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Preaching to the Party Faithful; Santorum Speaks at CPAC; Interview with Foster Friess; Compromise on Contraceptives; Interview With Russian Ambassador to U.N.; Jerry Sandusky Back In Court Today

Aired February 10, 2012 - 11:00   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. Live from Studio 7, I'm Don Lemon.

We're going to get you up to speed for this Friday, February 10th. So, here you go. As we've been watching live here on CNN.

As a matter of fact, you just saw Rick Santorum -- conservatives have been talking about the president's contraception bill and there's expected to be a compromise. We're going to tell you about that.

But you've been watching that news coming from CPAC in Washington. We're going to follow up on that.

But you know what? Conservatives have been calling this contraception rule now that the White House has come out with a war on religion. And now, the White House is ready to walk back its decision to make Catholic institutions pay for employee's birth control. And a source, according to a White House source, the administration is going to talk about it at least a little bit later on.

The White House held a news conference, held a conference call with religious activists today, promising to make religious universities and hospitals exempt from that new policy. An official announcement is expected from the president next hour. As you just heard Kyra say, we're expecting 12:15, the president will talk about that. We will carry that for you live here on CNN.

And we are going now to Syria. That's what it looks like -- tens of thousands of Syrians are holding demonstrations across the country today. This one is in Hama.

The crowd is chanting support for the people of Homs who have been under heavy bombardment all week long. Today's nationwide demonstrations were also called to show opposition to Russia for its veto of a U.N. resolution condemning the violence in Syria. Women and children are among hundreds of civilians being killed and injured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY, SYRIAN ACTIVIST: This is one of the houses in Bab al Amr. Look at these children. How can you stand and watch these children be like this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The activists you just saw with those children will join us at the bottom of the hour. Amazing stories to tell you.

More amazing images coming into CNN. This is chaos outside the Greek parliament today. Protesters there are furious over the cuts in the country's budget. Now, top European leaders are saying those spending cuts aren't deep enough. They're demanding more aggressive measures and unions are responding with a two-day strike.

Traders on Wall Street are watching all this European instability closely. And right now, you can see the Dow is trading low, 115 -- Dow is at 115. And we will continue to check that. It is down 115 points. Stand by. For more, live from the stock market, coming up.

Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky back in court today. Prosecutors are asking a judge to forbid him from going outside his own home. Sandusky lives next door to a school playground. He is accused of sexually abusing young boys over a 15- year period. Prosecutors say neighbors have expressed, quote, "grave concerns" about seeing Sandusky outside. The former coach wants a judge to allow him to visit his grandchildren.

What a horrifying scene. I want you to look at this school bus., fully engulfed in flames. Listen to that.

That is in Charlotte, North Carolina. What you don't see are the six elementary school kids who all got off safely thanks to the quick work of their bus driver, Lindora Richardson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDORA RICHARDSON, DRIVER WHO SAVED CHILDREN FROM BUS FIRE (via telephone): At this time, I just decided to stop, park, get the kids off the bus, and get me and the kids to safety. They saw the smoke and they were heroes as well because they did not panic. And when I did see the smoke, I did ask them to go to the back of the bus, away from the smoke. And as I secured the bus and made sure the bus wasn't going anywhere, I went to the back of the bus and used the emergency exit and got them all off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Goodness gracious. And we asked Richardson what she's going to do today. Well, here's what she says. She says she's getting a new bus and she's going to go back to work. Same route, same kids.

The Charlotte Fire Department will honor her next week. Congratulations to her.

You know, call it the political equivalent of preaching to the converted, but for the Republican presidential candidates, it could be the biggest sermons of their political careers. They're addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. You know, it's known as CPAC. It's considered the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in this country. The crowd just heard from Rick Santorum, as I told you at the top of the hour.

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich coming up a little later on today. You'll hear from them on CNN as well.

I want to bring in our very own Wolf Blitzer. He is in our D.C. bureau.

Jim Acosta, he is at the CPAC meeting.

Jim, to you first. Santorum coming off his triple victory this week. Was he able to build on that momentum in this speech or does that remain to be seen?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I would say yes, Don. I mean, this was a very well-received speech from Rick Santorum. At one point, I think one of the highlights of the speech is when he referred to Romneycare, that is the health care plan Romney passed in Massachusetts -- he referred to that as a stepchild of Obamacare. So, some pretty tough talk from the former Pennsylvania senator.

I want to bring in now a key supporter for Rick Santorum, Foster Friess.

You've been a key financial supporter for a super PAC that has been very much supportive of Rick Santorum. I want to ask you because at the beginning of your remarks, you introduced Rick Santorum. You told a joke and said that I'm paraphrasing her, that a liberal, a conservative and a moderate walk into a bar and the bartender says, hi, Mitt.

Now, there were some laughs, but there were some boos, Mr. Friess.

FOSTER FRIESS, MAJOR SANTORUM DONOR: Where do you suppose the boos came from?

ACOSTA: That was kind of tough. I mean, do you -- do you think that was a good idea to tell that joke at the speech?

FRIESS: Well, I'm known to tell audience inappropriate jokes, so I became a Christian a few years back. The downside, I have to maintain my best jokes at hunting camp.

ACOSTA: And let me ask you, this is a big day for Rick Santorum. Why is it do you think that conservatives are taking a second look at his campaign because for a while there, it looked like he wasn't going to last long.

FRIESS: I don't think they're taking a second look at his campaign. I think they're taking a first look at his campaign. He has not been running for six years for president. He just started a few months ago.

So, when they take their first look at him, they never looked at him and said, "Gee, I don't like this guy." They love everything about him. He has like a 75 percent approval rating and he's so likable and the fact he has all three legs of the Reagan stool -- he's a conservative in terms of authoring the Iran Security and Freedom Act, or Freedom and Security Act, the Syrian Accountability Act.

And so, he's been very forceful in the national arena, standing up to the jihadists, being brave and taking on with what's happening with the jihadist camps in Central America, which the media in America just now catching up to. He's been right for five years.

ACOSTA: Let me ask you about the donations to this super PAC. You know, a lot of people are saying there's really no difference between the super PACs and these campaigns. Do you -- I mean, when you look back at this campaign, you're going to feel OK about all this money that you put into the coffer of that super PAC? I mean, is that, you know, is that the best our democracy can do, do you think?

FRIESS: Oh, I'm just so excited about the fact that hopefully I can look back to this day and I had a big role in turning America back to what our Founding Fathers. And to think about the crossing of Delaware, where these guys didn't have shoes, and Washington saw blood in the snow.

And so, I give maybe a million bucks or whatever, it's nothing as a sacrifice compared to these 18, 19-year-old kids who put a gun on their back and go to Afghanistan and Iraq.

So, I think I'm kind of shoulder to shoulder with them in a war effort to say what is America all about? Why are we special? Why are we exceptional?

And so I can feel excited about playing a role in that.

ACOSTA: All right. Mr. Friess, thanks very much for your time. Appreciate it. Good talking to you, sir.

FRIESS: Thank you very much.

ACOSTA: All right.

Well, Don, as you heard there, Senator Santorum is not hurting in terms of financial support. I was talking to Foster before that live interview, and he was saying, look, you know, maybe Senator Santorum doesn't need much of my help anymore because Santorum received so many individual donations coming in to his campaign.

And that is true. Since those victories on Tuesday night, more than $1 million has come in to the Santorum campaign and he was very well-received at CPAC conference. I would imagine the money's not going to stop.

LEMON: Yes, and not so fast because he said I want some of your wealth. You can go and he gave his Web site during the speech. You heard him there at the end.

So, I'm sure he'll take all the help he can get. Thank you, Jim Acosta.

I want to bring in CNN's Wolf Blitzer now.

Wolf, we've been talking about president, expected to come out at 12:15 and to talk about possibly this contraception ruling.

The administration backtracking on the issue of contraception coverage that turned into a flash point really for conservatives and very religious people, Christians, Roman Catholics, and so on.

How is this issue playing out politically for the administration and for the GOP candidates as a matter of fact?

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": It's, you know, not a good situation for the White House whenever they have to -- within a few days of making a major announcement that, all of a sudden, backtrack and say, you know what? We're going to come up with some new formula.

They should have really done this in the weeks and months leading up to that decision by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, what, a week or 10 days or so ago, when they came out with this announcement. They should have done a much better job thinking through what was going to happen.

They knew the Catholic Church, the bishops across the country, were going to be opposed to mandating that Catholic institutions, not churches, but universities, hospitals, charities, are forced to provide the kind of birth control pills, the health insurance that would pay for contraception, and they knew there was going to be an angry reaction from the Catholic Church, from the Catholic bishops and, obviously, they didn't fully appreciate how angry that was going to be and the potential for a lot of Catholics out there and others -- not just Catholics -- to be upset by the White House decision.

So, now, the president personally is going to have to come out and explain. He's going to do this on the 12:00 hour. I think on 12:10 or 12:15 or so.

He's going to explain yes, here's what -- here's what the administration is going to mandate and they're going to try to finesse this and point to some examples. For example, in Hawaii, where they finesse this very, very sensitive issue between, you know, the rights of women to get the kind of birth control pills and contraceptions (sic) that they need obviously, but at the same time, not forcing the Catholic Church and other churches, other religious institutions to go against their religious values.

So, it's a sensitive issue, difficult issue, and it's not one that the White House is looking all that great on right now because it was mishandled, I think it's fair to say, in terms of the communications, in terms of how they did this.

LEMON: You have to come back and do backtracking -- I think you're correct on that.

BLITZER: It's the last thing the president wants to do now, is have to explain what they should have done earlier on before this uproar developed.

LEMON: Wolf Blitzer, thank you. We're standing by for the president, Wolf is as well. And we're going to talk about social issues, we're going to talk about religious freedom, the economy. Wolf will be back with us to talk about some of the issues in focus at the CPAC conference and also to talk about what the president is doing in the next two hours, what conservatives want to hear as well at that conference.

Here's your chance right now to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. Forget the candidate's stands on the economy, immigration. We want you to weigh in on their music play list. Remember, these blasts from the pasts? Listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: So, they're designed to get the crowds at the campaign events pumped up. Check out some of the songs on President Obama's playlist just released this week. You know, he's got some Aretha Franklin on there, James Taylor, Springsteen, of course, Darius Rucker, and even Wilco, and, yes, yes, yes, Al Green.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (singing): I'm so in love with you --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Not bad. Not bad. Simon Cowell could never say the president was a little pitchy. The president's crooning boosted sales, by the way, for Al Greene.

But not all the bands are thrilled when a candidate hits a play button. Newt Gingrich, for instance, he's turning to the British band the Heavy's "How Do You Like Me Now", right after his win in South Carolina, but the band did not like that at all. And served the Gingrich campaign with a cease and desist letter.

Mitt Romney's main campaign anthem, well, take a listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: That is Kid Rock "Born Free". Does that inspire you?

That brings us to our talk back question now. What do you think should be on the candidate's play list?

Pick a candidate. Pick a song. Put them on my Facebook page. That's Facebook.com/DonLemonCNN. DonLemonCNN on Facebook.

We'll air some of your responses later this hour.

We have a look at the rundown of some of the stories we're covering for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAUREEN WALSH (R), WASHINGTON STATE HOUSE: You know, I was married for 23 years to the love of my life and he died six years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A Washington state lawmaker shares her personal story of love and loss and her support for same-sex marriage. You don't want to miss that. And then later on, new violence, different city, dozens of people are reported killed. We'll go live to Syria for you.

Then, it's Grammy weekend and Chris Brown returns to perform three years after his arrest for assault. A judge has also ruled on whether to end Brown's probation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Welcome back, everyone.

One political activist calls it the center of gravity for conservatives right now, and we're talking about the CPAC meeting in Washington. So what exactly is it?

Quick explainer for you -- CPAC stands for Conservative Political Action Conference. It was founded back in 1973 as a small gathering of dedicated conservatives. It's now an annual gathering of party activists and elected officials from around the country. And it has grown to include thousands of attendees. The conference ends tomorrow with the highly anticipated straw poll of Republican presidential candidates -- more important this year because it's an election year.

Three of the four Republican presidential candidates are speaking at the CPAC conference today. They're trying to rally supporters and appeal to the conservative base.

Our man in Washington is back, CNN's Wolf Blitzer joining us now.

Wolf, let's talk more about the major issues of the year now. We talked a little bit about the contraception issue a little earlier. The economy, of course. What do conservatives listening for? What do they want to hear?

BLITZER: Less government spending. That's issue number one for so many of these conservatives.

They love it when they hear these candidates say they're going to cut government spending. Shrink the size of government. Get government as they say off their back. That's music to their ears. They want to hear that.

They want to hear that the next president of the United States will repeal the president's health care reform law, repeal Obamacare. That will get a huge round of applause whenever any of these Republican candidates say that.

They want to see less taxes. They want to see -- a lot of them want to see a flat tax, if you will, or what they call a fair tax. That's a very important issue.

On all the domestic issues, the economic issues, there will be clear differences between any of these Republican candidates on the one hand and the president of the United States on the other hand. There will be a clear line of difference between these two sides.

On national security, they want to have a strong national security. They want to make sure they hear all the important lines about protecting the U.S. military and defense spending. Strong support for Israel will always get a very good line going after al Qaeda, going after Iran, going after terrorists. That will always get a big round of applause at the same time.

And then on the social issues like antiabortion rights for women, on a lot of these other issues like gay marriage, for example, that will -- that will almost assuredly get a big line.

You know, in the Santorum speech we just saw, we didn't hear him address a lot of these social issues per se, but I think it's fair to say these conservatives at the CPAC gathering in Washington, Don, they really know where he stands on so many of these issues. So, he really didn't have to underscore that. I suspect Mitt Romney will probably get into it more.

LEMON: Yes. And, you know, what he talked about, and what you just talked about, the contraception issue, same-sex marriage, that certainly has fired up the conservative base -- so, especially the contraception issue and we're expecting the president to come out, 12:15, to address this, a possible compromise here.

So, that's fired up the base. What does it mean for the Obama campaign here having to do that?

BLITZER: Well, on the one hand, they want to make sure that women, a key base of the Democratic Party, are going to support the president and support Democrats.

So when they say that women, as part of the president's health care reform law starting later this year, that all women will be eligible for contraception for birth control pills, they won't have to make copays to their insurance companies or anything like that, that's something that will be appealing to a lot of women out there.

At the same time, they're now going to stress, you know what? You're going to get that -- you're going to get that benefit just as all other women employees will be getting that benefit, but we're not going to force the religious institutions where you work, for example, let's say Georgetown University Hospital here in Washington, or Catholic charities. They employ a lot of women. They're going to be able to get that benefit, but they're going to finesse it in a way where the Catholic Church, for example, the Catholic bishops will not have to directly have to be responsible for making sure they get that benefit.

I'm not sure this compromise, by the way, that the president is getting ready to announce is going to satisfy the Catholic bishops out there. I suspect they won't be completely satisfied, but we'll see how -- we'll see how it plays out.

LEMON: It's going to be interesting, too, to watch and listen to what happens from the pulpits across the country come Sunday this weekend.

Wolf, thank you. Wolf, we'll be checking back with you. Appreciate that.

You heard Wolf talk about the issue of same-sex marriage and you don't have to be gay to make a stand for gay rights. Here's an example. A Republican state lawmaker did just that this week in the battle to pass Washington's new same-sex marriage bill.

State Representative Maureen Walsh told her colleagues that everyone should have the opportunity to experience the kind of love she shared with her late husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAUREEN WALSH (R), WASHINGTON STATE HOUSE: When I think of my husband and I think of all the wonderful years we had and the wonderful fringe benefit of having three beautiful children -- I don't miss the sex. You know? And to me, that's kind of what this boils down to, is I don't miss that. I mean, I certainly miss it, but I don't -- it's not -- it is certainly not the aspect of that relationship, that incredible bond that I had with that human being, that I really, really genuinely wish I still had.

And so, I just -- I think to myself, how could I deny anyone the right to have that I incredible bond with another individual in life? To me, it seems almost cruel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Walsh says she was able to hold back the tears until after the speech when she got a text from her lesbian daughter that read, "You rock, mom."

Washington is expected to become the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage when the governor signs the bill into law on Monday.

A man takes lessons he learned in beating addiction here and turns them into a source of support for others. We'll introduce you to the first CNN hero of 2012.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. We have a lot happening here, very full day of news. You're looking at live pictures of the White House because the president is going to come out at 12:15. You'll see I live here on CNN. He's going to talk about a compromise -- a compromise in the controversial contraception ruling. The president will announce the details at 12:15.

Shortly after that, the person you want to hear from to get some answers about this, Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of Health and Human Services, will join me live here on CNN. Stay tuned.

So, today, we're honoring the first CNN hero of 2012, an every day person changing the world. His name is Scott Strode. After beating his addiction to drugs and alcohol, he used sports to fill the void left behind. And what works for Scott is now helping hundreds of others stay sober while experiencing a healthy high.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT STRODE, CNN HERO: I get on my bike and go ride up in the mountains. It really just brings peace and in my drug and alcohol use, it was the opposite.

I got into it pretty young. By the time I was 15, I was using pretty serious drugs. When I got sober, I lost my group of friends because they were still out drinking and using.

I got into boxing, triathlon, climbing. I had this new group of friends. I completely redefined myself. So, I thought, how can I give this to other people?

I'm Scott Strode and I want to help people find a better life being sober.

Welcome to Friday night climbing. It's good to see all you here.

Phoenix Multisport offers about 50 events a week. All the programs are free to anybody who has 48 hours sober.

You see that you're capable of whatever you put your mind to. We have this common connection, so it's easy to make new friends. We do bike rides, hiking, triathlon training, strength training.

It really is just a new community of folks to hang out with.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an example of hitting rock bottom. I had a heroin overdose. They had to jump-start me with the paddles.

STRODE: Roll it over, drill it in there. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going out biking and going boxing, hitting the bag really fills the void.

Phoenix, it's the best support crew I could imagine having.

STRODE: We're having fun and we're proud of being sober. So, come out and go climbing with us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: You know, CNN heroes are all chosen from people you tell us about. To nominate someone who is making a difference in your community, and in their community, go to CNNHeroes.com. Your nomination could help them help others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is a who's who of right wing movers and shakers, CPAC, and some big names will be taking the stage today to strut their stuff and rally the cause. We just heard from Rick Santorum. His rivals, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich will be speaking later this afternoon.

While the big names take center stage, there's still a lot of politics playing out behind the scenes.

CNN's Paul Steinhauser reports -- Paul?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Don. Up in the ballroom, that's where everybody is speaking. But down here, this is where a lot of action is taking place, and this is where the conservative groups have their exhibits.

Come on. It's quite all right.

This is the Heritage Foundation, the granddaddy of think tanks. They're reaching out to supporters and others here. TeaParty.net, a newer organization. They have a booth here as well.

Let's talk a walk down here. Don, I know you talk to Erick Erickson, a popular guest on CNN. Redstate.com, a popular conservative blog. Here is their booth, of course.

And what they're doing here and all these people are doing are reaching out, trying to bring more people to their web sites, to their organizations.

Citizens United, as you can see, the Supreme Court ruling is on. Here's their booth. And DVDs are for sale.

Don, a lot of action here.

Also, besides the speeches and besides down here, you've got a lot of the candidates talking behind closed doors with top conservative supporters and fundraisers. So a lot of the action at CPAC not on the stage but down here and behind closed doors -- Don.

LEMON: Paul taking us to the middle of the action.

Thank you, sir.

A birth defect isn't stopping big-league dreams for one Georgia boy. You have to see this 6-year-old play baseball.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Football season is history. Baseball season, right around the corner. In today's "Human Factor," our Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to a little boy who wants to play baseball and won't let anything get in his way.

(HUMAN FACTOR)

LEMON: Very nice. Go, Reece. Go, Reece.

We're hearing a lot of speeches from the Republican candidates today, but the speeches aren't the only things they want you to listen to. They want you to get pumped up out by the music they play at campaign stops. Listening to James Taylor's "Smiling Face." It's on President Obama's play list. One of my favorite artists, by the way.

Our "Talk Back" question of the day: What song do you think the candidates should put on their play lists? Somebody already mentioned Zeppelin on Twitter. Let me know. Go to facebook.com/donlemon. Your responses are coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Just looking at some of your response here on social media. Now it's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day, what do you think should be on the candidate's play list?

Just want to say this one is Facebook. "Edge of Glory," someone said, Lady Gaga. On Twitter, "What's Going On," Marvin Gaye. Zeppelin was one, "Ramble On."

So thank you for that.

This is what Paul said on Facebook. "Definitely Mitt should use a Pat Boone song, except Mitt isn't as hip as Pat Boone."

Mandatory for every candidate, respect. Aretha's flagship version or any remix before any of them begin speaking."

Here's what Rhonda writes. For Ron Paul, she says "Off to See the Wizard,' the Wonderful Wizard of Oz."

Jay, "Born in the USA."

That was interesting.

Cheney says, "We can debate as much as we want. They're all going to be listening to Bieber."

Obviously a Bieber fan.

Thanks to all of you for writing in. That was fun. By the way, the producer said, "Oh, my gosh, your Facebook fans are crazy." Got like 70 responses in a minute. Love you guys. Thanks very much.

This year's Grammy Awards ceremony is just two days away. Sunday's celebration will feature the return of Chris Brown. It will be his first appearance at the Grammy's since he pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna.

A.J. Hammer joins us now live from New York with the details on that.

Hey, we love to see the Grammys, but there's an interesting twist when it comes to Chris Brown this year.

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: This is a very big deal because it was exactly three years ago on the eve of the 2009 Grammy Awards that Chris assaulted his girlfriend, Rihanna, and he hasn't appeared at the show since. This year, he is up for three. He's going to be performing Sunday night. And I've got to believe he is inevitably hoping this return will help people move on from that chapter of his life. He's been hard at work there rehearsing for a performance that he hopes everybody will be talking about him for the right reasons.

Rihanna will also be at the Grammy's. She is performing at the show. She's up for four awards. Brown is still on probation, but he has been commended for his work. Last year, a judge relaxed the restraining order against him. So there's no restriction on him contacting Rihanna or being in the same location or same red carpet as her. Literally, he is just prevented from harassing her.

So, Don, it's going to be interesting to me to see what kind of reaction he gets from the crowd from the audience and the public after Sunday night. He's still got a lot of supporter, but I believe he has a lot of minds to change.

LEMON: And we'll be talking about him, I'm sure, the following day and week to see what happens.

For those of us who are you know, maybe a wee bit older than 30, remember the next group. I understand there's another must see, the reunion of the Beach Boys. Tell us about that, A.J.

HAMMER: Everybody knows the Beach Boys. It doesn't matter how old you are, Don. Come on, man.

LEMON: I don't know.

HAMMER: This is a big deal and it will introduce them to new generations of fans. All the surviving members will be on the same stage together Sunday night, the founding members, Brian Wilson, Mike Love. They've been with the band for almost 50 years. It's the first time in almost 20 years that these guys will be sharing the stage together.

"Showbiz Tonight" just caught up with the band last night and here's what they had to tell us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE LOVE, BEACH BOYS: It's a nice feeling. Very productive kind of thing. We don't fool around, you know. When it comes to singing, of course we don't fool around.

BRIAN WILSON, BEACH BOYS: Brian and I co-wrote that song good vibrations. He did a brilliant job on job on the track. It's so fantastic being able to reunite on a Grammy stage for the world to hear and see.

LOVE: It's fantastic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: The world will hear and see those great harmonies once again.

And I'm happy to report the Grammys appearance kicks of a new start for the beach boys. They are firing up a 50-city tour in April and plan on releasing a new album this year. Get out your beach ball and your Hawaiian print shirt. The Beach Boys are back, baby.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Showing your age. So am I. I love them.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Want everything breaking in the entertainment world? A.J.'s got it tonight on "Showbiz Tonight," 11:00 eastern on HLN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Right now to Syria. There's the bombing. That's the city of Homs. It's been under heavy bombardment by Syrian government forces all week long. Hundreds, hundreds are dead. Women, children, old people are included.

A young activist there has been risking his life sending us incredible videos from the frontlines. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYRIAN ACTIVIST: (INAUDIBLE) -- mortar bombs and tank shells and rockets. You can see up there in the buildings. Here on the ground, you can see how the rockets have landed here. You can see it on the ground. You can see what the rockets have done here.

These are civilian bodies. This isn't the army. These are children, men, women being killed. Where's the U.N.?

We don't want monitors again. We want the U.N. to interfere with the army. Four people are dead in this house. Four civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Despite that government crackdown, protesters continue to take to the streets. Many are chanting, "Russia is killing our children," after a veto of the U.N. Security Council Resolution condemning the violence. It was Russia and China that vetoed that.

Joining me now from New York, Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the U.N.

Why veto this? VITALY CHURKIN, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Because the draft resolution contained a major flaw. It did speak to the end of the government to end fighting but it didn't have anything about armed opposition groups.

We have seen from the developments in the past few weeks that the major problem was that as the opposition -- as the government forces were moving out of the cities, armed extremist groups were moving in. That fed into further violence. So had that resolution been adopted, our fear was that the opposition, the extreme armed opposition, would believe that they're now prepared for another push at the government. And that, of course, would spell disaster. It would spell a civil war.

What needs to be done now is ending violence on all sides, strengthening the -- returning and strengthening the monetary mission. Maybe U.N. money. Having a new constitution adopted and multi-party elections conducted, general elections conducted in Syria. This is the essence of our strategy, which we have been trying to promote in our contacts with Damascus with the opposition, with the Arab League and our partners in the Security Council.

LEMON: Something you're not mentioning, Russian leaders are also saying -- at least one said, they'd be adopting this current resolution, that he believes that it would risk taking sides in a civil war here. But then --

(CROSSTALK)

CHURKIN: Listen. If you ask me a question, I'll answer.

LEMON: -- then the act of really what was horrible is not acting at all. That would be -- you'd be more complicit there?

CHURKIN: If you ask me a question, I'll answer it. If you want me to interpret something's statements which I haven't seen, I cannot do that. The visit to Damascus was extremely important. There's a strategy we can pursue, including in the Security Council by supporting the possible joint mission of the Arab League and the United Nations.

Also we got a commitment from President Assad that those monitors will be able to deploy in all hot spots. In accordance with the Arab League plan, is given all the powers in order to negotiate with the opposition. We need to put all the parties -- bring them to the table and have real national dialogue start which will lead to fundamental transformation of the Syrian political system.

LEMON: You know, I want to ask you if you -- if you ever considered or you and your cohorts considered that you would be, as I said, be complicit in people being killed here. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from Munich says, "To block this resolution, Mr. Ambassador, is to bear responsibility for the horrors that are occurring on the ground in Syria." How do you respond that?

CHURKIN: Well, I hope -- I hope at some point our western colleagues will finally understand that their strategy of frontal assault on the current regime in Syria spells disaster and civil war. They keep saying that they understand that Syria's not Libya. But I cannot see that they understand what it actually means.

It actually means that President Assad, in contrast to Gadhafi, does enjoy considerable popular support. He has not alienated his political elite as Mr. Gadhafi has done and he does have real armed forces which are nonexistent in Libya.

If they want to start fire in Syria that will have major regional consequences and, in fact, I think will affect the interests of United States and Europe. They are teetering on the brink of economic crisis. This is an area where results could be not only political but economic. I'm really perplexed they don't understand the consequences of their own strategy. We're trying to turn things around towards a political solution, end of violence, working together with the United States, Europe, Arab League, Syrian government and opposition. This is the only way to prevent further dramatic escalation of the conflict in Syria.

LEMON: Thank you for joining us, sir.

It is a who's who of right wing movers and shaker. We're going to go live now to CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. And some big names will be taking the stage today to strut their stuff and rally the cause. We heard from Rick Santorum. His rivals, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, will both be speaking a little bit later on this afternoon. We'll bring that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Developing news. You're about to hear from Jerry Sandusky. You know, the former defensive coach from Penn State? He's back in court today.

Our Jason Carroll covering it live for us in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.

What's going on, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was a hearing today, Don, used to review a number of different topics, namely, bail modification for Jerry Sandusky. Basically what was happening today, the prosecution wanted Sandusky's bail conditions to be restricted.

Currently, as you know, he's under house arrest. Well, there have been a number of complaints within the neighborhood, namely people saying that they've seen Jerry Sandusky outside of his home. There were some concerns about that. From the defense's point of view, the defense says, well, we think that the bail conditions should be loosened, if you will. That one of the points being made was that Jerry Sandusky should be able to have visitation rights with his grandchild. So that's what was discussed. A number of things, legal issues, discussed during the hearing today.

But that was one point Jerry Sandusky himself addressed when he came out just a few moments ago outside the courthouse. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERRY SANDUSKY, AWAITING TRIAL FOR CHILD ABUSE: I have a wife, who came home after visiting with grandchild, or who's sitting there when grandchild called on my birthday, and they ask to talk to me, and she has to tell them that they can't. I'm sensitive to that. Or when she comes home from visiting with grandchild and tells me that one of them said that, the only thing I want for my birthday is to be able to see Pa. I'm sensitive to that. That's why I came today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: One of the first times that we have heard from Jerry Sandusky addressing the media in this way. Obviously, both sides, Don, were argued in the court. The prosecution saying being in house arrest is a privilege. It is not a house party. That is what the prosecution is saying. The defense basically saying that, look, even if this man was incarcerated, he would be allowed to have visitors. The judge is taking it under consideration and will issue a ruling on Monday -- Don?

LEMON: Jason Carroll. Thank you, Jason.