one of the criticisms that he caved, they say, too quickly. He should have gone further in this threat that he was only going to allow the tax rates, the Bush tax rates, to continue for 98 percent of the American people, those earning less than $250,000 a year. That he caved too quickly. A lot of the Democrats are not happy with some other aspects of the deal, especially the estate tax that would allow the first $5 million of someone's estate to be tax free and then above $5 million, 35 percent, tax rate.

Some of the parts of the deal the Democrats like, like extending for 13 months the unemployment benefits. So there's going to be a lot of fallout from this, and I'm sure the president is going to be forceful when he goes out and meets with reporters at 2:20 today in making his case why he thinks he was protecting the middle class, why he thinks that allowing these same lower tax rates for the middle class to continue will create jobs, some of the other benefit that he included in the package, as well. But he's going to get grief from his liberal base. He already is. There's a lot of disappointment on that side.

LEMON: Is there --

BLITZER: And there still is some question, I'm not so sure how much of a question, whether or not the House and the Senate will pass all of this. That work still remains to be done. That's why he and the vice president and others are going out to sell this deal.

LEMON: Yes, is there anything he can say in these remarks or this briefing, when he talks with reporters at 2:20, because essentially he's talking to the country and he's talking to his fellow Democrats, as well. Is there anything that he can say to pull them on board and to make them more at ease during this news conference?

BLITZER: Yes, he's going to say, look, you know, I'm protecting the middle class. I'm going to protect a million or two million potential jobs. He's going to say, save or create jobs by allowing this middle class tax cut to remain in effect, the tax cuts that were approved in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration.

He's got some strong arguments, some strong talking points. He'll make those points. There will be some disappointment. I suspect in the end the deal will be approved. They'll get the two-year extension in the Bush era tax cuts for everyone and then they can move on to some of the other issues.

And, remember, the president's got other important issues he wants this lame duck Congress to deal with, including ratifying the START treaty with Russia. That's a high priority for him. And if he works this deal out, he might be able to get that ratified by the Senate. He needs 67 votes in the Senate to ratify the treaty. It's not going to be easy, but I know that's a major priority for the president.

LEMON: Well, we're going to be standing by watching that. I would imagine that one of the main crux of his argument, or whatever he's going to talk about, is that this -- we have to move beyond politics and help the American people and I feel that this is the best deal.

Wolf, thank you very much. I know you'll be covering it. We appreciate your expertise.

And, again, we're going to bring you live coverage of the president's remarks, the president's news conference, as a matter of fact, you heard Wolf say he's going to go into the briefing room and he's going to talk to reporters and answer questions, 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time.

And your next political update coming up in one hour. For the latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com.

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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk," where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour, Donna Rosato, she's a senior writer with "Money," and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is a columnist for walletpop.com.

All right, ladies, glad you're hear. We've got one question coming in to us today from Trey in New Jersey who writes, "are there any websites that could help me find a financial adviser or planner with legitimate credentials I can trust?"

Lynette, what do you think about that?

LYNNETTE KHALFANI-COX, COLUMNIST, WALLETPOP.COM: Yes, there are actually two great websites out there to help you find a financial planner. One is NAPFA. It's the National Association of Personal Financial Advisers. Their website is napfa.org. Another one is the Institute for Certified Financial Planners. Their website for a certified financial planner is fpanet.org. I know that's a mouthful, but those are two great organizations where you can trust those certified professionals.

ELAM: And that's good information for everyone to have.

All right, our next question comes to us from AA who writes in, "we currently own a home and have a 30-year mortgage at 6.5 percent. We've heard a lot about refinancing and would like to but we're not sure how we should pursue it. Should we get quotes? Which websites should we consult for advice?"

So just getting started here, Donna? DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, MONEY MAGAZINE: This is a great time to refinance. Rates have been well below 5 percent for a while. Two things to keep in mind when you're refinancing, though, is to make sure if you can get a rate at least one percentage point lower than what you currently have and then make sure that you can -- that you're going to be in your house at least four years to cover the cost of the refinancing.

So what website should you go to? It's good to shop around. There are a number of websites that will give you quotes, lendingtree.com, refinance.com, bankrate.com, HSH. Those are a couple of the most popular ones. But, remember, the thing that's going to drive your rate the most is your credit score. So you want to make sure to know what your credit score is. The better your credit, the lower the rate you're going to qualify for.

ELAM: And that's just good information to have.

All right, thanks so much, Lynette. Thanks, Donna.

And, you know, if you have a question out there that you -- tinkering around in your mind, you want to get it answered, go ahead and send us an e-mail any time at cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

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LEMON: If it's hot on the web, of course, we're watching it for you. Sandra Endo is in Washington today with what's trending.

So, Sandra, nationwide, many people are observing Pearl Harbor Day. So what are people saying about it?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Don. A lot of reaction on Twitter. It's trending today and it's an event that took place on this day in 1941. Let's take a look at the Twitter board. Some people are tweeting, "how shall we best honor the heroes of Pearl Harbor? Peace." Very simple. Very well said.

Another tweet here. "Pearl Harbor Day. Remember those that died, quote, on the day that will live in infamy." And that's, of course, what FDR said at the time.

So, Don, just getting real quickly to other news that's trending right now. Take a look at this article. It's pretty interesting, on cnn.com. In the health section. And basically it says that older men aren't getting their groove on in their 70s, 80s, and even in their 90s. OK. So basically this story says that, yes, you know, that men should do what they do, just be out there on the prowl regardless of age. So if you want to know all the juicy details, check it out on cnn.com.

And one more video I want to show you that's trending today online, take a look. It's from "The Tonight Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it will actually yield results before the end of the year, and I look forward to continuing this dialogue in the months ahead. Thank you very much, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: OK. That was the president doing that. That was just some really good editing, Don.

LEMON: That was great. I didn't see that. That was good.

And to your other story, hey, look, little blue pill, miracle drug.

Thanks, Sandra.

We're back.

ENDO: Oh, geez. Don't go there. OK.

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