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GOP Gangs Up on Perry; GOP Debate: Checking the Facts; Decisive Day for Government Shutdown; Obama Changes "No Child Left Behind"; Debate Winners and Losers; Obama Changes "No Child Left Behind"; Woman Boxer's Quest for Gold

Aired September 23, 2011 - 09:59   ET

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

PHILLIPS: We're at the top of the hour now and we begin with presidential politics and the Republicans fighting for the nomination. Nine of them squared off in a debate last night. One candidate still wears the biggest bull's-eye.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a Rick Perry out there that's saying that, almost a quote, it says that the federal government shouldn't be in the pension business, that it's unconstitutional. Unconstitutional and it should be returned to the states. So you better find that Rick Perry and get him to stop saying that.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Speaking of books and talking about being able to have things in your books and back and forth, your economic adviser talked about Romney care and how that was an absolute bust, and it was exactly what Obama care was all about.

ROMNEY: Governor Perry, we were talking about Social Security, but if you want to talk about health care, I'm happy to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta was on hand for last night's debate. A fiery debate, indeed. He joins from Orlando. So, Jim, is Rick Perry starting to show some of the wear and tear of being the frontrunner?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, he might be a little saddle sore this morning, Kyra, after that rough right he had last night. But of course, other candidates on the stage were putting some burrs under that saddle making it difficult for the Texas governor.

Consider the issue of illegal immigration. You know, when Perry was governor, he still is the governor of Texas, but a few years ago as governor of Texas. He signed into law a measure that offers in-state tuition to the children of undocumented workers.

This is a law Perry has defended time and again. He did again last night. But the other candidates on stage really went after Rick Perry on this. Rick Santorum said that he was soft on illegal immigration.

Mitt Romney, who opposed a similar measure when he was governor of Massachusetts, also laid into the governor on this. Take a look at this exchange and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: That doesn't make sense to me. That kind of magnet draws people into this country.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why should they be given preferential treatment as an illegal in this country?

PERRY: I don't think you have a heart. This was a state issue. Texans voted on it and I still support it greatly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now, you heard some cheers after Rick Perry ended that statement, but if you were to play that sound just a little longer, there was a long few moments there of boos for the Texas governor. That is something we have not heard aimed at Rick Perry throughout these last three debates that he's been involved in.

And it is a warning sign for his campaign because Tea Party activists who are going to be very influential, Kyra, in all of this, as you know, are very much hawks on this issue of illegal immigration, and they see Rick Perry as a big moderate on this subject, and it is a problem for Rick Perry.

As the night was going on, it seemed that the Texas governor was having some problems just delivering some of his zingers. There was one he aimed at Mitt Romney where he said that the former governor of Massachusetts was once in favor of Obama care before he was against it. When, in fact, Mitt Romney was never in favor of Obama care. So it was a tough night for Rick Perry.

PHILLIPS: Well, Jim, you bring up a good point. We did hear some good zingers and a few one-liners and they may have scored some political points, but do they rise to another standard and that is the truth?

That's where we bring in our Tom Foreman. He joins us to kind of separate the fact from the fiction of last night's claims. Tom, where do we begin?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we're going to start with Rick Perry because it's interesting enough, if you think about some of the things he said last night about this question of what we're doing with the issue of Social Security. Listen to this one statement he said last night, very strong statement. Listen to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: Those people that are on Social Security today, for those people that are approaching Social Security, they don't have anything in the world to worry about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: OK. So a very clear, strong statement there, nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about. But look at what he wrote in an op-ed yesterday on fox.com. Social Security's financing is broken an unsustainable in the long run. The fact is Social Security's financing system is broken. It must be fixed.

Now, you can say that both statements are true. You can say that something is wrong and yet this group doesn't have anything to worry about, but clearly in that moment what he's selling is sort of two different messages based upon the audience.

Politicians do this all the time, but if you want the totality of his views on Social Security, you didn't necessarily get that when he said that. So we're going to call that misleading in terms of what he said about that.

So let's turn around and look at one of the other candidates. If we look at Romney now, this is another one of the big statements last night that I thought was very interesting. Had to do with all this debate this week about the president's stance on Israel and trying to work out a deal with the Palestinians and the Israelis on a two-state solution that we've talked about forever. Listen to what Mr. Romney said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Four years of college, you're almost $100,000 discount if you're an illegal alien to go to the University of Texas. If you're a United States citizen from any one of the other 49 states, you have to pay $100,000 more. That doesn't make sense to and that kind of magnet -- that kind of magnet draws people into this country to get that education, to get the $100,000 break.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Look, I'm the one that got confused. That wasn't the Israeli sound at all. That was his attack on Perry over illegal immigration basically saying, look, Texas is giving this great break to people who want to come down there and have -- be in the country illegally and yet get these breaks, a magnet for illegal immigrants.

That's his opinion and he's welcome to that opinion, but the question of whether there's this big break. The truth is if you want to the University of Texas and you were an in-state student, you would pay about $23,000 less than if you were an out of state student.

Texas does in fact allow illegal immigrants who have attended high school there for a while go to then go to the university as in- state student - of about $23,000 a year. So, yes, over four years that's $100,000 in savings somewhere around that area.

What he doesn't mention though because he's so intent on attacking Perry is that California does this, New Mexico does it, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland, several other states. Some states have forbidden it, but this really is sort of a true, but incomplete answer.

Because, yes, there is a break there for illegal immigrants to go to college, but a lot of places have their own version of it. The last one we want to get to very quickly was Ron Paul. Ron Paul spoke up very strongly about the constitution. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no authority in the Constitution to do so much of what we're doing. There's no authority for them to run our schools, no authority to control our economy, and no authority to control us as individuals on what we do with our personal lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Well, a lot of people like that, particularly the libertarian crowd. They're crazy about that, but that's just not true. The Constitution gives a lot of authority to the government to have all sorts of influence in our lives in terms of commerce and trade and in terms of all sorts of rights out there that are covered by the government.

So to say in effect the Constitution has no right to be involved in all of this, they may not have a right to be involved in some specific things, but in a general sense the Constitution does give the government a good bit of authority. That statement is just plain false.

PHILLIPS: Tom Foreman, thanks so much for weeding through all the fact and fiction. I was trying to follow it all. I bet sometimes that meter goes a little crazy.

FOREMAN: It does. It goes back and forth. We'll be doing this all day with all sorts of other statements.

PHILLIPS: I was going to say for the next 300 and whatever days, right?

FOREMAN: Exactly.

PHILLIPS: Thanks so much.

Well, stay with us for some fresh insights from CNN political contributor, Ari Fleischer. The former White House press secretary is going to join us in just less than 10 minutes.

And while you were sleeping, lawmakers in the House passed a spending bill to keep the government running several more weeks, but this morning we may be no closer to avoiding a government shutdown. Kate Bolduan on Cap Hill. Kate, you're already seeing the tempers flare.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We absolutely are, even with deadlines looming. It really seems that both sides, House and Senate, Democrat and Republican, are still ready to have this fight. Just listen here to a little bit of the House debate late last night and how heated it got.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE SIMPSON (R), IDAHO: I'm not one of those people who believe that we have to offset every emergency. We have done some in the past, some we have not. But in the past we have not had a $14 trillion deficit. That's the danger to this country is the $14 trillion deficit and the $1.6 trillion we add to it every damn year.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Wake up. Wake up. You can't kill these programs. This is the solution you are killing. Republicans say, fine, we'll provide emergency relief for those who have been afflicted by this nature's wrath in an ever-warming planet. But we won't do it unless we can cut the funds for the programs that promise to be the solution to the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What happened late last night is that the Republican majority in the House they were able to narrowly pass this continuing resolution as they call it, a short-term spending bill, by winning over more Republicans.

This included additional money for federal disaster relief as we have talked about. This is largely the same bill that failed a day before, but now the focus, of course, is in the Senate, and it's unclear at this moment where things are going to go.

I'll tell you, Kyra, late last night the top Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid, made very clear that Senate Democrats were not on board with this. They are opposed to the House measure not only because they think the federal funding for disaster relief is inadequate.

The Senate passed a bill that was almost double the dollar figure that the House passed, but they're also opposed to the way that House Republicans want to pay for some of this federal disaster relief by cutting money from other programs that kind of promote clean energy and renewable energy, those kinds of programs.

They're very much opposed to that. We're told by Senate Democratic leadership aide that the Senate will have a vote on the House measure this morning at some point. We're trying to figure out how that, of course, will line up, but they've already warned -- Harry Reid has warned he's prepared to keep the Senate in to forgo the recess next week.

Keep them in to work on this, but the House at the same time is getting ready to leave after morning business. So we're still trying to figure out how this is all going to play out, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Kate Bolduan on the Hill. Kate, thanks. Still on top of the federal government, President Obama wants school kids to see less of it. He wants to give schools more local control by allowing them to opt out of no child left behind, the sweeping educational reforms enacted by President Bush.

The president set to announce the changes in just a few minutes. Brianna Keilar at the White House. Brianna, go ahead and set the stage for us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, this is a huge day when it comes to teachers, students, parents who have kids in public schools all across the United States because President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are going to announce sweeping changes to President Bush's no child left behind policy that effectively ends this initiative.

Just to set the stage and remind people what this policy was, it's a nine-year-old policy. It was implemented in 2002. The goal is very admirable to end the achievement gap, but critics have said that it hasn't worked. This was a test score-based remedy was the idea that schools would have to perform to a certain standard, would have to get kids proficient in reading and math with a cut-off date of 2014.

And then after that there would have been consequences for schools that were under performing, consequences that could include firing teachers. So some critics, a lot of critics, especially at the state level have said this is a one size fits all thing, that it hasn't worked out.

That they have been seeing teachers teaching to the tests and teaching to the kind to the standards and not really teaching kids and getting them proficient in the way they should. So what the president and what Secretary Duncan are going to announce is a waiver system.

A waiver system that would allow states if they put their own standards in place, they put their own teacher accountability standards in place, student performance standards in place they would be able to opt out of this program.

And Kyra, most states are expected to do this. I should tell you the administration is getting some blow back. While they're getting support from states' governors, they are getting some blow back from Republicans on Capitol Hill for circumventing Congress on this.

PHILLIPS: All right, Brianna Keilar at the White House. And Brianna, we are going to have live coverage of the president's remarks. They're due to get underway in just a few minutes, 10:15 Eastern Time we are told. We will take that live.

Also up next, CNN political contributor Ari Fleischer knows what it's like to have a job in the White House, so what did he think about the nine candidates who want a job there, too? Find out next. Plus after yesterday's decline on Wall Street, we're keeping a close eye on the big board this morning. Here are the numbers, down 63 points. As you know, the past two days have been brutal for all of us and our 401(k)s. We are watching those numbers still in negative territory.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Nine Republicans duked it out during last night's debate and Ari Fleischer knows how those duke outs go. He was press secretary under George W. Bush. He's now a CNN political contributor. Ari, welcome.

ARI FLEISCHER, FORMER GEORGE W. BUSH PRESS SECRETARY: Thank you, Kyra. Good to be here.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's get right to it. Who do you think won that debate?

FLEISCHER: Well, Mitt Romney did. Mitt has shown a real solid and steady performance over time. After three debates, I think little has changed in the Republican dynamic. At the very top it's Romney and it's Perry.

There's an interesting race going on for third place and I think Rick Santorum did very well and may be moving up there, especially in Iowa. That's very important in case one of the two frontrunners stumbles.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to get to Rick Santorum in just a moment. You mentioned Romney is your winner. Let's talk about Rick Perry for a moment. You know, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News following the debate that Rick Perry is, quote, "still the rookie in the field."

Now you represented George W. Bush and he got a lot of heat sometimes for not really being the smartest guy on the stage. He became president, so does Perry have reason to worry here?

FLEISCHER: Well, I don't think he has reason to worry. He's a strong rookie if you want to call him a rookie. I think the issue for Rick Perry is he got in late and Kyra, I don't think anybody can understand it unless they go through a presidential.

How hard it is to mount a national campaign even if you're a governor of a very big state and a popular governor like Rick Perry is. He's going to learn and what happens in September is really forgotten about in January by the time the first votes are taken.

The key is will Rick Perry learn from some of the things that have gone on? Will he become a stronger, better debater? And I think he will. He's that type of candidate so lots of time. This is the grueling part of campaign season. Last night was a bit of an off night for him. In the scheme of things, not a big deal.

PHILLIPS: Do you think he's smart? FLEISCHER: Absolutely, he's smart. And you know, what I love about politics is people who look at smarts as if it's intellectual book smart the way things were graded in high school. Politics is also about affability, connection to votes, the ability to inspire people.

And Rick Perry has shown a history for doing that. That's going to be a big test in this campaign between Perry and Romney, who can connect, and don't forget you still have Iowa where Romney is going to have trouble competing with Perry, New Hampshire where Perry is going to have trouble competing with Romney.

All kinds of dynamics that are going to play themselves out through the next many months.

PHILLIPS: All right, another moment that got a lot of attention at the debate last night, this openly gay soldier with his question to the candidates, in particular Rick Santorum. You mentioned Santorum so let's take a listen first to the sound bite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2010, when I was deployed to Iraq I had to lie about who I was because I'm a gay soldier. I didn't want to lose my job. My question is, under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?

SANTORUM: Yes. I would say any type --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Two quick questions here, you mentioned Santorum as someone to watch here. You thought he did well. Was this a missed opportunity for him to say, hold on a second, this is a guy that's serving our country. Let's not boo. It's disrespectful.

FLEISCHER: I think it was a missed opportunity for every single Republican on that stage not to take on the two or three crazy people in that crowd who booed. If I were standing on that stage, I would have taken advantage of it and said those two or three of you, you don't represent the Republican Party, and the House would have been brought down with applause.

And I do know because I heard from people in the audience, it was isolated and the people around them all hissed and told them they were idiots and they shouldn't boo. Don't misrepresent what happened there in terms of image of Republicans.

I know there's some debate about the crowds at these debates, but the booing actually also took place because of his call for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," not because the soldier was gay.

But I do think everybody missed an opportunity just to send that message nobody, but nobody should boo anybody who serves our country for any reason. PHILLIPS: Ari Fleischer, welcome aboard. Thanks so much for joining me this morning. I really appreciate it.

FLEISCHER: Thank you, Kyra. My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: You bet. We're keeping a close eye on the White House right now where President Obama is due to announce changes in "No Child Left Behind." This actually was one of George W. Bush's babies.

Ari Fleischer was a part of the administration when this was brought into fruition. Well, we've just been told we've got the two-minute warning. If you've been following the headlines, President Obama announcing changes to that policy. We're going to take it live as soon as he steps up to the mic. Quick break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: President Barack Obama about to announce his changes to the "No Child Left Behind." He's about to be introduced and we will take it live as soon as he steps up to the mic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: President Obama talking "No Child Left Behind," the sweeping educational reforms that were enacted by President Bush. He is going to be waiving parts of it. We're listening in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Even among what are considered our better off suburban schools were lagging behind where we need to be. Today as many as a quarter of our students aren't finishing high school.

We have fallen to 16th in the proportion of young people with a college degree, even though we know that 60 percent of new jobs in the coming decade will require more than a high school diploma. What this means is if we're serious about building an economy that lasts, an economy in which hard work pays off, with the opportunity for solid middle class jobs, we have to get serious about education.

We are going to have to pick up our games and raise our standards. We're in the midst of an ongoing enormous economic challenge, and I spend a lot of my time thinking immediately about how we can put folks back to work. And how we can stabilize the world financial markets and those things are all important.

But the economic challenges we face now are economic challenges that have been building for decades now, and the most important thing we can do is to make sure that our kids are prepared for this new economy. That's the single most important thing we can do.

So even as we focus on the near term and what we've got to do to put folks back to work. We've got to be thinking a little bit ahead and start making the tough decisions now to make sure that our schools are working the way they need to work. Now, we all know that schools can't do it alone.

As parents, the task begins at home. It begins by turning off the TV and helping with homework and encouraging a love of learning from the very start of our children's lives, and I'm speaking from experience now. Malia and Sasha would often rather be watching "American Idol" or "Spongebob."

But Michelle and I know that our first job, our first responsibility is instilling a sense of learning, a sense of a love of learning in our kids. And so there are no shortcuts there. We have to do that job, and we can't just blame teachers and schools if we're not instilling that commitment, that dedication to learning in our kids.

But as a nation, we also have an obligation to make sure that all of our children have the resources they need to learn because they're spending a lot of time outside of the household. They're spending the bulk of their waking hours in school.

And that means we've got to make sure we have quality schools, good teachers, the latest textbooks, the right technology. Around that, by the way, is something we can do something about right away.

That's why I sent the jobs bill to Congress that would put thousands of teachers back to work all across the country and modernize at least 35,000 schools. Congress should pass that bill right now. We've got too many schools that are under resourced, too many teachers who want to be in the classroom who aren't because of budget constraints, not because they can't do the job. So parents have a role, and schools need more resources.

But money alone won't solve our education problems. I've said this before, I will repeat it. Money alone is not enough. We also need reform.

We've got to make sure that every classroom is a place of high expectations and high performance, and that's been our vision since taking office. That's why instead of just pouring money into the system that's not working, we launched a competition called Race to the Top.

And to all 50 states, to governors, to school districts, we said, show us the most innovative plans to improve teacher quality and student achievement, we'll show you the money. We want to provide you more resources, but there's also got to be a commitment on your part to make the changes that are necessary so that we can see actual results.

And for less than 1 percent of what we spend on education each other, Race to the Top, under Arne's leadership, has led states across the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning.

And by the way, these standards that we're talking about, these high standards that we're talking about, were not developed here in Washington. They were developed by Republican and Democratic governors throughout the country. Essentially at a peer group, a peer review system where everybody traded best practices and said, here is what seems to work, and let's hold all of our schools to these high standards.

And since Race to the Top has been launched, we've seen what's possible when reform isn't just a top-down mandate but the work of local teachers and principals and school boards and communities working together to develop better standards.

Now, this is why in my State of the Union Address this year I said that Congress should reform the No Child Left Behind law based on the principles that have guided Race to the Top. And I want to say that the goals behind No Child Left Behind were admirable, and President Bush deserves credit for that.

Higher standards are the right goal. Accountability is the right goal. Closing the achievement gap is the right goal. And we've got to stay focused on those goals.

But experience has taught us that in its implementation, No Child Left Behind had some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them. Teachers too often are being forced to teach to the test. Subjects like history and science have been squeezed out.

And in order to avoid having their schools labeled as failures, some states perversely have actually had to lower their standards in a race to the bottom instead of Race to the Top. They don't want to get penalized. Let's make sure that the standards are so low that we're not going to be seen as failing to meet them. That makes no sense.

And these problems have been obvious to parents and educators all over the country for years no now, despite the good intentions of some. Two of them are sitting right here, Tom and George.

Congress has not been able to fix these flaws so far. I have urged Congress for a while now, let's get a bipartisan effort, let's fix this.

Congress hasn't been able to do it. So, I will. Our kids only get one shot at a decent education. They cannot afford to wait any longer.

So, given that Congress cannot act, I am acting. Starting today --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So, starting today, we'll be giving states more flexibility to meet high standards. Keep in mind the change we're making is not lowering standards. We're saying we're going to give you more flexibility to meet high standards. We're going to let states, schools, and teachers come up with innovative ways to give our children the skills they need to compete for the jobs of the future -- because what works in Rhode Island may not be the same thing that works in Tennessee. But every student should have the same opportunity to learn and grow no matter what state they live in.

Let me repeat, this does not mean that states will be able to lower their standards or escape accountability. In fact, the way we've structured this, if states want more flexibility, they're going to have to set higher standards, more honest standards that prove they're serious about meeting them. And already, 44 states, led by some of the people on this stage, have set higher standards and proposed new ways to get there because that's what's critical. They know what's at stake here.

Ricky Hall is a principal of a charter school in Worcester, Massachusetts. Where is Ricky? Oh, Ricky is not here. There he is. Rick, I wasn't sure if he was behind me. Good, thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Every single student who graduated from Ricky's school in the last three years went to college -- every single one.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: His school ranks in the top quarter of all schools in Massachusetts, and as you know, Massachusetts schools rank very high among the 50 states. But because Ricky's school did not meet all the technical standards of No Child Left Behind, his school was labeled a failure last year.

That's not right. That needs to change.

What we're doing today will encourage the progress at schools like Ricky's.

Is John Becker here?

(CHEERS)

OBAMA: He is? All right, here's John. I didn't think you were John.

John teaches at one of the highest performing middle schools in D.C., and now with these changes we're making, he's going to be able to focus on teaching his fourth graders math in a way that improves their performance instead of just teaching to a test.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We have superintendents like Dave Estrom (ph) from Springfield, Ohio, right here.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Dave will be able to focus on improving teaching and learning in his district instead of spending all his time on bureaucratic mandates from Washington that don't actually produce results. So, this isn't just the right thing to do for our kids, it's the right thing to do for our country.

We can't afford to wait for an education system that is not doing everything it needs to do for our kids. We can't let another generation of young people fall behind because we didn't have the courage to recognize what doesn't work, admit it, and replace it with something that does. We've got to act now.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: We've got to act now and harness all the good ideas coming out of our states, out of our schools. We can't be tied up with ideology. We can't be worrying about partisanship. We just have to make sure that we figure out what works and we hold ourselves to those high standards, because now is the time to give our children the skills that they need to compete in this global economy.

We've got a couple students up on stage who are doing outstanding work because somebody in their schools is dedicated and committed every single day to making sure that they've got a chance to succeed.

(END LIVE COVERAGE)

PHILLIPS: President Barack Obama talking about the parts that he is going to drop from the educational reforms enacted by President Bush, something we've all come to know as No Child Left Behind.

The president saying he saw to many flaws in the law, as he put it. It became a law that taught to the test. And he felt history and science were squeezed out. Of course, we witnessed the huge test cheating scandal here in the state of Georgia. The president now saying he is going to drop parts of No Child Left Behind.

Another story we've been following, after two brutal days of watching the Dow industrial take a major plunge, still in negative territory. Dow Industrials is down 19 points right now. We are watching the numbers. We're watching your money.

We're going take a quick break and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Now, it's time for "Political Buzz." You're rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day.

Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. We only have time for two today. Sorry, guys.

Playing today: Democratic strategist Maria Cardona, Sirius XM political talk show host and comedian Pete Dominick, and CNN contributor and talk radio host Dana Loesch.

Let's go ahead around start, guys, with a lot of talk about this event or I guess you could say what happened when an openly gay soldier spoke at the debate last night. You know what I'm talking about. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2010 when I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was because I'm a gay soldier. I didn't want to lose my job. My question is, under one of your presidencies, do you intend to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?

(BOOING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: All right. Politics aside, you heard the boos. What do you think, guys? Is it ever appropriate to boo a soldier in the war zone? Dana?

DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, it's never appropriate. And if you look at twitter, especially with all of the people in the audience who were taking pictures and updating, it was a couple of individuals. It wasn't a crowd of people, and the people who were telling them to shut up and booing at them and hissing at them because they had the audacity to boo a soldier in a war zone, those were the people that ended up being the loudest because they were drowning out these two clowns that got up and decided to show the world their I.Q. by booing a solder in a war zone.

PHILLIPS: Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, it was absolutely atrocious.

What was even more atrocious is that no candidate on that stage stood up for this U.S. soldier who has risked life and limb for this country, and it is completely hypocritical and cowardly for them to stand up there and absolutely do nothing about it. This is somebody who has defended our country, defended the U.S. Constitution that they purport to love, and they stood there and absolutely did nothing. It is completely shameful on their part and they should apologize.

PHILLIPS: Pete?

PETE DOMINICK, COMEDIAN: Well, I would love to have seen them boo that guy in person. Did you see the guns on that guy? His arms were huge.

I mean, I thought of joining the Army just to hang out with the guy. This is the third debate where the audience stole the show. First, it was Rick Perry's record on the death penalty, they cheered for that. Then they cheered the hypothetical of a man dying without health insurance and then they booed this.

I mean, it is absolutely insane -- two people, five people, people at home, they lost a real opportunity to reprimand those people, the candidates on stage last night.

PHILLIPS: All right. And the final question --

LOESCH: The crowd just about took them out.

PHILLIPS: My guess is we might hear a little more about this, ladies and gentlemen.

Your buzzer beater, 20 seconds each on this one, right to it.

Chelsea Clinton took New York by storm we are told at her father's global initiative. Here is a little peek at what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHELSEA CLINTON, HILLARY'S DAUGHTER: As your daughter, I remember when I helped you send your first text message.

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes. That wasn't very long ago, I have to tell you.

Chelsea is being much too kind and gentle because both Bill and I -- I mean, if you don't tell anybody, I'll tell you -- we are primitive.

CHELSEA CLINTON: My father still refers to the Internet as the World Wide Web.

(LAUGHTER)

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PHILLIPS: So what do you guys think? Could we possibly see a Chelsea Clinton running for office maybe, Dana?

LOESCH: I don't know. You know, I'll say this -- I'm not really into political dynasties, and I think that it might be something fun if she doesn't share her parents' political platform. She seems like a really nice lady, though.

PHILLIPS: Maria?

CARDONA: I think she can do and will be successful at anything that she wants. She is an amazing, brilliant, and has carried herself with aplomb and courage. And I think she can do whatever she wants and she will be successful at it. And I think we'll be lucky if she actually does think about running for office.

PHILLIPS: Pete?

DOMINICK: Well, I mean, by this ideology I guess Jenna Bush is on the "Today" show, so she should probably run for political office, too. I think Chelsea Clinton understands firsthand what being a political family can do to damage a family. If anybody understands it, she does. I don't -- I have no idea what she's going to do, and I guess we'll be following it.

I just want to say quickly a profile in courage -- a profile in courage, this is not controversial, I think we all agree. That guy came out of the closet in front -- not to his fellow soldiers but in front of the entire country. He's in harm's way and in harm's way and we should applaud that.

PHILLIPS: There we go.

CARDONA: No question.

PHILLIPS: I know all three of you agree on that point today. Have a great weekend, guys.

Our Soledad O'Brien joins us life after the break, introducing us to a five-time national boxing champ hoping to be on her way to the Olympics. A woman you will not soon forget, next.

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PHILLIPS: Woman's boxing will make its debut as an Olympic sport in London next year.

And CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien shows us the journey of a remarkable young woman looking for gold. It's the focus of the "Latino in America" documentary, "In Her Corner," that airs this weekend.

Here's a sneak peek.

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SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marlen Esparza's early mornings always start with math, how much to eat, how far to run, how many pounds, sprints, crunches. How many endless hours of training will it take to win?

(on camera): Why are you here every day?

MARLEN ESPARZA, OLYMPIC HOPEFUL: Because I want to win. This is my life and this is what I do.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): She became national champ at 16 and dreamed of the Olympics, but women couldn't box in games even though they compete in every other sport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This one is heavy.

O'BRIEN: Then some exciting news. The Olympics decided to add women's boxes for 2012.

Marlen is on her way, when suddenly her competitors sue saying she should have to fight them first for one of the coveted spots.

ESPARZA: It's stressful, it's something I have been working for my whole life, and then not only do this come out of nowhere, but then there's the pressure not that anybody puts direct pressure on me, but I know people expect things from me.

O'BRIEN: USA Boxing decides to schedule a box-off.

ESPARZA: One thing about boxing, anything can happen. I beat all of them fairly easily. The closest bout I had was against Christina Cruz.

O'BRIEN: Christina Cruz, just one of the champion fighters Marlen will have to face.

ESPARZA: I haven't lost in like nine years, and that would just be like the worst thing that could ever happen to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Special correspondent Soledad O'Brien live in New York with more on her upcoming special.

I wanted to meet these gals, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Yes, they're great. They're so inspiring, and, you know, they're really tiny. They're a flyweight so that they weigh 112 points. It's a weight category that Marlen boxes in and Christina Cruz as well. So, these are really small women but they are so tough, and tough mentally I think is sort of the thing I have learned from this documentary.

PHILLIPS: And tell me just before we go if you don't mind before we go to the break, Soledad -- I mean, you have done a number of pieces on Latinos in America. You are taking now the angle of women in sports.

How has this been embraced by the community, a community where, you know, the abuelita is the key woman in the family?

O'BRIEN: Yes, I was very surprised there would be such a large number of Latinas who are boxing. It seemed to really go against sort of the stereotype of even for women.

And Marlen would say, you know, we are the underdog. There are people who sometimes, you know, don't cheer for us until they realize the amount of heart and dedication and drive we have.

But to me the documentary is not really about boxing. It's about a young woman who wants to be successful -- a young woman who's incredibly resilient, who works very hard, who in spite of some very big losses is able to keep going no matter what. And that is why we call it "In Her Corner." In boxing they talk about who is in your corner, in real life you also need people in your corner to help you thrive and win and Marlen definitely has that.

PHILLIPS: Soledad, we look forward to it. Thanks.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Coming up, a high school athlete makes his mark, hurting his own chances by helping a rival runner. That's next.

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PHILLIPS: When we can we sure like to highlight regular folks who are out there making a mark on this world. Well, today you're going to meet high school runner Josh Ripley. He's speeding along at a meet last week when he sees a kid from the other team on the ground bleeding. Bleeding badly actually.

Well, other runners just keep going, but Josh, he stops, picks the guy up, and sprints half a mile back to the start for help. Then he turns around and runs his three-mile race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JOSH RIPLEY, HELPED INJURED RIVAL: I had blood on my legs and arms after carrying him and a lot of people thought I was hurt, but I had to inform them that it wasn't my blood and I was fine.

MARK PAULAUSKAS, INJURED DURING RACE: I just want to say that I'm really, really thankful that -- for what he did, stopping his race just to help me. It was really, truly a wonderful thing he did.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

PHILLIPS: Well, Mark, the injured runner, needed 20 stitches to fix the gash in his ankle. He hopes to thank Josh in person for his incredible sportsmanship.

Well, coming up next, CNN NEWSROOM with Suzanne Malveaux, anticipated speeches of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the U.N. General Assembly. Hear what each is expected to say and how the United States could respond to their statements.

That's right after a quick break.

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