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Six GOP Candidates at South Carolina Forum; Palin Sells Herself as Populist; Lee Causes Flooding, Damages Homes; New Orleans 10-13 Inches of Rain; A 1,000 Homes Could Burn in Texas; Katia Loses Some of Its Punch; American Student Fights for Freedom; DNA Critical in American's Appeal; Tornado Hits Near Albany, New York; Explosive Stolen from Airport; Man Found Dead in NFL Player's Pool; NYT: $25 Fee to Visit Prisoners; Perry At Town Hall Event in South Carolina; Perry Pulls Out of South Carolina Forum; Violence Outside Mubarak Trial; Honda Recalling 936,000 Cars; Nadal Cramps Up After Open Match; Perry at Town Hall Event in South Carolina; World Markets Tumble

Aired September 05, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Alina Cho. Thanks for joining us this Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer and a traditional showcase for politicians.

It's a busy day. Today, the spotlight shines on presidential candidates. This hour Rick Perry will kick off a town forum in Conway, South Carolina. Later, he'll be among the six Republican candidates taking part this afternoon in the Palmetto Freedom Forum. It's hosted by Senator Jim DeMint, a leader of a conservative movement that includes the Tea Party.

Sarah Palin won't be there, but she's certainly getting a lot of attention. Straight ahead, we'll share some of the comments that have raised her profile and quite a few eyebrows.

But first, it's anything, but a holiday for Americans reeling from extreme weather. Lee has weakened to a tropical depression, but it's still a massive rainmaker that could make travel across much of the country a nightmare.

And the storm's winds have helped fuel wildfires in central Texas this hour. A 1,000 homes are in danger near Austin.

And later today, Hurricane Katia will unleash its first impact on the east coast. We are tracking that storm and tell you where it's headed in just a moment.

Let's begin though with the flooding rains pounding the Gulf Coast since Lee made landfall in Louisiana over the weekend. CNN's Ed Lavendera is in Crown Point. Ed, good morning to you.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina. Folks on this Labor Day are dealing with floodwaters, fighting back the floodwaters that creeping into these communities south of New Orleans, from the waters ways and canals from the Gulf of Mexico.

What folks here are desperately waiting for is for the winds from the slow-moving storm, which is now a tropical depression, but Tropical Storm Lee as it came through here has winds has been pushing water north for three or four days now. And that's brining flood waters and pushing the water out of canals and waterways into these communities.

And everywhere you look, you see roadways like this, for much of the morning, many of these roads into communities of Crown Point and Lafitte, Louisiana had been blocked off. They're starting open up some now because high tide is starting to go down a little bit.

But if you look back over here in the distance, you see the floodwaters just creeping up to the homes and the doorsteps of many homes. We've seen that repeatedly as we've driven around these communities here in the last day or so.

And what officials here are doing is they've got big trucks dropping huge banks of sand and they're using makeshift levees to try to control the water situation. But everywhere you look, and this is areas that are outside of the levee protection system down here in the New Orleans area.

And that's why you're seeing that these are low-lying areas, used to this kind of thing. It's always one of those situations that really wreak a lot of havoc. And it's costly, this is costing Jefferson Parish more than $200,000 to fight back to this flood. Alina.

CHO: All right, Ed Lavendera, thank you very much. Joining us from Louisiana. We want to turn to the bad situation in Texas, threatening wildfires near Austin. CNN's Chris Welch is in Bastrop County with the latest. What's it looking like where you are, Chris?

CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alina, here in Bastrop County, this is where the fire situation is most dire, most serious so to speak. There are fires covering about 24 counties in Texas right now, most of that surrounding the Austin area.

Now I don't know if you can see very well behind me, but you can see a little bit I think the dark clouds, the dark plumes of smoke that's kind of gathering up inside and getting caught in those clouds there.

That fire where we -- we were able to get I guess I could say about three miles from here. That's as close as they are letting us get to this fire. Officials are warning, this is very, very dangerous, not just for us, not just for the people to live there.

But also to the people who are forced to go in and do their jobs basically and help rescue people who may still be caught inside and for firefighters to put this thing out.

They will actually be cutting a couple of black hawk helicopters in the air dumping a mixture of water and fire retardants on this thing.

But at this point, you know, it's anyone's guess where it will go. The winds have been very steady, actually they've been picking up. They've gotten steadier. So it's a dangerous situation here right now.

And there are about 8,000 residents in the city of Bastrop alone, and 75,000 in the county. So this is threatening a lot of people, a lot of homes at are stake here. Alina.

CHO: Chris Welch live for us in Texas. Chris, thank you very much. We want to go to the weather center now. Meteorologist Rob Marciano, you're obviously watching the winds in Texas, and the storm that was Lee and Hurricane Katia. So what's going on in Texas? Will the winds die down anytime soon, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, eventually, but nothing -- they have something to do with Lee. We need some moisture from Lee over there that didn't happen, but adding insult to injury, the backside of Lee is actually creating higher winds and drying things out even more.

So critical fire danger again from Dallas back to San Antonio, including Austin. It could have winds anywhere from 20 to 30 miles an hour. And red-flag warnings are posted because of that. Here is Lee, very slow moving. What's left of Lee, the center, right there, beginning pick up speed now and heading off towards the north and east.

But as it does so, it has a decent amount of rain with it this, and it will cause flooding in places like Louisiana, we just showed you that and also eastern and central parts of Mississippi this morning, tremendous amount of rain in Jackson, almost a foot of rain there.

And could see as much as 7 inch inches of rainfall in places like Chattanooga and Knoxville, parts of Tennessee. We could see a decent amount of rain. But here is the kicker. OK, the northeast, still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Irene with the inland flooding there. Ground obviously saturated.

Rivers still high. We're going to have rainfall from Lee kind of get entrained with a cool front up and makes it way up towards the north and east, and as it does so that will create some problems.

All right, let's talk about Hurricane Katia, is this going to make a run at us? Well, I sure hope not because look at the size of that thing now even a well-defined eye in the past couple of frames here. So it's Category 2 storm. It's forecast to become a Category 3 storm and it is heading towards the U.S.

But we're hoping for last week, we're looking at winds that will probably take it out to sea. We can breathe a sigh of relief with that. We've got a couple of strong cold fronts that are moving into area.

By the way, really cool across much of western 2/3 of the country feeling a lot like fall. That's helping nudge Katia out to sea, but also spoiling a few Labor Day weekend plans along the beaches of the east coast. And if you do go there, there'll be some big waves rolling into the northeast.

CHO: What about travel plans? I mean, I hate to make it about me, but I am going back to New York today. Where are the worst airport delays today?

MARCIANO: Well, you see Atlanta that would be one of the bad ones. We got rain here and potential, actually, I should mention severe weather tornado threat in Alabama and Georgia today with a tornado watch in effect there.

CHO: But I think up and down the eastern seaboard it's going to be lots of delays, right? Probably, safe to say?

MARCIANO: Including the northeast. You can always drive.

CHO: Thank you very much, Rob.

Turning to international news, a case we're watching very, very closely here at CNN. American Amanda Knox's appeal of a murder conviction Italy is now centering on key DNA evidence.

Our Zain Verjee is back with us from London with more on that. So Zain, good morning to you. What's the latest on this case?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Alina. This is going to be a real pivotal week. It is the final stretch in Amanda Knox's appeal trial. Essentially what we're going to see is final arguments on both the sides of the prosecution and the defense.

Now the key thing here, all centers on two pieces of crucial evidence. What happened was, when she was convicted, there was a knife that was linked to her because Amanda Knox's genetic material was found on this knife.

Independent forensic analysts have been brought in, and now they are saying hang on a minute, the amount of genetic material of Knox's was way too small to be definitive. It wasn't double tested they say and it could well be a question too about how it was collected.

The second piece of evidence, they link her then boyfriend, Raffaele Solliceto, which is the victim, Meredith Kercher's broad cloths. On the metal cloth, they had said that there was evidence to indicate Raffaele Solliceto was linked to it.

But now they release these videos, Alina, and they show that the evidence was handled really badly. The bra was laying on the floor for something like six weeks. It was contaminated. The police were just passing it around and then that it may not be permissible.

So we're going to have these final arguments, rebuttals and then we're going to have the verdict. It could go either way Amanda Knox many analysts say may be in a strong position given these two questionable pieces of evidence. CHO: That would be an incredible turn around, Zain, if that would happen. We know you're watching this case. Thank you, great to see you as always.

Coming up, six White House candidates have a shot to distance themselves from the field. We have exclusive coverage of today's presidential forum in South Carolina, a preview is next.

And a close encounter for a storm chaser in upstate New York. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a little freaked out because I'm pretty sure I just saw a tornado form across the freeway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: A tornado touch down near Albany, New York last night. We'll have more details on that, when we go "cross country" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Checking stories cross country now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe what I'm just -- what I'm seeing. I can't believe what I'm seeing. My God, I can't believe what I'm seeing. I think that's a tornado.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: A storm chaser shot this video of a tornado in upstate New York. A twister struck near Albany last night. It crossed Interstate 90, damaging homes, uprooting trees and tearing roofs off some of those homes, but no reports of any serious injuries.

Police in Phoenix are searching for a container full of explosives, stolen from the airport. They were conducting a police training exercise Friday when a cooler packed with explosive tubes, commonly used in the mining industry, went missing. Police say the explosives cannot be detonated without additional equipment and some degree of expertise.

Police in Texas are investigating the death of a man found at the home of NFL Player Antonio Smith. About 100 people attended a party at Smith's home in Houston Saturday night. The next morning, the body of a 37-year-old man was found at the bottom of the swimming pool. Police say it appears to be accidental.

And Arizona has slapped a $25 fee on people who visit loved ones in prison certainly getting a lot of attention. According to "The New York Times," the one-time background check fee, as it's called, has angered prison advocates saying that they filed a lawsuit now saying that it's just a pretext for raising money for the cash- strapped Arizona prison system.

A live event we're watching at this hour, Republican presidential hopeful Governor Rick Perry of Texas is in Conway, South Carolina, this hour. You're looking live there from a technical college in Conway.

Perry is taking part in a town hall meeting with South Carolina Representative Tim Scott. It's scheduled to begin in a few minutes. As we wait for Governor Perry, CNN just learned that Perry is apparently pulling out of this afternoon's presidential forum to return to Texas to deal with the wildfire situation there near Austin.

Five of the other candidates will still face off this afternoon starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser covering the event from Colombia, South Carolina. So Paul, what have we learned about this?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, it seems those wildfires in Texas are definitely having an impact right here in South Carolina. Here is what we learned.

Earlier today, early this morning, I reached out to the Rick Perry campaign and asked them whether those fires would make a dent in his schedule? And the communications director of the campaign said, yes, the first event, the one with live pictures, was still on.

But likely his schedule would change after that and in the last few minutes, our producer right here in South Carolina has learned from a source close to Senator Jim DeMint. Remember, DeMint is the senator from South Carolina who's proposing on that forum here in Columbia.

Well, she learned from them that, yes, in fact, Perry would head home to deal with the fires and miss the forum here at 3:00 Eastern this afternoon. So there will five not six presidential candidates at the forum, Alina.

CHO: Paul, this is not a debate, it's a forum. So explain to me how it's going to play out today? How critical is this?

STEINHAUSER: Well, let's start with Senator DeMint. I think that explains one of the reasons how critical is it. I bumped into him this morning at breakfast here in Colombia.

He is very influential among Tea Party activists, very popular among the Tea Party Movement. And he was quite a king maker last year in the Republican primaries for Congress. And I think everybody believe he'll be very influential this year and next year in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

How will the format? Well, the five, not six now candidates, will appear on the stage at first for a nice photo-op, and then after that, one at a time. About 20 minutes of questioning for each candidate by Senator DeMint, Congressman Steve King of Iowa, and one other questioner.

So not a debate, no interaction between the candidates, one at a time and here's another example of why it's important. We brought the CNN Express so you know it's a big deal if we bring the bus. It's got to be a big event, right, Alina?

CHO: Of course, it is. That bus only goes to big events. Paul Steinhauser, all right, thank you.

Of course, the headline being that Texas Governor Rick Perry has pulled out of this GOP presidential candidate forum in South Carolina. Five other candidates will participate and you can watch our exclusive coverage of today's forum from South Carolina beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Could the next host of the Oscars be Eddie Murphy? We've got details. Your showbiz update is next.

And a new drug of choice on many college campuses. Students apparently are taking Adderall in order to get better grades. What's going on? We'll explain, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: It's 19 minutes after the hour. We want to take you live to Conway, South Carolina, where a GOP presidential front-runner, Texas Governor Rick Perry is taking part in a town hall meeting with Congressman Tim Scott.

Perry making news, he's apparently going to announce that he's going to drop out of the GOP forum later on in South Carolina to deal with the wildfire situation in his home state. Let's listen in.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's my foundation, I understand hard work and getting up every day, and my dad early on had a couple of jobs and settled into farming out there, and thaw that was a wonderful little place.

It was a school, about 110 kids or so, grades one through 12, and on a farm market road, and across the way, across that farm market road, a Baptist church and a Methodist church, your choice. My life rotated around school, church, and boy scouts. That was my life, and it was a good one. So -- and then I went off to school to be a veterinarian, to the beloved Texas A & M, on the way to the SEC. I might add. Get ready.

And I tell my friends organic chemistry made a pilot out of me. A little shift in my college life over to the Vietnam War was still going on, and so I volunteered to serve in the United States Air Force and finish up school and headed to big spring, Texas, for my pilot's training and spent the next 4, 4 1/2 years, flying around the world.

And put all over the European, South America, Middle Eastern part of the world. Live in Saudi Arabia in 1975 and seen that country start to make its transition from a very tribal Bedouin Indian life- style to a country with asphalt roads.

Watching the Saudis learn to drive was an interesting experience. But during that period of time, that's where I want to wrap it up and get it back to you. I went through -- I went through a maturing process and one of the great things about my life.

I've been growing almost every day. I went through a maturing process. I never left the United States and I got out of Texas very few times as a boy growing up. In 1964, went to Valley Forge, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City for the World Fair National Scout Jamboree.

Other than that, I didn't really get exposed to much and particularly about the world. But as a young man and flying into various in sundry countries and started making a connection between how people live and the type of government that they had.

We went into monarchies, theocracies and other types of governments, dictatorships and I made that very powerful reflection about what a great country we live in and the freedoms we have. And that people would give their lives in a lot of cases to be able to have the freedoms that we have.

And over the course of the last century, we have seen those freedoms chip away time and time again. Those read my book "Fed Up," I talk about the loss of those freedoms, starting with that income tax that Tim's going to fix.

And we have a great piece of legislation that gets to us where we need to go as a country, where everyone can be participating in this process of this -- this great country, and -- but anyway, that had a powerful effect on me.

And I -- I came back home, went back to the farm, and then in the mid '80s. I love public service. My father is a county commissioner. I have been trained and caught all my life that public service is an honorable thing whether it's wearing the uniform of our country, or whether it's servicing like Tim does in Congress or whether it's my great privilege to be the governor of the state.

So I truly believe that good men and women, that's one of the reasons I share with young people to find that what are you passionate about. You may join the Peace Corps or you may join the Marine Corps, but find that way to give back to this country.

It's what makes America unique. With that, let me just say I'm lived the American dream. From leaving a small farm out in Pan Creek, Texas, to be the governor -

CHO: You're looking live there at Texas Governor Rick Perry live at a town hall meeting in Conway, South Carolina. We want to get in a quick break, but we'll bring more of this live event after we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Checking our top stories now. Protesters fought police outside the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The protesters included families of those killed in the uprising that led to Mubarak's demise.

CNN has confirmed that Honda is recalling 936,000 models worldwide. The Fit, CRV and City models apparently have power window problems that could spark electrical fires.

And take a look at what happened to tennis star Rafael Nadal at a post match press conference at the U.S. Open last night. Nadal was in such pain from leg cramps that he slid down his seat, and then slid down again and again.

Trainers finally came in to help. It took eight minutes for him to get back up. Nadal says this happens quite often, but rarely is it caught on camera.

I want to take you back to a live event. Republican presidential hopeful Governor Rick Perry of Texas is in Conway, South Carolina, right now, let's listen in.

PERRY: Emissions. We've done a good job with that. At the same time, we created more jobs than any other state in the nation. When the EPA contacted us that they wanted to come visit about Texas, I looked at those two things and thought maybe they are going to give us an award.

Isn't that the goal? Lower the emissions, clean up the air, clean up the air for our kids. Our kids are breathing this air. It's our people and create jobs. That ought to be the goal.

And we've done that in Texas, and that's what I'd like to see across America. I will tell you one thing, the EPA director and the individuals that we have the opportunity to put into place, they are going to be pro-business administrators and there's not going to be any apologies to anybody about it. Those agencies -- those agencies won't know what hit them. I think it's one way to put it is we're no longer going to do business as usual and those are direct appointees.

Things like the NLRB that's coming into South Carolina and telling you that you can't have Boeing, I promise one thing, the appointees to that board will be pro-business.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Governor.

The next question comes from Pat Mealy (ph). Is Pat here?

Thank you, Pat, for your question.

Pat's question is what will your policy be towards Israel?

CROWD: Yes.

PERRY: Pat, thank you.

Our friends, places where the United States' interests are important, they will never have to ask where the United States will be under a Perry presidency. And whatever those countries may be. But in particularly, the oldest democracy in the Middle East, a country that we have probably one of the closest relationships with in the world, what our president -- our current president did relative to the 1967 border issue, to basically throw Israel under the bus, to tell -- you know, to basically say, Israel, you need to go back to the 1967 borders, was unconscionable in my opinion.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: Israel will never have to wonder about whether or not we're going to be standing with them. Israel will never have to wonder if we get invaded by some enemy country or an opposition country, they will not have to worry about whether or not the United States will be standing with them. We will be there protecting not only their interest, but our interest in that country.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Jim Littleton (ph) here?

Thank you for your question, Jim.

Jim's question has to do with whether or not the whole notion of repatriation, bringing back American dollars from overseas, over $2 trillion sit overseas, because of double taxation, what would you do about that?

PERRY: Well, obviously lower that right substantially. Zero is a pretty good rate.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: Because that money is going to come in and it's going to create jobs. And I think that's very important to send a message that -- I mean, look, 35 percent rate that it is today, that money is not coming back. So, bring it back and make sure there is fairness in the way that taxes are calculated and what-have-you. I mean, if they'd already pay their taxes, I'm into bringing that money back into the United States for zero tax burden.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excellent.

I'm going to combine -- go through the questions and trying my best to it get as many questions as possible that are not duplicates. So, if you see going to the questions, we have a lot of questions on two topics.

I guess when you write the book, they want to know the answers to the book. So, the book "Fed Up!" has brought up some questions here. One, on Social Security, and another predominant question is on your position on immigration. So, I'm going to put those together and let you have an opportunity to answer both.

PERRY: I'll be happy on this.

I want to talk to about Social Security first, and I'm not going to ask for any hands out for those who are either on Social Security or approaching it, like me. But no matter where you are in America, if you're already getting your Social Security benefits, if you are approaching that age of which you are going to get your Social Security, you've made a lot of decisions about retirement, about how you're going to take care of yourself and/or your family.

Those individuals need to understand something. You have no worries at all about your current Social Security as we go forward.

And what we do have a conversation about, is kids my children's age. I got a 28-year-old son or approaching 28, and a 25-year-old daughter, and we shouldn't lie to them and tell them that this system we have in place today will be there for them. So, have a conversation with America, how do we make that transition from the system that we've got today -- and, frankly, I call it a Ponzi scheme. I call it a monstrous lie for our kids, and it's true.

And there's not -- I mean, anyone who is running for the presidency of the United States and wants to keep status quo on entitlement is suspect. They don't want to be honest with the American people.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: We have to have that conversation.

So, you know, there's a lot of different options out there that we could talk about, you know, whether it's moving the age forward at some particular time if it's -- you know, if you're a 45-year-old or less, we're going to move that retirement age up to 69 or 70, or whatever it is. I mean, that's a good conversation to have.

And there's a -- there's a part of the book where we talk about back in the early '80s, we -- states had the opportunity, with their public employees and their county employees, to shift over to a private-sector-run program. There are -- three counties in Texas did it. There's probably about 251 counties in Texas that wish they would have done it in the early '80s

But having those types of thoughtful conversations, but with the clear and unmovable fact that if you are on Social Security today, or if you're approaching Social Security, you do not have to worry about those dollars going to be coming in for your retirement.

Now, can I go on to immigration?

The issue of immigration is really a broad one and I'm going to try to be as brief as I can on this. The real issue here is that you can't have a conversation about immigration reform until you first secure the border. And it's a waste of time.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: There are those that want to have these intellectual discussions about immigration reform and this and that and the other -- and that's fine.

But I'm not going to participate in a conversation that frankly doesn't matter. If you have a revolving door at the border with the United States and Mexico, immigration reform means nothing.

So here is what needs to happen. And I've got a little bit more than just a passing understanding of this because we've been dealing with it for the decade that I've been the governor, since 2005, I believe is the correct year, we were requesting aviation assets to be used. Predator drones, unarmed predator drones, but with all of the different technologies to look down through either the darkness or cloud cover or what-have-you, giving real time information about activities along that border.

I think strategic fencing has very important role to play in the major metropolitan areas. I have said and I'll say again in front you, I don't believe in building a wall from Brownsville, Texas, to El Paso, and then for the other 600-plus miles to Tijuana. Number one, it wouldn't be built in our children's lifetime.

But there is a way to secure that border, using strategic fencing in the metropolitan area -- well, let's call it the metropolitan area, where the population numbers are high. But there are miles and miles and miles of that border that is just open terrain, and the only way you can truly secure that boarder is with boots on the ground.

So, here is the plan -- it will take somewhere, we think, around 4,500 additional border patrol agents to Texas to Tijuana -- well, Brownsville to Tijuana to protect that border with the boots on the ground. While we're waiting for that number of troops to be trained up, or those number of border patrol agents, I would have National Guard on the border doing border security until that point in time.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: That is how you secure the border. Our border can truly be secured.

But today, there are parts of Mexican and United States border that are in operational control of drug cartels. The idea that the president of the United States this spring would come to Texas, stand up in El Paso and proclaim that boarder to be safer than it's ever been is an outright lie. It's not.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: There have been 41,000 Mexicans who have lost their lives directly attributable to the drug cartels. We know it's spilling over into our states, bringing in poisons that are, you know, taking our children's lives, and we've got -- we -- the drug cartels are every bit as much terrorist as people that we are fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. And we have to treat them as such.

(APPLAUSE)

PERRY: So, look, you can secure that border. Once you get the border secure, then let's have a conversation about what immigration policies that we want to put in place. I think it's important for us that people who want to come and work, legally, come into this country, that we have a program in place to allow that to happen -- but not until we secure the border, period.

(APPLAUSE)

CHO: Texas Governor Rick Perry live there at a town hall meeting in Conway, South Carolina, just talking about how as president he would put the National Guard on the boarder to make sure that our borders are secure.

Of course, we have our "Political Buzz" panel. You'll 'em -- or you will see them in just a moment. There they are, and they'll be back with reaction to Perry's speech, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Political buzz is your rapid fire look at best political topics of day. A lot to get through today -- three questions, 30 seconds on the clock.

And playing today, Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, Comcast Network D.C. bureau chief Robert Traynham, and CNN contributor Will Cain.

First question today, at 3:00 p.m., you can watch five, not six, Republicans take questions from South Carolina senator and king-maker Jim DeMint. Rick Perry, CNN has just learned, is pulling out of the event to deal with fires in his home state.

Maria, first to you -- smart choice?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I do think it's a smart choice, Alina, because foremost -- first and foremost, he continues to be the governor of Texas.

But I think what's going to be more interesting is he continues to talk about his record in Texas, his record is going to catch up with him, especially on job creation and on the environment. Job creation, when he came in, unemployment was 4.2 percent. It is now 8.2 percent. A lot of jobs that have been created in Texas, government jobs -- the same government that he despises.

And it's also the number one state that allows chemicals, toxic chemicals, to spew into the air and water. So, when he's talking about EPA --

(BUZZER)

CARDONA: -- and putting business first, that's actually true.

CHO: Do we want to move on to the next question, Rebecca? Let's move to Will first.

All right. Will, what do you think about this?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think Perry pulling out of the event this afternoon is a nonevent. The nation does need to get to know Rick Perry. They do need to se him in a one-on-one interview. They do need to see him in a debate. And they will get a chance to later this week.

Alina, I want to say, I wrote a column once where I said I'm no Rick Perry fan, but he could win my vote. I'm not a Rick Perry fan because he prescribed in my home state that all sixth grade girls have to be vaccinated for HPV, because he's got this cloud of patronage hovering over him.

But he could win my vote with speeches and questions like he just answered that you guys aired. That was an impressive performance that he put together and it makes interested him --

(BUZZER)

CHO: The buzzer goes off. I didn't know you were from Texas, Will.

Robert, to you -- what do you think? Smart choice for Perry to pull out of this forum today?

ROBERT TRAYNHAM, COMCAST NETWORK: Very smart choice. Look, unfortunately, two people have already died in the state of Texas because of the wildfires; 70,000 people being evacuated as we speak. As Maria mentioned a few moments ago, first and foremost, he is the chief executive of that state, he was elected to do the job, and that job should be in his homes state overseeing FEMA and also the evacuation of his folks.

Look, the politics will play itself out in a couple weeks or days, let him go back to the scene and let him be governor, which he was elected to do.

CHO: All right. Second question now.

Sarah Palin, back on her non-campaign campaign. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: He wants to win the future by investing more of your hard-earned money in some harebrained ideas like more solar panels and really fast trains. He's shouting, all aboard Obama's bullet train to bankruptcy.

The only future that Barack Obama is trying to save is his own re-election, and he has shown that he is perfectly willing to mortgage our children's future to pay for it.

Polls there actually -- and usually I'll say, polls? Nah, they are for strippers and cross-country skiers. But --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: I saw it all unfold live here on CNN over the weekend.

So, all right. When does she need to officially get in this race or go away?

Will, first to you.

CAIN: I think it's a false choice, Alina. I don't think she wants to get in the race. She can stick around until December. I mean, she doesn't suffer from a lack of media attention. She can wait that long and make a splash and still have a position in this race.

As for going away, I don't think she ever has to go away. I think she's evolving into an activist. And she said important things yesterday, on Saturday, like, let's not just replace Obama, let's consider making replacement that's right. She has a role as an activist going forward.

CHO: All right. Robert, what's your take?

TRAYNHAM: Legally and logistically, she needs to make up her mind probably by the middle of October in order for her to qualify with some of these ballots in the primary states.

But, look, to Will's point, she's turning more into an activist more than anything else. I don't think she's going to run for president. What I do think she's running for is to be chief activist, if you will, keeping both sides of the political spectrum accountable with sound bites. Look, say whatever you want about Sarah Palin, wherever she goes, she follows -- or people follow her because of her gravitas and because of what she has to say.

CHO: And so does the media, Maria. So, what do you think?

CARDONA: I think she should have gone away after the 2008 presidential election and I'm not the only one. Look, it's no question that whenever she talks, her unfavorability ratings skyrocket.

And there's a reason for that, she was vintage Palin this past weekend. She was angry. She was bitter. She was sarcastic.

She didn't say one thing that was positive. She didn't lay out a plan. She does what she does best which is focus on Palin and focus on basically defeating Obama, but with no positive plan as to how to do so and why people should listen to her.

(BUZZER)

CHO: Almost got it. Almost, Maria.

All right, before I go to the buzzer beater, 20 seconds each. You're losing 10 seconds.

Hillary Clinton getting some praise from none other than Dick Cheney. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Boy, I'm not sure I would have ever said that, and perhaps she might have been easier for some of us who are critics of the president to work with. I have a sense that she's one of the more competent members of the current administration. And it would be interesting to speculate how she might perform were she to be president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: What? From Dick Cheney?

All right. Does Dick Cheney have a point?

Robert, we'll start with you.

TRAYNHAM: Look, say whatever you want about the former vice president in terms of his controversial positions. You know, he has a point here to a certain degree. Everywhere I go, Republicans and Democrats openly question as to whether or not Hillary Clinton would have been a better president than Barack Obama. So, I'm just saying. I'm just saying.

CHO: Hmm. OK. All right.

Will, what about you?

CAIN: I think Robert's right. I'm hearing this little argument a little too often. I'm not going to buy into it. If Hillary Clinton would have been president, do I think there would have been a big Keynesian stimulus bill and now an argument for a second? Yes. Do I think she would have pushed for health care that involved big government intervention? She did in '93.

So, I'm not going to act like things would have been that different. Would she be easier to work with? I can't say the answer to that.

CHO: All right. Maria, what about you? I mean, you know, Dick Cheney, we should point out, is on a book tour after all.

CARDONA: Dick Cheney, hmm, speaking of people who should go away, he would be on my number one list of people who needs to go away. What he said was absolutely laughable.

Look, is she a competent member of President Obama's administration? Of course. That's why he appointed her. And there's some light in policies between here and the president.

But the fact of the matter is, I think it's easier to speculate as to whether our country would be in better shape if --

(BUZZER)

CARDONA: -- Cheney had not been V.P. If he has not been V.P., because he was dismal.

(CROSSTALK)

CHO: I'm new to this political gun thing. The buzzer scares me every time.

TRAYNHAM: Maria's had coffee today.

CHO: Hey, wait a minute. You're breaking the rules, Robert!

OK. Go ahead.

TRAYNHAM: No, I'm just saying. Maria had coffee this morning. I'm just putting it out there.

(LAUGHTER)

CARDONA: It's Cheney.

CHO: OK. All right. It's Labor Day, anything goes.

All right, guys -- Maria Cardona, Robert Traynham, and, Will Cain, thanks so much.

CARDONA: Thanks, Alina.

CHO: The U.S. markets are closed for this Labor Day holiday. But Asia is tanking and what can we look for in the week ahead? A live report is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Alison Kosik standing by at the New York bureau, that's because the U.S. markets are closed for business.

But, Alison, Asia is tanking. What's going on?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you said it. Wall Street, Alina, is on a nice three-day weekend. The markets around the globe, around the world, are selling off. Major Europe indices are down 4 percent and 5 percent. The Asian markets closed down by 2 percent or more.

What you are seeing is reaction. This is their first time to react to the dismal jobs report that came out on Friday. It showed no jobs created in August.

It's raising new fears about a recession here in the U.S. Of course, this winds up being one of the double edged swords that we always talk about. You know, we need to see hiring. We need hiring to get a recovery under way. But hiring won't begin until a recovery gets under way.

The U.S. market is back in business tomorrow. We're going to see if some of the pessimism could fade overnight -- Alina.

CHO: All right. Alison Kosik in New York with that update -- Alison, thank you very much.

And keep it here, because some of the biggest names in fashion will be in New York for fashion week. It begins on Thursday.

And my talk with superstar designer Marc Jacobs is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHO: Welcome back.

Next week is the start of New York's Fashion Week, a mega showcase of top designer collections for spring 2012. Recently, I got an exclusive look with one of fashion's superstars, Marc Jacobs. He's been labeled a genius. But surprisingly the man "TIME" magazine named one of its 100 most influential people told me that's not how he would describe himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC JACOBS, FASHION DESIGNER: I don't know that I'm a household name. I really don't have the awareness. You know, or I'll go somewhere and people will ask for a picture or an autograph or something.

And it's not that I'm unaware or that I'm naive. But, you know, I'm busy. I do my thing and I carry on and, yes, I have some nice things and I collect art and all that kind of stuff, but I'm not a different person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: I've been working on that interview for a year, so it was a thrill to finally get him.

I also interviewed another top personal in fashion. Rachel Zoe, best known as the most famous celebrity stylist. So, I was surprise to hear that even after dressing major stars like Anne Hathaway for the Oscars and Cameron Diaz for the red carpet, Zoe is more anxious about now designing her own clothes collection.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL ZOE, STYLIST: One hundred percent is the scariest thing I've ever done.

CHO: What about it's so scary?

ZOE: It's not a one-time thing. This isn't something where I'm dressing someone, and it's the Oscars and I really hope they look amazing and I work really hard at it, and they are on the red carpet and hope it's incredible and then I move onto the next thing. This is a very constant, constant process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIO: That was great, too. We will have many more inside looks at the runway shows, my backstage pass, designers, fashions, trends, that you won't see anywhere else, all on my special fashion week backstage pass, debuting September 17th, 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

And, Suzanne, you and I like to talk about fashion a lot. So, we can do that after we get of the air. But for now, I'm going to watch you from 11:00 to 1:00.

MALVEAUX: I love your specials, Alina. Very excited about it.

CHO: Thank you very much. You always send me great emails. So, yes, I've been working very, very hard on that. And stay tuned.

MALVEAUX: You are the fashion maven, the fashion queen. We bow to you.

CHO: Don't say that.

MALVEAUX: All right. Take care.

CHO: Bye!